CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY WiLLARD FiSKE Endowment Date Due ^cL SS^ hOMI ip^PN^ BI0 SB^LI^ ^ a^ ■■^^ ^6aT ^ ^ ip^ ^ 5 PRINTED IN U. 5. A, (WJ' <="■ NO. Z3233 Cornell University Library B2215.E5 C94 1910 Confessions and testament of Auguste Com olin 3 1924 029 043 523 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029043523 CONFESSIONS AND TESTAMENT OF AUGUSTE COMTE : AND HIS CORRES- PONDENCE WITH CLOTILDE DE VAUX Confessions and Testament of Auguste Comte : and his Corres- pondence with Clotilde de Vaux Edited by Albert Crompton Liverpool Henry Young & Sons 1910 r PREFATORY NOTE The; ' correspondence ' has been translated by several members of the Church of Humanity, Liverpool. The I^etter on Slarriage (page 219) and that on Social Com- memoration (the First Saint Clotilde) are reprinted from translations by Mrs. Congreve. The Dedication of the Polity (Second Saint Clotilde, and sometimes called Confession No. i) and the Pinal Invocation are reprinted from translations by Dr. Bridges and Dr. Congreve respectively. The remaining ten Saint Clotildes (Nos. 3 to 12, generally known as the Confessions) have been translated by Henry Dix Hutton, except that No. 12 was left unfinished at the time of his death ; it has been completed by Dr. Edward Nicholson, who has also translated the ' Thoughts of a Flower' (page 164), and given most valuable assistance with the Correspondence and the St. Clotildes. For the editing of the whole I am responsible. The prayers of Auguste Comte will be found in the book Augusts Comte and Clotilde de Vaux of which copies can be had on appHcation to the Lyceum Press. ALBERT CROMPTON Liverpool, year 54 (1908) The sudden death of Albert Crompton in October, 1908, has delayed the publication of this book. With the exception of the addition of the ' Introduction ' it has been left as edited by him. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Medallion of Auguste Comte and Clotilde de Vaux . . facing title Prefatory Note by Albert Crompton . . . . v Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Summary of the lives of Auguste Comte and Clotilde de Vaux, composed by R. T. Mendes from the materials furnished by the prayers of Auguste Comte . . . . i Portrait of Clotilde de ^'aux . . . . . . facing 4 Correspondence between Auguste Comte and Clotilde de Vaux (1S45-6), including Clotilde's poem ' Thoughts of a Flower ' and Auguste Comte's ' Letter on Marriage ' 5 Portrait of Auguste Comte . . . . . . facing 302 The Twelve ' Saint Clotildes ' of Auguste Comte : 1st Saint Clotilde (Letter on Social Commemoration (1845) 2nd Saint Clotilde (Dedication to the Positivi (1846) (Supplemented by its concluding Invocation 3rd Saint Clotilde (1847) 4th „ „ (1848) Sth „ „ (1849) 6th „ ,, (1850) 7tli „ „ (1851) 8th „ „ (1852) 9th „ „ (1853) icth •„ „ (1854) iith „ „ (1855) I2th ,, „ (1856) Testament of Auguste Comte with appendices (1855) Letter on Baptism (1845) : Polity (1854) •• 303 313 331 343 349 359 373 389 405 421 434 445 458 469 543 INTRODUCTION FOR those unacquainted with the lives of Auguste Comte and Clotilde de Vaux, a few words upon their main facts may be of assistance in reading the Correspondence and -other writings included in this volume. As it is to the spiritual union between the two lives that we owe the Religion of Humanity, so the general comprehension of how this union came about is of the deepest significance to all who share in the aspirations for the universal Faith. Auguste Comte was born at Montpellier, on January 19, 1798. Prom the age of sixteen his life was spent in Paris, and ■after leaving the Polytechnic School, he earned his living by teaching mathematics. His chief aim in life, even from his boyhood, was the reorganisation of thought in all social and moral questions. With this aim in view he wrote his first work, the Positive Philosophy, the first volume of which was published in 1830, and the remaining five at intervals up to 1842. This work was -preliminarj' to his second and most important work, the Positive Polity. The Pbilosophj- was the revising the nhole structure of preliminary science or Natural Philosophy in order to crown the summit with the final science of Man or Morals. But although ' science ' was constituted, the Religion of Humanity was yet to arise. The social aspirations of Auguste Comte had to take a more definite form before the rex'elation ■of Humanity could be brought forth to the world. We have seen how Auguste Comte came to I'aris upon leaving school ; he continued to live there, alone, unguided by any family life. What wonder is it then that with his ardent and enthus- iastic temperament, he should have fallen into the dangers which beset a student in such a position, or that he should, as a result X INTRODUCTION of, and to complete these errors, have been led into a marriage which was against the wishes of his parents, and proved the greatest misfortune of his life. His wife had no real love for him or sympathy with his aspirations, she frequently left him, and at last, in ,1838, he announced to her that the next time she did so, it must be for ever. In 1842 she quitted his roof, never to be re-admitted. Auguste Comte continued his work in solitude, his servant, Sophie Thomas, afterwards his adopted daughter, faithfully attending him. She, her husband and children occupied part of his house mitil his death. In the autumn of 1844, Auguste Comte was giving lessons to a young man, Maximilien Marie. Invited by him to his home, he became acquainted there with his sister, Madame Clotilde de Vaux. Her life in its few melancholy details is soon told. Born in 1815, she was married by her parents at the age of 20 to Amedee de Vaux, who occupied the positon of tax collector at Meru. There was born of the marriage one child who did not survive. In T839, de Vaux, led on by a passion for gaming, disappeared, taking with him the sums he had collected in his employment, and was never heard of again. He left his wife entirely destitute, and she returned to her own family upon whom, at the time she met Auguste Comte, she was dependent. Her brother, Maximilien Marie was now married, and the family lived': together in rue Pavee. Clotilde de Vaux, however, rented a. small apartment of her own in the next street, No. 5 rue Payenne. The correspondence, dating from May, 1845, to March, 1846, explains the mutual relation of these two, Comte and Clotilde, who were to be the founders of the new religion. Clotilde de Vaux died on April 5, 1846, of consumption, which had, unknown to all, attacked her at the time the acquaintance began. Her influence, so strongly exerted during that one unexam- pled year, instead of ceasing with her death, continued in the heart of Auguste Comte and enabled him to elaborate the ideas which had already been inspired during their objective inter- course. He now composed and executed his Positive Polity^. INTRODUCtlON xi of which mention is frequently made in his St. Clotildes. It is the application to human life of the truths of science and it founds the Religion of Humanity. The first of the St. Clotildes, 12 in number, was a token of affection from Comte on her Saint's day, St. Clotilde, 3 June, -1845. The remaining eleven are annual addresses written by him after her death, and in them can be traced the development of the higher ideals which were the result of his worship of her. She was the first representative of Humanity, as he was Her eldest son and first High Priest. (Further information on the life and works of Auguste Comte and Clotilde de Vaiix may be found in the ' Positive Polity,' ' The Catechism of Positive Religion,' and in the general correspondence of Auguste Comte, of which there are several volumes in the original French). M. C. SUMMARY OF THE LIVES OF AUGUSTE COMTE AND CLOTILDE DE VAUX Summary of the Lives of Auguste Comte and Clotilde de Vaux Composed by R. T. Mendes from the materials turnished by the prayers of Auguste Comte (See Auguste Comte and Clotilde de Vaux, Church of Humanity Liverpool, 1907) IXTRODUCIIOX SOI.I TUBE Period passed by our Master in forming the principal moral conceptions before he experienced the regenerating influence of Clotilde. The Ixcomparable Year U X I O X {^Preamble) October, i8/|4, to May, 1S45. Opening portion disturbed by passion FIRST PART Fundamental Initiation June — Esteem J uly — Confidence August — Affection SECOND PART lNEVITAEI,E TRANSITIOX (September, October, November, and December, 1845) Decisive Crisis — (September) I to 10 September — Danger and Salvation 10 to 30 September — Resignation Final Transition (October, November, and December) October — Complete confidence November — Unreserved confidence December — Continued familiarity THIRD PART NoR^iAi, State (January, Februarv, and ^Jlarch, 1846) January — Complete intimacy February — Perfect identity March — Definitive union {Fitialc) 28 March to 10 April, 1846, Sacred Passion COXCLUSIOX UNITY Period of the moral development of our ilaster under the influence of Clotilde. CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN AUGUSTE COMTE AND CLOTILDE DE VAUX Correspondence between Auguste Comte and Clotilde de Vaux (1845-6) (Including Clotilde's poem Thoughts of a Flower and Auguste Comte's Letter on Marriage') Letter i. From Auguste Comte Wednesday, 30 April, 1S45 (noon) ilADAME Knowing by experience how diflBcult it is to leave off the reading of Tom Jones having once begun it, for whatever reason, I am hastening to send you a translation which Avill save you from having to enjoy this admirable chef-d'icuvre through the medium of an unsatisfactory paraphrase. As I lia\'e the original work, you will not inconvenience me in the least by keeping this copy as long as you please. If I appear to be over solicitous in my attention, I must plead as my excuse the satisfaction I feel in giving you pleasure. Pray accept, Madame, on this occasion, the most sincere assurance of the affectionate regard of Your devoted servant A'f Comte Letter 2. From CLOTILDE DE \'.\ux Thursday, i May, 1845 Your kindness makes me very happy and very proud, Monsieur. I feel too impatient to wait for a better opportunity of telling you how much pleasure Toin /'iws is giving me. Since your superiority does not prevent you from being ' all things to all men,' I look forward with much pleasure to having a talk with you on the subject of this little chct-d'auvre, and I hope that your beautiful and noble teachings may sometimes find their way into my heart and mind. Pray accept. Monsieur, with the expression of my gratitude, that of my great esteem. DE V.iux, nee Marie 6 CORRESPONDENCE Letter 3. From AuGUSTE Comte Friday, 2 May, 1845 (2 p.m.) Madame Neither can I wait for the happy occasion of our meeting, to express to you how much I am touched by the kind and gracious reception you deign to accord to a very small mark of attention, which, besides being very naturally paid to you, was especially warranted by the occasion which presented itself. The value that you are good enough to attach to my conversa- tion emboldens me to say that it would be a great satisfaction to me to see the opportunities for it increased as far as you think proper. I have often been judged somewhat unsociable, — having failed to find in others a disposition of mind, and still more, of heart, sufficiently in harmony with my own. But in reality I have none the less always appreciated the sweet exchange of sentiments and thoughts as the principal source of human happiness, when the requisite conditions can be satisfactorily fulfilled. The ease and confidence, which I am happy to say I feel in the society of your relations, should clearly point out to you my natural tendency duly to appreciate your kind and agree- able conversation. Besides the elevated tone and nobleness of sentiment that seem natural to all your interesting family, a melancholy coincidence in the circumstances of our lives forms a still more special bond between you and myself. Pray accept, INIadame, the renewal of the most sincere and affectionate respect of Your devoted servant At? Comte Letter 4. From AuGfSTE COMTE \\'ednesday morning, 14 May, 1845 (7 o'clock) Madame Besides the very natural wish I have to come and thank you for your kind visit, I am specially anxious to obliterate any impression left in your mind by the awkward and unmeaning appearance of the reception you met with here yesterday.* I may hope that your happy feminine tact, in concert with a not undeserved indulgence, will naturally have alreadj- explained this * Image of 13 May, 1845. — Ed. CORRESPONDENCE 7 unusual embarrassment to have arisen either from a slight indis- position, or perhaps rather from the presence of two persons who, being unknown to you, caused my inexperience in such matters to allow the conversation to become too vague or commonplace ; but even this favourable interpretation could not compensate for the disappointment of such an evening. Nevertheless, however wishful I may be to come in person to make my apologies, I am still more anxious not to annoy you, or even to disturb you. If, then, for any reason whatever, that I shall respect without even trying to penetrate, you should prefer only to receive my visit at the house of your relatives,* I would beg of you to tell me so frankly, and I shall be able to resign myself to this imperfect satisfaction. In that case, as I have lately observed that the time you now go there unfortunately coincides with the time when I naturally have to leave, I will in future make my calls there after dinner, pre- suming that you generally spend the evening there ; the necessary' change in my regular habits will very soon be forgotten in consideration of the motive. I hope, JIadame, this little explanation, that it was well perhaps to give once for all, may not appear to you in any way presumptuous, and that you will attribute it only to the respectful affection of Your devoted servant At« COMTE Letter 5. Ftom Clohlde de Vax"x j Thursday evening, 15 May, 1S45 You have a heart made to understand that of a woman. Monsieur, and I can only gratefully accept the sincerity with which you speak of all that concerns me. I accept with happiness the interest and affection that you are good enough to bestow upon me, and at my own home as well as at my relatives' I hope to prove to you the price that I attach to it. JXy position as a lone woman has made it unusual for me to receive men visitors, yet some- times I do receive them, and I shall hold it an honour to count you among the number. If the offer that you have the kindness to make me, that we should meet in the evenings, is not by far too disinterested, it would suit me perfectly and would, I am sure, also be welcome to my family. * House in the rue Pavee where Clotilde's parents lived. — Ed. S CORRESPOXDEXCE Pr.iv, then, accept once more the assurance of my gratitude for your kindness, and treat me a little as an old friend. I quite understood your good intentions towards me the evening before last, but I assure you, Monsieur, that I had much pleasure in hearing your account of the Academy, and that listening is always in itself a great pleasure. Accept, Jlonsieur, the expression of my deepest regards and that of my highest esteem. DE Vaux, nee JIarie Ldlrr 6. From AuGrsiE ComtE Saturday, 17 May, 1S45 (4 o'clock) Dear JIad.