ish blood; and added, that she always felt in herself a
particular inclination to love the English. I returned her civility,
by giving her the title of majesty, as often as I could, which,
perhaps, she will not have the comfort of hearing many months
longer.--The king has a great deal of vivacity in his eyes; and the
young prince of Piedmont is a very handsome young man; but the great
devotion which this Court is, at present, fallen into, does not
permit any of those entertainments proper for his age. Processions
and masses are all the magnificence in fashion here; and gallantry is
so criminal, that the poor Count of ----, who was our acquaintance at
London, is very seriously disgraced, for some small overtures he
presumed to make to a maid of honour. I intend to set out tomorrow,
and to pass those dreadful Alps, so much talked of.--If I come to
the bottom, you shall hear of me.--I am, &c. &c.

LET. XLVII.

TO MRS T----.

_Lyons, Sept_, 25. O. S. 1718.

I RECEIVED, at my arrival here, both your obliging letters, and also
letters from many of my other friends, designed to Constantinople,
and sent me from Marseilles hither; our merchant there, knowing we
were upon our return. I am surprised to hear my sister has left
England. I suppose what I wrote to her from Turin will be lost, and
where to direct I know not, having no account of her affairs from her
own hand. For my own part, I am confined to my chamber, having kept
my bed till yesterday, ever since the 17th, that I came to this town,
where I have had so terrible a fever, I believed, for some time, that
all my journeys were ended here; and I do not at all wonder, that
such fatigues as I have passed, should have such an effect. The
first day's journey from Turin to Novalesse, is through a very fine
country, beautifully planted, and enriched by art and nature. The
next day we began to ascend mount Cenis, being carried in little
seats of twisted osiers, fixed upon poles, upon mens shoulders; our
chaises taken to pieces, and laid upon mules.

THE prodigious prospect of mountains covered with eternal snow, of
clouds hanging far below our feet, and of vast cascades tumbling down
the rocks with a confused roaring, would have been entertaining to
me, if I had suffered less from the extreme cold that reigns here.
But the misty rains which fall perpetually, penetrated even the thick
fur I was wrapped in; and I was half dead with cold, before we got to
the foot of