began very well, but afterward it bored us. Madame de Staël resumed her
reading, and there was no longer any question of being bored. It is
marvelous 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 can not 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 center at once of high thinking and
frivolous behavior; of hard work and desperate love-making, which
sometimes paved the way to trouble.
Footnotes:
[Footnote 1: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.]
[Footnote 2: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.]
[Footnote 3: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of
Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.]
[Footnote 4: The modern Marseilles.]
[Footnote 5: An ancient Italian town on the Adriatic, founded by
Syracusans about 300 B.C. and still an important seaport.]
[Footnote 6: The city in Provence where have survived a beautiful Roman
arch and a stupendous Roman theater in which classical plays are still
given each year by actors from the Theatre Français.]
[Footnote 7: Diocletian.]
[Footnote 8: A reference to the exquisite Maison Carrée of Nîmes.]
[Footnote 9: That is, of Venice.]
[Footnote 10: The famous general of the Emperor Justinian, reputed to
have become blind and been neglected in his old age.]
[Footnote 11: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of
Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.]
[Footnote 12: From "Through Savage Europe." Published by J.B. Lippincott
Co.]
[Footnote 13: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of
Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.]
[Footnote 14: That is, lands where the Greek Church prevails.]
[Footnote 15: John Mason Neale, author of "An Introduction to the
History of the Holy Eastern Church."]
[Footnote 16: Montenegro.]
[Footnote 17: From "A Girl in the Karpathians." After publishing this
book. Miss Dowie became the wife of Henry Norman, the author and
traveler.]
[Footnote 18: One of Poland's greatest poets.]
[Footnote 19: From "Views Afoot." Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.]
[Footnote 20: The population now (1914) is 24,000.]
[Footnote 21: From "Six Months in Italy." Published by Houghton, Mifflin
Co.]
[Footnote 22: From "A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque
Tour," published in 1821.]
[Footnote 23: From "Letters of a Traveller." The Tyrol and the Dolomites
being mainly Austrian territory, are here included under "Other Austrian
Scenes." Resorts in the Swiss Alps, including Chamouni (which, however,
is in France), will be found further on in this volume.]
[Footnote 24: An Italian poet (1749-1838), who, banished from Venice,
settled in New York and became Professor of Italian at Columbia
College.]
[Footnote 25: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W.
Jacobs & Co.]
[Footnote 26: In the village of Cadore--hence the name, Titian da
Cadore.]
[Footnote 27: From "Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys: A
Midsummer Ramble in the Dolomites." Published by E.P. Dutton & Co.]
[Footnote 28: Reaumur.--Author's note.]
[Footnote 29: From "My Alpine Jubilee." Published In 1908.]
[Footnote 30: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W.
Jacobs Company, Philadelphia.]
[Footnote 31: Since the above was written, the railway has been extended
up the Jungfrau itself.]
[Footnote 32: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with,
and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.]
[Footnote 33: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.]
[Footnote 34: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with,
and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.]
[Footnote 35: The population in 1902 had risen to 152,000.]
[Footnote 36: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with,
and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.]
[Footnote 37: From "The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley." Politically,
Chamouni is in France, but the aim here has been to bring into one
volume all the more popular Alpine resorts. Articles on the Tyrol and
the Dolomites will also be found in this volume--under "Other Austrian
Scenes."]
[Footnote 38: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W.
Jacobs & Co.]
[Footnote 39: For Mr. Whymper's own account of this famous ascent, see
page 127 of this volume.]
[Footnote 40: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.]
[Footnote 41: From "Geneva."]
[Footnote 42: From "Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands."]
[Footnote 43: Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had been published about
a year when this remark was made to her.]
[Footnote 44: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W.
Jacobs & Co.]
[Footnote 45: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.]
[Footnote 46: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." Mr. Whymper's later
achievements in the Alps are now integral parts of the written history
of notable mountain climbing feats the world over.]
[Footnote 47: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." Mr. Whymper's ascent
of the Matterhorn was made in 1865. It was the first ascent ever made so
far as known. Whymper died at Chamouni in 1911.]
[Footnote 48: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." The loss of Douglas and
three other men, as here described, occurred during the descent of
the Matterhorn following the ascent described by Mr. Whymper in the
preceding article.]
[Footnote 49: That is, down in the village of Zermatt. Seiler was a
well-known innkeeper of that time. Other Seilers still keep inns at
Zermatt.]
[Footnote 50: The body of Douglas has never been recovered. It is
believed to lie buried deep in some crevasse in one of the great
glaciers that emerge from the base of the Matterhorn.]
[Footnote 51: From "The Glaciers of the Alps." Prof. Tyndall made this
ascent in 1858. Monte Rosa stands quite near the Matterhorn. Each is
reached from Zermatt by the Gorner-Grat.]
[Footnote 52: Another name for the Matterhorn.]
[Footnote 53: My staff was always the handle of an ax an inch or two
longer than an ordinary walking-stick.--Author's note.]
[Footnote 54: From "The Glaciers of the Alps."]
[Footnote 55: That is, after having ascended the mountain to a point
some distance beyond the Mer de Glace, to which the party had ascended
from Chamouni, Huxley and Tyndall were both engaged in a study of the
causes of the movement of glaciers, but Tyndall gave it most attention.
One of Tyndall's feats in the Alps was to make the first recorded ascent
of the Weisshorn. It is said that "traces of his influence remain in
Switzerland to this day."]
[Footnote 56: A hotel overlooking the Mer de Glace and a headquarters
for mountaineers now as then.]
[Footnote 57: Those acquainted with the mountain will at once recognize
the grave error here committed. In fact, on starting from the Grands
Mulets we had crossed the glacier too far, and throughout were much too
close to the Dôme du Goûté.--Author's note.]
[Footnote 58: From "The Playground of Europe." Published by Longmans,
Green & Co.]
[Footnote 59: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by the George W.
Jacob Co.]
[Footnote 60: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.]
[Footnote 61: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.]
[Footnote 62: From "Geneva."]
[Footnote 63: The French financier and minister of Louis XVI., father of
Madame de Staël.]
[Footnote 64: Madame de Staël's son, who afterward edited the works of
Madame de Staël and Madame Necker.--Author's note.]
[Footnote 65: Madame de Staël's daughter, afterward Duchesse de
Broglie.]