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THE  LIFE  AND  LETTEES   OF  FEANCES 
BABONESS  BUNSEN 


VOL.  I. 


~^t&/um&M<^'> 


THE 


LIFE    AND    LETTERS 

OF 

FRANCES 

BARONESS  BUNSEN 


BY  AUGUSTUS  J.   C.   HARE 

AUTHOR  OF  "MEMORIALS  OF  A  QUIET  LIFE,"  ETC. 


u  The  happiest  periods  of  history  are  not  those  of  which  we  hear  the  most  ; 
in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  little  world  of  man's  soul,  the  most  saintly  spirits 
are  often  existing  in  those  who  have  never  distinguished  themselves  as  authors, 
or  left  any  memorial  of  themselves  to  be  the  theme  of  the  world's  talk,  but  who 
have  led  an  interior  angelic  life,  having  borne  their  sweet  blossoms  unseen." 

Broadstone  of  Honour. 


TWO   VOLUMES   COMPLETE    IN    ONE. 


NEW    YORK 

GEORGE   ROUTLEDGE  AND   SONS 
416   BROOME   STREET 

1879 


^\B¥A^ 

r  .r  2  a  1961 

^/rvoFjo*$f' 

«5===S> 

77171U 


TO 

THE  CHILDREN  AND  GRANDCHILDREN 

OF 

THE  BARONESS  BUNSEN 

THESE  VOLUMES 
ARE     AFFECTIONATELY     DEDICATED. 


\  42 


CONTENTS   OF  VOL.  I. 

CHAP.  PAGB 

I.   FAMILY  INFLUENCES 1 

II.   RECOLLECTIONS  OF  CHILDHOOD 29 

III.  HOME   LIFE  AT   LLANOVER 63 

IV.  BUNSEN 91 

V.   MARRIAGE Ill 

VI.   SHADOWS 165 

VII.   THE  CAPITOLINE   COLONY 221 

VIII.   ABSENCE 280 

IX.   ROMAN   SUNSHINE 320 

X.   LAST  YEARS  AT   ROME 410 

XI.   THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND                                            ,  477 


CHAPTER  I. 

FAMILY  INFLUENCES. 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time  ; 

"  Footprints,  that  perhaps  another, 
Sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main, 
A  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother, 
Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again." 

LONGFELLOW. 

of  the  figures  which  excited  most  attention  amid 
the  multitude  who  thronged  the  terrace  of  Wind- 
sor Castle  during  the  happier  years  of  the  reign  of 
George  III.,  was  that  of  the  venerable  Mary  Granville, 
Mrs.  Delany,  who  resided  at  Windsor  in  he^  old  age, 
as  the  honoured  and  cherished  friend  of  the  King  and 
Queen.  No  one  then  living  had  more  interesting  recol- 
lections to  relate  than  the  beautiful  old  lady  who,  as  a 
child,  had  sat  on  Lord  Bolingbroke's  knee,  and  had 
been  set  down  as  Maid  of  Honour  by  Queen  Anne ; 
who  had  been  intimate  with  the  most  remarkable  cha- 
racters of  the  reigns  of  George  I.  and  George  II.,  and 
voi,  T.  c 


2  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    KUNSEN. 

whose  sense,  wit,  and  natural  sweetness  of  disposition, 
had  been  wont  to  gather  the  most  brilliant  literary 
circle  in  Europe  around  her  tea-table  in  St.  James's 
Place.  It  was  of  her  that  Edmund  Burke  said  that 
she  was  "  not  only  a  truly  great  woman  of  fashion,  but 
the  highest-bred  woman  in  the  world."  "  Time,"  says 
Hannah  More,  "  took  very  little  from  her  graces  or  her 
liveliness,  and  at  eighty- eight  she  had  still  the  play- 
ful charm  of  eighteen,  honoured  by  all  who  approached 
her,  and  loved  by  all  with  whom  she  associated."  * 

Mary  Granville  was  the  elder  of  the  two  daughters 
of  Bernard,  grandson  of  the  famous  Sir  Beville  Gran- 
ville, who,  in  1643,  lay  dead  upon  the  battle-field  of 
Lansdowne  Heath,  with  the  patent  of  the  earldom  of 
Bath  in  his  pocket,  and  a  letter  from  Charles  I.  grate- 
fully acknowledging  his  services  and  his  devotion. 
"  What  would  have  clouded  any  victory,"  says  Claren- 
don, "  and  made  the  loss  of  others  less  spoken  of,  was 

the  death  of  Sir  Beville  Granville A  brighter 

courage  and  a  gentler  disposition  were  never  married 
together  to  make  the  most  cheerful  and  innocent  con- 
versatiom"  At  the  Restoration,  the  elder  son  of  Sir 
Beville  became  the  first  Earl  of  Bath,  and  his  younger 
son  Bernard,  who  had  carried  the  news  of  the  Restora- 
tion to  Charles  II.  at  Breda,  was  made  Groom  of  the 
Bedchamber.  This  Bernard  had  two  sons,  George,  Lord 
Lansdowne,  celebrated  for  his  accomplishments,  and 
as  the  friend  of  Pope  and  Swift ;  and  Bernard,  who 
*  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Burney,  iii.  56. 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES. 


married  the  daughter  of  Sir  Anthony  Westcombe 
(Consul-General  of  Great  Britain  at  Cadiz),  and  left 
four  children,  Bernard,  Beville,  Mary,  and  Anne. 

The  early  history  of  Mary  Graiiville  was  a  romance 
and  a  tragedy.  As  a  child  she  was  adopted  by  her 
father's  only  sister  Anne,  who  had  been  Maid  of  Honour 
to  Queen  Mary,  and  after  her  death  married  Sir  John 
Stanley,*  Commissioner  of  Customs,  and  received  a 
grant  of  apartments  in  Whitehall.  Here  little  Mary 
Granville  became  the  intimate  childish  friend  and 
companion  of  her  cousin  Catherine  Hyde,  afterwards 
Duchess  of  Queensberry,  whose  father  then  resided 
over  Holbein's  Gate,  and  "  whose  wit,  beauty,  and 
oddities,  made  her  from  her  early  years,  when  she 
was  Prior's  '  Kitty,  beautiful  and  young,'  to  the  end 
of  a  long  life,  a  general  object  of  animadversion,  cen- 
sure, and  admiration." 

Under  Lady  Stanley's  care  Mary  Granville  grew  up 
brilliant  and  beautiful.  When  she  was  only  seventeen, 
while  she  was  staying  with  her  uncle  George,  Lord 
Lansdowne,  at  Longleat,  he  determined  upon  her 
marriage  —  partly  to  obtain  a  good  settlement  for  his 
niece,  but  much  more  to  strengthen  his  own  political 
connection  in  Cornwall  —  with  a  Mr.  Pendarves,  of 
Roscrow,  a  fat,  disagreeable,  ugly  man  of  sixty,  of 
intemperate  habits.  It  was  in  vain  that  Mary  Gran- 
ville remonstrated  and  implored  mercy  ;  in  those  days 
marriages  were  seldom  questions  of  inclination:  the 
*  Of  Grange  Gorman,  Ireland,  Bart. 


4  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAUOXESS    BUXSEX. 

consent  of  her  parents  was  readily  obtained,  Lady 
Stanley  would  not  interfere,  and  Lord  Lansdowne  was 
inexorable.  "  Never,"  wrote  the  unfortunate  bride  long 
afterwards,  "  was  woe  dressed  out  in  gayer  colours,  than 
when  I  was  led  to  the  altar.  I  lost,  not  life  indeed, 
but  all  that  makes  life  desirable."  For  some  months 
Lord  Lansdowne  attempted  to  reconcile  his  niece  to 
her  marriage  by  detaining  her  under  his  roof,  and  en- 
deavouring to  make  her  believe  that  life  was  not  so 
much  changed  as  she  anticipated ;  but  the  time  came 
when  she  had  to  accompany  her  husband  into  Cornwall, 
and  to  take  up  her  abode  in  his  "  dark,  disagreeable, 
desolated  castle,  in  which  her  head  could  not  reach  to 
the  bottom  of  the  windows."  Mr.  Pendarves  was  almost 
always  intoxicated,  and,  when  sober,  indulged  in  fits  of 
violent  jealousy  about  his  beautiful  wife,  in  spite  of  her 
displaying  perfect  willingness  to  bury  herself  in  utter 
seclusion  to  satisfy  him.  After  two  years  of  misery, 
she  hailed  with  delight  the  hope  of  being  restored  to 
her  friends,  by  her  husband's  determination  to  reside 
in  London,  but  her  pleasure  was  soon  damped  by  find- 
ing that  the  house  he  had  engaged  was  in  Rose  Street, 
Soho,  and  that  she  was  doomed  to  the  constant  com- 
panionship of  his  sister,  who  hated  her.  In  London, 
however,  life  was  more  endurable,  for  amid  the  many 
trials  which,  especially  in  those  days,  lay  in  wait 
for  a  lovely  and  neglected  wife,  she  had  the  advice  of 
her  aunt  Lady  Stanley  and  was  always  willing  to 
follow  her  maxim — "  Avoid  putting  yourself  in  danger, 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES. 


fly  from  temptation,  for  it  is  always  odds  on  the 
tempter's  side."  Her  willingness  to  give  up  any  amuse- 
ment to  stay  with  her  husband,  now  almost  constantly 
confined  to  the  house  by  the  gout,  was  invariable,  and 
he  so  far  appreciated  her  dutiful  submission,  that 
seven  years  after  his  marriage  he  made  a  will  in  her 
favour,  but  on  the  morning  after  he  made  it,  his 
wife  found  him  dead  by  her  side,  and  the  will  was  un- 
signed ! 

Mary  Pendaryes  was  only  twenty-four,  when  she 
found  herself  a  widow.  Her  connection  with  Cornwall 
was  broken,  her  husband's  property  having  all  passed 
away  to  a  niece,  so  that  she  continued  to  reside  in 
London.  She  had  many  admirers,  but  the  only  person 
who  attracted  her  was  Lord  Baltimore,  to  whom  she 
had  nearly  given  her  heart,  when  she  found  she  had 
bestowed  it  unworthily.  This  disappointment,  and  the 
death  of  her  aunt  Stanley,  induced  her  to  accompany 
her  friend  Mrs.  Donnellan  to  Ireland  in  1730,  on  a 
visit  which  was  prolonged  for  three  years.  During 
this  time  she  became  intimately  acquainted  with  Swift, 
Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  and  with  many  other  eminent 
persons,  amongst  them  Dr.  Delany,  then  recently 
married,  whom  she  admired  for  his  "humanity  and 
benevolence,  charity  and  generosity."  With  Swift, 
Mrs.  Pendarves  kept  up  a  correspondence  after  her 
return  to  England  in  1733,  when  she  had  the  delight 
of  finding  in  her  only  sister  Anne  Granville  all  that 
her  fondest  hopes  could  anticipate,  and  of  cementing  a 


O  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

lifelong  friendship  with  Margaret,  Duchess  of  Portland,* 
the  "  Grace  of  Graces,"  who  was  fourteen  years  younger 
than  herself,  and  whom  she  had  known  from  birth,  "but 
with  whom  an  almost  unparalleled  similarity  of  tastes 
and  sympathies  now  united  her  in  the  closest  bonds  of 
intimacy.  In  1740  she  witnessed  the  happy  marriage 
of  her  sister  Anne  with  Mr.  Dewes,  of  Wellesbourne, 
after  which  she  found  her  principal  interests  in  the 
house  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Portland,  till  Dr. 
Delany,  then  a  widower,  made  her  an  offer  of  marriage. 
This  proposal,  though  opposed  by  her  brother  and  many 
of  her  other  friends,  she  was  induced  to  accept  after 
having  been  nineteen  years  a  widow,  by  her  high 
estimation  of  Dr.  Delany,  and  she  was  married  in  1743. 
In  the  following  year  her  husband  was  made  Dean  of 
Down,  and  she  accompanied  him  to  Ireland,  where  their 
principal  residence  was  at  Delville  near  Dublin. 

In  accepting  Dr.  Delany  as  her  husband,  Mrs.  Pen- 
darves  had  stipulated  to  be  as  little  separated  as  possible 
from  Mrs.  Dewes,  the  beloved  "  sister  of  her  heart." 
Accordingly,  every  third  year  was  spent  in  England, 
chiefly  between  Wellesbourne  and  Bulstrode,  and  from 
1744  to  1746,  the  sisters  were  almost  constantly  in  each 
other's  society,  enjoying  what  they  called  "  days 
snatched  out  of  the  shade  "  of  the  rest  of  their  lives. 
Even  when  in  the  most  thorough  enjoyment  of  her 

*  Margaret  Cavendish  Harley,  born  1714,  wife  of  William,  second 
Duke  of  Portland,  was  the  only  child  and  heiress  of  Edward,  second 
Earl  of  Oxford,  by  his  wife  Henrietta  Cavendish  Holies,  only  child 
and  heiiess  of  John,  Duke  of  Newcastle. 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES. 


husband's  companionship,  and  of  his  beautiful  property 
of  Delville,  Mrs.  Delany  felt  a  void  in  the  absence  of 
her  sister. 

"How  often,"  she  wrote  in  1750,  "  do  I  delude  myself 
with  agreeable  visions.  We  walk  together  from  room  to 
room.  I  show  you  all  my  stores  of  every  kind ;  you  are 
most  pleased  with  my  workroom  and  the  library  within  it ; 
the  Dean  hurries  us  into  the  garden,  there  you  are  more 
pleased  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  pleasures  are 
heightened  by  the  dear  little  Mary's  running  and  bounding 
as  we  go  along,  but  alas !  the  vision  is  vanished,  a  cloud 
is  come  over  it  for  the  present,  and  instead  of  enjoying 
your  presence  I  am  addressing  a  letter  to  you  that  must 
go,  by  sea  and  land,  hundreds  of  miles  before  it  kisses 
your  hands." 

Yet  these  were  the  golden  years  of  Mrs.  Delany 's 
life,  and  when  her  husband  was  frequently  spoken  of  as 
the  probable  recipient  of  a  vacant  bishopric,  she  only 
dreaded  an  honour  which  must  remove  her  from  her 
beloved  Delville,  and  break  up  a  present  of  which  the 
happiness  was  assured,  for  an  uncertain  future. 

"  I  have  often,"  she  wrote  in  1752,  "  thought  of  late  my 
lot  most  singularly  happy,  more  so  than  is  generally  met 
with  in  this  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    BAROXESS    BUXSEN. 

sisters;  a  brother  of  worth  and  honour;  and  a  friend  in 
the  Duchess  of  Portland  not  to  be  equalled,  besides  so 
many  other  friends,  that  altogether  make  up  the  sum  of 
my  happiness." 

In  Ireland  also,  Mrs.  Delaiiy  had  much  pleasure  in 
the  society  of  her  goddaughter,  "  Sally  Chapone," 
sister-in-law  of  the  Hester  Chapone,  who  was  the 
authoress  of  the  well-known  "Letters  on  the  Improve- 
ment of  the  Mind."  This  Sarah  Chapone  was  married 
at  Delville  to  Daniel  Sandford,  of  Sandford  Hall  in 
Shropshire ;  her  second  son,  born  at  Delville,  was 
Daniel  Sandford,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  in 
whom  Mrs.  Delany  always  retained  an  almost  maternal 
interest. 

In  1760  the  happiness  of  Mrs  Delany  became  over- 
shadowed by  the  failing  health  of  her  idolised  sister. 
She  joined  her  in  England  with  the  Dean,  and  accom- 
panied her  to  Bristol  hot-wells,  where  she  had  the 
anguish  of  seeing  her  fade  day  by  day,  till  her  peace- 
ful death  in  the  following  June.  Mr.  Dewes  was 
compelled  to  be  absent  from  his  wife' s  death-bed 
with  his  boys  at  Wellesbourne :  so  that  their  only 
daughter,  Mary  Dewes,  was  alone  with  her  mother 
and  aunt  at  the  time,  and  to  her  in  her  desolation  Mrs. 
Delany  seemed  at  once  to  transfer  all  the  boundless 
affection  she  had  felt  for  the  sister  she  had  lost. 
Henceforward  the  education  and  the  happiness  of  her 
niece  Mary  was  the  chief  object  of  her  life. 

The  loss  of  Mrs.  Delany's  sister  was  followed   in 


FAMILY   INFLUENCES.  9 

• 

1768,  at  Bath,  by  that  of  her  husband,  the  Dean  of 
Down,  to  whom  she  had  been  tenderly  attached.  The 
then  widowed  Duchess  of  Portland  immediately  joined 
her  sorrowing  friend,  and  accompanied  her  to  Calwich 
in  Staffordshire,  the  residence  of  her  brother,  where 
she  was  joined  by  her  beloved  niece.  In  her  elder 
and  only  surviving  brother,*  Bernard  Granville,  Mrs. 
Delany  found  little  s}rmpathy.  He  was  a  high-bred 
and  accomplished  person,  but  stern,  unloving,  and 
unloved.  He  had  lived  longer  than  was  good  for  him 
in  the  society  of  Rousseau  and  others  at  Paris,  and, 
after  his  return  to  England,  a  disappointment  in  love 
had  induced  him  to  dispose  of  that  part  of  the  Gran- 
ville property  which  he  had  inherited  in  Cornwall,  and 
to  purchase  the  estate  of  Calwich,  where  he  established 
himself  wholly  amongst  strangers,  breaking  off  all 
family  habits,  and  caring  little  henceforward  to  see 
any  of  his  relations,  except  the  children  of  his  sister, 
Mrs.  Dewes,  who  were  dreadfully  afraid  of  him.  His 
most  constant  associate  in  the  neighbourhood  was 
Rousseau,  who  came  into  the  country,  attracted  by 
the  society  of  Mr.  Granville,  but  refused  to  take  up  his 
residence  at  Calwich,  preferring  to  live  in  the  empty 
mansion  of  Mr.  Davenport — Woottoii  Hall  on  Wever 
Hill,  just  above  the  rich  pastures  and  woods  where  the 
monastery  of  Calwich  had  once  occupied  a  sunny  slope 
near  a  small  river  flowing  towards  the  Dove. 

*  Boville  Granville,  second  brother  of  Mrs.  Delany,  had  died  in 
Jamaica  (without  children)  in  1736. 


10  LIFE    AND  LETTERS    OF    BAROXESS    BUNSEX. 

• 

To  young  Mary  Dewes  the  presence  of  "  Monsieur 
Housseau,"  who  used  to  write  notes  to  her — "  a  ma  belle 
voisine,"  had  been  a  relief  in  her  long  visits  to  her 
formidable  uncle,  and  her  partiality  for  him  rather 
shocked  Mrs.  Delany,  who  wrote  to  her, — "  I  always 
take  alarm  when  virtue  in  general  terms  is  the  idol, 
without  the  support  of  religion,  the  only  foundation 
that  can  be  our  security  to  build  upon."  Another 
constant  visitor  at  Calwich  had  been  Handel,  who  used 
to  play  for  hours  upon  the  organ  there.  A  manuscript 
collection  of  Handel's  music  in  thirty-eight  volumes, 
was  written  for  Mr.  Granville  under  the  direction  of 
the  great  composer  himself.  On  Mr.  Granville's  death, 
in  1775,  he  left  his  property  of  Calwich  to  John  Dewes, 
the  youngest  son  of  his  sister  Anne.  Mrs.  Delany 
was  at  that  time  resident  at  Windsor,  and  on  her 
presenting  her  nephew  to  the  King,  he  desired  that 
Mr.  Dewes  should  thenceforth  take  the  name  of 
Granville.  This  is  the  Mr.  Granville,  brother  of  Mary 
Dewes,  who  is  frequently  mentioned  afterwards  in 
these  volumes.* 

Mrs.  Deiany  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- 
ried Harriet  Joan,  second  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  John  De  la  Bere, 
of  Southam  near  Cheltenham,  and  died  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  brother 
Bernard  D'Ewes  and  Anne  eldest  daughter  of  the  above  John  DC  la 
Bere  of  Southam)  who  sold  the  property  of  Calwich. 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES.  11 

spent  every  evening  with,  her,  many  other  friends 
dropping  in  around  the  hospitable  tea-table.  The 
summers  were  spent  with  the  Duchess  at  Bulstrode, 
whither  Mary  Dewes  generally  accompanied  Mrs. 
Delany;  indeed  the  Duchess  became  almost  as  fond 
of  "our  Mary"  as  Mrs.  Delany  herself,  and  from 
Bulstrode  Miss  Dewes  was  married  at  Upton  Church 
in  December,  1770,  to  Mr.  Port  of  Ham  in  Derby- 
shire, who  had  changed  his  name  from  that  of  Sparrow 
on  succeeding  to  the  property  of  a  maternal  uncle.  In 
the  following  year,  their  eldest  daughter,  Georgina 
Mary  Ann,  was  born,  and  obtained  her  first  name  by 
being  goddaughter,  as  her  mother  was  before  her,  to 
their  cousin  Georgina  Spencer  (afterwards  Countess 
Cowper)  daughter  of  John,  Earl  Granvilie,  and  her 
second  and  third  names  from  her  aunt  and  mother.  Mary 
Dewes  had  many  other  children  afterwards,*  but  none 
were  so  dear  to  Mrs.  Delany  as  the  eldest-born,  who 
was  almost  equally  beloved  by  the  Duchess  of  Portland 

*  John,  born  March  15,  1773,  godson  of  the  Duchess  of  Portland. 
George  Kowe,  bom  August  18,  1774,  called  by  Mrs.  Delany  from  his 
beauty  "my  little  Vandyke  :"  who  entered  the  navy  under  Admiral 
Jervis,  and  died  at  Antigua  of  yellow  fever  on  board  H.M.S.  Reprisal. 
Bernard,  born  March  7, 1776,  who  succeeded  to  the  family  living  of  Ham, 
being  the  last  relic  of  the  family  estates  in  Derbyshire,  where  he  was 
greatly  beloved,  and  died  in  1854.  Louisa,  born  April  7,  1778,  who 
married  Mr.  Brownlow  Villiers  Layard,  afterwards  Rector  of  Uffington 
in  Lincolnshire.  Beville,  born  January  22,  1780,  who  entered  Lord 
Howe's  regiment  of  19th  Light  Dragoons,  and  died  at  Bungalore  in  the 
East  Indies,  July  6,  ISO  1,  of  a  wound  received  in  action.  Harriet, 
born  June  15, 1781,  who  died  unmarried.  Frances  Anne,  born  April  18, 
17S3,  who  married  Mr.  Ham.  of  Clonolten,  Co.  Wcxford. 


12  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

— "  our  little  Portia  "   or  "  our  little  lamb,"  the  two 
old  ladies  called  her — and  the  Duchess  gave  her  an  ivory 
box,  on  the  lid  of  which  was  worked  in  hair  on  satin 
a  little  lamb  sheltered  by  two  old  trees,  intended  to  be 
emblematic  of  the   child   and  her  aged  protectresses. 
When  she  was  six   years  old,    Mrs.  Delany,   fearing 
that  she  might  not  live  to  see  her  great  niece  grow  up, 
wrote  an  "Essay  on  Propriety  "  for  the  future  forma- 
tion of  her  manners.     In  the  following  year  the  extra- 
vagance of  Mr.  Port  obliged  him  to  let  Ham,  and  the 
"  sweet  bird  "  of  seven  years  old  came  to  live  altogether 
as  a  daughter  with  her  old  aunt  of  seventy-eight.     It 
made  the  sunshine  of  her  life.     "  She  is  everybody's 
delight,"  wrote  Mrs.  Delany  to  Mrs.  Port,  "  so  no  won- 
der she  should  wind  about  my  heart,  being  attached  to 
it  by  the  double  tie  of  being  the  child  of  my  dearest 
Mary,  and  I  could  carry  this  chain  at  least  a   link 
higher."  *     The  education  of  her  adopted  child   was 
henceforward  Mrs.  Delany's  chief  occupation,  and  it  is 
touching  to  read  of  the  stately  old  lady  having  pro- 
cured a  master  "  to  teach  us  to  walk  and  curtsy."   Both 
Mrs.  Delany  and  the  Duchess  found  delight  in  instruct- 
ing her  in  botany  and  conchology,  which  were  their 
own  favourite  pursuits,  for  the  collection  of  precious 
stones,  shells,  flowers,  and  rare  animals  at  Bulstrode 
was  already  celebrated  all  over  Europe  :  the  birth  of 
a  new  flower  was  an  event  of  life  in  the  circle  of  the 

*  That  to  her  own  sister  Anne  Granville,  grandmother  of  the  little 
"  Portia." 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES.  13 

Duchess,  and  her  correspondence  is  filled  with  minute 
questions  on  botany  and  natural  history.  It  was  a 
marked  day  at  Bulstrode,  when  the  Duchess,  coming 
into  her  friend's  room,  found  her  surrounded  by  paper 
chips,  and  asked  Mrs.  Delany  "  what  she  was  doing 
with  that  geranium,"  when,  taking  up  the  beautiful 
flower  lying  on  the  table  which  had  attracted  her 
notice,  she  found  that  it  was  a  paper  imitation  from 
the  hand  of  her  friend.  This,  executed  in  her  seventy- 
fourth  year,  was  the  first  specimen  of  the  wonderful 
Flora  of  paper  which  was  the  principal  recreation  of 
the  latter  years  of  Mrs.  Delany,  and  which  is  still  the 
marvel  of  all  who  behold  it.* 

The  letters  of  Mrs.  Delany  to  her  niece  have 
become  important  as  memorials  of  the  personal  history 
of  George  III.  and  his  family.  Their  visits  to  Bui- 
strode  were  constant.  Sometimes  the  King  rode  over 
alone  attended  by  a  single  equerry.  Sometimes  the 
Queen  and  Princesses  arrived  in  two  coaches  and  six, 
accompanied  by  the  King  and  a  number  of  gentlemen 
on  horseback.  To  Mrs.  Delany  the  royal  personages 
were  ever  full  of  kindness  and  courtesy.  One  day  the 
King  brought  her  "  a  gold  knotting- shuttle,"  and  the 

*  Horace  Walpole  in  his  "Anecdotes  of  Painters,"  mentions  Mrs. 
Delany,  who  "  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  invented  the  art  of  paper 
mosaic,  with  which  material  (coloured)  she  executed,  in  eight 
years,  within  20  of  1,000  various  flowers  and  flowering  shrubs 
with  a  precision  and  truth  unparalleled."  Sir  Joseph  Banks  used  to 
say  that  Mrs.  Delany's  mosaic  flowers  were  the  only  representations 
of  nature  from  which  he  could  venture  to  describe  a  plant  botani- 
y  without  the  least  fear  of  committing  an  error. 


14:  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    KUNSEN. 

Queen  a  frame  for  weaving  fringe  upon.  They  were 
gratified  with  the  pleasure  which  she  showed  in  the 
royal  children,  and  when  the  Queen  remarked  that  she 
had  not  yet  seen  all  of  them,  the  King  said,  "  That  is  a 
fault  which  is  easily  rectified,"  and  desired  that  a  day 
might  be  fixed  for  Mrs.  Delany  to  come  with  the  Duchess 
to  drink  tea  at  Windsor  Castle.  On  this  her  first  visit, 
as  on  many  others,  the  old  lady  was  led  about  by 
the  little  Princes  and  Princesses.  Soon  afterwards  the 
Queen  was  so  gracious  as  to  take  a  lesson  from  Mrs. 
Delany  on  her  spinning-wheel  at  Bulstrode,  and  to 
accept  from  her  the  present  of  a  spinning-wheel :  Mrs. 
Delany  said  that  she  "  forgot  her  infirmities  in  the  cor- 
dial of  royal  kindness."  As  an  instance  of  the  charming 
manners  which  characterised  the  royal  children  she 
mentions  the  little  Princess  Mary  (afterwards  Duchess 
of  Gloucester)  in  "  cherry- coloured  tabby  with  silver 
leading  strings,"  having  forgotten  her  name,  and  com- 
ing up  to  her  with — "  How  do  you  do,  Duchess  of  Port- 
land's friend,  and  how  does  your  little  niece  do?  I 
wish  you  had  brought  her." 

In  July,  1785,  the  tender  friendship  of  a  lifetime  was 
broken  by  the  death  of  the  Duchess  of  Portland.  Mrs. 
Delany  was  then  in  her  eighty-fifth  year,  and  bitterly 
felt  the  blow.  Her  great  niece,  the  little  "  Portia," 
was  immediately  sent  to  meet  her  on  her  return  from 
Bulstrode  to  her  own  house  in  London.  All  her  friends 
vied  in  showing  her  sympathy,  but  that  which  touched 
her  most  was  the  conduct  of  George  III.  and  Queen 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES.  15 

Charlotte,  who  said  that  they  availed  themselves  of  the 
circumstance  that  she  might  miss  her  summer  visits  at 
Eulstrode  to  present  her  with  a  house  at  Windsor,  and 
to  desire  that  she  would  always  move  there  when  the 
court  moved.  At  the  same  time,  with  that  delicate 
attention  which  marked  their  whole  conduct  towards 
her,  the  King  presented  her  with  £300  a  year,  that  she 
might  not  suffer  by  the  expense  of  an  additional  esta- 
blishment ;  while  to  prevent  even  the  appearance  of  a 
pension,  as  well  as  the  possibility  of  the  sum  being 
diminished  by  taxation,  the  Queen  used  regularly  to 
bring  the  half-year's  amount  in  a  pocket-book  when 
she  made  her  a  visit.  A  touching  instance  of  the 
extreme  kindness  of  heart  shown  by  Queen  Charlotte 
at  this  time  is  narrated  in  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Preston  to 
Mrs.  F.  Hamilton — "  As  soon  as  the  Duchess  of  Port- 
land died,  Mrs.  Delany  got  into  the  chaise  to  go  to  her 
own  house,  the  Duke  followed  her,  begging  to  know 
what  she  would  accept  that  had  belonged  to  his  mother. 
Mrs.  Delany  recollected  a  bird  that  the  Duchess  always 
fed  and  kept  in  her  own  room,  and  desired  to  have  it, 
and  felt  towards  it,  as  you  must  suppose !  In  a  few 
days,  Mrs.  Delany  got  a  bad  fever,  and  the  bird  died ; 
but  for  some  hours  she  was  too  ill  even  to  recollect 
her  bird.  The  Queen  had  one  of  the  same  sort  which 
she  valued  extremely  (a  weaver  bird) ;  she  took  it 
with  her  own  hands,  and  while  Mrs.  Delany  slept  she 
had  the  cage  brought,  and  put  her  own  bird  into  it, 
charging  every  one  not  to  let  it  go  so  near  Mrs. 


16  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BAKONESS    BUXSEN. 

Delany,  that  site  could  perceive  the  change,  till  she  was 
enough  recovered,  better  to  bear  the  loss  of  her  first 
favourite." 

When  Mrs.  Delany  was  about  to  move  to  Windsor, 
the  Queen  sent  to  desire  that  her  "dearest  Mrs.  Delany  " 
would  bring  herself  and  her  niece,  clothes  and  attend- 
ants, but  stores  of  every  kind  would  be  laid  in  for  her 
and  on  reaching  her  new  home  she  was  received  and 
welcomed  by  the  King  himself. 

The  garden  of  Mrs.  Delany's  house  joined  that  of  the 
Queen's  Lodge.  On  the  morning  after  her  arrival  Her 
Majesty  sent  one  of  her  ladies  to  know  "how  she  had 
rested,"  and  "  whether  her  coming  would  not  be  trou- 
blesome." Writing  to  Mrs.  Hamilton  afterwards,  Mrs. 
Delany  says,  "Her  Majesty  came  up-stairs.  Our  meet- 
ing was  mutually  affecting.  She  repeated  in  the 
strongest  terms  her  wish,  and  the  King's,  that  I  should 
be  as  easy  and  as  happy  as  they  could  possibly  make  me ; 
that  they  waived  all  ceremony,  and  desired  to  come  to 
me  like  friends  !  "  Henceforward  Mrs.  Delany  usually 
spent  two  or  three  evenings  at  the  Queen's  Lodge, 
visits  which  were  frequently  returned  without  any 
ceremony  by  the  royal  family.  The  King  would  lead 
her  about  leaning  on  his  arm :  the  Queen  would  come, 
unannounced,  to  dine  with  her  "  on  veal  cutlets  and 
orange  pudding :"  she  was  permitted  to  have  a  share  in 
all  their  sorrows  and  anxieties,  and  of  their  domestic 
happiness  her  journals  and  letters  give  the  most 
delightful  pictures. 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES.  17 


"November  9,  1785. — I  have  been  several  evenings  at 
the  Queen's  Lodge,  with  no  other  company  but  their  own 
most  lovely  family.  They  sit  round  a  large  table,  on  which 
are  books,  work,  pencils,  and  paper.  The  Queen  has  the 
goodness  to  make  me  sit  down  next  to  her ;  and  delights 
me  with  her  conversation,  whilst  the  younger  part  of  the 
family  are  drawing  and  working,  the  beautiful  babe,  Prin- 
cess Amelia,  bearing  her  part  in  the  entertainment,  some- 
times in  one  of  her  sister's  laps,  sometimes  playing  with 
the  King  on  the  carpet ;  which  altogether,  exhibits  such  a 
delightful  scene,  as  would  require  an  Addison's  pen,  or  a 
Vandyke's  pencil,  to  do  justice  to  it.  In  the  next  room  is 
the  band  of  music,  which  plays  from  eight  o'clock  till 
ten.  The  King  directs  them  what  pieces  of  music  to 
play,  chiefly  Handel.  Here  I  must  stop  and  return  to  my 
own  house.  On  the  28th  their  Majesties,  the  five  prin- 
cesses, and  the  youngest  princes,  came  at  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening  to  drink  tea  with  me.  All  the  princes  and 
princesses  had  a  commerce  table, — Miss  Emily  Clayton, 
daughter  to  Lady  Louisa  Clayton,  and  Miss  Port,  did  the 
honours  of  it." 

"August  11,  1787. — At  this  time  of  year  the  evenings 
are  devoted  by  my  royal  friends  to  the  terrace  till  eight 
o'clock,  when  they  return  to  the  Lodge  to  their  tea  and 
concert  of  music,  and  happy  are  those  that  are  admitted 
to  that  circle  !  The  Queen  has  had  the  goodness  to  com- 
mand me  to>  come  whenever  it  is  quite  easy  for  me  to  do  it, 
without  sending  particularly  for  me,  lest  it  should  embar- 
rass me  to  refuse  ;  so  that  most  evenings  at  half  an  hour 
past  seven  I  go  to  Miss  Burney's  apartment,  and  when 
the  royal  family  return  from  the  terrace,  the  King,  or  ono 

VOL.  i.  c 


18  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    11TJKSEN. 

of  the  princesses  (generally  the  youngest,  Princess  Amelia, 
just  four  years  old),  come  into  the  room,  take  me  by  the 
hand,  and  lead  me  into  the  drawing-room,  where  there  is  a 
chair  ready  for  me  by  the  Queen's  left  hand.  The  three 
eldest  princesses  sit  round  the  table,  and  the  ladies  in 
waiting,  Lady  Charlotte  Pinch  and  Lad}'-  Elizabeth  "VValde- 
grave.  A  vacant  chair  is  left  for  the  King,  whenever  he 
pleases  to  sit  down  in  it.  Everyone  is  employed  with  their 
pencil,  needle,  or  knotting.  Between  the  pieces  of  music 
the  conversation  is  easy  and  pleasant;  and,  for  an  hour 
before  the  conclusion  of  the  whole,  the  King  plays  at  back- 
gammon with  one  of  his  equerries." 

These  were  happy  days  for  the  little  "Portia,"  who 
was  frequently  allowed  the  companionship  of  the 
younger  princesses,  Mary  and  Sophia,  while  with  Miss 
Emilia  Clayton*  she  made  an  intimate  friendship, 
which  was  broken  by  her  first  great  sorrow,  in  the 
death  of  that  young  lady  of  a  rapid  decline  in  1787. 
Queen  Charlotte  took  a  personal  interest  in  the  writing 
lessons  of  Mrs.  Dclany's  niece,  and  taught  her  to  imitate 
her  own  beautiful  handwriting,  which  is  known  to  have 
been  singularly  perfect.  The  Queen  also  desired  that 
Miss  Port  should  have  drawing  lessons  from  the  same 
master  as  the  Princesses,  lessons  always  given  between 
the  hours  of  divine  service  on  a  Sunday,  which  was 
considered  a  proper  day  for  a  quiet  and  interesting 
occupation  which  was  neither  labour  nor  dissipation. 

*  Daughter  of  Lady  Louisa  Clayton,  Lady  of  the  Bedchamber  to 
Princess  Amelia,  second  daughter  of  George  II. 


FAMILY   INFLUENCES.  19 

An  amusing  adventure  is  narrated  in  a  letter  of 
1787,*  of  which  Miss  Port  was  the  heroine.  The  royal 
family  were  absent  at  Kew,  and  as  they  did  not  like  to 
live  a  day  without  seeing  Mrs.  Delany,  they  took  her 
with  them.  On  one  of  the  days  of  their  absence,  the 
King  went  over  to  Windsor,  and  while  he  was  walking 
on  the  terrace,  thought  he  would  go  into  Mrs.  Delany's, 
and  knocked  at  a  room  door.  A  young  lady  was  sitting 
in  the  room,  and  said,  "  Who  is  there  ?  "  A  voice 
replied  "It  is  me,"  then  said  she  "Me  may  stay 
where  he  is."  Again  there  was  a  knock,  and  she  again 
said,  "Who  is  there?"  The  voice  answered  "It  is 
me,"  then  said  she  "  Me  is  impertinent,  and  may  go 
about  his  business."  Upon  the  knocking  being  repeated 
a  third  time,  some  person  who  was  with  her  advised 
her  to  open  the  door,  and  see  who  it  could  be ;  when,  to 
her  great  astonishment,  who  should  it  be  but  the  King 
himself  !  All  she  could  utter  was,  "  What  shall  I  say  ?  " 
"  Nothing  at  all,"  said  his  Majesty,  "  you  were  very 
right  to  be  cautious  who  you  admitted." 

Surrounded  to  the  last  by  an  atmosphere  of  affec- 
tionate reverence,  Mrs.  Delany  died  in  her  house  in 
St.  James's  Place  on  the  15th  April,  1788,  aged  eighty- 
eight.  Miss  Port  was  then  only  seventeen,  and  the 
blow  was  almost  overwhelming  to  her.  Not  only  did 
she  lose  her  second  mother,  the  wise  and  loving  com- 
panion of  her  life,  but  her  life  itself,  in  all  its  surround- 
ings and  associations,  was  necessarily  changed  hence- 
*  Mrs.  Mec  to  Mrs.  Anno  Viney. 


20  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    11UNSEN. 

forward.*  In  her  passionate  devotion  to  her  aunt,  she 
had  imbibed  her  tastes,  and  was  capable  of  drawing 
just  comparisons,  and  of  measuring  others  by  the  stan- 
dard of  her  who  had  trained  her  mind  from  infancy. 
She  had  lived  in  an  atmosphere  of  extreme  refinement, 
as  well  as  of  virtue,  and  although  not  old  enough  to 
be  formally  presented  at  Court,  she  was  known  to  all 
who  belonged  to  it,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  daily  inter- 
course with  the  different  members  of  the  Royal  Family. 
The  days  she  looked  back  upon  had  been  passed  in  the 
most  perfect  happiness.  With  the  comfort  and  security 
of  home,  she  had  enjoyed  the  society  of  all  the  great  and 
good  who  met  in  Mrs.  Delany's  house,  and  though  she 
had  never  entered  the  dissipation  of  the  world,  she  had 
lived  in  the  constant  Enjoyment  of  all  the  best  things 
the  world  had  to  bestow. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  desolate  future  of  her 
niece,  and  in  entrusting  her  to  the  guardianship  of  Mr. 
Court  D'Ewes,  of  Wellesbourne,  the  eldest  son  of  her 
beloved  sister  Anne,  Mrs.  Delany  had  entirely  miscal- 
culated his  future  conduct.  As  is  too  often  the  case, 
she  fancied  that  because  to  her  he  was  all  respect  and 
attention,  he  must  feel  exactly  as  she  did  towards  his 
niece.  It  never  seems  to  have  entered  into  her  contem- 
plation that  he  would  not  carry  out  all  her  desires  and 
wishes,  whether  expressed  or  not.  In  fact  she  thought 

*  For  almost  all  the  particulars  given  here  of  Mrs.  Delany,  the 
editor  is  indebted  to  Lady  Llanover's  "  Life  and  Correspondence  of 
Mrs.  Delany," 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES.  21 

that  there  was  but  one  mind  between  them,  and  that,  for 
his  own  sake,  he  would  be,  not  only  the  guardian,  but 
the  father,  and  the  sympathising  counsellor  and  pro- 
tector of  her  adopted  child,  whose  dazzling  beauty  and 
remarkable  intellectual  qualities,  Mrs.  Delany  believed 
that  she  placed  in  the  tenderest  as  well  as  the  safest  hands, 
when  she  entrusted  her  to  her  uncle,  and  left  every- 
thing of  importance  to  his  decision.  But  events  were 
very  different  to  her  anticipations.  Mr.  D'Ewes  had 
naturally  a  cold  and  ungenial  nature,  and,  from  the 
moment  of  Mrs.  Delany's  death,  her  cherished  child  had 
not  only  reason  to  feel  that  she  was  neither  loved  or 
understood,  but  was  treated  by  her  uncle  with  positive 
coldness  and  ha'rshness,  as  well  as  with  neglect  of  her 
worldly  interests. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Mrs.  Delany  was  ever  as 
partial  to  her  nephew  Granville  of  Calwich,  or  as  inti- 
mate with  him,  as  she  was  with  his  brother  of  Welles- 
bourne,  an  estrangement  which  might  naturally  arise 
from  her  having  been  herself  once  looked  upon  as  the 
heiress  of  her  brother  Granville;  and  having  been 
disinherited  in  favour  of  this  nephew,  probably  in 
consequence  of  her  brother's  annoyance  at  her  mar- 
riage with  Dr.  Delany,  who  was  not  her  equal  in 
birth.  Young  Granville  of  Calwich  was,  however, 
of  a  very  different  disposition  to  his  brother.  Full 
of  kindness  and  geniality,  he  vied  in  acts  of  liber- 
ality and  benevolence  with  his  wife  Harriet  Joan 
De  la  Bere,  who  was  peculiarly  dignified  and  high-bred, 


22  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    MUNSEN 


though,  her  reserve  generally  caused  young  persons  to 
stand  in  awe  of  her.  Thus,  in  her  deep  sorrow,  Miss 
Port  was  thankful  when  she  was  allowed  to  leave  Welles- 
bourne  and  take  refuge  with  her  younger  uncle  and 
aunt,  and  Mrs.  Granville,  usually  so  undemonstrative, 
was  soon  won  by  her  rare  qualities,  to  regard  her  with 
warm  affection.  She  took  her  to  Bath,  where,  as  was 
then  the  fashion,  it  was  considered  necessary  for  health 
to  spend  some  weeks  or  months  every  year,  and  where 
Mr.  Granville  had  a  house  of  his  own  :  and  here,  though 
Miss  Port  had  never  been  "  out "  in  the  common  accep- 
tation of  the  term,  she  could  not  accompany  her  uncle 
and  aunt  in  their  walks  and  drives,  without  seeing  and 
being  seen. 

It  is  not  known  that  Miss  Port  ever  spoke  to  the 
gentleman  she  afterwards  married,  before  he  proposed 
for  her  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Granville,  according  to  the 
practice  then  in  vogue.  There  could  not  have  been  the 
slightest  intimacy  (if  any  acquaintance)  between  Mr. 
Waddington  and  herself,  and  the  first  idea  she  had  of 
a  proposal  from  him  was  through  some  words  acci- 
dentally dropped  by  her  uncle  and  aunt  to  each  other, 
when  they  were  unconscious  or  unobservant  that  ehe 
was  in  the  room.  The  effect  upon  her  was  electrical. 
Sensitive  and  impulsive  by  nature  to  the  highest 
degree,  the  impression  made  was  that  her  relations 
could  not  have  her  real  interests  at  heart  if  for  a 
moment  they  could  even  recognise  the  possibility  of 
such  a  marriage,  while  the  consciousness  that  the 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES. 


gentleman  in  question  must  disinterestedly  care  for  her 
to  think  of  it,  suddenly  determined  her  to  accept  his 
proposal  if  it  was  made.  Thus,  when  her  uncle  con- 
sidered it  his  duty  to  make  a  formal  announcement  of 
the  offer  she  had  received,  and  to  request  her  decision, 
he  was  astonished  by  her  immediate  acceptance  of  it. 
She  was  entirely  engrossed  by  the  torturing  idea  that 
those  she  was  beginning  to  love  did  not  love  her.  She 
thought  nothing  of  a  disparity  of  age  of  between  twenty 
and  thirty  years  —  nothing  of  anything,  but  that  an 
individual,  said  to  be  unexceptionable  in  character, 
valued  her,  she  knew  not  why.  Since  the  death  of 
Mrs.  Delany,  the  world  had  been  a  blank  to  her.  She 
believed  it  would  always  remain  so,  and  meantime  she 
would  endeavour  to  make  one  person  happy,  though 
she  never  expected  to  be  so  herself.  She  married  at 
eighteen  in  the  same  state  of  mind  in  which  a  nun 
takes  the  black  veil,  except  that  there  are  few  nuns 
who  believe  none  are  left  to  care  for  them  outside  the 
walls  of  their  prison. 

Mr.  Wadding-ton  had  a  good  fortune,  and  his  family 
was  of  very  ancient  origin,  though  at  that  time  it 
had  fallen  into  insignificance.  Walter  de  Wadding- 
ton  was  lord  of  Waddington  in  Lincolnshire,  and 
had  a  daughter,  who  in  the  thirteenth  century  mar- 
ried Sir  Roger  Tempest,  Knt.,  of  Bracewell.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  there  are  records  of  inter-marriages 
with  the  families  of  Beckwith  of  Aldborough,  Tyrwhitt 
of  Stamfield,  and  Cradock  of  Hartforth  in  Yorkshire. 


24  LTFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

In  1740,  the  Rev.  Joshua  Waddington,  Vicar  of 
Harworth  and  Walkeringham  in  Nottinghamshire, 
married  Ann,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Ferrand, 
Yicar  of  Bingley.  Ann  Ferrand  was  ultimately  the 
heiress  of  Towes  in  Lincolnshire,  which  devolved 
through  her  to  her  son  Thomas.  Her  son  Benjamin 
Waddington  married  Miss  Port. 

Upon  his  marriage,  Mr.  Waddington  rented  Dun- 
ston  Park  in  Berkshire,  but  merely  as  a  temporary  re- 
sidence. There,  his  eldest  daughter  Harriet  was  born 
(1790),  who  survived  only  a  few  months.  Her  birth 
was  followed,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1791,  by  that 
of  Frances,  afterwards  Baroness  Bunsen.  Soon  after 
this  Mr.  Waddington  removed  to  Llanover,  an  estate 
he  had  purchased  in  South  Wales,  where  his  beautiful 
wife  consented  to  reside  for  the  next  eleven  years  in 
perfect  seclusion,  without  even  visiting  London ;  where 
she  not  only  educated  her  daughter  but  herself,  while 
accommodating  herself  to  the  life  which  she  felt  it  her 
duty  not  only  to  endure  but  to  learn  to  enjoy.  Her 
delight  in  Nature  was  her  greatest  consolation  in  this 
total  isolation  from  all  the  friends,  associates,  and  com- 
panions of  her  former  existence,  and  she  cultivated  this 
taste  to  the  uttermost,  and  imparted  it  to  her  children. 

There  were  perhaps  only  two  points  of  resemblance 
in  the  disposition  of  the  father  and  mother  of  the 
Baroness  Bunsen,  and  these  were  generosity  in  their 
actions  and  a  scrupulous  regard  to  truth.  Being  ex- 
ceedingly phlegmatic,  Mr.  Waddington  was  without 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES.  2-5 

the  slightest  particle  of  imagination.  He  was  a  re- 
markable instance  of  a  great  reader,  who  had  no 
preference  with  regard  to  subject  and  who  kept  no 
particular  object  in  view.  He  would  steadily  read 
for  hours  with  the  most  perfect  satisfaction,  and  never 
appeared  to  skip  a  single  page.  Whatever  work  he 
began  he  regularly  finished,  and  he  seldom  made 
the  slightest  comment  upon  it.  Travels,  biographies, 
and  also  works  of  fiction,  were  perused  with  the  same 
patient  attention.  If  the  weather  was  fine  and  he 
could  take  his  accustomed  long  walks  and  rides,  ho 
was  much  out  of  doors,  but  if  the  weather  prevented 
this,  he  would  seat  himself  in  his  great  chair  in 
his  own  room  and  read  from  breakfast- time — 8  or 
8.30  till  1  o'clock,  and  again  from  2  or  3  till  5 
o'clock,  which  was  his  regular  dinner-hour.  He  never 
seemed  to  know  the  meaning  of  the  word  ennui : 
punctual  as  a  machine  in  all  his  habits,  he  pursued 
his  various  occupations  like  clock-work,  and  their 
monotony  never  seemed  to  weary  him.  A  good  deal 
of  his  time  was  taken  up  by  the  business  of  a  magis- 
trate, which  was  then  transacted  by  each  country 
gentleman  in  his  own  room.  It  has  been  said  that 
many  of  them  had  butlers  who  were  expected  to  read 
up  the  law  and  answer  to  certain  points  when  referred 
to,  but  it  is  not  believed  that  Mr.  Waddington's  well- 
known  butler  "  Abraham :>  even  did  more  than  acquaint 
himself  with  the  persons  and  circumstances  of  those 
who  came  tq  see^  ji;s.tice  from  his  master. 


2Q  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

Mr.  Waddington's  time  for  conversation  was  after 
his  dinner,  when  his  wife  would  keep  him  company, 
and  hear  anything  that  had  occurred  during  the  day 
either  to  interest  or  annoy  him.  If  any  unforeseen 
event  in  or  out  of  the  establishment  happened  to  disturb 
him,  he  instantly  went  to  her,  and  she  possessed  great 
influence  over  him,  though  his  routine  of  life  was  not 
in  the  slightest  degree  altered  by  her  society.  For 
some  time  he  troubled  and  worried  himself  with  farm- 
ing, but  finding  that  it  did  not  increase  his  happiness 
and  very  much  interfered  with  his  comfort  to  see  every- 
thing going  wrong,  he  gradually  put  his  agricultural 
affairs  into  the  hands  of  his  wife,  who  amongst  other 
useful  arts  had  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  the 
subject,  and  soon  succeeded  in  establishing  order  and 
neatness  in  the  farming  department. 

Mrs.  Waddington  was  an  excellent  judge  of  horses, 
seeming  to  inherit  the  gift  of  her  family  in  her  judg- 
ment of  those  animals,  and  without  ever  having  been  a 
hard  rider  or  being  accustomed  to  follow  the  hounds,  she 
was  always  perfectly  at  home  on  horseback — an  accom- 
plishment she  had  been  taught  by  her  father  at  a  very 
early  age.  As  long  as  her  health  permitted,  one  of  her 
greatest  pleasures  was  taking  rides  in  the  beautiful 
country  by  which  she  was  surrounded.  One  of  her 
favourite  expeditions  was  to  the  residence  of  her  old 
friend  and  neighbour  Admiral  Gell,  near  Crickhowel, 
whither  her  little  daughter  Frances  accompanied  her 
when  old  enough—and  often  afterwards  recurred  with 


FAMILY    INFLUENCES.  27 

delight  to  those  summer  evening  rides  amid  the  singing 
of  nightingales. 

There  was  no  country  paper  of  any  kind  published 
within  forty  miles  of  Llanover,  and  the  chief  depen- 
dence for  news  was  upon  the  arrival  from  London 
of  the  Morning  Chronicle,  which  came  in  the  evening. 
But,  as  there  was  no  post-delivery,  Mr.  Waddington 
would  never  accustom  himself  to  look  forward  to  the 
arrival  of  letters  or  newspapers,  and  unless  there  was 
any  reason  to  expect  letters,  the  newspapers  were  never 
considered  of  sufficient  importance  for  any  one  to  be 
sent  four  miles  on  purpose  to  fetch  them.  Although 
few  men  have  been  more  truly,  though  secretly,  a 
father  of  the  fatherless,  or  have  lent  large  sums  with 
greater  generosity  to  assist  friends  in  distress,  yet  he 
had  a  peculiar  aversion  to  the  expenditure  of  any 
avoidable  small  sum,  and  he  did  not  conceal  that  the 
payment  of  turnpikes  was  an  object  of  consideration 
which  often  turned  the  balance  against  sending  to  the 
post  office.*  His  old  servants  and  workmen  were,  how- 
ever, much  attached  to  him,  and  although  his  temper 
was  very  choleric  when  provoked,  he  was  substantially 
so  benevolent  and  just  a  master  that  this  warmth  of 
temper,  which  was  quickly  over,  was  regarded  by  them 
more  as  a  peculiarity  than  a  fault. 

*  On  one  occasion  he  lost  several  thousand  pounds  which  he  had 
lent  to  a  friend,  from  his  determination  to  save  the  postage  of  a  letter 
of  inquiry  as  to  the  payment  of  the  policy  of  insurance.  The  friend 
died  suddenly,  the  policy  was  not  paid,  and  the  whole  sum  was 
forfeited. 


28  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BAftONESS    BUXSEN. 

The  susceptibility  of  Mr.  "VVaddington  to  small  things 
in  money  matters  was  by  no  means  shared  by  his  wife, 
who  combined  equal  generosity  with  liberality  on  all 
subjects.  To  her  servants  she  was  a  friend  as  well  as  a 
mistress,  and  she  took  a  personal  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  each  and  all  of  her  poorer  neighbours.  During  the 
period  of  her  quiet  life  at  Llanover  she  suffered  great 
affliction  in  the  death  of  two  infant  daughters — Matilda 
and  Mary  Ann.  The  latter  died  of  small-pox  (179%), 
at  the  age  of  one  year  and  seven  months,  and  her 
mothei  could  never  allude  to  her  death  without  anguish. 
The  child  had  been  innoculated  for  the  small-pox  (vac- 
cination being  then  unknown),  and  she  was  attended 
night  and  day  by  her  mother,  upon  whom  the  effect 
lasted  for  life  of  seeing  her  expire  under  that  grievous 
disease  (which  had  been  produced  artificially)  upon  a 
being  previously  in  perfect  health.  It  is  probable  that 
the  deaths  of  these  infants  and  the  loss  of  her  eldest 
child,  which  she  attributed  to  the  ignorance  of  a  pro- 
fessed nurse  when  she  herself  was  utterly  inexperi- 
enced, was  the  direct  cause  of  the  extraordinary  care 
as  well  as  knowledge  for  which  she  was  eminently 
distinguished  in  later  life  as  regarded  the  treatment 
of  children  and  invalids.  She  applied  her  powerful 
intellect  to  the  subject ;  and  although  she  neither 
wrote-  books  nor  tormented  others  with  advice,  she 
taught  herself  by  observation  to  discriminate  between 
good  and  evil,  and  became  the  instructress  as  well  as 
the  mistress  of  her  nurses, 


CHAPTER  II. 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  CHILDHOOD. 

"  Think  nought  a  trifle,  though  it  small  appear, 
Small  sands  the  mountain,  moments  make  the  year, 
And  trifles  life." 

YOUNG. 

"  II  n'y  a  pas  de  petites  choses  dans  ce  monde,  attendu 
que  Dieu  se  mele  de  toutes." — MADAME  SWETCHINE. 

A  BOUT  four  miles  from  Abergavenny,  where  the 
•^  green  meadows  are  divided  by  the  river  Usk,  nine 
crystal  springs  bursting  side  by  side  from  a  rock,  be- 
neath a  wooded  hill,  form  the  holy  fountain  of  Gofer, 
the  hermit  whose  memory  gives  a  name  to  Llanover, 
or  the  Church  of  Gofer.*  On  the  left,  the  thickly 
wooded  valley  is  girt  by  the  Blawreng,  or  the  "  grey 
ridge : "  on  the  right,  above  the  nearer  hills,  rises  the 
quaint  form  of  Pen-y-val,  or  the  Sugar-loaf :  while, 
behind  Abergavenny,  is  Scyrryd  Yawr,  or  "the  Holy 
Mountain/5  which,  like  Monserrat  in  Spain  and  La 
Yernia  in  Italy,  is  supposed  to  have  been  rent  asunder 

*  Gofer  is  .one  of  the  three  uncanonized  saints  of  Gwent,  Henwg 
and  Gwarcg  being  the  two  others. 


30  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

at  the  Crucifixion,  and  which  still  bears  on  its  summit 
the  ruins  of  a  chapel  of  St.  Michael,  whither  Roman 
Catholic  peasants  ascend  on  Michelmas  Eve,  and  bring 
away  its  sacred  earth  to  place  in  the  coffins  of  their 
dead,  or  to  throw  into  graves  to  keep  evil  spirits  at  a 
distance. 

In  the  midst  of  the  valley,  embosomed  in  trees, 
stands  the  White  House  of  Llanover,  roomy,  simple, 
and  old-fashioned,  and  surrounded  by  large  shrubberies. 
A  brook  rushes  rapidly  through  the  garden,  forming 
pools,  cascades,  and  islets  charming  to  children,  and 
imparting  a  constant  freshness  to  the  green  depths 
around.  The  planting  of  larches  (then  a  new  tree) 
around  Llanover  was  one  of  the  favourite  occupations 
of  Mr.  Waddington's  life :  in  1799  no.  less  than  120,000 
larch-trees  were  brought  from  Glasgow  for  this  pur- 
pose. 

At  Llanover,  four  daughters  were  born  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Waddington,  of  whom  only  two — Emilia,  born 
February  3rd,  1794,  and  Augusta,  born  March  21st, 
1802 — lived  to  grow  up. 

In  her  eighty-third  year,  the  Baroness  Bunsen,  at  the 
solicitation  of  her  daughters  and  grand- daughters,  com- 
mitted to  writing  some  ricordi  of  her  childhood,  from 
which  the  following  notes  are  extracted. 

"  The  first  event  in  my  life  of  which  I  have  a  distinct 
recollection  was  sitting  for  the  portrait  painted  of  me, 
with  my  sister  Emilia,  by  Mr.  Roche,  a  deaf-  and  dumb 
miniature-painter  at  Bath,  where  my  parents  staid  for 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF    CHILDHOOD.  31 

a  short  time  in  1796.  My  beautiful  aunt,  Louisa  Port 
was  then  with  us,  the  charming  and  lively  companion  of 
my  mother,  of  whose  presence  I  was  always  glad.  I 
remember  many  walks  at  Bath  with  my  mother  and  her 
sister  Louisa,  and  have  indistinct  visions  of  their  dress — 
especially  of  a  purple  silk  which  my  aunt  called  her  t  dig- 
nified dress,'  and  which  was  made  in  the  then-beginning 
fashion  of  'a  round  gown,'  that  is,  an  entire  skirt,  not 
open  in  front  and  parting  to  show  the  under-petticoat. 
Short  sleeves,  morning  as  well  as  evening,  were  then 
universal,  and  my  mother  had  long  gloves  of  York  tan  (as 
they  were  called),  yellow,  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  black 
lace,  very  narrow,  and  hanging  down  long  in  front.  I 
remember  a  bonnet  like  that  worn  by  the  peasants  of  the 
Canton  du  Valais,  black  satin  with  yellow  satin  bows  set 
all  round  the  rather  lengthy  crown. 

"  One  day  I  walked  with  my  mother  and  aunt  to  the 
Sydney  Gardens,  as  they  were  called.  In  one  part  were 
swings,  and  one  in  particular  called  a  Merlin  swing,  in 
which  the  swingers  sat  two  and  two,  opposite ;  those 
at  the  corners  pulling  ropes  alternately  by  which  the 
swing  was  set  in  motion.  Two  gentlemen,  who  had  joined 
us  in  our  walk,  acceded  to  the  desire  of  the  ladies  in 
mounting  the  swing.  My  little  sister  and  I  remained  on 
the  gravel  walk  with  the  maid,  and  saw  one  of  these 
gentlemen  become  paler  and  paler,  till  he  almost  fainted, 
and  was  helped  out  of  the  swing  by  the  gardener.  This 
was  M.  Lajand  de  Cherval,  an  emigrant,  and  a  man  of 
brilliant  conversation,  who  had  been  in  the  intimacy  of 


02  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

Talleyrand  when  lie  was  in  his  ecclesiastical  splendour.  I 
saw  him  once  many  years  later,  a  specimen  of  that  high- 
bred old  French  society  which  will  hardly  be  found  to 
survive  now.  I  observed  his  name  as  one  of  the  intimates 
of  Talleyrand  during  the  visit  of  Mr.  Pitt  on  that  early 
occasion  of  his  travelling  in  Prance  before  the  Revolution  ; 
and  as  having  asked  a  question  as  to  the  quarter  from 
whence  Mr.  Pitt  would  most  apprehend  alteration  and 
danger  to  the  English  constituted  authority  as  then  exist- 
ing ;  when  Mr.  Pitt  replied,  '  Prom  the  democratic  power, 
which  is  steadily  increasing.'  This  opinion,  contrasted 
with  the  Resolution  fresh  in  memory,  proposed  in  Parlia- 
ment by  Mr.  Pox,  that  '  the  royal  authority  had  increased, 
was  increasing,  and  ought  to  be  diminished,'  will  hardly 
have  failed  to  impress  the  mind  of  the  highly-gifted  ques- 
tioner as  to  the  specific  gravity  of  the  young  man  before 
him,  who  as  yet  the  world  knew  not. 

"The  birth  of  my  sister  Matilda  (23rd  September,  1797) 
is  the  first  event  of  which  I  have  a  clear  consciousness 
both  as  to  joy  and  sorrow  :  to  see  the  baby  and  touch  it, 
caused  a  sensation  which  still  thrills  through  me  ;  and  her 
death  (7th  October)  was  a  terrible  new  idea,  and  caused 
bitter  tears.  That  morning  my  father  entered  the  room 
in  tears,  and  when  I  begged  to  know  the  reason,  I  heard 
him  speak,  but  only  distinguished  the  words-— 'Poor 
Matilda ! '  which  I  supposed  meant  only  that  he  had 
found  her  ill,  for  I  knew  that  she  had  been  so  the  day 
before  ;  and  it  was  not  till  I  had  come  with  my  little  sister 
Emily  to  breakfast  with  my  father,  that  I  understood  the 
awful  fact,  from  hearing  him  give  orders  to  Eoper  the 
carpenter  for  the  coffin !  I  caught  directions  for  the  letters 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  33 

to  be  inscribed  upon  it,  which  caused  me  a  burst  of  crying 
hard  to  get  the  better  of — which  was  the  duty  of  the 
moment,  for  '  to  cry  is  naughty,'  in  nursery  law.  I  was 
pained  that  little  Emily  could  not  understand  what  was 
the  matter,  and  nowhere  did  I  meet  with  a  demonstration 
of  sympathy  :  so  I  had  a  lesson,  often  repeated  in  my  early 
life,  that  sorrow  must  be  borne  alone.  My  mother  was  too 
ill  to  be  visited,  and  not  till  long  after  had  I  the  new  plea- 
sure of  seeing  her  up  and  dressed,  and  again  able  to  hear 
me  read  and  do  lessons.  I  can  see  her  now  in  mind,  as  I 
first  saw  her  again  then,  in  a  dress  of  printed  calico,  with 
tight  sleeves  reaching  to  the  elbow,  and  brown  leathern 
mittens. 

"  A  great  event  in  niy  early  life  was  a  journey  made  in 
1797  to  visit  a  number  of  relations.  Our  first  station  was 
Derby,  where  my  grandfather  Mr.  Port  had  a  house,  after 
ho  was  obliged  to  leave  his  beautiful  residence  of  Ham, 
from  the  embarrassment  of  his  pecuniary  circumstances. 
My  grandfather  was  a  handsome  old  gentleman,  very  kind 
to  children.  His  daughter  Louisa  was  at  the  head  of  his 
household,  and  a  younger  daughter  Harriet  was  a  piece  of 
still  life  in  the  house,  overflowing  with  kindness  and 
devotedness  to  everybody ;  but,  as  the  only  plain  member 
of  the  family,  not  regarded  as  her  qualities  deserved.  My 
aunt  Harriet  is  the  person  in  my  life's  experience  to 
whom  I  have  felt  most  bound  to  bear  affection,  for  she 
deserved  it  of  me  by  her  unfailing  kindness.  My  youngest 
aunt,  Fanny  (afterwards  Mrs.  Earn)  lived  entirely  with 
her  parents  by  adoption,  my  great  uncle  and  aunt,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Granville  of  Calwich. 

"From  Derby  we  went  to  Tuxford  in  Nottinghamshire, 

VOL.    I.  D 


34  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

the  dwelling  of  my  father's  brother  George — a  clergyman, 
who  had  been  tutor  to  Prince  William,  afterwards  Duke 
of  Clarence  and  subsequently  King — a  most  uncompro- 
mising Liberal,  not  to  say  Radical,  who  had  much  influ- 
ence over  the  opinions  of  his  relations.  At  York,  we  were 
received  at  the  Deanery  by  the  Dean  and  his  daughter, 
Miss  Fountayne.  The  Deanery  was  very  striking  to  me, 
in  its  antiquated  dignity  and  gloom.  The  Cathedral  is 
still  fresh  in  my  memory  !  How  I  have  longed  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  admiration  and  solemn  awe,  then  called 
forth,  every  time  that  I  have  seen  a  Gothic  cathedral  since. 
From  York  we  proceeded  to  Pocklington,  where  Mr. 
Baskett,  the  husband  of  my  father's  youngest  sister,  was 
the  clergyman.  I  liked  the  time  spent  in  that  curious 
old  house  of  Pocklington,  and  remember  the  party  as  very 
lively  and  sociable,  and  delighted  with  my  mother.  Hero 
too  I  saw  old  Mrs.  "Waddington,  my  father's  mother  (who 
died  at  the  age  of  93),  on  a  visit  to  her  daughter.  In  re- 
turning, my  parents  paused  for  a  few  hours  at  Ludlow  in 
Herefordshire,  and  I  first  remember  having  been  excited 
,  to  strong  emotion  by  scenery,  in  exploring  its  old  castle 
and  its  beautiful  river  and  bridge. 

"  In  the  following  year,  when  I  was  again  at  Bath  with 
my  parents  and  Aunt  Louisa,  one  of  the  events  was  a 
morning- visit  to  my  mother,  on  account  of  old  acquaint- 
ance from  her  "Windsor-life  with  Mrs.  Delany,  from  the 
Prince  Ernest,  afterwards  Duke  of  Cumberland,  later  King 
of  Hanover.  I  was  placed  with  little  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  curious  as  to  what  a  Prince 
•might  be  like,  and  I  believe  was  disappointed  to  see 
him  appear  much  like  the  gentlemen  that  accompanied 
him,  very  tall,  fair,  freckled,  and  flaxen-haired:  such  is 
my  impression.  Another  frequent  visitor  was  Torn  Sheri- 
dan, who  interested  me  far  more  than  the  Prince,  and  the 
image  of  his  fine  face  and  figure,  and  the  charm  of  his  ani- 
mated conversation,  remain  distinct  in  my  memory,  though 
I  probably  understood  very  little  of  the  subject  of  the  fun 
which  entertained  me :  only  I  know  that  he  teased  my  mother 
and  aunt  by  describing  how  they  had  tripped  over  the  miry 
streets  with  drapery  held  up,  and  that  he  imitated  the 
inevitable  hop,  skip,  and  jump  :  and  he  blamed  himself  for 
out-staying  the  hour  when  they  ought  to  have  been  at  dinner, 
assuring  them  that  the  mutton  would  be  over -roasted,  the 
potatoes  boiled  to  rags,  and  that  their  plates  would  scorch 
their  fingers — repeating  that  they  ought  to  turn  him  out  of 
tho  house,  but  still  staying  on  and  making  them  laugh,  as 
I  did  in  a  corner.  This  was  the  father  of  the  three  beau- 
tiful ladies  whom  later  I  admired  in  London  and  gazed  at 
with  an  interest  independent  of  their  rare  perfections.* 
Later  than  the  date  of  this  vision,  so  bright  to  my  3roung 
eyes,  as  well  as  to  those  of  my  elders,  it  was  told  in  my 
hearing  that  Tom  Sheridan  had  married  a  Miss  Calendar  : 
and  still  later  came  the  tidings  that  Tom  Sheridan,  in 
hopeless  consumption,  had  gone  to  try  the  effect  of  a 
milder  climate,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope — where  the 
scene  soon  closed  in  death.  I  hope  and  believe  that  he 

*  The  Duchess  of  Somerset ;  Lady  Dufferin,  afterwards  Lady 
GifTord ;  and  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Norton,  afterwards  Lady  Stirling  Max- 
well. 


36  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

was  happy  in  the  love  of  his  wife,  and  thus  may  have 
known  something  of  the  best  that  life  can  afford.  Could 
I  but  remember  right,  the  lines  in  Crabbe's  Gipsy — 

"  *  Though  abused  and  driven  astray 

Thou  hast  travelled  far  and  wandered  long ; 
Thy  God  hath  seen  thee  all  the  way, 
And  every  turn  that  led  thee  wrong.' 

"In  1799  my  father  became  Sheriff  for  the  county. 
There  was  a  general  invitation  of  neighbours  of  various 
classes  to  breakfast,  on  the  morning  when  he  was  to  drive 
with  four  horses  and  servants  in  new  liveries,  to  meet  an<J 
escort  the  Judges  coming  to  Monmouth.  I  well  remem- 
ber the  unusual  bustle,  the  tables  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 
cavalcade  had  departed.  The  hill-field  and  its  steep 
ascent  gave  opportunity  for  seeing  the  javelin-men,  con- 
sisting of  my  father's  servants,  labourers  and  other  neigh- 
bours, all  in  his  livery  and  on  horseback,  who  trotted  in 
the  best  order  they  could  manage,  preceding  the  carriage. 
My  father  had  picked  out  the  men  to  whom  the  handsome 
new  clothing  was  sure  to  be  the  most  desirable.  He  had 
said,  '  I  told  Neddy  the  blacksmith  that  he  should  be  one 
of  the  javelin-men,  if  he  would  but  wash  his  face ' — which 
rare  operation  was  accordingly  performed  :  and  the  suit  of 
clothes  then  given  formed  Neddy's  regular  Sunday-attire, 
as  long  as  I  remember  him.  This  was  perhaps  the  first  occa- 
sion in  my  life  when  I  had  a  reason  to  observe  upon  my 
father.  I  had  taken  rny  parents  entirely  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
and  compared  them  neither  with  existences  or  ideals.  I 
now  perceived  that  my  father  acted  characteristically  in  the 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF    CHILDHOOD.  3? 

case  of  selection  of  javelin-men,  on  a  high  motive  rather 
than  a  meaner  one  ;  although  there  was  temptation  on  the 
score  of  appearance  and  personal  effect,  to  have  thought  it 
due  to  himself  to  make  a  first  public  appearance  with  a 
showy  troop  of  men  well-grown  and  matched. 

"  This  year  of  my  father's  shrievalty  was  marked  by 
the  attempt  to  assassinate  the  King  (George  III.)  in  the 
Theatre,  and  the  strong  revulsion  of  feeling  produced  by 
the  King's  noble  and  manly  bearing,  standing  firm  without 
starting  or  withdrawing  at  the  report  of  the  pistol  which 
failed  to  strike  him,  and  bowing  graciously  to  the  audience, 
as  though  considering  (and  justly)  the  act  as  single,  and 
not  the  result  of  conspiracy.  The  moment  was  favourable 
to  Royalty,  for  a  burst  of  rejoicing  and  congratulation 
followed,  and  my  father  was  called  upon  to  convey  a  loyal 
address  from  the  county  to  the  King.  His  journey  to 
London  caused  anxiety,  for  the  murder  of  a  Mr.  Mellish  by 
foot-pads  on  Hounslow  Heath  was  a  recent  event,  and  the 
roads  about  London  were  considered  very  unsafe  :  but  the 
mail-coach,  where  there  was  a  guard  in  a  red  uniform 
with  a  blunderbuss,  was  thought  less  liable  to  attack  than 
a  simple  carriage,  as  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Mellish. 

"  During  the  (very  unusual)  absence  of  my  father,  it 
was  settled  that  my  mother  should  go  to  her  father 
at  Derby.  Much  did  I  like  that  visit.  I  slept  in  my 
Aunt  Louisa's  room,  and  of  the  pretty  things  in  it,  she 
had  many  stories  to  tell  me,  for  they  came  from  her  dear 
old  homo  at  Ham.  Her  father's  embarrassments  had 
obliged  him  to  let  his  beautiful  inheritance  to  the  Bateman 
family.  I  was  taken  to  see  it  while  they  lived  there,  in 
the  picturesque  old  family  house  of  the  Forts,  so  much 


38  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

more  suited  to  the  scenery  than  the  overgrown  castel- 
lated building,  constructed  by  Mr.  "Watts  Russell,  who 
became  the  purchaser,  when  my  uncle  John  Port  suc- 
ceeded to  the  entailed  property  in  1807. 

"Many  circumstances  marked  the  bright  time  spent  at 
Derby.  First  there  was  the  Battle  of  the  Nile,  and  the 
great  popular  delight,  and  general  illumination,  every 
female  of  all  ranks  wearing  a  bow  or  cockade  of  sky-blue 
ribbon,  considered  the  loyal,  ministerial  colour.  Mrs. 
Feilding  happened  to  be  at  Derby,  consulting  Dr.  Darwin 
for  her  daughter,  and  she  dined  that  day  at  my  grand- 
father's, and  was  rallied  on  having  forgotten  to  put  on  a 
cockade,  which  was  zealously  provided  for  her.  My  mother 
called  upon  Mrs.  Darwin,  and  thus  I  saw  the  three  beau- 
tiful daughters,  whose  appearance  is  still  distinct  in  my 
recollection.  I  always  delighted  to  look  upon  beauty,  but 
took  care  not  to  explain  why  I  stared  at  the  objects  of  my 
admiration,  because  I  was  always  reminded  of  the  solemn 
truth  that  'beauty  is  of  no  value.'  The  daughters  of  Dr. 
Darwin  had  a  right  to  the  inheritance  of  beauty  from  their 
mother,  formerly  Mrs.  Pole  of  Eedburn.  In  the  long  course 
of  subsequent  years,  I  have  heard  with  cordial  interest  that 
the  three  lovely  girls  adorned  in  life  the  families  into  which 
they  married,  by  merit  equal  to  their  beauty. 

'•'  At  Derby  I  saw  two  persons  who  fixed  themselves  in 
my  memory  as  the  first  French  emigrants  I  had  seen.  My 
Aunt  Louisa  one  rainy  day  looking  out  of  the  window 
exclaimed, '  There  they  are,  under  their  umbrella,  perhaps 
they  would  come  in  and  drink  tea  with  us.'  My  Uncle 
Bernard  accordingly  went  out,  and  respectfully  made  the 
invitation,  and  re-entered  with  an  oldish  gentleman  and  a 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD,  30 

very  young1  lady,  pretty,  graceful,  and  of  most  refined 
appearance  and  manners,  whose  slightly  foreign  accent 
seemed  to  me  a  decoration.  I  heard  my  Aunt  Louisa's 
account  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  white  jacket 
over  her  dark  petticoat,  busied  in  sweeping  the  house,  as 
(she  observed)  she  'kept  no  maid,'  and  to  my  aunt's 
knowledge,  performed  every  kind  of  household  work  with 
delicate  hands  not  used  to  such  labour.  My  mother  met 
her  cordially,  and  had  some  further  communication  with 
her,  and  a  letter  in  consequence,  with  the  signature 
'Praslin  du  Pont.'  The  sight  and  consciousness  of  this 
lady,  laid  an  early  foundation  for  the  impression  I  have 
retained  through  life  of  the  merit  and  charm  of  tfye  ideal 
of  French  womanhood. 

"  Soon  after  our  return  home,  we  received  intelligence  of 
the  birth  of  a  second  son  to  my  Uncle  George,  at  Tuxford, 
to  whom  the  name  of  Horatio*  was  given,  in  reference  to 
the  admired  hero  of  the  day— Horatio  Nelson.  The  close 
of  1799  was  marked  by  the  failure  of  harvest,  which 
brought  on  a  deplorable  scarcity,  for  the  relief  of  which 
my  father's  best  efforts  and  continual  exertions  were 
employed.  He  wrote  to  his  brother  Joshua  at  New  York, 
with  a  commission  to  send  him  a  quantity  of  wheat-flour, 
which  he  sold  in  small  quantities  at  cost  price  to  the  poor, 
establishing  himself  in  the  servants'  hall,  seeing  the 
applicants  individually,  and  taking  all  measures  to  prevent 
the  approach  of  such  as  wished  to  buy  cheap  in  order  to 

*  Horace  Waddington,  Permanent  Under- Secretary  to  the  Home 
Office. 


40  LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

sell  dear.  My  father's  example  was  followed,  and  much 
more  American  flour  imported.  Well  do  I  remember  that 
everybody  was  exhorted  to  consume  as  little  bread  as 
possible  at  daily  meals,  bread  was  cut  in  pieces  for  each 
member  of  the  dinner-party,  and  contrivances  were  tried 
to  make  the  flour  go  farther  by  adding  rice  or  boiled 
potatoes  in  making  bread,  which  was  not  found  to  answer, 
as  either  of  those  additions  had  the  effect  of  increasing 
appetite  and  consumption. 

"The  year  1799  closed  in  a  manner  very  distasteful  tc 
me,  in  a  removal  very  late  in  the  season,  in  the  gloomiest 
of  weather,  to  Clifton  near  Bristol.  Here  my  mother  and 
my  sister  Emily  were  always  ill,  which  I  had  a  firm  con- 
viction was  owing  to  the  daily  visits  of  Dr.  Beddoes,*  and 
the  prescriptions  he  sent.  At  this  time  John  and  William 
Lambton  were  staying  in  the  house  of  Dr.  Beddoes,  and 
had  lessons  in  French,  as  I  did,  from  M.  d'Estrade.  The 
elder  of  these  brothers  acquired  an  honoured  and  historical 
name  as  Lord  Durham,  .the  younger  entered  the  Guards 
and  was  at  Rome  in  my  time  with  a  beautiful  young  wife. 
During  this  winter  also  a  young  genius  from  the  Land's 
End,  Humphrey  Davy,  since  so  celebrated,  arrived  in  Dr. 
Beddoes'  intimate  circle ;  and  as  stories  were  told  in  my 
hearing  of  his  companionship  with  Beddoes  in  scientific 
experiments,  I  fancied  his  small  person  (with  a  very  wide 
mouth)  with  King  the  surgeon,  as  catching  rats  with 
tongs,  and  subjecting  them  in  receivers  to  the  effects  of 
various  vapours,  while  Dr.  Beddoes  was  counting  seconds 

*  Dr.  Thomas  Beddoes,  1760—1808,  of  great  learning  and  linguistic 
attainments,  author  of  the  Hygeia,  and  founder  of  the  Pneumatic  In- 
stitution. 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  41 


on  the  stop-watch,  which  I  had  seen  him  use  when  feeling 
pulses.  Much  were  the  various  gases  talked  of  in  my 
hearing,  and  many  persons  amused  themselves  with  bein^ 
subjected  to  '  laughing  gas,'  of  which  I  have  heard  as  of 
an  old  acquaintance  after  the  lapse  of  seventy  years !  long 
after  the  death  of  Dr.  Beddoes,  who  had  hoped  much  in 
gases  as  a  means  of  medical  relief. 

"  The  '  Anti- Jacobin,'  with  Canning's  wit,  was  a  great 
means  of  animation  in  the  house,  in  which  we  children 
took  a  full  share,  repeating  the  name  of  '  Matilda  Pot- 
tingen,'  and  the  '  University  of  Gottingen,'  and  lines  from 
the  'Voyage  of  the  Learned  to  the  North  Pole.'  Once, 
and  once  only,  have  I  named  the  '  Anti-Jacobin '  since 
those  early  days !  for  it  would  have  been  an  unwelcome 
subject  among  Germans,  even  though  the  absurdities 
which  Canning  made  fun  of,  are  quite  as  odious  to  Germans 
as  to  any  other  nation. 

"A  matter  of  life-long  interest  during  this  stay  at 
Clifton,  was  my  being  allowed  to  see  the  inside  of  a 
theatre,  and  the  acting  of  Mrs.  Siddons.  I  then  felt  my 
way  into  the  strongest  current  of  sensation  independent  of 
reality,  which  life  has  ever  made  to  me.  I  know  of  no 
excitement  of  feeling  so  absorbing  as  that  produced  by  the 
combination  of  all  the  fine  arts,  which  brings  into  actual 
existence,  living  and  breathing  before  us,  the  varieties  of 
human  fate  and  feeling,  in  more  or  less  gracefulness  of 
form  and  grouping,  more  or  less  of  truth  and  melody  of 
voice  and  expression.  At  that  date  Mrs.  Siddons  fully 
preserved  her  symmetry  of  figure  and  perfection  of 
features,  her  brilliancy  of  eye  and  power  of  expression  :  I 
did  not  see  her  again  till  many  years  later,  when  increase 


42  LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

of  flesh  had  spoiled  the  general  effect,  though  the  talent 
remained  undiminished. 

"It  was  in  the  June  of  this  year  that  the  startling  news 
one  day  arrived  of  the  sudden  death  of  John  Granville, 
the  only  child  of  the  Uncle  and  Aunt  Granville  who  fill  a 
great  place  in  my  early  recollections.  In  the  previous 
summer  he  had  spent  a  few  days  at  Llanover,  and  was  as 
engaging  to  us  children  as  to  all  older  members  of  society 
— beautiful  in  person,  intelligent  in  mind,  everywhere 
showered  upon  with  'golden  opinions,'  commended  at 
school,  adored  at  home,  having  just  entered  upon  his 
twenty-first  year,  so  that  the  whole  mass  of  our  relations 
were  full  of  the  anticipations  of  his  coming  of  age.  He 
had  gone  to  Clifton  with  a  cough  to  have  recourse  to  the 
two  nostrums  of  the  Hot- Wells  and  Dr.  Carrick.  His 
mother  was  watchful,  but  not  anxious  ;  when  in  a  moment, 
before  her  eyes,  the  precious  life  was  closed  to  all  earthly 
consciousness.  Immediately  on  receiving  the  grievous 
news,  my  mother  went  to  Clifton,  and  brought  back  the 
bereaved  parents  to  Llanover.  I  remember  how  she  would 
walk  up  and  down  the  gravel  in  front  of  the  house  with 
her  uncle,  who  was  soothed  by  the  tones  of  her  voice,  and 
for  whom  she  always  seemed  to  find  conversation  by  the 
hour,  alternating  with  long  sittings  in  the  little  morning- 
room  with  Aunt  Granville,  whose  calm  and  patient  endur- 
ance of  her  lot  inspired  deeper  sympathy  than  the  more 
aggressive  grief  of  her  husband.  Before  the  fine  season 
ended,  the  family  of  my  mother's  Uncle  Dewes,  the  elder 
brother  of  Uncle  Granville,  also  came  on  a  visit.  The 
lady  was  a  second  wife,  Judith  Beresford  before  her 
marriage,  who  ruled  all  around  her  with  the  absolute 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  43 

power  usually  exercised  by  second  wives.  I  remember 
with  great  pleasure  her  charming  singing,  and  her  duets 
with  her  lovely  step-danghter,  Anne  Dewes.*'  This  cousin 
'  Nanny  Dewes '  was  most  attractive  in  my  eyes,  and  not 
in  mine  only,  for  she  was  the  admired  of  all  beholders, 
and  the  darling  of  her  elder  relations,  while  her  contem- 
poraries could  not  help  forgiving  the  homage  she  received, 
from  the  absence  of  all  pretension  on  her  part.  Her 
countenance  and  demeanour  were  the  effusion  of  the 
purest  and  most  perfect  feminine  modesty,  without  shy- 
ness :  she  seemed  not  to  fear  or  mistrust  her  fellow- 
creatures,  any  more  than  to  presume  over  them.  Her 
voice,  in  speaking  as  in  singing,  seemed  to  pour  forth  the 
melody  of  the  whole  being,  and  each  syllable  dropped 
from  the  lips  and  the  pearls  within,  as  if  the  purpose  of 
speaking  was  to  show  their  perfection.  Her  look  seemed 
to  ask  everybody  to  be  kind  to  her,  without  making 
demands  as  of  a  right.  This  much-prized  daughter,  and 
her  brother,  Court  Dewes,  were  the  only  children  left  of 
the  admired  first  wife  of  my  Uncle  Dewes,  who  was  the 
sister  of  Aunt  Granville.  They  were  De  la  Beres,  of  an 
ancient  family,  whose  curious  old-fashioned  residence  near 
Cheltenham  was  purchased  by  Lord  Ellenborough,  after 
his  return  from  his  government  of  India.  The  first  Mrs. 
Dewes  was  very  beautiful,  in  a  higher  style  than  her 
sister  (although  dear  Aunt  Granville  continued  a  pretty 
woman  even  to  old  age),  yet  her  features  were  rather  to 

*  Anne,  only  daughter  of  Bernard  D'Ewes  and  his  first  wife  Anne 
de  la  Bere,  born,  1778,  married  G.  F.  Stratton,  Esq.,  of  Tew  Park, 
Oxfordshire,  and  died  Jan.  20,  1861,  having  to  the  last  fulfilled  the 
bright  promise  of  her  youth. 


44  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BA11ONESS    BUNSEN. 

be  traced  in  her  son  than  in  her  far  more  beautiful 
daughter.  By  the  death  of  John  Granville,  this  son, 
Court  Dewes,  became  the  heir  of  ids  uncle's  property  of 
Calwich,  as  well  as  of  his  father's  estate  of  Wellesbourne 
in  Warwickshire. 

"The  year  1801  was  not  far  advanced  before  Clifton 
again  attracted  the  family  for  six  weeks.  Aunt  Louisa 
was  again  the  cherished  inmate,  with  whom  I  was  happy 
to  walk ;  yet  I  often  was  out  on  the  broad  sunny  pave- 
ment of  '  the  Mall '  alone  with  my  skipping-rope,  and 
looking  with  longing  eyes  upon  the  six  daughters  of  Lady 
Eleanor  Dundas,  who  lived  next  door,  and  also  came  out 
with  skipping-ropes,  and  with  whom  I  should  have  been 
glad  to  have  associated.  Two  or  three  seemed  older  than- 
myself — those  who  in  after  years  were  Lady  Carnrichael, 
Mrs.  Bruce,  and  Mrs.  Harford  Battersby*:  the  others 
were  younger.  I  remember  now  for  the  first  time  fre- 
quenting with  Aunt  Louisa  the  beautiful  path  along  the 
Avon,  under  the  rocks  and  woods,  which  at  every  subse- 
quent period  of  viewing  them,  my  expanding  faculties 
have  perceived  to  be  more  beautiful  than  before,  whereas 
I  fancy  in  fact  their  original  effect  must  have  been  the 
finest,  before  many  a  fine  tree  was  cut  away,  and  many  a 
mass  of  rock  blown  up  for  burning  into  lime,  or  other 
purposes  of  utility.  By-and-by  I  perceived  that  we  were 
often  joined  in  these  walks  by  one  of  Aunt  Louisa's 
partners  at  balls,  by  name  Brownlow  Villiers  Layard,  a 
son  of  the  Dean  of  Bristol,  wearing  the  uniform  of  a 

*  Mother  of  my  beloved  son-in-law,  John  Battersby  Harford,  and 
of  my  dear  daughter-in-law,  Mary  Louisa  de  Bunsen. — Note  by  th« 
writer. 


IIECOLLEOTIOXS   OF    CHILDHOOD.  45 

regiment  quartered  on  the  Downs.  I  retain  much  more 
of  the  attendant  circumstances  of  the  intimacy  which  led 
to  my  Aunt  Louisa's  marriage,  and  to  my  losing  her 
altogether  as  an  ingredient  in  my  life,  than  I  shall  care  to 
write  down ;  but  the  outward  parts  are  so  far  curious,  as 
belonging  to  conditions  of  the  times  which  I  believe  have 
altered  for  the  better.  The  Dean  of  Bristol  was  considered 
a  fair  specimen  of  a  dignified  clergyman,  but  his  advance- 
ment in  clerical  rank  and  emoluments  was  attributed  to 
the  influence  of  his  sister,  then  Duchess  of  Ancaster, 
though  she  had  passed  to  that  condition  through  the  lower 
state  of  governess  to  the  Duke's  young  sister,  whom  she 
had  attended  when  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  Bristol 
died,  and  it  was  feared  that  no  means  of  subsistence 
would  remain  for  his  family.  Mourning  for  the  Dean 
was  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  the 
rich  living  of  Uffington,  which  had  been  enjoyed  by 
the  Dean,  might  be  bestowed  upon  his  son,  were  the 
Duke  but  so  graciously  inclined.  It  was  only  necessary 
for  young  Layard  to  throw  off  his  regimentals,  put  on  a 
black  coat,  go  through  a  short  preparation  at  Oxford,  and 
be  ordained,  if  only  some  bishop  would  ordain  him.  It 
would  have  been  in  vain  to  ask  Archbishop  Prettyman 
(tutor  to  Mr.  Pitt),  at  the  head  of  the  diocese  in  which 


40  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    15UNSEN. 


Uffington  was  situated,  for  he  was  strict ;  but  Archbishop 
Horsley  made  no  objection,  and  the  thing  was  done  :  the 
MS.  sermons  of  the  Dean  were  secured  to  his  son,  and  at 
the  end  of  1803  or  beginning  of  the  next  year  the  pair 
were  married.  They  declared  themselves  aggrieved  at 
the  opposition  my  parents  had  made  to  their  union — all 
intercourse  ceased,  except  by  occasional  letters ;  and  the 
intimate  connection,  which  had  seemed  one  of  heart  and 
life,  was  broken.  I  saw  my  Aunt  Louisa  but  once  again, 
after  many  years.  Fourteen  years  of  married  life  were 
granted  to  her,  and  seven  sons  born  ;  a  few  days  after  the 
birth  of  the  last  she  expired  of  total  exhaustion  of  vital 
powers,  on  the  3rd  of  July,  1817,  just  after  my  marriage. 
"The  autumn  of  1801  was  a  very  quiet  time  atLlanover, 
when  my  mother  was  too  unwell  to  leave  her  sofa,  and 
I  wrote  all  her  letters  to  her  dictation,  which  was  a  great 
advantage  to  me  as  to  the  formation  of  style  and  language. 
The  winter  was  to  me  a  happy  one,  undisturbed  by 
strangers  and  visitors,  so  that  nothing  was  in  the  way  to 
prevent  my  being  constantly  with  my  mother,  reading  to 
her,  or  in  one  way  or  other  employed  by  her,  and  for  her  ; 
only  it  was  sorrowful  to  me  to  see  her  so  ill,  and  it  was 
not  till  a  light  began  to  break  upon  me  as  to  the  cause 
that  I  was  told  by  my  mother  that  she  '  hoped  I  should 
soon  have  another  sister.'  This  was  not  long  before  the 
birth  of  Augusta,*  on  the  21st  March,  1802.  I  cannot 
express  the  joy  and  delight  with  which  I  hailed  the  baby, 
which  seemed  to  make  me  amends  for  the  ever-present 
first  sorrow  of  my  life :  those  who  have  felt  the  charm 
which  belongs  to  infant-life  from  its  very  beginning,  can 
*  Now  Lady  Llanover. 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  47 

judge  how  the  constant  interest  of  watching  such  an  ex- 
panding intelligence  filled  and  animated  my  every  hour. 

"  The  following  summer  was  spent  by  my  father's  sister, 
Mrs.  Monk,*  at  Llanover.  Great  was  the  interest  of  all 
we  could  hear  about  that  which  was  seen  and  done,  by 
those  who  ventured  over  to  Paris  after  the  preliminaries  of 
a  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed  at  Amiens !  We  heard 
too  of  the  striking  appearance  of  Madame  Recaniier  in 
London,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  drawing  attention  not 
only  by  the  freshness  of  a  beauty  which  was  destined  to 
outlive  youth  and  prosperity,  but  by  the  first  appearance 
of  a  style  of  dress  soon  imitated,  in  which  the  clothing  was 
as  far  as  possible  from  a  covering,  and  the  wearer,  on 
issuing  forth  from  her  door,  threw  over  her  head  a  trans- 
parent veil  of  white  muslin,  reaching  to  the  knees.  The 
reports  of  Paris,  and  of  the  English  who  flocked  thither, 
were  many  and  various,  and  due  comment  was  made  on 
Mr.  Fox's  sedulous  attendance  at  the  levee  of  the  First 
Consul,  on  the  morning  of  one  of  the  week  days  besides 
the  occasions  of  invitation.  Of  the  conversations  that 
took  place,  which  seemed  much  sought  by  the  ruling 
personage,  I  remember  one  specimen,  which  most  pro- 
bably came  from  Mr.  Fox's  own  communications.  Napo- 
leon observed  that  he  was  much  taken  up  by  the 
formation  of  a  '  Constitution  for  the  Swiss '  : — upon  which 
Fox  remarked  to  his  hearers  '  that  he  was  surprised  at 
such  a  pretension  on  the  part  of  Napoleon,'  for  '  he  must 
know  sufficiently  what  was  meant  by  a  Constitution,  to  be 

*  Mrs.  Monk,  eldest  sister  of  Mr.  Waddington,  lived  to  the  age  of 
90.  She  was  mother  of  the  learned  James  Monk,  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Gloucester  and  Bristol. 


48  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUN  SEN. 

aware  that  no  individual  could  be  able  to  construct  one,  or 
judge  of  one,  for  another  nation.' 

"  Early  in  the  year  1803  we  received  the  melancholy 
intelligence  of  the  death  of  Beville  Port,  my  mother's 
youngest  brother,  at  Bungalore  in  the  Mysore  Country, 
where  he  had  been  quartered  with  his  regiment.  His 
appointment  to  a  cornetcy,  and  being  ordered  to  India, 
had  made  him  very  happy  in  1801 ;  and  he  owed  it  to  an 
application  by  letter  from  my  mother  to  Prince  Ernest, 
encouraged  by  the  proof  of  friendly  remembrance  that  he 
had  given  her  by  his  visit  at  Bath  in  1798.  I  remember 
well  having  been  allowed  to  read  the  letter,  which  my 
mind's  eye  still  beholds,  in  her  beautiful  handwriting : 
and  I  also  saw  the  Prince's  obliging  reply,  in  which  he 
informed  her  that  he  had  lost  no  time  '  in  requesting  his 
brother  the  Duke  of  York  to  consider  the  matter,  and  that 
he  was  happy  to  announce  having  obtained  the  nomina- 
tion of  Mr.  Beville  Port  to  the  desired  cornetcy.'  All 
accounts  that  could  be  obtained  from  brother- officers 
proved  Beville  Port  to  have  been  as  beloved  in  that  distant 
land  where  his  young  life  was  so  speedily  closed,  as  he 
was  in  his  own  family.  The  case  of  the  younger  sons  of 
my  grandfather  Port  was  truly  distressing,  his  broken 
circumstances  never  allowing  of  their  being  furthered  on 
their  way  by  the  advantages  of  education  to  which  their 
birth  and  the  position  of  the  families  to  which  they 
belonged,  would  have  given  them  a  right.  Bernard  could 
be  supported  at  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  because  one  of 
his  ancestors  had  contributed  to  its  foundation,  and  the 
vicarage  of  Ham  was  in  prospect  for  his  life-provision, 
but  for  George  Port,  the  third  son,  and  Beville  the  fourth, 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF    CHILDHOOD.  49 

nothing  was  apparently  to  be  had  but  scrivener-work  at 
an  attorney's-office  in  a  country  town.  From  this  repul- 
sive slavery  George  had  run  away  and  taken  refuge  on 
board  ship,  where,  after  much  endurance  of  hardship  of 
body,  and  family  reproach  and  unforgivingness,  he  worked 
his  way  in  his  profession  by  merit  alone,  and  distinguished 
himself  so  much  at  the  taking  of  Port  au  Prince,  as  to 
receive  public  commendation,  and  promotion  :  but  only 
two  days  later  he  was  laid  low  by  yellow-fever,  and  con- 
signed to  an  untimely  grave.  This  sad  winding-up  of  all 
that  life,  and  hope,  and  good  gifts  could  promise,  took 
place  before  my  infant  life  had  ripened  into  conscious- 
ness :  but  I  knew  that  my  mother  grieved  over  the  fate  of 
George,  and  was  thus  steeled  in  mind  to  overcome  a  just 
aversion  to  making  an  application  to  Prince  Ernest  for  the 
sake  of  Beville. 

"  The  year  1803  was  a  marked  date  in  my  life  on  ac- 
count of  my  being  then  for  the  first  time  in  London,  where 
my  parents  spent  May  and  June.  I  recall  with  surprise 
how  gradually  and  imperceptibly  the  fact  oozed  out,  that 
the  dream  of  peace  was  over,  and  the  horrors  of  war  had 
recommenced.  But  young  soldiers  and  sailors  hailed  the 
prospect  of  activity,  and  however  vexatious  the  idea  of 
new  and  increased  expenditure  in  a  conflict  which  too 
many  considered  to  be  as  hopeless  as  it  would  be  ruinous, 
the  insolence  of  Buonaparte  and  of  the  French  newspapers 
failed  not  to  arouse  the  spirit  in  the  nation,  which  heloj.  o^t 
so  long  under  reverses  and  apprehensions  ;  aiid  a  great 
help  to  this  Anti-Gallican  ex^itemen^  among  women  anc} 
children  and  the  jgnqrant,  was  the  threat  of  immediate 
invasion,  whiph  J  remember  in  the  following  autumn  to 

VQL>  I.  E 


50  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

have  reverberated  from  the  Camp  at  Boulogne  over  the 
Channel,  into  every  English  cottage  and  servants-hall  and 
nursery. 

' '  In  London  I  was  taken  to  see  the  collection  of  Mr. 
Townley,  which  formed  afterwards  the  nucleus  of  the 
British  Museum,  not  yet  in  existence.  It  was  the  first 
time  of  my  seeing  antique  statues,  though  the  antique  was 
familiar  to  me  through  the  designs  of  Flaxman  from  the 
Iliad  and  Odyssey  and  .ZEschylus.  Of  the  objects  in  the 
Townley  collection,  now  admired  elsewhere,  I  only  remem- 
ber individually  the  female  bust  of  such  surpassing  beauty, 
apparently  springing  from  a  flower,  evidently  a  portrait, 
but  the  person  unknown.  I  saw  too  some  of  the  first 
paintings  which  were  purchased  to  form  the  National 
Gallery,  and  which  were  then  in  the  collection  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  Gardens. 

"I  was  taken  to  see  'The  Tempest'  at  Drury  Lane 
Theatre,  when  Kemble  filled  the  part  of  Prospero,  and 
that  of  Miranda  was  represented  by  the  very  pretty  Miss 
Brunton,  afterwards  Mrs.  Coutts.  One  evening  also  I  was 
taken  to  Yauxhall,  and  it  seemed  to  be  expected  of  me  to 
be  greatly  struck  with  the  effect  of  the  general  illumina- 
tion by  coloured  lamps,  but  I  had  a  very  mean  impression 
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, 
which  was  said  to  be  often  visited  by  this,  that,  and  the 
other  person,  who  might,  I  thought,  have  used  better 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  51 

tlieir  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  enthusiasm 
for  a  'play,'  which  many  persons  professed.  It  was  much 
later  suggested  to  me,  that  this  very  real  and  not  fancied 
idiosyncrasy  of  a  great  part  of  the  pleasure-seeking 
world,  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  general  longing  to  be 
individually  part  of  the  show,  to  be  considered  worth 
seeing  or  worth  hearing,  or  in  short  capable  of  taking 
part  in  what  occupied  all. 

