when Byron and Shelley used to cross the lake to join the circle in this
room. De Stael had met Byron in London during the ephemeral
"Byron-madness," and now, in his social exile, her doors were freely
open to him: his letters testify "she made Coppet as agreeable as
society and talent can make any place on earth." Here he first saw
"Glenarvon," a venomous attack upon him which seems to have served no
purpose save to illustrate the aphorism about "a woman scorned," its
authoress having been notoriously importunate for Byron's favor, even
attempting, it was said, to enter his apartments in male attire. In this
salon Mrs. Hervey, the novelist, feigned to faint at Byron's approach:
from the balcony outside these windows, where de Stael and her father
stood and saw Napoleon's army cross the Swiss frontier, Byron looked
upon the scene which inspired some of his divinest stanzas. The chateau
was a busy place in those years: a guest writes from here, "In every
corner one is at a literary task; de Stael is writing 'Exile,' Auguste
and Constant a tragedy, Sabran an opera, Sismondi his 'Republics,'
Bonstetten a philosophy, and Rocca his 'Spanish War.'"
One noble chamber hung with dim tapestries is that erst occupied by
Recamier: it had before been the sick-room of Madame Necker and the
scene of her husband's loving care of her, which de Stael so touchingly
records. The chamber of de Stael is near by, its windows overlooking
her sepulchre: here she wrote the books which made her fame; here she
instructed her children, their Sabbath lessons being from the devout
treatises of her father and a Kempis's "Imitation of Christ," the book
she read in her own dying hours. A smaller room, looking out upon the
park, the terraces of Jura, and the white walls of Lausanne, was shared
by Constant and Bonstetten. In the tower above have been found letters
written by Gibbon to his _fiancee_, who became the mother of de Stael:
they have been published by the grandson of de Stael, and show that the
conduct of the great "Decliner and Faller" toward the then poor girl was
thoroughly selfish and unscrupulous.
[Sidenote: Tomb of Necker and de Stael]
The rooms are renovated and the place is offered for rent, but nothing
is destroyed. The formal park at the side of the chateau is little
changed: along yonder wooded aisle and upon this _allee_ between prim
patches of sward the de Stael walked with her guests in the summers of
long ago; upon the seat beneath this coppice, beside this placid pool,
or on the margin of yonder brooklet from the top of Jura, they lingered
in brilliant converse till the stars came out one by one above the
darkening mountains. These--the mute, soulless inanimates--remain, while
the illustrious company that quickened and glorified them all has
vanished from human ken. Some rods distant from the chateau, shaded by
a sombre grove and bounded by a hoary wall, is the picturesque chapel in
which Necker is laid with his wife, to whose tomb he, for many years,
daily came to pray. In the same crypt the mortal part of de Stael rests
at his feet; the portal was walled up at her burial and eye hath not
since seen her sepulchre. A stone which marks the grave of her son
Auguste, and lies on the threshold of that sealed portal, is fittingly
inscribed, "Why seek ye the living among the dead?"
Beyond the closed gate we pause for a parting view of the scene, now
flooded with sunshine, and as we leave the place we carry thence that
resplendent vision embalmed in a memory that will abide with us forever.
As I write these closing lines I see again that summer sky, cloudless
save for the fleece floating above Jura like that which the bereaved
Necker fancied was bearing the soul of his wife to paradise. I see again
the glimmering water; the mountains with their tiaras of snow, sending
back the sunbeams from their shining peaks like reflections from the
pearly gates that enclose the Celestial City; and, amid this sublime
beauty, the gleaming sycamores that sway above the tomb of "the
incomparable Corinna."
INDEX
Abbotsford,--Scott,--161.
Addison, 15, 19, 30, 36, 91.
Akenside, 16, 25.
Andersen, Hans Christian, 55, 57.
Annesley Hall and Park, 71-77.
Aram, Eugene;
Scenes, 111, 144-147.
Arbuthnot, 16, 36.
Arnold, Dr. and Matthew, 92.
Astell, Mary, 30.
