_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _jan_ 3, 1868.
“Immense preparations are being made here for the reception of the
remains of the Emperor of Mexico, to arrive on the 15th. It will be a
very grand and solemn affair.
“I think the squib I enclose will please you. It is in the form of a
letter from M. M’Caskey to a Fenian colonel, showing what ought and
ought not to be the Fenian strategy. The main point is, however, to lay
stress on the necessity of ascribing all brutalities to the Government.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Jan_. 6, 1868.
“Your note and enclosure, though delayed by the snow in Styria, reached
me all safely yesterday. Your hearty words of good cheer dallied me out
of a blue-devilism that is more often my companion nowadays than some
fifteen or twenty years ago.
“I am sincerely glad you liked ‘B. C.’ I sent it to you because I really
thought it good--I mean, for the sort of thing it pretends to be.
“I hope you will like ‘M’Caske ‘: it may need a little retouching, but
not much. I send you some O’Ds., and if I live and do well I’ll try a
story for March No. I have a sort of glimmering notion of one flitting
across me now.
“We are here in the midst of _crêpe_ and black cloth, and for poor
Maximilian, whose body is to arrive this week. What a blunder of our
people not to send a ship to the convoy, as the French have done. We
have no tact of this kind, and lose more than you would believe by the
want of it.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
[Undated.]
“The Russians, people think here, will open the ball next spring by
pushing the Montenegrins to a rupture with the Turks, and thus opening
an opportunity for themselves to come in. Prussia is then to cross the
Maine, and the rest to follow.
“Then of course the programme of those who, like myself, are
‘Know-nothings’---- But it is, at least, _vraisemblable_.
“I am convinced we ought to resort to conscription, and the time is fit
for it. Now that you have given the masses privileges, let them assume
duties. So long as you denied them the suffrage, you pretended to govern
them and for them. Now the system is changed: _they_ have taken the
responsible charge of the State, and its first duty is defence.
“What hatfuls of money Dickens is making in America! I am half persuaded
I could do the ‘trick’ too, but in another way.
“Give my warmest and best regards to your wife, and all my good wishes
for the ‘year time’ (if the word be English).
“Have you seen Patton’s book--the ugly side of human nature? My youngest
daughter made a very clever review of it, and, I believe, burnt it
after.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Jan_. 16,1868.
“Though I did not fully concur in your view of M’C.’s letter, I have
made such emendations and additions as will make the sarcasm thin enough
to appeal to you.
“I still think it is the best squib I have done.
“Trusting that you will now be of my mind, and that my codicils, &c.,
may come in aright.
“I have just returned from attending the ex-Emperor’s funeral,--four
mortal hours in a uniform on a mule, with a fierce north-easter and a
High Mass!”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, Jan. 28,1868,
“‘God only knows who has the ace of diamonds!’ I once heard a pious
whist-player exclaim at the last trick of the game. In the same
devotional spirit I am tempted to say, ‘God only knows what has become
of certain O’Ds. that I sent you on the 6th of the month!’ Never mind.
Herewith goes a story which, if not as rattling, is, I think, better
_reading_ than the last. May you think so!
“Did you read in ‘The Times’--an extract from ‘The Globe’--an account
of Maximilian’s funeral? It was written by my youngest daughter, aged
eighteen, and I think very creditably done. I wish I may see her hand in
‘Maga’ before I die.” *
* Sidney Lever (Mrs Crafton Smith) was the author of a
volume of verses entitled ‘Fireflies,’ which was published
in 1883. She also wrote a story entitled ‘Years Ago,’ which
appeared in 1884. She died in London in 1887.--E. D.
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Feb_. 8, 1868.
“I suppose I wrote ‘oats’ as Sir Boyle did ‘gout’--because he could not
spell ‘rheumatism.’ I only saw the blunder myself a couple of days ago.
As to ‘M’Caskey,’ I am not often wedded to my own opinion of my own
things, but I declare I still think it a telling squib, and that no
earthly man could avoid seeing that it meant sarcasm, not seriousness.
Your _first_ impression, I am sure, has affected your judgment of the
‘revised code’; but at all events I am determined not to lose it, so if
you say no, don’t let me lose the opportunity of giving it to the world
while the subject is the uppermost one in men’s thoughts.
“I firmly believe it would be a great success. Bowes, the correspondent
of ‘The Standard,’ to whom I read it, said he thought it _better fun_
than any in O’Dowd.
“Strangely enough, the same post that brings me your discounted view of
O’Dowd brings me a note from Dr Burbidge, the head of the Malta College,
in which he says------ But I will just send you his note, and not garble
it by quoting, so I send it in its integrity.
“The Irish Church is doomed. The only question is not who is to use the
crowbar, but how to get out of the way when the edifice is falling. It
will certainly crush more than the parsons.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Feb_. 28, 1868.
