PARIS, _September 22, 1847_.
The _Revue_ is bothering me to death about _Don Pèdre_. I should like to
know your opinion concerning it. I am torn between avarice and modesty,
and shall be obliged, also, to ask you to read a part of it. The work
seems to me to have the disadvantage of everything that has taken long
and painstaking efforts to accomplish. I have given myself a great deal
of trouble to achieve an accuracy for which nobody will thank me.
You will readily see that since your departure I have had frequent
visits from the blue devils....
The opinion you express of _Don Pèdre_ pleases me very well, because it
harmonizes with my own wishes and with what I consider to my advantage.
There is one point, however, on which my heart fails me, and which has
prevented me from concluding the whole business before I leave. I should
be glad to have your advice, verbally, and I shall then point out a few
little things from which you will be better able to judge.
I have never been more sadly impressed than on my last visit by the
stupidity of the people of the North, as well as by their inferiority to
those of the South. The average Picardian seems to me to be more
unintelligent than the very lowest of the Provençals. In addition, I
should freeze to death in any one of the inns where I am driven by my
sorrowful fate.