CANNES, _December 5, 1862_.
DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here between two deluges, and for four days I
thought there was no longer any sun even at Cannes. When it once begins
to rain in this land, it is no joke. The fields between Cannes and the
Estérel were transformed into a lake, and it was impossible to stick
one’s head out of doors. Still, in the midst of this down-pour the air
was mild and agreeable to breathe. Since I became asthmatic, I have been
as sensitive in the matter of air as the Romans are respecting water.
That condition of affairs, fortunately, did not last long. The sun
reappeared radiant three days ago, and since then, I have kept my
windows open all the time, and am almost too warm. It is only the flies
which remind me of the vexations of life.
Before leaving Paris, I consulted a celebrated doctor, for since my
return from Compiègne I believed myself to be in a very serious state,
and I wanted to know how soon I should have to arrange for my funeral. I
am pleased enough with having consulted him, in the first place,
because he assured me that this ceremony would not take place as soon as
I had feared; in the second place, because he explained to me,
anatomically, and with perfect clearness, the cause of my illness. I
supposed my heart was affected; not so at all; it is my lung. It is true
that I shall never be cured, but there are means by which I may be
spared suffering; which is a great deal, if not the principal
consideration.
You can form no idea of the beauty of the country after all these rains.
May roses are in bloom everywhere; jasmines are beginning to bloom, as
also quantities of wild flowers, each more beautiful than the others. I
should like to take a course in botany with you in the neighbouring
woods; you would see whether they are not equal to those at Bellevue.
I have received, I know not from whom, the last book of M. Gustave
Flaubert, the author of _Madame Bovary_, which you have read, I fancy,
although you will not admit that you have. I suppose he had talent,
which he was squandering under the pretext of realism. He has just
perpetrated a new novel, called _Salammbô_. In any other place than
Cannes, particularly, where there was nothing to read but _La Cuisinière
Bourgeoise_, I should not have opened this volume. It is a story of
Carthage several years before the Second Punic War. By reading Bouillet
and some other works of the same class, the author has acquired a sort
of false erudition, and he accompanies this with a lyricism imitated
from the very worst of Victor Hugo’s. There are passages which will
please you, doubtless, since, like all persons of your sex, you like
magniloquence. As for me, I detest it, and it has made me furious.
Since I have been here, and especially since the rain, I have continued
my Cossack article. It will take long, I fear, to finish. I shall send
soon to Paris a second instalment, and there will be more to follow. I
discover that I forgot to bring with me a map of Poland, and I am
embarrassed in writing Polish names, of which I have only the Russian
translation. If you have within your reach some means of ascertaining
it, will you endeavour to find out if a city which in Russian is called
Lwow, is not perhaps the same as Lemberg in Galicia? You will be doing
me a great service.
Good-bye, dear friend, I hope winter is not using you too severely, and
that you are taking care to avoid colds. Is your little niece still
amiable? Do not spoil her, so that she will store up future unhappiness
for herself.
I wish you would go to see the comedy of my friend M. Augier, and that
you would give me your candid opinion of it. Good-bye once more.