illustrates the advantage of marrying judiciously. One of the candidates announced himself as "Monsieur Mounier époux Jorden," the Jordens I presume, are, in modern slang, "tremendous swells."
From Cannes I went to Mentone.
Mentone, France, February 4, 1875.Your December letter was a great pleasure to me. The success of the mathematician was like a flask of Möet, and I was much gratified by the pains you all took to make young H—— at home. You could not have done me a greater pleasure.
The "picturesque dodge" in begging, here at present, is a grey and sombre Monsieur, who announces himself as "un pauvre Alsatien, qui a été riche; Mais—Bismarck," &c. The number of French beggars surprised me; there surely used to be few or none in the days when we were gipsying, a long time ago.
I do not altogether escape indigestion, principally because I do not take exercise enough, though it is only a morning walk into Italy, across a stream, where you could scarcely wash your hands. Everything is very dear at present in France, and it is a common saying among the visitors, that we are paying the German subsidy!
From Mentone I went to Monte Carlo.
While I was at Mentone and Monte Carlo, Summers, the sculptor, came to take some sittings for my bust, and in obtaining suitable clay for him I came upon some facts of singular interest for my scheme of planting southern industries in Victoria. The maitre d'hotel gave us an order for the clay on a little establishment within a short distance where there was a large manufactory of objets d'art. I found that the establishment was the private property of Madame Blanc, whose husband may be called the Prince of Monte Carlo, if the Prince of Darkness does not compete the title with him. She has also at hand a distillery of perfumes, made from the wild flowers of the Alps, which is popular throughout Europe. And this industry is pursued by a lady whose husband is richer than any squatter in Australia. He has recently married one of his daughters to Prince Radziwill, and she has carried a dowry of half a million sterling over the German frontier with her. What a pregnant fact for men who have leisure for half the year on Australian runs! Summers assures me that there is sculptor's clay in abundance in Moonee Ponds, which it would pay well to export to Europe.
In the spring I went to Paris.
For precise dates, for I rarely wrote my diary now, I must recur to my correspondence home.
