LATER LETTERS OF
EDWARD LEAR
Demy Svo, cloth, 15s. net.
LETTERS OF EDWARD LEAR
(Author of " The Book of Nonsense ")
to Chichester Fortescue, Lord Carlingford,
and Frances, Countess Waldegrave (1848 to
1864). Edited by Lady Strachey (of Sutton
Court). With a Photogravure Frontispiece,
3 Coloured Plates, and many other Illustrations.
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN
* ~>
9.
LATER LETTERS
OF
EDWARD LEAR
AUTHOR OF "THE BOOK OF NONSENSE"
TO
CHICHESTER FORTESCUE
(LORD CARLINGFORD)
FRANCES COUNTESS WALDEGRAVE
AND OTHERS
EDITED BY
LADY STRACHEY
OF
BUTTON COURT
\ / :
WITH 83 ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN
ADELPHI TERRACE
1911
He
till
rights reserved.)
EDITOR'S NOTE
IN November, 1907, I published the first
book of Lear letters to my aunt and
uncle, of which this volume is a continuation.
The public both here and in America
received that volume in the most kindly
spirit, and caused me to decide to carry out
the suggestion I originally held out, that a
second volume might be forthcoming if the
approval of the public was assured. This
volume has, I fear, been much delayed, and
I would ask forgiveness from the many
who were looking for it, for the long lapse
which has occurred between the publication
of the two volumes. After the publication
of the first volume my eyes broke down
for a time, and caused the imperative and
necessary rest which has resulted in over
three years elapsing before this second
volume has been finally accomplished. I
think this explanation is due to the many
lovers of the delightful letters of the first
5
Later Letters of Edward Lear
volume, and I feel any annoyance on their
part at my seeming negligence to their feel-
ings will be now condoned.
I think I may truly say that the following
volume is in no way inferior to the first
in fact, my American publisher considers
it almost better and I feel I may in any
case hope that the kind public will take it
as much to their heart as they did the
former one.
I have in many ways gained various
sidelights about Mr. Lear not known to
me before, gleaned from the letters called
forth by the first volume from friends and
persons who had known him, and who had
been deeply interested by those early letters.
Among them I may mention Mr. Hubert
Congreve, a close friend of Lear's San Remo
days, who has most kindly written for me
the delightful Preface to this book, a vivid
personal remembrance of his old friend and
would-be master in art.
Also Madame Philipp, whose first husband
was the well-known Dr. Hassall of San
Remo, both great personal friends of Mr.
Lear, and the latter also his medical adviser
for several years and till his death. I have
ended this book with a touching letter to
6
Editor's Note
myself from Madame Philipp of Lear's last
days and death, and also have added a
short quotation from a letter from Guiseppe
Orsini, Lear's faithful servant, sent by Sir
Franklin Lushington to my uncle after
Lear's death. These words from eye wit-
nesses close down the life of a most remark-
able and lovable man, which otherwise would
have been left unknown ; when " the sudden
ceasing of that ceaseless hand," stilled the
friendship that only the coming of death
could have stayed from writing himself to
his beloved friends.
Besides these I have also kindly had lent
to me the miniatures of " Sister Anne " so
like her brother minus the spectacles, show-
ing the lovable elder sister and mother
combined she was to her brother through life.
" Sister Mary " also who died at sea on
her return to England (see p. 187, vol. i.).
Mrs. Allen, who is the possessor of these
portraits, was a niece, or rather cousin, of
"poor Mary's unpleasant husband," as Mr.
Lear calls him in his early letters, and she
and her husband, the Rev. F. A. Allen, write
me the following interesting history of Mr.
Boswell and his Lear wife, and thereby
rather verify Mr. Lear's epithet from the
7
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Lear point of view. Mr. Allen, in 1908,
wrote : " My wife as a girl in a country
Parsonage (Fareham), was a great com-
panion of old Mr. Boswell, an eminent
amateur naturalist and microscopist, who
married Mary Lear. When over sixty, they
both migrated to New Zealand, and lived
in a hut in the bush. I am afraid that
the hardships endured killed her, for she
died on the voyage home (see p. 187, vol. i.).
We have still a little model in New
Zealand grasses, etc., of the hut in which
they lived. The old gentleman lived on a
small annuity which he purchased at Fare-
ham (Hants), at Torquay, where he died
and was buried, and left no descendants.
He was much respected everywhere and
was quite a shining light in Natural History
Societies, &c. He had some patent process
which died with him, for the manufacture
of slides for the microscope, and supplied
some of the dealers. He was a most in-
teresting well-informed man. My wife
belonged to his side of his family and was
his executor, but he had not much to leave.
She called him uncle, but I think he was
a sort of cousin. We have one or two
letters of Edward Lear written to his sister
8
MARY LEAR, WIFE OF RICHARD BOSWELL.
(From miniature, by kind permission of Mrs. filial.
Editor's Note
before she left. They are amusing and are
illustrated in his peculiar style. My wife
has three Lear miniatures.
" I. Of the excellent old sister Ann who
brought up the others (see Introduction, vol. i.,
p. xvii) a good portrait.
" II. Of Mrs. Boswell (not so good).
"III. Containing silhouettes (in black) of
Edward Lear as a lad or young man, and
a sister (the ninth and youngest sister).
" If you ever bring out another volume of
letters she might perhaps lend them for re-
production.
"P.S. My wife's maiden name was Smith,
daughter of the Rev. F. Smith, late Vicar
of Holy Trinity, Fareham, Hants."
On Jan. 19, 1911, Mr. Allen again writes:
" My wife is the owner of the three pictures,
and will be glad to lend them. They came
into our family this way, and a note might
be made of it. My wife's mother (nde Payne)
had an uncle, Mr. Richard Shuter Boswell,
who married Miss Mary Lear, and took her
out to New Zealand in 1856 or 1858. In 1863
he returned to England, living first at Fare-
ham, Hants, and then at Torquay, where he
died in 1876, aged 80, and is buried in the
cemetery there.
9
Later Letters of Edward Lear
" P.S. My wife remembers that Mrs.
Boswell and Mr. B. went out to N. Zealand
with the Streets (nephew perhaps he was
not married then) and that Mrs. B. died and
was buried at sea on her way home. The
B.'s were too old to rough it in the Bush,
and he was blamed for taking her out."
From Mrs. Allen, Jan. 26, 1911 :
" I am glad that the pictures of the Lear
family should be of use to you in your kind
undertaking of gathering Edward Lear's letters
together. I was much interested in his first
volume, and we shall indeed value the second.
You are also quite welcome to mention any-
thing about Uncle Richard and Aunt Mary
Boswell. I was quite a small child when
they went to New Zealand in 757. I
believe they visited my father and mother at
Fareham before they left England : Aunt
Mary died on the voyage back, I think in
1 86 1 Uncle Richard coming to us at Fare-
ham on his reaching England. While at
Fareham he made and gave to us, a little
model of the hut he built himself in the
bush, which he had cleared. I have it now.
He died at Torquay in /y6. I enclose the
two letters of Ed. Lear we have as I thought
you might be amused to read them."
(I give these here.)
10
Editor's Note
16. UPPER SEYMOUR ST.,
PORTMAN Sg.,
1 6. July.
MY DEAR MARY, I hope to come and see you on
the 24th at Leatherhead, and to find you very well
and lively. I believe you and Mr. Boswell have done
the best thing you can, in making this plan of joining
Sarah.
Now I want you to take something from your
shabby old brother as a recollection, but I don't
know what to fix on for you $ is the big sum I
propose that you should expend on something quite
as a keepsake a kettle, a candlestick, a looking glass
an angora cat a barrel of wine, or whatever you
like best. But I also want to add 2o to your fund
which you are to live on : no large sum is Twenty
Pounds but better than a poke in the eye with a
sharp stick. This however I do not know how to
bring to you, in notes ? or should it be paid into any
bank here ? or do you take all your fortune with you
in a pipkin, gold and silver all wrapped up in a
handkerchief?
Just send me a line when you receive this and tell
me how I shall manage if I should bring down all
the 2$ in a lump to you on Friday or not or how.
Perhaps you will buy a small cow to ride on in
New Zealand. I imagine that you and Sarah will
institute ox races in New Zealand.
Please let me hear from you soon and believe me
Yours affectionately
EDWARD LEAR.
ii
Later Letters of Edward Lear
16. UPPER SEYMOUR STREET
PORTMAN SQUARE
ii. Aug. 1857
DEAR MARY, Ann will have written to you that I
have sold my picture so that I am, for once out of
debt, and have nearly one hundred pounds to begin
life with.
But this good luck has much deranged my plans,
and I am over head and ears in business in con-
sequence of being obliged to send off my picture at
once to Derbyshire and it will not be at all possible
for me to come to see you again before you leave
England.
You and Richard must therefore take my best
wishes in writing, and remember that I shall always
hope to hear of you through Ann. Tell Sarah, with
my love to her and to all, that I did begin to write to
her and intended to have written a long letter, but I
really have not had a minute since I saw you and
indeed my writing days are very much finished and
done for.
Now, my dear Mary, Good-bye. When you write
to Ann, mention any little thing that you may want. I
may or may not be able to send it you but you know
what pleasure it will always be to do so if I can.
12
Editor's Note
My love to Richard, and best wishes for a good
voyage for you and for happiness on your arrival.
Your affectionate
EDWARD LEAR.
Please look well to the ox on which I am to run
races against you or yours when I come. And do
not be too anxious to climb up all the tallest trees ;
because you aint used to it.
The portraits of Anne and Mary are included
in this volume, and will also add interest to the
preceding one, where more mention is made
of Lear's sisters.
The silhouette of Lear himself is extra-
ordinarily good, accentuating with his hair the
fine high forehead and very cone-shaped top to
his head, which in later years, though quite
devoid of hair, still gave the striking egg-like
appearance. In this early portrait, which is
so characteristic, one sees the coming man, the
promised aggressiveness to be fulfilled into
the positive, when in later life he did not fancy
people or they happened to be Germans !
Again, I should like to make mention of
the wonderful Sarah Street (Lear) and her
daughter-in-law Sophie, mentioned at p. 153,
vol. i., 1859. " Sarah is on her way home,
and her leaving the Warepa seems to me, a sort
of signal of break-up in her family, added to
Later Letters of Edward Lear
by my nephew's wifes illness, one of increasing
incurability it appears to me, and which I
suppose has very much altered their views and
plans." Since that paragraph was printed I have
had the pleasure of making the acquaintance
of Mrs. Michell, of Cambridge (jtde Gillies), and
granddaughter of the said Sophie. She tells me
that her grandmother recovered and is still alive
in New Zealand, a beautiful old lady now aged
eighty-six, quite as wonderful a woman as
Sarah, and a far more attractive one. She is
loved by young and old around her home, and
is still the life and soul of everything that takes
place. She was a Miss Dabbinett of Curry
Rivel.
Mrs. Michell last month, when I specially
went to Cambridge to see her, was just start-
ing on a holiday with her beautiful little son
of five, for a three months' stay with her people
in New Zealand. Sarah's son, C. H. Street,
married Miss Dabbinett, and their only
daughter married a Mr. Gillies, whose death
and that of C. H. Street within a very short
time of each other, Lear grieves about, at
page 356, in this volume.
Mrs. Gillies was left with nine children, seven
of whom are alive, and Mrs. Michell is one of
the two daughters among these. But the
14
Editor's Note
Streets had all along prospered, and they have
a beautiful home " Kohanga," at Parnell,
Auckland.
They possess vast stores of Lear's drawings
and diaries, most of them given to them as
executor by Sir Franklin Lushington, and
letters also from all the sisters, as well as
mementos belonging to the latter. Mrs.
Michell had not time to show me the pearls
belonging to Sarah, a carved rosewood table
which came down through Aunt Anne, and
some old china left by Aunt Ellinor (Newsom).
But she showed me some exquisite little draw-
ings given her by her mother as a wedding gift
one evidently a study for Lady Waldegrave's
(now belonging to Mr. Fortescue Urquhart, at
Oxford) beautiful Villa Petraja, and a highly
finished set of four drawings in black and white,
one special one of mountains with deep shadows,
a perfect gem of black and white values.
Again, I have to thank Lord Northbrook
for his kindness in lending me the beautiful
water-colour sketches done in India by Lear
when there by his father's invitation, which
are included in this book.
To Mr. Congreve my thanks are also due for
his interesting sketches in sepia of Ceriana and
Tenda.
15
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Also, to Canon Church for the two ex-
quisite sketches done during the tour Mr. Lear
and he took together and of which mention
is made in the beginning of the first volume.
To my sister-in-law, Mrs. Shaw, for the loan
of the water colour of " Becky," the Robinson
parrot, showing another side of Lear's work.
To Mrs. Charles Roundell, for her permitting
the reproductions of her very fine examples,
"The Pinewoods of Ravenna," and " Cenc,
Island of Gozo, Malta."
To the Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum,
for allowing a reproduction of the great oil
painting of Bassae, subscribed for by friends
(see p. 155, vol. i.) in 1859.
To Lord Tennyson, for allowing his sonnet
on the Villa Tennyson to be included ; and
to Lord Avebury, for his permission to print
his Lear letter on " Insects " (see Appendix).
CONSTANCE STRACHEY.
SUTTON COURT, Feb., 1911.
16
PREFACE
evening in the early autumn of
1869, when quite a small boy, I ran
down the steep path which led up to our
house at San Remo to meet my father ;
I found him accompanied by a tall, heavily-
built gentleman, with a large curly beard
and wearing well-made but unusually loosely
fitting clothes, and what at the time struck
me most of all, very large, round spectacles.
He at once asked me if I knew who he
was, and without waiting for a reply pro-
ceeded to tell me a long, nonsense name,
compounded of all the languages he knew,
and with which he was always quite pat.
This completed my discomfiture, and made
me feel very awkward and self-conscious.
My new acquaintance seemed to perceive this
at once, and, laying his hand on my shoulder,
said, " I am also the Old Derry Down
Derry, who loves to see little folks merry,
and I hope we shall be good friends." This
17 B
Later Letters of Edward Lear
was said with a wonderful charm of manner
and voice, and accompanied with such a
genial, yet quizzical smile, as to put me at
my ease at once. This was my first meeting
with Edward Lear, who from that day to his
death was my dearest and best friend of the
older generation, and who for nineteen years
stood in almost a paternal relation to me.
His letters contained in this volume, and
those already published by Lady Strachey,
tell a portion of his life's story, and reveal
his versatile, eccentric genius and character.
But to those who first make his acquaint-
ance in this volume some account of the
man as he was to those who knew him inti-
mately, and loved him truly, may be of
interest and assistance. At the time of our
first meeting he was fifty-seven, having been
born, I believe, at Highgate, on May 12, 1812.
He was the youngest of a large family of
Danish extraction, the spelling of his name
having been altered by his grandfather to
suit English pronunciation, as he says in a
letter written December 31, 1882, " My own
(name) as I think you know is really L0R, but
my Danish Grandfather picked off the two
dots and pulled out the diagonal line and
made the word Lear (the two dots and the
18
Preface
line and the O representing the sound ea).
If he threw away the line and the dots only
he would be called Mr. Lor, which he didn't
like."
Soon after our first meeting he bought a
plot of land on the hill-side adjoining my
father's property at San Remo, and at once
began the building of the Villa Emily, which
later on was the cause of so much trouble
and sorrow to him. He soon became very
intimate with us, and was a constant visitor
at our house, dropping in often at our mid-
day meal, when he would sit, generally with-
out taking anything beyond a glass of his
favourite Marsala, and talk in the most
delightful and interesting way of his garden,
his travels, people he had met, birds, botany,
music, and on general topics interspersed with
humour, which was never long absent, and
(I am sorry to say) with puns also : he was
as inveterate a punster as Charles Lamb !
After his day's work was over he would fre-
quently stroll in again for an evening walk
and chat, occasionally staying till quite late,
and delighting us all by singing his " Tenny-
son Songs," set to music by himself, which
he sang with great feeling and expression,
and with what must have been at one time a
19
Later Letters of Edward Lear
fine tenor voice. He accompanied himself on
the piano with spread chords, of which he
was very fond. He generally finished up with
some humorous songs, sung with great spirit,
our favourite being "The Cork Leg."
He was always full of interest in our
doings, and a week seldom passed without
his bringing us a nonsense poem or a funny
drawing of some event in our lives, or of
some plant which had flowered in our gardens.
Unfortunately all these treasures perished,
along with many others, in that not very
safe deposit a boy's pocket. Occasionally
we were invited to dine with him, when he
always sent a nonsense menu. One of these
I still have, written shortly after the arrival
of his favourite cat, Foss. It reads :
Potage .... .... Potage au Petit Puss.
(Pour Poisson) .... Queues de chat, a 1'Aiguille.
ist Entr'ee .... Orielles de Chat, frites a la Kil-
kenny.
Pattes du Chat aux chataignes.
2nd Entree .... Cotelettes de petit chat (sauce
doigts de pied de Martyr
Tomata Sauce.)
Roti Gros Chat Noir.
Pour Legume .... De Terre sans pommes. Pe-
tite pierres cuites a 1'eau
chaude.
20
Preface
Gibier .... .... Croquet aux balles.
Canards de Malta.
Sauce au poivre,
Sauce au sel.
Patisserie .... Pate* de vers de soie au sucre,
Breadcrumbs a 1'Oliver Crom-
well (all of a crumble).
Boudin de Milles Mouches.
Compot de Mouches Noires.
As a matter of fact, we always had soup,
mutton, pilaf, and a plain pudding, his faithful
old Suliot servant, Giorgio Cocali, usually
known as George, not being strong as a cook.
Next day we generally received an extract
which he professed he had copied from the
Court Journal of the day, enumerating the
large number of distinguished people who had
dined with the " Author of the Book of Non-
sense," though the description, cleverly varied,
all applied to three individuals.
His usual description of himself was the
" Author of the Book of Nonsense,"
occasionally "A Nartist Cove named Lear,"
and I have always believed that in his heart
of hearts, he was prouder of his " Book of
Nonsense" than of his paintings. I remem-
ber, when the " Second Book of Nonsense"
was published, the delight a favourable review
21
Later Letters of Edward Lear
would cause him ; he beamed as he read it
out to me ; and how he chafed under an
unfavourable notice. Yet criticisms of his
pictures he always took unconcernedly, and
would frequently laugh over them. I often
heard him repeat the story of a brother
artist who came to see his paintings, and
asked, "What sort of tree do you call that,
Lear?" "An olive; perhaps you have
never seen one," was Lear's reply. " No,
and don't want to if they are like that,"
was the retort. But I never knew him
repeat any story telling against his Non-
sense, and Ruskin's praise was very dear
to him.
He was very fond of having me in to
look at his sketches, and my interest in
them led to his giving me and my brother
lessons in drawing. Writing to me in
February, 1883, he says, " Funnily enough,
on looking yesterday at an old diary, 1871,
I found this 'entry/ 'Gave the two young
Congreves their first lesson in drawing ;
they are the nicest little coves possible.' '
He always had a very weak spot in his
heart for children and young folk. These
lessons were some of the most delightful
experiences of my young days, as they were
22
Preface
accompanied with running comments on art,
drawing, nature, scenery, and his travels
mixed up with directions for our work,
and led to his setting his heart on my taking
up art as a profession, and on my living
with him later on. He always dreaded a
lonely old age, and unfortunately he had to
endure a very lonely one.
For some years prior to 1877 I was fre-
quently with him in his studio, and we also
went sketching expeditions together, Lear
plodding slowly along, old George following
behind, laden with lunch and drawing
materials. When we came to a good subject,
Lear would sit down, and taking his block
from George, would lift his spectacles, and
gaze for several minutes at the scene through
a monocular glass he always carried ; then,
laying down the glass, and adjusting his
spectacles, he would put on paper the view
before us, mountain range, villages and
foreground, with a rapidity and accuracy
that inspired me with awestruck admiration.
Whatever may be the final verdict on his
1 Topographies " (as he called his works in
oil or water colour), no one can deny the
great cleverness and power of his artist's
sketches. They were always done in pencil
23
Later Letters of Edward Lear
on the ground, and then inked in in sepia
and brush washed with colour in the winter
evenings. He was an indefatigable worker,
and at his death left over 10,000 large card-
board sheets of sketches. Writing in 1883,
when he was seventy-one, he gives the follow-
ing account of his day's work :
" In general I live in a mucilaginous monotony of
submarine solitude. My life goes thus, and I cannot
say I find the days long. I rise partly at five or
six and read till seven, when Mitri brings a cup
of coffee. Then comes whole rising tub etc.
and arrangement of studio palettes etc. letters to
read till 8-30, when I get a big cup of cocoa, one
egg and a tiece of poast. Work till near twelve,
when lunch and Barolo. Sometimes half an hour's
sleep, but more frequently work again till 4 or 3-30.
Then hear my two Suliots lessons and walk in
the garden till six, and on the terrace till 6-15.
Visit to the kitchen for 15 minutes, then Dinner
two objects only soup and meat ; only latterly
Nicola has taken to make lovely boiled rice puddings.
After dinner 'pen out' drawings till 8-15. Next
have a cup of tea brought to my room by the lad
Dimitri, who says the Lord's prayer and exit. After
some more reading, I get to sleep before ten mostly.
There is accounts research once a week, the accounts
being kept with perfect clearness and accuracy by
Nicola, usually averaging i-^/-for myself weekly.
As for work, the big Athos keeps progressing by
phitz ; and so does the big Ravenna, and Esa, and
24
Preface
Moonlight on still waters, and Gwalior and Argos
which last I have been at all this week past, and
which I fancy will be one of the best works of
Mr. Lear's fancy (though perhaps you may say,
"Ah Goose! perhaps it isn't.") But it is getting too
cold to work upstairs in that big room, so I mean
now to overhaul the 4 water-colour drawings which
are already far advanced. Also I go on irregularly
at the ^ [Alfred Tennyson] illustrations vainly
hitherto seeking a method of doing them by which
I can eventually multiply my 200 designs by photo-
graph or autograph, or sneezigraph or any other
graph. In addition to all this, I am at present
frequently occupied in cutting, measuring, squaring,
and mounting on coloured paper, all the sketches
I did this autumn all very bad, though correct
and not uninteresting. Perugia, Abetone, the Pineta
of Pisa, etc. with above all, three very long ones
taken from the new Bellavista at M. G. [Monte
Generoso] just before dear old George died. I
hope some day yet to make a long Water Colour
Drawing from them. There, my chicken ! don't go
for to say I ain't industrious at 72 !
To spend an evening looking through a
set of his sketches and listening to his
remarks upon them and all that had hap-
pened to him while they were being made,
was a most interesting and instructive
experience, and left the impression that I
had actually seen the original places them-
25
Later Letters of Edward Lear
selves. One evening at dinner I sat next a
lady who had just come from Malta. I
knew Lear's sketches of Malta by heart, so
we got along famously. At last she said,
" I see you know Malta much better than I
do ; I have only been there for three months."
" I have never been there at all ; I have only
seen Mr. Lear's sketches," I replied.
In the early seventies, Lear went on a
sketching tour in India, at the invitation of
his friend, Lord Northbrook, then Viceroy
and while he was away from home I hac
charge of his house and garden. During his
absence he wrote me regularly twice a month
long letters, full of varied interest and vivic
descriptions of the scenery, plant life, birds
and people he met. Just before his return
the Villa Emily was broken into, and though
I could never find that anything was actually
stolen, the thieves made a sad mess in their
search for valuables, and Lear never forgot
or forgave it. From that day if anything
were not forthcoming it was stolen when th<
robbery took place. The damage the thieves
did was as useful as in the case of Caleb
Balderstone ! Lear brought back with him
wonderful collection of sketches and a quan-
tity of seeds of Indian flowers, and his
26
Preface
interest in acclimatising these last was very
great, and his delight at his success with the
ipomasas unbounded. In October, 1882, after
he had moved them to his new garden at
the Villa Tennyson, he writes : " The Indian
Ipomaeas of four sorts have been a wonder
to see."
Soon after his return from India, in the
early spring of 1877, his old servant George's
health began to fail, and it was decided that
he was to go back for a change to Corfti.
Lear, with his usual kindness, decided on
taking him back himself. So one day late
in February Lear, George, and his son and
myself set off for the Ionian Isles. As we
started Lear thrust a bundle of bank-notes
into my hand without even counting them,
all money transactions being, as he said,
"An nabbomination to this child." We
stopped for a day at Bologna, where Lear
threw off the melancholy which had hung
heavily on him throughout the journey ; and
we spent a busy day in visiting scenes with
which he was familiar. His interest in the
Etruscan remains, and the delight with which
he pointed out all that there was of beauty
and interest in the wonderful old town, and in
its galleries and museums, was almost boyish.
27
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Early next morning, at 2 a.m., we started
on the long railway journey to Brindisi in
bitterly cold weather, and Lear, who could
never stand a long railway journey, became a
prey to deep despondency, and I had a hard
task to cheer him up and dispel his gloomy
forebodings. However, at Brindisi we found
deep snow and a strong gale blowing, and I
shall never forget the night we spent there.
It was cold and wretched in the extreme,
and Lear was thoroughly dejected ; and
though a fowl we had for dinner roasted,
boiled, and then browned over, and which
collapsed on being touched roused him to
make some jokes about the effects of snow
on hens, all his fun vanished when we
got into beds with a single thin blanket each
in a room with the fine snow drifting in
through the badly fitting windows, and he
spent the night tossing about and moaning,
thoroughly upset by the long journey and his
anxiety about his old servant. Next day the
gale had increased in force, and I became
very anxious about my old friend's state, so
I encouraged his disinclination to face the
sea voyage, for I knew that he was a bad
sailor. Finally it was decided that George
and his son should go on to Corffi by them-
28
Preface
selves, and that we should go to Naples and
Rome. So after seeing George off we started
for Naples, which we reached early next
morning in warm and brilliant sunshine, and
Lear at once began to revive. At the station
I had to leave him for a few miuutes to look
after our luggage. I found him again out-
side the station, surrounded by a crowd of
outporters, all struggling to get hold of his
bag, Lear hitting out right and left and
shouting " Via, via, pellandroni," the scamps
all enjoying the, to them, good fun. The
scene was so irresistibly funny that I was
helpless with laughter, and before I could
intervene my old friend had tumbled into
the wrong 'bus, out of which nothing would
move him, and so we were driven off to an
hotel at which we had had no intention of
staying, Lear, on the way there, giving me
a long lecture on the care I must take while
we were in Naples, as the Neapolitans were
the greatest scoundrels he had ever met ! We
spent two days at Naples, visiting Baiae,
Pompeii, &c., Lear pointing out every object,
each point of view, and dwelling on the his-
torical or other associations with eager interest
in my unrestrained delight at all we saw.
We then went on to Rome, and the week
29
Later Letters of Edward Lear
we were there was one of the fullest and
happiest we ever spent together. No one
knew his Rome better than Lear, and in a
week he had shown me more of the wonders
and beauties of the old city and its surround-
ings than most people see in three months.
We spent a Sunday at Tivoli, where the
changed conditions due to the union with
Italy struck him very much. "Why! last
time I was here," he said, as we strolled up
the main street of the old town, " I saw two
men stabbed, and had to fly for fear of being
dragged in as a witness, and that, my boy,
was .almost as bad as being a criminal!"
And then he told me how, in a neigh-
bouring village, where he spent some weeks
sketching, he was robbed of all his money
by his landlady, who, on his expostulating
at the enormities of her bill, put her back
against the door and said, "When I catch
larks I don't let them go without plucking
them." We met in the evening in our hotel
an old lady who greatly attracted Lear, and
they had a long conversation on poetry and
music; after dinner she mentioned Tennyson's
song, "Home they brought her warrior dead."
Lear at once went to the piano and sang his
own setting of the words in a voice hollow
30
Preface
with age, but with great style and deep
feeling and accompanied with his favourite
open chords, and he brought tears into the
old lady's eyes. " Why ! " she exclaimed,
" that is the setting I referred to ; do please
tell me whose it is." " It is mine," replied
Lear, and seeing the old lady's evident
pleasure he sat down again and sang several
of the Tennyson songs he had set to music,
and the room filled with attentive listeners.
As soon as he became aware of their presence
he got up, and with an abrupt " Good-night "
retired. A sudden change of feeling and
manner to casual acquaintances was one of his
characteristics, and I remember many funny
instances of this feature of his character.
The only cloud that ever came over our
friendship was in 1877 when I decided
that I had no real vocation for art. This
was a great disappointment to my old friend,
and for some months we scarcely saw each
other. Just before I left San Remo, he be-
came reconciled to my plans and entered
fully into them, and up to a year before
his death continued to write me letters full
of affectionate interest in my life, and of
accounts of his garden and of his old
friends who had been to see him.
31
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Shortly after my departure began the
trouble which saddened and embittered his
remaining years and led to his selling
the Villa Emily and building the Villa
Tennyson, in a position in which it was
impossible that he could again have his
view over land and sea ruined. The result
of building a large hotel in front of his old
house is best described in his own words,
written on the i6th of November, 1879:
It is not yet settled whether I go out to New
Zealand, and certainly a good deal of new zeal and
energy will be necessary on my part if I do resolve
to go. If I can succeed in getting other land, I
shall buy and rebuild, for Lords Northbrook and
Derby have, in the kindest way possible, put me
in to a position to do so. But as yet it seems impos-
sible to get such land as would suit, for I would
not live on the East side of Sanremo, nor could I
afford to live far from the town at all. . . . ! only
intend to go to ^2000, or at most, ^2500, and
if I cannot see my way to that by Easter, I
intend to give up all and go to Auckland. It
is quite useless for me to try and live on in this
house, having been used to blue sea, and moreover
being blinded every time I look up so that I
never now can walk on my terrace, nor do I go
into my garden at all. As for the painting light,
Gastaldi made me a window in the room looking
West, but I cannot work in it for want of space ;
32
Preface
and now he has made me another on the East
side of my Studio which may or may not do
but is sure to make the room cold. Your idea
of the skylight might be carried out by some artists,
but I am not able to work with a light from above,
nor can I within four walls, and no outer view.
Thank you my dear boy, Hubert, for wishing to
keep me in a place which has been a happy home
for nine years, none the less so from your own
excellent qualities having aided to made it so :
but you will see from what I have written that
my remaining here is very doubtful.
He shortly after built the Villa Tennyson,
and though he never really got over the
irritation caused by his having to leave his
old house, he became keenly interested in his
new garden and was able to get a great
deal of pleasure out of it. Writing in
September, 1881, he says:
The garden has made a progress I did not
at all look for, and the upper terrace might be
three years instead of three months old. Ipomceas
of four sorts, Tecomas of two, with many other
flowers are splendid. The Mandarin oranges have
suffered naturally, and if they survive must con-
tinue to do so until the Myoperum trees have
grown up as a shelter from the sea-wind : but
these same trees have already grown two feet
since they were planted in June, and the Eucalyptuses
three.
33 c
Later Letters of Edward Lear
All the remaining letters I have are
tinged with deep melancholy, and show that
his health was gradually failing. In a fit
of depression he writes on the 28th of Sep-
tember, 1 88 1 :
I am about to make a new arrangement at
the end of 1881, i.e., to correspond only with
those I have been in the habit of writing to since
1850 32 years. This space includes Lushington
and Tennyson, Husey Hunts and Holman Hunts,
Unwins, Clives and Lyttletons, Barings, Fortescue,
H. Seymour, Lord Somers, Francillons, Wilkie
Collins, my sister and nephew and some others,
and many of them disappear gradually by death,
being mostly of my own age or nearly so. This
change absolutely necessary to my sight, will
1 ' disfranchise " all writers since 1850 some four
score or more and among them I am sorry your
name occurs, but it cannot be helped.
He did not, I am glad to say, carry out
this threat, and continued to write regularly
up to 1886, letters full of interest and kindly
advice, always enlivened with his quaint
humour.
That's enough about your 2nd letter, and before
I begin on that of June 6th, I'll have a " baruffa,"
as George calls it, with you. Your writing gets
34
Preface
worse and worse and worse and worse, many
words are wholly illegible, for you do not join
or form your letters, but write .^e^e-ec*- like
that, so that any word may be Caterpillar, or Con-
volvulus, or Crabapple, or Cucumber. By the time
you are a head Engineer no one will be able to
make out a single word of your Cacography.
A prophecy which, I am afraid, has been
very nearly realised! In the spring of 1880
Lear came to England for his last visit
and private exhibition of his drawings. I
was in London at the time and we spent
many happy evenings together ; one especially
dwells in my memory. I had just finished
my exam, at King's College, and he carried
me off to dine with him at the Zoological
Gardens. "You are just beginning the battle
of life," he said, "and we will spend the
evening where I began it." It was a
beautiful evening in July and we dined in
the open and sat under the trees till the
gardens closed, he telling me all the story
of his boyhood and early struggles, and of
his meeting with Lord Derby in those
gardens, and the outcome of that meeting
the now famous book, " The Knowsley Mena-
gerie." I never spent a more enjoyable
35
Later Letters of Edward Lear
evening with him, and Lear, when at his best,
was the most inspiring and delightful of
companions. He was then absolutely natural,
and we were like youths together, despite
the forty and more years that lay between us.
Later in the summer I joined him at
Mendrisio, and spent a very happy week with
him. We walked up to the Monte Generoso,
Lear plodding along with his heavy step at
a pace of about two miles an hour, and
frequently pulling up to admire the view
and to exclaim, " O mi ! ain't it fine ! " or to
tell me some story. From Monte Generoso
we went on to Varese and spent a day visit-
ing the Sacro Monte di Varese, with Miss
Mundella, a daughter of the then Vice-
President of Committee for Education, and
it was very beautiful to see the old man's
care and gallantry in looking after his fair
companion. A week later at San Remo I
saw him for the last time and had a very sad
parting with my dear old friend, who com-
pletely broke down. His last letter was
written to me on December 26th, 1886:
Many thanks for your's of the 22nd, and for
your good wishes, though they come when I am
miserable enough. It is true the fierce rheumatism
has gone, . . . but I am wholly feeble, and only now
36
Preface
begin to use my right limb. In the midst of this
Luigi goes away he finds the work more than he
can do which I don't wonder at. I had at first
decided to take a room up at the Royal Hotel, but
Hassall, wisely, I think, says I could not have the
same attention there, and must anyhow have a per-
sonal attendant and a cook. These have now to be
sought for all which is a misery considering how
fixed and comfortable I was. Luigi's three years
service have shown him to be a most excellent,
handy, and trustworthy fellow, and I regret his
going. As for C , cook, he is nothing particular,
only very lazy, and I think, dirty. To-day my cough
is better, but I am in a very delicate condition.
He died at the Villa Tennyson on the
2gth of January, 1888, and with him passed
away, not a great painter, but a man of
versatile and original genius, with great
gifts, one of the most interesting, affectionate,
and lovable characters it has been my good
fortune to know and to love. He was a real
personality.
HUBERT CONGREVE.
MOORE, December ) 1910.
37
CONTENTS
PAGE
NOTE . . . . . .5
PREFACE . . . . . , .17
CHAPTER I
ENGLAND, NICE, MALTA, EGYPT, CANNES . . -45
CHAPTER II
CORSICA, ENGLAND, AND CANNES . . . .103
CHAPTER III
SAN REMO . . . . . . . 115
CHAPTER IV
SAN REMO (continued) . . . . .151
CHAPTER V
INDIA, ENGLAND, AND SAN REMO . . . .165
CHAPTER VI
SAN REMO, AND ENGLAND . . . . .199
39
Later Letters of Edward Lear
CHAPTER VII
PAGE
SAN REMO AND SWITZERLAND . . . . .214
CHAPTER VIII
SWITZERLAND AND SAN REMO . , ,266
CHAPTER IX
SAN REMO AND NORTHERN ITALY . . . .290
APPENDIX
A. ORANGE-BLOSSOM . . . . 363
B. LETTERS FROM LEAR TO MRS. HASSALL . . 364
C. LETTER FROM LEAR TO LORD AVEBURY . . 366
D. COMPLETE LIST OF CONTEMPLATED ILLUSTRATIONS TO
POEMS BY LORD TENNYSON . . . 368
E. PICTURES EXHIBITED BY LEAR AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY 379
F. SUBSCRIBERS TO HIS "TEMPLE OF BASS^E," AT THE
FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGE . . 380
G. SUBSCRIBERS' LIST OF MEMBERS TO "ARGOS" BY
LEAR PRESENTED TO TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 382
INDEX ....... 383
40
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
LIST OF PLATES
BENARES, INDIA (Coloured Reproduction) . . Frontispiece
From a water colour drawing, by kind permission of the Earl of Northbrook.
FACING PAGE
MARY LEAR, WIFE OF RICHARD BOSWELL . . 8
From a miniature, by kind permission of Mrs. Allen.
ANN LEAR, LEAR'S ELDEST SISTER, WHO BROUGHT HIM UP 48
From a miniature, by kind permission of Mrs. Allen.
MONACO, FROM TURBIA . . . . .52
From " Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson, illustrated by Edward Lear, 1889," by
kind permission of Lord Tennyson.
CENC, ISLE OF Gozo, MALTA . . . , -72
From an oil painting, by kind permission of Mrs. Charles Roundell.
EDWARD LEAR IN 1867 ..... 82
Taken in Alexandria.
CHICHESTER FORTESCUE, LORD CARLINGFORD (ABOUT 1874) . 82
From a photograph by Bassano.
TENDA, ITALY . . . . . .116
From a sepia drawing, by kind permission of Hubert Congreve, Esq.
THE PINE- WOODS OF RAVENNA . . . .122
From an oil painting, by kind permission of Mrs. Charles Roundell.
VILLA EMILY ...... 136
From a photograph.
THE GARDEN OF VILLA TENNYSON . . . .136
From a photograph.
TRICHINOPOLY, INDIA . . . . .176
From a water colour drawing, by kind permission of the Earl of Northbrook.
MARBLE ROCKS, NERBUDDA . . . . .180
From a water colour drawing, by kind permission of the Earl of Northbrook.
MRS. RUXTON IN HER PONY-CART AT RED HOUSE, ARDEE 1 86
From a photograph.
41
Later Letters of Edward Lear
FACING PAGE
EDWARD LEAR AS A YOUNG MAN AND HIS YOUNGEST SISTER 188
From silliouelies, by kind permission of Mrs. Allen.
MOUNT SORACTE, CAMPAGNA DI ROMA . . . 200
From "Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson, illustrated by Edward Lear, 1889," by
kind permission of Lord Tennyson.
BETWEEN CALCIS AND CASTELLA, EUBGEA (Coloured Re-
production) . . . . . .222
From a water colour drawing, by bind permission of the Rev. Canon Church.
CERIANA, ITALY . . . . . .226
From a sepia drawing, by kind permission of Hubert Congreve, Esq.
GIUSEPPE, THE BANDY-LEGGED GARDENER, IN 1881 . . 232
From a photograph.
EDWARD LEAR IN 1881 ..... 232
From a photograph.
GIORGIO COCALI IN 1881 . . . . .232
From a photograph.
FRANCES, COUNTESS WALDEGRAVE . . . 240
From her sitting-room window at Strawberry Hill.
FRANCES, COUNTESS WALDEGRAVE .... 240
Taken at Strawberry Hill about 18-71.
"BECKY," SIR SPENCER AND LADY ROBINSON'S PARROT 256
By kind permission of Mrs. W. H. C. Shaw.
CASTELLA, EUBCEA. . . . . .270
From a water colour drawing, by kind permission of the Rev. Canon Church.
BASS.E ........ 306
From an oil
Museum, Cam
From an oil painting, by kind permission of the Director of the Fitzwilliam
bridge.
CHICHESTER FORTESCUE, LORD CARLINGFORD . . 344
From a photograph by Bassano (about 1883).
Foss's TOMBSTONE IN THE GARDEN OF VILLA TENNYSON 356
THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH OF LEAR, 1887 . . . 360
Taken at Villa Tennyson.
TOMBSTONE OF GIORGIO COCALI, AT MENDRISIO . . 362
GRAVES OF LEAR AND NICOLA COCALI, AT SAN REMO . 362
42
List of Illustrations
LIST OF THE MORE IMPORTANT SKETCHES
REPRODUCED IN THE TEXT
PAGE
LEAR REVEALING HIMSELF TO RAILWAY PASSENGER . -79
LEAR WITH HIS TWO FRIENDS IN PARADISE . . IO6
LEAR UNDER HIS OWN OLIVE-TREE . . . .132
"THE FORTESCUE". . . . . ,135
LEAR A-WATERING OF HIS OWN FLOWERS . . .136
LEAR AND HIS DOMESTIC HEN-BIRD . . .142
LEAR RIDING AN ELEPHANT . . . . .167
THE AHKROND OF SWAT . . . . 1 68
LEAR RIDING A PORPOISE . . . . .184
FOSS THE CAT ...... 213
LEAR FEEDING TWO LORDS . . . . .230
THE PHOCA PRIVATA . . . . .260
LORD CARLINGFORD RESIGNS THE PHOCA PRIVATA . .281
LEAR AND THE PHOCA . . . . .298
ON HAIRDRESSING . . . . . 3 X 3
A DINNER-PARTY IN MILAN . . . . 316
LEAR ON HIS WAY TO DINE WITH LORD CARLINGFORD . 346
LEAR RIDING THE PHOCA ..... 347
LEAR, MISS CAMPBELL OF CORSICA .... 348
43
1
Later
Letters of Edward Lear
CHAPTER I
October 19, 1864, to February 24, 1868.
ENGLAND, NICE, MALTA, EGYPT, CANNES.
Lear to Fortescue.
CADLAND. 1 SOUTHAMPTON.
19 Oct. 1864.
YOURS of Oct. 1 6th has just come, and tho'
it is one of eight, wanting a reply, I will
write a line at once. You have mistaken the nature
of my last in a measure, tho' it is very probable
I wrote curtly, for (as in the present instance) I feel
that not to write immediately is to defer to an
indefinite period when I should possibly have still
less time or capacity to write well. Nevertheless
the term "stern and stiff" is to a certain degree
justly applied, and moreover may very likely be
1 The residence of Andrew Drummond, grandson of Lord
Strathallan. His wife was a daughter of the Duke of Rutland.
45
Later Letters of Edward Lear
more so year by year : the mistake is in supposing
the style is so to you more than to others, which
is not the fact. Every year especially in London
makes me less able to write as formerly both
because as I grow older I find myself altered in
several ways, and because every year brings fresh
sets of acquaintances all requiring a portion of time.
You may however always feel certain that any
letters such as my last are the result of heaps of
small botherations which can by no means be par-
ticularized any more than the midges which bring
on a fever by their bites can be identified or
described : and that in no case have they been
occasioned by any feeling towards yourself in any
way. How should it be otherwise ? You would
find, if you could see my journal, for years past
the very contrary. No friend could have helped
another more, and not only in earlier days but
later, for Lady W. 1 through you has had many
more pictures of me than she needed to have done
qua ornament : so that I have often had to thank
you both for personal help. And, regarding the
future, I have a perfect conviction that you would
help me in any mode I asked if it were possible.
But for all this, you must make up your minds
never again except by chance or fits of irregular
elasticity, to find in me the descriptive or merry
flow of chronic correspondence I used to be able to
indulge in. As we grow older, and life changes
around us and within us, we ourselves must shew
some signs of change unless we are fools, or
1 Frances, Countess Waldegrave, married Chichester For-
tescue (Lord Carlingford) in 1863, and died in 1879.
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
vegetables, or philosophers to a greater degree
than I am or can be.
Your letter makes me almost think that it is
better to write scarcely at all rather than that which
is unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, avoid imagining
motives which do not exist, tho' their appearance
may : and be sure that anyone who has known
you a tenth part as well as I have must be certain
of your being as absolutely true and kind in heart
as a man can be. Which I shouldn't say, if I
didn't feel from your writing that I ought to do.
I have been at my sister's l since I wrote, and
then ... I decided on going to see Mrs. Tennyson
at Freshwater the first time for three years, since
they were so kindly a refuge when my sister Ann
died. I was with them nearly 4 days : but I found
all that quiet part of the Island fast spoiling, and
how they can stay there I can't imagine. Not only
is there an enormous monster Hotel growing up in
sight 2 but a tracing of the foundations of 300 houses
a vast new road and finally a proposed railway
cutting thro' John Simeon and A.T.s grounds
from end to end. 3 Add to this, Pattledom 4 has
taken entire possession of the place Camerons and
Princeps building everywhere : Watts in a cottage
(not Mrs. W.) and Guests, Schreibers, Pollocks,
and myriads more buzzing everywhere. However,
1 Ellen Newsom, a widow, who lived at Leatherhead.
2 Stark's Hotel.
3 The proposal to carry the railway farther westward to
Totland Bay lapsed.
* Countess Somers, nee Virginia Pattle, was a cousin of the
Prinseps, Camerons, &c.
47
Later Letters of Edward Lear
by being (thank God) personally as uncivil as I
could to most callers, I saw a good deal of my
friends and the Lushingtons. The account of the
visit to Osborne l was very interesting : and among
other matters, I faintly hope I may have done some
good as to choice of poem-subjects, for I maintain
that the higher the class of topic, the better for
readers, provided that equal technical power is dis-
played. . . . On my way back, I came here for a
night, a place I have been asked to for years past
very splendid but having met some old folks
who said " probably you will not come to us for
we have no great house to receive you in." I am
at present disgustably inclined.
Presently I return to 15 Stratford Place, and if
I can shall clear out in the end of next week. . . .
I shall not much longer speculate and rush about
violently : as I shall probably go and live at Ega,
which is on the Amazon above Para. This house
is abunjantly full, of Manners Drummonds, Per-
cevals Spencer Walpoles etc : etc : etc : etc : and
I wish there had been only Edgar and sweet
Mrs. E. D. 2 Goodbye. My kind regards to the
other half of you. . . .
PAVILION HOTEL, FOLKESTONE,
3 Novr. 1864.
Finding part of this envelope written and stick-
stamped, I shall send it on principle, as one should
eat all that is in a dish if the food "won't keep."
1 Tennyson's visit.
2 Edgar Drummond, son of Andrew Drummond, married
a sister of Lord Muncaster.
ANN LEAR, LEAR'S ELDEST SISTER, WHO BROUGHT
HIM UP.
(From a miniature, by kind permission of Mrs. Allen.)
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
The sea is in appearance decently respectable, and
I hope I may get across calmly : the passage is,
however, always a terror and disgust to me, wherein
I fully sympathise with my Lady.
I have had sent me here a sermon by Colenso
published at Longman's, and called, " Abraham's
Sacrifice " ! ! very remarkable and good. I The
ravening fanatics who persecute this man are highly
devil-inspired. Will there now be a new edition of
the Bible, the filthy, savage, or burlesque-upon-the-
Deity passages left out? Shall you set it on foot
any the more than that Lord Derby is advertising
an edition of blank- verse Homer ? If you do, you
can call it
THE NEW
ANTIBEASTLY ANTIBRUTAL ANTIBOSH
BIBLE
by the
Rt. Hon. Chichester S. Fortescue.
I will take ten copies.
M. E. LEAR.
VILLA CANAPA.
61. PROMENADE DES ANGLAIS.
Nice.
France,
which, *I3 Nov. 7.30 a.m.
Is the writer's address for the next five months he
supposes, and which he hopes you will write to.
1 Colenso, appointed ist Bishop of Natal in 1853, was
deposed from his see by his Metropolitan Bishop Gray of
Capetown in 1864, after the condemnation of his book, " The
Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined."
* See p. 50.
49 D
Later Letters of Edward Lear
You see by the date,* that I am up early, and I
think that this hour on Sunday or up till noon, will
be my chief or only writing time. Not to begin at
the beginning, I will first thank you for the fun I get
out of a book I saw on your table at Carlton Gardens,
the " Competition Wallah." 1 I bought it at a
hazard, with one or two more books, and now find it
very useful. It is delightfully written, and the writer
must be a " clayver fellow " : moreover, concerning
Oxford Dons, Convocations, and Bishops, etc, our
ideas are as one. I got down to Folkestone after
great effort, on Wednesday the 2nd. and on Thurs-
day the 3d, crossed with a good passage, arriving
at Paris by night. On the 4th. excepting a visit to
Adml. and Mrs. Robinson, 2 I was at the galleries
all day, and at 8. p.m. set off by rail to Nice, reaching
it exactly at 8 p.m. on the 5th., just 24 hours by rail
a journey on end I will not try again, as there is no
time to eat or drink, much less for repose or sleep.
I went to a bad little Hotel, partly because I knew no
other by name, partly because I was there last year,
and had told George 3 to come and meet me there :
he however had not appeared, wh. I did not
wonder at, as he had to fit various incongruous
steamers on his way from Corfu. Sunday the 6th.
I looked at heaps of lodgings : such for size and
* See p. 49.
1 " Letters of a Competition Wallah," 1864, by Sir George
Otto Trevelyan, nephew of Macaulay.
* See p. 205.
3 Giorgio Cocali, Lear's faithful Suliote servant, who had
been with him in Corfu from the time he first stayed there
in 1856.
50
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
position, as I had at Corfu cost 6000, 5000. 4000
francs being furnished (and most hideously.) Do
you know Nice? It reminds me a good deal of St.
Leonards, only that the houses are more detached,
and in many instances stand in gardens. The
Promenade des Anglais is altogether a long row of
lodgings with a really good broad walk above the
shingly beach. The sea is rather deadly stupid,
as there is no opposite coast, nor islands, nor ships,
nor nothing, and the landskip is bebounded by, west
the headlands of Antibes, and east, by the Castle
Hill and Villa Franca point pretty enough. Near
the Castle Hill is the old town divided from the
New by the torrent Paillon cum bridgibus : and
radiating from this as a centre Northward easterly
or westerly are growing streets, and villas of all
descriptions, all at the mouth of the Paillon valley
as it were. On Sunday I learned somewhat of the
place from Lady Duncan, and on Monday 7th. I
again looked at lodgings among these at many
villas, some of which had good north light for work,
and were moderate in price but with one servant
and far from the daily shops of life, they were
impracticable. Other houses had red white or yellow
walls opposite reflecting sun : some had only the
sea look-out blinding to behold : others were noisy
or too small, or what not. So I resolved to go next
day to Mentone and see what I could make of that
Jncordingly on Tuesday the 8th. off I set in a
carriage and certainly I had no idea the Cornice
was so magnificent in scenery ; Eza and Monaco
are wondrously picturesque, and Mentone very
pretty ; but it is too shut in and befizzled a place
Later Letters of Edward Lear
for me : you have to walk thro' the long only and
narrow street of the town wherever you go unless
you have a carriage, or could hire a big villa. I was,
however, very glad to see the place, and moreover
found a lot of Corfu friends there, besides Ld and
Ly Strangford, 1 with whom I sate, and they came
back in " my carriage " part of the way. (They came
here yesterday, and I shall see them to-day : George,
to whom Lord S. was talking, hardly believes him
to be English, so remarkably well does he speak
Greek.) I got back late to Nice on the 7th. and
the first thing I saw on Wednesday the 8th when
I opened my shutters at 7 a.m. was Giorgio the
Suliote smoking a cigar on a post opposite. Of
course we went directly to see places, and finally
fixed on this in which we are as settled as if we
had been here 10 years. It is a small set of rooms,
on the all but ground floor (raised by a few steps,)
on the west side of a detached house in a garden-
facing the sea. Madame Comtesse Colleredo has the
first floor, and the other half at the ground floor
entrance similar to mine. Above lives a Germing
gent and lady. Below my rooms are George's
kitchen, wood cellar, etc, etc but I must go to
bkft 8.30 a.m, To rezoom : after a good break-
fast and reading more of Trevelyan's book, 2 which
is the most delightfully healthy toned, instructive,
witty, and altogether excellent perduction I have
met with for many a day. Here is a plan of my
1 Lord Strangford, 8th Viscount, a most accomplished
Orientalist, President of the Asiatic Society, married, 1862, Emily
Anne, youngest daughter of Sir Francis Beaufort, K.C.B.
a See p. 50.
52
K
2
1
*. I
_on "S
Q **
III
s *%
X 1
Q W) ~
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
rooms. A is my parlour, where I feed, and write,
and work at night B the bedroom. C. entrance
lobby from I. I stairs and hall. (J. goes up to
Mdme Colleredo, and K. is her ground floor wing.)
D is my study north light, and as far as yet
known quiet. E. used as a lumberroom. F.
George's room. So you see the arrangement is
good. But what do you think I pay ? 2000 fr.
i.e. 80. This was the very least I could get any-
thing for at all suitable, and if I am able by reson of
their suitableness to work in these rooms, then they
will have been wisely taken for London Winter life
is for ever impossible on all accounts. Meantime
the Suliot, who always sets to work at once, gives me
my breakfast and dinner quite perfectly and without
bother, which is a great blessing to me. Yesterday
a sole, a dish of thrushes and bacon, and stewed
apples : the day before soup and a piece of roast lamb
and beans : these are the kind of meals he provides
always well cooked, and I never have a single thing
to think of except going over the accounts weekly,
53
Later Letters of Edward Lear
which he keeps quite well now that he has learned to
read and write. His accounts of Corfu are by no
means bad, tho', as he says, the English are
greatly regretted. The Greek soldiers are kept in
good order, and the story of the Archbp. having
been mobbed is untrue. I have already cut out an
immense lot of work for winter and spring : I wish
to do no less than enough drawings to fill up all the
great room of 15 Stratford Place, and to enable me
to do this, I mean to refuse seeing most people, for
already I hear of many who, idle themselves, would
gladly make me so. If I hate anything, it is a race
of idlers. Perhaps I may dine out on Sundays, and
one other day, but my evenings in general will go in
hard penning-out work, if I can get lamps to suit me.
In a few days if the weather is as lovely as now,
I shall go out in a carriage to Eza for 2 or 3
days and return at night. Afterwards, G. and I
shall go to Mentone and Monaco for a week : and
later I hope to walk all the way to Genoa and partly
back, getting good views of the whole Cornice road.
G. will cook and take a cold dinner on the daily
outing occasions and as this house is full of people,
I can leave it safely as I like or not. I will let you
know what progress I make. Beside Lady Duncan
(who is too far to see often,) and the Strangfords,
(who go to-morrow), there are Reillys and Bathursts,
and Hankey's, and Cortazzi, and Saltmarshes, and
Smithbarrys, and many more, whom I shall chiefly
avoid or adopt as things turn out. Royal and
Imperial folk abound, and no one notices them nor
they nobody. Only they say the Russians have spies
abunjiant everywhere, which, as there was a tame
54
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
Pole at one Hotel I was at, and a Russ at another,
don't seem unlikely.
I am going to Church this morning more because
I don't like systematically shewing a determination
to ignore all outward forms than for any other cause :
but as it is probable I shall be disgusted, possibly
I shall not go again. As the clergy go on now,
they seem in a fair way of having as the Irish
gentleman said only the four Fs for their admirers,
Fanatics, Farisees, Faymales and Fools.
I shan't write much more. This year I seem to
have done a good deal don't you think? Paint-
ings finished Hy. Bruce's Cephalonia, Jameson's
Florence, Sir W. James' Campagna, and Fair-
bairn's Janina. All Crete visited and 220 drawings
made. Some 220 drawings penned and coloured,
besides those of Cephalonia, Ithaca, Zante, and
Cerigo penned and coloured also. Arranged and
moved downstairs in Stratford Place. Bothered
about 1 Nephew's death, and W. Nevill's 2 failure.
Helped Nephew's family ^40 sick friend 10 one
godson ^5 t'other's mother ditto, and other explosive
charities : and after all have nearly if not quite
enough to get through the winter with, and hope
besides to add some 50 or 60 Cornice drawings to
my collection. Ajoo, ajoo. My very kind regards
to My Lady : I wish you could both see the sun-
beams and sea here also the flowers and the flies.
1 In America.
2 One of his " ten original friends.' '
55
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Certainly up to 10 or 12 even this front room,
(where I am writing,) seems perfect.
Yours affectionately,
EDWARD LEAR
i. P.M. Just come from Church in a rage : collec-
tion for " pastor's aid society " and foolish sermon
to wit. Saw heaps of people I knew, out of the
500 English there, Jacob Omnium, I Lyons, Deakins,
Ly Vaux ; won't go again for 4 months.
Goodbye
EL
61, PROMENADE DES ANGLAIS,
NICE.
January 2nd 1865.
I wrote a line from Genoa on the 23rd, and next
day I set out on my return hither, where I arrived
on the evening of the 3ist, having divided my walk
into 6 days of 16 miles one of 14, and one of 20.
Thus ... I have " done " the Riviera di Ponente
as well as Crete, and also ... I have paid 10 to
the London poor, which I omitted before to notice.
I have brought back 144 drawings great and small,
and can work the Corniche road pretty thoroughly,
as having walked both ways I know it tolerably well.
A more interesting piece of Italy I have never seen,
130 miles of narrow coast full of cultivation, vil-
lages vines vegetables vaccination and vot not.
1 Jacob Omnium was the name assumed in the Times by
Matthew J. Higgins. For an account of his attack on the old
Palace Court of Justice, which made a great stir, one cannot do
better than read Thackeray's " Ballad of Policeman X, called
" Jacob Homnium's Hoss."
56
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
And a more delightfully civil intelligent and indus-
trious population does not I think exist. I have
talked with many of all classes workmen, engineers,
Deputies of Parliament, &c. &c. &c. &c. and have
always more and more admired Italian character.
Some of their remarx on the religious crisis of their
country are very striking. " I am afraid," said a
fierce Protestant Exeterhalliste, "that you Italians
are leaving your belief in your Roman faith, and
are most of you believing in nothing at all." "You
think then" was the reply "that God is nothing?
The Pope says believe in me or go to H , you
Calvinists say the same : but our nation is beginning
to think that the Almighty is greater than priests of
either sort. ..."
I have just got the ist number of the new National
Review, what I see being first-rate, and highly con-
cordacious with my own feelins.
61, PROMENADE DES ANGLAIS, NICE.
24 February 1865.
. . . Concerning the ink of which you complain,
this place is so wonderfully dry that nothing can be
kept moist. I never was in so dry a place in all
my life. When the little children cry, they cry dust
and not tears. There is some water in the sea, but
not much : all the wetnurses cease to be so imme-
diately on arriving : Dryden is the only book read :
the neighbourhood abounds with Dryads and Ham-
merdryads : and weterinary surgeons are quite un-
known. It is a queer place, Brighton and Belgravia
and Baden by the Mediterranean : odious to me in
all respects but its magnificent winter climate, and
57
Later Letters of Edward Lear
were I possessor of a villa, I could live delightedly :
but to have one's only chance of exercise in a crowded
promenade of swells one year is enough of that.
Among the very nice swells are Lord and Lady Fitz-
william 1 something uncommon for simplicity and
good breeding. I have sold several small ^5 draw-
ings to them. . . .
My London life requires some arrangement and
study beforehand . . . and I regret that Holman
Hunt will not be in England to advise me, for by
long experience I have been aware that none but
an artist can enter thoroughly into these matters :
all those who have a sufficient regular income can
only see things from their own point of view, as is
but natural.
I hear from Baring 2 and Sir Henry Storks 3 also:
and from the Curcumelly.4 The former are not in
love with Malta, the latter report well of Corfu.
Lady Wolff is at Florence, Sir H. D.5 at Constan-
tinople. I could not say half enough of the Riviera
people : that journey, now that the small disagree-
ables of travel fade into distance, is one of delightful
1 The 5th Earl, married Lady Francis Harriet Douglas,
daughter of the i7th Earl of Morton.
2 Evelyn Baring, the present Lord Cromer, was aide-de-camp
to Sir Henry Storks in Corfu during part of the time that Lear
was resident there.
3 At this date Governor of Malta. Had been Lord High ,
Commissioner of the Ionian Isles from 1859 to its cession in
1863. Afterwards Governor of Jamaica.
4 Sir Demetrius and Lady Curcumelli, friends in Corfu.
s Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, who had been Secretary to
Sir Henry Storks in Corfu, held many Foreign Office appoint-
ments, and was eventually Ambassador to Spain in 1892.
58
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
memories to me : and I could wish to publish two
little volumes Crete and the Corniche, as to my
1864 doings. ... I have been reading Sir C. Na-
pier's life : a grand and wonderful book. The expres-
sions, however, used towards Lord Howick, Earl
Ripon, and Sir James Hogg cannot be called strictly
suave and pleasant. His niece writes me a charming
letter to-day. . . . The other day I met a parson
here (at Lord Fitzwilliam's). After dinner talking
of great statesmen, and Ld. F. saying that Sir G. C.
Lewis 1 was one of the very first men of our time,
said the priest, "it is to be feared however that at
one time of his life his mind was inclined to be rather
sceptical, and that he even had some doubts as to the
authenticity of some portions of the revealed writings :
but I hope this was not so at the close of his days."
I went over to Cannes t'other day to see Lady
Duncan : and as many as seven sets of people I saw
only by chance. One a most intimate lot, Harford-
cum-Bunsen and I have to go there again. Two
Westbury Bethells have been here to my delight,
who with them walked and drove about thro' all the
livelong day. Holman Hunt I expect.
What majestic deaths you have been having in
England ! The Duke of Northumberland 2 was a
really fine man ! How strange that aged Lord Bever-
ley should live to be Duke : and I suppose my old
1 Sir George Cornewall Lewis held various Government
posts. Was Editor of the Edinburgh Review 1852-1855. Died
in 1863.
2 The 4th Duke.
59
Later Letters of Edward Lear
friends of Guyscliffe will be Lord and Lady Charles
Percy will they not ?
Cardinal Wiseman 1 too gone and his place not
easy to fill up. Manning 2 report says is to succeed
him, but there is a wide difference twixt the two.
Englishmen are made Cardinals by the Papal Govern-
ment for one of three reasons I imagine : great wealth
great family position or leadership or influence,
and great talents without either. Acton 3 may be an
example of the first York4 and Weld of the seconds
and Wiseman distinctly of the third. Manning
always seemed to me a very vain and babbly en-
thusiast but they may give him the hat, because as a
preacher he has immense influence with women, and
1 Appointed by the Pope Archbishop of Westminster and
Cardinal. The religious excitement caused thereby led to the
passing of the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Act
2 The eloquent preacher and High Churchman who joined
the Church of Rome in 1851, succeeded Wiseman as Arch-
bishop of Westminster and became a Cardinal in 1875.
3 Charles Januarius Edward Acton, 1803-1847, 2nd son of Sir
John Francis Acton, Commander-in-Chief of the land and sea
forces of the kingdom of Naples. Charles Acton entered the
college of the Accademia Ecclesiastica in Rome, and was after-
wards one of Leo XII.'s prelates. In 1842 he was made cardinal
priest, and was the only witness and interpreter of the historic
interview between Gregory XVI. and Nicholas I. of Russia in 1845.
4 The Duke of York, son of the Old Pretender, born at Rome,
1725, took orders after the failure of the '45 rising and in 1747
received a Cardinal's hat. He died, the last of the Stuarts, in
1807.
5 Thomas Weld of Lul worth Castle, born 1773, married Lucy,
daughter of the Hon. Thomas Clifford. Upon the decease of
his wife he took Holy Orders and eventually became Cardinal,
1829. He was the first Englishman to have a seat in the
Conclave since Clement IX., and died 1837. His grandfather
founded Stonyhurst.
60
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
may turn thousands of silly female swells to the true
faith.
15, STRATFORD PLACE, W.
21 April 1865
. . . Unpacking and arranging has been a long and
hardish work, and now there is the fitting, framing,
finishing of the Drawings I have brought over, which
are wonderful in number even for your humble ser-
vant. . . . All this speculation the large rooms etc :
is costly but may succeed if the gallery induces
people to come who may buy the big pictures. . . .
