[Autograph in the possession of M. Etienne Charavay in Paris.]
In spite of rain, snow, hail, and frost, here I am at last, having reached the hotel of the Roman Emperor at Frankfort after forty-eight hours' travelling, and I take the first opportunity of telling you anew, though not for the last time, how much I feel the charming and affectionate reception which you have given me during my too short, and, unhappily for me, too unfortunate stay at Sedan. Will you, dear Madame, be so kind as to be my mouthpiece and special pleader to Madame Dumaitre, who has been so uncommonly kind and cordial to me? Assuredly I could not confide my cause (bad as it may be) to more delicate hands and to a more persuasive eloquence, if eloquence only consists in reality of "the art of saying the right thing, the whole of the right thing, and nothing but the right thing," as La Rochefoucauld defined it; a definition from which General Foy drew a grand burst of eloquence—"The Charter, the whole Charter (excepting, however, Article 14 and other peccadilloes!), and nothing but the Charter."
"But don't let us talk politics any longer," as Lablache so happily remarked to Giulia Grisi, who took it into her head one fine day to criticize Don Juan!
Let us talk once more of Sedan, and let me again say to you how happy I should be to be able one day to show those whose acquaintance I have made through you in what grateful remembrance I keep it.
Will you, Madame, give my best and most affectionate thanks to M.
Rondonneau, and accept my very respectful and devoted homage?
F. Liszt
Frankfurt, February 11th, 1846
P.S.—Being pressed for time, and owing, perhaps, to a stupid feeling of delicacy, I came away without paying my doctor.
If you think well, would you be so kind as to credit me with a napoleon and give it him from me: Madame Kreutzer will be my banker in Paris. Adieu till we meet again.
48. To Monsieur Grillparzer