Bacon, 21.
Baillie, Joanna, 15.
Barbauld, Mrs., 14, 16.
Besant, 15, 18.
Bolingbroke, 37.
Bolton Abbey, 143.
Bonnivard, Francis, 227.
Bowes, Dotheboys, 106.
Braddon, Miss, 38.
Brontes, The, 68;
Brussels, 134, 207;
Haworth, 121;
Scenes and Characters of Tales, 121, 124, 126, 127, 129, 135,
207-225.
Brown, Oliver Madox, 32.
Brussels,--Villette,--Bronte Scenes, 207.
Bulwer,--Eugene Aram,--144-147.
Burns;
Alloway, 181;
Dumfries, 164;
Ellisland, 171;
Grave, 165;
Haunts,--Scenes of Poems,--164, 165, 166, 170, 171, 178, 181, 196,
200, 205;
Heroines, 185, 190, 194;
Niece, 183.
Butler, Samuel, 91.
Byron;
Annesley, 71;
Coppet, 250;
Harrow, 69;
Newstead, 80;
Leman, 226-237;
London, 62;
Scenes of Poems, 69, 72-77, 80-90, 226, 232, 233, 251;
Tomb, 70.
Caine, Hall, mentioned, 32.
Campbell, 66, 68.
Canning, 64.
Carlyle, Birthplace, 162;
Homes, 33, 162, 167;
Sepulchre, 163.
Chaucer, 24, 25, 50.
Chaworth, Mary Ann, 71-79.
Chelsea, 29-37.
Chillon, 233.
Clarens,--Rousseau,--232.
Coleridge, 19, 106;
Grave, 22;
Home, 21.
Collyer, Robert, Early Haunts, 136.
Colwick Hall,--Chaworth-Musters,--78.
Congreve, mentioned, 15, 30, 37.
Constant, 245, 246, 248, 251, 252.
Cooling,--Great Expectations,--57.
Coppet,--Madame de Stael,--244.
Coventry,--George Eliot,--102.
Coxwold,--Sterne,--113.
Crabbe, mentioned, 19, 66.
Craigenputtock,--Carlyle,--167.
Crockett, S. R., 178.
Cunningham, Allan, 164.
Davy, Sir Humphry, mentioned, 155, 159, 248.
Denham, mentioned, 40.
De Quincey, mentioned, 21, 62.
De Stael, 159, 228, 230;
Home and Sepulchre, 244.
Dickens, 13, 19, 20, 24, 28, 34, 230;
Gad's Hill, 49;
Scenes of Tales, 18-20, 22, 24-28, 54, 57-61, 64, 106.
Donne, John, 35, 36.
Dorset,--Shaftesbury,--15, 36.
Dotheboys,--Nicholas Nickleby,--106.
Douglas, Poet of Annie Laurie, 175-179.
Du Maurier, 18, 20.
Dumfries,--Burns,--164.
Dyer, 91.
Ecclefechan,--Carlyle,--162.
Eliot, George, 31, 143;
Birthplace, Early Homes, 93;
Grave, 23;
Scenes and Characters of Fiction, 93, 95-103.
Emerson, 34, 104, 169, 170.
Erasmus, mentioned, 36.
Fairfax, Edward, 137, 142.
Falstaff, 50, 55, 56, 58.
Ferney,--Voltaire,--238.
Fields, James T., 55, 59.
Foston,--Sydney Smith,--149.
Froude, 33.
Gad's Hill,--Dickens, Shakespeare,--49.
Gaskell, Mrs., 101, 130, 131, 215, 223.
Gay, 15, 30, 33, 34.
Geneva, 227.
Gibbon, 39, 63;
On Leman, 231, 232, 249, 252.
Goldsmith, mentioned, 18.
Gray,--Scene of Elegy,--39.
Hampstead, Literary, 13.
Harridan, Mrs., 15.
Harrow,--Byron,--18, 69.
Haworth,--The Brontes,--121.
Hawthorne, 68, 71, 184.
