COPPETT
A word, in conclusion, about Coppet!
Necker bought the property from his old banking partner, Thelusson,
for 500,000 livres in French money, and retired to live there when the
French Revolution drove him out of politics. His daughter, Madame de
Staël, inherited it from him, and made it famous.
Not that she loved Switzerland; it would be more true to say that she
detested Switzerland. Swiss scenery meant nothing to her. When she was
taken for an excursion to the glaciers, she asked what the crime was
that she had to expiate by such a punishment; and she could look out on
the blue waters of Lake Leman, and sigh for ‘the gutter of the Rue du
Bac.’ Even to this day, the Swiss have hardly forgiven her for that,
or for speaking of the Canton of Vaud as the country in which she had
been ‘so intensely bored for such a number of years.’
What she wanted was to live in Paris, to be a leader--or, rather, to
be _the_ leader--of Parisian society, to sit in a salon, the admired
of all admirers, and to pull the wires of politics to the advantage
of her friends. For a while she succeeded in doing this. It was she
who persuaded Barras to give Talleyrand his political start in life.
But whereas Barras was willing to act on her advice, Napoleon was by
no means equally amenable to her influence. Almost from the first
he regarded her as a mischief-maker; and when a spy brought him an
intercepted letter in which Madame de Staël expressed her hope that
none of the old aristocracy of France would condescend to accept
appointments in the household of ‘the bourgeois of Corsica,’ he became
her personal enemy, and, refusing her permission to live either in the
capital or near it, practically compelled her to take refuge in her
country seat. Her pleasaunce in that way became her gilded cage.
Perhaps she was not quite so unhappy there as she sometimes
represented. If she could not go to Paris, many distinguished and
brilliant Parisians came to Coppet, and met there many brilliant and
distinguished Germans, Genevans, Italians, and Danes. The Parisian
salon, reconstituted, flourished on Swiss soil. There visited there,
at one time or another, Madame Récamier and Madame Krüdner; Benjamin
Constant, who was so long Madame de Staël’s lover; Bonstetten, the
Voltairean philosopher; Frederika Brun, the Danish artist; Sismondi,
the historian; Werner, the German poet; Karl Ritter, the German
geographer; Baron de Voght; Monti, the Italian poet; Madame Vigée Le
Brun; Cuvier; and Oelenschlaeger. From almost every one of them we have
some pen-and-ink sketch of the life there.
This, for instance, is the scene as it appeared to Madame Le Brun, who
came to paint the hostess’s portrait:
‘I paint her in antique costume. She is not beautiful, but the
animation of her visage takes the place of beauty. To aid the
expression I wished to give her, I entreated her to recite tragic
verses while I painted. She declaimed passages from Corneille and
Racine.... I find many persons established at Coppet: the beautiful
Madame Récamier, the Comte de Sabran, a young English woman, Benjamin
Constant, etc. Its society is continually renewed. They come to visit
the illustrious exile who is pursued by the rancour of the Emperor.
Her two sons are now with her, under the instruction of the German
scholar Schlegel; her daughter is very beautiful, and has a passionate
love of study; she leaves her company free all the morning, but they
unite in the evening. It is only after dinner that they can converse
with her. She then walks in her salon, holding in her hand a little
green branch; and her words have an ardour quite peculiar to her: it
is impossible to interrupt her. At these times she produces on one the
effect of an improvisatrice.’
And here is a still more graphic description, taken from a letter
written to Madame Récamier by Baron de Voght:
‘It is to you that I owe my most amiable reception at Coppet. It is no
doubt to the favourable expectations aroused by your friendship that
I owe my intimate acquaintance with this remarkable woman. I might
have met her without your assistance--some casual acquaintance would
no doubt have introduced me--but I should never have penetrated to the
intimacy of this sublime and beautiful soul, and should never have
known how much better she is than her reputation. _She is an angel sent
from heaven to reveal the divine goodness upon earth._ To make her
irresistible, a pure ray of celestial light embellishes her spirit and
makes her amiable from every point of view.
‘At once profound and light, whether she is discovering a mysterious
secret of the soul or grasping the lightest shadow of a sentiment,
her genius shines without dazzling, and when the orb of light has
disappeared, it leaves a pleasant twilight to follow it.... No doubt
a few faults, a few weaknesses, occasionally veil this celestial
apparition; even the initiated must sometimes be troubled by these
eclipses, which the Genevan astronomers in vain endeavour to predict.
