The profound respect, which despite the jealousy of the faubourg Saint-Germain, we could not but feel for the First Consul's method of government, and the men whose superior merit adorned the society of Paris--such as the Cretets and the Darus--relieves the Empire of the burden of responsibility for the remarkable change which has been effected, in the first half of the nineteenth century, in the character of the French. Unnecessary to carry my investigation further: the reader will reflect and be quite able to draw his own conclusions. [1] [1842. As Stendhal died early in that year, this probably is his last writing.--Tr.] [2] ["One might say it's taboo..." "Taboo" is a poor equivalent for "sacré," which means "cursed" as well as "blessed."--Tr.] [3] ["Glory with victory, warrior with laurel."--Tr. [Pg 17] BOOK I [Pg 18] [Pg 19] ON LOVE CHAPTER I OF LOVE My aim is to comprehend that passion, of which every sincere development has a character of beauty. There are four kinds of love. 1. Passion-love--that of the Portuguese nun(1), of Héloïse for Abelard, of Captain de Vésel, of Sergeant de Cento. 2. Gallant love--that which ruled in Paris towards 1760, to be found in the memoirs and novels of the period, in Crébillon, Lauzun, Duclos, Marmontel, Chamfort, Mme. d'Épinay, etc. etc. 'Tis a picture in which everything, to the very shadows, should be rose-colour, in which may enter nothing disagreeable under any pretext whatsoever, at the cost of a lapse of etiquette, of good taste, of refinement, etc. A man of breeding foresees all the ways of acting, that he is likely to adopt or meet with in the different phases of this love. True love is often less refined; for that in which there is no passion and nothing unforeseen, has always a store of ready wit: the latter is a cold and pretty miniature, the former a picture by the Carracci. Passion-love carries us away in defiance of all our interests, gallant love manages always to respect them. True, if we take from this poor love its vanity, there is very little left: once stripped, it is like a tottering convalescent, scarcely able to drag himself along. 3. Physical love. Out hunting--a fresh, pretty country [Pg 20] girl crosses your path and escapes into the wood. Everyone knows the love founded on this kind of pleasure: and all begin that way at sixteen, however parched and unhappy the character.