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NB Some of the following letters, up to and including that of 18th July, are not signed off - they read like an extended journal, and were despatched all together under one cover. Antwerp, Hotel d'Angleterre. Goes through his accounts since Ostend - has lived very cheaply, though without stinting himself. Could have stayed a few weeks longer in Brussels - PE the only English clergyman, so performed the office of pastor to the very smart English residents - indeed, he would like to smuggle to his sister-in-law several yards of white silk, which he received for burying the daughter of Lord Robert Fitzgerald, who died of a consumption. However, he must hasten into Holland, before hot weather makes the canals offensive and unwholesome. Description of journey from Brussels to Antwerp = well-built villages and no beggars. Antwerp itself extremely handsome. Walk to cathedral - 3 paintings by Rubens recently returned from Paris (where Napoleon had taken them, and where PE had seen them 2 years before) - but hung as if for sale, like pictures in Mr Christie's great room. Jesuit church - mixed feelings - first church with galleries he has seen on the continent. Hotel quite dirty. Dutch performance of Othello. Excellent costumes, variable but reasonable acting. Text taken from the adaptation by Jean-Francois Ducis. Royal Academy of Fine Arts - nothing remarkable apart from the pictures recently recovered from Paris. Walk along the quai - saw some merchantmen - many American ships, and the shops display signs in Flemish, French and American English (e.g. osiers instead of hawsers). Commerce uncertain, because nobody knows who will rule Antwerp in 10 years - it may remain Dutch, it may be reconquered by France, or it may be demanded by Prussia in any new division, to gain access to the German sea. To the north Buonaparte constructed a basin for 60 men of war, now innocently occupied by American vessels.

Antwerp. Leaves Antwerp in early afternoon - 1 night in Breda, 2 in Utrecht, then Amsterdam. Church of St James and memorial chapel of Rubens (picture returned after 7 years in Paris). Citadel - now a prison. Dockyard built by Buonaparte now decaying. Latin elegiacs over one of town gates - in 1624 the senate and people felt that the Scheldt would soon be opened and commerce restored - 200 years passed before the first happened, and the second is probably very remote. Inhabitants are fair, fresh, clean, quiet, industrious and comfortable. Every street corner has a statue of the Virgin with a lamp (street lighting). The many angels and saints in the churches possess a distinguished beauty. Oratorio in cathedral for the souls of all nations who fell at Waterloo.

Hague. Walk to Ryswyk, and failure to find Needle of Ryswyk (house chosen for 1697 treaty negotiations because it had several doors, so the ambassadors could enter at the same time without any loss of precedence). Monument to Baron Wassenaar (d. 1665) in Grote of Sint-Jacobskerk very badly executed. States General are sitting - PE has not been, but several members taker the table d'hote at his hotel. (Tuesday, 16th July - Rotterdam) Has paid bill - hotel not clean, but not as expensive as feared (misled by wax rather than tallow candles). Dutch royal family very quiet and modest, without any pomp. Has brought French franks to Holland, but the exchange rate varies. Little book buying in Holland (apart from guides) - 1638 bible by Barker and Bill, and 1597 Euripides apud Commelinum.

Brussels. Arrived on 20th. Tour of Holland - 4 nights in Antwerp, 1 in Breda, 2 in Utrecht, 6 in Amsterdam, 3 in Leyden, 4 in The Hague, 3 in Rotterdam, 1 in Antwerp. All PE's letters have arrived in England, 'though mostly entrusted to complete strangers (inc. a Valentine Dillon of County Mayo, who had just been prosecuted - unsuccessfully - for breach of promise, accompanied by a duel with the lady's brother). Discussion of difficulty of conveying a trunk to Italy - impossible by land, no sea-trade from Holland, therefore leave it in Brussels till his return. Expecting a letter of credit, but it may have been sent straight to Geneva - will not wait for it, since he has spent quite enough time in Holland. Staying at Hotel de Flandre - table d'hote expensive enough to exclude army officers, an expense PE cheerfully bears, since they are noisy and empty and unaccustomed to good society. Considers various means of travelling to Cologne. Much rainy weather - the Dutch do refer to St Swithin (a Saxon bishop), but to St Medard or St Margaret.

