A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton by Mary S. Lovell

Author:Mary S. Lovell [Lovell, Mary S.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2000-07-17T06:00:00+00:00

25

HOME AGAIN 1868–1869

Before she sailed from Santos in July 1868, Isabel had the sad task of packing up their chattels, selling off their large items of furniture and her animals, and paying off her loyal servants Chico and Kier. At one point she thought of taking Chico back to London with them. There were some light-hearted exchanges between Isabel and one of her brothers, who offered to pay for a ‘livery’ for Chico so that he could act as her ‘tiger’ as she drove about town. There was no denying that the move was a wrench for her. Not only had she been happy in South America, her first home with Richard, but she had developed into a confident and independent individual who acted for herself without deference to anyone but her beloved Richard.

She had learned a great deal from Richard; above all a desire to learn more. But she also developed an arrogance regarding her thoughts and work, so once she had formulated an idea it never occurred to her that she might be wrong. This trait earned Isabel many detractors. Had her unswerving loyalty to Richard been confined to parlour prattle it might have earned admiration. But her assertive nature, outspoken views, determination to make others see Richard in the same uncritical light as she did, and her lobbying to obtain advancement for him (sometimes at his secret instigation) would make her unpopular in many quarters.

Isabel’s positive nature is illustrated by an incident which occurred during her journey to England, when she called on a friend of Richard’s, Charles Williams, in Bahia.1 Williams kept a private menagerie on his property and his hall contained cages of snakes. As he was showing these to Isabel he took a rattlesnake out of a cage, his hand slipped and the snake sank its fangs into his wrist. ‘He had just time to dash it back into the cage and lock it, and staggered back against the wall,’ Isabel recalled. Few women would have known how to handle such an incident, but Richard had ‘prepared’ Isabel in case this sort of emergency occurred while they were travelling alone together. Seeing a box of wooden Lucifer matches on the table, she snatched these up and striking them one after another, used the flares to burn a hole at the puncture site. Then she made a ligament with her handkerchief, while calling loudly for the servants to bring a bottle of whisky. ‘By degrees I got the whole bottle down his throat,’ and then with the help of servants she kept her patient walking for about three hours. She then allowed him to be put to bed, and when he rose next morning he was in perfect health. Isabel thought that probably the bite had not been very deep, but Williams was convinced that her rough-and-ready first aid had saved his life. As a mark of appreciation, he had a riding whip made for her with a handle of solid silver ‘up to the lash’.

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