Part 18

“I have been drawing on my new book, ‘Roland Cashel,’ so far in advance, that I am unable to say how I shall get on as it draws near the end. We are living in quietness here, with war and revolution on every side. A new revolt at Naples has just _éclated_, in which the troops smashed the mob. Meanwhile, five frigates of the Neapolitans are gone to assist revolt in Venice. The Pope has been discovered playing double, and his great popularity is gone. I fear Lombardy is lost to Austria. Internal dissension at Vienna, revolt in Hungary and Bohemia, and desertion among the troops in Italy, have scarce left a chance of recovering this best and richest province. Florence, too, is ready to intervene, and then comes a grand European war, in which England must choose her side and join. I trust it may not be an alliance with France.”

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

“Casa Ximenes, Florence, _July_ 18, 1848.

“I would rather relinquish than contest a disputed right. I read ‘opinions,’ therefore, only as so many différent shades of probability which can but little influence the judicial results, and I come ever to the one same humiliating conclusion,--that it is better to treat quasi-amicably with the rogues who have cheated us than to leave the question to other as great rogues for decision.

“I would, therefore, as you suggest, advise with Chapman what steps to take for the repurchase; and without submitting the tangled web of disputed claims to renewed litigation, I would endeavour to [? obtain] a demand for the _whole_ copyrights (subject, of course, to the diminution my rights would inflict), and if possible purchase them.

“I conclude that the assignees will, from their triumph at the Bankruptcy Court,--and such it is,--make a much higher demand than Curry did formally; but I opine, from what Chapman says of the trade, that few publishers, in London at least, would adventure upon a purchase where an author assumed an ill-defined and illimitable claim.

“The great object would then appear to me: first, to ascertain their expectations amicably, and if not such as I’ve prudently [? acceded] to, to wait for the sales and stand among the bidders like every one else,--of course taking care to make our protest against the right to dispose of all the copyrights. This without any further recourse to law or any single reference to lawyers or solicitors, I would strongly advise.

“My present state is, financially speaking, pretty much that of the present Government--a very lively system of daily disbursements and a very meagre amount of receipts; so that, barely to live, I have eaten up in advance half of ‘Roland Cashel,’ yea, even before he is written! But for this I should have drawn closer to England this summer,--not for any desire, God knows, to settle there, but to be near enough to London to negotiate some literary speculation or other that might clear me out of debt.

“I have not now means for this object, and must remain here,--no penance if I had spirits and cash to make my mind easy.

“I believe you are quite correct in your view about M’Glashan, and the only point of the case that now strikes me as worth anything is how far his liability to the debt might be established.

“I am glad you like ‘Roland,’ which I did myself for half the first No.; but he has slidden out of my favour since that. However, I will in parts please you.

“Up to this moment Florence is the only tranquil spot in Europe. Naples, Rome, Milan, Vienna, Baden, Paris, all convulsed; but here the slightest disturbance is unknown. The truth is, there is a quiet peace-loving population, and a government so mild as to be no government at all.

“I have often been tempted to send over something about the war in Lombardy to the English papers, who have uniformly agreed up to this in disseminating the most gross and absurd falsehoods about it; but I have been deterred by thinking that of those who really might care for the theme of foreign politics, the greater part are bigoted against Austria, and the remainder indifferent to truth.

“The children are doing well, and fast becoming linguists. I wish there were some career I could think of for Charley other than what is called a profession. I have had some idea of the Navy for him, and although a poor thing, yet [_some words illegible_]. He is very smart, and can learn anything as quickly as any boy I ever met, so that it seems half a pity to cover such gifts with a blue jacket.”

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

“Casa Ximenes, Florence, _Aug_. 12, 1848.

“....Truth is, I am stunned. The pressure that demands [? money] impedes any fresh efforts on my part, and I sit down to work with a depressed and jaded spirit. Nothing less nourishes than the head that is wet with tears. ‘Roland,’ bad as it is, is therefore better than it might be.