I wrote to you before I left Nice some time back.
I can't say I left that place with regret, in spite of
the Suliot's homily who Said, "jue KaKoQaivtrai va
a(f)L(ra) SIOTI fV avS|OW7roc (sic) irptirei va c'^p, V > KaXbv
TOTTOV, TTOV 6 Osoc $sv rov cWjiie Kavlv KO.KOV etc jwijvce." x I
staid a week at Cannes, and that I was absolutely de-
lighted with. It is difficult to conceive of two places so
different, yet so close together. I was latterly to have
shewn my drawings to the Empress of R[ussia] but
the poor young grand Duke's illness put that aside. 2
I wonder what good such secrecy about Royal folk
tends to. It is more than 5 months that I knew the
fatal disease the Czarewitch has suffered from
though no one publicly spoke of anything but rheuma-
tism. It is or was lumbar abscess and disease of the
spine.
1 " I don't like leaving, for a man should count among the
good things of life any place where God has done him no harm
for six months."
2 Nicolas Alexandrovitch, eldest son of Alexander II., died at
Nice on April 24th, of cerebral meningitis. He was 21 years of
age and betrothed to Princess Dagmar of Denmark, afterwards
wife of Alexander III.
61
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I have seen but few people here. T. S. Cocks tells
me of old Mr. Wynne's death. Charles and John,
Mrs. Godley and all his children were there and to
the last, tho' of so great an age 87 he was perfectly
clearheaded. About 5 minutes before he died he said,
" Doctor, how long do you think it will be before I am
in the presence of the Lord ? "- " A very short time "
was the reply. After which, in a few minutes he said
" Now/' and died. . . . Holman Hunt has painted a
most remarkable picture, Mrs. T. Fairbairn and five
children. Its only fault is that some day all the
figures will certainly come to life and walk out of the
canvass leaving only the landscape : such reality is
there. You will see it at the Hunt gallery.
Dear old Dr. Lushington is very failing. 1 Alfred
Tennyson has lost his mother and her sister 2 (88 and
87) in a few days, and Mrs. A. T. writes me that he is
much depressed and nowise himself.
The Lord Chancellor case 3 you may suppose in-
terests me, but I imagine, subtract Tory antipathy-
Low Church fanaticism High Church persecution
Law Reform victim's indignation, and 2 (at least) cases
of extreme personal virulence and little enough will
be left to make a fuss about.
1 Dr. Lushington was the Head Master of the Admiralty
Court.
2 Alfred Tennyson's mother was a daughter of the Rev.
Stephen Fytche.
3 The transactions in which the Lord Chancellor (Lord
Westbury) was alleged to have exercised his office in a manner
detrimental to the public service. The Case of Mr. Leonard
Edmunds and the Case of the Leeds Court of Bankruptcy.
A vote of Censure was passed, and the Lord Chancellor
resigned. He was succeeded by Lord Cranworth.
62
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
Please read J. Stuart Mill's letter in the Morning's
Times I : I'm so glad I can't do a rule of three sum
and so can't have a vote. But what do you say to
M. Thiers and his speech 2 ? It is brutal and odious,
and confounds me. The American news is indeed
stupendous, and sets one thinking.3
P.S. You see our friend T. B. Potter is returned
for Rochdale.4 A friend of his and mine says " Let
us hope he will not open his mouth in the House : so
he may be useful."
You ought one day to see the whole of my outdoor
work of 12 months: 200 sketches in Crete 145 in
the Corniche and 125 at Nice, Antibes and Cannes.
... I sent George Kokali away at Marseilles.
Lear to Lady Waldegrave.
HOTEL DANIELI. Nov. 24/1865.
VENICE.
MY DEAR LADY WALDEGRAVE, I have just seen the
Leader in the Times of Monday the 2Oth. which con-
gratulates Chichester on his becoming Irish Secre-
tary 5 ; being of an undiplomatic and demonstrative
1 Giving his political opinions in view of his candidature as
Member for Westminster, Lear alludes to the following para-
graph : u I would open the suffrage to all grown persons, both
men and women, who can read, write, and perform a sum in the
rule of three. . . ."
2 Spoken on April 13, 1865, in defence of the recent
Encyclical and against the destruction of the Papal Government
and the establishment of the unity of Italy.
3 American news of General Lee's retreat from Richmond
and General Sheridan's report of the capture of six Generals and
several thousand confederate prisoners. In consequence General
Lee's surrender was hourly expected.
4 In a bye-election due to Cobden's death.
s The Leader (November 20, 1865) also pointed out that the
63
Later Letters of Edward Lear
nature in matters that give me pleasure, I threw the
paper up into the air and jumped aloft myself ending
by taking a small fried whiting out of the plate before
me and waving it round my foolish head triumphantly
till the tail came off and the body and head flew
bounce over to the other side of the table d'hote room.
Then only did I perceive that I was not alone, but
that a party was at breakfast in a recess. Happily for
me they were not English, and when I made an apology
saying I had suddenly seen some good news of a
friend of mine these amiable Italians said " Bravis-
simo Signore ! ci rallegriamo anche noi ! se avessimo
anche noi piccoli pesce li butteremmo di qua e la per la
camera in simpatia con voi ! " l so we ended by all
screaming with laughter.
I am truly glad but, as the Times says CF's
place will be no sinecure ; and he has come to it in
days when it is not unlikely that many remarkable
events relative to Ireland will come to pass, and in his
hands may well eventuate both to his honour and the
good of the Irish people. I wonder immensely if you
and he will go at once to Ireland. Pray write to me
at Malta. ... My love to C.S.P.F. 2 and
believe me, . . .
Yours sincerely,
EDWARD LEAR.
Ministry increased its strength by preferring younger statesmen
to important posts.
1 " Hurrah, Signore, we also are delighted. If we had only
got some little fish, too, we would throw them all about the
room in sympathy with you."
2 Fortescue's names were, besides Chichester, Samuel Parkin-
son, names he disliked ; consequently, Lear loved occasionally
to tease him with them.
64
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
Lear to Fortescue.
HOTEL DANIELI. VENEZIA.
Nov. 28. 1865.
MY DEAR 4OSCUE, You will I hope have learned,
before this reaches you, that I have already known
about the Irish Secretaryship from the papers : and
I sent a note enclosed in one to T. Cooper to be left
for My Lady. None the less thanks however for the
letter which has just reached me date Dudbrook
1 7th. In every way I am glad the matter is settled,
and I have been reading with glee all that has been
said of you in the papers. Unluckily, my Observer of
the 1 9th. (which was likely to contain something about
you ) was either never sent or has never turned up,
but I have read articles on your appointment in the
Times, Daily Neivs etc : all pleasant. The Standard
delighted me by saying, " Mr. C.F. is reputed by his
own intimate friends to have talents which have never
been discovered by any other persons." And one
friend writes, "your friend C.F. has been justly pro-
moted to a place he is well able to fill, in spite of
B s frequent predictions that he would shortly be
ruined as a public man and sink into a permanent state
of dilettante-ism." On the contrary I see in this new
post the largest opening for you that anyone could
suggest or wish more so, to my thinking than if you
had gone into the Cabinet as D[uchy] [of] [Lancaster]
or Colonial Secretary. I hope Baring I will get a lift
1 Thomas George Baring, M.P. for Penryn and Falmouth,
1857-1866, held various appointments. Secretary to Admiralty,
1866 ; succeeded his father as second Baron Northbrook in
1866 ; Under Secretary for War, 1868-1872 ; succeeded Lord
Mayo as Governor-General of India, 1872-1876 ; was created
65 E
Later Letters of Edward Lear
too. Milady will have told you what a Nass I made of
myself when I suddenly read your Appointment. . . .
Thank her very kindly about the Tor di Schiavi. 1 It
is a delight to me that you and she will have it. I
will write to Dickenson to fetch it away from Stratford
Place, and she will order it to be sent as she pleases.
The lovely tin, pleace say, may be paid into Messrs.
Drummond him's Bank Charing Cross to my
account. Long may you both enjoy the picture.
Thikphoggs have set in here, and one can see
nothing.
*
Since I began this I see your Fenians are still
troublesome. I long to hear about the Phaynix
house, and I daresay Milady will kindly write to me
in the winter : for I don't expect you to write again.
I daresay you never heard me speak of Dr. Barry 2
the Army Inspector of Hospitals at Corfu. He was
old then ranking as a General, and having gone thro'
all wars since 1800. He is just dead, and has been
found to be a Woman. A mad world my masters.
Yrs. affe.
ED. LEAR.
an Earl in 1876. One of Lear's best and most generous friends
and patrons.
1 " Tor di Schiavi Campagna di Roma," painted in 1862, was
purchased by Lady Waldegrave.
2 James Barry, 1795-1865, Inspector General of the Army
Medical Department, said to have been the granddaughter of a
Scotch Earl, entered the Army as hospital assistant attired as a
man, July 5, 1813. She was described as "the most skilful
of physicians and the most wayward of men, in appearance a
beardless lad, a certain effeminacy in his manner which he was
always striving to overcome." She died in London in July,
1855. The motive of her disguise was supposed to be love for
an Army Surgeon.
66
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
9. VIA TORRI. SLIEMA.
MALTA.
23. Janry 1866.
MY DEAR LADY WALDEGRAVE, I have often
wished to write but could not do so nor can I
well now. I often too have thought of you and
C.S.P.F. at your new abode of which he gives a
nice account : I fear he will have a good deal of
bother yet awhile but he is certainly the best man
to meet it, and it will prepare him for higher duties
bye and bye. I have been miserable here at Sir
Henry Storks and Barings J absence first, and then
of dear good Strahans 2 : John Peel 3 is the only one
I have left to whom there seems to be any tie,
[though nothing can exceed the kindness of the
General (Ridley) the Bishop, and everybody else.
Yet you know I am not gregarious but social, and the
social life was what I wanted. Then again, the
ONLY place vacant and fit for painting was this vast
house 3 miles off except across the water, a mode of
journey I hate and so one is pretty isolated, and had
not my good servant George come I don't know how
I could have got on. I was obliged however to take
a Maltese boy besides, for the house and journey ings
were too much for one.
I wish I had heart or spirit to write you a long
letter : but much prevents this : the propinquity of the
' See p. 58.
2 J . Strahan, Aide-de-Camp to Sir Henry Storks in Corfu and
in Malta, afterwards Governor of Tasmania, the Windward
Isles, &c.
3 Major Peel, 4th son of Lt.-Gen. the Right Hon. J. Peel, had
served throughout the Crimean War, and been appointed
Assistant Military Secretary at Malta in 1864.
Later Letters of Edward Lear
noisy sea, and the high wind depress me abundantly,
my sister the widow I is very unwell, and were
she to get worse I should come to England : John
Gibson 2 of Rome a very old acquaintance is I
think dying and his death will greatly affect my
oldest friend there Henry Williams : these things
and Mr. Edwards not paying me, with flies and a pain
in my toe all affect me at once. Bother. The only
good thing is that your picture really looks very
promising whereas last week I nearly cut it into
slices. My love to C.F. I don't write to him as he
must be so busy, and it is all one.
Believe me, Dear Lady Waldegrave,
Yours sincerely
EDWARD LEAR.
Lear to Lady Waldegrave
9. VIA TORRI. SLIEMA. MALTA.
13. Feby. 1866.
Your last very kind letter, (with C.S.P.F's endorse-
ment) ought to be better answered than it will be; for,
as you conjecture, I am not in good spirits and in
fact altogether in a crooked frame of mind. Nor
without reason, as in some respects I never passed a
less pleasant winter, spite of the set off of Paradise
weather, no cold and all sun and of having nothing
to complain of so far as life made easy by good food
and servants, goes. But on the other hand, the loss
of Sir Henry, and of my two intimate friends Baring
and Strahan has been a shocking one for though by
1 See p. 47.
2 The sculptor, who revived the use of colour in statuary.
Died in Rome 1866.
68
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
nature hating crowds and hustle and gaiety, yet some
social sympathy is necessary and one don't get any
except from John Peel, and the General I with
whom I dine once a fortnight. But the former is a
sad invalid, and the latter's dinners are, tho' good,
uninteresting to me, who know nothing of the small
talk of the place and its gossip : and the going
across to Valetta and return put me out of my way a
good deal. The Anglo- Maltese intelligence does not
seem ever to have heard that Artists require particular
light, aspect, quiet, etc : and because I cannot have
some three or four hundred visitors lounging in my
rooms I am dubbed a mystery and a savage : tho'
the very same people can understand that they could
not go to a Lawyer's or Physician's rooms to take
up his hours gratis. Were I to ask a Military Cove,
if this climate on account of its dryness required him
always to pour water down his gun before firing it, or
a Naval one if he weighed anchor before he sailed or
a week afterwards, I should be laughed at as a fool ;
yet many not much less silly questions are asked me.
No creature has as yet asked for even a $ drawing,
nor have I sold even one of my few remaining Corfu
books. My rooms though spacious are painted, one
blue one orange one green so that my sight is
getting really injured as to colour, just as if a musical
composer should have to work in the midst of hundreds
of out of tune instruments. My sister Ellen is very
unwell, and most anxious about the ship my New
Zealand sister 2 sailed in. There are also very dis-
1 General Ridley.
2 His sister, Sarah Street, married and settled with a large
family at Dunedin in New Zealand.
69
Later Letters of Edward Lear
agreeable reports about the Atrato, the ship J.
Strahan went to Jamaica in. From Rome, every
week has brought sadder letters and Gibson's near
death was the subject of the last. And Mr. Edwards,
for whom I painted the Jerusalem, from July to
November, and for whom I made it so large a picture
on account of auld lang-syne, has never paid for it,
and as I have been at very great expense here, it is
most fortunate for me that I have happened this last
year to be a little beforehand and that you bought
my Tor di Schiavi. That's enough I think to account
for non-liveliness : . . .
To many people however Malta ought to be a
charming winter residence : for there is every variety
of luxury, animal, mineral and vegetable a Bishop
and daughter, pease and artichokes, works in marble
and fillagree, redmullet, an Archdeacon, Mandarin
Oranges, Admirals and Generals, Marsala Wine lod.
a bottle religious processions, poodles, geraniums,
balls, bacon, baboons, books and what not. The
chief person here after the Govr. General, and top
Admiral, is Lady Hamilton Chichester. Mr. Hook-
ham Frere, who married her aunt, Lady Erroll left
her a fine house and gardens and I suppose she is a
"power in the State" as she is now a R.C. and I
fancy is influential. (She was a Wallscourt Blake.)
After Ash Wednesday, I am going to be at home for
3 days to Adml. and Ldy Smart, Adml. Yelverton,
Sir V. and Ldy Houlton and a heap more : I wish
they were all in Japan or Madagascar, except Admiral
Y. O ! that's enough about myself which I wish I
was a seagull and could fly off to Jaffa at once. I
am delighted at your account of your and C's life : and
70
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
everyone seems to like you both there, which I looked
for. Nevertheless, C. must have had a great deal of
anxiety, for it is not to be supposed seeing what is
known publicly about the F[enians] I that he has not
many more rocks and breakers to think of. Some
red-hot Ulster Protestants here, which their noble
family is all Orange, give me a good idea of the
sectarian good sense he must have to deal with. I
trust however that all will come tolerably straight
(tho' such speeches as Mr. Dillon's 2 don't tend to
quiet me,) and if so, that then C.S.P.F's time will
come for doing something really important for Ireland
The Parliament will be most interesting this year. . . .
1 This month saw the second Fenian rising (the first was in
September, 1865) ; but it was speedily suppressed by the sus-
pension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland. Fortescue went
into office at a particularly critical time in Irish affairs.
2 John Blake Dillon, a leader of the Young Ireland party, an
exile from 1848 to 1855, and member for County Tipperary from
1865 till his death in 1866.
71
Later Letters of Edward Lear
What a busy life you must both lead, you and C.F !
and it seems to me that you are exactly the right
" t'other half" of the position because C's nature
wants as you say self-confidence, and that you are
able to give him. Yet the finer the mind, the more
(generally speaking) is such accompanied by the
critical disposition : and he who foregoes self-criticism
must sooner or later get into a groove, and stand still
if he don't fall down. Do not let him give up any
horse or walking exercise, because he is never well
without that. ... At present however, I have no
more energy than a shrimp who has swallowed a
Norfolk Dumpling. Goodbye.
SLIEMA. MALTA.
March 9. 1866
If you have any leisure, which I don't very well see
how you can, I hope you will write a line to me before
I leave this island. Every fresh batch of newspapers
keeps me in not a little anxiety on C. F.'s and your
account : nor does the Irish cloudy sky appear to get
brighter. Even without the help of Earl R's and Sir
G. Grey's speeches, one can see that there is much
more than outsiders know, and now that Chichester
has to go through his election again, by the disgust-
ing dodgery of the Tories, it is a fresh lot of trouble
for you both. I hope he keeps well in health through
these odious times : when they are over, I trust his
reward will come, in being able to do something really
good for Ireland.
... I have hardly ever known any place more
melancholy than the vast Valetta Palace wanting
the life of Sir Henry Storks, Baring and Strahan.
72
si
si
I
8 *
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
The two latter write often from Jamaica: Strahan's
last to me was very funny, and they certainly all seem
in their normal state of high spirits. Crowds of swells
have been to me, but only one young R. A. officer
has bought or thought of buying a drawing : so that
10 and 12 from sale of Ionian books, as all my
winter gains, made Mr. Edwards' pay welcome
enough. . . .
Father Ignatius l dressed as a mucilaginous monk
is come to stay here, and walks about like a
mediaeval donkey.
VALETTA. MALTA.
3oth March, 1866.
I was so glad to get your long letter of the i7th on
my return from Gozo. It was very kind of you to
write, as I was in an orfle fidgett about you and C. I
hope now to know by the papers that his election for
Louth is well over. I wish he instead of Sir Some-
body Gray were going to bring in the Irish Prot :
Church do away with Bill, as I wish he had all the
credit. . . . 2
I was very glad to hear you think well of the
stability of Lord R's govt. and greatly hope it will
last. I wish I could hear C. S. P. F. "speak a
speech," and perhaps when I come back I'll have a
1 Father Ignatius was the name assumed by Joseph Leycester
Lyne ; he received Anglican orders in 1860, and in 1862 revived
the " ancient rule of St. Benedict" in the Church of England.
He settled eventually at Llanthony Abbey in Monmouthshire.
1 The abolition of the Irish Church Establishment was finally
decreed in 1869.
73
Later Letters of Edward Lear
try. I am glad of Miss Money's engagement I : any-
how nobody can say you are not everything that is
kind to all about you, and when you are pleased it is
a pleasure to those who know you. . . . The Palestine
trip must be given up this year. The cholera is so
likely to re-appear all about there that to risk 40 days'
lazaretto with nasty people would be madness. . . .
There is another little reason for not going to Pales-
tine, viz. the white glare of this place is hurting my
eyes, and an additional two months of hot sunwork I
fear to encounter.
My kind love to
P.S. I've made 2 riddles.
What saint should be the
patron of Malta ?
Saint Sea-bastian.
And why are the kisses of mermaids pleasant at
breakfast ?
a.
Because they are a kind of Water C A resses.
HOTEL DELLA TRINACRIA. MESSINA.
13. April. 1866.
Just before I left Malta, I was glad to see that
1 Miss Ida Money, daughter of General and Lady Laura
Money, of Crownpoint, consequently niece by marriage to Lady
Waldegrave, who was taking her out in society, became engaged
in Dublin to Major, the Hon. Edmund Boyle, brother of the
Earl of Cork, Aide-de-Camp to Lord Kimberley Lord Lieu-
tenant of Ireland, and afterwards Gentleman Usher to Earl
Spencer.
74
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
CSPF was re-returned for Louth and to London,
for I read in some paper or other that you and he
were at Strawberry. So my anxieties on the score of
Fenian assassination are over. 1 It is also a pleasure
to perceive that the whole of the big bother is being
finished up, unless indeed Canada gives fresh
trouble. 2
I left Malta on the loth in a fuliginous flea-full
Steamer, and got here on the Evening of the nth
when I chose to leave the crowded boat and wait for
M elver's large steamer, the Palestine, which should
arrive to-morrow and go on direct to Corfu, Ancona,
and Trieste, so that I hope to be at the latter place
before the 2Oth. Then I purpose visiting as much as
I can of Dalmatia beginning with Pola, and ending
if possible with Montenegro : all which being
"done" I wish to be back by the ist week in June.
But until I get to Trieste, the capital or base of
operations, I cannot very well see my way. Up to
the evening of the Qth I had almost given up this trip
altogether, as the reports of Austro-Italo war were
getting very unpleasant, and were war to break out,
all the Adriatic would be shut up. . . .
This place is vastly dirty. Dirtyissimo. But it is
interesting to me in many ways and looking at
Reggio and the Calabrian hills, I cannot realize that
i it is just 19 years since I was there with poor John
Proby.3 There is a great deal of discontent here
1 See p. 71.
2 The Fenians of America did carry out their threatened
" invasion " of Canada, and occupied Fort Erie, but the United
States enforced the neutrality of their frontier.
3 John, Lord Proby, eldest son of the Earl of Carysfort, was
75
Later Letters of Edward Lear
and in many parts of Italy : the taxes and the con-
scription being a sore which worries the lower class,
and is used as a worry by the Bourbonites and priests.
The last affair at Barletta is much felt if not much
talked of. When will it please God to knock religion
on the head, and substitute charity, love, and common
sense ? I fear me poor dear Italy has a great many
hard trials before her yet ; and as strongly do I hope
she will get over them, and put her foot on those who
call her Atheist they themselves being if not Atheist
haters of God and man.
I was sorry in some respex to leave Malta. It is
impossible to say how constantly kind dear good
General Ridley has been to me. The V. Houltons
were also so: ditto Lady H. C. but I don't
worship her, which she is wiolent and spiteful,
although hospitable.
one of Lear's earliest friends.
of 35-
He died in 1858, at the age
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
Did I tell you of my visit to Oudesh, vulgarly called
Gozo? It was a most pleasant one, and with the aid
of Giorgio I drew every bit of it, walking fifteen or
twenty miles a day. Its Coast scenery may truly be
called pomskizillious and gromphibberous, being as no
words can describe its magnificence. I have also
drawn all Malta more because 1 happened to be
there, and some work had to be done, than for any
good it is likely to do me. My whole winter gains
twenty-five pounds, must remain a melanchollical
reminiscence of the rocky island and its swell com-
munity.
It will be curious to see poor Corfti again : and I
will write from Trieste, where I have dim hopes of
finding a letter from you.
15, STRATFORD PLACE. OXFORD ST.
May 30. /66.
I am working awfully hard to complete my un-
finished drawings, so as to open my Gallery next
week if possible.
I dined yesterday at Lord Westbury's. 1 Ld. W.
seems to be much more inclined to re-settle in Eng-
land, and in various ways there is much that gives me
satisfaction. I am to dine there again on Friday.
He said to me " when you see Lady Waldegrave,
give her my kindest remembrances and say that I
have not left a piece of pasteboard at her door,
because that is a form by which " (so I understood
him) " the amount of esteem in which one person
holds another cannot be accurately measured."
I hope you are not all a-going to split and go out
1 Lord Chancellor, 1861.
Later Letters of Edward Lear
about this Redistribution of seats. 1 On Sunday Mrs.
M. endeavoured to draw from me if I knew or didn't
know anything about what you told me of C. S. P. F.
whereat I collapsed into a vacuum of ignorance.
My love to said See Ess Pee Eff.
To Lady Waldegrave.
15, STRATFORD PLACE OXFORD ST.
W.
17 October 1866.
MY DEAR LADY WALDEGRAVE, It is orfle cold here,
and I don't know what to do. I think I shall go
to Jibberolter, passing through Spain, and doing
Portigle later. After all one isn't a potato to
remain always in one place.
A few days ago in a railway as I went to my
sister's a gentleman explained to two ladies, (whose
children had my "Book of Nonsense,") that thousands
of families were grateful to the author (which in
silence I agreed to) who was not generally known
but was really Lord Derby : and now came a
showing forth, which cleared up at once to my
mind why that statement has already appeared in
several papers. Edward Earl of Derby (said the
Gentleman) did not choose to publish the book
openly, but dedicated it as you see to his relations,
and now if you will transpose the letters LEAR you
will read simply EDWARD EARL. Says I, joining
spontanious in the conversation " That is quite a
mistake : I have . :on to know that Edward Lear
1 Disraeli's proposals to frame a Reform Bill "by way of
resolutions," which he had to abandon.
78
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
the painter and author wrote and illustrated the
whole book." " And I," says the Gentleman, says
he "have good reason to know Sir, that you are
wholly mistaken. There is no such a person as
Edward Lear." " But," says I, there is and I am
the man and I wrote the book ! " Whereon all
the party burst out laughing and evidently thought
me mad or telling fibs. So I took off my hat and
showed it all round, with Edward Lear and the
address in large letters also one of my cards, and a
marked handkerchief : on which amazement devoured
those benighted individuals and I left them to gnash
their teeth in trouble and tumult.
Believe me, Dear Lady Waldegrave,
Yours sincerely,
EDWARD LEAR
79
Later Letters of Edward Lear
GRAND HOTEL DU LOUVRE.
MARSEILLE.
ii. December. 1866.
I am glad to have received a letter from you jusl
before starting, and to know that you and the Mimbei
are well, and have been so happy. I am off to-
morrow by the P. & O. steamer the Pera to
Alexandria, having just heard that Sir H. J. Storks
may be a week longer before he comes, and if a i
week why not 2 weeks ? or 3 ? So I can't dawdle
any more, and I wish now that I had gone on last I
week by the Poonah. As it was I went to Hyeres, i
and St. Tropez, both of which were bosh. I have j
made up my mind to go in for a Nile and Palestine
move : as I may have no better opportunity because, |
in spite of Lords' Stratford and Strangford's nursing,
the sick man I will be more of an invalid before
long I guess and his dominions will not be good
for travelling Topographers. My objects on the
Nile are, (excepting only to draw Denderah on the
lower river,) wholly above Philae as I never saw
Nubia, and particularly wish to get drawings ol
Ipsambul, and Ibreem. If I can't manage this
shall make for Jerusalem earlier than I should g(
to the second cataract. In Palestine, a certai
view of Jerusalem, a tour to Galilee, Nazareth (for
a picture for R. M. Milnes, 2 ) Carmel Tiberias
Tyre Sidon Banias and if possible Palmyra.
1 Lord Strangford was at that time at Constantinople. Lore
Stratford had had extraordinary influence as ambassador ai
Constantinople, 1842-1858. The "sick man/' of course, ii
Turkey.
2 Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton, the poet.
80
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
The length and breadth of this tour will however
depend on many circumstances.
I have never been so utterly weary of 6 months
as of these last : never seeing anything but the
dreadful brick houses and latterly suffering from ?/
cold, smoke darkness ach ! horror! - -verily II
England may be a blessed place for the wealthy,
but an accursed dwelling place for those who have
known liberty and have seen God's daylight daily
in other countries. By degrees, however, (if I don't
leave it by the sudden collapse of mortality) I hope
to quit it altogether, even if I turn Mussulman and
settle at Timbuctoo.
CAIRO. March 9. 1867.
I wish I could write you a long letter, but I want
to thank you and C.F. for your help before the
Mail goes, and there is scanty time and much to
do. I came back from having safely performed the
first half of my journey viz the Nile and Nubia,
yesterday, and found your very kind letter, as well
as one from Messrs. Drummond, informing me of
the payment of One Hundred Pounds which you
have so kindly lent me. Conjointly with your aid,
assistance also came to me, in more or less degree,
from Lord Houghton, Mrs. Clive, B. Husey-Hunt,
T. Fairbairn, John E. Cross, F. Lushington and
W. Langton. I am a queer beast to have so many
friends. I am so pleased the Venice 1 is so much
1 A companion picture to the "Tor di Schiavi " painted in 1862
for Lady Waldegrave. They both hang at Chewton Priory
and are the property of the present Earl Waldegrave.
81 F
Later Letters of Edward Lear
liked, but it is quite fit and right that CSPF should
like it less than your portrait : so long as it ranks
next I am well content. I should like to see Rich-
mond's drawing of C. 1 I hope he won't make him
clerical and holy and soft, he being neither. What
an awfully cold winter you seem to have had ! and
in other respects not a pleasing one, particularly
as regards Fenianism. I hear just now that Lord
Cranbourne, General Peel and Lord Carnarvon have
left the Government 2 will it break up and cease, or
join Gladstone, or what next ? I should like to have
read C's letter, 3 but I get no sight of papers now,
as directly they are devoured, off they go and no
old ones exist. The Consul General here, Colonel
Stanton, R.E.4 and Mrs, S. are very good-natured,
but I am not after rising as I do at 5.30 and
writing all day up to going into " SOCIETY " at
9 or 10. In a few days I go to Memphis for a
day or two to wind up my Egyptian work, and
then I hope to start across what is called the short
desert for Gaza, Askalon, and Ashdod : and if I
chance to find a nosering of Delilah with Samson's
hair set in it, won't I pick it up ? Then, after a time
1 I never heard of this picture. I do not think it ever took
shape, or is confounded by Mr. Lear with a drawing by Watts.
2 Lear refers to the split in the ministry on the Reform and
Borough Franchise.
3 C. F.'s letter of the 4th of February to the Times, in which
he advocated the passing of a Land Bill, and condemned Lord
Dufferin for seeming to wish " to let well or ill alone."
4 Sir Ed. Stanton, K.C.M.G., General (retired), entered the
Royal Engineers, 1844. Consul-General at Warsaw, 1860.
Agent and Consul-General in Egypt, 1865. Charge d' Affaires,
at Munich, 1876.
82
w ^
II
Q
W
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
and times and half a time at Jerusalem, I trust to go
to Nazareth, on the score of M. Milnes' picture.
The Sea of Galilee, the City on a hill which cannot
be id, the site of the cursed cursive concurrent pigs,
Endor with or without a witch, and other places are
to be visited : if possible, Gilead and Gerarh, and
if possibler, Palmyra. Also Canobeen and other
Lebanon places, so that from Berut I may come
back by Carmel and on to Jaffa, and Alexandria,
arid thence by Italy to England early in July. I
hope then that I shall have done with all this part
of Asiatic topography, and that I shall be able to pro-
juice two worx one on Egypt t'other on Palestine.
Nubia delighted me, it isn't a bit like Egypt,
except that there's a river in both. Sad, stern,!
uncompromising landscape, dark ashy purple lines
of hills, piles of granite rocks, fringes of palm, and
ever and anon astonishing ruins of oldest temples :
above all wonderful Abou Simbel, which took my
breath away. The second cataract also is very
interesting, and at Philae and Denderah I got new
subjects besides scores and scores of little atomy
illustrations all the way up and down the riverj
An " American " or Montreal cousin was with me
above Luxor, but he was a fearful bore ; of whom
it is only necessary to say that he whistled all day
aloud, and that he was " disappointed " in Abou
Simbel. You can't imagine the extent of the
American element in travel here ! They are as
twenty-five to one English. They go about in
dozens and scores one dragoman to so many and
are a fearful race mostly. One lot of sixteen, with
whom was an acquaintance of my own, came up by
83
Later Letters of Edward Lear
steamer, but outvoted my friend, who desired to see
the Temple of Abydos because " it was Sunday, and
it was wrong to break the Sabbath and inspect a
heathen church." Whereon the Parson who was
one of the party preached three times that day,
and Mr. my friend shut himself up in a rage. Would
it be believed, the same lot, Parson and all, went
on arriving at Assouan on a Sunday evening to
see some of those poor women whose dances
cannot be described, and who only dance them by
threats and offers of large sums of money? As all
outer adornment of the person except noserings
and necklaces, are dispensed with on these occasions,
the swallowing of camels and straining at gnats is
finely illustrated. At Luxor I frequently saw Lady
Duff Gordon, but on my return she had broken a
blood vessel, and is now reported very ill indeed.
She is doubtless a complete enthusiast, but very
clever and agreeable. I heard there of the death
of my poor friend Holman Hunt's wife I at Florence,
and I find very affecting letters from her sister.
Poor Daddy 2 is still at Florence where some friends
take charge of his motherless boy. Meanwhile it is
getting very hot here, and the flies are becoming
most odious and unscrupulous. As a whole this
Shepherd's Hotel (or Zech's as it is called now,) is
more like a pigstye mixed with a beargarden or a
horribly noisy railway station than anything that I
1 Miss Waugh.
2 Lear was greatly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and
considered Holman Hunt his artistic father. Hence the nick-
name u Daddy/' though Holman Hunt was many years his
junior.
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
can compare it to. To add to my difficulty in writing
I have miserable toothache and Neuralgia, so I
must stop.
My kindest regards to you and the Mimber.
P.S. As I passed Philse going up just at sunset
the very same effect of the Due D'Aumale's l picture
was over it.
Lear to Fortescue.
15, STRATFORD PLACE,
OXFORD ST.
9 August, 1867.
MY DEAR EXCELSCUE, (N.B. XL is 40). I was
so sorry not to have been at home when you came, as
scissors and grasshoppers only know when we may
meet again : you certainly do all you can to see me,
but the conditions of life are against your so doing.
I had gone to my sister's 2 the first and only time
since I returned and the fourth time only that I have
left London the other three being to B. Husey Hunt,
to Alfred Tennyson, and to Strawberry. I cannot
recall two months of my life more wearying and
distressing shut up literally all the day, day after
day (the only means of getting even a chance of a
livelihood ;) with nothing but brick walls and cursed
cats to look at outside, with a climate, the first month
bitter winter cold and the second perpetual darkness
and pouring rain : and with neuralgia usually as well
or more strictly speaking as bad.
Were it possible to avoid doing so I would gladly
never come to England again so disgusted am I
1 A picture Lear had painted for the Duke.
2 His sister, Elinor Newsom, the widow.
85
Later Letters of Edward Lear
with all therein and thereof at present. Very happily
for me, my queer natural elasticity of temperament
does not at all lead me to the morbids " suicide " or
what not, but on the contrary to Abercrombical I
reflexions on life in general. Sometimes I make
considerable progress in my new Book of Nonsense
(which I hope will help me to Nazareth I mean
Nazareth in Syria,) and sometimes I consider as to
the wit of taking my Cedars out of its frame and
putting round it a border of rose coloured velvet,
embellished with a fringe of yellow worsted with black
spots, to protypify the possible proximate propinquity
of predatorial panthers and then selling the whole
for floorcloth by auction.
By the bye, the original Abercromby 2 book fell up
two days ago as I was by degrees moving all my
books upstairs. Also five volumes of Byron, the fifth
of which you stole, or rather borrowed and never
returned. I don't want it however a bit, for I've got a
better edition : and some day I will pitch the remain-
ing five vols out of window as you get into a
Nansen Cab, just as you drive off.
On Thursday I dined at the Viscountess Strangford
which the party was very agreeable : " Foffy " Cur-
cumelli 3 also. And speaking of visits, yesterday
Lady Franklin 4 passed an hour here, looking at
every one of my drawings with the Zeal of a Girl of 25.
1 " Abercrombical" was a favourite adjective of Lear's, and I
think he must have been referring to the writings of Dr. John
Abercrombie, the well-known philosophical and metaphysical
writer, who died in 1844.
2 Probably " The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings."
3 See p. 58. 4 Wife of the celebrated Arctic explorer.
86
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
My sister showed me some beautiful drawings of
" Sister Sarah " I just sent from N.Z. flowers and
a large panoramic view she is a wonderful old lady
-at 73 !
I shall write to you before the Ortum begins, from
Stratton. . . .
As for me, I stay at Stratton and Selbourne till I
come back to town to finish two small copies of the
Seeders : and then comes the moving upstairs or
into the Pamteggnikon as yet I don't know which.
What nation talks the greatest nonsense ?
The Boshmen !
And where are the greatest number of Pawn-
brokers' shops ?
Among the Pawnee Indians.
child ! climb up a high tree
at Chewton 2 and compose a
pamphlet on the follies of the
world in general, and more par-
ticularly of your very misbegot-
ten and affectionate friend,
Aug. icth.
1 read this over to-day, and tho' it is very absurd
shall send it. Adieu !
LEWES. 24. Novbr. 1867.
Life, my child, is a bore. ... I didn't write a note
to you about your Toe 3 as I had wished to do, in
which I meant to have recommended you to study the
book of 70bit, and to drink a glass of Tokay, but not
too much for fear you should go down into 70phet,
1 The wonderful Sarah Street of the first volume.
Chewton Priory, Lady Waldegrave's Somerset home.
3 A broken chilblain.
87
Later Letters of Edward Lear
and there be burned like Tow : you should also have
been told to eat Tbmatas, by way of soothing your
Zbmartyrdom, and in a word I should have /totally
punned the matter bare and out and out. In the
meantime don't be careless about your foot, as toes are
not to be trifled with.
I go early to-morrow by Hastings to Folkestone
to cross on Tuesday : and by Thursday hope to be at
Cannes. . . .
P.S. W. Neville came to me. My sister I found
sadly deaf ; but tho' alone she has three servants who
have been about her thirty odd years.
P. P.S. Holman Hunt has been painting a large
picture from Keats' pome of Isabella.
VILLA MONTARET,
No. 6. RUE ST. HONORE,
CANNES. ALPES MARITIMES.
Dec. 26. 1867.
I don't like not to send New Year's good wishes to
you and My Lady, so I shall write a note if never so
short ; all the more that up to now I have had no heart
to write, but this morning has begun with a run of
good luck that both you and Lady W. will be glad to
hear of.
" The Cedars " are at last sold not by any means
for the sum I wished, nor even for a third, but still
they will be well placed, and thoroughly appreciated,
and I shall get 6 a year out of the critters for the rest
of my life, if I can contrive to put the money into the
three per cents. Louisa, Lady Ashburton, 1 is the
1 The friend of Carlyle. She was the youngest daughter of
the Rt. Hon. James Stewart Mackenzie, nephew of the Earl of
88
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
purchaser, and they will go to Melchet Court, Rom-
sey for their fewcherome. Then Dr. Montague
Butler of Harrow r has just been here and Mrs.
Butler is going to have one of my 12 drawings : and
indeed it was high time, for I was getting into a mess,
and had no heart to write to anybody.
I had to take very expensive rooms here sun-
aspect for health light to work, and position etc. for
swells to come to, were all necessary, and I have
hitherto been in despair that no one out of over fifty
people who have called have as yet bought anything.
Let us hope the luck is turned.
About two thousand English are here, and among
other amusing facts no less than twenty-five Eton
boys came out in one batch for their holidays last week !
Interruptions from people Mrs. Butler 2 has two
small 7 pounders instead of one large 12. (She is
a niece of Lady Hislop.) So I can't go on with this
letter ; I must stop, as the watch said when a beetle
got into his wheels.
Lady Strachey's brother 3 is near here : he and Mrs.
Symonds are a gain.
Galloway. She married the 2nd Baron Ashburton, who died in
1864. This picture, I believe, was afterwards burnt.
1 Dr. Montague Butler, formerly head master of Harrow 1859-
1885, Dean of Gloucester 1886, Master of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, married as his second wife 1888, Miss Agneta Ramsay,
Senior Classic of the year.
3 Georgina Isabella, granddaughter of the Rt. Hon. Hugh
Elliot, Minister at the Court of Frederick the Great.
3 John Addington Symonds, the well-known writer. Elected
a Fellow of Magdalen 1862 ; published numerous works
Later Letters of Edward Lear
To Lady Waldegrave.
VILLA MONTARET,
6. RUE ST. HONORE.
Cannes. ALPES MARITIMES.
January 9. 1868.
A happy New Year to you and the Mimber ! Just
as I was going to bed last night the preliminary
pusillanimous peripatetic postman brought me
CSTRPQF's letter date the 4th, which I beg you
will thank him for for it was exceedingly welcome.
The weather has been so beeeeeestly cold here, and
these lodgings are so venomously odious in some
respects, that I get perfectly cross and require to be
soothed by letters now and then. I am very glad you
and C have had that Growling Eclogue I I wrote
from Lady Strachey : I enclose another bit of fun,
for some child or other (I wrote it for Lady
Strachey's niece, little Janet Symonds :) if Lady S.
has a small enough creature not to scorn it, perhaps
you will give it to her for its use, and anyhow I hope
she has been thanked for her letter to Lady Suffolk.
(The original poem of the Growl, had a line altered
afterwards thus " nearly run over by the Lady
Mary Peerfy" stood " all but, run over by the
Lady Emma Talbot" which was fact but I sup-
pressed it as too personal. 2 ) While I am in a lucid
interval before breakfast, I will tell you what I think
of doing. For in the first place it seems to me that
" Renaissance in Italy," also sketches of travel, monographs,
and translations. He died at Rome in 1893.
1 Interlocutors Mr. Lear and Mr. and Mrs. Symonds to
be found in Warne's " Nonsense Songs and Stories/' by Edward
Lear. Qth and revised edition, 1894.
2 This poem I cannot trace.
90
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
luck has turned, inasmuch as Dr. Butler of Harrow,
Mr. Buxton, and more especially Sir Richard Glass
have all bought drawings : and as I know that Lord
Mt. Edgecumbe is coming, and also Lord Henry
Scott and I hope many more I think there cannot
be much doubt that Cannes will be the best winter
place I can select.
. . . . At present I am not drawing at all nor paint-
ing but writing : the rough copy of my Cretan
journals is done, and nearly that of the Nile 1854 :
the Nubia of 1867 will follow, and I mean to get all
three ready for publication with illustrations, if possible
next summer, whether in parts or volumes I can't yet
say. By degrees I want to topographize and topo-
graphize all the journey ings of my life, so that I shall
have been of some use after all to my fellow critters
besides leaving the drawings and pictures which they
may sell when I'm dead. This plan of a winter home
here, I don't think I could carry out easily, for I have
no head for bother, if I hadn't my old servant Giorgio,
who cooks, markets, and keeps the house clean so
systematically that I have no trouble whatever :
though neither he nor his master at all like the
cold weather here, which in three large cold rooms
is horrid. (Just now I said to this man, "Why
Giorgio, there is ten minutes difference between my
watch and the hall clock since Sunday ! which is
wrong of the two ? is my watch ten minutes too slow
or the clock ten minutes too fast ? " " Your watch is
all right Sir " said he grimly " because he very warm
in your pocket : clock stand out in the cold hall, he
go faster to warm himself.") . . .
Meanwhile the mass of English here is quite
Later Letters of Edward Lear
curious, and every bit of ground near the place
seems to be for sale at great prices. But so scattered
and detached are the villas and hotels, and so dirty
are the roads, that very few people see much of
others, unless they keep carriages. The Symonds
are pretty near me, but I am sorry to say he is not
nearly as well as he was, and has to be kept so quiet
that I shall hardly see him now I which is a great
loss as a more charming and good fellow I never
met, besides so full of knowledge and learning. A
friend of his, one Mr. Sedgwick a fellow of Trinity
College Cambridge, dines with me to-day, but I can't
ask poor John Symonds. (We are to have soup, and
a curried fowl, a roast lamb and stewed pears : and
one gets divine Marsala cheap.) By way of what a
Scotch friend calls " femmel society," William and
Mrs. W. Sandbach are next door : she is Dutch and
was one of the Queen of Holland's ladies, 2 (The
Queen stays with them sometimes in England), very
intelligent and kindly. Lady Grey 3 (Honble.) and
Miss Des Voeux are near : Lady Glass, Mrs. (Suther-
land) Scott and others are all near on this side : the
other side I don't affect, it is such a brutal road full of
carriages : but there are the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord
and Lady H. Scott, Lord Mt. Edgcumbe, Elcho,
1 Mr. Symonds' health had been very delicate from lung
trouble for many years, but later on he discovered and estab-
lished himself permanently at Davos, where he led an active
life till his death, and where all his later books were written.
2 Maid of Honor to Queen Sophia of the Netherlands, was
before her marriage Mademoiselle Sara de Capellen.
3 Wife of the Hon. Sir George Grey, G.C.B., Governor and
later Premier of New Zealand. She was Charlotte, only
daughter of Sir Charles Des Voeux, ist Baronet.
92
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
Brougham, Lady Hough ton, Bradford, Limerick,
Dalhousie, and crowds more. There too is the
Parsonic home and then the Church, where I go
sometimes, but you can't get out when once you are
in for the crowd, and when you do get out you are
smashed instantly by the carriages. Cannes is a place
literally with no amusements : people who come must
live, just as you and CF do now at Chewton, abso-
lutely to themselves in a country life, or make excur-
sions to the really beautiful places about when the
weather permits. I know no place where there are
such walks close to the town : and the Esterel range
is what you can look at all day with delight. Only
for the last week it has been atrocious weather, rain
and cold : the hills are covered with snow, and the
sun don't shine. Nevertheless there is no fog of any
sort ; and with all this cold, I have no Neuralgia
which amazes me. . . .
Give my love to Chichester and thank him for his
letter : tell him I will set his I verses to music, and
publish them dedicated to him. I hope Lord Cler-
mont 2 is better. How distressing all these wretched
matters in England and Ireland are !
Do you not wish, since the Holy Father is so
determined an enemy of Italy, and so outrageously
opposite in conduct to the rules of Him whom he
professes to represent, that someone in the Italian
Parliament might venture to propose an entire separa-
tion religiously, by creating a Pontiff in Milan or
Florence, abolishing celibacy, in fact making a
1 I greatly regret I have not found these.
2 Lord Clermont was the elder brother of Fortescue. He
had married a daughter of the Marquis of Ormond.
93
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Henry VIII reform, only not Calvinistic? Could
not such a member point out that Russia, as well as
England, Holland, Prussia, are all exe-
crated by the blasphemous violence of
those monstrous Popes, and yet not-
withstanding are the most flourishing of
peoples and lands ? Would not a
torrent of ridicule thrown on insolent
and uncharitable pretension do some
good ? Ask Count Maffei l : I am miserable at times
about Italy, but always hope on.
Meanwhile I shall have tired your ize : so I will
conclude.
Lady Waldegrave to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
Feb. 10. /68.
We were delighted to hear that you had not only
sold your fine Cedars, but found an appreciative public
at Cannes. Your idea of taking a permanent Studio
there sounds jolly and likely to be prosperous. I
quite understand your horror of the fogs and fogies
of London in winter, and with you a natural, neutral,
Indian ink spirits climate must have an immense effect
upon your well or ill-being.
We are groaning at having to leave this dear
place to-morrow for hateful London. We have been
immensely happy here in spite of all sorts of little
worries, broken chilblains, Mendip mists, East winds,
weak eyes, . . . etc., etc.
1 Secretary to the Italian Legation in London.
94
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
. . . We hear that Lord Derby will be obliged to
resign as his health is completely broken. 1 Lord
Stanley is expected to take his place. His speech at
Bristol has done him great harm in Ireland and no
good here. 2
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
7, CARLTON GARDENS, Feb. 22.
My Lady handed me this document the day
before we left Chewton, with a command that I
should finish it forthwith and despatch it to Cannes.
I was full of Steward's accounts, gardener's accounts,
etc, etc, put it into my box, and there it has remained
until this present writing. We were very sorry to
leave Chewton, where we passed some very quiet
and especially happy months. But " noblesse
oblige," or rather the duties of a politician oblige.
Mrs. Gladstone wrote just at the same time : " My
husband has been so happy here" (Hawarden), "he
feels like a schoolboy going back to school." I wish
by the way he wouldn't write devout, fanciful, un-
critical articles on " Ecce Homo " in " Good Words."3
I have seen a good deal of him and of Lord Russell
about Irish affairs. The letter of Lord Russell to
me 4 has caused much interest, especially his resig-
1 Lord Derby resigned the Premiership in Disraeli's favour
during the year. He died in 1869.
3 Lord Stanley was Foreign Secretary at this time.
3 Mr. Gladstone's article in " Good Words " on " Ecce Homo "
(Sir] . R. Seeley's book, which appeared anonymously in 1865) did
not give his opinion on the book, but his ideas on irrelevant theo-
logical matters, having no reference to the view taken in the book
of the relation of Christ to Christianity.
* "A Letter to the Rt. Hon. C. Fortescue."
95
Later Letters of Edward Lear
nation, in very handsome terms, of the leadership
to Gladstone.
Lord Derby was thought to be dying, but has
rallied. Stanley told me yesterday that he was
"going on as well as possible." But it is fully
believed that at Easter, if not sooner, he will hand
over the Prime Ministership to Dizzy ! Stanley
supports Dizzy and the Squires acquiesce, in con-
sequence of his triumphs of last year. 1 I am glad
to see that Colenso is vanquishing his enemies at
Natal in the Law Courts, having gained a complete
victory over Dean Green. 2 The Bishop of London
behaved very well about the intended rival Bishop,
and repulsed that ill-conditioned bigot, Bishop
Gray. 3 . . .
Lear to Fortescue.
VILLA MONTARET. 6, ROOSENT ONNORAY.
2%th Febbirowerry 1868
Ritten at night.
I "remained confounded" as my servant George
says when he is surprised "rimasto confuso" by
getting a letter from you and my lady at once just
now from the peripatetic postman, whom in the
street near my new lodgings I met. (The said
Postman greets me always with great enthusiasm
and respect ; since after a week had passed without
his bringing letters I said to him : " Savez vous
1 The passing of the Reform Bill of 1867.
2 Colenso had appealed to the Court of Chancery and the
Master of the Rolls had given judgment in his favour ; in con-
sequence his salary was restored to him.
3 Bishop of Cape Town from 1847, in 1863 he had pronounced
Colenso's deposition.
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
pourquoi il n'y a pas de lettres ? C'est parcequ' en
Angleterre il fait si froid qu'on ne peut plus tenir
la plume en main ! " " C'est done terrible ^a,
Monsieur ! " said he, and now as a burst of letters
have turned up, he says " Voyez done Monsieur, le
froid commence a passer ! Dieu ! comme il a du
faire froid la bas ! " l ) For, to return to the first
line, I have intended to write to you ever
so long a time past ; but at night I can't do so
easily, and the days are so broken up and be-
bothered : So, as Pistol says u things must be as
they may " I was reading only yesterday of a
dinner at 7 Carlton Gardens 2 : I always fancy Gold-
win Smith must be a very angular cornery man :
but perhaps I am wrong. The Grenfells 3 are by
no means at Nice, but on the contrary here. Mr.
Grenfell's brother is in a hopeless state of illness
so that in one respect their visit is a sad one : and
in others they evidently enjoy it greatly. Mrs.
Henry Grenfell is To KCU IjuH a sort of A No. i woman
multiplied by 10 or 20, by which I mean she seems
to be a woman combining good sense and good
taste with a perfectly feminine nature and manner :
1 " Do you know why there are no letters ? It is because it is
too cold in England to hold a pen in one's hand." " That is
indeed terrible, Sir ! "... " See, Sir, the cold is beginning to go !
Goodness ! how cold it must have been out there ! "
2 Lady Waldegrave's town house, and Goldwin Smith was
probably at this dinner as he was a friend of Fortescue's, a
contemporary of his at Oxford.
3 Henry Riversdale Grenfell, a Governor of the Bank of
England, was one of Fortescue's greatest friends. Mrs. Gren-
fell was a Miss Adeane.
4 In my opinion.
97 G
Later Letters of Edward Lear
one might have added good education and more
goods. She is also though not handsome, quite
nice looking and perfectly ladylike : and by what I
hear from others, has acted as a regular mother to
her younger sisters. Altogether it is plain to me
that Henry G. has secured a prize, and this I am
glad of thoroughly, as I have always liked him so
much. He and I are going somewhere or other
next Sunday, and after that I suppose they will
"draw to the cold and bitter north," which I shall
be sorry for. . . .
To look over your letter ... a more interesting
period for politicians can hardly be than this, and if
Dizzy should become Premier, I fancy that the
Liberal our side will gain in the end : for it is
impossible now that he can ever do any real Tory-
ism : quite the contrary. 1 Grenfell tells me that some
friends of his write that another said : " What !
Disraeli, a Jew Premier ? " and that the respondent
aptly answered : " Well, wasn't St. Paul a Jew
before he was a Xtian?" For my own part if
Judaizing all England would do us any good why
not ? I am glad of what you say of Colenso : I didn't
know his cause was so prospering. You should hear
Lady Duff Gordon (junior) speak of Bishop Gray.
I think I have answered most topicks and tooth-
picks of your letter, and shall now go on in a mean-
dering mashpotato manner, male and female after his
kind, like an obese gander as I am. . . . The con-
ventional swell Sunday here is awful! The last
sermon on " the Lord God made them coats of skins
1 Disraeli was appointed Lord Derby's successor in February,
1868.
98
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
of beasts " anyhow made it necessary to use one's
reason. I wish Lord Lansdowne's speech about " too
much church and too many priests and too little
humanity " was printed widely : here as Hy. G. says
"the hills are covered with parsons," and women
and fine ladies walk miles to morning sacraments and
daily prayers : but their dress and the narrowness of
their mental perceptions is what most strikes thinking
men who see much of them. If a tenth part of what
the Saturday Reviewers write about women is true I
a " national calamity " is on the increase : and the
priesthood as a class are responsible for removing half
of their hearers out of the pale of reason into that of
vanity, bigotry and living death. So, my dear boy,
you see, I go, by way of not being completely uncon-
ventional, to church often, bitter as the hideous talk is :
on the other hand I think is one sex doomed to be
the prey of the priests and to deteriorate accordingly ?
will nobody help these long-trained chignon-befooled
lambs? and q.e.d. therefore I go out for all
the Sunday at times not being able to bear respect-
able foolery and superstitious iniquity more than in a
certain quantity at once.
You ax about my plans : they are still at a scroo-
bious dubious doubtfulness. If the Duchess of
Buccleuch, Lord Dalhousie, or Mr. Jackson the
millionaire come to sweep off ^300 of my drawings,
I should go off to finish my Palestine, because that
kind of life is more difficult as one has to look at
it and undertake it fifty sixcally or fifty sevenically.
1 Three articles on Women in three successive Saturday
Reviews, " Mistress and Maid/' " ^Esthetic Women/' and " The
Theology of the Teapot."
99
Later Letters of Edward Lear
But if they the above-named potentates don't come
and buy, I must sneak back to England in May or
June, perhaps only running over to Corsica for a
Cornhill paper or separately illustrated bit of journal,
which I am much inclined to set my wits to as
Athos or a portion of Nile to Philistine country,
etc., etc. thus gradually oozing out all my intel-
lectual topographic bowels as a silkworm doth its
caterpillary silk. . . .
(Abruptious interpolation). Will you tell me if you
know much or any of M. Prosper Merimee's writings ? I
He lives here in winter and came to my rooms two
weeks ago. He speaks English well, which is a
comfort to me who hate speaking French. The
rooms I have taken (and I am glad you and my
Lady think I have done well in so doing) are on
the third floor of a new house, looking directly to
the harbour and Esterels a line of hills, the termina-
tion of which is absolutely Grecian, as to decision of
form and beauty and this is much for me to say.
1 His more important works embrace novels and short
stories, archseological and historical dissertations, and travels.
"Colomba" (a story of Corsican vendetta) was his best known
work. At the time Lear writes, his life was clouded by ill-
health and melancholy. He died at Cannes in 1870.
100
England, Nice, Malta, Egypt, Cannes
A is the sea. B the beautiful end of the hills. C
the promontory of Teoule. D the pier of Cannes.
E the town. F the arbour.
By all the Devils in or out of Hell ! four hundred
and seventy-three cats at least are all at once making
a ninfernal row in the garden close to my window.
Therefore, being mentally decompoged, I shall write
no more. Adding only a portrait of myself going
on stilts (which mode of progress, as practised here,
I mean to learn) and another drawing illustrative
of what really occurred here some weeks ago. All
these beastly rooms where I am open to
an open court on the street, and my
servant said : " Better you lock the doors,
master, all the people come in." But I
didn't mind what he said. And lo !
when sponging myself in my tub bounce !
the door opened and one of the old
market women with fowls and eggs
rushed in. In dismay at my Garden of
Eden state, she shrieked, let the fowls
and eggs fall and ran off, and I until help
101
Later Letters of Edward Lear
came, was all open to the passing world. Please
give my kindest regards to my lady. I will write
to her in a morning when I can write more tolerably
than, as I do now, at night. Remember me to
Lord and Lady Clermont : I hope he is better.
1 02
CHAPTER II
May, 1868, to January, 1870
CORSICA, ENGLAND, AND CANNES
To Lady Waldegrave.
WlLLER MONTARET.
6. ROO SCENTONNORAY.
Kan. ALPES MARITIMES.
Feby. 28. 1868.
France.
AJACCIO, CORSICA,
May 6. 1868.
I HAVE left the above absurd address on this
paper, to show you that I had an intention, never
carried out, of writing to you before I left Cannes,
which I did at the first week in April. . . .
During the time I have been here I have seen
the south part of the island pretty thoroughly : the
inland mountain scenery is of the most magnificent
character, but the coast or edges are not remarkable.
The great pine forest of Bavella is I think one of
the most wonderfully beautiful sights nature can
produce. The extraordinary covering of verdure on
all but the tops of granite mountains make Corsica
delightful : such Ilex trees and Chestnuts are rarely
103
Later Letters of Edward Lear
seen, and where they are not, a blaze of colour from
wild flowers charms the foolish traveller into fits.
The people are unlike what I expected, having read
of " revenge," etc ; they have the intelligence of
Italians but not their vivacity : shrewd as Scotch,
but slow and lazy and quiet generally. It must be
added that a more thoroughly kindly and obliging
set of people, so far as I have gone, cannot easily
be found. . . .
I should tell you the people nearly all dress in
black, which makes a glumy appierance : the food
is good generally, but partickly trout and lobsters :
and the wine is delightful, and some well known
Landscape Painters drink no end of it. ...
The last day of twenty on my return here, a vile
little disgusting driver of the carriage I had hired,
took a fit of cursing as he was wont to do at times,
and of beating his poor horses on the head. In this
instance as they backed towards the precipice and
the coachman continued to beat, the result was
hideous to see, for carriage and horses and driver
all went over into the ravine a ghastly sight I
can't get rid of. The carriage was broken to bits ;
one horse killed ; the little beast of a driver not so
badly hurt as he ought to have been. It took a
day to fish up the ruins, and this . . . has rather
disgusted me with Corsican carriage drives and drivers.
Lear to Fortes cue.
15, STRATFORD PLACE. OXFORD ST.
22 AugUSt. l868.
Concerning the parchments or papers, you did not
leave anywhere, as far as I can perceive. ... I hope
104
Corsica, England, and Cannes
the papers were not important : perhaps an agreement
signed by you and W.E.G. (compared to whom, a
speaker at the Crystal Palace Protestant meeting
says : Judas Iscariot was a gentleman) to deliver
over Ireland bodily to the Pope of Rome on the
Liberal party coming in. ...
There is a possibility of my having to go into
Devonshire to see a very old companion, who writes
" there seems now little else for me to do but to die."
If I do this i.e. not die, but go to Torquay, I shall
pass Bath and possibly might get a peep at you.
Shall I knot rejoice when this place is off my hands ?
Many of my books I shall send off to Cannes, but
at present, as you may suppose, I am very dimbe-
misted-cloudybesquashed as to plans. Nevertheless,
they go on slowly forming like the walls of Troy or ,
some place as riz to slow music.
Every marriage of people I care about rather seems \<$&
to leave one on the bleak shore alone naturally. You V*
however since you were " made a Bishop," as the
Blueposts waiter said have made no difference, ex-
cepting in so far as the inevitable staccamento *
occasioned by the exigencies of active and private
life compel you.
Lear to Fortescue.
10. DUCHESS STREET. PORTLAND PLACE.
Aug. 1 6. 1869.
I was surprised to find your card, and wonder
how you get time even to think of calling. Never
bother yourself to do so, aimable as is the fact,
1 Severing.
105
Later Letters of Edward Lear
for, happily, I can "put myself in other peoples'
places " very thoroughly, and I know how impossible
it is to do as one did when one's occupations and
thoughts were otherwise than as years go on they
needs must be. My life here is truely odious-
shocking : of my twenty-eight days in England, the
first seven went in bustle, looking for a lodging,
and roughing out a plan for publication. 1 Of the
next twenty-one twelve have gone in neccessary
visits, to you and Lady W., my sister, Poor
W. Nevill, the Hollands, and Mrs. Hunt. The
remaining time has gone utterly in hard writing,
often over one hundred notes in the day, besides
arranging the subscription list at post time, and
also getting to see various old obscure remote
friends in suburbs etc. So that rest is there none.
When shall we fold our wings, and list to what
the inner spirit says there is no joy but calm?
Never in this world I fear for I shall never get
a large northlight studio to paint in. Perhaps in
the next eggzi stens you and I and My lady may
be able to sit for placid hours under a lotus tree a
\ eating of ice creams and pelican pie, with our feet
1 Of his Corsican Journal.
106
Corsica, England, and Cannes
in a hazure coloured stream and with the birds
and beasts of Paradise a sporting around us.
I can't help laughing at my'position'at fifty-seven !
And considering how the Corfu, Florence, Petra,
etc, etc, etc, are seen by thousands, and not one
commission coming from that fact, how plainly
is it visible that the wise public only give commis-
sions for pictures through the Press that tell the
sheep to leap where others leap ! . . .
And are you to be made a pier? as the papers
say you are.
And hoping that such fact may come to pass,
Forgive the maunderings of a d d old Ass.
To Lady Waldegrave.
ASHTEAD PARK. EPSOM.
August 19. 1869.
I have no whole sheet of paper to answer your
note, which came to me yesterday before I left
10 Duchess St, but as there is a peaceful half-hour
just now available I shall not put off writing to
you, but rather use this piece in peacefulness as a
pis-aller. I came here for two nights and return
to misery to-morrow: ever since 1834 I have always
been used to come to Mrs. Greville Howard's, 1 who
all that time has been a very unvarying good friend :
she is now more than eighty-four but is as bright
1 Mrs. Greville Howard was Mary Howard of Castle Rising
in Norfolk and Ashtead in Surrey. She was the great grand-
daughter of the nth Earl of Suffolk. Her mother married
Richard Bagot, who took the name of Howard. She herself
married, in 1807, Col. the Hon. Fulke Greville Upton who
assumed the name of Howard.
107
Later Letters of Edward Lear
and amiable as ever, and surrounded by people of
her own family, Howards, Bagots and Chesters,
Herveys, Lanes and Legges. Far less a Tory
by nature than by education, (just as dear old Mrs.
Ruxton * was a Calvinist by education and not
naturally?) she is one of the finest specimens of the
Grand English Lady of the olden time I have
known. Meanwhile the park is much as it used
to be thirty years ago, so that I shall go and walk
among the deer as I did then ; and so my one
day of idleness will go by without much growling
on my part. Nor does looking at places I knew so
well, and shall shortly cease to see, bring much
regret : as I grow older, I as it were prohibit regrets
of all sorts, for they only do harm to the present and
thereby to the future. By degrees one is coming
to look on the whole of life past as a dream, and
one of no very great importance either if one is
not in a position to affect the lives of others
particularly. After which maundering, I will stop,
or perhaps you may double up this paper and
throw it away to the destructive Billy. 2 Thank
you very much for your invitation, which I should
enjoy accepting, but I do not perceive the smallest
possibility of so doing. This Corsica 3 must be
published, and to do that various tortures must be
endured : . . .
You and CFPQ will be glad to hear that three
hundred and fifty-two copies of my beastly bothering
1 Fortescue's old Aunt who brought him up. See
vol. i. p. 52.
