The Vampyre
The VampyreEXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM GENEVA.INTRODUCTION.THE VAMPYRE.EXTRACT OF A LETTER, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF LORD BYRON'S RESIDENCE IN THE ISLAND OF MITYLENE.Copyright
The Vampyre
John William Polidori
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM GENEVA.
"I breathe freely in the neighbourhood of this lake; the
ground upon which I tread has been subdued from the earliest ages;
the principal objects which immediately strike my eye, bring to my
recollection scenes, in which man acted the hero and was the chief
object of interest. Not to look back to earlier times of battles
and sieges, here is the bust of Rousseau—here is a house with an
inscription denoting that the Genevan philosopher first drew breath
under its roof. A little out of the town is Ferney, the residence
of Voltaire; where that wonderful, though certainly in many
respects contemptible, character, received, like the hermits of
old, the visits of pilgrims, not only from his own nation, but from
the farthest boundaries of Europe. Here too is Bonnet's abode, and,
a few steps beyond, the house of that astonishing woman Madame de
Stael: perhaps the first of her sex, who has really proved its
often claimed equality with, the nobler man. We have before had
women who have written interesting novels and poems, in which their
tact at observing drawing-room characters has availed them; but
never since the days of Heloise have those faculties which are
peculiar to man, been developed as the possible inheritance of
woman. Though even here, as in the case of Heloise, our sex have
not been backward in alledging the existence of an Abeilard in the
person of M. Schlegel as the inspirer of her works. But to proceed:
upon the same side of the lake, Gibbon, Bonnivard, Bradshaw, and
others mark, as it were, the stages for our progress; whilst upon
the other side there is one house, built by Diodati, the friend of
Milton, which has contained within its walls, for several months,
that poet whom we have so often read together, and who—if human
passions remain the same, and human feelings, like chords, on being
swept by nature's impulses shall vibrate as before—will be placed
by posterity in the first rank of our English Poets. You must have
heard, or the Third Canto of Childe Harold will have informed you,
that Lord Byron resided many months in this neighbourhood. I went
with some friends a few days ago, after having seen Ferney, to view
this mansion. I trod the floors with the same feelings of awe and
respect as we did, together, those of Shakespeare's dwelling at
Stratford. I sat down in a chair of the saloon, and satisfied
myself that I was resting on what he had made his constant seat. I
found a servant there who had lived with him; she, however, gave me
but little information. She pointed out his bed-chamber upon the
same level as the saloon and dining-room, and informed me that he
retired to rest at three, got up at two, and employed himself a
long time over his toilette; that he never went to sleep without a
pair of pistols and a dagger by his side, and that he never ate
animal food. He apparently spent some part of every day upon the
lake in an English boat. There is a balcony from the saloon which
looks upon the lake and the mountain Jura; and I imagine, that it
must have been hence, he contemplated the storm so magnificently
described in the Third Canto; for you have from here a most
extensive view of all the points he has therein depicted. I can
fancy him like the scathed pine, whilst all around was sunk to
repose, still waking to observe, what gave but a weak image of the
storms which had desolated his own breast.The sky is changed!—and such a change; Oh,
night!And storm and darkness, ye are wond'rous strong,Yet lovely in your strength, as is the lightOf a dark eye in woman! Far alongFrom peak to peak, the rattling crags among,Leaps the lire thunder! Not from one lone cloud,But every mountain now hath found a tongue,And Jura answers thro' her misty shroud,Back to the joyous Alps who call to her aloud!And this is in the night:—Most glorious night!Thou wer't not sent for slumber! let me beA sharer in thy far and fierce delight,—A portion of the tempest and of me!How the lit lake shines a phosphoric sea,And the big rain comet dancing to the earth!And now again 'tis black,—and now the gleeOf the loud hills shakes with its mountain
mirth,As if they did rejoice o'er a young; earthquake's
birth,Now where the swift Rhine cleaves his way
betweenHeights which appear, as lovers who have partedIn haste, whose mining depths so intervene,That they can meet no more, tho' broken hearted;Tho' in their souls which thus each other
thwarted,Love was the very root of the fond rageWhich blighted their life's bloom, and then
departed—Itself expired, but leaving; them an ageOf years all winter—war within themselves to
wage.I went down to the little port, if I may use the expression,
wherein his vessel used to lay, and conversed with the cottager,
who had the care of it. You may smile, but I have my pleasure in
thus helping my personification of the individual I admire, by
attaining to the knowledge of those circumstances which were daily
around him. I have made numerous enquiries in the town concerning
him, but can learn nothing. He only went into society there once,
when M. Pictet took him to the house of a lady to spend the
evening. They say he is a very singular man, and seem to think him
very uncivil. Amongst other things they relate, that having invited
M. Pictet and Bonstetten to dinner, he went on the lake to Chillon,
leaving a gentleman who travelled with him to receive them and make
his apologies. Another evening, being invited to the house of Lady
D—— H——, he promised to attend, but upon approaching the windows of
her ladyship's villa, and perceiving the room to be full of
company, he set down his friend, desiring him to plead his excuse,
and immediately returned home. This will serve as a contradiction
to the report which you tell me is current in England, of his
having been avoided by his countrymen on the continent. The case
happens to be directly the reverse, as he has been generally sought
by them, though on most occasions, apparently without success. It
is said, indeed, that upon paying his first visit at Coppet,
following the servant who had announced his name, he was surprised
to meet a lady carried out fainting; but before he had been seated
many minutes, the same lady, who had been so affected at the sound
of his name, returned and conversed with him a considerable
time—such is female curiosity and affectation! He visited Coppet
frequently, and of course associated there with several of his
countrymen, who evinced no reluctance to meet him whom his enemies
alone would represent as an outcast.