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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 effec

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