last two days she called on me thrice. On the evening of Saturday she
came at eight, and left at midnight. She talked for ten. She expressed
great concern for your illness, and exclaimed several times--“Oh,
if I had seen her, I would have made her know what a husband she
possesses!” To hear her, I am the idol of Italy. She knows by heart a
great quantity of my verses, some of which I had as good as forgotten.
Suffice it to say that she knows more of them than Curci, and is more
enthusiastic than Curci about me and my doings. But the greatest
wonder is that she recites long snatches of my _Analytic Comment on
the Divina Commedia_. She told me that, being unable to procure it
in print (as it is prohibited in Italy), she copied it all out from
one that was lent her in secret. That many other people have done the
like. That of my _Salterio_ (the _whole_ of which she truly knows by
heart) she is acquainted with a great number of manuscript copies.
That in Rome a liberal Monsignore named Muzzarelli has, like herself,
copied it out, and learned it off. That, were I to return, in passing
through Romagna, youthful admirers would come about me in shoals, and
would unharness the horses from my carriage to drag me in triumph.
Matter for laughter! Sangiovanni, who was present at all this (which
I can but suppose exaggerated), had to wipe his eyes from time to
time--the loving friend. In short, dear Frances, without your having
observed it nor yet myself, you have as husband the greatest man of
Italy, indeed the idol of Italy! Who would ever have fancied it?
The best of it is that another gentleman from Lugo has arrived, Conte
Carducci, who brings me a letter from Comendator Borgia (a descendant
of that scoundrel Alexander VI.), and both Carducci and Borgia speak
to me in the same style.... This shows once again that the physical
optics are the reverse of the imaginary; for, as by physics distant
objects seem to us small, so by imagination small objects, the further
off they are, seem the larger. I should be almost afraid of returning,
even if I could, so that I might not verify that saying, _Minuit
præsentia famam_.
The Marchesa gave us a proof of her physiognomic science which made
me and Sangiovanni laugh a great deal. She saw here Janer, whom she
knew not in the least, and who showed her a thousand civilities. After
Janer had left, she, who had treated him distantly, called me aside,
and said: “Beware of that man, who has the face of a great intriguer
and a very cunning fellow.” Isn’t this queer?...
With her came a very handsome young man from Fermo, named Ferri,
nephew of Cardinal Ferri. He, on hearing the nature of your illness,
spoke of one of his of the same class, from which he has recovered
to the most perfect health. He was reduced, as he described it, to
a truly deplorable condition, from which he rallied by continual
exercise; and if one sees him now!
“Di due rivali i pregi in sè compone--
Marte alla forza, alla bellezza Adone--”[81]
(old verses of mine). So, my dear Frances, take as much exercise as
you can....
Lo and behold, the day is again beautiful, and what a brilliant sun!
Truly the climate of London is more changeable than a Frenchwoman.
Gabriel is knocking with that double knock of his like the postman. I
trust he avoided the rain under some shelter--will go and ask. He has
returned all drenched, and Margaret will make him change clothes....
I embrace you, and bless Maria. Repeat to her that her letter gave
me great pleasure; and tell her that I expect one in Italian, which
will serve not only to show me how you are, when you don’t want to be
writing yourself, but also to keep her in the practice of the language
of “the beautiful land.” Believe me, full of unalterable affection,
Your Husband,
GABRIELE.
E.
[50 CHARLOTTE STREET, LONDON.
_21st October 1836._]
MY DEAREST FRANCES,
Ever since you informed us that the day of your longed-for return
would be the 25th of this October (which will complete two full months
of your absence) we have never ceased to count, every day, how many
days remain before reaching the one which is to restore you to us.
The most steady computer of this sum is Christina. This morning,
barely just out of bed, she came in great glee into the room where I
was studying, and the first words she spoke were these--“Not counting
to-day, only three days remain” (you will understand that the day of
my writing is Friday evening). And I’m sure that to-morrow morning
she will come and say, “There are only two remaining.” ... If you
will tell us at about what hour you will arrive at the Coach-office,
we will all come to meet you, and will bring you home in triumph,
outbidding the most pompous ovations of ancient Rome.... Oh that I
had two arms as long as from here to Holmer Green! you would find
your neck clasped of a sudden by the warmest marital embrace, and you
would then be softly seized hold of and deposited in Charlotte Street,
saving you the trouble of the journey by the road: yours should be
aërial, to beat those of Mrs Graham and Mr Green.... The true, the
one treasure of my life is my dear Frances, and to restore her to me
renewed in health is to restore my existence. Goodbye to the better
portion of myself. Three days hence you, by God’s help, will be here
with me, and I will prove to you how much you are loved by
Your Husband,
GABRIELE.
