LETTER XII. 



Thk learned, who have invented so many words, ought to 

 have imagined some that might give lis an exact idea of' 

 colours and their shades. I confess that this embarrasses me 

 more than anything else in the account of my journey. 

 There are but very few words to designate colours, and even 

 they are taken at hazard from ideas that are very far removed 

 from each other. This annoys me the more, because colours 

 have for me harmonies as ravishing as those of music, because 

 they awaken in my mind thoughts perfectly strict and indi- 

 vidual, and their influence acts powerfully on my imagination. 



I was once put in prison ; well, the walls themselves were 

 not half so disagreeable to me as a certain chocolate colour 

 with which they were clothed ; I recognised, to a certain 

 point, the right which society has to put a man in prison, 

 but I could not admit the right of surroimding him with this 

 horrible colour. 



One of the things most disagreeable to me in travelling, 

 is the manner in which the chambers of inns are decorated : 

 yellow curtains and red fringe, chairs with red covers and 

 yellow fringe ; these colours so generally and so barbarously 