‘My travels so far have been limited to journeys to Lausanne and
Coppet, where I often stay three or four days. The life there suits
me perfectly; the company is even more to my taste. I like Constant’s
wit, Schlegel’s learning, Sabran’s amiability, Sismondi’s talent and
character, the simple truthful disposition and just intellectual
perceptions of Auguste,[B] the wit and sweetness of Albertine[C]--I was
forgetting Bonstetten, an excellent fellow, full of knowledge of all
sorts, ready in wit, adaptable in character--in every way inspiring
one’s respect and confidence.
[B] Madame de Staël’s son, who afterwards edited the works of
Madame de Staël and Madame Necker.
[C] Madame de Staël’s daughter, afterwards Duchesse de Broglie.
‘Your sublime friend looks and gives life to everything. She imparts
intelligence to those around her. In every corner of the house some
one is engaged in composing a great work.... Corinne is writing her
delightful letters about Germany, which will no doubt prove to be the
best thing she has ever done.
‘The “Shunamitish Widow,” an Oriental melodrama which she has just
finished, will be played in October; it is charming. Coppet will be
flooded with tears. Constant and Auguste are both composing tragedies;
Sabran is writing a comic opera, and Sismondi a history; Schlegel is
translating something; Bonstetten is busy with philosophy, and I am
busy with my letter to Juliette.’
[Illustration: THE TRICOTEUSE: WINTER]
Then, a month later:
‘Since my last letter, Madame de Staël has read us several chapters of
her work. Everywhere it bears the marks of her talent. I wish I could
persuade her to cut out everything in it connected with politics, and
all the metaphors which interfere with its clarity, simplicity and
accuracy. What she needs to demonstrate is not her republicanism, but
her wisdom.... Mlle. Jenner played in one of Werner’s tragedies which
was given, last Friday, before an audience of twenty. She, Werner, and
Schlegel played perfectly....
‘The arrival in Switzerland of M. Cuvier has been a happy distraction
for Madame de Staël; they spent two days together at Geneva, and
were well pleased with each other. On her return to Coppet she found
Middleton there, and in receiving his confidences forgot her troubles.
Yesterday she resumed her work.
‘The poet whose mystical and sombre genius has caused us such profound
emotions starts, in a few days’ time, for Italy.
‘I accompanied Corinne to Massot’s. To alleviate the tedium of the
sitting, a Mlle. Romilly played pleasantly on the harp, and the studio
was a veritable temple of the Muses....
‘Bonstetten gave us two readings of a Memoir on the Northern Alps. It
began very well, but afterwards it bored us.... Madame de Staël resumed
her reading, and there was no longer any question of being bored. It is
marvellous how much she must have read and thought over to be able to
find the opportunity of saying so many good things. One may differ from
her, but one cannot help delighting in her talent....
‘And now here we are at Geneva, trying to reproduce Coppet at the Hôtel
des Balances. I am delightfully situated with a wide view over the
Valley of Savoy, between the Alps and the Jura.... Yesterday evening
the illusion of Coppet was complete. I had been with Madame de Staël to
call on Madame Rilliet, who is so charming at her own fireside. On my
return I played chess with Sismondi. Madame de Staël, Mlle. Randall,
and Mlle. Jenner sat on the sofa chatting with Bonstetten and young
Barante. We were as we had always been--as we were in the days that I
shall never cease regretting.’
Other descriptions exist in great abundance, but these suffice to
serve our purpose. They show us the Coppet salon as it was--pleasant,
brilliant, unconventional; something like Holland House, but more
Bohemian; something like Harley Street, but more select; something
like Gad’s Hill--which it resembled in the fact that the members of
the house-parties were expected to spend their mornings at their
desks--but on a higher social plane; a centre at once of high thinking
and frivolous behaviour; of hard work and desperate love-making, which
sometimes paved the way to trouble.
If only one had space to go into the details of that love-making! But
that is a subject which would need a much larger book than this to do
it justice.
