Famous Affinities of History — Volume 3 by Lydon Orr
page 73 of 122 (59%)
page 73 of 122 (59%)
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her overtures with mockery. To enumerate the men for whom she
professed to care would be tedious, since the record of her passions has no reality about it, save, perhaps, with two exceptions. She did care deeply and sincerely for Henri Benjamin Constant, the brilliant politician and novelist. He was one of her coterie in Paris, and their common political sentiments formed a bond of friendship between them. Constant was banished by Napoleon in 1802, and when Mme. de Stael followed him into exile a year later he joined her in Germany. The story of their relations was told by Constant in Adolphe, while Mme. de Stael based Delphine on her experiences with him. It seems that he was puzzled by her ardor; she was infatuated by his genius. Together they went through all the phases of the tender passion; and yet, at intervals, they would tire of each other and separate for a while, and she would amuse herself with other men. At last she really believed that her love for him was entirely worn out. "I always loved my lovers more than they loved me," she said once, and it was true. Yet, on the other hand, she was frankly false to all of them, and hence arose these intervals. In one of them she fell in with a young Italian named Rocca, and by way of a change she not only amused herself with him, but even married him. At this time--1811 --she was forty-five, while Rocca was only twenty-three--a young soldier who had fought in Spain, and who made eager love to the |
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