Your excellent letter, giving an account of your agreeable expedition up the Rhine, did not arrive till nearly a month after it was written.... I regret exceedingly you could not stay longer, and still more that you could not come on and pay us a visit, and enjoy the charm of summer in Venice, so totally unlike every other place in every respect. I wished for you last night particularly. As we were leaving the Piazza San Marco, about eleven, a boat came up, burning blue lights, with a piano, violins, flutes, and about twenty men on board, who sang choruses in the most delightful manner, and sometimes solos. They were followed by an immense number of gondolas, and we joined the _cortege_, and all went under the Bridge of Sighs, where the effect was beautiful beyond description. We then all turned and entered the Grand Canal, which was entirely filled with gondolas from one side to the other, jammed together, so that we moved _en masse_, and stopped every now and then to burn blue or red Bengal lights before the principal palaces, singing going on all the while. We saw numbers of our Venetian friends in their gondolas, enjoying the scene as much as we did, to whom it was almost new. I never saw people who enjoyed life more, and they have much the advantage of us in their delicious climate and aquatic amusements, so much more picturesque than what can be done on land. However, we have had no less than three dances lately. The Grand Duke of Modena, with his son and daughter-in-law, were here, and to them a _fete_ was given by the Countess de Thurn. The palace was brilliant with lights; it is on the grand canal, and immediately under the balcony was a boat from which fireworks were let off, and then a couple of boats succeeded them, in which choruses were sung. The view from the balcony is one of the finest in Venice, and the night was charming, and there I was while the dancing went on.... I never saw Somerville so well; this place suits us to the life, constant air and no fatigue; I never once have had a headache.... Now, my dear W., tell me your tale; my tale is done. Yours affectionately, MARY SOMERVILLE. * * * * * FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO WORONZOW GREIG, ESQ. ROME, PALAZZO LEPRI, VIA DEI CONDOTTI, _27th October, 1848_. MY DEAREST WORONZOW,