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I'm reading Le Rouge et le Noir and I've found the next sentence:
Ah! Si j'eusse été ainsi, elle ne m'eût pas préféré Croisenois!
I understand that it can be translated as:
Ah! If I would have been like this she wouldn't have preferred Croisenois over me.
But I would have expressed this as:
Ah! Si j'eusse été ainsi, elle n'eût pas préféré Croisenois à moi!
Would that be correct? In case it is, is the first way of writing it preferable? Why is it so?
Your re-phrasing is absolutely correct. But much less 1830-ish, so to speak.
The first way of writing is just an old-school way of speaking, but your understanding is very good.
