4358. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 85–87.
43– Bocca di Leone.
Wednesday. [16 March 1859] [1]
My dearest Isa, Thank you from my heart for two dear letters– Dear, if you could see it you would know that my love for you has been & must be a stedfast thing. You might as well charge me with having red hair, or with squinting, as of ceasing to love you, Isa– That was indeed a diseased fantasy. And now do for ever believe in me,—for while a bit of me holds together, you have it in your hand–
And now, for Italy– Of England we wont speak; I shall certainly say things to wound you if I do– What makes me bitter is, that I feel it is the reverse of what you say—& that not only the present government but every almost possible government will take this ignoble position. It was always so with England. Whenever she acts (in foreign politics) it is against freedom & the nationalities. And after all, what pierces me, is not merely this selfseeking consistency; but the low tone of morals & sentiments used by the public men in their speeches .. as if they had not nobleness enough even to make a pretence of it– Basta– [2]
Dearest Isa, I am very much pleased with dear Mr Trollope’s pamphlet, [3] & shall hold him in affection for it always– We have been lending it about here, and Odo Russell, Lord John’s nephew, the English representative here, called on us yesterday to enquire (having read it) whether it was a pamphlet or article in a periodical. The back of the copy you sent, was off, you remember, so that the precise form of publication was not evident– Our friend has done it excellently—& all the better for the disdain of fine writing & fine sentiments,—the sentiment being in the facts– The remarks on “treaties” strike me as quite admirable–
I have M. Villeri’s letter & will answer it,—but I have not the Sa[l]vagnoli pamphlet, [4] —have sent in vain to the British consul’s. I did’nt wait to get it however, to send to Gallenga, & he came yesterday with his detestable English wife [5] .. oh, I must say so, Isa,—I was sick at heart to hear the wife of an Italian, talk as she did yesterday– It is against him that he should have married a woman like her– He is her third husband—& a woman who can marry thrice, may well refuse to feel for a third husband’s country–
Well—where was I?—Oh, in a matter of business– Gallenga (English-bound as he is .. to his new estate in Monmouthshire!) [6] is willing to undertake the translation of the pamphlet,—but, in order to this, he must be waited for at least ten days from next thursday, when he sets out to Florence. It is to be considered whether it is worth while to wait for him– Anyone can do it– I would willingly myself have done it, if I had been in Florence and been asked—that is to say, if the pamphlet had satisfied me–
I get sight of the Genoa Gazette [7] besides the daily Galignani .. or really it would be difficult to live on.
Let us speak at least, of other things. Do you think Lytton will answer my letter, and Robert’s, [8] & seek to justify himself. It is a question among the very small ones. The poems unquestionably have genius,—though there are too acute remembrances (besides certain English influences) of Heine & Musset– Heine is whole-translated in some parts, & enlarged upon, .. & not named– Which is another variety of the herb ingratitude.
You astonish me on the subject of Mlle de Fauveau, & I cant help believing (having an esteem for her) that some chance word of hers has been caught up & turned inside out. [9] Whenever I can get to the ear of a Rio, I will speak– And, in the meanwhile, if I were you, I would speak myself to the sculptress, & get out the whole truth,—for it is well to know whether people deserve our esteem or not: and frankness is the best diplomacy– Write to me, dearest Isa– I must send this & have been cut short– Say how you are, dear, & love
your Ba–
I hear you are with the Tassinari’s still. How vexatious about the house– [10] Hatty is going to you for the whole summer, she says.
Publication: B-IB, pp. 198–200.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dated by RB’s reference in letter 4359 (which accompanied this one) to the arrival of “proofs” of Aurora Leigh. A list of corrections was returned to Chapman and Hall on the 19th (see letter 4362). The preceding Wednesday was 16 March 1859.
2. “Enough.”
3. We have been unable to identify this pamphlet by Thomas Adolphus Trollope. However, it may have contained some of the same material he would include in his Tuscany in 1849 and in 1859, published at the beginning of September 1859. In chapter VI of that work, he writes of treaties made at the 1815 Congress of Vienna: “If the English statesmen had had a statesmanlike knowledge of Italy, they would have known that no amelioration in her position was to be hoped for so long as Austria remained in the position guaranteed to her by the iniquitous treaties of 1815. Either the flesh of Italy or the parchment of the treaties must be lacerated. Which, under these circumstances, should be preserved from laceration, the English diplomatic mind has never pronounced, because it has never been able to arrive at the knowledge that one or the other alternative is inevitable” (pp. 86–87).
5. Antonio Gallenga married on 21 June 1858 Anna Robinson (née Johnson, 1822–97), daughter of Capt. Oliver Charles Johnson. She was his second wife, and he her third husband. The first two were Arthur Raikes (1818–49), of the Bengal Civil Service, and Francis Horsely Robinson (1801–54), of Llandogo, Monmouthshire. Gallenga’s first wife was Juliette Schunck (1826–55), of Manchester.
6. In 1859, Gallenga acquired The Falls at Llandogo on the River Wye, south Wales, about three miles north of Tintern Abbey.
7. The Gazzetta di Genova.
8. Letter 4340; EBB’s letter has not surfaced.
9. EBB refers to Félicie de Fauveau’s reaction to Isa Blagden’s article; see letter 4218, note 4.
10. Evidently, after Isa returned to Florence from Madrid, she did not have immediate access to her rooms at Villa Brichieri and consequently stayed with the Tassinaris at Casa Pepi until the problem was resolved. By the time of letter 4383 (15 April), Isa was back in her villa.
___________________
