| Description | [Diary Transcription]
2
1838
August
@
off home again at 5 20/.. and at home at 7 1/4 — walked all the way to just through Villenave then
mounted and rode the rest of the way home — copied and sent off my letter written this morning (vide last page)
Sent it off at 8 — dinner at 7 50/.. — came to my room at 8 3/4 very fine clear day Fahrenheit 66 1/2°
now at 9 1/4 p.m. Had A [Ann] one hour last night the last half in bed she nothing loth
and had a kiss pretty good one till ten and three quarters then washed ~
Tuesday 28
8 1/2
1 10/..
N
V
V
: very fine morning — up at 7 10/.. but went to bed again — note from Madame Gassie, very civil,
brought by special messenger to say that A- [Ann] could not have le bain Dassieu no. [number] 16 pour sept heures du matin —
the hours of 6 and 7 taken recently by ladies who would stay the greater part of next month —
but the hour of 8 a.m. would be at liberty on the 1st of next month — Should her (Madame Gassie’s) gendre Monsieur Soisson take this
hour for A- [Ann]? some time with A- [Ann] determined to ride over to Barèges this morning —
went to bed again at 8 for 1/2 hour — breakfast at 9 1/2 and had Mr. Flamant and read
the newspaper till 11 1/4 — Mr. Flamant would let me have as many napoleons as I wanted —
I said 20 would be enough — would be glad of our taking his apartment vacant at Barèges
at the hotel de France — his 1/2 the house private — the other 1/2 the hotel and the restaurant belonging to his
brother — we should not disagree about price — wanted me to say what I would give —
I declined this — and he said would I give 1/2 what we paid at present i.e. 15 ÷ 2 = 7/50
per day — to which I agreed — A- [Ann] and I off to Barèges at 11 40/.. and alighted at the
Hotel de France at 1 1/2 — Sent for Mr. Pagès, inspecteur des bains — A- [Ann] gave
him Dr. Double’s ordonnance to read — Mr. Pagès observed that all Dr. Double’s ordonnances
were alike — he did not know Barèges — had not been here — there are but
three douches here, and not one of them of the water of the bains Dassieu —
of which water there is only one bath — Pagès said he would mention this to Dr. Double
when he saw (It seems Pagès spends the winters in Paris — was an Élève of
Magendie’s) — A- [Ann] said she had 4 baths to take at St. Sauveur — Pagès said she
had better make out the no. [number] at Barèges, and come as immediately as possible as she had
not a day to lose — indeed she had already lost time at St. Sauveur 15 baths there
would have been quite enough — she ought to have been at Barèges all this month
the season closes on the 30th September on that day ou ôte les clefs — and
before that time the weather is often cold — for fear of cold blasts or airs
everybody here is carried to and from the baths en chaise à porteur; and it
mattered not whether A- [Ann] was at the bath end of the town or other, and
[margin text:] Barèges season
closes 30 September
3
1838
August
Vc
price was only four sols — A- [Ann] preferred and Pagès recommended 5 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.
so A- [Ann] enregistrée for five a.m. à dater du premier de September — the baths
1/. each — A- [Ann] to pay from 1 September whether here or not; but Pagès so urgently recommended
her coming as immediately as possible, even if she could but take one or 2 baths before giving
them up for a few days, that we told the people to have all ready for us tomorrow
and determined to arrive in time for dinner — we had thought that A- [Ann] could perhaps bathe
at St. Sauveur tomorrow and Thursday and that we could be off to Eaux bonnes and Eaux chaudes
on Saturday — Mr. Pagès did not stay more than 10 minutes — left A- [Ann] at the hotel and I went to Madame
Gassie to thank her for her note and say we had determined to come tomorrow sat 1/2 hour with
Madame Gassie — her son-in-law Mr. Soisson not at home — had been in the army — off home at
2 50/.. — I walked from 3 1/2 to 3 55/.. — home at 4 1/4 — dinner at 7 — Had Mr. Fabas inspecteur
des bains de St. Sauveur 1/2 hour till 9 40/.. — Talked over my Vignemale ascent and our little
Excursion in Spain — Mr. Fabas dined chez le prince de la Moscawa on the day of his return from the
Vignemale and he the prince was so tired he could hardly stir — Gave Mr. Fabas 50/. (ten five-franc pieces)
for his about 1/2 dozen visits — better paid probably than usual — he seemed well satisfied — settled with
Josephine, and at accounts till 12 at which hour Fahrenheit 70 1/2° — very fine day — On returning
home Josephine observed a spot of monsieur on A’s [Ann] petticoat he had come
while we were out without A’s [Ann] ssuspecting it what a pity we did not know before and
then we needed not have left here tomorrow ~
Wednesday 29
7 1/4
9 50/..
V
packing portmanteau — had A- [Ann] breakfast at 9 1/2 and reading the newspaper (Galignani’s Messenger)
till 11 1/4 then looking over newspapers — Thursday and Friday 14 and 15 June wanting — packing etc. etc.
off from St. Sauveur, de chez Germain Comera, maison Lamarque, at 4 — A- [Ann] and I
on horseback with our 2 guides followed by the 2 servants with the carriage drawn by four of
Mr. Flamant’s horses driven by 2 men en postillon — A- [Ann] very sorry to [leave] St Sauveur
had really been in tears in the morning and taken a melancholy leave of her little favourite morning walk
behind the house — we had the carriage pretty close behind till some distance from Luz, — some distance
past the village of Esterre when the road becoming steep, the 2 men dismounted and the carriage came the
rest of the way at a slow foot’s pace, so that even our slow riding brought us to the hotel de
France à Frarège, ten minutes before the carriage — we arriving at 5 35/.. and the carriage at 5 3/4 —
A- [Ann] very poorly — sent for Mr. Pagès who came at 7 5/.. for 5 minutes — ordered A- [Ann] to bed — to
take nothing [but] soup at dinner (and even of that she could not take more than a spoonful) to drink Eau de
Tilleul — have hot water put to her feet and a cataplasm (hot pâte poultice)
applied to her stomach — dinner at 7 1/2 while A- [Ann] lie on the sofa or sofa-bed by me — made
tea for her of which she took one cup (tasse — large cup) instead of Eau de Tilleul and went to bed at 8 1/2 —
8 1/2 — very fine day. Fahrenheit 63 1/2° now at 8 35/.. —
[margin text:] Leave St. Sauveur
arrive at Barèges
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