The book on
Italy was advertised to appear simultaneously in London and Paris on the 15th of
June, 1821. The English edition was announced in two volumes quarto. There had been some
difficulty in completing them together. In Colburn’s letters, there is a curious incidental mention of there
being no post to go out to France between Friday and Tuesday! The French edition was
published by Dufour, who is several times mentioned by Lady Morgan in her Odd Volume. Dufour found great
favour with Lady Morgan. Colburn, in one of his
letters, expresses himself hurt that she should consider
Dufour’s gratitude as something wonderful compared with the
insensibility of English publishers. He says, “Ought not Dufour
to have an exuberance of gratitude, considering he has got the publication without paying
anything for it? Now though I am paying two thousand pounds for it,
which Lady Morgan calls ‘a paltry sum,’ but at the
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Lady Morgan, however, did not consider fame any substitute for that payment; and Colburn expressed himself much hurt at a jest of hers about “authors and publishers being natural enemies.”
Italy appeared nearly on the day appointed. It produced a greater sensation than even the work on France.
Comparatively little was known of Italian society, or the condition of the country. Italy had just passed from the despotic but intelligent sway of Napoleon to the blessings of the “right divine to govern wrong” of the Bourbons; and Lady Morgan’s work is full of eloquent lamentation and description of the change for the worse that had come over everything. It is the work of a woman who could see what passed before her eyes, and could understand the meaning of what she saw. There are several chapters on the state of Medical Science and Jurisprudence—contributed by Sir Charles Morgan—marked by solid judgment and good sense.
It is still the best description of the state of Italy, moral and political, as it was at the period of the restoration of the Bourbons.
Her ladyship’s criticisms on the public buildings and pictures
may lie open to question; but the spirit of the book is noble, and its fascination is
undeniable.
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In his letters, there are curious indications of the state of journalism in those days; except the great reviews, which were governed by party politics, the literary papers were entirely in the hands of those publishers who advertised largely.
Colburn wrote with great satisfaction to Lady Morgan to tell her that the Examiner, the New Times, and the John Bull, had abstained from saying anything against the work, adding naively, “I am intimately acquainted with the editors; and advertising with them a great deal, keeps them in check.” Criticisms and reviews went more by clique than merit. Colburn’s indignation when journals “in which he advertised largely” ventured to say a word in blame or even in question of one of his publications, would be comic, if it did not reveal the entire abeyance of moral courage and independent judgment on the part of those who were presumed to guide public opinion in literary matters. The machinery of literary journalism has since then undergone a change.
A letter from Colburn, three weeks after the appearance of the work, reports progress.
I have forwarded to you some papers, in which the book
is mentioned after a fashion,—to call them criti-
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I had the pleasure of receiving from Lover the miniature, which is certainly well done. It was necessary to have a fresh background, made the proper size. Meyer is engaged upon it. He will take every pains. It is a pity I had it not three months ago.
The public will be quite ready for a new work in January or February next. But it is high time, I should think, of settling my account, fifteen hundred pounds; the other five hundred to remain open a little while, if you have no objection. I assure you I always wish to be square. If agreeable, instead of giving my bills, I will pay into any banker’s in town.
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In another letter of later date, Colburn mentions his delight at Byron’s notice of Italy, as he declared he saw in it “a great and profitable effect upon the sale.”
Lord Byron, writing to Murray, August 24, 1821, said, “When you write to Lady Morgan, will you thank her for her handsome speeches in her book about my books? I don’t know her address. Her work is fearless and excellent on the subject of Italy. Pray tell her so; and I know the country. I wish she had fallen in with me, I could have told her a thing or two that would have confirmed her positions.” His Lordship had been at the pains to defend himself to Murray from the charge of plagiarism in general.
He says, “Much is coincidence; for instance, Lady Morgan (in a really excellent book, I assure you, on Italy) calls Venice an ocean Rome; I have the very same expression in Foscari, and yet you know that the play was written months ago, and sent to England; the Italy I only received on the 16th instant.”
Amongst Lady Morgan’s correspondence at this time, extending over a period of several years, are a series of letters, all more or less long and sorrowful, from Italian and Spanish refugees. Even clever people cease to be capable of writing amusing letters when they are in distress.
These “refugees” were men who had been mixed up in plots
to attempt to gain political freedom and enlightened laws for their country, which had been
condemned by other nations to return to the old Bourbon rule. Some of these men had
suffered imprisonment, and, after many trials and tortures, had
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To those who know what it is to endeavour to serve to the utmost, with necessarily limited powers, which every one persists in believing to be unlimited, Lady Morgan’s unflagging, cheerful, exertions on behalf of the Italian and Spanish refugees will be at once a matter of surprise and admiration. The mere reading of these letters, to say nothing of paying the postage, must have been no slight effort to a woman naturally so impatient of dulness and expense as Lady Morgan.
Archibald Hamilton Rowan was a gentleman of family
and fortune. In 1791 he was Secretary of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen. He was
prosecuted for a seditious libel in 1794, and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in
Newgate, with a fine of five hundred pounds. Curran
made a celebrated speech on Rowan’s
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The following letter from him to Sir Charles Morgan was written during the period of George the Fourth’s visit, and alludes to some royal gentillesse not acceptable to the lady.
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I did my duty to my Sov—— no, to my family. I kissed the lion’s paw, but did not attempt to pull the tail of the beast. I have seen my caricatures, which are strong likenesses of the original, but until I saw George the Fourth, I never met a person who in features, contour, and general mien out-did their caricature. Hone’s likeness in the House that Jack Built is a flattery.
I shall be well pleased to hear that the charms of the Hermitage give way to the boudoir and library in Kildare Street. I really am not fit to leave home for more than a few hours. I even cross the bridge with reluctance. Yet I rowed my boat down to the bay, expecting a noble assemblage of vessels of war, but I was disappointed; probably because when soldiering on South Sea Common, I had repeatedly seen the British fleet riding at Spit Head. You have heard how Mrs. Dawson drove his Majesty from her society, and Mr. Dawson, I hear, says he is not surprised at it, as she is so old and ugly, that he has not kissed her himself these seventeen years. I hear he does not think the Irish ladies remarkable for their beauty. There are to be six feasts a year, &c., &c., &c., which, however, are at a stand, for Hercules is cleansing the prisons.
A letter from London of the 11th, says the King is
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Two bad days after what we have had are bad omens for rents. Yet, I cannot think with Mr. Attwood, that an issue of notes would cure short payments. I do think the monied interest should bear a proportion of the incumbrance, but really, the taking off duty on the manufacture of grain, and supplying the deficit by seven-and-a-half per cent, on poor devils who receive one hundred pounds a-year as compensation for their services, and letting contractors for loans, &c. go free, is not fair play.
I am lithographising Mr. Wolff’s prayer over the corse of the persecuted—injured Queen of England.
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