Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 8.djvu/16

 LETTERS TO AN UNKNOWN

CLXX Paris, September 8, 1867. WHILE you are devoting yourself to the cultivation of enthusiasm, I con- tinue to cough, and am very ill with a frightful cold. I hope you will be touched by this. I do not understand why you should re- main three days in Lucerne, unless you spend your time on the lake. But it is useless to give you advice which will reach you too late. My only word of admonition, and one, I trust, by which you will profit, is not to forget your friends in France, in the beautiful country you are now visiting. There is {>ositively not a soul in Paris, but I am not averse to the solitude. I am spending my evenings comfortably enough, doing noth- ing. If I were not feeling really miserable, I should find this quiet extremely pleasant, and I should like it to continue the whole year. The 1 i7y060