drawing-room; the red for a bed-room, and the rooms over as sleeping-rooms. They will be soon completed; — at least I hope so.
I wish you would inquire of Major Watson (who is an old Indian) what things will be necessary to provide for my voyage.
have already procured a friend to write to the Arabic Professor at Cambridge
, for some information I am anxious to procure. I can easily get letters from government to the ambassadors, consuls, etc., and also to the governors at Calcutta and Madras. I shall place my property and my will in the hands of trustees till my return, and I mean to appoint you one. From Hanson I have heard nothing — when I do, you shall have the particulars.
After all, you must own my project is not a bad one. If I do not travel now, I never shall, and all men should one day or other. I have at present no connections to keep me at home; no wife, or unprovided sisters, brothers, etc. I shall take care of you, and when I return I may possibly become a politician. A few years' knowledge of other countries than our own will not incapacitate me for that part. If we see no nation but our own, we do not give mankind a fair chance; — it is from
experience
, not books, we ought to judge of them. There is nothing like inspection, and trusting to our own senses.
Yours, etc.