Selmun, Malta

Lear travelled to Malta for the winter of 1865-6 on his way from Venice to Corfu. However on his arrival he discovered that his two friends, Sir Henry Storks, Commander in Chief in Malta, and Evelyn Baring, later Earl of Cromer, had just departed for the island of Jamaica. Despite feeling lonely he could not help but appreciate the island's opportunities commenting in a letter to Lady Waldegrave dated 13 February 1866 that 'there is every variety of luxury, animal, mineral and vegetable - a Bishop and daughter, pease and artichokes, works in marble and filigree, redmullet, an Archdeacon, Mandarin Oranges, Admirals and Generals, Marsala Wine 10d. a bottle - religious processions, poodles, geraniums, balls, bacon, baboons, books, and what not' (Lady Strachey, ed., Later Letters of Edward Lear, London, 1911, p. 68).