“.... Tell my father that I have been very extravagant. I have bought a copy in marble of the Psyche in the Museum at Naples; a very clever artist is executing it for me, and it will be finished about the middle of April. Mr. Senior is also having a copy taken. I do not know if my father knows the statue. It is attributed to Praxiteles. Nothing has pleased me so much, except perhaps the Dying Gladiator; and as it is very simple, the cost of the copy is comparatively trifling. It will look very well against the dark oak of your drawing-room at Donnington, and I hope you will approve of my taste.” “ROME, _January 28, 1851_. “We saw two things yesterday which will interest you: the catacombs in which the early Christian martyrs were buried, and in which the Christians met during the persecutions to worship God. They are immense subterranean passages, extending, they say, twenty miles; but you can only see a part, as they are closed, for fear of affording shelter to thieves. The other thing was, a little church about two miles from Rome, on the Appian Road, to which a beautiful legend is attached. It is said that St. Peter, during the persecution in which he suffered martyrdom, lost heart, and fled from Rome by the Appian Road; he had arrived at the spot where the church now stands, when our Lord appeared to him, going towards Rome. The Apostle exclaimed in astonishment, ‘Lord, whither goest thou?’ The answer was, ‘I go to Rome to be crucified again.’ Whereupon Peter turned back, and re-entered the city, and suffered the death which had been predicted for him. There is no reason why this should not be true, but, true or not, it is a beautiful story, and I was much interested by it. They show a stone with the impression of our Lord’s feet upon it, which is kept as a relic.” “_February 10, 1851._—I think that my Italian progresses favourably. My master tells me that I _pronounce_ it better than any other of his pupils; and as he is very strict, and finds fault with everything else, I suppose I must believe that he speaks the truth.”