“The enclosed portrait will show you that the gentleman who took Ninco
Nanco for Victor Emanuel, as recorded by C. O’Dowd, did not make an
unpardonable mistake. I saw it in a shop this morning, and was so amused
by what I feel to be a corroboration of my story that I could not help
sending it to you. The king makes a far better brigand than a sovereign,
and looks every inch a highwayman.
“I have been wondering at your long silence, and fearing all sorts of
disasters to a story I sent you a full month ago; but I take it you
have been dining out, and talking Scotch reform, and distribution, and
education, and Ireland, and Abyssinia, and forgetting me and all about
me,--and very natural, all things considered. I do envy you a bit of
London life--as a refresher: not that I crave to live there always, but
to go occasionally. To go and be treated as they do treat a stranger who
does not bore them too often is very agreeable indeed.
“The world is in a strange lull just now, but the wise people say that
France is making immense preparations, and certainly her agents are
buying up not only all the corn in Egypt, but all the horses in Hungary.
Here they are disarming lazily and honestly. B[eust] avows that he has
no thought of attempting to reconquer the lost position of Austria,
accepts defeat fairly, and will try to make profit out of disaster by
turning the nation to internal questions--to wise reforms and prudent
economies. It sounds very sensible, and people seem to believe it too.
“The position of Italy is very critical,--so much so that, if L. Nap.
were to die now, it would be an even chance that the whole edifice would
come down with a run, and the old Bourbons and priests be as they were.
It was by the public opinion of Europe the United Italy was made, and
the Italians have exerted themselves manfully to disgust the world
of all the good impressions in their favour, and show how little they
deserved their luck. All security in Europe is gone. No man dares to
prophesy what’s coming; but that great events are brewing, and great
changes, none can doubt. As to alliances, too, everything is uncertain.
It is like the cotillion, where any one may walk off with his
neighbour’s partner; and one wouldn’t be surprised to see France dancing
with Russia ere the ball breaks up.
“I am far from easy about the state of our relations with America, for
though a great majority of the educated men there like England, and
would abhor a rupture, the masses have a furious desire to wound our
national honour, and would do anything to inflict a stain upon us. We
ought to have sent them a duke, or at least a marquis, as Minister.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _March_ 3, 1868.
“I was glad to get your note. I could not imagine what had become of
you, and was searching the papers to see had the Queen sent for you, and
then speculating whether you’d offer _me_ a bishopric, or, like Sancho,
the governorship of an island. God help me, I believe I am fit for
nothing better!
“I’d do Dizzy, but it would be flunkeyism in _me_ just now. It would
be such a palpable bid for a place; and though I’d like to be ‘in
Lunacy,’--I mean a Commissioner of that ilk,--I’d not like to ‘compass
it.’
“I’d far rather review Kinglake; but just because I like both the
man and his books, I shrink from it. First of all, I am away from all
sources of information here; and though I might gather books about me,
I could not command what would be more essential still--the corrective
power of personal intercourse. It would grieve me sincerely to do him
badly, and I could by no means say that I could do him well. Just in
proportion as I hold his opinions about the Emperor, and think that
he--Kinglake--alone understands this man and has had the courage to avow
his opinion, I am afraid that my very partisanship might damage where
I meant to serve, and prejudice what I would rather uphold. It is with
great reluctance I decline what has immense attractions for me.
“I cannot forgive you not printing ‘M’Caskey.’ Posterity never will
pardon it, and my literary executor shall devote a full page to abuse of
you in his behalf.
“By all means give ‘Thornton’ this month, but the O’Ds. I now send I am
even more anxious about, especially the Irish one. I _know_ if they
give way to the tinkers they’ll spoil the kettle. Of course I can speak
without a tinge of prejudice. I feel as judicially important as a Judge
in Equity, but I _do_ think the No. of Mag. without me has a want of
flavour, even though the flavour be that of lemon-juice.
“I have a half hope of going over to England after Easter. Shall you
be there? I’d like a dinner with you at the Burlington. Hech, sirs! it
stirs my blood to think how gay I could be--gout, debts, and all ‘in no
wise to the contrary, nevertheless, notwithstanding.’
“Why won’t they (by way of young blood in the Administration!) make
me Under Secretary, F. O.? I know more of the Continent and foreign
questions than the whole lot of them.
“They have a line of character in French theatricals they call ‘grand
utilities.’ What a splendid thing it would be to introduce it into
political life. I think I’ll make an O’Dowd on it, and recommend
Cornelius himself to the Premier’s notice. From Tipperary to Taganrog
is a wide sweep, and I’d engage to ‘talk’ anything from Pat to
Panslav-isms. If you see Stanley, mention it.
