From
June 14th 1863
To
August 2nd 1863
Sunday June 14th 1863. Castello di Piobesi
We sent Gaetano to town early this morning to say to Miss
Blackwell and her brother who had arrived two days sooner than we had expected
them, that having friends with us for the night of Sunday we could not ask them to come
till Monday morning. On receiving this note they drove out at once, dined with us and
returned to town in the evening, Mr Blackwell's business requiring them to leave for
Paris tomorrow night. I am much disappointed, at having so short a visit from them.
Mr Blackwell made a most favourable impression on us, and as to Anna I have
not seen her appear so well since she left us in Burlington in 1838. She was calm
and clearheaded, and appeared like her own self. She confirms all we have heard about
the Hooker-Blatchford doings in Rome. This is really too much, and I hope Mr
Marsh will some day be in a position to expose the baseness of some of our great political
leaders in trying to secure the Irish Catholic vote of America, by sustaining the detested
papacy at Rome. The information of the Blackwells was entirely voluntary, and as
they said nothing about the action of American officials in Florence we asked no
questions for conscience's sake. Among the little incidental scraps from Anna I learned
what I did not know before, but what it seems everybody else does know, that
Fagnani, the admirable painter whom we like so much, the hero of the Dillon
affair, is a son of Queen Cristina, a nephew of Bomba, and a cousin of
Bombolino! Our prejudice has become rather strong against Bourbon royal blood,
but here is a case of a man's being a true man even though so closely linked
with that family. Miss Blackwell had many interesting things to tell us of Paris
gossip, of her presentation to the Emperor and Empress, of the very unfavourable
impresson produced upon her by the latter - of the Daytons, of the Pikes, of the
Bigelows, Doremuss' &c. They left a little before nine.
By way of showing me something of the progress made by Italy in
liberty during the last few years Mr Artoni told me an anecdote of himself.
"I was" said he, "summoned before a court to take an oath in some matter
connected with this Madame De Zyck [Zeyck]. The Judge said to me as I was about
to be sworn: "Ella è Catolica, non è vero!" I replied, 'No, signor giudice,
io sono Protestantissimo.' and there was a general laugh among the
assistants." The moral of this anecdote was, that before '48 for such an
answer he would have been reported to the king, and his arrest would
have been ordered before nightfall, whereas now, his ready frankness
amused and met the approbation of all the bystanders.
Monday June 15th
Mr Marsh came home from Turin ganz verstimmt - the house we had
hoped for would by no means answer - He found no time to go to the Library,
- news from America not satisfactory, and worst of all our Re Galantúomo had con-
-descended to congratulate the Emperor on his victory at Puebla! I would not have
believed that Victor Emmanuel would have joined in this hurrah of triumph over a
neutral nation, that happens to be too weak to be feared as an enemy. His family
connection with France makes some shadow of excuse for him, but the wrong
of the thing becomes manifest in an instant when it is considered that had
this been a victory over Austria or Prussia or England no such felicitations
would have been publicly made. So far England - be it jealousy or generosity -
has forborne to join in these cowardly congratulations. The papers tonight look a
little as if Prussia might at last be roused to some feeble show of resistance to
the mad king, but illegible nobody supposes it will come to anything. Mr Marsh took
poor Canzi's autographs today, and furnished him with money to go to America
He hopes to find some rich American who will give their real value for these
Autographs, and that he shall be able to send Canzi a still further remittance
for them. The young soldier was overwhelmed with gratitude and delight, but when
he spoke of going to bid his mother goodbye he was too much overcome to finish
his sentence. Mr Marsh has written to Mr Lawrence about the autographs
and I sincerely hope he may take them. We can ill afford to keep them ourselves.
Tuesday 16th June.
Giacchino returned from Turin at one bringing with her Miss
Alice Tottenham who is to spend a few days with Carrie. I was not able to get up
till towards evening, when I went into Mr Marsh's cabinet and found him thoroughly
worn out with twelve hours almost uninterrupted work. I tried to turn his thoughts
from his book by talking of our home-affairs, picking out scraps from the N. Times, etc.
and last of all succeeded by rousing his attention thoroughly by tempting him to take up the
Saturday Review, - a paper the tone and temper of which are as disgraceful to modern
civilization as are some of the principles it does not take the pains to conceal. One
article in it however seemed scarcely too severe for the occasion. It was with reference
to a speech made by Rev. of the Scotch Free Church, a member of the
Committee on Popery, and the subject was an inscription which the Queen had
ordered to be placed on a marble slab fixed in the cairn just erected at Balmoral
in her own private grounds as a memorial of the late Prince Consort. The inscrip-
-tion was a singularly appropriate one taken from the Wisdom of Solomon - one of the
Apocryphal Books. Such an exhibition of blind bigotry I should not have supposed
was to be witnessed at this day in the Free Kirk of Scotland. And it seems that
the Record, the Low Church organ, not only endorses the Bible-loving Scotchman's
bitter complaint, but takes occasion to throw the blame of this heathenish business
on the Broad-churchmen who are the religious advisors of the Royal family.
Wednesday 17th June.
The Daily News brought us the details of American battles to June 3rd
leaving Grant after many heroic deeds, regularly besieging Vicksburg, but threatened in
the rear. A telegram this evening states that Banks has been repulsed at Port Hudson
with a loss of 4000 men. One ought not to say: nothing but repulses, after all
the late victories by Banks and Grant, but certainly the strongholds of these rebels
are very strong. The news of Alick's release would give me some comfort if I
did not know he was already sent to the scene of these terrible struggles, to
take his chance for life or death, with so many thousand of others.
Thursday 18th June.
We did not even send for the Post today, not having any good news to
expect at any rate. My eyes did me good service, allowing me to spend a great part of the day
in looking over, paging, &c, the manuscript. The weather continues unsettled, showers with
thunder occurring every day towards evening.
Friday, June 19th -
Yesterday and today there was an animated debate in Parliament, or
rather an animated coll personal collision between Rattazzi on one side and Minghetti
on the other. Rattazzi was very bitter, especially in his allusion to the fact that Minghetti
had formally occupied a seat in the councils of the Holy Father, and Peruzzi in those
of the grand duke, but Minghetti's reply was most telling and eloquent, and
brought down thunders of applause from the house and galleries. Rattazzi made
little by this motion. - As usual, the regular thunderstorm came up this
afternoon. The American intelligence through the Daily News is far more satis-
-factory than the picked telegrams we get through unfriendly sources.
Saturday June 20th
Carrie and Alice went down to Turin this evening to be ready
to see the fire-works to-morrow evening. Mr Marsh & I strolled into the
garden after they drove off, and we soon met Carlo & Susanna arm in
arm in one of the walks enjoying the sun-set-hour like ourselves. Another
turn and we came upon Alexander and Giacchino with their hands
full of feathered foundlings and followed by two pet kittens. As we came
back to the house the gardener was sitting under the cloisters beside the
tall rose-vine, his wife by his side, his baby on his arm, and the older
boy leaning on his mother's knee. We laughed as we counted up
the Darbys and Joans that inhabit the Castle, and concluded that as
that, [illegible] three of these faithful Benedicts, who were always so quiet and contented
at home, were Italians, there must after all be some domestic happiness even
among this race. - Our aviary now contains about fifty birds mostly stray
ones found, which were too young to fly or feed themselves.
Sunday 21st June
A lovely day but very cool for the season. We read Pilgrims Progress &
curious old Selden - then papers and letters from home - then sat and talked
under the sycamores, watched the birds and dreamed. Among the hundreds of swallows
that alight about the terrace, the windows etc. is a pair that come every evening
and sit, sometimes one, sometimes both, on a wire, in front of the drawing room
balcony, that serves to support a grape-vine. Here within a couple of feet of us
they twitter and plume themselves, and give us an excellent opportunity to study
all their little ways for an hour. In the vine, a little to the right, is a nest of young
goldfinches - most quiet, well-behaved birds. - The servants saw the fire-works at
Turin very distinctly from the tower.
Monday June 22nd
The weather seems settled at last and this evening we were
able to remain on the terrace without chill till bed-time. It was
wonderful to watch the retreat of one species of animal life and
the reappearance of another as the twilight deepened. First the
stornelli disappeared about sunset, then the finches by degrees
ceased their noisy chirping in the plane trees & hazles, but the
swallows, which now go to their nests much later than in the
spring, continued their swift circles and sweeps, and their
twittering and the sharp shrill cry they utter at this season, for
at least half an hour after sunset. Then came the
notes of the
nightingales on
our right and on our left - then a distant owl - and even the far-
off croak of the frogs was not an unpleasant discord in this evening hymn.
A little later, and hundreds of bats sallied out and chased the
few mosquitoes that visit our premises, the great night beetles
began to whiz over our heads, now and then a village dog
barked sharply, a belated market cart rattled heavily over the
paved piazza, and then came a pause to be broken anew,
but every successive one becoming longer & deeper than the
preceeding - How wonderfully soothing is the influence of nature!
A few hours before I had been pained and agitated by a communication
made me concerning the character of an Italian lady of rank and
wealth to whom I had taken a great fancy - she is so graceful, so gentle
and must, in her days of youth & health, have been most beautiful, After
telling me that the Marchese __ had for many years been notoriously
her lover (no objection being made on the part of the husband, who is one
of those rare fools who are made humble by a consciousness of their folly)
my friend said, "I have known this ever since you became acquainted
with the lady, and in fact every resident of Turin knows it, but so long as
there was no probability of your being much thrown together, I did not
think it worth while to
tell
you as I know you do not relish such tales. Now,
however, that there is a prospect that you may soon be so situated as to be
often in her company, I thought it my duty to tell you what the world says".
Though I could not believe this story, woman-like I retold it to my husband
who, after weighing the matter a moment, exclaimed, "Well! well! I
thank God we are not like these publicans!" as naturally and
as heartily as if the words had not been borrowed from one intended
to serve, not as an example, but as a warning. The end of our
deliberation
was, that there might possibly be some truth in the story (for here all things are
possible) but that more probably it was one of those scandals which the
lowest class of of dependents of in Italy are constantly circulating about their
superiors upon the most trivial cause of suspicion. The marvel is that
these slanders are so readily believed by the peers of the subjects of them, and it
must be admitted that this fact proves a bad social state. Still we are satis-
fied that more than one half the scandal current in high-life in Turin orig-
inates in tale bearing servants who either ignorently misinterpret or willfully
misrepresent things that in our country would be regarded as most natural
and innocent. On the whole I had rather believe that 'all men are liars'
in the most literal sense, than that all men & women too are the whited
sepulchres that vulgar rumor makes them. And under the soft twilight
my charity grows broader, I contrasted a N.E. education and an Italian
one - the teachings of a Puritan preacher and a popish priest, the
marriage of choice and the marriage of convenance, until
I was forced to the conclusion that these publicans were not worse
than we Pharisees might have been under the same circumstances.
Tuesday June 23d.
Mr Marsh went early to T. to see John Kasson - came
back at twelve - with no especial news except that Minghetti
and Rattazzi fought a duel Sunday morning - Rattazzi scratched
in the arm, no other mischief. I am sorry M. condescended
to this. Mr Kasson is here on Postal business - hopes to make
some arrangements that will reduce foreign postage.
Wednesday June 24th
We sent the carriage to the Hotel Féder to bring Mr Kasson
out to dine with us, and pass the night. I found him greatly changed from
the self-conscious young man with whom I parted, fifteen years ago, just as he was
going to officiate as groomsman at a bridal party in Washington. He is so much
more in earnest than
he
then [illegible] was, has so many wider interests, profounder sympa-
-thies, that I could not help exclaiming to myself as I left him for the night, 'Well,
after all, life does something for some of us at least.' We talked hours of home affairs
and found our judgment here fully confirmed by his observation there. He feels little
confidence in the removal of Halleck from his position, though he thinks it a con-
-summation devoutly to be wished for. The feebleness of the President he assents to
in full, perhaps thinks better of Mr Seward than some others do, but by no means
defends him altogether. One anecdote he told me of Mr Seward which is curious.
