CORINNE;
OR,
ITALY.
—"Udrallo il bel paese,
Ch' Apennin parte, e 'l mar circonda e l'Alpe."
PETRARCA.
BY
MADAME DE STAËL
TRANSLATED BY ISABEL HILL;
WITH
METRICAL VERSIONS OF THE ODES BY L. E. LANDON
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
(SUCCESSOR TO HENRY COLBURN).
1833
Translator's Preface.
Whatever defects may exist in my attempt at rendering "Corinne"into English, be it remembered, that we have many words for onemeaning—in French there are several significations for the same word.Repetition, an elegance in French, is a barbarism in English. ThusI had to contend with a tautology almost unmanageable, and even areiteration of the same sentiments. Sentences, harmonious in French,lost all agreeable cadence, until entirely reconstructed. Madame deStaël's diffuse manner obliged me also to transpose pretty freely. Ifound, in so doing, many self-contradictions, some of which I couldnot efface. Her boldness of condensation, too, and love of vague,mysterious sublimity, often left me in doubt as to what might be hiddenbeneath the dazzling veil of her eloquence. It may appear profanationto have altered a syllable; but, having been accustomed to consult thetaste of my own country, I could not outrage it by being more literal.I have taken the liberty of making British peasants and childrenspeak their native idiom, and have added a few explanatory notes;occasionally availing myself of quotations from more recent authoritiesthan that of the Baroness. Lest I should unconsciously have committedany great mistake, be it known that the printers of her "eighthcorrected and revised edition" gave Corinne a military instead of aliterary career, and made the Roman mob throw handfuls of bon motsinto the carriages during the carnival.
Miss Landon had kindly undertaken to render the lyric portions of thework; but we feared for awhile, that our own Improvisatrice would beprevented by circumstances from gracing the volume by her name. I,therefore, translated Corinne's compositions into rhyme. Only one ofmy essays, however, "The Fragment of Corinne's Thoughts," was required.I am conscious of its imperfect regularity; but, having no poeticalreputation at stake, I throw myself on the mercy of my judges.
ISABEL HILL.
6, CECIL STREET, STRAND.
MADAME DE STAËL.
Madame de Staël—Her Infancy and Education—Her Marriage—Her PersonalAppearance—The Revolution—Her First Meeting and Conversation withBonaparte—Interview with Josephine—Her Portrait and Character—HerRepartees—Exile—Delphine—Auguste de Staël and Napoleon—PrivateTheatricals—Corinne—Police Interference—Travels in ForeignCountries—Her Illness and Death—Effect of Napoleon's Persecution uponthe Literary Position of Madame de Staël.
Jacques Necker, the father of Madame de Staël, a Genevese and aProtestant, was at the birth of his daughter Annie-Louise-GermaineNecker, in 1766, a clerk in a banking-house at Paris. He had marriedM'lle Curchod, a Swiss like hi