The Fe and Letters Oe Frances Roness Bunsen - Forgotten Books

THE

FE AND LETTERS

OE FRANCES

RONESS BUNSEN

BY AUGUSTUS J C . HAREV

A UT HOR OF M EMORIA LS OF A QU I ET L I FE ETC .

The happiest periods of history are not those of wh ich we hear the mos t

in the same manner as in the lit tle world of man’

s soul, the most saintly sp ir itsare often exist ing in those who have never distingu ished themselves as au thors ,or left any memor ial of themse lves to be the theme of the wor ld ’s talk , bu t whohave led an interior angel ic life , having hom e the ir swee t blossoms unseen

Br oads tone q/H 071071 7

I N TWO VOLUMES VOL . I .

TH I RD EDI T/ON

G E O RG E ALL E N

8,DE L L Y A R D ,

T E M P L E BA R,L O N DO N

AND

S U N N Y S I DE , O R P I N G T O N

!A 11 r ig/1 Is rose ?wedJ

THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDRRN

THE BARONESS BUNSEN

THESE VOLUMES

ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

PREFACE .

0 wr ite the Life and edi t the Letter s of theBaronessBun sen was a task for which many m ember s of her

own fam ily were better qual ified than myself, but I

gratefully undertook thi s labour of love in accordance

with the strongly-expressed wi sh of her descendants,having the con sciousness that, except her own children

,

no one coul d have a m ore tender and reverent affection

for the dear and kind fr iend of my whol e life . The

story of her surroundings, of the vicissitudes throughwhich she passed, and of her action s with their aim sand endeavour s, i s told in her own words. With them em or ial s of one who wrote so much, and who alwayswrote what was wor th readi ng

,the only di fficul ty has

been sel ection . Thousands of l etter s have been mecessarily omi tted, which never thel ess had a charm of theirown . Enough, I trust, i s stil l l eft, to pourtray thecontinuous chain of her loving and l oveabl e l ife, and to

l if t the r eader for a tim e into the pure and l ofty atm osphere of her heart andm ind.

AUGUSTUS J . C . HARE .

HOLMHUBST.

CONTENTS OF VOL . I .

CHAP .

I . FAM ILY INFLUENCES

II. RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD

III. HOME LIFE AT LLANOVER

Iv . BUNSEN

VJ MARRIAGE

SHADOWS

vn . THE CAPITOLINE COLONY

VI II. ABSENCE

I X . ROMAN SUNSHINE

X . LAST YEARS AT ROME

X I . THE FIRST RETURN TO ENGLAND

CHAPTER I .

FAMI LY I NFLUENCES .

Lives of great men al l rem ind uswe can make our li ves sublime,

And,departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of timeFootprints, that perhaps another ,Sailingo

’

er li fe’s solemn main ,

A forlorn and sh ipwreckedbrother,Seeing, shall take heart again .

"

LONGFELLOW .

ONE of the figures which excitedm ost attention am idthe mul titude Who thronged the terrace of Wind

sor Castle dur ing the happier year s of the reign ofGeorge III .

,was that of the venerabl e Mary Granvil le,

Mrs. Delany, who resided at W indsor in her old age,as the honoured and cher ished fr iend of the King and

Queen . N0 one then l iving had m ore in teresting recol

l ections to relate than the beautiful old lady who, as a

child, had sat on Lord Bol ingbroke ’s knee, and had

been set down as Maid of Honour by Queen Anne ;who had been intimate with the m ost remarkabl e characters of the reigns of George I . and George II . , and

VOL . I . B

2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

whose sense, wit, and natural sweetness of disposition,

had been won t to gather the most br il l iant l iterarycircl e in Europe around her tea- tabl e in St. Jam es’s

Place . I t was of her that Edmund Burke said thatshe was not only a truly great wom an of fashion

,but

the highest-bredwoman in the world.

”Tim e

,

” says

Hannah More, took very l i ttl e from her graces or herl ivel iness

,and at eighty-eight she had stil l the play

ful charm of eighteen ,honoured by all who approached

her , and loved by al l with whom she associated.

”

Mary Granvil l e was the elder of the two daughter sof Bernard, grandson of the fam ous Sir Bevill e Granvill e, who, in 1643, lay dead

’

upon the battl e-field of

Lan sdowne Heath, with the patent of the earldom of

Bath in hi s pocket, anda. l etter from Charl es I . grateful ly acknowl edging his services and hi s devotion .

What would have cl ouded any victory, says Claren

don ,and made the l oss of others l ess spoken of, was

the death of Sir Bevill e Granvill e A br ightercourage and a gentl er di sposition were never m arr ied

together to make the most cheerful and innocent con

versation At the Restoration , the elder son of Sir

Bevill e becam e the first Earl of Bath, and hi s youngerson Bernard, who had carr ied the news of the Restoration to Charl es II . at B reda, was made Groom of theBedchamber . Thi s B ernard had two son s, George, LordLan sdown e, cel ebrated for hi s accompl ishm ents, and

as the fr iend of Pope and Swif t !

and Bernard, who

Memoir s of Dr . Burney, m, 56.

FAMILY INFLUENCES . 3

marr ied the daughter of Sir Anthony W estcombe

(Consul -General of Great B r itain at Cadiz), and l eft

four children ,Bernard

,Bevill e

,Mary, andAnne .

The early history of Mary Granvill e was a romanceand a tragedy. As a child she was adopted by herfather ’s only sister Anne, who hadbeen Maidof Honourto Queen Mary, and after her death marr ied Sir JohnStanl ey,

* Comm issioner of Custom s,and received a

grant of apar tm ents in Whitehall . Here l ittl e MaryGranvil le becam e the intimate childi sh fr iend and

compan ion of her cousin Cather ine Hyde, afterwardsDuchess of Queen sberry, whose father then r esided

over Holbein’s Gate, and “ whose wit, beauty, and

oddi ties,made her from her early year s , when she

was Pr ior ’s ‘Kitty, beautiful and young,’ to the end

of a l ong l ife, a general obj ect of an imadver sion ,cen

sure,and adm iration .

”

Under Lady Stanl ey’s car e Mary Granvill e grew up

bril l ian t and beautiful . Wh en she was only seventeen ,

while she was staying with her uncl e George,Lord

Lansdowne, at Longl eat, he determ ined upon her

marr iage— par tly to obtain a good settlem ent for hisn iece, but much m or e to strengthen hi s own pol iticalconnection in Cornwall— with a Mr . Pendarves, of

Roscrow, a fat, disagreeable, ugly man of sixty, of

intemperate habits . It was in vain that Mary Granvil l e rem onstrated and impl ored m ercy ; in those daysmarr iages were seldom questions of inclination ; the

Of Grange Gorman,I reland, Bart.


consen t of her parents was r eadi ly obtained, LadyStanl ey would not in terfere

, and Lord Lansdowne wasinexorabl e . Never , ” wr ote the unfortunate br ide l ongafterwards, waswoe dressed out in gayer col our s, thanwhen I was led to the al tar . I l ost, not l ife indeed,but all that makes l ife desirabl e For som e monthsLord Lan sdowne attempted to reconcile his ni ece toher marr iage by detaining her under hi s r oof

,and en

deavouring to make her bel ieve that li fe was not so

much changed as she anticipated ; but the tim e cam e

when she had to accom pany her husband into Cornwall ,and to take up her abode in his dark

,disagreeabl e

,

desolated castl e, in which her head coul d not reach tothe bottom of the windows . Mr . Pendarveswas almost

always in toxicated, and, when sober , indulged in fits ofviol ent j ealousy about his beautiful wife, in spite of herdisplaying perfect willin gness to bury her self in utterseclusion to satisfy him . After two year s of mi sery,she hail edwith del ight the hope of being r estored to

her fr iends, by her husband’s determ ination to r eside

in London ,but her pl easur e was soon damped by find

ing that the house he had engagedwas in Rose Street,Soho , and that she was deemed to the constant com

pan ionship of hi s sister , who hated her . I n London,

however , l ife was m ore endurabl e, for am id the manytr ial s which, especially in those days, lay in wait

for a l ovely and neglected wife, she had the advice ofher aunt Lady Stanl ey and was always wil l ing to

fol low her maxim Avoid putting yourself in danger ,


fly from temptation,for i t i s always odds on the

tempter ’s side . Her wil l ingness to gi ve up any amuse

m ent to stay with her husband, now alm ost con stantlyconfined to the house by the gout, was invar iable , andhe so far appr eciated her dutiful subm ission

,that

seven year s after hi s marr iage he made a will in herfavour , but on the m orn ing after he made it

,his

wife found him dead by her side, and the will was unsigned !Mary Pendar ves was only twenty-four

, when She

found her self a widow . Her conn ection with Cornwal lwas broken ,

her husband’s proper ty having all passed

away to a n iece, so that she con tinued to r eside in

London . She had many adm irer s, but the only per sonwho attracted her was Lord Bal timore, to whom shehad nearly given her hear t, when she found She had

bestowed it unwor thily. Thi s di sappointm ent,and the

death of her aun t Stanl ey, induced her to accompany

her fr iend Mrs. Donnel lan to Ireland in 1730, on a

visit which was prol onged for three year s . Duringthis tim e she becam e intim ately acquainted w ith Swift,Dean of St . Patr ick’s, and with many other em inentper son s

,am ongst them Dr . Delany, then r ecen tly

marr ied, whom she adm ired-

for his “ human ity and

benevolence, char ity and generosity. With Swift

,

Mrs . Pendarves kept up a correspondence after her

r eturn to England in 1733 , when she had the del ightof findi ng in her onl y Sister Anne Granvil le al l thather fondest hopes coul d anticipate

,and of cem entinga

6 LI FE AND LETTERS or BARONESS BUNSEN .

l ifel ong fr iendship with ‘

Margaret, Duchess of Por tland,’the Grace of Graces, who was fourteen year s youngerthan her self

, and whom She had known from bir th, butw ith whom an alm ost unparall el ed sim ilar ity of tastes

and sympathies now un ited her in the cl osest bonds ofintimacy. I n 1740 she witnessed the happy marr iageof her sister Anne with Mr . Dewes, of Well esbourne,after which She found her principal interests in thehouse of the Duke and Duchess of Por tland

,till Dr .

Delany, then a widower , made her an offer of marr iage .Thi s proposal , though opposed by her brother andmanyof her other fr iends, She was induced to accept after

having been n ineteen year s a widow,by her high

estim at ion of Dr . Delany, and she was m arr ied in 1743 .

I n the fol l owing year her husband was made Dean of

Down , and she accompan ied him to Ireland, where theirpr incipal residence was at Delvil le near Dublin .

I n accepting Dr . Delany as her husband, Mrs. Pen

darves had stipulated to be as l ittl e separatedas possibl e

from Mrs . Dewes,the bel oved sister of her hear t .”

Accordingly, every third year was Spen t in England,chiefly between VVel lesbou rne and Bul strode, and from

1744 to 1746, the sister s were almost constan tly in eachother ’s society, enj oying what they cal led days

snatched out of the shade of the rest of their l ives .Even when in the m ost thorough enj oym en t of her

Margaret Cavendi sh Harley , born 1714 , wife of W il li am , second

Duke of Portland, was the only chil d and heir ess of Edward, secondEarl of Oxford, by his wife Henrietta Cavendish Holles, only chi ldandheiress of John, Duke of N ewcastle.

FAM ILY INFLUENCES . 7

husband’s compan ionship , and of his beautiful proper tyof Delvill e, Mrs . Delany fel t a void in the absence of

her sister .

How often ,

”She wrote in 1 750, do I delude mysel f

with agreeable visions . We walk together from room to

room,I Show you all my stores of every kind ; you are

most pl easedwith my workr oom and the library within itthe Dean hurries us into the garden , there you are more

pl eased than with anything in the house the fine prospect,the variety of walks

,the shades , the seats , the flowers

,and

the deer, all take your fancy ; and all our pl easures are

heightened by the dear l ittle Mary’s runn ing and boundingas we go al ong, but alas ! the vision i s vanished, a cloudis come over it for the present, and instead of enj oying

your presence I am addr essing a l etter to you that mustgo

, by sea and land, hundreds of m il es’

before it kisses

your hands .”

Yet these were the golden year s of Mrs . Delany’

s

l ife, and when her husband was frequently Spoken of as

the probabl e recipient of a vacant bishopr ic, she onlydreaded an honour which must remove her from her

bel oved Delvil le, and break up a presen t of which thehappiness was assured

, for art -uncer tain future .

I have often ,

” she wrote in 1752 , “ thought of late mylot most singularly happy, more so than i s generally met

wi th in thi s world of woe a husband of infinite merit,and

deservedly most dear to me ; a sister whose delicate and

uncommon friendship makes me the envy of all other

8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN.

sisters ; a brother of worth and honour ; and a friend inth e Duchess of Portland not to be equall ed, besides so

many other friends, that altogether make up the sum of

my happiness .”

I n I reland al so,Mrs. Delany had much pl easure in

the society of her goddaughter, Sally Chapone,

”

sister-in -law of the Hester Chapone, who was theauthoress of the wel l -known Letters on the Impr ovem ent of the Mind.

”Thi s Sarah Chapone was marr ied

at Delvil l e to Dan iel Sandford,of Sandf ord Hal l in

Shropshire ; her second son ,born at Del vill e, was

Dan iel Sandford, afterwards Bishop of Edinburgh, inwhom Mrs . Delany always retained an alm ost maternal

interest .

I n 1760 the happiness of Mrs Delany becam e overshadowed by the fail ing heal th of her idol i sed sister .

She j oined her in England with the Dean ,and aecom

pan ied her to B r istol hot-wel l s, wher e she had theanguish of seeing her fade day by day, til l her peaceful death in the fol lowing June . Mr . Dewes wascompel l ed to be absent from hi s wife’s death-bed

wi th hi s boys at Wel l esbourne : so that their onlydaughter

,Mary Dewes, was al one with her m other

and aun t at the tim e, and to her in her desolation Mrs.

Delany seem ed at once to transfer al l the boundl essaffection she had fel t for the si ster she had l ost .

Henceforward the education and the happiness of herniece Mary was the chief obj ect of her l ife .The l oss of Mrs. Delany

’

s si ster was foll owed in

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10 LIFE AND LETTERS CF BARCNESS BUNSEN .

To young Mary Dewes the presence of “ Monsieur

Rousseau,

”who used to wr ite notes to her ama bel l e

voisine,

”had been a rel ief in her l ong visits to her

form idable uncl e , and her par tial ity for him rathershocked Mrs . Delany, who wrote to her

,—“ I always

take alarm when vir tue in general term s i s the idol ,without the suppor t of religion, the only foundationthat can be ou r secur ity to build upon . An othercon stant visitor at Calwich had been Handel

, who used

to play for hour s upon the organ there . A manuscr ipt

col l ection of Handel ’s music in thir ty- eight volumes,

was wr itten for Mr . Granvill e under the direction of

the great composer him self . On Mr . Granvill e ’s death,in 1775 , he l eft hi s proper ty of Calwich to John Dewes,the youngest son of hi s sister Ann e . Mrs . Delanywas at that time resident at Windsor , and on her

presenting her nephew to the King, he desired thatMr . Dewes should thencefor th take the nam e of

Granvil l e . This i s the Mr . Granvil l e, brother of MaryDewes, who i s frequently m entioned afterwards in

these volum es .*

Mrs . Delany purchased a house in St . James’s Place,Where, in winter , the Dowager Duchess of Portland

John Dewes or D’

Ewes who assumed the name of Granville, mar

riedHarriet Joan , seconddaughter and cc -heiress of John De laBere,of Southam near Cheltenham ,

anddied 1826 . The death of his only son

John Granville, in 1800, is described in these memoirs. He was suc

ceeded in his estates by his nephew Court (son of his elder brotherBernard D’

Ewes and Anne eldest daughter of the above John De laBere of Southam) who sold the property of Calwich.

FAM ILY INFLUENCES . 1 I

spent every even ing with her , many other fr iendsdropping in around the hospitabl e tea- tabl e . The

summ er s were spent with the Duchess at Bul strode,whither Mary Dewes general ly accompan ied Mrs.

D elany ; indeed the Duchess became alm ost as fondof “

ou r Mary” as Mrs . Delany herself , and from

Bul strode Mi ss Dewes was marr ied at Upton Churchin December , 1770, to Mr . Por t of I lam in Derbyshire, who had changed hi s nam e from that of Sparrowon succeeding to the proper ty of a m aternal uncl e . I n

the following year , their eldest daughter , GeorginaMary Ann ,

was born ,and obtain ed her fir st nam e by

being goddaughter , as her m other was before her , totheir cousin Georgina Spencer (afterwards Coun tessCowp er) daughter of John ,

Earl Granvil l e, and her

secondand third nam es from her aun t andm other . MaryDewes had many other children afterwards

,

* but non e

were so dear to Mrs . Delany as the eldest-born , who

was almost equal ly bel oved by the Duchess of Por tland

John , born March 15 , 1773, godson of the Duchess of Portland.

George Rowe, born August 18 , 1774 , called by Mr s. Delany from his

beauty “my l ittle Vandyke who entered the navy under AdmiralJervi s, and di ed at Antigua of yell ow fever on boardH .M .S . Rep r isal .

Bernard,born March 7 , 1 776 ,who succeededto the fam ily livingof I lam ,

beingthe last relic of the fam il y estates in Derbyshir e, where he wasgreatly beloved, and di ed in 1854 . Lou isa, born April 7 , 1778, whomar riedMr . Brown low Vill i ers Layard

, afterwardsRector of Ufli ngtonin Lincolnshire. Bevi l l e , born January 22, 1780, who entered LordHowe

’

s regim ent of l gth LightDragoons, and diedat Bungalore in theEast I ndi es , July 6 , 1801 , of a wound received in action . Harr iet,born June 15 , 1 78 1 , who diedunmarried. Frances Anne , born April 18,1783, who marriedMr . Ram

, of Clonol tcn , Co.

12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARCNESS BUNSEN .

our l ittl e Por tia or our l ittl e lamb,the two

old ladies cal ledher— and the Duchess gave her an ivorybox

,on the l id of which was worked in hair on satin

a l ittl e lamb shel tered by two old trees,intended to be

embl ematic of the chil d and her agedi

protectresses.

When She was six year s old, Mrs. Delany, fear ingthat She m ight not l ive to see her great n iece grow up

,

wrote an Essay on Propr iety for the future formation of her manners . I n the foll ow ing year the extravagance of Mr . Por t obl iged him to let I lam , and thesweet bird of seven year s old came to l ive al togetheras a daughter with her old aunt of seventy-eight . I t

made the sun shine of her l ife . She i s everybody’s

del ight,

”wrote Mrs . Delany to Mrs . Por t, so no won

der she Shoul d wind about my heart, being attached toi t by the doubl e tie of being the child of my dearest

Mary, and I could carry thi s chain at l east a l inkhigher .

”The education of her adopted child was

henceforwardMrs . Delany’

s chi ef occupation,and it is

touchin g to r ead of the stately old lady having procur ed a m aster to teach us to walk and cur tsy.

” B othMrs. Delany and the Duchess found deli ght in instructing her in botany and conchol ogy, which were theirown favour ite pur suits, for the coll ection of precious

stones,shell s, flower s, and rar e an imal s at Bul strode

was already celebrated all over Europe : the birth ofa new flower was an even t of lif e in the circl e of the

That to her own sister Anne Granville, grandmother of the littlePortia.

”


Duchess, and her correspondence is fill ed with m inutequestions on botany and natural hi story. I t was a

marked day at Bul strode, when the Duchess, cominginto her fr iend’s room , found her surrounded by paper

chips,and asked Mrs. Delany “ what she was doing

with that geran ium ,

”when

,taking up the beautiful

flower lying on the tabl e which had attracted her

notice,she found that it was a paper im itation from

the hand of her fr iend. Thi s, executed in her seventysecond year , was the first specim en of the wonderfulFlora of paper which was the pr incipal recreation of

the latter year s of Mrs. Delany, andwhich is stil l themarvel of all who behold it .

*

The l etters of Mrs. Delany to her n iece havebecom e important as m em or ial s of the per sonal historyof George III . and his fam ily. Their vi sits to Bulstrode wer e con stant . Som etim es the King r ode over

al one attended by a singl e equerry . Som etim es theQueen and Pr incesses arr ived in two coaches and six ,accompan i ed by the King and a number of gentlem enon hor seback . To Mrs . Delany the royal per sonageswere ever full of kindness and cour tesy. One day theK ing brought her a gold knotting- shuttl e

,

”and the

Horace W alpole in his “Anecdotes of Painters, mentions Mrs.

Delany, who “at the age of seventy-four invented the art of paper

mosaic, w ith which material (colour ed) she executed, in eightyears, w ith in 20 of various flowers and flowering shr ubs

with a precision and truth unparalleled.

”Sir Joseph Banks used to

say that Mrs . Delany’

s mosaic flowers were the onl y representationsof nature from which he could ventur e to describe a. plant botanically wi thout the least fear of commi ttingan error.

14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARCNESS BUNSEN .

Queen a fram e for weaving fr inge upon . They weregratified with the pl easure which she showed in ther oyal children ,

andwhen the Queen remarked that shehadnot yet seen al l of them

,the K ing said

,That is a

faul t which i s easily rectified,

and desired that a daym ight be fixed for Mrs. Delany to com e with the Duchessto dr ink tea at Windsor Castl e . On thi s her fir st visit

,

as on many other s, the old lady was led about bythe l ittl e Pr inces and Pr incesses . Soon afterwards theQueen was so gracious as to take a l esson from Mrs.

Delany on her Spinning-wheel at Bul strode, and to

accept from her the present of a Spinn ing-wheel : Mrs.

Delany said that She forgot her infirm ities in the cordi al of royal kindn ess . AS an instance of the charm ingmanner s which character ised the royal children shem en tion s the l ittl e Pr incess Mary (afterwards Duchessof Gl oucester) in cherry-colour ed tabby with silverl eading str ings,” having forgotten her nam e

,and com

ingup to her wi th How do you do, Duchess of Por tland’s fr iend, and how does your l ittl e n iece do ? I

wish you had brought her .

”

I n July, 1785, the tender fr iendship of a li fetim e wasbroken by.

the death of the Duchess of Por tland. Mrs .

Delany was then in her eighty-fifth y ear , and bitterlyfel t the bl ow. Her great n iece, the l ittl e Por tia,was immedi ately sent to m eet her on her return from

Bul strode to her own house in London . Al l her friends

vied in showing her sympathy, but that which touchedher most was the conduct of George III . and Queen


Charlotte, who said that they availed them selves of thec ircum stance that She m ight m i ss her summ er visits atBul strode to presen t her with a house at Windsor , andto desire that She would always m ove there when thecourt m oved. At the sam e tim e, with that del icateattention which marked their whol e conduct towards

her, the King presented her with £300 a year , that she

m ight not suffer by the expen se of an additional esta

bl ishment ; whil e to preven t even the appearance of apension , as well as the possibil ity of the sum beingdim in ished by taxation , the Queen used regularly tobr ing the half-year

’s am ount in a pocket-book whenshe made her a visit . A touching in stance of theextrem e kindness of hear t shown by Queen Charlotteat thi s tim e is narrated in a l etter from Mrs . Preston toMrs . E. Ham il ton As soon as the Duch ess of Por tland died, Mrs . Delany got into the chaise to go to herown house

,the Duke foll owed her , begging to know

what she would accept that had bel onged to hi s m other .

Mrs. Delany r ecol l ected a bird that the Duchess alwaysfed and kept in her own room

,and desired to have it

,

and fel t towards it, as you must suppose ! I n a few

days, Mrs. Delany got a bad fever , and the bird died ;but for som e hour s She was too i ll even to recol lect

her bird. The Queen had one of the sam e sor t whichshe valued extrem ely (a weaver bird) ; she took itw ith her own hands

,and whil e Mrs . Delany sl ept she

had the cage brought,and put her own bird in to i t,

charging every one not to let it go so near Mrs.

1 6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

Delany, that she could perceive the change, til l She wasenough recovered, better to bear the loss of her firstfavour ite .”

When Mrs. Delany was about to m ove to Windsor,the Queen sent to desir e that her “dearestMrs . Delanywould br ing herself and her n iece, cl othes and attendants

,but stores of every kind woul d be laid in for her ,

and on reach ing her new home she was received and

welcom ed by the K ing him self.The garden of Mrs. Delany

’

s house j oined that of theQueen ’s Lodge . On the morning after her arr ival Her

Maj esty sent one of her ladi es to know “ how she hadr ested

, and whether her comi ng would not be trou

blesom e . ’ Wr iting to Mrs . Ham il ton afterwards, Mrs .

Delany says, Her Maj esty cam e upstairs . Our m eet

ing was mutually aflecting. She repeated in thestrongest term s her wish, and the K ing’s, that I Shouldbe as easy andas happy as they could possiblymake me

that they waived all cerem ony, and desired to come to

me l ike fr iends HenceforwardMrs . Delany usuallyspent two or three even ings at the Queen ’s Lodge

,

visits which were f requently returned without any

cerem ony by the royal fam ily. The King would l eadher about lean ing on hi s arm : the Queen would come

,

unannounced, to dine with her on veal cutl ets and

orange pudding : She was perm itted to have a Share inal l their sorrows and anxi eties, and of their domestichappiness her j ournals and letter s give the mostdel ightful pictures .

7



of the princesses (generally the youngest, Pr incess Amdi a,j ust four years old) , come into the room ,

take me by the

hand,and l ead me into the dr awing-room

, where there is a

chair ready for me by the Queen’s l eft hand . The three

eldest princesses Sit round the tabl e, and the ladi es in

waiting, Lady Charlotte Finch and Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave . A vacant chair is l eft for the King

, whenever he

pl eases to sit down in it . Everyone is employed with theirpencil

,needl e

,or knotting . Between the pieces of music

the conversation is easy and pl easant ; and, for an hour

before the conclusion of the whol e, the King plays at back

gammon with one of hi s equerr ies .”

These were happy days for the l ittl e “ Por tia, who

was frequently all owed the compan ion ship of theyounger pr incesses, Mary and Sophia, whil e with Miss

she made an intim ate fr iendship,

Em il ia Clayton

which was broken by her fir st great sorr ow, in thedeath of that young lady of a rapid decl in e in 1787 .

Queen Charl otte took a per sonal interest in the wr itingl esson s of Mr s. Delany

’

s n iece, and taught her to im itateher own beautiful handwr iting, which is known to havebeen singularly perfect . The Queen al so desired thatMi ss Por t Should have drawing lesson s from the sam emaster as the Pr incesses, l esson s always given betweenthe hour s of divine service on a Sunday, which wascon sidered a proper day for a quiet and interestingoccupation which was neither labour nor dissipation .

Daughter of Lady Loui sa Clayton , Lady of the Bedchamber toPrincess Amelia, seconddaughter of George I I .


An amusing adventure is narrated in a l etter of

of which Miss Por t was the heroine . The r oyal

fam ily were absen t at Kew, and as they did not l ike to

l ive a day without seeing Mrs. Delany, they took herw ith them . On one of the day s of their absence, theK ing went over to Windsor, andwhil e he was walkingon the terrace

,thought he would go into Mrs . Delany

’

s,

and knocked at a room door . A young ladywas Sittingin the r oom

,and said, Who is there ? A voice

repl ied I t is me,

” then said She Me may staywhere he is . Again there was a kn ock, and she againsaid “Who is there ? ” The voice answered “ I t is

me,then said she “Me i s imper tinen t

,and m ay go

about his business .” Upon the knocking being repeated

a third time,some per son who was with her advised

her to open the door , and see who i t could be ; when ,to

her great aston ishm ent, who should it be but the King

him self Al l she couldutter was, What shal l I say ?”

Nothing at al l,

” said hi s Maj esty, you were veryr ight to be cautious who you admi tted.

Surrounded to the last by an atm osphere of affec

tionate reverence, Mrs. Delany died in her hou se inSt. Jam es’s Place on the 15th Apr il

,1788, aged eighty

eight . Miss Por t was then"only seven teen , and theblow was almost overwhelm ing to her . Not only didShe l ose her secondm other

,the wise and l oving com

panion of her l ife,but her l ife itself

,in al l its surround

ings and association s,was necessar ily changed hence

Mrs Mee to Mrs . Anne Viney .

20 LIFE AND LET l‘

ERS OF BARCNESS BUNSEN .

forward.

* I n her passionate devotion to her aun t, shehad imbibed her tastes, and was capabl e of drawingj ust compar i sons, and of m easur ing others by the standard of her who had trained her mi nd from infancy.

She had l ived in an atmosphere of extreme refinement,

as well as of vir tue, and al though not old enough to

be formally presented at Cour t, she was known to al l

who belonged to it, and was in the habit of daily intercour se with the diflerent m embers of the Royal Fam ily.

The days she looked back upon had been passed in them ost perfect happiness . With the comfor t and securi tyof home, she had enj oyed the society of all the great andgoodwho met in Mrs. Delany

’s house

,and though she

had never entered the dissipation of the world,She had

l ived in the con stan t enj oyment of all the best thingsthe world had to bestow .

I n l ooking forward to the desolate future of her

n iece, and in entrusting her to the guardianship of Mr .

Cour t D’

Ewes, of Well esbourne, the eldest son of her

beloved Sister Anne, Mrs. Delany had entirely m iscalcul ated hi s futur e conduct . As i s too often the case

,

she fancied that because to her he was all respecti

and

attention,he must feel exactly as she did towards hi s

n iece . It never seem s to have entered into her contemplation that he would not carry out al l her desires and

wishes, whether expressed or not . I n fact she thought

For almost all the particul ars gi ven here of Mrs. Delany , theedi tor i s indebted to Lady Llanover

’

s“ Life and Correspondence of

Mrs. Delany.”


that there was but one m indbetween them,and that

,for

hi s own sake, he would be, not only the guardian , but

the father,and the sym pathising coun sel lor and pro

tector of her adopted child, whose dazzl ing beauty and

remarkabl e in tel lectual qual ities,Mrs. Delany bel ieved

that She placed in the tenderest as wel l as the safest hands ,when she entrusted her to her uncl e, and l eft everything of impor tance to his decision . But events were

very different to her anticipation s . Mr . D’

Ewes had

naturally a cold and ungen ial nature,and

,from the

mom ent of Mrs. Delany’

s death,her cher i shed child had

not only r eason to feel that she was neither loved or

understood,but was treated by her uncl e with positive

coldness and harshness,as wel l as wi th neglect of her

worldl y interests .

I t does not appear that Mrs. Delany was ever aspar tial to her nephew Granvil le of Calwich, or as intimate with him ,

as She was with hi s brother of Wel l es

bourne,an estrangem ent which m ight natural ly ar ise

from her having been her sel f once looked upon as theheiress of her brother Granvil le ; and having beendisinher ited in favour of thi s nephew,

probably in

consequence of her brother ’s annoyance at her mar

r iage with Dr . Delany, who was not her equal inbir th . Young Granvil l e of Calwich was, however ,of a very different disposition to hi s brother . Ful lof kindness and gen ial ity, he vied in acts of l iber

al ity and benevolence w ith hi s wife Harr iet JoanDe la Bere , who was pecul iarly dignifiedand high-bred

,

22 L IFE AND LETTERS or BA RONESS BUNSEN .

though her reserve general ly caused young per sons tostand in awe of her . Thus, in her deep sorrow ,

Miss

Por t was thankfulwhen she was al l owed to l eave Well esbourn e and take r efuge with her younger uncl e and

aunt, and Mrs . Granvil l e,usual ly so undem on strative,

was soon won by her rare qual ities,to r egard her with

warm affection . She took her to Bath, where , as wasthen the fashion ,

it was con sidered necessary for heal thto spend som e weeks or m onths every year, and wher eMr . Granvil l e had a house of hi s own and her e, thoughMiss Por t had n ever been out in the comm on accep

tation of the term ,She could not accompany her uncl e

and aunt in their walks and dr ives, without seeing and

being seen .

It i s not known that Miss Por t ever spoke to thegentl em an She afterwards marr ied, before he proposedfor her to Mr . and Mrs. Granvill e, accordi ng to thepractice then in vogue . There could not have been thesl ightest intim acy (if any acquaintance) between Mr .

Waddington and her sel f,and the fir st idea She had of

a proposal from him was through som e words accidental ly dr opped by her uncl e and aunt to each other ,when they wer e uncon scious or unobservant that She

was in the room . The effect upon her was electr ical .

Sensitive and impul sive by nature to the highestdegree, the impression made was that her relation s

could not have her r eal in terests at hear t if for a

m om ent they could even recogn ise the possibil ity ofsuch a marr iage, while the consciousness that the


gentl eman in question must di sin terestedly care for her

to think of it, suddenly determ ined her to accept hi sproposal if it was made . Thus

, when her uncl e con

sidered it his duty to make a formal announcem ent ofthe offer she had received

,and to r equest her dec ision

,

he was aston ished by her imm ediate acceptance of it .She was en tirely engrossed by the tortur ing idea thatthose she was beginn ing to love did not l ove her . She

thought nothing of a dispar ity of age of between twen tyand thir ty years—nothing of anything, but that an

individual,said to be unexceptionabl e in character

,

valued her , she knew not why. Since the death of

Mrs . Delany, the world had been a blank to her . She

beli eved it would always remain so,and m eantim e she

woul d endeavour to m ake one per son happy, thoughShe never expected to be so her self . She m ar ried at

eighteen in the sam e state of m ind in which a nun

takes the black veil , except that there are few nun s

who bel ieve none are l eft to care for them outside thewall s of their pr ison .

Mr . Waddington had a good fortune,and hi s fam ily

was of very ancient or igin ,though at that tim e it

had fall en into insignificance . Wal ter de Waddington was lord of Waddington in Lincoln shire

,and

had a daughter,who in the thir teenth century

‘mar

r ied Sir Roger Tempest,Knt . ,

of B racewel l . I n theeighteenth century there are records of inter -marr iageswith the fam il ies of Beckwith of Aldborough

,Tyrwhitt

of Stamfield, and Cradock of Hartfor th in Yorkshire .VOL. I . ‘f C 4


I n 1740, the Rev . Joshua Waddington,Vicar of

Harwor th and Walker ingham in Nottingham shire,

m arr ied Ann,daughter of the Rev . Thomas Ferrand

,

Vicar of Bingl ey. Ann Ferrand was ul timately theheiress of Towes in Lincolnshire, which devolved

through her to her son Thom as . Her son Benj am inWaddington mar r ied Miss Por t .Upon his marr iage, Mr . W addington r ented Dun

ston Park in Berkshire,but m erely as a temporary re

sidence . Ther e,hi s eldest daughter Harr iet was born

who survived only a few m on ths . Her birthwas fol lowed, on the 4th of March, 1791 , by thatof Frances, afterwards Bar oness Bun sen . Soon after

this '

Mr . Waddington r em oved to Llanover , an estatehe had purchased in South Wal es, where hi s beautifulwif e consented to r eside for the next el even year s inperfect seclusion , without even visiting London ; whereshe not only educated her daughter but hersel f, whil eaccomm odating her self to the lif e which She fel t it her

duty not only to endur e but to l earn to enjoy . Her

del ight in Natur e was her greatest con solation in thi stotal i solation from al l the fr iends, associates, and com

pan ion s of her form er exi stence, and She cul tivated thi staste to the utterm ost

,and impar ted it to her children .

Ther e wer e perhaps only two points of r esemblance

in the disposition of the father and m other of theBaroness Bun sen ,

and these were generosity in theiraction s and a scrupulous regard to truth . Being exceedingly phl egmatic, Mr . Waddington was without



Mr . Waddington’s tim e for conver sation was after

hi s dinner, when hi s wife would keep him company,

and hear anything that had occurred dur ing the dayeither to interest or annoy him . I f any unforeseen

event in or out of the establ ishm en t happened to disturbhim , he instantly went to her , and She possessed gr eatinfluence over him

,though hi s r outine of l ife was not

in the sl ightest degree al tered by her society . For

som e tim e he troubl ed and worr ied him self with farming, bu t finding that it did not increase hi s happinessand very much interferedwi th his comfor t to see everything going wrong, he gradual ly put hi s agr icul turalaffair s into the hands of his wife, who am ongst otheruseful ar ts had acquired a practical knowl edge of thesubj ect, and soon succeeded in establ ishing order and

neatness in the farming departm ent .Mrs . Waddin gton was an excel l ent judge of hor ses

,

seem ing to inher it the gift of her fam ily in her judgm ent of those an imal s, and wi thout ever having been ahard r ider or being accustom ed to foll ow the hounds

,she

was always perfectly at home on horseback— an aecom

pl ishment she had been taught by her father at a veryearly age . AS long as her heal th perm itted

,one of her

greatest pl easures was taking r ides in the beautifulcoun try by which she was surrounded. One of her

favour ite expedition s was to the residence of her old

fr iend and neighbour Adm iral Gel l,near Cr ickhowel

,

whither her l ittl e daughter Frances accompan ied her

when old enough— and often afterwards recurred with


del ight to those summ er even ing r ides am id the Singingof n ightingal es .Ther e was no country paper of any kind publ i shed

within for ty m il es of Llanover , and the chief dependence for news was upon the arr ival fr om Londonof the Ill orningChronicle, which cam e in the evening.

But,as there was no post-del ivery, Mr . Waddington

would never accustom him self to l ook forward to thearrival of l etter s or newspaper s

,and un less there was

any r eason to exp ect l etters, the newspaper s wer e n everconsidered of sufficient impor tance for any one to be

sen t four m iles on purpose to fetch them . Al thoughfew men have been more truly, though secr etly, a

father of the father less, or have l ent large sum s withgreater generosity to assist fr iends in distress

, yet hehad a pecul iar aver sion to the expenditure of any

avoidabl e small sum,and he did not conceal that the

paym ent of turnpikes was an obj ect of con sideration

which oft en turned the balance against sending to theHis old servan ts and workm en were, howpost offi ce .

ever , much attached to him ,and al though hi s temper

was very chol er ic when provoked, he was substantial lyso benevol ent and just a m aster that thi s warm th of

temper,which was quickly over, was r egarded by them

m ore as a pecul iar ity than a faul t.

On one occasion he lost several thousand p ounds which he hadlent to a friend, from h is determination to save the postage of a letterof inquir y as to the payment of the policy of insurance . The frienddied suddenly, the poli cy was not paid, and the whole sum was

forfeited.


The susceptibil ity of Mr . Waddington to smal l thingsin money matter s was by no m ean s Shared by hi s wife,who combined equal generosity wi th l iberal ity on al l

subj ects . To her servants she was a fr iend as well as am istress

,and She took a personal interest in the welfare

of each and all of her poorer neighbour s . Durin g theper iod of her quie t l ife at Llanover she suffered greatafli iction in the death of two infan t daughters—Matildaand Mary Ann . The latter died of smal l-poxat the age of one year and

,

seven m onths, and her

m other could n ever allude to her death without anguish .

The child had been inn oculated for the small -pox (vaccination being then unkn own), and She was attended

night and day by her m other , upon whom the effectlasted for l ife of seeing her expire under that gr ievousdisease (which had been produced ar tificially) upon abeing previously in perfect heal th. I t i s probable thatthe deaths of these infants and the l oss of her eldestchild, which she attr ibuted to the ignorance of a professed nur se when she her self was utterly inexper i

enced, was the direct cause of the extraordinary car e

as wel l as knowl edge for which she was emi nentlydistinguished in later lif e as r egarded the treatm en tof children and inval ids . She appl ied her powerful

intel lect to the subj ect ; and al though she neitherwrote books nor tormented other s with advice, shetaught her self by observation to discr im inate betweengood and evil , and becam e the instructress as wel l as

the m istress of her nurses .

CHAPTER I I .

RECOLLECTI ONS OF CHI LDHOOD.

Think nought a trifle, though it small appear,Small sands the mountain ,

momentsmake the year,And trifles life.

”

YOUNG.

11 n’

y a pas de petites choses dans cc monde, attenduque Dieu se méle de toutes.

” —MADAME SWETCH I NE .

BOUT four m iles from Abergavenny, where thegreen m eadows are divided by the r iver Usk, n ine

crystal spr ings bursting side by side from a rock, be

neath a wooded hill , form the holy fountain of Gofer ,the herm it whose memory gives a nam e to Llanover ,or the Church of Gofer .

* On the l eft, the thickl ywooded val ley i s gir t by. the Blawreng, or the “ greyr idge : on the r ight

,above the nearer hill s

,r ises the

quaint form of Pen-

y-val , or ' the Sugar-l oaf : whil e,

behind Abergavenny, i s ScyrrydVawr , or “ the HolyMoun tain ,

”which, like Monserrat in Spain and La

Vern ia in Italy, i s supposed to have been rent asunder

Gofer is one of the three uncanonized saints of Gwent, Henwgand Gwaregbeingthe two others.


at the Cruc ifixion,and which still bear s on its summ i t

the ruin s of a chapel of St. Michael , whi ther RomanCatholi c peasan ts ascend on Michelmas Eve

,and bring

away its sacred earth to place in the coffin s of theirdead

,or to throw into graves to keep evi l Spir its at a

distance .I n the m idst of the vall ey, embosom ed in trees

,

stands the Wh ite House of Llanover , roomy, Simpl e,and old- fashioned, and surrounded by large shrubber ies .A brook rushes rapidly thr ough the garden , formingpool s

,cascades

, and i sl ets charm ing to chil dren , and

imparting a con stant freshness to the green deptharound. The planting of larches (then a new tree)around Llanover was one of the favour ite occupationsof Mr . Waddington ’s lif e : in 1799 no l ess thanlarch- trees were brought from Glasgow for this purpose .

At Llanover,four daughter s were born to Mr . and.

Mrs . Waddington,of whom only two— Em il ia, born

February 3rd, 1794, and Augusta,born March 2l st,

l 802—li ved to grow up .

I n her eighty-third year , the Baroness Bun sen ,at the

sol icitation of her daughter s and grand-daughter s, com

m itted to wr iting some r icorali of her childh ood, fromwhich the foll owing notes are extracted.

The fir st even t in my l ife of which I have a di stinct

recoll ection was sitting for the portrait painted of me,

with my sister Emili a, by Mr . Roche, a deaf and dumbminiature-painter at Bath, where my parents staid for

RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD . 31

a short time in 1 796 . My beautiful aunt, Loui sa Portwas then with us , the charming and lively compan ion Of

my mother, of whose presence I was always glad . I

remember many walks at Bath with my mother and her

sister Loui sa,and have indi stinct vision s of their dr ess

especially of a purpl e Silk whi ch my aunt call ed her dignified dr ess

,

’andwhi ch was made in the then -begi nning

fashion Of a round gown ,

’ that is,an entire ski rt

,not

open in front and parting to Show the under-petticoat .Short Sl eeves , morning as well as even ing , were thenuniversal

,andmy m other had long gl oves of York tan (as

they were call ed) , yell ow,and reaching to the elbow ,

sewed into a cuff Of green satin which was pinned on the

sleeve : her cloak was Of black silk trimmed with blackl ace

,very narrow ,

and hanging down l ong in front . Ir emember a bonnet l ike that worn by the peasants of theCanton du Valais

,black satin with yellow satin bows set

all round the rather l engthy crown .

One day I walked with my mother and aun t to the

Sydn ey Gardens,as they were called . I n one part were

swings, and one in particular cal l ed a Merlin swing, in

whi ch the swingers sat two and two, Opposite ; those

at the corners pul li ng ropes al ternately by which the

swing was set in motion . Two gentl emen, who had j oined

us in our walk, acceded to the desire of the ladies inmounting the swing . My li ttle sister and I remained onthe gravel walk with the maid

,and saw one of these

gentl emen become paler and pal er,till he almost fainted

,

and was helped out Of the swing by the gardener . Thiswas M . Lajand de Cherval , an emi grant

,and a man of

brill iant conversation, who had been in the intim acy of


Tall eyrandwhen he was in his eccl esiastical splendour . 1

saw him once many years later, a specimen of that high

bred Old French society which wil l hardly be found tosur vive now . I observed hi s name as one of the intimates

of Tall eyrand during the visit of Mr . Pitt on that earlyoccasion of his travelling in France before the Revolution

and as having asked a question as to the quarter from

whence Mr. Pitt woul d most apprehend alteration and

danger to the Engli sh consti tuted authority as then existing; when Mr . Pitt repli ed, From the democratic power ,whi ch is steadi ly increasing .

’ Thi s Opinion , contrasted

with the Resolution fr esh in m emory, proposed in Parli a

ment by Mr . Fox, that ‘the royal authority had increased,was increasing, and ought to be diminished,

’wil l hardly

have failed to impress the mind of the highl y-gifted ques

tioner as to the specific gravi ty of the young man beforehim whom as yet the world knew not .

The bir th of my sister Matilda (23rd September , 1797)is the fir st event of whi ch I have a cl ear consciousness

both as to joy and sorrow to see the baby and touch it,

caused a sensation whi ch stil l thr ill s through me and her

death (7th October ) was a terr ibl e new idea, and causedbitter tears . That morning my father entered the roomin tear s , andwhen I begged to know the reason, I heardhim speak, but only di stinguished the words—‘PoorMatil da ! ’ whi ch I supposed meant onl y that he hadfound her ill , for I kn ew that she had been so the daybefore and it was not till I had come with my l ittl e SisterEmily to breakfast with my father, that I understood theawful fact, from hearing him give orders to Rosser thecarpenter for the coffin I caught directions for the letters



the dwelling of my father’s brother George—a clergyman ,

who had been tutor to Pr in ce Willi am,afterwards Duke

of Cl arence and subsequently KingT—a most uncomprom isingLiberal , not to say Radi cal , who had much influence over the Opin ions of hi s relations . At York

, we wer e

received at the Deanery by the Dean and his daughter,Miss Fountayne . The Deanery was very striking to me,

in its antiquated di gni ty and gloom . The Cathedral i s

still fresh in my m emory ! How I have l onged to see it

again,but that has never happened ; only I think I have

renewed the very early, but deep and sincere tribute of

heart-beating admi rati on and sol emn awe, then call edforth, every time that I have seen a Gothi c cathedral since .From York we proceeded to Pockl ington , where Mr .

Baskett,the husband of my father

’s youngest sister , was

the cl ergym an . I l iked the time spent in that cur ious

Old house Of Pocklin gton ,and remember the party as very

l ively and sociable , and delightedwith my mother. Here

too I saw oldMrs . Waddington , my father’s mother (who

di ed at the age of on a visit to her daughter . I n r e

turning, my parents paused for a few hour s at Ludlow inH erefordshi re , and I first remember having been excitedto strong emoti on by scenery, in expl or ing its Old castle

and its beautiful r iver and br idge .I n the foll owing year , when I was again at Bath with

my parents and Aunt Loui sa, one Of the events was a

morning-visit to my mother, on accoun t of Old acquaintance from her Windsor-l if e with Mrs . Delany, from thePrince Ernest, afterwards Duke of Cumberland, later Ki ngof Hanover . I was placedwith l ittl e Emily, to stand in a

corner by the window,and ordered to look out—but rather

RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD. 35

I looked the other way, greatly cur ious as towhat a Pr incemight be like, and I beli eve was di sappointed to see

him appear much li ke the gentl emen that accompaniedhim ,

very tall , fair , freckl ed, and flaxen-haired: such i s

my impression . Another frequent vi sitor was Tom Sher i

dan , who interested me far more than the Pr ince, and the

image of hi s fine face and figure,and the charm of hi s ani

mated conversation ,remain di stinct in my memory, though

I probably under stood very l ittle of the subj ect of the funwhi ch entertained me : onl y I know that he teased mymother

and aunt by describing how they had tripped over the mi rystreets with drapery held up, and that he imitated the

inevitabl e hop,skip, and jump and he blamed him self for

out-stayingthehour when they ought to have been at dinner ,assuring them that the mutton woul d be over—roasted, thepotatoes boil ed to rags

,and that their plates would scorch

their fingers— repeating that they ought to turn him out of

the house, but stil l staying on andmaki ng them laugh,as

I did in a corner. This was the father of the three beautiful ladies whom later I admired in London and gazed at

with an interest independent of their rare

Later than the date of thi s vision,so bright to my young

eyes , as well as to those of my elder s, it was told in myhearing that Tom Sheridan had married a Miss Cal endar

and still l ater came the tidings that Tom Sheridan, in

hopeless consumption , had gone to try the effect of amil der climate , at the Cape of Good Hopc

g where the

scene soon cl osed in death . I hope and beli eve that he

The Duchess of Somerset ; Lady Dufl’

er in , afterwards LadyGifford ; and the Hon . Mr s . Norton, afterwards Lady Stirling Max

well.i


was happy in the love of his wife, and thus may haveknown somethin g Of the best that l ife can afford. Could

I ! but remember r ight,the li nes in Crabbe’s Gipsy

Though abused and driven astrayThou hast travell ed-far and wandered long;Thy Godhath seen thee al l the way,

And every turn that l ed thee wrong.

’

I n 1799 my father becam e Sheriff for the county.

There was a general invi tation of neighbour s of vari ous

classes to breakfast, on the morning when he was to drive

wi th four horses and servants in new l iveri es , to meet andescort the Judges comi ng to Monmouth . I wel l remember the unusual bustle, the tabl es set out, and the farmers’wives and daughters invited in and seated at the breakfast

tables,served and attended to by my mother after the

caval cade had departed. The hill -field and its steep

ascent gave Opportunity for seeing the j avel in -men, con

sisting of my father’s servants , labourer s and other neigh

bour s, all in his livery and on horseback, who trotted in

the best order they coul d manage, preceding the carriage .

My father had picked out the men to whom the handsome

new cl othing was sur e to be the most desirable . He had

said,

‘I toldNeddy the blacksmith that he shoul d be oneof the javel in-men,

if he would but wash hi s face —whi ch

rare operation was accordingly performed and the suit of

clothes then given formed Neddy’s regular Sunday-attire,

as l ong as I remember h im . Thiswas perhaps the first occa

sion in my l ife when I had a reason to Observe upon myfather . I had taken my parents entirely as amatter of fact ,and compared them neither:with existences or ideal s . I

now perceived thatmy father acted characteristical ly in the

RECOLLECTIONS OF CH ILDHOOD .

case of sel ection Of j avelin-men,on a hi gh motive rather

than a meaner one although ther e was temptation on the

score of appearance and personal effect, to have thought it

due to himsel f to make a first publ ic appearance wi th ashowy troop of men well -grown andmatched.

“ This year of my father ’s shr ieval ty was marked bythe attempt to assassinate the Ki ng (George I I I . ) in the

Theatre, and the strong r evul sion of feeling produced bythe King’s nobl e andmanl y bearing, standing firm withoutstarting or withdr awing at the report of the pistol whi chfailed to strike him , and bowing graciously to the audi ence ,as though considering (and j ustly) the act as singl e , andnot the resul t of conspiracy . The moment was favourable

to Royalty, for a burst Of r ej oicing and congratulationfoll owed, andmy father was call ed upon to convey a loyaladdr ess from the county to the King . H is j ourney to

London caused anxi ety, for the mur der of a Mr . Mell ish byfoot-pads on Houn slow Heath was a. recent event

,and the

roads about London were considered very unsafe : but themail -coach, where there was a guard in a r ed uniformwi th a blunderbuss , was thought l ess li abl e to attack thana simpl e carriage, as in the case of Mr . Melli sh .

“ During the (very unusual ) absence of my father,it

was settl ed that my mother should go to her fatherat Derby . Much did I like that visit . I slept in myAunt Louisa’s room ,

and of the pretty things in it , shehadmany stories to tell me, for they came from her dearold home at Il am . Her father ’s embarrassments hadobliged him to let hi s beautiful inheritance to the Batemanfamily . I was taken to see it whi le they l ived there , inthe picturesque Old fam ily house of the Ports , so much


more suited to the scenery than the overgrown castellated building

, constructed by Mr . Watts Russell , whobecame the pur chaser , when my uncle J ohn Port succeeded to the entail ed property in 1807 .

“ Many circumstances marked the br ight time Spent at

Derby. First there was the Battl e of the Nil e, and the

great popul ar del ight, and general illumi nation, every

female Of al l ranks wearing a bow or cockade of sky-blue

r ibbon , considered the loyal , minister ial colour . Mrs .Feildinghappened to be at Derby, consul ting Dr . Darwinfor her daughter

,and she dined that day at my grand

father’s, andwas ralli ed on having forgotten to put on a

cockade, whi ch was zealously provided for her . My mother

call ed upon Mrs . Darw in , and thus I saw the three beautiful daughters

, whose appearance is still di stinct in myrecollection . I always del ighted to look upon beauty, but

took care not to explain why I stared at the Obj ects Of myadmir ation ,

because I was always remi nded of the solemn

truth that ‘beauty is of no value . ’ The daughters of Dr .

Darwin had a right to the inheritance of beauty from theirmother, formerlyMrs . Pol e of Redburn . I n the long cour se

of subsequent years, I have heardwith cordial interest thatthe three lovely girls adorned in li fe the famili es intowhi chthey married, by merit equal to their beauty .

“ At Derby I saw two persons who fixed themselves inmy memory as the first French emi grants I had seen ; MyAunt Louisa one rainy day looking out of the windowexclaimed, There they are, under their umbrell a, perhaps

they would come in and dr ink tea with us . ’ My Uncl e

Bernard accordingly went out, and respectfully made theinvitation, and re-entered wi th an oldi sh gentl eman and a


very young lady, pretty, graceful , and of most refined

appearance and manners , whose slightly foreign accentseemed to me a decoration . I heard my Aunt Loui sa’saccount another time of the neatness of the small dwelling

in which she had visited this lady, finding her in the

whitest cornette tied under the chin,and a whi te j acket

over her dark petticoat,busied in sweeping the house

,as

(She observed) she‘kept no maid,

’and to my aunt

’s

knowledge, perform ed every kind of household work wi th

del icate hands not used to such labour . My mother met

her cordially, and had some further comm uni cation withher

,and a letter in consequence

, wi th the signature‘Prasl in du Pont. ’ The Sight and con sciousness of th is

lady, laid an early foundation for the impression I have

retained through li fe Of the mer it and charm Of the idealof French womanhood.

“ Soon after our return home , we received intelli gence ofthe birth of a second son to my Uncl e George, at Tux ford,to whom the name Of Horatio’t was given

,in reference to

the admired hero of the day—Horatio Nel son . The close

Of 1799 was marked by the failur e of harvest, whi ch

brought on a deplorabl e scarcity, for the rel ief of whi chmy father’s best efforts and conti nual exertions wereemployed . He wrote to hi s brother J oshua at New York,with a commission to send him a quantity of wheat-flour

,

whi ch he sold in small quantities at cost price to the poor,

establi shing himself in the servants’ hal l,seeing the

appl icants individual ly, and taking all measur es to prevent

the approach Of such as wished to buy cheap in order to

HoraceWaddingt on, Permanent Under-Secretary to the Home

Office.

40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS'

BUN SEN .

sell dear . My father’s exampl e was foll owed, and muchmore American flour imported. Well do I remember that

everybody was exhorted to consume as li ttle bread aspossibl e at daily m eal s, breadwas cut in pieces for each

member of the di nner -party, and contrivances were triedto make the flour go farther by addi ng rice or boil edpotatoes in making bread, whi ch was not found to an swer,as either Of those addition s had the effect of increasingappetite and consumption .

The year 1799 closed in a manner very distasteful to

me,in a removal very late in the Season ,

in the gloomi est

Of weather, to Clifton near Bristol . Here my mother andmy sister Emily werealways il l , whi ch I had a firm con

viction was owing to the daily Visits Of .Dr. Beddoes,

96and

the prescriptions he sent . At thi s time J ohn andWi lli amLambton were staying in the house of Dr . Beddoes, andhad l esson s in French, as I did, from M . d

’Estrade . The

elder Of these brothers acquired an honoured and historical

nam e as Lord Durham , the younger entered the Guards

andwas at Rome in my time with a beautiful young wife .During thi s winter al so a young gen ius from the Land’sEnd, Humphrey Davy , Since so cel ebrated, arrived in Dr .

Beddoes’ intimate cir cl e ; and as stories were told in my

hearing of his companionship wi th Beddoes in scientificexperiments, I fan cied his smal l person (wi th a very widemouth) with King the surgeon ,

as catching rats wi thtongs, and subj ecting them in receivers to the effects ofvarious vapours

,whil e Dr . Beddoes was coun ting seconds

Dr . Thomas Beddoes, 1760— 1808, of great learningand lingu isticattainments, author of the Hygeia, and founder of the Pneumatic I nstitution .



Of flesh had spoil ed the general effect, though the talent

remained undiminished .

It was in the June Of this year that the startl ing news

one day arrived Of the sudden death of J ohn Granvill e,the onl y child of the Uncl e andAunt Granvill e who fil l agreat place in my early recoll ections . I n the previous

summer he had Spent a few days at Llanover, and was asengaging to us children as to all Older members of society—beautiful in person , intelli gent in m ind, everywher e

showered upon with ‘golden Opinions,

’ comm ended at

school , adored at home, having just entered upon histwenty-first year

,so that the whol e mass of our relations

were full of the anti cipations of hi s com ing of age . He

had gone to Cli fton with a cough to have r ecour se to thetwo nostrum s Of the Hot-Well s and Dr . Carrick . His

mother was watchful , but not anxious when in a moment,before her eyes , the precious li fe was cl osed to al l earthlyconsciousness . Immedi ately on receiving the grievous

news , my mother went to Cl ifton ,and brought back the

bereaved parents to Llanover . I remember how she woul dwalk up and down the gravel in front of the house withher uncl e, who was soothed by the tones of her voice , andfor whom she always seemed to find conversation by the

hour,al ternating with long sittings in the l ittl e morning

room with Aunt Granvil l e, whose calm and pati ent endurance of her lot inspired deeper sympathy than the more

aggressive grief of her husband . Before the fine seasonended, the family of my mother

’s Uncl e Dewes, the elderbrother Of Uncl e Granvill e, al so came on a vi sit. The

lady was a second wife , Judith Beresford before hermarriage, who rul ed all around her with the absolute

RECOLLECTIONS OF CH ILDHOOD. 43

power usually exercised by second wives . I r emember

with great pl easur e her charming singing, and her duets

with her lovely step-daughter , Anne Dewesfi“ Thi s cousin

Nanny Dewes ’ was most attractive in my eyes , and not

in m ine onl y, for she was the adm ired of al l beholders .

and the darling of her elder relations, whi l e her contemporar ies coul d not help forgiving the homage she received,from the absence Of al l pretension on her part . Her

countenance and demeanour were the effusion of the

pur est and most perfect feminine modesty, without shyness : she seemed not to fear or m istrust her fellowcreatur es, any more than to presum e over them . Her

voice, in speaking as in singing, seemed to pour forth the

m el ody of the whol e being, and each syll abl e dropped

from the l ips and the pearl s within ,as if the purpose of

speaking was to Show their perfecti on . Her look seemedto ask everybody to be kind to her , without making

demands as Of a r ight . Thi s much-prized daughter,and

her brother, Cour t Dewes , were the only childr en left of

the admi red fir st wife of my Uncl e Dewes , who was thesister of Aun t Granvill e . They were De la Beres, Of an

ancient family, whose cur ious Old-fashi oned residence nearCheltenham was purchased by Lord Ell enborough, afterhi s return from hi s government of Indi a . The fir st Mrs .

Dewes was very beautiful , infi

a higher styl e than her

sister (al though dear Aunt Granvill e continued a prettywoman even to old age), yet her featur es were rather to

Ann e, only daughter of BernardD’

Ewes and his first wife Annede la Bere, born , 1778 , married G . F . Stratton , Esq . , of Tew Park,Oxfordshir e, and di ed Jan . 20, 186 1, having to the last fulfilled thebright promi se of her youth.


be traced in her son than in her far more beautiful

daughter . By the death Of J ohn Granvill e,this son ,

Court Dewes , became the heir of his un cl e’s property of

Calwi ch, as well as of his father’s estate of Well esbourneIn Warwi ckshir e .

“ The year 1801 was not far advanced before Cliftonagain attracted the family for Si x weeks . Aun t Louisawas again the cherished inmate

, with whom I was happyto walk ; yet I Often was out on the broad sunny pave

ment of ‘the Mall ’ al one with my skipping-rope, and

looking with longing eyes upon the six daughters Of LadyEl eanor Dundas

, who li ved next door,and al so came out

with skipp ing-ropes , and with whom I Shoul d have been

glad to have associated. Two or three seemed Older thanmyself— those who in after years were Lady Carmichael ,Mrs . Bruce

,and Mr s . Harford Battersby“: the others

were younger . I remember now for the fir st time fre

qu entingwith Aunt Louisa the beautiful path along theAvon , under the rocks and woods , which at every subse

quent period of viewing them ,my expanding facul ties

have perceived to be more beautiful than before , whereasI fancy in fact their origi nal effect must have been the

finest, before many a fine tree was cut away, and many a

mass of rock blown up for burn ing into lime, or other

purposes Of util ity . By-and-by I perceived that we were

Often j oined in these walks by one of Aunt Louisa’spartners at ball s, by name Brownlow Vil l iers Layard, ason Of the Dean of Bristol , wear ing the uni form Of a

Mother of my beloved son-in-law, John Battersby Harford, andOf my dear daughter-in-law, Mary Loui sa de Bun sen —Note by the

wr i ter .


regiment quartered on the Downs . I retain much more

of the attendant circum stances of the intimacy which ledto my Aunt Loui sa’s marriage , and to my losing her

al together as an ingredient in my l ife, than I Shall care to

wr ite down ; but the outward parts are so far curious , as

belonging to conditions of the times whi ch I bel ieve haveal tered for the better . The Dean Of Bristol was considereda fair specimen of a di gnified clergym an ,

but his advancement in cl erical rank and emoluments was attributed tothe influence of hi s sister , then Duchess . of Ancaster

,

though she had passed to that condi tion through the lowerstate of governess to the Duke’s young sister , whom shehad attendedwhen accompanying her brother in shooting

expeditions,an over-exercise which hastened her early

death . With the dates Of these events I am unacquainted,and they are immaterial ; but, in 1801

, soon after the

engagement of Aunt Louisa was concluded with Mr .Layard, under protest of all relations , the Dean of Bri stoldied, and it was feared that no m eans Of subsistence

woul d remain for hi s family . Mourning for the Deanwas redoubled by the death of the Duchess Of Ancaster

,

which seemed to close all prospects for the future,

when some worldly-wise persons suggested that ther ich l iving Of Uffington , whi ch had b een enj oyed bythe Dean , might be bestowed upon hi s son

, were the

Duke but so graciously incli ned. It was only necessaryfor young Layard to throw Off his regimental s

,put on a

black coat, go thr ough a short preparation at Oxford, andbe ordained

,if onl y some bishop woul d ordain him . It

woul d have been in vain to ask Archbishop Prettym an(tutor to Mr . Pitt), at the head of the di ocese in which


Uffingt on was situated, for he was stri ct ; but BishopHorsl ey made no Obj ection ,

and the thi ng was done : theMS . sermons Of the Dean were secured to hi s son , and atthe end of 1803 or begi nning of the next year the pairwere marr ied. They declared them selves aggrieved atthe Opposition my parents had made to their uni on—all

intercour se ceased, except by occasional l etters ; and the

intimate connection , whi ch had seemed one of heart and

l ife, was broken . I saw my Aunt Loui sa but once again ,

after many year s . Four teen year s Of marri ed life weregranted to her, and seven sons born ; a few days after thebirth of the last she expired Of total exhaustion of vi talpowers, on the 3rd of Jul y, 1 8 17 , just after my marr iage .

“The autumn of 1801 was a very qui et time at Llanover ,when my mother was too unwel l to l eave her sofa, andI wrote all her l etter s to her dictation , which was a great

advantage to me as to the formation of styl e and language .

The winter was to me a happy one, undisturbed by

strangers and Visitors , so that nothing was in the way toprevent my being con stantly with my mother, reading to

her , or in one way or other empl oyedby her , and for her ;only it was sorrowful to me to see her so ill

, and it was

not till a l ight began to break upon me as to the causethat I was told by my mother that she

‘hoped I shoul d

soon have another sister. ’ Thi s was not long befor e thebirth of Augusta"on the 21st March

,1 802 . I cann ot

express the j oy and delight wi th which I hail ed the baby ,which seemed to make me amends for the ever-presentfir st sorrow of my l ife : those who have fel t the charm

whi ch belongs to infant-lif e from its very beginning, can

Now Lady Llanover .


judge how the constant interest of watching such an expanding intelli gence fill ed and animatedmy every hour .

The foll owing summer was spent bymy father’s sister ,Mrs . Monkfi‘at Llanover . Great was the interest of all

we could hear about that whi ch was seen and done, bythose who ventur ed over to Paris after the prel iminar ies of

a treaty of peace had been Signed at Amiens ! We heard

too of the striking appearance of Madame Recamier in

London,in the Spring of the year, drawing attention not

onl y by the freshness of a beauty which was destined tooutlive youth and prosperity, but by the fir st appearance

of a styl e of dr ess soon im itated, in which the clothi ng wasas far as possibl e from a covering, and the wearer , on

issuing forth from her door , thr ew over her head a transparent veil Of white muslin , reachi ng to the knees . The

reports Of Paris , and Of the Engl ish who flocked thither ,were many and various , and due comment was made on

Mr . Fox’s sedul ous attendance at the leve’e of the First

Consul,on the morning of one Of the week days besides

the occasions Of invitation . Of the conver sations that

took place, which seemed much sought by the ruling

personage,I rem ember one specimen

, whi ch most probably came from Mr . Fox

’s own communications . Napol eon Observed that he was much taken up by theformation of a ‘Constitution for the Swiss —upon whi ch

Fox remarked to hi s hearers ‘that he was surprised atsuch a pretension on the part Of Napoleon

,

’for ‘he must

know sufficiently what was meant by a Constitution ,to be

Mr s. Monk, eldest sister of Mr . W addington, lived to the age of

102. She was mother of the learned James Henry Monk, afterwardsBishop of Gloucester andBri stol.


aware that no individual coul d be abl e to construct one, orjudge of one, for another nation .

’

“ Early in the year 1 803 we received the m elancholyintell igence of the death of Bevil l e Port

, my mother ’s

youngest brother, at Bungal ore in the Mysore Country,where he had been quartered with hi s regiment . His

appointment to a cornetcy, and being ordered to Indi a ,had made him very happy in 1801 and he owed it to an

appli cation by l etter from my mother to Pr ince Ernest,encouraged by the proof of friendly remembrance that hehad given her by hi s visit at Bath in 1 798 . I remember

well having been all owed to read the l etter, whi ch my

m ind’s eye still beholds,in her beautiful handwr iting

and I al so saw the Prince’s Obl iging reply, in which heinformed her that he had l ost no time ‘in requesting hi sbrother the Duke of York to consider the matter

,and that

he was happy to ann ounce having Obtained the nom ina

tion of Mr . Bevil l e Port to the desired cornetcy .

’ Al l

accounts that coul d be Obtained from brother-Ofli cers

proved Bevil l e Port to have been as beloved in that di stant

l and where his young li fe was so speedily closed, as he

was in his own family . The case of the younger sons ofmy grandfather Port was trul y di stressing, hi s broken

circum stances never all owi ng of their being furthered on

their way by the advantages of education to which their

birth and the position Of the famili es to whi ch theybel onged

, woul d have given them a right . Bernard coul d

be supported at Brasenose College, Oxford, because one ofhi s ancestors had contributed to its foundation ,

and the

Vicarage Of Ilam was in prospect for his l ife-provi sion ,

but for George Port, the thi rd son,and Bevill e the fourth.



have reverberated from the Camp at Boulogne over theChannel, into every Engl ish cottage and servants-hall andnursery .

“ I n London I was taken to see the coll ection of Mr .

Townl ey, which formed afterwards the nucleus of theantique marbles of the British Museum . It was the firsttime of my seeing antique statues, though the antique wasfami li ar to m e through the design s of Flaxman from theIl i ad and Odyssey and JEschylus . Of the obj ects in theTownl ey coll ection ,

now adm ir ed el sewhere, I onl y remem

ber individual ly the female bust of such surpassing beauty,appar ently springing from a flower

,evidently a portr ait,

but the per son unkn own . I saw too som e of the first

paintings whi ch were purchased to form the NationalGall ery , and which were then in the coll ection Of Mr .

Angerstein, whose house was in Pall Mall , the windows

of the large room which contained the ‘Raising of

Lazarus ’ by Sebastian del Piombo,

Opening towards

Carlton Garden s .“ I was taken to see ‘The Tempest ’ at Drury Lane

Theatre , when Kembl e fill ed the part of Prospero, and

that Of Miranda was represented by the very pretty MissBrunton

,afterwards Lady Craven . One evening also I was

taken to Vauxhall, and it seemed to be expected of me to

be gr eatly struck with the effect Of the general ill um in ation by col oured lamps, but I had a very mean impression

I

of the evening . A pretended waterfall and the poor

performances of songs intended to be humorous, did not

meet my pre-estimation of the amusements of a place .whi ch was said to be Often visited by this, that, and the

other person , who might, I thought, have used better


their freedom Of choice . Why not go to the theatre ? I

thought for the stage was ever to me intensely interest

ing, and I could not comprehend the want Of enthusiasmfor a play,

’which many persons professed. It was much

later suggested to me, that thi s very real and not fancied

idiosyncrasy of a great part of the pleasure- seekingworld, is to be accounted for by the general l onging to beindivi duall y part of the show,

to be considered worth

seeing or worth hearing, or in short capabl e of taking

part in what occupied all .

At this time my Uncl e Wil l iam Waddington"wasresiding in a large house with a garden , called Crescent

H ouse,Brompton

,and I remember having been surprised

at the insight and knowledge he Showed in respect to

gardening,making a point of having the finest flowers . I

heardmuch of the j ourney to S . Remy in Normandy, whichhe and Mrs . Willi am Waddington had made to visit herparents Mr . andMrs . Sykes :Tand She had brought fromParis many things new and admired ; I remember a Frenchgauze fiehu twisted round her head and pinned to good

effect . Her heal th was utterly undi sturbed by the rapidproduction and nursing of her numerous family

,to whom

she was an indefatigably careful mother,doing by each

and all what She judged wisest and best . I am moved torecord this last impression I retain of her

,although I pro

bably saw her many times later,for al though some years

of the raging war against Napol eon, stood in the way of

Grandfather of W illiam Henry , Min ister for Publi c I nstructionand Foreign Affairs in France, and of Madam e Charles de Bunsen .

They were still in receipt of a pension , granted to a maternalancestor, “ Trusty Richard,” the Pender ell who assisted the escape of

Charles I I . after the Battle of W orcester.


the transplanting of the family into France , the urgencyof Mr . Sykes was well known as to the necessity of estab

lishing the incomparabl e energy and intel l igence Of his

son-in-law upon the property which was to be the inherit

ance of hi s chil dr en .

I saw many persons who were new to me this time in

London,but have no impression of having been especially

interested in anyone, except on the occasion of a vi sit paidto my mother by Reginal d Heber and hi s elder brother .

Reginald Heber was then about to set out on hi s tour, tosuch parts of Europe as continued Open to the Engl ish

travell er ; and his elder brother was still at that height ofpubl ic estimation , whi ch lasted over the well -rememberedDedi cation to Heber byWalter Scott, of one of the portionsOf his poem of Marm ion . There had been a universityfriendship between Reginald Heber and my Uncl e Ber

nard, which on retrospect I somewhat wonder at,—so

di fferent do the two appear at this di stance of time . Uncl e

Bernardwas not onl y a kind friend to children,but al to

gether a worthy man , intelli gent, high-mi nded,and not

m erely proud of his family connexion s, but worthy of hisplace in society . He was a gentleman al l over

,but though

he passed blamel essly thr ough l ife, he never followed upany Of its nobl est Obj ects . Though at Oxford he wasnever entangl ed in any Offence against the moral law,

heprobably al lowed himself liberty to infringe many a col

l ege rul e . On one such occasion ,re-entering the quad

rangl e from a country expediti on in which he had dr ivenfour -in -hand, he reckl essly retained in hi s grasp his long

lashed riding whip , and made it smack, when one Of the

author ities coming out, noticing the misdeed more nu

RECOLLECTIONS OF CH ILDHOOD . 53

ceremoniously than the Offender approved , endeavoured towr est the weapon of Offence out Of his hand . Much did

the Oxford youth talk , and much did they laugh , on thi soccasion ; but Reginald Heber did mere

,in writing a

poem call ed ‘The Wh ippiad’— in which he displayed in

flowing verse , a tal e exceedingly enj oyabl e to those who

entered into the merits, or demerits , of the base . This MS .

was given by the wr iter to my Uncl e Bernardfi"

and added,

it may be supposed, to his éclat, or rather gave him an

éclat,new andmuch prized .

“We all l eft London about the end of June to proceedto Calwich in Staffordshi re

,close to the Derbyshi re border,

and the pretty town of Ashbourne . I had looked forward

eagerly to this j ourney, wi th my usual desire for further

acquaintance with the face of the earth,but found to my

disappointment (as I have found on subsequent occasions)that the abundant and flourishing centre Of England isinvariably dull , and best adapted to railway travell ing, andnot to the tedious labour of the post-horses , with which Ifirst travell ed its many m il es .

“ The small river of Calwich had been wi dened byBernard Granvill e so as to have the appearance Of a lake

,

wi th buildi ngs in questionabl e taste in the Ital ian -vill astyle

,those at each end serving the purpose Of conceal ing

the entrance and exit Of the natural stream,and keeping

the water high and smooth, while a central buil ding con

tained a picture-gall ery and music-room,in which my

Uncle Granville would occasionally practise the Violoncello , both he and his brother Dewes having fortunately

The popularity Of Mr . Bernard Port and his remarkable talent forversification is stil l well remembered in Derbyshire and Staffordshi i e.


attained the consciousness (so rare amongst dilettanti) thattheir life- long passion for music was

,as related to per

formance,unfortunate

,and thus best exercised out Of

hearing . The Older part Of the house was of bachelordimensions : the library, very spacious , sunny, and shelter ed

,Showed dark rows of venerabl e books , little used by

the modern world since the death Of Mr . Bernard Granvill e ,who had been a man Of studious habits

,and containing

besides,a coll ection Of the MS . works Of Handel

, who Often

passed his summer l eisure at Calwich, and played on the

organ in the dining-room,upon which hi s bust was

erected . My Uncl e Granvill e had added much to makethe house compl ete as a residen ce and I bel ieve with muchtaste . H e had just finished hi s improvements

, which

were to be all ready for his bel oved son ’s coming of age,when in June, 1 800

,the desolated dwelling Opened to

receive the funeral procession on its way to Ell aston

Church, and my cousin,Court Dewes, who inherited at

the death of my Uncle Granvil le,after a few years

’

possession,sold the last Granville reli cs

,retaining only his

paternal Dewes property Of Well esbourne , not far fromStratford-o n -Avon in Warwickshire . Calwich has since

been sold to the Dean Of York,pull ed down ,

and rebui l t

on a higher level , in my remembrance occupied by stablesand farm-buildings

,and by an ancient wal led garden ,

which dated from the time Of the monastery . I am un

acquainted with the present aspect Of things in this oncewell -known and admired spot

, where many memories areburied, besides mine, but most of those who woul d havedwelt on them as I do

,are now buried al so . At the

melancholy sale Of Calwich, a grand lands cape by Rem


brandt,the gift

,or legacy, of Handel , was pur chased by

Mr . Davenport Broml ey .

I del ighted in the woods andwaters and m eadows Of

Calwich . Everything within and without was strange and

new,and far superior in effect to anything I had yet seen .

The afflicted chiefs of the family had resumed the Old

routine of receiving comers and goers with kind hospi

tal ity,and keeping the machine of l ife in motion

,though

the mainspring was broken . Af ter dinner (which was

considered to be very late at five O’cl ock), the gentl emen

( in silk stockings and Shorts) played at bowl s in the

spacious bowling-green,in sight of which sat the ladies .

Before rising,however, from the dinner- tabl e , my Uncl e

Granvill e used to ask for a song from whatever ladi es

were capable of singing, and at this time Mrs . Dewes

and the beloved Nanny were there to gratify him . After

the song the ladies retired,but speedil y reassembled

on the broad gravel -walk , for the rest of the summer

even ing,unl ess a walk was undertaken ,

in which I was

always glad to fol low Aunt Granvill e . Every flower

and tree were then Obj ects of del ight . I hope the walkto Cabin Knowl e continues as charm ing as it was to me

— a rock partially overgrown with the plants whi ch flourish in limestone cl efts , and overshadowed by trees growing up the slope , while an abundant spring gushed upunderneath from a stil l pool , End found its way to theriver .

