04.Lord Byron's Daughter

Lord Byron's Daughter
4．　拜伦勋爵的女儿
This is what I read:


以下是我所读到的：


On January 21st 1817 Claire Clairmont, nineteen years old, had a baby daughter in a town called Bath in England. The baby's father was the poet Lord Byron, but he was not Claire's husband. They were lovers for a while but then Byron went to Italy. He did not love Claire and he did not want to be with her. So Claire lived with Byron's friends — the poet Shelley, his wife Mary, and their two children. Claire and Mary were half-sisters; they had the same father but different mothers. Shelley liked children very much and he felt a strong love for Claire's baby. He hoped that his friend Byron would help Claire and her daughter. From Bath he wrote to him:


1817年1月21日，19岁的克莱尔·克莱尔蒙特在英格兰巴斯市生下一个女孩。诗人拜伦勋爵是孩子的父亲，但他们并没有结婚，只是做过一段时间的情人，后来拜伦去了意大利。他不爱克莱尔，也不想和她生活在一起。克莱尔只好找到拜伦的朋友，诗人雪莱，与雪莱夫妇和他们的两个孩子住在一起。雪莱的夫人玛丽与克莱尔是同父异母的姐妹。雪莱喜欢孩子，对克莱尔的女儿尤其喜爱，他希望拜伦能够帮助克莱尔母女，于是就从巴斯给拜伦写信：


Claire has a very beautiful girl. Her hair is fair and her eyes are blue... Claire calls her Alba.


克莱尔生了个女儿，金发碧眼，非常漂亮，……克莱尔给她起名叫阿尔巴。


Byron wanted to see his baby daughter and he asked Shelley to bring her to Italy. Shelley wanted to live in Italy too, so he and his family, and Claire and her baby, all travelled there. The baby was a year old and now she was called Allegra because Byron liked the name.


拜伦想见自己的女儿，就请雪莱带她来意大利。雪莱也想到意大利生活，便带着家人和克莱尔母女一同前往。这时小女孩1岁，并改名为阿利格拉，因为拜伦喜欢这个名字。


In Italy Claire decided to give Allegra to Byron because she thought that the daughter of an English lord would have a good future. Shelley said to her: 'No, don't do it, Claire, or you will never see your daughter again.' But Byron was rich and Claire thought that Allegra would have a better life with him. Of course, she did not want to give Allegra to Byron, and when she sent the child to him in Venice, she was very unhappy. In a letter to a friend she wrote:


在意大利，克莱尔决定将阿利格拉交给拜伦抚养，因为她觉得作为英国勋爵的女儿会有更好的前途。雪莱对她说：“不要那么做，克莱尔，不然你就再也见不到自己的女儿了。”但是拜伦很富有，克莱尔觉得阿利格拉和他在一起会生活得更好。当然，克莱尔并非真的想这样做，在威尼斯把孩子交给拜伦时，她非常伤心。在给朋友的信中，她写道：


In the spring of 1818 I sent my little darling to her father. She was the only thing that I loved in the world.


1818年春天，我把宝贝女儿交给了她的父亲。她是这世上我唯一爱的人。


It was a terrible mistake. Allegra lived with her father in a big house called the Palazzo Mocenigo. It was full of strange animals, and even stranger people. After a while Lord Byron understood that it was not a good home for a child. So he gave Allegra to an English family in Venice, and in August Claire saw her there. Then Byron said that Claire and her baby and Shelley's family could stay at his villa near a town called Este. For two months Claire was happy there with Allegra. But Byron also said that she must bring Allegra to him in Venice in the autumn. So in October Allegra went back to her father, and Claire never saw her again.


克莱尔做了个极其错误的决定。阿利格拉同父亲住在一座叫莫契尼格宫的豪宅里。那儿总是聚集着稀奇古怪的人和动物。过了一段时间，拜伦勋爵发现这个居所并不适合孩子，于是将阿利格拉送到威尼斯的一户英国人家里。8月份，克莱尔在那里见到了女儿。后来拜伦允许克莱尔母女和雪莱一家住在他在埃斯特镇附近的别墅里。在那儿，克莱尔和女儿阿利格拉度过了愉快的两个月。但是拜伦说克莱尔必须在秋天把女儿带回威尼斯，交给他。所以，到了10月份，阿利格拉又回到了父亲身边，而克莱尔从此再也没有见过她。


Allegra stayed in Venice for eight months with different families. Then Byron took her to the city of Bologna. He wrote to Shelley:


在威尼斯，阿利格拉生活了8个月，先后被寄养在好几个家庭里。而后，拜伦带她去了波洛尼亚。在给雪莱的信中，他写道：


She is like me. She has white skin. Her voice is soft and she can't say the letter 'r'.


她很像我，皮肤白皙，声音轻柔，但是不会发字母“r”的音。


For many months he sent no news to Claire about her daughter. Then she heard that Allegra was with her father in a town called Ravenna. She wrote to him, 'I want to see my daughter — please!' But he said no. Claire wrote a lot of letters like this to Byron, but he did not answer them. She was very unhappy.


接下来的数月里，拜伦没有告诉克莱尔任何有关女儿的消息。后来，克莱尔听说阿利格拉和父亲在一个叫拉文纳的城里，于是写信求拜伦：“请让我见见女儿！”但是被拒绝了。克莱尔给拜伦写了很多类似的信，但他都没有回复。这让她很伤心。


When Allegra was four years old, Byron sent her to a convent school near Ravenna. The nuns were kind and loved her very much. But the convent was strange to her. The walls were white and cold, the rooms were empty, and sometimes she was cold because there was no fire. Every day she did the same things at the same time. This quiet life was very different from her life with Byron.


