to show the relations which exist between
political institutions and literature. Thus, she was the first
to bring the message of a general cosmopolitan relationship of
literatures and literary ideas.

In 1802 she returned to Paris and began to show, on every possible
occasion, a morbid hatred for Napoleon. When her father published his
work _Dernieres Vues de Politique et de Finance_, expressing a desire
to write against the tyranny of one, after having fought so long that
of the multitude, the emperor immediately accused Mme. de Stael of
instilling these ideas into her father. Her salon and forty of her
friends were put into the interdict.

After the death of her husband in 1802, she was free to marry Benjamin
Constant; and after refusing him, she wrote her novel _Delphine_ to
give vent to her feelings. The two famous lines found in almost every
work on Mme. de Stael may be quoted here, as they well express her
ideas on marriage: "A man must know how to brave an opinion, and a
woman must submit to it." This qualification Benjamin Constant lacked,
and at that time she was unable to give the submission.

Her travels in Germany, Russia, and Italy were one great succession of
triumphs; by her brilliancy, her wonderful gift of conversation, and
her quickness of comprehension, she everywhere baffled and astounded
those with whom she conversed. Schiller declared that when she left
he felt as though he were just convalescing after a long spell of
illness. One day she abruptly asked the staid old philosopher Fichte:
"M. Fichte, can you give me, in a short time, an _apercu_ of your
system of philosophy, and tell me what you mean by your ego? I find it
very obscure." He began by translating his thoughts into French, very
deliberately. After talking for some ten minutes, in the midst of a
deep argument she interrupted him, crying out: "Enough, M. Fichte,
quite enough! I understand you perfectly; I have seen your system
in illustration--it is an adventure of Baron Muenchhausen." The
philosopher assumed a tragic attitude, and a spell of silence fell
upon the audience.

The result of her visit to Italy was her novel _Corinne_, in which the
problems of the destiny of women of genius--the relative joys of love
and glory--are discussed. This work remained for a whole generation
the standard of love and ideals, and at the same time revealed Italy
to the French, After a second visit to Germany, she began to labor
seriously on her wo