49 BRONTË (Charlotte, 1816-1855, novelist). -Two rough holograph drafts, with numerous corrections and repetitions, of an ode to Napoleon I. Partly in ink and partly in pencil. 2 pages 8°. [1842.]

This most interesting paper appears to belong to the time when the novelist was at Brussels: it seems to have been torn from a larger piece on which a French composition had been written, as along the side is the note, Je n'ai pas achevé parceque je craignais de faire le devoir trop long."

There are many wide variations in the drafts of the different lines, the authoress having tried first one way and then another. The following appears to be the final form of the first two stanzas :

"Thy France, O straight-haired Corsican,
How bold and bright was she,
When the broad sun of Messidor
Woke her full liberty.

"She was a young rebellious steed
That rein or bridle spurned,
Foaled of a wild and fiery breed,
Her veins with lava burned."

One corner defective.

£8/10/

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