Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters Volume I Part 25

"Bagni di Lucca, _Feb_. 26, 1848.

"I have just returned from a most interesting but somewhat precarious journey--to carry despatches from our Amba.s.sador here to the general late in command of the Tuscan forces.* It was full of adventure and strange incident, and although the revolutionary [? movement] has been too rapid to make us more successful, the result has shown (which was a great object) the disposition of the government of England towards the fallen Grand Duke.

* General de Langier.

"I had a mountain range--one of the Apennines--to cross, with deep snow and glaciers. Sixteen hours' work to cross, of which only five could be performed on horseback, the remainder being on foot and by night--a night without a star too. This, with the consciousness that I had on my person a letter to a man for whose head 20,000 dollars were offered, made the attempt, to say the least, highly exciting. Well, here I am again, and, thank G.o.d, nothing the worse, save in some fatigue which a day or two will pull up.

"The revolutionary party here have conquered for the present--that is, they have acquired the ascendancy of terror, precisely as the French democrats obtained it by enlisting in their cause all the most infamous and degraded criminals of the State, and this by the pressing threat of a pillage and a sack deterring the quieter population from even a murmur. The Grand Duke has fled to Gaeta, his life being no longer safe at St Stephano; and as General de Langier's troops have all accepted service under the Provisional Government, all hope of return to his throne is lost, except from foreign intervention.

"On Wednesday night last the peasantry--who are all loyal to the sovereign--attempted a movement in Florence, but the civil guard closed the gates and prevented entrance, and after some hours of drum-beating and alarm-bells, quiet was restored.

"Piedmont would send 12,000 men to restore the Duke (six would do it) if Gioberti were in the ascendant, but the hitch is that the radicals of Genoa are themselves watching the Tuscan revolt as a matter for their own [guidance]; and now we hear that Naples is again in open revolt, showing that the whole outbreak of Rome, Tuscany, and Naples was a preconcerted rising, planned and matured by the Mazzini faction. I began to fear that the case is almost desperate, and that Monarchy, or, what is better, Order and Legality, are doomed for a season at least in this peninsula. Sir George Hamilton's efforts have been unceasing to avert the dangers, and to his skill and energy are owing even the length of peace we have hitherto enjoyed. If you think that these few remarks are of any interest, would you kindly send this to Sheehan, to whom I am unable at this emergency to write more fully?...

"I am anxiously looking for the reply to your proposition [to Curry].

G.o.d grant it may be successful. It would set my mind at rest, for some time at least.

"I am sorely afraid we must flit from this, which, if for no other reasons than the financial ones (and there are a score of others), will be a sad inconvenience to me; but I fancy we are about to have a taste of a _republica rosa_, for which I feel anything but inclined to be the witness.

"My wife and the weans are doing admirably. Although the events around us are very alarming, we have lived long enough among the population of this little locality to know and like the people, and, I flatter myself, are well thought of by them. My fear is only for marauders--the usual vagabonds who have deserted and are traversing the country in bands of twenty and thirty. These are really to be dreaded. It would, of course, be impossible to live long in a state of siege without suffering more than any residence would requite. If, therefore, the reign of anarchy here promises a continuance, I shall be off, but in what direction I know not. The Alps are impa.s.sable to wheel-carriages, and to horses save those in daily habit of pa.s.sing, so that Switzerland is cut off; and Lombardy, which is nearest, is not in the condition to make one seek it. France, besides, is on the eve of another commotion. _Que faire?_ Meanwhile we have good courage and light hearts--at least, so far as the danger goes."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Baoni di Lijoca, _March_ 20, 1848.

"....I am low in pocket and in hope. Perhaps it were better, as you suggest, to draw near England,--but in reality it is as little my country as America."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Bagni di Lucca, _April_ 21, 1848.

"I would suggest some compromise with Curry--[? a bargain] to superintend an edition which would give me a regulated share of profits, and spare me the mortification of being thrown upon the market in a disgraceful and unauthorised fas.h.i.+on.... If Chapman would give 800 I am quite ready to go half. I would go over at once, but really this is a nervous moment to leave a family in Italy. a.s.sa.s.sinations and pillage are too rife to make absence easy. Besides, with two monthly Nos. to supply and a very low exchequer, time and cash are grave obstacles.

"Natural smallpox of a most dangerous type is raging around us, and I fear that I must run away to Florence--which, with a big tail of men and maids, is something very formidable. I am the more inclined to yield to my fears and fly, but my poverty should influence me in incurring a considerable risk.

"The insurances are always in my thoughts."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Casa Standish, Florence, _May_ 27, 1848.

"As to the under-sale [i.e., selling at reduced prices], so little was I aware of it that when in the January of 1845 Mr Pearce went to London from Templeogue to negotiate the sale of 'St Patrick's Eve' with Chapman & Hall, Mr Chapman's argument for offering a lower sum than I proposed was that 'Mr Lever's works were in some instances advertised at depreciated prices.' Pearce wrote to me word of this, and, indignant at what I believed to be a falsehood, I hurried in to Dublin and asked M'Glashan how such a story could get abroad? He said he couldn't conceive how, for he knew there was no truth in it. But his hesitation and confusion were extreme.

"If I could proceed against those parties who alleged having informed me [of the under-sale] I would certainly do so. The whole case is evidently now 'up.' I see no prospect of any benefit by further proceedings, and if you are of my opinion that an Equity suit would serve me, I would lie down under the wrong and leave it among the many hard rubs in life I have suffered. If I understand the matter aright, I have no share whatever in the proceedings of any sum to be obtained for the sale of these works or copyrights, and very small prospects of any payment of the debt they owe me. Be it so. Now, one last chance. If these works are to be sold by auction, will their probable price be above the sum Chapman would give? It would be well to communicate with him on this subject....

"As to the rate or grade at which I was to be paid for the over-sale after 11,000 of 'Hinton,' M'Glashan wrote to me one letter in which he said: 'The work will probably reach 20,000, in which case your profits will be doubled.' This letter, and all my papers and private letters, MSS., &c., have been lost on the way from Como here--or, more probably, destroyed by the police authorities,--so that ill-luck is of late no stranger to me.

"My dear friend, I have written a very disjointed, ill-connected scrawl, but I am a little 'abroad,' being in no wise prepared for the tidings that have just reached me. On one point only am I calm and collected,--the heartfelt grat.i.tude I owe you for all you have done for me."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Casa Capposi, Florence, _May_ 23, 1848

"If the copyrights were to revert to me, I would at once turn my steps _towards_ England,--at least, so far as Switzerland or Belgium,--while in the other alternative I'd make up my mind to remain here, which for moneyed reasons is almost compulsory.

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

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Casa Ximenes, Florence, _July_ 18, 1848.

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

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

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

"The great object would then appear to me: first, to ascertain their expectations amicably, and if not such as I've prudently [? acceded]

to, to wait for the sales and stand among the bidders like every one else,--of course taking care to make our protest against the right to dispose of all the copyrights. This without any further recourse to law or any single reference to lawyers or solicitors, I would strongly advise.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

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