Hazlitt, mentioned, 19, 21, 170.
Herbert, George, 36.
Heslington,--Sydney Smith,--148.
Highgate, Literary, 21.
Highland Mary,--Homes, Scenes, Grave,--195.
Hogarth, 19.
Hogg, mentioned, 161.
Hood, mentioned, 19, 68.
Hook, Theodore, 26, 37.
Hunt, Leigh, 18, 19, 21, 34, 68.
Ilkley,--Collyer, etc.,--137.
Irving, Edward, mentioned, 164, 170.
Irving, Washington, 66, 71, 72, 76, 83, 86, 89.
Jackson, Helen Hunt, mentioned, 184.
Jeanie Deans, 167.
Jeffrey, Francis, 149, 154, 155, 170.
Johnson, Dr., 15, 18, 25, 34.
Keats, 15, 16, 19, 25.
Keighley,--Bronte, Collyer,--121, 136.
Kensal Green, Graves of Literati, 68.
Kingsley, 35.
Kit-Kat Club, 15.
Lake Leman,--Literary Shrines,--226-253.
Lamb, mentioned, 19, 21.
Landon, Letitia E., 30.
Laurie, Annie, Birthplace and Homes, 172, 176;
Grave, 177;
Song, 180.
Lausanne,--Gibbon, Dickens, etc.,--230.
Livingstone, 81, 82, 84, 86.
Loamshire of George Eliot, 93.
Locke, 36.
London, 13, 17, 24, 45, 62, 119, 148.
Longfellow, alluded to, 55, 142, 234.
Macaulay, 64, 155, 158, 159.
Maclise, 19, 31, 34, 55.
Marvell, 21.
Maxwelton,--Annie Laurie,--173.
Melrose,--Scott,--161.
Miller, Joaquin, 71, 83.
Milton, 39, 228.
Mitford, Miss, mentioned, 30.
Montagu, Mary Wortley, 21, 31, 62.
Moore, 64, 67.
Mulock, Miss,--John Halifax Scenes,--92.
Murray, John,--Drawing-Room,--66.
Newburgh,--Sterne,--118.
Newstead Abbey,--Byron,--80.
Nidderdale,--Eugene Aram,--143.
Niece of Burns, 183;
quoted, 196, 204.
Nithsdale,--Burns, Scott, Carlyle,--164.
Nuneaton,--Milby of Eliot,--101.
Pepys, 30, 31.
Pope, 14, 15, 18, 21, 30, 37, 38.
Porter, Jane, 39.
Ramsay, Allan, 178.
Richardson, 16, 37.
Rochester,--Dickens,--54, 60, 61.
Rogers, mentioned, 15, 143.
Rokeby,--Scott,--109.
Rossetti, 23, 229;
Home and Friends, 31, 32.
Rousseau, 227;
Scenes of Fiction, 232, 233, 237.
Rugby,--Hughes, Arnold,--92.
Ruskin, mentioned, 34.
Schlegel, 248.
Scott;
Abodes and Resorts, 64, 66, 109, 161, 172;
Scenes and Characters, 109, 161, 167, 172.
Shakespeare, 25, 50, 91, 92, 93.
Shelley, 19, 21;
Leman, 227, 229, 232, 237, 250.
Shepperton Church and Parsonage, 98.
Smith, Sydney, 68;
Yorkshire Homes and Church, 148.
Smollett, 30, 33, 34.
Somervile, 91.
Somerville, Mrs., 29.
Southey, mentioned, 21, 106.
Southwark,--Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens,--24.
Stanley, H. M., 88, 184.
Steele, 14, 15, 19, 30, 33, 36.
Sterne, 34;
Grave, 120;
Home and Study, 112, 113, 115;
Resorts, 113, 118.
Stoke-Pogis,--Gray,--39.
Swift, 15, 30, 36, 37.
Swinburne, 32, 33.
Tennyson, 33, 39.
Thackeray, 18, 68, 104, 120.
Turner, 37, 142, 143.
