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Vol. II.
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330

EITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

few friends ; whose crime was that she would not cele-brate the liberticide in her writings.

Forced to go, she could not persuade herself to ap-pear disgraced and driven away among the Genevese.She hoped, and her father hoped for her, that new scenes,and the welcome afforded her among strangers, wouldblunt the blow she had received, and revive her spirits.She determined to visit Germany , with the intention ofseeing its great writers, studying their productions, andof afterwards presenting the French with an account ofthe, to them, sealed book of German literature. JosephBonaparte gave her letters of introduction for Berlin ,and she set out. Benjamin Constant accompanied her ;yet this very kindness was the source of pain, as he alsowas partial to a residence in Paris . “ Every step of thehorses,” she writes, “ was a pang ; and, when the postil-lions boasted that they had driven fast, I could not helpsmiling at the sad service they did me. I travelled fortyleagues before I recovered possession of myself. Atlength we stopt at Chalons, and Benjamin Constant rous-ing himself, through his wonderful powers of conversation,lightened, at least for a few moments, the burden thatweighed me down.’’

Constant continued to accompany her. She was wellreceived at Weimar and Berlin. She was at Berlin at thetime of the assassination of the duke d’Enghien, andshared the horror that this unnecessary act of cruelty ex-cited. This circumstane added to her detestation of Na-poleon . Meanwhile she greatly enjoyed the kindness she1804 . found, and the vast field of knowledge opened before her.jEtat. x fatal event put an end to her pleasure. She received38 ' tidings of the dangerous illness of her father — theintelligence of his death quickly followed. She leftGermany . She returned to Coppet overwhelmed withgrief. Generally speaking, there is exaggeration andtraces of false sentiment in her writings. Her best workfor style and simplicity of narration is her “ Dix Anneesd’Exil; ” and the best portion of this book describesher feelings during her journey from Weimar to Coppet .