4861. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 29, 48–51.
126 [Via Felice]
[ca. 1 April 1861] [1]
Ever dearest Isa of mine, I must write one word, having had your letter. There is a double reason– First, the G. business. [2] Dear, I do feel very much annoyed. I dont understand these double-headed Doves—they seem to me of the kind .. vulture .. or reptile .. in the inner nature. It’s an ignoble, selfish way .. say the best.
Annette called here just before your letter came. She looked well– There’s a mixture of suavity & decision in the manner, & a softness in the smile which are taking—also a great deal of social tact, if not talent, & a very agreeable voice– These are taking things—but pretty or “prettier” I do not think her. She found me alone, spoke affectionately of you, .. & with esteem of Dr G– Of course I knew nothing then of what had happened. What he means, I cannot comprehend. I can have no sympathy with him, even dramatically & from any imaginable stand-point. I can sympathize much easier with the pope & King of Naples. He ought to know better, & do better– Be careful, Isa, how you bear yourself– Dont let him fancy you are mortified—but the least touch of contempt, you may let fall from the extreme corner of your pocket handkerchief. Chicago indeed! Good Heavens. How angry it makes me! Robert is furious of course– I would not have shown him all .. if I had not been sure that he would have heard– But he wont speak of anything.
Tell me how it goes on– A—should not have permitted the going to Empoli [3] under the circumstances– Do you think he meant marriage? Can men “dream” & get offuscated to such a point? or is it anything worse than dreaming?
I liked him so much that I feel pained on his account– Happily for you, it is rather your sense of decency & human dignity which is wounded, than the vital part of your nature. God bless you, my loved Isa– You are worth a hecatomb of such men– Now to go to what is pleasanter– I am very anxious to have ‘Agnes’, & dont like waiting for her. Let me tell you one thing. We have seen a letter of Mrs Procter to Mdme du Quaire, in which she writes in the midst of other news .. (such as the nullity of Lytton’s Servian translations) [4] .... “Do you know Isa Blagden? She is a friend of the Brownings. She has brought out a book” (naming it) “in which there is some good writing.”
A cursory way of mentioning it—but it pleased me,—because Mrs Procter is “our Lady of bitterness” you know, & would rather find fault than give favor. [5] Also, she lives in a circle of “sharps”, & has the habit of London literary judgments. It seems a small thing to be pleased with—but it pleased me extremely. You may be sure that a “friend of the Brownings” was not favored on that account, but that the book has had notice in London on its own merits. We did not mention it. We dont write to the P’s often.
For the rest, you need not depreciate, dearest dear Isa,—I dare say your book is not the best you will write– A first book has its own particular fallings short nearly always– Experience is bought. I could beat myself for not forcing myself on you for the proofs– That way I might have helped you rather– Never mind. I am hopeful of a good & reasonable success for this book. We shall see. Keep up heart—in any case, & dont be “dashed” by any small vexations & trials natural to first “crossing the line”.
Miss Brown’s verses [6] are flexible, with a sentiment in the atmosphere of them—but, between ourselves, there is not much– Eh! Isa?
Massimo d’Azeglio’s pamphlet [7] has much disappointed me. (I have read it.) It is feebly done– I expected stronger things from him, even when he erred—which I think he does about Rome.
Poor P. is gone. There’s a tas d’infamies [8] … But my head wd be cut off if I spoke—& in fact I have no right. Only we may have been nearer a solution here than was supposed.
The ‘allocution’ does not read as well in Italian as in Latin– Its abundantly absurd of course. When the HF [9] quotes the venerable Bede, [10] it reminds me a little (wretch that I am!) of Lord John’s quoting Vattel. [11]
By the way even Cavour was weak when trying to apologize for the intervention in these States– The true reason was really not to be found in any law but God’s—the great law of necessity in order to the salvation of a people. “Salus populi” [12] &c
Nobody was ever dragged through a window from a fire, according to “laws of etiquette.” Even Mrs Grundy [13] under such circumstances might appear en chemise without a speck on her reputation.
I have seen only the telegram of Cavour’s speech on Rome– [14] Billault throws me into a fever meanwhile– [15] I get confused with crooked lines. Nevertheless the Emperor will do it.