“A custom prevailed then , that after the company had

parted,w ith a general Good night

,

’ the ladi es went upstairs together, and in two’s and three’s adjourned withr enewed animation to a confidential talking-over of persons


or things . Is this fashion perennial, or has it becom e

Obsolete ? At l east l et it be hoped that persons no longeradj ourn to a room where children are said to be in their

soundest sleep,

’ as happened to m e, who, though tall Of

my age, was reckoned among ‘the childr en .

’ A brightlight was near my bed, and an animated conversation wasbegun

,Of which I heard nothing but the murmur

,ti ll my

own name was m entioned, and then I started and turned.

The movement caused the interl ocutors to depart, but Ihad heard words enough to be engraved for ever ; and it

was not a renewal of sleep,but a burst Of bitter tears

,

which foll owed upon the removal of light, and close of

conversation . The trace Of the tears had vanished next

morn ing : but the internal ‘battle of l ife and fate ’ wasdurably aggravated .

“ At this time the family were just rej oicing in the

engagement of my Aunt Fanny to Mr . Abel J ohn Ram,

whose family (from the south Of Ireland) was one of those

who had sadly experienced the il l -usage then fresh in

memory , from Roman -Catholic fanaticism in the rebellion—when the Old coachman who had served the familyduring two generations , at the bidding Of his associates

,

drove Off hi s master’s four fin e carriage-horses, to drawthe artil l ery coll ected to war against law and government.Many were the causes of grievance which drove ColonelRam from his ancestral home, and forced him to bring hisfamily to England , where they hired a beautiful house andgarden nearAshbourne, the property of Sir Brook Boothby,who had given up his country residence in despair afterthe death Of an only child, Pen elope, of whose infant lovel iness, short li fe, and fine intelli gence Aun t Lou isa used



causes Of dimi nution . I have al together seen but l ittl e ofmy aunt : and she will have been far from guessing howhighly I rated her .

I n returning homewards from Calwich, a visit wasmade at Well esbour ne

, where I saw a garden adornedw ith al l the luxury of showy plants then attainabl e ,grouped in pots to the best effect ; for in those days the

discovery had not been made of planting fuchsias and

geran ium s in the open ground. Then too I saw Warwick

Castl e,of which the vivid impression remains to this

moment : for when I had a second gl impse in 1 849,the

scene appeared as famil iar to me,as the reverberation of a

wel l -known mel ody . The well -preserved, not over-bui l t

entrance : the long gall ery from the hall , at the extrem ityof which the Vandyke portrait Of Charles I . , with hishorse

,and his span iel

,and the spl endi d figure of the

r ichl y coloured palefrenier,are lighted from the unseen

end of a cross-(

gal lery : and thirdly the view from the

windows towards the river, Showing the broken arch of a

bridge now superseded ; these are al l bright visions whi chI can at any moment recall from the l ong past .

“ It must have been in this same autumn of 1 803,that

I heard in the conversation of the Ul tra Opposition whooccasionally came to my father’s house, a testimony whi chmight wel l be trusted to the insight and energy withwhich Mr . Pitt (then out of Offi ce and residing withinthe Cinque-Ports) watched over the improvement of worksof defence along the coast, and the exercising of the

volunteers , in the prospect of the threatened invasion of

the French ; when the commun ication concluded with theObservation, that Pitt m ight have proved a great m ili


tary commander , had his faculties been di rected accordingly

The excitement against the French which made the

publi c m ind roll and roar l ike a troubl ed sea, extendedeven to the usual ly qui et neighbourhood of Llanover : and

we heard famili es named who had their horses harnessed

every night,to be ready for escape at any hour—whi ther ?

might be asked . The terror,however, di d not last long ;

for the seeming arbiter of war suddenly di rected hi s

l egion s to remove from Boul ogne to the high plains of

Central Germany, and the surrender of Ulm and of a

gal lant army commenced the course of calamity which

ended in Austerl itz andthe ruin Of Austria, and finally ( in

J anuary, 1804) in the death of Mr . Pitt : the battle of

Trafalgar and the death of Nel son,having

,to the Briti sh

m ind, r emoved to a distance of comparative indi fference

the yet more awful concussions of Europe . My father

had an interest in the navy and in Lord Nel son whichseemed hard to explain . I bel ieve it was in him a re

flection from the powerful mind of his brother George, who

had sailed much about the high- seas in attendance uponh i s pupil PrinceWilli am,

Duke of Clarence,andwas much

more cal culated to di stinguish himself in the naval than

th e cl erical profession . I well remember my father’s

coming in with big tears swell ing from hi s eyes , to tell us

of the death Of Nelson and the accompanying Victory .

“ The Spring of 1804,spent at Cli fton

, was marked by a

vision of the Napiers . Colonel and Lady Sarah Napier ,the parents of that distinguished family

,had come to

Clifton in hopes of renovating the shattered health of

Colonel Napier , whose death, somewhat later, took place


there, where he is buried at Redl and Chapel on the Downs .

Two of the sons , both very young, belonged to that portionof the army (then reckoned raw,

but afterwards SO famous)which Sir J ohn Moore was training into due discipl ine, ina camp near Dover . They were all owed l eave of absenceto visit their father

, whose illness was known to be serious ,although not recognised as mortal , for Charl es andWill iam

Napier. call edmore than once upon my m other , and theirappearance and conversation were very striking to me . Ihad never seen anything l ike them before , and l ittl e have

I seen since to compare wi th them . Iwas brought to theirnotice in a manner very trying to my great natural shy

ness,for I was commanded to recite the poem by Mr .

Soame upon Bunbury (elder brother of Sir Henry Bunbury) who had died young in India : but their engagingmanners made this exposure less bitter to me than on

other similar occasion s . They both expressed unboundedadmir ation of their general Sir J ohn Moore , whi ch theysaid was not gained by indul gence , for he was very strict

with young Ofli cer s , whom he used to send to drill , to theirgreat surprise

,after they had supposed themselves perfect

in the mili tary exercise .“ It was in 1804 that an event very material to myself

took place , in my being taken by my parents to the trien

ni al musical festival at Hereford : the fir st occasion of my

becoming acquainted with any performance of musicbeyond a Singl e song , or a wandering band or barrel

organ which perhaps explains the tender feeling I retaintowards the latter, out of gratitude for the rare pleasurethey gave me

,when at Clifton they were accidental ly

call ed upon to stop before the windows : I never could


comprehend the customary fury expressed against them ,

as di stur bers of the peace of the neighbourhood, ’ when Ifelt, without finding words to express , that they thril ledthr ough the emptiness Of the common atmosphere

, with a

memento of thought or of passion ,of absent and distant

joy or woe . The oratorio of Sampson ,on the fir st even

ing at H ereford, and the Messiah on the last morn ing,

are fixed in grateful remembrance . Mrs . Billington wasthe soprano - Singer

,andHarrison and Bartl eman were the

tenor and bass and di d I but possess the musical power ,coveted in vain all my lif e, I coul d now pour forth fromthe treasure of song then laid in faithful memory

,the

strains of the first-named, in ‘Let the bright Seraphim,

’

and in I know that my Redeemer l iveth,’and the deep

andmellow tones of Bartl eman seem to be still reproducedwhen I think of them . Af ter the evening performances

,

a ball took place, which was to me a new Sight . The

daughters of Sir George Cornewall , most of them still unmarried

,occupied my attention . Miss Fanny Cornewall

became soon after LadyHereford, andMiss Harriet becameMrs . Lewi s (later the mother of two much distingui shedsons

, of whom the younger was Sir George Cornewal lLewis) . Miss Caroline Cornewall married not l ong after,and was slightly kn own to m e later as Lady Duff Gordon .

Mr . Price (later Sir Uvedal e Price) and his fine park of

Foxley, are very distinct in my H ereford recoll ection .

The work of Mr . Price on the Picturesque I knew well ,having read it aloud to my mother, both of us taking it incon amore.

Youth looks out upon l ife,as a di stant prospect sun

gil t,’ is a remark made by Johnson on a very hacknied


subj ect,which must present itself to every human being

under one or another aspect . With me , the sun -gilding

had soon passed away : and onl y whil e that lasted , can Idiscern Spots which tempt me to deli neation

,or tracks

which guided to scenes or obj ects of interest . I was, in agrave and di spirited family, the only piece Of heal th and

activi ty and comparative cheerfulness, and I had to con

tend again st becoming accustomed to the habit of dwellingupon evil whether present or prospective . Four lines(whi ch I beli eve form part of a sonnet of Miss Seward

’s)may be taken as the text of most of my un spoken medi

tations, or reveries

Come, bri ght Imagination ! com e , relum e

Thine orient lamp with renovatingray

Shine on the mind, and pierce its gatheringgloomW ith all the fires of intellectual day ! ’

CHAPTER III .

HOME LI FE AT LLAN OVER.

“Le bonheur se trouvait pour elle dans un grand développement deses facul tés, elle résidait dans l ’appl ication .

”—MADAME ROLAND.

N the extrem e quiet of her l ife at Llanover , Mrs .

Waddington found al l -sufficient interest in theeducation of her daughter s Frances and Em ili a . But

whil e Em il ia Waddington touched all the tenderestchords of her m other ’s heart by her patient and cheerful endurance of suffer ing, the vigorous con stitution

andm ore advanced age of her elder child rendered her

every day an increasingly valuable compan ion to the

parent, whose pecul iar system of tuition was certainly

em inently successful . She n ever over l oaded her

daughter with tasks,but from the earl iest age She

interested her by reading alOud or by r ecounting whatShe her self had read, repeating such parts as She con

sidered would make a beneficial impression .

“Whatever you do, do it wi th all your m ight,

”was a maxim

from which She never depar ted. A great deal of rest

was in sisted upon,and a great deal of air and exerci se,


but when employed, no half attention was al lowed or

even endured. Idl e hands and l istl ess looks were neverperm itted for an instant . The mom ent attention

flagged,the book was closed and put away, and a habit

of self -exam ination and r eflection was engendered,which in general is too much neglected.

I n after year s, the Baroness Bunsen , when referr ingto her ch ild-li fe at Llanover , often spoke of the way inwhich her early habits of absolute self—dependence were

engendered. On_

seeing how in many fami l ies it i s

supposed that ch ildren must be watched from m orn

ing till n ight, She used to descr ibe how differen t washer up

-br inging,l eft entirely without any guidance

except her m other ’s di rections, from which she never

thought of deviating, as to the employm ent of her

tim e ; wi thout any regul ar l esson-hour s, yet, when in

the house,expected to be always busy with one thing

or other , and that, not in any sol itary retreat, but in

her m other ’s sitting-room,exposed to con stant inter

ruptions, and therefore trained to pin down attention

to the utmost .Frances Waddington never was placed under a

governess, and til l She was fourteen ,alm ost the on ly

instr uction she r eceived except that of her m other , wasfrom a femal e ar tist (Miss Palm er), who was remark

abl e for her adm irabl e styl e of sketching from nature .

Before she was six year s Old the young Frances used toaccompany this lady, watching her at work, and verysoon beginning to take the sam e view. I I er improve


66 L IFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

Being encouraged, as early as 1802, to keep a j ournalof her inner li fe

,Frances Waddington inscr ibed upon

the fir st page the pr ecept of Dr . John son,The great

thing to be recorded i s the state of your own mind ;

and you should wr ite down everything that you r em em

ber , for you cannot judge at fir st what i s good or bad

and wr ite imm ediately whil e the impression is fresh,

for i t wil l not be the sam e thing a week afterwards .”

A great reader,and inter ested on al l subjects which

exercised the under standing,Mrs. Waddington pos

sessed unusual power s of expression both in wr itingand conver sation , and had a pecul iarly musical voice,which combined harm ony with power and flexibil ityof intonation and was without the least affectation .

Ther e are many in stances on r ecord of the electr icaleffect which her voice produced, and one i s rem em

bered of her suddenly Speaking to a post-boy, whowas beating his hor se cruel ly, in tones which seem edto str ike h im m otionl ess . Her r eadi ng al oud was a

Special gift. Whatever She r ead— the B ible, or poetry,

or the plays of Shakspeare, her voice andmanner wer eexactly suited to the subj ect . She encouraged the

power of recitation in her daughter Frances, who usedfrom an early age to l earn many poem s by hear tfor her own pl easure and that of her m other : thi swas m erely resorted to as a recreation , her retentive

m em ory prevented its being a labour . She al so fre

quen tly wrote to the dictation of her m other , and

they read together continually.

HOME L IFE AT LLANOVER . 67

Al ready in childhood, Em il ia Waddington had becom e the confirm ed invalidwhich she continued throughl ife

, and was able to have l ittl e share in her Sister s’

empl oym en ts, so that, til l her four teenth year , the l ifeof Frances, except for her m other , would have beensingular ly lonely and m onotonous . At that tim e, Shewas all owed to have occasional lesson s in music and

dancing . Am ongst the few per son s whom She was in

the habit of seeing from tim e to tim e, were the Al len sof Cressel ly, who, being natives and residents of SouthWales, had frequent Oppor tun ities of com ing to Llanover on their jou rnies to and from London . The

Allen Of Cressel ly of that tim e mar r ied the daughterof Lord Robert Seym our (then of Tal iarris) . His

only brother , Baugh Al l en (afterwards appointed byMr . Waddington ’s wil l trustee for Madam e de Bun

sen’s fortun e), was for many year s Master of DulwichCol lege, an office which he r esigned on hi s marr iagewith the ni ece of Sir Samuel Rom illy . Their sister s

,

though not cel ebrated by poets or biographer s, were

perhaps m or e wor thy of publ ic r ecord than many of

their contemporar ies whose l ives have been wr itten .

They were remarkabl e in manyways . Of eight daughter s the greater number wer e exceedingly handsom e,and there was not one who did not excel in conversational power s, or who had not a tal en t for wr i ting ,which though confined

,as far as is known ,

to intimate

correspondence , m ight have been empl oyed on l i teraryproductions with advantage to the wor ld. The eldest


marr ied Sir Jam es Mackintosh another marr iedM . de

Sism ondi two m arr ied the wel l -known brothers, Johnand Josiah Wedgewood ; another the Rev . MatthewSurtees

,brother - in -law of the Lord Chancel l or Eldon

and an other (m en tioned later in these volum es) mar

r ied the Rev . E . Drewe, Rector of B r oad-Hambu ry, in

Devon shire,and was m other of the late Lady Gifford

and Lady Alder sonDur ing the m any year s of her early marr ied l ife,Spen t in the centre of Wel sh cottages andWel sh cot

tagers, Mrs. Waddington did not think of acquir ingknowl edge of the Wel sh language

, which had a largeShar e in her occupations , when ,

after the marr iage ofher elder daughter s

,she was only occupied by the care

of her youngest child, who from childhood exhibiteda passionate attachm ent for everyth ing connected withthe country of her bir th . The Interest in the ancientlanguage of B r itain which her daughter Augustaawakened in Mrs . Waddington was afterwards muchincr eased by conver sation with Baron Bun sen and hisl earned c oun trym en Professor Lepsius and Dr . Meyer ,who proved to her the value of Wel sh with r eferenceto philology as wel l as to hi stor ical and antiquar iansubj ects .I n her fifteenth year Frances Waddington spen tsom e tim e in London ,

when her m other , who had

been accustom ed to all that was best in the society of

Windsor and St . Jam es’s in her youth , but who hadl ooked upon her self as a kind of par iah from society in

HOME LIFE AT LLANOVER . 69

her Wel sh seclusion ,and im agined her self forgotten by

her former associates, was equal ly surpr i sed and gratified by the warm th with which She was greeted. Espe

cial ly cordial was her r eception by the daughter s of

Thom as Earl of Pomfr et— Lady Charl otte Finch, LadyJul iana Penn

,and Lady Louisa Clayton , who had been

am ongst the m ost in timate fr iends of Mrs . Delany .

Her interview with the Royal Fam ily on the occasionof her fir st visit to London i s descr ibed in a l etter

from Frances Waddington to her aunt Miss Harr ietPor t .

J une 5,1 805 .

— I must begin by tell ing you that yesterday the Princesses , and afterwards the Queen ,

on hearing

that ni amma was with the Miss Fieldings ,”6 sen t for her ,Emily

,Augusta

,andme ; and

,after having given you so

great a piece of news , I will tell you the whole storymethod icall y . Mamma went to Lady C. Finch’s to see MissAugusta Fielding’s and Miss Finch’s dresses

, and was a

good deal surprised at finding Miss Fielding in ful l dress ,though she was not to go to court

,and

, on inquiring thereason

,understood that She was going to the Princesses

,to

stay with them till they were sen t for by the Queen . Afterhaving given mamma this piece of information,

Miss

Fielding whispered to her sister, and then said , I have nodoubt they would send for you if they knew you were

here . ’ She ran out of the room,and coming back in

a few minutes , said that the Princesses desired we woul d

Daughters of Captain Fielding, R .N .

, by Soph ia, daughter ofLady Charlotte Finch , who was governess to the princesses .

70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUN SEN .

all come up . Miss Fielding then got for mamma a purpl ecap and feathers of her Sister’s and a white musl in gownof her own , which She helped her to put on , whil e Miss

Augusta fastened the feathers in mamma’s head,whi ch

you , who know what it is to have to dress in a hurry, particu lar ly for Court, where She was forced to go early, willacknowledge to have been excessively good-natur ed . All

this time Miss Fielding’s maid trimmed me out in a coral

necklace and a. worked muslin gown of her m istress’s ,with a long train . Emily unluckily had l eft her cap athome and came on ly in a hat

,so Miss Fieldi ng formed the

expedi ent of tying a blue Barcelona handkerchi ef roundher head

,and a neckl ace round her throat

,and then

,our

borrowed feathers having b een properly adjusted, we wentto their Royal H ighnesses, all of us , as you may bel ieve ,in a pretty good fright, except Augusta, who was perfectlyat her ease . We came into a very l ittle room, which the

Princesses, with their hoops , alm ost exclusively occupied .

I guessed at once which was Princess Augusta by herkindness to mamma, Princess El izabeth by her size, andPrincess Mary by her beauty . Princess Am el ia was not

there,and Princess Sophia I di d not much look at

,as I

was occupied in admiring Princess Mary’s headdress , whichwas a large plume Of white ostrich feathers

,and a very

smal l «plume of black feathers placed before the whi teones : her hair was drawn up quite smooth to the top of

her head, with one large curl hanging from thence almostdown to her throat . H er petticoat was whi te and silver

,

and the dr apery‘and body, as well as I can recoll ect, were

of purpl e silk, covered with spangl es , and a border and

fringe of silver . Princess El izabeth had el even immense

HOME LIFE AT LLANOVER. 1

yellow ostrich feathers in her head, which you may imagine

had not a very good eff ect . We had been in the room five

m inutes,during which time Princess Elizabeth took a gr eat

deal of notice OfAugusta (who says that the lady in a bluegown and hoop took her to the window and kissed her ’

)

when Princess Charlotte of Wal es came in,dressed in a

pal e pink frock covered with lace andwearing a beautifulpearl necklace and bracel ets and a diamond cross . She is

a very pretty and deli cate-l ooking chi ld,and has l ight

brown hair, which curl s all over her head . Princess Eli za

beth took her by the hand . The Queen then sent forthe Princesses , and if they had been anyone el se , I must

have laughed at seeing them sidl e out of the room,holding

their hoops with both hands . We were moving towardsMiss Fielding’s room , when mamma was told that Princess

Eli zabeth wanted her ; so we all foll owed mamma and

Miss Fieldi ng into a room, where we saw H er Maj estywith

all the Princesses , and Mrs . Fielding and a great manymore ladies . Emily and I stood outside the door til l Princess El izabeth call ed us in ,

and the Queen made someremarks on mamma’s having two such great girl s , and She

Spoke very graciously to mamma , andmade inquiries afterMadame d’Arblay .

* Then she said she would not detainus any l onger, so we walked off , and had just put on ourown clothes , when Mrs . Fie lding came and made usdr ess again ,

to go to the Princess Charlotte , who was toremain with Lady C . Finch for some time . We went and

Becaus e the pension of Madame d’

Arblay, which had ceased on

her marriage and residence in France, had been restored on the

representation and personal influence of Mrs . W addington, who made

known her reduced circumstances to Queen Charlotte.

7 43 LIFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUN SEN .

staid with her Royal H ighn ess for about an hour , whoplayed as good-natur edly as possibl e with Augu sta,who was never better pleased in her li fe . The Princess

said in the prettiest manner imaginabl e ‘Would not

Mrs . Waddington sit down ? ’ and in Short has qui te them ann ers Of a little queen

,though she is as natural as pos

sibl e .”

A few days later Frances Waddington was presentat the tr ial of Lord Melvil le, impeached for havingconn ived at a system of peculation whil e Treasurer of

the Navy.

FRAN CES WADDINGTON to MISS HARRIET PORT.

1 1 J une,1 805 .

—Mamma received , through LadyAl biniaGumberlandj“an order fromLadyW il loughby for two ticketsfor the Great Chamberlain ’s box for the last day of LordMelvill e’s trial

, whenever that Should be . We only knewlate on Wednesday afternoon that it was fixed for Thurs

day , when I got up at five,as we w ere told many peopl e

would go at that time,but my aunt Fann yt did not call for

me till seven . The doors were not Open ed til l nine,but

during the in terval Col onel Ram took us into the Housesof Lords and Common s . I n ever could have imaginedwhat a real squeeze was un til I found myself in the

passage leadi ng to the Great Chamberlain ’s box however,

we were soon safely seated , and were exactly in front ofthe thron e . At twelve the procession of peers comm enced

,

the Masters in Chancery in long wigs— some in purpl e and

Daughter Of George, third Earl of Buckinghamshire.

1 Then Mrs . Rai n .


LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

bl indness, a cataract having form ed over one of hi seyes, and a second being in process .

FRANCES WADDIN G'

I‘ON to MI SS HARRI ET PORT.

30 J une, 1806 .

—Yesterday mamma, Emily, Augustaand I went toWindsor , and staid from six till almost eightwith Lady Albin ia Cumberland, who told mamma that shehad a most warm fr iend in Princess El izabeth

,and that

she had been speaking of her in the hi ghest terms thatvery day at di nner . We dr ank tea with LadyAl binia, andthen went on the terrace , where the Ki ng, all the Princessesexcept Princess Mary

,and the Duk e of Cambridge were

walking . The first time they passed by, Princess Augusta "

and one of the others tur ned out of the li ne,and came up

to mamma,saying How do you do ? I am so glad to see

7

you . The next time they al l stopped for more than a

q uarter of an hour . The King said to mamma,I did not

know you at first,I am grown quite blind lately ; so

mamma answered, But your Maj esty looks well .

’ Yes,

I am in perfect heal th, I have no right to complain .

’ The

King then stooped to Augusta— ‘And who is this l ittle

thing ? ’ Upon which Princess Augusta said, Oh

,that i s

a very beautiful li ttle thing ! andmamma l ifted Augustaup , andthe Ki ng looked at her andpraised her, andPrincessElizabeth ki ssed her , and then said, ‘These are the twoothers

,

’and she took me by the arm ,

and put me cl ose to

the King, who looked at me thr ough hi s glass,and said

,

You are a very undutiful daughter to grow tal ler thanyour mother ’ (a proof of the badness of his eyes), and heasked me how l ong we had been in town . Emily was then

shown to him,and he asked mamma after Uncle Dewes ,

HOME LI FE AT LLANOVER. 75

and said, ‘Well,and how do you think the Old wall s

l ook ? ’ and l aughed at her expressing her del ight athearing the chimes ; and Princess Elizabeth said to me, I

have such a beautiful drawing Of your s .

TO the SAME .

23 June,1 806 .

— I must tell my aun t Harriet andmygrandpapa that Pamela

,a Frenchwoman ,

the daughterand eleve Of Madame de Genl is

,is one Of the very sweetest

creatures I ever had the pl easure of beholding . Lastnight we went to Lady Sarah Napier, when she ran into

the room looking not more than six and twenty . After

Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s death she married an Americanmerchant named Pitcairne . Her gown was of printed

cal ico,but only came over her shoulders

,with two short

sl eeves : all that was seen in fron twas a white bodyandpetticoat . On her head was a littl e black Oxon ian ’s cap

,made

of black crape and beads which she pulled Off to LadySarah . Her bl ack eyes are in perpetual motion she has

not a morsel of rouge, and she laughed at the beautifulDowager Duchess Of Rutland for wearing so much, sayingWhen I am a grandmother

,I w ill have a clean face

,that

I may not daub my l ittle grandchi ldr en ’s noses with rouge

when I kiss them .

’

“We have been with Lady Stuar t and Miss H obart tosee Lord Stafford’s pictures . They give tickets for peopleto see them everyWednesday, when the rooms are crowdedlike the Royal Academy Exhibition . The pictures ar e

extremely fine,but it i s quite ridiculous to Observe out Of

the numbers that came into the room,how few thought it

necessary even to look at them . I stood very near Mr s .

7 6 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN.

Siddons for some time,to hear what she said . At l ength

she picked out a pain ting Of som e Dutch fishwomen,the

last thing upon earth you coul d call interesting,and ‘what

a sweet composition is that ! ’ was pronounced in her deepesttragedy tones .

”

I n the foll owing year the Windsor visit was repeated.

FRAN CES WADDI NGTON to MI ss PORT.“ 13 J uly, 1 807 . Yesterday we went to Windsor .

The crowd on the Terrace was amazing and the hea tin ten se . The first time the Royal Family passed, onlyPrincess Eli zabeth spoke to mamma and shook hands wi thher . The next time they all stopped

,and Princess Eliza

b eth kindly took a great deal Of trouble to get the Queento make out mamma

, which she did at last, wi th somediffi cul ty

,and then

,to make amends

,told her that ‘she

was not much altered since she saw h er last .

’Then

Princess Elizabeth said twice Thi s is Mrs . Waddi ngton ’s

daughter, ’ and the Queen commen ted on my looking so

much stouter than mamma,then she asked after mamma’s

health and mamma told her she was very much troubledw ith headaches . Oh

,

’ said the Queen,

‘that is like me,

I have very bad headaches . ’ Then the Queen turned tomy aunt Fanny and Mr . Ram

,and Princess Mary spoke

most kindly to mamma , and so did the Duke Of Cambridge .The King spoke to mamma, but di d not say anything part icu lar he looked grave , and stood staring at her for nearfive minutes , but I am afraid he could not see her . The

Queen is grown so enormous that she looks as i f she car

r ied al l the fifteen Princes and Princesses before her .

”

HOME LI FE AT LLANOVER . 77

I n the summ er of 1808,the fam ily passed a longer

tim e in London,for Frances Waddington was now

seventeen ,though from her m other ’s frequent and

severe headaches she did not go out very much, andthen only under the chaperonage Of som e trusted

fr iend.

FRAN CES WADDINGTON to MI SS HARRI ET PORT.

6 J uly, 1808 . I must now tell you Of yesterday .

We were dr essed and with Miss Fielding by half -pasttwelve . We were call ed in fir st to see Princess Mary and

Princess Charlotte,then to Princess Sophi a . The Queen

and the other Princesses were so hurried they could not

come,but promised to come i f possible after the drawing

room . Those two Princesses were very ki nd to mamma ,particularly Princess Sophia, but they both looked sadlyi ll

,and though very smiling and good-natured

,I think

there is a striking appearance of melancholy in their

countenances . Princess Sophia was beautifully dressed inpink and silver tissue covered with bl onde lace and

wr eaths of silver flowers . Princess Mary was very mag

n ificent in white and silver . Princess Charlotte’s dr ess

was blue and Silver tissue with a white lace frock,a

di amond necklace and cross,

'

her hair (which grows beautiful ly about her forehead) curl ed in front

,and done up

behind in cur ls with a diamond arrow,diamond brooches

on her sleeves . The Duchess Of Brun swick i s quite avulgar- looking Old woman ,

dressed in white crape,being

in deep mourning for her daughter . The Dukes of Kent ,Cumberland

,and Cambridge, were in magnificent field

78 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

marshal ’s uniform s . When the Queen and the Princesses

went into the drawing-room ,Princess Charlotte cam e

back to Miss Fielding, and staid till half -past four,as

kind as possibl e to Augusta, whom she knew at fir st sight,and seemed to l ike much better than the other chil dren .

Nothing can be more perfect than her manners,her figure

and carriage are charming, with a pretty animated countenance

,and nothi ng l ike pride about her, suffering Lady

Robert Fitzgerald’s childr en to take l iberties with her,without even looking di spleased . She is very much to bepitied

, for the only amusement she has in the year iscoming to Lady Charlotte Finch’s, on the King andQueen ’s

birthday ; and she does nothing from morning till night

but learn l esson s which she hears Lady de Clifford say areunnecessary . Mamma spoke to her Of Miss Hunt

,and she

answered with emotion ,O, I was very naughty when

Miss Hunt was with me, ’ andthen mentioned what mammaknew before, that Miss Hun t wrote to her on her birthday . The Bishop Of Salisbury, Princess Charlotte’s p recep tor , as they call him , said to mamma I wish to God

we could have Miss Hunt back again , she cannot be

r eplaced.

’

I n 1809 Frances Waddington was dangerously il lat Llanover from typhus fever . I n the fol lowingNovember , par tly for the advantage Of master s

,She

went with her father , m other , and sister s to spend

the winter in Edinburgh -a win ter of great enj oym en t

,as affording that m ental stimulus which she so

greatly m i ssed at hom e . It was a pleasure to Mrs .

Waddington to recall many Old associations in the


society of Mrs . Delany’

s favour ite godson ,Dr . Dan iel

Sandf ord,then B ishop Of Edi nburgh

, and to her

daughter his fr iendship was Of the greatest advantage,as he was abl e to enter in to the m any difficul ties onrel igious subj ects which pr esented them selves to heractive m ind

,and to show her how— not to turn away

from,but to solve them . H is children al so wer e pro

nounced by Frances Waddington the m ost agreeabl eshe ever saw . The society Of Sir Wal ter Scott

,of Mr .

Al i son ,Mr . Jeffrey, and of the charm ing Lady Louisa

Stuart (granddaughter Of LadyMaryWor tl ey Montagu)— the l ife- long fr iend of Mrs . Waddington

,al so com

bined to render the win ter m ost enj oyabl e . Anotherdel ight was the incomparabl e acting Of Mrs . Siddons

,

Who was in Edinburgh at thi s tim e . It was dur ingthis winter that the attention they excited in other sawakened Mrs . Waddington to the super ior ity of her

daughter ’s intel lectual g ifts . After her r eturn to

Llanover she wrote to her nephew,Jam es Monk

,after

wards B ishop Of Gloucester

3 July, 18 10.-I was very much gratified by my Six

months in Edinburgh . Mr . Waddington certainl y wastired Of the place

,but Fanny was delighted

,and had

extraordinary reasons for being sO,—for never was greater

justice done to her talents and acquirements . ProfessorPlayfair said in am ixed company that he never had metwithso well -balanced or so elegantly cultivated a mind as MissWaddington ’s , andmany more similar speeches inevitablytravel led to me

,made by other m en about her . I say men


only,for I kept all the boys aloof

,not allowing one to

enter the house,excepting Lord Gl enbervie’s son

,Mr .

Douglas,Mr . G . Rich

,and Lord J ohn Russell

, who, bye

the bye,is the only Engl ish young man of any prom ise at

Edinburgh .

Great was the pl easure of a few days spent with theFergu ssons Of Raith, and the enj oym ent of its finel ibrary, its col lection s Of pr ints, and casts Of antiquegem s . On return ing to Llanover

,Miss Waddington

attended to her var ious’

studies with fresh energy, aswell as to the education of her younger sister s . She

says in her diary

10 June,18 10.

— Our books having at last arrived fromEdi nburgh

,I have my Greek

,Latin

,Span ish, and Ital ian ,

Eucl id,and Smith’s Wealth of N ations to go on wi th,

besides drawing, practising, and working, hearing Emilyread Ital ian and seeing her embroider, andwatching over

Augusta in her mathem atics , her drawing, and her music ,and doing geography with her . I cannot always contriveall these things in one day, but I endeavour to make upthe second day for what I omit in the fir st.”

I n July Professor Monk came to Llanover on a l ongvisit

, when FrancesW addington took the Oppor tun ity Ofgoing on with mathem atics and Latin

,to the exclu

sion Of most other things .” The fr iendship which beganwith her cousin over m athematical l essons, led to acorrespondence Of many year s . I n Mr . Monk, both



Bowdl er, sister to Mrs . Harriet Bowdl er, who publ ished

Miss Smi th’s Fragments , and who is stil l m ore known as

the queen Of a coterie Of ladies at Bath . The two sisters

differ so compl etely in character and taste, that they have

for years l ived separately, though on perfectly good term s .

Mrs . Frances has l ived in ,and enj oyed, the most desirabl e

society in her own country, and has enl arged her ideas and

quickened her perceptions , by a l ong residence abroad ;whil e Mrs . Harriet has remain ed fix ed like an oyster to

her rock,receiving

,as Bishop Warburton says , foul water

or fresh,just as it happened to flow towards her . The

consequence has been , that the former has r etained the

originali ty Of her character , and the acuteness Of her

understandi ng, whil e the excell ent tal ents Of the latterhave not preserved her from sinking in to the m SIpidi ty

whi ch must ever resul t from indi scr iminate intercour se

with the herd of ordinary mortal s . Mrs . F . Bowdl er ’s

favourite topic Of conversation was one particul arly interesting to me— the modern inhabitants and li teratur e of

that country, which was in ancient days fruitful perhapsbeyond all others in worth and genius .

“We have lately been reading Mrs . Hannah More’s

new work, Chr istian Moral s , ’ with great pl easure, thoughwe must ever prefer the wr itings which establ ished herr eputation ,

_

to those which she has publi shed since it wasestablished, the former having been executedby facul ti es

in their prime , improved by a l ong residence in the houseof Garrick and amongst his associates

, and by intimate

fri endship and correspondence with Lord Orford ; whereasthe latter have been the production Of advanced years,decayed health, and taste vitiated by the society Of sec

HOME LI FE AT LLANOVER. 83

tar ies, and Of Mrs . Patty andMrs . Prue (or whatever may

be their names), her sisters . Al l thi s beingconsidered , it

i s only wonderful that she shoul d still be able in the high

est degree to come with power into the conscience,’and

to reiterate truths l ong since fami l iar,not only with fervour

ever increasing, but with unceasing var iety : however , at

the same time that we are grateful to Mrs . H annah More

for the publi cation of thi s work , it is impossibl e not to feel

indignant at the depravity Of taste whi ch has induced herto interlard her most an imating passages wi th Offensive

all usions, degrading sim il es, and pedantic words , by whichshe l essens the effect Of her exhortations . Another thi ngthat distressed m e in this work was the fal se r easoning, as '

I considered it,respecting Providence : for it has always

appeared tome that the bel ief in particul ar in terpositions ofthe Divine Hand interferes with that fundamental principl eof rel igion which teaches us that God works by m eans,not mi racl es ; that he sets at work causes , which producethe system of things and course of events we behold ;wherefore, in the very efi ect Of those causes

, we may with

truth say we di scern the hand of God,but then it is

mediately, not immediately a special interference ’ Of God

woul d be an interference with hi s own moral governm ent .

Surely the very word interp osi tion’ denotes the fall acy of

the doctrine ; from what should. God interp ose to save us Pfrom another power ? But we know that al l power is of

God ; otherwise we shoul d be admitting the good and evi l

p r incip le of the ancient Persians . As to the consolationwhi ch it is urged may be derived from the doctrine of a

particular Providence,surely nothing more can be required

than the declaration , so solemnly reiterated,in different


words, that all things shall war/c loyefiier for good to themthat l ove God.

’

MRS . WADDINGTON to 3 m . PROFESSOR MONK .

I spent the last evening Of being in townwi th Madamede Stae

'

l, but in such a state Of suffering that nothing but

my most ardent desire for year s to hear and see the most

wonderful woman Of her age, could have induced me to

struggl e thro’. Still,as I went with the man in Europe

she most admi res (her own words), she thought I must be

worth cul tivating,and

,therefore

,in the most engaging

manner bidme not forget her,

’ but when I coul d, come

again .

’I n my li fe I never was so highl y gratified by con

versation . Her speaking is qui te equal to her writing .

Indeed Sir J . Mackintosh told me that,except Burke some

times, he never heard anything at al l approaching to her

dazzl ing el oquence . Fanny spent several hour s on Mon

day night li stening to Madame de Stae'

l, Sir J . Mackintosh

,

Dumont, and Mr . W . Smith,and on her return hom e sat

on my bed two hours , repeating the very words Of many ofthe sentences Of Madam e de Stae

'

l, and al so the admirable

and acute comments Of the men who dr ew her out .”

8 December , 18 13 .—DO not thi nk that I am insensible

to publ ic events , because I have said nothing about theastonishing reverses . The al tered coun tenance Of Napol eonin the print in Colnaghi

’s shOp convincedme

,in Jul y, that

he would no l onger ‘unassail abl e hold on his course un

shaken Of motion .

’ That fat, enervated countenance,so

unlike the Buonaparte by Appiani after the Battle Of

Marengo, was not made to govern the world. Still I


firml y beli eve wi thin my l ife he will be again the greatest

potentate on earth .

“ Poor Emily i s much worse. Alas, alas ! how exactlydoes a sentence Of Madame de Stae

'

l ’s paint her situati onTerminée comme événem ent

, mais qu i subsiste encorecomme souffrance,

’and thi s at nineteen .

”

FRANCES WADDmGTON to PROFESSOR MONK.

17 Ap r i l , 18 14 .—MyMother bids me say that you have

conferred the gr eatest of al l possible Obl igations on her, byhaving excited for one moment the sl ightest interest in

Madame de Stael for her . For years Madame de Stael has

been li terally‘l

’Objet de son réve and both my mother

andmyself fel t to so great a degree the irr esistibl e enchant

ment of her last work, that we both addr essed her ; but we

had not courage to send the effusions of our hearts , everyword that we coul d use seemed SO dull

,so dead, 80 inex

pressive of the sense we entertained of the inestimabl e

benefit Of De l ’A llemayne ; even though She her self has

said in her preface to the Leleres sur Rousseau,Que lo

sentiment de sa faibl esse meme no doit pas empécher

d’Offr ir son hommage a un genie supérieur .

’ But one

must have her tal ent to speak of her as she deserves ,though happily thi s is not necessary for understanding

and admiring her —As the Brahm in said to Sir Will iam

J ones, The night-blowing Ceres beholds but one moon ;but the moon sheds her cheering light on many a night

blowing Ceres . ’

Every word you say about the m ost extraordinary Of

all r evolutions , the r estoration Of the Bourbons, we

entirely subscribe to ; all that is now to be hoped is that


the representative system may atone for the folly Of re

calli ng oes imbe’

ci les, who were the fir st, twenty years ago ,

to desert their coun try, their brother, and their king, notwi thstanding his suppl ications to them to r emain in

France . My mother and I fel t so much for the French

prisoners at Abergavenny on this occasion,that we went

over on Monday to see them ; amongst our particular

acquaintance,the dej ecti on and indignation is extreme .

General Rey, late Governor‘

of St . Sebast ian ,desir ed

the Vicar of Abergavenny to write to Lord Bathurst for anOfficial certificate respecting the events that have taken

place,in order that the prisoners may assembl e and declare

by a publ ic act their adherence to the decrees of the Con

servative Senate .

MRS. WADDINGTON to REv . PROFESSOR MONK .

August 26 , 1 8 14 .-W e have hadfor almost amonth the

master who taughtme French and Ital ian to perfect Fannyin those languages . She could not wr ite a lin e in Itali an

when Moyon came, and her translati ons now woul d sur

prise you ,most particul arly the Spelling, which she

scarcely ever errs in , from her extraordi nary attention in

reading,never havmg l earnt a word by rote in her li fe .

Moyon says, that excepting the youngest sister Of LordHowick he never saw a girl at all to compare with

Fanny.

FRAN CES WADDINGTON to the REV. PROFESSOR MONK .

Llanover , Jan . 25,1815 .

-W e have just fin ished Wa

verl ey .

’ I t is not surprising to us now that you shouldhave requestednot to be informed, if wedidnot like Waver ley


—that you shoul d have wished to be spared the painful

sensation consequent upon di scovering your friends to be

incapable alike Of the noblest and of the commonest sym

pathies of human nature . I have thought, and said, thatI coul d never like the person who did not feel like myself

about two other works , namely, Corinne and Delphinebut in those two instances , the unsoundness Of the moralprincipl e forms a ground Of Obj ecti on so hi ghl y to berespected, as to preclude a very close scrutiny as to the

degree Of native insensibili ty which must combine with itto prevent the strong sensations of del ight and adm iration

that I experience . But to the case Of ‘Waverl ey’ thi s

Observation does not apply,for wherever our m inds can for

an instant turn away from the con sideration of the gayfancy ; the sound reason ; the sterl ing humour ; the powers

Of reflection and condensation ; the feeling, acute , profound,tender

, yet chastened ; the very soul and spirit Of poetry ;the stores of information

,the accur acy of observation ,

whi ch every page Of thi s work summons us to attribute toits author ,—we are called upon to adm it

,that the nobl est

principl es Of moral rectitude are thr oughout incul cated ;that they are not merely interwoven into the contextur e Ofthe work, but that every feeling that is excited, every impression that is left by it, i s of the most salutary nature ;the reader is forcibly l ed by the author to condemn everydefect in character, every error in conduct

,though combin ed

with the most interesting qual ities , though tendi ng to themost desirable resul ts . That our enj oym ent might be perfect and entire , wanting nothing, every part Of ‘Waverley ’impressed upon our m inds the convi ction that we owe it toWalter Scott. When first it came out, we wer e told posi


tively that he had wr itten it, afterwards positively that hehad not ; but now ,

nothi ng can do away the certain ty we

feel on the subj ect—every perfection that shines forth in

ful l spl endour in thi s novel,is di scernibl e in a degree inhi s conversation .

We have not yet seen the EdinburghReview Of ‘Waver

l ey,’and I know not when I shall venture to read it

,cer

tainly not ti ll I have enj oyed some time l onger the exal ting

sensati on Of unm ixed adm iration . The Review will pro

bably point out some faul t, which I may be compell ed to

adm it, though I have not been abl e to detect it. How

many faul ts, supposing they existed, mi ght be covered bythe singl e merit Of having delin eated two femal e characters

so perfect, gentl e, calm ,endur ing, yet enthusiastic in senti

ment, firm in principl e,resolute in action ! Am biguous

excell ence, though un der di fferent lineaments, is, I thi nk,to be found in Dr . Moore’s Laura, and Godwin’s Margue

r i te ; but in the works Of the most di stinguished femal enovel wr iters there is nothing with whi ch I am acquainted

,

equal to these mascul ine conception s Of female perfection .

But to go on describing the di fferent effects producedupon us by different parts Of thi s book, to tell you how ithas made us laugh

,how it has made us weep, how. inces

santly the scenes it describes dwell before my m other’s andmy imagination , i s out Of the question ; therefore I willbreak Off from the subj ect, after saying thatwe continuallyand devoutly rej oice not to have l ived in the times whenthe scene of ‘Waverley

’ is laid ; for to say nothi ng Of

the strong temptation to be led into error wi th the erringminori ty, in Opinion at l east

,no sensation excited by publi c



mi ght be made by a di spassionate comparison Of theactions and cir cumstances of hi s li fe wi th those Of otherrul ers of nations

,contemporary and deceased ; and in the

l ately di scovered scheme Of our ministry for kidnappingNapol eon

,and conveying him from Elba to St . Hel ena, in

defiance Of treaties,at the moment that he

,in anticipation

Of hi s opponents,made his escape into France, I find an

addi tional proof of what I had long beli eved, that indi

viduals call ed upon to govern their fell ow-men,and couse

quently raised by their situation above those fears whichkeep the maj ority Of human beings withi n the bounds Ofmorali ty

,are

, wi th very few exceptions , arbitrary and

in iquitous as far as they have the power Of being so.

I n 1816, Mr . andMrs. Waddington decided on spend

ingthe winter in I taly. They l eft England sufficientlylate in the autumn to m ake it desirabl e to pass by Par i son the outside Of the barr iers, and not to enter the townfor fear Of being detained, the del icate heal th Of Mrs.

Waddington and her daughter Em ili a, and the necessity Of passing the Simplon making i t imperative toproceed south with as l ittl e delay as possibl e . The

father , m other , and their daughter Em il ia, occupiedone carr iage ; in a second their eldest daughter tookcharge Of her Sister Augusta . By Frances Waddin gton the j ourney was hail ed with rapture as the Open ingOf a new l ife ; but, when she par ted from her hom e atLlanover , She l ittl e imagined that three and twenty

year s would pass, before she saw i t again !

CHAPTER IV.

BUNSEN .

Let no man out of a weak conceit of sobriety, or an il l

appliedmoderation ,think or maintain that a man can search

too far , or be too well studi ed in the book of God’s word, orin the book Of God’

s works, di vinity or phil osophy , but ratherlet men endeavour at endl ess progress or proficience in both .

"

—BACON , Advancement of Learning.

L’homm e s

’

agite, et Dieu lo méne.

FENELON .

AT the end Of the last century, on one side Of a quiet

street of the Old town of Corbach ,in the l ittl e

pr incipal i ty of Waldeck, stood a low thatched house ofhumbl e aspect . Here, on summ er even ings, a li ttl eagedman was wont to sit by the window, a picture of

peaceful contentment, as he placidl y sm oked hi s pipe ,

andwatched the m ovements of his cocks and hen s inthe adj oin ing poul try-

yard.

"

His strongly marked

features,hi s resolute penetrating eyes and Shaggy

eyebrows, indicated a hot- tempered yet kindl y spir i twithin , which despised al l distinctions Of rank , and

m easuredmen only by what they were in them selves .Constantly busied in household cares, hi s fragil e, del i


cate wife l ingered ever and anon to give a glance ofrespectful attention to each word Of her husband

,

r eserving her l ooks Of l ove for a beautiful , fair

compl exioned, curly-haired boy, with bright eyes and

finely chisel l ed features, who seem ed out Of place in

the sombr e fram ework, which was nevertheless il lum inated by hi s presence .Chr i stian Carl JOsias was the son of Heinr ich Chri s

tian Bunsen ’s Old age,the unexpected gift of God

after hi s m arr iage in 1790with JChannette Eleanor eBrocken, who was then advanced in lif e . Heinr ichBun sen was the descendant Of a famil y, who had l ivedfor centur ies at Corbach, and fil led posts Of confidencein the mun icipal hierarchy of that ancien t town . Yet,

though one Of its m ember s i s Spoken Of as an author,

another as a poet,the fam ily generally had never r i sen

above the rank Of agr icul tur ists, a calli ng indicatedby the three ear s Of wheat upon their escutcheon, asit is by the nam e, for Runse mean s yeoman in Old

Teuton ic language. I n hi s youth Heinr ich Bun senhad not been for tunate . He had been induced, by thepromi se Of rapid m il itary advancement, to enl i st in a

regim ent of natives Of Waldeck engaged in the serviceOf Hol land. But when he r eturned after twenty-nine

year s Of exil e, he found his hopes Of fortune r estr ictedto a small retiring pension ,

and to the produce Of a fewpaternal acres, with the pittance he could earn by

making copies Of l egal documents . Dur ing hi s expatr iation he had marr ied his first wife, who died in



proper ty to which he had a natural claim ,achieving

tasks with power and cer tainty, as though he alreadypossessed by intuition the knowl edge he was acqu ir

ing.

”His voracity for books was insatiabl e, and hav

ing soon exhausted all the small l ibrar ies of hi s parentsand neighbour s, he used to Spend any stray m om ents in

assisting hi s father in the copying Of law-paper s,that

he mi ght earn som e small coin s towards their acquirement . I t i s a proof Of hi s aptitude for languages thatas the pastor of a di stant village possessed the treasureof Gl over ’s “Leon idas

,

”and a few other Engl ish books

,

he was abl e wh il e still a boy to teach him self Engli shby their dil igent study.

Many pl easan t glim pses of Bunsen’s boyhood are

der ived from the recoll ections of his fr iend Wol rad

Schum acher , who at an early age was sent to theCorbach school from his paternal hom e in the neighbouring town Of Arol sen .

I l eftAr ol sen ,

” he says, with extreme sorrow, which

was not dimini shed by the gloomy aspect Of my new abodeand my new teacher . But my heart did not break nor

harden ; al l at once I foundmysel f sitting beside Chri stianBun sen ,

in the dwel ling Of hi s parents, kindly received bythem as well as by their son . How this happened I have

no remembrance, so suddenl y and rapidly did all the lateoccurrences dr ag me along with them ; but all at once I

found myself spending whol e winter evenings in thathouse . The father r ead the newspaper or a book, the

mother sat by him knitting, a femal e servant was spinn ing

BUNSEN . 95"

in the corner behind the stove, Christian and I sat on a

bench under the window towards the street, som ewhat in

the shade . Littl e do I recall Of what was spoken , when

suddenl ywe start up at the sound Of a bell whi ch summons

m e hom e the l eave-taking at the house-door extended tosome l ength ; then he accompanies me to my home ; I

fol low him back to hi s own ; till at last parting becomes

unavoidable .“ The dwelli ng of the fam ily was in a side str eet ; the

thatched roof, the thr eshold at the entrance, the stabl e on

your r ight hand after entering, reminded you of the

arrangement of the abode Of a Westphal ian yeoman

there was besides a flight of stairs to the upper story on

the right,and on the l eft the outl et to a smal l garden .

The dwell ing-chamber, roomy and li ght, was on the l eft

from the house-door . Chr istian Bunsen ’s own small room

was in the upper story ,towards the garden . H ere, dur ing

my Corbach school -years , di d I go in and out,fin ding my

friend n ever otherwise than occupied , full Of zeal and

earnestness over his books . In the morning he was upwith the sun , which shone straight into his window,

look

ingtowards the east . During the summ er evenings,when

I came in the twilight to fetch him to walk, he was reading or writing, but ever turned from his occupation tor eceive me with bright kindness

.

Throughout the school,

he was adm ired as a genius . I n knowl edge and compre

hension ,no individual could measur e wi th him in any

degree, and his laboriousness cast all the rest into the

shade .”

When he was sixteen , Bun sen had reached the high


est form in the school at Corbach, and he was thensent to Marburg Un iver sity, Heinr ich Bunsen havingmade it possibl e by excessive industry and economydur ing hi s son ’s residence at home

,to m eet the expense

of giving him a coll ege education . But the Un iversityof Marburg was then rapidly declin ing, and in thefoll owing year Bun sen removed to Gottingen , whitherthe fam e of hi s scholar ship had preceded him ,

and

wher e he was m ost warml y welcom ed by Heyn e, thenthe l eading classical scholar Of Germany, who soon

perceived for him self that he had to do with a studen tof uncomm on gif ts

,and rendered hi s future m or e easy

and hopeful by procur ing him the work and salary Of

an extra teacher at the Gymnasium . A few m onthslater , Bun sen

’s position was further assured by hi sappoin tm en t as pr ivate tutor to Will iam BackhouseAstor , son of the fam ous Am er ican m erchant .The year s spen t at Gottingen were am ongst the

happiest of Bunsen ’s l ife. The ardour di splayed in all

he undertook was shown in nothing more than in hi sfr iendships . The two youths with whom he had lodgings in comm on were Lachmann , afterwards cel ebrated

as a phil ological wr iter , and from his edition Of theNew Testam ent ; and L ii cke

, afterwards well kn own

as a theol ogical teacher , and from hi s cr itical edition Of

the Gospel of St . John . Bunsen’s room was the largest,and there a nobl e band Of fr iends was wont to gather ,whose bond Of affection remained unbroken , till i t was

severed by death.


98 L I FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

We have a later picture of the student band at

Gottingen from the pen of Ernst Schulze, the poet,after hi s return from active service dur ing the campaign again st the French in 1813 .

“My isolation led‘ me back to my fr iends . By the

un tir ing efforts of Bun sen our whol e circl e, consisting of

Lachmann,L iicke, Reck, Bunsen ,

andmyself , and further

widened by the addi tion of the adm irabl e Brandi s— al so in

intimacy l ess close, by that of Brandis’s brother

,of Jacobs,

Kl enze,and Ul r ich—was brought together again . A.

spirit of zealous but friendly emul ation arose amongst usand on a certain cheerful evening

,at my suggestion , we

made a vow, each to each other and to all,that we would

eff ect somethi ng great in our l ives . It was a nobl e cir cl e,

in whi ch an oppressed heart coul d expand and breathe

again . Bunsen,the man of kingly and all -rul ing spirit

,

considering al l branches of knowledge, all forms of m entalexertion

,but as mean s to accompl ish a singl e great obj ect

,

—who, open at all times to every sort of impression, could

with indescribabl e power appropriate and make hi s own

all that’

seemed in natur e most Opposite ; who, wi th thekeenest

,and at times appalli ng cl earness of intell ectual

perception , un ited a depth of sympathi sing feeling, and

who, wi th an energy , ceasel essly di verted into a mul ti tude

of channel s , never lost sight of hi s obj ect —Brandi s,whose cheerful faithful heart beamed from hi s coun te

nance, and in whom much l earning and keen intell igence

had not lessened the power of pl easing, and being pleased;—Lachmann,

fine-grained, critical , sati rical andwi tty, but

with the vague longings of a heart that knew not its will

BUNSEN . 99

or way, of irr itabl e fibre, and almost feveri sh temperament —L ii cke , in al l the radiance of prosperous love andof

r el igious enthusiasm ,upr ight

,firm, earnestly endeavouring

after a sphere of active useful ness, yet deeply meditative,and inclined to mysticism ;— lastly, the unimpassioned

Reck, ever taking car e of his fr iends , ever providedwi th

good advice for everyone, having a clear and intelli gent

but always poli tic view of l ife , andmaking amends to his

associates by zeal and faithful attachm ent for hi s want ofsusceptibili ty of the beautiful , and for the absence of pol ishand r efinement . The bond whi ch united us was at this

time r iveted for ever .

” 95

Academ ic honour s continued to crown the exertion sof Bun sen . I n 1812 he was appointed teacher ofHebrew to the highest, and of Greek to the secondform of the Gottingen school . I n the sam e year hegained the pr ize for an

“ Essay on the Athenian Lawof Inher itance

,

”which attracted so much attention ,

that the Un iver sity of Jena soon afterwards presentedhim un soli cited wi th the diplom a of a Doctor of Philosophy. Meantime hi s relations with Will iam Astor wer eof the happiest nature

,andwith him in 1813 he made

a tour to Vienna, Muni ch, Switzerland, and Nor thernI taly. I n 1814

,Astor r eturned to Am er ica, prom i sing

to com e back and m eet Bunsen again in Europe in

two year s’ tim e . Bunsen at once took advantage of the

opportun ity for a j ourney to Holland to visit hi s sister

These paragraphs, from the recollections of Schumacher and

Schulze, have already appeared in the Memoirs of Baron Bunsen .

”


Chr i stiana, with whom,

as he wrote to Brandi s a

few days fill ed up the l ong chasm of eight year s’ sepa

ration .

”I t was then for the fir st tim e that he l earn t

the sad story of hi s sister ’s l ife . The death of heraun t Hel ene Str icker had depr ived her at fif teen of

the only protector to whom her independent nature

could attach itself,and for many year s she had ful fill ed

the arduous task of compan ion to an aged inval id lady,who provided for her at her death . Meantime

,she

had become acquainted with a young officer of goodfamil y nam ed Faber

, who inspired her with a devotedattachm ent

,and who endeavoured to make her prom i se

to marry him ,as soon as his circum stances all owed of

i t . But when she made his proposal known to her

father,he

,having been in some manner entrusted

w ith the guardianship of Faber by his fam ily, fel thim self bound to put a positive prohibition upon any

engagem en t between the young officer and his portionl ess daughter , and har shly forbade her ever seeing himor wr iting . to him . Faber was sent away on di stant

service but, through two and twenty year s of absence,r emained faithful to his l ove for Chr i stiana . Then hetraced her to Am sterdam , and a m eeting took place ;but “ in the pal l id and emaciated woman of thir tyn ine he could find nothing of the girl of seventeen,

whom he had l eft in bloom and freshn ess .” He urgedher

,however, to fulfil an engagem en t

, which, thoughnever formal ly made, had been faithful ly kept by both,and she prom i sed to marry him as soon as he should



were the Dan ish notabil ities who at thi s tim e eagerlym et the acquaintance of Bun sen , andhe greatly enj oyedthe tim e spent am ongst them . He al so crossedthe sea tothe Swedi sh coast

,and visited the un iver sity of Lund.

A for tn ight passed‘

in the compan ion ship of Cham issowas gr eatly valued, and l eft a deep impression of therare gifts of the poet .* Meantim e

,Bun sen devoted

h im self with great success to the study of Dan ish, andal so received l esson s from a l earned I celander

, withwhom he read Snurro Sturlesen and the Edda

,&c. , in

the or iginal .I n the beginn ing of November

,the fr iends crossed

to Swinem iinde, and proceeded to Berl in . Here

Bunsen con tinued hi s l inguistic studies,and became

acquaintedwi th Schl eiermacher , Solger , Buttmann,Sa

vigny, but above al l wi th Niebuhr, who was then

crushed to the ear th by the death of hi s wif e,but

r oused him self to receive the young students, with thekindness which he was ever ready to show to thosewho were truly seeking after knowl edge and truth .

Bunsen at once found hi s way to hi s hear t, and the

relation of m aster and discipl e was then establ ished,

which con tinued through l ife Other visits demandnotice,

”wrote Bun sen to L ii cke, soon after hi s arr ival

at B erl in,

“ but I can now only speak of those toNiebuhr . It would be hard to descr ibe my astonishm ent at hi s comm and over the entire domain of know

A French refugee, who never spoke German fluently and yet

wrote admirable verses that ensuredhim lastingfame.

BUNSEN. 103

l edge . All that can be known seem s to be within hisgrasp

, and everything known to him to be at hand, asif held by a thread.

”

The number of men whom Bunsen found. at Berl in

W ith the intention and energy to carry out great plans,and the reception he met with from them ,

strengthenedthe wish he al ready fel t to become a Prussian subj ect .He was encouraged by the advice of Niebuhr , beforewhom he laid a detailed plan of intell ectual labour

,in

h i s determ ination to devote hi s l ife to histor ical , philol ogical , and philosophical research

,for which purpose

he at that tim e intended to foll owup hi s study of thenor thern languages

,by a course of Per sian at Par i s

and Sanscr it at Oxford, to be fol lowed by a three year s’

residence at Calcutta for the investigation of Or ientalhi story and languages .Bunsen remained at B erl in til l the spr ing of 1816,

when he went to Par is to j oin Mr . Astor . Soon after

Astor depar ted with som e fr iends for a three monthstour in Italy, l eaving Bunsen to r ej oin him at the endof that tim e and spend the interval much to hi s satisfaction in the study of Persian, under the auspices ofSilvestre de Sacy, reckoned the greatest Or ientalscholar in Europe . As he found it impossibl e to

under stand the wr itings of the best Persian poets withou t a knowledge of Arabic

,he began to attend lectures

in Arabic al so . I work with f ury and del ight,

” hewrote to B randis,

“ because I must get on , and I do

get on .

”I am perfectly wel l

,

” he informed hi s


sister,

and arrange my day as I l ike ; work from sixin the morn ing till four in the afternoon,

only in thecourse of that tim e having a walk in the garden of theLuxembourg

, where I al so often study ; from four tosix I dine andwalk, fr om six to seven sleep ; from

seven to el even work again . I n that manner I can

make it possibl e to work in the even ing, which I otherwise never could.

”

With July cam e the necessity for proceeding to

Fl orence to rej oin Mr . Astor . But Astor was al readyon the eve of depar ture

,having just received a sum

mon s from hi s father for hi s imm ediate r eturn to

Am er ica . Thither he urgently pr essed Bun sen to ao

company him ,but found him obdurately determ ined to

rem ain in Europe,till he should be prepared for hi s

Or iental j ourney. Still , the depar ture of Astor,and

the con sequent r evul sion of al l hi s plan s was a gr eatblow to Bun sen . He often narrated afterwards how in

the fir st shock of sol itude—without prospects,he sate

down an unprovided wanderer in the Loggiade

’ Lanzi,— wher e, after a tim e, he took courage again

,

and proceeded onwards, from a condition utterly deso

late, to success and happiness in l ife . Sunshine fir stc ame in the Shape of a young Engl i shman ,

Mr . Oathcar t, who under took to assist him in the execution ofhis Indi an plans, on condition of hi s spar ing threehour s daily for hi s instruction in Fr ench

,and be

com ing his guide am id the treasures of Fl orence and

Rome .


106 LI FE AND LETTERS or BARON Ess BUNSEN .

wrote, as a man and a scholar I can learn more

than from al l other per son s put together .

”

Am id the . var ied enj oym ents of Rom e ; that whi chBunsen m ost appreciatedwas the l eisure for taking in

and digesting the fruit of his former labour s . At firsthe entered l ittl e into society, and shrunk from makingacquaintances, dreading the uncongen ial ity of thosewho seek to r enew in Rom e the fr ivol ities of the

London season . But it so happened that amongst thefir st peopl e to whom he was introduced

, were Mrs.

Waddington and her daughter s, then occupying thefirst-floor of the Palazzo Gavotti . Here, while Mr .

Waddington pur sued the even tenour of h is hom e l ife,

r eading or wr iting in a nook screened off in one of theapartm ents

,and retir ing to bed at hi s usual early hour ,

al l that was best in Engl ish, I tal ian ,and German

society gathered around his wife, whose nobl e type ofbeauty was almost m ore remarkabl e than in her firstyouth, andwhose intel lectual charm was equally feltby men of all national ities . At her receptions in thepr ima sera Bunsen was a welcom e and an unfail ingguest

,rej oicing that he found there few except those

who were capabl e of taking som ething m ore than a

surface- interest in the scenes around them . The youngEm ilyWaddington ,

whose whol e l ife had hither to beenclouded by il l -heal th. had benefited greatly from theI tal ian cl imate, andwas enj oying a transient happinessin her engagem ent with Colonel Manley. Thi s cir

cumstance, and a congenial ity of interests, combined to

BUNSEN . 107

throw Bun sen compl etely into the society of her elder

sister, when he accompan ied them to visit the temples

and tower s of Rome and the Campagna. Already in

Apr il , 1817 , he had wr itten to his sister Chr i stiana thathe was perm itted to read German with Miss Waddington,but that he was a li ttl e in love

,and that there

fore,as a penn iless student who could not think of

aspir ing to the hand of a girl of fortune, he Should“no longer go continual ly to visit the fam ily.

”Yet

Mrs. Waddington so l ittl e suspected the possibil ity ofan attachment on the par t of her idol ised daughter

,

that she continued to encourage the visits of one whosesociety and information gave an additional charm to theinterests of Rome, and thus, when on the last m orn ingof May, her eyes were suddenly Openedby Bun sen

’s ownrevelation of his love for her child and his agony attheir impending separation , she fel t that—while she hadevery confidence in the man who asked her for thegreatest bl essing she had to bestow— she could not

undo her own work . Mr . Waddington was muchstar tl ed and appealed to Niebuhr

,in the unexpected

turn afiairs had taken ; but Niebuhr only answeredThe tal en ts , abil ities, and character of Bunsen are a

capital m ore safely to be reckoned upon than any other ,however securely invested and had I a daughter myself, to such a man I would gladly consign her .

”

That evening, having received the consen t of herparents,— on the steps of the cross

, which for centuries

marked the site of Christian martyrdoms in the centre


of the Col iseum,—Bun sen asked Frances Wadding

ton to becom e hi s wife .

MRS . WADDINGTON to the REv. PEOEEsSOR MONK.

I wil l own to you that my spirits have hada shake

, and that nothing but presenting to myself theagony of my death-bed, had I l eft Fanny without a protector, without a person to be to her what I had been ,brings my m ind into the state of thankful ness and cheerful ness , that it ought to be in ,

from the consciousness of

her being as happy as it is possibl e for a human being to

be : for some bitter must be m ixedwi th the sweet, andshe herself says that she shoul d fear that her present en

joyments were too great to last, did not the l oss of m e,

and the ban ishment from England, cost such pangs,as

make her confidently hope to preserve all the bl essings

that her union with the exclusive choice of her heart, withthe obj ect of her utmost admiration and love

,has put her

in possession of . It is only doing justice to the best ofdaughter s and one of the most perfect of human beings

, to

tell you that at any moment one wordfrom me woul d haveprevented my dearest Fanny

’s marr iage,and that without

a murmur she would have given Bunsen up . But after I

had for almost Six months afforded every facil i ty for her to

attach herself,after I was myself convinced that excepting

in fortune and in his being a foreigner he was in everyway compl etely qual ified to make her happy, I Shoul dhave been a monster from selfish considerations to havedestroyed my own work . How it was my own work, and

yet unintentionally, I have to recount . Bunsen’s astonishi ngself-commandhad prevented his voice from betraying him ,


1 10 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

Bunsen had indi vidually in her enj oyments ; that she fel twith so sad a sensation that she was going very soon toquit Rom e and Emil y, that from principl e she always

drove the thought from her mind, knowing that a calamityi s always the better borne, from not being pr eviouslydwel t upon ; that she never analysed her regrets, and

therefor e never ascertained the component parts, and that

so far from conceali ng from me her inmost thoughts,she

did not kn ow of their exi stence, till on Saturday, the 3 1stMay, in the Coli seum by moonl ight at el even o

’clock at

night (having on that very morning askedmy permissionto speak for himself ), Bunsen presented to her view what

he shoul d suffer from a separation , how he Shoul d bebl essed by a un ion : when every nerve vibrated to thetouch, and she was aware that her l ife would lose half its

charm if not spent with him .

”

CHAPTER V.

MARRIAGE.

Fel ices ter et amplius,

Quos irrupta tenet copul a, nec mal isDivul sus querimoniis

Suprema citius solvct amor die .

HORACE.

“Nothingis sweeter than Love, nothingmore cour ageous,

nothing higher, nothi ng wider, nothing more pleasant, nothingful ler nor better in heaven and earth ; because Love isborn of God, and cannot rest but in God, above al l createdthings. —THOMAS AKEMP I S.

N the l st of July, 1817 , Frances Waddington wasmarr ied to Bun sen ,

in the ancien t chapel of theold Palazzo Savel l i , which r i ses upon the ruin s of theTheatre Of Marcellus, andwhich was then inhabited byNiebuhr . Only her paren ts and youngest sister , Niebuhr

,B randi s

, and Mr . Cl ifford— an old fami ly fr iend,were present . Bun sen’s fir st gif t to hi s wife was hi sfather ’s wedding-r ing. It is nothing very beautiful ,

”

he said, “ but I hope you will let me see i t som etim es

on your hand— it was given me with my father’s

bl essing,and I tran sfer that to you with it— it i s a

good bl essing . The wedded pair dr ove imm ediatelyafter the ceremony to Frascati, where room s were ready


for them in the Casino Accorambuoni , one of thosecharm ing flower -hidden residences, half stately-vi l la,half pr im itive farm -house

, which are only to be found

in I taly, and only to be found in perfection on theAlban hil l s . In the carr iage we spoke not a word atfir st,” wrote Bun sen ,

soon afterwards, to his sisterChr istiana, but as we passed the Col i seum and l ooked

towards the Cross at the foot of whichwe had sat, whenwe exchanged the impor tant words, -we pressed eachother ’s hands .”

I t i s quaintly character istic of the hospital itieswhich were such a l eading featur e in the fami ly l ifeof Bunsen and hi s wife, and which were equally con

tinued in al l places and under al l circum stances, thatthey should have begun imm edi ately after their marr iage . A day or two were scarcely suffered to elapse

before Carl August B randi s , Bun sen’s dearest fr iend,

cam e to shar e hi s happiness at Frascati . With him ,

the Bunsen s Spent the l ong br ight days of the latesumm er in full enj oym en t of the gl or ious wooded hill swhich l ook down upon Campagna, and of the two bluelakes which are set l ike gem s in their m idst ; togetherthey passed the morn ings in the large cool rooms, or

in the l ittl e garden with its two fountains, in a common reading of Mil ton , Dante, or Bacon and together,in the even ings, they went forth on l ong excur sions

,

linger ing till the spl endour s of sunset had tinged theplain and the di stan t city with cr im son and gold, andreturn ing by the l ight of the fire-flies.


‘


pointm en t from the Pope, which compel led him to fix

h is. residence at Rom e or in the Al ban Hill s ; and in

both places the sister s, who in earl ier l if e had not been

congen ial to one another , met affectionately and Often .

The tr ial of separation from their m other was equal lysevere to both and drew them closer to each other , fora few days after the marr iage of her eldest daughter ,Mrs . Waddington had set out on her return to Englandwith her husband and her youngest daughter Augusta— feel ing that the necessary wrench from her elder

ch ildren woul d be the more difficul t,the l onger it was

delayed.

Only fif teen days after my marr iage, wr ote MadameBunsen to Bishop Sandford, “ I parted from her, who hasbeen not only the .guide andprotectress Of my existence, butin such a degree the principal

,as to seem almost the sole

obj ect Of my thoughts and affections—who has been to me

far more than anywords can express . I n the pecul iarly closeconnection that subsisted between my mother andmyself ,if

’

She had had the shadow of a wish that I should haveremained with her till death parted us, it would have beena natural and necessary consequence that no circumstancesof unqual ified esteem and attachment to another personcould have caused me to l eave her

,even though She had

consented and acquiesced. She who had been ‘my fate . alonecoul d speak my doom ,

’—and it required her decided willand desire to dissolve the ti e that bound us . Her entireapproval of Mr . Bunsen will be sufficient to satisfy you ,

my

dear sir, and you will bel ieve that every month, and every

MARRI AGE . 1 15

day, str engthens the confidence in his principles and in his

affection with whi ch I at fir st consignedmyself to his pro

tection . That he should not be an Engli shman— and that,consequently

,a gr eat portion of my l ife must be spent out

of England,and separated from my mother—will occasion

the admixtur e of so much positive evil amongst the blessings I enj oy, as almost to be a security to me that I may

hop e for a continuan ce of that abundant share of good

whi ch has been bestowed upon me . Had every circum

stance attending my change of condition been exactly as Icoul d have wished

,it woul d have been fearful— for in the

natural course of thi ngs,some blow utterly destructive of

my happiness must have been expected to foll ow. My l ife

had hi therto been so blest—I had been so nourished on

tenderness,so accustomed to tal ents

,understanding, and

cultivation,as well as to high rel igious principl e, that the

number Of essential requisites to enabl e me to l ead any

thing more than a mere vegetative existence was great,and I never anticipated the possibili ty of finding them

united. For having thus found them,I never cease to be

thank ful , although I feel that I can never be thankfulenough .

”

The cl ose tie which had exi sted between m other and

daughter was never weakened by absence, and at theend of twelve years

’

separation’

the m other found in herchild the sam e hear t-confidence as when they parted.

But she found in her al so one of the noblest types of

wedded l ove that any country has produced, showinghow en tirely a woman can fulfil to the utm ost theduties of wife and mother

, without ever fail ing in the


l east degree to be the intel lectual and spir itual com

pan ion of her husband.

MADAME BUN SEN to her MOTHER .

15 J uly, 18 17 .— I lay still , and shed a very few more

tears,talk ing toCharl es at interval s about myMother , and

her j ourney, for some time after she l eft me. Then I went

to Sleep,and Charles Sl ept too

,lean ing against my pill ow ,

for he would not l eave m e Some few times since , it

is true , the tears have r isen to my eyes, but they have

been dr iven away ; for my Mother’s parting words , though

I never have trusted myself to think them over, havel iteral ly vibrated in my ears , and

‘lain l ike a cordial in

my heart, sending forth spirits to recrui t my strength .

’

I never coul d have beli eved,my own Mother, that I

could have borne your departure SO well , because I couldnot have known thoroughl y, without thi s trial , how much

Charl es was to me. He sympathi ses in my feel ings to the

exact degree that does me good . It will not do to think

and recoll ect that my Mother has nothing to soothe herbut her own r eflections .”

Fr ascati , 20 July, 18 17 , Monday—Yesterday I read

w ith Charles most comfortably and satisfactorily . After

we had finished the prayers , we read different chapter s Of

the Bibl e,comparing the German andEngli sh ; andwhen

M. Brandi s came, an hour and a hal f before di nner,to

r eadwi th Charl es, I read to myself in Self

After dinner Charl es and I read a good deal in Mil ton and

Dante, then walked out, and sat down in the Vill a Belve

dere, where M . Brandis j oined us . We walked to the topMason

’

s Self -Knowledge, 1786 .



they had gathered for me to m’

nfrescare. I brought back agreat many almonds and pears , and a few peaches . Theytold me their corn-field had yielded tenfold this year . Ir eturned home at Six O

’clock, and dr ew till itwas dark, andthen read tomysel f . Charles did not come home till after

ten . He brought me from RomeVerstappen’s pictur e from

Thorwaldsen and various stores and treasures ; amongothers,

'

Voss’S tran slation of the Iliad andOdyssey, and the

work by Neander on the character of Jul ian , whi ch he hadborrowed from Thorwaldsen , who, he says, wil l come soon

and bring some clay with him he had been working

extremely hard lately, andhas made two statues as large aslife since he fin ished the Bal latrice— a Ganymede , and a

Shepherdwith hi s Dog .

Charl es brought back M . Overbeck with him from

Rome, who is with us stil l , and I hope we shall keep him

longer , for he S eem s to enjoy being here, and he is a veryagr eeable inmate , thankful for every attention ,

and con

stantly afraid of being troublesome ; in terested in conversation

,but nevertheless quite happy to employ him self

independently for many hours in the day,either in paint

ing or walking out . He brought his easel and a beautifull ittle picture of the Virgin andChi ld, whi ch he is finishi ng .

I have a great wish to attempt copying it, and yesterdaymorning while he was out I began and half finished the

outli ne, with which he was very much surprised, and told

me he could not make such cl ean and true strokes himself !I must mention a letter which has given me great

pleasure,from M . Brandis

’s fatherfif' It is everything I

could wish , and gives so pleasing an impression of the

Dr . Brandis, Physician to the Kingof Denmark .

MARRIAGE . 1 19

wr iter that it furnishes additional evidence that we may

trust to the pledge afforded by M . Brandis’s own character ,

that good must necessarily be annexed to his name and

blood . The l etter begi ns wi th an assurance, that he wil lalways hol d me in particular regard

,as being the first

person who has given him the pl easur e of knowing he has

a daughter-in-law ,and that whenever another of his sons

brings him another , he hopes she will have won hi s son’s

heart in an equally worthy manner . He says he loves

Charl es as wel l as his own sons, but will not praise h im,

because there is no use in that,as the matter is concluded

,

—and will onl y say that it is not merely natural to him toseek after all that i s excell ent , but that he can only exist

in cl inging to it . He says that it is difficult to refuse ourinvitation to Frascati , but that it woul d be impossibl e to

h im to take such a j ourney : however that he wil l send one

of his sons , who must put on a wig to look as l ike him aspossibl e

,— but he promises me

,if I will come to see him at

Copenhagen ,to take his wig Off, and represent hi s son .

He concludes by giving me hi s bl essing .

”

“ Frascati , 14 August, 18 l 7 .—How intense is the heat !

I alm ost gasp for a tramontana, for even the coolness ofthe morning is only rel ief by comparison . However I

have nothing to complain Of, but the weakness occasionedby the climate . Charles is over the same

,— and if I

wanted reviving— which I do not in m ind,though I do

in body— it would be suffi cient for that purpose to beholda being in such full enj oyment of existence —~ so uninterruptedl y gay , busy , animated—and to feel that hel oves me every day more and takes greater delight inmy presence, and admits to himself that he does so . He i s


very busy al l morning, studying andwr iting; and readsPlato with Mr . Brandis for the last half -hour beforedinner . I always Sit drawing, or writing, or reading

in his room,but we do not interrupt each other . I have

nearly finished my Oopy of Overbeck ’s Madonna,and it

is a great pl easure to thi nk that my Mother will some

time see it .“ 19 S ep t , 18 17 .

— I can truly assure my Mother,that my m ind settl es dail y to a more full and steady eujoyment of existence . I use that phrase

,as implying

much more to my Mother who knows me,than if I had

merely said I was hagip y— because it proves that the com

posur e of entire sati sfaction is my habitual state . I feelcontinually convinced of being more and more beloved

,

and in a manner that has fall en to the lot of few humanbeings , of being prized for anything and everything thathas a pretension to be good in me

,-and I have the con

sciou sness of giving pleasure even by my Sil ent presence

,and by every word and action . O my Mother,

the only risk is that I Shoul d be quite Spoiled — it istoo good for any human creature not to have unreason

ableness to contend with, and my occupations too are verymuch what I l ike , except that I find, as usual , time to dobut little of what I wi sh to do .

