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A NEW ACQUAINTANCE.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

MAY-DECEMBER, 1819.

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COUNTESS GUICCIOLI; VENICE; BOLOGNA; RAVENNA ;

BOLOGNA; LA MIRA-DON JUAN, CANTO III.

732.-To John Murray.

Venice, May 6th 1819.

DEAR SIR, Yours of the 17th and 20th are arrived. I recopy the "Julia's letter," as the former copy, sent in

1. Teresa, daughter of Count Ruggiero Gamba of Ravenna, born circa 1800, died March, 1873, married in 1818, as his third wife, Count Guiccioli, reputed to be one of the richest landowners in the Romagna. Count Guiccioli is thus described by a police spy, in a report dated September 10, 1819: "Il più ricco possidente della "Romagna, uomo cupo, intrigante, fierissimo, generoso, che si "crede colpevole dell'assassinio del Manzoni” (Emilio del Cerro, Misteri di Polizia, p. 136). The bride, according to Byron (Letter to John Murray, June 29, 1819), was only twenty years old (see also Hobhouse, Westminster Review, January, 1825, p. 22). Elze (Life of Lord Byron, p. 229) says that her marriage took place "before she was sixteen," probably on the authority of Byron's inscription in her copy of Corinne, August 25, 1819, where he speaks of her as "seventeen years of age.' Her husband was in his sixtieth year.

The Countess Guiccioli met Byron for the first time at the house of the Countess Albrizzi, in the autumn of 1818, three days after her marriage. They were not introduced to each other till April, 1819, when they met at a party given by the Countess Benzoni. The countess describes, in a manuscript quoted by Moore (Life, p. 393), the commencement of the acquaintance: "Nell' Aprile del 1819, "io feci la conoscenza di Lord Byron ; e mi fu presentato a Venezia "dalla Contessa Benzoni nalla di lei società. Questa presentazione "che ebbe tante consequenze per tutti i due fu fatta contro la "volontà d'entrambi, e solo per condiscendenza l'abbiamo permesa. VOL. IV,

U

Let

Winter, seems to have miscarried, by your account. me hear of the arrival of the enclosed. There are also

"Io stanca più che mai quella sera par le ore tarde che si costuma "fare in Venezia andai con molta ripugnanza e solo per ubbidire al "Conte Guiccioli in quella Società. Lord Byron che scanzava di "fare nuove conoscenze, dicendo sempre che aveva interamente "rinunciato alle passioni e che non voleva esporsi più alle loro "consequenze, quando la Contessa Benzoni lo pregò di volersi far "presentare a me, egli recusò, e solo per la compiàcenza glielo "permise. La nobile e bellissima sua fisonomia, il suono della sua "voce, le sue maniere, i mille incanti che lo circondavano lo rendevano un essere così differente, così superiore a tutti quelli che "io aveva sino allora veduti che non potei a meno di non provarne "la più profonda impressione. Da quella sera in poi in tutti i giorni "che mi fermai in Venezia ei siamo sempre veduti." Moore (ibid.) thus translates the passage: "I became acquainted with Lord Byron "in the April of 1819; he was introduced to me at Venice, by the "Countess Benzoni, at one of that lady's parties. This introduction, "which had so much influence over the lives of us both, took place contrary to our wishes, and had been permitted by us only from courtesy. For myself, more fatigued than usual that evening on account of the late hours they keep at Venice, I went with great repugnance to this party, and purely in obedience to Count "Guiccioli. Lord Byron, too, who was averse to forming new "acquaintances,-alleging that he had entirely renounced all attach"ments, and was unwilling any more to expose himself to their "consequences,-on being requested by the Countess Benzoni to "allow himself to be presented to me, refused, and, at last, only "assented from a desire to oblige her. His noble and exquisitely "beautiful countenance, the tone of his voice, his manners, the "thousand enchantments that surrounded him, rendered him so 66 different and so superior a being to any whom I had hitherto seen, "that it was impossible he should not have left the most profound "impression upon me. From that evening, during the whole of my "subsequent stay at Venice, we met every day."

