Faraday to Margaret Faraday   14 April 1814

Rome: April 14, 1814.

My dear Mother, - It is with singular pleasure I commence writing after so long a silence, and the pleasure is greatly increased by the almost certainty that you will get my letter. We are at present in a land of friends, and where every means is used to render the communication with England open and unobstructed. Nevertheless, this letter will not come by the ordinary route, but by a high favour Sir H. Davy will put it with his own, and it will be conveyed by a particular person.

I trust that you are well in health and spirits, and that all things have gone right since I left you. ... Mr. Riebau and fifty other friends would be inquired after could I but have an answer. You must consider this letter as a kind of general one, addressed to that knot of friends who are twined round my heart; and I trust that you will let them all know that, though distant, I do not forget them, and that it is not from want of regard that I do not write to each singly, but from want of convenience and propriety; indeed, it appears to me that there is more danger of my being forgot than of my forgetting. The first and last thing in my mind is England, home, and friends. It is the point to which my thoughts still ultimately tend, and the goal to which, looking over intermediate things, my eyes are still directed. But, on the contrary, in London you are all together, your circle being little or nothing diminished by my absence; the small void which was formed on my departure would soon be worn out, and, pleased and happy with one another, you will seldom think of me. Such are sometimes my thoughts, but such do not rest with me; an innate feeling tells me that I shall not be forgot, and that I still possess the hearts and love of my mother, my brother, my sisters, and my friends. When Sir H. Davy first had the goodness to ask me whether I would go with him, I mentally said, “No; I have a mother, I have relations here.” And I almost wish that I had been insulated and alone in London; but now I am glad that I left some behind me on whom I can think, and whose actions and occupations I can picture in my mind. Whenever a vacant hour occurs, I employ it by thinking on those at home. Whenever present circumstances are disagreeable, I amuse myself by thinking on those at home. In short, when sick, when cold, when tired, the thoughts of those at home are a warm and refreshing balm to my heart. Let those who think such thoughts useless, vain, and paltry, think so still; I envy them not their refined and more estranged feelings: let them look about the world unincumbered by such ties and heart-strings, and let them laugh at those who, guided more by nature, cherish such feelings. For me, I still will cherish them, in opposition to the dictates of modern refinement, as the first and greatest sweetness in the life of man.

I have said nothing as yet to you, dear mother, about our past journey, which has been as pleasant and agreeable (a few things excepted, in reality nothing) as it was possible to be. Sir H. Davy’s high name at Paris gave us free admission into all parts of the French dominions, and our passports were granted with the utmost readiness. We first went to Paris, and stopped there two months; afterwards we passed, in a southerly direction, through France to Montpellier, on the borders of the Mediterranean. From thence we went to Nice, stopping a day or two at Aix in our way; and from Nice we crossed the Alps to Turin, in Piedmont. From Turin we proceeded to Genoa, which place we left afterwards in an open boat, and proceeded by sea towards Lerici. This place was reached after a very disagreeable passage, and not without apprehensions of being overset by the way. As there was nothing there very enticing, we continued our route to Florence; and, after a stay of three weeks or a month, left that fine city, and in four days arrived here at Rome. Being now in the midst of things curious and interesting, something arises every day which calls for attention and observations. The relics of ancient Roman magnificence, the grandeur of the churches, and their richness also - the difference of habits and customs, each in turn engages the mind and keeps it continually employed. Florence, too, was not destitute of its attractions for me, and in the Academy del Cimento and the museum attached to it is contained in inexhaustible fund of entertainment and improvement; indeed, during the whole journey, new and instructive things have been continually presented to me. Tell B. I have crossed the Alps and the Apennines; I have been at the Jardin des Plantes; at the museum arranged by Buffon¹; at the Louvre, among the chefs-d’oeuvre of sculpture and the masterpieces of painting; at the Luxembourg palace, amongst Rubens’² works; that I have seen a GLOWWORM!!! water-spouts, torpedo, the Museum at the Academy del Cimento, as well as St. Peter’s, and some of the antiquities here, and a vast variety of things far too numerous to enumerate.

At present I am in very good health, and so far is travelling from disagreeing with me that I am become somewhat heavier and thicker than when I left England. I should have written to you long ago, but I had no hopes of getting a letter conveyed; but at present I conclude that you will surely have this. I have a thousand things more to say, but do not know how to select one from the other, so shall defer them all to a more convenient opportunity. When you write into the country, remember me, if you please, to all friends there, and more particularly to those to whom I have written. At present, I bid farewell for a time to all friends, wishing them much happiness.

I am, dear Mother, with earnest wishes for your health and welfare, your dutiful son, | M. Faraday

P.S. There is no certain road open at present by which you can write to me, so that, much as I wish it, it must be deferred a little longer. We have heard this morning that Paris was taken by the Allied troops on March 31³, and, as things are, we may soon hope for peace, but at present all things are uncertain. Englishmen are here respected almost to adoration, and I proudly own myself as belonging to that nation which holds so high a place in the scale of European Powers.

Adieu, dear Mother, at present. Your dutiful son, | M. Faraday