.

THE PRISONER OF CHILLON

INTRODUCTION TO _THE PRISONER OF CHILLON_.

The _Prisoner of Chillon_, says Moore (_Life_, p. 320), was written at
Ouchy, near Lausanne, where Byron and Shelley "were detained two days in
a small inn [Hotel de l'Ancre, now d'Angleterre] by the weather."
Byron's letter to Murray, dated June 27 (but? 28), 1816, does not
precisely tally with Shelley's journal contained in a letter to Peacock,
July 12, 1816 (_Prose Works of P. B. Shelley_, 1880, ii. 171, _sq._);
but, if Shelley's first date, June 23, is correct, it follows that the
two poets visited the Castle of Chillon on Wednesday, June 26, reached
Ouchy on Thursday, June 27, and began their homeward voyage on Saturday,
June 29 (Shelley misdates it June 30). On this reckoning the _Prisoner
of Chillon_ was begun and finished between Thursday, June 27, and
Saturday, June 29, 1816. Whenever or wherever begun, it was completed by
July 10 (see _Memoir of John Murray_, 1891, i. 364), and was ready for
transmission to England by July 25. The MS., in Claire's handwriting,
was placed in Murray's hands on October 11, and the poem, with seven
others, was published December 5, 1816.

In a final note to the _Prisoner of Chillon_ (First Edition, 1816, p.
59), Byron confesses that when "the foregoing poem was composed he knew
too little of the history of Bonnivard to do justice to his courage and
virtues," and appends as a note to the "Sonnet on Chillon," "some
account of his life ... furnished by the kindness of a citizen of that
Republic," i.e. Geneva. The note, which is now entitled "Advertisement,"
is taken bodily from the pages of a work published in 1786 by the Swiss
naturalist, Jean Senebier, who died in 1809. It was not Byron's way to
invent imaginary authorities, but rather to give his references with
some pride and particularity, and it is possible that this
unacknowledged and hitherto unverified "account" was supplied by some
literary acquaintance, who failed to explain that his information was
common property. Be that as it may, Senebier's prose is in some respects
as unhistorical as Byron's verse, and stands in need of some corrections
and additions.

Francois Bonivard (there is no contemporary authority for "Bonnivard")
was born in 1493. In early youth (1510) he became by inheritance Prior
of St. Victor, a monastery outside the walls of Geneva, and on reaching
manhood (1514) he accept