ble depths beneath it; and at every turn it is a
toss-up, or seems to be, whether the leaders shall go round or over. The
lives of the whole party may depend upon a strap in the harness; and if
we broke our rotten harness once yesterday, we broke it at least a dozen
times. The difficulty of keeping the horses together in the continual
and steep circle, is immense. They slip and slide, and get their legs
over the traces, and are dragged up against the rocks; carriage, horses,
harness, all a confused heap. The Brave, and I, and the postilion, were
constantly at work, in extricating the whole concern from a tangle, like
a skein of thread. We broke two thick iron chains, and crushed the box
of a wheel, as it was; and the carriage is now undergoing repair, under
the window, on the margin of the lake: where a woman in short
petticoats, a stomacher, and two immensely long tails of black hair
hanging down her back very nearly to her heels, is looking
on--apparently dressed for a melodrama, but in reality a waitress at
this establishment.

"If the Swiss villages look beautiful to me in winter, their summer
aspect is most charming: most fascinating: most delicious. Shut in by
high mountains capped with perpetual snow; and dotting a rich carpet of
the softest turf, overshadowed by great trees; they seem so many little
havens of refuge from the troubles and miseries of great towns. The
cleanliness of the little baby-houses of inns is wonderful to those who
come from Italy. But the beautiful Italian manners, the sweet language,
the quick recognition of a pleasant look or cheerful word; the
captivating expression of a desire to oblige in everything; are left
behind the Alps. Remembering them, I sigh for the dirt again: the brick
floors, bare walls, unplaistered ceilings, and broken windows."

We met at Brussels; Maclise, Jerrold, myself, and the travellers; passed
a delightful week in Flanders together; and were in England at the close
of June.

FOOTNOTES:

[94] In a previous letter he had told me that history. "Apropos of
servants, I must tell you of a child-bearing handmaiden of some friends
of ours, a thorough out and outer, who, by way of expiating her sins,
caused herself, the other day, to be received into the bosom of the
infallible church. She had two marchionesses for her sponsors; and she
is heralded in the Genoa newspapers as Miss B--, an English lady, who
has repented of her errors and saved her soul alive."

[95] "