Letter 014 — XIV
Original French
Castiglione, 21 juillet 1796.
J’espère qu’en arrivant ce soir, je recevrai une de tes lettres. Tu sais, ma chère Joséphine, le plaisir qu’elles me font, et je suis sûr que tu te plais à les écrire. Je partirai cette nuit pour Peschiera, pour Vérone, et de là j’irai à Mantoue, et peut-être à Milan, recevoir un baiser, puisque tu m’assures qu’ils ne sont pas glacés; j’espère que tu seras parfaitement rétablie alors, et que tu pourras m’accompagner à mon quartier général pour ne plus me quitter. N’es-tu pas l’âme de ma vie et le sentiment de mon cœur?… Adieu, belle et bonne, toute non pareille, toute divine; mille baisers amoureux!
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.
Castiglione, July 21, 1796.
I hope that on arriving this evening I shall receive one of your letters. You know, my dear Joséphine, what pleasure they give me, and I am sure you take pleasure in writing them. I shall leave tonight for Peschiera, for Verona, and from there go to Mantua, and perhaps to Milan to receive a kiss, since you assure me they are not icy; I hope you will be completely recovered by then and able to accompany me to my headquarters, never to leave me again. Are you not the soul of my life and the feeling in my heart? … Farewell, beautiful and good, wholly incomparable, wholly divine; a thousand loving kisses!
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.
Castiglione, July 21, 1796.
I hope to find a letter from you when I arrive this evening. You know, dear Joséphine, how much pleasure your letters give me, and I am sure you enjoy writing them. Tonight I leave for Peschiera and Verona, then go on to Mantua and perhaps Milan to receive a kiss, since you assure me your kisses are not icy. By then I hope you will be quite well and can come with me to headquarters, where we shall never part again. Are you not the soul that gives me life, the feeling that fills my heart?... Goodbye, beautiful and kind, utterly peerless, utterly divine; a thousand loving kisses!
About this section
Letter 014 — XIV 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 14 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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