Yes, I should like Dall’Ongaro much as a translator—but it would be work below him, I doubt. Of course whatever profit there was would go to the translator, besides my gratitude– Only Dall’Ongaro would’nt find it worth while—also politically we dont always see with the same eyes– I will try my hand at the Italian prose one of these days in spite of this–
So glad I am that you like the photographs of Robert. How I thank you, dearest dear Isa, for Kate’s– Like! very good: Robert adds, “a little out of drawing though.” I shall value it for your sake & her sake– But my Isa, I thought I was to have yours—!! How immodest we grow–
Do you hear anything of Miss Cushman & company?
I have not been out yet.
In truest love your
Ba–
Write. Robert is out or wd send love to any extremity.
Mr Bowen has gone– He used to come here & sit far above the hour– We were fast friends through being such enemies. Your Bowen [16] is going to be married.* By the way, do you mark Spurgeon’s view of Saturday Reviewing? [17] That’s good, really–
*and I told his cousin that his (yr B’s) bitter spirit was really discreditable to his passion & the object of it– I did. True love humanizes!
Publication: B-IB, pp. 432–435.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Approximate dating based on EBB’s reference to Cavour’s speech (see note 14 below).
2. From EBB’s comments here, it seems that Dr. Gryzanowski had suggested some sort of arrangement (perhaps marriage) whereby Isa might accompany him to Chicago. In letter 4867, however, it sounds as if he may have made a profession of love to Annette.
3. A city 18 miles W.S.W. of Florence.
4. Serbski Pesme; or, National Songs of Servia (1861), published under Robert Bulwer Lytton’s pseudonym, Owen Meredith.
5. In his preface to Eōthen (1844), Alexander William Kinglake (1809–91) refers to Mrs. Procter as “our Lady of Bitterness.”
6. “Pia de’ Tolomei.”
8. “A heap of infamies.” EBB refers to the sudden withdrawal of papal support for negotiations with the Italian government and for its representative, Pantaleoni. See letter 4853, note 12.
9. Holy Father.
10. In Pius IX’s allocution of 18 March, a translation of which appeared in The Morning Chronicle, he declared that he might have accepted counsels regarding the reduction of his temporal power but for “the condition made as a sine quâ non … that we should give our consent to the spoliations committed and perpetrated on us already. There is no reason, however, why we should speak about counsels received gladly, and about our sincere promise that we would follow those counsels, when the authors of these spoliations declare loudly that they do not wish for reforms, but for absolute rebellion. … These very persons, too, were the real guilty authors and ringleaders in this crime … not the people themselves; so that we can say of them rightly what the Venerable Bede said of the Pharisees and Scribes, the enemies of Christ—‘These calumnies were not uttered by any of the crowd, but by the Pharisees and Scribes, as the Gospel teaches’” (28 March 1861, p. 5).
12. “Salus populi suprema lex esto”; “the safety of the people shall be their highest law” (Cicero, De Legibus, III, 3, 8, trans. Clinton W. Keyes).
13. A character in Thomas Morton’s Speed the Plough (1798) that exemplifies strict propriety.
14. On 25 March Camillo di Cavour, recently named prime minister of Italy, spoke in the Italian parliament of making Rome the nation’s capital. A translation of his speech appeared in The Daily News of 29 March 1861. He began by addressing the Roman question: “The first truth to be proclaimed is, that it is impossible to conceive a constituted Italian kingdom without Rome for its capital. … This choice has been determined by history, and by all the elements of a civilisation of a people. What is the history of Rome but the history of a capital—more than that, of a capital of the world” (p. 5).
15. Adolphe Augustin Marie Billault (1805–63), French statesman, served as minister of the interior from 1854 to 1858. Since November 1860, he had been a member of the cabinet as minister without portfolio. EBB may have in mind some equivocal remarks Billault made in the Corps Législatif on 22 March 1861: “The situation is complicated. On the one side a great political success has been obtained in Italy, and on the other side the temporal power of the Pope is undermined and menaced. The Government will neither sacrifice the Pope to the unity of Italy nor the unity of Italy to the Pope. … We must negotiate with the Pope and the King of Piedmont. We have to consider the populations, and we have also to consider England and Austria” (The Times, 23 March 1861, p. 9).
16. Charles Synge Christopher Bowen became engaged in February 1861 to Emily Frances Rendel (1835–97), eldest daughter of James Meadows Rendel. They married the following February.
17. EBB refers to an article in The Saturday Review for 23 March 1861, which told of Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s recent trip to Scotland to raise funds for the Tabernacle and explained how he had denounced the journal in sermons he had preached with the words: “‘One thing I always like to have—the hatred of the Saturday Review and the love of God. … When you have the hatred of the Saturday Review you may be quite sure it is according to the mind of God’” (p. 294).
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