From H. E. Darwin to Emma Darwin 17 February 1870

Dear Mother—

I finished my last letter in a dismal spirit & I am afraid I can't open this in a much less so— Amy has got off the sick list more or less—but Godfrey has got on— He has caught cold—& I can't help feeling low as the ground. The rain continued hard till Monday when it became indermittent & we went about & saw some of the palaces & some of the queer old town—which was nice— Yesterday the sun shone for the 1^st. time in Genoa for, I believe, months—so we ordered a carriage & went off to the Pallavicioni gardens—it is about 6 miles off—but twas rather a tiring drive owing to the utter vileness of the roads—stiff sticky mud to the depth of 5 or 6 inches—& then no hard bottom so in fact it was more like a ploughed field than a road. They are a horrid brutal race & it isn't very nice to see them driving their mules along these roads. Certainly we are infinitely more humane I have seen a sight here no englishman w^d. stand—& it made me thank heaven I live in a land where there is a Cruelty Society. Godfrey said when he was here before he went down & interfered about something & found the man couldn't conceive what he meant— Well I'm not writing about a very cheerful subject—but I have such a difficulty in shaking off any very horrid sight. However it is no reason why I sh^d. torment you but I have had strength of mind not to speak to G. who didn't see. The Gardens themselves are rather a humbugging sight. The distant lights weren't pretty & the garden itself is a sort of Germane affair full of every conceivable kind of gimcrack—artificial lakes, cascades—ruined castles, temples to Flora, pagodas, & stalactitic caverns— It must have cost endless sums to make—it took us nearly 2 hours to see—the views ought to have been lovely, but weren't. The Pallavicioni family will soon be extinct if F. [Galton's] law holds good—for the only dau^r. & last survivor of the family has married an only son & they have one son I believe— Well I'm going to the post & bank so Goodbye for now. Well I've been to the post & picked up your [nicey] letter, which together with the day being very warm, & the clouds being higher, & Godfrey having liked his dinner have raised my spirits 20 degrees— I'm very glad the servants ball was so successful—but you made a great error in not going to see them, as Godfrey said it shows a shocking taint of Wedgwood [vim] in you—it was clearly the right thing for you to do according to our view. What a magnificent gentleman uncle Ras is— I hope you don't mean that George has not taken the £60 for other things. I thk tht w^d. be mean, not to put too fine a point on it—but he can't have done it—only your way of putting it is ambiguous— I'm v. glad old Ponts is as high as he can be. It w^d. have been nice if he'd been over Cardew— I suppose every body is skating in England. Reading abt the Cam being frozen makes me more contented with our weather— It is warm eno' today & Amy Marie & I have been a good trapse