374 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



We returned to England, as I have said, via Alex- 

 andria, Brindisi, and Rome, and in the Eternal City I 

 was seized with an attack of my enemy the gout, which 

 kept me in durance vile for some little time. My com- 

 panions meanwhile visited, as ladies will, a large number 

 of churches. On a later occasion we spent six weeks 

 in Rome, in the spring, having taken charming rooms 

 on the Pincian. Here we enjoyed ourselves greatly, 

 and I made a point of frequently visiting my friend and 

 colleague in science, Cannizzaro, and attended one of 

 his lectures on chemistry, and was struck by his clear 

 method of exposition. I was also present at a meeting 

 of the celebrated Lincei Academy, one of the oldest of 

 existing scientific societies. The recent discoveries in 

 the Forum are certainly of interest, but really, after 

 visiting Egypt and learning that not only the mythical 

 Mena was a reality, but that a still more ancient 

 dynasty than number one has been proved to exist, the 

 antiquity of Rome seems almost like that of yesterday. 



But here let me say a word about the vaunted 

 climate of Italy. No one of a gouty temperament 

 who is in search of warmth should venture to winter 

 there. I do not know a country in which you can get 

 so well starved. Spring or even early summer is the 

 time of year to enjoy Italy. All the newly-built houses 

 on the Pincian in Rome, for example, are devoid of 

 flues, and hideous iron chimney pipes are seen coming 

 out of the windows and crawling up the outside of the 

 houses, by which means some very inefficient mode 

 of heating the rooms by wood fires has become 

 possible. No, if you are determined to leave your 

 own warm fireside for foreign parts, and need to 

 secure sunshine outside and a decent temperature 

 inside your dwelling, then you had much better cross 

 the " dark-blue midland sea" and get a lodging on 



