1884 LETTERS FROM ITALY 381 



I am quite pleased to hear of the theological turn of 

 the family. It must be a drop of blood from one of your 

 eight great-grandfathers, for none of your ancestors that 



I have known would have developed in this way. 



. . . Best love to Nettie and Harry. Tell the former 

 that cabbages do not cost 5s. apiece, and the latter that 



II P.M. is the cldture. Ever your affectionate 



PATER. 



HOTEL BRITANNIQUE, NAPLES, 

 Nov. 30, 1884. 



MY DEAR FOSTER Which being St. Andrew's Day, I 

 think the expatriated P. ought to give you some account 

 of himself. 



We had a prosperous journey to Locarno, but there 

 plumped into bitter cold weather, and got chilled to the 

 bone as the only guests in the big hotel, though they did 

 their best to make us comfortable. I made a shot at 

 bronchitis, but happily failed, and got all right again. 



Pallanza was as bad. At Milan temperature at noon 

 39 F., freezing at night. Verona much the same. 

 Under these circumstances, we concluded to give up 

 Venice and made for Bologna. There found it rather 

 colder. Next Kavenna, where it snowed. However, we 

 made ourselves comfortable in the queer hotel, and 

 rejoiced in the mosaics of that sepulchral marsh. 



At Bologna I had assurances that the Sicilian quaran- 

 tine was going to be taken off at once, and as the reports 

 of the railway travelling and hotels in Calabria were not 

 encouraging, I determined to make for Naples, or rather, 

 by way of extra caution, for Castellamare. All the way 

 to Ancona the Apennines were covered with snow, and 

 much of the plain also. Twenty miles north of Ancona, 

 however, the weather changed to warm summer, and we 

 rejoiced accordingly. At Foggia I found that the one 

 decent hotel that used to exist was non- extant, so we 

 went on to Naples. 



