No More Learning

H e could not, however, feel secure amid the frightful
scenes that were passing around him; and he soon has-
tened back to S weden, where he remained until after the
death of R obespierre. " F or a short time, during those
dreadful months, which have been so appropriately termed
the R eign of Terror, Madame de S tael was in E ngland;
and, what is remark able, she was in E ngland, poor; for
the situation of the two countries at that crisis prevented
her receiving the funds necessary for her support. S he
lived in great retirement at R ichmond, with two of her
countrymen, no less distinguished than N arbonne and Tal-
leyrand, both, lik e herself, anx iously watching the progress
of affairs in F rance, and hoping for some change that would
render it safe for them to return. I t is a curious item in
the fick le cruelty of the R evolution, that these three persons,
who during such a considerable portion of their lives ex -
ercised an influence, not only on their country, but on the
world, were now deprived of their accustomed means of _
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? ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L . X I X
subsistence; and it is worthy of notice, as a trait in their
national character, that they were not depressed or dis-
couraged by it.
" A ll they had, when thrown into the common stock ,
was merely sufficient to purchase a k ind of carriage, which
would hold but two. A s they rode about to see the country,
N arbonne and Talleyrand alternately mounted as footmen be-
hind, break ing out the glass of the chaise, in order to carry
on a conversation with those inside. Madame de S tael
has often said, that in these conversations she has witnessed
and enj oyed more of the play of the highest order of talent
than at any other period of her life. Talleyrand went
from E ngland to the United S tates. N arbonne, if I mis-
tak e not, went to the Continent; and Madame de S tael
ventured back to F rance in 1795. " H er husband was
again ambassador at Paris, where he remained, calmly re-
ceiving the alternate insolence and flattery of the populace,
until 1799, when he was recalled by the young k ing, Gus-
tavus A dolphus. A ll beneath the surface in F rance was,
at that time, heaving and tumultuous; but men had been
so terrified and wearied with the work of blood, that so-
ciety was for a time restored to ex ternal stillness.
A tsuchaperiod,amindlik eMadamedeS tael' shad
a powerful influence. H er saloon was a resort for all the
restless politicians of the day, and she was once denounced
to the Convention as a person dangerous to the state; but
her character, as wife of a foreign ambassador, protected
her; and she even ventured to publish a pamphlet on the
prospect of peace, addressed to Mr. Pitt and the F rench
people, which contained remark s opposed to the views of
the reigning demagogue. This pamphlet was much praised
by Mr. F ox in the E nglish parliament.
The principal charge brought against her by the Di-
rectory was the courage and zeal with which she served
the suffering emigrants: she would have been imprisoned
on this account had it not been for the friendly ex ertions
of B arras.
O ne diy, an emigrant, whose brother was arrested and
condemned to be shot, came in great agitation to beg her
to save his life. S he recollected that she had some ac-
a2
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? X X ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L .
q uaintance with General L emoine, who had a right to sus-
pend the j udgments of the military commission. Thank ing
H eaven for the idea, she instantly went to his house.
A t first he abruptly refused her petition. S he says,
" My heart throbbed at the sight of that brother, who
might think that I was not employing the words best fitted
to obtain what I ask ed. I was afraid of saying too much
or too little; of losing the fatal hour, after which all would
be over; or of neglecting an argument which might prove
successful. I look ed by turns at the clock and the General
to see whether his soul or time would approach the term
most q uick ly. Twice he took the pen to sign a reprieve,
and twice the fear of committing himself restrained him.
A t last, he was unable to refuse us; and may H eaven
shower blessings on him for the deed. The reprieve ar-
rived in season, and innocence was saved! "
I n 1796 , Madame de S tael was summoned to Coppet to
attend the death-bed of her mother. S he has given us a
very interesting account of her father' s unwearied tender-
ness toward his dying wife, in the preface to M. N eck er' s
MS S . published by her after his death. S he remained to
soothe her father under his severe affliction for nearly a
year. During this time she wrote her E ssay on the Pas-
sions, divided into two parts: -- 1st, their I nfluence on the
H appiness of I
tions. This work
the F rench R
ndividuals; 2dly, on the H appiness of N a-
was suggested by the fearful scenes of
evolution, and probably could not have been
written ex cept by one who had witnessed the reck less violence
and unnatural ex citement of that awful period.
