PARIS, _Sunday night_, _March 12, 1860_.
... I find your Paris atmosphere extremely heavy, and I have a continual
headache. I have as yet seen no one, and dare not go out at night. It
seems to me extraordinary to make calls at ten o’clock at night.
No word about the book of my friend, M. de Gobineau; certainly it must
hang heavy on your conscience. Suggest a novel for me to read; I am in
deep need of one. While in Cannes I read a novel by Bulwer, _What will
He do with It?_ which seemed to me senile to the last degree. At the
same time, it contains several pretty situations and an excellent
sermon. As for the hero and heroine, they surpass in silliness all that
is permissible by custom.
A book which has amused me uncommonly is the work of M. de Bunsen on the
origin of Christianity, and about everything else in the universe, to
speak more exactly. It is called, however, _Christianity and Mankind_,
and is only seven volumes of from seven to eight hundred pages each. M.
de Bunsen calls himself an orthodox Christian; but at the same time he
treats the Old and New Testaments with contempt....
I learned yesterday, that at one of the most recent masked balls a woman
had the courage to appear in a costume of 1806 without any crinoline,
and produced a tremendous sensation.