Mr. S. said to him at a private interview: "Is it not singular that the three persons
in the world who most heartily wish for the prosperity of our Country are the heads
of three great religions - the Czar of Russia, the Sultan of Turkey, and the
Pope of Rome?" Does Mr Seward really suppose that the great Padisha troubles
his head about what becomes of us? Does he really believe that the Czar of Russia
and the Pope of Rome desire the success of institutions like ours? It is difficult
to imagine that he has read history to draw such conclusions from it. The
hours flew by so fast in talk of country, home, and friends, of European politics generally,
of Mr Kasson's own special aims with regard to Postal management, of his scheme
for universal weights measures etc, that it was late before we remembered how early
a breakfast we should be obliged to take in the morning.
Thursday June 25th
This has been one of those cross-grained days which cannot
be coaxed into good-humour. Nothing would go right. We were later in setting out for
Turin than we had intended to be. When we arrived we found there had been
a mistake made by Alexander as to the hour when we wanted our apartment and
we had to take refuge in a little bed-room till a family should leave for Milan.
In this way we lost an opportunity of showing Mr Kasson our king who came
to pay a visit to the King Portugal King Ferdinand of Portugal. Of course we
could not stand in the passage to gaze as the strangers did, and we were obliged to
take our servants' report. His Majesty came in a simple hunting-jacket with no
token of royalty about him except the scarlet out-rider and his attendants. The
Prince Carignano was in full uniform. Another disappointment was finding no note
from Mrs Tottenham, and hearing nothing from Carrie. Then Mr Marsh, who had
intended to spend the day in verifying his quotations at the University Library, found
himself obliged to go with Mr Kasson to the Minister of Foreign Affairs at twelve.
After his return a false tailor kept him waiting another hour, then a note sent to
Count Farcito, who had written to ask Mr Marsh to go with him to see the remainder
of his apartment, was not delivered for two hours after it was handed to the messenger,
my unhappy husband waiting all the time in expectation of the Count's arrival.
Alex. was sent after Gaetano, and Giacchino nearly sent after Alexander. When
the message finally came it was time for Mr Marsh to dress for the Diplomatic
dinner at the Turkish Minister's - so the day was utterly lost. Dressing commenced,
he found himself minus a cravat, but luckily the strait colar of the uniform con-
-cealed the catastrophe, Nor was this the only miss, as we found out later. There was
no night-gown in his night-sack - no toothbrush in mine - in short it was a day
of crosses. Just as I was sitting down to the dinner-table with Mr Kasson I had
the mortification to see Miss Arbesser drive out with the Duchess! I had
supposed her in Stresa and therefore had not sent to the palace to say that
I was in Turin which I had promised faithfully to do if she were still in
town when I came there. I tried to forget all these contre temps in an animated
talk with Mr Kasson. He told me when we were by ourselves, that he had been
much struck with the opinions Mr Marsh and I had expressed the evening
before on the subject of Roman Catholicism, that he must now tell me
frankly he was afraid his wife was going over to that Church, that he
had tried to persuade himself that it was a matter of little consequence, that
much of what had been said about that religion was mere vulgar prejudices &c.
but that his secret misgivings had been greatly aggravated by what we had
said, and he earnestly wished I could see and talk with his wife
before it was too late. He seemed a good deal agitated, and I felt truly
grieved at what he had said. I told him, however, of certain Catholic books
on the subject of the confessional, which I should advise him to put in Mrs Kasson's
hands, as he had told me that confession was the most attractive thing to the
mind of his wife in the Romish system. There is a weakness in the talk of
Protestant women on this subject that almost makes one lose one's temper.
For Mr Kasson's own benefit I strongly recommended to him Michelet's "Le
Prêtre et la Famille." Perhaps the best safeguard for her may be
to strengthen his convictions and increase his knowledge on this point.
We talked of nothing else till he took his leave except when we were in-
-terrupted by other visitors. Mr Marsh returned about ten - dinner rather
agreeable, though all the guests were indignant at having been obliged
to wear uniform. Neither Russia nor Prussia was there, - a circumstance
which created some surprise considering the present state of diplomatic relations.
Sir James was there, to every body's astonishment. Mr Marsh sat between
Minghetti and Perruzzi with Count Sartiges in front. I notice that Mr
Marsh's admiration for Minghetti as an earnest and able man, rises
at every new interview - . Just before going to bed we discovered that no
order had been given for the carriage to meet us at the station of Candiolo at
half past twelve
in the morning.
This made it necessary to send Gaetano by the first morning
train, and we gave orders accordingly. After retiring to our room and talking
over quietly the events of the day, my disappointment in not finding the Marchese in
town to take the long-talked-of photograph, the mistake about Miss Arbesser,
and the failure to see other friends, Mr Marsh concluded it would be better
to sacrifice another day rather than to fail altogether in the main objects of
our visit to town. Accordingly it was settled that instead of disturbing the ser-
-vants to countermand orders already given, Mr Marsh should see Alexander in
time to prevent his doing the marketing for the day, and then the matter of
the carriages was of little consequence. On this conclusion we went to
sleep, but at a very late hour.
Friday June 26th
Mr Marsh rose early according to the arrangement, but
Alex, who I believe never got up so early before except on a journey, was
already off to market, and before our breakfast, the meats, fruits etc.
for a dinner in Pióbesi were already on their way to the station. So
it seemed the fates were against us, and I decided to return at twelve
with Carrie, as first settled, and leave Mr Marsh to come back by the
five train. So I sent for Carrie while we were at breakfast, but like all
the rest of our luck on this occasion, she wasn't ready, Giacchino had to
wait and pack her things though she had not a moment to spare, then
drove furiously back to shuffle our things into our carpet-bags, and to
run out and look for her own lost parasol. The carriage was sent
back for Carrie who came in course of time with Mrs Tottenham and
Alice - I had a hurried moment's talk with Mrs T. about houses to
be rented, and in the meantime Mr Marsh returned from his exploration
with Count Farcito. He reported unfavourably of that apartment, Mrs T.
kindly undertook to enquire further about Villamarina rooms. Carrie,
who had dashed out with the maid in search of a pair of boots, now came
back, and I waited for Mr Kasson's promised morning visit to say goodbye,
but here was another failure - he was too late, and I can say I was truly
thankful after so many petty discomfortures to find my face set towards
Castle Quiet, and glad enough was I to reach it, though my summer's experience
had taught me that in Italy at least one has to pay a price for such a
luxury. A most odd character, who was our companion in the rail-way com-
-partment, deserves notice. As soon as we took our seats he began to talk
to us in a hurried and excited manner. He said he was an impiegato
in the household of Prince Otho at Genoa, that he had temporary leave of
absence which he was employing in taking some very handsome furniture
to a little country-seat of his not far from Pignerol. He then entered into
a description of the prince - his person, his character, his habits, his tastes,
his studies, - showed us some rings, antiques he said, which were the
gifts of his royal patron, then told us about his father, his fine brothers,
his lost wife, his two-year old bimbo, his three horses, and his
big dog, and his uccelli Americani, and all this without a question
on our part. My first impression was that the [illegible] man was mad, my
second, that he might be some sort of vice-major-domo of the Prince's
household. At any rate if he was a born gentleman, he is now unques-
tionably mad. I left him at Candiolo with a buon viaggo, but certainly
without regret. At six Mr Marsh came without having experienced any new
crosses. We were glad enough to be all safely together once more with the
additional cause of congratulation that neither masters nor servants had lost their
tempers whatever else had gone wrong.
Saturday June 27th
We tried to call back into the old routine today, but there must
always be at least one lost morning after such a little flurry in a life so quiet as is ours
here. Mr Artoni brought the post at six, but there was no news of importance - only
one feels all the time as if on the eve of great events. England and France can
scarcely suppress their growls at each other - Prussia seems on the point of exploding -
Italy hopes Hungary will bestir herself and manage to occupy Austria so that she
(Italy) may seize Venetia. She also hopes that France may be got into a
war with Russia, and so make the friendship of Italy important enough
to induce the emperor to withdraw his troops from Rome. In the meantime
one of the English Admiralty Courts, in the face of all the legal interpreters
and of the [illegible] action of England for the last eighty years, has decided that
there was no law in England to prevent the fitting out of Alabamas etc.
provided the armament is not put on board in the port from which they
sail. It is true there is an appeal from this decision, but it is nevertheless
a sign of the times, and will cause fresh irritation on our side.
Sunday June 28th
This morning a telegram announces the invasion
Bran, used in Piedmontese exactly as in English.
of Pennsylvania by Gen. Lee, and the call of the President for 150,000
additional troops. This is precisely of a piece with the rest of the manage-
-ment at Washington. Hooker has told them over and over that Lee was
preparing to enter Maryland and Pennsylvania, but the President thought perhaps
he wouldn't do it, and he would wait before calling for troops to see how
the Vicksburg siege should turn out! Would to Heaven that Lee could
get into his possession some of these men who are such nightmares upon
us. If he should however Jeff. Davis would order them to be instantly
released and restored to their position. This telegram comes to us without
a word from Vicksburg or Port Hudson from which we infer that there is
at least no bad news from that quarter, there never being any delay in trans-
-mitting such. The New York Times of the 12th however does not speak
of the seige of Vicksburg with much confidence - talks of the strength
of the place, of the length of time that may be required, and the great
danger to Grant from Johnstone in his rear. Our warm day closed
with a gentle shower, very refreshing, but not wet enough to prevent Mr Artoni
from returning to Turin.
Monday, June 29th
At one o'clock the maccaroni merchant and his wife, who were
tenants of that part of the Casa d'Angennes just below our kitchen, came puffing
and panting from Candiolo with a message from the Contessa Ghirardi to this
effect: She was tired out with the endless vexations she had had with the tenants
of her handsome apartment since we left it, and that she was now quite ready to
make us the same proposal which we had offered to accept last Spring. The
two new rooms she says will be completed and ready to be occupied by the
1st of September, at which time she promises us possession. We are quite at a
loss how to understand this. It may be in good faith, it may be a mere
trick to play us off against the minister of grace and justice who had made
her an offer for the house. Then again, we had just recommenced negotiations
for the apartment of the Countess Villamarina, and I can scarcely help feeling
a little vexation at the Countess Ghirardi, even if she is in earnest, for having
kept us so long in search of other houses, and leaving us to give other people
so much trouble. I sent her word, however, that she had in her possession
the proposal made her by Mr Marsh last Spring, that if she was disposed to
accept it she would be kind enough to write us a note to that effect. We
should consider the affair settled and Mr Marsh would go to her at once
to talk over some of the details of the contract. We shall be too happy if we can
really get this house once more with its two additional rooms, but we have
learned the ways of the Turiners so well that we shall be but little disappointed
to find we are only played with again. With the exception of this rather
welcome interruption we passed the day in our usual occupations. It has now become
so warm that we can safely and comfortably sit on the terrace till bed-time, and
we find an untiring amusement in watching the frolics of the birds, especially the
troop of swallows, though I often wish for some experienced naturalist to tell me
what they mean. Our aviary has increased immensely in population, but the naughty
jays have made war on some of the rest of the birds, eaten the eggs of
the ring-doves, and even killed some sparrows, so that we have been obliged
to divide the "Happy Family." The nightingales also are favoured with a separate
apartment, so that we have no less than three bird-rooms. A young sparrow
who had been brought to us two or three days before and could not fly very well
was missing one morning, and supposed to have been destroyed f by
the jays, as the wire netting across the windows was too fine to allow a
bird to escape. Two days after the little fugitive was seen on the outside
of the window, and came in at once through a broken mesh which had
not been noticed before, but through which it seemed impossible that the
little creature could force its way. He took his breakfast with satisfaction, and
again went off. On his second return Aleck caught him, and brought him down
to us and told the story. I took him in my hand and he seemed so
quiet and tame that I held him losely. Suddenly, however, he gave me the
slip and was out of the window in an instant. An hour's pursuit followed.
