THE MEMOIRS OF FRANÇOIS RENÉ

VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND

SOMETIME AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND

BEING A TRANSLATION BY ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS
OF THE MÉMOIRES D'OUTRE-TOMBE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM CONTEMPORARY SOURCES. In 6 Volumes

NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY G. P PUTNAM'S
SONS AND IN LONDON BY FREEMANTLE
AND COMPANYMDCCCCII

VOL. I

Le Vicomte de Chateaubriand

"NOTRE SANG A TEINT
LA BANNIÈRE DE FRANCE"

[Pg v]

CONTENTS

The Translator's Note xiii

The Author's Preface xxi

The Author's Preface to the First Edition xxix

PART THE FIRST

1768-1800

BOOK I 3-36

Birth of my brothers and sisters—My own birth—Plancoët—Iam vowed—Combourg—My father's scheme of education forme—Villeneuve—Lucile—Mesdemoiselles Couppart—I am a bad pupil—Thelife led by my maternal grandmother and her sister at Plancoët—Myuncle, the Comte de Bedée, at Monchoix—I am relieved from my nurse'svow—Holidays—Saint-Malo—Gesril—Hervine Magon—Fight with two ship'slads

BOOK II 37-70

A note from M. Pasquier—Dieppe—Change in my education—Spring inBrittany—An historic forest—Pelagian fields—The moon setting overthe sea—Departure for Combourg—Description of the castle—DolCollege—Mathematics and languages—An instance of memory—Holidaysat Combourg—Life at a country-seat—Feudal customs—The inhabitantsof Combourg—Second holidays at Combourg—The Conti Regiment—Camp[Pg vi]at Saint-Malo—An abbey—A provincial theatre—Marriage of my twoeldest sisters—Return to college—A revolution begins to take placein my ideas—Adventure of the magpie—Third holidays at Combourg—Thequack—Return to college—Invasion of France—Games—The Abbé deChateaubriand—My First Communion—I leave Dol College—A mission atCombourg—Rennes College—I meet Gesril—Moreau-Limoëlan—Marriageof my third sister—I am sent to Brest for my naval examination—Theharbour of Brest—I once more meet Gesril—Lapeyrouse—I return toCombourg

BOOK III 71-96

At Montboissier—Reminiscences of Combourg—Dinan College—Broussais—Ireturn home—Life at Combourg—Our days and evenings—Mydonjon—Change from childhood to manhood—Lucile—Last lines writtenat the Vallée-aux-Loups—Revelations concerning the mystery of mylife—A phantom of love—Two years of delirium—Occupations andillusions—My autumn joys—Incantation—Temptation—Illness—Ifear and decline to enter the ecclesiastical state—A moment in mynative town—Recollection of Villeneuve and the tribulations of mychildhood—I am called back to Combourg—Last interview with myfather—I enter the service—I bid farewell to Combourg

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