The elder Goulard is my little Lambert, it seems to me that he is
quite literary in that way.
VII. TO GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
Palaiseau, Wednesday, 16 May, 1866
Well, my dear friend, since you are going away, and as in a
fortnight, I am going to Berry for two or three months, do try to
find time to come tomorrow Thursday. You will dine with dear and
interesting Marguerite Thuillier who is also going away.
Do come to see my hermitage and Sylvester's. By leaving Paris, gare
de Sceaux, at I o'clock, you will be at my house at 2 o'clock, or by
leaving at 5, you will be there at 6, and in the evening you could
leave with my strolling players at 9 or 10. Bring the copy.
[Footnote: This refers to Monsieur Sylveitre, which had just
appeared.] Put in it all the criticisms which occur to you. That
will be very good for me. People ought to do that for each other as
Balzac and I used to do. That doesn't make one person alter the
other; quite the contrary, for in general, one gets more determined
in one's moi, one completes it, explains it better, entirely
develops it, and that is why friendship is good, even in literature,
where the first condition of any worth is to be one's self.
If you can not come--I shall have a thousand regrets, but then I am
depending upon you Monday before dinner. Au revoir and thank you for
the fraternal permission of dedication.