\me Xotwithstandiug the verbal assurance of your kind indul- gence towards me, that I received unexpectedly yesterday," I cannot help attaching great importance to the precious note that has only just reached me, e\'en if it were ouly in order to be able to read it over again as often as I have the preceding one. I should certainly be very ungrateful if I did not hasten to assure you, however feebly, of my most sincere gratitude. It is trvie that I had, of my own accord, before I was made happy by your permission, ceased to fight against the host of sweet feelings that have gradually dra^^-a me towards you. I now find that the growth of these feelings has become necessary to the full satisfac- tion of my moral being, which has hitherto been unduly stunted by the pressure of circumstances ; but the uncertainty of obtaining your kind indulgence has placed a check upon the transports of a heart that feared more than anvthing to offend you, so long as it had not your permission openly to bestow upon you the affection of an elder brother. Since I cannot, alas, become younger, why are not you, JIadame, less beautiful and less lovable, so as to compensate a little for the fatal disparity of my moral 3'outhf ulness and my physical maturity ! — but the one is, in reality, hardly more possible tlian the other. I hope, at least, that the purity, the depth, and the constancy of my devotion together with the natural similarity of our situations, will succeed in gradualh- diminishing this radical obstacle. Both of us beino- involuntarily placed in the same exceptional condition, we are in ♦ Im.ige of 16 -l/.i.v, 1S45,— £.i. CORRESPONDENCE 9 the eyes of every pure and intelligent being, morally justified in there finding, as far as possible, that legitimate satisfaction of heart which we are both fully convinced that we have loyally sought in vain, and too long waited for, in the conditions of ordinary social existence, ^[ay we, through each other's assistance, honourably attain this ! How much gratitude do I not already owe you for having thus revived my moral nature by the most unforeseen impulsion, at the very time when I was obliged sadly to renounce every hope of such happiness ! Certainly it is delightful to experience the high feelings of universal love with which, as a general rule, my own work mspires me ; but how much their vague philosophic energy is wanting in the power to satisfy my real need of affection ! Neither yourself, Madame, on the one side, nor my philosophic adherents on the other, will ever have to fear any real confiict between the two kinds of emotion which I feel, and which I shall be able to harmonise perfectly, the one even Strengthening the other. "When the noble ^'auvenargues said : ' Great thoughts come from the heart,' he did not probably feel all the deep reality of this instinctive perception. I am very sure, in fact, that all high aspirations, moral or mental, are essentially at one and mutually stimulate each other. ^\'e can more fully appreciate physical and moral beauty, and beauty of intellect, through the gradual increase of their affinity. This happy connection between the mental and the affective growth is applicable in general to all great works whatsoever, notwithstanding all that the stupid au.sterity of our cold pedants may preach. But surely it belongs more especially to work which, directly relating, like mine, to social philosophy, has as its constant object to develop as much as possible the greatness of human nature, which ought above all to depend on generous feelings, even more than on breadth of view. It is, then, my charming friend (since you deign to allow this title) without any vain sentimental affectation, foreign to my nature, but according to a conviction, proved as much by reason as by feeling, that I rejoice in the happy coincidence of the sweet re-animation of my moral nature due to you, with the dawn- ing elaboration of my second great work. This work, far from suffering from such a conjunction, will certainly be much the better for it, as pleasant experience already clearly points out to me. What a wonderful contrast it puts before me when I compare it I O CORRESPONDENCE with the sad state of repressed feeling into -which I was helplessly plunged when I began, fifteen years ago, my fundamental work," which was almost entirely executed under this painful pressure ! I am so deeply imbued by this salutary reaction that I should not hesitate some day to address to you the public dedication of a work in which you will have thus indirectly co-operated, if propriety did not prevent my making such an avowal. But who- ever may be the friends that I shall ultimately honour in this manner, a secret reservation will always direct the best part of my deep gratitude towards her who, in reviving the spring of my tenderest feelings, will have efficaciously helped forward my philosophic impulsion. In truth, inasmuch as such an unhoped-for state of things is not yet firmly established, these precious emotions, these tender effusions, these delicious tears, in short, the sum of all the affections whose total may be so much more easily felt than described, contribute at present, in the silence of my long nights, to prolong, for the time being, a passing physical trouble, which the first effort of again taking up my ordinary work had brought on : but I would not willingly exchange these enchanting sleepless nights for the most perfect health possible. Besides, I am quite convinced that the different indispensable conditions of this new existence will not be long in attaining a natural balance and arrangement to the profit alike of my work, my happiness, and even of my physical health, without ever giving you any cause, however slight, for scruple on its account. I am delighted that my proposition, much less disinterested than you imagine, of meeting in future in the evenings at the house of your dear relatives (I was almost saying ' our ■) should be quite agreeable to them and to you ; I shall not be slow in beginning to put it into effect, but on account of my regular engagements our meetings cannot generally take place except on A\'-ednesdays and Fridays. Perhaps I may be able at an earlier date to avail my- self of the permission you have still more kindly granted me, which I shall be able, I hope (whatever my wishes may be), always to use with the discreet moderation that your isolation demands. As you have had the goodness to think of me with ret^ard to the Cluny museum, and as you yourself have not yet been there I hope that you will allow me to seize a new opportunity of a happy meeting, and that we may go together, at the time you may appoint, the better to revive in us, by sight of these inestim- able relics, a noble and tender recollection of mediaeval times, as * The PosUirc Philosophy. — Ed. CORRESPONDENCE I I yet not fully appreciated, uotwithstauding the superficial affec- tation of fashionable platitudes. Farewell, dear iladanie, take better care of 3'our precious 'health, and graciously accept the heart's affection, already deep, ■of Your respectful friend A'f COMTE 10 rue Monsieur-le-Prince I must beg of 5'ou specially to notice my number. If you look at your two fair hands at the same time you will not be able to forget it in future. ■\\'hile I was thinking of going to the "post-office to complain of the strange delay of your dear letter, in- formation I have just received has made me aware of the true cause, which I ought previously to have learnt from the various official alterations of the address. In writing Xo. 5 instead of the proper number, you have almost made a student opposite, whose name is very much like mine, much too happy, and I owe the avoidance of "this fatal mistake only to the kind thoughtfulness of a postman who knows me. Jly official polytechnic title, however insignificant it niaj' be, will become in future very dear to me through a useful •excess of details if it contributes to prevent this double •disaster from actually occurring. Praj' remember me kindly to your family. I hope that the unusual fatigue your charming sister underwent yesterday did not have any bad result — notwith- standing the care necessarj- in her condition. I leave you with regret, although to you this scrawl may •seem somewhat lengthy. Letter 7. From ArGUSTE COMTE Tuesday morning, 20 May, 1845 (6 o'clock) DEAR Madame I with difficulty kept from going to see you yesterday, "partly not to interfere with your carefully thinking over my decisive letter of Saturday, partly to be thus able to prove, at least by your -silence, in default of a more distinct approval, that it has not shocked' you. But, vmfortunately, I cannot come to-day either, -as I had intended, on account of insomnia more complete than that ■from which I suffered all last week. I was unable to get a. single instant's sleep, and this time there can be no doubt that the trouble is specially due to the state of my feelings. Although this state 1 2 CORRESPONDENCE of weakness is without any pain, and even brings with it a certain melancholy charm, it makes it impossible for me to go out at all to-day, even to my polytechnic duties in the evening. Yet it is- very sad to remain so long without seeing you, and put still further off an indispensable explanation, but I must resign, myself, and I hasten to let you know in case you may have expected me. You see that, according to your kind wish, I am treatmg you already as an old friend. These few lines will somewhat diminish the pain I feel at not being able to come. Prudence, also, preventing me from doing any work, I shall be wholly occupied with you to-day, and your two dear letters will still suffice to feed all my solitary reveries. Your respectful friend A''= COMXE- Leitd- 8. Ftom AuGUSTE CoiiTE Wednesday morning, 21 May, 1845 (6 o'clock)- Dear JIadame Jly short note of yesterday morning must have displeased you. I wish I had not written it : it shows an insistence at least indiscreet, if not childish, besides being unworthy of myself and of you ; be kind enough to attribute it to the temporary loss of my self-controi, caused by some bodily disturbance. Although this- note is only intended to make up for my mistake and to ask forgive- ness, the first sight of it may try your patience, making you dread. a daily deluge of similar outpourings. Have no fear, Madame,, of anything of the kind. The spontaneous reflections of yester- day's day-dreams, helped by a little sleep, have already sufficiently re-established in me such degree of generosity and reason as I usually possess. It will be, I hope, the only time, my dear lady, that I shall have been thus led to take the slightest advantage of the confiding esteem with which you deign to honour me. I shall do myself the pleasure of calling on you'. to-morrow, but do not anticipate any awkward questions.. Unless from accident in the post, which is very unlikely, you- \\\\\ certainly ha-se received my long letter of Saturday, in which, the state of my heart is clearly shown to you, though perhaps witb an excess of frankness, or at least of precipitation, for which my strange inexperience should form an excuse. Therefore, it must CORRESPONDENCE 1 3 suffice me now that you have been willing to recei^'e and to keep this decisive communication : besides, it is not for me in any way either to interpret your silence on this subject, or to determine the duration of your own deliberations, or the form of your decision, whatever it may be. I must, with regard to this, await with respectful patience the candid judgment of your heart and mind without any interference by an ill-timed ■explanation. There is really nobility as well as sweetness in the deep feeling which animates me, JIadame. I am perfectly convinced that this deep feeling cannot but procure my happiness by contributing, as its nature is so capable of doing, to the daily object of my whole private life — my own moral improvement. So far from making me more exacting, more self- indulgent or selfish, it will always tend, I hope, greatly to increase my purity, my delicacy, and my generosity. Its inevitable reaction upon you must have the same habitual character ; it will tend to soften rather than to accentuate the painful position in which you are placed. The similarity of our two positions must make me more ready to understand and respect it. Awaiting, without any undue impatience, the happy moment of seeing you again, pray accept, dear Madame, the most sincere tomage of the deep affection of - ■■ Your respectful friend A'f COMTE Letter 9. From ClotildE de Vaux Wednesday morning, 21 il/«y, 1845 I have suffered too much, Jlonsieur, not to be at least sincere, and if I have not repUed to your letter of Saturday, it is because it caused me painful feeUngs, that I should not have been able to hide from you. In accepting your friendship and the interest you take in me, I must own that I thought to contribute to your happiness, and to mine : it has been painful to me to have to fear the contrary. If I had not accustomed myself, for some time past, to hide my feelings, I should have inspired you with pity rather than love, I am sure. During the last year I have been wondering each night if I should have strength to live through the next day. It is not with such thoughts that one can do anything rash. You do not know me, and the kindness of your heart has, I feel, led you to magnify to yourself 14 CORRESPOXPEXCi; the interest that my misfortune inspires. But I beg of voir to let your noble heart and mind have free play for a moment in relation to my affairs, and you will not then feel inclined tO' offer me a single reproach, vSpare my feelings, as I desire to spare yours : I do not feel less aeutcly than you. Farewell, Monsieur Comte ; rely upon and receive the lasting assurance of my affection and esteem. DE \'A1'X, llt'c- if.\RIB Lcllcl- 10. Fioill AVC.VSTK COMTE' Wednesday, ^i -Vdr, 1S45 (noon) De.^R :\rAD.