From Thomas Archer Hirst   June 14th, 1857

26 Rue de Lacépède. Paris. | June 14^th. 1857

My dear John.

Your letter¹ closing definitively all further thought about the Museum of Irish Industry² was at any rate satisfactory For another year at any rate I am free and if the Gods are good to me I hope before the expiration of that time to be in a better position to offer myself as a candidate for any situation that may present itself. You will be surprised to hear that we have found lodgings in the Quartier Latin.³ It has not certainly the reputation of being a very healthy quarter but we met with a couple of rooms so pleasantly situated in the middle of a large and beautiful garden half way in a direct line between the Pantheon⁴ and the Jardin des Plantes⁵ that we were tempted to try, at least for a month, whether or not it would be suitable for Anna. We no longer keep house as at Pau,⁶ but are boarded and lodged for 100 francs each per month. It is in fact a ‘pension bourgeoise’⁷ occupied for the most part by Old maids, Old widows, Old Bachelors and old widowers, all french, with a sprinkling of English, Scotch, and Irish, and one or two steady students. We can either live apart from the rest and take our meals in our own rooms, or we can find company in the Salle à Manger⁸ and breakfast and dine at the Table d’hote.⁹ So far it appears to suit Anna very well, she cannot of course take her meals with the ‘locataires’,¹⁰ but in the Garden she has as much company as she pleases when my work takes me away from her. The ladies, and indeed every body, are very kind to her; she begins to chat in French with much greater ease, and altogether I think it suits her better than would the quiet solitude of an apartment of our own. She has at present a homeopathic doctor. She has strange faith in doctors, and to look to them for support and help has always been such a solace to her that, although I was myself without faith, I could not but agree to her consulting them frequently. Nevertheless, it was always a source of great anxiety to me to see them continually administering opiates and other strong drugs for merely temporary relief. I was not sorry, therefore, when after our arrival in Paris she expressed a wish to consult D^r Simon,¹¹ the homeopath,¹² of whose reputation she had heard much of from her french ladies in the garden. At any rate, I thought, his remedies will be less pernicious, and if he is a sensible man his consolation and advice will be equally beneficial to her. My anticipations proved correct; since we came to Paris she has left off all her opiates, for the first time for a year, and she is better rather than worse for so doing. Her cough and the distressing cholic,¹³ which it appears have one and the same origin, are decidedly better; no matter whether the improvement be due to the absence of allopathy¹⁴ or the effect of homeopathy I am heartily thankful for the change. Nevertheless, as I well knew, D^r Simon candidly tells me that he can do but little, he says her left lung is as good as destroyed, and her right lung in a very poor condition. And yet, worn as she is almost to a skeleton, it would surprise you, and make you sad too, to see with what tenacity she clings to life and the hope, almost amounting to certainty when she does not suffer, that by care she will grow a little stronger and not leave me yet. Before I have time to check the tears that will rise sometimes she detects them and the reaction on her is painful indeed. She no longer hopes to recover & I, of course, cannot now encourage such a hope, her sole hope is, as she says, to be a little better and stronger, and to be less a source of sorrow and anxiety to me; to be more to me like she once was. May God grant her wish; and may he also gently loosen the ties that bind her to life and me as the time approaches when she must leave both. But as usual I have allowed myself to think and write too much on this sad subject, and it will require some time before I can meet Anna again face to face she is so quick at detecting me. I see her in the garden chatting pleasantly to her neighbours.

I have called on Verdet and renewed my acquaintanceship with him. On the 15^th of next month he intends to start on a tour through London to Manchester¹⁵ and thence to Scotland. He wishes to know whether at that time he will find you in London. And in case of his not doing so I have promised him to ask you to send to me, for him, letters of introduction to Frankland, Forbes of Edinburgh (?) and any other people whom you think he would wish to know or who might be of service to him. He knows Thompson.¹⁶ My Trustees the other day sent me £100 it is more than I like to keep by me when I do not want it. I find by my notebook that I have more than £70 of yours so I was induced to get a draft for £50 which I enclose; very possibly I may some day ask for it again, but that time appears at present to be so far distant that I must ask you to consent to make use of what I have not the least necessity for at present. How are you? The first wet Sunday that stops you from your walk write me a letter. There’s a good fellow. When do you come to Paris?

Yours affectionately | T. A. Hirst

You did not say a word about the bill for £10 but of course it was presented.

RI MS JT/1/H/233