The following day was spent in a consideration of our circumstances, and in contemplation of the scene around us. A furious 24 Aug., 1814. vent d'Italie (south wind) tore up the lake, making immense waves, and carrying the water in a whirlwind high in the air, when it fell like heavy rain into the lake. The waves broke with a tremendous noise on the rocky shores. This conflict continued during the whole day, but it became calmer towards the evening. S*** and I walked on the banks, and sitting on a rude pier, S*** read aloud the account of the Siege of Jerusalem from Tacitus.
In the mean time we endeavoured to find an[1] habitation, but could only procure two unfurnished rooms in an ugly big house, called the Chateau. These we hired at a guinea a month, had beds moved into them, and the next day took possession. But it was a 25 Aug., 1814.wretched place, with no comfort or convenience. It was with difficulty that we could get any food prepared: as it was cold and rainy, we ordered a fire—they lighted an immense stove which occupied a corner of the room; it was long before it heated, and when hot, the warmth was so unwholesome, that we were obliged to throw open our windows to prevent a kind of suffocation; added to this, there was but one person in Brunen who could speak French, a barbarous kind of German being the language of this part of Switzerland. It was with difficulty, therefore, that we could get our most ordinary wants supplied.[2]
- ↑ So in Shelley's edition, but a in the Essays &c.
- ↑ In the Essays &c. (1840), Mrs. Shelley here added—"Our amusement meanwhile was writing. S*** commenced a Romance on the subject of the Assassins, and I wrote to his dictation." The next paragraph begins with Our instead of These; and after situation we read, in the Essays &c.,—"At one time we proposed crossing Mount St. Gothard into Italy; but the £28" &c.