W e have already mentioned that Madame de S taeTs
affections were supposed to have small share in her mar-
riage. The coolness of her feelings towards the B aron de
S tael was considerably increased by his heedless ex trava-
gance. O n his wedding-day he is said to have assigned
all his ministerial allowance to his friend, Count F ersen;
and the princely dowry he received with his wife was soon
nearly dissipated by his thoughtless ex penditure. S uch
was the embarrassment of his affairs, that Madame de
S tael thought it a duty to place herself and her three chil-
dren under the protection of her father. Thus the pro-
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? ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L iX X I
j ectors of this match met the usual fate of those who
attempt to thwart nature, and tak e destiny out of the hands
of Providence: it not only made the parties wretched, but
it did not even serve the ambitious purposes for which the
sacrifice is supposed to have been made.
H er separation from her husband was not of long con-
tinuance. I llness, and approaching age req uired a wife' s
attentions; and Madame de S tael, true to the k ind im-
pulses of her generous nature, immediately returned to
him. A s soon as he could bear removal, she attempted,
by slow j ourneys,, to bring him to her father' s residence,
that she and her children might mak e the evening of his
days as cheerful as possible. I t was, however, destined to
be otherwise; he died at Poligni, on his way to Coppet,
May 9th, 1802.
Madame de S tael' s E ssays on the Passions led her
mind to a series of enq uiries, which ended in her celebrated
E ssay on L iterature; immediately after the completion of
which Madame de S tael went to Paris, where she arrived
on the 9th of N ovember, 1799 -- the very day that placed
the destiny of F rance in the hands of B onaparte. H er
imagination seems to have been, at first, dazzled by the
military glory of N apoleon. L avalette was introduced to
her at Talleyrand' s, at the time when every body was talk -
ing of the brilliant campaigns in I taly. H e says, " During
dinner, the praises Madame de S tael lavished on the con-
q ueror of I taly had all the wildness, romance, and ex -
aggeration of poetry. W hen we left the table, the com-
pany withdrew to a small room to look at the portrait of
the hero; and as I stepped back to let her walk in, she
B aid, ' H ow shall I dare to pass before an aide-de-camp of
B onaparte! ' My confusion was so great that she also
felt a little of it, and Talleyrand laughed at us. "
B ut this admiration of B onaparte was destined to be
short-lived. F rom the moment she understood him, she
became one of the most active and determined of his
opposers. I n the beginning of his reign, when policy
compelled him to be gradual in his usurpation of power,
she was not a little troublesome to him. I n the organi-
sation of the new government, she is said to have fairly
a3
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? X X I I ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L .
out-manoeuvred him, and to have placed the celebrated
B enj amin Constant in one of the assemblies, in spite of his
efforts to the contrary.
B onaparte k ept close watch upon her; and his spies
soon informed him that people always left Madame de
S taeTs house with less confidence in him than they had
when they entered it.
B eing anx ious for a pretex t to banish her, he seized
upon the first that offered, which happened to be the pub-
lication of a political pamphlet by her father, in 1802.
O n the pretence that she had contributed to the falsehoods,
which he said it contained, he req uested Talleyrand to in.
form her that she must q uit Paris. This was a delicate
office for an old acq uaintance to perform; but Talleyrand
was even then used to difficult positions. H is political
history has proved that no fall, however precipitate, can
bewilder the selfish acuteness of his faculties, or impair the
marvellous pliancy of his motions: his attachment to
places rather than persons is another and stronger point of
resemblance between him and a certain household animal.
