NOTES:-Byron and Shelley in the Environs of Geneva during the Summer of 1816, 1-Whitsunday: Whitsuntide, 2-Shak- speariana, 4-Pedigrees and Pedigree Makers: The St. Johns and Tollemaches, 5-Brahma, the Father-Life at Harro- QUERIES:-Lord Beaconsfield's Crest and Motto-Bennet Dyer, 7-Rev. R. Hollinworth, of Manchester-Curious Passage in the "Paston Letters "-Joan of Arc-Where did King Oswald die? 8-Bp. Cogan-Wethyrley Family-Paley's "Clergyman's Companion"-"Lindabrides" - Parchment Deeds-Sawley Abbey-Browning's "Sordello "-The Caxton REPLIES:-William, First Duke of Queensberry, 10- Dr. Dodd's Marriage, 12-The Halsham Family-Bibliography of Utopias, 13-"Incidit in Scyllam," &c.-Axtell Family- "Things in General," &c.-"The Crisis," 14-Scotch Here- ditary Offices-"The Churchyards of Roxburghshire "-De la Maine Family-Briggs Family-Curious Use of Words- "Baron of the Court of Exchequer"-Farewell Family, 15- lase"-"The Long Eleventh of June"-J. Witherspoon and Descendants-A Commonplace Book," &c., 16— Ev'n in and Pamela - Bonvyle Family-"Temorn "-"To-year”. Lady Hamilton Centenarianism-"Next the heart Musical Revenge: "Hudibras," 18-Fen: Fend - Philip BYRON AND SHELLEY IN THE ENVIRONS OF GENEVA DURING THE SUMMER OF 1816. The first meeting of these illustrious poets was at the Hôtel de Sécheron. This was more cor- rectly the Hôtel d'Angleterre at Sécheron, a small suburb of Geneva, situated about an English mile and a quarter on the road to Lausanne, that is, north-east of Geneva, and on the north shore of the lake. It was kept at that time by one Dejean, and in both the Letters and Journals* and in the Six Weeks' Tourt it is merely called Hôtel de Sécheron. It must be remembered, in order to understand the topography of many allusions in the two above works, that the city of Geneva occupies the extreme south-west angle of Lake Leman, and that both the north and south shores of the lake diverge respectively from left and right of that city. On the north shore stood the Hôtel de Sécheron, which would thus face Mont Blanc, *Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, with Notices of his Life, by Thomas Moore, in two volumes. London, History of a Six Weeks' Tour, &c. London, Hook- "Secheron's (sic) Hotel," at p. 71 of the Shelley Memorials, &c., London, 1859, 2nd edition, 8vo., is, of course, incorrect. Medwin says, "At Dejean's, Sécheron." This is right as far as it goes. See The Life of Percy and in a note to Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto iii., Byron accordingly says, " This is written in the eye of Mont Blanc (June 3, 1816), which even at this distance dazzles mine."§ The Shelleys and Miss Clairmont had clearly reached the hotel by the 17th of May. This is the date of Mrs. Shelley's first letter thence, given in the Six Weeks' Tour. It is the letter of a per- son who has arrived a day or two, not of a person arrived on that same day, inasmuch as she writes, "We have hired a boat, and every evening at about six o'clock we sail on the lake." And again, further "We do not enter into society here, yet our time passes swiftly and delightfully." Byron and Dr. Polidori arrived there on May 25, Their subsequent movements are thus told by "After passing a fortnight under the same roof with Lord Byron at Sécheron, Mr. and Mrs. Shelley removed § Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto iii., p. 73. Lon- The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, &c., and a Memoir, by William Michael Rossetti. London, often-repeated incident of Shelley's hallucination of the breast-eyed woman, Mr. Rossetti informs us that the ver- sion of this story, which he then proceeds to quote, "is and the occurrence is dated June 18. This diary of Poli- thus authentically jotted down in the physician's diary," dori's was never published. Polidori has also told the in- cident in his prefatory letter to the Vampyre (London, 1819, 8vo., published anonymously), and this account is quoted by Moore (vol. ii. p. 208); but, though the two versions tally, their wording is different. In a letter at the page last cited Byron, who had received the Vampyre, comments very amusingly on the various perversions of its preface. He then continues, "What do you mean about Polidori's Diary? Why, I defy him to say anything about me, but he is welcome,"-which sentence thus ends brokenly, but its general sense is easy to gather, and the passage shows that the physician had at that Belle Rive, that rose immediately behind them. During "Arriving at Geneva (Byron) took up his