“Delighted as I was to see Sir Walter Scott, I remarked with pain the ravages disease had
made upon him. He was often abstracted, and it was only when warmed with his
subject that the light blue
| ROME. | 369 |
“The first of May was appointed for a visit to Frescati; and it gave me great pleasure to have an opportunity of showing attention to Sir Walter without the appearance of obtrusiveness.
“The Villa Muti, which belonged to the late Cardinal of York, has, since his death, fallen into the hands of several proprietors; it yet retains, however, some relics of its former owner. There is a portrait of Charles I., a bust of the Cardinal, and another of the Chevalier de St George. But, above all, a picture of the fête given on the promotion of the Cardinal in the Piazza de S. S. Apostoli (where the palace in which the Stuarts resided still bears the name of the Palazzo del Pretendente) occupied Sir Walter’s attention. In this picture he discovered, or fancied he did so, the portraits of several of the distinguished followers of the exiled family. One he pointed out as resembling a picture he had seen of Cameron of Lochiel, whom he described as a dark, hard-featured man. He spoke with admiration of his devoted loyalty to the Stuarts. I also showed him an ivory head of Charles I., which had served as the top of Cardinal York’s walking stick. He did not fail to look at it with a lively interest.
“He admired the house, the position of which is of
surpassing beauty, commanding an extensive view over the Campagna of Rome; but
he deplored the fate of his favourite princes, observing that this was a poor
substitute for all the splendid palaces to which they were heirs in England and
Scotland. The place where we were suggested the topic of conversation. He was
walking, he told me, over the field of Preston, and musing on the unlooked-for
event of that day, when he was suddenly startled by the sound of the
minute-guns pro-
| 370 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“During this visit Sir Walter was in excellent spirits; at dinner he talked and laughed, and Miss Scott assured me she had not seen him so gay since he left England. He put salt into his soup before tasting it, smiling as he did so. One of the company said, that a friend of his used to declare that he should eat salt with a limb of Lot’s wife. Sir Walter laughed, observing that he was of Mrs Siddons’ mind, who, when dining with the Provost of Edinburgh, and being asked by her host if the beef were too salt, replied, in her emphatic tones of deep tragedy, which Sir Walter mimicked very comically,
‘Beef cannot be too salt for me, my lord.’ |
“Sir Walter, though he spoke no foreign language with facility, read Spanish as well as Italian. He expressed the most unbounded admiration for Cervantes, and said that the ‘novelas’ of that author had first inspired him with the ambition of excelling in fiction, and that, until disabled by illness, he had been a constant reader of them. He added, that he had formerly made it a practice to read through the ‘Orlando’ of Boiardo, and the ‘Orlando’ of Ariosto, once every year.
“Of Dante he
knew little, confessing he found him too obscure and difficult. I was sitting
next him at
| ROME—MR CHENEY. | 371 |
‘Quell’ altro, che nei fianchi & cosi
poco,
Michele Scotto fu,
che veramente Delle magiche frode seppe il gioco.’ |
“One evening when I was with him, a person called to petition him in favour of the sufferers from the recent earthquake at Foligno. He instantly gave his name to the list with a very handsome subscription. This was by no means the only occasion on which I observed him ready and eager to answer the calls of charity.
“I accompanied Sir
Walter and Miss Scott one
morning to the Protestant burial-ground. The road to this spot runs by the side
of the Tyber, at the foot of Mount Aventine, and in our drive we passed several
of the most interesting monuments of ancient Rome. The house of the
Tribune Rienzi, and the temple of Vesta, arrested his
attention. This little circular temple, he said, struck him more than many of
the finer ruins. Infirmity had checked his curiosity. ‘I walk with
pain,’ he said, ‘and what we see whilst suffering makes
little impression on us; it is for this reason that much of what I saw at
Naples, and which I should have en-
| 372 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“We spoke of politics, and of the reform in Parliament, which at that time was pending. I asked his opinion of it; he said he was no enemy to reform—‘If the machine does not work well, it must be mended—but it should be by the best workmen ye have.’
“He regretted not having been at Holland House as he passed through London. ‘Lord Holland,’ he said, ‘is the most agreeable man I ever knew; in criticism, in poetry, he beats those whose whole study they have been. No man in England has a more thorough knowledge of English authors, and he expresses himself so well, that his language illustrates and adorns his thoughts, as light streaming through coloured glass heightens the brilliancy of the objects it falls upon.’