H is characteristic finesse was shown in his manner of
performing the embarrassing office assigned him by the
F irst Consul. H e called upon Madame de S tael, and after
a few compliments, said, " I hear, madam, you are going to
tak eaj ourney. " -- " O h,no! itisamistak e,I haveno
such intention. "
were going to S
-- " Pardon me, I was informed that you
witzerland. " -- " I have no such proj ect, I
assure you. " -- " B ut I have been told, on the best authority,
that you would q
uit Paris in three days. " Madame de
S tael took the hint, and went to Coppet.
I n the mean time, however, before she left Paris, she
completed a novel in six volumes, under the title of Del-
phine, which was published in 1802.
I n 180. % Madame de S tael ventured to reside within ten
leagues of Paris, occasionally going there, to visit the mu-
seum and the theatres. S ome of her enemies informed
B onaparte that she received a great many visiters, and he
immediately banished her to the distance of forty leagues
from the capital; a sentence which was rigorously enforced.
H er father, conscious how much she needed the ex hila-
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? ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L . X X lli
rating influence of society, had always encouraged her visits
to Paris; and now that she was ex iled from the scene of
10 many triumphs and so much enj oyment, he strongly
favoured, her proj ect of visiting Germany. A ccordingly, in
the winter of 1803, she went to F rank fort, W
B erlin. A t F rank fort, her daughter, then A
was tak en dangerously ill. Madame de S tael k
eimar, and
ve years old,
new no one
in that city, and was ignorant of the language; even the
physician' to whose care she intrusted the child scarcely
spok e a word of F rench. S peak ing of her distress on this
occasion, she ex claims, " O h, how my father shared with
me in all my trouble! W hat letters he wrote me! W hat
a number of consultations of physicians, all copied with his
own hand, he sent me from Geneva! "
The child recovered, and she proceeded to W eimar, so
j ustly called the A thens of Germany; and afterward to
B erlin, where she was received with distinguished k indness
by the k ing and q ueen, and the young Prince L ouis. A t
W eimar she writes, " I resumed my courage on seeing,
through all the difficulties of the language, the immense
intellectual riches that ex isted out of F rance. I learned to
read German; I listened attentively to Goethe and W ie-
land, who, fortunately for me, spok e F rench ex tremely
well. I comprehended the mind and genius of S chiller, in
spite of the difficulty he felt in ex pressing himself in a
foreign language. The society of the Duk e and Duchess
of W eimar pleased me ex ceedingly. I passed three months
there, during which the study of German literature gave
me all the occupation my mind req uired. My father
wished me to pass the winter in Germany, and not return
to him until spring. A las! alas! how much I calculated
on carrying back to him the harvest of new ideas which I
was going to collect in this j ourney. H e was freq uently
telling me that my letters and conversation were all that
k ept up his connection with the world. H is active and
penetrating mind ex cited me to think , for the sak e of the
pleasure of talk ing to him. I f I observed, it was to con-
vey my impressions to him; if I listened, it was to repeat
to him. "
A las! this sacred tie, the strongest, perhaps, that ever
a4
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? X X I V ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L .
bound the hearts of parent and child, was soon to be burst
asunder. A t B erlin, Madame de S tael was suddenly
stopped in her travels, by the news of her father' s danger-
ous illness. S he hastened back with an impatience that
would fain have annihilated time and space;
before she arrived. This event happened in A
A t first, she refused to believe the tidings. S
but he died
pril, 1804.
he was her-
self so full of life, that she could not realise death. H er
father had such remark able freshness of imagination, such
cheerfulness, such entire sympathy with youthful feeling,
that she forgot the difference in their ages. S he could not
bear to think of him as old; and once, when she heard a
person call him so, she resented it highly, and said she
never wished to see any body who repeated such words.
A nd now, when they told her that the old man was ga-
thered to his fathers, she could not and she would not
believe it.
