“You are kind enough to say to me,” she wrote, “that I should do better to be in Paris. But no, indeed, I should not care to see some forms of liberty (_franchises_) ‘accorded’ to the people, for it is my creed that nations are born free. I should say unfashionable things and make enemies unnecessarily. When all is arranged for Albertine’s marriage, I shall lead a solitary life in Paris; but at present I do well, believe me, to have myself represented by Auguste. Like you, I think well, and better than ever, of Victor de Broglie, and I shall be very glad of the marriage if nothing goes against it. I am also of your way of thinking in regard to Madame de Krüdener. She is the herald of a great oncoming religious epoch. Speak of me to her, I beg, as of a person quite devoted to her.… M. Rocca’s health still gives me anxiety. I have never recovered any happiness since Bonaparte disembarked.” Madame de Staël had been very happy in her marriage with Rocca, and the tenderness with which she regarded him was manifest to all her acquaintances. Under such circumstances, it does seem strange that she should to the last have kept her marriage with him a secret. The most plausible reason for such a course, fear of Napoleon’s spite, existed no longer after Waterloo. Why, then, have gratuitously incurred the reproach of an illicit connection? Why, above all, separate herself for five years from her own and Rocca’s child? Such conduct does not on the face of it seem quite consistent with the lofty ideal of duty which Madame de Staël professed. Albertine’s wedding took place in civil form at Leghorn on February 15th, 1815; and five days later in Pisa a double religious ceremony, one Catholic, the other Protestant, was performed. All Madame de Staël’s friends gave a charming picture of Albertine. Guizot, Lamartine, and Bonstetten were most enthusiastic about her. Their praises were also echoed by Byron, who, needless to say, was no mean judge; and Ticknor seeing her in Paris about a year after her marriage, never mentioned her except in terms of admiration. She was both beautiful and clever, and, after her mother’s death, became, in her turn, the queen of a cosmopolitan salon. Accompanied by the bride and bridegroom, by Rocca, by Schlegel and Sismondi, Madame de Staël presently betook herself to Florence, and while there renewed her acquaintance with the Countess of Albany. Alfieri was dead now, and Fabre reigned in his stead. Madame de Staël appears to have adopted him with the mingled enthusiasm and indulgence which she exhibited towards all the tastes of her friends.