ce we met
with of this very ancient custom. The first time Somerville and I came
to Italy, years before this, while dining at a very noble house, the
wetnurse took her place, as a matter of course, at the foot of the
dinner-table.

On the morning after our arrival and at a very early hour there was a
very fine eclipse of the sun, though not total at Perugia or the
neighbourhood; the chill and unnatural gloom were very striking.

Perugia is one of the places in which the ancient athletic game of
_pallone_ is played with spirit. It is so graceful when well played that
I wonder our active young men have not adopted it. A large leather ball
filled with condensed air is struck and returned again by the opponent
with the whole force of their right arms, covered to the elbow with a
spiked wooden case. The promptness and activity required to keep up the
ball is very great, and the impetus with which it strikes is such, that
the boxes for spectators in the amphitheatres dedicated to this game are
protected by strong netting. It is a very complicated game, and, I am
told, somewhat resembles tennis.

* * * * *

On leaving Perugia we went for a few days to Asissi, spent a day at
Chiusi, and then returned to Rome, which we found in a great state of
excitement on account of three steamers which had just arrived from
England to ply on the Tiber. The Pope and Cardinals made a solemn
procession to bless them. No doubt they would have thought our method of
dashing a bottle of wine on a vessel on naming her highly profane.

We constantly made expeditions to the country, to Tivoli, Veii, Ostia,
&c., and my daughters rode on the Campagna. One day they rode to Albano,
and on returning after dark they told me they had seen a most curious
cloud which never altered its position; it was a very long narrow stripe
reaching from the horizon till nearly over head--it was the tail of the
magnificent comet of 1843.

We met with a great temptation in an invitation from Lady Stratford
Canning, to go and visit them at Buyukdere, near Constantinople, but
_res arcta_ prevented us from accepting what would have been so
desirable in every respect. At this time I sat to our good friend Mr.
Macdonald for my bust, which was much liked.[13]

* * * * *

One early summer we went to Loreto and Ancona, where we embarked for
Trieste; the weather seemed fine when we set off, but a storm came on,
with thunder and