Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 3: With His Letters and JournalsMoore, Thomas
General
Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 3: With His Letters and Journals
Moore, Thomas
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
After passing a fortnight under the same roof with Lord Byron at
Secheron, Mr. and Mrs. Shelley removed to a small house on the
Mont-Blanc side of the Lake, within about ten minutes' walk of the villa
which their noble friend had taken, upon the high banks, called Belle
Rive, that rose immediately behind them. During the fortnight that Lord
Byron outstaid them at Secheron, though the weather had changed and was
become windy and cloudy, he every evening crossed the Lake, with
Polidori, to visit them; and "as he returned again (says my informant)
over the darkened waters, the wind, from far across, bore us his voice
singing your Tyrolese Song of Liberty, which I then first heard, and
which is to me inextricably linked with his remembrance."
In the mean time, Polidori had become jealous of the growing intimacy of
his noble patron with Shelley; and the plan which he now understood them
to have formed of making a tour of the Lake without him completed his
mortification. In the soreness of his feelings on this subject he
indulged in some intemperate remonstrances, which Lord Byron indignantly
resented; and the usual bounds of courtesy being passed on both sides,
the dismissal of Polidori appeared, even to himself, inevitable. With
this prospect, which he considered nothing less than ruin, before his
eyes, the poor young man was, it seems, on the point of committing that
fatal act which, two or three years afterwards, he actually did
perpetrate. Retiring to his own room, he had already drawn forth the
poison from his medicine chest, and was pausing to consider whether he
should write a letter before he took it, when Lord Byron (without,
however, the least suspicion of his intention) tapped at the door and
entered, with his hand held forth in sign of reconciliation. The sudden
revulsion was too much for poor Polidori, who burst into tears; and, in
relating all the circumstances of the occurrence afterwards, he declared
that nothing could exceed the gentle kindness of Lord Byron in soothing
his mind and restoring him to composure.
Soon after this the noble poet removed to Diodati. He had, on his first
coming to Geneva, with the good-natured view of introducing Polidori
into company, gone to several Genevese parties; but, this task
performed, he retired altogether from society till late in the summer,
when, as we have seen, he visited Copet. His means were at this time
very limited; and though he lived by no means parsimoniously, all
unnecessary expenses were avoided in his establishment. The young
physician had been, at first, a source of much expense to him, being in
the habit of hiring a carriage, at a louis a day (Lord Byron not then
keeping horses), to take him to his evening parties; and it was some
time before his noble patron had the courage to put this luxury down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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