LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 RIVERSIDE 

 
 Journal of Edward Ellerker Williams

 
 Journal of 
 
 Edward Ellerker Williams 
 
 in 
 
 Companion of Shelley and Byron 
 in 1821 and 1822 
 
 With an Introduction by 
 RICHARD GARNETT, C.B., LLJX 
 
 LONDON 
 ELKIN MATHEWS, VIGO STREET 
 
 I9O2
 
 A? 
 
 Copyrighted by J . IV. Williams
 
 TO 
 
 HENRY CLEVELAND 
 
 In memory of bye-gone days, and as a mark of appre- 
 ciation of his great devotion to, and unremitting care of, 
 Jane Williams, during the later portion of her long life, 
 this little Book is most affeftionately dedicated by her 
 
 Grandson, 
 
 JOHN WHEELER WILLIAMS.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 EDWARD ELLERKER WILLIAMS. Drawn by Himself. 
 The original water-colour sketch was recovered from 
 the Wreck of the Don Juan . - - - Frontispiece 
 
 JANE WILLIAMS 
 
 22 
 
 THE GUITAR which Shelley presented to Jane Williams, 
 and which was the subjeft of one of his finest poems. 
 It is now in the Bodleian Library 44
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 IT is no small testimony to the intellectual distinction of 
 Shelley that, after the immature period during which he 
 was capable of taking a Kitchener for a Hypatia, almost 
 all the persons admitted by him to any degree of intimacy, 
 or who had any title to speak of him as a friend, should 
 have been remarkable for their talents or interesting for 
 their adventures. It is to be feared that he by no means 
 complied with the Apostolic injunction to suffer fools 
 gladly. Peacock tells how he lay down in a ditch to 
 elude one unwelcome visitor, and barricaded himself in a 
 friend's house to escape another. Trelawny has been 
 heard to relate how Shelley and he would be sitting in the 
 topmost storey of a palazzo at Pisa, when there would be 
 a ring at the ground floor, inaudible to all except Shelley, 
 who would not only hear it but know whom it announced, 
 and would start up in horror, exclaiming, " Trelawny ! 
 That's a bore ! " " And sure enough," added Trelawny, 
 
 I B
 
 " the door would open, and Taaffe would come in." Yet 
 even Taaffe had had romantic adventures in his youth, 
 which this is not the place to record. 
 
 The unbroken friendship, therefore, which Edward 
 Ellerker Williams maintained with Shelley for a year and 
 a half, would prove him of other breed to the genus bore, 
 even if his participation in Shelley's fate had not made 
 him for ever interesting. He has moreover left proof 
 what manner of man he was in the little journal which 
 he kept during the period of his acquaintance with Shelley 
 and Byron. Though the portions of this journal which 
 have hitherto been printed are well known to and highly 
 valued by all interested in the lives of the poets, it has 
 not hitherto been published complete, nor are the published 
 portions easily accessible. This defe6t will be remedied 
 by the present little publication. Before considering the 
 journal itself, it will be advisable to give some account of 
 the writer, for the sake of those to whom he is known 
 only as the friend of Shelley. 
 
 Edward Ellerker Williams was born on April 22nd, 
 1793, and was the son of Captain John Williams, an 
 officer in the East India Company's army, not a merchant 
 as erroneously stated in the Dictionary of National Bio- 
 graphy. His father, who appears to have been a man of 
 
 2
 
 unusual strength of character, spent most of his life as a 
 Company's officer in India, and died on the voyage home 
 in June, 1809. Young Williams's name appears in the 
 Eton register for 1805, but he seems to have remained 
 only a short time. Upon leaving school he entered the 
 navy, but about 181 1 obtained a commission in the Eighth 
 Dragoons, and proceeded to India. While there he spent 
 much time in making sketches of the country, which are 
 now in the possession of his grandson, and indicate re- 
 markable graphic talent. About 1819 he returned to Eng- 
 land with the lady to whom he had united himself, sister 
 of General John Wheeler Cleveland, of the Madras Army, 
 and the Jane immortalised in so many of Shelley's poems. 
 From the opening passages of the Journal it would appear 
 that the young people's circumstances at home were not 
 entirely propitious j and if, as asserted by Medwin, loss of 
 property through the failure of an Indian bank was among 
 their misfortunes, motives of economy may have had some- 
 thing to do with the migration to the Continent mentioned 
 retrospectively at the beginning of this journal. Williams 
 did not begin to keep a journal until October, 1821, more 
 than two years after he had gone abroad. We have thus 
 lost much of interest relating to the Shelleys, to whom, 
 almost immediately upon his arrival at Pisa, he had been 
 
 3 B 2
 
 introduced by Captain Medwin, a cousin of Shelley^ 
 whom he had known in India as a brother officer, and 
 who was staying at Pisa at the time. The first mention of 
 acquaintance with the Shelleys is on January igth, when 
 the Shelleys call upon the new-comers, and from that time 
 the intimacy was most complete. From October, 1821, 
 to July, 1822, Williams's diary accounts for almost all 
 his and his friends' aftions, so far as the latter came under 
 his observation. If many of the incidents recorded appear 
 but trivial, the reader will not be insensible to the trans- 
 parent simplicity of the unpretentious narrative, faithfully 
 reflecting the character of the gentle, generous, and guile- 
 less author. Although, however, it may well be left to 
 speak for itself, it will be desirable to give some account 
 of its literary history. 
 
 After Williams's death his diary remained in the 
 possession of his widow, by whom it was imparted to 
 Mrs. Shelley. Mrs. Shelley copied a considerable portion, 
 probably for use in the biography of Shelley which she 
 then contemplated writing. Her extracts, in consequence, 
 were chiefly, though not invariably, made with special 
 reference to Shelley, and many passages of much interest 
 not immediately relating to him were omitted. The in- 
 tended biography was never written, and the only use 
 
 4
 
 Mrs. Shelley made of her excerpts was to append those 
 relating to the Shelleys' and the Williams's residence at 
 Lerici to Letters 63 and 66 of her edition of Shelley's 
 correspondence in his Essays and Letters from Abroad, 
 1840. Long after her death her little MS. book of ex- 
 tracls came to the notice of the present writer, who, 
 when rectifying some regrettable observations in the 
 second edition of Mr. Trelawny's Last Days of Shelley and 
 Byron, through the medium of an article in the Fortnightly 
 Review (June, 1878), seized the opportunity of varying 
 the ungrateful theme by printing the greater part of the 
 matter as yet unpublished. Some entries were omitted 
 as insignificant, and others, including the entire narrative 
 of the affair of the Dragoon, from considerations of space* 
 Finally, Mr. Buxton Forman, the indefatigable editor of 
 Shelley, brought the separately published portions together 
 in the fourth volume of his edition of Shelley's prose works 
 (1880). The Diary, consequently, has never until now 
 been published as a whole ; the published portions were 
 accessible only as an item in a voluminous edition; nor 
 had the original text been seen by any editor. It was 
 not until, after the death of Mrs. Williams's daughter, 
 Mrs. Lonsdale, the MS. passed into the hands of her 
 grandson, Mr. J. Wheeler Williams, the youngest son of 
 
 5
 
 her son Edward, that its contents, Mrs. Shelley's tran- 
 script apart, became known beyond the family circle. It 
 is hoped and believed that Mr. Williams's decision to 
 make them public in their entirety will be generally 
 approved. It is true that the principal importance of the 
 journal consists in the glimpses it affords of Byron and 
 Shelley, and that most of these are included in Mrs, 
 Shelley's excerpts already published. But many passages 
 of much interest have been left untouched, such as the 
 particular recital day by day of the vicissitudes of the 
 Dragoon affair; the striking illustration of popular Italian- 
 superstition under date of October 25th, 1821 ; and the 
 romantic, if barely credible, tale of jealousy and vengeance 
 under May 2yth, 1822. The most valid justification,, 
 nevertheless, is the fa6l that the character of a writer 
 cannot well be exhibited by mere excerpts, and that the 
 continuity of this narrative brings out, as selections made 
 for a special purpose could never do, the extreme love- 
 ableness of the character of Edward Williams. Without 
 any assumption or conscious posing he appears every- 
 where as an exemplar of the national character in its- 
 most pleasing aspects; manly and spirited; candid, loyal, 
 affectionate and unpretentious; and capable of greater 
 things than any recorded should necessity arise. Mrs- 
 
 6
 
 Shelley's language in writing to Peacock appears fully 
 justified : 
 
 "It is not he (Shelley) alone I have lost, though 
 that misery, swallowing up all others, has made me for- 
 getful of all others. My best friend, my dear Edward, 
 whom next to Shelley I loved, and whose virtues were 
 worthy of the warmest affection, he too is gone." 
 
 Nor is the diary, artless though it be, in any way to 
 be slighted as a literary composition. It makes no preten- 
 sions to remarkable graphic power, but impresses with a 
 conviction of perfect truthfulness. So far as it goes, it re- 
 presents persons precisely as they appeared to an observer 
 of kindly feeling and sound judgment. It attempts no- 
 thing further, but entirely conforms to the law of its 
 species as laid down by Lord Westbury : " The essence 
 of a journal is to be a diary of common things and occur- 
 rences, and an easy transcript of mental impressions with- 
 out effort or premeditation." 
 
 None of Shelley's friendships, it may be confidently 
 said, yielded him such substantial satisfaction as that be- 
 tween him and Williams. There is no vestige of a cloud, 
 or of any action or word on the part of either which 
 could have occasioned one. His ordinary relations with 
 his friends were inverted. No one could have had more
 
 opportunity of appreciating the truth which, with what- 
 ever trial to faith, we must believe to inhere in the 
 declaration that it is more blessed to give than to receive. 
 But now, whereas he had been accustomed to review his 
 friends' novels and poems, a service which they did not 
 reciprocate, and even Lord Byron set Mrs. Shelley to 
 transcribe Werner and the third Canto of Childe Harold, 
 Shelley found in Williams one who could not only write 
 but write to his dictation. Williams's copy of the 
 original manuscript of Hellas is in Mr. Locker-Lamp- 
 son's library at Rowfant. Respecting the translation of 
 Spinoza, unfortunately lost, Williams deposes under date 
 of November I2th 1831: "Shelley and I commence 
 Spinoza, that is, I write while he dictates." A pleasing 
 parallel to the case of Magnus and Mordaunt in The 
 Pirate, who " sat up all night drinking brandy and water, 
 that is, Magnus imbibing the alcohol, and Mordaunt the 
 element." Of the beautiful lyrics which grew out of the 
 Intimacy it is needless to speak. They comprise " The 
 serpent is shut out from Paradise," exceptionally addressed 
 to Edward and Jane Williams jointly ; " To a Lady with 
 a Guitar," which in some moods one is inclined to deem 
 the most exquisite of all Shelley's lyrics ; the " Ariette 
 fqr Music"? the " Boat on the Serchio," one of the few 
 
 8
 
 pieces which offers recollections of Shelley's early life, 
 and the charming poems addressed to Jane Williams, 
 entitled, " The Invitation," and " The Recollection." 
 These last, with others, have been absurdly claimed for 
 an ex-Jane, Claire Clairmont ; but really Miss Clairmont, 
 having once discarded the name of Jane as beneath her 
 desert, and ill-befitting the romantic career she proposed 
 to herself, cannot be allowed to take it up and lay it down 
 ad libitum, as the miser's maitre d'hotel in Moliere, who 
 appears alternately as coachman and as cook. Moreover, 
 she was not at Pisa at the time, unless astrally. 
 
 The children of Williams whose births are recorded 
 In the Diary attained to maturity. The son, Edward 
 Medwin, obtained, by Peacock's interest, a post in the 
 India House. He married, in December, 1848, Ellen, 
 eldest surviving daughter of Thomas and Susannah 
 Ebsworth, and left several children, among them J. W. 
 Williams, Esq., by whom this journal is now published, 
 and by whom the original MS., with other interesting 
 relics, was presented to the British Museum. The 
 daughter, Rosalind, familiarly known as Dina, married 
 Henry Sylvan Leigh, a son of Leigh Hunt, and was the 
 mother of several children now living. Mrs. Williams, 
 after some years, was united to Thomas Jefferson Hogg, 
 
 9 
 
 \\
 
 the biographer of Shelley : but when, in 1884, she her- 
 self was carried to the tomb, a small box was found, 
 the contents of which, by her injunction, were interred 
 along with her own remains at Kensal Green. The box 
 contained the ashes of Edward Ellerker Williams. 
 