He was chased from tree to tree, from vine to vine, but without being
caught, and we all thought its fright was so great that it would never
return to the house. Next morning, though, to our joy, the pretty little creature
came for his breakfast as usual.
Tuesday June 30th
Mr Kasson came out to dine with us at five
Mr Marsh having previously returned from Turin at twelve - the latter went
to see the Countess G. who promised good fashions, and says she will have
the contract drawn up at once, only she would like to see our maitre d'hôtel
first to show us what extra cellar-room she can give us in place of the coach-
-house which she wishes to retain. He left her however with the impression that
she was witch enough to raise fresh difficulties, and very likely would do so.
This evening we spent in a long and most interesting talk with Mr Kasson
chiefly about our Country. We stayed on the terrace till after ten, the great round
moon looking down upon us with a calm and glorious light.
Wednesday July 1st -
After an almost sleepless night on my part we breakfasted
at seven and set off for Turin - a party of five. Mr Kasson returned to his
hotel, Mr Marsh and I went to look over the Villamarina house, and Aleck
and Giacchino went to the Casa d'Angennes. We found the Villamarina apart-
-ment very handsome as Mr Marsh had told me, and I should think it
would prove more convenient than he at first supposed. The Count and
Countess however kept carefully out of the way, and there was no one left about
the house to give us any information. There is evidently a scheming at the
bottom of this management, and I fancy we shall find them not much more
open in their dealings than the Ghirardi. We returned to the Legation in
good humor with the house, and in bad humor with its owners. At the
Legation Alessan and Giacchino met us with their report from the d'Angennes.
Madame told them at first she could not see them, then being reminded
that they came by her own appointment all the way from Piobesi, she con-
-sented to talk with them a moment. She declared however that she
couldn't give us any cellar, that she couldn't even let us have the soffitta
we had before, that she couldn't make out the contract for some days, that she
must take away the clocks etc. etc - in short they left her with a feeling of
'general contempt', and a conviction that if we get the house at all, it must
be exactly upon her own terms. We returned to Piobesi full of the idea that
renting a house in Turin was as formidable a business
as
the taking of Vicksburg.
Mr Kasson came to see us again in the evening. We had another long talk on
the terrace, in a moonlight by which we could have read distinctly, and with a
temperature one could not wish to change the fraction of a degree.
Thursday 2nd July.
Mr Kasson and I spent two or three hours this morning in a
somewhat energetic discussion of New England theology, and New England education
generally. It is curious to see how inclined we are to attribute all the mistakes,
the follies, even the sins, of our lives, to a faulty training. Then we run in the
other direction with our own children, and they in turn think we made monstrous
blunders, and either go back to the faith of their grandfathers, or try a third way
still to be blamed again by their descendants. In one respect I hope we have been of
some use to Mr K. - that of enlightening him a little with regard to the real
workings and the real teachings of the Romish Church. We have shown him their
own testimony, quoted their own authoritative documents, called his attention to the testimony
in the trial of the Ignorantelli, just finished in Turin. By the way, this
trial results in the conviction of three who had been caught, one being
sentenced to five years in the Penetentiary, the other two let off by the
withdrawal of the prosecution by the parents. Father Théoger and two of
his associates are sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, but as they have
made their escape the sentence is simply a disgrace, not a punishment.
At one o'clock two very young gentlemen, Brewers from Springfield, came from
town to see us. They were so young that when one of them told me the
other had served six months in the Virginian Campaign it seemed to me
almost incredible. I was shocked in talking further with this young man, to
find that his health was utterly broken down by this service, that he was even
now daily bleeding at the lungs, that the sea-voyage had injured rather, than
benefited him, and, that though he was better since leaving the ship, there
was small chance of his being well again. They both interested me
but more particularly the invalid who was so modest that he would not talk
of his own experiences, but whose whole heart seemed still in the terrible contest.
In the evening the Baroness Gautiers came and took Mr Kasson's place
on the terrace. She looked pale and ill, but was sweet and graceful as ever,
and full of kind words and gentle thoughts. The telegrams say, as we knew
they would, that the invasion story was greatly exaggerated, the object of the
dash into Pennsylvania being to cover an attempt on Washington. Lee is
said to be within 40 miles of that city, and if nothing worse happens to us
than the capture of a portion of the residents of that city it will not be a very
bad affair. The news is favourable from Vicksburg, although there is nothing
decisive. Friday July 3rd
The weather has at last become thoroughly summery,
a circumstance which would be very delightful to me if it had not also brought
with it one of Egypt's worst plagues - the plague of flies. Except in Egypt
I really never have seen them anywhere so well nigh intolerable. Mr Marsh
complains that they interfere so much with his writing that he cannot accomplish
one half as much in the same time as he could in early Spring. They
light on his eyelids, on his inkstand, on the very point of his pen while
it is in motion, in short they are everywhere and on everything. They devour
the water-colours Carrie is using, which would be a comfort if their numbers
were such that the destruction of a few offered any relief, but their numbers are
like the armies in the Revelation. All this comes from the vilest of
Italian customs, having the stables so near the house. As the heat in-
-creases it threatens to drive us altogether from the terrace, the large flag-
-stones that pave it becoming so heated during the day that the reflection
The young Brewers arrived at the station of Candiolo a minute too
late for the train, so they came back to the Castle and spent
the night with us. I only wish we could do more for them.
Carrie took them to the tower at four in the morning, and they
had something of a view, though the mountains were hazy.
at night is still very considerable. For two evenings I have seen, after the
swallows, the finches, etc. had disappeared for the night, and the bats and the
beetles and the fire-flies had taken their place, a huge owl leave the
tower and take his slow and solemn flight down towards some tree in
the garden - another fancy of my childhood realized.
Saturday July 4th 1863 -
Mr Clay and Mr Kasson came out to dine with us and to
spend Sunday. We hoped for a telegram that should cheer us up a little on this
our National Festa, but none came. The gentlemen however tried to hope them-
-selves and make us hope that the flag which floated so gaily from the old tower
here was also streaming over Vicksburg. Mr Kasson gave us a most interesting
account of his experiences active and passive immediately after the Bull Run affair.
The evening was delightful in temperature, and a very curious phenomenon appeared
an hour or more after sunset. A vast cumulous cloud extending from the South.W.
toward the N.E. like an arch almost over our heads, with the billowy edge turned
in the direction where the sun had disappeared, shone with a dazzling, silvery light
almost as powerful as that of the full moon. The moon however did not rise till
about midnight, and this strong light on the cloud must have come from the sun
already so long below the horizon. Of course the cloud was at an immense height
while we were looking wonderingly at it. The edge furthest from the sun, grew darker,
the lightnings began to play in it, clouds from the south rolled up to meet it, and
very soon the flashes of lightning were so frequent and so brilliant as almost to blind
us. The effect however on the old tower and on all the objects about us was so
striking that we could not make up our minds to leave the terrace till a pelting
rain at last forced us to exchange it for the hall at the head of the staircase,
through the open arches of which we could look out over the viny balcony into
the garden, and down upon the village.
Sunday July 5th -
Our visitors soon after breakfast this morning strayed away
by themselves, each with a volume of Robertson's sermons. I had previously
spoken of them to Mr Kasson, and was now surprised to find that Mr Clay had
stumbled upon them last winter while they were left at the Legation, and really
expressed an earnest wish to read them more carefully than he had been able to
do then. I thought as he strolled down into the garden so quietly with the book
in his hand, how different that from my
preconceived
idea of the young Kentuckian we were to
have for a secretary. Later Mr Kasson and I had another animated discussion on
private judgment etc, then of the sermon he had been reading, then of more general
matters, and the dinner-hour came so unexpectedly that this at least could not be
called a long and tiresome Sunday. After dinner came the telegram, but alas, not the
one we hoped for - not a word from Vicksburg, but only that the rebels were prosperously
advancing further and further into Pennsylvania, and were already near Harrisburg.
I can't help asking, since it seems we have no men, where are the women and children?
When such news comes my longing to go home is indescribable. Not that I have the
vanity to suppose Mr Marsh could do more than many others, but because I am ashamed
to be absent at such a time. We might at least go out into the streets, and cry aloud.
We swallowed the disappointment as well as we could, all trying to cheer each other
with the hope that no news from Vicksburg was good news, and that a thorough
scare wouldn't hurt the copperheads of Pennsylvania, and might possibly wake up
some of our high officials to another spasmodic effort, even though there might be no
chance of ever inspiring them with any steady energy. In the course of the evening Mr
Kasson incidentally spoke of the old Bourbon, now so much used in America. I
thereupon told him the history of two dozen bottles which we had imported from
New York, and distributed for the most part among acquaintances - that one bottle
had been opened when we first came out to Piobesi but was still sufficiently well
filled to allow me to offer a punch both to himself and Mr Clay. The proposal was
evidently not unacceptable to the two gentlemen, and the necessaries were soon provided.
The old Bourbon was drunk patriotically, and I fancy neither of them will be f so
much annoyed by the birds tomorrow morning as they were this.
Monday July 6th -
Our two friends, as I expected, slept well, and did not even
complain of headache this morning. They went to town by the 8.30 train, and
left us to go over some chapters of the manuscript positively for the last time. To make
this the more sure we sealed up each division as we went through it, and at evening
had the satisfaction to see one third of the pile laid aside for good. In the course of
the day we received the contract and inventory from the Dame d'Angennes
who is once more in the melting mood, but I dare say by Wednesday, the day fixed
for signing, she will get up some new crotchet and throw the whole thing into
pie again. Of all diseases I believe that of insanity to be the most widely spread.
The papers this evening are full of a supposed plot at Rome against the
life of the Emperor. Whether this is a reality or a scheme got up by the
party of action in Italy to stir up the Emperor against the pope, or whether
it is a device of the Emperor to serve as an excuse for something he wants
to do, it is impossible to say now, and very likely the truth may never be
known. England is said to be trying to persuade the mad king of Prussia
to resign - no doubt purely from the disinterested motive of seeing a better
man in his place! Greece is in a state of military insurrection. How
far the trouble will go it is impossible to say. The murder of Radama II
of Madagascar is attributed by the English to French intrigue, I suppose
by way of offset to the French accusations against the English in the
matter of the Suez canal. It isn't hard to believe all each says of the other.