2 Lady Waldegrave's bull-terrier.
3 "Journal in Corsica."
108
Corsica, England, and Cannes
book are subscribed for (though the Goal of a
thousand is as yet a long way off,) and doubtless
when I get back to Duchess St. to-morrow there
will be a good many more. 10 Duchess St. has
the merit of facing the North and of being pretty
light, and also this, that it is very tolerably quiet :
having said which nothing more is to be said. If
I were Dante and writing a new Inferno, I would J
make whole vistas of London lodgings part of my I
series of Hell punishments. The Count de Paris I \
wrote me such a pretty note in subscribing to my
work : that young man must have naturally " good
conditions " as Bunyan says, for whatever he does
is so nicely and gracefully cut out. Various other
people too have written very nicely, which consoles
me for much disgust. My love to the Mimber,
whose likeness I bought yesterday in "Vanity
Fair. "2 . . .
You and CF will, if the papers are well-informed,
go and live in Ireland as Vice Kg and Q. and I
shall probably go to Darjeeling or Para where for
the few remaining years of life I shall silently sub-
sist on Parrot Pudding and Lizard lozenges in
chubby contentment.
1 Grandson of Louis Phillippe. The Orlean's Princes lived
in different mansions at and round Twickenham and Richmond,
and were great friends of Lady Waldegrave and Fortescue.
Lear had met the Comte de Paris at Strawberry Hill.
2 Cartoon by " Ape " (Pelegrini), August 14, 1869.
109
Later Letters of Edward Lear
To Fortescue.
MAISON GUICHARD. CANNES.
Jany. I. 1870.
Jan. 2<d. 8. A.M. Here goes for a scribble which
you or My Lady can divide or put by or extinguish
as the case may be. If ever there was a propitious
day for letterwriting it is this, for it is frightfully
cold and black and rains hard, so, all the more
that my throat is somewhat better for keeping
indoors, I shall not move out all day. Would that
I knew anything about the Book i.e. Corsica. I
can't hear of anyone getting it, and don't know
what Bush l is about. Two copies have reached
me by Book Post, one I got from M. Merime'e,
who seems greatly pleased with it. I am glad to
know you are hopeful about Irish affairs : certainly
they are very sad, but I cannot see why some are
so unjust as to place all the onus of the evil on a
Liberal Government, as if Ireland had always been
cheerful and comfortable cum Toryism. I was sure
My Lady would feel the Duchess D'A[umale]s
death as you say she does 2 : and one is sorry for
the poor Duke. . . .
My health altogether is not very nice just now,
but then I am 58 next May, and never thought
I should live so long. My floor, or flat here is
very unsatisfactory in some points i.e. being in a
house with three other floors full of people, noises
abound : 2nd I have no good painting room : 3rd
1 Lear's publisher. .
2 She was a devoted friend of Lady Waldegrave's, and lived
at Orleans House, Twickenham.
no
Corsica, England, and Cannes
my bedroom is cold : 4th the chimneys smoke. . . .
Could I get any suitable house here for ^3000 it
appears to me that such a step would be a wise
one, for as that sum, all I have, produces only go
a year, I should gain by the move, ... As for
distance from " patronage " that seems a matter
of indifference for only 12 was expended on
this child by strangers last year, and I forsee no
greater luck this year, (The Princess and
came, but of course thought the honour
sufficient, nor indeed did I expect them to give
commissions.) When such wealthy people as Lord
Dalhousie and others set their faces against art, all
the sheep foolies go with them ; and thus I repeat,
it don't seem to matter much whether one is near
or far from visitors. Certainly the non-possession
of taste, or the fashion of taste is very distinctly
shown in such places as Cannes, Brighton, etc.,
versus Rome, where, as it is the fashion to buy
art, everybody buys it. ...
How do you like the last Idylls ? J . . .
I doubt, under any circumstances, my coming to
England next summer : life has been of late simply
disgusting to me there, and I have seen only
glimpses of those I most care for. After all, it is
perhaps the best plan to run about continually like
an Ant, and die simultaneous some day or other.
Meanwhile in some matters I am really perfectly
well off; qud food and service, for instance, Giorgio
Kokali though not getting younger, is as good
and attentive as ever, and like a clock for regularity.
1 The first four Idylls appeared in 1859, the others in 1870-
1872 and 1885.
in
Later Letters of Edward Lear
His three sons, by way of presents, have sent me
three most beautiful sponges, worth 2 apiece in
Piccadilly. I wish I could give you and My Lady
a Pilaf and soup for luncheon, for I can and do ask
ladies sometimes, and we manage things very
neatly. My sister Newsom at Leatherhead is well
for her age going on seventy-one. Sarah, in
Dunedin, at seventy-six, thrives as usual, and rows
her two great-grandchildren about in a boat !
Sometimes I think I will go out there, but on the
whole they are too fussy and noisy and religious in
those colonial places.
I shall leave off now, for which you may be
" truly thankful." And I shall look out and heap
together all the nonsense I can for my new book
which is to be entitled
Learical Lyrics
and Puffles of Prose,
&c., &c.
Pray write to me and say how you and My Lady
like the books : if they are not come write ferociously
to Bush, whose name at present makes me foam.
The beastly aristocratic idiots who come here, and
think they are doing me a service by taking up my
time! one day one of them condescendingly said
"you may sit down we do not wish you to stand."
Shall I build a house or not ? There is a queer
little orange garden for ^1000, if only one could
ensure that no building could be placed opposite.
Why do topographical artists and Chief Secretaries
for Ireland have false teeth? Because they choose.
112
Corsica, England, and Cannes
Give my kindest remembrances to My Lady, and
wish her and yourself many happy new years.
O pumpkins ! O periwinkles !
O pobblesquattles ! how him rain !
Lear to Lady Waldegrave.
MAISON GUICHARD. CANNES.
10 Feby. 1870.
I hope for all you say that you will feel no
less interest than ever in the " Party " or Liberal
side : for if there be not union there is nothing,
and without you there would be a disgusting
vacuum not to be filled up. I can well understand
the disadvantages and disagreeables of the Chief
Secretaryship, but who could take the place as
CF does? For even granted another with exactly
the same capacity, few could have the interior
combination of being an Irishman, and not only
that, but one who has lived among and studied the
people and the circumstances of the country, and
who has a real interest in its welfare.
Bye the bye you will surely see that he will have
much more credit than you forebode at present, 1
and later I trust to see him in Lord Granville's 2
place, Colonies or some other post he would like.
So in spite of certain of Mr. G's qualities I hope
you will go on flourishing and more rejoicefully.
Poor Duke D'Aumale ! Is it better, I wonder,
J In December, 1870, Mr. Fortescue was made President of
the Board of Trade.
3 Lord Granville was at this time Secretary for the Colonies.
113 H
Later Letters of Edward Lear
as ^ says, " to have loved and lost, than never
to have loved at all?" I don't know. I think, as
I can't help being alone it is perhaps best to be
altogether, jelly fish -fashion caring for nobody.
The Baillie Cochranes is come, which I'm pleased
at. Drummond Wolff is a coming. And to-day,
says somebody, Lord Ebury and Co., are coming
to this child's studio.
114
CHAPTER III
July, 1870, to May, 1872
SAN REMO
IT is hardly necessary to point out that Lear
had always an extreme difficulty in making
up his mind about his movements. He was
for ever drawing up elaborate plans for the
future which seldom saw completion. But as
he grew older and less inclined for travel, the
necessity for having some fixed residence began
to press insistently. At last, in the spring of
1870, he decided to build a house, as he found
it impossible to get rooms or rent a villa in
any convenient situation on the Riviera coast
with a suitable studio. For this purpose he
proposed to draw upon part of his small
invested capital of .3,000, and he bought a
piece of land near San Remo, and set the
builders to work. The new house, which was
not finally ready until the March of the follow-
ing year, was christened Villa Emily, after a
Later Letters of Edward Lear
New Zealand grand-niece. 1 It was the painter's
home for many years.
To Lady Waldegrave.
MESSRS. ASQUASCIATI
ITALIA | SAN REMO.
July 6. 1870.
I wish you and C. to know that on June 22 I finally
left Cannes, and the pigeon shooting swell community
thereof for San Remo all my things coming in a
Van Vanity of Vanity I may indeed say a Carry-
van by way of Nice to San Remo where, as above,
is now my future address. My Pantechnicon things,
(C.F's table and all 2 ) are to come out by sea. I have
taken lodgings, see address above, for six months, for
though I hope to paint in my new room in December
I don't get in till March to sleep. The house is
already fast rising, and the roof is to be on by end
of July.
(I am writing this from Certosa del Pesio, a Moun-
tain Pension twenty-four hours above S. Remo, to
which I can run down when wanted a place near
Cuneo, (Turin) to which I have come for a week or
two to be out of the great heat by the sea-shore, to
complete my child's-nonsense-book for Xmas, and to
write letters, and a fair copy of two Egyptian journals,
1854 and 1867, for future publication.)
I now mean, at least from October, to do as I said
to C.F., try all I can for public exhibition and sale
Emily Gillies, granddaughter of Sarah Street.
See p. 135.
116
-
San Remo
thereby. One of two pictures I sent to the R.A. 1
(" And of such is the Kingdom of Heaven ! ") was sold
at once, the other, the ^"150 forest, with three more
will go to Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester,
and if not sold there must be at Christie's bye and
bye. As I wrote to C., private patronage must end
in the natural course of things, but eating and drink-
ing and clothing go on disagreeably continually ; yet
in striking out this new path (the old one was worn
out, for I only got ^30 from the rich Cannes public
this last winter) I may well say that no one ever had
more or better friends than I , you My Lady, and the
steady ^oscue among the first and best.
Poor John Simeon ! 2 I know C. has felt his death.
C. must have had no end of worry and work about
that land bill,3 but I have not seen papers for a fort-
night as I have been a- walking over the Col di Tenda,
which produced so to speak a Tenda-ness in my feet
and it will be Tenda one if I can get a shoe on which
keeps me on Tendahooks.
For all I write cheerfully I am as savage and black
as 90000 bears. There is nobody in this place (an
Ex-Carthusian convent with 200 rooms,) whom I
know : and they feed at the beastliest hours 10
and 5.
If you see Delane, Pigott,4 or the Editor of the
1 See Appendix, " List of Lear's Exhibits at the Royal
Academy," p. 379.
3 Sir John Simeon, 3rd Bart., M.P., a mutual friend and a
patron of Lear's.
3 The Irish Land Bill introduced by Mr. Gladstone in Feb-
ruary, received the Royal Assent in August.
< Delane, Editor of the " Times'' ; Pigott, Editor of the "Daily
News."
117
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Saturday, my compliments and they are brutes and
thieves to take my Corsica and write no notice of it.
Is it yet too late ? On the contrary the Daily Tele-
graph, Athenceum, Pall Mall, Illustrated News, Post,
etc., will doubtless be rewarded in heaven, when the
above three are in torchers.
My love to the Mimber. Please, when that bill
is done, have a tendency to consumption, and come
out to San Remo for the winter 1 My friend Con-
greve, next me, has a charming villa to let.
The following letter is chiefly interesting as
a typical example of the orderly and minute
character of Lear's correspondence :
To Fortescue.
CERTOSA DEL PESIO.
CUNEO.
TURIN. 315*. July. 1870.
1. Time of getting I was delighted to get your
his letter. letter, date i4th, which came to
2. Bfkt at S. Hill, me on Saturday 23rd. Since
3. CF's and J. when I having jotted down scraps
Simeon's paint- of memoranda to aid me in writ-
ings of mine ing to you when I had a Nopper-
also my Lady's, tunity,
4. F. L and the To-day being Sunday, which I
Essex house. show my respect for my wearing
5. Lord Derby and a coat with tails and by writing
request. letters instead of Egyptian jour-
6. War. nal, I can seize the memoranda
7. Ld. Clermont's accordingly. But as I have been
letter. writing all day, I am unequal
118
San Remo
8. George Kokali.
9. Lord Granville.
10. I. Secretary-
ship.
11. Ireland.
12. Valaorites.
13. Egyptian Jour-
nal.
14. Child's Book.
15. Certosa life.
1 6. Scenery.
17. Topographic
life.
1 8. Pictures.
19. Piedmontese.
20. Counts and
Markisses.
21. Visit to Turin.
22. Things sent
for.
23. Flies.
24. Lord Henley.
25. C. Simeon.
26. C. Roundell.
27. Heart disease.
28. Sisters.
29. Congreves.
30. Milady.
to the task of " composition,"
and I shall accordingly put down
all the notes, and comment upon
them just as they come, without
any order at all. Here goes :
(i) Your letter came about
noon, just as (2) you must have
been 'holding ' the breakfast at
Strawberry l : I should like to
have been there.
(3) Poor John Simeon ! All
you say of him is true. I wrote
to Lady S. to-day. He and you
have been two of my friends who
have done me always justice as
to my working conscientiously,
and who have always appreciated
my work. I should like by
degrees to get a set of photo-
graphs of all my pictures. My
Lady is another who has been
just the same to me : I was
reckoning only a few days ago
that she has as many as eight
of my works : you three or four
also.
(4) My friend Lushington 2
has very kindly got me a com-
1 The breakfast club to which Carlingford belonged.
3 Franklin Lushington, at this time magistrate at the Thames
Police Court, was one of the two Justices in Corfu when Lear
first went to live there. He was one of the painter's most
intimate friends, and an executor after his death.
119
Later Letters of Edward Lear
31. Lord Derby, plete certificate of London resi-
marriage and dence countersigned by Italian
letter. Consul, a necessary form for get-
32. Corsica. ting furniture duty free. He,
33. Reviews. F. Lushington, being now P.
34. Lord E. B. Magistrate in the East of London,
35. Holman Hunt, has taken a house in the East
county of Essex.
(5) You will think this next an odd bit, but I had
an uncontrollable desire to paint one more picture for
Knowsley, so I wrote to Lord Derby that I wished
to do so if he would let me knowing how fond of my
works he has always been, and that from a child he
knew me. But directly after I wrote the letter I got
some papers where in the very first I saw his
Marriage ! l and in the next the announcement that it
was to take place. So I set down the letter which
must have arrived on the day after his marriage, as
gone to limbo.
(6) The War is a bore. 2 But if F. wants to devour
others, I can't but recollect that P. did devour some of
Denmark and other places : so I don't see that one
is worse than t'other. (7) I have half written a letter
to Lord Clermont, as I have done to everyone who
has pictures of mine, about some photographs : not
knowing where he may be I addressed the letter to
Carlton Gardens, please let it be forwarded. (8) My
good servant Giorgio who hurt his foot badly on the
Col di Tenda, and had to stay here some time, has
gone back to Corfu. I heard from him yesterday
1 Lord Derby married Mary Catherine, daughter of the 5th
Earl De La Warr, and widow of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury.
2 Franco- Prussian.
120
San Remo
all safe. But I miss him here considerably, having to
do many things for myself I now can't well manage.
He returns to me in October early.
(9, 10, n) I had not known of Lord Cn's l death
when I last wrote, but next day or so I did, and
wondered who would fill Lord G's place, 2 who I
grasped would succeed him. But I cannot wonder at
your not being moved at present from the Irish Secre-
taryship, for who on earth could replace you ? I do
not see how you can be staccato from Irish affairs for
some time, and the next step would naturally I fancy
be Lord Lieutenant, because it would with a Peerage
be the just reward of so much work, and to one who
is so identified with the island. You could have done
the colonies well I believe (G.B. will I think be
radiant at Lord K.3 being there instead of you,) but
the nonpossibility of filling up the Irish office at this
time could not I think be got over. So you see /
don't look on the matter as a slight, but quite the
particular contrairy reverse. Why was old Lord H.4
put in again ? I suppose some one must have been
and there wasn't much choice.
(12) I see Valaorites is Capo in Greece. I do hope
the Greek affair won't be dropped. Valaorites was
always thought a good man by people one thought
good and worthy of credit. (13) My only employ
here is writing : and I have already written out the
1 Lord Clarendon died June 27, 1870.
* Lord Granville succeeded Lord Clarendon as Foreign
Secretary.
3 Lord Kimberley succeeded Lord Granville as Colonial
Secretary.
Lord Halifax.
121
Later Letters of Edward Lear
first part (1854) of my Egyptian journals : I believe
you would like them, as they are photographically
minute and truthful. But it will be long before I
publish them. (14) I have also finished (up here) my
new Xmas book. 1 9 songs no ' 'old persons " and
other rubbish and fun. All have gone to England to
be lithographed.
(15) I live the queerest solitary life here, in com-
pany of seventy people. They are, many of them,
very nice but their hours don't suit me, and I HATE
LIFE unless I WORK ALWAYS. I rise at 5, coffee at 6,
write till 10. Breakfast at Table d'hote. Walk till
11.30, write till 6, walk till 8, dine alone, and bed at
10 or 9.30. (16) The scenery here is of most remark-
ably English character as to greenness, but of course
the Halps is bigger ; I never saw such magnificent
trees, such immense slopes of meadows, and such big
hills combined together ; the Certosa Monastery itself
is a beast to look at. (17) I should certainly like, as
I grow old, (if I do at all) to work out and complete
my topographic life, publish all my journals illustrated,
and illustrations of all my pictures : for after all if a
man does anything all his life and is not a dawdler,
what he does must be worth something, even if only
as a lesson of perseverance. I should also like to see
a little more of other places yet, but that must be as it
may as the little boy said when they told him he
mustn't swallow the mustard pot and sugar tongs. ||
(18) I am going to do a big 2 e , Cataract for next
year's Academy, and a big something else for the
International, if this war don't spoil all.||
1 " More Nonsense, Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc.," Pub-
lished 1872.
122
San Remo
(19, 20) The Piedmontese are really charming
people, so simple and kindly. Only I wish they
weren't all counts. Who ever heard before of an
omnibus stuffed quite full of counts, (8) and 2 Mar-
quises ?|| (21) I went to Turin on the i7th but can't
remember why I put that down, as there was nothing
to say about it.|| (22) All my old Stratford Place
things are now on their way out by sea.|| (23) There
are two sorts here, fireflies which are delightful and
splendid common flies, which are brutal and oath-
producing. || (24) So the agreeable Clara Jekyll has
become Lady Henley. 1 I met him once at Strawberry
Hill. She has written me a very nice letter.
(25) If you see Cornwall Simeon, remember me
to him. (26) Do you know Charles Roundell, 2 Sir
R. Palmer's cousin ? Secretary to Lord Spencer ?
he is a great friend of mine, and has four of my
pictures. (27) I must tell you that I have been at
one time, extremely ill this summer. It is as well
that you should know that I am told that I have the
same complaint of heart as my father died of quite
suddenly. I have had advice about it, and they say
I may live any time if I don't run suddenly, or go
quickly upstairs : but that if I do I am pretty sure
to drop morto. I ran up a little rocky bit near the
Tenda, and thought I shouldn't run any more, and
the palpitations were so bad that I had to tell Giorgio
all about it, as I did not think I should have lived
that day through. ... 28. My Sister Ellen at 71 is
1 Married Lord Henley as his second wife, June 30, 1870,
a daughter of J. H. S. Jekyll, Esq.
2 Charles Roundell, M.A., D.L., M.P. for Grantham and the
Skipton Division of Yorkshire.
123
Later Letters of Edward Lear
vastly well. The New Zealander at 77 quite robust,
and talks of coming over for a trip to see me vi&
Panama! 29. My friend Congreve, 1 formerly a
master at Rugby, and for years past settled at San
Remo, is in great affliction, as Mrs. C. is dying.
His non return to San Remo is a most serious
thing for me but I can't think of my own bother,
as his is so much greater. He takes pupils, and
has four villas there, which I wish to goodness were
let to friends of mine for ^200, ^120, 120 and ^72,
all furnished. 30. Are you and Milady going back to
Ireland and not to Chewton at all after Parliament
ceases to sit? Give my kindest regards to her. I
wish you would both have the rheumatism for a
month, and come to the Corniche. Mind if ever
you do, you go to Bogges Hotel de Londres close to
MY PROPERTY. 31. Behold, to my utter sur-
prise, a letter has come from Lord Derby ! nothing
more friendly and kindly could have been written, and
with a commission for ;ioo to paint a Cornl for
him ! I am extremely pleased for many reasons. So
I begin my San Remo life with the same Knowsley
patronage I began life with at eighteen years of age.
I had some strong and particular reasons for making
the request I did, and to no one else could I have
made it, or would I have made it.|| 32. You will
be glad to hear that Bush's accounts of the Corsica
have come in, and that, though there are still over
300 copies on sale, I have now no more money to
1 Afterwards English Consul at San Remo. Father of the
writer of the Preface to this book, and brother of Richard
Congreve, the comtist, who resigned his fellowship at Wadham
College, Oxford, on account of his opinions.
124
San Remo
pay, but on the contrary ^130 to receive : this is not
however profit, because my payments of the woodcuts
were not made by Bush, but by myself. All truly
religious and right-minded people should buy the
Corsica for 305. for wedding and Christmas gifts. ||
33. I wonder if after the Parliamentary business is
over, and newspapers slack, if the Times and the
Daily News and Saturday Reiew could yet put an
article on my Corsica in their kollems.|] 34. If you
see Lord E B who has never paid his sub-
scription, tell him he is a brute. If I had chosen, I
could have written far otherwise than I did about the
Duffer. 1 1| 35. Holman Hunt writes from Jerusalem :
he is getting more and more religious : you and I
should say superstitious : but don't repeat this.
There, that's enough and more than enough. If
you can't read this, nor Milady either, cut it across
diagonally and read it zigzag by the light of 482
lucifer matches.
Vot a letter !
Fortescue to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
Oct. 19. 1870.
Here goes for a letter too long delayed. The
last time I saw your writing or heard of you was
three weeks ago, when we went to London for a
Cabinet, and H. Grenfell showed me a letter of yours,
inquiring after poor Northbrook. I have not heard
1 " The Duffer " was the nickname by which the 3rd Marquis
of Ailesbury's son was generally known. He died before his
father, and his son succeeded as 4th Marquis.
125
Later Letters of Edward Lear
of him lately, but he wrote me soon after the catas-
trophe I that he was almost heartbroken. What an
awful affair it was, making itself felt by all, even in
the midst of war, at a time when we have supped so
full of horrors.
I can tell you nothing of the prospects of peace.
Public opinion and feeling has turned very much
against the Germans, on account of their demand of
territory. You may see a striking letter on the
subject from Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice in yester-
day's Pall Mall. As far as " tu quoque " and " serve
you right "argument goes, France has nothing to
say for herself, but the transfer of human beings
from one owner to another is not to be settled by such
arguments. The Duke of Cambridge visited the
Empress the other day and found her looking sixty,
very low and subdued. The Republicans seem to
have little hold on France so I suppose the Orleans
family will have a turn. Their position is very
painful and perplexing, eager as they are to take
part in the perils and sufferings of their country, but
restrained by the wishes of the existing Government,
and the fear of causing divisions. 2
An anecdote of Dizzy. H.G. met him at dinner
the other day. He was oracular and sententious
about the war, after the manner of Lothair,3 (who was
there also) he said the war was caused by the
French possessing two new machines the chassepot
1 Lord Northbrook's second son Arthur was in the Navy,
and was lost at sea on board H.M.S. Captain, 1870.
3 The Due de Chatres did fight under an assumed name,
Captain Robert, and was, I believe, decorated.
3 The Marquis of Bute.
126
San Remo
and the mitrailleuse, in which they trusted, but they
couldn't find a man.
The domestic event is the betrothal of the Princess
Louise and Lord Lome popular, I think, with the
country, but not with the Upper Ten Thousand.
As to our history we have been here since the
middle of September, we stay until the ist (we hope)
go then to London for a few Cabinets, and then to
the Phaynix for the winter, not a delightful prospect,
particularly to my Lady.
Things look well in Ireland, so far, and we may
hope for a quiet winter, unlike the last. I am full
of Irish education but am not sure yet whether
room will be found for it next Session. It is a most
difficult subject, beset with theories and follies and
bigotries. . . .
Fortescue to Lear.
C. S. LODGE.
Dec. 30. 1870.
... Be it known to you though not yet known
the world in general that I am almost certain to
bid farewell to this house and this office for ever, as
Mr. Gladstone has offered me the Presidentship of
the Board of Trade, and I have accepted it, if it be
convenient to the Government. I have had great
difficulty in making up my mind about this r and I
leave the Irish Government with very mixed feelings,
one of which is regret. However it is promotion,
though not what I wished for. I have done a great
deal of work here my best advisers advise me to
take it. I leave this place at a time of great success,
127
Later Letters of Edward Lear
and in short, I hope I have done right. But all
changes depress me. My successor here is not yet
settled. These changes will be badly received by
the Press. Stansfeld is their candidate for the
Board of Trade, and expects it himself. The Govern-
ment is decidedly less strong than it was a year ago.
And what darkness and difficulties surround the
future ! This country is wonderfully improved. But
the Priests call upon the Government to restore the
Pope!
Lear to Lady Waldegrave
SAN REMO. ITALIA.
January the twenty tooth.
1871.
Says the imm, " If thou tarry till thou'rt better,
thou wilt never come at all " and if I wait till
I can find a good time for leisure and sperrits and
intellect, I shall never send any letter to you. I
did begin one, before I wrote last to C.S.P.F., but
it was so stupid, and so bewildered by reason of
its being by continued interruptiums up-be-cut, that
I tore it to pieces. And now I commence another
sheet perhaps to be still more objectionable:
but anyhow I'll go at it Slap- Dash and finish it,
as Billy would finish a bone by scrunching it alto-
gether from beginning to end. I wonder if Billy
drags a hearth broom about as he used to do. . . .
The Villa Lord Russell had here last year is let
to some Dutch people. (At once you perceive that
the arrangement of this epistle will be wholly un-
connected and inconsequential) I wish the Earl
and Lady R. had returned here, tho' not to that
128
San Remo
side of San Remo. Lord Russell was right, and
borne out by all facts connected with this place,
in writing as he did to the Times (or some paper)
about the people here. A better disposed and nicer
lot of people than the San Remesi have I not
seen. . . . We have few great folks here this year.
The Archbishop I soon went away worried off by
the ladies of his family. And Ld. Shaftesbury who
came a week ago goes on also to Mentone. So
that there is only one footman to be seen, and he
belongs to " Puxley." Does C. know Puxley, I
wonder? He is man of Cork, and apparently very
rich : but never before I saw him did I know what
a real bitter Orange- Lowchurch- Irish-Tory was. At
first when he outragiously abused those I like, I
got angry, but now I shout with laughter he is
so grisly a fool. One of the nice people here is
Ughtred Shuttleworth, 2 Sir J. Kay's son, and M.P.
for Hastings, on our side. I am sorry he is going :
albeit he takes three drawings from me to England.
One is for F. W. Gibbs3 as a present to H.R.H.
P[rincess] Louise on her marriage, the other two
for A. M. Drummond. These 12 drawings are
helps I am grateful for. So I was for kind Chi-
chester's letter and offer of help : but please tell
him that I am still hoping to skriggle on without
borrowing for the present : for Sir F. Goldsmid 4
1 Archbishop Tail of Canterbury.
2 Ughtred Kay Shuttleworth, M.P. for Hastings 1869-1880 ;
Under Secretary for India 1886 ; Chancellor of Duchy of
Lancaster 1886; ist Baron Shuttleworth, of Gawthorpe (1902).
3 Fredrick W. Gibbs, Q.C., C.B., tutor to H.R.H. the Prince
of Wales 1852-1858.
* Sir Francis Goldsmid, Bart. The first Jew called to the
129 I
Later Letters of Edward Lear
(thanks to H. G. Bruce for that friend) has just
bought one of my Corsican forests for ^100, and
F. Lushington has given me a commission for two
25 pictures. So I may tide over, if all goes
well. . . .
A few days ago a friend here told me that his
mother was obliged by her mother, to destroy a
large box of letters written to her brother or husband,
one ffarington I think, all those letters were from
Horace Walpole. Did you ever hear that? My
friend is one Mr. Clay-Keeton of Rainhill, and his
grandmother was a ffarington. Apropos of letters,
C.F. has, I daresay, heard me tell how I have ever
regretted that in a conscientious fit I destroyed
some eight and ten years of journals, written while
at Knowsley. Virtue is its own reward : for now,
looking over my sisters * letters, I find I copied out
all those journals daily and sent them to her,
which she, dying, left to me ! My descriptions of
persons at Knowsley choke me with laughing. Lord
Wilton 2 for one, and indeed half the great people
of England who in so many years came there.
Apropos of years a lady here tells me that a new
Army chaplain at Bombay, who put Hs wrongly,
began a sermon thus " Here's a go ! " (meaning
to say "Years ago"): whereat the audience burst
into a laugh, and the service was chopped up
instantaneous. . . .
English Bar, and the first Jewish Q.C. and Bencher. President
of the Senate of University College, London.
1 His eldest sister Ann, to whom he wrote constantly till
her death.
2 Lord Wilton, the second Earl, second son of the first
Marquess of Westminster.
130
San Remo
I will describe my house and garden at some
other thyme. At present I am putting up fences
all round planting beans making blinds and cutting
carpets, and now I must buy some cypresses. You
see, all these things come at once, and resemble
the house that Jack built : If I don't make a large
cistern I can't get water: if I get no water I can't
have beans and potatoes : if I don't make a fence
the beans will be trodden down : and all must be
done before the hot weather comes on. . . .
As for C. I should gladly know how he likes
the new Bfpard] of T[rade] place and its labour.
He is so conscientious that he will needs master
his new work, but I, who am ignorant of these
things, do not know if it will be greater or less
labour than the Irish Secretaryship. In some sense,
I am glad both for him and you, that the change
has been made : and I truly hope it will answer
in all ways, to both of you and to the Public. . . .
I vow I have eaten up the whole bone ! and
the letter such as it is is done.
April 24. 1871.
Which shall I write to ? Both at once ? Very well,
.Lady Walde,
then here goes. My dear j grave C. S. I I have
* P. 4oscue. '
just got your letters, left in my new post box in
my new front door, over the old plate that used
to be in 15 Stratford Place. ... I took the letter
out into " my garden" and read it under one of my
own olive trees, (vide illustration No. i). . . . Yes
I did see C. asks that brutal manifesto about the
Later Letters of Edward Lear
D d' A[umale]. r Poor people, they must be suffering
keenly through all these horrors. But, alas, where
are they to end ? And what a state of rottenness
does the past year show to have been the condition
of France ! ! I declare at times, I almost fear it can
never be one nation again, but will go on and dwindle
away as Poland did.
I wonder if you will ever come abroad, and some-
times wish the Government might change, that you
might have a holiday. I am quite unlikely to come
to England: who can tell when I shall do so if ever ?
All January, February, and up to March 25, I passed
in lodgings, going however daily to my villa and
getting it ready by degrees. Three days short of a
year from the time I purchased the ground, (March 28,
1870), I moved in my last bit of furniture, and, thanks
1 Preventing him from serving in the Franco-Prussian War.
He was, however, elected to the Assembly.
132
San Remo
to the excellent arrangement and care of my good old
servant Giorgio, I have since then been living as
comfortably as if I had been here 20 years. Only
I never before had such a painting room 32 feet
by 20 with a light I can work by at all hours, and a
clear view south over the sea. Below it is a room of
the same size, which I now use as a gallery, and am
" at home " in once a week Wednesday : though as
Enoch Arden said in the troppicle Zone " Still no
sail, no sail," and only one 12 drawing has been
bought, (that one bye the bye by a great friend of the
D. Urquharts I Monteith of Carstairs). (He brought
me a letter from E. Lushington.) One picture ^30
has also been bought, but ^42 is my extent of income
for the year. I am now hard at work on Lord
Derby's Corfu. But I have sent five small oil
finished paintings, 30 pounders, to Foord and Dickin-
son 2 for the chance of their being exhibited, of which
as yet I know nothing. To prove to you both that
1 David Urquhart had married Fortescue's sister.
a In Wardour Street.
133
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I am not yet become a vegetable, I may add that I
sent three drawings, (Lord Shaftesbury took them,)
to try to get into the Old Watercolour Society, but
they elected six new members, me not. It was all
but a despair of getting things to England, but a
Mr. Eaton most kindly took my pictures, vide
illustration No. 2.
Add to these undertakings, I am actually going in
for carrying out my twenty years old plan of the
Landscape illustrations of A. Tennyson, in number
1 12 I 1 of course only by degrees. "Moonlight on
still waters between walls " etc, is already far ad-
vanced. Tomohrit, Athos, also begun. (C.S.P.F.
has one of the designs " Morn broadens.") What
delights me here is the utter quiet: twittery birds
alone break the silence, as I now sit, in my library,
writing at C's " Fortescue " 2 or writing-table. . . .
Giorgio goes to town half a mile off, twice or three
times a week, and besides his other work takes to
gardening of his own account. He finds he can
manage all the indoor work, but I have a gardener
as well, for io/- a week for the rougher labour,
drawing water, boot cleaning etc., and digging. I
should have told you I am also preparing a book
on the whole of the Riviera coast, so that you see
I am not idle. My neighbour, below my villa, is
Lady K. Shuttleworth 3 : above, Walter Congreve, of
1 The contemplated list of 200 is reproduced at the end of
the book (p. 368).
3 Original drawing to Fortescue on receiving his gift of a
writing-table when in Stratford Place several years before.
3 Janet, only child and heiress of the late Robert Shuttleworth
of Gawthorpe Hall, by Janet his wife, eldest daughter of Sir
John Marjoribanks, Bart. Died September, 1872.
134
San Remo
135
Later Letters of Edward Lear
whom and of whose two boys I see a great deal.
And yesterday his brother Richard, and a sister
arrived. R. Congreve was, with Arthur Clough,
Arnold's favourite pupil. He is a man of great
ability, but a Comtist and I fancy an out and
out republican, tho' I am not sure of this. Letters
are my principal delight, for tho' I like flowers and
a garden, I don't like working in it.
Lear to Fortescue.
VILLA EMILY. SAN REMO.
13 Sept. 1871.
I'm pretty well again just now but very much
aged of late : internal accident tells as I grow older.
Moreover I got unwell at Botzen Bellzebubbotzen-
136
VILLA EMILY.
THE GARDEN OF VILLA TENNYSON.
San Remo
hofe, as I called it on account of its horrid row of
bells and bustle, and have only been restored to
comparatively decent comfort since I came back here
to my native 'ome and hair. The spring here was
absolutely lovely, and my new house and garden very
nice and amusing. But as my good old man Giorgio
had to go home for August, and as I didn't care to
educate another servant for six weeks ... I set off
to Genoa . . . and thence went straight to the Italian
capital. ... I stayed at Frascati, with Duke and
Duchess Sermoneta, and afterwards with Prince and
Princess Teano (she is Ld. Derby's cousin Ada
Wilbraham, and about the handsomest woman I have
seen for a long time), and saw no end of various
people both in Rome and in a tour I made by
Bologna and Padua all through the Belluno province.
Two things are difficult to realise : the immense
progress Italy has made the Emilian and Naples
provinces are actually metamorphosed and secondly,
the intense and ever increasing hatred of the people
to the priest class. Even I have more than once
tried to moderate the horror expressed by Italians.
"Surely," I said to some parties, "you might make
exceptions ; you should at least allow that numbers
of priests are individually excellent men." " True "
said the most cautious and least violent of the persons
in company " true : but will you point out one of
these men, even the most guiltless and good, who
must not, if his bishop orders him so to do, preach
war and bloodshed and hatred to his flock ? " I could
say nothing knowing,^as well I do, how earnestly
the P[apal] P[arty] hope for F[rance's] intervention.
Anything to save their caste and power. The whole
Later Letters of Edward Lear
people too, barring the women, seem to have become
aware of the absurdity of their priests' pretensions.
Why have any more Papal benedictions? is commonly
said, since everyone of those blessed by the Pope,
Maximilian, Nap. 3, Isabella, Francis, 1 &c. &c. have
come to grief? I could tell you scores of anecdotes
of the gulfs of hatred between the classes a feeling
however that happily is only shown by the less
educated and, to the honour of Italians be it said-
very rarely allowed to take the form of open injury
or even insult. . . .
O you Landscape painter, I hear you say-
swallow your d d inkstand, but don't go on
writing politics. So I go on to say I went all
about for six weeks, and then came back here,
where at this moment I am in a very unsettled
condition, as the oyster said when they poured melted
butter all over his back. For I am expecting F.
Lushington (Thames Police Court) here to make a
little tour : and before that happens, I go over to
Cannes where Bellenden Kerr is dying to see poor
Mrs. K. And Giorgio being away, I am only working
in my wilier, but eating and sleeping in a Notel.
I stayed a few days too at San Romolo above
here where my friend Congreve has built a cottage.
Congreve is a vast blessing to me : he is a pupil of
Arnold's, and brother of the (Orthodox) Vicar of
Tooting, and to the (Unorthodox) Apostle of Posi-
1 Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, the younger brother of
Francis Joseph I. accepted the crown of Mexico in 1863, and
was betrayed and shot there in May, 1867.
Isabella II., ex-Queen of Spain, married her cousin Francisco
de Assisi, and was expelled to France in 1868.
Francis, husband of Isabella.
138
San Remo
tivism, Dr. R. C. 1 He himself was Under Master
of Rugby under Tait, and at one time gazetted as
second master at Marlborough School, but his wife's
health failed, then his own, and then the eldest of
his three sons ; so he had to give up English life,
and, coming here, first the son and then the wife
died leaving him with two little boys. Then he
re-married in two years, and now, only last October,
the second wife has died. . . . With all that memory
of suffering to bear up against, and much ill health
besides he is one of the most hardworking men for
others I have met with, and whenever he dies it will
be a dreary day for San Remo. You may suppose
the comfort it is to me to have my next neighbour
a scholar and such a man to boot as Walter
Congreve. . . .
Meanwhile, if you come here directly, I can give
you 3 figs, and 2 bunches of grapes : but if later,
I can only offer you 4 small potatoes, some olives,
5 tomatoes, and a lot of castor oil berries. These,
if mashed up with some crickets who have sponge-
taneously come to life in my cellar, may make a
novel, if not nice or nutritious Jam or Jelley.
Talking of bosh, I have done another whole book
of it: it is to be called "MORE NONSENSE"
and Bush brings it out at Xmas : it will have a
portrait of me outside. I should have liked to
dedicate it to you, but I thought it was not
dignified enough for a Cabinet M. so shall wait till
my Riviera book comes out for that. Besides all
this, (for that Riviera book also progresses) and
besider and besider still, I go on at intervals with
1 See p. 124.
139
Later Letters of Edward Lear
my Tennyson Illustration Landscapes 112 in
number. (Don't laugh!) not that I'm such a fool
as to suppose that I can ever live to finish them,
(seven more years at farthest I think will conclude
this child), but I believe it wiser to create and go
on with new objects of interest as the course of
nature washes and sweeps the old ones away.
Your Irish island seems in a pleasing state.
Humph. . . . How is Mrs. Hy. Bruce? He don't
seem popular anyhow I tho' I don't say that he
is by that proved to be incapable. I may add,
however, that a man who don't know you, wrote to
me "the only one of all the Ministers who has not
got into some mess or other, and who does what
he has to do quietly and well, is C. Fortescue." I
could wish, however, that what you have to do
were more to your taste ; perhaps its not being so
may do you good, my dear, as was said to the
little boy who would'nt take physic quietly. . . .
Give my kind remembrances to My Lady. Mind,
if ever you, either or both, come by here, (whenever
this Ministry tumbles) and don't let me know, I
will never speak to you again as sure as beetles is
beetles.
P.S. I've a N offer to go with a N eldest son to
the East for six months tin cart blanche. Offer
declined.
P. P.S. I've made a lot of new riddles of late and
am very proud of them.
When may the Lanes and Roads have shed tears
of sympathy? When the Street 'swept.
1 Henry Bruce was at this time Home Secretary, he was
created Lord Aberdare in 1873.
140
San Remo
What letter confounds Comets and Cookery ?
G for it turns Astronomy into Gastronomy.
Why are beginners on a Pianoforte like parasites
on the backs of deceased fishes?
Because they are always running up and down
their d d miserable scales.
XMAS DAY. 1871.
As your last letter to
me was a joint com-
position, I shall write a
few lines to both of you
at once, just to wish you
both a happy Xmas
and New Year and
many such. . . .
I'm sorry to hear Lady Strachey is so unwell :
I often think how nicely her little boy I would
repeat a poem I have lately made on the Yonghy
Bonghy Bo. . . .
I wonder if you have both been edified by my
" More Nonsense," which I find is enthusiastically
received by the world in general. I was only away
from San Remo a little while in October, going
as far as Genoa with Frankling Lushington of
Thames P[olice] Court, who came to stay with me
a bit. . . .
My garden is a great delight, and looking beautiful.
Mice are plentiful and so are green caterpillars ;
I think of experimenting on both these as objects
of culinary attraction.
1 Henry Strachey the youngest son, an artist and the writer of
the "Appreciation " of Mr. Lear in the first volume.
141
i
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Whether I shall come to England next year or
knot is as yet idden in the mists of the fewcher.
My elth is tolerable, but I am 60 next May, and
feel growing old. Going up and downstairs worries
me, and I think of marrying some domestic henbird
and then of building a nest in one of my own
olive trees, where I should only descend at remote
intervals during the rest of my life. This is an
orfle letter for stupidity, but there is no help for it.
To Fortescue.
Dec. 3is/. 1871. 8. p.m.
I have a long and very nice letter from you today
dated Xmas Day, on which day you will, I hope,
before now have discovered that I was also writing
to you a simultaneous sympathetic coincidence
highly respectable. . . . The party I you give me
1 The usual Christmas family party.
142
San Remo
a list of is altogether hearty and Christmaslike,
and that is better than if it were brilliant and less
the genial qualities. I suppose there is not one
woman in many thousand who amid all the fuss and
bustle of rank and the world's going on, keeps so
exactly the same as to kindheartedness as does
Lady Waldegrave. Numbers who have grown into
richer and higher positions than fall to the lot of
their early belongings would gladly have them in
the house or to do homage in public : but that tinsel
is seen through very quickly : whereas it is as quickly
discovered that My Lady hasn't any tinsel at
all. . . .
As for your Ireland, I don't know what to say :
you airit a comfortable people, no, you ain't. . . .
I am very glad you all like the " More Nonsense."
I have written a ballad lately on the "Yonghy
Bonghy Bo " which (and its music) make a furore
here. 1 I shall ask Bush if single ballads can be
1 Regarding this accomplishment of Lear's of singing, two
little anecdotes from other letters may not be inappropriate
here
" Miladi . . . once rose suddenly as I had been singing
Tears etc' : and said as she left the room 'You are the
only person whose singing could make me cry whether I would
or not.'"
u Poking up old memories, I come across one very charac-
teristic of Milady's clever kindness : when I gave up singing,
on account of my throat etc : she came once into the drawing-
room at Strawberry Hill just as a lot of people were bothering
and bullying me to sing, and I wouldn't, and was losing my
temper. When Lady W. heard what was the matter, she
said in her decided way : ' It is a public calamity ; but for
all that you shall never be asked to sing again in my house,
for I know you would if you could.' ' ;
143
Later Letters of Edward Lear
brought out, or two or three at a time. ... It is
queer (and you would say so if you saw me) that
I arn the man as is making some three or four
thousand people laugh in England all at one time,
to say the least, for I hear 2,000 of the new
Nonsense are sold.
To Fortescue.
28. Feby. 1872.
Yes you have had, have, and are having, and are
still to have a beeeeeeeestly winter, and are much to be
pitted. We aint ad none at all : and I've never had a
fire till the evening in my sitting-room no, not once.
Can't you rush out at Easter, and stay' for three or
four days ? You could come in three and go back in
three. I could put you up beautifully and feed you
decently, but I couldn't the Lady, having but one spair
bedroom, and no feemel servants. I have got several
large drawing boards, which you could use as Boards
of Trade, and if you are making Bills, you might put
a lot in your trunk and finish them here quite quietly.
There ain't a creature here you would know I think
Lord and Lady Derby are at Nice, and may come here
bye and bye, unless colonially you know Lady Grey
who is Sir G. N[ew] Zealand Grey's x wife or widow.
Didn't she marry someone else and keep her own
name ? I can't help fancying I have heard of her,
tho' like Belshazzar's dream, don't know what about.
A sister of Mrs. Henry Grenfell is here 2 and one
1 Sir George Grey, K.C.B., Governor of New Zealand for the
second time in 1861-1867, was Premier of ;New Zealand from
1867 to 1874. He had unbounded influence with the Maoris.
8 See p. 97.
144
San Remo
or two nice people besides, but we are all humdrum
middle class coves and covesses, and no swells.
I have very kind letters from Northbrook, who is
glad to have his children there : I am doing two
pictures of the Pirrybids for him. Patronage ain't
abundiant at San Remo, but I have a maggrifficent
gallery, with ninety-nine water color drawings, not to
speak of five larger oils, of the series illustrative of
A. Tennyson's pomes :
1. The crag that fronts the evening, all along the
shadowed shore.
2. Moonlight on still waters, between walls etc.
3. Tomohrit.
4. The vast Acroceraunian walls.
5. Creamy lines of curvy spray,
none of these however are finished, though visible to
the naked eye : nor do I intend to part with any of
them.
(In one is a big beech tree, at which all intelligent
huming beans say " Beech ! " when they see it. For
all that one forlorn ijiot said " Is that a Patm-tree
Sir?" "No," replied I quietly, " it is a Peruvian
Brocoli,")
I live very quietly, and fancy my eye getting better
now and then, but ain't sure. Sometimes I go to
Church and sit under Mr. Fenton and hear all about
the big fish as swallowed Jonah. A small walk daily
but this ain't a place for walks. If you come I'll
show you the Infant school, and the Municipality, and
a Lemon valley, and an oil press, and a Railway
station, and a Sanctuary and several poodles not to
speak of my cat who has no end of a tail, because it
has been cut off.
145 K
Later Letters of Edward Lear
My old servant Giorgio is much the regular old
clock he has been for seventeen years : and is pleased
by letters from two of his sons once a fortnight. My
other domestics are a bandylegged gardener and Foss
the Cat. l Ask my lady to lock up the Board of
Trade for ten days and run hither. Only let me
know if you are coming and the day.
My dear old kind Dr. Lushington is gone, and half
one's old friends. I must say that life becomes werry
werry pongdomphious.
Goodbye O my board of trade ! !
Samuel ! ! ! O Parkinson ! ! ! !
Goodbye.
Fortescue to Lear.
DUDBROOK,
May 17. 1872.
1 have been a brute in not writing to you before ;
indeed I believe Official and Parliamentary life is a
brutalizing process, all the more so because your
last letter (I am afraid to search my boxes to see its
date) gave a poor account of your health. My lady
* The celebrated Foss who came into Lear's life about this
time. His name was the middle syllable of a Greek word, and
each kitten of this family represented the remaining ones, the
combined family fulfilling the entire word.
146
San Remo
and I have talked about you many a time, and
wondered whether we should see you appear above
our horizon this summer. . . .
The most interesting event that has happened of
late among our common friends was the departure of
Northbrook for India. 1 The dinner given to him was
a very brilliant one. On the day he started I break-
fasted with him at 45, St. James' Place with H.
Grenfell and two other old Christ Church friends. 2
There is a deep melancholy in him but a strong
sense of duty and a sincere feeling for his friends. . . .
We have been entertaining the King of the Belgians
in London.
Lear to Fortescue.
26 May. 1872.
Your letter was very welcome : I wonder how you
ever find time for writing. I agree with you that
Parliamentary and official life is more or less hardening,
but you will bear a good lot of brutalizing before you
become wholly unbearable.
Now, concerning my coming to England : at present
I am on the point of believing that I shall leave here
about the i5th or 2Oth of June, and arrive in London
before the end of it. ...
But in coming to England, I quite renounce all
going into the country. I will never again commence
the ineffable worry of distant hurried journeys to
country houses, at a serious expense, and to almost no
purpose as to seeing the friends whom nominally I go
to see. The conditions and positions of life of most
1 As Viceroy. a Robert Drummond one of them.
Later Letters of Edward Lear
of those I knew in earlier years are so altered, that
although they, (happily,) the friends themselves, are
quite unaltered no personal communication can now
be had with them worth such sacrifices as must be
made to obtain it. Nor must I overlook the fact that
my invitations are all but innumerable, and although
A. B. and C. may say justly, we are surely more
entitled to your time than D. E. and F. yet D. E.
and F. are just as desirous of visits, and so are all the
alphabet.
I have determined therefore that what I see of
friends in this (most probably my last visit to England,)
must be in London. How long I shall remain there I can-
not as yet conjecture : all will depend on my decision
as to India, for, as you do not mention it you perhaps
have not heard that Northbrook with the utmost kind-
ness wrote to me, offering to take me out with him,
give me a year's sightseeing, and send me back free
of expense.
This offer has greatly unsettled me, (combined with
another cause which occurred simultaneously,) and
although I was obliged at once to decline moving so
suddenly, yet I have by no means decided on giving
up the plan, all the more that N. renewed his offer and
gives me an indefinite time for it to be accepted in.
He came as you know, to Cannes, to see Mr. T.
Baring, 1 and thither I went to meet him. We came
over on the last day of his stay, to Nice and thence
walked to Mentone where, poor dear fellow, he looked
at every spot he had lived in with Lady N., and with
1 His uncle, who later left him half a million of money, 4,
Hamilton Place, and its splendid treasures of pictures, furniture,
and china.
148
San Remo
his boy Arthur. Next day he embarked. The
qualities with which you credit him are assuredly his
characteristics : I have known no kinder or better
man. Meanwhile Frank and Miss Baring, 1 his two
children, go out to him in November, and both write,
hoping that I shall go too. But with all my attachment
to the whole lot, there is something antagonistic to my
nature to travelling as part of a suite ; and indeed,
though I am not in the strongest sense of the word
Bohemian, I have just so much of that nature as it is
perhaps impossible the artistic and poetic beast can be
born without. Always accustomed from a boy to go
my own ways uncontrolled, I cannot help fearing that
I should run rusty and sulky by reason of retinues and
routines. This impression it is which keeps me turn-
ing over and over in what I please to call my mind
what I had best do. Sometimes I think I will cut
away to Bombay, with my old servant, and writing
thence to Northbrook, do parts of India as I can, and
ask him to let me take out some money in drawings.
On the other hand, I hate the thought of being un-
gracious or wanting in friendliness. The Himalayas,
Darjeeling, Delhi, Ceylon, etc, etc, are what I have
always wished to see : but, all' opposto, here I have a
new house, and to flee away from it as soon as it is
well finished seems a kind of giddiness which it rather
humiliates me to think of practising.
As for my health, though I was sixty on the I2th.
inst, I am considerably better than I was a year back:
and by carefully avoiding lifting weights or running
uphill, I may possibly bungle through eight or ten
more years yet, though I doubt. . . .
1 The present Earl of Northbrook and Lady Emma Crichton.
149
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Anyhow it is clear to me, and I daresay to you also,
that totally unbroken application to poetical-topo-
graphical painting and drawing is my universal panacea
for the ills of life. You can however imagine that I
live very comfortably in my villa, when I tell you that
Lady Charles and Miss Percy Mr. Baring and Count
Streletsky, 1 among others have lunched and dined
with me : yet perhaps you are saying this proves
nothing as they might have had a beastly lot of food
and have been sick directly afterwards. . . .
I wish you could have come out, though I couldn't
have put up Milady too. Might you not work in the
sale of olives as a matter fitting to the Board of Trade,
and insist on a personal inspection of the trees of San
Remo ? But in truth I do not much suppose that we
shall ever talk as of old, until we come to sit as cherubs
on rails if any rails there be, in Paradise.
1 He was a well-known Pole in English Society in Lear's time
he had travelled much, and the joke was to mention any out-
of-the-way place, and to hear him say " I was there."
150
CHAPTER IV
November, 1872, to September, 1873.
SAN REMO (continued)
AT the end of October Lear set out on the
journey to India, but abandoned it half-
way and returned to San Remo, writing on
the 24th November:
I got as far as Suez, but the landscape painter does
not pur Suez eastern journey farther. . . . Neither
you nor Lady Waldegrave will have any Indy-Ink
or Indy-rubber brought by me from Indy as I pro-
mised, and a fit of Indy-gestion is all that remains to
me of that Oriental bubble at present ; even that too
I believe is less caused by my Indy-proclivities than
by my having foolishly eaten a piece of apple pudding
yesterday evening.
I found much greater difficulty in getting on than
I had expected ; at that season, every hole and corner
of the outward steamers is crammed, and although
they frequently have a few berths as far as Malta
or even Brindisi, yet late comers to these places have
Later Letters of Edward Lear
prior rights, so that after waiting a week you find
that at Suez the list is filled up.
I could not stand waiting longer, so I took my
place in a French boat, but that at the last moment
I missed by a singular chance of ill-luck, whereon I
allowed all this (together with a small reminder that
I had suffered by the blow on my head in the autumn
and which pained me whenever I went into the
sunshine, my right eye too is slightly injured), to
act as the last feather in a scale already pretty equally
balanced, and sacrificing the ticket to Ceylon, I
returned to Alexandria and Brindisi and San Remo
leaving the long Indian voyage unattempted after
all, and probably now never to be made.
Of course it is a bore to have given so much
trouble to friends in writing letters, and to have lost
so much time and money, not to speak of nearly
;iooo of commissions, but as Lady Young used to
observe, "crying over spilt milk is nonsense," and
with the few years of life now before me, I avoid
lamenting as far as I can do so.
To Lady Waldegrave.
July 6. 1873.
Horace Walpole is dead. He died at the end of
April. By which I mean, that after reading his nine
volumes of letter journals all the winter, I came to an
end at last, and very sorry I was. There is nothing like
a Diary of letters for showing the real nature of the
writer, and assuredly I had a very erroneous idea
of H. W's before I read those books. I am now
reading T. Moore's diaries, with the utmost amuse-
152
San Remo
ment, and am thanking Lord Russell l every day as
is. T. Moore was a more loveable character than
H. W.: but he wor not so wise, he worn't. Lord
Lansdowne 2 must have been an A No. i man : I
cannot but wonder when I think of the only two
hours I ever saw much of him when Lady Davy 3
brought him up three pair of stairs to 27 Duke
Street, Piccadilly, (over Fortnum and Mason's,) to
look over my Calabrian drawings ! ! ! Lady D. was
about the queerest person I have known altogether,
I think.
I should tell you that after I read Horace W's
letters, I had intended to write to you, but could not,
for I fell ill, and was very ill indeed all the end of
April. Eight or nine days in bed, and with a long
and slow recovery. (This happened just after I wrote
last to C.S.P.F. whizz on April 23rd.) I did not
expect for two or three days that ever I should have
got about again nor, as I have always hated con-
dolences, have I told much about the cause of my
illness sufficient as it is that I have, I am thankful
to say, become far better in health than I have been
for a year past. One thing however is certain : a
sedentary life, after moving about as I have done
since I was twenty-four years old, will infallibly finish
me off suddingly. And although I may be finished
1 Moore's " Memoirs," edited by Lord John Russell (8 vols.
1852-1856).
2 Lord Lansdowne, the 3rd Marquis, succeeded Pitt as Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer in the Grenville administration, and
twice declined the Premiership. He formed a great library, and
a valuable collection of pictures and statuary, and died 1863.
3 Lady Davy, nee Jane Kerr, died 1855, wife of Sir Humphry
Davy.
153
Later Letters of Edward Lear
off equally suddingly if I move about, yet I incline to
think a thorough change will affect me for better
rather than for wusse. Whereby I shall go either to
Sardinia, or India, or Jumsibojigglequack this next
winter as ever is.
Dear me ! How I pity you all when I read of your
beastly climate month after month ! If you could only
see the glorious blue and gold days one has here-
day after day ! also the phiggs as is ripe ! also the
perpetual quiet (though that you would not like) and
alas ! that is going to cease too here for Willers and
all kinds of horrors are growing fast. If I can't get
an unspoilable bit of land, I must add to this, and
make some alterations, to prevent total destruction.
I remain here till the end of Orgst at least. What's
the odds so long as one's happy ?
My love to the Board of Trade.
Fortescue to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH. Sept. 3. 1873.
. . . Lady Waldegrave is not sure whether she
regrets that " Horace Walpole is dead," as other-
wise she would not be the possessor of Strawberry
Hill. . . .
No doubt you have followed our political and
official changes. 1 They have left me untouched.
1 Disagreements between the ministers were rife when the
House was prorogued ; and several changes were made. Mr.
Lowe was transferred from the Treasury to the Home Office.
Mr. Gladstone thus becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer and
Premier. Mr. Bright re-entered the Cabinet as Chancellor of
154
San Remo
Gladstone offered me the Ld. Lieutenancy of Essex,
but that is a different matter. Bruce's career is
curious. After being nearly five years Home Secre-
tary, and violently (sometimes cruelly) abused, he
now finds himself in one of the most dignified posi-
tions a subject can fill. He writes to me thus :
"After duly weighing the pros and cons, I must
admit that the changes in my fortunes are wel-
come."
How worthily Northbrook is filling his great place. 1
I hear the best accounts of him.
Lear to Fortescue.
VILLA EMILY. SANREMO.
12 Septbr. 1873.
On returning home last night from a vexatious
journey to Genoa and back, I found your nice letter
of the 3d ; a letter of yours, (though as I have often
said I never expect you to write,) is always a Nepok
in my life : albeit I have of late seen loads of your
handwriting, having had to overhaul and mostly
destroy three large chestfuls or chestsfull of Letters.
A dreary task, yet one that has its good as well as
its gloomy side. At the end of my task, I came to
two positive conclusions : ist. Owing to the number
and variety of my correspondents, that every created
human being capable of writing ever since the inven-
the Duchy of Lancaster, and Mr. Bruce received a Peerage and
as Lord Aberdare became President of the Council.
1 Lord Northbrook, Governor-General of India 1872-1876,
through his indefatigable industry and prudence, commanded
general confidence at this critical time, when India was
threatened by famine.
155
Later Letters of Edward Lear
tion of letters must have written to me, with a few
exceptions perhaps, such as the prophet Ezekiel,
Mary Queen of Scots, and the Venerable Bede.
2ndly. That either all my friends must be fools or
mad ; or, on the contrary, if they are not so, there
must be more good qualities about this child than he
ever gives or has given himself credit for possessing
else so vast and long continued a mass of kindness in
all sorts of shapes could never have happened to him.
Seriously it is one of the greatest puzzles to me, who
am sure I am one of the most selfish and cantanker-
ous brutes ever born, that heaps and heaps of letters
and these letters only the visible signs of endless
acts of kindness, from such varieties of persons could
have ever been written to
Baring
Beadon
Bell
Bethell
Bruce
Church
Clive
Coombe
Clowes
Cross
Derby
Drummond
Edwards
Empson
Evans
Fortescue
Fowler
Farquhar
Howard
Hunt, Hy.
Hunt, W. H,
James
Knight
Lushington
Morier
Nevill
Penrhyn
Percy
Reid
Robinson
Scrivens
Simeon
Stanley
Tennyson
Waldegrave
Wentworth
me! Out of all I kept
some specimens of each
writer more or less in-
teresting four hundred
and forty-four individuals
in all, and out of these I
name forty at a venture,
as those who have done
me most good. But such
are the queer conditions
of life, that I hardly ever
see, or expect to see,
most of all these, if any :
whereon I pass to an-
other Toppick.
I cannot help thinking
that my life, letters and
diaries would be as in-
156
San Remo
Francillon Widdrington teresting ... as many
Goldsmid Williams that are now published :
Hankey Wyatt and I half think I will
Hornby leave all those papers to
you, with a short record
of the principal data of my ridiculous life, which how-
ever has been a hardworking one, and also one that
has given much of various sorts of stuff to others,
though the liver has often had a sad time of it. ...
About your political changes. I own to being
disappointed in a sense that you are still where you
are but, per contra, that proves that you do what
you do thoroughly well which nobody seems to allow
that most others of the ministry do. I had settled
that K.[imberley] I was to go as L[or]d L[ieutenan]t
of Ireland, and you to the Colonies. As for the
L[or]d L[ieutenanc]y of Essex, I don't greatly care
for it, and it seems to me only a compliment from
Gladstone]. You ain't by nature connected with
Essex, as most Lds. Lt are with their counties ; so
it seems to me boshy, but perhaps I am mistaken. 2
H[enr]y Bruce's career is as you say, very singular :
I am glad of his new position,3 liking him as I do ;
and also from feeling that he has often been brutally
censured and attacked when doing his best for I
have always thought the Home Sec[retar]y by far
the most worrying and difficult place to fill. . . .
1 Earl of Kimberley, Irish Viceroy 1864-1866, Lord Privy Seal
1868-1870, Colonial Secretary 1870-1874 and 1880-1882, Lord
President of the Council 1892-1894, and then Foreign Secretary.
2 Lady Waldegrave owned the Navestock Estate in Essex,
consequently Fortescue was made Lord Lieutenant by the
Liberal Leader.
3 See p. 155.
157
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I had made a will, leaving this villa and land to my
grandniece Emily Gillies l : but I am going to make a
new will, though keeping in substance to what I had
before arranged. And this for two reasons ; ist. the
New Zealand lot are becoming or rather have
become wealthy and full of fat like Jeshurun : and
would never come to this part of Europe. 2ndly. I
have worked so hard of late and have such a mass
of finished work that after my death it would cer-
tainly fetch above ^1500 i.e. the value of the
house and land when I came here. I had previously
arranged for the house and all my sketches too to be
sold, but now I hope to keep all my sketches to divide
amongst old friends (you one,) 2ndly, to raise tin
enough for my grandniece (as above stated,) and
other legacies ; and 3rdly to be able to leave the
house to one of my godchildren. . . .
Of the Tennyson illustrations, there are five, all so
nearly finished as to want little in addition.
1. The crag that fronts the evening, all along the
shadowed shore.
2. To watch the crisping ripples on the beach, with
tender curving lines of creamy spray.
3. Mount Tomohr. (See to E. L. on his travels in
Greece). 2 This is a large picture and would
fetch ^500 at least I think.
4. The vast Acroceraunian walls same poem.
5. Moonlight on still waters between walls of
gleaming granite in a shadowy pass.
And then there are also a large "Athos" and "my
'tall dark pines " begun. . . .
1 Grand-daughter of Sarah, and married to Mr. Gillies.
a Tennyson's Sonnet to Lear (see vol. i.).
158
San Remo
This place has changed wonderfully since I came :
the two properties next me more particularly. The
Shuttleworths below me is all let to Germans for six
years, a Hotel and Pension : and the ground is all
bescattered with horrid Germen, Gerwomen, and
Gerchildren. Then, above me, the poor Congreve
villa is still more changed, and I seldom now see him
whom I had found so delightful a companion. Nor
do I see much more of his two nice boys, as they are
brought up to manage all the country life affairs of
the property looking after the wine horses etc.
etc. . . .
As for the Sanremesi, they are laudable and admir-
able in this respect only that they let you alone,
unless they can make anything out of you : and as they
can't of me, they accordingly do leave me alone, and
I therefore admire them. The place is divided into
two parties stationary and progressive : the last lay
themselves out to sell land, houses, milk, wood che so
io everything to the "Forestieri" and all are courteous
and civil, but there is not the faintest sign or shadow
of anybody's caring one farthing for us in reality. Nor
am I speaking as an Englishman : for I have heard
Italian officers, who had been quartered in all parts of
Italy, and who themselves were from all parts, agreeing
perfectly as to the character of the whole of the Riviera
Genoese. " They open their hands to get money,
but never to spend it." " Two words are not in their
Dictionary Generosita, and Ospitalita." Any of these
officers speak with completely different tone of all
other parts of Italy (as provinces etc) and this differ-
ence is also proved by my own writings of Calabria
and the Abruzzi ; and it is notorious here, that though
159
Later Letters of Edward Lear
there are very many rich persons all live in the
strictest and niggardliest way, and regard what we all
(and what most Italians do also,) consider as common
courtesies refreshments dinners or what not with
contempt and disgust. " Nella Riviera, Economia
vuol dire Avarizia." * I have often heard it said. You
may thus judge that I get very little out of San Remo
by way of society. . . .
