No, my lovely countess, I am dragging
on a tedious and uninteresting existence, spite of the
great and earnest endeavors of my good cousin and host
to provide for my enjoying the gaiety by which I am
surrounded; but, alas! amidst the many faces with
which his mansion is thronged, that one which is
dearest to me is wanting, and all becomes a blank
in my eyes; and I yawn with irrepressible weariness
in the midst of the glittering pageants given to
honor my arrival; and you may rest assured that I
shall hail with delight the termination of a visit,
which seems already to have swelled the period of
our separation into ages. I will not attempt to
conceal from you, that those who have good cause
to envy your supreme dominion over my heart, have
set every scheme in action to lead me even into a
temporary oblivion of you, but their attempts are
as vain as their impotent rivalry, and need cause
no uneasiness to you, my beloved friend. I
frequently smile at the vast pains and precautions of
which my '
' is the object; and I am
encountering '' some of
those fair ladies who would fain usurp your place,
sometimes bedecked with jewels rare, and sometimes,
as Racine says,
"<------ dans le simple appareil
D'une beaute, qu'on vient d'arracher au sommeil.>'
"Madame de Grammont, for instance, takes an infinity of
trouble respecting my choice of your successor, which
she is resolved shall be either herself or one of her
choosing.
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