_Naples, March_ 15, 1847.--Mickiewicz, the Polish poet, first
introduced the Essays to acquaintance in Paris. I did not meet him
anywhere, and, as I heard a great deal of him which charmed me, I sent
him your poems, and asked him to come and see me. He came, and I
found in him the man I had long wished to see, with the intellect and
passions in due proportion for a full and healthy human being, with a
soul constantly inspiring. Unhappily, it was a very short time before
I came away. How much time had I wasted on others which I might have
given to this real and important relation.
After hearing music from Chopin and Neukomm, I quitted Paris on the
25th February, and came, _via_ Chalons, Lyons, Avignon, (where I waded
through melting snow to Laura's tomb,) Arles, to Marseilles; thence,
by steamer, to Genoa, Leghorn, and Pisa. Seen through a cutting wind,
the marble palaces, the gardens, the magnificent water-view of Genoa,
failed to charm. Only at Naples have I found _my_ Italy. Between
Leghorn and Naples, our boat was run into by another, and we only just
escaped being drowned.