Do you believe in the Claimant ? 2 I do. And the
indecent bullying of the lawyers makes one loathe the
race. Why am I to believe that A. B. and C. swear
truth, and that D. E. and F. are perjured? If you ask
me what year I was in Ireland with you 1857 or 1858
I cannot tell : nor whether I went to Inverary in
1841 or 1846 : nor to Sicily the first time in 1840
or 1841. And how are old people to be expected to
recollect infinite dates? The remarks of the Bench
are to me a positive disgrace, all showing a foregone
conclusion. (Bye the bye, I can't remember if it were
you, or Northbrook who wrote to me, "there is
certainly a great likeness to A. Seymour about the
Claimant.") I fear a great many not only believe, but
know that he is the real Sir R[oger] who swear the
contrary : and one of the points to be remarked is that
if he only is judged to be a perjurer such a mauvais
sujet, albeit a R[oman] C[atholic] would reflect little
discredit on Holy R[oman] Church. But if the con-
1 On the Riviera Economy means Avarice.
2 The Tichborne trial, Thomas Castro, alias Arthur Orton of
Wapping, claiming to be an elder brother of Sir Alfred Joseph
Tichborne (d. 1866). His case having collapsed in 1872, he was
committed for perjury and sentenced to fourteen years' hard
labour, 1874. ^ e confessed the imposture in 1895.
160
San Remo
trary, some of the first R. C. families lose caste, and
the wound to the Holy Mother would be orrid, and
worth swearing black is white to avoid ; since
absolutions are attainable if you sin for the sake of
" religion." . . .
Now do you call this a long letter ? or don't you ?
I shall stick double postage on it, and fill up the rest
with some parodies I have been obliged to make,
whereby to recall the Tennyson lines of my illustra-
tions : beginning with these mysterious and beautiful
verses,
1. Like the Wag who jumps at evening
All along the sanded floor.
2. To watch the tipsy cripples on the beach,
With topsy turvy signs of screamy play.
3. Tom-Moot y Pathos ; all things bare,
With such a turkey ! such a hen I
And scrambling forms of distant men,
O ! ain't you glad you were not there !
4. Delirious Bulldogs ; echoing, calls
My daughter, green as summer grass :
The long supine Plebeian ass,
The nasty crockery boring falls ;
5. Spoonmeat at Bill Porter's in the Hall,
With green pomegranates, and no end of Bass.
I hear you say " you dreadful old ass ! " but then
my dear child, if your friend is the Author of the
book of Nonsense, what can you expect? On the
other side I send a ridiculous effusion, which in some
quarters delighteth on the Ahkond of Swat ; of
whom one has read in the papers, and some one wrote
161 L
Later Letters of Edward Lear
to me to ask, " who or what is he " to which I sent
this reply. . . .
THE AHKOND OF SWAT
i. Why, or when, or which, or what
Or who, or where, is the Ahkond of Swat, 6h WHAT
Is the Ahkond of Swat ?
2. Is he tall or short, or dark or fair ?
Does he sit on a throne, or a sofa, or chair, or SQUAT f
The Ahkond of Swat !
3. Is he wise or foolish, young or old ?
Does he drink his soup or his coffee cold or HOT?
The Ahkond of Swat !
4. Does he sing or whistle, jabber or talk,
And when riding abroad does he gallop or walk, or TROT ?
The Ahkond of Swat !
5. Does he wear a Turban, a Fez, or a Hat,
Does he sleep on a Mattrass, a bed, or a mat, or a COT ?
The Ahkond of Swat !
6. When he writes a copy in roundhand size
Does he cross his T's and finish his Ps with a DOT?
The Ahkond of Swat !
7. Can he write a letter concisely clear,
Without splutter or speck or smudge or spear, or BLOT ?
The Ahkond of Swat !
8. Do his people like him extremely well,
Or do they whenever they can, rebel, or PLOT ?
At the Ahkond of Swat !
162
San Remo
9. If he catches them then, both old and young,
Does he have them chopped in bits, or hung, or SHOT ?
The Ahkond of Swat !
10. Do his people prig in the lanes and park,
Or even at times when days are dark GAROTTE ?
O Ahkond of Swat !
ii. Does he study the wants of his own dominion
Or doesn't he care for public opinion a JOT1
The Ahkond of Swat !
12. At night, if he suddenly screams and wakes,
Do they bring him only a few small cakes, or a LOT?
For the Ahkond of Swat!
13. Does he live upon Turnips, tea, or tripe ? [a SPOT ?
Does he like his shawls to be marked with a stripe, or
The Ahkond of Swat !
14. To amuse his mind, do his people shew him
Jugglers, or anyone's last new poem or WHAT?
The Ahkond of Swat !
15. Does he like to lie on his back in a boat,
Like the Lady who lived in that Isle remote, SHALOTT ?
The Ahkond of Swat !
1 6. Is he quiet, or always making a fuss ?
Is his steward a Swiss, or French, or a Russ, or a SCO T 1
The Ahkond of Swat !
17. Does he like to sit by the calm blue wave ?
Or sleep and snore in a dark green cave, or a GROT?
The Ahkond of Swat !
18. Does he drink small beer from a silver jug ?
Or a bowl or a glass or a cup or a mug, or a POT?
The Ahkond of Swat !
163
Later Letters of Edward Lear
19. Does he beat his wife with a gold-topped pipe,
When she lets the gooseberries grow too ripe, or ROT ?
The Ahkond of Swat !
20. Does he wear a white tie when he dines with friends
And tie it neat in a bow with ends, or a KNOT?
The Ahkond of Swat !
21. Does he like new cream ? Does he hate veal pies ?
When he looks at the sun does he wink his eyes ? or NOT ?
The Ahkond of Swat !
22. Does he teach his subjects to toast and bake ?
Does he sail about in an Inland Lake, in a YACHT?
The Ahkond of Swat!
23. Does nobody know, or will no one declare
Who or which or why or where, or WHAT
Is the Ahkond of Swat?
The effective way to read the Ahkond of Swat is to
go quickly through the two verse lines, and then
make a loud and positive long stretch on the mono-
syllable hot, trot, etc., etc.
164
CHAPTER V
October, 1873, to May, 1876.
INDIA, ENGLAND, AND SAN REMO.
TOWARDS the end of 1873 the long-
projected visit to India was under-
taken ; a visit that lasted over a year and
in the course of which Lear saw an immense
variety of people and scene, and put in a vast
amount of topographical work. He seems to
have written very few letters, and some of
these have been omitted as they are practic-
ally only a record of places visited and
possess little interest.
Lear to Fortescue.
GRAND HOTEL DI GENOVA. GENOVA.
15. October, 1873.
I wrote you a long letter from San Remo on
September 18, but at that time I do not think
I had finally decided on India.
I consider that to go to India for eighteen months
would be really my best course, as a change of scene
Later Letters of Edward Lear
may do me good, and besides, living as I do from
hand to mouth by my art, I dare not throw away
the many commissions for paintings and drawings
I already have for Indian subjects.
Whereon I sent Giorgio to his people, and shut
and sealed and screwed up all the Villa Emily :
and doddled about the Portofino coast some
time. . . . And Giorgio comes back here on the
22d. And on the 24th I and he are off in the
Rubattino & Co. Steamer the India for Bombay,
where I trust to arrive on November 16 or 17,
and then to go straight to the N[orthbrook]s at
Agra. I have the kindest letters from them.
Lear to Lady Waldegrave.
GRAND HOTEL DI GENOVA. GENOVA.
25. October. 1873.
I ... write now to tell you of a sort of discovery
I fancy I have made here, of some portraits which
may be interesting to you. One is a really good
portrait of George III when young, and another of
his brother, I think the Duke of Cumberland, of
whom Horace Wai pole writes that he died at Monaco,
near Nice. Now at that time the Grimaldi were
reigning princes there, and these portraits came,
together with some of the Grimaldi family, out of
the house of a former British Consul, Sir Somebody
Bagshawe.
The Landlord of this Hotel, Signor Luigi Bonera
bought the two I first mentioned, and that of George
III is a really good well-painted picture : the Cumber-
land Duke's not quite so well painted.
166
India, England, and San Remo
There are also others one of George II, and
one of George I, and of another Royalty, perhaps
Prince Frederick or Duke of Gloucester I who
married Lady Waldegrave. I thought I would tell
you these fax, leastways as you might tell anybody
else if so be you didn't care for them yourself. My
ship didn't go yesterday as it oughted but goes
tonight straight to Naples where I pick up old
George the Suliot.
1 Prince Frederick, or Prince William Henry, Duke of
Gloucester, brothers of George III.; the latter married in
1766 Maria, Dowager Countess Waldegrave, daughter of the
Hon. Sir Edward Walpole.
I6 7
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I am glad the Akond of Swat is liked. Goodbye.
My love to everbody.
P.S. The two Guelph portraits here were bought
for six pounds each by the landlord ! I should think
the whole lot wouldn't cost much.
To Fortescue.
DARJEELING BENGAL.
2^th. Jan. 1874.
Writing long letters in India is simply an impossi-
bility, if you are sight seeing, and moving about
to places hundreds of miles off. So all I can do
is to send scraps of intelligence to friends, and
wait for days of more leisure. I had a rather
uncomfortable and long voyage out to Bombay,
getting there November 23rd, and by December ist,
joined the Viceregal party at Lucknow. It is need-
less to say I met with every possible kindness from
all there. It was horrid cold, and I have never
dared count my toes since, being sure I left some
behind. Then I saw all Cawnpore, and Benares
(which delighted me), and then I went to Dinapore
to try to get sketches for Chichester's painting and
drawing. But Johnny Hamilton, 1 I cannot help
1 Nephew of Carlingford son of his eldest sister Mrs.
Hamilton went through the Mutiny, and died October 19, 1858.
168
India, England, and San Remo
thinking, must have died at Bankipore, as Dinapore
is simply a Military station. Howbeit I got drawings
of the country quite characteristic of either place,
and as I had a godson's brother established there
I was well off comparatively my own old servant
Giorgio being always invaluable as a constant help
in all sorts of ways.
Then I passed three weeks at Calcutta at Govern-
ment House, but, as you and C. may imagine, the
life was by no means to my taste, seeing I can't
bear lights nor late hours, nor sublimities. Of course
Lord N. and E. Baring and all the rest were a
pleasure but I was not sorry to come away, and
never wish to see Calcutta again. Besides this I
was greatly saddened by the news of my dear and
oldest friend's death, W. Nevill, and also of the
last illness of my dear sister Sarah in New Zea-
land l : (when my nephew wrote she was still living
but fast sinking aet. 81.) Add to these matters
a bad accident from a sketching stool breaking down
under me and you will say I had not cause to be
too lively. I came up here (a nodious and tedious
journey of 7 days) on the i6th? and have been
fortunate in getting outlines of the immense Hima-
layan Mountains, Kinchinjunga, which I am to paint
for the Viceroy (it was his late uncle's commission,
but he takes it up), and for Aberdare, and 2 more.
1 Sarah Street, whose many descendants in the name of
Gillies now live at Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, including
Sophie Street of the first volume, who recovered and became
quite as wonderful a woman as her mother-in-law, and a
far sweeter one. She is still the life and soul of the place,
and beloved by young and old (see p. 154, vol. i.).
169
Later Letters of Edward Lear
The foregrounds of ferns are truly bunderful only
there are no apes and no parrots and no nothing
alive, which vexes me. I am able to walk well,
but cannot ride, and am still obliged to be helped
off the ground by old George. What I should have
done here without the good Suliot I can't imagine.
I am now going to make for Allahabad, by the 5th
February, and then to see Agra and Delhi etc., before
it gets 'ot ; but whether I go up to Simla, or down
to Bombay straight, or by Rajpoontana, I cannot
as yet decide. Have you Dr. Hooker's book on this
part of India, " Himalayan journals " ? He describes
the scenery admirably.
I hope you are well, and wish both you and
C.S.P.F. a happy New Year. My love to him.
Please write some day, and reply to me always,
care of Captain E. Baring, R.A.
Government House,
Calcutta.
as he always knows where to find me.
SIMLA. 24. April. 1874.
i.
O ! Chichester, my Carlingford !
O ! Parkinson, my Sam !
O ! SP>, my Fortescue !
How awful glad I am !
2.
For now you'll do no more hard work
Because by sudden pleasing- jerk
You're all at once a peer,
Whereby I cry, God bless the Queen !
As was, and is, and still has been,
Yours ever, Edward Lear.
India, England, and San Remo
MY DEAR " CARLINGFORD," l Your letter came last
night up from Calcutta, and greatly pleased me ; for
I had been worrying about you since those Louth-
some brutes turned you out. I quite think you have
done the right thing in not trying another con-
stituency : Oxford, however flattering, would have
entailed no end of work, and you are not of iron,
(as I really think Northbrook is, and had need be.)
I am sorry I can't write much now, but I had an
envellope already written for you, and hope to fill it
up later. I am going now into the "town" to order
coolies for a tour to-morrow to Narkunda, where are
the great Deodaras, four days from here, trusting to
be back here on the 4th. of May, and to start for
Bombay and Poonah on the 6th. I hope I may live
through the blazing hot journey and get to Bombay
before the i2th, when my sixty-tooth year ends, and I
shall be "going on 63." Since I wrote from Darjeel-
ing to My Lady, I have been all up the Ganges to
Allahabad, then to Agra, Gwalior, Bhurtpoor, Muttra,
Brindabund, and Delhi, where I stayed ten days a
making Delhineations of the Dehlicate architecture as
is all impressed on my mind as inDehlibly as the
Dehliterious quality of the water of that city. Then I
went up to Saharanpore and Mussoorie, and Dehra,
and Roorkee, and the great Ganges Canal to
Hurdwur, where there is a Nindoo festival on the first
week in April, whereat on jubilee years three millions
of pilgrims are found. (There are but 200,000 this
year quite enough.) All these devout and dirty
1 Chichester Fortescue, who had been President of the Board
of Trade from 1870, was created ist Baron Carlingford in 1874.
He had lost his seat for co. Louth in the '74 election.
171
Later Letters of Edward Lear
people carry out their theory of attendance on
Public Wash-up on a great scale, by flumping
simultaneous into the Holy Gunga at sunrise on
April 1 1 squash. Next I came up here, where
N[orthbrook] has most kindly lent me a house and
servants all for myself and old George. I hate being
such a swell, but what is one among so many?
whereas you and Hy. Bruce and N. are all piers of
the Rem, and I am still a dirty Lampskipper. . . .
My kindest remembrances (and congratulations) to
My-lady.
POONA,
June I2th, 1874.
MY DEAR FORTESCUE, At present I have come
(very unwillingly,) to an anchor for a period unknown
because all the world says it is impossible to travel
in the " Rains."
Yesterday I got some tin cases made, and soldered
up no less than 560 drawings, large and small besides
9 small sketchbooks and 4 of journals. . . .
My impression of all I have seen N. and E. of the
Ganges and Jumna is that the most delectable portion
of the Landscape is that combining old Indian
Temples and rivers. Nevertheless my 500 drawings
in Bengal, N. W. Provinces, and Punjaub, form a
vastly interesting mass of work and express Indian
Landscape in those parts of the huge Empire I
think as widely and fairly as a 6 months tour could
well be expected to compass. . . .
I am going about my work with a method, and
anyhow you and Milady will allow I am a very
energetic and frisky old cove (I was 62 last
May 12,) for my age. . . .
172
India, England, and San Remo
In travelling in India, you have three modes open
to you Dawk Bungalows Hotels and Private
Hospitality. The first is what I by far prefer. . . .
The second mode of travel, Hotel halts is in 19 cases
out of 20 odious and irritating, indeed I can only name
3 or 4 good Hotels as yet visited, out of dozens. . . .
Thirdly you may have letters to people at stations,
and if so, you will in almost all cases be received with
the greatest kindness. Yet you cannot be master
of your time in a private house as you are in a
D. Bungalow. You certainly may say to the Lady of
the house, " Maam, I want tea at 5 a cold luncheon
and wine to take out with me, and dinner precisely at
7, after which I shall go to bed and shan't speak to
you." But such a proceeding is repugnant to my way
of thinking and the result of my experience is
that you cant do as you like in other people's
dwellings
Travelling in India is, as I dare say you know,
very expensive mainly on account of the immense
distances you have to get over, and the necessity of
moving with no end of luggage. But Northbrook
with his usual kindness supplies me with tin, advancing
what I want on acct. of his own and the late Mr. T.
Baring's commissions. Otherwise I must have asked
you and others to keep me afloat but there is no
occasion for this at all. . . .
All the Bombay world rushes here at this season,
when Bombay itself becomes mouldy and wet, and
Mahabuleshwar and Matheran are uninhabitable.
(Matheran by the bye, has most probably been the
original Eden I don't mean the first Lord Auck-
land, but Paradise at least the scriptural scanti-
173
Later Letters of Edward Lear
ness of the apparel worn by the natives seems to
point to Adam and Eve as its originators.)
It might be well that you should make some public
suggestion that so economical and picturesque an
apparel may be brought into general
use in England. To assist you in
so praiseworthy a departure from
modern habits, I add 2 portraits, to
which you can refer ad lib. . . .
But to return to Poonah and plati-
tudes and plateau. The Governor
Sir P. Wodehouse, is a very amiable
and kind gentleman, (he recollected
having met me at Lady Wilmot Mor-
ton's 500 years ago), but I see the
Bombay papers continually talk of his being recalled
on account of the Bombay Riots paragraphs which
may have weight where it is not so well known as in
the Presidency, that the Editors of Bombay papers are
mostly Parsees. It may however very well be that
Sir P. W. has not the tact and strong will of our
friend N. whose statesmanlike qualities seem acknow-
ledged as much by those who differ from him in
opinion as by his friends. He writes to me from
Calcutta that he is quite well and so does Evelyn
Baring.
While I write Lee Warner the Governor's Secre-
tary has come, and I am to go out to breakfast at Sir
Philip's to-morrow. His staff seems a nice lot Col.
Deane (Mil. Sec.) who married a Miss Boscawen
sister of Mrs. Lewis Bagot ; Captain Fawkes grand-
nephew of my oldest friend Mrs. Wentworth and
grandson of Turner Walter Fawkes of Farnley with
174
India, England, and San Remo
one Captn. Jervoise, whose father I knew ages ago.
Lady Howard de Walden cum a son and daughter
were staying with them when I was at Mahabuleshwar.
Lear returned home rather suddenly, with-
out his old servant George, who had had to
go to Corfu in consequence of his wife's
death. He (Lear) found his villa in the
utmost confusion, for during the winter
burglars had taken advantage of his absence
to ransack the place. He writes in great
depression on the 28th of March, 1875.
VILLA EMILY. SAN REMO.
Yes, I did return from India some two months
sooner than I had intended. George had got quite
strong again, but I hurt myself in getting into a boat
in Travancore, and lumbago followed the sprain so
disagreeably and persistently, that I could not stoop
or bear any sudden movement, whereby I had to
pass Mangalore, Carwar, and Goa without landing
and had even to give up Elephanta, and come straight
off from Bombay on January 12, arriving, a wonder-
fully fine passage, at Brindisi on the 27th ! It is
very provoking not to have seen twenty-five or
twenty-six things I particularly desired to visit, yet
even had I been well I could not have done all those
before April, and so if they are to be done at all with
a view to a perfect collection of Indian scenery, I
should have to go out again, say at the end of 1876,
but of that matter there is plenty of time to
think. . . .
175
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I did not enjoy Ceylon : the climate is damp which
I hate : it is always more or less wet, and though the
vegetation is lovely, yet it is not more so than that
of Malabar, where the general scenery is finer.
Ceylon makes people who arrive there from England,
scream ; but then I didn't come from England, and so
was not astonished at all, nor did I find any interest
in the place as compared with India. Governor
Gregory l was very kind, but owing to George's
dreadful illness 2 I had to be mostly at times wholly
attending on that poor fellow. One of the persons
I liked most was Birch, 3 formerly your private sec-
retary : it was pleasant to hear how he spoke
of you. . . .
After Poonah, the memories of which are among
the most beautiful and interesting I have, I went to
Hyderabad in the Deccan, taken by my old friend,
H.E.P. Le Mesurier, one of the same party in the
Indus (1854) with Johnny Hamilton,4 and oddly
enough I came with him as far as Brindisi, nay
Bologna on my return to Europe in January last.
Hyderabad and the Nizam were of great interest, and
the scenery singularly novel. Next I went to Bellary
1 Rt. Hon. Sir William Henry Gregory, K.C.M.G., Governor
of Ceylon from 1872 to 1877. He had been M.P. for Dublin
City from 1842 to 1846, and for co. Galway from 1857 to 1872.
2 Dysentery.
3 Sir Arthur Birch, C.M.G. 1876, K.C.M.G. 1886, Private
Secretary to Colonial Under Secretary (Fortescue) 1859-1864,
Lieut. -Governor of Penang 1871-1872, Lieut.-Governor of
Ceylon 1876-1878, etc.
4 John Hamilton, a nephew of Lord Carlingford, son of his
eldest sister ; he was in the thick of the Indian Mutiny, and
died on October 19, 1858.
176
> ' o -C
J -3
O 8 (4
S S
India, England, and San Remo
intending to see Anagoonda, the grandest of all
Hindoo ruins, but the rains prevented me, whereon I
went to Bangalore, meaning to visit Mysore thence,
Coorg, and the Malabar coast.
Perpetual rain however stopped that plan, and I
harked back to Madras, where I saw the delightful
Mahabalipuran temples, and later those of Conjeveram.
And returning a second time to Bangalore, I was
again forced to a change of tour by the same cause,
and thus I came down again and saw Trichinopoly
and Tanjore, and I may truly say that whoever visits
India without seeing these wonderful places, cannot
judge of the country from some very important stand-
points, since nothing in Northern India at all
resembles the Southern buildings Madura, Ramesh-
war, Tirupetty and one more great temple, were alas !
left unvisited, and go to form a miserable heap
of repentance along with Anagoonda, Beejapore,
Naguit, Ellora, Aboo etc, etc. (Have you ever read
" Tara," a novel by Meadows Taylor ? That delightful
book gives a perfect idea of Deccan and Mahratta
people and places.) On going a third time to
Bangalore, broken bridges, Tanx, and banx, obliged
me to give up my Mysore aspirations altogether, and
as it has turned out finally : and I went up, after
coming down to the plains, to Coonoor and Ostara-
mund in the Neilgherries. The scenery of them 'ere
'ills is very grand, i.e. on the edges : but the centre is
like a bad sham Cumberland, and I loathed the fogs
and cold. My next step was to the Malabar coast,
which greatly delighted me, as till I saw that part of
the world I had no clear idea of tropical vegetation.
It was hot though ! But I got some capital remem-
177 M
Later Letters of Edward Lear
brances of the grand river scenery. Then by sea I
went along the Coast to Colombo, and to Galle to
see Lord N[orthbrook]'s two children ; and to Ratna-
poora, where a son of my dear old friend W. Nevill is
the magistrate ; but after that, and while at Kandy,
poor George's dysentery made everything else a blank,
and when he grew better, an event little to be ex-
pected at one time, I got him away on December 12,
the very day but happily unknown to him, when his
poor wife died at Corfu. As soon as George got
quite well again, I set out for Travancore and Madura,
intending to work my way up by degrees to Ana-
goonda and Beijapore ; but as I wrote before, I
sprained my back, and had to return to Bombay on
January 3rd. 1875, an< ^ so m uch for my Indian history.
" Shadows of three dead men " * (I have had the
lines a very long time but was requested not to com-
municate them, tho' it seems they are known now)
refer to ist. A. Hallam, 2nd. Harry Lushington (my
friend Franklin L[ushington]'s brother,) and John
Simeon.
1 ... Have you seen or heard of Tennyson's lines on poor
dear John Simeon, a In the garden at Swainston," in one of the
little volumes of his new edition ?
u Shadows of three dead men
Walked in the walks with me,
Shadows of three dead men,
And thou wast one of the three . . .
Three dead men have I loved,
And thou wast one of the three."
One of the three must be Arthur Hallam, but who was the
third ?
(Lord Carlingford to Lear. November 16, 1894).
India, England, and San Remo
How do you like being a Peer ? Do you wear a
crownet on your 'ed ? . . .
Did you ever hear of a Colonel Pattle, I fancy
Lady Somer's brother or cousin. Indian life is full
of stories of his exaggerations, and they call him Joot
Singh the King of Liars. Someone at a dinner was
saying that on coming from America the ship's
company saw a man on a hencoop, floating ; and
putting off a boat offered to take the individual in.
" No," said he, "I am simply crossing the Atlantic by
way of experiment, and all I would ask is a box of
lucifer matches, mine having got wet." Everyone
yelled at this American's story, and said what a fib!
But Colonel Pattle waxing angry said : " It is no fib
but truth : I was the man on the hencoop." . . .
And . . . when someone said Pease couldn't be grown
at such a part of India " On the contrary I grew
Pease of such size and robustness that a whole herd
of the Government elephants which were lost for
three weeks were found concealed in my Peas ! " . . .
P.S. There is so much vegetable luxuriance in
Ceylon, that even the marrow in peoples' bones is
Vegetable marrow. My !
You cannot do better than have a drawing of
Kinchinjunga, but as only 6 of my 36 subjects are
as yet chosen, or at most 7 you shall choose from
the bill of fare and as I shall bring over nearly all
in a very unfinished state you can select which you
like best, and I will finish it for you.
1. Marble rocks. Nerbudda Jubbulpore.
2. Ditto. Different view. Finished.
3. Benares. Lord Aberdare.
179
Later Letters of Edward Lear
4. Benares. Bernard Husey-Hunt, Esq.
5. Benares. Finished.
6. Village scenery, Calcutta.
7. Kinchinjunga. Bernard Husey-Hunt, Esq.
8. Kinchinjunga.
9. Kinchinjunga. Lord Carllingford.
10. Descent from Darjeelingplains.
11. Taj. Agra.
12. Fort. Agra.
13. Gwalior.
14. Brindaband.
15. Togluckabad Delhi.
1 6. Bamboos and Himalaya.
17. Hurdwar ( perhaps for
Colonel Greathed,R.E.)
1 8. Himalaya Simla.
19. Himalaya, Simla, from Sir
C. Napier's house. Lady
Aberdare.
20. Himalaya near Nar-
kunda.
21. Matheran. (cum scantily
cloathed women.)
22. Wai.
23. Poonah.
24. Hyderabad (Deccan).
25. Mahabalipur Temple.
26. Trichinopoly.
27. Elephants.
28. Tanjore Pagoda.
29. View near Conoor Nilgherries.
30. Road scene, Malabar.
31. Sunset, Malabar coast.
1 80
Perhaps you will
like No. 21. I made
my first essay at
showing those scan-
tily clothed females
to three ladies with
fear and trembling.
All three looked in
demure silence till
one said, " What
very odd costume ! "
Then the second
exclaimed, " Rather,
no costume, I think!"
and the third added,
" Ah ! I always heard
the naked people with
brown skins were not
at all indelicate ! " So
I have now no farther
dread of the subject.
9 I
DQ
K
<
z
India, England, and San Remo
32. River scene, Ceylon.
33. River scene Ceylon.
34. Kandy. S. W. Clowes, Esq., M.P.
35. The Temple of the Tooth, Kandy. S. W.
Clowes, Esq., M.P.
36. Road Scene near Galle, Ceylon.
(This last is upright and would not pair.)
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
$oth May, 1875.
This is a nextra gnoat along of a nun4seen stir-
cumsance.
There is a Capting Ruxton here, with his wife as is
conphined with a babby, and they have taken a willow
181
Later Letters of Edward Lear
for 2 months. Now if so be as Captain Ruxton was
your cousin or your uncle or your grandfather or
grandchild, I should be sorry not to do anything that
might be done for him for your saik.
But if he ain't your beloved relation or friend, then
don't tell me to call on him, for he lives two miles good
away, and thyme is short.
On the other s^^^gSE:' if you write and wish
me to call on him, I will do so drekkly.
I hope to be in London about the i5th Joon, but
don't know where yet.
The Ruxton's name is something (John ?) Fitz-
herbert Ruxton.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
2$th May, 1875.
I shall answer your letter at once, which it is a par-
ticularly kind one : the only ozbervation I shall permit
myself about its appearance, is that your Lordship's
writing gets more of the curly-burly roly-poly nature
than is consistent with elegant and legible gramma-
tography. " I continue to receive " as Royal
speeches say fresh instances of bother and vexation ;
the two particularly uppermost now are the death of
my dear little Goddaughter Lushington, and the
increasing illness of that nearly-angel woman Emily
Tennyson. I suppose it was to be expected that life
would be more and more disagreeable towards its
close, but that don't make the fact any nicer. . . .
I forgot you were a Ld. Lieutenant of Essex : does
not that involve some particular dress ? I declare I
182
India, England, and San Remo
don't know a bit what a Ld. Lieutenant does or is
a sort of prefet perhaps. Can you put down the
Athanasian Creed in Essex? ... If this reaches
you before your Literary Fund dinner, tell everybody
to go and buy a copy of the Book of Nonsense and one
of " Corsica," or you will refuse to preside over them
any more. . . .
I have heard of that Vernon fibber ; Lady Hatherton
told me he declared he had seen two cherubim on Mt.
Ararat, and that he fired at them : one flew away with
a buzzing sound and an inestimable perfume, the
other was wounded in the wing. The sportsman took
him home and kept him alive for six weeks on milk
and eggs, but just as he was getting strong, a cat ate
him up.
About my dear Viceroy : do you think his mistake
if he made one was in allowing the trial, or in the
deposition ? I I see that Grant Duff (as well as Fitz-
stephen) believe that Northbrook was right. After all
a 5 years vice-royalty of India can rarely if ever be got
over without some error. (I hear that the Bombay
press is bought out and out by the beastly Guicwar).
No doubt N. has been greatly bothered and bullied by
all this fuss but for my own part I cannot see what
he could have done, three such men as Crouch, Meade
and Melville having concurred in believing Mulharkao
guilty, and even two of the three natives holding him
1 A Royal Commission was appointed in 1875 of three English
and three native officials to inquire into the Baroda affair. The
Gaikwar Mulharkao was suspected of attempting to poison the
British Resident, Col. Phayre. Lord Northbrook issued a Pro-
clamation, under orders from the Home Government, deposing
Mulharkao, and the wording of this Proclamation was much
criticised.
183
Later Letters of Edward Lear
more or less so. It seems to me that the V[iceroy]
was in the position of one having a casting vote, and
he could only use it as he did. . . .
I am reading a book on India by one Mrs. Colin
Mackenzie a werry religious female. Whenever any
of her Mussulman or Hindoo friends die, be they
never so good, she " shudders" to think of them
"opening their eyes in the eternal pangs and tortures
of hell fire. "
26$ Sept. 1875.
VlCKERIDGE.
RlVERHEAD.
7 OAX.
This is only a wurbl message as it is to say goodbye
to you and my lady, which I wish you both a appy
Xmas. I have been very unwell lately the damp
having brought on Assma odiously. However, I
184
India, England, and San Remo
have got pretty nearly clean off, and am staying with
the F. Lushington's on my way to "<I>wrov." l If the
sea is very rough I mean to hire a prudent and pussil-
lanimous porpoise, and cross on his bak. I suppose I
shall get to San Remo early in October, old George
having already arrived there to clean up and beautify
the wilier.
" Now the Lord lighten me I am a great fool "
but I must go my own way or none. Yours of the
28th has come to me sent down by Frank Lushing-
ton with a bundle of other letters, which I wishes as
you were here to thank you for it, being as letters is
1 grateful and comforting,' vide " Epps' Cocoa." You
always do a pleasant thing whenever you can, but it
isn't so easy to be ordinarily friendly when lines diverge
as ours do, so the more your merit. As for Seven-
oaks, though I was truly serene and happy with my
dear Lushington's family and the children (for though
my dear little goddaughter is dead, there are still three
living) yet the "turf" and the " fresh air " (through
open windows) brought on asthma hideously, and I
found myself a bore spite of all their kindness
because I had to beg for shut windows, or else I
coughed like unto a coughy mill. Whereby and so
1 The transliteration of Folkestone.
185
Later Letters of Edward Lear
and therefore I gradually felt this of 1875 wn *l be (if
not my last) nearly my last visit to the land of my
posteriors.
O yes, old Giorgio was not only here when I
arrived (Sat. 3rd) but nothing would prevent him
going to San Remo to get me dinner, and since then
all things go on as before the fathers fell asleep,
clockwork being nothing beside the ancient Suliot's
quiet service. I do not know if I told you that this
good old servant has lost his wife, and the last of his
four brothers, and his valuable mother, all since
Christmas last ; and his three children, having no one
to take care of them, were in a fix. So I gave him
leave to bring his second boy here as a help, on the
" do as you would be done by " principle : he is to
have no wages, but only food. I thought this much
due to my poor faithful Giorgio, but I do not pledge
myself to any continuance of this plan. . . .
(John A. Symonds I and you should get on well
together.)
(Do you remember how we used
to do the Gospels and Epistles in Greek in the parlour
at Red House, till at a given hour, dear old Mrs.
Ruxton used to call for " God save the Queen, " and
we all absquatulated ? Only the two calves, I believe,
never went to bed at any particular hour.)
" O earth ! O (what ?) O time ! " certainly life is
life?
an odd jumble. (Possibly one of the oddest of small
matters is that E. Trelawny, 2 (who with Byron burnt
1 See p. 89.
2 Edward John Trelawny belonged to a famous Cornish
family, and led a life of adventure. In 1821 he met Shelley at
1 86
India, England, and San Remo
Shelley's remains) is still alive and well. I just missed
him fifteen days ago at Digby Wyatt's.)
You will be very sorry to hear what I am going to
say or rather, read what I am going to write, viz,
that the Rev. Fenton, our chaplain, (as good a man
and as complete an ass as any parson can be, and that
is saying much) preached today about Daniel, (I
rejoice I wasn't there), and has given out that he
will preach three sermons severally on Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Could I have warned you
in time, doubtless you and my lady would have come
to this spirichial feest. Alas ! alas ! going to church is
my bte noir. I don't want to antagonise, or bore, or
fuss but why am I expected to sit and listen to a
fool for three-quarters of an hour? Perhaps it is
better that I should altogether stay away, since one
day, if I am so overconstrained to folly, I may get up
and snort and dance and fling my hat at the abomina-
tion of sermonpreaching where sermons are simply rot.
There will be no one here this winter I care for
nobody. En revanche, I go into HARD WORK
Louisa Lady A[shburton's] I and Lord Aberdare's two
paintings of Kunchinjunga, one 9 ft. by 4 the latter
6 ft. by 3 ft. 6 in, both immortal subjects. If Henry
Bruce's picture comes to be at all what I shall try for,
nobody will ever eat anything at his table along of
contemplating it ; and if L. Lady A's picture thrives
equally, then I foresee no English child will ever be
henceforth christened otherwise than " Kunchinjunga."
Pisa and was there at his death. He went with Byron to Greece,
and finally settled in England. He wrote " Recollections of the
Last Days of Shelley and Byron" (1858), and died in 1881.
1 See note, p. 88.
187
Later Letters of Edward Lear
What Northbrook's picture will be, goodness only
knows, but I am continually at work on it. My dear
N. how I wish he were back in Hants , and yet not
so, for he is so high and good in all he does in India,
that sometimes I half hope he may stay on.
I wonder how much you know of India: and, if you
had time, please try to read some of Col. Meadows
Taylor's semi-historic novels, all of them remarkable,
not only for great knowledge of India and Indians
(that was to be expected from his position and
experience as well as from his marriage etc :) but
for beautiful and good feeling and clever handling
throughout though of course the books are not
equal, (i) "Tara," 1657, (2) " Ralph Darnell," 1759,
(3) "Tippoo Sultaun 1787" and (4) " Leeta," 1857,
are all well worth perusal not to speak of
" Confessions of a Thug." But after all, I can
now well understand how very little an Englishman
can enter into Indian (picturesque) subjects, and I
wondered at Grant Duff 1 doing so till I heard
that the " History of the Mahrattas " was written
by his father.
my child ! here is a gnat ! which, the window
being open, is but gnatural. So I shuts up both
vinder and letter, and goodbye.
P.S A chapter the last of its sort of my life,
is nearly closed ; i.e. the letters of my sister Ellinor. 2
She is now nearly blind, and can never write again.
1 Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff, son of James
Cunninghame Grant Duff, and grandson of Sir Whitelaw
Ainslie. Under Secretary of State for India 1868-1874. Governor
of Madras 1881-1886, when he was made a G.C.S.I.
2 See p. 47.
188
India, England, and San Remo
Not that her letters were ever intellectually like
those of my dear New Zealand sister Sarah, nor
those of my own eldest sister Ann but they were
the last : and so the only one remaining of all my
thirteen sisters gradually sinks to darkness, as I
may do probably six or eight years hence.
No creature here is likely to interest me this year.
At 63 (and speaking as a man who never cared
for mere acquaintances), one hardly picks up friends.
Last year the G. Howards 1 were here, he is
very artistically studious, yet not exhibiting any-
thing like genius or promising any. Amiable and
good, but it seems to me an unwise affectation for
people in that position to wish to be ' 'artists ";
whereas, if all goes straight, this youth must needs
be Earl of Carlisle. Earls in England have
occupations cut out for them quite distinct from
those of laborious professions, in the ranks of which
(however they and their admirers may think other-
wise) they are only considered as of "Brevet rank"
by the real article. (Vide "Unbublished ozbervations
on Caste.")
I have been reading "Lothair" 2 lately: how
skilful and quaint a book! and full of charming
description. Also, " II Improvisatore," 3 did you
ever read it? Hans Andersen lived for a time in
1 George J. Howard, son of the 4th son of the 6th Earl of
Carlisle (the Hon. Chas. Wentworth Howard, M.P.). Lear was
right, George Howard eventually succeeded his uncle in 1889
as Qth Earl of Carlisle. His wife the Hon. Rosalind Frances
Stanley, youngest daughter of Lord Stanley of Alderley.
2 " Lothair," by Benjamin Disraeli, had been published
in 1870.
3 By Hans Andersen, translated by William Howitt.
189
Later Letters of Edward Lear
that corner house you lived in when you came to
see me in the ear 2187432 X B Z Q.E.
X
unbeknown.
O my ! ain't I sleepy !
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
$th December, 1875.
. . . Your remarks, as well as those of other
persons in your position, about D'Israeli's Suez
Canalism, 1 are to me very illustrative of the immense
contrast between high-class government politicians
in our country and those in France and elsewhere.
No one can differ more in general party views than
such as you and D'l. yet on a subject of common
patriotism you think precisely alike. . . .
Yes, youth does seem a fable, but so will middle-
age bye and bye to you, as it does now to me
already. I have sad fits of depression often now-
adays, as every few months bring tidings of illness
and death. I do not know what your views of
future states or material-annihilation may be but
probably similar to mine hating dogma about what
we really know nothing about, yet willing to hope
dimly. Perhaps, however, you may be like a lady
whom I know, who, on the deaths of her husband,
parents, 5 children etc : rather rejoices than not.
" It would be so very painful for them to have
survived me ! and besides only think what an
immense party of beloved ones I shall be sure to
1 In 1875 the British Government purchased 176,602 Canal
shares from the Khedive of Egypt to the value of ^4,076,622.
England thus became half -owner of the Canal.
190
India, England, and San Remo
meet all at once when I myself depart!" . . .
" Friend after friend departs " there is something
very touching and human in much of T. Moore's
poetry, though it be not of the highest order.
Talking of poets, Lionel Tennyson, A's 2nd son,
and godson of F. Lushington, is to marry the
daughter of Locker. 1 (Bye the bye, I am a god-
father again, to F. Lushington's newly-born boy.)
Lady Charlotte Locker was Lady Augusta Stanley's
sister. On New Year's day, Arthur P. Stanley 2
wrote to me, and did not seem more than usually
anxious about Lady A. But yesterday Mrs. George
Howard . . . passed through here, and she told me
of a letter she had just had, informing her that
Lady A[ugusta] had had a fresh seizure on the 2nd,
and is dying. I am very grieved for poor Arthur.
You will of course have known about North-
brook's return. Something which Evelyn Baring 3
told me a good while ago about his health has
caused this not to be a surprise to me. Yet there
may be other reasons behind, but " I forbear "
like Herodotus " to mention " one I have heard,
because I don't believe it.4 What a horrid con-
1 The present Mrs. Birrell.
8 Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, better known as Dean Stanley,
a close personal friend of Lear's frequently mentioned in his
letters, was the second son of the Bishop of Norwich. He
was appointed Chaplain to the Prince Consort in 1854, and
became Dean of Westminster in 1863. He was a champion of
Colenso. He married Lady Augusta Bruce of the Elgin family
in 1863 ; she died in 1876.
3 The present Earl of Cromer. He was Lord Northbrook's
Private Secretary in India 1872-1876.
4 Important difficulties had arisen between the India Office
and the Viceroy. Lord Northbrook resigned on January 4th.
191
.
Later Letters of Edward Lear
tinuance of glitter and shindy is that progress of
the P[rince] of W[ales.] How glad I am not to
be in India. N's return, however, lessens the
probability of my second visit. I think now I have
looked over all and not overlooked any of the points
of your letter, which was a delightfully long and
genial one. So the rest I shall fill up with egotism
and maggotism. . . .
The weather has been simply Paradise from 3rd
October to January 5th, but now it is changed,
coldy and wet. Yet I have no fires by day yet, and
write this by an open window, Foss the cat on the
ledge. Oranges and flowers in the garden magnifi-
cent. Society slender. ... In fact Sanremo is fast
becoming less and less of an English colony since the
French War which sent all the Germen and Gerwomen
here. (Positively, there are now eighty in one hotel ! )
And it is a painful fact that many English ladies flee
such hotels, the Germans, say they, spit at dinner-
time and smoke all night. So the nationalities aloof-
stand. Meanwhile, the Germans are sent here simply
to die. Twenty three have died since November ist,
and all sent back to Germany, which I know so
accurately about because W. Congreve our Vice-
Consul has to superintend and numerate these
necropolitan derangements. W. Congreve and his
sons, my next neighbours, are a blessing, but as I
said, of society generally there is little. Remember, if
ever you should make a rush here, I can put you up
beautiful and feed you spontaneous-analogous.
The subject of disagreement had been the Tariff Act. Some
remarkable despatches were sent by Lord Salisbury to
Lord Northbrook.
192
India, England, and San Remo
P.S. I am reading Carlyle's " Frederick the
Great." My library is a wunner! Your Fortescue * is
considered the loveliest piece of furniture in these
latitudes for which accept
my gratitudes and may you meet
with beattitudes whereon I'll
write no more platitudes but will go to lumpshon
with a cleary conscience.
N.B. Aberdare's commission was for ^"200, but I
am doing an exceptionally big picture for that sum,
out of remembrance of past days.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
DUDBROOK,
BRENTWOOD.
April 27. 1876.
. . . Someone told me that you were to have a
visit from Northbrook on his way home. He ought
to be a happy man, coming home at his age, with
health uninjured and a high position, after filling his
great post so well. Four such years must be a
wonderful passage in a man's life. . . .
This Government has damaged its reputation not a
little during the last few months and weeks, but as
long as they hold together, there is no prospect of a
change. The Empress business 2 has been a wonder-
ful piece of folly, where there was nothing to be done
but to let well alone. I suppose you still perform the
first duty of an Englishman and read your Times
regularly. You will see an interesting character of
1 See p. 134.
2 At Disraeli's instigation the new title of Empress of India
was conferred on the Queen in 1876.
193 N
Later Letters of Edward Lear
poor Lord Lyttelton I by Gladstone. I knew him
very little, but should have said that he was a healthy-
minded man. However he had evidently fallen into
religious self-tortures. He said not long ago to
Hough ton, talking of a future state. " I would gladly
compound for annihilation."
Write soon and tell us how you are mentally,
physically, ocularly, jocularly, digestively, artistically,
pecuniarily, prospectively, retrospectively, positively,
comparatively, superlatively, and as many more lies
as occur to you.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA EMILY. SANREMO.
7/& May 1876.
I was very glad to get your Dudbrookious letter,
(date 27th April) which I did on the 3Oth. I had
been talking of you with our mewtshool friend Henry
Bruce only a week before. He, Lord Aberdare, with
three of his nice children spent three days here nearly,
and I saw them constantly up till Monday, May ist,
when after breakfasting with me, he went on with his
party to Genoa. The visit was only begloomed by
the miserable Lyttelton news. I think you know I
have staid at Hagley, and last year I saw them all
often close by me at Portland Place : anyhow you
know that I have known poor Lady L[yttelton]
since she was eight years old, when with the G. Clives
her parents in Rome during 1846-7. So as you are
aware of my nature you may suppose this tragedy
1 4th Lord Lyttelton, a member of the Privy Council,
K.C.M.G., and a learned Greek scholar. At the time of his
death Lord Lyttelton was suffering from melancholia.
194
India, England, and San Remo
grieved me much. . . . Aberdare was in wonderful
health and spirits, and to my great pleasure, delighted
with, even in its incomplete state, his picture of
Kinchinjunga. I could have wished him to have a
second picture I am painting of the great plains of
Bengal, also six feet long : but he goes in for one only,
and the pair will be divided. If you know anyone as
wants a remarkable work of art for ^500, please name
it to the fortunate individdle. I don't know that
anything has given me so much pleasure for a long
time past, as the Aberdarion visit : he has always been
a thoroughly kind and steady friend to me, as have
you SPQRC, and Northbrook, of whom anon.
Louisa, Lady Ashburton is to have the largest of my
three pictures, ten feet long, and I had hoped she
might have come here : but I think it probable, as she
was not in good health, that the Lyttelton tragedy
has sent her straight home, Lady L. having been
(and she married Lord A's own nephew) her intimate
friend for years. The next swell I am expecting is
T.G. Baring Lord Northbrook, he has written twice
to tell me to write whether I am here, and I expect
him to land at Brindisi on the I2th or I4th and
then he comes on here. On the i4th F. Lushington,
my most partickler friend comes to stay (I hope) a
good ten or fourteen days, so there is a plethora of
friendship all in a lump. I wish for all that, you
were coming too, but I fear milady will never cross
the Channel again, as she hates the sea so : and
without her, you are not likely to come. . . . But I
strenuously resist all "acquaintance," my idea of
happiness in life, such as we can get, growing more
distinct as I grow older, (and I am 64 on the I2th)
195
Later Letters of Edward Lear
and more remote from noise and fuss. At the very
door of St. Peter of the Keys, I shall stipulate that I
will only go into Heaven on condition that I am
never in a room with more than ten people.
Yes, John Symonds is very pleasant, but I wish
he were stronger : he over works himself. When
next you meet him, he will amuse you by telling you
of an interview between him and Dr. Congreve
Comtist, etc. The Doctor is very queer on sorr
points, and lectured J.A.S on writing so much. H
is indeed furiously excitable on many points, ar
believes one should write on high (moral subjects, <
(social
not at all. ... His two sisters have been stayin
here two or three months, with my next door neigl
bour Walter Congreve, and I regret to say they g
to-morrow. Two more delightfully pleasant, wel
informed, and accomplished ladies I have nev<
met. . . .
Concerning the present Government, it seems i
me that the " Empress business" is far worse tha
folly I : and I sometimes think that the Right Ho
Gentleman and Novelist Charlatan at the head
H M's Government is about the worst R. Republic
going. Anyhow, numbers of Republicans bless hi
for this last effort. But please tell me, (what I canr
understand was not put forth in your House by c
side,) if as Lord Cairns and the D[uke] of Richmc
said, all this fuss about the title is only a pa
1 The proclamation of the Queen's new title of Empress
India, made on May ist, had caused dissatisfaction, as it did
convey the promised statement that the title of Empress sho :
be localised in India alone.
196
India, England, and San Remo
movement, why did Messrs. Henley and Newdigate
vote against it, or refrain from voting for it ? Surely
they are Conservatives if any are alive, . . .
If you are in Bush's shop, ask him to show you
a poem about " Lady Jingly Jones," it comes out in
a new edition of " Nonsense Songs and Stories "
later.
br
. s
"'
Space left for
Smething that has
one out of my
'lead and which I
^an't recall. Oh!
,|ow I recollect.
,/)on't be so long
1 efore you write
.^gain. It is five
months since I
^vrote to you.
.ft J
Yes, Lady Derby, 1 is gone. I
shall never imitate her more.
In later days than those you
speak of, I came to know she
had very many better qualities
than appeared outside, and was
very wrongly judged by various
folk in Knowsley days. Had
her son been Minister now I
believe this Title mess would
not have happened. My old
Corfu friend Sir James Reid
Co-Chief Justice with F. Lush-
ington in Corfft has also died
suddenly, to my sorrow, lately :
he was sixty-nine.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
r CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
August 26. 1876.
r . . The transformation of Dizzy into Earl of
ieaconsfield is an amusing event. What a career
1 Lady Derby, wife of the I4th Earl, daughter of the first
Skelmersdale.
197
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Vivian Grey has had! He told My Lady one
Sunday at Strawberry that the strain of the House
of Commons was too much for him, and that he
hated it as much as he once enjoyed it. But I hear
he was very low when it came to the point. His
loss in the Commons must weaken his party but
there are no signs of political change yet.
" The Bulgarian atrocities" 1 are sickening but
there is no use in speculating about those countries.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
DUDBROOK.
Dec. 22. 1876
... I caught sight one day at Bush's of a pile
of smart red and green books, and behold it was a
new Nonsense Book. I carried off a copy at once,
and much enjoyed it, and many copies have found
their way here since for the Xmas tree etc : I was
glad to meet again in full dress my old friend the
Akond of Swat, whom I had learnt to know in the
undress of MS. I was amused at the sort of con-
troversy that sprang up in the press as to whether
children of all ages did or ought to enjoy the
Lyrics, the result of which was decidedly favour-
able.
1 Mr. Baring, Secretary of Legation at Constantinople, who
was sent to Bulgaria to investigate the seriousness of the
massacres, placed the number of victims at not less than
twelve thousand.
CHAPTER VI
March, 1877, to October, 1878.
SAN REMO AND ENGLAND.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
HOTEL DE LONDRES,
SANREMO.
15 March 1877.
I AM in such great sorrow and distress that I am
obliged to turn to real friends in the hope of
their sending me ever so little a line by post, so that
I may feel myself less alone than I am. . . .
My dear good servant and friend George Kokali,
who during nearly twenty-two years has attended
me and served me and nursed me in illness with
a faithfulness which better masters than I have had
few chances of obtaining, has been growing weaker
and weaker for months past. Ever since his dread-
ful dysentery in Ceylon he has been weaker, but the
deaths of his wife, mother and brothers all at once
on his return seemed to paralyze and change him,
and although his second son has come to him here
for a year and a half yet he has gradually failed,
and two weeks ago he told me that he could work
no more, but would like to go to Corfu to see his
199
Later Letters of Edward Lear
other two children. I had no doubt as to my duty.
We are not here to receive good service for years,
and then, on its ceasing, to turn round, and say we
are quits and can do no more for those who have
never given us anything but faithful help. So at
once I set off with him to Corfu, my task greatly
lightened by Vice-Consul Congreve's son Hubert
who went with me.
The journey from Ancona to Brindisi was terrible
one long snowstorm, such as has never been
known so far south. At Brindisi, two feet of snow !
and no ship could leave the harbour. I was therefore
compelled, after bringing poor George to within
twelve hours of his home, to leave him there, and I
came back through Naples and Rome, reaching
Sanremo on the i3th.
Naturally, servants can't be got on a sudden, and
still more naturally I am the last man to take to
educating new servants at aet. 65. So for the present
darkness I have taken a room at the Londres close
by, and come over to work here. Lord Aberdare has
kindly advanced jioo on his picture, so I am in the
money sense afloat. And a cousin of Lady Clermont,
Lord Clancarty, has lately bought two drawings, where-
by tin is not wanted, though poor George's advanced
wages (for how can I allow him to be without money
in Corfu ? ) and all this journey are a pull on the
foolish purse.
Meanwhile I have telegraphed, but can get no
answer, and I do not know if George has crossed,
or is lying ill at Brindisi. I shall probably, if he gets
worse, go again south to Corfu ; for to do all one can
for whoever has done much for us is a consolation.
200
8 *
O , j>
"2f
S a ^"
u
I
San Remo and England
I must stop. Only adding that Earl Grey's speech
in the Lords I has given me the utmost pleasure just
now. Will nobody " move " for papers concerning
Russian " atrocities" in Poland and elsewhere?
A friend writes, staying in a house when the late
Premier was a guest " Gladstone in most respects is
a pleasant old gentleman enough : but on the subject
of Turkey he flares up to a white heat, and one's
impression is, either that he is more or less insane or
about to be so, or that he does all this screaming as
a bidding for power." I prefer the former view,
honest but enthusiastic semi-madness ! !
P.S. On leaving George at Brindisi, he said these
words ever ringing in my ears. " My Master, so
good to me and mine for so many years, I must tell
you this I shall never, never see you more. I know
that Death is near and ever nearer."
HOTEL DE LONDRES. SANREMO.
18. March 1877.
Though I wrote to you so lately as the i5th
(I addressed the letter to Strawberry Hill,) I must
send a few lines to say that last night I got your
sad letter written on the same day ; strange yet
some comfort that both of us were employed at the
same time in communication of sympathy.
1 Lord Grey admitted that the Turkish Government was bad,
but he contended a change of Government would not improve
it. He was in favour of the principle of non-intervention, and
consequently opposed the institution of the proposed Inter-
national Commission, or the giving of local autonomy to the
revolted provinces.
201
Later Letters of Edward Lear
The sudden death of Ward Braham, 1 (which I
had not seen any notice of,) must indeed be of great
affliction to you and My Lady. I am extremely
sorry for you both, but most so for her, for Ward
Braham's wonderful spirits and merriment cannot
be replaced : yet the memory of her continual kind-
ness to him must I hope soothe and comfort her
not a little in her distress. It was most sad that
you were neither of you with him at the last, and
it seems an additional sorrow that by care the
calamity might have been avoided altogether. But,
as you say there is no help for it but to learn
submission, and go on hoping that some other day
may bring together again those who are scattered
now. But it will be long before Lady Waldegrave's
kind heart will cease to feel keenly the wound this
loss has made ; her knowledge of your complete
sympathy with her grief and your ability to console
her, being the best safeguards for her return to
calm.
But what a world it is ! Yet being what it is
I begin to see more and more clearly that to kick
and repine is only to add to one's misery. The
prompt and earnest recognition of all this "forza
maggiore " being right and for our good in the
end, must surely be our wisest move.
Cannes has been cold al solito. Here, on my
return, I find my garden one blaze of flowers, and
the worst winter being a sharpish wind now and
then, which howbeit, never prevents any but very
1 Lady Waldegrave's youngest and favourite brother. He
died in a few days from congestion of the lungs. He was im-
proving but had a relapse.
202
San Remo and England
far gone invalids from going out. . . . You will be
glad to know that yesterday brought me letters from
Giorgio's Sons : G. and Lambi got to Corfu on the
6th and for the present poor G. is not worse.
14 April 1877
I am still living on from day to day partly at
the West End Hotel (it is the house Lady Kay
Shuttle worth built, and looks into my garden,) where
I breakfast, dine and sleep, partly at my own Villa,
which I go up to and open every morning and
where I lunch on cold meat (with my cat), and work
pretty hard all day except on Weddlesdays, when
I have people to see my Vorx of hart and when
happily some drawings are now and then sold. Lord
Windsor bought two last Wednesday, but the season
is now pretty well at an end though on that day
42 people came to my rooms. I am at work on 12
drawings for Northbrook and 3 for Canon Duck-
worth, and I hope to finish all these in 10 days'
time : I wish you could see them. After that I
finish one of Lord N.'s 2 large oil pictures and
Lord Aberdare's : and then Louisa Lady Ashburton's
big Kinchinjunga views, putting the last finishing
to a " Mount Tomohrit " and a "Crag that fronts
the evening" which she has likewise bought. My
coming, or not coming to England will depend on
when I complete these works. If I come, it will
probably be in July, to stay with F. Lushington,
and not take a lodging. I try to look forward to
hard work as the only mode of living in comfort,
and a vast semi-composition of Enoch Arden
together with an equally large Himalayan subject,
203
Later Letters of Edward Lear
are the dreams of the future not altogether dreams
though since the designs are already made.
8 DUCHESS ST.
PORTLAND PLACE.
28 May. 1877.
I am here : but the upset of my Sanremo house
the deaths of my brother, 1 and of Digby Wyatt,
and a heap of other bothers have made me u far
from a pleasant " companion.
At present I am (and shall be for ten days)
arranging a gallery here, for drawings, and for
Lady Ashburton's and Lord Northbrook's works
which I want to exhibit for the better chance of
getting some new commissions. Tickets shall be
sent as soon as ready.
My brain is in so bewildered a condition from
the contrast of this infernal place with the quiet
of my dear Sanremo that I have nearly lost all
ideas about my own identity, and if anybody should
ask me suddenly if I am Lady Jane Grey, the
Apostle Paul, Julius Caesar or Theodore Hook, I
should say yes to every question. . . .
Since I began this I have seen the death of David
Urquhart 2 in the paper had I known of it before
I should have written less nonsense.
8 DUCHESS ST.
PORTLAND PLACE
WEDDLESDAY BORNING.
25 July, 1877.
Many thanx to My Lady and you for remember-
1 One of the two in America.
2 Married to Fortescue's youngest sister (see p. 138, vol L).
204
San Remo and England
ing of this child. But on Saturday and Sunday
I am booked (an old engagement and of my own
fixing,) to James Hornby I of Eton. So I propoge
coming to you on Sunday the 3Oth and also stay-
ing Toosdy night if that is agreeable. . . .
I wish My Lady could have seen these two large
pictures, of which my friend and admirer Sir
Spencer Robinson 2 says "there are no such pictures
in England." (!)
Both " Northbrook " and "Aberdare" are greatly
pleased with their paintings, but several bad accidents
have happened by people injuring their brains from
standing on their heads in an extasy of delight,
before these works of art.
What however is pleasant is this that at no pre-
vious period of female English costume could ladies
1 Rev. James John Hornby, D.D., D.C.L., third son of Admiral
Sir Phipps Hornby, K.C.B.; Head Master of Eton from 1868-
1884; Provost of Eton since 1884; died in 1891.
3 Admiral Sir Robert Spencer Robinson, K.C.B., Controller of
the Navy, married Clementina, daughter of Admiral Sir John
Louis, 2nd Bart. He was the son of John Friend Robinson,
prebendary of Kildare.
205
Later Letters of Edward Lear
have so given way to their impulses of admiration
without affronting the decencies and delicacies
whereas now they can postulate theirselves upside
down with impunity, and no fear of petticoatical
derangement.
Earl Somers 1 was here yesterday very unwell,
it seemed to me. Also Marchioness Tavistock 2
which was lovely to behold.
Then follows the last letter I can find
ever written by Lear to Lady Waldegrave :
31. July, 1877.
I shall trouble you with this gnoat because the
chances are that I shall not see you again before I
go out of England, ... I have to remain with my
nose at the Grindstone to finish one of the two
large Northbrook pictures, so as to take it down
to Stratton with as little delay as possible.
1 The third and last Earl, husband of the beautiful Virginia
Pattle, daughter of James Pattle, H.E.I.C.S.
2 Lady Adeline Somers- Cocks, daughter of the 3rd Earl
Somers, married the Marquis of Tavistock in 1876, afterwards
the loth Duke of Bedford.
206
San Remo and England
After witch, and another visit to my sister, I
shall go south like the swollers.
So I wish you goodbye, with many good wishes
for a pleasant Autumn, and many thanks for much
kindness. Both you and Chichester have always
been very kind to me.
But, unless you both come to Italy, I fear it will
be a long time before I see you again, if at all.
To Lord Carlingford.
8, DUCHESS STREET,
PORTLAND PLACE.
1 6. August, 1877.
I send this, just to ask you if you are likely to
be in town again and if so about when, so that
I may perhaps have a chance of seeing you before
I go.
I staid five days at Stratton, 1 with great satisfac-
tion to myself, if not to others. Only the Arthur
Ellis's were there, besides casual neighbourisms etc.,
and quiet perpetual prevailed, greatly to my pleasure.
Northbrook has now made his house wonderfully
beautiful by his excellent arrangement of his Uncle's
pictures, and the last addition was a large Indian
landscape by Lear, four more of whose pusillanimous
pigchurs adawn other pawtions of the house. I was
extremely pleased at Lord N[orthbrook] being so
gratified with the " Plains of Bengal," for I had taken
a great deal of pains with the painting, and small
blame to me, seeing how kind he has always been.
I could not have supposed that any man could be
1 Stratton, near Micheldever, in Hants, Lord Northbrook's
country seat.
207
Later Letters of Edward Lear
so completely the same as N[orthbrook] is after
such a varied life as he has led. And this holds
good also regarding Lady Emma, 1 who is exactly
the same sweet dispositioned, simple unaffected lively
girl now that she was when she was eight years
old, only that she now has the judgment and tact
of a woman of forty at the same time with her old
childish simplicity not to speak of her additionally
playing well on the Organ, driving famously, and
being the blessing of all the village of Stratton as
to care of its inhabitants. I was frightfully sorry to
come away, and have been in doubt since whether
it isn't better (as Mrs. Leake used to say,) to make
life generally odious and dreary, thereby preventing
regrets at leaving it.
The Northbrookians came up with me yesterday,
and are gone to Lord Hardinge's, and afterwards
(Saturday) to Tapley Court.
As for me I am become like a sparry in the
pilderpips and a pemmican on the Housetops, for
only Lady Robinson and the Alfred Seymours are
left in town.
8 DUCHESS ST. PORTLAND PLACE.
22 August 1877.
Many thanks for the nib cheque just received,
leastways last night, when I came back from Admiral
W. Hornby's, where we had endless talk of old
Knowsley days that are no more not to speak of
salmon grouse and champagne. . . .
I lunched with Lady Grey yesterday, she is eighty-
eight, but scarcely altered except in being lame, . . .
I was disgusted at having to dun you, but there
1 Lady Emma Baring, Lord Northbrook's only daughter.
208
San Remo and England
were eight others similarly to be extracted from,
and the nine altogether left me in dismal tinless-
nesses. . . .
P.S. Of Carlingford all nature knows
He paid his debts he blew his nose.
On the 1 3th of September, just after his
return to San Remo, Lear set off again to Corfti
to see his old servant George Kokali.
VILLA EMILY. SANREMO.
7. October, 1877.
While at Corfu, I fell in with an old (Maltese) ser-
vant of James Edwards (Colonel Bevan Edwards R.E.)
who had travelled with his master, me, and George, in
1857. And when I came back here, finding myself
disappointed about getting a servant of Mr. George
Howard's, I telegraphed for this same Filippo Bohaja,
who not being in service now, but willing to come to
an old friend of his former master, came here on
September 3Oth : and by October 4th, I, (who have
been living at an Hotel since George left me in last
February) have once more got into my own deserted
villa, where, though things are not as they were in
poor George's time, I am thankful to say I am very
tolerably comfortable. For Filippo is a very decent
and active man and a good cook ; the worst is
however that he is not likely to remain, all Maltese
being given to homesickness !
