1904] At Venice with Button 109 



ram being convinced that Russia must win in the end, otherwise it would 

 mean an invasion of Europe by ' les j amies.' 



" This was a sad visit. On the 18th I went with Wagram and 

 the rest of the family to a memorial service he has performed monthly 

 at Boissy for poor Berthe, where she lies under her cold pyramid which 

 marks the family vault, though Wagram is preparing for her a less 

 dreary resting place outside in the sun hard by. Wagram had brought 

 his little bunch of violets, and we both prayed for her, but alas, what 

 matter, she does not know. ' Though the Heavens and the Earth be 

 broken, she shall not arise, nor waken out of her sleep.' 



" 20th Nov. — La Tour d'Auvergne is here, and Alexandre came 

 to-day from Saint Cyr, which he has joined for the Army. He was 

 proud of having driven his motor the distance (forty kilometres) 

 in as many minutes, it being the best and straightest road he says 

 in France, and with the fewest villages. We were taken out shoot- 

 ing as in former days, and killed eight or nine faisans veneres, with a 

 number of the common sort. These veneres have been thirty-four years 

 wild at Gros Bois, having escaped from their pens during the Prussian 

 War and multiplied greatly, but Wagram complains that the length of 

 their tails has suffered. Formerly the birds measured as much as 2 

 metres 10, whereas now they seldom reach 1 metre 80. Otherwise they 

 have flourished exceedingly, we must have seen at least forty on one 

 beat. They are somewhat puzzling to shoot, as they are very sudden 

 and irregular in their movements, coming through the woods with a 

 great noise and flourish, and, when you expect it least, perching on 

 the outer trees and chattering like parrots. Thus many birds are missed. 



" 22nd Nov. — Venice. With Button Bourke, to see the sights, he 

 doing cicerone with considerable knowledge. I was pleased to find that 

 the loss of the great tower is really a gain to St. Mark's, which one now 

 sees in its true porportion. The tower dwarfed it, and it is best away. 

 St. Mark's is, I say once more, the most beautiful church in Europe, 

 and the most interesting. By good luck I find Tintoretto's great 

 ' Paradiso ' picture taken down from its place where it was difficult 

 to see, and set in a good light on a gigantic easel, so that one can examine 

 every detail. It is a really splendid thing. Button has been now two 

 years living at Venice, and already has the ways and language of 

 the ' oldest inhabitant. He occupies a little house in San Giacomo dell' 

 Orio, where there is a large garden in which he stows the odds and 

 ends of outdoor sculpture he buys for the London market, a business 

 by which he makes a scanty living and which makes him happy, having 

 found in it a vocation in life. He is, as always, a delightful companion. 



" 2yd Nov. — Lunched with Button and his chief friend here, 

 Horatio Brown, who has taken on old Rawdon Brown's work at the 

 Venetian archives. I remember old Rawdon Brown when I was here 



