300 Mary Somerville. 



MRS. SOMERVILLE TO W. GREIG, ESQ. 



TURIN, 4<7t Dec., 1849. 

 MY DEAREST WORONZOW, 



We arrived here all well the day before yester- 

 day, after a fair but bitterly cold journey, bright sun- 

 shine and keen frost, and to-day we have a fall of snow. 



It was a great disappointment not finding letters 



here, and I fear many have been lost on both sides, 

 though we took care not to touch on political events, as 

 all letters are opened by the Austrian police in Lom- 

 bardy. We spent five weeks with our friends the Minis- 

 calchis very agreeably, and received every mark of 

 kindness and hospitality. They only live at Verona 

 during the winter, and we found them in their country 

 house at Cola situated on a height overlooking the 

 Lago di Garda, with the snowy Alps on the opposite 

 side of the lake. The view from their grounds is so fine 

 that I was tempted to paint once more. They took us 

 to see all the places in the neighbourhood ; often a sad 

 sight, from having been the seat of war and siege. The 

 villages are burnt and the churches in ruin. But tha 

 people are repairing the mischief as fast as possible, and 

 the fields are already well cultivated. The Count is a man 

 of great learning and is occupied in the comparison of 

 languages, especially the Eastern ; he knows twenty-four 

 and speaks Arabic as fluently as Italian. He is in the 

 habit of speaking both Arabic and Chaldee every day, 

 as there is a most learned Chaldean priest living with 

 them, whose conversation gave me great pleasure and 

 much information. The Count has moreover a black 

 servant who speaks these languages, having been bought 