 Something should be said of the illustrations accom- 
 panying this little volume. The portrait of Williams is 
 from a sketch made by himself, the original of which, 
 recovered from the wreck of the Don Juan, has been pre- 
 sented to the British Museum by Mr. J. W. Williams. 
 Williams was an excellent draughtsman, as his landscape 
 drawings evince ; and the resemblance to his descendants 
 leaves no doubt of this portrait's adequate presentment of 
 his frank and winning countenance. 
 
 The portrait of Mrs. Williams is from a photo- 
 graph, an excellent likeness in the opinion of those best 
 qualified to judge. There is another portrait by Clint 
 (a brother-in-law of Mrs. Williams), executed much 
 earlier probably about 1830. It is reproduced in Dr. 
 Guido Biagi's Last Days of Percy Byssbe Shelley, 
 j8 9 8. 
 
 The guitar depicted in the third illustration is, of 
 course, the famous instrument given by Shelley to Mrs. 
 Williams. Preserved with religious care by her and her 
 
 10
 
 daughter, Mrs. Lonsdale, until the latter's death, it then, 
 by the joint instrumentality of Mr. J. W. Williams and 
 Mr. E. W. Silsbee,* of Massachusetts, found its way to 
 the Bodleian Library, indicated as the most fitting recep- 
 tacle by being already the depository of the Shelley MSS, 
 and relics bequeathed by Lady Shelley. It was made at 
 Florence in 1816 by Ferdinando Bottari. The strings, it 
 is said, are such as could not now be made anywhere. 
 The back is mahogany, the finger-board ebony, the front 
 Swiss pine. Until this latter fadt became known, neither 
 the genesis, nor the full beauty and significance of the 
 poem could be properly apprehended. We now see how 
 the obvious thought of the imprisonment of the spirit of 
 music in the instrument combined with the material of 
 the latter to suggest Ariel's penance in the cloven pine;, 
 how easily Shelley's brilliant imagination identified him- 
 self with Ariel and Mrs. Williams with Miranda : and 
 
 * Mr. Silsbee was a most remarkable man ; much such an one 
 as Trelawny might have been if Trelawny could have been made 
 amiable and gracious without parting with any of his native force. 
 He had travelled far and thought much. A grizzled, weatherbeatenr 
 reteran of fine physique, his discourse was mainly of poetry and 
 art, on both of which he would utter deeper sayings than are often 
 to be found in print. He was the most enthusiastic critic of Shelley 
 the present writer has- known, but also the most acute and discrimi-' 
 nating. 
 
 II
 
 hence the birfh bf the" charming allegory Which could not 
 have existed if Shelley had fulfilled his original intention 
 of giving Mrs. Williams a harp, or if the instrument he 
 substituted had not been partly made of pine wood. 
 
 In preparing this journal for the preas^ some few cir- 
 cumstances have been omitted, which appeared altogether 
 too insignificant for publication ; and it has been necessary 
 to pass over others ^-not numerous or apparently of much 
 importance on account of the illegibility of the MS* 
 from the fading of the ink, caused by its immersion in 
 the wreck of the Don Juan. Initials have occasionally 
 been filled up. In other respects the manuscript is 
 printed exadtly as the writer left it; 
 
 R GARNETT.
 
 Journal of Edward Ellerker Williams 
 
 " I propose from this day to keep an exact journal of my 
 actions and studies, both to assist my memory and to accustom me 
 to set a due value on my time." 
 
 Introduction to Gibbon's Journal. 
 
 Sunday , October 21 st, 1821. I have for some time 
 past had it in my mind to keep a memorandum of my 
 actions, and now feel great pleasure in commencing this 
 book. While certain events of my life are yet fresh in 
 my memory, I shall place them as under the head of 
 occurrences of this day ; for they have vividly occupied 
 my thoughts, which have wandered over the countries 
 we have passed through, and the mountains we have 
 crossed ; and I have found the fields of the one as fertile 
 and green, and the rocks of the other as awful and sterile 
 as the scenes themselves. 
 
 It was a delightful moment to us, when Jane and 
 I looked back at the retiring cliffs of England as 
 they vanished in the blue haze of evening, while our 
 vessel flew over the waves that bore us towards Dieppe. 
 We seemed, as it were, to be flying from ourselves 
 from a life which promised nothing in the perspective but 
 misery, to one of peace and the enjoyment of our days ; 
 
 '3
 
 and up to this moment nothing has occurred to cloud 
 the sunshine of that happiness which the prow of our 
 vessel seemed to point to, and the feelings of those 
 moments to predict. 
 
 Passing through Dieppe, Rouen, and Versailles, we 
 arrived at Paris. Here we were met by my friend C., 
 with whom my youth had grown up, and with whom I 
 trust my age will go down. He had engaged lodgings 
 for us in the Rue Chanson, where we remained till Paris 
 no longer afforded us any novelty to detain us novelties 
 which left so little impression, that in vain do I attempt 
 to recolle6t them, and, determined to look for those 
 which nature affords, we set off for Switzerland. 
 
 We had already arrived as far as Dole, having 
 stopped some days at Troyes and Dijon, when by the 
 persuasions of a gentleman with whom we became ac- 
 quainted at some inn on the road, we were induced to 
 strike from the direft road and follow him to Lons-le- 
 Saulnier, a clean little town and capital of the Jura. We 
 stayed at this place three weeks, and were so charmed 
 with the scenery and the quietness and retirement of the 
 spot, that at one time we had serious thoughts of 
 settling 4< on the sunny side" of one of its numberless 
 hills. This feeling, however, was overcome by the 
 restlessness natural to young travellers, and we proceeded 
 through a wild and romantic country, sometimes crossing 
 the valley and at others winding slowly in a crazy 
 machine through the narrow passes of the mountains, 
 precipices yawning beneath us, and rocks rising one above 
 the other over our heads, till we arrived at St. Claude,
 
 and eventually at Geneva. Here a year passed in the 
 utmost tranquillity and happiness, and on Sunday, the 
 7th February, 1820, at half-past six in the morning, my 
 eldest child, Edward Medwin,* was born, and christened 
 by the Rev. Mr. Rooke, in June following. I pass over 
 the details of this year ; it was passed in as much enjoy- 
 ment as I believe is permitted to mortals, or this life to 
 bestow. From a number of circumstances, prudential 
 motives being, perhaps, the strongest, we proposed to quit 
 Geneva for the winter, and try the South of France. 
 
 A Mr. T[relawny], whom I met at Sir John St. 
 [Aubyn's], hearing of our intentions, took us in his 
 carriage as far as Chalons-sur-Saone, where we remained 
 at the Hotel du Pare for two months, but, unable to 
 settle ourselves, we proceeded to Lyons, Avignon, and 
 Orange, the gradual increase of warmth inviting us on- 
 ward, as moths to a candle flame, till the sea at Marseilles 
 put a stop to our progress ; but this was only a momentary 
 check. An English vessel then under sail in the har- 
 bour for Leghorn was too strong a temptation, and we 
 actually found ourselves in Italy ; awoke as it were from 
 a dream, and with much the same sensations as wandering 
 Arabs must experience, when they find suddenly a spot 
 of green in the desert. I ;could wish that the omission 
 of the miseries which poor Jane experienced on the road 
 from Lyons would teach me to forget them, but the 
 mind is not so easily to be cheated. They have, happily,, 
 passed, and she is recovered safely from them. 
 
 * Edward Medwin Williams died on 23rd December, 1897, at 
 Henley-on-Thames. February 7, 1820, fell on a Saturday. 
 
 15
 
 On the 1 3th of January, 1821, we landed from the 
 ship, and found our friend M[edwin] at Pisa, who in- 
 troduced us to the family of S[helley]. Shortly after our 
 settlement at Pisa, our second child was born a little 
 girl. It was about 9 o'clock in the evening, on the 
 Friday, the i6th of March, 1821, that I heard of this 
 event, having retired to S[helley]'s to avoid the confusion 
 and feelings such scenes occasion. M[ar]y brought me 
 the news. 
 
 As the weather grew warmer and as spring advanced, 
 we looked out for a place to pass the summer, and decided 
 upon this, where I am now writing, the beautiful villa 
 of Marchese Poschi, at Pugnano, about seven miles and 
 a half from Pisa. I passed the first three months of my 
 retirement here in the composition of a play, called "The 
 Promise, or a Year, a Month, and a Day," and on the 
 30th July sent it home to my friend C., to present it 
 for representation at one of the principal theatres. He 
 tells me he is much pleased with it, but as yet has not 
 sent me the manager's answer. S. tells me, if they accept 
 it, he has great hopes of its success before an audience, 
 and his hopes always enliven mine. 
 
 Sunday Evening, October "2.1st. The S 's dined here. 
 . . . He says that many of the Greeks who were at 
 the memorable battle, or rather glorious retreat, of Bucha- 
 rest, are now passing through Pisa, on their way (through 
 Austria) to the Morea, and are allowed two livres a day 
 by the Tuscan Government, during their stay in these 
 dominions. A noble action, and one that betrays a feeling 
 which I am delighted to find among a people with whom 
 
 16
 
 I am likely to pass some years. What a contrast is the 
 generous conduft of this little State, to the cowardly and 
 underhanded means which England is now pursuing to 
 undermine their cause a cause which it is the interest 
 of every Englishman to uphold, the cause of liberty and 
 the rights of man ! It is worthy of remark that a Greek 
 priest, unable to repress his emotions during this retreat, 
 seized a sword from the grasp of one of his dying country- 
 men, and rushing into the Turkish ranks performed pro- 
 digies of valour ; and causing a panic amongst the troops, 
 whom he scattered on all sides, actually cut his way to an 
 Austrian outpost, to whom, tired with slaughter, he 
 delivered himself ! A detachment of Turks was sent to 
 demand him ; and being given to their custody, and with- 
 in a very short distance of the Turkish army, having in 
 some manner regained his strength, he attacked his guards 
 and again escaped, but, unhappily, relied too fully on 
 Austrian generosity. These wretches were barbarous 
 enough to give the poor fellow bound to his enemies, 
 under whose hands he died, in the fine spirit of his fore- 
 fathers, after three days of savage and unparalleled torture. 
 May the blood of the Grecian martyr be as an offering to 
 God to defend their cause ! 
 
 Monday, October 22nd y 1821. Read Lord Byron's 
 " Doge of Venice." Am much disappointed. Some fine 
 lines scattered throughout, and the language deep and 
 flowing but the whole excites no interest. If it is in 
 imitation of Alfieri, Alfieri offers no model for the English 
 drama, with which Lord Byron seems to find great fault
 
 without promising to mend it. In the last scene of the 
 Fifth A6T, is a sad want of unity, for in the 3rd scene the 
 execution is supposed to have taken place, and is again 
 readied for the spectators. 
 
 The third, fourth, and fifth cantos of " Don Juan " 
 are sublime. The return of the father [Lambro], in the 
 third ; and the description of the palace, &c., in the fifth 
 are particularly fine. Lord B. is expected at Pisa in a few 
 days, S. having taken a house for him. 
 
 Did an Italian lesson with C[lair]e, who is now 
 staying with us. She told me that a Signora Tantini, a 
 friend of hers, being in want of a servant, applied to a sort 
 offattore, a native of Lucca, who recommended his 
 brother to the lady's notice ; and upon her enquiry for his 
 character, " Oh ! " said he, " my angel, be in no fear of 
 that he is a fine young man (un bravo giovane\ and 
 though not yet twenty years of age, has already given 
 three stabs ! " 
 
 Tuesday , October iifd. Jane and myself go to Pisa 
 to look for lodgings for the winter, and looking through 
 a very fine house, the man who was showing it, taking 
 Jane mysteriously aside, said by way of commendation, 
 "Si rammenta, Signora, che ha la scala segreta." A very 
 necessary accommodation for an Italian lady, but not 
 having any temptations for us we could not come to 
 terms. 
 
