London, 20 September 1882 

My dear Laura, 

I hope Mohr got my short note of the 18th.* Today, though under 
difficulties, I must fulfil my word to you. Have worked all day till six, 
then dined, now it’s just nine, and so I am still a little under the influ- 
ence of digestion, and besides Percy” is sitting in the room but for- 
tunately has got hold of Joseph Andrews. ° 

Do I know Vevey? Why I was quartered there in September 
1849 973 for about a fortnight and know all the Swiss shore of the lake 
from Villeneuve to Geneva, the Dent du Midi and the Mont Blanc 
and all the rest. If 1 am not much mistaken we officers were quartered 
in your Hotel on the Quay. On the square under the trees, facing the 
lake, Willich used to exercise his two horses. 

I am only sorry you cannot even partially follow the route I made 

@ See previous letter.-° Rosher-° H. Fielding, The History of the Adventures of Joseph 
Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. 

out for you, * the Bernese Oberland in many respects beats the lake of 
Geneva hollow. But if Mohr is to try for a visit to England in Octo- 
ber, it will soon be time for you to leave the Alps. I do hope there will 
be no risk to him in trying to come. Otherwise it would be folly. But 
let the doctors decide, as also about his winter-resort. Only if he is to 
come he ought not to drive it too late. We have had fine but rather 
cold weather, especially night and morning; yesterday rain all day, 
today dry but mostly dull. By the way, Mohr’s statistics of the baro- 
meter” tally exactly with our experiences at the time at Yarmouth, 
only that we had a very wet day with the highest barometer, Tussy 
praying all the time for the stupid thing to fall again! 

As to the star-foaming wine, that quality is the exclusive property 
of Cortaillod— the other Neuchatel wines do not possess it as far as 
I know, nor are they so good. 

I wonder who got up that foolish story about Bebel.: The Co- 
logne Gazette‘ up to Friday last week* (date of the Paris papers that 
reported it) knows or at least tells nothing about it. The thing looks as 
if it was a canard concocted by Mehring and worked at Paris by 
Hirsch. I may be on the wrong scent, but I should not be at all as- 
tonished if it was so. Who else should have so quickly put in the 
Bataille and in the Citoyen a necrology, in which (in the Bataille at 
least) an o/d speech of Bebel’s was quoted that he was for lawful 
means exclusively? The fright we got was something awful. On Fri- 
day night two members of the Working Men’s Society Tottenham 
St. 297 came and asked me, was it true? That was the first I heard. 
Tussy had the Bataille with the article mentioned above same 
night; the silence of the Justice might be explained by Longuet’s ab- 
sence. Hunting up German papers in the cafés was useless; the nos 
that could contain anything would no longer lie on the tables on 
Saturday. At last, Tussy (not I) got her Sozialdemokrat on Saturday 
night, and that was not only silent, but stated that Bebel was fit to go 
out again. To lose Bebel would have been irreparable. Where to find 
such another head not only in Germany but anywhere else? Where 
such theoretical clearness, such practical tact, such quiet determina- 
tion among the younger generation? Well, it’s not true and the relief 
I felt when all doubt had disappeared, I cannot describe. 

I am also extremely glad that Jenny has got over her crisis and that 

* See this volume, pp. 318-19.-> Ibid., pp. 326-27.-° A reference to the false news of 
Bebel’s death.-* Kélnische Zeitung-° 15 September 

the result is the fulfilment of a wish long felt by many. *°° I believe 
she had a very hard time of it. No doubt Dourlen has provided her 
with someone to look after her, the people at 41 Maitland Park: 
make no doubt he has, and in that case the absence of the ‘creator’ 
might perhaps be a blessing. 

Little Pumpsia* has the chicken-pox and is very restless and takes 
at last to crying. The whole affair will be over in a few days and 
would not upset her so but for two pimples having come out on her 
tongue which, together with the coming of two teeth, make her 
mouth feel rather painful. Otherwise everything all well. 

Love from al] to yourself and Mohr and from yours affectionately, 

F. Engels 

Bernstein writes that “The Vicar of Bray’ *** has created a tre- 
mendous sensation. 

Tussy had written three times to Jenny, since her return here, up to 
last Sunday!