TALBOT933

N. B. Letter 3^d

Milan, Numero 4107
24^th July 1821

Un tems [sic] vraiment magnifique. ¹ A truly Italian sky all day. Italy is the place to live in, where you get figs & peaches to cool your thirst, instead of the snow, [illegible deletion] which I eat [sic] on the Gemmi. Tho’ it must be confessed that in such a desert & savage spot as that is, where nothing else is to be found, it is some consolation under a vertical July sun to have the ground spread with the purest snow, which you may eat gratis, & without much danger of exhausting the supply. I went today to the top of the cathedral, ² the view of the Alps (very distant) is magnificent – I distinguished the Finster Aarhorn, rising boldly above all the surrounding ones, so. [illustration] Of course the nearer ones appear the higher, but making due allowance for the distance, this mountain must be prodigiously high. In front of you is M^t Rosa a prodigiously fine & lofty mass of snow. The Matterhorn I could not see, which surprized me as it appeared so very high when seen from the Gemmi. Perhaps it was hidden by M^t Rosa. Mont Blanc was also invisible, I suppose it is too far – An immense peak to the west I took for it, but it was the Monte Viso – I don’t know when I shall get a sight of Mont Blanc. The Jungfrau, Eiger &c were discernible but only their peaks: their bases being hidden by the nearer mountains: hence they by no means presented so fine an appearance as the Finster Aarhorn –

A huge snowy mountain in the east is supposed to be the Ortler Spitz in the Tyrol. Milan is full of Austrian soldiers in white uniforms, & Tyrolese in red & green. – I shall not tell you about the museums & things, as you will see them when you come yourself. Besides I have not seen a quarter, but keep the rest for another time. In a manuscript Virgil in the library, is a note in Petrarch’s ³ handwriting, mentioning in Latin the day when he first saw Laura; ⁴ & when he heard of her death. In the same library is the celebrated Homer discovered 3 or 4 years ago among the dusty old manuscripts. It was written in the 2^d century; & you see in it, in what sort of editions Virgil & Horace ⁵ used to read Homer. It is a clear & large hand; wonderfully different from the small & illegible character in which the later manuscripts are written. – I like Milan, the inn is good, & the people are civil. It has the air of a capital; I shall be glad to pass through it again – How much the weather alters the appearance of a country: the pass of the Gemmi, tho’ infinitely wilder than the Simplon, appeared under the cloudless sky of the 19^th beautiful & cheerful: while on the Simplon on the 21^st the clouds were driving not 200 feet above [illegible deletion] me; & as I passed by the roofless walls of the unfinished hospice, on the summit of the pass, the appearance was most melancholy & forlorn – In my next letter I mean to give you a regular narration of my adventures. Tomorr[ow]⁶ morning I hope to set out on my return, to Como. –

Your Aff^te Son
W.H.F. Talbot

A Miladi
Miladi Elisabeth Feilding
Poste Restante
Berne
Suisse