of marriage to a woman whose reputation might be judged scandalous in the social circles
in which they would wish to move gave him pause. Extraordinarily—given his genuine
feelings for Charlotte—he once again seriously considered taking his father’s advice and
marrying his cousin Antoinette de Loys instead.^9 Matters were taken out of his hands at
this point by the reckless actions of Germaine who defied Napoleon by breaking the
terms of her exile and spending 20–2 April in Paris: her punishment was an enforcement
of the order of banishment to no less than 40 leagues (160 kilometres) from the capital.^10
The character of such an imprudent dreamer as Germaine with her conspicuous lack of
common sense could hardly have presented a sharper contrast with the steady level-
headed Charlotte, a woman who would, he thought, make an undomineering helpmate for
him. Constant accompanied Madame de Staël along the road to Lyon as far as Mongeron,
on 25 April, then returned to Paris. He showed loyalty to her by publishing a fine review
article on Corinne in three issues of Le Publiciste, on 12, 14 and 16 May, a fortnight after
it had been published.^11 Attacks on the novel had come from reactionary quarters which
Constant lambasted for, in accordance with corrupt contemporary taste, preferring
sentimentality to naturalness in art, and for expecting literature unrealistically to show
virtue being rewarded with happiness. Nevertheless Constant was very relieved to have
some peace now the fretful Germaine had gone, and felt sorry for Albertine, tied to the
tail of such a comet.
Good news came on 6 May 1807 when Du Tertre consented to a divorce, saying that
as a Catholic he was uneasy in his conscience about the status of a marriage which he
now wished to have declared null and void by the Church.^12 Constant continued to feel
protective towards Charlotte, despite his occasionally offhand and aggressive manner:
that was a normal alternation for him, and deeply rooted in his personality. In fact that
unusual personality greatly puzzled even his friend Fauriel when on 28 May 1807
Constant read to him from his autobiographical novel: perhaps the reading was prompted
by his seeing a similarly indecisive character with ambivalent feelings towards women
the previous evening—Hamlet, in a superb performance by the actor Talma.^13 In June
Charlotte and Constant left Paris for different destinations, she for Germany to seek a
divorce from Du Tertre (who on 5 June 1807 had signed an authority to Heinrich
Christoph Samuel Niemeier, a lawyer in Brunswick, empowering him to seek to bring
about a legal end to his marriage, but on 10 and 11 June had threatened out of pique to
revoke his consent^14 ), he for his father’s house near Dole and thence, inevitably, to
Coppet. Not only Juste but also his relatives in Lausanne continued to reproach him for
prolonging his relationship with Madame de Staël, but were soon to be equally
disapproving of his friendship with a twice-divorced woman. Constant for his part felt
guilt at concealing his marriage plans from them. During stormy scenes at Coppet
Germaine de Staël began threatening suicide by swallowing opium. She forced him once
more to act in one of her own amateur productions, and to play the role of Pyrrhus against
her Hermione in Racine’s tragedy Andromaque. The situation on stage was, of course,
ironically appropriate: Hermione loves Pyrrhus...who loves Andromaque.^15
Throughout August 1807 Constant’s diary continues to reflect his ceaseless hesitation,
self-doubt and back-tracking on earlier decisions, behaviour which at times clearly
borders on the neurotic. In the middle of it all came a curious interlude in Lausanne
where he and Germaine came into contact with a Pietistic or Quietist group led by
Constant’s cousin Charles de Langalerie (1751–1835), who was helped by François
Benjamin constant 198