NEARLY DROWNED. 237 family being constantly in or on the water.* Having been capsized at one time in the middle of the Bay, they swam gallantly to shore with their clothes on; † they had a mile to swim, which was indeed no trouble to them. They could rest on the water for a long time previous to making an effort to swim. He had little society and less conversation in Sienna; but he made up in whist for that taciturnity called in Ireland 'Whist!'" Mr. Maunsell notices lightly an accident which wellnigh proved fatal. Lever and his daughter had nearly lost their lives by the capsizing of their boat in the Bay of Spezzia, where Shelley, by the way, was drowned more than forty years before. Mr. Maunsell says that they swam a mile to shore; and the journals of the day, and magazine memoirs after Lever's death, state that the distance they had to swim for their lives on this occasion exceeded three miles. For these exaggerations, Lever had no one but himself to blame. In describing adventures, he mechanically, and we believe unconsciously, embellished. Of this we have proof in a letter of William Hartpole Lecky, too racy to omit. "I well remember how a large tableful of Italian Naval Officers were electrified by his conversation, and especially by the fire and vividness with which he told a story, which I afterwards found in one of his books, of how he, his * Lever himself writes:-"I apportioned out my whole day, from my first morning swim, ere the sea grew hot and fiery, to my last row at night, when the land-breeze came through the orange groves." Lever and his daughters always wore swimming costumes. daughter, and his poodle dog were one day upset in the Gulf, and how they swam; Miss Lever carrying the dog on her back. When Lever left the table I was greatly amused by the exclamation of one of the officers, who had known him of old. What a wonderful man that is! I have heard that anecdote again and again; but it seems always fresh-there are always new incidents.'” Now for the unvarnished version which is, in itself, highly curious. From the letters written to Ireland, chiefly by his daughter, and addressed to different members of the family, it would appear that the accident originated in an attempt of Miss Lever to rescue her dog, which had swam to an injudicious distance from the boat. The boat capsized where the water was of fabulous depth, and the crew were cast on this great expanse. Father and daughter grasped oars, and thus kept themselves afloat until aid at last arrived. They were more than a mile from the shore. A younger daughter of Mr. Lever's saw the accident from her window. With great presence of mind, she refrained from alarming her mother or other members of the family; but, quietly gliding to the quay, sent out a boat to the relief of those so justly dear to her. Equal nonchalance was shown by Miss Lever in her perilous position. During the interval, more full of anxiety to those on land than to the capsized crew, she amused herself by keeping her lap-dog's paws on the oar next her own. Fortunately the sea was as calm as their own minds. Miss Lever remarked that an attack of acute neuralgia, from which she had long "THE BARRINGTONS." 239 suffered, was completely cured, either by the prolonged immersion, or by the shock operating on her nervous system. As to Lever himself, he referred to the accident laughingly, and once went so far as to say that no man would ever wish to be rescued from drowning, if he only knew the tortures that awaited him from what is called the Humane Society-the very description of which, makes the guillotine or the garotte seem in comparison like a mild anodyne! Some false reports of his death found circulation this year; just a decade before his actual departure; and he was killed by editors with as little compunction as he himself extinguished ideal heroes. This liberty he noticed to one of the assassinating-pressmen, but, merely suggested with great delicacy to make the amende by giving the "Barringtons" a "shove over the stile." "I believe the story is not bad, at least not worse than most of the same sort which goes down with the public. As my critics were wont to blackguard me for over writing, let me have the (supposed) advantage to be derived from its being a full twelvemonth since the world has heard of me, except as having died at Spezzia last April." This story he dedicated to one who had just proved himself a formidable rival, Joseph Sheridan Lefanu. In the "Barringtons," Lever portrays his own son and his career; but in an irregular way, confusing the chronology, and intermingling impossibilities with actual occurrences. "It was at the time of the Fenian affair in Ireland," writes Major D——, "that Garibaldi breakfasted with Lever at Spezzia, and I am not sure that the affair may not have been done in concert with the British Minister at Florence. Garibaldi had been writing strong letters of sympathy with the Fenians, and Lever explained to him very clearly at breakfast, that if he continued to do so, he would destroy all sympathy the English might have for him, and his further plans for Italy. From that date there was no further mention made of Garibaldi's name in connection with Fenianism. Lever told me that Garibaldi was very much astonished at what he, Lever, explained to him about Ireland, and finished by saying to me, that he never could comprehend how a man seemingly so ignorant and childish as Garibaldi could come to have such vast influence, and do so much. That was twelve years ago, and since then, many others have come to a similar conclusion with regard to Garibaldi." Lever's intercourse with the General at Spezzia, led to an impression that he was a thorough partisan, and news of his adhesion was not long in reaching Ireland. An "O'Dowd" paper, however, explained: "As for myself, don't be shocked, but I do like doubtful company; that is, I am immensely interested by all that class of people which the world calls adventurers, whether the same be railroad speculators, fortune-hunters, discoverers of inexhaustible mines, or Garibaldians." Lever, like O'Lynn, whose adventures he often whistled and warbled, found it "pleasant and cool" to wear a "Thus linen suit during the warmer months in Italy.* clad," observes an informant, "his shirt-collar open, and a book also open upon his knee, he fell asleep, on one particular occasion, in a chair at the public baths at Spezzia. An English footman entering, and mistaking Lever for the attendant, seized him by the collar which he shook, and called for a bath. "There,' exclaimed Lever, grasping the man of 'calves' and hurling him, plush and all, into the reservoir at his feet.” The English consul was privileged to do what he pleased with an English lackey; and we do not find that any trouble followed as in the case of the Tuscan tailor, to be described later on. This incident, or one akin to it, will be found depicted by Phiz in “The Daltons," and described as "a hydropathic remedy.” † Men who addressed Lever in mistake, made excuse by saying that his odd dress deceived them; but he replied, that like some of his own stories, one ought not to judge the book by the cover. He always fancied that he thought and wrote with more freedom in a négligé dress than if braced up in the stiffer style of Poole. Costume," he used to say, "has great influence over people's acts; the man in his shooting-jacket will give * Mr. Harry Innes, his close companion in boyhood, writes:-" Lever added a verse to this popular Irish melody, not the worst of the ten : "Bryan O'Lynn had no watch to put on, He scooped out a turnip to make him a one, † Florence, ch. xxii., p. 211, v. 2. VOL. II. R |