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25 October 1883 — Castagnolo | |
Thursday. 25th [October 1883]. Went about the garden all the morning– First with Mrs Ross to look at her birds & then with Mr Ross to see the orchids. He gave me a good many different sorts of plants to take to Venice. We walked, the Ross, Henry & I to the Orsi villa to see the young men’s studio & were much pleased with what we saw. Both Carlo & Poldo Orsi paint & model very well. We took abt ½ hour going there & back. We lunched at ¼ to 1. Mr & Mrs Pepys arrived while we were at lunch. Mrs P. is a faded beauty—very delicate looking—flippant & rather vulgar. Mrs Ross kindly sent for a woman to teach me straw plaiting wh I learnt in a few minutes as it is very easy. Mr P. Wells drove Henry & me into Florence. We went round by Badia Settimo where there is a curious old gateway & the remains of an old convent. We went on to Florence & Mr Wells dropped us at Ct Pelagi’s who keeps an antiquary’s shop & has promised to try & sell Burano lace for us. We looked at some pictures old Mrs Ross has for sale & then we walked to the Gran Bretagne & got our letters & then walked on & did some more shopping & then came in again & rested till it was time to dress for dinner & we went to dine with Mr & Mrs Colnaghi at ¼ to 7. We waited till 7 for Mr Colnaghi who had been all day in attendance upon Prince Teck– He & his family had arrived here at the beginning of the week & are going to remain 3 months at a private hotel to economise. Naturally it was a great come down for them & they were not very happy & especially Duke Teck who not being so high bred as our Pss Mary is much more difficult to please & complained of furniture, patterns of wall papers &c. One could not help feeling sorry for him when one heard that one of his troubles was not having a sitting room to himself—when one considered the suite he must have been used to at Kensington Palace. However a room was found for him & he was pacified. Mr Colnaghi came in at 7 & after dinner we went to the prefet’s box at Niccolini theatre to hear Fra Diavolo a second time & enjoyed it immensely. | |
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