Charles BAUDELAIRE (1821-1867). L.A.S. "Charles", November 7, 1837, to his mother Mme Aupick; 2pages in-8, addressed. Youthful letter to his mother. [Baudelaire was then a boarder at the Collège Louis-le-Grand]. "Maman, I wrote to you yesterday evening of wonders. Well, everything has changed. This morning I was prevented from getting up before the surgeon came. At last he came; I hoped it would be to deliver me; not at all. He and the doctor thought it was absurd to let me go back to school; that I was in a pitiful state, that I should be forbidden to go to class and work. All I could get was to compose today; but here I am in bed, and God knows until when. Those two old fools have found that I have watery dropsy on my knee, and for that they need compresses moistened with mineral water; what do I know! Here I am again, in bed, imprisoned, at the mercy of two executioners I'd like to strangle. From my cell, I can see a beautiful sky and rays of sunshine. Well, they've taken all that away from me, and I'm still bored, languishing, wasting my time; and all because they see dropsy, which I probably don't have. M. Choquet hasn't seen this dropsy. In truth, the faculty agrees with itself. I beg you, come and see me, at any time you like; but avoid 12 ½ p.m. so you don't have to cross the courtyard during recess, you might get knocked over. You could come and find me in the infirmary, as I'm in bed. Imagine that I've just learned that, despite my alleged dropsy, no treatment has been ordered for me: perhaps I'll get better; goodbye, have mercy on me". Correspondance (Pléiade), t.I, p.46.