Letter 151 — CLI
Original French
Paris, le 31 décembre 1809. (Dimanche, à dix heures du matin.)
J’ai aujourd’hui grande parade, mon amie; je verrai toute ma vieille garde, et plus de soixante trains d’artillerie. Le roi de Westphalie s’en va chez lui, ce qui pourra donner une maison vacante à Paris. Je suis triste de ne pas te voir. Si la parade finit avant trois heures, je viendrai; sans cela, à demain. 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.
Paris, December 31, 1809. (Sunday, at ten in the morning.)
I have a grand parade today, my friend; I shall see all my Old Guard and more than sixty artillery trains. The King of Westphalia is going home, which may leave a house vacant in Paris. I am sad not to see you. If the parade ends before three, I shall come; otherwise, tomorrow. 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.
Paris, December 31, 1809. (Sunday, ten in the morning.)
My dear, I have a grand parade today, when I shall see my entire Old Guard and over sixty artillery trains. The King of Westphalia is returning home, so a house in Paris may become vacant. It saddens me not to see you. Should the parade finish before three, I shall come; if not, tomorrow. Farewell, my dear.
About this section
Letter 151 — CLI 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 151 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
Open the work page for the full contents, every edition, and the download links, or go back to Explore to browse other complete works in the European tradition. The reader keeps your place when you are signed in and lets you compare the original with each translation, one edition at a time.