This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 Excerpt: ...him to his grave; yet the exact location of that grave is unknown. In August, 1887, I made a laborious search for it. All available records pointed to the old Roman Catholic cemetery in Eleventh-street, between Avenue A and First-avenue, as the graveyard that had received the body of the distinguished nonagenarian just ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 Excerpt: ...him to his grave; yet the exact location of that grave is unknown. In August, 1887, I made a laborious search for it. All available records pointed to the old Roman Catholic cemetery in Eleventh-street, between Avenue A and First-avenue, as the graveyard that had received the body of the distinguished nonagenarian just forty-nine years before. The place is overgrown with rank grass and weeds. There are no paths. Those who wish to read the inscriptions on the headstones must stumble along as best they can; now over irregular hillocks, now into deep depressions half-filled with old boots, rusty tin cans, and other refuse. Many of the inscriptions have been obliterated by the action of the elements; some of the stones lie prone upon the ground (the bones which once they guarded having been removed, as the brighteyed, fresh-faced, silver-haired old wife of the decrepit keeper explains), and in one place a large Ailantus tree in growing has taken up a stone half-way into itself. For hours I crossed and recrossed the decaying cemetery, scrutinizing carefully every inscription; but in vain. No head-stone was found bearing the name of Da Ponte, and there are no records to identify the spot where, on August 20, 1838, his grave was dug. The life of Lorenzo Da Ponte has not often been told; it has never been all told, and the narratives which have found their way into print are full of inaccuracies. In Oulibischeff's book on Mozart his death is said to have occurred in December, 1838, instead of August, and when the municipality of his native town, about a generation ago, wanted to erect a monument to him, it was found necessary to apply to New York to learn the date of his death. If at that time an answer was returned by the municipality of New York, and the official...
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