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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



order to reach. England before the close of 

 summer. 



I had been above a year and a half in southern 

 Italy with my sisters-in-law Miss Edmonstone 

 and Miss Helen Edmonstone, and my son 

 Edmund, a youth of eleven years of age. 



We left Rome with our two servants on 

 the 16th of June, 1841 ; and the next day, 

 at four o'clock in the afternoon, w r e went on 

 board the Pollux steamer of two-hundred-horse 

 power, at Civita Vecchia, and shaped our course 

 for Leghorn. The weather was charmingly 

 serene ; scarcely a ripple could be perceived 

 upon old ocean's surface ; and when the night 

 set in, although there was no moon, the bril- 

 liancy of the stars made ample amends for her 

 non-appearance. I soon remarked a want of 

 nautical discipline on board the Pollux ; and ere 

 the sun went down, I had observed to a gentle- 

 man standing by me, that in all my life I had 

 never been on board of a vessel where unseaman- 

 like conduct was more apparent. 



After making choice of a convenient part of 

 the deck, I laid me down in my travelling cloak 

 to pass the night there, having Mr. Macintosh's 

 life-preserver in my pocket. He had made me 



