In 1860 W. D. Howells wrote a campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln. WhenLincoln won the presidency Howells was rewarded with the job of consul inVenice.He arri... » 

In 1860 W. D. Howells wrote a campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln. WhenLincoln won the presidency Howells was rewarded with the job of consul inVenice.He arrived there in 1862 aged twentyfive and lived for three years on theGrand Canal. Howells would use the canal for a morning swim during the warmermonths and then perhaps go off to his office.For a young nineteenthcentury American who had left school at age nine inorder to work the hardest part of his sinecure was that no doubt for thefirst time in his experience he had almost nothing to do. I dreaded theeasily formed habit of receiving a salary for no service performed he wrote.I reminded myself that soon or late I must go back to the old fashion ofearning money and that it had better be sooner than later. And so thoughfor some strange reasons it was the saddest and strangest thing in the world todo Howells left Venice. While he was on the whole happy to do so Howellssaid upon his departureNever had the city seemed so dreamlike and unreal asin this light of farewell.Venetian Life flows from the enchantment the magical improbability of theyears Howells spent in that magnificent city dining with the rich minglingwith the humble and reporting on it all with a uniquely American wit andcuriosity. «