Paul et Virginie. English Read online

  Produced by Dagny and John Bickers

  PAUL AND VIRGINIA

  by Bernardin de Saint Pierre

  With A Memoir Of The Author

  PREFACE

  In introducing to the Public the present edition of this well knownand affecting Tale,--the _chef d'oeuvre_ of its gifted author, thePublishers take occasion to say, that it affords them no littlegratification, to apprise the numerous admirers of "Paul and Virginia,"that the _entire_ work of St. Pierre is now presented to them. All theprevious editions have been disfigured by interpolations, and mutilatedby numerous omissions and alterations, which have had the effect ofreducing it from the rank of a Philosophical Tale, to the level of amere story for children.

  Of the merits of "Paul and Virginia," it is hardly necessary to uttera word; it tells its own story eloquently and impressively, and in alanguage simple, natural and true, it touches the common heart of theworld. There are but few works that have obtained a greater degreeof popularity, none are more deserving it; and the Publishers cannottherefore refrain from expressing a hope that their efforts in thusgiving a faithful transcript of the work,--an acknowledged classic bythe European world,--may be, in some degree, instrumental in awakeninghere, at home, a taste for those higher works of Fancy, which, whilethey seek to elevate and strengthen the understanding, instruct andpurify the heart. It is in this character that the Tale of "Paul andVirginia" ranks pre-eminent. [Prepared from an edition published byPorter & Coates, Philadelphia, U.S.A.]

  MEMOIR OF BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE

  Love of Nature, that strong feeling of enthusiasm which leads toprofound admiration of the whole works of creation, belongs, it may bepresumed, to a certain peculiarity of organization, and has, no doubt,existed in different individuals from the beginning of the world. Theold poets and philosophers, romance writers, and troubadours, had alllooked upon Nature with observing and admiring eyes. They have most ofthem given incidentally charming pictures of spring, of the setting sun,of particular spots, and of favourite flowers.

  There are few writers of note, of any country, or of any age, fromwhom quotations might not be made in proof of the love with whichthey regarded Nature. And this remark applies as much to religious andphilosophic writers as to poets,--equally to Plato, St. Francois deSales, Bacon, and Fenelon, as to Shakespeare, Racine, Calderon, orBurns; for from no really philosophic or religious doctrine can the loveof the works of Nature be excluded.

  But before the days of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Buffon, and Bernardinde St. Pierre, this love of Nature had not been expressed in all itsintensity. Until their day, it had not been written on exclusively.The lovers of Nature were not, till then, as they may perhaps since beconsidered, a sect apart. Though perfectly sincere in all the adorationsthey offered, they were less entirely, and certainly less diligently andconstantly, her adorers.

  It is the great praise of Bernardin de St. Pierre, that comingimmediately after Rousseau and Buffon, and being one of the mostproficient writers of the same school, he was in no degree theirimitator, but perfectly original and new. He intuitively perceived theimmensity of the subject he intended to explore, and has told us thatno day of his life passed without his collecting some valuable materialsfor his writings. In the divine works of Nature, he diligently soughtto discover her laws. It was his early intention not to begin to writeuntil he had ceased to observe; but he found observation endless, andthat he was "like a child who with a shell digs a hole in the sand toreceive the waters of the ocean." He elsewhere humbly says, that notonly the general history of Nature, but even that of the smallest plant,was far beyond his ability. Before, however, speaking further of him asan author, it will be necessary to recapitulate the chief events of hislife.

  HENRI-JACQUES BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE, was born at Havre in 1737. Healways considered himself descended from that Eustache de St. Pierre,who is said by Froissart, (and I believe by Froissart only), to have sogenerously offered himself as a victim to appease the wrath of Edwardthe Third against Calais. He, with his companions in virtue, it is alsosaid, was saved by the intercession of Queen Philippa. In one of hissmaller works, Bernardin asserts this descent, and it was certainly oneof which he might be proud. Many anecdotes are related of his childhood,indicative of the youthful author,--of his strong love of Nature, andhis humanity to animals.