“ I hope we may perhaps go to Napl es next summerIt is cur ious that the danger as to robbers is not near

Naples , but within the Papal frontier, where at presentnearly the whole popul ation consists of banditti

,very

savage in their practices, taking captives, and often mur

dering them ,if not ransomed very speedil y . Many of the

troops the Pope has sent against them ,or rather the Mon



form ed, woul d be reason sufficient to prefer continuing to

read it .“ On Charl es’s birthdayfi my dearest Mother , I showed

him Patr ick ‘r for the first time,putting a mark in the

prayer ‘On the day of one’s Birth .

’ He was very much

pl eased,and the next morn ing before breakfast proposed

that we Shoul d read a prayer together, whichwe have done

many times Since,andwe often before breakfast read some

chapters in the Bibl e . I have constantly more satisfaction ,

and I feel that he has al so,in our regular Sun day

readi ngs .

We are beginning to experience the inconven iences of

a mere summer-house . From the smalln ess of the room s,we are either in want of fresh air, or exposed to draughtsof wind : still we ought not to complain of Casino Accorambuon i

,for it has not l et in the rain upon us , that is to

say— only a little : but I look forward with pl easur e toinhabiting large rooms with large windows . Next MondayCharles will go to Rome

,and take Laura to superintend

cleaning and to take care of furniture till we come toinhabit . Last Monday we went to Monte Compatri , setting

off at eight o’clock,and returning at thr ee to dinner . Mr .

Brandis and Mr . Platner went with us, and we took abasket with fruit and cold ham and bread . It rained when

we reached Monte Compatri , but we got under Shelter, andMr . Brandis read aloud part Of Gotz con Ber lichingen theviews were most exquisite , and I enj oy the thoughts of

going the same road again to Pal estrina .

25th August.Jr The Devotional W orks of Symon Patri ck, Bishop Of Chi chester,

afterwards of Ely (1626

MARRI AGE . 123

“ Frascati , 2 Oct.

,l 8 1 7 .

—Ou Monday morning Charles

went to Rome,and in the course of that day, I packed

everything. Mr . Brandis came and managed the carret

tieri for me, about loading the luggage , and though theirdelays caused him to l ose three hour s Of a fine morning,he almost reproached me for having given h im ‘

nothing

to do to help me,accordi ng to his own wi sh and Charl es’s

charge— but I explained that had I been ever so wel lincl ined to give h im more troubl e than could be avoided, Icould not wel l have contrived to give him either my gown sand petticoats

,or the sheets and tabl ecloths to pack .

Indeed,my own dearest Mother

,I have SO many plagues

saved m e, of al l sorts and kinds

,that it is only almost

alarming . I have had a long note from Charl es each daysince he went away, and I have written to h im each day :and these four days that I have been alone, I have notbeen lonely, for I have been well enough to be constantlybusy

,have taken three sketches ; drawn some dogtooth

violets, which are now in ful l autumnal blow ; copied some

Handel ; and read Machiavel and several chapters in

regular progress through Job and Ezekiel . The reason

that caused me to begin the latter , was hearing fromCharles a comment Mr . Niebuh r had made on the theroughly Judaic spirit , and n

'

arrowness of m ind of Ezekiel,

as contrasted with Isaiah . I think very likely the obser

vation is just , but I bel ieve the reason I have always fel t,andmy Mother has always felt

,so much del ight in reading

Isaiah, is that i n speaking Of the future Redeemer,his

soul seem s filled with his actual presence,and he has

almost imbibed beforehand the spirit Of Christian ity—heis not a mere passivemedi um for the transmission of Divine

124 LI FE AND LETTER S OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

oracl es . One of the plan s that Charl es has made for the

winter,is to r ead the book of Job in the H ebrew, with a

countryman of his of the name of Wolfe, a converted J ew,

who is at present in the Roman coll ege, and has madegreat progr ess in the Oriental languages .”

“ 6 Oct. , 181 7 ,—Mr . Charl es Brandi s speaks with great

animation of the effect that the youngNapol eon producedupon him . He said that the chi l d spoke to him ,

asking

him different question s, where he had been , where he was

going l ike a li ttle Prince that he had a marked cha

racter of countenance as wel l as manner, and that his

featureswere not likehisfather’s that he had beauti ful flaxen

hair in great abundance. The only anecdote he told meof him was cur ious . The two young l ions that the Princessof Wal es sent to the Emperor of Austria, were conveyed toSchOnbrunn , where th e young Napol eon resides, and he

became very fond Of them ,and quite fami l iar wi th them .

When the Emperor came to see these l ions , the child

thought some signs of apprehension were to be perceivedin his countenance ; he ran , and clasped one of the l ions

round the neck,exclaiming

,N ew

,grandpapa

, you may

come near, he shan’t touch you .

’ He can speak both Ger

man and French,but sometimes does not choose to speak

the former . It is most entertain ing to hear that the eldest

son Of the Emperor m im ics the deportment of the youngNapoleon ,

making the clum siest imitations of gestures,

that in the other are graceful , because easy and na

tural .Particul ars of the death of Madame de Stael will have

r eached my Mother from other quarters, but I will mentionthat though She suffered terr ibly in body and mind till



I have call ed upon Mr . andMrs . Niebuhr Since theirreturn to Rome, when they were both very gracious . Ihad only an Oppor tun ity of exchanging a few words wi th“

Mr . Niebuhr , and very much doubt whether I shal l everget on with him ,

but my Mother will agr ee with m e that

l’on peut tres bien attendre

,

’and that it is not a matter to

make violent efforts in .

”

“ 30 Oct. , 18 17 ,— Yesterday morn ing Charl es and I

walked over the Capitol to the Col iseum directly afterbreakfast

,and yesterday even ing we took the same walk,

returning as the Ave-Maria was soundi ng . I therefore

observed the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in thesame day r eceiving the first sunbeams, and displaying its

fin e outline in a mass of darkness against the clear skyafter the sun was set .

“ I would give the world that my words shoul d suffie

ei ently prove to my Mother how happy I am . I feel myselfcontinuall y more beloved, more highly valued, more de

l ighted in ,— and have an hour ly consciousness of the truth

of an assur ance Charles made to me the other day in thesewords I feel what you ar e in every fibre of my heart"

1 1 N on ,1 817 .

—W e have rem oved to Palazzo Caffarel l i,

on the Capitol , and how I wish I coul d send my Mother a

sketch of the inside of my room ,but still more that I

coul d send the view from the windows , which is a never

fail ing deli ght , in all changes of atmosphere .“ I must give my Mother an account of a busi

ness that has occupied a good deal of Charles’s timel atterly, when he was not busy house arranging . Mr .

Brandis and he had l ong talked Of contriving somemanner in which the Jubilee of the Reformation Should

MARRI AGE . 127

not pass unmarked amongst the German Protestants

col lected at Rome, as it was appointed to be cel e

brated thr oughout Protestant Germany on the 2nd of

November, the day on which , in 15 17 , Luther publ iclyburnt the papal bull that had been issued to condemn hisdoctrines

,thereby declaring for the fir st time a positive

separation from the Church of Rome . For this purpose,it

was to be wished that a religious service coul d be per

formed . Charl es proposed to translate the service of theChurch of England

, which was approved by Mr . Niebuhr,

and he set to work, and soon finished . Wherever aBiblical phrase was to be Observed, he referred to Luther’stranslation of the Bible, and made use Of the original

words . I f. this part of the work I helped him to somedegree

,as I coul d generally, though not always , find the

place in the Engl ish Bible, where a similar phrase was

employed, and then the parall el passage in the GermanBibl e was easily foun d . When this was done, Mr . Niebuhrscrupl ed having the meeting take place in his own house,because he could not exclude any indi vidual , and theremight be some who would write a m isrepresentation of the

matter, or who at any rate would declare that he had takena decided part in favour of the Engl ish li turgy

, whi ch hehad rather not appear to do

,as the adoption of some

general form of worship is a matter of great contention atpresent in Germany, where nothi ng i s yet established, butevery clergyman reads as much or as little as he pleasesbut i t is

,as I understand

,the particular wish of the King

of Prussia, that something as near as possible to theEnglish liturgy should be adopted , because he was sostruck with it when in England . Mr . Niebuhr therefore

128 L IFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN.

expressed a wi sh that all shoul d assembl e in our house ,which accordingly took place on Sunday the 9th of November, on account of Mr . Brandi s’s having been too il l to

move the Sunday before . Mr . and Mrs . Niebuhr came ,andMadame de Humboldt 96 andher daughter, and a greatmany men

,in all nearly forty persons . Charl es and Mr .

Brandi s read the translation between them ,and their selec

tion di d extremelywell , for they thought them selves obl igedto Omit some thi ngs

,l est the l ength of the servi ce Shoul d

frighten a set Of peopl e,most of whomwere not accustomed

to think going to chur ch at all necessary . Mrs . Niebuhrwas blooming and gr acious

,and asked us to come the fol

l owing evening . I have reason to think that all the troubleI have at different times taken to talk to her is not thr own

away, for in her manner there is now somethi ng so l ik e

cordiali ty, that I feel as far as i tgoes she rather l ikes m e,

and is pleased to see m e . Mr . Niebuhr gave me one of his

bows and two of hi s smi les , but nothi ng more .’

T25 Non ,

18 17 —Last Sunday I had the very di sagreeabl e interruption Of a visit from Mr . Niebuhr

,his wife and

chil d, the last the most pl easing of my visitors , for he waslively and good-humoured . Dur ing the whol e time Mr .Niebuhr was in the house, he walked the rooms , wi thCharl es and two other men , or stood with them on the

The highl y-giftedwife of W il liam Humboldt, the great statesman and ph ilologer, la premi ere intelligence de l

’

Eur ope,”

as

Madame de Stael described him at the tim e of the Congress of Vienna.

1 I t wi ll be seen how steadily the feeling of Madame Bunsen for

Madame N iebuhr strengthened and deepened into a true friendship ,and how di fferently she afterwards regarded N iebuhr himself .

Madame N iebuhr was h is secondwife, Margaret Hensler Gretchen ”

—the ni ece and adopted daughter of hi s first wife’s sister, Madame

Hensler.


130 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN.

additional ly discouraging circumstance, that his works were

to be placed at a height of twenty feet . It is bel ieved thatsome of Thorwaldsen’s friends mentioned this state Of his

mind to the Prince on his return ,and that he has in conse

qu ence changed the order, -which I thi nk is very fortu

nate , for there can be l ittle doubt from the two specimensof Pr iam at thefeet of Achi lles and the Dep ar ture of Br iseis,that Thorwaldsen will enter into the spirit of Homer .Thorwaldsen has been very busy, and therefore very happylately, not in consequence of the number of order s he has

received,but because his whol e m ind has been absorbed in

a statue Of Hope,not quite fin ished yet

, whi ch I think one

of his most beautiful works . I do not know anything tocompare it with ; the figur e is standing stil l , and firm on

both feet,but just ready to move : She holds up her dra

pery with one hand,by which means the form of her limbs

is as well to be perceived as if She were not completelycovered ; the hair is arranged in a manner that appears to

me quite original— a quanti ty of curl s brought from behindover the forehead, but supported from falling over the face

by a band or di adem ,the rest of the hair hanging in curl s

in the neck . The countenance I think most remarkabl e

Thorwaldsen said himself he thought the expression of

Hope ought to be perfect repose, ’ and such he has made it,but the most animated rep ose.

”

On the 2nd of April,1818, a l etter from Bunsen to

Mrs . Waddington headed Fanny i s wel l—Henry sends

you his l ove —announced the birth of hi s eldest born .

As to godfathers,I have foll owed the idea, which I

MARRIAGE . 131

always had before I was married, and therefore shall first

ask my own dear father, whose name the child is to have,viz . Henry or Heinrich ; then he who has r eceived me , andtreated me , and continues to love me as a father

, Old Mr .Brandis

, whom his son will represent as I Shall my father ;and lastly, Mr . Niebuhr , because there is no man li ving to

whom,besidesthe other two, I have more Obl igation .

”

MADAME BUNSEN to her MOTHER .

1 8 Ap r i l , 18 18 ,—O my Mother , I need not ask you to

bless God for me,and pray to Him to make me thankful !

I feel that I can never be thankful enough . My treasurei s now asleep in his crib . Angel ina’s ?“ behaviour has

been quite perfect : I could not by any person have beenserved with more intell igence , activity, and unwearied

good hum our . My Mother wil l more easily guess, withoutbeing told

, what the conduct of friends has been towardsme - in what a degree I feel the tie drawn closer betweenmyself andmy dear Emily by the unceasing acts of kindness she has performed, and all the trouble She has taken

for me —how I am bound for l ife to Mrs . Dreweflr for the

tenderness and zeal with which She has attended to me

how far dearer than ever Charl es has becom e to me,as I

feel that I am al so become to h im .

22 Ap r i l , 1 81 8 .— The day three weeks that my chi ld

was born ,I was out for a l ong tim e . I went first for a

The faithful Angel ina, frequently mentioned in these m emoirs,is still li ving (1878) in the Palazzo Cafi‘arel li , with a small pensionfrom the Baroness Bun sen ,

and receiving much kindness from the

present Prussian ambassador, as from hi s predecessors.1‘ Born Allen of Cresselly, a very old famil y friend. Seach . i ii .


few minutes to Mrs . Niebuhr , who has latterly shown me

so many attentions, with so much appearance of interest,that I am confirmed in the beli ef that as far as she has anyfeeling towards me, it is a feeling of unmixed goodwil l andcomplacency . Then I fetched Emily, who went wi th me

to the Vill a Borghese, which is in the beauty of purpl e

bl ossomed Judas trees and laburnum . My baby was withme too and sl ept the whole j ourney .

On Thur sday we went to Thorwaldsen’s , and saw a fine

Mercury upon which he is now working with great delight,andwhich keeps his spirits in some degree from Sinking

under the weight of the Crown Prince’s commission : the

single specimen he hasmade of that frieze , the threeMary’sat the tomb

,is quite detestable

,and I am sure he looks at

it with as l ittl e patience as anybody el se— they are abso

lutely theatrical figures .”

1 July, 1 8 18 .— Donna Christina Bonaparte is married

to Count Posse— a Swede, and Donna Anna to the PrinceErcolan i of Bologna. The latter is said to be a greatmatch : the former di spleased Madame Mere and the Princess Borghese SO much, that they woul d not be present

when the contract was signed ; it was reported that theygrounded their obj ection s upon the cir cumstance of the

Swede’s being a subject of a subj ect of their fami ly.

The day before yesterday poor Fohr’t was dr owned in

the Tiber ! I cannot describe the shock which thi s acci

dent has produced, for Fehr’s life was of value to many.

He was walking near the Ponte Moll e wi th three

Carl Phi lip Fohr, a youngpain ter of much prom ise. His townsmen at Heidelberg have done honour to his memory by naming a

beautiful walk over the hi lls Fehr’s W eg.

”



certainly can only be induced to marry Overbeck by beingattached to him .

“ 4 July, 1 8 18 .—Last night the remains of poor Fohr

were deposited near the pyramid of Caius Cestine. The

n ight before they had been foun d by a fisherman a mil e

below San Paolo fuori l e Mura . There being no Germancl ergyman in Rome, Charl es translated and read the burial

service of the Church of England : afterwards he and

Mr . Niebuhr read alternately, at Mr. N .

’s suggestion , a

fine funeral hymn, contain ed in a col lection of ancient

German sacred poetry, and intended to be sung by twochoir s respon sively . I n conclusion ,

Charl es Spoke a fewsentences relative to the character of the deceased and thefeel ings of survivors . I wish I could give my Mother an

idea of how well this ever difieult duty was performed.

. A great number of people formed a circle roundthe grave— the friends and associates of Fohr , the peoplewho carried torches and had conveyed the coffin ,

and the

guard whi ch is always stationed at the Protestant buryingplace . The Italians all stood in perfect stillness and fixedattention : it was a dark , but gloriously starlight night,and the flashes Of l ightning without cloud or storm were

frequent .

8 July, 18 18 .—My dear Emily has been here . She had

just received my Mother’s letter containing a summons toEngland . I cannot describe the spring that gave me— theunmixed pleasure . I could not feel di sappointed it wasnot myself that was summoned, having such a fixed con

viction of the impossibili ty of moving ; and the loss tomysel f Of Emily

’s presence di dnot occur to me as matter Of

regret, nor does it yet, —though I shall miss her dear face.

MARRIAGE . 135

The other night, when we were looking at the view in

the light of the ful l moon,Charl es longed for my Mother

’s

presence— a summer night is the time when he wishes forher . The time when I wish for her most of all is when Ilook at my child : I cannot write anything to give an

image of him ,and I cannot draw him to my satisfaction .

”

1 Sep t ,1 8 18 .

— Charles will look for a l odging at

Genzano,that we may go into the country when Emily

goes away . My Mother wil l be glad to hear that we are

to have dear Mr . Brandi s in the house with us . Charleshas begged him of Mr . Niebuhr on the pl ea that in the present low state of hi s spirits , he ought not to spend so manyhours alone as he was accustomed to do in Mr . Niebuh r’shouse

,and that he has long formed habits of l iving day

after day and hour after hour with Charles , as a brother .4 Sep t , 1 8 18 ,

— I trust my Mother will have madeout from my late l etters in what perfect comfort and enj oyment I have passed this summer , having had health and

strength enough to pass my time as I liked, and being freefrom interruptions . I shall take care not to forget thatsome trouble must be taken for society, but that societymust be good indeed

, which I could feel to be otherwisethan an intrusion . There is no conversation from which I

receive so many ideas , no m ind that commun icates to minesuch an impul se

,as that Of my .dear Charl es : and I have

the blessing Of feeling that I am constantly more andmoreprized by him ,

and that he is more happy in my presence .

I am also indescribably thankful to be conscious howmuch'

closer the bond has been drawn between me andmy dear

Emily in these fourteen months that we have spent as itwere together, since my Mother l eft us . I feel her affec


tion towards me as much increased as mine towards her,and I have received from her l ittl e kindnesses and l i ttl eservices innum erabl e .”

Af ter Madame Bunsen parted with her sister at

Rom e,they never m et again . Mrs . Manl ey, whil st

she had pl eased her husband by making hi s houseagreeabl e to hi s num erous I tal ian fr iends

,had been

exerting herself beyond her feebl e power s . Thoughher affection for him was unal ter ed, she could not

evade an inner consciousness which she never all owedto appear till she lay upon her death-bed

,that her

marr iage had been a m istake . Her early l ife had been

devoted to strong rel igious impression s of that class

which are none the l ess real because they frequentlyraise external trifles to the rank of spir itual duties ;and, though her husband never interfered with herconduct on subj ects of faith, or attempted to in

fluence her bel ief, She fel t ere l ong that the fact of hisbeing a Roman Cathol ic

,and evading al l subjects con

nected with rel igion,created a barr ier between them

on the matter s nearest her hear t . She had long discovered al so that hi s for tune was far from being thatwhich it had been r epresented to be befor e her marriagewas al l owed by her parents, which she suffered fromchiefly because she dreaded the effect of the discl osureupon their m inds . When the hour of departure for

England was fixed, she conceal ed from her Sister that

she knew she was returning to her own coun try to die.



but by the rel ease Of nature, for escaping from a reallytragical combination of circum stances, not one of whichcould have been thought of without despair .

* Mean

tim e l ife continued to gl ide happily bywith the Bunsen sat Rom e— their only clouds ar ising from thi s sorrow

,

and from their separation from B randis, who left

Rom e so ill,and at the sam e tim e so heavenly

m inded in benevol ence,inward peace and cl earness

,and

so convinced of the near approach of his end,” that hisfr iends

,when they parted, could not but fear they had

S een him for the last time,though he l ived to a good

Old age t Long and affectionately rem embered were

the last afternoon s passed by the Bunsen s with thi sbrother-like fr iend, chiefly in the turfy avenues wi ththeir glor ious mountain-views, which extend from thes teps Of St. John Lateran to the Old basil i ca Of Santa

Croce.

MADAME BUN SEN to her MOTHER.

16 March,18 1 9 .

—Mr . H inds and Mr . Thirlwall are

h ere My Mother,I know,

has sometimes suspectedthat a man’s abil ities are to be judged of in an inverse ratio

to hi s Cambridge honours,— but I beli eve that rul e is

really not without exception,for Mr . Thirlwall : is cer

See Letter Of Bunsen to Mrs. W addi ngton , in the Memoirs of

Baron Bunsen .

1' Professor Brandis outlivedBunsen himself . He diedat Bonn,where

he filled the chair of Professor of Moral Philosophy, in July, 1867.

I Connop Thirlwall, afterwards H istorian of Greece andBishop of

St. David’

s, di ed 1875 .

MARR I AGE . 139

tainly no dunce, although, as I have been inform ed, heattained high honours at Cambridge at an earli er age thananybody, except, I believe , Per son . I n the course of theirfirst interview,

Charles heard enough from him to induce

him to beli eve that Mr . Thirlwall had studied Greek and

Hebrew in good earnest , not merely for p r izes al so , thathe had read Mr . Niebuhr’s Roman H istory proved him topossess no trifling knowledge of Germanfit and as he ex

pressed a wi sh to improve himsel f in the language,Charles

ventured to invi te him to come to us on a Tuesday evening, whenever he was not otherwise engaged, seeing that

many Germans were in the habit of call ing on that day,

and making the n ecessary explanations , that a regularassembly was not to be expected, for that I was unable tosend formal invitati ons

, on account of being so frequentlylaid up andMr . Thirlwall has never mi ssed any Tuesdayevening since

,except the moccoli night, and one other when

it rained dogs and cats . H e comes at eight O’clock,and

never stirs to go away till everybody el se has wished goodnight, Often at almost twelve O’clock . It is impossibl e for

any one to behave more like a man of sense and a gentl e

man ,than he has always done, —ready and eager to con

verse with anybody that is at leisure to speak to him ,but

never looking fidgety when by necessity l eft to himsel f ;always seeming animated and attentive

, whether li steningto music, or trying to make out what people say in German

,or looking at one Of GOthe

’s songs in the book

,

while it is sung ; and so there are a great many reason sfor our being very much pleased with Mr . Thirlwall , yet I

Seven years after this, Thirlwall joinedhis friend Julius Hare intranslation of N iebuhr

’

s H istory of Rome .


rather suspect him of being very cold,and very dry— and

although he seeks,and seeks with general success, to

understand everythi ng,and in every possibl e way increase

his stock of ideas,I doubt the possibility of his under

standing anything that is to be felt rather than exp lained,

and that cannot be reduced to a system . I was led to thi s

resul t by some most extraordinary questions that he askedCharl es about Faust (which he had borrowed of us

,and

which he greatly admired neverthel ess,attempting a

translatl on of one of my favourite passages, which however I had not pointed out to him as being such),— and

al so by his great fondness for the poems of Wordsworth ,two volumes of which he insisted upon l ending Charl es ,containing stuff , to my perceptions , yet more contemptibl ethan the contents of that enormous quarto (the eighthsection of the second part of an intended poem , I bel ieve)which my Mother and I . once attempted to read . These

books he accompan ied with a note, in which he laid greatstress upon the necessity Of reading the author’s p roseessays on his own p oems , in order to be enabl ed to reli sh thel atter . Yet Mr . Thirlwall speaks of Dante in a mannerthat woul d seem to prove a thorough taste for his poetry,as well as that he has real ly and truly studied it ; for hesaid to me that he thought no person who had taken thetrouble to understand the whole of the Divina Commediawoul d doubt about preferring the Paradise to the two

preceding parts ; an opinion in which I thoroughlyagree—but nobody can understand it, without having

Obtained a knowledge of the history Of the times , and

the systems Of theol ogy and philosophy (which were

present to the m ind of Dante) by means of studying the



How I thank my Mother for her gifts to Mrs . Niebuhr ,whose behaviour to m e has indeed been al l that I couldwish, invariably—and it is difficul t for me to find any

means Of making a return of any sort, except having made

her some minced-

p ie meat at Chr istmas, and a candl e- screenin the autum n

, which last has proved very useful , on

account Of the state her eyes have been in for some

time . I must not say anything, and indeed I

hardl y wi sh to do so, about my Mother’s extravagance,because I know it pl eases her to be extravagant for mysake.

A few evenings ago I walkedwith Charl es over Ponte

Sisto to Palazzo Corsini , for the purpose of seeing thegallery . The custode was not at home

, SO we went on toSanta Maria in Trastevere

,to look at some ancient mosaics

,

and returned to the Corsin i garden , where I have so Oftenbeen with my Mother . Af ter Sitting down a li ttl e whi le,we set Off home , but by way of Piazza Sciarra in the Corso,to eat ices . When we had ascended our own dear hil l , we

found the sweetest boy in the world, greeting us with suchjoy—well-pleased to be taken in my arms , and afterwardsupon hi s father’s back, and very soon equally well-pl easedto be undr essed and go to bed, it being Ave Maria, theusual time for dr opping asl eep . The Campe Vaccine is

the place for my Henry when he is out. There he

trots and stops, and looks at the oxen lying by the sideof the carts

,and the flocks Of sheep and goats, and the

asses .”

28 J une,18 19 .

— I n the course of last week a Lutherancl ergyman arrived, as chaplain to the Prussian Embassy, in

consequence of Mr . Niebuhr ’s representati ons to the King

MARRIAGE . 143

Of Prussia Of the great need in which the numerous colonyof German Protestan ts at Rome stood of having a personamong them whose Office it should be to keep al ive a senseOf religion

,and counteract the influence of Catholi c priests ,

by which so many conversions have been effected : and

service was for the fir st time performed yesterday at Mr .

Niebuhr ’s,to a congregation of seventy persons, whi ch

was more than was expected coul d have been so soon col

l ected,as many peopl e are gone into different parts of the

coun try for the summer . I have seldom in my li fe been

so deeply struck by a sermon as by that which the chaplain delivered, and I wish I had Space to gi ve such an

accoun t of hi s sel ection of matter, and of hi s manner of

tr eating it,as might enable my Mother to form an idea of

the strength of understanding,the justness of feel ing, and

the knowl edge Of the doctrines and spirit of Christi anitywhi ch he proved himself to possess —she woul d rejoice forme and for Charles in the fir st place

,and for a number of

unknown creatures in the next,that such an individual

should have been induced to come here . The service con

sisted of prayers and hymns , and two chapters from the

New Testament, one Of whi ch, containing the parabl e of

the Prodigal Son , was explained and comm ented upon in

the sermon . It has always been all owed to the cl ergymenin Germany to make what sel ections they pl eased from a

vast quantity of material s for forming a Liturgy— a libertywhi ch has been to a fatal degree abused

,but which in the

present instance was used in the most admir able manner .The prayers were those of Luther, with some addition s tosui t the circumstances Of the congregation . The hymn swere all belonging to the period of the Reformation, both


words and music, and one was composed by Luther himself

15 July, 18 19 .— I t is a very pretty sight when Henry

is with the l ittl e Niebuhr’s , they have such deli ght inseeing each other

,and the li ttl e Ameli a andmy Henry are

so animated and Marcus so quiet, in the manner Of showing

! satisfaction . Marcus smil es at Henry, puts his hands

gently on his shoul ders, and kisses him on the check, as

he has been taught to do to hi s l ittle sister . The l ittle

girl is engaging,but not pr etty, but Marcus has a real ly

beautiful head,and an expression of deep thought and

fixed attention that is still more striking and uncomm onthan his features .

The great heat Of the weather has so much weakened

me latterly, that for a fortni ght I have not been out of thehouse

,except on a Sunday to attend the service whi ch is

regularly performed at Mr . Niebuhr’s , and One gloriousnight when I dr ove with Mr . and Mrs . Niebuhr to theColi seum .

It is my most particular advice to A. not to all ow the

young Baron de H iigel to come to Italy, as he i s only justcome from Eton

,— he had much better be sent to Oxford,

and perhaps after eight or ten year s , when he has l earnt agreat deal at home, and has becom e well fixed in Engl ish

habits and tastes,he may travel , without the certainty of

being contaminated by all the evil of the Continent, and

confirmed in al l that he brought with him from England .

It is not that I mean to say there is nothing to be l earnt inItaly : on the contrary, the longer I remain , the more Iam aware Of the abundance of ideas that may be acquired,and the depths of knowl edge that may be penetrated her e,



hair is reckoned such a beauty, that the nurses , in shortevery Ital ian who has , seen him,

has endeavoured to con

sol e me with the assurance that he wil l be ‘biondo come

il fratell o —which amuses me very much, because I haveno doubt they know as well as myself that hair i s muchmore apt to become darker than lighter .

“ On Sunday the 1 9th September, my Ernest was chr is

tened at Mr . Niebuhr’s,after the service—in consequence

Of Dr . Schm ieder ’s having expressed a wish that the christening should take place in the place of publ ic worship ,rather than at home -as he considered it more consonant

to the design of baptism that it should be performed so farpublicly, as that the congr egation shoul d be enabled to

witness it if they chose, and thereby have an additionalchance of being reminded of their own obligations . The

prayers he read were those Of Luther,composing alto

gether a service not quite so l ong as our s , but in everyrespect similar . I was thankful again to be able to attendthe service

,and to hear Dr . Schmieder preach . Duri ng

the l ong interval in which I have not stirred from home,Charles has gi ven me every Sunday a detail ed account ofthe sermon , which always contains an explanation of the

Epistl e or Gospel for the day, but every time I mi ss hear

ingone of his sermon s,I feel I have missed an opportunity

of real advantage . I t_

is known to Dr . Schmieder ’s friendsthat he writes down in the course of the week, sometimesin two or three different ways, his thoughts on the subj ecton which he intends to preach, but he preaches extempore,without any reference to notes , which certainly gives greatadditional effect to the words he utters . Every W ednes

day evening, he gives explanations of Isaiah,and reads

MARRI AGE . 147

prayer s,to any persons, few or many, that choose to

attend .

”

“ 8 N on,1819 .

— I must tel l my Mother the usual em

ploym ents Of our evenings . On Sunday we read in the

Bible, with Dr . Schmieder, of whose soundn ess Of bel ief,

and rectitude of feel ing, I am the more convinced, the

more I hear of his explanations and comments . The otherpersons present include three painters . One my

'Mother

will find in the catalogue as Giulio Schnorr di Oarolsfeld.

I t is di fficul t to make an intel li gible description of Schnorr,and to depict his power of making such keen , dry, pene

trating observation s on character, that had circumstancesdestined him for a fine man of the world, he would have

been a consummate p ersiy‘leur . The names of Ol ivier and

Rhebeni ts my Mother will also find in the catalogue .“ On Wednesday evenings , at the Ave Maria, we go toa room at Mr . Niebuhr’s where the congregation assemble

,

to which Schmieder has lately begun to give explanationsOf the articles Of the confession of Augsburg . On Thursday evening we general ly go to Mr . Niebuhr ’s , and I amalways glad when I am not prevented from going by anyaccidental circum stance

,for Mr . Niebuhr has been for a

long time in a sufficiently good state of heal th to be infin itely animated and conversibl e, and when that is thecase, I can imagine no greater intell ectual gratification thanto hear him talk, let the subj ect be what it may. I have

heard him converse on many subj ects,but he has such a

powerof diversifying everythingby the originality of his concepti ons, and the l iveliness of hi s imagination ,

that I shouldthi nk it impossible for the most ignorant listener to consider any topic dry upon which be touched . On Monday


evening we hope soon to contrive at l east once a fortnightto enj oy again a tr eat whi ch we had once aweek five weeks

last summer— Of hearing some of the Motetts Of Pal estrinaexecuted in the right mann er

, wi thout instrum ents , athome . We had long tr ied to get together some dil ettantiacquaintances, who kn ew how to sing other music, toexecute them

, with the help of a simpl e accompaniment ;but at length finding that no dependence coul d be placed

on dilettanti , we commi tted the extravagan ce of calling inprofessional aid— and yet no great extravagance, for to

our one singer from the Papal chapel we gave 6 paul s anight— or 2s . 9d. sterl ing

,for singing in six pieces : our

contral to, the Maestr o Giovannini , was sati sfied with an

occasional r egalo, of a few poun ds Of chocolate , or bottl esof wine : our tenor was a Dane

,named Bai , late Consul at

Al giers, with a most exquisite voice, and great knowl edgeOf music and for the bass we were rich enough in Sardi ,but sometimes Mal dura came al so . Bai

,al as

,has now

l eft Rome , therefore we shall have the tenor to seek and

to pay whenever we get our musicians together againfor whi ch reason we mean to be economi cal , and not have

the indulgence every week . Charl es has Often givenutterance to the wi sh that my Mother coul d be present

,

when we have been l istening to these Motetts . I am sureif anything on earth can give an idea of the angel ic choir ,it must be the music of Pal estrina ! and yet I do not

forget the glorious effect of Handel— but all music towhich in struments contribute

,must be a degree more

earthly, than that in which human voices are alone to

themselves sufficient,where nothingmechan ical is needed .

I have never been able to tell that my Henry can now



and to Charles they have been cl ouded by the tidings of

the death of his mother, whose vital powers failed on

the 27th of November . My dear Charl es does not

think it'

possible that hi s father can l ong survive the

death of his wife . He is in hi s seven ty- seventh year ,and the happiness of his l ife has for so great a l ength

of time entirely consisted in seeing her, Speaking toher

, and feel ing her to be near him,that it is scarcely

possible he should physical ly sustain the shock of her’

r emoval . He is sur e to be careful ly attended to byCharl es’s youngest Sister, who l ives very near him ,

and

who had wished to prevail upon him to come into her

house,that She might have him hourly under her eyes

but he obj ected with vehemence , and said he woul d neverbe conveyed from the house he had inhabitedwith his wifeso many years

,except to be bur ied. Their union had been

most perfect,and the affection s of their hearts had only

seemed to strengthen,in proportion as bodily and mental

powers became enfeebl ed.

I thi nk that the letter I sent to my Mother about thistim e last year, was so interrupted that I could not give anyaccount of the Christmas tree that was made, to H enry’sgreat delight, by Charl es and Mr . Brandis . This year

we made him a still finer tree . Henry was broughtin by An gelina . At first he stared, and could not un der

standwhat it all meant,but after a minute he made an

exclamation of delight, which was continual ly renewed

with increasing animation as he Spied the various treasuresin detail . Ernest opened his two eyes at the sight,stretched out his fat arms , and jumped and smil edOn Christmas Eve I put Henry to Sl eep , that I might l et

MARRI AGE . 151

Angelina go to her supper,for as a strange specimen Of

Ital ian taste,the servants had not chosen to eat any dinner,

that they might have the full enj oyment of a ‘cena di

Natale —which I shoul d have understood better,if they

had put Off the supper til l after midn ight,because then it

woul d have been lawful to i eat grasso, but as their suppertook place at 8 o’clock

,they were as much obl iged to eat

magro as at any other part of the day . H enry was not the

only person who received Christmas-boxes— his mother too

had from Rheben itz"a drawing of H enry with his nurse ,from Ol ivier a dr awing of Ernest with his nurse

,and from

Schnorr a dr awing of Ruth and Naomi . These three

artists lodge over us . After our labours were ended, we

were very glad of our cena, as wel l as the servants . lVe

had rice-m ilk,cold ham

,anchovies and bread and butter

,

apples,oranges

,and dr ied figs ; the only person present

besides those alr eady mentioned was Platner ; we shouldhave been glad to have invited Dr . Schmieder andhi s wife ,but they were gone to help to make a tree for Marcus andAmelia .

2 1 Jan,1 820.

—On Monday theweather was so bright,

and I was so well and strong,that I walked to Santa

Mari a Maggiore , to see , or rather to l et the nurse see,the

benedi ction of the animals before the church of Sant’

Antonio,and I helped part of the way to carry my heavy

Ernest; while Charles helped the maid to carry H enry.

I have never told my Mother that I have for some timehad in hand the ‘H istory of the Counci l of Trent

,

’by

Father Paul Sarpi , which extremely interests me . It is

Theodore Rhebenitz, of Lubeck, who, quitting his universitystudies, had come to study pain tingin Rome.


one of the books forbidden by the Chur ch of Rome, and

with much reason,for every l ine breathes the spir it of

Protestantism . Father Paul Sarpi never professed him

sel f a Protestant,because he hoped the Venetian Govern

ment,in which he had great influen ce

, woul d in time beinduced to declare against the Pope

,and establi sh the

Reformation throughout their states— an event whi ch was

very near taking place , but whi ch was prevented by theunfortun ate issue of the battl e on the Weissen Berge inBohemiafif

‘ in which the Protestant army was overt hrownby the Imperial ists . Father Paul was so wel l known as

the declared enemy of the Court Of Rome , that manyattempts were made by hi s enemi es to assassinate him .

H is work contains a view of all characters and circumstances whi ch had influence

,whether propi tious or adverse,

on the cause of religion at the time — the style is cl ear,concise

,simpl e

,and forcibl e, although the language i s

very nearly the same with that which the modern Itali ansso wr etchedl y m isuse , and consequently in itself l essenergetic than that of earl ier Itali an writers

,— but the

m ind Of the author bestows vigour upon it, and his occasional summing up of the distinguishing characteristi cs ofPopes and th eir favour ites, contain s instances of keen and

at the same time di spassionate dignified Satir e,to whi ch I

know no parall el . I often recoll ect with surprise,how

Often I have been asked,in England and out of England

,

about books in classical Italian prose, which were worth

reading on account of the subj ect,and never coul d get

any information . Cardi nal Bentivogl io’s very dry ‘Guerra

di Fiandra was the only not-trashy work in Italian prose

8 Nov 1620.



but faith— faith in the real,the original sense of the

word ; too Often used to s ignify belief , the assent Of the

understanding to the dogm as Of rel igion (in which wehave no more merit

,than in beholding the l ight by means

of the organ which was granted us for the power of

discern ing it), and it is only when used in this sense ( i s .

Of beli ef), that it can be said that faith alone i s insufi cient.

That faith which is defined by Patrick, which breathesthrough every line of his book

,is a li ving and active

principle, which stimul ates all those in whom it subsists

to strive again st the corruptions Of their moral nature,

whi ch reuses the best affection s Of the heart, and diffusesthem over all fell ow-partakers in the body Of sin and

death,fell ow-heirs of the mercy of God through Christ.”

7 Feb,1820.

—Yesterday, after church, we walked toSanta Sabba on the Aventine , formerly a monastery

,

whence there is a very fine View, but we di d not this timefind anybody at home to l et us in ; we had, however, adelightful walk , in as utter still ness and soli tude as if wehad been a hundred m iles from a great town ,

and I

gathered some wil d viol ets in the lane . During this timemy sweet boys had been in the garden belonging to

Palazzo Caffarel li . I made coffee in the same gardenafter dinner for Charles , and Rhebenitz, and Ol ivier, whoaccompanied us , and H enry enj oyed himself

,running

about,scratching the earth with a stick, and rol ling an

orange . We saw the glorious sunset,and remained til l

after Venus was visibl e ; then I set myself to play on thepianoforte , and afterwards cut the bread and butter fortea

,and then we had our accustomed Sunday readings,

with the usual set: I mention all these successive occu

MARRI AGE . 155

patiens,to Show my Mother that I can do a great deal in

the course of the day without being knocked up , and Imust al somention that a good part of the morn ing beforewe went to church was spent in carrying about my sweetErnest

,during the time the nurse dressed herself andwent

to mass .”

“ 12 Feb,1 820.

— Charl es has had a second , and a

severer shock,in the intell igence of the death Of his

father,who survived his wife only six week s . He was in

h is seven ty- seventh year, but retained all his faculties tothe last . When the first three or four days elapsed afterthe death of his wife , he became more composed, butcontinually grieved after her

,always concluding his ex

pressions of lamentation wi th the words She will soon

fetch me .

’ Charl es had repeatedly expressed his convic

tion that the next l etter he received from home would

contain information of his father’s death— but still , it isimpossible to be prepared for such an event, and he has

deeply grieved, though he has struggl ed to employ himselfas usual .”

3 March,1 820.

—O ! if I could describe how dear andengaging my Ernest becomes ! I wish I could dr aw himas he is at this moment—playing with a great orange ,which he holds between his two fat hands, and tries to putinto his mouth . Yesterday Henry walked between his papaandmamma al l the way to the Col iseum . Ernest foll owed,calli ng after me , and crowing at my red shawl : when wearrived

, we sat down upon a stone , whi le Henry ran about ,gathering daisies he walked about a quarter of the wayhome , and then petitioned to be taken ‘in braccia, a

mama,

’and his father carried him .


1 1 March,1 820.

—Two days ago, my Mother , I was atsunset in the garden of the Passionisti

,behind the Col i

seum, where women cannot enter except by express permission from the Pope . It is where Oswald ’t heard theAve Maria . O how glorious were the views at that hour.I know no spot so beautiful in Rom e . I wish the Popewould give a standing permission for so harmless a personas mysel f, that I might go daily, it is such an easy distance .

On the festival of the Conversion of St . Paul,I walked

to San Paolo fuori l e Mura . The weather was gloriou sand I enj oyed the walk extremely . It was sad to observe

how few individuals made that day the same pilgrimagewith ourselves —for if the Roman Cathol ics in Italy believeanythingwith reference to reli gion ,

they bel ieve that timeand place add much to the efficacy of devotion . I findthat the general effect of the Church of San Paolo alwaysgains upon me

,although never to such a degree as to

make me cease to feel how defective the basil i ca formis for a church

, when compared to the mode of constructionin Gothic churches . I believe the state of negl ect inwhich San Paolo has been l eft for centuries , contributesmuch to its eff ect

,for the absence of the tinselly and varie

gated decorations with which every other Italian church isdisfigured

,l eaves the eye undi sturbed in contemplating

the magnitude and simplicity of the design of the building,

and the real magnificence of its granite andmarbl e columns .I had an addi tional interest in examining every part of thechurch this time , from having lately heard a description of

the ancient church Of St . Peter’s, which Platner has been

compil ing for the work on which he is engaged : the

I n Madame de Stae’l ’s Corinne.



23Mar ch,1 820.

—Within these ten days I have been toSt. Peter’s

,to the undergroun d chur ch , into which women

cannot enter,unless by express perm ission ,

except onWhi tMonday, on which day m en are excluded . We took Henry

with us,of course leaving him in the l ight Of the sun whi l e

we went underground . It was the first time he had ever

been in St . Peter’s,and he was extremely del ighted, and

call ed out so loud at the sight of the great white statues ,that his voice echoed to the other end of the church . He

took great notice of the colossal cherubs that support theholy-water, and said

,Mama

,puppo casca —Puppo

m eans a l ittl e child,and he thought the cherub would fall ;

he stroked its feet,but complained that it was dirty

Piedino grasso,—cacca .

’ On seeing one of the statuesw ith his hand stretched out, he im itated it, and said,Zitto tutti —having of ten been told by his father , to hisgr eat amusement

,that hi s Old friend Marcus Aureli us on

the Capitol stretches out his hand and says , Zitto tuttiRoma é mia ! He was very happy at the Villa Pamfil i ,and it has made a great impression— the tall pines (thepoor child has never seen trees anywhere el se), the anemones and viol ets

,the fountains

,and the soft grass upon

which he fell so often without hurting himsel f—many atime has he mentioned some Of the things that he saw and

did there,looking up eagerly to have the rest enum erated

to him .

”

12 Ap r i l , 1 820.—Ou Easter Sunday, my sweet Henry’s

bir thday, I had wished to have taken him to St . Peter’s ,for it is very unlikely I shall again see the benedicti ongiven by the present Pope : but after having been atchurch early, I was too much tir ed to go out again . My

MARRIAGE . 159

Henry however had a great deal of amusement,for l ittl e

Marcus andAmel ia Niebuhr came to see him,and brought

him a cake, with a l ong taper stuck in the middl e and

three shorter stuck round. It is a Germ an custom to

give such cakes on birthdays : the taper in the centre re

presents the flame Of l ife, andround the cake are placed as

many other tapers as the person is year s Old, with one for

the year that is just coming, and the cake is covered with

flowers,or sugar -plums , or dr ied fruits . Then Henry

’s

thr ee friends,Igo

,and Doro

,andGiu (Federigo , Teodoro,

and Giul io who lodge over us, brought him a waggondrawn by painted grey oxen , containing flowers and

Oranges and a piping man and a tumbli ng man . St .

Peter’s was ill uminated in the evening , which was'

a great

delight to Henry, who stayed up to see the change froml anterns to flambeaux

,although just before it he became

so sl eepy, that he put his arms round his own mother’sneck

,and his check against her cheek , and dropped Off.

“ I have reason to be greatly obliged to Mr . and Mrs .Niebuhr for continued and increasing kindness in word,deed

,andmanner .”

15 June,1820.

— On Sunday the 7th we went to Frascati

,andnext morn ing dr ove to the Vill a Mondragone . The

prospect seemed more magnificent than ever . My Mother

wil l remember how the row of pines,and the avenue of

cypresses , and the olive-grounds , appeared from the terrace . On Our return we went to our Old Casino Accorambuoni

,and found the house

,and the terrace and the view,

looking as they used to look . We dined,and I had a fine

sleep after dinner , and we afterwards dr ove through theOli vier, Rhebeni tz, and Schnorr.


Vill a Bracciano and the beautiful wood to Gretta Ferrata ,went into the chur ch

,and saw the Domenichi no chapel ,

which pl eased Henry very much, but my Ernest not less ,and he did nothing but laugh l oud

, and call after the

painted figures on the wall s . Next morning very early, wedrove to Monte Compatri

, which is beyondMonte Porzio,and higher on the moun tain

,from whence the nurse was

deli ghted to be able to discern Zagarola, and even ,as she

said,her own vineyard ! Often did she assure us it was

only five mil es fur ther— andwe should have b een almostas pl eased as herself to have indulged her with drivingthere

,if Zagarola was not in a very unsafe quarter as to

r obbers . After having rested ourselves and our horses

dur ing the heat of the day, and had our dinner , we wentthr ough Mar ine , Castell o, Albano and L

’Ar iccia, to

Genzano . The dr ive was most b eautiful , and the wood,and the fountain

,and the Old tower at Mar in e

,in the

even ing sun,produced their most magnificent effect . On

lVednesday morning I sat out a l ong time, fir st in agarden in sight of the lake, afterwards in a shady avenuewhich l eads towards L ’Ar iccia, in which my sweet boys

enj oyed themselves extremely ; and Charles read aloud tome . Thursday was the octave of the féte of Corpus

Domin i, which is the occasion of a festival pecul iar toGenzano that I had long wished to see, and the effectgreatly surpassed my expectations . My Mother will re

m ember the arrangement of flowers in patterns,on the

steps leading to the underground church of St . Peter’s ,on the octave of Corpus Domini three years ago, and thatwil l give her an idea in some degree of what is done on agreat scal e at Genzano the l ength of two streets, al ong



Sung Evviva la Croce as l oud as he coul d, every time across or crucifix was carried by . I went al ong the streetsto see the infiorata a s soon as it was fin ished ; Charl es

carried Henry, and Ernest was carried by hi s nur se ; both

were very happy, but the joy of Ernest at seeing so manypeopl e and so many flowers , was the most apparent : he

l aughed and crowed the whol e way, andwas much noticedand admi red. Often did I hear Ma, Dio la benedi ca !

che bell a creatura

On the 22nd of July, the bir th of her eldest granddaughter was announced to Mrs. Waddin gton .


“ 1 0August, 1820.—Oh ! it is such a happiness to have

my li ttl e girl , and hold her,and touch her , and look at

her , that I sometim es fan cy I must have been unj ust toher darl ing brothers , and that I coul d not have lovedthem so much when they were as l ittle, and yet I did

certainly I have looked and gazed and examined

my sweet gi rl , till I am convinced she will be lik e myMother .”

6 Sep t 1 820.—MyMother, I for ever grudge myself the

del ight my chi ldr en gi ve me, when I think that you have

been fer so long a tim e without an enj oyment that youwoul d l ive upon— feed upon— I know you would. Thisfeel ing more especially occurs to me when I see myHenry’s eyes, as they were fixed upon me yesterday morning at breakfast, when he came running to me

‘Mama,

Righetto rotto un bicchiere —in a whi sper,not to inter

The I tal ian nurse-word for Enri co.

MARRI AGE . 1 63

rupt papa, who was reading the newspaper And I

l ong particul arly for my mother to see my Ernest, when he

embraces his own mother . He has the most touching

manner of cl inging round my neck,and pressing his soft

face again st me . I have not been abl e for a long, long

time to do anything for that poor child,except l ove him ,

for he is too heavy for me to carry,— but he is most

aware how.

wel l I love him ,or he would not love me so

much . Yesterday I drove out for the first tim e, wi th my

thr ee treasures . I went along the Tiber, beyond PertaPortese, and afterwards to Villa Borghese . Last SundayI was at chur ch , andmy li ttl e angel was christened—Mary

Fr ances . I must call my girl Mary, the name that I love

so much . I coul d almost fancy I had heard my Mothercalledby it, which I never did.

”

“ 24 Sep t , 1 820.—Yesterday I attended the christening of

Mrs . Niebuhr’s l ittl e girl,born eighteen days after my

Mary, to whom I had been much gratified by being asked

to be godmother .”

“ 3 Dee , l 82o.—A1as ! I shall never see Bishop Sand

ford again in this world —may I be worthy to be recog

nised by him in another .“ Chr istmas Day, l 820.

— Before we went to church toreceive the Sacrament, Charles andI read together the 13th

and 14th chapters of the Gospel Of St . J ohn,and I was struck

particularly with the words Of our Savi our— ‘What I dothen knowest not new, but thou shal t know hereafter . ’ Iti s true that without this assurance

,we ought to be equally

satisfied that all the circumstances of l ife,as ordained by

Bishop of Edinburgh. The Old fam ily friendshi p with hi s motherSal ly Chapone is mentioned early in the volum e.


God, must be for our good— but the prom ise Of future

explanation,probably even in this world, might well

Operate to tranquil l ise us, on points the most inexpl icabl ein appearance .

I can say nothing of my Mary, except that she isalways wel l—what other words coul d I use to give an idea

of how lovely she is ? The fact is according to Charl es’s

words the other day We ought to pray God that we

may not qui te wor shi p her, l est she shoul d be taken from

us as a punishment.’



the finest choral es . The complete success of some

concerts of sacred music whi ch were given by theNiebuhrs in honour of Baron Stein *

and Pr ince Har

denberg,al so induced Bun sen to per suade the director

of the Papal Choir to al l ow som e of i ts m embers to singon fixed even ings dur ing the winter months at thePalazzo Caffarel l i

,when his fam ily and their intimate

circl e of fr iends had such an enj oym ent of the masterpieces of ancient music as is seldom attainabl e .

Next to the Niebuhrs,the m ost valued fr iend Of the

Bun sen s at thi s tim e resident in Rome was AugustusKestner

,the Hanover ian Secretary Of Legation , of

whose worth and mer it,”wrote Madam e Bun sen , quot

ing GOthe,“ a detail ed biography al one can be com

petent to m easure and estim ate the full circumf er

ence .” 1' Most intimate al so, and greatly valued in

their house was the fresco painter , Jul ius Schnorr von

Carolsfeld, . who l ived above them in the PalazzoCaffarel l iJ and in a l ess degree Augustus Grahl , the

Carl. Baron von Stein , theminister of Frederi ck W illiam 111 . I t"

was he who introduced the m easur es which transformedthe Oldinto themodern Prussia by advocating the reform of those abuses whi ch hadled to the great Revolution in France . After the Battle Of Jena,Napoleon insisted upon hi s di smissal, and he spent some time at the

Russian cour t, where he prepared the way for that understandingbetw een Russia, Au stria, and Prussia whi ch cau sed the coal ition fatalto Napoleon . His latter years were spent in retir ement on his estatesnear Nassau , where a monument was erected in his memory by publicsubscription in 1872.

1 Kestner diedin 1853 , havingkept up his faithful friendship for theBun sens to the last .1 He left Rome in 1825.

SHADOW S . 167

m iniature painter , who inhabited room s in the l eftwing of the palace .*

Themonth of March was cloudedby the sudden death,from an infec tious fever , of Wil l iam Waddington , a

cousin of Madam e Bun sen , who had com e to Rom e to

visit the an tiquities . On thi s occasion the disin terestedcharacter of Bun sen was vividly shown in hi s m akingno Opposition to hi s wife’s strong wish— fearl ess Of ther isk for her self— to m in i ster to her dying relative,

as Mrs . Waddington afterwardswrote to Professor Monk, and “ intent al one on r obbingdreading nothing

,

’

death Of its terror s , and winn ing a soul to Heaven .

I n May, Bun sen and hi s w ife paid a visit at Albanoto the Niebuhr s, who had already rem oved thither forthe summ er vi l leggiatura, and they then engaged theapartm ents, to which Madam e Bunsen rem oved withher ch ildren at the end of June . The business of thelegation stil l detained Bun sen in Rom e, but change ofair had becom e especial ly desirabl e for the preciousinfant Mary, whose heal th and an imation had flaggedwith the summ er heat . Her mother soon beheld withanguish that she did not am end. On her birthday, the22nd of July, Bun sen drove out to visit his fam ily,fill ed w ith the pl easan t tidings of the happy engagem ent of hi s dear fr iend B randi s to the Obj ect of Six

years’ attachm ent . He walked, as usual

,up the long

hil l which leads from the Campagna to the town .

Outside the gates of Albano hi s wife met him,and he

He left Rome in 1830.


saw in her eyes, what she strove to tel l with com

posure She i s with God.

’

Little Mary had scarcely been laid in the beautifulbur ial -ground under the shadow of the Pyram id ofCaius Cestius, when Henry became alarm ingly i l l .

Then Madam e Bun sen her sel f, worn with nur sing herchildren ,

fel l sick of tert ian fever , and, on the 25th ofAugust

,Bun sen

,com ing out from Rome to hi s sick

fam ily, arr ived l ike a stone, a state which was soonchanged to one of burn ing fever . F ive days afterwards, he was in Such extrem e danger , that he gave hiswife what he bel ieved to be hi s dying directions , hi sdying benediction ; but one of the rapid transitions

,

frequent in that coun try, which has as great a powerof cur ing as of endanger ing, al l owed of hi s rem oval tohi s own house at Rom e, and by the end Of September

he began to amend.


“ 1 Jan ,1 82 1 .

—The old year has closed brightly uponme

,my Mother , to the m ind

’s eye, and the body’s eye

and the new y ear came forth under a glowing firmament .

Clouds m ight perhaps be perceived in the distant horizon,

or rather mi sts , which render all indistinct and uncertain ;but those which I see or fancy, may evaporate before theyapproach , and should they condense in rain

,I trust and

bel ieve I Shall have , as I have always had, a sheltering

roof -and should they burst in thunder, and the lightning-stroke, I shall know that no hand can have guided it

Bunsen to hi s sister Chr istiana.



have been in the Papal Chapel,I never heard anything

equal tO it, -for the singers not having any reason for

hurrying, were induced to give every note its due value ;and the compl ication of sound was of that subduingnature , as to make you .

draw your breath, or l ift up youreyes

,l est some other obj ect or sensation should divide

your attention ,and cause you to lose a particl e . Oh thus

,

thus onl y can the angel s sing Had but my Mother heard

it too“ But I know not how it happens that I have never

wished for my Mother more, than when looking at

Therese de Stein, Baron Stein’s second daughter .

’6 I

know my mother woul d feast upon her face, she possesses

what my Mother woul d call the dignity of beauty,’of

whi ch I had heard much more than I had ever seen in

l ife,till I saw her—but I must not digress upon this

inviting subj ect.On Sunday

,after church, I went into the garden ,

but

had scarcely entered it, when Charl es call ed to m e from a

window to come in immediately . He had been at Mr .

Niebuhr’s , and brought the intell igence (which I willmention beforehand, turnedout to be fal se, however creditedby Consalvi himsel f) that a counter -revolution had brokenout in Napl es

,and that the carbonari troops , in despair , were

advancing through Tivol i to plunder Rome with all speed

b efore the arr ival of the Austrians —~con sequently that Imust pack up , and be ready to set Off at an hour’s notice,whenever we shoul d hear that the Pope had commencedhis j ourney to Civita Vecchia . My Mother wi ll easily

Afterwards Countess Kielmannsegge . Her grandson, Graf Groben,is new the only representative of Stein .

SHADOW S . 171

bel ieve that I had not much appetite for my dinner, whi chat that moment was brought on the table . It was thenabout three O’clock, and till eight O

’clock in the evening I .

never sat down, but continued runn ing about the house,coll ecting things together, and giving di rections . About

ten ,it was ascertained that no counter-revolution had

occurred, and that there was no imm edi ate danger of the

approach Of the Neapol itans , consequently we went tobed

,and sl ept in peace, and I was so fresh again the next

day , that I went to a great ball given by Madam e Appony’c‘

on account of the Emperor ’s birthday, whi chWas the fin estféte I ever saw .

How li ttl e I have said of my darling chi ldren . Theyare well , and merry, and good, and engaging : whi chever

of the three I look at, I always imagine it is that chi l d in

particular that I wish most to Show to my Mother .

”

14 Feb,1 82 1 .

—The gl orious weather lately has occasioned my being much in the garden with my dearchildr en

, weeding , and hoeing, and teaching my lazy boyto carry away the weeds in his wheelbarrow . Then when '

I have gathered oranges for my boys, and given them to

the maid to peel , I sit down in the sun, and r ead. Mydarl ing Mary is happy in the house , and happy in thegarden

,and thinks nothing so gr eat amusement as being

jumped by her own mother, whil e the nur se plays with

her .“ 9 March, 1 82 1 .

- I must try to give my Mother some

account of people that I have seen this winter . The

family of the Baron de RedenjL have been here a year and

Austrian ambassadress in Rome.1' Hanoverian Minister.


a hal f. We were introduced to them soon after theirarr ival , and as they had regul ar evenings for r eceiving

company, we ought to have gone to their house, but I wastoo unwell all last wi nter and spring to take so muchtroubl e , and Charl es therefore excused him self .

“When,at l ength, Charl es and I went together to

Madam e de Reden ’s,and were r eceived and attended to

in such a manner throughout the evening,that any

str anger who had taken notice,must have supposed we

coul d be nothing l ess than the Prince and Pr incess of

Denmark, of all per sons now in Rome . We have sincer enewed our visits as often as we could, and always

r eceive the most pressing soli citation s to con tinue to do so

With Madame de Reden herself , wi th her eldest daughter,*and her ni ece

,Mademoisell e Wurmb , I have gr eat pl ea

sure in conversing, particul arly wi th the eldest daughter ,who I bel ieve has both heart and head, andwhom I wishI had opportunities of seeing otherwi se than in a mi xedsociety : we m eet Baron Stein there sometimes, and manyother peopl e , and there is always music of one sort orother . That there is something in Char les wor th knowing,

all peopl e know in time, and some peopl e find out at once

(l ike Baron Stein)— but to the Redens in the first instance

the attraction in us both, was the circum stance of our

l iving to ourselves , and yet not l iving wi thout society.

“ Charles has lately been much occupied with BaronStein . Al l who know him

,or coul d imagine his sort

of character, woul d feel that he is one of that class of

Henri etta de Reden , afterwards godmother to Emil ia Henriettade Bunsen , continued to the end of her life—as a chanoinesse of one of

the S tzfl e of North Germany, an intimate fri end of the Bunsen family.


174 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUN SEN .

room ? ’ I assen ted,and we went across , but that I might

not seem to force myself upon him ,I moved towards a

chair at a li ttle di stan ce from that of which he was going

to take possession,but he showed the chair next to his

own ,and asked if I woul d not Sit there, as I

‘

shoul d hear

well in that place . Just after,the greater par t of the

assembly found it better to make their retreat to the outerroom

,—when Baron Stein said to me We j udged r ight in

r emain ing here . ’ These are petty detail s which would

seem very empty to anybody el se— but I thi nk they wi llhelp my Mother to form an i dea of Baron Stein ’s power of

conferring an obli gation by m eans of hal f a word or

motion .

“Will i am (Waddi ngton ) has been in Rome for some

time, and I have that to tell of him , which will gr eatlyshock you . He is i ll of a fever with li ttl e hope of r e

covery Charl es intends to watch for a lucid interval ,to warn him of his danger .

“ 10 Mar ch,1 82 1 .

—I did not thi nk my own dearest

Mother when I l eft off writing yesterday that I shoul d seepoor Will iam expire to-day at five o’clock ! far l ess did I

anticipate the satisfactory feel ings wi th wh ich I have

watched hi s last moments . H e received the Sacrament

with perfect coll ectedness , j oined in every r esponse, spokeoften to Charl es of hi s Sin s and offences , but reiterated theassuran ce of his faith in God’s mercy through the m eritsof our Saviour . My Mother will not wish me to write

more . I am much worn ,but she must not be afraid that

I shall be il l .

”

14 March,1 82 1 .

— I have ventured to take off my

darl ing Mary’s l ong sl eeves

,and have now the constant

SHADOW S . 175

ltreat of seeing her arms . I f I could describe anythingso

round or beautiful as they are — or anything so beam ing

a s her eyes , or so pretty as her mouth, her chin ,her thr oat ,

the nape of her neck, her shoul ders l— and She is the merp

r iest thing in the world and engaging beyond al l concep

t ion , and, my Mother , she is eight m onths old'

Mr . andMrs . Niebuhr ’s two concerts, one in honour ofBaron Stein ,

the other in honour of Prince H ardenberg,

96

have excited a prodigious sensation (in al l peopl e of

surprise, in many of pl easure), and an opening was m ade

for proposing a continuance of the same performances , theexpenses to be defrayed by a subscription . Al l the princes

in Rome , and all the ambassadors , immedi ately subscribed,and

,of course, such names as theirs secured at once a more

than sufficient number of other names . The tickets were

signed and the business managed entirely by Charl es andKestner

,the Hanoverian Secretary of Legation (who is ,

bye the bye, the son of Werther’s Lotte—J—a very excell entperson , and very good friend of ours). Two concerts havetaken place , and have been a most exquisite indul gence .At the third it has been settl ed that the society of Sirleti

shall togetherwith the singers of the Papal Chapel performthe Miserere of Marcell o . I have onl y yet heard the rehear sal—but alas ! myMother , I am spoil t by Pal estrina . I

am at a loss to conceive how ' I ever could l isten withpl easure to Marcel lo—it seems to me now so empty , so

unconnected, so unm eaning, so unmelodious I But it i snevertheless a great happiness to have heard the best of thebest

, even though I may never hear it more after I haveleft Rom e, for the recollection of it i s better than the sen

The Prussian Prime-Mini ster.


sation produced bywhat is inferior . Oh , if my Mother didbut know Palestrina , having only heard the Miserere of thePapal Chapel

,I fear she can scarcely imagine, however

she may bel ieve , of what infinite var i ety of effect and con

ception that style of composition is susceptibl e .The Miss Berry

’s were at the concerts , and each time

h appened to sit close to me, therefore I had a ful l Opp‘

or

tunity of observing their behaviour , and hearing their

conversation . I n the fine and fashionabl e dress—thetoques

,and the caps, the satin ,

the gauze, and the blonde

in which they are always attired, it is out of my power to

r ecognise the l ittl e woman whom we saw one morning at

Mrs . W . Lock’s ; but I observe that the Miss Berry whoappears by far the youngest, and is the tall e st, with a verygood and youthful figur e, is the person who has the harshvoice

,the di ctatorial tone, and the keen black eyes . The

other Miss Berry looks much m ilder, is qu ieter in her

manner, and speaks neither so much nor so l oud. The

first-mentioned attacked Charl es at one of the concerts (for

her speaking to anybody has the appearance of an attack)to ask the very l earn ed question , whether Palestrina had

not l ived just before Marcell o .

96 Baron Stein mentioned

the Miss Berry’s to Charl es in thi s manner There

is an old woman who goes about Rome with a youn gersister of sixty or seventy year s of age. She is always

talking about Horace Walpol e : I have given her to understand that I despise the man

, but nothing can keep her

qui et on the subj ect .“ 2 May, 1 82 1 .

—Thi s day se’nnight I went to Madame

de Reden’s . We did not arrive till ten , because Charles

Palestrina, 1529—94. Marcello, 1686—1739 .



liked as well as Frascati or Genzano . Still,if we can find

a house to sui t us , we shall probably settl e here for thesummer . Frascati , alas ! can hardly be considered as

secur e, on account of the bands of robber s ; that is to saythe town is no doubt secur e, but it would be too tantal ising

to inhabit it wi thout feeling at liberty to visit my favour itehaunts

,and the road to Mondragone, and the wood to

wards Grotta Ferrata,are too li ttl e frequented to be safe

,

since the robbers onl y the week before last carr iedOff from

Camaldoli seven poor monks,in hopes of extorting a

ransom from the governm ent .“ I n the l etter my Mother wrote, on fir st hear ing of

Willi am ’s death, it struck me very much that she should

have comm ented on Charl es’s fetching me, without myhaving said anything to suggest to her the keener sense,or rather the increased exper ience, I had had of his value—of hi s more peculi ar value to a person const ituted as Iam— from al l the circumstances attending Will iam ’s last

illn ess . From the first moment I knew he was seriously ill

my Mother will well beli eve that the wish to be personallyof use was perpetuall y recurring, but as often checked bythe considerati on that the fever was bel ieved to be infec

tious,and that with my three chil dren born

,and another

to be born it was not my duty, to expose mysel f to any

r isk . Those feel ings were the same , but I was of course

more disturbed by the confli ct, on the morning of the last

day, dur ing the hour s that I sat at home ,— very glad thatI had a frock to make for Ernest

, with which my handscould proceed mechanical ly, andvery glad that my childr en

were pl eased to run from one room to another, so that I

coul d see and hear them , without being call ed upon to

SHADOW S . 179

attend to them . But I never said to Charl es that I wishedto go toWill iam ,

satisfied that he knew my feel ings, andthat if it was r ight he woul d prepose to me to go — though

when he came to fetch m e,it was a rel ief which I as it

were expected, without having done anything to procureit for myself . I n the hurry of spirits in whi ch I l eft the

house with him , I forgot to put in my pocket my l ittl e

prayer-book , which I afterwards on the way regretted,as

I thought it m ight have assisted me in findi ng words of

consolation ; but on consideration of the whol e of the

dying scene, I am convinced the book woul d have been of

no use . When I made one or two attempts to r epeat textsof Scriptur e, Willi am evidently received no benefit—there

was not the look andmovement of eager assent, which in

variably foll owedwhen Charl es or I expressed in our own

words our own convictions . A remarkable instance wasthis—I had repeated the words of our Saviour to the

pen itent upon the cross , and Will iam did not seem toattend. A few m inutes after , Charl es said to him ,

Mindthat

,Will iam,

—our Savi our said Tod ay— immediately

,

wi thout any interval of time, when this agony is over, youwil l be tr ansported to H is bl essed presence , if you do butbel ieve in H is atonement

,if you do but trust alone in H is

intercession : and then Will iam turned hi s head and

eyes with the greatest an imation ,as i f he was imbibing a

cordial from every word . I mention this because everything that marks a state of mind i s interesting to myMother.”

“ A lbano, 1 6 July, 1 82 1 .—My precious Mary has been

very il l— but i s mending daily .

”

28 Julg.—My Mother, I wish I knew how to persuade


you that I am a stock or a stone, and that I do not feel II t has pl eased God to take my Mary from me — coul d I

but spare you the pain these words wil l occasion !On Sunday, the 22nd of Jul y, her bir thday, at noon

she ceased to breathe, and seemed not to suffer —andfrom

that hour,my Mother, my agony has been abating—God

has supported me,0 how has He supported me ! in body

andm ind. For the last four days of her l ife, besides the

anguish of perceiving that I was to lose her , I feared to.

become di stracted at the thought that I had brought herto this state

,by venturing to wean her but it is the signal

m ercy of God which has r emoved from me the sting of

that refiection ,—of myself I had no power to qu iet my own

m ind, as it is quieted . The meditations of every hour, on

what she was, and on the circumstances that preceded her

dissolution , strengthen me in the conviction that she was

not made for this world, and that no adequate cause canbe foun d for the sudden decay of all her vital powers,except that it was the good pl easure of God to remove herfrom sin

,and sorrow,

and suffering, to early bl essed

ness,after a life of undi sturbed en j oym ent during el even

months, and during the twelfth month of gradual decline,with but l ittle pain ,

for she never cried, and rarely uttereda sound of complaint . She gently made her wants to be

understood, which were to drink, and to be carr ied about ;

—and gently, without fretfulness, r ej ectedwhat she wouldnot have, waving her sweet hand, and turning away herl ovely head. A rapid loss of flesh

,and an indescribable.

m elancholy from the very beginn ing, were signs of a

degree of illness to which no other Sign s adequately corresponded

,and these indications of danger weighed upon



that the moment was near at hand ; before that time, I

had the bed on which she lay carried into another room ,

where the air was fresher . She looked up, and around,With ful l intelli gence , and was evidently aware of the

change of scene . Before this , I had kissed her cheek, it

was the last time I had seldom kissed her before in the

last days , I coul d not do so without a bur st of sobbing,which it was my duty to avoid. I put my Ernest to sleep,and laid him at the foot of her bed. I then gave myH enry his bark, and as a reward for taking it well , was

bound to take him in my lap . I sate by her bed : I

glanced my eye from time to time,and at length perceived

a change of tinge which warned me net to look again .

Maddalena continued to moisten her l ips . The physicianentered and asked me how she did. I answered accordi ng

to my conviction . After a moment Maddal ena suppli catedm e to l eave the room

,— I understoodher and knel t down by

the bed : in another moment al l was over , without sound,without struggle . I knel t there som etime longer , al l theservants knelt with m e— then

,I went into the next room ,

and l eft her whom I had never l eft,to Maddalena and

Angeli na— I dared not remain,dared not look upon her.

“ It was my Charl es’s severer trial not to be present . The

two preceding days he had been bound to labour incessantly at Home with Mr . Niebuhr . Al l would neverthel esshave been l eft, however at another time necessary, had heknown the real state of hi s child

,— but it was a cruel

circum stance, that I had written him word of materialamendment on Saturday morn ing, for so it seemed— someanimation had returned, she had taken food

,her thir st

had abated, she was not restl ess,she had sl ept so sound

SHADOW S. 183

for many hours ! But from four o’clock, when the l etterwas sent, it became plain , even to me

,that the remainder

of l ife woul d only be m easured by hour s— al though howmany hour s, my inexperience di senabl ed me from caleu

lating . By the pecul i ar m ercy of God, I never fel t like

many mothers in affliction ,that I coul d not bear the sight

of my remaining childr en,—on the contrary , it comforted

me . Not long after their bl essed sister was at peace, itwas tim e for them to have their di nners , and they dined at

the tabl e near which I sat, andwatched them . When the

heat Of the day had abated, I put on their tippets to walk

out w ith Francesco and Annunziata : I mysel f went with

Angeli na on the road towards Rome, to meet my poor

Charl es : Maddal ena remained watching by her who no

longer needed any of our care .“ That night , my Mother, I did not sl eep, but I lay in

peace , thinking of her, who was perhaps near me, though

unseen . The next day, I was seized with a craving to

look at her, which however I woul d not gratify unknownto my Charles , and he dissuaded me : he was right . That

afternoon I drove out with him and the childr en to Ar iccia ;—when I returned, I wanted again to see her— and heardthat she was enclosed . O in thi s climate

,it gives an addi

tional pang, that all must so soon be over— that al l , thatl ittle, that can be done !

The next day , Tuesday the 24th , I left my Henry and

Ernest for the first time,andwent with Charles to Rom e

our angel was before us, but we could not see her . Afterthe fir st pang was over, I passed the drive in great peace .We approached Rome by the gate of St . Sebastian

,then

drove without the wall s to the gate of St. Paul , close to


the pyramid of Caius Cestiu s ; it was within an hour of

sunset,rather before the time fixed

,whi ch was good for

me. I walked up and down on the grass, and afterwards

sat under a tree ; then advancedwith Charles towards thespot. Schmieder (my mother knows the name of the chap

l ain to the Embassy) advan ced to meet us . He said,turning to me The Lord support you .

’ I said,He has

He said again ,

“Let not your faith failandH is grace will never fail . ’ I repeated He has been

We came to the spot : to see the bier,

the grave, was very bad. Schmi eder began to speak, and

as he proceeded,I breathed easier ; he said only what I

knew before, but it struck me with new force,and all

pangs abated as he uttered the prayers . H is wife strewed

flowers , and then the earth was cast—I thought I couldnot have borne that, but before it was finished the words

of the angel to the apostl es struck me Why seek ye the

l iving among the dead ? He i s not here ! — and I looked

no l onger down ,but l ooked up into the cl ear sky, and

supported me .

all -gracious to me .

again I was at peace . Then,I turned to depart , and was

again overcome by the sight of Mr . Niebuhr ; with emotionthat I shall never forget—he, who is so often complainedof for not showing emotion ,

after taking our hands,threw

himself down ,to touch the earth that covered her— then

came with us to the carriage,inqui red after Henry and

Ernest,and suppl icated Charles not to l eave me

, saying if

there was business , what he could not despatch al one,should wait. I had not expected to see him ; he had

alr eady written to us, expressing from him self and hi s

wife such grief , that I thought, considering their weak

state of heal th, each woul d work upon the other to stay



seen her suffer ings,her grief, her despair, and her moments

of agony 0 this angel was beautiful , l ovely, indeath as she was in l ife

,only with that expression Of quiet

suffering which never left her face in the last six weeks ;

It was harder than anything that I coul d not be with her ,kneel by her bed and gaze on her, only a few stol enmoments ! O dearest lovel iest face, 0 mild angel ic couné

tenance ! now I have fel t what it means that a purespiri t returns to God to be a min istering angel to Him .

There is no pain ,no grief in my heart, but a l onging,

an irresistibly all ur ing attraction to think of her, to look

up to her,to pray to be with her ! It has been onl y

after her death that I have told F . how Often,partii

cularly in the last six months of her health, I have

pressed her to my heart, and gi ven her suddenly awaybecause I fel t we couldnot keep her, because I fel t I l ovedher too much

,far beyond any other l ove, and because she

was too l ike an angel , in beauty and l ovel iness and still

more in every glan ce of her soul . You coul d not give her

any particul ar character— l ively, serious , sanguine, melan

choly, she was nothing but love and lovel iness .”

MADAME BUNSEN to her MOTHER.

“A lbano, 4 August, 182 1 .—My m ind is tranquil now,

and I seldom or ever shed a tear. I employ myself ineverything as usual , without effort, and the onl y thing I

cannot do, i s to speak of her— the thought is ever present,but wi ll not bear utterance . We have here a very

'

de

lightful sitting-room , where my precious boys play‘ about,

and run on the balcony to look at the carts and asses andmules , that pass along the street, whi l e I sit working or

SHADOW S . 187

setting work on a smal l bed that is arranged as a couch

At twelve o’cl ock the boys have their dinner and after

wards sl eep . I then dine,and li e down for an hour , either

to read or to sl eep . When the heat of the day is past, we

walk out ; my favourite walk is the Vil l a Barberini , whichI think myMother n ever saw . We r eturn hom e at sun set,my boys sup , and before I go to bed, I write out somethingfor my Charles, when he is not here,—when he is , he reads

to me .

“ From the time my child expired, it has become moreandmore cl ear to me that she was never intended for me,

or for this world : she was, in soul and body, too perfect

to dwel l here . I may bel ieve myself competent to n e

of the comparative m erits of childr en ,because I have two

others, who always were very dear, and very engaging

but from the first they gave sign s of human passions,human imperfections

, which she never did,—always con

ten ted,always happy, though with more animation , more

intel l igence,than I ever saw in any other child . Nowords

can convey an idea of her sweetness , her affection to herparents , more especiall y to me . I can for ever feel her arms

clinging round my n eck, her face pressed against me—O !blessed be God for having granted her to me, though forso short a tini e !— nobody that has not had such a childcan conceive the joy she was—and there is no joy in thi s

world to be purchased without pain,the one exqui site in

proportion to the other I have wished, my Mother,

since I lost my angel , more keenly than ever, that you hadseen her , but then I have fel t that it is better as it isyou grieve for me

, O I know how you grieve for me 3 buthad you seen her , you would so have lovedher , so have fed


upon the sight of her,that you woul d have had a weight

of affliction more in her death,and you have alr eady

afflictions enough .

