s soon as we get
pratique, we shall endeavour to procure a vessel for Palermo, remain
there a couple of days, thence to Naples, where I hope to get letters
from our dear mother and friends."

In the course of this narrative we shall have frequent opportunities
of witnessing a peculiar characteristic of his. When he had achieved
some great work, and was yet engaged in affixing his signature to a
report on the same, whilst all his fellow-workers were exhausted with
fatigue, his restless activity would impel him to begin a fresh scheme
for the alleviation of distress or for the cause of humanity,
notwithstanding his own exertions, and in spite of many nights of
anxiety which may have attended his former enterprise.

_Thursday, December 13th._--This being the 1966th anniversary of the
victory of the Maccabees, Mr and Mrs Montefiore celebrated it by
special prayers and thanksgivings, an additional number of lights
being burnt in honour of the occasion. A Russian officer, who happened
to be their neighbour in the Lazaretto, spoke in glowing terms of the
bravery of Jewish soldiers in Russia, and of their wonderful endurance
in the days of want and distress so often experienced during the war.

When Mr (then Sir Moses) Montefiore appeared before the Emperor
Nicholas in the year 1846 to plead the cause of his brethren, he had
the satisfaction of hearing similar remarks from His Majesty's lips.

_Friday, 14th December._--Lady Stoddart and her son paid them a visit;
Captain and Mrs Copeland also came to see them. The Captain said there
was great probability of war, adding that the Franks had escaped from
Constantinople, and that the Ambassadors were expected to leave
immediately.

_Monday, December 17th._--They visited every part of the Lazaretto,
and found the hospital clean, and in excellent order, but untenanted.
They also went to see the English cemetery, where those who die whilst
in quarantine or on board ship in the harbour are buried. About a
dozen graves are always kept ready for immediate use. Describing the
process of fumigating letters and papers, which they saw that day, Mr
Montefiore says: "The letters are opened and placed in an iron closet,
or on an iron grid; a saucepan containing burning bran and sulphur is
then placed on the ground beneath them, and the closet is shut for
fifteen minutes. They are then taken out again, and the process is
complete."

_Tuesday, December 18th._--Several vessels came into the