1816.] JANE CLAIRMONT. 604-To the Hon. Augusta Leigh. 347 Diodati, Geneva, Sept. 8th, 1816. I have been in some danger on the lake (near Meillerie), but nothing to speak of; and, as to all these "mistresses," Lord help me-I have had but one. Now don't scold; but what could I do?-a foolish girl, in spite of all I could say or do, would come 1. Clara Mary Jane Clairmont (1798-1879), mother of Byron's daughter Allegra, born January 12, 1817, was the stepdaughter of William Godwin, and accompanied Shelley and Mary Godwin to Montalegre. Her letters to Byron (Appendix VII.) explain the beginning of their acquaintance. Hobhouse writes as follows from Geneva, September 9, 1816, to Mrs. Leigh: "It is probable that Mr. Davies will arrive before this sheet of "coarse paper reaches you. If this interesting event should have "taken place, you will have already received the best and most "sincere remembrances that I am able to send to anybody, as also "some intelligence which I am sure must be very grateful, I will "not say a little surprising to you, namely, that your excellent "relative is living with the strictest attention to decorum, and free "from all offence, either to God, or man, or woman. The mischief"making telescopes of some inquisitive moralists, employed, I believe, "by the host of the Inn, deserted when the Maison Diodati was "hired, were said to have discerned certain robes and flounces on "his Lordship's balcony, but I can assure you that the petticoats "are in the imagination of the spectator [rather] than in the actual "company of your belied brother, and that he has given no cause "for scandal, except in as much as those who do nothing give the "fairest scope to conjecture, and offer up their characters as a sort "of carte blanche, to be filled up by the ingenuity of the first person "who sets himself seriously down to so useful an employment. "There was indeed, until a fortnight ago, a neighbouring gentle"man who had two ladies living in his house under the Château "Diodati, and, as you may suppose, both and each of these woman"kind, as Mr. Oldbuck calls them in the Antiquary, were most "liberally assigned to the person who was thought accustomed to "consider the care of such kind of appurtenances when superfluous "or neglected by their lawful owners. However this may have "been, and, although the days of Potiphar are over and gone, it "will be some comfort for you to know that this respectable château "was witness to no sort of disorder, and that neither Mr. Davies "or myself ever caught a glimpse of anything more suspicious than a second Mrs. Muhle (if she so spells her name) who is the dame "Jacinthe of this residence. In sober sadness I can give you very after me, or rather went before-for I found her here --and I have had all the plague possible to persuade her to go back again; but at last she went. Now, dearest, I do most truly tell thee, that I could not help this, that I did all I could to prevent it, and have at last put an end to it. I was not in love, nor have any love left for any; but I could not exactly play the Stoic with a woman, who had scrambled eight hundred miles to unphilosophize me. Besides, I had been regaled of late with so many "two courses and a desert" (Alas!) of aversion, that I was fain to take a little love (if pressed particularly) by way of novelty. And now you know all that I know of that matter, and it's over. Pray write. I have heard nothing since your last, at least a month or five weeks ago. I go out very little, except into the air, and on journeys, and on the water, and to Copet, where "good accounts from this place, both as to morals and other "material points. A considerable change has taken place in his "health; no brandy, no very late hours, no quarts of magnesia, "nor deluges of soda water. Neither passion nor perverseness, "even the scream has died away; he seems as happy as he ought "to be; by this of course you will see that I mean, as happy as it "is consistent for a man of honour and common feeling to be after "the occurrence of a calamity involving a charge, whether just or "unjust, against his honour and his feeling. It would be a great "injustice to suppose that he has dismissed the subject from his "thoughts, or indeed from his conversation upon any other motive "than that which the most bitter of his enemies would commend. "The uniformly tranquil and guarded manner shows the effort "which it is meant to hide. The novel made him rather indignant "than angry; he did not discover his portrait. Who would? When "you favor me with a line (which I hope you will do, addressed aux soins de Messrs. Hentsch à Genève'), I trust the news from 'your Lowestoft correspondent will not be as bad as it was when I "last saw you. Pardon me, dear Mrs. Leigh, if I venture to "advise the strictest confinement to very common topics in all you "say in that quarter. Repay kindness in any other way than by "confidence. I say this, not in reference to the lady's character, "but as a maxim to serve for all cases. ་་ "Ever most faithfully yours, "J. C. H." 1816.] JOURNAL OF A TOUR. 349 Me de Staël has been particularly kind and friendly towards me, and (I hear) fought battles without number in my very indifferent cause. It has (they say) made quite as much noise on this as the other side of La Manche. Heaven knows why-but I seem destined to set people by the ears. Don't hate me, but believe me, ever yours most affectionately, BYRON. A JOURNAL. Clarens, Sept! 18th 1816. Yesterday September 17th 1816-I set out (with H.2) on an excursion of some days to the Mountains. I shall keep a short journal of each day's progress for my Sister Augusta. 1. Moore quotes from Byron's account, given in his Memoirs, of a visit to Coppet, his remark upon the young Duchesse de Broglie, who seemed devoted to her husband, "Nothing was more pleasing "than to see the developement of the domestic affections in a very "young woman. Of her mother, Madame de Staël, he says in the same passage, "Madame de Staël was a good woman at heart "and the cleverest at bottom, but spoilt by a wish to be-she knew "not what. In her own house she was amiable; in any other "person's, you wished her gone and in her own again." In Madame Guiccioli's copy of Corinne Byron made the following note: "I knew Madame de Stael well-better than she knew "Italy; but I little thought that, one day, I should think with "her thoughts, in the country where she has laid the scene of her most attractive production. She is sometimes right, and often "wrong, about Italy and England; but almost always true in delineating the heart, which is of but one nation, and of no 66 country,—or, rather of all. "Bologna, August 23, 1819." "BYRON. 2. Hobhouse. In Notes and Queries, 6th series, vol. viii. p. 247, is a note on Byron's route. The Journal is printed from the original MS, Sept 17th Rose at five; left Diodati about seven, in one of the country carriages (a Charaban), our servants on horseback: weather very fine; the Lake calm and clear; Mont Blanc and the Aiguille of Argentières both very distinct; the borders of the Lake beautiful. Reached Lausanne before Sunset; stopped and slept at Ouchy.1 H. went to dine with a Mr. Okeden. I remained at our Caravansera (though invited to the house of H.'s friend too lazy or tired, or something else, to go), and wrote a letter to Augusta. Went to bed at nine-sheets damp: swore and stripped them off and flung themHeaven knows where: wrapt myself up in the blankets, and slept like a child of a month's existence till 5 o'Clock of Sept! 18th Called by Berger (my Courier who acts as Valet for a day or two, the learned Fletcher being left in charge of Chattels at Diodati): got up. H. walked on before. A mile from Lausanne the road overflowed by the lake; got on horseback and rode till within a mile of Vevay. The Colt young, but went very well: overtook H., and resumed the carriage, which is an open one. Stopped at Vevay two hours (the second time I had visited it); walked to the church; view from the Churchyard superb; within it General Ludlow's 2 (the Regicide's) monument— 1. At the Hôtel de l'Ancre, now d'Angleterre. 2. Ludlow's monument in St. Martin's Church, Vevey, bears the following inscription :— "Siste gradum et respice. Hic jacet EDMOND LUDLOW, Anglus Natione, Provincia Wiltoniensis, filius Henrici Equestris |