 Wednesday, October 2$th. Rain all day. Read an 
 Italian lesson with Claire. Employed revising the Jew 
 scene, and others of Act 3rd, of the Promise. 
 
 18
 
 Thursday^ October 2.$th. Fine. Walked with Jane 
 and Claire to the Baths. Were met by a ragged, wild- 
 looking man, who with many strange gestures and low 
 bowings, approached us, holding out a paper to Jane (on 
 which many figures seemed mysteriously written), saying, 
 " la prenda, la prenda ! " From his emphatic manner she 
 was about to comply, when Claire begged of her for God's 
 sake not to touch it ; and afterwards explained that it is 
 the custom of this ignorant and superstitious people to 
 strew pieces of paper, flowers, and other things, upon the 
 bodies of their dying sick, in order that they may become 
 impregnated with the disease, which being communicated 
 to another, the fever is diminished by the division of the 
 infection ! A heretic is, of course, the fittest person on 
 whom to practice this humane do&rine, and this was 
 doubtless an effort to make the experiment on Jane. 
 Went on from the Baths to Pisa. The Shelleys go into 
 their new house. Returned late, after having seen all the 
 houses without being able to settle on one. 
 
 Friday r , October 2.6th. Fine. Feel unsettled, and 
 consequently idle. Looked into many books, but could 
 not confine myself to any one. 
 
 " Like a child at a feast 
 That but sips of a sweet and then flies to the rest." 
 
 It has been one of those warm sunny days that exhila- 
 rates the spirits, and invites one abroad to seek amuse- 
 ment and instruction in the immensity of Nature's works, 
 and unfits one for paying a proper attention to books. 
 Hazlitt says, " We are always at home with Nature. 
 
 19 c 2
 
 There is neither hypocrisy, caprice, nor mental reservation 
 in her favours. A rose is always sweet, a lily is always 
 beautiful ; we do not hate the one nor envy the other. 
 
 " To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 
 
 " The daisy, that first strikes the child's eye in trying 
 to leap over his own shadow, is the same flower that with 
 timid upward glance implores the grown man not to 
 tread upon it." 
 
 S. says he always " writes best in the air, under a 
 tree, in a garden, or on the bank of a river ; there is an 
 undivided spirit which reigns, abroad, a mutual harmony 
 among the works of Nature, that makes him better 
 acquainted with himself and them." This I feel in an 
 eminent degree, and had I passed a day in a city, as I 
 have done this one in this beautiful spot, I should accuse 
 myself of having lost, rather than gained, a day, by not 
 having applied to any kind of improvement which books 
 afford. 
 
 As a poet, Shelley is certainly the most imaginative of 
 the day, and if he applied himself to human affections, he 
 would be the greatest. His greatest fault is ignorance of 
 his own worth. He asked me yesterday what name he 
 should fix to the drama he is now engaged with. I pro- 
 posed Hellas, which he will adopt. I mention the cir- 
 cumstance, as I was proud at being asked the question, 
 and more so that the name pleased him. 
 
 Sunday^ October 28M. Fine. Mary comes to dinner. 
 Revise the Promise, and read a little, feel confused from 
 
 20
 
 an inundation of thoughts, that seem to have no associa- 
 tion with the others, and am therefore accused from bad 
 spirits of bad humour. 
 
 Monday^ October igtk. Walked with Jane to Ron- 
 cioni's garden. The late rains have, in a slight degree, 
 altered the face of the country the leaves of the mountain 
 trees, and the early alders, poplars, &c., of the plains are 
 assuming a yellow tint, but in other respects the verdure 
 of the banks and the numberless flowers that " paint the 
 meadows with delight " remind one of spring, though the 
 spirits are less buoyant than with the promise of summer 
 before one. 
 
 Youth is Spring, and Age the Autumn of life. It 
 may be said there is no Summer or Winter in man ; they 
 are only anticipated. When young we are ever looking 
 forward to the summer of our lives, but are seldom willing 
 to acknowledge its arrival until it has really passed, and 
 then we prepare for winter, which is only avowed in the 
 grave. I never met an old man who declared he felt 
 himself so, or that could endure to think that others 
 thought so. It is ever spring with us till we are fifty, 
 and autumn till we are a hundred. I have been led into 
 this reflection by always meeting in our walks to this 
 beautiful place the father of the gardener, whose antique 
 appearance might warrant the supposition that he and 
 the oldest chestnut of the forest were planted together. 
 Not considering his age, he is ever employed in doing 
 nothing, and, if I had suffered him, would have broken 
 his neck to have got at some grapes ; still remembering 
 
 21
 
 his youth, and memory and mind outlasting the frame's 
 decay. 
 
 Wednesday, October 31^, 1821. Fine. Mary writes 
 informing us that Webb has consented to let us have his 
 house on the terms at first proposed, and encloses two 
 letters one from Mrs. C[levelan]d, and the other from 
 Trelawny, at Geneva. Go to Pisa after dinner, and give 
 directions about the furniture. Return late. 
 
 Friday , November 2nd. After dinner walk with Jane 
 to the summit of Monte Maggiore. We were met near 
 the top by a man with an ass, upon which Jane mounted. 
 Having no money about me, I told the man, when 
 he passed Pugnano, to call, and that I would pay him 
 for his kindness ; but he replied, it was not worth the 
 trouble, for he seldom went that way. The northern 
 aspecl: of the mountain presents a dreary contrast to that 
 which faces the sun, the tree on the first being already 
 leafless and bare, and the last luxuriant with vegetation. 
 On the one side parties of peasants are employed, pick- 
 ing up the chestnuts from among the heaps of fallen 
 dead leaves, and on the other they are seen scattered 
 amidst the thick foliage, plucking the beautiful fruits 
 of the arbutus, that hang in wild profusion (like large 
 round strawberries) from the pendant boughs. I have 
 read of such scenes, but never before witnessed one 
 like this, which was perfected by hearing at intervals 
 the soft, sweet pipe of a shepherd boy from a distant 
 mountain. 
 
 22
 
 Saturday, November %rd. Fine, but clouds. Packed 
 and sent most of the things to Pisa. Read in the even- 
 ing to Jane. It is a singular fa6l that the sun never sets 
 upon the British dominions. Before his last rays leave 
 the spires of Quebec, his morning beams have shone 
 three hours on Port Jackson, New Holland ; and while 
 sinking from the waters of Lake Superior, his eye opens 
 upon the mouth of the Ganges. The Roman Empire, 
 in all its glory, contained 120,000,000 souls, one half 
 of whom were slaves. The British Empire, in its 
 present state, contains about 95,220,000 souls, all of 
 whom are freemen. In the scale of nations she is, then, 
 the greatest in the world. 
 
 Sunday, November ^.th. Cloudy, with intervals of 
 sunshine. Despatch the remainder of our things, and 
 quit Pugnano, on a visit to S., at Pisa. Arrived at 2. 
 The Guiccioli returns with Jane and Mary, who call on 
 her in the evening. Lord Byron arrived on Thursday. 
 His Cain, Shelley says, is second to nothing of the kind. 
 
 Monday, November $th. Shelley read me some 
 passages of his Hellas, which are very fine, and his trans- 
 lation of the only Greek farce which has been handed 
 down to us [the Cyclop]. In the evening S. introduced 
 me to Lord Byron, on whom we called. So far from his 
 having haughtiness of manners, they are those of the 
 most unaffected and gentlemanly ease j and so far from his 
 being (as is generally imagined) wrapt in melancholy 
 and gloom, he is all sunshine and good humour. On
 
 our taking leave, he took up a book from the table, say- 
 ing, " I will lend you others to-morrow ; in the meantime 
 you will find something in the Annuaire Historique 
 Universe! to amuse you, besides the general matter it 
 contains, for at the end it takes infinite pains to prove 
 that I am the devil." Such is ever the reward of exalted 
 geniuses, and an author in the present times may almost 
 be valued in proportion as the abuse of the world increases. 
 S. and L. B. afford proofs of this among those who are 
 living, and among the dead they are numberless. 
 
 Tuesday, November 6th. Commence writing out for 
 S. a fair copy of his Hellas. In the evening Lord B. 
 calls, with Countess G. and her brother. Told us of 
 a singular accusation against him that he has gained 
 ,500 by writing puffs for Day and Martin's blacking. 
 
 Wednesday^ November Jth. Call ,on Lord B., by 
 appointment, to practice pistol shooting, but on application 
 to the Governor all firing within the city walls is for- 
 bidden. He lends me a small pamphlet now printing, 
 called "Some Observations," but upon S.'s recommenda- 
 tion does not intend to publish it.* 
 
 Thursday, November Stb. Fine. Rose early and 
 went out shooting with Count G. and his sons. Shot a 
 few larks, but did not see a single head of game. 
 
 On our arrival at a large plain about two miles from 
 the city, where a number of larks were flying about in 
 
 * It does not appear to what these observations referred. 
 24
 
 flocks, I was surprised to see one of these young Counts, 
 after loading his gun, take a young owl from a large 
 pocket (which was stuffed up with tow for wadding), 
 which as the larks approached he threw into the air, 
 and the flock immediately swept fearlessly down to 
 within a few yards of us, and this I am told is always the 
 practice in shooting small birds in this country, they are 
 lured to the owl as he sits on some clod, and will actually 
 settle around him ; a small piece of stick at the end of a 
 short string is attached to his legs to prevent his taking 
 too long a flight ; a call is also used, which they use con- 
 tinually whistling, and by this means kill great numbers. 
 Continue writing in the evening. Mr. Taaffe calls. 
 
 Friday^ November gth. Fine, but a sharpness in the 
 air, I haven't felt before. Continue writing and finish. 
 In the evening S. reads aloud " The Vision of Judgment,'* 
 a satirical poem of Lord B.'s, a sublime composition, 
 which displays the greatness of his genius above any other 
 of his works ; but I am in doubt if it can be published, or 
 rather I fear no publisher can be found for it in these times. 
 
 Saturday, November loth. Finish the notes and pre- 
 face to Hellas. ... If such a poem becomes popular, 
 we may flatter ourselves with having advanced a step 
 towards improvement and perfection in all things, moral 
 and political. 
 
 Sunday, November nth. In the evening S. proposes- 
 to me to assist him in a continuation of the translation 
 
 25
 
 of Spinoza's Theologico-political trail, to which Lord B. 
 has consented to put his name, and to give it greater 
 currency, will write the life of that celebrated Jew to 
 preface the work. 
 
 Monday, November I2tb. S. and I commenced 
 Spinoza, that is to say, I write while he dictates. Write 
 from page 178 to 188. 
 
 Tuesday, November iyh. Write fifteen pages. S. 
 talks of printing here. 
 
 Wednesday, November i^.th. Four and a half pages. 
 Walk with Jane, and find Medwin on our arrival at home, 
 who left Geneva on the 23rd. 
 
 Sunday , November iSth. S. reads to Medwin his 
 " Essay on Poetry." 
 
 Monday, November igth. Call on Lord B. Have a 
 long argument with him about women, in which Shelley 
 tells me that he lost ground. However, experience has 
 not taught him to say much in their favour. 
 
 Sunday, November list. Fine. Cloudy. Walk 
 with Jane. Call on Lord B. and return Parry's work, in 
 exchange for " The Mission to Ashantee." Walk with 
 M., and meet Lord B. and his party, with whom we prac- 
 tice pistol-shooting an excellent shot. Take up 
 " Clarke's Travels in Scandinavia." He seems to work by 
 
 26
 
 square and rule, and writes by the yard, sawing through 
 nations as a carpenter through deal. 
 
