I was most agreeably surprised by your letter of the
17th February. I had heard and believed that you were living in Dublin. You may
be quite convinced that I consider it a bonne
fortune pour moi that you inhabit London. To enjoy again
your agreeable society will be my tardy compensation for the long, weary,
unintellectual years inflicted on me in this my dull native country, to which I
have never owed advantages, pleasures or happiness. I owe nothing to my
country; no one expects me to be grateful for the evil chance of having been
born here. I shall emancipate myself, par le
grâce de Dieu, about the middle of July next; and I
will either write to you before I leave New York or immediately after my
arrival at Liverpool. I had given up all correspondence with my friends in
Europe, during my vegetation in this Baltimore. What could I write about,
except the fluctuations in the security and consequent prices of American
Stocks. There is nothing here worth attention or interest, save the money
market. Society, conversation, friendship, belong to older countries, and are
not yet cultivated in any part of the United States which I have visited. You
ought to thank your stars for your European birth; you may believe me when I
assure you that it is only distance from republics which lends enchantment to
| THE LEAVES FALLING. | 503 |
My dear Lady Morgan,
do you know that having been cheated out of the fortune which I ought to have
inherited from my late rich and unjust parent, I have only ten thousand
dollars, or two thousand pounds English, which conveniently I can disburse
annually. You talk of my “princely income,”
which convinces me that you are ignorant of the paucity of my means. I have all
my life had poverty to contend with, pecuniary difficulties to torture and
mortify me; and but for my industry, and energy, and my determination to
| 504 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
I shall have much to tell you. Lamartine, and Chateaubriand are giving their memoirs to the public. The first de son vivant. I am now reading Les Mémoires d’ outre tombe. I have no doubt that your memoirs would be infinitely better, more piquant, and more natural. When I knew Lamartine he was chargé d’affaires from Charles X. Florence was then a charming place; I met him every night at parties. How little did I foresee that he was to become a poetical republican, and that dear Florence was to be travestie en République! ni l’un ni l’autre, ne gagnera par le troc. Hoping that England may remain steady and faithful to monarchical principles, that at least some refined society may be left in the world, I shall, Dieu permettant, have the satisfaction of seeing you in the course of next summer.
