flowers. Many plants we cultivate in England here grow wild in
profusion, such as cyclamens, gum-cistus, both white and purple, many
rare and beautiful orchideae, the large flowering Spanish broom,
perfuming the air all around, the tall, white-blossomed Mediterranean
heath, and the myrtle. These and many others my girls used to bring in
from their early morning walks. The flowers only lasted till the end of
June, when the heat began, and the whole country became brown and
parched; but scarcely had the autumnal rains commenced, when, like
magic, the whole country broke out once more into verdure, and myriads
of cyclamens covered the ground. Nightingales abounded in the woods,
singing both by night and by day; and one bright moonlight night my
daughters, who slept with their window open, were startled from their
sleep by the hooting of one of those beautiful birds, the great-eared
owl--"le grand duc" of Buffon--which had settled on the railing of their
balcony. We constantly came across snakes, generally harmless ones; but
there were a good many vipers, and once, when Somerville and my
daughters, with Mr. Cromek, the artist, had gone from Genzano to Nettuno
for a couple of days, a small asp which was crawling among the
bent-grass on the seashore, darted at one of the girls, who had
irritated it by touching it with her parasol. By the natives they are
much dreaded, both on this coast and in the pine forest of Ravenna,
where the cattle are said to be occasionally poisoned by their bite.

* * * * *

We had been acquainted with the Rev. Dr., afterwards Cardinal Wiseman at
Rome. He was head of a college of young men educating for the Catholic
Church, who had their "villeggiatura" at Monte Porzio. We spent a day
with him there, and visited Tusculum; another day we went to Lariccia,
where there is a palace and park belonging to the Chigi family in a most
picturesque but dilapidated state. We went also to Ganzano, Rocca del
Papa, and occasionally to visit frends at Frascati. There was a stone
threshing-floor behind our house. During the vintage we had it nicely
swept and lighted with torches, and the grape gatherers came and danced
till long after midnight, to the great amusement of my daughters, who
joined in the dance, which was the Saltarello, a variety of the
Tarantella. They danced to the beating of tambourines. Italy is the
country of music, especially of melody, and the popular airs, especially
the