”

On the 4th Of November , the feast of S. Carlo

Borromeo, descr ibed by Bun sen as the most venerabl eof all m odern saints, and one of the m ost respectabl e ofthem al together ,” the bir th of Charles Bun sen broughtback som ething of sun shine to the sorrow-str icken

household. The extrem e sympathy and in terest shownby the Niebuhr s at thi s time, as well as after the deathof Mary, m ade Madam e Bun sen most anx ious to efface

any unf avourabl e impression She m ight have imprintedon her mother ’s m ind at an earli er per iod of her inter

course with them .


12 Dee,1 82 1 .

—Til l I have accompl ished the point Iam qui te sure of accompl ishing— getting my Motherthoroughl y to understand, and value

,and admi r e Mr .

Niebuhr, which she cannot do til l she is possessedof facts ,

anddetail s, and explanations , that can never be thoroughlygiven by l etter,— she cannot conceive the pl easure I exper ienced from the indescribabl e kindness with whi ch hegreeted and congratul ated me after the birth of my

child .

”

JVew Year’s Dar/g, 1822 .

—The fir st year of severe trialthat I ever passed, is closed,— and I begin the new year incomfort of body andmind, such as I never before experi

enced—confidence, that if tried, I shall be supported, as I



strength of Ernest, who walked three-quarters of the di stance, she coul d not judge, without feeling the weight hehas to carry— O if she could but feel it ! I know she

woul d delight in hi s size, however l ittl e abl e to li ft him ; it

is as much as I can do to raise him from the ground,al though when he is once up , I can carry him very well on

my back .

We went to the church of S . Pietro Montor io on the

Janicul an ,passing over the bridge Quattro Capi ,— the nur se

carr ied l ittl e Charl es, who sat up and looked about him all

that di stance . H enry and Ernest walked l ike men, the

form er wi th his mother, the latter between hi s father and

An gel in a, having need of two hands to pul l him on . After

l ooking at the prospect, which was indescribably magnifi

cent, in the finest possibl e weather, and going into the

church, we proceeded to the Fontana Paol ina, whi chextremely del ighted the chi ldren , and the nur se not l ess,and then to the top of the hill , where we went out at the

gate of S . Pancrazio, and retur ned down the hill on the

outside of the wall s, re-enteredRome at the Porta Portese,and came by Ripa Grande, and Ponte Quattro Capi , home .Mr . Brandis was married on the 2nd of September .

”

Feb. 13,1822 .

—On Mondaymorning I wentwith Charles

to Thorwaldsen’s studi o . I had not been for an age, andI saw, with wonder and admi ration ,

his statue of our

Saviour— the most di fficul t obj ect, without doubt, that heever attempted, and one of the most remarkabl e proofs of

hi s inexhaustibl e genius . It was not till two years ago

that he ever executed a religious subj ect,and then ,

in com

pliance with the wi shes of the Crown Prince of Bavaria, he

made a design for a has-rel ief of the thr ee Marys at the

SHADOW S . 191

Sepul chr e which was a compl ete fail ure, and he himselffel t it to be such, and spoke in a tone of despair of the

whole undertaking . Since that tim e he has been tr avel

ling, and doing nothing— but has medi tated til l he hascomprehended the characteristics of that reli gi on : the spir it

of whi ch he alas ! has never imbibed ; and the resul t has

been the execution of colossal statues of Chr ist, of St . Paul

and St . Peter, in a styl e that his best friends amongst judgesof the art never expected him to be abl e to acquir e . The

chur ch in Copenhagen in which these statues are to be

placed is to be buil t in the form of a basili ca— that is to

say, l ike S . Paolo fuori le Mura— onl y not so large bymany degrees . I n front i s to be a portico l ike that at thePantheon

,and on the pediment is to be a bas-r eli ef of the

Bapti st preaching in the Wilderness, of which Thorwaldsen is to make the design , and which he wishes to have

executed in terra-cotta , a mater ial more endurabl e thanmarbl e when exposed to the weather . In the inside of the

chur ch, in the centre of the tribune, or semicircul ar apse at

the opposite extremity to the entrance, i s to be placed the

colossal statue of our Savi our , and in ni ches in the side

wal l s of the church , statues of the twelve apostles , al so ofcolossal dim ensions . Thorwaldsen explains his own intention to have been to represent our Savi our as recall ing to

the mi nds of hi s di sciples in all ages what He had done

and Suffered for them ,and inviting them to come to Him

and dreading the appearance of the small est degree of

theatrical effect , he aimed at the utmost simpl icity of atti

tude the head is bent forwards,the arms are gently raised

and extended on each side, one hand neither higher norl ower, neither more nor l ess stretched out than the other ;

192 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONE SS BUNSEN .

so that if the consummation of ease,grace, andmaj esty had

not been attained,the figur emust be stiff and unmeaning .

The countenance is very, very fine— to call it qui te satisfactory would be saying too much . but what r epresenta

tion of our Saviour could be so — to my feel ings, thi s headof Thorwaldsen’s is the finest with whi ch I am acquainted,except that by Raphael in the

‘Disputa .

’ 9‘ Of other newthings I was best pl eased with a has-rel ief representing

Nemesis reading to J ove from a scroll the record of human

actions—he li stens ti ll hi s wrath kindl es , and he is preparing to cast the thunderbol t. I saw executed in marblethe Mercury, and the Hope, whi ch I had seen long ago in

clay ; I am sure that the Mercury is the finest of Thor

waldsen’s works .

After Thorwaldsen ’s scul ptur e in the morning, and an

historical -phil osophi cal -poetical discussion with Kestner in

the afternoon ,how do you thi nk we spent the evening ?

I n seeing the Puppet-show,at the theatre under Palazzo

P iano— and indeed, nothi ng could be better of its kind.

Mr . PertZ ]L accompanied us, a friendof Baron Stein, whom

we very much l ike .

Thorwaldsen bel ievedhimself to have reached the cl imax of hi s

powers in his statue of Chr ist. “ I never was sati sfied,” he said,

wi th any work of my own till I executed the Christ —andwith that,I am alarmed to find that I am satisfied ; therefore, on the way

towards decay .

”

1‘ George Henry Pertz was agent to the association establishedby

Baron Stein for discoveringand collecting unpublished materials of

German history . I n this cause, to the end of his life, be editedMonumenta Histories Germanicae .

”He alsowrote the Life of Stein .

He was di rector of the archives at Hanover, and afterwards principall ibrarian at Berlin . His secondw if e was Leonora, daughter of LeonardHom er the hi storian . He died in 1876.



I fir st related tomy darl ing H enry the story of our Saviour ’sl ife

,and sufferings

,and resur rection — and I shal l never

forget the manner in whi ch he l istened,cli ngi ng to m e

closer and closer, and looking up in.

my face as if he feared

to lose a word. It was a natural transition to tell him of

his sister,and of the state of the bl essed ; and he promi sed

that he woul d be good, that he might go to GesuCristo .

’

17 June.—I hope that the Princess of Denmark I

mean the wife of the Heredi tary Prince) is adm ired in

England, and I shoul d be much surpri sed if she was not,for her per son and demeanour appeared to me pecul iarlya dmirabl e . I thought her very Engli sh

,but remind

ingone of pictures rather than of life,of those tim es when

the character of the face seemed to be communicated to the

dr ess , not when indi vidual ity was lost in fashi on . She

used at Rome’ to dress her beautiful chestnut-coloured hairlike Sachar issa, but had not features as regular : the toneof her voice is indescribably melodious, and her manner ofspeaking as agreeabl e as possibl e . She is not happy inher marr iage, her husband being good for l ittl e or nothi ng,and appearing quite indifferent to her, attractive as she is ,now that she is no longer a novelty : though he marriedher for what is called l ove ; and she has hi therto longed invain for the charm a chi ldwould give to her existence,submitting with a good grace to what she feel s to be so

empty and joyless as a l ife of representation . When Mr s .

Niebuhr at her command brought her children to Showher, she watched them at play with the most an imateddelight, but at l ength burst into tears , saying that sheenvied everyone that had a child .

“ At a ball at Madame Appony’s the winter before last,

SHADOWS . 1 95

I was mortified to compare the Princess Of Denmark,Therese de Stein

,and a Mil anese Donna Cam ill a Falco

nieri, with the Engl ishwomen who were there, although

many of them were very pretty, in particular two Miss

Howards, but with such a want of indi vidual ity, that I

should be at a los s to recogn ise their faces again . I have

often attentively contemplated the profil e of Therese de

Stem,

"in the hope of r ecal li ng it,to be abl e to send it to

my mother, but it is no easy undertaking, and it woul d atlast give no idea of her brilli ant dark eyes , or of the fine

muscle s , or, more properly speaking, as yet dimpl es, Of hermouth. I shall wish, but almost fear, to see ten years

hence what expression these muscl es have assum ed . As

yet her countenance has only a general cast of seriousness,although a capability of any expression . I shoul d say

that she has already been abl e to form a sufficient notionof trial , to prevent the most disfiguring of all appearances

,

that of disappoin tment : and al though with youth, heal th,beauty, r iches , the consciousness of being the delight of herfather’s l ife , and the only person who has any influenceover him, itmight be said she must be too happy, she has a

source of trial near to her who must successful ly dash hercup of brill i ant joy .

’ It might seem strange to writesuch a number of detail s of a person my Mother n ever saw ,

but it seldom happen s to m e to see anythi ng that I feel surewould meet with my Mother’s unqualified approbation .

”

12 Sep t ,1 822 .

— Charl es is not able to write to you ,as

he must din e with Prince H enry of Pru ssia ]L That personage I have never before named

, yet he has l ived in

Afterwards Countess Kielmannsegge .

1: Younger brother of KingFrederick W ill iam I I I .


Rome ever since the Neapoli tan revolution,and certainl y

m eri ts m ention from singularity . His manner of l ife isabsolu te r etiremen t, shutting him self up with hi s books,and not seeing any of his attendants except at dinner, whenit may be his pl easure to dine, but that i s not his pleasureoftener than three times a week , when he dines veryheartily ; the intermediate days he takes nothing but a di shof strong coffee and a mouthful of bread

,though wherefore

he foll ows thi s plan ,it has never pl eased him to expl ain .

Sometim es he never sti rs out of the house for threemonths ,and afterwards takes a fit of walking . He had the l atterfit all thi s summer, and chose the

_

hour s between twelve

and thr ee for hi s exercise, probably because at that time

of day he was certain not to meet so much as a cat stir r ing

abroad,that could possibly find Shelter w ithin doors . He

often gi ves di nners, and li sten s to conversation with fix ed

attention,showing approbation and disapprobation , but

rarely uttering more than a monosyllable ; he once cal l edon Mr . Niebuhr

, on his arr ival in Rom e,but has never

call ed on anybody el se , except Cardinal Consalvi , and has

never summoned r esolution to visit the Pope . He is a man

of gr eat l earning, and understands a greatmany languages .

He has a universal interest in pol itical affairs,and takes in

newspapers from England,France

,and Spain ,

as well as

Germany : he has served with distinction in the army, andis said never to have recovered his spiri ts Since he was

refused a particul ar command he had wished to have inthe last war . He is advantageously distinguished amongGerman princes by l iberali ty in money-matters , pen sioningpersons that had been in his service at any part of l ife, orin any place ; always giving, when a claim is made upon



impossibl e by hi s duty to hi s sover eign after hi s appointm ent as Coun sel l or of Legation on the occasion ofthe King’s second visit to Rom e as he was return ingfrom Napl es

, and by hi s fur ther appointm en t as Chargéd’

Aflaires on the departure Of Niebuhr fr om Rom e in

the foll owing March .


“ 14 N bo.,1 822 .

—Charles is running every day and al l

day long after Kings and Princes . I am sure I havereason to l ong for the King of Prussia’s departure , for hei s in such a state of good-humour and activity , and is so

well entertained wi th everything, that it i s his pl easure to

run a bout from eight O’clock in the morning til l dark ,

with only a Short interval for dinner . He l eads the way,attended by Mr . Niebuhr and Al exander von Humboldt,and the two Princes fol low ,

attended by Charl es , who i s

often call ed by Mr . Niebuhr to explain things to the King,in particul ar the churches, which Mr . Niebuhr says heunderstands better than himself . Charles has every reason

to be satisfied that these royal personages like his company,which is some consolation under the bodily fatigue, wasteof time and spirits they occasion . I must complain a l ittl eof my m isfortunes I am obliged to get up regularly in thdark, and hurry on som e clothes to give Charl es his break

fast in time for him to be in attendance at half-past seventhen I never know what hour to expect him to dinner, forthough the King fixes his dinn er-time at two o’clock

,he is

very apt when busily engaged to make his dinner wait.Yesterday however was the worst day ; in the course of

the morning the King sign ified to Charles his wis h that he

SHADOW S . 1 99

should dine with him ; they continued so late seeing sightsthat Charl es could not even escape to change his dress , and

he had nobody to send to let me know, therefore after

waiting and wondering till four o’clock, I dined alone .

Charl es after hi s dinner drove about again with the

Princes,and then attended them to see the illum ination

of St . Peter’s, and the Girandola . After that was over,he was di smissed, but hi s labours were not at an end

,for

the King intending to go next day to Tivol i , and requir ing

sixty—four horses ( thirty-two to set Off with, and thirty—two

to change half way, he and his attendants occupying eightcarriages), Charles had to drive about in all di rection s to

rummage out thi s number of horses, some in one place ,some in another ; then he went to report to Mr . Niebuhrthat all was in order, and lastly , at hal f-past el even O

’clock

,

did he get home . At five O’clock this morning he went offto attend hi s Majesty to Tivoli , whence it is the royal pl easur e to gallop back this evening at five O’clock . Charl es is

very much pl eased with the behaviour of the King, who isthroughout di gnified , intell igent, and rational and hel ikes both the Princes

,but in particular Prince Wil li am

,

the elder of the two that are here ; the Crown Pr ince isnot of the party, but is expected in the course of the winter,and probably likes to travel independent of the King

, who

keeps his sons in prodigious awe : of the Crown Prince allparties and person s un ite to speak in the hi ghest terms .”

1 1 Dee,1822 .

— The day after I sent my last letter, wehad a vi sit from the King of Prussia

,the two Princes

,and

their suite , to see the view from our windows , but before Igive further particul ars of the event of that day

,I have to

tel l that the King, two days before his departure north


wards, appointed Charles Counsell or of Legation, of hi s

own free grace and favour , w ithout sol icitation . This is aconsiderabl e advancement in point of rank

, and entitlesCharles to an increase of salary, and the m ost agreeabl ecircum stance attending the transaction is

,that the King

has never been known to grant a similar favour so sud

denly to any person ,and the whol e of his behaviour has

shown from fir st to last the very strong impression thatCharl es’s personal qual ities made upon him . He staid atfirst ten days in Rome, and three more on his return fromNapl es

,and each day took more notice of Charl es than the

preceding, and the two last days , dur ing dinner, and on

every other occasion , m ight be said to have conversed withhim al one, al though he occasional ly spoke to other peopl e ;thi s I was told by Colonel von Schack .

”

16 Feb ,1823 .

—As I have already told of my boys

sitting to hear stories in the evening, I must tell of theirpresen t deli ght ; Ernest begs for the Argonauts

, and

Harpies , and the brazen Bull s , and H enry begs for the

Hercul es , and the Serpents, and the Lion ,and the Hydra

these andmany other mythol ogical tal es Mr. Niebuhr hadwri tten down ,

in the most charming manner possibl e, for

hi s own boy, andwe borrowed the manuscript, and I havebeen very busy this last month in copying it, whenever Ican find an odd half-hour .

“ I had the other even ing a l ong conversation wi th Prince

Frederic of H esse Homburg,about his sister~in~law Prin

cess Elizabeth . H e is a General in the Prussian service,and is l onger in proportion to breadth and thickness thananything that ever was seen except a knitting needl e, there

fore I suppose he must be the very counterpart of his



bir th to her four th son,Freder ick Wilhelm—who l ived

only til l the fol l owing June, when he was laid by hisl ittle sister in the Protestant Bur ial ground.


20Mug, 1823 .—Mr . andMrs . Niebuhr passed through

Rome ten days ago,on their way from Napl es northwards ,

never to return ; it was a very sol emn parting, on manyaccounts ; Heaven only knows when , where, or under

what circum stan ces , we shall m eet again ,or whether we

shall ever again inhabit the same place, as we have done'

for above five years , with the possibility of daily intercour se

,in which time every successive given period has

slowly but surely dr awn the bond closer between us . Mrs .Niebuhr is going to a country in which she is nearly as

absolute a stranger as I shoul d be (having been born and

bred in Holstein ,and having spent onl y the three first

months after her marriage at Berl in ), with many anxiousapprehensions l est a nort hern climate should prove moreinjurious to her husband and chi ldr en than beneficial to

herself,for Mr . Niebuhr has in Italy in a great measure

recovered his health,and the children have thriven asto

nishingly in the country of their birth . I must howeverrej oice on account of their removal , for this last year atRom e she appeared dying by inches . She had sufferedmuch

for years without its appearing, but latterly she showedher sufferings to such a degree, that I hardly th i nk youwould have r ecogn ised her, with holl ow eyes and cheeks ,her colour gone , and her hair grey . At Napl es she exper ienced some rel ief from the inexpl icabl e pains she suffers,

and therefor e recovered a degree of strength, but the air

SHADOW S . 203

‘

Of Rome had again an injurious effect,though she was

only thr ee days here .

That most attaching child, Marcus , parted from m e in

a mann er I shal l never forget, shedding no tear, uttering

no word , but cl ingi ng round my neck as if he coul d not let

me go . It is in general m ore especial ly m elancholy to part

from children ,because you feel that something in your

l ife is utterly at an end,utterly cut Off, for even if you can

anticipate a time for becoming again acquainted with thechild, that acquaintance will be something new,

it cannot

be considered on the part of the chi ld as a continuation of

the form er,for he wil l nearly have forgotten you in the

mean time . That is however a feel ing that I have not in

the same degree experienced wi th respect to Marcus that

child has a heart and understanding so extr aordi nary,that

it is impossibl e not to r eckon upon him as upon a personof formed character . H e entered with hi s whol e soul intothe pleasure of seeing the sea, the shi ps , Moun t Vesuvius ,&c .

,at Napl es , but though he anticipated great delight

from imbibing new ideas on his northward j ourney , he

was neverthel ess very sorry to take l eave of Rome . H is

father took him the last day to the Vatican , and observedthat he was continually humming tunes , whi ch he for a.time disregarded , but at last said, ‘Why are you so inattentive, Marcus ? don’t you l ike to see these things 9

Marcus did not answer , for his eyes were ful l of tears,

which he woul d not allow to come down .

” i f

Mar cus N iebuhr was afterwards pri vate secretary to the Ki ng,and wrote a book on Babylonian History . He married a Frauleinvon W ol zogen Of the family of Schi ller’s w ife, and di ed in 1860. H is

sister Cornelia still lives (1878) at W eimar, as the wife of HerrRathgen , President of the Tribunal.


14 June,1 823 .

- I drove yesterday even ing, my own

Mother,to the Vill a Al ban i

,wi th all the children . It had

rain ed in the morni ng, and therefore the smell of the earthand the trees was deli cious . I enj oyed that , and the inde~scribabl e beauty of the view in the glow of th e setting sun ,

whil e H enry and Ernest were happy beyond al l happin ess

in riding upon al l the Sphinxes and li on s they coul d possibly cl imb upon . Little Charles’s happiness was trottingafter and adm iring his brothers, and trying to get into allthe fountains that came in hi s way . I always recoll ect

when I go to the Villa Al bani having run my last race

there w ith Augusta ; I hope she recoll ects that I beat her .”“ 26 J une

,1823 .

— I wish I knew what words to use, tospare my Mother a part of the shock she wil l feel , on

l earn ing that I have been summoned to resign the treasureso lately granted ; and that my precious Frederic rests bythe side of his angel sister . Be satisfied, my Mother, thatI am not only composed, but thankful ; thankful that itpleased God to take so soon the being that in so short atime was become so dear, for every week of added li fe

woul d have added to the pang of parting ; thankful , thatI was not thus deprived of my li ttl e Charl es, that infan t

preserved almost by mi racl e from the dangers to which he

was exposed by my di stress and exertion s before his bir th ;thankful

,that it was not my first child who was so s peedily

reclaimed ! It is certain that this infant had apecul iar look , a l ook of death

, which I now find struckeverybody that saw him

,and which caused Charl es and

myself continual ly to feel (though we did not express the

feel ing) that we“ shoul d not be allowed to preserve him

still,it is fortunately so diffi cul t to distinguish a decided



When we returned, I went to l ook at my angel at r est.The l ook of pain was gone now ,

al l was peace and lovel iness . I scarcely l eft him for the remainder of the day

,and

there is no describing the sensation ( scarcely to be cal l edpainful )Wi th which I contemplated that form in the beautyof whi ch I had so deli ghted in l ife

,from whose earthly

devel opment I had promised mysel f so much : it was a fitlyframed vessel for an imm ortal

,early-glorified Spir it But

at night I took leave of it— that was a second separation .

I could have wished ever to have kept it there before me .

My sweet Henry had been very sympathising during theil lness of hi s l ittle brother, and Ernest also, in proportionto his age . H enry woul d hardl y l eave him during the firstday of death, and begged that he m ight go to see him

buried,and having heard that he was to be conveyed

away early in the morn ing,woke of his own accord at

half-past four,was very devout during the service

,and

has been particul arly good, docil e , and affectionate eversince .

*

“ My Mother,I entreat you not to be distressed about

me . I assure you that I am very well , and except when Iparted wi th the poor nurse, whose grief was extreme

,and

to whom I shall ever feel bound , for having performed herduty wi th her whol e heart, I have not shed tears ; and I

have too much to do,and too much left to enj oy

,for it to

be possible to feel depressed .

The touching epitaph of the infant chi ldren in the Cem etery of

Caius Cestiu s was written by their mother and rendered in Latin byBunsen . I t concludes w ith the words—“Hi parentibu s non dati , at

monstrati fuer unt ; ut angelorum im aginem ,innocentiae ore expressam ,

grato anim o r ecordantes , beatae eternaeque vi sionis venturum di em

laetiore fide expectarent .”

SHADOW S .‘ 207

It is so compl etely a thing of course, to find in

my Charl es everything— comfort, support, sympathy, the

power of re-an imating— that it had scarcely occurred to meto tell my Mother what she has l ong known . I shal l now

conclude , that I may drive out with my boys ; we shall tryto get in t

o the vineyard where the ruins of the templ e ofMinerva Medi ca stand ; the day is deli ghtful , a fresh northwest breeze, and the di stant prospect as clear as possible

TO-n ight we shal l take H enry and Ernest to see the

Girandola : it is Saturday , the 28th of June,the vigil of

St . Peter .”“ 18 July, 1 823 .

—The destruction of S . Paol o fuori l eMura

, whi ch took place thr ee days ago , has been so un

ceasingly matter of thought and conversation ever since,

that I can scarcely write of any other subj ect . My Mothersaw that church only once, and had nobody with her

,as I

have had since,to Show every par t

,and enabl e her to

becom e attached to the building as I have become but yetI am quite sur e She will be Shocked to know that it has

been seen for the last time , that the fir e has spared butl ittle , and that l ittl e l eft in a state in which it is impossibl eto restore

,or even preserve it . I n proportion as the wall s

and column s cool , they crumble and fall in large masses ;and Charles , who made his way in this morning, says thatit is really inexcusable in the guards who are stationedthere to give anybody leave to do so

,for it is not possible

to answer for the life of any person that ventures underthe porch . On Tuesday

,the 15 th

,some masons and

plumbers were at work on the roof of the church, which

had long wan ted a thorough repair . They were Observed

to be drunk when they went up after their dinners , and a


quarrel took place amongst them ,in the course of whi ch one

of the plumbers threw hi s pan of bur ning charcoal at oneof the masons

,and so utterly were they deprived of reason ,

that so far from coll ecting the coal s, or in any way guarding against mi schief, they did not even bring away the

pan , whi ch has Since been found amongthe ruins : thesefacts the culprits have conf essed . It was not till two o’clock

in the morning that the monks of the monastery adj oin

ing the church received the alarm from some countryfolk travelli ng al ong the road, and as they had to run

to Rome , and rouse the watch to open the city-gate,to

awaken the Governor , and to coll ect the firemen ,two hour s

were unavoidably lost before the latter arrived from Rome

wi th their one engine and their water-carts— so l ittle is the

danger of fir e provided again st in Rome . It is needless tosay that they came too late to be of any use ; till the fir ehad accompli shed its work in consuming the whol e of theroof

,it raged unabated . The greater part , and the finest

of the columns , fell in masses of l ime, andmore that remainstanding are so cal cinated

,that they will probably at the

longest only wait for the storm s of autumn to be laid prostrate . The mosaics of the n inth century are yet standing,but one of the prodigious columns of whi te gran ite thatsupport the arch on whi ch they are fixed, i s split from thesummit to the base . The mosaics produce awonderful effect,being now laid Open to the glaring sun

, whereas they wereformerly dimly di scovered in the twilight of the church .

The beautiful tabernacl e that covered the high altar, awork of the thirteenth century, i s also yet standing , al thoughdamaged . It was an extraordi nary circumstance, that onthe night of the burning of St . Paul ’s we went to bed at



h im rationall y, but when not spoken to by him,he returned

to his psalm s .”

29 August, 1823 .—The death of Pius the Seventh has

made a great impression on the children, when they are

at play they often begin to talk about him ;‘quanto iO

vol evo bene al Papa e adesso é morto,non vede piu,

l ’hanno m esso sotto terra ma é andato in cielo , da

Iddi o, e da GesuChristo, é vero Mama —e o

’s pur e l i zia

Emili a,e la sorel li na, e il fratell ino .

’ I took them to see

the remains of the Pope conveyed by night from Monte

Cavall o to St . Peter ’s, and th ey were perhaps the onlyperson s not disappointed by the spectacl e . I had supposedthat the procession

,consisting as I anticipated of priests

,

andmonks, and friars , and cardinal s, chaunting and carryingtorches , coul d not fail to produce an impressive effect

but there were neither monks, nor friars , nor cardinal s, andonly hal f-a-dozen priests ; the remainder of the train wasmade out of detachments of troops , andfour cannon andam

munition waggons ; and the torches were so thinly strewed,that in narrow streets where the l ight of themoon could not

p enetrate, the procession seemed to be groping its way inthe dark . The most plausibl e explanat ion of this most

unp ontifieul mann er of constituting a funeral procession ,is

that in times past, when there were so many popes of anutterly different character to that of Pius the Seventh, pre

cautionary measures for defending the corpse against theapprehended marks Of just abhorrence on the p art of thepopul ace were absolutely necessary ; it being well knownthat a large band, after having been di sappointed in theirintentions against the remains of Paul the Fourth, of theCaraffa family, proceeded to knock Off the head of one of

SHADOW S . 211

his statues,and after parading it about - the streets, threw

it into the Tiber .“ The remains of Pius the Seventh lay in state one dayat the Quirinal

,and three days at St. Peter

’s,but only for

a few hours of that period was the face r eall y visibl e,having been afterwards covered with a mask . I had

wi shed to have seen hi s countenance in the seren ity of

death,but was prevented going when it coul d be seen .

Al though so advanced in age, and reduced in strength ,Pius the Seventh had a hard struggl e to enter into hi s r est ;hi s death

,after l ife’s longest date

, was simil ar to that of

my bl essed infant on the thr eshold Of existen ce ; hi s chest

continued to pant with convul sive strength,after every

other vital function had ceased ! On Sunday the 1 7th (it

was on Wednesday the 2oth that he was rel eased), he saidto hi s physicians,

‘Perché fate tutte queste cose ? io vorrei

morire,sento bene che Iddio m i vuol r icch iamare and till

speech fail ed him ,he was heard to utter supplications for

r el ease . Hewas Often deli rious , andhis ravings were those

of devotional exercises, from which no voice but that ofConsalvi could rouse him . Consalvi watched by him for

the last thr ee nights , as wel l as days , though his own statewas obviously so precarious , that it is inconceivable howhe can have survived his fatigue and agi tation : he twice

fainted in the course of the lastnight,and coul d hardl y be

brought away from the corpse . It might seem to manypeopl e absur d to sym pathi se in the grief Of a prime-ministerfor the death of hi s sovereign ; but I know not why one

should be den ied the satisfaction of supposing the grief of

Consalvi to spring from a legitimate cause ; to have livedmore than thr ee and twenty years in the confidence of such


an indi vi dual as Pius the Seventh wi thout becomingattached to him , woul d have r equired the insensibili ty of

vice or folly ; and Consalvi is neither a hard nor a weak

man ; he

‘

labour s under the m isfortune of habitually mi strusting hi s fel low-creatur es , but ther e are many instances

to prove that where sufficient evidence has been given of

moral excell ence, he is as capabl e of doing justice to it asany other intelli gent being .

The Obsequies are to continue till the ninth day from the

transportation of the body to St. Peter ’s , and the day after

their term ination ,the 2nd September , the cardi nal s wil l be

enclosed in conclave— l iterally, for all the entrances to theQuirinal arewall ed up, and provision s for the cardinal s andtheir servants are put in through hol es in the wall , which

hol es are sentinell ed by prelates , to prevent commun ica

tion ; and yet, with all these precautions , there never yet

was a concl ave in whi ch the state of parties did not become

publ ic before it cl osed. There are persons who assert that

there are as many candidates as cardinal s,but certain

it is that on the most moderate computation there are notl ess than eight ehep asseggiano,

’ as the Romans call it,that

is, who seek after the Papacy, wherefor e a tedi ous concl avei s to be apprehended. I wish they m ight el ect the

Pope in time to all ow us a breath of fresh air at Frascati

before the winter ; Charles will hardly thi nk him self atliberty to move as l ong as the conclave lasts, and to us it

woul d be no pl easure to go without him .

20 Sep t , 1823 .—On Monday, the 1st September, I

attended in St . Peter’s the last and most sol emn requi emService for the deceased Pope

,andwas much gratified ; the

greater part of it took place in that chapel into whi ch I



before them there is now a nobl e fountain , formed of the

enormous granite crater which my Mother may rememberlay broken in two pieces under the Templ e of Peace the

winter She was in Rom e ; the water, spr ingi ng into the air ,and fall ing into a lake rather than bason

,gl owed and

Sparkl ed in the sun ’s rays , whil e the statues stood aloft

with their shady side towards us , and casting a l ong shadowover the crowd ; behi nd, the fine cypresses

'

ri sing above'

the wall s of the Colonna garden ,and the cupola of St.

Peter ’s in the di stance , compl eted a pictur e, whi ch as toforms

,lights , shades, and colours , was exclusively pecul iar

to Rome . The cardinal s walked two and two, from a l ittl e

church at the other extremity of the summ it of the Quirinal ,with one of the Guardi a Nobil e on each side, and precededby all the attendants who were to be Shut up with themduring the conclave , also by the singers of the papal chapel ,who performed the Veni Creator Sp ir i tus the eff ect of this

might have been as fine as possibl e , but a noisy and di sso

nant mil i tary band at the close of the procession disturbedal l . Within the fir st three hours of the entrance of thecardinals

,the dipl omatic body, and the eccl esiastics and

nobilta, are all owed to visit them ,and Charl es was much

amused to hear the various ways of expressing the compl iments of etiquette on the occasion ; each several person

wishes each several cardinal a happy‘

conclave, concludingwith som e expression to signify the hope of seeing the

cardinal n ext tim e in a different dress , that is , as Pope.

The votes of the cardinal s are coll ected twice every day,andwithin a few days after their entrance they were disturbed in this opera tion by the discovery of a profanespectator, namely, of an owl , which had entered through

SHADOW S . 215

the chapel window . With much troubl e and exertion the

cardinal s contr ived to dr ive the bird of wi sdom from their

assembly,but not without damage to the panes of the

chapel window ,to repair which damage became matter of

much consul tation . Shoul d it be done in broad dayl ight,it was feared many strange suppositions as to the cause

m ight ensue , and that it woul d appear as i f the cardinal s

had quarrel l ed,andthrown their inkstands at each other’s

heads ; wherefore it was j udged prudent to issue orders totheir Eminences’ plumber and glazier to proceed with

l adder and lantern at dead of n ight to replace the broken

panes . One piece of pol icy however was forgotten,that

of giving notice to the sentinel s, who, as it happened,were not asleep when the work was commenced

, and

suspecting that incendiaries were com ing to destroy thewhol e conclave

, were upon the point (as it is said, butthat is certainly a calumny, the Papal muskets never

being arranged for murderous purposes) of firing upon

the workmen , when the matter was explain ed to them .

I give the story as one of those current in Rome,but

cannot vouch for its accuracy, any farther than the circumstances of the operation by m idnight . One of the j okes

to which the story has given rise is truly Ital ian— thatthe owl must have been ‘10 Spirito Santo mascherato .

’

“ From what tr anspired in the first week, it was fearedthat Cardinal Caval chini would have the maj ority of votes

,

and the Romans were in a great fright,for it used to be his

custom to declare during Lent that if ever he was Pope,

he woul d erect a gallows before every publ ic-house,and

hang first those who ate and secondly those who cookedanything but m eagre di et on a fast-day : and to persons

216 LI FE AND LETTERS OF "BARONESS BUNSEN .

who came to him on business , he used to give notice thathe was not in a good humour , or di sposed to attend to

them ,by thr eatening that if they did not instantly retir e,

he would thr ow them down the staircase, or out Of the

window . He was for a short tim e governor of Rome,

when by acts of tyranny correspondi ng to these ‘faconsde parl er ,

’ he made himself deservedly hated ; and yet,

such is the bigotry Of a certain set of cardi nal s,that he has

obtained votes m erely because it is certain that he wil lrather burn than concili ate heretics : however, there is nodanger that he should be Pope, for even if it were

,

possibl e

that he shoul d Obtain a sufficient number of votes,he

woul d without doubt be excluded by the veto whi ch bylong custom i s all owed to the three court s of Austria

,

France, and Spain . Cardinal dell a Somaglia is reckoned

l ikely to succeed, and he would be a very r espectabl e

choice : but according to the example of latter conclaves,the fortunate candidate is never found among those whoat the beginning or towards the mi ddl e of the period of

conclave coll ect the greatest number of votes two or three

parties in general mutually defeat each other’s views , til lthe patience of all i s exhausted, and then they all agree tochoose an indivi dual , Obnoxious to none, but who has notbeen the pecul iar choice of any.

“ It is an indescribabl e gain to me to have now the

daily use of a carriage , for if I had to drag my three boysout walking, as I did two of them last summer (Charl es

then gave me l ittl e troubl e , being carried by his nur se) I

shoul d not very often get out of the house , having eightytwo steps to descend, and then the hill of the Capitol , bothof which must be re-ascended when we return tired from



new Pope’s government have been wise and salutary, if theexecution only proves suitabl e to the design ; they haveconsisted in the rem ission of taxes

, and diminution Of ex

penses . The new Secretary of State is a very respectableman

,both as to understandi ng and character

,but it is

feared he will not at the age of eighty long endur e the

weight of business . The Pope was crowned last Sunday,the 5th , and the spectacl e was r eal ly magnificent ; we hadful l opportun ity of enj oying it, being amongst the fewentitl ed to posts of honour there were no places reservedexcept for the Corps Diplomatique, the present Pope beingresolved to do awaywi th the l ong preval ent abuse of givingas it were exclusive attention to strangers : it is said oei lsare to be enforcedwith great strictness, and even that hats

are to be pr ohib ited in churches .”

“ 3 1 Oct.,1 828 .

— For the latter half of this month the

weather has been beyond description vivifying, andwe have

reason to be thankful for having been abl e to make the

most of it : we have daily spent several hours in one beau

tiful spot or another, and the revival of spring-verdur e ininanimate nature, and of carn ival—merriment in animate

,

has compl eted the effect of weather and prospect. Everytol erable afternoon at this season of the year, every vill a ,vineyard, and garden to which it is possibl e to obtainaccess

,and the roadside to a certain distance out of every

gate of the city, is ful l of peopl e of the l ower and m iddl eclasses, andmost certain it is that general merriment hasa most inspiriting effect, when one has no weight on the

heart to counterbalance its influence . The marked cha

racter given to the di ff erent periods of the year is one ofthe things that I shall most miss when I am no longer in

SHADOW S . 219

Rome and only those who have experienced the effect of

the annually recurring mandate , by all understood, by nonepronounced, to be serious at one time , and gay at another ,can be aware how far this apparen tly arbitrary custom i s

from being frivolous in itself . Am ong the pl aces that

my Mother knows , we have been in Vill a Pamfil i , Vil laAl ban i

,the garden of the Vatican

,and Villa Borghese

nothing out of Paradise was ever more exquisite than

the Vill a Al ban i,in the sun and air Of last Sunday .

Among places that my Mother does not know, we have

enj oyed none more than the vineyards on the side of ‘the

hill behind the garden of the Vatican,and another situated

within the ruin s of the once magnificent Vill a Barberini ,on a l ittle hill between St . Peter’s and the Aventine

,from

whence one of the fin est panoramas might be made . We

have al so been on Monte Mario , where my Mother knows

the cypress—avenue . What I regr et continually when I goto spots in Rome which my Mother has visited, is that sheshould have seen so few,

i f any of them,in the degree of

beauty in which I have known them ; the spl endour of thesummer- l ight and colouring is needed even by the scenesof Italy . I recoll ected the other day by the lake in theVilla. Borghese how chilling the wind was when I wasthere with my Mother, and wished she had experienced thecharm of the scene, in sunshine and still ness .

“We have usually been a numerous party,for as Dr .

Schmieder is on the point of departure , we have made apoint of enabl ing him and his wife to see as much as possibl e of places scarcely accessible to them without a carr iage ; and as they have two chi ldren , whom they as l ittl elike to leave as I l ike to l eave m ine

, you will easily


imagine that it was both convenient and agreeable that

Charl es shoul d on such occasions go on horseback,there

being five chi ldren in the carriage, one merri er than theother . My li ttl e Charl es is always the best behaved, forhowever l ively by nature , he always in a carr iage sits qui testill

,watching the monkey-tricks of the other s ; in a gar

den he helps to play, but is very good, except that heexpects his own Mother to carry him , andwill not all owanybody el se to perform that office .

”



Niebuhr and Bun sen con sidered that am ongst theli ving occupants of Rom e in their time, the Germanar tists al one had any wor th ; and that in their society,as far as their spher e reached, they could som etim es

transport them selves in to a better world.

* The catho

l icism of Overbeck and the two Schadows excludedmany subj ects of conver sation ; and

, besides Schnorr ,Theodore Rhebenitz, a young student from L iibeck ,

theTyrol ese Koch an eccentr ic, petulant man ,

ful l of

just thoughts and bitter sarcasm s ”— and Platnermade a painter by an unlucky accident, -whereas nature intended him for a scholar and hi stor ian — wer e

perhaps most in timate in the circl e of Niebuhr and

Bun sen . That the m odern Germ an school alon e hadstruck out the r ight path ,

andwas pur suing the properaim , could not but be recogn ised by Niebuhr , who hadal ready so early perceived and admi red in the greathistor ical ar ti sts, from Giotto to Raphael

,the compeers

of the ancien t Hell enic school s of art,— brethren in

spir it of Dan te and Goethe . I n spite of the indi vidualdefects and incompl eteness of the early works of thism odern school , Niebuh r perceived in its founder s andtheir production s the vital pr incipl e which aniinated

them in their opposition to the spir it of the age, and

had confidence in that cr eative power which had un iteditself with a clear in sight and a determined wil l .” 1“

See Bun sen’

s Essay on Niebuhr as a diplomatist at Rome, in the

Lebcnsnachr ichten.

1 See N iebuhr’

s Letters. 1816 .

THE CAP I TOLI NE COLONY. 223

The great works of the m odern German school are nowto . be found in Mun ich and Berl in . Two im por tan t

exampl es,however , remain in Rom e . The house of

the Zuccher i (64 Via S istina) has a r oom decorated

with frescoes by Cornel ius, Overbeck, Veit, and Schadow

,the order having been given by the Prussian

con sul Bartholdi,uncl e by m arr iage of Mendel ssohn .

A room in the Casino Massim o,near St. John Lateran

,

i s a m or e impor tant work ; Cornel ius and Overbeck

were employed upon i t, but the form er was obl igedto throw up his engagem en t for the sake of m akingdesigns for the Glyptothek, the latter by i l l

-heal th .

The casino, however , contains a beautiful ceil ingpain ted by Veit with vision s from the Paradisofiand an entrance hal l by Schnorr : the whole wasfin ished by the infer ior hands of F iihrich and Koch .

The fir st settl em en t of the Germ an ar tists in Rom ewas at the Convent of Sant’ I sidore

, wher e they l ivedfor their art

,general ly without any system of worldly

prudence or reflection .

“ Cornel ius i s very poor ,wr ites Niebuhr on Chr i stmas Eve

,1816

,

“ because heworks for hi s conscience and h is own sati sfaction

,and

purchaser s who woul d or could m easure their r emune

ration by the sam e standardare not to be found.

”

Bu t after the Bun sen s settled at the Palazzo Caffarell i , the attraction of their society and kindness

,the

beauty of the situation, and its comparative economy,

There is a noble fresco by Veit in the side chapel of th e Churchof the Trin itade

’

Monti .


drew into their imm ediate n eighbourhood many of theartists who would now rather be sought in the ViaMargutta and the streets near the stranger s’ quarter .

The l ittle Germ an col ony upon the Capitol ine H ill thenoccupied almost an in sul ar position in the centre of

Rome . I t was a world wi thin a world. A bond of

mutual kindness and sympathy seem ed to draw thedwell er s on the Capitol into a great fam ily, whichregardedBun sen as its head.

One of the m ost valued residents on the Capitol forfive year s had been the excel lent chaplain Schm ieder ,who l eft Rom e in the autumn of 1823, to undertake amaster - ship in the great publ ic- school of Pforta nea

'

r

Naumburg in Prussian Saxony. His depar ture was

greatly fel t by the Bun sen s as a present l oss, thoughhi s fu ture post seem ed to promi se an am el ioration of

the tr ial of par ting with hi s boys, when i t Should benecessary to send them to a di stant school for education . The successor of Schmi eder in the Chaplaincy atRom e was Richard Rothe, who was afterwards Professor of Theol ogy at the Uni ver sity of Heidelberg,andwho there contin ued a fr iendship with the Bun senfam ily, which had its strong foundation in the in timacy of Roman l ife .

*

Am ongst the fr iends whose li ves at th is tim e becam eenwoven wi th those of the Bun sens, were the BaronHeinr ich von Arn im and hi s charming wif e, who weretwi ce at Rom e in 1823 on their passage to and from

Dr . RichardRothe died at Heidelberg, August 13, 1867.



Hensol Castl e, afterwards Sir Benj amin Hal l and

Lord 1 l nover . The attachment which pr eceded thi smarr iage had comm enced, as boy and girl , year s befor eMr . Hal l attained hi s maj or ity. After hi s marr iagehe purchased a

'

por tion of the old Llanover estate,

which hi s father- in- law had never been previously abl e

to obtain, on which were the picturesque remain s of an

ancient man sion cal l ed “ the Cour t .” On thi s newlypurchased property, Madam e Bun sen heard with con

stan t interest dur ing the next few year s, that a thirdLlanover mansion was r i sing with in Sight of her old

home,her brother -in- law having decided to make the

place to which his wif e was so deeply attached hi s permanent residence, and Mr . Waddington having madearrangements by which his eldest daughter , whose fateseemed indissolubly connected with Germany, woul d

receive the value Of the moiety of his landed propertyafter hi s death and that of her m other .


8 J an.

,1824 .

-My own dearest Mother,I have begun

the new year with a degree of cheerfulness of spirit whichI would not by any considerations contr ive to l essen , where

fore I have all owed myself to enj oy unrestrained a feel ing

which I am thankful to say gr ows upon me every year, ofconfidence, not in the prosperity of l ife, but in the powerof going through

,w ith God’s assistan ce

, whatever li fe m ay

bring: going through , not as a beast of burden ,groani ng

under the weight imposed , but as a j oyful bearer of theark of the sanctuary : human strength alone is as insuffi


cient to support the weight of a feather as of a mountain,

but with that aid whi ch is ever granted to them that askthe mountain wil l not be more oppressive than the feather.

“ I have some new acquaintance this winter, my own

Mother, who are peopl e I know you woul d l ike : General

Dornberg,hi s wife (who i s a niece of Count Mun ster’s),

their son,and two daughters .* The general has in several

instances in the war shown himsel f quite a hero,and be

l onged to the Duke of Well ington ’s staff at the battl e of

Waterloo . It may truly be said that in person ,manners

,

and conversation,he most completely answers hi s reputa

tion ; so fin e a figure,or so commanding a countenance

,

wi th such handsome features and mild expression,I am

sur e I never saw : his manner has the dignified seriousnessof a thorough Engl ish gentleman

,but at the same tim e a

degree of warmth and cordiality which is in England more

to be found in the lower classes than in those of pol ished

exterior ; but which I cannot but bel ieve must also haveexisted among English gentlemen and gentl ewomen in

better times, when the gregarious m ixture Of al l condition s

in society had not compell ed the higher classes to be

habitually armed at all points in defence of their di gnity .

Madame de Dornberg has the remains of much beauty , or(to quote an expression of M . de Lageard) she was pro

bably“plutOt excessivement j oli e que belle ; ” she is a

thoroughly pleasing and well -bred woman,and the whol e

family have shown me from the first a kindness of mannerthat has truly gratified me .

“ Of General Dornberg I must tell you an anec’dote .

General Dornbergwas at Rome for the health of hi s only son ,

who di ed there July 17, 1824.

228 LI FE AND LETT ERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

After the battl e of Leipzig, when Davoust was retreatingtowards Hamburg, General Morand was commanded by

him to coll ect contributions inHanover : he occupied witha force of four thousand troops the fortified town of Lunebur g

,and kept as prisoner s there the richest citizens of

the town and country-gentl emen of the neighbourhood,

from whom he had extorted by thr eats all they had to

give,but whom he afterwards sentenced to be shot on a

given day,provided they did not procur e him in addition

a sum of which it was not possibl e they coul d furni sh a

single farthi ng . General Dornberg received intell igenceof the sentence only four and twenty hours before it wasto have been put into execution : he was forty-five Engl ish

miles distant,in a country in which the roads were seldom

good,and at that season

,the end of October, after heavy

rains,nearly impassable . H is force consisted of fifteen

hundred troops of the Landwehr , which answers to m ili tia ;nevertheless he formed hi s resolution,

and proposed to hi s

small band to make a desperate effort to march to Lun ebur g to liberate the prisoner s . H is troops assen ted with

acclamations, the forced march was commenced, and com

pleted just as the night fell which was to be the last of

the prisoners’ l ives . There was no tim e for a moment’s

repose after so viol ent an exertion,General Dornberg in

stantly stormed the fortifications ; the French supposing bythe desperate courage with whi ch they were assail ed thattheir antagonists must have been supported by a powerful

army, and dispirited by the fall of their commander Morand ,gave way with precipitation ,

and l eft the town : whenGeneral DOrnbergand his gall ant band took possession of

it,and found the graves already dug in which seventy



and despatched Cardinal Castigl ione to confer the requestedbenedi ction in his name , and Consalvi was still in a stateof consciousness when the Cardinal came . I went withCharles to look at him ‘ere the first day of death waspast and hi s aspect was indescribably affecting ; his

featur es were always too fine to be fit for the companyexpression which they were most generally made to assum e,as if to conceal the conflict of emotion s w ithin ; but nowthat all pain and passion had ceased,it seemed as if thesoul shed more of its influence when its presence wasremoved . Yesterday, Charl es and I, with Dr . Nott

, made

our way into the crowded Chur ch of San Marcell o,to

attend the Obsequies , which were performed impressivelyby Cardinal Bertazzol i , the personal friend of Consalvi ;and I was more than ever affected by the Dies Irae ofPittoni . ”

19 Feb.

,1 824 .

—Besides several bal l s,I have been

lately at a very pretty féte, given on Madame d’Appony’s

birthday, at which a Fren ch comedy and a vaudevi ll ewere acted by her friends . A n iece of Madame Recam ier 9‘

played the par t of a soubrette with such extreme graceand anrmation

, and spoke French with that inimitabl e

charm , possessed only by some French women ,so that the

rest of the performers woul d have been wise not to have

admi tted her amongst them,to set off their defects

,for

they acted and spoke French very well , when she was not

on the Stage . Between the two pieces were represented

tabl eaux,and I had thus an opportun ity of seeing for the

first time what everybody has so long heard of . The

Charade which was to be represented was De’

lire. To

Af terwards Madame Lenormand.

THE CAP I TOLINE COLONY . 231

signify the first syll abl e, De’

,a set of players at dice , from

a picture of Paul Veronese, were represented in very pic

turesque dresses , the wife and childr en of the principal

player , form ing a side group , being the beautiful Princess

Razumoffsky and the two l ittl e Apponys . The second

tabl eau was Lgre, Sapph o playing on the lyre, surroundedby Grecian nymphs , a coll ection of magnificent beauties .

Sappho was Lady Frances Leveson Gower— a statue of

Parian marbl e, with l imbs and features of the fin est work

manship : the nymphs were Mrs . Dodwell ; a respl endentMiss Bathurst ; Miss Walker, a daughter of General

Walker’s, with a fine, intell igent, true English face of the

r ight sort— the Mrs . Hutchinson sort ; a perfectly l ovelyItali an , Of the name of Bischi ; and others . Then

,to

represent Dél ire al l together,King Saul played pantomime ,

with J onathan andMichal,and David sang to him—what

do you think— a scene of Rossrn i’s,from the Lady of the

Lake ! The Princess Razumoffsky looked very handsome

as Michal , but the whole of this pantomime was to myperceptions very absurd . At this fete I saw MadameRecamier, who has long been in Rome

,but who keeps

very much to herself ; she is still handsome, large— butnot out of shape ; and she has a good andm ild expressionof coun tenance . She is a person of whom everybody

speaks well , al though she has for years had no r icheswherewith to buy golden oprnrons .

’

“ 1 Ap r i l , 1824 .—The week before last

,I may fairly

say all Rome, all nations

,classes

,and conditions

, were

occupied by the loss of Miss Bathurst, the beautiful girlwhom I mentioned in one of my l etters as contributing toform a tableau at Madame d’Appony

’s . She was riding

232 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONEss'

BUNSEN .

out with an uncl e and aunt, and the Due de Laval-Montmorency . The latter Offered to guide the party , and

accordingly conducted them along a road , or rather narrowfoot-path

,beyond the Ponte Moll e, having on one side the

Tiber,and on the other a hi gh steep bank . He got Off

hi s horse , and advised the others to do the same , but MissBathurst preferred remaining on her horse

,saying she

coul d trust to hi s quietness . The way every step becomingnarrower, her uncle became alarmed for her safety, andin order to secure her

,attempted to l ead her horse ; the

horse threw up his head, as many horses do when seizedby the bridl e from beneath, and at the Same moment his

hind feet slipped down the shelving and undermi nedbank — He struggl ed in vain to recover himself , the bridl enatur ally broke with his weight, Miss Bathurst fell backwards into the water, and the horse over her ; her uncl e

sprang into the water, but whi l e he swam about in vain ,she was seen by the bystanders to rise , and then she

disappeared for ever — and though the most active search

was at once commenced by boatmen high and low in ther iver, the corpse has not been found . Her mother is at

Turin ; her father in the year 1 809 was travell ing with

despatches through a part of the Prussian dominionsoccupied by the French , when he suddenly di sappear ed,and no particulars ever have been obtained of hi s end

,

nor has a trace been found of hi s corpse,the probabl e

conj ecture being that he was murdered by the French forthe sake of the despatches singular that both father

and daughter should thus suddenly be summoned froml ife, and their remains be consigned to the el ements , without the r ites of Christian bur ial . I coul d not help relating



of her m other i “ had not notions of rel igion been instill edin chi ldhood

,after the li fe she has l ed, she would hardl y

have been abl e to imbibe them .

24 Ap r i l—I three days ago saw a has-rel ief of Thor

waldsen’s,onl y just designed, about which all the world

is mad. It i s the Sal e of Love, quite original—but thatit is needl ess to particul ar ise . First of al l

,beginn ing on

the right hand, is a market-basket ful l of Cupids , packed

one over another like chicken s in the Roman market ;and next the extrem ity of the marbl e, stand a girl of

about twelve years old,and a boy about seven , touch

ing and feeling and peeping, with vacant , indifferent

cur iosity , in utter innocence and ignorance as to the

nature Of that sort of fowl : on the other side of the

basket stands a girl , who has taken possession of a Cupid,and holds him up on high, but the fell ow has no fancyto stay w ith her , and i s stretching his arm s and l egs ,and fluttering his Wings to go to a sitting gir l , who

with extended hands is inviting him to come . Nextstands another femal e figure

,hugging her Cupid

, who is

giving her the softest kisses in the world ; then comes a

great sulky girl , walking away from the basket , l ookingvacantly before her , and swinging her purchase by hiswings at her side , l ike a hen bought at market. Nextis a man

,sitting on the ground , with his elbow rest

ing on his knees , and hi s head bent down ,in l istless

endurance , whil e just on the nape Of hi s neck sits a saucyfell ow,

looking triumphantly round , as if to b id defianceto al l effort s that may be made to Shake him Off. Final ly,over the head of the last, a Cupid is flying away, after

i t Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Jermyn Davers, Bt.


whom a decrepid old man is hobbling On a stick, with his

hand stretched out after the fugitive . Another r ecent

work of Thorwaldsen is the bust of Con salvi , which i s

inconceivably fine ; there is no perfection in the bust,either as to form or expression , which was not In the

l iving countenance,and yet the countenan ce in l ife seldom

appeared so full of everything that is good, great, intell igent and energetic : but the m arble cannot give thebrilli ant and penetrating eye, which in Consalvi was such

a distinguishing feature .

”

12 Mag, 1 824 .—W e have spent four del ightful days

at Tivoli, which place was mor e magnificent in verdure

and vegetation than I had ever seen it . We l eft Rom eearly in the morn ing and arriving at twelve, went im

mediately to the Grotto of Neptune, and after dinner to

the Vill a d’Este , where the magnificent cypresses have

diminished in number since my last visit . The next morn

ingwe set off after breakfast to accompl ish the Giro . MyMother will remember the beautiful walk that is thusdesignated, going out of Tivol i by the gate nearest the

S ibyll a, and returning by the other gate, and the Vil la of

Maecenas . I wen t the greatest part of the way upon an

ass,from which I di smounted to scrambl e down a path

only made for goats , lately di scovered by Charl es in his

expedition with the Prince of Orange, l eading to a spot onthe bank of the river just opposite the Cascatell e . Henry

and Ernest each had an ass, and were very happy . My

l ittl e darl ing Charles I l eft wi th Angelina,to take a l ess

l aborious walk nearer the inn . After dinner we went tothe Vill a of Hadrian , in which there were not any girls

gathering mulberry-leaves, but which in everything el se


appeared as it did seven years ago in June . The nextday, before six o

’clock, we were on our way to Vicovaro,ten m iles from Tivol i on the road to Subiaco . The dr ive

is beautiful,l eading al ong the banks of the Ani o in a

narrow and constantly ascendi ng vall ey, the mountain s

having the character of those about the lakes in Westmoreland. At Vicovaro we saw the remain s of the

ancient wal l s , buil t of enormous fragm ents of stone without cement ; and a beautiful old chapel

,

’é a m ost perfect

specimen of Itali an-Gothic,a styl e of architectur e dif

fer ing, but not radi cally, in conception and executi on from

the Gothi c of England, France, and Germany, at the

same period . The chapel was erected at the expense of

one of the Orsin i fam ily, and that nam e, being in scribed

wi thin andwithout, has been r etained in the knowl edge ofthe inhabitants, every other circum stance r elative to the

foundation being rel ated in the most absurdly fabul ousmanner . One accoun t is, that i t was a heathen templ e,whi ch once stood in another place, and was transp or ted

p iecemeal and put up there . The cl ergym an of the parish

did not insist upon the accuracy of the latter supposition,

but was neverthel ess convinced that the l ong,sl ender ,

Gothic cluster-columns were remains of an ancient Roman

edi fice , and Observing us adm iring the statues of saints

and prophets in the n iches of the portal,said

,

‘E questefigur e erano fabbricate dagli schiar i della famigli a Orsini ’

— imagining that the Orsini had been ancient Romanpatricians in heathen tim es . We drove a mil e and a hal fbeyondVicovaro to the monastery of S . Cosimato, situated

Buil t by Simone, a pupil of Brunelleschi , who, says Vasari , diedwhen he was employed upon it.



long-wished for,but I had almost said no longer ex

pected, ofli cial intell igence from Count Bernstorfffit thatMr . Niebuhr not returning to his post

, and the King not

intending to make another appointment,Charl es was de

sired and authorised to continue as hitherto in the managem ent of business, with an increase of sal ary which will

make up our income in all to a thousand pounds sterli ng a year . For this we are both indescribably thankful ,and I am sure my Mother wil l j oin in our satisfaction ,when she knows that as we star t clear upon the new salary,we shall be very well off, not having to incur any extraexpense in our mann er of living Mr . Niebuhr willprobably remain settl ed for the present in Bonn , or som e

other place on the Rhi ne . It is to be r egretted for the

sake of publi c business that he should not continue con

cerned in it,as he has an astonishing tal ent for dispatch

ingaffair s , as well as judgment in directing them ; other

w ise we coul d only rej oice in his being l eft undisturbed tocontinue hi s Roman hi story , in whi ch he has made great

progress in this winter Of l eisure .“ About our being thus fixed her e, probably for two or

three years longer, my own Mother, I have said nothing,not because I have fel t nothing ; during the summer and

spr ing I was anxious to hear that another appointmentwas made in Mr . Niebuhr ’s room

,so that we could be l eft

at l iberty to quit Rome at a time when our j ourney coul dhave been commenced and accompl ished ; but now,

cir

cumstances over which we had no control,have altogether

changed the case,I am no l onger physically abl e to under

take the labour of breaking up housekeeping, and under

Prussian Mini ster of Foreign Affairs.

THE CAP I TOLINE COLONY. 239

taking even the half of the j ourney to England, l eavingout of the case the present season

,in whi ch the ri sk of

removing the children would be too gr eat to be incurred,if

possibly to be avoided ; and should I here await the birthof another child, if it pl ease God to grant me its l ife, Iam equally bound to this spot till it coul d with safety beweaned, probably not til l this spring twelvenronth : whenthat time is arrived we shall see what it brings with it .The period I have m entioned , of two or three years

,is

stated at random,for Count Bernstorff specifies nothing

,

and we have no other data to judge from,as to what

future resolution s he is l ikely to form . My own satisfaction rests upon the fact that our remaining here is notour own act and deed

,it has been determined by circum

stances independent of us, and therefore we may gather

that it is the wi ll of God thus to di spose of us ; could Ithi nk we had brought about the decision

,I should be full

of fear and dread as to the resul t, and should feel the

bitterness unall ayed of hope deferred : as it is I willbelieve

,that what has been so long delayed, wil l not finally

be deni ed .

”

13 August, 1 824 .

—I enj oy indescribably the summerstill ness, the freedom from interruption

,and the glorious

weather . I con tinue to drive out at six O’cl ock in the

morning to the Vill a Borghese, where I find a place to sit

down , under the pines, whil e the children play about . At

that hour , the air is invigorating, and although fatigued,I am never exhausted by going out then ; in the evening,the atmosphere is never sufficiently refreshed to be en

joyable till about a quarter after dark, when I enj oy itupon our own loggia . My darling Ernest completed his


fifth year in most perfect heal th and had a very m errybirthday . We went down to breakfast in the garden at

half-past six,and there it was very delightful till eight,

when we brought the chil dr en in , and produced some playthings for the amusement of al l

, which Ernest was to

divide as he pleased. After I had helped them to putin order a fortress in ir on-work, and a Turkish caravan (al lTyrol ese toys), I l eft them to arrange or disarrange at

their pleasur e,andwent to l ie down In Charl es’s sitting

room ,to enj oy rest, and quiet, and an Italian translation

of Thucydi des .”

I n September,1824, Mrs . Waddin gton was fir st in

form ed by her daughter Of an approaching change intheir fam ily arrangem ents . I n his unmarr ied l ife

,the

ideal of Bun sen ’s future had been to m ake a hom e forhis unmarr ied hal f- sister Chr istiana

,and one of the

charm s of hi s Indian proj ect had been that she wouldhave accompan ied him to the East, and that her heal thwould have benefited by a tropical cl imate . His real

in tercour se with Chr istiana had however been confinedto a few weeks in 1814

, when he saw i n her the l ongsuffer ing victim of Oppr ession , andwhen his chival rousSpir it was roused by the desrre of putting an end to her

sorrows . Since then she had been main tained by hi srem ittances, and cheered by con stan t l etter s, in whichhis Whol e l ife, with its occupation s, cares

,proj ects,

and aspiration s, was ceaselessly poured out before her ,

as before a super ior being capable of guiding and

advising . Now that his r esidence seem ed l ikely to be


2 l 2 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN.

from Bunsen the darl ing il lusion of h i s l ife,which

had r epresented her as the m odel of femal e excell ence .

With the arr ival of Chr i stiana was an ticipatedthat of M . Sim on ,

as a tutor for the boys, whoseconnection w ith the fam ily for seven year s— dur ingwhich he was an in strum ent Of m oral flagel lation to

par ents and children —proved almost equally unfor

tunate .

The next winter , however , was a happy one . Fam il iar ity had not then rendered the Bun sens conscious ofthe thorns which‘ were in store for them

,and the

presence of Mr . and Lady Em ily Pusey ’“at the beautiful Vil la Mill s on the Palatine

,gave a charm to the

Engl i sh society which it had never possessed before .

I n the spr ing , al so, the Bun sen s formed their firstacquaintance with Neukomm , the composer

, who con

tinned till his death one of the m ost valuabl e and

valued of their friends . A great per sonal sorrow toMadame Bun sen was the death Of her m other ’s un

marr ied Sister , her bel oved aun t Harr iet Por t, of whomshe frequently spoke as one in whom the energy of a

l oving nature, the enthusiasm of self-sacr ifice, and theardour of devotedn ess, existed in ceasel ess outpour ingof its hear t’s-blood upon fel low-creatures

, without thedue respon se in kind, without receiving from other sthat which i t gave so freely of its own .

”The death of

Daughter of the second Earl of Carnarvon .

THE CAPI TOLI NE COLONY . 243

another dear aunt,Mrs . Granvil le of Calwich, in the

fol lowing year , l oosened for Madam e Bunsen all im

mediate ties to Englandwhich were not connectedwithLlanover .

MADAME BUN SEN to MI SS PORT (the last of a series of lettersto this beloved aunt , wri tten before the news of her death,which had already occurred

,reached Rome).

2 Oct,1824 ,

—My own dearest Aunt Harriet . The

Sunday before last, I longed to begin a l etter to you ,as I

came out of church , to give some idea of a serm on I had

just heard . It is the general practice of our clergym an ,

Mr . Rothe,to preach on the gospel of the day

,and the

gospel Of that day contained the account of the ten lep erswho were cleansed, of whom only one returned to givethanks . Mr . Rothe Observed

,that it being the universal

custom of our Saviour to require of individual s for whosebenefit He intended to exert H is heal ing powers , a certaindegree of faith in those powers (for reasons not expresslystated

,bu t easily to be gathered by attentive con sideration

of H i s modes of deal ing with mankind) it is certain thateven the nine ungrateful l epers were not destitute of faith .

Th is may also be proved by collateral circumstances , first ,their having supplicated for rel ief secondly

,their havi ng

instantly obeyed when bidden to ‘go and shew themselves to

thep r iests ,’instead of waiting to see whether their j ourney

would be of any use , or whether the comm and was a meremockery— for it is said , not that their cure was performedthe moment the words issued from our Saviour’s l ips , butthat as they wen t , they were healed .

’Therefore th e

question is,how shoul d they have been capabl e of faith in

244: LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

any degree , and yet so stupefied, so hardened, as to beincapabl e of thankful ness for the mercy received 9 And itmay be supposed, in explanation,

that they argued asfoll ows : We have suffered severely, have suff ered long,have suffered patiently, although we have never done anythi ng in our l ives to mer it pun ishment so severe ; we havenot been worse , perhaps better , than our neighbour s

,

whom we see in the enj oym ent of heal th and of society,but God saw fit to affli ct us

,we know not why ; it is easy

to understand why He now withdr aws the affli ction ;we may be glad to be rel ieved

,but in receiving rel ief

,

we have r eceived no more than our due .

’ But theSamaritan j oined to his faith in Divine power and Divinem ercy an utter self -renunciation ; his m ind had been so

penetratedwi th the consciousness of sin,that he had not

an idea of possessing a r ight, or making a claim ,to the

mercy for which he entreated ; and therefore on receiving

it,instead of being bent like the other s on hastening to

obtain from the priests the temporal advantage resul ting

from hi s cur e— of re-admi ssion into society—he was irr e

sistibly urged to return and proclaim aloud the glory of

God and hi s own thankful ness . Of the el oquence wi th

which thi s was stated, the consequence dr awn, and the

appl ication made to the soul of every Christian , it is not in

my power to give any idea ; and having in my own mi nd

the impression made by the whol e together, I cann ot in

the l east judge whether, in the bald account I have givenof the substan ce, it will appear to you as original and as

edifying as it did to me .

“Thi s vi ew of the subj ect has l edme to reflect on the apparent inequali ty of God

’s dispensations to His creatures on



f eel ings towards her,better than she woul d have done had

she remained on her bed of mar tyrdom long enough to

receive my wr itten expressions .”

On the 7th of November,1824, Madam e Bun sen

gave birth to her fifth son— George Freder ick.


24 N on,1 824 .

— I may now allow myself to write "to

my Mother of my l ittl e angel . I am sure that in lovingchi l dr en

,as in other things , one improves by practice . I

l oved the others from the moment of their birth as well asI was capable of , but I never had as much del ight in any

one as thi s . W e intend to christen our new treasureGeorge

,after one of my own dearest Mother’s names . ”

“ 30 Dee—I l ong to describe the appearance of my

l ittl e angel , but of t hat I can give no idea : so lovely an

infant I never saw ,except my Mary, and though his

features are not l ike hers, his sweet smil es , his early intelligence, his perfection of temper

,his rapid growth , and

undi sturbed enj oyment of existence,remind me of her

continually,and that being the case

,it is no wonder that I

rej oice over him wi th tremb ling.

”

“ 1 J am ,1 825 .

—The new year is begun . Last '

night

Charles and I sat up together till the clock of the Capitol

had sounded the close of a year , so marked with bl essingsto . us both that it “

is impossible not to look forward toanother w ith more than usual m istrust—mistrust in thechangeabl e course of human things

,not in the mercy that

has ever hitherto in j oy or sorrow accompanied us . Those

who possess so much, have much to lose I—and the side

THE CAP I TOLI NE COLONY . 247

may be pierced by the very staff that supports . But ,bl essed be God for his inestimable gifts

,even though it

should be,

-

in the secret di spensations of H is providence,

that they shoul d to-morrow be withdr awn !“ 27 J am—I have been seeing much l ately of Lady

Frances Sandon .

* I think her quite charming . She is in

the first place very pretty, and would be beautiful,i f it

were not for her mouth : otherwise her features , the shapeof her head , and her throat, are perfect, and she has a good

figure and fine complexion . But i f she had been l ess

pretty and pl easing, she would have bribed me to l ike herby her evident deli ght in my childr en , whom from the first

she desired to see,and from whom she could hardl y take

off her eyes .”

“ 15 Feb.,1 825 .

—Our two new inmates arrived on the

l st of February. It would be too sudden to attempt togive you a ful l description of my sister- in-law after a

fortnight’s acquaintan ce suffice it to say, that I havenothing to tell now that i s not in the highest degr ee satisfactory , she seems to answer in every respect the idea I hadformed of her, from her letters , and Charles’s descriptioneverythi ng that I have seen denotes the clear head, soundunderstanding , and hi gh principles , which he always attr ibuted to her . She has many of Charl es’s pecul iarities , without being in person li ke him. Her exterior and manners

are perfectly gentlewomanlike: She has a very good figure ,and a m ild and intell igent countenance her features ,

Lady Frances Sandon ,afterwards Countess of Harrowby (fourth

daughter of John ,first Marquess of Bute) continued an intimate and

valued fr iend of the Bunsen famil y till the end of her saintly life inMarch , 1859.


which must always have been too strongly marked, appearmuch too large for her face , owing to its thi nness, the

r esul t of l ong and severe suffering,but the expression is

not harsh , al though the l ines have all a tendency to be so.

She has a sensibl e manner towards children ,but H enry

i s the only one to whom she can make herself thoroughl yintel l igibl e

,though the other two are alr eady fond of her ,

and get on in speaking German . She has been tri ed in

l ife more hardly than anybody whose wel l -attested hi storyI ever yet heard . I trust and bel ieve that it will be

possible for us to make her happy and comfortabl e here,al though with a terribly suffering body, a house in Rome,

even arranged as well as it can be, i s a bad thing at last

and a person used to Dutch neatness must I fear be in

hourly penance when waited upon by Ital ians .17 August, 1 825 .

— The death of my Aunt Granvill eand the desolation of Calwich, dwell upon my mind witha degree of pain for which I can scarcely account, con

sider ing how l ong I had been accustomed,and I had

supposed reconcil ed , to the idea that I should never see

her again in this world ; and considering how much thepl easure which the face of nature

,and her kindness

,

occasioned me in Calwich, was counterbalanced by othercircumstances —but on opening Gothe’s Torquato Tassothe other day, a wel l -known passage met my eye, which

suggested an explanation to my feelings . I must surelyhave translated at the time of reading it that passage to

my Mother The spot trodden by the vi rtuous is sacred ;and their words and deeds re-echo ther e to the ears ofposterity .

’ Now I beli eve it is the very reverse of this

being the case, which makes these feel ings bitter , that



received as a place of imprisonment and arb itrary punish

men t . Every individual figures to himself his properheaven ; and those who have in their time of trial formedno taste for the Heaven of God, such as it exists, wouldremain dark and frozen even in the m idst of its glories , if

they coul d be transported there : on the other hand (toborrow the daring image used in a most extraordinarybook ,

published by Luther , but written a century earlier),coul d Satan himself be capabl e of a longing

,an aspira

tion after the j oys of Heaven ,he would at once be there !

his pardon would be seal ed, because his nature would bechanged !

18 August— Last n ight

,an unusual hour of quiet after

putting the children to bed enabled me to dilate on a subj cet on which I l ittle thought to touch when I began towrite ; and now at last it is most unconnectedly and

inadequately stated . Without attempting to explain itbetter

,I will only tell my Mother the course of my r eflec

tions upon it . I never doubted that the literal meaning ofthe Divine threaten ings was to be received undoubtingly,as matter of faith , however difficul t for human powers tor econcile with the equally certain matter of faith that themercy of God is infinite ; and I wel l remember in our firstsummer at Frascati expressing that conviction in a con

versation with Charl es . About a year after that conversation

,I read the extraordinary work to which I have

all uded, which consists in a small number of very short,very concise

,m ost comprehensive essays or chapters , of

‘which ey ery sentence is an ingot . It was written , of

course,in what are call ed Catholic times , but the author

was a Christian ,and no Romanist. All that is known of

THE CAP I TOLI NE COLONY . 251

him is that he was a Teutonic knight of Frankfort on theOder , his history and earthly distinctions are ‘lost in the

abyss of things that were .

’ i t The work was publ ished byLuther

,since the age of the Reformation has been out of

print,and was republ ished a few years ago : a Latin

tran slation was made of it at an early period, through them eans Of which it was known to many Engl ish divines inthe seventeenth century . This book

,my own Mother ,

contains much which made to me as cl ear as dayl ight thegreat point

,that what is call ed hell is

,no more than

heaven,confined to place or time

,but is a condition of the

soul,into which the soul degrades itsel f, which may wel l

begin even in this l ife , al though here its torments will belessened by that same veil of flesh

, which the j oys of

heaven cannot pervade : i t is a natural consequence of theorder of things by God established, a natural consequenceof the rej ection of offered salvation ; and if the expression

may be used , it is impossible even for Omnipotence itsel fto grant that which his creatures have become incapabl eof receiving . With Mr . Erskine

‘r I had much conversation

on this subj ect ; and as well as . I remember , it was he who

Suggested the possible interpretation of the passage‘The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death —as the

other member of that m ighty paradox,the solution of

which is not for us in this world— into which even theangels desire to l ook ! A Similar view of the world of

spirits I found impl ied , strange to say ,in a Spanish poem

This book Theol ogia German ice (th is is the correct title) wastranslated into English by Miss Catherine VVinkwor th .

TThe adm irable Thomas Erskine of Linlathan , now well knownfrom his Letters.


of the fifteenth century z— perhaps the author m ight beone of the many thousand Spaniards who had to expiatein the flames their aspirations after purified Chr istian ity .

”

“ Rome,30 August, 1825 .

—On Charles’s birthday, the25th , we had delightful weather, the sky being cl ear, the

sun bright,and the air deli cious . We began at seven

o’clock by breakfasting in the garden . At di nner we werefourteen in number

,besides children . Before di nner

,

some favourite hym n s of Charl es’s were sung, arranged

for four voices , whi ch had been composed (by Reisiger )and practised by the singers without Charl es’s knowledge,and were therefore an agr eeabl e surprise to him ; after

dinner we wen t to Vill a Lante, and took our dessert withus

,and enj oyed the view and the garden most exceed

ingly

The presence of Reisiger"in Home has been and is a

great source of pl easure to us . I wish I could pack hismusic

,composition and execution ,

in my l etter, how my

Mother would enj oy it ! He i s a young man, but has

alr eady celebrity as a composer .

”

I n the m iddl e of September the fam ily removed for

the refreshm ent of coun try air to the Vil la P iccolomin iat Frascati.

Vi l la 13 Oet. , 1825 .—I did not think I

should again have dated from Frascati, yet I am wel l

reconciled to remain by the unequall ed beauty of the

weather and country, al though out of vi rtue I should haver eturned, to put an end to the confusion of the divided

The popul ar composer—Kapellmeister at Dresden.


254 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUT S EN .

and slept most comfortably till the coffee came . After we

hadmade an enormous breakfast, the bowls were again putin motion

,and I, and the childr en

,and the ass , and the

Servants , and the baskets w ith empty cups and plates ,went home , and I Set myself to wr ite, —and after dinn er Ishal l be quite fresh and ready to take another walk or ride .

Yesterdaywe were equal ly in movement the whol e dayin the morning I was sketchi ng, and after dinner we rodeon asses to Grotta Ferrata, and saw the chapel of Domenichino . We cam e hom e after dark

,and then received an in

vitation to hear an Improvisatore at the Casino Piccolomin i .

The name of our host is Angiolotti , a ri ch p osse’

dente,or

farmer,from whom and his Wife we have received gr eat

civili ties . W e were the day before yesterday at theirfarm,

or tenuta, where the vintage is going on . They

gave us ham,and cheese

,andf re

’

ttata and p izza, andwine,and grapes as much as we coul d eat . We had our friend

Reisiger of the party, and he played, and sang German ,

and the vignerol i sang Ital ian . We had the nurse withus

, who rode l ike a man on an ass, wi th my darli ng before

her, who enj oyed the party as much as anybody : my l ittl e

Charl es rode before his papa or Simon : his two brothers

r ide independently .

Some days ago we made an expedition to Mon te Cavo,the highest point of MonteAl bano

, where there is a monas

tery . The monks gave us bread andwine, andwe had coldm eat and grapes

'

with us . We rode down on the other side

of the hill towards Albano, where the carriage met us in theGaller ia de

'

sop ra by the Capuchin convent : we then droveto Castel-Gandolfo ,w hence we went down to the brink of

the lake to see the emissary, and returned home. to di nner

THE CAPI TOLI NE COLONY . 255

at five o’clock . Another day we drove to Genzano , Charl esand his sister and Simon and mysel f and the thr ee boyspacked in the carrettell a : my darling was l eft at homewith his nurse andAngelina

,and Kestner rode on horse

back . My Mother will remember the name of Kestner,whom we new value more than ever

,since he has been our

constant compan ion on parties of pl easure for many dayssuccessively, without ever giving opportun ity for an obser

vation as to his character that was not to hi s credit . Wehad provi sions for dinner with us , and.

our servant Antonio ’

to cook,therefore all we wanted in Genzano was a kitchen

and dining-room ; but on our arrival we found the roomsof our old acquaintance al l occupied, and were glad to beconducted by Kestner to the house of a p osstcleute whom hehad formerly known ,

whose wife in the most obli gingmanner granted us all we wanted ; she was a very hand

some woman ,and in deportment

,I had almost said, a

princess . Whil e our dinner was preparing, we made thetour of the lake of Nemi o'u ass-back : that mirr or of Diana

as it was call ed (the woods and a templ e on its banks

having been in ancient times consecrated to her) never

appeared to greater advantage , for there were l ight fleecyclouds in the cl ear October sky, which produced these

occasional false shadows whi ch I must always long for inmountain scenery, from recol l ection of the lakes of Westmoreland .

