text:  On a former visit he had gained great renown by climbing in company with Captain Alexander of the royal navy to the summit of the cross surmounting the ball of St Peter's and leaving his gloves on the point of the conductor! and as a pendant to this notable achievement it was announced about this time in most of the English papers that in a fervour of religious enthusiasm on approaching the Eternal City he had walked barefoot as a pilgrim the last twenty miles and thus so severely lacerated his feet as to be incapable for some time of moving