Byron's life at Pisa, as afterwards at Genoa, was what most people would
call a humdrum, dull existence. He rose late.
'Billiards, conversation, or reading, filled up the intervals,' says
Medwin, 'till it was time to take our evening drive, ride, and
pistol-practice. On our return, which was always in the same
direction, we frequently met the Countess Guiccioli, with whom he
stopped to converse a few minutes. He dined at half an hour after
sunset, then drove to Count Gamba's, the Countess Guiccioli's father,
passed several hours in their society, returned to his palace, and
either read or wrote till two or three in the morning; occasionally
drinking spirits diluted with water as a medicine, from a dread of a
nephritic complaint, to which he was, or fancied himself, subject.'
On Sunday, March 24, 1822, while Byron, Shelley, Trelawny, Captain Hay,
Count Pietro Gamba, and an Irish gentleman named Taaffe, were returning
from their evening ride, and had nearly reached the Porta alle Piagge at
the eastern end of the Lung' Arno, Sergeant-Major Masi, belonging to a
dragoon regiment, being apparently in a great hurry to get back to
barracks, pushed his way unceremoniously through the group of riders in
front of him, and somewhat severely jostled Mr. Taaffe. This gentleman
appealed to Byron, and the latter demanded an apology from the sergeant,
whom he at first mistook for an officer. The sergeant lost his temper, and
called out the guard at the gateway. Byron and Gamba dashed through,
however, and before the others could follow there was some 'dom'd cutting
and slashing'; Shelley was knocked off his horse, and Captain Hay received
a wound in his face. Masi in alarm fled, and on the Lung' Arno met Byron
returning to the scene of the fray: an altercation took place, and one of
Byron's servants, who thought that Masi had wounded his master, struck at
him with a pitchfork, and tumbled the poor fellow off his horse. There was
a tremendous hubbub about this, and the legal proceedings which followed
occupied two months, with much bluster, false swearing, and injustice, as
a natural consequence. The court eventually came to the conclusion that
there was no evidence for criminal proceedings against any of Byron's
domestics, but, in consideration of Giovanni Battista Falcieri--one of
Byron's servants--having a black beard, he was condemned to be escorted by
the police to the frontier and banished from the grand-duchy of Tuscany.
At the same time the Gambas (who had nothing whatever to do with the
affair) were told that their presence at Pisa was disagreeable to the
Government. In consequence of the hint, Byron and the Gambas hired the
Villa Dupuy, at Montenero, near Leghorn. Here, on June 28, 1822, a scuffle
took place in the gardens of the villa between the servants of Count Gamba
and of Byron, in which Byron's coachman and his cook took part. Knives
were drawn as usual. Byron appeared on the balcony with his pistols, and
threatened to shoot the whole party if they did not drop their knives,
and the police had to be called in to quell the disturbance. The
Government, who were anxious to be rid of Byron, took advantage of this
riot at the Villa Dupuy. Byron's courier and Gamba's valet were sent over
the frontier of the grand-duchy under police escort, and the Gambas were
warned that, unless they left the country within three days, formal
sentence of banishment would be passed upon them. As soon as Byron heard
the news, he wrote a letter to the Governor of Leghorn, and asked for a
respite for his friends. A few days grace were granted to the Gambas, and
on July 8 they took passports for Genoa, intending to go first to the
Baths of Lucca, where they hoped to obtain permission to return to Pisa.
While negotiations were proceeding Byron returned to the Palazzo
Lanfranchi.[4]
On April 20, 1822, there died at Bagnacavallo, not far from Ravenna,
Byron's natural daughter Allegra, whose mother, Claire Clairmont, had
joined the Shelleys at Pisa five days previously. The whole story is a sad
one, and shall be impartially given in these pages.
When Shelley left Ravenna in August, 1821, he understood that Byron had
determined that Allegra should not be left behind, alone and friendless,
in the Convent of Bagnacavallo, and Shelley hoped that an arrangement
would be made by which Claire might have the happiness of seeing her child
once more. When Byron arrived at Pisa in November, and Allegra was not
with him, Claire Clairmont's anxiety was so great that she wrote twice to
Byron, protesting against leaving her child in so unhealthy a place, and
entreated him to place Allegra with some respectable family in Pisa, or
Florance, or Lucca. She promised not to go near the child, if such was his
wish, nor should Mary or Shelley do so without Byron's consent. Byron, it
appears, took no notice of these letters. The Shelleys, while strongly of
opinion that Allegra should in some way be taken out of Byron's hands,
thought it prudent to temporize and watch for a favourable opportunity.