The recent discoveries at Pompeii are of a very interesting character. The
Gazzetta today describes a beautiful little head of Juno in silver, a very
perfect bronze candelabra, and various other choice objects found within a day
or two. Tuesday July 7th -
C. and I were alone all day, Mr Marsh being in Turin.
We looked over one chapter of the manuscript, and then betook ourselves to the more
amusing occupation of painting. With my usual imprudence I allowed Carrie nearly to
extinguish her eyes, but fortunately the dressing-hour came in time to prevent the
final catastrophe. Mr Marsh brought Mr Kasson back with him, and we spent
the evening partly in condoling with each other over fresh Northern disasters, partly in
trying to cheer up Mr Kasson under these and other disappointments by another
glass of Old Bourbon. Among other anecdotes illustrative of Washington in 1862
he gave us an account of a steamboat excursion got up by the Hon. Mr Conklin of
New York CIty. He states that this gentleman invited him with some other persons to join
him in a trip to McClellan's head-quarters, then not far from Richmond - that on going
on board
he found
there were several ladies in the party, a circumstance he had not anticipated, as
his own wife had not been asked. Mrs Thompson, then wife, now widow of Senator
Thompson of New Jersey, Mrs was the principal guest. Mrs Gen. Ricketts and
some others were also there. I pass over some extraordinary details to record the
most extraordinary. At the camp Mrs Gen. Ricketts found an officer, a cousin
of hers, very ill, and, as she wished to take him to her house in Washington
for nursing, she asked that he might be brought on board in a litter and so taken
to the City. This the Hon. Mr Conklin refused to permit, though there was no
person on board the boat except this small pleasure-party, and of course there was
an abundance of room. The steamer, too, had been placed at Mr Conklin's dis-
-posal as a member of the Naval Committee, and therefore his private claims to such
personal control of it were not so strong as they might have been. Mrs Ricketts,
finding Mr Conklin immovable, resolved herself to leave the boat and remain with
the sick officer till some other means of removing him could be found. Seeing she
was determined on this course, Mrs Thompson interceded with the honorable member
from New York, and finally obtained permission to have the sufferer brought on to the
boat. An application meanwhile
was made
for another officer who was severely and dangerously
wounded, but had otherwise no disease. This application Mr Conklin was most
resolute in rejecting, and all persuasion was unavailing. While some of the gentle-
-men were debating whether or not to remain on the boat, another steamer
with another party of Congressmen came up, and, to their honour, took the wounded
half-dying man on board with the greatest cheerfulness. I have said - to their
honour, but this is one of those cases of mere common humanity in which it
is a disgrace to be found wanting, but scarcely adds a laurel to him who meets
them like a man.
Wednesday July 8th
The ogress of the Casa d'Angennes was all smiles this
morning when Mr Marsh went to her to propose some modifications in the
contract. She consented obligingly to all everything he asked for, and with
A. and G. who remained to look over the furniture she was scarcely less
gracious. Still the contracts, owing to the necessity of making copies etc.
are not yet actually signed, and until this is a fait accompli we shall
not feel sure of the house. I spent as much of the day as I could
see use my eyes, on the manuscript. Carrie had headache and was not
worth much to herself or me.
Thursday July 9th
A note from Mrs Tottenham tells me this morning
that she accidentally met Count Villamarina the evening before at the Browns
and that he then told her had decidedly changed his mind about renting his
house, and had concluded not to do so. This change it seems he felt under no
obligation to communicate to us, except as it came conveniently in his way, even
after he had made us a distinct proposition so tempting that we were half inclined
to give up the d'Angennes negotiations at once. Nor was this offer made on his
part without knowing that we were already in treaty for the Casa d'Angennes.
This only shows the difference between the modes in which business is carried on
in Italy and in America. We felt that we had incurred a partial obligation
to the take Count V.'s house because we had been to look at it, and professed
ourselves satisfied with it provided we could agree on the terms. In the meantime
the Countess Ghirardi sends us word that we may have the Casa d'Angennes
on the terms we offered last May, and we thought ourselves in honour bound to
notify Count Villamarina at once of this circumstance. In reply he sends us
a precise statement as to the inducements he can offer us to take his house
and promises it on such and such conditions. Then, without waiting to know
what our decision is, in fact before there was any decision, he alters his mind
and doesn't in the least feel obliged to tell us so, except as he by chance
meets a mutual acquaintance. This change of mind on his part would be a
decided relief to us if we were sure the Countess G. might not even yet
change her mind also, and so leave us in the lurch altogether.
We had a fine shower accompanied by heavy thunder this afternoon.
Friday 10th
We worked with new life today preparing the index of
authors referred to in the manuscript. At five o'clock I started up from Mr M.'s
writing-table, where I had been pasting together slips alphabetically arranged, for
two or three hours, exclaiming: 'there the very last thing is done!' - and
looked to Mr Marsh for a similar expression of triumph. But on the contrary
I saw only a look half disappointed, half apologetic, as he said hesitatingly "no,
not quite the last; it has just occurred to me that I have left out all the
authors in __ bookcase." I was damped indeed, but it was dinner-time
and there was no help for it - there must be another morning's labour.
We were soon able to laugh over our petty disappointment, but alas, not so
over the long list of disasters contained in the Daily News - Pennsylvania
half overrun by the rebels, and the miserable Dutchmen thinking only of
their money-bags. - Washington threatened - Milroy defeated for the third
time - the New Jersey governour refusing to aid Pennsylvania - Kirby
Smith in possession of Milliken's Bend - Banks badly repulsed on the
13th at Port Hudson, and seriously threatened in the rear - not a single
victory except one gained by some coloured regiments - Lincoln and all
his dough-faced advisors alive, and Admiral Foot dead! In the
midst of this blackness of darkness there was one act stated that called
out a Viva! The governour of Illinois, - the state which has already
furnished 30,000 men above her quota - offers to send Governour Curtin
10,000 men to defend his capital if he wants them. God bless Illinois, and
let the fire and sword of the rebels blast only the copperheads and not
the patriots of Pennsylvania.
Saturday July 11th
While Mr Marsh was in Turin Carrie sat by my
bedside and completed the index of authors which we thought so nearly done
yesterday. She worked steadily from nine till Two two, when the last pasting and
clipping was finished. She then went to her room to paint, - not herself, but
a part of a picture, and I was left to myself and the flies, the latter of which
however Giacchino coaxed off by making my room dark with a small aperture
into the boudoir. I felt better for a two hours by myself, and when Mr Marsh
returned at six, had braced myself for more bad news - but the telegrams
were of no particular importance, except that Hooker had resigned and Meade
taken his place. Hooker, I dare say, was driven to this by the President's
interference, though it is possible there may be some other explanation.
One thing is certain; our unluckiest of Presidents has a most remarkable
facility of yielding at once upon the slightest remonstrance every point
where he is in the right, but where he is in the wrong, which
is generally the case, he is the most obstinate, bull-headed mortal in
existence. One good piece of news Mr Marsh did bring - the
contract for the Casa d'Angennes was signed, and he had the
document in his pocket.
Sunday July 12.
We were entirely alone today. I spent it in bed, Mr Marsh
and Carrie wrote and read for me and for themselves, and in the evening went to
pay a visit to the Baroness Gautiers. They found friends with her - among others
a military gentleman whose name I forget. He told Mr Marsh that it was now settled
there would be no war till Spring. The Italians were not yet ready for it, and as
to the Poles they must get on as they could.
Monday July 13th
This morning the box containing the manuscript was
sent down to the Messagerie, and we are both glad to feel that there can
be no more last things done to it. Mr Marsh was busy nearly all day ma-
-king out accounts, trying to bring up his lagging correspondence etc, though
he came in to my room frequently after the Post arrived to give vent
to his indignation over the stupidity of our Washington rulers. The removal
of Hooker, or forced resignation, has roused Mr Marsh more than almost
anything that has occurred, and if the Meade who succeeds him is the
Meade we knew eighteen years ago at Washington I should be glad
to hear that the Army of the Potomac had laid down its arms and gone
home, or that it had risen and refused to obey the mandate from Washington.
In this way some lives might be saved at least - otherwise one can look
for nothing but the slaughter of the Army. Grant is said to have removed
McClerland, and I should rejoice at it if I did not fear that Lincoln
would restore him in the very face of his chief. As to McClerland's
military history I have nothing to say, leaving that to those who know
and have followed his [illegible] career, but that he was a false man
in his political life we do know from our own personal experience, and
a man who is base enough to assert a deliberate falsehood on the
floor of Congress in a matter when he could not be mistaken, is not
a man to be trusted with the lives of his fellow men, and the life of
the country. Just before dinner Mr Marsh came in and read to me
a part of one of Priore Luca's Veglie. I was glad to turn my thoughts
from our own country to some more cheerful features in the prospects of
this. Two or three little anecdotes struck us very pleasantly, and as this
series by Prior Luca is carefully historical I have no doubt of their
truth. Ricciardi (whose late acceptance of the title of count has made
some stir) was formerly a very decided republican. When he was first
presented to the King, Victor Emmanuel said to him: "So you are
a republican! Very well, give me your hand! Help me to make a United
Italy and then if she desires to become a Republic I will not stand in
her way." This is like our King and worthy of him. Another little circum-
-stance is told of the King's visit to Florence last April. After he had
shot through what was once the Piazza del Granduca like a
flash of lightning and disappeared under the gateway of the Pitti,
the vast multitude that stood before the palace continued to rend the
air with their calls for the King to show himself to them again upon
the balcony which had been decorated in the most magnificent manner
for that purpose. At last he did show himself, but not there. He
threw open a plain window and stood there like a true man in the
presence of the countless multitude. The effect was somewhat unexpected.
Instead of renewed thunders of applause a breathless silence followed, [illegible]
[illegible] - and every head was bared in an instant. "Tears flowed
like rain," says Prior Luca. "It was one of the grandest moments I
have witnessed in all this grand period of Italian history." The same
Veglia contains a little anecdote of Savagniola which pleased me as
eminently Italian. Some one said to the Dr. while he was Minister:
"People say that you make a great many bad blunders." "Yes I do" said
the humorous and good-natured Tuscan, "but tell those people they would
make a great many more if they were in my place." There is also
another anecdote of the King worth recording. After one of the great
battles an officer of the Royal Staff with remonstrated with the King for
having exposed himself so recklessly. The King replied : "Avete ragione.
Ho fatto male. Vir altra volta - - farò peggio." In the course
of the evening Carrie was speaking of a young English girl she had
met at the Tottenhams - Udea Onslow! This name struck me
so oddly that I begged her to spell it for me which she did, and then
told me its history. The god-father of the girl was in the habit of calling
his wife you dear instead of the my dear which is so common. About
the time of the birth of this girl, this gentleman lost his wife, and
when invited to stand as god-father to this child by its friend, he made
it a condition that the child be named Udea - a disguise for
you dear, and on the tombstone for his wife the same word was
engraved. Let New England eccentricity and ingenuity match that!
Tuesday July 14th
Mr Marsh brought from Turin American papers to the
30th. I think I have not seen him in a state of such fierce indignation
since the commencement of the war. For months he has been crying out - what can
they be doing in Washington that that they are making no preparation to fill up the
wasting Army when they know from the lessons of the last two years that Lee will
be down upon them before mid-summer. - The blow has come just as any child
of common sense must have foreseen it would come - At such a crisis too
Hooker is driven from his command, and a new officer put in his place. May
the German proverb prove true in this case: 'To whom God gives an office he gives
wisdom.' In the case of chief-magistrate at least it has failed.
Wednesday 15th -
Our chief business this week has been letter-writing which
has fallen sadly behind. Carrie wrote for me some hours while Mr Marsh was occupied
for himself in the same way. After a five-day confinement I was dressed about three
oclock and went into the Library. There Mr Marsh read to me from Generrelli
some of the facts and documents connected with the history of Pio Nono and his
times from '48 to '50, - a story to make me blush for humanity, and most
of all for popes and cardinals. When tired of Italian we turned to a review
of Arrivabene's recent book in the Deux Mondes. The account Arrivabene
gives of the indignation of Cavour when he learned of the Villafranca peace
and the great self-control of the King is very interesting. The reviewer says
that the author's admiration for Cavour and love for Garibaldi is most
genuine. We must get the book, for now that we have time and opportunity
to know thoroughly the history of Italy during the last half-century we do not
mean to throw them away. - The arrest of the five brigands on board
a fr French boat in the harbour of Genoa the other day, is making quite
a stir. They are nearly all of them convicts escaped from Italian justice
and the most monstrous crimes have been proved against them. They are,
however, all furnished with passports signed by Cardinal Antonelli himself
and viséd by the French minister at Rome!
