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374 MADAME DE STAEH,
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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« Science Tells Us That There Is No Such...
stupid in perpetual irresolution . But the antagonism by which vigorous minds are wont to show their love of liberty was ready to
assert itself in her conduct . There is something almost droll in the unhesitating defiance with which we find her presently lecturing
her master on the injustice of his expedition into Egypt . This was sufficient for Napoleon : he compelled her to leave the
society she idolized , but he could not overcome her invincible resentment . In foreign , courts and the most select society , she inveighed
in no measured terms against his tyrannical power . Still , she could not conceal her misery and poignant regrets . With all the
weakness of a child she lamented her miserable fate . And yet , in the publication of her " L'AHemagne , " with a touch of her former pride ,
she could not bring herself to mention the name of Napoleon ; having in consequence to endure a further exile , and to witness the
proscription of her celebrated book . This union of obstinacy with piteous emotions , this strong determination combined with miserable
groanings , may be almost incomprehensible to the English reader . Madame de Stael made strenuous exertions to be brave ; but if , as
satire unjustly represented , she was a " man disguised in a woman ' s garment , " the voice of her lamentations was unnaturally treble .
Passionately as many Erench people love their country , few would hate a comfortable sojourn in foreign society with a hatred as
of deadl the y mal as hers de pays . . She tc I was shall tormented believe myself past onc endurance e again in with the agonies light ,
she writes to a Mend , " when I see you—if that is to be ever again . *' " I wept tears of sorrow at hearing your voice , which came to me
in the desert as the angel to Hagar . " " It seems to me , " she continued , in the anguish of despair , " as if I have wearied the Divinity
with my prayers , and the heavens are as brass to me . " She languished in the miseries of ennui which pursued her like
a phantom , making her pay a terrible penalty for that undue thirst for action , and that humor for being " prodigiously delighted , " to
• which she had unwisely yielded in her former life . There can be no greater curse attached to perpetual amusement and excitement *
than the loathing with which those who have lived in it as their natural atmosphere return to the dead uniformity of every-day life .
We cannot justify Madame de Stael in those excesses of emotion , though we may pity and excuse her in much . ** A trial which was
almost unbearable in the midst of her other sufferings was brought * The second marriage of Madame de Stael about this time with . M .
Rocea excited great ridicule , and was severely censured by the world . The stances age , rank have , and been fortune related , were b all Madame on the _decker lady's side de Saussure ; but extenuating which are circum suffi- - y
grave cient meaning to disarm in criticism Madame , de and Stael to 's temper joking words severity when with she pity , said . , " There Je forcerai was a ma fille a faire un mariage _^ inclination" and it was in the desolation of
; un exile noble she wrote caractere , _"J _' _, ai Je besoin sacrifie de rai tendresse ma liberte _, de bonlieur . " It would et d _' appuz have _, et been sije better trouve ,,
however , if this marriage had been publicly made known .
374 Madame De Staeh,
374 MADAME DE STAEH _,
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1862, page 374, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081862/page/14/
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