is private affairs were constantly
mis-managed. As at Fernando Po, Santos and Damascus, he promptly looked
out for a sanitarium, his choice finally resting upon a loftily-situated
village called Opcina.

Reviewing Burton's career, Mr. Alfred Bates Richards says: "He has done
more than any other six men, and is one of the best, noblest and truest
that breathes. While not on active service or on sick leave he has been
serving his country, humanity, science, and civilisation in other ways,
by opening up lands hitherto unknown, and trying to do good wherever he
went. He was the pioneer for all other living African travellers."

If Trieste was not an ideal post for him, still it had the patent
advantage of being practically a sinecure. He and his wife seem to
have been able to get away almost at any time. They sometimes travelled
together, but often went in different directions, and as Burton was
as restless as a hyena, he never stayed in any one place many hours.
Occasionally they met unexpectedly. Upon one of these meetings in a
Swiss hotel, Burton burst out affectionately with, "And what the devil
brought you here?" To which she replied, promptly but sweetly, "Ditto,
brother." For study, Burton had almost unlimited time, and nothing
came amiss to him. He lost himself in old sacramentaries, Oriental
manuscripts, works on the prehistoric remains of Istria, Camoens,
Catullus, The Arabian Nights, Boccaccio. His knowledge was
encyclopaedic.

76. At the Vienna Exhibition, 1873.

Early in 1873 the Burtons visited Vienna chiefly in order to see the
great Exhibition. The beauty of the buildings excited their constant
admiration, but the dearness of everything at the hotels made Burton
use forcible language. On one occasion he demanded--he never asked for
anything--a beefsteak, and a waiter hurried up with an absurdly small
piece of meat on a plate. Picking it up with the fork he examined it
critically, and then said, quite amiably for him, "Yaas, yaas, [280]
that's it, bring me some." Next he required coffee. The coffee arrived
in what might have been either a cup or a thimble. "What's this?"
demanded Burton. The waiter said it was coffee for one. "Then," roared
Burton, with several expletives, "bring me coffee for twenty." Their
bill at this hotel came to L163 for the three weeks.

77. A Visit from Drake, June 1873.

On their return from Vienna, they had the pleasure of meeting again Lady
Marion Alford, Aub