\ME I trembled this niorniu!,' on .seeing your dear hand-writing, before you could have read the letter that I wrote you to repair an inconsiderate attempt. My anxieiy has, alas, been justified, and the painful letter that I have just read, suddenly makes uie feel the whole extent of my fault. Those Avho propose to direct others have very often themselves need of all induli;euce, and I fear that I hardly deserve yours. One terrible sentence in this striking letter would inspire me with serious alarm and deep remorse if I did not think that your gentleness and sagacity would have been able to discern my really honouraljle impulse beneath the appear- ance due to inexperience and precipitation. Perhaps under the circumstances I on(;ht not to see you to-morrow, as I pro]iosed to you tliis morniui^ ; I will do so however unless yoti forbid it, so as to reassure j-ou for the future by showim; you that I have already been able to regulate my feelings sufhcienlly, — men of my nature only need tender counsel to enable theur to avoid what might prove a real catastrophe. Your affectionate remonstrances with my faults can only at present greatly increase the iicid I feel of making you soon forget them. You may rely, dear Madame, on the affection, as pure as enduring, of Your respectful friend A'<^ CoiiTE lu-ttcr II. Fiiiiii Ci,OTn,iiE i>ic Y.viiX Wednesday, 21 Mnv. 1845 Thank you for your last note, iMousieur. It will always give me great pleasure to see you, aud I hope that we shall manage to avoid embarrassing subjects of conversation. I cannot be at CORRESPOXDENXE ] 5 home to-morrow, nor for some days after, as I have to visit a sick friend, ^^"e will give yon some ninsic at rue Pavoe when you come there : I am going to spend almost every day there until the confinement. Farewell, Monsieur Conite, believe in my kind feelings towards j-ou, and keep for me those of a friend. C. DE Vaux, nee Marie Letter ij. From Augusts Comte Saturday morning, 24 Mav, 1S45 (6 o'clock) Dear ^Iadame I should have had the satisfaction of seeing you yesterday, at your relatives' house, but for the fact that my weakness and melancholy depression were considerably aggravated after spend- ing a period of ten days with hardly any sleep, and in spite of a suitably abstemious regimen. Being obliged first to give up all my own work, and then all my daily official duties, to-morrow I shall also have to miss, for the first time in fifteen years, my public Sunday lesson. In addition to all this, I have been obliged for the last two days to stay in bed, and I do not know how long this state of things may last — though at the same time I am in no pain and my condition is in no way dangerous. As the true source of my illness is well known to you, you will not tax me with imprudence in not having yet called in my doctor. As my resignation and my regimen save me from fever and digestive irritation, my condition Avould not in his eyes be sufficiently marked for any treatment to be of use. As long as my illness remains purely nervous, my inexhaustible patience is the onl}- true specific of which it will admit. Besides, I am helped by the ever-growinc; thought of the chaste happiness that our innocent affection promises me in the future, when it shall liave become as pure in me as it is already naturally with you. The necessary transformation that you have thought right to insist upon in my feelings is much more painful than you could suppose. But it will only be the more praiseworthy on that account, and I persevere loyally in trying to accomplish it, as I see now how necessary it is to your happiness and to my own. ^Ly active desire after moral improvement, for a time impaired by an entrancing passion, has now met with a noble re-awakening and has even been impelled to greater energy by the touching 1 6 CORRESPONDENCE eloquence resulting from your melancholy situation, as expressed in your letter of ^^■ednesday morning. I feel now that this serious combat will soon terminate to my honour and to our profit, so as to permit the gradual realisation of the sweet hopes that you attached at first to this pure intimacy, which I was on the point of making you lose by a momentary error. Besides, dear friend, the nervous illness resulting from this moral conflict must in its turn facilitate and hasten its happy issue. For with high-minded natures, nothing helps so much to purify our affections as phases of physical weakness, when our grosser impulses naturally become weaker, and our finer ones are stimulated. Farewell, dear Madame, and believe me, henceforth and for ever. Your faithful friend A'f COMTE If my illness should become complicated, I have the double advantage of an excellent doctor, in whom I have long had confidence, and also, what is certainly neither less rare nor less precious, a perfect domestic servant, whose active devotion I have already experienced. Letter 13. Fyom AUGUSTE CoMTE "Wednesda}' morning, 28 May, 1845 (9 o'clockl Madame Thanks to my continued precautions, and without any recourse to my doctor, but still more, thanks to the inexpressible calm that all just triumph of duty over inclination procures, my state of health is now so much improved that I may think of again taking up my daily duties the day after to-morrow (Friday). In that case I shall not fail to come and see you at your kind relatives' house. Though you have not yet answered my letter of Saturday the 24th, I hope that it has already somewhat dissipated the natural anxiety with which my former unwise confessions must have inspired you, for it shows my firm resolution henceforward to respect the limits prescribed by virtue to which you were forced to recall me, when my thoughts had dared, for a moment, to disregard them. Besides your general knowledge of my loyalty, my utter incapability of dissimulation which had involuntarily led me to alarm you, should be a special guarantee to yo'i now CORRESPONDENCE 1 7 of the sincerity of my repentance, and of tlie tliorougliness of a conflict, which was of a nature no less noble than painful and is now about to end to my honour. Without having seen you I have then succeeded in passing through this short initial crisis, and the same week has seen my pen both commit and repair a serious wrong, the thought of which, and the mistrust consequent thereon, it will be my future business to make you forget. The grossness of my sex imposed upon me, no doubt, this stormy transition before entering upon the pure field of a true friendship, which womanly delicacy permits you to attain at once without any such preparation. You, like c\-eryone else, must have remarked in me this striking peculiarity, proper rather to my heart than to my head, and though unusual, not unprecedented, by which I retain, whilst fully arrived at maturity, all the freshness and impetuosity of youth, with all the advantages of its spontaneity, but at the same time with all the inconvenience of its inexperience. This, Madame, though 3-ou may not be aware of it, is doubtless the real reason of your wise indulgence for ray recent follies, but you could not have known that this heart, so capable of expansion, must be all the more sensitive, because up to this time it has nc\'er been able fully to assert itself. How unlikely it was that you should have been the one to find there the only really firm and deep affection that I have yet experienced ! Vet nothing is more true : for my fatal marriage was not, on the whole, the result of a real passion : it was mainly prompted by thoughtless generosity, in exchange for a confession which seemed of the fullest. May this sincere avowal, showing still more strongly that my fault was due to the rashness of my youth, now procure me fuller pardon for my first involuntary wrong towards you. Seeing how com- pletely ignorant you were of these most peculiar circumstances, how deep must have been the esteem and confidence with which I had at first the honour of inspiring you, to enable the impression they left to resist unimpaired a shock which would perhaps have given them an irreparable blow in the case of any woman less clear-sighted and less pure ! For I hardly know, Madame, which I should admire the most, the marvellous sagacity of your judgment, or the exquisite impartiality of your decision?. Before seeing you again, I feel to-day the need of expressing to you the respect and gratitude with which I feel juyscU' tor ever deeply affected, for your admirable conduct throughout this 1 8 CORRESPONDENCE difficult crisis, in -vvliich your reason has always been equal to your delicacy, and where your gentle kindness never interfered with your just firmness. How much superior your practical wisdom showed itself to be, notwithstanding the contrast of our ages and my vain philosophic pre-eminence ! It is true that I alone was influenced by passion, which explains to a certain extent my special inferiority. If, then, you thought at first that I did not understand you, I hope that for the future you will not retain any doubt on the subject. For what has just passed constitutes certain- ly one of those rapid but decisive phases, in which the whole moral nature unfolds itself more effectually in a few days than during many years in the ordinary course of things. It is this which makes such events specially suitable for dramatic art, even when the whole action consists, as in this case, simply of con- versation. You should now be assured that I understand you at least as well as you understand me. Admirable as your con- duct has been, it has not at all surprised me, for I have found it quite in agreement with what I expected of you. It is so important to me, Jladame, that no one should be able to tax me with light conduct in what must constitute the principal event of the rest of my private life, that you cannot blame my special insistence in correcting the one unimportant error into which you have been drawn, in believing that I loved you without knowing you. Although this mistake is too natural not to be very excusable, it is at the same time in direct contra- diction to the project of friendship which we have in common : for everybody knows that friendship, still more than love, requires a basis of deep esteem before all things, and this means a true previous appreciation of one another. AMien your indulgent wisdom has spontaneously given me back that precious permis- sion to visit you personally, a permission which my temporary boldness justly determined you to suspend before I had once profited by it, we shall be able again to take up this interesting subject, unless your friendly scheme of discipline should think fit to place it among the ' embarrassing topics of conversation.' I will then show you in what and how I knew you much better long before this characteristic crisis, than you can have supposed. Though, doubtless, I have so far rather guessed than observed your character, my judgment of you has rested hardly less on special indications than on general principles. At present it is enough for me to recall to you a single decisive characteristic, I mean the CORRESPONDENCE 19 remarkable determination, so congenial to my own character, which has led you to refuse a position of agreeable comfort even \\ hen well-earned, at the price of personal dependence which, with souls of our temper, could never be quite honourable, with whatever vain decoration it may be covered. Do yhlii;(ili,iiis, cviii mlirii it is iiiosi rvcKSiililt' and ci'i'ii lioHoiivahlc in its cdiisr. Hy strength has been worn out in barren agitation ; my devotion has been simply wasted ; and I am now utterly broken down without c\'er havini; truly lived. Parewell, my dear friend, at least I have the means of teaching others : this is still a real interest in my life, and I wish to make the most of it. Take care of yourself, and rely upon all that is kind and affectionate in my heart. Clotii,dE I.i'lti'l- 54. /"/•.);« .VUGUSTK CosiTi; Tuesday morning, lo Si-jitcmber, 1S45 (1,1 o'clock) Various incidents have prevented me from replving sooner to the touching letter th:it I received yesterday morning. While completing and making clear your jiainful confidences of June, it unfolds to me perfectly your admirable moral nature. So with • The third ol the Seven Blaxims of Clolilde de Vaux.— £,/. CORRESPONDENCE S 5 each new appreciation, I am always drawn, my Clotilde, to adore thee still more. By this means the sacred embellishment of mis- fortune becomes inseparable from your noble image, and better characterises the sum of my duties towards thee. These duties may in future be summed up in the sacred obligation of making you forget, if possible, this sad past. If I should ever succeed in this, it would give the deepest satisfaction to my inmost feelings. I know how difficult a task this must prove for me, but I could not propose a nobler aim to my private ambition. If I should never succeed in it, the mere attempt, consistently persisted in, will, I hope, serve to make both of us alike happier and better. As far as I am concerned, I thank you for the lasting effect pro- duced by this precious communication. Needing for a time a puri- fying influence after the shock of an event beyond my control, I ma}' tell you that I had, first by my better feeling and then by the force of reason, spontaneously almost succeeded, when your salutary revelation resulted in bringing my efforts to a happy, and, above all, a permanent conclusion. I now feel how much your noble personal repugnance has been useful to both of ns, in hindering us from succumbing to the last crisis, which, instead of tender remembrances of mutual esteem, would finally have left us, as you have rightly judged, long regrets. Though my sex cannot pretend to the exquisite delicacy of which yours is susceptible, I assure you, however, Clotilde, that if I had known in tim.e what you told me yesterday, I should have spared you, last week, the indiscreet solicitations, of which you need not fear any return, even when we resume our intimate friendly interviews. As long as the ."state of your heart forbids the most com- plete intimacy, of which it shall be for you alone to judge, even though I should suffer in silence, I would never importune you upon this subject. Though this final situation should always remain impossible, I still owe you an inestimable benefit for the noble friendship, which I now possess, and shall strive to merit more and more. Owinj^ to you, I have unexpectedly gained a source of pure and lasting happiness, following upon the enjoy- ment for three years of the domestic quiet which I so urgently needed ; and despite the constant tendency of our nature, I shall, I hope, always be able to restrain the desire which is so dear tr_i me within the bounds that you impose. I should wish, my Clotilde, to ascribe to thee all my personal progress in virtue as well as in happiness. S6 CORRESPOXDEXCE With what noble resohition the whole of your misfortunes has finally inspired you ! Yes, my sacred friend, consecrate your public hfe to the dissemination of those important moral lessons you have learnt in your private life — that is an admirable idea. I am proud to be appreciated by one who iu the nudst of our profound moral anarchy has spontaneously given herself such a mission. Such an intimacy, far from ever injuring my own public character, can only, as I have from the first foreseen, tend to eimoble it still more. It is for me, Clotilde, to ask myself, trembUng at the answer, if I shall always remain completely worthy of you. 