“Do you deem all intercourse with M’Glashan inadvisable? It is the only magazine where I should like to contribute, and if I could make any terms for a series of papers I should soon be in a position to clear off some of my debts. I cannot address him myself: if you chanced to meet him you might feel the way.

“The Austrians have reconquered Lombardy and the whole of Italy, and, if the French do not intervene, will soon be at peace.”

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

“Casa Ximenes, Florence, _Aug_. 19, 1848.

“....Although politically all looks more tranquil here, yet for personal reasons I should draw somewhat nearer to England. I am hampered by the difficulty of postal communication, and to go to London even alone and back would cost me above £100. Otherwise I like the place better than any I have ever known,--a climate beyond praise, a beautiful country, excellent society, and perfectly sound liberty which lets you live in the world or out of it exactly as suits your inclination. The heat, to be sure, is great. 132° Fahrenheit yesterday on the terrace, and that at five o’clock in the afternoon!

“I hope you continue to like ‘Roland Cashel.’ Has any one detected Archbishop Whately as my Dean of Drumcondra? The whole _dramatis per-sonæ_ are portraits.

“As to Ireland. All foreign sympathy is over, [? owing to] the late cowardice and poltroonery of the patriots.* Even Italians can fight.

* See John Mitchel’s ‘Jail Journal’ for observations on this observation.--E. D.

“As to the result of the attempt of Italian unity, however, the movement here is a complete failure. Naples is at feud with Sardinia, Sardinia with Tuscany, Home with all these; and if there be one man in all Italy more hated than Carlo Alberto, it is the Pope. Pius IX. will in all likelihood be _chassed_ this winter, and we shall have a Tipperary season of assassination--as the natural subsidence of a defeated outbreak--all over Southern Italy.

“We are going in a few days to Lucca and Via-Reggio for the sea-bathing, which, at least for a week or so, is a matter of necessity in this very roasting climate. The children have got the pale faces of the south already, and it is buying the _Bocca Toscana_ somewhat dear to lose their roses at so early an age.

“I am hesitating about the sea for Cha. He is a boy of very remarkable capacity,--can learn anything, and at once,--and I really scruple at the thought of immolating good talent in such a grave as the Navy.”

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.

“Casa Ximenes, Florence, _Sept_. 18, 1848.

“I have made a proposal to Chapman, but have not received his reply.

“If I could make any remunerative terms for a monthly series in a magazine, I could easily manage to gather some suitable materials. M’Glashan is, I suppose, a hopeless case. I have not been able to revisit London. I fancy I could easily make out such a class of engagement as would suit me, but the expense of the journey would be very considerable.

“It is very hard, under such circumstances, to write anything imaginative,--the stern cry of reality drowning the small whisperings of fancy. _N’importe!_ I have pluck for almost anything when self-reliance will pull through, and I am resolved, if I can, not to be swamped.”

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

“Bagni di Lucca, _Nov_. 1, 1848.

“Your letter of the 21st has this moment come to hand, and its last paragraph would inevitably decide me upon going at once to England if I had the means; but when I add the mercenary cost to the fatigue, sea-sickness,--for I should go at least to Genoa by steamer,--inconvenience of leaving wife and brats in a distant and not over-quiet land, and, lastly, calculate how little my presence might avail after, I grow faint-hearted at the ‘odds’ against me.

“My resolve is, therefore, to stay here, whither we have come for economy, taking up our abode in a little inn in a sweet pretty country--and, I confess it, with not a privation to make us feel that prudence pays tax.”

[He then suggests the purchase of his books by Chapman, offering Chapman as “a collateral security,” if he embarks in the “spec,” an insurance policy. He does not desire to be tied to Chapman, but sees that nothing can be done unless he gets the books unfettered. He says he is in Chapman’s debt in the first place, and secondly, that there is a loss in repute in changing publishers, “always argued to the detriment of the author.”]

“Chapman’s apathy is great on all subjects, nor is he likely to be more alert here: first, that he never reaped the large profit from me that he hoped; [secondly,] because I am his debtor--never a _couleur de rose_ portrait of any one....”

