“I hear that Mr. Davies has arrived in England,—­but that of some letters, &c., committed to his care by Mr. H., only half have been delivered.  This intelligence naturally makes me feel a little anxious for mine, and amongst them for the MS., which I wished to have compared with the one sent by me through the hands of Mr. Shelley.  I trust that it has arrived safely,—­and indeed not less so, that some little crystals, &c., from Mont Blanc, for my daughter and my nieces, have reached their address.  Pray have the goodness to ascertain from Mr. Davies that no accident (by custom-house or loss) has befallen them, and satisfy me on this point at your earliest convenience.

“If I recollect rightly, you told me that Mr. Gifford had kindly undertaken to correct the press (at my request) during my absence—­at least I hope so.  It will add to my many obligations to that gentleman.

“I wrote to you, on my way here, a short note, dated Martigny.  Mr. Hobhouse and myself arrived here a few days ago, by the Simplon and Lago Maggiore route.  Of course we visited the Borromean Islands, which are fine, but too artificial.  The Simplon is magnificent in its nature and its art,—­both God and man have done wonders,—­to say nothing of the devil who must certainly have had a hand (or a hoof) in some of the rocks and ravines through and over which the works are carried.

“Milan is striking—­the cathedral superb.  The city altogether reminds me of Seville, but a little inferior.  We had heard divers bruits, and took precautions on the road, near the frontier, against some ‘many worthy fellows (i.e. felons) that were out,’ and had ransacked some preceding travellers, a few weeks ago, near Sesto,—­or Cesto, I forget which,—­of cash and raiment, besides putting them in bodily fear, and lodging about twenty slugs in the retreating part of a courier belonging to Mr. Hope.  But we were not molested, and I do not think in any danger, except of making mistakes in the way of cocking and priming whenever we saw an old house, or an ill-looking thicket, and now and then suspecting the ‘true men,’ who have very much the appearance of the thieves of other countries.  What the thieves may look like, I know not, nor desire to know, for it seems they come upon you in bodies of thirty (’in buckram and Kendal green’) at a time, so that voyagers have no great chance.  It is something like poor dear Turkey in that respect, but not so good, for there you can have as great a body of rogues to match the regular banditti; but here the gens d’armes are said to be no great things, and as for one’s own people, one can’t carry them about like Robinson Crusoe with a gun on each shoulder.

“I have been to the Ambrosian library—­it is a fine collection—­full of MSS. edited and unedited.  I enclose you a list of the former recently published:  these are matters for your literati.  For me, in my