4805. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 28, 262–265.
Rome–
Monday. [7 January 1861] [1]
Ever dearest & kindest Isa, it seems as if I spoke to you at last from the other world– I have suffered so much, & it all looks so far & so strange– Dearest Isa, we wont talk of that– I now feel beaten & weak, but very very grateful to you, & loving you therefore with a throb more.
Go on writing as often as you can– I like your letters so much– I have got to be able to read .. which was hard for a long time.
But, dear, why did you not go long since to Casa Guidi? Are you vexed with anybody or anything that you dont go? Surely it would be more convenient to you to be in Florence during these winter months, & more convenient to your friends–
We never get the Naziones—only the one you sent, once– Whenever I see anybody I shall try if Mr Stockton [2] cant take them for us– I have seen no face yet—except Mr Cartwright’s once last week, because Robert was bent on his not going to Naples for a month without sight of me—and Robert has been so good & tender to me that I could not refuse a wish of his–
Mr Cartwright, when I asked about French designs at Gaeta, said .. he did not know—but the emperor knew the besieged were on the point of ruin, & perhaps wished to be courteous to the end– That was Cartwright’s word, not mine. I have heard from another quarter that if the French fleet went, the Russian was prepared to come [3] ––which would have complicated matters– Anyhow—Napoleon means well to Italy—& his diplomatical enemies or distrusters begin to see it– Robert, who goes in & out through the midst of them, says decidedly now,– “The emperor means well– I cannot doubt it.”
I was sorry to read Mr Trollope’s Italian paper in the Cornhill– [4] I dont like to have to give up calling him “the just”– But that paper misrepresents the situation here & the feeling of the people to a degree ridiculous or lamentable as you may take it– I say lamentable.
That the French are going directly everybody takes perhaps too much for granted– The French officers speak of it openly– Not Goyon, observe– Goyon is a “Breton” & takes the pope ‘au grand serieux’– [5] The troops are on fraternal terms with the people, & not shy of talking liberation in the Italianissimo way. Thus they are generally popular– The Duke di Sermoneta [6] (one of the most liberal & intelligent of Roman politicians) spoke the other day before Robert of their admirable conduct– “Positively,” he said, “there was no crime among them,—it was extraordinary how little crime—and when they go,” said he, “they will be regretted by three classes .. the beggars, the children, & the dogs.” In fact, their rations are divided with the poor. Which does not hinder the general desire that they should go, of course–
The pope on New Year’s day studiously omitted the names of the Emperor, the Empress, & the Prince Impérial, to the great annoyance of the French officers. Goyon offered the phrase of usual compliment at every corner, but the Holy Father evaded it. Afterwards, to a French officer who hinted that a painful hiatus had been made, he said .. “Non ho detto ciòcche non ho voluto dire”. [7] You may rely on this. [8]
I am sorry that you & dear Kate represented all the gratitude of Italy on New Year’s morning at Mr Trollope’s. (Was Dall’Ongaro there?) But the mass of the people have their own impression, & will keep it–
We have the last Cornhill too—lent to us– Yes, it seems to me very dull. I am afraid Thackeray has taken to oblige “amateur friends,” which will be fatal to public success. For instance, the poem of ‘Ariadne’ [9] in the last number but one, must be amateur’s work—& so also, the prose of “Falling in love” of the last. [10] I should like to know whether I am not right about each of these points–
You interest me about Blumenthal & the manifestations– The account of Hume being raised was striking. As to the somnambule there seems to me a certain truth floating in a mist of misapprehension– Nobody supposes that the hands of spirits are actually presented, but that, in order to presentation, they are materially translated—& this, very probably, by the means of some vital fluid or other force– Did Robert tell you that he enquired about Lady William Russell’s chair, & that your statement was confirmed? [11] The subject is evidently taking more & more hold on the public mind in England. I had a letter from Mr Jarves .. with curious things in it—& a very interesting one from Mrs Stowe which came just when I wanted it, & did me real good. [12] She tells me that for the fifth time she has had a communication—from her son—unsought on her side– She does not doubt the identity at all– Secret things were told. She says too, that through Calvinistic mediums & entirely infidel mediums precisely the same information has been given to her as to the condition of that spirit– Fanny Haworth has sent me no “outlines” yet– I should like to see & speak with Blumenthal–
How sorry I am that dear Sophia Cottrell should suffer from her eyes– Give her my true love– It is better not to try to speak of unspeakable things– For me, I cant speak– Is Count Cottrell well now,—& the baby & dear Hal? Pen is very well, & rides everyday, & has his Abbè satisfactorily.
