Letter 117 — CXVII
Original French
Madrid, 10 décembre 1808.
Mon amie, je reçois ta lettre. Tu me dis qu’il fait mauvais à Paris; il fait ici le plus beau temps du monde. Dis-moi, je te prie, ce que veulent dire les réformes que fait Hortense; l’on dit qu’elle renvoie ses domestiques. Est-ce qu’on lui refuserait ce qui lui est nécessaire? Dis-moi un mot là-dessus; les réformes ne sont pas convenables. Adieu, mon amie. Tout va fort bien, et je te prie de te bien porter.
Musean translation
Machine-assisted Musean English translated from the French of the 172 Napoleon letters selected from Tancrède Martel, ed., Œuvres littéraires de Napoléon Bonaparte, tome 1 (Albert Savine, Paris, 1888). French Wikisource contributors supplied the scan-backed transcription: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Livre:Bonaparte_-_Œuvres_littéraires,_tome_1,_1888.djvu (page histories credit contributors). The transcription is CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/; this adapted text and translations are shared under the same license. Extraction removes markup and editorial notes; selected transcription repairs were checked against print images.
Madrid, December 10, 1808.
My dear friend, I have received your letter. You tell me the weather is bad in Paris; here it is the finest weather in the world. Tell me, please, what is meant by the economies Hortense is making; they say she is dismissing her servants. Would anyone refuse her what she needs? Tell me a word about it; these economies are not fitting. Farewell, my dear friend. Everything is going very well, and I beg you to keep well.
Plain English translation
Independent machine-assisted Plain English translation from the 1888 Martel French edition, not a historical English translation. French Wikisource contributors supplied the scan-backed transcription: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Livre:Bonaparte_-_Œuvres_littéraires,_tome_1,_1888.djvu (page histories credit contributors). The adapted transcription and translation are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Extraction removes markup and editorial notes and makes documented transcription repairs. French-source model review is not human specialist certification or a complete scan collation.
Madrid, December 10, 1808.
My dear, I have received your letter. You say the weather is bad in Paris; here it is absolutely beautiful. Please tell me what Hortense's cutbacks mean. People say she is dismissing her servants. Could she be denied what she needs? Send me a word about it; these cutbacks are not appropriate. Goodbye, my dear. Everything is going very well, and please take care of your health.
About this section
Letter 117 — CXVII is part of Letters to Josephine by Napoléon Bonaparte. This page sets the French original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is part 117 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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