“Did I tell you Russell--I mean ‘The Times’ man--wrote to me in great
glorification about ‘Only an Irishman.’
“My very warmest regards to Mrs Blackwood. If I live and do well--that
is, get leave and a little cash--I’ll go over and give them myself.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _March_ 16, 1868.
“It _was_ L. N. who first suggested ironclad gunboats to be employed
against the Russian batteries; and as for his courage, you’ll get no one
on the Continent to believe it except M. Persigny and Madame Walerothy.
He is the Post pump-man _par excellence_.
“As you and your wife have left town, I have lost much of the wish to go
over.
“I quite agree with you that the tone of condescension employed by the
press towards Dizzy is disgusting in the extreme; but my hands are tied,
by the position I am in, from saying how highly I think of him. I know
nothing of his honesty, nothing at all of his nature; but his ability
is unquestionably above the other men’s. His great want is a total
deficiency in all genial elements. He attaches no one, and he is
incapable of understanding the uses of those traits which made
Palmerston and Lord Melbourne the idols of their party.
“Thank God, Gladstone has still less of these endearing qualities! But
still I think our friends will have a short lease of Whitehall, and
(unlike Pat) no claim for their improvements when they are evicted.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _April_ 6, 1868.
“First of all, I hope you are about to print my short story this month.
I’m sure you’ll like it when in type, and I want to see it there.
“Secondly, what would you say to an Irish tale, a serial, a story of
modern--that is, _recent_--Ireland, as opposed to the old Erin, with all
its conflicting agencies of Tory and Whig, radical, rebel, and loyalist,
dashed with a something of that humour that even poverty and famine
have not exhausted, without a bit of sermonising or anything at all
‘doctrinaire’? I think I could put many strong truths forcibly forward,
and insinuate much worth consideration and reflection; and if I could
also make an amusing story, it would be like Mary Jones’ Alphabet in
Gingerbread--‘Learning to the _taste_ of the Public.’
“Of course, I do not mean this at once, but after some months of plan,
plot, and perhaps a visit to the Land of Bog as a refresher. Now say,
would it not do _you_ good?--as I feel it would do _me_, I believe I
have _one_ more effort in me, and I don’t think I have two; but I’d like
to give myself the chance of finishing creditably, and I own to you your
monthly criticism and comments are a stimulus and a guide that, in my
remoteness from life and the world, are of great value to me. However,
make your decision on this or other grounds. If it would be of service
to the Mag., _you_ know and _I_ do not.
“I am flattered by your repetition of the offer about Kinglake, just as
I should feel flattered if a man asked me to ride a thoroughbred that
had thrown the last three or four that tried him. I believe if I went to
London I should say ‘yes,’ because I could there have books and men, and
K. himself, whom I know sufficiently to speak with in all freedom. I
can always have a month’s leave, but there are difficulties of various
kinds. However, the _prospect_ of the review forms now a strong element
in my wish to go over. If _you_ had been at the Burlington I’d decide on
going at once.
“The attack of Gladstone is on a false issue. He assails the Church on
the ground of its anomalies, which no one desires to leave unredressed,
and is about as logical in advising extinction as a doctor would be that
recommended poisoning a patient because he had a sore leg. If the Church
is to be abolished for _expediency sake_, nothing should be said about
its internal discrepancies, since these could easily be remedied, and no
one desires to uphold them. I attach far more weight to the adverse tone
of the press [‘Times’ and ‘P. Mall’) than to all that has been said in
Parliament. People in England get their newspapers by heart, and then
fancy that they have written the leaders themselves; but they never
think this way about the speeches in Parliament. My hand is so shaky
with gout that I scarcely believe you will be able to read me: _poco
male_ if you can’t, for my head is little better than my fingers.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _May_ 5,1868.
“Let me assure you that, however glad I was to write in the
Magazine--that had been an old boyish love of mine (I bought ‘Maga’ when
half crowns were gold guineas to me),--what I prized even higher was
the immense advantage I derived from your frank and cordial and clever
comments, which, whether you praise or blame, always served me.
“This intercourse to a man like myself was of great value, removed as I
was from the opinions of the moving world of clubs and society: it was
of immense advantage to have the concentrated budget of the world in
the words of a friend who feels interested also in the success I could
obtain. For years and years Mortimer O’Sullivan continued to criticise
me month by month, and when he died the blank so discouraged and
depressed me that I felt like one writing without a public--till
you replaced him; and that same renewal of energy which some critics
ascribed to me in ‘Tony’ and ‘Sir B.’ was in reality the result of that
renewed vigour imparted by your healthful and able advice.
“Now do not be angry at my selfishness if I try to exalt my wares. I
tell you candidly I do it in the way of trade: it is a mere expedient to
keep my duns off, for--an honest truth--I think hardly enough of what I
have done and of myself for doing it.
