CCXLIX. TO GEORGE SAND
Monday evening, 3 February, 1873
Dear master,
Do I seem to have forgotten you and not to want to make the journey
to Nohant? Not at all! But, for the last month, every time I go out,
I am seized anew with the grippe which gets worse each time. I cough
abominably, and I ruin innumerable pocket-handkerchiefs! When will
it be over?
I have sworn not to step beyond my doorsill till I am completely
well again, and I am still awaiting the good will of the members of
the commission for the Bouilhet fountain! For nearly two months, I
have not been able to get together in Rouen six citizens of Rouen!
That is the way friends are! Everything is difficult, the least
undertaking demands great efforts.
I am reading chemistry now (which I don't understand a bit), and the
Raspail theory of medicine, not to mention the Potager moderne of
Gressent and the Agriculture of Gasparin. In this connection,
Maurice would be very kind, to compile his agronomical
recollections, so that I may know what mistakes he made and why he
made them.
What sorts of information don't I need, for the book that I am
undertaking? I have come to Paris this winter with the idea of
collecting some; but if my horrible cold continues, my stay here
will be useless! Am I going to become like the canon of Poitiers, of
whom Montaigne speaks, who for thirty years did not leave his room
"because of his melancholic infirmity," but who, however, was very
well "except for a cold which had settled on his stomach." This is
to tell you that I am seeing very few people. Moreover whom could I
see? The war has opened many abysses. I have not been able to get
your article on Badinguet. I am planning to read it at your house.
As regards reading, I have just swallowed ALL the odious Joseph de
Maistre. They have saddled us enough with this gentleman! And the
modern socialists who have praised him beginning with the saint-
simonians and ending with A. Comte. France is drunk with authority,
no matter what they say. Here is a beautiful idea that I find in
Raspail, THE PHYSICIANS OUGHT to be MAGISTRATES, so they could
force, etc.
Your romantic and liberal old dunce embraces you tenderly.
CCL. TO GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
Nohant, 5 February, 1873
I wrote to you yesterday to Croisset, Lina thinking that you had
returned there. I asked you the little favor which you have already
rendered me, namely, to ask your brother to give his patronage to my
friend Despruneaux in his suit which is going to be appealed. My
letter will probably be forwarded to you in Paris, and reach you as
quickly as this one. It is only a question of writing a line to your
brother, if that does not bother you.
Pray, what is this obstinate cough? There is only one remedy, a
minimum dose, a half-centigram of acetate of morphine taken every
evening after digesting your dinner, for a week at least. I do
nothing else and I always get over it, I cure all my family the same
way, it is so easy to do and so quickly done! At the end of two or
three days one feels the good effect. I am awaiting your cure with
impatience, for your sake first, and second for myself, because you
will come and because I am hungry and thirsty to see you.
Maurice is at a loss to know how to answer your question. He has not
made any mistake in his experiments, and knows indeed those that
others make or could make; but he says that they vary infinitely and
that each mistake is a special one for the conditions in which one
works. When you are here and he understands really what you want, he
can answer you for everything that concerns the center of France,
and the general geology of the planet, if there is any opportunity
to generalize. His reasoning has been this: not to make innovations,
but to push to its greatest development what exists, in making use
always of the method established by experience. Experience can never
deceive, it may be incomplete, but never mendacious. With this I
embrace you, I summon you, I await you, I hope for you, but will not
however torment you.
But we love you, that is certain; and we would like to infuse in you
a little of our Berrichon patience about the things in this world
which are not amusing, we know that very well! But why are we in
this world if it is not to learn patience.
Your obstinate troubadour who loves you.