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Before Count Guiccioli and his wife left Venice for Ravenna at the end of the month, Byron and the countess had become intimate. On June 2, 1819, Byron, hearing of her illness, set out for Ravenna to join her. When, in August, the Guicciolis left Ravenna for Bologna, Byron followed them. There, according to the police spy, he hired the Palazzo Merendoni for a year, and, while furnishing it, lived at the Hotel Pellegrino (Misteri di Polizia, p. 135). At Bologna Count Guiccioli, after asking Byron to use his influence to secure him a Vice-Consulate at Ravenna (Croker Papers, vol. i. pp. 144, 145), left his wife and Byron, who shortly afterwards left Bologna together. "Lord Byron," says the spy (Misteri di Polizia, p. 139), "parti "improvvisamente con Madama Guiccioli, che perciò si disse o "da lui portata via o vendutagli (sic) dal marito." They travelled to Venice, and thence to Byron's villa at La Mira. There Moore

1819.]

THERESA GUICCIOLI.

291

three other stanzas for insertion in Canto first, in the earlier part referring to the character of Donna Inez.

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met her. In his Diary for October 7, 1819 (Journal, etc., vol. iii. p. 25), he notes that "Byron introduced me to his Countess before 'we left La Mira; she is a blonde and young; married only about a year, but not very pretty." A second impression, October 11, 1819 (ibid., p. 29), was more favourable : "Saw the Countess again, "who looked prettier than she did the first time. Guiccioli is her "name, nata Gamba." During their stay at La Mira, Byron received, through the Countess, a request from Count Guiccioli for a loan of £1000. He refused. Later in the autumn the Count demanded that his wife should give up Byron, and return to him. Byron used his influence to persuade her to accept the conditions ; the Guicciolis returned to Ravenna, and Byron prepared to leave Venice for England. Once again, at the close of 1819, the Countess fell ill; her father implored Byron to come to her; her husband acquiesced, and in December, 1819, Byron was formally accepted by her relations as her "Cicisbeo," and appeared in the part at the house of her uncle, the Marquis Cavalli. In January he was installed in rooms at the Palazzo Guiccioli, which he rented from the Count. A second crisis in their relations occurred in June, 1820, when the Count again demanded that his wife should give up Byron. His house had become a hotbed of revolution, and he may have been alarmed at the possible consequences to himself. This time the Countess insisted on a separation, which was decreed by the Pope in July, 1820. She retired on an allowance of £200 a year to her father's house, where Byron, still renting his rooms in the Palazzo Guiccioli, continued to visit her. When the Gambas, in 1821, with the Countess, left Papal territory, Byron joined her at Pisa, and, later, till his departure for Greece, lived with her near Genoa.

Byron's letters to his sister and to Hoppner leave it uncertain whether he was deeply attached to the Countess. Hoppner (Athenæum, May 22, 1869, p. 702) says that, in June, 1818, it had "de"pended on the toss-up of a halfpenny whether he should follow her "to Ravenna or return to England." It was almost equally uncertain whether, in December of the same year, he would not refuse to rejoin her. But his withdrawal of her from her husband's protection had outraged Venetian decorum, and, after her separation from the Count, his tie to her was strengthened. It is, however, certain that his connection with her raised him from the mud in which he had plunged at Venice. Shelley's statement is explicit: "L. B. is greatly improved in every respect. In genius, in temper, in moral "views, in health, in happiness. The connexion with La Guiccioli "has been an inestimable benefit to him" (Prose Works, ed. H. Buxton Forman, Letter to Mary Shelley, August 10, 1821, vol. iv. p. 217).

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The Countess was disinterested in her attachment to Byron. Shelley speaks of her in October, 1821 (Prose Works of Shelley, ed. H. B. Forman, vol. iv. p. 243), as "a very pretty, sentimental,

You seem in a fright; remember, you need not publish, if you don't like it.

"innocent Italian, who has sacrificed an immense fortune for the "sake of Lord Byron, and who, if I know anything of my friend, "of her, and of human nature, will hereafter have plenty of oppor"tunity to repent her rashness." She gave up wealth and position for him; she declined to receive money from him when he left Italy for Greece (Barry's letter to Moore, quoted in Life, p. 419); she refused to allow him to provide for her by his will (Lady Blessington's Conversations, p. 91). "Her conduct towards me," said Byron to Lady Blessington (ibid., p. 117), "has been faultless, and there are "few examples of such complete and disinterested affection as she "has shown towards me all through our attachment." She was his equal in birth,-"well educated, remarkably fond of, and well read "in, the poetry of her own country, and a tolerable proficient in "that of France and England" (ibid., p. 69). She was also a woman of great personal attractions. Mary Shelley (Dowden's Life of Shelley, vol. ii. p. 446) writes of her as a nice, pretty girl, "without pretensions, good-hearted, and amiable." Other descriptions of her will be found in Leigh Hunt's Lord Byron and some of his Contemporaries (vol. i. pp. 66-69); in Medwin's Conversations of Lord Byron (pp. 22-34), with characteristic inaccuracies as to the colour of her hair and eyes; in Lady Blessington's Idler in Italy (vol. ii. p. 137); in Lord Malmesbury's Memoirs of an Ex-Minister (vol. i. p. 26) in 1829; and elsewhere. Lady Blessington says of her in 1828

