Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-005#011

[addressed:] Miss Susan Benjamin. / Care of James Savage Esq. / Boston. Mass / U.S.A.
  [postmarked:] NEW-YORK / SHIP / [JAN] 12
  [postmarked:] [illegible]
 [endorsed:] Forwarded by [illegible] Sow. / Paris. Wallad & CO.
   Paris. Dec 19th 1835. ---
 My dearest Sue,
  I am afraid you have been very much disappointed not hearing from me by the 2 last packets, but I knew you would hear of our safe arrival from any quarter & till we reached Paris there was little else to inform you of.  We had quite a short passage, properly only 19 days, but we were, provokingly becalmed 2 days in the Channel after the Pilot was on board.  We had very little pleasant weather & a gale for 14 days which pitched us about in a style unkenned by sober landsmen & sufficiently woeful at any time, but we proved ourselves famous sailors, not experiencing a touch of mal de mer, which the Captain thought truly astonishing.  He, by the way, was excessively kind & amusing & was quite a beau for us, assisting us much in nautical phrases &c, so that we became perfectly initiated in the mysteries of that wonderful thing – a ship.  The passengers were not particularly interesting, but we had many merry scenes, & found a voyage across the Atlantic to be a very slight affair, after all.  It seems, so much more natural to be on land, tho’ every thing is new & strange, of course, that we cannot realize we were so long on the sea: heartily rejoiced we were, I assure you, to greet ‘terra firma’ – it is worth while to go on the great Deep to find out how much you are attached to old Mother Earth  But what am I writing about this for so lengthily when I have this great Babel around me to talk about.  The [p. 2] fact is, my dear, my wits are nearly crazed with all I have done & seen for the last fortnight.  You can have no idea of the excitement the first sight of land produces – (& such a land!)  Havre is too the most picturesque place I ever saw & every house, donkey, woman & child seemed just stepped out of a picture.  We came from there [crossed out] by the way of Rouen, where we remained a day, which was a spear of excitement & delight to me in seeing two of the oldest & finest Cathedrals in France, & the spot where my favorite heroine Jeanne d’Arc was burnt!  The beauty of the country, tho’ leafless & desolate, the picturesque thatched cottages & exquisite churches, the beautiful paysannes, with their rosy cheeks (for such a healthy face look the French) & Norman caps, all kept up this excitement which we are still too fresh travellers to have much diminished.  We entered Paris in most freezing weather, & found at first rather uncomfortable accomadations [sic], & were, actually, for the first day or so, pretty considerably home-sick!  So important is it to peep through the loop-hole of comfort even on such a world of delight as this.  We are now in charming apartments, in the most fashionable street (Rue Rivoli) with the Tuileries before us, Y& are getting to feel quite at home.  We hear such appalling accounts of the cold at the South that we are entirely discouraged from undertaking the long journey thitherward, & shall stay here at least a month, now.  It seems as if our climate was truly loth to part with us, as we have suffered quite as much from the cold here, as in America, as yet, & the Tuileries are at this moment covered with snow!  With so much time before us [p. 3] we have not done much sight-seeing, our time having been chiefly occupied in shopping, returning calls & driving about the streets.  We were rather disappointed in the gaiety of Paris, but the Spring is the time for that, probably.  I took a peep the other day into the Louvre, & was really bewildered with that 1/4th of a mile of glorious pictures at this first coup d’oeil.  I shall use it up, gradually, & a month will, apparently, hardly accomplish it.  We make discoveries of new-worlds at every step, like Columbus!  The other night we went to the Italian Opera to hear Grisi, as Mrs Wiggin insisted upon it, as a matter of course.  Imagine the effects of a first real opera, for I cannot describe [crossed out: them] it to you. Grisi is now unrivalled, & such a voice!  I can compare it to nothing but a torch of melody shaken in the air.  She is so beautiful too, & acted this fine character of Norma with great tragic power.  We saw several pretty ladies there, but none so excessively distinguée as we suppose to be models for the “Courrier des Dames” &c!  Truly I have a very good opinion of American style & fashion for there is nothing new here, in the way of costume, except the exquisite nicety & freshness of their apparell.  Long dresses & enormous bonnetts still continue, which, with large bishop sleeves & cloaks give a considerably portly appearance to the damoiselles.  They dress much more for comfort than I supposed tho’ they walk very little except in the splendid avenue of the Tuileries.  English abound excessively & mustachioed Pelhamites swarm in every direction.  It is the most amusing thing to walk in the Palais Royal which is a sort of arcade – a square of the most magnificent shops & cafés in Paris, each side about the length of Beacon St. & where the brilliancy in the evening carries me into the “Arabian nights” splendors as by magic & see every variety of costume from the pretty tasteful grisettes to the stalking grenadiers & exquisites of ever nation.
 [p. 4 bottom] We drank tea (suitably!) last night with Lady Duff (Aunt to the Inglis) & found her a very fine dame evidently extremely attached to them & delighted to hear from their friends about their situation.  She says “You can have no idea what a degradation it is for them & with what strength of mind they have borne it,” &c.  I have just returned (Sunday) from a most impressive service at a fine Church where ½ a dozen Duchesses & Countesses stood at the portals to receive contributions, in pretty embroidered sacs, for the sufferers [p. 4 top] in a tremendous fire, recently occurred.  An eloquent sermon, the mysterious effect of the hidden choir, the soldiers prostrating with every other before the sacristan’s bell &c made it very exciting.  I am ashamed to write you on such villainous paper but I seized the first I could find & am writing as if by steam!  Do not be disappointed if you do not hear from me very regularly, for as some old lady says: “The days are so short & the nights are nothing at all” & spare moments are [crossed out: so] very rare.  Write however to me, dearest, whenever [p. 1 cross] you can, & doubt not the hearty welcome I shall give even a few lines if all Boston’s gossip & scandal can inspire no more.  My love to Mary & to whoever inquires with interest after the runway.
  Fan.
  Mary begs to be remembered.  Good bye my darling.  Think of me, when “happy new Year” comes”!

• Keywords: correspondence; frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; france; paris; travel; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1835 (1011/002.001-005); (LONG-FileUnitName)