Madame de S aussure was at Coppet when M. N eck er
died; and as soon as her services to him were ended, she
went to meet her friend, on her melancholy return from
Germany, under the protection of M. de S chlegel, her son' s
German tutor. S he says, the convulsive agony of her grief
was absolutely frightful to witness; it seemed as if life
must have perished in the struggle. H er friends tried
every art to soothe her; and sometimes for a moment she
appeared to give herself up to her usual animation and
eloq uence; but her trembling hands and q uivering lips
soon betrayed the internal conflict, and the transient calm
was succeeded by a violent burst of anguish. Y et even
during these trying moments she displayed her characteristic
k indness of heart: she constantly tried to check her sor-
row, that she might give such a turn to the conversation as
would put M. de S chlegel at his ease, and enable him to
show his great abilities to advantage.
The impression produced upon Madame de S tael by her
father' s death seems to have been as deep and abiding as
it was powerful. Through her whole life she carried him
in her heart. S he believed that his spirit was her guardian
angel; and when her thoughts were most pure and ele-i
vated, she said it was because he was with her. S he in-
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? ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L . X X >>
voiced him in her prayers; and when any happy event
occurred, she used to say, with a sort of j oyful sadness,
" My father has procured this for me. " H is miniature
became an obj ect of superstitious love. O nce, and once
only, she parted with it for a short time. H aving herself
found great consolation, during illness, in look ing at those
beloved features, she sent it to her sick daughter, imagine
ing it would have the same effect upon her; telling her in
her letter, " L ook upon that, and it will comfort you in
your sufferings. "
To the latest period of her life, the sight of an old man
affected her, because it reminded her of her father; and
the lavishness with which she gave her sympathy and her
purse to the distresses of the aged proved the fervour of her
filial recollections.
Though Madame de S tael' s thoughts had always been
busy with the world, she was never destitute of religious
sensibility. Conscious as she was of her intellectual
strength, she did not attempt to wrestle with the mysteries
of God. H er beautiful mind inclined rather to reverence
and superstition than to unbelief. N o doubt, religion was
with her more a matter of feeling than of faith; but she
respected the feeling, and never suffered the pride of reason
to ex pel it from her heart. There is something beauti-
fully pathetic in the ex clamation that burst from her, when
her little daughter was dangerously ill at F rank fort: " O h,
what would become of a mother, trembling for the life of
her child, if it were not for prayer I "
H er father' s death gave a more permanent influence to
such feelings. I f I may use the ex pression, her character
became less volcanic, while it lost nothing of its power.
During the lifetime of M. N eck er, Madame de S tael
remained in childish ignorance of all the common affairs of
life. S he was in the habit of applying to him for advice
about every thing, even her dress. The unavoidable result
was that she was very improvident. H er father used to
compare her to a savage, who would sell his hut in the
morning, without think ing what would become of him at
night.
W hen her guide and support was tak en from her, no
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? X X V I ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA B L .
wonder that she felt as if it would be absolutely impossible
for her to do any thing without him. F or a short time she
gave herself up to the most discouraging fancies.
S he
thought her fortune would be wasted, her children would
not be educated, her servants would not obey her, -- in
short, that every thing would go wrong. B ut her anx
to do every thing as he would have done it gave her a
iety
motive for ex ertion, and inspired her with strength. S he
administered upon his estate with remark able ability, and
arranged her affairs with a most scrupulous regard to the
future interests of her children.
H er health as well as her spirits sunk rapidly under the
oppression of grief. H er friends advised new scenes and
change of climate. Paris was still closed against her;
though M. N eck er, with his dying hand, had written to
assure B onaparte that his daughter had no share in his
political pamphlet, and to beseech that her sentence of ex ile
might be repealed after his death.