"At  this  time  my  Uncle  William  Waddington *  was 
residing  in  a  large  house  with  a  garden,  called  Crescent 
House,  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 
heard  much  of  the  journey  to  S.  Remy  in  Normandy,  which 
he  and  Mrs.  William  Waddington  had  made  to  visit  her 
parents  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sykes  :  f  and  she  had  brought  from 
Paris  many  things  new  and  admired ;  I  remember  a  French 
gauze  fichu  twisted  round  her  head  and  pinned  to  good 
effect.  Her  health  was  utterly  undisturbed  by  the  rapid 
production  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  to 
record  this  last  impression  I  retain  of  her,  although  I  pro- 
bably saw  her  many  times  later,  for  although  some  years 
of  the  raging  war  against  Napoleon,  stood  in  the  way  of 

*  Grandfather  of  William  Henry,  Minister  for  Public  Instruction 
and  Foreign  Affairs  in  France,  and  of  Madame  Charles  de  Bunsen. 

f  They  were  still  in  receipt  of  a  pension,  granted  to  a  maternal 
ancestor,  "Trusty  Richard,"  the  Penderell  who  assisted  the  escape  of 
Charles  II.  after  the  Battle  of  Worcester, 


52  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    IJUXSEN. 

the  transplanting  of  the  family  into  France,  the  urgency 
of  Mr.  Sykes  was  well  known  as  to  the  necessity  of  estab- 
lishing the  incomparable  energy  and  intelligence  of  his 
son-in-law  upon  the  property  which  was  to  be  the  inherit- 
ance of  his  children. 

' '  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  visit  paid 
to  my  mother  by  Reginald  Heber  and  his  elder  brother. 
Reginald  Heber  was  then  about  to  set  out  on  his  tour,  to 
such  parts  of  Europe  as  continued  open  to  the  English 
traveller ;  and  his  elder  brother  was  still  at  that  height  of 
public  estimation,  which  lasted  over  the  well-remembered 
Dedication  to  Heber  by  Walter  Scott,  of  one  of  the  portions 
of  his  poem  of  Marmion.  There  had  been  a  university 
friendship  between  Reginald  Heber  and  my  Uncle  Ber- 
nard, which  on  retrospect  I  somewhat  wonder  at, — so 
different  do  the  two  appear  at  this  distance  of  time.  Uncle 
Bernard  was  not  only  a  kind  friend  to  children,  but  alto- 
gether a  worthy  man,  intelligent,  high-minded,  and  not 
merely  proud  of  his  family  connexions,  but  worthy  of  his 
place  in  society.  He  was  a  gentleman  all  over,  but  though 
he  passed  blamelessly  through  life,  he  never  followed  up 
any  of  its  noblest  objects.  Though  at  Oxford  he  was 
never  entangled  in  any  offence  against  the  moral  law,  he 
probably  allowed  himself  liberty  to  infringe  many  a  col- 
lege rule.  On  one  such  occasion,  re-entering  the  quad- 
rangle from  a  country  expedition  in  which  he  had  driven 
four-in-hand,  he  recklessly  retained  in  his  grasp  his  long- 
lashed  riding  whip,  and  made  it  smack,  when  one  of  the 
authorities  coming  out,  noticing  the  misdeed  more  un- 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  53 

ceremoniously  than  the  offender  approved,  endeavoured  to 
wrest  the  weapon  of  offence  out  of  his  hand.  Much  did 
the  Oxford  youth  talk,  and  much  did  they  laugh,  on  this 
occasion ;  but  Reginald  Heber  did  more,  in  writing  a 
poem  called  '  The  "Whippiad ' — in  which  he  displayed  in 
flowing  verse,  a  tale  exceedingly  enjoyable  to  those  who 
entered  into  the  merits,  or  demerits,  of  the  case.  This  MS. 
was  given  by  the  writer  to  my  Uncle  Bernard,*  and  added, 
it  may  be  supposed,  to  his  eclat,  or  rather  gave  him  an 
eclat,  new  and  much  prized. 

"We  all  left  London  about  the  end  of  June  to  proceed 
to  Calwich  in  Staffordshire,  close  to  the  Derbyshire  border, 
and  the  pretty  town  of  Ashbourne.  I  had  looked  forward 
eagerly  to  this  journey,  with  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  is 
invariably  dull,  and  best  adapted  to  railway  travelling,  and 
not  to  the  tedious  labour  of  the  post-horses,  with  which  I 
first  travelled  its  many  miles. 

•"The  small  river  of  Calwich  had  been  widened  by 
Bernard  Granville  so  as  to  have  the  appearance  of  a  lake, 
with  buildings  in  questionable  taste  in  the  Italian-villa 
style,  those  at  each  end  serving  the  purpose  of  concealing 
the  entrance  and  exit  of  the  natural  stream,  and  keeping 
the  water  high  and  smooth,  while  a  central  building  con- 
tained a  picture-gallery  and  music-room,  in  which  my 
Uncle  Granville  would  occasionally  practise  the  violon- 
cello, both  he  and  his  brother  Dewes  having  fortunately 

*  The  popularity  of  Mr.  Bernard  Port  and  his  remarkable  talent  for 
versification  is  still  well  remembered  in  Derbyshire  and  Staffordshire. 


54  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

attained  the  consciousness  (so  rare  amongst  dilettanti)  that 
their  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  bachelor 
dimensions :  the  library,  very  spacious,  sunny,  and  shel- 
tered, showed  dark  rows  of  venerable  books,  little  used  by 
che  modern  world  since  the  death  of  Mr.  Bernard  Granville, 
who  had  been  a  man  of  studious  habits,  and  containing 
besides,  a  collection  of  the  MS.  works  of  Handel,  who  often 
passed  his  summer  leisure  at  Calwich,  and  played  on  the 
organ  in  the  dining-room,  upon  which  his  bust  was 
erected.  My  Uncle  Granville  had  added  much  to  make 
the  house  complete  as  a  residence  and  I  believe  with  much 
taste.  He  had  just  finished  his  improvements,  which 
were  to  be  all  ready  for  his  beloved  son's  coming  of  age, 
when  in  June,  1800,  the  desolated  dwelling  opened  to 
receive  the  funeral  procession  on  its  way  to  Ellaston 
Church,  and  my  cousin,  Court  Dewes,  who  inherited  at 
the  death  of  my  Uncle  Granville,  after  a  few  years' 
possession,  sold  the  last  Granville  relics,  retaining  only  his 
paternal  Dewes  property  of  Wellesbourne,  not  far  from 
Stratford-on-Avon  in  Warwickshire.  Calwich  has  since 
been  sold  to  the  Dean  of  York,  pulled  down,  and  rebuilt 
on  a  higher  level,  in  my  remembrance  occupied  by  stables 
and  farm-buildings,  and  by  an  ancient  walled  garden, 
which  dated  from  the  time  of  the  monastery.  I  am  un- 
acquainted with  the  present  aspect  of  things  in  this  once 
well-known  and  admired  spot,  where  many  memories  are 
buried,  besides  mine,  but  most  of  those  who  would  have 
dwelt  on  them  as  I  do,  are  now  buried  also.  At  the 
melancholy  sale  of  Calwich,  a  grand  landscape  by  Bern- 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF    CHILDHOOD.  55 


brandt,  the  gift,  or  legacy,  of  Handel,  was  purchased  by 
Mr.  Davenport  Bromley. 

' '  I  delighted  in  the  woods  and  waters  and  meadows  of 
Oalwich.  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- 
tality, and  keeping  the  machine  of  life  in  motion,  though 
the  mainspring  was  broken.  After  dinner  (which  was 
considered  to  be  very  late  at  five  o'clock),  the  gentlemen 
(in  silk  stockings  and  shorts)  played  at  bowls  in  the 
spacious  bowling-green,  in  sight  of  which  sat  the  ladies. 
Before  rising,  however,  from  the  dinner-table,  my  Uncle 
Granville  used  to  ask  for  a  song  from  whatever  ladies 
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  speedily  reassembled 
on  the  broad  gravel-walk,  for  the  rest  of  the  summer 
evening,  unless  a  walk  was  undertaken,  in  which  I  was 
always  glad  to  follow  Aunt  Granville.  Every  flower 
and  tree  were  then  objects  of  delight.  I  hope  the  walk 
to  Cabin  Knowle  continues  as  charming  as  it  was  to  me 
— a  rock  partially  overgrown  with  the  plants  which  flou- 
rish in  limestone  clefts,  and  overshadowed  by  trees  grow- 
ing up  the  slope,  while  an  abundant  spring  gushed  up 
underneath  from  a  still  pool,  and  found  its  way  to  the 
river. 

"  A  custom  prevailed  then,  that  after  the  company  had 
parted,  with  a  general  l  Good  night,'  the  ladies  went  up- 
stairs together,  and  in  two's  and  three's  adjourned  with 
renewed  animation  to  a  confidential  talking-over  of  persons 


56  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

or  things.  Is  this  fashion  perennial,  or  has  it  become 
obsolete  ?  At  least  let  it  be  hoped  that  persons  no  longer 
adjourn  to  a  room  where  children  are  said  to  be  '  in  their 
soundest  sleep,'  as  happened  to  me,  who,  though  tall  of 
my  age,  was  reckoned  among  'the  children.'  A  bright 
light  was  near  my  bed,  and  an  animated  conversation  was 
begun,  of  which  I  heard  nothing  but  the  murmur,  till  my 
own  name  was  mentioned,  and  then  I  started  and  turned. 
The  movement  caused  the  interlocutors  to  depart,  but  I 
had  heard  words  enough  to  be  engraved  for  ever ;  and  it 
was  not  a  renewal  of  sleep,  but  a  burst  of  bitter  tears, 
which  followed  upon  the  removal  of  light,  and  close  of 
conversation.  The  trace  of  the  tears  had  vanished  next 
morning :  but  the  internal  '  battle  of  life  and  fate '  was 
durably  aggravated. 

"At  this  time  the  family  were  just  rejoicing  in  the 
engagement  of  my  Aunt  Fanny  to  Mr.  Abel  John  Ram, 
whose  family  (from  the  south  of  Ireland)  was  one  of  those 
who  had  sadly  experienced  the  ill-usage  then  fresh  in 
memory,  from  Roman-Catholic  fanaticism  in  the  rebellion 
— when  the  old  coachman  who  had  served  the  family 
during  two  generations,  at  the  bidding  of  his  associates, 
drove  off  his  master's  four  fine  carriage-horses,  to  draw 
the  artillery  collected  to  war  against  law  and  government. 
Many  were  the  causes  of  grievance  which  drove  Colonel 
Ram  from  his  ancestral  home,  and  forced  him  to  bring  his 
family  to  England,  where  they  hired  a  beautiful  house  and 
garden  near  Ashbourne,  the  property  of  Sir  Brook  Boothby, 
who  had  given  up  his  country  residence  in  despair  after 
the  death  of  an  only  child,  Penelope,  of  whose  infant  love- 
liness, short  life,  and  fine  intelligence,  Aunt  Louisa  used 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF    CHILDHOOD.  57 


to  tell  me  so  much,  and  so  feelingly,  that  I  feel  as  if  I  had 
known  her. 

"  Colonel  Bam  had  with  him  two  sons,  of  whom  the  eldest 
and  heir  attached  himself  to  my  Aunt  Fanny  from  the 
very  first  time  of  meeting :  the  second  son  was  in  the 
navy,  and  fell  little  more  than  a  year  later,  at  the  battle  of 
Trafalgar.  My  Aunt  Fanny  rises  before  me  at  this  time  as 
one  of  the  rare  combinations  of  feminine  excellence  that  I 
have  had  opportunity  of  knowing  as  being  such,  in  the 
course  of  my  life,  and  I  find  it  hard  to  give  a  just  view  of 
the  degree  of  merit  of  which  I  became  gradually  conscious. 
Her  true  humility  and  self-abnegation  were  more  espe- 
cially to  be  prized  in  one  who  had  been  a  favourite, 
praised  and  admired  on  all  sides,  from  her  earliest  years. 
She  was  a  beauty  without  doubt,  but  I  could  only  acknow- 
ledge without  admiring  the  complex  of  external  advan- 
tages. Her  skin  was  of  exquisite  whiteness;  her  small 
figure  of  perfect  proportion  and  faultless  modelling ;  her 
hands  and  arms,  throat  and  bust,  defied  criticism.  Devoted 
through  life,  to  her  adopted  parents,  to  her  husband,  to 
her  children,  to  every  fellow-creature  whose  needs  or  suf- 
ferings seemed  to  create  a  claim  upon  her,  she  lived  up  to 
her  convictions  as  a  Christian,  with  a  fulness  of  force  in 
acting  and  suffering,  such  as  is  everywhere  uncommon. 
Her  husband  was  an  amiable  man,  and  loved  her  in  an 
idolising  manner ;  he  accepted  to  the  full  his  wife's  esti- 
mate of  duty,  in  its  height  and  depth  and  width  and 
universality,  as  far  as  words,  and  acts  of  devotion  could 
go,  but  he  had  not  her  powers  of  self-denial,  and  followed 
family  habits  of  expenditure  without  due  calculation  of 
the  means  remaining  to  him  after  the  action  of  various 


58  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNS.EN. 


causes  of  diminution.  I  have  altogether  seen  but  little  of 
my  aunt :  and  she  will  have  been  far  from  guessing  how 
highly  I  rated  her. 

' '  In  returning  homewards  from  Calwich.  a  visit  was 
made  at  Wellesboume,  where  I  saw  a  garden  adorned 
with  all  the  luxury  of  showy  plants  then  attainable, 
grouped  in  pots  to  the  best  effect ;  for  in  those  days  the 
discovery  had  not  been  made  of  planting  fuchsias  and 
geraniums  in  the  open  ground.  Then  too  I  saw  Warwick 
Castle,  of  which  the  vivid  impression  remains  to  this 
moment :  for  when  I  had  a  second  glimpse  in  1 849,  the 
scene  appeared  as  familiar  to  rne,  as  the  reverberation  of  a 
well-known  melody.  The  well-preserved,  not  over-built 
entrance :  the  long  gallery  from  the  hall,  at  the  extremity 
of  which  the  Vandyke  portrait  of  Charles  I.,  with  his 
horse,  and  his  spaniel,  and  the  splendid  figure  of  the 
richly  coloured  palefrenier,  are  lighted  from  the  unseen 
end  of  a  cross-gallery:  and  thirdly  the  view  from  the 
windows  towards  the  river,  showing  the  broken  arch  of  a 
bridge  now  superseded ;  these  are  all  bright  visions  which 
I  can  at  any  moment  recall  from  the  long  past. 

"It  must  have  been  in  this  same  autumn  of  1803,  that 
I  heard  in  the  conversation  of  the  Ultra  Opposition  who 
occasionally  came  to  my  father's  house,  a  testimony  which 
might  well  be  trusted  to  the  insight  and  energy  with 
which  Mr.  Pitt  (then  out  of  office  and  residing  within 
the  Cinque-Ports)  watched  over  the  improvement  of  works 
of  defence  along  the  coast,  and  the  exercising  of  the 
volunteers,  in  the  prospect  of  the  threatened  invasion  of 
the  French  ;  when  the  communication  concluded  with  the 
observation,  that  'Pitt  might  have  proved  a  great  mili- 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  59 


tury  commander,  had  his  faculties  been  directed  accord- 
ingly.' 

"The  excitement  against  the  French  which  made  the 
public  mind  roll  and  roar  like  a  troubled  sea,  extended 
even  to  the  usually  quiet  neighbourhood  of  Llanover :  and 
we  heard  families  named  who  had  their  horses  harnessed 
every  night,  to  be  ready  for  escape  at  any  hour — whither  ? 
might  be  asked.  The  terror,  however,  did  not  last  long ; 
for  the  seeming  arbiter  of  war  suddenly  directed  his 
legions  to  remove  from  Boulogne  to  the  high  plains  of 
Central  Germany,  and  the  surrender  of  Ulm  and  of  a 
gallant  army  commenced  the  course  of  calamity  which 
ended  in  Austerlitz  and  the  ruin  of  Austria,  and  finally  (in 
January,  1804)  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Pitt:  the  battle  of 
Trafalgar  and  the  death  of  Nelson,  having,  to  the  British 
mind,  removed  to  a  distance  of  comparative  indifference 
the  yet  more  awful  concussions  of  Europe.  My  father 
had  an  interest  in  the  navy  and  in  Lord  Nelson  which 
seemed  hard  to  explain.  I  believe  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  upon 
his  pupil  Prince  William,  Duke  of  Clarence,  and  was  much 
more  calculated  to  distinguish  himself  in  the  naval  than 
the  clerical  profession.  I  well  remember  my  father's 
coming  in  with  big  tears  swelling  from  his  eyes,  to  tell  us 
of  the  death  of  Nelson  and  the  accompanying  victory. 

"  The  spring  of  1804,  spent  at  Clifton,  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 


60  LIFE    AXD    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

there,  where  he  is  buried  at  Redland  Chapel  on  the  Downs. 
Two  of  the  sons,  both  very  young,  belonged  to  that  portion 
of  the  army  (then  reckoned  raw,  but  afterwards  so  famous) 
which  Sir  John  Moore  was  training  into  due  discipline,  in 
a  camp  near  Dover.  They  were  allowed  leave  of  absence 
to  visit  their  father,  whose  illness  was  known  to  be  serious, 
although  not  recognised  as  mortal,  for  Charles  and  William 
Napier  called  more  than  once  upon  my  mother,  and  their 
appearance  and  conversation  were  very  striking  to  me.  I 
had  never  seen  anything  like  them  before,  and  little  have 
I  seen  since  to  compare  with  them.  I  was  brought  to  their 
notice  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  Bun- 
bury)  who  had  died  young  in  India :  but  their  engaging 
manners  made  this  exposure  less  bitter  to  ine  than  on 
other  similar  occasions.  They  both  expressed  unbounded 
admiration  of  their  general  Sir  John  Moore,  which  they 
said  was  not  gained  by  indulgence,  for  he  was  very  strict 
with  young  officers,  whom  he  used  to  send  to  drill,  to  their 
great  surprise,  after  they  had  supposed  themselves  perfect 
in  the  military  exercise. 

"It  was  in  1804  that  an  event  very  material  to  myself 
took  place,  in  my  being  taken  by  my  parents  to  the  trien- 
nial musical  festival  at  Hereford :  the  first  occasion  of  my 
becoming  acquainted  with  any  performance  of  music 
beyond  a  single  song,  or  a  wandering  band  or  barrel- 
organ  :  which  perhaps  explains  the  tender  feeling  I  retain 
towards  the  latter,  out  of  gratitude  for  the  rare  pleasure 
they  gave  me,  when  at  Clifton  they  were  accidentally 
called  upon  to  stop  before  the  windows :  I  never  could 


RECOLLECTIONS    OF    CHILDHOOD.  61 

comprehend  the  customary  fury  expressed  against  them, 
as  '  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the  neighbourhood,'  when  I 
felt,  without  finding  words  to  express,  that  they  thrilled 
through  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  first  even- 
ing at  Hereford,  and  the  Messiah  on  the  last  morning, 
are  fixed  in  grateful  remembrance.  Mrs.  Billingtoii  was 
the  soprano-singer,  and  Harrison  and  Bartleman  were  the 
tenor  and  bass  :  and  did  I  but  possess  the  musical  power, 
coveted  in  vain  all  my  life,  I  could  now  pour  forth  from 
the  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  Eedeemer  liveth,'  and  the  deep 
and  mellow  tones  of  Bartleman  seem  to  be  still  reproduced 
when  I  think  of  them.  After  the  evening  performances, 
a  ball  took  place,  which  was  to  me  a  new  sight.  The 
daughters  of  Sir  George  Cornewall,  most  of  them  still  un- 
married, occupied  my  attention.  Miss  Fanny  Cornewall 
became  soon  after  Lady  Hereford,  and  Miss  Harriet  became 
Mrs.  Lewis  (later  the  mother  of  two  much  distinguished 
sons,  of  whom  the  younger  was  Sir  George  Cornewall 
Lewis).  Miss  Caroline  Cornewall  married  not  long  after, 
and  was  slightly  known  to  me  later  as  Lady  Duff  Gordon. 
Mr.  Price  (later  Sir  Uvedale  Price)  and  his  fine  park  of 
Foxley,  are  very  distinct  in  my  Hereford  recollection. 
The  work  of  Mr.  Price  on  the  Picturesque  I  knew  well, 
having  read  it  aloud  to  my  mother,  both  of  us  taking  it  in 
con  amore. 

"  'Youth  looks  out  upon  life,  as  a  distant  prospect  sun- 
gilt,'  is  a  remark  made  by  Johnson  on  a  very  hacknied 


63  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAJvONESS    BUNSEN. 

subject,  -which  must  present  itself  to  every  human  being 
under  one  or  another  aspect.  "With  me,  the  '  sun-gilding ' 
had  soon  passed  away ;  and  only  while  that  lasted,  can  I 
discern  spots  which  tempt  me  to  delineation,  or  tracks 
which  guided  to  scenes  or  objects  of  interest.  I  was,  in  a 
grave  and  dispirited  family,  the  only  piece  of  health  and 
activity  and  comparative  cheerfulness,  and  I  had  to  con- 
tend against  becoming  accustomed  to  the  habit  of  dwell- 
ing upon  evil  whether  present  or  prospective.  Four  lines 
(which  I  believe  form  part  of  a  sonnet  of  Miss  Seward's) 
may  be  taken  as  the  text  of  most  of  my  unspoken  medi- 
tations, or  reveries — 

'  Coine,  "bright  Imagination  !  come,  relume 
Thine  orient  lamp  !  with  renovating  ray 
Shine  on  the  mind,  and  pierce  its  gathering  gloom 
With  all  the  fire/»  of  intellectual  day ! '" 


CHAPTER  III. 

HOME  LIFE  AT  LLANOVER. 

"  Le  bonheur  se  trouvait  pour  elle  dans  un  grand  developpement  de 
scs  facultes,  elle  residait  dans  1' application." — MADAME  ROLAND. 

"T N  the  extreme  quiet  of  her  life  at  Llanover,  Mrs. 
Waddington  found  all-sufficient  interest  in  the 
education  of  her  daughters  Frances  and  Emilia.  But 
while  Emilia  Waddington  touched  all  the  tenderest 
chords  of  her  mother's  heart  by  her  patient  and  cheer- 
ful endurance  of  suffering,  the  vigorous  constitution 
and  more  advanced  age  of  her  elder  child  rendered  her 
every  day  an  increasingly  valuable  companion  to  the 
parent,  whose  peculiar  system  of  tuition  was  certainly 
eminently  successful.  She  never  overloaded  her 
daughter  with  tasks,  but  from  the  earliest  age  she 
interested  her  by  reading  aloud  or  by  recounting  what 
she  herself  had  read,  repeating  such  parts  as  she  con- 
sidered would  make  a  beneficial  impression.  "  What- 
ever you  do,  do  it  with  all  your  might,"  was  a  maxim 
from  which  she  never  departed.  A  great  deal  of  rest 
was  insisted  upon,  and  a  great  deal  of  air  and  exercise, 


64  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

but  when  employed,  no  half  attention  was  allowed  or 
even  endured.  Idle  hands  and  listless  looks  were  never 
permitted  for  an  instant.  The  moment  attention 
flagged,  the  book  was  closed  and  put  away,  and  a  habit 
of  self-examination  and  reflection  was  engendered, 
which  in  general  is  too  much  neglected. 

In  after  years,  the  Baroness  Bunsen,  when  referring 
to  her  child-life  at  Llanover,  often  spoke  of  the  way  in 
which  her  early  habits  of  absolute  self-dependence  were 
engendered.  On  seeing  how  in  many  families  it  is 
supposed  that  children  must  be  "  watched  "  from  morn- 
ing till  night,  she  used  to  describe  how  different  was 
her  up-bringing,  left  entirely  without  any  guidance 
except  her  mother's  directions,  from  which  she  never 
thought  of  deviating,  as  to  the  employment  of  her 
time ;  without  any  regular  lesson-hours,  yet,  when  in 
the  house,  expected  to  be  always  busy  with  one  thing 
or  other,  and  that,  not  in  any  solitary  retreat,  but  in. 
her  mother's  sitting-room,  exposed  to  constant  inter- 
ruptions, and  therefore  trained  to  pin  down  attention 
to  the  utmost. 

Frances  Waddington  never  was  placed  under  a 
governess,  and  till  she  was  fourteen,  almost  the  only 
instruction  she  received  except  that  of  her  mother,  was 
from  a  female  artist  (Miss  Palmer),  who  was  remark- 
able for  her  admirable  style  of  sketching  from  nature. 
Before  she  was  six  years  old  the  young  Frances  used  to 
accompany  this  lady,  watching  her  at  work,  and  very 
soon  beginning  to  take  the  same  view.  Her  improve- 


HOME    LIFE    AT    LLANOVER.  65 

ment  was  extraordinarily  rapid,  and  encouraged  by  her 
mother,  whose  exquisite  taste  and  accurate  eye  detected 
the  slightest  fault  in  drawing  or  colouring,  she  made 
such  progress  as  very  soon  to  outstrip  her  early  in- 
structress. Mrs.  Waddington  encouraged  her  little 
daughter  in  the  practice  of  drawing  everything  that 
came  in  her  way,  whether  it  was  a  landscape,  a  build- 
ing, a  figure,  an  animal,  or  a  table  with  a  pair  of 
candlesticks  upon  it.  There  are  volumes  of  her  draw- 
ings from  nature  before  she  was  six  years  old.  She 
was  advised,  on  looking  at  any  object,  to  think  of  how 
she  would  draw  it,  and  how  the  lights  and  shades  fell, 
and  to  be  able  to  give  a  reason  for  every  line  she 
made.  Especially  remarkable  as  evidence  of  her  artistic 
skill,  and  thorough  knowledge  of  form  at  this  time, 
are  her  many  cuttings  out  in  black  paper — an  art  now 
almost  forgotten,  but  which  was  then  greatly  admired. 
The  extreme  truthfulness,  remembered  as  charac- 
teristic of  both  her  father  and  mother,  is  so  quaintly 
evinced  in  the  following  letter  of  their  little  Frances, 
written  at  four  years  old,  that  it  claims  insertion  : — 

"  My  dear  Aunt  Harriet, — Mamma  desires  me  to  write 
to  you,  and  she  told  me  to  write  to  my  grandpapa,  or  else  I 
should  not  think  of  sending  you  letters,  as  I  do  not 
remember  either  of  you.  My  aunts  Louisa  and  Fanny  I 
do  remember,  and  love  very  much.  My  grandmamma 
Waddington  has  given  Emily  and  me  three  guineas.  I 
cannot  tell  what  else  to  say. — F.  WADDINGTON." 

VOL.  I.  F 


66  LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUXSEN. 

Being  encouraged,  as  early  as  1802,  to  keep  a  journal 
of  her  inner  life, .  Frances  Waddington  inscribed  upon 
the  first  page  the  precept  of  Dr.  Johnson,  "  The  great 
thing  to  be  recorded  is  the  state  of  your  own  mind ; 
and  you  should  write  down  everything  that  you  remem- 
ber, for  you  cannot  judge  at  first  what  is  good  or  bad  ; 
and  write  immediately  while  the  impression  is  fresh, 
for  it  will  not  be  the  same  thing  a  week  afterwards." 

A  great  reader,  and  interested  on  all  subjects  which 
exercised  the  understanding,  Mrs.  Waddington  pos- 
sessed unusual  powers  of  expression  both  in  writing 
and  conversation,  and  had  a  peculiarly  musical  voice, 
which  combined  harmony  with  power  and  flexibility 
of  intonation  and  was  without  the  least  affectation. 
There  are  many  instances  on  record  of  the  electrical 
effect  which  her  voice  produced,  and  one  is  remem- 
bered of  her  suddenly  speaking  to  a  post-boy,  who 
was  beating  his  horse  cruelly,  in  tones  which  seemed 
to  strike  him  motionless.  Her  reading  aloud  was  a 
special  gift.  Whatever  she  read — the  Bible,  or  poetry, 
or  the  plays  of  Shakspeare,  her  voice  and  manner  were 
exactly  suited  to  the  subject.  She  encouraged  the 
power  of  recitation  in  her  daughter  Frances,  who  used 
from  an  early  age  to  learn  many  poems  by  heart 
for  her  own  pleasure  and  that  of  her  mother  :  this 
was  merely  resorted  to  as  a  recreation,  her  retentive 
memory  prevented  its  being  a  labour.  She  also  fre- 
quently wrote  to  the  dictation  of  her  mother,  and 
they  read  together  continually. 


HOME    LIFE    AT    LLANOVEK.  67 

Already  in  childhood,  Emilia  "Waddington  had  be- 
come the  confirmed  invalid  which  she  continued  through 
life,  and  was  able  to  have  little  share  in  her  sisters' 
employments,  so  that,  till  her  fourteenth  year,  the  life 
of  Frances,  except  for  her  mother,  would  have  been 
singularly  lonely  and  monotonous.  At  that  time,  she 
was  allowed  to  have  occasional  lessons  in  music  and 
dancing.  Amongst  the  few  persons  whom  she  was  in 
the  habit  of  seeing  from  time  to  time,  were  the  Aliens 
of  Cresselly,  who,  being  natives  and  residents  of  South 
Wales,  had  frequent  opportunities  of  coming  to  Llan- 
over  on  their  journies  to  and  from  London.  The 
Allen  of  Cresselly  of  that  time  married  the  daughter 
of  Lord  Robert  Seymour  (then  of  Taliarris).  His 
only  brother,  Baugh  Allen  (afterwards  appointed  by 
Mr.  Waddington' s  will  trustee  for  Madame  de  Bun- 
sen's  fortune),  was  for  many  years  Master  of  Dulwich 
College,  an  office  which  he  resigned  on  his  marriage 
with  the  niece  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly.  Their  sisters, 
though  not  celebrated  by  poets  or  biographers,  were 
perhaps  more  worthy  of  public  record  than  many  of 
their  contemporaries  whose  lives  have  been  written. 
They  were  remarkable  in  many  ways.  Of  eight  daugh- 
ters the  greater  number  were  exceedingly  handsome, 
and  there  was  not  one  who  did  not  excel  in  conver- 
sational powers,  or  who  had  not  a  talent  for  writing, 
which  though  confined,  as  far  as  is  known,  to  intimate 
correspondence,  might  have  been  employed  on  literary 
productions  with  advantage  to  the  world.  The  eldest 


68  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    UUNSEN. 

married  Sir  James  Mackintosh  :  another  married  M.  de 
Sismondi :  two  married  the  well-known  brothers,  John 
and  Josiah  Wedgewood ;  another  the  Hev.  Matthew 
Surtees,  brother-in-law  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon  ; 
and  another  (mentioned  later  in  these  volumes)  mar- 
ried the  Rev.  E.  Drewe,  Rector  of  Broad-Hambury,  in 
Devonshire,  and  was  mother  of  the  late  Lady  Gifford 
and  Lady  Alderson. 

During  the  many  years  of  her  early  married  life, 
spent  in  the  centre  of  Welsh  cottages  and  "Welsh  cot- 
tagers, Mrs.  Waddington  did  not  think  of  acquiring 
knowledge  of  the  Welsh  language,  which  had  a  large 
share  in  her  occupations,  when,  after  the  marriage  of 
her  elder  daughters,  she  was  only  occupied  by  the  care 
of  her  youngest  child,  who  from  childhood  exhibited 
a  passionate  attachment  for  everything  connected  with 
the  country  of  her  birth.  The  interest  in  the  ancient 
language  of  Britain  which  her  daughter  Augusta 
awakened  in  Mrs.  Waddington  was  afterwards  much 
increased  by  conversation  with  Baron  Bunsen  and  his 
learned  countrymen  Professor  Lepsius  and  Dr.  Meyer, 
who  proved  to  her  the  value  of  Welsh  with  reference 
to  philology  as  well  as  to  historical  and  antiquarian 
subjects. 

It  was  in  her  fifteenth  year  that  Frances  Wadding- 
ton  first  visited  London,  when  her  mother,  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  all  that  was  best  in  the  society 
of  Windsor  and  St.  James's  in  her  youth,  but  who  had 
looked  upon  herself  as  a  kind  of  pariah  from  society  in 


HOME    LIFE    AT   LLANOVER.  69 

her  Welsh  seclusion,  and  imagined  herself  forgotten  by 
her  former  associates,  was  equally  surprised  and  grati- 
fied by  the  warmth  with  which  she  was  greeted.  Espe- 
cially cordial  was  her  reception  by  the  daughters  of 
Thomas  Earl  of  Pomf  ret— Lady  Charlotte  Finch,  Lady 
Juliana  Penn,  and  Lady  Louisa  Clayton,  who  had  been 
amongst  the  most  intimate  friends  of  Mrs.  Delany. 
Her  interview  with  the  Royal  Family  on  the  occasion 
of  her  first  visit  to  London  is  described  in  a  letter 
from  Frances  Waddington  to  her  aunt  Miss  Harriet 
Port. 

"  June  5, 1805. — I  must  begin  by  telling  you  that  yester- 
day the  Princesses,  and  afterwards  the  Queen,  on  hearing 
that  mamma  was  with  the  Miss  Fieldings,  *  sent  for  her, 
Emily,  Augusta,  and  me ;  and,  after  having  given  you  so 
great  a  piece  of  news,  I  will  tell  you  the  whole  story 
methodically.  Mamma  went  to  Lady  C.  Finch's  to  see  Miss 
Augusta  Fielding's  and  Miss  Finch's  dresses,  and  was  a 
good  deal  surprised  at  finding  Miss  Fielding  in  full  dress, 
though  she  was  not  to  go  to  court,  and,  on  inquiring  the 
reason,  understood  that  she  was  going  to  the  Princesses,  to 
stay  with  them  till  they  were  sent  for  by  the  Queen.  After 
having  given  mamma  this  piece  of  information,  Miss 
Fielding  whispered  to  her  sister,  and  then  said,  1 1  have  no 
doubt  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  wotdd 

*  Daughters  of  Captain  Fielding,  R.N.,  by  Sophia,  daughter  of 
Lady  Charlotte  Finch,  who  was  governess  to  the  princesses. 


70  LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEN. 

all  come  up.  Miss  Fielding  then  got  for  mamma  a  purple 
cap  and  feathers  of  her  sister's  and  a  white  muslin  gown 
of  her  own,  which  she  helped  her  to  put  on,  while  Miss 
Augusta  fastened  the  feathers  in  mamma's  head,  which 
you,  who  know  what  it  is  to  have  to  dress  in  a  hurry,  par- 
ticularly for  Court,  where  she  was  forced  to  go  early,  will 
acknowledge  to  have  been  excessively  good-natured.  All 
this  time  Miss  Melding' s  maid  trimmed  me  out  in  a  coral 
necklace  and  a  worked  muslin  gown  of  her  mistress's, 
with  a  long  train.  Emily  unluckily  had  left  her  cap  at 
home  and  came  only  in  a  hat,  so  Miss  Fielding  formed  the 
expedient  of  tying  a  blue  Barcelona  handkerchief  round 
her  head,  and  a  necklace  round  her  throat,  and  then,  our 
borrowed  feathers  having  been  properly  adjusted,  we  went 
to  their  Royal  Highnesses,  all  of  us,  as  you  may  believe, 
in  a  pretty  good  fright,  except  Augusta,  who  was  perfectly 
at  her  ease.  We  came  into  a  very  little  room,  which  the 
Princesses,  with  their  hoops,  almost  exclusively  occupied. 
I  guessed  at  once  which  was  Princess  Augusta  by  her 
kindness  to  mamma,  Princess  Elizabeth  by  her  size,  and 
Princess  Mary  by  her  beauty.  Princess  Amelia  was  not 
there,  and  Princess  Sophia  I  did  not  much  look  at,  as  I 
was  occupied  in  admiring  Princess  Mary's  headdress,  which 
was  a  large  plume  of  white  ostrich  feathers,  and  a  very 
small  plume  of  black  feathers  placed  before  the  white 
ones :  her  hair  was  drawn  up  quite  smooth  to  the  top  of 
her  head,  with  one  large  curl  hanging  from  thence  almost 
down  to  her  throat.  Her  petticoat  was  white  and  silver, 
and  the  drapery  and  body,  as  well  as  I  can  recollect,  were 
of  purple  silk,  covered  with  spangles,  and  a  border  and 
fringe  of  silver.  Princess  Elizabeth  had  eleven  immense 


HOME    LIFE    AT    LLANO VER.  71 

yellow  ostrich  feathers  in  her  head,  which  you  may  imagine 
had  not  a  very  good  effect.  "We  had  been  in  the  room  five 
minutes,  during  which  time  Princess  Elizabeth  took  a  great 
deal  of  notice  of  Augusta  (who  says  that '  the  lady  in  a  blue 
gown  and  hoop  took  her  to  the  window  and  kissed  her') 
when  Princess  Charlotte  of  "Wales  came  in,  dressed  in  a 
pale  pink  frock  covered  with  lace  and  wearing  a  beautiful 
pearl  necklace  and  bracelets  and  a  diamond  cross.  She  is 
a  very  pretty  and  delicate-looking  child,  and  has  light 
brown  hair,  which  curls  all  over  her  head.  Princess  Eliza- 
beth took  her  by  the  hand.  The  Queen  then  sent  for 
the  Princesses,  and  if  they  had  been  anyone  else,  I  must 
have  laughed  at  seeing  them  sidle  out  of  the  room,  holding 
their  hoops  with  both  hands.  We  were  moving  towards 
Miss  Fielding's  room,  when  mamma  was  told  that  Princess 
Elizabeth  wanted  her;  so  we  all  followed  mamma  and 
Miss  Fielding  into  a  room,  where  we  saw  Her  Majesty  with 
all  the  Princesses,  and  Mrs.  Fielding  and  a  great  many 
more  ladies.  Emily  and  I  stood  outside  the  door  till  Prin- 
cess Elizabeth  called  us  in,  and  the  Queen  made  some 
remarks  on  mamma's  having  two  such  great  girls,  and  she 
spoke  very  graciously  to  mamma,  and  made  inquiries  after 
Madame  d'Arblay.*  Then  she  said  she  would  not  detain 
us  any  longer,  so  we  walked  off,  and  had  just  put  on  our 
own  clothes,  when  Mrs.  Fielding  came  and  made  us 
dress  again,  to  go  to  the  Princess  Charlotte,  who  was  to 
remain  with  Lady  C.  Finch  for  some  time.  We  went  and 

*  Because  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.  Waddington,  who  mado 
known  her  reduced  circumstances  to  Queen  Charlotte. 


72  LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUN  SEN. 

staid  with  her  Royal  Highness  for  about  an  hour,  who 
played  as  good-naturedly  as  possible  with  Augusta, 
who  was  never  better  pleased  in  her  life.  The  Princess 
said  in  the  prettiest  manner  imaginable  'Would  not 
Mrs.  Waddington  sit  down?'  and  in  short  has  quite  the 
manners  of  a  little  queen,  though  she  is  as  natural  as  pos- 
sible." 

A  few  days  later  Frances  Waddington  was  present 
at  the  trial  of  Lord  Melville,  impeached  for  having 
connived  at  a  system  of  peculation  while  Treasurer  of 

the  Navy. 

FRANCES  WADDINGTON  to  Miss  HARRIET  PORT. 

' '  1 1  June,  1805. — Mamma  received,  through  Lady  Albinia 
Cumberland,*  an  order  from  LadyWilloughby  f  or  two  tickets 
for  the  Great  Chamberlain's  box  for  the  last  day  of  Lord 
Melville's  trial,  whenever  that  should  be.  We  only  knew 
late  on  Wednesday  afternoon  that  it  was  fixed  for  Thurs- 
day, when  I  got  up  at  five,  as  we  were  told  many  people 
would  go  at  that  time,  but  my  aunt  Fanny  f  did  not  call  for 
me  till  seven.  The  doors  were  not  opened  till  nine,  but 
during  the  interval  Colonel  Ram  took  us  into  the  Houses 
of  Lords  and  Commons.  I  never  could  have  imagined 
what  a  real  squeeze  was  until  I  found  myself  in  the 
passage  leading  to  the  Great  Chamberlain's  box ;  however, 
we  were  soon  safely  seated,  and  were  exactly  in  front  of 
the  throne.  At  twelve  the  procession  of  peers  commenced, 
the  Masters  in  Chancery  in  long  wigs — some  in  purple  and 

*  Daughter  of  George,  third  Earl  of  Buckinghamshire. 

*  Then  Mrs.  Ram. 


HOME    LIFE    AT    LLANOVER.  73 

gold,  some  scarlet  and  gold,  and  some  in  black  and  gold 
robes;  then  the  Lord  Chancellor,  the  barons,  bishops, 
viscounts,  and  so  on — those  of  least  rank  walking  first, 
and  the  procession  ending  with  the  Royal  Dukes.  Then  a 
man  bearing  a  sceptre,  having  commanded  silence  in  the 
King's  name  on  pain  of  imprisonment,  the  trial  began,  which 
certainly  was  not  amusing,  as  it  consisted  solely  of  Lord 
Erskine's  asking  the  opinion  of  each  peer  on  the  ten 
different  articles  of  impeachment,  and  the  peer  got  up  in 
his  place  and  answered  'guilty'  or  'not  guilty,'  putting 
his  hand  on  his  heart.  Not  one  gave  the  answer  really 
well  and  gracefully  except  the  Duke  of  Cumberland ;  but 
the  Royal  Dukes  all  spoke  audibly,  which  I  am  sure  the 
peers  did  not.  We  did  not  get  home  till  five  o'clock,  so  I 
had  been  twelve  hours  without  eating  anything  but  some 
sea  biscuits. 

Dr.  Burney  dined  with  us,  and  at  twelve  P.M.  mamma 
went  to  Lady  Lansdowne's  masquerade  dressed  as  a  pilgrim. 
There  were  some  incomparable  masks,  especially  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  by  Mr.  W.  Lyttleton,  who  lugged  about  his  History 
of  the  World,  and  began  reading  it  aloud  to  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. The  Duke  of  Clarence,  dressed  as  a  woman,  walked 
about  all  night  with  Mrs.  Jordan,  and  the  Duke  of  Sussex 
with  Grassini,  whose  delightful  acting  in  *  Camilla  '  I  have 
not  yet  told  you  of." 

The  kindness  of  her  reception  in  the  preceding  year 
induced  Mrs,  Waddington  to  return  to  London  in  1806, 
when  she  visited  Windsor  with  her  children  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Ram ;  the  King,  who  was  then  in  his  sixty- 
seventh  year,  being  already  virtually  under  sentence  of 


74  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

blindness,  a  cataract  having  formed  over  one  of  his 
eyes,  and  a  second  being  in  process. 

FRANCES  WADDINGTOX  to  Miss  HARRIET  PORT. 

"  30  June,  1806. — Yesterday  mamma,  Emily,  Augusta 
and  I  went  to  Windsor,  and  staid  from  six  till  almost  eight 
with  Lady  Albinia  Cumberland,  who  told  mamma  that  she 
had  a  most  warm  friend  in  Princess  Elizabeth,  and  that 
she  had  been  speaking  of  her  in  the  highest  terms  that 
very  day  at  dinner.  "We  drank  tea  with  Lady  Albinia,  and 
then  went  on  the  terrace,  where  the  King,  all  the  Princesses 
except  Princess  Mary,  and  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  were 
walking.  The  first  time  they  passed  by,  Princess  Augusta 
and  one  of  the  others  turned  out  of  the  line,  and  came  up 
to  mamma,  saying  <  How  do  you  do  ?  I  am  so  glad  to  see 
you.'  The  next  time  they  all  stopped  for  more  than  a 
quarter  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  Majesty  looks  well.' — '  Yes, 
I  am  in  perfect  health,  I  have  no  right  to  complain.'  The 
King  then  stooped  to  Augusta — 'And  who  is  this  little 
thing  ? '  Upon  which  Princess  Augusta  said,  '  Oh,  that  is 
a  very  beautiful  little  thing ! '  and  mamma  lifted  Augusta 
up,  and  the  King  looked  at  her  and  praised  her,  and  Princess 
Elizabeth  kissed  her,  and  then  said,  l  These  are  the  two 
pthers,'  and  she  took  me  by  the  arm,  and  put  me  close  to 
the  King,  who  looked  at  me  through  his  glass,  and  said, 
*  You  are  a  very  undutiful  daughter  to  grow  taller  than 
your  mother '  (a  prqof  qf  the  badness  of  his  eyes),  and  he 
asked  me  how  long  we  had  been  in  town.  Emily  was  then 
§hown  to  him,  and  he  asl^ed  mamma  ^fter  Uncle  Dewes, 


HOME    LIFE    AT   LLAXOVER.  75 

and  said,  '"Well,  and  how  do  you  think  the  old  walls 
look  ? '  and  laughed  at  her  expressing  her  delight  at 
hearing  the  chimes ;  and  Princess  Elizabeth  said  to  me,  '  I 
have  such  a  beautiful  drawing  of  yours. '  ' 

To  the  SAME. 

"  23  June,  1806. — I  must  tell  my  aunt  Harriet  and  my 
grandpapa  that  Pamela,  a  Frenchwoman,  the  daughter 
and  eleve  of  Madame  de  Genlis,  is  one  of  the  very  sweetest 
creatures  I  ever  had  the  pleasure  of  beholding.  Last 
night  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  American 
merchant  named  Pitcairne.  Her  gown  was  of  printed 
calico,  but  only  came  over  her  shoulders,  with  two  short 
sleeves :  all  that  was  seen  in  front  was  a  white  body  and  petti- 
coat. On  her  head  was  a  little  black  Oxonian's  cap,  made 
of  black  crape  and  beads  which  she  pulled  off  to  Lady 
Sarah.  Her  black  eyes  are  in  perpetual  motion  ;  she  has 
not  a  morsel  of  rouge,  and  she  laughed  at  the  beautiful 
Dowager  Duchess  of  Rutland  for  wearing  so  much,  saying 
'  When  I  am  a  grandmother,  I  will  have  a  clean  face,  that 
I  may  not  daub  my  little  grandchildren's  noses  with  rouge 
when  I  kiss  them.' 

"  We  have  been  with  Lady  Stuart  and  Miss  Hobart  to 
see  Lord  Stafford's  pictures.  They  give  tickets  for  people 
to  see  them  every  Wednesday,  when  the  rooms  are  crowded 
like  the  Royal  Academy  Exhibition.  The  pictures  are 
extremely  fine,  but  it  is  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  Mrs. 


76  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Siddons  for  some  time,  to  hear  what  she  said.  At  length 
she  picked  out  a  painting  of  some  Dutch  fishwonien,  the 
last  thing  upon  earth  you  could  call  interesting,  and  '  what 
a  sweet  composition  is  that!'  was  pronounced  in  her  deepest 
tragedy  tones." 

In  the  following  year  the  Windsor  visit  was  repeated. 

>* 
FRANCES  WADDINGTON  to  Miss  PORT. 

"  13  July,  1807.  —  Yesterday  we  went  to  Windsor. 
The  crowd  on  the  Terrace  was  amazing  and  the  heat 
intense.  The  first  time  the  Royal  Family  passed,  only 
Princess  Elizabeth  spoke  to  mamma  and  shook  hands  with 
her.  The  next  time  they  all  stopped,  and  Princess  Eliza- 
beth kindly  took  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  get  the  Queen 
to  make  out  mamma,  which  she  did  at  last,  with  some 
difficulty,  and  then,  to  make  amends,  told  her  that  '  she 
was  not  much  altered  since  she  saw  her  last.'  Then 
Princess  Elizabeth  said  twice  '  This  is  Mrs.  Waddington's 
daughter,'  and  the  Queen  commented  on  my  looking  so 
much  stouter  than  mamma,  then  she  asked  after  mamma's 
health  and  mamma  told  her  she  was  very  much  troubled 
with  headaches.  '  Oh,'  said  the  Queen,  '  that  is  like  me, 
I  have  very  bad  headaches.'  Then  the  Queen  turned  to 
my  aunt  Fanny  and  Mr.  Earn,  and  Princess  Mary  spoke 
most  kindly  to  mamma,  and  so  did  the  Duke  of  Cambridge. 
The  King  spoke  to  mamma,  but  did  not  say  anything  par- 
ticular :  he  looked  grave,  and  stood  staring  at  her  for  near 
five  minutes,  but  I  am  afraid  he  could  not  see  her.  The 
Queen  is  grown  so  enormous  that  she  looks  as  if  she  car- 
ried all  the  fifteen  Princes  and  Princesses  before  her." 


HOME    LIFE    AT   LLANOVER.  77 

In  the  summer  of  1808,  the  family  passed  a  longer 
time  in  London,  for  Frances  Waddington  was  now 
seventeen,  though  from  her  mother's  frequent  and 
severe  headaches  she  did  not  go  out  very  much,  and 
then  only  under  the  chaperonage  of  some  trusted 
friend. 

FRANCES  WADDINOTON  to  Miss  HARRIET  PORT. 

"6  July,  1808. — I  must  now  tell  you  of  yesterday. 
We  were  dressed  and  with  Miss  Fielding  hy  half -past 
twelve.  We  were  called  in  first  to  see  Princess  Mary  and 
Princess  Charlotte,  then  to  Princess  Sophia.  The  Queen 
and  the  other  Princesses  were  so  hurried  they  could  not 
come,  hut  promised  to  come  if  possible  after  the  drawing- 
room.  Those  two  Princesses  were  very  kind  to  mamma, 
particularly  Princess  Sophia,  hut  they  both  looked  sadly 
ill,  and  though  very  smiling  and  good-natured,  I  think 
there  is  a  striking  appearance  of  melancholy  in  their 
countenances.  Princess  Sophia  was  beautifully  dressed  in 
pink  and  silver  tissue  covered  with  blonde  lace  and 
wreaths  of  silver  flowers.  Princess  Mary  was  very  mag- 
nificent in  white  and  silver.  Princess  Charlotte's  dress 
was  blue  and  silver  tissue  with  a  white  lace  frock,  a 
diamond  necklace  and  cross,  her  hair  (which  grows  beau- 
tifully about  her  forehead)  curled  in  front,  and  done  up 
behind  in  curls  with  a  diamond  arrow,  diamond  brooches 
on  her  sleeves.-  The  Duchess  of  Brunswick  is  quite  a 
vulgar-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  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    KA11ONESS    BUXSEN. 

marshal's  uniforms.  When  the  Queen  and  the  Princesses 
went  into  the  drawing-room,  Princess  Charlotte  came 
back  to  Miss  Fielding,  and  staid  till  half-past  four,  as 
kind  as  possible  to  Augusta,  whom  she  knew  at  first  sight, 
and  seemed  to  like  much  better  than  the  other  children. 
Nothing  can  be  more  perfect  than  her  manners,  her  figure 
and  carriage  are  charming,  with  a  pretty  animated  coun- 
tenance, and  nothing  like  pride  about  her,  suffering  Lady 
Robert  Fitzgerald's  children  to  take  liberties  with  her, 
without  even  looking  displeased.  She  is  very  much  to  be 
pitied,  for  the  only  amusement  she  has  in  the  year  is 
coming  to  Lady  Charlotte  Finch's,  on  the  King  and  Queen's 
birthday;  and  she  does  nothing  from  morning  till  night 
but  learn  lessons  which  she  hears  Lady  de  Clifford  say  are 
unnecessary.  Mamma  spoke  to  her  of  Miss  Hunt,  and  she 
answered  with  emotion,  '0,  I  was  very  naughty  when 
Miss  Hunt  was  with  me,'  and  then  mentioned  what  mamma 
knew  before,  that  Miss  Hunt  wrote  to  her  on  her  birth- 
day. The  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  Princess  Charlotte's  pre- 
ceptor, as  they  call  him,  said  to  mamma — '  I  wish  to  God 
we  could  have  Miss  Hunt  back  again,  she  cannot  be 
replaced.' " 

In  1809  Frances  "Waddington  was  dangerously  ill 
at  Llanover  from  typhus  fever.  In  the  following 
November,  partly  for  the  advantage  of  masters,  she 
went  with  her  father,  mother,  and  sisters  to  spend 
the  winter  in  Edinburgh — a  winter  of.  great  enjoy- 
ment, as  affording  that  mental  stimulus  which  she  so 
greatly  missed  at  home.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  Mrs. 
Waddington  to  recall  many  old  associations  in  the 


HOME    LIFE    AT   LLANO VER.  79 

society  of  Mrs.  Delany's  favourite  godson,  Dr.  Daniel 
Sandford,  then  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  and  to  her 
daughter  his  friendship  was  of  the  greatest  advantage, 
as  he  was  able  to  enter  into  the  many  difficulties  on 
religious  subjects  which  presented  themselves  to  her 
active  mind,  and  to  show  her  how — not  to  turn  away 
from,  but  to  solve  them.  His  children  also  were  pro- 
nounced by  Frances  Waddington  the  most  agreeable 
she  ever  saw.  The  society  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  of  Mr. 
Alison,  Mr.  Jeffrey,  and  of  the  charming  Lady  Louisa 
Stuart  (granddaughter  of  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu) 
— the  life-long  friend  of  Mrs.  Waddington,  also  com- 
bined to  render  the  winter  most  enjoyable.  Another 
delight  was  the  incomparable  acting  of  Mrs.  Siddons, 
who  was  in  Edinburgh  at  this  time.  It  was  during 
this  winter  that  the  attention  they  excited  in  others 
awakened  Mrs.  Waddington  to  the  superiority  of  her 
daughter's  intellectual  gifts.  After  her  return  to 
Llanover  she  wrote  to  her  nephew,  James  Monk,  after- 
wards Bishop  of  Gloucester : — 

"  3  July,  1810. — I  was  very  much  gratified  by  my  six 
months  in  Edinburgh.  Mr.  Waddington  certainly  was 
tired  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.  Professor 
Playfair  said  in  a  mixed  company  that  he  never  had  met  with 
so  well-balanced  or  so  elegantly  cultivated  a  mind  as  Miss 
Waddington' s,  and  many  more  similar  speeches  inevitably 
travelled  to  me,  made  by  other  men  about  her.  I  say  men 


80  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

only,  for  I  kept  all  the  boys  aloof,  not  allowing  one  to 
enter  the  house,  excepting  Lord  Glenbervie's  son,  Mr. 
Douglas,  Mr.  G.  Rich,  and  Lord  John  Russell,  who,  bye 
the  bye,  is  the  only  English  young  man  of  any  promise  at 
Edinburgh." 

Great  was  the  pleasure  of  a  few  days  spent  with  the 
Fergussons  of  Raith,  and  the  enjoyment  of  its  fine 
library,  its  collections  of  prints,  and  casts  of  antique 
gems.  On  returning  to  Llanover,  Miss  Waddington 
attended  to  her  various  studies  with  fresh  energy,  as 
well  as  to  the  education  of  her  younger  sisters.  She 
says  in  her  diary : — 

"  10  June,  1810. — Our  books  having  at  last  arrived  from 
Edinburgh,  I  have  my  Greek,  Latin,  Spanish,  and  Italian, 
Euclid,  and  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations  to  go  on  with, 
besides  drawing,  practising,  and  working,  hearing  Emily 
read  Italian  and  seeing  her  embroider,  and  watching  over 
Augusta  in  her  mathematics,  her  drawing,  and  her  music, 
and  doing  geography  with  her.  I  cannot  always  contrive 
all  these  things  in  one  day,  but  I  endeavour  to  make  up 
the  second  day  for  what  I  omit  in  the  first." 

In  July  Professor  Monk  came  to  Llanover  on  a  long 
visit,  when  Frances  "Waddington  took  the  opportunity  of 
"  going  on  with  mathematics  and  Latin,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  most  other  things."  The  friendship  which  began 
with  her  cousin  over  mathematical  lessons,  led  to  a 
correspondence  of  many  years.  In  Mr.  Monk,  both 


HOME   LIFE   AT   LLANOVER.  81 

mother  and  daughter,  during  the  stagnation  of  their 
Llanover  life,  found  one  who  was  capable  of  entering 
into  the  books  which  formed  almost  their  sole  interest, 
and  who  was  always  willing  to  discuss  them  and  advise 
upon  them.  The  appearance  of  the  successive  novels 
of  Walter  Scott  were  at  this  time  the  chief  excitements 
of  many  an  English  home,  but  at  Llanover  were 
scarcely  more  of  events  than  the  publication  of  the  dif- 
ferent works  of  Madame  de  Stae'l,  for  whose  character 
and  writings  Mrs.  Waddington  had  conceived  the  most 
boundless  admiration.  "Le  talent  de  Madame  de 
Stae'l  agit  comrne  une  sensation/ '  wrote  Mrs.  Wadding- 
ton,  borrowing  the  authoress's  own  words  as  applied  to 
Claudius,  a  novel-writer.  The  appearance  of  EAlle- 
magne  especially  excited  the  most  violent  enthusiasm. 
Mrs.  Waddington  could  not  find  words  to  give  an  idea, 
of  the  "  maraviglia,  ed  amore,  la  riverenza,  mille 
affetti  insieme,  tutti  raccolti  al  cor,"  excited  by  the 
first  and  second  volumes.  Meanwhile,  in  the  society 
around  Llanover,  neither  mother  or  daughter  found 
anything  perfectly  congenial. — "  Fanny  and  I  see  too 
many  people  qui  occupent  le  meme  gradin  que  nous," 
wrote  Mrs.  Waddington  to  Professor  Monk. 

PRANCES  WADDINGTON  to  the  REV.  J.  H.  MONK. 

"Llanover,  15  March,  1813. — I  make  an  opportunity,  a 
thing  never  to  be  found  ready  made,  to  write  to  you.  .  .  . 
As  I  think  you  will  like  to  hear  of  the  persons  that  most 
interested  us  at  Bath,  I  will  begin  with  Mrs.  Frances 

VOL.  i.  G 


82  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    UARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Bowdler,  sister  to  Mrs.  Harriet  Bowdler,  wlio  published 
Miss  Smith.' s  Fragments,  and  who  is  still  more  known  as 
the  queen  of  a  coterie  of  ladies  at  Bath.  The  two  sisters 
differ  so  completely  in  character  and  taste,  that  they  have 
for  years  lived  separately,  though  on  perfectly  good  terms. 
Mrs.  Frances  has  lived  in,  and  enjoyed,  the  most  desirable 
society  in  her  own  country,  and  has  enlarged  her  ideas  and 
quickened  her  perceptions,  by  a  long  residence  abroad; 
while  Mrs.  Harriet  has  remained  fixed  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  retained  the 
originality  of  her  character,  and  the  acuteness  of  her 
understanding,  while  the  excellent  talents  of  the  latter 
have  not  preserved  her  from  sinking  into  the  insipidity 
which  must  ever  result  from  indiscriminate  intercourse 
with  the  herd  of  ordinary  mortals.  Mrs.  F.  Bowdler' s 
favourite  topic  of  conversation  was  one  particularly  inter- 
esting to  me — the  modern  inhabitants  and  literature  of 
that  country,  which  was  in  ancient  days  fruitful  perhaps 
beyond  all  others  in  worth  and  genius. 

"We  have  lately  been  reading  Mrs.  Hannah  More's 
new  work,  'Christian Morals,'  with  great  pleasure,  though 
we  must  ever  prefer  the  writings  which  established  her 
reputation,  to  those  which  she  has  published  since  it  was 
established,  the  former  having  been  executed  by  faculties 
in  their  prime,  improved  by  a  long  residence  in  the  house 
of  Garrick  and  amongst  his  associates,  and  by  intimate 
friendship  and  correspondence  with  Lord  Orford;  whereas 
the  latter  have  been  the  production  of  advanced  years, 
decayed  health,  and  taste  vitiated  by  the  society  of  sec- 


HOME    LIFE    AT    LLANOVER.  83 

taries,  and  of  Mrs.  Patty  and  Mrs.  Prue  (or  whatever  may 
be  their  names),  her  sisters.  All  this  being  considered,  it 
is  only  wonderful  that  she  should  still  be  able  in  the  high- 
est degree  to  'come  with  power  into  the  conscience,'  and 
to  reiterate  truths  long  since  familiar,  not  only  with  fervour 
ever  increasing,  but  with  unceasing  variety :  however,  at 
the  same  time  that  we  are  grateful  to  Mrs.  Hannah  More 
for  the  publication  of  this  work,  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel 
indignant  at  the  depravity  of  taste  which  has  induced  her 
to  interlard  her  most  animating  passages  with  offensive 
allusions,  degrading  similes,  and  pedantic  words,  by  which 
she  lessens  the  effect  of  her  exhortations.  Another  thing 
that  distressed  me  in  this  work  was  the  false  reasoning,  as 
I  considered  it,  respecting  Providence :  for  it  has  always 
appeared  to  me  that  the  belief  in  particular  interpositions  of 
the  Divine  Hand  interferes  with  that  fundamental  principle 
of  religion  which  teaches  us  that  '  God  works  by  means, 
not  miracles ; '  that  he  sets  at  work  causes,  which  produce 
the  system  of  things  and  course  of  events  we  behold; 
wherefore,  in  the  very  effect  of  those  causes,  we  may  with 
truth  say  we  discern  the  hand  of  God,  but  then  it  is 
mediately,  not  immediately  ;  a  '  special  interference  'of  God 
would  be  an  interference  with  his  own  moral  government. 
Surely  the  very  word  '  interposition '  denotes  the  fallacy  of 
the  doctrine ;  from  what  should  God  interpose  to  save  us  ? 
from  another  power  ?  But  we  know  that  '  all  power  is  of 
God ; '  otherwise  we  should  be  admitting  the  good  and  evil 
principle  of  the  ancient  Persians.  As  to  the  consolation 
which  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 


84  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

words,  that  '  all  things  shall  work  together  for  good  to  them 
that  love  God.' " 


MRS.  WADDINGTON  to  EEV.  PROFESSOR  MONK. 

"  I  spent  the  last  evening  of  being  in  town  with  Madame 
de  Stael,  but  in  such  a  state  of  suffering  that  nothing  but 
my  most  ardent  desire  for  years  to  hear  and  see  the  most 
wonderful  woman  of  her  age,  could  have  induced  me  to 
struggle  thro'.  Still,  as  I  went  with  '  the  man  in  Europe 
she  most  admires '  (her  own  words),  she  thought  I  must  be 
worth  cultivating,  and,  therefore,  in  the  most  engaging 
manner  bid  me  '  not  forget  her,'  but  '  when  I  could,  come 
again.'  In  my  life  I  never  was  so  highly  gratified  by  con- 
versation. Her  speaking  is  quite  equal  to  her  writing. 
Indeed  Sir  J.  Mackintosh  told  me  that,  except  Burke  some- 
times, he  never  heard  anything  at  all  approaching  to  her 
dazzling  eloquence.  Fanny  spent  several  hours  on  Mon- 
day night  listening  to  Madame  de  Stael,  Sir  J.  Mackintosh, 
Dumont,  and  Mr.  "VV.  Smith,  and  on  her  return  home  sat 
on  my  bed  two  hours,  repeating  the  very  words  of  many  of 
the  sentences  of  Madame  de  Stael,  and  also  the  admirable 
and  acute  comments  of  the  men  who  drew  her  out." 

"  8  December,  1813. — Do  not  think  that  I  am  insensible 
to  public  events,  because  I  have  said  nothing  about  the 
astonishing  reverses.  The  altered  countenance  of  Napoleon 
in  the  print  in  Colnaghi's  shop  convinced  me,  in  July,  that 
he  would  no  longer  '  unassailable  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. 


HOME   LIFE    AT    LLANOVER.  85 

firmly  believe  within  my  life  lie  will  be  again  the  greatest 
potentate  on  earth. 

"Poor  Emily  is  much  worse.  Alas,  alas!  how  exactly 
does  a  sentence  of  Madame  de  Stael' s  paint  her  situation — 
*  Terminee  comme  evenement,  mais  qui  subsiste  encore 
comme  souffrance,'  and  this  at  nineteen." 

FRANCES  WADDINGTON  to  PKOFESSOK,  MONK. 

"  17  April,  1814. — My  Mother  bids  me  say  that  you  have 
conferred  the  greatest  of  all  possible  obligations  on  her,  by 
having  excited  for  one  moment  the  slightest  interest  in 
Madame  de  Stael  for  her.  For  years  Madame  de  Stael  has 
been  literally  '  1'objet  de  son  ralle  ;'  and  both  my  mother 
and  myself  felt  to  so  great  a  degree  the  irresistible  enchant- 
ment of  her  last  work,  that  we  both  addressed  her ;  but  we 
had  not  courage  to  send  the  effusions  of  our  hearts,  every 
word  that  we  could  use  seemed  so  dull,  so  dead,  so  inex- 
pressive of  the  sense  we  entertained  of  the  inestimable 
benefit  of  De  VAllemagne;  even  though  she  herself  has 
said  in  her  preface  to  the  Lettres  sur  JRousseau,  '  Q,ue  le 
sentiment  de  sa  faiblesse  meme  ne  doit  pas  empecher 
d'offrir  son  hommage  a  un  genie  superieur.'  But  one 
must  have  her  talent  to  speak  of  her  as  she  deserves, 
though  happily  this  is  not  necessary  for  understanding 
and  admiring  her ! — As  the  Brahmin  said  to  Sir  William 
Jones,  '  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  most  extraordinary  of 
all  revolutions,  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  we 
entirely  subscribe  to  ;  all  that  is  now  to  be  hoped  is  that 


8(>  LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  representative  system  may  atone  for  the  folly  of  re- 
calling1 ces  imbeciles,  who  "were  the  first,  twenty  years  ago, 
to  desert  their  country,  their  brother,  and  their  king,  not- 
withstanding his  supplications  to  them  to  remain  in 
France.  My  mother  and  I  felt  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  dejection  and  indignation  is  extreme. 
General  Bey,  late  Governor  of  St.  Sebastian,  desired 
the  Vicar  of  Abergavenny  to  write  to  Lord  Bathurst  for  an 
official  certificate  respecting  the  events  that  have  taken 
place,  in  order  that  the  prisoners  may  assemble  and  declare 
by  a  public  act  their  adherence  to  the  decrees  of  the  Con- 
servative Senate." 

MRS.  WADDINGTON  to  EEV.  PROFESSOR  MONK. 

"  August  26,  1814. — We  have  had  for  almost  a  month  the 
master  who  taught  me  French  and  Italian  to  perfect  Fanny 
in  those  languages.  She  could  not  write  a  line  in  Italian 
when  Moyon  came,  and  her  translations  now  would  sur- 
prise you,  most  particularly  the  spelling,  which  she 
scarcely  ever  errs  in,  from  her  extraordinary  attention  in 
reading,  never  having  learnt  a  word  by  rote  in  her  life. 
Moyon  says,  that  excepting  the  youngest  sister  of  Lord 
Howick,  he  never  saw  a  girl  at  all  to  compare  with 
Fanny." 

FRANCES  WADDINGTON  to  the  REV.  PROFESSOR  MONK. 

"  Llanover,  Jan.  25,  1815. — "We  have  just  finished  '  Wa- 
verley.'  It  is  not  surprising  to  us  now  that  you  should 
have  requested  not  to  le  informed,  if  ice  did  not  like  '  Waverley ' 


HOME    LIFE    AT    LLANOVER.  87 

— that  you  should  have  wished  to  be  spared  the  painful 
sensation  consequent  upon  discovering  your  friends  to  be 
incapable  alike  of  the  noblest  and  of  the  commonest  sym- 
pathies of  human  nature.  I  have  thought,  and  said,  that 
I  could  never  like  the  person  who  did  not  feel  like  myself 
about  two  other  works,  namely,  '  Corinne  '  and  '  Delphine ; ' 
but  in  those  two  instances,  the  unsoundness  of  the  moral 
principle  forms  a  ground  of  objection  so  highly  to  be 
respected,  as  to  preclude  a  very  close  scrutiny  as  to  the 
degree  of  native  insensibility  which  must  combine  with  it 
to  prevent  the  strong  sensations  of  delight  and  admiration 
that  I  experience.  But  to  the  case  of  'Waverley'  this 
observation  does  not  apply,  for  wherever  our  minds  can  for 
an  instant  turn  away  from  the  consideration  of  the  gay 
fancy ;  the  sound  reason ;  the  sterling  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  accuracy  of  observation, 
which  every  page  of  this  work  summons  us  to  attribute  to 
its  author, — we  are  called  upon  to  admit,  that  the  noblest 
principles  of  moral  rectitude  are  throughout  inculcated; 
that  they  are  not  merely  interwoven  into  the  contexture  of 
the  work,  but  that  every  feeling  that  is  excited,  every  im- 
pression that  is  left  by  it,  is  of  the  most  salutary  nature ; 
the  reader  is  forcibly  led  by  the  author  to  condemn  every 
defect  in  character,  every  error  in  conduct,  though  combined 
with  the  most  interesting  qualities,  though  tending  to  the 
most  desirable  results.  That  our  enjoyment  might  be  per- 
fect and  entire,  wanting  nothing,  every  part  of  '  Waverley ' 
impressed  upon  our  minds  the  conviction  that  we  owe  it  to 
Walter  Scott.  "When  first  it  came  out,  we  were  told  posi- 


88  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

tively  that  lie  had  written  it,  afterwards  positively  that  he 
had  not ;  but  now,  nothing  can  do  away  the  certainty  we 
feel  on  the  subject — every  perfection  that  shines  forth  in 
full  splendour  in  this  novel,  is  discernible  in  a  degree  in 
his  conversation. 

"  We  have  not  yet  seen  the  Edinburgh  Review  of  '  Waver- 
ley,'  and  I  know  not  when  I  shall  venture  to  read  it,  cer- 
tainly not  till  I  have  enjoyed  some  time  longer  the  exalting 
sensation  of  unmixed  admiration.  The  ^Review  will  pro- 
bably point  out  some  fault,  which  I  may  be  compelled  to 
admit,  though  I  have  not  been  able  to  detect  it.  How 
many  faults,  supposing  they  existed,  might  be  covered  by 
the  single  merit  of  having  delineated  two  female  characters 
so  perfect,  gentle,  calm,  enduring,  yet  enthusiastic  in  senti- 
ment, firm  in  principle,  resolute  in  action!  Ambiguous 
excellence,  though  under  different  lineaments,  is,  I  think, 
to  be  found  in  Dr.  Moore's  Laura,  and  Godwin's  Margue- 
rite ;  but  in  the  works  of  the  most  distinguished  female 
novel  writers  there  is  nothing  with  which  I  am  acquainted, 
equal  to  these  masculine  conceptions  of  female  perfec- 
tion. 

"  But  to  go  on  describing  the  different  effects  produced 
upon  us  by  different  parts  of  this  book,  to  tell  you  how  it 
has  made  us  laugh,  how  it  has  made  us  weep,  how  inces- 
santly the  scenes  it  describes  dwell  before  my  mother's  and 
my  imagination,  is  out  of  the  question ;  therefore  I  will 
break  off  from  the  subject,  after  saying  that  we  continually 
and  devoutly  rejoice  not  to  have  lived  in  the  times  when 
the  scene  of  'Waverley'  is  laid;  for  to  say  nothing  of 
the  strong  temptation  to  be  led  into  error  with  the  erring 
minority,  in  opinion  at  least,  no  sensation  excited  by  public 


HOME    LIFE    AT  LLANO VER.  89 

events  in  these  days,  can  enable  us  to  form  an  adequate 
conception  of  the  actual  suffering  that  must  have  been 
occasioned  by  witnessing  the  infliction  of  the  heaviest 
punishments,  however  justly  incurred,  on  noble  and  inter- 
esting characters,  for  a  mistake  in  judgment,  induced  by 
feelings,  often  amiable,  ever  pardonable. 

"I  cannot  yet  quit  the  subject  of  '  Waverley'  without 
commenting  upon  what  appears  to  me  a  striking  pecu- 
liarity in  those  closing  scenes  of  anguish, — that  so  very 
few  words  are  spoken,  that  in  the  course  of  those  few 
words,  the  sufferers  barely  mention  a  few  of  the  torturing 
circumstances  of  their  situation,  and  then  quickly  revert  to 
other  subjects,  as  if  dreading  yet  more  to  agonize  and 
unnerve  themselves  and  their  auditor.  It  has  ever  been 
observed  that  such  is  the  conduct  natural  to  superior  minds 
in  deep  distress  ;  but  every  other  writer  that  I  can  remem- 
ber has  departed  from  nature  in  this  respect,  for  the  sake 
of  harrowing  up  to  a  greater  degree  the  feelings  of  the 
reader,  and  has  contrived  in  some  manner,  either  by  means 
of  the  principal  characters,  or  of  bystanders,  to  analyse 
and  explain  all  the  causes  of  misery,  lest  they  should  not 
be  fully  understood  and  entered  into." 

"  Llanover,  August  19,  1815. — To  your  question  whether 
we  have  any  schemes  for  the  Continent,  I  answer  that  we 
can  at  present  only  think  of  going  to  St.  Helena.  On  the 
subject  connected  with  that  favoured  island  I  know  not 
how  to  go  on,  as  by  your  not  mentioning  it,  I  perceive  it 
has  sunk  with  you  into  total  insignificance,  and  I  cannot 
solicit  your  bare  approbation  of  particulars  of  conduct  and 
demeanour  that  we  admire  and  applaud.  I  have  always 
been  of  opinion  that  the  best  justification  of  Napoleon 


90  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


might  be  made  by  a  dispassionate  comparison  of  tho 
actions  and  circumstances  of  his  life  with  those  of  other 
rulers  of  nations,  contemporary  and  deceased ;  and  in  the 
lately  discovered  scheme  of  our  ministry  for  kidnapping 
Napoleon,  and  conveying  him  from  Elba  to  St.  Helena,  in 
defiance  of  treaties,  at  the  moment  that  he,  in  anticipation 
of  his  opponents,  made  his  escape  into  France,  I  find  an 
additional  proof  of  what  I  had  long  believed,  that  indi- 
viduals called  upon  to  govern  their  fellow-men,  and  conse- 
quently raised  by  their  situation  above  those  fears  which 
keep  the  majority  of  human  beings  within  the  bounds  of 
morality,  are,  with  very  few  exceptions,  arbitrary  and 
iniquitous  as  far  as  they  have  the  power  of  being  so." 

In  1816,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Waddington  decided  on  spend- 
ing the  winter  in  Italy.  They  left  England  sufficiently 
late  in  the  autumn  to  make  it  desirable  to  pass  by  Paris 
on  the  outside  of  the  barriers,  and  not  to  enter  the  town 
for  fear  of  being  detained,  the  delicate  health  of  Mrs. 
Waddington  and  her  daughter  Emilia,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  passing  the  Simplon  making  it  imperative  to 
proceed  south  with  as  little  delay  as  possible.  The 
father,  mother,  and  their  daughter  Emilia,  occupied 
one  carriage ;  in  a  second  their  eldest  daughter  took 
charge  of  her  sister  Augusta.  By  Frances  Wadding- 
ton the  journey  was  hailed  with  rapture  as  the  opening 
of  a  new  life ;  but,  when  she  parted  from  her  home  at 
Hanover,  she  little  imagined  that  three  and  twenty 
years  would  pass,  before  she  saw  it  again  ! 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BUNSEN. 

"  Let  no  man  out  of  a  weak  conceit  of  sobriety,  or  an  ill- 
applied  moderation,  think  or  maintain  that  a  man  can  search, 
too  far,  or  be  too  well  studied  in  the  book  of  God's  word,  or 
in  the  book  of  God's  works,  divinity  or  philosophy,  but  rather 
let  men  endeavour  at  endless  progress  or  proflciencein  both." 
— BACON,  Advancement  of  Learning.  . 

"  L'homme  s'agite,  et  Dieu  le  mene." 

FENELON. 

A  T  the  end  of  the  last  century,  on  one  side  of  a  quiet 
—•  street  of  the  old  town  of  Corbach,  in  the  little 
principality  of  Waldeck,  stood  a  low  thatched  house  of 
humble  aspect.  Here,  on  summer  evenings,  a  little 
aged  man  was  wont  to  sit  by  the  window,  a  picture  of 
peaceful  contentment,  as  he  placidly  smoked  his  pipe, 
and  watched  the  movements  of  his  cocks  and  hens  in 
the  adjoining  poultry- yard.  His  strongly  marked 
features,  his  resolute  penetrating  eyes  and  shaggy 
eyebrows,  indicated  a  hot-tempered  yet  kindly  spirit 
within,  which  despised  all  distinctions  of  rank,  and 
measured  men  only  by  what  they  were  in  themselves. 
Constantly  busied  in  household  cares,  his  fragile,  deli- 


92  LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF   BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

cate  wife  lingered  ever  and  anon  to  give  a  glance  of 
respectful  attention  to  each  word  of  her  husband, 
reserving  her  looks  of  love  for  a  beautiful,  fair- 
complexioned,  curly-haired  boy,  with  bright  eyes  and 
finely  chiselled  features,  who  seemed  out  of  place  in 
the  sombre  framework,  which  was  nevertheless  illumi- 
nated by  his  presence. 

Christian  Carl  Josias  was  the  son  of  Heinrich  Chris- 
tian Bunsen's  old  age,  the  unexpected  gift  of  God 
after  his  marriage  in  1790  with  Johannette  Eleanore 
Brocken,  who  was  then  advanced  in  life.  Heinrich 
Bunsen  was  the  descendant  of  a  family,  who  had  lived 
for  centuries  at  Corbach,  and  filled  posts  of  confidence 
in  the  municipal  hierarchy  of  that  ancient  town.  Yet, 
though  one  of  its  members  is  spoken  of  as  an  author, 
another  as  a  poet,  the  family  generally  had  never  risen 
above  the  rank  of  agriculturists,  a  calling  indicated 
by  the  three  ears  of  wheat  upon  their  escutcheon,  as 
it  is  by  the  name,  for  Bunse  means  yeoman  in  old 
Teutonic  language.  In  his  youth  Heinrich  Bunsen 
had  not  been  fortunate.  He  had  been  induced,  by  the 
promise  of  rapid  military  advancement,  to  enlist  in  a 
regiment  of  natives  of  Waldeck  engaged  in  the  service 
of  Holland.  But  when  he  returned  after  twenty-nine 
years  of  exile,  he  found  his  hopes  of  fortune  restricted 
to  a  small  retiring  pension,  and  to  the  produce  of  a  few 
paternal  acres,  with  the  pittance  he  could  earn  by 
making  copies  of  legal  documents.  During  his  ex- 
patriation he  had  married  his  first  wife,  who  died  in 


BUKSEN.  93 


1782,  leaving  two  daughters,  Christiana  and  Helene. 
These  children,  in  the  first  hours  of  desolation,  he  had 
the  anguish  of  seeing  deprived,  not  only  of  maternal 
care,  but  of  the  comforts  of  life,  which  his  scanty 
means,  hitherto  eked  out  by  a  mother's  solicitude,  could 
no  longer  afford  them.  But  his  sister,  Helene  Strieker, 
came  to  the  rescue,  and  received  the  children  into  her 
house  at  Amsterdam,  and  Heinrich  Bunsen  returned 
alone  to  Corbach  in  1789. 

In  the  following  year  he  married  again  with  Johan- 
nette  Brocken,  who  had  lived  for  fifteen  years  in  the 
Palace  of  Bergheim,  a  valued  dependant  in  the  house- 
hold of  Christine,  Countess  of  Waldeck.  Their  only 
child  was  born  on  the  25th  of  August,  1791,  and 
received  his  first  name  Christian  from  the  Countess  of 
Waldeck ;  his  second  Carl  from  her  daughter,  Countess 
Caroline  of  Limburg-Gaildorf ;  his  third,  Josias,  from 
Count  Josias  of  Waldeck ;  all  three  members  of  the 
house  of  Waldeck  officiating  as  his  god-parents.  At 
seven  years  old,  little  Christian  Bunsen  was  sent  to  the 
Gymnasium,  or  Latin  School  of  Corbach,  but  continued 
to  reside  at  his  parents'  house,  which  about  this  time 
received  a  visit  from  his  half-sister  Christiana,  nine- 
teen years  older  than  himself,  who  "  had  the  power  of 
interesting  and  attaching  her  young  brother  more  than 
any  other  person,  impressing  upon  his  mind  the  con- 
clusions of  her  powerful  and  independent  understand- 
ing." Bunsen  remained  at  the  Corbach  school  till  he 
was  sixteen,  "  seizing  upon  information  offered  as  a 


94  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUXSEX. 

property  to  which,  he  had  a  natural  claim,  achieving 
tasks  with  power  and  certainty,  as  though  he  already 
possessed  by  intuition  the  knowledge  he  was  acquir- 
ing." His  voracity  for  books  was  insatiable,  and  hav- 
ing soon  exhausted  all  the  small  libraries  of  his  parents 
and  neighbours,  he  iised  to  spend  any  stray  moments  in 
assisting  his  father  in  the  copying  of  law-papers,  that 
he  might  earn  some  small  coins  towards  their  acquire- 
ment. It  is  a  proof  of  his  aptitude  for  languages  that 
as  the  pastor  of  a  distant  village  possessed  the  treasure 
of  Glover's  "Leonidas,"  and  a  few  other  English  books, 
he  was  able  while  still  a  boy  to  teach  himself  English 
by  their  diligent  study. 

Many  pleasant  glimpses  of  Bunsen's  boyhood  are 
derived  from  the  recollections  of  his  friend  Wolrad 
Schumacher,  who  at  an  early  age  was  sent  to  the 
Corbach  school  from  his  paternal  home  in  the  neigh- 
bouring town  of  Arolsen. 

"  I  left  Arolsen,"  he  says,  "  with  extreme  sorrow,  which 
was  not  diminished  by  the  gloomy  aspect  of  my  new  abode 
and  my  new  teacher.  But  my  heart  did  not  break  nor 
harden ;  all  at  once  I  found  myself  sitting  beside  Christian 
Bunsen,  in  the  dwelling  of  his  parents,  kindly  received  by 
them  as  well  as  by  their  son.  How  this  happened  I  have 
no  remembrance,  so  suddenly  and  rapidly  did  all  the  late 
occurrences  drag  me  along  with  them ;  but  all  at  once  I 
found  myself  spending  whole  winter  evenings  in  that 
house.  The  father  read  the  newspaper  or  a  book,  the 
mother  sat  by  him  knitting,  a  female  servant  was  spinning 


BTJNSEN.  95 


in  the  corner  behind  the  stove,  Christian  and  I  sat  on  a 
bench  under  the  window  towards  the  street,  somewhat  in 
the  shade.  Little  do  I  recall  of  what  was  spoken,  when 
suddenly  we  start  up  at  the  sound  of  a  bell  which  summons 
me  home  ;  the  leave-taking  at  the  house-door  extended  to 
some  length;  then  he  accompanies  me  to  my  home;  I 
follow  him  back  to  his  own ;  till  at  last  parting  becomes 
unavoidable. 

"  The  dwelling  of  the  family  was  in  a  side  street;  the 
thatched  roof,  the  threshold  at  the  entrance,  the  stable  on 
your  right  hand  after  entering,  reminded  you  of  the 
arrangement  of  the  abode  of  a  Westphalian  yeoman : 
there  was  besides  a  flight  of  stairs  to  the  upper  story  on 
the  right,  and  on  the  left  the  outlet  to  a  small  garden. 
The  dwelling-chamber,  roomy  and  light,  was  on  the  left 
from  the  house-door.  Christian  Bunsen's  own  small  room 
was  in  the  upper  story,  towards  the  garden.  Here,  during 
my  Corbach  school-years,  did  I  go  in  and  out,  finding  my 
friend  never  otherwise  than  occupied,  full  of  zeal  and 
earnestness  over  his  books.  In  the  morning  he  was  up 
with  the  sun,  which  shone  straight  into  his  window,  look- 
ing towards  the  east.  During  the  summer  evenings,  when 
I  came  in  the  twilight  to  fetch  him  to  walk,  he  was  read- 
ing or  writing,  but  ever  turned  from  his  occupation  to 
receive  me  with  bright  kindness.  Throughout  the  school, 
he  was  admired  as  a  genius.  In  knowledge  and  compre- 
hension, no  individual  could  measure  with  him  in  any 
degree,  and  his  laboriousness  cast  all  the  rest  into  the 
shade." 

When  he  was  sixteen,  Bunsen  had  reached  the  high- 


96  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

cst  form  in  the  school  at  Corbach,  and  he  was  then 
sent  to  Marburg  University,  Heinrich  Bunsen  having 
made  it  possible  by  excessive  industry  and  economy 
during  his  son's  residence  at  home,  to  meet  the  expense 
of  giving  him  a  college  education.  But  the  University 
of  Marburg  was  then  rapidly  declining,  and  in  the 
following  year  Bunsen  removed  to  Gottingen,  whither 
the  fame  of  his  scholarship  had  preceded  him,  and 
where  he  was  most  warmly  welcomed  by  Heyne,  then 
the  leading  classical  scholar  of  Germany,  who  soon 
perceived  for  himself  that  he  had  to  do  with  a  student 
of  uncommon  gifts,  and  rendered  his  future  more  easy 
and  hopeful  by  procuring  him  the  work  and  salary  of 
an  extra  teacher  at  the  Gymnasium.  A  few  months 
later,  Bunsen' s  position  was  further  assured  by  his 
appointment  as  private  tutor  to  William  Backhouse 
Astor,  son  of  the  famous  American  merchant. 

The  years  spent  at  Gottingen  were  amongst  the 
happiest  of  Bunsen's  life.  The  ardour  displayed  in  all 
he  undertook  was  shown  in  nothing  more  than  in  his 
friendships.  The  two  youths  with  whom  he  had  lodg- 
ings in  common  were  Lachmann,  afterwards  celebrated 
as  a  philological  writer,  and  from  his  edition  of  the 
New  Testament ;  and  Liicke,  afterwards  well  known 
as  a  theological  teacher,  and  from  his  critical  edition  of 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  Bunsen's  room  was  the  largest, 
and  there  a  noble  band  of  friends  was  wont  to  gather, 
whose  bond  of  affection  remained  unbroken,  till  it  was 
severed  bv  death. 


BUNSEN.  97 


"The  instinctive  discernment  of  differences  of  cha- 
racter," says  Schumacher,  "of  mental  gifts  and  qualities 
of  the  heart,  for  which  Bunsen  was  ever  remarkable,  his 
faculty  of  meeting  without  artifice  or  dissimulation  every 
variety  of  mind,  iiifluentially  or  sympathetically, — was, 
perhaps,  never  so  powerfully  called  forth,  so  brought  into 
living  action,  as  among  his  friends  at  Gottihgen  ;  Reinhard 
Bunsen,  Thienemann,  Ernst  Schulze,  Ludwig  Abeken,  and 
many  others,  might  be  named  as  seeming  to  correspond  to 
various  portions  of  his  intellectual  being,  and  being  met 
by  him  accordingly.  The  last-mentioned,  in  whom  the 
germ  of  early  death  was  fast  developing,  was  an  object  of 
his  peculiar  affection  and  attention.  How  would  he  carry 
on  discussion  with  the  worthy  intelligent  friend  Agricola ! 
and  hold  argument,  as  in  the  atmosphere  of  Pericles, 
with  the  refined  Greek  scholar  Dissen !  With  the  caustic 
spirit  of  Lachmann  he  hit  upon  the  right  stimulus  by 
which  to  lead  him  into  disputation :  to  the  learned 
ungentle  Dr.  Reck  he  would  listen  with  the  patience  of 
an  anchorite,  ending  with  proposing  to  him  a  humorous 
toast.  In  short,  he  read  men  as  he  did  books;  but, 
before  all  things  should  be  noted  of  him  that,  having  a 
heart  himself,  he  never  failed  to  do  justice  to  the  heart  of 
another. 

"  Of  ten.  did  he  in  the  evening  drop  asleep  like  a  child  on 
his  seat :  but  in  the  morning  he  rose  in  summer  at  four,  in 
winter  at  five  o'clock,  and,  after  a  rapid  but  not  negligent 
toilet,  hastened  forth  with  a  face  qf  joyous  thought  to  his 
books  and  the  desk  in  his  study, 

"'  Plus  ultra**  was  Bunsen1  s  motto  during  the  time  at 
Gottingen  ;  afterwards,  he  cl^ose  '  In  sikntio  et  spe'  " 

VOJ,.  I.  H 


98  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    HARDNESS    BUNSEN. 

We  have  a  later  picture  of  the  student  band  at 
Gottingen  from  the  pen  of  Ernst  Schulze,  the  poet, 
after  his  return  from  active  service  during  the  cam- 
paign against  the  French  in  1813. 

"  My  isolation  led  me  hack  to  iny  friends.  By  the 
untiring  efforts  of  Bunsen  our  whole  circle,  consisting  of 
Lachmann,  Liicke,  Reck,  Bunsen,  and  myself,  and  further 
widened  by  the  addition  of  the  admirable  Brandis — also  in 
intimacy  less  close,  by  that  of  Brandis' s  brother,  of  Jacobs, 
Klenze,  and  Ulrich — was  brought  together  again.  A 
spirit  of  zealous  but  friendly  emulation  arose  amongst  us  ; 
and  on  a  certain  cheerful  evening,  at  my  suggestion,  we 
made  a  vow,  each  to  each  other  and  to  all,  that  we  would 
effect  something  great  in  our  lives.  It  was  a  noble  circle, 
in  which  an  oppressed  heart  could  expand  and  breathe 
again.  Bunsen,  the  man  of  kingly  and  all-ruling  spirit, 
considering  all  branches  of  knowledge,  all  forms  of  mental 
exertion,  but  as  means  to  accomplish  a  single  great  object, 
— who,  open  at  all  times  to  every  sort  of  impression,  could 
with  indescribable  power  appropriate  and  make  his  own 
all  that  seemed  in  nature  most  opposite;  who,  with  the 
keenest,  and  at  times  appalling  clearness  of  intellectual 
perception,  united  a  depth  of  sympathising  feeling,  and 
who,  with  an  energy,  ceaselessly  diverted  into  a  multitude 
of  channels,  never  lost  sight  of  his  object ; — Brandis, 
whose  cheerful  faithful  heart  beamed  from  his  counte- 
nance, and  in  whom  much  learning  and  keen  intelligence 
had  not  lessened  the  power  of  pleasing,  and  being  pleased; 
— Lachmann,  fine-grained,  critical,  satirical  and  witty,  but 
the  vague  longings  of  a  heart  that  knew  not  its  will 


BUNSEN.  99 


or  way,  of  irritable  fibre,  and  almost  feverish,  tempera- 
ment ; — Liicke,  in  all  the  radiance  of  prosperous  love  and  of 
religious  enthusiasm,  upright,  firm,  earnestly  endeavouring 
after  a  sphere  of  active  usefulness,  jet  deeply  meditative, 
and  inclined  to  mysticism; — lastly,  the  unimpassioned 
Reck,  ever  taking  care  of  his  friends,  ever  provided  with 
good  advice  for  everyone,  having  a  clear  and  intelligent 
but  always  politic  view  of  life,  and  making  amends  to  his 
associates  by  zeal  and  faithful  attachment  for  his  want  of 
susceptibility  of  the  beautiful,  and  for  the  absence  of  polish 
and  refinement.  The  bond  which  united  us  was  at  this 
time  riveted  for  ever."  * 

Academic  honours  continued  to  crown  the  exertions 
of  Bunsen.  In  1812  he  was  appointed  teacher  of 
Hebrew  to  the  highest,  and  of  Greek  to  the  second 
form  of  the  Gottingen  school.  In  the  same  year  he 
gained  the  prize  for  an  "  Essay  on  the  Athenian  Law 
of  Inheritance/ '  which  attracted  so  much  attention, 
that  the  University  of  Jena  soon  afterwards  presented 
him  unsolicited  with  the  diploma  of  a  Doctor  of  Philo- 
sophy. Meantime  his  relations  with  William  Astor  were 
of  the  happiest  nature,  and  with  him  in  1813  he  made 
a  tour  to  Vienna,  Munich,  Switzerland,  and  Northern 
Italy.  In  1814,  Astor  returned  to  America,  promising 
to  come  back  and  meet  Bunsen  again  in  Europe  in 
two  years'  time.  Bunsen  at~once  took  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  for  a  journey  to  Holland  to  visit  his  sister 

*  These  paragraphs,  from  the  recollections  of  Schumacher  and 
Schulze,  have  already  appeared  in  the  "  Memoirs  of  Baron  Bunsen." 


100          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    HA11ONESS    15UXSEN. 


Christiana,  with  whom,  as  he  wrote  to  Brandis — "a 
few  days  filled  up  the  long  chasm  of  eight  years'  sepa- 
ration." It  was  then  for  the  first  time  that  he  learnt 
the  sad  story  of  his  sister's  life.  The  death  of  her 
aunt  Ilelene  Strieker  had  deprived  her  at  fifteen  of 
the  only  protector  to  whom  her  independent  nature 
could  attach  itself,  and  for  many  years  she  had  fulfilled 
the  arduous  task  of  companion  to  an  aged  invalid  lady, 
who  provided  for  her  at  her  death.  Meantime,  she 
had  become  acquainted  with  a  young  officer  of  good 
family  named  Faber,  who  inspired  her  with  a  devoted 
attachment,  and  who  endeavoured  to  make  her  promise 
to  marry  him,  as  soon  as  his  circumstances  allowed  of 
it.  But  when  she  made  his  proposal  known  to  her 
father,  he,  having  been  in  some  manner  entrusted 
with  the  guardianship  of  Faber  by  his  family,  felt 
himself  bound  to  put  a  positive  prohibition  upon  any 
engagement  between  the  young  officer  and  his  portion- 
less daughter,  and  harshly  forbade  her  ever  seeing  him 
or  writing  to  him.  Faber  was  sent  away  on  distant 
service  but,  through  two  and  twenty  years  of  absence, 
remained  faithful  to  his  love  for  Christiana.  Then  he 
traced  her  to  Amsterdam,  and  a  meeting  took  place ; 
but  "  in  the  pallid  and  emaciated  woman  of  thirty- 
nine  he  could  find  nothing  of  the  girl  of  seventeen, 
whom  he  had  left  in  bloom  and  freshness."  He  urged 
her,  however,  to  fulfil  an  engagement,  which,  though 
never  formally  made,  had  been  faithfully  kept  by  both, 
and  she  promised  to  marry  him  as  soon  as  he  should 


BUNSEN.  101 


return  from  the  Russian  expedition,  for  which  the  vast 
army  was  then  collecting.  Faber  never  returned  ;  he 
fell  in  Russia.  At  the  same  time,  the  failure  of  banks 
swallowed  up  the  whole  of  the  funds  from  which 
Christiana  had  derived  her  maintenance,  and  she  was 
left  to  subsist  upon  a  pittance  gained  by  fine  needle- 
work. Then  her  eyesight  gave  wray,  her  health  failed, 
and  she  would  have  perished  from  want  of  care  and 
comforts,  but  for  the  charity  of  two  Dutch  ladies,  who 
discovered  her  destitution. 

The  broken  health  and  sad  disclosures  of  Christiana 
were  an  unexpected  shock  to  her  brother,  but  he,  who 
never  in  after  life  shrank  from  a  responsibility,  at  once 
determined  to  undertake  the  cost  of  her  maintenance, 
and  insisted  upon  reconducting  her  to  his  father's 
home  at  Corbach,  till  he  should  be  appointed  to  a  pro- 
fessorship, and  be  enabled  to  offer  to  share  with  her  a 
home  of  his  own. 

In  the  following  year  (1815),  the  desire  of  acquiring 
the  Danish  language  and  of  studying  Icelandic,  in- 
duced Bunsen  to  accompany  his  friend  Brandis  to 
Copenhagen,  where  he  was  received  by  Dr.  Brandis 
(Physician  to  the  King  of  Denmark)  with  paternal 
love  and  kindness,  an  affection  ever  after  returned  with 
filial  warmth  and  recollection.  The  two  young  friends 
settled  in  the  town  for  the  sake  of  more  uninterrupted 
leisure  for  study,  but  daily  resorted  to  tho  country-house 
of  Dr.  Brandis  for  dinner,  and  remained  there  till  just 
before  the  closing  of  the  city  gates  at  midnight.  Many 


102          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN 

were  the  Danish,  notabilities  who  at  this  time  eagerly 
met  the  acquaintance  of  Bunsen,  and  he  greatly  enjoyed 
the  time  spent  amongst  them.  He  also  crossed  the  sea  to 
the  Swedish  coast,  and  visited  the  university  of  Lund. 
A  fortnight  passed  in  the  companionship  of  Chamisso 
was  greatly  valued,  and  left  a  deep  impression  of  the 
rare  gifts  of  the  poet.*  Meantime,  Bunsen  devoted 
himself  with  great  success  to  the  study  of  Danish,  and 
also  received  lessons  from  a  learned  Icelander,  with 
whom  he  read  Snurro  Sturlesen  and  the  Edda,  &c.,  in 
the  original. 

In  the  beginning  of  November,  the  friends  crossed 
to  Swinemiinde,  and  proceeded  to  Berlin.  Here 
Bunsen  continued  his  linguistic  studies,  and  became 
acquainted  with  Schleiermacher,  Solger,  Buttmann,  Sa- 
vigny,  but  above  all  with  Niebuhr,  who  was  then 
crushed  to  the  earth  by  the  death  of  his  wife,  but 
roused  himself  to  receive  the  young  students,  with  the 
kindness  which  he  was  ever  ready  to  show  to  those 
who  were  truly  seeking  after  knowledge  and  truth. 
Bunsen  at  once  found  his  way  to  his  heart,  and  the 
relation  of  master  and  disciple  was  then  established, 
which  continued  through  life.  "  Other  visits  demand 
notice,"  wrote  Bunsen  to  Liicke,  soon  after  his  arrival 
at  Berlin,  "  but  I  can  now  only  speak  of  those  to 
Niebuhr.  It  would  be  hard  to  describe  my  astonish- 
ment at  his  command  over  the  entire  domain  of  know- 

*  A  French  refugee,  who  never  spoke  German  fluently  and  yet 
wrote  admirable  verses  that  ensured  him  lasting  fame. 


BUNSEN.  103 


ledge.  All  that  can  be  known  seems  to  be  within  his 
grasp,  and  everything  known  to  him  to  be  at  hand,  as 
if  held  by  a  thread." 

The  number  of  men  whom  Bunsen  found  at  Berlin 
with  the  intention  and  energy  to  carry  out  great  plans, 
and  the  reception  he  met  with  from  them,  strengthened 
the  wish  he  already  felt  to  become  a  Prussian  subject. 
He  was  encouraged  by  the  advice  of  Niebuhr,  before 
whom  he  laid  a  detailed  plan  of  intellectual  labour,  in 
his  determination  to  devote  his  life  to  historical,  philo- 
logical, and  philosophical  research,  for  which  purpose 
he  at  that  time  intended  to  follow  up  his  study  of  the 
northern  languages,  by  a  course  of  Persian  at  Paris 
and  Sanscrit  at  Oxford,  to  be  followed  by  a  three  years' 
residence  at  Calcutta  for  the  investigation  of  Oriental 
history  and  languages. 

Bunsen  remained  at  Berlin  till  the  spring  of  1816, 
when  he  went  to  Paris  to  join  Mr.  Astor.  Soon  after, 
Astor  departed  with  some  friends  for  a  three  months* 
tour  in  Italy,  leaving  Bunsen  to  rejoin  him  at  the  end 
of  that  time  and  spend  the  interval  much  to  his  satis- 
faction in  the  study  of  Persian,  under  the  auspices  of 
Silvestre  de  Sacy,  reckoned  the  greatest  Oriental 
scholar  in  Europe.  As  he  found  it  impossible  to 
understand  the  writings  of  the  best  Persian  poets  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  Arabic,  he  began  to  attend  lectures 
in  Arabic  also.  "  I  work  with  fury  and  delight,"  he 
wrote  to  Brandts,  "because  I  must  get  on,  and  I  do 
get  on."  "I  am  perfectly  well,"  he  informed  his 


104          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

sister,  "  and  arrange  my  day  as  I  like ;  work  from  six 
in  the  morning  till  four  in  the  afternoon,  only  in  the 
course  of  that  time  having  a  walk  in  the  garden  of  the 
Luxembourg,  where  I  also  often  study ;  from  four  to 
six  I  dine  and  walk,  from  six  to  seven  sleep  ;  from 
seven  to  eleven  work  again.  In  that  manner  I  can 
make  it  possible  to  work  in  the  evening,  which  I  other- 
wise never  could. " 

With  July  came  the  necessity  for  proceeding  to 
Florence  to  rejoin  Mr.  Astor.  But  Astor  was  already 
on  the  eve  of  departure,  having  just  received  a  sum- 
mons from  his  father  for  his  immediate  return  to 
America.  Thither  he  urgently  pressed  Bunsen  to  ac- 
company him,  but  found  him  obdurately  determined  to 
remain  in  Europe,  till  he  should  be  prepared  for  his 
Oriental  journey.  Still,  the  departure  of  Astor,  and 
the  consequent  revulsion  of  all  his  plans  was  a  great 
blow  to  Bunsen.  He  often  narrated  afterwards  how  in 
the  first  shock  of  solitude — without  prospects,  he  sate 
down  "an  unprovided  wanderer"  in  the  Loggia 
de'  Lanzi, — where,  after  a  time,  he  took  courage  again, 
and  proceeded  onwards,  from  a  condition  utterly  deso- 
late, to  success  and  happiness  in  life.  Sunshine  first 
came  in  the  shape  of  a  young  Englishman,  Mr.  Cath- 
cart,  who  undertook  to  assist  him  in  the  execution  of 
his  Indian  plans,  on  condition  of  his  sparing  three 
hours  daily  for  his  instruction  in  French,  and  be- 
coming his  guide  amid  the  treasures  of  Florence  and 
Rome. 