Thursday July 16th -
This evening we had a telegram announcing a
great battle near Gettysburg. The report is confused, but would lead
me to think that the battle, though not very decisive, had been rather in
favour of the Northern troops. The two lines from Meade speak of severe
losses - many officers killed etc., but say that the enemy had not renewed
the attack. President Lincoln is said to have reported great successes but we
shall really know nothing about it for some days to come. I was so
nervous through the whole day in anticipation of some great news this
evening that I could scarcely confine my attention to Mr Marsh's reading -
much as I was interested in the subject. We went on with the review
of Arrivabene, and, indeed, finished it. Whatever may be the drift of
Arrivabene's book, that of his reviewer evidently is to show that
Napoleon III had no fixed policy - that his one sole aim is personal
ambition, and as to the means of obtaining this end he allows himself
to be guided by the passing events of the day - steering his bark
only with reference to the winds and currents of the hour.
Friday July 17th -
We passed our day as usual in reading, writing, drawing
etc. I was disappointed not to see E. Larned at one o'clock, and to
receive from him a letter instead saying that he was suffering from a
boil in Milan, could not come for a day or two, and might perhaps
not be able to come at all. He adds a groan, and a deep one, at the
state of things at home. A letter from Mrs Valerio, nervous and semi-
destraught as usual gives an anecdote from Mrs Child of poor
Mrs Dwight when the body of her murdered son was brought home
to her. This is the second of her boys that has fallen in this
terrible war and her two remaining ones are now in the field.
"Oh," said she, "I can bear even this, I can bear everything but a
compromise." The Baroness Gautiers spent the evening with us,
and as usual talked much of the American War. She understands the
question, and always expresses the utmost astonishment that in civilized
Europe the South can find one friend. This lady is a Piedmontese
certainly but she has all the characteristics of the more southern Italians,
- dark hair - dark eyes, sometimes flashing fire, sometimes soft and mar-
-vellously pathetic, with all that mobility of expression in her
features which we always attribute to the children of the South. In
her movements there is that inexpressible grace which I have so
often marked among the Piedmontese ladies, and which may perhaps
exist among other Italian women, but I am not sufficiently familiar
with the higher circles of the more southern cities, to say whether
it is found there or not. She told us a sad story of the poor
Marquise St. Germain. Her sister is the wife of the Marquis
Riscalli of Milan. Ten days ago the Marquis had an altercation
with his son, in the course of which the one or the other
became so much excited as to draw a revolver, and a ball
passed through the body of the young man, just missing the
heart. The Marchesa San Germano hurried on instantly to
Milan on receiving the news. She was met by a friend at
the station who begged her not to go to her sister as it would
greatly alarm her about her son etc if she thought friends
had been sent for to Turin, and advised her to return
home at once. This the Marchesa S.G. positively refused to do,
saying she would go to a hotel and her sister might be gradually
prepared for her visit. Finding her immovable the friend told
her that there was news of the illness of her son at St. Petersburg,
and by degrees gave her to understand that a telegram had been
received to say that this son was thought to be dying, and re-
-questing the Marchese and herself to hurry to St. Petersburg as fast
as possible. The poor lady rushed back to Turin without seeing
her sister, and started immediately with her husband for
Russia. The father gave out before the end of the journey, and
the mother, invalid as she is, was obliged to go on alone.
Through a kind Providence she found her son still living, and
it is thought he may recover. Young Riscalli too, it is hoped,
may survive. The arrest of the brigands at Genoa continues
to occupy the Press and the Public. The Diritto in speaking of
it took occasion to write a most severe article against the Emperor
and especially against the Empress who, it asserted, spent the interval
between her hours of social dissipation in praying for the Pope and
the Bourbons. The edition was suppressed of course.
Saturday July 18th
Mr Larned and his son came out to us at
six. I was very glad to see them and especially to see the father looking
better than I had expected. A few questions about the lame leg that had kept
him two days from us, a few words about home-friends, and then came
the all-engrossing subject - the war - And how could we talk of anything
else when any hour might bring us news that according to human
judgment must decide the fate of the Republic. We dined, and then
waited for the evening paper in trembling. It came but brought no news.
Till And bed-time we talked on, Mr Larned telling some things of his
own personal knowledge which we had not already learned before,
but all tending to confirm us in our judgment of the utter unfitness
of the good-natured, honest, feeble, President for his place - of the
faithless Seward for his - in fact of the general imbecility of the
Cabinet, With
with
the exception of Mr Chase, who declares himself that
beyond the duties of his immediate office as Secretary of the Treasury he
has not the slightest influence, and that he remains there merely
because he hopes to be useful to the Country in a financial way.
Of McClellan he thinks precisely as we do, or rather worse. I
was very glad to find that Mr Larned had had his eyes open while
in Rome and Florence, that he had not been induced to believe
that the Pope was a most benevolent, wise, and paternal ruler,
nor that the Florentines and the Italians generally wished to break up
again. He was acute enough to see through Banker Hooker, and
some others who are as hostile to liberty abroad as at home.
I should think from what he says that Dr Butler was just
in his place at Rome. He will keep a vast number of unwary
Americans out of the snare, and he will be a good counsellor
to many a tempest-tost Roman. The Goulds, too, have so far
kept themselves free from any blinding influences.
Sunday July 19th.
We began this morning where we left off last
night. The interests of nations, not of individuals, must in times like
these become the topics even of household conversation. It was time
for Gaetano to return with the Post - one o'clock - and we were
still talking of Meade and Lee and what the paper might bring.
But again there was no telegram, and he was obliged to leave us
at half past two to join his party in Milan. After he had gone I really
felt distressed to remember how little I had been able to talk to him
of home-friends, that I had not even asked after his sisters Ellen and
Anna, that in fact, all of our friends had been half pushed aside by
these overwhelming political events. I had a bad headache which
made me fear for the effect the exciting conversation must have had
upon Edwin in his weak state. Mr Marsh, too, was nervous and
agitated, but perhaps we shall all feel better tomorrow for having
opened the safety-valve. Even the Gazzetta tonight brought no telegram
and we must now wait till tomorrow. It is dreadful to have heard
from home of a great battle still unfinished and to be obliged to wait
almost a week for before knowing to whose lot the victory has
fallen. It turns out that the Italians have a treaty with France
according to which the arrest of the five brigands the other day was
illegal, and they must therefore be given up. We hope when they
do this they will instantly reclaim them, not as political offenders
but as thieves and murderers already convicted but escaped from justice.
Monday July 20th,
We were to have set off to-day for a week's excursion in the Vau-
dois vallies, but a communication from the Foreign Office made it nec-
essary for him to go to Turin instead. At one P.M. he returned with the
joyful news of the fall of Vicksburg and the defeat of Lee in Pennsylvania.
We did rejoice, but in the midst of the liveliest gratitude what
a pang to think of the thousands of lives these victories have
cost - of the families now in anguish and desolation! I can
not think so great political crime was ever
before
committed, as that
which the authors of this rebellion have been guilty of. Alex__
who learned the good news in Turin said while waiting at dinner
'We ought to have a festa for this telegram' and his remark suggested
to me the idea of giving the servants a treat in the evening.
Accordingly I ordered eggs, cream, sugar & Old Rum to be
brought to me on the terrace. As we stepped out there we were
pleased to see the dear old flag flying gayily from the top of the
tower - doubly pleased because it was a proof of the sympathy
of our servants in our own interests, they having received no orders
to raise it. While I was busy with the egg-nogg which was to
make glad the hearts of the lower house, a sudden hiss followed by
a whizzing sound full of 4th July memories brought me at once to
my feet. I look up - a beautiful rocket was describing the most
graceful of curves, then dropped a shower of red blue & white stars
down on the meadow below our grounds. And a row of lamps, red
blue & white formed [illegible] a shining band around the top of the
old tower, producing an admirable effect. All this had been
got up by the servants entirely on their own account, and to
give us a pleasant surprise. Nor were the good villagers behind
in testifying their sympathy. The Home Guards of Piobesi mustered
out their Band which was soon installed in the garden, the
little children shouting with all their might, la musica! la
musica! This took Alexander even by surprise and he was not a
little troubled at first for fear we might be displeased by the propor-
tions the festa was assuming. He assured us he had not given
the least hint to the band to come, and he did not know how
they had learned the good news - that he would not have taken the
liberty for the world etc. etc. We had made no preparations to entertain
so many angels, but half a dozen bottles of wine answered to quench their
thirst, and a few francs did for the rest. It was really gratifying to see
the interest these poor people took in the brightening prospects of our
country - a land where, they have been told, all the poor are free and
happy except the black slaves, and they are to be as well off as the
rest when this dreadful war is over. The music was really very
respectable, and the rockets blazed at intervals till ten o'clock. The
whole effect was very pretty - the band formed a most picturesque
group in the garden, all the more striking because there was no
moon and no lights about the garden except those which shone
from the tower and those used by the musicians themselves.
In fact I doubt whether we could have got up anything prettier
if we had had a week to prepare it. We were so sorry that home-
friends could not see it, and particularly that Mr Larned and Walter could not have
stayed one night longer. We dismissed the Band at half past ten, and hurried
to bed knowing that I we must rise at four for our Pignerol excursion.
Tuesday July 21st
Our three gigs arrived at Candiolo soon after six in ample
time for the first Pinerolo train, and we reached this town without
any remarkable adventure a little after seven. At eight we were on our way toward
La Tour in a small but tolerably comfortable carriage, and a Jehn who brought us
up in an hour and a half. The country is very pretty, as we knew beforehand, but
nearly half the Indian corn and the vines between Pignerol and La Tour has been
destroyed this year by hail. 'Twas a mournful sight to see nothing but the stalks
and half-grown ears of Indian corn left - on the vines neither leaf nor fruit,
and the mulberry-trees were almost as bare. But the oaks, the walnuts and
the forest trees generally have scarcely suffered at all. We were disappointed
somewhat at the aspect of things at the principal hotel at La Tour, L'Orsa,
and Alex__ intimated as much to our hostess. "Ah, Monsieur, il
ne
faut
pas attender grande chose dans notre petitie maison, mais tout est bien
propre - il n'y a pas de bêtes." This was consoling. Every
thing
did
look very neat, and I felt in good spirits. An hour's experience
however has taught me that a certain very teasing tormenting little creature
does not come under the classification of bête in the natural
History of La Tour. On making inquiries we found the chief guide
was absent on an excursion with some travellers - Guide No 2 was
also not to be found, and we shall have to sit down as Sotire
used to say, for the rest of the day. We have examined the royal family
tree, the portraits of Marie Pie and her royal husband, a full length lithograph
of Gen. Beckwith, and a sketch of the Vaudois history, all of which are in
our sitting-room - then we betook ourselves to the bedroom where are four
old coloured lithographs of poor Marie Stuart in the closing scenes of her life.
This finishes the ressources of the house - we must now go to our own
carpet-bags - After dinner and tea the guide made his appearance, does not
think well of the weather and recommends that our first excursion be up the
Valley d'Angrogna as far as Prè du Tour. This he says can as well be
seen when there is some fog as at any other time, but for the Col de
Traversette t or any other high mountain view, it would be time and
money thrown away to attempt it while such masses of vapour are hanging
over and enveloping every peak. This is certainly disinterested advice on his
part and we shall take it.
Wednesday July 22nd
This morning we were astir betimes, took a cup
of tea at half past six, but did not get off till half past seven, the chaise-
-à-porteurs being a novelty in the region, and a necessity to me today
from the fact that my saddle à dossier was left behind. Alex and Giacchino
stayed at La Tour to make arrangements to send for the saddle. The
day was a fine one for such an excursion, though all the higher mountain
peaks were generally concealed by the mist we still had a charming
view of everything that was near us, and the absence of sun-shine
was a great comfort especially to the walkers. Mr Marsh set out on
a donkey but as usual soon complained that the stirrup and made
him remember very painfully an old sprain. He left his monture
before reaching Angrogna, and did not [illegible]
ride
again - not even returning.