'S^'ith regard to your great aim, I hope that, in accordance with vour happy expression of Saturday, you are going to cling more and more closely to life. Permit me also to think that, with you the need of living wiU be intensified, if only accessorily, by the growing conviction that you have become, in whatever manner, reaUv indispensable to him whose existence is not without a certain value for the constant service of the great human evolution. In pursuing your noble project you will happily utilise the inherent advantages of your own work, which requires, in the highest degree, that )'0u should make use in it, entirely and directly, of the results of your own painful experience. Both of us are in fact treating, though under very different points of view, the same subject — that is. Human Nature and Existence : but you confine yourself to private life, ever brought back to its moral centre, without concerning yourself with its speculative and active sides ; my office, on the contrary, enjoins me to omit no constituent of the collective life of Humanity. You can then content yourself with inward contemplation, and you have only, as you so well remark, to make a picture from the events of your own life. My main work, on the other hand, must consist in looking outside, into all times and places in succession, putting aside my personal impressions except in so far as they help me to see and feel. This is why, besides the fact that the last crisis must have shaken me more severely than you, the same situation which impels you specially to work, momentarily deters me from it. Xotwitlistanding this natural diversity, my dearest friend. I hope that, avoiding any puerile or dangerous obstinacj", it will not be long before with restored health I again take up my labours, and this because, since the wholesome shock of yesterday, my moral existence tends fully to recover its happy equilibrium of last CORRESPON'DENCE 8/ month ; nay, it is even lightened by a ray of hope for a future of which before I did not dare to dream. Good-bye, and thank you. Ever yours with my whole heart, A'f COMTE I acknowledge that I was at first a little unjust towards your family, who are realh' worthy of you. Yesterday evening you must have seen that I did mj- best to make up for this temporary mistake, and j'ou will feel it, I hope, more and more. In general, my Clotilde, may your sweet friendship always tend to rectify my various faults, by a discipline from which my pride will never suffer. I am glad to owe this to you, and it will always be a pleasure to me to acknowledge it. Letter 55. From ArousTE CoMTE Tuesday morning, 17 September, 1845 (6 o'clock)* I fear, dear and worthy friend, that I have pained you a little, or at least gi\'en you some anxiety', in allowing myself, yesterday, once or twice, to use to you the form of appellation which is gener- ally reserved for the most complete intimacy. This sweet form of address, as I sincerely intend, may however serve to bring the perfect purity of my sentiments into accord with their more strongly-marked energy. But although, as a matter of fact, we are reciprocally united by the closest tie possible at present, the ' thou ' and ' thee ' are perhaps not sufficiently sympathetic with the present state of your heart. So I feel a special need of expressing to you, on the subject, my natural regret, and of reassuring you for the future before you have expressed, even by silence, your decisive opinion. I should be specially sorrj' to make 3'ou think for a moment that the last crisis should have rendered me less respectful, when it has led me, on the contrary, to admire still more your altos'ether noble nature. Farewell, my Clotilde, and forgive me ; we shall meet on Friday evening. Ever yours A'f COMTE Although I do not yet get enough sleep, I feel stronger and less agitated * Tuesday morning in original ; but Wednesday more likely. — Ed. 8S CORSESPONDENCE Letter 56. Ftom Cl,0Xll,DE DE Vaux Thursday morning, 25 September, [845 Good-morning, my dear philosopher, I send you ' the heart's .gift ' (*), made up in its natural shape ; remembrance is the only artist capable of giving grace to such trifles. My o\vn share consists in pleasing you and in being penetrated with the sincerity of your attachment, which I value at its full price. I leave you, however, for ^olus or Zephyr — I do not know very well which, but both of them help my lungs, and I wish to make use of them until the frosty season. We shall meet to-morrow. I hold out my hand to you. CloTildE de V. Letter 57. From AuGUSTE CoMTE Thursday morning, 25 September, 1845 ('O o'clock) High-minded and charming friend, I am too much moved by what I have just read to tell you properly what I think of it. To-morrow I shall read it over again quietly, and I shall, if neces- sary, point out in a brotherly way, some expressions which I may then judge to be rather far-fetched. Allow me to-day only to protest against the name of that dear good philospher of yours : although so far he has scarcely made his appearance, the name Sax (saxum is Latin for a stone) might make the classical reader anticipate in him a hardness quite unsuited to the character you have so happily portrayed. I do not as yet see anything but what is very satisfactory ; the love of Wilhelmine and Stephane seemed to me at first rather abruptly brought in, but on second thoughts I do not feel this quite so much. My heart and mind are alike eager for the continuation which I am expecting. Still, I will not put off any longer the pleasure I feel in congratulating you on the noble inspiration of your heart, by which you have so early been led to devote your talent to upholding true social principles against the plausible common teachings of anarchy. As to myself, my beloved Clotildc, I must also express to you my personal gratitude for this sweet diversion. I was feeling yesterday, not exactly moral troubles, but some serious personal anxieties, a thing of * A lock of her hair. This was lost in the post and another brought in its place. — See I^etter 64. — Ed, CORRESPONDENCE 89 •very rare occurrence with. me. They have been much lessened by your dear visit, and your interesting composition has com- pletely banished them, vyhile it still adds to my respectful adora- tion. Farewell then, and once more thank you, my dear and ■eminent friend ; we shall meet to-morrow evening, when I could not venture to express my sympathy and admiration to you so •cordially. Thine A'? CoMTE LsUer 58. From Clotilde dE Yaux Thursday evening, 25 September, 1845 I am much concerned by what you say of your anxieties. I am afraid that your generosity towards us may have imposed ■sacrifices upon yourself. As regards the sum you lent me, I wish I were able to offer it back to j'ou. Unfortunately I have used it partly in paying a debt that the state of my health had led me to contract. Still, I beg of you to tell me at once if these Tiundred francs would be useful to you now. I usually receive in January a present of money from my relations ; and I might have it advanced. I beg of you, then, my dear friend, speak to me openly and affectionately. Follow my example in this matter. I am happy to have your cordial approbation of my work. You will see the explanation of Wilhelmiiic's sentiments in the sequel of her story. This manner of introducing it is with the object of conforming to the style of I'ournalistic writing. The moral will be developed in the plot, which I do not however wish to complicate. Farewell, my dearest friend ; I ask once again for your confidence with regard to the money. Your affectionate Clw much I love you. .\'V" CoMTE Li'/ ) &■>. Frov: Ci.otii.de de V.\t-x Saturda\" luoniiug. 2~ Si'/^tt-mbci', 1S45 I have many things to thank you for, kind friend ; and, usual, more particularly for your affectionate attachment. sli di feel confidence in being able to have roco\irsc to it \\hen feel the need : yoi-.r way of obliging is sister to my way of sling the obligation, and I shall never be afraid of conflict tweeu the two. C;ir. Jlonsieur M* — liavc been spreading any andal about the letter of the .;rd of !unc ? I should be very rry if my civility to him was iusutficient for the occasion. I It so !ie mischief latent when he shook hands on leaving. is qxiite impossible that \V ilhclnu tic should not be exposed danger. Your criticisms on her are perfectly just, and rrospond with tlie corrections I was thinking cf making. The ogress of my work will have to suffer for my journey, but Th ips I may lay in a store of strength. You shall hear from e cnce, and I will arrange to be one of the company on Friday. Farewell, my dearest friend, take care of yourself, and ly on my sympathv as well as on my affection. Clotilde de ^". Litlcr 61. Frc>»ii ATcrsiF CcMTE Sunday morning, jS sV.''.'.m^cr, 1S4; (o o'clock) At the instant when T am for the fir t time deprived for six iole days of your adorable presence, I feci, my Clotilde, a spetial • Marr.ist.— £,<. q, CORRESPONDENCE need to renew the expressions of ray attachment to you. Besides, I owe you sincere gratitude for your amiable and spontaneous incHuation to soften this absence by the promise of a letter, for which the non-existence of a post-ofEce at Garges would prevent me from thanking you in time. None the less, I should be very sorry to make you in any way regret a valuable change, only too rare in the kind of life you lead, from which I even anticipate a happy influence on your physical condition. Everything that I discover, little by little, in you, and about you, continually increases my respectful love. Thus, yesterday I began to see your situation under a new aspect, very fit to stimulate my constant tendency to be all in all to you, should need arise. The most tender language of the closest identification with you could only very feebly express the depth and purity of my devotion. In thinking of it again to-night, I have felt strongly what unspeakable happiness I should feel in sacrificing to you, if necessary, even my life, now that I have accompUshed my principal task in the great human evolution. Notwithstanding some recent signs, I should never have discovered the .strange touchiness of your mother as it was revealed to me yesterday. However unjust this may be, I cntirclv approve of your noble and tender disposition to accommodate yourself to such a weakness, bearing in mind her many excellent qualities. You can easily have the orphan brought up by some eccentric avmt. even insinuating that a mother's influence would have sufficed to prevent the aberrations resulting from this exceptional education. By this the main pur- pose of your work would not suffer. If the conversation to- morrow conveniently affords m.e an opportunity of returning to the subject of this difficulty, I will try to bring reason to bear on it. But, since a certain literary rivalry is secretly mixed up with it, any lasting improvement is hardly to be hoped for. So, however we may groan over the necessity, you had better give in to this strange caprice of one whom you so rightly respect. I am charmed that you appreciated my little suggestions on the details of Wilhehnine. Even if they had not appeared suitable to you, the superiority of your mental and moral nature would have assured me that I need have liad no fear from a disagree- ment of such a kind. CORRESPONDENCE 93 Indeed, that our spontaneous agreement should extend to such subjects shows an interesting growth in our mutual sympathy. As for Marrast, I have not yet had reason to suspect any indiscretion on his part towards my Saiut-Clolildc. Besides, since he knows nothing of me personally, he cannot have anything to do with certain gossip which I at first thought could only come from him. Farewell, my beloved ; take care of your precious health. \Ve shall meet on Friday evening. Always count on the full and unalterable devotion of your philosopher, A'f COMTE During your stay at Garges shall you devote an instant to n:y little empty locket ? Lettn 62. From Ci,otii,de de Vaux Garges, Tuesday morning, ,^c September, 1845 My Dear Consoling Friend I was present in spirit yesterday at your kind visit in the evening : it was a pleasure to me to think that I had, in the midst of my people, a devoted representative, and at the same time one deserving of every respect. The little storm of Saturday evening was partly forgotten by Sunday morning when I left for Garges, and I hope that you will have found no trace of it. They are good at heart, my mother above all. But they have passions, as those have whom they blame for them, and it seems to me that passions of all kinds must stifle, or greatly benumb, really generous feeling. I have not yet met in anyone but you so well-balanced a mind united with a heart craving so much for aifection, so I am more and more penetrated with the idea that you are a perfect man. Why did I not know you soij'icr ? from how many sorrows I might perhaps have been saved, and how m.any fewer would have been the v.ounds to be healel ? But perhaps, on the contrary, I may have gained by this trial. It has relieved me from a load of enthu- siastic ideas : I only fear that it may have killed my enthusiasm altogether. For all that, let us accuse no one. I shall always say the same : I would not for a fortune have been born else- where. I have seen ugly things below a beautiful exterior in many families. In mine, there is more than honour, there is integrity. Here I am pampered and made as much of as if I were a 94 CORRESPONDENCE princess, and I am greatly edified by the affection displayed by my two hosts for each other. I dropped into a happy party of fifteen people, amongst whom there were some relations of the husband : they have told me some things about him, very highly to his credit and honour. He is richer than his wife, and had to overcome a thousand family difficulties in the way of his marriage. He is a really excellent young man, very pure and very tender. He fulfils his duties from religious feeling, and gratifies his tastes without transgressing a single commandment. Their house is as pleasant a one as could be desired, but, although they ask me to stay on with them until the 15th of November, when they go back to Paris, I shall return next Thursday. I should never get through with my work here ; and then I find the atmosphere somewhat chilhng. I like to think that you are quite well, and that you still find the rue Pavee to your liking ; they only dread the show of your partiality ; they will always tolerate more easily the underlying feeling. My dearest friend, you have shown me so much benevolenct that I dare to try it once again. You have offered me your purse '. 