BUNSEN.  105 


The  connection  with  Mr.  Cathcart  was  one  which  to 
the  end  continued  to  give  Bunseii  complete  satisfaction. 
But  greater  happiness  was  in  store  for  him  at  Florence, 
in  the  arrival  of  Niebuhr,  who  had  been  appointed 
Prussian  Envoy  at  Home,  and  who  was  accompanied 
by  Brandis  as  Secretary  of  Legation.  With  these  con- 
genial spirits  Bunsen  drank  in  the  full  enjoyment  of 
the  art- treasures  of  Florence,  and  when  he  arrived  at 
Rome  with  Mr.  Cathcart,  he  found  Niebuhr  and 
Brandis  established  there.  "There  is  but  one  Rome 
and  one  Niebuhr,"  he  wrote  to  his  sister  Christiana, 
and  again — "  Niebuhr  is  equally  sole  of  his  kind  with 
Rome  ;  him  alone  will  I  acknowledge  as  my  lord  and 
master ;  his  instructions,  and  his  personal  excellence  in 
every  respect,  as  well  as  in  that  of  learning,  stand 
highest  in  estimation  among  all  the  men  I  know ;  he 
is  essentially  the  person  to  form  me  into  a  thorough 
man  and  citizen  of  my  country ;  moreover,  as  regards 
the  realisation  of  my  plans  to  become  a  Prussian,  he  is 
equally  the  man." 

Thus  when,  on  his  rsturn  to  England,  Mr.  Cathcart 
wished  to  have  taken  Bunsen  with  him,  believing  that 
he  might  be  able,  by  introductions,  to  further  his 
Indian  projects;  Bunsen's  strong  longing  after  the 
East  had  been  subdued  by  conversations  with  JSTiebuhr, 
who  was  inclined  to  think  that  the  same  ends  of  study 
might  be  attained  within  the  limits  of  Europe,  com- 
bined with  which  Bunsen  felt  that  an  eastern  journey 
must  separate  him  from  Niebuhr,  from  whom,  ho 


106          LIFE    AM)    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

wrote,    "as  a  man    and  a  scholar  I  can  learn    more 
than  from  all  other  persons  put  together." 

Amid  the  varied  enjoyments  of  Rome,  that  which 
Eunsen  most  appreciated  was  the  leisure  for  taking  in 
and  digesting  the  fruit  of  his  former  labours.  At  first 
he  entered  little  into  society,  and  shrunk  from  making 
acquaintances,  dreading  the  uncon geniality  of  those 
who  seek  to  renew  in  Rome  the  frivolities  of  the 
London  season.  But  it  so  happened  that  amongst  the 
first  people  to  whom  he  was  introduced,  were  Mrs. 
Waddington  and  her  daughters,  then  occupying  the 
first-floor  of  the  Palazzo  Gavotti.  Here,  while  Mr. 
Waddington  pursued  the  even  tenour  of  his  home  life, 
reading  or  writing  in  a  nook  screened  off  in  one  of  the 
apartments,  and  retiring  to  bed  at  his  usual  early  hour, 
all  that  was  best  in  English,  Italian,  and  German 
society  gathered  around  his  wife,  whose  noble  type  of 
beauty  was  almost  more  remarkable  than  in  her  first 
youth,  and  whose  intellectual  charm  was  equally  felt 
by  men  of  all  nationalities.  At  her  receptions  in  the 
'  prima  sera '  Bunsen  was  a  welcome  and  an  unfailing 
guest,  rejoicing  that  he  found  there  few  except  those 
who  were  capable  of  taking  something  more  than  a 
surface-interest  in  the  scenes  around  them.  The  young 
Emily  Waddington,  whose  whole  life  had  hitherto  been 
clouded  by  ill-health,  had  benefited  greatly  from  the 
Italian  climate,  and  was  enjoying  a  transient  happiness 
in  her  engagement  with  Colonel  Manley.  This  cir- 
cumstance, and  a  congeniality  of  interests,  combined  to 


BUNSEN.  107 


throw  Buiisen  completely  into  the  society  of  her  elder 
sister,  when  he  accompanied  them  to  visit  the  temples 
and  towers  of  Rome  and  the  Campagna.  Already  in 
April,  181 7, -he  had  written  to  his  sister  Christiana  that 
he  was  permitted  to  read  German  with  Miss  "Wadding- 
ton,  but  that  he  "  was  a  little  in  love,"  and  that  there- 
fore, as  a  penniless  student  who  could  not  think  of 
aspiring  to  the  hand  of  a  girl  of  fortune,  he  should 
"  no  longer  go  continually  to  visit  the  family."  Yet 
Mrs.  Waddington  so  little  suspected  the  possibility  of 
an  attachment  to  her  idolised  daughter,  that  she  con- 
tinued to  encourage  the  visits  of  one  whose  society  and 
information  gave  an  additional  charm  to  the  interests 
of  Home,  and  thus,  when  on  the  last  morning  of  May, 
her  eyes  were  suddenly  opened  by  Bunsen's  own  reve- 
lation of  his  love  for  her  child  and  his  agony  at  their 
impending  separation,  she  felt  that — while  she  had 
every  confidence  in  the  man  who  asked  her  for  the 
greatest  blessing  she  had  to  bestow — she  could  not 
undo  her  own  work.  Mr.  Waddington  was  much 
startled  and  appealed  to  Niebuhr,  in  the  unexpected 
turn  affairs  had  taken  ;  but  Niebuhr  only  answered — 
"  The  talents,  abilities,  and  character  of  Bunsen  are  a 
capital  more  safely  to  be  reckoned  upon  than  any  other, 
however  securely  invested  ;  and  had  I  a  daughter  my- 
self, to  such  a  man  I  would  gladly  consign  her." 
That  evening,  having  received  the  consent  of  her 
parents, — on  the  steps  of  the  cross,  which  for  centuries 
marked  the  site  of  Christian  martyrdoms  in  the  centre 


108         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

of    the   Coliseum, — Bunsen  asked  Frances  Wadding- 
ton  to  become  his  wife. 

Mus.  WADDIXGTON  to  the  REV.  PHOFKSSOR  MONK, 

"  ...  I  will  own  to  you  that  nay  spirits  have  had 
a  shake,  and  that  nothing  but  presenting  to  myself  the 
agony  of  my  death-bed,  had  I  left  Fanny  without  a  pro- 
tector, without  a  person  to  be  to  her  what  I  had  been, 
brings  my  mind  into  the  state  of  thankfulness  and  cheer- 
fulness, that  it  ought  to  be  in,  from  the  consciousness  of 
her  being  as  happy  as  it  is  possible  for  a  human  being  to 
be :  for  some  bitter  must  be  mixed  with  the  sweet,  and 
she  herself  says  that  she  should  fear  that  her  present  en- 
joyments were  too  great  to  last,  did  not  the  loss  of  me, 
and  the  banishment  from  England,  cost  such  pangs,  as 
make  her  confidently  hope  to  preserve  all  the  blessings 
that  her  union  with  the  exclusive  choice  of  hor  heart,  with 
the  object  of  her  utmost  admiration  and  love,  has  put  her 
in  possession  of.  It  is  only  doing  justice  to  the  best  of 
daughters  and  one  of  the  most  perfect  of  human  beings,  to 
tell  you  that  at  any  moment  one  word  from  me  would  have 
prevented  my  dearest  Fanny's  marriage,  and  that  without 
a  murmur  she  would  have  given  Bunsen  up.  But  after  I 
had  for  almost  six  months  afforded  every  facility  for  her  to 
attach  herself,  after  I  was  myself  convinced  that  excepting 
in  fortune  and  in  his  being  a  foreigner  he  was  in  every 
way  completely  qualified  to  make  her  happy,  I  should 
have  been  a  monster  from  selfish  considerations  to  have 
destined  my  own  work.  ITow  it  was  my  own  work,  and 
yet  unintentionally,  I  have  to  recount.  Bunsen's  astonishing 
self-command  had  prevented  his  voice  from  betraying  him, 


BUNS  EX.  109 


and  the  innumerable  multiplicity  of  objects  in  Borne  that  wo 
almost  daily  were  together  engaged  in  contemplating,  had 
furnished  such  an  unceasing  flow  of  conversation,  that  there 
literally  was  not  time  for  sentiment  to  be  displayed :  while 
his  respect  for  me,  caused  him  so  constantly  to  offer  me  his 
arm,  to  place  himself  by  my  side,  that  there  was  no  marked 
attention  towards  Fanny,  though  the  most  unfeigned  ad- 
miration. The  great  strength  of  Bunsen's  expressions  of 
astonishment  and  delight,  in  Fanny's  mine  of  mind  and 
knowledge,  I  attributed  in  some  part  to  his  never  having 
before  met  with  a  well-educated  Englishwoman,  and  tho 
rest,  /  quietly  took  as  her  due,  having  too  long  been  accus- 
tomed to  her  being  valued  just  in  proportion  to  the  dis- 
cernment, virtue,  and  talents,  of  the  individual  with  whom 
she  conversed.  Security  was  still  further  lulled  by  know- 
ing Bunsen's  plans,  that  to  Calcutta,  for  the  purposes 
of  study  (the  laws,  language,  and  philosophy  of  the 
Hindoos  being  one  of  the  subjects  to  which  he  is  most 
devoted,  as  subservient  to  the  great  object  to  which  his 
mind  ever  since  eighteen  has  been  bent — the  affinity  of 
language),  he  was  resolved  within  two  years  to  set  off, 
and  to  obtain  some  previous  information  he  had  given 
me  two  letters,  which  Lord  Lansdowne  at  Mr.N  Niebuhr's 
request  was  to  present,  that  I  might  correct  the  German 
idiom  ....  But  I  must  not  say  more  about  Bunsen,  and 
about  Fanny  only  give  the  substance,  that  she  declared  to 
me — and  Tier  word  is  truth,  that  till  Bunsen  proposed  to 
her,  she  did  not  know  she  was  attached  to  him : — that  she 
had  delighted  in  floating  011  in  her  present  existence,  that 
each  moment  was  filled  to  her  heart's  content,  and  that 
she  never  asked  herself,  how  large  or  how  small  a  share 


110          LIFE    AM)    LETTERS    OF    HAKOXKSS    MJXSEX. 

Bunseii  liad  individually  in  her  enjoyments ;  that  she  felt 
with  so  sad  a  sensation  that  she  was  going  very  soon  to 
quit  Rome  and  Emily,  that  from  principle  she  always 
drove  the  thought  from  her  mind,  knowing  that  a  calamity 
is  always  the  better  borne,  from  not  being  previously 
dwelt  upon;  that  she  never  analysed  her  regrets,  and 
therefore  never  ascertained  the  component  parts,  and  that 
so  far  from  concealing  from  me  her  inmost  thoughts,  she 
did  not  know  of  their  existence,  till  on  Saturday,  the  31st 
May,  in  the  Coliseum  by  moonlight  at  eleven  o'clock  at 
night  (having  on  that  very  morning  asked  my  permission 
to  speak  for  himself),  Bunsen  presented  to  her  view  what 
he  should  suffer  from  a  separation,  how  he  should  be 
blessed  by  a  union:  when  every  nerve  vibrated  to  the 
touch,  and  she  was  aware  that  her  life  would  lose  half  its 
charm  if  not  spent  with  him." 


CHAPTER  V. 

MAKRIAGE. 

/ 
"  Felices  ter  et  amplius, 

Quos  irrupta  tenet  copula,  ncc  mails 
Divulsus  querimoniis 

Suprema  citius  solvet  amor  die." 

HORACE. 

"  Nothing  is  sweeter  than  Love,  nothing  more  courageous, 
nothing  higher,  nothing  wider,  nothing  more  pleasant,  no- 
thing fuller  nor  better  in  heaven  and  earth  ;  because  Love  is 
born  of  God,  and  cannot  rest  but  in  God,  above  all  created 
things." — THOMAS  A  KEMPIS. 

N  the  1st  of  July,  1817,  Frances  Wacldingtori  was 
married  to  Bunsen,  in  the  ancient  chapel  of  the 
old  Palazzo  Savelli,  which  rises  upon  the  ruins  of  the 
Theatre  of  Marcellus,  and  which  was  then  inhabited  by 
Mebuhr.  Only  her  parents  and  youngest  sister,  Nie- 
buhr,  Brandis,  and  Mr.  Clifford — an  old  family  friend, 
were  present.  Bunsen's  first  gift  to  his  wife  was  his 
father's  wedding-ring.  "  It  is  nothing  very  beautiful/' 
he  said,  "  but  I  hope  you  will  let  me  see  it  sometimes 
on  your  hand — it  was  given  me  with  my  father's 
blessing,  and  I  transfer  that  to  you  with  it— it  is  a 
good  blessing."  The  wedded  pair  drove  immediately 
after  the  ceremony  to  Frascati,  where  rooms  were  ready 


112          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    1JAHONESS    BUNSEN. 

for  them  in  the  Casino  Accorambuoni,  one  of  those 
charming  flower-hidden  residences,  half  stately- Ad  11  a, 
half  primitive  farm-house,  which  are  only  to  be  found 
in  Italy,  and  only  to  be  found  in  perfection  on  the 
Alban  hills.  "  In  the  carriage  we  spoke  not  a  word  at 
first,"  wrote  Bunsen,  soon  afterwards,  to  his  sister 
Christiana,  "  tyit  as  we  passed  the  Coliseum  and  looked 
towards  the  Cross  at  the  foot  of  which  we  had  sat,  when 
we  exchanged  the  important  words, — we  pressed  each 
other's  hands." 

It  is  quaintly  characteristic  of  the  hospitalities 
which  were  such  a  leading  feature  in  the  family  life 
of  Bunsen  and  his  wife,  and  which  were  equally  con- 
tinued in  all  places  and  under  all  circumstances,  that 
they  should  have  begun  immediately  after  their  mar- 
riage. A  day  or  two  were  scarcely  suffered  to  elapse 
before  Carl  August  Brandis,  Bunsen's  dearest  friend, 
came  to  share  his  happiness  at  Frascati.  With  him, 
the  Bunsens  spent  the  long  bright  days  of  the  late 
summer  in  full  enjoyment  of  the  glorious  wooded  hills 
which  look  down  upon  Campagna,  and  of  the  two  blue 
lakes  which  are  set  like  gems  in  their  midst ;  together 
they  passed  the  mornings  in  the  large  cool  rooms,  or 
in  the  little  garden  with  its  two  fountains,  in  a  com- 
mon reading  of  Milton,  Dante,  or  Bacon  ;  and  together, 
in  the  evenings,  they  went  forth  on  long  excursions, 
lingering  till  the  splendours  of  sunset  had  tinged  the 
plain  and  the  distant  city  with  crimson  and  gold,  and 
returning  by  the  light  of  the  fi»e- flies. 


MARRIAGE.  113 


The  glorious  subjects  in  the  Alban  Hills  and  at 
Rome,  as  it  was  in  those  days  long  ago,  gave  constant 
employment  to  the  artistic  powers  of  Madame  Bunsen. 
Thorwaldsen  said  of  her  sepia  sketches  of  Eome  and  its 
environs  that  he  "  knew  no  artist,  whether  professional 
or  amateur,  who  then  equalled  her  in  exact  representa- 
tion, from  her  power  of  choosing  a  view  which  made  a 
complete  picture,  without  adding  or  abstracting  from 
the  reality  before  her." 

From  Frascati,  Bunsen  wrote  to  his  sister,  begging 
her  to  tranquillise  his  friends  in  Holland  as  to  his  pur- 
poses in  life.  "  When  they  hear  that  I  have  given  up 
my  journey  to  India  and  am  married,  they  may,  like 
many  of  my  acquaintances  (not  my  intimate  friends) 
in  Germany,  apprehend  that  all  my  undertakings  are 
given  up.  But  my  journey  to  India  was  only  to  be  a 
means  to  an  end ;  and  even  though  it  may  sound  pre- 
sumptuous that  I  hope  to  succeed  in  forming  a  clear 
view  of  the  earliest  life  of  the  Oriental  nations,  without 
crossing  the  line — yet  do  I  make  that  declaration  with- 
out misgiving."  In  the  autumn,  however,  Bunsen' s 
tie  to  Eome  was  riveted,  for  Brandis,  who  had  been 
acting  as  diplomatic  secretary  to  Niebuhr  since  his 
arrival  in  Eome,  was  obliged  by  ill-health  to  resign 
and  to  return  to  Germany;  when  Niebuhr  invited 
Bunsen  to  succeed  to  the  vacant  office  of  Secretary  of 
Legation. 

Emily  "Waddington  had  been  married  a  few  days 
before  her  sister  to  Colonel  Manley,  who  had  an  ap- 

VOL.  I.  I 


114         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    JiUXSEX. 

pointment  from  the  Pope,  winch  compelled  him  to  fix 
his  residence  at  Rome  or  in  the  Alban  Hills ;  and  in 
both  places  the  sisters,  who  in  earlier  life  had  not  been 
congenial  to  one  another,  met  affectionately  and  often. 
The  trial  of  separation  from  their  mother  was  equally 
severe  to  both  and  drew  them  closer  to  each  other,  for 
a  few  days  after  the  marriage  of  her  eldest  daughter, 
Mrs.  Waddington  had  set  out  on  her  return  to  England 
with  her  husband  and  her  youngest  daughter  Augusta 
— feeling  that  the  necessary  wrench  from  her  elder 
children  would  be  the  more  difficult,  the  longer  it  was 
delayed. 

"  Only  fifteen  days  after  my  marriage,"  wrote  Madame 
Bunsen  to  Bishop  Sandford,  "  I  parted  from  her,  who  has 
been  not  only  the  guide  and  protectress  of  nay  existence,  but 
in  such  a  degree  the  principal,  as  to  seem  almost  the  sole 
object  of  my  thoughts  and  affections — who  has  been  to  me 
far  more  than  any  words  can  express.  In  the  peculiarly  close 
connection  that  subsisted  between  my  mother  and  myself, 
if  she  had  had  the  shadow  of  a  wish  that  I  should  have 
remained  with  her  till  death  parted  us,  it  would  have  been 
a  natural  and  necessary  consequence  that  no  circumstances 
of  unqualified  esteem  and  attachment  to  another  person 
could  have  caused  me  to  leave  her,  even  though  she  had 
consented  and  acquiesced.  She  who  had  been  '  my  fate,  alone 
could  speak  my  doom,' — and  it  required  her  decided  will 
and  desire  to  dissolve  the  tie  that  bound  us.  Her  entire 
approval  of  Mr.  Bunsen  will  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  you,  my 
dear  sir,  and  you  will  believe  that  every  month,  and  every 


MARRIAGE.  115 


day,  strengthens  the  confidence  in  his  principles  and  in  his 
affection  with  which  I  at  first  consigned  myself  to  his  pro- 
tection. That  he  should  not  be  an  Englishman — and  that, 
consequently,  a  great  portion  of  my  life  must  be  spent  out 
of  England,  and  separated  from  my  mother — will  occasion 
the  admixture  of  so  much  positive  evil  amongst  the  bless- 
ings I  enjoy,  as  almost  to  be  a  security  to  me  that  I  may 
hope  for  a  continuance  of  that  abundant  share  of  good 
which  has  been  bestowed  upon  me.  Had  every  circum- 
stance attending  my  change  of  condition  been  exactly  as  I 
could  have  wished,  it  would  have  been  fearful — for  in  the 
natural  course  of  things,  some  blow  utterly  destructive  of 
my  happiness  must  have  been  expected  to  follow.  My  life 
had  hitherto  been  so  blest — I  had  been  so  nourished  on 
tenderness,  so  accustomed  to  talents,  understanding,  and 
cultivation,  as  well  as  to  high  religious  principle,  that  the 
number  of  essential  requisites  to  enable  me  to  lead  any- 
thing more  than  a  mere  vegetative  existence  was  great, 
and  I  never  anticipated  the  possibility  of  finding  them 
imited.  For  having  thus  found  them,  I  never  cease  to  be 
thankful,  although  I  feel  that  I  can  never  be  thankful 
enough.'1 

The  close  tie  which  had  existed  between  mother  and 
daughter  was  never  weakened  by  absence,  and  at  the 
end  of  twelve  years'  separation  the  mother  found  in  her 
child  the  same  heart- confidence  as  when  they  parted. 
But  she  found  in  her  also  one  of  the  noblest  types  of 
wedded  love  that  any  country  has  produced,  showing 
how  entirely  a  woman  can  fulfil  to  the  utmost  the 
duties  of  wife  and  mother,  without  ever  failing  in  the 


116         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS   flUNSEN. 

least  degree  to  be  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  com- 
panion of  her  husband. 

MADAME  BUNS  EN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"15  July,  1817. — I  lay  still,  and  shed  a  very  few  more 
tears,  talking  to  Charles  at  intervals  about  my  Mother,  and 
her  journey,  for  some  time  after  she  left  me.  Then  I  went 
to  sleep,  and  Charles  slept  too,  leaning  against  my  pillow, 

for  he  would  not  leave  me Some  few  times  since,  it 

is  true,  the  tears  have  risen  to  my  eyes,  but  they  have 
been  driven  away ;  for  my  Mother's  parting  words,  though 
I  never  have  trusted  myself  to  think  them  over,  have 
literally  vibrated  in  my  ears,  and  '  lain  like  a  cordial  in 
my  heart,  sending  forth  spirits  to  recruit  my  strength.' 

'  *  I  never  could  have  believed,  my  own  Mother,  that  I 
could  have  borne  your  departure  so  well,  because  I  could 
not  have  known  thoroughly,  without  this  trial,  how  much 
Charles  was  to  me.  He  sympathises  in  my  feelings  to  the 
exact  degree  that  does  me  good.  It  will  not  do  to  think 
and  recollect  that  my  Mother  has  nothing  to  soothe  her — 
but  her  own  reflections." 

"  Frascati,  20  July,  1817,  Monday. — Yesterday  I  read 
with  Charles  most  comfortably  and  satisfactorily.  After 
we  had  finished  the  prayers,  we  read  different  chapters  of 
the  Bible,  comparing  the  German  and  English ;  and  when 
M.  Brandis  came,  an  hour  and  a  half  before  dinner,  to 
read  with  Charles,  I  read  to  myself  in  '  Self -Knowledge.'* 
After  dinner  Charles  and  I  read  a  good  deal  in  Milton  and 
Dante,  then  walked  out,  and  sat  down  in  the  Villa  Belve- 
dere, where  M.  Brandis  joined  us.  We  walked  to  the  top 
*  Mason's  Self -Knowledge,  1786. 


MARRIAGE.  117 


of  tliat  hill,  where  the  view  was  most  beautiful As 

to  my  spirits — I  never  could  have  realised  that  I  should 
have  borne  the  parting  from  my  Mother  so  well,  for  I  never 
could  have  imagined  in  what  a  degree  Charles  would  cheer 
and  support  me,  how  accurately  he  would  observe  by  my 
face  when  my  thoughts  needed  to  be  diverted,  and  how  well 
he  would  succeed  in  turning  the  current  of  my  ideas.  I 
know  the  effect  of  salutary  occupation,  but  still  I  am  not 
attributing  too  much  to  Charles,  because  I  also  know  that 
fulness  of  employment  avails  little  without  the  sensation  of 
security  of  dependence,  and  animation  of  mind,  such  as  the 
consciousness  of  his  presence  gives. 

' '  Since  I  parted  with  my  Mother,  some  lines  of  Dante, 
often  remembered  before,  but  never  before  in  sorrow,  have 
often  occurred  to  me — 

'  Era  gia  1'ora  che  volge  '1  desio 
Ai  naviganti,  e  intenerisce  il  cuore, 
Lo  di  ch'  han  detto  a'  dolci  amici  addio  ; 

E  che  lo  novo  peregrin  d'amore 
Pimge,  so  odi  squilla  di  lontano, 
Che  paja  il  giorno  pianger  che  si  mnore. '  " 

(Purg.  cto.  viii.) 

"  Frascati,  August  7,  1817. — At  three  o'clock  I  set  off  on 
an  ass  with  the  Guardaroba  and  his  wife  to  see  their  Yigna, 
two  miles  distant,  along  a  beautiful  road.  The  people  were 
very  much  pleased  at  my  going  with  them,  and  talked 
d  Venvie  to  entertain  me  and  themselves,  and  did  the  honours 
of  their  belongings  with  the  ease  that  we  observe  in  Welsh 
cottagers.  The  Vigna  is  a  beautiful  sheltered  spot,  with  a 
great  many  fruit  trees,  besides  the  vines  and  crop  of  canes, 
and  a  well  in  the  rock,  in  which  they  put  some  of  the  pears 


118         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

they  had  gathered  for  me  to  rinfrescare.  I  brought  back  a 
great  many  almonds  and  pears,  and  a  few  peaches.  They 
told  me  their  corn-field  had  yielded  tenfold  this  year.  I 
returned  home  at  six  o'clock,  and  drew  till  it  was  dark,  and 
then  read  to  myself.  Charles  did  no£  come  home  till  after 
ten.  He  brought  me  from  Home  Yerstappen's  picture  from 
Thorwaldsen  and  various  stores  and  treasures;  among 
others,  Voss's  translation  of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey,  and  the 
work  by  Neander  on  the  character  of  Julian,  which  he  had 
borrowed  from  Thorwaldsen,  who,  he  says,  will  come  soon 
and  bring  some  clay  with  him :  he  had  been  working 
extremely  hard  lately,  and  has  made  two  statues  as  large  as 
life  since  he  finished  the  Ballatrice — a  Ganymede,  and  a 
Shepherd  with  his  Dog. 

''Charles  brought  back  M.  Overbeck  with  him  from 
Rome,  who  is  with  us  still,  and  I  hope  we  shall  keep  him 
longer,  for  he  seems  to  enjoy  being  here,  and  he  is  a  very 
agreeable  inmate,  thankful  for  every  attention,  and  con- 
stantly afraid  of  being  troublesome ;  interested  in  conver- 
sation, but  nevertheless  quite  happy  to  employ  himself 
independently  for  many  hours  in  the  day,  either  in  paint- 
ing or  walking  out.  He  brought  his  easel  and  a  beautiful 
little  picture  of  the  Virgin  and  Child,  which  he  is  finishing. 
I  have  a  great  wish  to  attempt  copying  it,  and  yesterday 
morning  while  he  was  out  I  began  and  half  finished  the 
outline,  with  which  he  was  very  much  surprised,  and  told 
me  he  could  not  make  such  clean  and  true  strokes  himself ! 

' '  I  must  mention  a  letter  which  has  given  me  great 
pleasure,  from  M.  Brandis's  father.*  It  is  everything  I 
could  wish,  and  gives  so  pleasing  an  impression  of  the 
*  Dr.  Brandis,  Physician  to  the  King  of  Denmark. 


MARRIAGE.  119 


writer  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  letter  begins  with  an  assurance,  that  he  will 
always  hold  me  in  particular  regard,  as  being  the  first 
person  who  has  given  him  the  pleasure  of  knowing  he  has 
a  daughter-in-law,  and  that  whenever  another  of  his  sons 
brings  him  another,  he  hopes  she  will  have  won  his  son's 
heart  in  an  equally  worthy  manner.  He  says  he  loves 
Charles  as  well  as  his  own  sons,  but  will  not  praise  him, 
because  there  is  no  use  in  that,  as  the  matter  is  concluded, 
— and  will  only  say  that  it  is  not  merely  natural  to  him  to 
seek  after  all  that  is  excellent,  but  that  he  can  only  exist 
in  clinging  to  it.  He  says  that  it  is  difficult  to  refuse  our 
invitation  to  Frascati,  but  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
him  to  take  such  a  journey :  however  that  he  will  send  one 
of  his  sons,  who  must  put  on  a  wig  to  look  as  like  him  as 
possible, — but  he  promises  me,  if  I  will  come  to  see  him  at 
Copenhagen,  to  take  his  wig  off,  and  represent  his  son. 
He  concludes  by  giving  me  his  blessing." 

" Frascati,  14  August,  1817. — How  intense  is  the  heat! 
1  almost  gasp  for  a  tramontana,  for  even  the  coolness  of 
the  morning  is  only  relief  by  comparison.  However  I 
have  nothing  to  complain  of,  but  the  weakness  occasioned 
by  the  climate.  Charles  is  ever  the  same, — and  if  I 
wanted  reviving — which  I  do  not  in  mind,  though  I  do 
in  body — it  would  be  sufficient  for  that  purpose  to  behold 
a  being  in  such  full  enjoyment  of  existence  —  so  unin- 
terruptedly gay,  busy,  animated — and  to  feel  that  he 
loves  me  every  day  more  and  takes  greater  delight  in 
my  presence,  and  admits  to  himself  that  he  does  so.  He  is 


120          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    HUNSEN. 

very  busy  all  morning,  studying  and  writing ;  and  reads 
Plato  with  Mr.  Brandis  for  the  last  half-hour  before 
dinner.  I  always  sit  drawing,  or  writing,  or  reading 
in  his  room,  but  we  do  not  interrupt  each  other.  I  have 
nearly  finished  my  copy  of  Overbeck's  Madonna,  and  it 
is  a  great  pleasure  to  think  that  my  Mother  will  some 
time  see  it." 

"  19  Sept.,  1817.  —  I  can  truly  assure  my  Mother, 
that  my  mind  settles  daily  to  a  more  full  and  steady  en- 
joyment of  existence.  I  use  that  phrase,  as  implying 
much  more  to  my  Mother  who  knows  me,  than  if  I  had 
merely  said  I  was  happy — because  it  proves  that  the  com- 
posure of  entire  satisfaction  is  my  habitual  state.  I  feel 
continually  convinced  of  being  more  and  more  beloved, 
and  in  a  manner  that  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  few  human 
beings,  of  being  prized  for  anything  and  everything  that 
has  a  pretension  to  be  good  in  me, — and  I  have  the  con- 
sciousness of  giving  pleasure  even  by  my  silent  pre- 
sence, and  by  every  word  and  action.  0  my  Mother, 
the  only  risk  is  that  I  should  be  quite  spoiled ! — it  is 
too  good  for  any  human  creature  not  to  have  unreason- 
alleness  to  contend  with,  and  my  occupations  too  are  very 
much  what  I  like,  except  that  I  find,  as  usual,  time  to  do 
but  little  of  what  I  wish  to  do. 

"I  hope  we  may  perhaps  go  to  Naples  next  summer 
It  is  curious  that  the  danger  as  to  robbers  is  not  near 
Naples,  but  within  the  Papal  frontier,  where  at  present 
nearly  the  whole  population  consists  of  banditti,  very 
savage  in  their  practices,  taking  captives,  and  often  mur- 
dering them,  if  not  ransomed  very  speedily.  Many  of  the 
troops  the  Pope  has  sent  against  them,  or  rather  the  Mon- 


MARRIACiK.  121 


signore  at  the  head  of  the  Pope's  War  Office,  have  deserted 
to  the  robbers :  the  present  state  of  things  therefore  is  so 
nearly  desperate,  that  I  think  there  is  some  ground  for 
hoping  an  amendment, — possibly  the  poor  Pope  may  die  in 
next  Advent's  fast,  and  then  tjio  Austrians  may  establish 
some  government, — if  it  was  only  a  military  rule,  that 
would  be  better  than  no  government." 

11  25  Sept. — I  will  here  assure  my  Mother,  that  never 
in  any  way  has  my  privilege  to  employ  myself  as  I  please, 
witliout  criticism,  been  infringed :  and  I  can  safely  pro- 
mise her,  that  as  far  as  time  and  strength  allow,  nothing 
shall  be  lost  that  she  has  taken  pleasure  in  seeing  me 

acquire When  Charles   and  I   sit  together,    we 

neither  interrupt  or  constrain  each  other.  The  only 
thing  in  which  my  time  is  ever  spent,  in  exclusive  com- 
pliance with  a  fancy  of  Charles  and  Mr.  Brandis,  is  in 
reading  the  dialogues  of  Plato,  two  or  three  evenings  in 
the  we^s,  for  an  hour.  I  road  aloud  the  German  trans- 
lation, and  they  look  at  the  Greek  the  while.  For  this 
book  I  confess  I  have  as  yet  acquired  no  taste,  but  it 
is  a  very  fine  practice,  not  only  in  reading  German,  but 
in  fixing  attention :  and  the  representation  is  most 
curious,  not  only  of  the  enlightened  opinions  of  two  indi- 
viduals, Plato  and  Socrates,  but  of  the  total  want  of  all 
fixed  principles  of  belief,  on  the  commonest  points  of  reli- 
gion and  morality,  amongst  the  rest  of  the  Athenians  of 
their  time :  also,  the  talent  with  which  the  dialogues  are 
conducted  is  admirable ;  and  if  the  work  did  not  possess 
so  many  merits,  the  interest  that  Charles  and  Mr.  Brandia' 
take  in  helping  me  to  understand  it,  by  giving  explanatory 
particulars  as  to  numberless  points  on  which  I  am  unin- 


122          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    liARONESS    BUXSEN. 

formed,  would  be  reason  sufficient  to  prefer  continuing  to 
read  it. 

"  On  Charles's  birthday,*  my  dearest  Mother,  I  showed 
him  Patrick  f  for  the  first  time,  putting  a  mark  in  the 
prayer  '  On  the  day  of  one's  Birth.'  He  was  very  much 
pleased,  and  the  next  morning  before  breakfast  proposed 
that  we  should  read  a  prayer  together,  which  we  have  done 
many  times  since,  and  we  often  before  breakfast  read  some 
chapters  in  the  Bible.  I  have  constantly  more  satis- 
faction, and  I  feel  that  he  has  also,  in  our  regular  Sunday 
readings. 

'  *  We  are  beginning  to  experience  the  inconveniences  of 
a  mere  summer-house.  From  the  smallness  of  the  rooms, 
we  are  either  in  want  of  fresh  air,  or  exposed  to  draughts 
of  wind  :  still  we  ought  not  to  complain  of  Casino  Acco- 
rambuoni,  for  it  has  not  let  in  the  rain  upon  us,  that  is  to 
say — only  a  little  :  but  I  look  forward  with  pleasure  to 
inhabiting  large  rooms  with  large  windows.  Nexi^Monday 
Charles  will  go  to  Rome,  and  take  Laura  to  superintend 
cleaning  and  to  take  care  of  furniture  till  we  come  to 
inhabit.  Last  Monday  we  went  to  Monte  Compatri,  setting 
off  at  eight  o'clock,  and  returning  at  three  to  dinner.  Mr. 
Brandis  and  Mr.  Platner  went  with  us,  and  we  took  a 
basket  with  fruit  and  cold  ham  and  bread.  It  rained  when 
we  reached  Monte  Compatri,  but  we  got  under  shelter,  and 
Mr.  Brandis  read  aloud  part  of  Gotz  von  Berlichingen :  the 
views  were  most  exquisite,  and  I  enjoy  the  thoughts  of 
going  the  same  road  again  to  Palestrina." 

*  25th  August. 

f  The  Devotional  Works  of  Symon  Patrick,  Bishop  of  Chichestor, 
afterwards  of  Ely  (1626—1707). 


MA1UUAGE.  123 


"  Frascati^  2  Oct.,  1817. — On  Monday  morning  Charles 
went  to  Home,  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  their 
delays  caused  hing  to  lose  three  hours  of  a  fine  morning, 
he  almost  reproached  me  for  having  given  him  '  nothing 
to  do '  to  help  me,  according  to  his  own  wish  and  Charles's 
charge — but  I  explained  that  had  I  been  ever  so  well 
inclined  to  give  him  more  trouble  than  could  be  avoided,  I 
could  not  well  have  contrived  to  give  him  either  my  gown? 
and  petticoats,  or  the  sheets  and  tablecloths  to  pack. 
Indeed,  my  own  dearest  Mother,  I  have  so  many  plagues 
saved  me,  of  all  sorts  and  kinds,  that  it  is  only  almost 
alarming.  I  have  had  a  long  note  from  Charles  each  day 
since  he  went  away,  and  I  have  written  to  him  each  day : 
and  these  four  days  that  I  have  been  alone,  I  have  not 
been  lonely,  for  I  have  been  well  enough  to  be  constantly 
busy,  nave  taken  three  sketches;  drawn  some  dogtooth 
violets,  which  are  now  in  full  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  from 
Charles  a  comment  Mr.  Niebuhr  had  made  on  the  tho- 
roughly Judaic  spirit,  and  narrowness  of  mind  of  Ezekiel, 
as  contrasted  with  Isaiah.  I  think  very  likely  the  obser- 
vation is  just,  but  I  believe  the  reason  I  have  always  felt, 
and  my  Mother  has  always  felt,  so  much  delight  in  reading 
Isaiah,  is  that  in  speaking  of  the  future  Redeemer,  his 
soul  seems  filled  with  his  actual  presence,  and  he  has 
almost  imbibed  beforehand  the  spirit  of  Christianity — he 
is  not  a  mere  passive  medium  for  the  transmission  of  Divine 


124          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

oracles.  One  of  the  plans  that  Charles  has  made  for  the 
winter,  is  to  read  the  book  of  Job  in  the  Hebrew,  with  a 
countryman  of  his  of  the  name  of  Wolfe,  a  converted  Jew, 
who  is  at  present  in  the  Roman  college,  and  has  made 
great  progress  in  the  Oriental  languages." 

"  6  Oct.,  1817. — Mr.  Charles  Brandis  speaks  with  great 
animation  of  the  effect  that  the  young  Napoleon  produced 
upon  him.  He  said  that  the  child  spoke  to  him,  asking 
him  different  questions,  where  he  had  been,  where  he  was 
going — '  like  a  little  Prince  ;'  that  he  had  a  marked  cha- 
racter of  countenance  as  well  as  manner,  and  that  his 
features  were  not  like  Ms  fathers;  that  he  had  beautiful  flaxen 
hair  in  great  abundance.  The  only  anecdote  he  told  me 
of  him  was  curious.  The  two  young  lions  that  the  Princess 
of  Wales  sent  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  were  conveyed  to 
Schonbrunn,  where  the  young  Napoleon  resides,  and  he 
became  very  fond  of  them,  and  quite  familiar  with  them. 
When  the  Emperor  came  to  see  these  lions,  the  child 
thought  some  signs  of  apprehension  were  to  be  perceived 
in  his  countenance  ;  he  ran,  and  clasped  one  of  the  lions 
round  the  neck,  exclaiming,  'Now,  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  entertaining  to  hear  that  the  eldest 
son  of  the  Emperor  mimics  the  deportment  of  the  young 
Napoleon,  making  the  clumsiest  imitations  of  gestures, 
that  in  the  other  are  graceful,  because  easy  and  na- 
tural. 

' '  Particulars  of  the  death  of  Madame  de  Stael  will  have 
reached  my  Mother  from  other  quarters,  but  I  will  mention 
that  though  she  suffered  terribly  in  body  and  mind  till 


MARRIAGE.  125 


within  a  few  minutes  of  her  death,  she  expired  as  if  falling 
asleep.  She  desired  her  daughter  to  declare  her  marriage 
with.  Eocca  as  soon  as  she  was  dead,  but  not  to  mention  it 
before.  Therefore  the  Duchesse  de  Broglie  collected  all 
her  friends  around  her  mother's  coffin,  the  night  before  it 
was  removed  from  Paris,  informed  them  of  the  duty  im- 
posed upon  her,  and  then  fainted.  Madame  de  Stael  has 
left  Eocca  and  her  child  one  third  of  her  property." 

"  Palazzo  Astalli,  Rome,  11  Oct.— "We  profited  by  the 
cessation  of  rain  on  Tuesday  evening  to  come  home,  and 
have  ever  since  been  unpacking  and  settling.  I  have  had 
some  trouble,  my  own  Mother,  but  no  plague.  I  was  quite 
surprised  to  find  how  much  was  done,  the  rooms  painted, 
all  fresh  and  clean,  carpet  laid  down,  and  a  sufficient' 
number  of  chairs  and  tables  and  other  necessaries,  to  begin 
with.  I  have  never  ceased  to  be  sensible  of  the  freshness' 
and  cleanliness,  and  space,  and  light  and  air  of  these  rooms 
since  I  came  into  them.  I  have  got  my  Mother's  picture  : 
sometimes  I  am  hard  enough  not  to  trust  myself  to  look  at 
it !  Oh  it  is  very  like — almost  too  like  !  " 

"18  Oct.,  1817.— Charles  is  just  gone  to  Mr.  Niebuhr's, 
who  has  asked  several  of  his  favourites  to  meet  at  his  house 
in  commemoration  of  the  Battle  of  Leipzig — and,  before  I 
go  to  bed,  I  may  treat  myself  in  expressing  to  my  Mother 
the  continually  renewed  thankfulness  I  feel  towards  her  for 
that  all  but  living  image  of  herself,  which  now  occupies 
the  room  I  inhabit,  receives  me  whenever  I  return  to  it, 
and — looks  so  much  as  if  it  were  going  to  speak  to  me — 
that  for  a  minute  together  I  cannot  look  at  it,  but  a 
hundred  glances  in  the  course  of  the  day  I  can  take  without 
doing  any  mischief. 


126          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"I  have  called  upon  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Niebuhr  since  their 
return  to  Borne,  when  they  were  both  very  gracious.  I 
had  only  an  opportunity  of  exchanging  a  few  words  with 
Mr.  Niebuhr,  and  very  much  doubt  whether  I  shall  ever 
get  on  with  him,  but  my  Mother  will  agree  with  me  that 
'  Ton  peut  tres  bien  attend™,'  and  that  it  is  not  a  matter  to 
make  violent  efforts  in." 

"30  Oct.,  1817. — Yesterday  morning  Charles  and  I 
walked  over  the  Capitol  to  the  Coliseum  directly  after 
breakfast,  and  yesterday  evening  we  took  the  same  walk, 
returning  as  the  Ave-Maria  was  sounding.  I  therefore 
observed  the  equestrian  statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius  in  the 
same  day  receiving  the  first  sunbeams,  and  displaying  its 
fine  outline  in  a  mass  of  darkness  against  the  clear  sky 
after  the  sun  was  set. 

"I  would  give  the  world  that  my  words  should  suffi- 
ciently prove  to  my  Mother  how  happy  I  am.  I  feel  myself 
continually  more  beloved,  more  highly  valued,  more  de- 
lighted in, — and  have  an  hourly  consciousness  of  the  truth 
of  an  assurance  Charles  made  to  me  the  other  day  in  these 
words — '  I  feel  what  you  are  in  every  fibre  of  my  heart.'  " 

"  11  Nov.,  1817.— We  have  removed  to  Palazzo  Caffarelli, 
on  the  Capitol,  and  how  I  wish  I  could  send  my  Mother  a 
sketch  of  the  inside  of  my  room,  but  still  more  that  I 
could  send  the  view  from  the  windows,  which  is  a  never- 
failing  delight,  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  time 
latterly,  when  he  was  not  busy  house  arranging.  Mr. 
Brandis  and  he  had  long  talked  of  contriving  some 
manner  in  which  the  Jubilee  of  the  Reformation  should 


MARRIAGE.  127 


not  pass  unmarked  amongst  the  German  Protestants 
collected  at  Borne,  as  it  was  appointed  to  be  cele- 
brated throughout  Protestant  Germany  on  the  2nd  of 
November,  the  day  on  which,  in  1517,  Luther  publicly 
burnt  the  papal  bull  that  had  been  issued  to  condemn  his 
doctrines,  thereby  declaring  for  the  first  time  a  positive 
separation  from  the  Church  of  Rome.  For  this  purpose,  it 
was  to  be  wished  that  a  religious  service  could  be  per- 
formed. Charles  proposed  to  translate  the  service  of  the 
Church  of  England,  which  was  approved  by  Mr.  Niebuhr, 
and  he  set  to  work,  and  soon  finished.  Wherever  a 
Biblical  phrase  was  to  be  observed,  he  referred  to  Luther's 
translation  of  the  Bible,  and  made  use  of  the  original 
words.  In  this  part  of  the  work  I  helped  him  to  some 
degree,  as  I  could  generally,  though  not  always,  find  the 
place  in  the  English  Bible,  where  a  similar  phrase  was 
employed,  and  then  the  parallel  passage  in  the  German 
Bible  was  easily  found.  When  this  was  done,  Mr.  Niebuhr 
scrupled  having  the  meeting  take  place  in  his  own  house, 
because  he  could  not  exclude  any  individual,  and  there 
might  be  some  who  would  write  a  misrepresentation  of  the 
matter,  or  who  at  any  rate  would  declare  that  he  had  taken 
a  decided  part  in  favour  of  the  English  liturgy,  which  he 
had  rather  not  appear  to  do,  as  tho  adoption  of  some 
general  form  of  worship  is  a  matter  of  great  contention  at 
present  in  Germany,  where  nothing  is  yet  established,  but 
every  clergyman  reads  as  much  or  as  little  as  he  pleases  : 
but  it  is,  as  I  understand,  the  particular  wish  of  the  King 
of  Prussia,  that  something  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
English  liturgy  should  be  adopted,  because  he  was  so 
struck  with  it  when  in  England.  Mr.  Niobuhr  therefore 


128         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    Otf    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

expressed  a  wish  that  all  should  assemble  in  our  house, 
which  accordingly  took  place  on  Sunday  the  9th  of  Novem- 
ber, on  account  of  Mr.  Brandis's  having  been  too  ill  to 
move  the  Sunday  before.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Niebuhr  came, 
and  Madame  de  Humboldt*  and  her  daughter,  and  a  great 
many  men,  in  all  nearly  forty  persons.  Charles  and  Mr. 
Brandis  read  the  translation  between  them,  and  their  selec- 
tion did  extremely  well,  for  they  thought  themselves  obliged 
to  omit  some  things,  lest  the  length  of  the  service  should 
frighten  a  set  of  people,  most  of  whom  were  not  accustomed 
to  think  going  to  church  at  all  necessary.  Mrs.  Niebuhr 
was  blooming  and  gracious,  and  asked  us  to  come  the  fol- 
lowing evening.  I  have  reason  to  think  that  all  the  trouble 
I  have  at  different  times  taken  to  talk  to  her  is  not  thrown 
away,  for  in  her  manner  there  is  now  something  so  like 
cordiality,  that  I  feel  as  far  as  it  goes  she  rather  likes  me, 
and  is  pleased  to  see  me.  Mr.  Niebuhr  gave  me  one  of  his 
bows  and  two  of  his  smiles,  but  nothing  more."  f 

"25  Nov.,  1817. — Last  Sunday  I  had  the  very  disagree- 
able interruption  of  a  visit  from  Mr.  Niebuhr,  his  wife  and 
child,  the  last  the  most  pleasing  of  my  visitors,  for  he  was 
lively  and  good-humoured.  During  the  whole  time  Mr. 
Niebuhr  was  in  the  house,  he  walked  the  rooms,  with 
Charles  and  two  other  men,  or  stood  with  them  on  the 

*  The  highly-gifted  wife  of  William  Humholdt,  the  great  states- 
man and  philologer, — "  la  premiere  intelligence  de  1'Europe,"  as 
Madame  de  Stael  described  him  at  the  time  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 

f  It  will  he  seen  how  steadily  the  feeling  of  Madame  Bunsen  for 
Madame  Niebuhr  strengthened  and  deepened  into  a  true  friendship, 
and  how  differently  she  afterwards  regarded  Niebuhr  himself. 
Madame  Niebuhr  was  his  second  wife,  Margaret  Hensler — "Gretchen" 
— the  niece  tnd  adopted  daughter  of  his  first  wife's  sister,  Madame 
Ueneler. 


MARRIAGE.  129 


loggia — never  sat  down,  or  came  near  me.  At  last,  at  the 
usual  speaking  time,  when  his  wife  was  fidgetting  away, 
and  he  was  fidgetting  after  her,  he  supposed  I  was  going 
to  go  into  mourning  for  the  Princess  Charlotte.  I  replied 
with  strong  expression  of  regret  for  her  loss.  He  was 
pleased  to  draw  an  inference  from  my  words  that  I  was  a 
Tory  and  had  no  confidence  for  the  country's  welfare,  but 
in  royalty.  I  denied  the  inference,  as  undauntedly  as  my 
Mother  could  have  wished,  on  a  ground  that  I  knew  he 
could  not  object  to,  that  the  character  of  the  late  King  had 
been  a  circumstance  of  great  value  to  his  subjects,  and  that 
his  granddaughter  being  so  young,  it  had  not  been  for- 
bidden to  hope  that  much  might  be  expected  from  her." 

"  19  Feb.,  1818.— I  have  long  omitted  to  tell  what  my 
Mother  will  be  pleased  to  learn,  that  Thorwaldsen  has 
received  an  order  to  execute  the  bassi-relievi  of  the  Entry 
of  Alexander  into  Babylon,  in  marble.  The  order  has  been 
given  by  the  Marcheso  Somariva,  a  very  rich  Milanese, 
who  was  a  commissary,  I  believe,  for  the  French  army :  he 
lias  a  palace  at  Milan,  another  near  the  lake  of  Como,  and 
another  at  Paris.  Thorwaldsen  is  now  going  to  form  a 
succession  of  designs  from  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey,  for  bassi- 
relievi,  for  the  Crown  Prince  of  Bavaria,  who  when  he 
passed  through  Borne  originally  expressed  a  wish  that 
Thorwaldsen  would  make  designs  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment, for  a  frieze  to  be  placed  along  the  top  of  a  double 
row  of  columns,  to  lead  up  to  the  high- altar  of  a  church 
that  the  Prince  intends  to  build  at  Munich.  From  the 
time  this  was  talked  of,  it  was  observed  that  poor  Thor- 
waldsen was  quite  dispirited  at  the  thoughts  of  it,  his  soul 
did  not  enter  into  the  idea  of  the  design,  and  it  was  an 

VOL.    I.  K 


130          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

additionally  discouraging  circumstance,  that  his  works  were 
to  be  placed  at  a  height  of  twenty  feet.  It  is  believed  that 
some  of  Thorwaldsen's  friends  mentioned  this  state  of  his 
mind  to  the  Prince  on  his  return,  and  that  he  has  in  conse- 
quence changed  the  order, — which  I  think  is  very  fortu- 
nate, for  there  can  be  little  doubt  from  the  two  specimens 
of  Priam  at  the  feet  of  Achilles  and  the  Departure  of  Briseis, 
that  Thorwaldsen  will  enter  into  the  spirit  of  Homer. 
Thorwaldsen  has  been  very  busy,  and  therefore  very  happy 
lately,  not  in  consequence  of  the  number  of  orders  he  has 
received,  but  because  his  whole  mind  has  been  absorbed  in 
a  statue  of  Hope,  not  quite  finished  yet,  which  I  think  one 
of  his  most  beautiful  works.  I  do  not  know  anything  to 
compare  it  with ;  the  figure  is  standing  still,  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  completely 
covered ;  the  hair  is  arranged  in  a  manner  that  appears  to 
me  quite  original — a  quantity  of  curls  brought  from  behind 
over  the  forehead,  but  supported  from  falling  over  the  face 
by  a  band  or  diadem,  the  rest  of  the  hair  hanging  in  curls 
in  the  neck.  The  countenance  I  think  most  remarkable : 
Thorwaldsen  said  himself  he  thought  '  the  expression  of 
Hope  ought  to  be  perfect  repose,'  and  such  he  has  made  it, 
but  the  most  animated  repose" 

On  the  2nd  of  April,  1818,  a  letter  from  Bunsen  to 
Mrs.  "Waddington  headed  "  Fanny  is  well — Henry  seeds 
you  his  love  " — announced  the  birth  of  his  eldest  born. 

"  As  to  godfathers,  I  have  followed  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  received  me,  and 
treated  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  living  to 
whom,  besides  the  other  two,  I  have  more  obligation." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTIIEB. 

"  18  April,  1818. — 0  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  treasure 
is  now  asleep  in  his  crib.  .  .  .  Angelina's*  behaviour  has 
been  quite  perfect :  I  could  not  by  any  person  have  been 
served  with  more  intelligence,  activity,  and  unwearied 
good  humour.  My  Mother  will  more  easily  guess,  without 
being  told,  what  the  conduct  of  friends  has  been  towards 
me : — in  what  a  degree  I  feel  the  tie  drawn  closer  between 
myself  and  my  dear  Emily  by  the  unceasing  acts  of  kind- 
ness she  has  performed,  and  all  the  trouble  she  has  taken 
for  me  : — how  I  am  bound  for  life  to  Mrs.  Drewe,f  for  the 
tenderness  and  zeal  with  which  she  has  attended  to  me  : — 
how  far  dearer  than  ever  Charles  has  become  to  me,  as  I 
feel  that  I  am  also  become  to  him." 

"  22  April,  1818.— The  day  three  weeks  that  my  child 
\\  as  born,  I  was  out  for  a  long  time.  I  went  first  for  a 

*  The  faithful  Angelina,  frequently  mentioned  in  these  memoirs, 
is  still  living  (1878)  in  the  Palazzo  Cafiarelli,  with  a  small  pension 
from  the  Baroness  Bunsen,  and  receiving  much  kindness  from  the 
present  Prussian  ambassador,  as  from  his  predecessors. 

t  Born  Allen  of  Cresselly,  a  very  old  family  friend.     Se3  ch.  iii. 


132         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

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  belief  that  as  far  as  she  has  any 
feeling  towards  me,  it  is  a  feeling  of  unmixed  goodwill  and 
complacency.  Then  I  fetched  Emily,  who  went  with  me 
to  the  Villa  Borghese,  which  is  in  the  "beauty  of  purple 
blossomed  Judas  trees  and  laburnum.  My  baby  was  with 
me  too  and  slept  the  whole  journey. 

"  On  Thursday  we  went  to  Thorwaldsen's,  and  saw  a  fine 
Mercury  upon  which  he  is  now  working  with  great  delight, 
and  which  keeps  his  spirits  in  some  degree  from  sinking 
under  the  weight  of  the  Crown  Prince's  commission :  tho 
single  specimen  he  has  made  of  that  frieze,  the  three  Mary's 
at  the  tomb,  is  quite  detestable,  and  I  am  sure  ho  looks  at 
it  with  as  little  patience  as  anybody  else — they  are  abso- 
lutely theatrical  figures." 

"  1  July,  1818. — Donna  Christina  Bonaparte  is  married 
to  Count  Posse — a  Swede,  and  Donna  Anna  to  tho  Prince 
Ercolani  of  Bologna.  The  latter  is  said  to  be  a  great 
match :  the  former  displeased  Madame  Mere  and  the  Prin- 
cess Borghese  so  much,  that  they  would  not  be  present 
when  the  contract  was  signed ;  it  was  reported  that  they 
grounded  their  objections  upon  the  circumstance  of  the 
Swede's  being  a  subject  of  a  subject  of  their  family. 

"  The  day  before  yesterday  poor  Fohr*  was  drowned  in 
the  Tiber !  I  cannot  describe  the  shock  which  this  acci- 
dent has  produced,  for  Fohr's  life  was  of  value  to  many. 
....  He  was  walking  near  the  Ponte  Molle  with  three 

*  Carl  Philip  Folir,  a  young  painter  of  much  promise.  His  towns- 
men at  Heidelberg  have  done  honour  to  his  memory  by  naming  a 
beautiful  walk  over  the  hills  "Fohr's  Weg." 


MARRIAGE.  133 


friends.  One  of  them,  named  Bahrdt,  being  a  good 
swimmer,  resolved  to  cross  an  eddy,  so  well  known  to 
be  dangerous,  that  the  soldiers  stationed  near  the  bridge 
have  orders  to  warn  bathers  not  to  venture  near  it.  Fohr 
knew  but  little  how  to  swim,  but  insisted  upon  following 
Bahrdt,  though  urged  by  all  three  to  refrain.  Bahrdt  hud 
nearly  reached  the  other  side,  when  he  heard  an  outcry 
from  the  two  who  remained  on  the  bank,  and  turning 
round,  saw  Fohr  struggling  in  the  eddy ;  he  seized  him  by 
the  hair,  but  the  strength  of  the  stream  forced  it  from  his 
grasp — he  then  swam  below  the  place  of  danger,  and  came 
up  again  against  the  current,  in  the  hope  of  catching  him. 
He  was  able  to  reach  Fohr's  hand,  but  life  was  already 
fled,  the  hand  dropped  from  his  grasp,  the  body  sank,  and 
has  not  been  found  again.  Fohr's  poor  dog  had  four  days 
before  been  nearly  drowned  in  the  same  spot,  and  there- 
fore dared  not  venture  after  his  master,  but  ran  howling 
along  the  bank,  and  could  by  no  efforts  be  brought  away, 
till  his  master's  clothes  were  shewn  him,  and  then  he  fol- 
lowed the  clothes  home. 

"  Mr.  Overbeck  is  going  to  be  married  to  Mademoiselle 
Hirtel,  the  daughter  of  an  Austrian  baron,  with  whom 
Wilhelm  Schlegel  was  a  few  years  ago  so  much  in  love,  that 
he  wanted  to  have  proposed  to  her,  but  Madame  de  Stael 
would  not  let  him.  I  saw  Mademoiselle  Hirtel  for  the  first 
time  at  Genzano,  where  she  is  settled  for  the  summer,  with 
Madame  Herz,  Frederic  Schlegel,  and  two  German  misses — 
altogether  a  curious  coterie,  which  I  should  be  much  enter- 
tained to  see  more  of,  if  we  could  go  again  to  Genzano. 
Mdlle.  Hirtel  is  a  thorough  gentlewoman,  very  pretty,  with 
a  countenance  full  of  feeling  and  animation,  and  she 


134          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

certainly  can  only  be  induced  to  marry  Overbeck  by  being 
attached  to  him." 

"4  July,  1818. — Last  night  the  remains  of  poor  Fohr 
were  deposited  near  the  pyramid  of  Cains  Cestius.  The 
night  before  they  had  been  found  by  a  fisherman  a  mile 
below  San  Paolo  fuori  le  Mura.  There  being  no  German 
clergyman  in  Rome,  Charles  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,  contained  in  a  collection  of  ancient 
German  sacred  poetry,  and  intended  to  be  sung  by  two 
choirs  responsively.  In  conclusion,  Charles  spoke  a  few 
sentences  relative  to  the  character  of  the  deceased  and  the 
feelings  of  survivors.  I  wish  I  could  give  my  Mother  an 
idea  of  how  well  this  ever-difficult  duty  was  performed. 
....  A  great  number  of  people  formed  a  circle  round 
the  grave — the  friends  and  associates  of  Fohr,  the  people 
who  carried  torches  and  had  conveyed  the  coffin,  and  the 
guard  which  is  always  stationed  at  the  Protestant  burying- 
place.  The  Italians  all  stood  in  perfect  stillness  and  fixed 
attention :  it  was  a  dark,  but  gloriously  starlight  night, 
and  the  Hashes  of  lightning  without  cloud  or  storm  were 
frequent." 

"  8  July,  1818. — My  dear  Emily  has  been  here.  She  had 
just  received  my  Mother's  letter  containing  a  summons  to 
England.  I  cannot  describe  the  spring  that  gave  me — the 
unmixed  pleasure.  I  could  not  feel  disappointed  it  was 
not  myself  that  was  summoned,  having  such  a  fixed  con- 
viction of  the  impossibility  of  moving;  and  the  loss  to 
myself  of  Emily's  presence  did  not  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  full  moon,  Charles  longed  for  my  Mother's 
presence — a  summer  night  is  the  time  when  he  wishes  for 
her.  The  time  when  I  wish  for  her  most  of  all  is  when  I 
look  at  my  child:  I  cannot  write  anything  to  give  an 
image  of  him,  and  I  cannot  draw  him  to  my  satisfaction." 

"1  Sept.,  1818.— Charles  will  look  for  a  lodging  at 
Genzano,  that  we  may  go  into  the  country  when  Emily 
goes  away.  My  Mother  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  we  are 
to  have  dear  Mr.  Brandis  in  the  house  with  us.  Charles 
has  legged  him  of  Mr.  Niebuhr  on  the  plea  that  in  the  pre- 
sent low  state  of  his  spirits,  he  ought  not  to  spend  so  many 
hours  alone  as  he  was  accustomed  to  do  in  Mr.  Niebuhr' s 
house,  and  that  he  has  long  formed  habits  of  living  day 
after  day  and  hour  after  hour  with  Charles,  as  a  brother." 

"4  Sept.,  1818. — I  trust  my  Mother  will  have  made 
out  from  my  late  letters  in  what  perfect  comfort  and  enjoy- 
ment I  have  passed  this  summer,  having  had  health  and 
strength  enough  to  pass  my  time  as  I  liked,  and  being  free 
from  interruptions.  I  shall  take  care  not  to  forget  that 
some  trouble  must  be  taken  for  society,  but  that  society 
must  be  good  indeed,  which  I  could  feel  to  be  otherwise 
than  an  intrusion.  There  is  no  conversation  from  which  I 
receive  so  many  ideas,  no  mind  that  communicates  to  mine 
such  an  impulse,  as  that  of  my  dear  Charles :  and  I  have 
the  blessing  of  feeling  that  I  am  constantly  more  and  more 
prized  by  him,  and  that  he  is  more  happy  in  my  presence. 
I  am  also  indescribably  thankful  to  be  conscious  how  much 
closer  the  bond  has  been  drawn  between  me  and  my  dear 
Ernily  in  these  fourteen  months  that  we  have  spent  as  it 
were  together,  since  my  Mother  left  us.  I  feel  her  affec- 


136          LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

tion  towards  me  as  much  increased  as  mine  towards  her, 
and  I  have  received  from  her  little  kindnesses  and  little 
services  innumerable." 

After  Madame  Buiiseu  parted  with  her  sister  at 
Rome,  they  never  met  again.  Mrs.  Mauley,  whilst 
she  had  pleased  her  husband  by  making  his  house 
agreeable  to  his  numerous  Italian  friends,  had  been 
exerting  herself  beyond  her  feeble  powers.  Though 
her  affection  for  him  was  unaltered,  she  could  not 
evade  an  inner  consciousness  which  she  never  allowed 
to  appear  till  she  lay  upon  her  death-bed,  that  her 
marriage  had  been  a  mistake.  Her  early  life  had  been 
devoted  to  strong  religious  impressions  of  that  class 
which  are  none  the  less  real  because  they  frequently 
raise  external  trifles  to  the  rank  of  spiritual  duties  ; 
and,  though  her  husband  never  interfered  with  her 
conduct  on  subjects  of  faith,  or  attempted  to  in- 
fluence her  belief,  she  felt  ere  long  that  the  fact  of  his 
being  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  evading  all  subjects  con- 
nected with  religion,  created  a  barrier  between  them 
on  the  matters  nearest  her  heart.  She  had  long  dis- 
covered also  that  his  fortune  was  far  from  being  that 
which  it  had  been  represented  to  be  before  her  marriage 
was  allowed  by  her  parents,  which  she  suffered  from 
chiefly  because  she  dreaded  the  effect  of  the  disclosure 
upon  their  minds.  "When  the  hour  of  departure  for 
England  was  fixed,  she  concealed  from  her  sister  lhat 
she  knew  she  was  returning  to  her  own  country  to  die. 


MARRIAGE.  137 


Tlie  fatigues  of  the  journey  increased  her  malady,  and 
when  her  mother  welcomed  her  at  the  door  of  Llanover, 
it  was  to  hear  her  conviction  that  she  was  dying  fast, 
but  that  God  had  heard  her  prayer,  not  to  be  parted 
from  her  mother  and  family  during  her  last  days. 
She  expressed  herself  as  being  joyful  in  spirit  for 
almost  the  first  time  for  the  last  two  years  —  "in 
which  she  had  lived  as  under  a  mask."  She  wished 
only  that  two  requests  might  be  granted — one,  that 
her  husband  might  not  be  informed  of  the  certainty 
of  her  approaching  death,  but  that  he  might  con- 
tinue to  indulge  his  present  hopes  of  her  recovery ; 
the  other,  that  in  the  prayers  offered  in  her  presence,  not 
a  word  of  petition  for  recovery  might  be  uttered,  as  she 
had  not  strength  to  endure  so  terrible  a  thought.  From 
this  time  she  lay  tranquil  and  resigned,  but  could  sel- 
dom speak :  all  symptoms  showed  the  entire  break-up 
of  nature,  although  she  had  still  strength  to  endure 
much  pain,  and  for  a  longer  time  than  the  physician 
had  deemed  possible.  "  I  pray  for  the  happiness  of  my 
husband,"  she  said ;  "he  loves  me,  and  has  ever  cared 
for  me  to  the  utmost  of  his  power ;  but  that  is  now 
past ;  all  ties  are  broken,  except  that  which  binds  me 
to  my  Mother,  by  whom  I  was  taught  the  knowledge 
of  God."*  Mrs.  Manley  died  on  the  12th  April, 
1819.  There  are  few  cases  in  which  one  may  ven- 
ture to  say  as  positively  as  in  this,  that  according  to 
human  wisdom  and  perception  there  was  no  other  way 
*  Letter  of  Bunscn  to  his  sister  Christiana. 


138         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

but  by  the  release  of  nature,  for  escaping  from  a  really 
tragical  combination  of  circumstances,  not  one  of  which 
could  have  been  thought  of  without  despair.*  Mean- 
time life  continued  to  glide  happily  by  with  the  Bunsens 
at  Rome — their  only  clouds  arising  from  this  sorrow, 
and  from  their  separation  from  Brandis,  who  left 
Rome  so  ill,  and  at  the  same  time  "  so  heavenly- 
minded  in  benevolence,  inward  peace  and  clearness,  and 
so  convinced  of  the  near  approach  of  his  end,"  that  his 
friends,  when  they  parted,  could  not  but  fear  they  had 
seen  him  for  the  last  time,  though  he  lived  to  a  good 
old  age.f  Long  and  affectionately  remembered  were 
the  last  afternoons  passed  by  the  Bunsens  with  this 
brother-like  friend,  chiefly  in  the  turiy  avenues  with 
their  glorious  mountain-views,  which  extend  from  the 
steps  of  St.  John  Lateran  to  the  old  basilica  of  Santa 
Oroce. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTIIEK. 

"16  March,   1819.— Mr.  Hinds  and  Mr.  ThirlwaU  are 

here My  Mother,  I  know,  has  sometimes  suspected 

that  a  man's  abilities  are  to  be  judged  of  in  an  inverse  ratio 
to  his  Cambridge  honours, — but  I  believe  that  rule  is 
really  not  without  exception,  for  Mr.  ThirlwaU  J  is  cer- 

*  See  Letter  of  Bunsen  to  Mrs.  Waddington,  in  the  Memoirs  of 
Baron  Bunsen. 

f  Professor  Brandis  outlived  Bunsen  himself.  He  died  at  Bonn,  where 
he  filled  the  chair  of  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy,  in  July,  1867. 

*  Connop  Thirlwall,  afterwards  Historian  of  Greece  and  Bishop  of 
St.  David's,  died  187'3. 


MARRIAGE.  139 


tainly  no  dunce,  although,  as  I  have  been  informed,  he 
attained  high  honours  at  Cambridge  at  an  earlier  age  than 
anybody,  except,  I  believe,  Person.  In  the  course  of  their 
first  interview,  Charles  heard  enough  from  him  to  induce 
him  to  believe  that  Mr.  Thirlwall  had  studied  Greek  and 
Hebrew  in  good  earnest,  not  merely  for  prizes  ;  also,  that 
he  had  read  Mr.  Niebuhr's  Eoman  History  proved  him  to 
possess  no  trifling  knowledge  of  German,*  and  as  he  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  improve  himself  in  the  language,  Charles 
ventured  to  invite  him  to  come  to  us  on  a  Tuesday  even- 
ing, whenever  he  was  not  otherwise  engaged,  seeing  that 
many  Germans  were  in  the  habit  of  calling  on  that  day, 
and  making  the  necessary  explanations,  that  a  regular 
assembly  was  not  to  be  expected,  for  that  I  was  unable  to 
send  formal  invitations,  on  account  of  being  so  frequently 
laid  up  :  and  Mr.  Thirlwall  has  never  missed  any  Tuesday 
evening  since,  except  the  moccoli  night,  and  one  other  when 
it  rained  dogs  and  cats.  He  comes  at  eight  o'clock,  and 
never  stirs  to  go  away  till  everybody  else  has  wished  good- 
night, often  at  almost  twelve  o'clock.  It  is  impossible  for 
any  one  to  behave  more  like  a  man  of  sense  and  a  gentle- 
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  left  to  himself; 
always  seeming  animated  and  attentive,  whether  listening 
to  music,  or  trying  to  make  out  what  people  say  in  Ger- 
man, or  looking  at  one  of  Gothe's  songs  in  the  book, 
while  it  is  sung ;  and  so  there  are  a  great  many  reasons 
for  our  being  very  mtich  pleased  with  Mr.  Thirlwall,  yet  I 

*  Seven  years  after  this,  Thirlwall  joined  his  friend  Julius  Hare  in 
translation  of  Xiclnihr's  Historv  of  Koine. 


140          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSES. 

ratlier  suspect  him  of  being  very  cold,  and  very  dry — and 
although  he  seeks,  and  seeks  with  general  success,  to 
understand  everything,  and  in  every  possible  way  increase 
his  stock  of  ideas,  I  doubt  the  possibility  of  his  under- 
standing anything  that  is  to  be  felt  rather  than  explained, 
and  that  cannot  be  reduced  to  a  system.  I  was  led  to  this 
result  by  some  most  extraordinary  questions  that  he  asked 
Charles  about  Faust  (which  he  had  borrowed  of  us,  and 
which  he  greatly  admired  nevertheless,  attempting  a 
translation  of  one  of  my  favourite  passages,  which  how- 
ever I  had  not  pointed  out  to  him  as  being  such), — and 
also  by  his  great  fondness  for  the  poems  of  Wordsworth, 
two  volumes  of  which  he  insisted  upon  lending  Charles, 
containing  stuff,  to  my  perceptions,  yet  more  contemptible 
than  the  contents  of  that  enormous  quarto  (the  eighth 
section  of  the  second  part  of  an  intended  poem,  I  believe) 
which  my  Mother  and  I  once  attempted  to  read.  These 
books  he  accompanied  with  a  note,  in  which  he  laid  great 
stress  upon  the  necessity  of  reading  the  author's  prose 
essays  on  his  own  poems,  in  order  to  be  enabled  to  relish  the 
latter.  Yet  Mr.  Thirlwall  speaks  of  Dante  in  a  manner 
that  would  seem  to  prove  a  thorough  taste  for  his  poetry, 
as  well  as  that  he  has  really  and  truly  studied  it ;  for  he 
said  to  me  that  he  thought  no  person  who  had  taken  tho 
trouble  to  understand  the  whole  of  the  '  Divina  Commedia  ' 
would  doubt  about  preferring  the  Paradiso  to  the  two 
preceding  parts;  an  opinion  in  which  I  thoroughly 
agree — but  nobody  can  understand  it,  without  having 
obtained  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  times,  and 
the  systems  of  theology  and  philosophy  (which  were 
present  to  the  mind  of  Dante)  by  means  of  studying  tho 


MARRIAGE.  141 


commentators,  or  being  assisted,  as  I  was,  by  the  studies 
of 'others. 

"  As  Mr.  Thirlwall  can  speak  French  sufficiently  well  to 
make  himself  understood,  and  as  he  has  something  to  say, 
Charles  found  it  very  practicable  to  make  him  and  Pro- 
fessor Bckker  acquainted — though  Professor  Bekker  has 
usually  the  great  defect  of  never  speaking  but  when  he  is 
prompted  by  his  own  inclination,  and  of  never  being  in- 
clined to  speak  except  to  persons  whom  he  has  long  known, 
that  is,  to  whose  faces  and  manners  he  has  become  accus- 
tomed, and  whose  understanding  or  character  he  respects 
or  likes.*  ....  In  conclusion,  I  must  say  about  Mr. 
Thirlwall,  that  I  was  prepossessed  in  his  favour  by  his 
having  made  up  in  a  marked  manner  to  Charles,  rather 
than  to  myself.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  on  with  him, 
but  I  had  all  the  advances  to  make  :  and  I  can  never  think 
the  worse  of  a  young  man,  just  fresh  from  college,  and 
unused  to  the  society  of  women,  for  not  being  at  his  ease 
with  them  at  first." 

"  22  June,  1819. — All  that  my  Augusta  tells  me  of  Calwich 
has  given  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure.  It  reminds  me  of 
the  time  when  I  was  there  at  twelve  years  old,  when  my 
Augusta  was  only  a  month  older  than  my  Henry  is  now, 
when  the  weather,  the  flower-garden,  the  water,  the  ver- 
dure, were  all  bright  and  beautiful,  and  when  I  very  much 
enjoyed  myself. 

*  Niebuhr  said  of  the  extraordinary  linguist  and  philologist 
Bekker  that  he  was  "  silent  in  seven  languages  "  (schweigt  in  sieben 
Sprachen).  In  a  letter  from  Berlin  of  September,  1857,  Bunsen 
speaks  of  Professor  Bekker  s  peculiarities  as  still  the  same — "  Madame 
Grimm  told  me  that  she  had  made  Bekker  not  only  speak,  but  laugh." 
Bekker  once  said — "  This  is  the  first  time  I  have  spoken  these  three 
yeai-s.' 


142          LIVE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAKOXESS    BUNSEN. 

"  How  I  thank  my  Mother  for  her  gifts  to  Mrs.  Niebuhr, 
whose  behaviour  to  me  has  indeed  been  all  that  I  could 
wish,  invariably — and  it  is  difficult  for  me  to  find  any 
means  of  making  a  return  of  any  sort,  except  having  made 
her  some  minced-pie  meat  at  Christmas,  and  a  candle-screen 
in  the  autumn,  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 

hardly  wish  to  do  so,  about  my  Mother's  extravagance, 
because  I  know  it  pleases  her  to  be  extravagant  for  my 
sake. 

"  A  few  evenings  ago  I  walked  \vith  Charles  over  Ponte 
Sisto  to  Palazzo  Corsini,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  the 
gallery.  The  custode  was  not  at  home,  so  we  went  on  to 
Santa  Maria  in  Trastevere,  to  look  at  some  ancient  mosaics, 
and  returned  to  the  Corsini  garden,  where  I  have  so  often 
been  with  my  Mother.  After  sitting  down  a  little  while, 
we  set  off  home,  but  by  way  of  Piazza  Sciarra  in  the  Corso, 
to  eat  ices.  When  we  had  ascended  our  own  dear  hill,  we 
found  the  sweetest  boy  in  the  world,  greeting  us  with  such 
joy — well-pleased  to  be  taken  in  my  arms,  and  afterwards 
upon  his  father's  back,  and  very  soon  equally  well-pleased 
to  be  undressed  and  go  to  bed,  it  being  Ave  Maria,  the 
usual  time  for  dropping  asleep.  The  Campo  Yaccino  is 
the  place  for  my  Henry  when  he  is  out.  There  he 
trots  and  stops,  and  looks  at  the  oxen  lying  by  the  side 
of  the  carts,  and  the  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats,  and  the 
asses." 

"  28  June,  1819. — In  the  course  of  last  week  a  Lutheran 
clergyman  arrived,  as  chaplain  to  the  Prussian  Embassy,  in 
eonsequence  of  Mr.  Niebuhr' s  representations  to  the  King 


MAURI  A<;K.  143 


of  Prussia  of  the  great  need  in  which,  the  numerous  colony 
of  German  Protestants  at  Rome  stood  of  having  a  person 
among  them  whose  office  it  should  be  to  keep  alive  a  sense 
of  religion,  and  counteract  the  influence  of  Catholic  priests, 
"by  which  so  many  conversions  have  been  effected :  and 
service  was  for  the  first  time  performed  yesterday  at  Mr. 
Niebuhr's,  to  a  congregation  of  seventy  persons,  which 
was  more  than  was  expected  could  have  been  so  soon  col- 
lected, as  many  people  are  gone  into  different  parts  of  the 
country  for  the  summer.  I  have  seldom  in  my  life  been 
so  deeply  struck  by  a  sermon  as  by  that  which  the  chap- 
lain delivered,  and  I  wish  I  had  space  to  give  such  an 
account  of  his  selection  of  matter,  and  of  his  manner  of 
treating  it,  as  might  enable  my  Mother  to  form  an  idea  of 
the  strength  of  understanding,  the  justness  of  feeling,  and 
the  knowledge  of  the  doctrines  and  spirit  of  Christianity 
which  he  proved  himself  to  possess ; — she  would  rejoice  for 
me  and  for  Charles  in  the  first  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  which,  containing  the  parable  of 
the  Prodigal  Son,  was  explained  and  commented  upon  in 
the  sermon.  It  has  always  been  allowed  to  the  clergymen 
in  Germany  to  make  what  selections  they  pleased  from  a 
vast  quantity  of  materials  for  forming  a  Liturgy — a  liberty 
which  has  been  to  a  fatal  degree  abused,  but  which  in  the 
present  instance  was  used  in  the  most  admirable  manner. 
The  prayers  were  those  of  Luther,  with  some  additions  to 
suit  the  circumstances  of  the  congregation.  The  hymns 
were  all  belonging  to  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  both 


144          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

words  and  music,  and  one  was  composed  by  Luther  him- 
self." 

;<  15  July,  1819. — It  is  a  very  pretty  sight  when  Henry 
ij  with  the  little  Niebuhr's,  they  have  such  delight  in 
seeing  each  other,  and  the  little  Amelia  and  my  Henry  are 
so  animated  and  Marcus  so  quiet,  in  the  manner  of  show- 
ing satisfaction.  Marcus  smiles  at  Henry,  puts  his  hands 
gently  on  his  shoulders,  and  kisses  him  on  the  cheek,  as 
he  has  been  taught  to  do  to  his  little  sister.  The  little 
girl  is  engaging,  but  -not  pretty,  but  Marcus  has  a  really 
beautiful  head,  and  an  expression  of  deep  thought  and 
fixed  attention  that  is  still  more  striking  and  uncommon 
than  his  features. 

"  The  great  heat  of  the  weather  has  so  much  weakened 
me  latterly,  that  for  a  fortnight  I  have  not  been  out  of  the 
house,  except  on  a  Sunday  to  attend  the  service  which  is 
regularly  performed  at  Mr.  Niebuhr's,  and  one  glorious 
night  when  I  drove  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tsiebuhr  to  the 
Coliseum. 

"It  is  my  most  particular  advice  to  A.  not  to  allow  the 
young  Baron  de  Hiigel  to  come  to  Italy,  as  he  is  only  just 
ccme  from  Eton, — he  had  much  better  be  sent  to  Oxford, 
and  perhaps  after  eight  or  ten  years,  when  he  has  learnt  a 
great  deal  at  home,  and  has  become  well  fixed  in  English 
habits  and  tastes,  he  may  travel,  without  the  certainty  of 
being  contaminated  by  all  the  evil  of  the  Continent,  and 
confirmed  in  all  that  he  brought  with  him  from  England. 
It  is  not  that  I  mean  to  say  there  is  nothing  to  be  learnt  in 
Italy :  on  the  contrary,  the  longer  I  remain,  the  more  I 
am  aware  of  the  abundance  of  ideas  that  may  be  acquired, 
and  the  depths  of  knowledge  that  may  be  penetrated  here, 


MARRIAGE.  145 


— but  with,  no  good  can  anybody  come  in  contact,  but  by 
scrutiny  into  the  past,  of  which  boys  of  eighteen  have  no 
notion, — they  see  nothing  in  Italy  but  the  paltry  frippery 
of  its  present  state,  and  generally  confound  in  their  feel- 
ings the  noble  relics  of  its  ancient  and  modern  greatness, 
with  the  antique  Immondezzaji  through  which  it  is  necessary 
to  wade  in  order  to  get  at  them. 

"  Amongst  the  many  subjects  on  which  I  wish  to  com- 
ment to  my  Mother,  Schmieder  (the  chaplain)  is  one 
of  the  principal.  I  am  so  sure  of  the  pleasure  she  would 
have  in  hearing  of  a  character  of  so  high  and  rare  a 
description,  as  his  more  and  more  appears  to  me,  the  more 
it  is  unfolded.  He  has  now  been  here  four  weeks,  I  have 
seen  a  great  deal  of  him,  and  Charles  still  more — but  I 
have  seen  nothing  that  disturbs  or  alters  the  first  impres- 
sion."* 

On  the  13th  of  August  Mrs.  Waddington  was  in- 
formed of  the  birth  of  her  second  grandson,  called 
Ernest  Christian  Louis,  the  first  name  being  after  his 
father's  boy-friend,  the  poet  Ernst  Schulze,  of  whose 
death  ho  had  heard  in  the  first  weeks  of  his  married 
life. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"21  Sept.,  1819.— If  I  could  but  describe  how  daily 
more  and  more  engaging  my  Ernest  becomes! — what  a 
pair  of  blue  eyes  he  opens !  His  hair  is  dark,  but  light 

*  Dr.  Schmieder  still  lives  (1878)— the  venerable  Provost  of  the 
Preacher's  Seminary  at  Wittenberg,  a  place  of  residence  and  tuition 
for  a  limited  number  of  candidates  for  holy  orders. 

VOL.  I.  L 


146         LIFE    AXI)    LETTERS    OF    1JA11ONESS    BUNSEN. 

hair  is  reckoned  such,  a  beauty,  that  the  nurses,  in  short 
every  Italian  who  has  seen  him,  has  endeavoured  to  con- 
sole me  with  the  assurance  that  he  will  be  '  biondo  come 
il  fratello  ' — which  amuses  me  very  much,  because  I  have 
no  doubt  they  know  as  well  as  myself  that  hair  is  much 
more  apt  to  become  darker  than  lighter. 

"  On  Sunday  the  1 9th  September,  my  Ernest  was  chris- 
tened at  Mr.  Niebuhr's,  after  the  service — in  consequence 
of  Dr.  Schmieder's  having  expressed  a  wish  that  the  chris- 
tening should  take  place  in  the  place  of  public  worship, 
rather  than  at  home ; — as  he  considered  it  more  consonant 
to  the  design  of  baptism  that  it  should  be  performed  so  far 
publicly,  as  that  the  congregation  should  be  enabled  to 
witness  it  if  they  chose,  and  thereby  have  an  additional 
chance  of  being  reminded  of  their  own  obligations.  The 
prayers  he  read  were  those  of  Luther,  composing  alto- 
gether a  service  not  quite  so  long  as  ours,  but  in  every 
respect  similar.  I  was  thankful  again  to  be  able  to  attend 
the  service,  and  to  hear  Dr.  Schmieder  preach.  During 
the  long  interval  in  which  I  have  not  stirred  from  home, 
Charles  has  given  me  every  Sunday  a  detailed  account  of 
the  sermon,  which  always  contains  an  explanation  of  the 
Epistle  or  Gospel  for  the  day,  but  every  time  I  miss  hear- 
ing one  of  his  sermons,  I  feel  I  have  missed  an  opportunity 
of  real  advantage.  It  is  known  to  Dr.  Schmieder's  friends 
that  he  writes  down  in  the  course  of  the  week,  sometimes 
in  two  or  three  different  ways,  his  thoughts  on  the  subject 
on  which  he  intends  to  preach,  but  he  preaches  extempore, 
without  any  reference  to  notes,  which  certainly  gives  great 
additional  effect  to  the  words  he  utters.  Every  "Wednes- 
day evening,  he  gives  explanations  of  Isaiah,  and  reads 


MARRIAGE.  147 


prayers,  to  any  persons,  few  or  many,  that  choose  to 
attend." 

"8  Nov.,  1819. — I  must  tell  my  Mother  the  usual  em- 
ployments of  our  evenings.  On  Sunday  we  read  in  the 
Bible,  with  Dr.  Schmieder,  of  whose  soundness  of  belief, 
and  rectitude  of  feeling,  I  am  the  more  convinced,  the 
more  I  hear  of  his  explanations  and  comments.  The  other 
persons  present  include  three  painters.  One  my  Mother 
will  find  in  the  catalogue  as  Giulio  Schnorr  di  Carols/eld. 
It  is  difficult  to  make  an  intelligible  description  of  Schnorr, 
and  to  depict  his  power  of  making  such  keen,  dry,  pene- 
trating observations  on  character,  that  had  circumstances 
destined  him  for  a  fine  man  of  the  world,  he  would  have 
been  a  consummate  persifleur.  The  names  of  Olivier  and 
Rhelenitz  my  Mother  will  also  find  in  the  catalogue. 

1 '  On  Wednesday  evenings,  at  the  Ave  Maria,  we  go  to 
a  room  at  Mr.  Niebuhr's  where  the  congregation  assemble, 
to  which  Schmieder  has  lately  begun  to  give  explanations 
of  the  articles  of  the  confession  of  Augsburg.  On  Thurs- 
day evening  we  generally  go  to  Mr.  Niebuhr's,  and  I  am 
always  glad  when  I  am  not  prevented  from  going  b^  any 
accidental  circumstance,  for  Mr.  Niebuhr  has  been  for  a 
long  time  in  a  sufficiently  good  state  of  health  to  be  in- 
finitely animated  and  conversible,  and  when  that  is  the 
case,  I  can  imagine  no  greater  intellectual  gratification  than 
to  hear  him  talk,  let  the  subject  be  what  it  may.  I  have 
heard  him  converse  on  many  subjects,  but  he  has  such  a 
power  of  diversifying  every  thing  by  the  originality  of  his  con- 
ceptions, and  the  liveliness  of  his  imagination,  that  I  should 
think  it  impossible  for  the  most  ignorant  listener  to  con- 
sider any  topic  dry  upon  which  he  touched.  On  Monday 


148          LIFE    AXD    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

evening  we  hope  soon  to  contrive  at  least  once  a  fortnight 
to  enjoy  again  a  treat  which  we  had  once  a  week  five  weeks 
last  summer — of  hearing  some  of  the  Motetts  of  Palestrina 
executed  in  the  right  manner,  without  instruments,  at 
home.  "We  had  long  tried  to  get  together  some  dilettanti 
acquaintances,  who  knew  how  to  sing  other  music,  to 
execute  them,  with  the  help  of  a  simple  accompaniment ; 
but  at  length  finding  that  no  dependence  could  be  placed 
on  dilettanti,  we  committed  the  extravagance  of  calling  in 
professional  aid — and  yet  no  great  extravagance,  for  to 
our  one  singer  from  the  Papal  chapel  we  gave  6  pauls  a 
night — or  2«.  9d.  sterling,  for  singing  in  six  pieces :  our 
contralto,  the  Maestro  Giovannini,  was  satisfied  with  an 
occasional  regalo,  of  a  few  pounds  of  chocolate,  or  bottles 
of  wine :  our  tenor  was  a  Dane,  named  Bai,  late  Consul  at 
Algiers,  with  a  most  exquisite  voice,  and  great  knowledge 
of  music  :  and  for  the  bass  we  were  rich  enough  in  Sardi, 
but  sometimes  Maldura  came  also.  Bai,  alas,  has  now 
left  Home,  therefore  we  shall  have  the  tenor  to  seek  and 
to  pay  whenever  we  get  our  musicians  together  again — 
for  which  reason  we  mean  to  be  economical,  and  not  have 
the  indulgence  every  week.  Charles  has  often  given 
utterance  to  the  wish  that  my  Mother  could  be  present, 
when  we  have  been  listening  to  these  Motetts.  I  am  sure 
if  anything  on  earth  can  give  an  idea  of  the  angelic  choir, 
it  must  be  the  music  of  Palestrina !  and  yet  I  do  not 
forget  the  glorious  effect  of  Handel — but  all  music  to 
which  instruments  contribute,  must  be  a  degree  more 
earthly,  than  that  in  which  human  voices  are  alone  to 
themselves  sufficient,  where  nothing  mechanical  is  needed. 
"  I  have  never  been  able  to  tell  that  my  Henry  can  now 


MARRIAGE.  149 


pronounce  nonna*  most  distinctly.  He  now  asks  of  liis 
own  accord  to  kiss  my  Mother's  picture  and  he  never  sees 
any  of  his  new  clothes  or  shoes  without  saying  'nonna'  and 
generally  '  grazie  '  afterwards.  To-day,  I  gave  him  a  bit 
of  pear,  and  after  he  had  bowed  his  dear  head,  waved  his 
hand,  and  said  '  grazie '  to  me,  he  said  '  nonna '  and 
'  grazie ' — you  may  be  sure  without  being  bidden,  so  fixed 
is  his  association  between  nonna  and  things  that  please  him. 

( '  Thank  you,  my  Mother,  a  thousand,  thousand  times, 
for  your  letter  to  Charles.  I  cannot  express  the  joy  it  is 
to  me,  or  rather,  the  foundation  of  happiness,  to  perceive 
that  you  believe,  what  I  have  long  been  aware  of,  that  it 
is  impossible  you  and  Charles  should  differ  in  opinion,  if 
only  opportunity  is  given  to  make  known  the  grounds  of 
your  respective  decisions. 

"In  one  of  my  Mother's  letters  to  me  some  time  ago, 
she  expresses  her  belief  that  the  image  of  my  departed 
sister  would  present  itself  with  peculiar  distinctness,  and 
with  a  saddening  effect,  when  my  child  was  born — that  I 
should  then  more  strongly  recall  the  idea  of  her  care  of 
myself,  her  love  for  my  first  child,  and  most  truly  so  it 
was — but  yet  I  was  not  saddened,  for  there  is  no  moment 
of  her  life,  the  recollection  of  which  can  possibly  excite  a 
wish  to  recall  her — not  even  those  moments  of  comparative 
enjoyment  in  which  she  held  my  Henry  in  her  arms. 
Alas !  he  cannot  recollect  her,  but  her  love  to  him,  if  I  can 
help  it,  shall  not  have  been  thrown  away." 

"  5  Jan.,  1820. — Alas,  my  Mother,  this  Christmas  and  New 
Year  will  have  been  saddened  to  you  by  many  a  vision  of 
sorrow ! — to  me  they  have  been  more  solemn  than  usual ; 
*  Grandmother. 


150         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF   BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

and  to  Charles  they  have  been  clouded  by  the  tidings  of 
the  death  of  his  mother,  whose  vital  powers  failed  on 

the  27tli  of  November My  dear  Charles  does  not 

think  it  possible  that  his  father  can  long  survive  the 
death  of  his  wife.  He  is  in  his  seventy-seventh  year, 
and  the  happiness  of  his  life  has  for  so  great  a  length 
of  time  entirely  consisted  in  seeing  her,  speaking  to 
her,  and  feeling  her  to  be  near  him,  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  he  should  physically  sustain  the  shock  of  her 
removal.  He  is  sure  to  be  carefully  attended  to  by 
Charles's  youngest  sister,  who  lives  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  objected  with  vehemence,  and  said  he  would  never 
be  conveyed  from  the  house  he  had  inhabited  with  his  wife 
so  many  years,  except  to  be  buried.  Their  union  had  been 
most  perfect,  and  the  affections  of  their  hearts  had  only 
seemed  to  strengthen,  in  proportion  as  bodily  and  mental 
powers  became  enfeebled. 

"  I  think  that  the  letter  I  sent  to  my  Mother  about  this 
time  last  year,  was  so  interrupted  that  I  could  not  give  any 
account  of  the  Christmas  tree  that  was  made,  to  Henry's 
great  delight,  by  Charles  and  Mr.  Brandis.  This  year 

we  made  him  a  still  finer  tree Henry  was  brought 

in  by  Angelina.  At  first  he  stared,  and  could  not  under- 
stand what  it  all  meant,  but  after  a  minute  he  made  an 
exclamation  of  delight,  which  was  continually  renewed 
with  increasing  animation  as  he  spied  the  various  treasures 
in  detail.  Ernest  opened  his  two  eyes  at  the  sight, 

stretched  out  his  fat  arms,  and  jumped  and  smiled 

On  Christmas  Eve  I  put  Henry  to  sleep,  that  I  might  let 


MARRIAGE.  151 


Angelina  go  to  her  supper,  for  as  a  strange  specimen  of 
Italian  taste,  the  servants  had  not  chosen  to  eat  any  dinner, 
that  they  might  have  the  full  enjoyment  of  a  *  cena  di 
Natale ' — which  I  should  have  understood  "better,  if  they 
had  put  off  the  supper  till  after  midnight,  because  then  it 
would  have  been  lawful  to  eat  grasso,  but  as  their  supper 
took  place  at  8  o'clock,  they  were  as  much  obliged  to  eat 
magro  as  at  any  other  part  of  the  day.  Henry  was  not  the 
only  person  who  received  Christmas-boxes — his  mother  too 
had  from  Ehebenitz*  a  drawing  of  Henry  with  his  nurse, 
from  Olivier  a  drawing  of  Ernest  with  his  nurse,  and  from 
Schnorr  a  drawing  of  Ruth  and  Naomi.  These  three 
artists  lodge  over  us.  After  our  labours  were  ended,  we 
were  very  glad  of  our  cena,  as  well  as  the  servants.  We 
had  rice-milk,  cold  ham,  anchovies  and  bread  and  butter, 
apples,  oranges,  and  dried  figs ;  the  only  person  present 
besides  those  already  mentioned  was  Platner ;  we  should 
have  been  glad  to  have  invited  Dr.  Schmieder  and  his  wife, 
but  they  were  gone  to  help  to  make  a  tree  for  Marcus  and 
Amelia." 

"21  Jan.,  1820. — On  Monday  the  weather  was  so  bright, 
and  I  was  so  well  and  strong,  that  I  walked  to  Santa 
Maria  Maggiore,  to  see,  or  rather  to  let  the  nurse  see,  the 
benediction  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  Henry. 

"  I  have  never  told  my  Mother  that  I  have  for  some  time 
had  in  hand  the  '  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,'  by 
Father  Paul  Sarpi,  which  extremely  interests  me.  It  is 

*  Theodore  Rhebenitz,  of  Liibeck,  who,  quitting  his  university 
studies,  had  conic  to  study  painting  in  Rome. 


152         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

one  of  the  books  forbidden  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
with  much  reason,  for  every  line  breathes  the  spirit  of 
Protestantism.  Father  Paul  Sarpi  never  professed  him- 
self a  Protestant,  because  he  hoped  the  Venetian  Govern- 
ment, in  which  he  had  great  influence,  would  in  time  be 
induced  to  declare  against  the  Pope,  and  establish  the 
Reformation  throughout  their  states — an  event  which  was 
very  near  taking  place,  but  which  was  prevented  by  the 
unfortunate  issue  of  the  battle  on  the  Weissen  Berge  in 
Bohemia,*  in  which  the  Protestant  army  was  overthrown 
by  the  Imperialists.  Father  Paul  was  so  well  known  as 
the  declared  enemy  of  the  Court  of  Eome,  that  many 
attempts  were  made  by  his  enemies  to  assassinate  him. 
His  work  contains  a  view  of  all  characters  and  circum- 
stances which  had  influence,  whether  propitious  or  adverse, 
on  the  cause  of  religion  at  the  time ; — the  style  is  clear, 
concise,  simple,  and  forcible,  although  the  language  is 
very  nearly  the  same  with  that  which  the  modern  Italians 
so  wretchedly  misuse,  and  consequently  in  itself  less 
energetic  than  that  of  earlier  Italian  writers, — but  the 
mind  of  the  author  bestows  vigour  upon  it,  and  his  occa- 
sional summing  up  of  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of 
Popes  and  their  favourites,  contains  instances  of  keen  and 
at  the  same  time  dispassionate  dignified  satire,  to  which  I 
know  no  parallel.  I  often  recollect  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  subject,  and  never  could  get 
any  information.  Cardinal  Bentivoglio's  very  dry  'Gruerra 
di  Fiandra  '  was  the  only  not-trashy  work  in  Italian  prose 
*  8  Nov.,  1620. 


MARRIAGE.  153 


of  which  I  could  even  procure  the  title.  At  last  I  have 
learnt,  that  there  is  no  modern  language  so  rich  in  his- 
torical works  of  intrinsic  excellence,  as  Italian,  and  that 
some  of  the  early  historians  of  Florence  approach  nearer 
to  the  excellence  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  models,  than 
the  historians  of  any  other  country,  or,  more  precisely 
speaking,  than  Hume  or  Gibbon,  whom  Mr.  Niebuhr 
rates  far  above  any  of  the  historical  writers  of  France  or 
Germany, — but  Gibbon  he  considers  as  greatly  superior  to 
Hume,  in  diligence  of  searching  after,  and  honesty  in 
stating,  the  truth  of  facts,  except  in  a  very  few  instances, 
in  which  his  judgment  was  warped  by  his  anti-Christian 
spirit.  Yarchi,  and  the  elder  Yillani,  are  the  two  Floren- 
tine historians  whom  Mr.  Niebuhr  considers  of  the  most 
distinguished  excellence,  in  particular  the  former.  I  will 
mention  a  passage  of  Gothe,  and  of  Novalis, — as  my 
Mother  says  that  a  word  often  gives  her  much  matter  for 
meditation: — Gothe  says,  'The  history  of  a  man  is  his 
character :  ' — and  Novalis  says,  '  The  mind,  and  the  fate, 
of  an  individual,  are  but  different  words  for  the  same 
conception.' 

"  Of  all  the  books  I  have,  which  both  my  Mother  and  I 
know,  Patrick's  '  Pilgrim '  is  that  which  gains  upon  me 
the  most.  It  appears  to  me  the  only  piece  of  what  Dr. 
Johnson  calls  *  hortatory  theology,'  with  which  I  am 
acquainted,  that  does  not  occasionally  fall  into  the  error, 
in  fact,  however  denied  in  wards,  of  admitting  a  species  of 
dualism  into  the  definition  of  that  which  is  needful  to 
salvation — that  is  to  say,  annexing  at  one  time  a  specific 
value  to  certain  outward  acts,  although  insisting  at 
another  time  upon  inefficiency  of  anything  and  everything 


154         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

but  faith — faith  in  the  real,  the  original  sense  of  the 
word;  too  often  used  to  signify  belief,  the  assent  of  the 
understanding  to  the  dogmas  of  religion  (in  which  we 
have  no  more  merit,  than  in  beholding  the  light  by  means 
of  the  organ  which  was  granted  us  for  the  power  of 
discerning  it),  and  it  is  only  when  used  in  this  sense  (i.e. 
of  belief),  that  it  can  be  said  that  faith  alone  is  insufficient. 
That  faith  which  is  denned  by  Patrick,  which  breathes 
through  every  line  of  his  book,  is  a  living  and  active 
principle,  which  stimulates  all  those  in  whom  it  subsists 
to  strive  against  the  corruptions  of  their  moral  nature, 
which  rouses  the  best  affections  of  the  heart,  and  diffuses 
them  over  all  fellow-partakers  in  the  body  of  sin  and 
death,  fellow-heirs  of  the  mercy  of  God  through  Christ." 

"7  Feb.,  1820. — Yesterday,  after  church,  we  walked  to 
Santa  Sabba  on  the  Aventine,  formerly  a  monastery, 
whence  there  is  a  very  fine  view,  but  we  did  not  this  time 
find  anybody  at  home  to  let  us  in ;  we  had,  however,  a 
delightful  walk,  in  as  utter  stillness  and  solitude  as  if  we 
had  been  a  hundred  miles  from  a  great  town,  and  I 
gathered  some  wild  violets  in  the  lane.  During  this  time 
my  sweet  boys  had  been  in  the  garden  belonging  to 
Palazzo  Caffarelli.  I  made  coffee  in  the  same  garden 
after  dinner  for  Charles,  and  Bhebenitz,  and  Olivier,  who 
accompanied  us,  and  Henry  enjoyed  himself,  running 
about,  scratching  the  earth  with  a  stick,  and  rolling  an 
orange.  We  saw  the  glorious  sunset,  and  remained  till 
after  Venus  was  visible ;  then  I  set  myself  to  play  on  the 
pianoforte,  and  afterwards  cut  the  bread  and  butter  for 
tea,  and  then  we  had  our  accustomed  Sunday  readings, 
with  the  usual  set.  I  mention  all  these  successive  occu- 


MARRIAGE.  155 


pations,  to  show  my  Mother  that  I  can  do  a  great  deal  in 
the  course  of  the  day  without  being  knocked  up,  and  I 
must  also  mention  that  a  good  part  of  the  morning  before 
we  went  to  church  was  spent  in  carrying  about  my  sweet 
Ernest,  during  the  time  the  nurse  dressed  herself  and  went 
to  mass." 

