------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori 1816 Relating to Byron, Shelley, etc. Edited and Elucidated by William Michael Rossetti "Mi fur mostrati gli spiriti magni Che del vederli in me stesso n'esalto."—DANTE. LONDON ELKIN MATHEWS VIGO STREET MCMXI RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. DEDICATED TO MY TWO DAUGHTERS HELEN AND MARY WHO WITH MY LITTLE GRAND-DAUGHTER IMOGENE KEEP THE HOME OF MY CLOSING YEARS STILL IN GOOD CHEER The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori INTRODUCTION A person whose name finds mention in the books about Byron, and to some extent in those about Shelley, was John William Polidori, M.D.; he was Lord Byron's travelling physician in 1816, when his Lordship quitted England soon after the separation from his wife. I, who now act as Editor of his Diary, am a nephew of his, born after his death. Dr. Polidori figures not very advantageously in the books concerning Byron and Shelley. He is exhibited as overweening and petulant, too fond of putting himself forward face to face with those two heroes of our poetical literature, and too touchy when either of them declined to take him at his own estimation. I will allow that this judgment of Polidori is, so far as it goes, substantially just; and that some of the recorded anecdotes of him prove him deficient in self-knowledge, lacking prudence and reserve, and ignoring the distinction between a dignified and a quarrelsome attitude of mind. He was, in fact, extremely young when he went abroad in April 1816 with Byron, to whom he had been recommended by Sir Henry Halford; he was then only twenty years of age (born on September 7, 1795), Byron being twenty-eight, and Shelley twenty-three. The recommendation given to so very young a man is a little surprising. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that Polidori was without some solid attainments, and some considerable share of talent. He was the son of Gaetano Polidori, a Tuscan man of letters who, after being secretary to the celebrated dramatist Alfieri, had settled in London as