第42章 Chapter 9(6)

By the bye,as to street,we have no spectators in windows in just the grey wall of a church called San Felice for good omen.

'Now,have you heard enough of us?What I claimed first,in way of privilege,was a spring-sofa to loll upon,and a supply of rain water to wash in,and you shall see what a picturesque oil-jar they have given us for the latter purpose;it would just hold the Captain of the Forty Thieves.

As for the chairs and tables,I yield the more especial interest in them to Robert;only you would laugh to hear us correct one another sometimes.

"Dear,you get too many drawers,and not enough washing-stands.

Pray don't let us have any more drawers when we've nothing more to put in them."There was no division on the necessity of having six spoons --some questions passed themselves....'

July.

'...I am quite well again and strong.Robert and I go out often after tea in a wandering walk to sit in the Loggia and look at the Perseus,or,better still,at the divine sunsets on the Arno,turning it to pure gold under the bridges.After more than twenty months of marriage,we are happier than ever....'

Aug.

'...As for ourselves we have hardly done so well --yet well --having enjoyed a great deal in spite of drawbacks.Murray,the traitor,sent us to Fano as "a delightful summer residence for an English family,"and we found it uninhabitable from the heat,vegetation scorched into paleness,the very air swooning in the sun,and the gloomy looks of the inhabitants sufficiently corroborative of their words that no drop of rain or dew ever falls there during the summer.

A "circulating library"which "does not give out books,"and "a refined and intellectual Italian society"(I quote Murray for that phrase)which "never reads a book through"(I quote Mrs.Wiseman,Dr.Wiseman's mother,who has lived in Fano seven years)complete the advantages of the place.Yet the churches are very beautiful,and a divine picture of Guercino's is worth going all that way to see....

We fled from Fano after three days,and finding ourselves cheated out of our dream of summer coolness,resolved on substituting for it what the Italians call "un bel giro".So we went to Ancona --a striking sea city,holding up against the brown rocks,and elbowing out the purple tides --beautiful to look upon.

An exfoliation of the rock itself you would call the houses that seem to grow there --so identical is the colour and character.

I should like to visit Ancona again when there is a little air and shadow.

We stayed a week,as it was,living upon fish and cold water....'

The one dated Florence,December 16,is interesting with reference to Mr.Browning's attitude when he wrote the letters to Mr.Frank Hill which I have recently quoted.

'We have been,at least I have been,a little anxious lately about the fate of the 'Blot in the 'Scutcheon'which Mr.Phelps applied for my husband's permission to revive at Sadler's.

Of course putting the request was mere form,as he had every right to act the play --only it made ME anxious till we heard the result --and we both of us are very grateful to dear Mr.Chorley,who not only made it his business to be at the theatre the first night,but,before he slept,sat down like a true friend to give us the story of the result,and never,he says,was a more legitimate success.

The play went straight to the hearts of the audience,it seems,and we hear of its continuance on the stage,from the papers.

You may remember,or may not have heard,how Macready brought it out and put his foot on it,in the flush of a quarrel between manager and author;and Phelps,knowing the whole secret and feeling the power of the play,determined on making a revival of it in his own theatre.

Mr.Chorley called his acting "fine"....'