INDEX
Academy of Calvin, 3
Amadeus IX., Duke, 15
Amaulx, Pierre, 30
Amiel, 90, 105
Annecy, 91
Arlaud, 73
Arve, The, 20
Aubert, Syndic, 30
Balmat, Jacques, 80
Bauhin, Sieur, plague-doctor, 47
Beauteville, M. de, 115
Bérenger, 71, 73
Berlonière, M., 53
Berthelier, Philibert, 10
Bèze, M. de, 34, 36, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46, 48, 51, 52, 57, 58,
59, 61, 62, 94
Blanvalet, Henri, 102
Bonaventura, Cornelius, 41
Bonivard, François de, 11, 24
Bonivard’s Chronicle, 14
Bonnet, Charles, 73, 75, 86, 87, 89
Bonstetten, 125, 129, 130
Bourrit, 72, 74, 80, 83
Brun, Frederika, 125
Calendrini, 61
Calvin, 3, 23, 24, 30, 31, 34, 43, 97, 109
Casaubon, Isaac, 34
Caveau Genevois, 97
Chaponnière, J. F., 98
Charles Emanuel, Duke, 52, 53, 56
Charles IV., Emperor, 33
Cherbuliez, 105
Chevalier, M., 36
Chillon, 11
Constant, Benjamin, 125, 127
Coppet, 106, 123, 124, 126, 127, 129, 130
Cordier, Mathurin, 37
Corraterie, 1, 2, 54
Couvent de la Rive, 14
de Sainte-Claire, 15
Cuisine Papale, 44
Curchod, Mademoiselle Suzanne, 72
Cuvier, 125, 129
D’Albigni, 53, 54, 55, 56
D’Alembert, 108, 109, 113
D’Aubigné, Agrippa, 90
Merle, 96
Dentan, 73
Didier, Charles, 102
Diodati, Jean, 61
D’Ivernois, 71
École de la Rive, 33, 34
Égaliseurs, 67
Eidgenossen, The, 9
Englués, 67
Escalade, The, 52, 61
Estienne, Robert, 35
Etrembières, 55
Fabri, Bishop Adhémar de, 9
Farel, 13, 14, 18, 23, 24, 97
Ferney, 107, 115, 119, 120
Galloix, Imbert, 102
Gay, Claude, 121
Geneston, Matthew, 46
Genevan Revolutions, 78
Gesner, 84
Gibbon, 72, 112
Gide, Etienne, 99, 102
Goulart, Simon, 55, 61
Haldane, Mr., 95, 96
Henri IV., 52
Hotman, Francis, 41
Hubers, The Two, 72
Hugues, Besançon, 10
Jacobinical Clubs, 67
Jallabert, 73
Javelle, Emile, 105
Jeanne de Jussie, 15, 17
Jeûne Genevois, 48
Knox, John, 25
Krüdner, Madame de, 125
La Faye, Antoine, 58
Lamartine, 99
Laws and Statutes of Geneva, The, 25
Le Brun, Madame Vigée, 125
Lefort, François, 72
Le Sage, 72
Libertines, 23
Liberty, The Friends of, 30, 97
Lolme, De, 71, 72
Luc, Jean André de, 73, 83
Lucs, The De, 72
Maimbourg, 43
Malan, Cæsar, 96
Malingre, Pastor, 13
Mallet, 75
Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 45
Melvill, Andrew, 39, 41
Monnet, Raoul, 30
Monnier, Dr. Philippe, 105
Marc, 89, 99, 105
Monod, Adolphe, 96
Montet, Albert de, 105
Monti, 125
Moore, Dr. John, 119
Necker, 123
Neff, Félix, 96
Odier, 73
Oelenschlaeger, 125
Pecolat, Jean, 10
Petit-Senn, 100, 102
Picot, 73
Pictet, 73
Portus, 41
Prangins, 107
Récamier, Madame, 125, 126
Register of the Consistory, The, 29
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, The, 61, 62
Revolution at Geneva, 86
Age of, 71
Revolutions, 65, 66
Réveil, The, 94, 95
Rilliet, Madame, 130
Ritter, Karl, 125
Eugène, 105
Romantic School, The, 99
Rousseau, 3, 82, 89, 91, 113
Jean-Jaques, 91, 114
Salève, 1
Saulnier, Antoine, 33
Saussure, De, 72, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86, 87
Scheuchzer, 84
Schlegel, 127, 129
Scrymgeour, Henry, 41
Senebier, 72
Servetus, 31
Sismondi, 125, 127
Social Evil, The, 7
Staël, Madame de, 89, 106, 123, 124, 125, 128, 129, 130
Albertine de, 127
Auguste de, 127
St. Bartholomew’s Day, 47
St. Ours, 73
Tanners, 67
Theocracy, The, 25
Toepfer, 105
Trembley, 61, 73, 79
Tronchin, Dr., 61, 73, 74, 107, 109
Turretini, 61, 108
University, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39
Vernés, 112
Verre, André, 103
Viret, 18
Voght, Baron de, 125, 126
Voltaire, 75, 106, 107, 109, 111, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 119,
120, 121
Werner, 125, 129
THE END
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
changed. The spelling of non-English words was not checked.
Simple typographical errors were corrected.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.