1
I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the
most disting uished of that republic. My ancestor s had been
for many ye ars cou nsello rs and syndi cs, a nd my father had
filled several public si tuations wi th honour and r eputation.
He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity
and indefatigable attention to public business. He passed
his younger days perpetually occupied by the affairs of hi s
country; a variety of circumstances had prevented his
marrying early, nor was it until the decline of life that he
became a husband and the father of a family.
As the circumstances of hi s marr iage illustrate his
character, I cannot refrain from relating them. One of his
most intimate friends was a merchant who, from a
flourishing state, fell, throug h numerous mischances, into
poverty. This man, whose name w as Beaufort, was of a
proud and unbending disposition and could not bear to
live in poverty and oblivion in the same country where h e
had formerly been distinguished for his rank and
magnificence. Having paid his debts, therefore, in the
most honourable manner, he retreat ed with his daughter
to the town of Lucerne, where h e li ved unknown and in
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wretchedness. My fathe r loved Beaufort with the truest
friendship and was deeply grieved by his retreat in these
unfortunate circumstances. He bitterly deplored the fal se
pride which led his friend to a cond uct so li ttle worthy of
the affection that uni ted them . He lost no time in
endeavouring to seek him out, with the hope of
persuading him to begin the worl d again through hi s
credit and assista nce.
Beaufort had taken effectual measures to conceal
himself, and it was ten months before my father
discovered his abode. Overjoy ed at this discovery, he
hastened to the house, which wa s situated in a mean street
near the Reuss. Bu t wh en he entered, misery an d despair
alone welcomed him. B eaufort had saved but a very small
sum of money from the wreck of his fortunes, b ut it was
sufficient to provide him with sustenance for some
month s, and in the mea ntime he ho ped to procure some
respectable employment in a merchant? s house. The
interval was, consequentl y, spent in inaction; his grief only
became more deep and rankling when he had leisure for
reflection, and at length it took so fast hold of his mind
that at the end of th ree months he lay on a bed o f sickness,
incapable of any exertion .
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His daughte r attended him with the greatest tenderness,
but she saw with despair that their little fund w as rapidly
decreasing and that there was no other prospect of
support. But Caroline Beaufor t possessed a mi nd of an
uncommon mould, and her courag e rose to support her in
her adversity. She procured plain work; she plaited straw
and by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely
sufficient to support life.
Several months passed in this manner . Her father grew
worse; her t ime was more entirely o ccupied in attending
him; her means of sub sistence decreased; and in the tenth
month her father died in her arms, leaving her an orphan
and a begga r. This last blow overcame her, and she knelt
by Beaufort?s coffin w eeping bitterly, when my father
entered the chamber. He came like a protecting spirit to
the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after
the interment of his friend he conducted her to Geneva
and placed her under t he protection of a relation. Tw o
years after th is event Caroline became his wife.
There was a considerable difference between th e ages
of my parents, but thi s circumstance seemed to unite them
only closer in bonds of devoted affection. The re was a
sense of justice in my father?s upright mind which
rendered it necessary that he should approve highly to love
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strongly. Perhaps during former yea rs he had suffered fro m
the late-discovered unw orthiness of one beloved and so
was dispose d to set a greater value on tried worth. There
was a show of gratitude and wo rship in his attachment to
my mother, differing wholly from the doting fondness of
age, for it was inspired by reverence for her virtues and a
desire to be the mean s of, in some degree, reco mpensing
her for the sorrows she had endured, but which gave
inexpressible grace to his behaviour to her. Everyt hing was
made to yi eld to her wishes and her convenience. He
strove to shelter her, as a fair exoti c is sheltered by the
gardener, from every rougher wind and to surround her
with all tha t could tend to exci te p leasurable emotion in
her soft and benevolent mind. Her health, and even the
tranquillity of her hitherto constant spirit, had been shaken
by what she had gone through. During the two years that
had elapsed previous to their mar riage my father had
gradually relinquished all his public functions; and
immediately after their union they sought the pleasant
climate of I taly, and the change of scene and interest
attendant on a tour through that l and of wonders, as a
restorative for her weak ened frame.