VILLA EMILY. SAN REMO.
28 October, 1878.
Thank you for your congratulations about George's
return. It is really almost unreal, his recovery, the
209 o
Later Letters of Edward Lear
continued recurrence of Dysentry and Liver illness
having kept him for fourteen months mostly in bed,
and often apparently about to die. But some new
system of medicine (Iron I think?) was applied, and he
rallied ; and his doctor wrote to me that a sea voyage
and completely new air might possibly restore him.
So in June, I sent for him to come by sea to Genoa :
and he got there, a mere skeleton and unable to walk.
But I thought I would run the risk, and took him
straight up to Monte Generoso, where he grew
better in a fabulous way, and in six weeks was able to
sleep, eat, and walk as he had not done for three
years. Before we left in September, he walked about
Como, carrying my folios etc, as he used to do twenty-
four years ago. And now he is here and just the
same orderly good active man as ever ; and everyone
says he looks ten years younger, as he really seems
to be. I sent him back to Corfu lately to fetch his
second son, who is with me now as under servant ;
for should any relapse of his father's health occur,
it seemed better to me and to Lushington (in whose
service three of George's brothers were formerly),
that I should be able, as I grow older, to fall back
on a service and servant I could really trust. So
you see we are just now as before the fathers fell
asleep, George, Lambi, myself, and the excellent
Foss *&g$iW now eight years old.
" Whom God hath joined, let no man put asunder,"
so I can't well desire that you should come here, for
I am sure Milady never will, and you wouldn't be happy
without her ; so I must go on for the few remaining
years of life, writing, and not speaking to you,
210
San Remo and England
inasmuch as I do not at all think I shall come to
England again. Some people are older at sixty-seven
than others and I am one of those, though I am very
thankful to say I am generally in good health ; and
the interest I have in my very beautiful terrace garden
is always a delight. I have also now a large Library,
and can lend a hundred or more volumes to invalids
during the season. My hair likewise is falling off,
and I rejoice to think that the misery of hair cutting
will soon cease. Moreover I have lovely broad beans
in April and May, and the Lushingtons come and stay
with me, so that altogether I should be rather sur-
prised if I am happier in Paradise than I am now. . . .
Last winter was a bad one for my Water Colour
Gallery, only one j drawing having been sold, and
had it not been for Jones Lloyd and poor Richard
Bright who bought some small oil paintings I should
have come to grief. (Bye the bye, the Gent who
bought the Seven Pound drawing was an " Analytical
Chemist " whatever that may be : and there is a Lady
here who deranges epitaphs as famously as Mrs.
Malaprop. " I hear," quoth she " that the person
who has taken the villa next door is an epileptical
chemist " " Good heavens ! " said her husband,
"what stuff you talk !"" Well" said Mrs.
" you needn't be so sharp if one makes a mistake
of course you know I meant an Elliptical
Chemist!") 1 . . .
1 Lear was fond of quoting this lady. In another letter he
says : " Mrs. Malaprop here is reported to have said lately
4 Disintegration cannot be called a virtue, yet it is useful some-
times when sheer supposition would be useless.' " For " disin-
tegration " read " dissimulation " " for supposition " " oppo-
sition."
211
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Monte Generoso is quite the best place of the sort
I have known, the walks delightful and the views
wonderful.
You could see the flies walking up the Cathedral of
Milan any afternoon. The thunder storms were a
bore though. A queer little boy three or four years
old at the Hotel had never heard thunder, and asked
what that big drum was, " The noise is made by God
Almighty " said his mother. " My ! " said the child
" I didn't know he played on the Drum ! What
a big one it must be to be heard all the way down
here! ..."
Did you see that Lady Lisgar l is married again ?
They put her first marriage at 1855 but it was 1835,
and she must be at least sixty-three. Mrs. Culley
H anbury and Hon. Mrs. Freemantle came yesterday
they were Culley Eardleys in old days. (When
they were children, I called at Sir C. E. with Lady
Davy, and the three little Eardleys came in and said
"Papa is coming directly ; we have been in his study
and have blessed privileges." What are those ? " said
Lady D[avy.] " Blessed Privileges " said the two
girls again. " But what ? can you tell me, little
man" (to the brother) "Yes" quoth he, "they are
the tops of Papa's three eggs, and we three eat one
apiece in his study.")
A huge Hotel is to be built just below my garden :
if it is on the left side it will shut out all my sea view ;
a calamity as afflicts me.
1 Adelaide Annabella (Baroness Lisgar), daughter of the
Marchioness of Headfort by her first husband. After Lord
Lisgar's death she married Sir Francis Fortescue Turville,
K.C.M.G.
212
San Remo and England
(The Ahkond of Swat would have left me all his
ppproppprty, but he thought I was dead : so didn't.
The mistake arose from someone officiously pointing
out to him that King Lear died seven centuries ago,
and that the poem referred to one of the Ahkond's
predecessors.)
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
DUDBROOK.
BRENTWOOD.
Jan. 10. 1879.
... Here is a story better to tell than to write.
Two Yankee ladies overheard at the Paris Exhibition,
looking at two rather nude statues one inscribed
lo the other Psyche. Says one to the other " I
can't bear No. 10 and they're both very indecent,
but Pish is pretty I like Pish."
213
CHAPTER VII
July, 1879, to July, 1882.
SAN REMO AND SWITZERLAND.
A SUCCESSION of troubles and mis-
-^*- fortunes, treading closely on each other,
made the next two years perhaps the darkest
in the painter's life. So strongly is this
reflected in the letters that we have thought
it best to make the briefest summary of events
and take up the thread of correspondence
later on.
In the last chapter Lear refers to the
building of a new hotel at the foot of his
garden, which eventually blocked out his
sea-view and spoilt the lighting of his studio.
There is no doubt that he felt this very
deeply and as a personal injury to himself,
and the bitterness of spirit that it engendered
affected his whole outlook on things. At
length he came to the conclusion that the
only remedy was to build another house,
214
San Remo and Switzerland
and in the spring of 1880, his friends
advancing the money, he bought a fresh
piece of land at San Remo and started the
building of the Villa Tennyson, in which he
lived till his death. But it was never the
same as the Villa Emily ; he confessed that
it was " too palatial-looking" to please him.
Constant and serious domestic worries
added to his difficulties. He returned to
San Remo in 1879 to find his servant Lambi
Cocali, old George's second son, gone com-
pletely to the bad. There was nothing to be
done but to pay his debts and to send him
back to Corfti. However, within a year he
had to be fetched back by George, and his
eldest brother, who had fled from Corfti to
avoid conscription, gradually drifted to San
Remo to take up his position in the Lear
household, where there was also a little
brother Dimitri, about thirteen or fourteen
years old. In the spring of 1881, Giuseppe
the gardener, another trusted servant, died,
and almost every month during this period
was saddened by the loss of old friends
innumerable.
But an infinitely greater loss had overtaken
Lord Carlingford. . . .
On Saturday, July 5, 1879, London society
215
Later Letters of Edward Lear
was horrified to hear of the death of one who
was so widely known and so much beloved.
Lady Waldegrave had entertained a large
party at Strawberry Hill the previous week-
end to meet H.R.H. the Crown Prince of
Sweden. The guests had noticed that their
hostess was not quite herself, that her general
spontaneous good spirits seemed forced and
not as usual. After the departure of her
guests during the early part of the following
week, she had appeared tired and restless ;
but nothing in the shape of alarm of any
kind was felt. But on the Thursday, in the
small hours of the morning, Carlingford had
awakened to find his wife in a terrible state
of breathlessness and collapse beside him.
The local practitioner was at once called in,
and her London medical adviser telegraphed
for. She became calmer, though still remaining
very weak and prostrate. The London medical
man advised her removal to town to be
under his own special care. She drove up to
7, Carlton Gardens, with Carlingford, arriving
there about six o'clock on the Friday even-
ing. She was in such a weak state that she
had to be carried from the carriage to the
library, where a bed had been prepared for
her to pass the night. Still the medical
216
San Remo and Switzerland
man inferred there was no cause for alarm.
When she was put to bed about nine o'clock
at night, Carlingford was quite unaware of
the great gravity of the situation. He re-
mained with her, lying down on a sofa in
the room. In the small hours of the
morning she became very seriously worse,
and at once Carlingford grew alarmed, and
in his now terrible anxiety sent for Sir
Andrew Clark. On his arrival he saw that
the case was hopeless, finding she had very
serious congestion of both lungs complicated
by heart weakness. She rapidly grew worse,
and sinking into a state of coma, died about
nine o'clock on the Saturday morning.
Carlingford's despair was terrible, and
added to his sorrow was stinging self-
reproach that he had been blind to the
advance of this fatal and sudden illness.
If anything could have given him relief it
was the universal appreciation of, and sorrow
at the loss of the woman he loved so tenderly
and devotedly.
Carlingford never really recovered from
this blow, and indirectly it was the cause of
the illness the results of a chill begun at
San Remo, from the effects of which his
nerves never thoroughly recovered.
217
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
GAND HOTEL VARESE,
VARESE
MlLANO.
gth July 1879.
I have just seen the London and Paris papers of
Monday, and know to my great sorrow what
has happened.
At present I only write to say that I am thinking
of you and grieving for you.
God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
EDWARD LEAR.
MONTE GENEROSO,
MENDRISIO,
CANTON TICINO, SUISSE.
July 20. 1879.
MY DEAR CHICHESTER FORTESCUE, I have been
waiting to write to you until some time should have
passed, so that I could hear somewhat of you during
the two weeks which have now gone by since the
dreadful loss you have been called on to suffer.
Northbrook most kindly wrote me a long letter on the
8th, Lord Somers and Alfred Seymour on the day
after : and now Lady Clermont sends me a letter
telling me of much I had only conjectured or wished,
and besides these, I have had many extracts from
various papers forwarded to me, and latterly I have
read full accounts of the Funeral at Chewton. What
gives me most pleasure is to know that you are likely
218
San Remo and Switzerland
to remain at Chewton, 1 and that the Clermonts will
be there also, perhaps too Mrs. Urquhart.
My first feeling, after I had heard of your sorrow,
was a difficulty in figuring to myself what you,
now so cut off from what has been your regular mode
of life for sixteen years would do : and I fancied that
a complete change might be good for you, travel
etc. : but I have now come to think quite differently,
and believe that, since you have succeeded to all
Lady Waldegrave's estates, 2 you will be happier in
following out the line of action you two have so long
worked at in common, and in making all that was her
interest your own, only with a single instead of double
will ; though who shall say this with certainty ? For
that such a spirit and intellect as hers should cease to
exist appears to me a most foolish notion (spite of
Congrevism and M. Milnes) ; and if it exists still
who dare say that it does not take as much or more
part in what you think and do as when she was on
earth and living ? So I have brought myself to feel
that your increased responsibilities and interests will
be your happiest onward lookout.
I do not suppose any human being who has
suffered so great a loss as you have, can, notwith-
standing its severity and extent, have had more to
be thankful for in the shape of consolation as the
immense amount of sympathy shewn you must have
brought. For, as one paper well observed, "no
1 Chewton Priory, Lady Waldegrave's Somerset estate, and
in the churchyard of the beautiful old church she lies
buried with her brother Ward Braham, and since 1898 with
Carlingford.
2 For life.
219
Later Letters of Edward Lear
person who has occupied so high a social position as
Lady Waldegrave, ever had so many real friends
and so few enemies," of which last indeed I cannot
think she had any. Her universal kindness, and, as
Northbrook writes, " her charity in the largest and
most general sense of the word, "are even more obvious
now than her social and intellectual abilities, and it is
quite certain that no one can in any degree fill her
place.
To myself her loss is that of one of the most unvary-
ingly kind of friends, not only as helping me so much
in my profession, but in many other ways, and for a
long period of time ; see how many pictures and
drawings she has had of me and of her own choice
(for decision as to what she liked in art was not the
least remarkable of her qualities) and remember how
constantly she welcomed me to her houses with un-
mixed friendliness, unaltered in the smallest degree
by her enormous popularity ! It is true that I may
or should recollect that the fact of my being one of
your friends might have had much to do with these
matters, yet I am fully certain that this was not
wholly so, and that I may think of her as a true
friend to myself for my own sake. 1
With the curious accuracy of memory I have always
had, I can recall every minute particular of my stays
at Nuneham, Strawberry, or Chewton, and it is only
within the last ten days that I have begun actually to
realise the details of days past as well as the present
calamity. If I feel this, what and how much must you ?
to whom life as suddenly as it were become a blank,
1 Lady Waldegrave was devoted to Mr. Lear for his own
sake, as well as Carlingford's.
220
San Remo and Switzerland
and all life's double charm cut in twain ? Let me,
as well as all who love you and her memory, hope
and believe that every month and year will brighten
your path by little and little, and that you will come
to feel that even in sorrow there are sources of joy.
I should like at some future time to know how
much, if at all, you were prepared for this afflicting
blow ; for in one paper I read, " Lady Waldegrave
had been for some time in ill health," but I do not
gather thus much from other notices. I should also
like to know how poor Charles Braham and Constance
Braham are : likewise Lady Strachey. (I saw by
one paper that two brothers I never heard of were
at the Funeral, " Augustus Braham," and " Major
Braham." I Possibly a mistake for Charles.)
I have come up here for a time with my old Suliot
servant, who had a bad accident a fall lately ;
partly for his health which is mending in this wonderful
air, and partly to relieve my own eyes by the greens
and blues of distance over Lombard plains, instead of
the frightful glare from the dreadful building across
and before my unfortunate villa. . . . Sufficient unto
the day is the weevil thereof, and I am obliged
always to put a curb on the descriptions of my
miserable bothers, which after all I must learn to
weigh against the many friends and blessings which,
up to 6;Jaet, I have had and known. . . .
Up here we have had Lord and Lady Aberdeen,
pleasant folk, and she singularly nice : but they went
yesterday. More to my gain were Dean Church of
1 Augustus Braham was Major Braham, an elder brother to
Charles and Ward, her two youngest and favourite brothers.
221
Later Letters of Edward Lear
St. Paul's, 1 (Charles M. C's 2 brother) with various
Moberlys and Coleridges, all a " superior" lot. And
the Dean giving me two commissions for 30 guinea
drawings of " Argos " and of this place, did not make
his stay less agreeable. We have now only (of
English) our San Remo Chaplain Fenton and his
daughter : he a very good man but narrow, and a
contrast to Richard Church as to religious views. So
the Aberdeen Haddo memories seem to have been,
(for Lady A. gave me a memorandum of Lord H. the
5th Earl), vide the Haddo convictions that " a
pursuit of art cannot be reconciled with the religion
of Christ"!! !
Now, my dear Chichester, goodbye and God
bless you. . . .
Yours affectionately,
EDWARD LEAR.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
July 25. 1879.
MY DEAR OLD FRIEND LEAR, I am very glad to
have your affectionate letters and with your genuine
practical considerate friendship you take great trouble
to arrange for meeting me, so as to give me the con-
solation of your company. There is indeed no one I
could better be with than yourself, but as I have tele-
1 Richard William Church, Dean of St. Paul's from 1871, wrote
several volumes of sermons and various Essays and Biographies.
2 Charles M. Church, one of Lear's ten original friends,
Principal of Wells Theological College, 1866-1880. Residentiary
Canon since 1879. Author of several works connected with
Wells. Has kindly lent two drawings for this book.
222
W O =
3 i
< % I
as 5
i-s
ll
San Remo and Switzerland
graphed, it is impossible. I must stay where I am
for how long I know not for everything is dark to
me. I have business that ought to be done ; I am
crushed to the earth, and have no energy to travel
and above all, I will not run away from my awful
misery and suffering. I am quite alone, having sent
Constance to Lady Strachey and although this house
with all its memories of love and life and happiness
is dreadful, it is best for me now to bear my loss in
this way. I see the Stracheys from time to time
and Philpott. 1 Perhaps I may let my sister Harriet
Urquhart come next month. This day three weeks
ago she was alive, and I had no suspicion of danger
until 10 at night, after I had brought her up to
Carl ton Gardens from Strawberry Hill by her doctor's
orders by 10 the next morning she was gone
she died in my arms without a sigh. I do not
understand it yet there was congestion of the lungs,
but the heart failed. Since 1851 I have been absolutely
devoted to her body and soul. Since 1863 we have
been devoted to one another. I will Write more
another time.
Yours gratefully and affectionately,
CARLINGFORD.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY.
Aug. 21. 1879.
A line, my dear Lear, to thank you for your
letter. Yes, I have done best in staying here,
although I surfer terribly. I will not withdraw my
1 The Vicar of Chewton Mendip Church. A remarkable and
very able man. A nephew of Bishop Philpott of Worcester.
223
Later Letters of Edward Lear
word "practical," my dear old friend, as applied to
your friendship, which is ready to show itself in
acts and in taking trouble. I knew of your very
great misfortune at San Remo, but not the full extent
of it not how utterly the hotel had spoilt your house
and garden. I hope you are better than when you
wrote, and the eye mending. Don't go to New
Zealand without full consideration. If I am alive
in January and you are at San Remo, or to be got
at elsewhere, perhaps I may see you. The Cler-
monts I came here yesterday very kind and affection-
ate but the contrasts are heartbreaking.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
MONTE GENEROSO,
MENDRISIO, CANTON TICINO,
SUISSE.
Sept. 9, 1879.
I have got several good drawings of various spots,
old George Cocali carrying a huge portfolio as in
early days, and sitting quite still for 2 or 3 hours at a
time with the aid of a cigar. (George is greatly
interested by the " Life of Jesus Christ," as set
forth in the very curious groupes at the 14 chapels :
but he is exercised fiercely about the possible baptism
of the Madonna, and asks me if her son baptized her,
or if John the Baptist did? or if it were necessary to
baptize her at all?" To which I answer gravely,
" Etc TCLVTTIV rrjv Karaorao-tv 17 eijii^tjSoAta a vat KaXriTEpa irapa
TYJV jSejSatorrjra, tort etc julcra ri)c EvayytXiag Scv evjOiaKerat
TtTrore KaBapbv." 2
1 See p. 93.
2 " In this our mortal state doubt is better than certainty, be-
cause in the Gospels one finds nothing which is perfectly clear."
224
San Remo and Switzerland
Poor old George has got into wonderful
health once more, along of the Monte Generoso
air and food, but he is greatly aged and is no
longer " come era " I any more than his master. . . .
The festa of the Madonna at this place was also
a wonder in its way some 3 hundred thousand people
from all parts of North Italy came up the hill, and
for all this vast crowd there was needed no soldier
or police whatever ! ! I should be glad to know
what " Protestant " collection of such numbers can
say as much? . . .
I shall be very glad to know how you are one
day. I suppose the constant failure of the unique
quickness of intelligence which she had, must be
one of the greatest trials (as contrasts), you have
to suffer. Apart from the affection of one, (so
suddenly divided from his other half as it were,)
thus cruelly ended in this world, the terrible ceas-
ing of your intellectual comfort and sympathy with
her must indeed be hard to bear.
Of your coming south there will be time to write.
God bless you, my dear 4oscue.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY.
BATH.
Oct. 6. 1879.
... I expect my R. C. sister Harriet Urquhart 2
and her two girls today for a few days, before she
returns to Montreux. She is an admirable character,
with unbounded powers of venerance and devotion,
1 As he was. 2 See p. 204.
225 P
Later Letters of Edward Lear
and no sense of probability or criticism. But " sacred be
the flesh and blood, to which she links a truth divine."
That reminds me of In Memoriam. I always
was fond of it but during these dreadful three
months it has been constantly in my hands. I have
found it soothing and strengthening both by its varied
experience and expression of sorrow and loss, and
by the deep inward trust in God and a future life
which is worked out. I am grateful to its author,
and I wish you would take an opportunity of telling
him so. But, my dear Lear, my loss is terrible to
bear what you say of what I must feel the want
of is very true, but only a part of the truth. Her
delightfulness as a companion was only exceeded
by her wonderful touching unselfish love.
Lear to Carlingford.
19. October 1879.
The loneliness of this place now is frightful to
me : there is no possibility of intellectual converse
with Riviera people who only think of money, money,
money. I don't believe there are six of the town
people who wouldn't believe me if I told them that
Calcutta was inside Madras, and both of the cities
in Bombay, with Australia, Japan and Jamaica all
distinctly seen from the shore.
Lear to Carlingford.
21 December 1879.
MY DEAR FORTESCUE, I was very glad to get yours
of the 1 5th, and to hear of your plans. I can well
understand how leaving those homes particularly
Chewton troubles you, but nevertheless I believe
226
al
& "5
OS r-< *So
W c .2
u 2 5
San Remo and Switzerland
the move to Cannes will be the very best thing for
you under all circumstances. When you get there,
write to me. I do not think I can come to meet
you there, but I will come to Mentone (Hotel du
Pare) and we would drive back here. . . .
However as you have more trouble than I, I will
try to be a good boy and as cheerful as possible. We
will go and see Ceriana Taggia and what not.
In January Lord Carlingford left England
for Cannes, for the marriage of the present
editress, Lady Waldegrave's niece and adopted
daughter, to Sir Edward Strachey's eldest
son. He then passed on to a long-promised
visit to Lear at San Remo, taking rooms
at the Hotel Londres quite near to the
Villa Emily. He saw much of Lear and took
walks with him, and the two lonely men
were mutually benefited by this sojourn to-
gether. But Carlingford found the horrible
bugbear of the Hotel was really preying on
his friend's mind, and welcomed the building
of the new Villa Tennyson. He was called
away from San Remo to Montreux by the
sudden illness of his sister, Mrs. Urquhart.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA EMILY. SAN REMO.
$oth March, 1880.
Your letter from Veytaud, which came yesterday
morning, was a relief, as I had fully expected from
227
Later Letters of Edward Lear
the manner in which Mrs. Urquhart's doctor wrote to
have worse instead of better news. I sent your letter
to Constance. She and Eddie are coming to lunch with
me today, which is very amiable of them. We are to
have a Pilaff, a roast fowl and some squints with pears.
I regret to state that they never got any marmalade, for
the porter of the Londres to whom was committed the
potly perquisite, declared that the pot fell down and
was broken and the contents lost : a catastrophy which
may or may not have occurred. I am also sorry to
tell you that there is no longer any hope of my being
able to forward to England that old gentlemen who
watched over my pease and Beans, for 2 nights ago
the wind blew him down, and his head and one leg
came off, so that he is not in a condition to travel. . . .
These young people have made themselves very
agreeable, and George had made a good luncheon.
Constance has read me part of your letter, which gives
a better account of poor Mrs. Urquhart. . . .
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
April Phiffth 1880.
... I have been very glad to know that Mrs.
228
San Remo and Switzerland
Urquhart has improved in health. ... I am
always so glad that Sanremo was such a suitable place
for you, and I miss you " quite too awfully " as
Baring says is the proper term for anything superla-
tive. . . . As for the pot of marmalade, Giorgio
jumped to the same conclusion as yourself viz. that
if the marmalade did not lie on the ground, the
Porter did. . . .
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
HOTEL DES ALPES,
MONTREUX,
April 19, 1880.
One line to tell you what will surprise you, though
not more than it does me, namely that I start for
England today, and expect to be in London tomorrow
evening. I had not reminded anyone in the political
world of my existence and really expected and hoped
to be let alone, but a letter came two days ago from
Lord Granville hoping that I should return to public
life, and virtually calling on me to do so ; he also
mentioned Harrington's wishes. This letter gave me
four and twenty hours of the most painful perplexity and
struggle of mind that I have ever gone through, but I
ended by answering that if an office were offered to
me in which I could be useful, I would not refuse to
work, and having taken this step, I feel it would be
foolish not to return to England at once. I dread the
prospect of this plunge more than I can tell you, but I
fear still more to refuse an opportunity of work which
comes so utterly unsought, I think I should not be
satisfied with myself. But the sense of having to
decide and undertake all this alone is very terrible to
229
Later Letters of Edward Lear
me. Possibly nothing may be offered that I would
take we shall see. This for the present must not go
beyond yourself. I look forward to seeing you in
London.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA EMILY,
2ist April 1880.
MY DEAR 40SCUE, I had already written an en-
vellope to Hotel des Alpes, and was sitting down to
write to you, very uneasy at not hearing from you,
and thinking Mrs. Urquhart might be worse, when
your note of the iQth, came.
My delight is not to be expressed. I am only too
glad there is no chance of my seeing Lord Granville
or Lord Hartington at present, for though I know
neither personally I should certainly embrace them
both with effusion. . . .
I trust to be in London by the 27th. When you
can write, send a line to
care of Franklin Lushington, Esq.,
33 Norfolk Square, W.
230
San Remo and Switzerland
33. NORFOLK SQUARE W.
June >jth 1880.
Here's a shindy ! Bush l is become a Bankrupp ! and
as F. Lushington ain't home I don't know what to do
a big paper is sent to me as a Creditor shall I have
to go to prison ?
Yesterday at Lady Ashburton's 2 I saw my " Crag
that fronts the even " let into the wall in a vast black
frame all the room being gilt leather ! Never saw
anything so fine of my own doing before and walked
ever afterwards with a nelevated and superb deport-
ment and a sweet smile on everybody I met.
33. NORFOLK SQUARE W.
June nth 1880.
Last Saturday and Sunday I was at Bimbledon if
not Wimbledon ; with Gussie Parker and her poor hus-
band. She certainly is an admirable creature, and now
I know all the circumstances of old Lord Westbury's
marriage, and of her own, I admire her more than ever. 3
A good many of my drawings and paintings are sold,
but not enough to balance my dislike of London, the
expense of coming framing etc., etc., and my horror
of the dark and filthy climate.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHRISTMAS DAY,
1880.
I was glad to get your word of good wishes yester-
day, which I return with all my heart. But anything
approaching to joy or hope in this world at all events,
is for me altogether impossible. . . .
1 His publisher. 2 At Kent House, Knightsbridge.
3 Lord Westbury died 1873.
231
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I have been reading about you lately in an old diary
of '57, when you stayed with me at Red House, 1 and
painted there two Corfus and an Athos, and just after-
wards I was with you more than once at Strawberry,
and you sang one night in the gallery, lighted by a
single candle, those to me now dreadful words " Oh
that 'twere possible, After long grief and pain " and
you told me what a wonderfully delightful creature
you thought her.
Lear to Carlingford.
VILLA EMILY. SANREMO.
23 Feby 1881.
George for whom you kindly enquire, is, I am
thankful to say, better in health than he has been for
3 or 4 years but just now in sad distress as you will
hear presently. Little Dimitri his boy is as good as
he can be, but also very sad. . . .
But alas ! for good Giuseppe, my gardener for 5
years, after whom you also kindly enquire ; he died
yesterday and was buried to-day. The loss to us is
not to be told, for not only was he thoroughly honest,
active, and punctual, industrious and intelligent, but
he was also constantly cheerful and obliging, and poor
little Dimitri's only companion. Old George, who is
a man by no means given to complimentary phrases
says " Se mai un'uomo era quasi quasi lo stesso come
un angelo, era lui." 2 And he says often, " in all these
1 Red House, Ardee, the residence of Mrs. Ruxton, Lord Car-
lingford's aunt, and left to him at her death (see remarkable
account of her by Lear, vol. i., p. 53).
2 "If ever a man was very nearly the same as an angel, it
was he."
232
Q w
S w
H*
s
co
San Remo and Switzerland
five years Giuseppe has never once had to be blamed
for anything either of omission or commission." All
the town say he was the steadiest and best of all the
youth, and even now it seems a dream that we can see
him again no more here. For up till last Saturday
evening he was at work as usual, although he had
a cold, brought on by his unhappily having kept
working in the rain with bare feet. On Sunday this
settled into Rheumatism, and on Monday Dr. Angelo
told me he could hardly have a chance of life, as
Tetanus was commencing. And early on Tuesday
the poor good lad died.
This morning, after the funeral, I gave 100 francs
to his mother to pay all expenses of burial and
Doctors, and I try for some consolation in losing so
good a servant, by thinking I have always treated him
well. Indeed I know that he has been heard to say,
" Mio padrone e un S ignore che sarebbe un piacere di
servire senza paga." x I am going to try another
gardener recommended by Pia Gullino, but we shall
long miss merry little Giuseppe even if his successor
be good, (he was only 21).
VILLA EMILY. SAN REMO.
^th March 1881.
Happily his place is already filled up and
I hope satisfactorily, by a friend of the lad who is
gone, and who was with him at Pia Gullino's (the
Florists) for 2 years. Pia Gullino recommends
this Youth (Erasmo Parodi), as being full of good
qualities, and old George says having well observed
1 " My master is a gentleman whom it would be a pleasure to
work for without being paid for it."
233
Later Letters of Edward Lear
him " Sara buono, siccome ha una faccia sincera, e
perche lavora sempre e parla poco." * I send you a
Photograph of poor Giuseppe which I think you may
care to see if not to keep.
Summer found the painter for the last time
in England, amidst the bustle that he detested,
paying his usual round of visits to the North-
brooks, Tennysons, Lushingtons, Husey
Hunts, to Gussie Parker (Bethell) and her
paralysed husband, and a host of others.
London he found more hateful than ever,
he was " horribly exasperated by the quantity
of respirators or refrigerators or percolators
or perambulators or whatever those vehicles
are called that bump your legs with babies
heads. There are also distressing Bycicles
and altogether the noise and confusion so
bewilder me that I have little knowledge of
my personal identity." The bankruptcy of
the publisher, in whose hands were the Corsica
and Nonsense books, did not improve matters,
and he returned to the Riviera in no cheerful
frame of mind.
Of his new villa the faithful George writes
"The new House he go on like one Tor-
toise."
1 " He will be good, as he has an honest face, and because he
always works and does not talk much."
234
San Remo and Switzerland
Lord Car ling ford to Lear.
BOURNEMOUTH.
April 10. Si.
One line to tell you myself the event which you
will have seen reported in the papers, that W.E.G.
has offered me the Cabinet place vacated by the
Duke of Argyll's resignation of the Privy Seal.
The sudden and unexpected coming of this invi-
tation upset me more than I can tell you and it
is indeed a painful effort to force myself back into
the world without my only, my perfect companion
of the inmost heart, but employment is good for
me, and I felt that I had no right to refuse. I
have a most friendly welcome from Northbrook
already. It is pleasant to think that we shall be
colleagues. I saw the Governor of the Bank of
England (you know who that is H.G.) r yesterday
and never saw a man so delighted as he was at my
return to office.
Lear to Lord Car ling ford.
VILLA EMILY. SANREMO.
12 April 1881.
I am so immensely delighted this morning to see
by the paper that you have become Privy Seal instead
of the Duke of Argyll. 2 I had the envellope of
this written to answer your last of March 21 St., but
1 Henry Riversdale Grenfell, elected Governor of the Bank
of England in April, 1881. He had been M.P. for Stoke-upon-
Trent. Carlingford's greatest friend, dating back long before
his marriage.
2 Lord Carlingford succeeded the Duke of Argyll as Lord
Privy Seal in April, 1881.
235
Later Letters of Edward Lear
now I am in such a runcible state of mind by this
news, that I must postpone writing a regular reply
for a bit.
Besides the pleasure I have in knowing you will
be in constant various interesting employ, and in
continual contact with old friends, I am so delighted
that you have so much higher a post than the Agri-
cultural " Imposition."
Though indeed I am very imperfectly acquainted
with what you have to do as Lord Privy Seal. One
thing is however certain, and reflects honour on my
foolish self for congratulating you since if you had
been Board of Trade, I might have hoped to get
that board some day for artistic uses when you had
done with it, whereas the Privy Seal is I suppose
all gold and hamythists and hemeralds.
My love to Northbrook and kiss the Duke of
Argyll from me.
VILLA EMILY. SAN REMO.
14. April 1881.
I wrote with a ludicrous violence directly I heard
of your acceptance of the Post the D[uke] of Argyll
had vacated ; and after two days I am still happy
that you have done so, in so far as I feel sure that
regular occupation and being again connected with
so many of your oldest friends and of your own
position, must needs do you good. I may also
(although a dirty Landscape Painter,) add that it
is not disagreeable to me as an Englishman that
high places should be filled by persons who have
what your dear Lady called a " statesmanlike mind"
than by such as my very constant and kind friend
the Duke of Argyll, whose mind is distinctly not so.
236
San Remo and Switzerland
One of my friends (who knows a good deal of
events and men) writes : "I am sorry that Lord
C[arlingford] is going to back Mr. Gladstone] in
measures which are so violent as even to have choked
off the extreme Mac Allum More," but I cannot
altogether agree with this, because in the position
you now occupy, it seems to me that you may be
a means of preventing the rapid descent of dema-
gogues to depths we shall not easily rise from.
I ain't a going for to write a sermon on Politics :
a man who is only an outsider cannot be competent
to do so. Nevertheless one may have one's little
thoughts on the doings of politicians, and, not to
speak of observations which she who is gone once
made to me just after the passing of the Irish
Land Bill, my opinion of Mr. Gladstone] as the
leader of a great country has long been made up in
my foolish mind, from many sources, and all that
has happened in the last two years fully bears out
Her prognostications and confirms the correctness
of Her estimation of character.
The Minister Lord Aberdeen once said : " Eng-
land, and perhaps other countries, will ever be
governed by whoever can talk best and most."
And my notion is that certain good men would not
act with such a one, did they not conscientiously
think that any Tory Government would be worse
than any Liberal or Radical one could possibly be.
But as I said before, landscape painters are not bound
to be Politicians, although I could not wholly credit
Sir G. Briggs and others who loudly proclaimed
the impossibility (two years ago) of Mr. Gladstone]
wishing to take office again. And respecting the
237
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Transvaal, I cannot help seeing that Col. Kruger *
quotes Mr. Gladstone] as distinctly evoking revolu-
tionary feelings by his Mid-Lothian speeches : nor
can I help reading the speeches of a well-known
and tried Liberal, Sir J. Lubbock, as] to the character
of the Boers. Neither is my forlorn head able to
shunt itself off from the vast mass of testimony in
favour of Candahar's being retained 2 : and if I am
told " Lord Lawrence thought otherwise," I cannot
help reading that, (when Sir John L[awrence]) his
opinion was completely set aside by Lord Canning
on the occasion of his recommending our retreat
from the Punjaub, advice which three such men as
Chamberlain, Baird Smith, and Nicolson, stigmatized
as playing into the hands of the mutineers by lower-
ing our prestige.
I am glad you liked my sending you poor little
Giuseppe's likeness. I have put up a little tablet
at his grave, and am much in favour of all gregarious
gardeners. Giuseppe's successor does very well,
though he has not all Joseph's good qualities,
what though he knows more names of flowers.
I have really begun 5 of the 300 Tennyson illus-
trations, but as yet with little success. . . . When the
1 The Boers of the Transvaal were in full revolt, and the annexa-
tion of the Transvaal was much condemned by the opponents
of the Government. Sir J. Lubbock advocated it as a check
to the tyranny of the Boers over the natives. Mr. Kruger at this
time was Vice- President of the Boer leaders and Brandt
President.
2 The Indian policy of the Government attracted more in-
terest in the House of Lords than elsewhere, Lord Lytton and
Lord Cranbrook advocated the retention of Candahar, whereas
Lord Northbrook opposed it.
238
San Remo and Switzerland
300 drawings are done, I shall sell them for ; 18,000 :
with which I shall buy a chocolate coloured carriage
speckled with gold, and driven by a coachman in
green vestments and silver spectacles, wherein,
sitting on a lofty cushion composed of muffins and
volumes of the Apocrypha, I shall disport myself
all about the London parks, to the general satis-
faction of all pious people, and the particular joy
of Chichester, Lord Carlingford and his affectionate
friend, Edward Lear.
The new Villa Tennyson is nearly done, and the
old flower supporting arches are all removed hence
and put up there. 8 men is a digging and a manur-
ing all day and costs i6s. a week. In the house
here, abomination of desolation begins to show,
for 56 immense cases already hold all books and
drawings. . . .
NB. You need not kiss the Duke unless you
wish. ; *
Note. (Queen's message to Mr. Grey) This re-
lated to some comments of mine on Sir T. Martin's
life of P[rince] Albert which were shown to H. M.
and which H. M. was pleased to say gratified her.
By which knowledge this child was also, though very
unexpectedly gratified.
239
Later Letters of Edward Lear
VILLA EMILY,
SAN REMO,
April 15^, 1881.
CARISSIMO SIGNORE PHOCA PRIVATA,
(which properly translated is,
MY DEAR LORD PRIVY SEAL),
I send you two photographs which I think you
will like to have. That of old Giorgio is certainly
excellent, and they say mine is so also.
VILLA TENNYSON.
SANREMO.
RIVIERA DE GENOVA.
ITALIA.
2. June. 1881.
In the intervals of business claimed by that Phoca,
please write me only one line, by way of good omen,
as I want you to be one of the first to send to
me in my new house. I left Villa Emily two days
ago, and am at the Hotel Royal for feeding and
sleeping, but go to the V. T. to unpack all day.
George, with pots and pans comes on Saturday.
I am somewhat better in health but far from well.
If you happen to have a copy of the photograph
of dear Lady Waldegrave that with a white Parasol,
I should very much like one.
P.S. I liked your speech in reply to Lord Car-
narvon. 1 The stupid papers said " this was the
first time Lord Carlingford had spoken as Privy
Seal " ; as if you had been speaking constantly for
two years.
1 I can find no mention in the Times of this speech. Lord
Carnarvon spoke on the Transvaal question on May nth, but
Lord Carlingford did not take part in the debate.
240
g =
W u
S I
W
>
SI
3
11
11
fc l
A
San Remo and Switzerland
You may suppose the Farquhars visit was a great
pleasure to me.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
BALMORAL CASTLE.
June 7. 81.
... I write a line to send you at once my best
and warmest wishes for the Villa Tennyson, and
for your prosperity and happiness at all events
for your peace, within its walls. I did not expect
to hear so soon of your migration having taken
place. You must have an immense amount of trouble
and labour and bother which I wish you well
through. At all events you have no longer that
great white wall before your eyes and you can
look over the Mediterranean.
I am looking on a very different scene Scotch
hills sprinkled with snow. I arrived here on duty
a week ago today, and the weather was beautiful
for some days, but winter has returned. The Queen
is most gracious, and everyone kind from H. M.
downwards, but I shall be delighted to get away.
I hope to be in London before the end of the week.
Even taking this as a party in a country house,
I am very unfit for it. I long for the end of the
Session, when I can get away to the Priory. The
Castle contains the Princess Beatrice, Prince Leopold,
two nice little Princesses of Hesse (daughters of the
Princess Alice), Miss Pitt, Miss Lambert, Lady Ely,
Col. Byng, Sir H. Ponsonby etc :
241
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
HOTEL MENDRISIO,
MENDRISIO. CANTON TESSIN
SUISSE.
31 July 1881.
As I am going to try tomorrow to get up to
Monte Generoso, and as I may tumble down half-
way up and eggspire in spite of any help old George
and his son may be able to give me, I shall use
up this sheet of paper, which has fallen out of my
writing case, and which I knew I had begun to
write on but had mislaid.
Mostly in these days I have been thinking about
dear Arthur P. Stanley, 1 and I wish I could lay
my hands on all his letters. In one of the latest
he reminds me of how we went together to St.
Kiven's cave in Ireland ann. 1834. And in another
he says (after the death of Mary Stanley) " many
friends send me condolences ; but I ask myself,
should not a man to whom God has given such
a Mother, such a Wife, and such a Sister as I have
had, rather look for congratulations ? "
Altogether I have not known in my life of fifty
odd years among various characters, any one so
thoroughly a real Christian as Arthur was. While
I write comes a letter from your Phoca predecessor
Duke of Argyll, chiefly about a drawing of Damascus
I had sent him. He writes " The dear Dean is
an immense loss to me as to hundreds of others.
We shall never again see anyone the least like him.'*
1 See p. 191. Dean Stanley died on the i8th of July, 1881,
and was buried beside his wife in Henry VI I. 's Chapel.
242
San Remo and Switzerland
The Duke says that Lady Frances Baillie I lies in
great danger, and I do not write as yet to Catherine
Vaughan or Eleanor Tennyson till I hear how things go.
The little bitter fools who point out that the "fuss "
made about A. P. S. is explained by his being of
a " high rank " family, and that his principal claim
to notice was his having written many " interesting
and pleasing books," are quite welcome to their com-
ments. The Positivists hated him heartily, as did
such men as Bishop Lincoln, Denison and others,
all for similar reasons viz, that he could view human
nature through other than narrow spectacles. How
for very shame Wordsworth who opposed him
always could open his lips in praise of him I
cannot understand : my own feeling is that the man
who refused a Dissenting minister a tombstone
marked "the Rev." was not fit to black the shoes
of Dean Stanley. In many respects Arthur was
not like a priest, for he was tolerant of all creeds
and thoughts, which hardly any priests have ever
been, vide the Inquisition, Calvinism, &c. &c. &c.
Catherine S. 2 was the least interesting of the Alderley
Rectory circle, and now all are gone, she only ex-
cepted, the B[isho]p and Mrs. S., Mary, Owen,
Arthur, and Charley.
I have had a windfall just lately, the sale of an
old picture by me at Christie's, a Philse. So I
am sending $ to poor little Underhill,3 who is
1 Lady Frances Anne Baillie, daughter of the 7th Earl of
Elgin,* and aunt of Eleanor Tennyson. She was a Lady-in-
Waiting to H.R.H. the Duchess of Edinburgh.
* Wife of the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, Head Master of Harrow.
* 3 His lithographer.
243
Later Letters of Edward Lear
badly off and has been ill. (If you hear of anyone
wanting a portrait copied, U. can do that well.)
HOTEL MONTE GENEROSO. MENDRISIO.
CANTON TESSIN. SWITZERLAND.
22nd August 1 88 1.
I was vastly pleased to get your letter of the i7th
yesterday, as I did not expect you to write, con-
sidering all the fuss you have to live in. That the
Land Bill l has at length passed must be a great
relief to you. Regarding your share in its becoming
law, there seems no difference of opinion whatever.
Even one of the bitterest enemies of Gladstone and
his Government writes to me " Lord Carlingford
throughout this affair has seemed to me as the most
sensible, clearheaded, conciliating and statesmanlike
exponent of a measure I dislike." I, an ass, have
been much struck with the said qualities in your
speeches, though I do not understand the matter
a bit.
You must be right in not going into Somerset-
shire for a few days only, since you are to go to
Balmoral on the 4th. When there, if Miss Stop-
ford is with the Q[ueen], you would find Sanremo a
subject you could both know of. Miss S. passed a
longish time there, and naturally all the donkies said
she had come to look out for a house that H. M. could
1 The Land Bill of 1870 had been a failure ; in the new
one the principle of " the three F's " fair rents, free sale, and
fixity of tenure was conceded. The Bill was discussed for
months. In the House of Lords the second reading was moved
by Lord Carlingford in a very able speech ; the debate having
occupied the entire Session, the Bill was finally passed in August,
1881.
244
San Remo and Switzerland
go to. But, as you are aware, Sanremo has no privacy
whatever, and the Q[ueen] could not possibly be com-
fortable in a stay there as on L. Maggiore. . . . The
Duke of Argyll is a kindhearted man, and no mistake.
I hope his second marriage l will be a happy one. Of
dear Arthur Stanley, I must add a word, spite of the
Duchess's opinion. In the very last letter he wrote, I
find these words relating to my Tennyson illustrations :
" In old Oxford days, Mrs. Grote used to call me,
' the Poet of Ecclesiastical History,' she would have
called you 'the Painter of Poetical Topography/ '
I know very well how sad you must continue to
feel ; but work is the very best palliative or antidote
you can have. Even with me there are constantly
cropping up recollections of Milady's sayings, or of her
various qualities. One of those was her very extra-
ordinary intuitive perception of what was beautiful in
Landscape. She always " spotted" so to speak the
most interesting I had, and a few days back, as I was
making a little drawing of " Tor di Schiavi," I remem-
bered how she liked that picture. It used to be at
Chewton.
Of Morier, 2 as he is now Minister in Spain, would
you recommend me to make a rush there, and see
Granada and Seville &c. &c. under his ambassadorial
shadow ?
I think of staying here till the second week in Sep-
1 The Duke of Argyll's second wife was a daughter of the ist
Bishop of St. Albans and widow of Col. the Hon. Augustus
Henry Archibald Anson, V.C.
2 Robert Morier, an old friend of Lear's, had a long and
useful diplomatic career ; from Madrid he went to St. Petersburg
as ambassador in 1884 till his death in 1893.
245
Later Letters of Edward Lear
tember. ... As for old George, he is perfectly changed
since he came up, and seems ten years younger at
least. Speaking of age, I do not think you knew
Edward Trelawny, who has just gone set. 89, the
last of the trio of which Byron and Shelley were the
other two. I used to see him pretty constantly for-
merly at dear Digby Wyatt's, and he always talked to
me a good deal because I knew all his haunts of
Greece. Also, speaking of age, the late Lord Derby
gave me, when I went to Rome in 1837, an introduc-
tion to a Mr. Earle of Liverpool, then residing there.
Mr. E. had one daughter who just then married a
magnificent Scotch Colonel, much older than herself,
he being far over 50, she perhaps 30. Lady
Georgina Grey l writes to me that this same Colonel
(Caldwell) has just taken rooms "for the summer"
at Aix les B[ains], he being in very hearty good
health (though blind), and in his 99th year ! . . . Write
whenever you can and whenever you can't.
P.S. The great drawback here is the noise of
children. There are about a hundred people at meals,
and the row of forty little ill-conducted beasts is simply
frightful.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
i6th October 1881.
I see by my paper of today that "Lord Carlingford
has gone to his residence at Teddington." Now, that
means Strawberry : I have heard for some time past
that you are going to sell it to Brassey, but as you
never named this to me, I took no notice of the report,
any more than I do of all others I hear, such as, e.g.
1 Lady Georgina Grey, sister of the 3rd Earl Grey.
246
San Remo and Switzerland
one at a table d'hote (nearly a year ago ! !), when I
heard a man loudly affirm that you were to be married
immediately to Lady S l
I wish to inform you of two fax (or, if you prefer to
spell that word, say facts), ist, do you know there
was an Earl of Carlingford living in Ireland not
twenty years ago ? Also that he had a daughter,
"Lady Emily Swift" (whom my informant had fre-
quently met). Both father and daughter are now
dead, and only a few people ever called them by the
above named titles, as the Earldom was given by
James the 2nd about 1700 A.D.
The 2nd of the fax is this. An acquaintance of
whom I saw a great deal in India, and who was very
amiable to me there, came over from Nice to lunch
with me last week. While he was looking at some
drawings, his profile being towards me, I was struck
" all of a heap " by the likeness of the eyes and
upper part of the face to your Privy Phoca-ship. As
I could not but observe that he remarked the manner
in which I examined him, I thought it better to explain
why I did so, as it might have been considered ill-
bred. Whereon I said, " I was so struck by the
likenes of the upper part of your face to that of a
friend of mine, Lord Carlingford, that I could not help
observing it markedly."
Whereon, said my friend, "Well; I don't know
that I ever heard the likeness noticed before, but
our great grandmother was one and the same person ;
so a family resemblance is not at all impossible."
1 There were many false rumours of the re-marriage of
Carlingford, which, when he heard of them, greatly annoyed
him.
247
Later Letters of Edward Lear
This individual was Lord Ralph Kerr I ; but it had
never occurred to me that Antrim and Lothian
Kerrs were the same lot. I wish his wife grand-
daughter of a person who was very kind to me in
former days Sir Edmund (afterwards Lord Lyons)
had been able to come here too.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH,
Oct. 20. 1881.
. . . When I was on the point of being made a
Peer, I had a letter from a Mr. Swift protesting
against my taking the title of Carlingford. I wrote to
Sir Bernard Burke, and he assured me that there
was no one who had the faintest claim to it. Your
discovery of a likeness between Lord Ralph Kerr
and myself is curious, The Lady Lothian 2 in ques-
tion (who was a Miss Fortescue) was a beauty, painted
by Sir Joshua. My dear old Lady,3 when a child,
lived with her for a time.
1 Lord Ralph Drury Kerr, heir-presumptive to the Marquisate
of Lothian, married Lady Anne Fitzalan- Howard, daughter of
the i4th Duke of Norfolk.
2 Elizabeth, only daughter of Chichester Fortescue, Esq., of
Dromiskin, co. Louth, by the Hon. Elizabeth Wellesley, eldest
daughter of Richard, ist Lord Mornington, and aunt of Arthur,
Duke of Wellington.
3 Anna Maria Fortescue, married W. P. Ruxton, Esq., of Red
House, Ardee, co. Louth. Carlingford's old aunt was niece
to Lady Lothian, being the younger daughter of her eldest
brother, Thomas Fortescue, Esq., of Dromiskin.
248
San Remo and Switzerland
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA TENNYSON. SAN REMO.
2yd October, 1881.
You won't be pleased to know that I have been ill
again, and that the frequent fits of faintness and
increasing weakness have made their impression on
me. This morning I felt so ill that I resolved to tell
old George how probable it is that I may be called
away quite suddenly, both because I think those
about one ought not to be left in the dark as to what
goes on, and because I wanted him to know where my
Will was to be found, and to tell him it is to be held
fast by him until in the hands of one of my three
Executors, F. Lushington, Bernard Husey-Hunt, or
Hubert Congreve. (Meanwhile the said Will can't
be found anywhere, but I suppose will turn up some
day.) Poor old George went to Sanremo at once, and
got a tin mould in which he made a pudding of bread
and custard no French chef could have surpassed,
" for," said he, " only tea, tea, tea is not proper."
Whether from the pudding or what is unknown, but
just at present I am most certainly rather better. . . .
As for Strawberry Hill, that is only another
instance of the folly of giving credence to reports.
I, also, wish you could sell it, but I did not know you
could do so. At Monte Generoso another absurd
report was talked of, and as I was appealed to, I
was obliged to reply, though as to Strawberry Hill
and Lady S. you may suppose I held my peace.
Some people at table got to talking about A.
Tennyson. " Mrs. T." said a man, " is the Gardener's
Daughter of his poem." Someone demurred to this,
249
Later Letters of Edward Lear
and a third called to me as known to be acquainted
with ^ as to whether the fact was so or not.
"Not 'at all," said I, "Mrs. Tennyson was a Miss
Selwood, a niece of Sir John Franklin." " That may
be," said the obstinate speaker, "for T. was married
before the present Mrs. T's time, but the present
Mrs. Tennyson his second wife was the gardener's
daughter, as I am in a position to know." So I said
no more ; but, writing to Eleanor Tennyson, (who has
written to me beautifully about her dear good Uncle
Dean Stanley) she says how amused they all are with
this bosh, which I had retailed to them.
Lord Airlie's l death was very sad : fancy my re-
membering Lady A. as a little girl, and giving her
drawing lessons. I am grieved to hear about Lord
Clermont and Irish bother. Without going into
" poltiks," I suppose everyone will allow that the
wickedness of Irish doings for more than a year past
can hardly have been exceeded in any mediaeval time
or times. You may, or you may not agree with me,
but as an outsider and by nature and habit a Liberal,
I have a set feeling that gross and violent Radicals
ought never to govern or help to govern any more
than virulent Tories. It is true that an outsider can-
not know the difficulties of a government whom they
should propitiate, include, or exclude ; but that don't
alter my opinion that those who strive to set class
against class, and are as violent in their speech as they
are crooked in their principles ought not if it is
1 The Earl of Airlie died suddenly on September 25th in
Denver City, Colorado, where he was on a visit with his son.
He was the 7th Earl, and had married a daughter of the 2nd
Lord Stanley of Alderley.
250
San Remo and Switzerland
possible to prevent their being so to be trusted
with power. . . .
It may well be, however, that you and a few
more conscientiously, believe that the weight of
your own characters outbalance the Demagogue
authority. And, as I said before, none but those
who are really behind the wheels and springs of
governing power, can fully account for what takes
place. Puzzles is puzzles : among others, the
absurdity of the Opposition papers ridiculing the
" Naval Promenade " as folly and vanity, whereas
to me, the surrender of Dulcigno x appears the steady
and well-conceived action of one of the most
1 A naval demonstration had failed to procure the cession
of Dulcigno early in 1880. It was finally surrendered to the
Montenegrins at the end of November.
1251
Later Letters of Edward Lear
powerful ministers our country ever had, inasmuch
as by the cession Russia was given a port on the
Adriatic (or Mediterranean) ; for it is impossible to
deny that Montenegro the country of savage
mutilators is as much a part of Russia as Hesse-
Darmstadt is of Germany. (If Sir G. and Lady B.
heard this said, they would shout with laughter and
ridicule, but if you left the room, they would go
so ^.C^^Jvfe/ Equally a puzzle it is that Lord
Salisbury last week said " it did not matter to
Europe one pin if Montenegro got a bit of land
north or south " whereas the position made all
the difference possible.
Yrs. Affey.
EDW. LEAR.
Saith the Poet of Nonsense
4< Thoughts into my head do come
Thick as flies upon a plum."
$ist October. 1881.
Ten days ago, if you had been here, you would
as I nearly did, have half fallen off your chair
for laughing, for all at once good old George
came in, and standing before me said: " Master,
I come say something." I thought it some fresh
bother about his sons, and I said " Very well,
George, say on." " Master, / think you take more
wine than be is good to you ! " said G., in almost
the same words used by another friend twenty four
years ago. But I found that he had discovered
that the shop Marsala I have been drinking to be
252
San Remo and Switzerland
half spirits. Yet, as I had drunk it with Appollinaris,
I did not find that out. He had suspected it by
its smell, and putting a spoonful near the fire, it
all flared up. So I merely take one glass at lunch
in one of his wonderfully good puddings bread or
rice (my whole luncheon) ; and at 6.30 I have
a glass or two of red wine of the country. This
diet has evidently agreed with me, and I have not
only got generally better, but have slept well. Old
George is astonishingly well, and delighted at
getting poor Nicola into his place as underwaiter
at a small new hotel u du Midi." No father can
ever have been more unselfish and affectionate than
this good Albanian. . . .
I have put out all my sketches of Ravenna today,
to work from on the four oil paintings I am hoping
to finish. The two galleries one exactly like that
at Villa Emily, the other a room only for the $
designs are pretty well ready as to hooks and
laths for hanging ; but only twelve of the Tennyson
designs are at all far advanced. . . . The big Athos
I have been altering greatly, and nearly destroying
in parts. Do you remember that large Ilex tree
on the left? That is all painted out, because I
found I had not studied Ilex enough for so im-
portant a sized effect ; and instead Pinus Maritima,
which I have studied, is to grow instead. . . .
I knew you would not blow me up about my
political maunderings, because you are of the few
who understand this queer child. My dear North-
brook don't, and once wrote to me about "the
Turks, of whom you think so highly" meaning
the Turkish Empire. Now, no one has ever heard
253
Later Letters of Edward Lear
me say a word in favour of the Turks as Government
or Governors. I always "held them abominable."
But there is a wide difference between that opinion,
and the stirring up bad and narrow feeling by
screaming that " all Turks are unmentionable and
brutes," and that " Russians are tolerant and the
forefront of civilization." On the contrary, the mass
of the Turkish people not their governors is
honest and noble : and the Russian is the beau
ideal of intolerance and lying. The wicked cruelties
of the Russians have ever been kept unremarked
by those who have yelled at facts scores of times
less shocking. It is vain to say that Bulgaria is
not Russian, and perhaps the outspoken raptures
of extreme Gladstonian principles express their con-
ditions well, as when our low church parson Fenton
says " Mr. G. is the person appointed to spread
the Gospel, and in no case can he promote that
blessing more widely than by aiding the Russians
to possess Constantinople. ..."
I read that you had been speaking, and rejoiced ;
because (though I didn't read what you spoke) I
feel sure that exertion is the best thing for you.
The life of " endurance " may or rather will, have
its blessings, as probably She also may even now
know. I must read Walpole again before long.
When that ass, ever so long ago, said he " knew "
you were going to marry Lady S. "almost directly,"
I felt inclined to throw a glass of water in his face,
but providentially didn't.
254
San Remo and Switzerland
Sth. November. 1881.
I shall be very glad of Arnold's book. 1 I had
thought one Levi (or latterly known by some other
name) was the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.
In any case I have been subscriber to that paper
for some twenty years, and have always thought
it among the best published. Indeed I once wrote
to the Editor suggesting the publication in separate
forms, of the leading articles on various toppix.
But they paid no attention to this dirty Landscape
painter.
I2th. November, 1881.
I am so much obliged to you for the lovely book
the " Light of Asia." I have not yet quite read it
through, but two thirds have shown me that it is
one of the most beautiful and noble poems of later
English literature. Some of the descriptions are
wonderful, but one must have been in Injy to fully
appreciate many of them. To me, it appears to
want a glossary; I and others may know what
Devas and Rishtis and what not mean, but the
many do not. If ever I meet with this Edwin
Arnold I shall go down plump on my knees. As
it is, I am about to turn Buddhist as fast as
possible, if not sooner. With regard to the Author
as the Editor of the Daily Telegraph I now do
not wonder at the greatly improved calibre of that
paper, which I have taken in since 1855.2 I have
always however maintained and latterly more than
1 See next letter.
3 Sir Edwin Arnold, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., was on the staff of the
Daily Telegraph from i86i t and later Editor in Chief for some
years.
255
Later Letters of Edward Lear
ever that the D. T. is worth all the other papers
put together for interest and originality combined.
As a ninstance, I take up the paper of two or three
days ago, and send what I have cut out, i.e. the
Leading Articles, and a bit or two haphazard, as
a fair specimint of the ordinary paper. (It is
horridly true that the pestilential postman, or the
newsvendor in London, has given a brutal smell of
paint to this particular copy, so I hope it won't
make you ill.)
I have a delightfully long letter from dear good
Baring today, from Balmoral. Distinctly there is
no doubt Northbrook is an A. No. i man, and a
friend of friends. I had written to him on the very
day (the 8th) he had been writing to me, which is
symphonious and symphographic.
Only think ! Admiral and Lady Robinson I and
Miss Louis, are all coming here (next week, I
believe) for the whole winter. When they wrote to
me of this (which I had no reason to expect) I stood
on my head for four minutes successfully. I am
better in health these four days past.
Yours affly,
EDWARD BUDDH.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY.
BATH.
Dec. 21. 1881.
How are you ? I must have a word with you at
this Christmas time. I hope your bad weather has
1 Lady Robinson's younger sister, both daughters of Admiral
Sir John Louis, 2nd Bart., a distinguished seaman.
256
WATER-COLOUR OF "BECKY," ADMIRAL SIR SPENCER AND LADY
ROBINSON'S PARROT.
San Remo and Switzerland
not continued, and that you have not been without the
soothing magic of the " soft Mediterranean shore."
Sometimes in my desolate life I long to escape to those
influences and still more to your companionship, but I
have my work to do here and must endure. Besides
I am always fancying, and fancying in vain, that some-
thing different from the life of the moment would be
more endurable. . . .
I was glad to find that you enjoyed Edwin Arnold's
Indian poem. I felt sure that you would. I have just
found among my dear Lady's papers copies of his
Oxford Prize Poem. How well I remember it ! she
heard him recite it in the Theatre, asked him to Nune-
ham, praised the young poet and he dedicated his
first volume of verse to her which / to please her, re-
viewed very favourably. Such is life and love.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA TENNYSON. SAN REMO.
12. February, 1882.
All at once I find a letter of your's not marked
" answered," the date being November 7. 1881. But
on looking at my Letter List I find I wrote on Decem-
ber 21 and 25, so that I must have omitted to write
answered, if not to destroy your last letter. On the
whole, as the morbid and mucilaginous monkey said
when he climed up to the top of the Palm-tree and
found no fruit there, one can't depend upon dates. . . .
30. March, 1882.
I had hoped you might be coming to Mentone, but I
generally find that both Newspaper reports and private
ditto are not worth much. Lord Spencer will remem-
257 R
Later Letters of Edward Lear
her me as a friend of Lady Sarah's old governess, dear
good Miss Dennett. There have been already many
absurd rumours about H.M. coming here, and the
other day over a hundred owly fools came up and
stood all about my gate for more than an hour ! but on
finding that no Queen came, went away gnashing
their hair and tearing their teeth. I hope if H.M.
does come, I shall be told of the future event before it
comes to pass, as it would not be pretty to be caught
in old slippers and shirt sleeves. I dislike contact
with Royalty as you know ; being a dirty landscape
painter apt only to speak his thoughts and not to con-
ceal them. The other day when someone said, "Why
do you keep your garden locked ?" says I " to keep
out beastly German bands, and odious wandering
Germans in general." Says my friend, "if the Q.
comes to your gallery, you had better not say that sort
of thing." Says I I won't if I can help it. ...
There seems no chance of the Villa Emily's sale,
... it is becoming a question whether I had not
better sell it for ,2000 rather than keep it. My former
income of over ^100 a year from ^"3500 in the 3 per
Cents, is now gone, and the worry of getting money to
pay weekly bills is not pleasant at 70 aet, when one
had thought to be high and dry above all bothers of
that kind. Nevertheless up to the present Admiral
Robinson's, R. Watson's, Walter Bethell's, and Arthur
James' small commissions keep me afloat, and it is
quite possible that I may even yet tide over difficulties
which at times seem " far from pleasant." Anyhow I
have a vast deal to be thankful for, as the tadpole said
when his tail fell off, but a pair of legs grew instead. . . .
I suppose that, connected as you are with Ireland,
258
San Remo and Switzerland
and naturally cognizant with Irish politics, you have
more on your hands and in your head than the Office
of Privy Seal generally has to attend to. Nevertheless
I have never had a clear idea of what the Privy Seal's
work really is : and my last notion is that you have
continually to superintend seal catching all round the
Scotch and English coasts, in order to secure a
Government monopoly of seal skin and seal calves. . . .
Sometime back when I thought you were coming out,
I wrote the enclosed for your bemusement.
Phoca " nonsense" from Lear to Carlingford.
" Una circostanza curiosa e degna di osservazione
deve anche esser notata, maggiormente perche un
simile fatto non si trova nelle fasti di qualunquesia
altra Corte Reale.
Prima che gli invitati vanno alle loro camera, dopo
che sia partita dalla Galleria la Regina, si vede
entrare, seguitato da 10 domestici vestiti di lusso, il
Presidente del R. Consilio, non pero come Presidente,
ma come Guardiano del Grande Phoca, posto della
piu alta importanza e significanza, e dato soltanto ai
piu fidati, literati, dotti, ed amabili Signori della Corte.
Al fiance del Signore Guardiano, e tenuto da lui
per mezzo di una catena d'ora, il Phoca che non ha
piedi, fa un progresso dappertutto la Galleria, e per
cosi dire, e portato a fare la conoscenza di ogni
invitati. li moto di questo enorme animale non si
puo bene discrivere, siccome la lingua Italiana manca
parola per ben tradurre ' Wallop' o ' Flump? verbi
molti addatati al suo movimento, ma sconosciuti da noi
altri in Italia. Molte Signore si spaventono assai la
prima volta che vedono il Grande Phoca, ma gl'e
259
Later Letters of Edward Lear
strettamente vietato di strillare, cioe 'scream.'
