then home. Shall you come to town, anywhere near town, soon?

I shall be off again as soon as my book is out, whenever that will be.



I never read that book of Miss Martineau's, so can't understand what you mean.

Macready is looking well; I just saw him the other day for a minute



after the play; his Kitely was Kitely -- superb from his flat cap

down to his shining shoes. I saw very few Italians, `to know', that is.



Those I did see I liked. Your friend Pepoli has been lecturing here,

has he not?



I shall be vexed if you don't write soon, a long Elstree letter.

What are you doing, writing -- drawing?



Ever yours truly

R. B.



To Miss Haworth,

Barham Lodge, Elstree.



==

Miss Browning's account of this experience, supplied from



memory of her brother's letters and conversations, contains some

vivid supplementary details. The drifting away of the wreck



put probably no effective distance between it and the ship;

hence the necessity of `sailing away' from it.



==

`Of the dead pirates, one had his hands clasped as if praying;



another, a severe gash in his head. The captain burnt disinfectants

and blew gunpowder, before venturing on board, but even then,



he, a powerful man, turned very sick with the smell and sight.

They stayed one whole day by the side, but the sailors, in spite of orders,



began to plunder the cigars, &c. The captain said privately to Robert,

"I cannot restrain my men, and they will bring the plague into our ship,



so I mean quietly in the night to sail away." Robert took

two cutlasses and a dagger; they were of the coarsest workmanship,



intended for use. At the end of one of the sheaths was a heavy bullet,

so that it could be used as a sling. The day after, to their great relief,



a heavy rain fell and cleansed the ship. Captain Davidson reported

the sight of the wreck and its condition as soon as he arrived at Trieste.'



==

Miss Browning also relates that the weather was stormy in the Bay of Biscay,



and for the first fortnight her brother suffered terribly. The captain

supported him on to the deck as they passed through the Straits of Gibraltar,



that he might not lose the sight. He recovered, as we know,

sufficiently to write `How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix';



but we can imagine in what revulsion of feeling towards firm land

and healthymotion this dream of a headlonggallop was born in him.



The poem was pencilled on the cover of Bartoli's "De' Simboli trasportati

al Morale", a favourite book and constantcompanion of his;



and, in spite of perfect effacement as far as the sense goes,

the pencil dints are still visible. The little poem



`Home Thoughts from the Sea' was written at the same time,

and in the same manner.



By the time they reached Trieste, the captain, a rough north-countryman,

had become so attached to Mr. Browning that he offered him



a free passage to Constantinople; and after they had parted,

carefully preserved, by way of remembrance, a pair of very old gloves



worn by him on deck. Mr. Browning might, on such an occasion,

have dispensed with gloves altogether; but it was one of his peculiarities



that he could never endure to be out of doors with uncovered hands.

The captain also showed his friendly feeling on his return to England



by bringing to Miss Browning, whom he had heard of through her brother,

a present of six bottles of attar of roses.



The inspirations of Asolo and Venice appear in `Pippa Passes'

and `In a Gondola'; but the latter poem showed, to Mr. Browning's



subsequent vexation, that Venice had been imperfectly seen;

and the magnetism which Asolo was to exercise upon him,



only fully asserted itself at a much later time.

A second letter to Miss Haworth is undated, but may have been written



at any period of this or the ensuing year.

==



I have received, a couple of weeks since, a present -- an album

large and gaping, and as Cibber's Richard says of the `fair Elizabeth':



`My heart is empty -- she shall fill it' -- so say I (impudently?)

of my grand trouble-table, which holds a sketch or two



by my fine fellow Monclar, one lithograph -- his own face of faces, --

`all the rest was amethyst.' F. H. everywhere! not a soul beside



`in the chrystal silence there,' and it locks, this album;

now, don't shower drawings on M., who has so many advantages over me as it is:

• educate [´edjukeit] vt.教育；培养；训练 (初中英语单词)


• reward [ri´wɔ:d] n.&v.报答；报酬；奖赏 (初中英语单词)


• healthy [´helθi] a.健康的 (初中英语单词)


• beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)


• fortunate [´fɔ:tʃənət] a.幸运的，侥幸的 (初中英语单词)


• reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)


• fulfil [ful´fil] vt.履行；完成；执行 (初中英语单词)


• review [ri´vju:] v.&n.复习；回顾；检查 (初中英语单词)


• italian [i´tæliən] a.意大利 n.意大利人 (初中英语单词)


• vessel [´vesəl] n.容器；船；脉管 (初中英语单词)


• striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的，明显的 (初中英语单词)


• satisfaction [,sætis´fækʃən] n.满意；满足 (初中英语单词)


• instance [´instəns] n.例子，实例，例证 (初中英语单词)


• hammer [´hæmə] n.锤子 v.重击 (初中英语单词)


• wretched [´retʃid] a.可怜的；倒霉的 (初中英语单词)


