JST. 28.] TO THE MISSES TORREY. 153 



British Museum, worked hard until four o'clock ; but 

 was not able quite to finish, so I left my copy of 

 Gronovius, in which I was making notes, with Mr. 

 Bennett to keep for me until my return in the autumn, 

 and took leave of Brown and Bennett. Went to Dr. 

 Boott's ; saw Mrs. and Miss Boott, who insisted upon 

 giving me a note of introduction to a friend of theirs 

 in Florence ; went to the City, dined with Putnam, 

 down to Well-close Square, took my tea, and bid 

 good-by to Ward and family, and Mr. Quekett. . . . 



TO THE MISSES TORREY. 



PARIS, March 18, 1839, Monday evening. 



I am now at the Hotel de 1'Empereur Joseph II., 

 Kue Tournon, prs du Palais du Luxembourg. Here I 

 have been established for about half an hour, and my 

 first business shall be to fill this sheet for you. I sup- 

 pose I must begin at the beginning and tell you how 

 I came here. Voila. I left London at nine o'clock 

 in the morning of the 14th inst. (Thursday), stop- 

 ping on my way to the steamboat which was to 

 take me to Boulogne, to leave a parcel of letters at Mr. 

 Putnam's office, to be forwarded to dear friends at 

 home. It was a nasty, rainy morning ; and our boat 

 was, as indeed I expected, not very comfortable. The 

 cabin was well enough, but much too small for the 

 accommodation of some fifty or sixty persons, and 

 there was no covering to the deck, nor any deck-cabin, 

 except two dirty little places for the poorer passengers, 

 who were not allowed the use of ours ; so we had our 

 choice the whole day between the soaking in the rain 

 upon the deck and the close atmosphere of the crowded 

 cabin. Of course I was vibrating between the two 

 dilemmas the whole day, but took as much pains as I 



