nt letters are on the whole more interesting than the Majorca
letters, and decidedly more varied as regards contents than those he
wrote from Marseilles--they tell us much more of the writer's tastes and
requirements, and even reveal something of his relationship to George
Sand. Chopin, it appears to me, did not take exactly the same view of
this relationship as the novelist. What will be read with most interest
are Chopin's directions as to the decoration and furnishing of his
rooms, the engagement of a valet, the ordering of clothes and a hat, the
taking of a house for George Sand, and certain remarks made en passant
on composers and other less-known people.

[I.]

...The best part of your letter is your address, which I had
already forgotten, and without which I do not know if I would
have answered you so soon; but the worst is the death of
Albrecht. [FOOTNOTE: See p.27 foot-note 7.]

You wish to know when I shall be back. When the misty and
rainy weather begins, for I must breathe fresh air.

Johnnie has left. I don't know if he asked you to forward to
me the letters from my parents should any arrive during his
absence and be sent to his usual address. Perhaps he thought
of it, perhaps not. I should be very sorry if any of them
miscarried. It is not long since I had a letter from home,
they will not write soon, and by this time he, who is so kind
and good, will be in good health and return.

I am composing here a Sonata in B flat minor, in which will be
the Funeral March which you have already. There is an allegro,
then a "Scherzo" in E flat minor, the "March," and a short
"Finale" of about three pages. The left hand unisono with the
right hand are gossiping [FOOTNOTE: "Lewa reka unisono z
prawa, ogaduja po Marszu."] after the March. I have a new
"Nocturne" in G major, which will go along with the Nocturne
in G minor, [FOOTNOTE: "Deux Nocturnes," Op.37.] if you
remember such a one.

You know that I have four new mazurkas: one from Palma in E
minor, three from here in B major, A flat major, and C sharp
minor. [FOOTNOTE: Quatre mazurkas, Op. 41.] They seem to me
pretty, as the youngest children usually do when the parents
grow old.

Otherwise I do nothing; I correct for myself the Parisian
edition of Bach; not only the stroke-makers' [FOOTNOTE: In
Polish strycharz, the usual meaning of which is "brickmaker."
Chopin may have played upon the word