1 shall be rich in January ; if you will help m_e on till then by lending me a hundred francs, you \\ill do me a favour. You under- stand that this time I ask of you the nee plus ultra of my wants, do not, then, offer me any more, and above all, do not offer nie the whole amount at once if it should inconvenience you. I should wish to make Wilhelmine valuable enough to be able to pass from the literary supplement into the hands of a publisher. Your affection gives me strength and courage. If I succeed, I shall not forget how much I owe to you in the renewal of my powers. I suffered again from my palpitation.s for the whole of one night, through having slept with the window closed ; the fresh air, however, soon revived me, but I require a great deal of it still. Farewell, my very dear philosopher, we shall meet on Friday : rely upon my affection, as I rely upon yours. Whatever may happen to you, I shall sympathise with you, as you sympathise in all my concerns, and I shall have another pleasure more than you have, that of gratitude. If anything occurs to change the arrangem.ent of Saturday evening with regard to the opera, I shall be quite ready to begin. It will be sufficient if you have made everything right. My CORRESFONDENCE 95 mother, %\iio lias no memory, ivas speaking to me of going to Versailles in the covirse of the week, this is what makes nie suppose i;hat there might be some chance, my sister-in-la-\v having ^-ery little time at her disposal. Farewell once more, take care of yourself, and be as happy as it is possible to be in this vale of tears, as Jlother Stanislas ■says. I offer you my hand tenderly. Cl,OTII,DE DE V. Letler 63. From AuGrSTE COMTE Thursday, 2 October, 1545 (mid-day) The passing trial resulting from j'oiir short absence has enabled me to appreciate, mj- adorable friend, to what a degree you have become necessary to me. You cannot conceive what a painful void I have felt during these few days in thinking that •we were no longer in the same neighbourhood, and that I could no longer go to you in case of need, or even communicate with you speedily by letter. But all these sufferings were dissipated yester- day, in reading your charming letter of the day before, happily the longest with which you have as 3"et favoured me, which announces your return for to-day. I am very much touched by the indulgent appreciation that I o%ve to your friendship. Alas ! no one knows better than myself how far I am from being perfect. But I have at least the -somewhat rare advantage of being well acquainted with my principal imperfections and, what is still rarer, the will to diminish them little by little, by exercising over myself a continual active discipline, in which, for the future, your precious influence will help me very much, and this even when you are not aware of it. I must, besides, my Clotilde, declare to you how much I appreciate the regret you at last express on your own account, that ■our pure friendship had not an earlier commencement. For hov? many reasons we have cause to regret that your brother did not introduce us to each other at the earliest possible oppor- 'tunity, without waiting for our acquaintance to begin so late by an accidental circumstance ! but let us abstain from the con- templation of an irrevocable past, and rather turn our attention to what remains for us in the future. Let us love one another "deeply, .each in our own manner, and we shall yet be really g6 CORRESPONDENCE happy in one another. Whilst I am delighted to allow to you an equal share with myself of sympathy, I cannot, all the same, grant you exclusively — to adopt your charming phrase — the pleasure of gratitude, and I claim to have a still greater share in it than you. If I have happily helped to reconcile you to life, am I not indebted to you for having at least known its prin- cipal attraction ? Thanks to you, my need of affection is no longer rediiced to a vague and insufficient nourishment resulting: from the universal love of Humanity. Besides, this feeling, far from suffering in the least for my private adoration tov\'ards so- worthy an object, is indeed constantly stimulated by it. Can I ever be too grateful for so immense a moral benefit, one so happily realised, at the very time when my life seemed almost condemned to an irrevocable .solitude ! If my gratitude for this benefit chiefly consists in loving j'ou and identifying myself with you, ah ! be assured, my adored Clotilde, of an ample and eternal recompense ! My health continues to improve, without as yet being really good. Though the convulsive agitation has almost disappeared, sleep (vmless considered by its total duration, which is already pretty nearly normal) remains still broken and even disturbed,, but in reality this irregularity procures me the sweet compensa- tion of multiplying my inmost acts of adoration towards you : because for more than four months I have never once either gone to sleep or awakened without spontaneouslj' consecrating to you my last and my first thoughts. Circumstances counected- with business having obliged me to prolong my last interval of leisure, I found myself so much the better for it that I am voluntarily taking another. I had really set to work much too- soon after our crisis of September, which has shaken me much more deeply than I thought at first. As you expected, I did not find on Monday any trace of Saturday's difficulties, so that I could not well revert, as I told you on Sunday that I would do, to your mother's strange susceptibility on the subject of Wilhelmiiie. ^^n-lilst I was pleased with the kind reception they gave me, I was led to feel, apart from love, how indispensable you are to me in this family circle, where, in your absence, the care of sustaining and animating the conversation, in the midst of funereal or soporiSc darkness, depends mostly on your brother's spirit of contradiction. The opera season opens this evening with / Puyitani. But CORRESPONDENCE 97 the real opening for me will consist in taking yoii there. This as you suggest, might come about the day after to-morrow. However, you know well enough that even though my heart be deprived of this incomparable satisfaction, I shall always ha^e a real and direct pleasure in honouring and pleasing your mother as well as in repaying, however inadequately, my immense musical debt to your sister-in-law. I thank you for having accepted, w-ith frank cordiality, a general offer, which is so natural between us : it is only in such cases that commimism is a benefit, and in this sense it is as old as Humanity. I shall always be readj' to give you what you ask for, and will not in future exceed it. If at first I acted otherwise, it was certainly not done through any vain ostentation, or even indiscreet generosity, but merely from the very legitimate fear that an unreflecting delicacy or want of confidence should prevent you from declaring the extent of jour needs. I hope I may not have to postpone my pleasure in handing you this until your Umd visit of Wednesday next : I will do what I can to take advantage of the first moment we are alone, either to-morrow, if there is an opportunity, or better still, the day after, if I have the pleasure of taking you to the opera. Your description of your hosts at Garges is delightful. The peculiar circumstances of their married life, since not based on any questions of money, speak strongly in favour of both of them, and your appreciation, the justice and kindness of which are equally clear to me, has already succeeded in making me respect them both. I forgive them for having wished to deprive me of you for six weeks, because it proves that they have rightly appre- ciated you. Besides, your indications with regard to them may become directly useful to me ; for, since they seem to suit your family, there may probably be during the winter constant intercourse between them, in which case I might, as a supplementary member, find myself sometimes included : to this I would willingly agree, from what you tell me of them. Farewell, mj' dearest friend, I look forward to clasping your hand to-morrow with all affection. Meantime, accept a chaste brotherly kiss from Your philosopher Ate COMTE When I heard on Jlonday evening that you had arranged to go off a day earlier, I was very little surprised when 1 remembered 98 CORRESPONDENCE what had taken place last Saturday. But when I thought about the letter that I wrote to you on Sunday morning, I was none the less disappointed, and even made anxious, by the sudden modification of the plan you had when I left you. You ought to have had this letter to read before you went away, whereas it could only have been delivered through the post at your house two hours after your departure. The various chances of mishap that its prolonged sojourn Avith your porter might occasion until your return, have made me so anxious that I can only be fully reassured in the matter on receiving the special assurance from you that this letter has reached you at last without any accident. Letter 64. From CtOTlLDE BE Vaux Saturday morning, 4 October, 1845 In order to complete my week of far iiieiite, I will come and see you to-morrow,* my dear friend. I will bring you the ' heart's gift ' myself, since the post takes upon itself to play the part of a duenna. Moreover, I must now thank you from the depths of my heart for the touching services you have rendered me. Yesterday, I made you a sort of official report on the unfor- tunate scene of Saturday. I had my reasons for speaking to you of it before my mother, because she sharply reproached me with being at the bottom of it. She accuses me, of course without the least foundation, of having been the cause of coldness between my brother and yourself. I should be very glad if you would once more express the sympathy and interest you feel in him, and I assure you that he has not ceased to deserve them. His nature would instinctively draw him towards you, even if he wished to remove himself from your influence, which he is far from being inclined to do. Make all possible allowances for everything and everybody ; it is only my misfortunes that have delivered me from my greatest weaknesses, and I still have many left. I have again read with respect and affection your two kind letters, and I thank you for them. I already owe you much solace of heart, and I am very happy to brighten your life in such a pleasant manner. Let us walk leaning upon one another, my * Image of 5 October, 1845. — Ed. CORRESPONDENCE 99 dear philosopher ; let time guide and fashion us. At certain moments I compare myself to a chrysalis : it seems to me that I am being transformed in the same lugubrious fashion, leaving behind me as miserable a garment. I shall take up again with much pleasure my work upon Wilhcbiiinc : I hope I shall not gi\c offence to anyone in following my own plan of ideas ; perhaps I may be useful. The sorrows of eccentricity seem to me to result much more from education than from nature, and the women of today are generally brought up badly. But I w'ander. Farewell, my very kind friend, continue to love me, and rely upon my love. I clasp your hand affectionately. Cl,OTll,DE DE V. Letter 65. From Clotilde de V.\ux Tuesday, 7 October, 1845 JlY Dear Friend Your kindness and devotion to me f;ive you the fullest right to my confidence ; and if I have not explained to you sooner why I had recourse to your obliging generosity, it was partly to let you have the more merit in it. Now, as to my people and myself, I am very happy to let you into my private affairs, but at the same time I do not wish to run the risk of making you anxious about them. For the last three years my mother's brother has been giving me as a New Year's gift, 800 francs, which serves to cover part of my expenses during the year. Out of this sum my mother allows me 300 francs, she paying my rent, and my board at my brother's. All of them occasionally assist me by little presents, so that materially I am not at all badly off. This year, though I have not been ill, or under treatment, I have had to take great care of myself, and I found myself ruined before the time : and, if I had not considered you as the best of men, I should have asked help from my family instead of coming to you : this is my little history. I should not wish you to think me a spendthrift, nor to make you in any way doubtful of the real goodness of my family. They have all given way to many of my wishes, which must really have been trouble- some to them to carry out. The only thing I can reproacli them with is that they desire to limit my intellectual freedom But I am always coming back to the same moral : everyone has his defects and weaknesses. Do not, however, imagine you are here I OO CORRKSPOXDEXCE included : I feel that you ar.- very superior in many ways, and you are the kind of friend that I have always wished to possess. I hope the difficulties of my position do not make you fancy that I value your affection the less. There are no straits, how- ever dire, which could induce me to attach myself where I should feel out of place : to reckon the cost of relief would be worse than to suffer the evil. My mother only goes to-morrow, and all the others are as pleasant as can be to me. Even a mother's worship is very injurious to a man. Had my brother been less indulgently brought up he might have been a really superior man. "\^'e shall meet on Friday and Saturday, my dearest friend; to-morrow I shall work, one does nothing at all by beginning afresh. I should like to be six months older, to have written two interesting novels, and to be able to say ' I will.' Is not that an ugly expression ? but I shall never say it except to myself. Take good care to keep yourself well : there is a heart that is much interested in your well-being. I offer you my hand Cl- kind which is published during the parliamentary season, I have been sorry not to have been able to squeeze in, and to gain a little money in that paper. If uiy articles are returned, you will see that their principal faults were being rather bold and too frank : bvit that is done, and we will say no more about it. yiy mother went off this morning somewhat smoothed down, but still cold towards me. The discontent with one another, though shut up in our hearts, is, I am sure, as painful to me as to her. It is the first time that the angularities of our sex have met, so that it is our first serious battle. I ha^e taken up my pen again to-day. There is so little strength in my poor head that the least shock gives me a great shaking, and the reaction brings on a fit of the spleen. However, I think I have got o-\er the worst part of my life, and I am very glad that I am atile to leap out of the rut. Jlisfortune is a chal- lenge which ends by fastening on pride, which itself ends by mastering all the other faculties. It is thus that most of the bumps we get only disappear to make room for others, and that most of us are so different at death from what we were at birth. Farewell, till Fridaj', my very dear philosopher ; I am as happy as a child at the prospect of Saturday evening. I shoiild like to have the soul of Rossini without his bodily ailments. Yours affectionately Cl,OTII,DE J04 CORRESPONDENCE Leiiti 68. From AuGUSTE CoiiTE Frida}' morning, lo October, 1845 (7 o'clock) Although you claim, my dearest friend, to have given up graciousness, there could not have been more of it in your refusal. I am, moreover, very much touched by your charming frankness ; for my request had really no other essential purpose than that of discovering on this point how you actually felt about the question, so that I might behave accordingly by dropping hence forth any useless attempts. The permission you grant in its stead, of course, only goes as far as to authorise an already admitted custom between us : yet I acknowledge with tender gratitude the direct consecration j'ou freely allo%v. I can only hope that the permission Clotilde has t;iven for this sweet term of address may soon be completed by her venturing to give simply the name of Auguste to the devoted protector whom she still ceremoniously calls Monsieur Comte ! However, call me as you please : so long as your affection is equal to mine I shall cease to haggle about forms of address. Now