_Wednesday, April 13, 1864._
DEAR FRIEND: I regretted keenly your departure. You ought to have bidden
me one more farewell. You would have found me decidedly blue. In spite
of arsenic and the rest, I suffer constantly from exhaustion. After the
cold abated, I was beginning to feel better, but I have taken a cold
which casts me down lower than ever.
I seldom go out; still I was anxious to see my sovereigns, whom I found
in excellent health. This visit gave me an opportunity of seeing the new
fashions, which I do not altogether admire, especially the basques worn
by the women. This is a sign that I am growing old. I can not endure the
hair-dressing. There is not a single woman who dresses her hair to suit
her face; they all follow the style of wigged heads. I met one of my
friends who presented me to his wife. She is a young and pretty woman,
but she had a foot of rouge, pencilled eyelashes, and was powdered. She
disgusted me.
Have you read About’s book? I have it, and it is at your service. I do
not know whether it is a success; nevertheless it is very witty. The
clericals, perhaps, had good sense enough not to anathematise it, which
is the most positive way of insuring the popularity of a book. It is in
this way that the success of Renan, pecuniarily speaking, was achieved.
I am told that he made a hundred and seventy thousand francs by his
idyl.
I have still, subject to your orders, three immense volumes of Taine on
the history of English literature. It is both witty and sensible. The
style is somewhat affected, but it is delightful reading. I have also
two volumes of Mézières on an analogous subject, the contemporaries and
successors of Shakespeare. It is Taine warmed over, or, rather, cooled
down. As for novels, I no longer read them.
We nominate to-morrow in the Academy either the Marseillais Autran or
Jules Janin. Apparently, it will be the former. My candidate will be
defeated. I have promised myself to go to the Academy no more, except to
collect my allowance, eighty-three francs, twenty-three centimes, every
month. During the next two years the mortality among the members will be
frightful. I examined yesterday the faces of my colleagues; not to
mention my own, one would suppose them to be people awaiting the coming
of the grave-digger. I can not imagine who will be elected to replace
them.
When shall you return? You spoke of remaining a fortnight only at ----;
but I suppose that you will, as usual, string out that fortnight into a
long month. I desire earnestly to see you soon and take a walk, as we
used to do, admiring radiant nature. It would be for me a rare occasion
to enjoy a little poetry.
Farewell, dear friend. Write to me. If you have at your disposal none
but the town library, you would do well to read _Lucian_, in the
translation of Pierrot d’Ablancourt, or some one else; it would amuse
you, and indulge your Hellenic tastes.
I am deep in a history of Peter the Great, which I mean to share with
the public. He was an abominable man, surrounded by abominable scamps.
His history amuses me no little.
Write to me as soon as you have received my letter.