Quando ha fatto il giro di tutta la Galleria, quest'-
amabile bestia si ritira di nuova a Wallop-flump,
insieme con il Lord Guardiano ; e prima di sparire,
quest'ultimo da al Phoca piu di 37 Libre di Maccaroni,
1 8 bottiglie di Ciampagna, 2 beefsteak, ed un ballo di
Lana rossa, ossia scarlet worsted, tutti quale cose sono
portate dai 10 Domestici in lusso vestiti." r
1 " A curious circumstance and one worthy of note must also be
recorded, because a similar fact is not found in the ceremonies
of any other Royal Court whatsoever.
Before the guests go to their rooms, after the Queen has left
the Gallery, the President of the Privy Council is seen entering,
followed by 10 servants in livery, not however as President, but
as Guardian of the Great Seal, a post of the greatest importance
and significance, and only given to the most trustworthy, learned,
clever, and amiable gentlemen of the Court.
By the side of the Lord Guardian, and held by him by means
of a chain, the Seal which has no feet makes its progress all
through the Gallery, and is so to speak, taken to make the
acquaintance of all the guests. One cannot well describe the
motion of this enormous animal, as Italian is lacking in words
that adequately translate * Wallop ' or * Flump,' verbs that well
suit its motion, but that are unknown to us Italians. Many ladies
are a good deal frightened the first time that they see the Great
Seal, but they are strictly forbidden to scream. When it has
been all round the Gallery, this amiable beast withdraws again
with a Wallop-flump, with the Lord Guardian ; and before re-
tiring, the latter gives the Seal more than 37 pounds of macaroni,
1 8 bottles of Champagne, 2 beefsteaks, and a ball of scarlet
worsted, all of which are brought by 10 servants in livery."
San Remo and Switzerland
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
joth. April. 1882.
On Tuesday the 4th, Lord Spencer (having pre-
viously written a note telling me he was coming),
came over from Mentone at i p.m. Old George got
as good a lunch as bephitted the occasion, (a Nomlet
and sardines, and cold
Tongue,) and I think the
President of the Council
enjoyed it. He was, as
always, very nice and
cheery, and Spencery, and
I was very glad to see him,
all the more that he talked
a good deal about you,
who I am glad to know go
out more nor you did.
Naturally, he was not
likely to speak decidedly
either one way or the other
about H.M's coming here,
but I could gather that she
was not likely to do so, all
the rather that I had heard
that most probably she
would not, from another
quarter. To you, who
know me pretty well, I can
safely say that I am glad
she did not, for all courtier necessities are odious to
this child.
I suppose it was known who Lord Spencer was, for
after his visit the most outrageously ridiculous reports
261
Later Letters of Edward Lear
were spread about the Q's coming to see my Gallery.
Among the most absurd was one that old George had
been busy for two days and two nights making
immense quantities of Maccaroon cakes ; for said the
Sanremesi, "it is known that the Queen of England
eats maccaroon cakes continually, and also insists on
her suite doing the same. And there is no one in all
Sanremo who can make maccaroon cakes except
Signor Giorgio Cocali." I told George of this who
laughed a rare act on his part ; and said : " to begin
with, I don't even know what a maccaroon cake is like
and never saw one to my knowledge."
I shall be glad to hear you are back from Ireland,
the which disastrous country pleaseth me not.
Lear to Lord Car ling ford.
May 2. 1882.
On the 1 5th comes, I trust, Franklin Lushington
to stay ten days or so. After that clouds of uncertainty
surround the future. I shall not have strength enough
to reach Monte Generoso any more, though if I could
do so, without doubt the air might do me good.
Possibly I shall continue here and subside gracefully
into the Sanremo Burrowing-ground or Cemetery. I
have lately had another bad attack of illness, but have
sprouted up again for the present, and work a good
deal at times. . . .
It was odd enough to talk about Tullymore with
Lord Roden, Newcastle and the Morne Mountains.
For all that, I am glad that you are away from Ireland,
a country which in spite of all allowances made for
the great sufferings it has endured for centuries from
262
San Remo and Switzerland
England, must ever compete even with Russia (Mr.
Gladstone's land of religious toleration and social
liberty) for filthy and barbarous brutality. I see that
Lord Spencer is going back as Viceroy, but I do not
think anything of these changes, believing as I do that
nothing will satisfy the Irish but separation from
England. . . .
Foss the cat, having taken to sit from 5 to 8 A.M.
under the cage of George's blackbird, since that very
charming animal took to singing, we had very great
hope of our cat's sesthetic tendencies, and had
expected eventually to hear poor dear Foss warble
effusively. But alas ! it has been discovered that
there is a hole in the lower part of Merlo's cage, and
Foss's attention relates to pieces of biscuit falling
through.
Lear to Lord Car ling ford.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
July 2, 1882.
Your letter of the 29th has just come, and thank
you very much for it : it is just like you, writing
directly.
I had to write to Lord N[orthbrook] as you saw on
the beastly Hotel business, and I thought you would
know of poor George from him, without my troubling
you with a separate letter, knowing how much public
worry you must have.
George's eldest son Nicola, aet. 28, has been a great
comfort in this misery. I sent him off to Marseilles,
with letters to the Greek Consul there on the 27th
and his unfortunate father was at length found on the
hill above Toulon, where he had been for three days
263
Later Letters of Edward Lear
with next to no food, his shoes cut to pieces, his
clothes in rags etc. On Friday the 3Oth Nicola
brought the poor dear old fellow back here, but hardly
conscious. Ameglio the Doctor being sent for, pre-
scribed medicine and total quiet and if possible complete
change. And to-day certainly my poor old servant is
better, but in a most sad semisane state yet. He
remembers nothing of what has passed in the last
three weeks. I could not think of sending a
man from whom I have had twenty-seven years
of good service and help, either on to the world,
nor into a madhouse, and so, as Ameglio says
he will most probably recover, I am going to let
Nicola take him up to Monte Generosi at once.
They will go off at 4 A.M. to-morrow and sleep at
Milan, and Nicola will not leave him till I can go up
and take Dimitri.
But I hardly think poor George can again thoroughly
recover : and should he ever drink again he is doubt-
less lost, for all his life. 1 All this fuss, you may
suppose, costs money : but had I been obliged to send
him under surveillance to Greece, that would have
been far more expensive and far more miserable.
Intanto, naughty Lambi, who has been good enough
since his first burst of sins, and who is out of place
along of shut Hotels, is with me as Cook, and he
cooks as well as his Father. Dimitri has come out
most astonishingly in all this trouble : markets very
well and rapidly, keeps the house in order, and is
altogether good and obedient. So after all one has
1 Owing to his troubles and ill-health he had for the first
time in his life tried to drown them in drink with the fore-
going result.
264
San Remo and Switzerland
much to be thankful for, as the Centipede said when
the rat bit off ninety-seven of his hundred legs. . . .
I have still more to be thankful for, my health being
MUCH better. Thanks to Dr. Hill Hassall some of
my ailments are gone. I drink Barolo fully as much
" as is good for me " by way of precaution.
With all this unexpected expense, I do not know
what I should have done had not Lord and Lady
Somers bought a lot of my work ; and as did later on,
the ever irrepressibly kind Northbrook ; so I have not
the additional bother of worry about money at this
moment. Lady Charles Percy's I death was a grief
indeed to me. Miss Percy had been here only very
lately and lunched with me, and took a little Venetian
bottle from me to her mother, who wrote but a very
short while back to thank me. She was the last of my
old Roman friends date 1836-7. . . .
P.S. I fancy my " Taormina Theatre " is visible
now at 129 Wardour St, an' you had thyme 2 go and
Cit.
1 Anne Caroline Greatheed, grand-daughter and heir of the
late Bertie Bertie Greatheed, Esq., of Guyscliife, co. Warwick,
married Lord Charles Percy, 8th son of the 5th Duke of
Northumberland, 1822. Lord Charles died in 1870, and Lady
Charles in 1882, leaving an only daughter, Anne Barbara
Isabel.
265
CHAPTER VIII
August, 1882, to August, 1883.
SWITZERLAND AND SAN REMO.
To Lord Carlingford.
HOTEL MONTE GENEROSO,
MENDRISIO.
CANTON TICINO. SUISSE.
31 st August, 1882.
I OFT EN wish you could come here, if only for
three or four days ; the air is so invigorating,
and the sunshine and beautiful landscape so delightful.
But I know that can't be, albeit I sometimes wish
you were elsewhere than at Chewton, where there are
so many memories to sadden you. The Mundellas I
are all here, and now the Spencer Robinson's are gone,
(they are gone to the Sir E. Strachey's on Como),
I see more of them than anyone. Mary (Miss
Mundella) is wonderfully nice : it is not often one can
walk long walks with a person exceptionally lively and
intelligent, yet never by any chance fatiguing. This
place just now is not unlike the last Day, or universal
1 Anthony John Mundella, P.C., F.R.S., was Liberal M.P. for
Sheffield from 1868, Vice- President of the Council of the Com-
mittee on Education, 1880-1885, anci President of the Board of
Trade, 1886 and 1892-1894.
266
Switzerland and San Remo
judgment, such heaps of unexpected persons keep
turning up. Fanny Kemble, Mazini's widow and
her second husband Professor Villari, 1 (Mrs. M. was
a Miss White her father once M.P. for Brighton)
Charles Acland M.P. all the Webbs of Newstead,
three nice Ladies Hamilton (Earl Haddington's
daughters,) Cross, widower of George Eliot or Mrs.
Lewes, Sir Somebody Baines, Miss Courtenay
etc : etc : etc : I constantly expect to see the Sultan,
Mrs. Gladstone, Sir Joshua Reynolds and the twelve
Apostles walk into the Hotel. . . .
I have left off wine totally, by Dr.
HassaH's order, but en revanche I drink
surprising quantities of beer, and shall
bye and bye become like this. Never-
theless, as my health is so much im-
proved I shall go on perseveringly
beerdrinking. . . .
The villa is still unsold, though there is yet a
shadow of a hope that it may be bought for ^2500,
and glad should I be if it were ! Not that our dear
good Northbrook wants his ^2000, but that I hate
the thought of having borrowed it, notwithstanding
when I did so the property seemed safe to sell for six
or eight thousand pounds. . . . You, of all persons in
the world, ought not to wish to do anything more for
me, since you have always shown yourself a most
thoroughly kind friend, and, as well as Milady, have
constantly assisted me. So even if I am in want of a
penny bun to shirk starvation, you are by no means
1 Professor Pasquale Villari, the celebrated Italian historian,
married Linda, daughter of James White, and widow of Signer
Vincenzo Mazini.
267
Later Letters of Edward Lear
called on to give me one. But, . . . Rev. E. Carus
Selwyn has just guv me a very pleasant commission
for some small drawings, and has besides bought a
small copy of my big Cedars of Lebanon, long ago
left unfinished. Thus, I shall doubtless stave over the
autumn and winter, spite of Giorgio's wants and my
obstinate persistence in not consigning him to perdition.
It will not be the first time in the life of this " dirty
landscapepainter " if he has to begin life again in a
pusillanimous pugnacity of pennilessness. As for the
big Enoch Arden I have good reasons for that
apparent asininity ; I cannot continually work on any
small work coloured or not, and I cannot sit idle. It
is therefore absalomly necessary for me to have some
subject of interest to grind upon, and that subject must
be large to save sight, or I could not touch it. I do
not suppose I shall ever live to finish Enoch Arden,
nor perhaps to complete my hundred Tennyson sub-
jects, nor to wind up Gwalior, Argos, and other
commenced paintings. But a man can but "try/' and
the mere act of " trying " goes, I take it, a long way
to stave off mental and fizzicle maladies. I am greatly
surprised to hear that Strawberry Hill is still unsold.
I have heard it so distinctly stated that it was disposed
of, (for such and such sums,) various times over, that
it is a good bit since I have thought of it as a vast
American Hotel. I ought to have remembered the
follies of other reports about you. (Bye the bye one
paper had last week " The President of the Council
on leaving Osborne is going immediately to visit Lord
Carlingford at Chewton.") . . .
Agusta Bethell's husband, Adamson Parker, died
suddenly three weeks ago, and she is now a widow. I
268
Switzerland and San Remo
wish I were not so "dam old," but I think 71-72 will
be forse troppo avanzato. Do you take a ninterest in
the Salvation Army ? I must say I do, it is such a
queer phase of human folly. And the divisions of
opinions of clergy about it are so instructive. . . .
Did I tell you that the Princess Royal (and Imperial) 1
came up here, and recognised me ? She was altogether
quite delightful a real Duck of a Princess. I showed
her, her Daughter and the Crown Prinz, 2 all the views
here. . . .
My sight of one eye is gone, but t'other is as good
as ever. . . .
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
Sep. 29. 1882.
... I went up for a Cabinet on the day when the
news of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir 3 arrived, and
thought Northbrook looking fagged by his hard work,
but the brilliant success in Egypt enabled him to get
away to Scotland for a little. It is curious that you
should know the route between Cairo and Ismailia so
well. We had a thanksgiving prayer in church last
Sunday, and Egypt sounded curiously Biblical but
such addresses to the Almighty are always highly
unsatisfactory to my highly or deeply unorthodox
1 H.I.M. the late Empress Frederick of Germany, at that time
Crown Princess of Prussia.
2 Friedrich Wilhelm, afterwards H.I.M. Frederick III.,
died 1888.
3 On the i3th of September Sir Garnet Wolseley defeated
Arabi on the very spot indicated by him before leaving England
as the scene of the decisive struggle.
269
Later Letters of Edward Lear
mind. It is strange to see my clever and excellent
sister so devoted as she is to her new church, anxious
to get her mass whenever she can, and so on. She is
however quite free from bigotry or bitterness towards
those who differ from her. Next week my other
sister, Chi Hamilton's mother, will be here and she
is an out and out Irish Evangelical, with whom I
probably differ as much as or more than I do with the
other. Still the priestly system is of the two the
greater hindrance to human progress. The world will
have to get on sooner or later without the belief in any
supernatural religion, but I do not see how humanity
can dispense with religion of some kind. There is
religion in your big Enoch Arden and your 150
Tennysonian subjects. . . .
I hate my nondescript position at the Council office
. . . which is neither satisfactory to me nor good for
the public service. I met the worthy C. Church in
Wells the other day, and had a chat partly about you.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
6. October 1882
I highly and completely agree with you about the
thanksgivings to God for battles won : if Sir Garnet
hadn't got Tel el Kebeer, who would have been
thankful ? Just now I am particularly alive to
" religious " reasoning, Alfred Seymour having sent
me a little Book " Christian Theology and Modern
Scepticism," by the D[uke] of Somerset, with the very
sage and moderate conclusions of which I cannot but
mainly agree. But I, with you, " do not see how
270
UBCEA.
colour.)
Canon Chu\
2 g 1
w 3
H C' S
li}
Switzerland and San Remo
humanity can dispense with religion of some kind,"
though for the present, it seems but too plain that no
force or effort can greatly improve that which men
follow now. As the Duke says "truth is the
daughter of time, not of authority, and we must wait a
long while for a general
wide intellectual faith to
permeate all minds. Per-
haps when you and I are
cherubim and sit on a
tree above the waters of
Paradise, such a desidera-
tum may happen. Mean-
while, I agree with you
that my best religion for the
present is my hundred and fifty Tennyson illustrations,
of which I send you two autotype copies, but not good
ones at all. 1 . . .
I wish you hadn't to go to Balmoral at this
season ; is it true, as said in many papers, that
H.M. has taken a big villa at Antibes for the
winter? If so, there may be a chance of seeing
you here. . . .
I am glad you saw C.M. Church. You always
seem to me to have had and to have a " nice derange-
ment of epitaphs," as Mrs. Malaprop said. Proper
and exact " epithets " always were impossible to
me, as my thoughts are ever in advance of my
words. I recall your saying of the Lord Sandwich's
family that they were "smart people," and of old
1 Of one see the reproduction, vol. i., p. 243, " Kasr Es Saad/'
wrongly called "Gozo"; the other was of Etna, poor, and not
good enough for reproduction here.
271
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Lady S. " always civil," very simple terms but every-
body don't apply them.
O please, don't forget to get a small book, published
by Blackwood,
"TWIXT GREEK AND TURK"
BY VALENTINE A. CHIROL.
// is the best late account of Albania, Thessaly,
Macedonia, Epirus, etc :, written, and has greatly
interested me.
Lord Carnarvon has just bought a large estate at
Porto Fino, opposite Consul Yates Brown's Castle.
I had thought Lord Carnarvon a poor man but find
he has some 80,000 a year.
Why don't they make a new President of the
Council now that Lord Spencer is so definitely fixed
as V[iceroy] of Ireland? He is a fine man, all ways,
and works well, even in the eyes of all Polly Titians.
I've left off beer and taken to Barolo, and not much
of that : dine at i, and have " 2 Biled Iggs " at 7 and
a biskit. (A rural old Lady I once knew used to
catechise her rustic maidservants on religious subjects.
" What is Baptism ? " " Washing day, ma'am, if it
comes once a week." " Good God ! what an answer !
Tell me do you know what is the Holy Sacrament ? "
" O yes, Ma'am very well. 2 Biled Iggs with vater-
cresses." " Go ! for heaven's sake!") Yet this is
quite true and happened in Sussex. . . .
The " Salvation Army " (talking of Religion) is
one of the queerest flights of nonreason in our day.
Bye the bye, does not Matthew Arnold's " lucidity "
want as a term the very " lucidity " he requires ?
So far as I set. 70 and 6 months can perceive,
272
Switzerland and San Remo
" lucidity " is the common want of humanity ; barring
a very few exceptional, all human beings seem to me
awful idiots.
14 October, 1882. (8 p.m.)
Though I wrote as lately as the 6th, various causes
stir (or as we used to say in Lancashire " incense "
me) to write to you again. ... Not but that I have
written a long letter to Lushington this morning . . .
also another to my aged sister Ellen, enclosing her a
cheque for $ for the benefit of my remaining brother
Frederick who set. 78 has left his home at St.
Louis to live with his daughter at Khansas, but
having quarrelled with his son-in-law, has set out to
begin life again in Texas ! ! whereby I suppose tin
must be even more necessary to them than to me. . . .
Did I ask you if you had ever read a little book
" Christian Theology and Modern Scepticism " by the
Duke of Somerset? Alfred Seymour sent it me
lately, and it has in it much of interest, though to
me at least nothing of novelty. The question of
how to reconcile a #0#-supernatural religion with the
wants of humanity is verily a difficulty not to be got
over in our days. I am inclined now to be grateful
for having no children, for if on the one hand I could
not conscientiously teach them that the " Miracles "
were true, on the other I should shrink from uproot-
ing roughly all their mother-given instructions about
lithe Divinity of Christ. Why the character and
teaching of Christ should not by degrees become as
^reat a support to religious people as the doctrine or
i iogma of a supernatural birth it is provoking to be
Dbliged to doubt : yet perhaps they could not be so
273 S
Later Letters of Edward Lear
supporting as they are if stripped of their mystery.
Che so io? 1 as the fly said he was an Italian fly-
when the Hippopotamus asked him what the moon
was made of?
Having written a lot of nonsense I shall go to bed.
Letter from Lady Strachey from Sestri (Ponente) on
their way to Cannes. I could have told them the
Hotel at Sestri would disgust them, but as I knew
they had taken rooms there, I forbore to interfere,
My!
Good night.
Yours paralytically,
EDWARD LEAR.
9 P.M. I have the nicest letter from Sir John
Lubbock and must write to him about Flies. I
had written a long Nonsense letter about Flies to Sir
John, but destroyed it, thinking him too busy for
nonsense! But Mary Mundella said " No he would
be delighted ! " So now at her request I am going to
re- write the bosh ! 2
Sunday 15 October. 7 a.m. I think I will add j
half a sheet of persecution to the aforewritten lot, for j
I have said very little about myself, and you will like
to know something. I find written in my diary for
some days past, " Be thankful for good sleep and
1 What do I know ? 2 See Appendix C, p. 366.
274
Switzerland and San Remo /
better health," and it is a pleasant fact that I am
certainly much better than I was a year ago, having
only had one baddish fit of fainting and giddiness
latterly, and feeling generally stronger. This however
by no means shuts my eyes to the fact that I am one
whole year nearer to the end whatever and when-
ever that may be ; and there were times some months
ago when I believed it to be close at hand. I cannot
say I find any terrors in the contemplation of death ;
I have lived to ascertain positively that much of the L
evil of my life has arisen from congenital circumstances *
over which I as a child could have had no control ;
a good deal too has been the result of various ins and
outs of life vagaries, and what is called chance
which chance I don't believe in, for if I did I must
give up all idea of a God at all. I know also that I
owe an immensity to the assistance of friends, and
neither do I put that down to chance. So, on the
whole, I am tolerably placid and Abercrombical,
compared with what I used to be.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
BALMORAL CASTLE.
Oct. 26. 1882.
I have been here since last Friday. ... The two
ladies of the Household I found here are old friends
of mine, and of my Lady's, Lady Churchill and Lady
Ely. The Royalties were the Grand Duke of Hesse,
the Duchess of Connaught, waiting for her Duke to
come back from the war, and the permanent Princess
Beatrice. Today has arrived Colonel Ewart, 1 who
^ ' Afterwards Major-Gen. Sir Henry Ewart, K.C.B., G.C.V.O.
Served in the Egyptian Campaign ; Groom-in- Waiting to H.M.
2ueen Victoria.
275
Later Letters of Edward Lear
commanded the Household Cavalry in Egypt. Have
you seen the Comet? A policeman here, who was
requested by one of the gentlemen to call him at the
right time, wrote to explain his not having done so
because he said, "masses of cumulus concealed the
celestial visitor." There's "culture" for you. I saw
it very finely one morning, without the cumulus.
(Oct. 29.
I finish this at Hamilton Place. 1 I left Balmoral
on Friday. On Thursday Col. Ewart arrived, who
commanded the Life Guards in Egypt a quiet cool
soldierlike man. The Queen was very civil to him.
After dinner she rose with a glass of wine in her j
hand and said " I drink to the health of my House- j
hold Cavalry, and welcome them home after their
gallant services," which was very nicely done.
I suppose I shall have to stay here during a great j
part of November on account of Cabinets, but I j
return to the Priory for Christmas. You said in one
of your letters that I was evidently more cheerful. |
I am so at times when in society, because I fall into $
sympathy for the moment with what Darwin calls the
environment and a capital letter of yours, which ill
was answering, had the same effect, but I have no I
joys, no hopes, no real companionship. I hate the
idea of making any new beginning in life ; my only ;
aim is to use whatever remnant of it may be left as
1 During Lord Northbrook's residence at the Admiralty
Carlingford lived in his house, 4, Hamilton Place. It was a i
mutual arrangement as friends, and Lord Northbrook's desire f
that Carlingford should at a nominal rent live there, was much i.
appreciated by the latter.
276
Switzerland and San Remo
well as I can. I daresay idiotic reports of matrimonial
intentions of mine reach you. I was surprised to find
that Alfred Seymour believed in them, or hoped he
might congratulate me. I think he must have in-
cipient softening of the brain ! By the way, the other
day the Queen saw a photograph of the memorial in
Chewton Church, 1 which I had given to Lady Ely,
and said she wished to have one and a copy of the
inscription about which she wrote and spoke to me
in the most sympathetic way.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA TENNYSON. SAN REMO.
tfh. December, 1882.
There is a long letter from you unanswered, and I
meant to have written long ago date so far back as
October 26th, from Balmoral. If my letters amuse
you, I ought all the more to write, for you have
always been one of my best friends. Whereon I will
answer your last at once, as the affectionate Roman
Goose said concerning her growing gosling daughter
opportet anser. Your account of H.M.'s toast
about the soldiers was very nice. Anyhow nobody
can say she is not active in doing all the duties of
Royalty in these later days and such duties cannot
be pleasant in themselves at least I should think
them a bore. . . . This letter will all be in jumps like
a fidgetty Kangaroo, because they are putting down
my carpet, and every fresh hammering perturbs my
weak mind. I had a long letter from Charles M.
1 A tablet put up by Carlingford in Chewton Church to the
memory of his wife. The inscription by him is a most touching
and beautiful record of a great devotion.
277
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Church the other day. His daughters are busted out
beautiful ; one has got a ^"35 Scholarship (at Cam-
bridge, I think), the other is a Tutoress at some high
school, whereon I, as her name is Ida, write "O
Tutress Ida, many scholared Ida ! " C. Church says
he thought you very much better and livelier when he
last saw you. The Dean of Wells and Mrs. Plumtre
will be here for the winter; they are at Bordighera
now. He is a cultivated cove ; she a sister of
F. Maurice. Hardly any but these have been to
my studio, nor do I know any here hardly. . . .
The new church is beginning : the beastliest uglyism
you ever beheld like a caterpillar with a Cyclops's
head. At present I go to no
'/I-l 2.1 LltJt /LJi$ ( X tem pl e built with hands at all.
I had hoped the Duke of Argyll
would come, but he writes that the Duchess's health
forbids. Also the Clowes have taken a villa at Hyeres.
The Tattons are at Mentone, and may come bye and
bye ditto Gussie Parker (Bethell) ditto Mrs. C. Grey
and Mrs. G. Clive. O yes, I saw the comet per-
petual, and got tired of it. I wrote to Miss Campbell
of Corsica that I saw her by its light quite plainly,
and she had a blue and red box in her hand, but we
could not determine if what was inside the box were
jujube lozenges or dominoes. Hammer jump. My
garden is vastly beautiful, and if you would come
there are lots of boughs you might sit on. The
Eucalyptoi are thirty feet high. My dear Franklin
Lushington came on the 8th November, and staid till
the 24th to my infinite pleasure. I miss him orfly.
Poor old George, you will be glad to hear, is greatly
better, indeed at present quite well. I have Nicola,
278
Switzerland and San Remo
his eldest son, in my service, an additional expense,
but necessary if I did not resolve to cut all adrift, for
I did not like to stay with poor George and the little
Mitri only for fear of any other outbreak. At present
the whole Suliot family is at peace, for No. 2 Lambi
I have got placed with the good Watsons, and they
find he suits them capitally. I have asked Harry
Strachey to come here for a little time in January ; it
may do him some good to see lots of topography,
anyhow an example of energy and industry at
set. 71. . . .*
My own health, I thank God, is much better than
it was a year ago. I am busy " How doth the
brittle bizzy bee," as Dr. Watts his name sings on
fifty large drawings of Corsica. . . .
The two deaths that I have been obliged to think
of lately, besides my possible proximate own, are
those of Lady S. de Redcliffe, 2 and Archb[isho]p
Tait.3 The latter was always most kind to me, and
once said in a big party, when I had been singing
" Home she brought her warrior " and people were
crying " Sir ! You ought to have half the Laureate-
ship!" That was in 1851, when he was Dean of
Carlisle. But apart from personal motives, I look on
1 This was the occasion which my artist brother-in-law men-
tions in his Appreciation in vol. i.
2 Elizabeth Charlotte, Viscountess Stratford de Redcliffe,
daughter of James Alexander, Esq., of Summerhill, Tunbridge
Wells. She was the 2nd wife of Viscount Stratford de Red-
cliffe.
3 Archbishop Tait, made Primate by Mr. Disraeli in 1868,
did much to extend and improve the organisation of the
Church in the Colonies. The Lambeth Conference of 1878
met under his auspices. He died December 3, 1882.
279
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Archb[isho]p Tait as the finest real Christian Eccle-
siastic of our time. Lady S. you know I saw much
of formerly. You would have choked to read the
announcement of her death in a local Italian paper
(I think of Genoa ) but anyhow written by someone
who thinks he knows the ins and outs of English
Literature. " E morte la celebre scrittrice Inglese,
4 Era di Ratcliffe ' a sopra ottanti anni. Suo nome
era 'Yong,' ma in riconoscenza di suoi talenti, la
Regina Vittoria la fece Viscontessa Ratcliffe. Scrisse
dei bellissime romanzi fin a poco tempo fa "!!!!! . . .*
Did you see the " Promise of May ? " I can't say
I admire the new Courts of Law ; the building looks
to me too scattered and in parts meschino. 2 Weather
here, (hammer) cold, (jump) not begun fires (hammer)
yet (jump)
Yours (hammer)
Affectionately (jump,)
ED(JUMP)WARD (Hammer) LEAR.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
Dec. 21. 1884.
. . . Poor Lady Stratford de R[adcliffe]! The
Italian newspaper is wonderful. I was dull enough
not to see the meaning of "Era di Ratcliffe" until
I happened to compare notes upon the story with
1 " The celebrated English authoress, ' Era (Heir ?) of Rat-
cliffe (Redcliffe)/ is dead at over eighty years of age. Her
name was 'Yong' (Yonge), but in recognition of her talents
Queen Victoria made her Viscountess Ratcliffe. She wrote the
most beautiful novels until quite recently."
2 Poor, shabby.
280
Switzerland and San Remo
A. Seymour. The first time I ever met Lady S.
was in the Uffizzi and she and her daughter would
not enter the Tribune, on account of the naked
woman who they heard lived there the Venus de
Medicis !
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
2$rd. December, 1882.
I write, as well as I can, on two accounts : first
to wish you as happy a Christmas as you can have,
and also for every good wish to you in the New
Year at hand. Secondly, I write to thank you for
a book which came yesterday, and which I have
already read half through, and I wrote above "as
well as I can," because it has made me laugh so
I can hardly see my pen or paper. It is a most
delightful book, and a pleasant contrast to what I
was reading but have now shunted Crabb Robinson's
account of Kants, Wielands, and other German fools.
281
Later Letters of Edward Lear
For it is they metaphysicians who are the fools,
the author of " Vice Versa " the wise man. 1 . . .
25 December, 1882.
Of all things, considering the terrible amount of
suffering ordered for some inscrutable reason to be
endured by us here, of all things the most surprising
to me is that anyone should seek to lessen or
destroy such hopes as are also given as a balance
to sorrow! We know nothing, but is that a reason
we should not cling to a hope of reunion after
death. If thirty years ago it could have been
demonstrated to my poor sister the widow that life
ceased with this world's life, would such certainty
have made her more or less happy through all that
time, during which in fact she has constantly looked
forward to seeing her husband again after death ?
I maintain that those who diminish hope are the
worst enemies of humanity not its friends. . . .
This morning I am trying to be thankful that
my system of " universal Suliot benefaction" looks
promising. George, who keeps satisfactory, 'has four
francs apiece for self and three sons, to have a
roast lamb etc : for dinner : and all three sons have
bought something as a small Xmas gift for their
father, gloves, neckties, etc : and the aged Padrone
adds a big pewter elephant with howdahs for tobacco
and cigar paper. These objiks, all placed in a
Nubian platter, are to be carried into the kitchen
by myself and the three sons, and I am to drink
their health in a thimblefull of wine. The two
gardeners also I have given a dinner to, and frcs.
Anstey's " Vice Versa."
282
Switzerland and San Remo
ioo to the Infants' School, so I feel better, as the
Old Lady said after she had brought forth twins. . . .
I have already written that "Vice Versa" arrived
safely : it delights me preposterously, and I fully
believe it is all true. . . .
8 April, 1883.
I was very glad of your being made President
of the Council, for holding the two as it were two
halves of office, must have been unsatisfactory.
At the same time, I never liked the title " President
of the Council," because it is vague, and should be
(I think) of the Royal Council, or of the Council of
Ministers, or what not. As it is, if you were old
enough, it might mean you were President of the
Council of Trent, or (as Mrs. . . said :) of the
Economical Council of Pio Nono. . . .
I suppose by the papers that Earl R. 1 is to
have your Privata Phoca, and I
should like to portray you care-
fully giving him up to your
successor. . . .
Some time ago I find written in
my diary " to whom shall I leave
all my thirty years (or 40)
Diaries ? " And I once thought
it should be to you ; but think
they had better be burned. . . .
You can have no idea how much changed I am
in the last twelve months. As J. Lacaita once said
to me "Why! you are become quite an elderly
aged old man ! " I don't know what additional
epithets (or epitaphs) he would now use. . . .
1 The Earl of Rosebery.
283
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I hope Strawberry Hill will sell well. 1 If all the
Fenians and the Dynamitists could be blown up
with it, its loss would be a gain. I get sick of
hearing that the iQth century is better than any
other. . . .
I have had crowds of acquaintance and friends
here lately. Above all Gussie (Bethell) Parker, 2 a
great delight to me. She came and sate with me
daily for ten days, and I miss her horridly. . . .
I have lately set to music A.T.'s words, " Nightin-
gales warbled without," greatly to Mary Simeon's
pleasure^ also to Sir Barrington's and Lady S's.
Lord Derby wrote me the kindest letter lately,
asking me to bring drawings to England "there is
plenty of room yet at Knowsley." . . .
10 June, 1883.
I think I told you in a letter I wrote on the
3rd interruptions what did I tell you ? " D d
if I know" as the Sentinel at the Corfu Palace
was heard to say, when he repeated the words to
his successor, " You are not to let anyone walk into
the Palace yard of the President or of the Lord
High Commissioner." "Which is which?" said
the incoming Sentinel. " D d if I know " was
the reply.
Is Miss Stopford at Balmoral ? It would be
curious to know what she thought of Sanremo,
where she staid some months, but (as you may
suppose,) I kept aloof. Nevertheless if she reported
1 Sold eventually to Baron Stern.
2 Lord Chancellor Westbury's daughter.
3 Sister of Sir Harrington Simeon, Bart.
284
Switzerland and San Remo
at all to H.M., (who was then, it was rumoured
absurdly, about to come here,) she must needs have
said that Sanremo is a place the said Queen could
not like, as there is little probability here of privacy,
and less now even than when your President
Phocaship was here. . . .
I wish you could see my garden just now ! It
comes out bouncingly all at once, early in June,
and is like a Rainbow. . . . Bye the bye, Bertolini's
Hotel (Royal) is now the only place H.M. could
come to here, for it is greatly enlarged, and the
garden immensely so. Next to it, above me, is a
huge Villa, also pretty quiet, and communicating
with the Royal Hotel Gardens, this belongs to the
rich Marsaglia and has been built since Miss
Stopford was here. . . .
Noo, just tak cair of yersell, and dinna wussel
on the Sawbath day.
HOTEL MONTE GENEROSO.
Mendrisio.
CANTON TESSIN. SWITZERLAND.
18. July. 1883.
I have at last succumbed not only to Williams
of Foord's advice which you also name and which
many others wrote about, but to the desire of
various old friends, (Lady Goldsmid etc, etc) and
have given orders for a change of dispensation as
to the fifty Corsican views, which are now for sale
separately for 25 each. My great wish was to keep
the whole series together, and there were two ladies
with ; 1 00,000 a year who I thought were likely to buy
them ; but as I said "all things have suffered change."
I am glad (though there was no need of your
285
Later Letters of Edward Lear
additional kindness) that you have the Corfu Citadel
and Campagna, but particularly so that the Plataea
walls have become yours, as the drawing is made
from the very last sketch I made before my disable-
ment by fever at Thebes in 1848. I made the
original drawing in company of Charles Church of
Wells, who afterwards was with me all through my
bad illness. . . .
There are people here who say your Government
are going out, along of Madagascar, Suez Canals,
New Guinea, Mr. Chamberlain's virulence, and
other causes. I do not myself think the G[ladstone]
Government is likely to end just yet, but if it
should, one good result may be that you may rush
off to Lucerne and through the tunnel to Lugano
and Mendrisio and up here. So in that sense I
should like you to be free. The end of my stay
at Sanremo was also distressing : 111 myself and
very feeble, poor old George was much worse, from
Bronchitis and other miseries. I sent him with his
eldest son to Mendrisio, but the rain of all June
made him still worse, and it is only since he came
up here on the 4th that there are any signs of
amendment. I am however obliged to prepare
myself for believing that he can never again be well,
and his change for the worse is a daily distress to
me. Yet, whatever happens, I choose to keep on
in the path I laid down for myself to follow, nor
will I allow the help and fidelity with which for
thirty years he has served me, to be forgotten
because he is now helpless and old. Happily the
sale of my work enables me to go to more expense
than I otherwise could hope to do. . . .
286
Switzerland and San Remo
I was sorry I bothered you with letters at Balmoral.
But I thought you were there for a longer time.
Miss Stopford was for a period, but she did not
know this child.
The word Peeriod reminds me that Earl Mulgrave I
is a coming to be our new chaplain at the new
Sanremo church. One here suggests that he should
preach in an Earl's-by-Courtesy Coronet, and so
get huge subscriptions. . . .
Write when you can, or even when you can't.
HOTEL MONTE GENEROSO. MENDRISIO.
CANTON TICINO.
SWITZERLAND.
Aug. 2nd, 1883.
. . . Although my own health is better, I am daily
in greater distress by seeing my poor old servant
Giorgio Cocali suffer so terribly. They (Doctors) say
there is no chance of his living, and it is a question of
time as to his remaining alive, the constant coughing
and bronchial attacks, and terrible weakness considered.
Nevertheless, I cannot send him down to the hot
Riviera, (which would at once prove fatal), although
the weather here is so cold that he is almost always
obliged to keep his bed. His eldest son is always with
him, and his youngest looks after me, who, what with
bad fits of giddiness at times etc : etc : dare not walk
out any longer alone. . . .
Villa Emily, it really seems, is about to be let, for
some sort of a collegiate concatenation. The " doing
of it up " will cost possibly more than the rent I should
1 The present Marquess of Normanby, late Canon of
Windsor.
287
Later Letters of Edward Lear
get. It is odd that both you and I (in such different
phases of life) should each have a skeleton in the form
of a white elephant House. As for Strawberry Hill,
I should like to know about the sale.
5.30 a.m. August 8. 1883.
This is to say, my dear good servant and friend
George died, quite calmly, an hour ago.
He is to be buried at Mendrisio, by the Milan
English Protestant chaplain.
Please write to me.
VILLA TENNYSON.
19 October, 1883.
You had better keep President of the Council if so
be you ain't Privy Seal also. That creature's life is a
dreary mystery to me ; but I have already offered you
the use of my large cistern if you will send him out.
My two Suliots should take good care of him.
. . . The marriage of Lord Norreys l to Miss Dor-
1 The present Earl of Abingdon, son of the 6th Earl, married
in 1883 Gwendoline, daughter of Lieut.-Gen. Hon. Sir J. C.
Dormer, son of i3th Baron Dormer, as his second wife.
288
Switzerland and San Remo
mer I saw in the papers, but, supposing old Lord
Abingdon to have died ages ago, I imagined that the
bridegroom was the son of the Lord Norreys I used to
meet for he must have a boy over twenty . . . One
day at Strawberry he declared dogmatically that the
Greek Church always read the Athanasian creed in
their churches, which I knew they never did. And,
although I quoted Arthur Stanley (who, it so happened,
had just written to me on the subject) it was voted
that I knew nothing of the matter, i.e. that I being a
Landscapepainter was necessarily a fool, and that he,
being an Earl's son was necessarily in the right. So,
knowing my antagonist, I succumbed to circumstances
in cerulean silence.
I was kept au fait as to all the Copenhagen voyage.
The poems read to the Royalties by ^. were "The
Grandmother" and " Blow, bugler, blow! "
There must have been more than a slight resem-
blance between A. Trollope and myself, as I have long
been continually spoken to as "A. Trollope" both
in London and abroad. Anyhow we must have been
very much alike in fizziognomy if not otherwise.
You will be glad to know that, although the death
of my dear good servant has been and will be always
a sorrow, yet his two sons do all in their power to fill
their Father's place, fy. says somewhere, "tyranny-
tyranny breeds " and I suppose " kindness kindness
breeds," for I have always done all I could for poor
George and his family, as indeed I ought, for no one
but myself knows what and how much I have owed to
him for thirty years past.
289
CHAPTER IX
October, 1883, to December, 1887.
SAN REMO AND NORTHERN ITALY.
this final chapter I have taken at random
characteristic letters written by the painter
during the last four years of his life. Almost
to the end they show the same unfailing
interest in life, the same minuteness, and the
same whimsical humour.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
Oct. 29. 1883.
... I wonder if you saw my big Kunchinjunga at
Lord Aberdare's, and if you thought it looked well.
Henry Bruce has always been one of my steadiest
friends. So has Alfred Seymour from whom comes
a letter today from Knoyle : they all go to Algiers for
the winter. I imagine I owe to him a very nice notice
of " Meeself and mee works" which was in the
" World" of August I5th last 1 (No. 476). It is well
T A flattering paragraph in " What the World says " on his
Corsican views then on view at Messrs. Foord and Dickinson's,
Wardour Street.
290
San Remo and Northern Italy
that Wardour Street and my Corsican views should
be indicated to people in general, as old friends
cannot go on always buying, but I have always to go
on eating.
As for your want of energy non ci credo. But
regarding your difficulty about Privy Seal or Privy
Council paper, I earnestly recommend you to gum a
half sheet of each together, and so write on both at
once, to which advice I hear you mutter " Gum ! gum !
gum ! this is too bad ! " Nevertheless, I constantly re-
flect on the condition of that seal itself, and wonder
how you get the creature to Balmoral, for it cannot live
so many hours without water, and yet the boiler of the
engine must be too hot for it. I imagine therefore
that you take him either in an indiarubber bag or a
tub-box, in the " reserved " carriage in which you
travel. . . .
Please observe the handwriting of my address to
you. I would ask you to show it to H.M. as a speci-
men of how one of her subjects can write at 72 set, and
as an example, only it happens that H.M. writes a
really legible and beautiful hand herself, which all her
subjects don't. . . .
I am working at a big Esa, and at
" Moonlight on still waters between walls
Of gleaming granite in a shadowy pass."
But life were it not for hard occupation and wander-
ing in the garden would be very slow, and I sometimes
wish that I myself were a bit of gleaming granite or a
pomegranite or a poodle or a pumkin.
291
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
BALMORAL CASTLE.
Nov. 5. 1883.
. . . The Privy Seal has not accompanied me here,
but is left in charge of an old clerk (at the Privy Seal
Office, 8 Richmond Terrace) who thinks his duties the
most important under Government. My communica-
tions with him are limited, because he is stone deaf,
but I give him his written directions to affix the seal
to a Patent of Peerage or Baronetage, or Office, or
Crown Living etc : and then he takes a lump of wax,
and a great silver seal out of a box, and he seals the
document, and this goes to the Chancellor, and he
affixes the Great Seal. It is all a piece of solemn
trifling. . . .
The Queen is much better, in good spirits, but does
not walk or stand much yet. She is very gracious and
kind. ... I made H.M. laugh about my fair name-
sake, Miss Fortescue 1 (really Miss Finney) who danced
and sang as a Fairy in " lolanthe" at the Gaiety on
Saturday, and next day had a Sunday dinner with
Lady C s, a woman who has never set her foot
inside a theatre in her life.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
23 December 1883.
Besides that it is the season for sending good wishes,
it is time to reply to your Balmoral letter of Nov. 5,
which pleased me vastly.
1 " Miss Fortescue," the actress. Fortescue was interested by
his namesake, though I do not think he ever saw her act.
292
San Remo and Northern Italy
Thank the Lord that you are not a Centipede ! a
bust of gratitude I feel every Sunday morning because
on that day happens the weekly cutting of toenails and
general arrangement of toes, and if that is a bore with
ten toes, what would it have been if it had been the
will of Heaven to make us with a hundred feet, instead
of only two i.e. with five hundred toenails ? It has
been before now a subject of placid reflection and con-
jecture to me, as to whether Sovereigns, Princes,
Dukes and even Peers generally cut their own toe-
nails. It is useless to think of asking hereditary
Peery individuals about this as they are brought up to
recognise facts as so to speak impersonal and beyond
remark : but it is possible that I may find out some
day if fy. will continue this odious annoyance after
he is entitled to wear a coronet. Concerning the
Tennyson D'Eyncourt peerage, you may suppose I
have plenty of communication ; and I daresay you
know as well as I do that it was a particular desire of
H.M. that she should bestow it, though I have
actually heard people say that she did not wish it, but
was persuaded by Mr. W. E. Gladstone], who
initiated the whole abooo !
As regards myself and my own health, I cannot tell
you much good. I had a bad fit or attack after I wrote
last, and fell happily in my garden, remaining in-
sensible for some time. Since then I have had no
other similar shock, but only threatenings of paralysis.
I rarely go out beyond my own villa, and am quite pre-
pared for a sudden departure at any time regretting
only that I cannot leave, as I had with justice hoped
to do my worldly affairs in order. As to my daily
comfort, the two sons of poor dear George leave me
293
Later Letters of Edward Lear
nothing to wish for. The elder, who cooks famously
after my fashion, is however, I am sorry to say, in
very precarious health, and must fail of consumption
unless great care is taken that no fresh cold is
incurred. . . .
But the great and constant worry of my life is that
Villa Emily. . . . Last Autumn it was let to people
for a school, but they having furnished and inhabiting
it, declare their utter inability to pay a farthing of
rent ! Whether they are swindlers or not is what I
cannot determine, but the result is the same, honest or
the contrary. As the villa was mortgaged for ^2000
to our dear good kind Northbrook three years back,
when there was every prospect of its sale for ^5000
or ,6000, and when no one could have foreseen so
brutal an increase of wicked injury, you may suppose
how miserable I am about it. ... Frank Lushing-
ton's letters once a week are a comfort. Yesterday
his godson, Sir Henry Maine's I son brought me an
introduction. . . . (Concerning godsons, one Mr.
Jones here had this announcement made to him by a
waiter " Sir, one gentleman wishes to see you ; he
says he is the Son of God belonging to your friend
Mr. Smith !!")...
All you say of Queen Victoria interests me greatly,
as I think her one of the best and most remarkable of
living women. The letters of H.R.H. Princess Alice
just published to such a mother, are invaluable
characteristic of both parties. . . .
Now that the Phoca is known to be Irish, could yo
%*>*
:
1 Sir Henry James Sumner Maine, Law Member of the
Supreme Council of India 1862-1869, in 1871 became a Member
of Council of the Secretary of State for India.
294
San Remo and Northern Italy
not send the creature to Dublin, and come over here
for a week ? You can have two rooms in V[illa]
T[ennyson] to yourself.
Why should the Ilbert Bill ' be called the Filbert
Pill ? Because many people think it hard to crack and
unpleasant to swallow.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY
Dec. 27. 1883.
. . . About the Tennyson Peerage my mind is
rather confused and perplexed, but I shall say nothing
against it, and so far as the House of Lords is con-
cerned, I think it an honour. I did not know that the
Queen had originated it. She told me once that he
had refused to come and see her, because he didn't
know how to make a bow !
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
7 January 1884, (8 p.m.).
Your very welcome letter of December 27th was a
great pleasure to this child, whose chief food mental in
these days is letters, for the grasshopper has become
a burden, and the quick-pace downhill transit to
indifference and final apathy is more and more
discernible as month follows month. Yet that fact
does not fully account for the perversity of my nose
busting out a-bleeding at this moment as prevents
my going on writing for a time and times and perhaps
half a time.
1 A bill which would render Europeans in India liable to be
tried by qualified native judges.
295
Later Letters of Edward Lear
8.30. I have " backbecome," as old Mr. Kestner
used to say and begin to write again, but it is late
and I shall soon shut up altogether. I am going to
make a remark, which is as follows. Your sincerity anc
plain straightforwardness, (which I have for so many
years known of) have never been more pleasant to me
than when you wrote, " I see that you feel yoursel
feeble in some respects, and that your health and life
are precarious." Now this is what I call valuable anc
truthful writing ; yet many of my really kind friends
write " O ! what nonsense ! Seventy two is no age
I have an uncle ninty five " and so on " vacan
chaff well meant for grain " indeed ! It may please
God that I live on for years, but I choose rather to
prepare for a shorter period of life. And bye the bye
is not your 6ist birthday just about now? January
ist is my dear Frank Lushington's also 61 : North
brook, I think, is one if not two years younger. Bu
what are these " little differences/' In a very shor
time these units and tens and twentys are all equally
nil. (O criky ! will the " ridiculous " never leave me
Have you never heard of Emily F or Miss G
or some female shrieker lecturing on the equality o
the sexes, and saying " The sexes are intrinsically
equal, spite of some little differences," whereon
arose a roar of " Hurrah ! for their little differences ! ! '
and after vain efforts to speak again, the shouters o
" viva the little differences ! " finally won the day, anc
the Lady Lecturer collapsed. . . .
Here follows another interruption post long anc
1 Chevalier Kestner, a well-known figure in Roman society o
the forties and fifties.
296
San Remo and Northern Italy
very nice letter from Wilkie Collins and other
missives. . . .
The little book by T. H. Green : came three days
ago ; many thanks for it. I do not however as yet
think that it suits my " fixings" as it does yours
which is a rare case regarding our inter-possessed
notions. Perhaps the style confuses me ; or perhaps
which is much more probable I, being an Ass, cannot
well appreciate it. I cannot build up lines of Faith-
architecture (so to speak d>e eVoc Itwetv (on a substratum
of Dogma I can't believe, or understand. It is vexa-
tious even to touch on subjects of this sort so
flippantly : if you were here for about forty-eight
years, and we were both well and illustrious and
pomsidillious, better times might happen.
Regarding Tennyson and the Peerage. (Have you
seen a perfect (and good-natured) caricature in Punch
about it ? It has been sent to me, and ^'s "Hat"
is a miracle of absurd accuracy. How often have we
jeered about that Hat !) You may suppose that I have
had heaps of letters on the subject : one from a
person I shan't name, nearly busts me with its folly
"What ! make a man a Peer because he has written a
few verses ! / What enemy of his has persuaded the
Queen to make him so ridiculous ? " I don't envy
your fogs. Figs even frogs would be better. . . .
Once more (and it is high time) I paws. 8.50
P.M.
1 T. H. Green, the philosopher. Lear probably refers here to
the " Prolegomena to Ethics," left incomplete at Green's death,
and published in 1883. He married a sister of John Addington
Symonds, who still lives at Oxford.
297
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Sp.m.
21 January, 1884.
If you will start off at once so as to get here while
this weather lasts, you shall have my two volumes of
Lodge if you are a good boy to read all day, which
you can do in your room, looking out on the sounding
syllabub sea and the obvious octagonal ocean ; and
bye and bye I will alter my garden so as to give room
for a waterspouty small aqueous circular basin, in
which, in remembrance of you a live Phoca shall
ever dwell, and I will observe it from the brink of
the KVKyog.
(I am reading the Seven against Thebes in Greek
just now, which will account for my Hellenic proclivi-
ties. One Rev. W. Gurney, now chaplain at Milan,
erst Head Master of Doncaster School, who buried
my poor dear George at Mendrisio, is a going for to
send me a pumphlett he has written on them
toppix.)
I must stop now, as the watch said when the little
boy filled it full of treacle. Good-night.
Did I send you these two riddles. Why could nol
Eve have the measles? Because she'd Adam-
(had 'em.) And " Is life worth the living ? " " Thai
depends on the liver." (translated by Lecky, " La vi(
298
San Remo and Northern Italy
en vaut elle la peine?" " Ca depend de la/oi (foie)")
Good-night. Amen. . . .
I do certainly wish you could go to Stratton :
N[orthbrook] is seen there to best of all advantage, as
is Lady Emma, of whom I have the highest opinion :
she has never changed a bit since she was ten years
old, or five for the matter of that. I must write to
her presently, as she has sent me an absurd Xmas card
for my cat Foss. I fully enter into all you say as to
your goings into "Society." The Sandringham visit
I do not doubt was good for you : for, if, as I think,
work is the best solace for your life, then the necessary
accompaniments of that work are also its best con-
ditions, and of such are attendance on Royalty etc,
however in themselves such necessities are distasteful.
I, as you know, detest the Conventionalities of Royal
life, and am thankful I never was much connected
therewith : but the " career " (as Bowen I used to say-
bye the bye, how queer his Canton life and Hong
Kong !) of a public man cannot be shirked. Next in
order in your letter are your remarks on being left
alone, and milady's death. The longer I live the more
I think I perceive the spaces of this life to be inex-
pressibly trivial and small, and that, if there be a life
beyond this, our present existence is merely a trifle in
1 Sir George Ferguson Bowen, G.C.M.G., held various high
posts in Australia and New Zealand, was Governor and Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Mauritius, 1879-1883, since when he was
Governor of Hong- Kong. His wife was a daughter of H.H.
Count Candiano di Roma, late President of the Ionian Senate.
It was in Corfu, when he was Chief Secretary to the Lord High
Commissioner, that Lear knew him.
299
Later Letters of Edward Lear
comparison with what may be beyond. And that
there is a life beyond this it seems to me the greatest
of absurdities to deny, or even to doubt of. Next you
copy the words written by the Q[ueen], r who to my
mind, is one of the most remarkable women of this
century or perhaps any other. The message sent is
absolutely beautiful and touching, and real, for she has,
I am well aware, no idea of show-display, or of affecta-
tion, or sham. She is a true and fine woman in every
repect, whether Queen, wife, mother or honest worker-
out of her life, daily and hourly in either position. I
daresay you can imagine that I know much more of
Court life than many would suppose : for if you recall
how very many persons about Q[ueen] [Victoria] I
have known, and if you reflect that the closest holders
of secrets are apt to tell their husbands or beloveds or
sisters, and that those husbands and beloveds and
sisters confide to third persons what is generally sup-
posed to be " unknown " you cannot wonder that
much of truth filters out. Meanwhile, the sentence
beginning " she does not wish" etc, etc, is one of
extreme pathos and beauty. I don't know if it is
proper to call a sovereign a duck, but I cannot help
thinking H.M. a dear and absolute duck, and I hope
she may live yet thirty or forty more years, for every
year she lives will be a blessing to her country. You,
1 From a letter from H.M. Queen Victoria, Osborne, January
3, 1884 :-
. . . " The Queen does not wish Lord Carlingford ' a happy
New Year,' for that is a mockery to those in grief as she has
known now for many a year, but she wishes him peace, patience,
and courage to bear the heavy Cross, and the power to realize
the future more and more."
300
San Remo and Northern Italy
I need not say, may be sure that I repeat nothing of
what you write : but after what I have written you
may understand how I loathe such animals as, ...
who covertly aid in the progress of republican principles
and the downfall of monarchy. As a rule I avoid
writing on Poltix but now and then I cannot help
alluding to them : for the present I shall only say, in
the remarkable words of a Mrs. Malaprop here, " The
present Government is one of vaccination and no
policy ; nor does it ever act with derision until it is
obliged to do so by some dreadful Cataplasm. . . ."
i.
When u Grand old men " persist in folly
In slaughtering men and chopping trees,
What art can soothe the melancholy
Of those whom futile " statesmen " teaze ?
2.
The only way their wrath to cover
To let mankind know who's to blame-o-
Is first to rush by train to Dover
And then straight onward to Sanremo.
I have often seen in lists of dinners, " Cabinet
puddings " named. Now what I have a painful
curiosity to know is whether all you Cabinet Ministers
have such a pudding placed before you at Cabinet
Councils, and if W. E. G. has a huge big one at the
head of the table. Respond this being an important t /
philopob6strogotr6bbicle question. . . .
27. January 1884.
Here is one more scrawl from your troublesome
old Landskipper. I don't much like bothering you,
yet as something particularly disgusting has happened,
301
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I wish you to know of it. The people who took
Villa Emily for a school have come to utter grief
and have absconded, paying me 4. only out of
the ;ioo due, and having had all their furniture
seized and carried off by the tradesmen of Sanremo
who supplied it. One of the partners sends the
key of the Villa to the Agent, and begs that I
may be informed that any effort to be repaid is
useless on my part, as they have no money what-
soever. Some time back, I went to Villa Emily
with an old friend (sister of Sir Erskine Perry)
and looked at all the rooms, and when I was going
away I said, " But, Miss Wilkin, how about your ;
rent?" Whereon Miss W. busted into tiers, and
there was a scene. Said I to Miss P. when we
were outside " What do you think of them ? "
"They are possibly imposters, but certainly inefficient/'
And it seems they are both. Beyond a doubt it has
been disgraceful of the agent to have let the house
to any people without proper references, and with-
out having a sum paid down. . . .
28 February, 1884.
I should like you to know as soon as possible, that
I have sold the Villa Emily. I considered the matter
thoroughly, and finally came to the conclusion that
a great and serious present loss is more easily to
be endured than an indefinitely greater one in the
future, aggravated meanwhile by constant necessities
of tax and repair payings. So I sold the poor old
place, and it now belongs to the highly pious and
exalted Miss Macdonald Lockhart, who has bought
it for some carrotable institootion.
302
San Remo and Northern Italy
I very much wish Northbrook could be told this,
but I do not like to write to him, because I know
along of Suakim l etc : he must at this moment
have no need of extra bother. But if you have a
Nopportunity, tell him the fulginous and filthy fact.
I will write to him bye and bye.
I am reading A. Hayward's essays 2 with great
pleasure. What stupidity to say as some write
that his faculty of "dining out" and his " con-
versation " were the principally remarkable points
of his character.
May not A. Tennyson's
" Too late ! Too late ! " be adopted as your
" grand old man's " motto ? Anyhow his supporters,
Goschen, Forster, Cowan and Marriott seem to
think so.
P.S. The V.E. property was sold for a shockingly
small sum : but if it was to be sold, the sooner the
better.
It is rather odd that both you and I have had
1 Baker Pasha's forces were routed at Suakim, proving the
> hopelessness of the attempt to preserve the Soudan for the
Egyptians and the uselessness of the native army. Lord Salisbury
proposed a Vote of Censure in the House of Lords, which was
carried by a majority of 100, whereas Sir S. Northcote's resolu-
tion was defeated by a larger majority in the lower House.
2 Abraham Hay ward, the essayist, founder of the Law
Magazine, a brilliant conversationalist, died in February, 1884.
Lear is referring here to his " Selected Essays," or his
" Biographical and Critical Essays." He was an habitue of
Strawberry Hill and Lady Waldegrave's different houses.
303
Later Letters of Edward Lear
to be bothered by house sales late in life! whereas
in early days
" No house had we whatever
except our covering" skin
for in those days even Redhouse was not yours.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
2$th March, 1884.
. . . This morning I wrote out the eggstrax from
my Diary of 1862, thinking they would amuse you.
I am not up to writing much tonight, and cannot
answer your kind letter : how you can find time
to think of me, I can't imagine. There are lots
to say, but as usual I can't write all at present. The
history of the eggstrax is curious, and relates to
rather a disagreeable incident, which caused me to
rummage over several years of Diary, whence I culled
the two specimens enclosed. 1 Some time back two
ladies came here, and one began to speak about
Miladi very disparagingly, and so not a difficult
matter I lost my temper. Said this lady " Aftei
all, Lady Waldegrave was only an ordinary person
as to mind : has anybody ever remembered anything
that made any impression and could be recollected ? "
I was such a fool as to flare up and say "Yes,
she did ! She said of the man you have been hold-
1 See p. xix, vol. i.
304
San Remo and Northern Italy
ing up as the particular great man of the century
" He is no statesman, and has nothing of a states-
manlike mind ! " I was sorry for having been so
outspoken, but my having been so was the cause
of my rummaging over various years of diary, and
certainly I found I was quite within the mark,
not only then but at another time, as to the Irish
Church Bill.
These diaries are vastly funny and interesting to
me, but could not be as much so to anybody else,
as so much more is understood by myself than
written. In these last rummagings I have come
on a deal of interest in many ways.
I must stop now, as it is 8.45, and poor Dimitri
has to take my lamp and bring me some tea. I
say "poor" Dimitri, as he must soon be the last of
his race ; Nicola, poor George's eldest son, one of
the steadiest and most active fellows, and who
was so good and attentive during the last two sad
years of his Father's life, is slowly dying of con-
sumption. He cannot ultimately recover, but I in-
tend to take every care of him till the end comes
if indeed it comes to him before it comes to myself.
Good night.
2$th. March. 1884. 7 a.m.
... As for your Government, I never " devoutly
wished " its end, though much of what is done and
doing is most objectionable, nor do I for this
quote Lord Randolph, Salisbury or any of the
Opposition, but only your own supporters, Forster,
Goschen, Cowan, Marriott, etc ; etc ; I am as sen-
sible as you can be of the immense difficulty of form-
305 u
Later Letters of Edward Lear
ing a powerful Ministry seeing that the material
and circumstances are against you. I do not thin!
Salisbury or Northcote could succeed. Had Har-
tington been less a shilly shally man in all but
Gladstone worship, he would be the Tightest
man to succeed, together with yourself and Derby,
whose future I believe will always increase in power.
As for you, you appear to me the one of the lot
who has most straightforward dignity and quiet,
and you are a wonderful contrast to the universal
talent that can be good at Exchecquer Chancellor-
ship, jam, treecutting, and anti-papal writing, not
to speak of fanatical Greek Church proclivities.
As for your medical and Cattle Bills, I do not
understand them and don't try to. Years ago, when
it was proposed by some talkers to have a Coalition
Cabinet, it was pointed out that if W. E. G. were
in it nominally anywhere, he would be by his violence
and temperament always really at the top; but I,
as a dirty Lanscape-painter, do not feel sure that
the extreme party should not have been challenged
to do their worst, yet naturally I may be quite
wrong, as I cannot as an outsider, judge of what
may really have been the insurmountable difficulties
of the case. Had you but been here when poor
Lord F. Cavendish I was, and heard him say that
" the most impossible of all things was for the
Grand old man ever to take office again! ! ! " . . . If
old Lord Aberdeen's Ghost looks on, he may find
1 Lord Frederick Cavendish, younger brother of the Marquis
of Hartington, succeeded Mr. Forster as Chief Secretary for
Ireland, and was murdered with Mr. Burke in the Phoenix
Park on the dav of his arrival in Dublin, 1882.
306
W) '!
w -8
1.8
San Remo and Northern Italy
comfort in the fulfilment of his dictum, " He who
can talk most will assuredly get most power," talk
he sense or nonsense. . . .
My diary of 1862 is full of you, as indeed are
those of many other years. I cannot understand
how such an asinine beetle as myself could ever have
made such friends as I have. . . . Anyhow, the
immense variety of class and caste which I daily
came in contact with in those days, would be a
curious fact even in the life of a fool. Of Northbrook
it is a pleasure to find I have always from 1847
written in the same way.
EXTRACT.
May 2^th 1862.
On board the Marathon Liverpool steamer, from
Corfu to Malta, I asked the fat Scotch stewardess,
"As you frequently stay here all about these ports,
do you get fever ? " " O Sir," said she, with the
strongest accent, " I have fevers daily and nightly :
the Lord God Almighty sends me fevers, even
when I don't pray for them, and I am proud to think
few is so highly fevered." By which I found she
mistook fevers for favours. But she suddenly went
on (Lady Valsamachi was on board) "But Sir, is
yon leddy the widdy of Bishop Heber or his
daughter?" " She is is widow," said I. "His
widdy ! And is it true then that she, a Christian
Leddy could marry a Heathen Greek!! And such
a backsleeding and downcoming after having been
jined to one as has written such imms as the Bishop
writ, which it is my preeveleege to know maistly
by heart ! "
307
Later Letters of Edward Lear
pestilential Glasgow Pharisaism and be bothered
to you you old fool.
16. April. 1884.
J Your very kind letter of the i2th., just come.
I continue to keep getting a little better, but very
slowly : and I can sit up two or three hours. Nicola
feeds me very carefully and the other Suliot is as
attentive as possible.
1 have been able to finish the large Gwalior
which was all but done ; and hope to get the Argos
finished next week. " Een in our hashes live their
wonted fires" as the poetical cook said when they
said her hashed mutton was not hot enough. . . .
Bye the bye, a riddle was given me yesterday.
Upon this Earth she walked
Upon this Earth she talked
Rebuking man of sin;
Sinless she was no doubt
And yet, from heaven shut out
She never will get in !
