202 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 



Greenough ^ to see how the statue of Washington is 

 coming on, but had not time. 



At sunrise I was on the mountain-summits, among 

 the clouds, which a strong wind for a moment blew 

 aside, and gave me some magnificent views. We 

 journeyed for some hours in this elevated region, but 

 at length crossed the Tuscan frontier and were once 

 more in the country of his Holiness. Just as we 

 commenced our descent, which is very abrupt, a dense 

 fog enveloped us and it began to rain ; in consequence 

 of this I lost the view which you often have of the 

 Adriatic and the Mediterranean at the same time, as 

 well as the plains of the Po on the north. This was 

 the first rain I encountered, excepting a few drops at 

 Rome, since I left Lyons ; so you may judge of the 

 dryness of the climate in the south of France and 

 Italy. It is very different, however, near the moun- 

 tains. At length, after a long and rapid descent, we 

 arrived at the foot of the mountain, and stopped at a 

 comfortable inn to take our dinner and breakfast at 

 once, it being about two o'clock. Several carriages 

 were there before us, and just before I left another 

 arrived, bringing with it a most genuine Yankee, who 

 amused me excessively. It seems that he came out in 

 the Great Western, a few weeks ago, had seen what 

 he thought worth seeing in London and Paris, had 

 been even to Naples, and was now on his way from 

 Rome to Switzerland, and expected to reach London 

 to return by steamship in — I forget how many days ! 

 But the feat upon which he prided himself above all 

 was that he had ascended Vesuvius and come back 

 again in — I don't remember precisely how many min- 

 utes, but in an inconceivably short space of time, and 



^ Horatio Greenough ; the American sculptor in Florence. 



