"Venice, November 20. 1819.
"A tertian ague which has troubled me for some time, and the
indisposition of my daughter, have prevented me from replying
before to your welcome letter. I have not been ignorant of your
progress nor of your discoveries, and I trust that you are no worse
in health from your labours. You may rely upon finding every body
in England eager to reap the fruits of them; and as you have done
more than other men, I hope you will not limit yourself to saying
less than may do justice to the talents and time you have bestowed
on your perilous researches. The first sentence of my letter will
have explained to you why I cannot join you at Trieste. I was on
the point of setting out for England (before I knew of your
arrival) when my child's illness has made her and me dependent on a
Venetian Proto-Medico.
"It is now seven years since you and I met;--which time you have
employed better for others and more honourably for yourself than I
have done.
"In England you will find considerable changes, public and
private,--you will see some of our old college contemporaries
turned into lords of the Treasury, Admiralty, and the like,--others
become reformers and orators,--many settled in life, as it is
called,--and others settled in death; among the latter, (by the
way, not our fellow collegians,) Sheridan, Curran, Lady Melbourne,
Monk Lewis, Frederick Douglas, &c. &c. &c.; but you will still find
Mr. * * living and all his family, as also * * * * *.
"Should you come up this way, and I am still here, you need not be
assured how glad I shall be to see you; I long to hear some part
from you, of that which I expect in no long time to see. At length
you have had better fortune than any traveller of equal enterprise
(except Humboldt), in returning safe; and after the fate of the
Brownes, and the Parkes, and the Burckhardts, it is hardly less
surprise than satisfaction to get you back again.
"Believe me ever
"And very affectionately yours,
"BYRON."
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