THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
GIFT OF
WILLIAM A. NIT2E
ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE AT TWENTY-THREE
From an engraving by Flameng after a sepia by Mile, de V
. THE LIFJE OF
LAMAJRLTIKGE
BY
H. REMSEN WHITEHOUSE
VOLUME ONE
Boston and New York
HOUGHTON MlFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY H. RKMSBN WHIT*HOUSE
ALL RIGHTS KESERVEU
Published September igi8
College
Library
PQ
232
v/5<
vi
To His EXCELLENCY
MONSIEUR J. J. JUSSERAND
French Ambassador to the United States
With the expression of my highest
esteem and profound personal admira-
tion, I respectfully dedicate this study
of the life and work of one of the
noblest and purest literary and politi-
cal glories of France.
H. R. w.
9622CQ
PREFACE
IN a sense, it may be claimed that Lamartine was his
own biographer. The thread of his material and psy-
chological existence meanders through the volumes of
"Les Confidences," "Les Nouvelles Confidences," the
pages of his first and second Oriental "Voyages," the
" Memoires politiques," and the "History of the Revolu-
tion of 1848."
"Graziella" and "Raphael" are episodes in his own
life, spiritualized and glossed with the romanticism in-
separable from the period. Even " Jocelyn " is a portrait,
albeit a shadowy one. "For those who love the man in
Lamartine (and their number is great)," wrote Sainte-
Beuve, "'Jocelyn' must have a biographical, or at least
a very precious psychological value. . . . 'Jocelyn' is
very often Lamartine midst slightly altered surround-
ings, ... an almost direct revelation of one of the most
divine organizations of a poet which has been vouchsafed
the world, and concerning one of the noblest creatures." 1
Again, the twenty-eight large volumes of Lamartine's
"Cours familier de Iitt6rature," the bread-winning
venture of his declining years, teem with personal rem-
iniscences, while the prefaces and the commentaries to
the countless poems, essays, and histories contained
in the forty volumes of his collected works bristle with
the "ego" rarely, if ever, disassociated from his theme.
And yet, paradoxical as it may appear, these thousands
of personal "revelations" tend in reality to confuse and
obscure an appreciation of the flesh and blood Lamartine.
1 Portraits contemporains, vol. i, p. 347. Also Confidences, p. 113;
Cours familier de literature, vol. iv, p. 388.
. . vii
PREFACE
Nothing was further from his mind than purposely to
mislead. He was candour, almost naivete, itself. He
was merely constitutionally incapable of segregating fact
and fancy: what he saw and what he wanted to see be-
came inextricably interwoven in his brain. As one of his
biographers has put it: "Lamartine was certainly one
of those men who, unconsciously and without premedita-
tion, possess in the highest degree the faculty of inex-
actitude." 1
The real man is more easily discerned in his very vo-
luminous correspondence, which has been collected and
edited, with filial piety, by his niece and adopted daughter,
Madame Valentine de Lamartinede Cessiat. 2 Of inesti-
mable value also is the personal testimony of his friends,
his secretaries, and the perusal of his parliamentary
speeches and reports, which lay bare the depths of his
humanitarianism.
A great man, in most senses of the qualification, an
undeniably great poet and writer, a conscientious and
honest statesman, Lamartine was, withal, an incor-
rigible visionary, an altruist whose persistent optimism
resulted in the gradual dilapidation of his private for-
tune and the eclipse of his political influence.
Yet never in the darkest days of political or pecuniary
adversity could his honour or personal probity be im-
pugned. With Shakespeare one can proclaim :
"... The elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the World: This was a Man! "
To six scholars who have devoted much time and study
to Lamartine, I am under special obligations. Not only
through the medium of their books, but in personal let-
1 Charles de Mazade, Lamartine, p. 107.
* Correspondance de Lamartine, 1807-1852, 6 vols. (Paris, 1873.)
PREFACE
ters or conversations these gentlemen have rendered me
inestimable service.
With warmest thanks I acknowledge my debt to:
M. Henri Cochin, author of Lamartine et La Flandre;
to M. Jean des Cognets, whose publication of fragments
of J. M. Dargaud's journal, under the title of La Vie
interieure de Lamartine, has contributed so greatly to our
psychological appreciation of the great French poet; to
M. Pierre de Lacretelle, in whose Origines et la Jeunesse
de Lamartine many interesting family documents are
published for the first time; to M. Auguste Dorchain,
whose learning in Lamartinian lore is surpassed by none ;
to M. E. Sugier, author of the captivating study Lamar-
tine, etude morale; and to the late Pierre Maurice Mas-
son, professor of French Literature at the University of
Fribourg, whose death in the trenches has cast a gloom
over the intellectual world of France and Switzerland.
Nor can I omit mention of the friendly guidance and
the valuable advice I have received from my colleague,
M. A. Dureault, permanent secretary of the Academic
de M&con, whose learned studies, together with those of
M. Leonce Lex, archivist of the Departement de Sa6ne
et Loire, have been of the greatest utility to me in tracing
the earlier domestic and local history of the Lamartines
and their country neighbours.
M. Henri de Riaz has made curious literary discoveries
concerning the identity of "Lucy L ," and was in-
strumental in putting me on the track which ultimately
led to the elucidation of the mystery of Lamartine's
"Manage a 1'anglaise," a problem which had hitherto
baffled Lamartinians.
The late Leon Seche, who had specialized on the lit-
erary history of the Romanticists, devoted numerous
studies to Lamartine and his entourage. Often some-
ix
PREFACE
what indiscreet, it must be confessed, in his relentless
probing into private life, Sech at least had the merit
of absolute sincerity. Moreover, his "portraits" are
flesh-and-blood presentments of the men and women of
the Romantic era, and as such of deepest interest to the
searcher. Across the gulf I transmit my thanks to the
man who, whatever his literary shortcomings may have
been, was one of the most ardent knights of the pen I
ever met, and one to whom no personal sacrifice was too
onerous when made in the sacred name of Literature.
Madame de Canson, the daughter of Lamartine's
relative and political henchman, G. de Champvans,
most generously opened for me the family archives of
the Chateau de Maisod, courteously placing at my dis-
posal her collection of interesting private letters and
papers. To other members of the Lamartine family,
especially Madame de Parseval, nee de Pierreclos, of
M&con, and to Monsieur and Madame de Montherot,
of the Chateau de Saint-Point, I am indebted for like
favours combined with charming hospitality.
The Vicomte de Faria, Portuguese Consul-General
at Lausanne, most kindly procured for me several por-
traits of Lamartine.
To my friend, Mr. William Roscoe Thayer, I extend
expressions of warmest gratitude for valuable assistance
and advice, and the unflagging interest he has mani-
fested in the accomplishment of my task.
H. R. W.
CONTENTS
. I. STATESMAN OR POET i
II. ANCESTRY AND EARLIEST YEARS .... 8
III. CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS 19
IV. THE JESUIT COLLEGE AT BELLEY .... 35
V. FIRST LOVE 46
VI. A STUDENT OF LAW AND OF BOOKS ... 58
VII. MADEMOISELLE P. ....... 65
VIII. THE JOURNEY TO ITALY 82
IX. GRAZIELLA 92
X. IN THE GARDES DU CORPS 104
XI. AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND 120
XII. THE INFLUENCE OF BYRON 134
XIII. RAPHAEL AND JULIE 146
XIV. MADAME CHARLES 161
XV. A YEAR OF DISTRESS 190
XVI. A POET OF THE SOUL 199
XVII. BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN PARIS 209
XVIII. MEDITATIONS POETIQUES 223
XIX. MARRIAGE 236
XX. FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE 244
XXI. GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION .... 258
XXII. CHILDE HAROLD CHANT DU SACRE . . . 272
XXIII. DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE 282
XXIV. CHARG D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE .... 299
xi
CONTENTS
XXV. ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY . . ... 316
XXVI. POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS .... 340
XXVII. VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT 367
XXVIII. SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION . . . . . 386
XXIX. DEPUTY FROM BERGUES 399
XXX. JOCELYN 419
XXXI. INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT 440
ILLUSTRATIONS
ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE AT TWENTY-THREE
Photogravure Frontispiece
From an engraving by Flameng after a sepia by Mile, de V
MADAME DE LAMARTINE, MOTHER OF THE POET . . 10
From the portrait in the Chateau de Saint-Point
BIRTHPLACE OF LAMARTINE 14
LAMARTINE'S HOUSE AT MILLY 20
LAMARTINE AT TWENTY 72
From the lithograph by Graivedon
LAMARTINE 100
NERNIER, HAUTE-SAVOIE 130
Where Lamartine stayed in 1815
CHATEAU DE SAINT-POINT 268
LAMARTINE AT FORTY-FIVE 458
From an unsigned crayon in the Chateau de Saint-Point
THE LIFE OF LAMARTINE
CHAPTER I
STATESMAN OR POET
LAMARTINE, whose genius as a poet is uncon tested, and
must ever in the eyes of the majority constitute his chief
claim to immortality, himself held this sublime gift of the
gods in slight esteem.
Like Goethe, who complained that, in spite of the un-
doubted scientific value of his discoveries in comparative
anatomy, his compatriots persistently allowed their admi-
ration of the poet to overshadow due appreciation of
the scientist, 1 Lamartine was deeply aggrieved that his
contemporaries so constantly belittled, even ridiculed,
his aspirations and achievements in the political arena.
Here was the chosen field in which he ardently desired to
shine : a statesman first, a poet in his moments of elegant
leisure. Unquestionably he loved his art; at times pas-
sionately; yet never to the exclusion of other ambitions.
Early in life, even in the first intoxicating flush of literary
fame, he trembled lest his poetry militate against the
chances for the diplomatic appointment on which his
heart was set. Later he deplored that his influence was
restricted in the Chamber on account of the constant
twits levelled by political antagonists who detected, or
feigned to detect, the fatal taint of idealism in his treat-
ment of the most prosaic problems of economics.
1 The discovery of the presence of an inter-maxillary bone in the upper
jaw of man, similar to that in animals, and of the vertebrate theory of the
skull.
. . I . .
LIFE OF LAM ARTINE
Such aphorisms as "The Ideal is only Truth at a dis-
tance," or "Reality is the seedling on which the Ideal is
grafted," not only passed over the heads of stolid work-
a-day politicians, but aroused the mistrust of a critic
such as Sainte-Beuve. Controverting a somewhat harsh
appreciation of Lamartine as a statesman, Eugene Ram-
bert retorted: "He [Sainte-Beuve] does not sufficiently
grasp what moral power and influence is exerted over the
masses by the poetry of Lamartine's politics." l The
Swiss critic was unquestionably correct; the marvel-
lous ascendency wielded by the poet-orator over the
surging revolutionary mob during the fateful days of
February, 1848, is his vindication. The miracles per-
formed at the H6tel de Ville can only be fully accounted
for by the moral force Lamartine had exerted during the
baffling years of his parliamentary career. If he talked
over the heads of the unheeding legislators in the Cham-
ber, his words (as he once remarked) sped out of the win-
dows, and reached the eager ears of the struggling masses.
In the fulness of time the harvest was ripe, and the prole-
tariat prepared to garner the fruits of the seedling Real-
ity on which Lamartine had so cunningly grafted the
Ideal.
Not that Lamartine himself ever admitted the idealism
of his politics or sociology. His constant aim was to
separate his political from his literary career, as he sepa-
rated his public and domestic life. Although he obeyed
the promptings of his Muse, he dubbed it a weakness he
would fain that men forgot. To M. Bruys d'Ouilly he
wrote in 1838, six years after his entrance into the politi-
cal arena: "... My poet's life begins again for a few
days. You know better than any one that it has never been
at most more than a twelfth part of my real life. The
credulous public, which does not, like Jehovah, create
1 Etudes littiraires (Lausanne, 1889), p. 314.
STATESMAN OR POET
man in its image, but disfigures him according to its
fancy, believes that I have spent thirty years of my life
polishing rhymes and contemplating the stars. I have
not spent thirty months so doing, and poetry has never
been more to me than a prayer; the most beautiful and
most intense act of thought, but the shortest, and the one
which deducts the least from the day's work." l
The letter continues with an harangue on the duties of
the citizen in face of the social problems of the day. The
author defends himself against the insinuation that
"vanity" has anything to do with his political ambitions,
asserting that he has thrown himself into the vortex from
a sense of duty, "like any passenger who during the storm
lends a hand in the working of the ship."
The testimony of his contemporaries does not, however,
corroborate this disclaimer. Lamartine was credited with
his fair share of vanity political and literary and
even with fatuous self-adulation. Young, well-born, ex-
cessively handsome, with the fire of genius in face and
bearing, he was early the idol of the foremost Parisian
salons. It would be asking too much of a poet, between
twenty-eight and thirty, not to be amenable to flattery.
"I am on the pinnacle of universal favour here," he
wrote Virieu at the time he was reciting his as yet un-
published verses to enthralled audiences. "Lord Byron
in his best days did not create a greater furor in London.
Even Villemain 2 is enthusiastic, and I was afraid of him ;
but he extols me to the skies, and maintains that in the
memory of man never has one heard such verses." 3 But
such passages are rare, even in his outpourings to this
"other self," as he loved to style his school-boy friend,
Aymon de Virieu. Lamartine was sincere in his estima-
tion of his poetical genius, although he never doubted
1 Letter serving as Preface to the Recueittements potliques.
1 Writer, professor, and politician, 1790-1870. Correspondence, ccxi.
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
his political inflatus. He knew his power, but, in litera-
ture, he was not ignorant of his weaknesses. It was in
no spirit of false modesty, no feigned humility, that in his
later years he paralleled what he had done with what he
might have achieved. He was a merciless critic of his own
shortcomings and peculiarities.
To Ernest Legouv6, who asked how it came about
that, given an equal facility in memorizing the verses of
La Fontaine and those of Lamartine, and an equal pleas-
ure in reciting them, yet after six months Lamartine's
verses had slipped from his mind while those of La Fon-
taine still stood out firm and clear, the poet replied:
"The reason is that La Fontaine wrote with a pen, one
might even say with a graving-tool, while I paint with
a brush. He writes, I merely colour: his outlines are
sharply drawn, mine are vague. Consequently it is only
natural that his should remain impressed on the mem-
ory, and that mine should gradually become effaced."
And when his friend insisted that no French poet had
been more richly endowed than Lamartine, and pro-
tested that the author of the "Lac," of "Jocelyn," of
"La Chute d'un Ange," and of a hundred other master-
pieces, had as much genius as the greatest among them,
Lamartine smilingly acquiesced: "It may be: but I have
not as much talent. Talent, my friend, is what is ac-
quired by work and will. I have never worked, and I
cannot correct. Whenever I have tried to rewrite my
verses I have only made them worse. Just compare me
as a versifier with Victor Hugo ! Why, I am a mere begin-
ner, a mere school-boy beside him." l M. Legouv6 adds
that if Lamartine entertained a sincere disdain for his
poetical grandeur, it was because he felt himself to be a
poet very superior to his works, and above all, a man very
superior to the poet.
1 Ernest LegouvS, Soixante ans de souvenirs, vol. iv, p. 200.
. . 4 . .
STATESMAN OR POET
Of human foibles Lamartine was certainly not devoid.
Yet he possessed none of the petty passions which so often
disfigure genius. There was no trace in him of literary
jealousy, vindictiveness, or envy. A romantic in all but
name he stood serenely aloof, belonging to no school,
an adherent of no clique or coterie. Fully aware of his
literary preeminence, but having taken to verse as a duck
takes to water, he could discern no special personal merit
in the facility with which nature had so generously en-
dowed him.
With statecraft it was different. The Lamartine of the
study and he of the rostrum or the hustings were two dis-
tinct and separate personalities. As a statesman, a legis-
lator, and a social and political reformer, Lamartine
entertained no doubts as to the importance of the mission
an all- wise Providence had destined him to fulfil. In a
conversation, during 1837, with M. de Barthlemy, Pre-
fect of Macon, he remarked: "My reputation as a poet
is but a slight affair; it hardly touches me. But the rep-
utation to which I hold immensely, because I know that
I merit it, is that of a specialist, a man of business. And
I will confess to you that the functions for which I con-
sider myself most apt are those required of a Minister
of Finance, or of the Interior." 1 Perhaps M. de Bar-
thdlemy was not an altogether impartial critic. Moreover,
a few lines farther down the page, he quotes Lamartine
as admitting, during a session of the Committee on Fi-
nance of the Provincial Council, that he had never in his
life been capable of adding up correctly a column of
figures. But the anecdote one of a hundred of similar
tenor - serves to demonstrate the confidence, not to say
complacency, with which Lamartine accepted his ability
to solve the most complex problems of social and techni-
cal politics. Inevitably a temperament such as his was
1 Souvenirs d'un ancien PrSfet, p. 200.
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
prone to idealize the most sordid and prosaic measures
affecting the public weal. Yet, as will be seen, this vivid
presentation of dry and colourless subjects not infre-
quently proved their salvation ; alluring and arresting an
attention which might otherwise have been denied. If
his own grasp of the problem was often] superficial, he
over and over again, by the sheer magic of his splendid
rhetoric, aroused the enthusiasm which meant success.
Nor would it be correct to assume that Lamartine did not
himself adequately realize the immense effectiveness of
this commingling in his personality of the poet the
vates, the prophet, the soothsayer, of the ancients and
the politician in the r61e he aspired to play. The influ-
ence of the statesman thus constituted, he rightly es-
teemed far greater and more far-reaching, for good or for
evil, than that of the poet who, from the seclusion of his
study, gave utterance to the most sublime flights of
human thought. i
When Legouv, seeking to console the bitterness of pub-
lic ingratitude towards the fallen idol of 1848, stated that
he would sooner have written the "Meditations" than
have founded the Second Republic, the poet-statesman
contemptuously cried: "That proves you to be a dunce.
Let us put aside my own individuality, look at the gen-
eral question, and consider the immense superiority of
the statesman over the poet. The one racks and exhausts
his brain in marshalling and harmonizing sounds; the
other is the real Word, that is, the Thought, the Word,
the Act in one. He makes real what the poet only dreams ;
sees all that is great and good converted into Facts, into
beneficent Facts, which not only benefit the present gen-
eration, but often extend to distant posterity. Do you
know what it means to be a great Statesman? He is a
poet in the act of transforming Words into Deeds! " l
1 Legouv, op. cit., vol. iv, p. 205.
. . 6
STATESMAN OR POET
Action was, in truth, the constant preoccupation of this
man whom his contemporaries persisted in regarding as
a dreamer, a sublime dreamer, but a dangerous idealist.
A dreamer, yes : but one whose dreams were made of the
stuff Voltaire and Rousseau had woven into the fabric
of French thought, and which have since become uni-
versal realities. A dreamer for whom the Declaration of
the Rights of Man contained eternal Truths. A dreamer
who dreamed with Pitt and Fox and Stevenson, as well
as with "Ossian" and Byron. A dreamer to whom the
teachings of History meant something more than dates
and dynasties, and whose political creed went far beyond
party lines and frontiers, embracing Humanity.
After the first languorous intellectual waverings, the
careless, sensuous indolence of his youthful wanderings;
after " Werther" and " Rene" had been left behind ; even
before the inevitable Weltschmerz of callow adolescence
had ripened into discernment, it was of action he dreamed,
action he craved.
CHAPTER II
ANCESTRY AND EARLIEST YEARS
AT the close of the eighteenth century the Lamartines
afforded a typical example of that provincial petite
noblesse to whose homely but sterling virtues and sound
patriotism France owes so much. Of humble origin
the head of the family was, in the middle of the seven-
teenth century, a tanner at Cluny the Alamartines,
as they were then styled, gradually rose in the social
scale, acquiring landed estates and patents of nobility.
Yet as late as 1825 the orthography of the name was ill-
defined; the poet signing indifferently "Delamartine,"
"de la Martine," and "de Lamartine." J The manage-
ment of their scattered rural holdings necessitated long
and frequent sojourns among their vintners and peas-
ants; but the winter months were passed in the substan-
tial and patriarchal residence in Macon. Although the
Revolution wrought havoc here, as elsewhere, in the
ranks of the aristocracy, once the Reign of Terror was
over, a small, highly cultivated social nucleus re-formed,
and the dawn of the nineteenth century found the La-
martines again firmly established as leaders and arbiters
in the community.
The poet has himself described, with charming candour,
the position held by his forebears. "A family without
great lustre, but without stain; placed by Providence in
one of those intermediary ranks of society, allied to the
nobility by virtue of its name, and to the people by rea-
son of modicity of fortune and simplicity of life. A fam-
1 Cf. Pierre de Lacretelle, Les Origines et la Jeunesse de Lamartine (Paris,
1911), p. 6.
8 .
ANCESTRY AND EARLIEST YEARS
ily dwelling chiefly on their estates, among the peasants
whose customs they shared, and whose daily toil was not
unsimilar to that of their lowly neighbours." l
Following in the footsteps of his ancestors, the father
of the poet, a younger son, served in the armies of his
king from his sixteenth year. Yet, loyal as was his devo-
tion to the Bourbons, the philosophical doctrines of the
Encyclopedistes had not left him uninfluenced. With his
brothers he belonged to that party of the young nobility
which recognized the necessity of social and political
reform. They were passionate partisans of a constitu-
tional government, of a national representative body, of
the fusion of the orders of the State into a homogeneous
nation, subjected to the same laws and bearing the same
fiscal burdens. Mirabeau, Lafayette, La Rochefoucauld,
and others of their kind were the apostles of their creed.
Lafayette had gone to school with theAbb6 de Lamartine,
the poet's uncle. Later they met in Paris, and for years
maintained an active correspondence. 2 A real friend-
ship united them, an attachment founded on a com-
munity of political and social ideals.
Holding such opinions, it was evident that the La-
martine family could not be hostile to the spirit of the
great social upheaval of '89. It was only when the
movement, escaping the control of its leaders, became
the tool of demagogues, and degenerated into lawless-
ness, spoliation, and crime, that they withdrew their
sympathy.
Ancestral tradition discountenanced the marriage of
younger sons in the Lamartine family. Yet, his elder
brother being an invalid, and the second a priest, the
ban was of necessity removed, and his relatives sought
1 Confidences, p. 22; cf. also Les Origines et la Jeunesse de Lamartine,
PP- 3-33-
1 Cf. Memoires inedits, p. 12. Pierre de Lacretelle (op. tit., p. 83) contro-
verts this assertion.
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
for the "Chevalier de Prat," 1 as Pierre de Lamartine
was styled in order to distinguish him from his brother, an
alliance calculated to add lustre to the family name and
fortune. The Chevalier, at this period a man between
thirty-seven and thirty-eight years of age, preferred taking
matters into his own hands; and, setting aside material
considerations, to obey the dictates of his heart alone.
One of his sisters had joined the inmates of the convent
of Saint Martin de Salles, situated between Lyons and
Macon. Salles was one of those hybrid religious insti-
tutions peculiar to the times, where aristocratic families
were wont to relegate such of their daughters as felt no
decided vocation for the cloistered life of a nun, yet
whose dowries were not sufficiently conspicuous to at-
tract advantageous matrimonial alliances. Life within
the walls of such so-called convents was far from austere.
A modicum of religious practices alternated with visits
from friends, and the friends of friends, of both sexes,
and not infrequent incursions into frankly worldly
circles. As the inmates for the most part dwelt in de-
tached houses, clustering round the chapel of the Noble
Order, and were subjected to none of the strict obliga-
tions usually associated with monastic life, liberty may be
said to have reigned supreme a liberty which, if we
credit the "chroniques scandaleuses " of the times, oc-
casionally degenerated into license.
It was at Salles, under the roof of his sister, that the
Chevalier, then holding the brevet rank of major, met
Alix Des Roys, and fell desperately in love. But although
from the social standpoint the girl's position was un-
assailable, her family was but scantily endowed with
worldly goods. During her childhood Alix Des Roys had
1 Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 89. In his Coulisses du Passi (p. 366)
Paul Foucher relates an anecdote descriptive of Lamartine's annoyance
when the prefix Prat was added to his name.
. . IO
MADAME DE LAMARTINE
Mother of the poet
ANCESTRY AND EARLIEST YEARS
breathed, it is true, the atmosphere of a court of peculiar
brilliance. Both her parents held positions in the house-
hold of the Duke and Duchess d'Orleans; the husband as
comptroller of finance, the wife as assistant governess,
under Madame de Genlis, of the children of the first
prince of the blood. Born in 1770, at Lyons, Alix's child-
hood had been spent partly under the care of her grand-
mother, who resided in that town, and partly with her
parents, whose duties kept them either at the Palais
Royal or the Chateau de Saint-Cloud. Among her
playfellows when in Paris or Saint-Cloud was Louis-
Philippe, whom one revolution made an orphan and
drove into exile (1793); another crowned King of the
French (1830); and a third again condemned to final
banishment (1848). The political and literary celebri-
ties of the day were welcomed at the Court of "Philippe
Iigalite," and the youthful Alix was afforded many op-
portunities, not only of seeing them, but of hearing them
discourse. Voltaire's last appearance in Paris remained
indelibly imprinted on her mind. Of d'Alembert, Laclos,
the naturalist Buffon, Gibbon, Grimm, Necker, and
many others she had caught fleeting glimpses when they
paid their respects to her mother. With Jean Jacques
Rousseau Madame Des Roys had been in active corre-
spondence. Alix, although very pious and unquestion-
ingly faithful to the inflexible dogma of Catholicism,
preserved a tender admiration for the great philosopher.
"Doubtlessly," writes her son, "because Rousseau pos-
sessed more than genius: he had soul. She could not fol-
low the religion of his genius: but she comprehended and
shared the religion of his heart." l
But the jealousies and friction inseparable from Court
life would seem to have weighed heavily upon Madame
Des Roys. Madame de Genlis apparently could not
1 Confidences, pp. 28-30; also Le Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 34.
. . II . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
forgive the attention bestowed upon her subordinate:
"C'est une guerre h6reditaire de famille famille," wrote
Madame de Lamartine in her journal. "Madame de
Genlis and my mother formed two hostile camps in the
Palais Royal." l This enmity blazed forth afresh when
the literary triumphs of young Alphonse first echoed
through Parisian society, and was the cause of frequent
sorrow to the gentle mother of the poet.
Lack of fortune would appear to have been the only
serious obstacle to the marriage the Chevalier so ar-
dently desired, and which, these considerations apart,
the family also approved. Writing in her journal, many
years later (October 6, 1801), Madame de Lamartine re-
calls an episode which greatly contributed to the attain-
ment of her happiness. Returning from Paris to Salles in
1789, an accident to her carriage necessitated a prolonged
halt at Macon. "We saw in this town all my husband's
family, who paid us many attentions. The Chevalier de
Lamartine was then with his regiment. We passed the
whole day at his family's residence. It seems I pleased
his father, his mother, and his brothers and sisters; this
caused a resumption of the negotiations for a marriage
between the Chevalier and myself, of which there had
been question for a long time, and which a thousand
obstacles continually postponed." Three years would
seem to have been the length of this period of probation :
"... trois ans d'incertitude devant Dieu!" 2
Finally, all difficulties having been surmounted, the
marriage of " Pierre de la Martine " and ' ' Alexis Francoise
Desroys" was celebrated at Lyons, on January 7, 1790.'
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 274; cf. also Memoires inedits de Madame la
comtesse de Genlis, vol. m, pp. 483-85; vol. iv,p.29; also Pierre de Lacretelle,
op. cit., pp. 52-54-
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, pp. 117 and 297.
Some biographers give March 6, 1790, as the date of the marriage.
The error arose through a too-confident acceptance of the dates affixed to
. . 12
ANCESTRY AND EARLIEST YEARS
The first year of their married life was spent at Macon,
under the roof of the patriarchal family residence. Here,
on October 21, 1790, their first and only son, Alphonse-
Marie-Louis, was born. The house, which now bears a
tablet commemorating this event, situated in the rue
des Ursulines, No. 18, is connected by buildings and
gardens with the larger dwelling in the parallel rue Bau-
deron de Sennec6, forming in reality an annex. Hence
probably the confusion which arose among his earlier
biographers as to the site of his birthplace. Nor was
this the only difficulty confronting those who twenty,
or even ten, years ago undertook a task which access
to public and family documents has since rendered less
hazardous. Lamartine himself constantly led his biogra-
phers into error. Like many a man of vivid imagination
the poet resented the tyranny of figures. Mathematics
he frankly abhorred; while he petulantly anathema-
tized the exact sciences as "the chains which fetter
human Thought." l As an autobiographer he either ig-
nored dates and environment, or adapted them to the
artistic requirements of the occasion. If we lent faith to
his personal testimony alone, as given in his poems and
reminiscences, we should have to accept Milly, Macon,
and even Saint- Point as his " birthplaces." z According
to the caprice of his imagination he vividly describes the
pastoral surroundings of his birth at Milly, or minutely
details the topography of his grandfather's house in
Macon.
Although the State registration of births in France
the entries in the "Journal" of Madame de Lamartine, edited by the poet,
which bristles with chronological inaccuracies. January 7 is the date affixed
to the certificate of marriage preserved in the Municipal Archives at Lyons.
1 Introduction to Jocelyn.
1 Cf. Pierre de Lacretelle, op. tit., p. 114; Confidences, p. 24; Manuscrit de
ma mere, p. 42. Lamartine implies the date of his birth was 1792: Cours
familier de liUcrature, vol. I, p. 8; vol. in, pp. 161, 194, 199; vol. IV, pp.
444,449-
. . I 3 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
only dates from the Law of September 2, 1792, a cer-
tificate of baptism, in the handwriting of the parish
priest, M. Focard, is preserved in the archives of the
town of Macon. 1 This certificate of baptism partakes
also of the nature of one of birth, since it mentions that
the child was born on the preceding day. The document
does not, it is true, specifically record that the birth took
place in the parish of Saint- Pierre, which takes its name
from the church wherein the ceremony was performed.
But it is highly improbable that had the child been born
at Milly, his parents would have been willing to incur the
risks attending a seven-mile drive over rough country
lanes, when the village church stood facing the entrance
to their dwelling. ,
M. Lonce Lex, Archivist of the Department of Saone
et Loire, as lately as 1907, believed that the tiny house
in the rue des Ursulines at M&con, which since 1890 has
been officially recognized as the poet's birthplace, had
been erroneously so labelled by the city fathers. 2 His
objections would seem to have been founded on a para-
graph of Lamartine's introduction to his mother's jour-
nal. "At the rear of my grandfather's mansion," writes
the poet, "which extended from one street to the other,
there was a small house, low and dark, which communi-
cated with the great house by a gloomy passage and by
means of little courtyards, narrow and damp as wells.
This house served to lodge old servants who had been
retired from my grandfather's service, but who still re-
ceived small pensions. . . ." 8 It indeed seemed hardly
credible that the Chevalier, the only married son, should
have been relegated with his bride to an abode habitually
1 A copy of this document, containing insignificant variations, made
probably for some legal requirement, and issued by the vicar (M. De
La Font), can be consulted in the Clerk's office of the Court of First Instance
of the District.
1 Lamartine, p. 5. Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 45.
. . 14 . .
BIRTHPLACE OF LAMARTINE
ANCESTRY AND EARLIEST YEARS
reserved for domestic pensioners. Nevertheless an ex-
amination of the original manuscript of Madame de
Lamartine's journal l proves beyond cavil that Alphonse
was born in the "little house." Valuable as the testi-
mony of the journal is, the published version cannot be
implicitly relied upon. Whole pages of the original man-
uscript are either securely glued together, or effaced,
thus intentionally obliterating its records. This deface-
ment dates, in the opinion of the family, from the time
when Lamartine, about 1858, edited the journal for
publication. His reasons for so doing can, however, only
be surmised, as, by his own special wish, the volume was
withheld from the public until after his death. Neverthe-
less, as early as 1836, mention is made by Lamartine of
the discovery of the journal, and it is probable that
he used it in his compilation of the "Confidences" and
other personal reminiscences. 2 Be this as it may, the
original manuscript specifically mentions No. 18 rue des
Ursulines as the poet's birthplace; thus disposing for all
time of the "legends" of Milly, Saint- Point, or the
"mansion" of his grandfather in the rue Bauderon de
Sennece; for although the "little house" may, by cour-
tesy, be styled an annex of the latter, the same roof cer-
tainly did not cover both.
In his "Confidences" Lamartine asserts that no mem-
ber of his family was guilty of the prevailing folly which
impelled so many of the aristocracy to follow their
princes into exile. " It required great moral courage," he
writes, "and great force of character to resist this epi-
demic of madness, which borrowed the name of honour.
1 Consisting of twelve little copy-books, extending from 1800 to 1829,
each entry carefully dated, in the possession of Madame Amedee de Parse-
val, of Macon, who graciously allowed the author to consult the precious
document, in 1911.
1 Cf. Correspondancc, vol. in, p. 395. Lamartine erroneously mentions
the journal as consisting of but eight little volumes, from his mother's first
youth till her death, 1829. There are in reality twelve volumes.
. . I 5 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
My father had this courage: he refused to emigrate.
But when the officers of the army were required to take
an oath against which his conscience, as a servant of the
King, revolted, he handed in his resignation." 1 This is
not strictly true, as far as the whole family is concerned,
although in the case of his father the accusation was not
maintained. It is probable that the Chevalier resigned
his commission early in 1791; but the sojourn in Swit-
zerland during the summer of that year was not re-
garded as a flight, nor was the soldier held to have
left France in consequence of his disapproval of the
political situation. There is indeed ground for the be-
lief that Reyssie is correct in ascribing the journey as
undertaken on account of the delicate health of the
child. 2
At the same time there is no documentary evidence
except that given by the poet himself in his fantastic
account of the episode, written after the lapse of over
half a century. "My father and mother had established
themselves for several months at Lausanne during the
second year of their marriage. They dwelt in one of those
charming houses built on the terraced slopes which fall
away from the hill of Montbenon to the lake shore.
Gibbon lived in the one contiguous to ours. The two
gardens adjoined, separated only by a jasmine hedge.
My mother, who was beginning to wean me, guided my
first steps along the gravelled paths beneath the hedge.
Gibbon, writing or reading in a bower in a corner of his
own garden, watched these games and listened admir-
ingly to the voices of the young Frenchwoman and her in-
fant. Peeping over the hedge, he recognized my mother,
whom he had seen before her marriage in my grand-
1 Confidences, p. 36; cf. Archives departementales, xr, 4. Reyssie, in his
Jeunesse de Lamartine, p. 26, mentions one member of the family as having
emigrated temporarily.
* Jeunesse de Lamartine, p. 19; Pierre de Lacretelle, op. /., p. 84.
. 16
ANCESTRY AND EARLIEST YEARS
mother's salon in Paris, at the Palais Royal, and at Saint-
Cloud. My mother also recognized him instantly, both
by reason of his exceptional ugliness and the proverbial
bonhomie of his appearance. Henceforward, all through a
long summer, the two households formed but one. My
father, my mother, Gibbon, and a few mutual friends were
as a single family. Either with a view to pleasing the
charming mother through her son, or because of the
natural fondness of studious and solitary men for chil-
dren, the great historian spent the evening hour playing
with me. His knees, my mother told me, became my
cradle." l
Neither in his "Autobiography" nor in his published
correspondence does Gibbon make mention of these neigh-
bours with whom he became so intimate. The loquacious
Maria Josepha Holroyd, who with her parents, Lord and
Lady Sheffield, spent the summer of 1791 (July 23 to the
first week in October) at "LaGrotte" as Gibbon's guests,
is equally reticent. "There is a very pleasant set of
French here," she writes, "but we live entirely with the
Severys and Mr. Gibbon's set, which is certainly not
equally pleasant." 2 And a little later she launches the
following shaft: "... Mr. Gibbon dislikes the French
very much, which is nothing but Swiss prejudice, of
which he has imbibed a large quantity."
Lord Sheffield, in a note inserted in Gibbon's "Auto-
biography," which he edited, also declares that when
visiting the historian at Lausanne he was astonished
to find him "apparently without relish for French so-
ciety." "During the stay I made with him," continues
his lifelong friend, "he renewed his intercourse with the
principal French who were at Lausanne; of whom there
happened to be a considerable number, distinguished
1 Cours familier de literature, vol. n, p. 234.
1 The Girlhood of Maria Josepha Holroyd, p. 63.
. . ,7 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
for rank and talents; many indeed respectable in both." l
We have no valid reason, however, for completely dis-
carding Lamartine's pretty anecdote, in spite of his tra-
ditional reputation for inexactitude. It is nevertheless
perplexing that Miss Holroyd, who was an inveterate
gossip, and who must perforce have been closely asso-
ciated with the Lamartines, should so completely ignore
them.
With the end of the summer came also that of the
idyl. Gibbon "shed tears on replacing his little play-
fellow for the last time in his mother's arms," 2 and the
friends parted to go their several ways and meet again
no more.
1 Autobiography of Edward Gibbon, p. 263. Lord Sheffield appends a list
of the principal French then residing in Lausanne, among whom the La-
martines do not appear.
8 Cours familier de literature, vol. n, p. 235.
CHAPTER III
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS
THE social upheaval in France had now attained pro-
portions undreamt of in its incipient stages. The Tenth
of August was at hand. Major Lamartine, although no
longer bound by his military oath, did not hesitate to
place his sword at the service of his king. Leaving wife
and child he hastened to the defence of the Tuileries.
Wounded during the massacre of the Swiss Guard, he
was captured and imprisoned at Vaugirard, but, thanks
to the connivance of the gardener of a relative, he escaped
and made good his return to the neighbourhood of
M<icon possibly to the small estate of Milly, the
manor-house which his son so frequently claims as his
birthplace. 1
Meanwhile M&con was in the throes of revolutionary
ferment. Shortly after the imprisonment of Louis XVI
a furious mob assailed the residence of the Lamartines.
The entire family, consisting of the grandfather, then
over eighty-four years of age, his wife, an invalid, their
two sons and three daughters, were arrested and dragged
to the prisons at Autun, twenty miles away. The Major,
there is reason to believe, was apprehended at Milly,
and thence conveyed with his wife, who had but re-
cently given birth to their second child, and Alphonse,
to M^con. Here the father was confined in the convent
of the Ursulines, while the mother and her two infants
were kept under surveillance in the attic of the small
house belonging to the Lamartines already mentioned as
the poet's birthplace. From her window Alix de Lamar-
1 Cf. Correspondance, vol. iv, p. 65; letter to M. E. de Girardin, note.
. . I 9 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
tine looked across the narrow street on the roofs of the
convent where for nearly eighteen months her husband
was kept captive. Her son relates that his parents even-
tually devised a mode of communication; that they not
only saw each other daily, but that on dark, moonless
nights the prisoner actually crossed the narrow lane
from his garret window to the house opposite by means
of a strong rope his wife had supplied. 1
When the Ninth of Thermidor (27th of July, 1794)
opened the prison doors the little family migrated to the
unpretentious manor-house at Milly, a hamlet situated
a couple of leagues distant. This modest estate had been
apportioned the Chevalier, as a younger son, in his mar-
riage settlements. Although the Revolution had abol-
ished entail and decreed the division of family estates
on the death of the head of the house, the Major, when
he lost his parents shortly after their release from prison,
decided to adhere to tradition and content himself with
the provision originally made for him. Why the other
members of the family who were unmarried, and conse-
quently less in need of larger means, did not insist on
their brother's acceptance of his full share of the very
considerable property, remains a mystery. Nor does
Lamartine offer any other explanation beyond that of
his father's determination to conform to the spirit and
the letter of the customs the Revolution had swept away. 2
At Milly, therefore, the little family settled down to a
frugal, patriarchal existence, differing only in degree
from that of the neighbouring peasantry. 3
Alphonse de Lamartine was nearly four years old when
1 Confidences, pp. 42-44; Manuscrit de ma mere, pp. 48-50.
2 Confidences, p. 49; Memoir es inedits, p. 15.
* Confidences, p. 50; Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 55. Lamartine himself
estimates the family expenses as between three and five thousand francs.
Pierre de Lacretelle (op. tit., p. 100) gives authority for a revenue of twelve
thousand per annum.
. . 2O
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS
his parents definitely established their home at Milly.
Here the childhood, youth, and early manhood of the
poet were spent in practically unbroken continuity.
More than any others the environment of Milly, physical
and psychological, contributed to the moulding of his
character and of his genius. To the end of his days Lamar-
tine held the humble rooftree as the incarnation of home :
the one spot on earth to which he turned for peace and
consolation in times of stress and mental anguish. To
Milly, in moments of poetic ecstasy, he refers as his
cradle: it is Milly he idealizes in "La Vigne et la Mai-
son" idealizes so flagrantly that the scrupulous, truth-
loving mother, on reading her son's effusion, hastily
plants the ivy the poet describes as covering the north
wall of the house, "in order that my son may not lie even
in his verses." l
The country surrounding the drab-coloured, stone-
built hamlet of Milly is not romantic. Bare and appar-
ently barren mounds roll out their monotonous undu-
lations between the broad green plain where runs the
river Sa6ne and the wooded hills which rise farther
westward. The land hereabouts is almost treeless. La-
martine himself compared Milly with the villages of
Spain, Calabria, Sicily, and Greece, "which seem, under
the summer sun in a brazen sky, to glow like the mouth of
a furnace wherein a peasant has cast a faggot of myrtle
or box in order to bake his children's bread." 2 Vine-
yards straggle over the brown rocky soil, barely conceal-
ing it at certain seasons, at others relieving somewhat
the neutral- tinted monotony. Milly itself is to-day very
much as it was a century ago. A statue of the poet has
been erected on the little "place"; around it cluster a
dozen squalid hovels overshadowed by the squat " pyram-
1 Manuscrit de ma mtre, p. 292.
* Cours familier de literature, vol. I, p. 8.
. . 21
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
idal spire of grey stone," l of the village church. The
place breathes poverty: the evidences of incessant strug-
gle for bare subsistence are everywhere apparent. The
peasants and their masters depend on the product of their
vines, which are meat and drink in one: failure of the vin-
tage spells privation and ruin to-day, as it did a century
ago. "We have been horribly devastated by a great
storm," wrote Madame de Lamartine in her diary under
date of September 2, 1801 ; " the hail completed the de-
struction of our vintage. Everything promised a superb
year; there will scarcely be enough left for our subsistence,
and the maintenance of our poor peasants' families! I
am ill from the shock and worry. This misfortune will
necessitate great retrenchment, many privations; all
our plans of winters in Macon for the education of our
daughters are upset; we must probably sell our horse and
char-d-banc; but God wills it. This thought should suf-
fice for my consolation." The resigned wife then goes on
to praise the courage and devotion of her husband during
this trial, adding: "... He prayed with me midst the
rattle of the hailstones, breaking branches and window-
panes, and the sobs of the despairing peasants in the
courtyard." 2
Slender resources and the dread of calamities such as
the above dictated the strictest domestic economy. As
has been said, the material conditions of life in the manor-
house at Milly were practically on a par with those of the
surrounding peasantry. The opening pages of the "Con-
fidences" paint the author with barefooted goatherds
as his youthful associates, spending his days with them
under the open sky, far up the rugged hillside, sharing
their rough fare and joining in their games and frolics.
The household was early astir; as soon as the first
ray of sunshine filtered through the shutters, the doors
1 Confidences, p. 67. * Manuscrit de ma mere, p. in.
. . 22
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS
opened, "the village maidens came to the house, frolicked
on the stairs, ran along the passages, to the lofts, entered
the nursery, helped the children to dress, fastened their
wooden shoes, filling the house with joyous tumult as
the sun filled it with brightness, the dogs with their bark-
ing, the birds with their song. All went to the kitchen for
breakfast, and then a rush was made for the open air.
From time to time the report of the father's gun was
heard far up the mountain-side, and the morning breeze
wafted the smoke through the heather." l Yet between
the simple-living gentlefolk at the manor and the rude
vintners whose hovels leaned against their gateposts,
a great gulf was fixed. Beneath the humble roof of the
squire of Milly culture and refinement played an im-
portant part. The Chevalier was a lover of the best
literature of his time, and a classical scholar to boot. A
taste for poetry and "belles-lettres" had run through
several generations in the family, and dainty verses by
the boy's father and grandfather were often quoted in
M^con. 2 Time and again the child was lulled to sleep
on his mother's knee by the sound of his father's voice
reading aloud the masterpieces of French dramatic liter-
ature. The tragedies of Voltaire and of Racine, the
"Fables" of La Fontaine, were as familiar to his infant
ear as a nurse's tale. Alphonse de Lamartine was brought
up, if not in an atmosphere of books, straitened cir-
cumstances forbade that, at least in an environment
where appreciation of what was best in books and prac-
tical literary culture went hand in hand.
Yet there was no pedantry in this home. " My mother
worried herself very little over what is understood by
learning: she had no ambition of making me a child
1 Mbnoircs intdits, p. 40.
* Cf. Ernest Falconnet's pamphlet, A. de Lamartine (Paris, 1840); also
Memoires inedits, p. 14.
. . 23
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
advanced for its age. She never excited in me an em-
ulation which is often merely the jealousy of pride in
children. She allowed no comparison with others: she
neither exalted nor humiliated me by means of such
dangerous estimates." 1 And the writer goes on to add:
"The little that was taught me was conveyed as a re-
ward. My masters were my father and mother. I saw
them read and I wanted to read ; I saw them write, and I
begged them to aid me in forming my letters. All this
took place while at play, at idle moments, on their
knees, in the garden, by the drawing-room fire, accom-
panied by smiles, gambols, and caresses." Lamartine
wrote in later years that at the age of ten he had never
yet experienced a heart-burn, never known what mental
anguish meant, never discerned the scowl of passion on
a human visage. 2 The gentle mother had derived her
notions on education from the teachings of Jean Jacques
Rousseau and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, both of whom
she had seen in her childhood at the Court of the Duke
of Orleans. While still quite young she had listened to
heated discussions between Madame de Genlis, her own
mother, and others in charge of the royal children, con-
cerning the relative merits of the systems of these philos-
ophers. Since those days she had herself read and deeply
pondered their theories and drawn her own conclusions.
Physically this system of education, at least in its incip-
ient stages, followed closely the precepts laid down by
Pythagoras and the author of "Emile": the greatest
simplicity in clothing, and diet of the most rigorous fru-
gality. The boy was, in fact, allowed to run wild with
the little peasant lads; constraint, if any was exercised,
being so disguised as to pass unperceived.
A taste for reading was early developed, and it was not
long before the insatiable demand outran the supply.
1 Confidences, p. 77. * Ibid., p. 74.
. . 24 -
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS
Children's books no longer sufficed: Lamartine admits
that before he was in his teens his eyes turned with envy
to the rows of volumes standing on the rough shelves
of his parents' sitting-room. The careful mother sought
to moderate this yearning for knowledge, and doled out
the books with a discriminating hand. From all accounts
the young student's taste in literature was catholic
enough; the works of Madame de Genlis, selections from
Fenelon, Bernardin de Saint- Pierre, Tasso, even "Robin-
son Crusoe," delighted him; Voltaire transported him.
On the other hand, the "Fables" of La Fontaine appealed
not at all: "they appeared to me at once puerile, false,
and cruel," he writes, "and I never could learn them by
rote." l
When young Alphonse had outgrown the desultory
sessions at his mother's knee, elementary instruction was
imparted by a friend of the family, M. Bruys de Vaudran.
Half a century later the pupil dedicated many pages
of the initial volume of his "Cours familier de littera-
ture" 2 to the memory of this scholarly victim of the
Revolution, who had emerged from the wreck with noth-
ing but his skin, his library, and an inexhaustible fund
of philosophy. This figure is indelibly associated with
the poet's earliest literary retrospect. Due allowance
must, of course, be made for the glamour which fifty
years had shed over these childish recollections. Yet even
so the quaint picturesqueness of the surroundings de-
scribed must perforce have set their imperishable stamp
on a receptive mind such as his.
Behind Milly rises the Monsard (Mons Arduus), a
rugged peak half smothered in stunted forest, its summit
formed of nude rocks to which the erosions of wind and
weather have given a semblance of the crenellated bas-
tions of some huge dismantled fortress. From this lofty
1 Confidences, pp. 76, 77. * Vol. I, p. 35; cf. also Confidences, p. 76.
25 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
belvedere the eye roams over the plains and hills of the
Sa6ne country to the dark flanks of the Jura, over which
peep the glistening snows of the distant Alps, a roman-
tic site, to which was added a romantic setting. Here
of a summer afternoon Alphonse was wont to accom-
pany his father, and here they were invariably joined by
M. de Vaudran and the Abb6 Dumont. Nature had
fashioned the rocks into three rough thrones, the sole
furniture, besides a carpet of moss, of this aerial council-
chamber.
Settling themselves in their respective "cathedra"
each produced a volume, and long discussions on political
or literary subjects absorbed the friends until the fading
twilight made retreat imperative. The boy played at
their feet, collecting fossil shells, quieting the abb6's dogs
which crouched beside him, and edging nearer to the dis-
putants when the debate waxed heated over the verses
of some poet, ancient or modern, or the social problems
raised by a Rousseau, a Fnelon, or a Montesquieu.
Philosophy, religion, legislation, history, poetry, fiction,
the political pamphlets of the hour, even journalism, all
passed through the crucible of this open-air academy. 1
The boy's alert intelligence rarely failed to assimilate some
crumb of knowledge, some fact or quaint conceit, grave
or gay. "One can conceive," wrote the poet in after
years, "what a vivid impression of literature such scenes
in such a site, such readings and such discussions, must
have made on the mind of a child. Those books, scanned
and commentated in the open air, midst the continuous
stimulus of the conflicting opinions of these three her-
mits, seemed to me to contain I hardly know what myste-
rious oracles which these sages came to consult in con-
templative calm of soul and senses on these lofty peaks.
The idea of a book and the vision of those three rocky
1 Cows familier de Utttraturc, vol. i, p. 45.
26
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS
thrones on the mountain-tops became henceforth and
forever inseparable in my mind." *
Meanwhile the family of the Chevalier and Madame
de Lamartine had assumed somewhat alarming propor-
tions. A boy and five daughters followed each other in
rapid succession. "How bring up on such small means
so numerous a progeny!" pathetically exclaims the
anxious mother, in her journal, on August 10, 1801, a
week previous to the birth of her sixth child. 2 Fortu-
nately the allowance of a half-witted relative, Mademoi-
selle de Monceau, who resided under their roof, alleviated
the growing financial distress. Yet the slender resources
of the estate were taxed to the utmost to meet the re-
quirements of this brood, and the parents knew many an
anxious moment.
Alphonse was now (1801) eleven years of age. The
boy had for the last year followed classes over which the
village priest at Bussieres, or more correctly his assistant,
the Abbe Dumont, presided. Accompanied by five or
six urchins from Milly he tramped over the hills in all
weathers, carrying, besides a hunch of bread and some
fruit for the midday meal, a little bundle of faggots to
feed the school-room fire. Lamartine has immortalized
the Abbe Dumont as "Jocelyn"; 3 but he lent also to
the imaginary hero of the epic all the yearnings of his own
soul during the years he spent at the Jesuit college at
Belley. 4 The Abb6 Dumont was as unorthodox in dress
and conduct as in dogma. His sacerdotal and pedagogic
duties were performed in the most perfunctory manner.
A staunch royalist, yet deeply imbued with the philos-
ophy which had engendered the Revolution, his room
was strewn with volumes of Voltaire, Rousseau, and
1 Cours familiar de litterature, vol. I, p. 47.
* Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 109.
1 (Euvres completes, vol. iv, pp. 54, 55. * Confidences, p. i ij.
. 27
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
the pamphleteers of the eighteenth century; while por-
traits and busts of Louis XVI and the royal family
crowded the walls and chimney-piece. An enthusiastic
sportsman, the abbe begrudged every moment not given
over to his passion for the chase or the equally absorb-
ing study of his favourite philosophers. "Education,"
wrote Lamartine in after life, "was limited during the
entire year to the learning by rote of two or three de-
clensions of Latin words of which we did not even un-
derstand the l terminations." l The remainder of the
time was devoted to skating in winter and swimming in
summer, and to attending weddings and various cele-
brations in the neighbouring villages, where the boys
gorged with the peasants, delighting in the noise of the
pistols and mortars inseparable from such festivities.
The local dialect was as familiar to young Alphonse as
the French of his parents' home. Yet this essentially
peasant life, this total ignorance of things which other
children are supposed to know at the age he had reached,
did not blunt the finer susceptibilities. The mother's
influence counterbalanced the rough, primitive, yet
withal honest, instincts he shared with his playmates.
His life was made up of healthy freedom, vigorous
physical exercise, and simple pleasures, wherein danger-
ous companionship found no place. Although he was
not aware of it, his comrades were selected for him : in
fact, the older boys were invested by his watchful par-
ents with a certain moral responsibility. All the coun-
tryside was as a family to him, and the affection and
respect entertained for his parents encircled him at all
times, and under all circumstances. 2 The mother, de-
spite her ambition for her son, would fain have prolonged
indefinitely his happy childhood; but the father and
uncles, realizing with alarm the extent of the boy's lack
1 Confidences, p. 101. * Ibid., p. 102.
. . 28
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS
of education, decided that a more efficient system and a
stricter discipline were now imperative. The lad was a
gentleman, the son and nephew of cultured men to whom
learning and the pursuits of a gentleman were as essen-
tial as the air they breathed. He was their heir, the only
male descendant of their race, and all were agreed that he
be suitably fitted to fill the place his birth entitled him
to occupy. Lamartine believed that, left to himself, his
father would never have decided to send him away from
home; but the uncles, especially the head of the family,
persisted, and as this domestic tyrant's word was law with
the brothers and sisters, the boy was finally despatched
to the Institut Puppier, at Lyons, on March 2, iSoi. 1
The mother would have preferred a more strictly re-
ligious establishment, such as the Jesuit college at Belley,
in Savoy; a favourite educational centre for the sons
of the aristocratic families of the neighbourhood, to
which young Lamartine was eventually sent. But the
lad's uncle mistrusted the Jesuits. Perhaps also the fact
that the hated Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch, lent
his patronage to this establishment, may have carried
weight with the lad's relatives in Ma"con.
To the boy who had run wild at Milly, knowing no
constraint other than a mother's love, the sudden ban-
ishment and rigid discipline of a boarding-school were
alike intolerable. " For the first time in my life my heart
seemed breaking, and when the iron gates separated me
from my mother, I felt I was indeed entering another
world." 2
Yet, the first inevitable outburst of homesickness over,
the boy seemed to have settled down normally to his
new surroundings. On January 7, 1802, the mother re-
cords in her journal that Alphonse, with twelve of the
1 Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 169.
* Confidences, p. 103; Memoires incdiis, p. 49.
. . 29
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
best scholars, had been taken to see the review held by
Bonaparte on the Place Bellecour. " I was very happy
over this little mark of distinction: it is a good sign." l
The summer holidays were spent at home among the
familiar scenes and joyous liberty, the affection, perhaps
the spoiling, the lad's sensitive nature craved. The re-
turn to the Institut Puppier was even worse than the
first plunge into the unknown had been. The boy im-
plored his parents to allow him to remain at home or send
him elsewhere; but both father and uncle were deter-
mined. Knowing her son as the mother did, she antici-
pated trouble when she noted the sombre, sullen atti-
tude he assumed when he bade her farewell. Two months
later, December 9, 1802, her forebodings were realized.
On the nth news reached his parents that, accompanied
by two fellow-pupils, Alphonse had run away, but had
been recaptured. "This fault," writes his mother, "has
caused us great distress because it has been preceded and
followed by many others, and sustained by unseemly
pride. I fear I spoilt him," she adds; "they had diffi-
culty in making him write a letter of excuse and repent-
ance to his father." 2
Various more or less conflicting accounts have been
given of this boyish escapade. Lamartine himself gives
two versions of the story. 8 Although they do not tally
very accurately as to details, the essentials are the same.
The boy was profoundly miserable; he loathed the hypo-
critical masters, the brutality of the sports his comrades
delighted in; he craved the liberty he had always known,
and the gentle affections which had surrounded him.
"I breathed an atmosphere of malice, of deceit and cor-
ruption which nauseated me. The impression was so
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 122.
* Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 174. Lamartine, when editing the
Manuscrit de ma mire, gives a slightly different version. Cf. p. 127.
* Confidences, p. 107; Memoires inedits, p. 70.
3
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS
great and so sickening, that thoughts of suicide, of which
I had never heard spoken, assailed me." l He was the
harrowed witness of a brutal fisticuffs between one of the
masters and a pupil, like himself from Macon, which
ended in the youth being literally kicked out into the
street and left to shift for himself. 2
A few days later the pupils were taken to the Bois de
la Caille for a school treat. Here the barbarity of the
sport provided for their entertainment frankly disgusted
the tender-hearted lad, and drove him to open revolt. A
rope was stretched from one tree to another and from it
was hung, head down, a live and struggling goose. In
turn each pupil was armed with a sword, and, his eyes
bound, he was told to sever the bird's head from its body.
Slashing right and left in the darkness the executioner
mutilated the quivering flesh, being awarded a prize
according to the damage done for a leg, a wing, a foot,
the neck, or the head. When the turn came for his friend
De Veydel to try his skill, Lamartine stole up to him and
whispered in his ear: "Strike hard in the direction where
you hear my voice. M. Philippe [the hated master] will
be there and will receive a sabre cut on the face or head,
and you, being blindfolded, cannot be accused of a cul-
pable intention." The ruse succeeded. M. Philippe re-
ceived a glancing blow on the head, which delighted the
scholars, greatly incensed the master, but profited the
goose not at all, since the sport was continued until
nothing but a formless, bleeding, quivering bunch of
feathers hung limply on the rope. '
Alphonse was boiling with suppressed rage, but pru-
dence forbade an outbreak. Together with the brothers
Veydel he planned flight from such iniquitous surround-
ings. They would take the first opportunity of evasion,
and tramp back to their houses in Macon.
1 Confidences, p. 106. * Memoires intdits, p. 65. * Ibid., p. 68.
. . 31 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
Two days later the leader deemed that the moment
for the execution of their plan had arrived. He instructed
his fellow-conspirators to start a game of ball close to the
entrance gate, which he would see had been carelessly left
open. After a few minutes' play the ball would be so
clumsily thrown that it would pass through the gate and
roll down the hill beyond. Intent on their game the three
players would rush impetuously in pursuit, and disap-
pear round the corner of the lane. By the time the mas-
ters and boys at play in the courtyard realized what had
taken place, the fugitives would be well under way for
the village of Fontaines-sur-Sa6ne, the first stage of their
tramp to M&con. The scheme succeeded admirably.
Two hours later Fontaines was reached and a halt called
for dinner. Although it was a Friday hunger deadened
their religious scruples, and the truants sat down to attack
a delicious roasted capon. "We had often heard our
mothers say, and they were very pious women," ex-
plains Alphonse, "that when travelling one could eat
meat without sin, provided the act be not in a spirit of
disdain of the laws of the Church." 1
Hardly had the meal begun when the door was thrown
open and the headmaster in person stood before them.
Mopping his heated brow, M. Philippe quietly requested
the mistress of the inn to lay another cover, as he
would "dine with the gentlemen." Lamartine writes
that pride prevented the culprits showing fear, and that
although their appetite had flown, yet they affected
to smile, and take their misadventure gaily, submitting
with as good grace as possible to M. Philippe's sarcas-
tic sallies anent the capon. On the termination of the
feast, however, dire retribution awaited the victims of
their master's unholy levity. A gendarme was waiting
on the doorstep, and escorted by the strong arm of the
1 Memoires intdits, p. 73.
. . 3 2 . .
CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOLDAYS
law the culprits were hustled back to their prison-house,
there to reflect in solitary confinement on the enormity
of their crime.
Lamartine has varied the scenario of this episode in
various accounts scattered through his reminiscences.
The meal consisted of an omelette and cheese, and when
caught by the director he was marched off, his arms tied
behind his back, midst the taunts of the villagers, a po-
liceman in attendance. 1 Dates and distances are inex-
tricably confused, while even the moral considerations
of his escapade differ according to circumstances. Con-
cording evidence goes to prove, however, that repent-
ance of his act was not readily forthcoming. The boy
believed he had been unfairly treated. He considered the
moral atmosphere of the school contaminated, and al-
though courteous and resigned, even touched by the kind-
ness shown him, he persistently refused to apologize.
In his "Memoires inedits" 2 Lamartine states that he
remained one month in seclusion; in the "Confidences"
this period is extended to two months, "without com-
munication with any one, save the director, who in vain
urged an act of repentance"; and that, at the expiration
of this confinement, he was sent back to his parents,
where all, except his mother, gave him a very cold wel-
come. 8 The testimony of a fellow-pupil, M. d'Aigue-
perse, does not corroborate Lamartine's assertion that
he was badly treated. "Lamartine was loved and petted
by all the school, in spite of what he says to the con-
trary ; no one would have dared to annoy the pretty and
amiable fair-haired little lad, for all, masters and pupils
alike, would have instantly taken his part." 4 It is more
probable that the mother herself was indirectly respon-
sible for his discontent. She had yielded reluctantly to
1 Confidences, p. 108. * Ibid., p. 75. Ibid., p. 108.
4 M. Roustan, Lamartine et les Catkoliques Lyonnais, p. 91.
. . 33 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
the boy being sent to a lay-school, and speaks of him as
having been ''thrown into mercenary hands." l Alphonse
knew of his mother's dislike of the Institut Puppier, and
of her ambition that he should be sent to the college of
the Jesuit Fathers at Belley. Homesickness, combined
with the knowledge that at least one indulgent friend
would greet him at Milly and fight his battles, would
seenra sufficient incentive for his unlucky escapade. But
the intervention of his mother was not immediately suc-
cessful. The uncles refused to consider Belley, and Al-
phonse, to his intense chagrin, was reinterned at Lyons,
where he remained until the summer of 1803.
The family archives furnish evidence that the boy en-
deavoured to make amends for his fault by serious ap-
plication to his studies ; 2 but he continued to write heart-
rending appeals for release from his bondage.
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 120. * Pierre de Lacretelle, op. tit., p. 175.
CHAPTER IV
THE JESUIT COLLEGE AT BELLEY
BY dint of constant pleading with individual members
of her husband's family, the patient mother finally se-
cured permission to make the change. On October 23
(1803) she writes: "With trouble I obtained of my hus-
band and his brothers the withdrawal of Alphonse from
the educational establishment at Lyons, and his en-
trance into the college kept by the Jesuits at Belley, on
the frontier of Savoy. I have brought him here myself.
Yesterday, on confiding him to the care of these ecclesias-
tics, I was too tearful to write." l Four days later Ma-
dame de Lamartine returned to Macon. She had caught
a glimpse of his fair curly head while at mass, and on
driving past the college gates had heard his shouts of
joy as he played in the courtyard with his new compan-
ions. "I was as gay as if I had been released from cap-
tivity," wrote the man when recalling that boyish hour. 2
He had left Lyons, "soured and embittered"; at Belley
he became "softened and charmed." * "C'etait un col-
lege des &mes"; 4 manly exercises such as riding and
fencing were combined with learning and piety, with rev-
erence for God and man,!with that dose of mysticism his
sensitive nature already craved. Here there was nothing
of that "mercenary commercialism" which had so pain-
fully impressed him at Lyons: the Fathers were men of
refinement and culture who loved their calling, to whom
teaching was a joy as well as a duty. 5
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 135. * Memoir es inidits, p. 76.
1 Sugier, Lamartine, etude morale, p. 14; cf. also Cours de liUerature, vol.
iv, p. 378.
' Memoires inldits, p. 83. Cf. Confidences, p. 317.
. . 35 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
The four years (1803-07) which Alphonse de Lamar-
tine was to spend at Belley were of incalculable impor-
tance, not only in the formation of his moral character,
but also in the tentative unfolding of his literary instincts.
The new environment, both moral and material, sub-
jected him to the influences of that vague mysticism which
at the dawn of the romantic movement drew men's
minds towards Catholicism, with no deliberate accept-
ance of its dogma, it is true, still less with blind submis-
sion to the authority at Rome; but by reason of a reli-
gious reversion to spiritual dogma, through love of the
old national traditions, by virtue of one of those yearn-
ings for the poetic and the ideal which was the direct
resultant of Chateaubriand's "G6nie du Christianisme."
At this period a harmonious accord existed between all
whose leanings were spiritual and religious, for Catholi-
cism was still impregnated with the rationalism of the
eighteenth century. 1
It seems to have been at Belley, even more than at
Milly, that Lamartine imbibed the pantheistic tenden-
cies which have been detected in most of his more impor-
tant poems. Religious sentiments, or, more correctly
speaking, religious sensations, absorbed his emotional en-
ergies. Sainte-Beuve said of Chateaubriand that he was
u un epicurien qui avait 1'imagination catholique"; but
the student of Lamartinian poetry will agree with Emile
Faguet that the aphorism is more directly applicable to
the author of " Jocelyn" than to that of " Rene." 2 Thecol-
lege at Belley was large, some three or four hundred souls
being sheltered under its roof. The splendour of the sa-
cred ceremonies was on a par with the magnitude of the
establishment. The lad was deeply impressed, emotion-
1 Cf . Gabriel Monod, " Michelet dans 1'histoire de son temps," Biblio-
thbque Universelle, December, 1910.
1 Etudes sur le XIX Stick, p. 76.
3 6
THE JESUIT COLLEGE AT BELLEY
ally stirred to the depths of his artistic temperament. Yet
these influences were but transitory. Phases of mystic
piety he certainly traversed; constantly animated by re-
ligious sentiment during the four years of his stay with
the Jesuit Fathers, he certainly was not. 1 "The music,"
he writes, "executed by the most proficient amongst us,
the vestments, the singing, the attitudes, the silence, the
perfume of incense, the contemplative faces of the priests
and choristers, communicated to us all a species of sacred
contagion." 2 It is the form rather than the substance
which appeals to the impressionable youth. He admits
that at first he resisted these influences; but by degrees
they subjugated his imagination, and he gradually re-
gained the natural piety he had absorbed with his mother's
milk.
At times waves of religious enthusiasm, almost ec-
static in their intensity, overwhelmed him. "Were I to
live a thousand years," he exclaims, "I could never for-
get certain evening hours when, escaping at recreation
from the boys playing in the court, I entered by a little
hidden door the darkening church, the choir barely
lighted by the sanctuary lamps. Here I hid in the dark-
est shadow of a pillar; I wrapped myself closely in my
cloak as in a shroud; I leaned my forehead on the cold
marble balustrade, and for uncounted periods remained
lost in silent but incessant adoration. I no longer felt
the ground beneath me; I was immersed in God, as an
atom, floating in the warmth of a summer day, rises,
is drowned, loses itself in the atmosphere, and, trans-
parent as ether, seems as ethereal as the air itself,
as luminous as the light! This suave serenity of soul
in which my pious impulse wrapped me never aban-
1 Cf. Sugier, op. cii., p. 1 6.
1 Memoir es intdits, p. 88; cf. also Confidences, p. in, where the same
impressions are conveyed in almost identical language; and Cours de
litterature, vol. iv, p. 386.
. . 37 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
doned me during the four years I spent in finishing my
studies." l
It must be remembered that these poetic visions of
ecstatic bliss were evoked nearly fifty years later. At
Belley such acute phases were doubtlessly infrequent and
fleeting. Commenting on her son's return for the holidays
in the autumn of 1806, Madame de Lamartine, while re-
joicing over the number of first prizes with which he is
laden, and on his apparent modesty withal, significantly
adds: "What gives me still more pleasure is that he
seems now to have some inclination towards piety." 2
Yet the good woman thinks he is not as gentle as she
would like to have him : he has leanings towards a military
career which give both parents considerable anxiety, for
the "war with Prussia is just then devouring many,
many young men."
The fire of youth was in his veins. The noise of Na-
poleon's triumphs penetrated even the thick walls of
Belley, and brought unrest to the peaceful souls en-
sconced behind the ramparts of Religion. Alphonse had,
as we have seen, experienced the joys of piety, "even to
fanaticism. 8 . . . The hours of silent prayer, the bliss of
ecstasy/' which he tasted in the fulfilment of all his
duties to God had for a period satisfied his soul: then
came a time when such things palled. "In spite of my con-
tinual felicity," he writes, "the love of liberty prevailed
over these delights: I could not tear myself from still
more enthralling dreams of life, of independence." 4
"On the conclusion of each branch of study I beheld, in
imagination, the portals of my prison opened before
me." 6
1 Confidences, p. 113.
2 Manuscrit de ma mtre, p. 154; cf. also Correspondance, vol. I, p. 38.
Lamartine makes reference to the altar where he prayed "three or four
times a day."
3 Memoires inedits, p. 124. * Ibid., p. 124. 6 Confidences, p. 114.
THE JESUIT COLLEGE AT BELLEY
Yet the boy spent many happy and profitable hours
under the roof of the Jesuit Fathers. Later he criticized
their organization and their methods, but "had their
faith been less superstitious and less puerile, had their
doctrines been less impervious to reason," he would will-
ingly discern in this sect the ideal instructors of youth. 1
Nor were pleasures absent during these years of study.
The boys were encouraged to make excursions in the
beautiful surrounding country. Lamartine describes at
length a mountain climb undertaken with several of his
companions. The object of this expedition was Mont
Colombier, from the summit of which a magnificent pan-
orama of the glaciers and peaks of the Mont Blanc range
is visible. Greatly as the boys enjoyed this outing, to
Lamartine and his friends, Aymon de Virieu and Louis
de Vignet, its crowning episode was the secret perusal
of Xavier de Maistre's manuscript of the "Leper of the
Town of Aosta." 2 De Vignet was a nephew of the already
famous author of the "Voyage autour de ma Cham-
bre," and of his more ponderous brother Joseph, whose
"Soirees de Saint Petersbourg" and political and theo-
logical treatises have kept their places as classics in the
French language. The manuscript had been sent from
Russia to Louis's mother; who in her turn passed it on to
her son. The reading greatly affected the three friends.
As he read the last line of the pathetic tale the manuscript
fell from Lamartine's hands: " It was wet with our tears,"
he notes. "Well," at last hazarded Vignet, "what do you
think of my uncle's talent?" "It is as if you asked us
what we think of Nature," returned Virieu: "the man
who wrote that is neither a writer nor a poet; he is a
translator of God." 8 And the youthful critics spent the
1 Confidences, p. 115.
* Cours de litterature, vol. xx, p. 18; d. also Correspondence, XLIH.
1 Cours de litterature, vol. xx, p. 71.
. . 39 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
better part of the two long days the excursion lasted in dis-
cussing enthusiastically the exquisite emotions the leper's
sorrows had evoked: for they were true "romantics,"
these lads, in spite of their year of Philosophy, "dur-
ing which the natural good sense of youth is tortured
with stupid and barbarous sophisms in order to bend it
to reigning dogmas and accepted theories." l
Nature was the shrine at which young Alphonse wor-
shipped: his creed was even then mystically pantheistic
in its essence, albeit outwardly conforming to the dogma
of the catholic orthodoxy his surroundings not only de-
manded, but insidiously inculcated with the pomp and
glitter, the grace and melting tenderness of its ritual. Un-
der analysis the whole fabric of these adolescent raptures
resolves itself into one of those psychological phenomena
by no means rare with intensely imaginative natures.
Sentimentalism was the prevailing soul-malady of the
epoch a sentimentalism of the Rousseau type which
Chateaubriand's "Ren6" had revived and made the
fashion. "Ossian" had recently emerged from the Scot-
tish mists, and crossed the Channel. Sentimentalism and
romanticism are first cousins, and closely allied to the
parent pantheism. The influences of the first two could
hardly be excluded at Belley ; but the good Fathers would
have energetically resented any intrusion of the third.
Nevertheless, indirectly they had fostered its develop-
ment.
Alphonse was in somewhat delicate health at this pe-
riod : prolonged exercise in the open air was advised, and
Father Varlet, Professor of Belles-lettres, was selected
as his companion. Together they rambled over the moun-
tains during the long afternoons ; or, starting early, spent
the day in the woods and fields. Father Varlet rarely
spoke: his eyes were ever on his breviary. Left to him-
1 Confidences, p. 1 1 6.
. . 4
THE JESUIT COLLEGE AT BELLEY
self the boy sought communion with the birds, the flow-
ers, the glorious scenery. "From lack of other passions
which my heart had not yet experienced, I conceived a
blind and fervent passion for Nature, and, like my mute
guardian, through Nature I adored God." l As he
trudged beside his silent guide the lad composed what
he styles "flowery prayers," in which the blossoms he
gathered by the wayside were made to symbolize mystic
sensations. At other times his imaginings took the form
of childish psalms and verses, which he copied out and
gave his sisters on his return home for the holidays. 2
The first verses of which we have any record, however, are
those addressed to a nightingale which the author cites
at length in the twenty- third "Entretien" of the "Cours
de litterature," published half a century later (i857). 8
We are told that Virieu and Vignet considered the lines so
beautiful that they secretly made copies for their respec-
tive families.
The friends read Chateaubriand's "Gnie du Christia-
nisme" together and were moved to tears. But Lamar-
tine admonished his companions that the artifice was
too apparent, that it "intoxicated without touching";
and that the tears they shed "came not from the heart,
but from their nerves." 4 Yet he admits that "M. de
Chateaubriand was certainly one of the powerful forces
which unfolded to me from childhood the wide horizon
of modern poetry." 6 In later years Lamartine fre-
quently referred in his writings to this youthful criticism
of the great romanticist, and maintained it was correct,
styling him "le grand gnie de cette magnifique cor-
ruption du style"; "poete de decadence," etc. 6 But
his admiration for the great romanticist was undiminished
and he cheerfully acknowledged the debt he owed him.
1 Cours de literature, vol. rv, p. 401. * Ibid., p. 402. * Ibid., p. 382.
* Ibid., p. 435. Ibid., p. 436. Ibid., p. 412.
. . 4 I . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
The most important sample of these early verses is
undoubtedly the "Cantique sur le torrent de Tuisy."
Lamartine published this poem in 1857, stating that he
had recently discovered the verses in the lumber-room
of his ancestral home. 1 The author describes this youth-
ful effusion as "the first drop in that brook of poetry
which later became 'Les Harmonies.'" 2 To what extent
the verses were retouched at the moment of publication, it
is impossible to affirm ; but it is evident that corrections
and alterations were then made. Lamartine tells us that
he showed his composition to Father Varlet, who in turn
read the verses to the Father Superior and others, and
that he was frequently complimented by his masters. 1
The proverbial' 'genius for inaccuracy," with which La- V
martine is so often taxed, is here apparent. Turning to
the Preface of the "Meditations," we note his complaint
of the aridity of the literary instruction provided at
Belley ; a complaint which terminates: "As a consequence
I had not a poetic aspiration during all these classical
studies. It was only during the holidays, at the close
of the year, that I discovered some spark of poetry in
my soul." 4
The date of the composition of the "Torrent de Tuisy "
is uncertain. We are, however, inclined to place it to-
wards the close of Lamartine's sojourn at Belley, probably
1806. And this for the reason that in the verses are ap-
parent the unrest and dreams of a life of freedom, of
which mention has been made. The restraint of a reli-
gious institution was beginning to make him restive.
Some of his holidays had been passed in the homes of
his friends, and he was being subjected to other influ-
ences, acquiring wider interests, more varied points of
1 Cows de litterature, vol. iv, p. 403.
* Ibid., p. 403. Ibid., p. 408.
* (Euvres completes, vol. I, p. 17. On the next page he reiterates: "Je
n'ecrivais rien moi-meme encore."
THE JESUIT COLLEGE AT BELLEY
view, than Milly or Belley provided. It would be con-
veying an erroneous impression to say that his religious
fervour was shaken: but it was troubled. Nor were his
school friendships altogether alien to the new sensations
which were crowding his brain. Aymon de Virieu was a
gentle sceptic; but Louis de Vignet "passed for impious;
he considered himself so, but did not venture to pro-
claim it aloud." l "It is strange," continues Lamartine,
"that the first notions of incredulity should have come
to me in childhood precisely through that same family of
De Maistre which was some years later to furnish me
with many most beautiful and strongest impressions of
faith." Guichard de Bienassis, the remaining member
of the inseparable quartette, was, to use Lamartine's
phrase, "un homme d'humanite pure." Yet it was
through Guichard that the tree bearing the fruit of good
and evil was disclosed to young Alphonse. It came about
in this wise. Virieu and Lamartine had been invited to
spend a portion of the holidays at the little chateau of
Bienassis. In an upper chamber, under lock and key, the
heterogeneous library of the late owner was stored. Of
course the boys purloined the key, and, equally of course,
each fed on the particular food his soul craved. Virieu,
we are told, in obedience to the instincts of his sceptical
philosophy selected Montaigne or Rabelais; Bienassis
devoured romances of adventure, such as the "Chevalier
de Faublas"; Alphonse selected the "Confessions" of
Jean Jacques Rousseau. 2 In silence they "plunged into
this sea of turbid waters." Each pocketed a volume for
perusal in his room or during rambles in the woods. "We
entered the room innocent," writes Lamartine; "we left
it guilty: a turn of the key had delivered to us the tree
of good and evil; the several fruits were within our grasp:
the choice lay with us." During those holidays secret
1 Memoircs incdits, p. 108. * Ibid., p. 118.
. . 43 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
visits to the forbidden library continued without inter-
mission, and a mass of undesirable literature passed
through the transgressors' hands. "I returned to Milly
troubled, but not perverted. The piety of my family
soon led me to repentance. The Fathers [at Belley] made
me forget the library in Dauphine."
*f The reaction was complete, if temporary. "This was
a holy year," he adds. "My imagination, touched by
my mother's example and the holiness of the lives of
my teachers, was entirely turned towards righteousness.
I experienced its delights and even its fanaticism." Never-
theless, he hailed his release with rapture. He left Belley
"crowned with academic laurels, affecting regrets, but
feeling joy." "Oh, how I counted hour by hour those
last days of the last week which was to set me free!" l
It has been said that at Belley Lamartine became
impregnated with "that pious sensualism, sanctified by
mysticism, which is found later in his poetic reveries as
well as in the realities of his life." 2 The foundation for
such an assertion rests presumably on Lamartine's per-
sonal reminiscences as recorded in the pages of memoirs
written half a century later. The retrospect of phases of
sentiment, as of environment, was tinged with the colour-
ing, dark or bright, of intervening experiences and con-
solations. At times he exaggerates, at others minimizes,
the influences which swayed him. Our appreciation of
their ratio can only be approximative. We are sailing
upon an uncharted sea: reliable landmarks are vague
until we reach the beacons of the " Correspondance,"
where soundings can be taken, and a more reliable course
shaped.
Lamartine left Belley about the middle of September,
1807. On the 24th of that month he writes Guichard de
1 Memoir es inedits, p. 126; Confidences, p. 116.
* Speech by Professor Subit at Lycee Lamartine, July 31, 1888.
. . 44 . .
THE JESUIT COLLEGE AT BELLEY
Bienassis: "... I reached Ma 1 con eight days ago. More
than half the road I did on foot, my little bundle on my
back; so you see my trip was hardly more gay than
yours. I trudged along singing an old romance like a
troubadour : I even composed some verses while walking.
When I came to a beautiful sight, I sat down and con-
templated at my leisure. It is really a charming mode
of travel, and this little attempt has instilled a great
desire to become a ' chevalier errant. 1 It is a pity that I had
no one with me with whom I could talk. I wish we could
have made a like trip together." *
Both in the above letter and in one written a few days
later (October 3) Lamartine refers to his probable return
to Belley. The prospect does not charm him, for he writes:
"I confess that during the holidays I banish from my
mind as much as possible all thoughts of school : I do not
need to anticipate coming annoyances: sufficit diei malitia
Whatever the nature of the annoyances he anticipated
he was spared them, for he did not return to Belley. The
impression conveyed in his "Memoires inedits" is that
he did not return to school because Napoleon's decree
closed the college and expulsed the Fathers. But such
was not the case. His friends, Aymon de Virieu and
Guichard de Bienassis, remained at Belley for another
year. In his letters to these schoolmates Alphonse fre-
quently sends messages and greetings to masters and
pupils, and in the last communication addressed to Gui-
chard at Belley (July 26, 1808), eleven months after he
himself had left the Jesuit college, he asks to be par-
ticularly remembered to Father Wrintz. 3
1 Correspondence, I. Ibid., I. * Ibid., xii.
CHAPTER V
FIRST LOVE
ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE was now (1808) in his
nineteenth year, and the problem of his future was a per-
plexing one. "What was to be done with this young man
too old to remain idle, too proficient in his studies not to
be ambitious, but whose aristocratic connections forbade
employment in the new government." * The youth would
have liked to study law; but this profession was looked
down upon by the elder Lamartines. A military career
was denied him as involving recognition of a rgime his
family could not ignore, but from which they were de-
termined to stand aloof.
Delicate health would appear to have had much to do
with the decision to keep him at home. On January 4,
1808, in a letter to Guichard, he complains of having been
ill, and being still so weak that it fatigues him to write.
At the end of the month he wrote Virieu from Lyons that
he was still in the hands of the doctors, and that his head
troubled him greatly. On February 18 he has been
"leeched," and on the 22d he imparts the information
to Virieu that the Faculty of Lyons have forbidden
mathematics for five or six months. This same letter
is interesting as containing the first mention of his de-
sire to enter Diplomacy. Here again he finds opposition
on the part of his family, for the reason above mentioned :
but he expresses himself as firmly determined to over-
come the prejudice. In April he tells Virieu that he is
hardly better than when at Belley, but he continues to
hope that "shooting, bathing, and country life" will
1 Mtmoires inSdits, p. 129. <
. . 46 .
FIRST LOVE
restore him to health. 1 On his return from school his
father provided a surprise of a nature to confirm the sup-
position that the delicate state of the boy's health was a
factor in the parental decision to forego the educational ad-
vantages at Belley. " My father," he writes, "had bought
for me the three complements of an adolescent's virility:
a watch, a gun, and a horse; as if to imply that hencefor-
ward time, the fields, and space were mine. I seized upon
my liberty with a frenzy which lasted several months. The
days were given over entirely to shooting with my father,
to grooming my horse in the stable, or in galloping, my
hand in his mane, over the neighbouring fields and val-
leys; the evenings to quiet family gatherings with my
father, my mother, and some intimate friends, or in read-
ing aloud the works of historians and poets." 2
But physical exercise alone by no means filled his days.
He read extensively, devouring greedily everything
that came within his reach, more anxious to enrich his
intellectual experience than to sink himself in any special
studies. Rousseau, Voltaire, Goethe, Chateaubriand,
Sterne, Pope, Parny, Richardson, Fielding; poetry, prose,
translations, history, each demanded immediate pre-
cedence. But the poets especially fascinated and ab-
sorbed him. The letters to his friends, Virieu and Gui-
chard de Bienassis, are interlarded with quotations and
original verses frequently light in character, yet never
coarse. 8 From sixteen to twenty he acted to himself on the
stage of his imagination the r61es of "Rene," "Oswald,"
" Werther," "Saint-Preux," and above all that of "Paul"
with "Virginia," rewritten later for "Jocelyn" and "Lau-
rence." 4 The literature of the imagination appealed
to him with all its irresistible seduction. If he adopted
1 Correspondence, in, passim; cf. also Reysste, La Jevnesse de Lamartine,
p. 87.
1 Confidences, p. 117; cf. also Cours de litterature, vol. xxm, p. 86.
1 Reyssi6, op. cit. t p. 88. , : . * Cf. Deschanel, Lamartine, vol. I, p. 25.
. . 47 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
and applied it to his own psychological needs, he dif-
fered in no wise from many other sensitive, highly im-
aginative youths of his age and time. "I lived the thou-
sand lives which passed, shone, and successively faded
before me while turning the numberless pages of those
volumes, more intoxicating than the leaves of poppies.
My life was in my dreams. My loves personified them-
selves in these ideal figures which rose in turn at the magic
evocation of the writer, and which floated through the
air, leaving for me a woman's image, a face graceful
and melancholy, locks fair or dark, eyes the colour
of the sky or of ebony, and above all a melodious
name." l
Thus wrote the man of fifty-seven ; and so it undoubt-
edly seemed to the ardent youth of eighteen. With Al-
phonse, from sixteen to twenty, as with other youths simi-
larly constituted, these were phases not yet chronic
conditions of mind. We are studying at present, be it
remembered, the years extending from 1807 to 1811, the
formative, the plastic period between his departure from
Belley and the journey to Italy. During these important
years his correspondence with Aymon de Virieu and Gui-
chard de Bienassis (of which some eighty letters are
available) constitutes a far more reliable guide than the
highly coloured reminiscences of the "Confidences";
although the latter, on the principle that the child
is father to the man, are not without their psychic
value.
To Aymon 2 and Guichard Alphonse not only bares his
soul, but chats entertainingly, frivolously, and unre-
servedly. No corner of his life and thoughts is hidden
from these schoolmates, destined to remain lifelong in-
1 Confidences, p. 119.
1 "Je fus son frere et il fut le mien. En le perdant, j'ai perdu la mohi6
de ma propre vie." Confidences, p. 315.
. . 48
FIRST LOVE
timates. There is no "pose," no phrasing, no attempt at
fine writing. All is natural, often boyish and crude, impul-
sive, ironical; scepticism mixed with sentimentalism,
ambition with indifference, energy with lethargy. A flesh
and blood youth who, after a wild gallop across country,
his hand in his horse's mane, burns the midnight oil in
often trivial discourse with his chosen chums. A lover
of dogs; one whose soul delights in action and in all the
manifold beauties of nature; whose intellectual faculties
are ever alert in field or study, but to whom the best in
literature, be it prose or poetry, is even now as the
breath he draws. More wholesome or charming reading
than these letters afford it would be difficult to imagine.
One loves instinctively the generous, hot-blooded fellow:
his ardent enthusiasm, his transparent simplicity, his un-
affected pessimism and unreasoning optimism. The joy
of living is everywhere obvious; yet hardly less apparent
is the striving after an ideal. Pure animal enjoyment is
also there, while now and again the baser instincts peep
out severely repressed and quickly redeemed by shame
and repentance.
"Les plaisirs de notre jeunesse reproduits par notre
m6moire," says Chateaubriand, "ressemblent a des
ruines vues au flambeau." This is precisely what Lamar-
tine did at fifty-seven when flashing the torch of memory
over sentimental ruins slumbering in the darkness of a
long-lost youth. Nowhere in the "Correspondance" do
we find the mawkish sentimentalism too often depicted
in these pseudo-confidences. His love affairs and amo-
rous peccadilloes are frankly and unblushingly revealed : l
he laughs at himself or takes himself seriously according
to his mood ; careless of any system of ethics or literary
formulas. Of morbid introspection there is none, al-
though healthy self-analysis is recurrent. For the most
1 Correspondence, xi and XLVII.
. . 49 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
part he lets himself drift pleasantly enough along the
placid stream of provincial dulness with only an occa-
sional impatient cry of revolt. "Depuis six mois je suis
le plus grand paresseux de France," he writes Virieu. 1
But he is terribly lonely and in need of congenial com-
panionship. "Ah ! dear friend," he complains to Guichard,
"this life would not bore me if I had some friends
even one only; it is all very well to be contented enough,
but if there is no one to share happiness it becomes
unhappiness. This is my constant thought: this, and
ambition." 2 "I want to take advantage of my 'ennui/
my lack of acquaintances and friends," he continues,
" and to put to some profit my youth and solitude. I feel
a recrudescence of my love of study, love of literature, of
poetry, and all those things for which you care as much
as I." * And he goes on to describe his "den," where on
the mantel, well en Evidence, lay Horace, Boileau, an
Italian grammar, and the works of La Harpe. It is not
without a struggle, however, that he is allowed to pur-
sue the studies of his choice. The terrible uncle insists on
mathematics, his lifelong Mte-noire. A scene ensues, and
tears are shed rebellious tears, for the youth threat-
ens to enlist and serve under the banner of the hated
Bonaparte. Then he pouts and vows he will not work at
all unless his inclinations are consulted. 4
There is another explanation of his petulancy which
throws an interesting side-light on the boyish and thor-
oughly natural Lamartine of eighteen summers. A week
previously an impromptu in verse at a lively supper
party had brought him luck. The fair one to whom it was
addressed showed her appreciation of the compliment, and
the author was transported with joy. "Ah ! if every day I
had such good fortune as that!" he confides to Virieu.
1 Correspondence, XLIX. * Ibid., xi.
1 Ibid., xxn. Ibid., xxiu.
. . 5 .
FIRST LOVE
"I know plenty of notary's, surgeon's, perhaps even coun-
try gentlemen's, daughters who would not resist." * Yet,
two days later, this redoubtable Don Juan confesses to
Guichard: ". . .As for society I am like you and even
worse. I see scarcely any one, and live without other
pleasures than work and your letters. Like you I am em-
barrassed, timid, and awkward. I neither know how to
say a graceful thing nor to reply to a compliment. It dis-
gusts me as it does you. Like you again I fall in love with
all the women I meet, and yet I dare not approach a
single one. Time, travel, experience, will cure all those
maladies. There you have the real doctor." 2
In the same letter Alphonse gives his friend some ex-
cellent advice concerning theatre-going, although he ad-
mits that he will be better able to do so at sixty or eighty
than at eighteen. After admonishing Guichard not to go
very frequently in a small town like Grenoble, or even in
Paris, until he is forty, the moralist adds: "It is too hot
for a young man, and especially for one who proposes to
work, and really does work; it is too dissipating, and is
liable to lead to debauch 'plus quam decet.' " He himself
goes but once a week, to the best plays, as he considers
the theatre a doubtful school for young people. True
it polishes both manners and customs; it is an aid to
declamation; it also exaggerates the measure of human
character, "and in this respect is beneficial." A little
priggish, perhaps, unless read in conjunction with the
light, amusing verses which accompany the advice,
but which the poet considers only "worthy of the incog-
nito on which they count." *
On January 24, 1809, Lamartine writes Guichard from
Lyons, where he has been nearly a month, and "almost
happy." He has been in love, but has recovered, "Thank
God."
1 Correspondence, xxm. * Ibid., xxiv. Ibid., xxiv.
. . 5 I . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
"Je pleurais. Helas! a mes cris
Elle faisait la sourde oreille.
Ainsi, je lui rends la pareille,
Elle pleure aujourd'hui . . . je ris.
Laugh at me, I allow it, I am so glad to have got out
of this mess [cette galore] that I hardly recognize myself." *
Confusion exists among biographers as to the date of
this episode, but there would appear to be no doubt that
the Lucy L of the "Confidences" and the cruel one
mentioned in the above-quoted letter to Guichard de
Bienassis are one and the same. In an ingenious and in-
teresting monograph printed in the "Annales de 1' Aca-
demic de M&con," 2 M. Henri de Riaz opines that he can,
"without any possibility of error," attribute the incident
to the autumn of 1806. According to the researches
made by M. de Riaz "Lucy's" name was not Lucy at all,
but Eliza Villeneuve d'Ansouis, who died in Paris on
March 2, 1807, aged thirteen, shortly after her innocent
adventure with the amorous Alphonse. The body of this
fair child was embalmed, we are told, and deposited in
a country house near Paris, from whence, in 1811, it was
conveyed to the chapel of the Chateau de Byonne, close
to Milly. Here, enclosed in a glass coffin, it rested until
given final burial on October 2, 1820.'
M. de Riaz states that the chateau at Sologny was un-
tenanted for some time after the death, in 1846, of its
owner, Madame Francois Lucy, who had bought it in
1832 from M. Bernard de Montburon. This tallies with
the passage in the "Confidences " : " I see again her melan-
choly and diaphanous shade on the little terrace of the
Tower of , when, during the winter, I pass in the
valley, and the wind whistles through my horse's mane,
1 Correspondence, xxv.
Third series, vol. xni. "Lucy L. et la Tour de B." (Max:on. Protat
freres. 1910.)
1 Ibid., p. 17.
. . 52 . .
FIRST LOVE
and the dogs bark in the courtyard of the abandoned
manor." l '
Charles Alexandre, who was Lamartine's private sec-
retary for many years, mentions a visit to Milly on No-
vember i, 1849. "On our return we passed before Lucy's
house. They showed me the terrace, but not the high
tower or the torrent mentioned in the ' Confidences.' The
torrent is a brooklet, and the tower does not exist. The
poet imagined it, in order to make the scene romantic
and give it an ' Ossianesque ' poetic flavour. He ideal-
ized Lucy's commonplace dwelling." 2 Thus tradition as-
sociates the Chateau de Byonne with the romance, and
the manor was undoubtedly at one time inhabited by
friends of the Milly household. But did a flesh and blood
"Lucy" really exist? Does not the "melancholy and
diaphanous shade" merely symbolize a composite type;
the ideal of his calf-loves, synthetic of the girlish figures
which flitted around him, and awakened his youthful
passions? " Je me suis cr6 des soci6t6s comme des mal-
tresses, 'imaginaires,'" admits Lamartine to Virieu in
i8n. 3 Let us remember Renan's introductory warning
to his own memoirs: "Tout ce qu'on dit de soi n'est que ix"
poesie!" The aphorism is so often applicable to Lamar-
tine.
Be this as it may, however, the story of Lucy, and the
beautiful verses inspired by the episode, are so typical
both of the youth and of the mature age of the poet that
their psychological value is unquestionable. The poem
"A Lucy L " is manifestly no composition of a boy
of fifteen; and the date, "Milly, December 16, 1805," is
1 Confidences, p. 140. A subsequent owner of the Chateau de Byonne,
M. Girard, convinced that his manor-house was indeed the scene of this
well-known episode, has had affixed to the door the following inscription:
"Postern-gate, heightened in 1879, by which Lucy L. went out to the ter-
race on which Lamartine awaited her, November, 1808." Cf. Reyssie,
Jeunesse de Lamartine, p. 101.
1 Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 187. * Correspondance, xix.
. . 53 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
apocryphal. In all likelihood the verses are contempora-
neous with the composition of the " Confidences" (1845-
47). And this in spite of the author's claim that they
were slipped between the pages of a volume of "Ossian"
lent him by Lucy L , "the daughter of a country
neighbour," for whom he had conceived a tender passion.
' ' Ossian,' " he continues, "is certainly one of the palettes
from which my imagination gathered most of its colours,
and which has tinged most deeply the poor sketches I
have since outlined." 1 The one thing essential to a full
comprehension of the gloomy Scottish bard was "the
shadow of a love. How adore without an object? How
lament without a sorrow? How weep without tears?" 2
Fortunately "Lucy" was at hand, and she and her
parents were frequent guests at Milly. While their eld-
ers conversed or played at cards, the young people
amused themselves with less formal games, about the
house or in the garden. Lucy was sixteen (" comme moi,"
says Lamartine). She was beautiful, of course, with eyes
"like periwinkles," and thick dark hair. Moreover, she
was a very cultivated young person, having received an
education beyond her station at a convent in Paris. 3 She
was a musician, and the owner of "a voice which made
one weep." She danced divinely, and spoke two foreign
languages. Like Alphonse, Lucy adored the then uni-
versally popular "Ossian"; 4 like her admirer also she
loved nature. Together they sought rapture in the rain-
bows, the sunsets, and above all in the drifting mists
which obscured the countryside, recalling the gloom dear
1 Confidences, p. 121; cf. Zyromski, Lamartine, poete lyrique, pp. 85-111;
cf. also P. Van Tieghem's monumental Ossian en France (Paris, 1917,
2 vols.), vol. II, p. 298; and T. von Poplawsky's L'influence d' 'Ossian sur
I'aeuvre de Lamartine, passim; and further, A. Tedeschi's Ossian I'Homere
du Nord en France, passim.
