Part 33 (1/2)

Fros at Trieste on account of Queen Victoria's Jubilee At the banquet, which took place at the Jager, Sir Richard occupied the chair, and he and the Rev C F Thorndike, the chaplain,the surave anxiety, but he ell enough by July 15th to set out for the usual summer holiday Accompanied by Lady Burton, Dr

Leslie and Lisa, he first visited Adelsburg, and then Sauerbrunn, where he got relief by drinking daily a cup of very hot water In a letter to Mr Ellis written from Sauerbrunn, 14th September 1887, Burton refers to Professor Bluhts, and finishes: ”Salute for me Mr Bendall and tell him how happy I shall be to see hih that very foul part”

After the Burtons' return to Trieste (at the end of September) Dr

Leslie obtained another post, and Dr Baker was invited to take his place

Dr Baker consented to do so, only on the condition that Sir Richard would not dispute his medical orders This, Dr Baker explained to me, was a very necessary stipulation, for Sir Richard now looked upon the time spent over his meals as so many half-hours wasted He never ate his food properly, but used to raven it up like an aniet back quickly to his books So a treaty was made, and Dr Baker remained a member of the household the rest of Burton's life

To this period belong the following unpublished anecdotes Of Burton's interest in Ancient Etruria and especially in the archaeological discoveries at Bologna [547] we have already spoken Once when he and Dr Baker were visiting Bologna they took a long walk outside the town and quite lost their bearings Noticing a working man seated on the roadside, Burton asked him in French the way back In reply the man ”only made a stupid noise in his throat” Burton next tried hinese [548] dialect, upon which the man blurted out, ”Je don't know savez” Sir Richard then spoke in English, and thethere was no further necessity for Parisian, explained in his own tongue that he was an English sailor who had soht in shocking people we have already alluded Nor did age sober him He would tell to open-mouthed hearers stories of his hair-breadth escapes, and how soainst his life

”Another moment,” he would say, ”and I should have been a dead entleman I turned round with my sword and sliced him up like a lemon” Dr Baker, who had heard , was exercised in his ht to be done if he were ”called out” ”Now,” said Burton, ”this is one of the things in life worthy of remembrance Never attack a man, but if he attacks you, kill him” Sometiain ”Is it true, Sir Richard,” a young curate once innocently inquired, ”that you shot a htily, ”I'ue”

In after years Dr Baker was often asked for reminiscences of Burton

”Can you res?” enquired one interlocutor ”Yes,”

replied Dr Baker ”He once said, 'Priests, politicians and publishers will find the gate of Heaven extremely narrow'” ”I'm sorry for that,”

followed the interlocutor, ”for I've just been elected MP for the ---- Division of Yorkshi+re”

For Mrs Lynn Linton, the novelist, whom he described as a ”sweet, woard, but he used to say that though she was an angel in the drawing-rooress on the platform One day, while Sir Richard, Mrs

Linton and Dr Baker were chatting together, a lady to whoroup and said ”Sir Richard, why don't you leave off writing those heavy books on Bologna and other archaeological subjects, and do sohter? Couldn't you write some trash--novels, I mean?” Sir Richard look sideways at Mrs Linton, and kept his countenance as well as he could On another occasion when Sir Richard, Lady Burton, Dr Baker and an aged Caether, Burton unconsciously glided into Latin--in which he asked the professor a question The old e--and then, stopping suddenly, said, ”If you don't lish”

Believing that Burton was overworking himself, Dr Baker recommended him to order ”a little rubbish in the shape of novels,” from London, and so rest his brain for an hour just before bedtime Burton demurred, but the novels were ultih a course of ”chou-chou,” as he called it After a while, however, he gave up what he had never taken to kindly, and henceforward he nightly ”rested his brain,” by reading books in the modern Greek dialects

151 Three Months at Abbazia 1st Dec 1887-5th March 1888

On the 1st of December 1887, in order to avoid the fearful boras of Trieste, and to shelter in the supposed mild climate of ”the Austrian Riviera,” Burton, accompanied, as always, by his wife, Dr Baker, and Lisa, went to stay at Abbazia The subscriptions for his Supplereat jollity Jingling his money in his pockets, he said to Dr Baker, ”I've always been poor, and noe'll enjoy ourselves” Henceforth he spent his money like a dissipated school-boy at a statute fair Special trains, the best roo he fancied--and yet all the while he worked at his books ”like a navvy” Abbazia was a disappointment Snow fell for two months on end, and all that time they were reeable, however, and he read German with the Catholic priest Most of his tihts, and Lady Burton was busy preparing for the press and expurgated edition of her husband's hich, it was hoped, would take its place on the drawing-room table

Mr Justin Huntly McCarthy, son of the novelist, gave her considerably assistance, and the work appeared in 1888 Mr Kirby's notes were to have been appended to Lady Burton's edition of the Nights as well as to Sir Richard's, but ultireed,” writes Burton, ”that the whole of your notes would be far too learned for her public,” [549] so only a portion was used Lady Burton's work consisted of six volues were onation of Abbazia, and the lad to get back to Trieste, which was reached on March 5th When his pain was acute he could not refrain fro by his bedside, use to say ”Offer it up, offer it up”-- relief

To Mr Payne, 14th March 1888, Burton writes, ”I have beensince yours of March 5th reached hted to hear that in spite of cramp, [550] Vo V [551] is finished, and shall look forward to the secret [552] being revealed You are quite right never to say a word about it There is nothing I abhor some with a secret”

On March 19th, Sir Richard finished his last voluhts, and in May he was visited at Trieste by his old friend, F F

Arbuthnot