CHÂTEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU, _August 4, 1868_.
DEAR FRIEND: I have been here about a fortnight, feeling tolerably well,
and finding absolute idleness good for body and mind. Our last walk left
me a sweet memory. Is it so with you? Here, I walk a little, read less,
and breathe fairly well. It is a pleasure to look at the sky and the
trees.
There is no one at the château, or, rather, not more than thirty
persons, of whom the only outsiders, besides myself, are several cousins
of the empress, both ladies and gentlemen, and very agreeable people,
whom I met in Madrid.
I kept for you a copy of the second edition of _Smoke_. On my return to
Paris, in a week, I think, I will leave it at your house, or, if you
prefer, I will send it.
I brought with me my materials for work; but as one is never certain of
having an hour to himself, I have accomplished nothing at all. I made a
copy of a portrait of _Diana of Poitiers_, by Primatice. She is
represented as Diana holding a quiver, and it is evident that she has
posed, for from head to foot everything shows the portrait. If I dare
say so, there results even from an examination of the legs, that she
wore her garters above the knee, after the fashion of the time. It is no
longer the fashion now (so I have been told). I will show it to you, for
this portrait has an historical value.
Good-bye. It is now the hour for dining. I envy you the little fish that
you are eating, perhaps, at this very moment. Be so good as to tell me
what is that high rock at Boulogne, near the quay. It seemed to me a
monstrosity.