 Thursday, November 22nd, Cloudy. Read some of 
 " The Mission to Ashantee," and do an Italian lesson. 
 Took up Mr. Michael's " Journey from Moscow to Con- 
 tantinople." The account of his visit to Petra and the 
 tomb of Aaron are very interesting, but more so from 
 the difficulties they encountered to get there, than any 
 description of the place itself. Walk with Jane and M., 
 and join Lord B.'s party, with whom we practice pistol- 
 shooting. S. shot best, and I very ill. 
 
 Friday, November 2yd. Rain and mist. Revise a 
 little, and read different works with S. and M. Hear 
 from Harvey: his comedy is rejected by the managers, but 
 he intends persevering with his tragedy. Read part of 
 Barry Cornwall's " Marcian Colonna " a poem formed 
 of the words of almost every living author, and strung 
 unintelligibly together. His " Dramatic Sketches " are 
 the best of his works, but these, as Jane says, seem 
 addressed to birds. 
 
 Thursday, November 2()tb. Cloudy. Rise early, and 
 S. accompanies us to Leghorn. 
 
 While S. was waiting for the carriage, standing at a 
 shop- door in the Via Grande, a well-dressed but vulgar 
 Italian, approaching, asked if he might be allowed to 
 address a few words to him. " Certainly," said S. 
 " Then, Sir," said he, " as you seem to be a stranger in 
 
 27
 
 this country, and would probably be happy to find any 
 one who could judiciously point out its many classical 
 and natural beauties, if you will give me ten thousand 
 crowns a year, I will undertake to be your companion and 
 guide ; every wish of your heart shall be anticipated, and 
 every sense gratified in its turn j nay you shall enjoy those 
 pleasures now unknown to you." 
 
 " For how much ?" said S. seriously. " Ten thou- 
 sand crowns, Sir, for which you will be disburthened from 
 all care, a carriage at your command will be ever in readi- 
 ness, a sumptuous table will be provided for you, and you 
 will be introduced to the first families, and enter into 
 
 every fashionable gaiety in short " The carriage 
 
 now arrived, and S., stepping into it, said, " I thank you 
 for your polite and generous offer, but my means are pro- 
 portionate to my wishes, which are both extremely mode- 
 rate, and " " Sir," said the man, " I know to the 
 
 contrary " He was about to continue when we 
 
 drove off. 
 
 Returned to dinner with S. at 6 o'clock, rain on the 
 way home. 
 
 Friday, November ^Oth. Cloudy. Walk with Jane, 
 and purchase plate, furniture, &c. M[edwin] calls, and 
 we revise a little. He dines here, and in the evening 
 Taaffe calls. He told us a singular instance of presenti- 
 ment. 
 
 The captain of Lord Keith's ship, which was lying 
 in Leghorn Harbour, was a man of a very lively turn of 
 mind, and few of the common accidents of life could turn 
 
 28
 
 him from his natural gaiety. Being, however, on a visit 
 to a Mr. Fellichi, at Pisa, he felt a considerable depression 
 of spirits, which being noticed to him, he endeavoured in 
 vain to shake off, observing to Mr. F. that he felt as if 
 he " were going to be hanged." Having in this mood 
 retired to bed, he was awoke by a messenger from Leg- 
 horn, saying the ship was on fire. Not a moment was 
 lost. He repaired on board, and succeeded in working 
 her out of the harbour, but at 10 o'clock the flames 
 reached the magazine, in spite of every effort. He, with 
 his crew of 700 men, were blown to atoms. A young 
 midshipman, struck by the noble example of his captain, 
 followed him on board to perish with him, giving a boat- 
 man a draft for ^60 on Mr. Fellichi to put him alongside 
 his ship. 
 
 Sunday, December 2nd. Pistol shooting. Lord B. 
 hit, at the distance of twelve yards, the bull's eye four 
 times, and the half-crown three. The last shot struck 
 the piece of money so exaftly in the centre, that it was 
 afterwards found with the ball enclosed within it, the 
 sides being drawn to the centre like a three-cornered 
 cocked hat. 
 
 Monday , December yd. S. hits the half-crown. 
 
 Thursday, December 6th. Cloudy, with small rain 
 and cold. Walk with Jane in the morning. She and 
 Mary call on the Contessa in the evening fetch them at 
 ten. Taaffe calls. He told me, when he called on the 
 
 29
 
 great modern poet Monti, his wife told him that he must 
 excuse being ushered into Signer Monti's bedroom, but 
 that he had gone to bed for the winter. This is adtually 
 his custom. Three sides of his bed are fitted up with 
 books like a library, a table with short legs is fitted to his 
 chest, and with the exception of about two hours in the 
 day (when he is at the Opera), he passes the rest in this 
 manner, sleeping only for two or three hours in the twenty- 
 four, and that not at any stated times. His works are 
 numerous, and his poetry of the first order. 
 
 Friday, December i\th. In the evening went to S., 
 who read aloud a poem of Lord B.'s, which he had only 
 finished the day before. It is called " Heaven and Earth, 
 a Mystery." 
 
 Thursday, December loth. Cloudy. Strong gales 
 from the south. S. and I sail furiously against a violent 
 current for a considerable distance up the Arno. The 
 storm, however, increasing, we reached the shore only just 
 in time. 
 
 Learn that the English, by every paltry means in 
 their power, are striving to overthrow the cause of Greece. 
 Instead of being any longer the most exalted of nations, 
 she is surely becoming the most degraded. 
 
 Passed the evening at S.'s. He read aloud " Chau- 
 cer's Dream," a poem of the finest feeling. 
 
 Friday, December list. Lord B. told me that he 
 had commenced a tragedy from Miss Lee's German tale 
 [Werner], and had been fagging at it all day. 
 
 3
 
 Wednesday^ December 26th. Violent wind, with 
 wind and sleet. A hat having blown into the river, a 
 poor fellow volunteered to fetch it in a small boat, but 
 was almost instantly carried down by a whirlpool, and 
 neither man nor boat have since been heard of. 
 
 Friday, December 2%th. Tempestuous weather. 
 Read some of the old plays. Called on Lord B. 
 
 His friend, Mr. H[obhous]e, having had occasion to 
 speak of some gentleman, who was quite a stranger to 
 him, said a Mr. S. had called on him, &c., which on 
 coming to the gentleman's ears, he thought proper to take 
 offence at being styled a Mr. S., and in this mood 
 entered Mr. H.'s apartment desiring of him an explana- 
 tion. Horace Twiss was in company at the time, and 
 after hearing the gentleman's complaint, with the greatest 
 coolness turned to him and said, " Oh, sir, perhaps it is 
 the indefinite article you objecl: to, it is your wish I see to 
 be known as the Mr. S." Quite confounded the gentle- 
 man left the room without uttering a word. 
 
 Sunday^ December %Qth. S. is thinking of a tragedy 
 to be founded on the story of Timon of Athens, but 
 adapted to modern times. An admirable theme for him. 
 
 Wednesday^ January 2nd. Heard of Polidori's 
 suicide, which was effected by a subtle poison of his own 
 composition. Three things which Byron would do that 
 P. could not do hit the keyhole with a pistol, swim, 
 across the river, and give P. a d d good thrashing.
 
 Thursday, "January yd. Fine. Write all the 
 morning. Call on Lord B., and find him sitting for his 
 bust to Bartolini. Walked with Jane and Mary. Heard 
 from Mrs. C[levelan]d, and on our return found an in- 
 vitation from the nobility of Pisa to a grand ball to be held 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Pass the evening with Mary. 
 
 Friday, January \th. Heard of the death of one of 
 the young princes of Saxony, who was on a visit to his 
 sister, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany. His death was 
 caused by having caught a fever from his servant, into 
 whose room he ventured to inquire for his health, and 
 expired in thirty hours afterwards. This event has put 
 an end to the festivities. 
 
 Saturday, "January ^th. Cloudy and rain. Colder 
 to-day than it has hitherto been. Wrote a little, and 
 read the account of Mr. Mariner's detention among the 
 people of the Tonga Islands, a most interesting work. 
 Called on Lord B. In a letter from Moore, he says, 
 " Do not be surprised at the success of Marino Faliero on 
 the French stage, for it is said that no less a personage 
 than Louis Dix buitres traduced it into that language." 
 Played at billiards with S. almost the whole day. Mary 
 and M. dine with us. 
 
 Sunday, January 6th. Rain in the early part of the 
 morning, clear about noon and fine. 
 
 32
 
 Read aloud to Jane " Mariner's account of the Tonga 
 Islands," a people in whom the extremes of virtue and 
 vice are strangely mingled. It is a book, of all others, 
 that gives the best knowledge of human nature. 
 
 Dine with S.'s, walked with Mary and Jane, and 
 afterwards played with S. at billiards till evening, when 
 Lord B. came in. He has received letters from a 
 mechanic at Bologna, signed by a number of professors of 
 the University there, calling upon him to lend his name 
 and pecuniary assistance to the furthering of the projec- 
 tion of a machine, with which a man, by the aid of wings, 
 is to elevate himself to any height in short to fly. The 
 whole is to be worked by steam ^ "and the weight of the 
 engine is not considered any impediment. A small body 
 has already been raised by a similar mechanism, and made 
 to fly round the room, but I have very great doubt if a 
 body much beyond the weight of the largest bird can be 
 thus self-elevated, for it does not seem in such cases that 
 the scale of proportion holds good experimentally. 
 
 Pass the evening with Mary, and after a conversation 
 with S., have serious thoughts of taking in hand a steam 
 yacht to work between Leghorn and Genoa, an undertak- 
 ing that promises great advantages. 
 
 Tuesday, January $th. Mary read to us the two 
 first acts of Lord B.'s Werner. . . . S. sat down to 
 Charles I. about five days since. It is exceedingly to be 
 regretted that Shelley does not meet with greater en- 
 couragement: a mind such as his, powerful as it is, 
 requires gentle leading. 
 
 33 D
 
 Wednesday, January gth. Receive a letter with 
 the following answer from Faucit, of Covent Garden 
 Theatre : " The proprietors of Covent Garden Theatre 
 request me to present their compliments to you, and to 
 return you thanks for the offer of your play called ' The 
 Promise,' which as a dramatic composition they consider 
 to abound with great poetical beauties, but as a drama 
 they are of opinion that it would fail in representation." 
 So much for my " Promise," which has proved like all 
 the promises of my youth, illusions all. Dined with Lord 
 B. He told me that during the composition of the 
 " Corsair," he was in a very low state of mind, turning 
 night into day, the sight of which he could not endure. 
 Completed the poem in ten nights, and almost without 
 correcting a line. " The Bride of Abydos," he wrote in 
 three days, but " Lara " cost him longer than any of the 
 others, having been composed on the return from several 
 parties during a very gay season of his life, when the allied 
 princes were in England. 
 
 Thursday, January loth. Call on Taaffe and con- 
 sult with him about the life of Celestine V. and Boniface 
 VIII., of whom I entertain serious thoughts of composing 
 a tragedy. Read the sketch of it to S., who is much 
 pleased with it, but does not think it would perform. 
 
 Friday, January nth. Write some of the first 
 scene of my play merely to try my hand. Call on Lord 
 B., and see Bartolini at work a fine bust.* 
 
 * Now in the possession of the Earl of Malmesbury. Lithographed 
 by Fromentin. 
 
 34
 
 The Countess G. calls, and Sgricci, the celebrated 
 improvisatore, passes the evening here. 
 
 Monday, January i^tb. Cloudy and cold, with 
 sleet. Continue writing and making notes. Read part 
 of my first scene to S., who discourages me from pro- 
 ceeding, assuring me that the subject is beyond my 
 powers, and so I think, but the attempt however unsuc- 
 cessful will at least be improving. Write a little and 
 read. Take Jane's letter to her mother to the post. 
 Trelawny arrives. 
 
 The Countess G[uiccioli] and her brother call. 
 
 Tuesday, January i$th. Trelawny called, and 
 brought with him the model of an American schooner, 
 on which it is settled with S. and myself to build a boat 
 thirty feet long, and T. writes to Roberts at Genoa to 
 commence on it direftly. 
 