that you understand the extent of my wishes in regard to the terms of affection, it is for me quietly to av.'ait the modifications which time may bring in this respect, to the promptings of your own heart, without wanting to hasten them by importunate urgings likely to annoy my beloved. I am glad that you have set to work again on Wilhclmine, though somewhat uneasy on account of the weary head which has resulted from this first return to work. I am always thinking of the words which your mother told nie on Saturday that you had let drop, and I am not quite comforted by the explanation 3'ou gave of them on Sunday. I beg you, my Clotilde, never to hesitate to leave off writing as soon as you feel this tendency to depression, which cannot conduce to good results, especially in your kind of work, where there must be no trace of effort. However important this work may be in order to ensure your rightful personal inde- pendence, you are not at piece-work : so profit wisely \>y this valuable freedom as regards time, never rhyming iiivitd Minciva. I do not think you should make too much of the rather hostile attitude shown by your mother when she left. M'ith the dignified deference towards her which the tact of your excellent disposition will always prompt, the really defective energy of her will and the gentle firmness of your wise resolution will gradually suffice to give you due freedom actually, if not formally. As to your relations with the uncle in Austria, have they never been CORRESPONIiENCE lO; direct ? and might you not, if neco'^sary, dispense witli your mother as an intermediary, without any unpleasant disagree- ment ? I should have replied to your charming letter as soon as I received it j'esterday. if I had not then been taken up with reading the part your brother had brought me on Tuesday of the work on which he is engaged, and on this I was thus able to concentrate four hours of conscientious attention, though I was rather tired after it. Between ourselves, Clotilde, though he has set to work on a question scarcely j'et ripe for it, he has been able to make a new application, of doubtful certainty yet inter- esting, of my general philosophy. Here, as in his mathematical work, he has merged the principal idea by an ill-conceived general view, full of objectionable prolixity, and too often written in a tone of presumption Avhich has a bad effect. When I give him back the manuscript this evening, I shall add a short private note, and if he does not frankly follow the advice contained in it, probably LiUie will never be able to make up his mind to give it serious ■consideration, and no review will dare to publish it. Yet it has a certain amount of real value, so that if vanity does not pret ent him from working it up into a better form, it might be of real use to him, especially in gaining the esteem of one with such great power of appreciation. I need hardly say that it will be well to be discreet with regard to this candid opinion of mine. Good-bye till this evening, dear friend, and again till to- morrow": it is pleasant to see my noble Clotilde become a child again for a short time. Besides, there is no necessity to have Rossini's calculus along with his musical soul. For myself, I feel already an almost childish joy at the pleasure which you will have to-morrow through Your most devoted philosopher A'f COMTE Letter 69. From AuGUSTE COiiTE Tuesday mornin,:;, 14 October, 1845 (7 o'clock) In the name of our friendship, I beg of you, Clotilde, to :stop all work until you have had a serious talk with your doctor about what happened on Saturday. Although, since then, you have felt renewed intellectual activity, this itself may be an * Image of 11 October, 1845. — Ed. I06 CORRESPONDENCE untoward symptom if it is connected with the excitement resulting from the brain shock. In any case, you are certainly increasing^, the evil by giving way to this decepti^-e facility. It is true that there are examples as celebrated as they are authentic whicli show that such shocks may have a good effect morally and physic- ally, but you know that one must not expect such an exceptional result, which mostly happens in very early life. I do not wish to alarm you without reason with regard to an occurrence which may tvirn out to be as trifling as is ordinarily the case, yet you must not for that neglect any reasonable precaution, especially such as medical advice. As the doctor will be coming to-day to see your sister-in-law, there will be no excuse for your not speaking to him then about yourself. If your brother should^ however, not send for him to see his wife, you must not hesitate to go yourself to the doctor, and explain to him carefully the results of the shock, not omitting to mention your painful dreams and yesterday's haemorrhage. How I wish that I could fitly go- in.stead of you ! I am looking forward, my Clotilde, to to-morrow's pleasant weekly visit, supposing you are not unable to go out, nor kept in on Felicie's account. Jly passing fit of depression will make this happiness still more precious than usual. You may have observed yesterday that my new professional arrangements give us henceforth our ■\^'ednesdays perfectly free. If other engagements of the same kind oblige me to give up usually a part of that day, you may rely that the other part (from 12 to 4), in which I receive your pleasant visits, will always remain conse- crated to them. Farewell, my adorable friend, do not forget that my peace depends much on your health. Deign to receive on your beauteous brow a chaste kiss from the lips of your philosopher A'? COMXE Letter 70. Fvom Ci,OTli,DE DE Vaux Tuesday, 14 October, 1845 :My kind friend, do not be anxious about my skull : the effects of the shock are going off, and to-morrow, on my way to you, I shall call at the doctor's. I should like to return to you all the kind interest you take in me. Unfortunately, I am only a mite compared to you, and I must needs be content with CORRESPONDENCE 1 0/ king on. If thought can take the place of action in such a ;e, mine is often at work for you ; but all that I can say is thing more than an affectionate chatter. There was no need this morning to do anything more for licie than give her her breakfast ; the poor girl has had a 'ere initiation into motherhood — fortunately she is strong. Good-bye till to-morrow, my dear friend. Do not trouble urself about the day of my visit, and do not let it interfere with ar arrangements ; I could go to see you just as well at any ler time, so you are quite free. I feel for your business rries from the bottom of my heart. I know what it must it you to have to come down from the realms of thought the mill below. That is the crux of high minds. But if resigna- n is the most reasonable of virtues, especially is it so where ; is facing the impossible. Farewell again, keep well, and do not allow yourself to be Dressed nor to be dominated by that wretched sensitiveness ich does so much harm to the common weal : I might say to ;rything. Yours affectionately Clotilde de V. Letter 71. From Clotilde de Vaux Thursday morning (9.30) 16 October, 1845 ' Dear Friend I feel so thoroughly unfit that I was coming to trj' and recover 'self a little in your company. Just look at the letter which my ither has written to me ! Her anger against me seems to become ntic. I went to rue Pavee to ask for an explanation, for it is there it all this wretched pettiness is brewed. I am thoroughly dis- ited with this way of living. Could I not manage to find ployment while continuing to write ? I could easily write een letters a day ; so that if I could find some secretarial rk it would help me out of the ditch. You said that you only ;in your work again to-morrow. If you felt strong enough as 1 were coming back, to come and have a talk with me, I would y in for you.* My head has been bad all night, so at 6 o'clock ent for my doctor : he told me to try a little arnica before ermining on a slight letting of blood. Yours affectionately Clotilde. * Image of l6 October, 1845. — Ed. I08 CORRESPONDENCE Letter 72. From Cl.OTILDE DE VaUX Saturday evening, 18 October, 1845 Mv Dear Philosopher I would much rather have gone to pass this evening by your fireside than write to you as I now do from mine. I have stayed at home to escape the emotions which lie in wait for me rather than to nurse my head, which my doctor did not find in a suffi- ciently bad state for him to be obliged to bleed me. He assures me that I need not fear any evil results, and he puts down to the shock the very great diificulty I find in any occupation ; if, however, this goes on, I am to put four leeches behind my ear to finish with it. So you, who take such a frank interest in my double life, what do I not owe you, dear friend ? I am very clumsy at expres- sing my gratitude, after the fashion of people who are sufiering, but I do not for that feel any the less. Let me have news of your- self from time to time through the post : your letters always give me pleasure and do me good. I hope that on Monday I shall be able to take up my pen again, never to leave it. The episode I mentioned to you, I shall take for the subject of a story. It is one of the most dramatic that one can adapt to our times. Willulnimc will remain as an instance of the misfortunes coming from mere eccentricity. By making her quite unlike myself, I think I shall do enough to pass the censorship. You once asked me, dear friend, if my mother liuil I am j;^''"V; '^■' take il. What I want alouu; with my jicu is onlv some out-door oxoroiso, and I am alw ays draj^god into houso- UoKl dnulgorv, in the uvornins;' ou my own aoooiint, in tho ovouins for the family ; all this is rather dillioult to uiauas;o loi^olher. W'il- Jiilnihit' onoo out of haml, I shall arvani;o to get my allowauoo, nud to live at last aooordiug to my needs. As loui; as 1 am uol ou the stafV, not much will bo thought of uiy work, so it is n\iisl important for me to make my start as soon as possible. How 1 Ih.nik yon from the bottom of my heart for liaviug helped mo on as yon have done. Thanks to you, I am able to have a tire and to have the warn\ olotlios 1 require, and those are two \ory ivuportaut needs for uie ; the rest is free to each one of the family, and has never failed mc. Now do uol say anythiu.g more about this; words arc only like hitting the air, wo must work ar.d wait. Jf I wore stronger all those Irilles would run ofl' mo like water oft" a duck's back : T can only hojio that sto.uly ro.sohe will give mo, in tiuu^, the sauu- iusousibility. i\h' mother is very anN.io\is about uie, and this saddens mc, but it is so certain that I oould not fultil her changing hopes that I do not try to do .so at all I'arowoU till Monday, dear and kind frioud ; (lorhaps 1 may bo free ,dso on vSaturday. 1 am oNpooliug a groat deal Irom the rest I am taking. .\ud do you .dso try to keep well, and count ou my truest alTcction. Voins atTootiouately Ci.orii.nic V, l.t-l/cr oo. From Mc.vsn'. Com vie Sunday morning, o S.'miihci . i,S45 (,s o'oUick) When I .sent yoslorday to lot Volioio know that there would bene opera last night, 1 had news, my lioavouly frioud, about your do.ir health, and more disagrooablo news than by llio alToolionato letter which you wrote to uio ,inst before reooi\ ing thai which I wrote you in the morning; tliat is wliy Sophie has lioou in- structed, after having carefully enquired about your stale of health, to save you, as much as possible this uuiruiug from all bodily falignc. So have no hesitation in keeping her for this purpose iis long as ycui like. 1 bog you, this time, not to resist as much CORRESrONDEXCE 1^5 as you did before. Should not everything be in conmion between us even now ? Besides, you know that even just for a cliild, I have done without my servant more frequently, and for a longer time, than your present need would require, and without feeling seriously inconvenienced. 'Why should I then be less disposed to do you a service, or why should you hesitate about accepting it ? With all my anxiety, I am ■;hid to know that you have begun to pay serious attention to your health, and that you have at last decided to take a rest. I hope that you have begun to take it in good time, and that 3-ou will have the prudence to keep on with it as long as is necessary. Your view of the kind of life suited to your health seems to me very judicious. It makes me less uneasy about the future, proWded that you will persevere firmly in conforming your way of living to it. Intellectual work, some open air exercise every day, with no other phj^sical exertion : that is the life that will suit you when once the present crisis is over. You might, it seems to me, henceforth avoid the purely personal part of your household work. If -we lived a little nearer, Sophie might easily go every morning to save you this trouble, for she reallv has very little to do iu my place, as this kind woman tells me she has herself pointed out to you. However, I'V an inexpensive arrangement with your portt r's wife, this could be easily managed, as soon as you like. As to the tiring work at your home, it seems to me that it would be sufficient for you to put forward properly to your family its risk to your health for you to be freed from it, especially if the family doctor were to speak out on the subject. ^^'hile I urge the immediate expediency of doing this, I do not lose sight of the wisdom, I might say the urRcnt need, of the judicious plan of life which you trace out, and it seems to me as desirable as it is possible that this should be put in force soon. Indeed it is necessary that you should at last be entirely yourself, as much on account of your health as of your happiness. Your family could not reasonably make any objection to so rightful a change, when it has seen you suffer so many misfortunes not less strange tlian undeserved. I quite understand the great help you will get from your present work by enabling you to take this decisive step ; from this point of view it is very important for you to finish it as soon as the care of your health will allow. But allow me, noble and tender Clotilde, to make a slight improve- ment in your wise plan, b}' making it independent of this condition, 1 38 CORRESPONDENCE -win my uncle over to my side as soon as I shall have a clear title to do so. Before this I can neither have recourse to him nor tell my father his kindnesses, because my mother imposed secrecy upon me. As for accepting the immense services that you wish to render me, my dear philosopher, this is in my eyes a thing still more impossible. If I had the happiness to return the love with which I have inspired you, I could at the most consent to your devoting to me a part of your time and of your tastes. I have too few claims to your devotion to put it to the proof in any other manner than I have done up to the present time. You may look upon yourself as sufficiently invested with the part of my protector by the noble kindnesses you have shown me ; and I look upon myself, for my own part, as so much surrounded by your honourable and holy protection that I shall regard you with the simplicity and confidence of