[review of the novel. Noted but not reproduced by the editor]
Century: 1700-1799 / 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Ellen Weeton Print: Book
"I too am reading Mme de Staal [sic], and am such a Goth, that I catch myself yawning over it! Probably I am not formed to love "les plaisirs [underlined] dissertant [end underlining]." The book is like a long Review, and all about the same set of objects; and I tire for want of connection, and something either to interest my feelings or amuse my imagination. Yet, I have extracted some delightful, and some most wise little passages; and I read, though with fatigue, still with admiration, such a copious series of well-expressed reflections [...] I told my sister d'Arblay to-night, how glad I was that our best English writers, meaning Adison [sic], Swift, Johnson &c, had not written like Mde de Staal; for if they had, as sure as a gun, I should never have loved reading - I should never have opened a book. I have finished vol. I & shall probably read II and III, out of vanity, & just to say I have read them'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Sarah Harriet Burney Print: Book
'Read Madame de Stael sur les Passions. What a wonderful mind is hers! what an insight she has into the recesses of human feeling! How many secret springs does she unlock; and how much the woman - the tender, the kind, the impassioned woman - betrays herself even in all the philosophy of her writings.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Charlotte Bury Print: Book
'Madame de Stael's "Essai sur les fictions" delights me particularly: for every word in it is a beautiful echo of my own feelings'.
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Charlotte Bury Print: Book
'I happened to open Madame de Stael's "Allemagne", and passed the whole night in reading that delightful work over again. The great charm in all her writings is, that they are her own thoughts, set down with all the force of home-felt truth; and any person who has had the gratification of living in intimacy with this celebrated woman, must be aware that in reading her works they are holding conversation, as it were, with herself.'
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: Charlotte Bury Print: Book