abode at the well-known hotel, Sécheron. After a stay of a few weeks at this place, he removed to a villa in the neighbourhood, called Diodati, very beautifully situated on the high banks of the Lake, where he established his residence for the remainder of the summer."t pendent evidence that this date cannot be very WHITSUNDAY: WHITSUNTIDE. A great deal has been written, both in "N. & Q." and elsewhere, on the derivation of our English name for the feast of Pentecost, and it might be considered that the subject had been pretty well threshed out. This is, however, by no means the case. It cannot be said that any definite conclusion was reached by the former discussions, and there is still virgin soil left to turn up in search of the genuine root. I may possibly not succeed where so many have failed, but the attempt, at least, is worth making. question, I may refer to "N. & Q.," 5th S. i. 401, for an able summary by the editor, and also to a letter signed C*** (Mr. Cockayne), 4th S. xi. 437. These articles, with the references which they contain, are sufficient to bring out the various theories, which may in a few words be summarized On comparing these extracts, the question at once arises whether Belle Rive was not merely a second name of the Villa Diodati (just as Chapuis was another appellation of the Campagne Mont Alègre). Both are described as situated upon the high banks of the lake; both were in or near Coligny. Observe, also, that in the second passage quoted, Moore represents Byron as moving directly from the Hôtel de Sécheron to the Villa Diodati. We need only suppose that, in printing or copying, the words " For Diodati" were acci- In order to avoid repetition, and to put such of dentally omitted in the first extract after "called your readers as may be bitten by the etymological Belle Rive," to clear away and reconcile all dis-maggot au courant with the present aspect of the crepancies. Medwin follows in the same sense, omitting any allusion to Belle Rive. He says:§ "After a fortnight's residence at Dejean's, Shelley and his female friends removed to the Campagne Montallegre, on the opposite side of the lake; and shortly after Lord Byron took that (the campagne) of Diodati." In deciding for or against the separate existence of a Villa Belle Rive the dates are all-important. Counting a fortnight from the Shelleys' arrival at the Hôtel de Sécheron, they would move on May 28 or 29; and, indeed, on June 1, Mrs. Shelley writes that they had changed their residence, and she, moreover, dates her letter from "Campagne C******" which initial, and six sequent asterisks, must stand for Campagne Chapuis, that is Mont Alegre. If, as we are told, Byron outstayed his friends a fortnight at the 3. Another correspondent quotes Brady's Clavis Hôtel, he would have occupied the Villa Diodati Calendaria, in which it is said that the original on the 11th or 12th of June; and we have inde-name of the season of the year was Wittentide, or * Letters, vol. ii. p. 27. Ibid., vol. ii. p. 6. This seems to have been a common topographical name. Compare our "Mount Pleasant." § See vol. i. p. 238 of The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, by Thomas Medwin. The words in parenthesis are mine. Medwin is a loose and incorrect writer, but in this instance he seems to know the ground, and he tells us that he was at Diodati "two years after," i.e. in 1818, I suppose. The name is filled in at full in the reprint of the Six Weeks' Tour as a portion of the Essays and Letters from Abroad, Moxon, 1840, 8vo. See vol. ii. p. 56. I suppose "Chapius" (sic) is a misprint. as follows: 1. Whitsunday is equivalent to Dominica Alba, and was so called from the white garments worn by neophytes on that day. 2. "This day is called Wytsonday because the Holy Ghost brought wytte and wysdome into Cristis disciples." This is quoted by Hearne from a book printed by Wynkyn de Worde, and is supported by a passage from Richard Rolle of Hampole (A.D. 1358). the time of choosing the wits or wise men to the Wittenagemote. 4. Verstegan, in his Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, suggests A.-S. wiera, Fl. wijen, to consecrate, applied as a period of peculiar sanctity. 5. Reading, in his Sermons on the Lessons for Sundays throughout the Year (vol. ii. 291), says :"It was a custom amongst our ancestors upon this day (Whitsunday) to give all the milk of their ewes and kine to their poor neighbours, for the love of God, and in Letters and Journals, vol. ii. p. 7. The date of the letter is June 27. |