He describes briefly his journey to Rome,
Thomson and
Howard would have been shocked at his first impression, "I found Rome small!"; he lists the portraits he has completed, their sizes and media; he no longer produces "sketchy drawings", perferring to studying the "finer traits of the human countenance"; he must limit what he can see in Rome so as to leave soon, only
Byron can do it justice in words; muses over how
Bonaparte might have responded to Rome; he has studied
Raphael and
Michelangelo; he is alarmed at the decay in the Vatican; he is also alarmed at news of
Mr. Owen's health and asks to be remembered to him; he sends thanks to
Thomson for preparing his way and describes his attempts to educate his servant Edward in the Romance of it all;
Canova has asked after
Mr. West and the
Academy; the
Duchess of Devonshire has been very kind, but all other Englishmen are in Naples with the
Emperor of Austria; he describes first meeting
Cardinal Consalvi and then an audience with the
Pope; the Cardinal is a very good subject for a portrait.