, they would certainly have hurt the susceptibilities of
the natives, and would probably have exposed themselves to unpleasant
consequences. No inhabitable apartments were to be had in the town
itself, but in its neighbourhood a villa chanced to be vacant, and this
our party rented at once.

Madame Sand to Madame Marliani; Palma, November 14, 1838:--

I am leaving the town, and shall establish myself in the
country: I have a pretty furnished house, with a garden and a
magnificent view, for fifty francs per month. Besides, two
leagues from there I have a cell, that is to say, three rooms
and a garden full of oranges and lemons, for thirty-five
francs PER YEAR, in the large monastery of Valdemosa.

The furniture of the villa was indeed of the most primitive kind, and
the walls were only whitewashed, but the house was otherwise convenient,
well ventilated--in fact, too well ventilated--and above all beautifully
situated at the foot of rounded, fertile mountains, in the bosom of a
rich valley which was terminated by the yellow walls of Palma, the mass
of the cathedral, and the sparkling sea on the horizon.

Chopin to Fontana; Palma, November 15, 1838:--

[FOOTNOTE: Julius Fontana, born at Warsaw in 1810, studied music (at
the Warsaw Conservatoire under Elsner) as an amateur and law for his
profession; joined in 1830 the Polish insurrectionary army; left his
country after the failure of the insurrection; taught the piano in
London; played in 1835 several times with success in Paris; resided
there for some years; went in 1841 to Havannah; on account of the
climate, removed to New York; gave there concerts with Sivori; and
returned to Paris in 1850. This at least is the account we get of him
in Sowinski's "Les Musiciens polonais et slaves." Mr. A. J. Hipkins, who
became acquainted with Fontana during a stay which the latter made in
London in 1856 (May and early part of June), described him to me as "an
honourable and gentlemanly man." From the same informant I learned that
Fontana married a lady who had an income for life, and that by this
marriage he was enabled to retire from the active exercise of his
profession. Later on he became very deaf, and this great trouble was
followed by a still greater one, the death of his wife. Thus left deaf
and poor, he despaired, and, putting a pistol to one of his ears, blew
out his brains. According to Karasowski he died at Paris in 1870. The
compositions he published (dan