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acceptable.... I hope Mr. Hamilton ^ is well; pray remember me to him, and offer him my congratulations upon the appointment of the new Bishop of Salis-
. bury.i" What pleasure it must have given you all!
And now, God bless you, my dear William, and think sometimes of your affectionate brother,
Frederick. 61 Strada Britannica, April 15, 1854.
Camp Scutari, May g, 1854.
My dear Mother, —... Our Brigade left Malta on the morning of the 22nd, each battalion in a separate steamer. The weather was stormj'" and the sea uncommonly rough; almost everybody, including myself, ill. The next day, Sunday, it calmed a little, but on Monday morning very early we found ourselves in a thick fog and knew we were close to Cape Matapan, the point for which we were steering. Suddenly we found ourselves close to a rock; you might have thrown a biscuit on it, we were so near on our larboard bow. The captain called out as loud as he could to the helmsman, " Port your helm," but in the confusion the stupid fellow put it a-starboard, which, as you may conceive, did not improve matters. However, the speed was instantly slackened, and we got by all safe, but I assure you a narrower escape mortal man never had. It turned out that our course was so correct that we were steering right upon one of the rocks of the Cape; but almost everyone on board thought it was all over, and one or two had already thrown aside their greatcoats to be ready for a swim. I was dressing at the time, and was no little surprised at seeing the porthole of my cabin suddenly obscured and this pleasant little rock looking in to see how I was getting on. About midday the fog cleared and we had a good view of the coast of Greece. We steered south of Cerigo, and within two or three miles of it, a beautiful coast but rather a barren island, beautified, however, by the British flag which was flying over the fort. We had a capital view of the snowy mountains
of Candia, and in the morning found ourselves off the Isthmus of Corinth and Athens, the archipelago as calm as a pond. The next day we were off Troy, passing within the island of Tenedos; saw the tombs of Patroclus and Ajax, and entering Besika Bay passed by a French line-of-battle ship and a French frigate full of troops. To the latter, which was rather far off, we only dipped our colours, but we steered purposely right under the bows of the other and gave her three such cheers as must have roused the sleeping heroes of Troy. We now entered the Dardanelles; but the sun was already down, and excepting the castles of Europe and Asia, it was too dark to see anything of the Straits, narrow as they are. About midnight we anchored off Gallipoli, and immediately went on shore to report ourselves to Sir George Brown. It was then I touched Turkish soil for the first time! The impressions made by landing in a foreign country for the first time are always striking, but in a country so distant and so. foreign in its manners, dress, religion, and in short everything, it was more so than usual, especially as it was a very dark night, our lanterns serving as our only guides. We groped our way in single file till we discovered an English guard-room, and took one of the men as a guide. A little farther on we came to a small French camp, and eventually arrived at the General's, whom we found in bed. We then returned on board; as we were not to sail till the following morning, we had a whole day to ourselves to see the town and the works they are throwing up. The latter are about eight or nine miles up the peninsula; they are three miles in extent and reach from the Gulf of Saros to the Sea of Marmora, and are to be thrown up half by the English and half by the French. The walk was a very interesting one, first owing to the scenery, which was lovely, and secondly to the numerous camps lying right and left — here English, there French — dotted about according to the supply of water. In the midst of the Rifles camp was a green marquee, the habitation of Lady Erroll,^^ who intends
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