ever seen here. Hornby had taken all my clothes to Geneva, so I put
on a suit of the landlord's, and had some tea, and at 11 P.M. went to
bed, not forgetting, you may be sure, to thank God most fervently for
this merciful protection, as on the ice I did many times with all my
heart.

'On reviewing coolly, to-day, the places over which we passed, and
which I shall never forget, I remember seven such as I trust never
again to see a man attempt to climb. The state of the ice and
crevasses is always shifting, so that the next person who makes the
ascent may find a comparatively easy path. We had other dangers too,
such as this: twice the guides said to me, "Ne parlez pas ici,
Monsieur, et allez vite," the fear being of an ice avalanche falling
on us, and we heard the rocks and ice which are detached by the wet
falling all about. The view from the top, if the day is fine, is
about the most magnificent in the Alps; and as in that case I should
have descended easily on the other side, the excursion would not have
been so difficult. I hope you will not think I have been very
foolish; I did not at all think it would be so dangerous, nor was it
possible to foresee the bad weather. My curiosity to see some of the
difficulties of an excursion in the Alps is fully satisfied.'

After this adventure, the party broke up, James Patteson returning
home with Mr. Hornby, while Coley, who hoped to obtain a Fellowship
at Merton, and wished in the meantime to learn German thoroughly in
order to study Hebrew by the light of German scholarship, repaired to
Dresden for the purpose; revelling, by the way, on the pictures and
glass at Munich, descriptions of which fill three or four letters.
He remained a month at Dresden, reading for an hour a day with a
German master, and spending many hours besides in study, recreating