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

“Bagni di Lucca, _Jan_. 20 [?1849].

“I write to announce to you that I have more need than ever of a little good-luck, as I have this morning had a little girl--a very fat frowning little damsel--added to my battalion. My wife--and that is the first consideration in these cases--is doing admirably.... Have you received ‘Con Cregan’? Of course its paternity was plain to you. It is an effort to work out of a bad and profitless year, with what result God knows.

“I hear from London that ‘Roland Cashel’ is regarded as the best thing I have yet done, but also pronounced to be above the level of shilling readers,--a species of flattery intended to convey that I am to take the praise _vice_ the pence.

“I have written a paper on Italy for the Feb. No. of ‘The University,’ so that you see I am the author of other productions besides babies.

“Chapman has shown such a perfect indifference on the subject of the copyrights, that I have not any hope of his mediation. I now regret that I did not negotiate with Orr, who publishes ‘Con Cregan’ for me.”

During his first year in Florence Lever made the acquaintance of Miss Mary Boyle, a daughter of Admiral Sir Courtenay Boyle. This clever lady had published some verses and tales. She was a friend of Tennyson, of Dickens, of the Brownings,* of G. P. R. James, and of other literary people of note.

* Mrs Browning describes Miss Boyle in one of her letters to Miss Mitford. “A kinder, more cordial little creature, fall of talent and accomplishment, never had the world’s polish upon it. Very amusing, too, she is, and original, and a good deal of laughing she and Robert make between them.”--E. D.

In announcing the birth of his youngest daughter to Miss Boyle, Lever styles the baby “another volume added to the domestic history in the duodecimo shape of a daughter.... The necessity of quiet,” he adds, “the pleasing features of this little place, and the utter dulness of Florence, drove us here. What with horses and dogs and newspapers, books to write and a baby to wait for, our winter has gone over most pleasantly. We had no tramontane wind, no tea-parties, no morning concerts.”

In a letter written in 1879, Miss Boyle gives an interesting description of the Irish humourist. She recalls him as “one of the most genial spirits” she had ever met. “His conversation was like summer lightning--brilliant, sparkling, harmless. In his wildest sallies I never heard him give utterance to an unkind thought. He essentially resembled his works, and whichever you preferred, that one was most like Charles Lever. He was the complete type and model of an Irishman--warm-hearted, witty, rollicking, never unrefined, imprudent, often blind to his own interests--adored by his friends, and the playfellow of his children and the gigantic boar-hound he had brought from the Tyrol.”

Miss Boyle relates a characteristic anecdote of her highly-lauded friend. One afternoon at her house, where Lever was introduced to Lord and Lady Spencer, the hostess took up a volume of Bret Harte’s works, and read aloud one of the parodies of popular authors, selecting the skit in which Lorrequer’s early manner is most funnily burlesqued. Lever enjoyed the recitation, laughing heartily as his tormentor proceeded. He was asked if he could name the author whose work was parodied. “Upon my soul!” said he, “I must have written it myself--it’s so like me.”

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.

“Bagni di Lucca, _Feb_. 14, 1849.

“Chapman and I, without any formal document, have already come to an understanding respecting the [? copyrights], should we be successful in obtaining the books. There will be many points to arrange finally between us,--some of them nice ones,--inasmuch that of ‘O’Leary’ I possess the sole copyright; but from his previous honourable dealings and his general character for fairness, I anticipate no difficulty whatever in establishing a perfectly just and equitable transaction. For my future advantage I should rather that Chapman had these copyrights in his hands, even though I never were to benefit one shilling by their sale, because it secures to me--what in these eventful and changing times is of paramount importance--a permanent demand for my labour. Hence my anxiety, hence all my eagerness, that he and not another should be the purchaser.

“My wife and baby are doing most favourably. The latter promises to be the prettiest of the lot, and the others are growing up handsome. Julia is very nearly as tall as myself, and a fine and high-spirited happy-minded girl. Charley promises to be very clever, and Pussy--No 3--a most gifted child, requiring all our care to keep her faculties from running wild.