Thus situated, her thoughts turned toward I taly. S is-
mondi accompanied her in this j ourney. They arrived
j ust when the fresh glory of a southern spring mantled the
earth and the heavens. S he found a renovating influence
in the beautiful sk y and the balmy climate of this lovely
land, which she, with touching superstition, ascribed to
the intercession of her father. " S he passed more than a
year in I taly; visiting Milan, V enice, F lorence, R ome,
N aples, and other more inconsiderable cities, with lively
interest and great minuteness of observation. The im-
pression produced by her talent and character is still fresh
in the memories of those who saw her. "
S he returned to S witzerland in the summer of 1805,
and passed a year among her friends at Coppet and Geneva:
during this period she began Corinne, the splendid record
which she has left the world of her visit to I taly. This
work was published in 1802, and perhaps obtained more
ex tensive and immediate fame than any thing she ever
wrote. I t was received with one burst of applause by all
the literati of E urope. Mr. J effery, in his review of it,
pronounced Madame de S tael " the greatest writer in
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? ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L . X X V li
F rance, after the time of V oltaire and R ousseau, and the
greatest female writer of any age or country. "
H er eldest son, A ugustus, B aron de S tael, was at this
time in Paris, pursuing his studies preparatory to entering
the Polytechnic school; and after the completion of Co-
rinne, Madame de S tael, in order to be as near him as
possible, went to reside at A ux erre, and afterward at
R ouen, from whence she could daily send to Paris. S he
led a very retired life, and was ex tremely prudent about
intermeddling with politics. Those who had any thing to
hope or to fear from the E mperor did not dare to main-
tain any intercourse with her; and of course she was not
thronged with visiters, in those days of despotism and ser-
vility: all she wished was liberty to superintend the pub-
lication of Corinne, and to watch over the education of
her son.
B ut all this moderation and caution did not satisfy
B onaparte. H e wanted to interdict her writing any thing,
even if it were, lik e Corinne, totally unconnected with
politics. S he was again banished from F rance; and, by a
sad coincidence, she received the order on the 9th of A pril,
the anniversary of her father' s death. W hen she returned
to Coppet, all her movements were watched by the spies
of government, so that ex istence became a complete state
of bondage. To use her own words, she was " tormented
in all the interests and relations of life, and on all the sen-
sible points of her character. " S he stj ll had warm and
devoted friends, who could not be withdrawn from her by
motives of interest or fear; but, with all the consolations
of fame and friendship, it was sufficiently inconvenient
and harassing to be thus fettered and annoyed.
A s a means of employing her mind, which, ever since
the death of her father, had been strongly prone to indulge
in images of gloom and terror, Madame de S tael indus-
triously continued the study of German literature and phi-
losophy. H er acq uaintance with M. de S
V illers (the author of an admirable book
ation, which obtained the prize from the F
chlegel and M.
on the R eform-
rench A cademy,)
afforded her remark able facilities for perfecting herself in
the German language. H er first visit had brought her into
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? X X V lllME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L .
delightful companionship with most of the great minds in
N orth Germany; but she deemed it necessary to visit the
S outh, before she completed a work which she had long
had in contemplation. I n company with her beautiful
friend, Madame R ecainier, she passed the winter of 1807
at V ienna, receiving the same flattering distinctions from
the great and the gifted, which had every where attended
her footsteps.
S he began her celebrated book on Germany in the country
itself, and surrounded by every facility for giving a correct
picture of its literature, manners, and national character.
A s we have j ust stated, she made a second visit, for the
purpose of more thorough investigation; and she devoted
yet two more years to it after her return ; mak ing a period
of about six years from the time of its commencement to
its final completion. I t is true, this arduous labour was
not continued uninterruptedly: she had, in the meanwhile,
made her visit to I taly, and written Corinne; and while
she was employed with her great work on Germany, she
composed and played at Coppet the greater part of the little
pieces which are now collected in the six teenth volume of
her work s, under the title of Dramatic E ssays. A t the
beginning of the summer of 1810, she finished the three
volumes of Germany, and went to reside j ust without forty
leagues from Paris, in order to superintend its publication.