a child. I wish only, at the same time, to render to my own people the justice that is their due. It is six years since they began to accustom themselves to my mis- fortune, and to all the inconveniences of my ill-health. Our doctor, like the kindly-disposed man he is, has given all the injunc- tions necessary for my treatment. They have been on the point of dismissing him three or four times for his frankness : but I feel the effects of it nevertheless, and truly they take as much care of mc as possible, but it requires only a very little thing to tire me very much. In my own place I do my little duties as much for pleasure as through habit, and when the end of the day comes I have always used up a great deal too much strength in proportion to what I have left. I am going to employ my porter's wife regularly, and reserve myself for my pen and a little walking. If then you can really, and without giving yourself any additional trouble, give me your help without letting it be knowfi, I promise to ask for anything I require to get over the difficulty. How many women, with no less claim than myself, have not the means that I have, my dear friend ! And above all, how many there are who must be in need of a real support or n generous friend such as I have found ! You gain in return the pleasant thought that you have revived a fainting soul, and poured balm into a wounded heart ! Would that I could in return do you the good that you have done me ! CORRESPONDENCE 1 39 We Will talk over my plans : write to me between now and Wednesday. I am going to ask from you the means of supplying my unexpected needs. Porgetfulness has a good deal to do with this sort of negligence. Although I have had this year all that I am supposed to want, there have been some expensive necessities -which were not taken into account. They even dispute my quality of orderliness, which is one of my strong points. '\\'hen I have worn a dress two years, they are surprised at my mending it. I only tell you this for the sake of vindicating myself in 3'our eyes, my dear philosopher. I shall be, besides, ^cry fine in L,eon's ■dress this winter ; but I have had to get everything except what is on the outside. If you can lend me 100 francs more, to pay for all this, you will be above the level of Providence for me. Good-bye, my dear friend, until to-morrow evening. I have treated my heart with outward applications of digitalis ; this has •diminished the palpitation ; but I have no more strength in my legs than a shadow. I shall go and see the doctor if this does not improve ; he says, however, that drugs can do but very little for me, and I think he is right. Yours with all my heart Clotude de \'Arx Letler 92. From AuGUSTE CoMTE Monday morning, 10 November, 1845 (10 o'clock) A second reading of the precious letter I have just received has made me feel the need of replying to it at once, and I hope to have enough time before I go to my work, leaving for development at our pleasant meeting the day after lo-morrow what I can only slightly refer to this morning. I must first thank you again for the touching confidence which your holy affection has granted me. This already con- stitutes the principal reward of my love, even in the case of its never attaining the priceless reciprocity for which I can never cease ardently to long, ^\■hile always respecting the noble delicacy which, in the present state of your heart, forbids your acceptance of my spontaneous devotion to its fullest extent, I rejoice to see you at least consenting to-day with cordial frankness to the addi- tional assistance that I proposed to you as the only one for your I40 CORRESPONDENCE immediate acceptance. You may then rely upon the pleasure I shall have in handing to you on Wednesday that for which you have been so good as to ask me ; my temporary difficulties will never, and do not even now, deprive me of this friendly co-operation. As to your personal plans, they demand much preliminary consideration. That of joining your father requires especially to be carefully weighed : it is the best immediate solution, always- presupposing the indispensable conditions which you so wisely point out to me ; but it has the serious drawback of unduly com- promising the future. I very much approve your proposal of establishing direct relations with your worthy uncle, and I agree that your present work will furnish you the best occasion for effecting this. Nevertheless, I cannot help regretting that you have so far promised your mother to hide this honourable protection from your father ; as you are pledged to silence you must doubtless keep it ; but I fear that it has been prescribed CO you with the purpose, although perhaps unconsciously, of subjecting you more completely to maternal despotism. I am much pleased to hear that you are at last willing to- devote serious and continued care to your precious health. Your doctor has reinstated himself in my opinion, first by his courageous frankness with your parents as regards yourself, anfl then by his conscientious declaration of the radical powerlessness of pharmacy in your case ; give your attention, then, specially to your way of life, under all its numerous aspects ; here lies your great resource, and one that I venture to guarantee will be found sufficient in itself, if it is properly persevered in. One of the most important prescriptions to be at once put in execution consists in handing over your daily duties to your porter's wife ; I am delighted to find that you have so soon accepted my sviggestions on this head. When your family become aware of this new arrangement, they will feel, I have no doubt, as an indispensable part of such a. precaution, the evident necessity of sparing you from bodily exertions during the hours you spend with them. Your affectionate acknowledgment, my dear and noble friend, of the fortunate efficacy of my attachment in already stimu- lating your soul to renewed activity, involves me in a deep debt jf gratitude to you. If yovir holy friendship can some day be at last transformed into a real love, what happiness will ever have been equal to mine ! Resting on such a preliminary foundation, this COEEESPONDEKCE I4I inefiable happiness would be assured a continuance equal to its energy. FareAvell, my incomparable Clotilde ; to-night I shall have the satisfaction of tenderly clasping your hand, and on ^\'cdnesday the special happiness of freely talking over all your plans. My only and eternal love is yours. A*f COMTE Letter 93. Fiom Ci OOKKh•Sl^■>NlM^■^■^.•K Wo sli.ill n\ool on l"vi>l,iy i-xoniiij;, my >U\>r ]^hil>>s,^plu■^■, 1 hope that ihoy will still bo in mi ;imiiiMo liuinour, iii\d tlv;\t yon \Yill proiu by it. This is nothing Init ;i Wodnosil.iy l;oo>I iiijjht ; I solid it you with toiuloruoss, Voiivs ^ilTootion.itolv Oi.ovn.tn; t>ii V.vtx Jfttct o;. /~i.'»H Aioisrii CoMTi; riuiisd.sv uioruint;, i_; \\h\iiiI\-i, iS.|5 (" o'olook) 1 iim soiuliiii; Sophio this inonuivj;, my bolovoil, to hrim; nows vif tho prooioiis ho.illli iibont whioli 1 lhi\o boon much illtiniicd by yostoiil.iy's ;iltaok. Abis ! I shall not oc;\so for a loiij; linio to soe you ill tho painful attitiulo in whioh yon usiod upon my little sol'ii. In spito of yoni \\i.-.lios, 1 oni;lU iiuKod to ha\o aooompatiioil yon :is far as tho ooii\o\anoo. Von fool, 1 llol^o, my OUniUlo, how muoli 1 appiooiato your tonohiiis; thanks (or my \oiy small soivioos. 1 spooiallv loji'ioo that yon havo boon ablo to i;iaiit nio in _i;oiioi';>l mattovs tho nohlo right of sooiiriui; yon a satisfaolory pvisiti>in, ami oonlributiiii; at llio saiuo liino to tho impiov^Mnout of \our luiml. Witlu^nl this powor it! rosorvo, my fiioiully protoolion oouUl bo uolhiilg but an hoiuMirablo sinooiiro. Von lia\o irroxooalily oslab lishoil this ploasant funolion l\n' tno, bv niakiui; it hoiioo- forward iuiilopoiulont ot' your inability to rotnvn my alToo tioii, as woU as of tho kiml fato whioli pUioos my hoart at your disposal, thir saorod boiul is thon in boiiig, and this, 1 o.in assmv you, w.is ill my ovos tho main point. In llio midst of tliosodolightfuloinolions, howovor, 1 fool il my duty frankly to aoknow lodgo that yostorda\'s mooliug* ui.ido nio almost oorlain that your lioait would iiovor nllain to nioro than nioroly triondly toolings tow.uds nio. So .sad a oon\ioli.ni would vory in noli impair llio iuolTablo liappiiioss of w hioh 1 ha\o droanit, bnl would not onliroly provont its [larlkil fnllilmont, l.ot nio hope that ovoil in this oaso our union would not sootll ipiifo inipossiblo to you, if yon should lind in mo all llio othor ipialitios iiooossary for your liappino.ss, as 1 l>olio\o lo havo foniul in you all llio.so whioh would assuro niiuo. It istruolhat lovo has always soouiod to mo lo bo a prolimiiiary sfill moro uooo.ssary in your sox than miuo. Hut •• ImilKi'Ol' IJ ,y.H',i)i.'M, iS.|5, — (■',;. CORRESPONDENCE 1 47 your nature is so superior that it deserves to be made au exception to this general rule. I shovild not hesitate then to content myself with the pure friendship which you have alread)' given me, and with the assurance only tliat with regard to anything more your heart would at least remain completely free. By thus pledging my life to you, I should not be afraid that I was com- mitting any real imprudence. It would not be, fortunately, the first example of complete domestic happiness in the absence of perfect reciprocity of affection, when there is sufficient sympathy on tire principal points. But would such a prospect be enough to overcome your conscientious objections, and to bring about a well considered assent on your part ? Adieu, dear wife of my heart, accept the chaste embraces of Your philosopher A'? COMTE Sophie is to consult with you about a servant who has been recommended to her for your father. As Sopliie only knows this woman indirectly, you will let her know, after she has told you what she can, what answer she is to give to the proposal. Letter 9S. Fiom AuGUSTE COMTE Thursday afternoon, 13 Xovember, 1S45 (3 o'clock) Se\eral tilings have obliged me to defer the pleasure of reading tlie note Sophie brought me this morning. I am very much touched by the delicate affection which inspired you to take your relations partly into your confidence as to my little friendly services. But, as Sophie has brought me an excellent account of your health to-day, I may make bold to scold you a little for this confidence, which is more noble than prudent, although I am ignorant of the form it took and its real extent, and cannot there- fore finally judge it. If, on the one hand, I see in it the advantage of calling out generous emulation which would be to your profit, I fear on the other lest it should lead to a tendency to easy indifference. This piece of information may probably awaken or stimulate, towards me, the underlying spirit of distrust and suspicion, and even perhaps suggest the idea in some fit of iU- humour of repulsing me by an unfeeling repayment, which how- ever I have quite made up my mind never to accept or to endure. 148 CORRESPONDENCE All 'considered, I cannot help regretting, my tender Clotilde, that you should have betrayed this secret of friendship, although in so noble a spirit, without having first consulted me. Your telling them lessens somewhat, in my eyes, the merit of my friendly assistance ; this sweet secret should never have left our hearts. Would it not seein at first sight that your careful prudence intended giving me fresh assurance for repayment, by creating a kind of collective gratitude in your family, with which, to tell the truth, I feel myself rather annoyed than touched ? Although I know you did it from much less commonplace and more kindly motives, I cannot help considering this confidence as ill-timed and even imprudent ; to begin with, it will, in time, make them imagine, in this matter, much more than the actual facts warrant. However, my Clotilde, you must not con.sider your friend's frank remonstrance as being decisive ; when you have better informed him, his con- clusion will perhaps be very different. As we are at present on expressions of our gratitude, I may tell you that I, on my side, have in store, though for a somewhat distant date, a. pleasure which I shall greatly value, and that will not bring any inconvenience vi-ith it : I will in return pass it on for your friendly criticism. It is concerned with the deep sense of gratitude that for the last six months it has delighted me to owe to her who has so nobly revived my heart and raised in me all generous sentiments. I shall never be quite content until I can explain in a worthy manner to the public I am honoured in addressing, the priceless value of a well directed affection, of which the principal results will be indirectly felt in my great work for Humanity. Now I think I can suitably obtain this exalted gratification by openly dedicating to you, as I have already secretly done, the new great work which I began in my last vacation. Although it cannot be published for four years, I am certain that this unavoidable delay will not diminish, in your opinion, the value of this cordial testimony, and it will besides afford me the secondary advantage of naturally obviating the legitimate rivalry of my various friends or colleagues for such a distinction. You will agree, I hope, my beloved, that in this public expression of my private gratitude there will by that time be none of the dangers that your confidences to your family has. made me fear for the present ; no one will have any idea or even any chance of misrepresenting it. By the time it is accom- plished, I may confidently assure you that you will be so well CORRESPONDENCE I4P known and appreciated that your free acceptance of this homage will even increase the value of this holy friendship in the eyes of everyone. Farewell, my adored Clotilde. The pure love that I feel for you has so penetrated me that I should like to spend my life writing to you, or reading your letters \Yhen I cannot see and speak to you. You will consent, I hope, that your own immortality should be firmly established by the help of that of Your affectionate philosopher A*5 COMTE Letter 99. From Clotilde de \'.\ux Thursday evening, 13 November, 1S45 My Dear Philosopher I am very sorry for having told my family, since this has dis- pleased you. I can, however, answer for its having no undesirable result, and that I had no ulterior purpose in doing so, but only yielded to an impulse of affection that I was glad to have a chance of showing to those about me. It was about the rest that I require : I said that you had been kind enough to send Sophie to me for several days in succession, and that at last, yesterday, you had offered me your purse quite in a fatherly way, until I should have a supply of my own, and that you had let me have 100 francs so that I might take care of my health in several small ways while I am finishing Wilhelmine. In intimate and friendly intercourse it is quite simple to act in this way, and my information in no way changed the present disposition of affairs. What I can see most clearly in your regret, my dear friend, is a scrupulous modesty and delicacy, and this does not seem to me well founded. I find that, in my family's opinion, your goodness, propriety, and openness, are quite as they should be : I can see it in no other light. As to my having wanted to give you a guarantee, I know you to be too much above such things to have thought of it. They, too, would only think of paying my debts to you if I died. You see, you are not in danger of present repayment. 