1 Confidences, p. 122. * Ibid., p. 124.
* Cf. Cours de litterature, vol. xxv, p. 3; and Van Tieghem, Poplawsky,
and Tedeschi, op. cit.
. . 54 . i
FIRST LOVE
to the stagecraft of their beloved poet. The intimacy grew
apace, but parents and neighbours only smiled at their
innocent flirtation. But on both sides this idyllic senti-
mentalism was developing into something more ardent.
The hours passed together were all too short, and es-
pecially irksome to the worshippers of "Ossian" because
they were passed midst the commonplace surround-
ings of family life, under the parental eye. The lovers
longed for an opportunity of freely expressing, without
witnesses, " the inexhaustible emanations of their souls in
face of the marvels of nature in harmony with their won-
drous first ecstasies and their first surprises." 1 Tears
of enthusiasm, we are told, moistened the lovers' eyes
at the mere thought of the poetic bliss they would taste
during such stolen interviews. They talked incessantly
of their longing; so incessantly that the feasibility of such
a romantic tryst was borne in upon them.
" Lucy " dwelt in a tower-chamber in one corner of her
father's manor-house. A terrace, built out like a ram-
part over the brawling torrent below, lay beneath her
window, and a winding stair in the tower gave direct
communication with this narrow platform. The ram-
part-wall was broken and easy to climb. All that was
needful was a little determination on the part of the lady
and a modicum of agility on that of the lover. These
qualities were possessed by both, and a meeting was con-
sequently arranged and a signal agreed upon. The first
difficulty for Alphonse was to get out of his father's
house unperceived. The front door was not to be thought
of; it creaked, and the heavy and cumbrous fastenings
were sure to give the alarm. The youth slept on the first
floor. By the aid of a ladder, prepared when darkness
had set in, he descended. Alas! he had forgotten the
faithful dog which crouched at the foot of his bed. With
1 Confidences, p. 135.
. . 55 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
a bound his inseparable companion followed his mas-
ter, tumbling headlong to the snow-covered ground,
bringing the ladder after him. "I roughly repulsed his
caresses for the first time in my life," writes Lamartine,
whose love of the friend of man was lifelong; "I feigned
to beat him." The poor dog obediently lay still while his
master took to his heels across the fields. On reaching
the torrent, opposite the window in the tower, Alphonse
gave the prearranged signal, which was duly answered.
He scaled the rampart : at the same moment Lucy opened
the postern-gate and appeared in the brilliant moonlight.
She crossed the snow-laden terrace and met her lover in
the shadow where he awaited her. But it would be unfair
not to leave the description of what followed to Lamar-
tine himself: no synopsis could adequately convey the
humour and the pathos, and even the most careful trans-
lation must perforce mar the delicate bloom of the orig-
inal : l
"At last we were at the zenith of our dreams. Our
hearts beat fast. We dared neither look at each other nor
speak. However, I brushed with my hand the frozen
snow from the stone bench. I laid upon it the cloak I
carried folded over my arm, and we sat down rather far
one from the other. Neither of us broke the silence. We
gazed now at our feet, now towards the tower, again up
to the sky. At last I took courage: *O, Lucy,' said I,
'how picturesquely the moon is reflected from all the
icicles of the torrent, from the snows in the valley!'
'Yes,' she said, 'everything is more beautiful with a friend
who shares one's admiration for these scenes.' She was
about to continue when a great black body, passing like
a bomb over the parapet, tumbled upon the terrace, and
with a couple of leaps bounded on us, barking with de-
1 For Lamartine's mistrust of translation cf. Discours de reception d
I' Academic, and also Cours de literature, vol. ill, p. 385.
. . 56
FIRST LOVE
light. It was my dog, who had followed me afar, and
who, finding I did not return, picked up my scent and
climbed as I had the terrace wall. The dogs in the court-
yard responded with long baying to the barks and an-
tics on the terrace, and we perceived within the house
the gleam of a lamp passing from window to window to-
wards the tower. We rose. Lucy rushed to the door of
her stairs; I heard the bolt quickly shut. I let myself
slide down the wall to the meadow. My dog followed.
I plunged rapidly into the dark mountain gorges, cursing
the importunate fidelity of the poor animal. I reached
home quite overcome. I replaced the ladder. I went to
bed at daybreak, without other remembrance of this
first night of 'Ossianic poetry' than wet feet, chilled
members, a feeling of humiliation over my timidity in
presence of the charming Lucy, and of very moderate
rancour against my dog, who had interrupted, cL propos,
a conversation which was already causing us more em-
barrassment than pleasure.
"Thus ended this make-believe love affair, which was
beginning slightly to worry our parents. My nocturnal
sortie had been noticed. My departure was hastened be-
fore this childish affair became more serious. We swore
to love each other by all the stars of night, by all the
waters of the torrent, by all the trees of the valley. These
vows melted with the winter snows." 1
Lamartine adds that "Lucy" was married shortly
after; that she became an accomplished woman who
made the happiness of the husband she loved; that she
died young "midst surroundings as commonplace as her
first dreams had been poetic."
1 Confidences, p. 139.
CHAPTER VI
A STUDENT OF LAW AND OF BOOKS
BUFFON remarked that he could entertain no esteem
for the youth who had evaded the fires of love.
Young Lamartine certainly warranted no such re-
proach. If he escaped from Scylla it was only to be
wrecked on Charybdis. His correspondence with Virieu
and Guichard teems with allusions to various affaires
de CKur ; sentimental episodes, for the most part, wherein
his imagination played the principal rdle, although his
passion for the daughter of the family physician, Dr.
Pascal, caused the anxious mother considerable alarm. 1
During the winter of 1809, Alphonse had spent some
time in Lyons, and the poise and assurance he had gained
there endowed him with "a certain consideration" on
his return to M&con. "One is supposed to be blasi
about everything," he wrote Virieu, "and that lends
countenance, solidity, or noble audacity." 2 \ .
But his restless intelligence demanded a definite ob-
ject, a tangible end in view. The same letter contains as-
surances of his determination to work hard at his law
studies, and protests that he absolutely refuses to lead an
idle life. Alas! for several years to come caste prejudice,
combined with hatred of the Napoleonic regime, was
to raise an insurmountable barrier against the fulfilment
of the young man's very legitimate ambitions. By force
of circumstances during these years of early manhood his
intellectual energies, yearning for the wider issues of an
active life, were compressed into the channels of imagina-
1 Cf. Pierre de Lacretelle, op. tit., p. 220, and Correspondence, XLVIII.
1 Correspondance, xxvi.
'
A STUDENT OF LAW AND OF BOOKS
tive and speculative thought. Should we regret it, or,
on the contrary, be thankful that it was so? They were
not barren years; far from it. "J'ai grand besoin de
semer pour moissonner ensuite," he wrote Virieu at this
time, and he set about laying in a store of learning, a com-
mand of language and foreign tongues, which was to be
of inestimable future value to the literary man as well as
to the politician.
On March 3, 1809, Lamartine is reading Pope, with
whom he is delighted, although as yet he knows him
only in translation. "There is a man whom I would wish
to resemble: a good poet, a good philosopher, a good
friend, an honest man; in short, all that I would like to
be. ... When shall I be able to read him in English?
I have just been reading Fielding and Richardson, and all
those fellows have inspired me with a furious desire to
learn their language." He then expresses the belief,
founded on his fragmentary acquaintance with Dryden
and others, that "English poetry is superior to French
and Italian." James Macpherson's so-called translations
from the Gaelic fascinate him, their influence being dis-
cernible in all his early works. ' ' ' Ossian ' fut 1'Homere de
mes premieres annees," he wrote forty years later (July
2, I849). 1 And he adds that it was "Ossian," after Tasso,
who revealed to him the world of imagery and sentiment
he henceforth loved to evoke with their accents.
At this period (1809) the young man was working
hc.iu. To Virieu he writes that he begins at six in the
morning and continues until dinner at one; and that
afterwards music and reading again occupy him till six
or seven. "Is not this the life of a man of letters? Is not
this a good omen?" 2 To Virieu, lately elected a cor-
responding member of the Academy of Lyons, he sub-
mits his poetic inspiration, craving advice and criticism.
1 (Euvres completes, vol. I, p. 17. * Correspondence, xxvui and xxxii-
. . 59 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
He commends the taste and sound judgment of his friend's
counsel, accepts his corrections and suggestions, and
begs that he continue to aid and encourage him. The
friends put their heads together to compete for the prizes
offered by the Literary Academies of Macon and Besan-
c.on for lyrical essays. The letters of this period contain
many verses, good, bad, and indifferent: no master-
pieces, certainly, but giving evidence of earnest, honest
endeavour. All are submitted to Virieu's riper judgment
in a spirit of charming simplicity, bordering, indeed, on
humility. There are moments of lassitude, intervals of
ennui, when he rises late, works in a desultory fashion,
and is the prey of melancholy. He dreams of glory and
of love. His imagination pictures women such as there
ought to be, and men such as there will never be.
He reads Madame de StaeTs "Corinne" in two days
and is "transported to another world, ideal, natural,
poetic." 1 His admiration for the woman he formerly
despised now knows no bounds. She has stirred in him
an ardent passion for glory. " Last night," he tells Virieu,
"I upheld my thesis for two hours against her detrac-
tors. I maintained that she had as rich an imagination
as Chateaubriand: less style, in truth, less reason, less
force, less charm. I insisted that I found more beautiful
ideas in one of her pages than in a whole volume of Ma-
dame de Genlis, etc., etc. When I left the assembly I heard
people remark: 'He is a young man, he is eighteen, he
has ardour and enthusiasm; it is quite natural, and I am
glad it is so, it gives promise of soul, etc., etc.' " 2 "Let
us work, let us work," he urges in the same epistle, "for
the next five or six years there is nothing else to be done."
Art and literature are the only worthy occupations left
at this time when "every active career is closed" to him;
and to them he turns "with a passion opposed on every
1 Correspondence, xxxiv. * Ibid., xxxv.
60
A STUDENT OF LAW AND OF BOOKS
by barriers." On the stocks he has a discourse on
Friendship with which he is pleased. But the fragments
he sends Virieu and Guichard would not seem to have
met with unqualified praise, as he acknowledges the
justice of their criticisms, and frankly adds (when writ-
ing Guichard) : "The same reproach was made me yes-
terday by a person who remarked, Voil& ce que c'est que
d'avoir lu et relu ' Corinne.' " *
The restlessness of youth seizes upon him now and
again. He would travel: he longs for Italy, Greece, "a
few winter months in the mountains of Scotland with
the shades of ' Ossian and Fingal ' ; a voyage to the Great
Indies in search of a fortune; a year or two in America to
contemplate ' young nature.' " 2 Alas! excepting visits to
the country-seats of uncles and aunts, at Dijon or near
home, travel is denied him. Moreover, the family con-
nection frowns more and more sternly on the study of
law. The only son and heir of their proud house should
be content to wait for dead men's shoes. "They make
so many difficulties, there is so much quarrelling over
this poor unfortunate law course which had been vouch-
safed me," he writes, " that I shall be forced to give it
up. Fortunate, very fortunate, would I be if instead of
it I could obtain fifty or sixty louis, and the permission
to squander them, and to study during the winter at
Dijon or elsewhere." '
The same day (August 4, 1809) he complains to Gui-
ch^-J that his family are determined that he shall have no
fixed occupation. "Instead of studying law at Dijon, as
had been agreed, I have consented, after much difficulty,
to accept an allowance of about sixty louis, my board and
lodging here when I desire it, and the permission to pass
the winter and a part of the year in Dijon or Lyons. I
have decided on Lyons because it offers more resources:
1 Correspondence, xxxvn. Ibid., xxxv. Ibid., xxxvra.
61
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
good masters for Greek, English, basso, and numerous
lectures." He urges his friends to meet him there; hold-
ing out the tempting bait of a little walking tour in
Switzerland should their funds suffice. 1 A few days later
he informs Guichard that he has just read Rousseau's
"Emile," and that he intends making the book his
"friend and guide." 2 "I am' becoming wise," he adds,
"indifferent, a philosopher, on many subjects, silly,
desperate, mad on many others. To deceive myself I seek
distractions. I do as Virieu does. I walk, I go hither
and thither, I rush from the town to the country, from
the country to the town, at midday, at midnight, rain
or shine; I seek to cheat my imagination, to destroy it,
to freeze it, but in vain. Never have I been so bold, so
ardent, so enterprising in all things as at present. Say
the word and I will instantly follow you to the ends of
the world. ... I am billed to meet a rather pretty and
naughty young woman whom I jested with all the eve-
ning, yesterday, in a box at the theatre. ' Honi soit qui
mal y pense!" But lest his friends should be tempted
to think evil of his escapade, he moralizes on the indig-
nity of pleasures wherein neither sentiment nor modesty
has a place, and vows he would as lief and much rather
forego all such. "The great devil of Burgundy embraces
and loves you," is his parting shot. 3
"Le grand diable de Bourgogne" was, in truth,
"leading the silliest, the most idle, the most unworthy
life it is possible to imagine." 4 The futility of his mode
of life, the systematic discountenancing of all initiative,
of all legitimate ambition for an active career in the world ;
in short, uncongenial surroundings, disgusted him, and
drove him to the brink of despair. Fortunately a new
1 Correspondence, xxxix.
* Cf . Zyromski, Lamartine, pp. 73-83, Rousseau's influence on Lamartine.
' Correspondence, XL. * Ibid., xu.
. . 62
A STUDENT OF LAW AND OF BOOKS
and healthy interest, although a fleeting one, was vouch-
safed him. He makes the acquaintance of a man of
thirty, "very learned, very charming, who reads Homer
in the original, who has always lived in Paris, knows
intimately Madame de Stael, and all the poets and sa-
vants of the day." It is easy to imagine the godsend such
a friend would be to the young provincial, fretting under
the bonds which hamper his intellectual development.
To his personal charm this new friend adds the attrac-
tion of a library of between ten and twelve thousand
volumes, horses, etc. ; moreover, he tactfully flatters the
vanity of the aspiring youth, who writes, "He does not
seem to look down upon my eighteen years."
It is probable that it was M. de Balathier who thus
befriended the lonely boy. His name is not mentioned
in the "Correspondance," but Madame de Lamartine
designates him in her diary (November 26, 1809) as "a
young man of excellent principles"; adding: "We are
very glad of this intimacy which will shield him [Alphonse]
from the companionship of undesirable young people." l
This valuable friendship rendered, perhaps, less un-
endurable a peculiarly bitter disappointment. It is not
without a sense of ironical humour that he relates his
plight to Virieu. The natural sweetness of the young
man's disposition, however, pierces the sarcasm, and
he makes the best of a decidedly trying situation. "I
have just undone the bundle I had packed for Paris,"
h^, writes Virieu. " It is the most bitter experience in my
life." And he goes on to tell how his uncle and aunt
had planned a trip to Paris, and how it had been tacitly
(but to him unquestionably) understood that Alphonse
was to act as their chevalier. So certain was he that he
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 160; cf. Nouoelles confidences, p. 492, where
a M. Rouot is mentioned. M. Rouot was a young lawyer and a lifelong
friend of Lamartine.
. . 63
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
was included in the programme that, hearing by chance
a day had been fixed for departure, he hurried to town to
place himself at their orders. To his inexpressible as-
tonishment nothing was said, and he watched the prep-
arations for the journey expecting every moment to be
told to make haste with his own portmanteau. "What
made the blow more cruel was the fact that I had no
doubts, not the slightest uneasiness. . . . This morning
I assisted at the charming leave-taking; I saw, yes,
witnessed, the departure of a good, large coach, with four
post-horses, and two empty places. I put on the best, the
gayest, the most smiling face possible. I was contented
with myself: one might have thought that I had never
had any idea of going along; that it was quite natural they
should go without me. And I have just come back to my
room, feeling foolish as I never have, enraged, grieved,
indignant, ah! 'manet alia mente repostum.' What do you
think of it? I should not believe I had a soul if I could
forget things like that." l
But he does forget it, or at least puts it out of his mind,
seeking consolation in the enumeration of other jere-
miads, of which ennui is not the least. The world is out
of tune: "No fruit, no vintage, no work, no verses, no
courage, no friends." No longer even the saddle horse
on which he was wont to scour the surrounding country.
But books, books, books. He uses a little Swiss char-a-
bancs for his errands, "which is more convenient on
account of the books with which my pockets are always
stuffed." "Werther" is among them. The hero of Goethe's
romance revives his "soul" and his "taste for work,"
and he makes brave plans for Lyons next winter, allotting
eight hours a day to the various studies he contemplates. 2
1 Correspondence, XLin. Ibid., XLVU.
CHAPTER VII
MADEMOISELLE P.
THE student who contrasts Lamartine's early corre-
spondence with the rapturous pages of the "Confidences,"
the "Mmoires inedits," the Introduction to "Le Manu-
scrit da ma mere," and various chapters of the "Cours
de litterature," cannot fail to be struck by the meagre
mention in the former of his immediate family and es-
pecially of his mother. In all the accounts of his early
life, written after he had passed middle age, his mother
holds a conspicuous place: her son endows her with all
the virtues, and attributes to her loving devotion what-
ever good qualities he may himself possess. Touching
tributes to her memory are scattered throughout all his
later writings. On the other hand, the sole documentary
evidence we possess of these years (1807-14), with the
exception of the mother's "Journal," is contained in the
letters to his schoolmates, Aymon de Virieu and Gui-
chard de Bienassis. Young men, as a rule, do not fill their
letters to comrades with details of maternal tutelage.
But the mother's watchfulness was incessant, and her
influence, during these adolescent years, if not para-
moun+, was at least considerable. As far as she can do
so she keeps an eye even on his reading. On November
26, 1809, she notes that she has read Madame Roland's
"Memoires": "They are well- written and interested me,
but I skipped all passages referring to religion, for she
speaks badly of it. I would not allow my son to read
these memoirs, although he desired greatly to do so. I
stuck to my point. Of course I know he can procure,
unknown to me, any books he wants; but at least 1
. 65 -
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
shall not have to reproach myself for having authorized
it."
A couple of years later the anxious mother again
notes: "I went to Alphonse's room to see his books and
to burn those I considered bad. I found there Rousseau's
1 Emile ' ; I allowed myself to read a few passages : I don't
reproach myself for so doing, for they were magnificent ;
they did me good. It is too bad that it should be poi-
soned by so much inconsistency, even exaggeration,
likely to mislead the common sense and faith of young
people. I shall burn that book, and above all the ' Nou-
velle H61oise,' still more dangerous, because it exalts
the passions and warps the mind. What a pity that such
a talent should border on madness! I fear nothing for
myself, for my faith is unmovable and beyond the risks
of temptation: but my son . . . " 2
" Alphonse will spend the winter in Lyons," wrote his
mother on November 26, "to get him out of the rut and
accustom him to the world." A few lines farther on she
gives vent to the anxiety her boy causes her owing to
the enforced idleness to which he is condemned, and the
dangerous proclivities his budding passions forebode.
She notes his restlessness, his fits of melancholy, his in-
decision. "We are blamed," she adds, "for letting him
spend the winters in Lyons 'on his honour'; but people
don't know our reasons. We must let people talk, and do
what we think best. He seems very thirsty for knowledge,
very inclined towards study. We hope that with greater
resources, in a large town, he will occupy himself better,
and escape the perils of idleness. . . ." 8
The mother's anxiety was justifiable, for Alphonse con-
fesses to Guichard, in the last letter he penned during
1809, that he has again fallen a victim to the tender pas-
1 Manuscrit de ma mtre, p. 159. * Ibid., p. 170.
1 Ibid., p. 160; cf. Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 220.
. . 66
MADEMOISELLE P.
sion. He loves and loves without hope of requital at
least he has strong reason for the belief. It is not mere
beauty that holds him now. The object of his passion is
"all kindness, all wisdom, all reason, all wit, all grace,
possessed of all talent imaginable, or rather unimagi-
nable. Ah! pity me and console me, if you can. I shall die
of it, I know. To love without hope! Ah! do you appre-
ciate that? I don't know what kept me from . . . But
don't let us talk of it. Pity me, and think of me!" 1
So he felt on December 10, 1809. Two months later,
day for day, a very different train of thought is seething
in his active brain. He is in Lyons: his own master, as
long as his funds hold out. He acknowledges that this
sense of liberty so intoxicates him that he has become
ridiculous. He can settle down to nothing, not even in-
dispensable visits. His book, his room, his fireside, and
the theatre alone have charms for him. Nevertheless
there are worries; he has made debts. It is the begin-
ning of that long series of ever-increasing and finally
crushing embarrassments from which he is destined never
to be free, in spite of the vast sums inheritances and his
pen pour into his purse. These "little debts" become
known to his parents, who insist on immediate payment.
If he acquiesces he must slink back to his ''detestable
patrie," for there will not be money enough left to carry
him far. Guichard must advise him, perhaps help him. 2
At anv rate, the crisis does not worry him long; life rolls
on ecstatically, and, all things considered, not too un-
wisely. In the choice of his companions he seeks what is
"least bad, most liberal, most cultured, and most noble
in ideals." "Artists above all, my dear friend," he writes
Virieu, " artists! those are the ones I like: people who are
not sure of a dinner to-morrow, but who would not barter
their ragged philosophy, their brush, or their pen, for
1 Correspondance, L. * Ibid., u.
. 6 7
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
heaps of gold ! . . . I am almost a little Maecenas : one in-
troduces me to another, and I get instruction gratis. Ad-
mire and you will be welcome. Of English I do a little,
of French a little, of drawing also a little : and so the days
are filled." 1
The letters to his two bosom friends are frequently in-
terlarded with charming, witty verse, descriptive of his
doings and feelings, brimful of evidences of the light-
hearted insouciance which few would blame in a lad in
his twentieth year. He loves his present mode of life,
but if he must leave Lyons sooner than he had expected,
why, he can always have "Milton, Dryden, Gray, or
Thomson in his pocket"; and that will console him for
many things. If he finds himself in a tight place, finan-
cially speaking: "Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! I am
punished there where I sinned. If I had been wise . . .
but it is too late. I am now reduced to expedients. It
serves me right, I deserved it." 2 The money goes, he
does n't know how: " Je d6pense sans rime ni raison, pour
des sottises." There are expeditions into the country,
also, with some English friends, "who fortunately speak
very good French." "We go off for little poetic dinners
to the different caterers at Brotteaux or Sainte-Juste.
We carry along with us books, pencils, and paper, and
whilst we empty some bottles of the Bordeaux these
gentlemen like so well, their spirits, and mine, rise: we
talk poetry, literature, travel, and we scribble im-
promptus. Night overtakes us sometimes during these
pleasant pastimes, these charming follies." 3
From the grotto on the banks of the Sa&ne where
the penniless Jean Jacques Rousseau spent two lonely
nights, the young spendthrift writes to Guichard that
he has come hither in search of poetic inspiration. But
1 Correspondence, Lil. This letter is undated.
1 Ibid., LIV. * Ibid., LVU.
68 .
MADEMOISELLE P.
at first he can only find a parallel between the great
philosopher's plight and his own pecuniary difficulties.
"In vain I try to divert myself, this devilish thought al-
ways returns. How shall I get out of the mess into which
my own folly has plunged me?" Unless unexpected suc-
cour arrives, he must return home.
"A dix-neuf ans, mon front sera convert
Des ennuis d'une vie & peine commenced,
Et d'un vieux creancier la main seche et glacee
Le couvrira bient6t d'un honteux bonnet vert! "
Yet again the Spirit of the grotto responded to the
poet's supplication, vouchsafing the following graceful
tribute to his absent friends (Guichard, to whom the
verses are addressed, and Aymon) :
"Le Dieu qui prend soin de nous tous
Fit trois lots qu'entre nous partagea sa sagesse:
Dans ton coeur il mit la tendresse,
Ami, ton sort fut le plus doux!
Aymon des arts rec.ut 1'heureux genie;
Et moi, moi, moins heureux que vous
J'eus I'amour de 1'etude et la melancolie." *
A few days later Alphonse returned home, and the
correspondence is again dated from MScon, Milly, or
Dijon.
To Virieu he writes 'on May 24'(i8io): "Here I am
once again in my hole. . . . How hard a thing life seems to
me, and how willingly would I give it for an ounce of glory
or ar hour of happiness, perhaps even for nothing." 2 This
pessimistic mood is of short duration, however; the let-
ters which follow overflow with brightness, interspersed
with gentle philosophical dissertations on the joys and
obligations of friendship, together with an exposition of
the writer's estimate of the legitimate ambitions of a
1 Correspondence, LVIII. In his letter to Aymon two days later he con-
fesses that no inspiration came to him while in the grotto, and that the
verses were composed at home next day.
Ibid., LX.
. . 69
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
student who desires nothing beyond the rewards of study
for study's sake. We have all lived such moments at
some time or other of our youth: we have all mistaken
naively egotistical theories for legitimate ambitions.' At
twenty youth is as generously egotistic as old age becomes
egotistically generous. Fallacious as the deductions are,
the thesis is charming, for the sincerity of the author is un-
questionable. He is writing to his dearest, most intimate
friend ; not for the world. ' But the diapason is too tran-
scendental even for a Lamartine. He comes to earth again
at the Chateau de Montculot, near Dijon, the residence
of his uncle, the abbe, where he is "even more at home
than in his father's house." In the neighbouring town
he meets a school friend who is working at the law and
has fallen upon evil times. Alphonse presses six louis
upon him, this loan constituting, as far as we know, the
first link in the long chain of lavish bounties which inex-
tricably entangled his finances through life ; for if Lamar-
tine was a heedless borrower he was also a reckless
lender. l
From August, when Alphonse returns to M&con, till the
end of December, the correspondence offers nothing
salient. Expectancy, vacillation, vague visions of travel,
mention of desultory reading ("La Nouvelle Heloise"
especially), with here and there some sketchy verses,
fill the letters. In one to Virieu, dated September 30,
there is, however, a post-scriptum which is worth quoting:
"I have just had a serious discussion with my father,
the result of which is that he will increase my present
allowance by four hundred francs, and that he has given
me his word to let me spend five or six months in Paris
every year. I have renounced my law course in Dijon." 2
This law course had, as we have seen, been the source
of continual bickering. Why, when the end was in view,
1 Correspondence, LXI. * Ibid., Lxvn.
70
MADEMOISELLE P.
did Lamartine give it up? The uncle in Dijon had under-
taken to furnish rooms for his nephew in that town, and
to furnish all necessities during the course of study. Is
it the knowledge that he is only to be allowed to be-
come an amateur? In a letter to Guichard he exclaims
contemptuously: "To what end will an insipid law course
lead? I don't want to be a barrister, and I prefer to
government employ an obscure liberty, consecrated to
my tastes." On the other hand, he hesitates to throw
up this opportunity, as "Dijon is a charming town, and
full of resources for art and study. It is a pleasant resi-
dence while waiting for a better: I should be near an
uncle who refuses me nothing, who looks upon me as his
own son, and who can just as readily pay a hundred louis
of my debts as he can give one louis to a poor devil. I
must think it over." l
He does think it over, with the result that the bar
tempts him no more. He has discovered by chance the
presence in Macon of "five or six gentlemen anglais, 11 and
goes to visit them as he would "compatriots." They re-
ceive him well, and become his inseparables. With them
he studies their "superb language," and "itches" to use
it in his letters toVirieu. "Ossian," Young, and Shake-
speare absorb him at intervals; but he is constantly
plunged in deepest melancholy, as is apparent in the let-
ters to his friends. Even his unexpected election as a
member of the "Academic de Sa6ne et Loire" fails to
dispel his gloom. "I was obliged to make a wearisome
speech on my reception," he writes, "on foreign litera-
tures. I put into it all I know of Italian, of Greek, and
above all of English. Everybody was astonished at my
apparent learning, and my style at twenty years of age.
They pretended that nothing equal to it had been heard
in their sanctuary: so much the worse for them. I did not
1 Correspondence, LXVI.
71
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
taste the slightest pleasure in this unexpected triumph.
Rien ne m'est plus; plus ne m'est rien; voila ma devise." 1
A few lines farther we note the first indication of re-
ligious resignation speedily followed, it must be con-
fessed, by fresh outbursts of revolt against the hard fate
which pursues him. Without his friend's aid and sym-
pathy Alphonse feels helpless and abandoned. "But,"
he continues, "have we not elsewhere a great Helper Who
does not lose sight of us and Who measures our sufferings
to our strength, Who takes to His bosom the child too
feeble to stand alone, and Who gives strength to him
who perseveres along the sad road?"
The reasons for this melancholy resignation, as well
as for the disdainful indifference to an honour which a
few weeks earlier would have transported him with de-
light, are not far to seek. A most important crisis is pend-
ing. A crisis which threatens to alter the course of
his life, to estrange him from his family, and to do him
irreparable harm.
" I love for life," he confides to Guichard; " I no longer
belong to myself, and I have no hope of happiness, al-
though my love is most tenderly requited. Everything
separates us while everything unites us. I shall shortly
take violent means of obtaining her hand at twenty-five :
I shall go to Paris this autumn ; there I shall solicit some
1 Correspondence, LXXI; cf. also Reyssie, La Jeunesse de Lamartine,
p. 121 ; Nouvelles confidences, p. 105. A. de Lamartine was received on March
19, 1811; a synopsis of his speech is to be found in archives of the Aca-
demic de Macon. (The name is therein written "de la Martine" and "de
Lamartine.") M. Reyssie has devoted a whole chapter in his book to this
episode ("Lamartine et 1'Academie de Macon"). Raising the question
whether this election exerted any influence on Lamartine's genius, while
not definitely answering the query the author is inclined to believe it did
much to form his taste and stimulate his endeavour. "L'Academie fut le
lest qui le fixa en lui donnant une base. La, d'ailleurs, malgre certaines
reticences, tout etait encouragement, tout riait aux vingt ans du collegue;
c'etait 1'enfant gate de la maison, ce n'etait pas M. Alphonse de Lamar-
tine, c'etait M. Alphonse tout court." Op. cit., p. 140.
- 72
LAMARTINE AT TWENTY
From the lithograph by Grai-vcdon
MADEMOISELLE P.
government employment, in spite of my love for freedom.
Should I obtain nothing which holds out near hope of
decent and easy means, I shall take service, and try to
get myself killed or at least win a grade which would
support me without other help, my wife having a fortune
sufficient for herself, three or four thousand francs in-
come, and fifty thousand crowns assured her. I say 'my
wife,' because I look upon her as such, and nothing in
the world can separate us. ... This evening I shall see
her; this evening I shall pass an hour at her side; then
all my ills will be forgotten. I shall leave her, and again
be plunged in dark despair." 1
And to Virieu, the next day, he repeats his determina-
tion "to go and get himself killed in Spain or in Russia,"
unless a post in some Legation is available. Diplomacy
tempts him, and he would begin at the bottom and work
his way up to the higher grades. Failing this the army
is his only resource.
Neither in the "Confidences" nor in the "Nouvelles
confidences" is mention made of this enchantress; but
the "Memoires inedits" devote many pages to the en-
tanglement which caused such alarm to his parents that
it resulted in the hot-headed young lover being sent off
to Italy. The identity of Mademoiselle P., as she is
invariably styled in the "M6moires inedits," is now well
established. She was the daughter of a Monsieur Pom-
mier, a local magistrate (Juge de Paix), and her name
was Heniiette. Monsieur Henri de Lacretelle, secretary
and intimate friend of the poet in later years, was the
recipient of interesting reminiscences of Mademoiselle
P. (as he calls her). It was in 1854 (Lamartine then be-
ing in his sixty-fifth year) that M. de Lacretelle was
driving with the poet near Milly. "Look over there,"
said his companion, "between the trees and the vine-
1 Correspondence, LXXU.
73
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
yards; it is there that my heart beat faster than any-
where else forty-five years ago." And he goes on to tell
of Mademoiselle P., adding that he will speak at length
concerning her in his "Mmoires." l Lamartine then
proceeded to confide to his friend all the circumstances of
this affair, dwelling at great length on the inflexible op-
position of his uncle, on whom the entire family depended
morally and financially, and describing in detail the
threats used by this terrible domestic despot in forcing
his nephew to obedience to his will. Of course he yielded :
there was no other course open to him, except to seek a
commission in the armies of Napoleon, and by doing this
he exposed his family to ruin, as the irate uncle pointed
out. "For," he thundered, "I shall withdraw the allow-
ance I make your father, I shall refuse to dower your
sisters, and I shall certainly discover, in some hen-roost,
Lamartines of the younger branch."
' "Next day," continued Lamartine, "I sent a fare-
well letter to Mademoiselle P.; and in order to fulfil all
the conditions imposed upon me, I left for Italy." To
Monsieur de Lacretelle's remark that the poet had never
dedicated verses to Mademoiselle P. as he had done to
others, Lamartine replied: "She never knew it, but in all
my portraits, in all my enthusiasms for 'Elvire* and for
'Graziella' there was something of her." 2 Then follows
a transcendental rhapsody setting forth the beauties and
perfections of his enchantress, of the "incomparable vo-
luptuousness and languor of the celestial maiden." M. de
Lacretelle says that a few yards farther on their carriage
was stopped in the narrow road by an old lady mounted
on a donkey, led by a boy. She wore a "snuff-colored
dress, an impossible hat, and false hair sans digniti.
'Mademoiselle P!' cried the poet with ecstasy and still
under the spell of the poetic vision his imagination had
1 Henri de Lacretelle, Lamartine et ses amis. * Op. tit., p. 258.
. . 74 . .
MADEMOISELLE P.
evoked. But a moment later," adds M. de Lacretelle, "he
drew back into the carriage, murmuring: 'I will be more
generous toward her than fate has been to me. I will
spare her recognizing me.' " l
It should be remembered that M. de Lacretelle here
reports an actual conversation. He gives us to under-
stand that the poet allowed himself to be carried away
to realms of fantastic ecstasy (as was his wont) when
recalling the charms of Mademoiselle P. But there is no
reason to doubt that Lamartine was sincere, and that
the conversation was accurately transcribed. Before
turning to the manifestly artificial story contained in the
" Memoires inedits," it will be interesting to glance at the
bald and laconic note, inserted by Lamartine himself
many years later, in the "Manuscrits de ma mere."
Madame de Lamartine' s journal was, as we know, edited
(" expurgated " would be hardly too strong a word) 2 by
her son. Explaining an interruption (which was in real-
ity a voluntary omission) in the sequence of the diary,
the editor states, impersonally: "There was in Macon a
young person of respectable family, of elegant beauty
and cultivated mind, who had inspired her [Madame de
Lamartine's] son with one of those inclinations, almost
childish and very innocent, which are the forerunners
rather than the explosions 3 of love. Nevertheless the dis-
parity of a?e caused the two families to fear lest the slight
inclination entail consequences not acceptable to either
house. It was decided to send away the young man on a
trip to Italy. It was believed, with truth, that the Alpine
breezes would sweep away this phantasy of the imagina-
tion."
1 Op. cit., p. 259; cf. also Mbnoires inidits, p. 186.
1 Cf. Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit.; also Les Annales romantiques, vol.
vn, p. 144, an interesting article on the subject by the late Leon Sech6.
1 "Explosion" is the word used in the French text. The whole para-
graph is translated as literally as possible.
* Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 157.
. . 75 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
On reading this frigidly diplomatic explanation we are
inclined to rub our eyes, and ask ourselves if it be pos-
sible that the same hand penned the passionate phrases
of the " Correspondance " and the artistically pathetic
legend of the "Memoires inedits": whether it be the
same heart, that beat so tumultuously (at sixty-five)
when recalling the idyl to M. de Lacretelle, which
prompted the annotation of the dead mother's diary !
Furthermore, the statement is inexact, since there can
be little doubt that the Pommiers, whose social status
was humble, would have enthusiastically welcomed
an alliance with the wealthy and aristocratic Lamar-
tines.
The "Memoires inedits" were published in 1870, the
"Manuscrit de ma mere" in 1871, both after Lamartine's
death (1869); but the "composition" of the latter work
antedates the former by several years. "The ' Manuscrit
de ma mere,'" writes M. L. deRonchaud in the Preface,
"forms with the ' Memoires inedits ' the complement of the
narratives M. de Lamartine has published of his life. It
contains, concerning his childhood and youth, details all
the more precious because they are the more authentic,
having had as witness the poet's mother herself. . . . " 1
Had the manuscript been handed down to us in its origi-
nal form this would undoubtedly have been the case. Yet
there would appear to be no adequate explanation for
this disconcerting coldness, almost bitterness towards a
dead love. No other example is to be found in the poet's
writings. On the contrary, as Lamartine advanced in
years he became even more prone to idealize the ad-
ventures of his youth; to clothe episodes, often trivial
in themselves, with a radiance of imagination, a glow of
romance such as he alone is capable of imparting to the
most commonplace occurrences. This psychological pe-
1 Cf. Preface, op. tit., p. vi.
MADEMOISELLE P.
culiarity, of which there will be found ample demonstra-
tion throughout these pages, is evidenced in the above-
quoted conversation with M. de Lacretelle. " Je ne sais
pas bien si c'tait mon imagination ou mon cceur," he
frankly acknowledges in concluding a fantastic descrip-
tion of a wholly imaginary episode among the Euganean
Hills, near Padua. 1 And the confusion repeats itself
again and again.
In the case of Mademoiselle P. there can be no doubt,
however, that his affections were deeply engaged. For
months after his departure from Mcicon his letters to
Virieu and Bienassis contain allusions to his blighted
hopes, and to sentiments impervious to the sensual
blandishments of the soft Italian environment. Tempo-
rarily and conditionally impervious: the "grande pas-
sion" is still to come.
The story in the "Mmoires indits" of this amorous
entanglement, to which he owed the realization of the
long-cherished dream of an Italian wandering, is in itself
commonplace. It owes the small interest it possesses
merely to the accident that it happened to Lamartine.
Half the episodes are imaginary as far as Mademoiselle
P. is concerned, for, as in other instances, the writer's
reminiscences are cumulative and the heroine composite.
We cannot pretend to disentangle completely the net of
romance which Lamartine has woven about the young
women (for there certainly were two) involved in the
story of this courtship. M. de Riaz has, however, re-
cently discovered letters which seem to prove that two
incidents therein described are connected, not with
Mademoiselle P., but with Mademoiselle H61ene Cellard
du Sordet, the daughter of a gentleman possessing a
1 Cf. Cours de literature, vol. x, p. 41. In this description, carried away
by the divine inflatus, the poet causes the sun to set in the Adriatic, due
east from the spot he depicts.
77
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
chateau between M&con and Chalon, whose hand La-
martine is said to have sought. 1
Prefacing this momentous love story Lamartine says:
"Ce ne fut qu'une ombre de passion, mais I'impression
en fut vive et durable." Condensed and robbed of all
sumptuous verbiage, a sacrilegious mutilation, since
therein lies the ineffable charm, the bare narrative is
as follows:
Mademoiselle P. was, as a matter of course, beautiful,
talented, and modest. On her mother's side she claimed
connection with the local nobility, but through her father
and her family surroundings she belonged to the bour-
geoisie. The father and brother were distinctly vulgar,
we are told, and rigidly excluded from the social gather-
ings to which the mother and daughter, owing princi-
pally to the latter's charms and graceful dancing, were
somewhat grudgingly admitted. Madame de Lamartine
was not amongst those who received these ladies, al-
though she knew them, having had perfunctory inter-
course with them in the official society of the town on
such occasions as the aristocracy graced the fetes and
balls at the Prefecture. It was at one of these entertain-
ments that Alphonse met and promptly fell in love with
the graceful sylphid. He would seem to have received
1 Cf. de Riaz, op. tit., p. 19; also A. Dureault, La premiere passion de
Lamartine, passim. In his valuable volume Lamartine, etude de morale et
d'esthetique M. de Pomairols confounds Henriette P. with Lucy L. when
he says (after mentioning Mademoiselle P. and Lamartine's meeting with
her at a ball in Macon): "Lorsque Lamartine dans les Confidences, ce livre
de poesie et de verite, a raconte son premier amour, il 1'a transporte dans
les montagnes de Milly, 1'hiver, dans le bruit des torrents, dans le brouil-
lard des vallees; c'est pour mieux exprimer une realite interieure, c'est-a-
dire le r6ve ossianesque qui le hantait alors, et pour associer son premier
sentiment a la nature qui lui a toujours paru I'accompagnement harmoni-
eux de l'amour." Cf. op. tit., p. 15. As has been stated, Henriette P. ap-
pears neither in the Confidences nor in the Noueelles confidences. Doubts
may exist as to the identity of Lucy L. : there are none concerning that of
Henriette P. in spite of the fact that the account of the ^courtship in the
Memoir es inedits is "cumulative."
. . 78
MADEMOISELLE P.
decided encouragement from the outset. Having ac-
companied the ladies to their door, he was about to re-
tire when the girl, turning for a last glance at her ad-
mirer, slipped on the steps and twisted her ankle. Of
course Alphonse rushed forward and received her in his
arms. Whereupon he was requested to enter for a cup
of tea, and, prompted by the mother, begged a dance at
the next ball. Not only was this favour accorded, but
permission to call the next day was granted.
So, the ice being broken, acquaintance soon ripened
into intimacy, followed in its turn by the more tender
sentiment. Madame P. would certainly appear to have
lost no opportunity of throwing the lovers together,
with the inevitable result that one day, at a picnic in a
friend's garden at Saint-Clement, young Lamartine
breathed the fateful words. 1 Shortly after the young
people were surprised by the mother during what seemed
to her an unnecessarily intimate conversation on a sofa
in her own drawing-room. Lamartine frankly accuses
the lady of having her ear at the key-hole: perhaps her
eye had been there too. Be this as it may, the door
opened with inconvenient suddenness, the heads of the
lovers were separated by a rough hand, and Alphonse re-
ceived a tingling box on the ears. Amazed and angered
by this unexnected onslaught, the lad sprang to his feet
and prepared to beat a hasty retreat, protesting the while
his respect for the daughter and the sanctity of her home.
Madame P. realizing she had gone too far (perhaps fear-
ing a scandal), became profuse in her apologies, and with
the daughter's help all was harmoniously settled. "We
swore to keep silent concerning the incident," writes
Lamartine, "and to continue to love each other as
1 M. de Riaz is certain that on this occasion it was not Mademoiselle
Pommier, but the aforementioned Mademoiselle Helene Cellard du Sor-
det, who received Lamartine's confession.
. . 79 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
brother and sister. . . . Our love, a perfectly pure one, re-
mained what it had been and was always to be : the dream
of two hearts which had nothing to reproach themselves
with excepting their love." Still, the town talked as pro-
vincial towns will talk; Madame de Lamartine felt con-
strained to interfere gently, and it was decided to take
advantage of the wedding journey of some cousins to send
Alphonse with them to Italy.
Such is the substance of the incident as related in the
"Memoires inedits." l But, as we know, Lamartine gave
a far more graphic account of the family opposition to his
matrimonial aspirations in his conversation with the elder
M. de Lacretelle. It is certain that this adventure was
much more serious than it suited the hero's convenience
to admit in writing his life-story for the general public,
when "literary copy" was his chief concern and accuracy
a minor consideration.
The news of the impending Italian journey was, of
course, immediately imparted to his friends Guichard
and Aymon. To the latter Lamartine confided his joy
at the prospect of at last roaming this longed-for "Sa-
turnia tellus," and enthusiastically outlined his pro-
spective trip. "This evening," he continues, " I am going
to announce my sad departure. How many tears will be
shed! How many assaults I must repulse in order not
to retract! But I have courage, and all the Armides of my
native land shall not hold back a doughty Knight going
forth to seek adventures, and to see all that has been and
still is great in the world. "I shall put these travels to
profit, and lay up treasures of learning and memories . . .
my journey will be more literary and poetic than instruc-
tive. . . . Adieu, my friend, I envy you and I still weep.
It may be my misfortunes, which only increase in the di-
rection which most interest me, will grow still greater
1 Pages 132-56.
. . 80
MADEMOISELLE P.
and finally end in despair. Perhaps, on your first journey
you will come to seek the tomb of your friend in Rome
or Naples." 1
And on June 10 he writes to Guichard: "As for me,
my friend, I must perforce break most tender bonds; I
must condemn myself for seven or eight months to suf-
ferings a thousand times worse than death ; I must aban-
don all that is most dear to me in the world, after my
two friends. Let us speak of it no more: do not let us
reopen wounds which are too recent and too cruel. May
the great memories of this superb Italy distract my mind
from all the troubles of my heart ! That is all I can hope,
for the evil is without remedy, and even time can only
render it less unbearable, but can never cure it. You
smile, perhaps, at my grand sentiments of constancy, you
who up to the present judged me so little susceptible of
an eternal passion ; you are astonished to see me dragging
the same chains for eight months, and resolved to wear
them all my life: weep rather over the eternal misfor-
tune of your friend." 2
But the love-sick youth does not mope for long, al-
though at intervals recurrences of his malady are dis-
cernible in the sadly meagre correspondence which has
survived.
1 Correspondence, LXXVII. * Ibid., LXXVII.
CHAPTER VIII
THE JOURNEY TO ITALY
LAMARTINE left Lyons on July 15, 1811, travelling with
Monsieur and Madame Haste, a young couple on their
honeymoon, whom business called to Leghorn.
At Chambery he met, by appointment, his friend
Aymon de Virieu, and together the young men visited
"Les Charmettes," where they sentimentalized over
the author of "La Nouvelle Heloise" and his elderly
protectress Madame de Warens, 1 as befitted enthusiastic
admirers of a genius whose influence was paramount
with the generation to which they belonged. Reluc-
tantly leaving Virieu in Savoy, after having extracted
from him a promise that he join him later in Italy, Al-
phonse crossed the Mont Cenis to Turin, travelling thence
via Milan, Parma, Piacenza, Modena, and Bologna,
to Florence and Leghorn. The letters he sends to his
friends Aymon and Guichard are scarcely what might
have been expected from so eloquent a pen on a first
visit to Italy. Of course he takes notes by the way; but
he appears more interested, perhaps, in the social cus-
toms of the people than in the historical buildings or the
pictures he somewhat perfunctorily describes. Here and
there mention is made of the "bonds which are the cause
of unhappiness rather than of charm in my sad life."
His dreams are haunted by the lovely vision left behind
in Macon. Although it would be an exaggeration to af-
firm that the memory of Mademoiselle P. has become an
obsession, nevertheless her image is constantly evoked
\ l Correspondence, LXXX; cf. also Confidences, p. 321. For Lamartine's
later criticism of Rousseau cf. Cours de litterature, vol. II, p. 407.^
. . 82
THE JOURNEY TO ITALY
by the romantic character of the scenes he traverses,
which to a temperament such as his seem to exact mel-
ancholy as a tribute, nay, as an indispensable attribute.
With "Corinne" under his arm, and the sufferings of
" Saint- Preux" not far from his heart, he wanders over
the classic ground he has so often trod in imagination,
either at Belley or when musing over his books at Milly
and Saint-Point. There are, however, two men in the
young Lamartine of this period. The dreamy sentimen-
talist is tormented by the mal du si&cle (a malady common
to passionate youth throughout the ages); is a prey of
his exuberant imagination, with fits of picturesque de-
spair and poetic ecstasy. Again we find the buoyant
adolescent, revelling in the mere joy of living, whose
careless philosophy takes things as they come, and
who is hail fellow well met with prince and pauper,
and far from averse to a flirtation when opportunity
offers. 1
Of the sojourn at Leghorn we know but little. The
letters are full of the prospective delight of Virieu's
visit, which for one reason or another is exasperatingly
postponed. Details of the life he is leading are scant. " I
am working as I never worked in my life, and I am making
good progress," he writes Guichard on October 13; "now
that I am leading a sedentary life all my mind is turned
towards the study of Italian."
Although it is four months since he left Macon his
"heart bleeds every day at being obliged to endure so
cruel and so long a separation." "Nevertheless," he
continues, "foreseeing in my return only fresh causes of
sorrow, without a ray of hope, I fear it as much as I de-
1 Cf. Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 166; also Memoir es inedits, pp. 160, 168;
Camilla and Bianca Boni. M. Pierre de Lacretelle has had access to an un-
published Garnet de voyage which young Alphonse kept in desultory fashion
during the earlier stages of his journey; cf. Les origines et lajeunesse de
Lamartine, p. 254.
. . 8 3
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
sire it, and don't know what course to pursue." * Forty-
five years later Lamartine is able to conceive the episode
in flowery phrases: "An artificial rose, dusty and soiled,
torn from the garland round a skirt at a ball, trodden
under the feet of the dancers, then wrapped in a bit of
gauze and hidden at the bottom of my trunk as a talis-
man, together with some poor verses; it was all mere
childishness; but this puerility had alarmed a tender
mother. ... It was already dead, as die all the prema-
ture sentiments of childhood; but I owed to it my exile
to Italy." 2 "Mon cceur etait un enigme dont je cher-
chais la clef," he exclaims apologetically, and in extenua-
tion, perhaps, of the inconstancies to follow.
But if we must look to the " Correspondance " for accu-
racy we must perforce go to later compositions for the
details of this eventful journey. After all, reminiscences
have their value; and inaccurate as to time and place,
tinged with romance, and composite as to circumstance,
as those of Lamartine unquestionably are, they are es-
sential to that equitable judgment of the man at which
this life-story aims.
Writing from Rome to Virieu on November 18, 1811,
Alphonse states: "Madame la comtesse d' Albany is here
at present. I saw her a fortnight ago in the Vatican gal-
lery, but as I have no introduction to her I did not pre-
sent myself." 3
In his "Cours de litterature," a monthly publication
which later afforded him practically his daily bread,
Lamartine prefaced the account of his introduction to the
widow of the last of the Stuarts, 4 with an apology for
1 Correspondance, Lxxxn.
* Cours de litterature, vol. n, p. 56. The verses which accompany the
lines above quoted were unquestionably composed during later years.
3 Correspondance, LXXXIV.
4 Nee Countess Stolberg, married Prince Charles Edward and was
known as Countess of Albany.
. . 84 . .
THE JOURNEY TO ITALY
the constant intrusion of his personality in the pages of
his magazine. He believes, however, that his readers'
interest will be quickened by the confidential nature of his
essays, for after all, he urges, "it is the human heart
we all seek in literature, not mere ideas." Like Montaigne,
he adds: "Je veux rhomme tout entier." Agreed: but
do we get the whole man when Lamartine discourses about
himself? On the very next page we read: "Ce n'est pas
rhomme en moi gui park de lui, c'est V artiste" 1 Thus
forewarned we ought to be forearmed: yet the art is so
cunning, truth is so inextricably interwoven with fiction,
that we frequently allow ourselves to be deceived. The
man is in the letters of the " Correspondance " ; it is
the artist who paints the captivating pictures in the
"Confidences," the "Memoires," and the various "En-
tretiens" of the "Cours de literature." Certainly La-
martine did not mean to imply that the artist is untrust-
worthy. When he speaks of "demi-confidences," 2 ought
we not to accept as tacitly understood that the setting
is arranged to harmonize with the picture? Nevertheless,
it is disconcerting bearing in mind the assertion made
in the above-quoted letter to Virieu to .read in the
"Cours de literature " a circumstantial account of a
visit to the Countess of Albany in Florence, and later,
in the same publication, to note that at the time of his
arrival ir Tuscany, Madame d'Albany was in Paris
"conversing with Bonaparte." *
Loitering one day in the church of Santa Croce he
1 Cours de literature, vol. n, p. 52. * Ibid., p. 58.
' Cf. ibid., vol. ri, p. 76; also vol. xvii, p. 115. In the first instance May
29, 1810, is given as the date of his arrival in Florence; in the second,
September 4, 1810, as the "epoque precise ou j 'arrivals en Toscanie."
The Correspondence of the Countess d'Albany was published in 1902,
by Leon Pelissier. The only mention made of Lamartine is in a letter
from the Countess to her sister, dated December 8, 1823, wherein she
refers to reading La mart de Socrate, and criticizes the work. Cf. op. /.,
p. 623.
85
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
paused before the tomb of Alfieri which Canova had been
commissioned to model "in memory of a dead love"
(1803). Suddenly he remembered that he had a letter
of introduction to the Countess, and, in spite of shyness,
decides to present it at once. Although forty-five years
have intervened, the recollection of the costume he wore
on this occasion is still fresh in his mind. "It was a
summer coat of grey blue, such as then worn. ... I put it
on, admiring myself the while, over trousers of yellow
nankeen and a waistcoat of the same material embroid-
ered in silk by an aunt." Somewhat to his relief, the lady
is out, so that his presentation to this "Queen of Eng-
land" is deferred. "The next morning, on awakening,
I received a very polite and cordial note from the Count-
ess of Albany (a note I still possess, although since then
I have received other letters from her) . . . inviting me to
dinner on the following day." When ushered into the
presence of the "dethroned Queen of Great Britain," he
found nothing in her person suggesting either "the sover-
eign of an Empire or the Queen of a heart." But she was
gracious, and having heard that the young man wrote
verses, surmised that he would like to visit Alfieri's
library. As it was by reason of Alfieri's infatuation for
his hostess that her personality interested him, the
young poet experienced the deepest emotion on finding
himself midst the surroundings in which the great Ital-
ian's last days had been spent. The dinner was simple :
only a few friends gathered around the table. In the
evening, as is the Italian custom, people dropped in to
talk, and the youth lingered in a corner listening with
all his ears to the brilliant conversation. "Ten years
after this evening I often saw the widow of the last of
the Stuarts, and of Alfieri," concludes Lamartine. 1
From Florence on October 22, 1811, Alphonse writes
1 Cours de literature, vol. u, p. 85.
86
THE JOURNEY TO ITALY
Virieu that he has been in that town seven or eight days
and has revisited with M. de Freminville everything he
had previously seen. He expects to leave for Rome the
next evening but one, in spite of all that is said of the
dangers of the road, of thefts, of murders, etc., and also
in spite of the urging of the Hastes, who wish to take him
back with them. " I would like to return with them my-
self," he wrote Virieu, "but who knows when another
opportunity to visit Rome and Naples may present, and
these I absolutely must see. Who knows what awaits
me on my return home?" he significantly adds. 1 The
young man had evidently decided to remain in Italy as
long as his funds held out, counting on his mother's
influence for future remittances as well as an extension
of leave. 2 Nor was he wrong in trusting to her indulgent
devotion. In due time both were forthcoming: but they
had caused the mother deep humiliation and many an
anxious moment. "His uncles and aunts help us to pay
the cost of his journey," she writes; "they gave us yes-
terday for him seventy-two louis. If he is economical,
with one hundred louis he can spend the winter in Rome
and Naples; but he is young and overflowing with im-
agination to be left thus alone in those distant lands! I
wanted to have him go, now I want to see him back; I
commend him day and night and twenty times during
the day to uivine protection. What a misfortune to have
an idle son! In spite of the family repugnance to have
him serve Bonaparte, we ought to have considered him
and not our dislike or our own opinions. I hope his friend
M. Aymon de Virieu will go to join him: he is a more
mature young man, and one who would be useful to him
in many circumstances." *
1 Correspondance, LXXXIII. * Confidences, p. 142.
8 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 166; cf. also Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit. t
P- 253.
8 7
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
"Quel malheur qu'un fils inoccupeT' This cry from
a mother's heart finds justification in a note in her diary
many months later (January 31, 1813) : " I have just had
considerable cause for sorrow concerning him [Alphonse],"
she writes; "from Lyons and from Italy his uncles and
aunts have received bills for the considerable debts he
incurred during his travels: the family, knowing I spoil
him, hold me responsible for these extravagances; I have
been much scolded, I have shed many tears, alas! in
truth, the faults of my child are my faults. Why was I
not more severe with him at the moment of his first sin? MI
It is the knowledge of the troubles in store for him which
prompts him to write Virieu from Rome, on November
18: "I would like to spend the winter in Rome, but cruel
circumstances torment me and call me back. Come,
decide for me, help me, lend me your counsel, I am a lost
man." 2
Matters are not really so bad, however; youth, aided
by enthusiasm and inherent optimism, soon chases away
the dark mood. He has had an adventure, a decidedly
romantic adventure, if we credit the slender authority
of the " Confidences" and " Memoires inedits," for in the
"Correspondance" no mention is made of the incident.
Of the two versions the story in the "Confidences" is
perhaps the more picturesque.
Lamartine, as we know, left Florence the last days of
October, 1811; among his fellow-passengers in the lum-
bering diligence was an elderly man accompanied by a
slender, effeminate youth of singularly attractive appear-
ance. Davide, who appeared to be the father of the
charming boy, was on his way to Naples, where he was
to sing at the San Carlos opera house. "Davide treated
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 171. The anxious mother describes also fresh
gambling debts in Paris, of which mention will be made in due time.
* Correspondance, LXXXIV.
THE JOURNEY TO ITALY
me as a father," writes Lamartine, "and his young com-
panion overwhelmed me with kindness and attentions.
I responded to these advances with the freedom and
naivete of my years. Long before we reached Rome the
handsome traveller and I had become inseparable. In
those days the post took no less than three days to cover
the road between Florence and Rome. At the inns my
new friend was my interpreter; at table he saw that I
was served first ; in the coach he kept for me the best place
beside him, and, if I fell asleep, I was certain my head
would be pillowed on his shoulder. When we walked up
the steep hills he explained the country to me, named
the towns, showed me the monuments. He even picked
beautiful flowers for me, bought figs and grapes, fill-
ing my hands and my hat with fruit. Davide seemed
to look with pleasure on the demonstrative affection of
his young companion for the youthful stranger. They
smiled together at times, looking at me artfully, slyly,
and kindly." Of course the young Frenchman decided to
stop at the same hotel in Rome with his new-found
friends.
On waking the next morning he dressed hastily, and
descended for breakfast. At the table he found Davide
already seated, and beside him a beautiful girl his
companion on the recent journey! "The young girl was
a singer," b^ ~dds, "the pupil and favourite of Davide.
The old artist took her everywhere with him, dressed as
a man in order to avoid comment." On the day after
their arrival the girl resumed her masculine attire and
acted as guide to the young stranger in his wanderings
through the city and its surroundings. "La Camilla,"
he tells us, "was not a savant, but, born in Rome, she
knew instinctively all its beautiful sites and its grandeur
which had impressed her from childhood." l
1 Confidences, p. 143; cf. also Memoir es inedits, p. 159.
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
No reference is made to this episode in the letters to
Virieu. "I lead a hermit's life," he writes; "I wander
of a morning midst vast solitudes, more often quite
alone; I visit, a book in my pocket, those beautiful and
deserted galleries of the Roman palaces; in the evening
I work or I go to see some artists." l And yet Virieu
was his alter ego, the one from whom no secrets were
withheld. He would scarcely have refrained from telling
the story to this boon companion. Most probably the
letter was destroyed with many others containing de-
tails of those rakish Italian days; some perhaps "unfit
for publication." Time is a great purifier, and at sixty-
odd Lamartine had acquired an incomparable proficiency
in the art of glossing and poetizing the sins of his youth ;
imparting, to what in other hands would smack of the
flavour of immorality, the impeccable purity of driven
snow. "Graziella" and "Raphael" are salient examples
of the palliating processes he adopted, although in the
case of "Elvire" critics are still at loggerheads.
This first visit to Rome was not of long duration
five weeks, at most. Yet in the "Confidences" Lamar-
tine assures his readers that he passed there a long
winter, "from October to April, without one day of las-
situde or ennui." 2 As a matter of fact he reached Naples
early in December, i8n. 3
The life he led in the languorous, pleasure-loving me-
tropolis of southern Italy was not particularly edifying.
To one of his temperament, idle and without restraint,
the lax social atmosphere, the facile morality and mani-
fold temptations were irresistible. Yet he was probably
sincere, or thought he was, when he confided to Gui-
chard: "As for me, my friend, I drag, I carry, I hug,
1 Correspondence, LXXXIV. * Confidences, p. 150.
3 Correspondence, LXXXV and LXXXVI; Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit.,
P- 259.
90- -
THE JOURNEY TO ITALY
through all Italy my lacerating sorrows. Sometimes
they seem to slumber an instant, but they soon awaken
with renewed strength. I am like a sick man to whom
the very intensity of his anguish at times lessens the con-
sciousness of his pain, but who all too soon revives to
suffering and to life." l But, in spite of these outpour-
ings, Mademoiselle P.'s influence was on the wane.
1 Correspondence, LXXXVI.
CHAPTER IX
GRAZIELLA
THE original plan had been to spend only a week in
Naples, 1 but the beauty of the place, the charm of the life
he led there, and a circumstance which, however unim-
portant, trivial even, it may have been at the time, is
now closely allied with his literary fame, caused him re-
peatedly to defer departure, and it was only in April,
1812, that he began the homeward journey.
How great a place "Graziella" held in Lamartine's
heart it is impossible to say; but her shade looms large
throughout the pages of his life's work. With "Elvire"
she shares the glory of having been the poet's Egeria.
She, or her prototype, certainly inspired what are very
generally admitted to be masterpieces among the prose
and poetic writings of the genius who immortalized her.
To nine tenths of Lamartine's readers to-day, "Graziella,"
"Le Lac," "Le Premier Regret" are the most familiar
portions of his work. The story of the sentimental little
coral-worker has been translated into all the tongues of
Europe. From Paris to Constantinople, from Petrograd
to Lisbon, in the Old World and the New, tender hearts
have ached for her, seas of tears have been shed over
the tribulations of her loving heart, maledictions poured
upon the head of the lover who left her to pine away
and die.
In the " Correspondance " no mention is made of either
"Graziella" or any adventure with which she might
have been connected. It is true that between January 22
and the middle of April, 1812, no letters have been pre-
1 Correspondance, LXXXVIII.
. . 9 2 . .
GRAZIELIA
served. De Virieu joined his friend in Naples at the end
of January, 1812, and remained with him until Alphonse
obeyed the summons home, returning alone. No serious
attachment had been formed before Virieu's arrival,
for Alphonse writes him on January 22: "We will spend
some days together in Naples, and, as you say, we will
return together to Rome, anywhere you like ; for my only
desire is to be with you." This would seem to indicate
that no infatuation chained him to Naples. On the con-
trary, there are evidences of profound ennui in his letters
to his friend: "I find myself at this moment without a
penny, and with debts here in Naples. I should not be
able to leave did I not find a charitable soul who would
have the kindness to lend me some ducats" (December
28). And again, on January 14, urging his friend to come
to him at once and leave Rome for the return journey:
"Say that you have in Naples a friend who is ill, suffer-
ing, and abandoned; come in spite of wind and tide."
Ten days later he complains: "I am penniless. I have
begun to gamble. I won about forty piasters in two days.
I shall perhaps lose them to-night in trying to win more.
I curse everything." 1
A love affair there certainly was, for Lamartine never
makes his stories out of whole cloth, although he em-
broiders so heavily at times that the almost impalpable
gauze of the r>~ginal fabric is lost to view ; like those cob-
web Eastern textures the women of the harem cover
with heavy gold and silver traceries. "Graziella," a pseu-
donym in all probability, was the heroine of a very
commonplace intrigue; such as would be found in the
life-story of countless young men during their irrespon-
sible Wander jahre* And Alphonse de Lamartine was no
exception to the rule : for several years he led the life of a
1 Correspondence, LXXXVHI, LXXXIX, and xc.
1 Cf. Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 15.
. .93 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
rake; albeit a sentimental one. Such follies are the in-
evitable concomitants of unrestrained youth, but the
idealism which formed the basis of his impulsive nature
soon taught him the essential vulgarity of promiscuous
dissipation. His was a timid wantonness; leavened by
sentiment and, in one instance at least, purified by pas-
sion, as will be seen later. "L'amour fut pour moi le
charbon de feu qui brule, mais qui purifie les levres," he
wrote in the Preface of the "Meditations."
Aymon de Virieu joined his friend in Naples at the
end of January, and their dissipations were doubtless
collective: but Aymon's Neapolitan inamorata found no
poetic genius to uplift her from obscurity and immortal-
ize her name.
In his " Causeries du Lundi" Sainte-Beuve analyzes the
episode with his usual directness and succinctness : ' ' The
charming coral-worker of Naples is in part a creation.
Take away the Italian sky and the costume of Procida,
and there remains nothing more than an adventure with
a grisette, embellished and idealized by the artist, exalted
later to the realms of Beauty, but still one of those in-
trigues which leave only too few traces in a life, and
which are recalled later, from the dim recesses of mem-
ory, only when the poet or the painter feels the need of
searching there for the subject of an elegy or a picture." 1
" Beyond such testimony as Lamartine himself offers
in his poetry, prose, and commentaries, all of which post-
date the episode by several years, no authentic records
exist.
In a footnote to his study of Lamartine, M. Maurice
Albert, referring to the death of "Graziella," as de-
scribed by the poet, writes: "The poet weeps over her
death in well-known strophes, but one of my old Nea-
politan friends assured me that the fisherman's daughter,
Vol. i, p. 63.
94 v
GRAZIELIA
whom he had known, died at the age of sixty, the mother
of six children." The entire responsibility of this asser-
tion must rest, however, with M. Albert, who vouchsafes
no other than oral authority. 1 If this be so, indeed, po-
etical license could be carried no farther.
As has been said, no reference is made to this intrigue
in Lamartine's contemporaneous correspondence, as it
has been handed down to us. Putting aside, for the
moment, the circumstantial accounts of the idyl scat-
tered throughout the poet's works, we quote, in extenso,
the commentary to the twenty- fourth "Meditation
poetique," entitled "Le Golfe de Baia": "As will be
seen by the note at the bottom of page 223, these verses,
which formed part of a collection which I burned, were
written in Naples in 1813. I often at that period spent
my days, with the father of 'Graziella' and 'Graziella'
herself, in the Gulf of Baia, when the fisherman cast
his nets. ... I wrote verses about the coast, the monu-
ments, my impressions of the shore and sea, while my
friend Aymon de Virieu sketched in his albums with
pencil or brush. By chance he had preserved a copy of
this elegy, and he returned it to me at the time I was
printing the 'Meditations' (1820). I received it as one
would a sea-shell long forgotten and found again in a
traveller's valise, and I strung it, along with its graver
sisters, on the chaplet of my poems." 2
"Grazielia's" father may have been a fisherman: the
girl herself, however, would appear to have been em-
1 La literature franyiise de 1789-1830, p. 102. Lamartine is also reported
to have made the following remark to M. Emile Ollivier: "I have been
greatly reproached for the death of Graziella; but Graziella did not die; she
had many children." Cf. E. Sugier, Lamartine, note p. 45.
1 Cf. (Euvres completes (author's edition in 40 vols.), vol. I, p. 225.
M. Gustave Lanson, in his critical edition of the Meditations (Hachette,
Paris, 1915), vol. ii, p. 511, is sceptical as to the burning of the collection.
Lamartine's assertion that the verses were written in Naples, in 1813,
is erroneous, as he returned to France in 1812.
. . 95 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
ployed in the Royal Tobacco Manufactory of Naples.
Alphonse carried a letter of introduction to the Director
of this manufactory, M. Dareste de la Chavanne, a dis-
tant connection of the Lamartines. Preferring probably
the freedom of independent quarters the young man
first established himself in a small hotel. Six weeks later
he writes Virieu: "I am no longer at the inn. I have a
small lodging in the house of my relatives whom I found
here."
Had Lamartine made the acquaintance of "Graziella"
before his friend's arrival in Naples? Here again we
have no authentic data. A popular saying has it that it
is best to be off with the old love before one is on with the
new. Lamartine would seem to admit the wisdom of the
maxim when, in his " M6moires inedits," he prefaces what
purports to be the truthful version of his Neapolitan
romance with documentary proof of the termination of
his relations with Mademoiselle Henriette P. The letter
is cited in extenso, but the signature of the writer is
omitted. He is, however (we are told), no other than the
old family friend of the Pommiers who originally encour-
aged the affair, but who now ceremoniously informs Al-
phonse, in the name of the girl's mother, that a suitor is
on the ground offering qualities and guarantees the absent
lover seems to lack. "Be kind enough, Sir," he con-
tinues, "to examine yourself conscientiously, and to in-
form me whether you can assert that you still cherish for
this young person the same sentiments as at the time of
your departure from Macon, and whether the P. family
may be assured that you will make like promises to those
at present offered. We will abide by your affirma-
tion." 2
Alphonse was greatly perturbed ; but after a few days
of reflection he realized that he was not in a position to
1 Correspondence, I.XXXTX. * Memoires inedits, p. 184.
. . 96
GRAZIELIA
undertake the engagements the young woman's family
required. So he wrote "a frank and prudent -letter,"
leaving his fate, and her own, in the hands of Mademoi-
selle P. herself. Shortly after he heard of her marriage
with the new suitor. " I regretted her," he writes, "but I
ended by appreciating the fact that her parents were
right in not sacrificing this amiable child to the illusions
of her seventeen summers." l
At twenty in a gay and pleasure-loving city such as
Naples, it is difficult to remain disconsolate. The heart
which had ached for Henriette P. was caught on the re-
bound by the charmer who figured as "Graziella" in the
mature literary life of the man whose plaything she had
been in the wild, irresponsible days of his youth. Lamar-
tine gives two versions of his meeting with this "poetic
vision"; both abundantly furnished with most minute
details as to time and place, yet neither offering a scrap
of trustworthy evidence. In the "Confidences" he finds
the fisherman's daughter in a cabin on the Isle of Procida,
whither he and Virieu had been driven by the tempest
after barely escaping shipwreck. 2 In the "Mmoires in-
edits" the little cigarette-maker was first caught sight of
crossing the courtyard of the Royal Tobacco Manufac-
tory, midst a bevy of sister- workers. " I was far from sus-
pecting," confesses Lamartine, "that one of those young
girls was to become 'Graziella,' change her trade, domi-
nate my de c *L:y, and exert an imperishable influence over
my whole life. It is the truth, nevertheless. ... I did not
dare admit it when, in 1847, I wrote the true romance of
'Graziella.'" 8
The truth is certainly to be found neither in the pathetic
idyl entitled "Graziella," nor in the far more prosaic
though equally fantastic reminiscences of the "Memoires
1 Memoires incdits, p. 1 86.
1 Confidences, p. 171. Memoires intdits, p. 180.
. . 97 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
inedits." But, either on account of the literary success
her story achieved, or from the tender reminiscences the
telling of it reawakened, Lamartine is guilty of but an
artistic exaggeration when he writes that "Graziella"
exerted an imperishable influence over his subsequent
career; purely poetic though such influence was. 1
Replying to a criticism of his poem "Le Premier Re-
gret," Lamartine describes how on entering the church of
Saint-Roch, in Paris, in i827, 2 a picture awakened long
slumbering memories: "This picture," he writes, "re-
called to me the maiden of Ischia 3 I had so loved, and
who had died of her love for me some time after my de-
parture from Naples. I had never forgiven myself this
hardness of heart, so regretted and so punished. Indeed,
how much happier should I have been in the stormy days
to come, had I yielded to her tears and my love; had I
resumed my garb of a young fisherman, married the girl
I loved, and lived with her and this simple family of
fisher-folk the life wherein I had found happiness." 4
"Graziella" is a poetic fiction based on an authentic
and commonplace adventure. But "Graziella" reveals
Lamartine himself as does no other page of his writings,
"Raphael" and "Jocelyn" not excepted. "The faults
of the 'Confidences' are in a manner condensed in the
episode of 'Graziella,' " writes Edouard Rod. And that
critic finds ample justification for the assertion in the
various processes of idealization to which not only the
heroine, but the members of her family, and the author
of the tale himself, are subjected. "Never, perhaps, did
Lamartine's imagination find a more favourable subject
1 Cf. also "Adieu a Graziella," eighth Meditation; "Ischia," second
Meditation; and Le premier regret.
* 1830 in Confidences, p. 284.
1 Procida in Confidences and Memoires inedits, p. 189.
4 Cours de literature, vol. xxvm, p. 162; cf. also Memoires inedits,
p. 214: "J'6tais decide a revenir vivre et mourir a Procida."
GRAZIELIA
for the exercise of its whims; nowhere else are the tricks
his imagination played with reality more aptly charac-
terized." 1 The farther the reality receded into the haze
of youthful memories the larger loomed the ideal. This
process of idealization, of which "Graziella" offers a par-
ticularly striking example, is apparent in all Lamartine's
autobiographical writings. It was in part unconscious:
Lamartine embellished everything that his vivid, fervent
imagination touched; but there was also the dominant
vanity of the man seeking to clothe the most prosaic
sentiments and actions of his life with the radiance of a
romantic ideal.
In absolute sincerity he wrote: "La posterity n'est
pas 1'egout de nos passions; elle est 1'urne de nos sou-
venirs, elle ne doit conserver que des parfums." The
perfume which "Graziella" exhales to posterity is freed
from all the grossness of passion; it is, in fact, so sub-
limated and etherealized that the evanescent fragrance
of a great and pure love is alone discernible. Of the pun-
gent odour of the Royal Tobacco Manufactory the nos-
trils of posterity detect some trace, it is true, for the
"Memoires inedits" inform us that the girl received the
wages of a cigar-worker, which she handed to her mother
at the end of the month. But, adds Lamartine's host,
M. de la Chavanne: "She does not work with the other
girls, she eats with us in order not to leave Antoniella, her
friend and pivlectress." 2 Antoniella was M. de la Cha-
vanne's housekeeper, but she also superintended the
girl's working in the factory, and acts as a sort of duenna
in the version'of the love-story now under consideration.
Lamartine assures us in these memoirs (published after
his death) that it was merely vanity which caused him to
elevate his mistress to the dignity of a coral-worker when
writing his "Confidences." "Having acknowledged this
1 Lamartine, p. 187. * Mbnoires intdits, p. 189.
. . 99 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
to-day," he writes, "all the rest of the romance is literally
exact. She was as young, as naive, as pure, as religious
as I represented her in the romance. All the scenes are
true." l Perhaps; but the reality is even here unrecog-
nizable, owing to the vivid colouring imparted by the
processes of idealization to which the artist resorts. Pos-
terity is never lost sight of, and must be propitiated at the
cost of exactitude, when need is. Hence the travesty,
which is a pure and poetic fiction, a temperamented
transmogrification of a licentious adventure which in its
crude nudity is bereft of the "perfume " Lamartine deems
so essential.
That there was riotous living in Naples that winter
seems unquestionable. Gambling appears to have ab-
sorbed much of the time of the two young men. An old
croupier initiated them into the mysteries of his system,
an infallible one for trente et quarante, according to the
gamester, but which does not seem to have profited his
young pupils. Lamartine dwells at some length in the
"Mmoires in6dits" on these card parties, at which
"Graziella" is depicted as assisting, gentle reproval visi-
ble on her face, as, bending over her needlework, she
glances up from time to time to watch the movements of
her lover. 2 During an expedition to Vesuvius, undertaken
by Alphonse with Humboldt, "Graziella," leaving a let-
ter in which she declared her love, fled to her parents'
home on the island of Procida. Lamartine joined her
there, or says he did (we are following the "M6moires
in6dits"), and the idyl as related in the "Confidences"
began.
But news of these irregularities of the son had reached
M^con. Lamartine suspects M. de la Chavanne of having
notified his mother of his loose life. 3 A letter is received
peremptorily ordering the culprit home. Virieu is the
1 MSmoires intdits, p. 213. * Ibid., p. 194. 8 Ibid., p. 214.
. . 100
LAMARTINE
GRAZIELIA
executioner. "Graziella" is abandoned, "fainting and
in tears." 1
We have no authentic record of Lamartine's departure
from Naples, and can only conjecture from the meagre
correspondence the reasons which prompted the return
to France. Pecuniary considerations were probably re-
sponsible for his recall; we know he left debts in Italy.
Yet writing from Florence to Virieu, who had remained in
Rome, Alphonse makes the remark that "les finances ne
sont pas encore trop alt6r6es." He even talks of return-
ing to Rome on account of disquieting news which reaches
him concerning conscription. On April 24, 1812, from
Milan, the traveller informs Virieu that the fears were
unfounded, and that, after a fortnight spent in that city,
he has engaged a seat in the diligence which is to carry
him across the Simplon to Lausanne. No word of "Gra-
ziella," no single allusion to the recent affair of the heart
by the shores of the Bay of Naples.
A recent critic, M. Sugier, who has studied Lamartine
principally from the moral and psychological standpoint,
believes that the love for "Graziella" was a retrospective
passion. "If he makes no reference to it after his return
from Italy in his letters to Virieu, it was perhaps because
the latter, who had been present in Naples, and witness of
the adventure, had never taken it seriously." M. Sugier
doubts whether, h or ! they been preserved, any trace of
his love affair would have been found in the letters to
Guichard, because Lamartine, after all the protestations
of his eternal devotion to Mademoiselle P., dreaded the
teasing, perhaps even the reproaches of levity, his friend
was certain to inflict. 2
1 Memoires inedits, p. 214; cf. also Confidences. In a drawer, close to the
poet's writing-table in the Chateau de Saint-Point, a cotton kerchief, such
as the women of the poorer classes in southern Italy wear on their heads,
lies folded. Family tradition asserts that Lamartine brought it back with
him from Naples a gift from "Graziella."
1 E. Sugier, Lamartine, p. 44.
IOI
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
For nine years his writings show no sign of the keen
remorse which in middle age, and when he is quite an old
man, is so apparent. Only in his "Ode a Virieu," com-
posed in 1821, do we catch an echo of the grief he is sup-
posed to have suffered on learning of " Graziella's" death
after her careless lover's return to France.
"Reconnais-tu ce beau rivage,
Cette mer aux flots argents . . .
Un nom ch6ri vole sur 1'onde,
Mais pas une voix qui r6ponde,
Que le flot grondant sur 1'ecueil.
Malheureux! quel nom tu prononces!
Ne vois-tu pas parmi ces ronces
Ce nom grav6 sur un cercueil?" l
Not that the verses prove anything. As Ren6 Doumic
has remarked: "Lamartine shared with his epoch the
prevailing theory, that only unhappiness possessed poetic
value. Whether it be Elvire or Graziella, it is with tears
he sings of them." *
It was on April 29, 1812, that the prodigal set out from
Lausanne on the last stage of the homeward journey. A
little char-ti-bancs conveyed him to Geneva, whence the
diligence carried him over the Jura to Macon. 3 "My
father awaited me," he writes, "and welcomed me with-
out any reference to my follies. I had returned home; I
was forgiven." 4
M. Pierre de Lacretelle, however, is not of the opinion
that the erring son was so readily forgiven. And his
authority is incontestable, taken as it is direct from the
original manuscript of the mother's diary. Alphonse was
coldly received. Tacit proof of the family displeasure is
vouchsafed by the fact that several pages of the manu-
script have been ruthlessly destroyed; while the corre-
1 Le Passt. * Revue des Deux-Mondes, January 15, 1916.
1 Correspondence, XCH. * M&moires inedits, p. 215.
. . IO2
GRAZIELLA
spending index to the little journal bears the mention:
"Retour d'Alphonse, oisivetd, decouragement." l
After ten months of independence and facile pleasures
in Italy it was asking too much of the warm-blooded and
ambitious youth to settle down to the dull monotony of
village life. He had taken a violent dislike to M illy. In-
capable of sustained effort, he became sombre and mel-
ancholy ; shutting himself up in his room to weep. Both
parents were now seriously alarmed; the mother finding
her son changed, "nervous and rather hard-hearted." 2
The crop of his wild oats was not yet sown, and the
next few years were to witness many follies, many repre-
hensible acts, testing to the utmost the fond mother's
indulgence and demanding her aid in many a crisis.
1 Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 263.
1 Unpublished fragments of the mother's diary, cited by Pierre de Lacre-
telle, op. cit., p. 264.
CHAPTER X
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
THE presence of their well-set-up young son of twenty-
two now became the cause of considerable embarrass-
ment to his family. Napoleon's recruiting sergeants were
especially active at this period, for the Emperor's de-
mands incessantly prompted further effort, greater and
ever greater sacrifice of men and treasure. Lamartine
tells us that in order to avoid conscription his father had
induced the Pr6fet of Mclcon, who happened to be a per-
sonal friend, to appoint him Mayor of Milly. " My duties
consisted only in maintaining order and in supplying
food, by means of voluntary contributions from my own
village and those in the neighbourhood, for the Austrian
and Italian troops which had already invaded the coun-
try." l To Virieu the youthful functionary writes on
August 20, 1812: "I am now quite alone at Milly; my
parents are near Dijon with my uncle. I am master in the
house, mayor of the village, and with my hand on the
plough" (by which he means, we suppose, that he is look-
ing after his father's estate as well as the municipal inter-
ests confided to his care). But he is not happy: "What
shall I do? Where can I go, where flee to escape this cruel
ennui which devours me?" 2
The young man when he penned these lines had but
just returned from a three weeks' sojourn in Paris,
whither he had gone "for distraction and pleasure." "I
1 Memoir es inidits, p. 221. Lamartine was appointed Mayor of Milly
in June, 1812, and continued nominally to discharge his duties as such
until 1815. Cf. Archives communales de Milly; also Pierre de Lacretelle,
op. tit., p. 264.
1 Correspondancc, xciv.
. . 104
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
bored myself there just as I do here, just as I did at Dijon,
from whence I have this moment returned." But this
"ennui" amounted to more than boredom, it was soul-
unrest, what the French call "tourment de Tame." The
"ennui" was not material, but intellectual; the "soul-
sickness" not amorous, but the reaching-out of an ar-
dent spirit towards the transcendentalism alone capable
of assuaging its cravings. Metaphysical speculations,
doubts and yearnings, crop up continually in the letters
to Virieu which practically form the sum total of the
youthful correspondence handed down to us. Of these
letters, beacons all too rare to guide us, there are, between
October, 1812, and the Abdication of Napoleon at Fon-
tainebleau (April 4, 1814), but nine, addressed without a
single exception to Virieu. Aymon de Virieu, to the end,
filled the role of confessor. Lamartine trusted and con-
fided in this "other self" as he trusted and confided in no
other human being. What he wrote to him he felt, and
contradictory as these feelings often were, they were
written in all sincerity, in obedience to the impulse of the
moment.
From the tangled skein of conflicting emotions therein
portrayed must be unrolled the thread which guides
to the comprehension of his complex character. Para-v^
doxes halt the student at every turn, and a too subtle
analysis lands him in a labyrinth ; for like all truly great
natures Lamartine's was fundamentally simple. The dif-
ficulty lies in segregating the man and the artist, the poet
and the statesman ; for the simplicity of the one appears
inextricably interwoven with the complexity of the other.
The phase is common to most men of genius, and in fact
to youth in general. In the present instance, however,
genius is engaged in a struggle with the forces which
threaten to destroy it. What will his life bring forth?
The seven years between 1813 and 1820 are undoubtedly
105
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
the most painful of Lamartine's existence. The period of
gestation is laborious and prolonged. The contrasts and
contradictions of his double nature, material and artistic,
are nowhere more apparent, nowhere more disconcert-
ing; elusive pleasures crowd on earnest effort; dissipation
throttles ambition, and is in its turn floored by sentiment.
"Nous ne saurions trop regarder dans 1'ame de celui qui
devait devenir le poete de 1'ame," writes M. Sugier in his
admirable psychological study. 1 It is always hazardous
to attempt to decipher a soul : a young man's mode of life
does not invariably mirror his inner self. In the case of
Lamartine the extraneous evidences are peculiarly falla-
cious. For an understanding of any psychological phe-
nomena we can only proceed by deductive reasoning. Yet
the usual formulas of comparison and analysis avail but
little when brought to bear on the vagaries of an artistic
temperament; incomparably less when face to face with
the divine afflatus of genius. Lamartine was essentially
"the poet of the soul": soulfulness in prose and poetry
alike account for his marvellous hold over the imagina-
tion and heart of his readers. During these far from edi-
fying years of gestation, soulfulness, although not always
apparent, can yet ever be detected, even when thickly
overlaid with commonplace and vulgar dissipation.
At Milly time hangs heavy on his hands. He is a prey
to melancholy; ambition teases him by fits and starts;
vague aspirations assail him, but he has no definite object,
no plan of work, no continuity of thought. He reads
rather than studies, storing in his mind a heterogeneous
literary harvest, ranging from "Clarissa Harlowe" to the
sonnets of Petrarca, whom since the Italian wanderings
he understands as he never did before. This is natural,
but we do not agree with M. Emile Deschanel that it was
"the eyes and the lips of 'Graziella'" 2 which enlarged his
1 Lamartine, p. 48. * Ibid.,\ol. i, p. 50; cf. also Correspondence, C.
106
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
comprehension of the charms of the lover of Laura; his
taste matured as his mastery over the language increased,
and his horizon had broadened with travel. The fact re-
mains, however, that during these years (1813-20) of
shiftless drifting, interspersed with periods of prodigality,
and marked by one brief but absorbingly passionate love
(1816-17), the seeds which were to flower in the "Medi-
tations poetiques" were sown. During this period the
young man lost and found himself over and over again;
traversed more than one moral and religious crisis, and
was often within an ace of shipwreck. Yet through it all
is discernible the thread of religious sentiment, panthe-
istic in its essence, which forms the fundamental basis of
his lyrical genius. To Virieu he bares his perplexities, his
yearnings :
"What is this so-called sacred fire of the soul and of
genius of which we talk? Of what avail is it? Whither
does it lead us? Why do we feel it; why do so many
others not feel it; or why do they let it go uselessly to
waste? What profit do we derive from it if we nourish
it? What happens if we smother it? Should we guard it,
or cast it from us? Is it a blessing or a curse in life? Is it
a celestial gift, or is it a ridiculous illusion? " l He is him-
self uncertain, and professes himself carelessly indifferent.
"God grant," he adds, "that as far as ambition is con-
cerned, my heart remain in this beatific tranquillity, for I
have no longer a shadow of an aspiration towards fame.
If I deserve it, I shall have it; if Heaven wills it, I shall
deserve it, so here again I am at peace. But there are
things higher still than ambition and glory, with which I
am occupied more ardently and more often. But what
mists enshroud them! What dreadful darkness reigns!
And how blessed are the careless ones who take no
thought of all this ! You know of what I speak. 1 1 is very
1 Correspondence, xcv.
. 107
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
easy to discard systems as I have done, but, if others are
to be built up, where find the foundations?"
In February, 1813, an attack of scarlet fever, compli-
cated with inflammation of the lungs, laid the young man
low, and for a time his life seemed in danger. A revival
of religious wavering and speculation is the result, and
again he turns to Virieu with the cry: "Tu as la clef de
mon cceur, tu y lis mieux que moi-mme." And tortured
with the same doubts he continues later: "I have had a
charming letter from Vignet; he informs me that he has
accepted Christianity with the most ardent faith, that he
communes, and that the comforting assurance he has
reached affords rest to his soul and imparts happiness to
his life. And I, dear friend, I also am now striving to re-
conquer faith. Day and night I am plunged in lugubrious
reveries and thoughts of the future, and all those things
it so behooves us to comprehend better. The long suffer-
ing I am undergoing brings me back to this with greater
energy: perhaps it will prove salutary and fortunate, for
who knows what the ends and means on high may be?
I only ask of Heaven the resignation which I lack and the
strength and light I need so sorely. Sometimes I feel
sweet consolation way down in my heart, at others all is
smothered in anguish. Come thou also to my aid. If ever
thy friendship can be useful and consoling to me, ah ! it is
during these painful periods when I sink without energy
and often without hope beneath the weight of physical
pain and distress of soul." l
Meanwhile, beneath all these gloomy meditations,
these vague and fitful yearnings and see-saw ambitions,
the passionate fires of youth burn unquenched. The old
Adam is seething in his blood, and although he is hardly
convalescent a projected visit to Paris absorbs him, to the
detriment of his poem "Saul," on which he works but
1 Correspondence, xcvm and c.
108
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
intermittently. The marriage of his eldest sister * and his
own precarious condition of health retard the journey.
For two months he neither writes nor reads verses; his
head is too weak; yet once in Paris he confidently believes
he can finish his "Saill." Three weeks later (April 18,
1813) it is from Paris he writes the faithful Aymon: "I
am still ill and obliged to be in at nightfall on account of
my chest and throat. It is very sad ; but I am patient and
happy enough at present, or at least resigned. My native
air is good for me neither physically nor morally : it should
not be breathed for more than six months of the year,
that is sufficient, otherwise it benumbs and causes one to
drowse." 2
Apparently Paris produced no such soporific effects.
In spite of enforced early hours, the young man's life was
not an exemplary one. His friends are all young and fond
of pleasure. His head is still too weak for work, but the
race-course at Longchamps attracts him. He yearns
for the guidance and moral support Virieu never fails to
give, and pathetically urges him to join him. "Oh! my
friend," the letter continues, "come to me; never did I
need you more. I don't know what possesses me; but I
am seriously trying to be virtuous, excepting on one or
two points on which I capitulate. You would help me ; I
am well intentioned, and if Heaven aids me to keep my
good resolutions, I will, I trust, one day become a man." 5
Dissipated and frivolous his present mode of life certainly
is, but the closing paragraph of this same letter denotes
how little real hold it has on his mind, what small impor-
tance he attaches to the opinions of his boon companions.
"X vient tous les matins me precher deux doigts
d'atheisme; mais il y perd son latin, j'en suis trop loin."
Nevertheless rumours of the young man's extrava-
1 Cecile, who married M. de Cessiat, and was the mother of Valentine.
1 Corre$pondance, ci. * Ibid., ci.
. . 109
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
gances had reached Macon. Madame de Lamartine notes
in her diary * that M. de Larnaud has written to Al-
phonse's uncle that his nephew's health was giving his
friends serious cause for worry. His friends have imbued
him with the passion for gaming: he passes his nights at
the house of a M. de Livry, a den where fortunes were
lost. The boy is working well and showing talent, the let-
ter adds, but says that gaming, study, and insomnia are
ruining his youth, and that the time has come to recall
him at all costs. "I left immediately for Paris," writes
the anxious mother, "with my second daughter, Eugenie,
whom I took into my confidence ; I took all the money my
husband had left in his bureau when he went to stay with
the Abb de Lamartine in Burgundy. My friend Madame
Paradis, my brother-in-law M. de Lamartine, and my
sister-in-law gave me more." 2
The devoted mother then wrote her husband to inform
him of her actions, and to mitigate, as far as in her power
lay, the scolding she knew was in store for her idolized
son. The rest is best given in her own words: "On reach-
ing Paris I avoided going to the hotel where he lodged,
fearing too great and too painful an emotion for him ; be-
sides, I feared, from the good M. de Larnaud's letter, lest
I find my child so changed that I should faint if I saw him
unprepared. I decided first to see Monsieur and Madame
de Larnaud secretly in order to explain and prepare mat-
ters. I went to an hotel in the rue de Richelieu, close to
his hotel; it was still early: God! how I suffered retard-
ing thus the pleasure of embracing him ; forced to await,
perhaps, until the morrow a visit or a reply from the
De Larnauds. I was overcome by anxiety, weeping and
1 The date of this entry is January 31, 1813, and the mother notes that
"Alphonse is in Paris." There is certainly confusion of dates, for the
Correspondance contains letters dated from Macon as late as March 28.
Alphonse probably left MScon for Paris the first days of April, 1813.
2 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 172.
. . no
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
praying on the sofa beside the open window. Eugenie
stood by the window watching the carriages pass on their
way to the Opera or the Thdatre Francois. Of a sudden
she cried : ' Mamma, come, I think I see Alphonse ! ' I
rushed to the window and recognized him. He was in an
elegant cabriolet which he drove himself, another young
man beside him. He seemed very gay and animated,
which reassured me greatly. All my anxiety vanished at
the sight of him: I did not desire to spoil his evening. I
passed a fairly good night. I was up betimes, impatient
to see my son, worried, nevertheless, concerning the
effect my unforeseen advent might have upon him, in
fear lest I find him ill and disinclined to return with me,
and perhaps in a serious predicament. Finally I wrote
him of my journey and its reasons. He came immedi-
ately; he seemed delighted to see us, and very apprecia-
tive of the steps we had taken. His health appeared to
me less bad than I had been led to expect. He told me
that for my sake he would return to M^con, but he would
have refused to do so with any one else. He begged a
few days to arrange his affairs. I gave him a week, as
I am not sorry of the opportunity of showing Paris to
Eug6nie." 1
On June 8, 1813, Lamartine wrote Virieu, from Paris:
" I have just received a famous scolding from my family:
I have quarrelled with them, at least with my uncles and
aunts, for with my father and mother, never; but it is im-
possible for me to return for some time yet to Macon; I
should be received there like a dog." 2 The next letter to
his friend is dated from Milly on November 9, and in it he
writes : ' ' I have just arrived from Paris. I am ill here with
the same malady I suffered from in Paris, and which all
remedies only aggravate. I see myself declining little by
little, and, as if physical ills were not sufficient, all manner
1 Manuscrit de ma mbe, p. 173. Correspondence, CO.
. . HI . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
of misfortunes have taken possession of my unhappy
person, and on all sides total ruin threatens." 1
Not a word of his mother's visit to Paris: no indication
of the date of her arrival there or of the length of her so-
journ. In the "Manuscrit de ma mere" the editor (who
as we know was Lamartine himself) has grouped frag-
mentary entries under the general heading of January 31,
1813. We can only conjecture the reasons for the mani-
fold suppressions and total disregard of chronological
sequence. Vanity dictated his actions, perhaps, yet he
does not spare himself when quoting his mother's words.
"I gave all my money to Alphonse," she writes, "in order
to free him from the debts he contracted in gambling
after having won considerably at first." And again: "At
last I tore Alphonse from this pit of seductions" : and far-
ther on: "The reception accorded me by my husband and
the family was very tender, but very cold for Alphonse.
He has resigned himself to our solitude; he works, he
reads, he writes all day in his room." 2
From November, 1813, to May of the following year no
letters have been handed down to us. The spectre of war
was stalking through the land, and for a time M&con was
the centre of important military operations. On Decem-
ber 31, 1813, the mother notes in her journal: "We have
taken refuge in M&con : every day the enemy is heralded ;
they are said to have already passed Geneva. I went to
Milly to hide a little wheat as a last resource in our emer-
gency." 3 And again on January 9, 1814: "The enemy is
at Besangon and near Lyons : it is expected that this place
will become a battlefield." A battlefield it did become.
French and Austrian troops disputed the possession of
the town and surrounding villages, until on March 10
the Austrians under General Bianchi drove out D'Auge-
1 Correspondence, cm.
* Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 175. * Ibid., p. 177.
. . 112
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
reau's forces, and established themselves in Macon. On
the 1 7th, Madame de Lamartine writes: " Alphonse is at
Milly, where there are also three hundred troopers: four
officers with their servants and horses are lodged in the
house. . . . Alphonse went on the loth, with the son of
M. de Pierreclos, to see the great battle near Villefranche.
For a moment they were surrounded by an Austrian corps
advancing under shelter of a hill. The speed of their
mounts saved them, but their clothing was pierced by
bullets, and one of their horses wounded. They were able
to reach Pierreclos and thence Milly, which had been
evacuated by the enemy." Again, on April 7, the mother
notes: "Alphonse was able to come to see us from Milly
and Saint- Point, where his father had left him to protect
our property and act as administrator for the two villages
of which he has been appointed Mayor. He has succeeded
well, and made himself beloved by the peasants, whom he
has reassured and protected: there have been no mis-
fortunes."
