4371. EBB to Margaret Elliot
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 108–109.
Rome– 43. Bocca di Leone.
March 31– 1859
My Dear Miss Elliot, [1]
We are very ignorant about publishers & cannot give you advice; only, in the case of your being inclined to have recourse to our own publisher Mr. Chapman of Piccadilly, you are quite at liberty to mention our names. The translation of M. Sa[l]vagnoli’s pamphlet or any other way of applying a spark of light to the benighted English public (and statesmen, let me add) could not be other than interesting to us. Still, I do fear that you are too late with this laudable work of yours, Mr. Gallenga having accepted a proposition to do it, & having left home [2] for Florence some time ago with that intention. I have not read the pamphlet I regret to say. It was sent to us from Florence, & never reached us: was too good indeed to reach us. The Marquis d’Azeglio half promised to lend us a copy—but the thing has slipped his memory—as it could scarcely help doing, under the pressure of present & apprehended circumstances.
I cannot describe the state of painful anxiety in which we are living. I eat my heart [3] about Italy. It is a bitter thought that England has intentionally complicated the difficulties of the one statesman who comprehends civilization & the first principles of justice enough to desire to help the Italians. [4] I hope little from a “Congress”, [5] but much from that unity & determination of the Italian people, which is to be heard of from all sides & from all kinds of authority.
May God save us all.
Dear Miss Elliot, I gave your note to Miss Heaton. Perhaps, after all, we may find you in our Florence in May.
With kind remembrances to Miss Gaines [6] & many true wishes from both of us for your success in this and every other good endeavour,
I remain
Most truly yours
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Text: Harry Rudman, “An Unpublished Letter of Elizabeth Barrett Browning,” Notes and Queries, 28 October 1939, pp. 310–311.
1. Margaret Elliot (1827–1901), daughter of Gilbert Elliot (1800–91), Dean of Bristol (1850–91), and his wife, Williamina (née Brydone, d. 1853). Sophia Hawthorne, in her diary entry of 22 June 1858, wrote of Miss Elliot as “a literary elderly lady, horrent with plumes, who was very clever, and talked well about Mr Hawthorne’s books” (see SD2176 in vol. 25). Miss Elliot was a friend of Bessie Parkes and Frances Power Cobbe and co-authored several articles with the latter.
2. Sic, for Rome, where Gallenga had been staying (see letter 4358). His Italian residence was at Turin (see ODNB).
4. i.e., Napoleon III.
6. Unidentified.
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