4536. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 61–66.
28. Via del Tritone. Rome
7. Decr– [1859] [1]
My dearest Isa I cant wait another day without telling you of our safe settlement in Rome. Journey perfectly pleasant, except for some wind & rain, & a touch of cold on the hills during the two last days—but no harm suffered or done. Hôtel d’Angleterre received us, & from thence, Via Tritone. Via felice proved infelice, because of the price, (eighty dollars) [2] not to say that the staircase was very objectionable. [3] Here we are admirably off—four front rooms in the sun, besides ‘verge enough’ [4] for the domesticity behind, two salons very nicely furnished & a dining-room—secondo piano [5] —fifty scudi. We shall be close to you .. Miss Cushman’s: [6] so I am afraid you may find the objection to coming to Rome insuperable. Will that be so? I beseech you to consider—& not to be too hard on us, Isa.
I have your letter—and you have not been well? How sorry, sorry, I am. Take care, & come down to Casa Guidi as soon as you can for your own sake if not for ours– And for our sake write & say, dear, how you are. I should suspect the liver. These giddinesses are born of liver very often.
I am well. There has been a little tramontana for the last two days, but these rooms are very warm: the least fire warms them,—& though my bedroom has no fire-place & I was so fearful at first that Robert proposed to undertake the expense of putting up a stove (a proposal not admitted by the padrone) I find now that a brazier properly managed produces quite as warm an atmosphere as any other means—& warmer perhaps. In fact there is no excuse for any sort of grumble.
On approaching Rome we met the Storys’ carriage. They had been out to meet us for several days, and I must say that every possible exertion & kindness have been lavished by them in behalf of us. Mr Cartwright too would fain have had us under his roof—and between him & Mr Story Robert stood up & attempted a compliment which failed tremendously as usual. I believe he told Mr Cartwright that he would rather be in the house with him (Cartwright) than in no house at all—or something quite as happy & ingenious.
Rome is made a solitude which the French call a peace [7] .. & which the pope trembles in his shoes at. You may try a few Naziones, [8] if you have the goodness,—but I fear, I fear. Not a Monitore arrived yet. Tell them to direct to Odo Russell without writing Browning at all. Mr Russell says he can receive, though the unofficial cannot. Perhaps our name being specified becomes fatal to his privilege. Letters are opened—I am even afraid of writing such things as I could. Dr P[antaleoni]. has been here,—& left me very happy.
But this surprises me– There is a modification of opinion– L N’s letter [9] & the confederation are coming into favor– The opinion is that the fortresses [10] & Venetia disposed of according to the terms of the letter would be worth much,—and that, the Neapolitan states being liberalized, the Marches & Umbria united to Romagna, Parma & Modena to Piedmont, & a third son of the Gr Duke accepted in Tuscany .. thirteen years old, with Ricasoli for Regent [11] .. (those speak who are not Tuscans! I, who am, have no digestion for the Gr. Ducal meats) a confederation might be tried with advantage. Any way however, things are going most hopefully. The Pope refuses all reforms. That’s the fact. Rome may be held for a time by the Swiss, when the French are withdrawn—but the outside territory goes at once– I am much easier about this south of Italy than I was—and if the north succumbs it will be its own fault.
I observe that the English politicians here, (I mean those with any pretension to brains & information) have given up the English invasion mania. What is marked out for L N. now, is an attack on Prussia! They swear to that at present, & that the old boundary on the Rhine is to be struggled for anew. The idiocy of these people moves my wonder–
Meanwhile my heart aches over the wicked Times & the agitation produced in England. If a war with France is possible, these things make it probable. I hear that Mr Duncombe protests against the rifle-club insanity: [12] and his being the only voice which said a generous word for Italy in parliament at the commencement of the war, I honor him doubly. [13]
Did I say that the pope has conceded no reform? This is a mistake– He has just given out an edict (printed & posted) against the wearing of crinolines in St Peters & other sacred places– Will it be considered sufficient by the Congress? [14] —only the Emperor?
