Hotel de l’Europe Venice

Wednesday March 10th

My dear Papa,

I hope you got Charle’s <sic> letter written just before starting – (he left us on friday) – but as he purposed travelling pretty fast for economical reasons you will hardly manage I should think to meet him en route. Indeed we hope that you will not set out quite so soon as you intended – for a return of cold weather makes it quite impossible for us to make a move from here at present – and you would not I should think care to catch us up at Venice, at least I should be sorry if you did for there is nothing here in the way of flowers or that looks like Spring at all – Saturday the 27^th was our last warm day – we had had several, and had begun to rejoice thinking we had done with winter – but alas – cold east winds, & gloomy weather and rain which was snow on the mountains have come again to dispel the idea – Today is milder again but cloudy, and we hear of snow at Mestre, and in a letter of M^r Abbott’s from Rome received two days ago he says he is more constantly obliged to wear a great coat there than in Edinburgh, and that strangers must be very careful to avoid taking cold which is the easiest thing in the world between a roasting sun and a cutting wind – he wrote on Saturday & there was actually some snow falling then.

Lady Arbuthnot says this Spring reminds her much of the one of three years ago – she was then in Sicily and had the same sort of weather exactly till the 1^st April when it changed and plunged at once into Summer It is very tiresome no doubt to be detained on this account when we were quite ready to be off – but it really would be very imprudent for Mama to do so at present and Lady Arbuthnot strongly advises us to be patient and wait here a little longer – So what can one do but bend to circumstances?

I am glad to see by your letter to Monie that you approve of the idea of my having some lessons in flower painting – I am sure that at Florence I could get a master and it would be a good time of year for specimens – I do not get much in the way of the latter here at Venice – I am sure it must be partly the fault of the inhabitants who do not care for flowers – for Charles and I the other day visited the Botanic garden thinking there must be something at the end of Feb^ry – but there was absolutely nothing at all hardly a Camelia in the house & not a hyacinth – or any other bulbous plant. – the only thing the gardener seemed proud of sharing were the cactuses which you saw in the Summer and which of course now show no signs of flower – So we voted that we had thrown away 2 francs and that we would not return! You saw in the papers I suppose how the M^t Cenis railway was stopped by the snow – we had no post for 3 days – but now it has become regular again – I fear however another interruption for a storm seems to be brewing which will bring more snow.

The English and American travellers are beginning to arrive in some numbers, the latter are never stopped by bad weather but go their usual round quite composedly. –

Mamie desires me to thank you for your letter to M^r Stilwell – she heard from him yesterday and he had received your letter just before he got hers – which had been detained on the road – and she thanks you for having done her commission so speedily. –

Before Charles went we accomplished our Expedition to Torcello – It is a curious abandoned place – nothing left at all in the way of antiquities besides the two churches – the island now contains only 80 inhabitants –

Good-bye dear Papa,

I suppose we shall soon hear from you

y^r affec^te daughter Ela