"  12  Feb.,  1820. — Charles  has  had  a  second,  and  a 
severer  shock,  in  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  his 
father,  who  survived  his  wife  only  six  weeks.  He  was  in 
his  seventy-seventh  year,  but  retained  all  his  faculties  to 
the  last.  When  the  first  three  or  four  days  elapsed  after 
the  death  of  his  wife,  he  became  more  composed,  but 
continually  grieved  after  her,  always  concluding  his  ex- 
pressions of  lamentation  with  the  words — '  She  will  soon 
fetch  me.'  Charles  had  repeatedly  expressed  his  convic- 
tion that  the  next  letter  he  received  from  home  would 
contain  information  of  his  father's  death — but  still,  it  is 
impossible  to  be  prepared  for  such  an  event,  and  he  has 
deeply  grieved,  though  he  has  struggled  to  employ  himself 
as  usual." 

"  3  March,  1820. — 0!  if  I  could  describe  how  dear  and 
engaging  my  Ernest  becomes !  I  wish  I  could  draw  him 
as  he  is  at  this  moment — playing  with  a  great  orange, 
which  he  holds  between  his  two  fat  hands,  and  tries  to  put 
into  his  mouth.  Yesterday  Henry  walked  between  his  papa 
and  mamma  all  the  way  to  the  Coliseum.  Ernest  followed, 
calling  after  me,  and  crowing  at  my  red  shawl :  when  we 
arrived,  we  sat  down  upon  a  stone,  while  Henry  ran  about, 
gathering  daisies  :  he  walked  about  a  quarter  of  the  way 
home,  and  then  petitioned  to  be  taken  *  in  braccia,  a 
mama,1  and  his  father  carried  him." 


156          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

"11  March,  1820. — Two  days  ago,  my  Mother,  I  was  at 
sunset  in  the  garden  of  the  Passionisti,  behind  the  Coli- 
seum, where  women  cannot  enter  except  by  express  per- 
mission from  the  Pope.  It  is  where  Oswald  *  heard  the 
Ave  Maria.  0  how  glorious  were  the  views  at  that  hour. 
I  know  no  spot  so  beautiful  in  Borne.  I  wish  the  Pope 
would  give  a  standing  permission  for  so  harmless  a  person 
as  myself,  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  le  Mura.  The  weather  was  glorious 
and  I  enjoyed  the  walk  extremely.  It  was  sad  to  observe 
how  few  individuals  made  that  day  the  same  pilgrimage 
with  ourselves- — for  if  the  Roman  Catholics  in  Italy  believe 
anything  with  reference  to  religion,  they  believe  that  time 
and  place  add  much  to  the  efficacy  of  devotion.  I  find 
that  the  general  effect  of  the  Church  of  San  Paolo  always 
gains  upon  me,  although  never  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
make  me  ceaso  to  feel  how  defective  the  basilica  form 
is  for  a  church,  when  compared  to  the  mode  of  construction 
in  Gothic  churches.  I  believe  the  state  of  neglect  in 
which  San  Paolo  has  been  left  for  centuries,  contributes 
much  to  its  effect,  for  the  absence  of  the  tinselly  and  varie- 
gated decorations  with  which  every  other  Italian  church  is 
disfigured,  leaves  the  eye  undisturbed  in  contemplating 
the  magnitude  and  simplicity  of  the  design  of  the  building, 
and  the  real  magnificence  of  its  granite  and  marble  columns. 
I  had  an  additional  interest  in  examining  every  part  of  the 
church  this  time,  from  having  lately  heard  a  description  of 
the  ancient  church  of  St.  Peter's,  which  Platner  has  been 
compiling  for  the  work  on  which  he  is  engaged:  the 
*  In  Madame  do  Stuifl's  "  Corinne." 


MARRIAGE.  157 


design  of  both  buildings  must  have  been  precisely  tho 
Banie,  and  they  were  erected  at  the  same  period,  the  foun- 
dations having  been  in  all  probability  laid  by  Constantino; 
in  particular,  by  seeing  the  front  of  San  Paolo,  a  perfect 
idea  may  be  formed  of  the  appearance  of  St.  Peter's : — 
that  front,  my  dearest  Mother  never  saw,  for  when  wo 
were  at  the  church  together,  we  had  nobody  to  tell  us  that 
we  ought  to  have  a  door  opened  at  the  opposite  extremity 
to  the  present  entrance.  At  the  real  entrance  are  gates 
of  bronze,  the  work  of  Greek  artists  of  the  time  of 
Gregory  VII.,  which  are  very  curious,  though  most  as- 
suredly not  beautiful :  and  above  the  portico  on  the  out- 
side are  very  ancient  mosaics,  the  greater  part  of  which 
are  in  good  preservation.  This  point  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
distant  view  that  I  made  for  my  Mother,  with  a  reach  of 
the  Tiber  in  front.  It  was  taken — with  Emily !  I  have 
never  been  at  the  spot  since,  and  for  some  time,  did  not 
like  to  think  of  going,  but  I  mean  to  go  again  soon :  it  is 
a  beautiful  spot,  and  although 

*  When  tho  Spring 

Comes  forth  her  work  of  gladness  to  renew, 
"With  all  her  reckless  birds  upon  the  wing, 
I  may  turn  from  all  she  bears  to  that  she  cannot  bring,' 

— still,  I  shall  be  thankful,  that  she  is  not  here,  not  in 
Rome! — that  body,  which  when  I  last  contemplated  San 
Paolo  from  the  bank  of  the  Tiber,  shrank  with  pain  from 
the  September  breeze  of  Italy,  is  no  longer  susceptible  of 
suffering — and  that  spirit,  which  was  animated  with  the 
hope  of  being  restored  to  her  home,  and  to  her  mother, 
now  dwells  in  tho  eternal  home,  with  Him,  in  whom  is 
lifo ! " 


158         LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUN8EN. 

41 23  March,  1 820.— Within  these  ten  days  I  have  been  to 
St.  Peter's,  to  the  underground  church,  into  which  women 
cannot  enter,  unless  by  express  permission,  except  on  Whit- 
Monday,  on  which  day  men  are  excluded.  We  took  Henry 
with  us,  of  course  leaving  him  in  the  light  of  the.  sun  while 
we  went  underground.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever 
been  in  St.  Peter's,  and  he  was  extremely  delighted,  and 
called  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  the 
holy-water,  and  said,  '  Mama,  puppo  casca ' — Puppo 
means  a  little  child,  and  he  thought  the  cherub  would  fall; 
he  stroked  its  foot,  but  complained  that  it  was  dirty — 
'  Piedino  grasso, — caeca.'  On  seeing  one  of  the  statues 
with  his  hand  stretched  out,  he  imitated  it,  and  said, 
*  Zitto  tutti ' — having  often  been  told  by  his  father,  to  his 
great  amusement,  that  his  old  friend  Marcus  Aurelius  on 
tl^e  Capitol  stretches  out  his  hand  and  says,  '  Zitto  tutti — 
Roma  e  mia !  '  He  was  very  happy  at  the  Villa  Pamfili, 
and  it  has  made  a  great  impression — the  tall  pines  (the 
poor  child  has  never  seen  trees  anywhere  else),  the  ane- 
mones and  violets,  the  fountains,  and  the  soft  grass  upon 
which  he  fell  so  often  without  hurting  himself — many  a 
time  has  he  mentioned  some  of  the  things  that  he  saw  and 
did  there,  looking  up  eagerly  to  have  the  rest  enumerated 
to  him." 

"  12  April,  1820.— On  Easter  Sunday,  my  sweet  Henry's 
birthday,  I  had  wished  to  have  taken  him  to  St.  Peter's, 
for  it  is  very  unlikely  I  shall  again  see  the  benediction 
given  by  the  present  Pope:  but  after  having  been  at 
church  early,  I  was  too  much  tired  to  go  out  again.  My 


MA11RIAGE.  159 


Henry  however  had  a  great  deal  of  amusement,  for  little 
Marcus  and  Amelia  Niebuhr  came  to  see  him,  and  brought 
him  a  cake,  with  a  long  taper  stuck  in  the  middle  and 
three  shorter  stuck  round.  It  is  a  Gferman  custom  to 
give  such  cakes  on  birthdays  :  the  taper  in  the  centre  re- 
presents the  flame  of  life,  and  round  the  cake  are  placed  as 
many  other  tapers  as  the  person  is  years  old,  with  one  for 
the  year  that  is  just  coming,  and  the  cake  is  covered  with 
flowers,  or  sugar-plums,  or  dried  fruits.  Then  Henry's 
three  friends,  Igo,  and  Doro,  and  Giu  (Federjgo,  Teodoro, 
and  Giulio  *),  who  lodge  over  us,  brought  him  a  waggon 
drawn  by  painted  grey  oxen,  containing  flowers  and 
oranges  and  a  piping  man  and  a  tumbling  man.  St. 
Peter's  was  illuminated  in  the  evening,  which  was  a  great 
delight  to  Henry,  who  stayed  up  to  see  the  change  from 
lanterns  to  flambeaux,  although  just  before  it  he  became 
so  sleepy,  that  he  put  his  aims  round  his  own  mother's 
neck,  and  his  cheek  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,  and  manner." 

"  15  June,  1820. — On  Sunday  the  7th  we  went  to  Fras- 
cati,  and  next  morning  drove  to  the  Villa  Mondragone.  The 
prospect  seemed  more  magnificent  than  ever.  My  Mother 
will  remember  how  the  row  of  pines,  and  the  avenue  of 
cypresses,  and  the  olive-grounds,  appeared  from  the  ter- 
race. On  our  return  we  went  to  our  old  Casino  Accoram- 
buoni,  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  drove  through  the 
*  Olivier,  Ehcbenitz,  and  Schnorr. 


160         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

Villa  Bracciano  and  the  beautiful  wood  to  Grotta  Ferrata , 
went  into  the  church,  and  saw  the  Domenichino  chapel, 
which  pleased  Henry  very  much,  but  my  Ernest  not  less, 
and  he  did  nothing  but  laugh  loud,  and  call  after  the 
painted  figures  on  the  walls.  Next  morning  very  early,  wo 
drove  to  Monte  Compatri,  which  is  beyond  Monte  Porzio, 
and  higher  on  the  mountain,  from  whence  the  nurse  was 
delighted  to  be  able  to  discern  Zagarola,  and  even,  as  she 
said,  her  own  vineyard !  Often  did  she  assure  us  it  was 
only  five  miles  further — and  we  should  have  been  almost 
as  pleased  as  herself  to  have  indulged  her  with  driving 
there,  if  Zagarola  was  not  in  a  very  unsafe  quarter  as  to 
robbers.  After  having  rested  ourselves  and  our  horses 
during  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  had  our  dinner,  we  went 
through  Marino,  Castello,  Albano  and  L'Ariccia,  to 
Genzano.  The  drive  was  most  beautiful,  and  the  wood, 
and  the  fountain,  and  the  old  tower  at  Marino,  in  the 
evening  sun,  produced  their  most  magnificent  effect.  -On 
Wednesday  morning  I  sat  out  a  long  time,  first  in  a 
garden  in  sight  of  the  lake,  afterwards  in  a  shady  avenuo 
which  leads  towards  L'Ariccia,  in  which  my  sweet  boys 
enjoyed  themselves  extremely ;  and  Charles  read  aloud  to 
me.  Thursday  was  the  octave  of  the  fete  of  Corpus 
Domini,  which  is  the  occasion  of  a  festival  peculiar  to 
Genzano  that  I  had  long  wished  to  see,  and  the  effect 
greatly  surpassed  my  expectations.  My  Mother  will  re- 
member 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  3rears  ago,  and  that 
will  give  her  an  idea  in  some  degree  of  what  is  done  on  a 
great  scale  at  Geuzano  the  length  of  two  streets,  along 


MARRIAGE.  161 


•which,  the  procession  passes  an  hour  before  dark.  The 
streets  are  on  the  steep  declivity  of  the  hill,  and  at  the 
bottom  is  another  wider  street,  where  there  is  a  fountain. 
At  the  top  of  one  street,  terminating  the  vista,  is  the 
church,  at  the  top  of  the  other  an  altar  erected  for  the 
occasion,  under  a  high  pavilion.  Between  the  church  and 
the  altar  is  an  avenue.  A  narrow  space  is  left  on  each  side 
the  street  for  foot  passengers,  and  the  centre  is  parted  off 
by  what  I  can  only  call  columns  of  foliage — thin  wooden 
posts  about  three  feet  high,  with  branches  of  box, 
rosemary,  or  myrtle,  tied  so  thick  over  them,  that 
the  wood  is  not  to  be  seen,  and  at  the  top  of  each, 
either  a  flower-pot  full  of  carnations,  or  a  great  nosegay 
of  lilies,  embosomed  in  green.  The  centre  of  the  streets 
between  these  two  rows  is  first  covered  thick  with  box, 
rosemary,  sage,  and  sweet  herbs,  and  then  divided  into 
compartments,  strewed  with  flowers  of  all  colours  in 
various  devices,  the  possessor  of  every  house  taking  care 
to  ornament  the  compartment  before  his  dwelling.  It 
would  take  too  much  time  and  space  to  enumerate  even  a 
part  of  the  devices,  but  the  flowers  principally  made  use 
of  were  the  yellow  Spanish  broom,  the  white  matricula, 
the  scarlet  wild  poppy,  and  the  purple  and  lilac  wild 
Venus' s  looking-glass;  roses  and  lilies  and  carnations, 
being  greater  scarcities,  were  only  introduced  occasionally, 
to  form  wreaths.  The  procession  moved  from  the  church 
along  the  avenue,  and  then  over  the  flowers  the  whole 
length  of  both  streets  back  to  the  church:  the  crowd 
which  followed  it  of  course  trampled  and  confounded 
everything,  but  closed  in  and  concealed  the  devastation. 
AVo  saw  the  procession  from  our  windows,  and  my  Henry 
VOL.  I.  M 


162  »      LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

sung  l  Evviva  la  Croce  '  as  loud  as  lie  could,  every  time  a 
cross  or  crucifix  was  carried  by.  I  went  along  the  streets 
to  see  the  infiorata  as  soon  as  it  was  finished;  Charles 
carried  Henry,  and  Ernest  was  carried  by  his  nurse ;  both 
were  very  happy,  but  the  joy  of  Ernest  at  seeing  so  many 
people  and  so  many  flowers,  was  the  most  apparent :  he 
laughed  and  crowed  the  whole  way,  and  was  much  noticed 
and  admired.  Often  did  I  hear — '  Ma,  Dio  la  benedica  ! 
che  bella  creatura  ! '  " 

On  the  22nd  of  July,  the  birth  of  her  eldest  grand- 
daughter was  announced  to  Mrs.  Waddington. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"10  August,  1820. — Oh  !  it  is  such  a  happiness  to  have 
my  little  girl,  and  hold  her,  and  touch  her,  and  look  at 
her,  that  I  sometimes  fancy  I  must  have  been  unjust  to 
her  darling  brothers,  and  that  I  could  not  have  loved 
them  so  much  when  they  were  as  little,  and  yet  I  did 

certainty I  have  looked  and  gazed  and  examined 

my  sweet  girl,  till  I  am  convinced  she  will  be  like  my 
Mother." 

"  6  Sept.,  1820.— My  Mother,  I  for  ever  grudge  myself  the 
delight  my  children  give  me,  when  I  think  that  you  have 
been  for  so  long  a  time  without  an  enjoyment  that  you 
would  live  upon — feed  upon — I  know  you  would.  This 
feeling  more  especially  occurs  to  me  when  I  see  my 
Henry's  eyes,  as  they  were  fixed  upon  me  yesterday  morn- 
ing at  breakfast,  when  he  came  running  to  me  'Mama, 
Kighetto  *  rotto  un  bicchiere ' — in  a  whisper,  not  to  inter- 

*  The  Italian  uursc-word  for  Enrico. 


MARRIAGE.  163 


nipt  papa,  who  was  reading  the  newspaper And  I 

long  particularly  for  my  mother  to  see  my  Ernest,  when  he 
embraces  his  own  mother.  He  has  the  most  touching 
manner  of  clinging  round  my  neck,  and  pressing  his  soft 
face  against  me.  I  have  not  been  able  for  a  long,  long 
time  to  do  anything  for  that  poor  child,  except  love  him, 
for  he  is  too  heavy  for  me  to  carry, — but  he  is  most 
aware  how  well  I  love  him,  or  he  would  not  love  me  so 
much.  Yesterday  I  drove  out  for  the  first  time,  with  my 
three  treasures.  I  went  along  the  Tiber,  beyond  Porta 
Portese,  and  afterwards  to  Villa  Borgheso.  Last  Sunday 
I  was  at  church,  and  my  little  angel  was  christened — Mary 
Frances.  I  must  call  my  girl  Mary,  the  name  that  I  love 
so  much.  I  could  almost  fancy  I  had  heard  my  Mother 
called  by  it,  which  I  never  did." 

"  24  Sept.,  1820.— Yesterday  I  attended  the  christening  of 
Mrs.  Niebuhr's  little  girl,  born  eighteen  days  after  my 
Mary,  to  whom  I  had  been  much  gratified  by  being  asked 
to  be  godmother." 

"3  Dec.,  1820.— Alas!  I  shall  never  see  Bishop  Sand- 
ford  *  again  in  this  world  ! — may  I  be  worthy  to  bo  recog- 
nised by  him  in  another." 

"  Christmas  Day,  1820. — Before  we  went  to  church  to 
receive  the  Sacrament,  Charles  and  I  read  together  the  13th 
and  14th  chapters  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  and  I  was  struck 
particularly  with  the  words  of  our  Saviour— 'What  I  do 
thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter.'  It 
is  true  that  without  this  assurance,  we  ought  to  be  equally 
satisfied  that  all  the  circumstances  of  life,  as  ordained  by 

*  Bishop  of  Edinburgh.  The  old  family  friendship  with  his  mother 
"  Sally  Chapono  "  is  mentioned  early  in  the  volume. 


164         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

God,  must  be  for  our  good — but  the  promise  of  future 
explanation,  probably  even  in  this  world,  might  well 
operate  to  tranquillise  us,  on  points  the  most  inexplicable 
in  appearance. 

' '  I  can  say  nothing  of  my  Mary,  except  that  she  is 
always  well — what  other  words  could  I  use  to  give  an  idea 
of  how  lovely  she  is  ?  The  fact  is  according  to  Charles's 
words  the  other  day — 'We  ought  to  pray  God  that  we 
may  not  quite  worship  her,  lest  she  should  be  taken  from 
us  as  a  punishment.'  " 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SHADOWS. 

•*  The  mother  gave,  in  tears  and  pain, 

The  flowers  she  most  did  love  ; 
She  knew  she  should  find  them  all  again 
In  the  fields  of  light  above. 

"  0,  not  in  cruelty,  not  in  wrath 

The  Eeaper  came  that  day ; 
'Twas  an  angel  visited  the  green  earth, 
And  took  the  flowers  away." 

LONGFELLOW. 

TN  the  year  1821,  Bunsen's  mind  was  chiefly  occupied 
with  the  hope  of  bringing  about  the  establishment 
of  a  common  form  of  worship  throughout  Protestant 
Germany,  as  a  means  of  drawing  its  various  churches 
into  Christian  communion  and  fellowship.  "With,  this 
view,  he  devoted  himself  to  his  Gcbctbuch,  on  a  plan 
indicated,  but  not  carried  out,  by  Luther :  and  to  his 
Gcsangbuck,  a  collection  of  hymns  chiefly  chosen  from 
the  works  of  the  more  ancient  hymn-writers.  Not  loss 
was  he_  anxious  for  the  improvement  of  hymn-music  in 
Germany,  and  for  this  object  was  assisted  by  his  young 
friend  Reisiger  in  selecting  or  reforming  versions  of 


16G          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  finest  chorales.  The  complete  success  of  some 
concerts  of  sacred  music  which  were  given  by  the 
Niebuhrs  in  honour  of  Baron  Stein*  and  Prince  Har- 
denberg,  also  induced  Bunsen  to  persuade  the  director 
of  the  Papal  Choir  to  allow  some  of  its  members  to  sing 
on  fixed  evenings  during  the  winter  months  at  the 
Palazzo  Caffarelli,  when  his  family  and  their  intimate 
circle  of  friends  had  such  an  enjoyment  of  the  master- 
pieces of  ancient  music  as  is  seldom  attainable. 

Next  to  the  Niebuhrs,  the  most  valued  friend  of  the 
Bunsens  at  this  time  resident  in  Rome  was  Augustus 
Kestner,  the  Hanoverian  Secretary  of  Legation,  "  of 
whose  worth  and  merit,"  wrote  Madame  Bunsen,  quot- 
ing Gothe,  "  a  detailed  biography  alone  can  be  com- 
petent to  measure  and  estimate  the  full  circumfer- 
ence, "f  Most  intimate  also,  and  greatly  valued  in 
their  house  was  the  fresco- painter,  Julius  Schnorr  von 
Carolsfeld,  who  lived  above  them  in  the  Palazzo 
Ca£farelli,+  and  in  a  less  degree  Augustus  Grahl,  the 

*  Carl,  Baron  Stein,  the  minister  of  Frederick  William  IV.    It  was 
he  who  introduced  the  measures  which  transformed  the  old  into  the 
modern  Prussia  hy  advocating  the  reform  of  those  abuses  which  had 
led  to  the  great  Revolution  in  France.     After  the  Battle  of  Jena, 
Napoleon  insisted  upon  his  dismissal,  and  he  spent  some  time  at  the 
Russian  court,  where  he  prepared  the  way  for  that  understanding 
between  Russia,  Austria,  and  Prussia  which  caused  the  coalition  fatal 
to  Napoleon.    His  latter  years  were  spent  in  retirement  on  his  estates 
near  Nassau,  where  a  monument  was  erected  in  his  memory  by  public 
subscription  in  1872. 

f  Kestner  died  in  1853,  having  kept  up  his  faithful  friendship  for  the 
Bunsens  to  the  last. 

*  He  left  Rome  in  1825. 


SHADOWS.  167 


miniature  painter,  who   inhabited   rooms   in  the   left 
wing  of  the  palace.* 

The  month  of  March  waa  clouded  by  the  sudden  death, 
from  an  infectious  fever,  of  William  Waddington,  a 
cousin  of  Madame  Bunsen,  who  had  come  to  Rome  to 
visit  the  antiquities.  On  this  occasion  the  disinterested 
character  of  Bunsen  was  vividly  shown  in  his  making 
110  opposition  to  his  wife's  strong  wish — fearless  of  the 
risk  for  herself — to  minister  to  her  dying  relative, 
"  dreading  nothing,"  as  Mrs.  Waddington  afterwards 
wrote  to  Professor  Monk,  and  "  intent  alone  on  robbing 
death  of  its  terrors,  and  winning  a  soul  to  Heaven." 

In  May,  Bunsen  and  his  wife  paid  a  visit  at  Albano 
to  the  Niebuhrs,  who  had  already  removed  thither  for 
the  summer  villeggiatura,  and  they  then  engaged  the 
apartments,  to  which  Madame  Bunsen  removed  with 
her  children  at  the  end  of  June.  The  business  of  the 
legation  still  detained  Bunsen  in  Rome,  but  change  of 
air  had  become  especially  desirable  for  the  precious 
infant  Mary,  whose  health  and  animation  had  flagged 
with  the  summer  heat.  Her  mother  soon  beheld  with 
anguish  that  she  did  n'ot  amend.  On  her  birthday,  the 
22nd  of  July,  Bunsen  drove  out  to  visit  his  family, 
filled  with  the  pleasant  tidings  of  the  happy  engage- 
ment of  his  dear  friend  Brandis  to  the  object  of  six 
years'  attachment.  He  walked,  as  usual,  up  the  long 
hill  which  leads  from  the  Campagna  to  the  town. 
Outside  the  gates  of  Albano  his  wife  met  him,  and  he 
*  He  left  Home  in  1830. 


168         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

saw  in  her  eyes,  what  she  strove  to  tell  with  com- 
posure—"She  is  with  God."* 

Little  Mary  had  scarcely  been  laid  in  the  beautiful 
burial-ground  under  the  shadow  of  the  Pyramid  of 
Caius  Cestius,  when  Henry  became  alarmingly  ill. 
Then  Madame  Bunsen  herself,  worn  with  nursing  her 
children,  fell  sick  of  tertian  fever,  and,  on  the  25th  of 
August,  Bunsen,  coming  out  from  Rome  to  his  sick 
family,  arrived  "  like  a  stone,"  a  state  which  was  soon 
changed  to  one  of  burning  fever.  Five  days  after- 
wards, he  was  in  such  extreme  danger,  that  he  gave  his 
wife  what  he  believed  to  be  his  dying  directions,  his 
dying  benediction;  but  one  of  the  rapid  transitions, 
frequent  in  that  country,  which  has  as  great  a  power 
of  curing  as  of  endangering,  allowed  of  his  removal  to 
his  own  house  at  Rome,  and  by  the  end  of  September 
he  began  to  amend. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  1  Jan.,  1821. — The  old  year  has  closed  brightly  upon 
me,  my  Mother,  to  the  mind's  eye,  and  the  body's  eye — 
and  the  new  year  came  forth  under  a  glowing  firmament. 
Clouds  might  perhaps  be  perceived  in  the  distant  horizon, 
or  rather  mists,  which  render  all  indistinct  and  uncertain  ; 
but  those  which  I  see  or  fancy,  may  evaporate  before  they 
approach,  and  should  they  condense  in  rain,  I  trust  and 
believe  I  shall  have,  as  I  have  always  had,  a  sheltering 
roof; — and  should  they  burst  in  thunder,  and  the  light- 
ning-stroke, I  shall  know  that  no  hand  can  have  guided  it 
*  Bunsen  to  his  sister  Christiana. 


SHADOWS.  1G9 


but  the  hand  of  God.  Do  not  alarm  yourself,  my  Mother, 
with  the  supposition  that  these  words  contain  any  especial 
allusion  :  I  foresee  no  evil — except  that  I  may  be  detained 
yet  longer  from  my  Mother.  That  is  evil  enough,  but 
perhaps  the  event  may  yet  be  better  than  I  anticipate." 

"7  Feb.,  1821. — To  show  how  far  we  have  been  from 
feeling  in  any  degree  the  cold  of  which  my  Mother  speaks, 
I  have  had  two  pots  of  heliotrope  flowering  before  my 
windows  the  whole  winter,  the  almond  trees  were  in 
blossom  at  the  end  of  January,  and  a  few  lemon  buds  have 
expanded  within  the  last  week.  We  had,  I  think,  three- 
and-twenty  days  of  uninterrupted  tramontana,  with  the 
finest  warm  sun,  and  the  clearest  sky,  since  which  we  have 
been  shrinking  from  a  keen  north-east  wind  which  has 
frozen  the  ground,  and  hung  the  lioness-fountains  at  the 
foot  of  the  Capitol  round  with  icicles,  to  the  great  surprise 
of  Henry. 

* '  I  have  passed  a  week  of  such  dissipation  and  disturb- 
ance, that  it  is  with  some  difficulty  I  can  collect  my 
thoughts  to  give  an  account  of  it.  First  of  all,  last  Friday 
Mr.  Niebuhr  gave  a  great  fete.  My  Mother  will  wonder, 
as  all  Borne  has  wondered,  at  such  an  event,  and  has 
conjectured  in  vain  what  could  be  the  reason.  We  know 
it  was  given  in  honour  of  Baron  Stein,  and  not  of  the 
princes  and  ambassadors  who  were  invited  besides :  a 
selection  of  the  music  of  Palestrina,  consisting  of  the 
celebrated  'Missa  di  Papa  Marcello,'  and  the  Motett — 
'  Tu  es  Petrus,' — and  afterwards  the  '  Dies  Irse '  of  Pittoni, 
were  performed  by  the  singers  of  the  Papal  Chapel,  who 
were  stationed  at  the  further  end  of  the  long  gallery. 
The  effect  of  the  music  is  not  to  be  described, — often  as  1 


170          LIFE    AM)    LETTERS   OF  BARONESS    liUNSEX. 

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  complication  of  sound  was  of  that  subduing 
nature,  as  to  make  you  draw  your  breath,  or  lift  up  your 
eyes,  lest  some  other  object  or  sensation  should  divide 
your  attention,  and  cause  you  to  lose  a  particle.  Oh  thus, 
thus  only  can  the  angels  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.*  I 
know  my  mother  would  feast  upon  her  face,  she  possesses 
what  my  Mother  would  call  the  *  dignity  of  beauty,'  of 
which  I  had  heard  much  more  than  I  had  ever  seen  in 
life,  till  I  saw  her — but  I  must  not  digress  upon  this 
inviting  subject. 

' '  On  Sunday,  after  chui'ch,  I  went  into  the  garden,  but 
had  scarcely  entered  it,  when  Charles  called  to  me  from  a 
window  to  come  in  immediately.  He  had  been  at  Mr. 
Niebuhr's,  and  brought  the  intelligence  (which  I  will 
mention  beforehand,  turned  out  to  be  false,  however  credited 
by  Consalvi  himself)  that  a  counter-revolution  had  broken 
out  in  Naples,  and  that  the  carbonari  troops,  in  despair,  were 
advancing  through  Tivoli  to  plunder  Rome  with  all  speed 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Austrians : — consequently  that  I 
must  pack  up,  and  be  ready  to  set  off  at  an  hour's  notice, 
whenever  we  should  hear  that  the  Pope  had  commenced 
his  journey  to  Civita  Yecchia.  My  Mother  will  easily 

*  Afterwards  Countess  Kielmannsegge.  Her  grandson,  Graf  Groben, 
is  now  the  only  representative  of  Stein. 


SHADOWS.  171 


believe  that  I  had  not  much  appetite  for  my  dinner,  which 
at  that  moment  was  brought  on  the  table.  It  was  then 
about  three  o'clock,  and  till  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  I 
never  sat  down,  but  continued  running  about  the  house, 
collecting  things  together,  and  giving  directions.  About 
ten,  it  was  ascertained  that  no  counter-revolution  had 
occurred,  and  that  there  was  no  immediate  danger  of  the 
approach  of  the  Neapolitans,  consequently  we  went  to 
bed,  and  slept  in  peace,  and  I  was  so  fresh  again  the  next 
day,  that  I  went  to  a  great  ball  given  by  Madame  Appony* 
on  account  of  the  Emperor's  birthday,  which  was  the  finest 
fete  I  ever  saw. 

"How  little  I  have  said  of  my  darling  children.  They 
are  well,  and  merry,  and  good,  and  engaging :  whichever 
of  the  three  I  look  at,  I  always  imagine  it  is  that  child  in 
particular  that  I  wish  most  to  show  to  my  Mother." 

"  14  Fel.,  1821. — The  glorious  weather  lately  has  occa- 
sioned my  being  much  in  the  garden  with  my  dear 
children,  weeding,  and  hoeing,  and  teaching  my  lazy  boy 
to  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  read.  My 
darling  Mary  is  happy  in  the  house,  and  happy  in  the 
garden,  and  thinks  nothing  so  great  amusement  as  being 
jumped  by  her  own  mother,  while  the  nurse  plays  with 
her." 

"  9  March,  1821. — I  must  try  to  give  my  Mother  some 
account  of  people  that  I  have  seen  this  winter.  The 
family  of  the  Baron  de  Redenf  have  been  here  a  year  and 

*  Austrian  ambassadress  in  Rome, 
t  Hanoverian  Minister. 


172          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    DA110NESS    BUNSEN. 

a  half.  "We  were  introduced  to  them  soon  after  their 
arrival,  and  as  they  had  regular  evenings  for  receiving 
company,  we  ought  to  have  gone  to  their  house,  but  I  was 
too  unwell  all  last  winter  and  spring  to  take  so  much 
trouble,  and  Charles  therefore  excused  himself. 

"When,  at  length,  Charles  and  I  went  together  to 
Madame  de  Beden's,  and  were  received  and  attended  to 
in  such  a  manner  throughout  the  evening,  that  any 
stranger  who  had  taken  notice,  must  have  supposed  we 
could  be  nothing  less  than  the  Prince  and  Princess  of 
Denmark,  of  all  persons  now  in  Eome.  We  have  since 
renewed  our  visits  as  often  as  we  could,  and  always 
receive  the  most  pressing  solicitations  to  continue  to  do  so. 
With  Madame  de  Eeden  herself ,  with  her  eldest  daughter,* 
and  her  niece,  Mademoiselle  Wurmb,  I  have  great  plea- 
sure in  conversing,  particularly  with  the  eldest  daughter, 
who  I  believe  has  both  heart  and  head,  and  whom  I  wish 
I  had  opportunities  of  seeing  otherwise  than  in  a  mixed 
society :  we  meet  Baron  Stein  there  sometimes,  and  many 
other  people,  and  there  is  always  music  of  one  sort  or 
other.  That  there  is  something  in  Charles  worth  knowing, 
all  people  know  in  time,  and  some  people  find  out  at  once 
(like  Baron  Stein) — but  to  the  Eedens  in  the  first  instance 
the  attraction  in  us  both,  was  the  circumstance  of  our 
living  to  ourselves,  and  yet  not  living  without  society. 

"  Charles  has  lately  been  much  occupied  with  Baron 
Stein.  All  who  know  him,  or  could  imagine  his  sort 
of  character,  would  feel  that  he  is  one  of  that  class  of 

*  Henrietta  de  Reden,  afterwards  godmother  to  Emilia  Henrietta 
de  Bunsen,  continued  to  the  end  of  her  life — as  a  chanoinesse  of  one  of 
tho  Stifte  of  North  Germany,  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Bunsen  family. 


SHADOWS.  173 


persons  from  whom  a  request  is  equally  felt  to  be  a 
command  and  an  obligation,  and  would  not  wonder 
that  when  Charles  each  day  was  asked  to  make  an  ap- 
pointment for  the  following  day,  to  spend  from  three  to 
four  hours  in  walking  or  driving  about,  for  the  double 
purpose  of  seeing  sights  and  conversing,  to  comply  was  a 
tiling  of  course  :  and  to  this  sacrifice  of  time  there  was 
no  difficulty  in  being  reconciled,  as  besides  the  gratifica- 
tion of  becoming  acquainted  with  such  an  individual  as 
Baron  Stein,  the  opportunity  was  invaluable  for  obtain- 
ing information  as  to  political  events  in  late  years,  such 
as  few  persons  can  be  equally  qualified  to  give.  Baron 
Stein  has  from  the  very  first  spoken  to  Charles  with 
a  degree  of  openness  that  could  only  result  from  the 
conviction  that  the  person  with  whom  he  was  conversing 
was  worthy  of  the  best  he  had  to  bestow,  and  was  not  to 
be  won  with  less  than  the  best.  At  this  conviction  he 
would  naturally  arrive  the  sooner,  from  what  Mr.  Niebuhr 
must  have  said  of  Charles, — for  although  I  cannot  know 
what  that  was,  I  am  aware  that  Mr.  Niebuhr  knows  how  to 
to  praise — knows  how  to  measure  his  words,  so  that  much 
may  be  left  to  bo  discovered,  at  tho  same  time  that  ho 
discloses  enough  to  prove  that  the  discovery  is  worth 
making. 

"  At  Mr.  Niebuhr' s  fete,  when  almost  everybody  removed 
into  the  long  gallery  to  take  places  to  hear  the  music,  I 
remained  in  the  outer  room,  thinking  that  the  sound  in 
the  gallery  would  be  too  powerful,  and  Baron  Stein  seated 
himself  by  me.  After  speaking  very  graciously  about 
various  things,  he  said,  '  I  think  there  is  a  draught  of 
wind  hero,  duill  we  move  to  the  opposite  i>idti  of  the 


174         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

room  ?  '  I  assented,  and  we  went  across,  but  that  I  might 
not  seem  to  force  myself  upon  him,  I  moved  towards  a 
chair  at  a  little  distance  from  that  of  which  he  was  going 
to  take  possession,  but  he  showed  the  chair  next  to  his 
own,  and  asked  if  I  would  not  sit  there,  as  I  should  hear 
well  in  that  place.  Just  after,  the  greater  part  of  the 
assembly  found  it  better  to  make  their  retreat  to  the  outer 
room, — when  Baron  Stein  said  to  me  '  We  judged  right  in 
remaining  here.'  These  are  petty  details  which  would 
seem  very  empty  to  anybody  else — but  I  think  they  will 
help  my  Mother  to  form  an  idea  of  Baron  Stein's  power  of 
conferring  an  obligation  by  means  of  half  a  word  or 
motion. 

"William  (Waddington)  has  been  in  Home  for  some 
time,  and  I  have  that  to  tell  of  him,  which  will  greatly 
shock  you.  He  is  ill  of  a  fever  with  little  hope  of  re- 
covery  Charles  intends  to  watch  for  a  lucid  interval, 

to  warn  him  of  his  danger." 

"10  March,  1821. — I  did  not  think  my  own  dearest 
Mother  when  I  left  off  writing  yesterday  that  I  should  see 
poor  William  expire  to-day  at'  five  o'clock !  far  less  did  I 
anticipate  the  satisfactory  feelings  with  which  I  have 
watched  his  last  moments.  He  received  the  Sacrament 
with  perfect  collectedness,  joined  in  every  response,  spoke 
often  to  Charles  of  his  sins  and  offences,  but  reiterated  the 
assurance  of  his  faith  in  God's  mercy  through  the  merits 

of  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  ill." 

"  14  March,  1821. — I  have  ventured  to  take  off  my 
darling  Mary's  long  sleeves,  and  have  now  the  constant 


SHADOWS.  175 


treat  of  seeing  lier  arms.  If  I  could  describe  anything  so 
round  or  beautiful  as  they  are ! — or  anything  so  beaming 
as  her  eyes,  or  so  pretty  as  her  mouth,  her  chin,  her  throat, 
the  nape  of  her  neck,  her  shoulders ! — and  she  is  the  mer- 
riest thing  in  the  world  and  engaging  beyond  all  concep- 
tion, and,  my  Mother,  she  is  eight  months  old ! 

"  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Niebuhr's  two  concerts,  one  in  honour  of 
Baron  Stein,  the  other  in  honour  of  Prince  Hardenberg,* 
have  excited  a  prodigious  sensation  (in  all  people  of 
surprise,  in  many  of  pleasure),  and  an  opening  was  made 
for  proposing  a  continuance  of  the  same  performances,  the 
expenses  to  be  defrayed  by  a  subscription.  All  the  princes 
in  Rome,  and  all  the  ambassadors,  immediately  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  Charles  and 
Kestner,  the  Hanoverian  Secretary  of  Legation  (who  is, 
bye  the  bye,  the  son  of  Werther's  Lotte — a  very  excellent 
person,  and  very  good  friend  of  ours).  T\vo  concerts  have 
taken  place,  and  have  been  a  most  exquisite  indulgence. 
At  the  third  it  has  been  settled  that  the  society  of  Sirleti 
shall  together  with  the  singers  of  the  Papal  Chapel  perform 
the  Miserere  of  Marcello.  I  have  only  yet  heard  the  re- 
hearsal— but  alas !  my  Mother,  I  am  spoilt  by  Palestrina.  I 
am  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  I  ever  could  listen  with 
pleasure  to  Marcello— it  seems  to  me  now  so  empty,  so 
unconnected,  so  unmeaning,  so  unmelodious !  But  it  is 
nevertheless  a  great  happiness  to  have  heard  the  best  of  the 
lest,  even  though  I  may  never  hear  it  more  after  I  have 
loft  Rome,  for  the  recollection  of  it  is  better  than  the  sen- 
*  The  Prussian  Prime-Minister. 


176         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

sation  produced  by  what  is  inferior.  Oh,  if  my  Mother  did 
but  know  Palestrina,  havjag  only  heard  the  Miserere  of  the 
Papal  Chapel,  I  fear  she  can  scarcely  imagine,  however 
she  may  believe,  of  what  infinite  variety  of  effect  and  con- 
ception that  style  of  composition  is  susceptible. 

"The  Miss  Berry's  were  at  the  concerts,  and  each  time 
happened  to  sit  close  to  me,  therefore  I  had  a  full  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  their  behaviour,  and  hearing  their 
conversation.  In  the  fine  and  fashionable  dress — tho 
toques,  and  the  caps,  the  satin,  the  gauze,  and  the  blondo 
in  which  they  are  always  attired,  it  is  out  of  my  power  to 
recognise  the  little  woman  whom  we  saw  one  morning  at 
Mrs.  "W.  Lock's ;  but  I  observe  that  the  Miss  Berry  who 
appears  by  far  the  youngest,  and  is  the  tallest,  with  a  very 
good  and  youthful  figure,  is  the  person  who  has  the  harsh 
voice,  the  dictatorial  tone,  and  the  keen  black  eyes.  The 
other  Miss  Berry  looks  much  milder,  is  quieter  in  her 
manner,  and  speaks  neither  so  much  nor  so  loud.  The 
first-mentioned  attacked  Charles  at  one  of  the  concerts  (for 
her  speaking  to  anybody  has  the  appearance  of  an  attack) 
to  ask  the  very  learned  question,  whether  Palestrina  had 
not  lived  just  before  Marcello.*  Baron  Stein  mentioned 
tho  Miss  Berry's  to  Charles  in  this  manner  —  '  There 
is  an  old  woman  who  goes  about  Rome  with  a  younger 
sister  of  sixty  or  seventy  years  of  age.  She  is  always 
talking  about  Horace  Walpole :  I  have  given  her  to  under- 
stand that  I  despise  the  man,  but  nothing  can  keep  her 
quiet  on  the  subject.'  " 

"2  May,  1821. — This  day  se'nnight  I  went  to  Madame 
de  Redens.  We  did  not  arrive  till  ten,  because  Charles 
*  Palestrma,  1529—91.  Marcello,  1G8G— 1739, 


SHADOWS.  177 


had  much  to  write,  and  we  came  away  at  one  o'clock,  but 
the  greater  part  of  the  intermediate  time  I  was  waltzing, 
and  was  at  the  last  so  far  from  tired,  that  I  could  willingly 
have  waltzed  longer.  Two  days  after  I  had  a  violent 
cramp,  which  made  me  quite  lame,  so  that  I  hopped  and 
hobbled  about  the  house  all  Saturday  morning,  but  on 
Saturday  evening,  Kingseis*  came  for  his  leave-taking 
visit,  and  we  had  some  other  people  to  meet  him,  who  by 
degrees  were  so  wound  up  by  singing,  that  all  set  about 
waltzing — and  soon  I  waltzed  too — and  the  end  of  the 
story  is,  had  no  future  cramp  or  fatigue." 

"  Albano,  22  May,  1821. — We  came  to  Albano  last 
Thursday,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Niebuhr  having  removed  here  a 
few  days  before,  to  the  villa  of  Cardinal  Consalvi.  Imme- 
diately after  their  arrival,  Mr.  Niebuhr  wrote  to  say  that 
they  had  wished  to  invite  us  to  come  to  them,  but  had 
found  that  although  the  villa  was  spacious  enough  for  two 
families,  the  number  of  beds  was  only  sufficient  for  one. 
However  they  hoped  that  we  would  take  a  lodging  at 
Albano,  and  live  with  them  as  much  as  if  we  were  in  the 
same  house ;  adding  that  they  would  send  the  carriage  to 
fetch  us,  in  case  we  consented  to  the  plan.  We  came 
accordingly,  and  have  taken  rooms  in  a  house  with  a 
beautiful  view,  and  a  garden,  at  the  end  of  the  town 
nearest  the  tomb  of  the  Horatii  and  Curiatii.  Were  not 
the  present  so  bright,  the  multitude  of  recollections  in 
Albano  connected  with  images  of  pain,f  would  be  enough 
to  cast  a  gloom  over  the  place,  which,  as  a  place,  I  never 

*  A  German  physician  at  Koine. 

f  The  greater  part  of  Mrs.  Manley's  married  life  had  been  pasersd 
at  Albano — in  a  state  of  suffering  not  imderstood  at  the  time. 

VOL.  I.  K 


178         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF   BARONESS    BUNS  EN. 

liked  as  well  as  Frascati  or  Genzano.  Still,  if  we  can  find 
a  house  to  suit  us,  we  shall  probably  settle  here  for  the 
summer.  Frascati,  alas!  can  hardly  be  considered  as 
secure,  on  account  of  the  bands  of  robbers ;  that  is  to  say 
the  town  is  no  doubt  secure,  but  it  would  be  too  tantalising 
to  inhabit  it  without  feeling  at  liberty  to  visit  my  favourite 
haunts,  and  the  road  to  Mondragone,  and  the  wood  to- 
wards Grotta  Ferrata,  are  too  little  frequented  to  be  safe, 
since  the  robbers  only  the  week  before  last  carried  off  from 
Camaldoli  seven  poor  monks,  in  hopes  of  extorting  a 
ransom  from  the  government. 

"In  the  letter  my  Mother  wrote,  on  first  hearing  of 
"William's  death,  it  struck  me  very  much  that  she  should 
have  commented  on  Charles's  fetching  me,  without  my 
having  said  anything  to  suggest  to  her  the  keener  sense, 
or  rather  the  increased  experience,  I  had  had  of  his  value 
— of  his  more  peculiar  value  to  a  person  constituted  as  I 
am — from  all  the  circumstances  attending  "William's  last 
illness.  From  the  first  moment  I  knew  he  was  seriously  ill 
my  Mother  will  well  believe  that  the  wish  to  be  personally 
of  use  was  perpetually  recurring,  but  as  often  checked  by 
the  consideration  that  the  fever  was  believed  to  be  infec- 
tious, and  that  with  my  three  children  born,  and  another 
to  be  born  it  was  not  my  duty,  to  expose  myself  to  any 
risk.  Those  feelings  were  the  same,  but  I  was  of  course 
more  disturbed  by  the  conflict,  on  the  morning  of  the  last 
day,  during  the  hours  that  I  sat  at  home, — very  glad  that 
I  had  a  frock  to  make  for  Ernest,  with  which  my  hands 
could  proceed  mechanically,  and  very  glad  that  my  children 
were  pleased  to  run  from  one  room  to  another,  so  that  I 
could  see  and  hear  them,  without  being  called  upon  to 


SHADOWS.  179 


attend  to  them.  But  I  never  said  to  Charles  that  I  wished 
to  go  to  William,  satisfied  that  he  knew  my  feelings,  and 
that  if  it  was  right  he  would  propose  to  me  to  go ; — though 
when  he  came  to  fetch  me,  it  was  a  relief  which  I  as  it 
were  expected,  without  having  done  anything  to  procure 
it  for  myself.  In  the  hurry  of  spirits  in  which  I  left  the 
house  with  him,  I  forgot  to  put  in  my  pocket  my  little 
prayer-book,  which  I  afterwards  on  the  way  regretted,  as 
I  thought  it  might  have  assisted  me  in  finding  words  of 
consolation;  but  on  consideration  of  the  whole  of  the 
dying  scene,  I  am  convinced  the  book  would  have  been  of 
no  use.  When  I  made  one  or  two  attempts  to  repeat  texts 
of  Scripture,  William  evidently  received  no  benefit — there 
was  not  the  look  and  movement  of  eager  assent,  which  in- 
variably followed  when  Charles  or  I  expressed  in  our  own 
words  our  own  convictions.  A  remarkable  instance  was 
this — I  had  repeated  the  words  of  our  Saviour  to  the 
penitent  upon  the  cross,  and  William  did  not  seem  to 
attend.  A  few  minutes  after,  Charles  said  to  him,  '  Mind 
that,  William, — our  Saviour  said  To-day: — immediately, 
without  any  interval  of  time,  when  this  agony  is  over,  you 
will  be  transported  to  His  blessed  presence,  if  you  do  but 
believe  in  His  atonement,  if  you  do  but  trust  alone  in  His 
intercession : '  and  then  William  turned  his  head  and 
eyes  with  the  greatest  animation,  as  if  he  was  imbibing  a 
cordial  from  every  word.  I  mention  this  because  every- 
thing that  marks  a  state  of  mind  is  interesting  to  my 
Mother." 

"  Albano,  16  July,  1821. — My  precious  Mary  has  been 
very  ill — but  is  mending  daily." 

"  28  July. — My  Mother,  I  wish  I  knew  how  to  persuade 


180         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

you  that  I  am  a  stock  or  a  stone,  and  that  I  do  not  feel ! — 
It  has  pleased  God  to  take  my  Mary  from  me  : — could  I 
but  spare  you  the  pain  these  words  will  occasion ! 

"  On  Sunday,  the  22nd  of  July,  her  birthday,  at  noon — 
she  ceased  to  breathe,  and  seemed  not  to  suffer : — and  from 
that  hour,  my  Mother,  my  agony  has  been  abating — God 
has  supported  me,  0  how  has  He  supported  me !  in  body 
and  mind.  For  the  last  four  days  of  her  life,  besides  the 
anguish  of  perceiving  that  I  was  to  lose  her,  I  feared  to 
become  distracted  at  the  thought  that  I  had  brought  her 
to  this  state,  by  venturing  to  wean  her  :  but  it  is  the  signal 
mercy  of  God  which  has  removed  from  me  the  sting  of 
that  reflection, — of  myself  I  had  no  power  to  quiet  my  own 
mind,  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  can 
be  found  for  the  sudden  decay  of  all  her  vital  powers, 
except  that  it  was  the  good  pleasure  of  God  to  remove  her 
from  sin,  and  sorrow,  and  suffering,  to  early  blessed- 
ness, after  a  life  of  undisturbed  enjoyment  during  eleven 
months,  jmd  during  the  twelfth  month  of  gradual  decline, 
with  but  little  pain,  for  she  never  cried,  and  rarely  uttered 
a  sound  of  complaint.  She  gently  made  her  wants  to  be 
understood,  which  were  to  drink,  and  to  be  carried  about ; 
— and  gently,  without  fretfulness,  rejected  what  she  would 
not  have,  waving  her  sweet  hand,  and  turning  away  her 
lovely  head.  A  rapid  loss  of  flesh,  and  an  indescribable 
melancholy  from  the  very  beginning,  were  signs  of  a 
degree  of  illness  to  which  no  other  signs  adequately  cor- 
responded, and  these  indications  of  danger  weighed  upon 


SHADOWS.  181 


my  heart,  and  prevented  from  the  very  first  my  entertain- 
ing a  real  hope  or  anticipation  of  seeing  her  again  as  she 

was  before I  have  written  without  a  tear,  my 

Mother  ;  I  will  now  give  some  details,  as  many  as  I  can, 
which  will  cost  me  more  : — to  my  Mother  it  will  be  a 
solace  to  know  all : — 0  did  I  but  know  how  to  prevent  at 
least  the  bodily  suffering  which  her  sorrow  for  me  will 
cause ! 

"I  have  been  helped  and  supported  in  every  way. 
What  my  Charles  is  to  me,  my  Mother  now  knows,  as  well 
as  anybody  besides  myself  can  know  : — and  the  servants 
have  done  all  they  could,  with  all  their  hearts.  My 
Mother  will  guess,  from  the  manner  in  which  I  have  ever 
been  served  by  Angelina,  what  she  has  done  and  felt  for 
me  now  :  and  Maddalena,  a  widow-woman,  who  has  for 
nine  months  faithfully  tended  Ernest,  has  if  possible  felt 
more,  as  being  a  mother,  and  having  lost  five  children, 
for  none  of  which  I  am  convinced  could  she  have  grieved 
more  than  she  has  grieved  for  mine ;  the  manservant  Fran- 
cesco has  children  of  his  own,  and  has  therefore  known 

how  to  help  me,  as  well  as  wished  to  help  me It 

was  very  good  for  me,  my  Mother,  to  have  a  great  deal  to 
do  for  my  boys,  in  the  course  of  their  blessed  sister's  ill- 
ness, especially  for  Henry  in  his  threatenings  of  fever ; 
had  I  not  been  compelled  at  intervals  to  attend  to  other 
things,  to  behold  other  objects  than  her  angel  countenance, 
how  could  I  have  prevented  sinking  under  the  continuance 
of  bodily  emotion. 

"  For  two  hours  at  least  before  she  breathed  her  last — 
perhaps  more,  for  I  knew  not  how  to  reckon  the  time — I 
perceived  what  before  I  could  not  acknowledge  to  myself, 


182         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

that  the  moment  was  near  at  hand ;  before  that  time,  1 
had  the  bed  on  which  she  lay  carried  into  another  room, 
where  the  air  was  fresher.  She  looked  up,  and  around, 
with  full  intelligence,  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  could  not  do  so  without  a  burst  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  my 
Henry  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  to  time,  and  at  length  perceived  a 
change  of  tinge  which  warned  me  not  to  look  again. 
Maddalena  continued  to  moisten  her  lips.  The  physician 
entered  and  asked  me  how  she  did.  I  answered  according 
to  my  conviction.  After  a  moment  Maddalena  supplicated 
me  to  leave  the  room, — I  understood  her  and  knelt  down  by 
the  bed  :  in  another  moment  all  was  over,  without  sound, 
without  struggle.  I  knelt  there  sometime  longer,  all  the 
servants  knelt  with  me — then,  I  went  into  the  next  room, 
and  left  her  whom  I  had  never  left,  to  Maddalena  and 
Angelina — I  dared  not  remain,  dared  not  look  upon  her. 

' '  It  was  my  Charles's  severer  trial  not  to  be  present.  The 
two  preceding  days  he  had  been  bound  to  labour  inces- 
santly at  Rome  with  Mr.  Niebuhr.  All  would  nevertheless 
,  have  been  left,  however  at  another  time  necessary,  had  he 
known  the  real  state  of  his  child, — but  it  was  a  cruel 
circumstance,  that  I  had  written  him  word  of  material 
amendment  on  Saturday  morning,  for  so  it  seemed — some 
animation  had  returned,  she  had  taken  food,  her  thirst 
had  abated,  she  was  not  restless,  she  had  slept  so  sound 


SHADOWS.  183 


for  many  hours !  But  from  four  o'clock,  when  the  letter 
was  sent,  it  became  plain,  even  to  me,  that  the  remainder 
of  life  would  only  be  measured  by  hours — although  how 
many  hours,  my  inexperience  disenabled  me  from  calcu- 
lating. By  the  peculiar  mercy  of  God,  I  never  felt  like 
many  mothers  in  affliction,  that  I  could  not  bear  the  sight 
of  my  remaining  children, — on  the  contrary,  it  comforted 
me.  Not  long  after  their  blessed  sister  was  at  peace,  it 
was  time  for  them  to  have  their  dinners,  and  they  dined  at 
the  table  near  which  I  sat,  and  watched  them.  "When  the 
heat  of  the  day  had  abated,  I  put  on  their  tippets  to  walk 
out  with  Francesco  and  Annunziata :  I  myself  went  with 
Angelina  on  the  road  towards  Rome,  to  meet  my  poor 
Charles:  Maddalena  remained  watching  by  her  who  no 
longer  needed  any  of  our  care. 

"That  night,  my  Mother,  I  did  not  sleep,  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  would  not  gratify  unknown 
to  my  Charles,  and  he  dissuaded  me  :  he  was  right.  That 
afternoon  I  drove  out  with  him  and  the  children  to  Ariccia ; 
— when  I  returned,  I  wanted  again  to  see  her — and  heard 
that  she  was  enclosed.  0  in  this  climate,  it  gives  an  addi- 
tional pang,  that  all  must  so  soon  be  over — that  all,  that 
little,  that  can  be  done ! 

"  The  next  day,  Tuesday  the  24th,  I  left  my  Henry  and 
Ernest  for  the  first  time,  and  went  with  Charles  to  Rome — 
our  angel  was  before  us,  but  we  could  not  see  her.  After 
the  first  pang  was  over,  I  passed  the  drive  in  great  peace. 
We  approached  Eome  by  the  gate  of  St.  Sebastian,  then 
drove  without  the  walls  to  the  gate  of  St.  Paul,  close  to 


181          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS 


the  pyramid  of  Caius  Cestius  ;  it  was  within  an  hour  of 
sunset,  rather  before  the  time  fixed,  which  was  good  for 
me.  I  walked  up  and  down  on  the  grass,  and  afterwards 
sat  under  a  tree  ;  then  advanced  with  Charles  towards  the 
spot.  Schinieder  (my  mother  knows  the  name  of  the  chap- 
lain to  the  Embassy)  advanced  to  meet  us.  He  said, 
turning  to  me  —  '  The  Lord  support  you.'  I  said,  '  He  has 
supported  me.'  He  said  again,  'Let  not  your  faith  fail 
and  His  grace  will  never  fail.'  I  repeated  —  '  He  has  been 
all-gracious  to  me.'  We  came  to  the  spot  :  to  see  the  bier, 
the  grave,  was  very  bad.  Schmieder  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.  His  wife  strewed 
flowers,  and  then  the  earth  was  cast  —  I  thought  I  could 
not  have  borne  that,  but  before  it  was  finished  the  words 
of  the  angel  to  the  apostles  struck  me  —  *  Why  seek  JQ  the 
living  among  the  dead  ?  He  is  not  here  !  '  —  and  I  looked 
no  longer  down,  but  looked  up  into  the  clear  sky,  and 
again  I  was  at  peace.  Then,  I  turned  to  depart,  and  was 
again  overcome  by  the  sight  of  Mr.  Niebuhr;  with  emotion 
that  I  shall  never  forget  —  he,  who  is  so  often  complained 
of  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,  inquired  after  Henry  and 
Ernest,  and  supplicated  Charles  not  to  leave  me,  saying  if 
there  was  business,  what  he  could  not  despatch  alone, 
should  wait.  I  had  not  expected  to  see  him;  he  had 
already  written  to  us,  expressing  from  himself  and  his 
wife  such  grief,  that  I  thought,  considering  their  weak 
state  of  health,  each  would  work  upon  the  other  to  stay 


SHADOWS.  1S5 


away  from  a  scene  too  agitating.  I  went  with  Charles  to 
our  empty  house.  Schmieder  came,  and  we  both  felt  wo 
could  let  him  in :  then  I  went  to  bed,  and  slept — I  was 
much  exhausted :  before  daybreak  I  waked,  and  thought 
of  my  angel,  in  peace.  Next  day,  between  six  and  seven 
o'clock,  Schmieder  was  again  waiting  to  see  us :  then  we 
drove  away,  and  returned  to  our  darling  boys. 

"  My  Mother,  the  paper  is  almost  at  an  end,  and  I  have 
yet  much  to  tell  you — but  I  must  leave  some  room,  that 
you  may  have  a  line  from  my  dearest,  my  best.  0  there 
is  no  word  to  convey  what  my  Charles  is ! — I  will  write 
again  soon,  and  in  the  meantime,  fear  not  for  me.  I  am 
in  a  state  of  bodily  health  and  strength  such  as  you  could 
scarcely  imagine  possible — and  my  mind  is  in  peace ;  the 
sting  of  her  death  is  removed  from  me ;  nothing  remains, 
but  that  which  will  ever  remain ; — she  is  ever  before  me — 
every  circumstance  relating  to  her  passes  in  unceasing  suc- 
cession before  my  mind;  her  loveliness  in  health! — her 
heavenliness  in  sickness !  I  desired  Angelina  to  cut  oft' 
her  hair,  and  keep  it  for  me — some  time  I  will  send  you  a 
bit.  I  do  not  yet  trust  myself  to  look  at  it,  nor  at  her  clothes 
— Angelina  has  concealed  all  from  me.  Adieu,  my  dearest, 
dearest  Mother !  Pray  for  me  that  the  grace  of  God  fail 
not  to  support  me  in  the  resolutions  formed  in  the  hour  of 
sorrow ! " 

BUNSEN  to  MRS.  WADDIXGTON; 

"  0  my  dear  Mother,  that  you  could  be  a  moment  pre- 
sent to  see  yourself  how  wonderfully  F.  is  supported  by 
God :  nobody  can  believe  it,  who  has  not  seen  it — nobody, 
I  mean,  who  knows  how  to  appreciate  her  loss,  who  lias 


186         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEX. 

seen  her  sufferings,  her  grief,  her  despair,  and  her  moments 

of  agony 0  this  angel  was  beautiful,   lovely,   in 

death  as  she  was  in  life,  only  with  that  expression  of  quiet 
suffering  which  never  left  her  face  in  the  last  six  weeks. 
It  was  harder  than  anything  that  I  could  not  be  with  her, 
kneel  by  her  bed  and  gaze  on  her,  only  a  few  stolen 
moments !  0  dearest  loveliest  face,  0  mild  angelic  coun- 
tenance! now  I  have  felt  what  it  means  that  a  pure 
spirit  returns  to  God  to  be  a  ministering  angel  to  Him. 
There  is  no  pain,  no  grief  in  my  heart,  but  a  longing, 
an  irresistibly  alluring  attraction  to  think  of  her,  to  look 
up  to  her,  to  pray  to  be  with  her!  It  has  been  only 
after  her  death  that  I  have  told  F.  how  often,  parti- 
cularly in  the  last  six  months  of  her  health,  I  have 
pressed  her  to  my  heart,  and  given  her  suddenly  away 
because  I  felt  we  could  not  keep  her,  because  I  felt  I  loved 
her  too  much,  far  beyond  any  other  love,  and  because  she 
was  too  like  an  angel,  in  beauty  and  loveliness  and  still 
more  in  every  glance  of  her  soul.  You  could  not  give  her 
any  particular  character — lively,  serious,  sanguine,  melan- 
choly, she  was  nothing  but  love  and  loveliness." 

MADAME  BITNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  Albano,  4  August,  1821. — My  mind  is  tranquil  now, 
and  I  seldom  or  ever  shed  a  tear.  I  employ  myself  in 
everything  as  usual,  without  effort,  and  the  only  thing  I 
cannot  do,  is  to  speak  of  her — the  thought  is  ever  present, 
but  will  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  and 
inules.  that  pass  alonjr  tho  street,  while  I  sit  working  or 


SHADOWS.  187 


setting  work  on  a  small  bed  that  is  arranged  as  a  couch. 
At  twelve  o'clock  the  boys  have  their  dinner  and  after- 
wards sleep.  I  then  dine,  and  lie  down  for  an  hour,  either 
to  read  or  to  sleep.  When  the  heat  of  the  day  is  past,  we 
walk  out ;  my  favourite  walk  is  the  Villa  Barberini,  which 
I  think  my  Mother  never  saw.  We  return  home  at  sunset, 
my  boys  sup,  and  before  I  go  to  bed,  I  write  out  something 
for  my  Charles,  when  he  is  not  here, — when  he  is,  he  reads 
to  ine. 

"From  the  time  my  child  expired,  it  has  become  more 
and  more  clear  to  me  that  she  was  never  intended  for  me, 
or  for  this  world  :  she  was,  in  soul  and  body,  too  perfect 
to  dwell  here.  I  may  believe  myself  competent  to  judge 
of  the  comparative  merits  of  children,  because  I  have  two 
others,  who  always  were  very  dear,  and  very  engaging : 
but  from  the  first  they  gave  signs  of  human  passions, 
human  imperfections,  which  she  never  did, — always  con- 
tented, always  happy,  though  with  more  animation,  more 
intelligence,  than  I  ever  saw  in  any  other  child.  No  words 
can  convey  an  idea  of  her  sweetness,  her  affection  to  her 
parents,  more  especially  to  me.  I  can  for  ever  feel  her  arms 
clinging  round  my  neck,  her  face  pressed  against  me — 0  ! 
blessed  be  God  for  having  granted  her  to  me,  though  for 
so  short  a  time ! — nobody  that  has  not  had  such  a  child 
can  conceive  the  joy  she  was — and  there  is  no  joy  in  this 
world  to  be  purchased  without  pain,  the  one  exquisite  in 

proportion  to  the  other I  have  wished,  my  Mother, 

since  I  lost  my  angel,  more  keenly  than  ever,  that  you  had 
seen  her,  but  then  I  have  felt  that  it  is  better  as  it  is ; — 
you  grieve  for  me,  0  I  know  how  you  grieve  for  me  !  but 
had  you  seen  her,  you  would  so  have  loved  her,  so  have  fed 


188          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

upon  the  sight  of  her,  that  you  would  have  had  a  weight 
of  affliction  more  in  her  death,  and  you  have  already 
afflictions  enough." 

On  the  4th  of  November,  the  feast  of  S.  Carlo 
Borromeo,  described  by  Bunsen  as  "  the  most  venerable 
of  all  modern,  saints,  and  one  of  the  most  respectable  of 
them  altogether,"  the  birth  of  Charles  Bunsen  brought 
back  something  of  sunshine  to  the  sorrow- stricken 
household.  The  extreme  sympathy  and  interest  shown 
by  the  Mebuhrs  at  this  time,  as  well  as  after  the  death 
of  Mary,  made  Madame  Bunsen  most  anxious  to  efface 
any  unfavourable  impression  she  might  have  imprinted 
on  her  mother's,  mind  at  an  earlier  period  of  her  inter- 
course with  them. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"12  Dec.,  1821.— Till  I  have  accomplished  the  point  I 
am  quite  sure  of  accomplishing — getting  my  Mother 
thoroughly  to  understand,  and  value,  and  admire  Mr. 
Niebuhr,  which  she  cannot  do  till  she  is  possessed  of  facts, 
and  details,  and  explanations,  that  can  never  be  thoroughly 
given  by  letter, — she  cannot  conceive  the  pleasure  I  ex- 
perienced from  the  indescribable  kindness  with  which  he 
greeted  and  congratulated  me  after  the  birth  of  my 
child." 

"New  Year '*  Lay,  1822. — The  first  year  of  severe  trial 
that  I  ever  passed,  is  closed, — and  I  begin  the  new  year  in 
comfort  of  body  and  mind,  such  as  I  never  before  experi- 
enced ; — confidence,  that  if  tried,  I  shall  be  supported,  as  I 


SHADOWS.  180 


have  been.  I  might  have  known  before,  and  indeed  I 
ever  have  known,  that  it  is  impossible  with  God  to  inflict 
that  which  it  is  impossible  to  bear ;  but  to  have  had  expe- 
rience of  those  supplies  of  strength  from  above  which  I  know 
to  be  promised  to  all  those  who  crave  them,  is  of  more 
avail  to  tranquillize  the  spirit  than  any  degree  of  belief. 
My  own  dearest  Mother,  Heaven  only  knows  whether  I 
shall  be  with  you,  or  still  at  Eome,  at  the  close  of  this 
year !  and  I  am  satisfied  that  circumstances,  that  is  to  say, 
Providence,  alone  can  decide  our  plans — beforehand,  it  is 
impossible  to  resolve,  or  even  to  form  a  wish,  where  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  are  so  evident  on  either  side. 

"  Most  truly  do  I  thank  my  Mother  for  the  gifts  she  has 
sent  to  Mrs.  Niebuhr.  She  is  indeed  very  kind  to  me,  and 
I  am  sure  of  her  regard.  I  do  not  think  I  have  ever  men- 
tioned how  much  I  was  affected  by  her  manner  of  greeting 
me  on  our  first  meeting  after  my  return  to  Home  at  the 
time  of  Charles's  great  danger.  There  was  a  warmth,  an 
animation  of  kindness  and  sympathy  that  I  did  not  expect 
from  her,  however  greatly  and  continually  her  character 
has  gained  upon  me,  in  proportion  as  I  became  more 
acquainted  with  it ; — and  i't  was  not  a  sudden  feeling,  an 
emotion  of  compassion,  that  was  roused  in  her,  for  I  have 
experienced  in  degree  the  same  manner,  and  observed  the 
same  expression  of  countenance,  every  time  that  we  have 
met  since." 

"  21  Jan.,  1822. — To  show  my  Mother  how  well  I  am,  I 
must  tell  of  the  beautiful  walk  we  took  yesterday,  with 
all  the  dear  children,  and 'she  will  be  able  to  judge  by 
looking  at  the  map  of  Borne  of  my  strength,  and  that  of 
Henry,  who  walked  every  step  of  the  way — but  of  the 


190          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

strength  of  Ernest,  who  walked  three-quarters  of  the  dis- 
tance, she  could  not  judge,  without  feeling  the  weight  he 
has  to  carry — 0  if  she  could  but  feel  it !  I  know  she 
would  delight  in  his  size,  however  little  able  to  lift  him ;  it 
is  as  much  as  I  can  do  to  raise  him  from  the  ground, 
although  when  he  is  once  up,  I  can  carry  him  very  well  on 
my  back. 

"  We  went  to  the  church  of  S.  Pietro  Montorio  on  the 
Janiculan,  passing  over  the  bridge  Quattro  Capi, — the  nurse 
carried  little  Charles,  who  sat  up  and  looked  about  him  all 
that  distance.  Henry  and  Ernest  walked  like  men,  the 
former  with  his  mother,  the  latter  between  his  father  and 
Angelina,  having  need  of  two  hands  to  pull  him  on.  After 
looking  at  the  prospect,  which  was  indescribably  magnifi- 
cent, in  the  finest  possible  weather,  and  going  into  the 
church,  we  proceeded  to  the  Fontana  Paolina,  which 
extremely  delighted  the  children,  and  the  nurse  not  less, 
and  then  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  where  we  went  out  at  the 
gate  of  S.  Pancrazio,  and  returned  down  the  hill  on  the 
outside  of  the  walls,  re-entered  Borne  at  the  Porta  Portese, 
and  came  by  Rlpa  Grande,  and  Ponte  Quattro  Capi,  home. 
"  Mr.  Brandis  was  married  on  the  2nd  of  September." 
' '  Feb.  13,1 822 . — On  Monday  morning  I  went  with  Charles 
to  Thorwaldsen's  studio.  I  had  not  been  for  an  age,  and 
I  saw,  with  wonder  and  admiration,  his  statue  of  our 
Saviour — the  most  difficult  object,  without  doubt,  that  he 
ever  attempted,  and  one  of  the  most  remarkable  proofs  of 
his  inexhaustible  genius.  It  was  not  till  two  years  ago 
that  he  ever  executed  a  religious  subject,  and  then,  incom- 
pliance with  the  wishes  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Bavaria,  he 
made  a  design  for  a  bas-relief  of  the  three  Marys  at  the 


SHADOWS.  191 


Sepulchre  which  was  a  complete  failure,  and  lie  himself 
felt  it  to  be  such,  and  spoke  in  a  tone  of  despair  of  the 
whole  undertaking.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  travel- 
ling, and  doing  nothing — but  has  meditated  till  he  has 
comprehended  the  characteristics  of  that  religion :  the  spirit 
of  which  he  alas  !  has  never  imbibed  ;  and  the  result  has 
been  the  execution  of  colossal  statues  of  Christ,  of  St.  Paul 
and  St.  Peter,  in  a  style  that  his  best  friends  amongst  judges 
of  the  art  never  expected  him  to  be  able  to  acquire.  The 
church  in  Copenhagen  in  which  these  statues  are  to  be 
placed  is  to  be  built  in  the  form  of  a  basilica — that  is  to 
say,  like  S.  Paolo  fuori  le  Mura — only  not  so  large  by 
many  degrees.  In  front  is  to  be  a  portico  like  that  at  the 
Pantheon,  and  on  the  pediment  is  to  be  a  bas-relief  of  the 
Baptist  preaching  in  the  Wilderness,  of  which  Thorwald- 
sen  is  to  make  the  design,  and  which  he  wishes  to  have 
executed  in  terra-cotta,  a  material  more  endurable  than 
marble  when  exposed  to  the  weather.  In  the  inside  of  the 
church,  in  the  centre  of  the  tribune,  or  semicircular  apse  at 
the  opposite  extremity  to  the  entrance,  is  to  be  placed  the 
colossal  statue  of  our  Saviour,  and  in  niches  in  the  side- 
walls  of  the  church,  statues  of  the  twelve  apostles,  also  of 
colossal  dimensions.  Thorwaldsen  explains  his  own  inten- 
tion to  have  been  to  represent  our  Saviour  as  recalling  to 
the  minds  of  his  disciples  in  all  ages  what  He  had  done 
and  suffered  for  them,  and  inviting  them  to  come  to  Him : 
and  dreading  the  appearance  of  the  smallest  degree  of 
theatrical  effect,  he  aimed  at  the  utmost  simplicity  of  atti- 
tude ;  the  head  is  bent  forwards,  the  arms  are  gently  raised 
and  extended  on  each  side,  one  hand  neither  higher  nor 
lower,  neither  more  nor  less  stretched  out  than  the  other ; 


192         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESJLBUNSKN. 

so  that  if  the  consummation  of  ease,  grace,  and  majesty  had 
not  been  attained,  the  figure  must  he  stiff  and  unmeaning 
The  countenance  is  very,  very  fine — to  call  it  quite  satis- 
factory would  he  saying  too  much,  hut  what  representa- 
tion of  our  Saviour  could  he  so  ? — to  my  feelings,  this  head 
of  Thorwaldsen's  is  the  finest  with  which  I  am  acquainted, 
except  that  by  Raphael  in  the  'Disputa.'*  .  Of  other  new 
things  I  was  best  pleased  with  a  bas-relief  representing 
Nemesis  reading  to  Jove  from  a  scroll  the  record  of  human 
actions — he  listens  till  his  wrath  kindles,  and  he  is  pre- 
paring to  cast  the  thunderbolt.  I  saw  executed  in  marble 
the  Mercury,  and  the  Hope,  which  I  had  seen  long  ago  in 
clay ;  I  am  sure  that  the  Mercury  is  the  finest  of  Thor- 
waldsen's  works. 

"  After  Thorwaldsen's  sculpture  in  the  morning,  and  an 
historical-philosophical-poetical  discussion  with  Kestner  in 
the  afternoon,  how  do  you  think  we  spent  the  evening  ? 
In  seeing  the  Puppet-show,  at  the  theatre  under  Palazzo 
Fiano — and  indeed,  nothing  could  be  better  of  its  kind. 
Mr.  Pertzf  accompanied  us,  a  friend  of  Baron  Stein,  whom 
we  very  much  like. 

*  Thorwaldsen  believed  himself  to  have  reached  the  climax  of  his 
powers  in  his  statue  of  Christ.  "I  never  was  satisfied,"  he  said, 
"  with  any  work  of  my  own  till  I  executed  the  Christ— and  with  that, 
I  am  alarmed  to  find  that  I  am  satisfied ;  therefore,  on  the  way 
towards  decay." 

t  George  Henry  Pertz  was  agent  to  the  association  established  by 
Baron  Stein  for  discovering  and  collecting  unpublished  materials  of 
German  history.  In  this  cause,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  he  edited 
"Monumenta  Historiae  Germanicie."  He  also  wrote  the  Life  of  Stein. 
He  was  director  of  the  archives  at  Hanover,  and  afterwards  principal 
librarian  at  Berlin.  His  second  wife  was  Leonora,  daughter  of  Leonard 
Horner  the  historian.  He  died  in  187G. 


SHADOWS.  193 


"  On  Tuesday  morning  I  went  to  see  a  large  cartoon  by 
one  of  the  three  friends  who  lodge  over  us,  Julius  Schnorr 
von  Carols f eld.  The  design  of  the  cartoon  in  question  is 
from  Ariosto,  and  is  to  make  part  of  a  series  of  paintings  in 
fresco  in  a  room  of  the  Villa  Giustiniani,  opposite  the  La- 
teran  Palace,  belonging  to  the  Marchese  Massimo — the  same 
villa  in  which  Overbeck  is  painting  from  Tasso,  and  Yeit 
(the  son  of  Madame  Schlegel)  from  Dante.  Schnorr' s  car- 
toon is  admirable,  and  I  have  indescribable  satisfaction  in 
anticipating  his  complete  success  in  this  great  undertaking; 
for  I  have  lately  been  sorry  to  see  him  entirely  employed 
in  executing  subjects  to  which  his  powers  are  not  suited. 
It  is  the  fashion  at  present  to  give  orders  for  nothing  but 
paintings  a  la  Raphael — Madonnas,  Magdalens,  &c., — and 
that  in  a  style  in  which  it  is  not  granted  to  all  those  who 
know  how  to  paint,  to  succeed.  Correctness  in  drawing 
the  human  figure,  infinite  variety  of  conception  in  the 
representation  of  the  human  countenance,  great  skill  in 
grouping  figures  and  still  life,  the  liveliest  fancy  in  the 
disposition  of  ornaments,  such  as  draperies,  trees,  flowers, 
fountains  and  buildings — and  more  especially,  the  power 
of  colouring  with  force,  brilliancy,  and  delicacy — to  this 
rare  combination  of  merits  Schnorr  lays  undoubted  claim, 
but  where  sublimity  of  expression  is  required,  he  degrades 
the  subject  by  theatrical  sentimentality — and  the  only  con- 
solation for  his  friends  is  that  he  has  sufficient  under- 
standing and  taste  to  be  aware  of  his  failure." 

"  17  April,  1822.— The  Pope  (PiusYII.)  did  not  give  the 
Benediction  on  Easter  Sunday,  nor  is  he  ever  likely  to  give  it 
again ;  his  strength  (Joes  not  return,  and  it  is  believed  his 
vital  powers  are  worn  out.  It  was  on  Easter  Sunday  that 
I.  O 


194          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

I  first  related  to  my  darling  Henry  the  story  of  our  Saviour's 
life,  and  sufferings,  and  resurrection  : — and  I  shall  never 
forget  the  manner  in  which  he  listened,  clinging  to  me 
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  blessed ;  and  he  promised 
that  he  would  be  good,  that  he  might  go  to  '  Gesu  Cristo.'  " 

"  17  June. — I  hope  that  the  Princess  of  Denmark  (I 
mean  the  wife  of  the  Hereditary  Prince)  is  admired  in 
England,  and  I  should  be  much  surprised  if  she  was  not, 
for  her  person  and  demeanour  appeared  to  me  peculiarly 
admirable.  I  thought  her  very  English,  but  remind- 
ing one  of  pictures  rather  than  of  life,  of  those  times  when 
the  character  of  the  face  seemed  to  be  communicated  to  the 
dress,  not  when  individuality  was  lost  in  fashion.  She 
used  at  Borne  to  dress  her  beautiful  chestnut-coloured  hair 
like  Sacharissa,  but  had  not  features  as  regular :  the  tone 
of  her  voice  is  indescribably  melodious,  and  her  manner  of 
speaking  as  agreeable  as  possible.  She  is  not  happy  in 
her  marriage,  her  husband  being  good  for  little  or  nothing, 
and  appearing  quite  indifferent  to  her,  attractive  as  she  is, 
now  that  she  is  no  longer  a  novelty :  though  he  married 
her  for  what  is  called  love ;  and  she  has  hitherto  longed  in 
vain  for  the  charm  a  child  would  give  to  her  existence, 
submitting  with  a  good  grace  to  what  she  faels  to  be  so 
empty  and  joyless  as  a  life  of  representation.  When  Mrs. 
Niebuhr  at  her  command  brought  her  children  to  show 
her,  she  watched  them  at  play  with  the  most  animated 
delight,  but  at  length  burst  into  tears,  saying  that  sb3 
envied  everyone  that  had  a  child. 

(t  A$  a  ball  at  Madame  Appony's  the  win^r  before  last, 


SHADOWS.  195 


1  was  mortified  to  compare  tlie  Princess  of  Denmark, 
Therese  de  Stein,  and  a  Milanese  Donna  Camilla  Falco- 
nieri,  with  the  Englishwomen  who  were  there,  although 
many  of  them  were  very  pretty,  in  particular  two  Miss 
Howards,  but  with  such  a  want  of  individuality,  that  I 
should  be  at  a  loss  to  recognise  their  faces  again.  I  have 
often  attentively  contemplated  the  profile  of  Therese  de 
Stein,*  in  the  hope  of  recalling  it,  to  be  able  to  send  it  to 
my  mother,  but  it  is  no  easy  undertaking,  and  it  would  at 
last  give  no  idea  of  her  brilliant  dark  eyes,  or  of  the  fine 
muscles,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  as  yet  dimples,  of  hsr 
mouth.  I  shall  wish,  but  almost  fear,  to  see  ten  years 
hence  what  expression  these  muscles  have  assumed.  As 
yet  her  countenance  has  only  a  general  cast  of  seriousness, 
although  a  capability  of  any  expression.  I  should  say 
that  she  has  already  been  able  to  form  a  sufficient  notion 
of  trial,  to  prevent  the  most  disfiguring  of  all  appearances, 
that  of  disappointment :  and  although  with  youth,  health, 
beauty,  riches,  the  consciousness  of  being  the  delight  of  her 
father's  life,  and  the  only  person  who  has  any  influence 
over  him,  it  might  be  said  she  must  be  too  happy,  she  has  a 
source  of  trial  near  to  her  who  must  successfully  '  dash  her 
cup  of  brilliant  joy.'  .  .  .  .  It  might  seem  strange  to  write 
such  a  number  of  details  of  a  person  rny  Mother  never  saw, 
but  it  seldom  happens  to  me  to  see  anything  that  I  feel  sure 
would  meet  with  my  Mother's  unqualified  approbation." 

"  12  Sept.,  1822. — Charles  is  not  able  to  write  to  you,  as 
lie  must  dine  with  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia. f  That  per- 
sonage I  have  never  before  named,  yet  he  has  lived  in 

*  Afterwards  Countess  Kielmannsegge. 

f  Younger  brother  of  lung  Frederick  William  III. 


196         LIFE   AND    LE1TERS   OF    BA110NESS    BUNSEX. 

Rome  ever  since  the  Neapolitan  revolution,  and  certainly' 
merits  mention  from  singularity.  His  manner  of  life  is 
absolute  retirement,  shutting  himself  up  with  his  books, 
and  not  seeing  any  of  his  attendants  except  at  dinner,  when 
it  may  be  his  pleasure  to  dine,  but  that  is  not  his  pleasure 
oftener  than  three  times  a  week,  when  he  dines  very 
heartily;  the  intermediate  days  he  takes  nothing  but  a  dish 
of  strong  coffee  and  a  mouthful  of  bread,  though  wherefore 
he  follows  this  plan,  it  has  never  pleased  him  to  explain. 
Sometimes  he  never  stirs  out  of  the  house  for  three  months, 
and  afterwards  takes  a  fit  of  walking.  He  had  the  latter 
fit  all  this  summer,  and  chose  the  hours  between  twelve 
and  three  for  his  exercise,  probably  because  at  that  time 
of  day  he  was  certain  not  to  meet  so  much  as  a  cat  stirring 
abroad,  that  could  possibly  find  shelter  within  doors.  He 
often  gives  dinners,  and  listens  to  conversation  with  fixed 
attention,  showing  approbation  and  disapprobation,  but 
rarely  uttering  more  than  a  monosyllable  ;  he  once  called 
on  Mr.  Niebuhr,  on  his  arrival  in  Borne,  but  has  never 
called  on  anybody  else,  except  Cardinal  Consalvi,  and  has 
never  summoned  resolution  to  visit  the  Pope.  He  is  a  man 
of  great  learning,  and  understands  a  great  many  languages. 
He  has  a  universal  interest  in  political  affairs,  and  takes  in 
newspapers  from  England,  France,  and  Spain,  as  well  as 
Germany  r  he  has  served  with  distinction  in  the  army,  and 
is  said  never  to  have  recovered  his  spirits  since  he  was 
refused  a  particular  command  he  had  wished  to  have  in 
the  last  war.  He  is  advantageously  distinguished  among 
German  princes  by  liberality  in  money-matters,  pensioning 
persons  that  had  been  in  his  service  at  any  part  of  life,  or 
in  any  place ;  always  giving,  when  a  claim  is  made  upon 


SHADOWS.  ]  97 


him,  more  than  could  have  been  expected  of  him,  and 
being  very  careful  at  the  same  time  to  pay  his  debts.  His 
dinners,  as  may  easily  be  supposed,  are  a  great  penance, 
but  Charles,  although  he  would  wish  to  avoid  his  presence, 
says  it  is  impossible  to  help  feeling  a  degree  of  attachment 
to  his  person. 

"  Ernest  has  just  asked  me — *  Chi  ti  ha  dato  questo  pane 
tanto  buono  mama — Iddio  o  Nonna  ? ' ' 

Bunsen  was  first  brought  into  personal  contact  with 
his  sovereign  during  a  visit  which  the  King  of  Prussia 
paid  to  Rome  with  his  two  younger  sons,  in  the  autumn 
of  1822.  General  Witzleben,  the  confidential  aide-de- 
camp who  accompanied  the  King  on  this  occasion,  had 
been  especially  employed  and  consulted  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  liturgy  which,  by  the  King's  desire,  was 
then  in  use  at  Berlin.  To  him  Niebuhr  spoke  of 
Bunsen's  studies  and  interest  in  the  matter,  and  his 
communications  to  his  royal  master  led  to  intimate 
conversations  at  the  time  on  the  subject  which  both 
had  so  deeply  at  heart ;  and  thus  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  mutually  affectionate  regard  which  seldom  has  the 
opportunity  of  arising  between  king  and  subject.  It 
was  at'  this  time  the  intention  of  Bun  sen,  without 
regard  to  his  worldly  prospects,  to  throw  up  his  diplo- 
matic employments  entirely,  and  devote  himself  alto- 
gether to  the  theological  studies,  by  which  he  imagined 
that  he  could  better  serve  not  only  his  own  but  future 
generations.  But  this  plan  was  fortunately  rendered 


198          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAKOXESS    BUNSEX. 

impossible  by  bis  duty  to  bis  sovereign  after  bis  ap- 
pointment as  Counsellor  of  Legation  on  tbe  occasion  of 
tbe  King's  second  visit  to  Rome  as  be  was  returning 
from  Naples,  and  by  bis  furtber  appointment  as  Charge 
d' Affaires  on  tbe  departure  of  Niebuhr  from  Rome  in 
tbe  following  March. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"14  Nov.,  1822. — Cbarles  is  running  every  day  and  all 
day  long  after  Kings  and  Princes.  I  am  sure  I  bave 
reason  to  long  for  tbe  King  of  Prussia's  departure,  for  be 
is  in  sucb  a  state  of  good-bumour  and  activity,  and  is  so 
well  entertained  witb  everytbing,  that  it  is  bis  pleasure  to 
run  about  from  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  dark, 
with  only  a  short  interval  fo?  dinner.  He  leads  the  way, 
attended  by  Mr.  Niebuhr  and  Alexander  von  Humboldt, 
and  the  two  Princes  follow,  attended  by  Charles,  who  is 
often  called  by  Mr.  Niebuhr  to  explain  things  to  the  King, 
in  particular  the  churches,  which  Mr.  Niebuhr  says  he 
understands  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,  waste 
of  time  and  spirits  they  occasion.  I  must  complain  a  little 
of  my  misfortunes  :  I  am  obliged  to  get  up  regularly  in  the 
dark,  and  hurry  on  some  clothes  to  give  Charles  his  break- 
fast in  time  for  him  to  be  in  attendance  at  half -past  seven  ; 
then  I  never  know  what  hour  to  expect  him  to  dinner,  for 
though  the  King  fixes  his  dinner-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  signified  to  Charles  his  wish  that  he 


SHADOWS.  199 


should  dine  with  him ;  they  continued  so  late  seeing  sights 
that  Charles  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. 
Charles  after  his  dinner  drove  about  again  with  tho 
Princes,  and  then  attended  them  to  see  the  illumination 
of  St.  Peter's,  and  the  Girandola.  After  that  was  over, 
he  was  dismissed,  but  his  labours  were  not  at  an  end,  for 
the  King  intending  to  go  next  day  to  Tivoli,  and  requiring 
sixty-four  horses  (thirty-two  to  set  off  with,  and  thirty-two 
to  change  half  way,  he  and  his  attendants  occupying  eight 
carriages),  Charles  had  to  drive  about  in  all  directions  to 
rummage  out  this  number  of  horses,  some  in  one  place, 
some  in  another ;  then  he  went  to  report  to  Mr.  Niebuhr 
that  all  was  in  order,  and  lastly,  at  half -past  eleven  o'clock, 
did  he  get  home.  At  five  o'clock  this  morning  he  went  off 
to  attend  his  Majesty  to  Tivoli,  whence  it  is  the  royal  plea- 
sure to  gallop  back  this  evening  at  five  o'clock.  Charles  is 
very  much  pleased  with  the  behaviour  of  the  King,  who  is 
throughout  dignified,  intelligent,  and  rational ;  and  he 
likes  both  the  Princes,  but  in  particular  Prince  "William, 
the  elder  of  the  two  that  are  here ;  the  Crown  Prince  is 
not  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  all 
parties  and  persons  unite  to  speak  in  the  highest  terms." 

"11  Dec.,  1822. — The  day  after  I  sent  my  last  letter,  we 
had  a  visit  from,  tho  King  of  Prussia,  the  two  Princes,  and 
their  suite,  to  see  the  view  from  our  windows,  but  before  I 
give  further  particulars  of  the  event  of  that  day,  I  have  to 
toll  that  tho  King,  two  days  before  his  departure  north- 


200          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARON KSS    BUXSEX. 

wards,  appointed  Charles  Counsellor  of  Legation,  of  his 
own  free  grace  and  favour,  without  solicitation.  This  is  a 
considerable  advancement  in  point  of  rank,  and  entitles 
Charles  to  an  increase  of  salary,  and  the  most  agreeable 
circumstance  attending  the  transaction  is,  that  the  King 
has  never  been  known  to  grant  a  similar  favour  so  sud- 
denly to  any  person,  and  the  whole  of  his  behaviour  has 
shown  from  first  to  last  the  very  strong  impression  that 
Charles's  personal  qualities  made  upon  him.  He  staid  at 
first  ten  days  in  Home,  and  three  more  on  his  return  from 
Naples,  and  each  day  took  more  notice  of  Charles  than  the 
preceding,  and  the  two  last  days,  during  dinner,  and  on 
every  other  occasion,  might  be  said  to  have  conversed  with 
him  alone,  although  he  occasionally  spoke  to  other  people ; 
this  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  their 
present  delight ;  Ernest  begs  for  the  Argonauts,  and 
Harpies,  and  the  brazen  Bulls,  and  Henry  begs  for  the 
Hercules,  and  the  Serpents,  and  the  Lion,  and  the  Hydra  ; 
these  and  many  other  mythological  tales  Mr.  Niebuhr  had 
written  down,  in  the  most  charming  manner  possible,  for 
his  own  boy,  and  we  borrowed  the  manuscript,  and  I  have 
been  very  busy  this  last  month  in  copying  it,  whenever  I 
can  find  an  odd  half -hour. 

"I  had  the  other  evening  a  long  conversation  with  Prince 
Frederic  of  Hesse  Homburg,  about  his  sister-in-law  Prin- 
cess Elizabeth.  He  is  a  General  in  the  Prussian  service, 
and  is  longer  in  proportion  to  breadth  and  thickness  than 
anything  that  ever  was  seen  except  a  knitting  needle,  there- 
fore I  suppose  he  must  be  the  very  counterpart  of  his 


SHADOWS.  201 


brother,  who  is  said  to  be  as  large  as  the  Princess.  He 
told  me  that  he  perceived  by  my  observations  on  H. 
K.  H.'s  pursuits  and  manner  of  life  in  England,  that  I 
was  acquainted  with  the  interior  of  the  late  Queen's  house, 
for  they  tallied  with  the  Princess's  own  account  of  things  ; 
and  desired  to  know  by  what  name  he  should  mention  me 
to  his  sister-in-law.  I  told  him  it  was  better  I  should  name 
the  name  of  my  mother,  whom  H.  E.  H.  had  known  in 
her  childhood,  and  to  whom  she  had  ever  been  very 
gracious ;  and  he  pronounced  and  spelt  the  name  of  Port 
after  me,  which  I  thought  there  was  more  chance  of  his 
recollecting  than  Waddington.  From  the  wife  of  Colonel 
Schack  he  heard  that  Princess  Elizabeth  was  universally 
popular,  which  is  not  surprising,  and  I  also  heard  many  of 
the  jokes  that  have  been  made  about  her  size;  a  fat 
Countess  Goltz  at  Berlin  asserted  that  when  one  had  once 
made  a  journey  round  the  Princess,  one  had  had  walking 
enough  for  the  day ;  also,  it  was  said  that  the  Princess  had 
great  difficulty  in  finding  a  shawl  that  reached  as  far  as 
her  shoulders ;  that  it  should  cover  any  part  of  her  chest 
was  not  to  be  expected  from  a  shawl." 

"  4  April,  1823.— Mr.  and  Mrs.  Niebuhr  left  Eome  this 
day  se'nnight — and  although  poor  Mrs.  Niebuhr  worked 
herself  almost  to  death  before  her  departure  in  settling 
and  arranging  about  sale  of  furniture,  as  well  as  packing 
and  preparing  for  travelling,  for  four  children  and  her 
very  invalid  self,  to  say  nothing  of  a  husband  who  needs 
as  well  as  deserves  to  be  taken  care  of — a  vast  quantity  of 
business  was  left  for  me  to  complete." 

On  the  28th  of  April,  1823,  Madame  Bunsen  gave 


202         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

birth  to  her  fourth  son,  Frederick  "Wilhelm — who  lived 
only  till  the  following  June,  when  he  was  laid  by  his 
little  sister  in  the  Protestant  Burial-ground. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"20  May,  1823.— Mr.  and  Mrs.  Niebuhr  passed  through 
Rome  ten  days  ago,  on  their  way  from  Naples  northwards, 
never  to  return ;  it  was  a  very  solemn  parting,  on  many 
accounts ;  Heaven  only  knows  when,  where,  or  under 
what  circumstances,  we  shall  meet  again,  or  whether  we 
shall  ever  again  inhabit  the  same  place,  as  we  have  done 
for  above  five  years,  with  the  possibility  of  daily  inter- 
course, in  which  time  every  successive  given  period  has 
slowly  but  surely  drawn  the  bond  closer  between  us.  Mrs. 
Niebuhr  is  going  to  a  country  in  which  she  is  nearly  as 
absolute  a  stranger  as  I  should  be  (having  been  born  and 
bred  in  Holstein,  and  having  spent  only  the  three  first 
months  after  her  marriage  at  Berlin),  with  many  anxious 
apprehensions  lest  a  northern  climate  should  prove  more 
injurious  to  her  husband  and  children  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  however 
rejoice  on  account  of  their  removal,  for  this  last  year  at 
Rome  she  appeared  dying  by  inches.  She  had  suffered  much 
for  years  without  its  appearing,  but  latterly  she  showed 
her  sufferings  to  such  a  degree,  that  I  hardly  think  you 
would  have  recognised  her,  with  hollow  eyes  and  cheeks, 
her  colour  gone,  and  her  hair  grey.  At  Naples  she  expe- 
rienced some  relief  from  the  inexplicable  pains  she  suffers, 
and  therefore  recovered  a  degree  of  strength,  but  the  air 


SHADOWS.  203 


of  Borne  had  again  an  injurious  effect,  though,  she  was 
only  three  days  here. 

"  That  most  attaching  child,  Marcus,  parted  from  me  in 
a  manner  I  shall  never  forget,  shedding  no  tear,  uttering 
no  word,  but  clinging  round  my  neck  as  if  he  could  not  let 
me  go.  It  is  in  general  more  especially  melancholy  to  part 
from  children,  because  you  feel  that  something  in  your 
life  is  utterly  at  an  end,  utterly  cut  off,  for  even  if  you  can 
anticipate  a  time  for  becoming  again  acquainted  with  the 
child,  that  acquaintance  will  be  something  new,  it  cannot 
be  considered  on  the  part  of  the  child  as  a  continuation  of 
the  former,  for  he  will  nearly  have  forgotten  you  in  the 
mean  time.  That  is  however  a  feeling  that  I  have  not  in 
the  same  degree  experienced  with  respect  to  Marcus  ;  that 
child  has  a  heart  and  understanding  so  extraordinary,  that 
it  is  impossible  not  to  reckon  upon  him  as  upon  a  person 
of  formed  character.  He  entered  with  his  whole  soul  into 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  sea,  the  ships,  Mount  Vesuvius, 
&c.,  at  Naples,  but  though  he  anticipated  great  delight 
from  imbibing  new  ideas  on  his  northward  journey,  he 
was  nevertheless  very  sorry  to  take  leave  of  Eome.  His 
father  took  him  the  last  day  to  the  Vatican,  and  observed 
that  he  was  continually  humming  tunes,  which  he  for  a 
time  disregarded,  but  at  last  said,  l  Why  are  you  so  inat- 
tentive, Marcus  ?  don't  you  like  to  see  these  things  ?  * 
Marcus  did  not  answer,  for  his  eyes  were  full  of  tears, 
which  he  would  not  allow  to  come  down."  * 

*  Marcus  Niebuhr  was  afterwards  private  secretary  to  the  King, 
and  wrote  a  book  on  Babylonian  History.  He  married  a  Fraulein 
von  "Wolzogen  of  the  family  of  Schiller's  wife,  and  died  in  1860.  His 
sister  Cornelia  still  lives  (1878)  at  Weimar,  as  the  wife  of  Hcrr 
Rathgen,  President  of  the  Tribunal. 


204         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"14  June,  1823. — I  drove  yesterday  evening,  my  own 
Mother,  to  the  Yilla  Albani,  with  all  the  children.  It  had 
rained  in  the  morning,  and  therefore  the  smell  of  the  earth 
and  the  trees  was  delicious.  I  enjoyed  that,  and  the  inde- 
scribable beauty  of  the  view  in  the  glow  of  the  setting  sun, 
while  Henry  and  Ernest  were  happy  beyond  all  happiness 
in  riding  upon  all  the  sphinxes  and  lions  they  could  pos- 
sibly climb  upon.  Little  Charles's  happiness  was  trotting 
after  and  admiring  his  brothers,  and  trying  to  get  into  all 
the  fountains  that  came  in  his  way.  I  always  recollect 
when  I  go  to  the  Villa  Albani  having  run  my  last  race 
there  with  Augusta ;  I  hope  she  recollects  that  I  beat  her." 

"26  June,  1823. — I  wish  I  knew  what  words  to  use,  to 
spare  my  Mother  a  part  of  the  shock  she  will  feel,  on 
learning  that  I  have  been  summoned  to  resign  the  treasure 
so  lately  granted ;  and  that  my  precious  Frederic  rests  by 
the  side  of  his  angel  sister.  Bo  satisfied,  my  Mother,  that 
I  am  not  only  composed,  but  thankful ;  thankful  that  it 
pleased  God  to  take  so  soon  the  being  that  in  so  short  a 
time  was  become  so  dear,  for  every  week  of  added  life 
would  have  added  to  the  pang  of  parting ;  thankful,  that 
I  was  not  thus  deprived  of  my  little  Charles,  that  infant 
preserved  almost  by  miracle  from  the  dangers  to  which  he 
was  exposed  by  my  distress  and  exertions  before  his  birth ; 
thankful,  that  it  was  not  my  first  child  who  was  so  speedily 
reclaimed !  ....  It  is  certain  that  this  infant  had  a 
peculiar  look,  a  look  of  death,  which  I  now  find  struck 
everybody  that  saw  him,  and  which  caused  Charles  and 
myself  continually  to  feel  (though  we  did  not  express  the 
feeling)  that  we  should  not  bo  allowed  to  preserve  him : 
still,  it  is  fortunately  so  difficult  to  distinguish  a  decided 


SHADOWS.  205 


anticipation  of  death  from  the  natural  anxiety  occasioned 
by  infant  life,  that  I  hacT  begun  to  gather  hopes  from 
observing  how  rapidly  he  throve,  how  fat,  and  active,  and 
animated  he  became. 