(Balaam's she-ass.)
Four ladies who went to Fenton's church on Good
Friday said the service was so shocking and dreary
1 On April 8th, Lear wrote to Carlingford, " It is right that
you should know that on the 26th March I was taken very ill
with Pleurisy and inflammation of lungs and that on the 28th
it was not thought I could live through the night. But Dr.
Hassall's constant care got the inflammation under, and now
though it is not likely I can ever again be quite well, I am
certainly better, and to-day dressed and up for an hour or
two. Everyone is very kind ! . . . Please show this to
Northbrook."
308
San Remo and Northern Italy
they would never go any more to that conventicle.
On the other hand Mulgrave's perpetual processions
and palm bearings etc, etc, give as much disgust
on the other side. Is it impossible to find more
than half a dozen parsons with commonsense enough
to avoid extremes?
4. June 1884.
Having a notion that you have a little more leisure
while you are at Balmoral (as I see by the papers
you are about to be,) than when you are in London,
I shall send you a few lines just to let you know how
your aged friend goes on.
O my aged Uncle Arley !
Sitting on a heap of Barley
Through the silent hours of night !
On his nose there sate a cricket ;
In his hat a railway ticket
But his shoes were far too tight !
Too ! too !
far too tight !
By the i5th. May, I was just able to get away
from here on my journey of discovery ; I was fright-
fully pulled down by my illness with swollen feet ;
and unable to walk : but George's youngest son,
Dimitri, continually pulled me into and out of
Railway carriages like a sack of hay. So by dint
of pluck and patience I got to Vicenza and to
Recoaro, where I have taken rooms for eight or
ten weeks, but do not go there till the end of June.
If I can keep quiet I may possibly prosper, and if
I can do some good to poor Nicola Cocali, George's
eldest son, I shall bless myself. . . .
309
Later Letters of Edward Lear
I went, before I got home here on the 24th, to
a place, Salso Maggiore, near Parma famous in
Italy for remedies (lodo Bromiche?) against pul-
monary complaints, and here, hoping against hope,
I have just now, yesterday, sent poor Nicola Cocali
to try twenty days inhalation, in charge of Dimitri
who is turning out a most valuable and steady
fellow. . . .
A thunderbolt happened recently in Christie's
having at the last moment declared they had no
room or time left for my sale of pictures, so all are
gone to Foord's. Please do what you can to make
my Eggzibition known. Some of the work there is
of the best I have done, I think.
In the meantime I rise now at 4.30, and after 6,
work at the never finished Athos, and the equally big
Bavella, and the infinitely
bigger Enoch Arden. . . .
I daresay you have plenty
to do so I shall not write
any more. I often wish
you were here. Generally
speaking I have latterly re-
sembled this.
18. June 1884.
P.S. You will be glad to know that I continue
to have better accounts of poor Nicola. At this
moment a letter from my dear good old Calvanistic
sister (aet. 84) makes me laugh. The daughter and
son-in-law of my N. Z. nephew are coming to
England with their son (my great-great-nephew,
aged 17) to place him at either Cambridge or Oxford.
310
San Remo and Northern Italy
" I am sure" (writes my sister,) "I hope it is to be
the former! I do not like either, but there is less
Popery in Cambridge I believe and hope than in
Oxford." '
June 27. 1884.
I was very glad to get your letter of the 22nd,
and to know what you told me about Charles
Braham's 2 last hours. It was a most immense
blessing for all that both you and Constance could
be with him to the end. . . . No one who knew
Charles Braham could doubt his extreme affection
to Milady : . . .
I think a great deal in these latter days of all
my life, every particle of which from the time I was
four years old, I, strange to say, can perfectly
remember. (Even earlier for I well remember being
wrapped in a blanket and taken out of bed to see
the illuminations in the house at Highgate, on the
Battle of Waterloo occasion and I was then, 1815,
just 3 years old and odd weeks). And, thinking
over all, I have long since come to the conclusion
that we are not wholly responsible for our lives,
i.e., our acts, in so far as congenital circumstances,
physical or psychical over which we have no absolute
control, prevent our being so. Partial control we
assuredly have, but in many cases we do not come to
know our real responsibilities or our nonresponsi-
bilities, till long after it has become too late to
change the lines we have early begun to trace and
follow. Once or twice I have written somewhat
concerning these matters, and if you were here I
1 Mr. and Mrs. Gillies and their son.
2 Lady Waldegrave's other favourite brother.
Later Letters of Edward Lear
might possibly dig them forth, though I might also
possibly remember that every man has a lot of
remembrances of his own, and may not care to be
bothered with those of others, even of the most
intimate friends. I also wish at times that you were
quit of office, but only because I hate the despotic
government of an incompetent fanatic, for I very well
understand, or partly so, the fierce necesssity if
England is to be governed by one of two parties,
of keeping that one in power whose original watch-
word and action was wise and liberty loving.
. . . But enough of this as the frog said angrily to the
Lizard who averred that he was neither fish nor beast
after his tail fell off.
I have lately come across other talk recorded by me
of your Lady, and all of it shews, what one knew
before, that her perception of character was of the
most remarkable justness.
Regarding your visit to Wardour Street, I have
already unbuzzomed myself: but I should certainly like
to know your opinion of the four large paintings, par-
ticularly of the " tract all dark and red " of which I
hear there has been a faint whisper of its being
bought by thirty admirers of Alfred Tennyson (and
also of E.L.) at ten guineas each, as a wedding
present for Hallam. . . . Hallam Tennyson has just
sent me his photograph and that of Audrey Boyle ;
her face is delightful, and the dressing of her hair a
lovely example to the myriad fooly-idiots of fashion.
P.S. My poor servant Nicola Cocali left Sal-
somaggiore for Milan yesterday, and the reports of the
Doctor and Innkeeper were on the whole good. Bill
altogether 11, and that is cheap if the poor fellow is
312
San Remo and Northern Italy
benefited. Anyhow, no son of George Cocali shall die
in a Hospital if I can help it. Same time I send 10
by sister Ellen to that poor foolish Texas brother, and
10 to a Nartist as is unphortschnit. So Charity, you
see, don't always begin at home.
HOTEL CAVOUR,
MILANO.
8 September, 1884.
There has been "an envellope written for you for
weeks past, but I find at this moment that it is packed
up and sent off in the big trunks, whereby I take
another, and will fill it with this letter if I can do
so. ...
You know my old mode of noting down a dinner
society what do you think of this ?
&
313
Later Letters of Edward Lear
(I must however hasten to tell you that the Layards
were not at the dinner, having gone off to Venice
the day before, but all the rest is correct.)
Northbrook sent me the kindest letter just before he
started ; (I believe he would have come up to Recoaro
if he had gone to Trieste by the Venice line) but he
says he will come and see me at Sanremo in Novem-
ber. This I doubt about ; and his going at all to
Egypt I is to me a grief, though if any straightforward-
ness and administrative ability can compensate for
crooked imbecility and bad statesmanship, I believe
that he is about the best man who could be there, as
well also as Evelyn Baring. But with a policy, or
rather no policy, of shilly-shally Suakim-Soudan
stupidity, I do not look for much hopeful result,
though I doubt if Lord Salisbury would be a happier
Factor. . . .
My Gallery at 129 Wardour Street don't thrive at
present ; but as it remains stationary, I don't see any
particular reason for doubting its success by little and
little as the man said when he threw the gunpowder
in the fire. I, and Mr. Williams shall have to consider
whether some Advertisement will not be advisable.
After all do not Royal Academicians "advertise"
when they hang their pictures on public walls ?
Hallam Tennyson has sent me (along with a photo-
graph of Mrs. H.T. and of himself,) a sonnet on my
Villa at Sanremo. 2 . . .
1 The Earl of Northbrook and Lord Wolseley left London
for Egypt together, the former as British High Commissioner,
the latter to take charge of the military operations for the
relief of Khartoum.
2 See Appendix A, p. 363.
San Remo and Northern Italy
You would have been edified by the society of
several Americans at Recoaro. One, a well-bred and
educated family, electrified me by their opinion on
" Slave Emancipation." " It had nothing to do with
hatred of slavery, though hatred of slavery was used as
a factor in the matter. It was wholly in substance a
political move against the Southern States. Not one
of us, nor of thousands in America, would sit at table
with a black man or woman ! " " But," said I to one
of the sons, "you would sit in a room with your dog? "
"Dog? Yes, Sir! but you can't compare an
inferior creature such as a negro is with a dog ? "
There were other lots of Americans not so agreeable,
and I often got out of their way particularly when
they reviled and ridiculed Q[ueen] Victoria]. And as
I never spoke on political subjects, I listened to their
praise of your Capo the G.O.M. in silence, or fled :
especially when they predicted his careful gradual
bringing about a Republic, and " Wall, Sir, I think
old G. is the right sort of man : rayther than give up
a spikket of power he will go on with the mob till they
pull down the Peers as they ought to do," and after
that, though he would cry hot tears all the time, he
would order Queen V's decapitation quite easy, and
go on cutting down trees all the more."
It is a virtue in ingenuous youth,
To leave off lying and return to truth,
For well it's known that all religious morals
Are caused by Bass's Ale and South Atlantic Corals.
Whereby, as I have just found the missing 2j
Envellope, I shall sacrifice that sum to the redistribu-
tion of facts and the annihilation of phibs.
For whereas I wrote that I sat near a son of Lady
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Walsingham, no such circumstance took place, seeing
that the said Lady Walsingham, heretofore Duchess
of Sant' Arpino, never had no son, but only one
daughter, which that there daughter married one of
the Colonna, but the boy as I sate next to and who
is a most intelligent little urchin, is the son of the
Duke of San Teodoro (formerly Sant' Arpino) by the
Strauss, who lives with the Duke of ST, and must
have been so living for years, since the intelligent
urchin is some 15 years old. The Strauss is a well-
San Remo and Northern Italy
known Singer connected with the Paris Opera, and is
a vast big bouncing female, and the other two females
are her sister and her cousin all " travelling together "
as part of the diaphanous Duke's family. The dinner
party would therefore stand thus
/
and that is all to be said on this subject.
Sept. 13, 1884.
One of my correspondents writes, " I dare say you
know much more of these matters than I do, but as J
know that Lord Carlingford is one of your kindest old
friends, I must tell you that in various papers he is
said to be leaving the ministry on account of ill-
health." Of this the only additional oblique confirma-
tion is that in the paper of the nth. just come it is
said : " Lord Carlingford is, it is reported, going to
Berlin to replace Lord Ampthill." I do not say that
any of these rumours may not be correct, though on
reading that there was to be a round of change at the
Embassies I fixed in my own mind that you would go
to Madrid and Morier would ascend to Berlin, or go
on to Constantinople or Rome. And in no case did
it strike me as impossible that your name might follow
though late those of Lord Lansdowne, Lord Cow-
per, Duke of Argyll, Messrs. Goschen and Forster, as
Later Letters of Edward Lear
standing aloof from the G.O.M. and revolutionists
generally. . . . Among the letters I found was a
particularly nice and long one from Frank (Viscount)
Baring, with messages from Lady Emma and a great
deal about their father. . . . Did I ever send you all
the titles of the 200 subjects of my Tennyson illustra-
tions I ? If I didn't I will do so, viz : all if you tell me.
Did I tell you Hallam has written a sonnet on Villa
Tennyson ?
Sep 2%th. 1884.
The " 4oscue " is the writing table at which I am
now writing which you gave me in Stratford Place
in 1849 or 1850. The F. L. sofa is an object of
similar value given me by Frank Lushington. I lie
on this one and sit at the other most days, nearly all
day. . . . Alfred Seymour who after many criticisms
on the works I now have exhibiting at 129 Wardour
St. writes " Take the entire lot, oil and water colors, I
do not think you have ever done anything better. The
Ravenna and Gwalior are quite remarkable, as are
indeed also the Argos, and the poetical and mys-
terious Pentedatilo. The Corsican drawings are all
lovely, some more striking than others, according
to the subject chosen."
3. November. 1884.
From the time I last wrote to you, (I think Septem-
ber 30th) I have been in most disagreeable trouble, of
a kind which to me is very painful : of this anon. . . .
Just as I take up this paper to write, I see in the
Daily Telegraph what appears a sort of semi-official
announcement that you are leaving the Ministry, and
even if on no other account, the possibility of my
1 Appendix D, see p. 368.
San Remo and Northern Italy
seeing you here is a something to look forward to,
and at once (having also observed that you are going
to or gone to Balmoral) I send this thither to remind
you that if you do come to Sanremo, (where you
certainly would be quiet enough this year !) I can
put you up most perfectly, opposite the sea and
garden, with a bed and sitting-room. If you came
for a long period (I don't write "Peeriod" out of
respect to Mr. Chamberlain and other haters of
Lords,) you would like to pay for your Board, and
might make what arrangements you pleased : you
could likewise have your own servant in the house,
for shortly I shall have nearly all my " Establish-
ment" 'revised and corrected,' having already a
new Milanese servant, and a good cook is coming.
I think too that your coming here and living as
quietly as you pleased would benefit this child and
prevent his "taking to drinking." Should the living
with me not suit you, then I beg you to remember
that the HOTEL ROYAL joins my garden and
is in all respects a good place to be in : the Bertolini
are a respectable and good lot, and there any amount
of rooms to choose from.
Of my trouble I shall say as little as possible,
though it is really a shocking matter to me.
Demetrio Cocali, poor George's youngest son, who
has served me so faithfully since his father's death,
has gone altogether to the bad and has left me. I
only discovered his ways after I left Recoaro, but
on returning here found it was impossible to keep
him in my service. The intellect of these poor
people is so shallow and semi-useless that I would
make all allowance for a lad of 19 whom I have
319
Later Letters of Edward Lear
taught to read and write etc., and whose father was
so good a servant to me for so long a time; but
with all my desire to save a human being from ruin,
I could not see my way to do so. The bad company
he has frequented will I don't doubt eventually bring
him to total misery.
There remains now only his eldest brother Nicola,
a thoroughly good man set. 33 as far as I have
known him a devoted son to his mother now dead,
and for the last two or three years doing all for
his poor Father. But he is gradually dying of con-
sumption, and though still able to cook at times,
is less and less at work and more and more obliged
to lie down. In these difficulties I have got a highly
recommended man from the Cavour at Milan, and
have written for a second to act as cook : ugly and
expenseful doings, but I have been all my life " in
difficulties."
They would certainly look less ugly if you were to
come out.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
BALMORAL CASTLE.
Nov. 6. 1884.
... I find the Queen remarkably well, better in
body and mind than I have seen her for a long time,
though anxious about public affairs. The lady in
waiting is the widowed Duchess of Roxburghe, whom
I like. Princess Frederica of Hanover J and he
husband Baron Pawel von Rammingen are here.
He is a pleasing sort of man in an awkward posi-
1 H.R. H. Princess Frederica, daughter of George V., ex- King
Hanover, and a sister of the present Duke of Cumberland, mar-
ried Baron von Pawel Rammingen, K.C.B., at Windsor in 1880.
320
San Remo and Northern Italy
tion (one of the servants informed a Maid of
Honour that " Mrs. Rummagem was come"). She
is very tall, distinguished and charming. She was
one of the last people we received at Carlton Gardens
in '79, and she speaks to me warmly of my Lady.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
2. December 1884.
I was very glad to get your nice letter from
Balmoral ; I believe those parts of your Ministerial
duty are very good for you. In a letter I had from
Henry Grenfell to-day he speaks well of your
health ; I am glad to find from a letter of his I saw
in print, that this dirty Landscape painter is not
eccentric and monomaniac as to his opinion about
the Right Hon. Joseph (re. "toil not neither spin"
Down with the Lords ! etc, etc, would you become
plain Mr. Samuel Chichester Fortescue if Mr.
Thorold Rogers had his way ?) My chief advice now
is this before it is too late, utilize the big Phoca
privata : he would bring
you across the Channel or
take you round by the Bag
of Biscuits and you could
land just below Villa
Tennyson at Sanremo.
The " household difficulties " as you call them are
trying to this child. After trusting and teaching a
lad for six or seven years to find him such an absolute
hypocrite and good for nothing and untrustworthy!
I have heard of Demitri having reached Brindisi,
almost penniless and with not enough money even
321 x
Later Letters of Edward Lear
to cross to Corfu : yet he certainly had over
from savings and pay when he left this house.
His good brother Nicola is always extremely ill,
and yet up to two days ago would persist in cook-
ing ; (would to goodness his successor cooked as
he does !) He is now a great part of the day lying
down, and often miserably depressed on account of
his brother's acts. All I can do is to grin and hold
on, though among other drawbacks, the expense of
these days ain't at all pleasant. Yet if a man resolves
to do what he thinks a duty done it must be, and I
have so often been in great difficulties that at set 72 J
it is not worth while to be over anxious, however
sad one may be. The new personal servant, Luigi
Rusconi, seems a jewel ; . . . the new cook, Pietro
Pavedi (also recommended by Suardi of the Cavour
Hotel,) don't seem greatly gifted, but I have to
remember that my great economy is not favourable
to culinary genius.
Hardly a creature is at Sanremo. Lady Agnes
Burne (Lady Fitzwilliam's sister,) called some days
ago, but I don't expect to sell nothing this winter. . . .
Happily Sir J. Lubbock I bought some drawings
lately, for I am becoming tinless and tearful. . . .
I am sorry for Northbrook, on account of all sorts
of odious articles against him, and now particularly
that Bonham Carter 2 his brother-in-law has died so
1 The present Lord Avebury, author of " Prehistoric Times,"
" The Pleasures of Life," and many works of research on ants
and bees.
2 John Bonham-Carter, formerly M.P. for Winchester. He
was at various periods a Lord of the Treasury, Chairman of
Committees of the House of Commons, and Deputy- Speaker.
His wife was Lord Northbrook's eldest sister.
322
San Remo and Northern Italy
suddenly. (Do you remember our dining with
J.B.C. in Spring Gardens when except we two
every one said A. Tennyson was no poet in
A letter I had a few days ago would amuse you.
The writer has friends in Hong Kong ; but speaking
of R. Morier and his nomination to St. Petersburg, he
says : "a curious rise to those who remember him
a huge boy of 1 6 : he wished to go to Berlin, but
Bismarck vetoed. With him as with G. F. Bowen,
unfailing confidence in himself, and untiring watch-
fulness to make good use of opportunities and get
himself forwarded have prospered."
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
ATHENAEUM CLUB.
Dec. 5. 1884.
Your welcome letter came this morning. I have
just come from the House of Lords, where the
Franchise Bill I passed without a word said a very
remarkable political event, which ought to strike
foreigners as a proof of the great political sense of
this country. The Queen told me on Saturday that
the two leaders spoke to her in the highest terms
each of the conduct of the other, in respect of the
negociations which have taken place, and Gladstone
1 The frank adoption by Lord Salisbury of a democratic
programme of reform had greatly assisted the solution of the
question, and the previous agreement of the leaders of the two
parties rendered futile the opposition of those whose seats
were threatened with extinction.
323
Later Letters of Edward Lear
has spoken to me with much admiration of Salisbury.
H. M. also spoke to me in the kindest possible way
of the newspaper reports of my resignation.
You draw the Phoca beautifully. The last event
of the Privy Seal Office is that my private secretary
. . . has privily forged various documents and
cheated a charitable association, of which he was
secretary, and has received the very mild sentence
of a year's imprisonment. . . .
P. S. Anecdote My solicitor's daughter, copying
picture in National Gallery. British citizen gazes
long at the picture and the copy at last speaks :
" Please, Miss, can you tell me what they do with the
old *UHS?"
Lear to Lord Carlingfora.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
21. December 1884.
I agree with all you say about R.D. Morier,
and G.F.B. . . . R.D.M. I never thought a
"Noomboog" (as Hudson the Railway King said
to Prince Albert I was close by the company at
the time) H.R.H. : " Mr. Hudson, what is your
opinion of the Atmospheric Railway ? " Hudson
" please your rile mess, I think it is a Noomboog."
H.R.H. turning to Lord Farnham, "Explain to
me what is a Noomboog ? ") . . .
My poor Nicola keeps sinking very gradually,
Dr. Hassall does wonders in alleviation of suffering,
and Nicola now, not being able to stand for any
length of time, passes his day mostly sitting by the
kitchen fire, or lying on his bed. He is always
324
San Remo and Northern Italy
grateful and good and uncomplaining. His brother
Dimitri is at Corfu, and will get employment there
at a Trattoria. Lambi is at Brindisi. This is a
comfort to me as well as to poor Nicola. It is my
fixed belief that a resolute determination to assist
those whose miserable want of sense and principle,
together with tendencies, temptations, and circum-
stances to us unknown, tends to being one of the
best forms of charity we can aim at achieving ; and
I scout the notion of treating domestics less kindly
than horses or dogs ; and even when they are ever
so much in fault I think it is wiser to try and keep
them from total ruin, than to be indifferent to their
welfare. And if I am laughed at for these ideas
and acts, I don't care for that the 999th part of a
spider's nose. t The new cook was a distinct failure :
Luigi Rusconi and Nicola suspected him from the
first, and from the back kitchen window, L.R. saw
him (unperceived, for the cookly back was turned)
empty the half of bottles of wine into a jar and
filling them up with water ; whereon, speedily calling
Nicola, both together entered the back kitchen by
the door, and took him in the fact, so that he could
not denige the theft, and had to go. Since his
departure, I have my own meals in from the Hotel
Royal, while Luigi gets and cooks for himself and
poor Nicola. As for Luigi Rusconi, he continues
to be one of the best servants possible punctual
obliging industrious clean intelligent, and very
good to poor Nicola, for which I am very thankful,
for these small worries are trying. . . .
325
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
Dec. 22. 1884.
I write because I wish you to have a few words
of greeting on or before Christmas Day. I have
little to tell you about myself, except that the
newspapers have at last left off informing the world
that I am in bad health and about to resign office.
You will have seen the happy results of the Autumn
Session, which have secured the accomplishment of
a great and inevitable constitutional change without
further conflict between Parties, or between the two
Houses of Parliament. I wish foreign affairs looked
as well as affairs at home.
I paid a visit a week ago to Lord Granville I at
Walmer, and I do not envy his responsibilities.
There I met a curious mother and son the mother
the Duchesse de Galliera, and the son calling
himself Monsieur Ferrari. The Gallieras (the Duke
is dead) are a great and wealthy Genoese family
long settled in Paris. The son refuses to take the
title or the fortune. He behaves like an idiot in
society, but is a Professor of History in some Paris
Institution. The Duchess is disposing of her wealth
by great acts of charity and generosity. She has
just built a hospital at Genoa. She has given an
hotel and an estate at Bologna to the Due de
Montpensier, and she has given up the first floor
1 Foreign Secretary for the third time from 1880 to 1885. He
had to face the troubles in the Soudan, differences with Germany
and France, and the threatened rupture with Russia over the
Afghan boundary question.
326
San Remo and Northern Italy
of her magnificent house in Paris to the Count and
and Countess de Paris.
I am here alone, as usual. The Boyles who live
close by, will eat their Christmas dinner with me.
Constance who, as you know, lives seven miles off,
cannot of course leave her own home. 1 I was there
two days ago, and found Sir Edward 2 much
revived, and more active than he has been. I
hope I shall hear from you before long. Have you
got the Tennysonian drama? I am prepared to be
disappointed. I have a letter today from Miss
Nightingale begging me to give a good appoint-
ment in the Education Department to a clever son
of Arthur Clough, who was once (much to our
honour) in the Office himself. I fear that I must
appoint another candidate, much against my wishes.
Goodbye for today. We are both very lonely.
You must fancy me at my solitary meals, with your
pictures externally and others internally for company.
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
Jan. 24. 1885.
We live in strange times. Just as I was sitting
down to write to you five minutes ago, a telegram
was put into my hands " Two dynamite explosions
at Houses of Parliament today. Westminster Hall
much damaged. House of Commons wrecked inside
1 Sutton Court.
2 Sir Edward Strachey, father of the present Baronet.
327
Later Letters ot Edward Lear
seven persons injured." l This is a success for
these infernal villains, and it seems next to impossible
to catch them, so long as the conspirators don't
betray each other.
... I think I owe you a letter. I remember
your last contained a good deal of damning and
cursing of Gladstone, which I trust relieved you
somewhat. I of course can't join you in that
occupation, though I have never been a worshipper
at that shrine. I believe him to have done great
services to his country as a legislator and Parliament
man, but in foreign affairs I sigh for Palmerston. . . .
I have been spending more of my life than I
like on the Great Western Railway, and on Monday
I am off again, in order to attend a Council at
Osborne for the Royal Assent to the Battenberg-
Beatrice marriage. I met the young man there
the other day and thought very well of him, and she
struck me as a changed person, happier and younger.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
8. March. 1885
I cannot write much, but wish to let you know
that my poor Nicola Cocali left me on Wednesday
4th and that he was buried by Lord Mulgrave on
Friday 6th.
1 On January 24th simultaneous explosions occurred at the
Houses of Parliament and at the Tower of London. An infernal
machine had been placed in the crypt, and another in the
House of Commons, where much damage was done. At the
Tower the chief damage was done to the Bankruptcy Hall and
the passage to St. John's Chapel. It was not ascertained who
instigated these two dastardly crimes.
328
San Remo and Northern Italy
For the last five days he was completely uncon-
scious, and seemed to suffer until latterly though
I do not think he really did suffer after all sentient
power had gone. I had hired a very good woman
as his nurse, who never left him day or night ; and
for the kindness of Luigi Rusconi, as well as for
that of Cesare Ghezzi the cook and of Erasmo the
gardener and last not least for that of Dr. H assail,
I cannot be sufficiently thankful. . . .
Tennyson sent me Beckett it is to my judgment
by far the best of his dramas.
I see you have the Phoca no longer, and cannot
help hoping you may ere long be in-
dependent. . . .
Do you see the Saturday Review ?
Please read an article praiseful of
Seals, to your Phoca ; it would gratify
that dear old beast.
19. March 1885.
I cannot now write a letter to your very kind
letter of the 4th (which I have only just got, on
my return from Milan after nine days absence,)
because I find among my other letters, one announc-
ing the death on the i6th of my dear sister Ellen,
the last of my thirteen sisters, aet. 84. I will write
to you again as soon as I can.
22 March 1885.
The two deaths of my sister Ellen and of Nicola
have an effect mental and bodily which increases
instead of diminishing daily. I am glad to think
329
Later Letters of Edward Lear
that Mrs. Clive x is coming on Thursday her visit
will be a great comfort, as the want of spoken
sympathy is sadly wearying. My sister was, as you
know, one of the elder members of our large
(twenty-one) family, and as she was eleven years
old when I was born and was married when she
was seventeen or eighteen I knew but little of her
in my early days. But of late years, as she
became the only survivor of the thirteen sisters, and
as she lived near London (close to Mrs. Greville
Howard's of Ashstead,) I always saw her a good
deal when I was in England : and inasmuch as for
many years I have regularly written to her once a
fortnight, and she (through her servants for she
was blind,) as often to me, a sort of continuity of
relationship seems now to be all at once mysteriously
dissolved. We had but little in common intellec-
tually, yet never disagreed at all. Spite of her
narrow Calvinistic theories, she was absolutely good
and charitable in practice, a combination as you
well know may happen, as in the instance of dear
old Mrs. Ruxton. All her property goes to the
nephews and nieces of her husband who died about
1860 or earlier, and anything she may have had of
her own she has always given to the two brothers
in America, for the last remaining of whom (now
set. 82,) I find by a letter just received from him
and forwarded to me, she has lately built a house
in Texas. I trust she may have provided for her
two excellent women servants, who must feel her
1 Widow of George Clive, Under-Secretary of State for the
Home Department 1859-1862 a very old personal friend of
Lear's.
330
San Remo and Northern Italy
loss pitiably, after respectively fifty and thirty years
of her service.
In the case of my dear good Nicola I lose not
only an admirable servant, but a companion whose
great intelligence and whose perfect disposition
could hardly be surpassed, nor could his faithful
affection to myself, nor his admirable help to his
parents. The conduct of his brother Demetri
troubled him terribly, but with a true Suliot courage
he hardly ever gave way to sorrow, though the
last three months of his life were a time of suffering
and melancholy. Almost to the last he would go
on keeping the accounts, and often read a good
deal of Greek and French ; and he frequently said
" how good Luigi and Cesare are to me ! " The
two last sentences I heard him speak were " Padrone,
quanto siete stato sempre a me ! " and " Spero
frapoco di vedere mia madre." 1 During his long
illness he had hardly ever uttered a word of com-
plaint ; but from Saturday morning February 28
to the evening of March 4 when he died he was
quite insensible, and I believe suffered no pain.
You yourself have suffered so much by separation
though in a widely different sense, that I am
sure you do not blame me for dwelling on what is
a great change in my own lonely life.
Looking to your letter of the 1 1 th, I certainly do
wish the Government had gone out if that would have
led to your coming here. As for the Russian Mess, 2
1 " Master, how much you have always been to me ! " "I
hope soon to see my mother."
2 The English and Russian Commissioners could not agree as
to the delimitation of the Afghan frontier ; whilst the Russian
331
Later Letters of Edward Lear
the Russians are certain to gain in all arrangements
while the G. O. M. is at the head of affairs. . . .
30 April 1885.
You must have been glad to get back to England,
for I know Court life is not to your taste though
a duty. As for me, I never could have mastered
it even in that light; one day, after long repression
of feeling, I should suddenly have jumped all round
the room on one leg or have thrown a hot potato
up to the ceiling, either of which acts would (pos-
sibly) have ruined my "career" as G.F.B. used
to say. You are certainly a wonderful cove if so
be a Cabinet Minister is a cove, for writing so
much and so kindly to this " dirty Landscape
painter," who not seldom repents of his violent
writing to a " statesman with a well-balanced mind,"
as I truly believe you to be. So far from ' not
respecting ' you or N., I endeavour to look at Poltix
from your point of view, and can well understand
your both being perfectly conscientious, though I
may prefer the line of Forster and Goschen, and
(latterly even) of Duke of Argyll. " Let us make
an oath and keep it, with a quiet mind, Not to
write on Politics, if never so inclined." And now
that the monstrous folly of supposing that Russia
" is not truthful," seems to be beaming out on many
minds hitherto obstinately dark, I wish nowise to
touch on that subject, to which even you allude,
though I cannot agree with you that " the Russians
Foreign Office was profuse in conciliatory despatches, the Russian
War Department was suspiciously active. The difficulties were
at length settled by a compromise in September.
332
San Remo and Northern Italy
have behaved abominably " since after Bulgaria and
Mid Lothian, Batoum and Dulcigno and much more,
it appears to me that they have only acted very
naturally. This leads me to write about the Ad-
miralty horror and explosion. 1 For a whole day I
was really utterly miserable, as the first telegram
from Turin was only " Explosion Admiralty sup-
posed dynamite ; building much destroyed : damage
great nothing yet certainly known." In point of
fact, the whole of our friends might have been
killed, had the Devilry exploded one hour later,
when all would have been at lunch.
This morning's post brings me a long letter from N.
The Barings are all so little demonstrative that, even
regarding themselves I wonder at the calmness with
which they take really awful matters. Poor Lady
Emma a little while back (after Easter) was thrown
out of a carriage at Stratton, and fell among bushes,
where a pointed stick pierced her ear, and went nigh
to ending life. I have read the account with horror.
She was driving (?) and is a thorough first class whip,
and with pluck and coolness enough to set up a
regiment of soldiers : but I suppose the horse shied
The reason of this Baring matter cropping up after the
"Politix" paragraph, is that I thought it right to
prevent N. writing to me on such matters, and because
I hate false colours to tell him I was no Radical, and
that I fully believed mismanagement had been the
cause of all the troubles now about. Naturally I didn't
run on in the Asinine way I do to you : indeed, I
1 An explosion occurred at the Admiralty in the room occu-
pied by Mr. Swainson, the Assistant Under-Secretary, who was
seriously injured. The explosion was the result of an accident.
333
Later Letters of Edward Lear
have never taken the least notice of what my dear
good N. writes on such toppix, and I even find,
looking at my diary of some time back, that when he
wrote to me about the Russians having Batoum, I
replied nil but have written regarding his remark " I
think the Russians should have Batoum for the
greater will be their responsibility " " Certainly and
such would be the case if you gave them Anglesea or
the Isle of Wight." Please say nothing of this. You
yourself wrote " I sigh for the Foreign Office as it
was under Palmerston " but God forbid I should
allude even to your saying so. ...
I have been often thinking of you to-day, as I have
been working on Elm trees I from sketches made at
"Nuneham." July 27, 28, 29, 30, 1860. Hence on-
; ward, my letter will be confused and indicative of my
1 mucilaginous and morose mind all more or less queer
.', and upside down as the mouse said when he bit off his
grandmother's tail, having mistaken it for a barley straw.
Yesterday was a very gratifying day. Principal
Professor Shairp (of St. Andrews, and Professor of
Poetry at Oxford,) brought me a letter of introduction
from Edr. Lushington (Lord Rector of Glasgow Uni-
versity.) He looked over all my two hundred Jfr.
drawings with the greatest care and interest, and
complimented me about them as would make the
paper rose-colour if so be I wrote down his words. . . .
Tozer 2 of Oxford sends me a charming book
1 For No. 43 of his Tennyson illustrations a And one an English
home" (Stratton).
2 The Rev. Henry Fanshawe Tozer, author of several
works on Greece and European and Asiatic Turkey ; he also
wrote an English Commentary on Dante's " Divina Commedia."
334
San Remo and Northern Italy
(wanting in dates though) by Theodore Bent (Long-
mans,) all about the Cyclades. (Dearly beloved child
let me announce to you that this word is pronounced
"Sick Ladies," howsomdever certain Britishers call
it " Sigh-claids.") . . .
I should greatly like to know what has become of
the Phoca ? Did he go to Aix les Bains with you ?
EDWARD LEAR, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, l886.
Should you be injuiced, by contemplating the
remarkable development of my " Political- knowledge
and aspirations " to offer me some lucrative place
under Government, be assured that I will take nothing
but the Chancellor of Exchequership, or the Arch-
bishoprick of Canterbury. Various people bother me
to publish my Autobiography, inasmuch as I have
sixty volumes of Diaries: but at present I shan't.
Some of the notes written in years when I used
335
Later Letters of Edward Lear
to drive for days on the Campagna with Lady Davy
are funny enough ; as are others not in that category.
Now if you've got so far, you've read enough.
P.S. And this is certain ; if so be
You could just now my garden see,
The aspic of my flowers so bright
Would make you shudder with delight.
And if you voz to see my roziz
As is a boon to all men's noziz,
You'd fall upon your back and scream
" O Lawk ! O criky ! it's a dream ! "
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
BALMORAL CASTLE,
May 30. 1885
. . . Don't be surprised if you should see some day
in the newspapers that the Reynolds, The Three
Ladies Waldegrave, is about to be sold. 1 I have
made up my mind that the estate cannot afford to keep
the sum of money that it represents locked up but I
am anxious that, if possible, it should go to the National
Gallery. Don't say anything about this at present.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA FIGINI,
BARZANO,
ITALIA.
25. July. 1885. 6 A.M.
Did I tell you I used in old days often to hear
Irving 2 preach? And how he used to walk about
1 It was later sold to Mr. Thwaites, and is now the property
of Mrs. Yerburgh, his daughter.
2 Edward Irving began to preach at the Caledonian Church
336
San Remo and Northern Italy
Middleton Square, reading a Bible over the head of
his baby? . . .
Should I keep alive and well, I
should like to master German, next
winter. Carlyle has made me think
of this. . . .
What mania possesses the incomers
to new titles to call themselves
" North "this or that ? North-
bourne and now IVortMngton, 1 in-
stead of the real good title Henley ?
I believe (vide Duke of Argyll on
sheep) that the next batch will be
Lord North North West, or Lord North North by
North East.
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
1 6 August, 1885.
Of the Duke of Argyll's judgment I am at this
moment in accord with you in one particular at least,
in London in 1822 with wonderful success. After his Homilies
on the Sacraments appeared he was convicted of heresy and
ejected from his new church in Regent's Square in 1832, and
finally deposed in 1833 by the Presbytery of Annan which had
licensed him.
1 Frederick Henley (eldest son of the 3rd Baron Henley)
was created Baron Northington in 1885. He was an attache
in the Diplomatic Service from 1868 to 1873.
337 Y
Later Letters of Edward Lear
inasmuch as he owes me 22 125 and I have written
to ax him for it. The " exigencies of poltix " naturally
forbid you to agree with him, or Forster or Goschen
etc : for all that I am glad you are out of office.
What amuses me most at this moment is to look back
on the positive opinions given to me from various
persons of highest office and repute as to the 4th
party D. Wolff an ass : Lord R[andolph] C[hurchill]
a furious fool etc all the lot incredible boobies and
quite impossible to rise as men of the governing
classes. Yet all four are in the present ministry ! ! ! !
you may say " still they are asses " but that don't
affect the fact they have risen spite of the high
opinion of lofty personages. What you write of the
Q[ueen] and of the P[rince]ss's wedding 1 is very
nice. Did you not like the lines on the marriage
by JJL ? Emily T[ennyson] Lady T[ennyson] has
been taken back to Aldworth, and Edmund Lushing-
ton is at Faringford ; his last letter to me is sad
enough, re Lady Tfennyson]. Frank Lushington is
with the Venables party : G. S. V[enables] 2 will have
felt M. Milnes' 3 death greatly. You also more or less.
I think I met him first at your house, St. James'
place, at breakfast : but his intimacy with Harry
Lushington brought me in contact with him often
later. Did I tell you he came to see me at Sanremo
on his way to Cairo ? And how when there was a
1 H.R.H. Princess Beatrice was married to H.R.H. Prince
Henry of Battenberg on the 23rd of July.
2 Canon George Venables of Norwich. Select Preacher at
Cambridge since 1883.
s Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton the poet, died
suddenly at Vichy on the nth of August.
338
San Remo and Northern Italy
discussion just as he was going away about the
G.O.M.'s foreign policy, with various disastrous
deductions from Lady Galway and others, he said,
Three things will save England from your prophecies
being fulfilled: i stly the good sense of the Queen.
339
Later Letters of Edward Lear
2 ndly the good temper of the P[rince] of W[ales], and
3 rdly the good looks of the P[rince]ss of W[ales]."
Whereon with his usual jovial chuckle, he left my
door, those being the last words I ever heard him
utter. . . .
If I had a baby son and daughter, I would christen
the boy Bar6lo and the girl Brianza.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
17. September 1885.
I to my Riviera home on Saturday the i2th, with
great regret at leaving Barzano, but in much better
health, back returned. And I send you a few lines
just to let you know this fuliginous fact. I never
passed three months so tranquilly and comfortably,
that I can remember, anywhere, and I should not have
left but that I had come literally to the end of all my
work and could not live in idleness. The weather also
had become wet, so I could not go out to sketch. . . .
Lord Carlingford to Lear.
CHEWTON PRIORY,
BATH.
Sep. 19. 1885.
... I had a kind of affectionate feeling for poor
Houghton, and am very sorry that he is gone. Your
story of his reasons why your prophecies of evil would
not be fulfilled is very characteristic. One feels as
if Death ought not to have taken him so seriously.
You write truly enough of the whimsical success of
Randolph Churchill a success not very creditable to
our system of Party.
340
San Remo and Northern Italy
Lear to Lord Carlingford.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
ii. November 1885.
I lament to say I cannot give you a bed here, 1 but
you can feed and be here as
much as you like : the fact being
that I expect F. T. Underbill
to stay two or three weeks, on
account of my great "vastness"
Tennyson Book, which the said
Underbill is to Lithograph. . . .
24 November 1885.
I got your telegram yesterday, and now send Luigi
to meet you ; (he don't speak English :) and he will
bring you and your luggage in a comprehensive cab up
to my door. You will have to pay one franc, unless
you have much luggage, when the driver may perhaps
claim half a franc more.
I shall be very glad to see you rather that I did
1 After the change of Government, Carlingford resolved to go
and see Lear at San Remo.
341
Later Letters of Edward Lear
not much expect to see you again. And I think it is
immensely kind of you to come so far to see this
Pig-
I do not know if the Phoca Privata has a permanent
place, or if he is changed with a change of govern-
ment. But if you have brought him with you, please
give him to Luigi, who will put him into the cistern
and give him a piece of bread and ham. I should not
like to have him in the Library because now lots of my
drawings are there.
i. December 1885.
/ was afraid you would take cold. On no account
whatever allow yourself to leave the house without an
overcoat.
I think I would not pay Dr. H assail till you
are sure you are quite well. 1
1 One afternoon, nearing dusk, Lord Carlingford sat on a
seat insufficiently clothed for the dangers of the Riviera
climate, and dropped off to sleep for a short time. The result
naturally was a chill. This chill was the beginning of a very
serious illness and breakdown. Lord Carlingford suffered
from the consequences for a long time, and it left his nerves
in a permanently weakened condition. Those who knew him
intimately and his own medical adviser, considered it to be
consequent on the great grief through which he had gone,
and under which he had at no time previously succumbed
in health though hard worked with the cares of office.
342
San Remo and Northern Italy
6. December 1885.
i. P.M.
Dr. Hassall called on me early, and told me all
about you, and in my opinion you are going on as well
as you can expect to be after so violent a chill as you
have unluckily taken along of not dressing according
to Italian winter climate which is hot by day and cold
by night.
I wish some Indian would buy my Gwalior picture
which is now dubbly wallible as a Nistoric Topo-
graphy.
I wish I could do you any good, but don't see how
I can : only sometimes I wish you hadrit come out to
see me.
BUNDY BORDING.
21. December 1885.
I am much disgusted by seeing in the Daily Tele-
graph of Saturday the following, " Lord Carlingford
is lying very ill at Sanremo."
Lear Nonsense to Lord Carlingford.
SAN REMO,
23 Dicembre, 1885.
ILLUSTRISSIMO EGREGIO SIGNORE, Noi, i Consi-
glieri Municipali ed il nostro capo il Signor Sindaco
di San Remo, abbiamo pensato che mandare Tinchi-
usi disegni alia Vostra Egregia Signoria, sara certo
il nostro dovere : e probabilmente un piacere alia
Vostra Signoria.
leri sera, verso il calar del sole, si e trovato nel
Porto di San Remo, una Bestia assai straordinario e
fuor di commune. Mandiamo a V. S. il ritratto di
questo animale, (insieme con un ritratto dell' insigne
343
Later Letters of Edward Lear
pittore, il Sig. Edward Lear chi 1'ha rappresentato).
Quest' animale sta presentamente in una Capanna al
Porto badato bene di 50 uomini della Polizie.
Intorno al suo collo si e trovato un collaro di Oro,
coll' inscrizione seguente
" Phoca Privata or Privy Seal"-
con il sigillo particolare della Regina d'Inghilterra
attacato. Abbiamo dunque creduto che il nostro
dovere ci spinse subito di fare chiaro quest' affare
alia Vostra Signoria, sappiendo noi che la V. S. fii
poco tempo fa " Guardiano del Sigillo Private della
Regina."
Ora ci tocca domandare di V. S. cosa possiamo
fare di quest' animale ? Potessimo mandarlo al Giar-
dino od alia Cisterna del Sig. Edward Lear, chi V. S.
conosce bene : ma la sua cisterna manca spazio non
avendo un' apertura che de J metro, mentre che questa
Phoca ha 3 metri di lunghezza.
E per6 non sappiamo se sia lecito di mandarla
Phoca all' Hotel Royal, siccome non siamo certo che
vi sarebbe ricevuto.
In somma, dopo molto deliberazione abbiamo deciso
di mandare alia vostr' Illustrissima Signoria, questa
spiezagione con disegni ragguardevoli. E speriamo
che V. S. si degnera di accordaci una risposta che
mettera in giust' ordine quest' affare serio.
Fin ora, il Phoca Privata si e condotto amabilmente
eccettuato che ha muzzicato e distrutto 4 diti delle
consiglieri Municipal! chi senza troppo precauzioni,
hanno meso loro mani nella bocca del Phoca.
Ma siccome queste uffiziali sono di condizione beni-
344
Photo]
[Bassano.
CHICHESTER FORTESCUE, LORD CARLINGFORD.
(About 1886.)
San Remo and Northern Italy
stante, la perdita di qualche dite o piu o meno, non
gli dara fastidio.
Siamo, ed abbiamo TOnore di segnarci,
Illustrissimo S ignore,
I vostri servi umibumilissimi,
II Sindaco di San Remo
Conte Rovinzio
Sig. Zirio
Sig. Marsaglia
Consiglieri Municipal!
Sig. Cav. Gastaldi
Gandolfi
Bottini
Camburrotti
Buscallivacci
Boshii I
1 SAN REMO,
2yd December, 1885.
ILLUSTRIOUS AND HONOURED SIR, We, the Town Councillors
and our chief, the Mayor of San Remo, have considered it
decidedly our duty and probably a pleasure to your Excellency
to send you the enclosed designs. Last night towards sunset, a
rather extraordinary and uncommon beast was found in the port
of San Remo. We are sending your Excellency a portrait of
this animal, (together with the portrait of the distinguished
artist, Mr. Edward Lear, who has sketched it).
This animal is at present in a hut at the Port, well guarded
by fifty policemen. A golden collar has been found round his
neck with the following inscription : " Phoca Privata or Privy
Seal," with the Queen of England's private Seal attached. We
have accordingly considered that our duty compelled us to
make known this matter to your Excellency at once, as we
knew that your Excellency was, a short time ago, " Guardian
of the Queen's Privy Seal."
Now we must ask your Excellency what we can do with this
animal. We could send it to the Garden or to Mr. Edward
Lear's Tank, which you know well, but his tank is not big
345
Later Letters of Edward Lear
25 December 1885.
. . . Luigi and Cesare to whom with the two
gardeners I have given two dinners : (as also money
to the infant school here, and to the two remaining
sons of my dear servant George,) will anyhow con-
vey me up to 3rd floor Hotel Royal at 6 P.M. I shall
tell Luigi to come back at 9 or 9. 15. 1
enough, having an opening of only half a metre, while this seal
is three metres long. On this account, we do not know if it is
permissible to send the Seal to the Hotel Royal, as we are not
sure whether it would be received there.
In short, after much deliberation, we have decided to send
these explanations to your Illustrious Excellency with the
appertaining designs. And we hope that your Excellency will
deign to give us an answer, which will satisfactorily dispose of
this serious business.
Up to the present, the Privy Seal has conducted itself
1 Lear had overdone a walk and talk the day before, and at
first had thought it impossible for him to join Carlingford.
Anyhow he felt better as the day advanced and wrote the
above, and the two lonely men ate their Christmas dinner
together and were the better for each other's company.
346
San Remo and Northern Italy
26 December. 1885.
I am none the wusser, but rather the more betterer
for your good dinner and company yesterday.
This morning has brought me a fearful amount of
letters of which those from Augustus Drummond,
Mary Mundella, the Walsingham Grants, Laura
Coombe and other good women are very beneficial.
God certainly made good women.
is*
amiably, except that it has crunched and destroyed four fingers
of the Town Councillors, who, acting rashly, have put their
hands in the Seal's mouth. But as these Officers are in com-
fortable circumstances, the loss of a few fingers, more or less,
will not cause them annoyance.
We are and have the honour to sign ourselves, Illustrious Sir,
Your most extremely humble servants,
The Mayor of San Remo
Count Rovinzio
Sig. Zirio
Sig. Marsaglia
Sig. Cav. Gastaldi
Gandolfi
Bottini
Camburrotti
Buscallivacci
Boshii
347
Town Councillors
Later Letters of Edward Lear
29. December 1885.
This is only to say don't make it so late before
you come out. The best time is from 12 to 2. And
always put a Sill Kankerchief in your pocket in
case of change of wind : throats is very excitable
in these latitudes. And never stay out after 4
better indoors 3.45.
I wished to tell you that the Phoca has been placed
in my great cistern, whence it can easily out-be-got
by the lower water course.
I give him four biscuits and a small cup of coffee
in the early dawning, and this morning I thought
I would go out to sea on his back which I did
more than half way to Corsica for he swims orfle
quick. I had previously telegraphed to Miss Camp-
bell at Ajaccio, and she met me half way on her
Porpoise (for she hasn't got a Phoca,) but our
meeting was very short, owing to the amazing
number of seagulls she herself brought with her,
who made such a d d row that all conversation
was unpossible. So I came straight back and tele-
graphed to Lord Harrowby's Phoca that your's was
all right.
San Remo and Northern Italy
1 8. January 1886.
BUNDAY AFTERNOON.
Yours of yesterday, came this morning. I am
very sorry to know you are still so poorly. Let me
hear from you again shortly. As for myself, I am
sitting up to-day for the first time partly dressed
as the cucumber said when oil and vinegar were
poured over him salt and pepper being omitted.
I go on with medecine every three hours and the
cough (which has shaken off one of my toes, 2 teeth,
and 3 whiskers,) is thank God, somewhat diminished,
but I am still very ill and have only (till today,)
been able to leave my bed by Luigi's lifting me
out of it, and rolling me up in a chair till I was
lifted in again. It is a great blessing that the sun
is always so bright.
VILLA TENNYSON.
SANREMO.
19 February. 1886.
I was glad to know both from yourself and from
Lord Clermont as well as from Mrs. Urquhart that
you had reached London safely. I cannot help
hoping that you may go to Chewton, where you
have so many interests, and where the air is (I
suppose) bracing. I hope to hear you are sleeping
better bye and bye.
For myself I only grow weaker : but am in no
pain, though I have been obliged to send for H assail
this morning owing to return of partial congestion
and new threats of Bronchitis. . . .
This morning's post brings me many duplicates
of a letter written by Ruskin on " Choice of books."
349
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Naturally it is a matter of pride with me that h<
places ''Edward Lear" at the head of his list ol
100 !! (Vy! Veil! No I never did!!!)!!. 1 . .
I continue to miss your visits extremely, but coul<
not wish you to be here now, for though the sui
is hotter, the wind is colder. Hassall irritates m<
by his d d Thermometers and Barometers.
if I couldn't tell when an East wind cuts me ii
half spite of the thermometer by reason of sunshin<
being ever so high ! ! I told him just now thai
1 had ordered a baked Barometer for dinner, an(
2 Thermometers stewed in treacle for supper.
P.S. A letter from Lady Lyttelton, with Photc
graphs just come but ain't up to seeing bearer-
one Baroness Oppell, 2 granddaughter how? why
where? of W. Scott. My love to Northbrook
you see him.
ii. March 1886.
... I have lost a good deal of acute Bronchiti<
symptoms, but am still in bed, congestion of lung*
requiring great care day and night. Hassall does all
he can.
I enclose my last nonsense but if it worries 01
tires 3 don't read it.
1 " I don't know of any author to whom I am half so gratefi
for my idle self as Edward Lear. I shall put him first of nr
hundred authors."
2 Mary, granddaughter of Sir Walter Scott's brother, Thorn;
Scott ; married Baron Oppell of Wilsdruff, near Dresden-
consequently great-niece of Sir Walter.
3 I regret not having found this, but believe it to be " Unch
Arley."
350
San Remo and Northern Italy
2. April. 1886.
Though I do not like to trubbl your ize or 'ed,
I must write a line to tell you that I have a beautiful
letter to-day from Lord Northbrook, with a stamped
Receipt for the ^2000. So I can do now just what
I please about what sketches I send or don't
send.
It is impossible to say what a relief this has been
to me.
You will be sorry however to hear that all the
last trials of the Autotype Company have come back
all total failures ! ! they adduce some qualities of
the paper used for this.
I am a little better : and by Luigi's help actually
got down to the second Terrace yesterday ! ! but
only by the merest toddling.
I hope you are better : let Powell r write a line.
VILLA TENNYSON.
Dec. 2. i886. a
I have plenty of discomforts just now, my rheu-
matism giving me great and constant suffering. But
of all my discomforts, the hearing nothing of you
is certainly one of the first. Not any one letter
from either your sister or yourself give me the least
1 Lord CarlingforcTs valet.
* Lear had improved in health and gone in May to Milan,
drifting on to the Brianza, where he had been the previous
year. In the early part of September he was at Lucerne,
working back to Milan, from whence he writes September
27th : "I have at length, thank God got away from Switzerland
and so far towards Villa Tennyson which I hope to reach on
Oct. ist. ... I am still very ill."
351
Later Letters of Edward Lear
idea of how you really are, or what you do, or can
do. I wish you would write.
The weather here is always bright and lovely,
but cold now and I can hardly keep warm, tho'
I have fires in two rooms. I do not work, having
nothing to work on, for the great 200 J^ illustra-
tions have come to grief, the Autotype Company
having failed to do any good, and their suggestion
that at my age I should execute all the 200 drawings
afresh is of course too absurd to think of. But I
fear this labour of fifty years must be given up
altogether. I read a good deal, lying down : just
now, Charles Kingsley's life, and I wish you were
here to ask you about some parts of it. My own
life seems to me more and more unsatisfactory and
melancholy and dark. Northbrook's last account
of Alfred Seymour is not very luminous. I live
all but absolutely alone. At the " Royal," are Mrs.
and two Miss Monro Fergusons, old acquaintances
and pleasant enough. An old sculptor friend also,
student in Rome with me in 1836, has come out
just newly married at 75 set ! I miss Lushington
extremely. Some Indian books also (Heber etc)
keep me alive, but on the whole I do not know if
I am living or dead at times. So that on the whole
you see that life is not lively : and I trust you will
write by way of chanty if for no other motive.
Mrs. Hassall looks in at times, a pleasant and
sensible woman. But there is no interchange of
thought in these days. Hassall has proved himself
an excellent Doctor to me.
My cook don't improve and my food ain't lovely.
I think I shall stop this intellectual epistle.
352
San Remo and Northern Italy
10. December 1886.
Once at a village prayer meeting, this conversation
took place.
ist old woman. "Say something!" 2nd. Ditto.
"What shall I say?" ist. Ditto. "How can I
tell?" 2nd. Ditto. "There is nothing to say!"
Both. " Say it then at once ! " Result. I send this
card, but having nothing to say but that I am not
worse, perhaps rather better at times, but still quite
disabled by rheumatism in arm and leg right.
He only said, " I'm very weary. The rheumatiz
he said. He said, its awful dull and dreary. I think
111 go to bed."
April i. 1887.
A letter (date March 27) has just come from you,
and I am so glad to know you are, however slightly,
better. I wonder if you pay thorough attention to
regularity of diet, on which I believe much depends.
You will be glad to know that I go on improving.
I have walked out on the Terrace, (always helped
of course,) and have been more able to balance myself
than I was a week ago. This is my unvaried scheme
of diet. 6 A.M. cup of black coffee. 9 A.M. two
eggs upbebeaten with sugar, and then diluted with
tea : two pieces of dry toast, and a slice of brown
bread with butter. 10.45, a i glass of Port wine and
a biscuit, i. P.M. lunch, generally fish or brains or
some light food, and nothing more unless indigestion
Dains in left side worry, when I take a J glass of
:ognac and water. 7.15 P.M. bed, which I am
indressed for and put into. I regret to say that
Tiy good servant Achille San Pietro who succeeded
353 z
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Luigi Rusconi, goes to-day. His silly wife at Como
would not let him stay, professing to believe that all
Sanremo was full of earthquake, whereas nothing has
happened here though horrors enough at villages
around.
Northbrook's stay and Lady Emma's were a very
great blessing and I wish them back hourly. . . .
I expect Mrs. Parker here presently Augusta
Bethell, Lord Chancellor W[estbury]'s youngest
daughter : and I have a dear little girl, Mrs. Eliot,
Mary Nevill as was, who often comes to see me,
whom I expect for an hour or two.
My great ^ work 200 illustrations naturally is
shunted for the present, whether ever to be resumed
who can tell. However, there is no doubt that I
must be thankful to God for very great improvement
in health during the last eight or ten days. . . .
Weather here, day after day, is perfectly calm and
lovely. If breathlessness allows, hope to get on
to the Terrace later. Have got four pigeons. Have
killed three flies. Wish Northbrook and Lady
Emma were back. She is delightful, far more than
you would suppose possible.
1 8. June. 1887.
. . . You will be glad to hear I am considerably
better. At 7. A.M. to-day I walked nearly round
all the garden, which for flowers in bloom is now
a glorious sight. Also the ten pigeons are a great
diversion, though beginning to be rather impudent
and aggressive. Their punctuality as to their sitting
on their eggs and vice versa I never knew of before.
The males and females take their turns EXACTLY
354
San Remo and Northern Italy
every two hours. Giuseppe r (says he) believes they
have little watches under their wings, and that they
wind them up at sunset, 8 P.M. standing on one foot
and holding the watch in the other.
GD. HOTEL D'ANDORNO,
ANDORNO,
BlELLA,
PlEDMONTE,
ITALIA.
August i. 1887.
To-day's papers has brought me the sad news so
long expected and Clermont 2 is gone. I think
no better man has made the exchange from this to
the next life. But the loss to you, different as you
were, must be most distressing : and when you think
proper I should like to know how poor Lady Clermont
and the rest are. It seems all very like a dream, and
indeed reality and dream seem to approach each other
in an undefined way.
Pecsonally, your brother's death distresses me
much. He has been for forty years a constant and
helpful friend : and it never occurred to one that he
would be the first to go. I cannot give you any good
account of myself, the tremendous heat (even up here)
and the incessant labour of knocking away flies
worries me sadly, and to-day. ... I can take no
solid food whatever. It is a great thing to have
so good a servant as Giuseppe Orsini.
I am not up to writing any more, so must say
1 The new servant who was with him till he died, and tended
him most faithfully.
a Lord Clermont was the elder brother of Lord Carlingford,
his wife was a daughter of the Marquis of Ormonde.
355
Later Letters of Edward Lear
goodbye, only begging you to let me hear of you
soon. Also of Clermont's last hours if possible.
P.S. I address as usual, not knowing if you are
called Clermont yet. Someone said you would be
Clermont-Carlingford ? 1
Sep. 2gth, 1887.
I must send you a line, and shall be glad to hear
how you are now. As for my own life, it is full of
sadness, of various grades : one of my oldest friends,
Harvie Farquhar, Mrs. G. Clive's brother has just died.
He was always full of kindness and helpfulness for me,
and his death is a great sadness.
Then, my companion for thirty years old Foss
died three days ago. I am so glad he did not suffer
much, as he had become quite paralysed for two days.
He had been my daily companion for thirty years, and
was therefore thirty-one years old. I'm having a little
tablet placed over where he is buried, and will send
you a copy of it later on. Overleaf is a catalogue of
my last works, twenty in all, and I think that no painter
of Topography and Poetry has ever done more.
Foss is buried in the garden, and I am putting up a
little stone memorandum.
Oct. 21. 1887.
I am in great distress. My dear good nephew,
Charles Street having died quite suddenly in New
Zealand. Thus in that lately happy house there are
now 2 widows, (for Charles' son-in-law died only a
short time ago leaving a widow and 9 children) and
a terrible amount of grief.
1 Lord Carlingford never took the former title.
356
Qll SOTTO
SIX SEPOLTO
IL Mill BIO\
CATTO FOSS
ERA IN CASA MfA
30 A\M E MORI
IL 26 7" 1887
DI ET4 31 A,\\l
FOSS'S TOMBSTONE IN THE GARDEN OF VILLA TENNYSON.
(The age of the cat is a mistake. See text.)
San Remo and Northern Italy
Thanx for card. Glad you are somewhat better.
The " Nonsense" Article in Spectator^ was really well
1 A long article appeared in the Spectator of September, 1887,
reviewing and giving extracts from Lear's three Nonsense Books
and Laughable Lyrics, etc. " In these verses graceful fancy is
so subtly interwoven with nonsense as almost to beguile us into
feeling a real interest in Mr. Lear's absurd creations. . . . His
verse is, as he would say, ' meloobious ' ... he has a happy
gift of pictorial expression, enabling him often to quadruple the
laughable effect of his text by an inexhaustible profusion of the
quaintest designs. . . . The parent of modern nonsense- writers,
he is distinguished from all his followers and imitators by the
superior consistency with which he has adhered to his aim that
of amusing his readers by fantastic absurdities." This delightful
article of September 17, 1887, was by Mr. Graves on Lear's
Nonsense Books. He also quotes the following set of examina-
tion questions which a friend, who is deeply versed in Mr. Lear's
books, has drawn up for us :
" i. What do you gather from a study of Mr. Lear's works to
have been the prevalent characteristics of the inhabitants of
Gretna, Prague, Thermopylae, Wick, and Hong Kong?
" 2. State briefly what historical events are connected with
Ischia, Chertsey, Whitehaven, Boulak, and Jellibolee.
" 3. Comment, with illustrations, upon Mr. Lear's use of the
following words : Runcible, propitious, dolomphious, borascible,
fizzgiggious, himmeltanious, tumble-dum-down, sponge-taneous.
" 4. Enumerate accurately all the animals who lived on the
Quangle Wangle's Hat, and explain how the Quangle Wangle
was enabled at once to enlighten his five travelling companions
as to the true nature of the Co-operative Cauliflower.
" 5. What were the names of the five daughters of the Old
Person of China, and what was the purpose for which the Old
Man of the Dargle purchased six barrels of Gargle ?
u 6. Collect notices of King Xerxes in Mr. Lear's works, and
state your theory, if you have any, as to the character and
appearance of Nupiter Piffkin.
" 7. Draw pictures of the Plum-pudding Flea and the Mopp-
sikon Floppsikon Bear, and state by whom waterproof tubs
were first used.
" 8. ' There was an old man at a station
Who made a promiscuous oration.'
357
Later Letters of Edward Lear
written and pleased me greatly. It has been sent to
me three times.
I am feeling somewhat better, but terribly weak,
and head bad. Can't write.
Beginning to work on the 200 J^s. large size.
Very absurd possibly.
P.S. Expect the Mundellas to-morrow.
VILLA TENNYSON. SANREMO.
10 Nov. 1887.
I should like to know how you are going on. I
have gone back a good deal lately, but am better
to-day than for 3 days past when I had that nasty
fall on the Lamps. The pains in side are says
H assail caused by champagne, so he has prohibited
my drinking any more at present a great and ridicu-
lous bore, inasmuch as Frank Lushington has just sent
me 30 Bottles as a present. And moreover I detest
cognac and water, but there is no other way out of
the dilemma and it is certain that the pain has
diminished since I left off the Champagne. Did you
see the notice about one of my works in The Spectator
of Oct. 27th ? Vere nice indeed. There is one also
in "Frith's" new book vol. i. p. 44.* How is poor
Lady Clermont ? Is she still living at Ravensdale?
Write soon if only a card.
Yours affectionately,
EDWARD LEAR.
What bearing may we assume the foregoing couplet to have
upon Mr. Lear's political views ? "
1 " Edward Lear, afterwards well known as the author of
a child's book called 'A Book of Nonsense,' was one who
358
San Remo and Northern Italy
On January 29th, 1888, Lear's end came.
The above is the last letter to Lord Carlingford
that I have found. The mistake he makes as to
Foss the cat's age, is repeated on the memorial
stone Lear put up in the garden. Foss was
really 17 years old. " And the excellent Foss
now 8 years old," says Mr. Lear in a letter
of October 28th, 1878, p. 210.
The following letter from Madame Philipp,
widow of Dr. Hill Hassall, and the extract from
that from Giuseppe Orsini to Mr. Lushington,
are a fitting ending to these letters, when the
poor dead hand had ceased to tell its own
story.
NICE, 2ist Jan. 1911.
