N. B. Letter 3d
Milan, Numero 4107
24th 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 Mt 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 Mt 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 2d 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 19th beautiful & cheerful: while on the Simplon on the 21st 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 Affte Son
W.H.F. Talbot
A Miladi
Miladi Elisabeth Feilding
Poste Restante
Berne
Suisse
Notes:
1. Really magnificent weather.
2. Probably the Milan Cathedral, started in the 1380s.
3. Francesco Petrarca, also known as Petrarch (1304–1374), Italian scholar, poet, and humanist.
4. Laura (d. 1348) was Petrarch’s idealised beloved. It is not known if she was a real or fictional character.
5. Horace (65–8 BC), lyric poet and satirist.
6. Text torn away under seal.