“We are in full revolution here. The Grand Duke has fled. The usual farce of a provisional government elected: forced loans--bankruptcy--brigandage, are all at work, and we look for pillage and the barricades. But somehow, like eels getting used to be skinned, one begins nowadays to get indifferent to carnage and rapine, and to think that grape and canister are among the compliments of the season.

“I send off my bulletin to ‘The Mail’ from time to time, and I wrote a long paper on Italy in the last ‘University Magazine.’

“I am heartily glad you like ‘Roland,’ which I hope is better than its predecessors.

“‘Con Cregan’ is a secret, and I hope will remain so. It is atrociously careless and ill-written, but its success depending on what I know to be its badness, my whole aim has been to write down to my public.”

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

“Bagni di Lucca, _April_ 17, 1849.

“I confess myself at a dead loss what to counsel. My only opinion (and I have come to it after much thought) is this:--

“In the event of Chapman consenting to advance the sum and not succeeding--or in the case of his unwillingness to make such proposal,--I would at once [? dispose of] the copyrights in the usual formal manner, but would take no steps by newspaper advertisement, inasmuch as this would give the impression of illegality on our part.

“It would be also well to ascertain if we could not restrain any future sale of stock at depreciated prices. If this required a Chancery order, I would be slow to resort to such means for fear of [? legal] expense.

“Chapman, from whom I had a letter two days ago, thinks that it is the stock and not the copyrights that Curry is now negotiating, but he owns himself baffled by the roguery of this conduct.

“Do you think that anything would be obtained by my going over to Ireland?... I am really exhausted in resources, and can add nothing to this.

“I am very uneasy about my insurances: my means of late--although working an opposition coach to myself--are very considerably diminished (political causes having damaged book-writing to a fearful extent), so that I wish to know have you anything of mine to meet the Globe policy, and whether at next period of payment the Guardian will be able to meet its own demand on the accumulated profits?

“I ask this now, but I regret to say that it will puzzle me sorely what to do if I am called upon, but I ought to learn it in time, so as to make what provision I can.

“All post communications with England ceased for eleven days during the Genoa insurrection....

“The mail-boats were twice burned going from this, and I (with my accustomed luck) lost a whole number of ‘Roland Cashel’--twelve days’ work, of which I have, of course, not a note or memorandum. The proof of ‘Con’ is also lost, so that if it appears next month it will be with all the printer’s imperfections as well as my own.

“I have met with the accompanying advertisement [from a tutor]. Could you find out who he is, what he is like, and if he would feel inclined to reside on the Continent?... I am sorely in want of some means of educating the children, who are far more intelligent than instructed.

“The political reaction here is complete: the Grand Duke very soon will be expected back again, and Italy be ‘as you were.’

“I wonder if Mr M’Glashan wrote to me, and that his letter has been lost? I asked for proofs of my two papers on Italy, ‘Italy and the Italian Tourists,’ which I greatly desire to have.”

At the Baths of Lucca, in the summer of 1849, Lever was introduced to the Brownings. Mrs Browning’s first impression of him is confided to Miss Mitford, in a letter dated August 31, 1849:* “A most cordial, vivacious manner, a glowing countenance, with the animal spirits predominant over the intellect, yet the intellect by no means in default; you can’t help being surprised into being pleased with him, whatever your previous inclination may be. Natural, too, and a _gentleman_ past mistake.

* ‘The Letters of Mrs Browning,’ edited by Frederic G. Kenyon (Smith, Elder, & Co.)--E. D.

