COUNT DE LAS CASES.
FIFTH LETTER FROM COUNT LAS CASES TO GENERAL
COUNT BERTRAND.
Frankfort on the Maine, 15th May, 1818.
I would write to you this day, my dear Bertrand, merely to be punctual and faithful to the date which I have invariably prescribed to myself, every month, for giving news of me. No change having taken place in my situation, I could only repeat, word for word, the matter contained in my last. I hoped to have been able to send you my letter from another place; but a severe complaint in my eyes, which has come to aggravate my other afflictions, has hitherto prevented me from setting out for some of the warm baths in the south of Germany, to which I shall repair, however, in a few days.
I have the satisfaction to learn that my preceding letters have been regularly despatched to you, and that a great many pamphlets have been sent off. I wish they may amuse you. Unfortunately I provide for you a little in the dark;—the circumstances of locality will be my excuse; I do my best; I am in a bad situation for that. Such a case as mine would require a capital.—I am not permitted to reside in London; and in Paris I could not accomplish my purpose. The same distance prevents me from thinking of sending you a great many little things with which I might employ myself if I were upon the spot. I had thought of completing for you a little chemical apparatus, but renounced it. I understand that it would be useless to you.
All the relatives of the Emperor are well, and await with impatience the regular course of your letters, of which they entertain no doubt, as you will have received my first, with my invariable resolution to send you theirs every month punctually.—My wife will rejoin me in a few days, to part no more, I hope.
Adieu, accept my wishes.
COUNT LAS CASES.
LETTER FROM COUNT LAS CASES TO MR. GOULBURN,
ENCLOSING TO HIM THE PRECEDING.
Frankfort on the Maine, 19th May, 1818.