The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton, volume 2 (of 2): By His Wife, Isabel BurtonBurton, Isabel, Lady
History
The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton, volume 2 (of 2): By His Wife, Isabel Burton
Burton, Isabel, Lady
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Scholars -- Great Britain -- Biography
One day, as we sat at our twelve o'clock breakfast at Opçina, on a very
hot day, a poor barefooted Capuchin came in, looking hot, jaded, dusty,
and travel-stained. He sat down in another part of the restaurant at
a table, and humbly asked for a glass of water. We were waiting for
our breakfast, and I slipped out of the room and said to the landlord,
"Every time you bring us up a dish, put a third portion, with bread
and vegetables, and in due course sweets and cheese, before the poor
Capuchin who has just come in, and a bottle of the same wine you give
us, and tell him to pray for the donors." I slipped back into my place,
and I saw Richard kept staring at him, when he was not looking, with
an amused smile, and finally he turned round to me and whispered,
"There, just look! You say that those fellows starve, and I declare
to you that he has eaten, mouthful for mouthful, everything _we_ have
eaten, and a good bottle of wine like ours." So I laughed and I said,
"Yes; but with _your_ money!" "Oh, you blackguard! am I paying for
_his_ dinner?" "Yes," I said, "you are; and he is going to pray for
_us_." He was far from being vexed; he was too kind, and he enjoyed
the joke very much. I said to him, "That man has been catering all
over Istria for provisions for the convent, and the rule at table is
that they eat whatever you put on their plates, but they must not ask.
Seeing the state he is in, you would not like to have seen him go away
with a glass of water." "No," he said, "that I should not; I am glad
you did it."
[Sidenote: _The Passion Play--Ober-Ammergau_.]
We now determined, and fortunately, to see the Passion Play at
Ober-Ammergau. I say fortunately, because we could scarcely have
done it in 1890, just before his death; the fatigue would have been
too great for him. We had a delightful trip from Venice to Padua, to
Vicenza, and thence to Verona. There the country is simply lovely,
and the train begins to mount to Ala, which is the frontier of Italy
and the Austrian Tyrol. It seems like getting out of a picturesque
desert--so far are the Italians behind Austrian civilization. You
pass Trento, and reach Botzen, which is really only nine hours and
fifty-eight minutes' actual train from Venice if you do not stop on the
road. From Botzen to Munich is nine hours and twenty-three minutes'
delightful journey, breakfasting at Franzensfeste. You are examined
at Kufstein, the frontier between the Austrian Tyrol and Bavaria.
The scenery of the Brenner is simply glorious, and Brenner-Bad is a
delightful little place to stay at. Munich is certainly a lovely city;
its buildings are magnificent, but its art is very, very new. We saw
everything in the City inside and out, and enjoyed the society of
General and Mrs. Staunton, our Consul, and certainly we must own that
the Hôtel des Quatres Saisons is the most delightful and comfortable in
the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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