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"Her appearance is highly prepossessing, her manners remark"ably distinguished, and her conversation spirituelle and interesting. "Her face is decidedly handsome, the features regular and well"proportioned, her complexion delicately fair, her teeth very fine, "and her hair of that rich golden tint which is peculiar to the female "pictures by Titian and Georgioni (sic). Her countenance is very "pleasing: its general character is pensive; but it can be lit up "with animation and gaiety, when its expression is very agreeable. "Her bust and arms are exquisitely beautiful, and her whole appearance reminds one very strikingly of the best portraits in the "Venetian school. La Contessa Guiccioli is well educated and "highly accomplished; she speaks her native language with "remarkable purity, French with great fluency, and understands "English perfectly. Her reading has been extensive, her memory "is retentive, and her imagination has been elevated by the study "of the best poets of her own country and ours. With so many qualifications for society, it is not to be wondered at that her presence is much sought, and that those who know her feel a lively interest in her favour."

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Lord Malmesbury, who met her at Rome in 1829, says—

"One night I was at a ball given by the Austrian Ambassador, "and was much struck by a lady quite unlike the Italian women "who were there, as she had a profusion of auburn hair, which

1819.]

THERESA GUICCIOLI.

293

I am sorry my letter seemed "cynical." It was not meant so to you personally; as to my general opinions, they are the same.

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"she wore in wavy and massive curls. Her face was handsome, with a brilliant complexion and blue eyes, and full of "animation, showing splendid teeth when she laughed, which she was doing heartily at the time I remarked her. When she rose "from her chair I saw she was of small stature, although with "perfect shoulders, and a bust made for a much taller woman. "I was told that this was the Countess Guiccioli, of Byronic memory, "and that she was very fond of the English, and courted their "acquaintance; so I was introduced to her, and was very kindly re"ceived. We became great friends, and I found her a charming "companion, with a cultivated mind, yet with all the natural "bonhomie of her race, and fond of fun."

The Countess Guiccioli came to England in 1832-3 with her brother, Pietro Gamba. On this occasion, or on subsequent visits, she frequented Gore House and the receptions of Lady Talbot de Malahide, corresponded with Lady Morgan (Lady Morgan's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 345), made a pilgrimage to Byron's grave at HucknallTorkard, went to Harrow and dined with the Drurys, passed three hours with Mrs. Leigh, "always speaking" of Byron (Madden, Life and Literary Correspondence of Lady Blessington, vol. ii. pp. 243, 244). But she does not seem to have been generally received in English society. In 1851 (Dict. Nat. Biog., vol. viii. p. 153) she married, as her second husband, Hilaire Etienne Octave Rouillé, Marquis de Boissy. The date, however, seems uncertain, for a letter is quoted in Madden's Lady Blessington (vol. ii. p. 253), signed by her as Marquise de Boissy, and dated "20 Juin, 1848." Speaking of her and her husband at this time, Lord Malmesbury (Memoirs of an Ex-Minister, p. 34) says

"He was an eccentric man, with a large fortune and a fine "house at Paris, where I dined at a magnificent banquet, the "contrast being very striking after the frugal existence which in "former years she led in Italy. . . . I found the bonhomie of the "Italian altered for the artificial manner of a grande dame, and not to its advantage, although she retained the kindly instincts of her "nature."

Byron's portrait hung in her salon at Paris, and visitors saw her stand before the picture, murmuring, "with a sigh exacted by old "memories, Qu'il était beau! Mon Dieu, qu'il était beau!'" (Athenæum, April 5, 1873, p. 439). The marquis was equally proud of the connexion; he is said (Athenæum, October 9, 1869, p. 465) to have often introduced her as "Madame la Marquise de 66 Boissy, ma femme, ancienne maîtresse de Lord Byron." After the death of the marquis, in 1866, she returned to Florence. In 1868 she published her Lord Byron jugé par les Témoins de sa Vie (translated in 1869 by Hubert E. H. Jerningham, under the title of