“I shall not be able to open till the latter end of the year, as I want
a mass of material I must get by correspondence. I can’t leave my wife:
she grew so anxious after the assassination of M’Gee, that she owned she
thought I’d never return to England alive. For this she has, of course,
no reason beyond mere terror, aided by the fact that some Fenian friend
always sends us the worst specimens of Fenian denunciation in the press,
with all the minatory passages underlined.
“I have a month’s leave at my disposal (and suppose I could easily
extend it) whenever I like to take it; and if all should go well in
autumn, we might do worse than take a flying ramble through the south
and west of Ireland.
“I am going now to look at some of the islands in the Adriatic: they are
as little known as the Fijis, and about as civilised.
“When you print my story, ‘Fred Thornton,’ you’ll see it will look
better than you think it. I hope you’ll put it in your next.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _June_ 15, 1868.
“One would have thought that you had a vision of the devil dancing in my
breeches pocket when you sent me a cheque in advance. Sooth to say, my
‘sooty friend’ does perform many a _pas seul_ there; but as I seldom put
my hand in, I don’t disturb him.
“I take your hint and send you an O’D. for the House, and I suppose the
one on ‘Labouchere’ will reach me to-morrow or next day.
“I don’t know what is the matter with me. Hitherto I have divided my
life pretty equally between whist and sleep; now, as I get no whist
here, I have fallen back on my other resource, but with such a will that
I rarely awake at all. I’ll back myself against anything but a white
bear, and give odds.
“This infernal place is slowly wearing me out. I have not one man to
talk to. I don’t care for indigo,--my own prospects are blue enough. As
for rags, my small clothes suffice. But why bore you? I’d like to go and
see you, but as that is not exactly practicable, I’ll pay you a visit
in _imagination_, and in _reality_ send my warmest regards to Mrs
Blackwood.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Monday, June_ 15.
“I have deferred these a day, thinking that the ‘Labouchere’ O’D. might
arrive; but I delay no longer now, as the post is in without it.
“I have got a long letter from Grant from Suez, interesting because from
him, but in other respects tame, and with no novelty that the papers
have not told us.
“I am informed to-day that the Mediterranean Squadron are to be here
next week, and I am not overjoyed at the news. My wife is sick; myself,
poor, out of spirits, and dissatisfied, and by no means in the vein to
distribute outdoor relief in cigars and bitter beer to a set of noisy
devils who, for the most part, reckon uproar as the synonym for jollity.
“That little heathen, as you called him, ------, is raising a No Popery
cry in a course of lectures through the country, and means to help
himself into Parliament. If the Irish Church be doomed, her fate will be
owing to her defenders: the rottenness and black dishonesty of the men
who rally round her would disgrace any cause.”
_To Mr William Blackwood._
“Trieste, _June_ 25, 1868.
“I was glad to see your autograph again, even though it brings to me
shady tidings. I posted the ‘Lab.’ O’D. on the _4th of June_, myself.
“It was spicy and ‘saucy,’ and I’m sorry it has miscarried. I never
could re-write anything. I was once called on by F. O. to state more
fully some points I had written in my ‘Despatch No. so-and-so,’ and I
had no copy, of course, and was obliged to say I’d write another if they
liked, but had lost all memory of that referred to.
“I see little chance of getting out of this except to be buried, and if
habit will do something, I’ll not mind that ceremony after some years at
Trieste. I’d say, Why don’t you come and see me?--if I was worth seeing.
But why don’t you come and see Venice, which is only four hours from me,
and then come over to me? Men who hunt seldom fish--a rod spoils a nice
light hand; so that what could you do better in your long vacation than
come out here, fully see Venice, Vienna, the Styrian Alps, and I’ll
brush myself up and try and be as pleasant as my creditors will permit
me?
“I am delighted with Kinglake, but I want the two first volumes. If
I had been in town, where I could have seen books and men (men
especially), I’d have been delighted to review him.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _July_ 6, 1868.
“My ‘Lab.’ O’D. was, I believe, niched out of the post here: no loss,
perhaps, for it was terribly wicked and personal. This is milder,
and cuts _two_ ways. Let me see a proof, and if I have a third in the
meantime, I will send it.
“Do print my story, like a good fellow. You’ll see it is a hit.
“I have just received news that the fleet will be here on Friday, and
then--the deluge!
“I have ordered such a supply of bitter ale and cigars that the
authorities are curious to know if I am about to open a _Biergarten_,
which I secretly suspect I am--minus the ready-money profits.
“Tegeloff comes down to meet the admiral, and if anything turns up you
shall have it.”
_To Mr William Blackwood._
“Trieste, _July_ 16, 1868.
