4595. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 165–169.
[Rome]
Friday— [3 February 1860] [1]
Thanks upon thanks, my dearest dear Isa, for all your goodness. I wont wait to answer your letter lest you should fancy some harm—and I continue to be better & to recover strength, which was wanted .. for when I left my bed I looked & felt rather dead than alive. Kind Dr Grisonowsky’s help remains in reserve– I have begun with asses milk, which I cant very well combine with the cod’s liver oil, but after a time I will leave the milk for the oil. So glad I am that the latter has done you good– It would be sure to do so, if the liver acceded: & this it seems to do– Take care of yourself, my Isa, & till you come here, dont leave Casa Guidi– It would be very injudicious to go to an unwarmed house just when the coldest stroke of the weather may be at hand. Then it is more cheerful for you to be within reach of social intercourse & the civic movement.
Yes, I like Amari [2] much, much. If you make his acquaintance, tell him so, & that I & Robert beg to be remembered by him. We are greatly interested by all you tell us of the meeting & the speeches. As to the Tassinari affair [3] & the infamous letter sent to Mrs Trollope, that touch about “conversion” seems to refer it to a Spurling origin [4] —a Tisiphone suggestion probably, [5] & a Spurling carrying out– I believe if I had been Mrs Trollope I would have acknowledged the letter, (the authorship of which is sufficiently notorious), and have simply expressed a willingness to recall any statement which should be disproved to my satisfaction. A general charge of falseness such as is offered in the Tassinari letter, is simply railing of course, unless the falsities be specified & disproved.
I feel glad I did not see Mdme T– [6] when she called at Casa Guidi just before we left Florence, and yet I by no means feel angry with her in the sense I feel so with Gallenga. She is simply a woman, thinking & caring nothing for public affairs except as far as they have to do with her private interests—heaps of women are the same: she is furious because she has the worst of it: that’s natural enough—& womanly, be it said,—and ignoble be it confessed. But Gallenga is a man, a public man, accustomed to deal with public affairs—and he uses his eyes, hands, experience, to shuffle the cards & cheat the fortunes of his country, at the invitation of a foreign newspaper, the Times, which pays him a thousand a year for it!—— What I have heard of him here, beats in badness, what I have read in his articles– How is it that men like Amari should give him letters of introduction? It is to me wonderful. If the papal government had not been bland & stupid (which it is) he wd have been allowed to stay here: & I thank God that he was not—for a good deal of harm might have been done–
I have sent off my proofs– I wonder if you will like anything in these verses. Perhaps not much– Robert says I shall be torn to pieces by the English press—but perhaps they may bethink them of another kind of vengeance & throw me aside without a word. There is one poem called, “An August Voice,” .. representing the imperial policy in Tuscany– You know I have not the pretention of our Lady del Carmine, [7] of “never being sarcastic.” What! in spite of my ‘severe profile’!
Grande est la princesse–
Mais petit est le nez
Qui m’a tant ba .. foué. [8]
In any case I shall have the relief of the honest human being who has spoken the truth which is in her: that is, the truth as she sees it. My sister Arabel writes to me in consternation, that I shall destroy “all my usefulness” by spoiling my popularity. Let the poor wretched popularity go to its own place in God’s name, if we cant have otherwise the whole truth in God’s name. The falseness everywhere in men & women, seems to me the great plague now-a-days—the moral diphtheria in public & private life, at least within my own observation– They say mediums cheat. Heavens! as if that were peculiar to mediumship. Of course they cheat, if they are men. And still more … if they are women, Isa! [9] ——
Now let me tell you of an interesting account I have had through Miss Haworth, of Cobden’s impressions in regard to L.N. [10] Cobden is an acquaintance of hers, & they turned up together at Paris—& thus she writes– “I shd like to tell you what he said to me today when I asked him what he thought of the emperor—with whom he has been in frequent conference during the last three months– His impressions of LN. are decidedly favorable—thinks him honest in intentions—says, never was there so absurd a self delusion as the panic in England about war & invasion, & that it could only have originated with some people interested in the report– He says that, when in conversation, LN’s impassive face lights up & his eye “moistens”—that the emperor has strong popular sympathies—that he hates all state, & in conversation likes going straight to the point—that he works constantly, & entirely by himself—& that his great talent is the power of “rédaction”—(using the French word)– He never saw a man so adverse to littleness, & also to grandeur, (meaning frivolities of the throne!) He considered that he was entirely sincere– He thought so—but ended by saying, ‘After all he is a puzzle’.”
