The Corsican Brothers

The Corsican Brothers
Alexandre Dumas pre
THE CORSICAN BROTHERS.
CORSICA--PARIS,
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS,
AUTHOR OF "PAULINE,", "CAPT. PAMPHILE," &c.
BY A PUPIL OF MONS. G. J. HUBERT SANDERS, PROFESSOR OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE AND BELLES-LETTRES IN PHILADELPHIA.
PHILADELPHIA : G. B. ZIEBER & CO., 3 LEDGER BUILDING, THIRD AND CHESNUT STS.
1845.
PREFACE.
In presenting this translation to the public, I feel myself constrained to add a few remarks.
The duties of a translator are much more onerous and severe than I had formed an idea of, before commencing this little work.
It is not alone necessary to change the construction and idiom of a language, but in so doing, to avoid altering the sense or losing the spirit of the author's style; this fault in translations, it is generally admitted, is much more frequent than any other, and is one which I have been particularly careful to avoid.
Monsieur Alexandre Dumas is well known to the American public, as one of the most fashionable French novelists of the day.
His style is light, smooth and elegant; his descriptions of scenery and delineations of character, highly poetical and striking, while he is also peculiarly felicitous in witty and sarcastic colloquies.
The story of "The Corsican Brothers" is written in an easy, sketchy style, presenting on the one side an interesting picture of the habits, prejudices and superstitions of the Corsicans, and particularly of the "Vendetta," or war of vengeance, carried on between families and connections, sometimes for several generations; while, on the other, it gives a lively outline of the effects of Parisian life upon a sensitive and unsophisticated nature.
I have now in hand, and will soon present the public with the translation of another work of this agreeable writer; a spirited historical romance, highly interesting, and of much greater length than the present.
It gives me pleasure, also, to take this public opportunity of expressing my sincere thanks to Professor Sanders, for his valuable assistance; and dedicate to his notice, as a testimony of my approbation of his admirable method of instruction, the first literary effort of
THE TRANSLATOR
Philadelphia, December 24, 1844.
THE CORSICAN BROTHERS.



CHAPTER I.
DURING the early part of the month of March, in the year 1841, I traveled in Corsica.
There is nothing more agreeable than a journey through this picturesque country. Embarking at Toulon, you arrive in twenty hours at Ajaccio, or in twenty-four hours at Bastia, where you can either hire a horse for five francs per day, or purchase one for a hundred and fifty francs. Do not smile at the poorness of this price; the animal which you thus hire or buy, like that famous horse of the Gascon, which jumped from the Pont-Neuf into the Seine, does things which neither Prospero nor Nautilus could do, those heroes of the races of Chantilly and the Champ-de-Mars. He will go safely over roads where Balmah himself would have used cramp irons, and over bridges where even Auriol must have required a balance-pole.
As for the traveler, he has only to shut his eyes and let the animal go; the dangers of the road are not his business.
Besides, this horse, who surmounts with ease all the difficulties and impediments of the way, travels on an average fifteen leagues a day, without demanding any thing to eat or drink. From time to time, when you stop, in order to visit an old castle, built by some Seigneur, the hero and chief of a feudal tradition, or to take a sketch of some old tower built by the Genoese, the horse quietly crops the grass near him, or takes the bark from a tree, or perhaps licks some moss from the rocks, with which he is perfectly satisfied.
As for the night's lodging, this is still more simple; the traveler arrives at some village, goes through the whole length of its principal street, selects the most commodious-looking house, and knocks at the door.
In a few minutes after, the master or mistress of the house appears at the threshold, invites the traveler to enter, offers him one half of his supper, and the whole of his bed, if he has but one, and the following day, while conducting him to the door, thanks him for the preference he has shown his house.
There is of course never any question of payment; your host would consider himself insulted by the most distant allusion to this subject. But if there should be a young female servant in the family, you may offer her a silk handkerchief, which mill make her a picturesque head-dress when she goes to the fte of Calvi or Corte.
Should the servant of the house be a male, he will be delighted to accept a stiletto, with which, should an opportunity offer, he might rid himself of an enemy.
It will be well, however, to inquire if the domestics are not poor relations of the master;