a theatre within,--for the French like to have their
Houris, &c., on _this_ side of Paradise, if possible.

"Our party of fifty people (we had taken some on board at Gibraltar)
broke up, on reaching this; never, of course, to meet again. The greater
part do not proceed to Alexandria. Considering that there was a bundle
of midshipmen, ensigns, &c., we had as much reason among us as could
perhaps be looked for; and from several I gained bits of information and
traits of character, though nothing very remarkable....

"I have established myself in an inn, rather than go to Lady
Louis's; [27] I not feeling quite equal to company, except in moderate
doses. I have, however, seen her a good deal; and dine there to-day,
very privately, for Sir John is not quite well, and they will have no
guests. The place, however, is full of official banqueting, for various
unimportant reasons. When here before, I was in much distress and
anxiety, on my way from Rome; and I suppose this it was that prevented
its making the same impression on me as now, when it seems really the
stateliest town I have ever seen. The architecture is generally of a
corrupt Roman kind; with something of the varied and picturesque look,
though much more massive, of our Elizabethan buildings. We have the
finest English summer and a pellucid sky.... Your affectionate

"JOHN STERLING."

At Naples next, for three weeks, was due admiration of the sceneries
and antiquities, Bay and Mountain, by no means forgetting Art and
the Museum: "to Pozzuoli, to Baiae, round the Promontory of
Sorrento;"--above all, "twice to Pompeii," where the elegance and
classic simplicity of Ancient Housekeeping strikes us much; and again to
Paestum, where "the Temple of Neptune is far the noblest building I
have ever seen; and makes both Greek and Revived Roman seem quite
barbaric.... Lord Ponsonby lodges in the same house with me;--but, of
course, I do not countenance an adherent of a beaten Party!" [28]--Or let
us take this more compendious account, which has much more of human in
it, from an onward stage, ten days later:--

"_To Thomas Carlyle, Esq., Chelsea, London_.
"ROME, 13th May, 1842,

"MY DEAR CARLYLE,--I hope I wrote to you before leaving England, to tell
you of the necessity for my doing so. Though coming to Italy, there
was little comfort in the prospect of being