He spoke of her eloquence as possessing an irresistible force and energy which must the more transport her hearers the more they possessed within themselves true intellectual sensibility.  “Corinne,” said he, “is indubitably the most celebrated woman of our country, and nevertheless it is only her friends who can properly delineate her; for we must always have recourse, in some degree, to conjecture, in order to discover the genuine qualities of the soul.  They may be concealed from our knowledge by celebrity as well as obscurity, if some sort of sympathy does not assist us to penetrate them.”  He enlarged upon her talent for extemporisation, which did not resemble any thing of that description known in Italy.  “It is not only to the fecundity of her mind that we ought to attribute it;” said he; “but to the deep emotion which every generous thought excites in her.  She cannot pronounce a word that recalls such thoughts without enthusiasm, that inexhaustible source of sentiments and of ideas animating and inspiring her.”  The Prince Castel-Forte also made his audience sensible of the beauties of a style always pure and harmonious.  “The poetry of Corinne,” added he, “is an intellectual melody which can alone express the charm of the most fugitive and delicate impressions.”

He praised the conversation of his heroine in a manner that easily made it perceived he had experienced its delight.  “Imagination and simplicity, justness and elevation, strength and tenderness, are united,” said he, “in the same person to give incessant variety to all the pleasures of the mind:  we may apply to her, this charming verse of Petrarch: 

     Il parlar che nell’ anima si sente.[4]

and, I believe, in her will be found that grace so much boasted of, that oriental charm which the ancients attributed to Cleopatra.

“The places I have visited with her, the music we have heard together, the pictures she has pointed out to me, the books she has made me comprehend, compose the universe of my imagination.  There is in all these objects a spark of her life; and if I were to exist at a distance from her I would wish at least to be surrounded by those objects, certain as I am of finding nowhere else that trace of fire, that trace of herself in fact, which she has left in them.  Yes,” continued he (and at that moment his eyes fell by chance upon Oswald), “behold Corinne; if you can pass your life with her, if that double existence which it is in her power to give can be assured to you for a long time; but do not behold her if you are condemned to quit her; you will seek in vain as long as you live that creative soul which shares and multiplies your sentiments and your thoughts; you will never behold her like again.”