The Abdication of Fontainebleau (April 4) was only
known at Macon on Easter Sunday, April 10. From
Milly on the I5th, the pious woman offers thanks for the
protection which has been vouchsafed her: "In the
midst of all that has happened I have experienced no
personal loss. My children are all with me. I have kept
my son when so many have lost theirs. His health is im-
proving; he is even very well now. All that I ask of God
is to make a good Christian of him. I suppress, as far as
I can, all thoughts of ambition which rise in my heart: all
that I ask, I repeat it, is the welfare of his soul." l
The return of the Bourbons filled all the Lamartine
family with joy. They had been staunch and faithful
adherents to an apparently lost cause, and there now
seemed every possibility that their fidelity would be re-
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 186.
. 113
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
warded. With the advent of Louis XVIII a future, and a
brilliant one, might with some show of reason be counted
on for the only son of their house. Alphonse himself
shared this general expectancy of benefits to come. But
there is discernible, underlying his enthusiasm, a lack of
definite purpose, conveying, paradoxical as it must ap-
pear, almost an impression of indifference. To Virieu,
who was surveying the ground in Paris, and who had
apparently undertaken to urge his friend's claims for
some berth in the new government, Alphonse wrote (May
6, 1814):
"How are things going; what can we hope for? Must
I start without delay to join you? Can I remain a few
months longer in the peace of the country to reestab-
lish my health? How do you think the scales will turn?
Are we to become lazy musketeers or important diplo-
matists? Is any glimmer of a useful occupation percepti-
ble, or are we destined to remain lost in and slowly crawl-
ing with the mob of solicitants? This is what I am in-
clined to fear, at least as far as I am concerned. Write me
quickly about all this." l Ten days later this impatience
had subsided: possibly on account of less encouraging
news from Virieu, who, we gather, is pushing their joint
claims in rather a half-hearted manner. "What you say,
my dear friend, is only too true, we are already burnt out,
we have no longer the passions of our eighteenth year, we
are exhausted and have become philosophers. Is it a mis-
fortune? I don't know, but certainly it is going to be det-
rimental to our present plans. We don't put into them
that tenacity which is necessary for success; we go to
sleep, and then we quietly accept things; a state of affairs
which could not have existed four years ago." And in the
next paragraph the lack of determination, the floating
hesitancy, are apparent: "As far as I am concerned I
1 Correspondence, civ.
. . 114 ..
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
retire already from the ranks. My father tells me that
excepting a place in the Gardes du Corps nothing can be
hoped for; and I have lost no time in letting him know
that I don't care about it, unless it prove a stepping-
stone after five or six years to a place in the civil service."
M. de Lamartine pere was in Paris at this time, a member
of the provincial deputation sent to convey expressions
of loyalty to the Throne. 1 It is to be supposed that he
was vexed at his son's lack of enthusiasm to embrace a
career in which the family had distinguished itself for
generations. "We can do better than that insipid me-
chanical trade," had been Alphonse's disdainful comment
to Virieu. 2 Yet within two months Fate had decreed that
this despised "trade" was to be his after all. Virieu him-
self had joined the Gardes du Corps and was garrisoned
at Versailles: his example probably fired the reluctant
Alphonse to follow suit. When next we hear from him it
is from Beauvais a place he heartily detests.
Madame de Lamartine in her journal tells a wholly
different story of her son's martial ardour: "Alphonse,"
she writes, "had himself enrolled in the Gardes du Corps
with all the young men of the nobility and royalist bour-
geoisie of the provinces. He went off enchanted to enter
the service, and I am happy to know he is occupied, at
least for a time. His garrison is at Beauvais, when he is
not on service at the Tuileries. He will return in two
months to spend his leave with us. I don't believe he will
remain long in this corps in spite of his military ardour;
he has too much imagination and too active a mind for
this discipline in time of peace. But his father, his uncles,
and I are very glad that he should do as everybody else
and prove his devotion to the Bourbons: it will always
be some years passed: afterwards we shall see. The
Prince de Poix, who commands his company, was, they
1 Manuscrit de ma nrc t p. 189. * Correspondancc, cv.
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
say, enchanted with his appearance. He was immediately
appointed instructor in the riding-school : there he will be
in his element, for what he loves best after books are
horses." l
Lamartine himself gives a fatuous description of the
reception accorded him by the Prince de Poix when he
arrived at headquarters in Paris and was presented by his
father to his chief. 2 Two days after his enrolment in the
Gardes du Corps the young man was selected to accom-
pany Louis XVIII through the galleries of the Louvre.
Alphonse walked on the left of the rolling-chair in which
the King was seated, a crowd of courtiers and officials
following, and for four hours the young guardsman was
privileged to listen to the conversation between the old
monarch and those who showed him the artistic treasures
of his palace. 3
After a few weeks of service at the Tuileries Lamartine
was transferred to Beauvais, headquarters of the De
Noailles Regiment, to which he was attached. For three
months he fulfilled his military duties, which, if we are to
credit the " Correspondance," were not as congenial as he
painted them many years later in the " Mmoires inedits."
"Ah! what a bitter punishment the gods have inflicted
upon me," he wrote Virieu on July 26, 1814, from Beau-
vais. "O! per dio Bacco," he continued, "che m' ha
butato qui? Che cosa aveva fatto io al cielo per devenir
una macchina militare!" A few days later, August 3: "I
console myself in this wearisome place and still more
wearisome trade by taking walks of five or six hours
every day in the surrounding country, a book and a pencil
in my hand." These excursions were productive of nu-
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 193; cf. also Memoires inedits, p. 251.
1 Cf. Memoires inedits, p. 229; also Memoires politiques, p. 22. Lamar-
tine's commission in the Gardes du Corps was dated July 15, 1814; cf.
Archives of the Ministry of War.
3 Memoires inedits, p. 247; cf. also Memoires politiques, vol. i, pp. 25, 26.
116 . .
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
merous verses, for the "five or six hours" were most fre-
quently passed in some quiet nook stretched at full length
on the soft turf, in stockinged feet, "one long cavalry boot
serving as a desk, the other as a pillow." The letters to
Virieu written from Beauvais are full of delicate verses,
inspired partly by the peaceful rural surroundings. But
the garrison life is not to his liking, and, from his letters,
would seem to have been solitary, although in the "M6-
moires in6dits" he speaks of evenings spent with com-
rades discussing "literature, philosophy, and poetry."
And he adds that it was at Beauvais, with these compan-
ions, that he completed the studies which were one day to
bring him fame. Nevertheless, he was much alone, and
from preference. "Rien ne vaut la conversation avec
soi-meme," he wrote in his old age when describing from
memory the scenes of long ago. 1
The verses are now and then suggestive of Italy, but
the letter of August 3 contains a post-scriptum which re-
futes the more sentimental allusions in the "Memoires
inedits": "I am seeking to fall in love," he writes, "but
all the women are so ugly." 2 In the retrospective senti-
mentalism of the "M6moires indits" he asserts that he
was immune to the blandishments of the charmers who
fascinated his martial companions, because "le souvenir
de Graziella me gardait." 3 And, explaining his reasons
for his avoidance of the dissipated life of a garrison town,
he adds: "J'tais melancolique depuis mon depart de
Naples et la mort de Graziella." In the anacreontic
verses immediately preceding this period Graziella's in-
spiration is, in truth, still palpable: but the passionate
ring of a great love is lacking. The poetic effusions of the
young guardsman, enclosed in his letters to Virieu, show
no trace of tearful lamentation over the loss of the little
1 Correspondence, cvui, cix; Memoires inSdits, p. 252.
* Correspondence, cue. .-I * Memoires inedits, p. 251.
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
cigar-worker whose image, seen in retrospect, filled the
emotional outpourings of his later years. Alas! for the
frailty of youthful passions ! Many of the elegies "inspired
by Graziella and whispered in her ear" were a couple of
years later dedicated to "Elvire." l
The garrison life at Beauvais lasted three months.
Thence the young soldier went to Paris and home to
Macon on a more or less indefinite leave. " I confess that
I returned home very proud of my apprentissage and very
vain about my uniform," 2 he wrote in his old age; and
social triumphs would seem to have awaited the dashing
young fellow in his martial accoutrement. Yet the ear-
nestness of his nature, the melancholy of his genius, were
not long in reasserting their influences. In the "Corres-
pondance" there is a very beautiful letter to Virieu,
dated from Milly on .November 30, 1814, which paints
in harmonious colours the yearnings of his soul.
" You are the only one who really understands me," he
writes, "and by whom I want to be thoroughly under-
stood. Oh! of what immeasurably greater worth one
becomes, even in three days, in the peace of the fields!
How one rediscovers sentiments one thought forever
lost ! How greatly the soul is strengthened and the heart
invigorated! How the imagination spreads and warms
itself! I am full of it, I have re-found all this. ... All
that we felt so deeply in our happy times, I feel again
in the last three days. I recognize myself, and I discover
round about me a thousand forgotten sensations. I shall
not attempt to paint them for you, they are too strong,
too fleeting, too unseizable. Can you appreciate the
rainy, cloudy, stormy days here on our hills? Can you
understand the charm of those harmonious winds which
rattle my windows and cause our already leafless trees
to groan and hiss ? Can you picture to yourself the
1 Reyssi, op. tit., p. 161. * Mtmoires inSdits, p. 258.
IN THE GARDES DU CORPS
joy I experience, wrapped in my cloak and striding like
a man hard-pressed by the storm, through our dismantled
vineyards? Can you conceive the pleasures which habits,
even disagreeable ones, afford us when reassumed? Do
you understand how I even find a great charm in the
smoke which fills my little room, and the cold air which
filters through my badly closing casements, simply be-
cause things were so formerly? In truth, there are five or
six men in us; but the old self never dies, one re-finds it
when least expecting it. Yes, I have become again, midst
all these things, all that I was five years ago, all that we
were as we came fresh from the hands of admirable, ador-
able Nature. Would you believe it? I feel my heart
as full of delicious and sad sentiments as during the first
feverish attacks of my youth. I hardly know what vague
and sublime and infinite ideas pass through my brain
every moment, expecially at night, when I am shut up in
my cell and hear no other noises than those of rain and
wind. Yes, I believe that if, for my sins, I were to find
one of those woman's faces I used to dream about, I could
love her as our hearts could love, as much as mortal man
ever loved. My heart leaps in my breast, I feel it, I hear
it. God knows all it holds, all that it desires ! As for me I
both suffer and enjoy this state, and I feel the tears well
up. ... Who would have thought that I should become
again as I was before my heart had felt aught here be-
low?"
The epistle finishes as follows: " I have just re-read this
letter and beg you to keep it in order that we may com-
pare it with future days." 1
1 Correspondence, cxiv.
CHAPTER XI
AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND
THE winter of 1814-15 passed quietly enough between
Milly and sojourns with members of his family in Macon.
There is a lapse in the "Correspondance" extending over
three months, but M. Reyssi6 has published a letter ad-
dressed to M. de Freminville, whom Lamartine had
known and liked during his Italian wanderings, written
from M^con on January 25, 1815. From this it is appar-
ent that the young student had interested himself in
politics during the interval, in spite of the "sad state of
apathy and moral slackness" which makes the writer
"a burden unto himself." He complains of "floating be-
tween ennui and the stress of passions," but gives only
vague and indefinite hints as to facts.
M. de Freminville, in his reply on February 27, offers
advice and clears up some problems concerning consti-
tutional rights and privileges which had perplexed his
young friend. 1 But on March 3, 1815, Alphonse, en-
closing an elegy on Parny to Aymon de Virieu, an-
nounces his impending departure for Paris, and his re-
turn to Beauvais, there to bury himself for fourteen
months and to live on his pay alone. "I am hardly in
love any more, perhaps not at all," he writes, "but I
suffer greatly since those fair days. I don't know what
to do or whither to turn." The phrase is enigmati-
cal: is it to "Graziella" he refers, and to the careless
Neapolitan days? One is almost inclined to think so, for
he incontinently lapses into Italian: "Ma mi burlo di
tutto : da due anni ho preso un poco di corragio, e ne ho
1 Cf. Jeunesse de Lamartine, pp. 179-81; also Correspondance, cxv.,
. . 120
AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND
gran besogno. Ama mi come ti amo, e non saro affatto
infelice." *
Alphonse had applied for an extension of his leave of
absence, but before receiving an answer events occurred
which necessitated his hurried and immediate return.
On March I, 1815, Napoleon landed at Fr6jus and began
his progress to Paris. The news reached Macon a few
days later, bringing consternation to those who had
rallied around the standard of the Bourbons. On Easter
Day (March 26) Madame de Lamartine notes in her
journal: "Ah! what a difference between this Easter
and that last year! Our peace was only a dream." A few
months later, after a long interval of silence, she re-
capitulates the stirring events of the Hundred Days, and
mentions that "at the first news of the arrival of Bona-
parte, Alphonse started for Paris, where his duty and
his heart called him. He accompanied the King to Be-
thune under unimaginable difficulties and hardships." *
In the " Memoires inedits" Lamartine states that after
waiting several days, no orders to rejoin his regiment
having reached him, he started, with the Chevalier de
Pierreclos, for Paris. On the road a Polish officer at-
tempted to persuade him to join the Emperor's forces.
Lamartine fought with him in the garden of the inn, and
wounded him in the breast. While his companions car-
ried the disabled combatant to his bed, the young royal-
ist, surrounded by the brother-officers who had joined
him, hastened on to Paris. 3 He found the capital in a state
of enthusiasm, determined to perish rather than re-
ceive the fugitive from Elba within their walls. As the
Emperor approached, however, this enthusiasm evapo-
rated, and when the moment for action arrived opposi-
tion melted away. Eternally awaiting orders which
1 Correspondance, cxv. * Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 193.
1 Memoires inedits, p. 264; cf. also Mimoires politiques, vol. i, p. 27.
. . 121 .
LIFE 'OF LAMARTINE
never came, the Gardes du Corps were finally hustled
along behind the royal carriages and remnants of loyal
troops on the road to Lille and the Belgian frontier.
Stricken with fever and overpowered by fatigue, the
young guardsman was nursed by peasants in their hovel ;
but twenty-four hours later he rejoined his comrades
and with them entered the town of Bethune, two leagues
distant from the Belgian frontier. 1 There they were
informed that the King had crossed into Belgium, and
that, freed from their oath of allegiance, they might
either follow Louis XVIII into exile or return to their
homes. There were considerable hesitation and debate
among the young enthusiasts as to what course to pur-
sue. Lamartine took part in the discussion. "It was the
first time I spoke in public," he says. "Beloved by many
of my comrades and honoured, in spite of my extreme
youth, with a certain authority among them, I climbed,
at the request of some of my friends, on a gun-carriage,
and refuted the arguments of a musketeer who had
strongly and brilliantly advocated emigration. To emi-
grate," I argued, "is to confess ourselves beaten on the
ground where we must fight. We are more useful to our
cause as friends within the frontier than we could be
as soldiers beyond the limits of our country. It is by
influencing public opinion that we must wage battle."
Five or six young men followed the King of Belgium ; the
others adopted the opinions of the orator whose maiden
speech had convinced them that true patriotism, as well
as efficient loyalty to the cause they served, dictated
passive resistance at home. "A step farther," he had
urged, "would denationalize us, and leave us only re-
grets, perhaps one day remorse." 2
In the "Confidences" Lamartine relates that a few
1 Confidences, p. 294.
1 Ibid., p. 295; cf. also Memoires inedits, pp. 273, 296.
. . 122
AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND
days later they capitulated to the Bonapartist general
when he entered B6thune, and were permitted by him to
return singly to their homes. In the "M6moires in-
dits" he writes that an acquaintance who had been
driven by circumstances to enlist in the imperialist
forces, came to him and offered him a horse, civilian
dress, and money, wherewith to effect his escape to
Paris and Micon. Disguised as a horse-dealer the ex-
guardsman set forth. At Abbeville the fever seized him
anew, and for several days he lay ill, carefully nursed by
the landlady and her daughters, who had easily pene-
trated his disguise. His new friends refused all payment
for their attentions, professing themselves amply re-
warded by the privilege of ministering to the wants
of an officer of the King. 1 Having reached the out-
skirts of Paris the fugitive was met with the problem of
how to enter the capital without exciting suspicion. He
made his presence known to a livery-stable keeper who
had on former occasions hired him carriages and horses,
and sometimes lent him money. This friend in need re-
sponded to his appeal, and meeting him at Saint-Denis,
drove him without difficulty to Paris. During the few
days he passed incognito in the capital Lamartine saw
the Emperor as he reviewed his troops in the place du
Carrousel. "It needed the prism of glory and the illu-
sion of fanaticism," he wrote, "to discern in his person,
at this period, the ideal of intellectual beauty, of innate
royalty, by which marble and bronze have later flattered
his image in order that it be adored. His sunken eye wan-
dered anxiously over troops and people. His mouth
smiled mechanically on the crowd, his thoughts being
obviously elsewhere. A certain appearance of doubt
and hesitancy was noticeable in all his movements. One
saw that he felt the ground was not solid under his feet,
1 Mtmoires inedits, p. 277; cf. also Mtmoires politiques, vol. I, p. 29.
. . 123
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
and that he doubted his luck even now when he again sat
on the throne." 1
Lamartine spent a week in Paris mingling with the
crowd and observing the strangely mixed aspects of the
political situation. Mounting the horse which had car-
ried him from B6thune, the young traveller at length set
out again to reach his uncle's chateau of Montculot, near
Dijon. In Burgundy he found the population much
less royalist than in the north, and was not free from in-
sults and even molestation on the part of the labourers
in the fields. On one occasion he was even driven to show
fight and make a display of the sword-stick he carried
on his arm, breaking the weapon at the hilt. His aggres-
sors took to their heels, and the traveller, throwing away
the compromising remnant of his sword, reached the
neighbouring town of Chcitillon-sur-Seine, he hoped
unperceived. But his action had been observed, and
scarcely had he installed himself at the inn before the
captain of gendarmerie appeared and demanded explana-
tions. Fortunately, he proved to be a friend of the elder
Lamartine, who, taking in the situation at a glance, con-
nived at the young traveller's escape. Next day, after
weary wanderings in an unfriendly country, he reached
Montculot in safety, and after a long rest proceeded with-
out further adventure to Micon. It was speedily apparent,
however, that he would not be left long unmolested, for
the Emperor's agents were uncomfortably active. Urged
by his family he decided to seek shelter in Switzerland. 2
For a while the fugitive lay concealed with friends in
the isolated chateau belonging to M. de Maizod, near
Saint-Claude in the Jura, within a stone's throw of the
frontier. But news having reached him that the Em-
peror's agents were scouring the country for recruits, he
1 Confidences, p. 298; cf. also Mbnoires politiques, vol. I, p 30.
1 Mimoires inidits, pp. 278-81. '
. . I2 4 . .
AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND
hastily donned the rough dress worn by the local peas-
antry, and, a gun slung over his shoulder, passed unchal-
lenged through the cordon of frontier guards to Saint-
Cergues, within Swiss territory. "I had neither credit
nor letters, nor recommendations, nor papers of any kind
wherewith to open to me any doors in Switzerland,"
he writes in the "Confidences." 1 But this was not
strictly the case, since he mentions in the "Memoires
in6dits" that he carried a letter to M. Reboul, a well-
known inhabitant of Saint-Cergues. 2 Reboul had fre-
quently acted as guide to Madame de Stael and her
friends during the Revolution, assisting them, with his
intimate knowledge of the surrounding country, in their
secret comings and goings between the neighbouring
Chateau de Coppet and France. To Reboul Lamartine
turned not only for a night's lodging, but for advice and
counsel. A stranger in a strange land, with but the few
gold pieces his mother had given him in his pocket, it
would be necessary to find some one who would answer
for him in case he became an object of suspicion to the
local police on the lookout for emissaries Napoleon was
supposed to have despatched to undermine the author-
ity of the Bernese in the Canton de Vaud. Reboul men-
tioned Madame de Stael, at Coppet, but on further
consideration urged rather an appeal to Baron de Vincy,
whose chateau glistened in the sunshine a few leagues dis-
tant. The Baron had formerly been in the French serv-
ice, and still acted, Lamartine asserts, as "superior
agent of France in Switzerland." * To him the young
exile determined to address himself in order to receive
the documents he lacked, or some sort of recognition
which would enable him to avoid molestation on the part
of the local authorities.
1 Page 300. * Page 296.
1 Cf. Confidences, p. 301, and Mtmoires intdits, p. 300.
. . I2 5 .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
It was the month of May: a glorious sunrise in a cloud-
less sky. A few steps from Saint-Cergues the magnifi-
cent and boundless panorama of lake and Alps burst
upon the young traveller. " I was intoxicated by the Al-
pine scenery I had for the first time had a mere glimpse
of some years previously (April, 1812). I halted at every
turn of the steep descent; I rested at every spring, in the
shade of the most beautiful chestnuts, to drink in, so
to speak, this splendid landscape through my eyes." 1
Dawdling thus it was midday before he reached the
Chateau de Vincy, which nestled under aged trees, its
sweeping lawns affording entrancing perspectives of
shimmering water and soft-hued distant snows. Dusty,
roughly clad, and friendless, the exile hesitated to knock
at the imposing portals. Needs must, however; for a
passport of some description would be imperative for
a prolonged sojourn.
The Baron received the wayfarer courteously, but
without enthusiasm, although he detected without dif-
ficulty that his visitor belonged to a station in life other
than that indicated by his attire. In his "Confidences"
Lamartine states that, after questioning him politely,
but closely, M. de Vincy prepared a letter of introduc-
tion to a Bernese magistrate; but in the "Memoires in-
edits" he writes that the Baron gave him a vise for Neu-
chatel. From the latter souvenirs, often more explicit,
we 'gather that the young guardsman entertained some
scheme of joining the Prince of Polignac, who was sup-
posed to have organized an armed force near Neuchatel,
at La Chaux de Fonds, where a certain Abbe Lafond was
in charge. Be this as it may, on receipt of the paper the
Baron handed him the young man took his leave. 2
1 Confidences, p. 301 ; cf. also Memoires politiques, vol. i, p. 35.
1 Memoires inedits, p. 302, and same page in Confidences; cf. Memoires
politiques, vol. I, p. 35.
126
AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND
As Lamartine was thanking his host on the doorstep,
two ladies appeared, evidently the wife and daughter of
the house. They scanned the well-set-up youth atten-
tively, but merely bowed as he went on his way. Hardly
had he reached the village street, however, before he was
recalled (by a servant, in the account given in the "Con-
fidences"; by Madame de Vincy herself, according to the
"M6moires in6dits") and invited to remain for the mid-
day meal. After dinner, accompanied by Monsieur and
Madame de Vincy and their son and daughter, Lamar-
tine again set forth, but on taking leave of his hosts was
urged to stay a few days at the chateau. Although the
name which was later to become so famous was totally
unknown to them, Lamartine had mentioned mutual
friends during the conversation at the dinner table, and
it was easy to discern under the rough disguise he wore
a gentleman born and bred. The young man interested
his hosts; his hatred of Bonaparte appealed to their po-
litical prejudices; but strongest of all would seem to have
been Madame de Vincy's sympathy with the exiled
youth, who reminded her of a son, about his age, then
fighting with the Dutch troops. So it was decided he
should be their guest awhile, and under their roof await
the turn of events. To this day Lamartine's bedchamber
is shown to visitors at the Chateau de Vincy, together
with relics of his sojourn and subsequent intercourse
with the family. 1
Not far from Vincy, down towards Geneva and on
the lake shore, lies Coppet, then occupied by Madame
de Stael. Lamartine was, as we know, an ardent ad-
mirer of this gifted woman, whose books had charmed
his solitude at Milly. It was natural he should wish to see
this heroine of his dreams. There was a difficulty, how-
1 The Chateau de Vihcy, near Rolle, now belongs to M. Gabriel de Les-
sert, to whom the author is indebted for interesting details.
. 127
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
ever; political opinions divided the households of Vincy
and Coppet, and Lamartine as the guest of the one hesi-
tated to present himself at the gates of the other. Ma-
dame de Vincy had herself hinted that it would distress
her should he do so while under their roof. But his desire
to catch a glimpse of the famous authoress, at least, was
legitimate, and might be indulged without giving of-
fence. Early one morning the young man left the Chateau
de Vincy and posted himself on the roadside, as he
had heard that Madame de Stael, accompanied by her
friend Madame Rdcamier, often passed that way on
their daily drives. After hours of patient waiting he was
rewarded with a fleeting glimpse of the two celebrated
women one the cleverest, the other the most beauti-
ful, in Europe as the carriage flashed past. "I had
hardly time to see, through the dust of the wheels, a
woman with black eyes who talked with gesticulations
to another whose face might have served as the type of
the only real beauty, the beauty which charms and
holds."
Of the impressions left by this fleeting glimpse of the
inhabitants of Coppet, that produced by the lovely face
of Madame Recamier was the deepest and most lasting.
Lamartine disliked literary women, although his affec-
tion and admiration for Delphine Gay, afterwards Ma-
dame de Girardin, was sincere. In a letter to Mademoi-
selle de Canonge he criticized his friend's opinion of a
recent political work by the author of "Corinne," ex-
claiming: " In philosophy and literature I regard Madame
de Stael as a great man : in politics as a most insignificant
little woman." 2
In the " Memoires inedits," on what authority we know
1 Confidences, p. 308; cf. also Memoires inedits, p. 318; Cours de litter ature,
vol. ii, p. 255.
* Correspondance, CXLIX; cf. also Cours de liUerature, vol. iv, p. 470.
. . 128
AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND
not, Lamartine states that the Chateau de Coppet had
been purchased by his grandfather early in the eighteenth
century, but that the Bernese authorities forbidding
Catholics to hold property in the Canton de Vaud, he
had resold it. 1
After three weeks of this pleasant life, the young
Frenchman, fearing his continued presence might em-
barrass his kind hosts, reluctantly decided to continue
his wanderings. In the "Confidences" he tells us that
alone and dressed as a workman he visited some of the
most beautiful and wildest portions of Helvetia; but in
the "Memoires inedits" he refers only to his desire to
join the French refugees supposedly assembled at La
Chaux de Fonds. 2 In this he was disappointed, however,
for the army he had heard about consisted of the Abbe"
Lafond, neither more nor less. Duped in his expectations
of aiding to overthrow the hated Napoleonic regime,
Lamartine continued his journey to Berne, thence return-
ing to Vincy, and finally settling for a couple of weeks in
a fisherman's hut at Nernier, on the southern shore of
Lake Leman. The fifty louis 3 his mother had provided
him with had dwindled alarmingly during these weeks of
travel, and he foresaw the necessity of seeking a tutor-
ship in England or Russia should the political situation in
France prolong his exile. For the time being the strict-
est economy was imperative. At Nernier the boatman
provided a room in an outhouse, overhanging the waters
of the lake, at the moderate charge of five sous per day,
while at the cost of seventy-five centimes he undertook
to feed his guest. The menu consisted, writes Lamartine,
of good bread, eggs, lake trout, and goat-cheese, washed
down with country wine, and the total of his expenses
1 Memoires inedits, p. 316.
* Confidences, p. 310; Memoires inedits, p. 321.
* Twenty-five according to Confidences, p. 312.
129
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
was a franc a day. 1 At this rate his funds might be ex-
pected to hold out until the Allies had driven the Emperor
from France : and they did. Charming descriptions of this
simple life are to be found in both volumes of souvenirs ;
highly coloured and in part imaginative as is his wont, but
substantially true. There is the inevitable romance with
the boatman's lovely daughter, no poetic description of
Lamartine's is complete without it, but it was a naive
and innocent romance wherein no hearts were broken.
In the "Memoires inedits" he states that it was the
end of June when he crossed the lake on a stormy day to
take up his quarters at Nernier, and that a month later
he was still musing and loafing about the secluded neigh-
bourhood. But there is an evident confusion of dates.
It is probable that the news of the battle of Waterloo
reached him within a week after that event (June 18,
1815), for the Chateau de Vincy was just across the lake
and he was in communication with its well-informed in-
habitants. Nor could he long have remained in igno-
rance of the second abdication (June 22), which opened
the door to the restoration of the dynasty he served. He
tarried on at Nernier a fortnight after having been ap-
prised of these momentous tidings, it is true, but the
middle of July at the latest must have seen him in
France. In the "Manuscrit de ma mere," under date
of July 22, we note the entry: "Alphonse est encore a
Paris." 2 Unreliable as this much-edited "Journal" often
is, it would appear more than probable that the young
guardsman lost no unnecessary time in hastening to
place his sword at the disposal of the sovereign whose
cause he had been anxious to espouse a few weeks earlier
at La Chaux de Fonds.
1 Cf. Memoir es intdits, p. 330; also Confidences, p. 310, and Mtmoires
politiques, vol. I, p. 37.
* Manuscrit de ma mbre, p. 195.
. . 130
K I
_ i
* I
a H
2 S
Qj ^
AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND
"These first months of my political life," pompously
wrote Lamartine in later years, when describing his
few weeks of exile in Switzerland, "were romantic,
sad, full of dreams and sometimes of the joys of creative
imagination." He did not believe in the lasting success of
Napoleon's attempt to reconquer the imperial throne,
for he considered that the constitutional liberties guar-
anteed by the restored Bourbons must prevail over the
military tyranny of the Empire. France dreaded a victory
almost as much as a defeat, for the one spelt the ruin
of liberal institutions and the other humiliation to the
nation. 1 Moved by these considerations the young exile
addressed a political letter to Carnot, Minister of the
Interior. "I reproached him," states Lamartine, "in
bitter terms, imbued, nevertheless, with a remnant of
esteem and hope, with having accepted from the tyrant
the task of repudiating the republic, and of allying him-
self, he, the military Tribune of the Terror, guilty of con-
descension towards the lictors of the Committee of
Public Safety, with the author of the i8th Brumaire,
and with decorating himself with the title of Count
a refutation of all his principles. I took him to task for
his concessions to the reborn tyranny; I urged him to
raise his voice, and at least to impose certain civic re-
straints on the prostration at all costs which was scan-
dalizing alike royalists and republicans. France, then,
might believe in him and rise, not at the word of a tainted
leader, but on her own account." 2 It is probable that
Lamartine cites from memory when transcribing this
political effusion, and that it was never actually forwarded
to its address. He doubts it himself, although he had
confided it to the sure and friendly hands of M. de
Lamarre, whom he had met at the Chateau de Vincy,
and who, although formerly a republican, had become
1 Memoires poliliques, vol. I, p. 38. * Ibid., vol. I, p. 39.
131
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
an ardent royalist, and was, moreover, an active conspira-
tor against the restoration of Bonaparte.
The writing of political pamphlets, however, did not
occupy all the exile's time. A mild flirtation with the boat-
man's daughter, long excursions in the neighbourhood,
books, and the companionship of a dog which had at-
tached itself to the solitary young philosopher, filled the
glorious summer hours. "Partout ou il y a un malheu-
reux, Dieu envoie un chien," l wrote the poet in later
years, and certainly few men have loved dogs as he
did, or understood them more thoroughly. "Since being
adopted by this dog," he adds, "my solitude has ceased.
He never left me; we loved each other, we walked, we
slept together. He had divined me and I understood him."
Alas! this devotion was to cost the poor animal its life.
When the hour came for the inevitable separation La-
martine started out to row to Geneva with the boatman's
daughter, leaving the faithful dog behind. Hardly were
they a hundred yards from shore when they discerned
"Zerbois" swimming after them. The effort proved too
much for the faithful beast, and he expired at his friend's
feet when drawn into the skiff.
Before leaving Nernier, Lamartine, as a token of grati-
tude for the charming hospitality he had received at her
home, sent Mademoiselle de Vincy the verses entitled
"1'Hirondelle," which for some unexplained reason are
not inserted in his poetical works, but which figure in the
"Confidences" and of which the original manuscript is
jealously preserved in the family archives at Vincy. In
after years he never passed along the road leading be-
tween Lausanne and Geneva, he says, without casting a
grateful glance towards the eighteenth-century mansion
which crowns the vine-clad slopes midway between the pine
forests of the Jura and the gleaming waters of the lake. 2
1 Memoir es inedits, p. 347. * Confidences, p. 313.
. . 132 . .
AN EXILE IN SWITZERLAND
From Geneva, or its neighbourhood, the wanderer set
out for Chambry, threading his way through the lanes
of Chablais and the picturesque passes of Savoy. Cor-
dially received by his old school-friend, Louis de Vignet,
he became for a while one of the household of the Maistre
family, whose representatives, Counts Joseph and Xa-
vier, were and are among the literary glories of France.
Charmed with the young poet, who recited some of the
verses he had recently composed in the boatman's hut
at Nernier, Count Joseph, late Sardinian Ambassador
to Russia, consulted him concerning his own work, and,
so Lamartine assures us, readily accepted his correc-
tions of style and taste. 1
Lamartine in this retrospective vision pictures him-
self as remaining "some weeks" in the bosom of the
Maistre family, until a letter from his mother informed
him that he could safely venture home. The regiments
of the Gardes du Corps had been re-formed, and after
a hasty visit to his family, who had taken refuge during
the Hundred Days at the secluded country-seat at Milly,
Alphonse proceeded to Paris to rejoin his comrades.
Transferred again to Beauvais, the dull garrison life
soon palled, and within a few weeks the young soldier
definitely resigned his commission. 2
1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 42.
1 Memoires inedits, p. 368; also Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 47.
CHAPTER XII
THE INFLUENCE OF BYRON
LAMARTINE'S interest in politics had been awakened.
Too young as yet, and too inexperienced, he could not
aspire to public life ; but his ambitions were now centred
on entering on a political career through the portals of
diplomacy. While still fulfilling his military duties at
Beauvais, his mind was active over the social and eco-
nomic problems of the hour. A highly significant letter to
his uncle, the venerated head of the family, gives us an
inkling of the new interests which were seething in his
restless brain.
He writes: "You have been forced, like every one
else, to turn your thoughts toward politics; it is at pres-
ent the universal theme, and even youths have taken it
up enthusiastically. I must confess to you, but I beg
that it remain exclusively between us, that I have my-
self written on these subjects; at first some insignificant
general impressions, afterwards more comprehensive es-
says adapted to present circumstances. I had intended
them merely for personal use, but having read them to
several distinguished persons, they strongly urged me to
print them. I had no money, and publishers don't accept
the maiden writings of unknown authors at their own
risks. I did chance, however, submitting my manuscript
to a publisher. He had it examined by several literary
men of his acquaintance, and on reading it himself imme-
diately accepted it at his own expense, agreeing to share
profits ; an extremely rare, almost unheard-of bargain for
a beginner. 'What age is the author?' he asked the per-
son who submitted the manuscript. 'He is not yet
- 134
THE INFLUENCE OF BYRON
twenty-four,' was the answer. 1 'He will be somebody at
forty,' cried the publisher. My manuscript was conse-
quently in press; but as the secret of my name was al-
ready known to five or six people, and as the subject was
an extremely delicate one likely to cause some stir, per-
haps even scandal, I decided in time to withdraw it and
to bury it in obscurity." 2
In "Raphael" Lamartine speaks of a pamphlet of a
hundred pages or so which he wrote about this time en-
titled: "Quelle est la place qu'une noblesse peut occuper
en France dans un gouvernement constitutional?" He
treated his subject, he tells us, "with the clear, instinctive
good sense with which nature endowed me, and with the
impartiality of a young independent mind which rises
without difficulty above the vanities of the upper classes,
the envy of the lower, and the prejudices of his time. I
spoke lovingly of the people, intelligently of the institu-
tions, with respect of that historical nobility whose names
were for long identical with France herself on battlefields,
in the magistracy, and abroad." The writer urged the
suppression of all privileges of the nobility and demanded
an elective peerage on the British lines. 3 In this account
the opinion of the publisher to whom his work was sub-
mitted becomes that of M. Monnier, who had been shown
the pamphlet by "Julie" (Madame Charles): "M. Mon-
nier," writes Lamartine, "after reading my work, asked
Julie who was the politician who had written these pages.
She smiled and acknowledged that it was the work of a
very young man who had no reputation, no experience,
nor previous training."
Count Fremy, in his "Lamartine diplomate" (1820-
30), affirms that at M. Monnier's desire Lamartine under-
1 As the letter is dated November n, 1815, Lamartine had attained
his twenty-fifth year on the 2 1st of the preceding month.
1 Correspondence, cxvi. ' Raphael, p. 321.
. . 135 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
took the task of expounding the r61e the old French nobil-
ity might be called upon to play under a representative
government. But he gives no information as to whether
the manuscript ever reached the printer's hands. 1
Be this as it may, it is certain that the young man's
ambitions were deeply stirred. The desire for a diplo-
matic appointment as attache to some embassy in Italy
or Germany was becoming paramount. " Nous avons
beaucoup d'esperances," wrote his mother on the subject
during the autumn. 2 It is obvious that the fear of jeop-
ardizing these hopes through the publication of truths or
theories unpalatable to the Government of the Restora-
tion counselled the sacrifice of other ambitions. Perhaps
his "royalism, mixed with Greek and Roman conceptions
of tyranny" played a prominent part in the essay. "Al-
though a royalist," he writes in his political souvenirs
(published in 1863), "I strongly combated in the salons
where I was beginning to be received, the implacable
resentment of some young fanatics who exacted from the
King and his Government a bloody vengeance, possessing
no consolidating virtues for the Restoration."" 3 And he
goes on to lament the weakness displayed by Louis XVIII
in yielding, against his better judgment, to the "frenzy"
of the leading royalists in the Chamber and political
salons. This "gilded Reign of Terror," as he pictur-
esquely describes it, gradually estranged him from the
political party which would have enrolled him had it
shown itself less implacable and vindictive. He yearned
for an active life, it is true, but individual liberty played
and continued to play, throughout his career, a predomi-
nating r61e. Diplomacy seemed to offer the scope best
adapted to the development of the talents he felt he
possessed: "J'avais le sentiment de mon aptitude," he
1 Cf. op. '/., p. 12. * Manuscrit de ma mre, p. 194.
Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 47.
. I 3 6
THE INFLUENCE OF BYRON
writes, "la volontd ferme d'y parvenir, et un sentiment
politique invincible qu'on pouvait appeler ma destine."
Before following our hero through the mazes of the
most serious sentimental passion of his life, which was
to ripen and mould his poetic genius, we must examine
an episode, insignificant in itself, yet too highly charac-
teristic to be overlooked. As we have seen, reality and
romance were one and inseparable to Lamartine. The
dividing line between fact and fiction was to his eyes
imperceptible. On the flimsiest foundations he erected
sumptuous structures, lavishly furnishing them with illu-
sions and peopling them with fantastic replicas of flesh
and blood realities. A recent French writer has aptly
termed Lamartine's adroitness, when enlarging on the
hazy memories of the past, "hallucinations retrospec-
tives." l The phenomenon we are about to examine is
characteristic of this frequent inversion of facts. In the
commentary which follows the "Meditation" entitled
"1'Homme," which is addressed to Lord Byron, Lamar-
tine states: " I heard him mentioned for the first time by
one of my old friends who returned from England in 1819.
The mere recital of some of his poems set my imagination
on fire. I knew English but imperfectly then, and nothing
of Byron's had as yet been translated. The following
summer, being in Geneva, one of my friends who resided
there pointed out to me one evening, on the shore of Lake
Leman, a young man who disembarked from a skiff and
mounted his horse to return to one of the delicious villas
reflected in the waters of the lake. My friend told me
that this young man was a famous English poet called
Lord Byron." And he adds: " I was then quite unknown,
very poor, a wanderer, very discouraged with life." 2
Lamartine was certainly in Geneva in June, 1820; but
1 Edmond Est&ve, Byron et le romaniisme fran$ais, pp. 56 and 318.
* (Euores competes, vol. I, p. 88.
137
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Byron was not. Moreover, Lamartine was at this date on
his honeymoon, already celebrated through the recent
publication of the "Meditations poetiques," and on his
way to take up his duties as Secretary of Legation at
Naples consequently neither unknown, poor, nor dis-
couraged. Yet in this same commentary he affirms that
on his return to Milly that winter he shut himself in his
room and wrote in pencil, on his knees, almost without a
single hesitation, and in ten hours, his "Meditation" on
Lord Byron. But when we turn to the "Memoires poli-
tiques" it would seem that the poem was written in 1816,
and that it was his recital of these same verses which first
impressed his father with a true appreciation of his son's
talent. As a result of his father's enthusiasm, "Je me
sentis maitre de mon instrument," he writes when de-
scribing the scene. 1 Fortunately these dates may be more
or less accurately controlled by reference to the "Cor-
respondance." From Milly, under date of October 20,
1819, Lamartine enclosed in a letter to Virieu a series of
fragments of his "Meditation" on Lord Byron (entitled
"Meditation Dix-septieme, a Lord Byron"), on which he
had been working for "over a month." The poem opens
with lines substantially the same as in the final version
published in the "CEuvres completes" in i86o. 2
The "Cours de littrature" contains what must be
accepted as a purely apocryphal account of a vision (it
^ was hardly more) of Byron, which the author leads us to
suppose was vouchsafed him in 1816. Mentioning on the
same page his fleeting glimpse of Madame de Stael (1815),
Lamartine relates: "The following summer circumstances
which had nothing to do with literature forced me to seek
a hidden retreat in the mountains and most secluded val-
leys of pastoral Savoy. At the end of October, I ventured
1 Memoires politicoes, vol. I, p. 56.
2 Cf. Correspondence, ccv; also ccvu.
I 3 8
THE INFLUENCE OF BYRON
forth, in the disguise of a German student, a knapsack on
my shoulder, leather gaiters on my feet, and a book in my
hand, to be nearer Geneva. I asked hospitality in an
abandoned chalet in Chablais, on the edge of deep woods
and on the most lonely shores of Lake Leman." The de-
scription which follows is practically that of his retreat at
Nernier during the Hundred Days, and leads us to sup-
pose that he had, perhaps unwittingly, selected the same
scene depicted in "Les Confidences" and the "Memoires
inedits."
Long solitary walks filled his days. On one occasion,
when he had wandered farther than usual on the road
leading towards Evian, a sudden terrific thunder-storm
burst over the mountains and swept across the lake, lash-
ing its waves to fury. Together with an old beggar and
two shepherd-boys, Lamartine took shelter under a pro-
jecting rock at the very edge of the seething lake. Sud-
denly he heard voices out on the water, and tossed on the
angry waves a boat came in view. "A beautiful young
man, with a foreign face and rather queer dress, was
seated in the stern of the yacht. He held in one hand the
rope attached to the sail, in the other he grasped the tiller;
four rowers, drenched with spray, bent over the oars.
The young man, although pale and his locks buffeted by
the wind, seemed more attentive to the majesty of the
scene than to the danger his boat ran." A few seconds
later the skiff and its crew was swallowed up in the inky
blackness of the storm, but to Lamartine's questions as
to who the stranger might be, the old beggar replied that
he was a noble English lord residing in Geneva. "A few
days later," continues Lamartine, " I read in the 'Journal
de Geneve' that it was a young and great poet of the
name of Byron who had run great peril during this stormy
evening." l
1 Cours de litttratwe, vol. n, pp. 256-61.
139
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Readers of Thomas Moore's "Notices of the Life of
Lord Byron" will remember the passage in Byron's letter
to Mr. Murray, dated from Ouchy, June 27, 1816, in
which he describes a perilous adventure on the lake.
"Three days ago," he writes, "we were most nearly
wrecked in a squall off Meillerie, and driven to shore. I
ran no risk, being so near the rocks, and a good swimmer;
but our party were wet, and incommoded a good deal.
The wind was strong enough to blow down some trees, as
we found at landing; however, all is righted and right, and
we are thus far on our return." x Byron spent the months
of June, July, and September, 1816, at the Villa Diodati,
near Geneva, but on October 9 he was at Martigny:
"Thus far on my way to Italy."
It is, of course, within the bounds of possibility that
Lamartine visited the southern shore of Lake Leman dur-
ing the autumn of 1816. In a letter to Virieu, dated from
M&con on December 8, he mentions his return from Aix-
les-Bains, where he had gone for the cure. 2 Yet the entry
in his mother's journal of October 16 describes the mar-
riage of her daughter Eugenie, and specifically states: "I
had all my children round me; Cecile and Alphonse had
arrived shortly before." 3 Again, Byron's adventure took
place on June 24, in all probability, and on June 28 La-
martine wrote to M. de Vaugelas from his uncle's chateau
at Montculot, near Dijon, where he has been "depuis une
quinzaine." 4
When in 1856 Lamartine wrote the dramatic account
of this glimpse of Byron, it is permissible to presume that
he had already perused Moore's "Life "of the author
of "Childe Harold," accessible to readers familiar with
English in 1832. As early as 1818, however, fragments of
1 The Works of Lord Byron, edited by Thomas Moore, vol. in, p. 246.
Shelley was his companion on the tour round the lake. Cf. op. tit., p. 282.
1 Correspondance, cxxi.
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 196. * Correspondance, cxx.
. . 140
THE INFLUENCE OF BYRON
"Childe Harold," "The Corsair,";' Lara," etc., had been
translated and had appeared in the'" Bibliotheque Univer-
selle," a literary magazine then published in Geneva. 1
"Hallucinations retrospectives" these purely imagi-
nary visions of Byron certainly were. But the influence of
the English bard can hardly be exaggerated. Lamartine
wrote a "Life of Byron" which is not included in the
"(Euvres completes," but has remained buried in the
columns of the " Constitutionnel " (September 26 to De-
cember 2, 1865). There is no question of a personal meet-
ing, but the French poet describes at length the manner
in which Byron was "revealed" to him. Composed at a
date considerably posterior to either the "Commentary"
on the "Ode to Byron" (1849), or the "Entretien" in the
"Cours de littrature" (1856) which mention the "vi-
sion," it discloses, nevertheless, the germ from which both
these fantastic anecdotes sprang. It was in 1818, during
"the last five days of October." * Alphonse was at Milly
when he received a letter from his friend Louis de Vignet,
who had been taking the waters at vian and had re-
cently visited Geneva. "He [Vignet] had heard speak of
a young English lord, whose life was a mystery one dared
not probe, but whose verses were a marvel one could not
tire of admiring. Knowing with what distaste I read the
insipid poetry of the Empire, and with what prophetic
yearning I awaited, as did he also, the revelation of a new
poetic era, Louis sent me to Milly everything of the Eng-
lish poet which the publisher Paschoud, of Geneva, could
1 Ren6 Waltz, Lamartine, (Euvres choisies, p. 4. In 1817 and 1818 the
Bibliotheque Universelle translated and published extracts of "Childe Har-
old," "The Prisoner of Chillon," "The Corsair," "Lara," "The Giaour,"
etc., etc. But as early as 1809 Lamartine had begun the study of English,
and in i8n he had in his speech before the Academy of Macon dwelt on
the advantages of intellectual communion between nations by means of
their literatures. Cf. also Gustave Lanson, Lamartine, vol. i, p. 21.
* Le Constitutionnel (Paris), September 26, 1865. Cf. also Byron et U
romaniisme fran&is, p. 519 et seq.
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
get for him. I had myself vaguely heard while in Italy of
a young man whose name was not precisely known, but
whose private life caused much whispering in London,
and whose genius filled that town with amazement. They
had even repeated to me some of his verses, of which the
mere intonation transported me to a new world of poetry
and imagery." "Childe Harold" was the first revelation
Lamartine had of Byron's genius, and the night was
passed in ecstatic communion with the magician who held
him with a spell rendering him oblivious to time and
place. 1
Yet pessimist and fatalist as Lamartine could be
during the psychological crises of his youth, he was at
heart too much the optimist to go far with Byron's
philosophy. He admired, but was frightened. He recog-
nized in Byron what he might himself have become, had
he persisted in the attitude of revolt he had for a time
assumed; and, strong in his own budding genius, con-
vinced also that another might, as he himself had done,
overcome scepticism and attain faith, he undertook to
"convert" the great English poet "to less satanic ideas." 2
Byron was in Italy when the "Meditations po6tiques"
appeared, but the French poet's opinion of him was
brought to his notice in a letter from Wedderburn Web-
ster, who was in Paris at the time. On June I, 1820, he
wrote to Moore, from Ravenna, mentioning Webster's
letter: "He asks me if I have heard of 'my' laureate at
Paris, somebody who has written ' a most sanguinary
fipitre* against me; but whether in French, or Dutch, or
on what score, I know not, and he don't say except
that (for my satisfaction) he says it is the best thing in
the fellow's volume. If there is anything of the kind that
1 Cf. Le Constitutionnel, October 14-18, 1865.
1 Est&ve, Byron et k romantisme fran^ais, p. 325; cf. also Corrcspon-
dance, ccvn.
142
THE INFLUENCE OF BYRON
I ought to know, you will doubtless tell me. I suppose it
to be something of the usual sort; he says he don't re-
member the author's name." And on July 13, from the
same place, the irate bard adds: "Not actionable!
'Chantre d'enfer!' By that's 'a speech,' and I
won't put up with it. A pretty title to give a man for
doubting if there be any such place." * But some months
later Byron was not only pacified, but expressed sincere
admiration when Medwin showed him a translation of
the French poet's "Ode." Medwin states that Byron,
when he had read, in a translation made by a friend
in Pisa, some of the "Meditations poetiques," sent his
compliments through the translator to Lamartine and
thanked him for his verses. 2 Lamartine, on the eve of
Byron's departure for Greece, sent him a presentation
copy of his works : but this was the extent of their inter-
course, for the two great romantic poets never met. 3
Some time after Byron's death Lamartine met, in
Rome, the Countess Guiccioli. "I had," he wrote, "cer-
tain reasons for desiring to avoid this meeting; some
verses of mine in the fifth canto of 'Childe Harold,'
which had just appeared, painted this seductive woman
as a Venetian Aspasia, binding with her venal chains the
genius and the virtue of a great man. It was an involun-
tary calumny of the imagination." 4
When, about 1856, Lamartine considered his plan of
writing a biography of his great rival, the Countess, who
had then become Marquise de Bussy, furnished him with
many details. Yet, when the biography was published,
she criticized it harshly: "The sentiments it arouses,"
she is reported as exclaiming, "are those of astonishment
1 The Works of Lord Byron, edited by Thomas Moore, vol. iv, pp. 318-30.
* Conversations with Lord Byron.
1 Cf. Marquise de Bussy (comtesse Guiccioli), Lord Byron jug par Us
temoins de sa vie, vol. n, p. 76.
4 "Vie de Byron," in Le Constitutionnel, November 16, 1865.
. . I 43 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
and regret. . . . Historical truth is completely absent or
disfigured." 1
But although Lamartine repudiated Byron's philos-
ophy, although he at times judged him harshly, he was,
nevertheless, continually dazzled by the prestige of the
man, fascinated by the charm of the poet, and bewitched
by the cunning of the artist. A thousand times Lamartine
has been compared to Byron, and a resemblance there
certainly is, although more apparent than real. Lamar-
tine himself loved to foster the comparison, even where
trivialities were concerned. Thus, in the biography of the
poet he published in the "Constitutionnel," recalling the
passion his hero had nourished at eight years of age for a
little girl in Aberdeen, he compares his own sentimental
precocity: " I myself recollect the violent love I conceived
at the age of ten for a shepherdess of our mountains. . . .
I used to help her with a lover's tenderness to watch over
her goats on the slopes round our village." His friends
also drew parallels between him and the English bard.
Describing in her journal the success his poems achieved
in a circle of friends at Chamb6ry, Madame de Lamartine
notes on September 4, 1819, that Louis de Vignet com-
pared her son to "a young English poet, whose name I
don't well know, but who writes fantastic and mysterious
poems which are in great vogue just now." 2
To Lamartine Byron incarnated "the greatest poetic
nature of modern times." If he disapproved his philos-
ophy, and termed it "satanic"; if he frowned at his fla-
grant immorality; he secretly admired and imitated his
aristocratic prodigality, the splendour of his life, the care-
lessness of the grand seigneur who openly professed his
contempt for the profession of letters. 3 Like Byron,
1 Cf . Lord Byron jugi par Us temoins de sa vie, vol. i, pp. 2 and 34.
* Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 226.
1 Cf. Preface (1849) to Mtditations poitiques.
144
THE INFLUENCE OF BYRON
Lamartine was naively vain of his person: both suffered
from what a recent critic has termed "une sorte de nar-
cissisme ravi." * But great as Byron's literary and per-
sonal influence undoubtedly was, there can be no ques-
tion of master and disciple. Affinity and rivalry of genius,
lyrical sympathy combined with romantic admiration,
alone attracted and held the French poet. Lamartine had
already struck his own note before Byron's dazzling and
versatile genius came within his ken. In the course of this
study there will be occasion to mention an incident con-
nected with the publication of Lamartine's "Fifth Canto
of Childe Harold," which the author frankly admits was
" imit6 assez servilement du beau poeme de Lord Byron." 2
Doubtless here and there in the Frenchman's work a close
examination will disclose analogies of theme and style,
due to real and unfeigned admiration. But the "Chantre
d'enfer," with his doubt and pessimism, was at bottom
the antithesis of the optimistic and essentially religion-
ary author of " Jocelyn." Nevertheless, "Childe Harold "
ever remained his hero. When "La Chute d'un Ange"
appeared in 1838, Lamartine's contemporaries insisted on
reading "Byron" for "Cedar," and Madame de Girardin
wrote him: "Pourquoi cet ange ne serait-il pas lord
Byron?" 3
In the tiny study at Saint- Point, where in his old age
the ruined poet toiled for his daily bread, Byron's portrait
occupied a conspicuous place, and his works lay upon the
writing-table. 4
1 Pierre Lasserre, Le romantisme franfais, p. 175.
1 Souvenirs et portraits, vol. u, p. 67. * Lettres a Lamartine, p. 167.
4 Charles Alexandra, Souvenirs sur Lamartine, p. 346.
CHAPTER XIII
RAPHAEL AND JULIE
IN February, 1816, Lamartine was again in Paris, in
quest of a diplomatic appointment, but willing to accept,
should his ambition be defeated, a modest berth in the
Ministry of the Interior. To while away the idle hours he
set about writing political articles in the daily papers. He
makes no mention of the titles of the journals in which his
writings appeared, nor does he give any clue as to the sub-
jects treated ; but we know that his opinions at this mo-
ment favoured the adoption of more conciliatory inter-
course between the adherents of the old regime and those
of the Constitutional Party. "... We always seek to
weed out, as did formerly the Jacobins, our enemies, a
process which ruined them," he writes to M. de Vaugelas,
on March I. "... Let us be careful. By dividing, and
continually subdividing, don't we reach zero, or at least a
mathematical point which cannot be indefinitely subdi-
vided? That is what the Royalists without blemish and
without tolerance are aiming at, who cast forth all those
they deem less white than themselves." *
In June he writes the same correspondent that his
efforts to enter diplomacy have been fruitless, and that he
has thrown himself in despair into the arms of the Muses,
who, he trusts, may be less cruel. Disappointments, per-
haps a rather dissipated life in Paris, have brought on an
obstruction of the liver which threatens to be serious. He
can only write standing, and the doctor counsels a sojourn
in a warmer climate. But in spite of his sufferings he med-
itates printing for private circulation a small volume of
. l Correspondance, cxvii.
. . 146
RAPHAEL AND JULIE
elegies "juvenilia ludibria," as he styles them. 1 No
improvement having resulted from the medical treatment
followed at Montculot and Macon, a cure at Aix-les-
Bains was decided.
In "Raphael," that chef d'ceuvre of sentimental ro-
mance, Lamartine mentions that when he reached the
little watering-place the season was far advanced, and the
usual gay throng had departed. "It was the season when
the leaves, touched by frost during the night, and col-
oured a rosy-red, fall in showers in the vineyards, in the
orchards, and from the chestnuts." 2 An unpublished en-
try in Madame de Lamartine's diary reads: " Milly, Octo-
ber n, 1816. . . . Alphonse left on September 30, to go
and take some douches at Aix for liver trouble and to
spend some time with an intimate friend of his who re-
sides at present near Aix. This friend is M. Vignet." 8
It was at the Pension Perrier, a small inn recommended
by Vignet, still existing opposite the Baths, that Lamar-
tine took up his quarters. Here he met Madame Charles,
the young wife of the celebrated physicist and aeronaut
who, as early as 1783, had made the first balloon ascents,
and whose feats created such widespread notice that hats
a la Montgolfitre, and ribbons and cravats a la Charles,
became the vogue. 4 The friendship would seem to have
ripened very rapidly into a far more tender sentiment. As
early as October 12, Alphonse wrote his friend De Vignet:
"Since your last letter, in which you announce your
forthcoming visit, a great joy has befallen me. The day
before yesterday I saved a young woman from drowning
on the lake, and now she fills my days. I am no longer
1 Correspondance, cxx. There is no record of such publication.
2 (Euvres completes, vol. xxxn, p. 193.
1 Cf. also Les Annales romantiques, vols. VI and vii, articles by the late
Lon S6ch; also Sch6, Le Roman de Lamartine, p. 44.
4 J. A. Charles (1746-1823) was the first to use hydrogen gas success-
fully in balloons.
147 .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
alone in the old doctor's house, I am no longer ill, I feel
myself rejuvenated, cured, regenerated! When you see
this good and sweet creature, you will think with me that
God has placed her on my path in order to disgust me for-
ever with my past life. Come quickly to share our happi-
ness and make acquaintance with her. I have told her
who you are: we await you." 1
It was consequently on October 10 that Lamartine
made the momentous friendship with the woman who was
so greatly to influence not only his life, but his genius.
She had only "filled his days" during forty-eight hours,
however, when he wrote the above letter. Up to that
time, although his fellow-boarder in the Pension Perrier
had interested him, as she did all those who dwelt under
the same roof, by reason of her frailty and threatened
decline, he had no desire to make her personal acquaint-
ance. "My heart full of ashes, wearied by unworthy and
haphazard attachments, not one of which had left a
serious impression, ashamed and repentant over light
and irregular adventures ; my soul ulcerated by my faults
and withered with disgust of vulgar passions, faint-
hearted and reserved both in character and bearing, with
none of that self-confidence which prompts some men to
seek acquaintances, adventuresome intimacies, I cared
neither to see nor to be seen. Still less did I dream of love.
I rejoiced, on the contrary, with a bitter and false pride,
at having forever smothered such puerilities in my heart,
believing I could suffice unto myself in this world both in
suffering and in feeling. As for happiness, I no longer
believed in it." 2
But he had caught a glimpse of the attractive invalid
1 Cited by Seche in his article "Lamartine et Elvire," Annales roman-
tiques, vol. vm, p. 41. The old doctor mentioned in the letter was Dr.
Perrier, a physician in whose house Lamartine and Madame Charles were
boarders. Cf. Raphael, p. 195.
1 Raphael, p. 196.
. . 148
RAPHAEL AND JULIE
one fine afternoon as he returned from a lonely walk, and
his curiosity had been awakened by hearing her voice
when she had conversed with her maid in the room ad-
joining his own; a voice which "resounded through half-
closed teeth, like those little metal lyres which the chil-
dren in the isles of the Archipelago twang between their
lips of an evening by the seashore." l The vision haunted
him. He described it as the "apparition of a soul on linea-
ments of the most delicate beauty." Nevertheless, he
bowed, and passed on without speaking. Again and again
he met the sad-looking consumptive, for it was that ter-
rible malady which racked her; but whether the meeting
took place in the garden, on the hillside, or on the waters
of the lake where she often spent the still warm after-
noons, a grave and respectful salute was all the lady
vouchsafed her silent admirer. One day, however (Octo-
ber 10, as we now know), when the first snows had already
whitened the surrounding mountains, but when warmth
still lingered in the valley, the boatman had imprudently
urged his fair client to cross the lake and visit the ancient
Abbaye of Haute-Combe. Hardly had the boat accom-
plished two thirds of the crossing when a sudden and
furious squall, tearing down the lake from the narrow
gorges of the Rh6ne Valley, lashed the waters into short
and foaming billows. The little bark, its sail in shreds,
with difficulty kept from capsizing by the vigorous use of
the oars, was tossed about like a nutshell on the seething
waters. To return was impossible: the only alternative
was to make for the sheltered cove under the cliffs on
which Haute-Combe stands. This the boatman, who
alone accompanied the young invalid, determined to at-
tempt.
As luck would have it, Lamartine was himself on the
lake, with a crew of four sturdy rowers, in a large and
1 Raphael, p. 198.
- - 149 ' '
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
strong boat. Although widely separated from the smaller
skiff when the storm burst over the lake, he saw the dan-
ger its occupants ran, and immediately turned about and
hurried to their assistance. The struggle with the furious
elements was a long and laborious one. At times the ob-
ject of his anxious search was lost to view, sinking in the
hollow of some towering wave, at others the blinding
spray blotted out the horizon and prevented him from
keeping a straight course. After an hour's toil the rescu-
ing crew reached the skiff just as a huge wave tossed it to
safety on the sandy beach at the foot of the ruined walls
of the abbey. With cries of joy the rescuers leaped from
their boat to reach the sooner the stranded skiff and carry
ashore the shipwrecked invalid. The frightened boatman
shouted to them from afar, making frantic signs for help
as he pointed to the bottom of his bark. On reaching the
spot Lamartine found the young woman lying lifeless, her
limbs and body immersed in the icy water which filled the
skiff, her head resting on the rough wooden chest which
serves to store the fishing tackle and food. Her hair,
drenched with foam and spray, covered her neck and
shoulders "like the wings of some black bird lying half-
submerged on the edge of a pool." * Her face, from which
all colour had not faded, had assumed the calm of pro-
found sleep.
Lifting the limp body at once from its bed of foam,
they carried it to a fisherman's hut hard by. While the
peasant women undressed and warmed the unconscious
stranger, chafing her body with the poor rags they heated
on the hearth, Lamartine and his companions waited out-
side the miserable cabin. After resorting to all the arti-
fices known to their humble station, the distracted peas-
ants began to weep and wail, crying out that the beautiful
young lady was indeed dead, calling for a priest. Rushing
1 Raphael, p. 207.
. . 150
RAPHAEL AND JULIE
in, Lamartine was soon convinced that life still remained
in the fair body, and learning that a doctor resided among
the mountains some leagues distant, he despatched a
sailor to summon him. Meanwhile, he prepared to pass
the night at the invalid's side. Many pages are devoted in
"Raphael" to minute descriptions of every incident con-
nected with this momentous vigil, and Lamartine has re-
told in the beautiful stanzas of "Le Lac," and in numer-
ous other poems and fragments of his reminiscences, the
story of the love then born.
Such are, in brief, the circumstances of the meeting be-
tween "Raphael" and "Julie"; or in plain prose between
Lamartine and Madame Charles, who in the "M6dita-
tions" shared the name of "Elvire" with "Graziella"
and, later, with the poet's wife. We know that there is a
foundation of truth underlying the romantic tale. But
what a contrast between the laconic mention of the fact
in the letter to Vignet and the voluminous and obviously
imaginary details supplied in "Raphael"! The book is
an autobiographical fragment ; a romantic account of an
undeniably romantic adventure ; the idealized version of a
real and human passion, the flesh and blood realities of
which were glossed over and poetized thirty-three years
later to meet the literary requirements of the artist.
Criticizing this chef d'ceuvre of Romanticism, M. Ana-
tole France writes: "Le faux Raphael fait une confession
arrangee, ou la passion prend soin de s'echeveler avec art,
ou rarement le poete oublie de surveiller 1'attitude de son
extase ou de son d6sespoir. Le livre lui-meme, a la fois
memorial et roman, est d'un genre mixte: circonstances,
sentiments, caracteres, tout s'y joue sur les confins ind6-
termines de la fiction et de la realiteV' 1 As in "Graziella,"
soin "Raphael," although in a lesser degree, the figures
are made to fit the stage on which they posture. But
1 L' Elvire de Lamartine, p. 2.
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
whereas in the case of " Graziella " we have no single scrap
of paper constituting documentary evidence, correspond-
ence and memoranda are available which permit the re-
construction of the drama which was born on the storm-
tossed waves of Lake Bourget, on lines of scientific
historical research. Moreover, M. Lon S6ch has had
the good fortune to discover a charming miniature of
Julie Bouchaud des Herettes (Madame Charles) and
has traced her ancestry and early life with absolute
precision. 1
Again, M. Anatole France has included in his study
on "Elvire" contemporaneous documents bearing on his
subject, together with letters from the hand of Madame
Charles. 2 While last, but by no means least, M. Ren
Doumic has given to the world several burning love-
letters written by Julie to Lamartine. 3
Following the main lines of the romantic autobiogra-
phy entitled "Raphael," with these and other beacon
lights to adjust the course, an accurate reconstruction of
facts is possible. Leaving the beautiful invalid in the
hands of the doctor, who arrived shortly after sunrise,
"Raphael," or, to give him his real name, Lamartine
wandered off in the woods to collect his thoughts after the
turmoil of the night. Alone with nature he felt as if a
weight had been taken from his shoulders: but "this
weight of which I had been relieved was my own heart.
In giving it, it seemed to me that for the first time I had
attained the fulness of life. Man is so essentially created
for love, that he only feels himself really a man when he
knows that he loves absolutely." 4 When the fair stranger
* Cf . Lamartine et Elvire, pp. 50 et seq.
1 Op. tit., pp. 39, 51, 56, passim.
* Lettres d' Elvire <J Lamartine; cf. France, L 'Elvire de Lamartine, p. 65;
also Reyssie, La Jeunesse de Lamartine, p. 198, and Ch. Alexandra, Sou-
venirs sur Lamartine.
* Raphael, p. 216.
152
RAPHAEL AND JULIE
was sufficiently recovered, Lamartine half supported, half
carried her to his own larger and safer boat, and laid her
at full length on one of the benches, covering her with his
cloak. A small curtain such as is used in Venetian gon-
dolas separated the passengers from the crew. As they
sat on the turf before the cabin where the night had been
passed, waiting for the boat to be made ready, Julie had
told her story, and with its recital the intimacy had
grown by leaps and bounds.
The tale Julie unfolded is substantially a statement
of facts, although Lamartine has overlaid prosaic reality
with picturesque details, omitting, as was his wont, dates
or documentary evidence of any kind. We now know,
however, that Julie Franchise Bouchaud des Hrettes was
born in Paris on July 4, I784. 1 She was consequently six
years Lamartine's senior, as he was born October 21,
1790. Her mother was of Creole origin, the family having
large estates in the island of San Domingo; and Julie her-
self resided in that island, whither she had accompanied
her parents shortly after her birth, until 1792. When the
Revolution broke out in San Domingo, Lamartine states
that Madame Bouchaud des H6rettes was drowned in
attempting to escape from the island, and that Julie,
thrown up on the shore by the waves, was rescued and
suckled by a negress. 2 But the authentic documents now
at our disposal tend to disprove this romantic assertion.
It is certain, however, that his wife did not accompany
M. Bouchaud when he disembarked at Nantes towards
the end of the year 1792, accompanied only by his daugh-
ter Julie, whose sister, some ten years her senior, had also
remained in the West Indies.* On their arrival Julie was
taken into the family of an uncle, also Bouchaud by
1 l Cf. Sech6, Lamartine de 1816 a 1830, p. 51, who cites declaration made
on his daughter's marriage by S6bastien-Raymond Bouchaud, her father.
* Raphael, p. 225. She died there in 1795; cf. Seche, op. tit., p. 53.
. . 153 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
name, and remained under his care all through the Reign
of Terror. Her father was ruined, as were nearly all his
relatives, but an uncle and aunt, De Bergey, who had
escaped the general financial disaster, adopted the home :
less girl and took her into their luxurious home in Paris,
where every opportunity was afforded her of mingling
with the cultured society of the day. 1
Julie Bouchaud des HeYettes was twenty years of age
when in 1804 she married the celebrated physicist,
Jacques Alexandre Cesar Charles, who was thirty-eight
years her senior. Doubtless it was no love match, at least
on Julie's side, although M. Charles looked much younger
than he was ; but the statements which Lamartine puts
into his inamorata's mouth must not be taken too liter-
ally. "I entered my husband's home," confesses "Julie"
to "Raphael," "not as his wife, but as his daughter. To
the world he was my husband, but he himself never al-
lowed me to call him by any name but that of father." 2
The "Julie" of "Raphael" would have her young lover
believe that M. Charles had never been more to her than
an indulgent and considerate parent, who during the
twelve years of their married life had never aspired to a
more tender relationship. Yet M. Seche is authority for
the statement that M. Charles had won the girl's heart
even before he requested her hand. 3
Be this as it may, the life that she led under her hus-
band's roof would seem to have been a very happy and
contented one, except for her health, which was never
good and which as the years passed gave more and more
cause for anxiety. 4 Lamartine would have us believe that
Madame Charles had been travelling in Italy and else-
where, in search of health, with a "foreign family" for
Raphael, p. 225. Ibid., p. 229. * Cf. Seche, op. tit., p. 63.
4 Cf. letters cited by M. Anatole France in I'Elvire de Lamartine, pp. 36,
40, 41, 56; also Raphael, p. 231.
- 154
RAPHAEL AND JULIE
two years before they met at Aix-les-Bains. 1 But a letter
from Julie to Baron Mounier, dated from Paris on June
24, 1816 (a Monday), specifically fixes her departure for
Aix on the following Thursday. 2 " Don't quite forget me,
Sir," she writes, "during this journey, which I now no
longer desire to undertake." M. Charles would have ac-
companied his wife, but the infirmities of age (he was then
seventy) and his duties at the Institut de France pre-
vented his leaving Paris. That Julie should have felt re-
luctance to leave her home is comprehensible. Her salon
in the Institut was a favourite haunt of her husband's
associates, and she had gathered around her a circle of
savants and political men, who spoilt and petted the inva-
lid. Her surroundings were perhaps rather austere for so
young and so attractive a woman ; but she was well edu-
cated and serious-minded, and her delicate health forbade
the unavoidable fatigue of a more worldly life. 3 As be-
came a scientist of the eighteenth century M. Charles
was a Voltairian, and his wife possessed no rigid religious
convictions. 4 This laxity for it in reality amounted to
little more was destined to stir profoundly " Raphael "-
Lamartine, and give rise, both in fiction and in reality, to
philosophical discussions between the lovers at Aix and
on their return to Paris.
But we must retrace our steps and take up again the
thread of the narrative, seeking, in "Raphael" and the
authentic documents at our disposal, to unravel truth
from fiction in the romance which played so important a
part in the life of our hero.
If we credit "Raphael," the intimacy resulting from
the romantic shipwreck and the night's vigil had made
rapid strides when they reembarked on the homeward
journey. As they glided over the now placid surface of
1 Raphael, p. 231. * France, op. cit., p. 56.
Cf. Seche, op. cit., p. 68. Cf. France, op. cit., p. 46.
. . 155 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
the lake towards the little harbour of Pertuis, the con-
versation became more and more confidential. The eve-
ning was serenely beautiful; the full moon hanging over
the jagged peak of the Dent du Chat. Inspired by their
surroundings the crew, as they bent to the oars, began a
monotonous chant, and the passengers, screened by the
awning which enclosed the stern, gradually fell into closer
spiritual communion, the transcendentalism of which
was, on Julie's part, intended to demonstrate the purely
platonic nature of her feelings for the "brother" who
had thus suddenly entered her life. Carried away by his
emotions "Raphael" would appear to have betrayed too
crudely the tumult of his senses. "Instead of giving
utterance to the chaste and ineffable sentiments which
surged in my heart," he writes, "I clumsily replied with
a commonplace phrase of vulgar adoration, implying
that such happiness as I then enjoyed could only satisfy
me when taken as a promise of a greater felicity to come.
She understood me, and blushed for me far more than
for herself."
Yet, after a lofty romantic peroration, Julie came
suddenly down to earth again: " I love you," she faltered ;
"all nature would proclaim it for me did I not admit it:
rather let me be the first to say it aloud, and to say it for
us both: we love each other!" In ecstasy "Raphael"
threw himself at her feet. But Julie sought to calm the
passionate ardour her imprudent words had excited, and
in her qualifying disquisition lies the very essence of the
Lamartinian philosophy of pantheistic sentiment. "I
have told you, or rather I have not told you, I love you!
I love you with all the expectancy, with all the impatience
of a sterile life of twenty-eight years. But, alas! I shall
have known and loved you too late if you understand love
as other men do, and as you yourself appeared to under-
stand it ajnoment since when making use of that impure
. . 156
RAPHAEL AND JULIE
and inconsiderate phrase. Listen to me, and understand
my meaning; I am yours, I belong to you; I belong to
myself, and I can say so without wronging in any sense
the adopted father who never desired to see in me any-
thing but a daughter. . . . Reared with a philosopher for
a husband, in the midst of a society of independent think-
ers, freed from the beliefs and practices of the religion
which they have sapped, I have none of the superstitions,
none of the scruples, which cause ordinary women to bow
the head before another judge than their conscience. The
God of their childhood is not mine. I believe only in the
invisible God who has graven his symbol in nature, his
laws in our instincts, his morality in our reason. Reason,
sentiment, and conscience are my only revelations. None
of these three oracles of my life forbid me to be yours: my
whole soul would prompt me to throw myself at your feet,
could you be happy only at that price. But must we not
believe more in the immateriality and permanence of our
attachment while it remains on the lofty level of pure
sentiment, midst regions inaccessible to change and
death, than if we abase it to the abject nature of vulgar
sensations which profane and degrade it?" After a
breathless pause, during which "Raphael" conquers his
baser instincts, he replies: "I understood you and the
oath of the eternal purity of my love was registered in my
heart before you had finished asking it of me." l
Did Lamartine keep his oath? The discovery and pub-
lication of several exceedingly ardent letters written by
Julie to her lover have given rise to a controversy as to
the character of the relationship which the author of
"Raphael" would have the world accept as purely pla-
tonic. 2 Two distinct camps have been formed; but as
1 Raphael, p. 237.
1 Ren6 Doumic, Lettres d'Elvire a Lamartine; L6on Sech6, Le Roman de
Lamartine; Emile Faguet, Amours d'hommes de lettres.
. . 157 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
arguments for and against are based on purely presump-
tive evidence and the personal interpretation of texts, a
clear statement of facts, with such documentary testi-
mony as is available, will best aid an individual opinion.
The moral thesis sustained by Lamartine in his romance
"Raphael" does not follow imaginary lines. The epi-
sodes are fundamentally true; this we know by virtue of
contemporaneous evidence. The dissertations have been
clothed in literary form, but Julie's letters prove that the
essence of the discussions as described in "Raphael" is
faithfully rendered in that ultra-sentimental romance.
"Raphael" was published in 1849, thirty -odd years after
the events depicted therein took place. 1
Madame Charles, wife of a free-thinking scientist,
and companion of savants, was deeply imbued with the
scepticism of the eighteenth century, and tinged with the
atheistic doctrines of the Revolution, the intellectualism
of which, during the Directoire, she had imbibed under
the roof of Monsieur and Madame de Bergey. 2 Her mental
calibre was not remarkable for its individuality, but re-
1 In December, 1847, Lamartine wrote mile de Girardin, owner and
editor of La Presse, with whom he had signed a contract for the issue in
serial form of his Confidences, informing him of the termination of Raphael
and of his desire that the latter work appear in book form before the news-
paper began the publication of the Confidences. His reasons were as fol-
lows: "It [Raphael] is a romance, or rather an episode of more passionate
sentiment than the first volume of childish memories, and those of the first
flush of youth. It would excite, methinks, a lively desire to know the be-
ginnings of this same individuality. Les Confidences, perhaps rather juve-
nile, would gain by the reflection of the former." (Correspondence, DCCCCXII.)
To this suggestion De Girardin readily assented: but it was not till January,
1849, that Raphael appeared in print. For Lamartine's later appreciation
of this book, cf. Cours de litterature, vol. xvm, p. 521. Criticizing Balzac's
Le Lis dans la Vallee, he says: "It certainly resembles me when, desiring
to associate the hypocrisy of the world with the delirium of passion, I
wrote the book, half true, half false, entitled Raphael. The public felt it-
self deceived, and abandoned me. I deserved it: passion is beautiful, but
only on the condition that 'it is sincere.'" And he adds: "Either make
no attempt to paint love, or sacrifice it to virtue. Ces caracteres herma-
phrodites commencent par le charme et finissent par le degotit."
1 Cf. Seche, Roman de Lamartine, p. 120.
158 ^
RAPHAEL AND JULIE
fleeted rather her environment. The jargon of the intel-
lectual salons of the period had been her daily portion,
and although not herself an esprit fort, constant associa-
tion with men and women who prided themselves on the
materiality of their philosophy had made her a proficient
exponent of its tenets. Lamartine had no need of Madame
d'Agoult 1 as a source of inspiration for the dialogues
in "Raphael": his own memories of the past sufficed.
"Elvire n'etait pas du tout lamartinienne," observes
Ren Doumic. 2 She never possessed feeling for poetry, 8 it
is true, and she was a real daughter of the eighteenth cen-
tury, as we have said. But she was capable of what has
been termed "religious sentimentality." She was a living
example of those women to whom Rousseau revealed the
manifold wells of the emotions, and whom he led to mel-
ancholy musings in the face of Nature and of God. As
Lamartine painted her, and as we discern her in her cor-
respondence with her lover, she is impregnated with the
influence of the Genevese philosopher: it is, indeed, the
essential trait of her psychology. Read the letters of Ma-
dame Charles, and Madame de Warens appears con-
stantly between the lines: read " Raphael," and the chate-
laine of " Les Charmettes" steps out from its pages. The
fascination exerted by Rousseau over the boy Lamartine
has been noted. Turn again to "Raphael," and the hero
becomes Saint-Preux, while the outline of "Julie" is
blurred with that of her homonyme in the "Nouvelle
Heloise." Lamartine, as was his wont, costumed his
characters for their parts, and adapted the circumstance
of his facts to fit his fancies; but the disguise is so thin
1 In a letter to Madame Juste Olivier, Sainte-Beuve expressed the opin-
ion that Lamartine had put into "Julie's" mouth the conversations he had
had the previous winter with Madame d'Agoult ("un peu athee et panthe-
iste, vous le savez"); cf. Correspondo.net inedite de Saint- Bewoe avec M. et
Mme. Juste Olivier, p. 411.
1 Letlres d'Elvire d Lamartine, p. 50.
1 "Elle etait la poesie sans lyre." Raphael, p. 258.
159
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
that the subterfuge is readily discernible. The habitual
confusion of time and place is, moreover, being corrected
with the help of gradually forthcoming documentary evi-
dence. Sainte-Beuve to the contrary, the "Julie" of
"Raphael" owes nothing of her philosophy to either
Madame d'Agoult or Hortense Allart.
CHAPTER XIV
MADAME CHARLES
A RAPID synopsis of the love-story, as told in "Ra-
phael," is incumbent for a due appreciation of the im-
mense influence the episode exercised over Lamartine's
lyrical genius.
On landing at the port of Aix after her perilous adven-
ture, Julie and her companions started forth for the Pen-
sion Perrier, the sailors having fashioned a stretcher with
their oars on which to carry the invalid, thoroughly ex-
hausted by the various emotions she had undergone. 1
The preceding twenty-four hours had been passed in
great anxiety by the good doctor and his wife, who had
left no means untried to ascertain the fate of their guests.
The storm and fog had made research on the lake impos-
sible, and no boats had ventured out. It was taken for
granted that both parties had sought shelter in some
protected bay, if, indeed, they had not perished on the
lake.
Several days passed, during which the intimacy grew
apace. Lamartine in " Raphael " talks of six weeks which
were to him "a baptism of fire which transfigured and
purified his soul," 2 but we now know that his sojourn at
Aix was, approximately, from October 5 to 27.* During
1 Inspired by the chant of the boatmen, Julie had sung to them, during
the homeward journey, a Scotch ballad, the opening verses of which are
given in the French translation (Raphael, p. 239). Sech6 has traced the
words as those of "Auld Robin Gray" (published 1772), which became
popular in France before the end of the eighteenth century. Cf. Roman de
Lamartine, p. 93.
* Raphael, pp. 248 and 276.
1 Cf. Annales romantiques, vol. vni, p. 41; Lamartine's letter to De
Vignet, dated October 12, 1816.
161
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
the seventeen days of their close association that is to
say, after the shipwreck on the loth the lovers were
inseparable. Together they visited the numerous roman-
tic sites in the neighbourhood of Aix, each expedition
being marked by a closer communion of souls. "Oh! if
you have a brother, a son, or a friend who is heedless
of virtue," rapturously exclaims "Raphael," "pray to
Heaven that he may love thus. As long as he loves he will
be capable of every sacrifice, of any heroism, to raise him-
self to the level of his love. And when he has ceased to
love there will always remain in his soul an after-taste of
chaste voluptuousness which will disgust him with the
waters of vice, and he will secretly long for the spring
where it was once given him to drink." l As has been
said, Julie was more or less deeply imbued with the phil-
osophical theories professed by the savants whose discus-
sions she followed in her Paris salon. It was to be "Ra-
phael's" mission to combat these heresies, and win over
his inamorata to a more orthodox theology. Of course it
would be imprudent to assume that the thirty-odd years
which intervened between the dissertations and the rec-
ord of them were without their influence on the utter-
ances of "Julie" and "Raphael," as related by Alphonse
de Lamartine. But we have only to turn to such portions
of Julie Charles's correspondence as have been published
by Anatole France, Doumic, and S6ch6, to be convinced
that the spirit of the conversations, if not their actual
form, has been faithfully chronicled in the romance under
consideration. While at Aix the proselytism was unsuc-
cessful. "I saw that my arguments agitated without
convincing her: that her soul, parched by the educa-
tion she had received, had not yet opened itself to God.
But love was soon to soften her religion, after having
softened her heart." 2 But in Paris, where "Raphael"
1 Raphael, p. 249. * Ibid., p. 255.
162
MADAME CHARLES
was soon to follow her, Julie eventually allowed herself
to be converted to her lover's interpretation of the
Divinity.
"Raphael" and Julie were not continuously alone in
their expeditions on land and water. In the romance
Lamartine writes that his friend Louis came to spend
some days with him, and documentary evidence has been
given above that an invitation was extended to Louis de
Vignet two days after the romantic shipwreck at Haute-
Combe. "Raphael" makes no mention of his friend's
arrival or the length of his stay, but M. Sech6, in his
"Roman de Lamartine," 1 is authority for the statement
that Louis de Vignet left Aix-les-Bains on the morning of
Monday, October 21, 1816, and that a rendezvous was
fixed at Chambery on the following Sunday (October 27).
"Raphael" describes an evening during his friend's so-
journ at Aix-les-Bains when both he and Louis recited
verses of their own composition, and would have us sup-
pose that this was the first occasion on which Julie had
heard her lover declaim. "She had ended by making me
confess that I sometimes wrote verses," admits "Ra-
phael" just previously, "but I had never shown her any.
Besides, she appeared to care little for this artificial and
stilted form of language, which alters, when it does not
idealize, the simplicity of the sentiment and the impres-
sion." And he adds: "The verses she was to inspire me
with were only to echo on her tomb. She never knew who
it was she loved before she died. To her I was a brother.
Nor would she have cared that for the world I was a
poet. In her attachment for me it was only myself that
counted." 2 Nevertheless, Julie was deeply affected by
the recital of her lover's verses : so deeply that both young
men threw themselves on their knees beside the couch on
which she had apparently fainted from emotion, and
1 Page 143. * Raphael, p. 258.
I6 3
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
"kissed the hem of the black shawl which lay upon her
feet." As a result of this revelation of her lover's talent
she begged him to compose some verses in honour of her
friend M. de Bonald, the philosopher, author, and legis-
lator. 1 Of this task the young poet acquitted himself so
successfully that M. de Bonald became his friend and
protector.
M. Doumic has published a curious document which
well illustrates the pastimes the trio resorted to during
the long evenings spent at the Pension Perrier. The talk
one night had apparently circled round the uncertainty of
human friendships, for De Vignet was to leave on the
morrow, and his departure was to break up their pleasant
intimacy. It was probably Lamartine who recalled the
passage in "Les Martyrs," where Augustin compares
life to a busy seaport where men of all ages and nation-
alities greet and take leave of each other. We have seen
the effect produced on the lad at Belley when Chateau-
briand's genius was revealed to him, and we know his
admiration for the author. Lamartine now suggested
that, each in turn, the three friends should write down
the passage above mentioned; a proposition which was
eagerly adopted. This document M. Doumic has made
public, and M. S6ch6 reproduces it in facsimile in his
"Roman de Lamartine." 2 The quotation is transcribed
in the handwriting of the three friends: first that of Julie,
then of De Vignet, and lastly that of Lamartine, who
probably dictated the passage from memory to his
friends, as several divergences from the original text
are noticeable. Julie dated and signed the document,
Alphonse and Louis affixing their signatures to the right
and left of hers. " Aix, 20 Octobre, 1816," and below the
Christian names only: "Alphonse, Julie, Louis."
1 Vicomte Louis de Bonald, 1754-1840.
* Revue latine, July 25, 1906, and op. cit., p. 140.
. . 164
MADAME CHARLES
On the morrow Louis de Vignet returned to Cham-
bry. Before his departure he wrote on the last page
of Julie's album the following lines: "There are women
who prove at a single glance that there is a God and
a life to come. Angels exiled on earth, one recognizes
them as strangers here below: the abode of virtue is in
Heaven." J
After the departure of De Vignet the lovers seemed
to realize more fully the hopelessness of their passion
in face of the obstacles, moral and material, which hedged
them round. Despair seized upon them, and if we are
to believe "Raphael" the sentimental romance was
threatened with a fatal termination. One evening, as
the lovers drifted idly on the lake under the abrupt cliffs
of the Dent du Chat, Julie, lying on the cushions of the
boat, her adorer at her feet, suddenly disentangled her
fingers from his curls, and, leaning over him, her lips
close to his ear, whispered: "Oh, let us die!" Then,
speaking rapidly: "Oh! let us die, for earth has nothing
more to offer us; Heaven no promises to make!" Before
"Raphael" could protest, she went on, using for the
first time the familiar second person singular, urging
vehemently that they end their troubles together in the
placid waters which surrounded them. Carried away
by the eloquence of her appeal, yielding to the irrefut-
able arguments she used, "Raphael," "in a moment of
delirium," forgot all else and answered: "Let us die!"
1 This document is vouched for by M. Sech6, who cites it in his Raman
de Lamartine, p. 142, and to whom it was communicated by the Marquis de
Vendeuil, who wrote M. Seche as follows: "As far as Madame Charles's
sojourn at Aix is concerned, you are, I think, entirely right, and, like you, I
can only discern in her meeting with Lamartine a sentimental romance.
My father, who shared their sojourn at Aix, would never have lent himself
as a party to their love had it been a guilty one, on account of the austere
family morals of the circle in which he lived, and which he approved." Cf.
Notes, op. cit., p. 284. (M. de Vignet took the name and title of his
mother's family De Vendeuil. Letter from Seche to author, dated April
18, 1911.)
. I6 5
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
"I already bore her in my arms," he writes, "when I
felt her pale face fall back on my shoulder, as the
weight of a dead thing, and her body bend at the knees.
. . . The thought of taking advantage of her fainting
spell to force her, unconsciously and perhaps unwillingly,
to share my own grave, seized upon me with sudden hor-
ror. I tottered under my burden : I laid her on the bench."
Night was falling when Julie regained consciousness.
Silently her lover took up the oars, and lost in reveries
the couple crossed the lake and reached Aix. When
later in the evening " Raphael " entered her room, he no-
ticed that several open letters lay scattered on the tea-
table. Pointing to them Julie tearfully murmured: "We
had done better to die at once, for there is the lingering
death of separation which is to begin for me." l The
letters urged an immediate return to Paris, where the
husband, old and infirm, anxiously awaited her arrival.
Julie had tarried longer than at first intended, owing to
her meeting with the young poet, and already the first
light snows had fallen in the valley: it was imprudent
to delay longer. The departure was accordingly fixed
for the next day but one, and "Raphael" declared his
intention of accompanying her post-chaise as far as
Lyons.
On this last day the lovers wandered off to the lake
shore. On the point of rocks, called Saint- Innocent, they
sat together, close to the placid water, gazing out over
the lake to the ruins of the ancient Abbaye de Haute-
Combe, the scene of their romantic meeting scarce a
fortnight since. Eleven months later Lamartine was to
sit alone on these same rocks, the same beautiful pros-
pect before him, and in a transport of fervid improvi-
sation "Le Lac," perhaps the most exquisite of his
poems, was born.
1 Raphael, p. 266.
. - 1 66
MADAME CHARLES
"Ainsi, toujours pousses vers de nouveaux rivages
Dans la nuit 6ternelle emport6 sans retour,
Ne pourrons-nous jamais sur I'oc6an des Sges
Jeter 1'ancre un seul jour?
"O lac! 1'annee peine a fini sa carriere,
Et pres des flots churls qu'elle devait revoir,
Regarde! je viens seul m'asseoir sur cette pierre
Ou tu la vis s'asseoir!"
As the lovers sat by the lake-side on this mild Octo-
ber afternoon, the poor consumptive, knowing full well
that her days were numbered, threw up her arms to
heaven, exclaiming: "These skies, these shores, this
lake, these mountains have been the scene of my only
true life here below. Swear to me to fuse so completely
in your memory these skies, this shore, this lake, these
mountains, with my memory, that the impression of this
sacred place be henceforth inseparable in your sight from
my own image; that these surroundings in your eyes, and
my image in your heart, shall form but one!"
Julie probably did not express herself textually as
recorded in "Raphael." Obviously Lamartine imparted
a retrospective prophecy to her words; but "Le Lac,"
written, as we know, within a twelvemonth of their
first meeting, indicates that some such promise was
exacted.
Chambry was the first stage of the journey, and here,
as had been arranged, they were met by Louis de Vignet,
who resided, according to the season, in the town or its
immediate neighbourhood at Servolex. In "Raphael"
Lamartine takes his hero and heroine on a pilgrimage to
"Les Charmettes" (the scene of the immortal amours of
Jean Jacques Rousseau and Madame de Warens), a
copy of "Les Confessions" in their hands. As he notes
her pensive brooding while they loiter in the sanctuary of
these famous lovers, "Raphael" tenderly questions Julie
. 167 - -
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
as to its cause. "Alas!" she replies, "you will hardly
believe me; but I was thinking that for one short season
I would like to be Madame de Warens to you, even at
the price she paid, abandonment for the rest of my days,
and the shame which was hers ! Even should you prove as
ungrateful and such a slanderer as Rousseau!" But see-
ing the effect this imprudent confession has upon her
lover, Julie hastily adds: "Let us go, I am cold; this
place is not good for us." l
This visit to "Les Charmettes" is doubtless apocry-
phal. M. S6ch6 admits it unhesitatingly; but M. Doumic
believes the episode to be imaginary; a reminiscence of
the visit Lamartine paid to the famous shrine in 1811,
when on his way to Italy. 2 It was perhaps the analogy
of place and circumstance which prompted its inser-
tion in the romantic autobiography when the author
reviewed in memory the sentimental events of his
youth. "For our part," writes M. Doumic when criti-
cizing the episode, "we should have had scruples in men-
tioning the name of Madame de Warens with that of
'Elvire.' But Lamartine has set the example." Scepti-
cal as to the platonism of the relations between the
lovers, M. Doumic, recalling the fact that to Jean Jacques
Rousseau Madame de Warens was "maman," as was
Madame Charles to Lamartine, discerns in this coupling
of the names of the heroines an indication no conscien-
tious historian can afford to overlook. The parallel he
draws between the two women, both victims of this
"sorte de maternite amoureuse," is damaging to Julie,
but not irrefutable. Undoubtedly there are passages in
Madame Charles's correspondence with her lover which
1 Raphael, p. 283.
* In a letter to the author, dated Nice, April 18, 1911, M. Sech6 writes:
"It is certain that Lamartine went to the 'Charmettes' with Madame
Charles. I have found the proof of it in a letter of Lamartine's to Guichard
de Bienassis, communicated to me by the latter's great-nephew."
. . 168
MADAME CHARLES
lend themselves not at all to a platonic interpretation;
but of these more anon: there is abundant warrant for
belief in the pure sentimentalism of the romance, at least
while the lovers dallied at Aix-les-Bains. 1
On the morning of October 29, 1816, Julie and Lamar-
tine, accompanied by Louis de Vignet, started forth on
their journey. The young men were to escort the in-
valid as far as Macon, where De Vignet would remain as
his friend's guest at Milly for a few weeks. The party
travelled in two conveyances: Madame Charles alone
with her maid 2 in a closed carriage, which was followed
by the small open post-chaise the friends had hired. The
road led over the mountains to the west of Chambery,
through La Tour du Pin to Lyons, thence up the broad
valley of the Sa6ne, past M<icon, to Dijon, and so on to
Paris. Madame Charles appears to have suffered greatly
from the fatigue of the journey: just prior to their arrival
at Lyons she had a long fainting spell. At Macon, which
the party reached on the evening of the 3Oth, the sepa-
ration was to take place, and Madame Charles to start
out alone next morning on the long drive to Paris.
In "Raphael" Lamartine writes: "We hurried our
adieux, fearing to aggravate her illness by prolonging
painful emotions"; and he adds: "My friend left for my
father's country place, where I was to follow him on the
morrow." Distracted, however, at the idea of the frail
invalid's solitary journey, the lover determined to escort
her secretly to her destination.
Money he had none, but he was a man of resources.
Taking his watch, a gold chain, some trinkets, his epau-
lettes, his sword, and the silver lacings of his uniform, he
offered them to his mother's jeweller, and obtained
1 Cf . Lettres (TElvire a Lamartine, p. 52.
1 Whose name was Virginie. Cf. Seche, Le Roman de Lamartine, p. IOO;
also Raphael, pp. 286 and 289.
.. . 169
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
thirty-five louis for the lot. With this sum he proposed to
follow Julie's carriage at a respectful distance, unknown
to her, in order to be at hand in case of need. Lamartine
has given us, in "Raphael," a circumstantial account of
this pilgrimage of love : the hotels where a stop was made
overnight she in one part of the town, he in another
are mentioned ; the incidents of the journey are de-
tailed, and are, under the circumstances, highly probable;
yet we know that the whole account is a pure romantic
fiction. Lamartine in reality bade farewell to Madame
Charles at Macon in the early morning hours of October
31, 1816, and a few hours later, accompanied by Louis
de Vignet, was warmly welcomed by his mother at
Milly. 1 "Raphael" followed Julie to the gates of Paris,
and, pushing on ahead, reached her house before her.
Hidden in the street, he witnessed her arrival and her
husband's affectionate greetings. Next morning the
lover wrote her ; " I followed you. Unperceived I watched
over you. I could not leave you until I knew you to be
in the care of those who love you. Yesterday, at mid-
night, when you opened the window and sighed to the
stars, I was there. You might have heard my voice.
When you read these lines, I shall be far away!" 2
Posting in all haste, day and night, "Raphael" re-
joined his friend at Milly, as if he were "in a dream,
and with hardly a recollection of having been to Paris."
This chivalrous adventure is characteristic, and without
it the romance would have been incomplete. But it is
purely imaginary. The expedition to Paris and back
would have required at least five days. 3 Had Louis de
Vignet presented himself alone at Milly, how could he
have explained Alphonse's mysterious absence? An en-
1 Cf. Sech, Le Roman de Lamartine, p. 162. * Raphael, p. 292.
1 Madame Charles reached Paris on November 3, 1816. Cf. Seche, op.
tit., p. 165.
