I embrace you and shake you by the hands.—I leave your house.
Baudelaire to Sainte-Beuve
15th March, 1865.
Dear friend, I take advantage of the "Histoires grotesques et sérieuses" to remind myself of you. Sometimes, in the mornings, I talk about you with M. Muller, of Liège, by whose side I take luncheon, —and in the evening, after dinner, I am re-reading "Joseph Delorme" with Malassis. Decidedly, you are right; "Joseph Delorme" is the old woman's "Flowers of Evil." The comparison is glorious for me. Have the goodness not to find it offensive to yourself.
And the Preface of the "Vie de César?" Is it predestinarian enough?
Yours always.
BRUXELLES, RUE DE LA MONTAGNE, 28.