• sketch [sketʃ] n.素描；短剧 v.草拟 (初中英语单词)


• tobacco [tə´bækəu] n.烟草(叶)；卷烟 (初中英语单词)


• conceive [kən´si:v] v.设想；表达；怀孕 (初中英语单词)


• actually [´æktʃuəli] ad.事实上；实际上 (初中英语单词)


• sunset [´sʌnset] n.日落；晚霞 (初中英语单词)


• anywhere [´eniweə] ad.无论何处；任何地方 (初中英语单词)


• whenever [wen´evə] conj.&ad.无论何时 (初中英语单词)


• writing [´raitiŋ] n.书写；写作；书法 (初中英语单词)


• account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)


• effective [i´fektiv] a.有效的；有力的 (初中英语单词)


• severe [si´viə] a.严厉的；苛刻的 (初中英语单词)


• terribly [´terəbli] ad.可怕地 (初中英语单词)


• gallop [´gæləp] n.&v.奔驰；急速行进 (初中英语单词)


• constant [´kɔnstənt] a.坚定的；坚贞的 (初中英语单词)


• companion [kəm´pæniən] n.同伴；同事；伴侣 (初中英语单词)


• visible [´vizəbəl] a.可见的；明显的 (初中英语单词)


• altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全；总而言之 (初中英语单词)


• endure [in´djuə] vt.忍耐，忍受；坚持 (初中英语单词)


• shower [´ʃauə] n.展出者；阵雨；淋浴 (初中英语单词)


• necessarily [´nesisərili] ad.必定，必然地 (高中英语单词)


• preface [´prefis] n.序 v.开始；导致 (高中英语单词)


• remainder [ri´meində] n.剩余物；残余部分 (高中英语单词)


• thankful [´θæŋkfəl] a.感激的；欣慰的 (高中英语单词)


• venice [´venis] n.威尼斯 (高中英语单词)


• faithfully [´feiθfəli] ad.忠实地；诚恳地 (高中英语单词)


• goodwill [,gud´wil] n.友好，亲善；信誉 (高中英语单词)


• characteristic [,kæriktə´ristik] a.特有的 n.特性 (高中英语单词)


• translation [træns´leiʃən, trænz-] n.翻译；译文；译本 (高中英语单词)


• gorgeous [´gɔ:dʒəs] a.华丽的；宜人的 (高中英语单词)


• plunder [´plʌndə] v.&n.掠夺；盗窃 (高中英语单词)


• restrain [ri´strein] vt.抑制；管束；限制 (高中英语单词)


• plague [pleig] n.瘟疫 vt.使…染疫 (高中英语单词)


• fortnight [´fɔ:tnait] n.两星期 (高中英语单词)


• motion [´məuʃən] n.手势 vt.打手势 (高中英语单词)


• headlong [´hedlɔŋ] ad.&a.轻率地(的) (高中英语单词)


• constantinople [,kɔnstænti´nəupl] n.君士坦丁堡 (高中英语单词)


• remembrance [ri´membrəns] n.记忆(力)；回忆 (高中英语单词)


• ultimately [´ʌltimitli] ad.最后，最终 (英语四级单词)


• theatrical [θi´ætrikəl] a.戏院的；戏剧(性)的 (英语四级单词)


• hurriedly [´hʌridli] ad.仓促地，忙乱地 (英语四级单词)


• admirer [əd´maiərə] n.赞美者，羡慕者 (英语四级单词)


• unfair [ʌn´feə] a.不公平的；不正直的 (英语四级单词)


• impatience [im´peiʃəns] n.不耐烦，急躁 (英语四级单词)


• overboard [´əuvəbɔ:d] ad.向船外；到水中 (英语四级单词)


• lavish [´læviʃ] a.慷慨的；浪费的 (英语四级单词)


• cologne [kə´ləun] n.科隆香水 (英语四级单词)


• superb [su:´pə:b, sju:-] a.宏伟的；极好的 (英语四级单词)


• dagger [´dægə] n.短剑，匕首 (英语四级单词)


• impending [im´pendiŋ] a.即将发生的 (英语六级单词)


• chivalrous [´ʃivəlrəs] a.勇武的；武士的 (英语六级单词)


• chintz [tʃints] n.&a.擦光印花布(的) (英语六级单词)


• calling [´kɔ:liŋ] n.点名；职业；欲望 (英语六级单词)


• scoundrel [´skaundrəl] n.&a.无赖(的) (英语六级单词)


• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)


• munich [´mju:nik] n.慕尼黑 (英语六级单词)


• gunpowder [´gʌn,paudə] n.火药 (英语六级单词)


• privately [´praivitli] ad.秘密，一个人 (英语六级单词)


• vexation [vek´seiʃən] n.烦恼(的原因) (英语六级单词)


• magnetism [´mægnitizəm] n.磁性，磁力，吸引力 (英语六级单词)