CHARLES LEVER
His Life in His Letters
By Edmund Downey
With Portraits
In Two Volumes, Vol. II.
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MCMVI
Contents
| XIV. | FLORENCE AND SPEZZIA 1864 |
| XV. | FLORENCE AND SPEZZIA 1865 |
| XVI. | FLORENCE AND SPEZZIA 1866 |
| XVII. | FLORENCE AND TRIESTE 1867 |
| XVIII. | TRIESTE 1868 |
| XIX. | TRIESTE 1869 |
| XX. | TRIESTE 1870 |
| XXI. | TRIESTE 1871 |
| XXII. | TRIESTE 1872 |
| XXIII. | LOOKING BACKWARDS 1871-1872 |
| XXIV. | THE END |
XIV. FLORENCE AND SPEZZIA 1864
To Mr John Blackwood.
“Casa Capponi, Florence, Jan. 2,1863 [? 1864].
“I am not sure—so much has your criticism on ‘Tony’ weighed with me,and so far have I welded his fortunes by your counsel—that you’llnot have to own it one of these days as your own, and write ‘T. B. by J.B.’ in the title. In sober English, I am greatly obliged for all theinterest you take in the story,—an interest which I insist onbelieving includes me fully as much as the Magazine. For this reason it isthat I now send you another instalment, so that if change or suppressionbe needed, there will be ample time for either.
“Whenever Lytton says anything of the story let me have it. Though hiscounsels are often above me, they are always valuable. You will havereceived O’D. before this, and if you like it, I suppose the proof will beon the way to me. As to the present envoy of ‘Tony,’ if you think that anadditional chapter would be of advantage to the part for March, takechapters xxv. and xxvi. too if you wish, for I now feel getting up to mywork again, though the ague still keeps its hold on me and makes myalternate days very shaky ones.
“I am sorry to say that, grim as I look in marble, I am more stern andmore worn in the flesh. I thought a few days ago that it was nearly up,and I wrote my epitaph—
“For fifty odd years I lived in the thick of it,And now I lie here heartily sick of it.
“Poor Thackeray! I cannot say how I was shocked at his death. He wrote his‘Irish Sketch-Book,’ which he