The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-04
COUNTESS GUICCIOLI ANDLORD
BYRON.


COUNTESS GUICCIOLI AND LORD
BYRON.
No sooner. was Lamartine the poet
politician silenced by the good sense Of
thepublic Than he starts another within
the Life Of Lord Byron, which for i'm
pertinence, ignorance, want Of tasted
egregious folly in scarcely to be matched
object of the work is evidently tile res
of the Cuaantes Guiccioli, who Is made tn
tell tile story of her love plainly and
openly to the greedy ears OF the multi
t,ide, and forbidden to let concealfnent
prey on her damask cheek even con-
corning matters best fitted for tho
silence and retirement Of the boudoir
The description of the birth of passion
as given by this Italian countess, who
still lives and moves. and has her being
on the asphaltc of the Boulevards OF
Paris, in her carriage in the Bots dc
Boulogne, and amid the highest and
most respected company as the wife of a
senator, man of power and distinction,
is worthy of quotation. Be it remarked
| that the fair countess had been married
but three days, and was making her
bridal visits at Venice under the escort
| of the old man, her new husband. ii
| was at the Palace of the Marchesa Ben
zoni that her eye first lighted Oh the
form of the English lord, who lay neg
| ligentIy stretched almost at full length
on sofa at some distance from the lamp
and quite in the shadow. There were
two individuals engaged in close con
versation on the sofa-one was Scott,
the other Byron. 1.-THE youngest did
not appear to me man, but some God
of The North-scarcely disguised under
human form. He was reclining with
his head leaning on his hand, on the
back Of the sofa. His figure, light and
almost ethereal seemed to follow the
undulatiOns of the cushions, on which
he was leaning, his feet were beating
| the carpet with the nervous motion OF
one in dream who is beating time to
music unheard of by any but himself
| lis costume, all black, but of extreme
elegance, detached itself from the dark =
ness of surrounding objects onlyby the
extreme Wilderness of the linen which
sh0ne upon his breastand at the extremi-
ty Of his sleeves, fallingover hands more
delicate and white than tho purest mar
BILE. His hair ofan uncertain tint of
brown, something between the dark
ness of night and dimness of twilight,
was so extremely fine and silky that II
seemed thin, like the foliage OF the
weeping willow, amongst which the
damp breeze from the river is playing
Astu Ills features, they are well known
behold his portrait, which Is fixed IN
the memory of every man, and in thu
Imagination of every woman the higl
forehead, somewhat fiattened at tho
temples the eyes deep and limpid az
the sea beneath the shadow of some jut
ting cape the nostrils of the Belvider.
Apollo, breathing the thunderbolt while
bending the bow; the lips moulded fol
both disdain and tenderness-thatv ven
geance of the demi-god against mankind
that heightened oval which give
the melancholy charm to youth tn,
transparency of the skin which per
, mits the eye of the beholder Il
; follow every emotion, every though
through the slIivering of the blu
veins; in short, that physiognom.
which concentrates the divine essenc
of an immortal soul into flash of light
ming of moments space" This is per
feet i'm its way, somewhat earthly il
spite of the hypocritical pathos will
which the pen of Lamartine has sOugh
to make 1t unintelligible. The plaii
description, as given by the unsophisti-
Gated, sensual Italian woman, is per
fectly comprehensive. In the whole o.
literature there is but one description Il
. be compared with it, and that will be il
, another volume of French memoirs
, these of Lebel ,valet-de-chambre to LOui
Quinze, and Grand Master of the Par
: aux Cerfs. But see the effect OF thi
: great cause upon the Countess herself
r "My gaze could could not detach itsei
1 from contemplation OF that face an
! figure, and may truly say that m
! whole soul was issuing forth throug
: my eyes. From this very momen
4 III was no longer mistress of NJ
Q own self. lost all self-possession, as
e were. The whole universe annihilate
r in all that was not himself, had no ex
{ istence but in his person. Whether
;. was the lightning spark of that interna
4 electricity which gathers up in IFS "a
|, didity the whole circumference of til
| globe in one single atom-whether
/, WAC the effect of some enchantmen
4 seizes with supernatural power on til
| heart aud the senses, and transports TIL
q soul of the one possessed out OF til
: BODY he inhabits into another body will
f ing to submit to the unhoiy compact,
r know not, but / found myself as IRE
j sistibIy, as firmly chained to this straI
I ger as though my bonds had been rivet
: ed in the strongest iron. The work WI
4 so sudden, so abrupt, that had no tin
: for refectin. had raised my eyeli,
2 to gaze upon him-before they fell
Z was vanquished and prisoner An
!. so the dear Countess goes on vaporin
' through Lamartine's indistinct pros
Q and, with the permission of her hu
= band, let us hope through man,
. many pages. She tells us how Ih
' long before the world had begun to tai
I of her otherwise than as the admiral
;. young wife of the old Count, she hi
e become the idol-the thinner SOUL
{ the English Lord; and how, long aft
,. the matter had become familiar tall
1 she still remained under the snme fasc
e nation. II is Lamartine's delicat
e which spoils the narrative. The stor.
n as told 10y the Countess herself to La
: MARITIME. in the broad, honest, plaii
# spoken language of the salons OF Nenic
It would be far more interesting, and evel
e perhaps, more decent, too, than tb
d mixture of romantic frippery and mat
# rial sensuality with which he has chose
IT TO ornament the tale. But what pu
Is pose are these sickening revelation
r. meant to serve? There was RUM
IT afloat some time ago that the Counte
,e Ciuiccioli was occupied in writing Il
l. history Of her intimacy with Lord Il
Is ron. Perhaps the present husband mi
q = Il