Biarritz Vacation and Romance with Nelly Boustead (1)

Biarritz Vacation and
Romance with Nelly

Boustead

( 1891 )

French Riviera To seek solace for
his

disappointments in
Madrid, Rizal took a

vacation in the
resort city of
Biarritz on the

fabulous
French Riviera.

He was a guest of the rich Boustead family at
its winter residence- Villa Eliada.

With the Bousteads in
Biarritz

·        
February 1891- Rizal arrived in

Biarritz.
 

He was warmly welcomed by the Bousteads,
particularly Mr. Boustead who had taken a great

liking for him because of his
remarkable talents.

As a family guest, he
was treated with
friendliness

and hospitality by Mrs.
Boustead, Adelina, Nellie,

and Aunt Isabel.

The one-month vacation in Biarritz
worked wonders for Rizal. His

sorrowing heat began to sing once
more with joy and his health improved

with remarkable swiftness

Writing from Biarritz to Mariano Ponce on
February 11 , 1891

Jose P. Rizal Said:

"I have put on much
weight since I arrived
here; my cheeks are no

longer shrunken as
before for the reason
that I go to bed early and

I have no cares.

Romance with
Nellie boustead

Biarritz, with its romantic gardens,
delightful villas, and panoramic beauties, is an ideal

setting for romance.
Rizal having lost his beloved Leonor came to entertain

considerable affection
for Nellie, the prettier and younger daughter of his

host. He found her a real
Filipina, highly intelligent, vivacious in temperament

and morally upright. He
wrote to his intimate friends, except Prof. Blumentritt,

of his love for
Nellie, also called Nelly, and his intention to propose

marriage to her.

Marcelo H. Del Pilar

As
early as on February 4, 1891,
M.H. del Pilar teased him about

changing the “o”
in Noli to an “e”, which means

Noli to Nelly.

ANTONIO NARCISO LUNA
DE SAN PEDRO Y NOVICIO

ANCHETA

        
Antonio Luna, who had

previously loved and
lost Nelly, encouraged Rizal

to woo and marry her.

From Madrid he, wrote to Rizal, saying:

“With
respect to Nelly, frankly, I think there is nothing between us more than one of
those friendships enlivened by being fellow countrymen. It seems to me that
that there is nothing more. My word of honor. I had been her fiancé, we wrote
to each other. I like her because I knew how worthy she was, but circumstances
beyond our control made all that happiness one cherished evaporated. She is
good; she is naturally endowed with qualities admirable in a young women and I
believed that she will bring happiness not only to you but to any other man who

is worthy of her. . .I congratulate you as one congratulates a friend.
Congratulations!”

·        
With the encouragement of his

close friends,
Rizal courted Nelly who, in turn,

reciprocated his affection.
Unfortunately,

their romance beneath the lovely
Biarritz moon did not have a
happy fairy tale
finale.

Unfortunately his marrige proposal failed for two
reasons.

He Refused to give up his catholic faith
and be a converted to protestant as
nelly demand.

Mother did not like rizal as a son-in-
law.

He Refused to give up his Catholic Faith be a converted to
protestant as nelly demand

·        
Nelly Boustead, being a good Protestant,
wanted Rizal to espouse Protestantism before their

marriage. Rizal, being a man
of firm conviction, refused. Although he became a Mason,

he remained loyal to
the Catholic religion, the faith of his clan. Years later, when

he was living
in exile in Dapitan, he refuted Father Pablo Pastells’

accusation that he was
Protestant as follows:

“As to
being a Protestant. . . If Your Reverence only

knew what I had lost for not
accepting Protestantism, you would not say such

thing. Had I not always
respected the religious idea, had I held religion as

a matter of convenience or
an art getting along in this life, instead of being a

poor exile, I would now
be a rich man, free, and covered with honors.”

Nelly Boustead Mother did not
like rizal as a son-in-law.

·        
Nelly’s mother, like the mother of Leonor
Rivera, had no wish to entrust her daughter’s happiness to a

man who was poor
in material things, a physician without a paying clientele, a

writer who earned
nothing from his pen, and a reformer who was persecuted by

the friars and the
government officials in his own country.

Although they did not get married,
They parted as good friends. When
rizal left europe, nelly sent him farewell

letters, saying:

El Filibusterismo
Finished Biarritz

·        
Frustrated in romance, Rizal found
consolation in writing. While wooing Nellie and

enjoying so “many magnificent
moonlight nights” with her, he kept working on his

second novel which he began
to write in Calamba in 1887.

On March 29, 1891 the eve of his departure
from Biarritz to Paris he finished the

manuscript of EL FILIBUSTERISMO and wrote
a letter to Bluementritt.

In a letter to Bluemetritt announcing
the Publication of the book.

“I have finished my book! Oh, no, I have
not written in it my idea of revenge against
my enemies but only what is for the good of

those who are suffering, for the rights of
the Tagalog race, though brown and may
not have good features! Surely, I will leave
tomorrow for Paris, and from there I don’t

know where I am going.”

In dedicating the book to the memory of the
Fathers Mariano Gomes y De Los Angeles,

Jacinto Zamora, and Jose A. Burgos who had
been unjustly executed on February 17,1872

Rizal wrote:

In so far, therefore, as your complicity in the cavite
mutiny is not clearly proved, as you may or may not have
been patriots, and liberty, I have the right to dedicate my

work to you as victims of the evil which I undertake to
combat . And while we await expectantly swerable for
your death, let these pages serve as a tardy wreath of
dried leaves over your unknown tombs, and let it be
understood that every one who without clear proofs
attacks your memory stains his hands in your blood.

To paris and back to brussels

As he had written to Blumentritt. Rizal
bade a a farewell to to his friendly

Bousteads and his family on march 30,
1891 and proceed to paris by train and
stayed on his friend Valentine Ventura.

Valentin Hocorma Ventura y

Bautista

Valentin Ventura was a
reformist during the

revolutionary period. He
was the one who financed

the publication of Jose
Rizal's El Filibusterismo.

Jose Maria Basa

He was Rizal's Friend
whom he asked to

advancen of the first
class steamers ticket

from europe to
hongkong

Retirement from the Propaganda Movement

Rizal retired from the Propaganda
Movement. He decided to publish his
second novel, to practise his medical

profession and when he became
financially independent, he expected to
make more vigorous campaign for his

country's redemption.

May 1, 1891 he notified Propaganda Authorities
in Manila to cancel his monthly allowance and
devote the money to some better cause such
as education of the young Filipino student in

Europe.

Rizal stopped writing for
LA SOLIDARIDA

Marcelo H. Del Pilar

He realized that Rizal's
Collaboration was

essentials because the
reform was declining
with that, his help was

very much needed
because Rizal is one of
the main contributors

in La Solidaridad.

He wrote Rizal a letter telling him to put
aside any of his resentments and continue

their reforms and mission.

Rizal wrote back to Marcelo H. Del Pilar and
told him 3 Reason