Dear Millicient,

Thank you for information about proper church etiquette; it was helpful this weekend when I attended church with my new friend Marquis Auguste Baptiste de Fines.

My dear friend the Marquis is a good host and a charming companion. He is talented and plays the harpsichord very well. We spend time dancing in his home and having tea in the garden with his cat. Something has come over my friend as of late, and it concerns me greatly. He drank some wine last night, a lot of wine, I believe, and he injured himself. His doctor seems to think that he should avoid the wine for some time, but what do country doctors know? All men require some relaxation to calm the mind and heart. I believe that one of his servants may be trying to poison him, so I took it upon myself to fasten lead strips inside the wine casks to test for poison. In a few weeks, if poison is present, the lead strips will be bubbly, crusty and white; if not, the wine is safe to drink. I have also left a small packet of mustum and sapa with his servants with instruction to blend these things into his drinks, should he request more wine. I have left the directions with the servants:

Put the mustum in leaden vessels and by boiling reduce it by a quarter, others by a third. But, before the mustum is poured into the boiling-vessels, it will be well that those which are made of lead should be coated inside with good oil and be well-rubbed, and that then the mustum should be put in....The vessels themselves in which the thickened and boiled-down must is boiled should be of lead rather than of brass; for, in the boiling, brazen vessels throw off copper rust and spoil the flavor of the preservative.... To make very sweet mustum , boil down to a third of its original volume.

I am confident that my friend will be well quite soon, as mustum is sweet and shall restore his vigour.

Give my regards to the little ones,

Love, Renonys