_Rome, Dec_. 9, 1848.--As to Florence itself, I do not like it, with
the exception of the galleries and churches, and Michel Angelo's
marbles. I do not like it, for the reason you _do_, because it seems
like home. It seems a kind of Boston to me,--the same good and the
same ill; I have had enough of both. But I have so many dear friends
in Boston, that I must always wish to go there sometimes; and there
are so many precious objects of study in Florence, that a stay of
several months could not fail to be full of interest. Still, the
spring must be the time to be in Florence; there are so many charming
spots to visit in the environs, much nearer than those you go to
in Rome, within scope of an afternoon's drive. I saw them only when
parched with sun and covered with dust. In the spring they must be
very beautiful.
* * * * *
_December_, 1848.--I felt much what you wrote, "_if it were well with
my heart_." How seldom it is that a mortal is permitted to enjoy a
paradisaical scene, unhaunted by some painful vision from the past
or the future! With me, too, dark clouds of care and sorrow have
sometimes blotted out the sunshine. I have not lost from my side an
only sister, but have been severed from some visions still so dear,
they looked almost like hopes. The future seems too difficult for me.
I have been as happy as I could, and I feel that this summer, as last,
had I been with my country folks, the picture of Italy would not have
been so lively to me. Now I have been quite off the beaten track of
travel, have seen, thought, spoken, dreamed only what is Italian. I
have learned much, received many strong and clear impressions. While
among the mountains, I was for a good while quite alone, except for
occasional chat with the contadine, who wanted to know if Pius IX. was
not _un gran carbonaro!_--a reputation which he surely ought to have
forfeited by this time. About me they were disturbed: "_E sempre sola
soletta_," they said, "_eh perche?_"
Later, I made one of those accidental acquaintances, such as I have
spoken of to you in my life of Lombardy, which may be called romantic:
two brothers, elderly men, the last of a very noble family, formerly
lords of many castles, still of more than one; both unmarried, men of
great polish and culture. None of the consequences ensued that would
in romances: they did not any way adopt me, nor give me a casket of
diamonds, nor any of their pictures, among which were originals
by several of the greatest masters, nor their rich cabinets, nor
miniatures on agate, nor carving in wood and ivory. They only showed
me their things, and their family archives of more than a hundred
volumes, (containing most interesting documents about Poland, where
four of their ancestors were nuncios,) manuscript letters from Tasso,
and the like. With comments on these, and legendary lore enough to
furnish Cooper or Walter Scott with a thousand romances, they enriched
me; unhappily, I shall never have the strength or talent to make due
use of it. I was sorry to leave them, for now I have recrossed the
frontier into the Roman States. I will not tell you where,--I know
not that I shall ever tell where,--these months have been passed. The
great Goethe hid thus in Italy; "Then," said he, "I did indeed feel
alone,--when no former friend could form an _idea_ where I was." Why
should not ---- and I enjoy this fantastic luxury of _incognito_ also,
when we can so much more easily?
I will not name the place, but I will describe it. The rooms are
spacious and airy; the loggia of the sleeping room is rude, but it
overhangs a lovely little river, with its hedge of willows. Opposite
is a large and rich vineyard; on one side a ruined tower, on the other
an old casino, with its avenues of cypress, give human interest to the
scene. A cleft amid the mountains full of light leads on the eye to a
soft blue peak, very distant. At night the young moon trembles in the
river, and its soft murmur soothes me to sleep; it needs, for I have
had lately a bad attack upon the nerves, and been obliged to stop
writing for the present. I think I shall stay here some time, though I
suppose there are such sweet places all over Italy, if one only looks
for one's self. Poor, beautiful Italy! how she has been injured of
late! It is dreadful to see the incapacity and meanness of those to
whom she had confided the care of her redemption.
I have thus far passed this past month of fine weather most
delightfully in revisiting my haunts of the autumn before. Then, too,
I was uncommonly well and strong; it was the golden period of my Roman
life. The experience what long confinement may be expected after, from
the winter rains, has decided me _never_ to make my hay when the sun
shines: _i.e._, to give no fine day to books and pens.
The places of interest I am nearest now are villas Albani and
Ludovisi, and Santa Agnese, St. Lorenzo, and the vineyards near Porta
Maggiore. I have passed one day in a visit to Torre dei Schiavi
and the neighborhood, and another on Monte Mario, both Rome and the
Campagna-day golden in the mellowest lustre of the Italian sun. * * *
But to you I may tell, that I always go with Ossoli, the most
congenial companion I ever had for jaunts of this kind. We go out in
the morning, carrying the roast chestnuts from Rome; the bread and
wine are found in some lonely little osteria; and so we dine; and
reach Rome again, just in time to see it, from a little distance,
gilded by the sunset.
This moon having been so clear, and the air so warm, we have visited,
on successive evenings, all the places we fancied: Monte Cavallo, now
so lonely and abandoned,--no lights there but moon and stars,--Trinità
de' Monti, Santa Maria Maggiore, and the Forum. So now, if the rain
must come, or I be driven from Rome, I have all the images fair and
fresh in my mind.
About public events, why remain ignorant? Take a daily paper in the
house. The Italian press has recovered from the effervescence of
childish spirits;--you can now approximate to the truth from its
reports. There are many good papers now in Italy. Whatever represents
the Montanelli ministry is best for you. That gives the lead now. I
see good articles copied from the "Alba."