“ I shall be glad at last to return to our own dear home ,and yet our pl easure in Frascati has been so altogetherwithout dr awback , that I coul d almost find in my heartto be afraid of what may foll ow a change of abode . I

have had tim e to read here too, and enj oy most extremely


a German translation of Herodotus . I have al so enj oyed

r eading in the Bibl e more than I have time to do at home

— I mean,tim e un interrupted

,and to read with interrup

tion s is of l ittle avail . I have been gr eatly struck withmany hi storical parts of the OldTestament, which in con

nection I have not read for year s ; and must ask myMother whether she does not think the narrative of Nehem iah most particul arly touching .

”

“Rome,19 0et.—W e returned home on Sunday mom

ing, the l 6th , and find our own dear house very del ightful .

My boys are all as well as possibl e, and, at present, verygood.

”

14 Feb.,1826 .

— I have to commun icate the intell igence

of the King’s having bestowed upon Charl es the order of

the Red Eagl e , a di stincti on whi ch is a matter of much

satisfaction ,as indi cating the favour abl e di spositions of the

King and hi s m inisters, for there are few if any exampl es

of a person not belonging to a privil eged class receiving itafter so short a period of service . The first intell igencewas commun icated by the good Baron von Reden

,now

Hanoverian Minister at Berl in ; the nomination took place

on the 1 8th J anuary, and last week the cross and ribbonwere delivered to Charles by General de Lepel , the Aide

de-Camp of Prince Henry of Prussia, who had travell ed

from Berl in with great speed to retur n to hi s post. Onl y

the day after the arrival of thi s decoration,arrived the

intelli gence of the fail ur e of the banking-house of Beneckein Berlin . They were Charl es’s agents for the reception

of his sal ary, and had only el even days before received for

him hi s quarter’s all owance , for whi ch they had tr ansmi tteda bill of exchange, whi ch bill of cour se th ere had not been


258 L I FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUN SEN.

Easter Sunday, 26 Mu ch,1826 .

—M . d’Olfers is here,with his am iable wife , on his way to the Brazil s as Charged’Affaires . He has been for two years attached to thePrussian Legation at Napl es, hi s connection s at Berl inhaving reckoned upon getting him into Charl es’s post at

Rome, an arrangem ent whi ch the circum stance of his

being a Catholic would at any time have rendered impos

sibl e,for the business of the Prussian Legation here

could not in rmany respects be well got thr ough by a

person in any way hampered by private ties to the Church

of Rome , without considering the important poin t of theProtestant Chapel , which could not be kept up under a

Cathol ic chef de legation. . On hi s way through Rome to

Naples with Count Fl eming two years ago, he and Charlesformed a personal acquaintance as cordial as if they had

not stood in the relation '

of a sort of r ival s to each other,

and they have kept up from time to time a degree of

correspondence , which I hope will continue , for Olfers’sl etters are always indescribab ly entertaining . He is one

of the sort of men that I know my Mother would l ike , ofsound and sterl ing attainments , and pol ished but inar tificial manner , with a great deal of quiet fun ,

and a stil lness of deportment not the l east resul ting from phlegm or

insensibil ity .

“We have lately to our great pleasure formed a newmusical acquaintance of the name of N eukomm , who i s

come to Rome for , I am sorry to say ,a very short time,

after a singular course of travels . He was born at Sal tzburg

,and became a pupil of Haydn at Vienna ; his first

removal from Germany was to become flf aestro cl i Cappel la

to a Russian prince, and he spent some years between

THE CAPI TOLI NE COLONY. 259

Petersburg and Moscow ; after which he becam e Maestro

di Capp el la to the King Of Portugal when in Brazil , but theCourt having a decided passion for waltz-masses, N eukomm

was not satisfied to remain where his styl e of compositionwas not approved

,nor satisfied to adopt a styl e such as

could have secured approbation, wherefore he returned

to Eur ope,and has ever since been attached to the Court

Of Tall eyrand —who i s said to rank music am ongstthe luxuries which he considers worth possessing in the

highest perfection . With Tal leyrand N eukomm set out

towards Rome,but the former having found the weather

not to his taste,remained by the way at Nice , all owing

N eukomm l eave of absence to proceed to Rome and

Naples .On Wednesday in Passion Week N eukomm returned

home with us from the Sixtine Chapel , and played to us ina manner that couldgi ve deli ght even after the Miserere .

To give an idea of hi s playing, I must describe the courseof my own feel ings—I was at fir st sorry for the arrange

ment to bring him home with us , not wishing to be

di sturbed,and only reconcil ed to it on the ground of

giving pl easure to M . d’Olfer S, who had known and

valued N eukomm for years as a man as well as a

musician ; but from the moment he began to play, I wasthankful to have the state of feel ing protracted , which hadoriginated in the Miserere . He played airs with variation s of his own composition (amongst others ‘See the

Conquering Hero and afterwards gave an idea,

as far as one pair of hands and a very feeble voice could

give an idea,of passages in an oratorio which he has this

winter composed,but whi ch has never yet been executed.


The words are selected from Kl opstock’s Messiah,and the

chorus he played to us is grounded on the passage in

Isaiah,Who is He that is gl orious in H is apparel ,

travell ing in the greatness Of His strength — I that speak

in r ighteousness,m ighty to save ! —the whol e to be

performed by a choir in two di visions,answering each

other in the manner of Handel ’s Who is the Ki ng Of

Gl ory —The Lord Of Hosts , He is the K ing of Gl ory

O my Mother, how I wish you coul d see Lady FrancesS andon , and still more , know her : I am sure you wouldthi nk her a thi ng of other times . ’ She seems to me

to reali se things I have known in description— a class of

women to which the fin est ladi es I see are not fit to bechambermaids . She goes away for good the end of next

month, andH eaven kn owswhere, orwhen, or how, we shall

meet again ,but I shall always rej oice in the indelibl e

image she leaves, of a species of creature fr om whi ch

every-day wom en are as di fferent as negroes from whites .“ The more I see of Lady Bute

,the more I am con

vinced that she is a thoroughl y kind-hearted and wel lprincipled woman , but in the scal e of human beings I am

sur e she takes an inferior rank to her daughter, who is

almost an angel .”

“ 25 Ap r i l , 1826 .— The presence of M . N eukomm in

Rom e is a very great pl easur e to us , and we make them ost of it by seeing him daily . Independent of hi s most

extraordinary , and to me unequal led, musical talent, he is

Of a most attaching character, and has those sort of placidmanner s , combined with rationali ty and intell igence on

al l subj ects, which make a person a wel come inmate atany time and at all tim es . Charl es takes advantage Of



seen too busy in the heat and sirécco ; as soon as I was

dressed however, he got up , andwent out on horseback .

Of all the children ,Charl es alone was awake and up : I

therefore proceeded to Open my writing-desk and begi n

my l etter, in the camera gial la, with the windows Open and

green bl inds closed , to keep out the sun and let in the air

but soon H enry andErnest made their appearance,and I

broke off from my l etter to hear them say their prayers .

Then Charl es returned, and we went to breakfast, with

N eukomm (my Mother will remember the name of the

musical composer, whose company, as well as his music,del ighted us so much

.

at Easter— he has since been at

Napl es,and is now with us again ,

day after day, as before,and every part of the fam ily l ooks upon him as bel onging

to us) . The place where we breakfast I must draw sometime for my Mother, I can now only describe it as near the

loggia where the water is dr awn up ,—a partition has been

made in the mangl e-room which reserves to us a deli ght

ful li ttle gall ery, with a magnificent prospect and fine air

without the morning sun . After breakfast I went todr ess my l ittl e angel , but by the way met a m essengerwho announced that a certain Kl itsche was seized with afever . This person i s establ ished in the house of the lateBartholdy, to m ount guard upon the valuabl e col l ection of

antiquities , until the heirs shall otherwise have di sposed

Of them . Kl itsche came to Rome a year and a half ago

with the fal se notion by which many peopl e at a distancefrom Rome are possessed , that here institutions accessibleto strangers for the study of theology were to be found

that net being the case , his condition here was prettynearly destitute, and Charl es has in one way or another

THE CAP I TOLINE COLONY . 263

helped him forward (sometim es procuring him employment in tran scribing deeds) awaiting a f avourabl e Opportunity of finding a better provision for him . These few

particulars may account for his so far , after a fashion ,

belonging to us,that it was necessary I should l eave

every other business to perform the m ost needful , Of

procuring him attendance ; wherefore I l eft my l ittleangel to wait in her night things , and after ordering the

carriage, went downstairs to Madame Eggers (whom the

children call Signora El isa 95— and who is always will ing

and able to give counsel and assistance , to ask whether shesupposed I could Obtain the help of a woman , of whom she

knew more than I di d, and settl ed thatwe Shoul d go togetherto fetch her ; then I came up again to make a hundredarrangements to keep the wheel s of government in motionduring the interregnum

,and hold seven hundred and one

conferen ces with Antonio about dinner, with an interludeof rummaging amongst the dust of the bookshelves for apamphl et for Charl es

,

‘Sur l’Orgue expressif de M .

Gren ier . ’ Then I packed Charl es the l ess with Madame

Eggers andmysel f into the carrettell a, in order to l essen thenumber of j arring el ements l eft at home, and proceededto bespeak the physician ,

fetch the woman as nurse , andestablish her by the sick per son . Then I proceeded to

one or two shops , being on the way, and returned home

at twelve , found a new cap whi ch my sister-in -law had

ordered, and went up to her bedside to explain and

interpret, and hear whether it was right, after l istening tothe narrative of the manner in which she had passed the

M . E gers, the landscape painter, afterwards settled in Berlin .

His sons were the authors of a Life of Rauch the Sculptor.


ni ght —the heats,and the chill s, and the ups and down s .

Then I dressed my sweet gir l , settled her three eldest

brothers to sl eep (George was put to bed by Angel ina), and

was thankful to li e down on my own bed . At two O’cl ock

wi th some di fficul ty I waked, and before thr ee coll ectedthe whol e family from all corner s of the house at dinner ;after dinner

,consul tations wi th An tonio about thi ngs to

be sent to Kli tsche, directions to Agnese about work, partthe fir st of a discourse with my sister -in-law about aruff and a hat

,luckily broken Off by N eukomm

’s Offer

ing to hear me practise, an Offer I am always rej oiced to

accept. I excused myself from dr iving out, having beenout already, sent Charl es the less and George with mysister-in-law and her friend Augusta Kl ein , and H enryand Ernest into Madame Eggers

’s garden . At eight

O’cl ock everybody r eturned

,I gave the chil dr en their

supper,heard their prayers , and took them to bed : and

at last came to my corner Of the couch, the rest of the

par ty being my sister- in -law,Charles

,N eukomm

,and

Kestner . I sat lazy, instead of working as usual , withmy Mother

’s candl e-screen, with impressions Of l eaves

,

before me, to save my eyes , which were quite tired withpuzzling at the score of Judas fl accabeus

, whi ch N eukomm

had in sisted on my making out. After looking at them oon , the two glorious planets, and the Mont’ Al bano inthe summer n ight

,at a quarter past ten I went to bed.

”

1 6 August, 1 826 .—I have a long story to relate to my

Mother, which I have as yet delayed, from not l iking to

tell her that Charl es had committed an act which I con

sidered imprudent and extravagant,but I will new state

hi s sin in all its m agnitude, and leave her to find an



swell ing l ike those of the human voice when in gr eat

perfection,or l ike the most exquisite wind in struments .

When hearing N eukomm play, I continual ly caughtmyself holding my breath , as when l istening to theMiserere in the Sixtine Chapel . As to my own prospect of

l earn ing to play upon it,I am happy to say that in these

ten days I have already surmounted some part Of the

difficul ty, which consists in the movem ent Of the feet, and

have good hopes of proceeding further ; and the del ightof touching it is so great

,that I shall only be in danger

Of giving up more time to it than I real ly have to spar e.It has made furore in Rom e

,the Cardinal Secretary Of

State was enchanted, and began to sing himsel f from

excess Of del ight : the Maestro di Cappella Baini said itbrought him into a cold sweat and that he coul d not stand

it if he was to hear it every day ; Monsignor Capaccini

(who was private secretary to Consalvi andwrote all hi s

dispatches) ordered such another organ full speed for

himself : and the Corps Dipl omatique was out of its witsfor admiration . I must not forget to state that the

expense did not turn out as great as I expected , for ,including the carriage fr om Paris

,it amounted to ninety

pounds sterl ing : yet the instrument is as perfect as tomake andmaterials , as a piece of furn iture, as in sound .

”

6 Sep t ,1 826 .

— I wish I coul d here give a shadow of

the darl ing figure,in a great brown pinafore (sent by

grandmamma for Ernest), that is now trotting near me,

enj oying in stil lness the condescension of his brother

Charles in playing without plaguing him ,as is too Often the

case ; to me it is a great gain when Charl es is SO gracious ,for then I can keep both my l ittle boys with me (the


elder brothers are with Simon), otherwise I am compell ed

to interpose and part them,and at l ength banish my

George to the maids, who can sometimes keep h im good

and happy, whereas Charl es is nothing l ess than ‘the

Deil himsel with peopl e whom he does not acknowl edge

to have a right to direct him : I maintain my sovereignty '

after a fas hi on ,but it costs me many a hard battl e . My

George , and his l ittl e sister, are the matter of unmixeddelight ; there never was any creature more al ive to all

impressions than that dear boy, he shows me the clouds

when the sun is setting,points to the r iver and gazes at

it, watches the course of a flight of birds overhead, and

his great enchantment is a herd of oxen grazing : he

strokes and caresses his l ittl e sister,laughs l oud at her

motions , and shows her to everybody. H e cannot bear to

hear one of hi s brothers cry, and the only thing he takesvery ill Of me is punishing Charl es . I begin to expectthat in process of time he wil l speak , for he now utter s all

sorts of sounds , and seems to have attained the idea thatby means Of sounds as well as sign s he may make himsel funderstood.

“ I had not time in my last l etter to make a statement

in qual ification Of the impression I produced by m ention

ing playing in score : my Mother must not form too mag~

n ificent notions on the subj ect,it is l ike a child’s spel ling

out words in a l anguage it does not understand ; to be

abl e to gi ve to the words their proper tone and accent,

and to the sentences their m eaning,it would require to

be much fur ther adv anced than I am ; still , al though it i sa great matter of doubt whether I shall ever find timefully to turn to account the instructions of Neukomm ,

the


troubl e he took with m e has been of essential use . As

Of late years we have many times made attempts to get

peopl e to sing , I have Often practised wri ting out parts inthe di fferent keys , and therefore coul d r ead them : but

when Neukomm insisted upon it that if I woul d, I coul dplay a piece of music in which the notes were to be soughtout of four di fl erent sets of lines

,and wr itten in four

different keys , I never bel ieved it would be possibl e in

any degree ; however, a few days’ practice convinced me

of the contrary, and I hOpe in time to l earn at l east toplay what I have picked out with him : even should I

never do that, the practice of the score has had the

advantage of making other things appear comparativelyeasy . My Obligations to N eukomm are very gr eat in

enablin g me to enj oy, and making Charl es enj oy, thedel icious organ : I get to it at Odd hal f-hours Often in the

day, the pl easure . Of touching it is greater and gr eater,

and I Obtain great praise for my progress I must tell myMother that M . N eukomm always insisted upon it that I

shoul d play well upon the organ ,although in the three

days which elapsed between its arrival and hi s departure,I was far from producing a tol erabl e tone : as he is agreat Gal l-ist, perhaps he was l ed to the convi ction by

having detected (as he asserted) the organ of music plainlyin my forehead . I wish my Mother m ight ever knowN eukomm ,

as well as hear him play ; hi s gift Of pro

ducing music I know would be a feast to her beyondeverything, but I cannot doubt her l iking himsel f . He

has stood the test Of being our daily inmate for twomonths at a stretch, without reckoning the time of his

being in Rome at Easter ; and at last all of us were as



14 March, l 827 .— I had last week an impediment in

writing to my own dearest Mother,of which she wil l be

surprised and pl eased to hear,— a j ourney to Orv ieto , re

solved upon in a moment, executed at once, and whichturned out adm irably . We had spoken of going therepretty nearly every year for the last five, but the difficul tyof moving all together

, or of separating,always prevented

our doing so,and the distance being seventy m il es, we

should probably never have accompli shed going there , had

we not made up our m inds to l eave the childr en in the careof Simon

,and set off as a trio with post-horses . On W ed

nesday, 7 March, we l eft Rome at half-past six , Henry and

Ernest accompanying us as far as the door, Charl es in his

shi rt and muffled up in a shawl causing himself to becarr ied to the staircase window, my darl ing George asl eep,and my angel Of a girl sitting upright in bed , with twoeyes wide open

, waiting for the nurse to dress her . As faras Montefiascone, our roadwas the same as that by whi ch

my own dearest Mother travell ed away from Rome, and I

think however li ttl e in a state her mind then was for en~

joyment , she must with her eyes have observed the beautiful situation of Roncigl ione

, where the road begi ns to

ascend the mountain on the other side of whi ch Viterbo issituated

,and have taken in the exquisite expanse of the

Lake Of Vico, which is for a long time visibl e during thepassage of the mountain ; and then she wil l the betterguess the sensations Of pl easure withwhich I viewed thempl easure resul ting from many causes , the sensation of

breaking the ice as to a j ourney, such as in ten years and ahalf I have not made, not to be forgotten amongst them .

1we arrived so early at Viterbo that we might have pro-i


ceeded further,but preferred walking about to .See the

churches and prospects, whil e our dinner was getting

ready, and remaining in the very excell ent inn that night .The weather was del ightful , but l ike that of a fine earlyspring day in England , the sky not being in a state of

Ital ian cl earness ; and the sort of air, the outl ine of the

hill s about the Lake of Vice , the eff ect of the uncl othedwoods , casting a shadowy brown tinge , altogether broughtme back not less than twenty years — to the j ourney fromTenby just at the same time of year, and the effect of thehills of Dynevor , Dresl in Castl e

,and the Towy in the val e

of Caermarthen .

At Viterbo we found two friends , one of them Maytell ,

whose name I may perhaps have m entioned as a person

whom we gr eatly valued . He is a Russian subj ect,but of

German extraction and education,and had the day before

taken l eave of us to return to his native country, the province of Liefland (al so the country of Baron Stackelberg)and his intentionof going to Orvieto in the first place

, was

the reason that pinned us down to this precise day for oexpedition . On Thursdaymorning at sunrise we proceededfrom Viterbo to Montefiascone

, where we walked about tosee the churches , and the exquisite prospect from one of

the gates towards the Lake of Bol sena, and then went on

to Orvieto , which is eighteen m il es distant, magnificentlysituated on an insulated hill in them idst of a val ley , whichappears l ike a park surrounding a castl e

,and i s enclosed

by most picturesque hill s , surmounted in the distance bysnow-capped moun tain s : the town is mounted on a per

pendicu lar rock, and has no need of other wall s of

enclosure . We spent the whole remainder of the day in


and about the magnificent cathedral, which even surpassed

the expectations we had formed ; the next morning we

were there again by seven o’clock, returned to the inn at

nine to breakfast, and spent the remainder of the time till

we l eft Orvieto at two O’cl ock, in re-examining the paint

ings Of Luca Signorell i , Fiesol e , and Pietro Perugi no, in

one of the chapel s of the cathedral . The weather, whi chhad hi therto favoured us, now changed for the worse , and

we returned to Viterbo through an absolute hurricane .After resting there that night, we reachedRome in safetyand prosperity at three O

’clock on Saturday the 1 1th ,a lthough the prospect of the Lake of Vice , so peaceful andsunshiny three days before, was obscur ed by a stormof rain andwind accompanied by thunder, l ightni ng, andhail

,through which we traversed the mountain of Viterbo.

I came first up the staircase, in the m idst of whi ch H enrymet me, a li ttl e fur ther stood Charl es , waiting till I came

to him ,then came Angel ina with George, and the nur se

with my darling . Ernest had not been all owed to moveout of his room,

for he is suffering from his eyes , whi chhas been a great mean s of preventing my wri ting since myr eturn home . I am accustom ed to scrambl e on with

various employm ents with onlg Charl es and George to

interrupt, but the addi tion of a third,between whom and

each several brother I must keep the peace, and for whomI must find occupation without exertion Of the eyes , is agr eat addition to the distraction of attempting any occupa

tion requi ring the thoughts . Independent of children I

have had a succession Of things whi ch have scarcely l eft

me breathing-time . Some of these interruption s I shalltry to note down, because I know my Mother l ikes to have



ing marriage unless the parti es can prove themselves

possessed of a certain capital ; the consequence of thi s lawhas been in the countries themselves, as I have heard, that

coupl es come together as before,but in most cases, hold

themselves exonerated from the marriage ceremony : in

those cases when a scrupl e of conscience occur s after the

connection has been form ed,they have nothin g to do but

to expose themselves to the compl icated di stress of a dis

tant j ourney for the purpose Of being married, and just

because they have no m eans of subsistence but their dailylabour , with other detail s, it may be guessedwhat cases

of m isery occur— the risk of sickness and absolute destitu

tion in every in stance, not to mention the degradi ngneces

sity of begging, for persons whose appearance and deport

m ent denotes their having been accustomed to honestindependence . I was glad the other day to have expati ated

on thi s phil osophical in iqui ty to Mr . Empson , the successor

of Sir J . Mackintosh in the East India Coll ege, who seemed

struck by the detail s I gave . To return from thi s digres

sion, the Swiss was to be spoken to, and som e odds andends rummaged out for her and her chi ldr en ; then cametheBanderaro again ,

in superflu ity of zeal to Show pattern sOf l eather for the organ - cover : then the chil dr en ’s dinn er

was ready, then I r an to help Charl es to seal for the post,then in all haste ate my bason of gruel with the yolk of an

egg and sugar beat into it—my usual lun cheon : then puton my hat and pelisse, at the same time keeping the p eace

dur ing the toil et of Charl es and George, who went with

me to form their taste (or more properly to be kept out of

m ischief) at the Vatican heard that Charl es was engaged

with a Mr . Middl eton, who had brought him a l etter from

THE CAP I TOLI NE COLONY.

Sir W. Gel l,and went in to show,

not myself,but my hat

and veil,and to give Mr . Middleton a hint to go : the hint

after a quarter of an hour took effect,and then we set off,

Charl es on horseback with Kestner, the rest in the carrettella

,Henry on foot with Simon ,

Ernest provided with

company in Albert and George Eggers : my sweet girl

dispatched to walk with Angelina . The day was glorious ,and the Vatican beamed and glowed in sun shine . I couldnot however get far in the gall ery, so was I fagged with

the morning’s scramble,at which you will not wonder .”

“ 3 1 March,1 827 .

—I wish beginn ing to write so manydays before the post-day m ight secure my dispatching al etter with somewhat fewer omissions of things I wish and

intend to say,than usual .— The sentence, thus begun , is

finished to day the 3rd April — a plain proof how far

I can reckon upon my days since the first words, I have

driven through the time that has elapsed , or moreproperly been dr iven

, with the sen sation of passing from

one necessary di vision of the day to another wi th suchrapidi ty as to become dizzy and scarcely recoll ect what isthe most necessary thing to be don e next, so rarely is myoccupation a matter of choice and selection this I do not

state as matter -Of complaint, but matter of fact and of

self-ju stification ,not towards my Mother , who does not

require it,but towards myself, who Often unjustly com

plain of mysel f for leaving undone so much that I wish todo . My present vexation is , that I do not expect to beable to manage to give any Sign of actual existence, in theshape of scratch or smear on paper, to be conveyed to

England by one who could have taken it safely . What I

wan ted to have done, and considered most feasible, would


have been a coloured sketch of the inside of our Sittingrooms

, which I thi nk would enabl e my Mother more than

anything el se to figure it all to herself . On two different

mornings, when I felt as if I coul d catch a minute by

the tail and hold it fast,’ I began to cut a sheet of draw

ing-paper

, and l ook after pencil and crow-quill s,— but as

if the saidm inute had been resolved to laugh me to scorn

for pretendi ng to di spose Of it at my pl easure, not til l latethe same even ing, on the way to bed , did I secure theneedful numb er of seconds to settle the l itter I had thenmade— far enough from executing the intention with

which I had made it .“ Mr . Erskine has been some time in Rome , and I wasgreatly gratified to find that he met us both just at thepoint where we parted, though we have had no communication with him in the interval ; he is a very remarkable

and most interesting person ,of whose indi vidual ity it is

diffi cul t to give an idea by description ; there is a sort ofhi gh-wrought spirituality about him , without a shadow of

affectation Of singul arity; he never dwell s for a momenton mere decencies or commonplaces , but proceeds natur allyand at once to matters of thought and feeling . But he is

at present quite fores tico, and not to be caught.

On the 29th of May, 1827 , Madam e Bun sen gavebirth to her second daughter , chr istened Em il ia, afterher l ost sister , Mrs. Manl ey. It was at the sam e tim ethat Dr . Arnold

,of Rugby, paying a shor t and hasty

visit to Rom e w ith som e pupil s, laid the foundation of

hi s great fr iendship with Bun sen . Later in the summ erthe fam ily m oved to Castel Gandolf o .


2 1 8 L I FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

ran with Nicola a few steps down a narrow path goingfrom , or rather l ower than the main road , having call edupon him to make them whips ; we then perceived some

l oose horses coming after us,and the m an who was with

them answered to a question of Nicola,that they were to

go along the narrow path which the children had entered ,wherefore we all at the same mom ent summoned the

chi ldren to come out Of their way . My attention was

occupied by George, who stood just at the entran ce of the

narrow path, and ju st before the horses’ feet,but Mr .

Erskine was quicker than myself in springing to seizeh im . I n the meantime the other three boys were makingtheir escape up the bank to get into the main road, Nicolahelping Charl es as the youngest, and supposed more helpl ess

, when Ernest’s foot Slipped,and he fell, upwards .

The whol e was the occurrence Of a moment,and when I

turned my head from witnessing the safety of George, Iheard him scream ,

and whi le seeing him lifted on his feetby Nicola , saw what had happened, so that I answeredCharles’s exclamation of What’s the matter ? ’ by saying,H e has broken his arm,

I see it . ’ Nicola took him upin his arms

,and I made a sl ing of the silk handkerchief I

had in the bag whi ch contained my sketch-book : he con

tinued to scream and I said to him,

‘My boy, God has

suff ered this to happen,and God wil l help you , don ’t you

know that ? ’ upon which he became qui et, and from

that m oment never cried or complained : a circumstancewhich I can never recall without the tears starting to myeyes

,from thankfulness that he should already be capable

of being quieted under suffering by confidence in divin esupport. AS we passed through the street of Castell o,

THE CAP I TOLI NE COLONY. 27 9

peopl e without end wanted to help to carry Ernest, but

Nicola would not give him up . The operation of setting

must of cour se have been very painful , but it was over ina moment, and he on ly uttered a sound at that moment .

The surgeon said at the end of a week, whi ch was

on his birthday, that he mi ght be al lowed to l eave his

bed. andwalk about with his arm in a sl ing .

CHAPTER VI I I .

ABSENCE.

“They are never alone that are accompanied with noblethoughts.

”

S IR PH I LI P SIDNEY .

IN September

,1827

,Bun sen l eft Rom e on hi s fir st

Official j ourney to B erl in ,suddenly summ oned on the

osten sibl e r eason of conveying thither a nobl e work of

Raphael La Madonna del la fam igl ia Lante — whichhe had been enabled by a happy acciden t to procur e forhi s country ; but r eal ly, that hi s knowl edge of the intricacies of the Papal governm ent, acquired dur ing a

l ong r esidence at Rom e,m ight be made useful in ditfi

cul ties which had ar i sen with dign itar ies of the Rom anCathol ic Church in Sil esia and other part s of the Prussian dom in ion s.

The distinction w ith which Bun sen was received at

the Prussian cour t, the favour of the King, and the

fr iendship of the Crown Pr ince,drew for th such un i

ver sal courtship of the man , who appeared for the tim eto be in the very br ightest sun shine of royal ty, as was

excessively trying to one who was stil l only enter ing


282 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARON ESS BUNSEN .

be printed, with a preface by his own hand. Bun sen

was him self enj oin ed to correct the press, so that hi sr eturn to Rom e was delayed til l May, 1828.


“ Palazzo A lbani,Castel Gandolfo, 1 Oct ,

1 827 .

—I have

to commun icate that on the 8th Sept , the day I dispatchedmy last l etter, the post brought Charl es royal orders totravel to Berl in as soon as the vacation in the Roman

tribun al s should l eave him at liberty to quit Rome withoutoccasion ing interruption in the dispatch of business (you.will remember that the greater part of Charl es’s occupation here consists in transacting the business of the

Catholic dioceses in the King of Prussia’s domin ion s wi ththe Pope

,they not being allowed di rect intercourse wi th

the cour t of Rome) . On the 24th September he ac

complished getting ready to set out, and at five O’clock inthe afternoon of that day we saw him drive away from hi sown door

, wi th post-horses, in a well - closed travelli ngcarriage

, wi th an excel lent and agreeabl e travell ing com

pan ion,and an active and cl ever servant ; the carriage so

constructed that he could l ie down at l ength in it, whi chwas very necessary, as the plan of the j ourney will makeit often indi spensable to travel through the ni ght as wel las the day . H is travelli ng compan ion i s an architect ofthe name of Stier , whom we have known for years , and

have every year seen more reason to value , and that he isuseful and agreeabl e in travell ing

, we al l know by experi

ence,from having had him with us at Orvieto last March .

You will remember that some time ago Charles hinted atthe possibili ty of this j ourney, whi ch we afterwards had

ABSENCE . 283

reason to bel ieve woul d not take place , and therefore

wrote to Berlin for l eave of absence to go to Naples . I n

answer , he was told that the ministry had need of personalconference with him , with respect to some difii cul t pointswhich yet remained to be arranged with the Pope ; and on

which (I believe) the m inistry do not know what to demand ,unti l they have heard from Charles what, according to thesystem of the present Papal government , can be expectedto be obtained . This opportunity for Charl es of seeing

Berlin ,not as a mass of buildi ng or a mass of popul ation ,

but as a centre of intell ectual movement , —Of again seeingthe King— of being made personall y known to the CrownPrince , who is highl y prejudiced in hi s favour— of forming

the acquaintance of Count Bernstorff,who has alr eady

Shown h im all the personal interest that can be shown to aperson unknown— of feel ing how he stands w ith his Old

and constant protector Prince Wittgenstein ,andmeasuring

the degree of toleration fel t for him by the King’s privateminister, General Witzl eben ; cannot but be felt to behighly important : and may God direct him and direct

them , so that this crisis may tend to establi sh , not to shakehis position in li fe . I hope and beli eve I do not deceive

myself in saying that I have no feelings of ambition on

this occasion : most certainly do I fear and dr ead that which

many people expect,that the predil ection which the Ki ng

showed for Charles when in Rome wi l l so far strengthen ,

as to induce him to desire hi s presence at Berlin ,in some

post of trust and honour . I f such a distinction was to be

inflicted,I trust in Providence that the requisite strength

to endure it would be granted ; but humanly speaking ,there i s nothi ng I could so earnestly wish to avert as any


circumstance that Should lead Charl es, with his acute feel

ings and irritable fibre , into the midst of cour t- cabal s andcity- intrigues ; the happiness of life would be the l east tobe sacrificed : only thick- skinned and phlegmatic peopl ecan get thr ough such an ordeal w ithout a material changefor the worse in character . But I trust I shall see himagain

,at the end Of November or beginning Of December ,

with much increase of kn owledge Of the state of thin gs

from the near view he will have been enabl ed to take , andwith no other al teration ,

either in plans, wi shes, or situa

tion in li fe . At Berl in he hoped to arrive on the 12th or

1 3th October, and if not detained by express commands,woul d not stay l onger than to the end of the month ; buthi s j ourney back woul d take more time than the j ourneythere , because he woul d of course profit by the Opportu

n ity Of being in Germany after el even years’ absence , totake a glimpse of several friends whom he might neverhave the Opportunity of seeing again

,in particular hi s

remain ing sister , Helen , Madame M ii ll er , who l ives atCorbach , where he will al so visit the graves of his parents .I f it is possible , he wil l go to Bonn ,

to see Mr . Niebuhrand Brandi s . The latter is as happy as possible in his

marriage , but hi s wife is alm ost always ailing : God granther li fe may be preserved , for the calam ity of his losingher would be too terribl e . Mr . Niebuhr wrote Charl es avery l ong l etter lately, very happy in the gradual and

complete developmen t of his Marcus . Mrs . Niebuhr dragson a suffering existence, never well , and never in danger .”

10 Oct ,1 827 .

- I have had a long and deli ghtful letterfrom Berl in ,

where Charles has met with the most graciousof reception s from King, Princes, andMinisters . The birth



After di nner the children enj oyed a game at Boccia withAugusta Kl ein . Before they Went to bed

,I examined

Ernest as to his studi es in the absence of Simon,and re

ceived from him a compendium of the history of Moseswith such exactness of detail , such accuracy of chronology,

‘

and such choice of language, as confirms me in the hope

that whatever knowl edge he may acquire, he wil l fairlypossess, it will not be as it were l ent for a time .

27 Sep t—Yesterday we made an expedition to the

outward extremity of the Emissary, alle mole,which we

found an easy distance , and a very beautiful road, and theSpot itself is well worth seeing, though there is nothing ofantiquity visible . The post brought l etters from Niebuhrwith commissions for Latin books , and for an antique brickfor Marcus .

28 Sep t—To-daywe have been at Mar ine

,andFrances

was with us , and enj oyed greatly riding upon an ass on

the oldwoman ’s lap . My George rode al so,andwas the

happiest of human beings at being held upon the ass, buthe and I have had many a dispute .

Castel Gandolfo, 4 Oct ,1 827 .

—On Monday we profited

by the fine day to go to L ’Ar iccia with all the children,

who rode al ternately , Frances and Em il ia of course withtheir accompaniments of nurse and waiting-maid, and

George with one of hi s brothers behind h im . We fell

l ike a flight of locusts upon J ohn Veit, who sent for hi s

wife from her devoti ons to receive our visit .“ On Tuesday we drove to Genzano, and afterwards

proceeded to Nem i , and there visited the garden of Palazzo

Braschi, which is really enj oyable— being contrived uponthe steep descent of the rocks under the palace.

ABSENCE . 87

Your sister is on the whol e surprisingly well , thoughShe has daily fever, and Often severe rheumatic pains .Judging by her feel ings , she is of Opin ion that the bad

weather is drawing to a close ; if it should do so soon , itwoul d be worth our while to remain here l onger, and to

go to Monte Cavo,Gretta Ferrata

,and the Centron i .

Yesterday I had a great battl e with George, to whom Ifound it necessary to refuse Butterbrod at breakfast . After

urging his right and privil ege to it for some time, he resolutely exclaimed,

‘Giorgio prende butiro,amm azza Mama

me You m ay believe I kept my countenan ce til l I haddone whipping him and putting him in prison

,but then

all owed myself to laugh .

7 Oct — I hope before I l eave to have dry weather andleisure combining to make some sketch or another as arecord of my dear Castel Gandol fo, a place that I shal lever remember with gratitude, andwhich can in recoll ec

tion stir up no feeling but what is soothing .

”

Palazzo Caf arell i , Rome,14 Oct

,1 827 . I had the

comfort of your l etter,my own Best and Dearest

,on the

evening before my safe and happy ,but somewhat wet

r eturn from Castello . There had only been an interval ofrain for two days , in which your Sister made her escapevery wisely to Rome . I never fel t so much al one as in theday and half I was at Palazzo Albano without h er

, and

was quite happy to find her again in our own dear house,

where everything renewed to me the idea of your absence .

The day before I l eft Castell o, besides packing up , I wen tin the morning to visit the Marchesa Coosa

,and then to

take leave of the Villa Barberin i, where I greatly enj oyed

a sol itary walk, after establ ishing the childr en at play,


al ong the l ong avenue as far as the pines : the Libecciobl ew a tempest, but the sun shone

,and the wind spent its

fury on the summits of the trees,the walk itsel f being

shel tered ; all which circumstances assisted the solemn ,but

not melancholy state of m ind , in which I bade adi eu to

Castel Gandolfo . Af terwards I took l eave of the Pope’s

garden,and after dinner went down to the lake , and as far

as the Emissary, where my George was much pleased withthe Sight of the swimming l ights , which curiosity was not

new to his brothers .”“ Rome

,15 Oct— I had on Satur day evening

,and again

to-day, a l ong visit from Mr . andMrs . Shirl eyfif the former

the same that we ever knew him ,and l ooking the picture

of happiness the latter has produced on us the most agreeabl e impress i on ,

I am quite rej oiced to know her,andwish

more than I can describe that she might still be here when

you return .

20 Oct—My thoughts are much occupied by yourdescription of Cornel ius’s paintings, and a Spiri t of eriti

cism will rise in spite of me against the manner in which

he has treated the taking of Troy . I thi nk there is much

cl everness in the combination of m eans to produce strongemotion ,

but that real genius would have been moresparing in the representation of human brutal ity . The

art of painting had better not exist,than that it shoul d be

exercised to di splay the degrading side of what is noble inthe ancient world and in human nature ; and in the honour

Th e Rev . W alter Shir ley , afterwards Bishop of Sodor and Man.

He marri ed a first cousin of Madame Bunsen , Maria only daughter ofWilliam W addington , who was naturalized in France in consequenceof hi s marriagewi th Mi ss Sykes, heir ess of S. Remy, in the départementde l

’

Eur e.



Mother it seem ed as if I wanted him to make amends to

peopl e for the troubl e they took in knowing me I

am disappointed in Mr . Shirl ey’s not speaking Germanenough to converse with my sister-in-law,

for I am sure itwoul d be a pl easure to both ; and I always wish to everybody capabl e Of appreciating intercourse with the extraordinary m ind of my sister-in-law,

the refreshment andinvigoration I have experienced mysel f from her con

summate original ity . I do not m ean originali ty in the

commonplace sense Of the word as implying mere Singular ity ; bu t to signi fy, that whether She commun icates theplainest or the most refined resul t of intell ectual or Spiritualexperience

,it is always in such a manner as conveys an

absolute conviction of its being self-der ivedandnot receivedfrom without for the purpose Of transmi ssion . Wh en I

r ecoll ect the hints I have from time to time given you ,my

Mother,as to this very uncommon person

,I am struck with

the idea of their apparent discrepancy, and yet cannot byletters undertake to reconcil e them : all are true

,however

paradoxical .

”

To BUN SEN .

24 Oct,1827 .

—The company of the Shi rleys, whom I

see here,or go to

,most evenings

,is a great gain to me ;

i t is a refreshment to come in contact with peopl e so r ightheaded and right-hearted

,and with whom mind

,pri ncipl es,

and feelings, are al l sound and healthy.

”

7 N on—Every sentence in your last l etter l eads me

to ejacul ate, to you ,my Dearest, to myself, to all of us ,

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation ,

’

temptation to sel f-satisfaction, to sel f-gratulation tempta

ABSENCE . 91

tion to worldly ambition ; temptation to forgetfulness ofGod and his Providence ! Surely, it is —an awful trial towhich you are exposed, but may the grace of God brace

every sinew of your soul to resist unto the end,that you

may neither fall into the error of contemning H is favours,

nor that of looking upon them as your due — The ful l tideof gratification beyond wish or expectation

,I am cal led

upon in some degree to check, by commun icating to youthe in tel ligence of Mr . Cathcart’s death i t

“ This is the birthday of our darling George,as last

Sunday was that of Charles . A whole set of treasuresawaited them both, and the littl e Eggers’ came both daysto help to make a noise , and a fine noise was to be heard

the whole day l ong .

”

17 Non— I have just been in the Campo Vaccine withyour sister

,my George, and the nurse with Emil ia . We

saw a number Of men at work, excavating opposite the

Coli seum,at the foot of the temple of Venus and Rome

,

but coul d di scover nothing new,except that some archways

appear since the removal of the mould,under the sub

struction of the steps that surrounded the portico of thetemple . My George picked up pieces of stone , repeatingwi th great satisfaction guesto é hel lo,

’tico

,

’meaning antico.

19 Non— May God guide and protect you ! is myprayer now and con tinual ly — if it is H is will , your going toBerlin , and remaining in Berlin , will be good for yoursel fandothers and then I Shall not regret your prolonged stay .

Your purpose, to attain the point of being well understoodby those persons who direct the Spiritual existence of your

Mr . Cathcart was the friend of Bunsen’

s early life, who had beenthe means of bringingh im to Rome.


country,thus stated in general term s

,I greatly approve

but I wish I knew who these persons were and,till

you give me more data,I know not how to assent to your

assertion ‘di e Reise war der M iihe werth ! I wi sh you

may not awaken mistrust and suspicion by al l your l iturgical conferences . O the gossip Of Berlin !

To her MOTHER .

26 Non,1 827 .

—My own dearest Mother’s l etter was

written on the 7th November,my darli ng George

’s birthday . 0 coul d but the spirit Of j oy and satisfaction whi chwas diffused thro’ this house on that day

,have spread

to my Mother , how it woul d have cheered her gloom ,

how it would have renovated her wearin ess, how it woul dhave soothed her Spir it ! The child is andwas the same

chil d on that day as on other days , but that day al l were

happy in the privil ege of doing something or another tomake him parti cularly happy from morning til l night , andhe was so happy , and did so enj oy himself ! I do not love

him better than my other children ,my own Mother , but he

is altogether the one in whose promise I have the ful l estsatisfaction : there is such a vigour in him

,moral and

physical , —such proportion ,such fulln ess

,such intelli gence,

such tenderness of nature . Oh ! how you woul d del ight inhim

,and be refreshed by the sight of him ! My Mother,

it is indeed more and m ore necessary, as you say , that we

Shoul d meet, but how —When I think of the risk aboutmy Father , I dare not all ow myself to wish that youshould come to Rome

,so entirely do I feel what you

express,that any degree of ill ness would cause the bit

tercet self-reproach. But, bl essed be God, it is God alone



mercy of God will protect him : He who granted the earlywill grant the latter rain ,

’and bring Hi s own work to

perfection .

“ 29 Ar

on— I have seen the All ens often ,morning and

evening,and the company of Mr . All en"' is a real pl easure

to me . I am more than ever aware of all that is good and

excell ent and respectabl e about him ,but his foibl es have

grown Oldwith him as well as his good qual ities , and he isas fond as ever of repeating anecdotes Of Brooke’s : hehas however changed the chit-chat of Holl and House forthat of “

Woburn , and the names of Sca rl ett , Brougham,&c.

,

for those of the Russel l s and the Seymours .

To BUN SEN .

14 Dee ,1 827 .

—OnWednesday, our new carpets beingdown . I invited several peopl e whom I thought myselfbound to ask in some form or other . Therefore I got

together some musicians . Sardi was pleased to come,and

to sing admirably something from the Creation of Haydn

besides him there was ROStel l ’s littl e Cor inaldesi, whose

Singing was much admired, and a harp-player named

Frazian i : the Vannitell i played adm irably on the piano

forte,and altogether it was an abundan t feast of music,

so that the even ing passed off extremely wel l . I took careto have un r infr esco sufi ciente.

My George last night jumped up in his Sl eep and said

Papa, papa via, papa torna .

’On comi ng down -stairs

this m orning, Charl es related that he had dreamt of his

Papa : andH enry, on hear ing it, said that he had oftendreamt of his Papa’s return . Last Sunday I had a long

Al len of Cressell y, brother of Mr s . Drewe.

ABSENCE . 295

walk with the four boys , Giovann i holding my George’shand

,and carrying him part Of the way home . It was one

Of those delightful Roman winter days, in which everyobj ect seems illuminated and ennobled by the atmosphere ,and every breath of air inhaled seems to invigorate souland body . We went by the Col iseum to S . Cl emente

, where

we examined paintings , monuments , marbl e- enclosures ,andmosaics

,to the gr atification of all the children . From

thence we proceeded to the Baptistery of the Lateran ,

where the words I ndulgentia P lenar ia gave H enry an Oppora

tunity of asking particul ars as to the belief of the Cathol ics ,which he received much to his satisfaction , wisely shaking

his head . We then went through the Lateran ,looking at

everything, and issued forth by the main entrance, whereSanta Croce and the Porta Asinar ia, and the range of

mountain s behind , with the green meadow before, burstupon u S in ful l splendour of sunshine and colouring .

“At Lady Compton ’s I have made acquaintance withMr . Hallam and his w ife . Mr . Hallam is not exactlyagreeabl e

,but he looks like a person made of Sterl ing

stuff .

My Best-Beloved ! the year will be at an end when thisl etter reaches its destination : probably you will not Open

it till the new year has begun . May it be to you a year ofnew blessings

,a year of sobriety of spirit, a year of self

resolution,a year of advance In spiritual l ife ! AS to al l

that is temporal,it i s impossible for me to form a special

wish , lest it should be either granted or rej ected in wrathI can only pray for myself , for you , for our chil dr en ,

for al l

those we love best , that the power Of God may be granted,to enabl e us to support the wil l of God ! The past year is


one I look upon w ith pecul iar thankfulness,for the renewed

and strengthen ed assurance of your love that I have receivedin it : for the peace and en j oyment of our summer residence :for the progressive improvement in mind and body of ourprecious children . Again and again

,God bless you

,my

Dearest ! It is n in e o’clock,and Kestner

,H enselfi

“and

Grahl ‘r are Sitting in expectation of me .

”

1 7 Dee,1 827 .

—My Best-Beloved , what tickl ish groundyou are standing upon ! So useful to each and al l

, so

indispensable where advice on given points is wantingwhere all are in a scrape , and al l would be glad of a

suggestion how to get out Of it, but trust you rather thanany one else, as being believed to understand the subj ectbetter ! Oh what Shall save you from Spl itting on rocks,or running aground on shoal s ! And yet , there are no

rocks,no shoals , for him whose steerage is ever regulated

according to the true compass Of the soul z—who withSingleness of eye and heart marks alone the noisel ess

vibrations of that needle of conscience,which ever points

to the pole,the one fixed point roun d which all that is

earthly revolves . My Dearest , shall I admit that I did notl ike your exultation in la dzfi culté oaineue : were you not

too full of self -confidence in your own powers —I f youhave

,as I trust and bel ieve

,laboured not onl y faithfull y

but effi cien tly for the peace and welfare of the church of

Christ, I Shall indeed be the last person to grudge you thepraise you deserve , but I wish you had not taken so muchto yourself . That Providence which brought about yourj ourney to Berlin

,may make use of you to produce publi c

An eminent Prussian artist .1‘ The well -known miniature painter to the Kingof Prussia.


298 L I FE AND LETTERS OF BARONE SS BUNSEN .

the satisfaction one m ay feel in existence . When we were

in the narrowest circumstances , I had less of care and moreof enj oyment, than I have had Since what are call ed ourdays of fortune You

,as the acknowl edged favouri te

of everybody, are now flattered by everybody (I mean thew orld of di stinguished beings in the fir st place

,and the

world of l ittl e beings in the second) andtherefore all peopl ecan scarcely show themselves to you in their true colours .

On the last evening of the year I sang Gottlob ,ein Schritt zur Evvigkeit ’ alone I wonder where you wer e,andwho sang a hym n to you ! ”

J an . 17,1828 .

— My Dearest, I cannot express the pl easure your account of your Christmas gave me , nor whataffection I feel towards the GrO'bens 9‘for making you suchamends for not being at home . I al so feel real affection

towards the Ki ng for the regard he showed you . That

invitation on Chr istmas Day, and the yet more flatteringarrangemen t for your hearing the Russians sing, I take tohave resul ted from the pl easur e whi ch your l etter aecompanying the Raphael on Christmas Eve gave him . I

doubt not that letter was wr itten with all your heart, andso it reached the King’s .”

I n the beginn ing of Febru ary, Madam e Bunsen

r eceived the news of her father ’s death . He retained

Count Carl Groben , of N eudorfohen in East Prussia, had beenBl ii cher

’

s aide-de-camp dur ing the late campaigns, andheld the same

position at this time towards the Crown Prince, afterwards KingFrederick Vv' il l iam IV . He l i ved to an old age, a splendi d specimen

of the last generation . H is w ife was a daughter of that GeneralDornberg described in a former letter from Madam e Bunsen to her

mother.

ABSENCE. 99

his active habits and hi s systematic appl ication to reading, to the last, andwalked in snow and frost the daybefore he died. He r etired to bed as usual , while on avisit to his daughter Augusta at Aberearne

,and the next

m orn ing was found by hi s servant speechl ess, havingbeen struck wi th apoplexy. Mrs . Waddington was

imm ediately summ oned from Llanover,18 m il es di s

tan t, but he was never apparen tly con scious of her

presence . He expired the 19th January, 1828, in hi s80th year , and was bur ied at Llanover .


6 Feb.,1828 .

—My own Mother, I experience that for

a shock of thi s sort there is no preparation : I had thoughtmysel f prepared for it, with such certainty that I anticipated it —but that does not alter the fact, or the impression made . My sensation in r eference to myself i s that

produced by the idea of a ship l et loose from its cable,

and drifting before the wind — the l onger I was separatedfrom the only home I ever knew , the more I have ever

clung to the idea of having one fixed point in the world,

the abode of my parents and shall that perpetually recurring vision now be incomplete ? must I figure to myselfthe empty place

,the deserted room ? must I give up the

waking dream of showing my children ,of hearing the

comments made upon them—must I give up, worst of all ,

the hope cherished of being myself, of being through the

m eans of my children , some gratification ,some occupa

tion , some amusemen t , to him whom I must look upon asa benefactor for whom I have never done anything


“

towards whom I m ight have appeared as a mere thanklessreceiver ? Perhaps these dream s m ight never have beenreal ized

,but to have had them cut short by death is the

same pain as i f every probability had attended them , and

we that are earthl y must cl ing to what is earthly, mustsuffer from what is earthly . But if all this touches me

,

my own dearest Mother, and touches deeply, what haveyou not to feel , to be bowed to the ground by ? and am I

n ever to be w ith you at such times — a foolish thought,

for what could I do for you ? You are strong to endure,

strong in the aid which has never failed you .

’Tis dread

Omnipotence alone can heal the wound he gave ; ’ yourtrial and your comfort must come from the sam e sour ce .0 my Mother ! how my soul i s pen etrated by your sel faccu sation l ’

“and what can I say ,

how shall I contradict

you ? I can but remind you of what you know ,that you

were,and had been

,the sol e pleasure of his l ife

,the sole

occupation,the sole subj ect-matter that mixed with his

thoughts and plan s the thing that he looked for at everyperiod of the day : that you made all his happiness : can

you not rest upon this fact ? 0 no,— at first I know you

cannot ward off that self-reproach which pour s poison intothe wound, and converts sorrow to anguish . But you willin time , I trust and pray ,

feel the practical influence ofwhat your understanding admits . ’

From the blackeststain of sin of which human nature is capabl e

,down to

This all udes to the distress of Mr s . W addington becau se she hadremain ed at Llanover when Mr . W addi ngton , by hi s own wi sh, wentfor a few days’ Vi sit to Aberearne . H is death was qui te sudden ,

but

he had the affectionate attentions of h is youngest daughter and herhusband, who were with him .



To BUN SEN .

14 Feb.

, 1828 .— I feel my father

’s death most for mymother

,but al so as a great personal shock My

mother attended the funeral . It must have been a mostaffecting scene : more than four hundred farmers and

country peopl e present, and yet all as still as death,

though many children were amongst the crowd . Ever

since I received on the 20th of December a dr awing of myfather by Augusta— the most incomparabl e of all like

nesses— I have fel t as if that gift was sent to prepare me

for hi s death : yet, when it was sent, he was in perfectheal th .

”

19 Feb,1828 .

- I have had an interruption which gaveme much concern

,the necessity of breaking to our excel

l ent friend Kestner the news of the death of his mother,

who was Werther’s Lotte . ’ She was from all accounts a

very estimabl e person ,and never deserved in any other

respect than being attractive to be raised to the ‘bad

eminence ’ of a heroine in a novel .

20 Feb.,1828 .—Of your long-delayed return I can say

nothing more than what I daily pray, God grant a good

issue I God bless your going out and coming in I Heaven

knows of your coming in we feel a great need, but I see weshal l have much longer to wait. As to other matters

,the

principal ones in your l etter, I pray in the words of thehymn

,

Lava quod est sordidum ,Flecte quod est rigidum .

Riga quod est ar idum ,Fove quod est fr igidum.

Sana quodest saucium . Rege quod est devium .

”

7 March,—We spent my birthday with as much

sati sfaction as we could, under the consciousness of your

ABSENCE . 3

absence,though that was indeed a great weight upon me .

That morning I was in some danger of breakfasting alone ,

for I could get nobody in the house to com e, for al l the

children ,with Rhebenitz , H ensel and Grahl , were coll ected

in your sister’s room , where she made them wait for Kest

ner,who was late , in order to come to me in grand proces

sion,the l east first . My two sweet girl s carried flowers

and robe dolee, my George a pair of gloves,my Charl es a

ribbon ,my Henry and Ernest each a flower -pot with a

flower ing-plant in it your sister brought me a canary-bir d

in a cage , Grahl a picture of my Frances , H ensel a Copyof verses , Rheben itz a very beautiful dr awing from a painting of Pietro Perugino , and Kestner a copy of verses

,

with a drawing of your sister, which is very like . Af terwards came the Rothe’s , she having embroidered a ruff forme then came the Eggers’ procession , Al bert with a

flower -pot,Georg and Otto with a basket l ined with gr een

silk,the gift of Augusta Kl ein . As soon as the childr en

had dined , we went to see the wild beasts, now outside thePorta del Popolo

,and then to the Vill a Borghese .”

To her MOTHER .

1 March,1828 .

—My dearest husband is still at Berl in ,

and God grant it may be to good purpose . During thislong stay at Court plentiful seed of future trial will havebeen sown— that is certain : but be it so ; ‘it i s al l in theday’s work,

’and there is but one thing good or evil in li fe .

What I cannot understand is the possibil ity of people’sser iously congratulating me (as they do) upon the advan

tages to be derived to the chi ldr en from Charles’s presentfavour . One should suppose nobody had ever heard, or

0-l LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

read,what a Court is . I have m ore hope of the chil dren ’s

doing wel l in li fe , from good instructions begun ,continued

,

and ended in faith and prayer .

The boys are now very busy cuttingout at one tabl e,

whil e I am writing at the other . Theywere at first al l aboutmy tabl e like bees , for they always suppose where I sitmust be the most conven ient place . After we have dinedabout five o’clock , and

.

the children at the conclusion of our

dinner,have had mashed potatoes

,or stewed fruit, or bread

and butter, for their supper, they play about a little , andthen go up to Simon , who, as I understand, speaks to themabout their conduct during the day , then reads a hymn ,

andprays w ith them ,and then they return to me . Rather

more than a month ago I began the practice of cutting outfor them (without moving from my great chair) somethingfrom a card, that they m ight trace it round, and cut it outfor themselves— there being no end to my drawing things

for each of the three to cut and this has proved a del ightful occupation ,

to which they return with fresh zeal everyeven ing from seven to eight O’clock, when they go to bed.

The things most usually cut out are from myMother’s bookof horses , and b irds from Bewick, and beasts from Gold

smith’s AnimatedN ature.

H enry and Ernest have their regul ar dr awing l essonevery day

,and singing twice a week— the drawing makes

progress,but not so striking as the singing . Rhebenitz

keeps them to making out outl ines for themselves , fromreal obj ects , and H enry has begun to draw from the window but this method

, which is laying a solid groundwork,cannot at fir st make a show . With their progress in singing I am quite astonished— that those two l ittle things



happy, in this world , thro’ rel igion . 0 my own dearest

Mother , what do people mean by such suppositions ? Havethey ever thought or reflected ? Is not the first step towards religion to acknowledge your sel f l ess than the l eastof God’s mercies , and not onl y dust but sin— and when

any step is made in religion ,does it not l ead you m ore and

more to wonder at the desperate wickedness,the deep

deceit of the hum an heart,— to feel the iniquities of your

holy things, ’ and renounce wi th abhorrence even what theworldmay cal

l

your good deeds , as knowing them to come

from the sam e source,to be formed of the same stuff

,as

your sin s,and therefore unfi t for the sight of a. God of

purity, however they may take form s useful and convenientand fair- seemi ng to men ? the resul t of whi ch is andmustbe , the reception ,

as a matter,not of dogma, but of deep

and heart-fel t conviction , of the truth that thro’al l -suffi

cient m er its,not our own ,

'if claimed by humble faith, weare assur ed of acceptance . Maria once talked of feel inggr eat happiness since she was convinced of the van ityOf everything earthly ,

a sentim ent I do not understand,but whi ch I found no opportun ity of expressing my dissentfrom . I do not comprehend what is m eant by the comfor t

of a yoocl conscience, al though I well understand what J eremyTaylor calls a fal se peace , and a sil ent conscience .

’ My

own Mother, it is risking a good deal to begin on such

topics with my Frances sitting on the tabl e mending my

glove, and my George bu il ding a house and chatteringopposite : but I believe you wil l understand what I mean ,

however incoherently put together ; and not suppose that Ihave learnt of Dr . Nott to cast a sweeping sentence of

excommunication against sectaries ; on the contrary, I

ABSENCE . 307

beli eve my tendency was the reverse,that of over-rating

their m erits,nor will you suspect me of requiring every

body to‘bow their heads l ike a bul rush ’

and expect tor ise to Heaven only from the depths of despair .

To BUN SEN .

20Maren, 1 828 .— This day I r eceive my Best-Bel oved

’s

l etter announcing a yet longer absence — But, God granthis blessing to the cause, and then , whatever the resul t, it

will be sati sfactory : the resul t to yourself must probablybe trial

,Of some sort or other, but if al l consequences are

encountered with Singl eness of heart , strength will be givento endure them . My Dear est, it is hard work to be patient ;coul d I but beli eve the delay would onl y be for ten ortwelve days , or only for any given time, I coul d then make

up my m ind to the necessity . But the m ischief is,that

after having been so often disappointed, one has no confi

dence l eft I thank God for the gracious treatmentyou receive, and for the fine m ind, the candid spir it, andexal ted views of the principal person you have to deal with .

And I thank God,my very Dearest, for all the l ove and

affection you express towards me : it is my trust in yourlove that alone makes it possibl e to endure this piecemeal

penitence of your l engthened ab sence .”“ 9 Ap r i l , 1 828 .

-I t continues to seem odd as well as

di sagreeable to me to have toi

'

see all sorts of things,

and take part in various p assatemp i , according to thedifferent season s of the year, and that you should still beabsent ; and you too go on ,

through business andpleasure ,through l abour and refreshment

,between friends and

enemies, through the disturbances of men and the festival s


of the Church— and all without me ! I was with your si steron Good Friday in the Sixtine Chapel , as well as on Thursday, and thought much of my dearest Charl es on both days ,in our own chapel and in that of the Pope ; but what dayi s there on which I do not think much of him The sun is

shining in at the open window, and the breezes bear al l

the freshn ess of new"

vegetation to every Organ, and I feelheal th and strength and spirit to enj oy

,but it i s tantal i sing

to feel that the pr incipal means of enj oym ent is far away .

To her MOTHER .

18 Ap r i l , 1 828 .— I must answer my dearest Mother

’s

question , whether I ought not on account of my heal th tocom e wi th my childr en to England

,very decidedly in the

negative . My heal th is really very good, the il lness of thiswinter was an accident indeed I consider that I

have many grounds for apprehending that my heal th wil lnot be as good as it is , when I shall be exposed to theintense cold of a German winter, or the continued raw dampof an English one : however, l et that be as it may ; suffi

cient unto the day is the evil thereof, and if a burden i ssent

,strength to bear it will be granted. When I con sider

the wear and tear I have gone through in the birth of somany chil dren ,

and the cares and anxiety, the exertion of

body andmind, inseparable from the happiest earthly con

dition,I am only astonished that in these last almost eleven

years I should not have experienced a more sen sible decayOf powers . I know that I am older , and that I look older ,but I bel ieve not more so than I should have done from the

simpl e effect of years, wherever or in whatever circumstances passed. Further

,my own Mother, even if I did



gations of the Prussian dom in ions has been adopted. To

this l iturgy serious Obj ections have with r eason been madeit was put together by person s l i ttl e suited to su ch a business

,in complian ce wi th the King’s desire for somethi ng

l ike the mode of worsh ip of th e Church of England ; andconsists of fr agments strungtogether , each good, but wantinga principl e of connexi on for the fur therance of devoti on .

Thi s li turgy may be said to require a regular choir,and

such was actually got together in Rome,amongst the

Painter s and Sculptors, to very good effect . But in the

course of the second summer after the King was here,many of the prin cipal members of the choir travelled away,‘

and their places were not to be suppl ied, and thereforeCharl es, with Rothe the chaplain , avail ed themselves of

the pretext to re-model the whole : and they introduced a

form , in everything material the same as that of the Churchof England, though varying in arrangem ent . Iwas amused,and so will you be, to think Of the l iberties whi ch thesubj ects of a despotic monarch sometim es take ! Of cour seno r eport was made to Berl in ,

for that would not have

done — and Charl es now being at Berli n ,had every possible

reason to hope for an Opportunity of communicating thematter, in such a manner as to ensure its not being quashedat once by Royal displ easure . This Opportunity was at lastfound, and on the 28th J anuary the form of divi ne service

‘

here in use , with accompanying treatises and elucidation s,was laid before the King . An awful pause ensued , in thecourse of which Charl es l earnt that the King had shewnhimself much displ eased , but had said ‘that he wouldl eave the congregation at Rome at l iberty to do as theypleased:’ he laid aside the papers, and there seemed

ABSENCE. 3 11

no hope of hi s entering into the subj ect . However he

bethought him self , had the papers brought before him ,

read and explained by hi s private secretary, General VVitz

leben ,and at last

,had Charles summoned to a private

audience,in which the business of reconcil ing him to what

had taken place was completed . SO far al l was well .

Charl es was invited to a farewell dinner on Thursday ,

28 Feb .

,after which he was graciously dismissed . On

Friday morning he was in the act of taking leave of the

Crown Prince, his horses having been ordered for the nextmorning

, when he r eceived the King’s command to come to

dinner at 2 O’clock . On entering the King said to him ,

that he wished him to delay hi s j ourney a l ittle l onger , andthat General Witzl eben woul d explain the reason . The

r eason was accordingly explained, that the King was re

solved to have the whol e printed : and that Charles mustsuperintend the printing : for that it was to appear in theworld with the Royal approbation and recommendation .

Upon this business he has been detained the whole of

March, but his last letters l ead me r eal ly to beli eve that hewill have begun his j ourney on Easter Monday the 7thApril . I n that case, he may be here the m iddl e of May .

To BuNsEN .

“ 23 Ap r i l , 1828 .— My own Best-Beloved! the idea of

your certain and near return now blends itself with everythought , and gives importan ce to every action : for almosteverything is done or let alone w ith a reference to itYou will tell us the dear bright day of your arrival, andthen we will drive in a great troop to meet you

,at l east as

far as La Storta, and bringyou home in triumph, and feed


you , and l et you rest, and I shall place a sentinel at the

door to say that nobody shal l dare to com e in . And thenthe next morn ing, before the enemy has time to make hisapproaches, we wil l put ourselves into the carrettell a, andrun away to Tivol i , with the Obj ect of freely and confi

dentially speaking, hearing, di scussing, andbeing mutual lyunderstood by each other, at this recommencement Of ourconjugal existence . For you must admit

,that if you stay

in Rome in your own house only one day, a regular pl anof siege will be formed, and al l the outlets barricaded, sothat you can no l onger escape, and even if you escape as

easily at the end of four days as at the end of four hours ,the best and freshest hours would be past , and your headso ful l of Roman cares that you would not be able to

bel ong to yourself and to me , as exclusively as I want andexpect and desire and require . The eight mon ths of yourabsence have been marked by j oy and gr ief

,pleasure and

plague, which we have each had to go through alone

those cir cumstances wil l have left their resul ts , and produced their modification s in both of us . And after we have

spen t our days of enj oym ent at Tivol i , where we shall sitout of doors , and saunter, and dawdle, and talk all day,we wil l send out a grand inv itation to everybody we know,

to come some evening , and then announce and give out

that you are every evening to be found between seven and

nine o’ clock, but never in the morn ing .

Bun sen r eturned to Rom e on the 21st of May, and

in June the whol e fam ily m oved to Frascati wher e thefir st floor of the Villa Piccolom in i was now engagedfor their occupation, and continued to be their happy



l ain to the Legation , but who has had an appointment at

Wittenberg, and was therefore relieved at his post till hisdefinitive successor can arrive

, which will not be till Easter .Tholuck

’s presence is a great pl easure

, and I trust wi ll bea great benefit to us

,at l east he has greatly the gift of

instructing, as wel l as of interesting and entertaining .

He has di stinguished himself by one or two works,and is

a great oriental ist : he has been in England,I beli eve

chi efly amongst the liberal Evangel ical s (I would not use

that nam e,if I knew by what other to call them) . Lord

Bexley and Sir George Rose are the only names I know

amongst the peopl e he was much with . The summ er is

del icious , and the children ,more particularly the three

l ittl e ones,enj oy the exercise in the vill as, which they have

such constant Opportun ities Of taking . My own

Mother,I hope to dr aw and do all sorts of things whil e I

am at Frascati , so much am I impressedwith the del ightful

sensation of the possibili ty of emp loyment, not harry . Since

we have been here Charl es has at l east once a day wished

you were here with us to enj oy it : that he always does

when he is very happy .

”

BUN SEN toMRS . WADDI N GTON .

Vi lla Piccolomini , 6 Any ,1828 .

—My dear Mother . It

would have b een my duty , and it has been continually mymost earnest wish, to communicate to you immediatelyafter my return from Berl in the result of this in manyrespects most important period of my l ife . God knows

that I have not found time to do it as early as I intended,but at Rome I was from the first moment to the last overwhelmed by accumul ated business and never-ceasing visits

ABSENCE . 315

of Old and new friends,and here in the country almost

three weeks have been r equi r ed to secure to m e that

external and internal repose, without whi ch I stronglydisl ike to write l etters, destined, as this is, to convey a

l asting image of one’s own l ife,and to serve as a fix ed

point and a sea-mark, as it were, to look upon till the l ongper iod of separation is at an end, and more satisfactoryexplanations can take place .

“ I will now begin the account I owe you ; not of the

detail of my Berlin l ife , because that is impossibl e, but

of the resul ts of the j ourn ey as to my situation in life,

our prospects and our plans for the education of our

children .

“ You are aware that hitherto I was , as it were , astranger in the in terior of the State

, whose service I hadembraced. Risen to a hi gh station in the diplomatic l ine

,

I had no root in the coun try where my children were to beestabl ished . Firmly resolved not to die a di plomatist andexil e, if I coul d help it, I was unabl e to form a positiveplan , as to my further career in the Ki ng’s service . Godbe thank ed, that both these in conveniences have disappeared, and given room to prospects

,and

,humanl y

speaking, certainties , far beyond all my wi shes and ex

pectations . A stay, three times protracted to the extentof six months , not only without my instrumentality, buton the contrary against my decided wish and intention

,

was at last found to have been necessary to call forth thoseproofs of confidence Of the King

,the Prince Royal , and

the ministry, which enabl ed me to establi sh my character,

in the moral and intell ectual sense,and to mark out to

mysel f the point, upon which, under the present circum


stances,I was to bring to bear those powers and acquire

ments I may possess to serve my King and benefit mycountry . These resul ts have been as decisive as favourable .

“Having thus, to a certain degree,the

'

free option of

preparing for mysel f either a speedy return to Berli n ,or an

establishment at Rome more fixed than before , my decisionwas and remained, to keep and to fortify that station , where

m ore t han ever I thank God to be placed . It is its retirement , l eisure and independence

, which has enabl edme to

pursue those studi es which at once have placed me so high

in the Royal confidence , al though I never contemplated intheir pursuit anything but my own information and the

discovery of truth for myself and my fell ow- creatures .Moreover

,as i ts independence has given weight to all I

had to say on the momentous subj ects under discussion,thus it enabl es m e now quietly to wait for the right momentOf acting . When therefore towards the end of my stayal l eyes were fixed on me , and som e considered it l ikelythat I woul d remain at Berl in ,

as one of the King’s

Min isters,question s were put to me from many sides . My

open declaration was that I claimed no favour of the

King’s,besides that of keeping the place, where my

services had given satisfaction to His Maj esty : and I did

not conceal from those , who had a r ight to more,that

should ever the King claim my services in the adm in istration of the church and public instruction , I woul d be unable

to withhold from H i s Maj esty that I concur red entirely inthe Object which his government w ishes to attain ,

but that

I did not think the means empl oyed, in any way proper to

this great obj ect in vi ew .


3 18 L IFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

i s completely reproduced in the sentiments of Evangel icalstowards such of their Protestant brethr en as do not tie

them selves down to a certain ceremonial law ,or think

them selves better than others for not going to ball s !It i s however a comfort to hear that there are still suchp eopl e in the world as Lady Louisa Stuart how I rej oice

in the idea of your having had the refreshm ent of herpresence " Mrs . will have observed very soon thatmy Mother and Lady Louisa were above using the despicable Shibboleth Of a certain party, and having at onceconcluded them not to be of the Evangel icals

, and there

fore of the reprobate , will have been frightened to death atthe thought of the contamination

,and fel t herself bound

in conscience to hurry away .

The state of my sister-in-law is now most extraordinaryandm elancholy . She continues seriously and al arminglyi ll

,and wi ll not see either myself or Charl es . I have

the comfort of knowing that she wan ts for no care or

attention at the hands Of Louise ; but last week whenLouise was confined to bed with an inflammatory fever , Iwent to see her uninvited, to know whether the Itali angirl who waited upon her in place of Louise did her duty ;and persisted in returning again and again : till at last,not satisfied w ith merely repul sing me , she dr ove me from

her with a degree of fury that I do not consider myselfjustified in again exciting

,andH eaven knows when I shall

see her again , for not having done anythi ng to occasion

There was a very close t ie of fri endsh ip between Lady Lou isa

Stuart andMrs . W addington , which originated in the almost motherlyprotection andkindn ess shown by the Countess of Bute (mother of LadyLouisa) to the heart-broken and desolate niece of Mrs. Delany afterthe death of her aun t and adoptedmother.

ABSENCE . 319

this fit of hum our , I can do nothing to undo it . The

advantage of this m isfortun e is , that I have my time at

my own disposal , for the first time for three years and a

half, with the exception of the first six weeks at Frascati

this summer : and that is an indescribabl e rel ief,from

which both body and mind gai n .

I have lately had curiosity gratified, but nothing el se,in the sight of Chateaubriand, who is a vain creature

thi nks himsel f handsome, and real ly speaks French so thatit is a tr eat to hear him . The sentiments he utters are asyet a sort of mask , perhaps the time will come when he

will utter opinions, supposing he has any.

CHAPTER IX .

ROMAN SUNSHINE .

Beholding the bright countenance of Truth in the quietand still air of delightful studi es.

”—MI LT0N .—

.The Reason ofChurch Government.

N the autumn Of 1828 Bunsen wen t to Flor ence tom eet the Cr own Pr ince, afterwards Freder ic W il

l iam IV . of Prussia,and to conduct him to Rom e . He

arranged that he should en ter the city by that descentfrom Mon te Mar io, dear to al l Roman pilgr im s

, by

which the whole glor ies of the Eternal City are gradual ly unf olded to the travell er who fol lows the windingsof the l ong descen t ; while, instead of gl oomy wal l s anda pover ty- str icken suburb

,the fir st buildings he r eaches

are the Vatican ,and St . Peter ’s

,and the pillared piazza

which two gigantic fountain s il lum inate with theirsilver spray. The for tn ight of the Crown Pr ince’s staywas del ightful to al l who cam e in contact with him .

WVhatever he visited, he saw with indescr ibabl e enthu

siasm .

“His soul i s fil l ed with the highest and m ostspl endid design s

,

”wrote Bunsen to Schnorr von

Carol sfeld, and wi th an am ount of knowl edge and



Cathol ic establ ishm en t, founded by a Baron von Preuck,

for the assistance of young Roman Cathol ic students inRom e

, was unear thed and brought again into workingorder , two cher ished inmates of Bun sen ’ s intim ate

c ircl e being the fir st to profit by its r estoration

Ambrosch,who died m any year s later as Pr ofessor at

B r eslau,and the young studen t of hi story, Papencordt ,

early snatched away from a l ife of unusual prom ise .

The tim e of study which Bun sen could retr ieve from

the “ Descr iption Of Rom e — which he always fel tburden som e

,but to which he con sidered him self bound

by an arrangem en t (detailed in an after l etter) withthe publ isher Cotta, for the assistance of hi s fr iendPlatner— was now devoted with hear ty enthusiasm to

Egyptian r esearch and the study of hieroglyphics . He

was the fir st to urge the Importance of such investigations upon Richard Lepsius

,afterwards one of hi s

m ost valued fr iends,whose expedition to Egypt, under

taken at the expense of the Prussian Governm ent, was

crown ed with important success .Madam e Bun sen ’s own days were in creasingly occu

pied by the care and education of her children . She

had a pecul iar talent for making her l esson s interesting by il lustration ,

and for fixing the facts of theworld’s history in the m inds of her son s, by connectingthem with the scenes they visited with her . TheirScr ipture l esson s were often al ike recal led with pleasure by m other and sons . “All my children knewand l oved their B ibl e early, wrote Madam e Bunsen

ROMAN SUNSH I NE . 323

l ong afterwards my Ernest, when dr iving out withme in the carr iage

,would sing to h im self the hi story of

Abraham,or som e other par t, language and tun e being

al ike an improvisation .

”


8 J an,1 829 .

— Charl es and I have had much pl easurein seeing Mr . Gall y Knight . We were brought togetherby Mr . Wilmot H orton , who consul ted Charles on the

subj ect of his plan for a bill in favour of the Cathol ics .Charles

,at hi s request

, wrote a m emoir on the subj ect ofthe negociations of Protestant Powers with the Court ofRome

,which, as Mr . Horton left Rome three days after

Christmas, was sent after him by courier to Florence .

The courier was to be sent Off on N ew Year’s Day, andCharles had not been abl e to begin his memoir till three

days before . I n the afternoon of one day, and the morning

of the next , he finished it, to my amazement , consideringthe bulk and the importance of the matter ; then he gaveit to me to read , and, as far as I could, correct, in what

l eisure interval s I coul d make in the afternoon of the

second day then came the grand business of transcribing,which I alone coul d undertake for him, as neither of the

two Secretaries possess m ore than a very sl ender portionof English , of accuracy, or of speed : and this business Ibegan upon at el even on the last day of the year and

fin ished writing sixteen folio pages by two o’clock on themorning of the N ew Year

,— not having of course written

without interval s . First I wrote from eleven till halfpast three , then Charles took me a walk in a bracing northwind, which was very refreshing: we came back to di nner

32 1 L l FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

at five,after dinner rested

,let the children sing a hymn

suited to the close Of the year , sent them to bed,and at

eight O’cl ock set to work again : at eleven we left Off,

rested,and

,together with his sister, read, spoke , or medi

tated on the ti tle of time, and time of ti tle, till the bel l of theCapitol announced the end of the old and beginning of the

new year ; soon after whi ch we set again to work, and thewriting and dictating were at an end before two o’clock .

I had great satisfaction in this undertaking from the ideathat thus a quantity Of very necessary information , su ch

as Engl ish Statesmen do not possess relative to the Courtof Rome, and are not in the way of acquiring, and such ason the whole nobody is SO qualified to give them as Charl es ,should thus be conveyed into a channel in whi ch, pl easeGod

,it may serve to ward off much evil .

“ 6 Jlf arch,1 829 .

