d-twenty minutes, in which he did not advance
a hundred yards, he gave it up from complete exhaustion.' This is
very possible, and might have occurred to him just as readily on
the European side. He should have set out a couple of miles higher,
and could then have come out below the European castle. I
particularly stated, and Mr. Hobhouse has done so also, that we
were obliged to make the real passage of one mile extend to between
_three_ and _four_, owing to the force of the stream. I can assure
Mr. Turner, that his success would have given me great pleasure, as
it would have added one more instance to the proofs of the
probability. It is not quite fair in him to infer, that because
_he_ failed, Leander could not succeed. There are still four
instances on record: a Neapolitan, a young Jew, Mr. Ekenhead, and
myself; the two last done in the presence of hundreds of _English_
witnesses.

"With regard to the difference of the _current,_ I perceived none;
it is favourable to the swimmer on neither side, but may be stemmed
by plunging into the sea, a considerable way above the opposite
point of the coast which the swimmer wishes to make, but still
bearing up against it; it is strong, but if you calculate well, you
may reach land. My own experience and that of others bids me
pronounce the passage of Leander perfectly practicable. Any young
man, in good and tolerable skill in swimming, might succeed in it
from _either_ side. I was three hours in swimming across the Tagus,
which is much more hazardous, being two hours longer than the
Hellespont. Of what may be done in swimming, I will mention one
more instance. In 1818, the Chevalier Mengaldo (a gentleman of
Bassano), a good swimmer, wished to swim with my friend Mr.
Alexander Scott and myself. As he seemed particularly anxious on
the subject, we indulged him. We all three started from the island
of the Lido and swam to Venice. At the entrance of the Grand Canal,
Scott and I were a good way ahead, and we saw no more of our
foreign friend, which, however, was of no consequence, as there was
a gondola to hold his clothes and pick him up. Scott swam on till
past the Rialto, where he got out, less from fatigue than from
_chill,_ having been four hours in the water, without rest or stay,
except what is to