Transcription
Hotel des Etrangers_aux Eaux Bonnes. Sunday night.
(To be read with discretion) July. 9th ???
There you see I have “defined my position”, in the continuation of / my irregular journal : I left you at Pau on friday ev’g on Saturday / morn’g at 9 I was away in the Diligence for this place : at the bureau / I met my Madrid acquaintance the learned Dr. Danberry of Oxford; / a shining light of geology + other sciences, as you + Bow are no doubt / aware : he was accompanied by his little portmanteau and his / big hammer strapped thereto, with which more powerful than / Thor’s of old, he forces his way to the very centre of the Earth = our / ride was a succession of beautiful views even more picturesque than / the valley of the Adour _ there were some mountain streams and little / plains among the hills, offering the most quiet + tempting retreats, and / dotted with beautiful villages _ the scenery accounts for the sentimental / letters which I received from my friend Sir Robert when he was here _ / Unfortunately for my first impression of this little village of hotels / a mist came upon us form the mountains just before we arrived and / soon turning into rain, changed the appearance of things very much for / the worse _ as soon as my toilette was completed, I made a visit to the / sister of la belle who is at the hotel opposite : It seems that notwith: / standing my rapid movements, I had been expected the day before, and / she had sent to the different hotels to find meout : We had lots to / say : and when I left at 5 for dinner it was [^ with] the understanding that / I was to be permitted to return in the Ev’g _ the first impression I / confess was disappointment as to appearance, after the beautiful / portrait I had admired, but when I was her again in the Ev’g / in a very pretty dishabille, I was very much struck with the / likeness to the sister of the picture, and enchanted [^ (of course)] with the /
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Tone of voice + manner, which have been most closely imitated by / the Angel : the resemblance was so perfect that if I had closed my / eyes I should have believed myself in Leonard Street, and the happiest / of mortals : it was consoling at all events to have such an agreable/ deception _ you may judge of my pleasure in listening to an agreable / country woman, who does not object to talking, when I tell you that / it was half past twelve [blotted out] [^ when] I thought it discreet to retire, and among these / sober folks had considerable difficulty to get out of t’other house / and in to my own :
It rained all yesterday + last night ; has poured / all of this day + promise to do as much for this night + to morrow / under such a visitation, I should not remain many hours in this queer / little nook in the mountains; with the rocks rising perpendicular: / :ly close to your windows on all [ ^ three] sides, and the mists closing all the / views down the valley on the fourth I but for the presence of Mrs. / Loundes : Today a great fête should have taken place which the weather / prevented, and I’m told there are very pretty rides and pleasant saddle horses when / a fine day presents itself _ the waters of course are very disagreeable and / efficacious slightly warm, and pronounced by my scientific friend a very / considerable humbug : I shall [^ not] take them there; but reserve myself for Cauterets / These are for “poitrinaires” [^ in] which class of invalids I do not include myself.
I was sorry to find that my fair friend did not appear / so will this morning and in talking seemed to be obliged to take breath : she / speaks with great coolness of her situation and the symptoms of her disorder / but hopes with the aid of these waters to return home in about a / year : Mons. le Mari is at Barejes in a course of baths, but returns / in three or four days : meanwhile I can gossip “a discretion” and hear all / the latest accounts from Staatsburg : I have some consolation already / as to the chances of some [^ two or three] of the candidates.
There are very few quarters of the French aristocracy /
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During the summer who live very quietly + retired + transplant as it were / the Fauxbourg St Germain _ There are the Rochfoncauls, Luxembourgs, Turemes, and a host of inferior names, and among the aristocracy of nature is the / famous scribe, who travels under the pseudonym of M. Augustin but / with the style of a prince which savours of the pride that apes humility _ / he is said to have made by his writings an income of 150 thousand francs / a year [crossed out?] : this is creditable to his country, which secures such a reward to his / [talents?] as to himself.
A knock at my door and my name called imme: / diately after breakfast were the prelude to the entrance of my Geological / friend who had passed the night at the Eaux chauds. 2 leagues distant + / stepped over in the morning hammer in hand : he’s a most extraordinary figure / and unmistakably English _ a little [bullet?] head + round face, with spec: / tacles; short squatty figure, with duck legs and immense English shoes ___ / Withall his acquirements + reputation he speaks in the most modest + diffi: / dent manner and with downcast eyes - a sure sign of real merit = I had / the honor to make with him the examination of the rocks + fountain, and / we decided on the “igneous formation”; “granite jutting to the surface”, + / the “presence of a small quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen” : he afterwards / dined with me + I picked up crumbs of knowledge until ½ past 10 when / he retired to prepare for his return to Pau in the morning, and a warm / invitation to visit the “groves of academe” at Oxford on my return.
No letters yet from Madrid tho I write almost daily to / Uncle Geoffrey : the confusion becomes greater every moment and the mails / in consequence very irregular : The in surgents at Barcelona have formally / decreed the deposition of Espartero, and proceeded, regularly in their irregu: / :larities, to appoint to Ministries + commands, and exercise other acts of / sovereignty _ the last accounts slated the retreat of the Regents troops in all / directions and that some of the few cities which had remained faithful now / joined in the movement _ they are all mad; and playing into the hands of / people who have no particular affection for the Spanish nation _I imagine / we shall have “nice little specimen of anarchy for some time after the /
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Downfall of the Regent : there are already some indications of a row among / the pronounced : __ The small hours are approaching + I’ll bid you again / Good night _ Where, Oh Where, are my letters by the Steamer of the 15th?
Your affectionate. A.H.
Tuesday morn’g July 11th
This is the last day that I can detain my / letter with safety _ Rain continues to pour incessantly, and my trip over / the mountains to Cauterets is almost abandoned _ a note from Carroll + this / morning announces a passage by an Englishman from this place who had a hard / journey of 12 hours thro’ the snow, which covers every hill a little way above / our heads : _ I shall be off on Thursday morn’g either by way of Pau, or by turning / the mountains at some distance from that city _
I am getting on famously with “la Sorella” and I remain [^ have] / remained [^ with her] a quiet + pleased listener until about one o’clock for the last / two or three nights _ she talks exceedingly well; and I enjoy her conversation / “a proportion” after being so long a time without meeting an agreable country: / woman: __ All this too without dwelling on the sister; which, tho it is not / a [tal-??-ed] topic, is only touched upon lightly – Mr. Loundes returns on / Thursday or Friday; so that I shall not have an opportunity of seeing “le / bel homme” as the natives call him.
A notelet yesterday from Uncle Geoffrey with some of / his quiet touches, written the day after my departure _ After speaking of / the progress of the Insurrection; he says of Madrid “Every thing here is as / quiet as gunpowder” _ It tickles one’s vanity a little to be told that he / was quite lonely and at a loss in my absence, but since as yet it / had only lasted one day I may hope he will not be inconsolable: __ / Legaré in a private letter mentioned my name + added “pray remember / me to him : for whom on more accounts than one, I have a violent fancy” / to this Mr. I. adds “What a winning trait in a man’s character, to have / nice sisters!”; then giving + justly the credit where it is due __
I have made up a thing of shreds + patches and blotted paper / enough for this occasion _ In a week or so I hope to have your news of / July 1st and what you have done, are doing, or are about to do : for your /
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[NO ADDITIONAL PAGES]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
