proper side of the river. The weather is at present beautiful, and the temperature of the air mild, so that my first impression is in favour of the place. Perhaps we exaggerated to ourselves the discomforts and exposure of the road over the Apennines by Bologna, when we decided, upon that consideration, to leave the high road, and come by Genoa. And we were misinformed a little at Turin, both as to the state of the Corniche, and as to the duration of a coasting voyage. Between these two, I hesitated a good deal at Genoa; and though my voyage proved much longer than was promised, I believe it is fortunate that we made that choice. Lord Carnarvon, with his young party, came by land, with mules and a portantine in case of accidents: they found it perfectly practicable in three days to Sarzanne; but they found no accommodation, scarcely shelter, at the places where they stopped for the night; the road ascends often. great heights, and brought them into very cold air; and there are parts of the road, he thinks, where the porteurs could not carry their load, but would be compelled to make him carry himself, and sometimes for a considerable way. We had bad weather during part of our voyage, that is, heavy rains and a swell of the sea; it was never cold, however; and what delayed us, was the want of a steady wind, the land breezes, which made the sea so beautiful to look at, being light and variable, on account of the height of the coast and the narrowness of the bay. I did not suffer from sickness, for I persevered in my horizontal recumbent posture all the six days. I cannot yet speak of any improvement in that oppression of my breath, which I dislike more than the cough, because it has never been explained to me by any of my physi cians; it is not getting worse, however, though just at present, while I am weaker, in consequence of my confinement at sea, I feel the inconvenience of any exertion more immediately. But now that rest is in my power, I mean to have absolute repose till I feel strong again, and probably in a week's time I shall be able to make a favourable report in all respects. I find there are some acquaintances of mine here, but I have not seen any of them yet, as going up stairs still incommodes me; and besides, I have a mind to practise the silence that was prescribed for me. I am planning what I shall read during the winter; my idea is, to go through some of the best authors of the country, and to keep myself, if I can, from the temptations of their minor literature. I have not yet been to the booksellers' shops, but I ascertained there was a pretty good one at Leghorn. Lord Lansdowne says he shall remain at Rome till after Christmas, and then go to Naples for a month or two. Dumont is in great force, and buys marbles. By the way, Lord Lansdowne, after very full inquiries about climates, wrote to me in the most decided terms, against my coming to Rome, and in favour of Pisa; and Lord King, who is very knowing in such matters, concurred with him in opinion against Rome. So that I have at present the satisfaction of believing that I have chosen for the best; at present, the air is delightful, and the sky blue without a cloud. Very affectionately yours, FRA. HORNER. LETTER CCXCIII. TO J. A. MURRAY, ESQ. My dear Murray, Pisa, Dec. 6th, 1816. I have never written to you, because I knew you would be made acquainted with all the accounts we sent to Charlotte Square, and because my health and my way of travelling left me no opportunity of learning any thing to tell. In crossing France, we came the road that I had the pleasure of travelling with you two years ago, through the Bourbonnais to Lyons; it is a bad road in point of travelling, but it leads through some pretty country, and I was particularly struck, indeed much more than I was the first time, with the beauty of that which lies between Mont Tarare and Lyons. Many of the places all along the way, and some of the wretched inns, revived in my mind very agreeably the particulars of that pleasant journey, some, probably, which would never have occurred again, but for this driving over the same ground. I felt a second time the regret of passing within a few miles of the Grande Chartreuse, without turning off to see it; and I could not help thinking it rather an odd accident, that I should be twice in my life at such a city as Turin, and both times too unwell to walk about and see it. We have written so amply and minutely on the subject of my health, that I have nothing new to say at present; the result is, that I am pretty much in the same state as when I left Scotland. I had a longer interval of relief from coughing nearly the last three weeks of the journey, than I had ever had; but I had hardly announced this when it came back, though not * His father's house in Edinburgh. — ED. so bad as before; I have, for the week we have been here, had a little of it almost every day. My weakness of breathing is not worse. Except for the first two or three days, we have had cold weather ever since we came here; an eager wind blowing from the north-east, the thermometer below the freezing point most nights, and not much above forty degrees at any time of the day. It would be delightful weather to enjoy in health and exercise, for the sky is beautiful, and even this air must be pleasant to those who can keep themselves warm; but it certainly is not what I came abroad for. They tell us it will change, and that we shall have a warmer temperature soon, for a long while together; but if I were not more anxious for rest and repose than any thing else, and if I did not place much confidence in the efficacy of mere tranquillity, I should regret that the lateness of the season would not allow me to seek warmth much farther south. If Naples does not give it, my conviction is, that it is not to be had in Italy. I have not yet, on account of this chilliness of the air, got into the way of taking exercise regularly; which was one thing I mainly relied on: I take a drive now and then in a close carriage, which always does me good, at least gives me spirits for the day; and I have a warm sunny walk in the street where I live, but it is not longer than the turn upon the quarter deck, for the first cross street is a funnel of cold air, and the mixture of beggars and of convicts in chains (who work in the streets) makes it sometimes too disagreeable to stay long. We have got very comfortable rooms in the best situation, having the sunshine from its rising, nearly all day: and, what consoles me for all other ill, I find I can read with as much enjoyment, and as much activity of mind, as at any former period of my life; indeed, this vaca tion from professional reading, and the entire liberty of study and reflection, almost brings back to me the days of youth, which the other circumstances of my condition seem to throw to such a distance. I have cast myself headlong into Italian literature, meaning, however, to confine myself to their first-rate authors among the historians and poets, and to resist all the temptations of their minor literature, as well as the idleness of their antiquities and art. At present, I am engaged with Dante and Machiavel; but, as I have felt before in other historical writers of this country, Machiavel makes me feel so much their want of heart, and all generous sentiment, that I have some symptoms of a sort of nostalgia, and am quite impatient for the arrival of a box of books at Leghorn, in which I put up Addison's Spectators, and Smith's Moral Sentiments. It gives me great pain to hear' such distressing accounts as are sent from England and Scotland of the scarcity, and the want of employment for the people. Their sufferings are, I fear, most severe, and will not admit of relief for months to come. In addition to other evils, we shall experience on this occasion one of the worst consequences of that sad job of the country gentlemen, the corn bill; for England will by its operation get no foreign grain till the prices are at the highest, and after all other countries have supplied their wants; and that means nearly all Europe. At Leghorn there is great activity in the corn trade, bringing wheat from the Levant and the Black Sea, the most from Alexandria: Leghorn is no doubt a port of deposit, where our merchants may still find it, when the declaration of the average at the end of the right number of months (such formal nonsense makes one angry at the words) shall apprise them that they may send out orders; but, |