All that remains to them from antiquity, is something gigantic in their expressions and in their external magnificence; but this baseless grandeur is frequently accompanied by all that is vulgar in taste, and miserably negligent in domestic life.  Is this, Corinne, the nation which you would be expected to prefer to every other?  Is this the nation whose roaring applauses are so necessary to you, that every other destiny would appear dull and congenial compared with their noisy ‘bravos?’ Who could flatter himself with being able to render you happy away from these dear scenes of tumult?  What an inconceivable character is that of Corinne! profound in sentiment, but frivolous in taste; independent from innate pride, yet servile from the need of distraction!  She is a sorceress whose spells alternately alarm and then allay the fears which they have created; who dazzles our view in native sublimity, and then, all of a sudden disappears from that region where she is without her like, to lose herself in an indiscriminate crowd.  Corinne, Corinne, he who is your adorer cannot help feeling his love disturbed by fear!

“OSWALD.”

Corinne, on reading this letter, was much incensed at the inveterate prejudices which Oswald appeared to entertain of her country.  But she was happy enough in her conjectures, to discover that she owed this to the dissatisfaction he experienced at the fete, and to her refusing to see him ever since after his final conversation on that evening; and this reflection softened a little the painful impression which the letter produced upon her.  She hesitated for some time, or at least, fancied she hesitated, as to the conduct which she should observe towards him.  The tenderness she cherished for this eccentric lover, induced a wish to see him; but it was extremely painful to her that he should imagine her to be desirous of marrying him, although their fortunes were at least equal, and although in revealing her name, it would be easy to show that it was by no means inferior to that of Lord Nelville.  Nevertheless, the independence and singularity of that mode of life which she had adopted, ought to have inspired her with a disinclination for marriage; and most assuredly she would have repulsed the idea, had not her passion blinded her to the sufferings she would have to undergo in espousing an Englishman and renouncing Italy.

We willingly make an offering of pride upon the altar of the heart; but when social prosperity and worldly interests oppose obstacles in any shape, when we can suppose that the object of our love makes any sort of sacrifice in uniting himself to us, it is no longer possible to show him any alteration of sentiment.  Corinne not being equal to a determination to break off with Oswald, wished to persuade herself of the possibility of seeing him in future, and yet concealing the passion which she felt for him.  It was in this intention that she came to a determination to confine herself, in the answer she should send to his letter, merely to his unjust accusations against the Italian nation, and to reason with him upon this subject as if it were the only one that interested her.  Perhaps the best way in which a woman of intellect can resume her coldness and dignity, is by seeking an asylum in her own mind.