Letter 154 — CLIV
Original French
Le 7 janvier 1810. (Dimanche, à huit heures du soir.)
J’ai été bien content de t’avoir vue hier; je sens combien ta société a de charmes pour moi. J’ai travaillé aujourd’hui avec Estève. J’ai accordé 100 000 francs pour 1810, pour l’extraordinaire de la Malmaison. Tu peux donc faire planter tout ce que tu voudras; tu distribueras cette somme comme tu l’entendras. J’ai chargé Estève de remettre 200 000 francs aussitôt que le contrat de la maison Julien sera fait. J’ai ordonné que l’on paierait ta parure de rubis, laquelle sera évaluée par l’intendance, car je ne veux pas de voleries de bijoutiers. Ainsi, voilà 400 000 francs que cela me coûte. J’ai ordonné que l’on tînt le million que la liste civile te doit, pour 1810, à la disposition de ton homme d’affaires, pour payer tes dettes. Tu dois trouver, dans l’armoire de la Malmaison, 5 à 600 000 francs; tu peux les prendre pour faire ton argenterie et ton linge. J’ai ordonné qu’on te fît un très beau service de porcelaine; on prendra tes ordres pour qu’il soit très beau.
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.
January 7, 1810. (Sunday, at eight in the evening.)
I was very happy to have seen you yesterday; I feel how charming your company is to me. I worked today with Estève. I have granted 100,000 francs for 1810 for extraordinary expenses at Malmaison. You may therefore have anything you wish planted; you will distribute this sum as you see fit. I have instructed Estève to hand over 200,000 francs as soon as the contract for the Julien house is made. I have ordered payment for your set of ruby jewelry, which will be valued by the administration, for I will not have jewelers cheating us. Thus it costs me 400,000 francs. I have ordered that the million the civil list owes you for 1810 be placed at your business agent's disposal to pay your debts. You should find 500,000 to 600,000 francs in the cabinet at Malmaison; you may take it for your silver and linens. I have ordered a very beautiful porcelain service to be made for you; your instructions will be taken so that it may be very beautiful.
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.
January 7, 1810. (Sunday, eight in the evening.)
I was very pleased to see you yesterday; I realize how delightful your company is to me. Today I worked with Estève. I have granted 100,000 francs for Malmaison's extraordinary expenses in 1810. You can therefore have whatever you wish planted, and use the money as you choose. Estève is to hand over 200,000 francs once the contract for the Julien house is complete. I have directed that your set of rubies be paid for; the household administration will value it, since I will not be robbed by jewelers. So that makes 400,000 francs it is costing me. The million the civil list owes you for 1810 is to be made available to your man of business, on my orders, so that he can pay your debts. There should be five or six hundred thousand francs in the Malmaison cupboard; you may take it to have your silver and linen made. I have ordered a very fine porcelain service for you; they will consult you so that it will be exceptionally fine.
About this section
Letter 154 — CLIV 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 154 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.