F.
[Dante Gabriel had been commissioned by his godfather, Mr Lyell, to
paint an oil-portrait of our father; he was now, after some seeming
neglectfulness, giving full attention to the matter. The portrait,
nearly his first painting, turned out a creditable work; it remains in
the Lyell family, the property of Sir Leonard Lyell, and is reproduced
in this volume.]
[50 CHARLOTTE STREET, LONDON.]
_21st August 1848._
MY DEAREST FRANCES,
I have the satisfaction of informing you that this (Monday) morning
our Gabriel has for an hour and a half been working at my portrait
in colours, which appears to me to come very like, if I can trust my
poor eyesight, and the exclamations of our emphatic Maria. Moreover,
I asked Gabriel whether he would go on to-morrow, and he replied yes.
If he takes a fancy to it, he will not leave off until he has finished
the work; you know that character of his better than myself. I am
fain to hope that all I wrote you in my recent letter was only the
outcome of the over-much anxiety of a father who gets distressed at
any appearance of evil in what concerns a beloved son....
[Illustration: DANTE GABRIEL AND WILLIAM ROSSETTI
_From a Water-Colour Sketch by Filippo Pistrucci_
C. 1838]
I had hoped yesterday to see Pistrucci, whom I supposed likely to
come to London, to promote the concert for the benefit of the Italian
School. But I was disappointed. I trust he was not offended at that
outburst I sent him regarding the demagogues who have contributed to
the present ruin of Italy. He, as the perfectly sincere patriot whom
all men recognize, must deplore, or rather detest, whatever can have
been a cause of the pitiful state to which our country is reduced. But
let us hope that the disaster is reparable, and I am certain that his
heart desires this no less fervently than my own. I am aware of the
glorious event at Bologna, where the Germans got a good lesson. May
this be the glorious beginning of a still more glorious re-arising!
I know that France and England have become mediators between Italy
and Austria in this bloody strife; may they be sincere and effectual
mediators for the good of both, and may the _reasonable liberty_ of
our poor country result from their efforts! Not every evil comes to do
harm--an old adage: let us hope this may be so in our case. Perhaps
the republican over-zeal will be toned down, after the events which we
are deploring....
Now that I can give you better news from home, I remain with a more
cheerful heart
Your loving Husband,
G. ROSSETTI.
NO. 2.—FROM EIGHT LETTERS FROM GABRIELE ROSSETTI TO
CHARLES LYELL, KINNORDY
[As to Mr Lyell, see p. 72. I give the following extracts, bearing upon
Rossetti’s theories and speculations regarding Dante and a great number
of other writers, not because I suppose him to have been constantly
right in detail, nor even as adopting his views in a broad sense, but
because the allegations which he here puts forward are certainly both
curious and startling; and they formed so intimate a portion of his
thought and life, chiefly between the years 1825 and 1842, that no
true picture of him could be given without taking matters of this kind
into account. The correspondence between Mr Lyell and my father was
frequent, and often lengthy. I used to possess the general bulk of the
letters written by Mr Lyell, and had been authorized by the present
head of the family, Sir Leonard Lyell, to use, in a compilation which
I was undertaking, extracts from many of them. In 1898, however, an
interchange took place between Sir Leonard and myself; and I now own
the letters which my father wrote, in lieu of letters coming from Mr
Lyell. In comparison with the full extent of these Rossetti epistles,
the extracts which I give are a mere trifle. I have selected not
always the most important passages, but such as tend to show the very
wide range along which he applied his theory of a covert, esoteric,
and perilous meaning in the writings of authors of many centuries
and many nations. Copies of Rossetti’s letters to Lyell, one hundred
and twenty-eight in number, are deposited in the Taylor Institution,
Oxford; the copying was done by Signor de Tivoli.
