Ixxviii 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 Jesus, 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 



