FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

as much for the grandeur as for the beauty. I live in a pretty house in the country scarcely
half a league from town, and the distance is so short that I pass all my evenings there,
returning home about ten. <strong>The</strong> society is not extensive. <strong>The</strong>y are limited to two or three
houses, but if I had chosen them myself I could not desire them to be more agreeable or
congenial to my character. We meet every day and we often play or dance as best suits
our taste.
<strong>The</strong> marriage of Fauchette [nickname of Francoise Jolly de Pontcadeuc (1775-1844),
sister of Jean Baptiste; she married Louis Florient Thierry (1776-1838)] which took place
with me [in attendance?] has been celebrated by all our little society and I took great
pleasure in it. Even my husband agrees with that sentiment, and if fortune comes to us
soon, we will have nothing else to desire. He is now pursuing an undertaking, and if it
succeeds, he will go to the fete of peace in Paris, and also do some business there. From
there he will go to Orleans and Lyons. <strong>The</strong>n he will return here to continue our work,
which consists of buying linen cloths, different kinds of yarn, linen threads, and cotton
…. of all kinds and ….. that is manufactured in the country; but not by the peasants, who
do not make this kind of goods. We then have the goods bleached at the bleaching fields
in our town, and ship them to different places where we have correspondents, for our own
account, or for theirs.
We cannot complain about our beginnings [in this business]. <strong>The</strong> first year we nearly
covered our expenses, and our charges were considerable, due to the trips my husband
was obliged to make, rather than what we had to do here. Here we arranged for a
warehouse, bought a horse and press, etc. I flatter myself, my good friend, that at the end
of the next year we will be able to put something aside.
How I long to see you, my very good friend, established in a like manner, and with the
same hopes that we have at this time. You know my heart and will be sponsor [?] for that
of my husband. <strong>The</strong> thing that distresses me is our isolation, for we have but few
acquaintances in our business and no protection.
I cannot tell you anything of my sisters. Fauchette has certainly told you all about her
husband and her household. You know all about Eugenie [Eugenie Marie Florian de
Pontcadeuc (1768—aft 1843), sister of Jean Baptiste], and there only remains enough of
this paper for me to assure you that nothing equals the tenderness which I have for you
all.
Magdalaine
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