[Venice—Saturday, 24 November 1888]
Another of this succession of splendid days—bright & calm. We went again with Mr Browning to 4 Fontane, Lido—and went over the great villa built for V. Emmanuele—unfinished but we went up stairs & admired the various views, each admirable. R.B. really seems inclined to buy & finish it. Walked on the beach and home at one o’clock. He proposed going tomorrow. Spoke of A. Lang’s article in ‘Forum’. Sd he had written for boys—The Pied Piper for ‘Willy Macready’, & of eyes of blue & lips of red—but sky was lemonade always—why not Port? The things in his portfolio written of late & wh. may be in his next vol. happen to be lyrical, in former vein, now that he has worked in the other vein, more or less– Told of long persecution by a man named Doveton, who dedd poems to him. Said Tennyson made his wife write all such letters, till she was used up by it, & then ‘Lionel’ whose hand writg exactly resembles his own. Sd he had never visited Tennyson, tho’ often bidden. Spoke of quantities Latin & English—angǐna– Monro found one instance. Vertīgo. Wm Story lectured on M. Angelo in London & sd vertǐgo—wh. scholars noted. Johnson has Vértigo.
He added ‘fortuítous’– “Thirlwall, the best of our Bishops– Most unwilling to be a bishop—Melbourne would have him.’[’]