From Italy they visited Germany and France. I, their
eldest child, was born at Naples, and as an infant
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accompanied them in their rambles. I remained for several
years their only child. Much as they were attached to each
other, they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of
affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon
me. My mo ther?s tender caresses and my father?s smile of
benevolent pleasure while regardin g me are my first
recollections. I was their plaything and their idol, and
something b etter?their child, the i nnocent and helpless
creature bestowed on th em by heaven, whom to bring up
to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to
direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled
their duties towards me. With this deep consciousness o f
what they owed towards the being to which they had
given life, added to the active spirit of tenderness th at
animated both, it may be imagin ed that while during
every hour of my infant life I received a lesson of patience,
of charity, and of self-control, I was so guided by a silken
cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment to me.
For a long time I was their only care. My mother had
much desire d to have a daughter, but I con tinued their
single offspr ing. When I was about five years old, while
making an excursion b eyond the frontiers of Italy, they
passed a we ek on the shores of the Lake of Como. Their
benevolent dispositi on o ften made th em enter the cottage s
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of the poor. This, to my moth er, was more than a duty; i t
was a necessity, a passi on?remembering what she had
suffered, and how she had been relieved?for her to act in
her turn the guardian angel to the afflicted. During one of
their walks a poor cot in th e foldings of a vale attracted
their notice as being singularly disconsol ate, while the
number of half-clothed children gathered about it spoke of
penury in its worst shape. On e day, when my father had
gone by himself to Mi lan, my mo ther, accompanied by
me, visited this abode. She found a peasant and his wife,
hard working, bent down by care and labour, distributing
a scanty meal to five hungry babes. Among these there was
one which a ttracted my mother far above all the rest. She
appeared of a different stock. The four others were da rk-
eyed, hardy little vagrants; this child was thin and very fair.
Her hair was the brigh test living gold, and despite the
poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of
distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and ample,
her blue eyes cloudless, and her lips and the moulding of
her face so expressive of se nsibility and sweetness that
none could behold her without looking on her as of a
distinct speci es, a being heave n-sent, and bearing a celestial
stamp in all her features.
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The peasant woman, perceiving that my mother fixed
eyes of wonder and admiration on this lovely girl, eagerl y
communicated her history. She was not her child, but the
daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother was a
German and had died on giving her birth. The infant had
been placed with these good people to nurse: they were
better off then. They had not been long married, and their
eldest child was but just born. The father of their charge
was one of those Italians nursed in the memory of the
antique glor y of Italy ? one among the *schiavi ognor
frementi*, who exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his
country. He became the victim of its weakness. Whether
he had died or still lingered in the dungeons of Austria was
not known. His prop erty was confiscated; his child
became an orphan and a begga r. She continued with her
foster parents and bloomed in their rude abode, fairer than
a garden rose among dark-leaved bra mbles.
When my father ret urned from Milan, he found
playing with me in the hall of our villa a child fairer than
pictured cherub? a creature who seemed to shed radiance
from her looks and whose for m and motions were lighter
than the chamois of the hills . The apparition was soon
explained. With his pe rmission my mother prevailed on
her rustic g uardians to yield their charge to her. They
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were fond o f the sweet orphan. Her presence ha d seemed
a blessing to them, but i t would be unfair to he r to keep
her in poverty and want when Providence afforded her
such powerful protection. Th ey consulted their village
priest, and the result wa s th at Eliz ab eth Lavenza became
the inmate of my parents? house? my more than sister?
the beautiful and adored compani on of all my occupations
and my pleasures.
Everyone loved Elizabeth. The passi onate and almost
reverential atta chment wit h which all regarded her
became, while I shared it, my pride and my delight. On
the evening previous to her being brought to my home,
my mother had said playfully, ?I have a pretty present for
my Victor? tomorrow he shall have it.? And when, on
the morrow, she presented Elizabeth to me as her
promised gift, I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her
words literally and looke d upon Elizabeth as mi ne?mine
to protect, love, and che rish. All praises bestowed on her I
received as made to a posse ssi on of my own. We called
each other familiarly by the name of cousin. No word, no
expression could body forth the kind of relation in which
she stood to me?my more than sister, since till death she
was to be mine only.
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