Madame de Staël and Benjamin Constant - Unpublished Letters

307 Pages·9.706 MB·English

by  Germaine de Staël, Benjamin Constant

Madame de Stael
and
Benjamin Constant
Unpublished Letters
Together with other Mementos from the
Papers left by Mme. Charlotte de Constant
ldlted by Mme. de Conllaat'• Great-G,...ddaacbter
Baroness Elisabeth de Nolde
T,....lated from tbe French by
Charlotte Harwood
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
itbe 1tntckerbocker t)ress
1907
Madame de Stael
From a copper print by Marceau
COl'YIIIGHT, •""6
BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
A
MARIA-FPAIBAB RICOTTI
Nev ourst crpieas,zc hecroem tessis e,
fev ouste ndesn cuonrfeeo ciesfs e uillets.
!lsn ev ous empepclhdueegsr ou oternd ta ns
votbrieean i mfa� u telau pille bilnaet itude
du" dole ef anrien te."
Sanmse moeuv rcierv oluvmee,u illez
lui offruirn p etciotie nn tvroeas u tres
livreesact,c epmteersre merciempeonutrs
la'i maabidlqeeue v ousav ezb iveonu mlue
preter.
ElisadbeeN tohlde .
Florence, Villa Curonia,
May 1, 1907.
iil
I HASTEN to name here, while according
them my thanks, those persons who have
been interested in these letters. Mlle. Dora
Melegari, from whose interesting work I have
quoted many times 1; Lady Blennerhasset,2
whose fine Life of Mme. de Stael, and re­
markable study of the circle she lived in,
have been a great resource; M. Philippe
Godet, Professor of Literature at Ne uchAtel;
M. Eugene Ritter, Professor at the University
of Geneva; M. Antoine Guiller, Member of
the Historical Society of Auteuil, and M.
G. Rudler, Professor at the College of Caen
(Calvados), who have given me useful in­
formation.
My cordial thanks are due also to M. le
Docteur Hermann Herre, who was particu-
1 Journal lfltifflll de Benjamin Constaflt. By Dora
Melegari. Paris: P. Ollendorff, publisher, 1895.
2 Frau von Stall, ihre Freunde und ihre Bedemung,
von Lady Blennerhasset geb. Griifin Leyden Berlin
Gebnider Paetel, 1887.
V
vi Yorewort,
larly efficacious in assisting me with the
classification of another collection of love­
letters addressed to Benjamin Constant, the
publication of which will follow this volume;
and to Baron de Marenholtz-Gross-Schwiil­
per, who put his family archives at my
disposal.
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAOB
MADAMED E STAIL Frontispiece
From a copper print by Marceau.
MADAME CHARLOTTED E CONSTANTN,E E
COMTESSHEA RDENBERG. 2
From the pastel in the possession of Baron
de Marenholtz,
BENJAMICNO NSTANT 8
From the painting in the possession of
Baron de Marenholtz.
ANNE LOUISEN ECKER,B ARONESSD E
STAEL-HOLSTEIN 18
From a copper print by Pinelli.
BENJAMICNO NSTANT 74
From a contemporary lithograph.
REDUCED FACSIMOIFL LEE TTERW RITTEN
BY MADAME.D E STAELT O BENJAMIN
CONSTANT 132
MADAMER ECAMIER 190
From a photograph of a painting by
Gerard.
vii
LettoefMr mse d.e S tael
toB enjaCmoinns tant
I
ON the 22d July, 1845, there died in
Paris the widow of Benjamin Con­
stant-an old lady who had lived a very
retired life--an uninteresting woman, whose
name, however, has often been mentioned,
not without bringing a smile to the lips
that spoke it.
There are some beings so good that they
are never taken seriously; who are so gentle
and forgiving that these supreme qualities
harm them in the eyes of the world. Char­
lotte de Constant, nle Hardenberg, belonged
in this category. The life of this woman
who smiled, and caused others to smile,
I
2aters of �me. �e Stael
2
so often, had been active enough. The
dearly loved wife of three husbands, she
had always managed to be treated indul­
gently, and to retain the sympathy of a
discarded husband when her fancy had
wandered to another. A faithful and affec­
tionate friend, she made life agreeable to
herself and her circle, without paying too
much attention to the little troubles of this
world.
She left her first husband, the Baron de
Marenholtz, and with him a son-the only
child she ever had,-to marry, the Vicomte
du Tertre, a French general who had cap­
tured her affections.
The deputy and publicist Pag�. who
collaborated with Benjamin Constant on the
paper La Mi.nerve, and who replaced him
for the reports of the Chamber of Deputies
on the same gazette, when Constant became
a deputy himself, and who was a friend of
Mme. Constant, as he had been of her hus·
band, wrote to her in 1835: "You are like
the swallows who no longer recognise their
MadaCmhea rl<loeCt otnes tnaenCeto ,m teHsasre<l enberg
Frotmh pea sitnet lhp eo sseosfBs airo<lonen M arenholtz