Our house was in a very central position, and when not engaged I gladly received anyone who liked to come to us in the evening, and we had a most agreeable society, foreign and English, for we were not looked upon as strangers, and the English society was much better during the years we spent in Rome than it was afterwards. I had an annual visit of an hour from the astronomer Padre Vico, and Padre Pianciani, Professor of Chemistry in the Collegio Romano. I was invited to see the Observatory; but as I had seen those of Greenwich and Paris, I did not think it worth while accepting the invitation, especially as it required an order from the Pope. I could easily have obtained leave, for we were presented to Gregory XVI. by the President of the Scotch Catholic College. The Pope received me with marked distinction; notwithstanding I was disgusted to see the President prostrate on the floor, kissing the Pope's foot as if he had been divine. I think it was about this time that I was elected an honorary associate of the Accademia Tiberiana. I had very great delight in the Campagna of Rome; the fine range of Apennines bounding the plain, over which the fleeting shadows of the passing clouds fell, ever changing and always beautiful, whether viewed in the early morning, or in the glory of the setting sun, I was never tired of admiring; and whenever I drove out, preferred a country drive to the more fashionable Villa Borghese. One day Somerville and I and our daughters went to drive towards the Tavolata, on the road to Albano. We got out of the carriage, and went into a field, tempted by the wild flowers. On one side of this field ran the aqueduct, on the other a deep and wide ditch full of water. I had gone towards the aqueduct, leaving the others in the field. All at once we heard a loud shouting, when an enormous drove of the beautiful Campagna grey cattle with their wide-spreading horns came rushing wildly between us with their heads down and their tails erect, driven by men with long spears mounted on little spirited horses at full gallop. It was so sudden and so rapid, that only after it was over did we perceive the danger we had run. As there was no possible escape, there was nothing for it but standing still, which Somerville and my girls had presence of mind to do, and the drove dividing, rushed like a whirlwind to the right and left of them. The danger was not so much of being gored as of being run over by the excited and terrified animals, and round the walls of Rome places of refuge are provided for those who may be passing when the cattle are driven. Near where this occurred there is a house with the inscription "_Casa Dei Spiriti_"; but I do not think the Italians believe in either ghosts or witches; their chief superstition seems to be the "_Jettatura_" or evil eye, which they have inherited from the early Romans, and, I believe, Etruscans. They consider it a bad omen to meet a monk or priest on first going out in the morning.