92 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



the infidel tools of the infidel philosophers, who had it all their own 

 way at that eventful period. 



" From the time of our return to Rome to that of our departure 

 for Civita Vecchia in June 1841, things went smoothly on, whilst 

 every day was productive of information and contentment. My 

 sisters passed their time as usual, and much of mine own was spent 

 in the bird-market and in its environs, and in preparing the specimens 

 which I had procured. I obtained a fine gobbo, or white-headed 

 duck, the only one in the market during the two seasons of my stay 

 in Rome. I also got a very handsome red-crested duck with a red 

 beak, equally as scarce. The large bat, 4 altivolans/ is abundant in 

 Rome. You may see it issuing from the lofty edifices at sunset, and 

 proceeding with surprising velocity to its favourite haunts afar off. 

 The Roman lizard is beautiful in form and colour. After dissection, 

 which is very difficult and tedious at the tail, I could restore its 

 anatomy perfectly ; but the brilliant green and yellow colours of its 

 body soon began to fade, and at last they totally disappeared, the 

 specimen gradually assuming a tint composed of grey and blue. The 

 fresh-water tortoise, with a tail considerably longer than that of the 

 one which lives on land, is well worth the trouble of dissection. 

 The Museum of Natural History, at the Sapienza in Rome, is a 

 discredit to the name of the establishment, and I could see nothing 

 in the department of zoology worthy of the least attention. 



" Rome is certainly the most quiet city I ever visited. That foul 

 play and stiletto experiments do occasionally occur, is probable 

 enough, when we consider the extent of the city, and the vast influx 

 of strangers from all parts of the world. Still I witnessed no 

 desperate acts of violence. Yet, methinks, I must have seen some, 

 and perhaps have felt them too, had they been of ordinary occur- 

 rence, for I had occasion to be in the streets every morning a little 

 after four o'clock. Sometimes a houseless dog, which had secured 

 its night's lodgings in the open air, would snarl at me ; but, on my 

 pretending to take up a stone, it fled immediately. I saw nothing 

 in the shape of man to cause suspicion, either when the moon 



issued by Charles III. of Spain, in March, 1767, at the instigation of Count 

 D'Aranda, President of Castille, when the Jesuits of Spain and her colonies, were 

 transferred in a body to Italy, and chiefly to the States of the Pope. [Eo.] 



