Transcription
Biarrits Saturday Ev’g July 1st
You will be rather surprised, my dear G, after the last / letters which I wrote from Madrid to find me hailing from / this place; and as the great + growing fame thereof may not / yet have reached your ears, I will tell you that [^ it] is a thriving / watering place about six miles from Bayonne _ you will begin / to suspect that it is near the sea, which it is indeed; the roar / of the breakers now sounding most agreably in my ears _ a / small bay with little Islands, and a beautiful beach; on / one of the headlands which form it, stands the light house at / the mouth of the River Adour; further on, the sandy coast / of the pays des Landes; and on t’other side, the Pyrennees and / the mountains of Spain; such is the view landward; before / is is the “[ophen?] sea”; that is, the Bay of Biscay, and this / is the feature which particularly attracts me, - you, who have / not yet tried the effect of a few months in dry, dusty, Madrid, / cannot estimate the parched feeling with which one gazes at / the broad blue water : It is exceedingly refreshing _ but / before going farther, I may as well mention how it happens / that I am found here so suddenly :
Our friend Uright whose arrival in Madrid / I have already mentioned was to return to London at the / beginning of this last week, and as Mr. Irvings departure / would probably be deferred some time, he suggested to me
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That I should take advantage of so good an opportunity to reach the / frontier and make my visit to the Pyrennees : I agreed with him entirely / we were to have started on Sunday night _ then on Monday night - but / the news from the provinces was so bad, that Mr. Aston feared for his despatches / Burgos, Vitoria, and other towns on the French road had revolted; the troops / had joined then, and the mails + estafettes had been stopped _ various plans / were suggested, and all our friends declared that if we escaped the rebels, / we should fall into the hands of the robbers, as in the confusion of the / revolution there had been a general jaol-delivery to add to the elements / of disorder _ at last, however, on Tuesday night or rather early Wednesday / morn’g : We sallied out of Madrid, armed with passports of various kinds / and Uncle Phil’s [donativi?] pistols carefully loaded, in addition to an / escort of five Dragoons : We met with no novedad as the Dons have it, / except a heavy storm of rain + wind in crossing the Somo Sierra range, / and on the morning arrived in Burgos _ at the Post house where we / breakfasted, our authorization to travel post was demanded, and mine, / in which my official character was described at full length, was presented / presented : It was promptly returned to us, and we went on our way rejoi: / cing _ In Vitoria we passed in the same way and hurrying through / the Basque provinces on Thursday night we arrived at Bayonne, yester - / day. (Friday) morn’g at 12 making the journey from Madrid in 55 / hours, in spite of frequent rains and heavy roads : It was a relief to us / to cross the frontier, not from any risk to our individual selves, but to the / Despatch Bags which the “pronounced” might not have respected, the / official seals to the contrary notwithstanding _ we wrote from points / on the road to the anxious ministers at Madrid _
The Journey tho fatiguing was very pleasant, Uright was / in good spirits + very lively : We laughed and smoked, and now and / then “snatched a slight repast” while changing horses and overlooking / the [Carria-?-e?] : the Captain breakfasted with me at Bayonne yesterday / and after two hours rest hurried off on his way to Paris _ I passed /
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The rest of the day quietly _ dined with a canny Scotchman (cousin / of Sir [J?] Graham), Her Majesty’s Counsel at Bayonne and at one in the / matin of today stowed myself in a Cabriolet for this place.
I am very pleasantly situated in a house belonging to the / English Vice Consul, with a fine view of the sea, and I dines, a la carte in / a capital hotel connected with [^ it] across the street _ the village is small, / and dependent on the season, and the population is composed of the usual / species of hangers-on at such places : some of my Madrid friends stated / this morning for Switzerland, and hearing I was in Bayonne called at / the hotel on their way, but I was still busy making up for three lost / nights _ Duprez is at Bayonne astonishing the natives, and it was with / difficulty I could secure a seat for “La Juive” his favorite piece tomorrow / night _ I saw the little man in the street today; he has a most un-mu: / sical look _ Tomorrow or Monday are great fête days in honor of / St. Pierre _ For Monday I am invited to a beautiful place two leagues / distant where the fete is held _ After dinner we are to walk about / the grounds and see the peasants dancing + marry making _ You remem: / :ber the “Don”?
“Where the first act is ended by a dance,
In vineyard copied from the South of France.”
The place will be my head quarters for four or five days, with occasional / excursions _ Carroll Livingston is I believe at Pau : I have written to him / that I am in the neighborhood. I shall go from here to Pau, then to / Eaux Bonnes where Mrs Loundes is, and Cauterets - after that I have / divers little plans for my then weeks holiday _ Where I shall enter / Spain is yet uncertain _ It will depend on the condition [^ of the Country] which is at / this moment had almost as it can he : the last news seems to threaten / the downfall of Espartero in a short time _ His troops are said to / have [^ been] driven back from Barcelona, and Bilbao the port of the Basque provinces on the Bay of Biscay had joined in the general cry so that / the insurrection has now made the circle of Spain : Bayonne
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Is [^ full] of agents, spanish refugees _ Intriguers of all kinds _ two or three noted / Cristino Generals crossed the frontier two nights ago _ I think it not / improbable that serious difficulties may grow out of these Spanish / troubles in other quarters.
Buenas noches! _ the large french bed at my elbow / is most invitingly open, and the low hum of the breakers already making me nod; to which may also be added a long slow?? Stroll over the / rocks + along the sea shore. A.H.
July 5th Wednesday Ev’g _ I have been passing backwards + forwards / between this place + Bayonne since I wrote on Saturday and shall bid / good bye to the sea tomorrow on my way to Pau _ the two last days / + until 2 p.m. today have been scorchingly hot _ wind overland dry and / heating _ this afternoon there was a change and a fresh westerly breeze / came up, bringing along with [^ it] some black heavy clouds from the open / ocean : as yet no rain, tho the sun set in a dark gloomy bank, and the / horizon is threatening _ I have at this moment a beautiful scene from / my window _ on one side a moon in the second quarter, bright + clear / with half the heavens to herself; on the other the sea + sky of the same / heavy lead colour, not to be distinguished from each _ other, and the light on the / headlands shining doubly bright in the surrounding darkness : there will be a / [row?] before morning _
I am sorry to leave the salt water; but I wish to / see the Livingstons + Loundes, and make an excursion along the Garonne beyond / Toulouse so that I am rather pressed for time. I know scarcely any body / here, and pass my days on the rocks + in the surf, where I bathe twice a / day, very pleasantly _ A sail is almost an impossibility tho I shall try / to have one tomorrow if I can find the owners of one or two fishing boats, I / have seen on the shore.
In the Paris papers of the 2nd the Acadia’s arrival / is mentioned and my letters I imagine are on their way to Madrid or more / probably stopped at Burgos by the d____d Junta : I should like to make them a / speech on the sacredness of private correspondence :
The sea growls a little louder : there are sharp flashes / of lightning and other signs of a [set?to?] among the elements : I shall sleep soundly / through it all, while it rather heightens one’s enjoyment provided there is no / danger of leaving to turn out to let go another another : Good night yours ever A. H.Transcriber
Tara R. IacobellisLanguage
English