There is another copious correspondence which my father carried on
regarding the like topics--that with Mr Hookham Frere. I possess the
letters of Mr Frere appertaining to this correspondence, and also
(through the courtesy of Mr John Tudor Frere and Miss Festing) those
of Rossetti. I had at one time thought of publishing ample extracts
from this series; but ultimately I found it more suitable to place the
correspondence at the disposal of Miss Festing, who, in her interesting
book named _John Hookham Frere and his Friends_ (1899), has drawn upon
it so far as was consistent with her scheme. She has also quoted the
passage in verse about Hookham Frere (see p. 60 of the present work).
Miss Festing naturally did not publish all the letters _in extenso_,
nor even so much of them as I had at first proposed to extract. Several
passages which Miss Festing did not use seem well worthy of being
printed at some time or another--Mr Hookham Frere’s letters, not to
speak of my father’s, being capital reading; at present, however,
I leave all this aside, chiefly with a view to condensing my whole
account of Gabriele Rossetti into a moderate space.]
A.
_29th October 1831._
MY VERY DEAR SIR,
... I have by me _decisive_ historical records and documents,
researches into works in the sect-language,[82] treatises on the use
of the sect-language; in fine, I have as much as would make all our
adversaries remain frost-bound and mute. And to me it is a kind of
enigma to see how matters so multiple, so consentaneous, so palpable,
which have been going on in a lapse of six centuries (from Frederick
II. up to our time), have not ever been either discerned or revealed.
There is not the least doubt that that Emperor projected a change
of religion, and the destruction of the Roman Church. The Popes had
no alternative but either to destroy him and his party, or else to
be themselves destroyed, and their cult with them. That opinion of
Foscolo, regarded by all as a fantasy, which led him to say that
_Dante wished to change the religion_, is a certain fact; and his
fantasy consists only in his having supposed that this was an idea of
Dante’s own, and not that of a most numerous, most potent, and most
wide-spread sect, upheld by men of great power....
Never will I set it down, _never_, that there was a project of
expelling Jesus Christ from the altars--only that there was a project
for restoring His worship to its primitive simplicity, and that they
profaned the Catholic doctrine by a concerted phraseology which
involved a political scheme. Wherefore scandalize the world by the
revelation of a daring purpose which may do discredit to illustrious
authors, and bring down upon myself the ill-will of the sect which
still exists, and has power and influence in the social world? The
fact is that the true intention of that secret society, to which
belonged all the authors whom I am engaged in examining, manifested
itself plainly in the effects of the French Revolution at the close of
last century....
Reghellini says openly that Dante’s poem is a Masonic poem; and,
before he wrote this, I had already seen it for myself....
I have also made some examination of English poetry--that of the time
of Cromwell; I know, however, and know for certain, that Chaucer is in
the same boat....
Your highly obliged
GABRIELE ROSSETTI.
B.
_1st October 1832._
MY VERY DEAR SIR,
... It is impossible to continue without exhibiting the most intimate
mysteries of the sect, seeing that the entire poem of Dante, all the
lyrics of Petrarca, almost all the works of Boccaccio, and, in fine,
all the old writings of that class, are nothing else than _downright
doctrine and practice of the Freemasons_, in the strictest acceptation
of the word. Such was the Gay Science, such the Platonic love, such
the sect of the Templars, and that of the Paulicians. How true this is
you will find in the published volume,[83] with numberless manuscript
additions which I have made to it.... There you will see developed
the God of the Sect--viz. Man in Freedom; there, also, the Sectarian
Trinity, the Incarnation, Transubstantiation, and other matters....
But it is dangerous to consign the work to the public, and the chief
danger is this: The demonstration cannot be _rightly_ founded, so as
to defy confutation, without citing in confirmation the writings of St
Paul and those of St John. One might make use of protests, dexterity,
or even hypocrisy, but none the less one must state the thing which
is; and, if one will not state this, one is compelled to stop short at
the effects, and leave the cause unexplained, which makes less visible
and tangible the reality of the assumption....
I see with regret that the assertion of many Sectarian writers,
and among others of Swedenborg, is not without foundation--namely,
that the religion founded upon the New Testament is, in fact, the
religion which they profess, of which _we_ practise the letter, and
_they_ possess the spirit: we are the outer church, and they form the
hereditary priesthood. Be this true or false, great indeed is the
illusion which it assails;[84] and to bring this to light would be an
offence against the human society in which we exist....
