Volume I Part 26 (1/2)
”....Truth is, I am stunned. The pressure that demands [? money] impedes any fresh efforts on my part, and I sit down to work with a depressed and jaded spirit. Nothing less nourishes than the head that is wet with tears. 'Roland,' bad as it is, is therefore better than it might be.
”Do you deem all intercourse with M'Glashan inadvisable? It is the only magazine where I should like to contribute, and if I could make any terms for a series of papers I should soon be in a position to clear off some of my debts. I cannot address him myself: if you chanced to meet him you might feel the way.
”The Austrians have reconquered Lombardy and the whole of Italy, and, if the French do not intervene, will soon be at peace.”
_To Mr Alexander Spencer._
”Casa Ximenes, Florence, _Aug_. 19, 1848.
”....Although politically all looks more tranquil here, yet for personal reasons I should draw somewhat nearer to England. I am hampered by the difficulty of postal communication, and to go to London even alone and back would cost me above 100. Otherwise I like the place better than any I have ever known,--a climate beyond praise, a beautiful country, excellent society, and perfectly sound liberty which lets you live in the world or out of it exactly as suits your inclination. The heat, to be sure, is great. 132 Fahrenheit yesterday on the terrace, and that at five o'clock in the afternoon!
”I hope you continue to like 'Roland Cashel.' Has any one detected Archbishop Whately as my Dean of Drumcondra? The whole _dramatis per-sonae_ are portraits.
”As to Ireland. All foreign sympathy is over, [? owing to] the late cowardice and poltroonery of the patriots.* Even Italians can fight.
* See John Mitchel's 'Jail Journal' for observations on this observation.--E. D.
”As to the result of the attempt of Italian unity, however, the movement here is a complete failure. Naples is at feud with Sardinia, Sardinia with Tuscany, Home with all these; and if there be one man in all Italy more hated than Carlo Alberto, it is the Pope. Pius IX. will in all likelihood be _cha.s.sed_ this winter, and we shall have a Tipperary season of a.s.sa.s.sination--as the natural subsidence of a defeated outbreak--all over Southern Italy.
”We are going in a few days to Lucca and Via-Reggio for the sea-bathing, which, at least for a week or so, is a matter of necessity in this very roasting climate. The children have got the pale faces of the south already, and it is buying the _Bocca Toscana_ somewhat dear to lose their roses at so early an age.
”I am hesitating about the sea for Cha. He is a boy of very remarkable capacity,--can learn anything, and at once,--and I really scruple at the thought of immolating good talent in such a grave as the Navy.”
_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.
”Casa Ximenes, Florence, _Sept_. 18, 1848.
”I have made a proposal to Chapman, but have not received his reply.
”If I could make any remunerative terms for a monthly series in a magazine, I could easily manage to gather some suitable materials.
M'Glashan is, I suppose, a hopeless case. I have not been able to revisit London. I fancy I could easily make out such a cla.s.s of engagement as would suit me, but the expense of the journey would be very considerable.
”It is very hard, under such circ.u.mstances, to write anything imaginative,--the stern cry of reality drowning the small whisperings of fancy. _N'importe!_ I have pluck for almost anything when self-reliance will pull through, and I am resolved, if I can, not to be swamped.”
_To Mr Alexander Spencer._
”Bagni di Lucca, _Nov_. 1, 1848.
”Your letter of the 21st has this moment come to hand, and its last paragraph would inevitably decide me upon going at once to England if I had the means; but when I add the mercenary cost to the fatigue, sea-sickness,--for I should go at least to Genoa by steamer,--inconvenience of leaving wife and brats in a distant and not over-quiet land, and, lastly, calculate how little my presence might avail after, I grow faint-hearted at the 'odds' against me.
”My resolve is, therefore, to stay here, whither we have come for economy, taking up our abode in a little inn in a sweet pretty country--and, I confess it, with not a privation to make us feel that prudence pays tax.”
[He then suggests the purchase of his books by Chapman, offering Chapman as ”a collateral security,” if he embarks in the ”spec,” an insurance policy. He does not desire to be tied to Chapman, but sees that nothing can be done unless he gets the books unfettered. He says he is in Chapman's debt in the first place, and secondly, that there is a loss in repute in changing publishers, ”always argued to the detriment of the author.”]
”Chapman's apathy is great on all subjects, nor is he likely to be more alert here: first, that he never reaped the large profit from me that he hoped; [secondly,] because I am his debtor--never a _couleur de rose_ portrait of any one....”