My beloved beauty,--I was bitten with the fancy to see something of
Italy, and I am delighted at having carried off Macumer, whose plans in
regard to Sardinia are postponed.
This country is simple ravishing. The churches--above all, the
chapels--have a seductive, bewitching air, which must make every female
Protestant yearn after Catholicism. Macumer has been received with
acclamation, and they are all delighted to have made an Italian of so
distinguished a man. Felipe could have the Sardinian embassy at Paris if
I cared about it, for I am made much of at court.
If you write, address your letters to Florence. I have not time now
to go into any details, but I will tell you the story of our travels
whenever you come to Paris. We only remain here a week, and then go on
to Florence, taking Leghorn on the way. We shall stay a month in Tuscany
and a month at Naples, so as to reach Rome in November. Thence we return
home by Venice, where we shall spend the first fortnight of December,
and arrive in Paris, _via_ Milan and Turin, for January.
Our journey is a perfect honeymoon; the sight of new places gives fresh
life to our passion. Macumer did not know Italy at all, and we have
begun with that splendid Cornice road, which might be the work of fairy
architects.
Good-bye, darling. Don't be angry if I don't write. It is impossible
to get a minute to oneself in traveling; my whole time is taken up with
seeing, admiring, and realizing my impressions. But not a word to you of
these till memory has given them their proper atmosphere.
XXXVIII. THE VICOMTESSE DE L'ESTORADE TO THE BARONNE DE MACUMER
September.
My dear,--There is lying for you at Chantepleurs a full reply to the
letter you wrote me from Marseilles. This honeymoon journey, so far from
diminishing the fears I there expressed, makes me beg of you to get my
letter sent on from Nivernais.
The Government, it is said, are resolved on dissolution. This is unlucky
for the Crown, since the last session of this loyal Parliament would
have been devoted to the passing of laws, essential to the consolidation
of its power; and it is not less so for us, as Louis will not be forty
till the end of 1827. Fortunately, however, my father has agreed to
stand, and he will resign his seat when the right moment arrives.
Your godson has found out how to walk without his godmother's help. He
is altogether delicious, and begins to make the prettiest little signs
to me, which bring home to one that here is really a thinking being, not
a mere animal or sucking machine. His smiles are full of meaning. I have
been so successful in my profession of nurse that I shall wean Armand in
December. A year at the breast is quite enough; children who are suckled
longer are said to grow stupid, and I am all for popular sayings.
You must make a tremendous sensation in Italy, my fair one with the
golden locks. A thousand loves.