esuvius; for the smoke was particularly dense and
black, and some of the wells were dried up.

* * * * *

I can scarcely believe that Rome, where I have spent so many happy
years, is now the capital of united Italy. I heartily rejoice in that
glorious termination to the vicissitudes the country has undergone, and
only regret that age and infirmity prevent me from going to see Victor
Emmanuel triumphantly enter the capital of his kingdom. The Pope's
reliance on foreign troops for his safety was an unpardonable insult to
his countrymen.

* * * * *

The month of October this year (1870), seems to have been remarkable for
displays of the Aurora Borealis. It seriously interfered with the
working of the telegraphs, particularly in the north of England and
Ireland. On the night of the 24th October, it was seen over the greater
part of Europe. At Florence, the common people were greatly alarmed, and
at Naples, the peasantry were on their knees to the Madonna to avert the
evil. Unfortunately, neither I nor any of my family saw the Aurora; for
most of our windows have a southern aspect. The frequent occurrence of
the Aurora in 1870 confirms the already known period of maximum
intensity and frequency, every ten or twelve years, since the last
maximum occurred in 1859.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 15: The _Resistance_, ironclad, commanded by Captain
Chamberlayne, then absent on sick leave.]

[Footnote 16: Captain Henry Fairfax, my mother's nephew, then Commander
on board the _Resistance_, senior officer in the absence of the
captain.]

[Footnote 17: Professor of Geology at Bologna.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

ECLIPSE--VISITS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN--LIFE AT NAPLES--DARWIN'S
BOOKS--REMARKS ON CIVILIZATION--FINE AURORA BOREALIS--DEATH OF
HERSCHEL--SUMMER AT SORRENTO--BILL FOR PROTECTION OF
ANIMALS--NINETY-SECOND YEAR--LETTER FROM PROFESSOR SEDGWICK--GRAND
ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS--LAST SUMMER AT SORRENTO, PLANTS FOUND
THERE--CONCLUSION.

The summer of 1870 was unusually cool; but the winter has been extremely
gloomy, with torrents of rain, and occasionally such thick fogs, that I
could see neither to read nor to write. We had no storms during the hot
weather; but on the afternoon of the 21st December, there was one of the
finest thunderstorms I ever saw; the lightning was intensely vivid, and
took the strangest forms, darting in all directions through the air
before it struck, and sometimes