European interiors, in comparison, seem musty and gritty. We have a
great deal of taste; I shouldn't wonder if we should end by
inventing something pretty; we only need a little time. Of course,
as yet, it's all imitation, except, by the way, these piazzas. I am
sitting on one now; I am writing to you with my portfolio on my
knees. This broad light loggia surrounds the house with a movement
as free as the expanded wings of a bird, and the wandering airs come
up from the deep sea, which murmurs on the rocks at the end of the
lawn. Newport is more charming even than you remember it; like
everything else over here, it has improved. It is very exquisite
today; it is, indeed, I think, in all the world, the only exquisite
watering-place, for I detest the whole genus. The crowd has left it
now, which makes it all the better, though plenty of talkers remain
in these large, light, luxurious houses, which are planted with a
kind of Dutch definiteness all over the green carpet of the cliff.
This carpet is very neatly laid and wonderfully well swept, and the
sea, just at hand, is capable of prodigies of blue. Here and there
a pretty woman strolls over one of the lawns, which all touch each
other, you know, without hedges or fences; the light looks intense
as it plays upon her brilliant dress; her large parasol shines like
a silver dome. The long lines of the far shores are soft and pure,
though they are places that one hasn't the least desire to visit.
Altogether the effect is very delicate, and anything that is
delicate counts immensely over here; for delicacy, I think, is as
rare as coarseness. I am talking to you of the sea, however,
without having told you a word of my voyage. It was very
comfortable and amusing; I should like to take another next month.
You know I am almost offensively well at sea--that I breast the
weather and brave the storm. We had no storm fortunately, and I had
brought with me a supply of light literature; so I passed nine days