. . 170
MADAME CHARLES
try in the "Journal" of Madame de Lamartine, which
her son suppressed when editing the diary under the
title of "Le Manuscrit de ma mere," has recently been
made public. This note effectively stultifies the legend
of the sale of his watch and other trinkets to provide
the means of flight to Paris, and was probably omitted by
the author of " Raphael " on that account. "We remained
at Milly until the first days of November," Madame de
Lamartine writes; "Alphonse with M. Vignet joined us
there : he and his friend remained a month with us. I was
very glad, for he is in very poor health, which causes him
to be sad." 1 Madame de Lamartine never knew of her
son's attachment to Madame Charles, and as she died
before "Raphael" was published, she naturally attrib-
uted the young man's melancholy to ill health. A month
later (December 8, 1816), on learning of the return of his
friend Aymon de Virieu, who had accompanied the
Due de Luxembourg on a diplomatic mission to Brazil,
Alphonse wrote: "Nothing has changed for the good in
my position during these eight months. My heart alone
has altered. Alas! I was happier at the time of your de-
parture! I come from Aix, where I had gone for liver
complaint, which still worries me." And on the I2th of
the same month, he states: "I have been ^ere for the
past month. Vignet has just left. He accompanied me
from Aix, where I had spent a month for my health." 2
Supposedly it is to be with, or near, Madame Charles.
Yet it is certainly disconcerting to read a few lines
farther on: "Ah ! find me, at ten, twenty, or thirty leagues
from Paris, une sous-prefecture! Or get yourself sent to
Italy, and take me with you with a salary, be it un-
derstood."
<
1 M. Seche (in Annales romantiques, vol. vm, p. 44), to whom it was com-
municated by M. Dureault, perpetual secretary of the Academic de Macon.
* Correspondance, cxxi.
. . 171 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Such contradictory sentiments are common in La-
martine's intimate correspondence, and they frequently
baffle the psychologist who seeks to penetrate beneath
the surface and lay bare his soul. Of the love of Madame
Charles for Lamartine there can be no question: we
have several of her letters which prove beyond the
shadow of a doubt its intensity. But at this moment,
November and December, 1816, how deeply were his
affections engaged? How great a part did his imagina-
tion play at this stage of the adventure? To what extent
was the poetic temperament responsible for the sequel?
It is understood, of course, that we are dealing with the
reality the effusions of" Raphael" are beside the ques-
tion, for they are retrospective. We are dealing, moreover,
solely with the couple of months at Milly which preceded
the visit to Paris, after which affairs assumed a more
definite character. Of documentary evidence there is
hardly a shred, for none of Lamartine' s letters to Julie
Charles have been preserved. The arguments for and
against the passionate character of his attachment at
this period must consequently be purely deductive;
and inferential evidence is apt to be misleading. How far
was the subjectivity of Lamartine's nature influenced by
the environment in which he suddenly found himself?
The attraction of forbidden fruit is always potent, and
the natural vanity of a young man is apt to be tickled
when he finds himself adored by an older, but still beau-
tiful woman, who combines knowledge of the world with
sentiment. Perhaps neither of these considerations suffice
to explain the undeniable infatuation Lamartine ex-
perienced for Madame Charles: certainly both must have
withered under the parching influences of a long separa-
tion bereft of the vivifying stimulus of a soulful corre-
spondence. But Lamartine's ardour was not allowed to
cool. Daily letters were despatched to Mctcon from
- 172
MADAME CHARLES
Paris, and if we judge by the four examples which have
been preserved, the flames of love were abundantly fed.
Nevertheless, Lamartine's willingness, nay, eagerness,
to accompany Virieu to Italy is strange: unless, indeed,
it were a feint, designed to prod his friend to negotia-
tions necessitating a journey to Paris.
The "dream woman" of the letter to Virieu in 1814
took form and substance when Lamartine met Julie in
1816. But, as M. Anatole France remarks, that he
loved her " autant que 1 'homme sur la terre aima jamais,"
is susceptible of doubt.
"He was doubtless capable," writes the great French
critic, "of religious effusions, of lyrical outbursts, of
amorous ardours, if you will : but he had his share of the
egotism which is one of the virtues of the man of genius."
M. France admits that Lamartine loved Julie: "Mais
elle fut surtout pour lui un motif lyrique dont il tira des
effets merveilleux." l Without agreeing uncondition-
ally with M. France it would seem .permissible to assume
that, prior to the visit to Paris, sentimentalism held a
larger place than passion in Lamartine's infatuation for
Madame Charles. That the young man suffered heart-
ache during those two months of separation is unde-
niable: but, as there has been frequent occasion to note
in these pages, Lamartine was temperamentally melan-
choly, and during his youth Milly and its neighbour-
hood exercised a decidedly depressing influence over
him. M. Seche has quite recently unearthed a letter
written on January 2, 1817 (two days before Lamartine
started to rejoin Julie in Paris), which is of peculiar psy-
chological interest. It is, so far as known, the only scrap
of contemporaneous documentary evidence which has
survived. The epistle is addressed to Madame de Pierre-
clos, a neighbour with whom Lamartine was on inti-
1 L'Elvire de Lamartine, p. 59.
. . 173 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
mate terms. 1 His correspondent had known him, he
writes, at a period when the futility of his thoughts and
the instability of his character made him an object un-
worthy of her true esteem. To-day he had learnt wis-
dom, after passing through all manner of misfortunes,
and sustaining the loss of all illusions. 2
It is undoubtedly to Madame Charles that the writer
refers. The exchange of daily letters between the
lovers began immediately after their separation. 3 What
M. Anatole France has termed "the chaste lascivious-
ness" uniformly underlying the scenes depicted in "Ra-
phael" is nowhere more noticeable than in the descrip-
tions Lamartine has put into his hero's mouth when
describing this correspondence. No impatient and pas-
sionate lover could have been consumed with a more
apparently sensuous ardour than was the professedly
platonic " Raphael." On the receipt of a letter from the
loved one in Paris he fled to his room, there to devour it
uninterrupted. "With how many tears, with how many
kisses I covered the paper! Alas, and, when, years later,
I reopened the packet of letters^ how many words were
lacking in the phrases ; words which my tears or raptures
had obliterated and torn!" No paper was large enough
for the lover's effusions: "If the Heavens had been one
huge page, and God had bade me cover it with my love,
such a page would not have been large enough to contain
all that I felt within me." 4 Yet in this duel of amorous
sentimentality, this chaste epistolary lasciviousness, Julie
was the acknowledged victor. " But in spite of my con-
tinuous effort and the perpetual tension of my young and
1 Cf. Annales romantiqttes, vol. vin, p. 45. The poet later adopted and
educated her son, who afterward married his niece, Alix de Cessiat.
* Cf. Annales romantiques, vol. vm. Letter communicated to M. Sch6
by M. Barthou.
* Raphael, p. 295.
4 Cf. Raphael, pp. 295-303; also R. Doumic, Lettres d'Elvire d Lamar-
tine, p. i.
174
MADAME CHARLES
burning imagination to infuse into my letters the fire
which consumed me, to create a language to interpret my
sighs, and to carry my soul, poured out passionately on
the paper, across the distance which separated us, in the
struggle against impotent expression, I was always beaten
by Julie. Her letters had more vigour in one phrase than
mine in eight pages." And after a rapturous description
of the "fire and flame" of these epistles, " Raphael "-
Lamartine goes on to state: "I have found them again,
all these letters. Page by page I have fingered them. . . .
I have re-read them, and I have burnt them, weeping
as over the committal of a crime. Je les ai bruises
parce que la cendre meme en cut t trop chaude pour
la terre, et je 1'ai jetee aux vents du ciel." : As we know,
all these letters were not consigned to the flames. For
one reason or another Lamartine piously preserved four
of Julie's ardent outpourings in a secret drawer of his
writing-table at Saint-Point. 2
In referring to this love in his "M6moires politiques,"
published in 1863, Lamartine states that its origin was
to be found in melancholy, " It was the fortuitous meet-
ing of two beings discouraged with life before they had
tasted it. Of melancholy it was born, on melancholy it
fed, and on this diet it lived and died." 3
Metaphysics, a gentle and unconvincing pessimism
pregnant with the prevailing romanticism of the Cha-
teaubriand type, would seem to have formed the essence
of Lamartine's letters to Julie. Unfortunately not a
single line of authentic testimony remains to substan-
tiate this opinion, which is based on the authority of
"Raphael" alone. Nevertheless, unreliable as this ro-
mantic chronicle is, the descriptions of "Julie's" corre-
1 Raphael, p. 301.
1 Published by M. Doumic in Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. XXV, pp. 574-
602 (1905); cf. also Leltres d'Elvire a Lamartine, p. i.
1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 57.
. . 175 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
spondence with the hero tally with the specimens we pos-
sess of Madame Charles's letters to Lamartine. It would,
therefore, seem not unreasonable to assume that the
tenor of the lover's replies has also been more or less faith-
fully recorded. Failing other documentary evidence,
however, we agree with M. Anatole France that it is in
Lamartine's contemporaneous poetry that we can most
confidently seek for the impressions this great love
stamped upon his soul. Open the "Meditations" and
turn to those exquisite elegies "Le Lac," "L'lmmor-
talite," "Le Temple," "Le Crucifix," and the living
image of Julie stands revealed together with the immac-
ulate sentiments she inspired. 1 Whatever the relations
between Lamartine and Madame Charles may have
been, chaste or profane, the limpid purity, the lofty
spirituality, of this poetry, for the birth of which she was
directly responsible, is beyond all cavil. It was an ideal
that Lamartine loved, perhaps, but Julie was not un-
worthy of the idealization to which she was subjected.
"Raphael" would have us believe that it was at the
end of December that he eventually overcame all ob-
stacles and started to rejoin Julie in Paris; and in the
romance of that name, the hero reached the capital on
Christmas Day. An unpublished entry in Madame de
Lamartine's "Journal," however, specifically fixes the
4th of January, 1817, as the date of her son's departure
for Paris, where he arrived on the 8th. Referring to her
son, the anxious mother writes: "The waters of Aix have
done him great good. Nevertheless, he is not very strong ;
and this trip to Paris also worries me. But he desired it
so ardently that there was no means of gainsaying him,
especially as our relations here approved, and his uncle
gave him some money for the purpose." Steps to be
1 Cf. L'Elvire de Lamartine, p. 61; cf. also Charles de Pomairols, Lamar-
tine (Paris, Hachette, 1889), p. 23.
176..
MADAME CHARLES
taken to secure a position either in diplomacy or in the
administration, formed the ostensible object of the jour-
ney : but the mother fears they will prove sterile.
This destroys another of the picturesque literary fic-
tions of " Raphael." Readers of that imaginative chron-
icle will remember how the hero moved them with the
recital of his mother's pathetic abnegation. " My mother,
who witnessed my anguish without knowing its true
cause, took from the last of her jewel cases, which all
had been emptied on my behalf, a large diamond ring:
the only gem remaining to her of the trinkets of her
youth. Weeping the while, she slipped it surreptitiously
into my hand."
According to "Raphael" this was the price of the
journey to Paris, which was undertaken solely, in the
mother's estimation, to further her son's chances of se-
curing a diplomatic or administrative appointment.
"'Here is my last jewel,'" sorrowfully admits "Ra-
phael's " mother. " I promised my mother to part with it
only in case of supreme necessity. ' Take it, sell it ; may
the price serve to keep you some weeks in Paris.' " l
As we know, De Virieu had, at Lamartine's urgent
request, prepared the ground for the trip to Paris by
holding out the hope that his presence might facilitate
the coveted appointment. Influenced, doubtlessly, by
the young diplomatist's opinion, the uncle had come to
his nephew's assistance, and provided the necessary funds.
To add to the gloom of separation a cloud had dark-
ened the serenity of the correspondence between the
lovers. Lamartine, sometime during the month of De-
cember, forwarded to Julie copies of the elegies and love
poems he purposed publishing. Among these were sev-
eral dedicated to "Elvire," the name given by the poet
to "Graziella," the little Neapolitan maid whose history
1 Raphael, p. 303.
. . ,77 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
has been told. Julie's jealousy was aroused. A long let-
ter, written during the silent watches of the night, the
result of some perhaps not very discreet explanations
given by Virieu, was despatched to Mclcon. "Who will
give you back 'Elvire'?" writes the distracted woman.
"Even in her tomb this angelic creature inspires me with
a religious terror. I see her such as you have painted
her, and I ask myself what pretensions I can have to
occupy the place she held in your heart. Alphonse, she
must keep her place, and I must ever remain your
'mother.' You called me 'mother,' when I thought I
merited a more tender appellation. But now that I know
all Elvire was to you, I realize that it was not without
due reflection that you felt you could be only a child to
me." This long letter was followed next morning by
another wherein Julie quotes the conversation with Vi-
rieu, during which it would appear the young man had
"damned" the poor Neapolitan lass with faint praise.
" Yes! she was an excellent little person, full of heart, and
who greatly regretted Alphonse. But she died of grief,
poor thing. She idolized him. She could not survive his
departure. ..." Madame Charles was horrified at the
lightness of the tone in which Virieu spoke; as well as
the slight importance he seemed to attach to the inci-
dent. "Is it possible, Alphonse," she cries, "that Elvire
was an ordinary woman, and that you loved her, that you
praised her as you have done? If that be so, dear Al-
phonse, what a fate awaits me! You have praised me
also, you exalt me, and you love me because you think
me a superior being! But if the illusion ceases; if some
one rend aside the veil! What will remain, since you
can so deceive yourself in your judgment? Is it only
your imagination which takes fire, oh ! my well-beloved ?
And like so many men do you only believe in your heart's
dreams until reason destroys them? ... If some day it
. . 178
MADAME CHARLES
were said to you of me: *C'tait une bonne femme,
pleine de cceur, qui vous aimait,' would you still love
me? Oh! no, certainly I would not have you love me
under such conditions; it would be lowering yourself." *
Jealousy can be traced in every line: the retrospec-
tive jealousy of a woman only half resigned, and as yet
unable to accept with equanimity the place in her lover's
heart which another has left untenanted. She resents
his apparent incapacity to love her otherwise than as a
mother, yet accepts the platonic affection for fear of de-
stroying all.
"Raphael" tells a different tale. The impression con-
veyed in this pseudo-confession is that the ardent lover
with difficulty overcame his carnal appetites; that his
struggles with lust were victorious only by virtue of
Julie's pathetic pleadings; that it was she who insisted
on the immateriality of their relations. M. S6ch, in
commenting on the above-cited letters, would seem to
accuse De Vignet of having urged Lamartine to send the
elegies to Julie with a view to profiting by the jealousy
they were likely to provoke; and to believe that De
Virieu had then been requested by his friend to efface
the painful impression the poems, inspired by "Gra-
ziella," had undoubtedly produced. 2 If this be so, the
young diplomatist made a sad mess of the mission with
which he was entrusted: Madame Charles, although no
lover of verse, had read the poems with pleasure (we
need not take literally her assertion that she "devoured"
them), principally because they were the work of her
adorer. Until De Virieu opened her eyes "Graziella"
meant little more than a poetic vision; a symbol ideal-
ized by an imagination which turned all it touched to
1 Letters published by Doumic, Revue des Deux Mondes, vol. xxv,
pp. 574-602 (1905).
* Cf. Le Roman de Lamartine, p. 195.
179
LIFE OF LAM ARTINE
purest gold. When the true history of Lamartine's rela-
tions with the fisherman's amorous daughter was re-
vealed to her, jealousy, mingled with wounded pride,
possessed her. That Lamartine should have exalted this
"femme ordinaire" as he had exalted her was humiliat-
ing. She strongly, and not unnaturally, objected to be-
ing classed in her lover's mind with the little Neapolitan
grisette. With an eye on posterity she protested at being
one day styled "une bonne femme, pleine de cceur," who
had loved the poet Lamartine. And yet in the end she
yields : her love overcomes all other considerations : and
she terminates: "Well, I see clearly enough that your
friend was right: we are des femmes pleines de cceur. I
ought to have grasped the distinction. Forgive me, my
love, all that my misinterpretation caused me to say : but
remember my well-grounded fears!"
Although Lamartine was still at Macon when Julie
penned her letters of January I and 2, 1817, he could not
have received them there, as he started for Paris on the
4th, and the post took four days to accomplish the jour-
ney between the capital and Macon . l Undoubtedly,
before he read them, a verbal explanation had taken
place between Madame Charles and the quondam wor-
shipper at " Graziella's " humble shrine. " Raphael " hints
at no misunderstanding between the lovers when they
met, and beyond the letters M. Doumic has published
no documents are available which might furnish a clearer
comprehension. In "Raphael" we read that Virieu was
minutely informed concerning the peculiar character of
the passionate adoration which existed between the lov-
ers: "Convaincu de la nature surnaturelle et sainte de
votre attachement, V considerait votre amour comme
une vertu. II ne rougissait pas d'en tre le confident et
I'intermediaire." *
1 Cf. Annales romantiques, loc. /., p. 46. * Raphael, p. 306.
. l8o
MADAME CHARLES
Yet Julie's epistles are such frenzied appeals that the
door is open to doubt. "In order to prove to you that
I love you beyond everything, unjust child! I would be
capable of leaving all in the world; of throwing myself
at your feet, crying: 'Dispose of me as you will, I am
your slave. I ruin myself, but I am happy. I have sacri-
ficed all to you, reputation, honour, position. What
matters it! I prove to you that I adore you. . . .'" There
are pages of such ravings. 1 The unhappy woman in-
vokes death as the only release from her sufferings
should her lover abandon her; and again and again ex-
presses herself ready to make any sacrifices on the altar
of Love.
M. Doumic believes in the consummation of her sac-
rifice. M. Sch6 indignantly refutes the implication;
basing his conviction on the well-known and acknowl-
edged extravagant mental exaltation of the invalid. The
evidences of guilt being purely circumstantial, many
are inclined to adopt the latter 's more charitable inter-
pretation.*
The passionate letters, burning with a love-fire the
writer makes no effort to conceal, need not be cited in
extenso; enough has been given in order to form an
opinion.
When the lovers met in Paris (on the evening of
Wednesday, January 8, 1817) all traces of their quarrel
would seem to have disappeared. On his arrival Lamar-
tine was met by his friend Aymon de Virieu, who had
offered to share with him the rooms he occupied in the
H6tel de Richelieu, rue Neuve-Saint-Augustin. Barely
1 Doumic, op. tit., p. 33.
1 Cf. Annales romantiques, vol. vin; also Dur6ault, La premiere passion
de La-marline. M. Emile Faguet, in his Amours d'hommes de leltres, p. 256,
holds the opinion that at one time or another Madame Charles and Lamar-
tine were lovers in the most intimate sense of the word, and that it was
Lamartine who insisted on styling himself her "child," although Julie pas-
sionately desired another kind of love.
. . 181
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
taking the time to remove the stains of travel from his
dress, the ardent lover, accompanied by De Virieu, started
forth on foot for Madame Charles's abode in the Insti-
tut de France, where M. Charles had been allotted an
apartment as a member of that body.
"We went together under the window which I already
knew," writes "Raphael." "There were three carriages
at the door. V. went upstairs. I waited for him at the
spot agreed upon. How long it seemed, the hour dur-
ing which I waited ! ... At last V. appeared. I rushed
forward to meet him. He left me, and I mounted the
stair." *
" Raphael " then gives a fantastic account of the meet-
ing of the lovers, and draws a picture of Julie standing
alone in the lamplight, leaning on the mantelpiece, her
whole attitude one of intense expectation. In her pres-
ence "Raphael" is struck dumb with emotion. He falls
on his knees before her and kisses the carpet where her
feet have stood. Julie, herself speechless, strokes her
lover's hair, and overpowered by her feelings kneels be-
side him on the floor. This attitude of mutual adoration
is, however, opportunely terminated by a knock at the
street door and the appearance of M. de Bonald, the
friend and philosopher to whom, at Julie's request, La-
martine addressed some verses from Aix-les-Bains.
In the romance the lover soon yields his place to the
new arrival, and, taking his leave about midnight, wan-
ders for hours along the quays, to calm the fever which
burns his blood.
M. Doumic discovered at Saint-Point a letter from
Julie to Lamartine, which, while somewhat vague in
detail, supplies the only authentic version of their meet-
ing. The letter is dated Wednesday, at half-past eleven
at night, and was written as soon as Madame Charles
1 Raphael, p. 308.
182
MADAME CHARLES
had seen the last of her visitors depart. 1 "Was it really
you, Alphonse, whom I have but just held in my arms,
and who has vanished as happiness vanishes? I ask
myself whether it was not a celestial apparition sent me
by God; whether it will be renewed, and I shall see
again the beloved child, the angel I adore!" The writer
accuses unknown persons of having cruelly separated
them, causing "ice" to freeze their mutual feelings. And
again: "To-morrow I am unfortunately not free till half-
past twelve. I go to the Palace with M. Charles to fulfil
some formality; I go at half-past eleven. I shall be occu-
pied an hour. Wait for me at your lodging, my angel. I
will come as soon as I am free, and will ask for you, and
take you off to spend the remainder of the morning to-
gether." Then follows a passionate appeal that he write
assuring her that he really loves her, and reiterating her
own adoration. After some lines of grateful thanks to
Virieu for the part he has played in bringing the lovers
together, she continues: "Dors done, ami de mon cceur!
dors et qu'a ton reVeil cette lettre que tu recevras avec
tendresse te soit remise! Mon ange! mon amour! mon
enfant! ta mere te bnit! et benit ton retour!"
This is all that remains of the correspondence; but
letters, although now scarcely necessary, since the lovers
met daily, were still exchanged. "These were the fullest
days of my life," writes "Raphael," "because they con-
tained but one single thought enshrined in my soul as a
perfume of which one might fear to lose a fraction by
exposure to the outer air." 2
There followed a period of extremest bliss. In his
" Memoires politiques " Lamartine writes: "M. Briffaut
1 M. Doumic has committed a chronological error in placing this letter
the first in the series, and in supposing its date to be Christmas Day, 1816.
There is irrefutable evidence, supplied by the journal intime of Madame
Lamartine, that the date should be Wednesday, January 8, 1817.
1 Raphael, p. 312.
. . 183
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
tells in his memoirs that he often met me on the bridges
of Paris, giving my arm to a tall and beautiful woman,
languid and frail, whom he took for my sister, and who
he afterwards learnt was a Creole seeking the warmth
of her own climate, in order to prolong her young life,
along the sheltered walks of the quai du Louvre." l
"Raphael" would have us believe that he rose with
the first gleam of light which filtered through his cur-
tains, and that he began his day with a long letter to
Julie. The morning was devoted to study. As we know,
M. Charles was among the foremost intellectual lights
of his day. His wife's salon in the Institut de France
was the daily rendezvous of men of distinguished culture,
prominent in the world of science, politics, and litera-
ture. The young man feared lest in the eyes of his mis-
tress he appear out of place among these savants. Love
spurred him to emulate their learning. During the cold
winter Julie left her fireside but rarely, and meetings
with her lover during the day were rare and far between.
On his side Lamartine, having no aim beyond being with
the object of his adoration, remained indoors spending
the hours of daylight at his work-table. A curly-headed
child, the porter's son, and a stray dog he had adopted,
were his constant companions. Thus he read and pon-
dered the classics, pored over the philosophers of Greece
and Rome, the historians and orators of antiquity, lin-
gered admiringly over Cicero, and passionately de-
voured Tacitus. "I loved with passion also the orators.
I studied them with the presentiment of a man who will
one day have occasion to harangue unheeding crowds,
and who must know beforehand the keyboard of human
audiences. Demosthenes, Cicero, Mirabeau, above all
Lord Chatham, more modern, to my eyes more striking
than all others, because his inspired and lyrical eloquence
1 Mbnoires politiques, vol. I, p. 60.
. . 184
MADAME CHARLES
is a prophecy rather than an appeal." l The speeches
of Pitt and Fox followed as a natural consequence in
this curriculum, and from historical and oratorical stud-
ies he drifted to politics, for the discussion of which the
Restoration offered a fertile field. Plunging yet deeper
into the maze with De Virieu as his guide, he struggled
with the perplexing problems presented by the science
of political economy. "Raphael" frankly confesses (and
it must be remembered that this confession is made by
Lamartine in 1847) that, after having read and dis-
cussed all that was then available concerning this most
abstract of sciences, he found himself in face of some
"theoretical principles true as generalities, doubtful in
application, ambitious in their pretension to be classed
as absolute truths, often empty and false as to formu-
las." Disgruntled, the future legislator, the statesman
who was to render inestimable service to his country in
her hour of need, threw his books aside and "awaited
light." 2
Mention has been made of a political pamphlet which
Lamartine wrote during this visit to Paris: "Quelle est
la place qu'une noblesse peut occuper en France dans
un gouvernement constitutionnel?" Positive and irre-
futable evidence we have none; but it would seem prob-
able that there is confusion in "Raphael" as to the
period when this political treatise was written. If we
credit the account given in that volume of more or less
supposititious souvenirs, the young student produced
his pamphlet between January and April, 1817. But in
the letter to his uncle, dated from Paris, November II,
1815, Lamartine dwells, it will be remembered, at some
length on a treatise he had just finished. In "Raphael,"
Lamartine states that the essay so pleased prominent
men whom he met in Madame Charles's salon that the
1 Raphail, p. 317. * Ibid., p. 320.
. 18 5 .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
archives of the Foreign Office were thrown open to him,
and that twice a week he passed several hours studying
the diplomatic documents kept there. 1
Madame Charles had, of course, introduced her young
admirer to her husband, or, as Lamartine puts it, to the
old man who stood in lieu of a father to her. The old
savant received him cordially, for if, in tne beginning
of his wife's intimacy with the stranger on the shores of
Lake Bourget, he had had some hesitation as to the
propriety of the friendship, the passages Julie read her
husband from Lamartine's letters had reassured him as
to the nature of the mutual attraction, while one glance
at the young man's face completely set at rest his suspi-
cions. "Raphael" was soon taken to the old physicist's
heart. M. Charles undertook to give him instruction in
the sciences, and many hours were spent in the library
poring over ponderous tomes. Of course Julie assisted
at these lessons: and therein lay their charm, for the
sciences had little attraction for Lamartine. 2
Madame Charles delighted in lending a helping hand
to budding genius. As has been said, her salon was the
rendezvous of many prominent men. To these she intro-
duced her new proteg6, soliciting their good graces on
his behalf towards gratifying his ambition to secure a
diplomatic appointment. M. de Bonald, Baron Mou-
nier, M. de Rayneval, Lally-Tollendal, Laine, and a host
of others were pressed into service, and urged to find a
lucrative post for the young poet. Of course it was neces-
sary, from time to time, that the postulant should show
himself in Madame Charles's salon when one or the other
of these protectors was present. But Lamartine shunned
the social obligations entailed, and contrived, as often
as possible, to avoid the hours when company assem-
bled in the salon of the Institut. For this purpose sig-
1 Raphael, p. 323. Ibid., p. 328.
. - 186
MADAME CHARLES
nais had been arranged between the lovers. For hours
the young man dallied on the quay, watching the win-
dows of the house. When Julie was receiving her hus-
band's friends, she closed the inner shutters; as soon as
the last guest had departed, the blinds were thrown wide
open and the curtains raised. Immediately Lamartine
entered the house, where he found his Julie awaiting him.
For a couple of hours the lovers were alone. 1
Thus passed the winter months of 1817. In the early
spring news came from Macon that financial embarrass-
ments were again crowding thick around the young man's
family and that retrenchment had become imperative.
The mother wrote that it would no longer be possible
to send more than half the usual remittances, and that
Alphonse must either find means for providing for his
own existence or return home and share the family for-
tunes. The blow was a severe one, although not totally
unexpected. Thus far Julie's influential friends had ac-
complished nothing. Lamartine, overcoming his timid-
ity, determined to seek fame through the publication of
the verses he had written during the last few years, and
many of which he had recited in Julie's salon. With the
precious manuscript hidden under his coat the poet
sought out a publisher whose association with French
letters had made him famous, M. Didot. Eight days
later he returned, only to have his manuscript handed
back to him with the remark: "I have read your verses,
Sir ; they are not devoid of talent, but they show no study.
They resemble in no way that which is accepted and
expected in our poets. One knows not where you have
found the language, the ideas, the imagery of this poetry:
it can be classed with no definite kind; it is a pity, for
there is harmony in your verse. Give up this innovation,
which would simply upset French tradition; go back to
1 Raphall, p. 343.
. . 187 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
our masters, Delille, Parny, Michaud, Raynouard, Luce
de Lancival, Fontanes; those are the poets the public
loves; imitate somebody if you want to be accepted and
read. I should be giving you bad advice in counselling
you to publish this volume, and I should only do you a
bad turn in publishing the verses at my own expense." l
When we reflect that the verses offered were those which
three years later appeared under the title of "Les Medi-
tations," the success of which was instantaneous and
phenomenal, we stand aghast at the lack of literary dis-
cernment displayed. "Raphael" declares that on his
return home he lit his fire and leaf by leaf, without ex-
cepting one page, he consigned his verses to the flames:
" 'Since you cannot buy me one day of life and love,'
I angrily muttered as I watched them burn, 'what mat-
ters it that the immortality of my name be consumed
with you!' Immortality is for me not glory, but my
love!" 2 But although this poetic despair reads well in
"Raphael," Lamartine carefully preserved his manu-
script, awaiting a more propitious moment.
Meanwhile, driven to extremities, he sold the diamond
the devoted mother had given him for just such an emer-
gency, and with the thirty louis he received therefor
was enabled to prolong for several weeks the ecstatic
existence with Madame Charles. As the weather grew
warmer, the lovers ventured farther afield. Long after-
noons, whole days even, were spent wandering through
the woods of Meudon, Sevres, Saint-Cloud, and the
enchanting neighbourhood of Versailles. M. Charles en-
couraged these expeditions, believing the open air and
sunlight beneficial to his wife's delicate health, and ab-
solutely convinced of the platonic nature of the senti-
1 Raphael, p. 345. Minor poets of the end of the eighteenth and early
years of the nineteenth centuries.
* Raphael, p. 346.
188
MADAME CHARLES
mental relations existing between the young people. As
a matter of fact, Madame Charles's health was again
causing her friends serious anxiety, and Lamartine him-
self was beginning to suffer from the effects of the long
hours of solitary confinement and continuous study.
These country excursions brought alleviation: but owing
to the intense nervous tension to which the lovers were
continuously subjected, a cure could not be looked for.
It would seem that these promenades were not exclu-
sively given over to love-making, but were interspersed,
as had been the case at Aix-les-Bains, with long philo-
sophical, religious, and political discussions. Madame
Charles was a gentle agnostic: not so much from personal
conviction as by reason of the surroundings in which
she had been brought up and the sceptical atmosphere
she breathed among her husband's associates. Lamar-
tine, as we know, had long sought to combat the careless
unorthodoxy of his mistress's religious beliefs, and if
his arguments failed, love would seem to have triumphed
in the end. "Raphael" describes a momentous expe-
dition to Saint-Cloud, 1 during which Julie, labouring
under intense moral excitement, suddenly cried: "Ra-
phael! Raphael! There is a God!" "And how has this
been revealed to you to-day, rather than any other
time?" exclaimed the astonished "Raphael." To which
question Julie makes answer in a long ecstatic harangue
from the substance of which we gather that Love, and
Love alone, had wrought the miracle. Later we shall
have occasion to note that this conversion was sincere,
and that the certitude acquired during this memorable
expedition on May 3 helped and sustained the invalid,
who was to pass away before the close of the year. 2
1 May 3, 1817, is the date transcribed in a little notebook of Lamartine's,
now in the possession of M. fimile Ollivier, to whom it was given by Ma-
dame Valentine de Lamartine, the poet's niece.
* Rapliael, p. 356. Madame Charles died on December 18, 1817.
CHAPTER XV
A YEAR OF DISTRESS
MEANWHILE Julie was seriously concerned about her
lover's health. The young man had been living on his
nerves ever since the meeting at Aix-les-Bains, and the
moral and physical strain was undermining a never over-
robust constitution. The poor woman, at the sacrifice
of her own happiness, urged her lover to return home,
and seek in his native air the restorative qualities Paris
and the life he was leading there rendered difficult. She
insisted on his placing himself unreservedly in the hands
of her friend and physician, the good old doctor Alin, 1
whose interest in and affection for young Lamartine
yielded but little to the devotion he vouchsafed the
beautiful consumptive herself.
Lamartine gives in "Raphael" May 18, 1817, as the
date of his departure from Paris. This is, however, mani-
festly erroneous, as the "Correspondance" contains a
letter addressed to Virieu from Moulins, and dated Fri-
day, May 9. From this letter it is probable that the
young traveller set out from Paris on the 6th, at latest.
Again, contrary to the assertion made in "Raphael,"
De Vineu had not left Paris, but remained there after
his friend's departure, for we read in the same letter:
"Je te prie de remettre a [Madame Charles] la
lettre que je mets sous cette enveloppe." 2
In "Raphael" the long journey from Paris to Macon
is dismissed in seven lines, and the writer asserts: "Je
1 Lamartine spells the name "Alain." We have preferred the doctor's
own orthography. Cf. letters published by Ren6 Doumic, op. cit., p. 83.
a Correspondance, cxxin.
190
A YEAR OF DISTRESS
n'ouvris pas les levres une seule fois pendant ce long et
morne voyage." The "M6moires politiques," however,
contain many pages of detailed accounts of the incidents
of the trip, amongst others of a romantic interview with
fortune-tellers, which furnishes the theme of a long dis-
sertation on the supposedly Saracenic origin of his fam-
ily, the peculiarly Oriental cast of features observable,
and the orthography of their name, "Allamartine." l
Although it would be rash to consider the interesting de-
tails of this journey as purely fictitious, the fact should
not be lost sight of that the "Memoires politiques" were
composed in 1863, or over forty-five years later, and
consequently the writer most probably made use of
information and facts known to him only at a much
later date. Conflicting and misleading testimony also
exists in the two volumes above mentioned as to minor
points of detail concerning the refuge he sought during
the first months following his return from Paris. "Ra-
phael" claims that his parents had arranged for him to
spend the summer alone in a desert valley among the
mountains, cared for only by the labourer's family who
farmed the ancestral acres. Yet the "M6moires poli-
tiques" make mention of long months spent in study
in his "attic chamber" at Milly within the family cir-
cle. 2 That they were months of physical and mental
suffering we can take for granted, for Madame Charles
was ill, and the young man himself far from well, and,
moreover, wretchedly miserable over the enforced sepa-
ration from the woman he so ardently loved. But there
was a silver lining to the cloud which hung over them.
Before leaving Paris it had been arranged that the lovers
should meet again at Aix-les-Bains before the summer
ended, and both looked forward to the renewal of their
1 Memoires politiques, vol. i, p. 67; cf. Pierre de Lacretelle, op. cit., p. 6.
1 Raphael, p. 364; Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 77.
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
idyllic wanderings midst the romantic scenery of the
lake. Turning again to the "Correspondance," we find
a letter to Virieu, dated from Peronne, near Macon, June
3, 1817, wherein the writer reassures his friend concern-
ing his own health. His liver is better, and the palpita-
tions from which he suffered in Paris less frequent. "Je
redeviens un homme a peu prs," he adds, and he noti-
fies his friend that he has begun work on "Saul." But
in the same letter he confesses that he still dwells in
spirit with his friends in Paris. 1
Alphonse did not return to Paris during the summer
of 1817. "Raphael" doubtlessly exaggerates the soli-
tude to which the lover condemned himself; but there
can be no question of his physical and moral distress,
although, as we have seen by his letter to Virieu, tem-
porary alleviations permitted of occasional literary effort.
On August 8 the young man again writes Virieu, who
still tarries in Paris, informing him that he will await
his arrival in Macon until the i8th of that month, when
he will accompany him to Aix for some much-needed
baths, afterwards going with his friend to his country
place, should the plan meet with his approval. The let-
ter is written from Mcicon, where the writer is spending
ten days, but as he gives his usual residence as being one
league from that town, it is probable that Milly is desig-
nated, and not the desert in the mountains whither
"Raphael" is supposed to have fled. 2
Whether De Virieu met his friend in MUcon on or
before the i8th of August is uncertain, but we have a
letter, dated from Chambery on the 20th, which leads
us to suppose that the friends travelled together as far
as Lyons.
The love-sick adorer of Madame Charles certainly
found en route at least temporary distraction during a
1 Correspondance, cxxiv. * Ibid., cxxv; cf. also Raphael, p. 364.
. . 192
A YEAR OF DISTRESS
short visit to his friends the De Maistre family, at Cham-
be"ry; but next day he left for his cure at Aix. The sum
necessary to permit this extravagance had been pain-
fully acquired by the devoted mother by the sale of sev-
eral large trees which cast their grateful shade over a
corner of the garden at Milly. At least this is the pa-
thetic tale which " Raphael " gives : but it must be ac-
cepted, alas! like so many of Lamartine's records, as a
poetic license, a pious fraud, calculated to add to the
sentimental interest attaching to the romantic chronicle
of his loves. Likewise we can dismiss as lacking histor-
ical foundation the charming account of the journey
from Macon to Chambry undertaken on foot, mani-
festly inspired by the "Confessions" of Jean Jacques
Rousseau. 1
" Raphael "-Lamartine had decided, while awaiting
the advent at Aix of Julie Charles, to lodge in a poor
hovel on the outskirts of the little watering-place. Before
he had reached his destination, however, and while on
a pious pilgrimage to the ancient Abbaye de Haute-
Combe, where his first meeting with Julie had taken
place, a paper was thrust into his hand by a messenger
who had crossed the lake in search of him. It was a let-
ter from Dr. Alin. Gently breaking the news of Ma-
dame Charles's death, the doctor told the lover that
Julie's last words and thoughts had been of him. Sev-
eral long letters from Julie accompanied the package,
in which was also concealed the crucifix her lover had
given her. Lamartine closes his romantic chronicle by
citing long fragments from these heartrending epistles
from a dying woman. The wording is, of course, ficti-
tious, as are the time and circumstances under which he
learnt of Julie's death. We now know all the details of
this sad event, and some at least of the letters written
1 Raphael, p. 367.
. . 193 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
just prior to Madame Charles's demise have been pre-
served. These certainly parallel, when they do not sur-
pass, the harrowing circumstances related in "Raphael."
Julie Charles died on Thursday, December 18, 1817,
at noon, in her husband's apartment at the Institut
de France, where her adorer had so often visited her.
Lamartine received the news of her death at Macon.
He had spent the^time of waiting at Aix in composing
"Le Lac" which commemorates the scenes of their first
meeting. 1
The long days of suspense at Aix had been somewhat
relieved by the acquaintance he made there of Made-
moiselle E16anore de Canonge, and which ripened later
into an intimate friendship. Lamartine would seem to
have been immediately attracted by this very sympa-
thetic young woman, whom he made the confidante of
his troubles; and she had given him advice and offered
sympathy. But she left Aix early in September. Dis-
quieting news of Madame Charles filtered from Paris,
and the certainty that it would be impossible for her to
travel caused him to seek consolation, first with Louis
de Vignet, at Servolex, not far from Aix, and a few days
later at Grand Lemps, the ancestral home of Aymon de
Virieu, in Dauphin^.
In "Raphael" we are told that De Vignet had come
over to Aix to bring Alphonse the letters containing the
sad news of Madame Charles's relapse, and to urge his
friend to return to Servolex with him. Lamartine agreed,
but insisted on a last pilgrimage to a spot where he and
his adored once had been wont to rest during their daily
excursions in the neighbourhood. On the rocks of the
little promontory of Saint- Innocent, under the hill of
Tresserve, on the lake shore, he sat alone, and there
1 Cf. (Euvres completes, vol. I, p. 157; the poem is dated from Aix, Sep-
tember, 1817.
. . I 94 . .
A YEAR OF DISTRESS
composed the immortal verses of "Le Lac," the most
pathetic, the most human, his lyre has sung.
Two days later the heart-broken lover allowed himself
to be led from the painful associations of Aix by his
friend De Vignet, and a week after he is safe under the
hospitable roof of the devoted Aymon de Virieu at Grand
Lemps, not far from Grenoble. On October 5 he was
in Lyons, and a day or two later reached Milly.
The news from Paris continued alarming. On Octo-
ber 24 Madame Charles received the Last Sacrament:
but she rallied, and actually attempted to maintain her
lover's illusions as to her eventual recovery. The last
letter the unfortunate woman was able to pen is dated
Monday, November 10, 1817. It is a long one. The
writer describes her symptoms, but holds out hopes. " Je
vivrai pour expierl It is only by so doing that I be-
come worthy of the grace which God has vouchsafed
me." l
Before he could have received this letter, Lamar-
tine noted in the little book Julie had given him: "Le
13 novembre, 1817, j 'ai appris le retablissement de J. C.
Jours d'esperance et de joie. O. m. d. a. p. d. n.!" (O
mon Dieu, ayez piti6 de nous!) *
It was but a reprieve, however; one of those sudden
turns for the better so often observed in cases of con-
sumption. A few days later Dr. Alin himself wrote
Lamartine from Paris (November 14, 1817) that, in
spite of improvement, the worst was to be feared. 1 It
was Dr. Alin, also, who informed Lamartine, as early
as October 29, that Julie had, a few days before, re-
ceived the Last Sacrament. The knowledge that her
lover was undergoing untold anguish on her account
1 Cf. Sech6, Le Roman de Lamartine, p. 248. The writer herself underlined
these words "pour expier." The letter is cited in extenso by Doumic, op.
cit., p. 65.
* Cf. Sechd, op. cit., p. 255. Doumic, op. cit., p. 85.
. . 195 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
outweighed her own physical sufferings. For weeks she
refused to allow any one to attend her during the night,
and Dr. Alin had reason for the belief that several of
the solitary vigils were employed in reading over his
letters and arranging her private papers. 1
The fatal letter informing the unfortunate lover that
all was over was despatched on December 21. It reached
Lamartine, in M^con, on Christmas Day! De Virieu
was not in Paris at this time ; Dr. Alin's letter was con-
sequently the first intimation Lamartine received of
Madame Charles's death. "Since the end of October,"
wrote the doctor, "the fatal end was foreseen; was ex-
pected from day to day; nevertheless, nearly two months
have passed, two months passed midst scenes of the
most painful nature, and the most fearful symptoms of
the final dissolution."
Early in January, 1818, De Virieu, who had returned
to Paris a few days previously, wrote his friend that he
had visited M. Charles, who had then handed him two
large envelopes containing Lamartine's letters to Julie,
bearing the superscription : " Papiers appartenant a M. de
Virieu, lui remettre," in Julie's handwriting. To these
the old savant added a separate package containing the
copies of the poet's elegies he had sent her, and a little
framed portrait she had prized. De Virieu in this letter
gives minute details of the last moments of his friend's
mistress. 2
During Madame Charles's long illness Lamartine ran
through, as we have seen, the whole gamut of hope and
despair. At one moment he resumes his studies, rides
about the country-side, occupies himself with composi-
tions, only to be plunged the next in the inertia of blank
misery. On the day after Julie's death, as yet uncon-
1 Doumic, op. tit., p. 89. Dr. Alin to Lamartine dated January 8, 1818.
Ibid., p. 93.
. . 196
A YEAR OF DISTRESS
scious of the irreparable loss he had sustained, he at-
tended a meeting of the Academic de Macon, read to
his colleagues his "Ode a la Gloire," composed the pre-
vious winter while in Paris, and was appointed a mem-
ber of an academical commission charged with the duty
of designing a prize for poetry. 1
The news of Julie's death fell like the blow of a sledge-
hammer. For three days and three nights he wandered
aimlessly about the fields and woods, stunned, apathetic
to all outward impressions, a prey to that helpless mis-
ery which follows on the announcement of the loss, at
a distance, of a loved one.
When he returned to Paris (not "deux ans apres," as
he writes, but in September, 1818) Lamartine says he
visited Julie's "nameless grave" in a village cemetery
far from the capital. 2 The identity of the country grave-
yard has not been established. M. Seche, in spite of
patient research, was unsuccessful in finding any trace
of Julie's resting-place.
In the Introduction to his "Nouvelles Confidences"
Lamartine says that for months he travelled aimlessly. 8
Undoubtedly he expressed faithfully the condition of
desolation to which he was reduced ; but he draws on his
always fertile imagination when he asserts that he spent
the greater part of the time immediately following his
bereavement travelling "in Switzerland on the lakes of
Geneva, Thun, and Neuchitel." And he also misleads
his readers when he assures them that his mother knew
of the cause of his grief. Madame de Lamartine never
learned the reasons of her son's deep melancholy. On
August 15, 1818, the watchful mother notes: "The wor-
ries I have over my children will doubtless shorten my
1 Reyssie, La Jeunesse de Lamartine, p. 212.
1 Cours de literature, vol. iv, p. 73.
* QLuvres computes, vol. xxix, p. 409.
. . I 97 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
days: at times I succumb; I feel their sorrows even more
than they. Alphonse's idleness distracts me. ... I found
him alone at Milly, where he buried himself; calm but
sad ; living more than ever with his books, writing verses
at times, but never showing them. . . . One would say
that he is stricken down by some secret grief which he
does not tell of, but which I fear to discern. It is not
natural for a young man of his imagination, and at his
age, to hide himself so absolutely in solitude. He must
have lost, either by death or otherwise, some person, the
cause of this profound melancholy." J
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 214.
CHAPTER XVI
A POET OF THE SOUL
THE note in the mother's "Journal," a fragment of
which was quoted above, dwells with pride on the en-
thusiasm professed by Virieu and Vignet for her son's
poetry. "But of what use are these buried talents," ex-
claims Madame de Lamartine, "even if they are real!
To a young man devoured by the desire for an active
life, what is this hidden poetry, without an echo?"
His friends, however, were becoming more and more
convinced that a star of no mean magnitude was rising
over the horizon. Shortly after Madame Charles's death
Virieu wrote, urging his friend to persevere with his
"Saul"; adding: "I have just re-read nearly all your
elegies with a delight greater than ever. My opinion is
confirmed that yours will be a talent of the first order:
among your elegies there are pieces which will never be
surpassed, and certainly your vein is not yet exhausted."
And he goes on to urge his friend to strive to attain an
ever higher level of perfection. "One thing more seems
most important to me: take scrupulous care to avoid
all conventional and hackneyed formulas." l
The anguish of soul Lamartine had experienced, and
which culminated in the death of his "Elvire," ripened
and chastened the poet as it had sobered the man. Res-
ignation to his grief was of slow growth: "excessive
sorrow, like love, has its delirium." 2 "Le Crucifix,"
written under the intense emotion with which the author
received the ivory crucifix the dying woman had held
in her hands, is the fruit of this moral struggle. Julie
1 Doumic, op. cit. t p. 96. * Commentary to Le Dbcspoir.
- 199 .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
was dead; but a poet of the soul, one whose verse rang
with the pathos of human suffering, the eternal anguish
of Love, sprang from her ashes. "This was the great and
solemn event in Lamartine's life which fashioned in him
the poet." 1
Such portions of the correspondence of 1818 as have
been preserved contain only here and there a phrase
concerning the loss he has sustained. Taking De Virieu's
sound advice, the young poet plunged more deeply than
ever into his work. His "Saul" absorbs him. On Janu-
ary 23, he writes De Virieu : " I have just finished a whole
act of ' Saul ' : this one is Shakespeare, the next shall be
Racine, if I can: and so turn by turn from the pathetic
to the terrible, and from the terrible to the lyrical, until
the end, which stands out clearly in my mind. The
whole will be ready on May I." Then come periods of
physical suffering which retard the work, and when
"twenty or thirty verses a day of 'SauT" kill him. He
even despairs of life and desires death, for he can neither
work nor write. On March 27 he informs Virieu that
in case of his death he has deeded him all his papers, to
be destroyed, should his friend deem it best. But on
April 1 6 "Saul" is completely finished, and on the 3Oth
the manuscript of his tragedy has been sent to Virieu,
in Paris. 2 "You will be fairly satisfied with the style,"
he writes, and, "sooner or later, style counts for every-
thing."
Virieu had promised to interest the great actor Talma
in his friend's tragedy, and Lamartine founded all his
hopes on the acceptance by this famous artist of the r61e
of "Saul," "qui est tout lui."
The poem is dedicated jointly to Madame Charles
and Virieu. "I united you both in this little homage,"
he wrote: "were she still alive you would both be glad.
1 De Mazade, Lamartine, p. 36. * Correspondence, cxxxvm-cxuL
200
A POET OF THE SOUL
I composed it for you, and for that other half of myself.
... I can now only dedicate it to her shade." l The
dedication is dated May i, 1818; so in spite of physical
and moral ills the author had been able to fulfil the prom-
ises given in January.
Long letters are devoted to pressing recommendations
to Virieu in connection with the presentation of the
drama to Talma. As far as we can judge by Lamartine's
answers to Virieu 's letters, "Saul" was not very favour-
ably criticized by those to whom the faithful friend
showed the manuscript. While on a visit to his uncle,
the Abb de Lamartine, at Montculot, near Dijon, Al-
phonse acknowledges the receipt of a "long letter of crit-
icisms" from Virieu. But it is from Talma alone that
he is willing to accept a final verdict. If Talma will re-
ceive his drama at the "Com6die Franchise," ill as he
is he will come immediately to Paris, and place himself
unreservedly in the hands of the great actor, for any
alterations, corrections, etc., he may suggest. "Heaven,
which for my sins has forced me to be a poet, has also
given me the moral courage necessary to brave reverses
and literary condemnation with a heart of brass." *
A visit from his friend De Vignet towards the end of
June brought distraction, but left him mentally rather
worse. "I was more peaceful before De Vignet's arrival,"
he wrote. "Far from shedding around him the calm of
former days, when his soul was downcast by suffering
and he had taken refuge in religion, he was in a ferment
of agitation, such as we experienced when we were six-
teen, concerning all the perspectives of life: as if any
such existed now for us, especially for me!" And he
adds: "He was well-intentioned, desiring to rouse me
from the physical and moral slough: it was all pure loss;
memories and regrets are too tenacious." *
1 Cf. Correspondence, CXLVI. Ibid., CXLVIII. * Ibid., OJ.
. . 2OI
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
In spite of this mental depression literary activities
would seem to hold a place in his days. Plans for lyrical
dramas, sketches of odes and elegies, are of constant re-
currence in the letters of this period. 1 Nor did he look
to literature alone for an alleviation of his present ills.
Strange as it must appear so soon after the loss of his
adored "Elvire," the young man was meditating a matri-
monial alliance. To Virieu he wrote on July 17: "If my
parents refuse, as I fear, to enter into negotiations with
the family of Mademoiselle , to arrange a marriage
directly after the harvest [he was then farming his father's
estate], if my health is not worse than at present, I have
resolved to go to Paris and to offer myself such as I am,
even with no resources. If they want me they will take
me; if not, I will come home again." 2 It was Vignet
who had suggested the plan : in fact he offered two alter-
natives: Mademoiselle D., who apparently resided near
M&con, and Mademoiselle B., whose parents lived in
Paris. 8
We know that his heart could not have been in either
of the projects. But matrimony is a contagious disease,
and at this period Madame de Lamartine was deeply
immersed in plans for the settlement of her daughters.
Was her son bitten by the same craving? Was it not
rather the hopelessness of despair over the recent loss
that drove him to seek a remedy for his misery in the
companionship of some young girl who would accept him
without exacting in return that which he was henceforth
incapable of giving? The intolerableness of his present
life is discernible in more than one of the compositions
dating from this period, but nowhere more strikingly
than in the ode first entitled "Le Malheur," and later
rechristened "Le Desespoir." In his commentary to
this "Meditation," Lamartine wrote, in later years, that
1 Cf. Correspondance, CLI. * Ibid., CLI. ' Ibid., CLII.
. . 2O2
A POET OF THE SOUL
the poem had originally contained "bitter, insulting,
impious verses. . . . Invective was mingled with sacri-
lege: it was Byronian, but it was Byron sincere, not
affected."
Lamartine asserts (writing in 1860) that he deter-
mined to have his verses printed, and that having sent
them to a friend in Paris, he was overjoyed to see him-
self for the first time in print. Twenty copies, magnifi-
cently printed on vellum, were issued privately by Didot,
and these the young poet distributed among his friends.
But here again, as is so frequently the case, his memory
betrays him. Writing to Mademoiselle de Canonge from
Milly, November 13, 1818, he says that if during his
lifetime any of his verses are published, she will be the
first to receive a copy. 1 The earliest mention of the ap-
pearance in print of any of his poems is that made in a
letter to Virieu, dated April 13, 1819, where he says that
Didot was at that moment preparing a little volume,
limited to twenty copies, "all promised." 2 M. Gustave
Lanson makes no reference to such publication, nor do
the archives of the Chateau de Saint-Point contain a
copy. 3 If the poems were printed, examples of this edi-
tion are buried in inaccessible provincial private col-
lections.
But literary work, as well as matrimonial schemes,
were suddenly routed by an urgent communication from
De Virieu, who expressed the belief that if Lamartine
presented himself without loss of time in Paris, a diplo-
matic appointment would be forthcoming. In her diary
the mother writes on September 12, 1818: "Yesterday
he [Alphonse] received a budget of letters from his most
intimate friend, M. de Virieu, calling him in haste to
Paris. He sold his horse in order to procure twenty-five
1 Correspondance, CLXIII. * Ibid., CLXXIX.
1 Cf . Meditations poitiyues, passim.
- 2O3
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
louis: I gave him all I had been able to economize during
the summer." 1
At the end of October the applicant was still in Paris.
But a double disappointment was to be his lot. The
appointment was not made, and Talma declined his
"Saul." If we judge by the tone of his letters to Virieu,
this latter misfortune outweighed the former. " Alphonse
returns more discouraged than ever," also writes the
mother, "more embittered against the fate which rele-
gates him here to a life of inaction."
The young poet had left no stone unturned to secure
a hearing for his drama, and at the same time assidu-
ously frequented the social circles best calculated to
advance his fortunes, political and literary. A reading
of "Saul" was fixed with Talma, who seems to have
taken a real interest in the young author. But although
the great actor professed admiration for the verses, the
style and the situations, although he assured his young
friend that the drama was far beyond Chateaubriand's
"Mo'ise," he did not conceal the opinion that the com-
mittee of the Theatre Francais could not accept the
piece on account of certain innovations which must in-
evitably meet with their disapproval. For "five hours"
he endeavoured to persuade the young author to com-
pletely re-write certain scenes, in order that they might
be more in accordance with accepted rules. "J'ai im-
pitoyablement refuse," writes Alphonse, when describ-
ing the interview to Virieu. Nevertheless, he consented
to revise his drama, following certain suggestions of the
experienced actor, and to return him the manuscript in
a couple of months. 2 On his return to Milly, he writes
to Virieu that he will do his best to comply with Talma's
suggestions, but adds significantly: "To create is beau-
1 Manuscrit de ma m^re, p. 214; d. also Memoires politiquts, vol. I, p. 84.
* Cf. Corrcspondancc, CLXI.
. . 204
A POET OF THE SOUL
tiful, but to correct, change, spoil, is beggarly and flat;
it is a nuisance, the task of a bricklayer, not of an art-
ist." * It is this lifelong aversion which is accountable
for the lack of finish, the frequent negligences, so appar-
ent in his most sublime lyrics, as well as throughout his
literary and historical production.
The morose condition of mind, so persistently dwelt
upon in the "Memoires politiques," is not always evi-
dent in contemporaneous letters to Virieu and others,
and was probably exaggerated in retrospect. Moments
of discouragement and acute mental suffering there un-
doubtedly were: no one ever possessed to a greater
degree than Lamartine the poetic ecstasy of pain. But
melancholy and high spirits succeeded each other with
surprising rapidity, apathy and keen alertness alter-
nating according to physical or moral conditions. His
interest in politics was not dead, although at times it
slumbered, or was cast temporarily aside during the
phases of intense poetical inspiration. Witness his letter
of December I, 1818, wherein he gives Virieu a clear,
concise, and masterly synopsis of the political situation
in France resulting from the clash between the ultra-
royalists and the ministry then in power. The opinions
and previsions he sketches in this critical but unpre-
tending study of current events were amply justified.
Especially did he appreciate and correctly interpret the
Bonapartist sympathies still existing in the country
districts, where "le nom de Bonaparte n'a rien perdu
de sa magie," and estimate the value of the dangerous
weapon the Jacobins possessed when making use, in their
own interests, of such sympathies. Of M. de Chateau-
briand, and his ambitions, the writer states : "Between
1 Correspondance, CLXII. Cf. in this connection Glachant, Papiers
d'autrefois, p. 178; also J. des Cognets, Etudes sur Us manuscrits de Lamar-
tinc, p. 195.
205
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
ourselves, his real force is nil; his influence is concen-
trated in a few salons of the Faubourg Saint-Germain." *
It is both interesting and instructive to compare this
curious contemporaneous document with his apprecia-
tions in his ' ' Histoire de la Restauration ' ' and ' ' M6moires
politiques," and to note that the author's opinions have
undergone but little change during the intervening forty
years. In the latter work, as in the "Confidences," La-
martine affords his readers a glimpse of his uncle's salon
in Mcicon, which was, as he styles it, " exclusivement
politique." Here, at this period (the winter of 1818-19),
the young man was a constant visitor. "Too young to
take an active part in the discussions, he nevertheless
was deeply impressed by the fanatical tone adopted by
the emigres, who acrimoniously criticized every measure
of the ministry struggling against the tide of political
license, while pretending to idolize the r6gime." 2
These incursions into the domain of practical politics
were, however, in spite of what he wrote in later years,
mere episodes. Literature, and above all lyrical compo-
sition, absorbed his energies, and formed the staple of
his intellectual diet. From time to time he philosophizes
in his correspondence, disclaiming all ambition and be-
moaning the impulse which goads him unwillingly to
commit to paper the thoughts which teem in his active
brain. In this strain he writes to Mademoiselle de
Canonge (December 24, 1818), the last letter we have
of this year of turmoil and disappointment: "Don't
speak to me of my works. You will never hear them ex-
cept privately, at least during my lifetime. I consider
amongst the greatest calamities which have befallen
me the nefarious influences which caused me to be born
a poet in this century of mathematics." 3
1 Correspondance, CLXI.
* Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 78. Correspondence, CLXVni.
. . 206
A POET OF THE SOUL
The year 1819 was, however, to offer but little alle-
viation to the physical and moral distress by which he
was so incessantly tormented. Not that life at Milly or
in the social centres of Mcon was devoid of interest or
incident. Lamartine has not left a conspicuously clean
moral reputation in his native town during these years
of comparative idleness and irresponsibility. Local gos-
sip attached his name to several flirtations of doubt-
ful morality, and there is a scandal which to this day
agitates the seekers after posthumous sensational dis-
closures. On the whole, Alphonse de Lamartine was
little better, if no worse, than the majority of the young
blades of good family who trifled amorously with the
wives and daughters of the provincial gentry and bour-
geoisie. But such philanderings had in reality but slight
hold over a mind such as his. They were the natural
and inevitable consequences of enforced idleness, rather
than indications of vice. Underlying all such outward
manifestations of the flesh was the solid substratum
of virile fibre which was so particularly to distinguish
his character, once an object in life had been vouch-
safed him.
It is amusing to note the paternal advice he gives
Mademoiselle de Canonge, whose young brother was at
this time giving her considerable anxiety on account of
his wild ways and reckless expenditure. "We young
people," writes the M&con rake, "are guilty of much
foolishness. But the greater part of our faults should be
attributed to those who direct us so badly. We are ex-
posed, without means of defence, to all kinds of dangers;
and we are blamed if we succumb. Take idleness from
our lives, and precautions against amorous pitfalls, and
we should nearly all be wise and happy." l
The hesitations, mistakes, and time-serving policies
1 Correspondence, CLXIX.
. . 207
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
of the party in power were, at this period, a source of
anxiety and disgust to the silent young spectator of the
meetings in his uncle's salon. "One could not rule the
school-children," he wrote Mademoiselle de Canonge,
"with the principles which are perpetually advocated
for a government of a turbulent, unrestful, and dis-
jointed nation." * Despite his personal sympathies and
preferences, none of the lessons, not one iota of the
philosophy of 1789, had been lost on him. What he in-
stinctively felt in 1819, experience (and what experi-
ence!) induced him to lay down as a maxim in 1861, at
a moment when the Second Empire seemed most se-
curely established. The dangers and shortcomings of
democracy were apparent, yet he professed himself a
republican "par intelligence des choses," 2 and heroically >
accepted the peril. His sincerity has been questioned;
but an impartial study of his life and actions makes clear
that his social acumen and instinctive statesmanship,
based on sound historical research, had, ever since he
had reasoned and pondered political problems, convinced
him that founded on the democratic principle alone could
modern France live and thrive among the nations.
The period of his life we are now analyzing was not,
however, conspicuous for political work, being essen-
tially associated with his literary development. Never-
theless, his ambition to secure a diplomatic appoint-
ment caused him to gravitate towards the circle where
the foremost political lights of the day revolved, such as
M. de Bonald, the Abb6 de Lamennais, and M. Lain,
who became his personal friends. With M. de Chateau-
briand, who always professed antipathy for "ce grand
dadais," nothing but the most formal relations were
ever entertained. 3
1 Correspondence, CLXXII. * Histoire de la Restauralion, vol. I, p. 5.
1 Cf. Cours de litterature, vol. IX, p. 31; vol. xxvu, p. 289.
CHAPTER XVII
BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN PARIS
DURING the early months of 1819 Lamartine was still
eating his heart out and fretting over his inactivity, now
at Macon, now in the solitude of Milly. His eyes are,
it is true, turned ever and again towards Paris, but it
is with a literary object in view rather than for the
advancement of his diplomatic or administrative am-
bition, that he meditates a visit to the capital. The
perusal of a letter to Virieu, written on January 18, dis-
closes a peculiar crisis the causes of which can only be
conjectured. Physical discomfort, combined with keen
discouragement over his literary work, dictated, per-
haps, the extraordinary proposition he makes. Together
with a friend, M. de Nansouty, his fertile brain evolved
a financial scheme; the prototype of another, which, at
a much later date, he actually put into execution in
Asia Minor. The island of Pianozza, off the Tuscan
coast, was, he had heard, very fertile, but uncultivated.
If we read aright, seventy thousand francs had been
subscribed towards the scheme, and he and his friends
were about to obtain a concession from the Govern-
ment of the Grand Duke, and set about farming the
land. One hundred per cent on the initial outlay is to
be expected the first year. Of course Virieu must have
his share in these miraculous profits. 1 No further men-
tion is vouchsafed of the affair, but it could not be ig-
nored, for it is highly characteristic of the optimistic
and impulsive nature of the man who, in later life, was
so frequently to allow himself to be lured into specula-
tions equally visionary and hardly less ephemeral.
1 Correspondance, CLXX.
209
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
A week later diplomacy is again the object of his
dreams. The marriage of his sister Cesarine with an
elder brother of his friend Count de Vignet delayed his
departure for Paris in quest of employment. But the
end of February saw him once more installed in the
capital. The social surroundings in which he found him-
self soon relieved both physical and moral worries. Am-
bition once more tugs at his sleeve. "I have great plans
in view, " he writes Mademoiselle de Canonge. " I can't
endure this slavery. I must try my luck in other climes,
and attain to the independence which will permit me
to marry according to my inclination." *
The handsome young man, with the marvellous talent
for delicate versification, soon became the rage. Ma-
dame de Raigecourt and Madame de Sainte-Aulaire
vied with each other to secure the new attraction, and
in their salons he met the flower of the aristocracy of
birth, of literature, and of politics. A reading of his
verses was arranged for him at the palace of the Due
d'Orleans, in whose family his grandmother and grand-
father had held important positions. At this moment
Alphonse would have himself willingly accepted employ-
ment in the royal household ; but the Duke did not wish
to rearrange his Court until after the death of his mother,
the dowager duchess. 2 On April 13, he wrote an enthu-
siastic letter to Virieu describing a visit to the chateau at
La Roche-Guyon. Here, as everywhere, his success is
immense and his verses obtain for him a perfect ova-
tion. ". . . All those I know or meet are of one voice as
to my talent for poetry. I have made enthusiasts beyond
all you can imagine. The Duke of Rohan and Mathieu
de Montmorency are among the number. I have just
composed for them, at La Roche-Guyon, during Holy
1 Correspondence, CLXXIV.
1 Cf. Cours de liUerature, vol. IX, p. 14; also vol. xxvn, p. 265.
. . 2IO
BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN PARIS
Week, the most beautiful religious stanzas you can im-
agine . . . pure as air, sad as death, and soft as velvet." l
In spite of all this flattery, however, he assures Virieu
that his head is not turned. "I have too urgent need of
substantial things to feed myself on this silly little in-
cense which a breath dissipates."
From afar the fond mother followed with pride her
son's success. On June 1 1, she notes in her diary that she
had met an Italian lady in Macon who had seen Alphonse
while in Paris, and who recited for her some of his recent
verses: "Ce sont des stances religieuses et melanco-
liques ou Ton sent aussi un fond de passion." 2
This Madame de L , as Lamartine designates her
in his "Mmoires politiques," * had interested herself
in the young poet during a sharp attack of illness, brav-
ing slander, and watching over his convalescence, read-
ing aloud to him the works of Walter Scott. The iden-
tity of the beautiful Italian is, however, uncertain. In
"Fior d'Alisa," Lamartine, describing a visit to Florence,
makes mention of a certain Countess L6na (also known
under the name of "Regina" in the "Confidences"),
who had returned to the city by the Arno on a visit to
relatives. "A long silence had separated us since my
marriage," he writes. "She thought she could renew
what had been a one-sided but passionate attachment.
She was the most beautiful and gracious woman I ever
met." 4 She died of cholera in 1851, according to one ver-
sion; but in another she expires at an advanced age, on
the shores of the Adriatic: "Comme meurt un chant
de Rossini le soir sur les collines de Pezzaro." 5
Among the most important of the acquaintances La-
martine made during this visit to Paris was the Abb de
1 Correspondance, CLXXIX. Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 223.
Vol. i, p. 102. * Cows de liUerature, vol. xxi, p. 270.
* Op. cit.; also Memoir es politiques, vol. I, p. 103.
. . 211
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Lamennais. During the summer of 1818 this celebrated
author's "Essai sur Tindiff6rence en matiere de religion"
had fallen into the young man's hands, 1 and the im-
pression made was instantaneous and lasting. In later
years Lamartine made attempts to minimize the influ-
ences this work exercised over him: but the contem-
poraneous correspondence with Virieu and others is
proof positive of the rapture with which he hailed the
advent of the new prophet. "C'est magnifique, pense
comme M. de Maistre, ecrit comme Rousseau, fort, vrai,
elev, pittoresque, concluant, neuf : enfin tout." 2 Lamen-
nais's influence over Lamartine is undeniable. But we
hesitate to accept M. Christian Marechal's contention
that, after 1817, the social, political, philosophical, and
religious thought of Lamartine reflects exactly that of
Lamennais; or that such influence, which lasted over
twenty years, was the effective and direct action of the
thinker on the mind of the poet. 8 M. Marechal would
have us believe that after reading "L'Essai sur 1'indiffe-
rence" Lamartine's poetry and prose, even his politics,
were hardly less than plagiarisms, and his substantial
volume is in support of this thesis. Ingenious as are his
parallels, his conclusions fail to carry conviction to the
student of the character and mentality of Lamartine.
No fair-minded critic will attempt to deny the influ-
ence, the immense influence, exerted by the great reli-
gious and social thinker over the poet and author of
"Jocelyn" and other works. But the impression left by
a careful and impartial reading of M. Mar6chal's work
is that of a reductio ad absurdum. Nevertheless, we shall
have occasion to return to the undoubted similarity of
thought existing between these two great forces in the
1 Cf. Lettres de Lamartine, p. 2.
1 Correspondence, CLIII; cf. also S6ch6, Le Cenade de la Muse franchise,
p. 215; Cours de litteratvre, vol. n, p. 270, and vol. xxrv, p. 802.
* Lamennais et Lamartine, p. 3.
. . 212
BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN PARIS
intellectual world, when we reach the period of Lamar-
tine's political activity.
Meanwhile Lamartine's brilliant conquest of aristo-
cratic and intellectual Parisian society had been fol-
lowed by a return of his heart trouble. His physical
health, and, we are given to understand in a letter to
Virieu, financial embarrassments also, made a further
stay in the capital impossible. In vain his kind friends
De Montmorency and De Rohan, who, at their own ex-
pense, had two or three of his poems printed by Didot, 1
urged him to accept the use of a small country-house
near Scaux: the asylum he elects is Montculot, the soli-
tary chateau of his uncle, the abbe, about twenty kilo-
metres from Dijon. There, on a high plateau overlooking
the country for miles around, in the midst of woods and
fields, he tarried until called by his friend De Virieu's ill-
ness to Grand Lemps, in Dauphin^. From time to time
he writes his friends urging them to push diligently his
claims for a diplomatic appointment. To M. de Genoude
he writes (June 26) expressing admiration for Lamennais,
to whose judgment he would like to submit some recently
composed verses. "I have greater hopes of being em-
ployed in diplomacy," he tells his correspondent; "and
until every gleam of chance in that direction has van-
ished, I shall not attempt to publish anything. The repu-
tation of poet is the worst of any in the eyes of the men
who rule this matter-of-fact world." z All his life long
Lamartine was to experience the truth which underlies
this axiom. His political career was to be continually
subjected to the jeers and sneers of those who saw in
every humanitarian measure he advocated, even in his
unflinching faith in the future of railways and other eco-
nomic innovations, the poetic idealization their souls
abhorred.
1 Correspondence, CLXXXH. * Ibid., cxci.
. . 213
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
On the other hand, we perceive with some astonish-
ment an apparent inclination to launch himself on the
"moral world," as he terms it, but for which we read " the
world of ideals." Lamartine invariably held in but slight
estimation the literary gifts he possessed. Undoubtedly,
in spite of his assertions when writing Virieu, his success
in Paris had, at this moment, caused him to take his
poetic talent more seriously than he was willing to admit
in later life. We must not forget that his success had
been considerable, and well calculated to turn a stronger
head than his. Yet, such was his distaste for the life
pecuniary and other considerations forced him to lead
that he would willingly have made the sacrifice of his
literary ambitions for the certitude of active and re-
munerative employment. Nowhere in his writings are
these sentiments more clearly or more concisely ex-
pressed than in his letter to the Comte de Saint-Mauris,
dated from Lemps on June 26, 1819: "I feel as you do
that liberty is the first requisite of a poet, and that I
shall alienate a precious portion [by accepting a diplo-
matic post] ; but necessity is the greatest of despots . . . ; "
and he reiterates his conviction that the title of poet
can only be detrimental to his ambition until such time
as, having conquered an official position, he can again
give rein to Pegasus. But to speak frankly, he does not
anticipate very great success, although he realizes his
vocation and yields to its impulses: he writes as he
breathes, because he must, without knowing why. 1
It would be difficult to conceive a more absolutely
rational and matter-of-fact estimation of his talents than
that conveyed in the above-quoted passage. Not only
is the fire of genius absent, but the pardonable pride, the
natural enthusiasm of a successful young poet who has
already tasted the sweets of applause in the most culti-
1 Correspondence, cxcu.
. . 214
BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN PARIS
vated centre of Europe, is conspicuously lacking. Nor
can the writer be suspected of feigned indifference: La-
martine always knew his worth and possessed no mean
dose of literary vanity. The present must be accepted
as one of those instances where his mental perception,
his clearness of vision, and his determination to elimi-
nate all possible adverse chances in order to achieve
the objects of his ambition, liberty, and independence,
caused him to thrust temporarily aside such minor con-
siderations as the gratification of what he honestly be-
lieved to be "une sotte petite fum6e qu'un souffle dis-
sipe." How many young poets of his age, having tasted
of the wine of success, would have been capable of set-
ting aside, even temporarily, the intoxicating mixture
for what was then at best but a shadowy chance of a more
substantial future than the Muses could offer?
Admiration for this sacrifice of personal vanity is in-
creased when we remember that it was enacted at a mo-
ment when most men avail themselves of everything
likely to enhance their prestige in the eyes of a woman
in whom they are interested. Lamartine had met a young
woman recently in Chambry, who had been attracted,
before becoming personally acquainted with him, by
reason of his poetic gifts. Early in July Alphonse made
a week's visit to Chambery, where his sister C6sarine
had resided since her marriage with Xavier de Vignet.
There he met a young English girl, Miss Maria Ann
Eliza Birch, who, with her mother, the widow of a militia
colonel, was spending some weeks with the Marquise de
la Pierre. But it would not appear that the first impres-
sions on his part were very deep.
It is uncertain whether Mrs. and Miss Birch were al-
ready established in Aix when Lamartine and Virieu
arrived there, on or about August I, 1819, or whether
they reached the famous watering-place with the Mar-
. . 215
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
quise de la Pierre and her daughters a few days later.
The fact is immaterial. Suffice it to say that the ac-
quaintance begun at Chambery, a fortnight or so before,
with the young English girl, rapidly ripened into inti-
macy. Lamartine was not in love with Miss Birch, but
he realized that a marriage with her would be conducive
to the attainment of some of his most cherished ambi-
tions. On the other hand, the young girl had been from
the outset very forcibly attracted. Although the account
Lamartine has given of the courtship was written many
years later, there would appear to be no reason for doubt-
ing its veracity in so far as outline is concerned. Miss
Birch, with her mother and friends, had taken lodgings
in a pension kept by a M. Ferret, whose sisters managed
his simple household. Between Lamartine and M. Ferret
their existed a warm sympathy, based on a mutual passion
for botany and entomology. 1 The old man soon grasped
the situation, and became a precious aid to the young
people, facilitating their meetings, and, as Lamartine
says, acting as sentinel during their stolen interviews.
The first authentic intimation of this attachment is
contained in a letter from Lamartine to the Marquise
de Raigecourt, dated from Macon on August 29, 1819.
Therein he pleads with his friends to place him in com-
munication with some one in London who could give
information concerning the family he desires to enter.
There is not an ounce of romance in this letter. The
writer explains his action (very unusual in France, where
custom dictates that these preliminaries be left in the
hands of the elders) by stating that he can only expect his
family to take steps in the matter when they have as-
certained the standing of the strangers. He informs his
correspondent that the young English girl passes as be-
ing "un fort bon parti," and that "it seems" (il paraif)
1 Cours de litttrature, vol. xxi, p. 1 86.
216
BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN PARIS
that they suit each other well enough. 1 Not a word
of enthusiasm for the girl he desires to marry: only an
urgent appeal for haste, as the "young person" neces-
sarily awaits a definite demand on the part of his parents.
After nearly a month at Aix and Chambry Lamartine
returned to MScon, and on August 30 wrote to Made-
moiselle de Canonge that he had a marriage in view, but
did not know how it would turn out. "The young person
is very agreeable," he adds, "and has a very good fortune :
there are mutual leanings, conformity of tastes, sym-
pathy; in fact, everything that goes to make up happi-
ness for a couple about to be united."
It is only on September 4 that Madame de Lamar-
tine makes any mention of the news her son has brought
back from Aix. "Alphonse has arrived," she writes; "his
health is good, but I have many other worries concerning
him. He made the acquaintance at Chamb6ry of a young
English person and is extremely desirous of marrying her.
It even seems that he pleases this young person, and that
they have become mutually engaged, as far as two per-
sons dependent on their parents' wishes can do so." And
the good woman thanks Heaven that her prayers have
been heard, and that her son's days of idleness and
"morbid reveries" are over. The mother is informed
that, without being a beauty, "a gift more often danger-
ous than useful to a woman," the young Englishwoman
has charm, grace, an admirable figure, superb hair,
remarkable education, many talents, and a superior
mind. She is, moreover, of good family, well connected ;
and although not rich, sufficiently endowed with this
world's goods to make a suitable match for her son. 2
There are, of course, many more details in the jour-
nal concerning this unexpected affair, and the mother
relates minutely the circumstances of the meeting and
1 Correspondence, cxcvin. * Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 224.
. . 2I 7 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
courtship. But the journal mentions the fact that Miss
Birch had been attracted to Alphonse before she met him
by virtue of the "melancholy verses of the young French-
man" her friends had shown her. Lamartine, in his let-
ter to Mademoiselle de Canonge, states that "serious
obstacles" threaten the projected marriage. These the
mother also foresees. Miss Birch is a Protestant, and the
Lamartine family are one and all fervent Catholics. The
girl, it is true, has leanings towards her lover's creed, but
hesitates on account of her mother's anger. A mixed
marriage would be extremely distasteful to the Lamar-
tines. Again there is her nationality. "What could be
more antipathetic to the uncles and aunts, so strait-laced
and coldly prosaic, than a rather romantic marriage with
a foreigner? I hardly dare speak of it to my husband and
his brothers!" And yet they must be consulted, as the
family fortune is in their hands. Alphonse has nothing
beyond the allowance his father makes him, and a pro-
spective inheritance of fifty thousand francs on Saint-
Point, after his parents' death. The uncles and aunts
hold the situation in the hollow of their hands, and the
narrow, provincial prejudices must be overcome. Never
can Alphonse's parents make a formal request for the
girl's hand unless their son brings a substantial marriage
portion. "How could we present a young man, without
career and without fortune, to a family richer than we?
Love compensates all for young people: but then it is
not the young people who make the settlements. ... I
no longer sleep from worry." *
There are, indeed, serious obstacles to be overcome
obstacles which at times appear unsurmountable. At
one moment (September 16) Lamartine feels justified in
writing Virieu that everything is being arranged accord-
ing to his desires: but a little later he informs Made-
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 228.
. . 218
BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN PARIS
moiselle de Canonge that he cannot persuade his father
to take any steps in the matter. "I am distressed," he
adds, "although I am not the least in the world what
they call in love. But the affair was good and reasonable.
It was all I could hope for." 1
If his matrimonial prospects were doubtful, the coveted
diplomatic appointment seemed even more unattainable.
From headquarters he learns that regulations have re-
cently been adopted which preclude the appointment to
the salaried service of any person not having previously
served an apprenticeship in one of the Legations, or as
an unpaid attach^ in the Foreign Office at Paris. "Here
I am, after four years of solicitations, promises, forever
excluded from the career I have all my life had in per-
spective ... all my hopes destroyed at a single blow." *
To add to his worries Mrs. Birch would appear, after
having smiled upon the flirtation at the outset, to have
firmly opposed any project of marriage; principally on
account of the difference in creed. "One must perforce
bear what one cannot change," the disappointed suitor
writes Mademoiselle de Canonge. "Don't pity me. . . .
I bear it well enough ; even with that joy which one feels
at the termination of a long period of uncertainty." *
That for Lamartine this marriage was purely one of
reason, there can be no possible doubt. His passion for
Madame Charles was still smouldering burning would
be the more proper term in his heart. But his situa-
tion was becoming more and more difficult, and, at
twenty-nine years of age, he realized that the only re-
lease from the financial bonds which hampered him lay in
an advantageous matrimonial alliance. His parents, how-
ever, whose scruples are all to their credit, refused to lend
themselves to any subterfuge not strictly in accord with
their code of honour. A note in Madame de Lamartine's
1 Correspondence, cc and CCI. * Cf. Ibid., ecu. * Ibid., cciv.
. . 219
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
diary clearly shows their predicament. Early in Novem-
ber she writes: "Everything is broken off. Alphonse has
returned [presumably from Chambery or Aix] : the mother
of the young English girl has taken her daughter to
Turin, in order to separate her from the man she appears
to love. Nevertheless, the young people occasionally cor-
respond. I am very sad. My husband, worried by our
embarrassment, caused by the failure of the crops and
his son's debts, which must be paid before any marriage
can be contracted, in order not to deceive the family
which our son would enter, talks of retiring completely
to the country, and of selling his house in M&con. If
this occurs, how shall I marry the two daughters left me?
Who would come to court them in a poor village? " 1
Alphonse himself realized the hopelessness of the
situation, and wisely took matters into his own hands.
"I have just taken an important step," he wrote the
Marquise de Raigecourt, on November 12, 1819. "For
some time past I have had very considerable debts
which gravely menaced my future. I confided my wor-
ries to some members of my family. At first it made a
terrible fuss : then an uncle and two aunts, with charming
grace and kindness, undertook to pay my indebtedness.
I am now busy over this wholesale liquidation, which is
carried on unknown to my father." z
It is possible that Mrs. Birch knew of these debts.
But the Englishwoman's opposition to the marriage of
her daughter was based, it would appear, on the differ-
ence of religion alone. Miss Birch was willing, nay, eager,
to abjure her faith, and accept her lover's creed: in fact,
she so informed her parent. "But the mother is in de-
spair," writes Lamartine to Madame de Raigecourt,
"and refuses her consent. We must do without it." Mrs.
Birch threatened to take her daughter to England: but
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 229. * Correspondence, ccvii.
. . 22O
BRILLIANT SUCCESS IN PARIS
the suitor announced his determination to follow them.
Rumour had it, and the legend persisted for many years,
that Miss Birch had royal blood in her veins, was in fact
the natural daughter of William IV. 1 But there is no
authority for such a belief, or for the statement that the
girl received a royal pension on this account. That the
pecuniary resources of the family were overestimated
later became apparent : but they were comfortably well
off, and at that time the fortune seemed to Lamartine a
considerable one.
Whatever the motives which spurred Lamartine to
make Miss Birch his wife, at no time did he profess a
more tender sentiment than that which he was capable
of entertaining. Although dated several months later
(April 26, 1820), a letter to Virieu gives a very clear ap-
preciation of the state of mind the young man was in.
"To you alone," he writes this trusted friend, "to you
alone will I confide my real reasons: it is for religious
motives that I absolutely wish to be married, and that
I take so much trouble over it. One must finally severely
organize one's useless life according to established laws,
divine or human, and my doctrine asserts that human
laws are divine. Time is passing, the years flit past, life
is ebbing, we must profit by what remains. Let us give
ourselves a fixed aim for the employment of this fecund
remainder; and let this aim be the most lofty possible;
that is to say, let it be the wish to make ourselves agree-
able to God." And he goes on to say that by riveting our-
selves in the established order, and adopting the general
scheme of life our fathers have followed, by imploring
the Almighty to give us strength and spiritual food, mak-
ing the sacrifice of some "r6pugnances de 1'esprit," we
shall find peace of soul. "Ergo, marions nous!" are the
1 Cf. Journal du Docteur Prosper MSnitre, p. 88, and M. de Barth61emy f
Souvenirs d'un ancien Prefet, p. 194.
. . 221
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
words with which he winds up his peroration, "et arrive
ce qui plaira." l
In this connection a letter written to Madame de
Raigecourt, a few weeks before his marriage, is highly
significative of the lack of passion, or even ordinary en-
thusiasm, he felt over the impending ceremony. "I try
to make myself as much in love as possible: ... I shall
possess a real moral perfection: all that is wanting is a
little more beauty. But I shall content myself with what
there is." 2
In his "Vie int6rieure de Lamartine," founded on a
diary left by the poet's friend and confidant, J. M. Dar-
gaud, M. Jean des Cognets states that Louis de Vignet
was a rival for Miss Birch's hand. Lamartine agreed to
give his friend a chance and went off for a week, leaving
him a free field. But when Vignet made his offer to the
girl she confessed that she loved another. 3
1 Correspondence, ccxvui. f Ibid., ccxvii. * Op. tit., p. in.
CHAPTER XVIII
MEDITATIONS PO&TIQUES
MEANWHILE, Lamartine redoubled his efforts to ob-
tain government employment. "I am too hampered by
my extreme misery, too vexed by poverty," he wrote
Virieu when urging him to aid in finding him a salaried
post. 1
Yet, in spite of financial and matrimonial vexations,
the Muses were not neglected : in the midst of mundane
worries the poet made occasional flights into the realms
of pure phantasy. The autumn and early winter months
were in fact fairly filled with literary activities. Despair-
ing of the elusive appointment, he no longer hesitated
to publish his verses. On October 20 he submitted long
extracts of the "Ode to Lord Byron" to Virieu. "La
Priere," one of the most exquisitely delicate of the " Medi-
tations," also dates from this period.
A summons to Paris, from Baron Mounier, held out
some prospects of success, and the young man departed
full of hope, for it meant that "he would be free to marry
the person he loves, his career standing in the lieu of an
immediate fortune." 2 M. Pasquier had become Minister
for Foreign Affairs, and it is to be presumed that he
contemplated modifying, or setting aside, the vexatious
regulations which had caused the candidate such tribula-
tions a few months earlier. Although no immediate re-
sult was forthcoming, Lamartine received formal promises
of employment, accompanied, it is true, by recommenda-
tions that he be patient.
While awaiting a favourable turn of Fortune's wheel,
1 Correspondence, ccxi. * Hanuscrit de ma nitre, p. 230.
. . 223 ...
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
the young man availed himself to the full of the enthusi-
asm his reception in the Paris salons evoked. Passages
from the letter to Virieu have been cited, wherein he af-
firms that Byron's success in London did not surpass his
own. The mother's diary also contains mention of the
furor accompanying her son's reception. The timid and
conscientious woman calls God to witness that however
proud she is of the marks of universal distinction Al-
phonse is receiving, yet she does not ask for him the
world's glory and honours, but only that he may be an
honest and God-fearing man like his father. "The rest
is vanity; often worse than vanity." 1
It was at this period that Lamartine made the ac-
quaintance of the Duchesse de Broglie, Madame de
StaeTs daughter. In his "Journal" the old Marechal de
Castellane records the following: "Madame de Broglie's
society is the sequel of that of Madame de Stael";
but he adds that the daughter does not know how to re-
ceive, although desirous of being polite. Shortly after
his arrival in Paris Alphonse was a guest at one of the
Duchess's dinners. She had placed Lamartine beside her,
notes the Marshal; adding, "he is a young poet with a
great reputation ; his chest is weak, and he did not utter
a word." 2 Thomas Moore, Byron's friend, attended the
same dinner. Lamartine also speaks of meeting the
author of "Lalla Rookh," affirming that he often saw
him at Madame de Broglie's receptions. 3 These brilliant
social successes were temporarily jeopardized by a sud-
den and serious illness. Stricken down with pneumonia,
his condition became so alarming that Madame de
Lamartine was summoned in all haste. Suzanne, the
youngest daughter, accompanied her mother. On their
1 Manuscrit de ma nitre, p. 231.
1 Journal du Marechal de Castellane, vol. I, p. 388.
Cours de liUerature, vol. xvi, p. 250.
. . 224
MEDITATIONS POfiTIQUES
arrival Alphonse was convalescent ; but the ladies tarried
in Paris in order that the girl might make her debut in
the great world. During his illness, believing himself
doomed, the young poet begs Virieu never to allow his
letters to be published, but to burn them. Nor does
he desire that any other verses than those selected for
the forthcoming "Meditations poetiques" survive him,
except "Saul." l
How ill the young poet had been is made clear in a
letter from Due de Rohan to Joseph Rocher, dated March
7, 1820. Death stared him in the face, but although
saddened by this fact, Lamartine "threw himself with
loving confidence in the arms of the Almighty," calm and
resigned as to the fate Providence held in store. He asked
to see a priest, and made a general confession of his life.
" During his cruel sufferings he never uttered a complaint ;
pale and undone, a smile continually hovered on his lips,
and peace dwelt in his heart." *
That Lamartine was traversing a religious crisis of con-
siderable intensity at this period is not only discernible
in his correspondence, but evidenced also by the deeply
mystical character of his poetic inspirations. The influ-
ences of Lamennais's teachings were at work, while those
of his intimate friend De Rohan were, perhaps, even
more apparent. The Duke had recently renounced the
world and joined the priesthood. "The newspapers will
have apprized you of my tonsure," he wrote his young
friend, "but they have not informed you of my joy at
receiving the Lord as my inheritance." * His affection
for the gifted poet was deep and tender. During Lamar-
tine's previous visit to Paris, De Rohan had fathomed
and sincerely lamented the young man's turbulent un-
1 Correspondance, ccxni.
* Unpublished letter cited by Seche, Lamartine, 1816-1830, p. 351.
' Lettres a Lamartine, p. 12.
235
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
rest of soul and frequent revolt. Very tactfully he had
assiduously inculcated his own simple and unquestion-
ing faith. If we are to believe M. Lolie, however, humil-
ity was not one of De Rohan's virtues. Although he
rapidly rose to be a cardinal, he preserved all his mun-
dane attributes of caste, together with an almost effemi-
nate weakness for dress. He invariably wore the insignia
of a peer, and even insisted on having the special em-
broideries to which his rank entitled him affixed to his
dressing-gowns. l
The pantheism of Lamartine's religious tenets has been
exhaustively discussed. Frequently convicted and as
often rehabilitated, the imputation can assuredly not be
dismissed with a mere expression of a personal opinion,
nor summed up in a single phrase. The orthodoxy of
his dogma may be questioned ; but few will care to dis-
pute the intense religiosity which permeates such " M6di-
tations" as "La Semaine Sainte a la Roche-Guyon" or
" Le Chretien mourant," to cite but two examples directly
traceable to the influences to which he was subjected dur-
ing the Parisian sojourn of 1819. All Lamartine's poetry
is religious in its essence, although part is unquestion-
ably pantheistic in expression, and flagrant examples of
unorthodoxy are not rare. At times his verses verge on
the metaphysical, but a final analysis would seem to de-
monstrate the persistent influence of those simple tenets
he imbibed at his mother's knee; and to the revival of
these De Rohan was no stranger. The influence of Jean
Jacques Rousseau cannot be ignored. But it was, per-
haps, with that of Goethe that his early life and poetic
inspiration were most deeply imbued. "Werther" out-
weighed "Ren6" or even "Lara." Lamartine himself
acknowledged as much. "As for me," he wrote in 1859,
"I don't conceal it, 'Werther' was the mental malady
1 Cf. F. Loli6e, Talleyrand, p. 350.
226
MEDITATIONS POfiTIQUES
of my poetic youth : he gave the tone to the ' Medita-
tions poetiques' and to 'Jocelyn.' Only the profound
religiosity which Goethe lacks, but which is superabun-
dant in me, caused my youthful songs to rise to Heaven,
instead of resounding like a spadeful of earth on the coffin
in the grave of a suicide." * And he might have added
that " Raphael " was almost as directly inspired.
Meanwhile, once fairly entered upon his convalescence,
the publication of his volume of verses absorbed all his
energies. When the little sheaf of poems appeared, its
success was immediate and phenomenal. No name was
printed on the title-page, it is true, but all, or nearly all,
the poems had been recited by Lamartine in the salons
of his friends, and no mystery attached to the identity
of the author. On March 13, 1820, Paris, and a few days
later all France, hailed a new star of the first magnitude
which had risen above the literary horizon. Edition fol-
lowed edition: in each new " Meditations" were included,
swelling the proportions of the original thin octavo of
1 1 8 pages, which was issued from the press of Didot, and
could be purchased "au dep6t de la librairie grecque-
latine-allemande, rue de Seine, 12." An " Avertissement
de 1'Editeur," signed E. G. (Eugene Genoude), served as
preface.
The popularity of the " Meditations" has never waned.
The first edition, published March 13, 1820, consisted
of five hundred copies. The second, which appeared a
fortnight later, of fifteen hundred copies. Between 1820
and 1831, nineteen editions were issued by Gosselin,
not to mention piracies in Belgium and elsewhere.
M. Gustave Lanson estimates the sales during the first ten
years at between thirty-five and forty thousand copies.
From 1869 to 1882 the Librairie Hachette disposed of
twenty-two thousand six hundred and twenty-six copies.
1 Cows de literature, vol. vn, p. 103.
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
From 1882 to 1895, sixteen thousand were sold. The
next ten years witnessed a sale of forty-two thousand
six hundred: a total, from 1869 to 1914, of eighty-one
thousand two hundred and twenty-six copies. Transla-
tions, partial or complete, were made in nearly all Eu-
ropean languages. 1
Like Byron the author awoke one morning to find him-
self famous.
To Virieu the fortunate author confides his triumph,
and acknowledges that his faithful friend had been a
true prophet. But he adds: "All this does not affect me
more than a drop of dew on a rock. Suffering alone binds
me to this world ; suffering, and friendship for you and a
few others. ... I am preparing myself for the summons,
and I shall say: 'Here am I, O Lord! I have suffered, I
have loved, I have sinned, I have been human, that is to
say, a poor thing: I desired good: forgive me.'" 2
Notwithstanding this pessimism, Lamartine seems to
have taken a most lively interest in his literary success.
How could it have been otherwise? The fear lest the
public recognition of his talents prove prejudicial to his
diplomatic aspirations was quickly dispelled. The King
awarded him most gracious compliments. Even such
"anti-poeticalmenasMM.de Talleyrand, Mol, Moun-
ier, Pasquier, read and recite them : one talks of them even
in the midst of this revolutionary tumult." In after life
Lamartine dwelt at length on the grounds on which his
fears had rested, and of the risks he ran that "a little
applause and the fluttering of some poets' and women's
hearts destroy his chances of a diplomatic career." 3 There
can be little doubt, however, that this sudden celebrity
called the Ministers' attention to the obscure candidate,
and was the direct cause of his speedy appointment to
1 Cf. Lamartine (2 vols., Hachette, Paris, 1915), p. Ixxxiv. <
* Correspondence t ccxm. * Cours de litterature, vol. x, p. 234.
. . 228
MEDITATIONS PO&TIQUES
the coveted billet. He himself acknowledges it when he
writes that Poetry was his first protector. "Every one
wanted to lend me a hand," he adds, "and on the very
day of my prodigious success, I received my appointment
as Secretary to the Embassy at Naples." l
Following closely on the publication of his verses were
two letters: one from Madame de Talmont, a great lady
personally unknown to him, but an intimate friend of
Talleyrand; the other (an enclosure) from the Prince
himself. Talleyrand expressed warm enthusiasm for the
verses, which, he said, had so fascinated him that he had
spent the entire night reading and re-reading the poems. 2
Within an hour of the receipt of these letters, a large
official envelope was handed the exuberant young poet:
it contained his commission as Secretary of Legation
at Naples, duly signed by the anti-potte M. Pasquier,
Minister for Foreign Affairs. "This book" ("Les Medita-
tions"), exclaims Charles Alexandre, "was a golden key.
It opened three gates; that of Fame, that of a diplomatic
career, and that of the nuptial chamber." *
Lamartine himself writes that he cared little for the
success literature had brought him, but that his exulta-
tion over the career opened to him was intense. "I
scanned in my mind's eye the long years which still
separated me from the rostrum and the great affairs of
State, my true and real vocation, in spite of what my
friends think and my enemies say. I realized that I did
not possess the creative organization which makes great
poets: my whole talent came only from the heart. But
I felt within me the equilibrium of common sense, the
1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 104; cf. also Fr6my, Lamartine diplomat*,
p. 17.
1 Cf. Bruneti^re, L'volution de la Poesie lyrique en France, vol. I,
p. no; also Cours de literature, vol. x, p. 241, and Manuscrit de ma mere,
P- 233-
3 Madame de Lamartine, p. 27.
229
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
thoughtful eloquence and energetic honesty, which go
to make a statesman: Mirabeau haunted my brain. Fate
and France decided otherwise." 1
Thomas Moore was in Paris when the little volume of
verses appeared. The English bard entertained no very
exalted admiration for the author of the "Meditations." 2
In the "Edinburgh Review" of January, 1821, Moore
offered British readers the following translation of La-
martine's "Le Desespoir":
" When the Deity saw what a world he had framed,
From the darkness of Chaos, surprised and ashamed,
He turn'd from his work with disdain,
Then gave it a kick, to complete its disgrace,
Which sent it off, spinning through infinite space,
And returned to his slumbers again,
Saying, 'Go and be,' " etc., etc.
