Volume Ii Part 25 (1/2)
_To Mr John Blackwood._
”Villa Morelli, Florence, _Aug_. 16,1866.
”The French Emperor is very seriously ill. Nellaton has been sent for, and has given a grave opinion of the case: suspected to be incipient stone in the bladder. He was brought up to Paris from Vichy on a bed. It would be an awkward moment for him to die, for Plonplon would convulse the whole of Europe. Both Germany and Italy are ripe for a great democratic movement. Bismarck will be swamped eventually, or, rather, p.o.o.ped by the big wave of popular opinion that is now swelling in Germany, and that seems to carry him _on_ at this moment.
”As for Italy, all the failures, land and sea, are ascribed to the Government, and the 'Reds' are employing the general discontent to bring the dynasty into disfavour. Fortunately for the king, Garibaldi has done as little as if he were a man of education, otherwise the situation would be critical.
”Who can explain the shameful condition of our fleet? Our pa.s.sion for experiment is only to be equalled by the man who pa.s.sed his life speculating what he should do when he met a white bear. I suppose that a great naval disaster would drive the nation half mad, and certainly it is what we are bidding hard for if we do come to a fight. As the only pa.s.sable Ministry in England is the one that will reduce taxation, it would be better at once to give up all armaments and pay a policeman (France, for instance) to protect us. We should save some fourteen million annually, and be safe besides.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
”Villa Morelli, _Aug_. 19, 1866.
”You will see by the accompanying chaps, that I am puckering in my purse, and will be able to tell me what you think of the wind-up.
”There is nothing I find so hard in a story as the end. I never can put the people to bed with the propriety that I wish. Some won't come for their night-caps; some won't lie down; and some will run about in their s.h.i.+rts when I want to extinguish the candle. In fact--absurd as it may seem--one's creatures have a will of their own, and the unhappy author of their being is as much tormented by their vagaries and caprices as if they were his flesh-and-blood children going into debt, and making bad matches and the rest of it.
”At all events, read and be critical. It is not yet too late to correct if you dislike the way I am concluding. I, of course, mean to make the lovers happy in my next chapter.”
_To Mr W. Blackwood._
”Villa Morelli, Florence, _Sept_. 1, 1866.
”The best thing the war has done for Italy is the knocking over a score of false G.o.ds--that graven image La Marmora and their clay idol Persano especially. This was, _par excellence_, the land of sham mock heroes, mock statesmen, mock publicists, and mock patriots. Even the engineers were humbugs, for when they made a tunnel for the Lucca railroad they could not make the two sides meet, and went on working in parallel lines till something fell in and showed one where they were!
”To pick your best Bramah with an old nail; to know what you say at your dinner-table without the faintest acquaintance with the language you are talking; to read your thoughts by the expression of your face as you glance at them; and to 'sell' you at every moment and turn of your existence, I'll back them against Europe,--but there end their gifts!
For the common work and wear of daily life they are too sharp and too cunning, and you might as well improvise a Cabinet Council from Pentonville or Brixton as make up a Ministry of such materials. But for the love of mercy keep all this to yourself.
”There is a story that Hudson has been offered the Emba.s.sy here. Would to G.o.d it were true! I'd defy the devil and all his bores with one such fellow in my neighbourhood. There's more champagne in him--dry and sweet--than in all Mme. Cliquot's cellars, and he is as good as he is able and clever.
”The Tories would do more by such an appointment than by gaining ten votes in the House, ay, fifty. I think they seem to use their patronage, up to this, very wisely: these Irish appointments are certainly good.
There is one man of merit they appear to have forgotten, it is true; but I am told he is not impatient, and this is the better for him, as his virtue may probably be put to a long and trying test.
”Do you know Phil Rose of the Carlton? He is coming out to see me here next week. He is sure to have all the Conservative gossip (he used to have all the patronage once, which was better). He once (in '59) offered me an [? Australian post] with 1200 a-year, and gave it, on my refusing, to Ed. Disraeli, Ben's brother. I declined from pure fear. I understood I should have to hold and account for large sums, and as I knew how incapable I was in rendering an account of the few half-crowns entrusted to me, I saw that if I accepted I should probably finish my literary career in the Swan river. Still, I have occasional misgivings at my cowardly rejection, for I might have died before they detected me.
”Do you see that that ungrateful rascal Cook has taken up the hint in my late O'D. and organised an excursion to 'Liberated Venice'?
”Bright, too, has been plagiarising me in his Birmingham speech, in his comparison of the Conservatives with Christy Minstrels. How I chuckled when I saw that he broke down in his attempt at drollery. Write if you have not written. Do you remember Sheridan Knowles' speech about Sanders and Ottley? 'If you, sir, are Mr Sanders, d.a.m.n Mr Ottley; and if you're Mr Ottley, d.a.m.n Mr Sanders.'”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
”Villa Morelli, Florence, _Sept_. 7,1866
”I have your note and its enclosure. My apothecary will just take the last, and may the devil do him good with it: I grudge it with all heart.
My thanks to you, all the same.