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Life and Letters of Robert Browning-Part44_Mrs.Sutherland Orr(1828-1903)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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only interrupting it by occasional visits to London and Paris.

His father entered into negotiations for the Palazzo Manzoni,



next door to the former Hotel de l'Univers; and the purchase was completed,

so far as he was concerned, before he returned to England.



The fact is related, and his own position towards it described

in a letter to Mrs. Charles Skirrow, written from Venice.



==

Palazzo Giustiniani Recanati, S. Moise: Nov. 15, '85.



My two dear friends will have supposed, with plenty of reason,

that I never got the kind letter some weeks ago. When it came,



I was in the middle of an affair, conducted by letters of quite another kind,

with people abroad: and as I fancied that every next day might bring me news



very interesting to me and likely to be worth telling to the dear friends,

I waited and waited -- and only two days since did the matter come



to a satisfactoryconclusion -- so, as the Irish song has it,

`Open your eyes and die with surprise' when I inform you



that I have purchased the Manzoni Palace here, on the Canal Grande,

of its owner, Marchese Montecucculi, an Austrian and an absentee --



hence the delay of communication. I did this purely for Pen --

who became at once simply infatuated with the city which won my whole heart



long before he was born or thought of. I secure him a perfect domicile,

every facility for his painting and sculpture, and a property fairly worth,



even here and now, double what I gave for it -- such is the virtue

in these parts of ready money! I myself shall stick to London --



which has been so eminently good and gracious to me -- so long as God permits;

only, when the inevitableoutrage of Time gets the better of my body --



(I shall not believe in his reaching my soul and proper self) --

there will be a capital retreat provided: and meantime



I shall be able to `take mine ease in mine own inn' whenever so minded.

There, my dear friends! I trust now to be able to leave very shortly;



the main business cannot be formally concluded before two months at least --

through the absence of the Marchese, -- who left at once



to return to his duties as commander of an Austrian ship;

but the necessary engagement to sell and buy at a specified price is made



in due legal form, and the papers will be sent to me in London for signature.

I hope to get away the week after next at latest, --



spite of the weather in England which to-day's letters report as `atrocious',

-- and ours, though variable, is in the main very tolerable



and sometimes perfect; for all that, I yearn to be at home in poor

Warwick Crescent, which must do its best to make me forget my new abode.



I forget you don't know Venice. Well then, the Palazzo Manzoni is situate

on the Grand Canal, and is described by Ruskin, -- to give no other authority,



-- as `a perfect and very rich example of Byzantine Renaissance:

its warm yellow marbles are magnificent.' And again -- `an exquisite example



(of Byzantine Renaissance) as applied to domestic architecture.'

So testify the `Stones of Venice'. But we will talk about the place,



over a photograph, when I am happy enough to be with you again.

Of Venetian gossip there is next to none. We had an admirable



Venetian Company, -- using the dialect, -- at the Goldoni Theatre.

The acting of Zago, in his various parts, and Zenon-Palladini,



in her especialcharacter of a Venetian piece of volubility and impulsiveness

in the shape of a servant, were admirable indeed. The manager, Gallina,



is a playwright of much reputation, and gave us some dozen of his own pieces,

mostly good and clever. S. is very well, -- much improved in health:



we walk sufficiently in this city where walking is accounted impossible

by those who never attempt it. Have I tired your good temper?



No! you ever wished me well, and I love you both with my whole heart.

S.'s love goes with mine -- who am ever yours



Robert Browning.

==



He never, however, owned the Manzoni Palace. The Austrian gentlemen*

whose property it was, put forward, at the last moment,



unexpected and to his mind unreasonable claims; and he was preparing

to contest the position, when a timelywarning induced him



to withdraw from it altogether. The warning proceeded from his son,

who had remained on the spot, and was now informed on competent authority



that the foundations of the house were insecure.




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