"  On  Tuesday,  the  18th  June,  he  completed  the  fiftieth 
day  of  his  life,  and  was  perfectly  well.  I  drove  to  the 
Yilla  Poniatowski,  and  took  him  with  me  on  the  nurse's 
lap.  On  the  following  day  he  was  not  well,  but  not  per- 
ceiving any  reason  to  apprehend  serious  illness,  I  left  my 
little  angel,  and  took  my  other  three  treasures  to  the 
Corsini  gardens,  from  whence  we  brought  flowers,  that  I 
little  thought  to  employ  in  decking  the  corpse  of  my  little 
Frederic !  When  I  returned  he  was  better,  and  slept  till 
four  in  the  morning,  after  which  came  twenty-four  hours, 
of  which,  my  Mother,  I  could  wish  not  to  think  and  yet  I 
cannot  help  it.  When  longing  for  his  release,  it  was  hard 
to  help  asking  why  such  an  infant  must  suffer  so  much, 
why  the  combat  must  last  so  long,  but  that  involves  the 
question  why  evil  must  come — that  most  needless,  most 
impious  question,  for  it  implies  a  doubt  of  the  perfection 
of  God,  and  I  hope  I  checked  the  movement  as  often  as  it 
occurred.  When  the  last  breath  had  been  drawn,  my 
Charles  and  I  left  the  precious  remains  to  the  care  of 
Maddalena  and  Angelina,  and  lay  down  for  two  hours. 
Afterwards  we  were  even  more  refreshed  by  Dr.  Schmieder : 
it  is  true  he  could  tell  us  nothing  that  we  did  not  already 
know,  but  he  reanimated  shrinking  convictions.  Then 
Charles  proposed  that  we  should  go  into  the  fresh  air  in 
some  garden;  and  we  drove  to  the  Monte  Cavallo,  and 
walked  in  the  shady  walks  of  the  Pope's  garden,  and 
enjoyed  the  summer  breeze. 


206         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"  When  we  returned,  I  went  to  look  at  my  angel  at  rest. 
The  look  of  pain  was  gone  now,  all  was  peace  and  loveli- 
ness. I  scarcely  left  him  for  the  remainder  of  the  day,  and 
there  is  no  describing  the  sensation  (scarcely  to  be  called 
painful)  with  which  I  contemplated  that  form  in  the  beauty 
of  which  I  had  so  delighted  in  life,  from  whose  earthly 
development  I  had  promised  myself  so  much :  it  was  a  fitly 
framed  vessel  for  an  immortal,  early-glorified  spirit !  Bfct 
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  the 
illness  of  his  little  brother,  and  Ernest  also,  in  proportion 
to  his  age.  Henry  would  hardly  leave  him  during  the  first 
day  of  death,  and  begged  that  he  might  go  to  see  him 
buried,  and  having  heard  that  he  was  to  be  conveyed 
away  early  in  the  morning,  woke  of  his  own  accord  at 
half -past  four,  was  very  devout  during  the  service,  and 
has  been  particularly  good,  docile,  and  affectionate  ever 
since.* 

' '  My  Mother,  I  entreat  you  not  to  be  distressed  about 
me.  I  assure  you  that  I  am  very  well,  and  except  when  I 
parted  with  the  poor  nurse,  whose  grief  was  extreme,  and 
to  whom  I  shall  ever  feel  bound,  for  having  performed  her 
duty  with  her  whole  heart,  I  have  not  shed  tears ;  and  I 
have  too  much  to  do,  and  too  much  left  to  enjoy,  for  it  to 
be  possible  to  feel  depressed. 

*  The  touching  epitaph  of  the  infant  children  in  the  Cemetery  of 
Caius  Cestius  was  written  hy  their  mother  and  rendered  in  Latin  by 
Bunsen.  It  concludes  with  the  words — v'  Hi  parentihus  non  dati,  at 
monstrati  fuerunt ;  ut  angelorum  imaginem,  innocentiae  ore  expressam, 
grato  animo  recordantes,  beatae  eternaeque  visionis  venturum  diem 
laetiore  fide  expoctarcnt." 


SHADOWS.  207 


"It  is  so  completely  a  thing  of  course,  to  find  in 
rny  Charles  everything — comfort,  support,  sympathy,  the 
power  of  re-animating — that  it  had  scarcely  occurred  to  me 
to  tell  my  Mother  what  she  has  long  known.  I  shall  now 
conclude,  that  I  may  drive  out  with  my  boys ;  we  shall  try 
to  get  into  the  vineyard  where  the  ruins  of  the  temple  of 
Minerva  Medica  stand ;  the  day  is  delightful,  a  fresh  north- 
west breeze,  and  the  distant  prospect  as  clear  as  possible. 
To-night  we  shall  take  Henry  and  Ernest  to  see  the 
Girandola :  it  is  Saturday,  the  28th  of  June,  the  vigil  of 
St.  Peter." 

"18  July,  1823.— The  destruction  of  S.  Paolo  fuori  le 
Mura,  which  took  place  three  days  ago,  has  been  so  un- 
ceasingly matter  of  thought  and  conversation  ever  since, 
that  I  can  scarcely  write  of  any  other  subject.  My  Mother 
saw  that  church  only  once,  and  had  nobody  with  her,  as  I 
have  had  since,  to  show  every  part,  and  enable  her  to 
become  attached  to  the  building  as  I  have  become ;  but  yet 
I  am  quite  sure  she  will  be  shocked  to  know  that  it  has 
been  seen  for  the  last  time,  that  the  fire  has  spared  but 
little,  and  that  little  left  in  a  state  in  which  it  is  impossible 
to  restore,  or  even  preserve  it.  In  proportion  as  the  walls 
and  columns  cool,  they  crumble  and  fall  in  large  masses ; 
and  Charles,  who  made  his  way  in  this  morning,  says  that 
it  is  really  inexcusable  in  the  guards  who  are  stationed 
there  to  give  anybody  leave  to  do  so,  for  it  is  not  possible 
to  answer  for  the  life  of  any  person  that  ventures  under 
the  porch.  On  Tuesday,  the  15th,  some  masons  and 
plumbers  were  at  work  on  the  roof  of  the  church,  which 
had  long  wanted  a  thorough  repair.  They  were  observed 
to  be  drunk  when  they  went  up  after  their  dinners,  and  a 


208         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    hUNSEN. 

quarrel  took  place  amongst  them,  in  the  course  of  which  one 
of  the  plumbers  threw  his  pan  of  burning  charcoal  at  one 
of  the  masons,  and  so  utterly  were  they  deprived  of  reason, 
that  so  far  from  collecting  the  coals,  or  in  any  way  guard- 
ing against  mischief,  they  did  r.ot  even  bring  away  the 
pan,  which  has  since  been  found  among  the  ruins :  these 
facts  the  culprits  have  confessed.  It  was  not  till  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning  that  the  monks  of  the  monastery  adjoin- 
ing the  church  received  the  alarm  from  some  country- 
folk travelling  along  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  collect  the  firemen,  two  hours 
were  unavoidably  lost  before  the  latter  arrived  from  Rome 
with  their  one  engine  and  their  water-carts — so  little  is  the 
danger  of  fire  provided  against  in  Rome.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  they  came  too  late  to  be  of  any  use ;  till  the  fire 
had  accomplished  its  work  in  consuming  the  whole  of  the 
roof,  it  raged  unabated.  The  greater  part,  and  the  finest 
of  the  columns,  fell  in  masses  of  lime,  and  more  that  remain 
standing  are  so  calcinated,  that  they  will  probably  at  the 
longest  only  wait  for  the  storms  of  autumn  to  be  laid  pros- 
trate. The  mosaics  of  the  ninth  century  are  yet  standing, 
ibut  one  of  the  prodigious  columns  of  white  granite  that 
support  the  arch  on  which  they  are  fixed,  is  split  from  the 
summit  to  the  base.  The  mosaics  produce  a  wonderful  effect, 
being  now  laid  open  to  the  glaring  sun,  whereas  they  were 
formerly  dimly  discovered  in  the  twilight  of  the  church. 
The  beautiful  tabernacle  that  covered  the  high  altar,  a 
work  of  the  thirteenth  century,  is  also  yet  standing,  although 
damaged.  It  was  an  extraordinary  circumstance,  that  on 
the  night  of  the  burning  of  St.  Paul's  we  went  to  bed  at 


SHADOWS.  209 


ten  o'clock,  having  for  a  fortnight  before  daily  complained 
that  one  cause  or  other  had  regularly  kept  us  up  till  mid- 
night. Had  we  that  night  staid  up,  from  our  high  situa- 
tion in  the  Capitol  we  could  not  have  failed  to  have  seen 
the  fire,  and  Charles  would  have  taken  care  to  have  routed 
guards  and  firemen.  That  old  dunce  Laura,  who  lives  in 
the  apartments  over  us,  did  see  the  fire  at  midnight,  and 
had  not  sufficient  wisdom  or  activity  to  give  the  alarm, 
although  she  knew  that  two  years  ago  Charles  had  not 
thought  it  too  much  trouble  to  give  assistance  in  saving 
some  hay-barns  at  that  hour,  which  were  perceived  to  be 
blazing.  But  it  is  perhaps  in  a  double  sense  useless  to 
regret  that  assistance  was  not  more  speedily  sent,  for  when 
in  this  climate  at  the  driest  season  of  the  year,  a  roof 
entirely  composed  of  wood,  and  at  the  lowest  computation 
a  thousand  years  old,  had  begun  to  burn,  I  cannot  conceive 
how  even  London  fire-engines  and  firemen  could  have 
stopped  the  progress  of  the  flames. 

"  I  am  sure  my  Mother  will  be  grieved  at  the  extraor- 
dinary accident  by  which  the  few  remaining  days  or  months 
which  the  venerable  Pope  could  have  had  to  live  will  pro- 
bably be  abridged.  Happily  he  does  not  suffer  pain.  The 
accounts  given  of  the  delirium  which  followed  his  accident* 
are  quite  affecting;  he  continually  recited  psalms  and 
prayers,  and  the  only  difficulty  his  attendants  had  was  in 
preventing  his  attempting  to  get  up  and  say  mass;  he 
always  knew  Cardinal  Consalvi  and  never  failed  to  answer 

*  On  the  Gth  July  the  aged  Pius  VII.,  who  was  far  advanced  in 
the  twenty-third  year  of  his  pontificate,  had  received  a  fatal  injury 
from  a  fall  in  his  own  room  in  the  Quirinal  Palace — the  same  room 
which,  on  the  same  day,  fourteen  years  before,  had  witnessed  hia 
seizure  by  General  Radet. 

VOL.    I.  P 


210         LIFE    AKD    LKTTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

him.  rationally,  but  when  not  spoken  to  by  him,  he  returned 
to  his  psalnis." 

"  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 
volevo  bene  al  Papa !  e  adesso  e  morto,  non  vede  piu, 
1'hanno  messo  sotto  terra ;  ma  e  andato  in  cielo,  da 
Iddio,  e  da  Gesu  Christo,  e  vero  Mama? — e  c'e  pure  11  zia 
Emilia,  e  la  sorellina,  e  il  fratellino.'  I  took  them  to  see 
the  remains  of  the  Pope  conveyed  by  night  from  Monte 
Cavallo  to  St.  Peter's,  and  they  were  perhaps  the  only 
persons  not  disappointed  by  the  spectacle.  I  had  supposed 
that  the  procession,  consisting  as  I  anticipated  of  priests, 
and  monks,  and  friars,  and  cardinals,  chaunting  and  carry- 
ing torches,  could  not  fail  to  produce  an  impressive  effect : 
but  there  were  neither  monks,  nor  friars,  nor  cardinals,  and 
only  half-a-dozen  priests ;  the  remainder  of  the  train  was 
made  out  of  detachments  of  troops,  and  four  cannon  and  am- 
munition waggons ;  and  the  torches  were  so  thinly  strewed, 
that  in  narrow  streets  where  the  light  of  the  moon  could  not 
penetrate,  the  procession  seemed  to  be  groping  its  way  in 
the  dark.  The  most  plausible  explanation  of  this  most 
unpontifical  manner  of  constituting  a  funeral  procession,  is 
that  in  times  past,  when  there  were  so  many  popes  of  an 
utterly  different  character  to  that  of  Pius  the  Seventh,  pre- 
cautionary measures  for  defending  the  corpse  against  the 
apprehended  marks  of  just  abhorrence  on  the  part  of  the 
populace  were  absolutely  necessary ;  it  being  well  known 
that  a  large  band,  after  having  been  disappointed  in  their 
intentions  against  the  remains  of  Paul  the  Fourth,  of  the 
Caraffa  family,  proceeded  to  knock  off  the  head  of  one  of 


SHADOWS.  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  day 
at  the  Quirinal,  and  three  days  at  St.  Peter's,  but  only  for 
a  few  hours  of  that  period  was  the  face  really  visible, 
having  been  afterwards  covered  with  a  mask.  I  had 
wished  to  have  seen  his  countenance  in  the  serenity  of 
death,  but  was  prevented  going  when  it  could  be  seen. 
Although  so  advanced  in  age,  and  reduced  in  strength, 
Pius  the  Seventh  had  a  hard  struggle  to  enter  into  his  rest ; 
his  death,  after  life's  longest  date,  was  similar  to  that  of 
my  blessed  infant  on  the  threshold  of  existence ;  his  chest 
continued  to  pant  with  convulsive  strength,  after  every 
other  vital  function  had  ceased!  On  Sunday  the  17th  (it 
was  on  Wednesday  the  20th  that  he  was  released),  he  said 
to  his  physicians,  '  Perche  fate  tutte  queste  cose  ?  io  vorrei 
rnorire,  sento  bene  che  Iddio  mi  vuol  ricchiamare  ' :  and  till 
speech  failed  him,  he  was  heard  to  utter  supplications  for 
release.  He  was  often  delirious,  and  his  ravings  were  those 
of  devotional  exercises,  from  which  no  voice  but  that  of 
Consalvi  could  rouse  him.  Consalvi  watched  by  him  for 
the  last  three  nights,  as  well  as  days,  though  his  own  state 
was  obviously  so  precarious,  that  it  is  inconceivable  how 
he  can  have  survived  his  fatigue  and  agitation :  he  twice 
fainted  in  the  course  of  the  last  night,  and  could  hardly  be 
brought  away  from  the  corpse.  It  might  seem  to  many 
people  absurd  to  sympathise  in  the  grief  of  a  prime-minister 
for  the  death  of  his  sovereign  ;  but  I  know  not  why  one 
should  be  denied  the  satisfaction  of  supposing  the  grief  of 
Consalvi  to  spring  from  a  legitimate  cause  ;  to  have  lived 
more  than  three  and  twenty  years  in  the  confidence  of  such 


212         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

an  individual  as  Pius  the  Seventh  without  becoming 
attached  to  him,  would  have  required  the  insensibility  of 
vice  or  folly ;  and  Consalvi  is  neither  a  hard  nor  a  weak 
man  ;  he  labours  under  the  misfortune  of  habitually  mis- 
trusting his  fellow-creatures,  but  there  are  many  instances 
to  prove  that  where  sufficient  evidence  has  been  given  of 
moral  excellence,  he  is  as  capable  of  doing  justice  to  it  as 
any  other  intelligent  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  termination,  the  2nd  September,  the  cardinals  will  be 
enclosed  in  conclave — literally,  for  all  the  entrances  to  the 
Quirinal  are  walled  up,  and  provisions  for  the  cardinals  and 
their  servants  are  put  in  through  holes  in  the  wall,  which 
holes  are  sentinelled  by  prelates,  to  prevent  communica- 
tion ;  and  yet,  with  all  these  precautions,  there  never  yet 
was  a  conclave  in  which  the  state  of  parties  did  not  become 
public  before  it  closed.  There  are  persons  who  assert  that 
there  are  as  many  candidates  as  cardinals,  but  certain 
it  is  that  on  the  most  moderate  computation  there  are  not 
less  than  eight  i  die  passeggiano^  as  the  Romans  call  it,  that 
is,  who  seek  after  the  Papacy,  wherefore  a  tedious  conclave 
is  to  be  apprehended.  I  wish  they  might  elect  the 
Pope  in  time  to  allow  us  a  breath  of  fresh  air  at  Frascati 
before  the  winter ;  Charles  will  hardly  think  himself  at 
liberty  to  move  as  long  as  the  conclave  lasts,  and  to  us  it 
would  be  no  pleasure  to  go  without  him." 

"20  Sept.,  1823.— On  Monday,  the  1st  September,  I 
attended  in  St.  Peter's  the  last  and  most  solemn  requiem- 
service  for  the  deceased  Popo,  and  was  much  gratified ;  the 
greater  part  of  it  took  place  in  that  chapel  into  which  I 


SHADOWS.  213 


went  twice  with  my  Mother  to  hear  vespers  after  our 
arrival  in  Eome.  I  sat  in  the  gallery  appointed  for  the 
chiefs  of  the  mission  and  their  wives ;  all  other  persons, 
strangers  or  not  (the  good  days  of  Cardinal  Consalvi  being 
past)  might  take  their  chance  as  they  could  in  the  body  of 
the  church,  which  was  on  this  occasion  literally  full,  and 
filled  with  all  that  variety  of  costume  which  gives  such  a 
peculiar  effect  to  a  Roman  crowd.  Into  the  chapel  nobody 
was  allowed  to  enter,  except  the  cardinals  and  prelates ;  the 
service  was  therefore  undisturbed,  the  buzz  of  the  multi- 
tude seeming  more  distant  than  it  was.  After  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  mass,  in  which  the  exquisite  requiem  of  Pittoni 
was  sung  in  even  greater  perfection  than  usual,  the  cere- 
mony of  absolution  was  performed  five  times,  by  five 
several  cardinals  ;  for  Pius  the  Seventh  as  Pope,  as  Car- 
dinal, as  Archbishop,  as  Priest,  and  as  Deacon;  the  five 
cardinals  went  in  procession  into  the  body  of  the  church, 
followed  by  the  papal  singers,  who  performed  a  passage  of 
a  psalm  or  an  anthem,  after  each  absolution.  These  ex- 
quisite pieces  of  music  were  heard  in  perfection  where  we 
sate,  but  were  nearly  lost  to  persons  who,  though  nearer, 
stood  in  the  confusion  of  the  crowd.  The  next  day,  we 
went  to  the  apartments  of  Cardinal  Consalvi  at  the  Palace 
of  the  Consulta,  opposite  the  palace  of  Monte  Cavallo,  to 
see  the  cardinals  walk  in  procession  into  conclave,  and  it 
was  one  of  the  really  fine  sights  to  be  seen.  The  piazza 
was  as  full  as  it  could  hold  of  people,  and  two  lines  of 
soldiers  formed  a  passage  for  the  cardinals.  In  the  centre 
the  two  majestic  statues,  with  the  obelisk  between  them, 
appeared  more  colossal  than  ever,  from  the  opportunity 
given  of  measuring  them  with  human  dimensions.  Just 


214          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

before  them  there  is  now  a  noble  fountain,  formed  of  the 
enormous  granite  crater  which  my  Mother  may  remember 
lay  broken  in  two  pieces  under  the  Temple  of  Peace  the 
winter  she  was  in  Rome ;  the  water,  springing  into  the  air, 
and  falling  into  a  lake  rather  than  bason,  glowed  and 
sparkled  in  the  sun's  rays,  while  the  statues  stood  aloft 
with  their  shady  side  towards  us,  and  casting  a  long  shadow 
over  the  crowd ;  behind,  the  fine  cypresses  rising  above 
the  walls  of  the  Colonna  garden,  and  the  cupola  of  St. 
Peter's  in  the  distance,  completed  a  picture,  which  as  to 
forms,  lights,  shades,  and  colours,  was  exclusively  peculiar 
to  Rome.  The  cardinals  wralked  two  and  two,  from  a  little 
church  at  the  other  extremity  of  the  summit  of  the  Quirinal, 
with  one  of  the  Guardia  Nobile  on  each  side,  and  preceded 
by  all  the  attendants  who  were  to  be  shut  up  with  them 
during  the  conclave,  also  by  the  singers  of  the  papal  chapel, 
who  performed  the  Veni  Creator  Spiritus  ;  the  effect  of  this 
might  have  been  as  fine  as  possible,  but  a  noisy  and  disso- 
nant military  band  at  the  close  of  the  procession  disturbed 
all.  Within  the  first  three  hours  of  the  entrance  of  the 
cardinals,  the  diplomatic  body,  and  the  ecclesiastics  and 
nobilta,  are  allowed  to  visit  them,  and  Charles  was  much 
amused  to  hear  the  various  ways  of  expressing  the  compli  • 
ments  of  etiquette  on  the  occasion ;  each  several  person 
wishes  each  several  cardinal  a  happy  conclave,  concluding 
with  some  expression  to  signify  the  hope  of  seeing  the 
cardinal  next  time  in  a  different  dress,  that  is,  as  Pope. 
The  votes  of  the  cardinals  are  collected  twice  every  day, 
and  within  a  few  days  after  their  entrance  they  were  dis- 
turbed in  this  operation  by  the  discovery  of  a  profane 
spectator,  namely,  of  an  owl,  which  had  entered  through 


SHADOWS.  215 


the  chapel  window.  With  much  trouble  and  exertion  the 
cardinals  contrived  to  drive  the  bird  o£  wisdom  from  their 
assembly,  but  not  without  damage  to  the  panes  of  the 
chapel  window,  to  repair  which  damage  became  matter  of 
much  consultation.  Should  it  be  done  in  broad  daylight, 
it  was  feared  many  strange  suppositions  as  to  the  cause 
might  ensue,  and  that  it  would  appear  as  if  the  cardinals 
had  quarrelled,  and  thrown  their  inkstands  at  each  other's 
heads ;  wherefore  it  was  judged  prudent  to  issue  orders  to 
their  Eminences'  plumber  and  glazier  to  proceed  with 
ladder  and  lantern  at  dead  of  night  to  replace  the  broken 
panes.  One  piece  of  policy  however  was  forgotten,  that 
of  giving  notice  to  the  sentinels,  who,  as  it  happened, 
were  not  asleep  when  the  work  was  commenced,  and 
suspecting  that  incendiaries  were  coming  to  destroy  the 
whole  conclave,  were  upon  the  point  (as  it  is  said,  but 
that  is  certainly  a  calumny,  the  Papal  muskets  never 
being  arranged  for  murderous  purposes)  of  firing  upon 
the  workmen,  when  the  matter  was  explained  to  them. 
I  give  the  story  as  one  of  those  current  in  Borne,  but 
cannot  vouch  for  its  accuracy,  any  farther  than  the  circum- 
stances of  the  operation  by  midnight.  One  of  the  jokes 
to  which  the  story  has  given  rise  is  truly  Italian — that 
the  owl  must  have  been  '  lo  Spirito  Santo  mascherato.' 

"From  what  transpired  in  the  first  week,  it  was  feared 
that  Cardinal  Cavalchini  would  have  the  majority  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  would  erect  a  gallows  before  every  public-house,  and 
hang  first  those  who  ate  and  secondly  those  who  cooked 
anything  but  meagre  diet  on  a  fast-day  :  and  to  persons 


216          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUN  SEN. 

wlio  came  to  him  on  business,  he  used  to  give  notice  that 
he  was  not  in  a  good  humour,  or  disposed  to  attend  to 
them,  by  threatening  that  if  they  did  not  instantly  retire, 
he  would  throw  them  down  the  staircase,  or  out  of  the 
window.  He  was  for  a  short  time  governor  of  Home, 
when  by  acts  of  tyranny  corresponding  to  these  '  fagons 
de  parler,'  he  made  himself  deservedly  hated;  and  yet, 
such  is  the  bigotry  of  a  certain  set  of  cardinals,  that  he  has 
obtained  votes  merely  because  it  is  certain  that  he  will 
rather  burn  than  conciliate  heretics :  however,  there  is  no 
danger  that  he  should  be  Pope,  for  even  if  it  were  possible 
that  he  should  obtain  a  sufficient  number  of  votes,  he 
would  without  doubt  be  excluded  by  the  veto  which  by 
long  custom  is  allowed  to  the  three  courts  of  Austria, 
France,  and  Spain.  Cardinal  della  Somaglia  is  reckoned 
likely  to  succeed,  and  he  would  be  a  very  respectable 
choice :  but  according  to  the  example  of  latter  conclaves, 
the  fortunate  candidate  is  never  found  among  those  who 
at  the  beginning  or  towards  the  middle  of  the  period  of 
conclave  collect  the  greatest  number  of  votes  :  two  or  three 
parties  in  general  mutually  defeat  each  other's  views,  till 
the  patience  of  all  is  exhausted,  and  then  they  all  agree  to 
choose  an  individual,  obnoxious  to  none,  but  who  has  not 
been  the  peculiar  choice  of  any. 

"It  is  an  indescribable  gain  to  me  to  have  now  the 
daily  use  of  a  carriage,  for  if  I  had  to  drag  my  three  boys 
out  walking,  as  I  did  two  of  them  last  summer  (Charles 
then  gave  me  little  trouble,  being  carried  by  his  nurse)  I 
should  not  very  often  get  out  of  the  house,  having  eighty- 
two  steps  to  descend,  and  then  the  hill  of  the  Capitol,  both 
of  which  must  be  re- ascended  when  we  return  tired  from 


SHADOWS.  217 


the  walk  and  the  heat My  letter  is  interrupted  by 

my  having  to  interfere  with  Ernest's  resolute  determination 
to  help  the  archangel  Michael  with  his  fist  to  chastise  the 
devil,  for  my  two  big  boys  have  got  a  great  picture-book, 
reared  up  against  my  couch,  containing  engravings  of  the 
noble  compositions  of  Luca  Signorelli  at  Orvieto,  with 
which  the  children  are  always  greatly  struck." 

"  8  Oct.,  1823.— On  the  day  of  the  election  of  Pope  Leo 
the  Twelfth,*  Sunday,  28th  September,  we  went  to  St. 
Peter's,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  standing  two  hours  and  a 
half  to  see  him  carried  in,  and  placed  to  sit  upon  the  high- 
altar,  to  be  adored  (that  is  the  literal  expression)  by  the 
cardinals,  during  the  Te  Deum.  M.  d'ltalinskyf  remarked 
on  this  most  extraordinary  ceremony,  '  II  est  vrai  que  je 
suis  schismatique,  et  n'ai  pas  le  droit  de  juger  des  choses 
catholiques:  mais  ce  qui  me  parait  extraordinaire,  c'est 
que  le  Pape  a  mis  le  scant  la  ou  1'on  met  Jesus  Christ.' 
We  afterwards  had  a  still  closer  view  of  the  Pope  as  he 
drove  away  from  St.  Peter's,  and  were  struck  with  the 
contrast  between  his  emaciated  features  and  death -like 
colour,  and  the  brilliancy  of  his  eyes,  and  almost  too  youth- 
ful animation  of  his  countenance :  but  his  is  a  face  which 
can  only  by  contrast  recall  the  venerable  visage  of  Pius  VII. : 
in  looking  at  him  I  felt  that  the  sight  as  it  were  slid  down 
his  face  as  from  the  sharp  extremities  of  a  mass  of  ice,  not 
finding  a  resting-place :  not  that  the  Pope  is  plain — on  the 
contrary  it  is  easy  to  believe  what  is  asserted,  that  he  was 
twenty  years  ago  a  very  handsome  man. 

"It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  the  first  measures  of  the 

*  Cardinal  Annibale  della  Genga. 
f  Russian  Minister  at  Rome. 


218          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    JJAROXESS    BUNSEN. 

new  Pope's  government  have  been  wise  and  salutary,  if  the 
execution  only  proves  suitable  to  the  design;  they  have 
consisted  in  the  remission  of  taxes,  and  diminution  of  ex- 
penses. The  new  Secretary  of  State  is  a  very  respectable 
man,  both  as  to  understanding  and  character,  but  it  is 
feared  he  will  not  at  the  age  of  eighty  long  endure  the 
weight  of  business.  The  Pope  was  crowned  last  Sunday, 
the  5th,  and  the  spectacle  was  really  magnificent ;  we  had 
full  opportunity  of  enjoying  it,  being  amongst  the  few 
entitled  to  posts  of  honour  :  there  were  no  places  reserved 
except  for  the  Corps  Diplomatique,  the  present  Pope  being 
resolved  to  do  away  with  the  long  prevalent  abuse  of  giving 
as  it  were  exclusive  attention  to  strangers :  it  is  said  veils 
are  to  be  enforced  with  great  strictness,  and  even  that  hats 
are  to  be  prohibited  in  churches." 

"31  Oct.,  1823.— For  the  latter  half  of  this  month  the 
weather  has  been  beyond  description  vivifying,  and  we  have 
reason  to  be  thankful  for  having  been  able  to  make  the 
most  of  it :  we  have  daily  spent  several  hours  in  one  beau- 
tiful spot  or  another,  and  the  revival  of  spring- verdure  in 
inanimate  nature,  and  of  carnival-merriment  in  animate, 
has  completed  the  effect  of  weather  and  prospect.  Every 
tolerable  afternoon  at  this  season  of  the  year,  every  villa, 
vineyard,  and  garden  to  which  it  is  possible  to  obtain 
access,  and  the  roadside  to  a  certain  distance  out  of  every 
gate  of  the  city,  is  full  of  people  of  the  lower  and  middle 
classes,  and  most  certain  it  is  that  general  merriment  has 
a  most  inspiriting  effect,  when  one  has  no  weight  on  the 
heart  to  counterbalance  its  influence.  The  marked  cha- 
racter given  to  the  different  periods  of  the  year  is  one  of 
the  things  that  I  shall  most  miss  when  I  am  no  longer  in 


SHADOWS  219 


Rome  ;  and  only  those  who  have  experienced  the  effect  of 
the  annually  recurring  mandate,  "by  all  understood,  by  none 
pronounced,  to  be  serious  at  one  time,  and  gay  at  another, 
can  be  aware  how  far  this  apparently  arbitrary  custom  is 
from  being  frivolous  in  itself.  Among  the  places  that 
my  Mother  knows,  we  have  been  in  Villa  Pamfili,  Yilla 
Albani,  the  garden  of  the  Yatican,  and  Yilla  Borghese : 
nothing  out  of  Paradise  was  ever  more  exquisite  than 
the  Yilla  Albani,  in  the  sun  and  air  of  last  Sunday. 
Among  places  that  my  Mother  does  not  know,  we  have 
enjoyed  none  more  than  the  vineyards  on  the  side  of  the 
hill  behind  the  garden  of  the  Yatican,  and  another  situated 
within  the  ruins  of  the  once  magnificent  Yilla  Barberini, 
on  a  little  hill  between  St.  Peter's  and  the  Aventine,  from 
whence  one  of  the  finest  panoramas  might  be  made.  We 
have  also  been  on  Monte  Mario,  where  my  Mother  knows 
the  cypress-avenue.  What  I  regret  continually  when  I  go 
to  spots  in  Rome  which  my  Mother  has  visited,  is  that  she 
should  have  seen  so  few,  if  any  of  them,  in  the  degree  of 
beauty  in  which  I  have  known  them ;  the  splendour  of  the 
summer-light  and  colouring  is  needed  even  by  the  scenes 
of  Italy.  I  recollected  the  other  day  by  the  lake  in  the 
Yilla  Borghese  how  chilling  the  wind  was  when  I  was 
there  with  my  Mother,  and  wished  she  had  experienced  the 
charm  of  the  scene,  in  sunshine  and  stillness. 

"  We  have  usually  been  a  numerous  party,  for  as  Dr. 
Schmieder  is  on  the  point  of  departure,  we  have  made  a 
point  of  enabling  him  and  his  wife  to  see  as  much  as  pos- 
sible of  places  scarcely  accessible  to  them  without  a  car- 
riage ;  and  as  they  have  two  children,  whom  they  as  little 
like  to  leave  as  I  like  to  leave  mine,  you  will  easily 


220         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

imagine  that  it  was  both,  convenient  and  agreeable  that 
Charles  should  on  such  occasions  go  on  horseback,  there 
being  five  children  in  the  carriage,  one  merrier  than  the 
other.  My  little  Charles  is  always  the  best  behaved,  for 
however  lively  by  nature,  he  always  in  a  carriage  sits  quite 
still,  watching  the  monkey- tricks  of  the  others ;  in  a  gar- 
den he  helps  to  play,  but  is  very  good,  except  that  he 
expects  his  own  Mother  to  carry  him,  and  will  not  allow 
anybody  else  to  perform  that  office." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  CAPITOLINE  COLONY. 

"  Good,  the  more 
Communicated,  more  abundant  grows." 

MILTOV,  Par.  Lout. 

TN  the  preceding  letters,  allusion  has  often  been  made 
•  to  different  members  of  the  colony  of  German 
artists  in  Rome,  of  which  Cornelius  and  Overbeck  were 
long  the  guiding  spirits.  Dissatisfied  with  the  state  of 
art  in  Germany,  and  participating  strongly  in  the 
religious  reaction  which  took  place  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century  against  the  unbelief  and  revolution  of  the 
last,  they  had  come  to  settle  in  the  Eternal  City,  in  the 
hope  of  initiating  there  an  art-future  for  the  Germans. 
Being  essentially  outline-men,  in  opposition  to  the  mere 
colourists,  the  artists  at  this  time  went  hand  in  hand 
with  the  sculptors,  whose  leader  and  king  was  Thor- 
waldsen. 

During  Bunseii's  residence  in  Rome,  the  German 
painters  and  sculptors  included  Cornelius,  Overbeck, 
Koch,  Fiihrich,  Veit,  Schnorr,  Wilhelm  and  Rudolph 
Schadow,  "Wolff,  Schwanthaler,  and  Kaulbach. 


222          LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

Niebuhr  and  Bunsen  considered  that  amongst  the 
living  occupants  of  Rome  in  their  time,  the  German 
artists  alone  had  any  worth  ;  and  that  in  their  society, 
as  far  as  their  sphere  reached,  they  could  sometimes 
transport  themselves  into  a  better  world.*  The  Catho- 
licism of  Overbeck  and  the  two  Schadows  excluded 
many  subjects  of  conversation;  and,  besides  Schorr, 
Theodore  Rhebenitz,  a  young  student  from  Lubeck,  the 
Tyrolese  Koch — "an  eccentric,  petulant  man,  full  of 
just  thoughts  and  bitter  sarcasms" — and  Platner — 
"  made  a  painter  by  an  unlucky  accident, — whereas  na- 
ture intended  him  for  a  scholar  and  historian  " — were 
perhaps  most  intimate  in  the  circle  of  Niebuhr  and 
Bunsen.  "  That  the  modern  German  school  alone  had 
struck  out  the  right  path,  and  was  pursuing  the  proper 
aim,  could  not  but  be  recognised  by  Niebuhr,  who  had 
already  so  early  perceived  and  admired  in  the  great 
historical  artists,  from  Giotto  to  Raphael,  the  compeers 
of  the  ancient  Hellenic  schools  of  art, — brethren  in 
spirit  of  Dante  and  Goethe.  In  spite  of  the  individual 
defects  and  incompleteness  of  the  early  works  of  this 
modern  school,  Niebuhr  perceived  in  its  founders  and 
their  productions  the  vital  principle  which  animated 
them  in  their  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and 
had  confidence  in  that  creative  power  which  had  united 
itself  with  a  clear  insight  and  a  determined  will."  f 

*  See  Bunsen' s  Essay  on  Niebuhr  as  a  diplomatist  at  Rome,  in  the 
Lebensnachrich  ten. 
t  Sec  Niebuhr's  Letters.     1816. 


THE    CAP1TOLINE    COLONY.  223 

The  great  works  of  the  modern  German  school  are  now 
to  be  found  in  Munich  and  Berlin.  Two  important 
examples,  however,  remain  in  Rome.  The  house  of 
the  Zuccheri  (64  Via  Sistina)  has  a  room  decorated 
with  frescoes  by  Cornelius,  Overbeck,  Yeit,  and  Scha- 
dow,  the  order  having  been  given  by  the  Prussian 
consul  Bartholdi,  uncle  by  marriage  of  Mendelssohn. 
A  room  in  the  Casino  Massimo,  near  St.  John  Lateran, 
is  a  more  important  work  ;  Cornelius  and  Overbeck 
were  employed  upon  it,  but  the  former  was  obliged 
to  throw  up  his  engagement  for  the  sake  of  making 
designs  for  the  Glyptothek,  the  latter  by  ill-health. 
The  casino,  however,  contains  a  beautiful  ceiling 
painted  by  Yeit  with  visions  from  the  Paradiso,* 
and  an  entrance  hall  by  Schnorr:  the  whole  was 
finished  by  the  inferior  hands  of  Fiihrich  and  Koch. 

The  first  settlement  of  the  German  artists  in  Rome 
was  at  the  Convent  of  Sant'  Isidore,  where  they  lived 
for  their  art,  generally  without  any  system  of  worldly 
prudence  or  reflection.  "Cornelius  is  very  poor,57 
writes  Niebuhr  on  Christmas  Eve,  1816,  "  because  he 
works  for  his  conscience  and  his  own  satisfaction,  and 
purchasers  who  would  or  could  measure  their  remune- 
ration by  the  same  standard  are  not  to  be  found." 

But  after  the  Bunsens  settled  at  the  Palazzo  Caffa- 
relli,  the  attraction  of  their  society  and  kindness,  the 
beauty  of  the  situation,  and  its  comparative  economy, 

*  There  is  a  noble  fresco  by  Veit  in  Hie  side  chapel  of  the  Church 
of  the  Triuitu  do'  Monti. 


224         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

drew  into  their  immediate  neighbourhood  many  of  the 
artists  who  would  now  rather  be  sought  in  the  Via 
Margutta  and  the  streets  near  the  strangers'  quarter. 
The  little  German  colony  upon  the  Capitoline  Hill  then 
occupied  almost  an  insular  position  in  the  centre  of 
Home.  It  was  a  world  within  a  world,  A  bond  of 
mutual  kindness  and  sympathy  seemed  to  draw  the 
dwellers  on  the  Capitol  into  a  great  family,  which 
regarded  Bunsen  as  its  head. 

One  of  the  most  valued  residents  on  the  Capitol  for 
five  years  had  been  the  excellent  chaplain  Schmieder, 
who  left  Home  in  the  autumn  of  1823,  to  undertake  a 
master- ship  in  the  great  public- school  of  Pforta  near 
Naumburg  in  Prussian  Saxony.  His  departure  was 
greatly  felt  by  the  Bunsens  as  a  present  loss,  though 
his  future  post  seemed  to  promise  an  amelioration  of 
the  trial  of  parting  with  his  boys,  when  it  should  be 
necessary  to  send  them  to  a  distant  school  for  educa- 
tion. The  successor  of  Schmieder  in  the  chaplaincy  at 
Rome  was  Richard  Rothe,  who  was  afterwards  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology  at  the  University  of  Heidelberg, 
and  who  there  continued  a  friendship  with  the  Bunsen 
family,  which  had  its  strong  foundation  in  the  inti- 
macy of  Roman  life.* 

Amongst  the  friends  whose  lives  at  this  time  became 

enwoven  with  those  of  the  Bunsens,  were  the  Baron 

Heinrich  von  Arnim  and  his  charming  wife,  who  were 

twice  at  Rome  in  1823  on  their  passage  to  and  from 

*  Dr.  Richard  Rothe  died  at  Heidelberg,  August  13,  1867. 


THE    CAPITOLISE    COLONY.  225 

Naples,  where  he  was  attached  to  the  Prussian  Lega- 
tion, meetings  which  resulted  in  the  almost  parental 
kindness,  afterwards  shown  by  these  valued  friends  in 
the  north,  to  the  sons  of  Bunsen,  when  sent  away  from 
home  for  their  school-education.  In  1824,  another 
intimacy  was  founded  with  General  von  Radowitz,  a 
devout  Roman  Catholic,  who  in  that  year  accompanied 
Prince  Augustus  of  Prussia  to  Rome,  and  who  then 
became,  as  it  were,  domesticated  in  the  home- circle  of 
the  Bunsen  family.  "  On  later  occasions,  when  Bun- 
sen  was  summoned  by  his  royal  master  for  consultation 
from  England,  he  may  be  said  to  have  crossed  the 
track  of  Radowitz,  as  he  was  called  upon  in  more  than 
one  instance  to  consider  a  subject,  and  give  an  opinion, 
in  matters  previously  submitted  to  Radowitz  by  the 
King ;  but,  however  various  may  have  been  the  im- 
pulses given  by  the  two  favourites,  naturally  so  differ- 
ent, and  however  varying  the  lines  that  each  may  have 
drawn  over  the  chart  of  the  royal  lucubrations,  it 
would  not  appear  that  jealousy  or  mistrust  had  ever 
arisen  between  them ;  so  strong  was  the  conviction  in 
each  of  the  integrity  and  absence  of  all  party- views  or 
of  any  crooked  line  of  policy  in  the  other."* 

In  the  month  of  December,  1823,  the  thoughts  of 
Madame  Bunsen  were  more  than  usually  carried  back 
to  Llanover  by  the  marriage  of  her  younger  sister 
Augusta — in  infancy  and  early  childhood  an  object  of 
her  tenderest  affection — to  Mr.  Hall  of  Abercarnc  and 

*  "  Memoirs  of  Baron  Buneen,"  i.  233. 
VOL.    I.  Q 


226          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

Hensol  Castle,  afterwards  Sir  Benjamin  Hall  and 
Lord  Llanover.  The  attachment  which  preceded  this 
marriage  had  commenced,  as  boy  and  girl,  years  before 
Mr.  Hall  attained  his  majority.  After  his  marriage 
he  purchased  a  portion  of  the  old  Llanover  estate, 
which  his  father-in-law  had  never  been  previously  able 
to  obtain,  on  which  were  the  picturesque  remains  of  an 
ancient  mansion  called  "  the  Court."  On  this  newly- 
purchased  property,  Madame  Bunsen  heard  with  con- 
stant interest  during  the  next  few  years,  that  a  third 
Llanover  mansion  was  rising  within  sight  of  her  old 
home,  her  brother-in-law  having  decided  to  make  the 
place  to  which  his  wife  was  so  deeply  attached  his  per- 
manent residence,  and  Mr.  Waddington  having  made 
arrangements  by  which  his  eldest  daughter,  whose  fa  to 
seemed  indissolubly  connected  with  Germany,  would 
receive  the  value  of  the  moiety  of  his  landed  property 
after  his  death  and  that  of  her  mother. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  8  Jan.,  1824. — My  own  dearest  Mother,  I  have  begun 
the  new  year  with  a  degree  of  cheerfulness  of  spirit  which 
I  would  not  by  any  considerations  contrive  to  lessen,  where- 
fore I  have  allowed  myself  to  enjoy  unrestrained  a  feeling 
which  I  am  thankful  to  say  grows  upon  me  every  year,  of 
confidence,  not  in  the  prosperity  of  life,  but  in  the  power 
of  going  through,  with  God's  assistance,  whatever  life  may 
bring :  going  through,  not  as  a  beast  of  burden,  groaning 
under  the  weight  imposed,  but  as  a  joyful  bearer  of  the 
ark  of  the  sanctuary :  human  strength  alone  is  as  msiiffi- 


THE    CAFJTOL1NE    COLONY.  227 

cient  to  support  the  weight  of  a  feather  as  of  a  mountain, 
but  with  that  aid  which  is  ever  granted  to  them  that  ask, 
the  mountain  will  not  be  more  oppressive  than  the  feather. 

"I  have  some  new  acquaintance  this  winter,  my  own 
Mother,  who  are  people  I  know  you  would  like  :  General 
Dornberg,  his  wife  (who  is  a  niece  of  Count  Munster's), 
their  son,  and  two  daughters.*  The  general  has  in  several 
instances  in  the  war  shown  himself  quite  a  hero,  and  be- 
longed to  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  staff  at  the  battle  of 
Waterloo.  It  may  truly  be  said  that  in  person,  manners, 
and  conversation,  he  most  completely  answers  his  reputa- 
tion; so  fine  a  figure,  or  so  commanding  a  countenance, 
with  such  handsome  features  and  mild  expression,  I  am 
sure  I  never  saw :  his  manner  has  the  dignified  seriousness 
of  a  thorough  English  gentleman,  but  at  the  same  time  a 
degree  of  warmth  and  cordiality  which  is  in  England  more 
to  be  found  in  the  lower  classes  than  in  those  of  polished 
exterior ;  but  which  I  cannot  but  believe  must  also  have 
existed  among  English  gentlemen  and  gentlewomen  in 
better  times,  when  the  gregarious  mixture  of  all  conditions 
in  society  had  not  compelled  the  higher  classes  to  be 
habitually  armed  at  all  points  in  defence  of  their  dignity. 
Madame  de  Dornberg  has  the  remains  of  much  beauty,  or 
(to  quote  an  expression  of  M.  de  Lageard)  she  was  pro- 
bably "plutot  excessivement  jolie  que  belle;"  she  is  a 
thoroughly  pleasing  and  well-bred  woman,  and  the  whole 
family  have  shown  me  from  the  first  a  kindness  of  manner 
that  has  truly  gratified  me. 

'•'Of  General  Dornberg  I  must  tell  you  an  anecdote. 

*  General  Dornberg  was  at  Rome  for  the  health  of  his  onlyr^n. 
who  died  there  Julv  17,  1824. 


228         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

After  the  battle  of  Leipzig,  when  Davoust  was  retreating 
towards  Hamburg,  General  Morand  was  commanded  by 
him  to  collect  contributions  in  Hanover :  he  occupied  with 
a  force  of  four  thousand  troops  the  fortified  town  of  Liine- 
berg,  and  kept  as  prisoners  there  the  richest  citizens  of 
the  town  and  country- gentlemen  of  the  neighbourhood, 
from  whom  he  had  extorted  by  threats  all  they  had  to 
give,  but  whom  he  afterwards  sentenced  to  be  shot  on  a 
given  day,  provided  they  did  not  procure  him  in  addition 
a  sum  of  which  it  was  not  possible  they  could  furnish  a 
single  farthing.  General  Dornberg  received  intelligence 
of  the  sentence  only  four  and  twenty  hours  before  it  was 
to  have  been  put  into  execution :  he  was  forty-five  English 
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.  His  force  consisted  of  fifteen 
hundred  troops  of  the  Landwehr,  which  answers  to  militia ; 
nevertheless  he  formed  his  resolution,  and  proposed  to  his 
small  band  to  make  a  desperate  effort  to  niarcli  to  Liine- 
berg  to  liberate  the  prisoners.  His  troops  assented  with 
acclamations,  the  forced  march  was  commenced,  and  com- 
pleted just  as  the  night  fell  which  was  to  be  the  last  of 
the  prisoners'  lives.  There  was  no  time  for  a  moment's 
repose  after  so  violent  an  exertion,  General  Dornberg  in- 
stantly stormed  the  fortifications ;  the  French  supposing  by 
the  desperate  courage  with  which  they  were  assailed  that 
their  antagonists  must  have  been  supported  by  a  powerful 
army;  and  dispirited  by  the  fall  of  their  commander  Morand, 
gave  way  with  precipitation,  and  left  the  town :  when 
General  Dornberg  and  his  gallant  band  took  possession  of 
it,  and  found  the  graves  already  dug  in  which  seventy 


THE    CAPITOLINE    COLONY.  229 

individuals,  most  of  tlieni  fathers  of  families,  were  to  have 
been  interred  after  having  been  shot,  at  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning!  " 

"28  Jan.,  1824.— Of  the  many  things  of  which  I  have  to 
write,  the  principal  is  the  death  of  Consalvi,  who  was 
taken  off  by  fever  very  suddenly,  just  six  months  and  four 
days  after  his  venerable  master,  but  whose  life  for  the  last 
year  had  been  matter  of  wonder,  such  was  his  complication 
of  sufferings,  while  his  incessant  exertion  of  body,  and 
unavoidable  agitation  of  mind,  would  have  been  sufficient 
to  have  exhausted  a  man  in  health.  His  conduct  since  the 
sovereign  power  fell  from  his  hands  has  been  perfect; 
there  has  not  been  an  instance  of  meanness,  not  a  symptom 
of  querulousness  or  discontent,  he  has  been  throughout 
dignified,,  courageous,  and  consistent,  although  the  party 
that  throughout  his  reign  was  adverse  to  him  has  taken 
care  to  put  the  strength  of  his  mind  to  the  test ;  not  that 
the  Pope  has  suffered  himself  to  be  made  their  instrument 
to  that  effect,  on  the  contrary,  although  circumstances  had 
occurred  to  render  him  and  Consalvi  decidedly  adverse  to 
each  other  when  they  were  equals,  on  his  elevation  he 
gave  a  strong  proof  of  his  just  estimation  of  the  character 
and  principles  of  Consalvi,  by  bestowing  upon  him  the 
situation  of  Chief  of  the  College  of  Propaganda  Fede,  a 
post  of  honour  and  of  influence,  to  the  boundless  astonish- 
ment of  most  of  his  own  most  zealous  supporters.  After 
Consalvi  had  received  extreme  unction,  about  two  hours 
before  his  death,  he  gathered  sufficient  strength  to  desire 
tho.t  the  Pope  might  be  informed  that  he  lay  at  the  point 
of  death,  and  entreated  his  benediction;  the  Pope  was 
himself  ill  in  bed.  but  received  the  message  with  emotion. 


230          LIFE    AIS'U    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    liUNSEN. 

and  despatched  Cardinal  Castiglione  to  confer  the  requested 
benediction  in  his  name,  and  Consalvi  was  still  in  a  state 
of  consciousness  when  the  Cardinal  came.  I  went  with 
Charles  to  look  at  him  '  ere  the  first  day  of  death  was 
past ; '  and  his  aspect  was  indescribably  affecting ;  his 
features  were  always  too  fine  to  be  fit  for  the  company- 
expression  which  they  were  most  generally  made  to  assume, 
as  if  to  conceal  the  conflict  of  emotions  within ;  but  now 
that  all  pain  and  passion  had  ceased,  it  seemed  as  if  the 
soul  shed  more  of  its  influence  when  its  presence  was 
removed.  Yesterday,  Charles  and  I,  with  Dr.  Nott,  made 
our  way  into  the  crowded  Church  of  San  Marcello,  to 
attend  the  obsequies,  which  were  performed  impressively 
by  Cardinal  Bertazzoli,  the  personal  friend  of  Consalvi; 
and  I  was  more  than  ever  affected  by  the  Dies  Irso  of 
Pittoni." 

"19  Feb.,  1824. — Besides  several  balls,  I  have  been 
lately  at  a  very  pretty  fete,  given  on  Madame  d'Appony's 
birthday,  at  which  a  French  comedy  and  a  vaudeville 
were  acted  by  her  friends.  A  niece  of  Madame  Becamier  * 
played  the  part  of  a  soubrette  with  such  extreme  grace 
and  animation,  and  spoke  French  with  that  inimitable 
charm,  possessed  only  by  some  French  women,  so  that  the 
rest  of  the  performers  would  have  been  wise  not  to  have 
admitted  her  amongst  them,  to  set  off  their  defects,  for 
they  acted  and  spoke  French  very  u'ell,  when  she  was  not 
on  the  stage.  Between  the  two  pieces  were  represented 
tableaux,  and  I  had  thus  an  opportunity  of  seeing  for  the 
first  time  what  everybody  has  so  long  heard  of.  The 
charade  which  was  to  be  represented  was  DeUtc,  To 
*  Afterwards  Madame  Lcnormand. 


THE    CAPITOLINE    COLONY.  2'Jl 

signify  the  first  syllable,  De,  a  set  of  players  at  dice,  from 
a  picture  of  Paul  Veronese,  were  represented  in  very  pic- 
turesque dresses,  the  wife  and  children  of  the  principal 
player,  forming  a  side  group,  being  the  beautiful  Princess 
Eazumoffsky  and  the  two  little  Apponys.  The  second 
tableau  was  Lyre,  Sappho  playing  on  the  lyre,  surrounded 
by  Grecian  nymphs,  a  collection  of  magnificent  beauties. 
Sappho  was  Lady  Frances  Leveson  Gower — a  statue  of 
Parian  marble,  with  limbs  and  features  of  the  finest  work- 
manship :  the  nymphs  were  Mrs.  Dodwell ;  a  resplendent 
Miss  Bathurst;  Miss  Walker,  a  daughter  of  General 
Walker's,  with  a  fine,  intelligent,  true  English  face  of  the 
right  sort — the  Mrs.  Hutchinson  sort ;  a  perfectly  lovely 
Italian,  of  the  name  of  Bischi;  and  others.  Then,  to 
represent  Delire  all  together,  King  Saul  played  pantomime, 
with  Jonathan  and  Michal,  and  David  sang  to  him — what 
do  you  think — a  scene  of  Rossini's,  from  the  Lady  of  the 
Lake  !  The  Princess  Razumoffsky  looked  very  handsome 
as  Michal,  but  the  whole  of  this  pantomime  was  to  my 
perceptions  very  absurd.  At  this  fete  I  saw  Madame 
Eecamier,  who  has  long  been  in  Eome,  but  who  keeps 
very  much  to  herself ;  she  is  still  handsome,  large — but 
not  out  of  shape  ;  and  she  has  a  good  and  mild  expression 
of  countenance.  She  is  a  person  of  whom  everybody 
speaks  well,  although  she  has  for  years  had  no  riches 
wherewith  to  buy  '  golden  opinions.'" 

"  1  April,  1824.— The  week  before  last,  I  may  fairly 
say  all  Eome,  all  nations,  classes,  and  conditions,  were 
occupied  by  the  loss  of  Miss  Bathurst,  the  beautiful  girl 
whom  I  mentioned  in  one  of  my  letters  as  contributing  to 
form  a  tableau  at  Madame  d'Appony's.  She  was  riding 


232         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BITNSEN. 

out  with  an  uncle  and  aunt,  and  the  Due  de  Laval-Mont- 
morency.  The  latter  offered  to  guide  the  xparty,  and 
accordingly  conducted  them  along  a  road,  or  rather  narrow 
foot-path,  beyond  the  Ponte  Molle,  having  on  one  side  the 
Tiber,  and  on  the  other  a  high  steep  bank.  He  got  off 
his  horse,  and  advised  the  others  to  do  the  same,  but  Miss 
Bathurst  preferred  remaining  on  her  horse,  saying  she 
could  trust  to  his  quietness.  The  way  every  step  becoming 
narrower,  her  uncle  became  alarmed  for  her  safety,  and 
in  order  to  secure  her,  attempted  to  lead  her  horse ;  the 
horse  threw  up  his  head,  as  many  horses  do  when  seized 
by  the  bridle  from  beneath,  and  at  the  same  moment  his 
hind  feet  slipped  down  the  shelving  and  undermined 
bank. — He  struggled  in  vain  to  recover  himself,  the  bridle 
naturally  broke  with  his  weight,  Miss  Bathurst  fell  back- 
wards into  the  water,  and  the  horse  over  her ;  her  uncle 
sprang  into  the  water,  but  while  he  swam  about  in  vain, 
she  was  seen  by  the  bystanders  to  rise,  and  then  she 
disappeared  for  eyer : — and  though  the  most  active  search 
was  at  once  commenced  by  boatmen  high  and  low  in  the 
river,  the  corpse  has  not  been  found.  Her  mother  is  at 
Turin;  her  father  in  the  year  1809  was  travelling  with 
despatches  through  a  part  of  the  Prussian  dominions 
occupied  by  the  French,  when  he  suddenly  disappeared, 
and  no  particulars  ever  have  been  obtained  of  his  end, 
nor  has  a  trace  been  found  of  his  corpse,  the  probable 
conjecture  being  that  he  was  murdered  by  the  French  for 
the  sake  of  the  despatches: — singular  that  both  father 
and  daughter  should  thus  suddenly  be  summoned  from 
life,  and  their  remains  be  consigned  to  the  elements,  with- 
out the  rites  of  Christian  burial.  I  could  not  help  relating 


THE'  CAPITOLINE    COLONY.  233 

the  story,  because  the  fate  of  Miss  Bathurst  lias  dwelt  on 
my  mind,  she  having  been  a  thing  I  delighted  to  watch, 
as  much  as  I  could  without  ill-breeding,  whenever  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  her.  She  was  not  only  more 
complete  in  respect  to  beauty  than  anybody  I  ever  met 
before,  but  she  had  an  expression  of  animated  delight  in 
everything  she  saw,  a  freshness  and  fullness  of  youth  and 
health,  with  an  utter  absence  of  self -consciousness,  that 
made  a  most  engaging  contrast  to  the  majority  of  fashion- 
able beauties.  I  have  mentioned  her  before  as  deficient 
in  expression, — that  certainly  was  the  case,  but  in  her  it 
was  scarcely  to  be  called  a  want,  everything  about  her 
bespoke  the  freshness  of  existence,  untouched  as  yet  by 
oare,  sorrow,  or  passion.  The  most  dazzling  complexion 
and  colour  were  relieved  by  dark  hair,  and  animated  by 
dark  eyes ;  and  fine,  full-grown  proportions  of  figure  were 
rounded  off  by  just  the  right  degree  of  flesh,  and  harmo- 
nised by  natural  ease  and  unstudied  grace. 

'  *  The  Duchess  of  Devonshire*  died  three  days  ago,  and 
though  I  cared  little  about  her  when  living,  I  am  thankful 
to  know  that  she  expired  in  faith  and  peace.  She  sent  for 
Dr.  Nott  f  three  days  before  her  death,  and  assured  him 
that  she  was  '  perfectly  composed,'  that  she  had  offended 
greatly,  but  that  she  had  repented,  and  that  it  had  been 
her  habit  of  mind  for  years  to  seek  pardon  through.  Christ, 
through  whose  merits  and  intercession  she  could  alone 
hope  to  obtain  it.  She  has  had  cause  to  bless  the  memory 

*  Elizabeth,  widow  of  the  fifth  Duke  of  Devonshire  and  daughter  of 
the  fourth  Earl  of  Bristol.  Her  first  husband  was  John  Thomas 
Foster,  Esq. 

t  Dr.  Nott,  Canon  of  Winchester,  remarkable  for  his  devotion  to 
the  Fine  Arts,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Bunscn  family. 


234         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

of  her  mother  ;  *  had  not  notions  of  religion  been  instilled 
in  childhood,  after  the  life  she  has  led,  she  would  hardly 
have  been  able  to  imbibe  them." 

"  24  April. — I  thr^e  days  ago  saw  a  bas-relief  of  Thor- 
waldsen's,  only  just  designed,  about  which  all  the  world 
is  mad.     It  is  the  Sale  of  Love,  quite  original— but  that 
it  is  needless  to  particularise.     First  of  all,  beginning  on 
the  right  hand,  is  a  market-basket  full  of  Cupids,  packed 
one  over   another  like   chickens  in  the  Koman  market; 
and  next  the  extremity  of    the  marble,   stand  a  girl  of 
about  twelve  years   old,  and  a  boy  about  seven,  touch- 
ing  and    feeling   and  peeping,   with  vacant,   indifferent 
curiosity,    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  fellow  has  no  fancy 
to   stay  with  her,  and  is  stretching  his  arms  and  legs, 
and   fluttering  his  wings  to   go   to  a   sitting  girl,    who 
with  extended  hands  is  inviting  him    to    come.      Next 
stands  another  female  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,  looking 
vacantly  before  her,  and  swinging  her  purchase  by  his 
wings  at  her  side,  like  a  hen  bought  at  market.     Next 
is  a  man,  sitting  on  the  ground,  with  his    elbow   rest- 
ing on  his  knees,    and  his   head  bent   down,    in   listless 
endurance,  while  just  on  the  nape  of  his  neck  sits  a  saucy 
fellow,  looking  triumphantly  round,  as  if  to  bid  defiance 
to  all  efforts  that  may  be  made  to  shake  him  off.    Finally, 
over  the  head  of  the  last,  a  Cupid  is  flying  away,  after 
*  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Jermyn  Davcrs,  Bt. 


THE    CAPITOLINE    COLONY.  235 

whom  a  decrepid  old  man  is  hobbling  on  a  stick,  with  Ids 
hand  stretched  out  after  the  fugitive.  Another  recent 
work  of  Thorwaldsen  is  the  bust  of  Consalvi,  which  is 
inconceivably  fine  ;  there  is  no  perfection  in  the  bust, 
either  as  to  form  or  expression,  which  was  not  in  the 
living  countenance,  and  yet  the  countenance  in  life  seldom 
appeared  so  full  of  everything  that  is  good,  great,  intel- 
ligent and  energetic :  but  the  marble  cannot  give  the 
brilliant  and  penetrating  eye,  which  in  Consalvi  was  such 
a  distinguishing  feature." 

"  12  May,  1824.— We  have  spent  four  delightful  days 
at  Tivoli,  which  place  was  more  magnificent  in  verdure 
and  vegetation  than  I  had  ever  seen  it.  We  left  Borne 
early  in  the  morning  and  arriving  at  twelve,  went  im- 
mediately to  the  Grotto  of  Neptune,  and  after  dinner  to 
the  yilla  d'Este,  where  the  magnificent  cypresses  have 
diminished  in  number  since  my  last  visit.  The  next  morn- 
ing we  set  off  after  breakfast  to  accomplish  the  Giro.  My 
Mother  will  remember  the  beautiful  walk  that  is  thus 
designated,  going  out  of 'Tivoli  by  the  gate  nearest  the 
Sibylla,  and  returning  by  the  other  gate,  and  the  Yilla  of 
Maecenas.  I  went  the  greatest  part  of  the  way  upon  an 
ass,  from  which  I  dismounted  to  scramble  down  a  path 
only  made  for  goats,  lately  discovered  by  Charles  in  his 
expedition  with  the  Prince  of  Orange,  leading  to  a  spot  on 
the  bank  of  the  river  just  opposite  the  Cascatelle.  Henry 
and  Ernest  each  had  an  ass,  and  were  very  happy.  My 
little  darling  Charles  I  left  with  Angelina,  to  take  a  less 
laborious  walk  nearer  the  inn.  After  dinner  we  went  to 
the  Yilla  of  Hadrian,  in  which  there  were  not  any  girls 
gathering  mulberry-leaves,  but  which  in  everything  else 


236          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUN  SEN. 

appeared  as  it  did  seven  years  ago  in  June.  The  next 
day,  before  six  o'clock,  we  were  on  onr  way  to  Vicovaro, 
ten  miles  from  Tivoli  on  the  road  to  Subiaco.  The  drive 
is  beautiful,  leading  along  the  banks  of  the  Anio  in  a 
narrow  and  constantly  ascending  valley,  the  mountains 
having  the  character  of  those  about  the  lakes  in  "West- 
moreland. At  Vicovaro  -we  saw  the  remains  of  the 
ancient  walls,  built  of  enormous  fragments  of  stone  with- 
out cement ;  and  a  beautiful  old  chapel,*  a  most  perfect 
specimen  of  Italian- Gothic,  a  style  of  architecture  dif- 
fering, but  not  radically,  in  conception  and  execution  from 
the  Gothic  of  England,  France,  and  Germany,  «at  the 
same  period.  The  chapel  was  erected  at  the  expense  of 
one  of  the  Orsini  family,  and  that  name,  being  inscribed 
within  and  without,  has  been  retained  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  inhabitants,  every  other  circumstance  relative  t$>  the 
foundation  being  related  in  the  most  absurdly  fabulous 
manner.  One  account  is,  that  it  was  a  heathen  temple, 
which  once  stood  in  another  place,  and  was  transported 
piecemeal  and  put  up  there.  The  clergyman  of  the  parish 
did  not  insist  upon  the  accuracy  of  the  latter  supposition, 
but  was  nevertheless  convinced  that  the  long,  slender, 
Gothic  cluster-columns  were  remains  of  an  ancient  Roman 
edifice,  and  observing  us  admiring  the  statues  of  saints 
and  prophets  in  the  niches  of  the  portal,  said,  '  E  queste 
figure  erano  fabbricate  dagli  schiavi  della  famiglia  Orsini ' 
— imagining  that  the  Orsini  had  been  ancient  Boman 
patricians  in  heathen  times.  We  drove  a  mile  and  a  half 
beyond  Yicovaro  to  the  monastery  of  S.  Cosimato,  situated 

*  Built  by  Simonc,  a  pupil  of  Brunelleschi,  who,  says  Yasari,  died 
when  he  was  employed  upc-n  it. 


THE   CAPITOLINE   COLONY.  237 

on  a  rock,  rising  to  a  great  height  perpendicularly  from  the 
Anio,  which  rock  is  perforated  into  cells,  made  by  the 
original  monks  of  St.  Benedict  in  the  sixth  century.  The 
prior  of  the  monastery  received  us  very  goodnaturedly, 
he  could  not  of  course  let  me  in,  but  showed  us  everywhere 
about,  and  took  us  a  most  broiling,  but  beautiful  walk; 
and  afterwards  in  a  room  next  the  sacristy  (which  was  not 
forbidden  to  women,  the  entrance  being  from  the  church) 
gave  us  a  most  excellent  luncheon,  of  ham,  salad,  omelet, 
eggs,  and  cheese.  In  the  game  manner  these  monks 
receive  all  strangers  that  come,  and  single  men  they  allow 
to  lodge  in  the  convent  as  long  as  they  please,  expecting 
of  course  a  trifling  present,  under  the  name  of  alms  for  the 
use  of  the  church :  but  travellers  have  reason  to  be  very 
glad  to  be  so  received,  there  being  nothing  like  an  inn  for 
many  miles  round. 

"  The  fourth  day  we  again  visited  the  Grotto  of  Nep- 
tune, and  sat  a  long  time  in  the  Villa  d'Este,  and  after 
dinner  returned  to  Borne,  driving  half  a  mile  out  of  the 
way  to  see  .the  lake  from  whence  the  sulphur-stream  flows, 
in  which  every  year  large  incrustations  form,  which 
gradually  collect  together,  swim  a  given  time  about  in 
considerable  masses,  then  attach  themselves  to  the  bank  in 
a  sufficient  state  of  solidity  to  bear  the  weight  of  a  man, 
although  still  in  a  floating  state,  and  at  last  diminish  the 
circumference  of  the  lake,  which  in  the  memory  of  man 
was  twice  as  large  as  it  is  now.  It  is  on  record  that  the 
ancients  found  the  water  to  possess  healing  virtues,  and 
the  Emperor  Hadrian  built  baths  close  to  the  lake,  which 
have  long;  been  nearly  levelled  to  the  ground." 

'•21  July,   1824. — Two  days  ago  the  post  brought  the 


LIFE.  AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

long- wished  for,  but  I.-Jhad  almost  said  no  longer  ex- 
pected, official  intelligence  from  Count  Bernstorff,*  that 
Mr.  Niebuhr  not  returning  to  his  post,  and  the  King  not 
intending  to  make  another  appointment,  Charles  was  de- 
sired and  authorised  to  continue  as  hitherto  in  the  manage- 
ment of  business,  with  an  increase  of  salary  which  will 
make  up  our  income  in  all  to  a  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling a  year.  For  this  we  are  both  indescribably  thankful, 
and  I  am  sure  my  Mother  will  join  in  our  satisfaction, 
when  she  knows  that  as  we  start  clear  upon  the  new  salary, 
we  shall  be  very  well  off,  not  having  to  incur  any  extra 

expense  in  our  manner  of  living Mr.  Niebuhr  will 

probably  remain  settled  for  the  present  in  Bonn,  or  some 
other  place  on  the  Rhine.  It  is  to  be  regretted  for  the 
sake  of  public  business  that  he  should  not  continue  con- 
cerned in  it,  as  he  has  an  astonishing  talent  for  dispatch- 
ing affairs,  as  well  as  judgment  in  directing  them ;  other- 
wise we  could  only  rejoice  in  his  being  left  undisturbed  to 
continue  his  Roman  history,  in  which  he  has  made  great 
progress  in  this  winter  of  leisure. 

"About  our  being  thus  fixed  here,  probably  for  two  or 
three  years  longer,  my  own  Mother,  I  have  said  nothing, 
not  because  I  have  felt  nothing ;  during  the  summer  and 
spring  I  was  anxious  to  hear  that  another  appointment 
was  made  in  Mr.  Niebuhr 's  room,  so  that  we  could  be  left 
at  liberty  to  quit  Rome  at  a  time  when  our  journey  could 
have  been  commenced  and  accomplished;  but  now,  cir- 
cumstances over  which  we  had  no  control,  have  altogether 
changed  the  case,  I  am  no  longer  physically  able  to  under- 
take the  labour  of  breaking  up  housekeeping,  and  under- 
*  Prussian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 


THE    CAP1TOLIN BKOLOXY. 


taking  even  the  half  of  the  jo 
out  of  the  case  the  present 
removing  the  children  would  be  too  great 
possibly  to  be  avoided ;  and  should  I  here  await  the  birth 
of  another  child,  if  it  please  God  to  grant  me  its  life,  I 
am  equally  bound  to  this  spot  till  it  could  with  safety  be 
weaned,  probably  not  till  this  spring  twelvemonth  :  when 
that  time  is  arrived  we  shall  see  what  it  brings  with  it. 
The  period  I  have  mentioned,  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  resolutions  he  is  likely  to  form My  own  satis- 
faction rests  upon  the  fact  that  our  remaining  here  is  not 
our  own  act  and  deed,  it  has  been  determined  by  circum- 
stances independent  of  us,  and  therefore  we  may  gather 
that  it  is  the  will  of  God  thus  to  dispose  of  us ;  could  I 
think  we  had  brought  about  the  decision,  I  should  be  full 
of  fear  and  dread  as  to  the  result,  and  should  feel  the 
bitterness  unallayed  of  hope  deferred:  as  it  is  I  will 
believe,  that  what  has  been  so  long  delayed,  will  riot  finally 
be  denied." 

"13  August,  1824. — I  enjoy  indescribably  the  summer- 
stillness,  the  freedom  from  interruption,  and  the  glorious 
weather.  I  continue  to  drive  out  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning  to  the  Yilla  Borghese,  where  I  find  a  place  to  sit 
down,  under  the  pines,  while  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  enjoy  it 
upon  our  own  loggia.  My  darling  Ernest  completed  his 


240 


LIFE    AS  I)    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


fifth  year  in  most  perfect  health  and  had  a  very  merry 
birthday.  We  went  down  to  breakfast  in  the  garden  at 
half -past  *six,  and  there  it  was  very  delightful  till  eight, 
when  we  brought  the  children  in,  and  produced  some  play- 
things for  the  amusement  of  all,  which  Ernest  was  to 

divide  as  he  pleased After  I  had  helped  them  to  put 

in  order  a  fortress  in  iron-work,  and  a  Turkish  caravan  (all 
Tyrolese  toys),  I  left  them  to  arrange  or  disarrange  at 
their  pleasure,  and  went  to  lie  down  in  Charles's  sitting- 
room,  to  enjoy  rest,  and  quiet,  and  an  Italian  translation 
of  Thucydides." 

In  September,  1824,  Mrs.  Wadding-ton  was  first  in- 
formed by  her  daughter  of  an  approaching  change  in 
their  family  arrangements.  In  his  unmarried  life,  the 
ideal  of  Bunsen's  future  had  been  to  make  a  home  for 
his  unmarried  half-sister  Christiana,  and  one  of  the 
charms  of  his  Indian  project  had  been  that  she  would 
have  accompanied  him  to  the  East,  and  that  her  health 
would  have  benefited  by  a  tropical  climate.  His  real 
intercourse  with  Christiana  had  however  been  confined 
to  a  few  weeks  in  1814,  when  he  saw  in  her  the  long- 
suffering  victim  of  oppression,  and  when  his  chivalrous 
spirit  was  roused  by  the  desire  of  putting  an  end  to  her 
sorrows.  Since  then  she  had  been  maintained  by  his 
remittances,  and  cheered  by  constant  letters,  in  which 
his  whole  life,  with  its  occupations,  cares,  projects, 
and  aspirations,  was  ceaselessly  poured  out  before  her, 
as  before  a  superior  being  capable  of  guiding  and 
advising.  Now  that  his  residence  seemed  likely  to  bo 


THE    CAP1TOLINE    COLONY.  241 

fixed  with  certainty  in  Borne  for  some  time  to  come, 
his  earnest  desire  was  that  his  sister  should  leave  her 
home  in  Holland,  and  come  to  Rome,  where  he  thought 
that  she  would  be  the  maternal-friend  of  his  wife,  the 
presiding  genius  of  his  home-circle.  He  believed  also 
that  his  boys  would  not  only  find  in  her,  who  had  been 
the  object  of  chief  reverence  during  his  own  boyhood, 
the  wisest  monitress  of  their  youth,  but  that  her  presence 
would  have  the  desirable  effect  of  naturally  leading 
them  to  talk  German,  as  she  could  speak  no  other 
language,  except  Dutch. 

The  mistake  made  in  the  invitation  to  Christiana, 
was  bitterly  repented  of.  Her  presence,  joyfully  hailed 
at  first,  soon  proved  a  burden  almost  unendurable. 
Nothing  pleased  her.  She  had  come  to  Italy  expecting 
to  find  everything  perfect,  and  she  found  everything 
imperfect.  She  immediately  wished  to  return,  but  she 
had  given  up  her  own  house,  and  the  expense  of  the 
journey  back,  in  those  days  of  vetturino  travelling, 
was  not  easy  to  meet.  Thus,  for  seven  years  and  a 
half,  she  continued  an  element  of  the  household,  "  a 
ceaseleso  trial,  putting  feelings  and  principles  to  the 
severest  test,  and  acting  as  a  '  refiner's  fire '  upon  all 
sterling  realities."*  And,  though  the  chief  struggle 
of  endurance  under  the  strange  vagaries  and  even 
violence  of  an  imperious  temper,  rendered  more  way- 
ward and  irritable  by  constant  ill-health,  fell  upon  her 
sister-in-law,  daily  contact  with  his  sister  dispelled 

*  «  Memoirs  of  Baron  B  arisen,'1 
VOL.   I.  E 


242         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

from,  Bunscn  the  darling  illusion  of  his  life,  which 
had  represented  her  as  the  model  of  female  excel- 
lence. 

With  the  arrival  of  Christiana  was  anticipated 
that  of  M.  Simon,  as  a  tutor  for  the  boys,  whose 
connection  with  the  family  for  seven  years — during 
which  he  was  "  an  instrument  of  moral  flagellation  to 
parents  and  children  " — proved  almost  equally  unfor- 
tunate. 

The  next  winter,  however,  was  a  happy  one.  Fami- 
liarity had  not  then  rendered  the  Bunsens  conscious  of 
the  thorns  which  were  in  store  for  them,  and  the 
presence  of  Mr.  and  Lady  Emily  Pusey  *  at  the  beauti- 
ful Villa  Mills  on  the  Palatine,  gave  a  charm  to  the 
English  society  which  it  had  never  possessed  before. 
In  the  spring,  also,. the  Bunsens  formed  their  first 
acquaintance  with  Neukomm,  the  composer,  who  con- 
tinued till  his  death  one  of  the  most  valuable  and 
valued  of  their  friends.  A  great  personal  sorrow  to 
Madame  Bunsen  was  the  death  of  her  mother's  un- 
married sister,  her  beloved  aunt  Harriet  Port,  of  whom 
she  frequently  spoke  as  one  "  in  whom  the  energy  of  a 
loving  nature,  the  enthusiasm  of  self-sacrifice,  and  the 
ardour  of  devotedness,  existed  in  ceaseless  outpouring 
of  its  heart' s-blood  upon  fellow- creatures,  without  the 
due  response  in  kind,  without  receiving  from  others 
that  which  it  gave  so  freely  of  its  own."  The  death  of 

*  Paughter  of  t)>e  seeped  Earl  pf  Car^Ef  VQ», 


TIII-:  CAPITOLINE  COLONY.  243 

another  clear  aunt,  Mrs/Granville  of  Calwicli,  in  the 
following  year,  loosened  for  Madame  Bunsen  all  im- 
mediate ties  to  England  which  were  not  connected  with 
Llanover. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  Miss  PORT  (the  last  of  a  series  of  letters 
to  this  beloved  aunt,  written  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  letter  to  you,  as  I 
came  out  of  church,  to  give  some  idea  of  a  sermon  I  had 
just  heard.  It  is  the  general  practice  of  our  clergyman, 
Mr.  Eothe,  to  preach  on  the  gospel  of  the  day,  and  the 
gospel  of  that  day  contained  the  account  of  the  ten  lepers 
who  were  cleansed,  of  whom  only  one  returned  to  give 
thanks.  Mr.  Eothe  observed,  that  it  being  the  universal 
custom  of  our  Saviour  to  require  of  individuals  for  whose 
benefit  He  intended  to  exert  His  healing  powers,  a  certain 
degree  of  faith  in  those  powers  (for  reasons  not  expressly 
stated,  but  easily  to  be  gathered  by  attentive  consideration 
of  His  modes  of  dealing  with  mankind)  it  is  certain  that 
even  the  nine  ungrateful  lepers  were  not  destitute  of  faith. 
This  may  also  be  proved  by  collateral  circumstances,  first, 
their  having  supplicated  for  relief ;  secondly,  their  having 
instantly  obeyed  when  bidden  to  ' go  and  shew  themselves  to 
the  priests ,'  instead  of  waiting  to  see  whether  their  journey 
would  be  of  any  use,  or  whether  the  command  was  a  mere 
mockery — for  it  is  said,  not  that  their  cure  was  performed 
the  moment  the  words  issued  from  our  Saviour's  lips,  but 
that  'as  they  went,  they  were  healed.'  Therefore  the 
question  is,  how  should  they  have  been  capable  of  faith  in 


244         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

any  degree,  and  yet  so  stupefied,  so  hardened,  as  to  be 
incapable  of  thankfulness  for  the  mercy  received  ?  And  it 
may  be  supposed,  in  explanation,  that  they  argued  as 
follows  :  l  We  have  suffered  severely,  have  suffered  long, 
have  suffered  patiently,  although  we  have  never  done  any- 
thing in  our  lives  to  merit  punishment  so  severe ;  we  have 
not  been  worse,  perhaps  better,  than  our  neighbours, 
whom  we  see  in  the  enjoyment  of  health  and  of  society, 
but  God  saw  fit  to  afflict  us,  we  know  not  why ;  it  is  easy 
to  understand  why  He  now  withdraws  the  affliction ; 
we  may  be  glad  to  be  relieved,  but  in  receiving  relief, 
we  have  received  no  more  than  our  due.'  But  the 
Samaritan  joined  to  his  faith  in  Divine  power  and  Divine 
mercy  an  utter  self-renunciation ;  his  mind  had  been  so 
penetrated  with  the  consciousness  of  sin,  that  he  had  not 
an  idea  of  possessing  a  right,  or  making  a  claim,  to  the 
mercy  for  which  he  entreated ;  and  therefore  on  receiving 
it,  instead  of  being  bent  like  the  others  on  hastening  to 
obtain  from  the  priests  the  temporal  advantage  resulting 
from  his  cure — of  re-admission  into  society — he  was  irre- 
sistibly urged  to  return  and  proclaim  aloud  the  glory  of 
God  and  his  own  thankfulness.  Of  the  eloquence  with 
which  this  was  stated,  the  consequence  drawn,  and  the 
application  made  to  the  soul  of  every  Christian,  it  is  not  in 
my  power  to  give  any  idea ;  and  having  in  my  own  mind 
the  impression  made  by  the  whole  together,  I  cannot  in 
the  least  judge  whether,  in  the  bald  account  I  have  given 
of  the  substance,  it  will  appear  to  you  as  original  and  as 
edifying  as  it  did  to  me. 

11  This  view  of  the  subject  has  led  me  to  reflect  on  the  ap- 
parent inequality  of  God's  dispensations  to  His  creatures  on 


THE    CAPITOL1NE    COLONY.  245 

earth,  a  matter  even  more  difficult  to  those  who  do  not  suffer 
by  the  inequality  than  to  those  who  do,  that  is  to  say,  when 
the  latter  have  the  spirit  of  the  Samaritan  leper ;  but  which 
need  not  stagger  or  disturb,  any  more  than  any  other  diffi- 
culty of  the  sort,  when  we  consider  that  it  is  probably 
intended,  amongst  other  good  ends,  to  serve  the  purpose  of 
reminding  us  of  that  spiritual  world,  in  which  the  hardly 
tried  (that  is,  the  highly  favoured)  in  this  life,  are  to  meet 
with  full  and  overflowing  compensation ;  from  which,  even 
here,  they  receive  their  hidden  supplies  of  strength ;  and  of 
which,  even  here,  they  have  probably  a  clearer  sight  and 
perception  than  can  enter  into  the  conceptions  of  those 
who,  even  without  forgetfulness  of  God,  are  in  full  enjoy- 
ment of  the  best  share  of  earthly  comfort."  . 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  23  Oct.,  1824. — I  need  not  tell  you  how  incessantly  my 
thoughts  beat  round  and  round  like  a  bird  against  the 
wires  of  a  cage  till  I  heard  from  you  But  do  not  suppose 
that  I  have  been  depressed,  or  have  spent  the  days  in  tears 
since  the  arrival  of  your  letter.  I  shed  a  few  tears,  and  very 
few,  when  I  went  to  tell  Charles  in  his  room  that  my  Aunt 
Harriet  was  dead — and  I  shed  a  tear,  but  not  more,  on 
telling  of  my  poor  Augusta's  delight  at  the  birth  of  her 

child My  box  has  arrived  in  perfect  safety,  and 

well  might  I  complain  of  my  Mother's  too  great  magniij- 

cence  in  loading  me  with  such  a  provision  of  things 

I  shall  not  allow  myself  to  say  anything  of  the  feelings 
with  which  I  looked  upon  my  dearest  Aunt  Harriet's  gifts, 
although  I  did  not  know  when  I  received  them  that  her 
warfare  was  accomplished !  Perhaps  she  now  knows  my 


246         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    13UNSEN. 

feelings  towards  her,  better  than  she  would  have  done  had 
she  remained  on  her  bed  of  martyrdom  long  enough  to 
receive  my  written  expressions." 

On  the  7th  of  November,  1824,  Madame  Bunsen 
gave  birth  to  her  fifth  son — George  Frederick. 

MADAME  BUNSEX  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  24  Nov.,  1824. — I  may  now  allow  myself  to  write  to 
niy  Mother  of  my  little  angel.  I  am  sure  that  in  loving 
children,  as  in  other  things,  one  improves  by  practice.  I 
loved  the  others  from  the  moment  of  their  birth  as  well  as 
I  was  capable  of,  but  I  never  had  as  much  delight  in  any- 
one as  this.  ....  We  intend  to  christen  our  new  treasure 
George,  after  one  of  my  own  dearest  Mother's  names." 

"  30  Dec. — I  long  to  describe  the  appearance  of  my 
little  angel,  but  of  that  I  can  give  no  idea :  so  lovely  an 
infant  I  never  saw,  except  my  Mary,  and  though  his 
features  are  not  like  hers,  his  sweet  smiles,  his  early  intel- 
ligence, his  perfection  of  temper,  his  rapid  growth,  and 
undisturbed  enjoyment  of  existence,  remind  me  of  her 
continually,  and  that  being  the  case,  it  is  no  wonder  that  I 
rejoice  over  him  with  trembling." 

"  1  Jan.,  1825. — 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  blessings 
to  us  both  that  it  is  impossible  not  to  look  forward  to 
another  with  more  than  usual  mistrust — mistrust  in  the 
changeable  course  of  human  things,  not  in  the  mercy  that 
has  ever  hitherto  in  joy  or  sorrow  accompanied  us.  Those 
who  possess  so  much,  have  much  to  lose ! — and  the  side 


THE    CAP1TOLINE    COLONY.  247 

may  be  pierced  by  the  very  staff  that  supports.  But, 
blessed  be  God  for  liis  inestimable  gifts,  even  though  it 
should  be,  in  the  secret  dispensations  of  His  providence, 
that  they  should  to-morrow  be  withdrawn  !  " 

"27  Jan. — I  have  been  seeing  much  lately  of  Lady 
Frances  Sandon.*  I  think  her  quite  chafming.  She  is  in 
the  first  place  very  pretty,  and  would  be  beautiful,  if  it 
were  not  for  her  mouth :  otherwise  her  features,  the  shape 
of  her  head,  and  her  throat,  are  perfect,  and  she  has  a  good 
figure  and  fine  complexion.  But  if  she  had  been  less 
pretty  and  pleasing,  she  would  have  bribed  me  to  like  her 
by  her  evident  delight  in  my  children,  whom  from  the  first 
she  desired  to  see,  and  from  whom  she  could  hardly  take 
off  her  eyes." 

"  15  Feb.,  1825. — Our  two  new  inmates  arrived  on  the 
1st  of  February.  It  would  be  too  sudden  to  attempt  to 
give  you  a  full  description  of  my  sister-in-law  after  a 
fortnight's  acquaintance ;  suffice  it  to  say,  that  I  have 
nothing  to  tell  now  that  is  not  in  the  highest  degree  satis- 
factory, she  seems  to  answer  in  every  respect  the  idea  I  had 
formed  of  her,  from  her  letters,  and  Charles's  description  : 
everything  that  I  have  seen  denotes  the  clear  head,  sound 
understanding,  and  high  principles,  which  he  always  attri- 
buted to  her.  She  has  many  of  Charles's  peculiarities,  with- 
out being  in  person  like  him.  Her  exterior  and  manners 
are  perfectly  gentle  womanlike.  She  has  a  very  good  figure, 
and  a  mild  and  intelligent  countenance ;  her  features, 

*  Lady  Frances  Sandon,  afterwards  Countess  of  Harrowby  (fourth 
daughter  of  John,  first  Marquess  of  Bute)  continued  an  intimate  and 
valued  friend  of  the  Bimsen  family  till'tho  end  of  her  saintly  life  in 
March,  1859. 


248          LITE    A*D    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 


which  must  always  have  teen  too  strongly  marked,  appear 
much  too  large  for  her  face,  owing  to  its  thinness,  the 
result  of  long  and  severe  suffering,  but  the  expression  is 
not  harsh,  although  the  lines  have  all  a  tendency  to  be  so. 
She  has  a  sensible  manner  towards  children,  but  Henry 
is  the  only  one  fc)  whom  she  can  make  herself  thoroughly 
intelligible,  though  the  other  two  are  already  fond  of  her, 
and  get  on  in  speaking  German.  She  has  been  tried  in 
life  more  hardly  than  anybody  whose  well-attested  history 
I  ever  yet  heard.  I  trust  and  believe  that  it  will  be 
possible  for  us  to  make  her  happy  and  comfortable  here, 
although  with  a  terribly  suffering  body,  a  house  in  Rome, 
even  arranged  as  well  as  it  can  be,  is  a  bad  thing  at  last ; 
and  a  person  used  to  Dutch  neatness  must  I  fear  be  in 
hourly  penance  when  waited  upon  by  Italians." 

"17  August,  1825.— The  death  of  my  Aunt  Granville 
and  the  desolation  of  Calwich,  dwell  upon  my  mind  with 
a  degree  of  pain  for  which  I  can  scarcely  account,  con- 
sidering how  long  I  had  been  accustomed,  and  I  had 
supposed  reconciled,  to  the* idea  that  I  should  never  see 
her  again  in  this  world ;  and  considering  how  much  the 
pleasure  which  the  face  of  nature,  and  her  kindness, 
occasioned  me  in  Calwich,  was  counterbalanced  by  other 
circumstances  : — but  on  opening  Go  the' s  '  Torquato  Tasso ' 
the  other  day,  a  well-known  passage  met  my  eye,  which 
suggested  an  explanation  to  my  feelings.  I  must  surely 
have  translated  at  the  time  of  reading  it  that  passage  to 
my  Mother — '  The  spot  trodden  by  the  virtuous  is  sacred ; 
and  their  words  and  deeds  re-echo  there  to  the  ears  of 
posterity.'  Now  I  believe  it  is  the  very  reverse  of  this 
being  the  case,  which  makes  those  feelings  bitter,  that 


THE    CAPITOLINE    COLONY.  249 

ought  only  to  be  sad  and  solemn,  not  even  mournful — for, 
to  her,  death  was  rest  and  reward,  the  prize  obtained  after 
the  fight  well  fought,  the  race  well  run,  the  burden  nobly 
sustained ! — But  that  those  who  inhabit  the  place  of  her 
abode,  who  possess  what  once  was  hers,  what  her  care 
embellished,  in  which  her  eye  delighted,  that  they  all 
should  forget  her  '  as  a  guest  that  tarrieth  but  a  day,'*  is 
the  intolerable  sensation :  foolish  to  be  sure,  for  to  the 
blessed  immortal  spirit  not  even  the  folly  and  wickedness 
of  men,  any  more  than  their  pains  and  sorrows,  can  be  a 
disturbance :  her  will,  so  resigned  even  in  life,  is  now 
wholly  merged  in  the  will  of  God,  and  she  knows  what 
we  can  only  believe,  that  all  evil  shall  work  together  for* 
good  at  the  last;  she  beholds  in  the  spirit,  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  last  enemy : — '  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be 

destroyed  is  death.' 0  my  Mother,  I  cannot  suppose 

that  the  death  mentioned  in  that  awful  passage  can  mean 
anything  so  comparatively  insignificant  as  the  mere  sepa- 
ration of  soul  and  body :— I  must  look  upon  those  words 
as  a  ray  of  light  disclosing  depths  of  mercy  even  for  the 
most  perverted :  devoutly  as  I  believe  at  the  same  time 
that  the  tremendous  threatenings  of  God  in  the  Scriptures 
are  to  be  taken  as  literally  as  His  glorious  promises,  and 
that  a  soul  without  relish  for  God  and  goodness,  incapable 
of  faith  and  humility,  and  thus  self -banished  in  the  time 
of  mortal  life  from  the  presence  of  God,  will  be  equally 
self-banished  in  another  state  of  existence,  and  that  in 
that  banishment  consists  the  condition  of  torment,  de- 
scribed under  so  many  poetical  images,  and  generally 

*  Calwich.  was  afterwards  sold,  and  Locarno  the  property  of  tho 
Hon  A.  Buncombe,  Dean  of  York. 


250          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

received  as  a  place  of  imprisonment  and  arbitrary  punish- 
ment. Every  individual  figures  to  himself  his  proper 
heaven ;  and  those  who  have  in  their  time  of  trial  formed 
no  taste  for  the  Heaven  of  God,  such  as  it  exists,  would 
remain  dark  and  frozen  even  in  the  midst  of  its  glories,  if 
they  could  be  transported  there :  on  the  other  hand  (to 
borrow  the  daring  image  used  in  a  most  extraordinary- 
book,  published  by  Luther,  but  written  a  century  earlier), 
could  Satan  himself  be  capable  of  a  longing,  an  aspira- 
tion after  the  joys  of  Heaven,  he  would  at  once  be  there ! 
his  pardon  would  be  sealed,  because  his  nature  would  be 
changed !  " 

"18  August. — Last  night,  an  unusual  hour  of  quiet  after 
putting  the  children  to  bed  enabled  me  to  dilate  on  a  sub- 
ject on  which  I  little  thought  to  touch  when  I  began  to 
write;  and  now  at  last  it  is  most  unconnectedly  and 
inadequately  stated.  Without  attempting  to  explain  it 
better,  I  will  only  tell  my  Mother  the  course  of  my  reflec- 
tions upon  it.  I  never  doubted  that  the  literal  meaning  of 
the  Divine  threatenings  was  to  be  received  undoubtingly, 
as  matter  of  faith,  however  difficult  for  human  powers  to 
reconcile  with  the  equally  certain  matter  of  faith  that  the 
mercy  of  God  is  infinite ;  and  I  well  remember  in  our  first 
summer  at  Frascati  expressing  that  conviction  in  a  con- 
versation with  Charles.  About  a  year  after  that  conver- 
sation, I  read  the  extraordinary  work  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  which  consists  in  a  small  number  of  very  short, 
very  concise,  most  comprehensive  essays  or  chapters,  of 
which  every  sentence  is  an  ingot.  It  was  written,  of 
course,  in  what  are  "called  Catholic  times,  but  the  author 
was  a  Christian,  and  no  Romanist  All  that  is  known  of 


TIIK    OA1MTOUNK    COLONY.  251 

him  is  that  he  was  a  Teutonic  knight  of  Frankfort  on  the 
Oder,  his  history  and  earthly  distinctions  are  '  lost  in.  the 
abyss  of  things  that  were.'  *  The  work  was  published  by 
Luther,  since  the  age  of  the  Reformation  has  been  out  of 
print,  and  was  republished  a  few  years  ago:  a  Latin 
translation  was  made  of  it  at  an  early  period,  through  the 
means  of  which  it  was  known  to  many  English  divines  in 
the  seventeenth  century.  This  book,  my  own  Mother, 
contains  much  which  made  to  me  as  clear  as  daylight  the 
great  point,  that  what  is  called  hell  is,  no  more  than 
heaven,  confined  to  place  or  time,  but  is  a  condition  of  the 
soul,  into  which  the  soul  degrades  itself,  which  may  well 
begin  even  in  this  life,  although  here  its  torments  will  be 
lessened  by  that  same  veil  of  flesh,  which  the  joys  of 
heaven  cannot  pervade :  it  is  a  natural  consequence  of  the 
order  of  things  by  God  established,  a  natural  consequence 
of  the  rejection  of  offered  salvation;  and  if  the  expression 
may  be  used,  it  is  impossible  even  for  Omnipotence  itself 
to  grant  that  which  his  creatures  have  become  incapable 
of  receiving.  With  Mr.  Erskinef  I  had  much  conversation 
on  this  subject ;  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  mighty  paradox,  the  solution  of 
which  is  not  for  us  in  this  world — into  which  even  the 
angels  desire  to  look !  A.  similar  view  of  the  world  of 
spirits  I  found  implied,  strange  to  say,  in  a  Spanish  poem 

*  This  book  "  Thcologia  Gcrmanice"  (this  is  the  correct  title)  was 
translated  into  English  by  Miss  Catherine  AVinkworth. 

f  The  admirable  Thomas  Erskine  of  Linlathan,  now  wall  known 
from  his  Letters. 


252          LLFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


of  the  fifteenth  century: — perhaps  the  author  might  be 
one  of  the  many  thousand  Spaniards  who  had  to  expiate 
in  the  flames  their  aspirations  after  purified  Christianity." 

"  Rome,  30  August,  1825.— On  Charles's  birthday,  the 
2oth,  we  had  delightful  weather,  the  sky  being  clear,  the 
sun  bright,  and  the  air  delicious.  "We  began  at  seven 
o'clock  by  breakfasting  in  the  garden.  At  dinner  we  were 
fourteen  in  number,  besides  children.  Before  dinner, 
some  favourite  hymns  of  Charles's  were  sung,  arranged 
for  four  voices,  which  had  been  composed  (by  Reisiger) 
and  practised  by  the  singers  without  Charles's  knowledge, 
and  were  therefore  an  agreeable  surprise  to  him ;  after 
dinner  we  went  to  Yilla  Lante,  and  took  our  dessert  with 
us,  and  enjoyed  the  view  and  the  "garden  most  exceed- 
ingly. 

"  The  presence  of  Reisiger*  in  Rome  has  been  and  is  a 
great  source  of  pleasure  to  us.  I  wish  I  could  pack  his 
music,  composition  and  execution,  in  my  letter,  how  my 
Mother  would  enjoy  it!  He  is  a  young  man,  but  has 
already  celebrity  as  a  composer." 

In  the  middle  of  September  the  family  removed  for 
the  refreshment  of  country  air  to  the  Yilla  Piccolomini 
at  Frascati. 

"  Villa  Piccolomini,  13  Oct.,  1825.— I  did  not  think  I 
should  again  have  dated  from  Frascati,  yet  I  am  well 
reconciled  to  remain  by  the  unequalled  beauty  of  the 
weather  and  country,  although  out  of  virtue  I  should  have 
returned,  to  put  an  end  to  the  confusion  of  the  divided 

*  The  popular  composer— Kappollc-Meister  at  Dresden. 


THE    CAP1TOL1NE    COLONY.  253 


household,  and  get  something  done  of  the  much  that  is 
wanted  to  cover  the  children's  nakedness  this  winter. 
They  have  in  the  villeggiatura  so  torn  and  worn  the  remains 
of  their  summer  clothes,  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  show 
them  in  Eome  till  I  have  bought  and  cut  out  and  had 
made  something  new.  However  that  is  a  trifling  distress, 
a  much  greater,  resulting  from  our  absence,  is  the  death 
of  my  canary-bird,  which  was  announced  to  me  yesterday. 
My  Mother  will  wonder  at  my  having  such  a  favourite,  but 
I  must  surely  have  mentioned,  now  four  years  ago,  the 
bird's  having  flown  in  at  the  window.  It  sang  most 
sweetly,  and  was  quite  tame  and  happy,  and  therefore  it 
was  no  distress  to  see  it  in  a  cage. 

"  I  have  only  to  tell  in  Fraseati  of  uninterrupted  enjoy- 
ment. The  quantity  of  exercise  I  habitually  take  is  to 
myself  inconceivable.  I  will  give  an  account  of  what  I 
have  done  this  morning,  as  the  most  recent  occurrence. 
We  got  up  an  hour  before  day,  and  went  up  to  the  tip-top 
of  the  hill  of  Villa  Aldobrandini,  where  we  walked  up  and 
down  till  the  sun  was  pleased  to  rise ;  then  we  saw  it  gra- 
dually illuminate  the  Lateran  and  the  Vatican,  and  other 
buildings  in  Eome,  the  mountain  casting  a  long  shadow 
over  the  campagna.  "We  had  ordered  the  servants  to 
bring  our  breakfast  after  us  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  but  I 
proposed  going  down  again  to  me£t  it,  and  placing  our- 
selves in  the  beautiful  hall  of  the  Palazzo  Aldobrandini ; 
and  it  was  well  we  did  so,  for  it  was  eight  o'clock  before 
fresh  milk  was  to  be  had,  and  the  gentlemen  set  them- 
selves to  playing  at  bowls,  the  children  led  the  ass  (which 
had  carried  their  aunt)  about  to  graze,  and  I  betook  myself 
in  the  corner  of  a  delightful  eld-fashioned  leather  couch, 


254          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


and  slept  most  comfortably  till  the  coffee  came.  After  we 
had  made  an  enormous  breakfast,  the  bowls  were  again  put 
in  motion,  and  I,  and  the  children,  and  the  ass,  and  the 
servants,  and  the  baskets  with  empty  cups  and  plates, 
went  home,  and  I  set  myself  to  write, — and  after  dinner  I 
shall  be  quite  fresh  and  ready  to  take  another  walk  or  ride. 

"  Yesterday  we  were  equally  in  movement  the  whole  day  : 
in  the  morning  I  was  sketching,  and  after  dinner  we  rode 
on  asses  to  Grotta  Ferrata,  and  saw  the  chapel  of  Domeni- 
chino.  We  came  home  after  dark,  and  then  received  an  in- 
vitation to  hear  an  Improvisatore  at  the  Casino  Piccolomini. 
The  name  of  our  host  is  Angiolotti,  a  rich  possidente,  or 
farmer,  from  whom  and  his  wife  we  have  received  great 
civilities.  We  were  the  day  before  yesterday  at  their 
farm,  or  tenuta,  where  the  vintage  is  going  on.  They 
gave  us  ham,  and  cheese,  and  frittata  and  pizza,  and  wine, 
and  grapes  as  much  as  we  could  eat.  We  had  our  friend 
Reisiger  of  the  party,  and  he  played,  and  sang  German, 
and  the  vigneroli  sang  Italian.  We  had  the  nurse  with 
us,  who  rode  like  a  man  on  an  ass,  with  my  darling  before 
her,  who  enjoyed  the  party  as  much  as  anybody :  my  little 
Charles  rode  before  his  papa  or  Simon :  his  two  brothers 
ride  independently. 

"Some  days  ago  we  made  an  expedition  to  Monte  Cavo, 
the  highest  point  of  ]\ft>nte  Albano,  where  there  is  a  monas- 
tery. The  monks  gave  us  bread  and  wine,  and  we  had  cold 
meat  and  grapes  with  us.  We  rode  down  on  the  other  side 
of  the  hill  towards  Albano,  where  the  carriage  met  us  in  the 
Galleria  di  sopra  by  the  Capuchin  convent :  we  then  drove 
to  Castel-Gandolfo,  whence  we  went  down  to  the  brink  of 
the  Uke  to  see  the  emissary,  and  returned  home  to  dinner 


THE    CAPITOLINE    COLONY.  255 

at  five  o'clock.  Another  day  we  drove  to  Genzano,  Charles 
and  his  sister  and  Simon  and  myself  and  the  three  boys 
packed  in  the  carrettella :  my  darling  was  left  at  home 
with  his  nurse  and  Angelina,  and  Kestner  rode  on  horse- 
back. My  Mother  will  remember  the  name  of  Kestuer, 
whom  we  now  value  more  than  ever,  since  he  has  been  "our 
constant  companion  on  parties  of  pleasure  for  many  days 
successively,  without  ever  giving  opportunity  for  an  obser- 
vation as  to  his  character  that  was  not  to  his  credit.  We 
had  provisions  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  rooms 
of  our  old  acquaintance  all  occupied,  and  were  glad  to  be 
conducted  by  Kestner  to  the  house  of  a  possidente  whom  he 
had  formerly  known,  whose  wife  in  the  most  obliging 
manner  granted  us  all  we  wanted ;  she  was  a  very  hand- 
some woman,  and  in  deportment,  I  had  almost  said,  a 
princess.  While  our  dinner  was  preparing,  we  made  the 
tour  of  the  lake  of  Nemi  on  ass-baok.:  that  mirror  of  Diana 
as  it  was  called  (the  woods  and  a  temple  on  its  banks 
having  been  in  ancient  times  consecrated  to  her)  never 
appeared  to  greater  advantage,  for  there  were  light  fleecy 
clouds  in  the  clear  October  sky,  which  produced  those 
occasional  false  shadows  which  I  must  always  long  for  in 
mountain  scenery,  from  recollection  of  the  lakes  of  West- 
moreland. 

