The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 1 (of 6) / Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 1

Le Vicomte de Chateaubriand

PART THE FIRST
1768-1800
Birth of my brothers and sisters—My own birth—Plancoët—I am vowed—Combourg—My father's scheme of education for me—Villeneuve—Lucile—Mesdemoiselles Couppart—I am a bad pupil—The life led by my maternal grandmother and her sister at Plancoët—My uncle, the Comte de Bedée, at Monchoix—I am relieved from my nurse's vow—Holidays—Saint-Malo—Gesril—Hervine Magon—Fight with two ship's lads
A note from M. Pasquier—Dieppe—Change in my education—Spring in Brittany—An historic forest—Pelagian fields—The moon setting over the sea—Departure for Combourg—Description of the castle—Dol College—Mathematics and languages—An instance of memory—Holidays at Combourg—Life at a country-seat—Feudal customs—The inhabitants of Combourg—Second holidays at Combourg—The Conti Regiment—Camp at Saint-Malo—An abbey—A provincial theatre—Marriage of my two eldest sisters—Return to college—A revolution begins to take place in my ideas—Adventure of the magpie—Third holidays at Combourg—The quack—Return to college—Invasion of France—Games—The Abbé de Chateaubriand—My First Communion—I leave Dol College—A mission at Combourg—Rennes College—I meet Gesril—Moreau-Limoëlan—Marriage of my third sister—I am sent to Brest for my naval examination—The harbour of Brest—I once more meet Gesril—Lapeyrouse—I return to Combourg
At Montboissier—Reminiscences of Combourg—Dinan College—Broussais—I return home—Life at Combourg—Our days and evenings—My donjon—Change from childhood to manhood—Lucile—Last lines written at the Vallée-aux-Loups—Revelations concerning the mystery of my life—A phantom of love—Two years of delirium—Occupations and illusions—My autumn joys—Incantation—Temptation—Illness—I fear and decline to enter the ecclesiastical state—A moment in my native town—Recollection of Villeneuve and the tribulations of my childhood—I am called back to Combourg—Last interview with my father—I enter the service—I bid farewell to Combourg