Letter from Margaret Emily Gaskell, Homburg vor der Höhe, to Mr. Field, 1886 September 9 : autograph manuscript signed.

Describing the visit of the Prince of Wales to Homburg and describing, at length and in detail, the accident on the Matterhorn involving two English mountaineers; thanking him for his "beautiful letters" and describing their first fortnight in Homburg as difficult; saying "But the only thing is to struggle on bravely; and like one would with an inverted temperance-pledge, never once to miss drinking, for the sense of an unbroken performance of duty strengthens one in the continuance of it!;" commenting on the presence of the Prince of Wales in Homburg; saying "You, as a Republican, will think that we ought to have been cheered by the presence of the Prince of Wales! It was, I will confess, amusing to see him looking far vulgarer than any of his subjects here, and to listen to scraps of his conversation in the Elisabethan Allee - to hear him viciously contradicting his sister, the poor Princess Christian, or asking friends to 'loont-tsch with him his Larst day' - such broken English! The best thing about him was his gentle kindness to the poor, blind Duke of Mecklenburg. The Prince used to lead him about very tenderly and he was the only person for whom the Prince would walk a little slower - it being the thing that every one remarked, that the Prince was the fastest walker amongst the hundreds in the Allée, though such a fat, heavy man;" adding that she was in Zermatt "...during that frightful tragedy on the Matterhorn;" describing, at length and in detail, the accident, the heroic rescue efforts and the state of mind of John Davis who was accused of leaving his skiing companion on the mountain to die; saying "The next day ill-feeling ran very high. A great many English mountaineers went up to the Cabane, and they brought down conflicting accounts as to Mr. Davis's state of mind. Some said that he was utterly callous - others that the guides had given him too much brandy - others that he did feel the death of his friend most deeply, but that he was so upset physically that he could not express his grief rightly. There was a very good, nice Mr. Toswell, a Master at Harrow, at the Mount Rose, who felt for Mr. Davis so much that - tho' an utter stranger to him - he, and a friend of his, a Mr. Monk-Smith, went up to the Cabane on purpose to escort Mr. Davis into Zermatt when he had to return - walking in with him so as to guard him from threatened personal violence and to give him the moral support of their presence - But oh! dear Mr. Field, while I write of this tragedy, what an awful disaster this is in America! The earthquakes, I mean - . I can not possibly tell you what horror people have felt here about them, and an intense sympathy for the sufferers. It has been most truly dreadful. How bad it must have been for you! God bless you;" adding, in a postscript, "We are just returning home - i.e., shall be home within a fortnight."