 Saturday, January igth. Fine. Wrote till eleven. 
 Accompanied T. in his tilbury as before. Called on Lord 
 B. who wishes to have a boat on the model of ours now 
 building at Genoa, intending to enter into a competition 
 with us in sailing. Played with him till evening, dined 
 with S.'s and go to the new opera, Henry the Fifth, a dull 
 insipid concern. 
 
 Sunday, January 20th. Fine. Mary and Jane in 
 a carriage, and Trelawny and myself in the tilbury, pro- 
 ceed to Pugnano, and ascend a short distance up Monte 
 
 35 D 2
 
 Maggiore, where after a tiffin we practice firing at a half- 
 crown, which T. hits three times. Return about half 
 past four, and dine with the Shelleys on the side of a wild 
 boar which Captain Hay sent from the Maremma. Pass 
 the evening there. 
 
 Wednesday, January 2yd. Fine. S. breakfasts 
 here. I read to him a revision of the first scene of Boni- 
 face, which he tells me he reluctantly praises. Trelawny 
 called, and tying his horse to the knocker while he wrote 
 a note, the animal, trying to get away, broke the harness, 
 &c., and deprived us of our ride. Read Lord B.'s last 
 tragedy of Werner, a splendid production. Called on 
 Lord B., and walked with Mary and Jane. 
 
 Thursday, January 24-th. Cloudy, with slight rain. 
 Wrote a little. Finished Werner, a tragedy that is in my 
 opinion admirably adapted to the stage. Dined with 
 Lord B., and met there a Captain Scott, and the same 
 party as before. Lord B. receives a volume containing 
 " Sardanapalus," The Two Foscari," and Cain," the 
 first of his works, and the grandest production of the 
 kind since Milton. 
 
 Saturday, January 26th. S. sent us some beautiful 
 but too melancholy lines (" The Serpent is shut out from 
 Paradise," &c.). 
 
 Friday, January ist. Fine. Wrote a few lines. 
 Sat with Mary an hour or two, and afterwards walked 
 
 36
 
 with her and Jane to meet Lord B. Dined with the 
 Shelleys. Taaffe called and told me a curious story of a 
 Scotch sea captain being at Leghorn, and sitting for his 
 portrait to some celebrated Italian artist, begged of him to 
 introduce a view of the port in the background, and be- 
 yond that the sea with his ship under sail, the cabin 
 window open, and within tea things to be set on the 
 table, and then the poor painter in despair rushed out of 
 the room. 
 
 Saturday^ February 2nd. Fine warm day. Jane 
 accompanies Mary and S. to the seashore through the 
 Cascini. They return about three. 
 
 Tuesday^ February $th. T. wrote definitively to 
 Roberts. 
 
 Thursday, February jth. Fine. Left Pisa at eleven 
 with S. for Spezzia, in order to look for a summer resi- 
 dence. The Governor being absent, we departed without 
 any signature to our passports. Bad road for the most 
 part as far as Pietra Santa. At this place we suffered the 
 caleche to precede us, while we sauntered carelessly after 
 it to avoid the detention which the police would have 
 occasioned. The guard hailed the carriage, but suffered 
 us to pass unquestioned. The scenery from this place to 
 Massa is truly Arcadian. 
 
 On turning quick round an angle of the road, and 
 under the brow of a rugged and precipitous rock about 
 300 feet in height, I observed our vetturino doff his hat at 
 
 37
 
 a ruin, which left no trace of what it had formerly been. 
 The wildness of the spot led me to ask his reason, as I 
 could not imagine it had ever been a place of worship. 
 He said that, many ages since, four hunters being in chase 
 of a deer, they pursued her even to the edge of that pre- 
 cipice, imagining they were certain of their prey, when to 
 their utmost astonishment the poor animal made a slight 
 halt, and then desperately plunged from its pursuers into 
 the abyss, and came bounding headlong to the bottom, 
 and apparently unhurt continued its flight through the 
 forest that skirted the sea. The hunters considered it a 
 miracle, and a chapel was accordingly built on the spot, 
 called La Capella del cervo. A bronze cast was made of 
 the stag, and a picture of the same adorned the altar. 
 
 Friday, February 8tb. Fine. Grand and sublime 
 scenery. Left Massa at half past eight. Crossed the 
 Magra near Sarzana, and arrived at Spezzia at three 
 o'clock. At Sarzana we called on Mr. Lucciardi, to 
 whom Vacca had given us letters. He again introduced us 
 by these means to a Canon at Spezzia, who accompanied 
 us in a boat to the western shores of the bay, but without 
 offering the slightest hope that we could be accommo- 
 dated with a house or houses. We looked into every 
 hovel, but in vain. Dined and slept at Spezzia. 
 
 Saturday. February qth. Fine. Beautiful day. 
 Rose early and took boat for Lerici. On going ashore 
 to see some fishermen drag their net, an old man among 
 them said he knew of some houses, and would accompany 
 
 38
 
 us. He showed us many ; but two pleased us particularly. 
 Walked a long distance in search of others, but found no- 
 thing. Returned in the boat to Spezzia, and left that 
 place again for Sarzana, to enquire about the two houses 
 which we had seen. Arrived at Sarzana at six o'clock, 
 where we dined and slept. Aquila Nera, a clean inn 
 not very dear. 
 
 Sunday, February loth. Fine. Signor Luciardi 
 called and told us that Madame Catani's house was 
 positively not to be had, but that the one on the beach 
 would be let for 100 crowns a year. Went to Lerici in 
 the afternoon, and took a boat across the bay to see a 
 house opposite Porto Venere. Returned to Sarzana to 
 dinner, and slept there. 
 
 Monday^ February nth Fine. Left Sarzana at 
 nine o'clock. Arrived to dinner at Via-Reggio at three, 
 and at Pisa at 7. Dreadful road. 
 
 Tuesday ^ February I2th. Consulted with S. about a 
 new tragedy. T. called and brought with him R[obert]s* 
 drawing of Lord B's. boat. 
 
 Monday , February i$th. Jane unwell. S. turns 
 physician. Called on Lord B., who talks of getting up 
 Othello. Laid a wager with S. that Lord B. quits Italy 
 before six months. Jane put on a Hindostanee dress, 
 and passed the evening with Mary, who had also the 
 Turkish costume. 
 
 39
 
 Sunday, February i\th. Fine. Claire calls. Wrote 
 some lines. Read my first act to Medwin. Call on 
 Lord B., beat him at billiards, and played till evening 
 with Trelawny. The S.'s, M., and T. dine here. 
 
 Monday^ February 2$th. Fine. Claire leaves us for 
 Florence. Wrote out the first act of my new tragedy, 
 which I have called Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Walked 
 with Jane. Taaffe passed the evening. No man is 
 affronted with a joke that flatters his vanity. You may 
 with impunity call a man a villain ; but if you tell him 
 that his nose wants wiping, he will blow out your brains. 
 T. calls joking with a captious man smoking his cigar 
 over a barrel of gun-powder. 
 
 Saturday, March 2nd. Met S. in his boat. Sailed 
 back with him. 
 
 Sunday, March yd. Read part of my first adl to 
 S. He found some faults, but generally approved. 
 
 Friday, March 8th. Dined with Lord B. During 
 dinner S. repeated some of the finest lines of " Childe 
 Harold," and Lord B., after listening to a stanza, cried, 
 " Heavens, S., what infinite nonsense are you quoting ? " 
 
 Tuesday, March I2th. [Lord B. promises to write 
 a prologue and epilogue to W.'s play.] 
 
 Thursday, March \\th. S. and T. sailed in the 
 boat, and on our return, in passing the bridge, were hailed 
 
 40
 
 by the Custom House officers. Not, however, paying 
 any attention to them (we have frequently passed without 
 interruption), they seized the boat, threatened to imprison 
 our servant, and without our paying fifty livres they 
 declare it shall become their property. S. wrote to the 
 minister of police about it. [Boat ordered to be given 
 up.] 
 
 Wednesday^ March 2oth. Called on B. Kinnaird 
 did not think it necessary to present Lord B.'s challenge 
 to fight Southey, and therefore this contemptible affair is 
 dropped for the moment. Walked with Shelley along the 
 banks of the Arno. Took our writing materials, and 
 while S. translated Calderon's " Cyprian," I wrote some 
 revisions. 
 
 Thursday, March 2 1st. Fine. Wrote a few lines. 
 Trelawny called. He has heard from Roberts that S.'s 
 boat will be launched to-day. T. writes to R. to send her 
 round to Viareggio, when they will met her, and proceed 
 to Genoa to bring Lord B.'s schooner round. Mary and 
 Jane accompany T. and myself in the boat up the Arno. 
 Trelawny dined. Went to the theatre. Saw Charles 
 Xllth. A tolerable ador in Charles. 
 
 Sunday , March l\ih. Fine. Mary sends in, asking 
 us to accompany her to Viareggio, but are deterred from 
 going by finding the morning too far advanced to enable 
 us to return this evening. Walked with Trelawny and S. 
 upon the Argine. Called on Lord B. 
 
 41
 
 At home, writing till five o'clock. Went to dine at 
 S.'s, and after sitting for a considerable time waiting for 
 their return home, I was surprised at the lateness of the 
 evening. Trelawny at length came in, and told us that 
 Lord B.'s party, consisting of himself, Shelley, Captain 
 Hay, Count Gamba (the son), and Taaffe were riding, 
 and the Countess with Mrs. S., were behind in the 
 carriage, when a mounted dragoon dashed through 
 their party and touched Taaffe's horse as he passed, in an 
 insolent and defying manner. Lord B. put spurs to his 
 horse, saying that he should give some account of such 
 insolence. S.'s horse, however, was the fleetest, and 
 coming up to the dragoon he crossed and stopped him till 
 the party arrived, but they had now reached the gate 
 where a guard was stationed, and finding himself so well 
 supported, he drew his sword, and after abusing them all 
 as cursed English (maledetti Inglesi) began to cut and 
 slash to the right and left, and what signified it to him if 
 he had the blood of all the English robbers saying he 
 arrested them all. " Do that if you can," said Lord B., 
 and dashed through the guard with young Count Gamba, 
 and reached home to bring arms for what he expected 
 would turn to a serious scuffle. The dragoon, finding the 
 rest of the party intended to force their way, made a 
 desperate cut at Shelley, who took off his cap, and ward- 
 ing the blow from the sharp part of the sabre, the hilt 
 struck his head and knocked him from his horse; the 
 fellow was repeating a cut at S. when down, when Cap- 
 tain Hay parried with a cane he had in his hand, but the 
 sword cut it in two, and struck Captain H.'s face across 
 
 42
 
 the nose. A violent scene now took place, and the 
 dragoons tried to get into town and escape, when Lord B. 
 arrived, and half drawing a sword-stick to show that he 
 was armed, the fellow put up his sword and begged of 
 Lord B. to do the same. It was now dark, and after 
 walking a few paces with Lord B. he put his horse into a 
 gallop and endeavoured to get off, but on passing Lord B.'s 
 house, a servant had armed himself with a pitchfork, and 
 speared him as he passed. He fell from his horse and was 
 carried to the hospital. The wound is in the abdomen. 
 
 Trelawny had finished his story when Lord B. came 
 in, the Countess fainting on his arm, S. sick from the 
 blow, Lord B. and the young Count foaming with rage. 
 Mrs. S. looking philosophically upon this interesting scene, 
 and Jane and I wondering what the devil was to come 
 next. A surgeon came, and Lord B. took him with the 
 Countess home, where she was bled and soon came round. 
 Taaffe next entered, and after having given his deposition 
 at the Police Station, returned to us with a long face, say- 
 ing that the dragoon could not live out the night. All 
 soon sallied forth again to be the first to accuse, and 
 according to Italian policy not wait to be accused. All 
 again return, mutually recriminated and recriminating. 
 9 o'clock. The report already in circulation about Pisa is 
 that a party of peasants having risen in insurrection, made 
 an attack upon the guard, headed by some Englishmen, 
 that the guard maintained their ground manfully against 
 an awful number of the armed insurgents, that they were 
 at length defeated one Englishman, whose name was 
 Trelawny, left dead at the gate, and Lord B. mortally 
 
 43
 
 wounded, who is now telling me the tale and I drinking 
 brandy and water by his side. 
 
