Chapter M: W. P. Shelley

I hear that Alfieri was intimate with Guiccioli of Ravenna, the latter being then quite young; and they had a joint idea and project (which did not turn out manageable) of establishing a national theatre in Italy. Possibly Signor Polidori knows about this. Is there any historical work containing particulars about the closing years of the royal husband of the Countess of Albany? I don't know, and am in the dark. He (is it not so?) was the last of the Stuarts, except his brother the Cardinal of York.

Oh what trouble I am giving you to reply! Really I now feel more than ashamed of it. But you are so kind. And, besides, the grammar of this letter must be like Alfieri's _Cleopatra_.

Footnotes.

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Footnote 1:

The word, as written by Charlotte Polidori, seems to be "dole" rather
than anything else. It looks as if she had copied the form of Dr.
Polidori's word without understanding what it was. I substitute
"door," but this is done _faute de mieux_.

Footnote 2:

Such is the word written by Charlotte Polidori. I fancy it ought to be
"late."

Footnote 3:

Only an initial is written, "M": but I suppose "Master"—_i.e._ Michael
Wohlgemuth—is meant.

Footnote 4:

It seems rather odd that Polidori should make this jotting, "and (not)
towns." Perhaps he aimed to controvert the phrase, "scattered cities
crowning these," in Byron's poem quoted further on.

Footnote 5:

These are the precise words as they stand in Charlotte Polidori's
transcript. It is to be presumed that Dr. Polidori wrote them some
while after May 13, 1816.

Footnote 6:

I don't understand "Mayor" in this context: should it be "Mylor"?

Footnote 7:

No name is given: should it be Shelley? Another Englishman who was in
this locality towards the same date was Robert Southey.

Footnote 8:

I don't think there was any such stone-pelting in Geneva: it took
place elsewhere in Switzerland.

Footnote 9:

The word written is perpanism, or possibly perhanism. Is there any
such word, medical or other? Should it perchance be pyrrhonism?

Footnote 10:

The "ghost-story" which Polidori _published_ was _The Vampyre_: see p.
128 as to his having begun in the first instance some different story.

Footnote 11:

Word obscurely written.

Footnote 12:

"Blind" appears to be the word written. It seems an odd
expression—meaning, I suppose, "to blind (mislead or puzzle) the
auditors."

Footnote 13:

This, again, is not clear to me: something in the nature of a game of
forfeits may be indicated.

Footnote 14:

So written: should it be "Bingwen" or something of the kind?

Footnote 15:

The word "society" is perfectly clear in Charlotte Polidori's
transcript. From the context, I question whether it ought not to be
"Shakespear." As to "the criticism of Johnson" on Gray in the _Lives
of the Poets_, many of my readers will recollect that this criticism
is somewhat adverse, Gray being treated as a rather nebulous writer.

Footnote 16:

Seems rather an odd phrase, but I suppose correctly transcribed.

Footnote 17:

A name is written here, but so obscurely that I leave it out. It
somewhat resembles "Neravois," or "the ravois."

Footnote 18:

Should this be "glaciers"?

Footnote 19:

This name is illegibly written: I can only suppose that it must be
meant for Brieg.

Footnote 20:

"I don't understand."

Footnote 21:

"It's an old affair."

Footnote 22:

Coffee with milk, grapes, and figs.

Footnote 23:

Orgoglio is pride; disinganno is undeceiving, disillusion.

Footnote 24:

There is a word following "Rè," evidently the title of the play which
was acted. It looks something like "Amondre," but cannot be read.

Footnote 25:

The word is more like Crabule than anything else: I don't understand
it.

Footnote 26:

Presumably some English book, but I know not what.

Footnote 27:

I think the name would correctly be Marchese di Negro: my father had
some correspondence, towards 1850, with the then Marchese of that
family.

Footnote 28:

This essay was on the Punishment of Death.

Footnote 29:

The word written is "his"; but the context shows that this must be a
mistake.

Footnote 30:

_i.e._ Artemisia, who built the mausoleum of Halicarnassus.

