CASTLE COPPET AND MADAME DE STAEL. 69 



The old De Rocca was one of the most eccentric characters in 

 Geneva, and subject to singular fits of abstraction. On the decease 

 of his wife (the mother of Madame de StaeTs husband), his friends 

 contrived to keep alive in him a sense of his duties on the day of 

 interment ; and, with wonderful decorum, he managed to get as far 

 as the burial-ground, without the gates of the city. On the return 

 of the procession, the old gentleman abruptly turned into the fields ; 

 and wholly forgetful of the proper observances, entered the city by a 

 different gate to that by which the mourners had returned, where he 

 was met by a friend, who, with a look of sorrow, and in a tone of 

 sympathy, inquired after his health. " Much better, I thank you, 

 than I was this morning," he replied ; " the agreeable walk I have 

 taken has quite refreshed me. There is nothing, certainly, like 

 country air for exhilirating the spirits/' In the evening of the same 

 day, examining the cards of invitation on his mantle-piece, in a semi- 

 lucid interval, he found one for a soiree, to which he unhesitatingly 

 proceeded. " The party is put off, sir," was the announcement of 

 the servant, in reply to his knock. " On what account, pray ?" " By 

 reason of the death of Madame De Rocca, my mistress's dearest 

 friend." " Madame De Rocca ! my wife ? ha ! Very true very 

 true. Make my compliments to your mistress, and say how exces- 

 sively grieved I am that the party has been deferred." 



It is somewhat remarkable that, in her portraiture of the accom- 

 plished Roman improvisatrice, Madame de Stael drew limitedly, if 

 at all, on her imagination ; but found her model in real life. She 

 referred to the friend and companion of her early years (Made- 

 moiselle Braun, a Danish lady), who fully justified, in her person, 

 the beauty and accomplishments ascribed to Corinna. At the early 

 age of thirteen she was already celebrated for her knowledge of 

 various modern languages, in all of which her poetical productions 

 received, as they merited, the very highest praise. Her personal 

 charms were of the very first order ; and her intellectunl qualities 

 rare and distinguished. Her form was exquisitely graceful ; and in 

 the higher walk of dramatic art, her representations were given with 

 truth of expression and depth of feeling, only commensurate to the 

 elegance of action, propriety of gesture, and rich yet delicate tone 

 of voice by which they were accompanied. Her improvisations re- 

 ceived the utmost applause, even from the jealous Romans ; and 

 Canova, who transferred the poetry he loved to marble, used to listen 

 with rapture to the Scandinavian songstress ; and disdained not to 

 confess that the beauty of his productions were enhanced by the 

 study of her unrivalled grace of form and attitude. She accompa- 

 nied Madame de Stael to Rome, and there it was (as I believe) she 

 met with the Count Ludwig de Bombelles, but recently ambassador 

 from the court of Austria to that of Tuscany, to whom she became 

 united. Of Madame de StaeTs hero little can be said ; but she 

 probably erred less from ignorance than advisedly in her delineation 

 of the British noble, in compliance with the enthusiastic predilection 

 of the French (to whom Buonaparte gave example) for the mono- 

 tonous melancholy of Young's Night Thoughts, and the maudlin 

 sublimity of Ossian. Of the latter she herself could have had no 