Undated and unsigned, but apparently a first draft of the following letter (identical opening sentence, referring to the previous letter). More on the dishonest clerk. Carnival began on PE's birthday, Saturday, 8th February, and continued to Shrove Tuesday, 18th February - subtract 2 Sundays and 1 Saturday, this makes 8 days of carnival proper. Disguises (but not ecclesiastical, under penalty of whipping and excommunication) - devils, harlequins, cuckolds with long horns and most commonly white dresses like a domino. Walk on the Corso and pelt each other with confetti (formerly sugar-plums, but now limes); horse race (but no riders); masquerade at one of the theatres; all very innocent and stupid. Rome even safer to stay in than London. Detained 14 weeks in Rome by a Eur. ms in the Vatican Library. Foolish, having come so far, not to continue to Naples - only 150 miles on a good road, which would take 20 hours in England, but took PE 36 hours in Italy - brief description of route, passing from papal territory into the Kingdom of Naples.

Naples. Ship sailing this evening for Malta. Repeats (in case previous letters have not Arrived) that he has not heard from sister-in-law since November - and to pay the

Florence. Short opening times of the Laurentian library - about 14 hours a week - but able to work in his own room, so does not have to kill time. Italians a race of professed loungers. Loves Florence, but despises the Florentine gentry for their meanness. Depends on expatriate Englishmen for society - many half-pay officers (who would be dandies if they had the means of being so). The Hon. Brownlow-Charles Colyear a good example of the travelling youth of England (died in Rome because of wounds received from bandits whilst en route from Naples - but according to PE from a typhus fever). Dreadful weather over the winter - rain and fog - so cold that the cellars of confectioners contain blocks of ice thick even by English standards. Now lovely, though odd to see the surrounding hills white with snow. The weather changed with the arrival of the Emperor of Austria on 7th March, a person of mean presence. His fourth wife young enough to be PE's daughter - daughter married to Napoleon, and allowed to speak to no one. Florence very cheap - has only spent

Glasgow. Comfortable night at Dalnacardoch. Grounds of Taymouth Castle (but not inside, due to the imminent arrival of Lord Bradalbane and his bride). Killin and the burial ground of the Lairds of MacNab (the current Laird, while wooing a lady, promised her the grandest burial place in Scotland - she refused him). Night at Tyndrum - inns in Scotland inferior to the English, but far superior in terms of wine, rum and brandy (inns in Yorkshire an exception to this). Loveliness of the Vale of Glenorchy and of Loch Awe. Splendours of Inverary Castle...but the town a paltry deception. Description of journey from Inverary to Arrochar. Visited Inchtavannach. Night at Dumbarton (a dirty town, with one dirty inn), and castle before church the next day. Finally to a splendid inn in Glasgow (whose coffee room alone is larger than the assembly room in Ramsgate).

Hague. Visit (by canal) on July 7th to last day of Haarlem fair. Failure to hear Haarlem organ because of a lengthy sermon. Wonderful flowers and gardens. 7 hour voyage to Leyden on 9th July. University on vacation, so town is peaceful and pleasant. Thomas Gaisford (regius professor of Greek) in Leiden for a few months collating mss. - they visit Daniel Wyttenbach, who expresses surprise that such a learned scholar as PE could be so merry (quite the opposite to Valckenaer and Ruhnken) - when Gaisford reports the story to his wife, she says that the household consider PE a vast deal more 'vrolijk' than Gaisford. 3 nights in Leyden (because of presence of Gaisfords), staying on Golden Lion, then on to The Hague. House names displayed prominently (usually compounds of pleasure, rest or prospect). Failure to find intended hotel because of language difficulties - ends up at Marechal de Turenne, which he suspects will be expensive. (Sunday, 14th July). Does not think The Hague as pretty as the Dutch do. Walked yesterday and saw many groups of ragged boys playing cards on the pavement - perhaps Jews keeping the sabbath holy. The common people (who cannot all be Jews) are as ragged and filthy as the Jews themselves. Vieille Cour only building to arrest attention. 2 mile walk to Scheveningen (past an odorous cemetery).

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.