4506. EBB to Anna Brownell Jameson
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 3–6.
Casa Guidi–
Friday [14 October 1859] [1]
Ever dearest Moña Nina, here we are at our Florence, very thankful for the advantages of our Siena residence– God has been kind– When I think how I went away & how I came back, it seems to me wonderful. For the latter fortnight the tide of life seemed fairly to set in again, & now I am quite well, if not as strong .. which, of course, could not be in the time– My doctor [2] opened his eyes to see me yesterday so right in looks & ways– But we spend the winter in Rome, because the great guns of the revolution, (& even the small daggers) will be safer to encounter than any sort of tramontana. To tell you the truth, dearest friend, there have been moments when I have “despaired of the republic”, [3] .. that is, doubted much whether I should ever be quite well again .. I mean as tolerably well as it is my normal state to be– So severe the attack was altogether–
As to political affairs, I will use the word of Penini’s music-master [4] when asked the other day how they went on … “Divinamente” [5] said he. Things certainly are going divinamente. I observe that while politicians by profession by the way, have various opinions, & hope & fear according to their temperaments, the people here, are steadily sanguine, distrusting nobody if it is’nt a Mazzinian or a codino, [6] & looking to the end with a profound interest, of course, but not any inquietude– “Divinamente,” things are going on.
There is an expectation indeed of fighting—but only with the pope’s troops, (& we all know what a ‘soldato di papa’ [7] means) or with such mongrel defenders as can be got up by the convicts of Modena or of Tuscany,—to give us an occasion of triumph presently. The expected out-burst in Sicily & the Neapolitan states will simply extend the movement– That’s our way of thinking, & hoping. May God defend the right. [8]
Mr Probyn, [9] a liberal M.P. has come out here to appreciate the situation, & said last night that after visiting the north of Italy & speaking with the chiefs, he is full of hope– Not quite so is Cartwright .. whom you know, & who came to us at Siena– But Mr Cartwright exceeds Dr Cumming in the view of Napoleon [10] .. who is’nt antichrist to him, but is assuredly the devil. I like Mr Cartwright, observe,—but I dont like his modes of political thinking which are “after the strictest sect” and the reddest tape, English. He & his family are gone to Rome & find the whole city “to be hired.” Family men in general are not likely to go there this winter, & we shall find the coast very clear. And you? Dearest friend, you seem to have given up Italy altogether this winter– Unless you come to Rome we shall not be the better for your crossing the Alps. The Eckleys have settled in Florence till next year– The Perkins’s [11] also. Isa Blagden is at her villa, which, if she lets, she may pay Miss Cushman a visit in Rome towards the spring but scarcely earlier.
After the dreary track of physical discomfort was passed, I enjoyed Siena much, & so did Robert—and the next time we have to spend a summer in Tuscany we shall certainly turn our faces that way. When able to drive, I drove about with Robert & enjoyed the lovely country—and once,—on the last day, .. I ventured into the gallery & saw the divine Eve of Sodoma for the second time. [12] But I never entered the cathedral– Think of that. There were steps to be mounted– But I have the vision of it safe within me since nine years ago. The Storys, let me remember to tell you gratefully, were very kind & very delicate—offering all kindnesses I could receive, & no other. They are in Florence for three days, before returning to Leghorn on their way to Rome. Edith is greatly improved: intelligent, frank, and without self-consciousness– Penini enjoyed himself immensely, & was good besides: did his lessons, practised his two hours a day,—learnt a whole sonata of Beethoven. [13] Robert was perfect to me—too good indeed for until the last fortnight, he insisted on undertaking all Pen’s lessons. It was an excess. Then we had floods of French novels from Brecker, besides Italian newspapers & Galignani’s,—all set in the gold of inappreciable silence & repose.
Did I tell you that Jessie Mario had written to me from Romagna. You know in any case, that she & her husband were arrested subsequently & sent into Switzerland. The other day, I had two printed letters from the newspaper “Evening Star,” enclosed to me by herself or her brother [14] I suppose—one the production of her husband, & one of Brofferio the advocate.– [15] I thought both were written in a detestable spirit, attempting to throw an odium on the governments of central Italy, which they should all three have rather died in their own poor personal reputations than have wished to hazard under present circumstances. Mazzini & his party have only to keep still, if indeed they do not desire to swamp the great Italian cause. Every movement made by them is a gain to Austria—a clear gain. Every word spoken by them, even if it applauded us, goes against the cause. Whoever has a conscience among them, let him consider this & be still.
