Item 3 - Peter Elmsley to his sister-in-law [Mary Hallowell?]

Rome. Letters not getting to England, because a dishonest clerk has been pocketing the postage. Arrived in Rome 14/11 - account of letters which might have gone astray (inc. one concerning a guitar being ordered from Naples for Miss Bigge [qv]). Now pretty much done with sightseeing in Rome. Spends some hours (9.00 till 1.00ish) in Vatican Library (mss of Eur.) - exactly 30 mins walk from lodgings in Via de Due Macelli (four doors from Piazza di Spagna); then a stroll in St Peter's to warm up, and home to write up his notes. A stroll at about 4.00, usually on the Pincian hill. until dinner. Then tea- or ice- or scandal-parties. Attended a poetry meeting of the Accademia Tiberina - the Italians adopt literature as a substitute for politics; the meeting was preceded by a prose essay on the historical, moral and logical aspects of Carnival. Carnival nominally lasts from Boxing Day until Shrove Tuesday, but is concentrated on the last 10 or so days; on Saturday 10 days before there is a public guillotining, as a reminder of what may happen if the bounds of licentiousness are transgressed. Comments on the mild weather - fine weather is a large part of happiness. Dislikes his lodgings. Roman water is excellent, as are the vegetables - half the ground within the city walls is occupied by kitchen gardens. Looks forward to Naples, which at first he had not intended to visit - but a shame not to, especially since he knows so many people there (inc. the Duchess of Devonshire and her son and daughter, who has left her husband, an act more conducive to peace and tranquillity than to reputation). Asks his sister-in-law to look out for a place for his envisaged return in September, about the same distance from London as is her place in Ealing.