 Ten o'clock. How the attack ought to have been 
 conducted is now agitating. All appear to me to be 
 wrong. 1 1 o'clock disperse to our separate homes. 
 
 Monday^ March 2$tb. Cloudy. At 7 this morn- 
 ing an officer from the police called here, demanding 
 my name, country, profession, and requesting to have 
 an account of my actions between the hours of 6 
 and 8 yesterday evening. My servants told him I 
 was then asleep, but that they could inform him that 
 I was engaged in a very bloody scene between those 
 hours. 
 
 " Then he must come to the Police office." " Ask 
 him," said I, " if I am to bring the scene or the whole 
 play as far as I have written." 12 o'clock S. calls. The 
 wounded dragoon much worse. Hear that the soldiers 
 are confined to their barracks, but they swear to be re- 
 venged on some of us. The Countess G. better, as well 
 as Captain Hay. A report is now abroad that Taaffe is 
 the assassin, and is now confined in Lord B.'s house, 
 guarded by bull-dogs, &c., to avoid the police. This he 
 overheard himself while walking down the Lung Arno. 
 T. and I think it necessary to go armed. A skate strap 
 is therefore substituted for a pistol belt, and my pistols so 
 slung to T.'s waist. 
 
 2. Sallied forth very much stared and pointed at. 
 Called on Lord B. Heard that extreme unction had been 
 administered to the dragoon, whose wound is considered 
 
 44
 
 mortal. A deposition is drawn up, and sent with all the 
 signatures concerned to the Police. 
 
 The Grand Duke expected to-night. 
 
 4 o'clock. The dragoon dying. Half-past 4. All 
 armed with sword-sticks, pistols, &c., mount as usual 
 amidst a great crowd that surround the door. Nothing 
 new on their return except a great crowd to see them 
 dismount.* 
 
 10 o'clock. T. called here after having been with 
 Lord B. The dragoon much worse. 
 
 The Grand Duke arrived. 
 
 Tuesday, March 1.6th. Cloudy. I hurry to break- 
 fast. S. received a note from a lady last night, desiring 
 him not to venture near her house after dark, for the 
 friends of the dragoon were on the look out for him, 
 although they did not consider him as most to blame. 
 
 The young Gamba joined a party of gossips that had 
 collected round a spezeria, and joining in the conversation 
 as if he had been unconcerned in the business, said it was 
 a pity that a man was so dangerously wounded. " Ah, 
 the only pity is," said a fellow, " that in ten days the 
 affair will be forgotten and the cursed English will go 
 abroad as secure as ever." 
 
 Jane's music master comes and informs us that the 
 
 * Mrs. Shelley says, " The Pisans were all enraged because 
 the maledetti Inglesi were not punished, yet when the gentlemen 
 returned from their ride the following day, an immense crowd was 
 assembled before the Casa Lanfranchi, and they all took their hats 
 off to them." 
 
 45
 
 report is the dragoon is better, but raves like a madman 
 against the English. 
 
 1 1 o'clock. Called on T. previous to going to Captain 
 Hay's, met there Vacca who had just quitted his patient, 
 the dragoon. V. thinks him better, but not out of danger. 
 The man's story is thafr he was held by one of Lord B.'s 
 servants, while the other stabbed him, and that he should 
 not have drawn his sword had he not been horsewhipped 
 by some one of the party. This was strongly denied by 
 us to Vacca, who seemed to view the thing in a most 
 unfavourable light, and declares that in any court of 
 justice he could swear conscientiously that the wound was 
 given with a stiletto having three sides like a bayonet. 
 
 Called on Captain Hay with T. Found him doing 
 well, but his face is much cut and bruised. On our 
 mentioning to him what we considered a falsehood in the 
 dragoon having said he was struck, Hay confirmed the 
 facl: by saying the young Count Gamba cut him with 
 his whip as he passed. The affair consequently takes a 
 serious turn in the man's favour. 
 
 3 o'clock. Called on Lord B. The police had 
 only proceeded so far as to require the evidence of his 
 courier. Suspicion as to the person who really stabbed 
 the dragoon much excited. Nothing else new. They 
 ride as usual. 
 
 7 o'clock. The wound neither better nor worse. 
 Trelawny dined with us, and Mary passed the evening. 
 It is a singular circumstance that an affair of a similar 
 nature occurred to one of this man's brothers, and having 
 been cured of a wound which he had received in a scuffle, 
 
 46
 
 he waited concealed for the person whom he suspefted, 
 stabbed him to the heart and flung him into the river ! 
 
 Wednesday^ March 2jth. Fine. The man better 
 than yesterday, and hopes are entertained. It is T.'s 
 opinion that on recovery this man will demand the satis- 
 faction of a gentleman^ and some of the most respectable 
 Italians think that it ought not to be refused to him. T. 
 breakfasted here, and we afterwards went to the post to- 
 gether. A letter from Roberts informs us that the boat 
 will not be finished in less than 12 or 14 days. 
 
 On our way met the young Count Gamba with a 
 deposition from a gentleman of the name of Crawford, who 
 from a balcony had seen Lord B. return. He says, that 
 Lord B. did not dismount from his horse, but called to 
 the servants from the door. They brought him a walking- 
 stick with which he returned to meet the dragoon, who 
 on seeing him put out his hand which Lord B. accepted, 
 demanding his name. At this moment one of Lord B.'s 
 servants interposed, and pushed the dragoon from his 
 master's side, and on the dragoon putting his horse into a 
 gallop, he observed a man rush at him with a pole, and 
 nearly thrust him from his horse, from which he fell 
 shortly afterwards. Lord B. seemed collected, and on 
 requiring of the dragoon some explanation of his conduct, 
 he replied, " This is not the place," and hurried onward, 
 when he met the fatal blow from the pitchfork. 
 
 12 o'clock. Walked with T. and S., and sailed up 
 the river with them. 
 
 4 o'clock. Went with T. to Lord B *s. 
 
 47
 
 The man remains in the same state. 
 
 Taaffe, who during the affair could not be found, 
 and who has since talked so greatly of his valour upon 
 the occasion, has been named by Jane False Taaffe. 
 
 Walked with Mary and Jane, and met the Countess 
 G., who accompanied us. At 9 p.m. Trelawny and S. 
 called. Went to Lord B.'s together ; found him engaged 
 in a letter to the British Ambassador. His servants 
 Tita and Vincenzo had been examined, and Vincenzo 
 acquitted, when the silly fellow accompanied Tita back to 
 make his deposition, and who, though innocent, was mad 
 enough to go into court armed with a stiletto and a brace 
 of pistols.* They were subsequently both imprisoned 
 and remained confined in separate cells. Left Lord B. at 
 ii. During our stay there his secretary was sent for by 
 the police and examined, but nothing transpired. 
 
 Thursday, March 2%th. Fine. Vacca, who is pre- 
 judiced, says the man is neither better nor worse, and is 
 further convinced of the wound having been given with a 
 stiletto, as it passed through the dragoon's sword belt, and 
 left a mark or hole that he could not mistake. Mr. 
 Todd's opinion is that the man is better. Report in Pisa 
 
 * "Finding Tita," Mrs. Shelley says, ". perfe&Iy innocent, the 
 Cancelliere ordered him to be liberated, but the Pisan police took 
 fright at his beard. They called him 'il barbone,' and although it 
 was declared that on his exit from prison he should be shaved, they 
 could not tranquillise their mighty minds, but banished him. We 
 in the mean time were come to this place [Lend], so he has taken 
 refuge with us. He is an excellent fellow, faithful, courageous, and 
 daring." 
 
 48
 
 is that Lord B. and all his servants, with four English 
 gentlemen, were taken in Lord B/s house last night after 
 a desperate resistance, that forty brace of pistols were dis- 
 covered, stilettos, &c., and at Leghorn they have it, that 
 the party returning home, Sunday evening, attacked a 
 division of dragoons, and after being taken prisoners 
 stabbed three of them in the neck, and that Lord B. and 
 all the party had fled to Lucca. 
 
 12 o'clock. Man as before. 
 
 Nothing new. 
 
 4 o'clock. Walked with Mary and Jane. All 
 quiet. 
 
 5 o'clock. Saw a party of dragoons on bridge 
 watching Lord B. and party as it passed. 
 
 7. Mary dined. Antonio, the Countess G.'s ser- 
 vant, confined with the others.* Went to the theatre. 
 
 Friday r , March 2C)th. Fine. The dragoon much 
 better, and likely to do well. It is singular, Vacca, who 
 has been so forward to instigate the police, should have 
 pronounced the man out of danger three days ago. 
 
 10. Walked with Jane to the Botanical Gardens, a 
 place fitted for the improvement of the young students, 
 but nothing to the advancement of the science. There 
 is a museum and other curiosities here, but nothing worthy 
 any particular notice, that I saw. 
 
 i o'clock. Called on Captain Hay. Found him 
 doing well. He had heard that my name had been sub- 
 stituted for his in the affair, that my nose had been cut 
 
 * " The meekest fellow in the world," says Mrs. Shelley. 
 
 49 *
 
 off, and that Lord B. and myself had left Pisa with as 
 many horses as could be put to the carriage. 
 
 2 o'clock. Vincenzo and another man liberated. 
 Strong suspicions of Antonio, the Countess's man. 
 
 Called on Lord B. He had received an answer from 
 Mr. Dawkins, the Charge d'affaires at Florence, offering 
 every assistance, but speaking very lightly of the affair. 
 Nothing new, excepting that a law officer from Florence 
 arrived to take the several depositions. 
 
 Taaffe's conduct highly blameable, but his very de- 
 position damns him. 
 
 7. Trelawny dined and passed the evening. 
 
 Saturday, March ^otb. Fine. Shelley breakfasted. 
 The dragoon considerably recovered and doing well. 
 
 Nothing new. At Florence the reports are favour- 
 able to us. Wrote a few lines. Walked with Mary and 
 Jane. Called on the Countess. 
 
 Wrote to Roberts, at Genoa, about a house. Passed 
 the evening with the Shelleys. 
 
 Wednesday, April yd. Fine. Walked with Jane. 
 Called on Taaffe to learn further of the business on 
 Lord B. acquainting him with it. Lord B. willing to 
 give his hand to Taaffe. As usual all right again. Mrs. 
 B. wrote to Lord B., requesting his interference with 
 Trelawny, and enclosing all the notes that had passed 
 between them. Devil of an affair all parties quarrelling 
 and everybody defaming everybody. 
 
 Walked with T. to see the boat that is to convey 
 
 50
 
 ourselves and furniture to Spezzia, about which I wrote 
 last night. The S.'s dined and passed the evening here. 
 Captain H. departs for England. 
 
 Monday, April 8. In the evening dined with S. and 
 Mary, and went to see the play. A new troop of aftors, 
 tolerable in their way ; but the piece they chose to make 
 their debut in was not the most advantageous for such a 
 purpose. It seemed, however, to have some interest for 
 the Italians, who did not not spare their plaudits. The 
 scene was laid in England the Secretary of State dying 
 of a mysterious disorder, that baffled the skill of the 
 physicians. A mysterious dodlor at length offers to make 
 a cure of the poor Secretary, provided he releases from 
 prison one Jenkinson. The Secretary refuses, and the 
 doctor declines to attend him, and so on. Jenkinson is 
 at last released, and the Secretary finds himself better, to 
 the great joy of the nation and his friends. 
 
 Tuesday, April 9. Read to Jane Lindsay's Dramas 
 of the Ancient World. It is a remarkable coincidence 
 that this volume should contain three pieces on pre- 
 cisely the same subjedls, and having the same names, as 
 Lord B.'s. 
 
