Autograph letter signed : [Paris], to George Goodin Moulton-Barrett, [1851 December 4-5].

Sending news that Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte has declared a coup d'etat in France: "We all 'felt in the air' as Robert said, that something was coming, but how & when, nobody guessed, except it might be poor little [Adolphe] Thiers, who knew it as the snails do rain"; writing that they have been watching the events unfold from their window ("The president himself rode immediately past our windows through the great thunder of a shout"); mentioning that Victor Hugo is said to have distributed cards in the street declaring Bonaparte "hors de la loi" and therefore a mark for assassination; giving her opinions on the coup, of which she is generally in favor, though with some skepticism; describing the fighting going on near their lodgings; describing her son Pen and their maid Elizabeth Wilson's reactions to the coup; writing that she has stopped the letter and then picked it up the following day, to describe the greatly intensified fighting in the city: "[I]t turned me sick to hear the rounds of firing which reached us from distant boulevards. Poor mad people!--poor Paris--"; writing that there were rumors that General Castellane was marching on the city, which proved not to be true; telling George about the people they have met in Paris, including "Lady Elgin" (Mary Nisbet Ferguson), Mary Mohl, and Sarah Fitton, as well as the current difficulties in keeping up with social engagements: "People cant get at one & another in the evening without running risks. Last night we in vain expected the M. Milsand [Joseph Milsand] who wrote the review on Robert in the Revue des deux Mondes of the 15th of August... I hope he wasn't shot on the road--"; writing that they are soon to meet Major and Mrs. Carmichael-Smyth, and asking whether they are related to Sir James Carmichael; discussing her health and the weather ("They had a lovely soft air & glittering moon last night for cutting one another's throats"); telling George that Robert Browning has been occupied with hosting his father and sister and in writing an essay on Shelley; inviting George to come visit them in Paris; mentioning that Sarianna Browning has sent Arabella a daguerreotype of Pen.