Footnote 31:

The speeches run thus: (_a_) Look at that man, with his cap on his
head. (_b_) Would you do me the favour of taking off your hat, so that
I may see? (_c_) Would you wish for it? (_d_) Yes, I wish it. In
Italian, this last phrase has an imperative tone, "I will it."—It may
be added that the Austrian's phrase "Lo vorreste?" was itself not
civil: the civil form would have been "Lo vorrebbe ella?"

Footnote 32:

"To be sold."

Footnote 33:

These words form (I _suppose_) the answer of the Italian
officer—_i.e._ he would side with either party indifferently.

Footnote 34:

I presume that the word should be "presented": the writing looks like
"pented."

Footnote 35:

"What? A servant of the sovereign? There are porters."

Footnote 36:

I suppose that Pontelli was a person who had been more or less known
to Dr. Polidori's father before the latter left Italy in 1787, and
that the father had given his son some letter of introduction or the
like. Or possibly the introduction came from some acquaintance in
Geneva or in Milan.

Footnote 37:

The name of Santa Croce is not in the MS.: but it ought to be, as this
is the church containing the sepulchral monuments of Galileo, etc.

Footnote 38:

"Was third amid so much intellect." The phrase is adapted from a line
in Dante's _Inferno_.

Footnote 39:

Rather (it must be understood) to _Signora_ Vaccà.

Footnote 40:

Ruffiano does not correspond to our word "ruffian," but to "pimp" or
"go-between."

Footnote 41:

No doubt this intention was not carried into effect.

Footnote 42:

These Polidoris were not (so far as I know) members of the same family
as John Polidori.

Footnote 43:

This was Dr. Polidori's elder sister, Maria Margaret, who in my time
was invariably called "Margaret" in the family.

Footnote 44:

"I leave the question to you."

INDEX OF NAMES

A

_Agnese_ (drama), 196

Aix-la-Chapelle, 74

Albany, Countess of, 199-202

Alfieri, Count, 200, 219-222

Andreini, 170

—— _Adamo_, by, 170

Antwerp, 46-51, 54, 55

Arezzo, 202, 218

Arrow, Eliza, 31

Avenches, 93, 94, 96

B

Bâle, 90, 91

Battice, 73, 74, 213

Beauharnais, Prince Eugène, 175

Berger, 31, 108, 110, 135

Berne, 92

Beyle, Henri, 173, 177, 190, 192

—— _Reminiscences of Napoleon_, by, 177

Bologna, 194, 195

Bonn, 80

Bonnet, Charles, 97

Bonstetten, C. V. de, 105, 132, 137, 147, 148

Borsieri, 173, 174, 177, 186

—— _Il Giorno_, by, 177

Breadalbane, Lord, 139, 145

Brelaz, Madame, 139, 143-146, 152, 153, 155, 168, 182

Brême, Cavalier de, 171, 173, 177

—— de (or Brema), Monsignor, 139, 147, 170, 172-177, 182, 183, 187-189,
191, 193, 198, 218

Brême, de (or Brema), Monsignor _Ina_, by, 176

Breuss, Countess, 12, 13, 17, 134, 141-143, 152

Bridgens, R., 3

—— _Costumes of Italy, etc._, by, 3

Brieg, 160-163

Broglie, Duc Victor de, 137, 138

—— Duchesse Victor de, 137-9, 146

Bruges, 35

Brussels, 57-59, 61, 68, 211

Bubna, 173, 187-189, 193

—— Junior, 189

Byron, Lady, 26

—— Lord, 1, 7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 25, 28, 33, 40, 44, 51-53, 62, 67, 68,
70, 71, 74, 88, 89, 97-105, 107, 111, 112, 117-120, 123-126, 128,
132, 133, 135-140, 146, 147, 152, 158, 170, 173, 174, 179-181,
186-188, 190-193, 209-211, 213, 215, 218, 219

—— —— _Childe Harold_, by, 25, 66, 67, 71, 80, 83, 84, 87, 94, 95, 212

—— —— _Churchill's Grave_, by, 28, 29

—— —— _Letters and Journals of_, 101, 133

—— —— _The Vampyre_ (fragment), by, 14-17, 125

—— —— _To Princess Charlotte_ by, 112