File:Life and letters of Robert Browning (1908) (14784520892).jpg

Identifier: lifelettersofrob00orrs (find matches)
Title: Life and letters of Robert Browning
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Orr, Sutherland, Mrs., 1828-1903 Kenyon, Frederic G. (Frederic George), Sir, 1863-1952
Subjects: Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
Publisher: Boston, New York : Houghton, Mifflin and company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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eally shown himself fitto possess, so surprising are his restorations and improve-ments : the whole is all but complete, decorated,—that is,renewed admirably in all respects. What strikes me as most noteworthy is the cheer-fulness and comfort of the huge rooms. The building is warmed throughout by a furnace andpipes. Yesterday, on the Lido, the heat was hardly en-durable : bright sunshine, blue sky,—snow-tipped Alps inthe distance. No place, I think, ever suited my needs,bodily and intellectual, so well. The first are satisfied—I am quite well, every breathinginconvenience gone: and as for the latter, I got throughwhatever had given me trouble in London. ... But it was winter, even in Venice, and one day beganwith an actual fog. He insisted, notwithstanding, ontaking his usual walk on the Lido. He caught a bronchialcold of which the symptoms were aggravated not only bythe asthmatic tendency, but by what proved to be ex-haustion of the heart; and believing as usual that his liver
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18 89 y =^-nen/LvaUferc^--k-^c~ 1889) ROBERT BROWNING 399 alone was at fault, he took little food, and refused winealtogether.^ He did not yield to the sense of illness ; he did notkeep his bed. Some feverish energy must have supportedhim through this avoidance of every measure which mighthave afforJed even temporary strength or relief. OnFriday, the 29th, he wrote to a friend in London that hehad waited thus long for the final answer from Asolo, butwould wait no longer. He would start for England, ifpossible, on the Wednesday or Thursday of the followingweek. It was true he had caught a cold ; he felt sadlyasthmatic, scarcely fit to travel; but he hoped for the best,and would write again soon. He wrote again the follow-ing day, declaring himself better. He had been punished,he said, for long-standing neglect of his provokingliver; but a simple medicine, which he had often takenbefore, had this time also relieved the oppression of hischest; his friend was not to be uneasy about him ;

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