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 one meaning--in French there are several significations for the same word. Repetition, an elegance in French, is a barbarism in English. Thus I had to contend with a tautology almost unmanageable, and even a reiteration of the same sentiments. Sentences, harmonious in French, lost all agreeable cadence, until entirely reconstructed. Madame de Staël's diffuse manner obliged me also to transpose pretty freely. I found, in so doing, many self-contradictions, some of which I could not efface. Her boldness of condensation, too, and love of vague, mysterious sublimity, often left me in doubt as to what might be hidden beneath the dazzling veil of her eloquence. It may appear profanation to have altered a syllable; but, having been accustomed to consult the taste of my own country, I could not outrage it by being more literal. I have taken the liberty of making British peasants and children speak their native idiom, and have added a few explanatory notes; occasionally availing myself of quotations from more recent authorities than that of the Baroness. Lest I should unconsciously have committed any great mistake, be it known that the printers of her "eighth corrected and revised edition" gave Corinne a _military_ instead of a literary career, and made the Roman mob throw handfuls of _bon mots_ into the carriages during the carnival. Miss Landon had kindly undertaken to render the lyric portions of the work; but we feared for awhile, that our own Improvisatrice would be prevented by circumstances from gracing the volume by her name. I, therefore, translated Corinne's compositions into _rhyme_. Only one of my essays, however, "The Fragment of Corinne's Thoughts," was required. I am conscious of its imperfect regularity; but, having no poetical reputation 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 Personal Appearance--The Revolution--Her First Meeting and Conversation with Bonaparte--Interview with Josephine--Her Portrait and Character--Her Repartees--Exile--Delphine--Auguste de Staël and Napoleon--Private Theatricals--Corinne--Police Interference--Travels in Foreign Countries--Her Illness and Death--Effect of Napoleon's Persecution upon the Literary Position of Madame de Staël.