I now comprehend why the _Mysterium Magnum_ was never manifested
to the world. It is confided to very few persons, of well-approved
prudence, and at an age of thorough maturity; and to discover it by
one’s own scrutiny is a work of immense labour, and (I will venture
to say) of no ordinary talent.... I know that Mr Frere belongs to the
secret order; and, having perceived what it is that I have already
discovered by analysis and reasoning, he fears lest I should reveal it
to the world. I am not so mad as to plan detriment to society, and to
myself....
With regard to the chapter, _Dante personified in Adam_, this, though
not demonstrated in full, has none the less a great basis of proofs in
other chapters; and its substance is that Dante was the inventor of
that simulated religious language. Perhaps, on reading some additions
which I have made, you will more strongly feel the reality of the
thesis....
Your much obliged Servant,
GABRIELE ROSSETTI.
C.
_15th May 1833._
MY VERY DEAR SIR,
“Non io, se cento bocche avessi e cento
Lingue, con ferrea lena e ferreo petto,”[85]
not if I were to talk for a hundred years with the eloquence of Cicero
himself, could I sufficiently thank you for having first mentioned
and then sent to me the _Donna Immaginaria_ of Magalotti. Oh what a
precious book for proving to the over-brim my assumption!...
In these recent days I have made some most important discoveries
in the _Convito_: of these I will give you a hint, but only a
hint, as the thing would be lengthy to expound. Being persuaded
that the _Convito_ is the exposition, in the sect-language, of the
_Commedia_ and its secrets, I, observing that Dante dwells so much
upon explaining the cosmographical construction of heaven and earth,
and confident that he must be speaking of his poem, have been minded
to follow the track which he indicates; and I have found (_mirabile
dictu!_) that all corresponds to the poem. Begin reading at p. 153
(Zatta’s edition), here at the end; “This heaven turns round this
centre continually,” etc.; all that he says--verily all--expounds the
arcane structure of his poetic machinery, and discloses its secret
device....
Your much obliged
G. ROSSETTI.
D.
_13th January 1836._
VERY DEAR SIR AND EXCELLENT FRIEND,
... The interpretation of the _Vita Nuova_ depends upon knowing what
portions of it are to be taken first, and what portions are to be
taken last. This enigmatic booklet contains thirty-three compositions
(_vide_ your Index), relating to the thirty-three cantos of each
section of the _Commedia_. These thirty-three poetic compositions are
to be divided into three parts, according to those three sections,
and to the three predominant canzoni of the _Vita Nuova_. The central
canzone, which is “Donna pietosa,” is the head of the skein, and from
that point must the interpretation begin; and then one must take,
on this side and on that, the four lateral sonnets to the left, and
the four to the right--(the last one to the right has been somewhat
altered by Dante, with the designation of one stanza of an incomplete
canzone, but it is in fact a sonnet, as I will prove)--and the one
set of sonnets will explain the other set; and it will be seen that
the death of Beatrice’s father, set forth on the left side, and the
death of Beatrice herself, set forth on the right side, of the central
canzone, mean one and the same thing. This is the first part of the
enigma.
On this side and on that follow the two canzoni, placed
symmetrically--viz. “Donne che avete intelletto d’amore” on the
left, and “Gli occhi dolenti per pietà del core” on the right. In
the former it is decided that Beatrice is to die; in the second,
Beatrice dead is lamented; and the one canzone explains the other.
And thus, proceeding from one side to the other, collating the ten
compositions to the right with the ten to the left, we come finally
to the first and the last sonnets of the _Vita Nuova_, which contain
two visions; and the last vision, “Oltre la spera che più larga gira,”
explains the first vision, “A ciascun’alma presa e gentil core.”
When the interpretation goes on these lines, this sonnet becomes as
clear as possible. Dante, assuming his reader to be already cognizant
of the mystical language, and to be capable of solving by this
process his work which has the character of a knot, wrote: “The true
judgment as to the said sonnet was not then seen by any one, but now
it is manifest to the simplest.”... The central part [of the _Vita
Nuova_], which constitutes the Beatrice Nine,[86] consists of nine
compositions--_i.e._ the central canzone, with four sonnets on one
side and four on the other....
Recently I have been applying myself to a study of the first Holy
Fathers of the primitive Church; and they say plainly that they, in
the inner Sacerdotal School, explained the _mysteries_ of religion,
protesting at the same time that they could reveal nothing of this
to the profane. I have passages from St Basil, a light of the Greek
Church, which show that these personages acted like the gentile
school....
