Letter 078 — LXXVIII
Original French
Varsovie, le 8 janvier 1807.
Ma bonne amie, je reçois ta lettre du 27 avec celles de M. Napoléon et d’Hortense, qui y étaient jointes. Je t’avais priée de rentrer à Paris: la saison est trop mauvaise, les chemins peu sûrs et détestables, les espaces trop considérables pour que je permette que tu viennes jusqu’ici, où mes affaires me retiennent. Il te faudrait au moins un mois pour arriver. Tu arriverais malade; il faudrait peut-être repartir alors; ce serait donc folie. Ton séjour à Mayence est trop triste, Paris te réclame; vas-y, c’est mon désir. Je suis plus contrarié que toi; j’eusse aimé à partager les longues nuits de cette saison avec toi; mais il faut obéir aux circonstances.
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.
Warsaw, January 8, 1807.
My good friend, I have received your letter of the 27th, with those of M. Napoléon and Hortense enclosed. I had asked you to return to Paris: the season is too bad, the roads unsafe and dreadful, the distances too great for me to allow you to come here, where my affairs keep me. It would take you at least a month to arrive. You would arrive ill; perhaps you would have to leave again then; so it would be madness. Your stay in Mainz is too sad, Paris calls for you; go there, that is my wish. I am more disappointed than you; I would have liked to share the long nights of this season with you; but we must obey circumstances.
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.
Warsaw, January 8, 1807.
My dear friend, I have received your letter of the 27th and the letters from M. Napoléon and Hortense that came with it. I had asked you to return to Paris. The season is too bad, the roads dreadful and unsafe, and the distances too great for me to let you travel here, where my affairs keep me. The journey would take you a month at least. You would arrive ill and might then have to set off again; it would be sheer folly. Your stay in Mainz is too dreary, and Paris needs you. Go there; that is what I want. I am more upset than you; I should have loved to share this season's long nights with you, but circumstances must be obeyed.
About this section
Letter 078 — LXXVIII 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 78 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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