This is the Englishman's version of
" Lorsque du Crateur la parole fconde,
Dans une heure fatale, cut enfant le monde
Des germes du Chaos,
De son ceuvre imparfaite il dtourne sa face,
Et d'un pied d6daigneux le langant dans 1'espace,
Rentra dans son repos.
'Va,' dit-il," etc., etc.
Victor Hugo, who reviewed the "Meditations" within
a month after their publication, drawing a parallel be-
tween Andr Chenier and Lamartine, wrote: "... En-
fin, si je comprends bien les distinctions, du reste assez
insignifiantes, le premier est ' romantique' parmi les
4 classiques,' le second est 'dassique' parmi les 'roman-
The "Meditations" appeared on March 13, 1820. A
month later Lamartine wrote Virieu that his publisher
had advanced him twelve hundred francs on the second
1 Cours de literature, vol. x, p. 245.
* Cf. A. B. Thomas, Moore en France, p. 6.
3 Conservateur litteraire, vol. I (April, 1820), p. 374; cf. Ch. M. Des
Granges, La Presse litteraire sous la Restauration, p. 253.
- 230 -
MEDITATIONS PO&TIQUES
edition of his volume, and that he had spent eight hun-
dred on the travelling carriage which was to convey him
to Naples. 1 King Louis XVIII had rewarded the poet
with a collection of Latin classics, and added a pension,
destined to eke out his meagre diplomatic salary. 2
On March 23, directly after the publication of his verses
and the receipt of his appointment, Lamartine had writ-
ten Virieu that he hoped to marry Miss Birch within the
year. But as late as April 6, he did not foresee the pos-
sibility of his marriage before September, and contem-
plated making the journey to Naples alone, where he was
to report to the French Minister, M. de Narbonne. 1 A
few days later, however, matters had so improved that
the prospect of an early union seemed possible. His in-
structions we're to proceed without loss of time to his post
in Naples. But he had gone to Chambery, where Mrs.
and Miss Birch were sojourning, and had succeeded in
persuading the former to agree to an immediate marriage.
For this purpose, however, a short delay before under-
taking the trip to Naples was necessary. Through the
intercession of M. de Genoude and M. de Montmorency,
M. Pasquier was prevailed upon to grant the delay re-
quired in order to receive the necessary documents from
London. "La jeune personne vient de faire son abjura-
tion secrete," 4 wrote the lover to M. de Genoude, on
April 13.
To a mixed marriage Mrs. Birch had become recon-
ciled ; but she would not listen to her daughter's embrac-
ing Catholicism. Hence the crux; and hence, too, the
secret abjuration. The Lamartine family on their side re-
fused to consent to a mixed marriage, although Madame
de Lamartine had, as we have seen, complacently viewed
1 Correspondance, ccxiv.
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 234. * Correspondance, ccxv.
Correspondance, ccxvi; cf. also Cours de literature, vol. xxi, p. 188.
231
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
such a contingency in the earlier stages of the negotia-
tions. The environment in which the young Protestant
found herself was rigidly and uncompromisingly Catho-
lic. It is to be supposed that Alphonse's sister, Csarine
de Vignet, no less than the members of the Maistre fam-
ily, left no stone unturned to influence Miss Birch to
embrace their faith. Their task was simplified by the fact
that the girl had leanings towards the creed professed by
the man she desired to marry. The intimacy in England
with the Demoiselles de la Pierre had prepared her; she
liked the forms of the faith her friends professed, and
would have already openly embraced their religion had
not the fear of distressing her mother deterred her.
Count Joseph de Maistre had also used his influence to
persuade the young foreigner to renounce her faith, and
Lamartine is supposed to have been a party to the in-
sertion in the " Defenseur" (of April 8, 1820) of an ar-
ticle calculated to remove any scruples of conscience the
girl may have experienced. This article was entitled:
"Lettre de M. le Comte de Maistre a une dame protes-
tante, sur la question de savoir si le changement de re-
ligion n'est point contraire a 1'honneur."
In a letter to the Abb Lamennais concerning this
article, Count de Maistre indignantly protests against the
unauthorized publication of confidential documents sur-
reptitiously abstracted from his papers. 1
S6ch6 is of the opinion, which we share, that Lamartine
and his friend, Louis de Vignet, were the culprits in this
affair. The secret abjuration, necessitated by the inflex-
ible attitude assumed by Mrs. Birch, was essentially dis-
tasteful to Lamartine and his family, who desired a full
and public renunciation of Protestantism. It was an
1 Cf. Correspondence de Joseph de Maistre (Lyon Vitte, editeur), vol.
vi, p. 362 ;cf. also Seche, "Le Mariage de Lamartine," Annales roman-
tiques, November-December, 1908, p. 334.
. . 232
MEDITATIONS POfiTIQUES
affair of conscience with Lamartine: yet, owing probably
to the teachings of the Jesuits at Belley, neither he nor
De Vignet hesitated, as we have seen, to violate the
confidential correspondence of M. de Maistre to attain,
or seek to attain, their object: "The end justified the
means." 1
" C'est par religion que je veux absolument me marier,"
wrote Lamartine to Virieu on April 26, 1820.
We can only conjecture his meaning. That he wished to
reform his mode of life is probable. The young man was,
we know, experiencing the religious fervour echoed in the
verses he wrote at this period. Perhaps there may have
been some thought of atonement for the guilty passion
he had entertained for Monsieur Charles's wife. And yet
in all his writings there is no word of remorse; on the
contrary, frequent expressions abound of regret for what
he had lost. In want of a better explanation it would not
seem unfair to interpret the phrase as indicative of an
earnest desire to establish his life on a serious moral basis;
to free himself from the temptations besetting celibacy;
and to devote the talents with which he knew himself
endowed to the highest ideals attainable. He never felt,
nor professed, passionate love for the woman he made
his wife; but he was content, nay, eager, to barter his
liberty for the peaceful refuge his storm-tossed heart
craved. Ambition of a worldly nature was certainly no
stranger to the union, the advantages of which were mani-
fest. In the first place, the young man's family, reas-
sured as to the imminent conversion of their nephew's
prospective bride, and convinced of the solidity of the
modest but adequate fortune she would bring, as well
as of the inheritance to come, welcomed the alliance as
a suitable termination of the erratic and unsatisfactory
IU Le Manage de Lamartine," A nnales romantiqucs, November-Decem-
ber, 1908, p. 335.
233 '
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
existence Alphonse had led. As a consequence, both
uncles and aunts were disposed to show themselves gen-
erous.
"My marriage contract is signed," wrote Lamartine
toVirieu from Geneva on May 20, 1820. "We are en-
gaged, we go to Chambery from here in a week's time,
then return here to be married d Vanglaise, and leave
immediately. We came here three days ago to make pur-
chases of carriages and a few gifts for our mutual rela-
tions. I was unable to make the usual presents to my
bride, having received nothing ad hoc from my father.
Fortunately yesterday I met M. Delahante. We went
off together and I bought some trinkets which I am
offering this morning as a surprise." The letter termi-
nates with expressions of sentiments which, although
not wildly enthusiastic, are certainly sincere. "By dint
of esteem and admiration I really love my wife [sic]. I
am satisfied, absolutely satisfied with her, with all her
qualities, even her physical ones." 1
This same letter contains a phrase which has given
rise to considerable controversy. "I am with my wife
and mother-in-law and aunt. I leave you to join them
and the Abb6 Warin, who has drawn me out of the hole
from which I could not extricate myself." It is very gen-
erally accepted that Miss Birch abjured her Protestant
faith at Chambery: but, excepting Lamartine's letter
(dated from that town on April 13) to M. de Genoude,
nothing is positively known. As early as April 5, Alphonse
makes mention to De Vignet of a letter of introduction
given him by M. de Lamennais for the Abb6 Warin,
priest at Geneva ; and he adds : ' ' maintenant a la gr&ce de
Dieu!" 2 How did the Abbe Warin extricate Lamartine
1 Correspondance, ccxix.
* Unpublished letter cited by Seche in "Le Mariage de Lamartine," An-
nales romantiques, p. 332.
234
MEDITATIONS POfiTIQUES
from his difficulties, and of what nature were these diffi-
culties? Opinions still differ as to whether the abjura-
tion took place in Chambery or Geneva; l but it seems
reasonable to suppose that the Abb6 Warm's services
were confined to smoothing over the scruples which
both parties entertained concerning a double religious
ceremony, especially that which Lamartine styles "le
manage 1'anglaise," on which Mrs. Birch insisted.
1 A letter from the Episcopal authorities in Fribourg, dated December
1 6, 1911, to the author, would seem to decide definitely that the abjuration
took place in Chambery, as no mention exists in the Archives in Geneva.
CHAPTER XIX
MARRIAGE
THE marriage contract between "Messire Alphonse
Marie Louis de la Martine, chevalier, et Mademoiselle
Marianne Eliza Birch," was signed at Chamb6ry, on the
25th day of May, I82O. 1
Before describing the Catholic marriage, which took
place at Chambry, at that period still belonging to Pied-
mont, of which Victor Emmanuel I was king, it will
be interesting to cast a glance at this contract. Major
Pierre de Lamartine, the poet's father, unable himself to
be present, as well as the other members of his family,
had given a general power of attorney to Count Xavier de
Vignet, who had married Alphonse's sister, C6sarine.
The various deeds of gift made by the father, the uncles,
and aunts of the bridegroom amounted to about 212,000
francs. Mrs. Birch, on her side, gave to her daughter
10,000 (250,000 francs), invested in the Funds. Out
of the income derived from this capital, 3500 francs were
settled on her son-in-law, and 1500 allowed her daughter
for pin-money.
From his father Alphonse received the Chateau de
Saint-Point, a property not far from Cluny, distant some
three or four leagues from Mcicon. The value of this
estate was estimated at 100,000 francs, but onerous con-
ditions, involving nearly half the appraised value, were
imposed in favour of the poet's married sisters, Madame
de Coppens and Madame de Vignet. Nevertheless, be
it mentioned in passing, this estate was the only one
1 A copy of this contract is preserved in the Archives of the Societ6
Savoisienne d 'histoire et d 'archeologie at Chambery.
. . 236
MARRIAGE
of the numerous bequests to which Lamartine fell heir
which remained in his hands at the time of his death.
The financial situation of the contracting parties was,
at the time of their marriage, about equal, and the groom
could not fairly be accused of having sought the alliance
from purely mercenary motives, albeit he undoubtedly
thereby gained a pecuniary independence for which,
under different circumstances, he would have had to wait.
It will be noticed that throughout the document the
groom's name is spelt "de la Martine," and that of his
father is added, "de Prat." The bride and her mother
are designated as follows: "Miss Marianne Eliza Birch,
of age, daughter of Mr. William Henry Birch, during
his lifetime major in the service of his Britannic
Majesty, born in the former province of Languedoc, bap-
tized in the parish of Soho, London; living for the last
two years at Chambery, and Mrs. Christina Cordelia
Reessen, daughter of the deceased M. Jones Reessen,
widow of Mr. William Henry Birch." 1
Until quite recently it was supposed, on the authority
of "Le Manuscrit de ma mere" (published after Lamar-
tine's death in 1871), that the poet's mother had not
been present at her son's marriage. Under date of July
3, 1820, we read in her description of the ceremony, as
transcribed by her son: "II a ete celebr6 le 6 juin dans
la chapelle du gouverneur de Chambery ;/&a revenue
de Chambery le vendredi 2." *
1 Cf. Frangois Mugnier, Le Manage de Lamartine (published by Societ6
Savoisienne d'histoire et d 'archeologie, Chambery, in 1884), p. 84. In the
Correspondent of September 25, 1908, M. S6ch6 is authority for the pub-
lication of another certificate of baptism. The ceremony according to this
document was solemnized in the Parish of St. Anne, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, on May 31, 1792. Herein it is stated that the child
was born on March 13, 1790: but the place of birth is not designated.
" Reesen," not " Reessen," is the spelling of the mother's maiden name.
That Lamartine was unaware of this document would appear from the dates
on his wife's tomb at Saint-Point: " Marianne Eliza Birch, 1789-1863."
1 Page 236. The italics do not exist in the original.
. . 337 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Incomprehensible as the fact appeared, the statement
was accepted as conclusive by Lamartine's biographers,
although they marvelled that the devoted mother
should have left Chamb&y only four days before the
marriage she so ardently desired. Especially was the
incident disconcerting, as Madame de Lamartine's rec-
ord of the ceremony was as clear and minute in detail as
if written by an eye-witness. The original manuscript of
Madame de Lamartine's diary eventually passed into
the keeping of Madame Fred6ric de Parseval (nee Leon-
tine de Pierreclos), a grand-niece of the poet, who still
resides in M&con. For reasons of her own Madame de
Parseval persistently refused to allow any comparison to
be made between the manuscript and the extracts pub-
lished by her great-uncle. It was only in 1910 that the
jealous custodian of these precious relics allowed M. Du-
reault, perpetual secretary of the Academic de M&con
(of which learned body Lamartine had at one time been
president), to consult the notebooks which go to make
up the "Journal intime," or diary, kept by the poet's
mother. 1 A comparison instantly disclosed the error
Lamartine had made when transcribing the notes, to-
gether with many other extraordinary liberties he had
taken with the original text. Madame de Lamartine
had not returned "from" (de) Chambery on the second,
but had returned "to" (a) Chambery on that date.
Following the original we further read : " My daughter-
in-law passed the days preceding her marriage in re-
treat 2 wholly occupied in preparation to receive in all its
1 Madame de Parseval has graciously allowed the author to consult the
notebooks, and convince himself de visu of the error. The notebooks are
of varying sizes, bound in linen or with simple cardboard covers. The first
entry of the diary was made on December 13, 1800; the last in October,
1829. The mutilations and erasures to which the text was subjected by the
hand of her son and editor are frequently apparent.
* The italics indicate the words and phrases omitted by Lamartine in
the text published under tide of Le Manuscrit de ma mere.
. 2 3 8
MARRIAGE
significance the grace of the Sacrament; Alphonse also
confessed to the Abbe d'ltiola l . . . 2 Bishop of Annecy.
The ceremony took place at eight in the morning; those
assisting were : the Governor and his wife, the Governor's
aide-de-camp; the misses de la Pierre, all four, M. de
Maistre,* M. Vignet, and Mademoiselle Olympe, Mrs.
Birch, the Abb d'ltiola, Suzanne, and myself. They were
married by the priest of the parish of Mache. My daughter-
in-law was dressed with all possible stateliness. [Lamartine
transcribed "convenance" for " noblesse."] She wore a
beautiful muslin dress covered with embroidery. It were
impossible to bear one's self with more dignity, mod-
esty, and grace, or to appear more imbued with piety.
I cannot express all I felt seeing my son at length reach
this important moment of his life. I prayed God with
fervour, but I reproach myself continually for not having
thanked Him sufficiently for such a favour. After mass we
went to the Governor's salon, where we breakfasted. The bride
changed to a travelling gown, and my son, his mother-in-law,
and his wife left for Geneva, whither it was decided necessary,
on account of property they possessed in England, or might
inherit one day, that they go for the Anglican ceremony.
But," continues Madame de Lamartine, "with the spe-
cific declaration that they were both Catholics (my daughter-
in-law had admitted her change of religion to her mother)
and that by so doing they did not consider this as a religious
act, but accepted it as a compliance to the civil laws* This
is what my son did publicly. . . ." 6 The erased words
evidently concerned Mrs. Birch, who would seem to
have taken her daughter's abjuration greatly to heart.
1 For "Itiola," read "de Thiollaz"; cf. Mugnier, op. cit. t p. 89.
* Words erased in manuscript.
Lamartine substituted Count, an error, as that gentleman was at that
time in Turin. Cf. Mugnier, op. cit., p. 83.
* "Qu'ils n'entendaient point faire de ceci acte religieiuc mais une fa-
veur aux lois civile de 1 "accepter."
1 Words erased in manuscript.
. . 239
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Nevertheless, Madame de Lamartine adds that the Eng-
lishwoman accepted the situation and overwhelmed
Alphonse with presents. "She has excellent qualities,"
admits the groom's mother, " but is rather prone to inter-
fere, a trait which has already caused Alphonse con-
siderable worry." The diary records that the bridal party
returned to Chambery on the Sunday (June u) and
that Alphonse was "enchante de sa femme." "/ left
Chambery at last on Tuesday the i 3th" writes the mother;
"Alphonse left Chambery two days after me. I have since
only heard from him from Turin"
Nothing more categorical could be desired : the legend
of the mother's absence from her son's side on his wed-
ding day is thereby summarily dismissed. But the diary
contains no record of the time or place of the "mariage
a 1'anglaise," beyond the fact that the two parties con-
cerned are determined to make clear their position when
submitting to this, to them purely legal, formality.
Hitherto the poet's biographers have either accepted
Lamartine's laconic reference to the ceremony, or fol-
lowed Charles Alexandre, who states that "a marriage
according to the Protestant rite took place at Geneva
on June 7, in the presence of the intolerant mother, who
had refused to assist at the Catholic marriage of her
daughter." * This we know to be incorrect, as the un-
revised transcription from the diary specifically mentions
Mrs. Birch as among those who attended the ceremony
in Chambery. Lamartine himself asserts that he was
"civilly" married at Chambery on June 5, at the house
of Madame de la Pierre; that on the morrow the service
according to the Catholic rite was performed at Cham-
bery; and that the next day (Wednesday, June 7) the
Protestant function took place in Geneva. 2 We have the
authority of M. F. Mugnier, however, that civil marriages
1 Madame de Lamartine, p. 32. * Mbnoires politiques, vol. I, p. 105.
. . 240
MARRIAGE
did not exist in Savoy at this period. 1 It is probable that
Lamartine refers to the signing of his marriage contract,
which, as we know, was performed, not the day before,
but on May 25, or twelve days prior to the religious cere-
mony in Chambry (June 6). Be it noted also that both
Lamartine and Alexandre are in error in naming June 7
as the date of the Anglican service in Geneva.
That a religious Protestant ceremony had taken place
in Geneva is indisputable, and probability pointed to
what is still called the Chapelle de 1'Hdpital. Local
tradition, albeit a somewhat nebulous one, maintained
that the great French poet had been married in this build-
ing, then lent by the Swiss authorities to the English col-
ony. As an English clergyman had fulfilled his duties in
Geneva long before the date of Lamartine's marriage, it
seemed only necessary to consult the registers in order
to clear up the mystery. Alas! the fly-leaf of the Register
of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, dated 1835, contained
the following discouraging note: "The Register formerly
in use was lost through the carelessness of the person to
whom it was entrusted." * Minute personal investigations
in the Municipal Archives of Geneva, and a voluminous
correspondence with local patriarchs and their descend-
ants, were fruitful of much conflicting testimony, but no
conclusive evidence. The City Archives contain no ref-
erence to the marriage. An appeal to the British Lega-
tion in Berne was met with the advice to seek the aid of
the Registrar-General in Somerset House, London, who
in turn referred the searcher to the Archives of the
Bishop of London. A visit to Dean's Court, St. Paul's,
was rewarded with the discovery of the long-lost "Reg-
ister (vol. 2) of Baptisms, etc., belonging to the English
Chapel, Geneva, 1820." About the middle of the little
Cf. op. tit., p. 88.
1 Letter from the Rev. Mr. Granger to the author, dated March 24, 1908.
. . 241
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
red morocco-bound book, the following entry is dis-
tinctly legible :
"Monsieur Alphonse Marie Louis Delamartine, of M^con,
in France, dpartement de Sa6ne, and Marianna Eliza Birch
of Cumberland St., London, were married in the Chapel of
the Hospital at Geneva on the Eighth of June One thousand
Eight hundred and twenty by me, Geo. Rooke, Rector of
Yardley Hastings, in the County of Northampton, England.
Signed: Alphonse Delamartine Marianna Eliza Birch. In
the presence of W. Coxhead Marsh, Patrick Clason." *
Alphonse de Lamartine and Marianne Birch were con-
sequently duly married in Geneva, on June 8, 1820, by a
clergyman of the Church of England, in accordance with
the rites of the Protestant ceremony. Did the Rev. Mr.
Rooke know that he was marrying two Roman Catho-
lics; and did the parties concerned specifically declare
to the officiating clergyman that they did not consider
the ceremony as a religious act, but accepted it as a legal
necessity? Did Lamartine, as his mother notes in her
diary, make this public declaration? It would seem ex-
tremely doubtful that, had such a public declaration
been made, Mr. Rooke, or any priest of the Established
Church, would have consented to be a party to such
a cynically sacrilegious transaction. It is much more
probable that Lamartine and his wife yielded with the
best grace possible to the inflexible will of Mrs. Birch,
silently and passively acquiescing with the religious
function she insisted upon, and which "in their hearts"
they held as but a legal formality, sanctioned, perhaps,
by the prudent advice of the Abbe Warin. A letter to
the author from M. Pierre de Lacretelle would seem to
strengthen this hypothesis: "... I agree with you in
1 For detailed account of researches in this connection cf. author's "Le
manage protestant de Lamartine," in Gazette de Lausanne of November 25,
1911. The official copy of the act, in the author's possession, is duly certi-
fied by Harry W. Lee, Registrar, London, November 14, 1911.
242
MARRIAGE
affirming that at the time of his 'manage de raison* La-
martine was determined, in order to insure success, to
make the sacrifice of many family principles. The rather
embarrassed passage in his mother's journal always made
me suspicious that the poor woman had been the recip-
ient of very vague confidences in this connection; and
if they were vague, it was because he (Lamartine) had
his own reasons that they should be." l Although the
incident on its face does not redound to the credit of La-
martine, it would be manifestly unfair to condemn him
unconditionally on the very slight and equivocal evidence
advanced. Let us rather presume that the "public
declaration" was a euphemism, intended to calm the
mother's religious scruples and susceptibilities, and to
appease the displeasure (to use a moderate term) of the
fanatic family connection at Ma"con, so violently op-
posed to any semblance of a mixed marriage, and whose
possible resentment could not prudently be ignored.
1 Private letter, dated December II, 1911 ; cf. also Sech, Les Amitits de
Lamartine, p. 172.
CHAPTER XX
FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
A NEW life was unfolding to Lamartine. The two chief
desires and ambitions of his restless and dissatisfied
youth had been realized: he was married, and on his way
to take up the congenial duties of his diplomatic post.
On June 20 the party was in Turin, where Alphonse
had the joy of spending a couple of days with his friend
Aymon de Virieu, then Secretary of Legation at the Pied-
montese capital. Thence, travelling leisurely in two com-
fortable coaches, Florence was reached, and a visit paid
to the Countess d'Albany. 1 It was in the salon of the
widow of Charles-Edward, that Lamartine met the Mar-
quis Gino Capponi, the Italian statesman and patriot,
with whom he was in later years to exchange an important
and voluminous correspondence. The start for Rome
was made towards the end of June or first days of July.
Italy was seething with revolutionary unrest, and a
rumour reached Mclcon that Lamartine had been assas-
sinated on the road between Florence and Rome. "I
know, through his friend M. de Virieu," wrote the anxious
mother, "that he dreaded meeting in Italy a person
who cannot forgive him his marriage." 2 The letters of
this period contain no mention of any danger run, but
in his "Memoires politiques" the key to the rumour is
given as follows: " I searched in vain for what could have
given rise to this false rumour. I found nothing beyond
a conversation, half jest, half serious, which I had in
Florence a few days before leaving for Rome, under the
1 Correspondence, ccxxm; cf. also Cours de litter ature, vol. xxi, p. 230.
* Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 240.
. . 244 -
FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
following circumstances." And he goes on to relate that
a certain Tuscan lady who had nursed him during his
illness in Paris was awaiting him in Florence. He could
not refuse to see her, or to inform her of his marriage,
but the interview threatened to prove a stormy one.
"You are no longer free," cried the lady. " You are mar-
ried! You go to Rome with your wife! Well, go. You
won't reach your destination. You would not or could
not understand me : soon you will learn what the venge-
ance of a woman, baffled in the dearest wishes of
her life, means." l When describing this melodramatic
scene Lamartine informs us that he himself read in the
Roman newspapers an account of his attempted assas-
sination in the mountains of Umbria. It is impossible
to disentangle truth from fiction; but it would appear
more than probable that, in reading over his mother's
manuscript, forty years later, the incident appealed to
his sense of the picturesque: hence the ample develop-
ment in the "Mmoires politiques."
On his arrival in Rome, the young diplomat learned of
the revolution in progress at Naples. King Ferdinand I,
overawed by the strength and determination of the revo-
lutionists, had, it is true, granted a constitution "of his
own free will," but .without defining its terms. Suspi-
cious of the King's sincerity, the Carbonari had demanded
the Spanish Constitution of 1812, under which a par-
liament of a single chamber supervised every detail of the
executive. Within a fortnight the revolution had spread
to Sicily, and the whole Kingdom was in flames. Com-
munication was practically severed between Rome and
King Ferdinand's capital. "No one has come from Na-
ples or gone to Naples," wrote Lamartine to Madame
de Raigecourt on July 13. "I leave by post-chaise to-
night, uncertain whether I shall get through." Under
1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 107. * Correspondence, CCXXV.
. . 245
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
the circumstances it was deemed best to leave Madame
de Lamartine and her mother in Rome: at least until the
diplomat had reported himself at the Legation and seen
with his own eyes whether the political situation at
Naples was as serious as he was given to understand.
Within a month he had fetched his wife and mother-
in-law from Rome, and found himself comfortably
settled in an apartment on the Chiaja, "not far from
Pausilippe."
That the marriage was promising every happiness
may be gathered from the husband's letters to Virieu
at this period. Madame de Lamartine already had
expectations, which prospect added to the young
man's enthusiasm when he wrote that he had "found
perfection," and urged his friend to go and do like-
wise, taking care not to select a girl too young or
unformed. 1
That Lamartine, in spite of his inexperience, divined
the very delicate political situation in Naples is evi-
dent. Unfortunately M. de Blacas, the French Ambas-
sador in Rome, exercised absolute control over all the
Legations in Italy; and M. de Blacas was a reactionary.
His policy, upheld by Louis XVIII, was completely op-
posed to that of M. Pasquier. "He was the secret oracle
of the Absolute Monarchy," wrote Lamartine: "an oracle
which we had instructions to consult in all difficult emer-
gencies." 2 As a result, friction soon became apparent
between the French representatives in Rome and Naples,
and the Due de Narbonne withdrew, leaving the Lega-
tion in the charge of a senior colleague with whom La-
martine found himself in complete sympathy. "We have
not a great deal to do,'" wrote the young Secretary to
Virieu; "the Ambassador [in Rome] does everything."
But the life suited him, and the political situation was
1 Correspondence, ccxxvin. * Cours de litttrature, vol. xxi, p. 194.
246
FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
at times " perilous and dramatic." l The young French-
man had become intimate with the Piedmontese Charg6
d' Affaires, M. de la Margherita, who was later to play
a conspicuous part in his country's history. This accom-
plished diplomatist was also a litterateur of no mean
calibre, and consequently doubly congenial: "Mutually
charged to observe and combat a revolution, in the midst
of its tragic scenes we read together, in my little house
on the Chiaja, the numerous dramas he [La Marghe-
rita] composed." 2 The heat soon drove the little family
from the city, however, and an idyllic existence was
begun on the island of Ischia. This was Lamartine's
real honeymoon a honeymoon which the presence of
Mrs. Birch would seem in no way to have marred, in
spite of the elder Madame de Lamartine's fears, ex-
pressed in Chamb&y. Again and again the happy hus-
band unbosoms himself to Virieu, playfully dwelling on
the joys of his present life and urging his friend to seek a
like "perfection." But we note a waning of his enthusi-
asm for the career he has adopted. "What is the use of
Diplomacy once one has found happiness? ... It is an
expensive life, and that will cause me to drop it." The
pinch of financial embarrassment is already being felt,
and the letters teem with urgent appeals to his friends
in Paris to prod his publisher for arrears and advances,
for he is reduced to borrowing for household expenses.*
There are moments of despair, although he insists that
"le fond de ma position est superbe." How often in
later years was this cry to be repeated! To his incor-
rigible optimism no matter how entangled the skein of
financial embarrassments, the difficulties were only pass-
ing, and the basis of his position invariably "superb."
1 Correspondence, ccxxix; cf. also Cours de literature, vol. XXI, p. 196,
and Memoires politiques, vol. I, pp. 1 12-62.
1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 163.
* Correspondence, ccxxxu-ccxxxvi, passim.
247
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Meanwhile, the political plot was thickening. King
Ferdinand had accepted the invitation of the monarchs
assembled at Troppau, and decided to attend the con-
ference of Laybach ; there to explain the situation in his
Kingdom. After renewing his oath to the Constitution,
adding that, if unable to persuade the sovereigns as-
sembled to respect the wishes of his subjects, he would
return to defend them with his sword, the perjured King
left Naples on December 14, 1820, aboard an English
vessel. "Never since the great days of Rome," writes
Lamartine to Virieu, "have these shores echoed with
more energetic cries of liberty. The whole of Italy mur-
murs in sympathy. Our national interests dictate ap-
plause : our morality and our principles do not favour it :
we are shuffling, it seems to me, between the two courses.
. . . For the first time I have witnessed European Diplo-
macy at close range. It is a poor machine. I should not
be afraid of it were I the People : but should fear it greatly
were I King." l The contact with the cringing or arro-
gant duplicity of the negotiations he is concerned with fills
him with disgust. The subordinate position he is hold-
ing, perhaps also a recrudescence of lyric ardour, put him
out of conceit with politics. "The years of enthusiasm are
passing; I realize the gradual evaporation of the poetic
spirit ; I weep over it ; I invoke it. I have even made my
adieux in a little ode in the style of Horace . . . but all in
vain:-I must live. I need three or four thousand francs,
and they can only be found in this trade. So I immolate
my poems to the infernal god Necessity."
On Christmas Day he wrote Virieu from his bed, where
for eighteen days an attack of a "terrible and multiform
gouty or nervous illness" had held him prisoner. Noth-
ing prepares us, however, in this letter for the sudden
change of scene a month later. He is in Rome; having
1 Correspondence, ccxxxvm.
248 -
FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
left Naples on January 20, 1821. Madame de Lamar-
tine's approaching confinement and his own health, as
well as the insecurity of Naples during those revolution-
ary days, are severally advanced in letters and reminis-
cences as the causes of his sudden abandonment of his
post. These may one and all have influenced him; but
it is probable that homesickness was not a stranger to
his final decision. " I long for the country," he wrote his
colleague in Naples. For the nonce he had had enough
of public affairs, and yearned for the peace and quiet the
cultivation of his Muse demanded. " I have seen politics
in the making: I have even lent a hand. Like Pilate I
exclaim: 'I wash my hands of it.' " * The grip of inspira-
tion held him as in a vice: "On leaving Naples," he wrote
Virieu from Rome, "on Saturday, January 20, a ray
from on high illuminated me: I conceived. I feel myself
a great poet, in spite of my ode." And a few days later
to M. de Genoude, speaking of this same ode ("La Nais-
sance du due de Bordeaux"), 2 he admits that he is of the
opinion of his friends who consider it decidedly bad. But
he goes on to say that recently he has had the inspiration
so long awaited. "I have conceived the work of my life
... a poem as great as Nature, interesting as the human
heart, as lofty as the heavens. ... If I ever accomplish
the task, I can confidently exclaim Exegi, and what I
have created is good."
But a greater joy than literary creation was in store
for him. Hardly three weeks after her arrival in Rome
Madame de Lamartine gave birth to a son. The " Manu-
scrit de ma mere" gives March 8 as the date of the child's
birth ; but this is manifestly an error, as the entry is of
March n, and it would have been impossible for the
1 Correspondence, CCXL.
The Due de Bordeaux, son of the Due de Berry, born 1820, known
later as Comte de Chambord, styled "Henri V," died, 1883.
249
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
news to reach Macon in three days. Writing to the Mar-
quise de Raigecourt, from Rome, on February 17, the
happy father exclaims: "You will take part in my joy
when learning that my wife has just given me a son. . . .
I have just taken him to be baptized at St. Peter's." l
In Rome, despite his poor health, Lamartine plunged
into the cultivated and elegant society of which he had
been deprived in Naples, where social and political con-
ditions combined to ostracize the stranger. The leader
of the aristocratic and intellectual Roman world was,
at this period, the Duchess of Devonshire, whose palace
in the Piazza Colonna was the rendezvous of Italians and
foreigners alike. Alexander Humboldt, the witty and un-
scrupulous Abb Galiani, Antonio Canova, the famous
sculptor, were among the habitues of the Duchess's
salon, where the French poet was enthusiastically ap-
plauded. Cardinal Consalvi, Papal Secretary of State,
visited the great English lady twice a day, once in the
morning concerning the political interests of his Govern-
ment with England, of which she passed as being the
anonymous ambassador, and again in the evening for rec-
reation amidst a restricted circle of artists and scholars. 2
It was during this visit that Lamartine had the honour
of being invited by the Pope, through the intercession of
the Cardinal, to a dinner given in honour of the King of
Naples, a signal favour accorded in spite of his inferiority
of rank. "The King," he writes, "certain of his prompt
restoration to his throne, was as witty and jovial as an
old country gentleman returning from a hunting ex-
1 Correspondence, CCXLIII. The Manuscrit de ma mere (p. 248), the Cours
de litterature (vol. xxi, p. 207), and the Memoires politiques (vol. I, p. 173)
cite, as godparents of the infant, the Marquis Cagliati, of Naples, and the
Princess Oginska, a Venetian lady married to a Pole.
1 Cours de literature, vol. xxi, p. 204; also vol. xm, p. 250, and vol. xix,
p. 215; also CEteores completes, vol. I, p. 447, commentary to twentieth Medi-
tation, entitled "La Libert6, ou une Nuit a Rome," dedicated to the
Duchess of Devonshire.
. . 250
FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
pedition. He felt he had Europe behind him." 1 The
recollection of the honour shown him can alone account
for the lack of historical accuracy when he states: "Soon
afterwards the King of Naples left Rome with his minis-
ters, and triumphantly, but without any feelings of venge-
ance, proceeded to his capital, where he was received
as a liberator, and as a father come to the aid of his sub-
jects. " To those who recall the horrors which preceded
and followed the return of the perjured monarch from
the conference at Laybach, the irony of the appreciation
is manifest. On March 23, 1821, it will be remembered,
the Austrian troops, sent by Metternich to subdue the
Neapolitan Constitutionalists, entered the capital. It
was not, however, until all danger had been averted, and
under cover of a large Austrian force, that Ferdinand
dared return. How many victims actually suffered
death during this reign of terror, we cannot tell. Ca-
nosa's list of the proscribed contained, it is said, more
than four thousand names. 2 King Ferdinand returned
to Naples on May 15, 1821. "His entry was magnifi-
cent, being accompanied by rejoicings dictated by flat-
tery and fear." 3
At the end of April, Madame de Lamartine having suf-
ficiently recovered, the family again started northwards.
Lamartine had asked for, and been granted, leave of
absence and permission to return to France. At Florence
a sojourn of some days was made in order that the child,
whose health was precarious, could rest. In his "Cours
1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 173. References to this event are scat-
tered throughout the various volumes of reminiscences, but no contem-
poraneous documentary evidence exists.
1 Cf. Thayer, Dawn of Italian Independence, vol. I, p. 286.
8 Ibid., vol. i, p. 287; cf. also Probyn, Italy, 1815-1890, p. 21; Colletta,
Storia del Reame di Napoli, vol. iv, p. 235; Giovanni La Cecilia, Memorie
Storico politiche, dal. 1820-1876, vol. I, p. 41. La Cecilia relates that it
was General Frimont, commanding the Austrian army of occupation, who
forced Ferdinand to exile Canosa, and put a stop to the wholesale carnage
the King's vengeance had excited.
251
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
de literature" Lamartine states that on this occasion he
met the Prince de Carignan, later King Charles-Albert of
Piedmont, whose name will live in history as the giver
and defender of constitutional rights. Since the failure
of the Liberal movement in Turin, of which he had been
the reluctant head (March 10, 1821), the Prince had been
exiled to Tuscany, under the surveillance of his father-
in-law, the reigning Grand Duke. Having heard of the
young French diplomatist's arrival through a mutual
friend, the Marquis de Costa, the disgraced Prince asked
for a secret interview at the hotel. Lamartine says that
out of respect for the young prescript he went to the
Pitti Palace to present his homages : but the nature of the
mysterious interview is not disclosed. 1 Finally, Afx-les-
Bains was reached, and preparations made for a consider-
able stay, as Madame de Lamartine's health now gave
serious cause for anxiety, and forbade pushing on to
Macon, as originally intended. In spite of his wife's for-
tune, and the generous help Mrs. Birch accorded the
little family, pressing monetary needs again assailed the
always prodigal poet. The future was golden, he assured
the correspondents to whom he applied for funds ; his em-
barrassments were only temporary, resulting from his
necessary living expenses and the fact that his diplo-
matic salary was totally inadequate. For some time past
his eye had been fixed on Florence; a post carrying with
it the emoluments he so desired. A trip to Paris had
aroused hopes in this direction, and M. de la Maisonfort,
French Minister at the Tuscan capital, would have wel-
comed the brilliant young secretary. But the authorities
in Paris showed small inclination to make the appoint-
ment, and for four years Lamartine was practically
shelved, although it is conceivable that he might have
1 Cours de litterature, vol. xxi, p. 209; also Memoir es politiquts, vol. I,
p. 176.
. . 252
FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
returned to Naples, to which Legation he was still nomi-
nally attached, had he so desired.
The peace and quiet of his beloved valley of Aix, the
freedom from worry he enjoyed in the delightful villa
overlooking the placid lake, so full of tender memories
to the lover of "Elvire," reawakened his Muse. "Your
talent is a moral power. Don't bury it," wrote M. de
Genoude to the poet on July 24, I82I, 1 and Lamartine
had taken his advice, devoting much of his time to the
composition of the second volume of "Meditations,"
destined to achieve a success almost as great as the first.
The poet has left a charming page of souvenirs of this
idyllic summer. "Whenever I desire to give myself a
retrospective feast of the spirit, I transport myself in
imagination to that peaceful dwelling, surrounded by
terraces, covered with arbours, to a certain Sunday morn-
ing, under a summer sky. My wife and her mother sit
in the shade reading their prayer-books, of different
creeds, it is true, but out of one and the same heart. The
nurse crouches on the grass at their feet, rocking with
monotonous rhythm the cradle of our infant, the bell of
the village church tolling the while. And I, a little apart
on the lawn, write in my album, murmuring to myself
strophes which pray, sing, and weep at first to me alone,
and which later take wing like belated doves to join their
sisters of the first meditations, where the dregs of my
heart were emptied anon! my heart now so happy, yet
always faithful to the echoes of the tomb." z
It is of Julie Charles he dreams, and we can readily be-
lieve that midst surroundings so intimately associated
with those sweet, mad, all too brief hours of passion, the
singer of "Elvire"was haunted by the past. And es-
pecially during moments of poetical inspiration was this
the case. There can be no question but that Lamartine
1 Lettres d Lamartint, p. 23. Mtmoires pditiqucs, vol. I, 178.
. . 2 53 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
enshrined Julie in his heart of hearts, and worshipped at
her shrine all his life. The letters found in the secret
drawer of his writing-table at Saint- Point are there to pro-
claim the fact. But it is equally certain that he had found
happiness in marriage: perhaps it would not be saying too
much to affirm that he had found love. Passion is rarely
experienced twice in a lifetime, and passion Lamartine
assuredly never felt for his wife. What sentiment of that
nature he still possessed way down in his soul, he treas-
ured for expression in his verse. Nowhere is this more
apparent than in the poetry inspired during those long
summer days in the little house overhanging Lake Bour-
get, within a stone's throw of the rocks on which that
despairing wail "Le Lac" had been written four years
earlier. But no trace of retrospective heart-burn is dis-
cernible in such portions of his correspondence as have
been preserved. A fragment of a letter to Virieu exists, it
is true, which can be construed as referring to his amor-
ous past.
The writer tells of an ode to his friend, which, since
it proved unsatisfactory, he had burnt the day before.
"The subject of your ode was you and I. I told you
that we were now nearing the moment when we must
pause in our life and cast a backward glance at the road
we have traversed, and consider what still lies before us.
I went over the past with you, and then, taking a more
solemn tone, I besought you to become virtuous and pi-
ous, according to the great platonic and Christian ideals.
It was warm as it came from my soul, but it froze when
passing through my tired brain." l Since leaving Belley
Lamartine had taken up his Greek again, and devoted
much time to Plato. He loved his idealism, the poetry
of his metaphysics, and the Christian tendency of a doc-
trine conceived before the era of Christianity. 2 When the
1 Correspondance, CCLVI. 8 Cf. Doumic, Lamartine, p. 131.
. - 254 -
FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
poet eventually published this ode it was entitled "Le
PasseV' and dedicated to his lifelong friend. 1 In the
second commentary to these verses, Lamartine writes
that they were written in Italy, in 1824. But his memory
betrays him, for it was not till the end of 1825 that he
returned to Italy. M. Sch6 places the date of this com-
position between 1821 and i823. 2 It is, of course, pos-
sible that the original conception of the poem (that
which the poet tells Virieu he burnt at Aix on August 29,
1821) was anterior, dating, perhaps, from the period of
his diplomatic life in Naples: but most authorities are
inclined to agree with Sch.
That many of the verses in the "Secondes Meditations
potiques" date in their original form from the summer
at Aix, there is small doubt. It was a period of intense
poetic activity. The conditions and surroundings of his
life lent themselves to the peace and contentment of
soul he had so ardently yearned for, and although he
dwelt at length in his letters on the lack of pecuniary
ease, Mrs. Birch, as has been said, very generously sup-
plemented the domestic budget in times of stress. But
the mother-in-law disapproved of his half-hearted interest
in his diplomatic career: it was she who continually
spurred him on to seek employment. When, in Decem-
ber of this same year, an opening seemed probable, he
wrote Virieu: "Should I obtain it through your efforts,
I would go ; but with regret as for myself. I would obey
only the wishes of my wife, and especially those of my
mother-in-law: for as for me I am disgusted with every-
thing, except my old passion for the fields and country-
side, my horses and my dogs." * Health had something to
do with the disinclination to tie himself down to official
duties. "I need the salary," he wrote Virieu from Aix,
1 CEuvres completes, vol. I, p. 315.
Cf. Lamartine, p. 192. Correspondance, CCLIX. .
. . 255
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
on September 7, "but I have gained nothing from the
baths here; have even lost ground. ... I am in the same
condition in which you saw me formerly in Paris, at my
worst. In spite of it all, admiration for my wife, peace
of soul and contentment, and a happy love, fill me with
a great felicity of mind and spirit. To these I add resigna-
tion, an old virtue acquired by habit, and the acceptance
of things, a new virtue which true religion prefers to all
others." l
On the whole, this first taste of diplomatic life had been
a disappointment. Undoubtedly poor health had in-
fluenced his application for an extended leave of ab-
sence: yet the phrase he employs in his reminiscences, "in
spite of my ardour, I could be of no use at Naples or in
Rome," is enigmatic. 2 The account he wrote many years
later of his official duties during the Revolution at Naples
affords no satisfactory clue; but a close reading of the
text would seem to disclose (especially when bearing his
subsequent political career in mind) disapproval of the
r61e assigned him and his colleagues, owing to the con-
flicting foreign policy pursued by M. Pasquier, repre-
senting the liberal and constitutionalist elements in
France, and the Due de Blacas, Ambassador in Rome,
whose ultra-monarchical opinions caused him to frown
upon any attempt to hold the King of Naples to a seri-
ous observance of his oath to the charter recently wrung
from him by the Carbonari. The very subordinate of-
ficial position he occupied must of necessity, however,
have exonerated Lamartine from any suspicion of par-
tisanship. As a matter of fact, the only sincere appre-
ciation of the situation which we have from his pen is
contained in the letter to Virieu, dated from Naples on
December 8, 1820. When describing the conflict he is
witnessing, and the aspirations for liberty, noticeable
1 Correspondence, CCLVII. * Memoir es politiques, vol. i, p. 177.
256
FIRST DIPLOMATIC SERVICE
throughout Italy, he hazards the opinion: " II serait dans
notre interet national d'y applaudir: il est dans notre
morale et dans nos principes de ne pas les favoriser."
And he adds in a post-scriptum: "... Parliament [the
Neapolitan] has been skilful and clever. . . . The King
leaves [for Troppau] on the condition that he return
with the Spanish Constitution, to which he has renewed
his oath." l
In a pamphlet entitled "La Psychologic politique de
Lamartine," the author of these pages has endeavoured
to make clear the position assumed by Lamartine on his
entrance upon political life, in 1831. A Legitimist and a
monarchist by tradition, but a progressist and fervent
advocate, by conviction, for the most generous grants of
political and social liberties, Lamartine invariably strug-
gled for the doctrines he upheld. Remembering his
subsequent career, and the sacrifices he made for his
convictions, there would appear to be small doubt as to
his personal sympathies in Naples ten years earlier,
and of his distaste of the duplicity his official position in
the French Legation necessitated. 2
1 Correspondence, ccxxxvm. * Op. oil., p. 15.
CHAPTER XXI
GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION
THE next four years, while not presenting any salient
events, are of too great general importance, as demon-
strating the development of Lamartine's character and
genius, to be overlooked. Briefly, they were years of
incessant preparation and considerable literary produc-
tion.
On leaving Aix-les-Bains the family moved to Milly, as
the dilapidated old Chateau de Saint- Point was in no con-
dition to receive them. His native air accomplished more
for his health than the waters of Aix had been capable of,
if we judge by a vivacious letter to Madame de Raige-
court wherein he exults over the rural liberty he is en-
joying, and the peace and repose of his domestic life.
His wife is again enceinte, and her condition causes her
considerable discomfort. Lamartine tells his friend that
worry over this circumstance "has chased away the im-
portunate poetic inspirations which threaten to absorb
his life." l But as a matter of fact he is in the throes of
poetic inspiration. The quiet days at Milly, with lei-
surely rambles over the hills to Saint-Point, which he
was fitting up for a permanent home, were well calculated
to keep alive the divine fires smouldering within him.
Momentarily ambitions for a wider and more active life
were slumbering. It is only when urged by his mother-
in-law that he reluctantly and half-heartedly bestirs
himself, and recalls to his friends in Paris the vague
promises made him of a transfer to Florence. That Mrs.
Birch was persistently urging her son-in-law to seek
1 Correspondence, CCLVIII.
- - 2 5 8
GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION
further occupation in the government service is certain.
It is even probable that she threatened to withdraw her
personal contributions to the upkeep of the domestic es-
tablishment. "I am tormented by the fear of losing my
mother-in-law," wrote Lamartine to Virieu in January,
1822, "if I obtain nothing, and as a consequence . . .
three quarters of my comfort. In that case I should with-
draw completely to Saint- Point." 1
Nevertheless, after a fortnight of fruitless endeavour
in Paris, Lamartine returned to M&con without the certi-
tude of a remunerative position, but rich in promises of
future employment. Convinced that he had done his best,
Mrs. Birch relented and refrained from executing her
threat to separate her income from that of the young
couple. Perhaps the fact that her daughter was now so
near her second confinement was a not inconsiderable
factor in her clemency. Besides, the trip to Paris had
not been absolutely devoid of results. M. de Montmo-
rency, mindful of the protege whose talents he had so
much admired in 1818, had been successful in allotting
the young diplomatist some pecuniary compensation
pending diplomatic reemployment. We learn from a
letter Lamartine addressed to M. de Genoude from
Micon (March 13, 1822) that an offer of a position of
some kind, with residence in Paris, was made him by the
Minister. This he declined owing to his wife's approach-
ing confinement. "While waiting," he writes, "I will be
perfectly content with the status quo, that is to say,
the continuation of my present salary, which I owe to
the kindness of the Minister. Afterwards perhaps M. de
Montmorency will find a berth for me, either in Paris,
with him, or in Italy." *
Meanwhile, the rebuilding and furnishing of Saint-
Point and the prospect of a peaceful and uneventful life
1 Correspondence, CCLXIII. ' Ibid., CCLXIX.
. . 259 -
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
within its walls were all his soul craved. "We will settle
there in the spring," he adds, "unless a ministerial de-
cision opposes. But personally I only sigh for physical
and moral repose. I am dead to the world and its
pomps." "II y a des entr'actes dans la vie humaine":
it was one of these entr'actes that he was now enjoying,
until restless ambition prompted again the worldly
pomp he affected to despise.
On May 14, 1822, a daughter was born to the Lamar-
tines. "Julia, ce fut le nom qu'un souvenir d'amour
donna & notre fille," wrote the father in after years. 1
"I have myself seen," states Charles Alexandre, "the
registry of the girl's birth, signed by the father. It reads
as follows: 'Marie Louisa-Julie, fille legitime de Lamar-
tine, Alphonse Marie Louis, profession de secretaire
d'ambassade a Naples, et de Marie-Anne-Eliza Birch,
son epouse, est n6e a Mcon, le 14 Mai, 1822, a midi.' " z
"Between Julie, the name given in the certificate, and
the familiar appellation Julia,' 11 observes M. Alexandre,
"there was a nuance, intended to soften the shock to the
mother." Indeed it is conceivable that Madame de La-
martine might have objected to the christening of her
child in memory of a dead love. The wife can scarcely be
supposed to have been ignorant of her husband's in-
fatuation for Madame Charles. She had read the various
verses addressed to "Elvire": these love-poems had in
fact first attracted her to the young man who was to be-
come her husband. M. Alexandre, who knew and es-
teemed warmly Lamartine's English wife, is of the opinion
that Madame de Lamartine was only in her husband's
confidence to a relative extent. "She had, of course, been
the recipient of certain avowals, sincere enough, but
which were not, and could not be, complete. She had
therefore accepted Lamartine's first love as he had him-
1 Memoir es politiques, vol. I, p. 185. * Madame de Lamartine, p. 43.
260
GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION
self painted it in his poems, as a passion of the most
idealistic character, which clothed its object in spotless
purity." And the biographer of this noble wife and
mother goes on to extol her many virtues, not the least
of which was this significant proof of the absence of jeal-
ousy of her husband's past. 1
In a recent study of Lamartine the anonymous author
believes that the recollection of a first love, to which her
husband owed a part of his genius, did not displease
Madame de Lamartine; that, in fact, when naming her
child she paid a tribute of gratitude to the inspirer of
"these immortal cries of passion." 2 This is perhaps
asking too much of the wife's gratitude. But M. S6che
in his numerous monographs has stubbornly refused
to admit any adulterous interpretation of Lamartine's
passion for Julie Charles. He bases his argument on the
following capital points: First, that Julie's confessor, at
the moment she was making her peace with God, would
never have given the dying woman absolution, had she
not broken entirely and absolutely with her lover, had
there been criminal relations between them. Again,
had such relations existed Lamartine, whose nobility
of character is well known, would never have perpetu-
ated, in the child of the wife he cherished and hon-
oured, the remorse he must have felt for an impure love.
If, until the age of twenty-seven (as he confessed to Vic-
tor Hugo), his life had been "a tissue of faults and licen-
tiousness," the meeting with Julie Charles had reformed
him, "and since her loss, he had purified himself with
tears." * In further support of his contention, M. Sche
quotes a passage in one of the letters which Lamartine
penned to Miss Birch, and which M. Doumic published
1 Op. cit., p. 44.
* Lamartine, in Lafitte's series, Les Grands Hommes, p. 76.
Cf. Seche, Lamartine, p. 126, and Revue de Paris, April 15, 1905.
. . 26l
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
some years ago. Defending himself concerning an insin-
uation of inconstancy, bordering on immorality, levelled
against him, the suitor wrote: "It is quite true that I
loved once in my life, and that I lost by death the object
of this unique and constant affection: since then, until
I met you, I lived in the most absolute indifference, and
I shall never seek love elsewhere should I be fortunate
enough to see your heart respond to mine." * M. Doumic,
as has been said, published five of the letters which
"Elvire" wrote to Lamartine: the others are supposed
to have been burnt by the poet at the time of his mar-
riage. 2 It would, however, appear that at least one other
letter, by some strange and unexplained hazard, es-
caped the pious holocaust. Writing to Lamartine, about
1834, Baron Hyde de Neuville returned to the poet a
letter which he had discovered in a mass of old docu-
ments. When thanking the Baron, Lamartine added:
"The hand which wrote these lines has long since turned
to dust, and the celestial soul which inspired them is
now in a sphere where nothing from this world can affect
her, except the remembrance and the worship of the one
she loved. ... I cannot understand how this letter was
abstracted from a great number of others from the same
hand, which I sacrificed to a sense of duty and prudence,
and which I thought destroyed. If, through the same
person who has given you this one, you could obtain
others, or any objects having belonged to this angel, be
kind enough to secure them, without saying why you
desire them, nor for whom. As the years pile up, the
value of relics of past love and happiness becomes ever
more inestimable." 3
That the name of Julie (transformed into "Julia") was
1 Revue des Deux Mondes, August 15, 1905.
* Cours de litterature, vol. xxvii, p. 303.
1 Memoires et souvenirs du baron Hyde de Neuville, vol. in, p. 320. .
- 262
GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION
given the child with the mother's sanction, there would
seem no valid reason to doubt. "Le poete n'imposa pas
ce nom," explicitly avers M. Alexandre, and his close
intimacy with the Lamartines lends authority to the as-
sertion. 1
After a cure at Plombieres, where Madame de Lamar-
tine went to regain her strength, the whole family, in-
cluding Mrs. Birch, left for England. Lamartine quali-
fies the trip as " un voyage d'affaires." * Mrs. Birch owned
a house in Cumberland Street (No. 4), London, and it
was there the family took up their residence. 1 The months
spent in London, and at a house they occupied later at
Richmond, left indelible memories. The elder child's
health gave serious cause for alarm. " My charming little
boy is very ill," the distracted father wrote Virieu in
reply to the announcement of his friend's marriage.
"We have hardly any hope of saving him. . . . If the blow
falls, I don't know how we shall bear it: especially my
poor Marianne. Otherwise we should have been so happy
here." 4 In London Lamartine had found his boyhood's
friend Louis de Vignet, who was Secretary of the Sar-
dinian Legation. Chateaubriand was Ambassador of
France at the Court of George IV, and to him as in duty
bound the young Frenchman (still nominally attached to
his country's diplomatic service) paid his respects. "He
received me with a coldness I had not expected," recalls
Lamartine, "for as a writer, as a royalist, as a states-
man, above all, I entertained sentiments of respect and
deference bordering on enthusiasm for this great man.
He did not even deign to ask me to dinner, a usual cour-
tesy which an Ambassador extends to all his countrymen,
especially if they be diplomats and authors, however
1 Madame de Lamartine, p. 45. * Correspondance, ccucxvni.
Cf. Cours de liUerature, vol. xxi, p. 210, and Mfmoires politiques, vol. I,
P. IM.
4 Correspondance, CCLXXX.
. 263 - -
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
widely separated by age and talent." l A month later,
at the suggestion of M. de Marcellus, Secretary of the
Embassy and a personal friend, an invitation was vouch-
safed; but the Ambassador never spoke a word to his
guest during the whole evening, and the amenities
ended with the formality of a card, which the younger
man punctiliously deposited at the door.
The volumes of "Les Mmoires d'Outre-Tombe "
contain but passing and insignificant mention of Lamar-
tine. That Chateaubriand disliked the younger poet,
"ce grand dadais," as he contemptuously dubbed him, is
well known. In the days when the author of " Les Medi-
tations" frequented Madame Recamier's salon at the
Abbaye-aux-Bois, the presiding deity brooked but ill,
and with hardly concealed jealousy, the cordial recep-
tion accorded the gifted young intruder. Did Lamartine
ever read the ' ' M6moires d'Outre-Tombe ' ' ? Therein the
author, complaining of the jealous contempt shown by
certain politicians for men of letters who have ventured
into the political arena, remarks: "Us renvoient avec
compassion Virgile, Racine, Lamartine a leurs vers."
And further, referring to Lamartine, he styles him this
"nouvelle et brillante illustration de la France." 2 That
is all we find in the six volumes of reminiscences. Yet
Lamartine complacently asserts: "He rendered me ample
justice only after his death, in his posthumous memoirs,
wherein he places me as a poet in the rank with Virgil
and Racine, and as a politician accords me a higher place
than my contemporaries were willing to grant." 8
On his part, Lamartine's admiration for the great
Romanticist was genuine. From the days of his boyhood
at Belley, in spite of a derogatory phrase here and there,
1 Mimoires politigues, vol. I, p. 183; also Cours de literature, vol. xxi,
p. 212.
1 Chateaubriand, op. cit., vol. v, pp. 215 and 250.
Cf. Cours de literature, vol. xxi, p. 213.
264
GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION
such as "le grand g6nie de cette magnifique corruption
du style," the author of " Le Gnie du Christianisme " was
to him a god amongst men, and generous appreciations
of his genius are scattered throughout his literary produc-
tion. Gustave Planche recalls the story of young Lamar-
tine escaping from Paris to catch a glimpse of his hero,
over the garden wall of the Valle aux Loups, and of his
delight when contemplating "Ren6" surrounded by his
cats. 1 This legend may, it is true, be classed with what
might be termed the "illustrative fictions" of Lamar-
tine's glimpses of Lord Byron on the storm-tossed waves
of the Lake of Geneva, or of Mesdames de Stae'l and
R6camier, in a cloud of dust on the highroad between
Coppet and Lausanne. These illustrative fictions his
vivid imagination seized upon and transmogrified into
living images with suitable settings of time and place, so
that when completed they stood out in his mind as actual
facts, or, so to speak, historical documents.
So with Chateaubriand's curt mention of the poet. " I
have often wondered by what inexplicable whimsical-
ity this great judge showed me such disfavour during
his lifetime, when reserving for me such partiality after
his death. I think I have guessed: but I would never
dare to confess it." Of course what he dares not confess
is that Chateaubriand was jealous of his fame as a poet
and a statesman, and there is certainly a foundation of
truth in the assumption, as has been already pointed out ;
yet, flattering as jealousy from such a quarter must have
been, the "ample justice" rendered in the posthumous
memoirs would seem but meagre solace to a less com-
placent nature. The histrionism of a Chateaubriand is
continually and aggressively conspicuous, but one hesi-
1 "Lamartine," Revue des Deux Mondes, November i, 1856. In this
connection it is interesting to read Lamartine's study of Chateaubriand in
his Souvenirs et Portraits, vol. n, pp. 83-132, wherein he styles Rene "le
Werther de ce Goethe francais."
. . 265
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
tates to apply the term in an opprobrious sense to Lamar-
tine, inseparable though it be from highly imaginative
temperaments. The undeniable charm of his ingenuous-
ness, combined with the sweetness of his disposition, and
the entire absence of envy, hatred, and malice in his char-
acter, must ever shield him from the acrimonious criti-
cism to which the elder poet was subjected. Rather
would we agree with Zyromski that, when his imagina-
tion takes fire from the very intensity of the recollection
it evokes, the multiplicity of spiritually refracted rays
tinge the apparition with such colour and glamour that
the vision becomes transformed into a species of hallu-
cination. 1 If this be true of his lyrical compositions, it is
equally so when he evokes from the recesses of his inner
consciousness the episodes related in his reminiscences,
which are in reality prose-poems. With few exceptions
this phenomenon is rare in his contemporaneous corre-
spondence: hence the inestimable importance of these
documents in establishing true values, so to speak.
Intercourse with the diplomatists he met in London
would seem to have reawakened Lamartine's ambitions
for active service. De Vignet came frequently to Rich-
mond, and the friends talked politics and poetry; "his
two passions, as they were mine," asserts his host. 2 To
M. de Genoude he complains that he is left inactive, not
being considered worthy to copy and seal letters in an
idle Italian Legation, while others are awarded places
high in the service. And he adds: "I am ashamed, at my
age, of my title of 'attacheV only suitable to a boy of
sixteen." 3 If we judge by an epistle to his former chief in
Naples, M. de Fontenay, Lamartine blames his reputa-
tion as a poet for the neglect of his superiors to make use
of his diplomatic talents. "It is a great misfortune to
1 Ernest Zyromski, Lamartine, polte lyrique, p. 287.
* Cours de litter ature, vol. xxi, p. 211. , * Correspondence, CCLXXXIII.
266
GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION
have once in one's life composed some verses; one is con-
sidered forever incapable of anything else." *
Towards the middle of October, in spite of his son's
frail health, Lamartine took his family to Paris, in order
to be nearer headquarters. But the change was to prove
fatal to the child, and barely had his parents established
themselves before his life flickered out. In spite of the
fact that he was on the spot, and consequently better
qualified to push his claims, the outlook was far from
satisfactory, and he again contemplated renouncing all
ambition, and settling down definitely at Saint-Point.
Before this could be accomplished, however, the remod-
elling and furnishing of the old house was imperative.
Lamartine had become passionately enamoured of the
Gothic architecture he had seen so profusely adopted in
English homes, and was determined to apply some of its
features to the essentially seventeenth-century structure
at Saint- Point, an anachronism all those who have visited
the mutilated and disfigured old chateau, with its cheap
and tasteless Gothic appurtenances, must ever deeply
deplore. Funds were scarce, however, and the would-be
builder was at his wits' ends to raise the necessary credits.
An appeal to Virieu to procure six thousand francs in
Lyons, secretly, as his uncle must know nothing of the
affair, seems to have been unsuccessful.
A little later things brighten, and he informs Virieu,
"I have just sold for fourteen thousand francs, cash, my
second volume of ' Meditations,' to be delivered and paid
for this summer. This more than meets all present needs.
Moreover, the King has granted me, they say, a pension
of two thousand francs (this between ourselves), and my
salary is to be continued, I believe, during the year. . . .
Having sold my book it was necessary to make it, and I
have been doing so for some days. It progresses finely.
1 Correspondence, CCLXXXV.
267
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
I have already about the specified number of verses. I
will copy it out, and see you, in order that we may go over
it together, for you alone are my Muse." 1 As has been
said, Lamartine considered Virieu's literary taste impec-
cable, and entertained the most implicit confidence as
to his judgment, rarely admitting as finished a poem
which had not been submitted to his friend's critical in-
spection. The tenth edition of the first collection of
"Meditations" was about to be issued (March 15, 1823), a
success almost unparalleled for a volume of verses. This
event, for the new edition was to be a "chef-d'oeuvre,"
combined with the continual illness of his wife, crushed
by her recent loss, delayed the projected departure for
Mclcon. Early in May, however, Lamartine had the joy
of settling in his own home at Saint- Point. A couple of
months later a return to Aix was necessitated by his
wife's health, as well as his own ; and thence he wrote to
Virieu that the second volume was finished and about to
be despatched to Paris. A pot-boiler, entitled "Cesar,"
was to occupy his leisure agreeably that autumn, and
bring him ten thousand francs, "sorely needed." " E poi,
il gran poema epico, lyrico, metaphysico, etc., si Dieu le
veut." 2
By the middle of September another cheering stroke of
good luck is announced to Virieu: "I have sold 'Socrate'
for six thousand francs ; am to get fifteen thousand for the
'Meditations.'" 3 The success of the second "Medita-
tions," although not equalling that of the first, was most
satisfactory. The only explanation of this colder recep-
tion of his verses, and a very reasonable one, is given by
Lamartine himself: the first were the first, and the second
followed them : the sensation of delighted surprise on the
1 Correspondance, ccxcn. Letter dated Paris, February 15, 1823.
* Correspondance, ccxcvn. The faulty Italian is Lamartine's.
1 Correspondance, ccc. La Mori de Socrate.
268
GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION
part of the public had evaporated, the flower of novelty
had lost its freshness. The only reproach that can fairly
be made is that the second resembled too closely the first.
The verses were as delicately subtle and as musical as
those of the first volume, and their structure perhaps even
more perfect. As M. de Pomairols extravagantly, per-
haps, but not fulsomely, claims: "He verily held in his
grasp the lute of the angels, and, with its harmonies, he
led the ravished hearts of a generation, more fortunate
than our own, towards purity and beauty." x Yet the
perennial fascination of Lamartine's poetry lies not in the
transcendentalism or exquisite technique of the verses,
but in the sentiments he expresses out of fulness of heart.
The cry of his soul's anguish is pathetically and nakedly
human-true, yesterday, to-day, and for all time. The in-
fluence he wields over the hearts of his readers springs
from the fact that he is first of all a man, possessing all
the frailty inherent to human nature, and incidentally a
poet.
In a letter from Saint- Point to M. de Fontenay, dated
November 29, 1823, Lamartine makes casual mention of
an accident which befell him when riding, and which for
two months incapacitated him. And on December 5 he
again mentions the mishap in a note to Madame de Raige-
court: "Je suis honteux d'etre tombe de cheval. ..." *
That the accident was more serious than he was willing to
admit appears from an enquiry from the Duchesse de
Broglie (Madame de StaeTs daughter) who has learnt
that he is now out of danger.'
The late autumn and early winter were spent at Saint-
Point and in Macon. Madame de Lamartine was far from
1 Cf. De Pomairols, Lamartine, pp. 5^-67.
1 Correspondence, cccix and cccin.
LeUres a Lamartine, p. 26. The date of this letter, Coppet, October 28,
is evidently erroneous, as Lamartine wrote Virieu on the zgth, making no
mention of an accident. . '
269
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
well, and the family was, moreover, intensely worried
over the health of Lamartine's sisters, Madame de
Montherot, and Cesarine, who had married Xavier de
Vignet, both of whom passed away during the winter. In
spite of domestic worries and afflictions, however, Lamar-
tine began at this period to take a perfunctory interest in
home politics. The campaign in Macon had made it clear
that, had he been of the required age (forty) he could un-
doubtedly have secured an election to the Chamber. "I
shall be very glad of it when the times come," he signifi-
cantly confides to Virieu. 1 But nearly ten years were to
elapse before that time came. Domestic bereavements
and poor health interfered seriously with poetic inspira-
tion, and his friends began to twit him with insinuations
of literary lassitude. During the summer he and his wife
had sought relief at the baths of Schinznach, in Switzer-
land, but without great benefit. "Ma melancolie est re-
venue comme a seize ans, avec le vague espoir en moins,"
he sadly wrote Virieu. The doctors insisted on a warm
climate during the coming winter, and a diplomatic ap-
pointment at Florence appeared as his only salvation:
once more he sets in motion the machinery best calcu-
lated to advance his interests, and again the faithful
Virieu is pressed into service. 2 The success of the "Se-
condes Meditations" had established the author's literary
reputation on a solid and permanent basis. Friends and
admirers in Paris began to hint that the poet might aspire
to a seat in the French Academy, and to urge him to take
the necessary steps. At first he hesitated, dreading a re-
buff. But eventually he allowed his objections to be over-
ruled, and towards the middle of November set to work,
in Paris, canvassing for votes, and paying the obligatory
visits of courtesy. From the outset he realized that suc-
cess was more than doubtful: yet once immersed in the
1 Correspondence, cccxi. * Ibid., cccxxm.
27O
GROWING LITERARY REPUTATION
struggle the spirit of battle seized him ; he was loath to
retire, at least until he could do so with honour. His rival,
M. Droz, a practically unknown name in literature, con-
trolled political influences which could not be overcome
and which eventually secured for him the coveted seat.
Chateaubriand, to the candidate's great joy, had lent him
kindly support : but he felt from the outset that he was
doomed to failure. 1 Although the quest for Academic
honours had been vain, Lamartine had received what he
considered substantial assurances that within a year the
coveted billet at Florence should be his, together with a
salary of six thousand francs. This consoled him, in a
manner, for, as he insists, when informing Virieu of his
disappointment, it was principally by reason of his par-
ents' desire that he had made the effort. The mother's
diary confirms this assertion. "I regret having too per-
sistently urged my son to present himself. Especially am
I sorry on my husband's account, for he attached great
importance to success." * <
1 Correspondence, cccxxxn; cf. also Pierre de Lacretelle, "La premiere
candidature de Lamartine 4 1 'Academic," Grande Revue, May 15, 1905.
1 Correspondence, cccxxxil and cccxxxrv; cf. Manuscrit de ma mire,
p. 262.
CHAPTER XXII
CHILDE HAROLD CHANT DU SACRE
LAMARTINE'S admiration for Byron, the man and the
poet, was sincere and profound. The personality of the
author of "Childe Harold" fascinated him, and the cir-
cumstances of his brilliant, adventurous life found an
echo of almost envious commendation in his secret soul.
The English poet appeared to him, by virtue of his revolt
and his genius, as a sort of angel of darkness, a species of
Black Prince of Satanic legions, whose example tempted
and provoked him to demand an accounting with the
Almighty. 1 The death of the poet in Greece, on April 19,
1824, had stirred the fibres of his deepest sympathy, and
he determined to add a final canto to the pilgrimage of his
hero. 2 On January 4, 1825, writing to Virieu, he says:
"... Guess what I am about! the fifth canto of 'Childe
Harold,' of Lord Byron: his death, and Greece. There are
already five or six hundred verses. It amuses me, and I
will publish them, if you agree after having heard them ;
of course anonymously." * On the same date the mother
notes in her journal : " Alphonse is writing a poem entitled
'Childe Harold,' in which he celebrates the heroic death
of Lord Byron, for the cause of Greek independence.
There are passages which distress me: I fear he shows
dangerous enthusiasm for modern ideas of philosophy and
revolution, contrary both to religion and to the monarchi-
cal principle." 4 Six weeks later the poet had finished
his task, and the manuscript of between seventeen hun-
1 Cf. De Pomairols, op. cit. t p. 70; cf. also E. Esteve, Byron et le Roman-
tisme franf ais, p. 330.
1 Cf. CEvores computes, vol. II, p. 74.
' Correspondence, cccxxxv. * Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 264.
272
CHILDE HAROLD CHANT DU SACRE
dred and eighteen hundred verses was to be disposed of to
a publisher in Lyons, for nine thousand francs, "money
down." It was in Paris, however, that the poem found a
publisher, and on April 7 he writes that owing to the
most unsatisfactory proofs sent him, and the destruction
of "style and form they convey to eye and ear," he must
fly to the rescue of his offspring. 1
He carried with him his "Chant du Sacre," composed
in honour of the coronation of Charles X at Reims (May,
1825), and which is, certain religious and military de-
scriptions apart, nothing more or less than an expression
of his political views on the Restoration. To Virieu he
defines it as "1'horreur des horreurs potiques," and most
of his friends agreed with him. Nevertheless, although
condemning his own folly, he insists that he wrote the
verses conscientiously in order to prove that he was
frankly an adherent of the monarchical party, although
entertaining certain independent sentiments of his own. 1
Despite the undeniable splendour of the descriptions of
the ceremony, this official effusion cannot be said to have
added to Lamartine's fame. That it was written with
decided parti pris was evident from the outset. Madame
de Lamartine, mere, to whom her son read passages of
his poem, was greatly shocked by the omission of any
mention of the Due d 'Orleans, son of Philippe galite, or
of that prince himself. According to the mother's diary,
a painful scene ensued, and it was only in consequence of
her tears, and the use of what she terms "my maternal
authority," that Alphonse yielded. 1 The omission, how-
ever, had been preferable to the lines Lamartine eventu-
ally inserted. Enumerating the glorious names of the
Bourbon dynasty, the poet makes the King exclaim :
1 Correspondence, CCCXL.
Ibid., CCCXLII; cf. also Memoires politiques, vol. n, p. 37, wherein
Lamartine expresses freely his opinions of the Orleans family.
* Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 268.
. . 273
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
" D'Orleans!
Ce grand nom est couvert du pardon de mon frere:
Le fils a rachete les crimes de son pere!
Et comme les rejets d'un arbre encore fecond,
Sept rameaux ont cache les blessures du tronc." l
The poem was published a week before the coronation
of Charles X, instead of after the ceremony, as originally
intended, and the King subscribed for three thousand
copies. 2 It is probable that advance sheets had fallen into
the Due d'Orlans's hands before the order for the Tui-
leries was filled. Writing on May 21, M. de Pansey, a
member of the Duke's household, informed Lamartine
concerning his royal master's displeasure. "The Prince
tells me that this work is only to appear after the corona-
tion. If so, you still have time to suppress the four verses ;
I strongly urge you to do so. It is always unfortunate to
have the first prince of the blood as an irreconcilable
enemy." 3
Madame de Lamartine writes that her son immediately
replied, regretting that his verses should have wounded a
prince whose family had shown such favours to his grand-
parents, and stating that he would instruct his publishers
to suppress the obnoxious verses. Before action could be
taken, however, a second menace from the Duke so exas-
perated the poet that he refused to make any change.
"On receipt of this letter," notes the mother, "the natu-
ral pride of my son was aroused. At no price would he
yield to a threat that which he had immediately accorded
to a request, and he summarily ordered his publisher to
reinsert the verses." At the same time Lamartine wrote
personally to the Duke explaining to him that, as the
newspapers had already published the letter of intimida-
tion, which could only have leaked out through some in-
1 The original manuscript contains the word "iniquitS," which was
softened (?) to "crimes"
1 Seche, Lamartine, p. 195. * Lettres a Lamartine, p. 38.
274 .
CHILDE HAROLD CHANT DU SACRE
discretion at the Palais Royal, he deemed it necessary, for
his own reputation, to insist on the insertion of the verses;
but he begged the Duke not to attribute them to any de-
liberate intent to offend him. To which the Duke in-
stantly and generously replied that since the publication
in the Liberal papers of the letter of intimidation, he
realized the young man's position, and the necessity of
safeguarding his personal honour. The above is quoted
almost verbatim from Madame de Lamartine's account
of the affair. 1 There is ground for shrewd suspicion, how-
ever, that Lamartine, when " dressing" the manuscript
for publication, took liberties with the original text.
Whole pages of the diary are either missing, or have
been so defaced that the writing is illegible. His own
contemporaneous account of the incident as given in
a letter to Virieu, dated from Aix on June 6, 1825, is
much less pretentious. "Do you know the row which is
being made against its author [he refers to the "Chant
du Sacre"]? The Due d'Or!6ans went, 'co' fiocchi,' to
complain to the King concerning the insults I levelled
against him. The King ordered the suppression of the
passage. The publishers refused. I heard of it too late,
but hastened to write that publication be suspended,
changes made, in fact anything to satisfy the King. The
King instructed M. Doudeauville to write me from Reims
expressing his dissatisfaction. I answered as best I could.
The Liberal journals took the matter up." And he goes
on to add that, although he regrets having wounded the
King, the whole affair has "brought him friends"; pre-
sumably among the Liberals. 2
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 269.
1 Corrcspondance, CCCXLIV. In his Souvenirs et Portraits, vol. n, p. 120,
Lamartine writes: "There are two actions which posterity will never
forgive the ambitious designs of the House of Orleans: the vote for the death
of Louis XVI in 1793, and the public accouchement of the Duchesse de
Berri, at Blaye, in 1831. The second crime, although less atrocious, equalled
the first."
. . 275
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
From the publishers* standpoint the success of the
"Chant du Sacre" was great; principally on account of
the scandal created by the offending verses. Between
twenty and thirty thousand copies were sold : five thou-
sand in a single day. "My publishers get fifty thousand
francs," Lamartine adds in this same letter, "by virtue
of this 'litany' which nets me a hundred louis and dis-
grace."
" Childe Harold " was also attracting widespread atten-
tion, although for other and more essentially literary
reasons: "six thousand copies in two days!" wrote the
author. On the whole the verdict was favourable, al-
though some critics saw in the verses only a servile imi-
tation of the great English bard. Imitation there cer-
tainly is : but purely a nominal one, wherein the thoughts
and sentiments of Byron are imperceptibly woven into
the ideals which Lamartine preferred. This discreet and
skilful evolution dispels all resemblance, even a distant
one, with the genius he was accused of imitating, and the
conception and psychology remain throughout essentially
and unmistakably Lamartinian.
That Charles X did not bear a grudge against the
imprudent author of the "Chant du Sacre" is evidenced
by his appointment, in July, as Secretary of Legation
at Florence. Lamartine and his wife were travelling in
Switzerland when the official confirmation of his nom-
ination reached him. If we are to believe him, it was
principally his wife's health which prompted the ac-
ceptance of the post, the offer of which, he professes,
"rather stunned" him. 1 Be this as it may, he lost no
time in regaining Saint- Point and making the necessary
preparations for a prolonged absence from home. During
August Victor Hugo and Charles Nodier were his guests.
Lamartine had met "1'Enfant sublime," as Chateau-
1 Correspondence, CCCXLV.
. . 276
CfflLDE HAROLD CHANT DU SACRE
briand christened Hugo, in Paris in 1822, when, with
the Due de Rohan, he sought the young poet in his
modest dwelling near Saint-Sulpice. 1 Later these two
greatest poets of the nineteenth century were to be-
come friends and entertain a lifelong mutual admiration.
At this period Charles Nodier had but recently been
appointed librarian of the famous old Bibliotheque
de 1' Arsenal, where, with his wife and daughter Marie,
he held one of the foremost literary salons of the period.
In 1822 the author of "Trilby" had already made his
mark, and young Lamartine acknowledged in him a
master. 2
On that memorable August morning in 1825 it was a
motley company that the chatelain of Saint-Point dis-
cerned winding their way down through the chestnut
forest above the chateau: "a caravan of travellers, men,
women, and children, some on foot, others mounted on
steady-going mules. . . . The party consisted of Victor
Hugo and Charles Nodier, followed by their charming
young wives and comely children. They craved my hos-
pitality for a few days on their way to Switzerland. . . .
Since that sojourn we have remained friends, in spite
of systems, opinions, revolutions, and diverse political
views." * Hugo had urged Lamartine to join "La Muse
francaise," a periodical which made some stir in literary
circles about 1823: but the elder poet had no liking for
cliques and coteries, and preferred to abstain from all
intimate connection with them. He offered Hugo to
subscribe a thousand francs towards this literary enter-
prise; but on the condition that his association remain
1 Cours de liUerature, vol. n, p. 288, and vol. x, p. 181 ; also Seche, Lamer-
tine, p. 221.
1 Cf. Salomon, Charles Nodier, p. 107.
1 Cours de liUerature, vol. n, p. 289; also vol. x, p. 181. Marie Nodier, in
the biography of her father, has left a charming account of this visit; cf.
p. 219. .-'
' ' 277 "
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
secret. In spite of his generosity the "Muse" was not
always tender in its criticisms, and that same year La-
martine wrote Hugo: "I have read several of the little
diatribes in question, but they do not disturb my politi-
cal equanimity. I do not belong to the genus irritabile"
It was an attack on the "Mort de Socrate" to which he
referred, and to the purely literary criticism he did not
object ; but the author had questioned his political credo,
and this Lamartine could not brook. 1
The literary quarrels of the day affected Lamartine
not a jot. From the serene heights of his independence he
viewed with complete detachment the warring of Classics
and Romantics, holding aloof from intimate association
with either school. Yet he certainly agreed with Nodier's
definition of what Romanticism should aspire to: "La
Libert6 regie par le gotit." " I am neither a romanticist as
you understand the term, nor a classic as they define it;
I am what I am able to be," he wrote M. de Genoude. 2
And in an open letter to Stendhal (Henri Beyle), on
March 19, 1823: "Imitation of Nature is not the sole
aim of art: the beautiful is above all the principle and
the object of all creations of the intellect." * This was a
doctrine Lamartine invariably observed. As M. Emile
Deschanel pertinently puts it: "While Victor Hugo the
more often conveys ideas through images, and lends con-
crete form to abstractions, Lamartine, inversely, spiritu-
alizes, so to speak, matter, discerning both in the physi-
cal world and in real life moral analogies, and making
frequent use of such transpositions." 4 If it be true, as
Joubert insists: "c'est surtout dans la spirituality des
idees que consiste la poesie," then indeed Lamartine was
a great, a very great master of his art. "Nature was for
1 Revue de Paris, April 15, 1904; cf. also S6che, Cenack de la Musefran-
faise, p. 65.
2 Correspondence, cccxx. 1
1 Cf. Stendhal, Racine et Shakespeare. * Lamartine, vol. i, p. 216.
. 2 7 8 -
CHILDE HAROLD CHANT DU SACRE
Lamartine," opines Zyromski, "merely the symbolism
through which he laid bare the inner life." * In other
words, through the spiritualization of Nature, the splen-
dour and enthusiasm of his imagination rises trium-
phantly over matter and the melancholy or bitterness
at times discernible in his verse.
Lamartine was a Very poor critic of his own work. In
"Comment je suis devenu poete," written during the
later years of his life, 2 the subjectivity of this auto-criti-
cism is stilted and manifestly insincere. He terms himself
a dilletante and an amateur, with no ambitions to be
otherwise considered. Nevertheless, the confession has a
decided psychological value when read understandingly,
as well as an undeniable fascination; owing, perhaps, as
much to the ingenuousness of the sentiments expressed
as to the unparalleled beauty of his eloquence. Every-
thing that Lamartine wrote partakes directly or indi-
rectly of the nature of a confession : at times a fragment
infinitely minute, yet ever a particle of his soul. "True
literary art," he insisted in his old age, "is not an art: it
is a soul. . . ." "Le sublime lasse," he adds, "le beau
trompe, le pathetique seul est infaillible. Celui qui sait
attendrir sait tout." * In less consummately skilful
hands the constant use (one is tempted to write, abuse)
of the pathetic must inevitably cloy: yet such is the ex-
traordinary quality of Lamartine's art that this feeling
of satiety is rarely experienced. The human interest is
too tense and too sustained to permit of lassitude.
To a much lesser degree is this subjectivity apparent
in the fifth canto of "Childe Harold." The personality
of the author is merged, so to speak, in Byron, and this
1 Op. tit., p. 222. * Cf. Souvenirs el Portraits, vol. I, p. 56.
* Cf. essay on decadence of literature, Souvenirs et Portraits, vol. I, p. 127.
Cf . also Georges Herwegh, by Victor Fleury, p. 244 et seq. Herwegh trans-
lated nearly all of Lamartine's poetical works into German during the
first half of the nineteenth century.
279
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
duality detracts from the Lamartinianism of the style.
Here and there, however, the " ego" of the poet reappears,
and the images he evokes become significant of the fla-
grant contradictions; especially when he attributes to
Byron religious aspirations essentially inherent to La-
martine. 1 That the mother should have felt anxiety
when shown passages from "Childe Harold" is con-
ceivable. The unorthodoxy of his Catholic dogma is
herein revealed for the first time. The oppositions of
language or doctrine expressed by the hero are rarely,
and then but feebly, refuted by his sponsor. Although
the opinions professed by Harold do not exactly repre-
sent Lamartine's convictions at the time he wrote the
poem, they nevertheless show clearly the philosophical
tendencies he was even then experiencing, and resistance
to which necessitated a constant effort. "Sa foi chr-
tienne a deja bien pali et vacille au vent du siecle." *
Passing in review the numerous systems of religion
which have governed the world, " Childe Harold" de-
duces that nothing eternal or infallible can be hoped for.
The depths of the human heart can grasp but two un-
changeable sentiments:
41 Deux sentiments divins plus forts que le trepas,
L'amour, la liberte, dieux qui ne mourront pas." *
In his preface to the poem in the complete edition of his
works (1860), Lamartine protests against the criticisms
which hold him responsible for "Childe Harold's"
scepticism. Especially does he take umbrage when his
work is termed "1'hymne du decouragement et du scep-
ticisme," insisting that the religious convictions he him-
self holds could not with verisimilitude be placed in the
mouth of his hero. 4
1 Cf. De Pomairols, op. tit., p. 80.
* Cf. J. des Cognets, La Vie interieure de Lamartine, p. 139.
* Le Dernier Chant du Pelerinage d' 'Harold, I.
* Cf. op. tit., vol. n, p. 80.
. . 280
CHILDE HAROLD CHANT DU SACRE
This disclaimer notwithstanding, authoritative critics
are unanimous in discerning in "Childe Harold" the
beginnings of Lamartine's metaphysical evolution, de-
spite the intense religiosity of the "Harmonies poli-
tiques" which followed the earlier work a couple of
years later. But certain political opinions expressed in
"Childe Harold" were destined to cause the poet more
serious annoyance than that experienced at the hands
of captious French critics seeking a flaw in his religious
orthodoxy.
CHAPTER XXIII
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
MEANWHILE Lamartine and his household were pre-
paring for the journey to Florence. The trip was to be
a leisurely one, the route followed crossing the Mont
Cenis, with stops in Turin, Genoa, and the enchanting
towns of the Italian Riviera. Finally, on October 2,
1825, the party reached the Tuscan capital. "The jour-
ney, although more complicated for eleven persons and
five horses, than for three, went off happily," he wrote
Virieu on arrival. 1 An apartment was selected near the
Porta Romana, close to Poggio Imperiale; but before
settling down in these quarters, Lamartine paid a visit
to Lucca, to which Court the French representative was
also accredited. At that period the little principalities
of Modena and Parma were included within the dip-
lomatic jurisdiction of the Legation to Tuscany: but
their political importance was insignificant. Neverthe-
less, occasional courtesy visits to the rulers of these
bailiwicks were obligatory, and afforded plausible pre-
texts for summer idling midst fairy-like surroundings.
Especially was the microscopic Court of Lucca re-
nowned for the continuous round of social pleasures
which its young and dissipated prince, a member of the
Bourbon family, so lavishly encouraged. 2 The Duke of
Modena, the hated Habsburg, Francis IV, whom the
Congress of Vienna had likewise furnished with a throne,
terrorized his subjects and himself cringed to the Jes-
uits whose puppet he was supposed to be. In spite of
1 Correspondence, CCCL.
2 Charles Louis, eon of the Bourbon King of Etruria.
. . 282
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
his evil political reputation the Duke of Modena would
seem to have captivated the young Secretary of the
French Legation, who records that he never left this
princely residence without regret. 1
At the adjacent Court of Parma ruled the ex-Empress
Marie- Louise, widow of Napoleon I, to whom the Powers
assembled at Vienna had allotted this modest appanage.
Count Neiperg was installed at Parma, nominally as
counsellor to the Duchess. "Nameless children, whose
parents were a mystery to none, wandered about the
corridors of the palace. . . . The household of Marie-
Louise resembled that of a noble widow, happy over the
loss of her throne, having cheerfully forgotten the pomp
of a world's empire. . . . She took me one day," con-
tinues Lamartine, "to the dusty upper apartments of
her palace, where odd personal effects had been rele-
gated, souvenirs of the epoch of her splendour, and there
showed me the golden cradle which the City of Paris
had presented to the Empress when the King of Rome
was born. Turning aside, she pointed to them with a
slightly disdainful smile mingled with sadness, exclaim-
ing: 'There they are: they cost me dear. I have hidden
them, for their sight recalls painful memories. Let us
go!'" 2
At Lucca Lamartine's diplomatic functions would
certainly not appear to have been onerous. The Villa
Saltochio, where the Minister resided during the summer
months, was given over to social entertainments and the
cultivation of literature in its most graceful and pleasing
forms. The Marquis de la Maisonfort was himself a
poet, and, moreover, an accomplished man of the world,
possessing all the charm and moral frailty of the old
r6gime, to which he belonged by long' association and in-
eradicable atavistic instincts. On the return to Florence
1 M&moircs politiques, vol. I, p. 192. * Ibid., p. 194.
283 -
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
life became even more agreeable in the company of this
amiable chief, and the social and intellectual horizon more
extended. After his morning ride in the Cascine, the
fortunate Secretary of Legation proceeded to his chan-
cery, there to copy out "a few very insignificant but ex-
ceedingly witty despatches," the aim and principal func-
tions of the Minister at that time being to amuse the King
by his clever quizzing of the agents of Prince Metter-
nich. 1 This arduous task accomplished, the poet was free
to devote himself to literary composition or any occupa-
tion he desired. Nevertheless, the subordinate position
he held chafed his pride. On November 5 he complains
to the Marquise de Raigecourt that, although he is doing
his best, he blushes, at his age (he was now thirty-five)
and after so considerable a novitiate, to be still judged
worthy of but a secretaryship in a Legation instead of
that of an Embassy. 2
The Grand Duke of Tuscany enjoyed, at the period
of which we write, the reputation of being the most
enlightened and liberal ruler in Italy. Although of for-
eign origin the House of Lorraine had successfully iden-
tified itself with the people, and the paternal govern-
ment continued the intellectual and artistic traditions
of the Medici. Closely related to the Austrian sovereign,
the Tuscan rulers pursued, nevertheless, a policy differ-
ing essentially from that adopted by the Habsburgs
towards their Italian subjects in Lombardy and Venetia.
Tuscan patriots had little to complain of under the mild
administration of their Grand Duke, and Florence had
actually become the haven of many political refugees who
found too hot for them Naples, the States of the Church,
Piedmont, or the Austrian dominions of northern Italy.
1 Memoires[politiques, vol. i, p. 200; cf. also Lamartine par Iui-m2me,
p. 252.
* Correspondence, CCCLI.
. . 284
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
Florence was styled the Athens of Italy. Although La-
martine was cordially welcomed at the Grand Ducal
Court, he was soon made aware that the publication of
his ''Dernier Chant de Childe Harold" had awakened
deep resentment in the breasts of Italian patriots. It
will be remembered that this fifth canto he added to
Lord Byron's poem was very favourably received in
France, and that the poet himself considered it the best
work he had produced. In Italy, however, certain dispar-
aging verses concerning Italian patriotism had brought
down the anathemas of the Liberal conspirators upon his
head. In the poem Childe Harold (Lord Byron), shaking
the dust of Italy from his shoes and hastening to the
relief of the downtrodden Greeks, reproaches modern
Italians with inertia, sloth, and voluptuous servitude. In
his indignation at their lack of patriotic vigour Childe
Harold disdainfully exclaims:
" Monument ecrou!6, que 1'echo seul habite;
Poussiere du passe, qu'un vent sterile agite;
Terre, oil les fils n'ont plus le sang de leurs a'ieux,
Oft sur un sol vieilli les hommes naissent vieux,
Ob le fer avili ne frappe que dans 1'ombre,
Oil sur les fronts voiles plane un nuage sombre,
Oti 1'amour n'est qu'un piege et la pudeur qu'un fard,
OO la ruse a fauss6 le rayon du regard,
Oil les mots 6nerves ne sont qu'un bruit sonore,
Un nuage eclat6 qui retentit encore:
Adieu! Pleure ta chute en vantant tes hros!
Sur des bords oil la gloire a ranim6 leurs os,
Je vais chercher ailleurs (pardonne ombre romaine!)
Des hommes, et non pas de la poussiere humainel" *
It was hardly to be expected that patriots who had
staked life and liberty in the cause they upheld would
tamely accept, without protest, such scathing, withering
contempt. Nor was this the case.
On his arrival in Florence Lamartine was received
1 Cf. CEuvres completes, voL n, p. 102.
. . 285
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
with every outward mark of courtesy by the aristo-
cratic society which clustered round the Court of the
Grand Duke. The sovereign himself would appear to
have been fascinated by the charm and intelligence of
the young French diplomatist. The library of the Pitti
Palace was put at his disposal, and the sovereign there
met his guest and led him to his private apartments, where
they spent hours in literary and political discussions, in-
terrupted only by occasional visits from the young prin-
cesses. On November 15, 1825, shortly after his return to
Florence for the winter, the Grand Duke had written
the poet, whose own dwelling was close at hand, urging
him to make use of the library, and professing admiration
for his talents. 1 Jealousies were inevitably excited by this
signal mark of favour, and the wildest rumours were
current concerning the danger to the State such foreign
influences might create. Lamartine assures us that the
Prime Minister, Fossomboni, did not share the univer-
sal suspicion with which his intimacy with the Grand
Duke was viewed, nor fear the possibility of the French
superseding him. 2 It is probable that he exaggerates the
importance the diplomatic and official world of Tuscany
'attached to the liking the Prince manifested for the
literary genius accredited to his Court. Nevertheless,
writing the Due de Montmorency concerning events
which subsequently made his sojourn in Florence un-
comfortable, he says: "J'ignore si quelque jalousie de
cour n'avait pas favoris 1'explosion de ces sentiments
hostiles."
Be this as it may, a decided feeling of resentment
against the foreigner who had harshly criticized na-
tional patriotism soon became apparent. The offensive
verses were quoted in political and social circles until
1 Lettres a Lamartine, p. 43.
1 M&moires politiques, vol. I, p. 209. * Correspondence, cccLVin.
- - 286
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
indignation was fanned to such a pitch that Colonel
Gabriel Pepe, a Neapolitan exile, escaping the vigilance
of the censor, issued a pamphlet containing insulting
references to the author of "Childe Harold." Pepe
(1779-1849) had fought with the armies of Napoleon
in both Italy and Spain, and after the Revolution in the
Two Sicilies had been (1820) a member of the Parlia-
ment assembled in Naples. When the reaction triumphed
he took refuge in Florence, where he gained a precarious
livelihood giving lessons in history to the children of the
Grand Duke, and to strangers hibernating in the Tuscan
capital. 1 The vehicle chosen by Pepe to launch his shaft
against Lamartine was that of an apparently inoffensive
literary essay interpreting Dante's mysterious verse:
"Poscia piti che il dolor potS il digiuno." 1
A controversy was raging in intellectual circles as to the
meaning of the words. Some held that the verse proved
without a doubt that Count Ugolino had devoured his
dead children : others maintained the contrary, and indig-
nantly refuted such anthropophagical accusations. Pepe,
an accomplished litterateur and an ardent student of the
great Florentine poet, threw himself into the fray. His
"Cenno sulla vera intelligenza del verso di Dante:
Poscia piti che il dolor pot il digiuno," to give it its full
title, is an effort of considerable erudition. When he en-
tered the intellectual lists it is probable that militant
politics were far from his thoughts. Several attempts
had been made by pamphleteers to call Lamartine to
account for his slight on Italian manhood in the last
canto of "Childe Harold"; but these the censorship had
1 Cf. L. Guerrini, "Lamartine secretaire de Legation," Revue de Paris,
October 15 and November 15, 1915; also Luigi Ruberto, "Un Articolo
Dantesco."
1 "Then greater than pain was the power of hunger," pamphlet pub-
lished in Florence in 1898. Inferno, Canto xxxni, 75.
287
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
hitherto frustrated. To Pepe and his friends this oppor-
tunity to thwart the vigilance of the authorities seemed
almost providential. An essay on such a recondite sub-
ject was hardly likely to awaken the suspicious curios-
ity of the "Sbirs." The enthusiasm of many Italian
patriots bordered on exaltation they craved martyr-
dom; they burned to sacrifice life and liberty on the
altar of Country. Had the verses in the fifth canto
of "Childe Harold" been written by a compatriot, they
would have been considered a salutary lash of the whip,
calculated to stimulate the flagging energies of weak
and indifferent adherents to the abhorred regime under
which they languished. Written by a foreigner, the
verses appeared only as a stinging insult.
