Corinne, Volume 1 (of 2)
Chapter iv.
The Senator took the crown of myrtle and laurel which he was to place onthe head of Corinne. She removed the shawl which graced her forehead,and all her ebon hair fell in ringlets about her shoulders. She advancedwith her head bare, and her look animated by a sentiment of pleasure andgratitude which she sought not to conceal. She a second time bent herknee, to receive the crown; but she displayed less agitation and tremorthan at first; she had just spoken; she had just filled her mind withthe most noble thoughts, and enthusiasm conquered diffidence. She wasno longer a timid woman, but an inspired priestess who joyfullyconsecrated herself to the worship of genius.
As soon as the crown was placed on the head of Corinne all theinstruments were heard in those triumphant airs which fill the soul withthe most sublime emotion. The sound of kettle-drums, and the flourish oftrumpets, inspired Corinne with new feelings--her eyes were filled withtears--she sat down a moment, and covered her face with herhandkerchief. Oswald, most sensibly affected, quitted the crowd, andadvanced to speak to her, but was withheld by an invincibleembarrassment. Corinne looked at him for some time, taking carenevertheless, that he should not observe the attention she paid him; butwhen the Prince Castel-Forte came to take her hand, in order to conducther to the car, she yielded to his politeness with an absent mind; and,while she permitted him to hand her along, turned her head severaltimes, under various pretexts, to take another view of Oswald.
He followed her, and at the moment when she descended the stepsaccompanied by her train, she made a retrograde movement, in order tobehold him once more, when her crown fell off. Oswald hastened to pickit up; and in restoring it to her, said in Italian, that an humblemortal like himself might venture to place at the feet of a goddess thatcrown which he dared not presume to place on her head[6]. Corinnethanked Lord Nelville in English, with that pure national accent--thatpure insular accent, which has scarcely ever been successfully imitatedon the continent. What was the astonishment of Oswald in hearing her! Heremained at first immovably fixed to the spot where he was, and feelingconfused he leaned against one of the lions of basalt at the foot ofthe stairway descending from the Capitol. Corinne viewed him again,forcibly struck with the emotion he betrayed; but she was dragged awaytowards the car, and the whole crowd disappeared long before Oswald hadrecovered his strength and his presence of mind.
Corinne, till then, had enchanted him as the most charming offoreigners--as one of the wonders of that country he had come to visit;but her English accent recalled every recollection of his nativecountry, and in a manner naturalised all the charms of Corinne. Was sheEnglish? Had she passed several years of her life in England? He waslost in conjecture; but it was impossible that study alone could havetaught her to speak thus--Corinne and Lord Nelville must have lived inthe same country. Who knows whether their families were not intimate?Perhaps even, he had seen her in his infancy! We often have in ourhearts, we know not what kind of innate image of that which we love,which may persuade us that we recognise it in an object we behold forthe first time.
Oswald had cherished many prejudices against the Italians; he believedthem passionate, but changeable, and incapable of any deep and lastingaffection. Already the language of Corinne at the Capitol had inspiredhim with a different idea. What would be his fortune, then, if he couldat once revive the recollections of his native country, and receive byimagination a new existence,--live again for the future withoutforgetting the past!
In the midst of his reveries, Oswald found himself upon the bridge of StAngelo, which leads to the castle of the same name, or rather to thetomb of Adrian, which has been converted into a fortress. The silence ofthe place, the pale waves of the Tiber, the moon-beams which shed theirmild radiance upon the statues placed on the bridge, and gave to thosestatues the appearance of white spectres steadfastly regarding thecurrent of the waters, and the flight of time which no longer concernedthem; all these objects led him back to his habitual ideas. He put hishand upon his breast, and felt the portrait of his father which healways carried there; he untied it, contemplated the features, and themomentary happiness which he had just experienced, as well as the causeof that happiness, only recalled, with too severe a remembrance, thesentiment which had already rendered him so guilty towards his father:This reflection renewed his remorse.
"Eternal recollection of my life!" cried he: "Friend so offended, yet sogenerous! Could I have believed that any pleasurable sensation would sosoon have found access to my heart? It is not thou, best and mostindulgent of men,--it is not thou who reproachest me with them--it wasthy wish that I should be happy, and, in spite of my errors, that isstill thy desire: but at least, may I not misconceive thy voice, if thouspeak to me from heaven, as I have misconceived it upon earth!"
FOOTNOTE:
[6] Lord Nelville seems to have alluded to this beautiful distich ofPropertius:
"Ut caput in Magnis ubi non est ponere signis, Ponitur hic imos ante corona pedes."
Book iii.
CORINNE