There is scarcely a town or village, a point of view,
a building, statue or picture in all this country with which he was
not familiar. In 1878 he happened to be on the Sacro Monte above
Varese at the time I took my holiday; there I joined him, and nearly
every year afterwards we were in Italy together.
He was always a delightful companion, and perhaps at his gayest on
these occasions. "A man's holiday," he would say, "is his garden,"
and he set out to enjoy himself and to make everyone about him enjoy
themselves too. I told him the old schoolboy muddle about Sir
Walter Raleigh introducing tobacco and saying: "We shall this day
light up such a fire in England as I trust shall never be put out."
He had not heard it before and, though amused, appeared preoccupied,
and perhaps a little jealous, during the rest of the evening. Next
morning, while he was pouring out his coffee, his eyes twinkled and
he said, with assumed carelessness:
"By the by, do you remember?--wasn't it Columbus who bashed the egg
down on the table and said 'Eppur non si muove'?"
He was welcome wherever he went, full of fun and ready to play while
doing the honours of the country.
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