Claire held wild schemes for carrying off the child, schemes which were
under the circumstances impolitic, even if practicable. Both Mary and
Shelley did their utmost to dissuade Claire from any violent attempts, and
Mary, in a letter written at this time, assures Claire that her anxiety
for Allegra's health was to a great degree unfounded. After carefully
considering the affair she had come to the conclusion that Allegra was
well taken care of by the nuns in the convent, that she was in good
health, and would in all probability continue so.
On April 15 Claire Clairmont arrived at Pisa on a visit to the Shelleys,
and a few days later started with the Williamses for Spezzia, to search
for houses on the bay. Professor Dowden says:[5]
'They cannot have been many hours on their journey, when Shelley and
Mary received tidings of sorrowful import, which Mary chronicles in
her journal with the words "Evil news." Allegra was dead. Typhus fever
had raged in the Romagna, but no one wrote to inform her parents with
the fact.'
Lord Byron felt the loss bitterly at first.
'His conduct towards this child,' says Countess Guiccioli, 'was always
that of a fond father. He was dreadfully agitated by the first
intelligence of her illness; and when afterwards that of her death
arrived, I was obliged to fulfil the melancholy task of communicating
it to him. The memory of that frightful moment is stamped indelibly on
my mind. A mortal paleness spread itself over his face, his strength
failed him, and he sank into a seat. His look was fixed, and the
expression such that I began to fear for his reason; he did not shed a
tear; and his countenance manifested so hopeless, so profound, so
sublime a sorrow, that at the moment he appeared a being of a nature
superior to humanity. He remained immovable in the same attitude for
an hour, and no consolation which I endeavoured to afford him seemed
to reach his ears, far less his heart.'
Writing to Shelley on April 23, 1822, Byron says:
'I do not know that I have anything to reproach in my conduct, and
certainly nothing in my feelings and intentions towards the dead. But
it is a moment when we are apt to think that, if this or that had been
done, such events might have been prevented, though every day and hour
shows us that they are the most natural and inevitable. I suppose that
Time will do his usual work. Death has done his.'
Whatever may be thought of Byron's conduct in the matter of Miss Claire
Clairmont--conduct which Allegra's mother invariably painted in the
darkest colours--the fact remains as clear as day, that Byron always
behaved well and kindly towards the poor little child whose death gave him
such intense pain. The evidence of the Hoppners at Venice, of Countess
Guiccioli at Ravenna, and of the Shelleys, all point in the same
direction; and if any doubt existed, a close study of the wild and wayward
character of Claire Clairmont would show where the truth in the matter
lay. Byron was pestered by appeals from Allegra's mother, indirectly on
her own behalf, and directly on behalf of the child. Claire never
understood that, by reason of Byron's antipathy to her, the surest way of
not getting what she wanted was to ask for it; and, with appalling
persistency, she even persuaded Shelley to risk his undoubted influence
over Byron by intercessions on her behalf, until Byron's opinion of
Shelley's judgment was shaken. After making full allowance for the
maternal feeling, so strong in all women, it was exceedingly foolish of
Claire not to perceive that Byron, by taking upon himself the adoption of
the child, had shielded her from scandal; and that, having surrendered
Allegra to his care, Claire could not pretend to any claim or
responsibility in the matter. It should also be pointed out that, in
sending Allegra to the convent at Bagnacavallo, Byron had no intention of
leaving her there for any length of time. It was merely a provisional
step, and, at Hoppner's suggestion, Byron thought of sending the child to
a good institution in Switzerland. In his will he had bequeathed to the
child the sum of £5,000, which was to be paid to her either on her
marriage or on her attaining the age of twenty-one years (according as the
one or the other should happen first), with the proviso that she should
not marry with a native of Great Britain. Byron was anxious to keep her
out of England, because he thought that his natural daughter would be
under great disadvantage in that country, and would have a far better
chance abroad.