' and Morghen's, and Ovid's (I don't mean poetry),— 'are as low as need be: look at the seal which I gave 'to William Bankes, and own it. How came George 'Bankes to quote "English Bards" in the House of • Commons? All the world keep flinging that poem ' in my face.

'Belzoni is a grand traveller, and his English is very prettily broken.

As for news, the Barbarians are marching on Naples, and if they lose a single battle, all Italy will It will be like the Spanish row, if they have

( be up.

any bottom.

"Letters opened?"-to be sure they are, and that's 'the reason why I always put in my opinion of the 'German Austrian scoundrels. There is not an Italian who loathes them more than I do; and what' ever I could do to scour Italy and the earth of their 'infamous oppression would be done con amore.

In the forty-fourth page, volume first, of Turner's Travels (which you lately sent me), it is stated that "Lord Byron, when he expressed such confidence ' of its practicability, seems to have forgotten that 'Leander swam both ways, with and against the tide; whereas he (Lord Byron) only performed the 'easiest part of the task by swimming with it from Europe to Asia." I certainly could not have forgotten, what is known to every schoolboy, that 'Leander crossed in the night, and returned towards 'the morning. My object was, to ascertain that the 'Hellespont could be crossed at all by swimming,

and in this Mr. Ekenhead and myself both succeeded, 'the one in an hour and ten minutes, and the other ' in one hour and five minutes. The tide was not in 'our favour; on the contrary, the great difficulty was 'to bear up against the current, which, so far from 'helping us into the Asiatic side, set us down right 'towards the Archipelago. Neither Mr. Ekenhead, 'myself, nor, I will venture to add, any person on 'board the frigate, from Captain Bathurst downwards, had any notion of a difference of the current on the 'Asiatic side, of which Mr. Turner speaks. I never 'heard of it till this moment, or I would have taken 'the other course. Lieutenant Ekenhead's sole mo'tive and mine also, for setting out from the European 'side was, that the little cape above Sestos was a 'more prominent starting place, and the frigate, 'which lay below, close under the Asiatic castle, 'formed a better point of view for us to swim towards; and, in fact, we landed immediately below it.

Mr. Turner says, "Whatever is thrown into the 'stream on this part of the European bank must 'arrive at the Asiatic shore." This is so far from 'being the case, that it must arrive in the Archipe'lago, if left to the current, although a strong wind in the Asiatic direction might have such an effect 'occasionally.

'Mr. Turner attempted the passage from the Asiatic side, and failed: "After five-and-twenty 'minutes, in which he did not advance a hundred yards, he gave it up from complete exhaustion." This is very possible, and might have occurred to him just as readily on the European side. Не 'should have set out a couple of miles higher, and 'could then have come out below the European

'castle. I particularly stated, and Mr. Hobhouse has 'done so also, that we were obliged to make the real passage of one mile extend to between three and four, owing to the force of the stream. I can 'assure Mr. Turner, that his success would have given me great pleasure, as it would have added one ⚫ more instance to the proofs of the probability. It is not quite fair in him to infer, that because he failed, 'Leander could not succeed. There are still four instances on record: a Neapolitan, a young Jew, Mr. Ekenhead, and myself; the two last done in the presence of hundreds of English witnesses.

With regard to the difference of the current, I per'ceived none; it is favourable to the swimmer on 'neither side, but may be stemmed by plunging into the sea, a considerable way above the opposite point ' of the coast which the swimmer wishes to make, but still bearing up against it; it is strong, but if you 'calculate well, you may reach land. My own ex'perience and that of others bids me pronounce the

passage of Leander perfectly practicable. Any young 'man, in good and tolerable skill in swimming, might 'succeed in it from either side. I was three hours in swimming across the Tagus, which is much more 'hazardous, being two hours longer than the Hellespont. Of what may be done in swimming, I will ' mention one more instance. In 1818, the Chevalier Mengaldo (a gentleman of Bassano), a good swimmer, wished to swim with my friend Mr. Alexander 'Scott and myself. As he seemed particularly anxious 'on the subject, we indulged him. We all three 'started from the island of the Lido and swam to Ve'nice. At the entrance of the Grand Canal, Scott and 'I were a good way ahead, and we saw no more of