It is in the closing pages of his essay that Pepe gives
vent to his contempt for the French poet. Ridiculing the
interpretation of Dante's verse which insists that Ugo-
lino devoured his dead children, the writer maintains that
it was merely a figure of speech intended to discredit
the Pisans, whom he hated, and that all those who inter-
preted his words otherwise were not worthy of serious
consideration. Then follow the incriminating epithets:
"The rhymester of the 'Last Canto of Childe Harold'
could alone be capable of such an ineptitude; he who
strives to atone for his lack of inspiration and ideas
worthy of his subject, by insipidities against Italy,
insipidities we would qualify as insults were it not, as
Diomedes says (in the Iliad), that the taunts of fools
and cowards are of no account." 1
Colonel Pepe's essay was published early in January,
1826, and was received with exultant glee by the Italian
patriots. In a private letter to his friend, Carlo Troya,
Pepe heaps insults upon the unfortunate author of the
offending verses: "If I cannot accept all that is repeated
1 Guerrini, op. cit.; also Ruberto, op. cit., p. 22.
288
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
to me concerning my essay on Dante as compliments ad-
dressed to its author, I can affirm notwithstanding that
the article has not given displeasure. Young Molini as-
sured Materazzo that within the first two days after
its publication two hundred copies were sold. ... In
order to hide nothing from you I must confess that the
essay pleased also because I inserted therein a scathing
attack against the very cowardly [codardissimo] Lamar-
tine, who has so intrigued here that it was permitted
neither to Borghi nor to Giordani to publish refutations
to his very infamous [infamissimi] verses. My lash of
the whip was allowed to pass because undetected, and
because it could never be supposed that it could be hidden
in an essay concerning a verse of Dante." * Writing on
February 17 to his brother Raphael, Pepe makes no men-
tion of his quarrel with Lamartine. The letter is full
of details of his literary success: "Several persons, too
high placed that they be considered adulators of an ex-
patriate, have paid me very flattering compliments. Even
His Highness the Grand Duke, to whom Count Bardi
had the kindness to present a copy, did me the honour
to read it." The Grand Duke all Florence, in fact
was cognizant of the resentment existing against Lamar-
tine. Naturally it would have been the duty of the Tus-
can Government to protect the foreign diplomatist
against any explosion of hostile feeling: nevertheless, it is
positively certain that Lamartine never claimed any such
protection, and it is equally certain that the French poet
never intrigued for the suppression of open letters or re-
torts of any kind by those who considered their country
insulted by his verses. In his letter to Troya, Pepe
affirms that a triumvirate of literary censorship had been
constituted to deal with the author of the "Dernier Chant
de Childe Harold," and that these dispensers of justice
1 Hubert o, op. tit., p. 53.
289
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
were much vexed that their action should have been an-
ticipated by a private individual who had not even
deigned to submit his essay to their approbation.
Lamartine had, of course, been long aware of the
feeling his imprudent verses had excited. He knew that
his appointment to Florence was construed by the rev-
olutionary factions as being a direct insult on the part
of the King. 1 In a letter to his brother, written after
he and Lamartine had become reconciled, Pepe states
that the French diplomat's reception was extremely cold :
"nobody spoke to him: in society all turned their back
on him." 2 Although manifestly an exaggeration, we know
from Lamartine's correspondence that his advent in the
Tuscan capital had been regarded with suspicion. "His
attachment to the Bourbon dynasty, the religious tone
of his poetry, which smacked of intolerant Catholicism,"
all combined to cause him to be viewed as a blind parti-
san of despotism. 8 " Je passe ici pour un jesuite deguise,"
Lamartine wrote De Fontenay; 4 and the generally ac-
credited calumny has certainly contributed to the effer-
vescence his presence excited in revolutionary political
circles. That Lamartine should have considered the
epithets applied to him as imperatively demanding sat-
isfaction is fully comprehensible. "I resolved immedi-
ately to reply simultaneously in two ways," he says in
his reminiscences; "with my pen so far as the public was
concerned, with my sword as regarded the Colonel." 6
Unfortunately immediate action was made impossible
by a painful accident. While riding with Captain Med-
win, whose " Conversations with Lord Byron" had just
Cf. Lamartine par lui-meme, p. 242.
Letter dated March 10, 1826, cited by Ruberto; cf. also Cantti, Delia
Indipendenza italiana. Cronistoria, pp. 623-24.
Guerrini, op. cit. t also Correspondance, CCCLVII.
Correspondance, cccLxrv.
Lamartine par lui-meme, p. 243; also Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 222.
290
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
been published, a kick from the captain's horse had com-
pletely disabled Lamartine. While bedridden on account
of this injury to his foot, Lamartine wrote a short justi-
fication of the verses he had put in the mouth of Childe
Harold, veiledly referring to his determination to seek
another means of reparation at the hands of the man who
had publicly insulted him. This vindication of his literary
indiscretion was privately circulated amongst those per-
sons in Florence who might be supposed to Delaware of
Colonel Pepe's insulting attack. 1 To the Colonel,. La-
martine wrote, on February 12, stating that he had only
that day been made aware of the essay containing offen-
sive references to certain verses of his poem, and demand-
ing an explanation. 2 "An accident, which momentarily
deprives me of the use of one foot, alone prevents my
going in person to seek this explanation." Fully aware
of Pepe's situation as a political refugee, Lamartine
generously adds that no matter what the nature of his
reply may be the contents shall be kept secret. The poet
is anxious to ascertain whether the offensive criticism
levelled against him applies to his literary talents (a con-
tingency he is quite prepared to accept philosophically)
or whether a direct personal insult is intended (in which
case he must hold his assailant responsible, and take
measures to defend his honour). In the four letters La-
martine wrote the Colonel on this subject there is no
trace of personal animosity : the writer appears convinced
of the essentially political purport attaching to Pepe's
provocation.
Contrary to the etiquette usually observed in such
affairs the principals were from the outset in direct
1 The title of this pamphlet was, Sur V interpretation d'un passage du cin-
quieme Chant de Childe Harold, published by F. Baroni, in Lucca, 1826.
J Guerrini, op. cit., publishes letters not included in the Correspondance.
These letters are preserved in the Public Library of Florence. (Manoscritti
V, busta 63.) "
. . 291
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
communication with each other, without intermedi-
aries. None could accuse the French diplomatist of
cowardice, yet he courteously sought throughout to af-
ford his aggressor every opportunity for a satisfactory
explanation on purely literary grounds. Pepe, while him-
self carrying on the correspondence in the measured
terms of a man of the world, obstinately refused any
explanation concerning the true import of the language
he had used. "I do not consider it seemly that writers
should demand explanations one from the other," he
wrote (on February 15). "The text speaks for itself. In
a passage of your verses you very violently attacked
Italy. I defended my country in a phrase contained in
my essay. That is all." Nevertheless, he adds that he
notes with pleasure Lamartine's desire to appease the
just resentment of Italian patriots with an explanation
of the offensive passage, "... for it is noble and honour-
able to acknowledge that one has been mistaken when
judging a moral entity of twenty million men." 1 The
atmosphere was, however, surcharged with that peculiar
intensity so often surrounding political passions. As La-
martine wrote in reply (February 14), the affair now con-
cerned the public more than it did him personally, and
as an explanation was refused him he must insist on the
only other form of satisfaction available. Yet he con-
tinued to seek a personal interview in order that an
exchange of views might be attempted. "If you prefer
that I come to you," he adds in a postscript to this letter,
"permit that I present myself in my invalid's attire,
without my boots; it will be the first time I leave the
house since a fortnight, but my condition fortunately
allows of sufficient strength to stand upright for a few
moments."
The greatest secrecy was necessary, for the laws of
1 Guerrini, op. tit.
. . 292
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
Tuscany severely prohibited duelling, and the punish-
ment, in Pepe's case, must have entailed immediate ban-
ishment. Lamartine was probably aware that Pepe be-
longed, or had belonged, to the Carbonari, although in his
"Memoires politiques" he denies it. 1 An intimate friend
of Colletta, Poerio, Arcovito, and many other revolu-
tionary heroes, he had suffered imprisonment in Austrian
fortresses, and his name was writ large in the Black Book
of the Neapolitan police. 2 He was tolerated, even es-
teemed, in the more liberal Grand Ducal State, on con-
dition that he ceased his intrigues and obeyed the laws
of the land. A word, an indiscretion on Lamartine's part,
would have resulted in his instant arrest. This Pepe
knew full well, and we can only find admiration for the
moral courage he displayed. Of course his fellow-plotters
and revolutionary partners were behind him : the letters
of Carlo Troya and others are there to prove it.* As has
been said, martyrdom was sweet to the exalted patriots
of the Risorgimento : and from the revolutionist's stand-
point Pepe's conduct was exemplary. Nor can a deroga-
tory word be uttered anent his conduct as a gentleman,
once launched on the affair of honour with Lamartine.
Unable himself, for obvious reasons, to take any initia-
tive in the matter, or even to find a second to represent
him, he placed himself unreservedly in the hands of his
antagonist, agreeing without demur to the arrangements
Lamartine and his friends deemed fitting. A personal
interview took place on the i8th between the parties con-
cerned, and took place in Pepe's lodgings. It was then
agreed that a duel was inevitable, but Pepe refused to
fight until his adversary should have completely recovered
from the effects of his recent accident. 4
1 Op. cit., vol. i, p. 221. * Cf. Carte delta Polizia Borbonica, IV.
* Ruberto, op. cit., pp. 45-58.
4 Cf. Guerrini, op. cit.; Lamartine par lui-meme, p. 246; Memoires poli-
tiques, vol. I, p. 225; also Correspondance, CCCLVIIL
293 -.,
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Lamartine in later years composed for his volumes of
reminiscences lengthy and detailed accounts of his en-
counter with the Neapolitan Colonel. His letter to the
Due de Montmorency (personal friend and hierarchical
chief) dated from Florence, February 24, 1826, contains,
however, a succinct and straightforward narrative of the
duel, written (or rather dictated) five days after the
event. After giving the French Minister for Foreign
Affairs a synopsis of the question in dispute and his pre-
liminary negotiations in behalf of a satisfactory settle-
ment of the unfortunate affair, Lamartine says: "The
Colonel having obstinately refused to fight until I had
free use of all my members, the matter was postponed for
a week. But two days later, having learnt that the Govern-
ment and police had conceived suspicions, and proposed
taking measures which would inevitably have been at-
tributed to me, I thought well to forestall them. I went,
therefore, very early on Sunday morning to the Colo-
nel's lodging, accompanied by my second together with
the weapons. The swiftness of our horses enabled us to
elude the watchfulness of the police, and we betook our-
selves to a spot a league from Florence, where the affair
took place. It lasted but a few moments, and I received
a sword-thrust in the arm. After this the Colonel gave
me "every satisfaction. The witnesses were, for me, Count
de Virieu, for the Colonel, Count Villamilla. I beg you
to be assured that during the combat as well as before,
I only acted as public and private honour demanded of
me, and that if I considered it necessary to expose my
life, I never believed in my right to exact that of my
adversary." l
That matters did not run quite as smoothly as this
letter implies is evidenced in the official documents
M. Guerrini has brought to light in his exhaustive mono-
1 Correspondence, CCCLVIII.
, ' ' 294
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
graph concerning the episode. Pepe found himself in-
extricably embarrassed by the close surveillance of the
police, which forbade any successful attempt on his part
to communicate with persons who might assist him as
second in the proposed duel. Hopelessly enmeshed by
this insurmountable difficulty he finally had recourse to
the good offices of his antagonist, suggesting that La-
martine's second serve in a double capacity for both com-
batants: expressing his absolute faith in the French-
men's loyalty. To such a proposition Lamartine could not
well consent; but he agreed to procure for his adversary
a suitable witness. Count Villamilla, whose services
were eventually enlisted, was a Spanish- American tem-
porarily residing in Florence. Although totally unknown
to Pepe, and only slightly acquainted with Lamartine,
Villamilla undertook to act the part assigned him. 1 At
the last moment, however, the affair seemed conclusively
compromised, as the police, getting wind of the arrange-
ments, established a rigorous scrutiny over all the travel-
lers leaving the city, and posted guards at the doors of
both Lamartine and Pepe. It would appear that on the
morning of the duel it was not due to the swiftness of the
horses, as Lamartine believed, that the conspirators were
enabled to elude the police, but rather to the stupidity
of the agent detailed to watch Lamartine's dwelling,
who lost precious time by going to headquarters to re-
port, instead of following the carriage. In any case, a
meeting was effected in a secluded grove on the left bank
of the Arno, opposite the lower glades of the Cascine.
Lamartine states that swords were selected instead of
pistols, as a fatal issue was not desired. As a fact, the
antagonists would seem to have been mutually desirous
of avenging their honour according to established eti-
quette, but with the least possible risk of serious conse-
1 Guerrini, op. cit., passim.
- 295
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
quences. "The fight was long between two men equally
expert who sought to wound without taking life," La-
martine tells us in his "Memoires politiques." "Elle
dura quelques minutes," in his report to the Due de
Montmorency. 1 In his letter to his brother describing the
duel, its antecedents and consequences, Pepe writes that
"after a few seconds" his adversary received a thrust in
the right arm, and that he himself bound up Lamartine's
wound with his handkerchief. 2
Lamartine's hurt was not serious; nevertheless, it ne-
cessitated a few days of bed. The French poet's anxiety,
however, was not for himself, but for his antagonist, for
of course the affair was immediately bruited about and
the police was in possession of all the details. Lamartine
enjoyed diplomatic immunity, and could not be molested ;
but Pepe ran grave peril of imprisonment and expulsion
from Tuscan territory. The machinery of the French
Legation was immediately set in motion to secure the
safety, and eventually the pardon, of the Neapolitan ex-
ile. Pepe himself asserts that the Marquis de la Maison-
fort sent his carriage to convey him to the French Lega-
tion, where he would find asylum. Pepe was, however,
already in the clutches of the police. But owing to the
prompt intercession of the French Minister the penalty
of imprisonment demanded by the law was limited to a
period of arrest in his own lodgings a punishment
which was speedily followed by the complete restoration
of his liberty, thanks to the continual efforts of his gener-
ous antagonist. Nor was this all: both Lamartine and
Villamilla gave entertainments in honour of the brave
colonel, and he was, of course, treated as a hero by his
enthusiastic compatriots. 3 Madame de Lamartine, at
1 Op. cit., p. 226; Correspondence, cccLVin. * Ruberto, op. cit., p. 43.
8 Ruberto, op. cit.; letter from Pepe to his brother Raphael, dated
March 21, 1826; also Correspondence, CCCLXI.
296
DUEL WITH COLONEL PEPE
her husband's earnest request, sought the Grand Duke,
and readily obtained from him that the Government
shut its eyes concerning the affair. When the French
poet was able to show himself in his box at the opera, the
highest representatives of Italian society, even those
who had scowled at him previously, flocked to his side,
expressing congratulations on his recovery and admira-
tion for his conduct. "Une goutte de sang bien verse
dans 1'occasion efface mille preventions et bien des torts,"
exclaims the author in his reminiscences. 1
Politically as well as socially the episode had cleared
the hostile atmosphere created by the verses in "Childe
Harold." It would seem from a passage in a letter to
Aim6 Martin, written after the duel, that Lamartine had
been warned by this friend before leaving France that
he might find himself involved in annoying affairs on his
arrival in Italy. 2 Moreover, he realized from the outset
of his controversy with Pepe that should he seriously
wound, or slay, his antagonist an "interminable series"
of Italians would insist on taking the disabled champion's
place. In which case he believed himself condemned to
the choice of two equally disastrous courses: either to
succumb in the long run at the hands of one of his ad-
versaries, or to be forced to leave the country, sacri-
ficing both his personal honour and his diplomatic ca-
reer. 3 As things now stood he had vindicated his honour,
effaced with his blood the insult to Italian patriotism
conveyed in his verses, made a friend of his quondam
enemy, and gained the esteem of patriots and society
alike. The drop of blood had indeed been fraught with
miraculous results. Not content, however, with the sit-
Memoires poliliques, vol. I, p. 229. * Correspondence, CCOJU.
Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 227. Writing Virieu a few months later
Lamartine says: "Colonel Pepe talks of you every time I see him. He is
very destitute, and I have offered assistance. But he insists on gaining his
bread: Vest le plus noble des Napoli tains."" Correspondence, CCCLXXV.
297
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
uation achieved in Italy, Lamartine appealed earnestly
to friends in France to permit no insinuation against the
Colonel to appear in the newspapers at home; eulogizing
the patriotism and personal character of his adversary,
and appreciating the motives which had impelled him to
seek the quarrel.
The affair caused the poet's mother intense pain. It
is under date of May 24 that reference is made to the
subject in her diary. It was for her son's soul as much as
for the danger to life he had run that the pious woman
grieved. " If he has been guilty in the eyes of God, surely
he repents. ... He writes me that in his hours of leisure
he has composed some very religious verses which he
calls ' Harmonies,' and of which he sends me some samples
quite according to my heart. Ah ! that is the use I always
desired him to make of a talent which is only really
divine when it reaches up towards God." 1
1 Manuscrit de ma mtre, p. 277.
CHAPTER XXIV
CHARGE D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
ONCE more life in Florence settled down to quiet
routine. " J'6cris peu pour la posterity et beaucoup pour
la poste," wrote Lamartine to M. Martin on March 26,
I826. 1 Official correspondence did not, however, monop-
olize him to the exclusion of all literary and social activ-
ity, and the hymns, as he styled the "Harmonies," con-
tinued to surge in his brain and worldly distractions to
occupy the leisure following well-filled days. Politics
both at home and abroad excited his keen interest. The
situation in France, where the admixture of militant re-
ligious sentiment with practical politics was becoming
apparent, caused him apprehension. The germs of his
later convictions concerning the advantages accruing
from the separation of Church and State would seem to
date from this period. "I would fain see religion a mat-
ter entirely between God and the individual, outside of
politics. Governments profane it, when they make use of
it as an instrument." 2
Early in May, Lamartine was recalled to France owing
to the death of his uncle, the Abbe de Lamartine, whose
beautiful estate, Montculot, near Dijon, he inherited.
The description Lamartine gives of this fine old residence
in the "Nouvelles Confidences" is somewhat fantastic,
for the chateau can hardly boast of being a specimen of
"the purest Italian architecture lost in the wilds of a
country of druids." 8 In reality the Chateau d'Urcy, or
1 Correspondence, CCCLXI.
* Ibid., CCCLXIV: letter to Fontenay wherein Lamartine complains that
in Florence he passes for a "disguised Jesuit."
* Op. cit., p. 506; cf. also Cows de literature, vol. iv, p. 455, and vol. v,
P- 174-
- 299
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Montculot, as it more frequently is called, is a long,
irregular construction of the early eighteenth century,
without great distinction or architectural pretension.
"It was here," wrote the poet in after days, "that I in-
toxicated myself with long draughts of solitude; never
sated, however." It was here also that he wrote some of
the most popular of his verses, "La Source dans les
Bois"; l and where, during the restless days of his ado-
lescence, he sought the indulgent sympathy and always
ready aid of the ecclesiastic whose gentle scepticism
harmonized with his moody discontent. "I loved the
place, I loved my uncle, I loved the old servants who had
known me as a child, and for whom my arrival in their
desert was as a ray of light. . . . My uncle was the most
affectionate, the most tender-hearted and the best-
natured of all the members of the family. He neither
willed, resisted, nor commanded: his only function was
to please." Such a haven of retreat from the storms
his youthful inconsequences gave rise to in Macon was
indeed a godsend. '-\
Lamartine left Florence the first days of May (1826),
entrusting his wife and child to the care of the Minister,
Marquis de la Maisonfort. From M&con, on the I3th,
he wrote of his safe arrival, and of his probable return to
Italy before the end of July. A month's sojourn at Mont-
culot, to settle the various details of his inheritance, the
sale of a small portion of the estate, and the leasing or
farming of the remainder; a few days in Paris, in June,
where he transacted some private diplomatic business for
his chief, and he was back in Mcicon for a short visit prior
to his return to Florence. M. de la Maisonfort had
availed himself of a leave of absence and departed for
France before his secretary returned. It was consequently
as Charge d' Affaires that the young diplomatist again
1 Nowoettes Confidences, p. 507.
300
CHARGfi D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
resumed his duties about the 2Oth of July, and the dig-
nity, together with the increase of salary, was balm to his
ambitious soul. 1 The late summer and early autumn
were spent at Leghorn in a delicious villa close to the sea.
In this retreat poetic inspiration welled up automatically
and the composition of the "Harmonies" progressed
apace. As usual copies or fragments were regularly de-
spatched to Virieu. Even after the phenomenal success of
the "Meditations," a triumph calculated to turn a much
stronger head than his, Lamartine still instinctively
turned for advice and criticism to this trusted mentor; and
what is more, nine times out of ten accepted unchallenged
his verdict. But if Virieu's literary judgment was unques-
tioned, his influence where political or social problems
were under consideration was null. Lamartine fre-
quently openly deplored his friend's lack of acumen in
dealing with affairs of State. Politically the two were as
far apart as the poles, Lamartine's incipient democratic
and republican ideals being a source of perpetual bitter-
ness to the ultra-conservative convictions to which Vi-
rieu held. Yet never for an instant did the latter allow
personal prejudices to interfere with the sympathy, nay
the pride, with\ which he followed his friend's triumphal
parliamentary career. During the languorous summer
heats in Leghorn the divine inflatus had been more or
less latent, but the coming and going of vessels to and
from the [Orient had fanned the smouldering embers of
his ambition to compose the great epic which first took
form in his brain, it will be remembered, on leaving
Naples in 182 1. 2 Already his plans are made, and in the
same breath in which he urges Virieu to buy a villa in
Florence, he invites him to take part in the "immense
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 279. Twenty thousand francs according to
his mother: twenty-two thousand, if we credit the letter to Virieu. Cones-
pondance, CCCLXX.
Cf. Correspondence, CCXLI.
301 - ,
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
pilgrimage," extending over a period of three years. One
hundred thousand francs must be procured for this voy-
age; a ship chartered to convey the travellers to Greece,
Asia Minor, and Egypt, and to fetch them thence three
years later. Meanwhile the party will roam the Holy
Land and adjacent countries with tent and caravan.
"Think it over," he pleads with Virieu; "the rendezvous
is to be in Marseilles in fifteen months or two years." l
The alluring prospect was not to be carried out for an-
other six years, but the dream was cherished ever more
fondly and referred to again and again in hours of dis-
content or intense poetic enthusiasm.
Meanwhile the present was full of pleasant action.
Madame de Lamartine, mere, soliloquizes in her journal
over the excessive luxury her son employs in representing
his country at this period, 2 and it would indeed seem that
the brilliant Charg6 d'Affaires entertained his travelling
compatriots right royally. All Europe passes, and must
be visited and sent on its way rejoicing over the lavish
hospitality it has received at the hands of the official
representative of the King of France. With the fashion-
able throng of French, English, and Russian aristocrats
who tarry in Florence on their way to Rome, Lamartine
feels more at ease than among the native families, for
even after his duel with Pepe had apparently placated
local hostility, he writes his mother, "avec les gens du
pays toute societ6 est impossible." 3 The assertion is the
more astonishing as from time immemorial the charm of
Italian social intercourse has been proverbial. Nor did
Lamartine lack Italian friends and admirers: witness his
assiduous correspondence with the Marquis Gino Cap-
poni, Alessandro Manzoni, and others. The only expla-
nation of this anomaly would seem to be the persistence
1 Correspondence, CCCLXXI.
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 279. * Correspondance, CCCLXIH.
3O2
CHARGfi D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
of insinuations of his close connection with the Jesuits and
participation in political intrigues hostile to the patri-
otic aspirations of the Liberals. In any case the coldness
of Florentine society excepting^ that of the Court
was undeniable, and would account for the zest with
which he threw himself into that of the foreign residents
and travellers.
Lamartine strongly disapproved of literary women,
in spite of his juvenile fervour for Madame de Stael.
"L'art est une decheance pour la femme," he wrote;
adding, "elle est bien plus que poete, elle est la poesie." l
It was therefore with but scant enthusiasm that he wel-
comed the advent in Florence of Madame Gay, accom-
panied by her daughter, Delphine, whose reputation as
a poet was only equalled by that of her beauty. "We
are at this moment enjoying your friend, Mademoiselle
Delphine Gay," he wrote Count de la Grange, on October
8, 1826. "She seems a nice person, and her verses are
what I like least in her. Nevertheless she has a pretty
feminine talent, mais le feminin est terrible en poesie." *
This is all: yet the acquaintance thus formed was des-
tined to ripen into a friendship which was not without
its influences on his later life. That Delphine (who mar-
ried Emile de Girardin and became a social and literary
figure of importance in Paris) at one time entertained
a warmer feeling than friendship for Lamartine is pos-
sible, although by no means proved. Writing many years
later (1856), on learning of the death of this gracious and
gifted woman, Lamartine draws vividly on his imagina-
tion when describing the first meeting with the young
poetess. The scene of this supposititious encounter is laid
at Terni, on the brink of the famous cascades. On a plat-
form overhanging the foaming torrent, Lamartine's eyes
Cours de literature, vol. IV, p. 469; vol. xxvi, p. 83.
* Correspondance, CCCLXXII.
303
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
first beheld "the beautiful young girl who was intoxi-
cating herself with the thunder, the vertigo and suicide
of the waters." 1 Pages of rapture follow, the physical
and moral attributes of this divine apparition midst
romantic surroundings enhancing the perfection of the
picture. "She left me a gracious and sublime impression.
It was poetry, but not love, not passion, as those pre-
tended who sought to interpret my attachment to her.
I loved her to the grave without ever thinking of her as
a woman: I had seen her a goddess at Terni." Delphine
Gay, however, cherished a lifelong affection bordering
on tenderness for the handsome poet and successful states-
man. "Beg M. de Lamartine," she is alleged to have
written in a letter enclosed in her will, "to finish my
poem 'La Madeleine,' to which cantos are lacking, and
which is of all my poetical works the one to which memo-
ries are most closely bound. I look to this as a remem-
brance of me. In days gone by I expected much of M. de
Lamartine's friendship. He was always gracious and
kind, but never completely devoted. This coldness was
my first delusion in life. When I am dead he will not re-
fuse to grant this last desire of my heart." 2 It must be
remembered, however, that it is Lamartine who cites the
above, the authenticity of which, although vouched for
in Jean Balde's "Madame de Girardin," is not irre-
futable. 1 Delphine's literary gifts as well as her social
graces were directly inherited from her mother, who, as
Madame Sophie Gay, held an enviable position in French
letters and society. The snub she administered to Na-
poleon during a ball at Aix-la-Chapelle gives evidence of
1 Cours de literature, vol. I, p. 109. * Ibid., p. 157.
1 Op tit., p. 345. The will is dated August 8, 1844, but that of the letter
to Lamartine is not given. The poem "Madeleine " was begun in France
in 1822, the last canto (the ninth) being written in Rome in April, 1827.
It seems strange that the poetess should have waited until her death, in
1855, before asking Lamartine to finish it.
304
CHARGfi D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
her ready wit. Like Lamartine, Napoleon I had no
fondness for literary women and was prone to humiliate
them on occasion, as witness Madame de Stael. Plant-
ing himself before Madame Gay, and transfixing her
with his eagle's glare, he gruffly queried: "So you write,
do you? What have you produced since you have been
here?" Without allowing herself to be intimidated, Ma-
dame Gay replied in the same tone: "Three children,
Sire." Napoleon, who expected the enumeration of the
titles of as many romances, smiled disconcertedly, and
passed on.
But to return to Lamartine's relations with the even
more famous daughter. The dying woman's request that
he finish the poem was not acceded to. "Alas! the prayer
came too late to be granted : the sap of beautiful verses
runs dry with the spring, like that of roses." l The man
of sixty-six (these lines were written in 1856) had out-
lived his sentimental tenderness for the beautiful young
goddess who in 1826 had charmed his imagination. Nor
is it probable that even in those early days he admired
her otherwise than as a faultless work of Nature. As M.
Seche writes: " II avait dit adieu a 1'amour, apres la mort
de Madame Charles, et c'est ce qui explique qu'onne
trouve dans sa vie aucune histoire de canape." a This
is unquestionably true. And yet there is a disquieting
phrase in a letter to Virieu, written after the Gays' visit,
which haunts the imagination. "J'ai la melancoliede la
premiere jeunesse, et je n'ai plus cette vague esperance
qui vous aide a la supporter. . . . Cependant je pourrais
encore tre amoureux, si je le voulais, mais je le puis
et ne le veux pas. C'est peut-etre pire que de le vouloir
et de ne pas le pouvoir." 8 Was Delphine Gay the cause
of his melancholy? Hesitation is permissible in spite of
1 Cours de literature, vol. I, p. 158.
J Delphine Gay, p. 9. * Correspondence, cccxcuc.
. 305 .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
his impetuous remark to M. de Marcellus just after the
young poetess's departure for Rome: "Don't let us talk
of poetry: my ears are wearied with it. I want nothing
more than despatches. . . . There is more of politics than
poetry in my head, whatever you may think. . . . Solus
populi suprema lex" 1 Writing from Rome, Madame
Gay acknowledges that Lamartine was right when he had
urged the ladies to remain in Florence and seek inspira-
tion in its enchanting surroundings. Association with him,
she avers, must arouse the most lethargic muse; while
friendship, united with the graces of the spirit and the
most beautiful talent in the world, must perforce charm
"old mothers as well as young poetesses." And a few
months later she adds that, although the beautiful
Delphine has been immensely feted in the Eternal City,
from the point of view of art the sojourn has not been
a success: "Aussi la pauvre muse ne s'est jamais trouv6e
moins inspiree." 2
Taken in conjunction with Lamartine's impulsive pref-
erence for diplomatic despatches and his professed dis-
gust of poetry, the episode is suggestive. But in 1856 all
this was ancient history, and the romantic reminiscences
of the obituary in the "Cours de litterature" smack sus-
piciously of literary copy. At this same period he sadly
confesses: "Of all the manifold men who dwelt within
me in various degrees, the man of sentiment, the man of
poetry, the man of the rostrum, the man of action, none
remain but the literary man." * The literary man instinc-
tively realized the pathos such a posthumous request as
Madame de Girardin's would lend to his story of her life.
The sentimental attraction, the mutual admiration, the
close and lifelong friendship, all were true : a climax only
was needed hence the letter found in her will.
1 Correspondence, CCCLXXIII.
2 Lettres d. Lamartine, pp. 51, 53. ' Cours de litterature, vol. i, p. 69.
306
CHARGfi D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
In spite of the demands made upon his time by official
duties and the increasingly onerous tax of social hospi-
tality, Lamartine forwarded Virieu, early in January,
1827, a couple of hundred verses inspired by a recent
catastrophe at Tivoli, where the fall of a portion of the
cliff threatened to destroy the picturesque cascades. " It
was a fortunate opportunity for me to compose some
flattering verses making reparation to Italy, which treats
me perfectly now," he informs Virieu when submitting
the copy to his criticism. 1 "La Perte de 1'Anio," as a
matter of fact, effaced all the bitterness "Childe Harold"
had aroused, and fully reconciled the French poet and his
quondam detractors. Following on the duel and the sub-
sequent courteous treatment of Pepe, the lines quoted be-
low were a compliment which no patriotic Italian could
ignore :
"Terre que consacra 1'empire et 1'infortune,
Source des nations, reine, mere commune,
Tu ne's pas seulement chere aux nobles enfants
Que ta verte vieillesse a port6s dans ses flancs;
De tes ennemis me"me enviee et chdrie,
De tout ce qui nalt grand ton ombre est la patrie!"
That Lamartine himself thought highly of these
verses we judge by a letter to Virieu, in which, not hear-
ing of their receipt, he expresses fear lest they have been
lost. " I regret it; it is of the best I have ever written."
On the same occasion he tells his friend that he has some
four thousand stanzas in his portfolio, and hopes to
add at least another two thousand during the course of
the year. Virieu, however, was not as enthusiastic over
the "Perte de 1'Anio" as his friend. " I am confounded,"
replied Lamartine, "that you don't find my verses on
1 Correspondence, CCCLXXIX; cf. also commentary of the "Perte de
1'Anio," CEwres completes, vol. 11, p. 383.
* Correspondance, CCCLXXJC.
. - 307
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Tivoli to your entire liking. I consider it the only piece
worthy of comparison with Lord Byron: 'Italic, Italic!
etc.'" l But Virieu's criticism, as was invariably the
case, was taken to heart, and Lamartine informed his
friend that he had laid aside all verses, "finished, com-
menced, or interrupted, for three or four years." "My
lyrical vein is exhausted," he writes; "for three months
I have not composed a stanza; my epic imagination has
regained possession during the last few days. . . ." 2 The
" Perte de 1'Anio" was dedicated to the Marquis de Barol,
of Turin, and to him, as to Virieu, Lamartine forwarded
a copy of the verses before deciding to keep them under
lock and key for a few years. The Marquis had his copy
lithographed^and distributed both in Italy and in France:
a proceeding which caused the author some annoyance, as
he wished to avoid political manifestations of any kind. 8
All Paris had read the verses and commented on them,
and Italians were not slow to follow; but the publication
caused no stir, not even the faintest political ripple being
noticeable throughout the Peninsula. In Paris, Ville-
main recited the verses in his lectures at the Sorbonne
in 1828, but his comments were purely literary. 4 Italians
accepted the poem as a graceful tribute, an amende
honorable in atonement for a gratuitous slight: French
critics did not seek below the surface, and merely wel-
comed the verses as a worthy addition to the national
store of belles-lettres. Notwithstanding his assertion to
Virieu that his lyrical impulse was exhausted, the years
1827 and 1828 were fruitful in that form of his art. Per-
1 Cf. Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, XLII, fourth canto, which be-
gins:
" Italia! oh, Italia! thou who hast
The fatal gift of beauty, which became
A funeral dower of present woes and past,
On thy sweet brow is sorrow plough'd by shame,
And annals graved hi characters of Same."
1 Correspondance, cccxci.
8 Ibid., CCCLXXXVU. * Lettres a Lamartine, p. 55.
308
CHARGE D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
haps the return to Florence of Madame Gay and her
daughter "for an indefinite stay" acted as an incentive:
certainly the success in Paris, both in Victor Hugo's
salon and at Villemain's lectures, of the unpublished, or
rather privately circulated, "Hymne du Matin" and
"Perte de 1'Anio," very effectively stimulated his poetic
inflatus.
The death at Macon, in April, 1827, of the head of
the family, the stern old uncle who had terrorized and
ruled with a rod of iron the entire countryside, came
almost as a relief. 1 Although Alphonse was the old do-
mestic tyrant's heir, the inheritance, burdened with
many bequests and pensions, did not add substantially
to his worldly goods at first. During the liquidation and
readjustment of his uncle's estate Lamartine's buoyant
optimism, not to say careless heedlessness, in business
matters became apparent. To Virieu he writes: "I find
myself very rich ; in spite of the strangeness of the will
it may some day turn out advantageous for me. Even
now it yields me double what I expected ... "; and
he adds that his income from that day on is more than
fifty thousand francs. "You ask me how? I don't know:
there is for me evidently multiplication of the loaves;
the more I consume or give away, the greater is the
return." 2
The mother's anxiety over her son's lavish expendi-
ture has been mentioned. All Florence gossiped over
the young diplomatist's stables. Like Byron, Lamartine
was an impassioned lover of horseflesh and an accom-
plished equestrian. An idea of his stud may be gathered
from the following request to Virieu: "Could you in-
form me promptly and with certainty whether, during
November, I could find in the stables of the dealers
at Lyons a fine pair of German or Normandy horses?
1 Cf. Manuscrit de ma, mire, p. 282. Correspondence, ccccvn.
309
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Mine are used up. I have just ordered in Tripoli two
first-class Arabian steeds, for my wife and self. ... I
have a superb Mecklenbourg mare, besides your mare,
whose legs have become like steel in this climate. I would
not sell her to-day for sixty louis. In addition I have a
good Sardinian saddle-horse; but I use it for the tilbury." 1
Later he plans buying land and building a villa: a project
almost immediately superseded by the purchase of a
house, which, although in town, was surrounded by
gardens and an olive orchard. The price was between
100,000 and 120,000 francs, and in spite of his recent
inheritance Lamartine found himself under the necessity
of applying to Virieu for aid in raising this sum, re-
questing the immediate despatch of six thousand francs,
for furniture and repairs. "Don't speak of this as yet
to my family," he adds. 2 Expenses for the entertainment
of the numerous compatriots who flocked to Florence
were, as we know, heavy. Lamartine loved nothing better
than the r61e of dispenser of hospitality, and mentions
forty or fifty dependents and guests at his table. "For-
tunately I have a well-filled purse and a good cook; but
it fatigues and bores me." 8 It was a continual drain,
not only upon his financial resources, but upon his time,
and one is not surprised to discover an occasional note
of discontent. A characteristic letter to his parents,
written at the end of December (1827), gives vent to the
lassitude he was experiencing. "I have refused Brussels
and Berne," he writes, asserting that he has no am-
bition. But this disclaimer is immediately followed by
a contradiction in terms, for he enthusiastically exclaims :
"To represent one's country in Parliament, to influence
its destinies, a la bonne heure! cela, je ne le refuserai
jamais!" 4
1 Correspondence, ccccvin. J Ibid., ccccxxm.
Ibid., ccccxix. * Ibid., ccccxxiv.
310
CHARGfi D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
Was it a passing whim? In the light of subsequent
events one is inclined to think it was not, and to believe
that even at this period the ambition for a political ca-
reer had taken deep root. A few months later, referring
to a published essay of Lamartine's on an economic prob-
lem confronting French wine-growers, M. de Marcellus
wrote: "It is as well written as argued. The statesman
and man of affairs are perceptible: I did not need this
essay on our public questions, however, to learn that
you would treat them supremely well. As soon as the
absurd rule requiring the candidate to be forty years of
age no longer separates you from the rostrum, you will
be the man the department needs. If I then wield the
slightest local influence, I shall consider that I am con-
ferring a public service in giving to the country and the
monarchy so clever a champion." l Even Victor Hugo,
the poet's great artistic rival, added his prophecy to the
chorus of encomium, expressing the conviction that his
success on the rostrum would equal that of his verses,
and prove a direct refutation to the popular dictum
that men of imagination make poor practical politi-
cians. 2
As early as April, 1828, Lamartine gives the measure,
so to speak, of his future politico-religious programme,
in a letter that he wrote to Virieu. The superannuated
religious solemnities accompanying the coronation of
Charles X, and the laws enacted against sacrilegious
tendencies, had provoked discontent among the public,
which discerned in the policies reactionary principles
tending to absolutism. The Jesuits, hand in glove with
the clergy and the Papal Nuncio, had intrigued with the
King for the omission, at the ceremony at Reims, of
the oath of fidelity to the Charte, on the pretext that this
pact admitted freedom of worship. Charles X was in-
1 Lettres a Lamartine, p. 56. * Ibid., p. 58.
. . 311 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
clined to submit to the exactions of the reactionaries,
but the Prime Minister, M. de Villele, was finally suc-
cessful in frustrating the schemers. Nevertheless, the an-
tiquated ceremonial dictated by tradition was insisted
on, and although in the eyes of the majority it only lent
ridicule to the King, the performance undoubtedly
strengthened the position of the Clericals at Court.
Hence the popular unrest which, culminating with the
revolution occasioned by the promulgation of the Or-
donnances in 1830, swept away the last vestiges of a
reactionary political covenant between Church and
Throne.
How far Virieu was in accord with the Government's
policy, we have no means of accurately computing. But
it would appear from Lamartine's letter that the dis-
tance separating the friends was measurable, in spite
of Virieu's ultra-conservatism. Lamartine apparently
agrees with him in principle, although he cannot go to
the extreme length of his convictions. " If I want liberty
anywhere, it is where intellect and creed are concerned:
on this head I have never varied. You will return to it;
you will realize that the opposite system, which dates
from 1823, has never accomplished else than frightful
and irreparable harm to good doctrines. I am far more
liberal in religion than in politics, and I think it is con-
sistent, for material force is of no avail against intelli-
gence, but avails greatly with human conglomerations
such as cities or empires. There is the point which sepa-
rates us." But he would appear to foresee a close under-
standing with his friend, for he prophesies that when
they are both Ministers of State, Virieu will keep his eye
on the compass, while he, Lamartine, steers the course.
" Perhaps you are right," he admits; "you are the stronger
in principles, and I in consequences. But, bah ! you think
I am getting too liberal: don't worry. You think I en-
. . 312 . .
CHARGfi D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
tertain illusions concerning the present ; undeceive your-
self. We are in the thick of a prolonged, inevitable, and
overwhelming flood. If I have expressed satisfaction over
it, it is because it has come in time: two years later it
would have carried all before it: as a matter of fact it
will even now destroy too much. It was inevitable: I
felt it as if I had seen it. I possess the instinct of the
masses : that is my sole political virtue. I feel what they
feel, and what they will do, even when they are silent.
We are going to tumble about head over heels for a year
or two, and shall then regain our footing, rather stunned
by these somersaults. Then we must be wiser, build on
rock and not on the dust of revolutions: in which case
we shall prevail." And he goes on to compare social laws
with those Newton discovered in the physical world.
"Rock nations about as you will: they must always
regain their equilibrium." l
Here we -have in germ the philosophy developed in
"Sur la Politique rationelle" (published in October,
1831); that epitome of the social and political standards
which were as the loadstone of his subsequent career. The
ancients called their poets vales (soothsayer, prophet,
seer), and although Lamartine laid no claim to infalli-
bility, he certainly possessed to a remarkable degree the
"instinct of the masses." Lacking as he undoubtedly was
in the details of political science, this phenomenal in-
stinct carried him triumphantly over supposedly insur-
mountable obstacles. Both by contemporaneous socio-
logical and economic standards he must be measured as
years in advance, while his conceptions of religious liber-
ties were those of half a century later. In 1828 the politi-
cal and social unrest prevailing in France at once dis-
tressed and encouraged him. "I see that Liberalism has
been successful at Macon as elsewhere," he wrote his
1 Correspondence, ccccxxxvn.
. . 313 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
parents in April. "Like Royalism a halt will be called
if it goes too far. It appears that public opinion dreads
excesses on either side and will thus save us from revolu-
tion. These are the inevitable oscillations after great
shocks. But representative government will prevail,
I trust." * And again a month later to the same corre-
spondents : ' ' The Girondins who rule to-day, detestable
in beginning a revolution, may be of service in ending
one." From his pen the phrase is fraught with signifi-
cance. Of course he wrote figuratively : but twenty years
later his "History of the Girondins" was by competent
authorities considered as a factor of no mean importance
in the revolution which cost Louis-Philippe the throne
the "Girondins" who "ruled" in 1828 had given him.
The eventual expulsion of the Jesuits, despite his happy
years at Belley, caused him little or no concern. He saw
no valid reason why educational privileges and a practi-
cal monopoly of the public conscience should be granted
them. He blamed them for not appreciating the fact
that, by submitting to the laws of the country in which
they resided, they would be serving the best interests
not only of religion, but of good citizenship. Abuses
there had been, but these could be readily amended.
"I believe that this monopoly of religion by a single
body, even if composed entirely of the elect, is contrary
both to common sense and to well-regulated religion." 2
Meanwhile the sojourn at Florence was drawing to
a close. The considerable period during which he had
fulfilled the functions of Charg6 d'Affaires, during the
absence of an accredited Minister (September, 1826,
to August, 1828), had been one of dual activity, diplo-
matic and literary. But the uncertainty of his tenure
of office and the expectations raised after the death of
M. de la Maisonfort and the interval preceding the appoint-
1 Correspondence, CCCCXLI. * Ibid., CCCCXLV.
314
CHARGfi D'AFFAIRES AT FLORENCE
merit of his successor, M. de Vitrolles, had exhausted his
patience. He considered his claims for promotion well
founded, and wearied of the perpetual subordinate situ-
ation allotted him. Discontent, amounting almost to a
sentiment of personal injury, seized upon him, and ennui
ruled supreme. 1 That he was disappointed over the
failure of the advancement he anticipated is compre-
hensible. But his life was a full one at this period, his
social and official duties congenial, the country particu-
larly to his liking, and the esteem one may well say
affection in which he was held by the reigning sover-
eign, most flattering. Yet this ennui, this unrest and
dissatisfaction with his material and moral surroundings,
is clearly visible in his correspondence. When the moment
came, however, for leaving Florence and the many friends
and interests he had there, he lets drop the phrase: " II est
impossible de partir plus regrette et regrettant plus." *
Among the documents at our disposal there is no men-
tion of the exact date of departure from Florence; it is
probable, however, that the start was made between
the 2Oth and last days of August, 1828. As the party
travelled in their own conveyances they assuredly
made the journey by easy stages, halting frequently by
the way. On the other hand, Madame de Lamartine's
diary fixes "Wednesday, loth of this month" (she wrote
in September) as the day of the arrival of her son and
family at Macon. 1
Thus ended Lamartine's diplomatic career, for al-
though he had not handed in his resignation, and per-
severed unremittingly in seeking the oft-promised but
ever-elusive promotion he craved, he was not again em-
ployed on active service.
1 Correspondance, CCCCL.
1 Ibid., CCCCLI; Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 234.
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 287.
CHAPTER XXV
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
LEAVING wife and child in the lately inherited Chateau
de Montculot, near Dijon, Lamartine hastened to Paris.
Although the ostensible object of this trip was to report
to his superiors concerning his two years' directorship
of the Tuscan Legation and to seek instructions as to
future employment, home politics made his presence in
the capital advisable. In her journal the mother states
that friends in Paris desired his views, owing to threat-
ened complication of a serious nature, and that her son
had expressed the opinion that should the Bourbons defy
public opinion their doom was sealed. 1 The "Memoires
politiques" bear out this assertion. The Martignac Min-
istry was struggling to reconcile the Crown with the
Opposition, which, although as yet not irretrievably
hostile to the monarchy, was embittered by the retro-
grade Clerical influences which threatened a scrupulous
observance of both the spirit and the letter of con-
stitutional liberties. Lamartine informs us that he was
summoned to a confidential colloquy with the Prime
Minister, who offered him the Government's active aid
and support should he consent to stand as their candi-
date at the forthcoming elections. Believing Lamartine
to be within a few months of the eligible age (forty),
M. de Martignac supplemented his proposal with the
astounding offer to postpone the elections until the can-
didate could legally present himself at the hustings.
On learning that the young man had not yet attained
his thirty-eighth birthday, and that there would conse-
1 Manuscrit de ma nitre, p. 288.
316
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
quently be two years to wait, the Minister expressed
disappointment and regret over the loss of an opportu-
nity he seemed to consider as important. 1
The King had received Lamartine in private audience,
expressing his warm appreciation of the services ren-
dered in Italy, and freely discussing the political situa-
tion which faced him. 2 From these conversations, as
well as from those exchanged with many friends, Lamar-
tine's concern as to the gravity of the political crisis was
increased. "Republicanism, which I thought dead, is
germinating afresh among the younger men. This gives
food for reflection, and prevents making plans far ahead.
There is no revolutionary fanaticism, but there is com-
plete estrangement from royalism and the Bourbons":'
a conviction which he reiterates to Virieu, adding: "There
are no revolutionary intentions, but there exists an
ultra-liberal madness among thinking youth, and symp-
toms of Bonapartism with the populace." 4 Perhaps it
was as much the uncertainty of the political situation at
home as distaste for the post, which caused Lamartine to
refuse the proffered secretaryship in the Legation at
Madrid. He preferred to wait for London, which might
be his within a year, he was assured, and which was a
direct stepping-stone to the official independence of a
Minister Plenipotentiary the acme of his diplomatic
ambition.
Only a month later, however, we notice another of
those disconcerting contradictions which make so difficult
any reliable analysis of Lamartine's character. Writing
from Saint-Point, where sixty workmen are renovating
and transforming the chateau, he admits that he is more
than ever a philosopher, more than ever weary of the
"active world," adding paradoxically, "That is the rea-
1 Mbnoires politiques, vol. I, p. 239.
1 Correspondence, ccccuv. Ibid., CCCCLV. * Ibid., CCCCLVII.
. . 317 . ...
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
son I shall go far in the active world." London tempts
him and he will go when the time comes, "mais mon
coeur defendant : j'aime mieux ma vallee et ma paix." His
heart was full of poetry. " I would fain leave all else and
follow my genius." The shade of Dante appears and
reproaches him. "I am remorseful; a poetical vulture
is tearing my soul." l And to his Florentine friend, the
Marquis Gino Capponi, a week later: " Don't congratulate
me on having ambition. Ah! my dear, where could it
find a place in a life so full and so happy? ... I rise at five
in the morning. I shut myself up in my little library,
over a good fire, apart from the noise of the chateau
and overlooking the valley where the moon shines when
there is a moon. There I read, I write, I meditate, or I
rest until nine o'clock, no noise disturbing my peace."
Then, putting on his wooden shoes, the owner of Saint-
Point sallies forth to oversee and encourage his workmen,
and to receive the homage of his vassals, who, from all
corners of the vast estate, bring gifts of poultry, eggs,
game, or fruits. "What do you say to that?" he queries
of his Italian correspondent; "is not that a life according
to nature and to poetry? Well, it gives me happiness.
I desire nothing better. I dread anything that must
alter it." 2
All his correspondence at this period is imbued with
the joy of this peaceful life. " I am traversing one of those
rare moments when a man, measured and sobered, can
proclaim : ' I am happy. I am resting between two periods
of fatigue. But my leisure is fully occupied.' " 8 To Del-
phine Gay, on the last day of the same year 1828, he
reiterates: "As for myself, I am happy and busy. But I
write and above all print nothing. I dare not. I have
passed the period of poetical felicity. I have reached that
of real quiescence. It is better so. I fear to compromise
1 Correspondance, CCCCLVIII. * Ibid., CCCCLIX. * Ibid., CCCCLX.
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
it, and if I sometimes make verses it is only 'talking
with myself.'" l
Early in January (1829) there are distinct indications
that the diplomatic career no longer attracts Lamar-
tine as it did in former years. The freer field of politics
allures him in spite of his contentment midst rural sur-
roundings. "I write neither verse nor prose: has the
time for such things passed? I feel myself much more apt
for action and political discourse, and I despise myself
on this account." 2 The growing interest in public affairs,
the lurking ambition to mount upon the stage of human
activities in the full glare of political battle, is ever more
apparent. " I feel within me strong impulsions of various
kinds, but, except poetry, all leave me remorseful, and
of verses I make hardly any. Poetry appears to me, in
its form, a childishness beneath a man of thirty-eight.
On all sides they talk of appointing me deputy. That
would decide my immortality, if any question of it exists.
I would not refuse, but I offer up secret prayers that I
be sent back to my muse." Then follows the enigmatic
phrase, in the same strain as that noted in Florence two
years earlier: "Moreover, in every respect, this world
bores me. There is only one happiness, love, and this we
forbid ourselves. The kind we style virtue is very cold
and very dry: nevertheless, I; cling to it by conviction
and instinct of the future." * Of course the confidence
is made to Virieu : to no other would he have risked a
like confession. The psychic phenomenon is significant,
demonstrating as it does the human frailty, bereft of
which no man or woman can long hold sympathy, de-
spite the admiration we may vouchsafe. The bonds unit-
ing Lamartine with his English wife were strong, but
passion had never entered into their partnership. If we
turn back a few pages we read in a letter to Virieu that
1 Corrcspondance, ccccLxn. Ibid., ccccucv. Ibid., ccccucx.
. - 319
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Madame de Lamartine is constantly "souffrante," and
that she bores herself beyond words at M^con. "Now
that I love my dear old country," he complains, "she
dreams but of Italy. Her longing or her regrets, which
she hides but ill, keep me in suspense concerning our
final settlement here. I trust that beyond the skies our
establishments will be more solid, more comfortable,
and more durable." l And yet, if we are to credit the
testimony of eye-witnesses, the stream of Lamartine's
married life was singularly free from even a disturbing
ripple. "Madame de Lamartine did not share the fate
of so many wives of men of genius, Madame de Chateau-
briand, Lady Byron, Mrs. Carlyle, who died abandoned
by their husbands," wrote one of the biographers of the
poet's wife, Charles Alexandre. "She was loved and re-
spected by her husband; his letters and his books are
there to prove it: nevertheless, the poet's inner soul
remained closed, as a sanctuary." Genius is a tyrant,
and woman is its victim. But this daily and hourly
witness of the Lamartines' private life, who, as confi-
dential secretary, shared the hospitality of their home,
positively asserts that Lamartine's respect for the mar-
riage tie and the dignity and sanctity of the domestic
hearth, was irreproachable. "If to Marianne Birch fell
more than her fair portion of human sorrows, the heart
of her husband was not at fault, but destiny, the in-
gratitude of France, the fatality of circumstances." 2 At
times undoubtedly the wife's continued ill-health, her
British reserve and phlegmatic temperament, so foreign
to his own expansive and impulsive nature, grated on
the sensitive organism and peculiarly Latin fibre of
the husband. "Be thou chaste as ice, as pure as snow,
1 Correspondance, cccCLvn.
* Charles Alexandre, Madame de Lamartine, pp. 1-4; cf. also Lebailly,
Madame de Lamartine, passim.
320
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
thou shalt not escape calumny," Shakespeare makes
Hamlet exclaim. But although literary chit-chat, so busy
with the reputations of men and women of the period,
has not spared its innuendoes, no single valid proof is
forthcoming of Lamartine's infidelity either to the wife
he had married, or to the sanctified memory of the lost
"Elvire."
It would seem to have been in compliance with his
wife's desire that the poet finally tore himself from the
idyllic seclusion of Saint- Point, and consented to return
to Paris in order to remind his influential friends there
concerning the promised appointment to the Embassy
in London. Personally he would have preferred his
"busy leisure" in the beloved rural retreat, until, on the
attainment of his fortieth year, a parliamentary career
became accessible. About the middle of May, his wife
having gone for a cure at Aix, the poet, accompanied
by his mother and sister, set forth for the capital. To
the woman whose youth had been spent at the Court of
the Palais-Royal, but who had for so many years pa-
tiently and uncomplainingly sunk her individuality in
domestic cares, struggling with the rasping annoyances
of inadequate means, this glimpse of the splendours of the
great world was an unalloyed delight. "Thanks to my
son," she wrote, "it has been a continual intoxication."
Her son's friends, numbering all that were most dis-
tinguished for birth and talent, vied with each other to
do honour to the mother. "Madame Recamier, whom
I am supposed to resemble," she notes in her journal,
"received me with incomparable graciousness. I as-
sisted in her salon at a reading by M. de Chateaubriand
from his tragedy 'Moise': his face struck me more for-
cibly than his verses. He has the majestic look of a king
surrounded by his court." l
1 Manuscrit de ma mire, p. 290 ; also Court de litterature, vol. IX, pp. 1 1-36.
321 ' v
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Although the sojourn in Paris did not materially ad-
vance the diplomatic promotion Lamartine sought, in-
tercourse with high-placed officials and the leaders of the
political world had opened his eyes to the increasing
gravity of the situation. To Lamartine the advent to
power of the Prince de Polignac (August 8, 1829) spelt
disaster. As early as August 16 he wrote Virieu: "I tell
you, between ourselves, that now I believe in the possi-
bility of a revolution which will sweep away the dynasty:
I did not believe it yesterday." And he adds: "Yester-
day I scribbled my electoral manifesto in readiness for
time and place. I shall not have it printed before having
submitted the text to you." In strictest confidence he
reports: "Day before yesterday I received an appeal to
go at once to Paris to help the Prince de Polignac reor-
ganize our Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and to have al-
lotted to me afterwards a suitable place. I deliberated a
moment, then answered that it was impossible for me to
comply, but that I still maintained my rights for Lon-
don." Lamartine goes on to explain his motives in re-
fusing the Minister's request, stating that he had no
confidence in either the home or foreign policies it was
proposed to inaugurate; that he did not care to risk the
unpopularity he felt convinced must attach to those who
lent their names to the movement ; that he feared to
compromise his future by a premature and too precise
declaration of the opinions he held, etc. 1 Although La-
martine insists in this same letter that he has kept the
matter secret even from his father, the mother's diary
affords still more ample details concerning the scruples of
prudential considerations which prompted her son to
reject the Minister's appeal. The constitution of the
Polignac Ministry had already excited public clamour
and reprobation, and Lamartine's boasted "instinct of
1 Correspondence, CCCCLXXXI.
. . 322
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
the masses" stood him in good stead when it prompted
him to cut loose from this dangerous association. AccorcJ-
ing to the mother his final reply to M. de Polignac's
reiterated solicitations was categorical. " My son an-
swered him that at no price would he run the risk, even
as a subordinate, of being an accomplice to a coup
d'etat against the Charte: that this coup d'etat, in his
opinion, must prove the undoing of the Bourbons; that
although he realized that M. de Polignac did not ac-
tually meditate such an action, the reciprocal hostility
existing between the Ministry and the country must,
despite M. de Polignac, produce this fatal result." 1 In
the "Cours de litterature" Lamartine states that M. de
Polignac so insisted on a personal interview that he
eventually complied with the Minister's request, and
went to Paris, where he repeated verbally his objections
to identifying himself with a policy he was convinced
must end in disaster to the throne.* His mistrust of the
Minister was deep-rooted. "M. de Polignac is going to
direct us," he wrote privately to Virieu, "and in order
that we submit they say he comes with Liberalism in
one pocket, and something else in the other. I fear
there is nothing in either. Faith in him is not strong." *
Lamartine foresaw that the advent of the Polignac
Ministry must perforce entail a prolongation of his own
inaction, for he was determined not to return to Flor-
ence in the capacity of Second Secretary of Legation,
and promotion under existing circumstances was not to
be counted upon, in spite of ministerial promises. There
was question of lowering the age of eligibility to Parlia-
ment from forty to thirty, and, as we know, he would
have liked to stand for a constituency in his native de-
partment. His own politics were more or less vague
1 Manuscrit de ma mtre, p. 292.
1 Op. cit., vol. xiv, p. 32. * Correspondence, CCCCLXXIX.
. . 323
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
and flouting at this period, but he was a conservative
at heart. To the Marquis Gino Capponi, he wrote on
August 27, 1829, that there was again an inclination to
nominate him: "These recent events," he continues,
"would appear to me an indication that both parties will
resort to extreme measures, and my views are between
the two, my monarchical convictions being as fervent as
my desire for wise and legal liberty." l But these "mo-
narchical convictions" were destined to become more
and more enfeebled. Unremittingly, half consciously,
perhaps, the principles of democracy were leading him to
the full and generous acceptance of republicanism. As
a matter of fact, however, at this period, although in
private letters he hinted more or less vaguely at per-
sonal sympathies, he was careful to confine himself to
abstractions. Say what he might concerning his lack
of ambition, the iron was in his soul : the craving for po-
litical action, in the fullest sense of the term, gnawed
his entrails, even the strong drug of poetic inspiration
acting but as a palliative.
Meanwhile was heralded a rumour well calculated to
fan the flame of his literary ambition. His failure to
secure the suffrages of the Academicians in 1824 had
resulted in his determination never again to apply
for admission within the sacred precincts of the Insti-
tut de France. Now it was the Immortals themselves who
sought to draw the successful poet within the portals
of their temple. "Many Academicians, among others
M. Laine and M. Royer-Collard, have urged my son
to present himself, this time with the certitude of ad-
mittance," noted Madame de Lamartine in her diary.
" He refused from a sentiment of pride I am perhaps
wrong in approving: he was rejected a first time, at no
price will he solicit again. As the rules forbid a nomina-
1 Correspondence, CCCCLXXII.
324
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
tion before the candidate has renewed the courtesy visits
to the Academicians, I believe he will not be appointed." l
But although Lamartine persisted in his refusal to make
the customary visits, he condescended to enclose "three
notes" in a letter to Villemain, with the request that
they be forwarded to their several addresses, 2 and the
" Correspondance " contains other letters on the sub-
ject of his election, which demonstrate that the prospect
interested him in spite of assumed indifference. Whether
it was at the instance of his father, who ardently de-
sired the coveted distinction for his son, or, as Lamartine
himself affirms, 8 in compliance with the repeated calls
of Prince de Polignac, the poet-diplomat journeyed to
Paris in the autumn of 1829. The outcome of this visit
was a double triumph, for he was elected to the Academic
franchise, 4 and closely following on this supreme con-
firmation of his literary worth, received the promise of
the appointment of Minister Plenipotentiary to Greece
a post which, as the sequel will show, he was prevented
from holding. 6
The crowning of his literary career was, however,
brutally shattered by news of a terrible calamity, which
reached him on the eve of the return journey to Macon.
On regaining his hotel one afternoon he found his friend
Virieu, pale and haggard, awaiting him in the courtyard.
"Trembling I jumped out of the carriage. Virieu folded
me in his arms. 'What is the matter?' I cried. 'Your
mother,' he murmured, softening the blow. . . ." And
the devoted friend gently unfolded the harrowing news
a letter from Marianne charged him, to impart. Lamar-
tine has described the scene both in the Epilogue to the
"Manuscrit de ma mere," and in the pages of souvenirs
1 Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 292. * Correspondance, cccCLXXXvm.
1 Epilogue to Manuscrit de ma mere, p. 309.
November 5, 1829. Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 254.
. . 325 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
entitled "Lamartine par lui-meme," 1 one and the other
written after the lapse of many years. Madame de La-
martine's letter is dated from Macon on Sunday, No-
vember 1 8, 1829. On the preceding Friday the poet's
mother, when taking a bath in a convent at Macon, met
with an accident the gravity of which was not at first
apparent. Desiring to add hot water to the bath Madame
de Lamartine turned the faucet so violently that she was
deluged with the scalding vapour. Help arrived almost
immediately, and the poor woman was conveyed to her
home. Here it was found that she was more terribly
burnt than she herself realized, and after lingering for
some forty-eight hours, she passed away probably in
consequence of the severe shock to her already feeble
constitution. 2 Lamartine's poignant grief can more easily
be imagined than described. "Each day I realize more
fully that I have lost half of my own being," he wrote
Virieu from Macon a fortnight after the terrible trag-
edy. 3 On his arrival the funeral had already taken place
and the body had been laid to rest in Macon. Knowing
his mother's wishes on this subject, however, her son
obtained the necessary legal authorization to remove
the remains to Saint- Point, where they rest to-day in the
same vault with Julia, his daughter, Marianne, his wife,
and his own body.
It was only in March, 1830, that Lamartine returned
to Paris for the ceremony attending his reception at the
French Academy. As custom ordains, the new Academi-
cian, on taking his seat in the august assembly, pro-
nounced the eulogy of his predecessor, M. Daru. This
memorable event took place on April I, 1830. Although
the function is supposedly a literary one, the political
sympathies and antipathies of the orator not infre-
quently play a conspicuous part. In the present instance
1 Op. tit., p. 275. Correspondance, ccccxcm. * Ibid., ccccxcv.
- 326
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
considerable curiosity was felt as to the convictions the
popular young diplomatist and widely known writer
would embody in his speech. Several reactionary polit-
ical or politico-religious sects were desirous of enrolling
the new Academician within their ranks, and pressure
was brought to bear on him for some public expres-
sion which would irrevocably compromise the brilliant
acolyte they sought to secure. "Among others," wrote
Lamartine, '^the Due de Rohan, my intimate friend,
who from the ranks of the Musketeers had become Arch-
bishop of Besancon, and was later to be a cardinal,
warmly urged me to lend no support to the Charte,
dearly menacing me with ostracism from all royal min-
isterial favours should I persist in not giving to the
pious political association marks of complaisance equiv-
alent to adhesion. I answered energetically that never
would I consent to profess from policy principles at va-
riance with my conscience, and that should my diplomatic
or other advancement be at that price, I unhesitatingly
renounced them." 1 This uncompromising declaration of
independence cost Lamartine a friendship he valued, and
to which he owed much of the social success of his early
years when a stranger in Paris. There can be no doubt,
however, but that the political opinions expressed in his
speech, which, although guarded, extolled the necessity
and benefits of the Charte, committed the speaker to
the Moderate Liberal Party of which M. Lain6 and
M. Royer-Collard were the respected exponents.
If we analyze this first public expression of sentiments,
which he was later to modify and even apparently throw
aside, we are struck by two utterances which at first
sight may appear paradoxical. Referring to the men of the
Revolution and to the calumny then attaching to many
1 Lamartine par lui-meme, p. 289; cf. also Manuscrii de ma mere, p. 310,
and Mcmoires politiques, vol. I, p. 250.
. . 327
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
names formerly held in honour, he exclaims: "They were
(what in reality we are) men of a dual epoch, in a century
of transition." And he adds: "This century begins with
our dual restoration : restoration of Liberty through the
Throne, and of the Throne through Liberty. . . . Don't
let us forget," he continues, "that our future is indissolu-
bly bound to that of our kings, that one cannot separate
the trunk from the roots without parching the branches,
and that the monarchy has made all things possible for
us, even the perfect fruits of Liberty. History tells us
that peoples are personified, so to speak, in certain royal
races, in the dynasties which represent them; that they
decline when these races decline; that they revive when
they are regenerated; that they perish when they suc-
cumb ; that certain royal families are like those domestic
gods which could not be removed from the hearths of our
ancestors except at the cost of the rape and destruction
of the hearth itself." 1
A more explicit formula of adhesion to the monarchi-
cal principle, it would be difficult to imagine. And yet
Lamartine in petto made his reservations. As we know,
he had been elected to replace M. Daru, 2 whose action
during the Consulate he commemorated and eulogized.
There is a passage in his speech which is singularly pro-
phetic of his own conduct eighteen years later. "Yet
in these tumultuous and bloody dramas which seethe at
the fall or regeneration of empires, when the old order
has crumbled and the new order is yet unborn [here
he paints at length the social cataclysm of the Revolu-
tion] . . . this same man [Daru], hurried on by the insta-
bility of the popular flood, occupies in turn the most di-
verse situations, the most incongruous posts; fortune
mocks at both talent and character; harangues are
1 Discours de reception d /' 'AcadSmie }ran$aise.
1 Count Pierre Daru (1767-1829), distinguished statesman and litterateur.
328 -
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
urgent on the public square; advice in the council cham-
ber; hymns for the celebration of triumphs ; knowledge for
legislation; skilful hands to amass public treasure, and
honest hands to administer it. The people seek a man,
designated by his merits: no excuses are valid, no refusal
can be accepted peril forbids." The picture is indeed
prophetic: line for line it draws the orator's own experi-
ences in 1848: even Daru's fall was not dissimilar to that
fate held in store for Lamartine.
When in his turn mile Ollivier replaced Lamartine
in the Acad6mie franchise, Napoleon Ill's Minister
wrote: 1 "Frequently the admirers of the Revolution
showed themselves as much attached to the methods
employed as to the principles involved ; its foes were as
antagonistic to the principles as to the means. Lamartine
held himself aloof from these conflicting exaggerations.
Although the constant panegyrist of the verities of '89,
he was never even a moderate terrorist, or even a parlia-
mentary pessimist ; and although his name was associated
with a revolution, he is certainly one of the least revo-
lutionary figures of our time." 8 Lamartine himself
would not appear to have been satisfied with his eulogy
of Daru. "In two mornings," he informed Virieu, "I
composed my insipid eulogy of M. Daru, for whom I en-
tertain no sympathy; no more than for a mandarin in
Pekin." And commenting on the essence of the speech he
has thus hastily prepared, he adds: "It is very royalist,
yet plausible as to the honest doctrines of the hour." *
It was late in March, 1830, that the family journeyed
to Paris to assist at Lamartine's official reception by the
Academy. Although constantly complaining of financial
embarrassments owing to the division of property after
1 Owing to considerations of a political nature this speech, which was to
have been delivered on March 5, 1874, was never made by its author.
Emile Ollivier died in 1913.
1 Lamartine, p. 66. * Correspondence, D.
. . 329 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
his mother's death, the poet hardly seems to have been
seriously pinched by lack of funds, since he wrote to
friends in the capital seeking an apartment "costing
from a thousand to twelve hundred francs a month, and
stabling for four or five horses." l
Although his reception in the Academy was the os-
tensible object of the trip to Paris, considerations of a
political and diplomatic nature were not entirely foreign
to the move. The post of Minister to Greece would
have suited his requirements in many respects, and the
fulfilment of the Prince de Polignac's promise was ar-
dently desired. But the political situation in Greece for-
bade the despatch of a diplomatic representative, for
difficulties had arisen with Prince Leopold of Saxe-
Coburg, whom the Powers desired to install as King of
the Hellenes. 2 Negotiations with the Prince having fallen
through, and no acceptable candidate for the throne of
Greece being forthcoming, Lamartine requested and ob-
tained an unlimited leave of absence.
During the sojourn in Paris M. and Madame de La-
martine were invited by the Due and Duchesse d' Or-
igans to the memorable fte given at the Palais Royal
for Charles X, during which the angry crowd in the gar-
dens set fire to the wooden sheds and chairs. The dis-
orders, in conjunction with the very serious political
outlook, and the problematical issue of the impending
elections, impressed Lamartine very forcibly. The pol-
icy of the Prince de Polignac was leading the monarchy
of the Restoration to its ruin: each false step, each im-
prudent retrogressive measure, was taken advantage of
by the astute partisans of the younger branch, whose
representative was Louis-Philippe, Due d'Or!6ans, son
of Philippe Egalit. In a measure behind the political
scenes during his sojourn in Paris, Lamartine continued
1 Correspondence, DIV. * Afterwards King of the Belgians.
330
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
to take a gloomy outlook on public affairs after his re-
turn to Saint-Point. From this haven of rest he wrote
on June 27 (1830) to Virieu, confirming once again his
pessimism concerning the situation of France. "I don't
give six months of life to the home government. I am
grieved, frightened, full of courage, nevertheless, and
ready to take up arms on the right or the left; on the
one side against madmen, on the other against ruffians
and scoundrels. ... I am neither with Paul nor with
Cephas, but with common sense, the monarchy, and
fidelity to the monarchy." l As mile Ollivier correctly
insisted, Lamartine never was a revolutionist, nor had
he sympathy with revolutionary movements, in spite of
his progressist tendencies and beliefs. In the present
instance he heartily deplored the retrograde policy and
sympathies of the Crown and the advisers of the elder
Bourbon. "Let us recognize the truth," he urges Virieu,
"for in truth only can strength reside. Truth does not
reside for France in a government cherishing feelings of
regret, repentance, and theocratic, aristocratic, or abso-
lutist traditions; it is to be found in the real needs of
the times, in the cooperation with the interests of the
most honest and large-minded thinkers, in the aspira-
tions towards a future dating from the Restoration, and
not from the Empire or the decayed old regime." f
Lamartine heard of the coup d'Stat which fulfilled his
prophecy at Aix-les- Bains. His confidence in the sound
common sense of his compatriots inclined him to view
with comparative complacency the uncertain future
which lay before France. A counter-revolution which
must inevitably bring anarchy in its train alone caused
him grave apprehension. Should this occur, he confides
to Virieu, "All is up with us, with France, and with Eu-
rope: it is the universal deluge, minus the Ark to help
1 Correspondence, DXIII. * Ibid. t DXIV.
. . 331 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
us out. But between this contingency and us, there is
an improvised government, strengthened by the sym-
pathy of the middle classes, upheld by enlightened
opinion and good intentions. This points out the way
to fair-minded people. Anything rather than anarchy:
rather than a stupid and disgraceful complicity with the
enemies of our enemies, who in their turn would devour
us. Let us leave that r&le to the idiots who have led us
where we are, and who seek to revenge themselves for
their own stupidity at our expense." And the letter goes
on to state that he longs to plunge into the political fray,
to do battle for his country, "for the principles saved
from the ruin of a throne, not looking too closely as to
whether the flag has three colours or one, as to whether
what remains of the monarchical ideal, of liberty, of re-
ligion, or political stability goes by the name of Peter
or of Paul. In consequence I am ready to accept any
employment men who think as I do are willing to entrust
to me, either in the tribune or elsewhere. Scruples are
well enough during petty dangers; in extreme peril such
as this, inaction and apathy are to be condemned." l
The new elections were to take place in September, and
Lamartine, by virtue of the law fixing the legal age of
deputies at forty, would only be eligible a month later.
For the present, therefore, he was excluded from active
participation in the legislative affairs of his country.
Meanwhile, he decided that the new order, so antago-
nistic to his personal views, demanded his resignation from
the diplomatic service. For this purpose he returned to
Paris, alone, in September. On the 2ist of that month
he wrote Virieu: "I handed in my resignation the day
before yesterday. . . . The King, on reading it to the
Council, remarked : ' Here at least is a resignation given
in honourable, dignified, and polite terms.' He read
1 Correspondence, DXVII.
. . 332 . .
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
it aloud, and instructed that I be informed of his satis-
faction." 1
Lamartine's resignation was couched in terms which
lent it both force and dignity. The document, addressed
to Count Mole, who had accepted the portfolio of Foreign
Affairs under the new monarchy, ran as follows: "Noble
sentiments may have prevented certain persons from
taking the oath which circumstances demand. Although
I respect such scruples, I do not share them. Convinced
that failing the legitimate government, the blindness of
which I have long lamented, necessary authority, in other
terms, the country, must be the rallying-point of all fair-
minded and equitable opinions; convinced that our duties
as individuals and citizens do not cease when a throne
collapses, or a family seeks exile; convinced that it would
be as absurd as blamable to brand one's self forever as
civilly and politically unfit by refusing allegiance to a
new government, established by necessity in order to
save the country from the hopeless evils of anarchy, that
convulsive death of nations, I hold myself in readiness
freely and voluntarily to take the oath of fidelity to the
King of the French, and to accept from prince or country
all the obligations which this oath imposes in days of peril.
On the other hand, Monsieur le Comte, and impelled by
strictly personal motives of fitness, I beg you to accept my
resignation of the diplomatic functions with which I had
been invested by the preceding Government ; and I ven-
ture, moreover, to request that you kindly make known
my action and my sentiments to the King, to whom I
profess not only the homage due by every Frenchman,
but, in addition, feelings of gratitude and devotion,
prompted by his favours to my family."
In his "Memoires politiques" Lamartine states that it
1 Correspondence, DXX.
* Ibid., DXXI; cf. also Court de literature, vol. ix, p. 94-
. . 333 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
was at the urgent instigation of Count Mole that he wrote
the above, which the Minister desired to hand personally
to the King. He would himself have preferred that the
matter be settled through the purely official channels of
the Foreign Office. If we credit the political reminiscences,
Louis- Philippe read the letter twice over; expressed
great satisfaction with its form, and sending for the Due
d'Orleans, placed the document before him, with the
request that he show it to the Queen. To Count Mold
the King added: "Tell M. de Lamartine that I accept his
resignation, but that I beg him to come and see me: he
will always be received with the friendship he knows I
bear to his mother and himself." l
That Lamartine sincerely and permanently regretted
the fall of the legitimate monarchy there is little reason
to suspect. That he regarded the usurpation of power by
the younger branch as a perpetual menace to the vital
moral interests of France, we have ample proof. Never-
theless, he realized that a greater calamity must result
should the subversive factions, which passed under the
name of Republicans, gain control of the State. The
chaotic condition of party politics in France at the mo-
ment of the Revolution of July, the irremediable faults
committed by the Legitimists, and the excesses to be
dreaded on the advent to power of those professing the
doctrines of republicanism, led him to accept as a tem-
porary and palliative guarantee of order a regime which
his conscience abhorred. To Virieu he wrote in October:
" My news is most alarming. You will have your Repub-
lic: I shudder at it. ... Should the Republic gain control
for three months, I assure you, with the confidence of a
prophet, France and Europe cease to exist. I am as con-
vinced of it as I was of the coup d'etat under the Polignac
Ministry, and of their impotency when the storm broke.
1 MSmoires politiques, vol. I, p. 280.
. . 334 . .
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
seconde vue, malheureux don des homrnes trls politiques !
. . . You say the Revolution of '89 was an unqualified
evil. I maintain that the great principles of the Revolu-
tion of '89 are true, beautiful, and good; the execution
alone was atrocious, iniquitous, infamous, disgusting. In
order that '89 be considered evil it must be held that what
'89 destroyed was beautiful : now I hold that '88 was hid-
eous!" In other words, he vehemently condemns the
scandalous and iniquitous social abuses of the ancien
regime. This declaration of principles, unfolded in heart-
to-heart confidence to his most intimate friend, is of
inestimable value as an authentic expression of the fun-
damental convictions which guided his political actions
when he took his place in the council chamber. " Revolu-
tion for a Principle," he goes on to say, "is one of the
lofty and fruitful ideals which from time to time renew
the form of human society; and if you will reason with
yourself without passion, you will agree that the ideal of
liberty and legal equality is as far above the aristocratic
or feudal conception as Christianity is above the slavery
of the ancients. . . . Centuries will pass over our graves
before this ideal finds its real application, but everything
points to the belief that through floods of blood and
misery, the goal will finally be reached : then the world
will be transformed." Meanwhile, he dreads the proc-
lamation of a republic which could unite under its ban-
ner but the dregs of the political schemers of Europe,
bringing social unrest and the tyranny of an ignorant
populace in its trail. (i Qtu>d Deus avertatfhe cries.
Nevertheless, his decision is taken. "I will remain in
France and do my duty as a citizen under all circum-
stances. Until the situation is clear I shall send my
wife and child to Geneva. This separation is hard, but
1 could never forgive myself were my wife and child
treated roughly. My own skin interests me but little:
335
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
I fear neither bullets nor the guillotine, which both my
conscience and the purity of my intentions would con-
front with equanimity." l
Eighteen years later these brave words were to be
translated into actions. The realization of his prophecy
was slow, but when it came the prognostications were ful-
filled to the letter, minus the guillotine, however. That
there was cause for present alarm is certain. Acts of
brigandage and pillage threatened at Saint-Point, and
the countryside was for a time seriously perturbed. The
surrounding communes, however, remained loyal, pro-
posing to rise en masse and hurry to the defence of the
chateau. 2 Fortunately the crisis was averted, but the
peril had been great. Disgust at the excesses of the politi-
cal parties filled Lamartine's soul with bitterness. Every-
where he discerned duplicity, self-seeking, and treachery.
The royalists he blamed equally with the leaders of the
extreme factions. The "Ode au Peuple" constituted the
safety-valve of the seething of his political conscience.
" I will never be a member of any party," he assures Vi-
rieu, " I shall live alone; ... as a consequence I shall not
become a deputy. ..." 8 A rash assertion; half of which,
however, he was to observe. The "Ode au Peuple" was
not a success : Virieu believed it was because of the lack of
"a clear and just idea," and he was right. It passed over
the heads. of those it was intended to touch, too meta-
physical and abstract for a proletariat groping for definite
and precise expression of a political ideal. Indeed, it is
difficult to disentangle the skein of Lamartine's political
theorem at this juncture. His resignation of his diplo-
matic rank on the advent of Louis-Philippe had been ten-
dered because "I considered that in my special position,
honour demanded it," he confided to his ex-colleague,
Count de Sercey. And yet in the same letter he added :
1 Correspondence, DXXIV. * Ibid., DXXII. * Ibid., DXXVII.
. . 336 .
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
''Should you find an opportunity of recalling me to
Madame Adelaide [Louis- Philippe's sister], don't fail to
tell her that you know that I am devoted to her and her
brother in spite of my resignation, which may have
shocked them, but was dictated only from sentiments of
honour and not at all from political estrangement. A
time may come when we can follow a more free and
pleasant course." * Phrases of simple courtesy, perhaps,
dictated by a sentiment of gratitude for the consideration
shown his mother's family. His devotion to tradition led
him to deplore deeply the blindness of the Bourbons of
the elder branch, who had held, he maintained, the fu-
ture of France in their hands. Nevertheless, he realized
that their faults were irremediable, that France must
henceforth seek other guides; could not, indeed, return
to those "who on three occasions had given proof of con-
genital cecity." 2 The politics pursued by Charles X he
stigmatized as "suicide devant Dieu et les hommes":
but because the Crown had committed self-annihilation
was no reason why the vital forces of the nation should
condemn themselves to atrophy. The half-hearted policy
of political neutrality adopted by scores of Legitimists
during the months following the cataclysm which had
swept away their representative sovereign, filled Lamar-
tine with wrath. "I could write a hundred volumes in
folio against political neutrality in times of revolution,"
he protests to Virieu. "There is always a side to be taken
which is less bad than the other, and the citizen, inter-
ested in and obliged to uphold social order, is driven to
make his choice, or he fails in his duty both to society and
to himself. ... To be neutral means abdication, general
repudiation: but to choose between two parties the less
bad, does not imply interdiction to return later to the
better." But he adds: "All this does not mean: let us
1 Correspondence, DXXXI. * Ibid., DXXXUI.
. . 337 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
throw ourselves into the arms of the party in power, take
its gold or its favours, and declare ourselves its willing
champions." It means, in his opinion, that all the in-
terests of the country, present and future, being at stake,
crime and anarchy being rampant, the good citizen must
combat perforce in ranks not of his own particular colour,
but alone capable of effecting the ultimate salvation of
institutions indispensable to the public weal. "I believe
in moral laws," he affirms, "and in accordance with
moral laws, my faith asserts that a duty fulfilled, even if
the immediate result cannot be discerned, even should
this result appear at first sight opposed to the object in
view, is nevertheless pregnant sooner or later with bene-
ficial and sovereign utility." Neutrality can accomplish
none of these results, and only leaves a clear field to
those subversive parties who seek selfish interests amid
the turmoil of conflicting political creeds. Neutrality,
under these circumstances, was in Lamartine's opinion
a form of cowardice, contemptible in a thinking man. 1 ,
A neutral Lamartine never was. Although he refused
to compromise his political independence by submitting
to the bonds of party, he fought constantly, by word of
mouth or with his pen, in the ranks of justice, of human-
ity, of material progress. In advance of his times by at
least a generation, he was often considered an utopist.
Free from the shackles of party discipline, he paid for his
individual liberty by a corresponding lack of the influence
party backing would have insured the measures or policy
he advocated. Again, as a free lance, Lamartine never
stultified himself when his principles were at stake. Al-
though it is sometimes difficult to reconcile professions
with actions in his public life, yet the oppositions are
more apparent than real, more paradoxical than con-
tradictory. In no sense an opportunist in politics, he
1 Cf. Correspondence, DXXXIII, and Mtmoircs politigues, vol. I, p. 292.
. . 33 8 .
ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY
not unfrequently gave the impression of time-serving: a
totally erroneous impression, as fair-minded critics con-
cede when considering the immense personal sacrifice
loyalty to his fundamental convictions cost him.
To the close student of Lamartine's political sympa-
thies and ambitions many discrepancies are evident be-
tween the sentiments expressed in the " Correspondance,"
which is contemporaneous with the events described, and
the "Memoires politiques" or pages of the "Cours de
litterature," the "Conseiller du peuple," and other writ-
ings dating some thirty years later. Events, when viewed
in the perspective of over a generation and in the light
of subsequent experience, inevitably assume hues they
lacked at the time. Yet we have no hesitation in affirming
that intrinsically his convictions remained unaltered,
although they were necessarily modified by time and
circumstance. 1
1 Cf. Henri Cochin, Lamartine et la Flandre (Paris, 1912), p. xi.
CHAPTER XXVI
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
HITHERTO it has not been possible to fix with any ac-
curacy the circumstances under which Lamartine was
offered and accepted the candidacy for the parliamentary
seat at Bergues, a small town in French Flanders, not
far distant from Calais. The patient and indefatigable
researches of M. Henri Cochin, French deputy from this
same circumscription, have singularly facilitated the bi-
ographer's task concerning this vexed, often obscure, but
immensely important episode. 1
In March, 1831, we find Lamartine plunged in philo-
sophical discussions with Virieu over the tendencies of the
revolutionary crisis still persisting. A certain pessimism
is distinctly noticeable in the writings of this period, and
the project of a long exile in the East a project for
years tenderly cherished in the recesses of the poet's mind
again comes to the fore. "Not being able to found a
newspaper, unable to take the rostrum by assault, my
true place in this year 1831, 1 will go away: 'Super flu-
mina Babylonis ibimus etflebimus* " 2 Six weeks later he
writes M. Aim Martin from Hondschoote, near Bergues:
"I was starting for Jerusalem and I stopped over here
en route, where one of the most beautiful and populous
arrondissements of France offers me a very probable
election. I dine and 'perorate' with all the electoral gen-
tlemen : soon I shall be on the hustings. Then, if the ex-
perience is favourable, I shall come to the rue de Bour-
bon [the Chamber of Deputies] and be eloquent for
1 H. Cochin, Lamartine et la Flandre. (Paris, 1912.)
1 Correspondance, DXXXV.
t 340
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
the profit of the loyal Flemish, who have chosen me
for this honour, and, I hope, my own. All this is not a
joke," he adds; " my election will be the product of an al-
liance between the moderate Royalists and high-minded
Liberals. . . ." l When closing his letter the writer urges
M. Martin to make the communication to the Paris
papers in suitable terms, and himself provides a sketch
of the substance of the paragraph he would like to see in-
serted. Excessive modesty is not discernible in the phrases
he suggests as fitting; nor does he disclose any precise no-
tion of the colour of the political opinions he will represent,
if elected ; yet the general tenor was well calculated to stir
public interest and gain sympathy for the candidate.
Lamartine's political cravings had been left unsatisfied
in his own district principally owing to his disinclination
to take sides : and this in spite of his dissertations on the
iniquity of neutrality. Thiers, then at the outset of his
own brilliant political career, seemed to favour this ab-
stention. Writing on September 26, 1830, only a few
weeks after the overthrow of the Legitimist monarchy,
he congratulates him on the attitude he has assumed,
adding: "Were I in power you would be where your name
and your talents indicate you should be. But it will
come." 2 The opinions held of his political worth by the
future President of the French Republic were undoubt-
edly flattering to Lamartine. Yet the two men never
became intimate. Describing a dinner at Thiers's house
in Paris at about this period (1830), Lamartine mentions
the unexpected arrival of an old woman, whose attire de-
noted one of the peasant class, and whom his host re-
ceived with effusive affection. Turning to his guest,
without hesitation or embarrassment, Thiers exclaimed:
"Here, Lamartine, this is my mother!" This was the
only moment of intimacy which ever existed between
1 Correspondence, DXXXVI. * Lettres a Lamartine, p. 115.
. . 341 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
them. Lamartine extols the frank unconventionality of
the man, but intimates that their political divergences
forbade friendship. 1 Thiers was an opportunist, a states-
man in whom the clever and supple politician was ever
apparent: Lamartine, on the other hand, was rigidly
scrupulous in the observance of the form as well as the
spirit of his political and social convictions. Hence a cer-
tain incompatibility which, although it did not estrange
them, never permitted of more than official courtesy.
When Lamartine set forth, towards the end of April,
1831, for England, on business connected with the death
of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Birch, he chose the route
through Flanders in order to visit his sister, Madame de
Coppens, at Hondschoote. No notion of contesting the
election in that distant province had entered his head.
On the contrary, the voyage to the Orient was then up-
permost in his mind: a project his retirement from the
diplomatic service, the unpromising outlook for an early
opening in public life, and tho recent death of Mrs.
Birch now seemed to render feasible. It was while visit-
ing his sister that the unlooked-for opportunity pre-
sented. The family of Lamartine's brother-in-law, M. de
Coppens, was influential in the Dpartement du Nord,
possessing large interests and dispensing considerable
patronage in the district of Hondschoote. Most certainly
the suggestion that Lamartine should contest the parlia-
mentary election came from the De Coppens themselves.
But there is also reliable evidence that a certain Madame
Angebert was the prime initiator of the scheme, as she
was its chief and most efficient advocate. In many re-
spects Caroline Colas, wife of M. Angebert, a naval pay-
master stationed at Dunkirk, was a remarkable woman. 2
1 Mimoires politiques, vol. I, p. 285.
* Her correspondence with Victor Cousin and others has lately (1911)
been published by M. Leon Seche. Cf. Les Amities de Lamartine, p. 173.
. . 342 .
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
Madame Angebert was a literary enthusiast, and an ar-
dent admirer of Lamartine, of whose sister, Madame de
Coppens, she was also an intimate friend.
Lamartine met Madame Angebert at his sister's house,
and a couple of days later addressed her the following
lines, which owing to their importance, and the fact of
the quite recent discovery of the letter, we cite in extenso :
Hondschootc, May 10, 1831. *
Madame : I did not think a couple of days ago, while en-
joying at my sister's home your most amiable and kind con-
versation, that a few moments later I would put this kindness
to the test by means of a perhaps indiscreet solicitation. Events
guide our lives, and our thoughts follow the course of events.
An honourable candidature is offered me in the second circum-
scription of Dunkirk, and I have decided to accept it. Per-
haps I mistake the frankness of my intentions for strength and
my courage for talent, but patriotism has its noble illusions.
My real opinions are little known, the Dunkirk newspapers
may perhaps attack my presumed opinions. You, Madame,
doubtless have some influence with them through your lit-
erary connections. I dare beg you to use it, not in my favour,
but at least to prevent that I be attacked in the dark; that I
be judged unheard. My pretensions go no further. Stand-
ing for broad and moderate Royalist opinions, my ambition
would be to represent in the Chamber these still untried views,
which during the last few years have assumed shape in free
and generous minds delighting in associating, with the loyalty
of their intentions, deeds and equity, power and liberty. This
party cannot be defined by a generic name; it has none as yet:
may we be enabled to give it one! In the meanwhile it must
be taken at its word. Affairs connected with the inheritance
of my mother-in-law trail me to London. My first thought on
my return, independently of any electoral views, will be to
profit by the permission you kindly gave me to visit you. In
the meantime, graciously accept the assurances of my respect-
ful homage.
ALPH. DE LAMARTINE.*
1 Same date as letter to M. Martin cited above.
1 Seche, Les Amities de Lamartine, p. 237.
. . 343 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
The reasons why Lamartine felt his ground so cau-
tiously both in this letter and in his epistle to M. Martin
can only be conjectured. There can be little doubt, how-
ever, that he had been taken by surprise, and that the
offer of the constituency which greeted him on his arrival
at Hondschoote caused him mixed feelings of satisfaction
and hesitancy. Even as late as May 15 this hesitation is
apparent. Writing to Virieu on that date he states:
"There is great probability that I shall be nominated by
the circumscription of Dunkirk and Bergues, Department
of the North. Should I greatly desire it, I could be certain
of success; but the prospect bores me: I leave to chance
the settlement of my political fate. I start for England
to-morrow. I am supposed to return in a week. I shall do
nothing of the kind, and only come back eight days before
the election, to take part in the struggle as a valiant
champion. . . ." 1 We have difficulty in taking the above
seriously. Yet the dream of the Eastern trip was haunt-
ing him. It is probable that disinclination to abandon
this ardently desired expedition influenced him almost to
the same extent as the pressure brought to bear by his
family connection at Hondschoote, or the fear of com-
promising his political future by a too frank expression of
his personal credo. That the poet, the fastidious diplo-
matist, instinctively recoiled from this first contact with
the vulgarity and passions of an irreverential mob is con-
ceivable, and accounts, perhaps, for the disgruntled utter-
ances of a month later when he finds himself in the thick
of the turmoil. To Virieu again he confides: "Almost
do I now repent of my electoral experiment. With ter-
ror I face my lost liberty and myself condemned to this
climate. In consequence, should I fail after making the
1 Correspondence, nxxxvn. M. Cochin possesses epistolary evidence that
Lamartine's name was casually mentioned for election in Dunkirk in 1830
by Michel Chevalier, the Saint-Simonian Pere Michel. Cf. op. '/., p. 46.
. . 344 . .
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
effort, I shall rub my hands with glee, and thank God.
If I succeed, I will pray Him night and day to give
me light and strength." In the opening lines of this
same letter is the key to this philosophical resignation.
Therein the writer gives vent to the disgust caused him
by the "nastiness, infamies, perfidies, insults, threats,
outrages, in fact all things one inevitably encounters
from the moment one puts one's hands in that nest of
serpents called Humanity, Humanity let loose and torn
by passion." l
But the die was cast, and in spite of the repulsion he
may have felt he could not now retrace his steps. Ma-
dame Angebert proved herself an invaluable ally and
a discerning critic, possessing a political acumen which
Lamartine recognized and unhesitatingly took advantage
of. To her he submitted the draft of his profession defoi;
and to the modifications she suggested he gave ready
assent. The text of this original "profession of faith" is
lost, but a letter from Madame Angebert to Lamartine,
which M. Sech has recently unearthed, gives a substan-
tial clue to the modifications suggested by his political
coadjutor to the final document, dated Hondschoote
June 15, 1831, and printed in the "Journal de Dun-
kerque." Madame Angebert takes exception to the
unsatisfactory vagueness of Lamartine's political credo,
and objects to its general tone of regret for a buried past.
The apparent pessimism and thinly concealed personal
detachment from actual issues shock her. Commenting
on this lack of precision, this negativeness, and absence of
the buoyant optimism so necessary in a candidate con-
testing a constituency far distant from his native prov-
ince, she writes: "I fear also, Sir, that the picture you
paint of the state of affairs in France [at the bottom of the
same page] will appear terrifying to them. These people
1 Correspondence, DXXXVIIL
. . 345 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
want to be reassured. If you maintain that all is still
problematical, that everything must be begun afresh,
may they not conclude that in your opinion nothing has
been achieved in the last ten months ; that you regard the
present Government as non-existent, and warrant it
neither faith nor future? Could not your thoughts be
construed as follows: 'We find ourselves in chaos, in dark-
ness; a ray of light will come, I don't know or I won't tell
whence '? For those who see light in the new condition of
affairs, you must realize how unsatisfactory this language
is. It appears hazardous to me to affirm that no party, no
individual, represents France. It may be true, but only
conditionally. For those who are on a lower plane, and
who recognize facts only in appearances, there are sym-
bols, indications, men who represent what they call the
party of France: there are beaten tracks which to them
seem safe. An unknown course will appear suspicious to
them, they must be guided towards it unknowingly. A
party without a name will seem very vague to them, even
an evasion. ... I have heard the opinion expressed that
your manifesto is too poetic, that it would have been
better to declare prosaically this, that, or the other thing;
but that would be asking you to cease to be yourself, that
you should make a profession of faith such as any voter
of Bergues or Gravelines might do." l
That Lamartine agreed with this political mentor is
evidenced by his reply, dated from London on May 27,
1 83 1 . "I have received your excellent advice, ' ' he asserts,
"presented in such a superior and convincing manner
that I have followed it entirely. You will have seen, from
the new version which I sent my sister for transmittal to
you, that my mind recognized in every respect the pre-
cision of your political tact. Could I but possess your
literary tact, my manifesto would have been the better.
1 Cf. Seche, Les Amities de Lamartine, p. 244.
. . 346 . .
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
Your letter appeared to me a chef d'ceuvre of thought and
expression." 1
The corrected and revised version of the "profession of
faith" was composed in London, and thence transmitted
to Madame de Coppens, who in turn forwarded it to
Madame Angebert. On the eve of its publication in the
local papers it was discovered that Lamartine had for-
gotten to sign the document, and his sister requested
Madame Angebert to kindly date the paper from Hond-
schoote, June 15, 1831, and affix the necessary signature.
This important document is not to be found in the col-
lected works of the poet-statesman.
