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7 September 1869 — Venice | |
Tuesday. 7th [September 1869]. I continued very unwell & feverish so Henry called in old Dr Namias, a clever old Jew. He said I had a touch of rheumatic fever & also bronchitis and must lay up & even stay in bed, which I did one day. Old Mr Rawdon Brown was very kind in sending me books to read & came every day to see me as did also Mr Ball whom we found was at Venice. I stayed in 2 or 3 days and at first when I went out was only able to go out in the gondola. This however I enjoyed immensely and never tired of being rowed abt all the small canals. One of the first things I did was to go to see Salviati’s glass works. We went one morning to the house on the Grand Canal to see the mosaic being made & in the afternoon we rowed to the Island of Murano to see the glass blowing. We were joined there by Mr Edward Barry & his wife & sister and also by a Mr & Mrs Aitcheson. I was most interested at watching the process of the making the various beautiful vases &c wh are afterwards sent to London & other places to be sold. One evening as we were returning from the Piazza we were fortunate eno’ to fall in with some Serenaders. They were the guild of “Pittori” and all work people. They sang very well & had a very pretty collection of Venetian airs. At intervals the singers rested & the instruments took it up– This was not so good but there was a woman who played the 1st violin very creditably. As soon as we fell in with the Serenaders we told Marco to follow at a little distance & so went all down the Grand Canal in the moonlight till we got to the Rialto under which the “Pittori” halted as we did & all the other gondolas wh had accumulated and we remained for ½ hour listening & then glided home as by enchantment. A great many people came to see Henry; amongst the most frequent was Signor Torelli the Governor of Venice and on the Piazza at nights I made acquaintance with his wife & daughter—also with Sigr Montecchi & his wife—Sigr M. is the manager of Salviati’s works. My chief delight was going about in the gondola in the evening and going thro the dark narrow canals the tops of the high houses being lighted faintly by the moon and all the rest being clothed in darkness & having a charming air of mystery. We paid a 2nd visit to Murano before leaving Venice & I saw made a glass plate wh was sent to England for my own. We also went to the Papadopoli gardens, with Mr Brown, wh are very pretty considering the difficulties to be overcome. They are close to the railway station. We also called on Princess Clari who was an old acquaintance of Henry’s & has a large palazzo. & I had my photo done by Vianelli. | |
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