1 5 O CORRESPONDENCE I hope then that you will pardon me my rashness, dear friend, and I tenderly thank yovi for this in advance. Yours affectionately Cloxude V. Letter lOO. From AUGUSTE COMTE Sunday morning, i6 November, 1S45 (10 o'clock) The depressing indisposition in ^Yhich I left you on Friday made me yesterday pass a wretched day in regretting your suffer- ings and diiBcnlties — you, whose misfortunes even are a matter of dispute. In spite of the evening's better news, my night felt the sad effects of this distressing agitation. Such fluctuations, only too frequent, in the state of your dear health make me resolved this morning to inform myself, through Sophie, whether the improvement continues. I hope, my dear Clotilde, that my heartfelt anxiety will never be troublesome to you. The need of such attentions makes me specially regret the extreme imperfection of our existing relations, which forces me to an undue repression of my purest desires and most reasonable anxieties, ^^'hen, my dear friend, will the time come when, in fulfilment of your delightful promise of Tuesdaj' morning, I can ' count on the best place in yoKr chimney-corner,' and freely come to divert all your anxieties by a friendly talk or an inter- esting reading ? I come to feel more and more that your just claim for personal freedom is no less desirable and urgent for you than it is for me. As it is, there is but one day in the week which offers true satisfaction to my feelings. Our two other weekly meetings, besides being so incomplete and so constrained, are at the mercy of very capricious natures which the slightest difference of opinion, and even the inevitable clashing arising from blind scientific presumption, may at any moment turn against us. Our connection has, it is true, fortunately become independent for the future of any relations between your brother and myself, yet the nature of these relations may greatly influence our regulation evening meetings, which, unsatisfactory though they be, I shall always highly prize so long as your own situation is not placed on a CORRESPONDENCE I 5 I more comfortable basis. Besides, I intend to-day, with heartfelt anxiety, to begin the deliberate examination which I promised of your brother's book. I cannot but fear, in spite of the wise pre- cautions of kindly silence, or affectionate sincerity, that the con- sequence of the remarks I must unavoidably make in my judg- ment of the work may result in a chilling attitude, which would fatally mar my visits to your family. After having better thought over what you recently con- fided to me of your family affairs, I am sorrj' to have been first led to express my own opinion in a case where I now see that I have for a moment, as it were, usurped the rights that I specially conferred upon j-ou. Having freely trusted to you the supreme direction of our entire mutual relationship, I should have felt that this general attribute naturally carried with it the functions of being sole judge how and in what respects our sym- pathetic friendship should be suffered to appear — especially when at home with your family. I should then, whatever was my own opinion on the matter, have, as heretofore, respected your initiative, which is always founded, not only upon the constant purity of the motives which inspire you, but also upon your more accurate appreciation of what is proper in the existing state of affairs. Forgive me, my dear friend, for this sort of uninten- tional insubordination, which shall not be repeated. However, by skilfully assigning your health and work as constituting the chief cause for the assistance you acknowledged, you Avill, I hope, have helped to make the one better taken care of, and the other better respected. And now that this straightforward explanation has so far been well received, there will perhaps be an implied recognition that I need not henceforth hide so carefully from your people my deep concern for my only friend. The attention paid to this incident has naturally led you to overlook replying to the second part of my letter of Thursday evening — and indeed there was less immediate need for reply. But you should specially bear in mind that through the crossing of our letters, my preceding letter (Xo. 97*) still remains unanswered, although its main purport had reference to my deepest feelings which I had previously, though less openly, stated in my letter of the previous Saturday (No. 88*), which for a similar reason met with the like silence. Be this silence accidental or of purpose, it equally affects my most anxious cares, since it leads me to fear * The Nos. of these letters are wrongly given in the French. — Ed. 152 CORRESPONDENCE either that your feelings are too little affected by them, or rather that you feel yourself powerless to abate them. Although you are, in every respect, superior to Mademoiselle de I'Espinasse, who yet even from a moral point of view had a high value, I cannot abstain from comparing myself often to the unfortunate d'Alembert, like me in inequality of age. Well known instances in the opposite direction do not help to reassure me, because I do not feel myself possessed of the qualities which have specially determined most of the rare exceptions to a law only too conformable to our nature. I beg you then to repair, with regard to so important an explana- tion, omissions which appear to me involuntary. Farewell, my noble and worthy friend, you whom I cherish more and more, you whose divine ascendancy daily becomes more necessary for me. Farewell until to-morrow evening, and, above all, until our precious "Wednesday, which I hope will in no way suffer from the effects of a happy evening on Tuesday. To you my love and my life. A^f COMTE Felicie's rather strange manner on Fridaj' of accepting my invitation for the opera has fortunately set me quite at my ease about her for nearly all the rest of the season. I hope then, that after next Saturday you will have no scruple, when your health does not prevent it, in allowing me generally to make use of my two stalls in accordance with the chief object of my taking them. Letter loi. From Clotude dE Vatjx Monday morning, 17 November, 1845 Mv Dear Philosopher I thought I had replied, in my letter of last Sunday, to the tionghts you have since expressed to me : this is the reason why I have only spoken of myself in the course of the week. I have hardly any strength for thinking at present : allow me then to postpone to a later time the consideration of the great question you bring before me. I thank you for all the good and tender things you say to me — it all finds an echo in my heart, CORRESPONDENCE I 5 3 which would be glad to be able to return you the good j'ou have done it. Farewell until this evening, to-morrow, and Wednesday ; keep as well as I wish you ^Yith all my heart. Clotilde V. Letter 102. From AuGUSTE COMTE Tuesday morning, 18 November, 1845 (11 o'clock) As I was sending Sophie to-day for information about your precious health, I did not wish to write to you lest I should oblige you to make an effort to reply, which would be harmful to you. But the recollection of my little fit of impatience yesterday, when I accused you of being too ceremonious, prevents my waiting until to-morrow to beg a special pardon for this unintentional offence. I began blaming myself severely for it almost directly it was committed ; your ill-health ought, in the first place, to have made me restrain myself, even if there had been more cause in it. By thus expiating this passing fault, I hope I shall not cause you to break a Silence required by the state of your health. E^ven give up our friendly meeting of to-morrow if coming out seems to you at all imprudent ; if, however, you feel sufficiently well for it, the change might perhaps do you good. Farewell my noble and unfortunate Clotilde ; I deeply share in all your troubles, physical or moral, and I bitterly regret that our mutual position renders me still so powerless to assuage them. May I at least never unknowingly aggravate them ! My life is yours. A'f CoMTE Letter 103. From Ci,oTii,r)E de Vaux Tuesday morning, 18 November, 1845 My Very Dear Friend Rely upon me for to-morrow ; I will come to your house in the oamibus ; I think it will do me a great deal more good than harm. 154 CORRESPONDENCE Forgive me for the shortness of my note yesterday ; forgive me for: my ill-humour if ever you perceive any ; and depend, in spite of everything, upon my tender and sincere attachment, for it is too well founded ever to diminish. Our family evenings at home are becoming so uncomfortable because of various feminine susceptibili- ties, that I am going to propose your coming to see me on Saturdays (or Fridays if that suits you better), and that you should tell them that you will only come to the rue Pavee on Mondays. You might give your work as an excuse : they can have nothing to say against that. You will choose the time of day that suits you best and let me knoAV it. If it can be Saturday, that will suit me as it will leave me two free days for my pen (Wednesday till Saturday). I am not suffering at all just now, except from the state of affairs in my family, which is only too evident. They are angry with me that I will not decide to accept what under a show of affection is the result of a quite opposite feeling ; and my mother makes herself ill with contriving schemes against my freedom. You see, my dear friend, how, in the midst of all this, I must cling the more to the support you afford me. Why can I not be sure of making you happy by a more intimate connection ! I would not hesitate to form it, but attachment, in a heart where passion is absent, is not a very strong feeling, from one point of view, while from another it has all the tenderness of sympathy. I am a little better this morning ; indeed, my greatest enemies are still the nerves. Whenever I can manage to get rid of any outside pressure which tells upon them, I at once feel the beneficial result. I hope that nothing will again intervene to hinder your plan for next Tuesday.* Accept, my kind friend, the- expression of my lasting attachment. I embrace you affectionately Cl,OTll,DE v.. Letter 104. From AuGUSTE CoMTE Thursday morning, 20 November, 1845 (8 o'clock)' I was able yesterday evening, my very dear friend, to mention your case to Dr. Pinel-Grandchamp (15 rue Saint Hyacinths,. * Image of 25 November, 1845. — Ed. CORRESPONDENCE 155 near the place Saint Michel). Though I found him busy going to a confinement, I believe that I have duly prepared him for yoiir visit ; besides, I intend to refresh his memory by a special little note. So you can go there, any day from to-day, Thurs- day, at his usual hour for seeing patients (from 2 to 3 o'clock). If you go there to-day, and should the neighbourhood, either before or afterwards, inspire you with a charitable wish, I should as usual be at home, independently of this chance of a visit. The enchanting thought of the supreme happiness which you are good enough almost to place at my disposal so agitates and overwhelms me that I feel myself still powerless to thank you suiEciently for the gracious tenderness which at once puts an end to my most painful doubts. Henceforward I shall sympathise with the lot of poor d'Alembert without its frightening me. I shall be happier than he, although I have not better deserved it except by my affection having been better placed. Further, my Clotilde, be assured that I shall never abuse your generous concession ; it will not prevent my entrusting to you as heretofore the entire direction of everything between us. You certainly know the immense value which I attach to our complete union, but, without hoping that it can ever be equally precious to you, I ought to know how to wait, with scrupulous fidelity, for your considering it as opportune for j'onrself. To whatever period my respect may compel me to carry on my sacrifices, could I ask for a happiness which should not be entirely mutual ? My tacit resignation will therefore allow your exquisite delicacy, stimulated by sincere affection, entirely to direct the much desired realisa- tion of this incomparable pledge, whilst I even now consider the free assent you have given as constituting an irrevocable engage- ment between us. You have, besides, rendered far sweeter this preliminary con- dition by the spontaneous emanation of your kindly thought in the fortunate proposal you have just made. By the transformation henceforth without special request, of one half of our regulation interviews into as many private conversations, you have rewarded, my well-beloved, even more than it deserves, the loyal reserve I have promised you. My well-placed confidence in the in- stinctive sagacity of your gentle guidance is by this proceeding naturally confirmed. Whatever momentary impatience the in- completeness of our situation might sometimes arouse in me, I should always end by soon recognising not only the general 156 CORRESPOADENCE superiority of your feminine tact, but the special advantage that a more complete appreciation of the whole of a position so delicate as ours must afford you. Farewell, my noble and tender fiancee — my heart is too full of its new happiness to allow me to-day sufficiently to express its, deep sense of gratitude. That can only show itself worthily by the entire and constant devotion of , Your happy philosopher A*? COMTE When she carries you this greeting, I hope Sophie will bring me back better news of the actual state of your health. Letter 105. From ClotildE de Vaux Friday morning, 21 November, 1845 My brother told me yesterday, my dear friend, that you had been unwell. I am hoping that this has passed off and that we shall m.eet this evening as usual. I thank you for the introduction to Monsieur Grandchamp : I was very much pleased with him, and I hope he will do something for me. Our consultation lasted a full hour ; he showed both skill and feeling, and I have already taken, with some trepidation two doses of a very powerful medicine which has proved of service to me. I am to go on taking it three times a day for a week, after which I am to see him again. He has also given me an embrocation for my back, which does not seem to me to suit my nerves ; it is an ointment of ammonia, and its effect should be to produce an irritation on the skin to relieve the heart and lungs. If I find the irritation excessive I shall keep to the mixture only. Heaven grant that I may get well again ! I have enough with my mental troubles. If the two would start off together, I would wish them a good journey with all my heart. CORRESPONDENCE 1 57 Farewell, my dear philosopher — pray to your gods for the invalid, and reckon in return on her true affection. Cl,OTll