lxxviii AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



witness the liquefaction of his blood. I will not 

 trouble the reader with any preliminary remarks 

 on this astonishing prodigy, but merely observe 

 that Sir William Hamilton, our former am- 

 bassador at Naples, wrote to Lord Morton, the 

 President of the Royal Society, on the 29th of 

 December, in 1767, in the following words : — 

 " It is well attested here that the eruption of 

 Vesuvius ceased the moment St. Januarius's 

 head came in sight of the mountain." 



We had the very best letters of introduction to 

 Naples ; so that these procured for us most con- 

 venient situations to witness whatever might take 

 place. On the 19th of September, then, in the 

 year 1840, accompanied by my two sisters- 

 in-law, Miss Edmonstone and Miss Helen Ed- 

 monstone, and my little boy, we arrived at the 

 Cathedral, and entered it just as the great clock 

 was striking a quarter past eight of the morning. 

 Through the kindness of Father Sorentino, of the 

 Society of J esus, and through that of the learned 

 Abbe* Bianchi, we were shown into most advan- 

 tageous places. 



A short time before the phial which contains 

 the blood of St. Januarius was taken out of the 

 chapel dedicated to him, in order to be placed 



