Page:Personal recollections, from early life to old age, of Mary Somerville.djvu/269

Rh 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 Buyukdéré, 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.

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 lightning, very high sea and several waterspouts. The vessel rolled and pitched, and we were carried far out of our course to the Dalmatian coast. I was obliged to remain a couple of days at Trieste to rest, and was very glad when we arrived