ot be able to
see any of the 'lions' of the place. If I am three days
following in this state after I get to Cauterets, you will have
me back again with you by the end of the month."

One would suppose that after this gentle hint our abbe would be more
prudent; not a bit of it. In the same letter he adds:--

"The dinner-table yesterday was covered with sardines. At the
very first start I eat six in as many mouthfuls--a truly
delicious _morceau_; despite my _kermes_, I reckon upon eating
as many to-day, along with my two ortolans. We leave to-morrow,
and on Wednesday we shall reach Cauterets."

Thus, ill on the 11th in consequence of a monstrous supper taken on the
10th, we find him, for all that, on the following day devouring sardines
by the half-dozen, and ortolans again! On the 18th he writes from
Cauterets to his friend Favart:--

"I arrived yesterday in good health, but have slept badly,
because the house in which I lodge is situated over a torrent,
which makes a frightful noise. This country I can only compare
to an icy horror, like the tragedy of _Teree_."

Twelve days afterwards, Voisenon writes to Madame Favart:--

"Madame de Choiseul's uncle, who paid you so many compliments
in the green-room, arrived yesterday: he lodges in the same
house with me.... I introduced him this morning into one of the
best houses in Cauterets--indeed the very best house--where, I
must confess, I myself spend three parts of the entire day; in
a word, it is the pastry-cook's. This learned individual
compounds admirable tartlets, as well as some little cakes of
singular lightness; but above all, certain delicious little
puffs composed of cream and millet-flour, which he calls
_millassons_. I stuff them all day long. This makes the waters
turn sour on my stomach, and myself turn very yellow; but I am
tolerably well notwithstanding."

This gormandizing Abbe de Voisenon, ever hanging, as it were, between
_pates_ and his grave, becomes now a rather interesting subject of
study. We begin to speculate upon what it is that will finally carry him
off: his asthma, or the confectionary he daily swallows.

He writes to Favart:--

"I bathe every morning, and during this operation I bear a
striking resemblance to a match dipped in sulphur. I keep my
health, however, tolerably well, though still suffering