INTERLAKEN, _July 3, 1858_.
I have come out of the eternal snows, and upon my arrival here find your
letter. You do not give your address at G...., and yet it seems to me
that it is at that place I should write to you. I hope you will have the
wit to go to the post-office, or that the post-office will have the wit
to carry the letter to you. To the present time our travels have been
favoured by the weather. We had rain nowhere but at the Grimsel, which
compelled us to spend two nights in that magnificent funnel. The journey
had its difficulties. There was a great deal of snow, and it continued
to fall. I had a tumble into a hole with my horse; but we pulled
ourselves out without other inconvenience than rather too much coolness
for an hour or two. A Yankee lady whom we met made at the same spot a
picturesque somersault. I am sun-blistered, and my skin is peeling from
my forehead to my neck.
I have visited the glacier of the Rhone, which I do not advise you to
do; nevertheless, it is the most beautiful place I have seen up to the
present time. I have made a fairly accurate sketch of it, which I will
show you. I shall hope to meet you in Vienna in October. It is an
attractive city, containing some Roman ruins which I shall have the
pleasure of explaining to you and of revisiting in your society.
Give me your commissions for Venice. I have not determined by which
route I shall go to Innsbruck, whether by Lake Constance, or through
Lindau, or perhaps Munich; but I shall certainly pass through Innsbruck,
for I am to go to Venice by way of Trent, and not by vulgar Splugen.
Write to me, therefore, at Innspruck without dilly-dallying too long
about it....