 Wednesday, April 10. S. receives his Hellas. Tre- 
 lawny dined and passed the evening. We talked of a 
 play of his singular life, and a plot to give it the air of a 
 romance. 
 
 SI 12
 
 Sunday, April \^th. Fine. Wrote a little. Called 
 on Trelawny and walked with him. Read to him one 
 or two scenes and revised them. S. finds fault with some 
 of the foregoing ones. Called on Lord B. He is com- 
 mencing the fifth Canto of Don Juan. Trelawny and 
 the S.'s dined here and passed the evening. Lord B. 
 recommends me to call the play The Secret, and not 
 Gonzaga. 
 
 Monday, April i$th. Fine. Wrote a few lines. 
 Heard from Spezzia that the persons to whom the houses 
 belonged that we had calculated upon having this summer 
 refuse to let them at all. This is a piece of spite uncom- 
 mon in Italy, where all such feelings generally give place 
 to a sense of interest. Called on Lord B., who imagines 
 it is in consequence of the late disturbances that the 
 Piedmontese Government object to S.'s residing there. 
 Trelawny called in the evening. We intended to leave 
 Pisa for Spezzia to-morrow, but Wednesday is now fixed. 
 C[lair]e arrives from Florence. 
 
 Tuesday, April 16. Fine. As equally unsettled as 
 ever with regard to our trip to Spezzia. The Governor 
 refuses to sign my passport, it being too old. Walked 
 with Mary to see the Turkish prince Mahomet Effendi 
 practise the djerrid; but an ill performer j a Mahratta 
 would astonish him. Trelawny dines. 
 
 Friday, April 19. Fine. Walked with Jane to the 
 Botanical Gardens. Endeavoured to write, but found 
 
 52
 
 myself quite incapable of collecting my ideas. Called on 
 Lord Byron. The reports at Rome are that he has killed 
 a Tuscan Colonel. The Colonel challenged him, but 
 was never heard of after till found dead at the corner of a 
 street. Mary and the Guiccioli underwent five hours' 
 examination this morning.* The Countess said to the 
 judge that she could not swear, but that she thought 
 Mr. Taaffe was the person who stabbed the dragoon. 
 
 Saturday, April 20. Called on Lord B. Met 
 Rogers the poet there, an old decrepid man, whose face 
 bespeaks great imbecility of mind, but whose works prove 
 the contrary. 
 
 Sunday, April 21. Call on S. Talk over the sub- 
 ject of the play. He gave me a long Ie6lure on the 
 
 * This is Mrs. Shelley's account: "The judge or advocate, 
 called a Cancelliere, sent from Florence to determine the affair, 
 dislikes the Pisans, and, having poca paga, expected a present from 
 Milordo, and so favoured our part of the affair, was very civil, and so 
 came to our house to take depositions, against the law. For the sake 
 of the lesson, Hogg should have been there to learn how to cross- 
 question. The Cancelliere, a talkative buffoon of a Florentine, 
 with " mille scuse per 1'incomodo," asked " Dove fu lei la sera del 
 24 Marzo ? " " Andai a spazzo in carozza, fuori della porta della 
 piaggia." A little clerk, seated beside him, with a great pile of 
 papers before him, now dipt his pen into his ink-horn and looked 
 expeclant, while the Cancelliere, turning his eyes up to the ceiling, 
 repeated, " lo fui a spazzo," etc. This scene lasted two, four, six 
 hours, as it happened. In the space of two months the depositions 
 of fifteen people were taken." 
 
 53
 
 drama. Put me in bad spirits with myself. C. passed 
 the evening. 
 
 Monday, April 22. My birthday. Forget whether 
 born in 1793 or 1794 rather think the former.* T. 
 examined. I interpret. 
 
 Tuesday, April 23. Left Pisa for Spezzia with C. 
 and Jane. 
 
 Thursday, April 25. Return to Pisa. Meet S., 
 his face bespoke his feelings. C.'s child was dead, and 
 he had the office to break it to her, or rather not to do 
 so ; but fearful of the news reaching her ears, to remove 
 her instantly from this place. 
 
 Friday, April 26. Mary, C., and Trelawny depart 
 for Spezzia. Poor C. quite unconscious of the burden on 
 her friends' minds. 
 
 Saturday, April 27. Cloudy and heavy rain. Heard 
 that the dragoon is quite recovered. At 12 weather 
 clearer. The two boats arrived at the landing-place, and 
 we commenced loading them: all completed by four 
 o'clock. At half-past five, Jane, the two children, 
 Shelley, and myself, with the nurse, left Pisa (the other 
 servants having gone in the boat), and arrived at Pietra 
 Santa at half-past eleven. 
 
 * It was 1793. 
 54
 
 Sunday, April 28. Fine. Arrive at Lerici at I 
 o'clock. The harbour-master called. Not a house to 
 be had. On our telling him we had brought our furni- 
 ture, his face lengthened considerably, for he informed us 
 that the dogana would amount to ^300 English at least. 
 Dined, and resolved on sending our things back without 
 unlading in fact, found ourselves in a devil of a mess. 
 S. wrote to Mary, whom we heard was at Spezzia. 
 
 Monday^ April 29. Cloudy. Accompanied the 
 harbour-master to the chief of the customs at Spezzia. 
 Found him exceedingly polite and willing to do all in his 
 power to assist us. He will, therefore, take on himself 
 to allow the furniture to come on shore when the boats 
 arrive, and then consider our house as a sort of depot, 
 until further leave from the Genoa Government. Re- 
 turned to Lerici somewhat calmed. Heard from Mary, 
 at Sarzana, that she had concluded for Casa Magni but 
 for ourselves no hope. 
 
 Tuesday y April 30. Fine. Jane and myself, having 
 resolved to send our furniture back, took a boat to Spezzia 
 to make some arrangements with the master of the inn. 
 This fellow had the impertinence to ask us 32 francs a 
 day. On our return to Lerici, found Mary there and 
 the two boats entering the harbour. After some delay at 
 the Douane, we towed them across the bay to Casa 
 Magni, and there unloaded the two in less than an hour, 
 and stowed the things within the house at the same time. 
 Jane, myself, and children slept at the inn. 
 
 55
 
 Wednesday , May i. Cloudy, with rain. Came to 
 Casa Magni after breakfast ; the Shelleys having contrived 
 to give us rooms. Without them, heaven knows what 
 we should have done. Employed all day putting the 
 things away. All comfortably settled by four. Passed 
 the evening talking over our folly and our troubles. 
 
 Thursday, May 2. Cloudy, with intervals of rain. 
 Went out with Shelley in the boat fish on the rocks 
 bad sport. Went in the evening after some wild ducks 
 saw nothing but sublime scenery, to which the grandeur 
 of a storm greatly contributed. S. broke the sad news to 
 Claire. We were seated in Jane's room, talking over 
 the best means to be pursued, when she guessed the 
 purpose of our meeting. 
 
 Friday, May 3. Fine. The captain of the port 
 despatched a vessel for Shelley's boat. Went to Lerici 
 with S., being obliged to market there, the servant having 
 returned from Sarzana without being able to procure 
 anything. 
 
 Saturday, May 4. Fine. Went fishing with 
 Shelley. No sport. Loitered away the whole day. In 
 the evening tried the rocks again, and had no less than 
 thirty baits taken off by the small fish. Returned late 
 a heavy swell getting up. I think, if there are no tides in 
 the Mediterranean, that there are strong currents, on 
 which the moon, both at the full and at the change, has a 
 
 56
 
 very powerful effeft. The swell this evening is evidently 
 caused by her influence, for it is quite calm at sea. 
 
 Sunday^ May 5. Fine. Kept awake the whole 
 night by a heavy swell which made a noise on the beach 
 like the discharge of heavy artillery. Tried, with Shelley, 
 to launch the small, flat-bottomed boat through the surf. 
 We succeeded in pushing it through, but shipped a sea 
 on attempting to land. Walk to Lerici along the beach, 
 by a winding path on the mountain's side. Delightful 
 evening the scenery most sublime. 
 
 Monday, May 6. Fine. Some heavy drops of rain 
 fell to-day, without a cloud being visible. Made a sketch 
 of the Western side of the bay. Read a little. Walked 
 with Jane up the mountain. 
 
 After tea, walking with Shelley on the terrace, and 
 observing the efFedl of moonshine on the waters, he com- 
 plained of being unusually nervous, and stopping short 
 he grasped me violently by the arm, and stared steadfastly 
 on the white surf that broke upon the beach under our 
 feet. Observing him sensibly affedted, I demanded of 
 him if he were in pain? But he only answered by 
 saying, " There it is again There ! " He recovered 
 after some time, and declared that he saw, as plainly as 
 he then saw me, a naked child (the child of a friend who 
 had lately died) rise from the sea and clap its hands as in 
 joy, smiling at him. This was a trance that it required 
 some reasoning and philosophy entirely to awaken him 
 from, so forcibly had the vision operated on his mind. 
 
 57
 
 Our conversation, which had been at first rather melan- 
 choly, led to this ; and my confirming his sensations, by 
 confessing that I had felt the same, gave greater activity 
 to his ever wandering and lively imagination. 
 
 Tuesday, May 7. Fine. Surf continues as heavy 
 as ever, and prevents our getting out. Wrote to my 
 brother. In the afternoon I made an effort, with Jane 
 in the boat, to put to sea, which appeared quiet and calm 
 in the offing; but a sea struck her on the bow while 
 launching, and a second on the broadside almost swamped 
 her. I got out, however, and landed Jane, half drowned, 
 on the rocks. In the evening a heavy thunder-storm 
 passed over; one flash of lightning, over Lerici, was 
 particularly vivid. The steeple of that place has already 
 been struck, and the inhabitants say at a time when not 
 a cloud was to be seen. 
 
 Wednesday, May 9. Fine. Wrote to Medwin. 
 Rowed in the little boat to Lerici. Heard from Tre- 
 lawny that the Don Juan will be here to-morrow. At 
 two, bathed. Fresh breeze, but water very warm. Every 
 eye strains in hope of seeing the boat come in. 
 
 Thursday, May i o. Fine. Recommenced writing. 
 Found my mind most unsettled a confusion, a flood of 
 ideas that drowned each other. Our anxiety for the 
 boat increases. Walked with Jane and planted for her. 
 
 Friday, May 1 1. Fine. No boat arrives. Wrote 
 a little. Heavy swell at sea and threatening weather.
 
 The things arrive from Genoa and news of the boat; 
 she is afraid to put to sea. 
 
 Saturday, May 12. Cloudy and threatening. Wrote 
 during the morning. Went to Lerici with S. Heavy 
 thunder and distant lightning, with rain. Wrote to 
 Taaffe for my letters, having heard from the postmaster 
 that he could not forward them without the postage 
 being paid. 
 
 Monday , May 13. Rain during night in torrents. 
 A heavy gale of wind from S.W., and a surf running 
 heavier than ever. At 4, gale unabated ; violent squalls. 
 Walked to Lerici with Shelley, and went on board. 
 Called on M. Maglian, and found him anxiously awaiting 
 the moment of a third child's birth. In the evening, an 
 eleftric arch forming in the clouds announces a heavy 
 thunderstorm if the wind lulls. Distant thunder; gale 
 increases ; a circle of foam surrounds the bay ; dark, 
 rainy, and tempestuous, with flashes of lightning at in- 
 tervals, which give us no hope of better weather. The 
 learned in these things say that it generally lasts three 
 days when once it commences as this has done. We 
 all feel as if we were on board ship, and the roaring of 
 of the sea brings this idea to us even in our beds. 
 
 Tuesday, May 14. Clear weather, and the breeze 
 greatly moderated, contrary to all the expectations and 
 the prophecies of these would-be sailors these weather- 
 wise landsmen. While dressing this morning I saw the 
 
 59
 
 boat, under easy sail, bearing on and off land. At 9 we 
 took her down, under topsails and flying jib, to Spezzia; 
 and after tacking round some of the craft there, returned 
 to Lerici in an hour and a-half a distance, they say, of 
 four leagues. On our return, we were hailed by a ser- 
 vant of Count S., a minister of the Emperor of Austria, 
 who sent desiring to have a sail j but before he could get 
 on board, the wind had lulled into a perfecl: calm, and 
 we only got into the swell and made him sick. 
 