Do tell me something of Mdme Braun—of whom I heard too long ago that she was better. Does she continue so?– Dont forget to name her. And do write. Robert has given our Peni the pretty Sardinian poney he rode on at Siena, & we are to take it to Rome & be very extravagant & happy. The child rides with his characteristic grace & a daring which surprises me. <***>
Publication: LEBB, II, 345–347 (in part).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Dated by EBB’s reference to being back in Florence after recuperating at Siena. 14 October 1859 was the first Friday after the Brownings’ return to Florence on 10 October 1859.
2. Presumably Ernst Gryzanowski (see letter 4445, note 10), who attended EBB during her severe illness in July.
3. Cf. Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, V, 13, 3, trans. W. Glyn Williams. In this and subsequent quotations from, or references to, Greek and Latin classical authors, citations are from the Loeb Classical Library unless otherwise noted.
4. Giuseppe Del Bene.
5. “Divinely.”
6. “Reactionary.”
7. “Pope’s soldier.”
8. Cf. Richard II, I, 3, 101. In this and subsequent quotations from Shakespeare's works, the line numbers correspond to those in The Riverside Shakespeare (Boston, 1974).
9. John Webb Probyn (1828–1915), of Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire. He was not a Member of Parliament, though in the May 1859 elections he ran unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate for the seat representing Great Marlow (see The Times, 3 May 1859, p. 8). While on a visit to Milan in September, Probyn witnessed the citizenry’s reception of the Tuscan delegates who had recently been at Turin presenting an official declaration of union with Piedmont. In a letter to The Daily News, dated Milan, 9 September, he wrote: “If what I have already seen and heard of the feeling and union of Italians upon my entrance into Italy at the present time is any indication of their real sentiments, it seems to me that no cry is so baseless as that which the enemies of Italy keep repeating, when they assert the impossibility of union amongst the Italians themselves” (15 September 1859, p. 6). Years later, he published Italy: from the Fall of Napoleon I., in 1815, to the Death of Victor Emmanuel, in 1878 (1884). Probyn is listed in the Brownings’ address book of this period (AB-4) at “5. St. James’ Place.”
10. John Cumming (1807–81), Presbyterian minister. We have been unable to confirm that he referred to Napoleon III as the “antichrist.” Cumming did, however, consider the French emperor a sign of the coming end times. In Foreshadows. Lectures on Our Lord’s Parables (Philadelphia, 1854), he wrote: “The last coup-d’état of Louis Napoleon increases, not lessens, the probability of the impending catastrophe” (p. 378).
11. Presumably the families of Charles Callahan Perkins and Edward Newton Perkins (see letter 4126, note 2, and letter 4388, note 2).
12. “The Descent into Limbo” by Sodoma (see letter 4501, note 7). EBB had doubtless seen it in 1850 (see letter 2886).
13. Piano Sonata No. 4, Opus 7, in E-flat major.
14. Frederick Meriton White (1828–95).
15. The Marios were arrested at Bologna in August 1859 and released in September (see letter 4469, note 13). The two letters in The Evening Star, twin publication of The Morning Star—a pacifist London newspaper founded by Richard Cobden and John Bright—were reprinted in The Daily Chronicle (Newcastle) of 30 September 1859 (p. 3). The letter from Alberto Mario, dated Lugano, 20 September, and addressed to Jessie White Mario’s father, Thomas White (1796–1863), stated that “during the last two months numbers of individuals, both republicans and constitutionalists … whose only sentiments in common are—desire for Italian unity, and opposition to all foreign aspirants to an Italian throne … have been imprisoned or banished by the Governors of Tuscany and the legations—ourselves among the number.” The letter from Angelo Brofferio (1802–66), Italian poet and patriot, was dated Turin, 15 September, and addressed to Mario. Brofferio wrote: “Serious representations which I made to the Government concerning the state of our troops in Bologna, and the sepulchral compression of the Legations, procured me … the announcement that a public demonstration was prepared against me, to protest against the liberation of the two prisoners. Of this demonstration … nothing was ever heard, because the good sense of the people almost always prevails over the acts of bad Governments.”
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