THE MEMOIRS OF ALEXANDER HERZEN
III
NOTE
This translation has been made by arrangement from the sole complete
and copyright edition of _My Past and Thoughts_, that published in the
original Russian at Berlin, 1921.
_MY PAST AND THOUGHTS_
THE MEMOIRS OF
ALEXANDER HERZEN
_THE AUTHORISED TRANSLATION
TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN
BY CONSTANCE GARNETT_
VOLUME III
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
ALFRED A. KNOPF
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
T. & A. CONSTABLE LTD. EDINBURGH
*
ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
FIRST PUBLISHED 1924
PART V
PARIS—ITALY—PARIS
(1847-1852)
As I begin to publish yet another part of _My Past and Thoughts_, I pause
in hesitation at the fragmentariness of my narratives, my pictures, and
the running commentary of my reflections. There is less external unity
about them than about those of the earlier parts. I cannot weld them into
one. In filling in the gaps, it is very easy to give the whole thing a
different background and a different lighting—the truth of the period
would be lost. _My Past and Thoughts_ is not an historical monograph,
but the reflection of historical events on a man who has accidentally
been thrown into contact with them. That is why I have decided to leave
my disconnected chapters as they were, stringing them together like the
mosaic pictures in Italian bracelets—all of which refer to one subject
but are only held together by the setting.
My _Letters from France and Italy_ are essential for completing this
part, especially in regard to the year 1848; I had meant to make extracts
from them, but that would have involved so much reprinting that I did not
attempt it.
Many things that have not appeared in _The Polar Star_ have been put into
this edition, but I cannot give everything to my readers yet, for reasons
both personal and public. The time is not far off when not only the pages
and chapters here omitted, but the whole volume, which is most precious
to me, will be published.
GENEVA, _29th July 1866_.
_SECTION ONE_
BEFORE THE REVOLUTION AND AFTER IT