— Since I sen t Off my last l etter wehave had for the first half of February such intense cold asI never felt in Rome ; in one part of our own house, thewater froze indoors

,and when , on the 1 5th ,

we went to

the Villa Pamfi l i,after the weather had been milder for

forty - eight hours, we nevertheless found every fountain ,

and the surface of the pool,still incrusted with massive

i ce, to the great del ight Of the children . Thi s degree of

frost having been accompanied by the keenest north wind,was more penetrating to the human system than a fargreater degree woul d have been in a northern climate, andthe sicknesses and deaths that have taken place in cou se

qu ence have been innumerabl e, to begin with the Popeand Torlon ia, whose deaths have produced the mostsingul ar contrast in publ ic feel ing

,the latter death having

been as general ly lamented (on account of the extensive



in,as she had once seen me do when I had forgotten t o

bring a basket .“Whil e Charl es was l aid up with a cold

,a friend

brought him ‘Tom J ones ’ for his amusement, and I wasinduced by observing how he laughed over it , to make atrial myself ; and I confess the spirit of the narrative l edm e on for some chapters

,but then I remained sticking in

the mire,and I much doubt

’

whether I shal l ever read

further,and most cordially do I apply my dear Father

’sfavourite epithet

,

’Ti s a blackguard book .

On the 1 1th of June a four th daughter was born in

the Palazzo Caffarell i and chr istened Mary CharlotteEl izabeth .

BUN SEN toMRS .WADDIN GTON .

“ 26 J ane,1 829 .

- I did not mention in my l ast letter amost entertaining j ourney I have taken to the sea-Shore ,wi th Dr . Nott, a German professor, a Germ an painter, andM . Kestner— the Hanoverian Chargé d’Aifaires

,as my

companions . We proceeded first by Civita Vecchia toCorneto , where the site of the most ancient city Tarqu ini i ,the seat of Tarqu inius’ ancestors , of Etruscan origin

,and

the common cemetery of that town,have l ately been

discovered . This cemetery has an extension of six miles,

and presents a natural plain covered with innumerablesmall er and bigger hill s , that mark the site Of the tombs .These tomb s are all hewn in the rock that l ies under thesur face, and formed in two or more chambers

,some of

which are stil l found to contain the bon es and the finest

vases , arms , &c .

, that the deceased possessed : some of the

paintings which abound on the wall s are likewise pre


served. Imagine that many of these tombs are of an

antiqui ty of years and more,and Show a hi gh

civil isation,al though the fine arts were al so here an im

portation from Greece . From thence we proceeded to

Musignano,near Canino

,the present residen ce of Lucien

Bonaparte, who has established here hi s head-quarters in

order to survey the most interesting excavations which ar e

going on in his territory . Imagine a wide plain of three

or four mil es in circumference,entirely fil l ed with tombs ,

hewn into the rock . I n the midst of this pl ain there r i se sa hill

,60 feet high

,and 200 feet in circumference

, which

has been found to be wholly artificial . It was originallysurrounded with a fine circular wal l , of huge squarestones

,w ith an entrance paved with slab s of yi lelecl bronze.

The inside presents chapel s, towers, rooms, &c. ,all

destroyed and stripped of their costly ornaments , and thewhol e was undoubtedly the sepul chral monument Of theroyal dynasty . The tomb s are for the greatest part stillfill ed with the most beautiful vases , of which Lucien alr eadypossesses at Musignano

,among which there are 200

of the fir st rank , whereas in the whole of Europe thereare not twenty others of that merit . N ow imagine the odd

way in which he lives there and in whi ch we foun d him .

About two miles from hi s castl e he has erected two tents,

in the one he sits himself, wi th his old Franciscan friar

who always accompanies him, surrounded with inscr ip

tion s,papers

,and books : the other gives shelter to the

horses who are always ready to carry him or his aides -de

camp to any point of the field . Now and then one of

them comes in to say :‘Eccell enza

,a new vase has been

found,

’ or a golden ring is here,’or an inscription ,

’dc,


I f the obj ect is smal l , it is brought to him to be registered, and if gold sent to the Princess, who has a rich

collection of gold p arure of God knows how many and

how old Etruscan queens and ladies,some of which she

wears herself, as bracelets, chains , &c of most beautifulworkmanship . I f it is a vase, he goes himself to the spot ,and gives his directions how it may be removed , washed ,and sent to Musignano . We were ourselves present atsuch a discovery . It was a great and beautiful vase

,all

covered with mud . When brought to the l ight,it was

washed, and one figure after the other, witnesses of the

once active genius , came out of darkness andmud . Thenwe went w ith him to his castle . Before it there are twow inged lions, of natural size, sculpture work Of theEtruscans : twelve such stood as guards at the entranceof the royal tomb before described . The fami ly life of

Musignano is very good, simple, and worthy . Lord and

Lady Dudl eywere present . Ladies and gentlemen speakof nothing bu t vases, Etruscan arts and kings ; no politics,no regrets . The Franciscan friar is the master of thehouse . The young princes seem modest and good-natured .

We dined there and then wen t to Canino in the morn ingwe returned to see the coll ection a second time .

What acurious spectacle to see Napoleon ’s brother

,as busily em

ployed among the tombs of Etruscan kings and lords , androaming about the monuments of past ages in a desertedcountry, as on ce among kings and princes of the day .

”

MADAME BUN SEN to her MOTH ER ,

22 July ,1 829 .

—This the ann iversary of the birth,and

of the death of my first precious Mary, who has now beenseven years set free from sin

,and sorrow

,and mortal ity :’



times on my left arm, which will account for scrawl ing ;

but an interruption I cannot call her,for she is still too

unwell to be capabl e of being amused . Emilia is veryengaging and attaching in her behaviour since her sister’sillness

,so full of concern to see Frances li e down and be

carried about ; rej oicing to see h er eat again with a sp ooncaressing her and stroki ng her on all occasions , andwhatmost of al l deli ghts me

,showing no j eal ousy of her sister,

altho’ a great anxiety not to be forgotten by me : for

when I am busied about Frances she n ever teases tocome to me

,but whenever I try the experiment of

sending Fran ces to Angelina,she sets off

,and comes to

me,and stands modestly by m e

,fixing her large eyes on

my face,and silently begging to be taken in lap ; and

when I take her,there is nothing she does not do to show

her quiet happiness .“ My own dearest Mother

,my precious Mary was bap

tized on the 1 2th July , and received the names of MaryCharlotte Elizabeth, Mary being the name of my own

Mother,and of my sister- in - law (also godmother) who

held the precious darl ing’s heavy weight . I stood torepresent my Mother

,and two acquaintances Of ours r epr e

sented the Countess Bern storff and her mother theCountess Dornath

, who were the two other godmothersCharles represented his friend M . Strauss (a celebratedpreacher and theologian in Berlin ) , and our fri end MajorScharnhorst arrived in Rome in time to represent Coun tGrOben

,the other godfather

,the excellent and gallant

son - in - law of General Dornberg, whom Charles saw

more,and delighted in more

,than anybody else

,when

he was in Berlin, and with whom I became acquainted

ROMAN SUNSH INE . 3 31

when he was in Rome aide-de- camp to the Crown

Prince .“ 15 Auyust, 1 829 .

—My Mother expresses surprise at

hear ing of Charl es’s being en c aged in a work on Rome,

and I am still more surprised that I should never have

written her word of it ; but still , on reflection ,I can

accoun t for not having done so,from Charl es ’s only having

become entangled in the business , so that it was an old

story as relating to other people , before it became a newstory as relating to him ; and it has now for many years

been such an Old story altogether,that I must have

supposed I had related it to you long ago . The com

mencem ent of it dates from the first w in ter after ourmarriage

, when Mr . Niebuhr and Mr . Brandis,in con

junction with Charles,were puzzling their heads to find

out an occupation for Platner , by which h is talents and

knowledge might be made to turn to account for hisfamily, Platner having till that time been by profession apainter

,in con sequence of his Father choosing to m ake

h im one, whether nature chose it or not ?“ At last Mr .

The father had been forced against his w ill to become Professorof Latin and Greek at Leipsic, when h is own longingwas for the lifeof an artist . H is son Ernest wa< consequently forced to an art li fe,though he was naturally a booli worm , and could not pair

it . He

executed a cartoon of Hagar and I shmael represented at the two

opposite ends Of a vast canvas , the Spacc between being intended forthe stone ’

s throw I” The German artists in Rome had agreed thatwhen any of their society finished a work, the rest should see it and

gi ve a candid Opin ion of it . Cornelius expressed hi s op inion of the

cartoon of Platner by leaping straight through the canvas and saying,

Now , if you w ill join the two ends there may be som e composition .

”

The Obligatory system of education in the Platner fam ily was carriedon into the th ird generation , in which a young m an whose naturaltenden cies w ere al l towards the life of an artist

,was compell ed to

classical studies .


Brandis suggested his undertaking a new edition of Volk

mann ’s and Lalande’s Description of Rome,for which he

b elieved h im well qual ified , from his very complete knowledge of the arts

,and of the antiquities of the Middle

Ages,and of the history of Italy altogether ; but as from

not possessing the Latin language, Platner was dis

qual ified from going farther back than Italian would carryhim

,Mr . Niebuhr and Mr . Brandis promised to manage

between them the classical part of the work , and Charl es

promised to help Platner whenever he should have need of

reference to Latin works in the execution Of his portionof the undertaking . Cotta the cel ebrated booksel ler wasthat winter at Rome , and entered with the greatest alacr ityinto the plan the work was to be executed on his account

,

he was to pay two louis d ’or for every printed sheet, andgave carte blan che for the purchase of the necessary booksof reference . This was very liberal , but at the same timea good speculation

,for Cotta judged , and judged rightly

that a work for which Niebuhr and Brandi s were thevouchers

,would be worth h is money . The contract was

made just a month before H enry was born , and Platnerset to work in the first place, to make a historical accountof the Basilicas, or principal churches . of Rome . But herehe was every moment at a standwithout Charles, from thequantity of Latin necessary to wade through ; and came

about three evenings in every week for advice and correetion of style— the latter being with Platner the most tediousof al l matters , as he considers it his duty to fight tooth and

nail for his own arrangement of materials,and hi s own

u se Of German words . Nearly three years passed beforeanythi ng was considered so far finished as to be shown to



but which coul d only be publi shed after the revision of a

critical scholar . But Mr . Niebuhr never intended to do

this till after he had finished hi s portion of the work on

Rome . Gau, however , being at Paris , publ ished an

advertisement of his work , mentioning Mr . Niebuhr ’seditorship ,

and promising all wi thin the year , and thusentrapped Mr . Niebuhr

, who fel t himsel f bound to enabl eGau to keep his word , which I do not think he was — and

as soon as he had laboured thro’ his Nubian inscr ip

tions,the time of departure was come, and he l eft Charles

alone with the weight of theRoman work on his shoul ders,

and the whole business of the Prussian Legation , for

which Mr . Niebuhr and Charl es together had not been toomuch ! Since that time , he got rid of a part of the antiqu ities to Professor Gerhard, an excel lent as well as

l earned person ,and our very good friend : and a part of

the Middle Ages to our good RO'stell , now for the lastyear attached to the Legation . These two persons will

derive from Cotta the paym ent for the Sheets they wri te,whi ch Charles does not , as he works for Platner in addition ROstell , has undertaken to correct Platner, and disp utewith him .

”

Frascati , 19 Oct ,1 829 .

— My own dearest Mother ! and

are you indeed on the road to me ! and will this l etterfind you within a few days’ j ourney of me ! I write thewords , think the thought, and feel— but cannot yet bel ievethe fact !

And now,my own Mother , a new set of anxieties ari se ,

which I try to keep as quiet as I can . What will you

think of the new-old thing that you will find in m e ? Judging by mysel f (for I have not the power of fancying either

ROMAN SUN SH IHE. 335

you or Augusta a day older than when I last saw you ) I

doubt not that you will be struck , and shocked, at myaged appearance ,— not considering that 12 years are 12

years, which besides tel l more after six and twenty than

b efore : and if their ‘times,their seasons

,and their

change,

’Operate on the p hysique, not less does their weal

and woe,their rough and smooth

,their sweet and bitter ,

affect the morale whether by relaxation or tension ,whether

parching or chilling, whether furrowing or obliterating .

And then,my own Mother, what will be your feelings

towards my heart’s treasure , my del ight, my comfort,— Ihad almost said my idol— perhaps the expression is morejust than ju stifiabl e —my Charles ! I f defects shoul dstrike and di splease you ,

will you make al lowance for the

severest of trials thr o’ a long course of years,— the

gratification of every wish— the flattery of the great —thel ove, adoration of the good— the admiration , applause ofthe intell igent— in a word

,the favour of fortune in its

most seducing form ?andwill you then instead of counting

up human inperfections , only wonder at the sterling worththat has remained so unspoil ed ? and if at last somethingremains to be covered

, will you take my love , my admiration

,my approbation

, as one grand mass of conclusive,

comprehen sive evidence,and consider that as I am the

nearest and know the most,I must be able to judge the

best ?And then

,my own Mother, wil l you take my children

for such as they are , and not wonder and be displeased atfinding

0 7

things“My sister -in -law bids me say for the thousandth time

generall y speaking,but common -place sort of


how tantali sing it is to her to think of seeing you and not

being abl e to converse with you . That vexes me as much,

or more even than it can vex her—could you quite formthe acquain tance of that aston ishing

,un ique person

,it

would be a key to many an enigma, with respect to me, and

to her resistl ess influence over everybody with whom shehas to do ?“ My own Mother ! is thi s the last letter ?

when I think of that , I am half bli nd,and my hand

trembl es , and why need I write on ? To be sure I havea world to communicate ; but soon I shall not need ink or

paper .

I n the beginn ing of November the m eet ing so oftendeferred, but l ooked forward to with such ecstasy,

r eal ly took place, and Mother and daughter were un itedafter twelve year s

’ separation,finding that absence had

rather strengthened than weakened the bond between

Chr istiana Bunsen was believed to possess the powers of second

sight to an extraordinary degr ee . On the occasion of the vi sit of theCrown Prin ce (afterwards Fr ederi ck I V il l i am I V. ) to the PalazzoCaffarelli , when al l w ere filled with adm iration of hi s natural charms

and pr edi cted for him the most brill iant future, no one paid any

special attention to the weird and unprepossessingwoman who sate ina corner, grim and si l ent , but al l -observant . Af terwards her brotherasked her what had been the— apparently engrossing— subject of herthoughts .

“ I was thinking, she said,

“of the w ords in the 12th

V er se of the 8th chapter of the 2ndBook of Kings, ‘I know the evil

that th en w ilt do unto the chi ldren Of I srael. ’ I n later li fe Madam e

Bunsen frequently described Christiana’s strange insight into cha

racter — “ She used to gi ve m e descriptions of all the different personswho cam e to the house, not gathered from their conversation , for she

never understood a. word they said, but yet , whenever I knew the

facts, her description s were qu ite correct, andwhere I did not knowthem—why, it w as very amusingand interesting for me to hear whatshe had to say .

”


~


carrettell a, set out from Rome, having before sent off thr ee

cart-loads of bel ongings, to foll ow up the thr ee cart-l oads

sent on Monday . The dr ive was intensely hot we arr ived

however safe , and it was with a peculi ar feel ing that I

commented to Charl es on our doing so, having had on mynd all day an apprehension that we should not get toFrascati without an accident . We began arranging beds

and couches with gr eat activity, andwere agreeably sur

prised at the appearance of our carts at nine o’clock, whi ch

we had fearedwoul d have kept us up l onger , as wi thoutsome of their contents , there were not mattresses enoughfor all the fami ly—eighteen soul s and bodies . About an

hour after ourselves,the second carr ettell a arr ived

, whi ch

containedmy sister-in -law,Simon

,and the four boys . As

I was in incessant movement from one end of the house tothe other

,and only still when I was feeding others and

myself,it is to be accoun ted for that I never uttered the

usual ‘question ‘Are you come safe ? ’ Wherefore guess mysensations to-day, on hear ing from my sister-in-law, whomI asked the reason of a terribl e bruise

,that they had

been overturned by the way, and all pitched out of thecarriage li ke so many ball s 1 but how can we be thankfulenough , that nobody was hur t but her unfortunate self ,though she fell with her head against a stone

,andwas for

a long tim e senseless . The coacM an’s suppli cations to my

sister- in -law were the cause of their not tel ling of the mi sfortune til l he was clear off in the morning

,and had re

ceived his manca’

d . It was rather hard work to George tobe silent, and he askedMr . Simon if he might not at leasttell the nurse .

15 July, 1830.- Charles has had a number of theEde

'

n


burghReviewl ent him by Dr .Wiseman ,in which I have read,

to my information and amusement,a lOng arti cl e on Dr .

Hahn emann and the Homo pathic system it is evidentlywritten by a person more taken by the new theory than he

thinks proper to admit,for fear Of being ridicul ed , and I

wish what is there stated , for and against,by the head Of

the party and hi s antagon ists , may make upon my Motherthe impression it has made upon me

, confirming what I

had been incl ined to think before, that al tho’ the abuse

Of thi s and Of all modes Of practice is and must be mostmi schievous , yet there is somethingin i t Of more than plausi

bil ity.

I wish my Mother could have seen thi s house, that I

might make her comprehend how comfortabl e we are now

in it. We have contrived lying-down places for everybody ,the luxury Of whi ch we ful ly feel , now that the heat is so

intense . On Thur sday evening we dr ove down to Grotta

Ferrata, and enj oyed an approach towards coolness in the

air : afterwards, in the short interval between feeding thechildr en ,

letting Henry and Ernest sing their hymns , di s

patching all to bed, and going to bed myself, I read the

newspaper accounts Of royal exits and entrances , andwassurprised at the Times article on the history and characterOf George IV . I was so afraid of being disgusted by thecommon practice of canoni zing the dead, merely becausethey are dead , that I was gratified by the unsparing re

probation , without bitterness , Of the private character andhabits Of the Ki ng, al tho’ I thought hi s political con

duct rated too high, and could not but be offended by thecontinuance Of the tone of unqualified approbation appli edto Queen Carol ine . Yesterday morning Charles went with


hi s boys between six and seven to the Vill a Conti . After

breakfast,George read one Of W atts

’s Hymns out Of his

Grandmamma’s book , andwas greatly del ighted to ascert ain

that it was gi ven to him self ; and then wr ote a l ittl e, butthe heat was such, that I would not l et h im do more, in

the intervals Of being with Simon . As to myself , except

cutting out a frock for George,I di d nothing al l morning

but what coul d be done lying down ,SO utterly inert had

the heat made me . I am reading the Life Of Columbus ,by Washington Irving, a book in the styl e Of a book

maker, full Of words, and with a great pretension to thecommunication Of new information dr awn from manuscript documents, whi ch, however, as far as I have proceeded, I do not detect . My Mother, at every turn I find

some li ttl e thi ng or another that you or Augusta have l eftme, whi ch is always a new pl easure .

”

BUNSEN toMRS . WADDI NGTON .

“ Frascati, 1 7 July, 1830.

—My dear est Mother . I was

very sorry that a first sheet went without a l ine from my

hand, because I really wanted to write to you ,as I have

always wanted to sp eak to you , to Open to you my heart, togaze upon you and catch every glimpse Of that countenancefull Of benevolence and kindness . The more I feel this,the more I feel thankful for the great bl essing conferredupon us by your kindness in coming over to see us : theheart has so much to feed upon

,and the m ind has enj oyed

so much r eali ty , that al l farther wishes , ardent as theymay be, are in comparison thrown into the backgroundand vani sh . I never loved you enough

,nor do I so now,

when I contemplate all I admi re , respect, and love in you ;



with the fall of Napol eon,

‘Les événemens de nos j our s

ont été grands—mais il s ont trouvé l es hommes petits . ’

Charl es was told, two years ago , by a person well inform ed,that the Duke Of Orl ean s had been thus addr essed, by am ember of the cotégauche Monseigneur

,soyez tranquill e,

nous ferons la revolution pour vous,et malgré vous . ’ 9‘

We have been and are in such a state Of excitement inanticipation Of poli tical news

,that I hardly know how the

tim e passes,and forget the days of the week andmonth ;

Charl es works l ike a horse,at hi s coll ection of hymn s, and

the introductory essay on that description Of sacred poetryin Germany . I r ead with pleasur e in Col eridge’s book,whi ch I think is Of the class that are a gain in one’sexistence. I have been one eveni ng at Cardinal Weld’s ;they all seem to me very good, kind peopl e .

”

Fr ascati , 30 July, 1 830.—O my own Mother ! how cn

joyabl e is our existen ce here ! and 0 if you coul d but havebeen with us l I wil l not say that again ,

but coul d not

help saying it this once, un der the fr esh impression of your

j ourney . We have establ ished a porter at our gate, asusual when we are settl ed here

,and thereby keep the

ragged popul ation of Frascati out Of our garden , havingenforced the stopping up gaps in the hedges . As a

character istic trait of this nation,I must mention that

when we were deliberating about the choice of a porter ,great interest was made by people resident close by, who

got our own servants on their side, to induce us to choose a

Mrs. Waddington and her youngest daughter were in considerable danger at this crisis—being surrounded by a mob in a Frenchtown they were passingthr ough , in consequence of the fieur -de-l is onthe arms of their carriage leading to the suspicion that some of thefamil y of Charles X . were in it .

ROMAN SUNSH INE . 343

man , represented as possessing every desirable quali ty and

qual ification, who is in the awkward predi cament of not

being abl e to be with his fam ily at Frascati except bynight and by stealth, from having some tim e ago stabbeda man in a quarrel

,which man died Of the wound ! and

the mur derer Of course has reason to fear that the vengeance Of the relatives Of the murdered man would stimu~

late the reluctant police to seize him ,if he shoul d re

appear in hi s native town without sufficient protection,whi ch sufficient protection the Ital ians think Charles wouldbe doing a most benevol ent action in affording him ! As

a pendant to this story, our present porter (who reall y asyet has never murdered anybody) the day after he was

install ed, asked Charles in a suppli cating manner for permi ssion to wear ‘questa piccola arma .

’ Charl es was about

to exam ine the thing he produced from under his coat,when he cried out, ‘Bada , bada, c

’c la palla dentro .

’ Itwas onl y a loaded pistol , which had he entrapped Charl esinto authorising h im to wear, he woul d most probably nothave borne in vain ,

had any Object Of hi s spite com e nearhim .

”

“ 1 6 Sep t ,1 830.

—Your box is arrived, and its greatestdelight is the books , many of which have come into imm e

di ate use for the childr en . The m ost perfect Of al l thingsis ‘the Boy’s own BOOk

’: I enj oy the clear-headed de

scripti on Of the games , the execution of the vignettes , and

everything I wonder who wrote it. Dame Dumpling , ’

Dame Trot,and the rest , have all furnished amusement

Of al l sorts to all sizes and descriptions of persons .TO-day Charl es is gon e to Rome , to return to-morrow.

Af ter h e dr ove Off, we set out on a walk, my sister-in-law


on an ass,Simon andmyself , with all the chil dr en ,

nur se,and An gelina on foot . As we meant to make a goodcircuit, I intended to have sent back the li ttle girls afterthey had accompan ied us a li ttl e way, but they walkedwi th such spirit, andwere SO delighted at making a partOf the company , that I resolved to try to take them on ,

and with a very l ittl e help, each Of them being carried

alternately by the servant, they accompli shed the whol e

way, Em ili a singing for joy, and Frances running and

chattering, andmy Mary doing everything that was sweetand deli ghtful ; choosing to walk, to hold her sister’shands

,then to be carried by H enry, then call ing after

each Of the party, then wondering at seeing her aunt uponthe ass. Heaven grant a continuance of health to theseprecious li ttl e thi ngs, that I may not bitterly repent l eavingthem to gO to Naples I have taken myself to task oftenand Often as to the motives Of this j our ney— for merepl easur e, I doubt whether it woul d be justifiable : but Il ook upon the cOmpl ete change Of scene

,Of thought and

occupations, as qu ite necessary for Charl es after the un

rem itting labour he has had here,and previous to entering

upon the li fe Of interruptions , labour , and various excitements which awaits him in Rome . Then— our four boyswe can take , they are all Old enough to enj oy , and profitby the j ourney .

”

Rome,5 Oct

, 1830.—W e have been enj oying our

selves very much to-day, going in the del icious Octoberafternoon to the Vill a Borghese

, where the verdure is nowmore beautiful than in the spring

, and which at thi sseason is every day ful l Of gay groups . Yesterday I wenton foot with Simon and the four boys to the Monte



the beginning, I wil l state the bl essed fact, that all of usare well , and have passed through the man ifold risks OfSO much j ourneying by land and water unhurt

,and that

the three sweet angel s left at home ar e al so well . I hada l etter from Simon the fourth day after I l eft home ,which would have delighted my Mother— SO detail ed thatit was a picture Of the existence of those darlings— thebehaviour, the looks , the occupations , the words Of each,al l characteristic , —even the words Of my Mary, whenseeking the whol e house for her Mamma

,her Papa

,and

Giorgio. Then I had to fast for twelve days,employed on

our coast and island tour,and on returning to Napl es on

the evening of the 22nd I was cheered by a laconi cassur an ce in a l etter from Rhebenitz that all were in the

most thriving state .

The day after my last l etter from Rome, we break

fasted at Vell etri , having beforehand run to the PalazzoLancellotti , where we saw the sun rise from behi nd the

Spl endid mass Of the Volscian mountains on the l eft , whilethe sea became visible in the distance on the right

,w ith

the beautiful outline Of the Monte Circell o,formerly island

Of Circe . The Staircase and gal lery landing-places of thePalazzo Lancellotti I think the finest I ever saw . From

Vell etri we flew rather than drove over the finest road

possible thro’ the Pontine Marshes,delighting in every

mil e of the way, and wondering what can cause peopl e tocall them tiresome . They are enclosed on the right by arange Of mountains (ornamented with picturesque ancienttowns) such as the eye might feed on for ever withoutfatigue : and whatever luxuriant vegetation ,

expan ses of

water peopled with wild birds, and the effect Of an inter


minabl e avenue Of trees w ithin which the road passes,can do to obl iterate the recoll ection Of an unwhol esome

flat, i s done . Terracina struck me rather less than I

expected, and yet it is most pictur esque : on the other

hand,I had never heard enough Of the mountain-pass

between Fondi and Itri , where the hill s to the very edgeof the road are full Of myrtle, lentisca, cefal ia, intermingl edwith heath , the fir st I had seen Since England . I wish

you may happen to know the two shrubby plants Of whichI have gi ven the Ital ian names— the former

,between

gl ossy evergreen l eaves , has smal l coral berr ies growing

thick round the stem l ike '

holl y ; the latter, a toughsl ender stem with sea-

green spear-li ke l eaves, has at the

extremity berries Of cornel ian ,heavy enough to curve it

towards the ground . How many vignettes did I make inidea for my intended l etter to my Mother in driving along !But people who draw ,

andwho keep a journal in travel

li ng, cannot be such as have to pack and unpack , take

care of and provide for , a husband and four chil dren .

But my own Mother , I do not know what travel lers aremade Of

, who do not talk Of Mola di Gaeta . I doub twhether anythi ng in the world can exceed the view from

the inn cal led Villa di Cicerone . We arrived there when

the sun was setting, and saw it rise n ext morning over

the Gulf Of Gaeta, reddeningt he smoky column Of the

far -distant Vesuvius . From thence every bit Of the way

is beautiful , except from Capua to Napl es , where theuninterrupted succession Of tall abel es

,connected by

garlands Of vines , conceal ing the soil and th e distan tprospect

,is as tiresom e as in Lombardy . Professor

Gerhard drove to meet us the first stage, andwe entered

348 L IFE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN.

Naples by the Spl endid new road made by Murat, on

Saturday the 9th . On Sun day , after church, we went in

a boat, the thing I entreated to do first Of al l,along the

shore to Posi l ipo . Monday we resolved to set Off on thei sland tour wi th Count Platenf“and drove off to Pozzuol ihere the inn was full

,but on inquiry we found a

private house,whi ch pleased us much better

,though there '

was no pretension to refinemen t Of accommodation . While

our dinner was getting ready (whi ch consisted, besidessoup and fresh fish, Of two such haycocks Of maccaronithat we coul d have played at hide and seek under them)we drove past the Lake Avernus

, wi thin sight Of th e

ancient Cumee . Next morning our eyes Opened on the

Gul f of Baiae

Bear me, some god, to Baiae’

s gentle seats,Or bury me in Umbria ’

s green retreats !

are two sufficiently prosaic lines Of Addison ’s,which have

chimed in my ears some twen ty or five and twenty yearsago, and n ow I k now what moved the m ild-spirited Addison to that vehement ej aculation . We embarked in a

large boat,and coasted along, landi ng at all the spots

where antiquities were to be seen : in the first place wewent on asses by the side Of the Lucrine lake to theAvernus , and there saw the Cave Of the Sybil , as it is

Count Platen Hal l ermiind, the fertile lyr ic and dramatic wr iter,r emarkable for hi s warm efforts in behal f of the l iberation Of the

Poles . He was a celebrated but not a popul ar poet , and he di ed,forlorn and poor , at Syracuse, in 1 835 . Many instances are remem

bered Of h is wonderful insight into national character. Of these perhaps none w ere more remarkable than hi s remark to Bunsen I n

Germany w e say , he is a pri est, he is a judge, ’ in I taly they say,‘fa il

prete, fa ii gi udi ce.

’



coast diversifiedw ith every species Of beauty . At Sorrento

we sl ept and got away next morning as soon as we coul d,for it was the onl y place on our tour that we did not l ike .Mr . W . described it to me l iterall y the most beautifulprison in the world, but I don ’t li ke to be impr isoned.

’

We rowed to Castell amare and drove thence to Sal erno

through the vall ey of La Cava— indescribably beautiful ;andwere utterly aston ished, after all that we had latterlyseen , with the vi ew that Opened upon us on descendi ng

from Vietri towards Sal erno. There we inhabited an inn

which had been a bastion Of a fortification ,andwe issued

from each of our rooms upon a broad terrace , l ooking onthe sea, over which , three mornings runn ing

,I saw the

morning star, the break Of day behi nd the coast of

Paestum ,the first rays of the sun gl eaming on the cl iffs

on the ri ght hand, stretching from Vietri towards Amalfi ,by the cl earest andmost tranqui l atmosphere . The situa

t ion Of Amalfi ,my own Mother , and the vall ey behind it,

is striking beyond description . At Paestum al so al l expec

tation was exceeded by the temple Of Neptune : the desol ati on is frightful , and the asphodel , ever found wi thi nthe plac e of thousand tombs , ’ grows all over Paestum . We

saw Pompeii on the way to Naples . The impression whi ch

i t makes must always be pecul i ar to itself , and I was not

insens ibl e to the effect Of places of abode as fr esh as if

inhabited yesterday, the inhabitants of whi ch have yet

been for 1700 years moul dered into dust : but Pompei i i sthe thing I l east Of all enj oy, or rather do not enj oy it at

all it is so l i ttle in every sense of the word, so completelydans lo style de boudoir .

“ The rooms whi ch Count Pourtales has taken for us


in Napl es are beautiful , with a range Of windows l ook

ing on the sea . At the Palace of Portici,I was de

li ghted with a whole gr ove Of Georginasfit I hope my

Mother know s the flower,brought by Humboldt origin

all y from the Brazil s ; it grows very tall in a bush ,and the flowers are every variety Of the col our of the

ranuncul us , with more outl ine and l ight and shade . The

bronze statues in the Museum are inconceivabl e With all

marbl e remain s of antiquity, one puzzl es to make out whatis ancient andwhat has been injured by restoration but

the bronzes are perfect throughout, fresh and un injur ed.

There would be no end to enumerating Obj ects Of delight,

but a bust Of Jul i us Caesar, Of consummate workman shipand undoubted authenticity, is an Obj ect to feast upon in

r ecoll ection ,as communicating a fund of new ideas . Even

the marbl e cannot quite deaden ‘that eye whose benddoth awe the world ;

’whil e the fine chisell ing about the

mouth marks it irresistibl e in words and expression . The

peopl e Of Napl es are most hideous and uncivil ised,so that

the Roman s appear princes on r ecoll ection : but I deli ghtin what I have seen of the country-peopl e and the island

ers . At Procida and Ischia I have again seen femininecreatur es in petticoats

, with soft voices, speakingItal ianwith a melodious cadence

,and looki ng upon you with a

mel ting gaze, instead of the brazen stare of Rome .”“ Nap les, 6 Non ,

1 830.—Al though Count Pourtales was

a new acquaintance, hi s sudden illness and imminent

death touch us very nearly,and turn to serious sadness

the dream Of enj oyment and idleness in which we have

passed the last five weeks . We found him here in the

Dahlias.


prime Of li fe and possessed of everythi ng that youth and

heal th and friends and fortune can give to make l ife

desirabl e . On the 25th he was with us in the palace andgardens of Portici , andwe l ittle thought that the hand Ofdeath was so soon to touch one of the party, and still l ess

that the lot was to fal l upon him . He is the fourth

person amongst those whom we may call our associates

who have been carried Off by sudden illness within thelast three months

,as if we were to be all owed every

possible warni ng, without being afflicted by actual di stress i

“ Rome,16 Non— Count Pour tal es breathed hi s l ast on

Wednesday the l oth , and on Thursday, 1 l th, Charles sawh im buried . On Friday at four O

’clock in the morn ing we

l eft Naples . We saw Caserta and the amphitheatre atCapua

,and before seven on Saturday evening had mounted

our own Capitol , and found our darlings grown , and

fattened, and well , and merry ! How is it possibl e to

be thankful enough ! Mary came to me at once,but

looked'

at me with fixed eyes , as if trying to recall an

image of the past, and did not for the first five minutessmil e or rej oice— at the end of that time however all wasclear to her, and she embraced me

,and clung round me ,

and then sate on my arm gazing at me wi th a look of

sweetness never to be forgotten . H er father in his travell ing cap frightened her, but her master ingher brother s isnot to be described z—George, ever her great delight, wasthe first that she took hold of by the neck , and kissed,and called by his name, which, as the easiest Of pronunciation ,

she then appl ied to each of the other brothers ,stroking and kissing each at the same time

,but when


854: L I FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

What is really striking is the street of tombs . We con

tr ived to spend another day between Pozzuoli,Cumae

,Baiae ,

and Mi scnae,to ren ew the most del ightful images Of the

whol e j ourney . N ow ,my own Mother, I wish I may have

forgotten nothing essential to be told— thousands of thingsI have got to say, but between children ,

vi sitors,hou sehold

affairs,and settlings

,have not a moment left for r ecol l ec

tion,and as the children ’s dinner is coming

,I will cl ose

my l etter . 0 my Mother ! how dreadful is the state Of theworld . We all cry

‘Peace ! peace and there is no peaceto be hoped for .

Pray tell N eukomm that we have Felix Mendel ssohnhere

,and that I have already heard him play a Fantasia

of Beethoven,and the Preludi of Sebastian Bach , and he

will then.

tell you what enj oym ent that i s . Felix Mendels

sohn ’s adagio - touch is the only thing I ever heard likeN eukomm

’s .

”

I n December the Bun sen s again witnessed a papal

funeral, for Pope P ius VIII . expired on the fir st of

that m onth, after a r eign Of l ittl e m ore than a year and

a half .


“ Rome,26 Dee

,1830.

—I have not for many years felt

so well and strong as since the thorough refreshment ofour delightful j ourney to Napl es ; bu t last ‘Christm as myMother was with us , and so many others were al so want

ing, that Christmas Eve woul d have been melancholy from

r ecol lection, had not the three eldest boys imagined, con

O?

U(


tr ived, and arranged something for the pleasure of theirsisters

,which amused everybody, and pleased me I believe

most of all,from the thought and its execution . I believe

the separation occasioned by the j ourney to Naples had itsbeneficial effects , in proving to the boys that they reallyhad pleasure to gain by the presence Of their sisters , for Ihad Observed ever since I came home that they werecaressed and played with, instead of being teased

,as was

too Often the case formerly and for the last thr ee weeks Ihad seen the boys at work at all sorts of things at all Odd

times, wanting paste every two or three days , and scatter

ing snippings of Old vi siting cards about all my tables , tosay nothi ng of using all my scissors

,&c . ; and when I

asked what it was all about, I was told it was for theirsisters at Christmas , but a great mystery was made , andGeorge was not l et into the room behind the nursery forsome days . At last

,after my arrangements had been seen

and admired,and they had received their gifts

, we all wentin procession to see their devices, andwere really surprisedat the good effect they produced . They had converted my

dearest Mother’s fire- screen into a tree,by dint of green

twigs and garlands,and connected it wi th a real tree on

each side,formed of a branch Of bay planted in a garden

pot,by festoons of green tied together ; the whole stuck

full of wax tapers,a p icture in the midst of the screen

,

and in fron t of the screen a little table with gifts for theirsisters and for the maids, made or bought by them selves ,out of their own pittance . They afterwards sang theirhymn

,had their tea and cake

,and went to bed, bu t as

H enry well observed , ‘Last year we were so many and

noisy —this time we could make no noise . ’


One of our new acquaintance this winter is Madame

de Stael ,at the widow of Auguste, your Madame de Stae’

l’s

onl y son . She is a very charming person ,mild and in

tel ligent, but deeply affli cted, having lost her only chi ldthe year after She l ost her husband . She is , accord

ing to the law s Of Geneva, the heir Of that chil d ; and

possesses Coppet,but her riches can give her little comfort .

H er del ight is my Mary , and when she comes here, she

can scarcely take her eyes from her : She fancies her l ike

her own child .

”

“ Rome,24 Jan

,1 83 1 .

— My own Mother,the newspaper

will have told you Of the death of Mr . Niebuhr ! and youwill in part have imagi ned the shock it has been to bothCharl es and myself ; but qui te the degree of Shock you

cannot have imagi ned . Charles ’s feel ings have been of

the same kind,but even keener than when he lost hi s

father,for the relation Of the heart was the same

,andwith

respect to Mr . Niebuh r existed in full force and vigour,

whereas from the decays of age , his father had long beendead to him before he exp ired . And then

,the los s of

Niebuhr was SO unforeseen he was in the best years of aman ’s life

,not more than fifty-five

,his health had strength

ened of late years, and tho’ he was Often ailing

,he had

no complaint to thr eaten life . His ill ness lasted onlyeight days : from the third day

,he asser ted that he should

die,but till after the fif th

,no other person saw cause to

apprehend danger . A violent inflammation Of the throatwas the last death- stroke

,but it was without a struggl e

,or

apparent pain ,that he expired in the night between the

Madame de Stael, Often mentioned in these volumes, di ed at

Geneva in 1876 .



were so united with him in her affections and occupations ,that their existence will be at fir st but aggravation of

misery to her . She was ill when he was taken i l l , and not

having l eft him day or night for Six days,was then c‘om

polled to take to her bed , andwhen he expired , her feverwas so high that she was considered in great danger !

H owever, when Mr . Brandis’s letter was sent, on the 4th

January, she was recovering .

I know not how to be thankful enough to Mr . Brandisfor having written so immediately, for the death of Mr .

Niebuhr was in the newspaper of the same post by whichhi s letter came

,and had Charles seen that , without having

a l etter of particulars and certainty, I think he would havebeen half di stracted . Charl es had a long letter from Mr .

Niebuhr not three weeks ago , very remarkable in manyrespects he was quite wretched at the state of the world ,and

’ the prospect Of the breaking up of governments and of

society, without the chance of a better order of things

coming out of the anticipated chaos . Time must provewhether his an ticipations

,or those Of more sanguine poli

ticians are just ; but in the meantime we are not authorisedto condemn as absurd the apprehension s Of a person

,the

study Of whose l ife had been history and poli tics,and who

therefore coul d see events in their ‘causes more than ordinary mortals . The third volume of Mr . Niebuhr’s RomanH istoryhe had shortlybefore prepared for the press, whitherhe had sen t it with a short introduction relative to passingevents , written with a freedom that had startled the fewpeopl e whose comments have as yet reached us . One Of

the expression s was quoted in a l etter to Charles from the

publ isher of his hymns The foolhardiness Of the French


Court has broken the tali sman which held in thrall thedemon Of the Revolution .

’

“ Mr . Brandi s’s letter contained besides detail s of hisown afflictions . Last summer , a fire broke out in thehouse of his only andmost beloved sister

,and consumed

in a few hours the whole abode , and a manufactory, whi chwas her husband’s sol e property and dependence

,and that

husband,and her eldest son of seventeen

,perished in the

flames ! She has six other children,and the eldest

daughter sickly ! My Mother, what affli ctions fall upon

other people Poor Mr . Brandis received the intel ligencewhen about to go and recruit his debilitated body at Carlsbad

,after having endured not only fatigue from long

exertion,but afflic tion from the loss Of hi s second boy .

He gave up the water-drinking at once to go to his sister,and found that, before he arrived , a subscription had

already been made by the inhab itants of Kiel in Hol stein ,

where she resided , to form a fund for her and her children ’s

support . H e however nobly declined this generous proof Ofthe regard in which she was held, saying that he, with hisfather’s assistance , engaged to provide for her . He then

went on to Copenhagen to arrange with his father . Whatproportion the father gives he does not tell , but he m en

tion s that his wife having in hi s absence made a contr iv

ance to do w ithout half Of thei r house , and l et the otherhalf to a friend , they would be enabl ed by the rest tomake good the Obl igation s he had entere d towards hissister .

25 Jan — And yesterday’s post brought the news thatMr s . Niebuhr was released from her sufferings just one

week after the death of her husband ! The l etter did not


come to us,and my sister-in - law concealed the intelli gence

till this morn ing, that we might not have to think Of itthr o’ the night . Nothing could be l ess a surprise . I have

never felt it possible that She coul d long survive . Butthink of those chil dren the eldest fourteen

,the youngest

n ine years Ol d,all of an age to know what they have l ost,

bred up with such extreme tendern ess , with only too muchindulgence

,shut up from the rest Of the world , and now at

once to be cut Off from the whol e of their past lif e ; to

com e into the hands Of persons to them unknown ,even

tho’ ki nd friends Of their parents ! The report con

veyed by the l etter from Bonn was that they were to goimm ediately to Kiel

,to the sister-in - law of their father

,

and guardi an -aun t Of their mother,Madame Hensler

,a

very superior and excellent woman ; and I hope the plan

would soon be executed, for to remain in the house of

death and desolation m ight produce a terrible effect uponthem . It was the house of which greater part had beenburnt in February , and whi ch had been built up in thesummer

,and in which they had settled themselves again

Sin ce September ! Charles and I wrote to Mrs . N iebuhrlast week : I had a feeling that She woul d not be able to

read the l etter sf f“ Last week we passed several fine afternoons in Seeing

sights,Charl es feeling the need of something to divert

hi s thoughts from the subj ect to which they ever revert .

W e went with the four boys to the top of St . Peter’s,and

even into the ball, on e day , and another to the Gall eriaBorghese . My own Mother

,I wi ll conclude . DO not

Niebuhr and his wi fe rest together in the same cemetery at Bonn ,

in which the Bunsens also now repose .



H is affectionate disposition,his power of strong attach

men t, stand in con trast with a power Of calculation thatn ever was exceeded : never

,I suppose, did he do any

thing bu t what he intended, and never was he taken bysurprise . To enumerate the apparen t con tradictions inhim would be endless all that is most exquisite in art ornature is matter of his chief enj oyment ; and the femalecharacter

,and the character of children— the flower and

quintessence of creation— are his especial delight and

study, while for the Creator he can find no place in crea

tion ! This i s a fearful fact,my own Mother, only asoer

tained after multiplied opportunities Of n ice Ob servati on ;for N eukomm scrupulously avoids sp eakingout as a general

rul e, bu t more particularly uttering anything to shock hisfriend’s Opin ions . H e is a deeply unhappy person ; thekeen suscep tibility of his feelings is misery to him

,for no

woun d that his heart receives can ever heal— th e arrowsof death

,the deaths of his friends

,are ever rankl ing

there,and reminding him of that termination Of his

own existen ce, of which he wi ll not think . I should beinterested inexpressibly to know his history— I never met

w i th anybody that did : and he n ever tell s anything himselfbut dotted facts here and there without connection . It ismy belief that a fund of religious conviction in the heartsOf his friends , forms to h im ,

unknown to himself,an

additional attraction . One evening, when he was going

away late , having worked himself into deep melancholyw ith music , he said (I forget in an swer to what) in thewords of Hamlet When we have shaken off thi s mortalcoil

, what dreams may come ? ’ &c . in the manner of a

question — Charles answered,

‘Then,I think

,we shall


But he di d not assent . I couldfill pages in commenting on this most singular Of all humanawake from all dreams .

compositions, but I must make haste from this subj ect .

“ I hope and trust,my own Mother

,that you never

beli eve a word of newspaper or private accounts of distu rbances in Rome . Here we have none

,but the stories

that are every day fabricated,andwritten from Rome , are

beyond all beli ef . A sentinel in the Campo Vaccino wentto sleep over hi s musket

,which went Off and shot him

dead ; and a poor dog was shot in the dark for not having

answered to the cry Of ‘Chi viva —but this is the onlyblood that has been shed . To be sure the Romans havealmost di ed of fright to hear that some insurgen ts were

advancing on Civita Castellana, but then the Grand Armyof the Pope

,consisting of one thousand m en in un iform

and five hundred ragamuflins (who being nearly in hufishoul d be denominated the Bufis), have frightened them

Off

I am enj oyi ng Maj or Napier’s ‘War in the Peninsula

,

’ it is indescribably interesting ; but what a fearfulpictur e of a demoralised nation do the Spaniards presen t '

What self-deception,faithlessness to themselves , and

treachery to others Wherever exclusive and u ltra-Cathol i~

ci sm has robbed a nation of the r ight use Of its moralfaculties in the most material point, the moral and intel l ectual sense becomes blighted and ineffi cient .

”

I n September , 1831 , as wil l be seen from the letter swhich fol low ,

Bunsen,on the urgen t advice of his friend

Her r von Tippel skirch , suddenly determ ined to rel ievehis wife, who had latterly spoken Of her pecun iary tr ial s


as only a feather in her burden ,from the twofold

dom estic incubus which had weighed upon her for SO

m any year s .“ I had once or twice said to Char l es,”

she wrote to her Mother afterwards, my thoughtsstar t back from the subj ect of ou r l ife thi s winter al l

I know is that help always com es, when help is indispensabl e . He never could make any answer , hi s distress was equal to m ine .”

Yet the par ting with Chr istiana was affectionate onboth sides

,and many fr iendly m eetings afterwards took

place . I could not wr ite before on the subj ect of mysister- in-law,

”wrote Madam e Bun sen when she was

gone . “ She had not chosen for m onths to speak tome

,drove me from her room when I attempted to visit

her, and abused m e and her brother to every one she

saw . Yet we par ted on the m ost afi ectionate terms,

and about me She has cast her spell .

”

BUN SEN to hi s WI FE (at Frascati ) .“ Rome

,S ep t ,

1 83 1 .

—I have taken a great resolution,

because we live in a moment of crisis .The enclosed to Christiana will explain to you every

thing . I have received an invitation to come and see her

in her room . I shal l be firm and inexorable as to theexecution Of the plan .

“ I am meditating to propose to Simon this afternoonwhether it would not be better for himsel f to give up hissituation and return to Germany .

“ God give us the ri ght resolution,and bless what we

do . I expect to hear your unbiassed feeling and opinion .

”



abundance Of happiness that I must fear a reverse of somesor tf

’

BUN SEN to his WIFE .

“ 27 Sep t ,1 83 1 .

—This is the week of surprises and

changes . You will not have dreamt probably Of what I

am to write to you ,viz . that next Saturday Christiana and

Simon and I shall come out to Frascati,and that you will

be begged,as you are now, to retur n together w ith the

boys the same day here, that we may have four quiet andhappy days together .

SO it is . Last night she began to speak on the subj cet . We planned to invite the whole family here : then,

we bethought our selves Of the impossibil ity Of placing

them for want of beds, and she resolved to go to Frascatito take l eave of the dear girl s

,and to propose that the

four boys might come here with you , sl eeping on their

paillasses .“ Al l is arranged to mutual satisfaction ,

and it becomes

clear to each of us that the onl y remedy was the planproposed by me— God be thanked for it now and ever .

“ You may,I thi nk, announce to the boys Simon

’s

departure .

”

MADAME BUN SEN to BUN SEN .

“ Frascati , 28 Sept.

—~The bl essed intelli gence in your

l etter had not been out of my hopes since I received the

account last night Of the happy change in your favourbut again ,

I did not think it woul d have taken place so

rapidl y. Thank God for it ! Pray give to your sister mykind love, and tell her how I shall rej oice to see her, and


Spend the last few days with her . I cannot write to herto-night

,being quite knocked up

,for the measure of

emotion being ful l , I fancy the body is rather givmgway ,

having participated beyond its present powers in the clasticity Of mind within the last two days .

On October 6, a letter from Bunsen to Mrs . VVadding

ton announ ced that his sister and Simon had that

m orn ing set Off an awful m om en t,after seven event

ful year s


“ Rome,30 N on

,1 83 1 .

—Before we l eft Frascati, we

spent a day at Marino, where I stayed and went about

with the boys , while Charles went to wait on the Pope atCastel Gandolfo, who desired h im to stay to dinner with aCardinal, Maggior Demo

,and others who were with him .

The Pope himself came in at the desert,for altho’ he

may in the country dine with ordinary mortals, he never

theless takes his meals alone,not to make ostentation of

keeping to his monk’s fare . He was very cheerful , andthe whole party so full of October merrimen t

,that it was

quite an '

original spectacle for M . de Sydow, ]L just arrived

in the country .

Gregory X VI . (Maur o Capel lar i ), who had been elected in the

precedi ngFebruary .

1" Herr Rudolph von Sydow , a man of intense religious fervour, to

the end Of h is li fe a faithful anddevoted friend Of Madam e de Bunsen .

He was Secretary Of Legation in Rome, and after fillingseveral diplomatic posts, became Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs inBerlin . After h is retir ement from offi ce

,he was President Of the Asso

ciation of the Red Cross under the Queen of Prussia.


On the 2oth I made a visit, the first of the kind I evermade odd as it may seem ,

after having been fifteen yearsin Rome

,and Charl es accredi ted to four successive Popes,

that I shoul d never have been presented to any Pope . The

Prussian Minister at Florence , Baron de Marten s , and hiswife

,being for a short time in Rome

,Charles had made an

application to the Pope to recei ve them , and thought itright that I should not stay away on the occasion ; andwe

were appointed to come on Sunday afternoon ,2oth Novem

ber,to the Pope’s pavilion in the garden of the Vatican

,

the place appointed for recei ving ladi es . When we hadaccompli shed the l ong walk along the terraces of the

garden,and were thinking (I at least for my part) of

taking breath before the ascent of the s taircase Of the

casin o, we found, issuing from the hall - door Of the said

casino,actuall y on the steps before it

,nothi ng l ess than

the Pope himself,onl y devance’ by his monsignor in wai ting

,

and two or three other genti luomini to the right and left ;— he had chosen this mann er Of reception in order to cutOff the ceremony of curtsies and obeisan ces ; and saying‘Siamo in campagna,

’ he led the way up the stair s , andhimsel f Showed us into his saloon

,where he caused us to

Sit down with h im on chairs placed roun d a tabl e at oneend

,and there being one chair too few,

he was about toreach on e himsel f, but that Charl es got it instead . He

kept u s with him more than half an hour ,and was very

agreeable, w ith real espr i t de conversation,showing neither

the embarrassment of a monk,the Obsequiousness of a

secular ecclesiastic,or the assumed dign ity and extravagant

condescen sion Of a Cardinal— one or other of which ex

tremes I should have thought scarcely avoidable in a



ladies I ever saw . I knew her already in 1 825,during

her first stay in Rome . Since then she has made greatprogress in the knowledge of Chr istian ity

,I mean of that

real,inward reli gion which is founded on an internal

evidence of the grace of God in the salvati on throughChrist . She had already in 1 825 a decided tendencytowards the reli gion of the Gospel (she is , as well as her

husband,of one of the most ancient Cathol ic famil ies)

and her intimacy with the Duchesse de Brogli e,to whose

brother,the Baron de Sta '

el,she had an early attachmen t

,

sanctified by reli gion ,has devel oped and directed her

religious feelings and principles . She has written a real lyChristian Preface to the Extm z

'

ts ole L ettres C'hrétiennes,

which she published last year anonymously at Paris .

These are letters of Madame de Guyon,in extracts ,

divested of al l that was extravagan t and enthus iastic inthat distingui shed and really Christian woman . It is veryextraordi nary that such a person should be French Ambassadress to the Holy See ! She and two other Catholicladies are members of a society of about sixteen person s

,

who meet every Thursday in the afternoon to read theBible together . Nothingcan be more touching and edi fying than her domestic li fe . The whole family read everymorning a chapter of the N ew Testament

,and when she

is alone with her three daughters,models of simplicity in

their manners , she makes them write down their explanations andmeditations upon the same . Of course all this isconcealed from the world , and done as in time of per secution . Strange compound of human things in whi ch welive ! The other day she was distressed by the news thatthe eldest daughter of the Duchesse de Brogli e

, of fifteen


years , was dangerously il l and near her death . Madame

de Stael (the w idow) and the Duchess wrote to her in themost edifying manner . Then came l etters that gave somehope

,but a fortn ight ago a courier arrived with the news

of her death . I have since read the l etters of the DuchessandMadame de Stael . They would be more worth printing than any histories of saints . Madame de Staeldescribes the agony of the last n ight . Then

, when deathwas approaching , and the child began to comfort herfather and mother

,saying : ‘J e meurs en paix

,ne pleurez

pas ? ’ the Duchess,overcoming her feelings as a mother

,

rose and pronoun ced these words Mon enfant, va en

paix : ta foi t’a sauvée ; laisse nous ta paix que Dieu t’adonnée . After thi s benediction the girl expired, sm ili ng .

”


24 J am,1 832 .

— My own Mother,to-morrow it will be

three weeks since I was blessed with two more dear

treasures— more prized and delighted in ,I think

,than any

before,not because the preceding ones were l ess valuable

,

but because by practice one learns to enj oy, and l earns tobe more thankful Their father has high satisfac

tion with the progress the boys are making . Oh my

Mother I what a blessing it is to see these boys, indeed allthese children

,as happy as the day is long, and going with

spirits and gaiety from one thing to another .”

BUN SEN to MRS . WADDI NGTON .

9 Marcia— Last Sunday our dear babes were baptized,

in our chapel , where a very con siderable congregation hadunited to see the twins with their two nurses

,and their

372 L I FE AND LETTERS OF BARONEss BUNSEN .

seven brothers and sisters , whom I made to stand in a line

on one side of the baptismal font : 5“ a sight which touchedme so much when I saw it that I was quite overcomeduring the ceremony . The afternoon we spent all together,with the friends of the house, in the Villa Pamfil i : it wasthe first perfect Spring day

,the clearest sky , the sweetest

air,and the meadow of the Vil la qui te covered with then

sands of anemones and vi ol ets .”


Rome,10May, 1 882 .

— My own Mother,I have lately

written a few li nes to you ,and i f they shoul d ever reach

you,I hope you will kindly receive for my sake—who do

you think— a Frenchman ! and no common Fren chman .

It is M . Bio, of Vannes in Bretagne , whom we have seen

much of thi s winter : he glories in being a Br eton,in

hav ing spoken all the years of his childh ood exclusivelythe Breton language

,but as this is preserved in Bretagne

in much less perfection than the Welsh in Wales,he

makes it the principal obj ect of a j ourney to GreatBritain to study his native language at its sour ce . He

was overj oyed and astonished at my promising him aletter of introduction on the Welsh frontier . I hope his

being a man of di stinguished talents,and heroic courage

,

and sincere devotion to his opinions, will gild over to you

all the circumstances of hi s being an Ultra-Royah’

st,an

UZtm Catholic, and ready at any moment to shed the lastdr op of his blood in defence of the Drapeau Blan c and the

Thi s font was first u sed on thi s occasion . I ts pedestal, withdesigns by Thorwaldsen ,

was the gift of Mr . Pusey ; the vase of giltbronz e, executed by Hopfgarten , was the gift of Bunsen .


374: L I FE - AND LETTERS OF BARON ESS BUNSEN .

“ Frascati,29 June

,1 833 .

— I must tell my own Mother

something of our del ightful and thr oughout fortunateexpedi tion to the mountain s . We drove on Tuesday morning to Cavi , four miles beyond Palestrina . At Cavi we

stopped to bai t the horses,and got out of the carriage

without knowing where in the little town we should seek aresting-place for ourselves b etter than the stable intowhich the horses were conveyed : we sent Franz to examine

the room that was offered us in the Osteria,but he came

back and reported that ‘it was used as a henroost, and

the peopl e w ere just driving out the hens ’ so we askeda man on the piazza whether there was not a private housewhere we might be let in to rest for an hour or two, andhe answered— p en ilenon entrate Zd .

9 pointing to a palace,to

which we had not dreamt of aspiring . But we took thehint

,and sent up Franz to make our request, which was

no sooner uttered than granted,the Guardaroba and

others came to receive us like expected guests, we found

cl ean rooms w ith excell ent new furniture,beds

,and

couches,placed at our disposal

,a well -provided kitchen ,

and such a cordial wel come, that we might have beentempted to con sider the whole as a dream

,having been

five minutes before in an unknown place, not knowing

where to enter . Upon inquiry, it came o ut that the possessor was a neighbour of ours in Rome

,and his Guarde

roba and M im'

stro well acquainted wi th Mary’s nur se and

her husband , and other famil ies of our nurses,in the

neighbouring town of Zagarolo,so that we were not so

unknown as we had supposed . We brought some provi

feel ings prove your reward for the kindness and hospitality you haveshown me .

”

ROMAN SUN SH I NE. 875

sion s with us,and the people of the house furnished u s

with so much besides,that we made a great dinner , and

having enj oyed the view from the terrace into a beautifu lrich vall ey

,bounded by steep and wooded hil l s , and open

ing to give a prospect of the clear blue Volscian mountains

, we set off again,refreshed and pleased

,at four

o’clock,and drove six miles further along a good road ,

which then came to an end,so we left the carriage to

return to Cavi,and went the remain ing two mil es of steep

ascent on foot to Olevano,where we were cordiall y r e

ceived by Signora Costanza Baldifi“ an old acquain tance ofmany years’ standing

,who possesses a casino in a delight

ful situation out of the town ; in short , every situation in

that country is beautiful,where the view is not shut out

by walls . I had heard much of the neighbourhood of

Olevano,but had not fancied anything so fine as it is

such an assemblage of the finest materials of l andscape,so

con summately grouped , and so continually varied4—mountain and plain ,

bare hills and woody knolls,green patches

and wild thicket s,rugged rocks and rich vegetation

,chest

nut groves,vineyards and cornfields : and the numerous

town s either perched like eagles ’ nests on the summi t of

mountain s,or fastened like pigeon -houses to a precipi tous

declivity, or rising in the shape of ant-hills on a rock of

their own ,in short situated as i f the eye of the painter had

been more considered than the conven ience of the inhabi

tan ts,which i s to be explained by the circumstance of their

having been all or iginally fortresses , the position of which

The delightful though pr im itive casino - inn of Olevano— one o f

the most glor i o usly situated in I taly, is still in the hands of the Baldifam ily .

37 6 L l FE AND LETTERS OF BARON ESS BUNSEN .

was selected on account of the di fficulty of approach . The

next day we remained at Olevano, going out in the morning early, in one direction ,

sitting in the shade to dr awwhen it gr ew hotter, and after dinn er being conducted bySignora Costanza and Signor Giacomo the organist of

Olevano on the other side,first up to the ruined castl e,

then thr o’ the town to the Vigna dell ’ Arciprete , a beautiful spot whi ch we had often seen in the sketch-books of

painters . We had observed by the way that we were followed by the Signora Costanza’s maid with a coveredbasket on her head

,and on our arrival at the Vigna the

materials of a merenda were produced, Signora Costanzahaving been quite distressed at not having prevail ed uponus at di nner to eat as much as she thought necessary . On

our way back ,she sent Signor Giacomo up a high cherry

tree,from whi ch he broke off whole twigs loaded with

cherries,to the exceeding delight and enj oyment of the

boys . The Signora Baldi i s a p osse'

dente of Olevano, who lets

her spare rooms every summer to painters,who come to study

the scenery and the features of the inhabitants, who are avery handsome race— the women with a Vittor ia i t cast offeatures

,but taller and with better figur es . It was a treat

to see some of the saltarell o-dan cers : and all or mostbelong to a class of which much is heard in novels and

poetry,and something in books of travels

,but which are

rarely seen in reality— country-people not rich enough forluxury, but sufficiently well off to afford themselves leisurefor amusement . I n the Casa Baldi we lived as if on a

visit,but the Signora had a present for the food and lodg

9"Vittoria was a beautiful peasant-girl of Albano, di scovered byKestner, and often painted by him and other artists .


878 L I FE AND LETTERS or BARONESS BUNSEN .

San ta Scolastica I n returning we slept again atOlevano , and in tended to have seen much more of its

walks , but were detained at the Casa Baldi by a merryparty of the inhabitants

, who sang national airs,aecom

panying themselves on the guitar and mandol ine,and

afterwards danced the sal tarell o in every variety . We staidanother night at Cavi with the same hospitabl e people whohad received us on our entrance into the town ,

and on thefol lowing evening before dark we were safe at home at

Frascati , and found the dear girls and sweet bab ies wel land brisk : and having enj oyed our five days’ idl eness andexercise

, we now set in good earnest to our regular , quiet,and busy summer course of life .

Oh my Mother ! I wish I coul d describe how del ightfulthe twins are the boy in particular— the manner in whichhe opens those big sen sible eyes

,and fixes them upon

somebody he knows, and then bursts into a smil e and

trembl es with delight ! The dear l ittle girl is also full ofsmil es and in telligen ce

,but in a quieter way, and does not

crow as much as he does .”Frascati , 24 J uly, 1 832 .

— This year our summer existence is unmixed enj oyment

, without having anybody toplague , or thwart, or disturb us . Having all owed the boysand ourselves the refreshment of the j ourney to Subiaco, onresettling at Frascati theywere settled in a regular plan of

lessons, so contrived as to economise time and strength asmuch as possible , in order to make the most of this invaluable season of relief from in terruption ,

in which their Fathercan urge , aid , and enforce , as well as in struct . They get upat five o ’clock

,andwe breakfast at eight , andbetween those

hours they prepare themselves for lesson s , and walk out


w ith us for hal f an hour . At nine o’clock they set to work

again ,and are kept to it in good earnest til l twelve , when we

dr ive them all to l ie down on their beds, where they have no

diffi culty in sleeping till dinn er - time at one o’clock,except

indeed that Henry often gets up before that to practi se onthe pianoforte

,for which he has little or no time except on

Sundays . After dinner they play at ball till three , whenthey set to again

,and work till six , and then walk out till

dark,sup ,

and go to bed. What the lesson s con sist of

Charles will best explain : that of which I take cognizan ceis their English

,in which the younger ones spend two

hours every day , andH enry one hour ; besides which , twodays in the week

,Charles and George read with me in the

English Bible chapters relating to the portions of ancien thistory which they have gone through with their father .My dear Henry

’s state of constant activity and strenuousexertion is an indescribable blessing . Ernest andCharlestoo make evident progress , altho’ with them it i s againstinclination : George in the act of acquiring i s in hi s

el ement,and he has a natural in stin ct for going to the

bottom of a thing . I have the comfort of seeing my own

dear Frances and Emilia steadily advancing in good habits .My little sweet Mary gives m e more trouble and anxietythan her sisters

,She is so very often so ccrg/ naughty— so

resolved to establish her own absolute dominion ,and to be

herself exonerated from all Observances and obl igations .J f7z'asccl tzf, 1 6 A ugust, 1 832 .

— You suffer more,my own

Mother,in the anticipation of my dear H enry ’s departure

to school than I do— that i s a fact upon which I entreatyou to rest for your comfort . The explanation of so strangea fact is my over -fill ed l ife— fi ll ed to overflowing ; which

380 LI FE AND LETTERS or BARONESS BUN SEN .

l eaves so many p r esent matters of attention to occupy mythoughts in the narrow interval s of engrossing occupations, that the idea of the parting— the first separationthe chasm on which we stand

,only casually recur s to make

my heart swell ; and I have hitherto succeeded wel l indriving it away

,for it wi ll not bear dwell i ng upon . What

ever i s to be gone thr ough,may be gon e through and

therefore all will be well when the time is come and gonebut there I s no imagining] the possibili ty . W ell do I remem

ber how I was struck long ago, when li ttle C. and F . dr ove

away from Llanover , at your saying , There that is atan end It is an idea quite foreign to a young personthat anything can end

,but which the experience of years

renders familiar . Wh en my dear H enry shall have been

launched on the ocean of a great school,afterwards to go

to a un iversity,after that to enter upon a profession ,

I may

have,I have the greatest hope that I Shall have

,the satis

faction of knowing him to be advancing in every respect asI can wish ; bu t the period , in which he belonged to myself,wil l belong to the past and exist but in grateful recollection .

But this is as it ought to be : he was not given to me formyself , but I was allowed to have the care and enj oymentof a child of God , to help him on his way to the best of mypower : and now

\

my power will — not end altogether— butgive way to one more efficien t

,the bracing influence of a

social system . But although this last year of being athome is in many respects a most important and useful yearto him

,I have hour ly opportunities of observing that i t

should be the last : if he remained longer he would be partially matur ed before the time, he wou ld be brought too farinto li fe

,he woul d imbibe too much of other people’s expe



check and choke down all that multitude of insufficientexpression s of love and thankfulness

, whi ch as being insufficient

,I will not write

I have n ever yet told you,my own Mother

,that I shall

not,as I believed

,have to part from H enry next Spring

,

though Ambrosch cannot remain with us after nextFebruary . We were at Frascati in habits of dail y intercourse with Abeken ,

the nephew of one of Charles’s

earliest and dearest friends, who had been in Rome ever

since last winter , and became convin ced that he was notonl y in character

,principle

,and acquirements

,fitted for

becoming the successor of Ambrosch for a year,but that

he was well incl ined to take the office . This being thecase

, Charles made up his mind, after much consideration ,

and consultation with Tippel skir ch and Sydow (who bothhave the kindness to give very material assistance in theinstruction of the boys), that he would be doing right byboth H enry and Ernest to detain them another year, andthen send them both away together . There was always

an obj ection to sending H enry without Ernest, as the spurof emu lation would then be removed from the latter . And

as to both of the boys,it was an awful circumstance to put

them,so soon

,out of reach of all paternal influ ence

for it must be considered that being obliged to settle themin public schools at such a di stance

,is thr owing them off

l ike a ball that cannot be caught again . We may perhaps

not see them again til l they are fixed in character as men ;

wherefore , i f it could be made clear that in their learningthey would not be kept back by a year’s l onger detentionat home

,in other respects it was evidently right to detain

them — and,wi th thi s conviction

, you may conceive how


our feeli ngs are rel ieved by this change of plan

Charl es has begun again to give l essons to the boys , whoin the remaining days of October after our return

, wen tover their summer lessons by themselves , and yesterdaystood an examination in form by their father

,Ambrosch ,

and Abeken ,which on the whole was very satisfactory .

”

Rome,12 Non

,1 832 .

— I will at l ast begin to tell mydearest Mother of our late j ourney in the Abruzzi .The threatened arrival of Prince Augustus of Prussia inRome

,made it n ecessary for u s to conclude our vi lleggiatura

by the middle of October , that we might be settled beforehe was likely to come upon u s : and it had long been ourintention to spend our last days in the country in a littletour

,that the boys might have a thorough refreshment

after the very good earnest studies of the summer,before the

studies of the winter Should begin . Many were the dir ection s in which we might have found obj ects of interest

,fine

tracts of coun try,and mountain air

,but we decided upon

the province of Abruzzo Citra, and the Lake of Fucino , orLogo (l i Celano as it i s called in the maps . Kestn er

, who in

all h is travels in Italy had never been there (for near as iti s to Rome , it i s out of the common beat), resolved to be of

the party with h is nephew —Kestner ino .

% So,after having

on the 3oth of September , taken leave of Monte Cave and

Nemi,by riding on asses

,en masse

,including the little

girls andMiss Thompson (the governess), over the mountain

,dining at Nemi , and then driving home by the direct

road— w e spen t Monday and Tuesday the 1st and 2d of

October in packing and arranging the awful breaking-up

The nephew of M . Kestner, Hermann, went b y the name of

Kestner ino.

”

384 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARON I S S BUNSEN .

of our vi lleggiatura— awful in j oke

,as comprising such a

quantity of troubl e,such cart- loads of luggage : and awful

in serious feeling, as closing a period of four months spentin peace, in the enj oyment of all the Splendour of natur eand climate : of all the comfort of l eisure for importantduties

,and without any drawback from sickness on our

part,or that of the children .

Being at Rome,on Friday

,the 5th ,

at half -past four inthe morning

, we packed our party into our own open -car

r iage , three boys sitting opposite their parents , and the

fourth— the very substantial George— being crammed inbetween the servant Franz on the box . Travell ing dress

whether to wear or carrywas adifficul t question ,but as many

things as were indispensable for the boys were crammed intobags hung generally on the outside of the carriage

,it i s hard

to be explained where ; the small carriage box under the frontseat having enough to do to carry the indispensable for thechiefs of the party . We were very proud of being at thePorta Salara before Kestner ; day broke as we reached theAl l i a, where the Fabi i perished ; and by ten o

’clock we

arrived at the Passo di Corr ese, where an osteria is situated,

at which our horses were to bait . Near thi s Spot a river

j oin s the Tiber,formerly call ed the Cur es

,and held sacred

by the ancient Sabines , and though every trace of their city ofthat name had disappeared even under theRomanEmperors,the name of Corr ese stil l remain s : it is a beautiful stream ,

alternately glassy and broken by pebbles . H ere we leftthe Campagna di Roma, and entered the defiles of the

Sabina, where the country is b eautiful— narrow valli es and

steep declivities, and a num ber of littl e town s or ratherfastnesses

,a great deal of wood, and the road good, tho

’



ordnance,no ammunition , and on one side of the town no

ramparts . He related to me himsel f how he fabricated

musket-bal l s,and parcell ed out his few material s of resist

ance,altogether putting so ‘good a face upon the matter,

that with the assistance of a trem endous storm of hail whichpattered in the faces of the insurgents

,the latter were so

disconcerted,that Rieti was enabled to hold out until the

arrival of Colonel Manley, who made a forced mar ch to

come to the r escue with a body of—Papal ini . But he didnot tel l me him sel f what he had once told Charl es , thatwhen the messengers of the insurgents cam e to summon

him to surrender ; he fir st adm on ished them sol emnly as

to the great Sin of rebelli on,and assur ed them,

in termini a’a

oescooo,that he shoul d not be guilty of it : but finding that

he had not thereby succeeded in convincing them he was inearnest

,he took off his Bishop ’s cap and gown and took

out ‘the cross of the Legion of Honour (whi ch he had

obtained in the time of the French), stuck it in hi s button

hole, and then poured forth again st them , alla Romana

,

all the term s of vituperation which the Italian languageaff ords : which made them comprehend he was not to be

dealt with . He belongs in appearance as wel l as characterto earlier times

,and has the finely chisel led features and

powerful colouring of an old Itali an portrait. He was

accompan ied by the Principe di'

Francavill a, who was just

r eturned from Aquila, and a relation of the Governor , whoinformed us of two things

,one that permission had been

sent from Naples for the entrance of our horses at thefrontier

,and the other

,that the Governor expected us at

his own house— which second piece of intelligence was as

embarrassing as the fir st was satisfactory.


Sunday morn ing, the 7th , we proceeded on our j ourneythr o’ the cel ebrated pass of Antrodoco

, whi ch the Frenchforced with great l oss of l ife in the time of the Revolution

,

tho’ only defended by half-armed peasants , andwhich it wassupposed would have entirely checked the Austrians in the

year 1820, so great is its natural strength : but the lattermet with no resistance . The scenery is magnificent every

step of the way from Rieti , and in addi tion to the more

usual ornaments of the Italian landscape,I saw ash- trees

of the finest form and growth, in natural woods , such as I

had never seen out of England . At Antrodoco a friend ofthe Bishop of Rieti asked us to partake of ‘

an brodo,e

gnal—cosa

,

’and startl ed us by the imm ense dinner of whi ch

we were call ed to partake . Night closed in before we perceived the shadowy form s of the bu ildi ngs of Aquila . We

intended to have sl ipped into the town unperceived, and

avoid the Governor ’s house, there being in Aqui la an inn ,

which in no other pl ace after Rieti was to be found but a

servant of the Governor (Prince Capece Zurla) was stationed at the gate to show us the way, and thereforewe saw

no way of avoiding thi s tropp agenti lezza, whi ch we had beenfar from intendi ng to bring upon ourselves : but it seems

that instead of the simpl e notice to be given to the Customhouse to let our horses pass freely, orders had been sent toall possibl e offi cers under government to assist and furtherour progress , whi ch they interpreted into receiving, l odging!and feeding us . I f we coul d have guessed beforehand thatthe Neapolitan government would have been to thi s degreeobliging, we coul d never havemade up our m inds to give al lthe quantity of troubl e we thus occasioned : but as we hadnot the faul t upon our consciences, and aswe had heal th and


spir its to go thr ough with the undertaking, we enj oyed the

Opportunity of taking a view of‘Ital ian manner s and cha

racter , such as no other set of cir cum stances coul d haveafforded . The Prince Capece Zur la was fortunately alone ,hi s Principessa having gone to visit a married daughterhe gave us an apartment whi ch he had fitted up for theKing when he came last summ er, and scarcely could he

have treated the King him sel f wi th more attention or amore sumptuous ceremoni al . When we came out of our

room s in the morn ing between 7 and 8 o’cl ock,he was

already in the ante-room waiting for us , and after givingus breakfast, he went about wi th us to see sights the wholeof the fir st day , whi ch put us into utter despair, andwetold him we must the day after proceed on our j our ney.