 Friday^ ijth May. Fine. S. and Jane go to 
 Carrara. Hove the boat down and smoothed her bottom. 
 Unbent the mainsail, and took it to Magliana to see if the 
 letters could be erased which Lord B., in his contemptible 
 vanity, or for some other purpose, begged of Roberts to 
 inscribe on the boat's mainsail. All efforts useless. 
 
 Saturday, May 1 8. Fine fresh breeze. Sailed with 
 Shelley to the outer island, and find that there is another 
 small one beyond, which we have named the Siren's 
 Rock. This name was chosen in consequence of hearing, 
 at the time we were beating to windward to weather it, 
 a sort of murmuring, which, as if by magic, seemed to 
 proceed from all parts of our boat, now on the sea, now 
 here, now there. At length we found that a very small 
 rope (or cord rather) had been fastened to steady the peak 
 when the boat was at anchor, and being drawn extremely 
 tight with the weight of the sail, it vibrated as the wind 
 freshened. Being on the other tack, as we approached, it 
 ceased ; and again, as we stood off, it recommenced its 
 
 60
 
 song. The Siren's Island was well named ; for standing 
 in close to observe it, from a strong current setting 
 towards it, the boat was actually attracted so close, that 
 we had only time to tack, and save ourselves from its 
 alluring voice. On our return we unbent the mainsail, 
 and endeavoured by every means to extract the paint 
 from the sail without effect. 
 
 Sunday , May 19. Fine. Wrote a little during the 
 morning, but the bay and the boat have too many temp- 
 tations, and I find I cannot collecl: my thoughts. Sailed 
 in the evening. 
 
 Monday^ May 2O. Fine. Sailed with Jane over to 
 the Lazaretto, in order to see the sail-maker about the 
 mainsail. Nothing to be done. A beautiful safe bay 
 within, 
 
 Tuesday, May 21. Cloudy and calm. Rose at half- 
 past five and took Maglian down to Spezzia. I called on 
 the Inspector of Customs, to request his interest in getting 
 his (Shelley's) books on shore. They came from England, 
 and were directed to Pisa, but having been forwarded to 
 us here in the Piedmontese territories, it is necessary that 
 they should be inspected at Genoa by certain persons 
 appointed by the Governors of the Church in order to 
 prevent any seditious or immoral publications from falling 
 into the hands of this free and pious people this is a 
 tyranny that cannot last long. It signifies nothing to 
 what port soever they may be consigned j they must be 
 
 6r
 
 seen and examined at Genoa, and a permit given before 
 any book of any kind, even a prayer book or missal, can 
 be suffered to land. A ship, for instance, bound for 
 Leghorn to Marseilles as the one who brought Shelley's 
 books really is must touch at Genoa, however much 
 out of her way, under a penalty of imprisonment for life. 
 TVs application proves ineffective, and with the 
 curses of all parties away went the books for Genoa. 
 Sent to Genoa for some canvas. Claire departs for 
 Florence and Beta and Domenico* leave Mary's service. 
 
 Thursday May 23. Fine. Worked all day at the 
 boat, and find that I am a better hand with the pencil 
 than the chisel ; that is, that I can make plans better 
 than make boats. 
 
 In the afternoon lowering black clouds. Sailed for 
 an hour, and before night much alarmed for the safety of 
 the boat : heavy sea running, but the wind is too strong 
 from the S.E. to rise much during the night. 
 
 Sunday^ May 26. Cloudy. Rose at six, and went 
 with Shelley and Maglian to Massa. The landing-place, 
 or rather the beach, which is about three miles from the 
 town, affords no kind of shelter but where there is a con- 
 tinued sea running. A little to the left of the second 
 gun battery, is a shelf running parallel to the beach, at 
 the termination of which five feet of water may be had. 
 This shelf is indicated by the shortness and frequency of 
 
 * Probably the Domenico mentioned in The Boat OH the Serchio. 
 62
 
 the surf, and the deep water by a partial cessation of it. 
 It is necessary, before any effort is made to work her in, 
 to send a strong sternfast on shore for this purpose, as the 
 current of the Magra sets forcibly to the eastward, and 
 sweeps her suddenly into the surf beyond. We dined at 
 Massa, and left it again at ten minutes past four, with a 
 strong westerly wind straight in our teeth. This wind 
 (the ponente as it is called) always sends a damp vapour 
 from the sea, which gathers into watery clouds on the 
 mountain tops, and generally sinks with the sun, but 
 strengthens as he declines. To the landing-place it is 
 said to be fifteen miles from Lerici. We left the latter 
 place at a little past eight and arrived at eleven, and 
 returned in seven hours. 
 
 Monday^ May 27. Fine. Made further efforts to 
 complete my boat of reeds, but in vain. During our sail 
 to Massa yesterday Maglian told us that, being invited to 
 dine with the Commandant of that place, he arrived at 
 the gate of the city, and, on enquiry into the truth of a 
 certain rumour that was whispered mysteriously about, 
 he learned that his friend, the night before having been 
 at a festa di balia met there the lady of his love, whom 
 he served as a cavaliero servente. There was between 
 them a slight jealousy, that is, it appears, that the com- 
 mandant suspected her fidelity ; and, approaching her 
 after the salutation was over, he observed to her that she 
 had a most beautiful bouquet of flowers, which she held 
 with a careless and coquettish air as if they had been the 
 secret gift of the really favoured (in order to call forth 
 
 63
 
 some remark). " What ! " replied she, " you are jealous, 
 too, of my poor flowers. Then, take them ! " and offered 
 them with a seeming indifference. " No," said he, placing 
 his hand rather rudely upon them and pushing them 
 towards her, " they are better where they are." " Then," 
 replied she, "as you refuse both me and my flowers, go 
 to your bed and die ! " Her words were prophetic. The 
 bouquet was most subtly poisoned j and she took care 
 that he should prick himself if he touched it. This 
 happened, and he died a little after midnight. The fadl 
 is, she was as jealous of him as he of her, and thus 
 avenged herself. 
 
 May 31. Fine. At work on the boat. I find I 
 have made it double the size I intended. 
 
 Saturday^ "June I. Fine. Out of patience with 
 the boat. I take her to pieces and commence anew. 
 Sailed with the whole party in the evening. 
 
 Thursday^ June 6. Calm. Left Villa Magni, at 
 five, on our way to Via Reggio. At eight the wind 
 sprung up, baffling in all directions but the right one. 
 At eleven, we could steer our course, but at one it fell 
 calm, and left us like a log on the water, but four miles 
 to windward of Massa. We remained there till six, the 
 thunder-clouds gathering on the mountains around, and 
 threatening to burst in squalls ; heat excessive. At seven, 
 rowed into Massa beach, but on attempting to land we 
 were opposed by the guard, who told us that, the head 
 
 64
 
 person of the fort (of two rusty guns) being at Festa, 
 as he was not able to read, we must wait till the 
 former arrived. Not willing to put up with such treat- 
 ment, Shelley told him at his peril to detain us, when 
 the fellow brought down two old muskets, and we 
 prepared our pistols, which he no sooner saw we were 
 determined to use, than he called our servant to the 
 beach, and, desiring him to hold the paper about a yard 
 from him, he suffered two gentlemen who were bathing 
 near the place to explain who and what we were. Upon 
 this, the fellow's tone changed from presumption to the 
 most cowardly fawning, and we proceeded to Massa 
 unmolested. Slept at Massa, about three miles inland. 
 
 Friday ', June 7. Left Massa at half-past five. A 
 dead calm the atmosphere hot and oppressive. At 
 eight a breeze sprung up, which enabled us to lie up to 
 Magra Point. Beat round the point and reached home 
 at half-past two. 
 
 Sunday^ June 9. Fine. Hot and oppressive weather. 
 Sailed during the forenoon to the outer island. On my 
 return found Mary had been alarmingly unwell, and that 
 she had [miscarried] though I left her at breakfast per- 
 fedtly well. Night, strangely better. 
 
 Wednesday, June 12. Launched the little boat, 
 which answered our wishes and expectations. She is 
 86 Ibs. Sailed in the evening, but were becalmed in the 
 offing, and left there with a long ground swell which 
 
 6 5 F
 
 made Jane little better than dead. Hoisted out our little 
 boat and brought her on shore ; her landing attended by 
 the whole village. 
 
 Thursday, June 13. Fine. At nine, saw a vessel 
 between the straits of Porto Venere, like a man-of-war 
 brig. She proved to be the Bolivar, with Roberts and 
 Trelawny on board, who are taking her round to Liyorno. 
 On meeting them we were saluted by six guns. Sailed 
 together to try the vessels : in speed no chance with her, 
 but I think we keep as good a wind. She is the most 
 beautiful craft I ever saw, and will do more for her size. 
 She cost Lord Byron ^750 clear off and ready for sea, 
 with provisions and conveniences of every kind. 
 
 Wednesday, "June 19. Fine. The swell continues, 
 and I am now the more persuaded that the moon influences 
 the tides here particularly the new moon on the first 
 week before she makes her appearance. Took the ballast 
 out and hauled the boat on the beach. Cleaned and 
 greased her. 
 
 Thursday, June 20. Fine. Shelley hears from 
 Hunt that he is arrived at Genoa, having sailed from 
 England on the I3th May. 
 
 Saturday, June 22. Calm. Heat overpowering, 
 but in the shade refreshed by the sea breeze. At seven, 
 launched our boat with all our ballast in. She floats 
 three inches lighter than before. This difference is 
 
 66
 
 caused, I imagine, by her planks having dried while 
 on shore. 
 
 Sunday^ June 23. S. sees spirits, and alarms the 
 whole house.* 
 
 Thursday, June 27. The heat increases daily, and 
 prayers are offering for rain. At Parma it is now so 
 excessive, that the labourers are forbidden to work in the 
 fields after ten and before five, fearful of an epidemic. 
 
 Saturday^ "June 29. Shelley's books arrive from 
 Genoa. This is a good fortune of which I had little 
 hope. 
 
 Sunday^ June 30. Read some of Shelley's Queen 
 Mab an astonishing work. The enthusiasm of his 
 spirit breaks out in some admirable passages in the 
 poetry, and the notes are as subtle and elegant as he 
 could now write. 
 
 Monday^ July I. Calm and clear. Rose at four 
 to get the top-sails altered. At twelve, a fine breeze 
 from the westward tempted us to weigh for Leghorn. 
 At two, stretched across to Lerici, to pick up Roberts; 
 and at half-past found ourselves in the offing, with a side 
 wind. At half-past nine arrived at Leghorn a run 
 of forty-five to fifty miles in seven hours and a-half. 
 
 * No further account is given ; but see Dowden, Vol. II., 
 PP- SIS. 5i6. 
 
 6 7
 
 Anchored astern the Bolivar, from which we procured 
 cushions, and made up for ourselves a bed on board, 
 not being able to get on shore after sunset, on account 
 of the health office being shut at that hour. 
 
 Tuesday, "July 2. Fine weather. We heard this 
 morning that the Bolivar was about to sail for Genoa, 
 and that Lord Byron was quitting Tuscany on account 
 of Count Gamba's family having again been exiled thence. 
 This, on reaching the shore, I found really to be the 
 case ; for they had just left the police office, having there 
 received the order. Met Lord Byron at Dunn's, and 
 took leave of him. Was introduced to Mr. Leigh Hunt, 
 and called on Mrs. Hunt. Shopped and strolled about 
 all day. Met Lieutenant Marsham of the Rochefort, an 
 old school-fellow and shipmate. 
 
 Wednesday^ July 3. Fine, strong sea-breeze. 
 
 Thursday^ July 4. Fine. Processions of priests and 
 religiosi have for several days been active in their prayers 
 for rain ; but the gods are either angry or nature is too 
 powerful. 
 
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