Let me go back to England. You read Sir Archibald Alison on the National Defences. [15] It may not have struck you before that France & England were enemies for ever because of what happened 800 years ago.– There’s another ‘tie’ between you & Harold the beloved. [16] Alison is Alison, & we know what a great A stands for—but the pitiable thing is that he was applauded “to the letter” by a great assembly, & that subscriptions poured in in consequence. Do I not well to be angry? [17]
The Athenæum comes, clipped safely of Mrs Trollope’s article. [18] Tell her so with my love–
Mr Hooker & his wife [19] have called here,—& I liked her because of her Italianism. Hatty came for only a moment last night,—Hatty-bright but in a great hurry to go back to dinner. She is engaged in a group,—Christ & Jairus’s daughter, [20] for a Mr Crowe. [21] Miss Cushman & she, very anxious to have you Isa, & counting on you—so remember. Mr Page arrives with his wife, perfectly radiant, & in high force in all ways. Only he spends it by beginning a new Venus– [22] His brother in law [23] allows him a hundred scudi a month, besides paying his debts– There’s a brother in law! And the wife is worthy of the race. The artist looks renovated– I never saw a man so changed for the happier. Not only as to broadcloth, though that counts.
Dearest of Isas, & kindest, how could you & should you have been so extravagantly kind as to give us those Victor Hugo’s [24] on which we floated grandly into Rome? You tax yourself for our joys. The poet is very fine sometimes .. but somewhat over-rhetorical & wordy– Extravagant too .. which is an old vice of his: but a true poet always.
Imagine what we have to suffer here– Poor Ferdinando & Lazzari, going to the police office with their passports, were sent to their “legazione”– [25] Conceive that. Grand-ducal seal on the carta di soggiorno, [26] and they obliged to bear it all!– I said to Ferdinando, “How could you?” “Its only for a few months,” he replied– I should have burnt them all up with my eyes at least.
Isa dearest be so good as to enquire at the post office if there’s a letter for us– Smith & Elder write anxiously about me, addressed by Thackeray to us at Florence but not at our private residence. Now we have received nothing from Thackeray. [27]
I fear on second thoughts there can be no use in sending Naziones–. unless you hear from me further. But the Monitore should be sent to Odo Russell without our name being expressed. That may give us a chance.
We have had a visit from Theodore Parker .. arrived from America on account of his health. Eyes of light, and forehead heaped up luminously to a mount of vision. I think I shall like him. He has a striking head at least, and a direct simple manner. May God bless you my Isa– Truest, best, dearest of Isas– Robert’s love & Pen’s—and mine for ever– That is as long as I am
Ba–
Third thought– Send Naziones if you have goodness for it. Monitores arrived. Thackeray’s letter is come, only dont put our name—only Odo Russell’s—Via Sistina 64–
Mr C. comes in– He says L.N. is hard at work on behalf of Murat. [28] You believe it?
Address: Mademoiselle Blagden / Villa Bricchieri / Firenze / Toscana.
Publication: B-IB, pp. 256–261.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. i.e., Roman or Spanish dollars, one of which equalled about 4 shillings; 80, about 16 pounds. As EBB mentions in letter 4535, for the lease of their rooms at 28 Via del Tritone, the Brownings were paying “fifty scudi .. (eleven pounds English) the month.”
3. EBB’s comment on the staircase suggests that this was the same apartment (at 126 Via Felice) the Brownings would stay in the next year. In a letter to Arabella dated [8 December 1860], EBB writes: “We have comfortable rooms .. only high—more than eighty steps” (ms at Berg).
4. Thomas Gray, The Bard (1757), II, 1, 3.
5. “Second floor.”
6. Charlotte Cushman lived at 38 Via Gregoriana, a short walk from the Brownings’ apartment. The Storys were also nearby at Palazzo Barberini. In the nineteenth century, Via del Tritone was a two-block street running from Via di Due Macelli to Piazza Barberini. In the twentieth century it was widened and extended to the Corso.
7. Cf. Bryon, The Bride of Abydos (1813), II, 20, 425.
8. La Nazione, a Florentine daily launched in July 1859.
9. EBB refers to a letter from Napoleon III to King Victor Emmanuel II, dated 20 October 1859, translations of which began appearing in the British press about ten days later. Addressing the king as “Monsieur mon Frère,” the French emperor declared that he was bound by the terms of the peace treaty with Austria. Accordingly, France would demand that “a system of moderate (sage) liberty shall be adopted in all the States of Italy; that Austria … shall consent to complete the nationality of Venetia, by creating not only a separate representation and administration, but also an Italian army. We demand that the [Austrian] fortresses of Mantua and Peschiera shall be recognized as federal fortresses. And, lastly, that a Confederation based on the real wants, as well as on the traditions of the Peninsula, to the exclusion of every foreign influence, shall consolidate the fabric of the independence of Italy” (The Daily News, 31 October 1859, p. 5).
10. The fortresses of Peschiera, Verona, Legnago, and Mantua. They marked the boundaries of the Quadrilateral, the bulwark of Austrian power in northern Italy.
