MARSEILLES, _November 17, 1860_.
DEAR FRIEND: I have just arrived at Marseilles, and find that a boat for
Algiers leaves in an hour. I shall confide to it the little package for
you. I have only time to say good-morning. My cold is giving me horrible
distress. In a few days I shall be in Cannes, and shall make a visit in
the suburbs. Write to me at Cannes when you have received the little
package.
I am too hurried to tell you any news. The visit of the empress[24] is
giving rise to a great deal of gossip, and no one understands its
significance. The outlook is for peace, which is highly probable, until
we find out which is the stronger, Garibaldi or Cavour.
MARSEILLES, _November 18, 1860_.
Unfortunately, it was too late! The boats are advertised to leave at
four o’clock, and they leave at noon. My small package will leave
without fail next Tuesday, and my letter will leave, probably, by the
same steamer.
And now that this important business is terminated, I resume my
questions. Have you been to see the Moorish baths? What kind of women
did you see there? I imagine their habit of sitting with crossed legs
must give them horrible knees. If you do not approve of their fashions
in dress, I suppose that you will adopt their _kohl_ for the eyes.
Besides being very pretty, its use is also said to be an excellent
preventive of ophthalmia, a disease which is frequent and dangerous for
European eyes in warm climates. I give you, therefore, my authority to
use this article.
I am sorry to hear of the death of poor Lady M----, who was a good woman
notwithstanding her opinions on people and things. Is it a fact that she
has written a book, a volume of travels, or a novel? I do not know
which, but I heard it well spoken of in England.
My Glenquoich friend, Mr. Ellice, is to be my neighbour this winter. He
has just bought for one hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling, an
estate in Scotland adjoining his own, or, rather, it consists of leagues
of lakes, rocks, and heaths. I can not imagine what he expects to gain
by the purchase, except grouse and deer in the hunting season. It seems
to me, if I had three millions to put in land, I should prefer to spend
them in the south rather than the north.
I am bringing with me a new edition of Pushkin’s works, of which I
have promised to write a review. I have begun to read his lyric poems,
and find in them many superb things, quite after my own heart--that
is to say, in their sincerity and simplicity they are modelled after
the Greek. Several of them are deeply passionate, and I should like
to translate them, for in these, as in many others, in precision
and clearness, the work seems to me of a very high order. Something
in the style of Sappho’s ode, Δἑδυχε μἑυ ἁ σελἁνα, reminds me that
I am writing at night, in an inn chamber, and my mind is full of
reminiscences of the good old days. Of all the petty miseries of
the present, the worst for me is insomnia. All my thoughts grow
pessimistic, and I become absolutely disgusted with myself.
Good-bye, dear friend. Try to keep well and to sleep. You have much
finer weather than we, and much more cheerful companions. Do you eat
any bananas in Algiers? To my mind, it is the best fruit in the world,
but I should like to eat it with you. With this thought, dear friend, I
bid you good-night. I shall reach Cannes about the 25th of this month.