Transcription
Biarrits Tuesday July 4th 1843
6 P.M.
My dear M :
In this little village of Biarrists on the bay of / Biscay I enter upon the 68th year of our glorious independence; as [^ the] / “orators of the day” have this morning a thousand times repeated / I celebrated the event by a dinner about an hour ago, when I was unanimously called to the chair and among other toasts proposed / the health of the family now assembled at Nevis, who I dare say / have about this time, or a little later, done as much for me.
It is a red hot day and but for the sea air and / breeze it would be a hard matter to keep cool : At a little distance / from the sea shore, as I found yesterday at Bayonne, the heat is / intense.
I won’t repeat the account which I have already written / to George of my evasion last week from Madrid with Capt [Uright?] : / the journey was so little anticipated by me, and made so rapidly / that it appears to me as if some good angel had carried me / off without any effort of my own : this may appear strong lan: / guage to apply to a trip of 450 miles, but you would soon / realize it here when you found what an undertaking it is consi: / dered _ At the present moment too there are more chances than / usual against one’s arrival without accident :
Unlike our Rockaway this same village of Biarrits / is built on a little point of rocks, jutting into the sea, and forming / with a headland about a mile distant a very pretty bay _ It is / an irregular up + down little place; the houses built by chance /
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According to the irregularities of the ground, at all angle and of every shape: / the general effect is rather picturesque, all the cottages built of stone, white : / washed + with neat green blinds : the whole place is made [^ up] of a “chambres / garnie a louer”; you make your bargain in two minutes and are by that / time quietly installed in very comfortable quarters : table d’hotes there / are none I believe, every body dines a la carte in their own apartment, / and as yet there are no places of reunions, such as reading rooms, ball / rooms +c. +c. _ I confess, that this suits me exactly, more especially as / I shall move off in a few days to [^ the] more gregarious watering places of / Pyrenees; where I must move about in a crowd :
There is a quiet lady like bay, so completely / sheltered that it is smooth as a mill pond : here the male kind as / well as the female kind disport themselves, altho the former there / is the large open bay I have mentioned with a glorious scarf at a / little distance; but neither the Frenchman nor the Spaniard has an / affection for the ocean in its rougher state and it seemed rather to sur: / prize them this morning when I preferred being thoroughly drenched / among the breakers :
I have discovered a delightful little retreat during / the heat of the day; a hole in the wall; a magnificent arch way worn / by the sea, but now many fathoms above it : here there is always / shade and a cool breeze, nothing to be seen but sea + sky, save / a faint white line; the sandy coast of the “Landes” _ underneath is / another arch where the waves wash, and which gives the name, “la / roche percee”, to the rock _ as the seas rush in from both sides, there / is a deep thundering sound when they meet which is echoed on all / sides : I have undisturbed possession of this spot every morning after / my dip while I smoke a cigar and follow in imagination the / blue line of the horizon, on + on, until [^ I ] arrive off Sandy Hook : Do /
Would you believe that it appears to me now, when I can look / upon the sea that I am more than half way home? _
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The day before yesterday I went to Bayonee in the Ev’g to hear Duprez / in the “Juive” : he was wretchedly supported, but in the 3d act where he sings / a great deal he was magnificent : the theatre was crowded, and wreath’d / bouquets showered upon him _ It was understood that he would leave Bayonne / the next morn’g at 12, but when the crowd of admirers called to see him at / 10, they learned he had given them the slip and was at least 2 hours off an his / way to Bordeaux :
Yesterday I was at the village of St. Pierre to see the / fete in his honor : The Grahames took me in their carriage, and we had / a merry family party, children + all, chez M. Frazer, Her Majesty’s Vice / Consul : _ there were some queer characters and most Pickwickian scenes / and conversation. In the afternoon we went through the village crowded / with peasants, Basques, gendarmes, and puppet shows _ contradanses + / waltzes, jeux de paume, baby theatres, every thing but the vineyards / which I looked for in vain, and instead of the green meadow I had / imagined there was rather a dusty square : ___
I write almost daily bulletins to Uncle Geoffrey but / have yet received no letter from him for the best of reasons; the mails / having been detained by the insurgents _ tho’ the reports in this quarter / in relation to the present government of Spain are to be received with / great allowances, I am afraid the constitutional form is in a bad way, / and poor Espartero about to fall before his determined enemies.
The Livingstons + Loundes’ are great favorites : every one / I meet speaks of them in the highest terms _ I have met a Mr + Mrs. / Atkinson (English) here, who have seen a great deal of them _ Madame / corresponds with the bella Angelica's sister, and has told me that she / said sister, tho I don’t know with what right, is expecting me at the / Eaux Bonnes. _
I don’t [^ know] when I shall receive your letters by the / steamer of June 15th, as they have to enter Spain + come out again, / no easy matter as times go : those by the packet of July 1st will be / forwarded to Bayonne, whence they will reach me very quickly : I /
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Made Mad’e Albuquerque’s heart light by an extract from GLS’s last / letter giving very late accounts of her family.
Pau _ Friday Ev’g July 7th _ There is a gap you see of two or / three days since I wrote, which I have partly filled up by a few lines / in my letter to George; this weaving a mingled web, by which / you can follow me in my wanderings _ on Thursday; after a farewell / bath in the sea, during which I was knocked over + over in the sand , / I left Biarrits for Bayonne; there I found a paper from Uncle Geoffrey / and a note from Carroll Livingston of the kindest character; expressing / the pleasure he should have in meeting me and his intention to reserve / himself for our joint excursions in the mountains : this morning at 5 / I was out of Bayonne perched in the Banquette of the Diligence from which / lofty post I had a fine view of the country : the morning was cloudy with / occasional showers, which added much by the alternation of sun shine / + shade to the picturesque effect of their beautiful valleys : we crossed the / Adour, and then followed up its tributary, the “Gave” to this place / which is beautifully situated on its bank : this is by far the most / lovely part of France, not excepting Tourraince + the Valley of the Loire, / beautiful meadows; hedges and trees most luxuriant, a rich cultivation / and a little shining river winding about in the midst of it : for a background you have the Pyrennees with their diadem of snow.
The Chateau of Henri Quatre is an interesting speci - / men of the olden time : in the midst of the town; on the edge of an abrupt / hill overlooking the river, with a fine park of ancient + venerable / trees following a right ridge which forms the right back of the stream / you are shown his bed, his statue, the room in which he was born +c / +C : the palace is being repaired by le Roi des Francais in the old style / and with great magnificence : Bernadotte was born here too; the tablet / on an insignificant house, in an obscure street, shews the humble origin / of this most fortunate of the sons of the revolution _ Tomorrow in the / matin I’m off to Eaux Bonnes to make my first bow to Mrs. Loundes / and listen I hope to the accounts of “la bella sorella” : __
Good night! I kiss you all heartily. Your affectionate. A. H.
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Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