The manifesto is addressed to the electorate of the
Second District of Dunkirk, but its eloquent generalities
were unmistakably intended for the ears of a larger audi-
ence, that of France. Bereft of superfluous verbiage, with
which, despite Madame Angebert's comments, the mani-
festo is burdened, a minimum of precise and tangible
political opinions remains. No wonder the burghers of
Dunkirk found it vague and unsatisfactory. The candi-
date opens his appeal for suffrages with a not very
reassuring picture of the political situation in France and
Europe, placed, according to him, between despotism and
anarchy. A stranger in their midst, he pledges himself to
adopt the interests of the district, should they elect him,
as his own, and to defend local rights and liberties side by
side with the great social reforms demanded by the coun-
try at large. Anticipating the questions : "To which polit-
ical party do you belong? On which bench will you sit in
the Chamber?" he replies: "We are still in the throes of a
great political upheaval ; parties have lost their places and
their leaders, even opinions have shifted in significance:
but France remains ; let us cleave to France. Don't let us
attempt to define our opinions by words, using the names
1 S6ch6, op. tit., p. 248.
. ' 347
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
of men or parties, or benches in the Chamber. Words lose
their meanings, names become obsolete, men pass, only
deeds remain ; let us define deeds. I belong to the party
which has grown in silence, in the horror of anarchy, in
the hatred of despotism; the party which greeted the
Restoration as a promise, Liberty as a sublime aim,
granted by God for the advancement of civilization. I
belong to the party which discerned afar the storm gath-
ering over France, increasing with distrust of the Govern-
ment, which recognized the alarm and anger of public
opinion, and foretold, when the monarchy displayed reac-
tionary proclivities, the downfall of a rule which had only
half understood its mission." Vague and unconvincing as
the definition of this party undoubtedly is, we find at last
some concrete conceptions which go far to redeem the
redundancy of the opening paragraphs. "This party de-
mands the freedom of thought through the press, which
is its organ. It asks for religious independence: religion,
which I love and venerate as the highest aim of the human
species, loses its virtue and its force when allied to political
rule. 1 It finds these qualities again where they originated ;
within men's consciences and through liberty. It desires
the progressive legal emancipation of education. It de-
sires communal liberty by means of broad laws concern-
ing municipal attributes. ... It desires, moreover, in the
State a generous proportional electorate seeking true
representation in all classes of the nation who have opin-
ions to express and interests to be safeguarded."
Noble as were the sentiments expressed, the stolid
Flemish voters were but half convinced. The commin-
gling of regrets of the past and a too transcendental faith
in a vague and shadowy social Utopia smacked of oppor-
tunism. In 1831 political passions ran high; political
anglers in troubled waters were numerous. Lamartine
1 The italics are in the original.
, 348
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
brought no pledges of unreserved affixation with the new
order; specifically professed even an independence which,
in spite of the liberal reforms he outlined, made him an
object of suspicious distrust. To some of the objections
raised by his manifesto, the candidate replied in a second
appeal to voters, dated from Dunkirk, June 24, immedi-
ately on his return from England.
Acknowledging the courteous attitude of the local press
when commenting, even when openly combating, his can-
didature, Lamartine devotes all his eloquence to refuting
insidious allegations of political duplicity to which the
combined support of voters belonging to conflicting
camps has given birth. He frankly admits that he is an
unknown and untried man, that no party can lay claim
to his unqualified allegiance. But, he urges, the new con-
ditions prevailing in France demand the advent of new
men : men untrammelled by antiquated pledges, men in-
different to the intrigues, the hatred and bitterness of
factions. 1 In so many words he confesses himself a politi-
cal free lance, having only the welfare of France at heart.
Again the language is too vague, the programme too
shadowy, the personal independence excessive, the lack
of association with defined party pledges too flagrant.
Much as they would like to elect him the Liberals dare
not confide their interests until a more specific profession
of faith is vouchsafed.
Two days before the elections these same Liberals,
who together with those holding more conservative,
even reactionary views, had supported him, assembled
and demanded of their candidate a categorical and
clearly worded statement concerning his attitude to-
wards the dynasty which had so recently replaced
the elder branch upon the throne. To this Lamartine
replied with a circumlocution, the ambiguity of which
1 Cf. Journal de Dunkerque, June 24, 1831.
. . 349 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
was well calculated to estrange even the most fervent
adherents. To Virieu, on July 8, immediately after the
elections, he gives the following somewhat involved
explication of his objections to uttering a formal and
binding statement: "I refused from a sentiment of hon-
our, and answered that although I recognized accom-
plished facts, and did not present myself either to uphold
divine right or to combat popular rights, to acknowledge
that I bound myself to the maintenance of the new dy-
nasty was to avow implicitly that I bound myself .to ex-
clude the old, a course which did not suit me, and which
I will never admit." l Difficult as it is to grasp the mo-
tives which actuated him, the sincerity of his scruples is
unquestionable. He must have recognized that the re-
jection of the ultimatum presented by his Liberal sup-
porters meant defeat. Yet he did not hesitate in defence
of a shadowy principle of conscience to risk the ruin of his
political future. The incident is typical of the man ; the
proud spirit of independence and fidelity to what he
deemed conscientious scruples never failed him through-
out his public career.
In despair over their candidate's obstinacy the Liberals
appealed to M. Paul Lemaire, who had resigned his seat
in the Chamber, but who, in view of the embarrassment
of his party, agreed to stand again. "They published a
thousand horrors concerning me," complained Lamartine
to Virieu. "They brought to Bergues the whole populace
of Dunkirk and its surroundings; they inundated the
country with emissaries, threatening my partisans with
pillage, even with death. The day of the election they
posted themselves at the gates, flanked by young men
wearing tricolour ribbons, etc. I was advised not to pre-
sent myself, informed that imminent peril existed for
me and mine ; the municipal authorities and the election
1 Correspondence, DXXXIX.
, 350
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
bureau were likewise extremely hostile. But I took notice
of nothing; I went, prepared for anything. My partisans
held their ground with the courage of lions and the fidel-
ity of bulldogs." l
In his "Memoires politiques," the lapse of years, the
loss of illusions, and a smarting sense of the ingratitude
of his compatriots cause Lamartine to accuse the Gov-
ernment unjustly of having excited the populace against
him. "I expected violent scenes," he writes; " I had shut
myself alone in my room at the hotel, quite close to the
battlefield ; on my table lay a pair of pistols, an inkstand,
and some sheets of paper." At noon the landlady entered
bringing a sheaf of insulting gibes and satirical pam-
phlets, among them the insidious verses which Barth6-
lemy published in " Nm6sis," and which, if we credit this
version of the episode, had been despatched from Paris
by those who considered him an enemy of the July Mon-
archy, with the intent to frustrate by ridicule his chances
of success. In the letter to Virieu, however, written
directly after the elections, Lamartine distinctly asserts:
"The Government has observed neutrality, has in fact
been rather favourable towards me." 2 As a matter of
fact the verses made a deep impression on Lamartine ; but
that they influenced the vote, even to an infinitesimal
degree, is very doubtful. Nevertheless, their place in the
historical scene is now an important one, owing not so
much to their intrinsic value, which is slight, as to the
magnificent burst of lyrical eloquence the rhymes called
forth in reply.
Mocking the poet whose ambitions led him to seek
political preferment at the hands of the Government of
July after having incensed in his verses the sovereigns of
1 Correspondance, DXXXIX.
1 Ibid.; Mimoires politiques, vol. I, p. 302; cf. also Sch6, op. tit., p. 265,
and Cochin, op. tit., p. 154.
. . 35I . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
the old regime, the lampoon scornfully admonishes the
candidate:
"Mais qu'aujourd'hui, pour prix de tes hymnes devotes,
Aux hommes de Juillet tu demandes leurs votes,
. C'en est trop ! . . .
Va done, selon tes voeux, gemir en Palestine
Et presenter sous peu le nom de Lamartine
Aux electeurs de Jericho." *
Incited to wrath, although admiring the verses "pleins
de seve mordante," Lamartine tells us that he composed
his reply, " Reponse & Nm6sis," while sitting at the table
at the Lion d'Or, amid the vociferations of the angry
mob seething under his window. 2 This assertion is, how-
ever, controverted by Cochin and Seche, who bring con-
clusive proof that the earliest of the several variations of
the poem dates from Hondschoote on July io. 3 The "Re-
ponse a Nemesis," published on July 20 in 'TAvenir,"
and copied by numerous newspapers throughout France,
obtained widespread notice: modified and retouched,
certain phrases unnecessarily violent being omitted, the
verses have found a final resting-place in the poet's col-
lected works.
That a considerable number of his adherents remained
faithful in spite of his refusal to commit himself to a re-
strictive profession of partiality to one dynasty or the
other, the poll very clearly demonstrated. Lamartine
was beaten by but seventeen votes, M. Lemaire receiving
198 to his 1 8 1. 4 In spite of his present failure Lamartine
1 The lines, addressed to "M. de Lamartine, candidat a la Deputation
de Toulon et de Dunkerque," were published in the I3th number of " Neme-
sis" (July 3, 1831), and were followed on July 31 by a less happy "Re-
ponse a M. de Lamartine."
1 Memoires politiques, vol. I, p. 304.
1 Cochin, op. cit., p. 155; Sech6, op. tit., pp. 264 and 338.
4 Ibid., p. 156. The Correspondence erroneously gives the figures as 181
to 188; cf. letter to Virieu, Correspondance, DXXXIX.
. . 352 . ...
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
was convinced that success was only a question of time.
It was the ultra- Royalists who had caused his defeat, he
believed, and carried with them the moderate Liberals,
who already regretted their action. M. Lemaire had only
accepted renomination provisionally, and on his final
retirement Lamartine's supporters must certainly carry
the day. The hypothesis was correct: but M. Lemaire's
tenure of office was prolonged considerably beyond the
period anticipated by candidate and supporters alike.
Meanwhile two other circumscriptions had more or less
offered their suffrages : his native town of MUcon, where
his chances were very slight, and Toulon, in the south of
France, where owing to the influence of two local mag-
nates, MM. de Capmas and Meissonnier, the prospects
were brighter. From London under date of June 6, 1831,
Lamartine forwarded his sponsors at Hyeres the political
manifesto he had prepared for the voters of the rural dis-
trict he was to contest. The contents of this document
vary but slightly from the profession of faith he presented
to the electorate at Bergues ; the same vague yet alluring
phrases invoking liberty and a reconstruction of the social
edifice on broad and generous lines, etc., etc. Although
personally absolutely unknown to the voters at Toulon,
such was the power wielded by his sponsors that Lamar-
tine actually obtained seventy-two votes against seventy-
eight cast in favour of his opponent. A technicality
caused the annulment of the election, and a new poll was
fixed for September 8, thus giving ample opportunity for
the candidate to visit Toulon and personally canvass the
district. This Lamartine neglected to do, and by the time
the ballot was taken his chances had dwindled to the van-
ishing point, the absentee candidate receiving but one
single vote. 1
1 F. Caussy, "Les Debuts politiques de Lamartine," Mercure de France,
December i, 1908.
. . 353 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
It was a crushing, humiliating defeat, but was due
not so much to any fault of his own as to the defection of
the Royalists. Lamartine's resentment against this party
was intense. On more than one occasion he had con-
demned the reactionary tendencies of the "Carlists," as
they were called. In a letter to Virieu (October 25, 1831)
evidences of his rancour abound : " I know the party thor-
oughly, and I repeat, I despise it as much as any other." l
Constitutional rule under a prince of the elder branch of
the Bourbon dynasty had been, as we know, Lamartine's
ideal. But the faults committed by the Crown and the
reactionary party had made it clear to him that during
the minority of the Due de Bordeaux, the sole representa-
tive of the elder branch, and then (1830) but ten years of
age, it would be folly to expect a successful "third" Res-
toration. M. Fernand Caussy, in an interesting mono-
graph on Lamartine's political debuts, expresses the
opinion that he had founded his faith on the gradual for-
mation in the Chamber of a Legitimist majority, which,
gaining in strength and influence, should at the opportune
moment force Louis-Philippe's abdication, and restore
the throne to its legitimate owner, the Due de Bordeaux. 2
Lamartine's refusal at Bergues to repudiate the old r6-
gime and unreservedly adhere to the July Monarchy lends
colour to M. Caussy 's contention. Moreover, a passage
in a letter, dated August 14, to the Marquis Gino Cap-
poni, is pregnant with the regret he feels at the destruc-
tion of the throne his forefathers had served for genera-
tions. "All our concerted plans for social perfectibility
and the betterment of humanity have been suddenly up-
set by the overthrow, I might even say suicide, of July.
Never did Providence confide a more holy or easy mission
1 Correspondence, DXLIII.
* Due de Bordeaux, son of Due de Bern, born 1820, died 1883, gener-
ally known as Comte de Chambord, was offered the French throne in
1871. Cf. Caussy, op. tit., November 16, 1908.
. . 354 . .
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
to a reigning family. All has collapsed owing to the folly
of a minister." * And yet, ingenious as is M. Caussy's
reasoning, it is far from conclusive. During the early
stages of Lamartine's public life, everything points to his
frank acceptance of the July Monarchy; an acceptance
most certainly not prompted by sympathy with the usur-
pation of a throne, but because for the time being he real-
ized that it offered the only chance of salvation to France,
threatened by a revival of the Reign of Terror and of that
form of the Republic which, in the experience of his child-
hood, was inseparable from the Terror. As a Legitimist
he grieved to see those holding the same fundamental
principles as himself place personal rancour ahead of
patriotism, and ally themselves with the opposition at the
risk of overthrowing with Louis- Philippe the only guar-
antees of political stability left to France. 2 His evolution
towards republicanism was to progress through a series of
curves, such as govern the psychic and moral laws of soci-
ology as they do the physical laws of nature. His pessi-
mism concerning the political future of his country was
but passing. Even now he believed that "the work of
progressive civilization could be resumed in France in-
dependently of politicians and forms of government." s
Lamartine would have us to understand that voters at
Bergues almost immediately repented of the partial de-
fection which had cost him the election. There is warrant
for this belief. His defeat was undoubtedly the result of a
defect of form rather than of principle. The successful
candidate, M. Lemaire, had accepted his election condi-
tionally, and in view of his health had stipulated that his
tenure of office should be brief. 4 Many staunch friends
believed that within a short period Lamartine could run
1 Correspondance, DXLI. * Cf. Cochin, op. cit., p. xii.
1 Correspondance, DXLI.
4 Cf. Cochin, op. cit., p. 161; also Jean des Cognets, La Vie interieurc de
Lamartine, p. 171.
355
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
again, practically uncontested. In view of this contin-
gency Lamartine was prevailed upon to prolong his so-
journ at Hondschoote. It was only when M. Lemaire,
yielding to official pressure, actually left to take up his
duties, that his defeated rival also thought of departure.
On August 6 Lamartine was in Paris, where he visited
Casimir P6rier, then Prime Minister, who expressed deep
regret over his failure to obtain a seat, and gave encour-
agement for the future. A week in the capital, under the
shadow of the parliamentary tribune where he had so
ardently desired to shine, was all he could bear, and he
hastily regained the quiet glades of Saint-Point. But
even here the demon of politics pursued him. Lamartine
had brought back to Saint- Point M. Saullay de 1'Aistre,
who had been his henchman and agent during the elec-
tioneering days at Bergues, and the lust of battle was kept
alive by this brilliant politician. Another no less brilliant
and equally ardent member was soon added to the con-
clave.
On September 10, 1831, Lamartine first made the ac-
quaintance of a man who was greatly to influence his
political and religious life. "Your heart and your intelli-
gence have been for the last twenty years the tablets, so
to speak, on which I jotted down my most intimate
thoughts, and which it was given to you alone to de-
cipher," wrote the poet in the preface of his "Nouvelles
Confidences" (1849). These two men, whose mentality
was as opposite as the poles, understood each other im-
mediately, the one forming the complement of the other
by the very fact of their psychic dissimilitude. His junior
by ten years, Jean Marie Dargaud exercised from the out-
set a very considerable ascendancy over Lamartine. In-
vited to spend twenty-four hours at Saint-Point, the
young philosopher (he was thirty-one) stayed on for a
whole month, so enchanted was Lamartine by his guest's
356 .
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
incomparable conversational talents. Dargaud was a
radical in politics, and before making the personal ac-
quaintance of his host he had not been tender in his criti-
cisms of "the poet of the altar and the throne," as he and
his associates ironically termed Lamartine, classing him
contemptuously with Chateaubriand and De Maistre,
"les Prophetes du PasseV' Nor was Dargaud's religious
philosophy calculated to meet with Lamartine's unquali-
fied approval. The "intellectual progressists" to whom
Dargaud belonged sought a leader who should prove
himself a capable "Prophet of the Future." "Not less
than our ancestors," says Dargaud, "we strove for an
ideal ; even a more exalted ideal than theirs. We aspired,
by means of railways, steam, inventions, by the might of
thought, to accomplish unity between the whole human
race, as the legislators of the ancient world sought to
constitute .unity in a nation. ..." To the gospel of Chris-
tianity they opposed a philosophic and humanitarian
evangelism. In other words, they sought to regenerate
the world by means of rationalism. 1 It seems well-nigh
incredible that Dargaud should have fixed upon the au-
thor of the but lately published "Harmonies poetiques et
religieuses" (June, 1830) as the "prophet" the philos-
ophers of his ilk were in search of. Nevertheless, he lost
no time in making his meaning clear, and Lamartine de-
fended himself so half-heartedly that Dargaud had every
reason to believe he would be successful.
Religion formed the basis of the first conversation be-
tween the poet and the philosopher. Questioned by his
new friend concerning his orthodoxy, Lamartine replied :
" Je le suis un peu des levres, mais je ne le suis guere de
cceur." 2 And he goes on to confess: "To tell the truth
I have never been completely orthodox. Heaven is my
1 Des Cognets, op. cit. t p. 173.
1 Citation from Dargaud's Journal. Cf. Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 184.
. . 357 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
witness that I valiantly struggled to be so. I did my ut-
most to possess the simple faith ["la foi du charbonnier,"
he picturesquely terms it]. I had been very unhappy. I
had lost an affection, the most profound and ardent love
of my youth. Suffering had broken me. I thirsted for
absolute religion. I longed for consolation, at least for
forgetfulness. I wanted to do good for myself, and to
make my mother very happy. I wished, for ten years I
strove, to take refuge in tradition. All in vain." "Well,"
replied Dargaud, "as you did not find solace there, join
us. Live in fraternity with your century. Be a man of
your times. The spirit which fought with your desire,
your resolution, your parti-pris, allow me to add, with
your impiety, this Spirit of the Future, will always be
the stronger. You are but a man: it is the God." On the
morrow the conversation was resumed. Dargaud, re-
turning to the attack with redoubled energy, pressed his
antagonist for a definite committal, Lamartine fencing
the while, gently and sadly seeking to evade being too
closely cornered. The discussion took place in the gar-
den of the old manor at Milly, a spot hallowed by the
memories of childhood and the shade of the mother he
had idolized. To Lamartine it seemed that the lost dear
ones were present, awaiting the verdict which fell from
his lips. Although in his heart he leaned towards pan-
theism, rationalism, and disdain of unreasoning ortho-
doxy, the religiosity which was an essential compo-
nent of his spiritual nature forbade a frank and definite
avowal. "I cannot decide," he murmured. "Here I find
myself entangled by the adorable faith of the past and the
terrible uncertainty of the future. Long have I struggled
to know where Duty lies." Then, political ambitions re-
gaining the mastery, he brusquely ended the metaphysi-
cal discussion with the petulant exclamation: "For the
time being I do not wish it : perhaps later I may, when my
358
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
conviction is more ripe. On the religious ground I am still
unprepared; but for the political battle I am ready.
Consequently I shall attack Politics before Religion. The
role you offer me would be inopportune. It would estab-
lish my reputation as a philosopher, but it would kill me
as a statesman." 1
During the score of years the close intimacy was to last
Dargaud's metaphysical influence, although persistently
exercised, never obtained more than a superficial hold
over the mind of his friend. Lamartine floated continu-
ally between revolt against dogmatic orthodoxy, mild and
undefined pantheism, a rationalism of a form more in-
stinctive than scientific, and that ever-recurrent religios-
ity which, as has been said, constituted the vital essence
of his being. Politically, on the other hand, Dargaud's
keen intelligence and sound common sense were to prove
of inestimable value. If Madame de Lamartine dubbed
Dargaud her husband's "bad angel," it was because her
zeal as a neophyte dreaded any attaint against the or-
thodoxy she blindly cherished, not because she mis-
trusted his political sagacity.
It was on this first visit to Saint-Point that Dargaud
gained an insight of Lamartine's political views. After
dinner, on the night of his arrival, the poet read aloud the
opening pages of his "Politique rationnelle." Dargaud
notes in his diary: "This pamphlet is as remarkable for
the talent it displays as for its principles. M. Saullay ob-
served to Lamartine: 'You are becoming quite demo-
cratic." 1 When asked his personal opinion, Dargaud
replied : " It is a magnificent point of departure. It proves
to me the evolution of a poet about to become an orator."
It would appear that to the practical, nay radical, Dar-
gaud, the sentiments expressed in the "Politique ra-
tionnelle" seemed disappointingly anodyne, totally lack-
1 Cf. Des Cognets, op. cil., p. 192.
. . 359 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
ing in the revolutionizing energy his philosophy aspired
to. When later he showed the pamphlet to Casimir Perier
the old statesman handed it back to him with the remark :
" M. de Lamartine, at least as chimerical as F6nelon, only
does us half justice. If he ever emerges from the vague-
ness of theories and assumes power, he will understand
that the spiritual horizon and the horizon of action are
two very distinct things. The first is a perspective, the
second is an arena, in which it is rather more difficult to
manoeuvre." 1
This must be the impression left on the reader after
a first perusal of the document. A closer scrutiny, how-
ever, reveals the fundamental altruism which is symp-
tomatic of Lamartine's social and political gospel ; a gos-
pel to which he remained steadfast throughout his life.
Doctrines which appeared as vague theories to the states-
men of 1830, which loomed to them as the dangerous
phantasms of a poetic brain devoid of practical induction,
have since become the current coin of social politics. If
it be true, as Nietzsche avers, that "philosophy is the
expression of a temperament," it is in his "Politique ra-
tionnelle" that we must seek the manifestation of Lamar-
tine's soul. It is there we shall find the genesis of his polit-
ical theorem, the germ of the sociology which guided and
moulded his public life. His generous nature, impulsive
and often paradoxical, his personal morality and individ-
ual foibles, are all readily discerned in this compendium
of his intellectual effort. Would that it were possible to
transcribe in extenso the one hundred and thirty-odd
pages : a partial analysis gives but inadequately the pith
of its contents. In the course of this study, however, ref-
erence will be made to the principal political and social
reforms Lamartine advocated, or successfully carried,
during his parliamentary career, all of which are touched
1 Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 187.
. . 360
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
upon in this, his first important public utterance. "With
this vast programme," writes M. mile Deschanel, "a
programme traversed by prophetic gleams, he resolutely
entered the new era." *
It was perhaps presumptuous of Lamartine to insist
that in this expose" he resembled no one. 2 The ideas and
theories therein expounded are not all strictly original,
although he unhesitatingly assumes the paternity of
most. Many thought as he did on several of the problems
he presented, but there was probably not another politi-
cian in France who at that moment would have con-
sented to appear before the world as fathering all that he
advanced. Himself commenting on this treatise years
later, Lamartine wrote: "My delicate and embarrassed
situation condemned me to political generalities, and for-
bade the passion which alone gives life to pamphlets. My
success was consequently only mediocre." 3 Casimir
PeVier's judgment was not lacking in finesse. A diagnosis,
unless accompanied by a specific remedy, is but cold com-
fort to the patient. Lamartine had no panacea to offer for
the manifold disorders from which his country was suffer-
ing. He could learnedly diagnose and gently probe, but
he lacked both the skill and the courage, born of convic-
tion, necessary for the extirpation of the cancer. The in-
stitutions he conceives, and which he aims to realize, are
in fact, in his eyes, a development of the practical teach-
ings of Christianity. The subtile influences of the epoch
when Madame Charles and her surroundings held him en-
tranced had gradually given place to sentiments of a less
mystical order. M. Deschanel notes the progressive mod-
ification of the beliefs education and custom and senti-
ment had originally inculcated, adding: "The Catholic
phase of his imagination ended about the middle of the
1 Lamartine, vol. I, p. 240.
1 Conespondance, DXLII. * Mtmoircs potitiquef, vol. I, p. 305.
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
'Harmonies,' which are already tinged by pantheism: he
now enters upon his neo-Christian phase, and belongs
henceforth to Rational Christianity.'' 1 l The Revolution
he had formerly abhorred, with its device, Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity, no longer fills his soul with
terror. A Legitimist by tradition, even yet by political
conviction, he accepts the advent of the younger branch
as the inevitable result of the faults of the elder, and the
first flush of the dawn, when he will welcome republican-
ism as the equally inevitable consequence of the sterility
of the July Monarchy, is not far distant. 2
"In politics he remained an individualist," says M.
Citoleux. "Nevertheless, he was subjected to the influ-
ences of the various schools which shared the nineteenth
century, the theocratic, the doctrinaire, the democratic,
the liberalist. . . . The 'Politique rationnelle' demon-
strates to us that the Doctrinaire is at once a Theocrat
and a Democrat." * Although Lamartine terms Saint-
Simonism "une religion moins un Dieu," he admits its
virtues, and recognizes that the sociological and religious
tenets it professed were instrumental in detaching enthu-
siasts from the gross materialism which hemmed them
round. 4 To ultra-practical politicians too much impor-
tance may seem accorded to the political application of
what was then termed "Rational Christianity," which is
in fact the Christian Democracy of our own day in old-
fashioned garb. At once a Theocrat and a Democrat, as
M. Citoleux has said, it was only logical that Lamartine
should warmly advocate the separation of Church and
State, and the adoption of electoral laws approaching as
nearly as possible to universal suffrage. Sincerely reli-
gious himself, but recognizing the reciprocal disadvan-
1 Deschanel, op. tit., vol. I, p. 239.
* Cf. Politique rationnelle, pp. 79, 98, 103.
1 Lamartine. La Poesie philosophique, p. 240.
4 Politique rationnelle, p. 108.
. . 362
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
tages of a too close political union between the two great
mentors of the human conscience, he believed that true
religion would be the gainer by this separation of tem-
poral interests. Again, a democrat in the widest sense of
the term, he was convinced that a close amalgamation of
the material interests of the classes best guaranteed the
stability of the State, provided they were represented
proportionally with interests they had at stake. 1
The "Politique rationnelle" was written during the
month of September, 1831, and published in October by
Gosselin in Paris. Originally intended for insertion in the
" Revue europenne," the manuscript reached the editor
so swollen in bulk that it was decided to issue it as a
pamphlet. 2 As has been said, Dargaud and Saullay were
guests at Saint- Point during the composition of this po-
litical essay. Undoubtedly both were frequently con-
sulted as the manuscript progressed. But in his letters to
Virieu during the last six or eight years Lamartine had
touched, in more or less detail, on nearly all the problems
he treats in his pamphlet. Prince Talleyrand, whom
Lamartine had visited while in London in May and June,
1831,' had also been instrumental in strengthening his
convictions on many points. Laying aside his own po-
litical prejudices, Talleyrand had accepted office under
Louis- Philippe, and represented the new rgime as French
Ambassador to England. "I was treated by Prince de
Talleyrand," writes the young candidate for the suf-
frages of the electors at Bergues, "with cordiality and
distinction, no attempt being made to capture me for the
July Monarchy, the Prince placing himself during our
conversations above the miserable party and dynastic
1 Cf . Politique rationnelle, pp. 69, 75.
1 Cf. Preface; also letters to M. Edmond de Cazales, published by
M. Louis Barthou in 1913 in volume entitled A Lamartine, p. 16.
3 Lamartine erroneously gives the year 1830 as the date of this visit.
Cf. Memoires politigues, vol. I, p. 286.
. . 363
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
quarrels. . . . From this time on Prince de Talleyrand
admitted me to the most confidential intimacy, expound-
ing his diplomatic aims, which were less French than
European in scope." l As has been said, Talleyrand had
been among the first to appreciate the young poet when
the "M6ditations" appeared in 1820. The old diplo-
matist had followed with interest the subsequent literary
and public career of the gifted man who now enjoyed his
hospitality, and although we must allow for the inevitable
flights of imagination in Lamartine's reminiscences, it is
not improbable that the discerning politician lost no op-
portunity of implanting his views in the mind of his
younger colleague. Moreover, the task which Talleyrand
had undertaken, namely, the consolidation of the peace
of Europe and the settlement of the vexed situation in
Belgium and France, was one with which Lamartine was
wholly in accord.
But Madame Angebert had also had her share in the
acceptance by Lamartine of certain necessary evils in the
political world. Through her he had been made to under-
stand that in the rough-and-tumble of party strife in a
national legislative arena the fair fabric of his policies of
sentiment was more than likely to be soiled and torn.
This he admits when thanking her for her critical analysis
of the "Politique rationnelle," which the Dunkirk news-
papers had published. "I understand and I admit what
you say concerning these parties and the necessity of rec-
ognizing their existence. Yes, they must be admitted as a
fact when one comes to the application of policies; but
never as having rights when one is making theoretic poli-
tics. Up to the present this is all I have attempted, and a
writer cannot enforce the application of his theories. If
ever I am a Minister or the dictator of my hamlet, I shall
apply my theories, and recognize both the existence and
1 Mbnoircs politiques, vol. I, p. 287.
. . 364 .
POLITICAL AMBITIONS AND VIEWS
the madness of parties in order to lead them whither we
must all go." 1 When announcing the composition of his
political treatise to Madame Angebert (October 8, 1831),
Lamartine styled it "Une complaisance pour des amis";
but to Virieu he is more frankly outspoken. On the 25th
of the same month, when informing his friend of the pub-
lication of the "Politique rationnelle," he states that he
awaits neither good nor evil results. "All the personal
benefit I desire from it is that after I am dead, should
I leave a name, and a hundred or two hundred years
hence some one were to ask: 'How did this man re-
gard the superannuated problems of his day, and fore-
see the future?' my pages answer for me the idle
curiosity, or friendly remembrance, which prompted
the query." 2
M. Louis Barthou, formerly (1896) Cabinet Minister,
when analyzing this document, exclaims: "It remains in
reality as the impartial and magnificent witness of an
opinion, still original and forcible enough to dominate
to-day our uncertainties, and to impose itself upon our
consideration." s
That Lamartine was pleased with what he had written
is conceivable. He knew he had given utterance to theo-
ries soon to become facts. "Our theories become sub-
stantial truths within a century," he assures Virieu. 4 To
Madame de Girardin he had written a week earlier: "You
have received my political letter ["Sur la Politique ra-
tionnelle"]. But it is nothing: politics should never be
put in writing, but enacted in flesh and bone ; you know I
have always felt myself capable of doing this, for only
1 Letter cited by Seche, Les Amities de Lamartine, p. 278. The letter
is dated from Macon, December n, 1831.
* Correspondence, DXLIII.
1 "Autour de la Politique rationnelle," A Lamartine (published during
commemorative fltes at Bergues in 1913), p. 32.
4 Correspondence, DXLV.
365 .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
two very ordinary qualities are needful : clear-mindedness
and strength of character. Who does not possess these?
But I renounce it all, for the want of votes, and for the
remainder of my days I sink back to inertia, poetry,
and philosophy; three things which agree with, each
other." '
1 Correspondence, DXLIV.
CHAPTER XXVII
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
LAMARTINE made at least a pretence of accepting with
equanimity the period of enforced political idleness his
failure at the polls made inevitable.
The prospect of his journey to the Orient was ever
before his eyes, but the disturbed condition of the coun-
tries he desired to visit and the unsatisfactory sanitary
conditions prevailing on the eastern seaboard of the
Mediterranean forbade immediate departure. As early
as October 8, 1831, he wrote Madame Angebert that the
trip was to take place "in February next," provided the
cholera, then raging in the Orient, permitted. 1 Two
months earlier he had informed the Marquis Gino Cap-
pom that, should he be unsuccessful in his attempts to
enter Parliament, he would start in a few months on his
"philosophical and political excursions in Syria, Egypt,
and Greece." 2 Now he was determined to postpone the
trip not later than the summer of 1832.
Meanwhile his activities were concentrated on the
improvement of his estates and the composition of
what he termed his "great poem," "M6moires du cure
de XXX," to be known to the world, at a later date,
as "Jocelyn." "It is my chef d'ceuvre," he wrote Virieu.
"Nothing in the same style has been written : it is the epic
of the inner man: of the type of 'Paul and Virginia.'" 3
But although progress was being made on "Jocelyn,"
Lamartine's interests and distractions were too diversi-
1 Letter cited by Sch6, Les Amities de Lamartine, p. 276.
* Correspondence, DXLI.
1 Ibid., DXLV. Lamartine greatly admired Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's
masterpiece.
. 367
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
fied during these opening months of 1832 to permit of his
devoting himself exclusively to the poem. "Fortunately
I swim in books," he told Virieu, "for I cannot write
verse owing to a deluge of political ideas." The letter
is indeed one long commentary on the political situation,
between the lines of which we read the lingering regret
that for the nonce he must be severed from active par-
ticipation in public affairs. "II me faut Constantinople
avant," he sighs, when mentioning another offer which
has been made to him. 1 He believed, with reason, that
for a couple of years, perhaps longer, the status quo would
be maintained. He would await the political reaction
he anticipated, and await it at a considerable distance
from the stage upon which the drama was being enacted.
To his sensitive nature it appeared that he was misunder-
stood, if not actually discredited, at home. This much,
at least, we grasp from the general tone of his correspond-
ence at this period. In the East he would saturate him-
self in an atmosphere his soul craved, and refresh the
poetic inflatus his plunge into the muddy waters of
practical politics had sullied. "I am going to seek, on
that great stage of all the religious and political events
of ancient times, purely personal impressions: I am go-
ing there to read, before I die, the most beautiful pages
of material creation. Should poetry reap there new im-
agery and fertile inspiration, I shall be satisfied to store
them in the silence of my soul, and use them to colour
the literary future which perhaps lies before me. That
is all." 2
But that was not all. Undoubtedly poetry played a
conspicuous part in his desire to visit the East, and to
seek there colour for the great epic ("La Chute d'un
Ange") he had conceived when leaving Naples in 1821:
1 Correspondance, DLI ; February 15, 1832.
8 Ibid., DLXII. Letter to M. Ronot, dated from Marseilles June 20, 1832.
>.- 368 -
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
the poem which was to be "as immense as nature, as
interesting as the human heart, as lofty as the sky," as
he wrote M. de Genoude at that period. 1 To those who
read the "Voyage en Orient" it will be apparent that
what Lamartine sought in the lands of Biblical tradi-
tion was not so much poetic as religious and political
inspiration. The evangelical tendencies of the social
reforms he desired to see adopted, in conjunction with
his conception of Rational Christianity applied to prac-
tical politics, demanded knowledge at first hand of the
peoples and surroundings whence the creed was originally
drawn. Almost every page of the ' ' Voyage en Orient " will
be found to substantiate the claim that the trip was under-
taken at least as much with a sociological aim in view as
by virtue of the aesthetic requirements of his art.
Lamartine was now in his forty-second year. Domes-
tic anxieties were added to his other preoccupations.
His only child, his little Julia, had developed trouble
with her lungs. The parents hoped the sea voyage and
soft climate of the Eastern Mediterranean would restore
her impaired health. We can sympathize with Lamar-
tine's eagerness to be off, to leave behind him the disap-
pointments and disillusions of the past two years. There
is every reason to believe he was sincere when he as-
sured Virieu of his joy over his recent defeat at the polls
at Macon, an election he had taken no steps to obtain,
and at which he received but thirty-five ballots as against
four hundred scored by his opponent. 2
Delayed in Macon by the serious illness of Julia, it was
only in the middle of June that he passed through Lyons,
and nearly a month later, July n, 1832, that the party
finally sailed from Marseilles. 8 The vessel Lamartine
1 Correspondance, CCXLI. ' Ibid., DLX.
* The opening pages of the Voyage en Orient are dated from Marseilles
May 20: but the Correspondance proves that he was still in Macon on
June 12.
369 ;
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
had chartered for the protracted voyage he had in con-
templation was called the Alceste, a brig of two hundred
and fifty tons burden, commanded by Captain Blanc.
Besides his wife and daughter and six servants, the poet
took with him three friends: M. Amde de Parseval,
M. de Capmas, who had interested himself in Lamartine's
unsuccessful electoral venture at Toulon, and Dr. Dela-
roiere, ex-Mayor of Hondschoote, an active partisan
during the campaign at Bergues.
In spite of the favourable season the voyage proved a
most uncomfortable one, and the little vessel which car-
ried the party was frequently storm-tossed and driven
to take refuge in ports not included in the original itin-
erary. From the Gulf of Palmas, on the southwestern
extremity of Sardinia, in which they had sought shelter,
the travellers crossed to the Tunisian coast, and thence
made the harbour of Malta (July 22). A few days later
the trip was resumed, and escorted by an English frigate
as a protection against pirates, the Alceste made her way
slowly to the Piraeus. Here again Julia's health necessi-
tated a sojourn on shore, and it was only on Septem-
ber 6, 1832, that Lamartine wrote Virieu, from Beyrout
in Syria, that after "sixty days of sea" he had finally
reached the goal of his long and perilous journey. "Thanks
to God, we have survived, without misfortune, pirates,
brigands, two epidemics of plague, and three tempests." *
Everywhere the French travellers had met with the
greatest courtesy, while material assistance had not
been stinted them. From Athens, or rather the Piraeus,
a French war- vessel convoyed the Alceste through the
pirate-infested Archipelago, parting company with her
charge only when in sight of the snow-covered peaks
of Lebanon. As Beyrout had been selected for head-
quarters, Lamartine hired a house for a year, and settled
1 Correspondence, Durvra.
- 370 .
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
his family as comfortably as circumstances would per-
mit. Although Lamartine gives a glowing description of
this establishment, it is probable that the accommoda-
tion was decidedly primitive, as five small houses, or
huts, were necessary to lodge the party, to which a sixth,
situated within the walls of the town, was added in case
the political crisis in Turkey made a refuge necessary. 1
The health of his child and the unavoidable fatigue at-
tending a journey into the interior decided Lamartine to
start alone with M. de Capmas and Amdee de Parse-
val on the tour to Jerusalem and other points of interest.
His plans included a visit to Lady Hester Stanhope, the
niece of Pitt, whose eccentricities and mysterious exist-
ence in the fastnesses of the Lebanon had long excited
the curiosity of Europe. Acknowledged by the natives
as a sort of high priestess, Lady Hester enjoyed the ven-
eration of Christians and Mohammedans alike. Fallen
from her ancient splendour, this remarkable woman was,
at the time of Lamartine's visit, living in a half-ruined
and dismantled convent concealed amidst the well-
nigh inaccessible mountains. Her religious fervour, the
deep solitude in which she lived, and the occult sciences
she was supposed to practice, combined to exalt her
naturally mystic character and to enhance the reputa-
tion of prophetess among the wild inhabitants of the
lonely district.
Lamartine was, of course, curious to meet and con-
verse with a woman whose fame was so widespread. But
she was difficult of approach, and habitually repulsed
all those, especially of her own nationality, who sought
to intrude upon her semi-religious seclusion.
In reply to a flattering note from Lamartine, in which
he had assured her that he should number as one of the
most interesting days of his pilgrimage that one on which
1 Cf. Voyage en Orient, vol. I, p. 209.
. . 371 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
he might be allowed to behold a lady who was, in her
own person, one of the wonders of those regions he was
ambitious to visit, the recluse of Dgioun condescended
to receive the French traveller. It was on September 30,
I832, 1 that Lamartine, accompanied by M. de Parseval
and Lady Hester's equerry and physician, Dr. Leo-
nardi, left Sidon to climb the rugged, bare, calcined
heights, which, rising tier above tier, led to the solitude
of Dgioun. After the long waiting imposed by this
eccentric potentate on all who sought an audience,
Lamartine was admitted to the August Presence. To him
Lady Hester appeared about fifty still a beautiful
woman whose dignity impressed the visitor. Clad in a
male Oriental costume she received her guests in a room
wherein reigned a religious gloom calculated to enhance
the effect of mystery she surrounded herself with. Lady
Hester immediately informed Lamartine that their re-
spective stars were friends and that they themselves were
destined to become intimate. This she had realized the
instant she heard his footsteps in the corridor. To
Lamartine's exclamation of surprise that she should so
rapidly honour with the name of friend a man so totally
unknown to her, the priestess replied: "It is true I know
not who you are according to the world, nor what you
have done during your life among men: but I know al-
ready who you are before God. Don't take me for mad,
as the world calls me; I can't resist talking openly with
you. There is a science, lost to-day in your Europe, a
science born in the East, which has never perished there,
which still lives. I possess that science. I read in the
1 Voyage en Orient, vol. I, p. 218; cf. also Hamel, Lady Hester Lucy
Stanhope, p. 263, and the Duchess of Cleveland's Life and Letters of Lady
Hester Stanhope, p. 275, both of which quote extensively from Lamartine's
own account of his visit. In the manuscript notes preserved in the Biblio-
theque nationale in Paris, the date of the visit to Lady Hester is given as
September 13. Cf. Lamartine, n.a.f., 46.
372
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
stars. ..." On her offering to trace his future Lamartine
begged she would refrain from doing so, fearing to "pro-
fane the Divinity which conceals the secrets of his des-
tiny," and adding: "En fait d'avenir, je ne crois qu'&
Dieu, a la libert, et a la vertu." The manuscript notes
describe Lady Hester's eyes as filled with tears when
Lamartine talks to her of his "humble Christianisme,"
but in the published pages this was changed by the
author to "mon rationalisme cm*6tien," demonstrating
the distance covered in two years by Lamartine's phi-
losophy. It would be an error, however, to give to this
"rationalisme" the force now attaching to the word. In
Lamartine's vocabulary "rationnel" and "religieux"
are synonymous. 1
Later in the day Lady Hester caused Lamartine to be
conducted to the stables where a beautiful milk-white
mare was kept in sacred state, awaiting the advent of the
Messiah she is to carry to Jerusalem. Another equally
beautiful steed was held in readiness to be ridden by Lady
Hester herself when she accompanied her Divine Master
to the Sacred City. The visit to the Prophetess of the
Lebanon left an indelible impression on the poet's mind,
but it was the weird personality of his hostess, rather
than the erratic philosophy of her religious and political
opinions, which fascinated him. Lady Hester formed a
less favourable opinion of Lamartine than she allowed
him to perceive, and she was greatly annoyed at the
passages referring to herself that appeared in his book.
Speaking of him and his visit some years later, she ob-
served: "The people of Europe are all, or at least the
1 Cf. Des destinies de la Poesie, and Mar6chal, Lamennais et Lamartine,
p. 289; also Voyage en Orient, vol. I, p. 223. Amplified and developed
in the printed pages published in 1834, the substance of these discussions
is contained in the "Notes" preserved in the Bibliotheque nationale in
Paris. The "Notes" are written in six albums, wherein Lamartine jotted
his impressions day by day. Cf . Bibliotheque nationale, MSS. n.a.f ., 43-48.
. . 373 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
greater part of them, fools, with their ridiculous grins,
their affected ways, and their senseless habits. . . . Look
at M. Lamartine getting off his horse half a dozen
times to kiss his dog, and take him out of his band-
box to feed him, on the route from Beyrout; the very
muleteers thought him a fool. And then that way of
thrusting his hands into his pockets, and sticking out
his legs as far as he could what is that like? M.
Lamartine is no poet, in my estimation, though he may
be an elegant versifier: he has no sublime ideas. Com-
pare his ideas with Shakespeare's that was indeed
a poet. . . . M. Lamartine, with his straight body and
straight fingers, pointed his toes in my face, and then
turned to his dog, and held long conversations with him.
He thought to make a great effect when he was here,
but he was grievously mistaken." 1
The two events in his life which may be said to have
exerted a determinate influence on the formation of La-
martine's religious and political thought were the voyage
to the Orient and the Revolution of July. 2 As has been
said, Lamartine's orthodoxy was more than questionable.
Tinged with a gentle pantheism, in spite of all its poetic
beauty it was unpalatable at Rome. "A philosophical
religion of pure sentiment" was Monseigneur the Bishop
of Autun's definition,* and Lamartine used almost iden-
tical words when describing his feelings at the time he
wrote "Les Harmonies." "I did not ask myself whether
I believed, but whether I felt. Well, I felt God and reli-
1 Cf. George Paston (Miss Symonds), Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth
Century, p. 254; also letters from Lady Hester to Lamartine, published by
M. Rene Doumic in Revue des Deux Mondes, September i, 1908; Lamar-
tine, by Lady Margaret Domville, p. 144; further, Stanhope Memoirs,
vol. I, p. 301: "He pointed his toes in my face (so that she felt obliged
to remark upon his elegant foot] and then turned to his dog and kissed
him."
1 Cf. E. Sugier, Lamartine, p. 114.
* Speech at Lamartine's centenary, Macon, October, 1890.
. . 374 . .
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
gion, his language, in all nature. My credo was enthusi-
asm." On the deck of the Alceste, at the moment of
departure, he pencilled in his notebook these words:
"This pilgrimage, if not that of the poet, at least that
of the Christian, would have pleased my mother."
When editing his notes for publication in 1834, this
phrase, in the light of the philosophy he had acquired dur-
ing the sojourn in Palestine, becomes: "This pilgrimage,
although perhaps not that of a Christian, at least that
of a man and a poet, would have so pleased my mother." 1
The influences which brought about this startling re-
vulsion of feeling will be unfolded as the narrative pro-
ceeds. Those who would study in detail the discrepancies
between the manuscript notes and the final text should
consult M. Christian Marechal's learned monograph,
which gives in parallel columns the text of the notes and
the printed version of the "Voyage en Orient." With
this guide it is easy to disentangle contemporaneous
impressions from those which crowded the poet's brain
when a couple of years later, at home, he undertook the
narration of his travels. Of the three large volumes one
third of the contents is almost entirely devoted to the
consideration of political, religious, and social problems,
such as are found in embryo in the "Politique ration-
nelle." 2
With all its manifest imperfections, its often stilted
style and abuse of purely poetical enthusiasm; in spite
of its lack of philosophical continuity or depth of rea-
soning, the "Voyage en Orient" constitutes a document
of real value. It is essentially a personal revelation, the
unveiling of a romanticist's soul, wherein "les mots vont
a la chasse de I'id6e, et 1'attrapent par morceaux," 8 per-
1 Voyage en Orient, vol. I, p. 29, and "Manuscript," 43, p. 5 recto, cited
by Christian Marechal, Le veritable voyage en Orient, p. 63.
* Cf . Le veritable voyage en Orient, passim.
1 Emile Deschanel, Lamartine, vol. I, p. 250.
. . 375 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
haps; yet full, not only of words, but of ideas and sub-
lime ideals. The influence of his great predecessor, Cha-
teaubriand, is often discernible, as is also the Rousseau-
ism which tainted the elder writer. But, whereas the
author of the "ItineYaire de Paris a Jerusalem" was a
Hellenist, Lamartine remains the Latin, whose Chris-
tianity, open as it is to the infiltrations of pantheism, yet
retains the mysticism of Rome and the simple faith he
lisped at his mother's knee. "The more one reflects,"
he wrote, "the more one recognizes that man himself is
capable of nothing great or beautiful, the product of his
own strength or will; but that all that is sovereignly
beautiful comes directly from Nature and from God.
Christianity, which knows everything, understood this
from the first." l Given this psychological sensibility, it
is evident that the stern majesty of Greek art came
as a deception. The colour, the sensuous softness of the
Italian outline, lay embedded in his soul, upon which the
bleakness of the Attic landscape obtained no hold. Archi-
tecturally he preferred St. Peter's to the Acropolis, the
garden-like Tuscan hills to the barren slopes of Hymet-
tus. "No, the temple of Theseus is not worthy of its
renown: as a monument it lacks life, it conveys nothing
of what it ought: beautiful it undoubtedly is, but of a
cold and dead beauty which the artist alone can divest
of its pall and free from dust. For me, I admire it, and
depart without the least desire to see it more. From the
noble stones of the Colonnade of the Vatican, the ma-
jestic and colossal dimness of St. Peter's at Rome, I never
took leave without regret, or without the hope of re-
turn." 2
It is the ideal for which the monument stands, not
the aesthetic beauty of the building itself, which evokes
and retains Lamartine's admiration. With natural scen-
1 Voyage en Orient, vol. I, p. 64. f Ibid., vol. I, p. 135.
376 - -
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
ery it is different: here the hand of God is alone discern-
ible, and the pantheist gives full rein to his emotional
faculties. The day he beheld for the first time Mount
Lebanon, Lamartine was seized with such frenzied
enthusiasm that he burst forth in impassioned lyrical
effusions. One of his companions, a young officer, could
not refrain from exclaiming: "Where do you see all that,
M. Lamartine? I see nothing of what you describe!"
"It is because I see with the eyes of a poet, while you
discern only with those of a staff-officer," replied the
author of the "Meditations." l It is curious to compare
the word-pictures of Lamartine's Greece and Syria with
those of Chateaubriand painted in his wanderings over
the same ground. With both, sentiment and fancy ob-
scure exactitude of description. Lamartine's colours are
more luxuriant and brilliant, the intensity of feeling
more poignant. Chateaubriand's Christianity, on the
other hand, is more rigidly orthodox, his analysis of the
emotions produced more penetrating. When visiting the
Sacred Shrines Lamartine's impressions are more per-
sonal and imbued with the philosophy his individual re-
ligious convictions assumed. In Lamartine's prose, poetry
is never far distant; in his philosophy, pantheism is but
thinly disguised. He is of the school of Chateaubriand,
to be sure, and Chateaubriand belonged to that of Rous-
seau : but each disciple goes a little farther than his mas-
ter, and Lamartine outstripped both. The rationalism
which tinged the "Voyage en Orient" caused the book
to be censured at Rome, in spite of its numerous pages
saturated with the essence of the Scriptures. 2
The acute moral crisis attending his religious evolution
overwhelmed him during the moments spent in silent
prayer, alone within the sanctuary of the Holy Sepulchre.
1 M. Caillet, who visited Cyprus and Syria on a geographical mission.
* Cf . Deschanel, op. '/., vol. I, p. 252 ; also Edouard Rod, Lamartine, p. 1 70.
. . 377 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Recalling the deep emotion he experienced, Lamartine
writes: "Whatever the form which solitary reflection, the
teachings of history, age, the vicissitudes of heart and
mind, have given to the religious tendencies of a man's
soul ; whether he has clung to the letter of Christianity, to
the dogma taught by his mother, or retains but a philo-
sophical Christianity based on reason; whether to him
Christ be a crucified God, or he discern in Him only the
most holy of men, made divine through virtue, the incar-
nation of supreme Truth, and dying to bear witness of
His Father ; whether Jesus be in his eyes the Son of God
or the Son of man, Divinity made man, or humanity sanc-
tified ; to such a one Christianity nevertheless remains the
creed of his memories, of his affections, and of his imag-
ination : unless it has so evaporated in the turmoil of the
century and of life, that the soul into which it was in-
stilled fails to preserve its original essence, and that the
contemplation of the sites and tangible monuments of its
original worships do not reawaken in him impressions and
cause him to vibrate with solemn ecstasy. For the Chris-
tian or for the philosopher, for the moralist or for the
historian, this sepulchre is the boundary which separates
two worlds, the old and the new : it is the point of depar-
ture of an Idea which renovated the universe, of a civiliza-
tion which transformed all; of a message which echoed
over the globe : this tomb is the sepulchre of the ancient
world and the cradle of the modern : no stone here below
has been the foundation of so vast an edifice ; no grave has
been so fruitful ; no doctrine buried for three days or three
centuries ever so victoriously demolished the rock man
had sealed over it, and gave the lie to Death in such bril-
liant and everlasting resurrection." l
The ring of Faith seems lacking in this eloquent but all
too philosophical effusion. Even the prayer which follows
1 Voyage en Orient, vol. I, p. 444.
. 378
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
is a supplication for Light and Truth rather than the out-
pouring of a soul accepting the Sacred Mysteries of a re-
vealed religion. "My prayer was ardent and earnest," he
writes; "I begged for Truth and courage, kneeling before
the tomb of Him who spread the most truth upon this
world and sacrificed himself with the greatest devotion
for the Truth of which He was the Word ; I shall ever re-
member the phrases I murmured in this hour of moral
crisis." * Lamartine thinks that perhaps his prayer was
granted: "A great gleam of reason and of conviction dif-
fused itself in my brain, and separated more clearly light
and darkness, error and truth : there are moments in life
when a man's thoughts, long vague and doubtful, and as
unstable as waves in a bottomless sea, at length touch
soundings, are broken, thrown back on themselves in new
shapes. Such was this moment to me: He who fathoms
the human mind and heart, knows it: perhaps I myself
will understand it one day. It was a mystery in my life,
which will reveal itself later."
We have no means of knowing whether the mystery
was ever fully revealed. But a letter to Virieu, written
not long after his return to France, and when already in
Parliament, contains phrases which complete, in a meas-
ure, our comprehension of the psychological crisis through
which he was passing. After a prolonged political disser-
tation, he turns to philosophy and religion, confessing
that he does not yet understand himself: "But for the
last two years a great and secret process is at work within
me, which renews and changes my convictions on every-
thing. I think we are in the wrong, and that man has
mixed too much humanity with the divine ideal. Reform
is more indispensable in the religious world than in that
of politics. When my thoughts are ripe, I shall let them
fall, as should every fruitful tree." *
1 Voyage en Orient, vol. I, p. 446. f Correspondance, DXCVIII and DC.
379 .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
But the great philosophical work he meditated was
never attempted: his thoughts never "ripened" suffi-
ciently to warrant an expos of a clear and definite system
of philosophy. Incapable of coordinating his religious
convictions with his philosophical speculations, he
drifted always enveloped in a spiritual haze. As Dargaud
puts it: "a halting stammer between a legendary creed
and a philosophy." * In vain did Dargaud urge him to
take a firm stand and to say to the world: "Keep your
temples. I should be horrified to persecute you, but I pro-
claim to you that nothing is divine unless it be God, moral
law, and the immortality of the soul." In vain did this
same mentor suggest another version of the " Vicaire Sa-
voyard." "Why should you not return from your vault
of the Holy Sepulchre as Descartes did from his Dutch
stove with the fine deism of the Sages, that deism which
is all the more religious because exempt from all supersti-
tion? And don't think that the word of our individual
man carries no weight, since that of Descartes, contained
in a few pages of the 'Discourse on Method,' founded
modern thought, and that of Rousseau vivified that
thought by giving it passion. . . . Dare the Truth," he
continues, "and without ceasing to be a poet, you will be
a thinker " 2
The final editing of the "Voyage en Orient," so differ-
ent from the original notes both in tone and in spirit, as
M. Marechal's monograph has demonstrated, 3 was done
under the eyes, almost under the control, of Dargaud. 4
1 Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 216.
* Letter to Lamartine dated December I, 1833.
3 Cf. Le veritable voyage en Orient, passim. We have confined oursehves
almost exclusively to the psychological side of Lamartine's visit to the East.
The work bristles, however, with often startling incidents of adventure,
many purely fantastic and imaginary. A practically unknown narrative
of the trip was published in 1836, under the same title, by Dr. Delaroiere,
who accompanied the party, and whose accounts differ materially as to
time, place, and incident from those of his friend and employer.
4 Cf. Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 222.
- 380
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
Hence it is not to be wondered at that fervent Catholics
were often distressed, even shocked, by what to some
appeared an apostasy of the dogma the author of the
"Meditations," the "poet of the Throne and Altar," had
been supposed to cherish. 1
Alexandre Vinet, the eminent Swiss divine and literary
critic, expounding this averred apostasy, exclaims: "It
has been frequently stated that Lamartine's religion has
changed since the epoch of the first 'Meditations.' No,
it has not changed: no, M. de Lamartine has abjured
nothing. One does not abjure sentiments, one does not
abjure dreams: and the first religion of the poet had
no more consistency than the last." * This criticism is
severe, and, we believe, manifestly unfair. Lamartine's
evolution from a blind acceptance of the ecclesiastical
dogmas of Christianity to that of a rational creed,
founded on the essential principles of the teachings of
Christ, is unquestionable. But to maintain that the
poet's religion was never founded on a basis more con-
sistent than that of sentiments and dreams is totally to
misunderstand and misrepresent the fabric of Lamar-
tine's metaphysical concept. Doubtless, it remains true
that his Catholicism was more closely allied to imagina-
tion and sentiment than conviction. Yet, when he grad-
ually emancipated himself from the dogma of his child-
hood, his independence was respectful, his sentiments
remained those of filial submission. Never can a disdain-
ful or arrogant word be traced in his private or public
utterances, never is a gesture of revolt or an attempt to
proselytize recorded in his political speeches or social
intercourse. If no other explanation is forthcoming con-
cerning the mystery of his mental attitude when alone
on his knees in the Holy Sepulchre, in a Presence where
1 Cf . Roustan, Lamartine et les Catholigues Lyonnais, p. 67.
* Etudes sur la literature franf aise au XlX^^Siede, vol. u, p. 131.
- 381 v
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
most highly imaginative minds must have been (and even
the indifferent are) abnormally sensitive to the surround-
ings, could it not be that the very sincerity of Lamartine's
fundamental Christianity caused him to reject as super-
fluous the ecclesiastic adjuncts with which man has over-
spread the Word?
M. Sugier, although admitting that no serious compar-
ison can be attempted between St. Augustine and Lamar-
tine, cites, as characteristic of the latter, a passage from
the writings of the great African: "There was lacking
therein [the systems of the ancient philosophers] the name
of Christ, the name which on my mother's knee I imbibed
with her milk, and which I preserved in the recesses of my
heart, and I realized that any doctrine whence this name
be absent, no matter what truth it contained, with what
beauty it be proclaimed, could never satisfy me." l The
words might be Lamartine's own: it is certain he would
unhesitatingly, at any period of his life, have subscribed
to the sentiment expressed. His studies in comparative
theology, his intercourse with Maronites, Moslems, and
Greeks, had broadened his views, even considerably aug-
mented the unorthodoxy of his sentimental attitude to-
wards the Church of Rome, but the spiritual essence of
the creed he revered ever remained intact. His abhor-
rence of atheism was as great as that he entertained for
political and social anarchism : he recognized the necessity
for constituted authority in the spiritual as in the mun-
dane domain. But liberty of conscience was to him, as was
the liberty of the individual in the State, a sine qua non
for the spiritual and material progress of Humanity. The-
ocratic tyranny in the hands of a licensed hierarchy of
priests was as incompatible with the true conception of
liberty as that of a dynastic despot or of the demagogue
1 Lamartine, etude morale, p. 154; cf. also Gaston Boissier in Revue des
Deux Mondes, January I, 1888.
382
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
the rabble exalts to power, polluting the sacred cause of
Freedom. 1 Lamennais and his doctrine of Consent had
given place to Victor Cousin, whose Eclecticism was in
turn to yield to the Rationalism of Instinct, a doctrine
which, although it did not reject Revelation, yet subor-
dinated it to instinctive Reason. All these phases can be
readily discerned in the chapters of the "Voyage en
Orient " wherein sociology gradually displaces meta-
physics, and Lamartine's thought becomes more defi-
nitely secular. Yet, if Lamartine returned from the East
less of a Christian in the theologian's acceptance of the
term, the sojourn amid the various creeds with which he
had been brought into intellectual contact had increased
his innate and ineradicable mysticism.
The pilgrimage to the Holy Shrines and scenes of Bibli-
cal episodes lasted forty-five days. Lamartine had, in-
deed, intended pushing on to Egypt in response to an
invitation from Ibrahim Pasha, but the long quarantine
imposed upon travellers from the plague-infested dis-
tricts of Syria caused him to abandon the plan, and to
return to Beyrout. Thence, on November 12, 1832, he-
writes Virieu that he finds Julia much improved in health.
"I had a cow-stable built communicating with her room
by a window over her bed. This unctuous air and the
softness of the climate have completely restored her." *
Alas! the remedy was to prove unavailing, and the resto-
ration to health only apparent. Nevertheless, the parents
felt so reassured that in the same letter Lamartine an-
nounced that his wife had decided to start on a fort-
night's trip to the ruins of Baalbek, while he tended the
invalid. On her return Lamartine proposed to start out
again, himself visiting the famous ruins, Damascus,
1 Cf. Le Conseitter du Peuple, "On Atheism," passim; also Citoleux,
op. cit. t p. 295.
* Correspondence, DLXIX.
. 383 -
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Palmyra, and the Euphrates. "I hope to return and be
with you towards the autumn of 1833. In spite of the
enormous expense inseparable from such a suite, and
eight or ten charming Arab horses in my stables, one of
which I shall bring back to you, keeping several for my-
self, my finances are in good shape and will amply suffice
for my enterprise."
With the first autumn chills, however, the child began
to cough, congestion of the lungs set in, and within five
days, on December 6, the end came. "She suffered only
a few hours," wrote the bereaved father to Virieu, "and
when the end was near she was unconscious. I have had
the body embalmed, and shall bring her back to lay be-
side her grandmother and ourselves, at Saint-Point." 1
Julia's death provoked in Lamartine neither an access of
pessimism nor of mysticism : a proof of the invincible force
of his rationalism. 2 His grief was overwhelming, his sorrow
inconsolable, but his resignation to the Divine Will must
have satisfied the most exacting orthodoxy. The final
stanzas of the poem his affliction inspired give evidence of
the sincerity of his acquiescence in the universal law:
"Tous mes jours et mes nuits sont de meTne couleur;
La priere en mon sein avec 1'espoir est morte.
Mais c'est Dieu qui t'6crase, 6 mon &me ! Sois forte,
Baise sa main sous la douleur!" *
That Julia's condition was from the start far more seri-
ous than the passages in the printed "Voyage" suggest is
patent from a comparison with the unpublished notes in
the Bibliotheque nationale. Especially at Malta (July,
1832) was the crisis prolonged and alarming. "We hesi-
tate," wrote Lamartine in his diary, "we are deliberating,
1 Correspondence, DLXX. * Cf. Citoleux, op. cit., p. 297.
* "Gethsemani, ou la Mort de Julia," Voyage en Orient, vol. n, p. 142;
cf. also Correspondance, DLXX: "I seek to conform my will to the Divine
Will, the only one I can henceforth worship. I recognize this Will as
stronger and better than our own, even when it crushes us." Letter to
Virieu, December 20, 1832.
... 384 -.
VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT
whether we shall not return to the coast of France or that
of Italy. One consideration alone detains us: a quaran-
tine of between fifteen and twenty days is enforced on the
return to France. In six days we can reach the coast of
Greece, and thence in four days be in Smyrna. There we
shall find a good climate, soft and pure air, and smiling
country places, far from the sea, to rent." l The "Voy-
age" terms this illness an "indisposition," but also points
to Smyrna as the ultima Thule of the pilgrimage. "There
I shall settle my wife and child, and go alone across Asia
Minor to visit the other parts of the Orient." 2 M. Chris-
tian Marechal 3 is inclined to the belief that Lamartine
sought by minimizing the gravity of his child's condition,
when writing for the public, to attenuate his own respon-
sibility. Be this as it may, there would seem to be little
doubt that the girl's days were numbered, and that a
return to France or the continuation of the voyage in
search of a more propitious climate could have made no
material difference. Lamartine had no self-reproaches to
make, no selfish motives which might add to the bitter-
ness of his loss. If under the circumstances the journey
had been an imprudence in the eyes of some, others
(among them the mother herself) had seen in it a possible
alleviation, if not a cure, of the fell disease from which the
child suffered. When writing to his aunt, the Gomtesse
de Villars, on January 10, 1833, Lamartine, it is true,
pathetically cries: "Combien je deplore ce voyage!" As
the blow had to fall he would have preferred to be with
his own people. But he adds that he had at least the sad
consolation of not attributing the calamity to the voyage,
and the painful certitude that it must inevitably have
overtaken them had they remained quietly in Macon. 4
1 MSS., p. 59 verso, 60 recto. * Voyage en Orient, vol. I, p. 83.
1 Le veritable voyage en Orient, p. 55.
4 Correspondence, DLXXIII; cf. also Charles Alexandra, Madame de Lamer-
tine, p. 103.
CHAPTER XXVIII
SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION
STUNNED and broken by the loss of their only child, the
parents lingered on at Beyrout from December, 1832, till
the end of March, 1833. The shock had caused Madame
de Lamartine not only intense mental but also great phys-
ical suffering, and she was incapable of even the slightest
effort. Gradually the husband and friends, among whom
was the devoted Amdee de Parseval, nursed her back to
life and a resigned acceptance of the sorrow she was to
bear with such admirable fortitude, alone finding relief in
her charities and unparalleled devotion to the genius
whose brilliant future she helped to realize.
The Alceste, which had carried the travellers from Mar-
seilles, was due for the return voyage only in May. Mean-
while nothing could be done but await as patiently as
possible an opportunity for breaking with associations
well-nigh unbearable. Wishing to spare his wife the an-
guish of travelling in the same vessel which carried the
remains of their child, Lamartine cast about for an occa-
sion to charter a transport which should take his party
by sea to Constantinople. Thence, it had been decided,
the travellers would make their way to France overland,
through Macedonia, Servia, Hungary, and Austria. It
was only after long delay, however, that eventually a
small vessel, the Sophie, was secured, and on April 15
the homeward voyage began.
In the meantime, the first poignancy of their grief
abated, and Madame de Lamartine being sufficiently re-
stored, the stricken parents sought relief in short expedi-
tions in the surrounding country. Lamartine had con-
. 386 - .
SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION
tracted with his publishers in Paris for a book on the
Orient, and Baalbek, Damascus, the Lebanon, and other
places in the neighbourhood still remained unvisited.
He must do honour to his signature and compile the requi-
site number of pages an eager public was already looking
forward to. On March 28, with a caravan of twenty-six
horses and a large escort the party left Beyrout to visit
the ruins of Baalbek, returning by way of Damascus. It
was on the last spurs of the Lebanon, whence a view of the
sea burst upon the travellers who had selected the spot
for the midday halt, that a courier bearing letters from
Europe overtook Lamartine. Enclosed in a communica-
tion from the French Consul at Beyrout was a letter from
Madame de Coppens informing her brother that he had
been elected deputy from Bergues on January 7, 1833. In
his "Voyage en Orient" the author exclaims: "A fresh
affliction added to so many. Unfortunately I desired this
mission at a former time, and had solicited a charge
I cannot decline to-day without ingratitude. I will go:
but how I now crave that the chalice might be spared
me." 1 Years later, in the preface of the volumes con-
taining his public speeches, Lamartine says that, after
reading the letters notifying him of his election to Parlia-
ment, he changed his route, which was to lead him to
Egypt, and started home via Constantinople. 2 This as-
sertion is, however, manifestly an afterthought, for on
April 9, 1833, when the message reached him, all his plans
had been made for the return to Europe by way of Tur-
key and the Danube. "I give up touching in Egypt," he
wrote, "as it would delay us until October." s
The preface of the "Tribune" frankly admits that it
was "une Election de famille" which his sister had suc-
1 Voyage en Orient, vol. II, p. 260.
* La Tribune deM.de Lamartine, vol. I, p. 12.
1 Correspondence, DLXXIII.
. . 387
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
cessfully engineered at Bergues. The influence of his
brother-in-law, and the unremitting efforts of Madame
Angebert and other personal friends who had been instru-
mental in pushing his candidacy in 1831, had undoubt-
edly achieved the result. M. Paul Lemaire, his fortunate
opponent at the polls, resigned office in June, just prior to
Lamartine's departure for the Orient. This resignation
had, however, been kept secret owing to political com-
plications, and it was only five months later that the
seat became effectively vacant. 1 Between November and
January, when the election took place, ten candidates
had presented themselves ; when announcing the tenth to
the Prefect, M. Gaspard, the official agent, on December
25 added an eleventh name : that of Alphonse de Lamar-
tine. Of course his relations and friends had been moving
Heaven and earth in favour of the absentee, and in view
of the undesirable opinions held by some of the candi-
dates, it is probable the Government at least tacitly con-
nived in furthering the chances of so distinguished a man
as Lamartine, to whom also family connection in the dis-
trict lent substantial weight. Nevertheless, the victory
was a more brilliant triumph than even the most sanguine
had dared to hope for. When the poll was taken, Lamar-
tine, out of a possible 349 votes, received 196, M. de Bail-
Ion scoring but 80, while the two other candidates ad-
mitted to ballot obtained respectively 60 and 13.*
"I will go!" said Lamartine when the news reached
him in the far-off Lebanon forest. But we know that the
joy with which he would, a few months earlier, have wel-
comed this crowning desire of his prime, was now as bit-
ter ashes. His first cry of despair was sincere. Among
letters of the period is one to M. Aubel, at Macon, to
1 Cochin, Lamartine et la Flandre, p. 177; contra, Correspondence, DLXXI,
letter to Virieu (undated) in which he says: "II est possible que je suive
jusqu'en gypte quelques jours."
2 Cochin, op. cit., p. 194.
SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION
whom he writes from Constantinople on June 25: "I re-
turn the most unhappy of men, my wife more miserable
even than I. I discern nothing in the future but disen-
chantment, solitude, and despair. My life is finished, and
I would not begin it over again at such a price. ... I de-
sired political activity, I desire it no more; I have no
longer sufficient faith in myself and in events to commu-
nicate it to others. I earnestly wish that a dissolution of
the Chambers dispense me, by no fault of my own, from
listlessly perorating on the vanities of the century which
no longer move me." * The same plaint occurs in the
printed pages of the "Voyage" when the news of his elec-
tion reaches him : " A life of contemplation, of philosophy,
of poetry and solitude, would be the only repose my heart
can find before it breaks completely." 2 From the pen of
another this would rank as pessimism of the darkest hue,
but Lamartine has accustomed us to fits of despondency,
none the less sincere because temporary. In the present
instance the wound was too recent, his grief too poignant,
to permit of the reassertion of the optimism which dwelt
in the depths of his buoyant temperament. Time alone
could soften the anguish of his heart and restore the
equilibrium of his mental poise.
Meanwhile, on April 15, 1833, the parents, after a final
farewell to the house which had been the last home of
their idolized daughter, turned disconsolately to face the
world once more. It had been decided that Madame de
Lamartine should go to Jerusalem, where she desired to
pray at the Sacred Shrines before forever turning her
back on scenes her simple and unquestioning faith held
holy. The Sophie set sail from Beyrout on a sea of glass,
her prow pointed for Jaffa, whence an excursion was made
to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Lamartine remained alone
at Jaffa during the days the party was absent. Why he
1 Correspondance, DLXXIV. * Voyage en Orient, vol. u, p. 261.
389 -
LIFE "OF LAMARTINE
did not himself visit Bethlehem, which the plague had
prevented his seeing when in this district a few months
earlier, remains a mystery to which neither the manu-
script notes nor the published account give any clue.
"Five days passed in wandering alone in the neighbour-
hood. ... I write verses on the only subject which occu-
pies my thoughts. . . ." And he adds that he would like
to remain there always, for it is an ideal resting spot "for
a man weary of life, and desiring nothing more than a
place in the sun." * The loss of his child is, of course, one
of the factors, perhaps the chief apparent one, in this
apathy of mind and body. But there were others: the
loss of beliefs which had been sacred to childhood, the
destruction of ideals which had illumined his faith in
the future.
The reader will remember Lamartine's pronounced en-
thusiasm when Lamennais's " Essai sur 1' indifference en
matiere de religion" first became known to him in i8i8. 2
Since then he had met the abbe and become an eager con-
vert to the principles of his religious and political philos-
ophy. Writing in 1856, Lamartine gives us to understand
that their opinions were too diametrically opposed to al-
low of intimacy: "When I was a royalist in sentiment, he
was an absolutist, and when I was a republican, he was a
demagogue." s But Lamartine forgets the repeated refer-
ences in his letters to friends, in 1818 and following years,
to this " Pascal ressusciteV* 4 The influence of Lamennais
was one of the most conspicuous to which Lamartine was
subjected: the abbe's reaching out towards liberalism in
State and Church, his revolt against the fetters which
bound human thought and the freedom of religious sen-
timent, found a ready echo in the poet's soul. M. Chris-
1 Voyage en Orient, vol. n, p. 286. * Cf. Correspondance, CLin.
1 Cf. Cours de litterature, vol. II, pp. 269 and 272.
4 Correspondance, CLXXXUI.
390
SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION
tian Mar6chal, whose patient and intelligent researches
in the coordination of the manuscript notes and printed
pages of the "Voyage en Orient " have been mentioned,
believes that the sudden change so clearly noticeable in
Lamartine's attitude towards Catholic dogma was due to
news which reached him from Europe on his return to
Beyrout on November 1 1, 1832. Among the letters await-
ing his arrival was one containing details of the condem-
nation by means of the Encyclical of August 15, 1832
("Mirari vos "), in which Pope Gregory XVI repudiated
Lamennais's doctrines, disavowing the alliance between
the Church and Liberalism that "1'Avenir," the abba's
organ, had persistently upheld. 1 Although responsibility
for such a positive assertion must rest with M. Marechal,
there is foundation for the belief that Lamartine was
deeply chagrined by the action of the Roman Curia,
which shattered his own precepts, as exposed in "La
Politique rationnelle," and his aspirations towards the
reformation and extension of Catholic social and religious
dogmas and their application to the political require-
ments of the hour. Before his departure for the Orient
Lamartine had drawn much of his philosophical and reli-
gious inspiration from "1'Avenir"; on his return Lamen-
nais's "Paroles d'un Croyant" (which he had read in the
manuscript) undoubtedly influenced the final text of his
book. On February 17, 1834, he wrote Virieu that he was
overwhelmed with work in connection with an undertak-
ing in which Ballanche, the Abb6 Lamennais, and others
were to collaborate. This association, composed for the
most part of young men of various political shades,
drawn, presumably by Lamennais, to the common ground
of advanced thought, proposed to issue to the public their
views on modern government,* and it may be safely as-
1 Cf. Marechal, Lamennais et Lamartine, p. 277.
* Cf. Correspondence, DXC.
. . 391 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
sumed that the Abb's theories, shared by Lamartine,
formed the basis of their political philosophy.
It is possible that the solitary ruminations at Jaffa,
perhaps even his disinclination to revisit Jerusalem and
see Bethlehem, were connected with the news from
France concerning the Abb Lamennais's disgrace at
Rome. There is, however, no documentary proof to sub-
stantiate the claim, which must rest principally, one is
inclined to think, on evidence afforded by subsequent
actions. But the manuscript notes are there to prove that
after his return to Beyrout, Lamartine's leanings towards
spiritual emancipation from the inflexible dogma of
Roman Catholicism became accentuated. Both Lamen-
nais and Dargaud had left no stone unturned to enlist him
in the ranks of the new philosophy which sought to plant
the banner of Christian Democracy in the arena of prac-
tical politics. Their hour of triumph seemed at hand.
On the return of the travellers, on April 26, l a fresh
start was made. Rough seas and contrary winds pro-
longed the voyage, via Rhodes and Smyrna, and it was
only on May 20, 1833, t^ at the weary party finally dis-
embarked at Constantinople.
Vested in his new dignity of a legislator, Lamartine
devoted a considerable portion of the two months spent
in Constantinople to the study of the political and diplo-
matic history of Turkey. During this period he collected
at first hand material, not only for his "History of Tur-
key," in six large volumes, 2 but for the various speeches
on the Oriental question which he delivered in Parlia-
ment, and which gave evidence of a very comprehensive
grasp of the vexed international problems then as now
facing European diplomacy. Analyzing the "Voyage en
Orient," the late douard Rod believed that perhaps the
most striking characteristic is the constant and always
1 Alexandra, Madame de Lamartine, p. 109. * CEuvres completes (1863).
392 -
SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION
intelligent observation of the races, habits, traditions,
and institutions with which the writer comes in contact.
"The future statesman which Lamartine is to become,"
writes M. Rod, "reveals himself completely in certain
fragments of this work, at once by that generosity of in-
tention which will be his force, and by the tendency to-
wards phraseology and sentimentalism, which will later
so often paralyze, or rather sterilize, his action." 1 The
criticism is pungent both in a literary and psychological
sense. The "Voyage en Orient" is a prose-poem, not a
mere circumstantial narrative of facts : it is largely imag-
inative, its chronology is misleading, and topographical
errors abound. Yet few of Lamartine's works reveal more
fully the soul of the man. Read as we can now read it,
thanks to M. Marshal's coordination of the published
text and the manuscript notes, it constitutes an invalu-
able document for the seeker who strives to penetrate
beneath the surface and reconcile facts with half-truths.
" I am no longer the same, physically or morally," wrote
Lamartine from Constantinople towards the end of his
sojourn; "even my philosophy, if a miserable human
thought merits this appellation, is no longer what it
was." 2 The gradual metamorphosis of his spiritual na-
ture has been noted: the evolution becomes ever more
apparent when Lamartine assumes the responsibilities of
statesmanship.
"Were it not for my old father, I would have remained
indefinitely in Syria or Egypt," wrote Lamartine to Vi-
rieu from Semlin after his eventful journey through the
Balkans. 3 But family ties and the political mission he
had accepted called him home. On July 25, 1833, the
start was made. M. de Parseval and Dr. Delaroiere had
1 fidouard Rod, Lamartine, p. 175.
* Letter to M. Aubel, Correspondance, DLXXIV.
Correspondance, DLXXV.
393
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
returned to France by sea, M. de Capmas alone remain-
ing with the Lamartines. Five native travelling carriages,
each drawn by four horses, were secured. In addition the
caravan included twelve saddle- and pack-horses for
service in those portions of the route where wheels were
useless. The caravan expected to make Belgrade in
twenty-five days, but owing to sickness and delays of one
kind or another it was only on September 3 that the ex-
hausted travellers reached the Danube. 1
The version which Lamartine gives in his published
volumes concerning the sickness which laid him low
in the Bulgarian village of Yenikeui differs materially
from the account lie wrote his friend Virieu from Semlin
on September 5 (1833). Yet there would appear to be
little doubt that the poet was grievously stricken by
pleurisy and a low fever which for some days put his life
in danger. The native chiefs and princelings, however,
showed every attention, sending doctors and medicines
from considerable distances, while the Bulgarian villagers
ransacked the neighbourhood for the leeches which even-
tually gave relief. During the crisis, believing the end to
be near, Lamartine confided his last wishes to De Capmas,
and begged that his body be laid to rest beneath the giant
tree which overshadowed the miserable hut in which he
lay.
At Semlin a fresh annoyance awaited the party, as
the Hungarian authorities insisted on a ten days' quar-
antine in the lazzaretto. This enforced delay, however,
permitted both Lamartine and M. de Capmas to re-
cover their exhausted strength. Lamartine, in his letter
to Virieu, professes to regret the return to civilization.
For ninety days he had received no news from France,
and now took little interest in politics, having progressed,
as he put it, "from contempt to indifference." "If any
1 Cf. Voyage en Orient, vol. n, p. 456.
394 .
SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION
interest still remains for me in this world," he pessimisti-
cally exclaims, "it is of a totally philosophical and reli-
gious nature, but in a more elevated sense than I had
conceived until now." *
In due time the wayfarers reached Vienna, and thence,
by easy stages, M&con. Hardly taking time to greet his
relations, and without communicating the cause of his
absence to his wife, Lamartine started out alone for
Marseilles, to receive and fetch home the body of his
daughter Julia, which the Akeste had brought from
Beyrout. On November 6, 1833, at Saint- Point, still
alone and with his own hands, the grief -stricken father
laid the coffin beside the remains of his mother, in the
vault built into the park wall, under the shadow of the
village church. 2 On the morrow he urged Dargaud to
come from Paray-le-Monial and visit him at Monceau for
a few days. During their walks, and in the solitude of
the poet's study, the talk drifted from the chapters of
the "Voyage," which Lamartine was then preparing for
publication, to the attitude he would assume when taking
his seat in Parliament, and the intimacy begun a couple
of years earlier became even more closely cemented.
Knowing his friend as he did, Dargaud would seem to
have entertained some doubts as to how great a part
imagination played in some portions of the work; espe-
cially Lamartine's descriptions of the Maronites, their
customs and religious tenets. At a later date all hesi-
tancy in accepting the statements made was dissipated
by the arrival at Saint-Point of Father Mourad, a Mar-
onite priest whose hospitality Lamartine had enjoyed
in the Lebanon, and who corroborated in detail the
author's narrative and philosophical appreciations.*
1 Correspondence, DLXXV.
1 Ibid., DLXXVIII; cf. also Des Cognets, op. '/., p. 215; Dargaud's Journal.
1 Cf. Falconnet, Lamartine, p. 57, who cites an unpublished letter from
Dargaud to the historian Michelet; also, Des Cognets, op. cit., p. 227.
. . 395 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
Dargaud's presence at Monceau unquestionably aided
Lamartine to regain possession of himself. Physical
and mental lassitude so beset him that he would will-
ingly have renounced the honour thrust upon him by
the electorate at Bergues. "I am negotiating to retire,
if I can do so with decency and honour, from the Northern
mission," he wrote Virieu. 1 But family and friends alike
urged him to make an effort, and his wife, sacrificing
her own inclinations, added her voice to theirs. Mean-
while Lamartine found, if not solace, at least distraction,
in the preparation of notes jotted down at haphazard
during the recent journey. These sixteen months of
travel had necessitated considerable outlay, it is true,
for the poet's progress had been one of almost royal
state. Lamartine, however, asserts that the trip, "un-
dertaken with the apparent sumptuosity of a fortune
without limits," cost him in reality nothing. And he
explains himself as follows: "I had at that timt an in-
come of eighty thousand francs : two years of this income
amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand francs.
On my return I sold the four volumes of my notes of
travel to my publisher, M. Gosselin, for eighty thou-
sand francs. Furthermore, I brought back with me
precious weapons, luxurious carpets, Arab horses, Ori-
ental stuffs, etc., to the value of about forty thousand
francs. Total of my receipts for two years: about two
hundred and eighty thousand francs. Now, the total of
my expenditure during these two years, including the
charter of the two vessels which conveyed me and
awaited me in harbours, horses, escorts, guides, etc.,
did not exceed one hundred and twenty thousand francs.
As a result this voyage, instead of ruining me, left me
with an effective surplus of about one hundred and sixty
thousand francs. Such is the truth." 2
1 Correspondance, DLXXVIII. * Lamartine par lui-m$me, p. 333.
396
SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION
This mode of calculating profit and loss is highly char-
acteristic, and paints faithfully the true Lamartinian
financial optimism. Unfortunately there are flaws in his
reasoning, and all critics agree in attributing to the
Eastern voyage the palpable beginnings of Lamartine's
never-ending and always increasing financial embarrass-
ments. "Je vis de mon libraire," writes the harassed
visionary a few months later (February, 1834). And
this, in spite of the recent sale, for eighty thousand
francs, of the manuscript of the volumes of travel. 1 M.
J. Caplain has published the correspondence exchanged
between his grandfather, M. fidouard Dubois, and La-
martine. 2 Therein the reader will find many curious de-
tails concerning the financial transactions in which the
poet became involved, together with vivid proof of his
spotless integrity, and the vast (often reckless) philan-
thropic undertakings which depleted his exchequer and
irretrievably compromised his very substantial patri-
mony. On more than one occasion M. Dubois was in-
strumental in saying Lamartine from the disastrous
effects of his prodigality, and in repairing, at least tem-
porarily, the breaches made in his capital. From 1828
until Lamartine's death (1869) the closest friendship
existed between these two men of widely differing tem-
peraments. In Dubois Lamartine found a man of busi-
ness who combined a sound practical sense of values with
boundless admiration and affection for his frien(J and
client.
"Faites graver sur mon tombeau
Apres la parole divine:
II fut 1'ami de Lamartine."
Such was the epitaph M. Dubois begged his survivors
to engrave upon his tomb, considering the fact of this
1 Correspondence, DLXXXVIII and DXC.
* Edottard Dubois et Lamartine, privately circulated.
. . 397 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
lifelong intimacy as his chief title to fame. M. Dubois
died in 1895, in his ninety-fourth year, surrounded by a
numerous progeny among whom he lived in patriarchal
simplicity, five generations inhabiting the ancient manor-
house near Cluny. Venerated by this motley swarm of
descendants, the ever-cheerful old gentleman was wont
to say, when the turmoil became intolerable: "Ma fille,
va dire a ta fille que la fille de sa fille pleure!" l
With the return from the East and his entrance on a
parliamentary career, the first phase of Lamartine's life
(1790-1833) may be said to have ended. He now be-
came immersed in activities for the discharge of which
the last decade had been, it is true, a period of more or
less constant preparation, but the fulfilment of which
demanded ever-greater and more continuous application.
Nevertheless, the period with which we now have to
deal (1833-48) was also one of intense literary activity.
During these years, indeed, Lamartine produced the
most important of his poetical and prose writings : those
upon which his reputation as the greatest lyrical and
most prolific literary genius of the nineteenth century
may be said to rest. There will always be many readers
to whom the first and second "Meditations" and the
"Harmonies" embody Lamartine's most soulful accents.
But the riper talent and psychological advance evi-
denced in "Jocelyn" and "La Chute d'un Ange," to-
gether with the intensely human pathos of the " Recueille-
ments," appeal to-day to an even larger audience. Add
to this not inconsiderable output "Raphael," the "Con-
fidences," and the monumental "History of the Giron-
dins," to mention but the most important, and it will
be recognized that politics alone did not suffice to absorb
Lamartine's phenomenal intellectual energies.
1 Cf. Caplain, op. cit., p. 7.
CHAPTER XXIX
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
LEAVING the peaceful rusticity of the Chateau de
Monceau, from the terrace of which Mont Blanc looms
up on the distant horizon, Lamartine set out for Paris
in the middle of December, 1833.
A new era was opening before him: one in which the
genius of the man was to be proved on lines diametrically
opposite to those on which his unchallenged literary tal-
ents had borne him to fame. Did he possess the more
prosaic and practical requisites of success in the politi-
cal arena? Such was the question his friends asked
themselves, many barely concealing their scepticism.
On the other hand, his enemies loudly ridiculed the ver-
sifier's incursion into a realm so distinct from the ele-
giac shades beneath which his muse was supposed to
dwell. The mordant verses of "N6m6sis," ironically
urging the discomfited candidate at Bergues to seek the
suffrages of the electors in Jericho, were still fresh in
the minds of French politicians; while the publication of
the " Essai sur la politique rationnelle" had, to the think-
ing of nine tenths of sceptics and scoffers, merely proved
the Utopian fallacy of the recently elected deputy's pro-
fession of principles. The divine inflatus they were forced
to admire in the poet was reckoned by these a danger-
ous element, the conveyancer of sophisms intolerable with-
in the domain of practical politics. Let the shoemaker
stick to his last and the bard to his lyre, or ridicule, if not
disaster, must overtake them. 1
Deeply as Lamartine felt the general mistrust, not to
1 Correspondence, DLXXXIII.
. . 399 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
say antagonism, by which he was surrounded when he
took his seat in the Chamber, he determined from the
outset to conquer a place for himself, without yielding,
however, one iota of the independence it was his policy
to maintain. The difficulty of such an undertaking was
apparent to him the instant he set foot in Paris. "In
reality there was no fit place for me in an Assembly where
I belonged neither to the Government party, which I did
not like, nor to the Legitimist Opposition, whose only
claim to existence was based on its discontent, nor to
the party of the ultra-Liberal Opposition, which I did
not esteem, nor to the party of silence and expectation,
which was the very antithesis of my nature. I was con-
sequently constrained to form in practical isolation
the germ of a party without immediate value, and for
this reason without weight and almost despicable." 1
Hostile critics asserted that overweening self-sufficiency
alone dictated Lamartine's attitude, and that the r61e of
splendid isolation he somewhat ostentatiously assigned
to himself, when questioned as to the bench on which
he would sit, was characteristic of the man. " Sur aucun,"
he had then replied ; " je sigerai au plafond " : meaning, of
course, that, free from party obligations, he would herd
with none. Such apparent arrogance on the part of an
untried and, politically speaking, unknown public man,
naturally gave rise to misconception, was instrumental
in withholding sympathy, and undoubtedly retarded
recognition of abilities which eventually commanded
respect. Owing his election to family influence, it was
asserted that Lamartine took his seat in the National
Chamber untrammelled by pledges of any kind. This
was substantially true. His election was not unusual in
the parliamentary annals of the period, when "pocket
boroughs" existed on both sides of the Channel; but
1 Mtmoires politiques, vol. I, p. 309.
. . 400
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
his absolute political independence was indeed excep-
tional, and the position it created for him, peculiar.
Lamartine held views, and it was a policy that the prac-
tical politicians in the Palais Bourbon demanded of their
new colleague. In spite of the "Politique rationnelle,"
or rather on account of it, these views were considered
Utopian. In his letter, from London, to M. Saullay,
when in 1831 he was soliciting the suffrages of the Flem-
ish burghers, Lamartine wrote: "We seek to found and
associate with all the religious, moral, and monarchical
ideals, a Liberalism at once productive and justifiable,
which shall renovate and reconstitute the political world
on the broad basis of universal liberty and popular in-
terests." * This was the leit-motif of the "Politique ra-
tionnelle," and the broad and generous democracy under-
lying the obscure phraseology becomes intelligible only
when studied in the light of his subsequent career. Writ-
ing to his father in January, 1834, J ust after his first
efforts in debate, Lamartine notes the mistrust and hos-
tility shown on all sides. But, if we are to credit him,
it all forms a part of his programme, and he would not
have it otherwise. "The parties won't admit either good
faith or independence," he writes, "and for this reason
they will in turn crush me with insults and calumnies."
Already the Legitimists and Republicans accuse him
of having sold his soul to the July Monarchy, while the
Government party rends him as a radical. He must
bear this "triple salvo of insults," he insists, because
"it is necessary to my plan for the future organization
of a new party of advanced and impartial royalism
which shall find support in the conscience of the coun-
try alone." 2
This phrase, "conscience du pays," is a familiar one at
this period in Lamartine's writings. He uses it con-
1 Cochin, Lamartine et la Flandre, p. 368. * Correspondence, DLXXXIII.
. . 401
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
stantly, and believes that with its aid, and his own "in-
stinct of the masses," " success is geometrically assured
him if he can hold out three years, and acquire oratory." 1
A party, founded on a thorough comprehension of the
popular conscience, in intimate touch with democratic
principles, and reaching out towards the ever-increasing
participation of the People in public affairs, is, and will
remain, the ideal for which he strives. The possibility of
such an association he already foresaw, but resolutely re-
fused to avail himself of any existing material as a step-
ping-stone to the leadership his soul craved, and which
he believed destiny held in store for him. " I have courage
and convictions, I know on what an as yet invisible but
immense support I can lean," he assures Virieu, 2 for the
certainty of popular recognition of the principles he had
determined to uphold, in spite of every humiliation and
in face of the most desperate opposition, was deep-rooted
in his being. Misunderstood he certainly was on his en-
trance into public life, and misunderstood he would be to
the end, but the "invisible support" in which he trusted,
and which can be translated "popular sentiment," was to
carry him to heights attained by few. The circumstances
which caused his ultimate and irretrievable downfall were
so complex that the gradual unfolding of the history of
his political career covering a period of over sixteen
years can alone make them intelligible.
Three years before Lamartine's official participation in
the public affairs of his country, France had witnessed one
of the most remarkable revolutions in its history. Charles
the Tenth and the reactionary regime he represented
had been overthrown, and Louis-Philippe, head of the
younger branch of the House of Bourbon, found himself
unexpectedly upon the throne: not as King of France,
however, but styled King of the French, a subtle distinc-
1 Correspondence, DLXXXV. * Ibid., DLXXXIV.
* AO2
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
tion not without its importance in the success of the
negotiations for the transitional compromise sought by
political leaders. Lamartine had foreseen the inevitable
catastrophe to which the policy adopted by the advisers
of the sovereign of the elder branch must lead, and had
deeply deplored the blind fanaticism of Polignac's Min-
istry. A sincere Legitimist, fundamentally attached to
the monarchical system of government, both by tradition
and by personal conviction, the reactionary and clerical
spirit actuating the closing years of Charles X's reign
caused so close an observer as was Lamartine the deepest
concern. When the crash came he resigned his diplomatic
appointment, as we have seen, impelled both by a sense
of loyalty to the fallen sovereign and a disinclination to
be associated with the policy of the "usurper," as Louis-
Philippe was considered by the adherents to the old r6-
gime. Not that he was not hi thorough and sincere accord
with the principles of liberalism which prevailed ; indeed
he was "more liberal than many republicans," 1 but he
believed that a legitimate sovereign could better unite in
his person the twofold dogma and the twofold force of
tradition and new ideas. The failure of Louis XVIII and
Charles X to exemplify this contention had in no way
shaken his faith in the fundamental value of this theory,
and we shall find that after the deceptions and illusions of
his political career, he inclined to the narrower interpre-
tation of the creed he had persistently professed : the be-
lief that the salvation of France lay in the strictly consti-
tutional and progressively liberal rule of the legitimate
sovereigns who had for centuries guided their country
along the road of civilization in its highest form. Organ-
ized Democracy, on purely Christian lines, but freed from
clerical intervention, was as necessary, in his belief, for
the maintenance of order and good government, as the
1 Quentin-Bauchart, Lamartine, hommc politique, p. 5.
- 403 -
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
traditionalism he had reluctantly renounced at an earlier
date.. "La forme rationnelle" was the name he gave this
ideal political conception of a social order wherein none
should suffer oppression and where each was allotted in
the government a part proportioned to the interests he
had at stake. 1
Meanwhile his courage was unimpaired, his belief in
the practical application of his theories unshaken. He
sat alone in the Chamber, it is true, but he was prepared
for, nay sought, this temporary isolation. Nevertheless,
there were moments of bitterness if we accept literally his
words to Virieu: "I am as usual, ill, sad, solitary, and
persecuted as much by friends as by my enemies, but I
persist in my resolution to be unpopular and misunder-
stood for a long time, in order to undo that which has
been so stupidly muddled during the last three years by
the royalisme de coterie" : which may be interpreted as the
party contemptuously styled "Carlist," whose unpatri-
otic attitude he deeply deplored. 2 But his ambitions went
farther : he did not believe that any of the political parties
struggling for supremacy in the Chamber fairly repre-
sented the feeling of the country at large, or, as his phrase
ran, the "conscience" of France. The system he advo-
cated, and which he would "gradually reveal," was to be
founded, as has been said, in strict accordance with this
national conscience, and be absolutely representative of
the Democracy. His object was not to combat the Gov-
ernment, or lend himself to obstructionism of any kind.
He realized the services to France the July Monarchy had
rendered, and might be expected to render in the immedi-
ate future : his dislike of it proceeded from the fact that it
was founded as an expedient, not on a principle. 3 Failing
a better, he was prepared to accept it, and even to uphold
1 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. '/., p. 10. * Correspondence, DLXXXV.
8 Cf. Louis Ulbach, Preface to La France parlementaire, p. xv.
. . 404
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
its policies when not contrary to the fundamental prin-
ciples which, in his estimation, must guide France to the
highest civilization compatible with human ideals. This
programme, if abstract, was based on a lofty conception
of public duty and the responsibility of the individual,
and as such commanded secret respect even among those
who held its author up to ridicule. That the reaction in
his favour must come later, he felt convinced. "As my
conscience is clear, and I have at heart only the triumph,
through reason, of the honest population, it will be real-
ized in time, and all the rest will evaporate." l France
was ripe for the immediate application of the principles
proclaimed, or rather hinted at, in the "Politique ration-
nelle," that gospel of social reform and harbinger of the
golden age of political franchise. The hour had sounded ; 2
all that was needed was the man who could successfully
master the situation. A "Bonaparte de la parole, ayant
1'instinct de la vie sociale et l'clair de la tribune," La-
martine styled this rara avis, "a Christopher Columbus of
liberty capable of discerning the new political world, and
of guiding us thither by dint of his persuasive eloquence
and the domination of his genius. . . ." 3 There is small
doubt but that the writer even then felt that one day the
multitude would rise and proclaim Lamartine the man
who should guide them by the persuasion of his eloquence
and the domination of his genius. The inspired prophet,
"the sacer vates," serenely confident as to the ultimate
success of the social doctrines he held, was certainly not
indifferent to the popular endorsement the profession of
such principles might entail. His very unpopularity
within the legislative Chamber meant, when the purity
and nobility of his social programme should be under-
stood beyond the narrow limits of the hemicycle, in-
1 Correspondence, DLXXXVII.
* Politique rationnelle, p. 100. * Ibid., p. 103.
