Letter 139 — CXXXIX
Original French
Le 23 septembre 1809.
J’ai reçu ta lettre du 16; je vois que tu te portes bien. La maison de la vieille fille ne vaut que 120 000 francs; ils n’en trouveront jamais plus. Cependant, je te laisse maîtresse de faire ce que tu voudras, puisque cela t’amuse; mais, une fois achetée, ne fais pas démolir pour y faire quelques rochers. Adieu, mon amie.
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.
September 23, 1809.
I have received your letter of the 16th; I see that you are well. The old maid's house is worth only 120,000 francs; they will never get more for it. Still, I leave you free to do as you wish, since it amuses you; but once it is bought, do not have anything demolished to make a few rock formations. Farewell, my friend.
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.
September 23, 1809.
Your letter of the 16th has reached me; I see you are in good health. The spinster's house is worth no more than 120,000 francs, and they will never find anyone to pay more. Nevertheless, since it entertains you, I leave you to do as you like; only, once you have bought it, do not demolish anything to make some rocks. Farewell, my dear.
About this section
Letter 139 — CXXXIX 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 139 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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