Diary of Daniel Sargent Curtis

A rainy morning[.] I called for Mr Robert Browning at the Universo Hotel[1] opposite to our apartment in Palo Barbaro Canal Grande. He had expressed the wish to walk, or row, of a morning, whenever I could come for him. As the day was wet, I suggested that we might go and walk under the Arcades...

Mr Browning said he did not find the English winter depressing. Had lived 20 years in small house lived because near Arabel Barrett, at low rent 2 miles from Hyde Park Corner. His landlord never raised rents and had put on a new roof, which Mr B. was by the lease liable to keep in repair. “He...

Took Mr Browning over to walk on Giudecca again. Said he had a letter from America this morning; which consisted only of

The Brownings dined with us partie carrée.[1] Mr B. talked of Beranger, whom he remembered. One day in F[bg]. S[t]. Honoré saw him, and told his son, then a small child, to run and touch the hand of that old gentleman, and some day he would tell him why. Mr B’s French teacher taught him the...

Mr Browning sent us a note from WRS Ralston, dated “Alfred Place, Bedford Square Oct 18. 81[.] Dear Mr Browning, Ivan Tourguenieff the Russian Novelist, will dine with me on Sat. Oct 22 at the Arts Club (17 Hanover Sq) at 7.15. (morning dress.) I should be so pleased if you could join the...

Took Mr Browning to see the frescoes by Tiepolo in Palazzo Labbia, Canareggio, wh. he had never seen; still in perfect condition, though the Palace is in sad decay. It belongs to a Jewish Society at Vienna. There are also family portraits by good hands on the walls of Mosaic fabbrica & primary...

Mr Browning and Mr James Russell Lowell talked of the Queen Victoria’s invariable kind feeling and delicacy. Her immediate and repeated inquiries as to Mr & Mrs Garfield, made either in person or in her own name & not formally through officials, &c.

Robert Browning arrived in Venice October 4, 1883. He has often said that, as long as he lived, he hoped and meant to pass a month or more in Venice every year. In 1882 he got as far as Verona, when the inundations cut off all communications with Venice, and he returned to England. This year he...

At an evening reception at Palo Barbaro, Mr Browning was present. He talked much of Carlyle. Someone expressed sympathy with Mrs. Carlyle as a suffering wife. R.B. said [‘]‘Not a bit of it! Carlyle spoke of her as if she had stepped down from the stars to marry him. What was she, after all?...

Called for Mr Browning at 10.30, a warm, bright morning. He said that though he had lived so long in Italy, he was afraid of the sun. At the Dogana we hoisted the sail of my gondola, and with a light breeze we passed slowly down the Canal of Giudecca, towards the islet of San Giorgio in Alga,...

Mr Browning came to our garden, Villa Vendramin, at the Giudecca, with his sister, and walked for half an hour under the grape-trellises. He said they had arranged to go to Greece this week—and had so written to friends and servants in London– But, considering the sea-voyages and the...

Asked Mr Browning if there were any sous-entendu[1] in his poem of Childe Roland?– ‘Not the least. I wrote it on the 2d of January [1853], having begun the year with the intention of writing a lyric poem every day that year.’ [“]The first I wrote was ‘Women and Roses,’ about a...

Being the anniversary of our wedding-day, Mr Browning brought as a gift to Mrs. Curtis a copy of ‘The Inn Album,’ with an autograph inscription on the fly-leaf.

A dull damp day had not prevented Mr & Miss Browning’s daily walk to the Public Garden, and he added, four turns around its circuit. Five! said Miss Browning. We all think her strength hardly equal to keeping up with his. For instance, she was seven hours on foot descending a road, impossible...

A superbly bright warm day. At ten o’clock we took gondola for the Lido. The post brought a letter for Browning, to my care. Passing the Public Garden, we saw his white felt hat and heard his voice, as he and his Sister were doing their four circuits. We rowed up to give him the letter, and...

Mr Browning came to an evening reception at Palazzo Barbaro, where also came Professor Max Muller and family of Oxford, a thoroughly Anglicised German, who said of English Etiquette and Conventionalities, that they settled questions for you, and that everyone understood what they had to do. He...

On Sunday P.M. Oct. 18, 1885 we went to Casa Alvisi, Canal Grande, to hear Robert Browning read some of his own poems. About 25 persons were present, Mr & Mrs Wm W. Story, Mrs & Miss Bronson, Sir Henry & Lady Layard, Sir W. Gregory & Lady G., Mr Hardinge, Misses Ker &c. Browning stood while he...

Mr Browning at Sir H. Layard’s an eveg party. Talked of the affair of buying the Manzoni, or Montecuculi Palace opposite Palo Barbaro. As I had been in correspondence some years ago, with Marchese Montecuculi in Styria, to buy the Palace of his family, together with Mr W. W. Story, Mr Browning...

Mr Browning & Miss B. dined with us. After dinner, he read a number of poems—“The Italian in England”—“Home Thoughts”—“The Glove”—“Master Hugues of Saxe Gotha”—“Up in the Villa & Down in the City,”—“The Patriot”—[“]The Twins Date & Dabitur”– The Fugue...

Mr & Miss Browning dined with us. He in great spirits at probable purchase of Palazzo Montecuculi, & much discussion as to how to restore it. It is now his intention to retreat—ultimately—to Venice—but for some years yet to hold on to London. After dinner came Richard M. Hunt, the...

Mr Robt Browning came in the eveg with his son, to tell us of his having concluded the purchase of the Palace called Manzoni, or Montecuculi, on the Grand Canal opposite to our Palazzo Barbaro, from the Graf Capitan Corvetten Montecuculi, to whom I had written at Mr Browning’s request to...

Mr. Browning, here in evening, said that, as I had suggested, he had taken the Graf Montecuculi to Baschiera, my lawyer, where their agreement was formally & legally confirmed. Mr B. much elated & he & his son full of projects for improving the property, buyg houses in the rear & pulling them...

Mr & Miss Browning & Barrett B. dined with us. The day previous they dined with Don Carlos, who showed his monkeys, great dogs, Indian curiosities, & gave Browning a History of Carlist Wars. Said Ld Dufferin showed him B’s Works in India. After dinner, talk of names & pronunciations. Menzies,...

Mr & Miss Browning’s last visit, as they leave Venice for London tomorrow. A rainy misty night & at 9 o’clock the wood-fires burned bright & the chandeliers lighted, we hardly expected that any friends wd venture forth. But Mr Browning never fails of a Saty eveg Avignone (aide to Admiral in...

Mr Browning came to take leave of us, and to give final directions as to the matter of the purchase of his Palazzo. Though he is not without long experience of Italy and Italians, and happens to have often lodged in the next Palace (Rota or L’Universo) and in cold weather also, he has not only...