“Oh, B. B., what a humbug you are! affecting to be hard-worked, and
galley-slaved, and the rest of it. Telling this to _me_ too. Dives
lecturing Lazarus on the score of dyspepsia is a mild case compared to a
publisher asking compassion from a poor devil of an author on the score
of his fatigue. I picture you to myself as a careless dog, hunting,
flirting, cricket-playing, and picnic-ing, with no severer labour than
reading an amusing proof over a mild cheroot and a sherry cobbler.
I tell you that on every ground--morally, aesthetically, and
geographically--you _ought_ to come and see me, and if you won’t, I’ll
be shot but I’ll make an O’Dowd on you.
“So now it seems there is not one ‘Labouchere’ O’D. but two ‘Labouchere’
O’Ds., and I see nothing better to do than take your choice. I believe
the last the best.
“As the Government are good Christians, and chasten those they love,
they have made Hannay a consul! Less vindictive countries give four
or five years’ hard labour and have an end of it; but there is a rare
malice in sending some poor devil of a literary man who loves the
Garrick, and lobster salad, and small whist, and small flattery, to eke
out existence in a dreary Continental town, without society or sympathy,
playing patron all the while and saying, ‘We are not neglecting our men
of letters.’ I’d rather be a dog and bark at the door of the Wyndham or
the Alfred than spend this weariful life of exile I am sentenced to.
“I hope you’ll like Bob Considine’s story, and let it be a warning and
a lesson to you how you worry your wife when you have one, and how
unsuspectingly a husband should walk all the days of his life. I
don’t think the world sees it yet, but I am a great moralist, terribly
undervalued and much misunderstood.
“Kinglake is admirable; he has but one fault,--and perhaps it would
be none to less impatient men than myself,--he does not _get on_ fast
enough. It is splendidly written, and with a rare courage too.
“What a fuss you are all making over Abyssinia I Hech, sirs, but ye are
gratefu’ for sma’ mercies! I wish to Heaven the press would moderate its
raptures, or we’ll get a rare set down from the foreign journals.
“Did I tell you that there is a great rifle-match, open to all nations
(even Scotch and Irish), at Vienna this month? There’s another reason
for coming out. You could make your bull’s-eye on your way to me. You
had better accede, or you may read of yourself as ‘The man who wouldn’t
come when he was axed.’”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _August_ 16, 1868.
“I am worn out with fatigue and anxiety: for five nights I have not been
to bed. My poor wife is again dangerously ill, and as yet no sign of any
favourable kind has appeared. God help me in this great trouble!
“I wanted to see those things in print, but it is late now to correct
them. I believe I wrote ‘Mincio’ in the ‘La Marmora’ paper when it
should be ‘Oglio.’ Look to this for me.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Aug. 18, 1868
“You will, I know, be glad to hear my wife has had a favourable change.
One of the doctors of the fleet has been fortunate enough to hit on a
lucky treatment, and the admiral most kindly allows him to remain behind
and continue the treatment. The fleet sails to-day.
“I send you a few lines which, I believe, would be well liked and
opportune: they are true, at all events.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Sept_. 3, 1868.
“I thank you heartily for your kind words about my wife. Thank God, she
is now improving daily, and my anxiety has at last got some peace.
“I was greatly pressed to join Lord Clarence Paget down amongst the
islands of Dalmatia, and nothing but my anxiety for my wife prevented
me. It would have been a rare opportunity to pick up much odd material,
and a pleasant ramble besides. Sir H. Holland has spent a few days with
me, and wished me much to join his tour,--and _his_ companionship would
have been delightful,--but I was obliged to refuse. It is weeks since I
wrote anything but a few passing lines, and I have not yet come round to
the pleasant feeling that in settling down to my work I have got back
to a little world where no cares can come in save those necessary to my
hero and heroine. But I hope this will come yet.
“I’d have waited to send you another O’D. or two, but I wanted to thank
you for your hearty note, and acknowledge its enclosure. Just as a
little money goes far with a poor man, a few words of sympathy are
marvellous sweetness in the cup of a lonely hermit like myself, for you
have no idea of the dreary desolation of this place as regards one who
does not sweat guineas nor has any to sweat. The Party, I fear, will go
out before _I_ can, and for all I see I shall die here; and certainly if
they’re not pleasanter company after death than before it, the cemetery
will be poor fun with Triestono.
“I don’t think Trollope _pleasant_, though he has a certain hard
common-sense about him and coarse shrewdness that prevents him being
dull or tiresome. His books are not of a high order, but still I am
always surprised that he could write them. He is a good fellow, I
believe, _au fond_, and has few jealousies and no rancours; and for a
writer, is not that saying much?