S he says, " I fix ed myself at a farm called F osse, which a
generous friend lent me. The house was inhabited by a
V endean soldier, who certainly did not k eep it in the nicest
order, but who had a loyal good-nature that made every
thing easy, and an originality of character that was very
amusing. S carcely had we arrived, when an I talian mu-
sician, whom I had with me to give lessons to my daughter,
began playing upon the guitar; and Madame R ecamier' s
sweet voice accompanied my daughter upon the harp. The
peasants collected round the windows, astonished to hear
this colony of troubadours, which had come to enliven the
solitude of their master. Certainly this intimate assem-
blage, this solitary residence, this agreeable occupation, did
no harm to any one. W e had imagined the idea of sitting
round a green table after dinner, and writing letters to each
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? ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE fTA E L . X X I X
other instead of conversing. These varied and multiplied
tetes-a-tetes amused us so much, that we were impatient to
get from table, where we were talk ing, in order to go and
write to one another. W hen any strangers came in, we
could not bear the interruption of our habits; and our
penny-post always went its round. The inhabitants of the
neighbouring town were somewhat astonished at these new
manners, and look ed upon them as pedantic; though, in
fact, it was merely a resource against the monotony of
solitude. O ne day a gentleman, who had never thought of
any thing in his life but hunting, came to tak e my boys
with him into the woods; he remained some tinfe seated
at our active, but silent table. Madame R ecamier wrote a
little note to this j olly sportsman, in order that he might
not be too much a stranger to the circle in which he was
placed. H e ex cused himself from receiving it, assuring us
that he never could read writing by daylight. W e after-
wards laughed not a little at the disappointment our beau-
tiful friend had met with in her benevolent coq uetry; and
thought that a billet from her hand would not often have
met such a fate. O ur life passed in this q uiet manner;
and, if I may j udge by myself, none of us found it bur-
densome.
" I wished to go and see the opera of Cinderella repre-
sented at a paltry provincial theatre at B lois. Coming out
of the theatre on foot, the people followed me in crowds,
more from curiosity to see the woman B onaparte had
ex iled, than from any other motive. This k ind of celebrity,
which I owed to misfortune much more than to talent,
displeased the Minister of Police, who wrote to the Prefect
of L oire that I was surrounded by a court. ' Certainly,'
said I to the Prefect, ' it is not power that gives me a
court. '
" O n the 23d of S eptember, I corrected the last proof of
Germany; after isix years' labour, I felt great delight in
writing the word end. 1 made a list of one hundred per-
sons to whom I wished to send copies in different parts of
E urope. " The work passed the censorship prescribed by
law; and Madame de S tael, supposing every thing was sa-
tisfactorily arranged, went with her family to visit her
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? X X X ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L .
friend M. de Montmorency, at his residence about five
leagues from B lois. This gentleman could claim the oldest
hereditary rank of any nobleman in F rance; being able to
trace back his pedigree, through a long line of glorious
ancestry, to the first B aron of Christendom, in the time of
Charlemagne. Madame de S tael says, " H e was a pious
man, only occupied in this world with mak ing himself fit
for heaven: in his conversation with me he never paid any
attention to the affairs of the day, but only sought to do
good to my soul. "
Madame de S tael, after having passed a delightful day
amid the magnificent forests and historical recollections of
this ancient castle, retired to rest. I n the night, M. de
Montmorency was awak ened by the arrival of A ugustus,
B aron de S tael, who came to inform him that his mother' s
book on Germany was lik ely to be destroyed, in conse-
q uence of a new edict, which had very much the appear-
ance of being made on purpose for the occasion. H er son,
as soon as he had done his errand, left M. de Montmorency
to soften the blow as much as possible, but to urge his
mother to return immediately after she had tak en break -
fast; he himself went back before daylight to see that her
papers were not seized by the imperial police. L uck ily,
the proof sheets of her valuable work were saved. S ome
further notes on Germany she had with her in a small port-
able desk in the carriage. A s they drew near her habit-
ation she gave the desk to her youngest son, who j umped
over a wall, and carried it into the house through the gar-
den. Miss R andall, an E nglish lady, an ex cellent and
much beloved friend, came to meet her on the road, to
console her as much as she could under this great disap-
pointment. A file of soldiers were sent to her publisher'
to destroy every sheet of the ten thousand copies that had
been printed. S he was req uired to give up her MS S
s,
. and
q uit F rance in twenty-four hours. I n her Ten Y ears'
E x ile,MadamedeS taeldrilyremark s," I twasthecus-
tom of B onaparte to order conscripts and women to be in
readiness to q uit F rance in twenty-four hours. "
S he had given up some rough notes of her work to the
police, but the spies of government had done their duty so
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? ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L . X X X I
? well, that they k new there was a copy saved: they could
tell the ex act number of proof-sheets that had been sent to
her by the publisher, and the ex act number she had re-
turned. S he did not pretend to deny the fact; but she
told them she had placed the copy out of her hands, and
that she neither could nor would put it in their power.
