married—­unhappily—­to Baron de Stael-Holstein, Swedish Ambassador at Paris.  She was in peril during the Terror, but escaped to Switzerland.  A few years afterwards she showed keen political activity against Napoleon, who respected her hostility so profoundly that he would not suffer her to approach Paris.  Madame de Staels “Corinne, or Italy,” is accounted one of her two masterpieces, the other one being “On Germany.” (See Vol.  XX.) It was published in 1807, and was written at Coppet, in Switzerland, her place of residence and exile during her many enforced sojourns from Paris by order of the Emperor.  “Corinne” not only revealed for the first time to the Frenchmen of her day the grandeur and mystery and charm of Italy, but also showed the national characteristics of French and Englishmen for the first time in their respective, and in a European light.  Moreover, as one European critic has pointed out, it is also one of the first, and still one of the subtlest, studies in the psychology of sex and emancipation of woman of the nineteenth century.  Madame de Stael’s relations with the clever and ambitious young statesman and writer, Benjamin Constant, formed the chief source of her inspiration in writing “Corinne,” as it formed his in writing “Adolphe.”  Madame de Stael died in Paris, July 14, 1817.

I.—­The Roman Poetess

When Oswald, Lord Nevil, awoke on his first morning in Rome, he heard church bells ringing and cannon firing, as if announcing some high solemnity.  He inquired the cause and learned that the most celebrated woman in Italy would that morning be crowned at the capital—­Corinne, the poetess and improvisatrice, one of the loveliest women of Rome.

As he walked the streets, he heard her named every instant.  Her family name was unknown.  She had won fame by her verses five years before, under the simple name of Coe; and no one could tell where she had lived nor what she had been, in her earlier days.

The, triumphal procession approached, heralded by a burst of melody.  First came a number of Roman nobles, then an antique car drawn by four spotless steeds, escorted by white clad maidens.  Not until he beheld the woman in the car did Oswald lay aside his English reserve and yield to the spirit of the scene.  Corinne was tall, robust like a Greek statue, and transcendently beautiful.  Her attitude was noble and modest; while it manifestly pleased her to be admired, yet a timid air blended with her joy, and she seemed to ask pardon for her triumph.

She ascended to the capitol; the assembled Roman poets recited her praises; Prince Castel Forte, the most honoured of Roman noblemen, uttered a eulogy of her; and, ere she received the destined bays, she took up her lyre and in accordance with custom gave a poetic improvisation.  The subject of her passionate chant was the glory of Italy; and amid the impetuous applause that followed, Corinne, looking round, observed Oswald.  She saw him to be English; she was struck by his melancholy, and by the mourning he wore.  Taking up her lyre again, she spoke some touching stanzas on death and consolation that went straight to his heart.