omber genius has caused us such profound
emotions starts, in a few days' time, for Italy.

"I accompanied Corinne to Massot's. To alleviate the tedium of the
sitting, a Mlle. Romilly played pleasantly on the harp, and the studio
was a veritable temple of the Muses....

"Bonstetten gave us two readings of a Memoir on the Northern Alps. It
began very well, but afterward it bored us. Madame de Stael resumed her
reading, and there was no longer any question of being bored. It is
marvelous how much she must have read and thought over to be able to
find the opportunity of saying so many good things. One may differ from
her, but one can not help delighting in her talent....

"And now here we are at Geneva, trying to reproduce Coppet at the Hotel
des Balances. I am delightfully situated with a wide view over the
Valley of Savoy, between the Alps and the Jura.

"Yesterday evening the illusion of Coppet was complete. I had been with
Madame de Stael to call on Madame Rilliet, who is so charming at her own
fireside. On my return I played chess with Sismondi. Madame de Stael,
Mlle. Randall, and Mlle. Jenner sat on the sofa chatting with Bonstetten
and young Barante. We were as we had always been--as we were in the days
that I shall never cease regretting."

Other descriptions exist in great abundance, but these suffice to
serve our purpose. They show us the Coppet salon as it was pleasant,
brilliant, unconventional; something like Holland House, but more
Bohemian; something like Harley Street, but more select; something like
Gad's Hill--which it resembled in the fact that the members of the
house-parties were expected to spend their mornings at their desks--but
on a higher social plane; a center at once of high thinking and
frivolous behavior; of hard work and desperate love-making, which
sometimes paved the way to trouble.

Footnotes:

[Footnote 1: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.]

[Footnote 2: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.]

[Footnote 3: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of
Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.]

[Footnote 4: The modern Marseilles.]

[Footnote 5: An ancient Italian town on the Adriatic, founded by
Syracusans about 300 B.C. and still an important seaport.]

[Footnote 6: The city in Provence where have survived a beautiful Roman
arch and a stupendous Roman theater in which classical plays are still
given each year by actors from the Theatre Francais