NICE, _January 20, 1861_.
I am here on a visit to my friend Mr. Ellice, who is a cruel sufferer
from gout, and whom I have come to cheer. I experienced a feeling of
involuntary satisfaction when I crossed the _Pont du Var_, and found
neither customs officer nor gendarme, nor a demand for passports. This
annexation is a fine thing, and makes one feel several millimetres
taller.
You confuse me terribly with the beautiful things which you describe. It
is evident that I must fall back on you and on your judgment to decide
on the purchases; but I beg you to consider that as these things are for
my personal use, and not for gifts, I shall be much more difficult to
please than usual. I urge you, therefore, to proceed with great
circumspection. _Primo_, you are authorised to purchase a _gebira_ at
any price you care to pay, provided that it has gold not on the outside,
but on the inside, like some of those I have seen.
If you find some pretty silk stuff which may be washed, and does not
look like a woman’s gown, make me a dressing-gown, as long as possible,
and buttoned on the left side in the oriental fashion. Bring these with
you when you return. I have no desire to wear silk gowns while the ice
in the Seine is two feet thick. What they write me from Paris makes my
hair stand on end--ten degrees of cold during the day, and twelve or
fourteen degrees at night. Nevertheless, I am summoned there day after
to-morrow. Do not be frightened if you read in the papers that I am
ill. It would be, however, only the truth, for I have been not at all
well for some time.
If I were to return to Paris at this season I am sure I should be done
for in a few days. I am thinking, however, of going about the middle of
February. Besides my usual alacrity in attending the functions of the
Luxembourg, I have a speech to deliver. A petition is presented for the
revision of M. Libri’s trial, and you may be sure that I can not refrain
from speaking my mind upon this subject which lies so near my heart.
I have had at Cannes--I might say I am still having--a visit from M.
Fould, for I shall find him still there on my return day after
to-morrow. He told me many curious things of the men and women who were
interested in his affair. I found him much more philosophical than I
expected. I doubt, however, if he has the courage to sulk much longer;
it is contrary to his habit. It seems that when one has for a long time
carried a red portfolio under his arm, one finds himself, on losing it,
in exactly the same condition as an Englishman with no umbrella.
Good-bye. I shall leave Cannes, probably, February 8th. Let me hear from
you, and tell me something of your plans for returning, if you have made
any. We are having fine weather, but it might be warmer. You seem to
have weather both clear and warm, for which I congratulate you.
Good-bye, dear friend....