68 CASTLE COPPET AND MADAME DE STAEL. 



referred to, however, one apparently but of moderate pretensions to 

 rank, wealth, or influence, either from taste, affectation, or indif- 

 ference, gave no sign of the impression she made upon the rest of the 

 society. This was of itself sufficiently a substantive crime in her 

 sight, unaided, as it was, by the adjective offence of his declaring, loud 

 enough for her to hear (although unintentionally perhaps), ' Elle est 

 him laide !' The good-humoured smile of O'Gorman Mahon, when 

 bowed out of the house by Mr. Speaker ; the calm courtesy of a 

 division of Irish Whiteboys, could alone compete with the expressive 

 philosophy of the fair one's features, as she inquired the name of the 

 rebellious auditor, and swore, by the memory of her sire's budget, to 

 be avenged. Napoleon, however, who, unwittingly on his part it must 

 be owned, influenced her flight into England, by the route of Ger- 

 many, Russia, Sweden, and sea- sickness, was, happily or unhappily 

 for her, just then rather more potent than revenge, strong as it is in 

 woman in general, and gigantic in Madame in particular ; for the 

 next day, by imperial order, Captain De Rocca was on his way to 

 Spain, to aid the cause of Joseph and usurpation. The Spaniards, 

 however, expressed their opinions on the subject with so much 

 warmth and tenacity, that the troops with whom he marched were 

 exposed to dreadful loss and extreme suffering for a lengthened 

 period, particularly in the Ronda : the description of which has been 

 graphically as neatly given by De Rocca, in the statement he pub- 

 lished ; and wherein singular justice is rendered to the merits of the 

 British army singular, as coming from an officer in the French 

 service ; but far more singular, from that officer being a Swiss. 

 Years elapsed, and " tempus edax rerum" had also made a partial 

 meal of the ire of Madame de Stael, without entirely consuming 

 it, when accident again threw her in the way of the unsusceptible 

 soldier ; but he was sadly changed. Repeated wounds, severe 

 fatigue, and hard privation had brought sorrow and care upon him ; 

 her better feelings were awakened ; and pity jostled vengeance from 

 its already tottering throne. She proposed to him to become her 

 amanuensis ; and, more gifted by talent than by fortune and her 

 niggard sister French half-pay, he was placed upon the establish- 

 ment of "the most considerable woman of her age" as Mike Kelly, 

 of musical and vinous memory, loved to describe the portly Billing- 

 ton. Years were with her the green leaf of her laurel were fast 

 turning yellow friends were not then what they once were; and 

 the society of De Rocca became daily more necessary to her hap- 

 piness ; and she offered him her hand, which, it has been said, he ac- 

 cepted less from love than gratitude. Be it as it may, the intellec- 

 tual qualities of Madame de Stael soon superseded the consideration 

 of more fading charms ; and, having given birth to a son, her death 

 was a bereavement he had not strength to endure. In the calm re- 

 tirement of private life, where the allurements to display were want- 

 ing, and ambition and rivalry unrequired, all her happier qualities 

 unaffectedly shone forth ; giving happiness to his home, and comfort 

 to his life; and when she died, the world became a blank in his 

 sight, and even his affection for his child could not prevent his sink- 

 ing under the privation. 