At Angrogna we noticed the pastor's house, now undergoing thorough
repairs and in a very charming position. We were detained here a little
from the necessity of making a change in the poles of the chair, and
the kind pastoress came out to see if she could do anything for us.
She spoke English very well but was evidently either a Suissesse or a
Vaudoise. The general aspect of the valley was much as we expected,
very lovely, sometimes even very wild, but we have seen many far
more striking. Both our guides and the people of the valley we met
seem very quiet and gentle, and somehow or other reminded me
very much of our Quakers. Most of them speak French very well
but they evidently prefer their own patois which from the little I
have heard of it I should judge to be less disagreeable and more in-
-telligible than the Piedmontese of Turin and it neighborhood. Only
two persons asked alms, both very old women. One of them whose
little cottage is at the Prè close to the trees under which we
took our lunch, has a pretty little grand child whose mother died
lately. The poor old woman had a broken leg and complained that
it was bien triste d'être si pauvre. Her dialect however was the
worst we heard in the valley and I found it difficult to talk
with her. I made out this much - that a 'brave dame anglaise
had just sent the little orphan a new Testament which must at
least have cost three francs'. The child brought us some water
in a bright copper pail for our lunch and was soon joined by
a lively little boy of about her own age who told us of his school
his Church &c. There is a C. Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary
at this very spot which has been the scene of so many terrible
persecutions of the Vaudois, and it may be just where the old college
of the Barbes stood. But the people of the Valley told us that no
one went there to the service, and even the poor family I have
just mentioned went down the valley miles to worship in a far
inferior chapel of their own. At Angrogna we went into the pastor's
house according to a semi-promise made as we went up, and good
Madame Cantone refreshed us with eau-sucrée and cherry water. This
seems to me almost the prettiest point in the whole valley. It is not
too high for the magnificent chestnuts and walnuts that make the lower
Alpine valleys so beautiful, and yet it is high enough to command
a fine view of the plain at the mouth of the valley, to overlook
the Pellise which runs far [illegible] below it, and the doubling, curving
waving outline of the hills on both sides is really enchanting - An
hour more brought us back to La Torre whither Mr Marsh had
preceeded us long enough to have taken his bath and to be ready
to receive us looking quite fresh in his dry clothes. Dinner was
soon ready, and was soon followed by a cup of tea and I must
confess to going to bed without a candle.
[illegible] Thursday 23rd
The weather this morning being still very misty
and Mr Marsh being very tired we concluded to do nothing more
than to drive down to Luserna, and to wait for the arrival
of the saddle if not for better weather before setting off for Crissòlo
and the Traversette. The expedition to Luserna did not prove a brilliant success.
The carriage was wretchedly uncomfortable, the road almost intolerable The
latter is new, and composed of large pebbles with a sparing mixture
of earth. The little village of Luserna stands on a hill which commands
a very lovely view of the ridges opposite and the valley below. The road
that leads to it branches off from the highway between Pinerolo & La Torre,
and consists of a viaduct and a brig bridge of very expensive construc-
tion. The villa of the Della Roccas was shown us - new but
of modest dimensions, and with little to admire about it except
its fine position. We were glad to get back to our hotel without ship-
wreck and with our curiosity fully satisfied as to what was meant
by a scorratta, we having been puzzled by a sign opposite our
windows - 'Qui si affittano cavalli e scorratte.
July Friday 24th.
Gaetano brought up the saddle last night, and this morning
the guide came soon after 4 four to settle how and where we would go.
Our object was to get to Crissòlo, and Murray recommends the pass of the
Sea Bianca to such travellers as do not choose to go around through Barge
and Paesana. Our guide however, who had told us the day before that
one could go over the mountain to Crissolo in six hours, argued stoutly
in favour of the pass of the Gianna which he said would take longer
and admitted that it would be difficult to ride all the way. Mr Marsh
told him we could not go anywhere where I should be obliged to
dismount as I could only walk a very few rods, and therefore declined
to go by the Gianna. There was a great deal of delay in getting our
beasts in order, and the more we talked with the guide the more we
were satisfied that he knew very little about the passes from the
valley to the Pellise to the Pò. At last he brought a man whom he
said knew the way as he knew his own fingers, and proposed that he should
be one of our attendants. At twenty minutes before six we were on our way
for the Sea Bianca as we supposed. Our route took us first in the
direction of Bobbio, but a little this side of the town we struck off to
the left and began to ascend rapidly. Mr Marsh rode for about an hour
and then walked, or rather climbed steadily for several more. A peasant we
met asked our guide where he was going -"over the Gianna" was the
answer. I communicated this to my husband as soon as I had an oppor-
-tunity to speak to him. He was surprised but said that was probably a
general name for the ridge, as he could hardly believe the guide would
venture to take him where he had said positively he would not go.
On the next green Alp alp we stopped at a little châlet to feed
the donkeys and rest ourselves. We sat down under the shade of
a stone wall on our piles of shawls with five monster pigs just before
us which we could not drive away even by pelting them with stones.
The old gran'ther of the châlet came out to offer us its hospitality,
and we enquired of him about the Sea Bianca the Gianna &c. He told
us the former, which was the more direct route to Crissolo, was now
utterly impassable, partly from disuse, partly from the snow and ice
with which it was still encumbered. The Gianna he thought we
might pass but said it was three hours more to the top. Three
hours more, and we were already very tired, having been climbing
for nearly five. We then asked him how long it would take us to
go down to Crissolo from the summit. An hour and a half or two
hours, was the answer. We were in for it and there was nothing
left but to go on. I was extremely uneasy about Mr Marsh as he
seemed very tired, and I knew that while it was impossible for
him to ride a little donkey up the steep paths we were climbing
it would be no less impossible to ride down on the other side.
The man who knew the way as well as his own fingers was
evidently little better informed than our first guide, and they were
frequently at a loss where to go. At four o'clock the one who
was scrambling up foremost cried out: Voilà le coquin! A
moment more and we all stood by his side with Monte Viso
before us scarce three miles off and almost entirely unobstructed from
base to summit. It was a most magnificent sight, and tired as we
were, and anxious and vexed, we forgot everything in that glorious
view. Of course Monte Viso was the centre of attraction, but the
Visottolo on th its right and another grand peak on the left, the
name of which I forget, each supported by other and scarce less
lofty crests, rising like a wall as far as we could see made up
a picture in some respects not inferior to the finest we have ever
seen in the Alps; but a very violent and cutting wind together with
the lateness of the hour forced us to hurry on. Again we asked
how long before we should reach Crissolo. "We can go down in
about four hours" was the startling reply. "Four hours! Why it
it half past four now, and you told us it would be only six hours
to make the whole pass after we struck off from Bobbio!"
The guide looked confused, said he did not think it would take
so long, &c. &c. Mr Marsh then asked him if we should not
reach some châlets before coming to Crissolo where we could pass
the night. "Oh yes, we shall find châlets, but -" There was
a pause here which was as much as to say [illegible] whether
you can spend the night in them or not is another thing. There was
no time to be lost in discussion or scolding, and we began a downward
movement as rapidly as possible. I kept on my beast for some time
though the poor creature had the utmost difficulty in keeping his legs
even with the help of one guide at his tail and another at his head.
An old shephard
shepherd
now joined us, inquired if we had made buon viaggio
and then told us that a little further on the path was all washed
away and it would be impossible to ride. In the meantime our guides
had given abundant evidence that they did not in the least know how to
find their way down, and after a moments talk with them the
kind old shepherd volunteered to show the track. We were standing
on a crest so steep that it seemed impossible to descend it without the
help of wings. I was lifted from my saddle, and just then saw Carrie,
who had sprung off and taken her donkey by the bridle, sliding
down together with the poor beast, whose four feet were sprawled
out with desperate determination, but they neither she nor her donkey
[illegible] seemed to have the slightest control over their own direction, but
were entirely at the mercy of mere gravitation. Mr Marsh had braced
himself against his Alpenstock and stretched out his hand to me,
but my knees were so stiffened by the nine hours I had been in the
saddle that I found it impossible to stand. How I got to the bottom
of this really frightful declivity I dont know, but it was somehow
or other on my hands and knees. I was so anxious for fear of
some accident to Mr Marsh or Carrie that I really could not think
of anything else and the men had as much as they could do to keep
the poor animals from slipping off and being dashed to pieces. This
was the worst part of the descent. The rest though steep and rough could
scarcely be called dangerous, and our spirits were in a measure kept up
by the majestic scenery that surrounded us. After about two hours and a
half we came to a little châlet. I was fearfully tired and I dare
say Carrie was so too though she made no complaint, and Mr Marsh declared
he could go no farther. We had now been twelve hours and a half
on the road with nothing but a bit of bread and cheese and small
ones at that. We asked if they could give us a place to sleep and
some polenta and eggs to eat. This request caused a commotion in
the little hamlet. There was no small hurrying to and fro, and a
great amount of earnest consultation. At last we were led to a place
declared to be the cleanest in the village, if village it could be
called. Mr Marsh and Carrie went in to see what the prospect
was. A large, low, black room, without window or chimney,
but with a great fire at one end, the smoke of which passed partly
through the tiles, the rest remaining in the room. They came out
declaring it would be impossible to stay there on account of the smoke.
I suggested that the fire might be put put out - but then how could we
get our polenta or our boiled eggs? Was there no other place to sleep?
&c &c. In the meantime husband had recovered his breath a little,
and this circumstance added to the dismal prospect here, and the
flattering assurance that Crissolo was only an hour off, induced
us to try and push on. Oh, how long was that hour! Mr Marsh
was so thoroughly foot-sore and out of breath that I really feared he
would be obliged to give up entirely, but he did not dare to attempt
riding on a donkey down such rapid descents, and there was nothing
left but to use his own strength as far as it would carry him. We
did reach Crissolo between eight and nine - weary, wo-begone mortals
that we were. Carrie was already at the door of the Albergo del Gallo
when we came up. What an Albergo! One small room and a kitchen
was all we could see. We threw ourselves into some wooden chairs
that stood in the room that was not the kitchen and put our handkerchiefs
to our faces for respirators to strain off [illegible] the odour of garlic. The
mistress came, promised us beds and a supper, and I begged her to
show us our chambers as soon as they were ready. A boy of fourteen
soon made his appearance with a light and proposed to take us to
them. Stipulating with the Mamma that there should be neither
garlic nor onions in her cookery, we left her to prepare the polenta
and the polastri after her own fashion and followed the boy.
He took us across the road to what seemed to be a kind of
hay-loft, but in the it were two rooms intended for christians, not
cattle. Into one of these we were introduced, and found three
not uncomfortable-looking beds, very clean and the air of the room
was fresh and pure. We then asked for the other room but
our boy declared that the other room was occupied by a gentleman,
that we were only three and here were three beds - and
besides this was all they could do for us. This last was a
settler and we decided at once to take the three beds and be
thankful. It was a long time to supper, but it came at
last and was not bad. The room had been aired, the smell
of garlic had disappeared and was replaced by the fragrance of tea
from our smoking etna. One thing however was quickly settled.
We were all too tired to think of the Traversette tomorrow. Mr
Marsh paid our guides and dismissed them finding he could get
others here. There being no ladies' saddles however the La Torreau
left us his on condition that we take it back to him on our return.