His eldest daughter is nearly grown up, and his youngest six months old. He has children of every sort of intermediate age almost, but he himself is young enough still. He seems to have spent nearly his whole life on the Continent, and by no means to be tired of it. Not the slightest Irish accent.” *

Miss Mitford** was a staunch admirer of Lever. “I think him,” she said, “one of our best living writers of fiction.” She must have expressed her appreciation to Mrs Browning, for the latter writes in the autumn of 1849 to the author of ‘Our Village’: “I told Mr Lever your opinion of him, dearest friend, and then he said, all in a glow and animation, that you were not only his own delight but the delight of his children, which is affection by refraction, isn’t it?” Then follows a further description of the Irish novelist and of his ways. “Not only,” says Mrs Browning, “is he the notability _par excellence_ of these Baths of Lucca, where he has lived a whole year during the snow upon the mountains, but he presides over the weekly balls at the Casino, where the English do congregate (all except Robert and me), and is said to be the light of the flambeaux and the spring of the dancers. There is a general desolation when he _will_ retire to play whist. In addition to which he really seems to be loving and lovable in his family. You always see him with his children and his wife; he drives her and her baby up and down along the only carriageable road of Lucca--so set down that piece of domestic life on the bright side in the broad charge against married authors; now do! I believe he is to return to Florence this winter with his family, having had enough of the mountains.”

* “Lever’s accent,” according to Major Dwyer, “was _au fond_ Dublinian.” “He never dropped his Irish manner or his Irish tongue,” says Anthony Trollops, who was an excellent judge of Irish manners and dialect. _Tot homines, quot aures!_--E. D.

** In 1843 Lever had made in his Magazine a special appeal to his readers to testify their gratitude to the author of ‘Our Village,’ by subscribing to a fund which had been started for her benefit.--E. D.

As he had been the life and soul of social enjoyment at the Baths of Lucca, so was he the life and soul of Anglo-Florentine society when he returned to Florence. One of his numerous friends of the period declares that his appearance in the Cascine always provoked attention. His manner of riding was, if anything, less graceful than it used to be in his Templeogue days, when he clattered into Dublin city: he did not rise in the stirrups, but allowed himself to be jogged up and down like a trooper. Dr Fitzpatrick conjectures that “the shaking to which he surrendered himself was meant as a counter-irritant to sedentary habits.” Though at this time he did not speak Italian fluently, he was able to hold his own in the language. Being unlucky enough to embroil himself in a small lawsuit, he decided to conduct his own case. He was warned that this would be courting defeat; but his confidence in himself was unshaken, and not only did he plead his own cause, but he gained a verdict in his favour.

He tells a tale of another case in which (also pleading his own cause) he did not make so successful an advocata In front of his Florentine house was a terrace reached by a flight of steps. This was a favourite lounging-place for the novelist. One day his reveries were disturbed by a visitor who presented a bill. The visitor was a tailor, and the bill was a monstrous document. Lever protested vehemently against the charges, and the tailor protested that they were moderate. In his endeavour to convince the novelist of his rectitude, the visitor became wildly excited, and, moving backwards, he fell headlong down the flight of steps. Lever was summoned, and the tailor swore that his accident was due to alarm caused by the threatening manner of the Englishman,--it was owing to his eagerness to escape from assault that he had fallen down the steps. Lever denied that he had done or said anything which would indicate a possible assault. The court inquired how could the defendant account for the panic-stricken condition of the man. “On two grounds,” replied Lever, flippantly; “he is a tailor and a Tuscan.” Needless to say, the Tuscan court awarded the plaintiff ample damages. When he released himself from his writing-table, and when he was not riding or driving with his family, he was to be found in the clubs, or in salons, or at receptions at the Grand Duke’s. He divided his leisure moments between whist-playing and conversation. Occasionally he danced--when dancing was the order of the night,--his wife, as a general rule, being his partner. It is said that he was never at his best in the society of literary ladies, and that he was particularly nervous in the company of Mrs Trollope. Possibly he was in dread that this authoress might be taking a leaf out of his own book and endeavouring to make a character sketch of him. “It was amusing,” says a friend, “to observe his transparent manoeuvrings to avoid Mrs Trollope as a whist-partner; and it was equally amusing to observe Mrs Trollope’s undisguised desire to secure Lor-requer as her partner.”

XI. FLORENCE AND SPEZZIA 1850-1854