The conversation between the Frenchman & Englishman, as printed in the Times, was written by the emperor’s own hand,—& Mr Cobden was not the Englishman– [11]
I am sure you will like, as I did, to have these opinions of Cobden, so I share with you, as you are so kindly apt on a larger scale to do with me–
There is talk here of an Interdict coming out against Tuscany, & also Piedmont– [12] Fermentation in the Marches &c. [13] Glad I am of it. We want another fait accompli or two. Mr Story saw the pope received at breakfast the other morning at the American college– [14] There were various complimentary speeches from Irish ‘Fathers’ & others, declaring his Holiness to be the reflection of Divine perfection both in Church & government—& he looked benign & charmed. Still, on beginning to speak himself, though he perorated with unction & suavity, on a word about “new ideas” crossing his path, he fell into a passion awful to see—rapped the table .. pointed out the Emperor as a ‘sicario’, [15] .. the King of Piedmont as an ‘assassino’—exclaimed, “ma combatteremo, vinceremo, trionfaremo, [16] ––ed avremo vendetta” [17] … rising in voice & gesture into fury … then suddenly remembering I suppose his Vicarship of Christ, .. “that is,” said he, “by means of prayer & the Divine justice!”– The head of the French police whispered, “Mais comme il enrage, le saint père”! [18] On the other hand, Goyon, who is an ass, & very tender to the papacy, pretended to take it in good part, & observed, “Après tout, il n’a pas mal parlé.” [19]
Now I cant write any more. Dear, we have the books, & you before now have Robert’s letter to say so. [20] He has a cold, & having made it worse by going to Miss Cushman’s last night, has sent an apology to Madme Schwartz for tonight–
There is a famous man here, a Mr Hasard, [21] a man of fortune & intelligence, deep in spiritualism, & a firm believer. I have not been well enough yet to see & talk to him—but I shall– Robert likes him, he says.
Where is Hume? is he in America? or in London? [22]
I understand that Mrs E. has been helping poor Mrs Stowe to commune with her dead son [23] —that’s the ground of intimacy. If she is a medium at all, (which may possibly be) she is not a strong or reliable one—that’s certain– But I doubt her all through now—perhaps doing her some wrong–
Love to dear Kate– Love to my Florence– Regards to the Trollopes, Cottrells—Mr Jarves—Dr Grisonowski–
Dear, I scarcely like to drag you into the possibility of an unhappiness– But you used to like Miss C. & think her ‘maternal’—& Hatty seems very fond of her. Now after the month’s visit, you might go on paying your share, so as to give you the feeling of independence. Think over it. We three join in true love to you—& chiefly
Ba–
Publication: B-IB, pp. 282–287.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dated by EBB’s mention of sending off her proofs. In letter 4588 RB indicates that the proofs of Poems Before Congress would be returned on 1 February.
2. Michele Amari (1806–89), professor of Arabic, historian, and patriot. Born in Palermo, he was elected in 1848 to the revolutionary government in Sicily. He was mentioned by Theodosia Trollope in The Athenæum of 14 January 1860 as one of the professors “now lecturing” at the newly-formed Scuola di Perfezionamento in Florence (no. 1681, p. 53). He later served as senator representing Sicily in the Italian parliament. His best known work is Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia (Florence, 1854–72).
3. Giovanni Tassinari had been arrested and incarcerated on 6 January. According to a report in The Morning Herald of 12 March 1860, he was released on 15 February. This news preceded a letter of the same date from Mme. Tassinari to Lord Normanby, in which she protested the treatment of her husband by the Tuscan provisional government and complained of the inactivity of the English chargé d’affaires, Edwin Corbett. Mme. Tassinari declared that her husband had been arrested as “an act of spite because he interested himself very much (as it was his duty to do) for them [the Guardia Nobile], and perhaps expressed himself too freely on the injustice of their imprisonment; and still more for their being kept in prison without the slightest appearance of a trial” (p. 4).
4. A reference to the children of the Rev. Harvey James Sperling (1795–1858), of Lattenbury Hill, Cambridgeshire, and his wife, Anne (née McNab): Anna Grace, Mary Anne, Harriet Maria, and Frederick Hayne (1834–1911), Rector of Papworth, St. Agnes, Cambridgeshire. In her article in The Athenæum of 14 January 1860, Theodosia Trollope reported that two of the Sperling sisters were found writing anti-government slogans on walls in the Piazza del Duomo. They were accosted by the police, and in the situation that ensued, they accused the Marchese Ginori of striking one of them, an accusation that Mrs. Trollope found absurd. The Misses Sperling were released to the charge of their brother after a detention of “an hour or two,” during which they “were treated with every respect, and even supplied with refreshment” (no. 1681, p. 53).
