Letter from William Gell, London, to Jane Milnes Smith, 1811 October 4 : autograph manuscript signed.

Concerning his preparations for the expedition he will be taking for the Society of the Dilettanti; saying "I have now to tell you the motive of all my combats with the portmanteaus & packing cases, & I shall give you the preamble to my instructions as the shortest way of letting you into the secret "Whereas the Society of Dilettanti have resolved that a Person or Persons properly qualified, should be sent with sufficient appointments to the East to examine into the ancient and present state of those countries, & particularly to collect information concerning the architecture & sculpture" &c &c. As this is resolved I am going on the Mission and have got two architects who are to draw and measure the temples and cities under my direction. I am myself one of the Society whose name You may recollect from a large book in the Library at Hopton which was the first Volume of the Ionian Antiquities. The other Vol which is much the best was published long after. I am to have 600 a year clear, the artists 200 each and all travelling expenses are to be paid besides so that the post is better than that of an ordinary Minister and a much pleasanter employment for as I am supposed to know full as much as my employers what I am to do my instructions, except naming 7 or 8 places as principal objects, order me to do as seems best in my judgement. The places named are Samos, Sardes, Hierapolis, Aphrodisias, Posidium, Gnidos & Patara, but in getting to these fifty more places must be discovered with objects of the highest importance. Some of the places were visited by Dr. Chandler but we modern travellers imagine ourselves so much wiser than the old ones that we consider nothing to be done yet in Ionia, indeed the Doctor has mistaken the names of half the places all which remain to be rectified;" commenting on how long he may be gone before returning to England and adding that he will travel on "...a Turkish frigate, The Africa, now here the Cap't of which Cap't Ismail is a great friend of mine & whose Uncle is governor of Rhodes where we are to land - Not that I think that the Turks are good sailors, but I admire sailors who go into port when the wind is foul and do not remain like the English buffeting the waves for a fortnight while we landsmen die of it. I shall perhaps be in the Bay of Biscay before you get this in which case pray for a NE wind if you have any charity for ones interior."