I hasten to answer your letter. First of all ; with
respect to the Italian translation of some of Tennyson's
poems, including " Enoch Arden." They are by Carlo
Faccioli, 1 not by Mr. Lear. Lord Tennyson had
asked Mr. Lear's opinion of the translation and he,
became an intimate friend of mine, as well as fellow-student.
He is still living, I believe, somewhere in Italy. Lear was a
man of varied and great accomplishments, a friend of
Tennyson's, whose poetry he sang charmingly to music of
his own composing. As a landscape-painter he had much
merit ; but misfortune in the exhibition of his pictures pursued
him, as it has done so many others, and at last, I fear, drove
him away to try his fortune elsewhere" (W. P. Frith, "My
Autobiography and Reminiscences," 1887, vol. i. p. 44).
1 A little volume Lear sent to Fortescue, which I now possess,
and which makes our great poet look strange in his foreign garb
of wording.
359
Later Letters of Edward Lear
knowing I was particularly fond of " Enoch Arden,"
gave me a copy to read, and when I told him after-
wards that the translation had made me cry just as
the original always did, he said : " The translation
must be good then, and I shall write and tell Lord
Tennyson what you say." Mr. Lear then gave me
the book and wrote my name in it with the date,
April, 1886. Of course this book has always been
treasured by me,, as indeed are all my mementos of
this remarkable man.
In the Introduction to your delightful book,
page xxxii, there is a letter from Mr. Lear of July
3ist, 1870, in which he refers to the form of heart
disease from which he suffered for many years and
which was primarily the cause of his death. With
advancing years he had repeated attacks of bronchitis
and bad fits of coughing, with much difficulty of
breathing, which greatly distressed him. The pain of
which, he writes in the letter I send, marked I., 1 was
caused by indigestion, from which he suffered very
much, and when the bout was over he would often
write to me of wonderful remedies he had invented for
it ; of course describing his symptoms with his own
characteristic spelling.
Of late years he spent a great deal of time in his
bedroom (see letter marked II.), 2 going to bed early
and getting up late, and it was in his bedroom, very
much wrapped up, as you see, in spite of the sun
shining full on his face (and particularly on his glasses,
much to the discomfiture of the photographer !) that the
last photograph of Mr. Lear was taken. Foss was to
1 See Appendix B, p. 364. 2 See Appendix B, p. 365.
LAST PHOTOGRAPH OF LEAR, 1887.
San Remo and Northern Italy
have been taken with him, but he jumped down at the
last moment. In the photo you can see Mr. Lear's
hand, as it was when holding the cat. On Foss's
death, the 26th September, 1887, Mr. Lear had him
buried in the garden at Villa Tennyson and I send
you a photo of the grave. By the date on this it is
evident that on the tombstone is an error.
As time went on poor Mr. Lear became weaker,
and gradually his walks in the garden ceased and at
last he remained entirely in his bed-room, finally taking
to his bed in January, 1888.
My first husband, Dr. Hassall, was constantly in
attendance on him, and I was continually in and out.
Mr. Lear did not complain and was wonderfully good
and patient. The day he died I was there a long
time, but he was sinking into unconsciousness and did
not know me.
Dr. Hassall and the Rev. H. S. Verschoyle, a great
friend of ours, were with Mr. Lear when he died. I
was in the room half an hour before the end, but my
husband sent me away, fearing the last scene might
try me too much. It was most peaceful, the good,
great heart simply slowly ceasing to beat. We went
of course to the funeral. I have never forgotten it, it
was all so sad, so lonely. After such a life as Mr.
Lear's had been and the immense number of friends
he had, there was not one of them able to be with him
at the end.
I shall be very glad if anything I have written is of
use to you, but in my opinion the beautifully written
" Introduction" to "The Letters of Edward Lear" is
the most perfect and touching character sketch that
could have been written of him.
Later Letters of Edward Lear
NORFOLK SQUARE, W.
February 6th, 1888.
DEAR LORD CARLINGFORD, I am sure you will be
interested in an extract from a letter I received a
day or two ago from Giuseppe Orsini, the servant
who was in waiting on our dear old friend Edward
Lear up to the time of his death.
" Da un mese e mezzo non si stanca mai di parlare
dei suoi stretti e stretti suoi buoni amici. Ma il giorno
29, a mezza notte e mezzo con mio grande dolore mi
faccio inter prete dell' ultime sue parole sono queste
precise e sante parole ' Mio buon Giuseppe mi sento
che muojo Mi renderete un sagro servizio presso i
miei amici e parenti, dicendo loro che il mio ultimo
pensiero fui per loro, specialmente il giudice, Lord
Northbrook e Lord Carlingford. Non trovo parole ab-
bastanze per ringraziare i miei buoni amici per tutto il
bene che mi hanno sempre fatto. Non ho risposto alle
loro lettere perche" non potevo scrivere, perche* appena
prendevo la penna in mano che mi sentivo morire." *
. . . Lear had given him an inscription which he
wished to have placed on his tomb.
Believe me, very truly yours,
F. LUSHINGTON.
1 " For a month and a half he was never tired of talking of his
nearest and dearest, his good friends. But on the 29th, half
hour after midnight, with the greatest grief I act as interpret
of his last words they are these precise and holy words ' M
good Giuseppe, I feel that I am dying. You will render me a
sacred service in telling my friends and relations that my last
thought was for them, especially the Judge and Lord Northbrook
and Lord Carlingford. I cannot find words sufficient to thank
my good friends for the good they have always done me. Ldid
not answer their letters because I could not write, as no sooner
did I take a pen in my hand than I felt as if I were dying/ '
362
1 11O
i
> V
o
o o
Is
APPENDIX A.
FARRINGFORD,
FRESHWATER,
I.W.
ORANGE-BLOSSOM.
Far off to sunnier shores he bad us go,
And find him in his labyrinthine maze
Of orange, olive, myrtle, charmed ways
Where the gray violet and red wind-flower blow,
And lawn and slope are purple with the glow
Of kindlier climes. There Love shall orb our days,
Or, like the wave that fills those balmy bays,
Pulse through our life and with an ebbless flow ;
So now, my dove, but for a breathing while
Fly, let us fly this dearth of song and flower,
And, while we fare together forth alone
From out our winter-wasted Northern isle,
Dream of his rich Mediterranean bower,
Then mix our orange-blossom with his own.
H. T.
363
APPENDIX B.
I
VILLA TENNYSON,
SAN REM
March i, 1886.
DEAR MRS. HASSALL, I don't expect the Doctor will get ou
for some time yet, for it seems to me to get colder an
colder every day.
I had another DREADFUL bout of pain yesterday morning,
but it passed off thanks partly to the " Red " physic : and to
Luigi, who for once was frightened, for giving me some
coffee and cognac.
To-day I am rather better as to indigestion, but with more
difficulty of breathing, which I impute to the greater cold.
Meanwhile I beg to assure Dr. H. that I will mind his ad-
vice about keeping my feet warm, and (though you need
not tell him this,) I have just hit upon 2 quite original in-
ventions, (i. for keeping the feet warm, and 2. for getting rid
of what is called phlattulence), and I believe 2 gold meddles
at least will be awarded to me.
Your oat-broth (as Cesare Gheggi makes it) is wonder-
fully good ; with the Port wine, of which I take one glass
daily. Ought I to drink some hot water and put my feet into
gruel ?
I shall be very glad whenever you can afford time to give
me a visit, but I don't expect you, knowing how much you
have to do with your own invalid.
I see by to-day's paper that Professor John Ruskin is about
to publish a " Treatise on Nonsense " ! ! ! !
So I am sending him 3 more of my books. And I have
just written (the last Nonsense poem I shall ever write), a
364
Appendices
history of my "Aged Uncle Arley." x stuff begun years ago
for Lady E. Baring.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) EDWARD LEAR.
II
VILLA TENNYSON.
Octbr. 21, 1885.
DEAR MRS. HASSALL, This morning's post brings me a very
nice letter from Mr. Kettlewell, which I think you and Dr.
Hassall may like to see, whereon I send it.
I was sorry to see so little of the Doctor yesterday, but I
rise so late now and go to bed so early, that I have but very
little leisure time. The best conditions of finding me now-a-days
are from 12 to i p.m., in the garden, which I get to when it
is fine.
I did not say all I might have said to Dr. H. about my
health, thinking he might upbraid (or down-braid) me for
doing more than I ought to do at my age, and considering
how feeble I am, consequently though I tell you in confidence
I did not tell him that I had climbed to the top of the
tallest Eucalyptus tree in my garden and jumped thence into
the Hotel Royal grounds, nor that I had leaped straight
over the outer V. Tennyson wall from the highroad, nor
that I had run a race with my cat from here to Vintimiglia,
having beaten Foss by 8 feet and a half. Those facts you
can impart to Dr. Hassall or knot as you like.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) EDWARD LEAR.
1 Published in one of Messrs. Warne & Co.'s series of Nonsense Books.
365
APPENDIX C.
VILLA TENNYSON.
SANREMO.
Novr. 3, 1883.
MY DEAR SIR JOHN, I send you in this letter 2 Corpses of
the most abominable or rather, bee-bominable insects that
ever made a florist miserable. The plague of black bees
has multiplied here so horribly, and they are so destructive
that there is not a seed of my beautiful Grant - Duff
Ipomoeas anywhere, as the beestly bees pierce all the flowers
and no seed is matured. We are driven mad by these bees,
and have bees on the brain ; we kill them by scores and the
ground is beestrewn with their Bodies. Even the broom we
use to sweep them away is called a Beesom. Can you at all
enlighten me as to where these creatures build, or if they
live more than a single summer ? Or is there any fluid or
substance which may kill them and save me the trouble
of running about after them ? I beeseech you to do what
you can for me in the way of advice.
I saw by the papers that you have been staying at Knowsley
lately a place which was my home in past days for many
years. I wonder if you saw a lot of my paintings and drawings.
Lord Derby is always employing me in one way or another,
as did his father, his grandfather, and his greatgrandfather.
Fancy having worked for 4 Earls of Derby !
Please do not forget to send any of your friends to my
gallery at Foords, 129. Wardour Street, where I have now
the only exhibition of my topographic works oil and water
colors. You may have seen some of Corsica if Lord D. has
those of mine, at Knowsley.
I heard from Miss Mundella last from Varese, and keep
hoping that they may all yet come here. I did not alas ! see
Appendices
them at Monte Generoso, which I had just left after the death
of my dear good old Suliot servant who died there on Augt. 8
last, and whose death, after 30 years of service and good work
has been to me a most serious grief. Nevertheless his 2 sons
are now with me, and if you would come I could still manage
to receive you comfortably, and you might study the Beeze all
day long. Some of Govr. Grant-Duff's Ipomceas are delightful.
One of the plants he sent, Solanum Jubulatum, has such and
so many thorns that we cannot walk at all near it.
Yours sincerely,
EDWARD LEAR
36;
APPENDIX D.
LANDSCAPE ILLUSTRATIONS OF POEMS BY
LORD TENNYSON.
From Original Drawings by Edward Lear.
INDEX.
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
1. The sun was sloping to his Cannes, France Mariana.
western bower
2. Albenga, Italy
3. Sattara (Bombay Presi-
dency, India)
4. Waiee (Bombay Presi-
dency, India)
5. Embowered vaults of pillar'd Tel-El-Kebeer, Egypt Recollections of the
palm Arabian Nights.
6. Wady Feiran, Pales-
tine
7. Far down, and where the Vir6, Corfu, Greece ,,
lemon grove
8. The solemn palms were Philse, Egypt ,,
ranged above
9. From the long alley's latticed Turin, Italy
shade
10. The waterfall, a pillar of Mendrisio, Switzerland Ode to Memory,
white light
368
Appendices
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
11. The waterfall, a pillar of Oeschiner See, Switzer- Ode to Memory.
white light land
12. Wild and wide the waste Terracina, Italy ,,
enormous marsh
13. And from the East rare sun- Amain, Italy The Poet.
rise flow'd
14. Flowing like a crystal river Platania, Crete The Poet's Mind.
15. The purple mountain yonder Mt. Olympus, Thessaly ,,
1 6. Sweet is the colour of cove Palaiokastritza, Corfu The Sea Fairies.
and cave
17. One willow over the river River Anio, Campagna The Dying Swan.
hung di Roma
18. Stands in the sun, and Barrackpore, Calcutta, Love and Death.
shadows all beneath India
19. ,, ,, Dead Sea, Palestine
20. In the yew- wood black as Kingly Vale, Chiches- The Ballad of
night ter, England Oriana.
21. Till all the crimson passed Pentedatelo, Calabria, Mariana in the
and changed Italy South.
22. Calicut, Malabar, India ,,
23. Like the crag that fronts the Kasr Es Saad, Nile, Eleanore.
evening Egypt
24. Crimsons over an inland mere Lago Luro, Epirus,
Albania
25. Thunderclouds, that, hung on Joannina, Epirus, ,,
high Albania
20. ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,
27. The white chalk quarry from Arundel, Sussex, The Miller's
the hill England Daughter.
28. The sunset, north and south Narni, Italy ,,
369 AA
Later Letters of Edward Lear
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
29. Beneath the city's eastern Constantinople, Turkey Fatima.
towers
30. There is a vale in Ida Mount Ida, Asia Minor CEnone.
31. Beneath yon whispering pine Phyle, Attica, Greece ,,
32. My tall dark pines that Bavella, Corsica
plumed the craggy ledge
33' >
34. A huge crag platform Mendrisio, Switzerland The Palace of Art
35. Meteora, Thessaly,
Greece
36. One show'd, all dark and Pentedatelo, Calabria, ,,
red, a tract of sand Italy
37. One show'd an iron coast Gozo, Malta
38. One show'd an iron coast and Cape St. Angel o, ,,
angry waves Amalfi, Italy
39. And one, a full-fed river River Spercheius, ,,
winding slow Thermopylae, Greece
40. And one, the reapers at their Below Monte Gennaro,
sultry toil Tivoli, Italy
41. And highest, snow and fire Ta~ormina, Sicily
42. And one a foreground black Etna, Sicily ,,
with stones and slags
43. And one, an English home Stratton, Hampshire, ,,
England
44. The Maid - mother by a Campagna di Roma,
crucifix Italy
45. Mount Soracte, Italy
46. A clear wall'd city by the sea Ragusa, Dalmatia ,,
47. Hills, with peaky tops en- Telicherry, Malabar, ,,
grail'd India
370
Appendices
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
48. Girt round with blackness Mar Sabbas, Palestine The Palace of Art.
49- Lago Lugano, Switzer-
land
50. A land of streams Vodghena, Macedonia The Lotus Eaters.
51. They sate them down upon Euboea, Greece
the yellow sand
52. Moonlight on still waters Philse, Egypt
53. To watch the crisping ripples Parga, Albania
54. Only to hear were sweet Euboea, Greece ,,
55. All night the spires of silver Wady Feiran, Palestine A Dream of Fair
shine Women.
56. Morn broaden'd on the Civitella di Subiaco,
borders of the dark Italy
57. I will see before I die the Date Palms, Sheikh "You Ask Me
palms and temples of the Abadeh Why."
south
58. D6m Palms, Mahatta
59. Cocoa Palms, Telicherry ,,
60. Cocoa Palms, Mahee
61. Cocoa Palms, Aleepay
62. ,, Cocoa Palms, Ratna-
poora
63. Cocoa Palms, Avisa-
vella
64. ,, Palmyra Palms, Arrah ,,
65. ,, ,, Areka Palms, Ratna- ,,
poora
66. Sago Palms, Calicut
67. Talipat Palms, Malabar
371
Later Letters of Edward Lear
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
68. I will see before I die the Temples of Paestum, "You Ask Me
palms and temples of the Italy Why."
south
69. Temple of Segesta,
Sicily
70. ,, Temples of Girgenti,
Sicily
71. Temple of Bassse,
Arcadia, Greece
72. Temple of Thebes,
Egypt
73. Temple of Philae, Egypt
74* >j
75. Temple of Dendoor, ,,
Nubia
76. Temples of Conjeviram
(Madras Presidency,
India)
77. Temples of Mahabali-
puram (Madras
Presidency, India)
78. ,, ,, Temples of Tanjore
(Madras Presidency,
India)
79- ,, ,, Temples of Trichinopoly ,,
80. A place of tombs Kleissoura, Albania Morte d' Arthur.
81. A cedar spread his dark green Mount Lebanon The Gardener's
layers of shade Daughter.
82. Sighing for Lebanon Maud
83. A length of bright horizon Tivoli, Italy The Gardener's
rimm'd the dark Daughter.
84. And the sun fell, and all the Tel El Ful, Gibeah, Dora.
land was dark Palestine
372
Appendices
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED.
85. The white convent down the Sta. Maria de Polsi,
valley there Calabria, Italy
86. Hail, hidden to the knees in Blithfield, Staffordshire,
fern England
87. Among these barren crags Ithaca
88. For all remembrance is an Campagna di Roma
arch
89. There lies the port
Ithaca
90. Breadths of tropic shade, and Darjeeling
palms in cluster
91.
92.
93-
94-
95-
96.
Khersiong
Conoor
Ratnapoora, Ceylon
POEMS.
St. Simon Stylites.
The Talking Oak.
Ulysses.
Locksley Hall.
97-
99. Summer isles of Eden Calicut, Malabar, India ,,
oo. Darkness in the village yew Westfield, Hastings, The Two Voices.
England
DI. In gazing up an Alpine crag The Matterhorn, ,,
Switzerland
02. Across the hills and far away Montenegro The Day Dream.
rj. The twilight died into the Coast near Via Reggio,
dark Italy
H. A light upon the shining sea Monastery of Panto- St. Agnes' Eve.
kratora, Mt. Athos
>5- Illyrian woodlands
Ahkridha
373
To E. L. on his
Travels in Greece.
Later Letters of Edward Lear
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE.
1 06. Echoing falls of water
107. Sheets of summer glass
108. The long divine Peneian Pass
1 09. The vast Akrokeraunian walls
no.
in.
112.
113. Tomohrit
114.
115. Athos
116.
117-
118.
PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
River Kalama, Albania To E. L. on his
Travels in Greece.
Lake of Ahkridha
Pass of Tempe, Thes-
saly, Greece
Coast of Albania
Khemara
Pass of Tcheka
Dragihadhes
Mount Tomohrit from ,,
above Tyrana
Mount Athos from the
sea
Mount Athos from
above Eriligova
Mount Athos from
above Eriss6
Mount Athos from
above Karues
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125-
126. ,,
Monastery of Koutlo-
moussi
Monastery of Panto-
kratora
Monastery of Stavro-
nikites
Monastery of Karakalla
Monastery of Philotheo
Monastery of Iviron
Monastery of Laura
374
Appendices
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE.
127. Athos
128.
129.
'33-
134-
135-
136.
137.
138-
'39-
140.
141.
142. All things fair
143-
144.
145-
PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
Monastery of Laura To E. L. on his
Travels in Greece.
Monastery of St. Nilos
Monastery of St. Paul
Monastery of St.
Dionysius
Monastery of St.
Gregorius
Monastery of Simopetra , ,
Monastery of Xero- ,,
potamos
Monastery of Zeno-
phontos
Monastery of Russikon
Monastery of Dochi- ,,
areion
Monastery of Kosta-
monites
Monastery of Zographos , ,
Monastery of Khilian- ,,
darion
Monastery of Esphig- ,,
menon
Monastery of Batopaidi , ,
Corfu
Campagna di Roma ,,
Constantinople ,,
Kinchinjunga, from ,,
Darjeeling
146. In curves the yellowing river Tepelene, Albania Sir Launcelot and
ran Queen Guinevere.
375
Later Letters of Edward Lear
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
147. In curves the yellowing river Suli, Albania Sir Launcelot and
ran Queen Guinevere.
148. Beyond the darkness and the Wady Halfeh, Second The Vision of Sin.
cataract Cataract, Egypt
149. Uprose the mystic mountain Mount (Eta, Greece ,,
range
150. Yon orange sunset waning Ravenna, Italy "Move Eastward,
slow Happy Earth."
151. In lands of palm and orange Nice The Daisy.
blossom
152. Esa
153. What Roman strength Turbia Turbid"
show'd
154. How like a gem beneath, the Monaco, from Turbia ,,
city
155- Monaco
156. Lands of palm and orange Mentone ,,
blossom
157. Vintimiglia
158. Bordighera
159. Sanremo
161. Ice far up on a mountain head Taggia
162. High hill convent seen Sanctuary of Lampe-
dusa
163. Olive hoary cape in ocean Porto Maurizio
164. What slender campanile Finale
165. Nor knew we well what Capo di Noli
pleased us most
1 66. A moulder 'd citadel on the Vado
coast
376
Appendices
PLATE ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
167. High on mountain cornice Varegge The Daisy.
168. I stay'd the wheels at Cogo- Cogoletto
letto
169. The grave severe Genoese of Geneva ,,
old
170. Sun-smitten Alps before me Monte Rosa, from Varese ,,
lay
17* Monte Rosa, from Lago ,,
di Orta
172. Monte Rosa, from Monte ,,
Generoso
173. We came at last to Como Lago di Como, from ,,
Villa Serbellone
175. One tall Agave above the Lake Lago di Como, from ,,
Varenna
176. That fair port Varenna, Lago di Como
177. Rosy blossom in hot ravine Petra, Syria, Palestine ,,
178. A promontory of rock Capo St. Angelo, Corfu Will.
179. Calm and still light on that Mount Hermon, Syria In Memoriam.
great plain
180. ,, ,, Monte Generoso, ,,
Switzerland
181. A looming bastion fringed Coast of Travancore, ,,
with fire India
182. The fortress and the mountain St. Leo, near San
ridge Marino, Italy
183. On Sinai's peaks Mount Sinai, Palestine ,,
184. Silver sails all out of the West Malabar Point, Bom- The Princess.
bay, India
1 85. On thy Parnassus Mount Parnassus, ,,
Greece
377
Later Letters of Edward Lear
PLATE. ILLUSTRATED LINE. PLACES REPRESENTED. POEMS.
1 86. The cataract shattering on First Cataract, Nile, The Princess.
black blocks Egypt
187. The splendour falls on castle Suli, Epirus, Albania ,,
walls
188. ,, ,, Sermon eta, Pontine
Marshes, Italy
189. Celano, Abruzzi, Italy
190. ,, San Nocito, Calabria,
Italy
191. ,, Bracciano, Italy ,,
192. The cypress in the Palace walk Villa d'Este, Tivoli,
Italy
193. A little town with towers (?) Near Orte, on the ,,
upon a rock Tiber, Italy
194. Among the tumbled fragments Canalo, Calabria, Italy Lancelot and
of the hills Elaine.
195. Between the steep cliff and Beachy Head, Sussex, Guinevere.
the coming sea England
196. On some vast plain before a Damascus, Syria ,,
setting sun
197. Missooree, India ,,
198. ,, ,, Monte Generoso, ,,
Switzerland
199- Thebes, Egypt
200. The mountain wooded to the Enoch Arden's Island Enoch Arden.
peak
378
APPENDIX E.
PICTURES EXHIBITED BY EDWARD LEAR AT THE
ROYAL ACADEMY.
1850. Claude Lorraine's house on the Tiber.
1851. Street Scene in Lekhreda, &c.
The Castle of Harytena, &c.
1852. Mount Parnassus, &c., Northern Greece.
1853. Prato-lungo, near Rome.
The City of Syracuse.
1854. Marathon.
Sparta.
1855. The Temple of Bassae, &c.
1856. The Temple of Philae.
The Island of Philae.
1870. Kasr es saad.
Valdoniello.
1871. Cattaro in Dalmatia.
On the Nile near Assioot.
On the Nile, Nagadeh.
On the Nile near Ballas.
1872. Pietra.
1873. The Monastery of Megaspelion in the Morea.
379
APPENDIX F.
The following Persons, being desirous that Mr. LEAR'S
Picture of the " Temple of Bassae," should find an appropriate
and permanent place in the Museum of a Classical University,
have subscribed towards its purchase, with a view to its
presentation to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart.
Anonymous.
Anonymous.
Anonymous.
Rev. Ellis Ashton.
Thomas G. Baring, Esq., M.P.
William F. Beadon, Esq.
Professor Bell, P.L.S., &c., &c.
Robert J. Blencowe, Esq.
John G. Blencowe, Esq.
Henry A. Bruce, Esq., M.P.
Rev. H. Montagu Butler, Head
Master of Harrow School.
G. Cartwright, Esq.
Rev. Charles M. Church.
Rev. William G. Clark.
Lord Clermont.
George Clive, Esq., M.P.
Colonel Clowes.
S. W. Clowes, Esq.
William Crake, Esq.
Rev. John E. Cross.
Miss Duckworth.
Harvie Farquhar, Esq.
Chich ester F. Fortescue, Esq.,
M.P.
F. W. Gibbs, Esq.
Terrick Hamilton, Esq.
John S. Harford, Esq.
John Battersby Harford, Esq.
Dr. Henry.
A. Heywood, Esq.
Admiral Sir Phipps Hornby.
Lady Hornby.
Rev. J. J. Hornby.
Mrs. Hornby.
The Miss Hornbys.
The Hon.Mrs.Greville Howard.
Bernard Husey-Hunt, Esq.
William Langton, Esq.
Colonel W. Martin Leake.
Mrs. W. Martin Leake.
The Ladies Legge.
Appendices
Franklin Lushington, Esq.
K. Macaulay, Esq.
James G. Marshall, Esq.
R. Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P.
D. R. Morier, Esq.
William Nevill, Esq.
T. Gambier Parry, Esq.
Edward Penrhyn, Esq.
Thomas Potter, Esq.
Sir James Reid.
Henry R. Sandbach, Esq.
William R. Sandbach, Esq.
Mrs. William and Mrs. George
Scrivens.
Alfred Seymour, Esq.
Sir John Simeon, Bart.
Lord Stanley, M.P.
Thomas Tatton, Esq.
Alfred Tennyson, Esq., Poet
Laureat.
George S. Venables, Esq.
Frances, Countess Waldegrave.
Lord Wenlock.
S. F. Widdrington, Esq.
Thomas H. Wyatt, Esq.
Charles Griffith Wynne, Esq.
Mrs. Griffith Wynne.
Charles Griffith Wynne, Esq.,
Jun., M.P.
Miss Yates.
15, STRATFORD PLACE, OXFORD STREET,
December loth, 1859.
381
APPENDIX G.
ARGOS FROM THE CITADEL OF MYCEN^
BY EDWARD LEAR;
A Classical Landscape, embracing the Sites of Argos, Tiryns,
Nauplia, And the Lernaean Marsh :
IS PRESENTED TO
TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
BY THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE :
THE MASTER OF TRINITY.
Charles S. Bagot, Esq.
Robert Berry, Esq.
Hugh Blackburn, Esq.
P. Pleydell-Bouverie, Esq.
Edward Ernest Bo wen, Esq.
Professor Butcher.
Marston C. Buszard, Esq., Q.C.
The Archbishop of Canterbury.
George Chance, Esq.
Francis J. Coltman, Esq.
William H. Coltman, Esq.
Hon. Mr. Justice Denman.
The Earl of Derby, K.G.
Rev. W. Arthur Duckworth.
Rev. Canon Elwyn.
Rev. Canon Evans.
Thomas William Evans, Esq.
Francis Galton, Esq.
F. W. Gibbs, Esq., C.B., Q.C.
Rt. Hon. Sir Reginald Hanson,
Lord Mayor of London.
J. A. Hardcastle, Esq.
J. Harman, Esq.
Douglas Denon Heath, Esq.
Rt. Hon. Sir Henry T. Holland,
Bart., K.C.M.G., M.P.
Professor Jebb.
Henry Vaughan Johnson, Esq.
John Kirkpatrick, Esq.
Walter Leaf, Esq.
Edmund Law Lushington,
Esq., Lord Rector of the
University of Glasgow.
Franklin Lushington, Esq.
Vernon Lushington, Esq., Q.C.
Charles S. Maine, Esq.
Alfred Martineau, Esq.
J. S. Neville, Esq.
C. L. Norman, Esq.
Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart.
Professor H. Sidgwick.
Hon. Mr. Justice Stephen,
K.C.S.I.
Charles Johnstone Taylor, Esq.
Frederick Tennyson, Esq.
Hon. Hallam Tennyson.
Lord Tennyson.
Francis Charlewood Turner,
Esq., M.D.
Rev. Charles Henry Turner.
J. Westlake, Esq., Q.C.
George V. Yool, Esq.
April, 1887.
382
INDEX
Names not individualised are given in italics.
ABERCROMBIE, DR., 86
Aberdare, Lord, see Bruce, Henry
Aberdeen, Lady, 219
Aberdeen, Lord, 219, 237
Abingdon, Earl of, 289
Acland, Charles, 267
" Ahkond of Swat, The," 162, 168,
198, 213
Ainslie, Sir Whitelaw, 188
Airlie, Lady, 250
Airlie, Lord, 250
Ajaccio, 103
Albany, Duke of, 241
Albert, Prince (Consort), 239, 324
Alexander, J., 279
Alexander II., 6 1
Alexander III., 61
Alice, Princess, HI, 294
Allen, Mrs., 7-10
Allen, Rev. F. A., 7 ; letter from,
8,9
Ampthill, Lord, 317
Andersen, Hans Christian, 189
" Anne, Sister," see Lear, Ann
Anson, Col. the Hon. A. H. A.,
V.C., 245
Anstey, F., 282
"Ape," 109
Argyll, Duchess of, 245
Argyll, Duke of, 235-7, 2 39> 2 4 2 >
245, 278, 330, 337
Arnold, Dr., 136, 138
Arnold, Matthew, 272
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 255, 257, 278,
mrton, Lady, 88, 187, 195, 203,
231
Auckland, Lord, 173
Aumale, Due d', 83, no, 113, 132
Aumale, Duchesse d', no
Avebury, Lord, see Lubbock, Sir
John
Bagot, Mrs. L., 174
Bagot, Richard (Howard), 107
Bagshawe, Sir , 166
Baillie, Lady Francis, 243
Baker, Pasha, 303
Baring, see Northbrook, Lord
Baring, 34
Baring, Arthur, drowned, 126, 148
Baring, Evelyn (Earl of Cromer),
58, 66, 68, 72, 169, 170, 174, 191,
256, 314
Baring, Frank, 149, 318
Baring, Lady Emma, 208,299, 3 J 8
333, 354, 364
Baring, Miss (Lady Emma Crich-
ton), 149
Baring, Mr., 150, 198
Baring, T., 148, 173
Baring, T. G., M.P., see North-
brook, Lord (2nd Baron)
Baroda, Gaikwar Mulharkao of,
183
Baroda, poisoning affair of, 183
Barry, Dr., discovered to be a
woman, 66
Bathursts, 54
Battenberg, Prince Alexander of,
328
Beaconsfield, Lord, 197 ; see Dis-
raeli
Beatrice, Princess, 241, 275, 328,
338
Beaufort, Sir E., 52
383
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Bedford, Duke of, 206
Belgians, King of the, 147
Bent, Theodore, 335
Bethell, Gussie, see Parker, Gussie
Bethell, Walter, 258
Bethells, Westbury, 59
Beverley, Lord, 59
Biella, 355
Birch, Sir A., 176
Birrell, Mrs. (see Tennyson), 191
Bismarck, 323
Boers, character of, 238
Bohaja, Filippo, 209
Bonera, Sig. Luigi, 166
"Book of Nonsense, The," 21, 78,
356-7 ; see " More Nonsense"
Boscawen, Miss (Mrs. Deane), 174
Boswell, R. S., husband of Mary
Lear, 8-n
Boswell, Mrs., see Lear, Mary
Botzen, 136
Bowen, Sir G. F., 299, 323
Boyle, Audrey, 313
Boyle, the Hon. Edmund, 74
Boyles, 327
Bradford, Lord, 93
Braham, Augustus, 221
Braham, Charles, 221, 311
Braham, Constance, 221
Braham, Ward, 202, 219
Brassey, Lord, 246
Briggs, Sir G., 237
Bright, John, 154
Bright, Richard, 211
Brougham, Lord, 93
Bruce, the Hon. (" The Duffer "),
125
Bruce, Mrs. Henry, 140
Bruce, the Rt. Hon. Henry G.
(Lord Aberdare), 55, 130, 140,
155, 157, 169, 172, 187, 193-5,
200, 203, 205, 290
Buccleuch, Duchess of, 99
Buccleuch, Duke of, 92
Bunsens, 59
Burke, Sir Bernard, 248
Burne, Lady Agnes, 322
Bush (Lear's publisher), no, 112,
124, 139, 143, 197, 198, 231, 234
Butler, Dr., 89, 91
Butler, Mrs., 89
Buxton, Mr., 91
Byng, Colonel, 241
Byron, 186 246
CAIRO, 81
Caldwell, Colonel, 246
Caldwell, Mrs., 246
Cambridge, Duke, of, 126
Camerons, 47
Campbell, Miss, " of Corsica," 278,
348
Cannes, 88, 1 10
Canning, Lord, 238
Carlingford, Lord, see Fortescue,
Chichester
Carlingford, self-styled Irish Earl,
247
Carlisle, 9th Earl of, 189
Carlisle, Countess of, 189
Carlyle, Thomas, 88, 192, 240, 337
Carnarvon, Lord, 82
Carter, J. Benham, 322-3
Carysfort, Lord, 75
Castro, Thomas, 160
Cavendish, Lord Frederick, 306
Cesare, 329, 331, 344, 364
Ceylon, 176
Chamberlain, Right Hon. Joseph,
238, 286, 319, 321
Chartres, Due de, 126
Chesters, 108
Chichester, Lady Hamilton, 70, 76
Chirol, Valentine A., 272
Church, Canon (Charles), 16, 222,
270-1, 277, 278, 286
Church, Dean (Richard William),
222
Churchill, Lady, 275
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 305,
338, 340
Clancarty, Lord, 200
Clarendon, Earl of, 120, 121
Clark, Sir Andrew, 217
Clay-Keeton, Mr., 130
Clermont, Lady, 200, 330
Clermont, Lord, 93, 102, 120, 218,
250* 349> 355, 356
Clermonts, 219, 224
Clive, G., 194, 200, 330
Clive, Mrs. G., 278, 330, 356
Olives, 34
Clough, Arthur Hugh, 139, 337
Clowes, 278
Cobden, Richard, 63
Cochranes, Baillie , 114
Cocks, T. S., 62
Colenso, Bishop, 49, 96, 98
Coleridges, 222
334
Index
Colleredo, Comtesse, 52-3
Collins, Wilkie, 34, 297
Colonna, 316
" Competition- Wallah, The," 50,
52
Congreve, Dr., 196
Congreve, Hubert, 6, 15, 159, 200
Congreve, Hubert, letters to, 32-7
Congreve, Hubert, Preface by, 17
Congreve, Richard, 124, 136
Congreve, the Misses, 196
Congreve, Walter, 118, 124, 136,
138, 139. i59 J 9 2 > J
Connaught, Duke of, 275
Constance, see Strachey, Lady
Coombe, Laura, 347
Corfu, 54
Cork, Earl of, 74
"Cork Leg, The," 20
Corniche Road, the, 56
Corsica, 103
" Corsica, Journal in,'' 108, no
Cortazzi, 54
Courtenay, Miss, 267
Cowper, Lord, 317
Cranbourne, Lord, 82
Cranbrook, Lord, 238
Cranworth, Lord, 62
Cromer, Lord, see Evelyn Baring
Crouch, 183
Cross, J. E., 81
Cross, Mr. (husband of George
Eliot), 267
Cumberland, Duke of, portraits of,
at Genoa, 166
Cumberland, present Duke of, 320
Curcumelli, Lady, 86
Curcumelli, Sir D., 58, 86
DABINETT, Miss, n
Dagmar, Princess (Dowager Em-
press of Russia), 61
Dalhousie, Lord, 93, 99, in
Darjeeling, 168
Darwin, Charles, 276
Davy, Lady, 153, 212, 336
Davy, Sir Humphry, 153
Delane, 117
Denison, Bishop, 243
Dennett, Miss, 258
Derby, Lord, 32, 35, 49 ; reputed
author of the "Book of Non-
sense," 78, 95, 96 ; marriage, 120,
124, 133, 144, 246, 366
Derby, Lady, 120, 144, 197
Des Voeux, Charlotte (Lady Grey),
92
Des Voeux, Sir Charles, 92
Des Voeux, Miss, 92
Dillon, J. B., 71
Dimitri (Dmitri, Demetrio, De-
metrius Kokali, son of George)
215, 232, 263, 305, 310, 319, 321,
325> 33
Disraeli, 78, 95-6, 98, 126, 189, 190,
196, 197, 279
Dormer, Miss, 288-9
Douglas, Lady Francis Harriet, see
Fitzwilliam, Lady
Dromiskin, see Fortescue, 248
Drummond, 48
Drummond, Andrew, 45, 129
Drummond, Augustus, 347
Drummond, Edgar, 48
Drummond, Mrs. Edgar, 48
Drummond, R., 147
Duchess St., 105, 109
Duckworth, Canon, 203
Duff, Tames Cunningham Grant,
188
Duff, Sir Mountstuart Grant, 183,
1 88, 367
" Duffer, The," 125
Duncan, Lady, 51, 54, 59
EARDLEY, SIR CULLEY, 212
Eardleys, Culley, 212
" Earl, Edward," 78
Earl, Mr., 246
Eaton, Mr., 134
Ebury, Lord, 114
Edmunds, Leonard, 62
Edwards, 68, 70
Edwards, Colonel James Bevan, 209
Elcho, Lord, 92
Elgin, 7th Earl of, 243
Eliot, George, 267
Eliot, Mrs., 354
Ellen (Ellinor), Lear's sister, see
Lear, Ellen
Elliot, Georgina Isabella, 89
Elliot, Rt. Hon. Hugh, 89
Ellis, Arthur, 207
Ely, Lady, 241, 275, 277
Erasmo, 233, 238, 329
Erroll, Lady, 70
Eugenie, Empress, 126
Ewart, 275-6
385
BB
Later Letters of Edward Lear
FACCIOLI, CARLO, 359
Fairbairn, Mrs., and children, por-
trait by Hunt, 62
Fairbairn, T., 55, 81
Farnham, Lord, 329
Farquhar, Harvie, 356
Fawkes, Captain, 174
Fawkes, T. W., 174
Fenton, Rev. (chaplain at San
Remo), 145, 187, 222, 254, 308
Ferguson, Misses Monro, 352
Ferguson, Mrs. Monro, 352
Ferrari, M., 326
ffarrington, 130
Filippo, 209
Fitzmaurice, Lord Edmond, 126
Fitzstephen, 183
Fitzwilliam, Lady, 58, 322
Fitzwilliam, Lord, 58-9
Fitzwilliam Museum, the, 16
Foord and Dickinson, 133, 290,
366
Forster, Rt. Hon. W. E., 303, 305,
317, 332, 337
Fortescue, Chichester (Lord Car-
lingford), 34, 46, 49 ; appointed
Secretary to Ireland, 63-5, 72,
75 ; appointed President of the
Board of Trade, 113, 117, 129,
131, 134, 140, 207, 215; loses his
wife, Lady Waldegrave, 216,
217, 219; appointed Lord Privy
Seal, 236, 237 ; at Balmoral, 241,
244, 246-7, 276 ; appointed Pre-
sident of Council, 288 ; at Bal-
moral, 320 ; stays with Lear and
is taken ill, 342-3, 359, 362
Fortescue, Chichester, Letters to,
45, 48, 56, 65, 85, 88, 96, 104, 105,
no, 118, 120, 131, 136, 142, 144,
147, 151, 155, 165, 168, 170, 175,
181, 182, 184, 185, 190, 194, 199,
201, 203, 204, 207, 209, 218, 224,
226, 227, 228, 230, 232, 235, 236,
240, 242, 244, 246, 248, 252, 257,
262, 266, 270, 273, 277, 281, 282,
283, 284, 290, 292, 295, 298, 301,
302, 304, 305, 308, 311, 313, 317,
318, 321, 324, 328, 329, 332, 337,
340, 341, 342, 343, 346, 347, 348,
349, 350, 351, 353, 354, 355, 35^,
Fortescue, Chichester Letters from,
95, 125, 127, 146, 154, 178, 193,
197, 198, 215, 222, 223, 225, 229,
231, 235, 241, 248, 256, 275, 280,
292, 295, 32i, 323, 326, 327, 33^,
34
Fortescue, Miss, the actress, 292
Foss the Cat, 146, 192, 203, 210,
213, 263, 299 ; dies aged seven-
teen, 359, 361, 365
Francesco d'Assisi, 138
Francillon, 34
Franklin, Lady, 86
Franklin, Sir John, 86, 250
Frascati, 137
Frederica, Princess, of Hanover,
320
Frederick, Emperor, 269
Frederick, Empress, 269
Frederick, Prince, 167
Frederick, Lear's brother, see Lear,
Frederick
Fremantle, the Hon. Mrs. (nU
Eardley) 212, 227
Frere, Hookham, 70
Frith, W. P., R.A., 356
Fytche, the Rev. Stephen, 62
GALLIERA, DUCHESSE DE, 326
Galloway, Lord, 89
Galway, Lord, 339
Gastaldi, 32
Genoa, 165
George (Giorgio) Kokali, Lear's
Suliot servant, 21, 23, 27-9, 50,
52, 61, 63, 67, 76, 91, 96, in, 120,
123, 133, 134, 137, i3 8 , *45, 167,
169, 170, 171, 175, 176, 178, 185,
1 86 ; illness and return to Corfu,
199-201, 203, 209 ; recovery and
return, 209, 221, 224, 229, 232,
234, 240, 242, 246, 249, 252, 253,
261-3 ; illness, 263, 268, 278-9,
282 ; last illness, 286-9, 2 93 298,
39, 3 r 3, 3 6 7-
George I., George II., George III.,
portraits of, at Genoa, 166-7
George V., of Hanover, 320
Gibbs, F. W., Q.C., C.B., 129
Gibson, John, the sculptor, 68, 70
Gillies, 169
Gillies, Emily, 116, 158
Gillies, Mr., 14, 158
Giuseppe, 215, 232, 234, 238, 355,
59 ; his account of Lear's death,
386
Index
Gladstone, the Rt. Hon. W. E., 82,
105, 113, 117, 127, 134-5, J 57>
194, 201, 237-8, 244, 254, 262,
286, 293, 301, 303, 306, 315, 317,
323, 328-9
Gladstone, Mrs., 95
Glass, Lady, 92
Glass, Sir Richard, 91
Gloucester, Duke of, 167
Godley, Charles, 62
Godley, John, 62
Godley, Mrs., 62
Goldsmid, Lady, 285
Goldsmid, Sir F., 129
Gordon, Lady Duff, 84, 98
Goschen, 303, 305, 317, 332, 337
Grant Duff, see Duff
Grants, Walsingham, 347
Granville, Lord, 113, 121, 229, 230,
326
Graves, 357
Gray, Bishop, 96
Greatheed, Anne C. (Lady C.
Percy), 265
Greatheed, B. B., 265
Green, Dean, 96
Green, T. H., 297
Gregory, Sir W., 176
Grenfell, Henry R., 97-9, 125,
3 2I > 34
Grenfell, Mrs. H. R., 97-8, 144,
235
Grey, Lady (George), 92, 144, 208
Grey, Lady Georgina, 246
Grey, Lord (3rd Earl), 296
Grey, Lord, 201, 206
Grey, Sir George, 72-3, 92, 144
Grey, Mr., 239
Grey, Mrs. C., 278
Grimaldi (of Monaco), 166
Grote, Mrs., 245
Guests, 47
Gullino, Pia, 233
Gurney, the Rev. W., 298
HADDINGTON, LORD, 267
Halifax, Lord, 121
Hallam, A., 178
Hamilton, Chichester, 270
Hamilton, John, 168, 176
Hamilton, the Ladies, 267
Hamilton, Mrs., 168
Hankeys, 54
Harding, Lord, 208
Harfords, 59
Harrowby, Lord, 348
Hartington, Lord, 229, 230
Hassall, Dr., 6, 37, 263, 267, 308,
324, 329, 342, 349, 350, 352,
Hassall, Mrs., 6, 352 ; letter from,
359-61, 364-5
Hatherton, Lady, 183
Hay ward, A., 303, 364
Heber, Bishop, 307, 352
Henley, Lord, 123, 197, 337
Henley, Lady, 123
Herveys, 108
Hesse, Princess Alice of, 241
Hesse, Princesses of, 241
Holland, Queen of, 92
Hollands, 106
Hooker, Dr., 170
Hornby, Admiral, 218
Hornby, Rev. J. ]., 205
Horton, Lady Wilmot, 174
Houghton, Lady, 93
Houghton, Lord (R. Monckton
Milnes), 80-1, 83, 194, 219, 338,
34
Houlton, Lady, 70, 76
Houlton, Sir V., 70, 76
Howard de Walden, Lady, 175
Howard, George, 189, 209
Howard, Greville, 189
Howard, Hon. F. G. (Upton), 107!
Howard, Mrs. George, 189
Howard, Mrs. Greville, 107, 191,
330
Howards, 108
Howitt, William, 189
Hudson, 324
Hunt, Holman, 34, 58, 59, 62, 84,
88
Hunt, Husey, 34, 81, 85, 234, 249
Hunt, Mrs. Holman, death of, 84
Hunt, Mrs., 106
IGNATIUS, FATHER, 73
Ilbert Bill, the, 295
Ipomaeas, Lear's, 27, 33
Irving, Edward, 336
Isabella II., 138
JACKSON, MR., 94, 99
" Jacobs' Homnium's Hoss," 56
James, Arthur, 258
387
Later Letters of Edward Lear
ames, Sir William, 54
ekyll, Clara (Lady Henley), 123
ekyll, J. H. S., 123
erburgh, Mrs., 336
ervoise, Captain, 175
' Journal in Corsica," 106
KANT, 282
Kay, Sir J., 129
Kemble, Fanny, 267
Kerr, Bellenden, 138
Kerr, Jane, see Lady Davy
Kerr, Lord Ralph, 248
Kerr, Lady Ralph, 248
Kestner, Chevalier, 296
Kettlewell, Mr., 365
Kimberley, Lord, 74, 121, 157
Kingsley, Charles, 352
Knowsley, 130
" Knowsley Menagerie, The," 35
Kokali, Giorgio, see George
Kruger, Colonel (late President),
238
LACAITA, J., 283
Lambert, Miss, 241
Lambi, 210, 215, 263, 279, 325
Langton, W., 81
Lansdowne, Lord, 99, 153, 317
Laurence, (Sir J.), Lord, 238
Layards, 313
Le Mesurier, H. E. P., 176
Leake, Mrs., 208
Lear, Anne, 7, 12, 15, 130, 189
Lear, Edward, last days, 7; sil-
houette portrait, 9/12 ; descrip-
tion of appearance, 17 ; name
and ancestry, 17 ; life at San
Remo, 1 8 ; his singing, 20 ;
nonsense rhymes and paintings,
22 ; " topographies," 23 ; method
of working, 24-5 ; tour in India,
26 ; journey to Brindisi, 27-8 ;
Naples, 29 ; his singing, 30-1 ;
meditates emigration, 32 ; fail-
ing health, 34; last visit to
England, 35 ; death, 37 ; search
for quarters at Nice, 50-1 ;
settles at Nice, 52 ; in Lon-
don, 6 1 ; Venice, 63 ; Malta,
67 ; Messina, 74 ; London, 77 ;
Marseilles, 80 ; projected visit
to Egypt, 80 ; Cairo, 81 ; Egypt
and Nubia, 83 ; Lewes, 87 ;
Cannes, 88; work and projected
publications, 91 ; Corsica, 103 ;
London, 104; Cannes, no;
moves to San Remo and builds
the Villa Emily, 115; plans for
work, 1 16, 134 ; his singing, 143 ;
work and habits, 145 ; sets out
for India but returns, 151 ; the
journey finally undertaken, 165 ;
the Indian tour, 168 : return to
San Remo, 175 ; list of work
done in India, 180-1 ; in Eng-
land, 204; goes to Corfu,
returning to San Remo, 209;
last visit to England, 234; his
Tennyson illustrations, 238 ;
loses George, 288, 293-8 ; serious
illness, 308 ; loses Nicola, 331 ;
later life, 360 ; death, 360-2
Lear, Ellen (Ellinor) (Mrs. New-
som), 15, 85, 112
Lear, Frederick, 273
Lear, Mary (Mrs. Boswell), 7-10 ;
letters to, 11-12
Lear, Sarah, see Street, Sarah
Legges, 108
Leopold, Prince (Duke of Albany),
241
Levi (Levey), 255
Lewis, Sir G. Cornewall, 59
" Light of Asia, The," 255
Limerick, Lord, 93
Lincoln, Bishop of, 243
Lisgar, Lady, 212
Lisgar, Lord, 212
Lloyd, Jones, 211
Locker, 191
Lockhart, Miss M., 302
London, Bishop of, 96
Longmans, 49
Lome, Marquis of, 127
Lothian, Lady, 248
Louis, Admiral Sir John, 205, 256
Louis, Miss, 256
Louise, Princess, 127, 129
Lowe, 154
Lubbock, Sir John (Lord Aves-
bury), 16, 238, 274, 322, 366
Luigi, 37, 322, 325, 329, 331, 341,
342, 346, 349, 351, 354, 361, 364
Lushington, Dr., 62, 146
Lushington, E., 334, 338, 359
Lushington, Sir Franklin, 15, 34,
48, 81, 119, 120, 130, 138, 141,
388
Index
178, 185, 191, 195, 197, 203,
210, 249, 262, 272, 278, 294, 296,
338, 352 ; letter from, 362
Lushington, Harry, 178, 338
Lushington, Miss (Lear's god-
daughter), 182
Lushingtons, 211
Lyons, Lord, 56
Lyttelton, Lady, 194, 195, 350
Lyttelton, Lord, 194
Lytteltons, 34
Lytton, Lord, 238
MACAULAY, LORD, 50
Mackenzie, Mrs. Colin, 184
Mackenzie, Rt. Hon. J. S., 88
Maffei, Count, 94
Maine, Sir Henry, 294
Malta, 67
Manners, 48
Marsala, Lear's favourite, 19
Marriott, 303, 305
Marseilles, 80
Martin, Sir Theodore, 239
Mary, Lear's sister, see Lear, Mary
(Mrs. Boswell)
Maximilian, Emperor, 138
Mazini, 267
Mazini, Signora (Signora Linda
Villari), 267
Meade, 183
Melville, 183
Merimee, Prosper, 100, no
Merlo (the blackbird), 263
Messina, 74
Michell, Mrs., 14
Milan, 313
Mill, J. Stuart, 63
Milnes, R. Monckton, see Lord
Hough ton
Miniatures of Lear's sisters, 7, 9
Mitri (Dimitri), 24
Moberlys, 222
Money, General, 74
Money, Ida, 74
Money, Lady Laura, 74
Monteith of Carstairs, 133
Montpensier, Due de, 326
Moore, Tom, 152, 133
" More Nonsense," 21, 80, 122, 139,
145, 198, 356-7
Moner, Robert, 323, 324
Mornington, Lord, 248
Mount Edgcumbe, Lord, 91-2
Mulgrave, Earl of, 287, 309, 328
Mulharkao, Gaikwar of Baroda,
183
Muncaster, Lord, 48
Mundella, Mary, 266, 274, 347, 366
Mundella, Rt. Hon. A. J., 36, 266,
358
NAPIER, SIR CHARLES, life of, 59
Naples, 29
Napoleon III., 138
Nevill, Mary (Eliot), 354
Nevill, W., 58, 88, 106, 169, 178
New Zealand, references to, 8, 10,
69,87, 112, 158, 169
Newdigate, Mr., 197
Newsom, Ellinor (Ellen Lear),
15,47,85, 112
Nice, 50-1 ; Lear's room at, 52-3
Nicola, 24, 253, 263, 264, 279, 305,
308, 310, 312, 320, 322, 326, 328,
33
Nicolson, John, 238
Nightingale, Florence, 327
" Nonsense, Book of," see " Book of
Nonsense" and "More Non-
sense "
Normanby, Marquis of, 287
Northbourne, Lord, 337
Northbrook, Lord, 15, 26, 32, 65,
145, 147-8, 155, 160, 169, 171-4,
178, 183, 187-8, 191-3, 195, 203-
5, 207-8, 2l8, 220, 221, 235-6,
238, 253, 256, 263, 265, 267, 269,
276, 294, 296, 299, 303, 307-8,
314, 318, 332, 334, 350-2, 354,
362
Northbrook, present Earl of, 149
Northbrooks, 234
Northcote, Sir Stafford, 303, 306,
313
Northington, Lord, 337
Northumberland, Duke of, 265
Norreys, Lord, 288
Nubia, 83
"OMNIUM, JACOB" (Matthew J.
Higgins), 56
Oppell, Baron, 350
Oppell, Baroness (Mary Scott),
350
rle
Orleans, Princes, the, 109, 126
Ormonde, Lord, 93, 355
389
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Orton, Arthur, "The Claimant,"
160
Osborne, Tennyson's visit to, 48
PAINTINGS, List of Lear's, 368
Palmer, Sir Roundell, 123
Palmerston, Lord, 334
Paris, Comte de, 109, 327
Paris, Comtesse de, 327
Parker, Adamson, 268
Parker, Gussie (Augusta Bethell),
231,234,268,278,284,354
Parodies of Tennyson, 161
Pattle, Colonel, 179
Pattle, James, 206
Pattle Virginia (Lady Somers), 47
Pawel-Rammingen, Baron von,
320
Peel, General, 82
Peel, Major, 67
Peel, Rt. Hon. John, 67
Pelegrini (" Ape "), 109
Percevals, 48
Percy, Lady Charles, 60, 150, 265
Percy, Lord Charles, 60
Percy, Miss, 150, 265
Perry, Sir Erskine, 302
Phayre, Colonel, 183
Philipp, Mme., see Mrs. Hassall
Philpott, Bishop, 223
Philpott, the Rev. R. S., 223
Phoca privata (Privy Seal), " non-
sense" letters, 258, 353
Pietro, 322
Pigeons, Lear's, 354-5
Pigott, 117
Pitt, 153
Pitt, Miss, 241
Plumtre, Dean, 278
Plumtre, Mrs., 278
" Policeman X., Ballad of," 56
Pollocks, 47
Ponsonby, Sir H., 241
Poona, 172
Potter, T. B., 63
Powell, 351
Priestcraft, hatred of, in Italy, 137
Prinseps, 47
Princess Royal, in, 269
Privy Seal, "nonsense" letters,
259, 353
Proby, Lord, 75
"Puxley," 129
RAMSAY, Miss AGNETA (Mrs.
Butler), 89
Red House (Mrs. Ruxton's), 232
Reid, Sir J., 197
Reillys, 54
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 248
Richmond, Duke of, 196
Richmond, Sir William, R.A., 82
Ridley, General, 67, 69, 76
Robinson, Admiral Sir Spencer,
50, 205, 256, 266
Robinson, Lady, 205, 208, 256,
258, 266
Roden, Lord, 262
Rogers, Thorold, 321
Roma, Count Candiano di, 299
Rome, 30
Roundell, Charles, 123
Roundell, Mrs. Charles, 16
Roxburghe, Dowager Duchess of,
320
Rusconi, see Luigi
Ruskin, John, 349, 364
Russell, Lord ; 95, 128, 129
Russell, Lord John, 153
Russia, Empress of, 61
Rutland, Duke of, 45
Ruxton, Captain, 181-2
Ruxton, Mrs., 108, 186, 232, 330
ST. ALBANS, BISHOP OF, 245
Salisbury, Lord, 192, 252, 303,
305-6, 319, 323
ilt mat
Salt marshes, 54
Sandbach, W., 92
Sandbach, Mrs. (nee Capellen), 92
Sandwich, Lord, 271
San Remo, Lear builds Villa
Emily at, 115; returns to, 175
Sant Arpino, Duchess di, 315
San Teodoro, Duca di, 316
Schreibers, 47
Scott, Lord Henry, 92
Scott, Lady Henry, 92
Scott, Mary, 350
Scott, Mrs. Sutherland, 92
Scott, Thomas, 350
Scott, Sir Walter, 350
Sedgwick, 92
Seeley, Sir J. R., 95
Selwood, Miss, see Lady Tennyson
Selwyn, Rev. E. C., 267
Sermoneta, Duke of, 137
Sermoneta, Duchess of, 137
390
Index
Seymour, A., 160, 208, 218, 270,
273 2 77. 281, 290, 352
Seymour, H., 34
Shaftesbury, Lord, 129, 134
Shaw, Mrs., 16
Shelley, 186-7, 246
Shuttle worth, Lady, 154, 159, 203
Shuttleworth, Robert, 134, 159
Shuttleworth, U. Kay (ist Baron),
129
Simeon, Cornwall, 123
Simeon, Lady, 284
Simeon, Mary, 284
Simeon, Sir Barrington, 284
Simeon, Sir John, 47, 117, 119
Simla, 170
Smart, Admiral, 70
Smart, Lady, 70
Smith, Baird, 238
Smith, Goldwin, 97
Smith, Rev. F., 9
Smithbarrys, 54
Somers, Lady (Virginia Pattle),47,
79, 206, 265
Somers, Lord, 34, 206, 218, 284
Somerset, Duke of, 270-1, 273
Spencer, Lady, 272
Spencer, Lord, 74, 123, 257, 261,
263, 265
Stanley, Catherine, 243
Stanley, Dean (A. P.), 191, 242,
243, 245, 250, 289
Stanley, Lady Augusta (nee Bruce),
191
Stanley, Lord, 95-6
Stanley, Mary, 242
Stanley of Alderley, Lord, 189
Stansfeld, 128
Stanton, Colonel (Sir) Ed., 82
Stanton, Mrs., 82
Stern, Baron, 284
Stopford, Misses, 244
Storks, Sir Henry, 38, 67, 68, 72
Strachey, Ed., 228
Strachey, Henry, 141, 278
Strachey, Lady (Maribella Sy-
monds), 89, 90, 221
Strachey, Lady, note by, 5-17, 221,
228, 311
Strachey, Sir Ed., 227, 266, 327
Strahan, J., 67, 68, 70, 72-3
Strangford, Lady, 52, 54, 86
Strangford, Lord, 52, 54, 80
Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord, 279
Stratford de Redcliffe, Lady, 279,
280
Stratford Place (15), 54, 61, 77,
104, 131
Strathallan, Lord, 45
" Strauss, The," 316
Street, C. H., 14, 356
Street, Sarah (Sarah Lear), n, 13,
69, 87, 112, 116, 124, 158, 169, 189
Street, Sophie, 13, 14, 169
Streets, 10, 15
Streletsky, 150
Suardi, 322
Suez Canal, 190
Suffolk, Earl of, 107
Swainson, Mr., 333
Sweden, Crown Prince of, 216
Swift, " Lady Emily," 247
Swift, Mr., "Lord Carlingford,"
247
Switzerland, 242, 266, 285
Symonds, Janet, 90
Symonds, John Addington, 89, 90,
92, 1 86, 196, 297
Symonds, Maribella, see Lady
Strachey
Symonds, Mrs. J. A., 89, 90, 92
TAIT, ARCHBISHOP, 129, 139, 279,
280
Tattons, 278
Tavistock, Lady, 206
Tavistock, Lord, 206
Teano, Prince, 137
Teano, Princess, 137
Tennyson, Alfred (Lord Tenny-
son), 62, 85, 134, 226, 249, 263,
293, 295, 297, 303, 312, 323, 329,
338
Tennyson, D'Eyncourt, 293
Tennyson, Eleanor, 250
Tennyson, Hallam (present Lord
Tennyson), 34, 311, 312, 314,318 ;
sonnet on Villa Tennyson, 318
Tennyson, Lear's illustrations to,
25, 368
Tennyson, Lionel, 191
Tennyson, Mrs. (Lady), 47, 62,
182, 249, 338
Tennyson, Mrs. Lionel (Mrs.
Birrell), 191
Tennyson, Villa, see Villa Tennyson
Tennysons, 234
Thackeray, 36
391
Later Letters of Edward Lear
Thiers, 63
Thwaites, Mr., 336
Tichborne Claimant, the, 160
Tichborne, Sir Roger, 160
Tivoli, piratical landlady at, 30
Tozer, H. F., 334
Trelawny, E. J., 186-7, 2 44
Trevelyan, Sir George O., 50, 52
Trollope, Anthony, 289
Tsarevitch, the, Nicolas Alexandro-
Turville, Sir F. F., 212
UNDERBILL, F. T., 243, 341
Unwins, 34
Upton, Hon. F. G. Howard, 107
Urquhart, D., 132, 133
Urquhart, Fortescue, 15
Urquhart, Mrs., 219, 222, 223, 227,
228, 230, 349
VALAORITES, 121
Vaughan, Catherine, 243
Vaux, Lady, 56
Venables, G. S., 338
Vernon, 183
Verschoyle, Rev. H. S., 361
Victoria, Queen, declared Empress
of India; 3, 193, 196, 239, 241,
244-5, 258, 261, 271, 276-7, 285,
291-5, 297, 300, 301, 316, 320,
323-4, 338-9
Villa
Emily, 18 ; burglary at, 26 ;
sold, 32; built, 115; burglary
at, 175, 209; view blocked,
214-5, 227, 240, 253, 258, 287,
294; tenants abscond, 302;
sold, 302
Villa Tennyson, 32-3 ; Lear's
death at, 37; the building of
the, 214-5, 227, 229, 240-1, 244 ;
the present Lord Tennyson's
sonnet on, 318, 321
Villari, Linda (nee White, veuve
Mazini), 267
Villari, Prof. Pasquale, 267
WALDEGRAVE,COUNTESS DOWAGER
(daughter of Hon. Sir Edward
Walpole), 167
Waldegrave, Earl, 81
Waldegrave, Lady, 15, 46, 63, 66,
77, 81, 87, 97, 106, 119, 124, 131,
i43> i57 202 > 204-5; death of >
Wa
215-8, 219, 220, 225-6, 236, 240,
245, 254, 257, 267, 275, 303, 305,
n, 312, 321
^aldegrave, Lady, letter from, 94
Waldegrave, Lady, letters to, 63,
67, 68, 72, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 81,
90, 103, 107, 113, 116, 128,131,
141, 152, 166, 206
Wales, Prince of, 192, 340
Wales, Princess of, 340
Walpole, Horace, 130, 152-4, 166,
Walpoles, 48
Walsingham, Lady (Ducchessa
di Sant Arpino), 315
Warner, Lee, 174
Watson, R., 258
Watsons, 278
Watts, G. F., R.A., 47
Waugh, Miss, see Hunt, Mrs.
Holman
Webbs, 267
Weld, Cardinal, 60
Wellesley, the Hon. Elizabeth, 248
Wellington, Duke of, 248
Wentworth, Mrs., 174
Westbury, Lord, 62, 77, 231, 354
Westminster, Lord, 130
White, James, 267
White, Linda (Villari, veuve
Mazini), 267
Wieland, 282
Wilbraham, Ada, Princess Teano,
137
Wilkin, Miss, 302
Williams, 283, 314
Williams, Henry, 68
Wilton, Lord, 130
Wiseman, Cardinal, 60
Wodehouse, Sir P., 174
Wolff, Lady, 58
Wolff, Sir Henry Drummond, 38,
"4 33 8
Wolseley, Lord (Sir Garnet), 269,
270, 314
Wordsworth, Bishop, 243
Wyatt, Digby, 187, 246
Wynne, Mr., 62
YELVERTON, ADMIRAL, 70
"Yonghy Bonghy Bo, The," 141,
J 43
York, Cardinal, 60
Young, Lady, 152
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