The severity used on this occasion was as unnecessary
as it was cruel, for her book on Germany contained nothing
to give offence to the government. I ndeed the only fault
pretended to be found with it was that it was purely literary,
and contained no mention of the E mperor or his wars in
that country. "
The Minister o' f Police gave out, " in corsair terms, that
if Madame de S tael, on her return to Coppet, should ven-
ture one foot within forty leagues of Paris she was a good
prize. " W hen arrived at Coppet, she received ex press
orders not to go more than four leagues from her own
house; and this was enforced with so much rigour, that
having one day accidentally ex tended her ride a little be-
yond her limits, the military police were sent full speed to
bring her back .
I f N apoleon felt flattered that all the sovereigns of
E urope were obliged to combine to k eep one man on a bar-
ren island, Madame de S tael might well consider it no
small compliment for one woman to be able to inspire with
fear the mighty troubler of the world' s peace. *
F ew in this selfish world would visit one who thus
" carried about with her the contagion of misfortune; "
and she was even fearful of writing to her friends, lest she
should in some way implicate them in her own difficulties.
I n the midst of these perplex ities, her true friend, M. de
Montmorency, came to mak e her a visit: she told him such
a proof of friendship would offend the E mperor; but he
felt safe in the consciousness of a life entirely secluded from
any connection with public affairs. The day after his
arrival, they rode to F ribourg, to see a convent of nuns, of
1 * B onaparte dreaded an epigram, pointed against himself, more than he
dreaded " infernal machines. " W hen he was told that no woman, however
talented, could shak e the foundation of his power, he replied, " Madame de
S tael carries a q uiver full of arrows, that would hit a man if he were seated on
a rainbow. "
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? X X x iiME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L .
the dismal order of L a Trappe. S he says, " W e reached
the convent in the midst of a severe shower, after having
been obliged to come nearly a mile on foot. I rung the
bell at the gate of the cloister; a nun appeared behind the
lattice opening, through which the portress may speak to
strangers. ' W hat do you want? ' said she, in a voice
without modulation, such as we might suppose that of a
ghost. -- ' I should lik e to see the interior of the convent *
-- ' That is impossible/ she replied. -- ' B ut I am very
wet, and want to dry my dress. ' -- S he immediately touched
a spring, which opened the door of an outer apartment in
which I was allowed to rest myself; but no living creature
appeared. I n a few minutes, impatient at not being able
to penetrate the interior of the convent, after my W
walk I rung again. The same person re-appeared. I
ask ed her if females were never admitted into the convent
S he answered, ' O nly when they had the intention of be-
coming nuns.