"I  shall  be  glad  at  last  to  return  to  our  own  dear  home, 
and  yet  our  pleasure  in  Erascati  has  been  so  altogether 
without  drawback,  that  I  could  almost  find  in  my  heart 
to  be  afraid  of  what  may  follow  a  change  of  abode.  I 
have  had  time  to  read  'here  too,  and  enjoy  most  extremely 


256          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 


a  German  translation  of  Herodotus.  I  have  also  enjoyed 
reading  in  the  Bible  more  than  I  have  time  to  do  at  home 
— I  mean,  time  uninterrupted,  and  to  read  with  interrup- 
tions is  of  little  avail.  I  have  been  greatly  struck  wrth 
many  historical  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  in  con- 
nection I  have  not  read  for  years;  and  must  ask  my 
Mother  whether  she  does  not  think  the  narrative  of  Nehe- 
miah  most  particularly  touching." 

"Rome,  19  Oct. — We  returned  home  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing, the  16th,  and  find  our  own  dear  house  very  delightful. 
My  boys  are  all  as  well  as  possible,  and,  at  present,  very 
good." 

"14  Feb.,  182G. — I  have  to  communicate  the  intelligence 
of  the  King's  having  bestowed  upon  Charles  the  order  of 
the  Red  Eagle,  a  distinction  which  is  a  matter  of  much 
satisfaction,  as  indicating  the  favourable  dispositions  of  the 
King  and  his  ministers,  for  there  are  few  if  any  examples 
of  a  person  not  belonging  to  a  privileged  class  receiving  it 
after  so  short  a  period  of  service.  The  first  intelligence 
was  communicated  by  the  good  Baron  von  Eeden,  now 
Hanoverian  Minister  at  Berlin ;  the  nomination  took  place 
on  the  18th  January,  and  last  week  the  cross  and  ribbon 
were  delivered  to  Charles  by  General  de  Lessel,  the  Aide- 
de-Camp  of  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia,  who  had  travelled 
from  Berlin  with  great  speed  to  return  to  his  post.  Only 
the  day  after  the  arrival  of  this  decoration,  arrived  the 
intelligence  of  the  failure  of  the  banking-house  of  Benecko 
in  Berlin.  They  were  Charles's  agents  for  the  reception 
of  his  salary,  and  had  only  eleven  days  before  received  for 
him  his  quarter's  allowance,  for  which  they  had  transmitted 
a  bill  r/f  exchange,  which  bill  of  course  there  had  not  been 


THE    CAPITOLINE    COLONY.  257 


time  to  negociate,  before  it  became  of  no  avail.  ...  I  wish 
that  I  may  prevail  upon  my  Mother  to  be  as  little  dis- 
turbed by  this  piece  of  ill-luck  as  I  am  myself ;  I  cannot 
possibly  deny,  when  I  state  the  case  to  myself,  that  it  is  a 
very  serious  thing1,  and  that  as  we  have  never  yet  had  more 
than  enough  with  our  whole  year's  income,  I  cannot  explain 
how  we  are  to  have  enough  when  the  quarter's  salary  is 
wanting ;  yet  I  cannot  get  rid  of  the  feeling  that  we  shall 
not  need  the  lost  sum,  whether  it  shall  be  made  good,  in 
some  unforeseen  way,  or  whether  we  shall  be  able  to  do 
without  it.  All  accounts,  from  the  Baron  von  Reden  and 
others,  tend  to  prove  that  Count  Bernstorff,  as  well  as 
Prince  Wittgenstein,  uniformly  speak  of  Charles  with 
strong  expressions  of  esteem  for  his  character  and  conduct, 
and  something  approaching  to  admiration  for,  not  mere 
commendation  of,  his  talents  for  business ;  and  also  that 
the  great  liking  which  the  King  showed  towards  him  in 
Kome,  has  been  kept  up  more  than  could  have  been 
expected,  by  what  I  may  call  correspondence  since,  for  the 
King  reads  everything  he  writes  to  Berlin,  and  you  may 
readily  believe  that  what  he  writes  is  worth  reading.  So, 
my  own  Mother,  pray  hope  the  best  with  me,  and  do  not 
be  more  distressed  than  I  am. 

"  Lord  Sandon  left  Home  on  Thursday,  taking  for  my 
Mother  a  sketch-book,  and  for  my  father  a  Latin  document, 
which  was  a  petite  attention  of  Monsignor  Marini  to  me. 
He  found  the  original  in  the  Papal  archives,  and  thought 
I  should  be  overjoyed  with  a  proof  that  a  person  bearing 
the  name  of  Waddington  held  a  situation  of  credit  in  the 
Church  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  for 
that  is  the  date  of  the  document." 

VOL.    i.  s 


258          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUJSSEN. 

"Easter  Sunday,  26  March,  1826.— M.  d'Olfers  is  here, 
with  his  amiable  wife,  on  his  way  to  the  Brazils  as  Charge 
d' Affaires.  He  has  been  for  two  years  attached  to  the 
Prussian  Legation  at  Naples,  his  connections  at  Berlin 
having  reckoned  upon  getting  him  into  Charles's  post  at 
Eome,  an  arrangement  which  the  circumstance  of  his 
being  a  Catholic  would  at  any  time  have  rendered  impos- 
sible, for  the  business  of  the  Prussian  Legation  here 
could  not  in  many  respects  be  well  got  through  by  a 
person  in  any  way  hampered  by  private  ties  to  the  Church 
of  Eome,  without  considering  the  important  point  of  the 
Protestant  Chapel,  which  could  not  be  kept  up  under  a 
Catholic  chef  de  legation.  On  his  way  through  Eome  to 
Naples  with  Count  Fleming  two  years  ago,  he  and  Charles 
formed  a  personal  acquaintance  as  cordial  as  if  they  had 
not  stood  in  the  relation  of  a  sort  of  rivals  to  each  other, 
and  they  have  kept  up  from  time  to  time  a  degree  of 
correspondence,  which  I  hope  will  continue,  for  Olfers's 
letters  are  always  indescribably  entertaining.  He  is  one 
of  the  sort  of  men  that  I  know  my  Mother  would  like,  of 
sound  and  sterling  attainments,  and  polished  but  inarti- 
ficial manner,  with  a  great  deal  of  quiet  fun,  and  a  still- 
ness of  deportment  not  the  least  resulting  from  phlegm  or 
insensibility. 

"We  have  lately  to  our  great  pleasure  formed  anew 
musical  acquaintance  of  the  name  of  Neukomm,  who  is 
come  to  Eome  for,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  a  very  short  time, 
after  a  singular  course  of  travels.  He  was  born  at  Saltz- 
burg,  and  became  a  pupil  of  Haydn  at  Vienna ;  his  first 
removal  from  Germany  was  to  become  Maestro  di  Cappella 
to  a  Eussian  prince,  and  he  spent  some  years  between 


THE    CAPITOLINE    COLONY.  259 

Petersburg  and  Moscow ;  after  which,  he  became  Maestro 
di  Cappella  to  the  King  of  Portugal  when  in  Brazil,  but  the 
Court  having  a  decided  passion  for  waltz-masses,  Neukomm 
was  not  satisfied  to  remain  where  his  style  of  composition 
was  not  approved,  nor  satisfied  to  adopt  a  style  such  as 
could  have  secured  approbation,  wherefore  he  returned 
to  Europe,  and  has  ever  since  been  attached  to  the  Court 

of Talleyrand  !  ! — who  is  said  to  rank  music  amongst 

the  luxuries  which  he  considers  worth  possessing  in  the 
highest  perfection.  With  Talleyrand  Neukomm  set  out 
towards  Rome,  but  the  former  having  found  the  weather 
not  to  his  taste,  remained  by  the  way  at  Nice,  allowing 
Neukomm  leave  of  absence  to  proceed  to  Rome  and 
Naples. 

"  On  "Wednesday  in  Passion  "Week  Neukomm  returned 
home  with  us  from  the  Sixtine  Chapel,  and  played  to  us  in 
a  manner  that  could  give  delight  even  after  the  Miserere. 
To  give  an  idea  of  his  playing,  I  must  describe  the  course 
of  my  own  feelings, — I  was  at  first  sorry  for  the  arrange- 
ment to  bring  him  home  with  us,  not  wishing  to  be 
disturbed,  and  only  reconciled  to  it  on  the  ground  of 
giving  pleasure  to  M.  d'Olfers,  who  had  known  and 
valued  Neukomm  for  years  as  a  man  as  well  as  a 
musician  ;  but  from  the  moment  he  began  to  play,  I  was 
thankful  to  have  the  state  of  feeling  protracted,  which  had 
originated  in  the  Miserere.  He  played  airs  with  varia- 
tions of  his  own  composition  (amongst  others  f  See  the 
Conquering  Hero  conies '),  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  which  has  never  yet  been  executed. 


260          LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

The  words  are  selected  from  Klopstock's  Messiah,  and  the 
chorus  he  played  to  us  is  grounded  on  the  passage  in 
Isaiah,  *  Who  is  He  ....  that  is  glorious  in  His  apparel, 
travelling  in  the  greatness  of  His  strength  ? — I  that  speak 
in  righteousness,  mighty  to  save ! ' — the  whole  to  be 
performed  by  a  choir  in  two  divisions,  answering  each 
other  in  the  manner  of  Handel's  '  Who  is  the  King  of 
Glory  ?— The  Lord  of  Hosts,  He  is  the  King  of  Glory  ! ' 

' '  0  my  Mother,  how  I  wish  you  could  see  Lady  Frances 
Sandon,  and  still  more,  know  her :  I  am  sure  you  would 
think  her  '  a  thing  of  other  times.'  She  seems  to  me 
to  realise  things  I  have  known  in  description — a  class  of 
women  to  which  the  finest  ladies  I  see  are  not  fit  to  be 
chambermaids.  She  goes  away  for  good  the  end  of  next 
month,  and  Heaven  knows  where,  or  when,  or  how,  we  shall 
meet  again,  but  I  shall  always  rejoice  in  the  indelible 
image  she  leaves,  of  a  species  of  creature  from  which 
every-day  women  are  as  different  as  negroes  from  whites. 

"The  more  I  see  of  Lady  Bute,  the  more  I  am  con- 
vinced that  she  is  a  thoroughly  kind-hearted  and  well- 
principled  woman,  but  in  the  scale  of  human  beings  I  am 
sure  she  takes  an  inferior  rank  to  her  daughter,  who  is 
almost  an  angel." 

"25  April,  1826. — The  presence  of  M.  Neukomm  in 
Home  is  a  very  great  pleasure  to  us,  and  we  make  the 
most  of  it  by  seeing  him  daily.  Independent  of  his  most 
extraordinary,  and  to  me  unequalled,  musical  talent,  he  is 
of  a  most  attaching  character,  and  has  those  sort  of  placid 
manners,  combined  with  rationality  and  intelligence  on 
all  subjects,  which  make  a  person  a  welcome  inmate  at 
any  time  and  at  all  times.  Charles  takes  advantage  of 


THE    CAPITOLIXE    COLONY.  261 

this  delicious  weather  to  go  about  Rome  with  him,  and 
I  join  the  party  whenever  I  can.  This  winter  Charles 
has  formed  several  very  agreeable  English  acquaintances, 
all  through  the  Sandon  channel ;  first  and  foremost  Lord 
Binning,  with  whom  he  has  had  much  intercourse,  and 
for  whom  he  has  a  great  liking  and  value.  Further, 
Mr.  Egerton  Yernon,  a  son  of  the  Archbishop  of  York's ; 
two  Mr.  Smith's,  one  John  Abel,  the  other  Augustus, 
both  related  to  Lord  Carrington ;  and  a  Mr.  Bramston,  are 
all  persons  we  like  in  different  ways." 

On  the  1st  of  June,  Bunsen  joyfully  announced  to 
Mrs.  Waddington  the  birth  of  a  daughter,  who  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Frances  from  her  god-mother,  Lady 
Frances  Sandon,  and  that  of  Helen  from  her  father's 
half-sister,  Madame  Muller.  At  the  same  time  he  had 
the  gratification  of  telling  the  ever-kind  mother-in-law, 
who,  as  usual,  was  wishing  to  make  up  the  loss  he  had 
suffered,  that  the  sum  swallowed  up  by  the  Benecke 
bankruptcy,  had  been  graciously  made  good  by  the 
King. 

MADAME  BUJTSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"12  July,  1826. — I  have  a  mind  to  write  down  some  of 
the  interruptions  of  the  morning,  to  give  my  Mother  an 
idea  of  the  day ;  a  thing  I  should  often  attempt,  were  it 
not  for  the  long  notes  of  explanation,  which  ought  to  be 
appended  to  each  name  that  will  occur.  I  was  up  at  six 
o'clock :  while  I  was  dressing,  Charles  slept  on,  and  I 
would  not  rouse  him,  because  for  the  last  few  days  he  had 
rested  too  little  and  run  about,  or  in  some  way  or  other 


2G2          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUKSEN. 

been  too  busy  in  the  heat  and  sirocco ;  as  soon  as  I  was 
dressed  however,  he  got  up,  and  went  out  on  horseback. 
Of  all  the  children,  Charles  alone  was  awake  and  up :  I 
therefore  proceeded  to  open  my  writing-desk  and  begin 
my  letter,  in  the  camera  gialla,  with  the  windows  open  and 
green  blinds  closed,  to  keep  out  the  sun  and  let  in  the  air : 
but  soon  Henry  and  Ernest  made  their  appearance,  and  I 
broke  off  from  my  letter  to  hear  them  say  frheir  prayers. 
Then  Charles  returned,  and  we  went  to  breakfast,  with 
Neukomm  (my  Mother  will  remember  the  name  of  the 
musical  composer,  whose  company,  as  well  as  his  music, 
delighted  us  so  much  at  Easter — he  has  since  been  at 
Naples,  and  is  now  with  us  again,  day  after  day,  as  before, 
and  every  part  of  the  family  looks  upon  him  as  belonging 
to  us).  The  place  where  we  breakfast  I  must  draw  some- 
time for  my  Mother,  I  can  now  only  describe  it  as  near  the 
loggia  where  the  water  is  drawn  up, — a  partition  has  been 
made  in  the  mangle-room  which  reserves  to  us  a  delight- 
ful little  gallery,  with  a  magnificent  prospect  and  fine  air 
without  the  morning  sun.  After  breakfast  I  went  to 
dress  my  little  angel,  but  by  the  way  met  a  messenger 
who  announced  that  a  certain  Klitsche  was  seized  with  a 
fever.  This  perspn  is  established  in  the  house  of  the  late 
Bartholdy,  to  mount  guard  upon  the  valuable  collection  of 
antiquities,  until  the  heirs  shall  otherwise  have  disposed 
of  them.  Klitsche  came  to  Home  a  year  and  a  half  ago 
with  the  false  notion  by  which  many  people  at  a  distance 
from  Rome  are  possessed,  that  here  institutions  accessible 
to  strangers  for  the  study  of  theology  were  to  be  found : 
that  not  being  the  case,  his  condition  here  was  pretty 
nearly  destitute,  and  Charles  has  in  one  way  or  another 


THE    CAPITOMNE    COLONY.  263 

helped  him  forward  (sometimes  procuring  him  employ- 
ment in  transcribing  deeds)  awaiting  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity 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  leave 
every  other  business  to  perform  the  most  needful,  of 
procuring  him  attendance ;  wherefore  I  left  my  little 
angel  to  wait  in  her  night  things,  and  after  ordering  the 
carriage,  went  downstairs  to  Madame  Eggers  (whom  the 
children  call  Signora  Elisa*4 — and  who  is  always  willing 
and  able  to  give  counsel  and  assistance,  to  ask  whether  she 
supposed  I  could  obtain  the  help  of  a  woman,  of  whom  she 
knew  more  than  I  did;  and  settled  that  we  should  go  together 
to  fetch  her ;  then  I  came  up  again  to  make  a  hundred 
arrangements  to  keep  the  wheels  of  government  in  motion 
during  the  interregnum,  and  hold  seven  hundred  and  one 
conferences  with  Antonio  about  dinner,  with  an  interlude 
of  rummaging  amongst  the  dust  of  the  bookshelves  for  a 
pamphlet  for  Charles,  '  Sur  1'Orgue  expressif  de  M. 
Grenier.'  Then  I  packed  Charles  the  less  with  Madame 
Eggers  and  myself  into  the  carrettella,  in  order  to  lessen  the 
number  of  jarring  elements  left  at  home,  and  proceeded 
to  bespeak  the  physician,  fetch  the  woman  as  nurse,  and 
establish  her  by  the  sick  person.  Then  I  proceeded  to 
one  or  two  shops,  being  on  the  way,  and  returned  home 
at  twelve,  found  a  new  cap  which  my  sister-in-law  had 
ordered,  and  went  up  to  her  bedside  to  explain  and 
interpret,  and  hear  whether  it  was  right,  after  listening  to 
the  narrative  of  the  manner  in  which  she  had  passed  the 

*  M.  Eggers,  the  landscape  painter,  afterwards  settled  in  Berlin. 
His  sons  were  the  authors  of  a  Life  of  Ranch  the  Sculptor. 


264       LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  BARONESS  BUNSEN. 

night — the  heats,  and  the  chills,  and  the  ups  and  downs. 
Then  I  dressed  my  sweet  girl,  settled  her  three  eldest 
brothers  to  sleep  (George  was  put  to  bed  by  Angelina),  and 
was  thankful  to  lie  down  on  my  own  bed.  At  two  o'clock 
with  some  difficulty  I  waked,  and  before  three  collected 
the  whole  family  from  all  corners  of  the  house  at  dinner ; 
after  dinner,  consultations  with  Antonio  about  things  to 
be  sent  to  Klitsche,  directions  to  Agnese  about  work,  part 
the  first  of  a  discourse  with  my  sister-in-law  about  a 
ruff  and  a  hat,  luckily  broken  off  by  Neukomm's  offer- 
ing to  hear  me  practise,  an  offer  I  am  always  rejoiced  to 
accept.  I  excused  myself  from  driving  out,  having  been 
out  already,  sent  Charles  the  less  and  George  with  my 
sister-in-law  and  her  friend  Augusta  Klein,  and  Henry 
and  Ernest  into  Madame  Eggers's  garden.  At  eight 
o'clock  everybody  returned,  I  gave  the  children  their 
supper,  heard  their  prayers,  and  took  them  to  bed :  and 
at  last  came  to  my  corner  of  the  couch,  the  rest  of  the 
party  being  my  sister-in-law,  Charles,  Neukomm,  and 
Kestner.  I  sat  lazy,  instead  of  working  as  usual,  with 
my  Mother's  candle-screen,  with  impressions  of  leaves, 
before  me,  to  save  my  eyes,  which  were  quite  tired  with 
puzzling  at  the  score  of  Judas  Maccabeus^  which  Neukomm 
had  insisted  on  my  making  out.  After  looking  at  the 
moon,  the  two  glorious  planets,  and  the  Mont'  Albano  in 
the  summer  night,  at  a  quarter  past  ten  I  went  to  bed." 

"16  August,  1826. — I  have  a  long  story  to  relate  to  my 
Mother,  which  I  have  as  yet  delayed,  from  not  liking  to 
tell  her  that  Charles  had  committed  an  act  which  I  con- 
sidered imprudent  and  extravagant,  but  I  will  now  state 
his  sin  in  all  its  magnitude,  and  leave  her  to  find  an 


THE    CAriTOLINE    COLONY.  265 

excuse  for  him.     He  has  thought  proper  to  order  from 
Paris  what  is  called  an  orgue  expressif,  the  new  invention 
of  M.  Grenier,  having  fallen  in  love  with  the  description 
made  by  Neukomm  of  this  extraordinary  instrument.     I 
stated  my  opinion  that  the  measure  was  imprudent,  be- 
cause it  was  highly  improbable  that  after  Neukomm  had 
left  us  we  should  ever  hear  the  organ  again,  for  it  would 
be  difficult  to  find  a  dilettante  who  understood  the  art  of 
managing  it,   and   as  for  me,  in  my  old  age,  with  five 
children,  it  was  too  much  to  expect  that  I  should  «accom- 
plish   learning   to   play  upon   a   new  instrument,    never 
having  yet  been  a  proficient  in  playing  on  the  old  one. 
Further,   I  insisted  that  it  was  extravagant,   to   incur  a 
great  expense,  calculating  upon  being  able  to  save  it  up 
in   the  course  of  the  year.     To  all  my  wisdom  Charles 
replied  by  a  number   of   sophisms,  but  maintained  the 
point  '  that  once  for  all,  we  must  lime  an  orgue  express!/, 
and  that  if  we  must  have  one,  it  was  the  best  economy  to 
have  it  at  once,  for  then  we  had  more  time  to  enjoy  it  in 
our  lives.'  Wherefore  I  withdrew  my  opposition,  the  organ 
was  ordered  in  April  last,  but  having  first  a  packing  to 
undergo,  and  then  a  long  journey  to  make,  did  not  arrive 
till  Tuesday  the  8th  of  August.     Neukomm  delayed  his 
journey  for  the  sake  of  enabling  us  to  hear  the  organ  once 
in  perfection,   although  thereby  greatly  diminishing   the 
time  he  had  allotted  for  the  north  of  Italy  and  Switzer- 
land, having  fixed  to  be  in  France  at  latest  the  end  of 
September.      The   effect   of    this    instrument    is   beyond 
description,    it  is   capable   of    unlimited   expression,    the 
sound  being  produced  by  the  gradual  pressure  of  the  feet 
alternately  upon  two  pedals,  and  the  tones  are  soft  and 


266         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

swelling  like   those  of  the  human  voice  when  in  great 
perfection,  or  like  the  most  exquisite  wind  instruments. 
AVhen    hearing    Neukomm    play,   I    continually  caught 
myself    holding    my  breath,    as  when  listening    to   the 
Miserere  in  the  Sixtine  Chapel.     As  to  my  own  prospect  of 
learning  to  play  upon  it,  I  am  happy  to  say  that  in  these 
ten   days   I  have  already  surmounted  some  part  of  the 
difficulty,  which  consists  in  the  movement  of  the  feet,  and 
have  good  hopes  of  proceeding  further ;  and  the  delight 
of  touching  it  is  so  great,  that  I  shall  only  be  in  danger 
of  giving  up  more  time  to  it  than  I  really  have  to  spare. 
It  has  made  furore  in  Borne,  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of 
State  was   enchanted,    and  began  to   sing  himself  from 
excess  of  delight :  the  Maestro  di  Cappella  Baini  said  it 
brought  him  into  a  cold  sweat  and  that  he  could  not  stand 
it  if  he  was  to  hear  it  every  day ;  Monsignor  Capaccini 
(who  was  private  secretary  to  Consalvi  and  wrote  all  his 
dispatches)  ordered   such   another   organ   full   speed  for 
himself :  and  the  Corps  Diplomatique  was  out  of  its  wits 
for   admiration.      I   must   not  forget   to   state  that    the 
expense   did   not   turn   out  as   great   as  I  expected,  for, 
including  the  carriage  from  Paris,  it  amounted  to  ninety 
pounds  sterling :    yet  the  instrument  is  as  perfect  as  to 
make  and  materials,  as  a  piece  of  furniture,  as  in  sound." 
"  6  Sept.,  1826. — I  wish  I  could  here  give  a  shadow  of 
the  darling  figure,  in  a  great  brown  pinafore  (sent  by 
grandmamma  for  Ernest),  that  is  now  trotting  near  me, 
enjoying  in    stillness   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  Charles  is  so  gracious, 
for  then  I  can  keep  both  my  little   boys  with   me  (the 


THE    CAPITOL1NE    COLONY.  267 

elder  brothers  are  with  Simon),  otherwise  I  am  compelled 
to  interpose  and  part  them,  and  at  length  banish  my 
George  to  the  maids,  who  can  sometimes  keep  him  good 
and  happy,  whereas  Charles  is  nothing  less  than  'the 
Deil  himsel '  with  people  whom  he  does  not  acknowledge 
have  a  right  to  direct  him :  I  maintain  my  sovereignty 
after  a  fashion,  but  it  costs  me  many  a  hard  battle.  My 
George,  and  his  little  sister,  are  the  matter  of  unmixed 
delight ;  there  never  was  any  creature  more  alive  to  all 
impressions  than  that  dear  boy,  he  shows  me  the  clouds 
when  the  sun  is  setting,  points  to  the  river  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  little  sister,  laughs  loud  at  her 
motions,  and  shows  her  to  everybody.  He  cannot  bear  to 
hear  one  of  his  brothers  cry,  and  the  only  thing  he  takes 
very  ill  of  me  is  punishing  Charles.  I  begin  to  expect 
that  in  process  of  time  he  will  speak,  for  he  now  utters  all 
sorts  of  sounds,  and  seems  to  have  attained  the  idea  that 
by  means  of  sounds  as  well  as  signs  he  may  make  himself 
understood. 

"  I  had  not  time  in  my  last  letter  to  make  a  statement 
in  qualification  of  the  impression  I  produced  by  mention- 
ing playing  in  score :  my  Mother  must  not  form  too  mag- 
nificent notions  on  the  subject,  it  is  like  a  child's  spelling 
out  words  in  a  language  it  does  not  understand ;  to  be 
able  to  give  to  the  words  their  proper  tone  and  accent, 
and  to  the  sentences  their  meaning,  it  would  require  to 
be  much  further  advanced  than  I  am ;  still,  although  it  is 
a  great  matter  of  doubt  whether  I  shall  ever  find  time 
fully  to  turn  to  account  the  instructions  of  Neukomm,  the 


268          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF     BAllONESS    13UXSEX. 

trouble  lie  took  with  me  has  been  of  essential  use.  As 
of  late  years  we  have  many  times  made  attempts  to  get 
people  to  sing,  I  have  often  practised  writing  out  parts  in 
the  different  keys,  and  therefore  could  read  them  :  but 
when  Neukomm  insisted  upon  it  that  if  I  would,  I  could 
play  a  piece  of  music  in  which  the  notes  were  to  be  sought 
out  of  four  different  sets  of  lines,  and  written  in  four 
different  keys,  I  never  believed  it  would  be  possible  in 
any  degree ;  however,  a  few  days'  practice  convinced  me 
of  the  contrary,  and  I  hope  in  time  to  learn  at  least  to 
play  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  comparatively 
easy.  My  obligations  to  Neukomm  are  very  great  in 
enabling  me  to  enjoy,  and  making  Charles  enjoy,  the 
delicious  organ :  I  get  to  it  at  odd  half -hours  often  in  the 
day,  the  pleasure  of  touching  it  is  greater  and  greater, 
and  I  obtain  great  praise  for  my  progress  :  I  must  tell  my 
Mother  that  M.  Neukomm  always  insisted  upon  it  that  I 
should  play  well  upon  the  organ,  although  in  the  three 
days  which  elapsed  between  its  arrival  and  his  departure, 
I  was  far  from  producing  a  tolerable  tone  :  as  he  is  a 
great  Gall-ist,  perhaps  he  was  led  to  the  conviction  by 
having  detected  (as  he  asserted)  the  organ  of  music  plainly 
in  my  forehead.  I  wish  my  Mother  might  ever  know 
Neukomm,  as  well  as  hear  him  play;  his  gift  of  pro- 
ducing music  I  know  would  be  a  feast  to  her  beyond 
everything,  but  I  cannot  doubt  her  liking  himself.  He 
has  stood  the  test  of  being  our  daily  inmate  for  two 
months  at  a  stretch,  without  reckoning  the  time  of  his 
being  in  Rome  at  Easter ;  and  at  last  all  of  us  were  as 


THE    CAP1TOLINE    COLONY.  269 

melancholy  at  his  departure,  and  missed  him  as  much  at 
breakfast  and  dinner,  in  walks  and  drives,  and  in  quiet 
evening  conversations,  as  if  he  had  belonged  to  us  for  year?, 
so  perfectly  did  he  suit  every  individual  of  such  a  set  of 
creatures  as  we  are  :  all  our  acquaintance,  however  dis- 
similar, delighted  in  him,  and  Thorwaldsen  in  particular 
quite  worshipped  him. 

"  I  have  this  year  made  the  acquaintance  of  Sir  William 
Gell :  Charles  had  known  him  longer.  He  is  a  cripple 
from  gout,  and  was  obliged  to  be  carried  up  our  staircase : 
he  however  causes  himself  to  be  lifted  upon  a  horse,  and 
then  takes  enormous  rides  of  discovery  in  this  most  un- 
discovered country.  He  has  found  many  interesting  ruins 
of  ancient  cities,  hitherto  unknown  to  antiquarians,  is 
actively  engaged  in  making  a  map  of  Latium,  and  interests 
himself  greatly  in  the  study  of  hieroglyphics,  according  to 
Champollion." 

"IQNov.,  1826. — From  the  quantity  of  things  I  have 
had  to  do  since  we  returned  home  on  the  1st  of  November, 
accounts  to  be  put  in  order,  a  few  visits  made,  an  immense 
number  received,  and  an  expedition  to  the  Papal  Chapel  to 
hear  the  Dies  Ira  of  Pittoni, — have  so  filled  up  the  short 
mornings,  that  I  scarcely  know  when  I  have  been  more 
hurried  to  less  purpose,  for  so  much  remains  to  be  dono, 
that  I  feel  as  if  nothing  was  done.  And  in  the  evenings 
we  have  so  seldom  been  free  from  casual  visitors,  that  it 
is  not  often  I  have  accomplished  playing  on  the  delicious 
organ, — but  it  goes  on  well,  my  Mother,  and  I  can  play 
some  things  upon  it  with  satisfaction  to  myself.  How  I 
thank  my  Mother  for  enjoying  the  accounts  of  it,  it  is 
indeed  a  great  delight  in  life." 


270          LIFE    ASD    LETTERS    OF    BAItONESS    BUNSEN. 

"  14  March,  1827. — Iliad  last  Aveek  an  impediment  in 
writing  to  my  own  dearest  Mother,  of  which,  she  will  be 
surprised  and  pleased  to  hear, — a  journey  to  Orvieto,  re- 
solved upon  in  a  moment,  executed  at  once,  and  which 
turned  out  admirably.  We  had  spoken  of  going  there 
pretty  nearly  every  year  for  the  last  five,  but  the  difficulty 
of  moving  all  together,  or  of  separating,  always  prevented 
our  doing  so,  and  the  distance  being  seventy  miles,  we 
should  probably  never  have  accomplished  going  there,  had 
we  not  made  up  our  minds  to  leave  the  children  in  the  care 
of  Simon,  and  set  off  as  a  trio  with  post-horses.  On  Wed- 
nesday, 7  March,  we  left  Eome  at  half -past  six,  Henry  and 
Ernest  accompanying  us  as  far  as  the  door,  Charles  in  his 
shirt  and  muffled  up  in  a  shawl  causing  himself  to  be 
carried  to  the  staircase  window,  my  darling  George  asleep, 
and  my  angel  of  a  girl  sitting  upright  in  bed,  with  two 
eyes  wide  open,  waiting  for  the  nurse  to  dress  her.  As  far 
as  Montefiascone,  our  road  was  the  same  as  that  by  which 
my  own  dearest  Mother  travelled  away  from  Home,  and  I 
think  however  little  in  a  state  her  mind  then  was  for  en- 
joyment, she  must  with  her  eyes  have  observed  the  beau- 
tiful situation  of  Ronciglione,  where  the  road  begins  to 
ascend  the  mountain  on  the  other  side  of  which  Viterbo  is 
situated,  and  have  taken  in  the  exquisite  -expanse  of  the 
Lake  of  Vico,  which  is  for  a  long  time  visible  during  the 
passage  of  the  mountain;  and  then  she  will  the  better 
guess  the  sensations  of  pleasure  with  which  I  viewed  them  ; 
pleasure  resulting  from  many  causes,  the  sensation  of 
breaking  the  ice  as  to  a  journey,  such  as  in  ten  years  and  a 
half  I  have  not  made,  not  to  be  forgotten  amongst  them. 
Wo  arrived  so  early  at  Viterbo  that  we  might  have  pro- 


THE    CAPITOLIKE    COLONY.  271 

ceeded  further,  but  preferred  walking  about  to  see  the 
churches  and  prospects,  while  our  dinner  was  getting 
ready,  and  remaining  in  the  very  excellent  inn  that  night. 
The  weather  was  delightful,  but  like  that  of  a  fine  early 
spring  day  in  England,  the  sky  not  being  in  a  state  of 
Italian  clearness ;  and  the  sort  of  air,  the  outline  of  the 
hills  about  the  Lake  of  Yico,  the  effect  of  the  unclothed 
woods,  casting  a  shadowy  brown  tinge,  altogether  brought 
me  back  not  less  than  twenty  years  ! — to  the  journey  from 
Tenby  just  at  the  same  time  of  year,  and  the  effect  of  the 
hills  of  Dynevor,  Dreslin  Castle,  and  the  Towy  in  the  vale 
of  Caermarthen. 

"  AtViterbo  we  found  two  friends,  one  of  them  May  tell, 
whose  name  I  may  perhaps  have  mentioned  as  a  person 
whom  we  greatly  valued.  He  is  a  Russian  subject,  but  of 
German  extraction  and  education,  and  had  the  day  before 
taken  leave  of  us  to  return  to  his  native  country,  the  pro- 
vince of  Liefland  (also  the  country  of  Baron  Stackelberg) ; 
and  his  intention  of  going  to  Orvieto  in  the  first  place,  was 
the  reason  that  pinned  us  down  to  this  precise  day  for  our 
expedition.  On  Thursday  morning  at  sunrise  we  proceeded 
from  Viterbo  to  Montefiascone,  where  we  walked  about  to 
see  the  churches,  and  the  exquisite  prospect  from  one  of 
the  gates  towards  the  Lake  of  Bolsena,  and  then  went  on 
to  Orvieto,  which  is  eighteen  miles  distant,  magnificently 
situated  on  an  insulated  hill  in  the  midst  of  a  valley,  which 
appears  like  a  park  surrounding  a  castle,  and  is  enclosed 
by  most  picturesque  hills,  surmounted  in  the  distance  by 
snow-napped  mountains :  the  town  is  mounted  on  a  per- 
pendicular rock,  and  has  no  need  of  other  walls  of 
enclosure.  We  spent  the  whole  remainder  of  the  day  in 


272         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

and  about  tlie  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  left  Orvieto  at  two  o'clock,  in  re-examining  the  paint- 
ings of  Luca  Signorelli,  Fiesole,  and  Pietro  Perugino,  in 
one  of  the  chapels  of  the  cathedral.  The  weather,  which 
had  hitherto  favoured  us,  now  changed  for  the  worse,  and 
we  returned  to  Yiterbo  through  an  absolute  hurricane. 
After  resting  there  that  night,  we  reached  Borne  in  safety 
and  prosperity  at  three  o'clock  on  Saturday  the  llth, 
although  the  prospect  of  the  Lake  of  Yico,  so  peaceful  and 
sunshiny  three  days  before,  was  obscured  by  a  storm 
of  rain  and  wind  accompanied  by  thunder,  lightning,  and 
hail,  through  which  we  traversed  the  mountain  of  Yiterbo. 
I  came  first  up  the  staircase,  in  the  midst  of  which  Henry 
met  me,  a  little  further  stood  Charles,  waiting  till  I  came 
to  him,  then  came  Angelina  with  George,  and  the  nurse 
with  my  darling.  Ernest  had  not  been  allowed  to  movo 
out  of  his  room,  for  he  is  suifering  from  his -eyes,  which 
has  been  a  great  means  of  preventing  my  writing  since  niy 
return  home.  I  am  accustomed  to  scramble  on  with 
various  employments  with  only  Charles  and  George  to 
interrupt,  but  the  addition  of  a  third,  between  whom  and 
each  several  brother  I  must  keep  the  peace,  and  for  whom 
I  must  find  occupation  without  exertion  of  the  eyes,  is  a 
great  addition  to  the  distraction  of  attempting  any  occupa- 
tion requiring  the  thoughts.  Independent  of  children  I 
have  had  a  succession  of  things  which  have  scarcely  left 
me  breathing-time.  Some  of  these  interruptions  I  shall 
try  to  note  down,  because  I  know  my  Mother  likes  to  have 


THE    CAPl'IOLINF    COLONY.  273 

that  sort  of  peep  into  my  daily  existence.  The  first  thing 
after  breakfast,  when  I  was  about  to  take  out  my  letter  to 
write,  I  found  I  had  three  or  four  notes  or  packets,  books 
or  newspapers,  to  write  or  fold,  seal  up  and  dispatch ;  each 
was  nothing,  but  all  together  made  something  as  to  time  ; 
that  ended,  kitchen  discourse;  then,  interview  the  first 
with  the  Banderaro,  or  upholsterer,  about  a  leather  cover 
for  the  organ,  about  which  the  Banderaro  ought  to  have 
come  before,  but  it  is  a  rule,  that  everybody  is  sure  to  come 
on  the  morning  when  I  have  to  write.  I  had  dispatched 
the  Banderaro,  when  Charles  called  me  to  a  consultation, 
about  a  letter  to  be  written,  a  plan  to  be  formed  and  an 
appointment  made  for  going  out,  and  an  invitation  to  be 
Bent  for  next  day :  the  consultation  ended,  I  was  in  full 
retreat  towards  my  writing-box,  when  it  was  announced 
that  the  milliner  was  waiting,  having  brought  two  caps  for 
me,  one  for  my  sister-in-law,  and  a  wadded  quilted  white 
silk  bonnet  for  my  sweet  girl ;  I  might  to  be  sure  have 
bid  her  leave  the  things,  and  said  I  would  send  the  money, 
but  knowing  her  to  be  a  widow,  and  poor,  I  felt  bound 
to  examine,  speak,  hear,  and  pay;  had  just  finished  when 
my  sister-in-law  came  down — a  narrative  of  health,  or  I 
should  say  sickness,  but  short.  In  the  midst  of  this,  a  poor 
Swiss  with  three  children  announced — and  thereby  hangs 
an  explanation.  This  individual,  of  whom  I  knew  nothing 
before,  belongs  to  a  class  of  the  necessitous  that  particu- 
larly excite  my  compassion,  and  have  for  the  last  two 
years  been  extremely  numerous.  In  some  of  the  Swiss 
cantons,  and  many  of  the  southern  parts  of  Germany,  tho 
philosophers  who  speak  so  wisely  about  checking  the  in- 
crease of  population,  have  brought  about  a  law  prohibit- 
VOL.  I.  T 


274         LITE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSE.X. 

ing  marriage  unless  the  parties  can  prove  •  themselves 
possessed  of  a  certain  capital ;  the  consequence  of  this  law 
has  been  in  the  countries  themselves,  as  I  have  heard,  that 
couples  come  together  as  before,  but  in  most  cases,  hold 
themselves  exonerated  from  the  marriage  ceremony:  in 
those  cases  when  a  scruple  of  conscience  occurs  after  the 
connection  has  been  formed,  they  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  expose  themselves  to  the  complicated  distress  of  a  dis- 
tant journey  for  the  purpose  of  being  married,  and  just 
because  they  have  no  means  of  subsistence  but  their  daily 
labour,  with  other  details,  it  may  be  guessed  what  cases 
of  misery  occur — the  risk  of  sickness  and  absolute  destitu- 
tion in  every  instance,  not  to  mention  the  degrading  neces- 
sity of  begging,  for  persons  whose  appearance  and  deport- 
ment denotes  their  having  been  accustomed  to  honest 
independence.  I  was  glad  the  other  day  to  have  expatiated 
on  this  philosophical  iniquity  to  Mr.  Empson,  the  successor 
of  Sir  J.  Mackintosh  in  the  East  India  College,  who  seemed 
struck  by  the  details  I  gave.  To  return  from  this  digres- 
sion, the  Swiss  was  to  be  spoken  to,  and  some  odds  and 
ends  rummaged  out  for  her  and  her  children ;  then  came 
the  Banderaro  again,  in  superfluity  of  zeal  to  show  patterns 
of  leather  for  the  organ-cover :  then  the  children's  dinner 
was  ready,  then  I  ran  to  help  Charles  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  luncheon :  then  put 
on  my  hat  and  pelisse,  at  the  same  time  keeping  the  peace 
during  the  toilet  of  Charles  and  George,  who  went  with 
me  to  form  their  taste  (or  more  properly  to  be  kept  out  of 
mischief)  at  the  Yatican  ;  heard  that  Charles  was  engaged 
with  a  Mr.  Middleton,  who  had  brought  him  a  letter  from 


THE    CAPITOL1NE    COLONY.  275 

Sir  W.  Gell,  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, 
Charles  on  horsehack  with  Kestner,  the  rest  in  the  carret- 
tella,  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  Yatican  beamed  and  glowed  in  sunshine.  I  could 
not  however  get  far  in  the  gallery,  so  was  I  fagged  with 
the  morning's  scramble,  at  which  you  will  not  wonder." 

"31  March,  1827. — I  wish  beginning  to  write  so  many 
days  before  the  post-day  might  secure  my  dispatching  a 
letter  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  more 
properly  been  driven,  with  the  sensation  of  passing  from 
one  necessary  division  of  the  day  to  another  with  such 
rapidity  as  to  become  dizzy  and  scarcely  recollect  what  is 
the  most  necessary  thing  to  be  done  next,  so  rarely  is  niy 
occupation  a  matter  of  choice  and  selection  ;  this  I  do  not 
state  as  matter  of  complaint,  but  matter  of  fact  and  of 
self -justification,  not  towards  my  Mother,  who  does  not 
require  it,  but  towards  myself,  who  often  unjustly  com- 
plain of  myself  for  leaving  undone  so  much  that  I  wish  to 
do.  My  present  vexation  is,  that  I  do  not  expect  to  be 
able  to  manage  to  give  any  sign  of  actual  existence,  in  the 
shape  of  scratch  or  smear  on  paper,  to  be  conveyed  to 
England  by  one  who  could  have  taken  it  safely.  What  I 
wanted  to  have  done,  and  considered  most  feasible,  would 


276         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

have  been  a  coloured  sketch  of  the  inside  of  our  sitting- 
rooms,  which  I  think  would  enable  my  Mother  more  than 
anything  else  to  figure  it  all  to  herself.  On  two  different 
mornings,  when  I  felt  as  if  I  could  l  catch  a  minute  by 
the  tail  and  hold  it  fast,'  I  began  to  cut  a  sheet  of  draw- 
ing-paper, and  look  after  pencil  and  crow-quills, — but  as 
if  the  said  minute  had  been  resolved  to  laugh  me  to  scorn 
for  pretending  to  dispose  of  it  at  my  pleasure,  not  till  late 
the  same  evening,  on  the  way  to  bed,  did  I  secure  the 
needful  number  of  seconds  to  settle  the  litter  I  had  then 
made — far  enough  from  executing  the  intention  with 
which  I  had  made  it. 

"Mr.  Erskine  has  been  some  time  in  Borne,  and  I  was 
greatly  gratified  to  find  that  he  met  us  both  just  at  the 
point  where  we  parted,  though  we  have  had  no  communi- 
cation with  him  in  the  interval ;  he  is  a  very  remarkable 
and  most  interesting  person,  of  whoso  individuality  it  is 
difficult  to  give  an  idea  by  description  ;  there  is  a  sort  of 
high-wrought  spirituality  about  him,  without  a  shadow  of 
affectation  of  singularity ;  he  never  dwells  for  a  moment 
on  mere  decencies  or  commonplaces,  but  proceeds  naturally 
and  at  once  to  matters  of  thought  and  feeling.  But  he  is 
at  present  quite  forastico,  and  not  to  be  caught." 

On  the  29th  of  May,  1827,  Madame  Bunsen  gave 
birth  to  her  second  daughter,  christened  Emilia,  after 
her  lost  sister,  Mrs.  Manley.  It  was  at  the  same  time 
that  Dr.  Arnold,  of  Rugby,  paying  a  short  and  hasty 
visit  to  Borne  with  some  pupils,  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  great  friendship  with  Bunsen.  Later  in  the  summer 
the  family  moved  to  Castel  Gandolfo. 


THE    CAPITOLIXE    COLONY.  277 


MADAME  EUXSEX  to  her  MOTHER. 

"15  August,  1827,  Castel  Gandolfo.—Tlio  idea  of  tho 
bare  possibility  of  my  seeing  here  all  those  beings,  who 
have  so  occupied  and  do  so  occupy  my  thoughts,  but  who 
for  so  many  years  have  existed  to  me  but  in  the  visions  of 
recollection  and  imagination — has  scarcely  been  out  of  my 
thoughts :  I  have  not  looked  at  one  of  the  children, 
without  considering  how  they  are  likely  severally  to  strike 
my  Mother:  I  have  not  looked  at  QJiarles,  without  endea- 
vouring to  measure  the  alteration  (even  to  myself  a  very 
sensible  one)  which  ten  years  have  brought  about ;  I  have 
counted  the  lines  in  my  own  face,  as  far  as  I  could  with 
such  a  looking-glass  as  our  present  residence  affords  ;  I 
have  not  looked  within  at  the  rooms,  nor  out  of  the 
windows,  of  our  present  delightful  place  of  abode,  without 
speculating  on  my  father  and  mother  inhabiting  it  with 
us,  with  Augusta  Charlotte  and  Hanbury.* 

' '  An  accident  befell  Ernest  on  the  4th  of  August,  which 
I  will  begin  with  saying,  passed  off  most  happily,  and 
then  my  Mother  will  feel  a  less  shock  on  hearing  that  he 
broke  his  arm.  We  set  out  very  late  (from  Castel  Gan- 
dolfo),  that  is  to  say  a  short  time  before  sunset,  on 
account  of  the  heat,  to  walk  in  the  Galleria  di  Sopra,  the 
shady  avenue  which  leads  to  Albano  along  the  ridge  of 
the  basin  of  the  lake.  Our  party  consisted  of  Charles  and 
myself,  Mr.  Erskine,  Mr.  Simon,  and  the  four  boys, 
followed  by  the  servant  Nicola.  We  had  just  passed  tho 
gate  of  the  Villa  Bnrberini,  when  the  three  eldest  boys 

*  The  infant  children  of  her  sister,  Mrs.  Hall,  afterwards  Lady 
Llanover.  It  vas  November,  1829,  before  the  meeting  really  took 
place. 


278          LITE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

ran  with  Nicola  a  few  steps  down  a  narrow  path  going 
from,  or  rather  lower  than  the  main  road,  having  called 
upon  him  to  make  them  whips ;  we  then  perceived  some 
loose  horses  coming  after  us,  and  the  man  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  moment  summoned  the 
children  to  come  out  of  their  way.  My  attention  was 
occupied  by  George,  who  stood  just  at  the  entrance  of  the 
narrow  path,  and  just  before  the  horses'  feet,  but  Mr. 
Erskine  was  quicker  than  myself  in  springing  to  seize 
him.  In  the  meantime  the  other  three  boys  were  making 
their  escape  up  the  bank  to  get  into  the  main  road,  Nicola 
helping  Charles  as  the  youngest,  and  supposed  more  help- 
less, when  Ernest's  foot  slipped,  and  he  fell,  upwards. 
The  whole  was  the  occurrence  of  a  moment,  and  when  I 
turned  my  head  from  witnessing  the  safety  of  George,  I 
heard  him  scream,  and  while  seeing  him  lifted  on  his  feet 
by  Nicola,  saw  what  had  happened,  so  that  I  answered 
Charles's  exclamation  of  '  What's  the  matter  ? '  by  saying, 
'  He  has  broken  his  arm,  I  see  it.'  Nicola  took  him  up 
in  his  arms,  and  I  made  a  sling  of  the  silk  handkerchief  I 
had  in  the  bag  which  contained  my  sketch-book :  he  con- 
tinued to  scream  and  I  said  to  him,  '  My  boy,  God  has 
suffered  this  to  happen,  and  God  will  help  you,  don't  you 
know  that  ? '  upon  which  he  became  quiet,  and  from 
that  moment  never  cried  or  complained :  a  circumstance 
which  I  can  never  recall  without  the  tears  starting  to  my 
eyes,  from  thankfulness  that  he  should  already  be  capable 
of  being  quieted  under  suffering  by  confidence  in  divine 
support.  As  we  passed  through  the  street  of  Castello, 


THE    CAPITOL1NE    COLONY.  279 

people  without  end  wanted  to  help  to  carry  Ernest,  but 
Nicola  would  not  give  him  up.  The  operation  of  setting 
must  of  course  have*  been  very  painful,  but  it  was  over  in 
a  moment,  and  he  only  uttered  a  sound  at  that  moment. 
.  .  .  The  surgeon  said  at  the  end  of  a  week,  which  was 
on.  his  birthday,  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  leave  his 
bed,  and  walk  about  with  his  arm  in  a  sling." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ABSENCE. 

"They  arc  never  alone  that  arc  accompanied  with  noble 
thoughts." 

Siu  PHILIP  SIDNEY. 

TN  September,  1827,  Bunsen  left  Rome  on  his  first 
official  journey  to  Berlin,  suddenly  summoned  on  the 
ostensible  reason  of  conveying  thither  a  noble  work  of 
Raphael — "  La  Madonna  della  famiglia  Lante  " — which 
he  had  been  enabled  by  a  happy  accident  to  procure  for 
his  country ;  but  really,  that  his  knowledge  of  the  in- 
tricacies of  the  Papal  government,  acquired  during  a 
long  residence  at  Rome,  might  be  made  useful  in  diffi- 
culties which  had  arisen  with  dignitaries  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  Silesia  and  other  parts  of  the  Prus- 
sian dominions. 

The  distinction  with  which  Bunsen  was  received  at 
the  Prussian  court,  the  favour  of  the  King,  and  the 
friendship  of  the  Crown  Prince,  drew  forth  such  uni- 
versal courtship  of  the  man,  who  appeared  for  the  time 
to  be  in  the  very  brightest  sunshine  of  royalty,  as  was 
excessively  trying  to  one  who  was  still  only  entering 


ABSENCE.  281 


upon  his  thirty- seventh  year,  and  who  since  his  mar- 
riage had  always  been  satisfied  with  a  quiet  life  of 
laborious  duty  and  usefulness  in  the  animated  solitude 
of  the  Eternal  City.  It  was  observed  on  his  return  to 
Rome  that  his  appearance  was  changed  and  that  the 
period  of  youth  was  passed.  The  chief  subject  of  the 
royal  conversations  with  Bunsen  was  that  which  the 
King  had  most  at  heart,  his  anxiety  to  heal  the  reli- 
gious wounds  of  his  own  dissevered  dominions,  and  to 
promote  peace  between  the  Reformed  or  Calvinistic,  and 
the  Lutheran  Churches.  For  this  purpose,  with  the 
assistance  of  General  Witzleben,  he  had  long  since  put 
together  a  form  of  prayer  for  his  private  chapel,  which 
had  gradually  become  the  authorized  form  of  worship 
for  the  "  United  Evangelic  Church  of  Prussia." 

Repeatedly  commanded  to  prolong  his  stay,  Bunsen 
lingered  at  Berlin  till  the  beginning  of  March,  when, 
before  taking  leave,  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  submit 
to  the  King  the  form  of  Liturgy  which  he  had  drawn 
up,  with  the  assistance  of  Rothe,  and  to  reveal  that  this, 
rather  than  the  form  enjoined  by  his  sovereign,  was 
already  in  use  in  the  Protestant  chapel  at  Rome.  Many 
of  Bunsen's  friends  considered  that  by  this  act  he  would 
utterly  forfeit  the  King's  favour.  At  first  it  was  evi- 
dent that  Frederic  William  III.  was  displeased,  but  he 
received  Bunsen's  explanations  with  the  kindness  which 
he  had  always  evinced  towards  him,  and  eventually  not 
only  permitted  the  use  of  the  Liturgy,  but  made  u 
public  acknowledgment  of  its  merits.,  by  causing  it  to 


282         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSftN. 

be  printed,  with  a  preface  by  his  own  hand.  Bunsen 
was  himself  enjoined  to  correct  the  press,  so  that  his 
return  to  Koine  was  delayed  till  May,  1828 

MADAME  BUXSEX  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  Palazzo  Albani,  Castel  Gandolfo,  1  Oct.,  1827.— I  have 
to  communicate  that  oil  the  8th  Sept.,  the  day  I  dispatched 
my  last  letter,  the  post  brought  Charles  royal  orders  to 
travel  to  Berlin  as  soon  as  the  vacation  in  the  Roman 
tribunals  should  leave  him  at  liberty  to  quit  Rome  without 
occasioning  interruption  in  the  dispatch  of  business  ;  (you 
will  remember  that  the  greater  part  of  Charles's  occupa- 
tion here  consists  in  transacting  the  business  of  the 
Catholic  dioceses  in  the  King  of  Prussia's  dominions  with 
the  Pope,  they  not  being  allowed  direct  intercourse  with 
the  court  of  Borne).  On  the  24th  September  he  ac- 
complished getting  ready  to  set  out,  and  at  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  of  that  day  we  saw  him  drive  away  from  his 
own  door,  with  post-horses,  in  a  well-closed  travelling 
carriage,  with  an  excellent  and  agreeable  travelling  com- 
panion, and  an  active  and  clever  servant ;  the  carriage  so 
constructed  that  he  could  lie  down  at  length  in  it, -which 
was  very  necessary,  as  the  plan  of  the  journey  will  make 
it  often  indispensable  to  travel  through  the  night  as  well 
as  the  day.  His  travelling  companion  is  an  architect  of 
the  name  of  Stier,  whom  we  have  known  for  years,  and 
have  every  year  seen  more  reason  to  value,  and  that  he  is 
useful  and  agreeable  in  travelling,  we  all  know  by  experi- 
ence, from  having  had  him  with  us  at  Orvieto  last  March. 
You  will  remember  that  some  time  ago  Charles  hinted  at 
the  possibility  of  this  journey,  which  we  afterwards  had 


ABSENCE.  283 


reason  to  believe  -would  not  take  place,  and  therefore 
wrote  to  Berlin  for  leave  of  absence  to  go  to  Naples.  In 
answer,  he  was  told  that  the  ministry  had  need  of  personal 
conference  with  him,  with  respect  to  some  difficult  points 
which  yet  remained  to  be  arranged  with  the  Pope ;  and  on 
which  (I  believe)  the  ministry  do  not  know  what  to  demand, 
until  they  have  heard  from  Charles  what,  according  to  the 
system  of  the  present  Papal  government,  can  be  expected 
to  be  obtained.  This  opportunity  for  Charles  of  seeing 
,  Berlin,  not  as  a  mass  of  building  or  a  mass  of  population, 
but  as  a  centre  of  intellectual  movement, — of  again  seeing 
the  King — of  being  made  personally  known  to  the  Crown 
Prince,  who  is  highly  prejudiced  in  his  favour — of  forming 
the  acquaintance  of  Count  Bernstorff,  who  has  already 
shown  him  all  the  personal  interest  that  can  be  shown  to  a 
person  unknown — of  feeling  how  he  stands  with  his  old 
and  constant  protector  Prince  Wittgenstein,  and  measuring 
the  degree  of  toleration  felt  for  him  by  the  King's  private 
minister,  General  Witzleben;  cannot  but  be  felt  to  be 
highly  important:  and  may  God  direct  him  and  direct 
them,  so  that  this  crisis  may  tend  to  establish,  not  to  shake 
his  position  in  life.  I  hope  and  believe  I  do  not  deceive 
myself  in  saying  that  I  have  no  feelings  of  ambition  on 
this  occasion :  most  certainly  do  I  fear  and  dread  that  which 
many  people  expect,  that  the  predilection  which  the  King 
showed  for  Charles  when  in  Borne  will  so  far  strengthen, 
as  to  induce  him  to  desire  his  presence  at  Berlin,  in  some 
post  of  trust  and  honour.  If  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  is  nothing  I  could  so  earnestly  wish  to  avert  as  any 


284         LLFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

circumstance  that  should  lead  Charles,  with  his  acute  feel- 
ings and  irritable  fibre,  into  the  midst  of  court-cabals  and 
city-intrigues ;  the  happiness  of  life  would  be  the  least  to 
be  sacrificed :  only  thick- skinned  and  phlegmatic  people 
can  get  through  such  an  ordeal  without  a  material  change 
for  the  worse  in  character.  But  I  trust  I  shall  see  him 
again,  at  the  end  of  November  or  beginning  of  December, 
with  much  increase  of  knowledge  of  the  state  of  things 
from  the  near  view  he  will  have  been  enabled  to  take,  and 
with  no  other  alteration,  either  in  plans,  wishes,  or  situa-» 
tion  in  life.  At  Berlin  he  hoped  to  arrive  on  the  12th  or 
13th  October,  and  if  not  detained  by  express  commands, 
would  not  stay  longer  than  to  the  end  of  the  month ;  but 
his  journey  back  would  take  more  time  than  the  journey 
there,  because  he  would  of  course  profit  by  the  opportu- 
nity of  being  in  Germany  after  eleven  years'  absence,  to 
take  a  glimpse  of  several  friends  whom  he  might  never 
have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  again,  in  particular  his 
remaining  sister,  Helen,  Madame  Miiller,  who  lives  at 
Corbach,  where  he  will  also  visit  the  graves  of  his  parents. 
If  it  is  possible,  he  will  go  to  Bonn,  to  see  Mr.  Niebuhr 
and  Brandis."  The  latter  is  as  happy  as  possible  in  his 
marriage,  but  his  wife  is  almost  always  ailing :  God  grant 
her  life  may  be  preserved,  for  the  calamity  of  his  losing 
her  would  be  too  terrible.  Mr.  Niebuhr  wrote  Charles  a 
very  long  letter  lately,  very  happy  in  the  gradual  and 
complete  development  of  his  Marcus.  Mrs.  Niebuhr  drags 
on  a  suffering  existence,  never  well,  and  never  in  danger." 
"10  Oct.,  1827. — I  have  had  a  long  and  delightful  letter 
from  Berlin,  where  Charles  has  met  with  the  most  gracious 
of  receptions  from  King,  Princes,  and  Ministers.  The  birth- 


AKSKNCE.  285 


day  of  the  Crown  Prince,  three  days  after  his  arrival,  was 
celebrated  by  the  King  at  a  little  country-house,  which  he 
inhabited  when  he  was  Crown  Prince,  twenty  miles  from 
Berlin ;  and  Charles  was  invited,  although  no  other  person 
was  there  except  the  Royal  Family  and  their  attendants." 

MADAME  BUNSEIST  to  her  HUSBAND. 

"Palazzo  Alba-Hi,  Castel  Gandolfo,  26  Sept.,  1827.— Having 
been  busy  all  morning  looking  over  papers,  and  putting  ac- 
counts in  order,  I  may  now  allow  myself  the  refreshment  of 
beginning  a  letter.  My  own  Dearest  and  Best !  it  is  a 
strange  sensation  that  my  thoughts  have  such  a  long  space 
to  travel  over  before  they  can  reach  you :  but  most  thankful 
do  I  feel  that  this  separation  should  take  place  now,  instead 
of  at  any  other  time, — this  year,  instead  of  last.  On  the 
past  summer  my  thoughts  will  repose  as  long  as  I  live 
with  thankfulness,  at  no  time  did  I  ever  feel  you  so  near 
to  me,  at  no  time  did  I  ever  feel  so  fully  how  much  you 
loved  me,  at  no  time  did  I  ever  feel  so  much  satisfaction 
and  delight  in  you :  so  it  was  just  that  a  period  of  priva- 
tion should  follow  one  of  fulness.  I  assure  you  I  am  not 
depressed :  I  am  serious,  but  not  melancholy,  at  your 
absence,  and  in  -the  consideration  of  the  very  important 
crisis  that  this  journey  must  form  in  your  life. 

' '  The  morning  after  you  left,  I  unceasingly  despatched 
business  till  half -past  twelve,  when  I  set  out  for  Albano, 
with  your  sister,  the  four  boys,  Augusta  Klein  and 
Albrer-.ht,  and  Giovanni's  brother  as  lackey.  Not  till  four 
o'clock  did  we  arrive,  for  they  had  given  us  tired  horses, 
however  we  had  no  distress,  except  the  hunger  of  the 
children,  and  I  enjoyed  sitting  in  quiet  iu  the  delicious  air. 


286          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    HARDNESS    lit.  XSKX. 

After  dinner  the  children  enjoyed  a  game  at  Boccia  with 
Augusta  Klein.  Before  they  went  to  bed,  I  examined 
Ernest  as  to  his  studies  in  the  absence  of  Simon,  and  re- 
ceived from  him  a  compendium  of  the  history  of  Moses : 
with  such  exactness  of  detail,  such  accuracy  of  chronology, 
and  such  choice  of  language,  as  confirms  me  in  the  hope 
that  whatever  knowledge  he  may  acquire,  he  will  fairly 
possess,  it  will  not  be  as  it  were  lent  for  a  time. 

"27  Sept. — 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  the 
spot  itself  is  well  worth  seeing,,  though  there  is  nothing  of 
antiquity  visible.  The  post  brought  letters  from  Niebuhr 
with  commissions  for  Latin  books,  and  for  an  antique  brick 
for  Marcus. 

"  28  Sept. — To-day  we  have  been  at  Marino,  and  Frances 
was  with  us,  and  enjoyed  greatly  riding  upon  ^n  ass  on 
the  old  woman's  lap.  My  George  rode  also,  and  was  the 
happiest  of  human  beings  at  being  held  upon  the  ass,  but 
he  and  I  have  had  many  a  dispute." 

"  Castel  Gandolfo,  4  Oct.,  1827.— On  Monday  we  profited 
by  the  fine  day  to  go  to  L'Ariccia  with  all  the  children, 
who  rode  alternately,  Frances  and  Emilia  of  course  with 
their  accompaniments  of  nurse  and  waiting-maid,  and 
George  with  one  of  his  brothers  behind  him.  "We  fell 
like  a  flight  of  locusts  upon  John  Yeit,  who  sent  for  his 
wife  from  her  devotions  to  receive  our  visit. 

"  On  Tuesday  we  drove  to  Genzano,  and  afterwards 
proceeded  to  Nemi,  and  there  visited  the  garden  of  Palazzo 
Braschi,  which  is  really  enjoyable — being  contrived  upon 
the  steep  descent  of  the  rocks  under  the  palace. 


ABSENCE.  287 


"  Your  sister  is  on  the  whole  surprisingly  well,  though 
she  has  daily  fever,  and  often  severe  rheumatic  pains. 
Judging  by  her  feelings,  she  is  of  opinion  that  the  bad 
weather  is  drawing  to  a  close ;  if  it  should  do  so  soon,  it 
would  be  worth  our  while  to  remain  here  longer,  and  to 
go  to  Monte  G'avo,  Grotta  Eerrata,  and  the  Centroiii. 
Yesterday  I  had  a  great  battle  with  George,  to  whom  I 
found  it  necessary  to  refuse  Butterlrod  at  breakfast.  After 
urging  his  right  and  privilege  to  it  for  some  time,  he  reso- 
lutely exclaimed,  '  Giorgio  prende  butiro,  ammazza  Mama 
me  ! '  You  may  believe  I  kept  my  countenance  till  I  had 
done  whipping  him  and  putting  him  in  prison,  but  then 
allowed  myself  to  laugh." 

"  7  Oct. — I  hope  before  I  leave  to  have  dry  weather  and 
leisure  combining  to  make  some  sketch  or  another  as  a 
record  of  my  dear  Castel  Gandolfo,  a  place  that  I  shall 
ever  remember  with  gratitude,  and  which  can  in  recollec- 
tion stir  up  no  feeling  but  what  is  soothing." 

"Palazzo  Cafarelli,  Rome,  14  Oct.,  1827.— I  had  the 
comfort  of  your  letter,  my  own  Best  and  Dearest,  on  the 
evening  before  my  safe  and  happy,  but  somewhat  wet 
return  from  Castello.  There  had  only  been  an  interval  of 
rain  for  two  days,  in  which  your  sister  made  her  escape 
very  wisely  to  Bonie.  I  never  felt  so  much  alone  as  in  the 
day  and  half  I  was  at  Palazzo  Albaaio  without  her,  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  left  Castello,  besides  packing  up,  I  went 
in  the  morning  to  visit  the  Marchesa  Coosa,  and  then  to 
take  leave  of  the  Yilla  Barberini,  where  I  greatly  enjoyed 
a  solitary  walk,  after  establishing  the  children  at  play, 


288          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

along  the  long  avenue  as  far  as  the  pines :  the  Libeccio 
blew  a  tempest,  but  the  sun  shone,  and  the  wind  spent  its 
fury  on  the  summits  of  the  trees,  the  walk  itself  being 
sheltered ;  all  which  circumstances  assisted  the  solemn,  but 
not  melancholy  state  of  mind,  in  which  I  bade  adieu  to 
Castel  Gandolfo.  Afterwards  I  took  leave  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  with 
the  sight  of  the  swimming  lights,  which  curiosity  was  not 
new  to  his  brothers.'" 

"  Rome,  15  Oct. — I  had  on  Saturday  evening,  and  again 
to-day,  a  long  visit  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shirley,*  the  former 
the  same  that  we  ever  knew  him,  and  looking  the  picture 
of  happiness  :  the  latter  has  produced  on  us  the  most  agree- 
able impression,  I  am  quite  rejoiced  to  know  her,  and  wish 
more  than  I  can  describe  that  she  might  still  be  here  when 
you  return." 

"  20  Oct. — My  thoughts  are  much  occupied  by  your 
description  of  Cornelius's  paintings,  and  a  spirit  of  criti- 
cism will  rise  in  spite  of  me  against  the  manner  in  which 
he  has  treated  the  taking  of  Troy.  I  think  there  is  much 
cleverness  in  the  combination  of  means  to  produce  strong 
emotion,  but  that  real  genius  would  have  been  more 
sparing  in  the  representation  of  human  brutality.  The 
art  of  painting  had  better  not  exist,  than  that  it  should  be 
exercised  to  display  the  degrading  side  of  what  is  noble  in 
the  ancient  world  and  in  human  nature  ;  and  in  the  honour 

*  The  Rev.  Walter  Shirley,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man. 
lie  married  a  first  cousin  of  Madame  Bunsen,  Maria  only  daughter  of 
William  Waddington,  who  was  naturalized  in  France  in  consequence 
of  liis  marriage  with  Miss  Sykes,  hoiress  of  St.  Leger  near  Rowm. 


ABSENCE.  289 


that  we  pay,  and  that  we  owe,  to  the  memory  of  Homer's 
heroes,  we  should  as  much  as  possible  keep  out  of  sight 
and  out  of  recollection  the  fact  that  they  were  ignorant  of 
those  refined  humanities  which  Christianity  has  taught  ; 
and  the  taking  of  Troy  might  be  represented,  and  truly 
represented,  without  the  introduction  of  those  images  of 
passion  and  atrocity  which  lower  the  Grecian  heroes  to  a 
band  of  wild  beasts,  who,  after  wearying  themselves  with 
slaughter,  are  ready  to  contend  among  themselves  about 
the  division  of  the  defenceless  remainder  of  their  prey, 
each  thinking  the  other  has  the  better  portion.  The  idea 
of  Cassandra  prophesying  the  vengeance  to  come,  is  very 
magnificent,  and  the  escape  of  .ZEneas  must  be  a  point  of 
consolation  for  the  eye  to  rest  upon  ;  but  I  could  wish  in 
the  other  Trojan  princesses  somewhat  less  of  '  female  noise, 
such  as  the  majesty  of  grief  destroys.'  A  calamity,  for 
which  a  number  of  preceding  sorrows  had  prepared  the 
way,  would,  as  it  were,  condense  the  feelings  into  com- 
posed endurance ;  and  historical  painting  has  no  need  of 
theatrical  emphasis  to  be  intelligible. 

"I  have  been  at  the  Villa  SjTada,  the  Villa  Pamfili/and 
the  Villa  Borghese;  at  St.  Peter's,  and  S.  Maria  del 
Popolo.  Rome  is  very  delightful  as  well  as  Castello,  but 
one  has  less  leisure  here." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"23  Oct.,  1827. — Mr.  Shirley  and  Maria  are  here,  and 
enjojing  Borne  most  thoroughly.  When  they  wrote  me 
word  they  were  arrived,  I  felt  as  odd  at  the  idea  of  encoun- 
tering them  without  Charles,  as  I  used  to  do  years  ago  at 
the  thought  oj  forming  new  acquaintance  without  my 

VQI<.  I,  U 


290          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

Mother  ;  it  seemed  as  if  I  wanted  him  to  make  amends  to 

people  for  the  trouble  they  took  in  knowing  me I 

am  disappointed  in  Mr.  Shirley's  not  speaking  German 
enough  to  converse  with  my  sister-in-law,  for  I  am  sure  it 
would  be  a  pleasure  to  both ;  and  I  always  wish  to  every- 
body capable  of  appreciating  intercourse  with  the  extra- 
ordinary mind  of  my  sister-in-law,  the  refreshment  and 
invigoration  I  have  experienced  myself  from  her  con- 
summate originality.  I  do  not  mean  originality  in  the 
commonplace  sense  of  the  word  as  implying  mere  singu- 
larity ;  but  to  signify,  that  whether  she  communicates  the 
plainest  or  the  most  refined  result  of  intellectual  or  spiritual 
experience,  it  is  always  in  such  a  manner  as  conveys  an 
absolute  conviction  of  its  being  self-derived  and  not  received 
from  without  for  the  purpose  of  transmission.  "When  I 
recollect  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  by 
letters  undertake  to  reconcile  them :  all  are  true,  however 
paradoxical." 

To  BUNSEN. 

"  24  Oct.,  1827. — The  company  of  the  Shirleys,  whom  I 
see  here,  or  go  to,  most  evenings,  is  a  great  gain  to  me ; 
it  is  a  refreshment  to  come  in  contact  with  people  so  right- 
headed  and  right-hearted,  and  with  whom  mind,  principles, 
and  feelings,  are  all  sound  and  healthy." 

"  7  Nov.  —Every  sentence  in  your  last  letter  leads  mo 
to  ejaculate,  to  you,  my  Dearest,  to  myself,  to  all  of  us, 
'Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation,' — 
temptation  to  ge}f-satisfaction,  to  self-gratulation  ;  tempta- 


ABSENCE.  291 

tion  to  worldly  ambition ;  temptation  to  forgett'ulness  of 
God  and  his  Providence  !  Surely,  it  is  an  awful  trial  to 
which,  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  His  favours, 
nor  that  of  looking  upon  them  as  your  due. — The  full  tide 
of  gratification  beyond  wish  or  expectation,  I  am  called 
upon  in  some  degree  to  check,  by  communicating  to  you 
the  intelligence  of  Mr.  Cathcart's  death * 

"  This  is  the  birthday  of  our  darling  George,  as  last 
Sunday  was  that  of  Charles.  A  whole  set  of  treasures 
awaited  them  both,  and  the  little  Eggers'  came  both  days 
to  help  to  make  a  noise,  and  a  fine  noise  was  to  be  heard 
the  whole  day  long/' 

"  17  Nov. — I  have  just  been  in  the  Carnpo  Yaccino  with 
your  sister,  my  George,  and  the  nurse  with  Emilia.  We 
saw  a  number  of  men  at  work,  excavating  opposite  the 
Coliseum,  at  the  foot  of  the  temple  of  Venus  and  Borne, 
but  could  discover  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  the 
temple.  My  George  picked  up  pieces  of  stone,  repeating 
with  great  satisfaction  l  questo  e  hello,  'tico?  meaning  antico" 

"19  Nov. — May  God  guide  and  protect  you!  is  my 
prayer  now  and  continually :  — if  it  is  His  will,  your  going  to 
Berlin,  and  remaining  in  Berlin,  will  be  good  for  yourself 
and  others ;  and  then  I  shall  not  regret  your  prolonged  stay. 
Your  purpose,  to  attain  the  point  of  being  well  understood 
by  those  persons  who  direct  the  spiritual  existence  of  your 

*  Mr.  Cathcart  was  the  friend  of  Bunsen's  early  life,  who  had  been 
the  means  of  bringing  him  to  Rome. 


292  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

country,  thus  stated  in  general  terms,  I  greatly  approve  : 
but  I  wish.  I  knew  who  those  persons  were  ....  and,  till 
you  give  me  more  data,  I  know  not  how  to  assent  to  your 
assertion  '  die  Beise  war  die  Miihe  werth ! '  I  wish  you 
may  not  awaken  mistrust  and  suspicion  by  all  your  liturgi- 
cal conferences.  0  the  gossip  of  Berlin !  " 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"26  Nov.,  1827. — My  own  dearest  Mother's  letter  was 
written  on  the  7th  November,  my  darling  George's  birth- 
day. 0  !  could  but  the  spirit  of  joy  and  satisfaction  which 
was  diffused  thro'  this  house  on  that  day,  have  spread 
to  my  Mother,  how  it  would  have  cheered  her  gloom, 
how  it  would  have  renovated  her  weariness,  how  it  would 
have  soothed  her  spirit !  The  child  is  and  was  the  same 
child  on  that  day  as  on  other  days,  but  that  day  all  were 
happy  in  the  privilege  of  doing  something  or  another  to 
make  him  particularly  happy  from  morning  till  night,  and 
he  was  so  happy,  and  did  so  enjoy  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  fullest 
satisfaction :  there  is  such  a  vigour  in  him,  moral  and 
physical, — such  proportion,  such  fullness,  such  intelligence, 
such  tenderness  of  nature.  Oh !  how  you  would  delight  in 
him,  and  be  refreshed  by  the  sight  of  him !  My  Mother, 
it  is  indeed  more  and  more  necessary,  as  you  say,  that  we 
should  meet,  but  how  ? — When  I  think  of  the  risk  about 
my  Father,  I  dare  not  allow  myself  to  wish  that  you 
should  come  to  Rome,  so  entirely  do  I  feel  'what  you 
express,  that  any  degree  of  illness  would  cause  the  bit- 
terest self-reproach.  But,  blessed  be  God,  it  is  God  alone 


ABSENCE.  293 


that  can  bring  us  together,  it  is  God  alone  that  keeps  us 
apart, — therefore  the  prolongation  of  trial  must  be  best  for 
both  and  we  must  by  no  forced  measure  attempt  to  put  an 
end  to  it,  lest  the  trial  should  take  a  still  worse  shape,  and 

turn  to  punishment With  regard  to  my  troubles, 

one  cannot  be  thirty- six  years  in  the  world  without  having 
anxieties  of  some  sort  or  other,  and  I  always  think,  with 
respect  to  them,  of  my  Mother's  expression  when  sending 
me  of  an  errand — '  Gallop  up  stairs  again,  and  give  such  a 
message — it's  all  in  your  day's  work.'  That  idea  of  a  day's 
tvork,  as  much  as  one's  strength  can  perform,  and  not  more, 
but  also  not  less,  but  limited  to  a  term,  the  day — was 
always  fully  satisfactory  to  me,  at  those  times ;  and  it  is 
equally  so  now.  I  am  well  content  with  my  present  por- 
tion of  the  day's  work,  my  own  Mother,  and  you  would  be 
so  too,  if  you  knew  it,  that  is,  if  you  knew  the  whole  of 
my  situation,  in  all  its  bearings,  of  which  it  is  so  difficult  to 
give  an  idea  in  letters  written  at  scraps  of  time,  and  amidst 
interruptions.  And  as  to  the  future  part  of  the  day's  work, 
I  do  not  fear  getting  through  with  it. — How  should  I 
sink  under  discouragement,  who  have  the  everlasting  arms 
under  me,  the  wisdom  of  Heaven  to  direct  and  guide  mo. 
and  the  infinite  treasures  of  goodness  to  supply  all  my 
necessities  ? 

"I  have  constantly  the  same  accounts  from  my  dearest 
husband,  of  his  receiving  unceasing  and  universal  marks 
of  grace  and  favour  at  Berlin :  may  the  Providence  that 
brought  him  to  this  situation  of  honour  and  danger,  defend 
him  from  the  envy,  hatred,  malice  and  all  uncharitableness 
by  which  he  must  be  surrounded !  From  the  spiritual 
dangers  of  his  situation,  I  have  the  fullest  trust  that  the 


294  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

mercy  of  God  will  protect  him  :  He  who  '  granted  the  early 
will  grant  the  latter  rain,'  and  bring  His  own  work  to 
perfection." 

"  29  Nov. — I  have  seen  the  Aliens  often,  morning  and 
evening,  and  the  company  of  Mr.  Allen*  is  a  real  pleasure 
to  me.  I  am  more  than  ever  aware  of  all  that  is  good  and 
excellent  and  respectable  about  him,  but  his  foibles  have 
grown  old  with  him  as  well  as  his  good  qualities,  and  he  is 
as  fond  as  ever  of  repeating  anecdotes  of  Brooke's  :  he 
has  however  changed  the  chit-chat  of  Holland  House  for 
that  of  Woburn,  and  the  names  of  Scarlett,  Brougham,  &c., 
for  those  of  the  Eussells  and  the  Seymours." 

To  BUNSEN. 

"14  Dec.,  1827. — On  Wednesday,  our  new  carpets  being 
down,  I  invited  several  people  whom  I  thought  myself 
bound  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  Bostell's  little  Corinaldesi,  whose 
singing  was  much  admired,  and  a  harp-player  named 
Fraziani :  the  Vannitelli  played  admirably  on  the  piano- 
forte, and  altogether  it  was  an  abundant  feast  of  music, 
so  that  the  evening  passed  off  extremely  well.  I  took  care 
to  have  un  rinfresco  sujficiente. 

"  My  George  last  night  jumped  up  in  his  sleep  and  said 
*  Papa,  papa  via,  papa  torna.'  On  coming  down-stairs 
this  morning,  Charles  related  that  he  had  dreamt  of  his 
Papa :  and  Henry,  on  hearing  it,  said  that  he  had  often 
dreamt  of  his  Papa's  return.  Last  Sunday  I  had  a  long 
*  Allen  of  Cresselly,  brother  of  Mrs.  Drewe. 


ABSENCE.  295 


walk  with  the  four  boys,  Giovanni  holding  my  George's 
hand,  and  carrying  him  part  of  the  way  home.  It  was  one 
of  those  delightful  Eoman  winter  days,  in  which  every 
object  seems  illuminated  and  ennobled  by  the  atmosphere, 
and  every  breath  of  air  inhaled  seems  to  invigorate  soul 
and  body.  We  went  by  the  Coliseum  to  S.  Clernente,  where 
we  examined  paintings,  monuments,  marble-enclosures, 
and  mosaics,  to  the  gratification  of  all  the  children.  From 
thence  we  proceeded  to  the  Baptistery  of  the  Lateran, 
where  the  words  Indulgentia  Plenaria  gave  Henry  an  oppor- 
tunity of  asking  particulars  as  to  the  belief  of  the  Catholics, 
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,  where 
Santa  Croce  and  the  Porta  Asinaria,  and  the  range  of 
mountains  behind,  with  the  green  meadow  before,  burst 
upon  us  in  full  splendour  of  sunshine  and  colouring. 

"At  Lady  Compton's  I  have  made  acquaintance  with 
Mr.  Hallam  and  his  wife.  Mr.  Hallam  is  .not  exactly 
agreeable,  but  he  looks  like  a  person  made  of  sterling 
stuff. 

"  My  Best-Beloved !  thayear  will  be  at  an  end  when  this 
letter  reaches  its  destination :  probably  you  will  not  open 
it  till  the  new  year  has  begun.  May  it  be  to  you  a  year  of 
new  blessings,  a  year  of  sobriety  of  spirit,  a  year  of  self- 
resolution,  a  year  of  advance  in  spiritual  life !  As  to  all 
that  is  temporal,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  form  a  special 
wish,  lest  it  should  be  either  granted  or  rejected  «in  wrath  ! 
I  can  only  pray  for  myself,  for  you,  for  our  children,  for  all 
those  we  love  best,  that  the  power  of  God  may  be  granted, 
to  enable  us  to  support  the  will  of  God !  The  past  year  is 


296  LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

one  I  look  upon  with  peculiar  thankfulness,  for  the  renewed 
and  strengthened  assurance  of  your  love  that  I  have  received 
in  it:  for  the  peace  and  enjoyment  of  our  summer  residence : 
for  the  progressive  improvement  in  mind  and  body  of  our 
precious  children.  Again  and  again,  God  bless  jou,  my 
Dearest !  It  is  nine  o'clock,  and  Kestner,  Hensel,*  and 
Grahlf  are  sitting  in  expectation  of  me." 

"  17  D-ec.,  1827. — My  Best-Beloved,  what  ticklish  ground 
you  are  standing  upon!  So  useful  to  each  and  all,  so 
indispensable  where  advice  on  given  points  is  wanting — 
where  all  are  in  a  scrape,  and  all  would  be  glad  of  a 
suggestion  how  to  get  out  of  it,  but  trust  you  rather  than 
any  one  else,  as  being  believed  to  understand  the  subject 
better !  Oh  what  shall  save  you  from  splitting  on  rocks, 
or  running  aground  on  shoals!  And  yet,  there  are  no 
rocks,  no  shoals,  for  him  whose  steerage  is  ever  regulated 
according  to  the  true  compass  of  the  soul: — who  with 
singleness  of  eye  and  heart  marks  alone  the  noiseless 
vibrations  qf  that  needle  of  conscience,  which  ever  points 
to  the  pole,  the  one  fixed  point  round  which  all  that  is 
earthly  revolves.  My  Dearest,  shall  I  admit  that  I  did  not 
like  your  exultation  in  la  difficulte  vaincue:  were  you  not 
too  full  of  self-confidence  in  your  own  powers  ? — If  you 
have,  as  I  trust  and  believe,  laboured  not  only  faithfully 
but  efficiently  for  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  church  of 
Christ,  I  shall  indeed  be  the  last  person  to  grudge  you  the 
praise  you  deserve,  but  I  wish  you  had  not  taken  so  much 
to  yourself.  That  Providence  which  brought  about  your 
journey  to  Berlin,  may  make  use  of  you  to  produce  public 

*  An  eminent  Prussian  artist. 

t  The  well-knowp  miniature  painter  to  the  King  of  Prussia. 


ABSENCE.  297 


benefit :  but  to  be  the  instrument  of  good  will  not  make 
you  better,  unless  your  inward  abasement  before  the  cross 
of  Christ  is  proportioned  to  your  external  exaltation.  My 
best-beloved,  most  precious,  will  you  forgive  my  preaching? 
If  you  have  not  needed  it,  you  will  not  take  it  ill !  You 
are  placed  on  a  pinnacle,  and  you  will  not  wonder  that  I 
call  to  you  from  a  distance,  supplicating  you  to  keep  your 
eye  still  fixed  aloft,  lest,  should  you  cast  it  below  or  around, 
you  should  grow  giddy  and  fall." 

"26  Dec.,  1827. — On  Christmas  Eve  I  took  care  to  ask 
all  the  stationaries,  Kestner,  Platner,  Eothe  and  his  wife, 
Hensel,  Grahl,  the  three  Eggers  and  their  children,  which 
with  the  standing-dishes  of  Simon,  Rostell,  and  Bhebenitz, 
and  the  new  acquisition  of  Herr  Georg,  made  up  a  toler- 
ably large  party,  and  we  put  up  Ehebenitz's  transparency 

between  two  beautiful  trees My  darling  George 

had  a  hammer  and  a  pair  of  pincers,  and  was  the  happiest 
of  God's  creatures,  lugging  about  the  two  treasures,  one 
in  each  dear  fat  hand ;  after  looking  at  everything,  and 
enjoying  everything,  he  took  them  with  him  to  bed,  and 
slept  with  them  under  his  pillow.  For  everybody  else 
present  I  got  some  suitable  Christmas-box." 

"  5  Jan.,  1828. — My  Best-Beloved,  your  view  of  the  state 
of  people  and  things  in  Berlin  is  made  in  your  temper  of 
mind,  and  I  must  consider  it  with  my  temper  of  mind, 
which  was  always  one  of  fear  and  trembling  from  my 
childhood.  When  anything  looks  very  bright,  I  always 
expect  a  reverse,  and  so  it  is  in  the  present  case.  How- 
ever, be  that  as  it  may,  let  the  will  of  God  be  done !  I 
fear  not  to  look  forward  to  a  change  of  fortune,  knowing 
by  experience  how  little  outward  things  have  to  do  with 


298          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  satisfaction  one  may  feel  in  existence.  When  we  were 
in  the  narrowest  circumstances,  I  had  less  of  care  and  more 
of  enjoyment,  than  I  have  had  since  what  are  called  our 

days  of  fortune You,  as  the  acknowledged  favourite 

of  everybody,  are  now  flattered  by  everybody  (I  mean  the 
world  of  distinguished  beings  in  the  first  place,  and  the 
world  of  little  beings  in  the  second)  and  therefore  all  people 
can  scarcely  show  themselves  to  you  in  their  true  colours. 

"  On  the  last  evening  of  the  year  I  sang  '  Gottlob, 
ein  Schritt  zur  Ewigkeit '  alone  :  I  wonder  where  you  were, 
and  who  sang  a  hymn  to  you ! " 

Jan.  17,  1828. — My  Dearest,  I  cannot  express  the  plea- 
sure your  account  of  your  Christmas  gave  me,  nor  what 
affection  I  feel  towards  the  Grobens  *  for  making  you  such 
•amends  for  not  being  at  home.  I  also  feel  real  aifection 
towards  the  King  for  the  regard  he  showed  you.  That 
invitation  on  Christmas  Day,  and  the  yet  more  flattering 
arrangement  for  your  hearing  the  Eussians  sing,  I  take  to 
have  resulted  from  the  pleasure  which  your  letter  accom- 
panying the  Eaphael  on  Christmas  Eve  gave  him.  I 
doubt  not  that  letter  was  written  with  all  your  heart,  and 
so  it  reached  the  King's." 

( 
In   the   beginning  of   February,    Madame    Bunsen 

received  the  news  of  her  father's  death.     He  retained 

*  Count  Carl  Grobon,  of  Neudorfohen  in  East  Prussia,  had  been 
Bliicher's  aide-de-camp  during  the  late  campaigns,  and  held  the  same 
position  at  this  time  towards  the  Crown  Prince,  afterwards  King 
Frederick  William  IV.  He  lived  to  an  old  age,  a  splendid  specimen 
of  the  last  generation.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  that  General 
Dornberg  described  in  a  former  letter  from  Madame  Bunsen  to  her 
mother. 


ABSENCE.  299 


his  active  habits  and  his  systematic  application  to  read- 
ing, to  the  last,  and  walked  in  snow  and  frost  the  day 
before  he  died.  He  retired  to  bed  as  usual,  while  on  a 
visit  to  his  daughter  Augusta  at  Abercarne,  and  the  next 
morning  was  found  by  his  servant  speechless,  having 
been  struck  with  apoplexy.  Mrs.  Waddington  was 
immediately  summoned  from  Llano ver,  13  miles  dis- 
tant, but  he  was  never  apparently  conscious  of  her 
presence.  He  expired  the  19th  January,  1828,  in  his 
80th  year,  and  was  buried  at  Llanover. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"6  Feb.,  1828. — My  own  Mother,  I  experience  that  for 
a  shock  of  this  sort  there  is  no  preparation  :  I  had  thought 
myself  prepared  for  it,  with  such  certainty  that  I  antici- 
pated it ; — but  that  does  not  alter  the  fact,  or  the  impres- 
sion made.  My  sensation  in  reference  to  myself  is  that 
produced  by  the  idea  of  a  ship  let  loose  from  its  cable, 
and  drifting  before  the  wind  : — the  longer  I  was  separated 
from  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  recur- 
ring vision  now  be  incomplete  ?  must  I  figure  to  myself 
the  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 
means  of  my  children,  some  gratification,  some  occupa- 
tion, some  amusement,  to  him  whom  I  must  look  upon  as 
a  benefactor  for  whom  I  have  never  done  anything — 


300  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

towards  whom  I  might  have  appeared  as  a  mere  thankless 
receiver  ?  Perhaps  these  dreams  might  never  have  been 
realized,  but  to  have  had  them  cut  short  by  death  is  the 
same  pain  as  if  every  probability  had  attended  them,  and 
we  that  are  earthly  must  cling  to  what  is  earthly,  must 
suffer  from  what  is  earthly.  But  if  all  this  touches  me, 
my  own  dearest  Mother,  and  touches  deeply,  what  have 
you  not  to  feel,  to  be  bowed  to  the  ground  b}^  ?  and  am  I 
never  to  be  with  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 ; '  your 
trial  and  your  comfort  must  come  from  the  same  source. 
0  my  Mother !  how  my  soul  is  penetrated  by  your  self- 
accusation  !  *  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  sole  pleasure  of  his  life,  the  sole 
occupation,  the  sole  subject-matter  that  mixed  with  his 
thoughts  and  plans  ;  the  thing  that  he  looked  for  at  every 
period  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  pours  poison  into 
the  wound,  and  converts  sorrow  to  anguish.  But  you  will 
in  time,  I  trust  and  pray,  feel  the  practical  influence  of 
what  your  understanding  admits.  From  the  blackest 
stain  of  sin  of  which  human  nature  is  capable,  down  to 


*  This  alludes  to  the  distress  of  Mrs.  AYadilingion  becatise  she  had 
remained  at  Llanover  when  Mr.  AVaddington,  by  his  own  wish,  went 
for  a  few  days'  visit  to  Abercarne.  His  death  was  quite  sudden,  but 
he  had  the  affectionate  attentions  of  his  youngest  daughter  and  her 
husband,  who  were  with  him. 


ABSENCE.  301 


the  faintest  shade  of  wrong  which  a  tender  conscience 
can  perceive,  all  must  be  brought  to  the  '  one  fountain 
opened  for  all  sin  and  uncleanness  : '  there  the  one  is 
obliterated  as  well  as  the  other  ;  and  He  who  rebuked  the 
winds,  and  bade  the  waves  be  still,  can  also  quiet  the 
human  spirit,  and  bid  it  cease  from  troubling  the  defence- 
less heart.  I  am  thankful  for  the  circumstance  of  a  pre- 
cious note  being  written  to  you !  the  very  fact  of  writing, 
of  performing  that  act  of  all  then  the  most  irksome,  tells 
worlds  as  to  the  feelings  of  tenderness  towards  you  that 
occupied  him.  And  that  you  were  away  from  him  at  that 
moment,  was  for  his  satisfaction ;  he  did  not  anticipate  his 
end  was  so  near,  and  therefore  it  was  his  wish  that  you 
should  arrange  his  affairs,  in  order  to  forming  a  plan  for 
the  future.  You  made  a  sacrifice  to  his  wishes  in  that 
short  separation.  My  own  dearest  Mother,  I  have  no  con- 
ception how  you  should  ever  keep  your  promise  of  giving 
me  an  account  of  what  took  place  from  the  time  the  chaise 
came  to  fetch  yon,  till  the  note  was  put  into  your  hands ; 
but  if  you  ever  could  tell  me  anything  of  that  time,  the 
comfort  would  be  great  indeed :  my  thoughts  wander  to  it 
in  unceasing  conjecture. — That  solitary  return  to  Llanover ! 
I  had  almost  said,  I  cannot  bear  to  think  of  it :  but  that 
is  a  manner  of  speaking,  my  Mother  has  to  bear  the 
reality. 

"All  Charles's  letters  .contain  accounts  of  the  King's 
unceasing  kindness  to  him :  even  to  favouritism :  I  mis- 
trust all  these  flowers  growing  on  the  soil  of  a  court ;  they 
will  all  have  their  thorn,  although  that  may  later  be  dis- 
covered  My  own  dearest  Mother,  I  know  not  how 

to  bid  you  adieu!  " 


302  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

To  BUNSEN. 

"  14  Feb.,  1828.— I  feel  my  father's  death  most  for  my 
mother,  but  also  as  a  great  personal  shock.  ....  My 
mother  attended  the  funeral.  It  must  have  been  a  most 
affecting  scene :  more  than  four  hundred  farmers  and 
country  people  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  drawing  of  my 
father  by  Augusta — the  most  incomparable  of  all  like- 
nesses— I  have  felt  as  if  that  gift  was  sent  to  prepare  me 
for  his  death :  yet,  when  it  was  sent,  he  was  in  perfect 
health." 

"  19  Feb.,  1828. — I  have  had  an  interruption  which  gave 
mo  much  concern,  the  necessity  of  breaking  to  our  excel- 
lent friend  Kestner  the  news  of  the  death  of  his  mother, 
who  was  Werther's  '  Lotte.'  She  was  from  all  accounts  a 
very  estimable  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  !  God  bless  your  going  out  and  coming  in  !  Heaven 
knows  of  your  coming  in  we  feel  a  great  need,  but  I  see  wo 
shall  have  much  longer  to  wait.  As  to  other  matters,  the 
principal  ones  in  your  letter,  I  pray  in  the  words  of  the 
hymn,— 

Lava  quod  est  sordidum,  Flccte  quod  est  rigidum. 

Riga  quod  est  aridum,  Fove  quod  est  frigidum. 

Sana  quod  est  saucium.  Eege  quod  est  divium." 

"  7  March,  1828. — We  spent  my  birthday  with  as  much 
satisfaction  as  we  could,  under  the  consciousness  of  your 


ABSENCE.  303 


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  come,  for  all  the 
children,  with  Ehebenitz,  Hensel  and  Grahl,  were  collected 
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  least  first.  My  two  sweet  girls  carried  flowers 
and  roba  dolce,  my  George  a  pair  of  gloves,  my  Charles  a 
ribbon,  my  Henry  and  Ernest  each  a  flower-pot  with  a 
flowering-plant  in  it ;  your  sister  brought  me  a  canary-bird 
in  a  cage,  Grahl  a  picture  of  my  Frances,  Ilensel  a  copy 
of  verses,  Rhebenitz  a  very  beautiful  drawing  from  a  paint- 
ing of  Pietro  Perugino,  and  Kestner  a  copy  of  verses, 
with  a  drawing  of  your  sister,  which  is  very  like.  After- 
wards came  the  Rothe's,  she  having  embroidered  a  ruff  for 
me :  then  came  the  Eggers'  procession,  Albert  with  a 
flower-pot,  Georg  and  Otto  with  a  basket  lined  with  green 
silk,  the  gift  of  Augusta  Klein.  As  soon  as  the  children 
had  dined,  we  went  to  see  the  wild  beasts,  now  outside  the 
Porta  del  Popolo;  and  then  to  the  Villa  Borghese." 

To  her  MOTHEU. 

"  1  March,  1828.— My  dearest  husband  is  still  at  Berlin, 
and  God  grant  it  may  be  to  good  purpose.  During  this 
long  stay  at  Court  plentiful  seed  of  future  trial  will  have 
been  sown — that  is  certain  :  but  be  it  so  ;  '  it  is  all  in  the 
day's  work,'  and  there  is  but  one  thing  good  or  evil  in  life. 
"What  I  cannot  understand  is  the  possibility  of  people's 
seriously  congratulating  me  (as  they  do)  upon  the  advan- 
tages to  be  derived  to  the  children  from  Charles's  present 
favour.  One  should  suppose  nobody  had  ever  heard,  or 


304          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

read,  what  a  Court  is.  I  have  more  hope  of  the  children's 
doing  well  in  life,  from  good  instructions  begun,  continued, 
and  ended  in  faith  and  prayer. 

"  The  boys  are  now  very  busy  cutting  out  at  one  table, 
while  I  am  writing  at  the  other.  They  were  at  first  all  about 
my  table  like  bees,  for  they  always  suppose  where  I  sit 
must  be  the  most  convenient  place.  After  we  have  dined 
about  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,  and 
then  go  up  to  Simon,  who,  as  I  understand,  speaks  to  them 
about  their  conduct  during  the  day,  then  reads  a  hymn, 
and  prays  with  them,  and  then  they  return  to  me.  Rather 
more  than  a  month  ago  I  began  the  practice  of  cutting  out 
for  them  (without  moving  from  my  great  chair)  something 
from  a  card,  that  they  might  trace  it  round,  and  cut  it  out 
for  themselves — there  being  no  end  to  my  drawing  things 
for  each  of  the  three  to  cut ;  and  this  has  proved  a  delight- 
ful occupation,  to  which  they  return  with  fresh  zeal  every 
evening  from  seven  to  eight  o'clock,  when  they  go  to  bed. 
The  things  most  usually  cut  out  are  from  my  Mother's  book 
of  horses,  and  birds  from  Bewick,  and  beasts  from  Gold- 
smith's Animated  Nature. 

"  Henry  and  Ernest  have  their  regular  drawing  lesson 
eveiy  day,  and  singing  twice  a  week — the  drawing  makes 
progress,  but  not  so  striking  as  the  singing.  Rhebenitz 
keeps  them  to  making  out  outlines  for  themselves,  from 
real  objects,  and  Henry  has  begun  to  draw  from  the  win- 
dow ;  but  this  method,  which  is  laying  a  solid  groundwork, 
cannot  at  first  make  a  show.  With  their  progress  in  sing- 
ing I  am  quite  astonished — that  those  two  little  things 


ABSENCE.  305 


.should  keep  firm  at  their  posts,  and  perform  their  part  of 
the  Psalms  of  Marcello,  while  the  tenor  and  bass,  and  the 
accompaniment  are  going  on  at  the  same  time,  is  what 
I  witness  with  surprise,  for  the  quantity  of  teaching 
they  have  had  has  been  really  very  small,  and  subject  to 
many  interruptions.  Their  master  has  accustomed  them 
to  writing  out  their  own  parts,  and  it  is  most  amusing  to 
see  the  important  faces  they  make,  when  copying  out  music 
like  great  grown-up  people,  and  I  am  never  obliged  to 
remind  them  of  doing  it,  they  always  find  time,  altho'  the 
business  is  not  allowed  to  encroach  on  lessons  of  any  sort." 