. . 405
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
creased popularity with the masses. And the support he
sought in the "impartial conscience of the country" was
precisely the support of the People; in other words, public
opinion. Audaciously he believed he could dispense with
the aid or approval of those within the fold. It was a mis-
take, as he was to learn to his cost ; yet Lamartine was no
demagogue, and his motives were pure. A critic, and a
lenient one, has taxed him with nai'vet6, qualifying the
epithet as "virile candour" not the stupid trustfulness
of the perpetual dupe, but the clairvoyant optimism of
the man who seeks the highest motives in human actions,
and ignores knavery. 1 Having no taste nor gift for in-
trigue, straightforward action was intuitive with him.
And yet he professed the keenest admiration for the
tortuous genius of a Talleyrand. 2
Lamartine took his seat in the Chamber on December
23, i833. 3 Those to whom omens meant something noted
that he entered the hemicycle accompanied by Lafayette.
Avoiding, however, any semblance of an understanding
with the glorious veteran, Lamartine climbed the tiers of
seats and took possession of a bench on the extreme right,
thus establishing his de facto isolation. Thiers, then Min-
ister of the Interior in Soult's Cabinet, had made an in-
effectual attempt to attach the deputy from Bergues to
the Administration ; but Lamartine resisted his blandish-
ments, firmly resolved to avoid any step which might
compromise what he calls his " enigmatic independence." 4
Recognizing the disadvantages which must ensue owing
to his oratorial inexperience, Lamartine had prudently
decided to keep silent and content himself with patient
observation during the earlier stages of the session. But
the temptation to express his views on the Oriental
1 Ulbach, Preface to La France parlementaire, p. xiv.
1 Memoires politiques, vol. i, p. 289. ' Cochin, op. cit., p. 242.
4 Cf . Lamartine par lui-m&me, p. 336.
. . 406
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
policy of the Government, during the debate on the ad-
dress to the Crown, proved too strong. On January 4,
1834, hardly over a week after his first appearance on
the floor of the Chamber, he mounted the rostrum, and
in an eloquent, but decidedly academic, maiden speech
introduced himself, rather than his views, to his col-
leagues. Four days later he followed this first effort with
an harangue of considerable length dealing with the dip-
lomatic problems presented by the proposed French ac-
tion in the Orient. By virtue of his recent travels Lamar-
tine might well be considered as particularly competent
to criticize the policies in the East. As a matter of fact,
however, the opinions to which he then gave utterance
served little or nothing towards elucidating the matter,
while certain phrases undoubtedly lent colour to hostile
accusations concerning his supposed sympathies with the
Legitimists. Lamartine himself, in after years, regretted
this somewhat inopportune appearance on the rostrum,
styling it as "audacious rather than happy." l
The international situation was a complicated one. As
a result of the hostilities existing between Turkey and
Egypt, the former had turned to Russia for assistance.
On July 8, 1833, an agreement was reached whereby
Russia undertook to furnish her ally with all the forces on
sea or land necessary for the peace and safety of her ter-
ritories. The Porte guaranteed to close the Dardanelles,
and to allow no foreign vessels of war, under any pretext,
to utilize the Straits. 2 When the clauses of this treaty
became known, European diplomacy expressed consider-
able alarm. England proposed to France that they com-
bine to force the Dardanelles and burn the Muscovite
fleet. The Government of Louis- Philippe, however, hesi-
1 Mimoires pditiques, vol. I, p. 312.
1 Cf. Paul Thureau-Daugin, Histoire de la monarchic de Juillet, vol. n,
P- 363.
407 '
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
tated, owing to difficulties at home and abroad, to engage
in such far-reaching complications, and the Due de Bro-
glie permitted only a demonstration by the combined
fleets off the Turkish coast, as an offset to the diplomatic
protestations made by both France and England at Con-
stantinople and St. Petersburg. At the beginning of 1834
the incident, although not closed, had, owing to the in-
tervention of Austria, been allowed to slumber. Russia,
never favourable to the July Monarchy, showed herself
deeply incensed by the action of the French Government,
and did her utmost to complicate the political difficulties
existing in Belgium and Prussia. Again the prudent
counsels of M. de Metternich prevailed; the entente be-
tween France and England, and Lord Palmerston's openly
manifested sympathy with the constitutional regime that
Louis- Philippe's Government was pledged to uphold, 1
adding greatly to the settlement of the vexed interests.
Lamartine in his maiden speeches disapproved the
policy of the Government and the maintenance of the
status quo in Turkey. Virtually he advocated intercession
and the liberation from the Ottoman yoke of the Chris-
tian populations in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor.
The fall of the Ottoman Empire was, he averred, a fore-
gone conclusion. Let France, untrammelled by interna-
tional engagements, prepare for the new political condi-
tions which must ensue. Discrediting a policy of pure
egotism and exclusive interests, the speaker urged on
broad humanitarian lines the cause of civilization. The
orator draws an impressive picture of this vast empire
a mere agglomeration of heterogeneous races, without
cohesion, without mutual interests, without conformity
of language, laws, religion, or customs; "the most vast
constituted anarchy which political phenomena ever pre-
1 Cf. Paul Thureau-Daugin, Histoire de la monarchic de Juillet, vol. II,
PP. 356-79.
. . 408
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
sented." The programme which the speaker then pro-
poses for France, when the moment of dissolution of the
Eastern Empire shall be at hand, is uncommonly like the
result which the European concert has striven to achieve
during the last half-century, but which national jealousies
and the fear of the undue aggrandizement of a powerful
neighbour have invariably frustrated. France with the
Great Powers and allies shall open a Congress, establish-
ing in principle: that no isolated Power shall intervene
in Oriental affairs; that a general collective protectorate
be admitted as a base for the negotiations concerning the
new European political system; that the essential con-
ditions of this new public law be the inviolability of
religion, custom, and established sovereign rights pre-
existing; that to regulate this general and collective pro-
tectorate, European and Asiatic Turkey, the islands and
seas dependent thereon, be distributed in sub-protec-
torates or provinces, like those of Africa and Asia which
the Romans colonized and administered, to be eventually
allotted, by virtue of international conventions, to the
different European Powers; that in case of war between
European Powers the Oriental protectorates be assured
absolute and perpetual neutrality. Let Europe colonize
Asia and Africa, spread over these barbarous or desert
lands the superfluity of her activity, her civilization, her
progressive religions. "Without firing a single shot, with-
out jeopardizing the life of a single man, without retard-
ing by an hour the advance of prosperity at home, you
will attain, say I, the most fortunate, the most sublime
achievement that has been vouchsafed any century; as
the predestined children of Providence you will share the
vast and magnificent heritage which the natural death of
the Empire of the East opens up to European nations." *
Lamartine in after years made atonement for what in
1 Speech of January 8, 1834.
. . 409 .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
reality amounted to the advocacy of " an immoral plan of
expropriation of the Ottomans," confessing that he had
been led astray by unworthy motives, at the risk of
plunging Europe into an abyss of diplomatic complica-
tions and bloody wars. " Ce fut la seule fois que je parlai
contre ma conscience dans 1 'Assemble," he adds when
repudiating this programme of spoliation. 1 But, although
undoubtedly sincere, his tardy compunction was perhaps
dictated by other considerations. In 1849 Lamartlne had
received a signal mark of favour from the Sultan Abd-ul-
Medjid. As an earnest of the admiration and esteem
he entertained for the author of so many beautiful works,
in prose and verse, concerning the Orient, the Sultan
conceded him for a period of twenty-five years the rights
and privileges pertaining to an estate of over forty thou-
sand acres near Smyrna. It was but natural that the re-
cipient of the royal bounty should attempt to efface the
painful impression his former advocacy of a policy of
ruthless spoliation might give rise to.
The Lamartines had established themselves in a large
furnished apartment, 82 rue de l'Universit6, on their ar-
rival in Paris. From the, outset relations were invited to
share their hospitality and a few friends encouraged to
visit them informally. Lamartine himself described their
life in the new surroundings as follows: "My wife finds
occupation enough with visits, letters, and household
duties, and all this affords her some relief (from her sor-
row), but not much: I rise early, work, pray, and weep in
peace, till eleven. Then come those who seek to profit by
the influence I do not wish to possess. At two o'clock I
go to the Chamber until six. One comes out with one's
head burning, empty, and buzzing. We dine. Then one or
two friends drop in. We go to bed by ten. A monastic
existence." *
1 Memoires politiqucs, vol. I, p. 315. * Correspondance, DLXXXIV.
. . 410
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
Henri de Lacretelle, who later became Lamartine's
secretary and intimate friend, has left us in his memoirs a
detailed description of the home which for so many years
sheltered the poet and his family during the parliamen-
tary sessions. The apartment cost six thousand francs a
year, and was fully adapted to the dwelling of a gentle-
man of position and means. Situated in a wing of the
house, giving on to a courtyard and a garden, the broad
staircase which led to it was a private one exclusively ap-
propriated to the use of the tenant and his guests. Ma-
dame de Lamartine's English taste for privacy was con-
sequently fully satisfied. All Europe, artistic, literary,
political, and even plebeian, passed through the large
dining-room and congregated in the immense salon,
around the walls of which ran Oriental divans. Adjoin-
ing these rooms was the studio in which the talented
mistress of the house spent her leisure in painting an
art in which she excelled, as the numerous examples of her
taste and skill preserved at Saint-Point and Monceau
testify. "Privileged ones opened that door to the right,"
continues Lacretelle, "and entered the beautiful study
wherein Lamartine never worked, and which was littered
with presentation copies, naive keepsakes of verses, and
journals and parliamentary blue books. They penetrated
to the little bedroom where he slept, where he wrote of a
morning by lamplight, and where he received the crowned
heads of the world I mean by that the thinking heads
in the narrow space between his bed and his desk." An
odour of Oriental tobacco everywhere prevailed, for La-
martine had acquired the habit in the East and was an in-
veterate smoker. His pack of greyhounds nestled in com-
fortable nooks, or lay stretched before the bright wood
fires their master loved. The expenses of this, for the
period, sumptuous household, inclusive of entertaining,
rarely went beyond forty thousand francs a year: but
411
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Lamartine gave away as much again in charity. Four
horses, two for the carriage and two for the saddle, con-
stituted a considerable item of expense. Large dinner-par-
ties were the exception, but a few chosen guests invari-
ably gathered around the hospitable table. On Saturday
evenings the reception was somewhat more formal, as
Madame de Lamartine then threw open her salon to the
official and parliamentary world, and welcomed strangers
of distinction attracted by the literary reputation of the
host.
'Among the regular visitors were Madame Sophie Gay
and Madame de Girardin, wife of the famous founder
of "La Presse" and the father of modern journalism.
"La Muse," as the beautiful Delphine was frequently
called, added to her literary laurels by the amusing satires
on contemporary life and events she published in her hus-
band's paper, under the pseudonym of the "Vicomte
Charles de Launay." With these ladies, mother and
daughter, Emile Deschamps, enthusiastic Romanticist,
dramatist, poet, and co-founder with Victor Hugo of the
"Muse franchise," was engaged in perpetual controversy,
in which took part from time to time Alfred de Vigny,
Alexandre Soumet, and many other lights of the Roman-
tic movement. On these occasions poetry ruled supreme,
and the master of the house and his guests vied with each
other in the recital of graceful harmonies. Jules Janin,
critic and litterateur, contemporary and rival of the more
celebrated Sainte-Beuve, was a regular attendant during
the earlier years of the salon, and in spite of infirmities
captivated his hearers with the brilliancy and elegance of
his conversation. The eclecticism of Lamartine' s literary
opinions was demonstrated by the frequent appearance
in this shrine of Romanticism of Francois Ponsard, the
author of " Lucrece," whose presence within the sacred
precincts was at first deeply resented by the fervent
412
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
younger enthusiasts of the school which claimed Lamar-
tine, Hugo, Vigny, and Sainte-Beuve as masters. But
himself totally devoid of literary jealousies, Lamartine
professed to belong to no school or party, either in art or
in politics, and honestly and unreservedly lavished his
enthusiasm where he discerned beauty and purity of pur-
pose. An instance of this singular immunity from the
vexations of literary rivalry and a typical one was
the attitude of his colleagues in the French Academy, a
hot-bed of professional jealousy and hatred. Each and
all of the Immortals were regular or occasional visitors to
the salon in the rue de 1'Universite, where the admiration
they craved was ungrudgingly accorded them by the mas-
ter of the house, if not by the irreconcilable fanatics
among his guests.
In a word eclecticism, intellectual and political, ruled
supreme, all opinions were tolerated, talent in every form
was welcomed and encouraged, Lamartine himself lead-
ing the applause. As Lacretelle remarks, for fifteen years
"les modestes lampes de cet appartement de la rue de
l'Universit6 etaient des phares qui eclairaient le Paris
intelligent." *
Of course Jean Marie Dargaud occupied a conspicuous
place in these intellectual gatherings. The intimacy be-
gun at Saint- Point in 1831 never wavered during the long
years which followed. The author of " Marie Stuart " and
of the "History of Religious Liberty" was, as Lacretelle
terms it, "I'homme des promenades philosophiques." 2
The poet-legislator's invariable companion during his
daily walks in the streets of Paris, " Dargaud possessed as
much as any of us," adds Lacretelle, "the cult for Lamar-
tine, and was the recipient before I was of many of his
confidences." We have seen the nature of some of these
confidences; especially the perplexities and haunting
1 Lamartine el ses amis, p. 49. * Ibid., p. 80.
- 413
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
doubts Lamartine struggled with before, during, and
after his Oriental trip. Bearing such conversations in
mind we can more readily grasp the illusive tendency of
Lamartine's initial political creed, founded as it was on
vague metaphysical premises running on parallel lines
with practical aspirations for social reform. The difficul-
ties of his position may appear exaggerated to the politi-
cian of to-day, but eighty years ago the introduction of
the ethics of Christian socialism in practical politics was
an innovation partaking of the chimerical. Le "groupe
social," as Lamartine styled the three or four "independ-
ents" who were scattered about the Chamber when he
took his seat in the session of 1833-34, constituted as yet
an absolutely "negligible quantity" in national politics.
Yet little by little the popular liberties proclaimed by
their leader gained ground for this infinitesimal minority
outside the legislative Palace.
It has been said that Lamartine, Legitimist though he
was, did not entirely escape from the revolutionary in-
toxication of the movement which seated the younger
Bourbons upon the throne of France; that he was, in a
sense, himself "un homme de Juillet." 1 Theoretically
the statement is true. Lamartine had a horror of violence,
a deep-seated dread of the license of uncontrolled popular
outbursts. But this instinctive belief in the right of the
People to individual and social liberty, and the egregious
error of any system involving class distinctions or privi-
leges, was equally deep-rooted. Social reform guaranteed
by a broad and liberal political franchise, freedom from
the thraldom or tyranny of throne or party : such was his
initial programme. If he expressed apprehension of re-
publicanism in the early stages of his political activity, it
was because he believed his compatriots insufficiently
1 Quentin-Bauchart, Lamartine, homme politique. La politique inttrieure,
p. 14.
414
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
prepared to understand its fundamental principles, and
feared the "red madness" which had led them before to
the "bottomless pit of anarchy." The tyranny of the
Jacobins seemed to him even farther removed from true
Liberty than the iron hand of a dynastic despot. 1
Lamartine, therefore, set himself the task of combating
class privileges of any form. The self-constituted cham-
pion of social and political reform, his fight was directed
primarily against party domination within the Chamber
and the legal oppression of society through the enactment
of measures liable to hamper the evolution of the popular
liberties he sought to foster. 2 From the beginning he an-
ticipated, and courted, the unpopularity a course so ill-
defined, and so often ambiguous, must entail. But his
self-confidence was boundless. "Le seul courage vrai-
ment heroi'que," he maintained, "est de se brouiller avec
ses amis pour leur dire ce qui doit seul les sauver. Je vois
venir le temps ou Dieu m'appellera peut-tre a cette rude
mission, transeat a me calix istel" 3
If the presumption of such assurance disconcerts, it
can be partly explained by the uninterrupted sequence of
his literary triumphs, by the adulation of those whom he
fascinated with the harmony and splendour of his poetic
metaphor, and who proclaimed him a prophet. But be-
hind all this seemingly fatuous assurance, this puerile
vanity which claimed infallibility of judgment and posed
as the messiah of the democratic principle, behind all
these lay a true and unfeigned love of humanity. Those
who accused Lamartine of selfish political ambitions mis-
understood the deep-seated honesty of purpose which
never deviated a hair's breadth. As a discerning critic
has it: "Lamartine's ambition to govern sprang less from
the desire to enjoy power than from the hope of realizing
1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. tit., p. 16.
1 Cf. Henri Cochin, op. tit., p. 123. * Correspondence, DXCII.
415
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
his theories, which all had as their aim the happiness of
the people. He despised intrigue and anticipated his suc-
cess at the hands of the public conscience alone. He
sought popularity, but a genuine popularity, the result of
gratitude for services rendered, and permitting of the
fulfilment of others." 1
From 1834 to 1838 we shall find Lamartine taking ad-
vantage of every opportunity of disseminating the gener-
ous social theories he had made his own, and now and
then essaying himself in less abstract subjects of debate.
The two speeches on Oriental affairs, although admired
for their elegance and grace of form, were by the majority
pronounced as chimerical in substance: the illusions of a
poet, and not pertaining to the realm of practical politics. 2
Nevertheless, his first effort was considered as a most
favourable augury for the future of his parliamentary
career, and it was at once realized that a distinguished
orator, and one whose power must increase with experi-
ence, now threatened Berryer, Thiers, and Guizot, the
acknowledged lions of the tribune, who swayed their col-
leagues perhaps as frequently by virtue of their incom-
parable eloquence as by the irrefutable solidity of their
logic.
Boundless as was Lamartine's self-confidence, he real-
ized that oratory is, in a measure, an acquired art, or
rather that by practice alone can mastery in debate be
attained. Improvisation in case of a sudden call to arms,
and telling retort in the face of unexpected interruption,
are qualities not often possessed by academic orators
whose speeches are the result of patient and laborious
preparation in the sanctity of their study. Gifted with a
facility in improvisation far beyond the average, Lamar-
1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 17.
1 Louis Blanc, in his Histoire de Dix Ans (vol. iv, p. 136), thinks differ-
ently, maintaining that Lamartine saw more clearly into the darkness of
the Oriental question than any other French statesman.
. . 416 .
DEPUTY FROM BERGUES
tine nevertheless keenly felt the disadvantage his inex-
perience must at first entail. This disadvantage he was
determined to overcome with the least possible delay. " I
begin to hope," he wrote his father on January 9, 1834,
shortly after taking his seat, "I begin to hope that I shall
succeed [in overcoming the difficulties] within six months
instead of the three years which I had thought neces-
sary." l To Virieu he expresses the same conviction, add-
ing that he is working to form himself at the cost of
lapses and by dint of audacity. 2 Success is "geometri-
cally demonstrated," he believes, when he shall have
acquired the difficult art of debate, in the struggle for
which he is armed with courage, perseverance, and sub-
lime contempt of ridicule. In spite of this brave resolve
Lamartine had his moments of hesitation. Virieu is as
usual his trusted confidant. "I shall certainly not hold
out long in the Chamber; it is an odious trade: six hours
a day doing nothing in that scorching and 'pestilential
atmosphere is too much for my health, and it interferes
too much with work on the poetic portion of my destiny.
I will only remain a year or two, the time necessary for
formulating an act of political faith, and for the organiza-
tion of a small nucleus of followers who will then carry on
the work alone." 3
Such falterings, however, were rare. Lamartine's de-
termination to succeed and the fervent faith in the in-
violability of his social mission soon overcame temporary
ano! fleeting discouragement. Ambition certainly played
a part: perhaps even certain legitimate personal ambi-
tions. It is impossible to produce mathematical evidence
of any man's disinterestedness or of the purity of his in-
tentions. Sceptics pretended to discern in Lamartine's
professed social theories unworthy motives of self-
aggrandizement. Even to-day there are those who would
1 Correspondence, DLXXXIII. * Ibid., DLXXXIV. * Ibid., DLXXXIX.
4'7 ' '
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
fain discover in his political life an overweening megalo-
mania. With these argument is futile, but, with M. Su-
gier, we would suggest a careful and impartial reading of
such indications as are afforded in the "Politique ration-
nelle," in the "Destinees de la poesie," in the "Resume
politique du Voyage en Orient," and last, but not least, in
the " Correspondance." * Everywhere are scattered evi-
dences of a sincerity of purpose, of a nobility of aim, of an
intensity of faith, which, many as the lapses may be, prove
indisputably the honesty and unselfishness of the man's
political and social creed. Confidence in the July Mon-
archy and its durability, or (at this moment) in the bene-
fits of a republican form of government are, of course,
questions entirely aside, and with which this contention
has nothing to do. On these problems Lamartine had in
1834 not yet made up his mind, nor was he to do so for
several years to come. But his social programme was
complete, and he believed the time for action was ripe.
The sincerity of his desire for the betterment of the intel-
lectual and material status of the masses can hardly be
called into question. Yet detractors are found even on
this ground, such is the hatred professed by some for
moral or intellectual superiority in any form. Let the
reader of the following pages be the judge.
1 Cf. Sugier, Lamartine, p. 195.
CHAPTER XXX
JOCELYN
IT was nearly a month after his maiden effort before
Lamartine again addressed the Chamber. On this occa-
sion he lifted a corner of the veil which jealously concealed
his political sympathies, giving rise, as he informed his
father, to such clamorous interruptions that it demanded
all his sang-froid to proceed with his speech. l The subject
was indeed a delicate one for a loyal Legitimist to broach,
as it dealt with the suppression of outbreaks amongst the
adherents to the old r6gime in the Vendee. While blaming
the acts of violence and insurrection committed, Lamar-
tine, seeking a general reconciliation between the warring
political factions, urged an amnesty for all offenders.
The Chamber, in its address to the Throne, had demanded
the energetic military repression of the disorders which
had now disturbed the western provinces for over three
years. Believing that the exceptional measures proposed
would cause conflict between the civil and military au-
thorities, Lamartine, rapidly outlining the internecine
struggle which at various intervals had devastated the
country since 1793, pleaded for clemency. Moderate and
impregnated with sound good sense as were his objections
to the course it was proposed to follow, the ground on
which he ventured was nevertheless ill-advised, as the
ambiguity of his political leanings gave rise to doubt as to
the disinterestedness of his counsels. In his political me-
moirs Lamartine passes over the incident in silence, but a
letter to his father, written a couple of days after his un-
successful venture, announces his intention of renewing
1 Correspondence, DLXXXIX.
. . 419 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
the attack. " I doubt whether the Chamber will hear me
out," he confesses, "but never mind, I am going to speak
to the country and not to some three hundred deputies,
nearly all fettered by place or interest." *
It was to be the same when he addressed his colleagues
on questions relative to the law against political associa-
tions of a subversive nature. 2 Not to the Chamber, but to
the People, to France, he formulated his ambitions for
what he termed " le parti social " ; a party constituting an
immense majority in the land, a party which refused alli-
ance with the passions of the retrogrades as well as with
the subversive passions of the extremists who sought
liberties akin to anarchy.
The moment was a critical one. Mazzini's "Young
Italy," an association the ramifications of which extended
throughout France, was, owing to its essentially republi-
can principles, causing considerable trouble to the as yet
not very firmly established throne of Louis-Philippe. In
the early days of the July Monarchy a certain leniency,
not to say tacit complicity, had been vouchsafed to the
disciples of the Italian revolutionist. 3 The Citizen-King
had even allowed himself to express sympathy with the
ideals professed by the Italian Liberals, and promises had
been made, the execution of which the rapidly acquired
conservatism of the new regime forbade. La Cecilia, the
trusted lieutenant of the Neapolitan Constitutionalists,
prints in his memoirs the text of a diplomatic convention
signed in Paris on February 18, 1831, by the Marquis
Lafayette and the members of the Italian Insurrectionary
Committee, providing for certain mutual concessions,
should the contemplated raid into Savoy prove successful. 4
1 Correspondence, DLXXXIX.
1 Speech of March 13, 1834, "Sur la loi centre les Associations."
8 Cf. Bolton King, Mazzini, p. 35.
* La Cecilia, Memorie, vol. i, p. 165; cf. also P. Thureau-Dangin, His-
toire de la monarchic de Juillet, vol. n, pp. 183-85, note 2.
420
JOCELYN
Be this as it may, Lafayette was at this time, and for
several years later, the centre of revolutionary diplo-
macy. "Tous les conspirateurs et insurges d f Europe
avaient des agents accredites aupres de lui. Sa corres-
pondance le montre occup6 a les encourager, etc." l
The French Government, not without some reason,
perhaps, considered the licence granted the foreign politi-
cal refugees, both on its soil and hovering on the Swiss
frontier, as responsible for the uprisings in Paris and
Lyons in February, 1834. With a view as much to the
fear of international complications as to the maintenance
of order within the Kingdom, the Ministers of Louis-
Philippe sought the adoption of a law suppressing secret
political associations, not unjustly considered as a public
peril. Lamartine seized the opportunity to define the ob-
jections the social liberties he championed must discern
in the repressive measures proposed. While he recog-
nized the dangers subversive and irresponsible secret so-
cieties might exercise during periods of political unrest, he
considered a law regulating and restricting the organiza-
tion of such associations preferable to their forcible sup-
pression. Nevertheless, as the peril was real and urgent,
the speaker professed himself willing to vote with the
Government, provided the measure proposed be consid-
ered a temporary expedient, and at a more propitious
moment the indisputable right of every citizen individu-
ally or collectively to combat tyrannical oppression in
whatever form even legally constituted be admitted.
He urged the Government to look ahead ; to frame laws
calculated to improve the material and moral conditions
of labour; to enlarge the social liberties guaranteed by
sacred constitutional rights, rather than restrict and
hamper such privileges by vexatious repression.
It was the nearest approach the deputy from Bergues
1 La Cecilia, op. tit., p. 185.
421 .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
had yet made to an expose of principles. The speech is,
therefore, of importance as constituting a departure from
the policy of isolation he had laid down. The germ of his
political and social evolution is discernible in the sugges-
tions he makes, for he faintly outlines the support he is
willing to afford the July Monarchy under certain given
conditions namely, the elaboration of liberal social
laws on a frankly democratic basis. His utterances
pleased the Conservatives by virtue of his acceptance of
the proposed law, while the Opposition applauded the res-
ervations he made in favour of liberty; and all parties
recognized the beauties of the programme he expounded
in terms too vague and indefinite to wound any suscepti-
bilities. l "None dream of presenting the proposed law as
one of those enactments which solve in a definite and per-
manent manner the great problems of political organi-
zations," writes Thureau-Dangin. "It was an existing
peril: a war measure directed against a hostile faction." 2
But Louis Blanc opines that "in voting the law against
the Associations, M. de Lamartine yielded to the fear
that the political societies wage battle against the Gov-
ernment, and thus pile up ruin upon ruins. He did not
grasp the fact that this law would be the signal for the
battle he dreaded so." 3
Lamartine himself was delighted with the effect pro-
duced. "I improvised for an hour yesterday," he wrote
Virieu, "on most delicate points, and although I spoke
badly, my brain drained by fever, I had, in my opinion,
the greatest success attainable by one in my position in
the present Chamber. They heard me out as I defined
exhaustively the aims of our new party, and when I left
the rostrum sixty persons, from all sides of the Chamber,
1 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. tit., p. 23.
* Histoire de la monarchie de JuiUet, vol. II, pp. 229-32.
8 Histoire de Dix Ans, vol. iv, p. 210.
. . 422
JOCELYN
unknown to me, hostile, spiteful adversaries, came to
press my hands, exclaiming: 'Here at last is the man we
need, here the noble, moral, and conciliatory doctrines
which must unite us all under any flag.' " l Of course he
exaggerates. The newspapers, admitting his undoubted
oratorical success, criticized the "flabbiness and indeci-
sion" of his convictions; regretted the absence of the
"outburst of soul by which the orator and the poet en-
thral and allure the masses." 2 All this was to come; but
the time was not yet. Before the dissolution of the Cham-
ber (May 24) and the elections which ensued (June 21,
1834), Lamartine had strengthened his position by an
expression of opinion on several subjects of national im-
portance. His advocacy of the recognition of the so-
called "Dette americaine" caused widespread comment,
and argued well for the political probity of the states-
man who strongly upheld the sacredness of international
obligations.
The controversy was one not only involving principles
of justice and equity, but in which, Lamartine contended,
the national honour of France was at stake. A word of
explanation as to the origin of the contention is perhaps
necessary. Between 1806 and 1812, Napoleon I had
caused to be irregularly seized vessels flying the American
flag. The Emperor had himself recognized the illegality
of these seizures, and had admitted the validity of the
claims presented, offering in settlement an indemnity of
eighteen million francs., This sum had been refused as
insufficient. The Government of the Restoration, with-
out contesting the debt, eluded an examination of the
contention, and the July Monarchy found the question
still pending. Isolated, and threatened with foreign com-
plications of an embarrassing nature, the Government of
Louis- Philippe could ill afford the risk of further em-
1 Correspondance, DXCII. * Cf. Le Courrierfrangais, February 4, 1834.
. . 423 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
broilments beyond the seas. Besides, the Citizen-King
cherished a scheme by which the United States might be
drawn into the league of liberal States he sought to oppose
to the Holy Alliance of Continental Powers. 1 "There is
considerable uneasiness at this moment as to the issue of
the affair with America," wrote Count Rodolph Appo-
nyi in his journal on November 21, 1835. " President
Jackson is evidently opposed to the French Government
and would ask nothing better than to break entirely with
this half-aristocratic and half-liberal administration. For
France, where at present commercial interests pass before
all other considerations, where Louis- Philippe's throne is
upheld only in so far as it contributes to the prosperity of
the country, and increases it, this question is a capital
one." 2 The United States demanded an indemnity of
seventy million francs, reduced by treaty of July 4, 1831,
to twenty-five millions. The parliamentary commission,
appointed to report on the affair, had unanimously ap-
proved the award, and Lafayette, still a power to be
reckoned with, was known to be a warm supporter of this
decision.
The debate, opened in the Chamber on March 28, was
at first considered a mere formality, but to the surprise of
the Government serious opposition to the payment of the
debt was encountered. The struggle was a long and a
bitter one, resulting in the resignation of the Due de
Broglie, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who, although he
had not negotiated the Treaty of 1831, unhesitatingly
espoused the responsibilities his predecessor had in-
curred. 8 On learning of the action of the French Chamber
President Jackson sent (December I, 1834) a strong pro-
test to Congress, affirming that further negotiations were
1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. n, p. 248.
1 Journal du Comte Rodolph Apponyi, vol. in, p. 152.
* Thureau-Dangin, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 248.
. . 424 . .
JOCELYN
out of the question, and urging that, should this attitude
be maintained, reprisals on the property of Frenchmen in
America be resorted to. Resentment ran high in France,
where the President's words were considered as humiliat-
ing and insulting. l Diplomatic relations were broken off,
and for a time an unpleasant state of suspense existed,
yet open hostilities would seem never to have been actu-
ally contemplated. Finally, through the good offices of
Great Britain, a renewal of negotiations was effected, in
1836, and the indemnity paid. 2 Lamartine's fervent
advocacy of France's obligations, at this period and a
year later (April 13, 1835), contributed not a little to the
pacific settlement of this vexed question.
The separation of Church and State had always been,
in Lamartine's estimation, a political and social problem
of vital importance. In his "Essai sur la Politique ra-
tionnelle," the keystone of his political creed through-
out life, it will be remembered that he anticipated this
"fortunate and incontestable necessity in an epoch when
power belongs to all and not to the few." In a free State
he argued that religious worship could not be exclusive
and privileged : faith is a holy bond between the individual
and his God ; if the State intervenes 'twixt man and the
Divine Light, a something palpable and material is in-
troduced, a pact which ecclesiastical or secular tyranny
can transform or modify at will. "Such a system breeds
hypocrites when the State is Christian, unbelievers
when it is sceptical, atheists and martyrs when it per-
secutes." * But although convinced of the imperative
necessity of reciprocal liberty of action, he was equally
conscious that a precipitate and ill-considered divorce
1 Cf. La France parlementairc, vol. I, pp. 126-45; also Louis Blanc,
op. tit., vol. iv, p. 351.
1 Cf. John W. Foster, A Century of American Diplomacy, p. 278; also
McMaster, History of the People of the United States, vol. HI, p. 293.
Op. cU., p. 71.
. . 425
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
must inevitably result in intolerable religious licence,
itself a peril to the State and social institutions of every
nature. For these reasons he approached the issue tenta-
tively, seeking to prepare his countrymen for the sev-
erance of the bonds which Napoleon's Concordat had
created.
An opportunity was presented on April 26, during the
discussion of a petition submitted by numerous citizens
concerning the maintenance of certain bishoprics whose
funds had been suppressed or reduced a couple of years
previously (1832). Lamartine, while he deplored the
pact which bound the Government and the hierarchy of
Rome, urged the reestablishment of the allocations.
The moment was not ripe, in his estimation, for radical
changes, in spite of the clerical corruption he points out,
for, although the Church had lost its spiritual empire
because it sought undue temporal power, the religious
sentiment of the country, Catholicism, had not been
dragged down in its fall. 1 And he appeals to his fellow-
deputies to respect the obligations the treaties with
Rome entail, the inviolability of the religious consciences
it is sought to coerce. A direct conflict with the religious
conscience of the country, or a fraction of the country, he
deemed not only inopportune but dangerous, as consti-
tuting a violation of the most sacred individual liberties,
that of freedom of worship. Yet, while he defends the
cause of the dioceses, his utterances are pregnant with
disapproval of what he calls "the fatal knot which
binds together Church and State," fatal alike to true
religious sentiment and the effective independence of
either contracting party. Himself educated in a religious
institution the Jesuit college at Belley Lamartine
was in a position to appreciate the disadvantages
attending a training so little in sympathy with the
1 Speech "Sur les Evgches," April 26, 1834. .
. . 426
JOCELYN
requirements of modern citizenship. Most emphatically
he advocated that the State perfect and extend the edu-
cational system it was its right and bounden duty to en-
force. Not that he would completely separate the reli-
gious and secular elements, as his successors have done in
France. " Toute lumire vient de Dieu et mene a Dieu," 1
he assured his hearers when addressing the Chamber on
a motion for a reduction of the budget of Public Instruc-
tion. But he separated moral and religious sentiments,
believing the State amply enabled to impart the former,
and insisting that the latter might safely be left to fam-
ily influences. '.
Such are the opinions which prevail generally to-day;
but eighty years ago it required a good deal of moral
courage to uphold theories which in many quarters were
deemed heretical. That Lamartine realized this is ap-
parent from his letter of February 17 to Virieu. Six
weeks before the delivery of his speech he informed his
friend that he had prepared "an immense harangue on
public instruction." And he adds that it is to be his chief
effort during the session. He begs Virieu to arrange to
have his speech reported in extenso by the papers in
Lyons, being willing to pay for such insertion. " I desire
that it be read in its entirety, although my opinions may
perhaps shock your own ideas. You will note that I deal
out truths to all." 2 But although he realized that the
"voluntarily eccentric position" he assumed meant mis-
understanding and consequent unpopularity, the aim he
had in view necessitated the open expression of conscien-
tious opinions. Strong in his personal convictions, Lamar-
tine had little doubt but that the generous principles
of the Christian Democracy he preached must prevail
with the young Liberal- Royalists who professed a sen-
1 Speech of May 8 in debate on Public Instruction.
1 Correspondence, DXC.
. . 427 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
timental, but far from militant, attachment to the old
regime "Carlists," as they were called on account of
their fidelity to the elder branch of the Bourbons. But
he looked beyond the immediate political future and had
the rising generation in mind, when urging an increase
in the number of universities as a guarantee for the
spread of the higher moral and intellectual standards the
triumphant advent of Democracy demanded. Develop
the intellectual forces of the nation on lines parallel with
the legitimate liberal aspirations of the new social era,
he maintained, and the perils of the Revolution which
had witnessed his own birth need not be dreaded. For
the universities he advocated untrammelled educational
franchise, although admitting State supervision in a
limited degree. 1 *
Academic and lacking in concrete argument as this dis-
course undoubtedly is, its magnificent rhetoric, com-
bined with the morality of the precepts the speaker
sought to inculcate, made a deep impression on his col-
leagues in the Chamber. Of the eloquence the new mem-
ber had at his command there could be no question.
Lamartine had allowed himself three years to acquire
the art of public speaking, as we have seen, but he had
worked conscientiously to overcome the imperfections of
his delivery and was even now in a fair way to satisfy
his own critical exigencies. But although politics and
the preparation of the subjects on which he was to
speak necessarily took up much of his time, Lamartine
found leisure for literary work. "I write thirty pages
every morning," he tells Virieu, in February, and he
speaks of forty to sixty letters received or written each
day, to say nothing of the visitors who besiege the door
of the poet and deputy. Already, in spite of the con-
siderable sums his pen assured him, money was scarce,
1 Speech "Sur 1'Instruction publique," May 8, 1834.
. . 428
JOCELYN
for his charity was unbounded. " I live on my publisher,"
he exclaims on February I, and a fortnight later acknowl-
edged the receipt of a hundred thousand francs for
work done or to be delivered within the next fifteen
months. 1 Forty or sixty francs a day are given to in-
digent solicitors, political and literary, or to beggars of
all descriptions, for Lamartine never could say no to any
man, woman, or child who asked his charity or aid.
Up before dawn, he lighted his lamp and the blazing
wood fire he loved, and in his bare and unattractive little
study settled down to three or four hours of political
or literary composition. Early rising was a habit ac-
quired in youth, and one never abandoned. One evening,
during the opening years of the Second Empire, Edou-
ard Grenier expressed his admiration of the poet's habit
of early rising, and asked if it had not now become almost
second nature to him to leave his bed at all seasons at
five in the morning. "On the contrary," replied Lamar-
tine, "it is as great an effort as on the first day." 2 The
work done during those quiet hours before the household
was astir he considered his best. But even during these
early hours absolute peace was denied him, for his dogs,
of which half a dozen were his constant companions,
seemed to know the days their master devoted to poe-
try, and chose such times to scratch at his door and to
come and go more frequently than ever. Lamartine
never was known to refuse then* appeals, and would let
them in and out a dozen times within the hour. 3 Under
such circumstances "Jocelyn" and "La Chute d'un
Ange" were written. :
There were, however, interruptions of a different kind,
in the face of which literary work had to be sacrificed.
The dissolution of the Chambers (May 25, 1834) neces-
1 Voyage en Orient ; cf . Correspondance, DXC.
1 Cf. Alexandra, op. cit., p. 28. Souvenirs littiraircs, p. 20.
429
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
sitated new elections. Friends at home were desirous
that Lamartine should contest the seat in his native
town; but before doing so, doubtful as to the reception
he might receive, he determined to visit Bergues and
reconnoitre his chances in the district which had up-
held him so faithfully. In the middle of May he conse-
quently set forth for the North, where his electors re-
ceived him with unbounded enthusiasm. During the
twenty days spent in electioneering ample evidence was
forthcoming that success was assured. Nevertheless, he
allowed his name to be used at the polls in Mcicon, and
on June 20, the day before the election, published a stir-
ring address to his fellow-citizens. Defending himself
against the usual accusations of bad faith, but without
clearly defining his political convictions, he winds up
his address with the statement that it matters little to
him whether he obtain their suffrages or not. " I honour
my opponent," he says; "I do not beg for your favour;
but I desire your esteem; that is the reason I have an-
swered your invitation to stand." * Cavalierly as he
treated the voters at Mcon, there is no doubt but that
he ardently desired the suffrages of his native borough.
His canvass was discreetly but persistently carried on
by friends, while he himself was electioneering among
his Flemish constituents at Hondschoote, Bergues, and
Dunkirk.
Of his success in the North there was from the outset
but little question: the electors whom he had served in
the recent session were well pleased with their representa-
tive and satisfied with the somewhat vague but undeni-
ably patriotic political and social theories he unfolded.
It was therefore scarcely a surprise to Lamartine to find
himself unanimously reflected as deputy from Bergues.
But that a like honour should be conferred upon him at
1 La France parlementaire, vol. I, p. 88.
- 430
JOCELYN
Micon was a flattering testimonial to his popularity on
which he had not dared to count. Nevertheless, he did
not hesitate, and waived the private considerations
which prompted acceptance of the representation of
his fellow-citizens in favour of that of his political asso-
ciates in the distant North. It must appear extraor-
dinary that, having the choice between his home borough
and the remote Flemish constituency, Lamartine should
have decided in favour of the latter. The fact is, how-
ever, that in spite of the good- will of those who effected
his election at M.con, the successful candidate realized
that the authorities in his native province and town
were frankly antagonistic to him. We have the testi-
mony of the Prefect of the Dpartement de Sa6ne et
Loire as evidence of the strained relations which existed
in 1834 between Lamartine and the public function-
aries of the district. 1 Although a member of the General
Council of the district, his unpopularity was great in that
body, and his influence consequently insignificant. Un-
doubtedly Lamartine realized that, owing to this antago-
nism, the principles of the policy he had adopted must be
continually misrepresented and thwarted, and that his
prestige in the Chamber and with the country at large
must inevitably suffer. On the other hand, the confidence
of the electors at Bergues was assured him. As he wrote
in his letter of acceptance, their suffrages had enabled
him to make a beginning, and with their aid and support
he hoped to carry on the work he had undertaken. 2 With
his constituents in the North he was in absolute accord ;
with those of his native town continual conflict was
probable if not certain. At any rate, his independence
would be hampered. Lamartine, greatly as he desired to
1 Souvenirs d'un ancicn Prtfet, p. 197.
* Cf. letter to electors of Bergues, dated from Saint-Point, June 26,
, quoted by M. Cochin, op. cit., p. 421.
- 431 '
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
represent in the councils of the Nation the cradle of his
ancestors, felt that he could afford to wait. Unquestion-
ably he was right.
i The summer of 1834 was spent quietly at Monceau
and Saint- Point. Literary work absorbed him, for, as he
wrote Virieu, he had undertaken to deliver "five vol-
umes within five months." * These books were the four
volumes of his "Voyage en Orient," for which he had
been paid in advance, and the " joli petit poeme du Jour-
nal d'un Vicaire" to be known as "Jocelyn," and recog-
nized to-day as one of the most perfect examples of his
style. Of course Dargaud, who had become well-nigh
inseparable, was a frequent visitor, and his influence
with the poet-statesman constantly increased. Writing
to his fianc6e, Mademoiselle Blanchet, on August 14,
1834, Dargaud mentions having spent a month with his
friend, moving with the family from Monceau to Milly
and thence to Saint-Point. "M. de Lamartine wanted
to keep me till January, when the session opens, and let
me go only on the condition that I return in six weeks.
... I would like him to renounce sacerdotal traditions
and essay the new philosophy. I want the swan to be-
come an eagle." 2 And again in November of the
same year, this time from the ancestral nest at Milly,
Dargaud expatiates on the pleasure these sojourns
afford him. The house was full of "painters and artists
of all kinds." "Nothing is comparable to the charms of
our evenings devoted to readings and conversations.
M. de Lamartine is charming with me, and his friend-
ship most tender. . . . The house is a veritable religious
Ferney, 3 where days slip by like hours."
The crisis through which Lamartine was passing be-
came even more acute; his meditations and speculations
1 Correspondan.ee, DXCVI. * Jean des Cognets, op. tit., p. 263.
1 The abode of Voltaire, near Geneva.
432
JOCELYN
on religious truths more poignant. Leaving Monceau and
the guests assembled there he shut himself up at Saint-
Point for a fortnight alone with Dargaud. To this kin-
dred spirit he confided afresh the doubts and impulses,
the moral torture and joys, alternating with profound
psychological depression and mystical beatitude, which
constantly assailed him. He insisted on the audacity of
his thought and the timidity he experienced in its ex-
pression. Dargaud preached, exhorted, and prophesied,
endeavouring to overcome the last scruples which bound
his friend to the traditions of the past. Intellectually
Lamartine was prepared to accept the new light, but his
heart could not detach itself from the old memories, the
"voices" which called him from the grave. All through
the beautiful episode entitled " Jocelyn," evidences of this
fierce psychological struggle are apparent. Conscience-
stricken he recoils before the magnitude of the sacrifice
demanded of him, only to be fascinated a moment later
by the intellectual, the humanitarian beauties of the
philosophy he is urged to embrace. Jocelyn is Lamar-
tine: the chasm which separated the humble parish priest,
whose prototype was the author's friend, the Abb6 Du-
mont, from the ecclesiastical doctrines he defied, is the
ever-widening gulf which yawned between Lamartine
and the dogmas of the Roman Church.
Dargaud 's influence was paramount during the compo-
sition of this great epic: but the "Voyage en Orient"
had prepared the way. The thesis of the celibacy of the
priesthood had already been upheld in the chapters
dealing with the Maronites. It would be an exaggeration,
however, to hold Dargaud solely responsible for the
pantheism, the rationalism, and evolutionary principles
everywhere discernible in "Jocelyn," for the germs of
the philosophy he taught were unquestionably lying
latent in the sub-conscious recesses of the soul of the
. . 433 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
author of the "Meditations" long before their meeting.
Nevertheless, the trusted and beloved exponent of the
gospel of the modern theosophy was accountable for the
public expression of theories deemed heretical. Those
endless metaphysical discussions during the long sum-
mer rambles on the country-side round Saint-Point,
and the daily walks in the Bois de Boulogne while Par-
liament was in session, were bearing fruit. Lamartine
held back, it is true, convinced that his political situa-
tion forbade open proselytism for the new religion; but
the theories he dared not proclaim from the rostrum
found vent through his hero, Jocelyn. 1
" 'Jocelyn' is written wholly in the spirit of Rousseau,"
opines M. Marc Citoleux in his minute analysis of the
origins of Lamartine's philosophical poetry. "Won over
to Rationalism, that is, the negation of the supernat-
ural, Lamartine halts at the Religion of the ' Vicaire Sa-
voyard,' which is kin to the first stages of incredulity." 2
But if "Jocelyn does not leave the earth, he walks with
dignity amongst men, without miracles as without cow-
ardice," criticized Gustave Planche, 8 in 1836; and most
readers of the lyrical drama will agree with him. Theo-
logians, Protestant as well as Roman, may wrangle over
the heresies of "Jocelyn," but it would be manifestly
unfair to brand Lamartine a religious iconoclast. Politi-
cally he sought harmony and peace between the two
great mentors of the human conscience, the temporal and
the spiritual; but, like Cavour, he sighed for a Free
Church in a Free State. Yet, as he told his electors at
Bergues, he had made it his business to defend the Con-
cordat against the attacks of the ultra-Liberals and anti-
Clericals, believing liberty of conscience and of religion
1 Cf. Des Cognets, op. tit., p. 268.
* Lamartine, La potsie philosophique, p. 149.
' Portraits litteraires, vol. i, p. 92.
. . 434 . .
JOCELYN
to be menaced. 1 On matters of Catholic dogma he might
and did dissent, but to the fundamental doctrines of
Christianity he remained steadfastly attached. The "new
religion" he was called upon to embrace must be, if he
vouchsafed it his support, no mere flaunting of specula-
tive philosophical theories, but a series of doctrinal re-
forms more in harmony with the social aspirations of the
age a philosophy as far removed from atheism as
liberty from licence.
We have seen that Lamartine confessed to Dargaud on
their first meeting that his orthodoxy was "more that
of the lips than of the heart." But M. de Barthlemy
goes too far when he accuses the poet of insincerity and
hypocrisy in his writings and draws a picture of his un-
seemly attitude during public worship in Macon. Shocked
at his apparent indifference to his surroundings, the Pre-
fect says he mentioned the matter to a friend. " ' I have
known Lamartine since his birth,' observed the latter:
'he never believed in any religion. At the most he be-
lieves in God ; but of that I am not very sure.'" 2 This is
calumny, and merely quoted as an example of the misin-
terpretations placed upon Lamartine's most insignificant
actions. Barthelemy, a fervent adherent of the July Mon-
archy, was a political adversary of the parliamentary free
lance whose arrogant independence angered the acolytes of
Louis- Philippe's Administration. Hence the vituperation.
"In a few years I shall certainly write a philosophical
treatise," Lamartine assured Virieu in the autumn of
this same year 1834. But he acknowledged that as yet
his convictions were not ripe, and that for the present
he could "find Truth nowhere." s "Once my determina-
tion is taken I shall go far," he had assured Dargaud. 4
1 Cf. electoral speech at Hondschoote May 25, 1834.
1 Souvenirs d'un ancien Prefet, p. 193. * Correspondence, oxcvn.
4 Des Cognets, op. cit. t p. 268.
. . 435 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
When "Jocelyn" was published, Rome considered that
he had indeed gone far, and the poem, together with
the "Voyage en Orient," was placed on the Index Ex-
pur gatorius on September 22, I836. 1 The condemnation
of his works as heretical does not appear to have deeply
impressed Lamartine, any more than the previous at-
tacks of the Catholic press had done. Did he feel him-
self beyond the reach of injury from such sources? Not
quite, for as early as March 26, 1836, he inserted a post-
scriptum in the editions of "Jocelyn" protesting against
the accusations of an attack on "Catholic Christianity."
Declining to make a profession of faith, he asserts, never-
theless, his veneration, gratitude, and love for a reli-
gion which has "incarnated Divine Reason in human
reason." His object, he maintains, is to inspire the adora-
tion of God, love of fellow-man, and the taste for the
beautiful and the good in souls possessing noble and
divine instincts. Repudiating the insinuations of pan*-
theism, he insists that he would as lief be accused of
atheism. Because the poet sees God everywhere he is
supposed to see Him in everything: an assertion he
vigorously refutes. Nor can Lamartine be accused of in-
sincerity in the premiss, for, although certain verses are
susceptible of pantheistic interpretation, no indication of
a positive denial of the Divine Personality can be traced
in his works. The eminent Swiss theologian and literary
critic, Alexandre Vinet, diagnosed "Jocelyn" from the
Protestant standpoint in the "Semeur" of March 16
and 23, 1836. Liberal and penetrating as his criticism is,
true as many of his conclusions undoubtedly are, the dif-
ficulty he experiences in reconciling equitable judgment
and religious prejudice is often so apparent as to invali-
1 Des Cognets, op. cit. t pp. 223 and 274; cf. also Henri Cochin, Lamar-
tine et la Flandre, p. 248. The incident would seem to have passed practi-
cally unnoticed by his Catholic constituents.
436
JOCELYN
date the soundness of what, from a purely literary stand-
ard, constitutes one of the finest appreciations of this
lyrical drama. Vinet recognizes, as did most of his con-
temporaries, that Lamartine and Jocelyn may be taken
by the reader as practically synonymous terms, claiming
that differentiation of the author's and his hero's ideals
and articles of dogma is an impossibility.
Unquestionably Dargaud would have preferred that
the critics be allowed to draw freely and uncontradicted
their own conclusions concerning the "heresies" con-
tained in "Jocelyn." Certainly he must have frowned
on the sop thrown to the outraged upholders of dogma
in the post-scriptum, for it constituted further evidence of
Lamartine's hesitation to burn his ships and resolutely
tread the unexplored realms of the nascent philosophy
which was to moralize the political world.
But humanitarian to the core, Lamartine was no rev-
olutionary, in the iconoclastic sense of the term. As
Sainte-Beuve very justly remarked, "his was a policy
of expansion, not eruption." l Wise conservatism tem-
pered by moderate liberalism, the whole welded by strong
leanings towards order and constituted authority: such
was the policy he advocated during his parliamentary
career. 'The catch-word, "politique sociale," with which
he interlarded nearly all his speeches, was misleading. Of
socialism, such as we understand the term to-day, there
was but little trace in the Lamartinian doctrine: hu-
manitarianism would perhaps convey more correctly the
somewhat chimerical aims he had in view. Essentially
religious in its ideals, the "politique sociale" drew its
inspiration primarily from evangelical sources. To quote
Sainte-Beuve 2 again, Lamartine could only conceive trans-
1 Sainte-Beuve, Portraits contemporains, vol. I, p. 351.
* Portraits contemporains, vol. I, p. 307; cf. also Correspondance, DC.
"Une reforme est indispensable au monde religieux plus qu'au monde poli-
tique."
. . 437 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
formations of even the most mature human society by
virtue of the inheritance of Christ.
Under such conditions, conversant as he was with
the poet-statesman's temperamental religiosity, Dargaud
could at most look for the gradual acceptance of the pos-
itivism which imbued the tenets of the new philosophy.
More amenable to the political theories which underlay
the system he was asked to embrace, there is but little
doubt that the secular character of Dargaud's republi-
canism alone prevented complete accord. Lamartine
was too sincerely attached to the democratic ideal not to
recognize the theoretical beauties of popular government.
If he had objected in 1830 to the Republic, it was because
he clearly foresaw that a counter-revolution meant the
rule of the Clubs, and foreshadowed the renewal of the
reign of spiritual and political anarchy of '93 ; inevitably
followed by the armed intervention of coalesced Europe. 1
The "politique sociale" anticipated no such violent up-
heavals : but the goal to which it inevitably led was the
Republic. What has been said and written to the con-
trary notwithstanding, there is justification for the be-
lief that Lamartine realized as early as 1834 whither his
social policy must carry him, and was prepared to face
the issue. "Plus tard je serai votre reserve a tous," he
wrote Virieu the last days of December. 2 The prophecy
was fulfilled to the letter fourteen years later.
Meanwhile the July Monarchy afforded a temporary
guarantee for the preservation of law and order, and
must not be allowed to fall before its purpose had been
achieved. For this reason he voted with the Ministry
on all questions not involving the fundamental princi-
ples of his policy. At the opening of the session of 1834,
1 Cf. Correspondence, DXX and DXXIV; also Louis Blanc's beautiful
tribute to Lamartine's devotion to the principles of Democracy, Histoire
de Dix Ans, vol. iv, p. 207 et seq.
1 Correspondence, DCI.
' 438
JOCELYN
Lamartine claimed that over twenty of his colleagues
in the Chamber shared his opinions, adding that be-
fore the year was out they would number forty, and
a possible three hundred within four years. With him
(as leader presumably) they would "fight a desperate
battle against a bad republic and effect either a toler-
able restoration or a rational republic." 1 The ambiguity
of the phrase is disturbing. But it must ever be borne
in mind that a great turmoil was seething in Lamar-
tine's metaphysical conscience, renewing or transforming
cherished traditions. It could hardly be expected that
his political conscience should escape the tempest. The
"tolerable restoration" could only mean the return to
power of that elder branch whose blindness and consti-
tutional incapacity he had over and over again branded
as incurable. Excessive loyalty to tradition could alone
explain adherence to a system his political acumen con-
demned. The utterance characterizes the chaotic senti-
ments reigning not only in his own mind, but in the
Chamber and the country at large, where the "doctri-
naires" spread discord, if not actual dissent.
In his "M6moires politiques" Lamartine has left on
record scathing pages concerning the r61e played by the
doctrinaires in the Chamber from 1830 to 1848. He has
little good to say of Berryer, who represented practi-
cally alone the Legitimist cause. Odilon Barrot, who was
to be his colleague in the Ministry of the Provisional
Government of 1848, he esteemed "a seeker after pop-
ularity" with whom he did not care to ally himself.
After 1848 his sentiments toward Odilon Barrot under-
went a change, it is true,, and Lamartine ended by re-
specting and admiring the politician whose attitude dur-
ing the fifteen previous years he blamed. 2
1 Correspondance, DC. * Op. tit., pp. 318-20.
CHAPTER XXXI
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
THE new Parliament assembled on December i, 1834.
Although disastrous for the Republicans of open and
avowed opinions, the recent elections had greatly in-
creased the number of independents who might at any
moment, and on the flimsiest pretext, throw their collec-
tive weight into the scales, together with what was
termed the "tiers parti," a heterogeneous assemblage of
politicians who professed no definite programme, voting
now with, now against, the Government. 1 As defined by
the "Revue des Deux Mondes" (1835) the "tiers parti"
seemed to be neither with nor against the established
order: it proclaimed the dynasty a necessity, and yet,
involuntarily, aided in secretly undermining it. Theoret-
ically Lamartine might be accused of sharing the respon-
sibilities this so-called party incurred : yet in no instance
during the opening years of his parliamentary career can
the accusation of a deliberate attempt to embarrass the
Government be levelled against him : he was no obstruc-
tionist in the modern sense of the term. A self-styled
independent, his ambition was, as we have seen, to form
the nucleus of a party sufficiently powerful to enforce the
social reforms he had at heart. That in his estimation the
application of the popular franchises he advocated must
entail a change in the form of government is tolerably cer-
tain, as a glance at his political correspondence will show.
Failing the "tolerable restoration" a Utopia even to
the optimism of a Lamartine the "rational republic"
might prove an acceptable alternative. Certain instinc-
1 Cf. Memoir es politiques, vol. I, p. 319.
. . 440
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
tive antipathies, the fruit of aristocratic training and en-
vironment, had to be overcome, for in his early years
Democracy had been personified in the Red Terror: the
mob in rags, thirsting for blood and plunder, undisci-
plined and powerless to profit morally by the triumphs its
ferocious excesses had achieved. Yet, even while he rec-
ognized and deplored the licence the great Revolution
had awaked, he discerned the lofty ideals underlying the
brutal manifestations in the name of Liberty, and trusted
in the virtues and loyalty of the People: qualities, he
maintained, never lost, but stunted and vitiated by lack
of education and the cruel oppression which robbed men
of their birthright. 1 The redemption of the People, and
through the People of Society, Lamartine now sought to
achieve by the spread of educational and religious liber-
ties and the grant of generous electoral franchises.
Political ideologue as he was termed, Lamartine was
sincerely convinced that he had a mission to fulfil. His
parliamentary tactics were in accordance with his politi-
cal doctrines. If he sought popularity it was with no ego-
tistical purpose of self-aggrandizement. The advice he
gave his colleagues and the Ministry must, if followed,
redound as much to their honour as his own. If they
feared the Republicans, he told them, there was a sure
way of conquering them, but one way only: "Occupy
their positions yourselves, surpass them, give the country
that which they promise. With your system of immobil-
ity you are making Republicans : opinions become strong
by reason of the rights refused them, not by virtue of
those which are granted." 2 The system of political re-
pression he discerned in the Government must weaken,
he felt, the authority he would have unquestioned, but
1 Louis Blanc, Histoire de Dix Ans, vol. rv, p. 208.
* Speech urging an amnesty for political offenders, December 30, 1834;
cf . La France parlementaire, vol. i, p. 97.
. . 441 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
based on individual freedom the surest guarantee of
social stability in the face of anarchical opposition.
That Lamartine's theories should be subjected to sharp
criticism, even in quarters where he might reasonably
expect to find support, was inevitable. He was a new man
in politics and an independent into the bargain. As such,
mistrust and misinterpretation were to be his lot. On the
morrow of his stirring appeal for amnesty the "Na-
tional," a newspaper of advanced Liberal tendencies,
while acknowledging the literary and philosophical value
of the speech, denied that any deep impression had been
made on the Assembly, and doubted the speaker's capa-
bility to sway an audience. The views he had expressed,
the writer in the "National" maintained, were "those of
an orator of the Social party, of the party which, while
still feeling its way, pretends to have discovered the
goal." 1
Although Lamartine considered that he had achieved a
"moral victory" 2 by his speech of December 30, his pres-
tige with his colleagues had not been greatly increased by
the arguments he had advanced. Generous theories, how-
ever beautifully expressed, could hardly be expected to
make converts of politicians holding deep-rooted convic-
tions and bound by party ties and personal interests.
Lamartine's conceptions were still too cloudy, and his
political ability too doubtful, to warrant a following. His
contention that the Legitimists made a mistake in not
uniting with the Republicans must perforce appear sus-
picious to both parties. Nor is this strange, in view of
such vague utterances as the following: "I am not anti-
republican, given the day and the hour." To which he
adds: "You cannot entirely understand me, nor can any-
body entirely understand me, because I only explain my-
self a little at a time in order not to frighten the party
1 Cf. National of December 31, 1834. * Correspondance, DCII.
. . 442 .
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
through which I want to act." 1 That Lamartine was
himself conscious of the incongruity of his position is
clear. "They laugh loud at my lack of political spirit,"
he confided to Virieu. " But the hour has not come. ... I
refuse advisedly to embrace any definite opinion at pres-
ent, neither Legitimist, nor Republican, nor yet juste
milieu. Neutral ground is imperative; a new party which
shall absorb all others and save them from themselves." 2
This was an ambitious programme for a tyro on the politi-
cal stage : but Lamartine had unbounded faith in himself,
although he admitted the fight would be a long one
"ten years, perhaps"; not an exaggerated estimate for
the reconciliation of all the warring interests which vexed
the unfolding era the Citizen-King was to typify.
Lamartine was not alone in his belief that he possessed
a political sagacity beyond the average. If we are to
credit his own testimony (and there is no reason for not
accepting the spirit, if not the letter, of the documentary
evidence his contemporaneous correspondence affords)
Talleyrand shared this confidence in the poet's political
destiny. "I dined four days ago with Talleyrand," he
wrote Virieu on December 27, 1834. "After dinner he
came up to me and asked for half an hour's confidential
talk. Leading me to a sofa, he began with that solemn
and oracular manner you remember : ' You have made an
admirable entry into public affairs.' " To which Lamar-
tine replied modestly that as yet he stood on the thresh-
old, that he represented at most an idea, and belonged
to no party. But the old diplomatist, who had served
Napoleon and the Bourbons of the Restoration as he was
now serving Louis-Philippe, shook his wise old head:
"You have penetrated deeper into the heart of affairs
than any man since the establishment of the July Mon-
archy : you have seen deeper, more correctly, and further
1 Correspondence, DCII. * Ibid., DCIII.
. . 443 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
than any one. Events move rapidly, and you keep pace
with them. It is not a matter of ten years, as you say, but
of one, two, or three, perhaps. You cannot fail on the
road you have selected, and followed, to reach the heart
of the country." And settling down to his subject, the
Prince, during the next three quarters of an hour, un-
folded to his astonished hearer the very thoughts and
plans of campaign Lamartine had himself conceived.
Branching off on to his own career, the veteran then pro-
ceeded to explain his actions during the Restoration and
July. "What do you think of a mind like that at eighty-
two years of age?" exclaimed Lamartine when reporting
the conversation to Virieu. " I thought he considered me,
as do the greater number in the Chamber, to be an un-
practical dreamer." l
Speaking frequently and on a variety of subjects dur-
ing the winter and spring of 1835, Lamartine was rapidly
perfecting himself in the difficult art he had .set himself
to master. He assures Virieu that eloquence comes more
readily to him than poetry, and that improvisation of the
most spontaneous flow, combined with clear, abundant,
and often deadly retort, are at his command. 2 A perusal
of his speeches confirms this contention. Lamartine' s elo-
quence rolls out solemnly, with a breadth and majesty
not precluding warmth. Imagery is frequent, highly col-
oured, often very bold, now and again so happy that it
carries away his audience. If not comparable with the
eloquence of Thiers, or his rival Berryer, in argumenta-
tion or brilliancy of deduction, the oratory of Lamartine
clothed his ideas with magnificence, developed them with
skill, and excelled in presenting them under varying and
attractive aspects. Not only did he lull his hearers with
musical phrase, but he touched and stirred them,, his
words carrying at least temporary conviction. If his
1 Correspondence, DCI. * Ibid., DCXIV and DCXVII.
. . 444 . .
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
rhetoric failed to beguile the canny calculations of the
Parliamentarians, it captivated and subjugated the pop-
ular mind, because it was imbued with sentiment rather
than reason, and thrilled the heart rather than the head. 1
Even Guizot, one of his bitterest political adversaries,
acknowledges the power the poet-statesman wielded, and
pays homage to his skill. "No man received from God
more magnificent gifts, both personal and of opportunity,
intellectual and social. . . . Lamartine possessed not only
a brilliant and seductive flow of language, his mind was
singularly rich, broad, sagacious without subtlety, and
combining grace with grandeur. Overflowing with gener-
ally lofty and ingenious ideas, often profound, he paints
with a broad brush, sometimes with as much truth as
brilliancy, situations, events, and men, while he excels by
instinct as much as by skill in marshalling exalted argu-
ments in support of unworthy causes." 2
Sainte-Beuve, paying an equally glowing tribute to
Lamartine's eloquence, criticizes the "innocent fatuity"
which prompted him to invade without sufficient prepa-
ration realms exacting special training. But he acknowl-
edges, nevertheless, that despite apparent superficiality,
the gifted debater got at the kernel of vexed problems of
political economy with incredible facility. 3 That Lamar-
tine's comprehension of the science of finance, public or
private, was elementary there can be little doubt. The
havoc he made with his personal fortune demonstrates his
inaptitude for business. But M. de Barthelemy mani-
festly exaggerates when he asserts that according to his
own confession the influential member of the General
Council of his native province never could master the first
principles of arithmetic. 4 A careful scrutiny of such
1 Cf. Quentin-Bauchart, op. til., p. 25.
* Guizot, MSmoires, vol. VII, p. 31.
3 Causeries du Lundi, vol. xi, p. 449.
Souvenirs d'un ancien Prffet, p. 202.
. . 445 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
speeches as those on savings banks (February 3, 1835),
the two important addresses concerning the conversion
of public funds (February 5 and March 22, 1836), and his
participation in the debates on the liberty of commerce
and on colonial affairs (April 14 and May 25, 1836) affords
substantial evidence of the grasp he had acquired over the
broader principles of political economy. From the senti-
mental aspect of any question he can never wholly escape :
yet the practical side of the problem is often treated with
a technical knowledge a specialist might envy. Intui-
tively he grasped the issue, probed the pith of the subject
under discussion with amazing facility, and with equal
ease suggested a more or less accurate solution. Danger-
ous as such excessive facility might have proved when
combined with persuasive eloquence and the "innocent
fatuity" of which Sainte-Beuve complained, the correc-
tive was found in the honesty and good faith of Lamar-
tine. Scoff as they might at his "parti social," composed
as yet of himself alone, his colleagues in the Chamber
were not slow in appreciating the advantages to be de-
rived from a political alliance with so brilliant a speaker.
Many were the efforts made to draw this new force within
the orbit of party spheres. To all Lamartine turned a
deaf ear, objecting that the loss of his independence
of action would not be compensated by the doubtful
strength his adhesion might add. Even with Thiers, whom
at this period he admired and esteemed, he refused any
semblance of political association. 1
Yet, despite these flattering attempts to entice the
deputy from Bergues within the lines of party discipline,
it would be a mistake to presume that Lamartine played
any considerable part in public affairs in 1835, or indeed
during the first four years of his parliamentary career.
He was still feeling his way; shedding prejudices more the
1 Quentin-Bauchart, op. cit., p. 29.
AAQ
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
result of atavism than of personal conviction, developing
his oratorical gifts, assimilating what he called the "con-
science of the country," and himself becoming day by day
"more intimately and more conscientiously revolution-
ary." 1 It is the suffrages of the Nation he aspires to pos-
sess, not those of the parliamentary world, 2 and as yet he
may hardly be said to have entered militant politics.
Fieschi's attempt on the life of Louis-Philippe marked
the first stage of his opposition to the reactionary policy
of the Government he had hitherto merely criticized.
It will be remembered that on July 28, 1835, as the
King was reviewing the troops drawn up along the bou-
levards between the Madeleine and the Bastille, a bomb
was thrown from a house on the Boulevard du Temple.
The royal party escaped unscathed, but forty-one vic-
tims, generals, officers, national guards, and peaceful
citizens, lay groaning on the pavement, eighteen of whom
were mortally wounded. Fieschi was a Corsican, at once
a member of secret societies and a spy and informer who
sold the secrets he possessed to the police. Although
Fieschi was readily convicted and executed as a vulgar
assassin whose fiendish act was prompted by no definite
personal political passion, the trial brought to light cer-
tain influences put in motion by Republican associates
of the murderer and his accomplices. Mazzini himself
was implicated, unjustly it has since been proved; but
there would appear to have been little doubt that his
society of "Young Italy" was to some extent morally
responsible for the crime. Political passions ran wild,
even after justice had been done. The Government be-
lieving, or feigning to believe, that the unbridled licence
of the press and the Republican propaganda some news-
papers had undertaken were incentives, if not direct
causes, of the widespread unrest, introduced violently
1 Correspondance,Dcxvu. * Emile Deschanel, Lamartine, vol. i, p. 311.
. . 447 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
restrictive and repressive laws, jeopardizing the free ex-
pression of public opinion and directly affecting juries
and the Assize Courts. These decrees, known as the
"September Laws," aroused the indignant protests of all
those who had the higher interests of France at heart. As
was to be anticipated, Lamartine threw himself into the
breach in defence of the popular liberties.
The discussion of the proposed laws began on August
X 3 J 835, and was prolonged during fourteen sessions,
until the 29th of the same month. On two occasions,
August 21 and 29, Lamartine energetically denounced
these measures as deliberately and without adequate
warrant attacking one of the most sacred liberties of
modern civilization. To muzzle or suppress the utterance
of seditious public opinion was, in his opinion, a crime
more than a crime, a blunder. Even excessive licence in
the press had its advantages, since it left no dangerous
secret thoughts unvented. A government must fight, and
to fight in the open was less hazardous than to combat a
hidden foe. If the Government was attacked through the
medium of the press, let it retaliate in like manner. To
deny the people free expression of, grievances, real or
imaginary, is to drive them to violence. " I am not a man
of 'July,' " he cried; "but I am a man of my country and
of my time : the country's shame would reflect on us all,
should these laws be accepted." And he went on to add
that the Revolution of July which he had witnessed with
sorrow, yet frankly accepted since it was the expression
of the voice of the people, must, should these repressive
measures be voted, appear to the world to have been an
event without aim or significance, "a mere escamotage de
pouvoir, one more hideous dupery of liberty." l
The law passed in spite of these prophetic warnings;
but with the hour of his earnest pleadings in the cause of
1 Speech on the Press Law. La France parlementaire, vol. I, p. 185.
. . 448
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
liberty Lamartine's influence dawned. Liberalism and
the democratic elements in the Chamber acclaimed the
new apostle. Royer-Collard himself came up and con-
gratulated him, asking why hitherto he had only spoken
on "theoretical generalities" of a character likely to di-
minish his innate authority when dealing with current
affairs. 1 " It is," replied Lamartine, " in order that I may
speak through the window to the masses who take no
heed of idle discussions between the Ministry and the
Opposition within the Chamber." 2
Oracular as the phrase sounded, it conveyed very
clearly to the wise old statesman the seething ambitions
of his gifted colleague. Nodding comprehension, he ob-
served that in order to talk from the window the speaker
must do so from inside the Chamber; meaning that the
fulfilment of ambitions such as Lamartine entertained
necessitated active participation in the everyday business
of the official representatives of the masses he sought to
reach and to influence. Lamartine took the hint. From
this conversation may be said to date, not his entrance
into the ranks of the organized Opposition, but the mili-
tant support of his theories for social renovation. Such
was the explanation of the awakening of the "revolu-
tionary conscientiousness " he confessed to Virieu a month
later. 3
If Lamartine combated with unwonted energy the
adoption of the coercive Press Laws the Government was
determined to enact, it was not because he looked with
indifference on Fieschi's dastardly crime. Far from it.
But the universal indignation over the regicidal outrage
convinced him that popular opinion formed an adequate
safeguard against the mouthings of a fractional portion
of the national press. The danger concealed in the Gov-
1 Lamartine, Histoire de la, Restauration, vol. V, pp. 195-97.
* Cf. Deschanel, op. tit., vol. i, p. 318. Cf. Correspondance, DCXVU.
- 449
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
ernment's proposition lay in the fact that the repressive
laws virtually amounted to a privilege. In other words,
the caution-money journalists were required to deposit
was so enormously increased that unless considerable cap-
ital was behind them they were practically prohibited,
owing to heavy fines, from any expression of opinion
likely to offend the all-powerful censors. This meant, of
course, discrimination against the poorer newspapers in
their competition with those whose funds permitted tak-
ing risks. To Lamartine's mind such a course was intoler-
able, constituting not only a direct violation of one of the
most sacred liberties of modern civilization, but endan-
gering the whole fabric of constitutional guarantees
granted by the July Monarchy. While fully alive to the
difficulties the Government was called upon to face, he
denied the peril the Ministry pretended to discern in the
free discussion of social, political, or dynastic problems.
"With a free press government may be difficult," he
maintained ; "without it, it is impossible." Even if during
the last four years the newspapers had breathed hatred,
calumny, and outrage ; even if some writers had preached
insurrection and anarchy, it must be remembered that in
muzzling the press, they muzzled at once falsehood and
truth, and such an expedient meant muzzling human
intellect. 1
M. Ren Doumic has published a series of letters not
included in the " Correspondance " which throw new light
on Lamartine's political action and ambitions during the
period i834~47. 2 On August 9 the deputy, then at Macon,
returned to take part in the discussion of the September
Laws resultant from Fieschi's attempt on the life of the
King. To his wife and M. de Montherot he wrote almost
daily. Describing the success of his speech on the Press
1 La France parlementaire, vol. I, p. 175.
* Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1908, "Lamartine, Orateur."
450 .
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
Laws, he informed Madame de Lamartine next day that :
" L'effet de ce discours d6passe tout ce que j'ai eu jus-
qu'ici"; and he urges his wife that some mention of this
" immense effet oratoire" be made in the home journals.
A few days later (26th) he describes a violent dispute with
Thiers, who, recognizing his "great talents and his prob-
ity," accused him of inordinate ambition. "Take care of
what this ambition may lead you to do," thundered the
infuriated Thiers. But, as M. Doumic justly remarks, the
taunt which Thiers flung in the face of the eloquent dep-
uty must not be translated by the term "'arrivism' so
frequently apparent in the selfish politicians of our own
times." To apply a like conception to Lamartine would
be not only calumny, but foolishness. Lamartine's am-
bition was of quite another order, "... that of the
statesman who wishes to be associated with the life of his
country, to influence its destinies, and to lead it along
the road he deems the fittest."
Unsuccessful as his common-sense rhetoric proved,
Lamartine scored another moral victory by his vigorous
opposition to the coercive September Laws. Enormous as
were the majorities by which the drastic decrees were
passed, popular sentiment was not slow in recognizing
that they were retaliatory measures prompted by fear,
and, as such, more calculated in the long run to weaken
than strengthen the Government which insisted on their
enactment. As a matter of fact it was only the dema-
gogical journals that were seriously affected by the pro-
mulgation of the Press Laws. About thirty of the most
virulent of these, in Paris and the Provinces, dropped out
of circulation, while the survivors were constrained to
modify their tone. But it soon became evident that lib-
erty of the press in the true sense of the term was in no
way impaired, for, although vulgar vituperation and cer-
tain unconstitutional manifestations were eliminated, the
451 -
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
Opposition newspapers, including those of Carlist or Re-
publican hue, continued their violent and often unjust
attacks. 1
Lamartine could not be even suspected, far less ac-
cused, of sympathy with the scurrilous and often irre-
sponsible organs whose advocacy of anarchism it was
sought to destroy. His indignation had been aroused by
the violation of a principle. In the previous session he had
warned his hearers against the fallacies of the death pen-
alty for political offences, as exemplified by the teachings
of history. 2 More recently he had expounded with states-
manlike accuracy the moral and economic considerations
attaching to the gradual abolition of slavery, clearly dem-
onstrating the crime perpetrated against the sanctity of
human liberties by the maintenance of this relic of an-
tiquity. 3 In the present instance his vigilance detected in
the Press Laws a reactionary policy affording no perma-
nent solution of an undoubted abuse; while by virtue of
its arbitrary character, it hampered the legitimate prop-
aganda of ideas aiming at the alleviation of crying social
and political evils. This activity in the Chamber on the
part of one whom Louis-Philippe had hoped to attach to
his cause did not pass unnoticed at the Tuileries. Shortly
after Fieschi's outrage Lamartine wrote his wife (August
!3 *835) that it had been intimated to him that the King
would gladly welcome him at the Palace, and had com-
plained concerning his somewhat ostensible failure to
request even a courtesy audience. "I replied," says La-
martine, " that such a course would have harmonized with
my personal feelings as well as with the shade of political
loyalty I profess, had I gone with my colleagues in the
Chamber at the moment of the incident; but that to go
alone, to-day, to his private apartments would lend a
1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, Histoire de la monarchic de Juillet, vol. II, p. 322.
2 May 15, 1834. April 22, 1835.
. . 452
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
semblance of personal attachment to the dynastic system
which would be in contradiction with my antecedents,
and that to this I could not consent." l Lamartine's atti-
tude was thoroughly consistent with the line of conduct
he had mapped out for guidance in the political mazes he
trod. Louis- Philippe keenly felt the species of social os-
tracism to which he was condemned at home and abroad,
and sought to attract to his surroundings all those who
might lend brilliance and stability to his Court. Politi-
cally also the necessity of a following more in accord with
the sentiments professed by his fellow-sovereigns was
daily becoming apparent. As the Government of July
receded from its revolutionary origin, the desire of the
Citizen-King to play a part in the councils of Europe in-
creased. The usurpation of the throne of St. Louis by the
son of the execrated Philippe-Egalit had shocked the
conservative legitimist factions of the nations adhering to
the monarchical system. This flagrant violation of the
"right divine," invested in the person and descendants of
Charles X, could, in the estimation of the Catholic courts
of the Continent, only be attributed to the triumph of
atheism in France. By means of judicious concessions to
the Church, in conjunction with the efforts of a prudent
and conciliatory foreign diplomacy, the King of the
French hoped to rehabilitate himself and his country in
the eyes of his scandalized fellow-rulers.
In 1835 the moment seemed propitious for the resump-
tion of closer relations between the spiritual and the sec-
ular powers. Despite the pessimism of the "Journal des
Debats," which lamented "the intellectual disorganiza-
tion, the absence of moral ties, and the reigning spirit of
insubordination and savage independence," 2 the wave
1 Cf. Revue des Deux Mondes, September 15, 1908.
* July 13, 1835. Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. tit., "La question religieuse de
1832-1836."
. . 453 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
of reaction against materialism in religion and politics
was rolling forward. The failure of Saint-Simonism
was driving humanitarians ;back to the principles if
not the dogma of Christianity. So clear-sighted an ob-
server as De Tocqueville, the first volume of whose
work, "On Democracy in America," was published that
year, noted a widespread reactionary movement in
favour of religion. "With the separation of religion and
politics," he wrote, "a religious sentiment, vague as to
its object, but already very powerful in its effects, has
made its way among the younger men. The need of a
creed is a frequent theme in their discussions. Many be-
lieve, all wish to believe." l Madame Swetchine, whose
long residence in Paris lent authority to her opinion, ob-
served a like tendency, which even the Opposition press
acknowledged. Various influences were at work. Lamen-
nais, in whose writings intellectual scepticism had taken
the place of orthodoxy, was losing the hold he had main-
tained over the generation he captivated with his "Essay
on Indifference in Religion." It will be remembered that
Lamartine pronounced this work, in 1818, "sublime a
commingling of De Maistreand Rousseau." 2 The recent
contribution of the abb6 to philosophical literature, en-
titled "Words of a Believer" (1834), although it had been
stigmatized by the Pope as "small in volume, but im-
mense in perversity," still strongly appealed to Lamar-
tine, who sought the cooperation of this advanced thinker
in the political review he desired to found. 3 But the
younger generation, with whom Frederic Ozanam was
already a leader, preferred the regeneration of France by
means of purely spiritual methods, and sought through
the society of St. Vincent de Paul and the conferences of
1 Letter of May, 1835. Correspondance inedite, vol. II, p. 48.
2 Correspondance, CLIII.
3 Ibid., DXC; cf. also Christian Marechal, Lamennais et Lamartine,
p. 287.
. . 454 . .
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
Notre Dame, to gather the faithful within the fold of
unquestioned obedience to Rome. Ozanam's initiative
was one of the most significant indications of the re-
action now setting in. Together with the Abb4 Lacor-
daire, his contemporary, he contributed more than any
other man towards the return of the aristocracy and
directing classes to the practice of orthodox Christian-
ity in France. Undoubtedly Lamartine was in sympathy
with the general trend of the movement ; yet he made his
reservations, for, as has been seen, he had embraced the
broader principles of rational Christianity as outlined
by Lamennais, while the agnosticism of Dargaud swayed
his metaphysical conscience, causing him to refuse, or at
least postpone, definite judgement.
To the efforts for the restoration of the diplomatic
prestige of France, however, he could, and did, give his
unqualified support. Lukewarm as was his loyalty to the
reign of Louis-Philippe, he realized that only by vir-
tue of a strong government at home could France hope
to be respected abroad. The diplomatic horizon was ob-
scured on many sides, and especially in Russia, where
the personal hostility of the Emperor Nicholas to the
July Monarchy made an understanding particularly
difficult. When the French Government insisted on the
withdrawal of the Russian forces from the Bosphorus
in 1833, the Czar's anger was with difficulty restrained,
and war appeared inevitable. After that time Russian
diplomacy left no stone unturned in its efforts to organ-
ize a species of crusade of Continental Europe against
constitutional France. 1 Fear of the international and
internal complications which must follow the overthrow
of the recently established monarchy and the inevitable
triumph of republicanism alone deterred the Continental
Powers from active interference. England held aloof; for,
1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. tit., vol. II, p. 364.
. . 455 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
while deploring the collapse of the principles of legiti-
macy, the Court of St. James was disposed to look with
favourable leniency on the struggle for the preserva-
tion and spread of constitutionalism across the Channel.
Prince Talleyrand, who served the new r6gime as Ambas-
sador in London, had been largely instrumental in creat-
ing this feeling of sympathy, which developed into a more
or less effective political alliance. Lamartine, half an
Englishman by his marriage, and wholly so by virtue of
his ardent admiration of the freedom enjoyed under con-
stitutional rule as interpreted in Great Britain, strongly
urged closer ties with the neighbouring kingdom.
The Due de Broglie, who had married the daughter of
Madame de Stael, held sway in the realm of foreign af-
fairs during the difficult period between 1832 and 1836,
and conducted negotiations with consummate tact, al-
though accused by some of unbending stiffness. A "doc-
trinaire," and as such distasteful to Lamartine, he had
nevertheless enlisted the personal friendship and ad-
miration of the poet-statesman, who upheld his policy
in the debate on the indemnity due the United States,
which resulted in the resignation of the Ministry. On the
opening of the session of 1835-36, M. de Broglie had every
right to look with satisfaction on the foreign relations
the Government of which he was now the leader had
created throughout Europe. At home and abroad pros-
perity and peace seemed assured. Mistrust of the regime,
whose origin had given umbrage to the despotic rulers
of the Continent, was wearing off as it became apparent
that conservatism was welcomed in the Tuileries. Fear
of contamination from excessive liberalism had been dis-
pelled by the enactment of the Laws of September and the
quiescence of the dreaded Republican propaganda. The
pessimism which discerned disorganization, insubordi-
nation, and self-seeking in the political ranks was, how-
456
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
ever, not wholly unfounded. Nevertheless, no cloud of
particular significance was visible on the near or far
horizon when the Chamber began to discuss the Address
in reply to the Message from the Throne.
The recent action of the Czar in dealing with his rebel-
lious subjects in Poland, which had resulted in the with-
drawal of the exequatur of the French Consul-General
at Warsaw, had fired the press to violent denunciation
of the tyrant who thereby destroyed the last vestiges
of the independence of that kingdom. But Louis-Phi-
lippe's Government had prudently passed over the in-
cident in silence. As a member of the committee ap-
pointed to frame the reply, Lamartine felt constrained to
defend the wording of that document, for in it his col-
leagues had recommended in general terms "the main-
tenance of rights made sacred by treaty," but without
directly naming Poland. This the Opposition found insuf-
ficient, and insisted on an amendment specifying the
desire for "the preservation of the ancient Polish na-
tionality." Lamartine, in a speech which was both colour-
less and unconvincing, opined that France could not
act alone in a matter entailing such far-reaching con-
sequences. "There is but one possible solution of the
Polish question," he argued, "except at the cost of a
general conflagration, which neither you nor any one
desires. The solution of the problem of Warsaw is not to
be found at Warsaw, nor in London either: it lies in Con-
stantinople." l And, mounting his hobby, as in his maiden
speeches of two years previously, he warns his hearers
that the regeneration of the Balkan populations is only to
be achieved by the Russians installed on the Bosphorus.
Such a remedy for the humiliating effects of the recent
ukases at Warsaw came as a surprise, but the incident,
dealing as it did with sentimental rather than practical
1 La France parlemcntaire, vol. I, p. 195.
. . 457 . .
LIFE OF LAMARTINE
issues, was allowed to fall, and the Government carried
its point. At a later date Lamartine recognized the
error of the policy, and deeply deplored his willingness to
grant the Czar a free hand in Turkey. 1
Thanks to the indifference of the Chamber, the concil-
iatory foreign policy of the Due de Broglie's Government
had passed without serious challenge. The hand which
was to strike the fatal blow was that of a member of the
Cabinet, M. Humann, Minister of Finance. On January
14, 1836, without consulting his colleagues, M. Humann
presented the expose" for the budget of the following
year. Reverting to the project of M. de Villele which
had failed in 1824, the Minister suggested that the time
was ripe for a reduction of the interest on the national
debt. Parliament received the announcement calmly
enough, but M. Humann's colleagues, scenting treach-
ery in the unusual proceeding, forced the Minister's im-
mediate resignation. Undoubtedly the personal attitude
of the Due de Broglie was largely responsible for bring-
ing about the crisis which ensued. The idea was not un-
popular either in Paris or in the Provinces, since it meant
unburdening the budget at the expense of metropolitan
capitalists. The debate opened on January 18, and M. de
Broglie unhesitatingly entered the lists with the state-
ment that, although the Government had no present
intention of bringing forward such a measure, he refused
any pledges for the future. ' ' Is that clear? ' ' he demanded
in a tone of defiance which antagonized the majority of
his hearers. In face of this apparent provocation several
deputies laid proposals concerning the conversion of the
funds upon the table, and the Government found itself
unexpectedly confronted with the solution of a special
issue remote from the direction of general politics. A
ministerial crisis ensued, and a motion to adjourn the
1 Cf. Mtmoires politiques, vol. I, p. 315.
45 8 -
LAMARTINE AT FORTY-FIVE
From an unsigned crayon in the Chateau de Saint-Point
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
discussion having been lost by two votes (194 against
192), all the members of the Cabinet placed their resigna-
tions in the hands of the King (February 5). 1
Lamartine had hitherto been in favour of a reduction
of the interest on the public funds; but he now confessed
to Dargaud that his knowledge of the question had been
superficial. On closer study he pronounced the proposal
"an abyss of iniquity and absurdity." 2 To Virieu, who
held the opposite opinion, he expressed even more em-
phatically his abhorrence. " It is brutal, demagogical, un-
just, ridiculous, and baneful financially: that you may
accept as a fact: ... it reeks of revolutionary spoliation
a hundred leagues away." 8 From the rostrum on the 5th
of February, and again on March 22, he developed with
impassioned eloquence and consummate skill the funda-
mental financial, political, and social issues at stake, dwell-
ing on the obvious injustice to holders of the funds who
had in 1797 patriotically agreed to a reduction of two
thirds of the value of their stock, upon the implicit as-
surance that the compromise would be final. After hav-
ing been despoiled of two thirds of the value of their in-
vestment, how must these unhappy victims act when
threatened with the further loss of one fifth of the re-
maining third? Yet, if the immorality of the spoliation
was apparent, the political blunder it was proposed to
perpetrate was equally conspicuous. It was pandering
to dangerous popularity to take advantage of a perhaps
fleeting recrudescence of material prosperity and risk
compromising the national credit. Why was a proposal,
which had been received with universal unpopularity in
1824, viewed with popular favour in 1836? Lamartine
discerned in this change of face an outbreak of envy and
jealousy against capitalists, however humble their status.
1 Thureau-Dangin, op. til., vol. II, p. 421.
1 Correspondence, ocxxra. Ibid., DCXXV.
. . 459 . .
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
This attempt to "immolate bondholders" was directed
against those who had fattened, perhaps, on illicit gains,
but it involved the very heart of the nation, since to
strike at the capitalist was to strike the toilers. "Ah!
gentlemen, take heed," he cried. "Tremble lest you be-
come accomplices in a design so far from your hearts!
Tremble lest you lend yourselves to an initial attack
against property in its most fugitive and vulnerable
form." J Such an example, he warns his hearers, must
eventually awaken the jealous passions of the populace.
The mob will retaliate. "Our legislators considered the
private financial holdings too large, so they decimated
the funds. Well, we on our side find landed property
unduly exorbitant and unduly privileged, and we will
decimate the estates." The speaker saw in the economic
spoliation what he terms an anti-social tendency of the
gravest import, the beginnings of a struggle between
"democratic and aristocratic feudalism" ; in other words,
the conflict of interests between three millions of land-
owners and twenty-nine millions of capitalists and wage-
earners. Strong in his convictions that sound national
prosperity depended on the increase of small property
holdings in the rural districts, he discouraged any meas-
ures calculated, in his opinion, to add to the power and
influence of territorial magnates. No more convincing
proof of the sincerity and disinterestedness of Lamar-
tine's acceptance of the principles of democracy could
be adduced. Himself one of the most important, if not
the most successful, of agriculturists 2 in his native prov-
ince, he realized and sought to avert the social perils
attending an excessive concentration of landed property
in the hands of the few.
Meanwhile, as has been said, the subject under discus-
1 La France parlementaire, vol. I, p. 208.
* " Le premier agriculteur de France, ' ' as Madame de Girardin styled him.
460
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
sion had caused the downfall of M. de Broglie's Admin-
istration. Fully aware of the insecurity of his tenure of
office, M. de Broglie, nevertheless, had addressed his col-
leagues with resigned optimism concerning the responsibil-
ities his Cabinet had assumed with the enforcement of the
recent Press Laws. On January 27 the Minister acknowl-
edged that the penalty they must pay for the measures
they had insisted upon Would be the hatred and vitupera-
tion of their adversaries and an ever-present thirst for
revenge. Yet he felt certain that, as order was restored
and the political machinery of the country ran ever more
smoothly by virtue of the popular confidence engendered
by a faithful application of the constitutional guaran-
tees the Government afforded, changes of administration
would become events affecting less and less public seren-
ity. "In fact, gentlemen," he prophetically cried, "men
wear out rapidly in the fight we have to sustain. Do you
realize what we have done? We have paved the way
and hastened the advent of our successors." l A week
later the prophecy was fulfilled. Louis-Philippe had
considerable difficulty in finding a statesman willing and
capable of forming a Cabinet to cope with the critical
situation the proposal for the conversion of the funds
had given rise to. After repeated efforts M. Thiers suc-
ceeded in surrounding himself with colleagues whose
prestige it was hoped would be instrumental in over-
coming the problems which confronted them. Thiers
assumed office as Prime Minister and Minister for For-
eign Affairs on February 22, 1836. To the confidence
and good-will of so influential a backer as Prince Talley-
rand the as yet untried director of France's foreign
policy owed the favourable reception he was accorded
in the chancelleries of the Continent. The Duchesse de
Dino and Madame de Lieven, queens in the most ac-
1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. cit. t vol. n, p. 418.
. . 461
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
credited diplomatic circles, had succeeded in attracting
the impressionable young Marseillais within the orbit
of their influence, and were supposed to make use of the
ascendancy they had gained in order to detach the Minis-
ter from the alliance with England, and draw him towards
closer relations with the Continental Powers. 1 But at
home Thiers was misunderstood and mistrusted, owing
to a supposedly active sympathy with the Republican
elements hostile to the established order. Lamartine, al-
though he liked the man and admired the talented author,
shared the suspicions attaching to the politician.
When the new Administration presented itself before
the Chamber with a proposal to reduce the interest on
the national debt to four and one half per cent, La-
martine, still defending a question of principle, again
attacked the financial operation it was desired to af-
fect. He denied that any analogy existed between the
procedure followed in England and the moral obligations
contracted by the Law of 1793 in France or in subsequent
loans. As he had written to Virieu, he maintained that
the French five per cents did not constitute, as in Eng-
land, a loan in the strict sense of the term, being for the
greater part "a compensation for spoliations." 2 The
peculiar moral obligations assumed by the nation in times
of stress forbade any diminution of the income derived
from this source by holders who benefited by the excep-
tional circumstances under which the debt had been
contracted. How far Lamartine was justified in this con-
tention is open to question. The arguments he advanced
were perhaps not strictly in accordance with the precepts
of sound national finance; but, given the economic dis-
turbances and social agitation to which the adoption of
the proposal would give rise (in his estimation), his oppo-
1 Louis Blanc, Histoire de Dix Ans, vol. IV, p. 459.
1 Correspondence, DCXXV.
. . . 462
INFLUENCE IN PARLIAMENT
sition is defensible. Lamartine, his long harangue ended,
voted not only the adjournment, but the indefinite
adjournment, of a discussion which all felt was in-
opportune. The important part he took in this momen-
tous debate is of especial interest as demonstrating the
very considerable technical knowledge he had already
acquired of a subject apparently far removed from his
ordinary pursuits. If the social wrong involved in the
controversy appealed to his sense of equity to a greater
extent than did the purely financial issues at stake ; if he
drew a perhaps exaggerated picture of the situation
when he affirmed that the. measure was a violation of
good faith and of the public conscience, and could have
no other effect than that of pitting the passions of one
class of citizens against those of another class, it must be
remembered that political jealousies and intrigues were
ripe, while egotistical attempts by speculators to dis-
credit the Government, at the cost of national security,
were suspected. Louis-Philippe himself did not escape
severe criticism, being accused of a Machiavellian plot
to unseat the Due de Broglie; while it was currently as-
serted that M. de Talleyrand abetted the scheme. 1
Be this as it may, the downfall of the Cabinet of the
nth of October, as the De Broglie Ministry was styled,
was to produce far-reaching effects. The trio, consist-
ing of the Duke, M. Guizot, and M. Thiers, which had
worked so satisfactorily together since the days when
Casimir P6rier had held the reins of government, now
disrupted. Each of these eminent statesmen reassumed
his individual liberty of action and drifted towards the
bench his personal sympathies prompted him to oc-
cupy. This meant an inevitable readjustment of political
parties within the Chamber, and was the leading factor
1 Cf. Thureau-Dangin, op. '/., vol. n, p. 421; also Louis Blanc, Histoire
de Dix Ans, vol. iv, p. 465.
463
LIFE OF IAMARTINE
in the crisis which prevailed from 1836 to 1840. A new
era in the fortunes of the July Monarchy was opened.
With the advent of M. Thiers to office the phase of open
and often sanguinary conflict between adherents to the
new regime and the revolutionary factions was closed.
Peace at home and abroad seemed assured as much by
reason of the great material prosperity enjoyed as on
account of the lull in party strife.
END OF VOLUME I
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