" ' B ut,' said I , ' how can I tell whether I should lik e
to remain in your house, if I am not permitted to see it'
-- ' O h, that is q uite useless,' she replied; ' I
sure that you have no vocation for our state; ' and with
these words she immediately shut her wick et. " Madame
de S tael says she k nows not how this nun discovered her
worldly disposition, unless it were by her q uick manner of
speak ing, so different from their own. Those who look at
Madame de S tael' s portrait will not wonder at the nun'
penetration: it needs but a single glance at her bright dark
eye, through which one can look so clearly into the depths
of an ardent and busy soul, to be convinced that she was
not made for the solitude and austerities of L a Trappe
B eing disappointed in getting a sight of the nuns,
Madame de S tael proposed to her son and M. de Mont
morency to go to the famous cascade of B ex , where the
water falls from a very lofty mountain. This being iust
within the F rench territory, she, without being aware of it
infringed upon her sentence of ex ile. The Prefect blamed
her very much, and made a great merit of not informing
the E mperor that she had been in F rance. S he says she
am very
s
might have told him, in the words of L a F ontaine' s fable,
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? ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L . X X X U1
c I gTazed of this meadow the breadth of my tongue. " B o-
naparte, finding that Madame de S tael wisely resolved to
be as happy as she could, determined to mak e her home
a solitude, by forbidding all persons to visit her.
F our days after M. de Montmorency arrived at Coppet,
he was banished from F rance; for no other crime than
having dared to offer the consolation of his society to one
who had been his intimate friend for more than twenty
years, and by whose assistance he had escaped from the
dangers of the R evolution.
Madame R ecamier, being at that time on her way to the
waters of A ix in S avoy, sent her friend word that she
should stop at Coppet. Madame de S tael despatched a
courier to beseech her not to come; and she wept bitterly,
to think that her charming friend was so near her, without
the possibility of obtaining an interview: but Madame
R ecamier, conscious that she had never meddled with po-
litics, was resolved not to pass by Coppet without seeing
her. I nstead of the j oy that had always welcomed her
arrival, she was received with a torrent of tears. S he stayed
only one night; but, as Madame de S tael had feared, the
sentence of ex ile smote her also. ' Thus regardless,' says
she, ' did the chief of the F rench people, so renowned for
their gallantry, show himself toward the most beautiful
woman in Paris. I n one day he smote virtue and distin-
guished rank in M. de Montmorency, beauty in Madame
R ecamier, and, if I dare say it, the reputation of high
talents in myself. '
N ot only F renchmen, but foreigners, who wished to visit
a writer of so much celebrity, were informed that they must
not enter her house. The minister of the police said he
would have a soldier' s guard mounted at the bottom of the
avenue, to arrest whoever attempted to go to Coppet.
E very courier brought tidings of some friend ex iled for
having dared to k eep up a correspondence with her; even
her sons were forbidden to enter F rance, without a new
permission from the police. I n this cruel situation, Ma-
dame de S tael could only weep for those friends who for-
sook her, and tremble for those who had the courage to
b
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? X X X I V ME MO I R O F MA DA ME DE S TA E L .
remain faithful. B ut nothing could force from her one
line of flattery to the E mperor.
H er friends urged her to go heyond the power of her
enemy; saying, " I
E lizabeth did Mary S
the catastrophe at last. "
f you remain, he will treat you as
tuart; nineteen years of misery, and
A nd she herself says, " Thus to
carry about with me the contagion of calamity, to be a
burden on the ex istence of my children, to fear to write to
those I love, or even to mention their names, -- this is a
situation from which it is necessary to escape, or die. "
B ut she hesitated, and lingered long before she deter-
mined to leave the tomb of her father, where she daily
offered up her prayers for support and consolation. B e-
sides, a new feeling had at this period gained dominion
over her. A t Geneva, she had become acq uainted with A l-
bert-J ean-Michel de R occa, a young officer, j ust returned
wounded from the war of the S panish Peninsula, whose
feeble health, united with the accounts given of his brilliant
courage, had inspired general interest. Madame de S tael
visited him, as a stranger who needed the soothing voice of
k indness and compassion. The first words she uttered made
him her ardent lover; he talk ed of her incessantly. H is
friends represented to him the ex treme improbability of
gaining the affections of such a woman: he replied, " I
love her so devotedly, that she cannot refuse to marry me. "
M.