11. In his letter to Victor Emmanuel, Napoleon III wrote that France, in accordance with the peace treaty, demanded that “Tuscany … shall be restored to the Grand Duke Ferdinand [Leopold II’s eldest son]” (The Daily News, 31 October 1859, p. 5). Tuscany did not invite him or Leopold II’s third son, Archduke Ludwig Salvator (1847–1915), to be its sovereign. In November 1859, Prince Eugenio Emanuele di Carignano (1816–88), of the House of Savoy, was, “with the exception of one vote, unanimously appointed … Regent” by the Tuscan Assembly (The Times, 11 November 1859, p. 7). He was obliged to refuse, however, on the advice of Victor Emmanuel, who knew of Napoleon III’s objections (see George Martin, The Red Shirt and the Cross of Savoy, New York, 1969, p. 515). The prince instead recommended Carlo Buoncompagni (1804–80) former Piedmont minister to Tuscany. The assembly approved his appointment on 8 December.
15. The Times of 25 November 1859 (p. 7) carried the text of a speech given by Sir Archibald Alison (1792–1867), a staunch Tory, at a gathering in Glasgow in support of the volunteer movement. Alison called for a “thorough and complete system of national defence” to counter the threat of a French invasion. In describing the natural enmity that existed between England and France, he said: “For 120 years the English wars desolated France, and twice over the English army marched through the streets of Paris, and twice over the English cavalry marched from Calais to Bayonne. The nations of England and France, therefore, are old rivals. They are rivals of 800 years’ standing, and, being old rivals, we have been so often pitted against each other in the ring that it is no wonder they should like to avenge themselves for the last overthrow in the tournament.” According to the report, the speech was interrupted frequently by “great applause.”
16. King Harold II (1022?–66) was killed by the invading Normans in the English defeat at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. EBB’s comment is probably an allusion to Isa’s friendship with Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who was the author of the historical novel: Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings (1848).
17. Cf. Jonah 4:4.
18. As indicated by RB in letter 4537, the latest issue the Brownings had received was that of 26 November 1859 “with a leaf cut out.” That leaf (two pages) did not contain one of Theodosia Trollope’s letters from Florence (see letter 4493, note 8). Her most recent had appeared in the issue of 12 November (no. 1672, p. 636). Most likely, the leaf cut from the Brownings’ Athenæum contained a letter from H.C. Barlow entitled “The Veltro of Dante.” The opening paragraph would not have pleased the papal censors: “No subject in the whole course of the ‘Divina Commedia’ … has given rise to a greater diversity of opinions than the meaning of the mysterious Veltro, the Messo di Dio, the prophetic destroyer of the temporal power of the Popes, the liberator of Italy from the hands of the foreigner, and the restorer of union and good government to the Italians” (no. 1674, p. 705). Further on, Barlow notes that Pius IX himself was “saluted as the Veltro” in 1847, the year following his ascension to the papal throne. Though it proved otherwise, “even at the eleventh hour” the pope could “redeem if he chooses the character once assigned to him” (p. 705).
19. Elizabeth Temple Hooker (née Winthrop, 1832–1912), wife of the American banker James Clinton Hooker (1818–94).
20. See Mark 5:22–43.
21. Wayman Crow (1808–85), a wealthy, St. Louis businessman, and Harriet Hosmer’s financial guardian and patron since late 1853, had commissioned Miss Hosmer to create a cemetery monument, presumably for a female loved one. In a letter to Crow, dated 20 January 1860, she writes: “With this I despatch the design for your monument, which I submit to your taste and criticism. … What I have selected is Christ restoring to life the daughter of the Master of the Synagogue. I have done so, because you desired ‘a Christian subject,’ and something new, as well as appropriate. It seemed to me that this subject combined the three desired qualities” (Harriet Hosmer: Letters and Memories, ed. Cornelia Carr, New York, 1912, p. 153). As of 1868, the design had not been executed in marble (see Eminent Women of the Age, ed. James Parton et al., Hartford, Conn., 1868, p. 589) and apparently never was.
22. Perhaps the third of three versions of “Venus Guiding Aeneas and the Trojans to the Latin Shore” (see letter 4405, note 8).
23. Henry Stevens (1819–86); see letter 4420, note 3.
25. i.e., the Grand Duke of Tuscany’s legation—not connected to the official Tuscan government.
26. “Residence permit.”
28. Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat (1803–78), son of Joachim Murat (Napoleon I’s viceroy at Naples from 1808 until 1814) and nephew of the emperor by marriage, had served as French minister at Turin (1849–50). In the proposed confederation of Italian states, Napoleon III had suggested Lucien Murat as governor of Naples (see letter 4472, note 8).
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