"  19  March,  1828.— Maria  (Shirley)  has  left  me  a  legacy 
of  '  pious  acquaintances '  in  Borne,  amongst  whom  I  have 
had  an  opportunity  of  learning  more  of  the  way  of  the 
world  than  I  knew  before,  and  really  I  am  not  edified  with 
\v  hat  I  have  learnt.  ....  Do  you  remember  a  little  book 
which  my  dear  aunt  Harriet  sent  me,  the  Memoirs  of 
Mrs.  Mary  Cooper  ?  There  was  much  in  it  to  me  a 
subject  of  melancholy  contemplation,  as  to  the  seducing 
spirit  now  going  about  the  world,  of  '  Pride  dress' d  like 
Humility.'  The  heroine  of  the  book,  I  doubt  not,  will  be 
received  among  the  pardoned  and  accepted ;  but  I  main- 
tain that  nevertheless  it  implies  doctrines,  and  suggests 
sentiments,  more  mischievous  than  anything  in  Delphine. 
Mrs.  Cooper  quotes  from  a  favourite  preacher,  and  often 
repeats  with  high  satisfaction,  '  Do  not  be  satisfied  with 
your  religion  till  it  makes  you  happy.'  This  implies, 
first,  that  it  is  lawful  for  you  to  be  satisfied  with  your 
religion,  that  you  are  allowed  to  consider  it  possible  to 
be  so  religious  as  to  be  enabled  to  say  'It  is  enough.' 
Secondly  it  implies,  that  we  may  expect  and  require  to  be 

VOL,  I.  x 


306          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

happy,  in  this  world,  thro'  religion.  0  my  own  dearest 
Mother,  what  do  people  mean  by  such  suppositions  ?  Have 
they  ever  thought  or  reflected  ?  Is  not  the  first  step  to- 
wards religion  to  acknowledge  yourself  less  than  the  least 
of  God's  mercies,  and  not  only  dust  but  sin — and  when 
any  step  is  made  in  religion,  does  it  not  lead  you  more  and 
more  to  wonder  at  the  desperate  wickedness,  the  deep 
deceit  of  the  human  heart, — to  feel  '  the  iniquities  of  your 
holy  things,'  and  renounce  with  abhorrence  even  what  the 
world  may  call  your  good  deeds,  as  knowing  them  to  come 
from  the  same  source,  to  be  formed  of  the  same  stuff,  as 
your  sins,  and  therefore  unfit  for  the  sight  of  a  God  of 
purity,  however  they  may  take  forms  useful  and  convenient 
and  fair-seeming  to  men  ?  the  result  of  which  is  and  must 
be,  the  reception,  as  a  matter,  not  of  dogma,  but  of  deep 
and  heart-felt  conviction,  of  the  truth  that  thro'  all-suffi.- 
cient  merits,  not  our  own,  if  claimed  by  humble  faith,  we 
are  assured  of  acceptance.  Maria  once  talked  of  feeling 
great  happiness  since  she  was  convinced  of  the  vanity 
of  everything  earthly,  a  sentiment  I  do  not  understand, 
but  which  I  found  no  opportunity  of  expressing  my  dissent 
from.  I  do  not  comprehend  what  is  meant  by  the  comfort 
of  a  good  conscience,  although  I  well  understand  what  Jeremy 
Taylor  calls  '  a  false  peace,  and  a  silent  conscience.'  My 
own  Mother,  it  is  risking  a  good  deal  to  begin  on  such 
topics  with  my  Frances  sitting  on  the  table  mending  my 
glove,  and  my  George  building  a  house  and  chattering 
opposite :  but  I  believe  you  will  understand  what  I  mean, 
however  incoherently  put  together ;  and  not  suppose  that  I 
Lave  learnt  of  Dr.  Nott  to  cast  a  sweeping  sentence  of 
excommunication  against  sectaries ;  on  the  contrary,  I 


ABSENCE.  307 


believe  my  tendency  was  the  reverse,  that  of  over-rating 
their  merits,  nor  will  you  suspect  me  of  requiring  every- 
body to  '  bow  their  heads  like  a  bulrush '  and  expect  to 
rise  to  Heaven  only  from  the  depths  of  despair." 

To  BUISTSEN. 

"20  March,  1828. — This  day  I  receive  my  Best-Beloved's 
letter  announcing  a  yet  longer  absence. — But,  God  grant 
his  blessing  to  the  cause,  and  then,  whatever  the  result,  it 
will  be  satisfactory :  the  result  to  yourself  must  probably 
be  trial,  of  some  sort  or  other,  but  if  all  consequences  are 
encountered  with  singleness  of  heart,  strength  will  be  given 
to  endure  them.  My  Dearest,  it  is  hard  work  to  be  patient ; 
could  I  but  believe  the  delay  would  only  be  for  ten  or 
twelve  days,  or  only  for  any  given  time,  I  could  then  make 
up  my  mind  to  the  necessity.  But  the  mischief  is,  that 
after  having  been  so  often  disappointed,  one  has  no  confi- 
dence left I  thank  God  for  the  gracious  treatment 

you  receive,  and  for  the  fine  mind,  the  candid  spirit,  and 
exalted  views  of  the  principal  person  you  have  to  deal  with. 
And  I  thank  God,  my  very  Dearest,  for  all  the  love  and 
affection  you  express  towards  me  :  it  is  my  trust  in  your 
love  that  alone  makes  it  possible  to  endure  this  piecemeal 
penitence  of  your  lengthened  absence." 

"  9  April,  1828. — It  continues  to  seem  odd  as  well  as 
disagreeable  to  me  to  have  to  see  all  sorts  of  things, 
and  take  part  in  various  passatempi,  according  to  the 
different  seasons  of  the  year,  and  that  you  should  still  be 
absent ;  and  you  too  go  on,  through  business  and  pleasure, 
through  labour  and  refreshment,  between  friends  and 
enemies,  through  the  disturbances  of  men  and  the  festivals 


308          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

of  the  Church — and  all  without  me !  I  was  with  your  sister 
on  Good  Friday  in  the  Sixtine  Chapel,  as  well  as  on  Thurs- 
day, and  thought  much  of  my  dearest  Charles  on  both  days, 
in  our  own  chapel  and  in  that  of  the  Pope ;  but  what  day 
is  there  on  which  I  do  not  think  much  of  him  !  The  sun  is 
shining  in  at  the  open  window,  and  the  breezes  bear  all 
the  freshness  of  new  vegetation  to  every  organ,  and  I  feel 
health  and  strength  and  spirit  to  enjoy,  but  it  is  tantalising 
to  feel  that  the  principal  means  of  enjoyment  is  far  away." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  18  April,  1828. — I  must  answer  my  dearest  Mother's 
question,  whether  I  ought  not  on  account  of  my  health  to 
come  with  my  children  to  England,  very  decidedly  in  the 
negative.  My  health  is  really  very  good,  the  illness  of  this 
winter  was  an  accident  ....  indeed  I  consider  that  I 
have  many  grounds  for  apprehending  that  my  health  will 
not  be  as  good  as  it  is,  when  I  shall  be  exposed  to  the 
intense  cold  of  a  German  winter,  or  the  continued  raw  damp 
of  an  English  one :  however,  let  that  be  as  it  may ;  suffi- 
cient unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof,  and  if  a  burden  is 
sent,  strength  to  bear  it  will  be  granted.  When  I  consider 
the  wear  and  tear  I  have  gone  through  in  the  birth  of  so 
many  children,  and  the  cares  and  anxiety,  the  exertion  of 
body  and  mind,  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  sensible  decay 
of  powers.  I  know  that  I  am  older,  and  that  I  look  older, 
but  I  believe  not  more  so  than  I  should  have  done  from  the 
simple  effect  of  years,  wherever  or  in  whatever  circum- 
stances passed.  Further,  my  own  Mother,  even  if  I  did 


ABSENCE.  309 


not  decide  the  question  so  positively  against  a  removal  on 
account  of  health,  I  should  in  no  case  be  satisfied  to  leave 
Charles.     He  has  been  called  upon  to  leave  me,  and  the 
journey  and  protracted  absence  having  been  brought  about 
'by  circumstances  quite  independent  of  us  both,  we  were 
both  bound  to  acquiesce  :  but  we  ought  never  to  bring  such 
a  separation  upon  ourselves ;  I  certainly  never  shall,  and  I 
am  convinced  he  will  not ;  whatever  might  have  been  his 
feelings  before,  as  to  the  practicability  of  living  without 
me,  I  have  every  reason  to  imagine  he  has  found  the  reality 
of  absence  worse  than  the  anticipation.     As  to  the  reasons 
of  his  detention,  I  must  explain  a  long  story  as  briefly  as  I 
can.     He  was  in  the  first  place  called  upon  to  discuss  a 
matter  of  great  importance  in  the  relations  of  the  King  of 
Prussia  with  his  Catholic  subjects,  namely  the  terms  on 
which  mixed  marriages  (between  Catholics  and  Protestants) 
may  lawfully  be  contracted ;  the  Court  of  Rome,  as  things 
now  stand,  giving  no  dispensation  without  an  engagement 
that  the  Catholic  party  will  enforce  the  education  of  all  the 
children  in  Catholic  tenets.   This  is  of  course  a  state  of  things 
which  cannot  go  on,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  guess  how  the 
parties  are  to  be  conciliated :  however  Charles  went  away 
from  home  with  a  contrivance  in  his  head,  by  which  the 
matter  was  to  be  accomplished,  and  the  result  time  will 
show.     Then  he  has  had  much  to  do,  in   speaking  and 
writing,  with  respect  to  a  difference  between  the  Catholic 
Bishop  of  Breslau  and  his  own  Diocesans.     But  the  third 
thing  was  the  principal.     The  King  of  Prussia  when  he 
was  in  Eome  established  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Legation  the 
liturgical  form  which  ho  had  been  endeavouring  to  induce 
his  subjects  generally  to  adopt,  and  which  in  many  eongre- 


310  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

gations  of  the  Prussian  dominions  has  been  adopted.  To 
this  liturgy  serious  objections  have  with  reason  been  made  : 
it  was  put  together  by  persons  little  suited  to  such  a  busi- 
ness, in  compliance  with  the  King's  desire  for  something 
like  the  mode  of  worship  of  the  Church  of  England ;  and" 
consists  of  fragments  strung  together,  each  good,  but  want- 
ing a  principle  of  connexion  for  the  furtherance  of  devotion. 
This  liturgy  may  be  said  to  require  a  regular  choir,  and 
such  was  actually  got  together  in  Home,  amongst  the 
Painters  and  Sculptors,  to  very  good  effect.  But  in  the 
course  of  the  second  summer  after  the  King  was  here, 
many  of  the  principal  members  of  the  choir  travelled  away, 
and  their  places  were  not  to  be  supplied,  and  therefore 
Charles,  with  Eothe  the  chaplain,  availed  themselves  of 
the  pretext  to  re-model  the  whole:  and  they  introduced  a 
form,  in  everything  material  the  same  as  that  of  the  Church 
of  England,  though  varying  in  arrangement.  I  was  amused, 
and  so  will  you  be,  to  think  of  the  liberties  which  the 
subjects  of  a  despotic  monarch  sometimes  take !  Of  course 
no  report  was  made  to  Berlin,  for  that  would  not  have 
done : — and  Charles  now  being  at  Berlin,  had  every  possible 
reason  to  hope  for  an  opportunity  of  communicating  the 
matter,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  ensure  its  not  being  quashed 
at  once  by  Royal  displeasure.  This  opportunity  was  at  last 
found,  and  on  the  28th  January  the  form  of  divine  service 
here  in  use,  with  accompanying  treatises  and  elucidations, 
was  laid  before  the  King.  An  awful  pause  ensued,  in  the 
course  of  which  Charles  learnt  that  the  King  had  shewn 
himself  much  displeased,  but  had  said  l  that  he  would 
leave  the  congregation  at  Borne  at  liberty  to  do  as  they 
pleased:'  he  laid  aside  the  papers,  and  there  seem&d 


ABSENCE.  311 


no  hope  of  his  entering  into  the  subject.  However  ho 
bethought  himself,  had  the  papers  brought  before  him, 
read  and  explained  by  his  private  secretary,  General  Witz- 
leben,  and  at  last,  had  Charles  summoned  to  a  private 
audience,  in  which  the  business  of  reconciling  him  to  what 
had  taken  place  was  completed.  So  far  all  was  well. 
Charles  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  next 
morning,  when  he  received  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  his  journey  a  little  longer,  and 
that  General  Witzleben  would  explain  the  reason.  The 
reason  was  accordingly  explained,  that  the  King  was  re- 
solved to  have  the  whole  printed  :  and  that  Charles  must 
superintend  the  printing  :  for  that  it  was  to  appear  in  the 
world  with  the  Royal  approbation  and  recommendation. 
Upon  this  business  he  has  been  detained  the  whole  of 
March,  but  his  last  letters  lead  me  really  to  believe  that  he 
will  have  begun  his  journey  on  Easter  Monday  the  7th 
April.  In  that  case,  he  may  be  here  the  middle  of  May." 


To 

"25  April,  1828.—  My  own  Best-Beloved!  the  idea  of 
your  certain  and  near  return  now  blends  itself  with  every 
thought,  and  gives  importance  to  every  action  :  for  almost 
everything  is  done  or  let  alone  with  a  reference  to  it  ..... 
You  will  tell  us  the  dear  bright  day  of  your  arrival,  and 
then  we  will  drive  in  a  great  troop  to  meet  you,  at  least  as 
far  as  La  Storta,  and  bring  you  home  in  triumph,  and  feed 


312  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAROXESS    BUNSEX. 

you,  and  let  you  rest,  and  I  shall  place  a  sentinel  at  the 
door  to  say  that  nobody  shall  dare  to  come  in.  And  then 
the  next  morning,  before  the  enemy  has  time  to  make  his 
approaches,  we  will  put  ourselves  into  the  Carrettella,  and 
run  away  to  Tivoli,  with  the  object  of  freely  and  confi- 
dentially speaking,  hearing,  discussing,  and  being  mutually 
understood  by  each  other,  at  this  recommencement  of  our 
conjugal  existence.  For  you  must  admit,  that  if  you  stay 
in  Rome  in  your  own  house  only  one  day,  a  regular  plan 
of  siege  will  be  formed,  and  all  the  outlets  barricaded,  so 
that  you  can  no  longer  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  head 
so  full  of  Roman  cares  that  you  would  not  be  able  to 
belong  to  yourself  and  to  me,  as  exclusively  as  I  want  and 
expect  and  desire  and  require.  The  eight  months  of  your 
absence  have  been  marked  by  joy  and  grief,  pleasure  and 
plague,  which  we  have  each  had  to  go  through  alone  : 
those  circumstances  will  have  left  their  results,  and  pro- 
duced their  modifications  in  both  of  us.  And  after  we  have 
spent  our  days  of  enjoyment  at  Tivoli,  where  we  shall  sit 
out  of  doors,  and  saunter,  and  dawdle,  and  talk  all  day, 
we  will  send  out  a  grand  invitation  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  morning." 

Bunsen  returned  to  Rome  on  the  21st  of  May,  and 
in  June  the  whole  family  moved  to  Frascati  where  the 
first  floor  of  the  Villa  Piccolomini  was  now  engaged 
for  their  occupation,  and  continued  to  be  their  happy 


ABSENCE.  313 


summer  home  during  all  the  rest  of  their  stay  at  Rome. 
In  a  glorious  situation,  close  to  the  magnificent  Villa 
Aldobrandini,  the  Villa  Piccolomini,  embowered  in 
groves  of  bay  and  ilex,  looks  out  on  the  changing 
glories  of  the  view  which  is  unlike  any  other  in  the 
world,  over  the  vast  expanse  of  the  historic  Campagna, 
in  which  the  world's  capital  alternately  gleams  white 
in  the  sunlight,  or  is  lost  in  the  luminous  immensity  of 
the  pink  haze.  Happy  were  the  long  succession  of 
bright  summers  spent  here ;  "  happy  was  Bunsen  in 
the  undisturbed  exercise  of  his  faculties  in  productive 
labour,  in  teaching  his  elder  sons  and  superintending 
their  studies ;  happy  in  the  relaxation  and  recreation 
furnished  by  that  beautiful  neighbourhood  ;  happy  in 
the  society  of  chosen  friends."  * 

A  welcome  addition  to  the  daily  society  of  the  Bun- 
sens  at  this  time  was  given  in  Herr  von  Tippelskirch 
and  his  wife,  nee  Countess  Kanitz.  Tippelskirch  was 
appointed  to  succeed  Rothe  in  the  chaplaincy  at  Rome, 
and  both  there  and  at  Frascati  lent  his  cordial  assistance 
to  Bunsen  in  the  education  of  his  sons.f 

MADAME  BUXSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  Villa  Piccolomini,  Frascati,  G  July,  1828. — Our  spare 
room  here  is  at  present  occupied  by  Tholuck,  a  clergyman 
who  is  here  as  temporary  successor  to  Itothe,  till  now  chap- 

*  See  Memoirs  of  Baron  Jinn  sen,  i.  357. 

t  Herr  von  Tippelskirch  afterwards  had  a  living  near  Halle,  and 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  was  chaplain  of  the  great  government  hos- 
pital at  Berlin,  called  "La  Charite." 


LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

lain  to  the  Legation,  but  who  has  had  an  appointment  at 
Wittenberg,  and  was  therefore  relieved  at  his  post  till  his 
definitive  successor  can  arrive,  which  will  not  be  till  Easter. 
Tholuck's  presence  is  a  great  pleasure,  and  I  trust  will  be 
a  great  benefit  to  us,  at  least  he  has  greatly  the  gift  of 
instructing,  as  well  as  of  interesting  and  entertaining. 
He  has  distinguished  himself  by  one  or  two  works,  and  is 
a  great  orientalist:  he  has  been  in  England,  I  believe 
chiefly  amongst  the  liberal  Evangelicals  (I  would  not  use 
that  name,  if  I  knew  by  what  other  to  call  them).  Lord 
Bexley  and  Sir  George  Hose  are  the  only  names  I  know 
amongst  the  people  he  was  much  with.  The  summer  is 
delicious,  and  the  children,  more  particularly  the  three 
little  ones,  enjoy  the  exercise  in  the  villas,  which  they  have 

such  constant   opportunities  of  taking My  own 

Mother,  I  hope  to  draw  and  do  all  sorts  of  things  while  I 
am  at  Erascati,  so  much  am  I  impressed  with  the  delightful 
sensation  of  the  possibility  of  employment,  not  hurry.  Since 
we  have  been  here  Charles  has  at  least  once  a  day  wished 
you  were  here  with  us  to  enjoy  it :  that  he  always  does 
when  he  is  very  happy." 

BUNSEN  to  MRS.  WADDINGTON. 

"  Villa  Piccolomini,  6  Aug.,  1828.— My  dear  Mother.  It 
would  have  been  my  duty,  and  it  has  been  continually  my 
most  earnest  wish,  to  communicate  to  you  immediately 
after  my  return  from  Berlin  the  result  of  this  in  many 
respects  most  important  period  of  my  life.  God  knows 
that  I  have  not  found  time  to  do  it  as  early  as  I  intended, 
but  at  Home  I  was  from  the  first  moment  to  the  last  over- 
whelmed by  accumulated  business  and  never-ceasing  visits 


ABSENCE.  315 


of  old  and  new  friends,  and  here  in  the  country  almost 
three  weeks  have  been  required  to  secure  to  me  that 
external  and  internal  repose,  without  which  I  strongly 
dislike  to  write  letters,  destined,  as  this  is,  to  convey  a 
lasting  image  of  one's  own  life,  and  to  serve  as  a  fixed 
point  and  a  sea-mark,  as  it  were,  to  look  upon  till  the  long 
period  of  separation  is  at  an  end,  and  more  satisfactory 
explanations  can  take  place. 

"I  will  now  begin  the  account  I  owe  you ;  not  of  the 
detail  of  my  Berlin  life,  because  that  is  impossible,  but 
of  the  results  of  the  journey  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,  a 
stranger  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  whose  service  I  had 
embraced.  Bisen  to  a  high  station  in  the  diplomatic  line, 
I  had  no  root  in  the  country  where  my  children  were  to  be 
established.  Firmly  resolved  not  to  die  a  diplomatist  and 
exile,  if  I  could  help  it,  I  was  unable  to  form  a  positive 
plan,  as  to  my  further  career  in  the  King's  service.  God 
be  thanked,  that  both  these  inconveniences  have  disap- 
peared, and  given  room  to  prospects,  and,  humanly 
speaking,  certainties,  far  beyond  all  my  wishes  and  ex- 
pectations. A  stay,  three  times  protracted  to  the  extent 
of  six  months,  not  only  without  my  instrumentality,  but 
on  the  contrary  against  my  decided  wish  and  intention, 
was  at  last  found  to  have  been  necessary  to  call  forth  those 
proofs  of  confidence  of  the  King,  the  Prince  Royal,  and 
the  ministry,  which  enabled  me  to  establish  my  character, 
in  the  moral  and  intellectual  sense,  and  to  mark  out  to 
myself  the  point,  upon  which,  under  the  present  circum- 


31G          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BIINSEN. 

stances,  I  was  to  bring  to  bear  those  powers  and  acquire- 
ments I  may  possess  to  serve  my  King  and  benefit  my 
country.  These  results  have  been  as  decisive  as  favour- 
able. 

"  Having  thus,  to  a  certain  degree,  the  free  option  of 
preparing  for  myself  either  a  speedy  return  to  Berlin,  or  an 
establishment  at  Rome  more  fixed  than  before,  my  decision 
was  and  remained,  to  keep  and  to  fortify  that  station,  where 
more  than  ever  I  thank  God  to  be  placed.  It  is  its  retire- 
ment, leisure  and  independence,  which  has  enabled  me  to 
pursue  those  Studies  which  at  once  have  placed  me  so  high 
in  the  Royal  confidence,  although  I  never  contemplated  in 
their  pursuit  anything  but  my  own  information  and  the 
discovery  of  truth  for  myself  and  my  fellow- creatures. 
Moreover,  as  its  independence  has  given  weight  to  all  I 
had  to  say  on  the  momentous  subjects  under  discussion, 
thus  it  enables  me  now  quietly  to  wait  for  the  right  moment 
of  acting.  When  therefore  towards  the  end  of  my  stay 
all  eyes  were  fixed  on  me,  and  some  considered  it  likely 
that  I  would  remain  at  Berlin,  as  one  of  the  King's 
Ministers,  questions  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  Majesty :  and  I  did 
not  conceal  from  those,  who  had  a  right  to  more,  that 
should  ever  the  King  claim  my  services  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  church  and  public  instruction,  I  would  be  unable 
to  withhold  from  His  Majesty  that  I  concurred  entirely  in 
the  object  which  his  government  wishes  to  attain,  but  that 
I  did  not  think  the  means  employed,  in  any  way  proper  to 
this  great  object  in  view. 


ABSENCE.  317 


"All  my  friends,  and  amongst  them  my  present  chief, 
Count  BernstorfT,  approved  the  view  I  had  taken  so 
decidedly  of  my  situation.  The  Count  therefore  directed 
his  kind  care  to  the  amelioration  of  the  post  entrusted  to 
me.  I  was  given  to  understand  that  after  having  executed 
some  commissions  of  importance,  I  was  to  be  made  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  with  an  increase  of  my  appointments. 

' '  When  you  now  look  Lack  to  the  precarious  nature  of 
our  establishment  hitherto,  and  when  you  consider  the 
impossibility  resulting  from  it,  to  pursue  a  regular  system 
of  studies  and  researches,  and  to  form  a  steady  plan  of 
education  for  our  children :  when  on  the  other  hand  you 
present  to  your  mind  the  unparalleled  enjoyment  of  a 
situation  like  mine,  on  the  Capitol,  or  the  delightful  hills 
of  Tusculum,  having  six  months  the  choice  of  the  most 
interesting  society  from  all  parts  of  Europe  without  the 
turmoil  and  noise  of  other  great  towns,  and  the  remainder 
of  the  year  leisure  to  live  as  a  philosopher  and  a  good 
father  of  my  family — when  you  take  all  this  into  due  con- 
sideration, I  am  sure  you  will  be  fully  impressed  with 
thankfulness  for  the  immediate  result  of  my  journey.  You 
will  bo  still  more  so,  when  you  see  our  mode  of  life,  our 
domestic  customs,  our  place  in  society,  and  our  quiet  enjoy- 
ment of  the  united  beauties  of  Nature  and  fine  arts,  in 
short  all  which  I  know  and  feel  to  coincide  so  entirely  wil  h 
your  natural  taste  and  the  wishes  of  your  heart  and  mind." 

MADAME  BUXSEN  to  her  MOTUEU. 

"Rome,  12  Nov.,  1828.  .  .  .  Most  assuredly  religious 
party  spirit  is  the  worst  of  all  bad  things  !  The  spirit  of  the 
most  bigoted  Catholics  towards  those  they  called  Heretics, 


318          LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BA1UXNES3    BUNSEN. 

is  completely  reproduced  in  the  sentiments  of  Evangelicals 
towards  such  of  their  Protestant  brethren  as  do  not  tie 
themselves  down  to  a  certain  ceremonial  law,  or  think 
themselves  better  than  others  for  not  going  to  balls! 
It  is  however  a  comfort  to  hear  that  there  are  still  such 
people  in  the  world  as  Lady  Louisa  Stuart !  how  I  rejoice 
in  the  idea  of  your  having  had  the  refreshment  of  her 

presence.*     Mrs. will  have  observed  very  soon  that 

my  Mother  and  Lady  Louisa  were  above  using  the  despi- 
cable Shibboleth  of  a  certain  party,  and  having  at  once 
concluded  them  not  to  be  of  the  Evangelicals,  and  there- 
fore of  the  reprobate,  will  have  been  frightened  to  death  at 
the  thought  of  the  contamination,  and  felt  herself  bound 
in  conscience  to  hurry  away. 

"  The  state  of  my  sister-in-law  is  now  most  extraordinary 
and  melancholy.  She  continues  seriously  and  alarmingly 
ill,  and  will  not  see  either  myself  or  Charles.  I  have 
the  comfort  of  knowing  that  she  wants  for  no  care  or 
attention  at  the  hands  of  Louise ;  but  last  week  when 
Louise  was  confined  to  bed  with  an  inflammatory  fever,  I 
went  to  see  her  uninvited,  to  know  whether  the  Italian 
girl  who  waited  upon  her  in  place  of  Louise  did  her  duty ; 
and  persisted  in  returning  again  and  again :  till  at  last, 
not  satisfied  with  merely  repulsing  me,  she  drove  me  from 
her  with  a  degree  of  f  ury  that  I  do  not  consider  myself 
justified  in  again  exciting,  and  Heaven  knows  when  I  shall 
see  her  again,  for  not  having  done  anything  to  occasion 

*  There  was  a  very  close  tie  of  friendship  between  Lady  Louisa 
Stuart  and  Mrs.  Waddington,  which  originated  in  the  almost  motherly 
protection  and  kindness  shown  by  the  Countess  of  Bute  (mother  of  Lady 
Louisa)  to  the  heart-broken  and  desolate  niece  of  Mrs.  Dclany  after 
tho  death  of  her  aunt  and  adopted  mother. 


ABSENCE.  319 


this  fit  of  humour,  I  can  do  nothing  to  undo  it.  The 
advantage  of  this  misfortune  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  indescribable  relief,  from 
which  both  body  and  mind  gain. 

"I  have  lately  had  curiosity  gratified,  but  nothing  else, 
in  the  sight  of  Chateaubriand,  who  is  a  vain  creature  : 
thinks  himself  handsome,  and  really  speaks  French  so  that 
it  is  a  treat  to  hear  him.  The  sentiments  he  utters  are  as 
yet  a  sort  of  mask,  perhaps  the  time  will  come  when  lie 
will  uttor  opinions,  supposing  he  has  any." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

RCUIAN  SUNSHINE. 

"Beholding  the  bright  countenance  of  Truth  in  the  quiet 
and  still  air  of  delightful  studies." — MILTON. — The  Reason  oj 
Church  Government. 

TN  the  autumn  of  1828  Bunsen  went  to  Florence  to 
meet  the  Crown  Prince,  afterwards  Frederic  Wil- 
liam IV.  of  Prussia,  and  to  conduct  him  to  Home.  He 
arranged  that  he  should  enter  the  city  by  that  descent 
from  Monte  Mario,  dear  to  all  Roman  pilgrims,  by 
which  the  whole  glories  of  the  Eternal  City  are  gradu- 
ally unfolded  to  the  traveller  who  follows  the  windings 
of  the  long  descent ;  while,  instead  of  gloomy  walls  and 
a  poverty-stricken  suburb,  the  first  buildings  he  reaches 
are  the  Vatican,  and  St.  Peter's,  and  the  pillared  piazza 
which  two  gigantic  fountains  illuminate  with  their 
silver  spray.  The  fortnight  of  the  Crown  Prince's  stay 
was  delightful  to  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him. 
Whatever  he  visited,  he  saw  with  indescribable  enthu- 
siasm. "  His  soul  is  filled  with  the  highest  and  most 
splendid  designs,"  wrote  Bunsen  to  Schnorr  von 
Carolsfeld,  "and  with  an  amount  of  knowledge  and 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  321 

of  capacity  for  entering  into  details,  of  contemplating 
an  object  on  all  sides,  of  weighing  and  balancing,  and 
then  holding  fast  the  best — such  as  in  a  sovereign, 
present  or  future,  will  hardly  ever  be  found."  When 
the  Crown  Prince  left  Home,  he  was  accompanied  by 
Bimscn  as  far  as  Yenicc  and  Yerona. 

The  next  few  years — in  which  the  chief  outer  events 
were  the  death  of  Leo  XII.,  the  short  reign  of 
Pius  YIIL,  and  the  accession  of  Gregory  XYI. — were 
passed  happily  by  the  Buiisens,  between  their  Capi- 
toline  home  and  the  Yilla  Piccolomini  at  Frascati.  The 
duties  of  the  Legation  were  however  so  onerous  as  not 
to  leave  much  time  at  the  disposal  of  Bunsen  for  his 
literary  pursuits,  the  interest  of  which  was  so  fully 
shared  by  his  wife.  One  object  which  he  had  at  heart, 
urged  thereto  by  his  friend  Edward  Gerhard,*  was  the 
establishment  of  an  Archaeological  Institute,  f  for  the 
assistance  of  representatives  of  all  nations,  wrho  might 
be  interested  in  the  study  of  ancient  Italy.  This  was 
accomplished  amid  many  difficulties,  and  the  Institute, 
liberally  endowed  by  Frederick  William  IY.,  not  only 
still  exists  upon  the  Tarpeian  Bock,  but  is  now  very 
influential.  At  the  same  'time,  by  the  unremitting 
exertions  of  Bunsen,  amid  endless  opposition,  the  Pro- 
testant Hospital  (Casa  Tarpeia)  arose  by  the  side  of  the 
Institute,  and  the  Collegium  Prcucldanum,  an  old  Roman 

*  Then,  "an   early. pioneer,  and  long1  an  honoured  centre  of  anti- 
quarian studies  in  Germany."  L>r.  Gerhard  died  at  Berlin,  May,  1S07. 
f  Instituto  di  <  'orreipoiidenza  Archeologica. 

VOL.  i.  y 


322          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEX. 

Catholic  establishment,  founded  by  a  Baron  von  Preuck, 
for  the  assistance  of  young  Roman  Catholic  students  in 
Home,  was  unearthed  and  brought  again  into  work- 
ing order,  two  cherished  inmates  of  Bunsen's  intimate 
circle  being  the  first  to  profit  by  its  restoration — 
x\.mbrosch,  who  died  many  years  later  as  Professor  at 
Breslau,  and  the  young  student  of  history,  Papencordt, 
early  snatched  away  from  a  life  of  unusual  promise. 

The  time  of  study  which  Bimseii  could  retrieve  from 
the  "  Description  of  Rome  " — which  he  always  felt 
burdensome,  but  to  which  he  considered  himself  bound 
by  an  arrangement  (detailed  in.  an  after  letter)  with 
the  publisher  Cotta,  for  the  assistance  of  his  friend 
Platiier — was  now  devoted  with  hearty  enthusiasm  to 
Egyptian  research  and  the  study  of  hieroglyphics.  He 
was  the  first  to  urge  the  importance  of  such  investiga- 
tions upon  Richard  Lepsius,  afterwards  one  of  his 
most  valued  friends,  whose  expedition  to  Egypt,  under- 
taken at  the  expense  of  the  Prussian  Government,  was 
crowned  with  important  success. 

Madame  Bunsen's  own  days  were  increasingly  occu- 
pied by  the  care  and  .education  of  her  children.  She 
had  a  peculiar  talent  for  making  her  lessons  inter- 
esting by  illustration,  and  for  fixing  the  facts  of  the 
world's  history  in  the  minds  of  her  sons,  by  connecting 
them  with  the  scenes  they  visited  with  her.  Their 
Scripture  lessons  were  often  alike  recalled  with  plea- 
sure by  mother  and  sons.  "All  my  children  knew 
and  loved  their  Bible  early/'  wrote  Madame  Bunsen 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  323 


long  afterwards — "  my  Ernest,  when  driving  out  with 
me  in  the  carriage,  would  sing  to  himself  the  history  of 
Abraham,  or  some  other  part,  language  and  tune  being 
alike  an  improvisation. " 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  licr  MOTHER. 

"  8  Jan.,  1829. — Charles  and  I  have  had  much  pleasure 
in  seeing  Mr.  Gaily  Knight.  "VVe  were  brought  together 
by  Mr.  "Wilmot  Horton,  who  consulted  Charles  on  the 
subject  of  his  plan  for  a  bill  in  favour  of  the  Catholics. 
Charles,  at  his  request,  wrote  a  memoir  on  the  subject  of 
the  negociations  of  Protestant  Powers  with  the  Court  of 
Rome,  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  New  Year's  Day,  and 
Charles  had  not  been  able  to  begin  his  memoir  till  three 
days  before.  In  the  afternoon  of  one  day,  and  the  morning 
of  the  next,  he  finished  it,  to  my  amazement,  considering 
the  bulk  and  the  importance  of  the  matter ;  then  ho  gave 
it  to  me  to  read,  and,  as  far  as  I  could,  correct,  in  what 
leisure  intervals  I  could  make  iu  the  afternoon  of  the 
second  day  :  then  came  the  grand  business  of  transcribing, 
which  I  alone  could  undertake  for  him,  as  neither  of  the 
two  Secretaries  possess  more  than  a  very  slender  portion 
of  English,  of  accuracy,  or  of  speed :  and  this  business  I 
began  upon  at  eleven  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  and 
finished  writing  sixteen  folio  pages  by  two  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  New  Year, — not  having  of  course  written 
without  intervals.  First  I  wrote  from  eleven  till  half- 
past  three,  then  Charles  took  me  a  walk  in  a  bracing  north 
wind,  which  was  ver}^  refreshing  :  we  came  back  to  dinner 


321          LIFE    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'clock  set  to  work  again  :  at  eleven  we  left  off, 
rested,  and,  together  with  his  sister,  read,  spoke,  or  medi- 
tated on  the  tide  of  time,  and  time  of  tide,  till  the  bell  of  the 
Capitol  announced  the  end  of  the  old  and  beginning  of  the 
new  year ;  soon  after  which  we  set  again  to  work,  and  the 
writing  and  dictating  were  at  an  end  before  two  o'clock. 
I  had. great  satisfaction  in  this  undertaking  from  the  idea 
that  thus  a  quantity  of  very  necessary  information,  such 
as  English  Statesmen  do  not  possess  relative  to  the  Court 
of  Rome,  and  are  not  in  the  way  of  acquiring,  and  such  as 
on  the  whole  nobody  is  so  qualified  to  give  them  as  Charles, 
should  thus  be  conveyed  into  a  channel,  in  which,  please 
God,  it  may  serve  to  ward  off  much  evil." 

"6  March,  1829.— Since  I  sent  off  my  last  letter  wo 
have  had  for  the  first  half  of  Februarj^  such  intense  cold  as 
I  never  felt  in  Home ;  in  one  part  of  our  own  house,  the 
water  froze  indoors,  and  when,  on  the  loth,  wo  went  to 
the  Villa  Pamfili,  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 
^ice,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  children.  This  degree  of 
frost  having  been  accompanied  by  the  keenest  north  wind, 
was  more  penetrating  to  the  human  system  than  a  far 
greater  degree  would  have  been  in  a  northern  climate,  and 
the  sicknesses  and  deaths  that  have  taken  place  in  conse- 
quence have  been  innumerable,  to  begin  with  the  Pope 
and  Torlonia,  whose  deaths  have  produced  the  most 
singular  contrast  in  public  feeling,  the  latter  death  having 
been  as  generally  lamented  (on  account  of  the  extensive 


.ROMAN    SUNSHINE. 


alms  by  which  he  endeavoured  to  buy  off  his  offences)  as 
the  former  was  indecently  rejoiced  over,  nothing  but  the 
season  at  which  it  took  place  having  been  contrary  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Romans.  In  their  sentiments  it  is  impos- 
sible rationally  to  participate,  as  their  hatred  is  grounded 
on  those  parts  of  the  character  and  conduct  of  the  Pope 
for  which  posterity  will  applaud  him,  and  not  his  defects  ; 
but  his  merits  were  displeasing  and  inconvenient  to  them. 
Charles  sincerely  regrets  Leo  the  XII.,  from  his  experience 
of  him  in  the  transaction  of  business,  and  it  is  a  great 
question  whether  his  successor  (whoever  that  may  be)  will 
possess  that  knowledge  of  the  state  of  public  spirit  in 
foreign  countries  which  rendered  it  so  easy  to  argue  with 
him,  and  get  him  to  understand  reason.  Humanly  speak- 
ing, it  was  most  unfortunate  for  Charles  that  the  Pope  did 
not  live  a  few  months  longer,  as  he  was  upon  the  point  of 
completing  an  important  negociation  relative  to  the  mixed 
marriages  of  Catholics  and  Protestants  in  the  Prussian 
dominions,  tho  decision  of  which  is  now  of  course  rendered 
not  only  distant  but  uncertain. 

''On  my  birthday  we  went  to  the  Villa  Pamfili.  The 
day  was  delightful,  and  we  enjoyed  ourselves  most 
thoroughly ;  and  the  quantity  of  flowers  was  so  great,  that 
I  broke  my  back  with  stooping  after  them,  for  although  I 
had  assistants  enough,  there  was  no  prevailing  with  myself 
to  pass  by  a  red  or  purple  anemone.  But  the  greatest 
enjoyment  of  the  day  was  seeing  my  sweet  Emilia  insist 
upon  walking,  and  scolding  Angelina  for  holding  her 
hand.  When  Frances  saw  her  walk,  she  also  set  off 
leisurely,  having  before  seated  herself  on  tho  grass, 
spreading  out  her  pocket-handkerchief  to  put  the  flowers 


326       LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  BARONESS  BUNSEN. 

in,  as  she  had  once  seen  me  do  when  I  had  forgotten  to 
bring  a  basket. 

"  While  Charles  was  laid  up  with  a  cold,  a  friend 
brought  him  '  Tom  Jones  '  for  his  amusement,  and  I  was 
induced  by  observing  how  he  laughed  over  it,  to  make  a 
trial  myself  ;  and  I  confess  the  spirit  of  the  narrative  led 
ine  on  for  some  chapters,  but  then  I  remained  sticking  in 
the  mire,  and  I  much  doubt  whether  I  shall  ever  read 
further,  and  most  cordially  do  I  apply  my  dear  Father's 
favourite  epithet,  '  'Tis  a  blackguard  book.'  ': 

On  the  llth  of  June  a  fourth  daughter  was  born  in 
the  Palazzo  CafFarelli  and  christened  Mary  Charlotte 
Elizabeth. 


to  MRS.WADDINGTON. 
"26  June,  1829.  —  I  did  not  mention  in  my  last  letter  a 
most  entertaining  journey  I  have  taken  to  the  sea-shore, 
with  l)r.  Nott,  a  German  professor,  a  German  painter,  and 
M.  Kestner  —  the  Hanoverian  Charge  d'  Affaires,  as  my 
companions.  Wo  proceeded  first  by  Civita  Vecchia  to 
Corneto,  where  the  site  of  the  most  ancient  city  Tarquinii, 
the  seat  of  Tarquinius'  ancestors,  of  Etruscan  origin,  and 
the  common  cemetery  of  that  town,  have  lately  been 
discovered.  This  cemetery  has  an  extension  of  six  miles, 
and  presents  a  natural  plain  covered  with  innumerable 
smaller  and  bigger  hills,  that  mark  the  site  of  the  tombs. 
These  tombs  are  all  hewn  in  the  rock  that  lies  under  the 
surface,  and  formed  in  two  or  more  chambers,  some  of 
which  are  still  found  to  contain  the  bones  and  the  finest 
vases,  arms,  &c.,  that  the  deceased  possessed  :  some  of  the 
paintings  which  abound  on  the  walls  are  likewise  pre- 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE. 


served.  Imagine  that  many  of  these  tombs  are  of  an 
antiquity  of  2,500  years  and  more,  and  show  a  high 
civilisation,  although  the  fine  arts  were  also  here  an  im- 
portation from  Greece.  From  thence  we  proceeded  to 
Musignano,  near  Canino,  the  present  residence  of  Lucien 
Bonaparte,  who  has  established  here  his  head-quarters  in 
order  to  survey  the  most  interesting  excavations  which  are 
going  on  in  his  territory.  Imagine  a  wide  plain  of  three 
or  four  miles  in  circumference,  entirely  filled  with  tombs, 
hewn  into  the  rock.  In  the  midst  of  this  plain  there  rises 
a  hill,  60  feet  high,  and  200  feet  in  circumference,  which 
has  been  found  to  be  wholly  artificial.  It  was  originally 
surrounded  with  a  fine  circular  wall,  of  huge  square 
stones,  with  an  entrance  paved  with  slabs  of  gilded  bronze. 
The  inside  presents  chapels,  towers,  rooms,  &c.,  all 
destroyed  and  stripped  of  their  costly  ornaments,  and  the 
whole  was  undoubtedly  the  sepulchral  monument  of  the 
ro3ral  dynasty  The  tombs  are  for  the  greatest  part  still 
filled  with  the  most  beautiful  vases,  of  which  Lucien  already 
possesses  2,000  at  Musignano,  among  which  there  are  200 
of  the  first  rank,  wrhereas  in  the  whole  of  Europe  there 
are  not  twenty  others  of  that  merit.  Now  imagine  the  odd 
way  in  which  he  lives  there  and  in  which  we  found  him. 
About  two  miles  from  his  castle  he  has  erected  two  tents, 
in  the  one  he  sits  himself,  with  his  old  Franciscan  friar, 
who  always  accompanies  him,  surrounded  with  inscrip- 
tions, 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 :  '  Eccellenza,  a  new  vase  has  been 
found,'  or  '  a  golden  ring  is  here,'  or  '  an  inscription/  &c. 


328  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

If  the  object  is  small,  it  is  brought  to  him  to  be  regis- 
tered, and  if  gold  sent  to  the  Princess,  who  has  a  rich 
collection  of  gold  parure  of  God  knows  how  many  and 
how  old  Etruscan  queens  and  ladies,  some  of  which  she 
wears  herself,  as  bracelets,  chains,  &c..  of  most  beautiful 
workmanship.  If  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  at 
such  a  discovery.  It  was  a  great  and  beautiful  vase,  all 
covered  with  mud.  "When  brought  to  the  light,  it  was 
washed,  and  one  figure  after  the  other,  witnesses  of  the 
once  active  genius,  came  out  of  darkness  and  mud.  Then 
we  went  with  him  to  his  castle.  Before  it  there  are  two 
winged  lions,  of  natural  size,  sculpture  work  of  the 
Etruscans :  twelve  such  stood  as  guards  at  the  entrance 
of  the  royal  tomb  before  described.  The  family  life  of 
Musignano  is  very  good,  simple,  and  worthy.  Lord  and 
Lady  Dudley  were  present.  Ladies  and  gentlemen  speak 
of  nothing  but  vases,  Etruscan  arts  and  kings ;  no  politics, 
no  regrets.  The  Franciscan,  friar  is  the  master  of  the 
house.  The  young  princes  seem  modest  and  good-natured. 
AVe  dined  there  and  then  went  to  Canino  :  in  the  morning 
we  returned  to  see  the  collection  a  second  time.  What  a 
curious  spectacle  to  see  Napoleon's  brother,  as  busily  em- 
ployed among  the  tombs  of  Etruscan  kings  and  lords,  and 
roaming  about  the  monuments  of  past  ages  in  a  deserted 
country,  as  once  among  kings  and  princes  of  the  day." 
MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  22  July,  1829. — This  the  anniversary  of  the  birth,  and 
of  the  death,  of  my  first  precious  Mary,  who  has  now  been 
seven  years  '  set  free  from  sin,  and  sorrow,  and  mortality : ' 


KOMAN    SUNSHINE.  329 


— and  I  am  now  blessed  with  a  fourth  girl,  and  a  second 
Mary,  as  perfect  and  as  full  of  promise  as  an  infant  can 
bo  :  and  if  the  remembrance  of  what  has  been  experienced 
checks  the  flow  of  sanguine  expectation,  the  conviction, 
which  all  experience  hourly  strengthens,  that  mercy  alone 
dealt  out  the  pain,  as  well  as  the  joy,  leads  to  the  tran- 
quillising  result,  that  to  rejoice  in  hope  is  not  only  per- 
mitted, but  commanded:  and  that,  on  the  ground,  that 
even  should  the  gratification  of  hope  be  denied  in  things 
human,  the  denial  will  be  the  more  abundantly  compen- 
sated in  things  divine.  My  own  Mother,  the  feeling  that 
arose  in  writing  the  date,  I  wished  to  communicate,  but  I 
know  not  how  much  of  it  is  expressed,  or  how  much  you 
will  have  to  guess,  for  George  is  by  me,  writing  on  the 
slate  in  great  capital  printing-letters,  a  Latin  declension, 
at  every  stroke  of  which  I  have  to  hear  and  answer  some 
question  or  observation :  you  will  be  amused  at  this 
branch  of  study,  which  is  a  most  delightful  occupation : 
Mother  and  son  go  solemnly  together  to  fetch  a  word  from 
Papa,  because  if  I  was  to  send  George  alone,  he  might 
forget  some  case  or  other,  and  then  I  should  not  know  how 
to  put  him  in :  and  then  he  writes  his  slate  full,  which, 
what  with  getting  the  word  right,  and  the  spelling  right, 
and  the  letters  as  right  as  he  can  make  them,  lasts  a  long 
time,  during  wliich  period  I  have,  many  days,  cut  out 
several  frocks  and  such  like  things,  but  writing  does  not  go 
on  quite  as  well  in  his  company,  and  I  should  choose  another 
time,  were  not  choice  of  times  and  seasons  a  matter  that 
with  respect  to  mo  is  a  manner  of  speaking.  Besides 
George  on  one  side,  I  have  my  poor  sick  Frances  on  my 
hip,  sometimes  with  her  head  on  a  little  pillow,  and  some- 


330  LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

times  on  my  left  arm.  which  will  account  for  scrawling ; 
but  an  interruption  I  cannot  call  her,  for  she  is  still  too 
unwell  to  be  capable  of  being  amused.  Emilia  is  very 
engaging  and  attaching  in  her  behaviour  since  her  sister's 
illness,  so  full  of  concern  to  see  Frances  lie  down  and  be 
carried  about;  rejoicing  to  see  her  eat  again  with  a  spoon  ; 
caressing  her  and  stroking  her  on  all  occasions,  and  what 
most  of  all  delights  me,  showing  no  jealousy  of  her  sister, 
altho'  a  great  anxiety  not  to  be  forgotten  by  me :  for 
when  I  am  busied  about  Frances  she  never  teases  to 
come  to  me,  but  whenever  I  try  the  experiment  of 
sending  Frances  to  Angelina,  she  sets  off,  and  comes  to 
me,  and  stands  modestly  by  me,  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  12th  July,  and  received  the  names  of  Mary 
Charlotte  Elizabeth,  Mary  being  the  name  of  niy  own 
Mother,  and  of  my  sister-in-law  (also  godmother)  who 
held  the  precious  darling's  heavy  weight.  I  stood  to 
represent  my  Mother,  and  two  acquaintances  of  ours  repre- 
sented the  Countess  Bernstorff  and  her  mother  the 
Countess  Domath,  who  were  the  two  other  godmothers  : 
Charles  represented  his  friend  M.  Strauss  (a  celebrated 
preacher  and  theologian  in  Berlin),  and  our  friend  Major 
Scharahorst  arrived  in  Rome  in  time  to  represent  Count 
Grroben,  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 
ho  was  in  Berlin,  and  with  whom  I  became  acquainted 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE. 


when    lie   was   in    Home  —  aide-de-camp   to   the   Crown 
Prince." 

"  15  August,  1829. — My  Mother  expresses  surprise  at 
hearing  of  Charles's  being  engaged  in  a  work  on  Borne, 
and  I  am  still  more  surprised  that  I  should  never  have 
written  her  word  of  it ;  but  still,  on  reflection,  I  can 
account  for  not  having  done  so,  from  Charles's  only  having 
become  entangled  in  the  business,  so  that  it  was  an  old 
story  as  relating  to  other  people,  before  it  became  a  new 
story  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- 
mencement of  it  dates  from  the  first  winter  after  our 
marriage,  when  Mr.  Niebuhr  and  Mr.  Brandis,  in  con- 
junction with  Charles,  were  puzzling  their  heads  to  find 
out  an  occupation  for  Platner,  by  which  his  talents  and 
knowledge  might  be  made  to  turn  to  account  for  his 
family,  Platner  having  till  that  time  been  by  profession  a 
painter,  in  consequence  of  his  Father  choosing  to  mako 
him  one,  whether  nature  chose  it  or  not.*  At  last  Mr. 

*  The  father  had  been  forced  against  his  will  to  become  Professor 
of  Latin  and  Greek  at  Leipsic,  when  his  own  longing  was  for  the  life 
of  an  artist.  His  son  Ernest  was  consequently  forced  to  an  art  life, 
though  he  was  naturally  a  bookworm,  and  could  not  paint.  He 
executed  a  cartoon  of  Hagar  and  Ishmael  represented  at  the  two 
opposite  ends  of  a  vast  canvas,  the  space  between  being  intended  for 
the  "stone's  throw!"  The  German  artists  in  Homo  had  agreed  that 
when  any  of  their  society  finished  a  work,  the  rest  should  see  it  and 
give  a  candid  opinion  of  it.  Cornelius  expressed  his  opinion  of  the 
cartoon  of  Platner  by  leaping  straight  through  the  canvas  and  saying, 
"  Now,  if  you  will  join  the  two  ends  there  may  bo  some  composition." 
The  obligatory  system  of  education  in  the  Platner  family  was  carried 
on  into  the  third  generation,  in  which  a  young  man  whose  natural 
tendencies  wore  all  towards  the  life  of  an  artist,  was  compelled  to 
classical  studies. 


332          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUN  SEN. 

Brandis  suggested  his  undertaking  a  new  edition  of  Volk- 
mann's  and  Lalande's  Description  of  Borne,  for  which,  he 
believed  him  well  qualified,  from  his  very  complete  know- 
ledge 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- 
qualified from  going  farther  back  than  Italian  would  carry 
him,  Mr.  Niebuhr  and  Mr.  Brandis  promised  to  manage- 
between  them  the  classical  part  of  the  work,  and  Charles 
promised  to  help  Platner  whenever  he  should  have  need  of 
reference  to  Latin  works  in  the  execution  of  his  portion 
of  the  undertaking.  Gotta  the  celebrated  bookseller  was 
that  winter  at  Home,  and  entered  with  the  greatest  alacrity 
into  the  plan  ;  the  work  was  to  be  executed  on  his  account, 
he  was  to  pay  two  louis  d'or  for  every  printed  sheet,  and 
gave  carte  blanche  for  the  purchase  of  the  necessary  books 
of  reference.  This  was  very  liberal,  but  at  the  same  time 
a  good  speculation,  for  Gotta  judged,  and  judged  rightly, 
that  a  work  for  which  Niebuhr  and  Brandis  were  the 
vouchers,  would  be  worth  his  money.  The  contract  was 
made  just  a  month  before  Henry  was  born,  and  Platner 
set  to  work  in  the  first  place,  to  make  a  historical  account 
of  the  Basilicas,  or  principal  churches,,  of  Ixonic.  But  here 
he  was  every  moment  at  a  stand  without  Charles,  from  the 
quantity  of  Latin  necessary  to  wade  through ;  and  came 
about  three  evenings  in  every  week  for  advice  and  correc- 
tion of  style — the  latter  being  with  Platner  the  most  tedious 
of  all  matters,  as  he  considers  it  his  duty  to  fight  tooth  and 
nail  for  his  own  arrangement  of  materials,  and  his  own 
use  of  German  words.  Nearly  three  years  passed  before 
any  thing  was  considered  so  far  finished  as  to  be  shown  to 


ROMAN    SUJfSIIINi:. 


Mr.  Niebuhr,  but  when  he  saw  at  last  a  description  of  tho 
Lateran,  which  had  cost  Charles  time  and  breath  not  to  bo 
calculated,  and  patience  more  than  I  should  ever  have 
thought  that  he  possessed  —  his  exclamation  to  Charles 
was,  '  But  can  you,  my  good  friend,  for  a  moment  imagine 
that  what  Platner  has  here  written  can  be  sent  to  press  ?  ' 
This  was  a  comforting  decision!  but  one  against  which 
Charles  could  not  protest:  he  answered  Mr.  Niebuhr, 
'  Then  I  must  write  the  thing  myself  !  for  I  cannot  do 
more  than  I  have  already  done  to  help  Platner  to  write  it.' 
Wherefore  Charles  began  at  the  beginning  —  and  soon 
brought  Mr.  Niebuhr  a  history,  description,  and  a  detailed 
criticism  of  the  Lateran,  and  of  S.  Paolo  fuori  le  Mura, 
which  obtained  not  only  approbation,  but  high  commenda- 
tion :  and  now  it  was  settled  (as  it  ought  to  have  been  at 
first)  that  Mr.  Niebuhr  was  to  keep  to  ancient  Rome  and 
its  vestiges,  Charles  to  the  Middle  Ages  and  their  remains, 
and  Platner  to  the  Museums  and  Galleries  —  to  which  he 
has  proved  himself  fully  competent.  Mr.  Brandis  had 
been  long  since  '  over  the  hills  and  far  away  !  '  and  the 
time  soon  came  when  Mr.  Niebuhr  was  also  to  depart, 
without  having  contributed  anything  to  the  work  except  a 
short  dissertation,  small  in  bulk  tho'  great  in  import- 
ance, on  the  history  of  the  building,  improving,  increasing, 
diminishing,  and  destroying  of  ancient  Home  :  he  was 
very  sorry  not  to  have  done  more,  but  his  having  been 
prevented  from  fulfilling  his  promise  originated  in  one  of 
the  weaknesses  of  his  character.  He  had  promised  Gau 
the  architect  to  be  Editor  of  some  inscriptions  found  by 
Gau  in  Nubia,  which  the  latter  wished  to  publish  together 
with  engravings  from  his  drawing  taken  in  that  journey, 


334          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

but  which  could  only  be  published  after  the  revision  of  a 
critical  scholar.  But  Mr.  Niebuhr  never  intended  to  do 
this  till  after  he  had  finished  his  portion  of  the  work  on 
"Rome.  •  Gau,  however,  being  at  Paris,,  published  an 
advertisement  of  his  work,  mentioning  Mr.  Niebuhr 's 
editorship,  and  promising  all  within  the  year,  and  thus 
entrapped  Mr.  Niebuhr,  who  felt  himself  bound  to  enable 
Gau  to  keep  his  word,  which  I  do  not  think  he  was : — and 
as  soon  as  he  had  laboured  thro'  his  Nubian  inscrip- 
tions, the  time  of  departure  was  come,  and  he  left  Charles 
alone  with  the  weight  of  the  Roman  work  on  his  shoulders, 
and  the  whole  business  of  the  Prussian  Legation,  for 
which  Mr.  Niebuhr  and  Charles  together  had  not  been  too 
much  !  Since  that  time,  he  got  rid  of  a  part  of  the  anti- 
quities to  Professor  Gerhard,  an  excellent  as  well  as 
learned  person,  and  our  very  good  friend  :  and  a  part  of 
the  Middle  Ages  to  our  good  Eostell,  now  for  the  last 
year  attached  to  the  Legation.  These  two  persons  will 
derive  from  Cotta  the  payment  for  the  sheets  they  write, 
which  Charles  does  not,  as  he  works  for  Platner  :  in  addi- 
tion Bostell,  has  undertaken  to  correct  Platner,  and  dispute 
with  him." 

"  Frascati,  19  Oct.,  1829. — My  own  dearest  Mother!  and 
are  you  indeed  on  the  road  to  me  !  and  will  this  letter 
find  you  within  a  few  days'  journey  of  me  !  I  write  the 
words,  think  the  thought,  and  feel — but  cannot  yet  believe 
the  fact ! 

"  And  now,  my  own  Mother,  a  new  set  of  anxieties  arise, 
which  I  tiy  to  keep  as  quiet  as  I  can.  What  will  you 
think  of  the  new-old  thing  that  you  will  find  in  me  ?  Judg- 
ing by  myeelf  (for  I  have  not  the  power  of  fancying  either 


ROMAN    SUNSHIHE.  335 

you  or  Augusta  a  day  older  than  when  I  last  saw  you)  I 
doubt  not  that  you  will  be  struck,  and  shocked,  at  my 
aged  appearance, — not  considering  that  12  years  are  12 
years,  which  besides  tell  more  after  six  and  twenty  than 
before :  and  if  their  '  times,  their  seasons,  and  their 
change,'  operate  011  the  physique,  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  delight,  my  comfort, — I 
had  almost  said  my  idol — perhaps  the  expression  is  more 
just  than  justifiable — my  Charles !  If  defects  should 
strike  and  displease  you,  will  you  make  allowance  for  the 
severest  of  trials  thro'  a  long  course  of  years, — the 
gratification  of  every  wish — the  flattery  of  the  great — the 
love,  adoration  of  the  good — the  admiration,  applause  of 
the  intelligent — in  a  word,  the  favour  of  fortune  in  its 
most  seducing  form  ?  and  will  you  then  instead  of  counting 
up  human  inperfections,  only  wonder  at  the  sterling  worth 
that  has  remained  so  unspoiled  ?  and  if  at  last  something 
remains  to  be  covered,  will  you  take  my  love,  my  admira- 
tion, my  approbation,  as  one  grand  mass  of  conclusive, 
comprehensive  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,  will  you  take  my  children 
for  such  as  they  are,  and  not  wonder  and  be  displeased  at 
finding,  generally  speaking,  but  common-place  sort  of 
things  ? 

"My  sister-in-law  bids  me  say  for  the  thousandth  time 


836          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

how  tantalising  it  is  to  her  to  think  of  seeing  you  and  not 
being  able  to  converse  with  you.  That  vexes  me  as  much, 
or  more  even  than  it  can  vex  her — could  you  quite  form 
the  acquaintance  of  that  astonishing,  unique  person,  it 
would  be  a  key  to  many  an  enigma,  with  respect  to  me,  and 
to  her  resistless  influence  over  everybody  with  whom  she- 
has  to  do.*  My  own  Mother !  is  this  the  last  letter  ? 
when  I  think  of  that,  I  am  half  blind,  and  my  hand 
trembles,  and  why  need  I  write  on  ?  To  be  sure  I  have 
a  world  to  communicate  j  but  soon  I  shall  not  need  ink  or 
paper." 

In  the  beginning  of  November  the  meeting  so  often 
deferred,  but  looked  forward  to  with  such  ecstasy, 
really  took  place,  and  Mother  and  daughter  were  united 
after  twelve  years'  separation,  finding  that  absence  had 
rather  strengthened  than  weakened  the  bond  between 

*  Christiana  Bunsen  -was  believed  to  possess  the  powers  of  second 
sight  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  On  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  the 
Crown  Prince  (afterwards  Frederick  William  IV.)  to  the  Palazzo 
Caffarelli,  when  all  were  filled  with  admiration  of  his  natural  charma 
and  predicted  for  him  the  most  brilliant  future,  no  one  paid  any 
special  attention  to  the  weird  and  unprepossessing  woman  who  sate  in 
a  corner,  grim  and  silent,  hut  all-observant.  Afterwards  her  brother 
asked  her  what  had  been  the— apparently  engrossing — subject  of  her 
thoughts.  "I  was  thinking,"  she  said,  "of  the  words  in  the  12th 
verse  of  the  8th  chapter  of  the  2nd  Book  of  Kings,  '  I  know  the  evil 
that  thou  wilt  do  unto  the  children  of  Israel.'  "  In  later  life  Madamo 
Bunsen  frequently  described  Christiana's  strange  insight  into  cha- 
racter:— "She  used  to  give  me  descriptions  of  all  the  different  persons 
who  came  to  the  house,  not  gathered  from  their  conversation,  for  she 
never  understood  a  word  they  said,  but  yet,  whenever  I  knew  the 
facts,  her  descriptions  were  quite  correct,  and  where  I  did  not  know 
them — why,  it  was  very  amusing  and  interesting  foi  me  to  hear  what 
she  had  to  sav." 


ROMAN   SUNSHINE.  337 


them.  Mrs.  Waddington  remained  at  Rome  till  the 
following  July,  and  thus  enjoyed  the  happiness  of 
obtaining  something  more  than  a  mere  nominal  rela- 
tionship to  the  many  young  lives  which  had  sprung  up 
unseen  by  her ;  while  her  ever  calm  judgment  and 
bright  intelligence  rendered  her  a  most  welcome  addi- 
tion to  the  circle  of  friends  who  formed  the  society  of 
Palazzo  Caffarelli.  Madame  Bunsen,  on  her  side, 
rejoiced  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  her  brother-in- 
law  Mr.  -Hall,  of  Abercarne,  and  to  renew  her  relation- 
ship towards  her  sister  Augusta,  whom  she  had  last 
seen  as  a  child,  and  who  was  already  the  mother  of  two 
children,  to  whom  a  third  was  added  at  Rome  in  the 
eummer  of  1830. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  Villa  Piccolomini,  14  July,  1830. — My  own  dearest 
Mother !  in  the  unceasing  bustle  and  fatigue  of  the  last 
two  daj^s,  it  is  not  yet  clear  to  me  as  matter  of  feeling  that 
you  are  literally  gone,  and  that  I  have  it  not  in  my  power 
to  go  and  see  you  !  Oh  I  am  thankful  indeed  for  having 
had  you  so  long  near,  for  having  seen  you  so  much ! 
But  I  will  say  nothing  of  feelings,  for  I  would  not  for  tho 
world  cause  a  tear.  I  wish  I  could  think  my  own  Mother 
had  shed  as  few  as  I  have  done  since  we  parted !  I  have 
had  so  much  to  do,  and  have  been  obliged  to  think  of  so 
many  fiddle-faddles,  that  I  have  in  general  succeeded  in 
avoiding  thinking  over  what  will  not  bear  thinking  of. 

"  At  half -past  four  in  the  afternoon  Charles  and  I,  witfy 
nurse  and  baby,  Frances  and  Emilia,  anfl  Angelina  in  thg 

VOL.  i.  z 


338         LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    1JUNSEN. 

carrettella,  set  out  from  Rome,  having  before  sent  off  three 
cart-loads  of  belongings,  to  follow  up  the  three  cart-loads 
sent  on  Monday.  The  drive  was  intensely  hot ;  we  arrived 
however  safe,  and  it  was  with  a  peculiar  feeling  that  I 
commented  to  Charles  on  our  doing  so,  having  had  on  my 
mind  all  day  an  apprehension  that  we  should  not  get  to 
Frascati  without  an  accident.  "We  began  arranging  beds 
and  couches  with  great  activity,  and  were  agreeably  sur- 
prised at  the  appearance  of  our  carts  at  nine  o'clock,  which 
we  had  feared  would  have  kept  us  up  longer,  as  without 
some  of  their  contents,  there  were  not  mattresses  enough 
for  all  the  family — eighteen  souls  and  bodies.  About  an 
hour  after  ourselves,  the  second  carrettella  arrived,  which 
contained  my  sister-in-law,  Simon,  and  the  four  boys.  As 
I  was  in  incessant  movement  from  one  end  of  the  house  to 
the  other,  and  only  still  when  I  was  feeding  others  and 
myself,  it  is  to  be  accounted  for  that  I  never  uttered  the 
usual  question  'Are  you  come  safe? '  "Wherefore  guess  my 
sensations  to-day,  on  hearing  from  my  sister-in-law,  whom 
I  asked  the  reason  of  a  terrible  bruise,  that  they  had 
been  overturned  by  the  way,  and  all  pitched  out  of  the 
carriage  like  so  many  balls  !  but  how  can  we  be  thankful 
enough,  that  nobody  was  hurt  but  her  unfortunate  self, 
though  she  fell  with  her  head  against  a  stone,  and  was  for , 
a  longtime  senseless.  The  coachman's  supplications  to  my 
sister-in-law  were  the  cause  of  their  not  telling  of  the  mis- 
fortune till  he  was  clear  off  in  the  morning,  and  had  re- 
ceived his  mancia.  It  was  rather  hard  work  to  George  to 
be  silent,  and  he  asked  Mr.  Simon  if  he  might  not  at  least 
tell  the  nurse. >; 

"  15  July,  1830.— .Charles  Jiphad  a  number  of 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  339 


lurgli  Review\Qn.i  him  by  Dr.  Wiseman,  in  which  I  have  read, 
to  my  information  and  amusement,  a  long  article  by  Dr. 
Hahnemann  on  the  Homoeopathic  &3^stem  ;  it  is  evidently 
written  by  a  person  more  taken  by  the  new  theory  than  he 
thinks  proper  to  admit,  for  fear  of  being  ridiculed,  and  I 
wish  what  is  there  stated,  for  and  against,  by  the  head  of 
the  party  and  his  antagonists,  may  make  upon  my  Mother 
the  impression  it  has  made  upon  me,  confirming  what  I 
had  been  inclined  to  think  before,  that  altho'  the  abuse 
of  this  and  of  all  modes  of  practice  is  and  must  be  most 
mischievous,  yet  there  is  something  in  it  of  more  than  plausi- 
bility. 

"  I  wish  my  Mother  could  have  seen  this  house,  that  I 
might  make  her  comprehend  how  comfortable  we  are  now 
in  it.  We  have  contrived  lying-down  places  for  everybody, 
the  luxury  of  which  we  fully  feel,  now  that  the  heat  is  so 
intense.  On  Thursday  evening  we  drove  down  to  Grotta 
Ferrata,  and  enjoyed  an  approach  towards  coolness  in  the 
air :  afterwards,  in  the  short  interval  between  feeding  the 
children,  letting  Henry  and  Ernest  sing  their  hymns,  dis- 
patching all  to  bed,  and  going  to  bed  myself,  I  read  the 
newspaper  accounts  of  royal  exits  and  entrances,  and  was 
surprised  at  the  Times  article  on  the  history  and  character 
of  George  IY.  I  was  so  afraid  of  being  disgusted  by  the 
common  practice  of  canonizing  the  dead,  merely  because 
they  are  dead,  that  I  was  gratified  by  the  unsparing  re- 
probation, without  bitterness,  of  the  private  character  and 
habits  of  the  King,  altho'  I  thought  his  political  con- 
duct rated  too  high,  and  could  not  but  be  offended  by  the 
continuance  of  the  tone  of  unqualified  approbation  applied 
to  Queen  Caroline.  Yesterday  morning  Charles  went  with 


340          LIFE    AKD    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

his  boys  between  six  and  seven  to  the  Villa  Conti.  After 
breakfast,  George  read  one  of  "VYa^s's  Hymns  out  of  his 
Grandmamma's  book,  and  was  greatly  delighted  to  ascertain 
that  it  was  given  to  himself  ;  and  then  wrote  a  little,  but 
the  heat  was  such,  that  I  would  not  let  him  do  more,  in 
the  intervals  of  being  with  Simon.  As  to  myself,  except 
cutting  out  a  frock  for  George,  I  did  nothing  all  morning 
but  what  could  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  style  of  a  book- 
maker, full  of  words,  and  with  a  great  pretension  to  the 
communication  of  new  information  drawn  from  manu- 
script documents,  which,  however,  as  far  as  I  have  pro- 
ceeded, I  do  not  detect.  My  Mother,  at  every  turn  I  find 
some  little  thing  or  another  that  you  or  Augusta  have  left 
me,  which  is  always  a  new  pleasure." 

BUNSEN  to  Mus.  WADDINGTON. 

"  Frascati,  17  July,  1830. — My  dearest  Mother.  I  was 
very  sorry  that  a  first  sheet  went  without  a  line  from  my 
hand,  because  I  really  wanted  to  write  to  you,  as  I  have 
always  wanted  to  speak  to  you,  to  open  to  you  my  heart,  to 
gaze  upon  you  and  catch  every  glimpse  of  that  countenance 
full  of  benevolence  and  kindness.  The  more  I  feel  this, 
the  more  I  feel  thankful  for  the  great  blessing  conferred 
upon  us  by  your  kindness  in  coming  over  to  see  us :  the 
heart  has  so  much  to  feed  upon,  and  the  mind  has  enjoyed 
so  much  reality,  that  all  farther  wishes,  ardent  as  they 
may  be,  are  in  comparison  thrown  into  the  background 
and  vanish.  I  never  loved  you  enough,  nor  do  I  so  now, 
when  I  contemplate  all  I  admire,  respect,  and  love  in  you ; 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE. 


and  I  feel  more  thaii  ever  that  so  noble  a  soul,  so  generous 
a  heart,  a  mind  so  entirely  occupied  with  the  happiness  of 
others  is  never  known  nor  loved  as  it  ought  :  but  that 
feeling  again  is  happiness." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"Frascati,  17  August,  1830.—  My  children  are  all  well. 
Mary  in  particular  is  the  wildest  of  the  wild,  and  is  the 
most  amusing,  droll,  saucy  thing  that  ever  was,  insisting 
upon  having  her  own  way  in  everything,  and  sometimes 
most  exceedingly  naughty,  scolding,  demanding,  insisting, 
and  triumphing  when  she  gets  the  better.  You  will  bs 
surprised  perhaps  that  not  one  of  the  children  has  oftener 
spoken  of  you  since  your  departure,  than  Emilia,  who 
often  alludes  to  'quella  Nonna  di  noi.'  Charles  had  a 
letter  the  other  day  from  Sir  William  Gell,  in  which  he 
says,  '  I  charge  you  and  Mrs.  Bunsen  to  beware  of  eating 
pears,  for  his  Britannic  Majesty's  Charge  d'  Affaires  for 
Hanover  has  made  the  observation,  that  one  very  fine  young 
lady  eat  one  pear,  and  immediately  had  strong  dollars  in  her 
loddlcs  '  :  dolori  nelli  budelli. 

"  I  hope  and  believe  that  you  have  had  newspapers,  and 
that  you  may  not  have  been  without  particulars  of  the 
revolutionary  state  of  France,  and  to  enable  you  to  admire 
the  conduct  of  the  people  of  Paris  :  God  grant  that  the 
bloodshed  may  have  had  an  end,  not  to  be  renewed,  and 
that  the  spirit  of  moderation  may  continue.  I  wish  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  was  of  a  character  suited  to  his  high 
destiny,  but  his  conduct  appears  to  me  wholly  without 
dignity;  he  is  no  "William  of  Orange!  I  have  stupidly 
forgotten  who  said  of  the  late  era  of  the  world,  beginning 


342          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

•with  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  'Les  evenemens  de  nos  jours 
ont  ete  grands — mais  ils  ont  trouve  les  hommes  petits.' 
Charles  was  told,  two  years  ago,  by  a  person  well  informed, 
that  the  Duke  of  Orleans  had  been  thus  addressed,,  by  a 
member  of  the  c6U gauche — '  Monseigneur,  soyez  tranquille, 
nous  ferons  la  revolution  pour  vous,  et  malgre  vous.'  * 
We  have  been  and  are  in  such  a  state  of  excitement  in 
anticipation  of  political  news,  that  I  hardly  know  how  the 
time  passes,  and  forget  the  days  of  the  week  and  month. 
Charles  works  like  a  horse,  at  his  collection  of  hymns,  and 
the  introductory  essay  on  that  description  of  sacred  poetry 
in  Germany.  I  read  with  pleasure  in  Coleridge's  book, 
which  I  think  is  of  the  class  that  are  a  gain  in  one's 
existence.  I  have  been  one  evening  at  Cardinal  "Weld's; 
they  all  seem  to  me  very  good,  kind  people." 

"Frascati,  30  July,  1830.— 0  my  own  Mother!  how  en- 
joyable is  our  existence  here !  and  0  if  you  could  but  have 
been  with  us !  I  will  not  say  that  again,  but  could  not 
help  saying  it  this  once,  under  the  fresh  impression  of  your 
journey.  We  have  established  a  porter  at  our  gate,  as 
usual  when  we  are  settled  here,  and  thereby  keep  the 
ragged  population  of  Frascati  out  of  our  garden,  having 
enforced  the  stopping  up  gaps  in  the  hedges.  As  a 
characteristic  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  consider- 
able danger  at  this  crisis— being  surrounded  by  a  mob  in  a  French 
town  they  were  passing  through,  in  consequence  of  the  fleur-de-lis  on 
the  arms  of  their  carriage  leading  to  the  sxispicion  that  some  of  the 
family  of  Charles  X.  were  in  it. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  343 


man,  represented  as  possessing  every  desirable  quality  and 
qualification,  who  is  in  the  awkward  predicament  of  not 
being  able  to  be  with  his  family  at  Frascati  except  by 
night  and  by  stealth,  from  having  some  time  ago  stabbed 
a  man  in  a  quarrel,  which  man  died  of  the  wound !  and 
the  murderer  of  course  has  reason  to  fear  that  the  ven- 
geance of  the  relatives  of  the  murdered  man  would  stimu- 
late the  reluctant  police  to  seize  him,  if  he  should  re- 
appear in  his  native  town  without  sufficient  protection, 
which  sufficient  protection  the  Italians  think  Charles  would 
be  doing  a  most  benevolent  action  in  affording  him !  As 
a  pendant  to  this  story,  our  present  porter  (who  really  as 
yet  has  never  murdered  anybody)  the  day  after  he  was 
installed,  asked  Charles  in  a  supplicating  manner  for  per- 
mission to  wear  'questa  piccola  arrna.'  Charles  was  about 
to  examine  the  thing  he  produced  from  under  his  coat, 
when  he  cried  out,  '  Bada,  bada,  c'e  la  palla  dentro.'  It 
was  only  a  loaded  pistol,  which  had  he  entrapped  Charl«s 
into  authorising  him  to  wear,  he  would  most  probably  not 
have  borne  in  vain,  had  any  object  of  his  spite  come  near 
him." 

"16  Sept.,  1830. — Your  box  is  arrived,  and  its  greatest 
delight  is  the  books,  many  of  which  have  come  into  imme- 
diate use  for  the  children.  The  most  perfect  of  all  things 
is  '  the  Boy's  own  Book ' :  I  enjoy  the  clear-headed  de- 
scription 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  all  sorts  to  all  sizes  and  descriptions  of  persons. 

"  To-day  Charles  is  gone  to  Korne,  to  return  to-morrow. 
After  he  drove  off,  we  set  out  on  a  walk,  my  sister-in-law 


344         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

on  an  ass,  Simon  and  myself,  with  all  the  children,  nurse, 
and  Angelina  on  foot.  As  we  meant  to  make  a  good 
circuit,  I  intended  to  have  sent  back  the  little  girls  after 
they  had  accompanied  us  a  little  way,  but  they  walked 
with  such  spirit,  and  were  so  delighted  at  making  a  part 
of  the  company,  that  I  resolved  to  try  to  take  them  on, 
and  with  a  very  little  help,  each  of  them  being  carried 
alternately  by  the  servant,  they  accomplished  the  whole 
way,  Emilia  singing  for  joy,  and  Frances  running  and 
chattering,  and  my  Mary  doing  everything  that  was  sweet 
and  delightful;  choosing  to  walk,  to  hold  her  sister's 
hands,  then  to  be  carried  by  Henry,  then  calling  after 
each  of  the  party,  then  wondering  at  seeing  her  aunt  upon 
the  ass.  Heaven  grant  a  continuance  of  health  to  these 
precious  little  things,  that  I  may  not  bitterly  repent  leaving 
them  to  go  to  Naples  !  I  have  taken  myself  to  task  often 
and  often  as  to  the  motives  of  this  journey — for  mere 
pleasure,  I  doubt  whether  it  would  be  justifiable :  but  I 
look  upon  the  complete  change  of  scene,  of  thought  and 
occupations,  as  quite  necessary  for  Charles  after  the  un- 
remitting labour  he  has  had  here,  and  previous  to  entering 
upon  the  life  of  interruptions,  labour,  and  various  excite- 
ments which  awaits  him.  in  Borne.  Then — our  four  boys 
we  can  take,  they  are  all  old  enough  to  enjoy,  and  profit 
by  the  journey." 

"Rome,  5  Oct.,  1830. — "VVe  have  been  enjoying  our- 
selves very  much  to-day,  going  in  the  delicious  October 
afternoon  to  the  Yilla  Borghese,  where  the  verdure  is  now 
more  beautiful  than  in  the  spring,  and  which  at  this 
season  is  every  day  full  of  gay  groups.  Yesterday  I  went 
on  foot  with  Simon  and  the  four  boys  to  the  Monte 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  345 


Testaceo,  where  we  saw  the  sun  set  gloriously :  I  took  my 
Frances  and  Emilia  with  me,  having  them  carried  by 
turns,  and  they  walked  nobly,  and  were  delighted  to 
belong  to  such  a  grown-up  party.  We  left  our  dear  Yilla 
Piccolomini  on  Michaelmas-Day,  and  I  have  to  look  back 
upon  the  time  spent  at  Frascati  with  great  thankfulness  : 
we  had  the  enjoyment  of  much  leisure,  and  yet  of  much 
social  pleasure ;  and  altho'  Charles  laboured  so  much  for 
himself,  seldom,  if  ever,  has  he  been  able  at  the  same  time 
to  busy  himself  about  the  children  so  much  as  he  did  this 
summer,  by  means  of  the  morning  walks  regularly  taken 
before  breakfast  with  them  and  with  me.  The  beauty  of 
nature,  of  the  walks  and  views  about  Frascati,  strikes  mo 
each  time  of  being  there  with  such  added  force,  that  I 
could  almost  suppose  I  had  been  before  insensible." 

"  IscJiia,  15  Oct.,  1830. — If  it  was  only  for  the  sake  of 
the  date,  I  must  make  the  beginning  of  a  letter  to  my 
dearest  Mother,  in  the  midst  of  a  state  of  enjoyment  which 
seems  at  the  time  a  dream,  and  will  probably  appear  so 
when  past.  0  that  I  could  by  words  give  an  idea  of  all 
that  I  have  drunk  in  during  the  last  seven  days !  It  is  a 
line  I  think  of  Sir  W.  Jones's — '  He  was  all  eye,  and  saw 
thro'  every  pore ! '  This  is  a  new  world — much  too 
luxurious,  too  intoxicating,  to  wish  or  even  to  consent  to 
live  in  ; — but  to  gloat  over,  to  expatiate  in  for  a  time, — 
and  '  then  back  to  busy  life  again,' — is  rapturous,  no 
common  word  will  do." 

"Naples,  24  Oct. — Being  now  established  in  a  lodging, 
and  calling  myself  at  home,  I  feel  almost  as  if  I  could  write 
a  regular  letter,  and  yet  it  will  perhaps  at  last  be  nothing 
but  a  bundle  of  unconnected  scraps.  Before  I  begin  at 


346         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  leg  inning,  I  will  state  the  blessed  fact,  tliat  all  of  us 
are  well,  and  have  passed  through  the  manifold  risks  of 
so  much  journeying  by  land  and  water  unhurt,  and  that 
the  three  sweet  angels  left  at  home  are  also  well.  I  had 
a  letter  from  Simon  the  fourth  day  after  I  left  home, 
which  would  have  delighted  my  Mother — so  detailed  that 
it  was  a  picture  of  the  existence  of  those  darlings — the 
behaviour,  the  looks,  the  occupations,  the  words  of  each, 
all  characteristic, — even  the  words  of  my  Mary,  when 
seeking  the  whole  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  Naples  on 
the  evening  of  the  22nd  I  was  cheered  by  a  laconic 
assurance  in  a  letter  from  Ehebenitz  that  all  were  in  the 
most  thriving  state. 

i '  The  day  after  my  last  letter  from  Rome,  we  break- 
fasted at  Yelletri,  having  beforehand  run  to  the  Palazzo 
Lancellotti,  where  we  saw  the  sun  rise  from  behind  the 
splendid  mass  of  the  Yolscian  mountains  on  the  left,  while 
the  sea  became  visible  in  the  distance  on  the  right,  with 
the  beautiful  outline  of  the  Monte  Circello,  formerly  island 
of  Circe.  The  staircase  and  gallery  landing-places  of  the 
Palazzo  Lancellotti  I  think  the  finest  I  ever  saw.  From 
Yelletri  we  flew  rather  than  drove  over  the  finest  road 
possible  thro'  the  Pontine  Marshes,  delighting  in  every 
mile  of  the  way,  and  wondering  what  can  cause  people  to 
call  them  tiresome.  They  are  enclosed  on  the  right  by  a 
range  of  mountains  (ornamented  with  picturesque  ancient 
towns)  such  as  the  eye  might  feed  on  for  ever  without 
fatigue:  and  whatever  luxuriant  vegetation,  expanses  of 
water  peopled  with  wild  birds,  and  the  effect  of  an  inter- 


KOMAN    SUNSHINE.  347 


iniiiaLle  avenue  of  trees  within  which  the  road  passes, 
can  do  to  obliterate  the  recollection  of  an  unwholesome 
flat,  is  done.  Terracina  struck  me  rather  less  than  I 
expected,  and  yet  it  is  most  picturesque :  on  the  other 
hand,  I  had  never  heard  enough  of  the  mountain-pass 
between  Fondi  and  ltd,  where  the  hills  to  the  very  edge 
of  the  road  are  full  of  myrtle,  lentisca,  cefalia,  intermingled 
with  heath,  the  first  I  had  seen  since  England.  I  wish 
you  may  happen  to  know  the  two  shrubby  plants  of  which 
I  have  given  the  Italian  names — the  former,  between 
glossy  evergreen  leaves,  has  small  coral  berries  growing 
thick  round  the  stem  like  holly;  the  latter,  a  tough 
slender  stem  with  sea-green  spear-like  leaves,  has  at  the 
extremity  berries  of  cornelian,  heavy  enough  to  curve  it 
towards  the  ground.  How  many  vignettes  did  I  make  in 
idea  for  my  intended  letter  to  my  Mother  in  driving  along ! 
But  people  who  draw,  and  who  keep  a  journal  in  travel- 
ling, cannot  be  such  as  have  to  pack  and  unpack,  take 
care  of  and  provide  for,  a  husband  and  four  children. 
But  my  own  Mother,  I  do  not  know  what  travellers  are 
made  of,  who  do  not  talk  of  Mola  di  Gaeta.  I  doubt 
whether  anything  in  the  world  can  exceed  the  view  from 
the  inn  called  Villa  di  Cicerone.  We  arrived  there  when 
the  sun  was  setting,  and  saw  it  rise  next  morning  over 
the  Gulf  of  Gaieta,  reddening  the  smoky  column  of  the 
far-distant  Vesuvius.  From  thence  every  bit  of  the  way 
is  beautiful,  except  from  Capua  to  Naples,  where  the 
uninterrupted  succession  of  tall  abeles,  connected  by 
garlands  of  vines,  concealing  the  soil  and  the  distant 
prospect,  is  as  tiresome  as  in  Lombardy.  Professor 
Gerhard  drove  to  meet  us  the  first  stage,  and  we  entered 


318         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Naples  by  the  splendid  new  road  made  by  Murat,  on 
Saturday  the  9th.  On  Sunday,  after  church,  we  went  in 
a  boat,  the  thing  I  entreated  to  do  first  of  all,  along  the 
shore  to  Posilipo.  Monday  we  resolved  to  set  off  on  the 
island  tour  with  Count  Platen,*  and  drove  off  to  Pozzuoli : 
here  the  inn  was  full,  but  on  inquiry  we  found  a 
private  house,  which  pleased  us  much  better,  though  there 
was  no  pretension  to  refinement  of  accommodation.  While 
our  dinner  was  getting  ready  (which  consisted,  besides 
soup  and  fresh  fish,  of  two  such  haycocks  of  maccaroni 
that  we  could  have  played  at  hide  and  seek  under  them) 
we  drove  past  the  Lake  Avernus,  within  sight  of  the 
ancient  Cumse.  Next  morning  our  eyes  opened  on  the 
Gulf  of  Baise ! 

'  Bear  mo,  some  god,  to  Baise'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  twenty  or  five  and  twenty  years 
ago,  and  now  I  know  what  moved  the  mild- spirited  Addi- 
son  to  that  vehement  ejaculation.  We  embarked  in  a 
large  boat,  and  coasted  along,  landing  at  all  the  spots 
where  antiquities  were  to  be  seen :  in  the  first  place  we 
went  on  asses  by  the  side  of  the  Lucrine  lake  to  the 
Avernus,  and  there  saw  the  Cave  of  the  Sybil,  as  it  is 

*  Count  Platen  Hallermiind,  the  fertile  lyric  and  dramatic  writer, 
remarkable  for  his  warm  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  liberation  of  the 
Poles.  He  was  a  celebrated  but  not  a  popular  poet,  and  he  died, 
forlorn  and  poor,  at  Syracuse,  in  1835.  Many  instances  are  remem- 
bered of  his  wonderful  insight  into  national  character.  Of  these  per- 
haps none  were  more  remarkable  than  his  remark  to  Bunsen — "!D 
Germany  we  say,  '  he  is  a  priest,  he  is  a  judge,'  in  Italy  they  say,  'fa  il 
prete,/*  il  giudice.5  " 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  349 


called— a  subterranean  passage  probably  for  communica- 
tion the  nearest  way  between  the  ancient  Cumee  and  Misense. 
Having  crossed  at  last  the  promontory  of  Misenee  at  Bacoli 
while  we  sent  the  boat  round,  we  embarked  on  the  other 
side,  and  pushed  off  from  the  main  land  to  Procida,  walked 
across  the  island,  and  again  embarked  for  Ischia,  where 
we  arrived  at  sunset,  and  found  most  comfortable  quarters 
in  the  Sentinella,  an  inn  formerly  a  villa,  delightfully  situ- 
ated.    At  Ischia  we  remained  three  days,  one  day  longer 
than  we  had  intended,  on  account  of  the  sea  being  too 
rough  for  our  more  considerable  voyage  to  Capri.     But  we 
enjoyed  every  hour  spent  in  Ischia,  and  could  with  pleasure 
have  stayed  longer;    we  made  the  entire  circuit  of  the 
island,  and  ascended  the  Epomeo.     We  were  seven  hours 
on  the  sea  from  Ischia  to  Capri,  however  all  was  enjoy- 
able, and  half  seas  over,  I  obliged  Charles  to  hear,  and  be 
delighted  with  '  He  who  has  bent  him  o'er  the  dead : '  in 
the  sight  of  such  shores  and  such  a  sea,  one  has  need  of 
the  words  of  inspiration,  one's  own  words  will  no  longer 
do  for  one's  feelings.     That  passage  is  a  description,  and 
the  only  description,  of  Magna  Grsecia,  as  well  as  of  real 
Greece —it  is  not  Italian.     I  do  not  despise  nor  reject,  for 
I  love  what  is  Italian,   but  what  is  Grecian  is  another 
thing  :  and  no  enumeration  of  objects,  no  geometrical  ele- 
vation of  rocks  and  hills,  can  communicate  even  a  shadow 
of  the  reality,  they  give  ideas  of  other  things.     Capri  I 
think  yet  more  beautiful  than  Iscliia,  and  in  Capri  I  felt 
at  home,  whereas  the  volcanic  mass  of  Ischia  conveyed  in 
every  part  the  impression  of  a  soil  and  nature  foreign  and 
heterogene.      From  Capri  the   second  day  we  rowed  to 
Sorrento,  floating  over  the  smooth  sea,  close  in  sight  of  a 


350         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

coast  diversified  with  every  species  of  beaut}'.  At  Sorrento 
we  slept  and  got  away  next  morning  as  soon  as  we  could, 
for  it  was  the  only  place  on  our  tour  that  we  did  not  like. 
Mr.  W.  described  it  to  me  literally — '  the  most  beautiful 
prison  in  the  world,  but  I  don't  like  to  be  imprisoned.' 
We  rowed  to  Castellamare  and  drove  thence  to  Salerno 
through  the  valley  of  La  Cava — indescribably  beautiful ; 
and  were  utterly  astonished,  after  all  that  we  had  latterly 
seen,  with  the  view  that  opened  upon  us  on  descending 
from  Yietri  towards  Salerno.  There  we  inhabited  an  inn 
which  had  been  a  bastion  of  a  fortification,  and  we  issued 
from  each  of  our  rooms  upon  a  broad  terrace,  looking  on 
the  sea,  over  which,  three  mornings  running,  I  saw  the 
morning  star,  the  break  of  day  behind  the  coast  of 
Psestum,  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  gleaming  on  the  cliffs 
on  the  right  hand,  stretching  from  Yietri  towards  Amalfi, 
by  the  clearest  and  most  tranquil  atmosphere.  The  situa- 
tion of  Amalfi,  my  own  Mother,  and  the  valley  behind  it, 
is  striking  beyond  description.  At  Psostum  also  all  expec- 
tation was  exceeded  by  the  temple  of  Neptune :  the  deso- 
lation is  frightful,  and  the  asphodel,  ever  found  'within 
the  place  of  thousand  tombs,'  grows  all  over  Psestum.  We 
saw  Pompeii  on  the  way  to  Naples.  The  impression  which 
it  makes  must  always  be  peculiar  to  itself,  and  I  was  not 
insensible  to  the  effect  of  places  of  abode  as  fresh  as  if 
inhabited  yesterday,  the  inhabitants  of  which  have  yet 
been  for  1700  years  mouldered  into  dust:  but  Pompeii  is 
the  thing  I  least  of  all  enjoy,  or  rather  do  not  enjoy  it  at 
all .  it  is  so  petite  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  so  completely 
dans  le  style  de  boudoir. 

'  i  The  rooms  which  Count  Pourtalee  has  taken  for  us 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  351 


in  Naples  are  beautiful,  with,  a  range  of  windows  look- 
ing on  the  sea.  At  the  Palace  of  Portici,  I  was  de- 
lighted with  a  whole  grove  of  Georginas*  I  hope  niy 
Mother  knows  the  flower,  brought  by  Humboldt  origin- 
ally from  the  Brazils ;  it  grows  very  tall  in  a  bush, 
and  the  flowers  are  every  variety  of  the  colour  of  the 
ranunculus,  with  more  outline  and  light  and  shade.  The 
bronze  statues  in  the  Museum  are  inconceivable  !  With  all 
marble  remains  of  antiquity,  one  puzzles  to  make  out  what 
is  ancient  and  what  has  been  injured  by  restoration  :  but 
the  bronzes  are  perfect  throughout,  fresh  and  uninjured. 
There  would  be  no  end  to  enumerating  objects  of  delight, 
but  a  bust  of  Julius  Caesar,  of  consummate  workmanship 
and  undoubted  authenticity,  is  an  object  to  feast  upon  in 
recollection,  as  communicating  a  fund  of  new  ideas.  Even 
the  marble  cannot  quite  deaden  'that  eye  whose  bend 
doth  awe  the  world ; '  while  the  fine  chiselling  about  the 
mouth,  marks  it  irresistible  in  words  and  expression.  The 
people  of  Naples  are  most  hideous  and  uncivilised,  so  that 
the  Romans  appear  princes  on  recollection :  but  I  delight 
in  what  I  have  seen  of  the  country-people  and  the  island- 
ers. At  Procida  and  Ischia  I  have  again  seen  feminine 
creatures  in  petticoats,  with  soft  voices,  speaking  Italian 
with  a  melodious  cadence,  and  looking  upon  you  with,  a 
melting  gaze,  instead  of  the  brazen  stare  of  Rome." 

"Naples,  6  Nov.,  18  30. -^-Although.  Count  Pourtalcs  was 
a  new  acquaintance,  his  sudden  illness  and  imminent 
deatli  touch  us  very  nearly,  and  turn  to  serious  sadness 
the  dream  of  enjoyment  and  idleness  in  which  we  have 
passed  the  last  five  weeks.  We  found  him  here  in  the 
*  Dahlias. 


352        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

prime  of  life  and  possessed  of  everything  that  youth  and 
health  and  friends  and  fortune  can  give  to  make  life 
desirable.  On  the  25th  he  was  with  us  in  the  palace  and 
gardens  of  Portici,  and  we  little  thought  that  the  hand  of 
death  was  so  soon  to  touch  one  of  the  party,  and  still  less 
that  the  lot  was  to  fall  upon  him.  He  is  the  fourth 
person  amongst  those  whom  we  may  call  our  associates 
who  have  been  carried  off  by  sudden  illness  within  the 
last  three  months,  as  if  we  were  to  be  allowed  every 
possible  warning,  without  being  afflicted  by  actual  dis- 
tress !  " 

"  Home,  16  Nov. — Count  Pourtales  breathed  his  last  on 
Wednesday  the  10th,  and  on  Thursday,  llth,  Charles  saw 
him  buried.  On  Friday  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  we 
left  Naples.  We  saw  Caserta  and  the  amphitheatre  at 
Capua,  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  possible  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  minutes 
smile  or  rejoice — at  the  end  of  that  time  however  all  was 
clear  to  her,  and  she  embraced  me,  and  clung  round  me, 
and  then  sate  on  my  arm  gazing  at  me  with  a  look  of 
sweetness  never  to  be  forgotten.  Her  father  in  his  travel- 
ling cap  frightened  her,  but  her  mustering  her  brothers  is 
not  to  be  described  :  — Georgo,  ever  her  great  delight,  was 
the  first  that  she  took  hold  of  by  the  neck,  and  kissed, 
and  called  by  his  name,  which,  as  the  easiest  of  pronun- 
ciation, she  then  applied  to  each  of  the  other  brothers, 
stroking  and  kissing  each  at  the  same  time,  but  when 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  353 


corrected  slie  took  all  possible  pains  to  repeat  the  right 
names  :  then  gazed  at  each  brother,  saying  *  Bello  ! ' — and 
•when  she  lost  sight  of  any  one  of  the  four,  she  would 
hunt  about,  and  call  for  whichever  was  missing,  as  if  she 
was  afraid  of  losing  them  again.  My  Frances  was  most 
affectionate,  and  in  different  ways  she  and  Emilia  have 
not  known  what  to  do  to  show  their  delight,  ever  since  I 
came  back. 

"  I  must  not  forget  to  tell  my  Mother  that  our  expedi- 
tion up  Vesuvius  turned  out  very  well ;  we  had  the  finest 
weather,  and  the  volcano  in  great  activity  :  it  is  an  incon- 
ceivably magnificent  spectacle,  but  which  could  not  so  far 
absorb  me  as  to  prevent  my  often  turning  my  back  upon  it, 
to  gaze  upon  the  exquisite  outline  of  coast  to  be  traced  far 
below — the  three  successive  bays,  from  the  promontory  of 
Gaieta  to  the  extremity  of  the  promontory  of  Sorrento, 
called  Capo  Minerva ;  and  the  unequalled  islands  of  Ischia 
and  Capri,  so  distinct  tho'  so  diminished.  The  day  at 
Pompeii  was  very  enjoyable.  After  witnessing  an  exca- 
vation, we  dined  with  Professor  Zahn,  who  has  been  for  a 
time  resident  there  to  make  drawings  for  the  museum  at 
Berlin :  he  caused  the  custode-population  of  Pompeii  to 
assemble  and  dance  the  Tarantella  for  our  amusement 
after  dinner,  on  a  terrace  with  a  view  of  Vesuvius  and  the 
sea,  and  one  of  the  sub-directors  of  the  excavations  sang 
buffo  songs  to  our  great  delight.  At  the  excavation  before 
dinner,  Sir  William  Gell  was  present.  Pompeii  itself  will 
not  please  me,  I  cannot  help  my  vulgarity,  but  I  must 
think  of  calf-sheds  and  cow-houses  and  hen-roosts,  and 
everything  that  is  not  refined,  when  I  see  such  narrow 
spaces,  let  their  elegance  of  decoration  be  what  it  will ! 

VOL.  I.  A  A 


354         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

What  is  really  striking  is  the  street  of  tombs.  We  con- 
trived to  spend  another  day  between  Pozzuoli,  Cumse,  Baise, 
and  Misense,  to  renew  the  most  delightful  images  of  the 
whole  journey.  Now,  my  own  Mother,  I  wish  I  may  have 
forgotten  nothing  essential  to  be  told — thousands  of  things 
I  have  got  to  say,  but  between  children,  visitors,  household 
affairs,  and  settlings,  have  not  a  moment  left  for  recollec- 
tion, and  as  the  children's  dinner  is  coming,  I  will  close 
my  letter.  0  my  Mother !  how  dreadful  is  the  state  of  the 
world.  We  all  cry  *  Peace !  peace  ! '  and  there  is  no  peace 
to  be  hoped  for. 

"Pray  tell  Neukomm  that  we  have  Felix  Mendelssohn 
here,  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  enjoyment  that  is.  Felix  Mendels- 
sohn's adagio-touch  is  the  only  thing  I  ever  heard  like 
Neukomm' s." 

In  December  the  Bunsens  again  witnessed  a  papal 
funeral,  for  Pope  Pius  YIII.  expired  on  the  first  of 
that  month,  after  a  reign  of  little  more  than  a  year  and 
a  half. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"Rome,  26  Dec.,  1830. — I  have  not  for  many  years  felt 
so  well  and  strong  as  since  the  thorough  refreshment  of 
our  delightful  journey  to  Naples ;  but  last  Christmas  my 
Mother  was  with  us,  and  so  many  others  were  also  want- 
ing, that  Christmas  Eve  would  have  been  melancholy  from 
recollection,  had  not  the  three  eldest  boys  imagined,  con- 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  355 


trived,  and  arranged  something  for  the  pleasure  of  their 
sisters,  which  amused  everybody,  and  pleased  me  I  believe 
most  of  all,  from  the  thought  and  its  execution.  I  believe 
the  separation  occasioned  by  the  journey  to  Naples  had  its 
beneficial  effects,  in  proving  to  the  boys  that  they  really 
had  pleasure  to  gain  by  the  presence  of  their  sisters,  for  I 
had  observed  ever  since  I  came  home  that  they  were 
caressed  and  played  with,  instead  of  being  teased,  as  was 
too  often  the  case  formerly :  and  for  the  last  three  weeks  I 
had  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  visiting  cards  about  all  my  tables,  to 
say  nothing  of  using  all  my  scissors,  &c. ;  and  when  I 
asked  what  it  was  all  about,  I  was  told  it  was  for  their 
sisters  at  Christmas,  but  a  great  mystery  was  made,  and 
George  was  not  let  into  the  room  behind  the  nursery  for 
some  days.  At  last,  after  my  arrangements  had  been  seen 
and  admired,  and  they  had  received  their  gifts,  we  all  went 
in  procession  to  see  their  devices,  and  were  really  surprised 
at  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  with  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  picture  in  the  midst  of  the  screen, 
and  in  front  of  the  screen  a  little  table  with  gifts  for  their 
sisters  and  for  the  maids,  made  or  bought  by  themselves, 
out  of  their  own  pittance.  They  afterwards  sang  their 
hymn,  had  their  tea  and  cake,  and  went  to  bed,  but  as 
Henry  well  observed,  'Last  year  we  were  so  many  and 
noisy ! — this  time  we  could  make  no  noise.' 


356        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    IttJNSEN. 

"One  of  our  new  acquaintance  this  winter  is  Madame 
de  Stael,*  the  widow  of  Auguste,  your  Madame  de  Stael' s 
only  son.  She  is  a  very  charming  person,  mild  and  in- 
telligent, but  deeply  afflicted,  having  lost  her  only  child 
the  year  after  she  lost  her  husband.  She  is,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  Geneva,  the  heir  of  that  child ;  and 
possesses  Coppet,  but  her  riches  can  give  her  little  comfort. 
Her  delight  is  my  Mary,  and  when  she  comes  here,  she 
can  scarcely  take  her  eyes  from  her :  she  fancies  her  like 
her  own  child." 

