RAWDON BROWN
"Tutti ga i so gusti, e mi go i mii."
(Venetian saying.)
Mr. Rawdon Brown was an Englishman who went to Venice on some temporary errand, and lived there for forty years, dying in that city in the summer of 1883. He had an enthusiastic love for Venice, and is mentioned in books of travel as one who knew the city thoroughly. The Venetian saying means that "everybody follows his taste as I follow mine." Toni was the gondolier and attendant of Brown. The inscription on Brown's tomb is given in the third and fourth lines. G. W. Cooke.
Sighed Rawdon Brown: "Yes, I 'm departing, Toni!
I needs must, just this once before I die,
Revisit England: Anglus Brown am I,
Although my heart 's Venetian. Yes, old crony—
Venice and London—London 's 'Death the bony'
Compared with Life—that 's Venice! What a sky,
A sea, this morning! One last look! Good-by,
Cà Pesaro! No, lion—I 'm a coney
To weep! I 'm dazzled; 't is that sun I view
Rippling the ... the ... Cospetto, Toni! Down
With carpet-bag, and off with valise-straps!
Bella Venezia, non ti lascio più!"
Nor did Brown ever leave her: well, perhaps
Browning, next week, may find himself quite Brown!
November 28, 1883.