: The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England Volume 4 (of 6) Mémoires d'outre-tombe volume 4 by Chateaubriand Fran Ois Ren Vicomte De Teixeira De Mattos Alexander Translator - Chateaubriand François-René vicomt

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VOLUME IV

The year 1821--The Berlin, Embassy--I arrive in Berlin--M. Ancillon--The Royal Family--Celebrations for the marriage of the Grand-duke Nicholas--Berlin society--Count von Humboldt--Herr von Chamisso--Ministers and ambassadors--The Princess William--The Opera--A musical meeting--My first dispatches--M. de Bonnay--The Park--The Duchess of Cumberland--Commencement of a Memorandum on Germany--Charlottenburg--Interval between the Berlin Embassy and the London Embassy--Baptism of M. le Duc de Bordeaux--Letter to M. Pasquier--Letter from M. de Bernstoff--Letter from M. Ancillon--Last letter from the Duchess of Cumberland--M. de Vill?le, Minister of Finance--I am appointed Ambassador to London

BOOK X 113-146

Madame R?camier--Childhood of Madame R?camier described by M. Benjamin Constant--Letter to Madame R?camier from Lucien Bonaparte--Continuation of M. Benjamin Constant's narrative: Madame de Sta?l--Madame R?camier's journey to England--Madame de Sta?l's first journey to Germany--Madame R?camier in Paris--Plans of the generals--Portrait of Bernadotte--Trial of Moreau--Letters from Moreau and Mass?na to Madame R?camier--Death of M. Necker--Return of Madame de Sta?l--Madame R?camier at Coppet--Prince Augustus of Prussia--Madame de Sta?l's second journey to Germany--The Ch?teau de Chaumont--Letter from Madame de Sta?l to Bonaparte--Madame R?camier and M. Mathieu de Montmorency exiled--Madame R?camier at Ch?lons--Madame R?camier at Lyons--Madame de Chevreuse--Spanish prisoners--Madame R?camier in Rome--Albano-Canova: his letters--The Albano fisherman--Madame R?camier in Naples--The Duc de Rohan-Chabot--King Murat: his letters--Madame R?camier returns to France--Letter from Madame de Genlis--Letters from Benjamin Constant--Articles by Benjamin Constant on Bonaparte's return from Elba--Madame de Kr?dener--The Duke of Wellington--I meet Madame R?camier again--Death of Madame de Sta?l--The Abbaye-aux-Bois

VOL. IV

MEMOIRS OF CHATEAUBRIAND

VOLUME IV

The Bonapartists themselves had shrivelled up. Their members had become bent and shrunk; the soul was lacking to the new universe so soon as Bonaparte withdrew his breath; objects faded from view from the moment when they were no longer illuminated by the light which had given them colour and relief. At the commencement of these Memoirs, I had only myself to speak of: well, there is always a sort of paramountcy in man's individual solitude. Later, I was surrounded by miracles: those miracles kept up my voice; but at this present moment there is no more conquest of Egypt, no more Battles of Marengo, Austerlitz and Jena, no more retreat from Russia, no more invasion of France, capture of Paris, return from Elba, Battle of Waterloo, funeral at St. Helena: what remains? Portraits to which only the genius of Moli?re could lend the gravity of comedy!

One thing strikes me, however: the little world to which I am now coming was superior to the world which succeeded it in 1830; we were giants in comparison with the society of maggots that has engendered itself.

The Restoration offers at least one point in which we can find importance: after the dignity of one man, that man having passed, there was born again the dignity of mankind. If despotism has been replaced by liberty, if we understand anything of independence, if we have lost the habit of grovelling, if the rights of human nature are no longer disregarded, we owe these things to the Restoration. Wherefore also I threw myself into the fray in order, as far as I could, to revive the species when the individual had come to an end.

Come, let us pursue our task! Let us descend, with a groan, to myself and my colleagues. You have seen me amid my dreams; you are about to see me in my realities: if the interest decreases, if I fall, reader, be just, make allowance for my subject!

I received, at my entrance, the only honour which my colleagues ever did me during my fifteen years' residence in their midst: I was appointed one of the four secretaries for the session of 1816. Lord Byron met with no more favour when he appeared in the House of Lords, and he left it for good: I ought to have returned to my deserts.

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