Saturday 25th
At half past nine this morning we sat down to our
modest but not unpalatable breakfast in the dining room of the Gallo. While
waiting for it we had amused ourselves not a little with the image
of a cock that graced the sign over the door. The tail-feathers especially
were in the most flagrant style of the art of sign painting, and must
have been drawn from the artist's ideal of a phenix, or of some
other impossible bird. It was really very funny, Having disposed
of our trout and potatoes we requested our boy, who proved to be
truly a great boy in the western sense, to have our room put
in order at once that we might stretch our bruised limbs
at full length again as soon as possible. Mr Marsh was
asleep in five minutes after he had thrown himself upon his
bed. Carrie pillowed herself up and took the Vita di Pio Nono
for amusement, but I disposed myself to follow my good
husband's example. A low whispering and buzzing of voices at
one of the windows startled me from my incipient nap
and I called out "Chi è là?" in a tone which Mr Marsh char-
-acterized as a yell, Carrie rushed to the window, and found
some children on a ladder which they had raised to the window
and on the top rounds of which they were standing to enjoy
the sight of the wonderful strangers. They fled hastily at
her approach and were rebuked by the old folks below
who took away the ladder and sent the children home. We
had no other disturbance except from the noise of persons
pitching hay into the loft over our heads. Trout and potatoes
again made us a good dinner which was helped by some very
respectable soup. This hot dish our boy was surprised to find
we wished to eat first, it being the Piedmontese fashion
among all classes to take it in the middle of the dinner.
The next thing was to settle with the guide for tomorrow. His
account of the Col de la Traversette made it look rather for-
-midable, but we made up our minds to go as far as we
could reasonably and then give up reaching the gallery if
necessary, and on this conclusion went to bed.
Sunday July 26th
We were off this morning soon after five
Mr Marsh and Carrie each having a mule and I being
furnished with a donkey. Mr Marsh soon found that riding
on the sort of pack-saddle provided for him and which
was all the place afforded, was quite out of the question,
partly from its enormous width, partly from the difficulty
of keeping his seat when the animal stumbled or made
an irregular step, so after an hour or a little more he took
to his feet for the rest of the day. Carrie walked for two hours
and then mounted her mule. Everything went on very well
and we reached the Piano del Re in less than three hours
from Crissolo. Here a spring gushes through the hills from
a lake above, and is known as the sorgente del Pò, although
there are fifty other sources higher up and far more deserving
the name. It is a charming spot however, the verdure lovely, and
the water deliciously cold and refreshing. Here the guides showed
us where the King and the Princes had rested, the rocks on
which they ate their polenta, &c &c. The King, they said, had
not been higher than the lakes, but the Princes came over the
Gianna. According to Carrie's guide however the Royal Party
went up to the Traversette. This sorgente del Pò is the extreme
limit of Italian adventure in these parts. Many m Milanese
families they told us came so far, but none but English or
the people of the valley ever crossed the Traversette or the Gianna.
All our attendants were greatly astonished at Carrie's prowess.
"Una damigella, e cosi giovinetta, avere tanto coraggio! - -
Scometto non aurà più di quindice anni, e parla la nostra
lingua assai meglio di noi poveracci!" Mr Marsh climbed
with more ease than he had done on Friday and we reached
the delicious spring a few hundred feet below the Buca without
any extraordinary fatigue. I was more surprised at what I
had done myself than at the endurance of the others, for I
had felt so ill during the night before that I had scarcely
slept at all, and nothing but the immense gratification Mr
Marsh finds in these expeditions (which he will not make
without me) would have induced me to venture on such
an undertaking. But we made some tea at the spring, eat
our bread and cheese, and were ready to set out again with
new courage, of which we had good need before we reached
the top. As it was impossible for me to ride further the
men took off my saddle, fastened it firmly to two poles, &
on this they were to carry me if possible up to the gallery.
For the first few feet it went very well, but then the snow
(for we had been in the snow more or less for the last hour)
lay so steep that it was impossible for the men who held
the poles to keep anything like a sure foothold. One would
slip and nearly through [throw] me backwards, another and I was
actually thrown out forwards. When I was reseated all four
slipped together, and we lost as much ground as we had
gained in a quarter of an hour previous. In the meantime
my posture was almost intolerable, and finally I was
obliged to admit that I could go no further in that way. In
fact the men were utterly unable to get up themselves and
carry a burthen besides. I sat down on a rock, looked at the
opening of the gallery some three hundred feet above
me, and felt for the first time on any of these excursions,
that I had undertaken what I could not accomplish.
One of the men then offered to take me on his shoulders.
I remembered my successful experiment in this way on
making the last part of the ascent of Horeb, but when I
looked at the slender Piedmontese before me and recalled
to mind the stalwart Arab who carried me on that occasion
I thought it would be more than the poor man could possibly
do. There was only one way left. A man took me by the arm
on each side of me, and going a little before me nearly
pulled me up without much exertion of my own; and
at last we stood before the mouth of the gallery. So unprepared
was I for such an experience as this that I was provided
with only thin summer boots - a poor protection against [illegible]
knee deep snow. After a moment's rest Carrie disappeared
in the midnight of the gallery. One or two of our guides
went with her, but it was so long before any of them
returned that Mr Marsh and I became a little anxious.
At last we heard their clear shouts and supposed they were
safe in France, which was the fact. Leaving C. the men
returned and I prepared to follow her with them, but I
had formed no idea of the difficulties of the way. We
began to ascend an inclined plane of ice which rose
till our heads touched the roof of the arch, then the ice
and snow became very unequal and we kept our footing
with the greatest difficulty. We had not a ray of light
and the warnings of the guides a dritta! a dritta! a
sinistra! capo basso, capo basso! were quite enough
to make us feel a little nervous. Murray gives the
length of this gallery at 250 or 300 feet, but I think he
must have passed it when it was free from snow and
ice. To me it seemed a quarter of a mile. Daylight
appeared at last, and a Viva la Francia! greeted the
scene below us, which however by no means compares
in beauty with the view from the Italian side. Nor could
we stay long to enjoy even what there was to be enjoyed.
The wind was piercingly cold and blowing violently from
that side, and through the gallery though on the Italian
side we had left a pleasant summer temperature. The
return proved even more difficult than the first passage.
My guides both slipped - one sliding off to a considerable
distance, while the other was, I flatter myself, saved from
a fall by the sharp wooden heels on my fancy boots. Poor
Carrie supposing that it was I who had slid off came
rushing after me with a momentum far greater than
she intended, but I am fortunately so firmly fixed by my
heels in the softening ice that the collision did not upset
me, and she did not actually fall. After sundry more knocks
against the projecting stones of the roof we came out safe
on the southern side, and were glad enough to get back
to Italy and warm weather. Here we spent a half hour
in delightful enjoyment of the view before us. The mists
had been playing strange antics all day - sometimes dis-
-appearing altogether - then capping the mountain-peaks, or
rolling up the valley, or half hiding the plain. Now they
were more beautiful than ever. Monte Viso, sometimes or
rather that part of the chain visible from this point, was
sometimes almost entirely covered, then again perfectly clear,
but almost before we had time to exclaim "how distinct
it is now!" the boiling, curling vapours would shoot up in
the most fantastic forms from below, and with the swiftness
of steam from a steampipe, and in a minute all was
covered again. Sometimes we could see the plain quite well
but generally it was somewhat obscured, I am by no
means sure that such mists as these today are on the
whole an injury to mountain views. While we were coming
up and Monte Viso was standing before us in such
majesty it was wonderful to see how he seemed to wrap
the vapoury mantle about him, throwing it now over
this shoulder, now over that, now winding it about
his head like a lordly turban, now casting it all off
in haughty scorn. And then the apparent height of the
mountains is always greater when these flying mists are
playing about them. We could not stay as long as we
wished as the descent was likely to prove a long and trouble-
-some affair. Various plans were proposed to get me safely down
over the snow, but at last it was settled that I should once
more try the saddle, two ends of the poles were to rest on the
snow, the other two raised by the guides who were to go
before, a cord was fastened to the whole apparatus, and a
bright little fellow who came through the Traversette
from the French side while we were there, was to hold
the cord behind, and in this way act as a break. The
plan looked specious - I took my seat and was soon
sliding down the steep slope with something very like
railroad speed. The two men who held the poles were
sliding, the two men at my side were sliding, so was
the youngster who held the cord. "Il vapore, il vapore"!
shouted the guides in great glee, and a more exciting
sleigh-ride I never had. But it was a very short one.
Five minutes, or rather much less, was sufficient to pass
over the ground which it had taken us an hour to ascend.
Carrie and Mr Marsh made a somewhat similar voyage
but entirely on their own responsibility, I having nearly
all the men with me. "Ecco madamigella! che va sunza
il babbo!" exclaimed one of them as he saw C. sailing
away alone down the glittering slope. As soon as we came
to a point where it was possible to ride I relieved the guides
of their burthen and got upon my donkey. The rest continued
to walk. The descent was rather steep most of the way, but we
met with no accident and arrived safely at the Gallo in Crissolo
not far from six. Both Mr Marsh and Carrie had walked
nearly the whole of the day, and the former when dinner
was over and he had thrown himself on his bed, exclaimed
with most amusing naïvety: "I wish somebody would tell
me candidly whether I am really an old fool or not to
tire myself in this way."
Monday July 27th
This morning while Carrie and I were
dressing and packing up our sieben Sachen for a progress
through Paesana and Barge to La Torre, Mr Marsh had
a talk with an Italian who occupied the only other room of
our hotel. This gentleman had already informed us that he had been
sent here for a sangiamento d'aria, but that he found his
stay noiosissimo. It was not hard to believe this, as he
was neither angler nor hunter, and had no taste for the
wild scenery within his reach. He had however been up
to the lake, a feat upon which he prided himself not a
little. This lake which is scarcely larger than one's dining-table
and from the configuration of the surface about it cannot
possibly be more than a couple of hundred feet deep, he
declared to be unfathomable, and said that people came from
all parts of Italy to see it. Mr Marsh now told him that we
had gone far far above the lake where we had an entirely
unobstructed view of Monte Viso from summit to base, where
the Visotolo was so near that it seemed as if we could touch it,
then described to him the grand and awful precepices on our
right hand as we went up, the almost boundless view of the
plain below &c. When he had finished his auditor said very
quietly: "Senza dubbio la cosa la più 'soddisfacente che
avranno veduta sarà il bel lago." This of course was
beyond answer. In the meantime another Italian gentleman
with his little daughter were setting out for that same famous
lago. We pitied the poor child, as there was no saddle
for her except the sort of pack-saddle which Mr Marsh
had been obliged to use the day before, and it really seemed
to us no longer a wonder that the ladies who came here never
went further than the lake. The little girl had to sit
astride, and had nothing to help her keep her seat. We advised
our guide to get English ladies' saddles, and assured him that
travellers would be more likely to come here and to make
the excursion to Monte Viso, but he said that Italian ladies
could not ride on English saddles, and that English ladies
almost never came here, or, if they did, came with their
own. Where this Milanese gentleman and his daughter
slept last night we do not know, but we saw them
led of [off] somewhere into the village with rather disconsolate
faces. It was about eight when we turned our mules
towards Paesana. Mr Marsh had made up his mind
to walk for the five hours between Crissolo and Barge
and had the courage to carry out his resolution. The day
was extremely fine, the valley sometimes very wild, rocky
and bare - they showed us an immense mass of rock,
six or eight miles below Crissolo, that fell last year, killing
two persons, with a noise that was heard at that village,
and a cloud of dust visible as far - and sometimes it was
most luxuriantly green and beautiful. I cannot imagine
anything more striking to persons to whom such a scene
is new than one of these Alpine vallée. One moment
the traveller stands in the midst of the most savage deso-
-lation, bare blasted peaks above him which have hurled
and are still hurling immense blocks of stone down over
the little shelf on which he stands into the roaring, foaming
flood hundreds of feet below him. He passes on, turns
round a jutting spur of the mountain, and finds himself
under the shadow of the most beautiful chestnuts with
green pastures and waving wheat fields all about him.
