She is an enthusiastic admirer of Shakespeare, Milton and
Byron. She had been to Zurich for her son, who was employed in a commercial
house there, in order to take him back with her into Italy. She spoke
French as well as Italian, and her son had a very good knowledge of German.
She offered me a seat in her carriage, on the understanding that I was
going to Lausanne, where she intended to stop a day or two. An offer of the
kind made by so elegant and fascinating a woman you may be assured I did
not scruple to accept, and I was in hopes of improving on this acquaintance
and renewing it at Milan. Indeed, did not business oblige me to remain some
weeks at Lausanne, I should certainly offer my services to escort her all
the way to Milan. She had letters of introduction for Lausanne, and during
her stay there I acted as her cicerone, to point out the most interesting
objects and points of view, which the place affords.
[104] Louis Charles Joseph Gravier, vicomte de Vergennes d'Alonne, was the
son of the Comte de Vergennes, who was minister under the reign of
Louisi XVI. Born at Constantinople in 1766, he took service at the
early age of thirteen, was promoted captain in 1782 and colonel in
1788. Having emigrated in 1791, he served in Conde's army, then took
service in England from 1795 to 1797. On the 3rd March, 1815, he
re-entered the army as "marechal de camp," and, on the 2nd November of
that same year, was promoted general commander of the department of
Puy de Dome. He retired on the 8th March, 1817, and seems to have been
much regretted at Clermont. Died 1821. - ED.
[105] Jean Francois Wlnkens, born at Aix-la-Chapelle In 1790, is mentioned
in the records of the French War Office as having served in the 25th
Regiment at Waterloo. His family may have belonged to Strassburg. - ED.
[106] Pierre Jacques Jomini, Protestant minister at Avenches from 1808 to
1819. - ED.
[107] The Treytorrens family, of old nobility and fame, now extinct,
possessed a large estate at Guevaux, on the borders of the lake of
Morat. - ED.
CHAPTER XIV
SEPTEMBER 1817-APRIL 1818
Journey from Lausanne to Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples - Residence at
Naples - The theatre of San Carlo - Rossini's operas - Gaming in Naples - The
Lazzaroni - Public writers - Carbonarism - Return to Rome - Christmas eve at
Santa Maria Maggiore - Mme Dionigi - Theatricals - Society in Rome - The papal
government - Lucien Bonaparte, prince of Canino - Louis Napoleon, ex-King of
Holland - Pope Pius VII - Thorwaldsen - Granet - The Holy Week in Rome - The
Duchess of Devonshire - From Rome to Florence by the Perugia road.
I started from Lausanne with a party of two ladies in a Milanese vettura
on the morning of the 20th September.
