In one of his letters to me about this time — before
the great sorrow had befallen him — ^he wrote : —

" Perhaps the lives of others generally appear to us
less hum-drum than our own. Mine has of late years
been very nearly what I wish it to be. But I do not



xii INTRODUCTION

think it would satisfy you, or perhaps any one but
myself. I have learned not to wish for many things,
and what I wish most I have — life in Italy with my two
most intimate friends."

Madame Dohm, to whom I am indebted for most of
the information as to his life in Naples, gives a graphic
account of the industry and thoroughness with which
he gathered his materials from the life around him.
No discomfort or fatigue, she says, deterred him from
seeking personal intercourse with the lower classes in
their narrow homes, or in by-ways and lanes still
narrower. He would brave the odours of oil-fried
vegetables and fish in taverns of the humbler sort,
and sit quietly through the din of screaming children
and scolding women, mingled with the curses of the
men as they gambled over pitchers of Italian wine.