We have read Sir Rohan’s Ghost. [13] It is very inferior to the rest– What a vexation to have so vexed poor Mdme Brecker– Tell me if she gets her books. [14] If not, certainly she shall have others or their price.
Is the little Baker boy [15] growing strong again? I heard of his mother’s anxiety with a deep pity–
Give my dear love to Kate. American politics make me anxious, [16] tell her—but to be anxious for herself personally as to money-matters, would be a too sad addition– [17]
Forgive this dullest of letters my Isa– I am so dull– Dear, the pens I wanted were not steel, but the little white quill pens at a paul a box– Never mind–
Come down to Casa Guidi– I write chiefly to say that. And write to me, & love me—as you are loved by
Your Ba–
Have you had more proofs, & when does the book come out?– [18]
Publication: B-IB, pp. 381–384.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dated by EBB’s reference to the Pope’s New Year’s Day message. January 7th was the first Monday of 1861.
2. John Potter Stockton (1826–1900), U.S. minister to the Papal States; see letter 4628, note 7.
3. The Times for 4 January 1861 reported that “had the Emperor never sent his fleet to Gaëta, or had he soon withdrawn it … a combined Austro-Russo-Spanish naval force would immediately have taken” its place (p. 8).
4. “The Pope’s City and the Pope’s Protectors,” by Thomas Adolphus Trollope, which appeared in The Cornhill Magazine of December 1860 (pp. 719–728). Perhaps EBB had in mind the following remarks: “The most careless sight-seer … could not walk the streets of Rome in these days without being painfully impressed by the … contemptuous insolence, masterdom, and conscious possession of unlimited power, on the part of the military protectors and upholders of a state of things so truly foul and disgraceful to humanity” (pp. 719–720).
5. “Very seriously.” Bretons had long been known as conservative Catholics.
6. Michelangelo Caetani (1804–82), Duke of Sermoneta.
7. “I did not say that which I did not want to.”
8. According to Odo Russell, Pius IX “blessed General de Goyon and his army but made no allusion to the Emperor, the Empress or to his godchild, the Prince Imperial. General de Goyon, wishing to efface the painful impression which this omission was making on his officers, then replied that he thanked His Holiness for the blessing thus awarded to, and the high opinion expressed by the Holy Father on the French nation, the army and the fleet, and that since the nation owed its present prosperous position and generous impulses to the Emperor Napoleon … and that France, her army and her navy were instruments in His Majesty’s hand, he felt proud to be able to inform His August Master of the blessing thus conferred by His Holiness on the work and policy of the Emperor Napoleon. The Pope shrugged his shoulders and replied, ‘God will bless the policy of your master according to its deserts’” (The Roman Question, ed. Noel Blakiston, 1962, p. 147).
9. “Ariadne at Naxos,” published in the December issue (pp. 674–676), was written by Thomas Davidson (1838–70), who had won a second prize in rhetoric for it at the University of Edinburgh. An illustration by Frederic Leighton accompanied the poem.
10. “Falling in Love” appeared in the January issue, pp. 41–47. The Wellesley Index cites James Campbell Reddie as the probable author (I, 327). Literary scholars, however, identify Thackeray himself as the author (see “Introduction,” Framley Parsonage, ed. Katherine Mullin and Francis O’Gorman, Oxford, 2014, p. xviii–xix).
11. We are unable to shed further light on this remark.
13. Sir Rohan’s Ghost. A Romance (1860) by Harriet Prescott (afterwards, Spofford, 1835–1921), a prolific American writer. This was her first novel.
14. See the second paragraph in letter 4799.
15. Anatole Frederick Demidoff Baker (1851–88); see letter 3711, note 4.
16. The United States was moving towards civil war. Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the presidential election in November 1860 led South Carolina to secede from the Union on 20 December, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama less than a month later.
17. Presumably, EBB refers to difficulties between Kate Field and her uncle Milton Sanford, who provided her with an income (see letter 4567, note 9).
18. Agnes Tremorne (1861).
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