Letter 016 — XVI
Original French
Brescia, le 10 août 1796.
J’arrive, mon adorable amie, ma première pensée est de t’écrire. Ta santé et ton image ne sont pas sortis un instant de ma mémoire pendant toute la route. Je ne serai tranquille que lorsque j’aurai reçu des lettres de toi. J’en attends avec impatience. Il n’est pas possible que tu te peignes mon inquiétude. Je t’ai laissée triste, chagrine et demi-malade. Si l’amour le plus profond et le plus tendre pouvait te rendre heureuse, tu devrais l’être… Je suis accablé d’affaires. Adieu, ma douce Joséphine; aime-moi bien, porte-toi bien, et pense souvent à moi.
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.
Brescia, August 10, 1796.
I have arrived, my adorable friend; my first thought is to write to you. Your health and your image were not for a moment out of my mind during the whole journey. I shall not be at ease until I receive letters from you. I await them impatiently. You cannot imagine my anxiety. I left you sad, distressed, and half ill. If the deepest and tenderest love could make you happy, you ought to be… I am overwhelmed with affairs. Farewell, my sweet Joséphine; love me dearly, keep well, and think often of me.
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.
Brescia, August 10, 1796.
I have arrived, my adored friend, and my first thought is to write to you. All along the road your health and your image never left my mind for a moment. I will not be at ease until I receive letters from you; I am waiting impatiently for them. You cannot imagine how worried I am. I left you sad, unhappy and half ill. If the deepest, tenderest love could make you happy, you should be happy. I am overwhelmed with business. Goodbye, my sweet Joséphine; love me dearly, keep well and think of me often.
About this section
Letter 016 — XVI 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 16 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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