The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays
THE SPECTATOR A NEW EDITION REPRODUCING THE ORIGINAL TEXT BOTH AS FIRST ISSUED AND AS CORRECTED BY ITS AUTHORS WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND INDEX BY HENRY MORLEY PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON IN THREE VOLUMES
his artist, in which were included books, drawing materials, fees,
etc. He was in constant terror lest he should be obliged to leave
Paris, to give up his investigations on the fossil fishes, and to
stop work on the costly plates he had begun. The truth about his
affairs, which he would gladly have concealed from those at home as
long as possible, was drawn from him by an accidental occurrence.
His brother had written to him for a certain book, and, failing to
receive it, inquired with some surprise why his commission was
neglected. Agassiz's next letter, about a month later than the one
to his uncle, gives the explanation.
TO HIS BROTHER.
PARIS, March, 1832.
. . .Here is the book for which you asked me,--price, 18 francs. I
shall be very sorry if it comes too late, but I could not help it
. . .In the first place I had not money enough to pay for it
without being left actually penniless. You can imagine that after
the fuel bill for the winter is paid, little remains for other
expenses out of my 200 francs a month, five louis of which are
always due to my companion. Far from having anything in advance, my
month's supply is thus taken up at once. . .Beside this cause of
delay, you can have no idea what it is to hunt for anything in Paris
when you are a stranger there. As I go out only in two or three
directions leading to my work, and might not otherwise leave my own
THE SPECTATOR A NEW EDITION REPRODUCING THE ORIGINAL TEXT BOTH AS FIRST ISSUED AND AS CORRECTED BY ITS AUTHORS WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND INDEX BY HENRY MORLEY PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON IN THREE VOLUMES