In  the  present  there  was  little  more  left  to  him.  His  last  note  to
me  was  dated  on  the  8th  of  September,  and  on  the  17th  he  had
ceased  to  live.  He  had  so  weakened  himself  by  abstaining  from  food
during  three  preceding  days,  that  a  fit  of  coughing  killed  him.
There  was  no  other  suffering.  It  was  a  buona  morte,  said  the  Italian
who  was  present ;  as  brief  as  it  wap  unexpected  and  sudden.  He
was  laid  in  the  English  burying-ground,  and  a  stone  placed  over  the
grave.  On  this  had  been  cut  correctly  his  name,  and  the  dates  of  his
birth  and  death  ;  but  the  Florentine  stone-cutter's  English  was  imper-
fect, and  the  word  "  wife,"  which  should  have  appeared  in  the  "  last
sad  tribute  "  of  the  rest  of  the  inscription,  had  taken  the  quite  unin-
telligible form  of  "  coife."  But  as  there  was  no  conscious  irony  in
this,  so  neither  was  there  much  inappropriateness  ;  and  Landor  was
not  to  pass  away  without  a  worthier  written  epitaph.  It  came  from
the  young  poet  who  visited  him  so  lately,  and  needs  only  to  be  pref-

*  See  ante,  p.  470.
G76


LAST    SIX    YEARS    IN    ITALY.
(Book  VIII.
1858-64.
aced  by  the  remark  that  the  convention  by  which  Florence  became
the  capital  of  Italy  had  been  signed  two  days  before  Landor  died.
IN    MEMORY    OF    WALTER    SAVAGE    LANDOR.
Back  to  the  flower-town,  side  by  side,

The  bright  months  bring
Newborn  the  bridegroom  and  the  bride,

Freedom  and  spring.
The  sweet  land  laughs  from  sea  to  sea.
Filled  full  of  sun;
All  things  come  back  to  her,  being  free;

All  things  but  one.
In  many  a  tender  wheaten  plot

Flowers  that  were  dead
Live,  and  old  suns  revive;  but  not

That  holier  head.
