"
Lear was a man to whom, as to Tennyson's Ulysses,
"All experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world."
After settling at San Remo, and when he was nearly sixty years old, he
determined to visit India and Ceylon. He started once and failed, being
taken so ill at Suez that he was obliged to return. The next year he
succeeded, and brought away some thousands of drawings of the most striking
views from all three Presidencies and from the tropical island. His
appetite for travel continued to grow with what it fed upon; and although
he hated a long sea-voyage, he used seriously to contemplate as possible a
visit to relations in New Zealand. It may safely, however, be averred that
no considerations would have tempted him to visit the Arctic regions.
A hard-working life, checkered by the odd adventures which happen
to the odd and the adventurous and pass over the commonplace; a
career brightened by the high appreciation of unimpeachable
critics; lightened, till of late, by the pleasant society and good
wishes of innumerable friends; saddened by the growing pressure of
ill health and solitude; cheered by his constant trust in the love
and sympathy of those who knew him best, however far away,--such
was the life of Edward Lear.
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