CANNES, _January 2, 1869_.
DEAR FRIEND: You have not, then, received a letter I sent to you last
month at P. I fear that it has gone astray. I do not pretend, however,
to justify myself altogether. If you only realised what a wretched and
monotonous life I am leading, you would understand that it is hard
enough to endure it without giving an account of it. The fact is, I am
doing very badly. Not the least improvement! On the contrary, they have
not even succeeded in giving me relief from the painful attacks which
occur from time to time. The sky and sea are magnificent, and their
influence, which formerly restored me to health, no longer has any
effect. What must I do? I have no idea, but often I feel a great desire
that it would end.
Your journey seems to me delightful, but I do not approve of your return
through the Tyrol in the season you describe. You will meet with much
snow; you will lose the skin from your cheeks, and you will see nothing
remarkably beautiful. You had better take some other route, no matter
which. Innspruck, or, rather, Innsbruck, is an exceedingly picturesque
little town; but for one who has been to Switzerland, it is not worth
the trouble of going out of one’s way; neither are the bronze statues in
the cathedral. Trent alone, of all the places on your route, seems to me
worthy of your interest.
Why should you not go to Sicily to see Etna, which is said to be at his
pranks again? You are never sea-sick, and it is probable that boats
leave Naples especially to view the spectacle. In about a week’s journey
you will have been able to see Etna, Palermo, and Syracuse.
I have again revised _The Bear_, whom you know, and I have polished him
up with some care. Many things in the story are changed for the better,
I think. The title and the names are changed also. For persons with as
little intelligence as you, the manners of that bear will always seem to
be mysterious. But no matter how perspicacious one may be, one will
never be able to decide anything to his disadvantage. An infinity of
things remain unexplained in the story. Physicians tell me that
plantigrades, more than any other beasts, are capable of intercourse
with human beings; but such examples are rare, naturally, bears being
not exactly attractive....
Where is the point of that discourse of M. de Nieuwerkerke mentioned in
all the papers, and contradicted later? How stupid we are getting to be!
Our progress in this is rapid. Did you have the curiosity to go to hear
the discussion in the Hall of the Pré-aux-Clercs on marriage and
heredity? They say that part of it was most amusing, and, on reflection,
terrifying, when one considers the number of imbeciles and mad dogs
running the streets. I am told that there are women who make speeches,
and who are neither the least mad, or the least stupid. Such symptoms as
these make me shudder. The people of this land are voluntarily blind.
Good-bye, dear friend. I wish you a happy New Year.