Then another turn and he is again in the wilderness, and
so on hour after hour till he gets quite down almost to
the mouth of the valley. It was fair-day at Paesana
Barge
and
we met multitudes of the simple people on their way
back. Many of them saluted us with the: "Ha fatto
buon viaggio? Ah, mi fa tanto piacere!" so well nigh
universal in the higher portion of the valley. But the younger
ones, who seem to be learning city-manners were generally
silent, leaving the politeness to be done by their old school
progenitors. We rested a short half-hour at Paesana, then
proceeded to Barge. For much of the distance we had
a most picturesque view of the plain below, especially of the
town of Cavour with the wonderful hill rising abruptly
out of the plain to the height of five hundred feet. We
were so much struck by this object that we vowed a
pilgrimage to it some day. At Barge, a most prettily
situated town, we dined and got carriages to take us to
La Torre where we arrived soon after five heartily welcomed
by our servants and our hostess. We found a half mad
English woman in our drawing room, who, without looking
up, said as we entered: "I'm going at once, I'm going
at once!" Giacchino explained to me who she was,
but added: "These people here don't know that she is mad,
they think it is simply English oddity." And on this she
told me a conversation between some Italian officers in the
dining room the day before. "These English," said one of them
"are certainly the most extraordinary people I ever heard
off! The most original! Only think, the other day a party
of them came up to Pinerolo, and there took an omnibus
to come up the valley. It was raining. What do you think
they did! Put all their baggage inside the omnibus,
and got on the outside, ladies and all!" It never occurred
to this innocent militaire that these "amiable islanders"
might possibly have a little curiosity to see the country
they had come so far to visit.
Tuesday July 28th
We should have slept soundly from
fatigue last night but from the most untractable of
straw beds, made in the form of a house-roof and
put under a thin [illegible] mattress. Mr Marsh said
he was more tired when he rose than when he went
to bed. We took carriages direct for Piobesi, and reached
the Castello about two without misadventure, and having
as fine a day as is possible to imagine. The most
striking object we saw on our way this morning was
a church-tower at Bricherasio. I could not have
been made to believe short of the evidence of my own
eyes that such a monstrous thing was to be found in all
Italy. It would be idle to attempt to describe it, but if
drawing or a photograph of it can be found I am
determined to possess myself of it. We were rather surprised
to find that all these provincial roads were wet every
day at this season in order to keep down the dust. A
stream used for irrigation is turned of temporarily into a
small channel by the roadside, and then men standing
by this current with an implement half shovel half
pail, they throw the water entirely across the road.
This is certainly a great comfort to travellers. An odd
conceit too in the way of beds attracted my notice on this
journey. In houses of any pretention a spread is laid
over the mattress, and in the top of this spread a bolster
is basted in, in such a way that without anything else the
bed has the air of being neatly dressed for an occupant. When
the bed is actually to be used the sheets, pillows and other
covering are laid over this first counterpane which serves the
double purpose of protecting the mattress, and giving the
bed a neat appearance when the sheets are removed.
Carlo and Susanne were all right and glad to see us and
it was a real joy to get back to home and a bath.
Wednesday 29th
Mr Marsh went to Turin early this morning
and brought American news to the eighteenth - everything
most satisfactory except the New York riots, and even out
of these I hope much good may come, especially a deter-
-mination on the part of our better citizens that Fernando
Wood and his Irish gang shall be put down cost what
it may. I looked over papers, and we talked and rejoiced
over the good news till my head was really giddy, and I
was glad when night came with its calm and rest.
Thursday 30th
It was pleasant to resume our habitual occu-
pations once more, but it is not easy to take up everything
just where one left off and with the same interest as
before even after only eight days of interruption. We were
all a little heavy and a little lazy, but perhaps accomplished
so much as to get ourselves fairly into the old track.
Friday 31st
Carrie went to Turin this morning with
Giacchino to engage the eldest Miss Tottenham to come
and spend next week with us. She found the whole family
occupied with a very different engagement which the young
lady has just made, and which seems to give satisfaction
to all parties. I am very glad for many reasons, as
Miss Tottenham evidently possesses none of those qualities
of independence and none of powers of initiative
effort that would make her useful and happy were
she to live and an unmarried life. It must be a
great gratification to her parents that she marries an
Englishman and is to go "home". Mr Marsh and I
spent a large part of the day in reading together, dividing
the time between Buckle's History of Civilization and
Bonnemere's Histoire du Paysan. As to the first
book, it is not fair to form a judgment after reading
only a hundred pages, and I have no doubt we
shall find much in the book to admire, but as I
was struck in the first few pages by the great mistakes
made in his statements with regard to religious dogmas
and doctrines, so today was I even more struck by
the historical distortions by which he endeavors to
sustain a preconceived theory. Perhaps distortions is
not the word I should have used, because I do not
see any evidence that the author wishes to be otherwise
than candid, but he has adopted a theory and then looked
about for facts to sustain it, found here and there something
that seemed favourable, and utterly overlooked a far larger
amount of testimony that would go entirely against him.
On the whole, if I were forced to judge the man after
this little acquaintance with him, I should say that he
was destitute of imagination and not particularly strong
in his logic, that he was learned, without being in the
least wise, that is, without having assimilated his knowledge,
that his sense of right and justice was acute, that his
instincts in short were far nobler than his cold and
slavish creed. Bonnemere's book delights me beyond
measure, and I wish I could see it in English. I
cannot help thinking it would do good. I went to
bed and to sleep under the soothing influence of a hand-
organ which was playing under my balcony where some-
half dozen couples of little folks were merrily dancing in
anticipation of the festa tomorrow and Sunday - the
grand festa in honour of the patroness Santa Anna.
Saturday August 1st
Before I was dressed this morning the
widowed mother of the nine children sent me in
some bunches of very nice-looking grapes. Of course I
understood this, and was glad to have an opportunity to
furnish her and her family with a good meat-dinner
in exchange for her gift, and this cleared up a difficulty
under which we had been labouring as to what we could
best do for these poor villagers on this occasion. We did
not wish to give money to adorn their saint, nor to
make her procession splendid, and mere fireworks and
illuminations seem too much like money thrown away
when they had so many needs. So we settled to order the
butcher to furnish
meat today
to such poor families in the village
as could not afford to buy it. The butcher being syndic
and apparently an honest man I think we can trust him.
At any rate if he cheats us one half the poor will get
something and of course we cannot know how to
distribute these charities ourselves. As to beggary I
have never seen less in my life than here in Piòbesi.
Mr Stillman came out by the noon-day train. We were very
glad to see him and to have an opportunity of talking over American
interests at Rome. His indignation against banker Hooker would be
almost amusing if it were not so well grounded. The open advocacy of the
cause of the secessionists by this man became too notorious even for Mr Blatchford
who himself was able to swallow the camel to the extent of inviting to his house
the noisiest defenders of the rebellion. He told Mr Hooker finally that he must be
more prudent or he should be obliged to dissolve his connection with the
Legation. This remonstrance made him more careful in Mr Blatchford's presence
but the recent national victories alone really induced him to be less a rebel.
The vexations Mr Stillman has endured from the unwillingness
of American travellers
to pay the
three dollars exacted by our government for a new passport and intended to force
such American citizens as were abroad to contribute in a small way to the
expenses of the war are something really humiliating to listen to. Even Miss
Charlotte Cushman with all her great wealth flies into a passion on being
told the new regulation, and when at last obliged to accede to it she
refuses absolutely to get a separate passport for her friend Miss Stevvins and
manages to have her leave Rome without one by the help of the police.
And Miss Charlotte Cushman is the mistress of more than three hundred
thousand dollars! Of the Americans at Rome generally, with the ex-
-ception of Dr Butler and a few others, Mr Stillman says that the only
signs of interest that even Northerners have shown in this terrible struggle
has been in the rates of exchange. According to these they made them-
-selves merry, gave charade-parties, &c. or they kept quiet and spent little,
but never did he hear a word of sympathy for those who were suffer-
-ing at home, of anxiety as to the result from any other than a mere
personal point of view, or any plan of doing something themselves to help
the great cause. Mr Stillman feels intensely and much allowance must
be made for his artist temperament, but I can readily believe there is
much truth in what he says, and if he were in New York or Boston
among the rich I fancy he would find the Americans in Rome were not
so unlike the majority of wealthy Americans in their own country. But
it is pleasanter to look at those who do than at those who do not,
and when we think of the hands that are busy, and the hearts and the
purses that are open in this hour of fearful need, we have some reason
to be proud of human nature. As to Mr Blatchford his previous political
history and his entire ignorance of European politics together with the
influences under which he came, are elements sufficient to enable one
who is no prophet to foresee exactly what he would do and be, and so he
has done, and such he is. Mrs Blatchford is discreet, has fully preserved
her patriotism, and her love of human liberty, but she must have been
more than woman not to be more or less influenced by the intrigues of
able and designing persons around her, and by the propriety of abstaining
from setting herself in any way in opposition to her husband. [Illegible] We
were a good deal interested in Mr Stillman's account of Ruskin with whom
he passed, three years ago, a whole summer in Switzerland. He speaks of him
as a most singular aggregate of contradictions - generous to the extreme but
unsympathizing, impulsive in his attachments and yet incapable of any strength
in them, likely to denounce his best friend from the merest whim from
the slightest offense given his most fastidious taste, loving nature and
yet unable to see her at all as she is, loving art yet judging of it by
the most accidental caprice, without power of executing anything himself yet
possessing the most perfect confidence in his ability to direct others, now
strong in his religious faith, now carrying his doubts to the extremest
atheism, a sincere lover of truth and yet so mentally constituted
as to be almost incapable of recognizing it. The differences
of opinion
between
Mr Stillman and Mr Ruskin on the American question has led to an
entire interruption of their correspondence for the last six months.
Mr Clay and Mr Artoni came out to dine with us and in the evening
we drank a glass of egg-nogg together by way of mutual rejoicing
over the better prospects at home.
Sunday August 2nd 1863 -
The villagers were all dancing merrily at quite
an early hour this morning. Mr Clay went out and gave the children a
ride on the whirligig to their great delight, and through the whole day
we had the music in their ears and could see the dancing under the
trees whenever we chose. This last was rather monotonous and it
was surprising how they could find any pleasure in it themselves for so
many hours, it being kept up till nearly eleven in the evening. Mr
Stillman as well as the other gentlemen stayed through the day which
passed very pleasantly. An anecdote of Gibson told by Stillman diverted us not
a little. The sculptor was one day talking in a circle of friends in that
semi-lecturing tone so common among artists, and among other things said:
"That the ancient Greek sculptors did paint their statues is illegible now settled
past dispute." "I dispute it," said an English doctor whose name I forget.
"they never painted their statues". "Do you mean to say" said the indignant
artist, turning a fierce glance on the Dr, "do you mean to say that the
Greek sculptors did not paint their statues?" "I mean to say exactly that",
responded the Dr quietly, "they employed somebody to do it who had an eye
for colour." Was this merely a hard hit at Gibson or had the Dr the anecdote
told by Pliny of Praxitiles in his mind? Stillman speaks with some praise
of Boyers, with much of Story, but the adjectives he bestows upon Mosier are anything
but complimentary. I did not know enough of Stillman's history to be aware of the
part he had taken with Kossuth in Hungary, of his adventure to recover the crown
jewels etc. but I have seen and learned enough of him now to be afraid that he will
get his head broken before he gets back to Europe in case there should be another mob
outbreak. Among little items of home intelligence which he gave us was a most mel-
-ancholy history of Miss Fanny McGregor. After the gentlemen left us the Baroness
came in to give us a petit bonsoir and to say she was going to the mountains.