4672. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 28, 11–13.
[Rome]
[19 May 1860] [1]
<***> their officers on shore to be bombarded, & desired the firing to stop till these men returned on board. Therefore it was Providence rather than England who deserved Italy’s gratitude– [2] We must do little indeed if we vaunt ourselves of such things–
Mrs Stowe observed to me– “Why, nobody can wonder that England should be jealous of France– France holds in the eyes of the world the position which England ought to hold. All the nationalities looking into & watching the face of that man! its wonderful–” That’s Mrs Stowe’s view. And she came from America with very different ideas– She told me that Gallenga tried to persuade her of there being “nothing in it” .. & of Italy going to destruction after all– But she looked at facts for herself.
I am glad you liked her– I like her very much. She is surprisingly large & open, considering her antecedents & early associations. [3]
The “Minister’s Wooing” has given great offence, I hear [4] —and people say she does more harm than Voltaire ever did– Conceive of that. And the whole woman is not in the ‘Minister’s Wooing’– If they dont like that, I wonder what they would have thought if they had heard her talking to me the other day.
Write to me again, Isa. My love & truest thanks to Kate. I am not impervious to flattery about my Pen–
Think of Bargagli [5] coming up to Peni on the Pincian yesterday,—& asking him of what country he was. Pen said that his father & mother were English, but that he himself was a Tuscan,—born at Florence.
“Ed io anche,” [6] was the rejoinder.
“Lo so”, [7] said Pen.
“Then do you know me?”
“Oh yes, I know you very well–”
“Very well: And who am I then?”
A silence—and the question pressed–
“La conosco veramente bene,” said Penini at last– “Lei era il ministro Toscano.” [8]
“Buon giorno,” was the next word—& the conversation was at an end. I know he did’nt like it, says Peni “but he asked me you know.”
Dearest Isa, what triumphs for our Garibaldi, Italy’s Garibaldi—for indeed we must own him! God be thanked– [9]
And Rome is full of rumours & suppressed joy,—whispers of triumphs of the volunteers over these Papilini– Not a Roman soldier in Rome. They went off, in consequence, it is said of bad news– People say that Perugia is our own—& that Lamoriciere has “scampato”– [10] But one can believe nothing– It’s simply rumour.
Ferdinando’s news, gathered at Spilmann’s [11] & elsewhere, is, that an application for the use of two battalions was made to Goyon, who replied that it was contrary to his instructions to do more than keep the peace in the city & protect the person of the pope–
The French were to have gone at the end of this month, but stay longer, we hear.
Its the beginning of the end—is’nt it clearly, Isa? May God help us to the end.
There is only one Napoleon, (for the rest) and Fauvety is his prophet– [12]
Isa, dont blame Mr Story,—who was very quick & sympathetic in replying, I believe,—sending to Miss Cobbe, the only photograph which he had, valued by him as Mr Parker’s own gift. Perhaps by this time they have arrived,—both letter & photograph.
Thank Mr Jarvis for me—till I thank him for myself.
I heard yesterday from Miss Haworth [13] —London– Hume is in intimate friendship with Mrs Milner Gibson, he & his wife—and people press in upon her to get to see him, FH says—for “it is the fashionable topic in London just now.” She (FH) has seen with her eyes, furniture untouched move about at Mrs Gibson’s, tables float overhead &c and believes entirely, as no one after the experience could avoid doing, she says– She has not yet seen the hands, but Mrs MG. assures her that they are constantly seen, & also heads, and bodies—more faintly.
On Mrs Eckley being named, Hume exclaimed that “she was his bitterest enemy”–
There were only three plans in Fanny Haworth’s letter—but one of them was to return to Italy.
Now write– Represent us as uncertain in the highest degree. [14] We may summer at Velletri—who knows? between camp and miasma. <***>
Publication: B-IB, pp. 349–351.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dated by EBB’s reference to hearing from Fanny Haworth (see note 13 below) and the probability that this letter accompanied letter 4673.
2. The landing of Garibaldi and his volunteers at Marsala on 11 May 1860 was achieved with only two casualties (wounded), the “first of a series of extraordinary occurrences which led to the conquest of Sicily and the defeat of 25,000 Neapolitan troops by 1,089 Garibaldini. In earlier centuries, these events would have been unhesitatingly attributed to the direct intervention of Providence” (Jasper Ridley, Garibaldi, 1974, p. 444). EBB’s remarks seem to refer to the Neapolitan navy’s attack on Garibaldi’s troops after they had disembarked. At the time, the captains of two British warships stationed off Marsala had gone ashore to calm the British community. The Neapolitan commander, Captain Acton, “a member of the English Catholic family which for several generations had served the King of Naples,” had delayed firing because of the presence of the British ships but eventually gave the order “and hoped that no British ship would be damaged in the process” (Garibaldi, p. 445). Garibaldi’s good fortune may also have been the result of the poor aim of Neapolitan cannoneers (see George Macaulay Trevelyan, Garibaldi and the Thousand, 1909, p. 238).
3. Harriet Beecher Stowe was reared in the Calvinist beliefs of her father, Lyman Beecher (1775–1863), a Presbyterian minister. Her mother, Roxanna (née Foote, 1775–1816), died when Harriet was five years old.
5. Marchese Scipione Bargagli (1798–1868); see letter 4484, note 5.
6. “And I also.”
7. “I know.”
8. “I know you very well. You were the Tuscan minister.”
10. “Escaped,” “survived,” or “fled.” None of these rumors were true.
11. Murray’s A Handbook of Rome and its Environs (1858) lists “François Spillman, No. 12, Via Condotti,” under “Pastry Cooks and Confectioners,” as well as “Spillman, frères, No. 10, Via Condotti, where there are refreshment-rooms where dinner, lunch, and tea may be had” (p. xxi).
12. A variation on the Islamic prayer: “There is but one Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.”
13. EBB responded in letter 4671.
14. i.e., to the Eckleys. The Brownings were leaning towards Siena (see letters 4664 and 4665).
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