- Charrière, Œuvres, II, p. 239, letter of 13 May 1771.
- Ma Vie, ed. C.P.Courtney, pp. 20–1.
- Vincent-Louis-Rodolphe de Saussure (1747–1826) who married Lucie-
Alexandrine—‘Alix’—Mercier (1765–1828).
- See Ma Vie, ed. C.P.Courtney, Appendix, ‘A note on Caliste’, pp. 65–7, and his
forthcoming biography.
- Philippe Godet devotes a whole chapter to the enigma: ‘Un mystère’, op. cit., vol. I,
pp. 238–55.
- Isabelle de Charrière was alone in Paris at the beginning of her stay, and was joined
by her husband later. Charles-Emmanuel de Charrière wrote to Dudley Ryder on 25
October 1786:
My wife spent the winter in Paris and she’s still there. Her health is
better. Music is her ruling passion. She has a teacher for composition
and spends whole days at her pianoforte. She sends me the pieces
she’s composed which are really delightful. I’ve urged her not to
leave Paris at the beginning of the winter in order to come and spend
it in Colombier. I intend to go and join her there and we shall return
together in the spring.
(Harrowby Mss Trust, Sandon Hall, Stafford, Ryder Papers,
‘General Correspondence Hon. Dudley Ryder 1784–1803’,
vol. VIII, ff. 29–30)
While in Paris Monsieur de Charrière was prevailed upon by the young Constant to
lend him money, a loan which he took a long time to repay.
- Charles-Emmanuel de Charrière’s letters to Dudley Ryder contain several references
to the woman he so admired, Alix de Saussure-Mercier, in particular one dated 17
April 1794 where he tells his English friend:
My connection [Ma liaison] with Madame de Saussure of which you
saw the beginning is now a firm friendship and for life. Your liking
for her was equal to my own and certainly if you had the opportunity
to see her often in England you would also become her friend.
(Ryder Papers, vol. VIII, f. 54)
Charrière’s friendship with her appears to date from 1785 or perhaps even earlier.
- Charrière, Œuvres, II, p. 262.
- For other examples, see Dennis Wood, ‘Constant’s Cahier rouge: new findings’,
French Studies, XXXVIII (1984), pp. 13–29.
- Philippe Godet, op. cit., vol. I, p. 249, from a facsimile page of Chaillet’s Journal.
- On this unusual man, see Charly Guyot, La Vie intellectuelle et religieuse en Suisse
française à la fin du XVIIIe siècle: Henri-David de Chaillet, 1751–1823, Neuchâtel:
A la Baconnière, 1946. An example of the asperity of Isabelle de Charrière’s wit is
her comment on the hypocritical Chaillet’s signing himself ‘Chaillet, serviteur de
List of abbreviations 284
