Switzerland

Switzerland becomes the refuge of Linnæus, Lord Clancharlie after he refuses to return to royal allegiance. On the shore of Lake Geneva, his remote dwelling turns political dissent into a life of physical isolation, even as news and accusations from England continue to reach him.

Setting and Landscape

Clancharlie lives in a kind of lofty ruin in the most rugged nook of Lake Geneva, between Chillon and Vevey. The Alps surround the dwelling with twilight, winds, and clouds; their great shadows help conceal a man rarely encountered by passers-by. The setting is not a town or a courtly retreat but a harsh, secluded margin of the lake, where Clancharlie lives almost beyond his country and his century.

Clancharlie’s Exile

After the monarchy returned, Clancharlie chose exile rather than resume his place among England’s peers. Switzerland gives that refusal a durable, concrete form: he grows old in a remote dwelling, dressed like a common person and walking along the lakeshore, while England celebrates its restored king and court. The contrast makes his solitude a political condition as well as a geographical one.

News from England

Distance does not entirely sever Clancharlie from the world he has left. Former republicans and other outlaws he meets carry fragments of English opinion into his solitude. Andrew Broughton, an old regicide living in Lausanne, is among those through whom such talk may reach him. Former allies who have rallied to the Stuarts accuse Clancharlie of refusing the throne because he was insufficiently rewarded, even alleging that he wanted the chancellorship. He responds with little more than a shrug, and on one occasion expresses pity for those who believe the charges.

Narrative Significance

The landscape of Switzerland sharply opposes the triumphant public life of the Restoration: the celebrations, appointments, and conformity of England stand against the old exile’s shadowed lakeshore. Yet the refuge is not sealed off from political judgment. Rumour crosses the distance, allowing the narrative to place Clancharlie’s quiet persistence beside the self-interest attributed to those who returned to power. Switzerland thus marks both his withdrawal from the restored order and the continuing reach of that order into his private life.