But he made such a poin t of our staying a second day, that

we gave way, on condi tion of hi s not interrupting hi s cus

tomary occupations . We Should indeed have been sorry to

l eave Aquil a after only one day’s stay, for it is a most inte

resting town ,ful l of fine architectur e and fine pictur es

,and

in a most striking situation,on an el evated plain of the

finest forms,— not a dead flat,but ful l of undul ation and

hi ghl y cultivated, bounded by hill s of exqui site outl in es,not rugged, but covered with short fin e grass for sheep ,behi nd and above whi ch tower the barren summ its of

the Gran Sasso d’I tali a,the Maj ell a

,and other of the

highest of the southern Apenn in es . We were gui ded onthe second day by the Mar chese Dragonetti and the Marchesi Torres , who had al so been of the party the daybefore : the former was an old acquaintance

,and is a very

superiorman, of tal ents and acquir ementsmost astonishing,

consideringthe absence of all advantages under whi ch he



thought that at last we Shoul d leon/re l ’incomoclo from ourgood Prince : but he having a j ourney of a few m il es tomake, to inspect som e publ ic works going on in hi s pro

vince, declared he should go with us part of the day in hi sown carriage, and there was no begging . off . When we

got to the end of the fir st post, where he was to change

horses,he represented to us that the post-house, where our

horses were to bait, was an uncomfortabl e place for us to

wait in ,and insisted upon cramm ing us all into and up on

hi s large travell ing carriage, and carrying us on eight m iles

fur ther, to Popol i, where the Signor Sindaco (a sort of

chi ef magistr ate) fed us most amply. Popol i is in a

luxur iant vall ey, where the r iver Aterno, whi ch r ises in

the plain of Aquila, becomes a considerabl e stream . From

thence we dr ove on to Rajano, t aking l eave of the Prince,whose last care of us left the most pl easingimpression of

all,for it seemed an act of freewill and kind-heartedness

at Aqui la we might beli eve him to be only actuated byscrupul ous notions of hi s olooere

,but once on the j ourney,

as he hadmade all possibl e arrangements for us, he might

with a safe conscience have l eft us to our own inventions .At Rajano we were lodged and most hospitably received

at the house of a giucl ice, a dr oll old bachelor, whow as

greatly distressed that we could not eat all the supper he

had prepared for us . Rajano is beautifully situated on an

elevated plain, the site of the ancient Corfin ium , small er

than that of Aqui la,sur rounded by fine mountains, in

which the Aterno flows in a deep bed ; but its water s are of

no avail to the plain of Rajano, being on a so much l owerl evel

,and it woul d therefore be barren , were it not for an

antique canal ,‘

which perforates the ridge of hill s, and

ROMAN SUNSH INE. 891

br ings water from a hi gher val l ey, so that the whol e sur

face is careful ly irrigated and wonderful ly fertil e . From

thence we crossed the lowest part of the ridge of moun

tains surroundi ng the Lake of Fucino, call ed le Furche,whi ch is an ancient name for a mountain -pass : and

descended to the town of Pescina, in prospect of the lake,at two m il es distance . Her e a most comical scene took

place on our arrival . We were going to Don GiuseppeMelchi orr i , an antiquarian friend of some friends of our s ,who expected us

,and came to meet us : but the Sindaco

and the Bishop al so sent emissaries to insist upon ourcoming to dine with Monsignor Vescovo ; we howevermade good our entrance into the house of Mel chiorr i

,but

were then obliged to give way, and go and eat the

Bishop’s di nner , and I was greatly entertained at sittingby the side of a Roman Cathol ic coun try Bishop , who hadprobably never seen such a number of heretics together inhi s li fe before . He was a venerabl e-looking and well -bredold gentl eman . After we were rel eased from the dinner

,

we rode with Mel chi orr i by the side of the beautiful lake,and saw some antiquities , l ess worth seeing than land

,

water , and sky, and came back to endure the infliction of a

great supper . Next day was Friday, and we supplicatedMel chi orr i not to make any al teration in the meagre di et ofthe day on our account, but he repli ed Sono gli Spezialiche hanno gli scrup oli , io no -and I fancy was glad of an

excuse for not eating meagre , for he had served in theFrench army at Marengo, and had seen the wor ld. Aftervisiting the site of the ancient Marubium

,and riding about

near the lake , we returnedto dinner at one o’clock, andwhileWe were in the middl e of a cour se of di shes alternately fish

,


fowl , andmeat (the gr eatest abomination to strict Catholics),a vi sit was announced from Monsignor Vescovo , who musthave been much edifi ed by the spectacl e : this misfortunemi ght have been supposed precluded, as Charl es had takencare to call upon h im and take l eave that morni ng, butthere was no help , and he came in, with hi s sui te of

two or thr ee priests . After dinner,we made our escape

with difficul ty from Pescina, for our host declared be

r equired a month to Show us the antiquities properlyaltho’ to judge by the samples he did Show,

there is li ttl e

remarkabl e on that score at this end of the lake—and

drove on to Avezzano, where we were recommended to the

Casa Mattei, by Cardi nal Cappell etti , the Del egate at

Rieti , Donna Chiara Mattei being his cousin , andwe wereglad not to incomodar e the Sotto-Intendente . From the houseof the antiquarian gentl eman -farmer and form er ofli cer atPescina

, our removal to Avezzano brought us into a newworld the famil y of Mattei were thorough gentl emen and

gentl ewomen ,of old-fashi oned form ali ty, but not awkward,

and their house was a palace , in every respect handsomelyarranged and it was to be felt thatDonna Chi aramanagedher own house . This was the fir st time of our j ourneythat we had seen a p aclrona di casa, el sewhere either there

was no such thing, or she kept out of sight . We spentSatur day in seeing the Emissarium of Cl audius , which anumber of workpeople ar e empl oyed in excavating ; weentered it from the side of the lake, and then rode over themountain which it perforates , to see its outl et in the deepvall ey of the Liris

,afterwards call ed Garigli ano . From

this side the excavation has been effected to a considerabledistance, but the point of di fficul ty will be just under the



ting off,and whil e we were waiting for our animals

,Don

Ladislao Mattei came up in all ceremony to ask, se

voll esse vostra Eccell enza esser servita di sentir la messa,

’

the fact being that they had a pr ivate'

chapel and chaplain .

Nothing remained for it but to pl ead haste,and the

thr eateni ng condition of the weather, and thus hurriedlyto say farewell with an unpleasant sen sation of having dis

appointed our kind host . After seeing the wonderfulCycl opean fortifications of the an cient Al ba , we proceededto Magli ano

, where we were most kindly received by Don

Giovanbattista Masciar ell o,of a long-establ ished family of

patriarchal proprietors , having sheep,and I know

not how many head of cattl e l iving in an immense palace

full of expensive fur niture, but not so well arranged asPalazzo Mattei

,because Donna PepaMasciarel lo was a

sort of Roman ,a native of Rieti , whose notion of li fe

was taking her ease,andnothing was in order but what her

husband’s good head could regulate ; otherwise She was agoodnatured woman ,

and they had both l ess ceremonial

and more natural instinctive good-breeding than we hadanywhere found

,and therefore we felt quite at our ease in

their house . The day we spentwith them ,snow fel l on the

l ofty Vel ino, which rises close to Magli ano, and we visited

under umbrell as the ancient Alba Fucinense— a hill arti

ficially l evel l ed into thr ee terraces w ith fortifications farolder than the Roman time . From Magliano we saw at adistance the plain of Tagliacozzo

,and, on the slope of the

hill,the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, buil t by

Charl es of Anj ou to commemorate hi s victory . I n thatbattle

, which crushed the descendants of the great EmperorFrederick, seven members of the great Ghibelli ne family


of Capyx or Capece were present : these the Guelf s showed

particul ar zeal in destroying, and six fell , but the seventhbeing only a boy, was con ceal ed fr om the pursuers . Fromthis boy seven fam il ies call ed Capece have descended : one

was that of Capece Zurla our hospitabl e host at Aqui la ,another that of Capece Latro

,Ar chbishop of Tarento, a

fine old gentl eman whom we saw at Napl es . It was hewho had the large Angora cat calledPortal eone, who used

to sit on a particular stool and cushion close to hi s master,andwhose manner of receiving strangers was supposed to

influence the estim ation in whi ch they would be held.

“ The l 6th and 1 7th October we Spent in crossing themountain s where there never yet was a road, yet, in

one of the many vill ages of the Cicolana we were re

ceived by an ancient feudal l ord,not onl y with hospital ity,

but luxury . Our guide was a smuggler by profession ,

who on being asked whether he knew the road,said

by day he had never passed it,but often enough by

n ight . W e were expected to stay at the house of a landowner in a vil lage called San Pietro, but it was resolved

to ignore this invitation,and we rode str aight on un

challenged, to Rieti . Our intended host has since beenin Rome, and when I answered hi s eager questions asto our route and party, and described our numbers as

consisting of thr ee gentlemen and myself, with four boys

of di fferent ages, a man servant, and a gui de of the coun try ,mounted in part on horses , the boys on donkeys, mysel f onan Engl ish saddle and in an English riding-dr ess, hestarted up exclaiming that then indeed his messengers hadseen us

,for he had placed one at each end of the village ,

but they had brought him word that no signori whatever


had passed,but only a company of stroll ing players

comecl iante oli camp agna We came hom e from Rieti byTerni, that I might see the waterfall , whichwe did in thegr eatest perfection , with the finest weather, the finest tints,and the heath in bl ossom . On Friday the 19th we werein Rome again

,after a j ourney without any di saster and

having found the Kestner’s the best of travelling com

pan ions .”

12 J an,1 833 .

—The old year cl osed upon me , my own

Mother , and the new year began ,only too well , in full ness

of bles sings, and with a sensation of satis faction,a con .

sciousness of present comfort and enj oym ent, of the degr eeof whi ch, if I coul d give an idea , I m ight (strange to say)on one groun d be afraid of doing so

,l est you shoul d sus

pect m e of being indifferent to the one circumstance of

distress in our pr esent situation . But as you will not

suspect me of such indifference, I trust this statement offeelin gs wil l be a matter of unmixed comfort to you ,

and

perhaps even tend to commun icate to your m ind that hopefor the futur e with whi ch m ine is fill ed . Amongst the

wishes , for the gratifi cation of whi ch I fel t most urgent,and in whi ch I cOul d allow myself to be urgent

,dur ing

those thr ee last hour s of the old year, in whi ch Charlesand I sate together and for the most part sil ent

, was that

my Mother’s mind might be rel ieved about our worldly

condi tion : and I feel as if that prayer would be granted .

The removal of all embarrassment in circumstances is one

of those things for whi ch I dare not ask in prayer : I can

ask,and do, that I and m in e may be provided for the

future , as we have been in the past, wi th al l that is needful ; reli ef will come when it is goodfor me. For my dear .



almost every species of society, having workedhi s waythrough all sorts of opinions

,andyet retaini ngan un spoil ed

tast e for what is good, and an unwearied l onging for what

i s best. How much I coul d tell y ou of him that woul d beinteresting as a pi ctur e of hum an natur e ! We have al sohad great pl easur e in the society of two Americans , one of

the Episcopal ian Chur ch,and one a Baptist— Mr . Burgess

of Providence,and Mr . Chase of Newton near Boston .

One person of whom we see a good deal is the Grand

Duchess of Baden -Stéphanie Beauharnais : she is a widow,

and is here for the winter with her very pl easing daughter .

She has r emain s of beauty, and is in manners and conver

sation very attractive ; She has the tact of a Frenchwomanin softening off form ,

instead of liking it as a paroenuemight be expected to do . She sings very sweetly, and is

ful l of talent ; and her conduct thro’l ife in a difficul t posi

tion,having been forced by Napoleon on a family that did

notwish to be degraded by an alli ancewith hi sfil leadop tive,is saidto have been thoroughl y meritorious . Dear Mrs .Stuar t and Lord and Lady Northl and are on the point of

departure : they have been a great pl easure to us .“Frascati , 1 1 J une, 1 833 .

—’I ‘o-day is my Mary’s bir th

day and she is four years old, anda most engaging cr eatur eI look upon her with a singular and indescribabl e com

passion ,for she seems to possess th e gift of attraction

every stranger takes notice of her,and she del ights in

being tak en notice of she can interest, pl ease, and obtaincaresses , wi thout the slightest effort, and therefore, how

doubly hard her task to attain to moral worth— to doingr ight for the sake of rightWe continued to see a great deal of Mr . Hare til l he left


Rome,andwith continually increasing regard and esteem ;

he is now gone straight back to England to settle down forl ife in a country li ving in Sussex in the gift of hi s family .

He is a great friend and admir er of Dr . Ar nold . Our old

fr iend and favourite,Mr . Chr istopher Wordsworth , passed

thr ough Rome on his way back from Greece, andwe saw

him with much pleasure . On our return from a most in

teresting l ittle tour to Toscanell a, Viterbo , and Orvi eto , anew social gratification awaited us —our friend Turguéneff

had returned from Naples,accompanied by a very remark

able person, Joukovsky ,

celebrated in Russia as a poet andin every respect intell ectually distinguished, who has beensome years tutor to the young Heredi tary Grandand greatly favoured by the Emperor and Empress

, without having become a courtier . H is health being very pre

carious,he had been all owed l eave of absence to travel , but

being in haste to return to his important '

post, he had but

very few days for Rome , and those few days Charl es helped

him to enj oy most thoroughly, in showing him obj ects ofinterest, whi ch he had looked at before in part, but withoutthe consciousness of all that was to be seen and fel t in

them . He has much of the manl y,kind-hearted simpli city

of manner of Walter Scott, with of course difference of

national characteristics ; in conversation perfectly unpr e

tending, but yet never letting fall a commonplace word ;and I have seldom met with a foreigner

,to whom I felt

mysel f from the first so much dr awn,as if there was in him

nothing foreign or stra nge . Turguénefl and Joukovsky

and a very di stingui shed German officer in the service ofRussia, de Reutern , were with us the other day, with Thor

Now the Emperor Alexander.


waldsen , Cornelius , and Overbeck— the thr ee fir st artistsof the age : it was one of those remarkabl e combinationswhi ch scarcely any place but Rome can offer . Al l were

very animated, and increased the social spirits of the other s,so that it was a day to remember . The Russians I havementi oned have been wi th us most evenings

,and often in

a morning,and besides a sculptor , W oltreek

, who has

wanted to model som e of the childr en,and as it is not an

order , but a thing done for hi s own pleasur e and my profit

in the end, I coul d not send him away .

I have lately read the Medi tation s de Fenelon withgreat satisfaction few indeed are the passages exclusivelyfor Catholi cs , it is trul y a Chr istian book .

”

“ 24 August, 1833 .— I t is l ittl e use beginning upon so

interminabl e a subj ect as Madame d’Arblay’s nonsense 95

but surely such a quantity of unm ixed nonsense never was

wr itten before as her book . Stil l , I do not wonder thatpeopl e have found it entertaining, for so did I, if reading athing intently, eagerly, and greedi ly, being provoked andin

a rage at every page,can be call ed being entertained . The

book is gossip itself , though not clever gossip and gossipis the great thi ng needful for pl easing people . I f anybody—a val et or a lady

’s-maid— wil l in anyway write down any

thing that they have heard and seen of such characters asMadame d’Arblay treats of, it will always be sur e to beeagerly read

,as l ong as there is a pr esumption that the

writer does not wi lft deceive,and gives the obj ects with

Madame d’

Arblay had been well known to Madame Bunsen in

early life, thr ough her mother’s intimate acquaintance with her as

Mi ss Burney , when residi ng in her girlhood at W indsor with Mr s.

Delany , by whom the authoress of Evelina was fir st introduced tothe notice of the Court.



of Pamela,and taking it as much for sterling coin ,

as in

the praise of Burke or J ohnson . But she is herself une

come’

cl ienne,nothing else : her m ind was evidently form ed

by the impression Garrick made upon her : she had the

gift in youth of entertain ing peOpl e : and the equally useful

gi ft (which she has lost in age) of not comm itting hersel fand discovering the poverty of the substratum ; and thus

alone can I account for a character so insignificant having

been so val ued. But I wish I cou ld talk instead of write :my Mother woul d help me to construe her , whi ch I amvery curi ous to do .

”

“ Frascati , 14 Oct.,1 833 .

-To-morrow we intend setting

off on ascrambling tour to the neighbour ing mountains , Ofwhich I greatly enj oy the thoughts : we do not intend to beaway more than eight days , but when we return we shalldir ectly pack and return to Rom e, as to whi ch I feel as ifI was about to plunge up to the neck in a torrent

, where I

should have to struggl e hard to keep swimm ing for a givennumber Of months , un til I reached thi s qu1et shore again .

W e returned on the 1 l th from a three days’ expedition toCora and Norba in the Volscian mountain s , by way of

Vell etri,as far as which place we went on Wednesday in

the carriage, that is, Charles and myself, and the fourboys : M . de Sydow and M . Abeken accompanying us onhorseback . At Vell etri we procur ed horses to ride toCora, which has no carriage road as yet .

* I r equestedthat mine might be at least a qui et horse

,andwas assur ed

that it belonged to a convent of nun s, which was to be

There i s now a railway to Vell etri and an omni bus to Cora —sothat this exquisitely beautiful place may be visited in one day as an

excursion from Rome.


taken as a proof Of good education I must say from thisexampl e I shoul d be incl ined to trust the proof in futur e ,for the horse was a pattern of good behaviour . The boys

were happy beyond expression at riding 14 mi l es . We

sl ept at Cora, after having seen a beautiful temple in greatpreservation ,

and other remains of antiqui ty,and the next

day undertook a r ide to the ruins of Norha, a Cyclopeancity in a most picturesque situation ,

by a most dangerousmoun tain track, in which however the horses kept their

feet admir ably : but we r eturned by the town Of Ninfa inthe plain

,by a longer but safer road, having had enough

of the sensation of danger . Friday morn ing we rode back

to Vell etri , by the same r ich and beautiful country bywhi ch we came .

There is no descr ibing how engaging my Theodore

becomes : I certainly have valued the other chi ldr en enoughas babies

,but I think nothi ng was ever so del ightful as

he is .”

Rome,4 Dee ,

1 833 .— Not to have wr itten before is one

of the privations that I have, andmust have, in the bustl eof a Roman winter . But when I speak Of bustle , you mustnot suppose the causes of the hu stl e to be di sagreeabl e . Asusual in the winter at Rome , the number of things to bedone makes quiet impossibl e, and enj oym ent di fficul t, butyet much is enjoyed. We have the most deli cious season ,

and I have been Often in the garden,having it put in

order,and making a hedge, or rather reforming a hedge

which I have replanted with roses,ol eanders

,volca

mer ias, and geran ium s : it is not to be described how

geran ium s have flour ished in the garden in the short tim eI have had it to mysel f—a set of short Slips put in


in March have become almost trees in the cour se of the

summer .

I have strength now for all I have to do, go from one

thing to another throughout the day, and have no need toli e down : and in the evening, if we are at home and have

not too many vi sitors , I finish up my sketches . For thi s I

had a bit of praise from Mr . Cl ifford whi ch gr eatly pleased

me . The day after he had seen me thus employed, hesaid

,How I l ike that making the most of Odd times ! it

i s what everybody ought to do, and what I never do ! and

thus I have done nothing,and l earnt nothing, in my lif e . ’

Mr . Cli fford’s being here is a great pl easur e to us : he isreally a delightful person ,

entering into everything and

enj oying everything l ike a child . Lady Northl and and

dear Mrs . Stuart 9“ have al so been here since the 2ndNovember, and Lady Northl andj

' has been kind enough

to desire me to be godmother to her baby, who is to be

chr isten ed to-morrow .

”

14Dec,1833 f— I have been writing to the Comte de la

Ferronaysi for a letter which may have influence on the fate

of M . Rio . ! I wish may know in some measur e whoThe Hon . Mrs . Stuart, a very early friend of Mrs . W addingt on ,

daughter of Lady Jul iana Penn (see Chapter I I I .) andwidow Of the

Primate of I reland.

1' Afterwards Countess Of Ranfurly , daughter of the Primate of

I reland andMrs . Stuart .1“

Described in the beautiful volum es of his daughter, Mrs . Augus

tus Craven , called the Récit d'

une Soeur .

A . F . Rio, the well-known author of “ The Poetry of ChristianArt . He had gone to Llanover with letters from the Bun sens

requestingMrs . W addington to gi ve him introductions which mightfacilitate his W elsh studies . I n W ales he made the acquaintance of

Apolloni a (aunt of the present Mr . Herbert of Llanarth) to whom he

was eventuall y marri ed.



at this time woul d take up pages . I l ook back upon a

year most particularly marked with bl essings , in which Ihave been all owed a quantity Of enj oyment, and growingsatisfactions of many kinds— fir st and foremost that of

more and more l oving and approving him whom I have sol ong l oved and approved

, whose character ever rises uponme

,and continually works itsel f cl ear, and as it run s,

r efines .’ Then,the improvement of al l my four boys ,

which’

in di fferent ways and degrees is equally certain ; in

particul ar the increase Of character in my dear Henry, who

is the only one at all matur ing. Then the thriving and

promising state Of the twin s is a great joy— andif the thr eel ittl e gir l s are not yet all that I wish them to be, yet must

I not be unmi ndful of the text Shall I receive good from

the hand of the Lord,and should I not also receive evil ? ’

and receiving from the hand of the Lord means r eceivingthanhful ly, as what is a certain good, because coming fr omH im

, although it may seem‘no way j oyous, but rather

grievous . ’

We have had a gr eat pl easure in the arrival Of Mr . andLady Emily Pusey, who are more l ike a brother and sisterthan merely friends . This evening we are to part withAbeken , who has been with us ever since the depar tur e ofAmbrosch .

”

7th Jan ,1834 .

—And now I will l et you know that

N euk omm is come back at last, andthe pl easure is very great

Of havi ng him here . We have found him a quiet cornerand a writing-table in Charles’s room

,and he has composed

one of a series of Practices for the organ this morn ing,and

Since dinner has been explaining to me the grounds ofthorough-bass in short he is already in ful l activi ty in the


house,and every person in it seems to feel as if he either

had been,or ought to have been

,always there . He i s

com e just at the r ight time,to animate us all after the

departur e of Abeken, who left us in the night between the

Old and new year . There are so many things ineffi cientlyand superficially detailed in my letters, my own Mother ,which yet occupy my time , thoughts, and feel ings , that itis no wonder amongst others that you should have heardso l ittl e of Abeken : of whom perhaps I m ight have men

tioned two years ago,that a nephew Of Charl es’s most

beloved coll ege friend was come to Rome, with a brill iant

reputation for classical attainments and abil ities in everyway, who had been from the first moment very much athome in our house , Charles having at once felt him to beof the right sort, and having even used j okingly the

expression Kestner shall not be the onl y person that has

a nephew— I too have found a n ipotino for myself .

’ ButI must admi t that Charl es was the onl y person who fromthe first justly estimated Abeken ,

for tho’ I admired hispowers, and was aware of his s uperior understandi ng

,

sterl ing principles , and warm affections , I coul d not for a

time l ike hi s company , because he overwhelmed me with

his superabundance : having in a high degree the want Oftact Of many fresh fish from the universities (even in wel lmann ered and regularly drill ed England) and never

knowing when to have don e with a subj ect that interestedhim ,

and speaking too loud , and wi thout modul ation .

Thi s time twelvemon th , when Ambrosch was about to leaveus

,Charles determined to ask Abeken to fil l his place in

our house , and assist h im in the care of the boys ; thewhol e fir st year of our acquaintance, spent in close contact ,


having continually drawn him nearer to us . He accepted

gladly, tho’ utterly obj ecting to receiving any other re

mun eration than what he was pl eased to consider as such inbecoming a member of the family . During the year thathe has thus been in the house

,his instruction s to the boys

have been invaluable,and not l ess invaluabl e his assist

ance to Charl es in every possibl e pursui t : in every respectthe favourabl e impression he made at fir st has been con

firmed,and the roughnesses that at fir st di sturbed have

been wearing Off, so that nobody can prize him more than’

myself ; and as he l ikes reading aloud in the even ing,I

have had a degr ee of pleasure in that way which wasqui te a new thing to me , and has procured me a good dealmore leisur e for drawing, than I shoul d otherwise have

had, for if he had not read aloud to me, I shoul d pro

bably have thought it right to read to myself . On the

journ ey that we made in October, the peopl e with whomwe l odged used to take Abeken for my eldest son (which

h e might be in point of age) and it struck me they hadwell hit Off our mutual relation ,

for he used to attend tome

,and con sider me as Henry does , and it has long seemed

to me as natural to think of hi s pleasure and indul ge him,

as with respect to my dear Henry . He had long chosenthe profession Of a clergym an ,

and Charl es Obtai ned sometim e since of the King that he should be appointed thesuccessor of Tip pel skirch , who will leave his post in thespr ing : Abeken is now gone to Geneva , to study the stateof rel igious feeling and opin ion there

,andwill then pro

ceed to visit hi s family at Osnabruck, but will meet Charlesat Berlin ,

and return hither in May . As a substitute forAbeken, we are very fortunate in havingKell ermann ,

a


CHAPTER X .

LAST YEARS AT ROME.

Truth is as impossible to be soiledby any outward touchas the sunbeam .

”

MILTON , Doctr ine andDiscip l ine of Divorce.

N March, 1884, Bunsen set out for Berl in , takingwith him hi s two elder sons ; Henry, to the gr eat

school at Schulpfor te, of which one of the master s wasDr . Schm ieder

,late chaplain to the German Protestant

Chapel at Rom e ; and Ernest, to the m il itary col lege atBerl in . At the Prussian capital Bun sen was as warm lyr eceived as ever by the King and the Crown-pr ince— but

m an ifold troubl es were in store for him ,through the

question of great impor tance for Church and State ,which was then in ful l agi tation— that of m ixed mar

r iages. While, according to the law Of Prussia,a

father has the sole r ight over the education of hi schildren

,so that all stipulation s before marr iage are

forbidden according to the Roman Cathol ic Church,no

marr iage can be celebratedunl ess a prom i se i s given thatal l children shal l be brought up as Roman Cathol ics, andin the newly annexed but almost entirely Romanist

LAST YEARS AT ROME . 41 1

p rovinces of the Rhine, the clergy absolutely refused to

perform a m arr iage under other condi tion s . Whil eLeo X I I . and Pius VIII . l ived

,the cour t of Rom e was

pacifical ly di sposed, and would have been wil l ing to

enj oin pr iests in Germany to grant their p assive assistance in case of a m ixed m arr iage, refusing onl y theusual nuptial benediction . But

,in an evil hour , Prussia

insisted on the full m arriage cerem onial ; delay en sued,and the chance of comprom i se was l ost . Thus

,on hi s

return to Rom e,the feel ing Shown again st Bun sen as

representative Of its Protestan t an tagon i st was so bitter ,that he impl ored to be r el eased from a position whichhe fel t to be scarcely any l onger tenabl e . TO thi s heat that time received the flatteri ng reply that hi sservices at the cour t of Rome were indispensabl e to hi scountry.


“ Rome,1 Ap r i l , 1884 .

—On the 13th March I partedfrom my dear boys and their father . My own Mother, Ibel ieve that you have suffered and will suff er m ore painfrom this par ting than I have . I say that to you , who

will not suspect m e of not caring for our boys,and who

know that my husband is the thing p ar excellence that I

live for . I have SO much to do,so much more

,li terally

speaking, than I can do, that I have no rest for thought,no interval for dwelling upon what i s painful ; and that i swhat stands me in stead

,my strength woul d be worth

nothing if it was to come to a combat with the pain . I

cannot help going in to Henry’s empty room on som e


errand or other,but I generally get away without a tear .

The worst th ing is , not remembering, but catchi ng myselfat forgetting : the other day I call ed to Henry at di nn er ,andwas only reminded by the sound of my own voice what

name I was naming . He writes to me, dear boy, that hecann ot yet bel ieve that he is parted from me

,that when he

packs or unpacks he thinks ‘it is a task I have given him

to doThi s morn ing at six O’cl ock N eukomm l eft us . These

thr ee months’ intercourse have been very deli ghtful to us ,we have enj oyed hi s company and valued his charactermore than ever. I say we in ful l plural , for all our fr iendsand associates have been drawn towar ds N eukomm as we

are ourselves . He has been in full activity , and has composedmany fine things , and played to us a quantity of hiscompositions . I think hi s style of composition ennobl ed

and improved since he was here before : the oratori o of

Mount Sin ai and that of David appear to me spl endid

works of genius . I wish I could hear them executed .

”

“ 2 Ap r i l—This is my dear, dear H enry

’s birthday .

My Mother will remember it. 0 how thankful I am to

have h im a sixteen what he is ! My dear Ernest too , myMother would find greatly al tered to hi s advantage.

Charl es the less has been very good since hi s brother’s

departure , exerting himself to fil l H enry’s place, takingcare of the bab ies , liking to do anything for them ,

showing

the greatest alac rity in helping me , and more than all ,

bearing reproof humbly and being very pain s-takingwithKell ermann . Doing lesson s with George is as usual mymost agreeabl e occupation : we read French and Engl ish,and he repeats the l essons of geography to me whi ch he



must not forget that the probabili ties are that we pass our

l ives in separation : it is hi ghly unlik ely that you and

your Mother Shoul d ever again live much together . There,

fore let us make the best of separation,and not put Off

commun ication to the uncertain time Of meeting again .

Tell me always as much as you can of what you thi nk and

feel,my own dear boy ; that i s often matter Of effort in

absence and di stance ; but it is di fficul t to begin again ifonce discontinued : and if l ong discontinued, estrangement

is almost un avoidabl e . Yet you must not take time fromexercise or sleep to write to me, and your day will be

taken up in study. But I wish you would take a sheet of

paper,andwrite a bit at a time, j ust when you have time,

and send the Shee t off without minding whether the l etterhas beginning

,m iddle

,or end

”

6 May, 1 834 .

—My heart has been with you most con

stantly dur ing the l ate important period, and the manyparticul ars whi ch your dear Father has made time towriteto me

,have been matter for continued thought and thank~

fuln ess—indeed for con tinued prayer : for what can bethe issue Of every reflection , the outlet of every feel ing

,

but a suppl ication that God would render us all mor e full ysensible of the unbounded m ercy of H is di spensati ons

towards us , and that He woul d gi ve us a heart capabl e to

accept from H im everything that He may send, wi th

will ingness and thankfulness,even though it may not

always be , as now,that whi ch we most desir e ? It makes

my heart full to overflowing when I think towhat a degreeall that I can most desire has been granted to me as to you ,

my dear boy : your situation in Dr . Schmi eder ’s house, thewhol e arrangement of the school , above all the manner of

LAST YEARS AT ROME . 415

your entrance, and your being yoursel f satisfied to haveentered in that manner . I was thinking of you more

especial ly on the 1 8th , which I supposed to have been

your critical day : and most assuredl y my wish floated

between two points— the one, that you m ight do yourselfcredi t, the other, that your entry might not be a brilli antone— in the fear that you m ight be tempted to feel your‘

sel f secure,and as if anything l ess than your best, most

urgent and un remitting endeavours could be sufli cient to

enabl e you to attain to the point which you are call ed uponto reach

,in the time that you will enj oy the advantages of

Schulpforte . I have seen and known on many occasions

that succeeding too compl etely is a bar to future success ,and the greatest possibl e evil that can happen to any one,

is to have his energies lamed,and his activity checked,

from within . Therefore , my dear boy, though I think

with pain of the terribl e puzzle you were in , when call ed

upon to put Schl egel’s Dramaturgische Vor lesungen intoLatin , I most cordially rej oice in the result, which had theeffect Of detaining you in that l ower class in which it is sonecessary for you to feel your self at home , before you can

with any freedom move in a higher Sphere . I am verythankful to be informed that you judged rightly Of your

self,and had no wish for the present possession of honour s

which you di d not feel competent to wear . May you ,by

God’s grace , be preserved through l ife from the misfortuneof over -valuing your own powers or attainm ents ! orimagining the cir cum stances and quali ties whi ch make usaccepted and valued amongst men ,

to be always a standardof intrinsic worth .

”

9 J une — I t is most useful to be among a number


of youths of the same age, in order to become consciousthat man was not made to stand wholly alone, that he

must combine with one or other class of hi s fell ow-crea

tur es,and that if he will have nothing to do with the ordi

nary herd Of the in significant— who go to the business Of

li fe li ke slaves to their daily task, and submi t to laws andregulation s only in so far as they fear the rod Of r etr ibu

tion— he must in hi s action s strive to bel ong to those whoseconduct is regul ated by uncompromising principl e

,and

whose gui ding-compass points ever to an imm ovable idealstandard of excellence

,hi gher than any r eal one that the

experience of l ife will show .

25 July—The begmmngOf your school -lif e, my

dear boy,has been so prosperous

, yOu seem to have

enj oyed and profited by the goodwith so l ittl e mixtur e ofattendant evil

,that I fear your Worst trial may be yet to

come,at the important crisis Of the ushering-in at Oxford .

But yet grown -up m en must be l ess rough and uncivil isedthan when in school-boy years and whatever the confl i ctOf antagonistic elements of society such an un iversity may

present, I must bel ieve it is yet ever possible for one who

acts in Singl eness Of heart, with no obj ect but that of doing

right,to pass on unharmed by all the var ious powers Of

evil whi ch present them selves in form s of seduction orintim idation . The worst of trial s is the trial of faith butthr ough that al so

, when it comes, the same Singl eness Of

heart will l ead you . The conviction,if a difli cul ty arises

withi n ,or is suggested from without, that it is not the

faul t Of Chr istianity , but your own faul t,that it appears

such,— that the mote I s not in the glorious sun

,but in the

glass Of the dim tel escope through whi ch you are viewing



1 5 Ap r i l— Yesterday the Hares went away . I saw

them on Sun day, poor Mrs . Augustus Hare feelin g morethan anythi ng having to part from the room where shehad watched her husband to the last

,and go far away

from the spot where hi s remain s repose . I feel that nextto God’s words she will find H is works her best comforters . She begged me to visit her husband’s tomb .

I cannot express how much I have been gratifi ed byher manner and expression s towards me : and those

of Marcus Hare . She showed me a l etter of Dr.Ar nold’s , in whi ch he compares you andAugustus Hare ,and says no two coul d be more sim ilar— concluding with ,God grant to me to resembl e them in the nobl eness andbeauty of their goodn ess . ’

2 1 Ap r i l— I w ish you coul d see how deli ghtful the

darl ing twins are : they are now singing about me l iketwo little birds , waiting for their breakfast . You have noidea of the en j oym ent we have from the garden ,

and as

we have water in the fountain we keep it watered— but Icannot yet get over l ooking at Henry andErnest’s desert edgardens .”

Vi l la P iccolomini , 1 6 June —Wh at pl easur e it is to beagain in thi s delicious place

,where I arrived yesterdav

evening,a few minutes before the most glori ous sun set ,

together with Kell ermann ,Charl es , George, and Emi l ia ;

Miss Thompson and the rest had arrived the evenin gb efore . I had feared the entran ce into thi s house, wherethe want of so much that I was accustom ed to enj oy hereappears new and fresh : and most certainl y it was very sad

to see my H enry’s desk and Ernest’s, and to pass your

empty study .

”


To her MOTHER .

Frascati,19 June

,1 834 .

— W e have been enj oying ourselves here Since last Sun day, the 15th . I had alm ost

dreaded coming,or rather not almost

,but had quit e an

absur d aversion to resolving on leaving Rome,apprehend

ingthe first impression of the absen ce Of so much that Ilove on coming to this place, where we have

’

al l li ved so

happily together . But that was a morbid vision,and

has given way to the actual reality of so much good as Iam all owed to possess and enj oy here . Miss Thompson

and Kell ermann and I, with the five children

,breakfast

and dine at a small er table and in a small er room,that we

may not be rem inded in the great hall and at the largetable how many places are unfi ll ed : but still we occupythe hall to our great comfort as a sitting-room . Frascatin ever was more beautiful ; after al l the fears entertainedfrom the dr ought

,all is fresh and green

,in the most

delicious summ er-weather, without any heat to complainof

To BUN SEN .

“ Frascati,8 J uly

—W e al l go down after dinner intothe shady alley and enj oy the aura estiva : the girls playand talk much with Adel e Vol lard, Kellermann dr awsTheodore in the li ttle cart— he whippingas hard as he canto make the horses go on

,I S it with Theodora in my lap

till Hannah has di ned , Charles shoots with a bow and

arrows Of his own making, and George climbs trees at

Kel l ermann’s bidding , from which I turn away my eyes ,

though well aware i t i s right he should try .

”

“ 8 J uly, 1834 .—When you are not here it seems to be


such a clear case that nothing can be more than a quarterenj oyed, that I am much too apt to make all days workingdays

,all hour s working hour s it occur red to me yesterday

that I scarcely take the requi site time to stand and enj oy

the view out of the window ,as I used to do last year . The

season is indescribably del icious yet I coul d find it in myheart to wish that it woul d rain ,

that it mi ght be fin e whenyou return . I am just retur ned from a dr ive to Mar ine

,

with both the dear twins . Whenever I can take up abook (mostly when on e of the twin s is asleep on my lap) I

read Evan ’s Church of God,

’ given to me by Mrs .

Augustus Hare,and reckoned by Jul ius Har e to be worthy

of H ooker .

“ 25 J u ly— Kestner went yesterday afternoon to Rom e,

andMiss Thompson and I dr ove with him in his scapp a/via,down the hi ll to the place where I had l ong wanted todr aw that Casino wi th the pine that you remember : theboys were al so there , playing at Piastrell a, andwe walked

hom e .”

1 1 August—The last l etter of Abeken , our adopted

son,touched m e as usual from the extreme affection which

it expresses . I sometimes take myself to task for not

being angry at being canonized, or whatever .I ought tocall it

,as I am by him : but it is SO impossibl e to doubt

the reali ty of the fil ial -regard which he proves to me atevery Opportunity, and I am SO conscious Of deserving itby the regard I feel for him ,

that I cannot but be gratifiedby the expression of it

,however well aware Of being

enormously overrated . How I have been Spoiled for the

l ast three years , my Best-Beloved ! To the iron rul e ofyour Sister and Sim on has succeeded a period, in whi ch I


422 L I FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUN SEN .

w ithout having been reunited to you . Farewell,my Best

Beloved,may God please to grant hi s bl essing to the end

of your j ourney,and to the r e- commencement of our home

l ife May you not have so ideali sed your wi fe in absence,

as to be l ess satisfied wi th her in presence

T0 her MOTHER.

27 August, 1 834 .— Charles returned safe and sound

last Thur sday . On Monday,the 1 8th ,

I went to Rome wi th

a carriage-ful l,sen t the carriage back on Tuesday morn ing

to bring the rest onTuesday even ing,that we might all be

ready to drive out on Wednesday even ing on the Florenceroad

,which we di d

,but in vain

,as he did not come till

Thursday morning . H e arrived accompan ied by Abeken ,

the general favourite,and Dressel

,a person of much pro

mise, whom he has brought as tutor to the boys . On

Sunday afternoon ,the 24th

,we al l moved to Frascati .

26 Sep t— Nothing was ever so strange , so unnatur al,

and apparently impossible , as that I should not till thi sday write a lin e to my own dearest Mother to express somepart of the feelings which have occupied me so unceasinglysince I received the letter , which told me she would comehere, and that She woul d come into my house . My own

Mother,there is no describing the happiness of every hour

and every moment in the consciousness that I shall haveyou here

,that I shall really be able to enj oy your pre

sence —to know that I am again to live with you ! to haveyou always at hand ! to have again my own place in

’

the

room you inhabit —to have my husband,my childr en

,

known to you in their daily habits,not as visitors at set

times I— to have the opportun ity , the means , the time , as


well as the wil l , to make my whol e heart and my wholelife known to you ! Al l this comprises ‘ such a fullness ofhappiness and comfort

,such a reali sing of wishes and

desires,as I can scarcely bel ieve or comprehend . My own

dearest Mother how I ought to thank you for overcomingall the many difli cul ties that stood in the way of my gra

tification ,and yet, how strange , that the last thing that

occurred to me was to thank you ! It is such a fact , sucha thin g understood , that you always do , and always havedone

,everything possible , ahnost what was impossibl e, for

my comfort and benefit , that to thank you i s rather a partof my l ove for you , than a separate act and sensation .

Charl es enj oys the idea Of my Mother’s coming, almostas much as I do— he is for ever speaking of it

,morn ing

,

noon ,and night . And good Kestner is so heartily pleased !

I told him of it one evening , and he came the next day,

saying, I cannot thi nk of anything but that your Motheris coming .

’

To her SON HENRY .

6 Dec,1 834 .

— I hope you wil l receive thi s on Chr ist

mas Eve , that you may not on that day be wi thout an

external mark Of the feelings with which you w il l berecalled

,in the far -distant place of your birth . May God’s

blessing be with you , my dearest boy ,as on every day of

your li fe , so more especially on the first Chr istmas you wil lhave passed w ithout your parents

,and sanctify the feelings

with which your heart will be fill ed : make you serious ,but not mournful : reminding you that to those who striveto be un ited in H is faith and fear and love

,the p ast and the

distant are not lost,and the futur e in whatever external

424: LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

form it may come , will abound in good, and ripen intogl ory and blessedness .”

1 9 March,1 835 .

— I hope this l etter will reach you on

your birthday, and convey the heartfelt prayer of yourparents

,that every blessing may attend you thr oughout

the year upon which you will enter . You have hi thertobeen bl essed in deed

, with health and every advantage to

fur ther your progress, and enable you to qualify yourselffor a situation Of usefulness : and may it please God tocontinue them to you

,and more particularly to gi ve Hi s

grace to the rel igious instructions,or recapitulation s

,that

you are now going through , and to the whole preparationyou make for the most solemn act Of your independentexistence

,by which you as it were confirm the Sacrament

of Baptism received in a period of un con sciousness,and

sol emnly undertake to be a ‘doer of the word,

’and not

merely a hearer ; an actor, and not merely a recipient .

My dear,dear boy , may God help you to become indeed

independent to feel that you are come to an age Of sel f

respon sibility,in whi ch, from thi s time forth, the guiding

advi ce and di rections Of others m ay be sought as an assistance

,but not trusted to as a support : in which you are

introduced to ‘the glorious l iberty of the chi ldren of God,

’

and called upon to act as free,bu t not using your l iberty

as a cloak of mali ciousness,but as the servant Of Chr ist . ’

I n your intel l ectual acqui r ements, as well as in your moralcon sciousness

,you are equally called upon to develop an

individual existen ce, and I trust that your best endeavourswill not be wan ting , and then the blessing of God will not

fail . I know ,and have experienced

,my dear H enry, that

it is a difli cul t step to take in life,to resolve to look upon



en tirely confined to her couch,began to cause her great

anxiety . I n June the sadn ews of the death OfMrs . Hal l ’s

youngest child, Caradoc, n early causedMrs . Waddington to set out sudden ly hom ewards, but the r i sk of

travel l ing wi th her young granddaughter was so

strongly represented to her , that she was induced toput off her depar ture , and was even tual ly led, by theurgent sol icitations of her daughter and son—in -law

,to

r em ain in Rom e another winter , in the Palazzo Caffarel l i .

Mr . Pusey having prom i sed a l iving to Henrv

Bun sen,and his own deci sion being quite form ed for

the l ife of an Engl ish cl ergym an , i t was decided to

r em ove him from Schulpfor te, and send him to Rugbyand Oxford. Meantim e he was al lowed to return for

the W inter of 1835— 86 to the land of his bir th, pro

ceeding in the fol lowing Apr il with his grandm otherto England

,and to Llanover , befor e going to Rugby .

MADAME DE BUN SEN to her MOTHER .

“ 24 Ap r i l , 1 836 .

— Having drank tea,sung a hymn

,

accompanied by myself in stead Of H enry, seen Emilia andMary into bed, and heard them say their prayers

,I sit

down to write to my dearest Mother , in a place in whichshe n ever kn ew me sit, in the fir st w indow of the yell ow

room,at the round tabl e which used to stand before the

corner - couch , and which has been removed to make roomfor the sofa- table , till now used by my Mother . After you

left we set off to Fiumicino , having settled Emilia in thegarden ,

dress i ng dol l s with Angelina , and Mademoiselle


cutting out a dol l’s frock,the dear twin s d la chasse

des escargots , picking them Off the li lies . The road toFiumi cino is very prettily varied the fir st hal f of the way,hill s and dell s

,brooks and meadows , cul tivation and

country-houses the trees all out,even oaks and walnuts

,

a quantity of asphodel in blossom (surely Henry will see ,and Show that classical plant, the flower of death) severalviews to draw ,

particul arly looking back from an ascen t atS . Paolo and the broad reach of the Tiber and MountAlbano

,which I hope to dr ive to some day , for it i s not

far . When we reached the sea- shore,the waves were dash

ingvery tolerably for the Mediteranean ,and surprised the

children much . Sir Thomas Acland and Lord Cli ffordpacked us into two boats to go to his yacht, where w e

staid till nearly dark .

“My own,own Mother , you bl inded your self by your

(farewell ) words Of tenderness , and they must remain un

commented upon ,lest I blind you again ; but they are

treasured up . Your expressions of approbation revive allthose feel ings of pen itence

, which I thi nk were the rulingones at , before , and after the parting with you ,

my own

Mother . I f sin and wilfulness did not mingle in every

thing,even the best of what is earthly , how much more

might I have been to you ,my ownMother if youwere to seekto blame , as you seek to be satisfied , how would your approbation have been qualified ! But al l I could say on thistopic shall b e un said , because it would upset us both . To

be able to feel through all that deserves to be felt , tothink through all that deserves to be thought

,to live up

to the level Of the Situation in which the soul is placed ,must be the happiness of a better state here it is only by


dint of avoiding what we cannot b ear,that we prevent

being shaken to the foundation : and perhaps everybody’s

experience tells , that the most intense feelings , of whatever description ,

never are and never can be commu

n icated.

”

“ 7 May ,1 886 .

— Mr . Meyer and Dr . Braun f6 di ned

wi th us yesterday, having returned from their ar chaeolo

gical tour Of n in e days . They brought a terrible story ofthe Princess Can ino’s son s, Pietro and Anton io

, who have

been roving about the coun try,performi n g all the atro

cities of bandi tti,robbing

,carrying off women

,and at

last committing murder . Thi s mur der was on the person

of a man almost as bad as themselves,and Meyer

, who

had been told that on e of them had, p er disgrazia, shot

a robber , took it into his head to complim ent thePrincessupon her son ’s having rid the country of a pub li c nuisan ceThe unfortunate mother an swered with embarrassmen t

,

said She was gr eatly di stressed by the acciden t , but probably took comfort from the idea that the deed could berepresented in the li ght of a publi c benefit . H owever

,

scarcely had Meyer and Braun ‘ left the castle of Mu sig

nano,when they learnt that one of the Bonapartes

,the

gui l ty on e,had escaped

,but that the other had been

arrested,after having kil l ed on the spot one of the Pope’s

officers and mortally wounded another,of those sent to

arrest him . He is now in the Castel S . An gelo , and the

opin ions of the Romans are divided as to the manner of

the death, whi ch it is supposed he cannot avoid : whether

The well-known archeologist, who was n icknamed StortoCel lo,

”from the way in whi ch he held hi s head on one side to

exami ne coins,


430 LI FE AN D LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

though a Protestant Of Gen eva,in establ ishing schools for

children of various ages at Pisa,beginning with places for

receiving and train ing infan ts of from a year and a halfto two years Old

,and proceeding to regul ar school s for

the same chil dren when older . I have not seen for a long

time a new acquaintan ce who so much gave the impression of the head and heart being both right ; and she is

perfectly natural and pl easing,not the l east app rétée, as

the Gen evan s are apt to be .

“ Dr . Ar nold has sen t a short specimen of the style of

his Roman H istory . 0 were it but finished and publ ished !It wil l be a treasure to children and to everybody .

”

“ 12 Mag— Lepsius has been here since Monday. H e

makes a very satisfactory impression as to character as wellas talen ts

,in short he fulfil s the expectations created by

his l etters, which were clear-headed, straightforward, in

tell igent , ful l without overflowing . He has a naturalpoli sh of manners

,but no ceremon ial

,and is

'

neither for

ward nor shy : it is incon ceivable what materials he hascollected for the study Of Egyp tian antiquities , and hi s

drawings are admirably executed. You may suppose thatCharles is very happy to be able to talk of H ieroglyphics ,but it does not make him idl e : he is very busy all

day,and only gets to hi s treat at meal -times

,and in the

evenings .”

I n the m onth of June , Bunsen and hi s wife,with four

of their childr en,enj oyed a car r iage- tour to Gaeta,

Beneven to,Avel l ino

, Salerno , andNaples a j ourneyfil l ed with en j oym ent, br ight with cheerfulness, un embittered by distress or inconven ience . The later


summ er was saddened by the l inger ing il lness of

Madam e Abeken , who had rem oved to the room s in theVil la P iccol om in i recen tly inhabited byMrs . Waddington

,her power s of resistance and endurance incon

ceivable,and her state of m ind m ost edifying, ful l of

faith and hOpe, and anxious to be gone . She died in

the m iddl e Of August, comm ending her hear t-brokenhusband to the Bun sen s in her last m om en ts

,SO that he

becam e even m ore than before an Obj ect Of sol icitudeand affection to them ,

and She was bur ied in the cem etery of Caius Cestiu s, near the graves of V’

il l iam Wad

dingtou,of Augustus Hare

,and of Bunsen ’s infant

chil dren .


“ 27 Oct.

,1 886 .

—An event in Frascati the week before

last, I must now detail : it was nothing less un commonthan the passage Of the Pope on the way to Camaldoli , bu tthe circumstances were unusual . Charles had been told Ofthe Pope’s having l et fall expressions to the effect of

‘Bun sen keeps quite away— I have not seen him thesetwo years ’— which suggested his doing something toprove that his having refrained from seeking opportun itiesOf personal interviews had not originated in any want of

respect,but rather in delicacy

,from the nature of the

negotiation s and correspondences going on all that time .

He therefore sen t an Official letter,stating that he had been

informed by the Governor Of Frascati that his H olinesswould come there one day, as usual i n passing to Camaldoli to dine ; and that he hoped he would take breakfast


by the way at the Villa Piccolomini . You may supposethat he wr ote this in his best manner, and also you willimagine that although, all thi ngs considered

,it was not

very likely we shoul d have to go through the undertaking,yet still I was somewhat in hot-water till the answer came—gracious beyond expression

,though for this time declin

ing, as having prom ised to stop at Cardinal Pacca’s and

the Vil la Fal con ieri . At the same time Charl es was in

formed that thi sp er sonal attention hadgiven great pleasure ,and when he went over to Castel Gandolfo the day afterthe Pope arrived there

,to wait upon him ,

he was over

whelmed with caresses . The Pope dwelt with emphasis on

hi s owi ng hi s cur e * to a Prussian ,and said fur ther ‘E

p rop r io un suo fratel lo i l guale é venuto p er guar irmi’

from a li keness, real or supposed, in person ,between Dr .

Al ertz and my husband. A day or two later, when the

intended visit of the Pope to Frascati took place, it had

been settl ed that Charles shoul d take the Opportun ity ofpresenting to him several Prussian s

,mostly Catholi cs ,

when he was in the sacristy, as being far l ess troubl esomethan such presentations in Rome, and accordingly he

appeared with his train , two ladies and four m en,in the

small sacristy of the church of Frascati,and was made to

approach close to the Pope’s chair,on one side

,in order

the better to make hi s presentations . The Pope spoke toeach of the thr ee Catholi c young m en (one of themUrli chs)and expressed himself pleased with them Buone faccie,

mi p iaciono—and after the whole set had retired, Charles

prepared to retire also from his post of honour , but thePOpe said,

‘Restate,restate

,

’and went on talking to him .

From cancer.



your Father to Germany, I parted from you as chil dren

now I have seen you again , in comparative independence

and fixedness of character , you understand me, and I

understand you ,andyour l etters I can take as r eally reflect

ingthe state of your mind and thoughts . But each yearseem s to make Ernest m or e a stranger, and I confess, notto be enabl ed to see him , is gradually becoming heavierand heavier to me .

We have seen much of Papencordt thi s summ er— a

first-rate being and a real acquisition . Lepsius is al somuch her e, and helps your Father to refresh him self

'

with

H ieroglyphi cs : indeed your Father is cal cul ating Egyptianchr onology (whi ch you know was an old passion ) and is

making out del ightful thi ngs . Lepsius is a per son Of

astoni shing m ental gifts , and of al l sorts of tal ents,

amongst others , musical : he sings and plays delightfully .

He is busily engaged, in short there never was such a

working col ony as that of Frascati .

1 9 Non—Dr . Arnold has wr itten to us hi s decision foryour going to Oxford as soon as Easter I have

only therefore to remind you that nothing is demanded Ofyou that is not withi n reach of straight-forward industryand appli cation ,

and that it is a certain fact,nothi ng of

l awful and laudabl e attainment can resist the hum an wil l ,if only strenuous and unremitting . I think it was a

maxim of Maupertuis , Qu’est cc que c’est que bien vouloir 9—C’est ne voul oir qu ’

une chose, mais la voul oir tonj ours,dans tous l es instans de la vie . ’

On the 5th of January, 1887 , a twelfth child wasborn to the Bunsens, making a tenth in the large fam i ly


of li ving children . She was baptized by the nam es of

Augusta Matilda, Dr . Arnold being her god-father .


14 Fed ,1 837 .

—I have nothing but causes of thankfulness to commun icate . My darli ng baby thrives and grows

fatter and heavier every day One thing that I havelong had to tel l

,and yet have not wr itten ,

is the satisfac

tion I feel in the growing p ractical affection I experien ce

from my chil dr en . I have felt,more than I could or would

tell them,how eager all have been to help m e

,to be of use

to me, to do anything with me or for me— in their var iousways .

”

“ 22 Ap r i l— The Cli ffords have had a gr eat loss

,and

Rom e too,in the death Of Cardinal Weld

, who has died

probably in consequence of m istaken treatment . Tod ay

the English Col l ege has cel ebrated a mass for him,in

Which the music was Mozart’s Requiem. Monsignor

Wiseman held a funeral sermon,in which he introduced a

sketch Of the Cardinal ’s lif e.“We have parted wi th the Seym ers wi th gr eat r egret ,having found them continually improve on acquaintan ce .

I have qu ite a regard for Miss Seym erfif and hope not tol ose connexion with her al together .

Frascati,3 July, 1 837

— Fan cy, my dearest Mother, if

you can, anything so extraordinary as our having now a

diplomatist- courtier by profession as our daily inmate ! Youwill say how can that be

, wi th the scrambling arrangem ent, the make- shif t furnitur e of the Vill a Piccolomin i .Because the Baron de Buch is a good-natur ed person

, withAfterwards Mrs. E. Denison , wife of the Bishop of Sali sbury .


straight-forward un derstanding,and perfect good-breeding.

H e has succeededUsedom , to whom we had constantly,become more and more attached, for he is a most valuabl echar acter

,wi th fir st-rate abili ties .

I n the three year s which had elapsed since the lastvisit of Bun sen to B erl in ,

the diflerenccs betweenPrussia and Rome had r emained unsettl ed

,and in the

m eantime the gentl e Pius VI II . had given place toGregory XVI . , and the Archbishop of Col ogne underwhom

'

hopes of concil iation had been en ter tain ed had

passed away, l eaving his place to be fil l ed by thestrange appointm ent of Baron Droste von Vischering,an uncomprom ising zeal ot

,who

,with the character of

Thomas aBecket, was resolved to yield no atom of hi sspir itual power . Stil l , in June, 1887 , hopes of concil iatory arrangem ents were again enter tained at Berl infrom the expected arr ival of Monsignor Capaccini , theconfidential secretary of Consalvi

, who since his death’

had been the one great statesman possessed by Rom e,equal ly the faithful servan t of his Governm ent, andthe faithful fr iend Of human ity, which he desired toserve by promoting peace and a good under standingam ong all sor ts and conditions of men .

That Bunsen should again be summ oned to Berl inwas natural , especially as he had l ong l ived at Rom ewith Capaccin i in relation s of per sonal fr iendship and~

mutual esteem . He was desired to com e as quickly asp ossible, so as to arr ive before the Papal envoy, and to



for Bun sen in the vacant place of D irector -General ofthe Royal Museum , and in September he sent positivedirection s to his wife to pack up and prepare for in

stan t rem oval with the whole fam ily to Germany. But

cholera was then raging both at Rom e andBerlin,the

cordon s and quaran tin es between the two places ren

dered an imm ediate j ourney impossibl e, and before itcoul d be carr ied out, Bunsen had discovered that themuseum di rector ship was to be un itedwith other dutieswhich rendered hi s acceptance of i t m ost undesirabl e,so that hi s wif e received directions to unpack again

,

and await further di rection s. Her calm courage indanger Of pestil ence, and imperturbabl e patience am id

so many wear isom e changes of plan s, wil l be apparentin her own l etter s, where l east of all she sought to exal ther self . Amid the agonizing suspense of the chol eraper iod

,surroundedby so many young children , andhear

ingdaily that som e valued fr iend had fall en a victim ,

she had the suppor t of her son -l ike fr iend Heinr ichAbeken

,whose noble exer tions dur ing thi s trying per iod

were afterwards rewarded by the King of Prussia withthe Order Of the Eagl e

,the royal munificence at the

sam e tim e paying Ofl al l debts on the German Hospitalat Rom e .

I n the beginn ing of December,a Commi ssion was

establ ished at B erl in for transacting the affair s ofRom e, and imm ediately after thi s grand m istake, withenm ity behind him , and hostil ity before him ,

Bun sen

l eft Berl in . He passed through Vienn a, where, owing


to the fr iendship of the Comtesse Ste. Aulaire,he was

kindly received by Pr ince Mettern ich, who urged himto delay his j ourney till the arr ival of a fresh cour ier

with som e indi cation of the state of feel ing at Rom e ;but

,being overrul ed by other advice, he proceeded to

Tr ieste . Here l etter s from hi s wife awaited him

announ cing the declaration of the Pope that he wouldnever receive him again. Stil l , in stead of r eturn ing toBerlin to defend himself, or awaiting direction s fromhead-quar ters

,he imprudently pushed on,

andhe arr ivedat Rom e just before Chr istmas.

MADAME BUNSEN to BUN SEN .

17 July, 1837 .— I t costs a sort of effort to begin to

wr ite to you ,because it presupposes the certainty of your

total absence —whi ch as yet I can scarcely comprehend .

Frances and I breakfasted in inconceivabl e solitude,and

then went to church , which was an inexpressibl e comfort

in no other way than in taking part in publi c devotion as

a m eans of edification,coul d the troubl edwaves have been

equally brought to rest—even had it been possibl e , by any

efforts , to procure two hours Of equal quiet in one’s own

room ,in which to m edi tate on al l that could compose and

strengthen the m ind, yet j ust at the moment of n eed,the

m ind is not, with me at l east,independent enough to find

what it most needs , and would either prey upon itself , orat best fall into unprofitabl e stupour . Abeken chose thehymn

‘I n al len meinen Thaten ,

’which was just what I

coul d have wished: and his sermon,saying that all fears

and exaggerated anxiety as to the future is a sort of denial


of God and hi s providence, such as those who call themselves Christians shoul d see that they correct and conquer

,

if they will deserve that name, was pecul i arly what I

wanted . Af ter church, George’s and Charl es’s poor nurse

came, ready to break her heart that she had not been abl e

to take l eave of them . At half-past five we set out to

r eturn to Frascati , and had a most deli ghtful dr ive .“ Frascati , 1 8 August, 1 837

— I have l ittl e to communicate except what is not new, that home and daily occupations

,and home-obj ects , and walks, and drives, andwhat

not,are all very different without my Best-Beloved, to

what they were with the addi tion of hi s presence . This

worky—day world, as Shakspeare call s it, never puts on a

festal garb, when you are away ; ther e is nothing

,thank

God,to complain Of,there is as yet no di stress , but I have

not the sensation of enj oyment.

There is no chol era in Rome, at l east I bel ieve notbut there are algide p erniciose, and gastr iche coler iche, whi ch

those who have a mind to be frightened suppose to be onlythi n di sguises for the dr eadedmonster .”

2 1 August, 1 837 .—Thank God

,all is well wi th us ,

although the storm which has so l ong been gathering has

burst over Rome, and the chol era is an admi tted fact there .What the mortal ity really is, it is difficul t to know,

but nodoubt greater than it need be

, if help was granted, andrational m easur es taken . Monsignor Marini and Mon

signor Mor ichini are said to be very active . in di stributingfood and other assistance to the di stressed in Trastevere

,

but in other quarters of the city it does not seem that anything is done . I n that part of the Quiri nal occupied byMonsignor Capaccini there have been four cases and two



Kell ermann . A priest has al so been ill -treated by a

h’

monar o,for giving sugar-plum s to som e girl s of his

acquaintance, but carabinieri were l uckily near enough to

save hi s li fe . I n Trastevere there is con siderabl e mortali ty,but then no physician dares practise there, the temper of

the peopl e is so savage,and the idea of poison so general .

Tremendous was the uproar of devotion on'

the Madonna

festival ; procession s barefoot and howl ing out l itan ies

crowded the (Fresh-chur ch, whither the wonder -working

1mage has been brought from Sta . Maria Maggior e . Of

these procession s it was observed that the one from Monte

Caprino out-scream ed two or thr ee others . I n the evening

there was a general ill um ination to propitiate the Madonna,and the whole population paraded the streets in their best

clothes .“Here in Frascati we have as yet no chol era

,tho’ much

sickness,as usual when the heat bursts out all at once

after a l ong period of unusual cooln ess . Frascati is apparently rational and enlightened

,as being the only town

around Rome that is not closed against all that wouldenter . Al bano

,Marino

,li ttle Grotta-Ferrata

, &c . ,let no

creature in,but Frascati trusts in S . Rocco ! He i s

the patron -general of p estiférés— lze saved Frascati from the

plague in the l 6th century , when it was just at the gates,and caused a .m 1racu lou s image of himself to be found ,which is still in his church , not sr

'

amadz'

ootz'

or S . Rocco,and

how should the chol era get here ? So they l et all fugitives

in,and such carriages-full come from Rom e

,that I cannot

guess where they sl eep . I confess I cannot manage to get

frightened, which I really thi nk must be stupidity and

want of imagination .

”


To BUN SEN .

26 August, 1837 .—So I have passed your birthday

without yourself— for the first tim e for twen ty years : I

wish it may be the last . I asked Papencordt and young

Abeken"to dinner , and treated all with som e ice, whi ch

made the chi ldr en exceedingly happy. I n the even ing we

went to the Vill a Muti, and r eturned late enough for

Theodore to see to hi s satisfaction the M i ch S trusse, whi ch

he has l earnt to pronounce in German ,and had asked to

be shown many evenings when the moon had been bright .

After dinner I al lowedmyself al so an amusem ent—whi ch

you know to me is a gr eat one, though rare— that of read

ing a novel of Wal ter Scott’s Quentin Durward.

’

Abeken wil l give you the detail s of the awful scenes

going on at Rome— the death and bur ial of poor Houseal,

the murderedEngh sM an,and the death

,alas ! by chol era,

of the Norwegi an from Drontheim , whowas such a faithfulmember Of our congregation

,and of the choir . Such a

scene of misery and confusion and terror and unr eason

abl eness as Hom e at thi s moment,can I suppose hardl y

be imagined — nineteen gall ey-slaves,employed to form

the new bur ial ground near S . Paolo,have seized the arm s of

the soldiers when pil ed, andmade Off some have escaped,and others were taken —there have been two attempts at in

sur rection in Rome, to prevent the establ ishm ent of chol erahospital s within the town , the fool s not considering thatthe onl y chance for the lif e of those attacked is to have nolong journey to make . But each several individual of thi s

W ilhelm Abeken , first cousin to Madame Bunsen’

s“son-l ike

”

friend. His first writings on the Remains of Etruscan Civili zationwere much applauded. He diedyoung.


enl ightened popul ation ,as long as not attacked him self or

herself ; considers every chol era-patient as an excommun i

cated being, Of whom it matters not what becomes . The

Princesses Massimo and Chi gi have been conveyed to the

same publi c bur ial -ground with the r est near S . Paol o .

Al l Hom e is sighi ng after the Austrian s, that is, that class

which has property to protect, and bel ieves the Pope has

begged them to com e : but I daresay that is not true .The conven t of the Trinita. de’ Monti was among the fir st

places attacked, al though hermeticall y cl osed: severalnun s have di ed

,and the report goes that Lord Cl ifford’s

daughter is ill . But thi s proof that nunneries are not safe,is of no avail ; every private house that possesses the m eans

is cl osed again st all comers .”

“ 28 Aug.—As yet Frascati is not attacked, except by

fear . H ithert o the dz'

cozrfonc a S . Rocco keeps up such adegr ee of courage, that fr ee passage is all owed to all suchas do not confess to having had deaths from chol era 111

their house at Rome : onl y everybody is fumi gated at theentran ce of the town ,

to the great suffering of the dailypassing octturrfm

'

,some of whom are said to spit blood

from the quantity of Chl or they have inhal ed . At Monte

Porzio they now l et no one pass,as Urli chs and Papen

cordt experienced, who rode yesterday to make a visit to

Mon signor Wiseman , and coul d not get the“ guard to

receive their cards . The reason of this proceeding is saidto be

,that having formed no idea of fum igation butmaking

a great fir e before the gate,and then dr iving peopl e round

it or thr ough it , they scorched a woman and burnt her ass ,to a degree that m ade it clear the practice must be abandoned. Thus as the neighbour ing p aesi ,

will let nobody in



can wr ite no more now ,for I am obli ged to take to my

bed, by an unusual degr ee of m igraine : it was aggravated

,

no doubt,by the great shock I have r eceived. But you

know I always tel l you the truth, so that you wi l l not

apprehend anythi ng mor e or worse . I am indescr i

bably thankful now that you ar e not her e, you woul d feel

bound to go to Rome , and what a m isery that woul d be .”

“ Frascati , 30 August, 1 837 .—What shall I say of the

turmoil of thoughts and feeli ngs, caused by your l etter ofthe 14th But al l that I can thi nk or feel is absorbed in

one feeling, in the conviction ,that whatever you decide

upon,I shall be satisfied wi th . Causes Of anxi ety I have

enough, as to the fulfilment of all you wr ite of , because

you know not the present awful state Of the country : but

all may yet be well . I f it pl ease God to save us from the

pestil ence,He can do so under any cir cum stan ces— here at

Frascati , or thr ough the bustl e of packing and settlingaffair s in Rom e

“ 2 Sep t. l 837 .—Yesterday Kel l ermann breathed hi s

l ast ! 0 my Best-Beloved ! it is indeed walking in‘the

vall ey Of the shadow of death : and I feel so rel ieved that

you are not here in the m idst Of the danger,that I know

not how to wi sh for the speedy return that your last l etterprom ised ! But if things are wonderfully so arranged asto enabl e you to reali se your plans, it wi ll be a sign that

it pl eases God to take us away from hence, and then He

will help us through . We are,thank God

,al l well as yet,

and the pestilen ce has not reached Frascati : but if you

com e, you wi ll find all l ooking l ess fresh than when you

A letter desiri ngMadame Bunsen to pack up and come to Berlin,with full directions, soon afterwards contradi cted.


l eft us . The season , independent Of the pestil ence, musthave been a tryingone . You wi ll beli eve we take all careas to di et : no fru it has been touched by anybody thi s

l ong time .“ Poor Abeken asserts that he is wel l , and as he is in

the active discharge of duty, I trust he wil l be supported :but it is indeed a hard trial , wi th weakened health not halfr ecovered, to stand alone in the breach . Lepsius is dailyexpected, but I wr ite to day to ur ge hi s coming here to

inhabit Abeken ’s vacant room ,

and not risking remain ing

in Rome,coming as he does fresh from Tuscany . H is

presence m ight be a comfort to Abeken , but also an

anxiety,for he has no sound constitution to struggle with .

Kell ermann sent for Abeken at five o’cl ock in the morning—he was already very bad : Pantaleone came directly,afterwards Dietz (cel ebrated for successful practice), hewanted no help that could be given

,but at one o’clock

he had expired. The bur ial was to take place thi s morn

ingearly .

The poor peopl e at Monte Capr ino are now crowdingr ound Pan tal eone , when he com es up to the Capitol , and

som e have asked for medicine from our Hospital . Thi s is

indeed a satisfactory cir cum stance— and thi s is after peopl eabout Piazza Montanara and the Consolazione had uttered

thr eats to burn the Hospital— the day of the murder of theEnglishman Houseal , and when the first report exi sted

,

that it was a Prussian who had been seized as a prisoner .I would not wr ite thi s in my fir st l etter— now the stormmay be con sidered to have bl own over . Abeken causedalms to be gi ven to the m ost distressed about the hi l l ,by Don Fel ice : but of cour se coul d not ventur e to gi ve


either soup or food . Everything is getting very dear inRome . A conspiracy has been di scovered

,of wr etches

who intended to burn and plunder the palaces of such as

they supposed might have deposits of money—Borghese,P iombino

,Banco S . Spir ito, 810. Wil d stories are told of

a plan of seizing the Pope and changing the government ,probably not true . My Best-Bel oved ! I wil l close thi s

r eport of death and di stress , in thankfuln ess that we are as

yet personally spar ed. Wer e we but re-united

To her MOTHER .

5 Sep t , 1 837 .— Frascati has as yet been spared the

awful scourge,and though

,the season being an unwhol e

Som e one,there is much sickn ess

,independent of the

worst : the children have been quite wel l , andmyself al so .Abeken has been fixed in Rom e ever since the di sorderwas declared to exist, and he is wonderful ly supported inun ceasing exertion and anxi ety . But we have had asevere loss in Tomm aso

, whi ch I have not fel t the l ess ,because I anticipated that he coul d make no r esistance tothe poisoned atmospher e . He has served us ten years, and

never abused the most impl icit confidence — and I neednot tell my Mother that if I knew of twenty peopl e com

petent for hi s place (whereas I know not Of one) mysorrow woul d not be dimi n ished. The 1st SeptemberKell ermann was carried off in eight hour s, whi ch Abekenwi ll not easil y get over. He too was cl ose at hand, and

help and remedi es wer e had without delay . A Norwegiancabinet-maker we knew ‘

and valued di ed in the hospital “

;

two other chol era patients there have r ecovered : but allsuch of cour se keep Abeken in continual exertion . I n one



the first victims , and if they were to be so , I t is as well

that it was at fir st, to help to quell the dr eadful suspicionamong the peopl e , that ther e was a conspir acy to poison

the poor . The Princess Chigi has foll owed the Massim o,andMonsignor Chigi

,for whom the Prince had to borr ow

the hearse of the Protestants ! that he might be taken con

deceuzu to the cem etery at S . Lorenzo. The young Duke ofFiano, and Conte Bolognese husband Of the young Brancadoro, are among the dead.

Frascati,1 5 Sep t ,

1 837 .—Thank God all about me are

still wel l , not only free from the dr eadful vi sitati on , buteven from the fevers Of the season . But . my own Mother ,I have received a summ ons from my husband to foll owh im with all the children to Berlin

,as soon as possible !

and therefore have more upon my hands than you can

quite imagine,or I enumerate . The embarrassment is

increased by the present state of Rome,for everybody

cautions me against going from the un infected air into thecontagion

,until it is more nearly abated, and I can do very

littl e as to preparation till I am on the Spot . But the disorder is abating fast

,and the season has changed into the

finest autumnal weather, and I have hopes that I may

speedi ly remove and set to work, for the time is short toget to Berlin before it is complete winter . From severall etters I perceived that plan s were in agitation to detainhim

, although he coul d notwr ite plainly, under the con

sciousness that the l etters would be opened : nor has heexplained anything, bu t the matter of fact necessary for

me to know— that his present post in Rome is continued toh im

, that a very large sum was to be advanced for hisexpenses in the removal of hi s fami ly, besides the continu


ance of his all owance : which I am soon to receive . H is

having had a long personal conf eren ce wi th the Ki ng, on

the business in which he is engaged,was mentioned by the

way, andwas a very satisfactory circumstance to me . I have

always been reminding him ,that he could never hope for

success,unless he made out that his communication s wi th

the King were to be imm ediate . The whol e matter is toappear as if provisional , but I cannot think, that whenonce over the Alps , we shal l return .

“My own dearest Mother, I wr ite, as you see , the mostdry unsatisfactory account of thi s most important crisis,that can be conceived : but I must keep feelings out of thequestion

,that I may if possibl e con tinue fit for action .

Reflection tell s me how highly satisfactory this change is,

on the whol e,

-how highl y necessary in short : and I mustnot set about obj ecting to some attendant cir cumstances Ofhurry and plague, fatigue and responsibili ty, which if Ihad a choice should have been otherwise . To have tothink of taking l eave of these beloved and l ovely scenesonly so short a time before I leave them ,

is a great advantage . The children you may suppose, are all spirits

Emi lia quite wi ld . The twin s take it the most qui etly,tho’ Theodore says, ‘J e suis bien aise que je vai s voi r laneige !

To ABEKEN (at Rome) .

Frascati , 1 3 August, 1 837 .—When you communi cated

your intention Of passing in soli tude the sol emn anniver

Sary ,* I so ful l y understood and sympathi sed in the feelingwhich prompted you to seek, not un interrupted indulgence

Of hi s wi fe'

s death.


of sensation,but undisturbed conver se with your own soul

andwi th God,who did not send a warn ing so awful but

for his own purpose of universal good,— that I could notutter one word Of Obj ection ,

feel ing as if I should indeed

b e counteracting gr eat things by insign ificant ones , if Isought to wi thh old you from the geweihtes Manna lesen‘“by

anxiety for your health : but I have since felt that I oughtto urge upon you the duty of circumscribing your stay inRome

,and though I cannot expect of you to gi ve up

’

Tuesdayevening, yet at latest on Wedn esday morning youshoul d in regard to your heal th return here . As twelve

months ago,at my request, you were induced to l eave those

remain s of what had so recently been lif e and feeling andintel l igence

,in order to give your exhausted body the

needed rest,for the sake of that affectionate father who

has been bereaved of so much,and to whom nothing

remains on earth but your self , —so I hope you will now

renounce your intention of remai n i ng In Rome over thefuneral ann iversary whi ch I have only just l earnt to beyour purpose .Most earnestly do I pray that every bl essing you need

may attend the season Of awful retrospect . Ever yourswith maternal affection ,

F . BUNSEN .

”

23 August, 1837 .— I f you coul d make it possibl e to see

th e P latner s again , I should be much obliged to you if youwill explain that I can contrive seven beds for them

,and

the Manci ni and tut-ole for an eighth,and that I have cop er te

'

ttt lemu for the beds,but not br

’

uueker z’

u. Change Of air

would do them more good,than exposure to the air can

do evi l .

Thi s expressi on occurs In a hymn of the 17th century.



my most heartfel t thanks for your care of Tommaso . Ihave no hope of hi s recovery. How li tt le I can spare him

,

I scarcely was aware before : I ought not to be so oversetI ought only to be thankful that as get nobody still

nearer has been touched. For God’s sake take care of

yourself .

Or if, what I cannot hope , Tommaso Shoul d yet be alive

when thi s note arrives,say to him

,or l et him be told , al l

he can bear Of the Shock I have received in the anticipationof his l oss

,— even to the tears

, whi ch I reprove myself forshedding because they can do him no good

,and myself

only harm and l et Angel ina be assur ed Of my most affectionate sympathy, and have a charge to take care of herself

all She can .

”

3 1 August— I have been busy this morn ing with poor

Tomm aso’s papers,andwi sh his exampl e may take effect in

proportion to the emotion it has occasion ed . How it does

strike m e to see that paper of accounts again, whi ch I had

received and returned to him thr ee days before hi s death ,and on whi ch with such admirable exactness, he had, tothe l ast

,noted down sum s It is an exampl e not to

forget for though possessed by the general fear of death,he could have thought as li ttl e as any of us that he was not

to see the next week .

“ The anecdote of Pr in ce Chigi and the hearse is m ost

remarkable as is al so the confiden ce Of the poor people at

Monte Caprino . As to the gi vi ng of soup , I shoul d thinki t was too great a ri sk , unless to indi viduals who shouldmake a special request for it, andthen as quietly as possibl e .

“ That the body of Monsignor Chigi should have no

accompanying cl ergy, isbeyond con ception !”


To ABEKEN (on the news of .Kel lermann’

s death) .1 Sep t. 1 837 .

—Al as ! what shall I say, when I feel SO

much ! May God support and strengthen you ! He does ,and He will : that is so entir ely my confidence, that, moststrangely, as it might seem ,

I cannot be alarm ed about you ,

altho’ the circumstances Of danger in which you are placedare for ever present to me — the will of God is inscrutabl e !

but of H is di spensations we see but a part— they must becompl eted elsewhere

,in fuln ess of justice

, and perfection

of mercy . Ese cuerpo fue depositar io de una alma en

quien el Cielo puso infini tas partes de sus riquezas on thi s

fact l et us r est— leaving what we valued to the wi ll of

God, who has not created any man

‘for nought . ’ He has

but taken that away, whi ch in thi s mortal state was incompetent to farther progress towards the end and Obj ect of

moral exi stence . That we do not know what the divinemercy has in reserve for such as have not compl iedwith theonly condi tions on which we bel ieve it can be grantedneed not distress us : God has ways of helping that we

know not of .

To walk thus in the vall ey of the shadow of

death is an awful thi ng ! to see the destroying angel almostin vi sibl e form ,

and hi s Shaft s flying in every direction— a

thousand fall ing in our sight,and hundreds at our right

hand ! I f indeed we at last are spared, shoul d we not l ookupon our selves as consecrated by the fiery ordeal to workthe work of God in the remainder of li fe

,more especial ly 9

May God’s grace be upon you— better than I can wishabove all I can conceive

Sep t. 2 .— Should Lepsius arrive

, will you not Offer himto occupy your vacant bed at Villa Piccolomini . Pray

456 LI FE AND LETTERS o‘

F BARONESS BUNSEN .

assure him of being very wel come to me— and surely afterthe wholesome air in Tuscany, he shoul d not brave the

pestil ence in Rome . I f you could com e for a night , youcould get sleep here— but I cannot be of Opinion that youought—I beli eve you woul d dr ive back to Rome more susceptible Of poisonous air for havi ng inhaled better . And

somebody might, like Kell ermann ,send to you at five

O’cl ock in the morni ng You see how I reckon upon your

notwanting Lepsius to stay w ith you . I think the increase

Of anxi ety woul d do away with al l comfort from hi s pre

sence, and an occasional hour of solitude must do more

good than harm,for in such sol itude you can go to H im

who al one can give strength for the hour of exertion .

”

“ 5 Sep t , 1837 .—What you say about the fr r

’

sclze Lebens

hauclz that you experienced in the presen ce of Lepsius ,struck me wi th r eferen ce to myself . I am used to inhale

nothing but that atmosphere of life, and now , unl ess

Lepsius brings it,where shoul d I find it ? When my

husband is at home,all that lives in his neighbourhood

must be alive.

