Prospero's Cell: A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corfu (30 page)

Lear’s letters are peppered with the names of persons who came out from the British Isles, often with their whole families, on various functions, rarely for holidays. He scarcely ever mentions a Greek name and he certainly must never have met any of the Corfu intellectuals who formed an active circle of their own at the time. The Cortazzis were an Italian family living in Corfu with an English mother. Lear greatly admired the daughter Helena for her charm and musical talents. At one time he even toyed with the idea of asking her to marry him, but refrained from doing so because of his bad health and possibly also because of the fear of being refused. “‘O
“My old master comes and we work together on the ancient Greek language.” Lear had a peculiar way of his own of writing and using nonsense words. In both the English and the Greek text the exact spelling and punctuation have been preserved.

 
Letter No 6.
It must be remembered that Christmas was celebrated by the Greeks of the time, according to the Gregorian Calendar, 14 days later. January 3 would have been 4 days before the Greek Christmas, so that the mention of turkeys coming into town to be eaten would be quite normal.

 
Letter No 8.
Dandolo and Zambelli were extreme radicals in the Ionian Parliament and both lived in Condi Terrace. Scarpe probably was Lear’s landlord.

 
Letter No 9.
Shortly after his practicing shooting at a mark, Lear left for Palestine, accompanied by the faithful Giorgio. Hence his allusion to the Dead Sea.

 
Letter No 10.
“Come unto these yellows sands,” etc.
The Tempest,
Act I, sc. II. The translation is by Iakovos Polylas, an eminent writer, critic and politician of Corfu at the time.

 
Letter No 11.
“These men are dead.”—
“These men are Arabs, but they have more clothes on.”

 
Letter No 15.
By this time, Lear had taken up rooms in a house on what he calls the “Line Walk” and from which he enjoyed a view of the sea, Mount Pandokrator and the seagulls. The 5-storey house still stands, much as it must have been at the time Lear lived in it, next to the National Bank of Greece.

 
Letter No 18.
“
“In the country.”