Étienne-Nicolas MÉHUL (1763-1817). L.A.S., Hyères February 18 [1817], to Joseph Daussoigne, "professeur à l'école royale de musique" in Paris; 3pages in-8, addressed (window mount). To his adopted son and pupil, to console him: "If you have wished for a child, I pity you from the bottom of my heart for the accident that has just befallen your wife; if not, this unfortunate event is one of the misfortunes we console ourselves with, when the mother is saved and is very young"; he wishes for the recovery of the dear patient's health. He certainly trusts his doctor: "but he was mistaken, like everyone else, about my great journey. He didn't see that I didn't have the strength to undertake it. Never have I been so weak, so disgusted, so overwhelmed, that two days after my arrival in Montpellier, this unbearable state made me wish to leave this city, the doctors agreed, and here I am in Hyères. The climate is milder than in Montpellier, but the winds are still too dry for my chest. My appetite is still very bad. I live on soups, so to speak. [...] every time I eat I'm crushed by the heaviness of my stomach". Then he recommends Daussoigne for an opera: "If you like Tasse very much, take him. Remember, however, that it is a serious and noble subject, and fear that this genre will put you in the class of savans at the first attempt"... Former Julien-Léopold Boilly (1796-1874) collection, with ink stamp of his initials on the address leaf. - Boilly sale, December 7-10, 1874, no. 708.