“On the 4th of May he accepted a dinner at our
house, and it gave my brother and myself
unfeigned satisfaction to have again the pleasure of entertaining him. We
collected a party to meet him, and amongst others I invited Don Luigi
Santa Croce, one of his most ardent admirers, who had long
desired an introduction. He is a man of much ability, and has played his part
in the political changes of his country. When
| ROME—MR CHENEY. | 373 |
“Sir Walter
always showed much curiosity about the
| 374 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“I continued a constant visiter at his house
whilst he remained in Rome, and I also occasionally dined in his company, and
took every opportunity of conversing with him. I observed with extreme
pleasure, that he accepted willingly from me those trifling attentions which
his infirmities required, and which all would have been delighted to offer. I
found him always willing to converse on any topic. He spoke of his own works
and of himself without reserve; never, however, introducing the subject nor
dwelling upon it. His conversation had neither affectation nor restraint, and
he was totally free from the morbid egotism of some men of genius. What
surprised me most, and in one too who had so long been the object of universal
admiration, was the unaf-
| ROME—MR CHENEY. | 375 |
“I asked him if he meant to be presented at the Vatican, as I knew that his arrival had been spoken of, and that the Pope had expressed an interest about him. He said he respected the Pope as the most ancient sovereign in Europe, and should have great pleasure in paying his respects to him, did his state of health permit it. We talked of the ceremonies of the Church. He had been much struck with the benediction from the balcony of St Peter’s. I advised him to wait to see the procession of the Corpus Domini, and to hear the Pope
‘Saying the high, high mass, All on St Peter’s day.’ |
| 376 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“The morning after our arrival at Bracciano, when I left my room, I found Sir Walter already dressed, and seated in the deep recess of a window which commands an extensive view over the lake and surrounding country. He speculated on the lives of the turbulent lords of this ancient fortress, and listened with interest to such details as I could give him of their history. He drew a striking picture of the contrast between the calm and placid scene before us, and the hurry, din, and tumult of other days.
“Insensibly we strayed into more modern times. I never saw him more animated and agreeable. He was exactly what I could imagine him to have been in his best moments. Indeed I have several times heard him complain that his disease sometimes confused and bewildered his senses, while at others he was left with little remains of illness, except a consciousness of his state of infirmity. He talked of his Northern journey, of Manzoni, for whom he expressed a great admiration, of Lord Byron, and lastly of himself. Of Lord Byron he spoke with admiration and regard, calling him always ‘poor Byron.’ He considered him, he said, the only poet we have had since Dryden, of transcendent talents, and possessing more amiable qualities than the world in general gave him credit for.
“In reply to my question if he had never seriously
thought of complying with the advice so often given him to write a tragedy, he
answered ‘Often, but the difficulty deterred me—my turn was not
dramatic.’ Some of the mottoes, I urged, prefixed to the chapters
of his novels, and subscribed ‘old play,’ were eminently in the
taste of the old dramatists, and seemed to ensure success. ‘Nothing so
easy,’ he replied, ‘when you are full of an author, as
to write a few lines in his taste and style; the difficulty is to keep it
up—besides,’ he added,
| ROME—MR CHENEY. | 377 |
“He said he was the more grateful for the flattering reception he had met with in Italy, as he had not always treated the Catholic religion with respect. I observed, that though he had exposed the hypocrites of all sects, no religion had any cause to complain of him, as he had rendered them all interesting by turns. Jews, Catholics, and Puritans had all their saints and martyrs in his works. He was much pleased with this.
“He spoke of Goethe with regret; he had been in correspondence with him
before his death, and had purposed visiting him at Weimar in returning to
England, I told him I had been to see Goëthe the year
before, and that I had found him well, and though very old, in the perfect
possession of all his faculties. ‘Of all his faculties!’ he
replied; ‘it is much better to die than to survive them, and better
still to die than live in the apprehension of it; but the worst of
all,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘would have been to have
survived their partial loss, and yet to be conscious of his
state.’—He did not seem to be, however, a great admirer of some of
Goethe’s works. Much of his popularity, he
observed, was owing to pieces which, in his latter moments, he might have
wished recalled. He spoke with much feeling. I answered that he must derive great consolation in the reflection that his own
popularity was owing to no such cause. He remained silent for a moment, with
his eyes fixed on the ground; when he raised them, as he shook me by the hand,
I perceived the light blue eye sparkled with unusual moisture. He added,
‘I am drawing near
| 378 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“After breakfast, Sir Walter returned to Rome. The following day he purposed setting out on his northern journey. It was Friday. I was anxious that he should prolong his stay in Rome; and reminding him of his superstition, I told him he ought not to set out on the unlucky day. He answered, laughing, ‘Superstition is very picturesque, and I make it at times stand me in great stead; but I never allow it to interfere with interest or convenience.’
“As I helped him down the steep court to his carriage, he said, as he stepped with pain and difficulty, ‘This is a sore change with me. Time was when I would hunt and shoot with the best of them, and thought it but a poor day’s sport when I was not on foot from ten to twelve hours; but we must be patient.’
“I handed him into his carriage; and in taking leave of me, he pressed me, with eager hospitality, to visit him at Abbotsford. The door closed upon him, and I stood for some moments watching the carriage till it was out of sight, as it wound through the portal of the Castle of Bracciano.
“Next day, Friday, May 11, Sir Walter left Rome.
“During his stay there he had received every mark
of attention and respect from the Italians, who in not
| APRIL—MAY, 1832. | 379 |
