238 Mary Someruille. 



On going to Rome I required a good many books 

 for continuing my work on " Physical Geography," 

 and had got " Transactions of the Geographical 

 Society" and other works sent from London. 

 The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone who was then at 

 Rome, was an old acquaintance of ours. He was 

 one of the most amiable men I ever met with, 

 and quite won my heart one day at table when 

 they were talking of the number of singing- 

 birds that were eaten in Italy nightingales, gold- 

 finches, and robins he called out, " What ! robins ! 

 our household birds! I would as soon eat a 

 child ! " He was so kind as to write to the Direc- 

 tors of the East India Company requesting that I 

 might have the use of the library and papers that 

 were in the India House. This was readily granted 

 me ; and I had a letter in consequence from Mr. 

 Wilson, the Orientalist, giving me a list of the works 

 they had on the geography of Eastern Asia and the 

 most recent travels in the Himalaya, Thibet, and 

 China, with much useful information from himself. I 

 was indebted to Sir Henry Pottinger, then at Rome, 

 for information relating to Scinde, for he had been 

 for some years British Envoy at Beloochistan. 

 Thus provided, I went on with my work. We lived 

 several winters in an apartment on the second floor 

 of Palazzo Lepri, Via dei Condotti, where we passed 



