BONSTETTEN, CHARLES VICTOR DE Swiss writer, was born at Berne and educated in his native town, at Yverdon, and (1763-66) at Geneva, where he came under the influence of Rousseau and of Charles Bonnet, and imbibed liberal sentiments. Recalled to Berne by his father, he was soon sent to Leyden, and then visited 0760 England, where he became a friend of the poet Gray. After his father's death (177o) he made a long journey in Italy, and on his return to Berne (1774) entered political life. From 1779 onward he held various administrative posts, but in 1798 had to leave Switzerland on account of his political opinions. He spent the years 1798 to 18oi in Denmark, with his friend Frederika Brun, and then settled down in 1803 in Geneva for the rest of his life. There he enjoyed the society of many distinguished persons, among whom was (18o9-17) Madame de Stael. It was during this period that he published his most celebrated work, L'Homme du midi et l'homme du nord (1824), a study of the influence of climate on different nations, the north being exalted at the expense of the south. But his best known works are his descriptions of Switzerland, especially the Lettres pastorales sur une contree de la Suisse (1779).
Lives by A. Steinlen (Lausanne, 186o), by C. Morell (Winterthur, 1860, and by R. Willy (Bern, 1898). His correspondence with Frederika Brun was published in 1829 in Frankfurt a.M. See also vol. xiv. of Sainte-Beuve's Causeries du Lundi.