Lives of the most eminent literary and scientific men of France, Vol. 2 (of 2)Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Science
Lives of the most eminent literary and scientific men of France, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Authors, French -- Biography
Having finished her "Germany," she desired to overlook its progress
through the press at the permitted distance of forty leagues from Paris.
She established herself near Blois, in the old château of
Chammont-sur-Loire, erst inhabited by cardinal d'Amboise, Diane de
Poitiers, Catherine de Medicis, and Nostradamus. A few friends gathering
round her, she enjoyed the amusements and occupations she shared with
them. Madame Recamier was chief among them, and very dear to her. Her
plan was, as soon as her book was printed, to reach England by America,
that being the only path left open to our island by Napoleon. She had
submitted her work to the censor, and, having made all the alterations
exacted, she felt herself safe. But the storm gathered, and broke
unexpectedly. She had not praised Napoleon; she had not mentioned the
success of the French armies in Germany; she had tried even to enlarge
the sphere of French literature, by introducing a knowledge of and taste
for the German--an attempt anti-national in the emperor's eyes. He did
not hesitate to condemn such a work. The duke de Rovigo, minister of
police, sent to seize on the edition, to demand the manuscript, and to
order her to quit France in three days. She was proud of her book, and
had every right to be so; and she gladly anticipated the applause and
increased reputation that would follow it. The loss of this could be
borne, but the renewed sentence of exile struck her to the heart. She
was forced to obey. Her first idea was to embark for America; but her
purpose in so doing was to get on board an English ship, and reach
England. Her plans were disturbed by an intimation from Savary that she
must embark only at the ports of France furthest from her desired goal.
The minister wrote to her with flippancy, that her book was not French,
and that her exile was the consequence of the course she had followed
for years. The air of France evidently disagreed with her; but the
French were not reduced to seek for models in the countries which she
admired. Savary was still more frank when speaking on the subject. He
asked why she had made no mention of the emperor or his armies? He was
told that such allusions were out of place in a book that treated solely
of literature. "Do you think," he replied, "that we have carried on a
war in Germany for eighteen years for so well-known an author to omit
all mention of us? The book shall be destroyed, and we should do well to
send the writer to Vincennes."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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