h would always have
been agreeable when common sense held the place of less brilliancy.
Madame Sandwich will preserve her mental force after losing her
youth, at least I think so.

Adieu, my friend. When you see Madame Sandwich, remember me to her, I
should be very sorry to have her forget me.

XII

Saint-Evremond to Ninon de l'Enclos

Age Has Some Consolations

It gives me a lively pleasure to see young people, handsome and
expanding like flowers; fit to please, and able to sincerely affect an
old heart like mine. As there has always been a strong similarity
between your tastes, your inclinations, your sentiments, and mine, I
think you will be pleased to receive a young Chevalier who is
attractive to all our ladies. He is the Duke of Saint Albans, whom I
have begged to pay you a visit, as much in his own interests as in
yours.

Is there any one of your friends like de Tallard, imbued with the
spirit of our age, to whom I can be of any service? If so, command me.
Give me some news of our old friend de Gourville. I presume he is
prosperous in his affairs; if his health is poor I shall be very
sorry.

Doctor Morelli, my particular friend, accompanies the Countess of
Sandwich, who goes to France for her health. The late Count Rochester,
father of Madame Sandwich, had more spirit than any man in England,
but Madame Sandwich has more than her father. She is generous and
spirituelle, and as amiable as she is generous and spirituelle. These
are a portion of her qualities. But, I have more to say about the
physician than about the invalid.

Seven cities, as you know, dispute among themselves, the birth place
of Homer; seven great nations are quarrelling over Morelli: India,
Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Turkey, Italy, and Spain. The cold countries,
even the temperate ones, France, England and Germany, make no
pretensions. He is acquainted with every language and speaks the most
of them. His style, elevated, grand and figurative, leads me to
believe that he is of Oriental origin, and that he has absorbed what
he found good among the Europeans. He is passionately fond of music,
wild over poetry, inquisitive about paintings, a connoisseur in
everything--I cannot remember all. He has friends who know
architecture, and though skilled in his own profession, he is an adept
in others.

I pray you to give him opportunities to become acquainted with all
your illustrious friends. If you make him yours, I shall consider him