“What I feel about Kinglake’s book is this. The great problem to be
solved is, first, Was Sebastopol assailable by the north side? Second,
Were the French really desirous of a short war? I suspect K. knows
far more than, with all his courage, he could say on the score of our
Allies’ loyalty; and any one who has not access to particular sources of
knowledge would be totally unable to be his reviewer, for in reality
the critic ought, though not able to write the book he reviews, to be in
possession of such acquaintance with the subject as to be in a position
to say what other versions the facts recorded would bear, and to weigh
the evidence for and against the author’s. Another difficulty
remains: what a bathos would it be--the original matter of almost any
writer--among or after the extracted bits of the book itself. Kinglake’s
style is, with all its glitter, so intensely powerful, and his
descriptive parts so perfectly picture-like, that the reviewer must
needs take the humble part of the guide and limit himself to directing
attention to the beauties in view, and make himself as little seen or
felt as need be. Not that this would deter me, for I like the man much,
and think great things of his book; but I feel I am not in a position to
do him the justice his grand book deserves. If I were a week with you in
Scotland, and sufficiently able to withdraw from the pleasures of your
house, I believe I could do the review; but you see my bonds, and know
how I am tied.
“You will see by the divided sheet of this note that I started with the
good intention of brevity; but this habit of writing by the sheet, I
suppose, has corrupted me, and perhaps I’ll not be able now to make my
will without ‘padding.’
“I have the Bishop of Gibraltar on a visit with me: about the most
brilliant talker I ever met.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Sept_. 14, 1868.
“I send you a very spicy bit of wickedness on the Whig-Radicals--but,
for the love of the Virgin, let the proof be carefully looked to! I am
as uncertain about the errors of the press as I am about my personal
shortcomings; but I rely on your reader with the faith of a drowning man
on a lifebuoy.
“My wife is a shade better, but my anxiety is great, and I (who
habitually sleep eighteen hours out of twenty-four) have not had a
night’s rest for ten days.
“We are suffering greatly here from drought. No rain has fallen for
three months, and my well is as completely drained as my account at my
bankers, or anything else you can fancy of utter exhaustion.
“Who writes ‘M. Aurelia’? He or she certainly knows nothing of Italian
nature or temperament. Not but that the story opens well and is cleverly
written, but I demur to the Italian. _I_ know the rascals well; but,
like short whist, it cost me twenty years and some tin to do it. Keep my
opinion, however, to yourself, for I hate to disparage a contemporary,
and indeed this slipped out of me because my daughter has been talking
to me of the story while I write.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Sept_. 16, 1868.
“I have just had a round of clerical visitors, beginning with the Bishop
of Gibraltar and ending with the Dean of Exeter. Very pleasant talking
and humorous men, and only agreeably dashed with the priest element,
which is sufficiently feminine to temper down the rougher natures of lay
humanities.
“I’d like much to be with you and Story. There is a mine of the
pleasantest sort of stuff in him. Pray commend me to him heartily.
“I am sentenced, however, to pass my life with Greeks, Jews, and
Ethiopians and people below Jordan,--and I don’t take to it, that’s a
fact! I hear that Gladstone will give up Disendowment and be satisfied
with Disestablishment,--not because he wants to let the Church down
easier, but that he neither knows how to rob nor what to do with the
booty.
“If they only come to a _long_ fight over the question, it will end by
Dizzy dealing with the parsons as he did with the franchise. He’d bowl
over Gladstone first and then carry the whole question, and not leave a
curate nor even a grave-digger of the Establishment.
“I must positively manage a run over to town in spring--and Ireland too.
This is essential.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Oct_. 5, 1868.
“I thank you heartily for the note and the enclosure: both were very
welcome to me. Old as I am, I still need tin and tenderness.
“I have done a few lines, as you suggested, on Walewsky, whom I knew
well. He was a good fellow, but with immense vanity and overruling
self-conceit.
“I have determined to go to Ireland in the beginning of the year, and
seek out in a part of Donegal not known to me nor, I believe, many
others, the _locale_ of a new story. I want to do something with a
strong local colour, and feel that I must freshen myself up for the
effort. My poor wife gains very slowly, but I hope and trust she may be
well enough to let me leave her by February.
“If you saw my surroundings here--my Jews and Greeks and Armenians, and,
worse than these, my Christian friends!--you would really credit me with
resources that I honestly own I never believed in. How I do anything
amongst them puzzles me.
“It is a good thought about the Election addresses. I’ll think over it.
“Who wrote ‘Aurelia,’ and how long will it run?”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Oct_. 17, 1868.
“Of course I only spoke of O’Dowding Trollope in jest. I never had
the slightest idea of attacking a friend, and a good fellow to boot. I
thought, and shall think it great presumption for him to stand in any
rivalry with Lord Stanley, who, though immensely over-rated, is still
far and away above we poor devils in action, though we can caper and
kick like the devil.
