Item 44 - Letter from Robert Pemberton Milnes to Thomas Davison Bland

2 sheets.

'On the Brenta - 16 miles from Venice.' - Hopes to be in Yorkshire by mid-August; his son will travel with Milnes to Innsbruck en route to Vienna. Has a house here for the summer; no winter plans yet: though Venice has no animals or beautiful women to recommend it, and Milnes is sated with its art treasures, he will miss the real kindness of its society. The Archduchess told Harriet that to be killed by dancing all night was 'a noble death'. Milnes favours late Venetian hours but not the 'incessant visiting'; the Ingrams and Shelley were there; extreme heat and narrowness of Venetian streets - 'If the Wvills resided there, all intercourse would be stopp'd'; extensive smuggling beyond the free port owing to Austrian taxes; advantages of a small establishment.