5. A vengeful suggestion. In Greek mythology, Tisiphone is one of the three Furies, or Erinyes.
6. i.e., Mme. Tassinari.
7. Sophia Eckley, who is listed in the Brownings’ address book of this period (AB-4) at “Casa Bartolini, Piazza del Carmine.”
8. “The princess is grand– / But her nose is small / Who has scorned [bafoué] me so.” Cf. letter 4567, note 11.
9. Another reference to Sophia Eckley, who had misrepresented her abilities as a medium.
10. Richard Cobden (1804–65), statesman and one of the principal leaders in the Anti-Corn Law movement, had for the past few months been the key negotiator of England’s commercial treaty with France (see letter 4582, note 10). In his account of his first meeting with Napoleon III, Cobden wrote: “The Emperor is short in stature and very undignified; I never saw a person with fewer heroic traits in his appearance and manner. But there is nothing harsh or even cold in the expression of his countenance. His eye is not pleasant at first, but it warms and moistens with conversation, and gives you the impression that he is capable of generous emotions” (John Morley, The Life of Richard Cobden, 1881, II, 247).
11. Recalling his second interview with the French emperor on 21 December 1859, Cobden noted: “Talking of the excited state of alarm in England, he said he was dictating to M. Mocquard a dialogue between a Frenchman and an Englishman, in which he should introduce all the arguments used in England to stimulate the present alarm of French aggression, and his answers to them, and he asked if I thought The Times would print it” (Cobden, II, 258). The dialogue appeared in The Times for 24 December 1859 (p. 8).
12. A letter of excommunication, issued in late March (see letter 4637, note 12).
13. On 31 January 1859, Odo Russell wrote to Lord John Russell: “I presume your Lordship receives ample reports from Her Majesty’s Vice-Consul at Ancona respecting the arrival of Austrian soldiers, the attempted demonstrations of sympathy for the Emperor Napoleon, and the general state of feeling in the Marches, which from all we can learn is tending more and more towards annexation to the neighbouring Romagna or rather to Piedmont … . From Umbria we learn similar accounts, the desire to join Tuscany is becoming more ardent” (The Roman Question, ed. Noel Blakiston, 1962, p. 87).
14. The American College of the Roman Catholic Church of the United States opened on 8 December 1859 in a former convent, the Visitation Convent l’Umilità, a gift from Pius IX. He made a formal visit, as commemorated on a plaque which bears the following inscription: “On January 29, 1860, the feast of S. Frances de Sales, Pius IX, the Supreme Pontiff, father and founder of the American College, said mass in this building, fed the Alumni with the heavenly banquet, visited the college, and deigned to give audience to all.” Doubtless the breakfast was in conjunction with that event.
15. “Assassin,” or “cutthroat.” EBB’s account here differs slightly from one given by Theodore Parker, whose source was undoubtedly Story. In a letter dated 3 February 1860, Parker wrote to an American correspondent: “You may judge that Pio IX. is not particularly well-loved in Rome just now. … The old fellow does not behave well now-a-days. He lost his temper the other morning at a breakfast in the American College, and made a foolish speech. He got red in the face, and pounded the table with his fists. He said the ideas of the nineteenth century were deadly hostile to the divine authority of the Roman Church; spoke of Garibaldi, though without naming him, as an assassin (sicario), and referred obliquely, but clearly and obviously, to Louis Napoleon as an incendiary (incenditore); but he said, ‘I am not afraid. I will pray to God, and He will change the elements!’ (‘Ma io non ho paura, preghero all, Iddio ed egli’ cambiero gli elementi.’)” (John Weiss, Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, 1863, II, 417).
16. Sic, for trionferemo.
17. “But we will fight, we will win, we will triumph,—and we shall have vengeance.”
18. “But how he rages, the Holy Father.”
19. “After all, he hasn’t spoken wrongly.”
20. See the beginning of letter 4585.
21. Thomas Robinson Hazard (1797–1886); see letter 4330, note 20.
23. Henry Ellis Stowe (1838–57) drowned in the Connecticut River on 9 July 1857. At the time, he was a student at Dartmouth College.
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