consequently realised that I had in a really remarkable manner
escaped a fatal danger which had threatened me.

I shall never forget my impressions of my journey through the
continually descending valley. I was particularly astonished at
the southern vegetation which suddenly spreads out before one on
climbing down from a steep and narrow rocky pass by which the
Tosa is confined. I arrived at Domodossola in the afternoon in a
blaze of sunshine, and I was reminded here of a charming comedy
by an author whose name I have forgotten, which I had once seen
performed with a refinement worthy of Platen, and to which my
attention had been drawn by Eduard Devrient in Dresden. The scene
of the play was laid in Domodossola, and described exactly the
impressions I myself received on coming down from the Northern
Alps into Italy, which suddenly burst upon one's gaze. I shall
also never forget my first simple, but extremely well-served,
Italian dinner. Although I was too tired to walk any further that
day, I was very impatient to get to the borders of Lake Maggiore,
and I accordingly arranged to drive in a one-horse chaise, which
was to take me on the same evening as far as Baveno. I felt so
contented while bowling along in my little vehicle that I
reproached myself for want of consideration in having rudely
declined the offer of company which an officer passing through
the Vetturino made me by means of the driver. I admired the
daintiness of the house decorations and the pleasant faces of the
people in the pretty villages I passed through. A young mother,
strolling along and singing as she spun the flax, with her baby
in her arms, also made a never-to-be-forgotten impression on me.
Soon after sunset I caught sight of the Borromean Islands rising
gracefully out of Lake Maggiore, and again I could not sleep for