“I have just this moment arrived at home from a short tour in Dalmatia,
where I amused myself much, and would have liked to have stayed longer
and seen more. I send you the proofs at once, but, as usual, begging you
will have them closely looked to by an ‘older and a better soldier.’
“I suppose I must set to work now at my yearly consular return, for up
to this the Government have never seen my handwriting save in an appeal
for my pay!
“I hope I may live to shake hands with you all in spring.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Oct_. 19, 1868.
“I am so glad to get your long and pleasant letter that I return your
fire at once. First of all for explanations. I never seriously thought
of O’Dowding Trollope--he is far too good a fellow; and, besides, he is
one of us--I mean scripturally, for in politics he is a vile unbeliever.
“You will be glad to hear that our notice of the sailors in the last
O’D. was received with ‘Cheers for Blackwood’ in the wardroom of the
fleet--and by Jack himself, who read it. Lord Clarence wrote to me from
Naples saying he was never more gratified in his life, and that the
great effect of it on his men is beyond belief.
“I have just come back from a short ramble in Dalmatia with my youngest
daughter. It was very pleasant, and we enjoyed ourselves much and saw
a good deal. She desires me to send you her best regards for your kind
message. I have my doubts if she will not one day figure in ‘Maga.’ She
has just played me a clever trick. She reviewed ‘The Bramleighs,’ sent
it to an Irish paper, the ‘D. E. Mail.’ without my knowledge, and cut me
up for her own amusement. I never guessed the authorship when I read it.
“I assure you that I live in the mere hope of a visit to you. I want to
see Scotland, and with you.
“Things are going precious badly here. Beust has gone too fast, and
the privileges accorded to the Hungarians here stimulated the other
nationalities to a like importunity.
“I think Austria will fall to pieces. It is like the Chinese
plum-pudding where they forgot to tie the bag. Spain has deferred the
war. No one can venture to fight till he sees how the ‘Reds’ mean to
behave.
“We had Farragut here, and I dined him and _fêted_ his officers to the
best of my wits. I am convinced it is our best and honestest policy to
treat Yankees with [? cordiality]. Their soreness towards us was not
causeless, and we had really not been as generous towards them as we
were towards other foreigners. I have openly recanted my opinion of
them, and I am proud to say that the first suggestion of paying off the
Alabama claim was an O’Dowd. I wish these d------d Tories, before they
go out for ever (as it will be), would give me something near or in
England. This banishment is scarcely fair.
“I got such a nice note from Kinglake in return for a dedication of the
book to him. I only wish I could acknowledge it by the way that would
please me best, by telling the world what I think her great book is.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Oct_ 30, 1868
“Lord Sheffield was here and spent a day with me, and, strange to say,
he does not take a glowing view of the Party. He distrusts Dizzy, as all
old Tories do; but, in the name of Heaven, what else have we?
“When Mdlle. Laffarges’ sentence was pronounced _avec ses circonstances
atténuantes_, Alphonse Karr said it was because she mixed gum always
with the arsenic; and may not this be the Disraeli secret? At least,
he’d give us gum if he could, and when he can’t, he saves torture by
administering his poison in strong doses. When the Russian traveller
cut up his child and flung him piecemeal to the wolves, he forgot what
a zest he imparted to pursuit by the mere thought that there was
always something coming. Don’t you think Pat and the wolf have some
resemblance? At least, it will be as hard to persuade that there is no
more ‘baby’ to be eaten.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Nov_. 17, 1868.
“Have you seen Labouchere’s row with his colleague? What a talent he has
for shindies! I got a letter from him a few days ago, and he is quite
pleased with the O’D. upon him. There is no accounting for tastes, but
most men would have thought it the reverse of complimentary.
“We are threatened with the passage of the Prince of Wales through the
place. God grant it be only a threat! If there’s anything I abhor, it’s
playing flunkey in a cocked hat and a policeman’s uniform.
“I think our O’Ds. this month will make a noise,--some of them, at
least.
“Strange climate this: the roses are coming out first and the oleanders
are again blossoming, and all the mountains of Styria around us are
covered with snow.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“_Wednesday, Dec_. 1868.
“I have been very ill--so ill that I thought these few lines of notice
of my old schoolfellow should have been my last. I hope you will think I
have done him well. I am getting round again--that is, if this ‘runaway
knock’ should not be repeated; but Death has occasionally the postman’s
trick of knocking at several doors together when he is pressed for time,
and I believe he is busy with a neighbour of mine this moment. But this
is a grim theme, and let us quit it.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Dec_. 17,1868.
“I get up out of my bed to write to you. I have been--still am--very
ill, and not well sure if I am to rub through. My sufferings have been
great, and I have had nights of torture I cannot bear to think of.
