Chopin to Franchomme; Edinburgh, August 6 [1848].  Calder
  House, August 11:—­

Very dear friend,—­I do not know what to say.  The best, it seems to me, is not even to attempt to console you for the loss of your father.  I know your grief—­time itself assuages little such sorrows.  I left London a few days ago.  I made the journey to Edinburgh (407 miles) in twelve hours.  After having taken a day’s rest in Edinburgh, I went to Calder House, twelve miles from Edinburgh, the mansion of Lord Torphichen, brother-in-law of Madame Erskine, where I expect to remain till the end of the month and to rest after my great doings in London.  I gave two matinees, which it appears have given pleasure, but which, for all that, did not the less bore me.  Without them, however, I do not know how I could have passed three months in this dear London, with large apartments (absolutely necessary), carriage, and valet.  My health is not altogether bad, but I become more feeble, and the air here does not yet agree with me.  Miss Stirling was going to write to you from London, and asks me to beg you to excuse her.  The fact is that these ladies had many preparations to make before their journey to Scotland, where they intend to remain some months.  There is in Edinburgh a pupil of yours, Mr. Drechsler, I believe.

[Footnote:  Louis Drechsler (son of the Dessau violoncellist Carl Drechsler and uncle of the Edinburgh violoncellist and conductor Carl Drechsler Hamilton), who came to Edinburgh in August, 1841, and died there on June 25,1860.  From an obituary notice in a local paper I gather that he studied under Franchomme in 1845.]

He came to see me in London; he appeared to me a fine young fellow, and he loves you much.  He plays duets [fait de la musique] with a great lady of this country, Lady Murray, one of my sexagenarian pupils in London, to whom I have also promised a visit in her beautiful mansion. [Footnote:  The wife of Lord (Sir John Archibald) Murray, I think.  At any rate, this lady was very musical and in the habit of playing with Louis Drechsler.] But I do not know how I shall do it, for I have promised to be in Manchester on the 28th of August to play at a concert for 60 pounds.  Neukomm is there, and, provided that he does not improvise on the same day [et pourvu qu’il ne m’improvise pas le meme jour], I reckon on earning my 60 francs [he means, of course, “60 pounds"].

[Footnote:  Thinking that this remark had some hidden meaning, I applied to Franchomme for an explanation; but he wrote to me as follows:  “Chopin trouvait que Neukomm etait un musicien ennuyeux, et il lui etait desagreable de penser que Neukomm pourrait improviser dans le concert dans lequel il devrait jouer.”]

After that I don’t know what will become of me.  I should like very much if they were to give me a pension for life for having composed