Florence and her companions reached Paris on October 27, took ship at Marseilles for Civita Vecchia, and stayed in Rome--in the Via S. Bastinello (No. 8)--from the beginning of November till March 29, 1848. Florence entered heartily into all the pursuits and occupations of elegant tourists in Rome. She studied the ruins; explored the catacombs; copied inscriptions; visited the churches and galleries; spent a morning in Gibson's studio and another in Overbeck's; collected plants in the Colosseum; rode in the Campagna, and bought brooches, mosaics, and Roman pearls. Her father had drawn out a programme of famous sights and pretty walks and drives; and the methodical Florence duly ticked them off on the list. She read her own thoughts and aspirations into many of the works of art. She greatly admired the Apollo Belvedere, seeing in it the type of triumphant Free Will. "We can never lose the recollection of our poor selves while we still do things with difficulty, while we are still uncertain whether we shall succeed or not. The triumph of success may be great and delightful, but the divine life--eternal life--is when to will is to do, when the will is the same thing as the act, and therefore the act is unconscious." Of the Jupiter of the Capitol, again, she says: "Jupiter is that perfect grace in power where the divine _Will_, pure from exertion, speaks, and It is done." But what chiefly interested her, what really impressed her mind and stimulated her imagination, was the genius of Michael Angelo:--