my own. Had I
taken the liberties of my predecessors, Dryden especially, I could have
translated nine books with the labour that three have cost me. The third
book, being of a humbler character than either of the former, I have
treated with rather less scrupulous apprehension, and have interwoven a
little of my own; and, with permission, I will send it, ere long, for
the benefit of your Lordship's observations, which really will be of
great service to me if I proceed. Had I begun the work fifteen years
ago, I should have finished it with pleasure; at present, I fear it will
take more time than I either can or ought to spare. I do not think of
going beyond the fourth book.

As to the MS., be so kind as to forward it at your leisure to me, at Sir
George Beaumont's, Coleorton Hall, near Ashby, whither I am going in
about ten days. May I trouble your Lordship with our respectful
compliments to Lady Lonsdale?

Believe [me] ever
Your Lordship's faithful
And obliged friend and servant,
WM. WORDSWORTH.[84]

[84] _Memoirs_, ii. 69-74.

50. _Tour on the Continent, 1820_.

LETTERS TO THE EARL OF LONSDALE.

Lucerne, Aug. 19. 1820.
MY LORD,

You did me the honour of expressing a wish to hear from me during my
continental tour; accordingly, I have great pleasure in writing from
this place, where we arrived three days ago. Our route has lain through
Brussels, Namur, along the banks of the Meuse, to Liege; thence to
Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, and along the Rhine to Mayence, to Frankfort,
Heidelberg (a noble situation, at the point where the Neckar issues from
steep lofty hills into the plain of the Rhine), Carlsruhe, and through
the Black Forest to Schaffhausen; thence to Zurich, Berne, Thun,
Interlachen. Here our Alpine tour might be said to commence, which has
produced much pleasure thus far, and nothing that deserves the name of
difficulty, even for the ladies. From the Valley of Lauterbrunnen we
crossed the Wengern Alp to Grindelwald, and then over the grand Sheideck
to Meyringen. This journey led us over high ground, and for fifteen
leagues along the base of the loftiest Alps, which reared their bare or
snow-clad ridges and pikes, in a clear atmosphere, with fleecy clouds
now and then settling upon and gathering round them. We heard and saw
several avalanches; they are announced by a sound like thunder, but more
metallic and musical. This warning naturally makes one look about, and
w