”

“ 7 Sep t— I was affected indeed by the account of the

two deathbeds . What scenes you had to go thr ough ! Itis self-evident that one has only to thank God for having

graci ously r emoved Mrs . Vaughan from a world wi th whichshe coul d not contend : and that we do not equally feel thereasons for thanking Him for the removal of Kell ermann,is owing to our short- sightedn ess .”

10 Sep t— I n the fir st place

,I am well—weak to be

sur e,but alr eady stronger than when I rose thi s morn ing,

from the deli cious air - the weather was tod ay so gl ori ous ,the country so beautiful, that it gave a sensation of melanv



apparently,that could happen to her

,as to whi ch I know

not how to Offer her consolation .

”

Rome, 2 October,18 37 .

— H ere I have been,my own

dearest Mother,since the day before yesterday, and I am,

and have been,in such a whirl Of business

,that only for

m oments can I be con scious of the sensation of leave

taking. I know as a fact that I have left Vill a Piccol omi ni ,probably never to see it again : but having no l eisure todwell on the feelings and reflections called forth by thatfact

,I have been enabl ed to avoid al l enervating emotion .

H ow I am to gi ve you an account of what I have done,or

am l ikely to do, I know not : for how I am to fin ish what

i s to be done in ten days, is beyond my con ception . Pack

ingup is the l east part . The most necessary part for you

to know is that I am well and strong, which is m ore thanI have felt for near a month : just the last four days Ihave experienced a vast differen ce, without knowing why“or wherefore except that

.

one must never doubt having thestrength granted that is necessary , whether of body or

m ind .

It was after all thi s that Madam e Bunsen heard, andr eceived with equal equan im ity, that al l was changed,Bunsen was to return to Rom e— the depar ture was indefin itely deferred.


“ 1 N oe,1 837 .

—I have read some part of the ‘Life ofSir Walter Scott, ’ with the greatest pl easure and interestthough it is often a very melan choly pleasur e it is something l ike watching a boat riding on the smooth surface

with swi ftness imperceptibly increasing, knowing as we do


that a few miles further on is the waterfall , down whichthe same cur rent wil l dash , carrying the same frail barkto unavoidable destruction . He was reserved to do bitter

penance for the pol itical and l iterary pique whi ch temptedhim to engage in booksell ers’ speculations

,and render his

talents mere in struments of trade and profit . I Often think !

,

in considering life and biography, of a verse of Gdthe ,

signifying Every error finds its retribution on earth .

’ I

firmly believe this to be true,distinguishing error from

sin : for sin the Chr istian dispen sation offers an all -suffi

cient atonement,to those who wi ll becom e partakers of it,

but that atonement applies to another state of existence,

and cannot Shield us from the consequences, whi ch in the

scheme Of God’s moral government of the world ar e in

separably annexed to certain courses of feeli ng and action .

It is not Often that we can know enough of the h istory of

our fellow-creatur es to trace this : but reflection upon ourown

, when we try to tell our selves the truth without selfdeception

, will often reveal the fact,which I think

Madame de Stael had in her mind when she wrote Voussouffrez longtems

,vous prospérez longtem s

,sans l ’avoir

mérité , quand tout a coup la scene se change, l s mot devotre énigme se revel e ; et l e mot, la conscience l ’avait bien(l it, avant que l e destin n e l

’efit répété .

’

“ After tea, Abeken reads to m e,and I work cross—stitch

on week days , and treat myself to drawing on Sundayeven ings . What he reads is general ly Niebuhr’s ‘RomanH istory

,

’which he helps me to understand for though an

inexhaustible mine Of information to the l earned , it is toofull of the language of allusion and suggestion to be accessible to the ignorant .”

4 60 LI FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNS EN .

BUN SEN to MRS . WADDINGTON .

Ber lin ,12

,Oct. 1837 — Six weeks ago it was almost

decided that I was to r emain here, as the King’s Envoy,but with a special comm i ssion for a year . Thi s has been

one of the most trying epochs of my lif e . I could not

obtain decision before the 25th of September,and this was

evidently the last tim e to write to Fanny and bid her comeover the Alps with all our treasur es . What was to bedone ? To tell F . to prepare for the p robabil ity, do everything preparatory for the j ourney, and still be not di s

appointed if at last the thing was settled defin itively forthe contrary. I kn ew her gr eat soul could bear such an

uncertainty , such a trial . No soon er had she received theintim ation (without the reasons , for I was not al l owed to

wr ite them) in the mi dst of chol era and quarantines ,and stoppages and cordon s , and al l sorts of disorders

,vexa

tion s,dangers of life , murders , &c .

,than she settled every

thing at Frascati and at Rom e,packed up

,made arrange

m ents for everything, and still di d nothing that couldcomm it her, if we did not go . But, what is more adm irable still

,is that she does not complain any more Of the

hardness of un certainty , than of the di ffi culty Of overcomingtrials which m en declare insurmountabl e . Her l ettersstate every di fficul ty, but each statement is foll owed bysuch expressions as : Never mind— eeclremo and I shall

get through it—all will be done that must be done—I feel

as high-spirited as ever, ’ & c .

MADAME BUN SEN to BUN SEN .

14 Oct. 183 7 .

—Lord Cl ifford has cal l ed. He spoke

of the dreadful peri od that Rome had passed through,



Pope’s presence,for the r emoval of the scourge , and on

Monday a Requiem at St. Peter’s for those who had diedunder it. Wewent to St. Peter’s where the catafalco was

raised in that arm of the cross were the Lavanda takesplace

,and it had a fine eff ect : but there were no benches

for the Corps Diplomatique , or for anybody but the dign ified cl ergy, and al together not many peopl e were in the

church,the rest of whi ch was decked out in preparation

for a Beatifi cation , whi ch is to take place next Sunday .

Various mir acles of the Beato were pain ted in the church ,w ith different inscription s , one of whi ch is that verse of oneof the Psalm s

,with which you have Often been edified

,

and once together with Chateaubriand . I shall wr ite theLatin wrong, but you will recoll ect it quod non cognovi

li tteras — ther efore, I enter in to the kingdom Of heaven ! ”95“ 23 Oct. 1 837 .

—Your dear l etter containing so manyproofs and expression s of your love, m ight well make al l

the amends possibl e for the tidings of new delay as to yourr eturn . May you but be here at Christmas, my Dearest !I thank God for the assistan ce granted to get us out Of ourdifficul ties , but am lost i n conj ecture how you could con

tr ive to obtain it ! now that we do not make a j ourneybut I will be contented in thi s matter, and so many others ,with the fact, until I can get the explanation . What you

A few days after the Polignac Ministry had been established byCharles X . , Bun sen was visiting the S istine Chapel. He had been

conversingwi th one of his colleagues on the most un expected appointment which had taken place, and the collocutor had just remarkedu pon Polignac

’

s unfitness and alm ost entire want of the most ordi nar yknowledge , when the choir set in . The first Psal m sung containedthe words quoted. Bunsen pointed them out to his neighbour, whotried in vain to look serious for the rest of . the service !


say of a ‘sorgeufrez’

cs Leben’woul d be a great comfort to

have ver ified,but unl ess the babz’tual state of things is to be

placed on a different footing, l eaving the circl e of receiptalways a li ttl e wider than that of expenditure, we shall beonly ausser Sorgen for a given tim e .

My Best-Beloved,there is nothing more certain than

that,if one di d not ungrateful ly forget the gratification s

one is all owed, a harmless wi sh issooner or later gratified ,oftener in lif e than one is apt to think . How Often I have

wished that I could ever be allowed a time to enj oy Rome

in ! and regretted never being there at a peri od whenweather

,season

,and leisure were together favourabl e to a

free and comfortable existence . N ow this month of

October is of real perfection,the sky clear

,the air fresh

,

the sun brill i ant, no strangers here to take up one’s tim e,no social trammels to prevent the fr ee di sposal of it . SO Igo out daily, and every day see somethi ng interestingthere is one great want , that you are not here

,but what

ever I see,I live in the hope Of seeing it again with you .

I was the other day at S . Loren zo,

and after dinnerAbeken read what you have written about it . The aspectof the burial-ground is comfortless

,but yet more shocking

is it to see,that those who have died of cholera are treated

there as excommunicated : a hole broken in the enclosurewall , serves as a passage to the Open

,unenclosed

,uneven

field , in which long rough furrows,covered with loose

earth as i f by the plough, show where the human seeddivine has been deposited . Tommaso however was laid inthe con secrated ground of the cemetery, intended for thosemor t'z

'

di maltp z'

z

'

,for that is the phrase

,to distinguish cholera

as male z'

mp z'

o — the heathen had juster notions,for they


thought the Special scourge of God had a san ctifying influen ce . The reason that Tommaso andmany others came intothe more decent place , was the credi tabl e one that ‘guel l ibugbi p er li coler ici non erano al lora terminate, and

,as

you know ,the date Of hi s bur ial was the 28th August

,

eight days after the existence of chol era .was adm i tted, andfour weeks after it had begun . It i s a most extraordi naryfact

,that as far as I can procure information , he was the

only suff erer who received decent burial , always exceptingthe Protestants . Pietro accompan ied the fun eral procession

,

and assures me the priests , ten in number,wi th the Archi

prete at their head,followed the corpse to the grave, where

the absolution was performed by the Ar chi prete accordingto rul e ; whereas Monsignor Chi gi was foll owed only bytwo empty carriages , two torci a ceutobeing borne by the~side

of the borrowed hear'

se contain ing his remain s , and not as ingle priest was there . The impression must have been ,

that as the Protestants bury their own dead r everently,

you woul d expect that your servant shoul d be interr edwith decen cy , as itwas done at your expense and Pietro’s

witnessing the whol e probably did much to secure the

performance of what was undertaken .

”

26 Oct,1 837 .

—My Dearest , it has been an event in

my l ife to becom e acquainted wi th the tragedies Of Sophocles

,whi ch Abeken has been readi ng to me . O I cannot

wonder at the enthusiasm these an cient Greeks inspir e, itwould only seem as if not half enough had been said of

the subl im ity Of their conception s . There is an intensityof beauty and grandeur in the two (Edipu s-pieces , towhi chonly that of the remains of their sculptur e can be com

pared : with all the interest attending individuality, wi th


466 LI FE AND LETTERS OE BARONESS BUNSEN .

27 N ov 1 837 — I have been reading the Lif e Of Wal ter .

Scott, in whi ch I have an indescribabl e interest . ButWal ter Scott was in a melan choly manner, the man of his

own time— a tim e in which men made use of their power s ,and gi fts , and qualities

,to produce effect, attain an end

,

among their contemporaries,in Short

,made a gambli ng

specul ation with their tal ents , instead of aiming after an

ideal standard,and seeking to satisfy their own con ception s

Of excellen ce . Walter Scott di d not l ike hi s own wr itings, ,

in particular his own poetry, but he wr ote wi th spiri t, asan actor performs a part in which his feelings have no ,

share,enj oying the sympathy and applause Of the publ ic

and afterwards reckoning upon that sympathy andapplauseas a ground of specul ation

,to help him out of pecun iary

di fficul ties into whi ch he had unnecessar ily fall en . Yethis was a fine mind , and hi s l etters , whi ch express hi s !

feel ings and affection s,have an indescribabl e charm

his liberal ity Of sentiment,and deli ght in the wr itings

of contemporaries,is most amiab le

,but he does not appear

to have had any more critical judgment than Overbeck asto the works of contemporary painters , and probably for

the same reason,supplying by hi s imagin ation all that was

wanting .

“ I have now proceeded with Abeken to the end of

Niebuhr,and can conceive what you must feel at the

melancholy and sudden break at the end of the thir d

volume : it gives an awful consciousness Of what death is ,that breaking off in the mi dst of the fulln ess of li fe

, whenthe current of thought seemed setting so strong . Butnobody can ever continue that work,— hi s mind was amagic mirror that reflected the very form and body of


ancient Roman time ; and that magi c mirror is broken ,and

the vi sion ceases . ”9 Dec

,1837 .

— I have nothing to tell,but das ewige

Lied— wil l you indeed return ? can you return ? can you beon the way ? The one thought Of your being

,compara

tively speaking, SO near,confounds al l other thoughts ! and

yet there is enough to write about besides . The Pope has

call ed a Con sistory, and held an All ocution ,on the subj ect

of late events : the language of complain t and condemna

tion is as strong as possible,with the highest praise of the

Ar chbishop of Cologne,and approbation of hi s sentim ents

and conduct . But from the tone of the whole,it mi ght be

supposed that the question Of the mixed marriages was thesole point at issue

,and that Opposition to the wishes Of the

King’s government on that head was the sole Offen ce of

the Archbishop . It is made a great ground of complain tthat the intentions of the King’s government were not

made known here un til after they had been executed .

”

To her SON GEORGE (at Scli ulpforte).Rome

,9 Dec

,1 837 .

— Your thr ee l etters received thesame day

,by myself

,by Abeken and Ur l ichs

,gave

,all

taken together,a very complete idea Of your present Situa

tion ; and it makes me sad enough to think how l ittlecomf ort you can have in it . But the obj ect of humanexistence i s not to be as comfortable as possibl e in everystage of ‘its progress

,but to make every advantage possible

of the circum stances,whether pleasing or unpleasing, into

whi ch the path of lif e may successively bring you . I can

well guess how peculi arly b itter must be the want Of

sympathy among compan ions in study and play, who


having all to go the same way, and al l to combat wi th thesame di fficul ties

,mi ght be supposed will ing to Show other s

the kindn ess they must be conscious Of wanting . But a

school is the image of lif e , schoolboys do but show what

the n atural man is , before he has been worn smooth in

som e degr ee by the world’s r ough bill ows or what is not

onl y higher and better, but al one efli cient, before the di scipl ine of the cross of Chr ist , received by a free andwil l ingspirit

,has subdued the native powers of hatred and

selfishn ess, whi ch l ead the natural man to delight in

giving pain rather than pl easur e , because he l ooks upon

everything desir abl e whi ch another enj oys, as stol en fr om

him self . The advantage, however , and an inestimabl e one,Of the foretaste of the worldwhi ch is experienced in aschool , is the being hab ituated to a steady cour se of

conduct, with responsibili ty to your own conscience al one

‘fais guc dois, adviennc guc p ourra

’ —as the Old French

motto of, I forget what French king says . It is well to

have experience early of the usel essness of endeavouringto pl ease the multitude—who ever fol l ow those who donot run after them

,but show themselves independent in

doing right .

Dass dieser Auf enthaltEpoche in deinem Leben mache,

konntest du ni cht verhi ndern ; dass Sie aber deiner werth

sei , hangt von dir ab — I trust I shall find my Georgeagain , having by God

’s assistance held fast and improvedthe notions of right and wrong that he brought fr omhome, and being confirmed in habits of conscientiousactivity and self-responsibili ty.

”

Just before Chr i stmas,Bunsen returned to his family.



almost too ideally perfect : Charl es woul d go to London ,

visit the Puseys and Arnolds , and come back again ,and

my dear Henry woul d come to Ll anover too, if hi s grandm other can make room for all .

O my own Mother, how much I have to tell that thereis no tim e to write ! Charles is now in a state of active

energy, which is more consonant to hi s n ature than the

passive state in whi ch he has spent the last few monthsbut you would have been pleased with him and proud of

him,if you had wi tnessed all as I have done . And hi s

case is a hard one ! to have worked so hard for peace forSO many years , to have had his plans defeated by thedilatoriness Of hi s own government (you know when— inall owing the former archbishop to di e without havingbrought the system agreed upon into practice), and now.

having done more than the world will ever know Or

bel ieve to prevent a ruptur e,to be publ icly accused as the

prin cipal enemy to peace ! But though the case is hard,i t mi ght be yet harder , for he has always the comf ort ofenj oying the confiden ce Of the Ki ng and Crown Prin ce ,and of the very Altenstein

, who mi ght be j ealous of himas his supposed successor , if he was Of a l ittle m ind : tosay nothing of the publi c applause that has been grantedhim in Protestant Germany

,for having been the cause of

rigorous and decisive measures— though that sor t of

applause he m istrusts too much to overvalue it, being

caused in part by a mistaken notion as to his Opinions,or

as to the system upon whi ch he woul d act if uncon

troll ed .

We have gone on as qui etly as before, except one day,when we had here to breakfast the Duke Bernard of Saxe

LAST YEARS AT ROME . 47 1

Weimar (the sam e whose travels in America were publi shed), Prince Lieven, and the Count and Countess Panin ,

who are Russian subj ects , but he a Greek,and She a

German : after breakfast, which was at half-past twelve ,Charl es took them awalk to Show them the Forum .

“ I have always omitted to tell of the Baron de Thi l e ,whom Charl es brought back with him from Berl in as

attache, and to succeed the Baron de Buch as Secretary of

Legation,in short

,to be an efficient l abourer in the Office .

H e turns out all that could be wished in appli cation to

business,as well as intelli gence , and is a most agreeabl e

inmate,ful l of information and interest in everythi ng

worthy to interest an intell ectual beingfif He is the son

of a general Offi cer , whom Charl es had known for years ,and a very distinguished per son ; and he has an uncl e ,another General Thi le , who is very kind to Ernest . He

said to Charl es,on taking l eave of him at Berlin I give

you my boy (being very fond Of this nephew) and I takeyour s in exchange —and accordingly wehave heard thathe has the kindness to l et Ernest come to him in an

evening, wi th one or two young Officers Of his own family,

when he reads wi th them the hi story of som e mili tarycampaign

,with remarks and explanations

,that he is

hi ghl y competent to make interesting as well as instructive .

”

“ 2 Ap r i l—Until we know that our wishes are not to

be granted , we may continue to hope they will , butUrli chs has not been sent back from Berl in yet, and we

M . de Thile was afterwards Secretary of Legation to Bun sen at

Berne and in London , and later became Under-Secretary of State forForeign Affairs under Bismarck.


shall know nothi ng of what is determi ned there till he

does com e . We have been enj oying our selves atTivoli : we all went thither on Wednesday morning and

returned Thursday to dinner . Emili a was with us , andwas conveyed on an ass to see the rocks and cascades

,to

her gr eat delight ; the Baby was there too, and enj oyed

her existen ce,and the sight of the world , as usual .

Nothi ng coul d be more beautiful than the spring-gr een ,

the trees everywhere bur sting out, and thuspresenting avariety of tints greater than coul d be furnished at any

other time before the autumn ; the dark ever-gr een oaks,and pines , and cypresses , and the Silvery olives, contrast

ing wi th the deciduous trees,particularly in the Vill a

Adr iana, which I had never been more struck with .

Charl es enj oyed him self as usual , in being all owed such an

interval of rest from care and trouble,and such an oppor

tun ity of air,and exercise , and peace andKestner

were there al so . We dined by the Templ e of the Sybil in theopen air

,and remained till the sun had Set

,then went in

,

and dur ing and after tea read GOthe and Shakspear e— in

the latter fin ishing Hamlet,which we have been reading

together in an even ing occasionall y Of late .”

I t was on Easter Monday, as Bunsen and hi s fam ilywer e em erging from the Protestant chapel wher e theyhad just received the Sacram ent, that Ur l ichs met him

with dispatches from Berl in . The n ews they dontainedwas a practical dism issal , though the l inger ing kindness Of the King caused the notice to be so worded asto give l east possibl e cause for mortification— Bunsen



years, endeared in so many ways , on the 28th of April,at

hal f-past 6 in the'

m orning; not having received til l EasterMonday the 1 6th

,thr ough Dr . Url ichs

, the requested l eaveof absence to go to England . I thi nk you wi ll gi ve us

credit for having got ready in so short a time , con sidering

that before we ‘got into the carriage everythi ng belonging

to us was packed— not onl y the comparatively smal lmass that we carried with us, but thirty large cases-ful lWhat r emained was either the E iserne Bestand (thatis furniture paid for by the King, and belonging to

the Legation ), or set apart to be sold after our departur e bythe care of Abeken . The same day that we departed

,the

Baron de Buch brought his Singl e person to occupy our

room : poor Angel ina r emained established as Guardaroba

,and Pietruccio as Portiere dell a Legazione .

“ It was the most beautiful , calm ,sunny morn ing on

which we beheld Rome for the last time : and we dr ove

from that abode, so l ong our own ,but now ours no longer ,

a large party ; our own open carriage was put in to re

qu isition to take Dr . Franz as cour ier to Berl in ,and as we

supposed,your Father with him ; a large vetturi no-car

r iage, with a Fren ch vettur ino, was to take me and the

six,with the maid and Caspar, and Dr . Meyer to take care

of us in your Father’s stead : and fur ther,Kestner’s car

r iage w ith our own dear horses and Luigi, went to convey

Abeken and Lepsius , who wi shed to accompany us as faras Monterosi

,and that we might have an opportun ity of

seeing those two friends for the l ast time,I went in

Kestner’s carriage with Abeken ,and your Father took

Lepsius,and Dr . Franz went w ith Meyer in the cabri ol et

Of the vetturino carriage . At last we parted at Monterosi


with the last remnant of our daily li fe at Rome— Abekenand Lepsius— but hard as it was

,it cost far l ess than to

leave what we shal l never see again : we may hope to see

them again ,and we are sure of their affectionate remem

brance wherever we are .”

With the royal sentence Of rem oval,Bun sen had

received a letter from the Crown Pr in ce , wr itten wi thhis wonted kindn ess, and urging that if Bun sen were

to hasten at once to B erl in , and m ake his per sonalexplanation to the King, al l m ight yet be wel l . Adviceso kindly given ,

could not be negl ected,and Bun sen

determ ined to turn towards Prussia rather than Eng

land ; but the desire to l inger with h is wife on thi stheir fir st and last j ourney together into Tuscany, sofar overcam e his usual promptitude of action ,

that hedid not fairly set out on hi s j ourney to Germany till aweek after l eaving Rom e , when he par ted with hi sfam ily at Florence . Thus the precious chance for personal ly establ ishing his own justification was lost

,for

at Mun ich he was m et by what am ounted to a prob ibition to approach the presence of his sover eign

,and

was desired “at once to make use of his l eave of absence

for his j ourney to England.

”

MADAME BUN SEN to ABEKEN .

“ Florence, Saty . Morng.

,fl ag 5

,1 838 .

— Not till th ismomen t has it been possible for m e to attempt to write ,and now the words will be few

,and probably the fewer

because the world Of matter,of thoughts and feelings

,


thr eatens to choke utterance . That I should really havel eft Rom e

,not to retur n , is still an idea that I do not

compass . I have seen at Siena and here, wonders of

ancient art that deserve more days of contemplation than Ihave had minutes to give them but general impression s Ihope to bring away, and som e individual images will notl eave m e ; in particul ar of the Chapel of Or cagna in Sta.

Maria Novel la and some of the pictures in Palazzo Pi tti .”Sunday, 8 P .M .

—H ere I sit alon e— the children gone

to bed,

and their father gone away — another event,

another parting,in thi s time of events and strong sensa

tions . I have to be most thankful - may I but feel so as Iought — for the gift of those eight days spent with him asI have seldom been all owed to spend any— in undisturbedcomfort and enj oyment . He has been in perfect heal th of

body andmind , in ful l energy and calmn ess,and I rej oice to

seewhat a refreshm ent thi s j ourney has hitherto been to him .

I cannot thank you now for your l etter , nor for all the

feelings expressed in it, and in your whol e ‘ l ife for someyears , towards me . But I am con scious of not being un

grateful , and accept as a free-gift what you confer, wishingthat I was what you believe me in excell ence, and verysur e that my affection only is not overrated by you . Godbl ess you ! Be assured , that I cannot pray for my own

childr en , without your being join ed in idea with them .

Much I coul d say on the text you start, of not beingseparated by absence, when habituated to hourly com

mun ication Of thoughts and sympathy in pl easur es . I haveoften fel t dur ing this j our n ey as if you were near, and

wondered at the dead silen ce , when assured Of your feelingas I fel t at the sight of Objects of nature and art .”



del ightedme— grand, Simple, the utterance Of one idea, notovercharged wi th decoration . There I made acquaintancewith the scul pture of Matteo Civitali and saw a gloriouspainting of Fra Bartolomm eo . But in another chur ch of

Lucca, St. Frediano , the frescoes Of Buonami co, and apain ting of Francia

,perhaps claim the fir st notice, and the

works Of the former will remain with m e . I n Pistoia thefrieze of the hospital

,by Luca dell a Robbia, is al one worth

a j ourney . What would I not gi ve that you had seen it,or coul d see it ! But bel ieve my assur ance

,that it is the

finest of hi s works that I have seen— fin er even than thatover the door of the Cathedral of Pistoia . At Prato we onl y

saw the cathedral, whi ch is in itsel f a museum , con tainingthe finest of theworks of Lippi, and treasur es of scul ptthe buildi ng al so is fin e .

Ror igo, 14 Mag— W e had tim e to see everything well

at Bologna : the Raphael , the Francia’s , the Perugi no, theTim oteo dell a Vite

,are indeed treasures . At Ferrara

,only

in the sacristy of S . Andrea did I Observe anything thatcoul d dwell with m e— the pain ting attributed to Bonifazio ,of the Flight to Egyp t, and a small piece by an unknownauthor

,representing the Flight on the Nile

,the Holy

‘

Family in a boat steered by angel s, which I never saw butin a drawing of poor Lotsch . The sculpture over the doorof the Duomo is al so very fine. I saw other pictures of

m erit in the churches of Ferrara, but al together the bestof the Bol ognese school appear tame and lif eless, with l ittl e

variety of composition ,though their colouring is fine

,and

their style sober and dignified ; so that one is graduallyscrewed down from the heights of Tuscany .

”

Venice, 1 8 May, 1 838 .—Your letter is indeed a surprise

THE F IRST RETURN TO ENGLAND . 479

to me, in whi ch I try to dwell only on the desir abl e part,our speedy r eun ion

,for whi ch I am most thankful . As to

the cause, whatever it may be, I repeat to mysel f that

being in the ways of Providence, all can but be for thebest .

“ The quantity Of Obj ects of high interest that I have

seen and daily see, is so great, that it will be wel l if I canpr eserve general impressions cl ear . I am astonished atthe r iches Of the Venetian School , in which I have madeacquaintance with a mul titude of painters whose names I

never knew before— and the archi tectur e is an unceasingdelight .”

“ Sp resiano, 2 1 Mag— VVe are advanced into the last

portion Of our pilgrimage . 0 how deli ciously we floatedin the ‘heili ge Fr iihe ’ over the lagun e ! l eaving Ven ice andits dependent isl ands behi nd , and seeing before us, on one

side the Al ps, on the other the Euganean Hill s, rising over

the green coast . O why were you not with me ! But youwere not , because it was not in the way Of Providence thatyou Should be, and because nothing is

, or ought to beperfect in thi s world .

To ABEKEN .

Venice,19 Mag, 1 838 .

—Venice equal s any expectationsI coul d have formed

,but the gen eral impression is much

what I expected being a work'

of art,art can give an idea

Of it— not l ike Naples,the effulgence of whi ch ‘Earth

,air

,

and sea,

’no hand of man can imitate but the Canal etti ’s

prepare one for Venice , without lessen ing the effect of

reality. For the riches of art that exist in Venice,I

was not prepared : I am astonished at the early Venetian


school Of painting— a set Of names which I for the mostpart had never heard before . Then the abundan ce Of

scul ptur e,the treasures of archi tecture : the absence Of

commonplace in bu ilding (for everything is pictur esque,everywher e I shoul d be glad to draw), al l things contributetogether to presen t a scene of geistiges Schwelgen. We

were half a day at Padua, where I should have liked tohave staid at l east a whole day . But Pisa ! Lucca ! Pistoia ! Prato ! I had not anticipated such treasures as Ifound in a mere glimpse at the three latter : and the firstnamed is beyond all that one could imagine of it .

“ A l etter received from my husband from Mun ich gi ves

me the m ost unexpected intell igen ce that he wil l there

await my arr ival ! and that we travel on together . I hope

he will have written him self to you or Kestner,and then

you will know as much as I . I need not say that I am

l ost in conj ecture : only very decided in struction s coul dhave caused such a change of plan . It must be for thebest

,because Providen ce woul d have it so : but you will

beli eve that my satisfaction in the speedy r euni on withhim is not unclouded .

”

Munich,3 June— I despair Of giving an accoun t Of

Munich,for I am kept in such continual movement and

occupation,that I shall esteem mysel f lucky if I get tim e

enough to pack up before I am call ed upon to get into thecarriage . This has been a tim e Of uninterrupted enj oym ent

,for whi ch I am very thankful : I have not had a

care or an anxiety, the children are well and happy . I

m et my husband here recovered from hi s fatigue and

exertion and enj oying as I do the kindness with which

we are received by every one with whom we had to do. and


482 L IFE AND LET TERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

ingto that method— the effect superior to fresco , as admitting Of the empl oymen t of all the resources of art

,and yet

possessing al l the advantages of fresco . Hess’s designs

for a cyclus representing the conversion Of Germany to

Chr isti an ity, ar e most satisfactory .

4 Junc.

—W e were at chur ch twi ce yesterday, —thesermon s very good, Edelmann andWagner : the effect ofthe voices of a whole congregation in the singing had a

fin e efl ect . which brought tears into my eyes , unused as Iam to hear m ore than our own small handful in the Capitol

. The li turgy I missed much, as you will easily believe .

To return to the account of things— the painted glass windows ar e fine in design ,

arrangemen t , and colour , and theeffect of the Au -kirche - alr eady fin er than any of the rest—when they are all put up , will probably annihilate theother churches , wi th al l their merits . The creations Of

Schwanthal er are everywhere— nothi ng ever equall ed hiproductiveness

,and everything he makes has life and spir it

and beauty, although of cour se hi s creation s are un equal inmerit . The head of hi s colossal Bavaria is worthy of

Magna Graecia : as fast as he models,his colossal statues

are cast in bronze, by a man full of spirit and intelli gence .

The effect of the Thron -Saal— columns of white marbl e ,every al ternate intercolumni ation being fil l ed by a colossalstatue of gilded bronze— the ancestors of the royal house

,

w ill confound the tin sel splendour of most other r oyalapartm ents .

“Whi le I am writing,my husband is closetted wi th

who has been here three hours, an d with whom

F .W . J . Schell ing, a metaphysician Of great celebri ty in Germany ,

known to Engli sh readers of the time through Coleri dge’s wri tings,

THE FI RST RETURN TO ENGLAND. 483

we are to dine . Wewere at a supper at Maur er’s the othereveni ng

,in honour of Ki ngOtho’s birthday, andmet many

remarkabl e persons there . I have great pl easure in therenewal Of intercourse with my sister-in - law,

* who is in

better heal th than I ever yet saw her The children ,

as wel l as ourselves,have been received with such eager and

animated kindness here , by everybody with whom we have

had to do,that I have been inexpressibly gratified

,and Shal l

always retain a most cheering recoll ection Of Munich.

6 J une— To-day we have seen the royal apartments

whi ch it would take l ong to speak of as they deserve .Th is is truly royal magnificence

— all expense beinglavished upon works Of real art

,and real taste

,and no

thing upon mere uphol stery and hangi ngs . The designsof Schnorr

,and Kaulbach

,and Schwanthaler , are very

adm ir able .

”

“Munich,1 J uly, 18 38 .

— I have just finished reading

your l etters by the Verona cour ier To gi ve vent toall the feel ings and thoughts they have given r ise to

,

woul d require the wr iting of at l east as much as I havereceived , and h

‘

OW am I to manage more than one line per

cent . But luckily in feelings such mechan ical adm easurement is impracticabl e , and I need not di stress mysel f with

anything I hate as much as arithm etical cal culation for as

you wi ll not even be thanked, I can but say I accept mostaffectionately al l you give. only

, whether you will or not,

was then in hi s 63rd year. Bunsen had sat at hi s feet when veryy oung. He was so fascinated by Schelli ng'

s grand attempts andbyhis manner of unfolding them that he prolongedhis stay at Munich

chi efly to enjoy his company.

Christiana Bunsen .

484 LI FE AND LET TERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

I must thank you ,praise you , approve you , what you will

-for giving me the detail s of what you do, whom you see,and where you go

—detail s not only of person s, but of

places . How I feel the m ention Of Spots that I haveenj oyed, I will not say, because I cannot yet refrain from

tears when I thi nk of them,but pray continue to l ook at

them for me,and tell m e when you have don e so .

To-day is our wedding-day : we received the Sacramentat the early separate service beginning at half-past eight ,and return ed later to the principal service at ten ,

and

heard an excell ent serm on from Dr . Fuchs . You will notdoubt that my thoughts reverted Often to Rome, and to thelast time of receiving on Easter-Monday— Since which so

much has happened, both of fact and feeling, and at whi ch

time so much evil was apprehended, whi ch it has pl eased

God to avert. H is praises are yet sung upon the Capitol .*“ Pray go soon to Aquil a . It is SO cool there on the

‘high plain,that you might even make a summer j ourney

of it,though September or October woul d be better . I am

glad your cousin liked it so much . It was a pl easure tome even to read the names of some of the places he hadvi sited, and to think that he had admired the oaks of theCicolano . But again farewell to the past and hail to thepresent — to the past xa

’

r‘

pe The beautiful season ,

and the glorious Tyr ol , were a fine introduction to Germany,and nothi ng coul d be more pl easing than the . fir st impres

Thi s refers to a fact which Abeken ’

s letters had di sclosed, viz .

that the Papal government attempted to close the Protestant German

Chapel at Palazzo Cafl‘

arel li within a few hour s of Bunsen’

s departure.

However, a very decided protest on the part of the chargé d’afi'

aires,

Baron deBuch, causedthe carabini eri to bewithdrawn from the chapeldoor.


486 LI FE " AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

el evated bank Of the Isar . The afternoon was beautiful , asky, clouds, and sunset— Of Ital ian brill i ancy ; wood, mea

dows , and r iver— very picturesque ; and the steepl es of

Munich crowning the distance . I can make but one objection to the environs of Munich ; the impossibil ity Of being

in any pretty spot otherwise than in a crowd and the beingabl e to find something to eat and dr ink just everywhere .

These are recommendation s to most peopl e,but to me they

would be reason s for not wi shing to l ive here— however Isuspect that in m any thi ngs the South of Germany may be

more to my taste than the North . What a contrast is thewalk you describe, thro

’ the vign e of the Aventine ! andhowmany such have I made in Rom e Tod ay, from Old

habit,I took with me a drawing-book and the l ittle Dante

—but what use coul d be made of the latter but to Show it ‘to Schnorr , who thought Of other days— it could not be

read in as we sate at one tabl e on the grass , while so many ,

other tables on the grass were fill ed with company, veryqui etly and harml essly amusing themselves with eating’and drinking and smoking But whil e I communicatethis feeling

,I adm it that it is very unfair, for why should“

not other peopl e enj oy a pleasan t Spot as well as I —butthi s shows that I have been spoil t, by having what I l ikedin Italy all to myself .

I have dr awn here and there upon the j ourney, veryl i ttle

,but stil l something . The first night’s lodging after

Innsbruck was a village at the entrance of the Zillerthaland from then ce I have a m emorial . On Ascension Daywe were at the beautiful Puster

’

thal,before and after

Brunecken : after having sl ept,for the fir st time in Ger

many, at W’

alschberg, indescr ibably caressed and made

THE F I RST RETURN TO ENGLAN D. 487

much Of . We read the Coll ect and Epistle and Gospel of

the Church of England,and the exquisite hymn I hr

aufgehobenen Segen shande and that my thoughts re

verted to Rome is most certain . Pray distribute myaffectionate remembrance to Kestner, Lepsius

,Papen

cordt, Ur li chs

,Abekino , Angelina, &c. The childr en are

wr iting to Abekino— a work Of time— and send their kindGr iisse.

The Bun sen s proceeded by Ulm to Frankfort,where

they had the happiness of spending som e days with thesympathising fr iends of Roman days— Radowitz and

Sydow : from Frankfor t they fol lowed the Rhine toRotterdam .

MADAME BUN SEN to ABEKEN .

Frankfor t, 13 August, 1838 .—W e had good weather at

H eidelberg,and thus Opportunity of enj oying the views

from and of the castle,and certainly

,much as I had heard

Of the beauty of the situation,I think enough has never

been said of it . I regretted only that time did not al lowOf our going up the hi l l s behi nd the castl e . We took

Emel ia up to it on an ass ; and in the two days we Spentat Heidelberg, my husband had full Opportunity of di scussion and explanation with Rothe

,much to his satisfaction .

“ It is sorely against the grain that I compel myself towrite you a l ecture , bu t I have l ong had the reproaches ofmy conscience for not doing so . I delayed it for some

time , making al lowance for the disj ointed and Shaken

state of thought produced by our departure : but’ threemonths are past, and the matter does not m end. When I


thanked you for mentioning the places you walked to andl ooked at, because their names recall ed to me a world of

pl easing images, I di d not mean to be accessory to yourwr iting whole pages Of description . It is not for my own

sake that I complain of the descriptions,because it is one

of my sins to be fond of descr iptive poetry, and thereforeto be abl e to swall ow more descriptive prose than canonicalrul es will admi t of : but they do you nothing but harm

,

besides consuming time that you know well how to employ.

You shoul d, in every sense, besides the hi ghest sense of

the word, ‘forget those things that ar e behi nd , and stretch

forward towards those that are before make use of to

day‘whi l e it is call ed to-day .

’ You possess gifts that ifwel l empl oyed, will obtain you a hearing : and those who

can rai se their voices in support of the good cause, are for

getful of their duty if they do not . You have powers todi scover and point out to others where the truth l ies , andwhy wil l

-

you l et the r ight moment go by ? I know , you

wi ll not, it is not your will that is in faul t : but tim e and

m oral strength are absorbed in sensation ,and I wi sh you

wouldmake it one of the daily points of self-examination

what por tion Of the day you have spent—p rodigue— upon

sensation or effusion of feeling . I seem to myself in a

mer cil ess mood, but I must fur ther protest against confession of sins, and communication of self-reproach ! I sp eak

by exp er ience, that no sel f-reproach serves the purpose, butthat whi ch is cl ose bound in rigid silence upon the con

science,admi tting no all eviating air to lessen the smart .

Al l oral confession partakes of the evil whi ch the Cathol icChurch has brought to perfection : we ever practically con

found confession with atonement, and feel lightened of our



berforce, and had much pl easur e in making hi s acquaintance . My husband has just retur ned from Leyden , whi therhe went yesterday, delighted with the Egyptian curi osities .Goodnight

,God bl ess you !

On the 25th of August the fam ily arr ived at thehouse of Mrs . Hall in London , whence Madam e Bun senproceeded to Wales with her children . Her m otherand sister met her at Abergavenny, where her arr ivalwas al so eagerly awaited by the venerabl e Mr . Powel l ,always known as the Vicar

,

”who, him sel f a man of

rem arkabl e intell ectual acquirem ents, had l onged to seeagain one whose dawn Of excel l ence had excited h isr egard and adm iration . At the pr incipal entrance ofLlanover , the avenue was hung with garlands fromtree to tree, and crowds of peopl e, amongst whom manyWell -remembered faces greeted Madam e Bun sen ’s re

turn to her early hom e after an absence Of near lytwenty-one years . The thing which she spoke of as

str iking her m ost in Great B r itain ,after so many years

’

absence, was the sm al lness of the r iver s, after the wide

stream s Of the continen t. Comm e c’est petit ! cela

parait un ruisseau,

”was the remark of the li ttl e Theo

dore upon the Severn at Gloucester , and the Wye and

the Usk near Llanover .

A visit paid to Mrs. Waddington by Lepsius was agreat del ight to Bun sen dur ing hi s stay in SouthWal es . The fr iends used to walk for hour s together‘

upon the hill s in eager di scussion Of Egypt and its

THE F I RST RETURN To ENGLAND . 491

antiquar ian records, or to sit in deep conver se in thechurchyard of Llanifoist under the yew- tree Of a thousand summ er s . Another of Bun sen ’s intimate fr iends

who vi sited Llanover at thi s tim e by Mrs . Waddington ’s invitation

, was Bethm ann Hollweg, afterwardsone of the per sonal and m ost influential fr i ends of

Freder ick Wil l iam IV . and a m ember Of the l iberalm in istry of 1858

,1852, and 18603

"

The children Of Madam e Bunsen have a vivid recol

l ection of the quiet fol lowing win ter passed with theirgrandmother in the old-fashioned “ Upper House ”

Of Llanover , and the fir st taste of Engli sh countryl ife and its simpl e interests and pursuits .

MADAME BUNSEN to BUN SEN .

“ Llanover,5 S ep t ,

1838 .—W e ar e arr ived safely . Al l

possibl e pain s was taken to wel come me . My sister rodeout to meet me at Abergavenny, and fetched me in her

own carriage w ith four horses,and my dear mother was

r eady to receive m e , with her carriage for the chil dr enandmaids ; the bells rang at Abergavenny and Llanover

,

and at the entran ce gates were garlands , and musician s ,and people waiting . Yesterday I was greeted withtater landischeRegen , but to-day it i s fine . I have found thecountry very beautiful , and the hil ls higher than I e:

'

The father of M . Hollweg took the name of Bethmann—Frankfort-fashion— on h is marr iage w ith a daughter of the head of the greatFrankfort banki ng-house . M . Hollweg was Professor of Law in

Berlin and Chancellor Of the Univers ity of Bonn . W ith Dr . W ichern ,

he was Founder of the I nner Mission . He di ed at hi s beautiful castleof Rheineck on the Rhine , in 1877 .


pected, but I am surprised at the narrown ess of the spaces,in the haun ts of my childh ood, whi ch I had supposed muchwi der . The l owness Of the rooms astonishes me , and the

smallness Of the windows, whi ch are not sui ted to so cloudya sky .

”

To her SON ERNEST.

24 Sept ,1 838 .

— I n beauti ful autumnal weather , thiscoun try appears to the greatest advantage , and al though Ir etrac e everything as well -known obj ects

,I pass judgment

on all thi ngs as new,and find this country will Show well,

even after all the fin e scenery I have viewed el sewhere .The works of nature have always such individual attraetions

,that the sight Of one more need never be spoil t by

the recol l ection of another,even though on a gr eater scal e

,

and of more man ifold attraction . I am much struck withthe luxury in garden cul tivation that is everywhere seen inEngland

,far di fferent from poor Italy , where everything

might be in far greater perfection , were natur e onl y a littleassisted by industry. I t is a most curious sensation to me ,to find Henry m ore at home than myself in my own coun

try, and able as wel l as wil l ing to help m e everywhere . I

am sorry, my dear Ernest, to thi nk that another year willend

,and another begi n wi thout my seeing you but I hope

and trus t the conscious nes s that your parents are not nearenough to you , to exercise an imm ediate influen ce to urgeor restrain you, w ill be one stimul us more to induce you toact in al l things as they woul d wish to see you act, —seek

ing the be st things, and the best people , and being in all

points ac tuate d by a sense of duty . Whatsoever thingsare jus t, whatsoever things are pur e, whatsoever thi ngs are


494 L I FE F AND LETTERS or BARONESS BUNSEN .

suddenly into such perfection of sciatica, that he wasobl iged to take to his bed . On receiving this m elan cholyaccount

,I set off wi th Henry , l eaving the six chi ldren

with my dear Mother , and returned to London , where I

found my husband up again ,but not out of pa1n

So he dispatched busines s, and we saw again the BritishMuseum andWestminster Abbey, and on the 22d September placed ourselves in the steam-carriage

,and were trans

ported 80English mi les in four hours and a hal f, to Rugby,whither the kindest invitation s and our own inclinations

urged us . Here we spent five days of great enj oym ent,rej oicing to find visions reali sed, and expectation s surpassed, in the general impression made by Dr . Arnold ,his wife , and family . The 29th September we reached our

present home,passing through Worcester and over the

Malvern H ill s,and I was glad my husband made hi s ap

proaches to Llanover through so beautiful a coun try .

J ane Arnold,the eldest daughter of our friends, aecom

pani ed us , having been invited by my mother and sister,and I was glad to have her longer with us , having aregard for her as a sort of daughter .

“ I am . afraid Marcus Niebuh r woul d just m iss you atRome . I n ever had time to write to you of my meetingwith him at Munich , or of the indescribable pl easure I had

in what I cannot but call a renewal with him ,for I have

ever thought of him with such interest, that l ittl e as cannow be traced of the chi ld that I was so fond of, and thatwas so fond of me, the connection seems not broken ; butI have a sati sfaction anal ogous to that of seeing a son

grown up in a long absence as wi shes m ight have formedhim . Marcus Niebuhr is not as he once was, attractive to

THE F I RST RETURN TO ENGLAND . 495

the eye, but the m ind seem s to me of sterl ing stuff,and to

have taken a fine pol ish , and I shoul d have been very glad

to have had the means of know ing more of h im thr oughyou : for my own opportunity of observation lasted but onemorning .

”

To her SON GEORGE .

Llanover , 24 Oct ,1838 .

— May God grant his blessing,my dearest George , to the various reflections to whi ch youwill be led at your confirmation ! H e knows indeed that I

pray for you in my heart , but you know that well as your

parents love you ,He careth for you with a l ove of which

this human frail ty is incapable . May you hold fast thatmost consoling truth, that God is l ove , and yourself an

obj ect of that l ove as peculiarly as if you were the soleobj ect . The time may come , my

i

dear George,nay may

have been alr eady , when you may be tempted to scepticism ,

for it is a tr ial that many have to go thr ough I n

itself there is nothing sinful in an incl ination to weightestimony

,and take nothing upon trust

,on the contrary, it

is praiseworthy ,and considered so on the hi gh author ity of

the in spired historian of the Apostles,who says of the

Bereans,

‘These were more noble than they of Thessa

lon ica, for they searched the Scriptures daily, whether thosethings were so— therefore many of them believed

,

’& c .

Doubts or difli cul ties can never offend the God of light andtruth

,if accompan ied by a sigh after that truth , and a

prayer for more of that light . Do you rem ember , my own

boy, the last conversation I had with you and Charl es ,when we looked at the view from the Capitol for the lasttim e together , in the glorious moonlight of the night

496 LI FE AND LETTERS or BARONESS BUN SEN .

between the 15th and l 6th of July, 1 837 ? I rememberwell telling you how many di fficulties in understanding theways of God to man may be al l owed to weigh upon them ind for years , but if that mind waits in patience and

unmurmur ingly for the moment of being enl ightened,using every honest endeavour but not rebelling if suchshoul d be ineffectual ,— the l ight will break in ,

and the

difficulties wil l be removed, when and in the manner l eastexpected . I am assured that neither death nor life , nor

angel s,nor principali ties , nor powers, nor height, nor

depth,nor any l iving creature

,hath power to separate us

from the l ove of God in Christ J esus ! May the comfort ofthat assurance

,my beloved George, be everwith your spir it .

”

To ABExEN .

Llanover , 18 Dee. , 1838 .—To give an account of the

impression that England makes upon me, and to describemy actual situation and occupations , woul d be more easyin ten pages than in the space I can spare . Fir st I wil l

tell you of the present moment, which is a very satisfactorypoint to start from— for we have a sun as bright, an

air as mi ld, and a sky as clear, as ever your s can be atthi s hour—by exception , most certainly ; for the standing rul e is a sort of wet blanket of sky, letting thr oughneither sun nor rain

,under whi ch the surrounding fluid

whi ch we inhal e , whatever you are pleased to call it, gi ves

no symptom of li fe in good or evil sense, but is a sort ofnegation

,moving not, warmi ng not

,chi lli ng not . My

husband is just returned in best spir its, better heal th,and vehement activity ,

from hi s most interesting journey—of which I can only tell you the bubbl es but those even



H anover , 3 Jam ,1 839 .

—Before the Chr i stmas hol idays

are over,I must accompl ish at l east the beginning of a.

l etter to you My husband and Henry and I re

mained together to the close of an eventful and important

year, and to the begi nning of one that can hardly fail tobe equally so the bell s of Llanover chur ch showed that afew poor peopl e near us recoll ected that those hour sdeserved to be marked, and our thoughts were with manyfriends at a di stance

, whose thoughts we were assur ed of

meeting our s . You wi sh to know the hour and

circumstances under whi ch I wr ite—the hour is the fir st ofthe night, and the childr en are dancing in the room underme to the Wel sh harp . On N ew-Year ’s Day I gatheredtwo monthl y roses in my Mother

’s garden,not as bright of

hue as those you will have gathered, but still existing inthe open air and you can hardly have had a cl earer

moonli ght than we had the last evening of the year. Myhusband is hard at work, wr iting and r ej oicing in fr eedomfrom di sturbance . Lepsius was detained at Paris andcould not come to spend Christmas with us . Our Chr istmas tree was accompl ished very satisfactorily, and decorated with a Virgi n and Child that I had 00pied in watercolours from a small pictur e of Overbeck’s, in the summerof 18 17 when he was with us at Frascati— the onl y pictur eof the sort to be found here . The twins have had a happybirthday, the elder girls are well , andAugusta Matilda isone of the happiest andmost flour ishi ng of God’s creatures ,the pictur e of heal th and enj oym ent, and occupies as greata share of her fell ow- creatur es’ thoughts

,affections

,and

attention , as any li ttle th ing ever did .

“We are reading Niebuhr ’s Letters, without you ! but

THE FI RST RETURN To ENGLAND . 499

never without thi nking of you : it is in this mann er thatmy husband andHenry and I close the evening, and I amthe r eader . But there is a sad difference as to the pleasur egi ven by the two volum es : in the greater part of the

second Niebuhr is seen in hi s weakness, as he was befor e

in hi s str ength,and it is plain that the death of his fir st

wif e was hi s death-blow,though he so l ong survived it .

I am continually and pain q y reminded of all that was

morbid in the mind of Niebuhr , by the letters from Romeand yet his sister- in-law has without doubt made gr eat and

important omi ssions . I wi sh She had l eft out more, butstill the work is invaluable . I am sorry indeed that

Marcus Niebuhr m issed you at Rome : it was one of the

things I had reckoned upon,to have heard the impr ession

he made upon you and others . It is a thing that does

one’s heart good,apart from al l considerations of private

friendshi p,to think that a chi ld so prized, so del ighted in ,

should turn out as his parents might well desire to seehim . I n these Chr istmas holidays I have nearly read abook

,by no means new, which is one of a class that form s

an event in my l ife, fr om the quantity of matter of thoughtandedification it furnishes— Southey’s Life ofWesley.

’ As

a piece of biography it is most valuable , and yet far less inthat respect than as an hi storical picture of the operations

of the Spirit of God, when setting powerful though merelyhuman instr uments at work to awaken the slumberingchur ch . What will the next year bring forth —Nomatter, we know in whose hand it is , and may undi s

turbedly await it.”L lanover , 6 Feb.

,1839 .

—~After an absence of three

weeks, just returned to myMother andmy children ,having


parted at Pusey with my husband, —I give myself l eave totake a quarter of an hour from the due time of going tobed to make a beginning of a l etter , wh

i ch woul d be tooful l if anything like the mul titude of thoughts and feelingscould be commun icated, to which the packet it is intendedto answer gave rise ! On Saturday last I was br eakfasting

for the last tim e with my husband and our kind friends atPusey, when the packet came in

,andI kept the horseswait

ingfor an hour,to enj oy with my husband part of the con

tents : the rest addr essed to myself , I read in the cour se of

the fir st soli tary stage , after leaving him to go to Oxford

with Mr. Pusey . Most deeply was I affected by the

passages written on the vari ous festal and devoti onal occa

sions, on whi ch we have been almost con stantly with you ,

or near you for many years . You were certainl y present

to our thoughts and prayer s on each and every one, as I

hope you never doubted .

Now I will tel l you how the late period has been

passed . On the 14th J anuary we set off from hence, myhusband and I

, with Henry and Frances , and made our

fir st stati on at the house of Mr . Cl ifford,near Ross

,having

spent thr ee hours by the way in seeing antiqui ties of theMiddl e Ages, and eating a wel come luncheon ,

at a finelysituated modern Gothic castl e of Sir Samuel Meyri ck,Goodr ich near Ross . A day and a half were passeddel ightful ly in the enj oym ent of cordial hospitali ty

,and

most agreeable society, Mr . Cl ifford being perfect as host,

and hi s nieces coming forward to gr eat advantage as

hostesses : the country too is beautiful , and the weatherwas so ideally fin e that you coul d scarcely have had it morebril l iant, though it m ight be warmer in Rome . Mr . Cli f



often been, well-assured that I have not been forgotten in

the beloved home Of the best years of my lif e, but thatyour thoughts have traced the same path as m ine, and

your prayers have implored for me all I may need. The

sun shone bright upon thi s day here too, andmany flowers

had,

Opened to deck out the tabl e covered with gif ts,although not anemones and sweet-scented Iris, such as wefetched thi s day twelve months from the Vil l a Pamfil ithe last time I ever trod that ground , though the enj oyment of it was not marred by any such consciousness .Thi s morning my chil dr en andmy n iece Augusta Charlottehad prepared each something for me, helped and di rected

by their dear grandmamma ; my sister had added a pieceof her beautiful embroidery, and her sister-in-law Mrs .Berrington 9“a painting of an anemone and cyclamen : but

what rendered the scene quite original and unlike any othersuch morning

, was a set of humorous verses,concocted by

the two last-nam ed ladies, explanatory Of the quali ties Ofthe gifts

,and intentions of the various donors , recited bymy

sister in the name Of each, not omitting Augusta Matil da,who enj oyed bringing me a

,

bag,after al l the rest

,as

much as anybody . Afterwards the twins, Mary, AugustaMatil da and I, had a drive in an open carriage

,and Since

that I have been out a l ong tim e,seeing my Roman ranun

culuses planted in my Mother’s garden .

“ It was on the 1 8th J anuary that we went to Pusey,where we found our kind friends such as they everwere towards us, and r ej oiced to witness the effects of

their beneficent and Chr istian Spir it on all around them,

as well as to experience those of their good taste in the

Onlv sister Of Sir Benjamin Hall.

THE F I RST RETURN To ENGLAND . 503

sel ection Of society . But I wish there were any means ofinfusing into that fami l y some of that physical health and

vigour whi ch many peopl e know not how to use , but topurposes of evil ! they have so much moral soundness andChristian strength of m ind , whi ch it is painful to see is

only just enough to support them on the defensive against

the daily trial s of their l ives . Mr . Pusey has a finenew-made Itali an garden , with the inherited decoration of

noble forest-trees : but that part of England has no beauty,except from fine cul tivation . As for the skirts of hi lly tracts !like Monmouthshir e, not to go farther — it wil l be hard to

li ve without seeing barren summi ts rising over cultivatedundulations— Ma tutte si fa.

I made for the first tim e in my l ife a j ourney alone,that is

, with Frances and a maid , from Pusey home , anddivided it by sleeping at Gloucester , where I stayed overSunday at the Bishop

’s , saw my good cousin , in robes,lawn sleeves , andwig, go into the cathedral , and enj oyedthe cathedral servi ce in perfection in that magnificentbuildi ng . The organ was fine, the choir good, and thechaunting l eft nothing to wish but that it had been (afterthe fashion Of S . Salvatore in Maximi s) much slower than

the custom retained with too much exactness from RomanCatholi c times . Dur ing thi s visit I had the pleasure Ofm uch conversation ,

and of a very satisfactory renewal of

intercourse with the really good and estimabl e Bishop ,who alas ! in the prim e of lif e is thr eatened with blindness ,but bears hi s deprivation with exemplary resignation and

cheerfulness . On reaching Llanover I found that thechil dr en had all been well and good

,under the care of

dear grandmamma, and most dutifully put Off being ill

504 LI FE . AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN .

til l I returned,but no sooner was I back, than one after

another began to ail .

”

L lanover , 15 March, 1839 .—Whether or not ther e wi ll

be any cert ainty on the point that most interests me,—my

husband’s going di rectly to Berl in ,or remain ing some

months longer here,before thi s l etter is sent

,I know not .

Had he l eisure to gi ve you only the rapid view of the

passing events of hi s London li fe whi ch he sends me— onlya l ist Of engagements and interviews and conver sations ,and Of names of hi s associates what a a r ich treat it would

be to you It must have been a period of as much interestand hi gh- strained intell ectual activity, wi th enj oym ent, as

any he ever passed through . The quantity of work he hasdone, besides being on the ful l stretch of observation ,

con

versation ,and l ocomotion ,

is beyond my comprehension ;even though I know he has accompl ished the apparent

impossibili ty in London Of early rising. H is contributionto the biography of Niebuhr is one of the works begun and

compl eted within a few days’ time, since he has been in

London . He is continually meeting Gladstone, and for

hours together . Lady Raffles he Often sees,and she

r emembers you wi th gr eat affection : she has brought my

husband and Mrs . Fry together, and they have had amemorable conversation . His being in England wil l leaveits traces , I bel ieve ! and hi s r eception is such as perhapsno foreigner ever met with before .

Many were the l ong absences Of Bunsen ,in London,

and on visits to the Aclands,Puseys, and to Mr . Har

ford of B laise Castl e— to whom he was introduced bySir Thomas Acland, dur ing the time spent by the



much l ess out of.

Paris O ! I long to be back with

you all ! I shall breathe next week at Lady Rafli es’s .

This is a str ange li fe to be call ed amusement .”Cambr idge, 22 May, 1839 .

—We had the pl easantest

j our n ey possible yesterday in the fly-coach, sat at our ease

in the del icious refreshi ng air , saw on all sides flowers and

verdure,and on arriving at Chesterford by way of Epping

—all unknown regi ons , found Mr . Herbert’s phaeton

waiting for us, whi ch brought us to Ickl eton . Here we

were received wi th a kindn ess which quite touched me .

The house is one of those whimsical old ones, added to and

modified by successive possessors, which bear all the marks

of havi ng been li ved in and hall owed by human existence

and human feeling : ni cely fitted up,much old furnitur e,

and a fin e l ibrary. Thi s morning we set off early for

Cambridge I n the quadrangle of Trini ty wemetMr.Whewell , whom I like very much and who con ducted usmost kindl y til l he was called away, and then Mr . Fl int

brought us to evening service at King’s Coll ege Chapel .There Mr . Townl ey had offered to bespeak an anthemsuch as we shoul d admire

,and the choice fell upon

Haydn’s Let there be Light, ’ with the succeeding air and

chorus— a singular and m ost un suitable selection as a partof church-service, though in itsel f beautiful , and sung byvery fine voices , accompanied by an exquisite organ .

King’s Chapel is indeedmagnificent ; but al together I amsurprised and delighted with the Cambridge buildi ngs

,

which I think are in general dene'

gre—and such grouping

Of buildi ngs with fine trees, tur f, water , and blossomingshrubs, I do not remember to have seen . Many a pointdid I long to dr aw. Mrs . Herbert planned showing us

THE F IRST RETURN To ENGLAND . 507

Audl ey End, but we must be satisfied with the view from

the road, whi ch I was inexpressibly struck wi th— buil ding,

trees,green inequal ities

,river

,and bridge . The river Cam

surprised me among other things— a very pretty r iver,clear , and full up to the green margin .

“ London,Tr inity Sunday, 26 May, l 83 9 .

—Many are the

people I have seen,andmost obl iging the recognition I have

met with, from many a person where I have not expected it .

I wonder at it, considering what theworld is , and that I am

neither my husband nor my sister . But before I tel l anymore of our evenings, I must speak of this day

, when I

went wi th Charl es to Guy’s Hospital , to hear Mr . Maur icepreach . I cannot describe the refreshment to soul and

spir it of thi s quiet place of worship , the congregati on con

sisting of few besides the sick of the hospital,Mr . Maur ice

not ‘performing the service ,’not ‘readi ng the prayers,

’ as

it i s generally termed and done— but p raying wi th an

intensity Of seriousness, that would make it hard indeednot to pray wi th him . His serm on had of course a reference to the Trinity, but instead of being a di scussion of

abstract orthodoxy, be impressed upon his hearers the allpervading natur e Of Divine Love, whi ch as the Father , theSon , and the Holy Ghost—the Creator, Medi ator, and

Sanctifier , had followed us al l , and woul d follow us, inevery stage of existence, as it had accompanied and sur

rounded our fathers before ijs . He was calm and per

suasive at first , but at the close had a passage of gr eat

eloquence , evidently extempore . Af ter chur ch , he and

hi s sister came to ask us to their house, and here againI was met as an old friend . Miss Maurice i s a great

fr iend Of Mrs . Augustus Hare, and I think a worthy


one : she struck me much, as not speaking an insignificantword .

”

“H igliwood, near H éndon,3 1 May, 1839 .

—A thousandthanks for the detail ed accounts Of my dear children, after

whom every day I l ong more, and know not how I am to

go on much l onger without seeing them,and enjoying

them . How very kind in my youngest darling to ‘wantMamma ! when she never wants for anything that

Mamma coul d give her— neither care,kindness, nor

amusement .My own Mother , this is a del ightful place, and I wish

you could witness the dignity, the order, the quiet activi ty,the calm cheerful ness

, with whi ch Lady Raffles rul es thehouse

,the day , the conversation . Yesterday we were taken

to dr ive out , and saw the church at Cannons, the placewhere Handel was so much with the Duke Of Chandos,but the fine house has been pull ed down since the extinetion of the family of the late Duke . The old cl ergyman

showed the grave of the blacksmith from whose har

meniou s anvil Handel took the hint of the air in that

beautiful Clavecin-Lesson .

”

“ London,4 J ane— The ‘Messiah ’

was glorious, and it

was a true enj oym ent to hear it wi th my husband and

Lady Raffles, who fel t it as I did. Braham performed the

Opening piece , with the same power as ever ! The preservation of his voice iswonderful but he sung nothing el se.

”

7 Jana—Yesterday the effect of sight and soun d at St.Paul ’s was beyond all description that has been given Of it—above all was my astonishment great at the accur acy intime and tun e Of eight thousand chil dren : the crash of their

voices was thr ill ing.


510 L I FE AND LETTERS OF BARONESS BUNSEN ,

Foxbow,2 1 J une

,l 839 .

—H ere I am, my own dearest

Mother,at the end of the world ! It is so like a dr eam ,

that thi s immense j ourney should have been performed inso few hours , that I am obliged to recall my thoughts tobe sur e what the detail s were . Sur e it is that, after

luncheon at 12 atRugby, we walked to the Railway Station,I in state

,having one grown -up son to carry my shawl ,

and another stil l tall er to carry my basket . Not till two didthe hi ssing dr agon drag us forth in his tail ; but we couldhave been at Preston much earl ier , if it had not been thatthe dragon got loose

,and slid on by itself to Preston, l eav;

inghi s tail to foll ow as it coul d, whi ch it did by means ofthe impul se alr eady communicated, as l ong as there wasslope downwards, but stopped at last, when , after half anhour’s troubl e

,the dragon was harnessed on again .

After breakfast yesterday, our immense caravan of

twenty-two persons was forwarded in di fferent carriages

or by . canal -boat . The j ourney was del icious—and my

Mother will guess how it struck me to see that fine Lan

caster again, with the noble church and castl e on its hi ll ,

the fine sol id grey-stone bui ldings,and the broad r iver and

sea and she wil l imagine how beautiful the country was,in this season , graduall y enter ing the defil es, and at last

coming upon all the beauty Of Windermere . At a quarter

before five, we reached this beautiful spot, and coul d

sympathise in the joy wi th which it was greeted by the

Arnolds .“ 26 June— I have had a beautiful walk this evening, to

dri nk tea with the Wordsworths, when Mr . Wordsworthtook us to see the Rydal waterfall s in Lady Fl eming’spark . This‘country i s most enj oyable, and I shall ever

THE FI RST RETURN To ENGLAND . 511

look back wi th pleasure to the last week, in which I canonly say the impression before made by Dr . and Mrs .Arnold has been deepened , not altered . Their charm s

stand the test Of a j ourney together, and very close contact

in a country-residence and the good temper , good di spositions , habits of activity and Obedi ence

,in the childr en ,

deserve all credit.”

ToABEKEN .

2 Juby, 1839 .-I am at present transported about from

place to place as if upon the enchanted carpet of theArabian Nights

,and have to reflect where I really am,

l est I should write the wrong date . TO the best of myjudgment and recollection ,

I am just now at Foxhow ,

with the Arnolds in full number , andmy own George , who

has made out his own long way from Schulpforte to Berlin ,

to Hamburgh,to London

, whence after having beenreceived and shown about by Lepsius, Gerhard, thePuseys , and my sister, he was accompani ed by Caspar

to meet us on the railway between London and Rugby .

H enry enj oyed being at Claydon with us , not onlybecause it was a most enj oyable thing in itself , but also

because he was glad hi s Father should see a Whi g familyin every respect exemplary, and filli ng every relationto God and man

, as completely as any Tory familyby whi ch he has been edified

'

since we came to England .

We are all of Opin ion that you did not say a word more

than the merits of Lady Verney’s talents and agreeable

qual ities deserve , and Sir Harry pervades his householdand family with a spirit of order

,harmony , and kindl iness ,

such as can issue from no commonplace m ind. He has the


immense charge of a large estate (30Engl ishm iles square),an enormous mansion ,

and thr ee vill ages thi ckly popul atedwith the poorer order s : nothing is sacrificed to mere show,

and there is every sign that the indul gent master not onlycommands , but di r ects the whol e— another proof of what I

have always heard, that m ili tary persons always keep up

the habits of order and arrangement in their famili es,

whereas naval ofli cers, when once the strict rul e of ship

di scipline i s r emoved,know not how to keep anythin g

wi thin any bounds whatever . The dear l ittle Lady l ookslike the elder sister Of the thr ee l ovely chi ldren she so

careful ly manages Claydon is a fin e park, with a

piece of cl ear water— artificial,but not appear ing so

,noble

trees,and fin e tur f, but no other beauty of country . Now

I must l eave this attractive subj ect, to tell you Of another

house in which you are most affectionately remembered

that Of Lady Raffles , in whi ch we spent almost five days .

She l ooks down from a height, Over green l pes and fine

groups of trees , upon a broad and fertil e expanse of woodand cul tivated ground, bounded by the heights upon whi chHarrow is situated and whi ch are crowned by its chur ch

spire. We had the most delight-ful weather, and those days,in her society, were perfectly ideal . She ever deepens the

first impression she made, and the more opportuni ty one

has Of contemplating her on all sides,the more perfect

is the effect produced of compl eteness of grace, di gn ity,and proportion . Ell a is good and pl easing and her head

very handsome .“ Of Cambridge, I must say that it is traduced, whenpeopl e place it so far bel ow Oxford ; the general effect

is certainl y infer ior , because the town is shabbier , and



them selves to be at home— cheering ‘the Ladies— al l the

Ladies— the blue bonnets— the pink bonnets,

’&c.

, with

deafening clamour , turned afterwards upon publi c cha

racters, who fared ill or well according to the Toryestimate . When the doctors marched in , our excell ent

Dr . Arnold was gr eeted as he deserved— a great triumph inthe'Tory-un iver sity . Having taken their pl aces, the Vice

Chancell or made a Latin speech, proposing the variouscandi dates for honour s , andwhen he had fin ished, the saidcandi dates entered in procession ,

headedbyDr . Phi l limcre,

Professor of Civil Law, who spoke him self hoarse in Latin ,

presenting each person and hi s m erits to the notice of the

Un iversity . Lord Ripon , Sir J . H erschel,my husband

were the fir st : then foll owed others , m ili tary, naval , andpoetical ; all with un iforms , if they had such, andthe scarlet

doctor ’s-gown put on under their epaul ettes, envelop

ingthem with the di gnity of Rembrandt’s Bur gomasters .Th e Vice-Chancell or , after hearing the introductory speech,rose and announced to each favour ed person in turn thehonour granted, . and thereupon that person took hi s place

n ext to the other doctor s . The Vice-Chancell or is a finelooking man and of graceful deportment . Nobody ad

vanced,bowed, and took his place, with so much dignity

and composure as my husband . The new doctors having

been adm itted, the young men who had Obtained priz es

recited their poem s and essays— one of a sort,Latin and

Engli sh . Thi s was rather long , for those already fati gued

with over-excitement : but the Engli sh poem interestedme

, on the Superstitions of India, and their fall beforethe Cross— by Ruski n , a young man of promise . Theytell me too the Latin was good, by Arthur Stanl ey, a pupil

THE F IRST RETURN TO ENGLAND . 515

of Arnold. That Oxford is a wondrous place, and it i sindescribably in teresting to be there some days , in that

coll ege- stil ln ess, surrounded with nobl e buildings .

To the quiet tim e of her soj ourn at Llanover , belongthe fol lowing fragments of l etters from Madam e

Bun sen

To her AUNT, MRS. RAM .

I value Old friends more than I ever di d— for I have ,in the last few years , l ost so many of those I on all grounds

l oved — and at my age , I get no new friends . The younger

peopl e are not looking back to those they thi nk are near

the close of their cour se . Thi s is right . It is well that one

tie after another shoul d be cut,that we may be the more

ready to fly up . It helps us to real ize the coming world ,when we thi nk of those we loved and val ued that are gone

before . We kn ow them to be where Death does not

separate them from the Love Of God, whi ch is in Chr ist

J esus ; andwe can say of them ,as J esus said of Abraham

and God i s not the God Of the dead,but of the l ivi ng.

They l ive — that knowl edge strengthens our apprehensionof the country, to which we are al l j ourneying . And

whil st our chief desir e shoul d be , to be with J esus , it is afeel ing Of the same kindwhi ch l eads us to hope to be withthose beloved ones

,who in company with us, j oined J esus

here .”

It is in vain to speak against feel ing . To l ose a person

that has ever loved one,during the whol e of a long con

nexion , is always most bitter, however many be the heartsthat stil l remain : but perhaps the bitterest of all sensations

,


on such occasions of separation by death, is the renewed

consciousness of other sim ilar separations , —the rousing of

sorrows that slumbered,— and the being r eminded how

many connexions of friendship and affection bel ong alto

gether to the past,— and as far as thi s wor ld is concerned

,

are at an end ! The stingof gr ief indeed is taken out

by the consideration that those connexions which had an

everlasting basis , maywell be reckoned upon to endur eeverlastingly : but the grief itself remains

,only He

, who

was made lik e unto us in all things,sin only excepted, has

sanctified it,—by H is sympathy.

”

END OF VOL . I .

LONDON P RINTED BYS POTTI SWOODE AND CO. , NEW -STREET SQUARE

AND PARLIAMENT STREET


Work oy Angw tm C. Hare.

WANDERINGS IN SPAIN. With 1 7 full -page Illustrations. F if th Edi tion . Crown 8vo

, 75 . 6d.

“ M r . Hare’

s book is adm irable . We are sure no one w i ll regre t mak ing i t thecompanion of a Span ish journey . I t will bear read ing repeatedly when one ismoving among the scenes it descr ibes—no smal l advantage when the travel lingl ibrary is scanty .

—SAT URDAv REVI EW .

Here is the ideal book of trave l in Spain ; the book which exactly antic ipatesthe requ irements of everybody who is fortunate enough to be going to that enchantedland ; the book which ably consoles those who are not so happy by supplying theimaginat ion from the daintiest and most de lic ious of its —S PECTATOR .

S ince the publ ication of‘Cast i l ian Days , ’ by the American d iplomat

,M r John

Hay ,no pleasanter or more readab le ske tches have fallen under our not ice .

ATHENE UM .

DAYS NEAR ROME . With m ore than 1 0 0 Illustrationsby the Author . Tbi rd Edition . 2 vols.

, crown 8vo , 185 .

LIFE AND LETTERS OF FRANCES BARONESSBUNSEN . T/zi zd Edi tion . W ith Portraits . 2 vols.

, crown8vo

,2 1 5 .

MEMORIALS OF A QUIET LIFE . 3 vols . , crown 8vo.

Vols . I . and I I . 2 1 5 . (M'

neteent/i Edi tion ) ; Vol . I I I . , withnumerous Photographs , 1 05 . 6d.

The name of Hare is one deservedly to be honoured and in these Memorials,

’

which are as true and satisfactory a biography as i t is possible to write , the au thorp laces h is readers in the hear t of the fam ily , and allows them to see the hiddensou rces of l ife and love by wh ich it is nour ished and sustained .

”—ATHEN ! EUM .

One of those books which i t is impossible to read withou t p leasure . I t conveysa sense of repose not unl ike that which everybody must have fe lt ou t of service t ime

in qu ie t little vil lage churches . I ts editor wi ll receive the hearty thanks of everycu l t ivated reader for these profoundly interest ing Memor ia ls ,

’

of two brothers,

whose names and labours the ir universities and Church have al ike reason to cher ish

w ith affect ion and remember with pride , who have smoothe d the path of faith to so

many troubled wayfare rs,strengthening the weary and confirming the weak . ”

STA N DARD .

The book is r ich in insight and in contrast of character . I t is varied and full ofepisodes, which few can fai l to read w ith interest and as exh ibit ing the sent iments

and thoughts of a very influential c ircle of m inds du ring a quar ter of a century , itmay be sa i d to have a dist inct histor ical value .

”—N ON CON FORM I ST .

“A charm ing book , s imply and gracefu lly recording the events of simple andgracious l i fe. l ts connec tion w ith the beg inn ing of a great movement in the English

Church W i l l make i t to the thought fu l reader more profoundly sugge stive than manyb iographies crowded and bus tling with incident . I t is almost the firs t of a class ofbooks the Chr istian wor ld ju st now greatly needs , as show ing how the spir itual l ifewas maintained amid the shak ing of re l igious ‘opinions ’

; how the life of the souldeepened as the though ts of the m ind broadened ; and how ,in the ir union , the twoformed a volume of larger and more thoroughly vi talised Christ ian idea than the

English people had w itnessed for many days .

” —GLASGOW H ERALD .

FLORENCE . SecondEdit. VENICE . Second Edition.

Fcap. 8vo, cloth limp, 2 5 . 6d. Fcap . 8vo, cloth limp, 2 5 . 6d.

“The plan of these little volumes is exce llent . Anything more perfectlyfulfil l ing the idea of a guide -book we have never seen.

—ScoTT I SH REVI EW .

London : GEORGE ALLEN , 8, Bell Yard, Temple Bar and

Sunnyside, Orpington.

Work oy Augustus j . C. Hare.

PARIS. With Illustrations . Crown 8vo, cloth , 1 05 .

DAYS NEAR PARIS. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo,cloth, 1 05 .

A NEW WORK ON FRANCE.

WITH MAPS, AND 500 ILLUSTRATIONS .

Crown 8 ro, 705 . 6d. per Volume.

NORTH-EASTERN FRANCE .

SOUTH-EASTERN FRANCE.

SOUTH-WE STERN FRANCE .

ALSO l/vfihp RAr/om,

NORTH—WE STERN FRANCE .

London : GEORGE ALLEN ,8,Bell Yard

,Temple Bar ; and

Sunnyside, Orpington.

Fifth Edition, crown 8vo, 75 . 6d.

THE ALTON . SERMON S .

BY THE LATE

AUGUSTUS W ILLIAM HARE ,

RECTOR OF A LTON,BARN ES .

They are,in truth, as appears to us , compositions of very rare

merit, and realise a notion we have always entertained, that a style of

sermon for our rural congregations there somewhere was, if it could beh it off, which in language should be fam iliar without being plebeian,

and in matter solid, w ithout beingabstruse.

”—QUARTERLY REVI EW .

Sermons which a former generation highly prized, and which thisshould welcome. They were preached to simple country folk, and

heard by them with loving attention and appreciation, but they are

such as no man need disdain to listen to .

”— SPECTA I‘OR .

“ Sermons which have taken their place with Engl ish classics ,which were understood and liked by rustics when delivered in the

tiny village church, and when printed were read and adm ired by themost learned and fastidious .

"-N oNc0N F0RM IST .

“ Al l may read these sermons with profit, but to clergymen, i f

studied w ith discretion , they may prove serviceable in no common

degree , in regard especially to the lucid clearness of their style , theirstriking illustration , their tone of earnestness, and above al l the

adm irable skill w ith which abundant intellectual resources are adaptedto the capacities of an unlearned audience .

—CHRI ST IAN OBSERVER.

These sermons present us w ith the workingof a pious and highlygi fted m ind in its endeavours to impress the truths of Chr istianityupon the understanding of a rural population . There are few placedin circumstances sim ilar to those of the accomplished author who w illnot find valuable hints suggested In them for parochial instruction ”

BRI TI SH MAGAZI N E .

SERMONS ON THE LORD’

S PRAYER.

By the late AUGUSTUS W I LLIAM HARE . Crown 8vo, 1 5 . 6d.

London : GEORGE ALLEN,8,Bell Yard, Temple Bar ; and

Sunnyside, Orpington .

The Fe and Letters Oe Frances Roness Bunsen - Forgotten Books

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