1819.] LOVE'S VICTORY. 391 CHAPTER XIX. DECEMBER, 1819-MARCH, 1820. THE PALAZZO GUICCIOLI AT RAVENNA-Morgante MAGGIORE THE PROPHECY OF DANTE-FRANCESCA OF RIMINI- OBSERVATIONS UPON AN ARTICLE IN BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. 767.-To the Countess Guiccioli.1 [Undated.] La F * * ti avra detta, colla sua solita sublimità, che l'Amor ha vinto. Io non ho potuto trovare forza di anima per lasciare il paese dove tu sei, senza vederti almeno un' altra volta :-forse dipenderà da te se mai ti lascio più. Per il resto parleremo. Tu dovresti adesso 1. The following is Moore's translation of the above fragment :"F** will already have told you, with her accustomed sublimity, "that Love has gained the victory. I could not summon up reso"lution enough to leave the country where you are, without, at "least, once more seeing you. On yourself, perhaps, it will depend, "whether I ever again shall leave you. Of the rest we shall speak "when we meet. You ought, by this time, to know which is most "conducive to your welfare, my presence or my absence. For "myself, I am a citizen of the world-all countries are alike to me. "You have ever been, since our first acquaintance, the sole object of "my thoughts. My opinion was, that the best course I could adopt, "both for your peace and that of all your family, would have been "to depart and go far, far away from you;-since to have been "near and not approach you would have been, for me, impossible. "You have however decided that I am to return to Ravenna. I "shall accordingly return-and shall do-and be all that you wish. "I cannot say more." sapere cosa sarà più convenevole al tuo ben essere la mia presenza o la mia lontananza. Io sono cittadino del mondo-tutti i paesi sono eguali per me. Tu sei stata sempre (dopo che ci siamo conosciuti) l'unico oggetto di miei pensieri. Credeva che il miglior partito per la pace tua e la pace di tua famiglia fosse il mio partire, e andare ben lontano; poichè stare vicino e non avvicinarti sarebbe per me impossibile. Ma tu hai deciso che io debbo ritornare a Ravenna-tornaro―e farò―e sarò ciò che tu vuoi. Non posso dirti di più. 768.-To Richard Belgrave Hoppner. Ravenna, Dec. 31, 1819. MY DEAR HOPPNER,-Will you have the goodness to ask or cause to be asked of Siri and Willhalm, if they have not three sabres of mine in custody according to the enclosed note? if not, they must have lost two for they never sent them back. And will you desire Missiaglia to subscribe for and send me the Minerva, a Paris paper, as well as Galignani. I have been here this week, and was obliged to put 1. Byron's irresolution is thus described by a female friend of Madame Guiccioli Egli era tutto vestito di viaggio coi guanti fra le mani, col suo "bonnet, e persino colla piccola sua canna; non altro aspettavasi "che egli scendesse le scale, tutti i bauli erano in barca. Milord fa 66 la pretesta che se suona un ora dopo il mezzodì e che non sia ogni "cosa all' ordine (poichè le armi sole non erano in pronto) egli non "partirebbe più per quel giorno. L'ora suona, ed egli resta." "He was ready dressed for the journey, his gloves and cap on, "and even his little cane in his hand. Nothing was now waited for "but his coming down stairs,-his boxes being already all on board "the gondola. At this moment, my Lord, by way of pretext, "declares, that if it should strike one o'clock before every thing was "in order (his arms being the only thing not yet quite ready) he "would not go that day. The hour strikes, and he remains !" The writer adds, "It is evident he has not the heart to go ;" and the result proved that she had not judged him wrongly (Moore). 1819.] A CICISBEO. 393 on my armour and go the night after my arrival to the Marquis Cavalli's, where there were between two and three hundred of the best company I have seen in Italy, -more beauty, more youth, and more diamonds among the women than have been seen these fifty years in the Sea-Sodom.1 I never saw such a difference between two places of the same latitude, (or platitude, it is all one,)-music, dancing, and play, all in the same salle. The G.'s object appeared to be to parade her foreign lover as much as possible, and, faith, if she seemed to glory in the Scandal, it was not for me to be ashamed of it. Nobody seemed surprised;-all the women, on the contrary, were, as it were, delighted with the excellent example. The Vice-legate, and all the other Vices, were as polite as could be;-and I, who had acted on the reserve, was fairly obliged to take the lady under my arm, and look as much like a Cicisbeo as I could on so short a notice, to say nothing of the embarrassment of a cocked hat and sword, much more formidable to me than ever it will be to the enemy. I write in great haste-do you answer as hastily. I can understand nothing of all this; but it seems as if the G. had been presumed to be planted, and was determined to show that she was not,-plantation, in this hemisphere, being the greatest moral misfortune. But this is mere conjecture, for I know nothing about it-except that every body are very kind to her, and not discourteous to me. Fathers, and all relations, quite agreeable. Yours ever and truly, 1. "Gehenna of the waters! thou Sea-Sodom! B. Marino Faliero, act v. sc. 3. P.S.-Best respects to Mrs. H. I would send the compliments of the season; but the season itself is so little complimentary with snow and rain that I wait for sunshine. Here's a happy new year! but with reason, But as few as you please of the day. My this present writing is to direct you that, if she chooses, she may see the MS. Memoir in your possession. I wish her to have fair play, in all cases, even though it will not be published until after my decease. For this purpose, it were but just that Lady B. should know what is there said of her and hers, that she may have full power to remark on or respond to any part or parts, as may seem fitting to herself. This is fair dealing, I presume, in all events. To change the subject, are you in England? I send you an epitaph for Castlereagh : [Posterity will ne'er survey A nobler grave than this; 1820.] A POETICAL DAY. 395 Another for Pitt: Or, With death doom'd to grapple, Beneath this cold slab, he Who lied in the Chapel Now lies in the Abbey. The gods seem to have made me poetical this day In digging up your bones, Tom Paine, You visit him on earth again, He'll visit you in hell. You come to him on earth again, 1 Pray let not these versiculi go forth with my name, except among the initiated, because my friend H. has foamed into a reformer, and, I greatly fear, will subside into Newgate; since the Honourable House, according to Galignani's Reports of Parliamentary Debates, are menacing a prosecution to a pamphlet of his. I shall be very sorry to hear of any thing but good for him, particularly in these miserable squabbles; but these are the natural effects of taking a part in them. For my own part, I had a sad scene since you went. 1. Byron's fears were well founded. When the above was written, Hobhouse was actually in Newgate. Attention was called, December 10, 1819, in the House of Commons, to certain passages contained in his pamphlet entitled A Trifling Mistake in Thomas Lord Erskine's recent Preface. The pamphlet was voted a breach of privilege, and the publisher ordered to attend at the bar; but Edward Ellice, M.P. for Coventry, having stated that he was authorized to give up the name of the writer, Hobhouse was committed to Newgate, and remained there till the dissolution in February, 1820. At the ensuing election, he was chosen one of the representatives for Westminster. (See Letters, vol. i. p. 163, note 1.) |