4639. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 254–257.
Rome.
April 2– [1860] [1]
Ever dearest Isa, here are the letters! I am sorry I wrote rashly yesterday, [2] —but from an expression of yours I took for granted that the packet went by the post,—& I have been really very anxious about it–
No, Isa—I dont like the tone of these letters so well– I can understand that what is said of ‘Belgium’ & the Rhine provinces, is in the event of a certain coalition & eventual complication—but it does’nt do, even in a thought & theory, to sacrifice a country like Belgium– I respect France, & ‘l’idée Napolienne’,—yes, but conscience & the populations more–
As to Napoleon’s waiting for the bribe of Savoy before he would pass beyond Villafranca .. this is making him ignoble,—& I do not believe it in the least. Also it contradicts the letter-writer’s previous letter, in which he said that Savoy had been from the beginning the sous entendu [3] of Venetia. No—I can see that an Italy in unity, a great newly constituted nation, might be reasonably asked by her liberator to shift her frontier from beyond the Alps,—but for Victor Emmanuel to be expected at Milan to put his hand into his pocket & pay, without completion of facts, or consultation of peoples, .. this would be to “faire le marchand” [4] indeed—& I could write no odes to a man who could act so– I dont sell my soul to Napoleon, & applaud him quand même. [5] But absolutely I disbelieve in this version, Isa– If the war had not stopped at Villafranca, it would have been European,—that, if not clear at the time, is clear now—clear from the official statement of Prussia. [6] By putting diplomacy in the place of the war, a great deal was absolutely attained—besides a better stand-point for a renewal of the war, should that be necessary– “Hence those tears” [7] .... of Villafranca!
The letter-writer is very keen, & evidently hears a good deal, while he selects after his own judgment. I am glad to hear that ‘L’Opinion Nationale’ represents the efficient power. [8] That’s comfortable. What’s to be done next in the south here, rests with us, it seems– But what of the occupation of Rome? And what is the meaning of Lamoriciere being here “with the consent of the emperor”? [9] Lamoriciere can mean no good either to the French government or to Italy,—& the emperor knows it well.
My dearest Isa, let me make haste & say that of course I shall be glad to let my book be used as is proposed. How will we get a copy to M. Fauvety? I enclose an order to Chapman & Hall which M. Dall’Ongaro may enclose to his friend, who must enclose it on to England with a letter conveying his address in Paris. Then the book may be sent by the book post. Would’nt that do?
I shall give a copy to Dall’Ongaro (when I can get a supply) & one for the Trollopes also, .. never forgetting dear Kate! [10] (& I do expect copies through the embassy) but I have not seen a word of the book yet– I only know that, being Cæsar’s wife, I am not merely ‘suspected’ (poor wife!) [11] but dishonored before the Athenæum world, as an unnatural vixen, who instead of staying at home & spinning wool, stays at home & curses her own land. “It is my own, my native land!” [12] If indeed I had gone abroad & cursed other peoples lands, there would have been no objection– That poem, as addressed to America, has always been considered rather an amiable & domestic trait on my part– But England! Heavens & earth, what a crime! The very suspicion of it, is guilt.
The fact is, between you & me, Isa, certain of those quoted stanzas do “fit” England “as if they were made for her.” Which they were not though!
Think of Mr Chorley’s having just written to Miss Cushman, to this effect, “that he had received a most sarcastic letter from Mrs Browning, about “Roccabella”, & had given her a review on her “Poems before Congress” which would not please her”–
How surprisingly ignoble people can be– To associate together those two facts of my offensive letter, & his offensive criticism—as if one accounted for the other–
For my letter, written months ago, [13] —was it sarcastic? I cant remember a word—of course I told him then the truth as I felt it about ‘Roccabella’ & his views of Italian patriots, .. but I am sure I meant kindness personally to Mr Chorley, & must have expressed it–
No matter. I was much more aggrieved (I myself, I) by the cold pitiful Athenæum notice of dearest Mrs Jameson– I ask you,—was a friend to write so of a friend? of her conversation &c &c? And she, not dead a week– As if “brilliancy in conversation” were so universal, that it becomes necessary to specify the absence of it in a biographical sketch– My blood ran cold as I read. [14]
According to your letters, Venetia seems pushed off into the future a little, dont you think?
Still, they are interesting, very– Get Dall’Ongaro to remember me in future– The details about Antonelli shall go to him. I am delighted at the idea of being translated by him– [15]
How is Mrs Perkins? I wrote to Mrs Bruen, who does not answer– [16]
Is it true that Mrs Eckley is “ordered by the physicians” to France & England? She writes, implying that she is going away very ill—and I am savage enough to doubt whether it is’nt “new scenery”. Oh—it has been altogether so unreal, so unnatural! Not a throb of real feeling, nor symptoms of wounded honesty anywhere?
Write to me, my dearly loved Isa– You who are true! let me touch you!
Yours ever from the heart–
Ba.
Give the enclosed to Dall’Ongaro– He can send it (or you can) direct to Chapman & Hall appending a distinctly written address to M. de Fauvety at Paris–
Publication: B-IB, pp. 320–323.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Year provided by EBB’s references to Poems Before Congress.
2. See the third paragraph in letter 4637.
3. “Implication.” See letter 4472, note 8.
4. “Play the part of a merchant.”
5. “All the same.”
7. Cf. Terence, Andria, line 126, trans. John Sargeaunt.
8. L’Opinion Nationale, a newspaper supporting reforms in the Roman Catholic Church, was founded by Adolphe Georges Guéroult (1810–72), with the approval of Prince Napoleon. First issued in September 1859, “it became one of the two most important anti-clerical newspapers (the other was Le Siècle) and one of the most brilliant successes of nineteenth-century French journalism” (Edgar Holt, Plon-Plon: The Life of Prince Napoleon, 1973, p. 158).
9. According to Odo Russell, as of 3 April 1860, “no previous arrangement had been made and the Emperor Napoleon’s sanction had yet to be obtained” (The Roman Question, ed. Noel Blakiston, 1962, p. 97). Four days later, Russell reported that “the French Embassy made a great show of anger and resistance when the Pope appointed General Lamoricière to the chief command of the Papal army without the Emperor’s permission, but they were secretly delighted and since then the Emperor has sent his sanction to the measure by telegraph” (p. 98).
10. EBB inscribed a copy of Poems Before Congress to “Kate Field with the author’s love– Florence. 1860” (see Reconstruction, C113).
11. In Plutarch’s Lives, Caesar is asked why he divorced his wife Pompeia, and he replies: “Because … I thought my wife ought not even to be under suspicion” (Caesar, X, 6, trans. Bernadotte Perrin). This statement has been rendered proverbially as “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”
12. Cf. Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Canto Sixth, I, 3.
14. An obituary notice of Anna Brownell Jameson published in the 24 March 1860 issue of The Athenæum contained the following remark: “She was fond of society with the keenest relish, yet was not distinguished in conversation. The want of lightness of hand, which is to be felt in her literary style, was represented by a certain elaborateness in parlance,—an unreadiness in repartee,—a partial comprehension of humour, nonsense, whimsey,—of all, in short, that distinguishes intercourse from discourse and instruction” (no. 1691, pp. 408–409).
15. Several printed copies of Dall’Ongaro’s translation of EBB’s “A Court Lady” sold in Browning Collections; see Reconstruction, A333–335. His translation was probably made sometime after 18 May 1861; see letter of that date, EBB to Isa Blagden, ms at Fitzwilliam.
16. Presumably, EBB had written to Florence to enquire about Frances Perkins, who had given birth on 24 February 1860 to a son, Charles Bruen Perkins (d. 1929).
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