Voltaire, Chateau and Study, 238.
Waller, 39, 46.
Walpole, 15, 30.
Walton, mentioned, 36.
Watts, Theodore, 32.
Wilde, Oscar, 35.
Wordsworth, 15, 21, 106, 143, 161.
Wuthering Heights, 129.
York,--Sterne, etc.,--111.
Yorkshire Shrines, 106, 111, 121, 136, 148.
THE END.
LITERARY SHRINES:
THE HAUNTS OF SOME FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS.
BY THEO. F. WOLFE, M.D., Ph.D.,
Author of "A Literary Pilgrimage," etc.
Illustrated with four photogravures.
12mo. Crushed buckram, gilt top, deckel edges, $1.25;
half calf or half morocco, $3.00.
CONTAINS, AMONG OTHERS, CHAPTERS TREATING OF
CONCORD: A Village of Literary Shrines.
THE OLD MANSE.
THE HOMES OF EMERSON AND ALCOTT.
HAWTHORNE'S "WAYSIDE."
THE WALDEN OF THOREAU.
IN LITERARY BOSTON.
OUT OF BOSTON: Cambridge--Elmwood--Mt. Auburn--"Wayside Inn"--Brook
Farm--Webster's Marshfield--Homes of Whittier, Hawthorne's Salem,
etc.
IN BERKSHIRE WITH HAWTHORNE: The Graylock Region--Middle and Lower
Berkshire--Haunts of Hawthorne, Thoreau, Bryant, Melville, Sedgwick,
Kemble, Holmes, Longfellow, etc.
A DAY WITH THE GOOD GRAY POET.
UNIFORM WITH "A LITERARY PILGRIMAGE."
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, Publishers,
PHILADELPHIA.
BY CHARLES CONRAD ABBOTT.
THE BIRDS ABOUT US.
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.
TRAVELS IN A TREE-TOP.
12mo. Cloth, $1.25.
RECENT RAMBLES; OR, IN TOUCH WITH NATURE.
Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.
A COLONIAL WOOING.
12mo. Cloth, $1.00.
"Dr. Abbott is a kindred spirit with Burroughs and Maurice Thompson
and, we might add, Thoreau, in his love for wild nature, and with
Olive Thorne Miller in his love for the birds. He writes without a
trace of affectation, and his simple, compact, yet polished style
breathes of out-of-doors in every line. City life weakens and often
destroys the habit of country observation; opportunity, too, fails
the dweller in cities to gather at first hand the wise lore
possessed by the dweller in tents; and whatever sends a whiff of
fresh, pure, country air into the city house, or study, should be
esteemed an agent of intellectual sanitation."--_New York
Churchman._
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY,
PHILADELPHIA.
BY ANNE HOLLINGSWORTH WHARTON.
THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS.
With a number of Colonial Illustrations from Drawings specially made
for the work. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25.
"It is a pleasant retrospect of fashionable New York and
Philadelphia society during and immediately following the
Revolution; for there was a Four Hundred even in those days, and
some of them were Whigs and some were Tories, but all enjoyed
feasting and dancing, of which there seemed to be no limit. And this
little book tells us about the belles of the Philadelphia
meschianza, who they were, how they dressed, and how they flirted
with Major Andre and other officers in Sir William Howe's wicked
employ."--_Philadelphia Record._
COLONIAL DAYS AND DAMES.
With numerous Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25.
"In less skilful hands than those of Anne Hollingsworth Wharton's,
these scraps of reminiscences from diaries and letters would prove
but dry bones. But she has made them so charming that it is as if
she had taken dried roses from an old album and freshened them into
bloom and perfume. Each slight paragraph from a letter is framed in
historical sketches of local affairs or with some account of the
people who knew the letter writers, or were at least of their date,
and there are pretty suggestions as to how and why such letters were
written, with hints of love affairs, which lend a rose-colored veil
to what were probably every-day matters in colonial
families."--_Pittsburg Bulletin._
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY,
PHILADELPHIA.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from
the original.