在阿利格拉4岁时，拜伦把她送到了拉文纳附近的一所修道院学校。修女们很和善，也很喜欢阿利格拉，但修道院对她来说是个陌生的地方。墙壁是白色的，冷漠而生硬，房间里空空荡荡，没有壁炉，有时她会觉得冷。每天，阿利格拉都要在同样的时间做同样的事，这种安静的生活和她跟拜伦在一起时截然不同。


Claire was now very angry. She did not like convent schools, and she was sure that Allegra was always cold and lonely. She wrote an angry letter to Byron: 'My child must be with one of her parents,' she said. He did not answer the letter. He thought that the convent was good for Allegra, and he told the nuns that Claire must never visit the child. They must lock the doors to stop her. But he said that Shelley could see Allegra because he was his friend. So one day Shelley went to visit Allegra at the convent. He wrote in his diary:


克莱尔对此非常不满。她不喜欢修道院学校，而且深信阿利格拉在那里会感到孤独、寒冷。她气愤地给拜伦写信，说：“我的女儿必须跟我们之中的一人生活在一起。”拜伦没有回信。他认为修道院学校对阿利格拉有好处，还告诉那儿的修女绝对不能允许克莱尔去看望女儿，要将其拒之门外。但是他说雪莱可以见阿利格拉，因为他们是朋友。于是，有一天雪莱去修道院看望了阿利格拉。他在日记中写道：


She is tall and pale. But her eyes are very blue, and she has a lot of blond hair. She is beautiful and very different from the other children. I ran and played with her in the garden. She is very light and fast. I gave her some sweets and I asked her, 'What shall I say to your Mamà?' She answered in Italian, 'Tell her to send me a kiss and a beautiful dress.' Then I asked her, 'What shall I say to your Papà?' And she answered, 'Tell him to visit me and to bring Mamà with him.'


她个子很高，面色苍白，长着蓝色的眼睛和一头浓密的金发，是个漂亮而又与众不同的孩子。我陪她在花园里追逐玩耍，她跑起来轻快敏捷。我送给她一些糖果，又问她：“你想要我跟你妈妈说什么？”她用意大利语回答：“告诉她送给我一个吻和一条漂亮的裙子。”然后我问：“你想跟爸爸说什么？”她说：“让他带着妈妈来看我。”


But Papà did not visit her and Mamà did not come.


但是爸爸和妈妈都没有去看她。


On June 6th 1821 Claire dreamt that Allegra was ill. She thought that her daughter was going to die and she would never see her again. 'Take her away from the convent,' she wrote to Byron. But he said no. Of course, Claire wanted to go to the convent and take Allegra away, but this was very difficult. Byron was a rich and famous lord and the people in the convent did what he wanted. They locked the doors.


1821年6月6日，克莱尔梦到阿利格拉病了。她猜想女儿快死了，自己将再也见不到她了。“带孩子离开修道院，”她写信央求拜伦，但被拒绝了。克莱尔当然希望自己能去修道院把女儿接走，可是这么做很困难。拜伦是位富有且声名显赫的勋爵，修道院的人顺从他的意愿，锁住大门。


And then Allegra got a fever. The doctor came and gave her some medicine. For a while she was better and the nuns hoped that she would live. But she died on April 21st 1822. She was five years and three months old.


在那之后阿利格拉发烧了。医生来看过，并开了药。曾有一段时间她的病情有所好转，修女们以为她会活下来。但是1822年4月21日，她去世了，那一天刚好5岁零3个月。


Shelley was afraid to tell Claire that Allegra was dead. He thought that she would try to kill herself. But one evening Shelley, Mary, and some friends were talking about Allegra when Claire came into the room. At once everybody stopped talking, and she knew.


雪莱不敢把阿利格拉去世的消息告诉克莱尔，担心她会轻生。但是，一天晚上，正在雪莱、玛丽和几个朋友谈论阿利格拉时，克莱尔走进了房间，大家突然止住了谈话，克莱尔意识到了。


Allegra's dead, isn't she?' she said.


“阿利格拉不在了，是不是？”她问。


So Shelley told her the sad story. She was very unhappy and wanted to die. Shelley was also unhappy. He loved Allegra like a daughter and he could not forget her. Two weeks after Allegra died, he was with one of his friends on the balcony of a house by the sea. Suddenly he saw a child with long, fair hair and very blue eyes. She was coming out of the sea and she was smiling at him. In the moonlight he saw that she wanted to come to him.


雪莱只得把这个不幸的消息告诉她。克莱尔非常伤心，甚至想要结束生命。雪莱也很难过，他像父亲一样疼爱阿利格拉，无法忘记她。阿利格拉去世两周后的一天，雪莱和一个朋友在一处海边住所的阳台上，突然他看见个金发碧眼的女孩从大海里走出来，向他微笑着。借着月光雪莱看见她正要朝自己走来。


Look, there it is!' he said to his friend. 'Can you see her? Look — there!'


“快看那边！”他对朋友说，“看见她了吗？就在那儿！”


But his friend saw nothing. It was Allegra's ghost. And fifty years after Allegra died, Claire wrote to a friend:


但是他的朋友什么都没看见。那是阿利格拉的幽灵。在阿利格拉死去50年以后，克莱尔在寄给朋友的信中写道：


I can never forget my darling child. But did she really die? Byron and Shelley said that she died, but I have heard that she is alive. Some people say that they have seen her. I am sure that she is alive.


我永远都无法忘记我亲爱的女儿。可是她真的死了吗？拜伦和雪莱说她死了，但我听说她还活着。有人说见过她。我相信她还活着。


Claire died in 1879 when she was eighty-one years old. Her tombstone is in the cemetery of Santa Maria dell'Antella at Bagno a Ripoli.


1879年，克莱尔在81岁时去世了，墓碑安放在巴尼奥阿里波的圣玛丽亚德尔安蒂拉墓地。