Faraday to Edward Magrath   19 July 1835

Freyberg | 19 July 1835

Dear Magrath

What with occupation fatigue and rheumatism I have not yet been able to write to you but must redeem my promise at this place if I can or else I shall be at Albemarle Street and then have no power to do anything but listen to your reproaches. On the whole we have done very well what we have seen we have enjoyed very much. We had a rough passage to Dieppe from Brighton¹, so rough that we found the French people wondering that we had ventured, but we were so unhappy in our wetness as to be quite uncon‑scious of anything else. We passed through Rouen to Paris and spent 8 days at the latter place, took up Mr. Barnard there and travelled through to Geneva. There we stopped 3 or 4 days, and found De La Rive our friend very kind and then left for Chamouni where stopping 2 days we had time to go to the Montanvert the Sea of Ice the Flegere, the Glacier des Bossons &c &c & see all we wanted to see. We got to Martigni by the Tete Noire and were quite satisfied with the choice of passage. From Martigni to Vevey and from Vevey to this place where we are at this present date the 19th. Tomorrow we start for Berne & then as things may turn up.

Now you will see that we have not done & cannot do all we intended but I do not know that that much matters. We are almost surfeited with Magnificent scenery and for myself I would rather not see it, than see it with an exhausted appetite. The weather has been most delightful & every thing in our favour so that the scenery has been in the most beautiful condition[.] Mont Blanc above all is wonderful and I could not but feel at it, what I have often felt before that painting is very far beneath poetry in cases of high expression; of which this is one. No artist should try to paint Mont Blanc, it is utterly out of his reach. He cannot convey an idea of it and a formal mass or a common place model conveys more intelligence even with respect to the sublimity of the mountain than his highest efforts can do[.] In fact he must be able to dip his brush in light & darkness before he can paint Mont Blanc[.] Yet the moment one sees it Lord Byrons² expressions come to mind and they seem to apply³. The poetry and the subject dignify each other.

There is a very fine iron wire bridge here above 900 feet in span & suspended at a great height over the river & valley beneath[.] It is rough in finish but a fine work. We were on it last night a fine scene of lightning being all around us & the effect was very beautiful[.]

We feel that we are now on our road home & I think we shall continue right on in our course & be at home about the first of August but I cannot tell to a day or two because of the uncertainty about steam boats to England & because of the difficulty of choosing either Holland or Belgium at pleasure as our rout[e.] But I dare say that thanks to your kindness I shall find help at Frankfurt in Mr Koch⁴ as I did in Paris in Mr Feuillet⁵ who desires his remembrances to you. For the present farewell[.]

Yours Most Truly, | M. Faraday

Address: Edw. Magrath Esq | Athenaeum | London | England