  That "the child is the father of the man," has been seldom more stronglyillustrated. There is a story of a cat, which, when related by him manyyears afterwards to Rousseau, caused that philosopher to shed tears. Ateight years of age, he took the greatest pleasure in the regular cultureof his garden; and possibly then stored up some of the ideas whichafterwards appeared in the "Fraisier." His sympathy with all livingthings was extreme.

  In "Paul and Virginia," he praises, with evident satisfaction, theirmeal of milk and eggs, which had not cost any animal its life. It hasbeen remarked, and possibly with truth, that every tenderly disposedheart, deeply imbued with a love of Nature, is at times somewhatBraminical. St. Pierre's certainly was.

  When quite young, he advanced with a clenched fist towards a carterwho was ill-treating a horse. And when taken for the first time, by hisfather, to Rouen, having the towers of the cathedral pointed out to him,he exclaimed, "My God! how high they fly." Every one present naturallylaughed. Bernardin had only noticed the flight of some swallows who hadbuilt their nests there. He thus early revealed those instincts whichafterwards became the guidance of his life: the strength of whichpossibly occasioned his too great indifference to all monuments ofart. The love of study and of solitude were also characteristics ofhis childhood. His temper is said to have been moody, impetuous, andintractable. Whether this faulty temper may not have been producedor rendered worse by mismanagement, cannot not be ascertained. It,undoubtedly became afterwards, to St. Pierre a fruitful source ofmisfortune and of woe.

  The reading of voyages was with him, even in childhood, almost apassion. At twelve years of age, his whole soul was occupied by RobinsonCrusoe and his island. His romantic love of adventure seeming to hisparents to announce a predilection in favour of the sea, he was sentby them with one of his uncles to Martinique. But St. Pierre hadnot sufficiently practised the virtue of obedience to submit, as wasnecessary, to the discipline of a ship. He was afterwards placed withthe Jesuits at Caen, with whom he made immense progress in his studies.But, it is to be feared, he did not conform too well to the regulationsof the college, for he conceived, from that time, the greatestdetestation for places of public education. And this aversion he hasfrequently testified in his writings. While devoted to his books oftravels, he in turn anticipated being a Jesuit, a missionary or amartyr; but his family at length succeeded in establishing him at Rouen,where he completed his studies with brilliant success, in 1757. He soonafter obtained a commission as an engineer, with a salary of one hundredlouis. In this capacity he was sent (1760) to Dusseldorf, under thecommand of Count St. Germain. This was a career in which he might haveacquired both honour and fortune; but, most unhappily for St. Pierre,he looked upon the useful and necessary etiquettes of life as so manyunworthy prejudices. Instead of conforming to them, he sought to trampleon them. In addition, he evinced some disposition to rebel against hiscommander, and was unsocial with his equals. It is not, therefore, to bewondered at, that at this unfortunate period of his existence, he madehimself enemies; or that, notwithstanding his great talents, or thecoolness he had exhibited in moments of danger, he should have been sentback to France. Unwelcome, under these circumstances, to his family, hewas ill received by all.

  It is a lesson yet to be learned, that genius gives no charter for theindulgence of error,--a truth yet _to be_ remembered, that only a smallportion of the world will look with leniency on the failings of theh
ighly-gifted; and, that from themselves, the consequences of theirown actions can never be averted. It is yet, alas! _to be_ added tothe convictions of the ardent in mind, that no degree of excellence inscience or literature, not even the immortality of a name can exemptits possessor from obedience to moral discipline; or give him happiness,unless "temper's image" be stamped on his daily words and actions. St.Pierre's life was sadly embittered by his own conduct. The adventurouslife he led after his return from Dusseldorf, some of the circumstancesof which exhibited him in an unfavourable light to others, tended,perhaps, to tinge his imagination with that wild and tender melancholyso prevalent in his writings. A prize in the lottery had just doubledhis very slender means of existence, when he obtained the appointment ofgeographical engineer, and was sent to Malta. The Knights of the Orderwere at this time expecting to be attacked by the Turks. Having alreadybeen in the service, it was singular that St.