Your truly devoted and obliged
G. ROSSETTI.
E.
_14th January 1836._
VERY DEAR SIR AND FRIEND,
... The object or system of the secret school, in explaining the
mysteries, is to show that those whom we take for beings existing
outside of ourselves, and who are represented to us as such by
the Christian doctrine, are none other than our internal ideas or
affections; that is to say, that those supernatural personages who
are exhibited to men as divine are the human faculties themselves,
personified by ancient secret art; and that these figurative
personages merge the one into the other, and interpenetrate and unify
in one sole being--namely, in Man. The ultimate revelation.
This is equally the system of Dante, both in the _Divine Comedy_ and
in the _Vita Nuova_--which latter gives the keys of the former....
Origen and Tertullian, as well as Synesius, Bishop of Cyrene, give in
the sect-language the keys to the whole New Testament, and partly to
the Old:... the selfsame explanation which is given in the mysteries
of the present still-subsisting sect.
From the writings of the latter I gather that the secret school of the
Christian priesthood is continued by Masonry; that one of the heads of
the school in Constantine’s time, Sylvester, came to an understanding
with that despot to suppress the secret explanation, and to retain
merely the formula of the external figures, which understanding
produced the papacy or priesthood of Rome; but that other chiefs of
the same school, indignant at his having sold the interests of mankind
to the secular power, severed themselves from him and persisted in the
secret teaching,--which went on to the late ages (and here we arrive
at Dante), and so continued up to our own times.
F.
_16th December 1836._
MY VERY DEAR SIR,
I cannot sufficiently express to you how much pleasure it affords me
to hear from you, “What you have written[87] has convinced me.”...
Despite every effort, the nature of the argument wells forth of
itself, and almost overflows the dykes which I labour to erect and
strengthen. And I regret to tell you (far from rejoicing at it) that
in the successive chapters the evidence increases to such a point
as to belie all my words, which heal, assuage, and soften down the
nature of the thing. Oh how much have I done to disguise it, but all
in vain! I confess to you my misdeed: in that which you have read,
or which you will be reading, I have suppressed all those passages
of the authorities that I quote which exhibit the secret overtly.
I have quoted in a maimed form Petrarca, Boccaccio, and especially
Swedenborg.... For example, this Swede writes that the entire Bible,
both the Old Testament and the New, is written in that selfsame
language in which he writes, and that his is none other than a
prolongation of that. He says that the Prophets saw God no otherwise
than he saw him; that there is no other future life than that which
he describes, in which one dies a man, and revives as an angel to a
new life; that there are not any other heavens nor another God than
those to which he ascended, and that with whom he spoke; and other
similar things: all of them expunged by me, even in the thick of the
citation which I make. These utterances of his may have illuded the
world, before it was understood, by giving the keys, what heaven is,
and what the angels and God are; but, the keys having been given, the
propositions become horrible and scandalous....
Your very affectionate and oblige
G. ROSSETTI.
G.
_21st July 1840._
MY VERY DEAR SIR,
... I could send you a hundred things of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries which I have amassed in my extracts. I will limit myself to
two sonnets of the famous Raphael of Urbino; and judge you whether he
was not of the sect--like his contemporary, Michelangelo Buonarroti,
and very many others who were in the environment of the Pope.
“Un pensier dolce è _rimembrare_, e godo.”[88]
Raphael’s second sonnet. He, having descended from the _third heaven_
(like St Paul), writes thus:
“Come non potè dir d’arcana Dei
Paolo come disceso fù dal cielo,
Così il mio cor d’un amoroso velo
Ha ricoperto tutt’i pensier miei.
Però che quanto io vidi e quanto fei (in the third heaven)
Per gaudio taccio che nel petto celo;
E prima cangerò nel fronte il pelo
Che mai l’obbligo volger pensier rei.”[89]
... Pico della Mirandola, Molza, and other contemporaries, speak of
this third heaven in the same mysterious manner, and agree with what
St Bernard, Swedenborg, Cecco d’Ascoli, Dante, etc., say of it....
Oh how much can be gathered from the Latin writings of Poliziano! Far
more than even from those of Tasso....
Your greatly obliged and obedient
G. ROSSETTI.
H.
_1st February 1842._
MY VERY DEAR SIR,