LIFE AT GENEVA--THE AFFAIR WITH JANE CLAIRMONT "From Brussels," as Moore magniloquently puts it, "the noble traveller pursued his course along the Rhine." At Geneva he joined Shelley and his party who had taken the shorter route across France; and it would seem that he felt the need of all the moral support which their companionship could give him. Concerning the nature of his reception in Switzerland, indeed, there is a good deal of conflicting testimony; but the balance of the evidence points to its having been unfavourable. His own statement is that he "retired entirely from society," with the exception of "some occasional intercourse with Coppet at the wish of Madame de Staël"; but there are indications that the retirement was not voluntary, and that, even at Coppet, his welcome was something less than enthusiastic. On the former point we may quote the letters of Lady Westmorland, just published by Lady Rose Weigall: "Lord Byron has been very coldly received here both by the natives and by the English. No one visited him, though there is much curiosity about him. He has been twice to Coppet." Only twice, be it observed; and on one of the two occasions, one of Madame de Staël's guests, Mrs. Hervey the novelist--a mature woman novelist of sixty-five virtuous summers--fainted, according to one account, and "nearly fainted," according to another, at the sudden appearance of the Man of Sin, though, when she came to, she was ashamed of herself, and conversed with him. Probably he called again; and not all the Coppet house-party shared Mrs. Hervey's consternation at his visits. Lady Westmorland did not for one, but commented on his "sweetness and sadness, melancholy and depression," adding: "If he was all that he tries to seem now he would really be very fascinating." On the other hand, however, Madame de Staël's son-in-law, the Duc de Broglie, summed him up unkindly and almost scornfully, declaring him "a boastful pretender in the matter of vice," protesting that "his talk was heavy and tiresome," and that "he did not manoeuvre his lame legs with the same ease and nonchalance as M. de Talleyrand," and concluding: "Madame de Staël, who helped all her friends to make the best of themselves, did what she could to make him cut a dignified figure without success; and when the first moment of curiosity had passed, his society ceased to attract, and no one was glad to see him." Which clearly indicates, in spite of the offensive priggishness of the witness, that the tide of hostile opinion was, indeed, flowing too strongly for even Madame de Staël to stem it.