“I hope Bradlaugh will not give you any trouble, but I feel sure I said
nothing that could be called libellous. Would it be reparation to say
that, after seeing the published list of the new Government, I beg
to assure Mr B. that there is no reason whatever he might not figure
amongst them?
“It is great aggravation to dying to feel that I must be buried here. I
never hated a place or people so much, and it is a hard measure to lay
me down amongst them where I have no chance of getting away till that
grand new deal of the pack before distributing the stakes.
“I wish I could write one more O’D.--‘the last O’Dowd.’ I have a number
of little valueless legacies to leave the world, and could put them into
codicil form and direct their destination. My ink is as sluggish as my
blood, indeed it has been my blood for many a day, and I must wind up.
I don’t think I have strength to go over the longer proof: perhaps you
would kindly do it for me.
“The cheque came all right, but I was not able to thank you at the
time. Give my love to Mrs Blackwood, and say that it was always fleeting
across me, in moments of relief, I was to meet you both again and be
very jolly and light-hearted. Who knows! I have moments still that seem
to promise a rally; but there must be a long spell of absence from pain
and anxiety--not so easy things to accomplish.
“I’ll write to you very soon again if strong enough.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _the day before Xmas_ 1868
“I promised to report if I was alive, and I do so, though, without any
captiousness or Gladstonianism, the matter of my vitality might be well
open to contention.
“I am barely able to move from a sofa to a chair, very weak, intensely
nervous, and not at all reconciled to the fast-and-loose way death is
treating me. Though there is every reason why I ought not to wish to go
just now, I will put a bold face on it and say _Ecco mi pronto!_ But the
grinning humbug sends away the coach with orders to come back to-morrow
at the same hour.
“I hope you have heard no more of Bradlaugh. I’d not like to carry any
memory of him with me, which I might if he were annoying you. What a
beast I am to obtrude my sadness against the blaze of your Xmas fire! I
thought, however, you would like to hear I was yet here,--though to what
end or for what use, if I continue as I now am, is not easy to see. I
feel, however, that if I was freely bled and a little longer starved,
I’d soon be in the frame of mind I detect in my colleagues of the
Consular service here, and that, with a slight dash of paralysis, I
should soon be _à l’hauteur_ of my employment in the public service.
“I have resolved to devote my first moment of strength to a despatch
to F. O., and if I be only half an imbecile as I believe, I shall crown
myself with imperishable laurel.
“It’s a bore for a man--especially an Irishman--to be called away when
the rows are beginning! Now next year there will be wigs on the green
and no mistake. Besides, I’d like to see Gladstone well away in the deep
slough of Disendowment, which I know he’ll fall into. Disestablish he
may, but the other will be a complication that nothing but open robbery
could deal with.
“Then I’d like to see him lose his temper, and perhaps lose his place.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Trieste, _Dec_. 29, 1868.
“Weak as I am, I must thank you for your kind note, which has done me a
deal of good. I assure you I never valued kindness more, and I will ask
you to say as much for me to your wife, and to thank her sincerely for
all her sympathy and good feeling for me.
“I am, I take it, about as well as I shall ever be again, which is
not much to boast of,--but I really am past boasting in any sense; and
provided I do not die at the top first, like the cabbage palms, I ought
to be thankful.
“I wish with all my heart I could be your guest, in such guise as I
might hope to be; now I am not worth my salt. I was dreaming away to-day
of making an O’Dowd will, and leaving to the public my speculations on
many things ere I go.
“We are living amidst wars and alarms here. Greeks and Turks seem eager
to be at each other; and if talking and bumptiousness should carry the
day, Heaven help the poor Turk!
“I know Hobart well; and why he didn’t sink the _Enosis_ when she fired
on him I can’t conceive, all the more as he is always at least half
screwed (they must have watered his grog that morning). The Greeks here
have subscribed a million of florins (£100,000), and have ordered an
armour-plated frigate to be built and launched by the 20th Feb. I don’t
know whether all the row will induce the Turks to cede territory, but
I’m perfectly certain that it will end by our giving up Gibraltar,
though the logic of the proceeding may be a little puzzling at first
blush.
“The foreign press is always preaching up neutrality to us in the
affairs of Turkey. Good God! can’t they see the man who represents us
in Constantinople? Can they wish more from us than the most incapable
cretin in the public service?
“Thank your nephew cordially for me for his good wishes for me. Who
knows if I may not live to say as much to him one day. I get plucky when
I am half an hour out of pain.
“I am in great hopes that my wife’s malady has taken a favourable turn;
one gleam of such sunshine would do me more good than all this dosing.
“Forgive my long rambling note; but it was so pleasant to talk to you, I
could not give in.”