Yours ever,

F. Liszt

July 23rd, 1845.

Kindest regards to Madame Belloni.--I enclose a few lines for
Benacci, which you will kindly give him.



47. To Madame Rondonneau at Sedan

[Autograph in the possession of M. Etienne Charavay in Paris.]

In spite of rain, snow, hail, and frost, here I am at last,
having reached the hotel of the Roman Emperor at Frankfort after
forty-eight hours' travelling, and I take the first opportunity
of telling you anew, though not for the last time, how much I
feel the charming and affectionate reception which you have given
me during my too short, and, unhappily for me, too unfortunate
stay at Sedan. Will you, dear Madame, be so kind as to be my
mouthpiece and special pleader to Madame Dumaitre, who has been
so uncommonly kind and cordial to me? Assuredly I could not
confide my cause (bad as it may be) to more delicate hands and to
a more persuasive eloquence, if eloquence only consists in
reality of "the art of saying the right thing, the whole of the
right thing, and nothing but the right thing," as La
Rochefoucauld defined it; a definition from which General Foy
drew a grand burst of eloquence--"The Charter, the whole Charter