"  Rome,  24  Jan.,  1831. — My  own  Mother,  the  newspaper 
will  have  told  you  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Niebuhr !  and  you 
will  in  part  have  imagined  the  shock  it  has  been  to  both 
Charles  and  myself ;  but  quite  the  degree  of  shock  you 
cannot  have  imagined.  Charles's  feelings  have  been  of 
the  same  kind,  but  even  keener  than  when  he  lost  his 
father,  for  the  relation  of  the  heart  was  the  same,  and  with 
respect  to  Mr.  Niebuhr  existed  in  full  force  and  vigour, 
whereas  from  the  decays  of  age,  his  father  had  long  been 
dead  to  him  before  he  expired.  And  then,  the  loss  of 
Niebuhr  was  so  unforeseen  !  he  was  in  the  best  years  of  a 
man'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  threaten  life.  His  illness  lasted  only 
eightdays :  from  the  third  day,  he  asserted  that  he  should 
die,  .but  till  after  the  fifth,  no  other  person  saw  cause  to 
apprehend  danger.  A  violent  inflammation  of  the  throat 
was  the  last  death-stroke,  but  it  was  without  a  struggle,  or 
apparent  pain,  that  he  expired  in  the  night  between  the 

*  Madame  de  Stael,  often  mentioned  in  these  volumes,  died  at 
Geneva  in  1876. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  357 


1st  and  2nd  of  January.  His  mind  was  clear  to  the  last. 
Oh  !  what  I  would  give  to  know  that  the  highest  grace  had 
been  granted  to  him.  which  I  think  can  be  granted  to  a 
parent  on  the  verge  of  the  grave — that  of  yielding  up  a  set 
of  unprovided  children  into  the  hands  of  the  common 
Parent,  satisfied  that  God  is  not  bound  to  any  given  means 
for  securing  their  temporal  and  eternal  interests,  and  that 
whether  he  himself  had  lived  or  died,  their  welfare  must 
equally  have  been  the  gift  of  Providence !  Mr.  Brandis  in 
his  kindness  wrote  many  and  full  particulars,  but  did  not 
mention  anything  said  by  him  in  the  prospect  of  death. 
But  I  will  comfort  myself  with  the  belief  that  the  power  of 
composure  and  resignation — the  most  at  variance  with  his 
anxious  and  agitated  nature — may  have  been  communi- 
cated in  his  last  moments  by  that  Voice  which  rebuked  the 
winds  and  bid  the  sea  be  still.  Oh !  my  own  Mother ! 
think  of  Mrs.  Niebuhr !  I  cannot  even  think  of  her  yet 
without  tears  :  and  yet  I  will  answer  for  her  bearing  her 
affliction  as  she  ought,  that  is  to  say,  without  complaint  or 
murmur.  I  answered  for  the  manner  in  which  she  would 
bear  the  burning  of  her  house,*  and  every  account  of  her 
corroborated  my  supposition ;  she  has  ever  by  principle 
and  habit  accepted  what  came  from  the  hand  of  God,  with- 
out pitying  herself.  But  how  is  she  now  tried!  her  all  is 
taken  away — the  object  of  every  thought  and  action,  of 
every  feeling,  of  every  exertion!  for  even  her  children 

*  Nicbuhr's  new  house  at  Bonn,  in  the  arrangement  of  which  he 
had  taken  great  pleasure,  had  been  completely  destroyed  by  fire  on 
the  night  of  the  6th  of  February,  1830 :  but  his  books  were  for 
the  most  part  saved  by  being  thrown  out  into  the  snow  from  the 
windows  of  the  second  story,  and  the  MS.  of  the  2nd  volume  of  hia 
"  History  of  Rome"  was  found  amongst  them. 


358        LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUXSKN. 

were  so  united  with,  him  in  her  affections  and  occupations, 
that  their  existence  will  be  at  first  but  aggravation  of 
misery  to  her.  She  was  ill  when  he  was  taken  ill,  and  not 
having  left  him  day  or  night  for  six  days,  was  then  com- 
pelled to  take  to  her  bed,  and  when  he  expired,  her  fever 
was  so  high  that  she  was  considered  in  great  danger! 
However,  when  Mr.  Brandis's  letter  was  sent,  on  the  4th 
January,  she  was  recovering. 

"  I  know  not  how  to  be  thankful  enough  to  Mr.  Brandis 
for  having  written  so  immediately,  for  the  death  of  Mr. 
Niebuhr  was  in  the  newspaper  of  the  same  post  by  which 
his  letter  came,  and  had  Charles  seen  that,  without  having 
a  letter  of  particulars  and  certainty,  I  think  he  would  have 
been  half  distracted.  Charles  had  a  long  letter  from  Mr. 
Niebuhr  not  three  weeks  ago,  very  remarkable  in  many 
respects  :  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  prove 
whether  his  anticipations,  or  those  of  more  sanguine  poli- 
ticians are  just ;  but  in  the  meantime  we  are  not  authorised 
to  condemn  as  absurd  the  apprehensions  of  a  person,  the 
study  of  whose  life  had  been  history  and  politics,  and  who 
therefore  could  see  events  in  their  causes  more  than  ordin- 
ary mortals.  The  third  volume  of  Mr.  Niebuhr' s  Roman 
History  he  had  shortlybefore  prepared  for  the  press,  whither 
he  had  sent  it  with  a  short  introduction  relative  to  passing 
events,  written  with  a  freedom  that  had  startled  the  few 
people  whose  comments  have  as  yet  reached  us.  One  of 
the  expressions  was  quoted  in  a  letter  to  Charles  from  the 
publisher  of  his  hymns — '  The  foolhardiness  of  the  French 


ROMAN   SUNSHINE.  359 

Court  lias  broken  the  talisman  which  held  in  thrall  the 
demon  of  the  Be  volution.' 

"  Mr.  Braiidis's  letter  contained  besides  details  of  his 
own  afflictions.  Last  summer,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the 
house  of  his  only  and  most  beloved  sister,  and  consumed 
in  a  few  hours  the  whole  abode,  and  a  manufactory,  which 
was  her  husband's  sole  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  afflictions  fall  upon 
other  people  !  Poor  Mr.  Brandis  received  the  intelligence 
when  about  to  go  and  recruit  his  debilitated  body  at  Carls- 
bad, after  having  endured  not  only  fatigue  from  long 
exertion,  but  affliction  from  the  loss  of  his  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  inhabitants  of  Kiel  in  Holstein, 
where  she  resided,  to  form  a  fund  for  her  and  her  children's 
support.  He  however  nobly  declined  this  generous  proof  of 
the  regard  in  which  she  was  held,  saying  that  he,  with  his 
father's  assistance,  engaged  to  provide  for  her.  He  then 
went  on  to  Copenhagen  to  arrange  with  his  father.  "What 
proportion  the  father  gives  he  does  not  tell,  but  he  men- 
tions that  his  wife  having  in  his  absence  made  a  contriv- 
ance to  do  without  half  of  their  house,  and  let  the  other 
half  to  a  friend,  they  would  be  enabled  by  the  rest  to 
make  good  the  obligations  he  had  entered  towards  his 
sister. 

"  25  Jan. — And  yesterday's  post  brought  the  news  that 
Mrs.  Niebuhr  was  released  from  her  sufferings  just  one 
week  after  the  death  of  her  husband !  The  letter  did  not 


360         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

come  to  us,  and  my  sister-in-law  concealed  the  intelligence 
till  this  morning1,  that  we  might  not  have  to  think  of  it 
thro'  the  night.  Nothing  could  be  less  a  surprise.  I  have 
never  felt  it  possible  that  she  could  long  survive.  But 
think  of  those  children  !  the  eldest  fourteen,  the  youngest 
nine  years  old,  all  of  an  age  to  know  what  they  have  lost, 
bred  up  with  such  extreme  tenderness,  with  only  too  much 
indulgence,  shut  up  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  now  at 
once  to  be  cut  off  from  the  whole  of  their  past  life ;  to 
come  into  the  hands  of  persons  to  them  unknown,  even 
tho'  kind  friends  of  their  parents!  The  report  con- 
veyed by  the  letter  from  Bonn  was  that  they  were  to  go 
immediately  to  Kiel,  to  the  sister-in-law  of  their  father, 
and  guardian-aunt  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  might  produce  a  terrible  effect  upon 
them.  It  was  the  house  of  which  greater  part  had  been 
burnt  in  February,  and  which  had  been  built  up  in  the 
summer,  and  in  which  they  had  settled  themselves  again 
since  September !  Charles  and  I  wrote  to  Mrs.  Niebuhr 
last  week :  I  had  a  feeling  that  she  would  not  be  able  to 
read  the  letters.* 

"Last  week  we  passed  several  fine  afternoons  in  seeing 
sights,  Charles  feeling  the  need  of  something  to  divert 
his  thoughts  from  the  subject  to  which  they  ever  revert. 
We  went  with  the  four  boys  to  the  top  of  St.  Peter's,  and 
even  into  the  ball,  one  day,  and  another  to  the  Galleria 
Borghese.  My  own  Mother,  I  will  conclude.  Do  not 

0» 

*  Niebuhr  and  his  wife  rest  together  in  the  same  cemetery  at  Bonn, 
in  which  the  Bunsens  also  now  repose. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  361 


think  me  melancholy,  but  I  cannot  help  being  sad.  0 
what  things  are  passing  in  families  and  nations,  .and  we 
are  spared !  " 

"  10  March,  1831. — We  are  all  recovering,  my  own 
Mother!  (after  an  attack  of  scarlet-fever)  and  I  have 
driven  out  to-day  in  the  most  delicious  weather,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  described  how  beautiful  everything  was — the 
abundance  of  spring  blossoms,  the  brilliancy  of  sun  and 
sky. 

"  I  am  delighted,  but  not  surprised,  at  the  manner  in  which 
Neukomm  has  attracted  you  (though  people  would  laugh 
if  I  was  to  speak  of  attraction  as  belonging  to  Neukomm). 
He  is  a  most  extraordinary  person,  possessing  a  few  more 
senses  and  powers  of  perception  than  anybody  else,  and 
employing  them  with  consummate  skill  to  give  pleasure, 
and  avoid  giving  pain,  to  those  persons  whom  he  likes  ; 
and  even  those  whom  he  dislikes  (and  he  can  take  in  utter 
aversion)  he  never  offends.  No  cat  walking  and  winding 
between  wine-glasses  without  touching  or  causing  to  vibrate 
ever  exceeded  him  in  the  talent  of  going  his  own  way  amongst 
all  sorts  of  clashing  characters,  without  dislodging  anyone, 
or  discomposing  the  frame  of  society.  He  is  a  person 
whom  when  once  you  know,  it  is  impossible  only  to  like, 
you  are  compelled  to  have  an  affection  towards  him,  to  feel, 
not  a  common-place  wish  to  see  him  again,  but  a  want  of 
his  society,  a  consciousness  that  what  he  was  to  you, 
nobody  else  can  exactly  be,  that  his  place  is  only  to  be 
filled  by  himself.  I  should  not  have  used  these  expres- 
sions to  my  Mother  before  she  knew  Neukomm,  as  I  per- 
ceive she  does  now  know  him,  otherwise  they  would  seem 
too  paradoxical,  now  I  am  sure  she  will  enter  into  them. 


362         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

His  affectionate  disposition,  liis  power  of  strong  attach- 
ment, stand  in  contrast  with  a  power  of  calculation  that 
never  was  exceeded :  never,  I  suppose,  did  he  do  any- 
thing but  what  he  intended,  and  never  was  he  taken  by 
surprise.  To  enumerate  the  apparent  contradictions  in 
him  would  be  endless  :  all  that  is  most  exquisite  in  art  or 
nature  is  matter  of  his  chief  enjoyment;  and  the  female 
character,  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  is  a  fearful  fact,  my  own  Mother,  only  ascer- 
tained after  multiplied  opportunities  of  nice  observation ; 
for  Neukomm  scrupulously  avoids  speaking  out  as  a  general 
rule,  but  more  particularly  uttering  anything  to  shock  his 
friend's  opinions.  He  is  a  deeply  unhappy  person ;  the 
keen  susceptibility  of  his  feelings  is  misery  to  him,  for  no 
wound  that  his  heart  receives  can  ever  heal — the  arrows 
of  death,  the  deaths  of  his  friends,  are  ever  rankling 
there,  and  reminding  him  of  that  termination  of  his 
own  existence,  of  which  he  will  not  think.  I  should  be 
interested  inexpressibly  to  know  his  history — I  never  met 
with  anybody  that  did :  and  he  never  tells  anything  himself 
but  dotted  facts  here  and  there  without  connection.  It  is 
my  belief  that  a  fund  of  religious  conviction  in  the  hearts 
of  his  friends,  forms  to  him,  unknown  to  himself,  an 
additional  attraction.  One  evening,  when  he  was  going 
away  late,  having  worked  himself  into  deep  melancholy 
with  music,  he  said  (I  forget  in  answer  to  what)  in  the 
words  of  Hamlet—'  "When  we  have  shaken  off  this  mortal 
coil,  what  dreams  may  come  ? '  &c.  in  the  manner  of  a 
question. — Charles  answered,  '  Then,  I  think,  we  shall 


HOMAN    SUNSHINE.  363 


awake  from  all  dreams.'  But  he  did  not  assent.  I  could 
fill  pages  in  commenting  on  this  most  singular  of  all  human 
compositions,  but  I  must  make  haste  from  this  subject. 

' '  I  hope  and  trust,  my  own  Mother,  that  you  never 
believe  a  word  of  newspaper  or  private  accounts  of  dis- 
turbances in  Rome.  Here  we  have  none,  but  the  stories 
that  are  every  day  fabricated,  and  written  from  Rome,  are 
beyond  all  belief.  A  sentinel  in  the  Campo  Yaccino  went 
to  sleep  over  his  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  only 
blood  that  has  been  shed.  To  be  sure  the  Romans  have 
almost  died  of  fright  to  hear  that  some  insurgents  were 
advancing  on  Civita  Castellana,  but  then  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Pope,  consisting  of  one  thousand  men  in  uniform 
and  five  hundred  ragamuffins  (who  being  nearly  in  luff, 
should  be  denominated  the  Buffs],  have  frightened  them 
off. 

"Iain  enjoying  Major  Napier's  'War  in  the  Penin- 
sula,' it  is  indescribably  interesting;  but  what  a  fearful 
picture  of  a  demoralised  nation  do  the  Spaniards  present ! 
"What  self-deception,  faithlessness  to  themselves,  and 
treachery  to  others  !  Wherever  exclusive  and  «#r«-Catfioli- 
cism  has  robbed  a  nation  of  the  right  use  of  its  moral 
faculties  in  the  most  material  point,  the  moral  and  intellec- 
tual sense  becomes  blighted  and  inefficient." 

In  September,  1831,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  letters 
which  follow,  Bunsen,  on  the  urgent  advice  of  his  friend 
Herr  von  Tippelskirch,  suddenly  determined  to  relieve 
his  wife,  who  had  latterly  spoken  of  her  pecuniary  trials 


364        LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

as  "only  a  feather  in  her  burden,"  from  the  twofold 
domestic  incubus  which  had  weighed  upon  her  for  so 
many  years.  "  I  had  once  or  twice  said  to  Charles," 
she  wrote  to  her  Mother  afterwards,  "my  thoughts 
start  back  from  the  subject  of  our  life  this  winter  :  all 
I  know  is  that  help  always  comes,  when  help  is  indis- 
pensable. He  never  could  make  any  answer,  his  dis- 
tress was  equal  to  mine." 

Yet  the  parting  with  Christiana  was  affectionate  on 
both  sides,  and  many  friendly  meetings  afterwards  took 
place.  "  I  could  not  write  before  on  the  subject  of  my 
sister-in-law,"  wrote  Madame  Bunsen  when  she  was 
gone.  "She  had  not  chosen  for  months  to  speak  to 
me,  drove  me  from  her  room  when  I  attempted  to  visit 
her,  and  abused  me  and  her  brother  to  every  one  she 
saw.  Yet  we  parted  on  the  most  affectionate  terms, 
and  about  me  she  has  cast  her  spell." 

BUNSEN  to  his  WIFE  (at  Frascati). 

"Rome,  Sept.,  1831.— 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  shall  be  firm  and  inexorable  as  to  the 
execution  of  the  plan. 

"lam  meditating  to  propose  to  Simon  this  afternoon 
whether  it  would  not  be  better  for  himself  to  give  up  his 
situation  and  return  to  Germany. 

"God  give  us  the  right  resolution,  and  bless  what  we 
do.  I  expect  to  hear  your  unbiassed  feeling  and  opinion.' 


110MAN    SUNSHINE.  365 

"  26  Sept.,  1831. — Christiana  has  become  an  angel :  she 
has  cried— accused  herself — complained  of  herself — but 
still  she  goes,  for  you  might  consider  from  this  that  she 
does  not  intend  to  go. 

"She  goes  next  Thursday  week.  Simon  goes  with 
her. 

"  Everything  is  settled." 

MADAME  BUXSEN  to  BUNSEX. 

"  Frascati,  27  Sept. — Your  letter  has  comforted  me  in- 
clescribably,  in  every  way — most  of  all  with  the  intelligence 
of  that  softened  state  of  spirit,  which  I  anticipated  would 
take  place  at  the  last,  but  I  had  supposed  not  till  the  last. 
0  I  wish  that  softening  might  extend  further  than  your 
person !  but  although  it  should  go  no  further,  it  is  still  a 
balm  to  one's  heart  that  the  parting  so  far  should  be  with- 
out bitterness  of  feeling. 

"  I  have  passed  a  happy  day,  happy  in  seeing  and  feel- 
ing that  a  real  education  of  our  poor  boys  is  taking  its  com- 
mencement. Henry  is  to-day  as  if  he  could  leap  out  of 
his  skin  for  joy !  and  knows  not  what  to  do,  to  show  his 
affection  to  me,  and  to  Ambrosch.  With  Ambrosch,  after 
the  boys  were  in  bed,  I  have  had  the  most  satisfactory 
conversation ;  and  I  must  form  the  most  cheering  hopes, 
from  his  evident  insight  into  the  manner  in  which  not  only 
our  boys  are  severally  to  be  taught,  but  in  which  their 
characters  are  severally  to  be  worked  upon  and  formed. 
The  boys,  all  four,  little  guessing  what  journies  are  pro- 
jected, use  for  ever  at  intervals  a  certain  name,  as  of  a 
phantom  the  return  of  which  is  expected. 

"Adieu  my  own  very  dearest!     I  feel  such  a  super- 


366         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

abundance  of  happiness  that  I  must  fear  a  reverse  of  some 
sort." 

BUNSEN  to  his  WIFE. 

"27  Sept.,  1831. — 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  return  together  with  the 
boys  the  same  day  here,  that  we  may  have  four  quiet  and 
happy  days  together. 

"  So  it  is.  Last  night  she  began  to  speak  on  the  sub- 
ject. "We  planned  to  invite  the  whole  family  here :  then, 
we  bethought  ourselves  of  the  impossibility  of  placing 
them  for  want  of  beds,  and  she  resolved  to  go  to  Frascati 
to  take  leave  of  the  dear  girls,  and  to  propose  that  the 
four  boys  might  come  here  with  you,  sleeping  on  their 
paillasses. 

"  All  is  arranged  to  mutual  satisfaction,  and  it  becomes 
clear  to  each  of  us  that  the  only  remedy  was  the  plan 
proposed  by  me — God  be  thanked  for  it  now  and  ever. 

"You  may,  I  think,  announce  to  the  boys  Simon's 
departure." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  BUNSEN. 

11  Frascati,  28  Sept. — The  blessed  intelligence  in  your 
letter  had  'not  been  out  of  my  hopes  since  I  received  the 
account  last  night  of  the  happy  change  in  your  favour — 
but  again,  I  did  not  think  it  would  have  taken  place  so 
rapidly.  Thank  God  for  it !  Pray  give  to  your  sister  my 
kind  love,  and  tell  her  how  I  shall  rejoice  to  see  her,  and 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  367 

spend  the  last  few  days  with.  her.  I  cannot  write  to  her 
to-night,  being  quite  knocked  up,  for  tho  measure  qf 
emotion  being  full,  I  fancy  the  body  is  rather  giving  way, 
having  participated  beyond  its  present  powers  in  the  elas- 
ticity of  mind  within  the  last  two  days." 

On  October  6,  a  letter  from  Bunseii  to  Mrs.  Wadding- 
ton  announced  that  his  sister  and  Simon  had  that 
morning  set  off — "  an  awful  moment,  after  seven  event- 
ful years ! " 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  for  MOTHER. 

"JRome,  30  Nov.,  1831.— Before  we  left  Frascati,  we 
spent  a  day  at  Marino,  where  I  stayed  and  went  about 
with  the  boys,  while  Charles  went  to  wait  on  the  Pope  *  at 
Castel  G  andolf  o,  who  desired  him  to  stay  to  dinner  with  a 
Cardinal,  Maggior  Domo,  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,  and 
the  whole  party  so  full  of  October  merriment,  that  it  was 
quite  an  original  spectacle  for  M.  de  8ydow,f  just  arrived 
in  the  country. 

*  Gregory  XVI.  (Mauro  Capellari),  who  had  been  elected  in  the 
preceding  February. 

t  Herr  Rudolph  von  Sydow,  a  man  of  intense  religious  fervour,  to 
the  end  of  his  life  a  faithful  and  devoted  friend  of  Madame  de  Bunsen. 
lie  was  Secretary  of  Legation  in  Eome,  and  after  filling  several  diplo- 
matic posts,  became  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  in 
Berlin.  After  his  retirement  from  office,  he  was  President  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  the  lied  Cross  under  the  Queen  of  Prussia. 


368         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"  On  the  20th.  I  made  a  visit,  the  first  of  the  kind  I  ever 
made  ;  odd  as  it  may  seem,  after  having  been  fifteen  years 
in  Borne,  and  Charles  accredited  to  four  successive  Popes, 
that  I  should  never  have  been  presented  to  any  Pope.  The 
Prussian  Minister  at  Florence,  Baron  de  Martens,  and  his 
wife,  being  for  a  short  time  in  Rome,  Charlca  had  made  an 
application  to  the  Pope  to  receive  them,  and  thought  it 
right  that  I  should  not  stay  away  on  the  occasion ;  and  we 
were  appointed  to  come  on  Sunday  afternoon,  20th  Novem- 
ber, to  the  Pope's  pavilion  in  the  garden  of  the  Vatican, 
the  place  appointed  for  Teceiving  ladies.  When  we  had 
accomplished  the  long  walk  along  the  terraces  of  the 
garden,  and  were  thinking  (I  at  least  for  my  paj*t)  of 
taking  breath  before  the  ascent  of  the  staircase  of  the 
casino,  we  found,  issuing  from  the  hall-door  of  the  said 
casino,  actually  on  the  steps  before  it,  nothing  less  than 
the  Pope  himself,  only  devance  by  his  monsignor  in  waiting, 
and  two  or  three  other  gentiluomini  to  the  right  and  left ; 
— he  had  chosen  this  manner  of  reception  in  order  to  cut 
off  the  ceremony  of  curtsies  and  obeisances ;  and  saying 
'Siamo  in  campagna,'  he  led  the  way  up  the  stairs,  and 
himself  showed  us  into  his  saloon,  where  he  caused  us  to 
_sit  down  with  him  on  chairs  placed  round  a  table  at  one 
end,  and  there  being  one  chair  too  few,  he  was  about  to 
reach  one  himself,  but  that  Charles  got  it  instead.  He 
kept  us  with  him  more  than  half  an  hour,  and  was  very 
agreeable,  with  real  esprit  de  conversation,  showing  neither 
the  embarrassment  of  a  monk,  the  obsequiousness  of  a 
secular  ecclesiastic,  or  the  assumed  dignity  and  extravagant 
condescension  of  a  Cardinal — one  or  other  of  which  ex- 
tremes I  should  have  thought  scarcely  avoidable  in  a 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  369 

person  called  upon  to  play  tlie  part  of  a  temporal  and 
spiritual  sovereign.  He  began  by  speaking  of  the  im- 
provements he  had  made  and  should  make,  in  the  garden 
and  casino  of  the  Vatican,  giving  his  reasons  for  fixing 
upon  the  Vatican  as  his  principal  residence,  founded  upon 
the  far  greater  importance  of  the  presence  of  the  court  in 
that  forsaken  quarter  of  the  city,  in  giving  employment  to 
the  lower  class  of  inhabitants." 

The  3rd  of  January,  1832,  greeted  the  birth  of  the 
twins,  Theodore  and  Theodora,  who,  in  their  joint  life, 
were  to  shed  joy  over  the  lives  of  their  parents,  and 
who,  from  the  first,  were  equally  welcomed  with  the 
large  circle  of  their  predecessors — "  the  two  blessings 
of  God  are  thriving  wonderf  Lilly ;  we  almost  see  them 
grow,"  wrote  Bunsen  on  the  14th. 

BUNSEN  to  MRS.  WADDINGTON. 

"  24  Jan.,  1832. — The  twins  were  of  course  to  receive  one 
and  the  same  name.  After  having  balanced  between  Cor- 
nelius and  Cornelia — Constans  and  Constantia — Theodoi 
and  Theodora — we  decided  on  the  last  as  expressing  best 
our  feeling  in  being  so  richly  blest,  for  the  meaning  of  both 
names  is  God's  gift.  Nothing  can  be  more  touching  than  to 
see  the  two  dear  little  angels  lying  by  each  other's  side  in 
the  cradle,  and  they  are  the  object  of  interest  and  admira- 
tion to  all  the  Roman  principesse  and  English  ladies  who 
come  to  visit  Fanny.  Among  these  ladies  there  is  one 
whom  we  feel  particularly  attached  to,  the  French  Ambas- 
sadress, Comtesse  de  Ste.  Aulairo.  She  is  one  of  the  most 
distinguished,  and  at  the  same  time  most  unassuming 

VOL.  I.  B  B 


370          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

ladies  I  ever  saw.  I  knew  her  already  in  1825,  during 
her  first  stay  in  Home.  Since  then  she  has  made  great 
progress  in  the  knowledge  of  Christianity,  I  mean  of  that 
real,  inward  religion  which  is  founded  on  an  internal 
evidence  of  the  grace  of  God  in.  the  salvation  through 
Christ.  She  had  already  in  1825  a  decided  tendency 
towards  the  religion  of  the  Gospel  (she  is,  as  well  as  her 
husband,  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  Catholic  families) : 
and  her  intimacy  with  the  Duchesse  de  Broglie,  to  whose 
brother,  the  Baron  de  Stael,  she  had  an  early  attachment, 
sanctified  by  religion,  has  developed  and  directed  her 
religious  feelings  and  principles.  She  has  written  a  really 
Christian  Preface  to  the  Extraits  de  Lett-res  Chretiennes, 
which  she  published  last  year  anonymously  at  Paris. 
These  are  letters  of  Madame  de  Guyon,  in  extracts, 
divested  of  all  that  was  extravagant  and  enthusiastic  in 
that  distinguished  and  really  Christian  woman.  It  is  very 
extraordinary  that  such  a  person  should  be  French  Ambas- 
sadress to  the  Holy  See!  She  and  two  other  Catholic 
ladies  are  members  of  a  society  of  about  sixteen  persons, 
who  meet  every  Thursday  in  the  afternoon  to  read  the 
Bible  together.  Nothing  can  be  more  touching  and  edify- 
ing than  her  domestic  life.  The  whole  family  read  every 
morning  a  chapter  of  the  New  Testament,  and  when  she 
is  alone  with  her  three  daughters,  models  of  simplicity  in 
their  manners,  she  makes  them  write  down  their  explana- 
tions and  meditations  upon  the  same.  Of  course  all  this  is 
concealed  from  the  world,  and  done  as  in  time  of  persecu- 
tion. Strange  compound  of  human  things  in  which  we. 
live !  The  other  day  she  was  distressed  by  the  news  that 
the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Ducheese  de  Broglie,  of  fifteen 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  371 


years,  was  dangerously  ill  and  near  her  death.  Madame 
de  Stael  (the  widow)  and  the  Duchess  wrote  to  her  in  the 
most  edifying  manner.  Then  came  letters  that  gave  some 
hope,  but  a  fortnight  ago  a  courier  arrived  with  the  news 
of  her  death.  I  have  since  read  the  letters  of  the  Duchess 
and  Madame  de  Stael.  They  would  be  more  worth  print- 
ing than  any  histories  of  saints.  Madame  de  Stael 
describes  the  agony  of  the  last  night.  Then,  when  death 
was  approaching,  and  the  child  began  to  comfort  her 
father  and  mother,  saying :  '  Je  meurs  en  paix,  ne  pleurez 
pas  ?  '  the  Duchess,  overcoming  her  feelings  as  a  mother, 
rose  and  pronounced  these  words — 'Mon  enfant,  va  en 
paix :  ta  foi  t'a  sauvee ;  laisse  nous  ta  paix  que  Dieu  t'a 
donnee.'  After  this  benediction  the  girl  expired,  smiling." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  24  Jan.,  1832. — 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  less  valuable, 
but  because  by  practice  one  learns  to  enjoy,  and  learns  to 
be  more  thankful Their  father  has  high,  satisfac- 
tion with  the  progress  the  boys  are  making.  Oh  my 
Mother  !  what  a  blessing  it  is  to  see  these  boys,  indeed  all 
these  children,  as  happy  as  the  day  is  long,  and  going  with 
spirits  and  gaiety  from  one  thing  to  another." 

BUNSEN  to  MRS.  WADDINGTON. 

"  9  March, — Last  Sunday  our  dear  babes  were  baptized, 
in  our  chapel,  where  a  very  considerable  congregation  had 
united  to  see  the  twins  with  their  two  nurse?,  and  their 


372          LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

seven  brothers  and  sisters,  whom  I  made  to  stand  in  a  lino 
on  one  side  of  the  baptismal  font :  *  a  sight  which  touched 
Hie  so  much  when  I  saw  it  that  I  was  quite  overcome 
during  the  ceremony.  The  afternoon  we  spent  all  together, 
with  the  friends  of  the  house,  in  the  Yilla  Pamfili :  it  was 
the  first  perfect  spring  day,  the  clearest  sky,  the  sweetest 
air,  and  the  meadow  of  the  Villa  quite  covered  with  thou- 
sands of  anemones  and  violets.1 ' 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"Rome,  10  May,  1832.— My  own  Mother,  I  have  lately 
written  a  few  lines  to  you,  and  if  they  should  ever  reach 
you,  I  hope  you  will  kindly  receive  for  my  sake — who  do 
you  think — a  Frenchman !  and  no  .common  Frenchman. 
It  is  M.  Rio,  of  Vannes  in  Bretagne,  whom  we  have  seen 
much  of  this  winter :  he  glories  in  being  a  Breton,  in 
having  spoken  all  the  years  of  his  childhood  exclusively 
the  Breton  language,  but  as  this  is  preserved  in  Bretagno 
in  much  less  perfection  'than  the  Welsh  in  Wales,  he 
makes  it  the  principal  object  of  a  journey  to  Great 
Britain  to  study  his  native  language  at  its  source.  He 
was  overjoyed  and  astonished  at  my  promising  him  a 
letter  of  introduction  on  the  Welsh  frontier.  I  hope  his 
being  a  man  of  distinguished  talents,  and  heroic  courage, 
and  sincere  devotion  to  his  opinions,  will  gild  over  to  you 
all  the  circumstances  of  his  being  an  Ultra-Royalist,  an 
Ultra-  Catholic,  and  ready  at  any  moment  to  shed  the  last 
drop  of  his  blood  in  defence  of  the  Drapeau  Blanc  and  the 

*  This  font  was  first  used  on  this  occasion.  Its  pedestal,  with 
designs  by  Thorwaldsen,  was  the  gift  of  Mr.  Pusey  ;  the  vase  of  gilt 
bronze,  executed  by  Hopfgarten,  was  the  gift  of  Bunsen. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  373 

sovereignty  of  the  Pope !  I  do  not  most  assuredly  approve 
of  his  creed  either  religious  or  political,  but  his  sincerity, 
and  commanding  character,  enforces  respect.  Ha  speaks 
English  very  well,  and  also  Italian  and  German,  is 
possessed  of  a  quantity  of  information  on  all  subjects,  and 
has  so  much  interest  in  the  fine  arts,  that  conversation 
may  be  held  with  him  on  a  variety  of  matters,  without 
touching  the  dangerous  point  of  politics :  but  yet  I  hope 
when  you  see  him  you  will  set  him  to  relate  the  remark- 
able history  of  his  own  campaign  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
during  the  cent  jours,  when  he  helped  to  organize  an  insur- 
rection against  the  authorities  constituted  by  Napoleon. 

"We  saw  a  great  deal  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  the  first  week 
of  his  being  here,  and  he  once  dined  with  us :  the  first 
time  of  seeing  him  was  quite  a  shock  to  me,  for  though  I 
had  been  told  how  infirm  he  was  become,  I  was  not 
prepared  for  his  difficulty  in  speaking.  But  tho'  his 
articulation  is  gone,  his  conversation  is  much  of  the  same 
sort  as  formerly,  and  his  expression  of  goodness  and 
benevolence  really  venerable,  in  the  midst  of  physical 
decay.  He  is  very  weak  in  body,  and  I  am  afraid  not  well 
managed  by  his  daughter,  who  is  nervously  anxious  about 
him,  but  does  not  influence  him.  He  is  going  away' next 
Friday,  provided  he  is  not  knocked  up  by  an  excursion  to 
Bracciano,  on  which  Sir  William  Gell  is  taking  him  to-day, 
intending  to  set  off  at  ten  o'clock,  and  drive  in  the  burn- 
ing sun  twenty-five  miles.  I  am  sure  they  ought  not  to 
have  kept  him  so  long  in  the  south,  for  heat  cannot  bo 
good  for  him :  I  fear  he  will  not  live  long."  * 

*  Madame  de  Bunsen  ever  remembered  Sir  Walter  Scott's  touching 
last  words  to  her  on  leaving  Rome — "  I  hopo  and  believe  your  own 


374         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

"  Frascati,  29  June,  1833.— I  must  tell  my  own  Mother 
something  of  our  delightful  and  throughout  fortunate 
expedition  to  the  mountains.  We  drove  on  Tuesday  morn- 
ing to  Cavi,  four  miles  beyond  Palestrina.  At  Cavi  we 
stopped  to  bait  the  horses,  and  got  out  of  the  carriage 
without  knowing  where  in  the  little  town  we  should  seek  a 
resting-place  for  ourselves  better  than  the  stable  into 
which  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  people  were  just  driving  out  the  hens ' ;  so  we  asked 
a  man  on  the  piazza  whether  there  was  not  a  private  house 
where  we  might  be  let  in  to  rest  for  an  hour  or  two,  and 
he  answered — -perche  non  entrate  la  ?  pointing  to  a  palace,  to 
which  we  had  not  dreamt  of  aspiring.  But  we  took  the 
hint,  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 
clean  rooms  with  excellent  new  furniture,  beds,  and 
couches,  placed  at  our  disposal,  a  well-provided  kitchen, 
and  such  a  cordial  welcome,  that  we  might  have  been 
tempted  to  consider  the  whole  as  a  dream,  having  been 
five  minutes  before  in  an  unknown  place,  not  knowing 
where  to  enter.  Upon  inquiry,  it  came  out  that  the  pos- 
sessor was  a  neighbour  of  ours  in  Eome,  and  his  Guarda- 
roba  and  Ministro  well  acquainted  with  Mary's  nurse  and 
her  husband,  and  other  families  of  our  nurses,  in  the 
neighbouring  town  of  Zagarola,  so  that  we  were  not  so 
unknown  as  we  had  supposed.  We  brought  some  provi- 

fcellngs  prove  your  reward  for  the  kindness  and  hospitality  you  have 
shown  me." 


110MAN   SUNSHINE.  375 

sions  with  us,  and  the  people  of  the  house  furnished  us 
with  so  much  besides,  that  we  made  a  great  dinner,  and 
having  enjoyed  the  view  from  the  terrace  into  a  beautiful 
rich  valley,  bounded  by  steep  and  wooded  hills,  and  open- 
ing to  give  a  prospect  of  the  clear  blue  Volscian  moun- 
tains, 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  remaining  two  miles  of  steep 
ascent  on  foot  to  Olevano,  where  we  were  cordially  re- 
ceived by  Signora  Costanza  Baldi,^  an  old  acquaintance  of 
many  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  landscape,  so 
consummately  grouped,  and  so  continually  varied — moun- 
tain and  plain,  bare  hills  and  woody  knolls,  green  patches 
and  wild  thickets,  rugged  rocks  and  rich  vegetation,  chest- 
nut groves,  vineyards  and  cornfields :  and  the  numerous 
towns  either  perched  like  eagles'  nests  on  the  summit  of 
mountains,  or  fastened  like  pigeon-houses  to  a  precipitous 
declivity,  or  rising  in  the  shape  of  ant-hills  on  a  rock  of 
their  own,  in  short  situated  as  if  the  eye  of  the  painter  had 
been  more  considered  than  the  convenience  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, which  is  to  be  explained  by  the  circumstance  of  their 
having  been  all  originally  fortresses,  the  position  of  which 

*  The  delightful  though  primitive  casino-inn  of  Olevano — one  of 
the  most  gloriously  situated  in  Italy,  is  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Baldi 
family. 


376          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

was  selected  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  approach.  The 
next  day  we  remained  at  Olevano,  going  out  in  the  morn- 
ing early,  in  one  direction,  sitting  in  the  shade  to  draw 
when  it  grew  hotter,  and  after  dinner  being  conducted  by 
Signora  Costanza  and  Signer  Giacomo  the  organist  of 
Olevano  on  the  other  side,  first  up  to  the  ruined  castle, 
then  thro'  the  town  to  the  Vigna  dell'  Arciprete,  a  beauti- 
ful spot  which  we  had  often  seen  in  the  sketch-books  of 
painters.  We  had  observed  by  the  way  that  we  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  Signora  Costanza's  maid  with  a  covered 
basket  on  her  head,  and  on  our  arrival  at  the  Yigna  the 
materials  of  a  merenda  were  produced,  Signora  Costanza 
having  been  quite  distressed  at  not  having  prevailed  upon 
us  at  dinner  to  eat  as  much  as  she  thought  necessary.  On 
our  way  back,  she  sent  Signor  Giacomo  up  a  high  cherry- 
tree,  from  which  he  broke  off  whole  twigs  loaded  with 
cherries,  to  the  exceeding  delight  and  enjoyment  of  the 
boys.  The  Signora  Baldi  is  a  possidente  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  a 
very  handsome  race — the  women  with  a  Vittoria  *  cast  of 
features,  but  taller  and  with  better  figures.  It  was  a  treat 
to  see  some  of  the  saltarello-dancers :  and  all  or  most 
belong  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  for 
luxury,  but  sufficiently  well  off  to  afford  themselves  leisure 
for  amusement.  In  the  Casa  Baldi  we  lived  as  if  on  a 
visit,  but  the  Signora  had  a  present  for  the  food  and  lodg- 

*  Vittoria  was  a  beautiful  peasant-girl  of  Albano,  discovered  by 
Kcstner,  and  often  painted  by  him  and  other  artists. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  377 

ing  she  had  afforded  us,  reckoned  according  to  -what  would 
have  been  fair  at  an  inn,  if  there  had  been  such  a  thing. 

"  We  set  off  before  six  on  mules  and  asses  to  go  across 
the  mountains  to  Stibiaco,  a  distance  of  twelve  miles,  along 
the  most  rugged  roads,  but  presenting  the  finest  variety  of 
prospects.  Subiaco  is  situated  in  the  valley  of  the  Anio, 
27  miles  above  Tivoli;  therefore  here  we  had  river- 
scenery,  and  abrupt  mountains,  the  character  of  which 
reminded  me  of  those  which  rise  above  the  Rydal  Lake  in 
Westmoreland — indeed  this  tract  of  country  being  lime- 
stone and  not  volcanic,  may  by  nature  bear  a  similarity  to 
home-scenes ;  and  our  great  enjoyment  was  the  observation 
of  the  wild  flowers,  among  which,  at  a  certain  elevation,  for 
the  first  time  in  Italy  I  found  my  Mother's  favourite 
veronica,  and  also  leaves  of  primroses,  it  was  of  course  too 
late  for  flowers.  The  beauty  and  variety  of  flowers  in 
these  regions  is  not  to  be  described,  numbers  growing  wild 
that  we  cultivate  in  gardens, — Yenus's  looking-glass, 
devil  in  a  bush,  adonis,  lupins,  and  a  quantity  more  of 
which  I  do  not  know  or  have  forgotten  the  names.  The 
unusually  long  continuance  of  cool  and  rainy  weather  had 
preserved  everywhere  the  freshness  of  the  verdure,  and 
the  ripening  corn  completed  the  effect,  so  that  it  was 
more  like  an  English  June,  but  with  the  high  colouring  of 
Italy.  The  early  part  of  this  day  was  overcast,  and  we 
had  a  storm  or  two  while  passing  chestnut  woods,  and  a 
more  serious  shower  which  obliged  us  to  shelter  in  the 
village  of  Eocca  di  S.  Stefano — but  as  we  did  not  get  wet, 
the  clouds  did  us  good  service  in  protecting  us  from  the 
sun.  At  Subiaco  the  day  cleared  up  and  we  went  after 
dinner  to  see  the  celebrated  convents  of  San  Benedetto  and 


378         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Santa  Scolastica In  returning  we  slept  again  at 

Olevano,  and  intended  to  have  seen  much,  more  of  its 
walks,  but  were  detained  at  the  Casa  Baldi  by  a  merry 
party  of  the  inhabitants,  who  sang  national  airs,  accom- 
panying themselves  on  the  guitar  and  mandoline,  and 
afterwards  danced  the  saltarello  in  every  variety.  We  staid 
another  night  at  Cavi  with  the  same  hospitable  people  who 
had  received  us  on  our  entrance  into  the  town,  and  on  the 
following  evening  before  dark  we  were  safe  at  home  at 
Frascati,  and  found  the  dear  girls  and  sweet  babies  well 
and  brisk :  and  having  enjoyed  our  five  days'  idleness  and 
exercise,  we  now  set  in  good  earnest  to  our  regular,  quiet, 
and  busy  summer  course  of  life. 

' '  Oh  my  Mother !  I  wish  I  could  describe  how  delightful 
the  twins  are  !  the  boy  in  particular — the  manner  in  which 
he  opens  those  big  sensible  eyes,  and  fixes  them  upon 
somebody  he  knows,  and  then  bursts  into  a  smile  and 
trembles  with  delight !  The  dear  little  girl  is  also  full  of 
smiles  and  intelligence,  but  in  a  quieter  way,  and  does  not 
crow  as  much  as  he  does." 

"  Frascati,  24  July,  1832. — This  year  our  summer  exist- 
ence is  unmixed  enjoyment,  without  having  anybody  to 
plague,  or  thwart,  or  disturb  us.  Having  allowed  the  boys 
and  ourselves  the  refreshment  of  the  journey  to  Subiaco,  on 
resettling  at  Frascati  they  were  settled  in  a  regular  plan  of 
lessons,  so  contrived  as  to  economise  time  and  strength  as 
much  as  possible,  in  order  to  make  the  most  of  this  invalu- 
able season  of  relief  from  interruption,  in  which  their  Father 
can  urge,  aid,  and  enforce,  as  well  as  instruct.  They  get  up 
at  five  o'clock,  and  we  breakfast  at  eight,  and  between  those 
hours  they  prepare  themselves  for  lessons,  and  walk  out 


ROMAN   SUNSHINE.  379 

with  us  for  half  an  hour.  At  nine  o'clock  they  set  to  work 
again,  and  are  kept  to  it  in  good  earnest  till  twelve,  when  we 
drive  them  all  to  lie  down  on  their  beds,  where  they  have  no 
difficulty  in  sleeping  till  dinner-time  at  one  o'clock,  except 
indeed  that  Henry  often  gets  up  before  that  to  practise  on 
the  pianoforte,  for  which  he  has  little  or  no  time  except  on 
Sundays.  After  dinner  they  play  at  ball  till  three,  when 
they  set  to  again,  and  work  till  six,  and  then  walk  out  till 
dark,  sup,  and  go  to  bed.  "What  the  lessons  consist  of 
Charles  will  best  explain  :  that  of  which  I  take  cognizance 
is  their  English,  in  which  the  younger  ones  spend  two 
hours  every  day,  and  Henry  one  hour ;  besides  which,  two 
days  in  the  week,  Charles  and  George  read  with  me  in  the 
English  Bible  chapters  relating  to  the  portions  of  ancient 
history  which  they  have  gone  through  with  their  father. 
My  dear  Henry's  state  of  constant  activity  and  strenuous 
exertion  is  an  indescribable  blessing.  Ernest  and  Charles 
too  make  evident  progress,  altho'  with  them  it  is  against 
inclination:  George  in  the  act  of  acquiring  is  in  his 
element,  and  he  has  a  natural  instinct  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  me  more  trouble  and  anxiety 
than  her  sisters,  she  is  so  very  often  so  very  naughty — so 
resolved  to  establish  her  own  absolute  dominion,  and  to  be 
herself  exonerated  from  all  observances  and  obligations." 

"  Frascati,  16  August,  1832. — You  suffer  more,  my  own 
Mother,  in  the  anticipation  of  my  dear  Henry's  departure 
to  school  than  I  do — that  is  a  fact  upon  which  I  entreat 
you  to  rest  for  your  comfort.  The  explanation  of  so  strange 
a  fact  is  my  over-filled  life — filled  to  overflowing ;  which 


380         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

leaves  so  many  present  matters  of  attention  to  occupy  my 
thoughts  in  the  narrow  intervals  of  engrossing  occupa- 
tions, that  the  idea  of  the  parting — the  first  separation — 
the  chasm  on  which  we  stand,  only  casually  recurs  to  make 
my  heart  swell;  and  I  have  hitherto  succeeded  well  in 
driving  it  away,  for  it  will  not  bear  dwelling  upon.  What- 
ever is  to  be  gone  through,  may  be  gone  through :  and 
therefore  all  will  be  well  when  the  time  is  come  and  gone : 
but  there  is  no  imagining  the  possibility.  Well  do  I  remem- 
ber how  I  was  struck  long  ago,  when  little  C.  and  F.  drove 
away  from  Llanover,  at  your  saying,  '  There !  that  is  at 
an  end!1  It  is  an  idea  quite  foreign  to  a  young  person 
that  anything  can  end,  but  which  the  experience  of  years 
renders  familiar.  When  my  dear  Henry  shall  have  been 
launched  on  the  ocean  of  a  great  school,  afterwards  to  go 
to  a  university,  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  as 
I  can  wish ;  but  the  period,  in  which  he  belonged  to  myself, 
will  belong  to  the  past  and  exist  but  in  grateful  recollection. 
But  this  is  as  it  ought  to  be :  he  was  not  given  to  me  for 
myself,  but  I  was  allowed  to  have  the  care  and  enjoyment 
of  a  child  of  God,  to  help  him  on  his  way  to  the  best  of  my 
power :  and  now  my  power  will — not  end  altogether — but 
give  way  to  one  more  efficient,  the  bracing  influence  of  a 
social  system.  But  although  this  last  year  of  being  at 
home  is  in  many  respects  a  most  important  and  useful  year 
to  him,  I  have  hourly  opportunities  of  observing  that  it 
should  be  the  last :  if  he  remained  longer  he  would  be  par- 
tially matured  before  the  time,  he  would  be  brought  too  far 
into  life,  he  would  imbibe  too  much  of  other  people's  expo- 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  381 


rience  :  it  will  be  good  for  him,  or  rather  essential  for  him 
to  be  kept  back  among  boys  for  a  given  time,  in  which  the 
body  may  be  strengthening,  and  the  mind  acquiring  the 
materials  of  knowledge.  In  his  present  scrupulous  and 
indefatigable  attention  to  a  succession  of  duties,  he  is 

already  too  little  like  a  boy It  is  already  a  subject 

under  consideration  whether  when  we  send  Henry  to 
Schulpforte,  we  ought  not  also  to  send  Ernest — probably  to 
the  military  school  at  Berlin  ! 

"  My  own  Mother,  think  as  little  as  you  can  help  of  the 
parting  of  next  spring ;  but  think  rather  that  there  is  no 
knowing  what  a  year  may  bring  forth,  and  that  if  it  is  best 
for  parents  and  children,  we  too  may  soon  have  a  summons 
to  follow  them  northwards.  If  I  was  to  say  what  I  don't 
know  how  to  bear  in  the  business,  it  is  our  not  being  near 
enough  to  have  them  in  the  holidays,  and  the  risk  attending 
those  holidays  if  they  are  allowed  to  leave  school  to  go 
elsewhere. 

1 '  I  have  less  leisure  than  ever  this  summer,  altho'  now 
always  well  and  brisk ;  but  the  reason  is  what  I  rejoice  in, 
that  I  have  this  year  muck  to  do  with  my  children,  and  I  trust 
to  some  purpose.  .  .  .  My  dear  George  is  in  his  best  state, 
well  in  health,  mild  in  temper,  and  taking  in  knowledge  at 
every  pore.  Of  my  sweet  twins  there  is  so  little  to  be 
said,  and  so  much  to  be  felt !  they  are  always  well,  always 
growing,  and  increasing  in  intelligence.  And  how  little 
in  every  day  can  I  manage  to  nurse  them  !  but  I  enjoy  the 
sight  of  their  enjoyment  of  existence." 

"Home,  5  Nov.,  1832. — My  own  dearest,  dearest  Mother ! 
I  received  five  days  ago  your  letter  of  the  15th  Oct.,  and 
hard  it  is  to  know  how  to  begin  an  answer, — hard  to 


382         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

check  and  choke  down  all  that  multitude  of  insufficient 
expressions  of  love  and  thankfulness,  which  as  being  in- 
sufficient, I  will  not  write  .... 

' '  I  have  never  yet  told  you,  my  own  Mother,  that  I  shall 
not,  as  I  believed,  have  to  part  from  Henry  next  spring, 
though  Ambrosch  cannot  remain  with  us  after  next 
February.  We  were  at  Frascati  in  habits  of  daily  inter- 
course with  Abeken,  the  nephew  of  one  of  Charles's 
earliest  and  dearest  friends,  who  had  been  in  Borne  ever 
since  last  winter,  and  became  convinced  that  he  was  not 
only  in  character,  principle,  and  acquirements,  fitted  for 
becoming  the  successor  of  Ambrosch  for  a  year,  but  that 
he  was  well  inclined  to  take  the  office.  This  being  the 
case,  Charles  made  up  his  mind,  after  much  consideration, 
and  consultation  with  Tippelskirch  and  Sydow  (who  both 
have  the  kindness  to  give  very  material  assistance  in  the 
instruction  of  the  boys),  that  he  would  be  doing  right  by 
both  Henry  and  Ernest  to  detain  them  another  year,  and 
then  send  them  both  away  together.  There  was  always 
an  objection  to  sending  Henry  without  Ernest,  as  the  spur 
of  emulation  would  then  be  removed  from  the  latter.  And 
as  to  both  of  the  boj^s,  it  was  an  awful  circumstance  to  put 
them,  so  soon,  out  of  reach  of  all  paternal  influence — 
for  it  must  be  considered  that  being  obliged  to  settle  them 
in  public  schools  at  such  a  distance,  is  throwing  them  off 
like  a  ball  that  cannot  be  caught  again.  We  may  perhaps 
not  see  them  again  till  they  are  fixed  in  character  as  men ; 
wherefore,  if  it  could  be  made  clear  that  in  their  learning 
they  would  not  be  kept  back  by  a  year's  longer  detention 
at  home,  in  other  respects  it  was  evidently  right  to  detain 
them : — and,  with  this  conviction,  you  may  conceive  how 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  383 

our  feelings  are  relieved  by  this  change  of  plan 

Charles  has  begun  again  to  give  lessons  to  the  boys,  who 
in  the  remaining  clays  of  October  after  our  return,  went 
over  their  summer  lessons  by  themselves,  and  yesterday 
stood  an  examination  in  form  by  their  father,  Ambrosch, 
and  Abeken,  which  on  the  whole  was  very  satisfactory." 
"Rome,  12  Nov.,  1832. — I  will  at  last  begin  to  tell  my 

dearest  Mother  of  our  late  journey  in  the  Abruzzi 

The  threatened  arrival  of  Prince  Augustus  of  Prussia  in 
Rome,  made  it  necessary  for  us  to  conclude  our  villeggiatura 
by  the  middle  of  October,  that  we  might  be  settled  before 
he  was  likely  to  come  upon  us :  and  it  had  long  been  our 
intention  to  spend  our  last  days  in  the  country  in  a  little 
tour,  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  direc- 
tions in  which  we  might  have  found  objects  of  interest,  fine 
tracts  of  country,  and  mountain  air,  but  we  decided  upon 
the  province  of  Abruzzo  Citra,  and  the  Lake  of  Fucino,  or 
Lago  di  Celano  as  it  is  called  in  the  maps.  Kestner,  who  in 
all  his  travels  in  Italy  had  never  been  there  (for  near  as  it 
is  to  Rome,  it  is  out  of  the  common  beat),  resolved  to  be  of 
the  party  with  his  nephew — Kestnerino.*  So,  after  having 
on  the  30th  of  September,  taken  leave  of  Monte  Cavo  and 
Nemi,  by  riding  on  asses,  en  masse,  including  the  little 
girls  and  Miss  Thompson  (the  governess),  over  the  moun- 
tain, dining  at  Nemi,  and  then  driving  home  by  the  direct 
road — we  spent  Monday  and  Tuesday  the  1st  and  2d  of 
October  in  packing  and  arranging  the  awful  breaking-up 

*  The  nephew  of   M.  Kestner,  Hermann,  went  by  the  name  of 
'  Kestnerino." 


384        LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

of  our  villeggiatura — awful  in  joke,  as  comprising  such  a 
quantity  of  trouble,  such,  cart-loads  of  luggage :  and  awful 
in  serious  feeling,  as  closing  a  period  of  four  months  spent 
in  peace,  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  splendour  of  nature 
and  climate:  of  all  the  comfort  of  leisure  for  important 
duties,  and  without  any  drawback  from  sickness  on  our 
part,  or  that  of  the  children. 

"  Being  at  Borne,  on  Friday,  the  5th,  at  half -past  four  in 
the  morning,  we  packed  our  party  into  our  own  open-car- 
riage, three  boys  sitting  opposite  their  parents,  and  the 
fourth — the  very  substantial  George — being  crammed  in 
between  :  the  servant  Franz  on  the  box.  Travelling  dress 
whether  to  wear  or  carry  was  a  difficult  question,  but  as  many 
things  as  were  indispensable  for  the  boys  were  crammed  into 
bags  hung  generally  on  the  outside  of  the  carriage,  it  is  hard 
to  be  explained  where ;  the  small  carriage  box  under  the  front 
seat  having  enough  to  do  to  carry  the  indispensable  for  the 
chiefs  of  the  party.  We  were  very  proud  of  being  at  the 
Porta  Salara  before  Kestner ;  day  broke  as  we  reached  the 
Allia,  where  the  Fabii  perished;  and  by  ten  o'clock  we 
arrived  at  the  Passo  di  Correse,  where  an  osteria  is  situated, 
at  which  our  horses  were  to  bait.  Near  this  spot  a  river 
joins  the  Tiber,  formerly  called  the  Cures,  and  held  sacred 
by  the  ancient  Sabines,  and  though  every  trace  of  their  city  of 
that  name  had  disappeared  even  under  the  Roman  Emperors, 
the  name  of  Correse  still  remains :  it  is  a  beautiful  stream, 
alternately  glassy  and  broken  by  pebbles.  Here  we  left 
the  Campagna  di  Boma,  and  entered  the  denies  of  the 
Sabina,  where  the  country  is  beautiful — narrow  vallies  and 
steep  declivities,  and  a  number  of  little  towns  or  rather 
fastnesses,  a  great  deal  of  wood,  and  the  road  good,  tho* 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  385 

hilly  :  we  slept  at  Poggio  S.  Lorenzo,  where  there  is  no  inn, 
but  we  obtained  clean  beds  in  a  private  house,  and  the  use 
of  the  kitchen,  where  Franz  and  Kestner's  servant  (called 
Vincenzo  di  Annovera)  cooked  our  dinner.  The  next  day 
we  arrived  before  noon  at  Eieti,  situated  on  the  same  river 
Velino  which  afterwards  falls  over  the  rocks  above  Terni, 
in  a  valley  as  luxuriant  as  the  country  about  Naples,  and 
in  the  same  manner  disfigured  (to  my  perceptions)  by  a 
continual  vegetation  of  tall  trees  with  festoons  of  vines, 
which  in  a  small  number  are  beautiful,  but  when  spread 
over  a  whole  expanse  of  country  destroy  all  beauty — 
the  undulation  of  ground  and  variety  of  cultivation  being 
concealed,  and  nothing  but  the  summits  of  the  hills  seen 
over  them.  However  we  climbed  up  the  tower  of  the  Cathe- 
dral, and  the  hill  of  the  Capuchins,  and  thus  discovered 
all  the  fine  forms  of  mountains  from  which  we  had  come, 
and  to  which  we  were  going.  Charles  called  upon  the 
Bishop  whom  he  had  known  in  Eome,  and  the  Cardinal 
Delegate :  and  before  he  could  return  from  the  latter,  the 
former  came  to  return  his  visit,  and  to  bring  him  a  packet 
of  letters  of  recommendation  for  the  journey,  which  gave 
me  an  opportunity  of  seeing  Monsignor  Ferretti,*  who  dis- 
tinguished himself  last  year  in  the  time  of  insurrection,  by 
being  the  one  faithful  of  a  thousand,  and  not  merely  pas- 
sively but  actively ;  for  by  his  resolute  manner  of  dismiss- 
ing the  messengers  of  the  insurgents,  and  by  putting  his 
own  hands  to  the  preparations  for  defence,  lie  made  tfce 
people  of  Eieti  understand  that  it  w^s  out  of  the  question 
to  show  their  ill-will  qr  |ainthearte4iie.ss,  ajid  that  resistance 
must  be  made,  even  tho'  they  had  but  one  piece  of 

*  Afterwards  Pope  Pius  IX. 
VOL.  I,  C  C 


886         LIFE    AXD    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

ordnance,  no  ammunition,  and  on  one  side  of  the  town  no 
ramparts.  He  related  to  me  himself  how  he  fabricated 
nmsket-balls,  and  parcelled  out  his  few  materials  of  resist- 
ance, altogether  putting  so  good  a  face  upon  the  matter, 
that  with  the  assistance  of  a  tremendous  storm  of  hail  which 
pattered  in  the  faces  of  the  insurgents,  the  latter  were  so 
disconcerted,  that  Bieti  was  enabled  to  hold  out  until  the 
arrival  of  Colonel  Manley,  who  made  a  forced  march  to 
come  to  the  rescue  with  a  body  of  Papalini.  But  he  did 
not  tell  me  himself  what  he  had  once  told  Charles,  that 
when  the  messengers  of  the  insurgents  came  to  summon 
him  to  surrender;  he  first  admonished  them  solemnly  as 
to  the  great  sin  of  rebellion,  and  assured  them,  in  termini  da 
t'cscovo,  that  he  should  not  be  guilty  of  it :  but  finding  that 
he  had  not  thereby  succeeded  in  convincing  them  he  was  in 
earnest,  he  took  off  his  Bishop's  cap  and  gown  and  took 
out  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honour  (which  he  had 
obtained  in  the  time  of  the  French),  stuck  it  in  his  button- 
hole, and  then  poured  forth  against  them,  alia  Romana, 
all  the  terms  of  vituperation  which  the  Italian  language 
affords  :  which  made  them  comprehend  he  was  not  to  be 
dealt  with.  He  belongs  in  appearance  as  well  as  character 
to  earlier  limes,  and  has  the  finely  chiselled  features  and 
powerful  colouring  of  an  old  Italian  portrait.  He  was 
accompanied  by  the  Principe  di  Francavilla,  who  was  just 
returned  from  Aquila,  and  a  relation  of  the  Governor,  who 
informed  us  of  two  things,  one  that  permission  had  been 
cent  from  Naples  for  the  entrance  of  our  horses  at  the 
frontier,  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. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  387 

"  Sunday  morning,  the  7th,  we  proceeded  on  our  journey 
tliro'  the  celebrated  pass  of  Antrodoco,  which  the  French 
forced  with  great  loss  of  life  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution, 
tho'  only  defended  by  half-armed  peasants,  and  which  it  was 
supposed  would  have  entirely  checked  the  Austrians  in  the 
year  1820,  so  great  is  its  natural  strength :  but  the  latter 
met  with  no  resistance.  The  scenery  is  magnificent  every 
step  of  the  way  from  Bieti,  and  in  addition  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  of 
the  Bishop  of  Bieti  asked  us  to  partake  of  '  un  Irodo,  e 
qual-cosa?  and  startled  us  by  the  immense  dinner  of  which 
we  were  called  to  partake.  Night  closed  in  before  we  per- 
ceived the  shadowy  forms  of  the  buildings  of  Aquila.  We 
intended  to  have  slipped  into  the  town  unperceived,  and 
avoid  the  Governor's  house,  there  being  in  Aquila  an  inn, 
which  in  no  other  place  after  Bieti  was  to  be  found ;  but  a 
servant  of  the  Governor  (Prince  Capece  Zurla)  was  sta- 
tioned at  the  gate  to  show  us  the  way,  and  therefore  we  saw 
no  way  of  avoiding  this  troppa  gentilezza,  which  we  had  been 
far  from  intending  to  bring  upon  ourselves :  but  it  seems 
that  instead  of  the  simple  notice  to  be  given  to  the  Custom 
house  to  let  our  horses  pass  freely,  orders  had  been  sent  to 
all  possible  officers  under  government  to  assist  and  further 
our  progress,  which  they  interpreted  into  receiving,  lodging, 
and  feeding  us.  If  we  could  have  guessed  beforehand  that 
the  Neapolitan  government  would  have  been  to  this  degree 
obliging,  we  could  never  have  made  up  our  minds  to  give  all 
the  quantity  of  trouble  we  thus  occasioned :  but  as  we  had 
not  the  fault  upon  our  consciences,  and  as  we  had  health  and 


388         LTFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

spirits  to  go  through  with,  the  undertaking,  we  enjoyed  the 
opportunity  of  taking  a  view  of  Italian  planners  and  cha- 
racter, such  as  no  other  set  of  circumstances  could  have 
afforded.  The  Prince  Capece  Zurla  was  fortunately  alone, 
his  Principessa  having  gone  to  visit  a  married  daughter: 
he  gave  us  an  apartment  which  he  had  fitted  up  for  the 
King  when  he  came  last  summer,  and  scarcely  could  he 
have  treated  the  King  himself  with  more  attention  or  a 
more  sumptuous  ceremonial.  When  we  came  out  of  our 
rooms  in  the  morning  between  7  and  8  o'clock,  he  was 
already  in  the  ante-room  waiting  for  us,  and  after  giving 
us  breakfast,  he  went  about  with  us  to  see  sights  the  whole 
of  the  first  day,  which  put  us  into  utter  despair,  and  we 
told  him  we  must  the  day  after  proceed  on  our  journey. 
But  he  made  such  a  point  of  our  staying  a  second  day,  that 
we  gave  way,  on  condition  of  his  not  interrupting  his  cus- 
tomary occupations.  "We  should  indeed  have  been  sorry  to 
leave  Aquila  after  only  one  day's  stay,  for  it  is  a  most  inte- 
resting town,  full  of  fine  architecture  and  fine  pictures,  and 
in  a  most  striking  situation,  on  an  elevated  plain  of  the 
finest  forms, — not  a  dead  flat,  but  full  of  undulation  and 
highly  cultivated,  bounded  by  hills  of  exquisite  outlines, 
not  rugged,  but  covered  with  short  fine  grass  for  sheep, 
behind  and  above  which  tower  the  barren  summits  of 
the  Gran  Sasso  d'ltalia,  the  Majella,  and  other  of  the 
highest  of  the  southern  Apennines.  ~VVe  were  guided  on 
the  second  day  by  the  Marchese  Dragonetti  and  the  Mar- 
chesi  Torres,  who  had  also  been  of  the  party  the  day 
before :  the  former  was  an  old  acquaintance,  and  is  a  very 
superior  man,  of  talents  and  acquirements  most  astonishing, 
considering  the  absence  of  all  advantages  under  which  he 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  389 


has  laboured — except  indeed  that  greatest  of  all  advan- 
tages, the  desire  of  improvement,  and  the  consciousness  of 
surrounding  ignorance.     The  two  brothers  des  Torres  are 
much  more  des  nobles  de  Province,  but  intelligent  and  well 
informed  as  to  everything  that  has  come  within  the  sphere 
of  their   observation,    and   obliging  beyond    description. 
Both  they  and  Dragonetti  are  of  Spanish  origin,  and  Aquila 
altogether,    the  manner  of  our  reception,    and  the   high 
ceremonial  in  deportment  and  language,  reminded  me  of 
descriptions  of  Spain  in  former  times.     The  Prince  Capeco 
Zurla,  for  instance,  proposed  to  return  from  a  drive  by 
saying, — 'Adesso,  se  comanda,  torneremo  a  casa  sua,'  mean- 
ing his  own  house,— and  the  des  Torres  in  taking  leave, 
and  in  urging  our  return  to  Aquila,  to  make  a  longer  stay, 
said,   <  Si  ricordera  che  avra  sempre  in  Aquila  una  sua  casa, 
almeiio    una    capanna!'    meaning    the    Palazzo    Torres. 
During  those  two  days,  we  went  from  one  fine  church, 
from  one  fine  painting,  to  another,  and  returning  within 
doors  when  it  was  dark,  had  such  French  cookery  and 
French  wines,  that  it   was   a  matter  of   alarm  for  both 
grown-up  people  and  children,  for  all,  as  you  may  sup- 
pose, were  famishing.     In  our  second  clay's  sight-seeing 
wo  were  introduced  to  the  house  of  the  Marchese  Drago- 
netti, and  kindly  received  by  his  handsome  pleasing  wife, 
who  in  the  desire  to  be  hospitable,  ordered  ices  for  us' 
when,  being  extenuated  with  fatigue  and  hunger,  a  morsel 
of  bread  was  the  luxury  intensely  longed  for;  as  Kestner 
observed  afterwards,  the  offer  of  ices  under  such  circum- 
stances was  like   <  giving  one's  stomach  a  cruel   box  on 
the  ear.' 

"On  Wednesday,   the   10th,  we  got  under  weigh,  and 


390          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

thought  that  at  last  we  should  lev  are  Vincomodo  from  our 
good  Prince  :  but  he  having  a  journey  of  a  few  miles  to 
make,  to  inspect  some  public  works  going  on  in  his  pro- 
vince, declared  he  should  go  with  us  part  of  the  day  in  his 
own  carriage,  and  there  was  no  begging  off.  When  we 
got  to  the  end  of  the  first  post,  where  he  was .  to  change 
horses,  he  represented  to  us  that  the  post-house,  where  our 
horses  were  to  bait,  was  an  uncomfortable  place  for  us  to 
wait  in,  and  insisted  upon  cramming  us  all  into  and  upon 
his  large  travelling  carriage,  and  carrying  us  on  eight  miles 
further,  to  Popoli,  where  the  Signor  Sindaco  (a  sort  of 
chief  magistrate)  fed  us  most  amply.  Popoli  is  in  a 
luxuriant  valley,  where  the  river- Aterno,  which  rises  in 
the  plain  of  Aquila,  becomes  a  considerable  stream.  From 
thence  we  drove  on  to  Rajano,  taking  leave  of  the  Prince, 
whose  last  care  of  us  left  the  most  pleasing  impression  of 
all,  for  it  seemed  an  act  of  freewill  and  kind-heartedness : 
at  Aquila  we  might  believe  him  to  be  only  actuated  by 
scrupulous  notions  of  his  dovere,  but  once  on  the  journey, 
as  he  had  made  all  possible  arrangements  for  us,  he  might 
with  a  safe  conscience  have  left  us  to  our  own  inventions. 
At  Eajano  we  were  lodged  and  most  hospitably  received 
at  the  house  of  a  giudice,  a  droll  old  bachelor,  who  was 
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  Corfinium,  smaller 
than  that  of  Aquila,  surrounded  by  fine  mountains,  in 
which  the  Aterno  flows  in  a  deep  bed ;  but  its  waters  are  of 
no  avail  to  the  plain  of  Eajano,  being  on  a  so  much  lower 
level,  and  it  would  therefore  be  barren,  were  it  not  for  an 
antique  canal,  which  perforates  the  ridge  of  hills,  and 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  391 


brings  water  from  a  higher  valley,  so  that  the  whole  sur- 
face is  carefully  irrigated  and  wonderfully  fertile.  From 
thence  wTe  crossed  the  lowest  part  of  the  ridge  of  moun- 
tains surrounding  the  Lake  of  Fucino,  called  le  FurcJie, 
which  is  an  ancient  name  for  a  mountain-pass :  and 
descended  to  the  town  of  Pescina,  in  prospect  of  the  lake, 
at  two  miles  distance.  Here  a  most  comical  scene  took 
place  on  our  arrival.  We  were  going  to  Don  Giuseppe 
Melchiorri,  an  antiquarian  friend  of  some  friends  of  ours, 
\vho  expected  us,  and  came  to  meet  us :  but  the  Sindaco 
and  the  Bishop  also  sent  emissaries  to  insist  upon  our 
coming  to  dine  with  Monsignor  Yescovo;  we  however 
made  good  our  entrance  into  the  house  of  Melchiorri,  but 
were  then  obliged  to  give  way,  and  go  and  eat  the 
Bishop's  dinner,  and  I  was  greatly  entertained  at  sitting 
by  the  side  of  a  Roman  Catholic  country  Bishop,  who  had 
probably  never  seen  such  a  number  of  heretics  together  in 
his  life  before.  He  was  a  venerable-looking  and  well-bred 
old  gentleman.  After  we  were  released  from  the  dinner, 
we  rode  with  Melchiorri  by  the  side  of  the  beautiful  lake, 
and  saw  some  antiquities,  less  worth  seeing  than  land, 
water,  and  sky,  and  came  back  to  endure  the  infliction  of  a 
great  supper.  Next  day  was  Friday,  and  we  supplicated 
Melchiorri  not  to  make  any  alteration  in  the  meagre  diet  of 
the  day  on  our  account,  but  he  replied — '  Sono  gli  Speziali 
che  hanno  gli  scrupoli,  io  no  ' — and  I  fancy  was  glad  of  an 
excuse  for  not  eating  meagre,  for  he  had  served  in  the 
French  army  at  Marengo,  and  had  seen  the  ivorld.  After 
visiting  the  site  of  the  ancient  Marubium,  and  riding  about 
near  the  lake,  we  returned  to  dinner  at  one  o'clock,  and  while 
we  were  in  the  middle  of  a  course  of  dishes  alternately  fish, 


392        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

fowl,  and  meat  (the  greatest  abomination  to  strict  Catholics), 
a  visit  was  announced  from  Monsignor  Yescovo,  who  must 
have  been  much  edified  by  the  spectacle  :  this  misfortune 
might  have  been  supposed  precluded,  as  Charles  had  taken 
care  to  call  upon  him  and  take  leave  that  morning,  but 
there  was  no  help,  and  he  came  in,  with  his  suite  of 
two  or  three  priests.  After  dinner,  we  made4  our  escape 
with  difficulty  from  Pescina,  for  our  host  declared  ho 
required  a  month  to  show  us  the  antiquities  properly — 
altho'  to  judge  by  the  samples  he  did  show,  there  is  little 
remarkable  on  that  score  at  this  end  of  the  lake — and 
drove  on  to  Avezzano,  where  we  were  recommended  to  the 
Casa  Mattei,  by  Cardinal  Cappellettis,  the  Delegate  at 
Bieti,  Donna  Chiara  Mattei  being  his  cousin,  and  we  were 
glad  not  to  incomodare  the  Sotto-Intendente.  From  the  house 
of  the  antiquarian  gentleman-farmer  and  former  officer  at 
Pescina,  our  removal  to  Avezzano  brought  us  into  a  new 
world ;  the  family  of  Mattei  were  thorough  gentlemen  and 
gentlewomen,  of  old-fashioned  formality,  but  not  awkward, 
and  their  house  was  a  palace,  in  every  respect  handsomely 
arranged  :  and  it  was  to  be  felt  that  Donna  Chiara  managed 
her  own  house.  This  was  the  first  time  of  our  journey 
that  we  had  seen  a  padrona  di  casa,  elsewhere  either  there 
was  no  such  thing,  or  she  kept  out  of  sight.  We  spent 
Saturday  in  seeing  the  Emissarium  of  Claudius,  which  a 
number  of  workpeople  are  employed  in  excavating;  we 
entered  it  from  the  side  of  the  lake,  and  then  rode  over  the 
mountain  which  it  perforates,  to  see  its  outlet  in  the  deep 
valley  of  the  Liris,  afterwards  called  Garigliano.  From 
this  side  the  excavation  has  been  effected  to  a  considerable 
distance,  but  the  point  of  difficulty  will  be  just  under  the 


ROMAN   SUNSHINE.  393 


summit  of  Monte  Salviano,  and  there  some  people  doubt 
whether  further  progress  will  be  possible,  and  others  do 
not  wish  it  should,  fearing  that  too  much  water  would  be 
drained  from  the  lake,  which^now  furnishes  fish  to  an 
immense  extent  of  inland  country,  and  thereby  supplies 
food,  and  the  means  of  earning  necessaries,  to  a  great 
multitude  of  the  poor  inhabitants  of  its  banks.  All  that 
it  is  to  be  wished  the  Emissary  should  effect,  would  be 
the  prevention  of  those  overflowings  of  the  lake,  taking 
place  at  intervals  of  centuries,  which  occasioned  its  original 
construction  in  the  time  of  Claudius,  and  latterly,  in 
1816,  devastated  a  great  quantity  of  cultivated  land. 
Nothing  can  be  more  beautiful  than  the  valley  of  the 
Liris  above  the  outlet  of  the  Emissary.  I  made  a  sketch 
there  of  the  Liris  rushing  at  a  great  depth  at  the 
bottom  of  the  defile,  the  steep  sides  of  which  were  chielly 
covered  with  chestnut  wood,  while  a  magnificent  mountain 
in  front  bore  the  name  of  Serrd  di  Sanf  Antonio,  called 
Scrra,  in  the  sense  of  closing  up  the  valley.  Much  was 
the  Signora  Mattei  astonished  at  our  admiration  of  the 
country,  and  when  I  showed  her  the  point  of  view  that  I 
had  delighted  to  draw,  she  observed — 'A  me!  mi  pare 
tanto  brutto  ! '  The  next  morning  produced  a  real  em- 
barrassment :  it  was  clear  from  many  circumstances 
that  the  Mattei  had  no  idea  of  looking  upon  us  as 
anything  but  Bornan  Catholics,  for  they  regarded  with 
a  sort  of  reverence  those  who  lived  in  sight  of  the  Pope 
and  could  give  accounts  of  him,  so  I  was  urgent  with  every 
member  of  the  family  to  be  up  early  as  well  as  myself 
and  to  mount  our  various  steeds  before  the  hour  of  mass  ; 
but  as  everywhere  in  Italy  the  difficulty  was  great  of  get- 


394        LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

ting  off,  and  while  we  were  waiting  for  our  animals,  Don 
Ladislao  Mattei  came  up  in  all  ceremony  to  ask,  '  se 
vollesse  vostra  Eccellenza  esser  servita  di  sentir  la  messa,' 
the  fact  being  that  they  had  a  private  chapel  and  chaplain. 
Nothing  remained  for  it  but  to  plead  haste,  and  the 
threatening  condition  of  the  weather,  and  thus  hurriedly 
to  say  farewell  with  an  unpleasant  sensation  of  having  dis- 
appointed our  kind  host.  After  seeing  the  wonderful 
Cyclopean  fortifications  of  the  ancient  Alba,  we  proceeded 
to  Magliano,  where  we  were  most  kindly  received  by  Don 
Giovanbattista  Masciarello,  of  a  long-established  family  of 
patriarchal  proprietors,  having  6,000  sheep,  and  I  knoAV 
not  how  many  head  of  cattle  :  living  in  an  immense  palace 
full  of  expensive  furniture,  but  not  so  well  arranged  as 
Palazzo  Mattei,  because  Donna  Pepa  Masciarello  was  a 
sort  of  Roman,  a  native  of  Bieti,  whose  notion  of  life 
was  taking  her  ease,  and  nothing  was  in  order  but  what  her 
husband's  good  head  could  regulate ;  otherwise  she  was  a 
goodnatured  woman,  and  they  had  both  less  ceremonial 
and  more  natural  instinctive  good-breeding  than  wo  had 
anywhere  found,  and  therefore  we  felt  quite  at  our  ease  in 
their  house.  The  day  we  spent  with  them,  snow  fell  on  the 
lofty  Velino,  which  rises  close  to  Magliano,  and  we  visited 
under  umbrellas  the  ancient  Alba  Fucinense — a  hill  arti- 
ficially levelled  into  three  terraces  with  fortifications  far 
older  than  the  Roman  time.  From  Magliano  we  saw  at  a 
distance  the  plain  of  Tagliacozzo,  and,  on  the  slope  of  the 
hill,  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  della  Vittoria,  built  by 
Charles  of  Anjou  to  commemorate  his  victory.  In  that 
battle,  which  crushed  the  descendants  of  the  great  Emperor 
Frederick,  seven  members  of  the  great  Ghibelline  family 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  395 


of  Capyx  or  Capece  were  present :  these  the  Guelfs  showed 
particular  zeal  in  destroying,  and  six  fell,  but  the  seventh 
being  only  a  boy,  was  concealed  from  the  pursuers.  From 
this  boy  seven  families  called  Capece  have  descended :  one 
was  that  of  Capece  Zurla  our  hospitable  host  at  Aquila, 
another  that  of  Capece  Latro,  Archbishop  of  Tarento,  a 
fine  old  gentleman  whom  we  saw  at  Naples.  It  was  he 
who  had  the  large  Angora  cat  called  Portaleone,  who  used 
to  sit  on  a  particular  stool  and  cushion  close  to  his  master, 
and  whose  manner  of  receiving  strangers  was  supposed  to 
influence  the  estimation  in  which  they  would  be  held. 

"The  16th  and  17th  October  we  spent  in  crossing  the 
mountains  where  there  never  yet  was  a  road,  yet,  in 
one  of  the  many  villages  of  the  Cicolana  we  were  re- 
ceived by  an  ancient  feudal  lord,  not  only  with  hospitality, 
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 
night.  We  were  expected  to  stay  at  the  house  of  a  land- 
owner in  a  village  called  San  Pietro,  but  it  was  resolved 
to  ignore  this  invitation,  and  we  rode  straight  on  un- 
challenged, to  Eieti.  Our  intended  host  has  since  been 
in  Rome,  and  when  I  answered  his  eager  questions  as 
to  our  route  and  party,  and  described  our  numbers  as 
consisting  of  three  gentlemen  and  myself,  with  four  boys 
of  different  ages,  a  manservant,  and  a  guide  of  the  country, 
mounted  in  part  on  horses,  the  boys  on  donkeys,  myself  on 
an  English  saddle  and  in  an  English  riding-dress,  he 
started  up  exclaiming  that  then  indeed  his  messengers  had 
seen  us,  for  he  had  placed  one  at  each  end  of  the  village, 
but  they  had  brought  him  word  that  no  signori  whatever 


396         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


had  passed,  but  only  a  company  of  strolling  players— 
comediante  di  campagna !  We  came  home  from  Ixieti  by 
Terni,  that  I  might  see  the  waterfall,  which  we  did  in  the 
greatest  perfection,  with  the  finest  weather,  the  finest  tints, 
and  the  heath  in  blossom.  On  Friday  the  19th  we  were 
in  Rome  again,  after  a  journey  without  any  disaster  and 
having  found  the  Kestner's  the  best  of  travelling  com- 
panions." 

"  12  Jan.,  1833. — The  old  year  closed  upon  me,  my  own 
Mother,  and  the  new  year  began,  only  too  well,  in  fullness 
of  blessings,  and  with  a  sensation  of  satisfaction,  a  con- 
sciousness of  present  comfort  and  enjoyment,  of  the  degree 
of  which,  if  I  could  give  an  idea,  I  might  (strange  to  say) 
on  one  ground  be  afraid  of  doing  so,  lest  you  should  sus- 
pect me  of  being  indifferent  to  the  one  circumstance  of 
distress  in  our  present  situation.  But  as  you  will  not 
suspect  me  of  such  indiiference,  I  trust  this  statement  of 
feelings  will  be  a  matter  of  unmixed  comfort  to  you,  and 
perhaps  even  tend  to  communicate  to  your  mind  that  hope 
for  the  future  with  which  mine  is  filled.  Amongst  the 
wishes,  for  the  gratification  of  which  I  felt  most  urgent, 
and  in  which  I  could  allow  myself  to  be  urgent,  during 
those  three  last  hours  of  the  old  year,  in  which  Charles 
and  I  sate  together  and  for  the  most  part  silent,  was  that 
my  Mother's  mind  might  be  relieved  about  our  worldly 
condition  :  and  I  feel  as  if  that  prayer  would  be  granted. 
The  removal  of  all  embarrassment  in  circumstances  is  one 
of  those  things  for  which  I  dare  not  ask  in  prayer :  I  can 
ask,  and  do,  that  I  and  mine  may  be  provided  for  the 
future,  as  we  have  been  in  the  past,  with  all  that  is  need- 
ful ;  relief  will  come  ichen  it  is  good  for  me.  For  my  dear 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  397 


children's  advance  in  the  course  of  the  last  year  I  cannot 
be  sufficiently  thankful." 

"Rome,    5  March,    1833. — This  winter   has   granted  us 
much  social  enjoyment.     Lady  Raffles  is  the  widow  of  the 
Governor  of  Java,  and  is  one  of  our  new  acquaintance  of 
the  winter  who  will  not  be  blended  in  the  mass  of  those 
seen  for  a  moment  and  thought  of  no  more :  the  combined 
impression  produced  by  her  manner,  countenance,  and  con- 
versation, prepares  one  to  believe,  or  even  guess  before- 
hand, all  that  is  great  and  good  attributed  to  her.     She 
brought  us  a  letter  from  Madame  de  Stael,  whom  she  had 
known  long  and  well  at  Geneva.     She  has  an  only  child,  a 
girl  of  twelve  years  old,  the  wreck  of  a  large  family  which 
fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  climate  of  Java.     Mr.  Julius  Hare, 
one  of  the  translators  of  Mr.  Niebuhr's  Roman  History,  has 
been  here,  and  is  a  most  sterling  person ;  we  have  also  seen 
much  of  Mr.  Walter  Kerr  Hamilton,  a  nephew  of  the  Mr. 
Hamilton  whom  we  saw  in  Rome  many  years  ago  on  his 
way  back  from  being  minister  at  Naples  :  and  he  with  his 
cousin..  Mr.  Earquhar,  and  Mr.  Hare  with  his  travelling 
companion  Mr.  Worsley,   came  to  us  many  an   evening, 
when  there  was  no  other  person  present  but  M.  Turgueneff, 
who  had  been  Minister  of  State  under  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander, but  is  now  a  voluntary  exile  from  his  native  country, 
owing  to  the  implication  of  his  brother  in  the  conspiracy 
against  Nicholas.      He  is  a  person  whom  it  would  take 
pages  to  describe,  so  little  does  he  belong  to  any  of  the 
common  denominations  of  society:   a  Tartar  Prince,  and 
looking  like  one,  yet  of  the  most  polished  manners,  and 
most  consummate  talent  for  conversation ;  knowing  almost 
everything,  having  read  almost  every  book,  having  been  in 


398        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    HARONESS    BUNSEX. 

almost  every  species  of  society,  having  worked  his  way 
through  all  sorts  of  opinions,  and  yet  retaining  an  unspoiled 
taste  for  what  is  good,  and  an  unwearied  longing  for  what 
is  best.  How  much  I  could  tell  you  of  him  that  would  be 
interesting  as  a  picture  of  human  nature !  "We  have  also 
had  great  pleasure  in  the  society  of  two  Americans,  one  of. 
the  Episcopalian  Church,  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 — Stephanie  Beauharnais :  she  is  a  widow, 
and  is  here  for  the  winter  with  her  very  pleasing  daughter. 
She  has  remains  of  beauty,  and  is  in  manners  and  conver- 
sation very  attractive ;  she  has  the  tact  of  a  Frenchwoman 
in  softening  off  form,  instead  of  liking  it  as  a  parvenue 
might  be  expected  to  do.  She  sings  very  sweetly,  and  is 
full  of  talent ;  and  her  conduct  thro'  life  in  a  difficult  posi- 
tion, having  been  forced  by  Napoleon  on  a  family  that  did 
not  wish  to  be  degraded  by  an  alliance  with  his  j#//<?  adoptive, 
is  said  to  have  been  thoroughly  meritorious.  Dear  Mrs. 
Stuart  and  Lord  and  Lady  Northland  are  on  the  point  of 
departure:  they  have  been  a  great  pleasure  to  us." 

"  Frascati,  11  June,  1833.— To-day  is  my  Mary's  birth- 
day and  she  is  four  years  old,  and  a  most  engaging  creature ; 
I  look  upon  her  with  a  singular  and  indescribable  com- 
passion, for  she  seems  to  possess  the  gift  of  attraction — 
every  stranger  takes  notice  of  her,  and  she  delights  in 
being  taken  notice  of  :  she  can  interest,  please,  and  obtain 
caresses,  without  the  slightest  effort,  and  therefore,  how 
doubly  hard  her  task  to  attain  to  moral  worth — to  doing 
right  for  the  sake  of  right ! 

' '  We  continued  to  see  a  great  deal  of  Mr.  Hare  till  he  left 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  399 

Rome,  and  with,  continually  increasing  regard  and  esteem  ; 
he  is  now  gone  straight  back  to  England  to  settle  down  for 
life  in  a  country  living  in  Sussex  in  the  gift  of  his  family. 
He  is  a  great  friend  and  admirer  of  Dr.  Arnold.  Our  old 
friend  and  favourite,  Mr.  Christopher  Wordsworth,  passed 
through  Rome  on  his  way  Lack  from  Greece,  and  we  saw 
him  with  much  pleasure.  On  our  return  from  a  most  in- 
teresting little  tour  to  Toscanella,  Viterbo,  and  Orvieto,  a 
new  social  gratification  awaited  us  : — our  friend  Turgueneff 
had  returned  from  Naples,  accompanied  by  a  very  remark- 
able person,  Joukovsky,  celebrated  in  Russia  as  a  poet  and 
in  every  respect  intellectually  distinguished,  who  has  been 
some  years  tutor  to  the  young  Hereditary  Grand  Duke,* 
and  greatly  favoured  by  the  Emperor  and  Empress,  with- 
out having  become  a  courtier.  His  health  being  very  pre- 
carious, he  had  been  allowed  leave  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  Charles  helped 
him  to  enjoy  most  thoroughly,  in  showing  him  objects  of 
interest,  which  ho  had  looked  at  before  in  part,  but  without 
the  consciousness  of  all  that  was  to  be  seen  and  felt  in 
them.  He  has  much  of  the  manly,  kind-hearted  simplicity 
of  manner  of  Walter  Scott,  with  of  course  difference  of 
national  characteristics;  in  conversation  perfectly  unpre- 
tending, but  yet  never  letting  fall  a  commonplace  word ; 
and  I  have  seldom  met  with  a  foreigner,  to  whom  I  felt 
myself  from  the  first  so  much  drawn,  as  if  there  was  in  him 
nothing  foreign  or  strange.  Turgu6neff  and  Joukovsky 
and  a  very  distinguished  German  officer  in  the  service  of 
Russia,  de  Reutern,  were  with  us  the  other  day,  with  Thor- 
*  Now  the  Emperor  Alexander. 


400         LIFE    AKD    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

waldsen,  Cornelius,  and  Overbeck — the  three  first  artists 
of  the  age :  it  was  one  of  those  remarkable  combinations 
which  scarcely  any  place  but  Home  can  offer.  All  were 
very  animated,  and  increased  the  social  spirits  of  the  others, 
so  that  it  was  a  day  to  remember.  The  Russians  I  have 
mentioned  have  been  with  us  most  evenings,  and  often  in 
a  morning,  and  besides  a  sculptor,  Woltreck,  who  has 
wanted  to  model  some  of  the  children,  and  as  it  is  not  an 
order,  but  a  thing  done  for  his  own  pleasure  and  my  profit 
in  the  end,  I  could  not  send  him  away. 

"  I  have  lately  read  the  '  Meditations  de  Fenelon '  with 
great  satisfaction  :  few  indeed  are  the  passages  exclusively 
for  Catholics,  it  is  truly  a  Christian  book." 

"  24  August,  1833. — It  is  little  use  beginning  upon  so 
interminable  a  subject  as  Madame  d'Arblay's  nonsense* — 
but  surely  such  a  quantity  of  unmixed  nonsense  never  was 
written  before  as  her  book.  Still,  I  do  not  wonder  that 
people  have  found  it  entertaining,  for  so  did  I,  if  reading  a 
thing  intently,  eagerly,  and  greedily,  being  provoked  and  in 
a  rage  at  every  page,  can  be  called  being  entertained.  The 
book  is  gossip  itself,  though  not  clever  gossip  :  and  gossip 
is  the  great  thing  needful  for  pleasing  people.  If  anybody 
— a  valet  or  a  lady's-maid — will  in  any  way  write  down  any- 
thing that  they  have  heard  and  seen  of  such  characters  as 
Madame  d'Arblay  treats  of,  it  will  always  be  sure  to  bo 
eagerly  read,  as  long  as  there  is  a  presumption  that  the 
writer  does  not  wilfully  deceive,  and  gives  the  objects  with 

*  Madame  d'Arblay  had  been  well  known  to  Madame  Bunsen  in 
early  life,  through  her  mother's  intimate  acquaintance  with  her  as 
Miss  Burney,  when  residing  in  her  girlhood  at  Windsor  with  Mrs. 
Delany,  by  whom  the  authoress  of  "  Evelina  "  was  first  introduced  to 
the  notice  of  the  Court. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  401 


all  the  truth  of  which  the  medium  is  capable.  But  will 
you  explain  to  me,  my  Mother,  how  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
of  "Westminster  could  admit  that  blasphemous  unchristian 
epitaph,  with  which  she  in  so  self-satisfied  a  manner  winds 
up  her  book  ?  Generally  speaking,  everything  in  the  work 
may  be  tolerated  and  swallowed  (although  a  good  gulp  it 
would  often  require)  except  her  defacing  the  subject  of 
religion  :  to  be  sure  she  meddles  with  it  little  enough,  but 
when  she  does,  it  is  in  a  manner  that  makes  one  shudder, 
to  think  that  a  person  so  near  her  grave  should  see  even  in 
that  nothing  but  a  matter  to  turn  a  sentence  on,  and  make  a* 
sentimental  face  about.  Worst  and  most  painful  of  all,  the 
letter  to  '  mon  ami '  about  Dr.  Burney's  last  moments — 
when  she  regrets  not  having  been  able  to  cheer  the  soul 
passing  from  time  to  eternity,  by  making  him  understand 
the  cause  of  the  bonfires  and  illuminations  for  the  victory 
of  the  Allies — gives,  unconsciously,  a  soul-harrowing 
picture  of  a  human  being,  at  the  extremest  verge  of 
life,  yet  clinging  to  mortality,  and  agonised  with  the 
physical  fear  of  dissolution,  incapable  himself  of  spiritual- 
ising his  thoughts  or  feelings,  and  having  no  one  to  help 
him  to  a  happier  frame  ! — while  the  image  with  which  she 
wishes  and  endeavours  to  harrow  up  the  soul,  is  that  of 
herself,  called  upon  most  inconveniently  to  grieve  for  the 
death  of  a  father,  just  when  she  wanted  him  to  rejoice  with 
her  in  the  destruction  of  Napoleon  and  return  of  her  hus- 
band. In  short,  surely  never  was  such  self-idolatry  as 
hers  !  and  we  might  be  tempted  to  pity  her^for  having  been 
exposed,  with  so  weak  a  head,  to  the  intoxication  of  so 
much  applause,  were  it  not  for  the  proof  she  gives  of  indis- 
eriminating  appetite :  being  as  self-satisfied  in  the  homage 
VOL.  i.  D  D 


402         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

of  Pamela,  and  taking  it  as  much  for  sterling  coin,  as  in 
the  praise  of  Burke  or  Johnson.  But  she  is  herself  unc 
comedienne,  nothing  else  :  her  mind  was  evidently  formed 
by  the  impression  Garrick  made  upon  her :  she  had  the 
gift  in  youth  of  entertaining  people  :  and  the  equally  useful 
gift  (which  she  has  lost  in  age)  of  not  committing  herself 
and  discovering  the  poverty  of  the  substratum ;  and  thus 
alone  can  I  account  for  a  character  so  insignificant  having 
been  so  valued.  But  I  wish  I  could  talk  instead  of  write : 
my  Mother  would  help  me  to  construe  her,  which  I  am 
.very  curious  to  do." 

"  Frascati,  14  Oct.,  1833. — To-morrow  we  intend  setting 
off  on  a  scrambling  tour  to  the  neighbouring  mountains,  of 
which  I  greatly  enjoy  the  thoughts :  we  do  not  intend  to  be 
away  more  than  eight  days,  but  when  we  return  we  shall 
directly  pack  and  return  to  Eome,  as  to  which  I  feel  as  if 
I  was  about  to  plunge  up  to  the  neck  in  a  torrent,  where  I 
should  have  to  struggle  hard  to  keep  swimming  for  a  given 
number  of  months,  until  I  reached  this  quiet  shore  again. 
We  returned  on  the  llth  from  a  three  days'  expedition  to 
Cora  and  Norba  in  the  Yolscian  mountains,  by  way  of 
Velletri,  as  far  as  which  place  we  went  on  Wednesday  in 
the  carriage,  that  is,  Charles  and  myself,  and  the  four 
boys :  M.  de  Sydow  and  M.  Abeken  accompanying  us  on 
horseback.  At  Velletri  we  procured  horses  to  ride  to 
Cora,  which  has  no  carriage  road  as  yet.*  I  requested 
that  mine  might  be  at  least  a  quiet  horse,  and  was  assured 
that  it  belonged  to  a  convent  of  nuns,  which  was  to  be 

*  There  is  now  a  railway  to  Velletri  and  an  omnibus  to  Cora  !— so 
that  this  exquisitely  beautiful  place  may  be  visited  in  one  day  as  an 
excursion  from  Home. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  403 


taken  as  a  proof  of  good  education  :  I  must  say  from  this 
example  I  should  be  inclined  to  trust  the  proof  in  future, 
for  the  horse  was  a  pattern  of  good  behaviour.  The  boys 
were  happy  beyond  expression  at  riding  14  miles.  We 
slept  at  Cora,  after  having  seen  a  beautiful  temple  in  great 
preservation,  and  other  remains  of  antiquity,  and  the  next 
day  undertook  a  ride  to  the  ruins  of  Norba,  a  Cyclopean 
city  in  a  most  picturesque  situation,  by  a  most  dangerous 
mountain  track,  in  which  however  the  horses  kept  their 
feet  admirably :  but  we  returned  by  the  town  of  Ninfa  in 
the  plain,  by  a  longer  but  safer  road,  having  had  enough 
of  the  sensation  of  danger.  Friday  morning  we  rode  back 
to  Yelletri,  by  the  same  rich  and  beautiful  country  by 
which  we  came. 

"  There  is  no  describing  how  engaging  my  Theodore 
becomes :  I  certainly  have  valued  the  other  children  enough 
as  babies,  but  I  think  nothing  was  ever  so  delightful  as 
he  is." 

"  Rome,  4  Dec.,  1833. — Not  to  have  written  before  is  one 
of  the  privations  that  I  have,  and  must  have,  in  the  bustle 
of  a  Eoman  winter.  But  when  I  speak  of  bustle,  you  must 
not  suppose  the  causes  of  the  bustle  to  be  disagreeable.  As 
usual  in  the  winter  at  Home,  the  number  of  things  to  be 
done  makes  quiet  impossible,  and  enjoyment  difficult,  but 
yet  much  is  enjoyed.  We  have  the  most  delicious  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,  oleanders,  volca- 
merias,  and  geraniums :  it  is  not  to  be  described  how 
geraniums  have  flourished  in  the  garden  in  the  short  time 
I  have  had  it  to  myself — a  set  of  short  slips  put  in 


404        LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

in  March,  have  become  almost  trees  in  the  course  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  to 
lie  down :  and  in  the  evening,  if  we  are  at  home  and  have 
not  too  many  visitors,  I  finish  up  my  sketches.  For  this  I 
had  a  bit  of  praise  from  Mr.  Clifford  which  greatly  pleased 
me.  The  day  after  he  had  seen  me  thus  employed,  he 
said,  '  How  I  like  that  making  the  most  of  odd  times !  it 
is  what  everybody  ought  to  do,  and  what  /  never  do !  and 
thus  I  have  done  nothing,  and  learnt  nothing,  in  my  life.' 
Mr.  Clifford's  being  here  is  a  great  pleasure  to  us :  he  is 
really  a  delightful  person,  entering  into  everything  and 
enjoying  everything  like  a  child.  Lady  Northland  and 
dear  Mrs.  Stuart*  have  also  been  here  since  the  2nd 
November,  and  Lady  ^"orthland  f  has  been  kind  enough 
to  desire  me  to  be  godmother  to  her  baby,  who  is  to  be 
christened  to-morrow." 

"  14  Dec.,  1833. — I  have  been  writing  to  the  Comte  de  la 
Ferronays J  for  a  letter  which  may  have  influence  on  the  fate 
of  M.  Rio.§  I  wish may  know  in  some  measure  who 

*  The  Hon.  Mrs.  Stuart,  a  very  early  friend  of  Mrs.  Waddington, 
daughter  of  Lady  Juliana  Penn  (see  Chapter  III.)  and  widow  of  the 
Primate  of  Ireland. 

f  Afterwards  Countess  of  Eanfurly,  daughter  of  the  Primate  of 
Ireland  and  Mrs.  Stuart. 

J  Described  in  the  beautiful  volumes  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Augus- 
tus Craven,  called  the  "  Recit  d'une  Soeur." 

§  A.  F.  Eio,  the  well-known  author  of  "  The  Poetry  of  Christian 
Art."  He  had  gone  to  Llanover  with  letters  from  the  Bunsens 
requesting  Mrs.  Waddington  to  give  him  introductions  which  might 
facilitate  his  Welsh  studies.  In  Wales  he  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Apollonia  (aunt  of  the  present  Mr.  Herbert  of  Llanarth)  to  whom  he 
was  eventually  married. 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  405 


and  what  la  Ferronays  is — that  they  may  be  assured  that 
nobody1  s  approbation  could  have  more  decisive  weight.  He 
is  the  only  Frenchman  I  ever  saw  who  had  consummate 
English  dignity  of  appearance  and  manner,  and  this  ap- 
pearance in  him  is  the  shining  forth  of  the  inward  charac- 
ter. How  high  he  was  in  office  under  the  former  govern- 
ment is  probably  known,  and  how  uniformly  conscientious 
all  his  acts  of  public  and  private  life.  The  last  period  of  his 
public  life  was  being  French  ambassador  at  Rome,  and  he 
gave  up  the  post  as  a  point  of  honour  after  the  Revolution 
of  the  Three  Days :  though  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  old 
Bourbons,  he  is  a  yet  better  Frenchman :  and  though  a 
man  of  very  decided  religious  opinions,  he  never  was  an 
ultra  in  religion  any  more  than  in  politics. 

"  Our  last  winter's  friend,  Turguenef?,  the  Russian  of 
whom  we  saw  so  much  with  such  pleasure,  is  just  returned, 
but  for  a  short  time :  as  yet  there  has  been  no  other  person 
of  the  sort  that  greatly  interests  us,  and  whom  we  wish 
daily  to  see,  except  Mr.  Clifford,  who  is  the  picture  of 
enjoyment.  We  have  nobody  like  Mr.  Julius  Hare,  or 
Mr.  Kerr  Hamilton,  or  Mr.  Christopher  Wordsworth  as  yet. 
Yesterday  however  I  had  a  great  pleasure — seeing  again 
Lady  Boyle,  formerly  Mrs.  Courtenay  Boyle.  She  received 
me  most  affectionately  and  has  always  the  same  engaging 
manner.  She  had  her  youngest  daughter  with  her,  and 
her  son  Captain  Boyle ;  her  daughter  the  Maid  of  Honour 
will  join  her  in  the  spring." 

"Ho-me,  31  Dec.,  1833.— On  this  last  day  of  the  year  I 
begin  a  letter,  before  sunrise,  to  my  own  dearest  Mother, 
who  will  easily  guess  that  the  close  of  the  present  year  is 
unusually  solemn  to  me,  but  to  detail  all  that  fills  my  heart 


406         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUKSEN. 

at  this  time  would  take  up  pages.  I  look  back  upon  a 
year  most  particularly  marked  with,  blessings,  in  which  I 
have  been  allowed  a  quantity  of  enjoyment,  and  growing 
satisfactions  of  many  kinds — first  and  foremost  that  of 
more  and  more  loving  and  approving  him  whom  I  have  so 
long  loved  and  approved,  whose  character  ever  rises  upon 
me,  and  continually  'works  itself  clear,  and  as  it  runs, 
refines.'  Then,  the  improvement  of  all  my  four  boys, 
which  in  different  ways  and  degrees  is  equally  certain ;  in 
particular  the  increase  of  character  in  my  dear  Henry,  who 
is  the  only  one  at  all  maturing.  Then  the  thriving  and 
promising  state  of  the  twins  is  a  great  joy — and  if  the  three 
little  girls  are  not  yet  all  that  I  wish  them  to  be,  yet  must 
I  not  be  unmindful  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  receiving 
thankfully,  as  what  is  a  certain  good,  because  coming  from 
Him,  although  it  may  seem  '  no  way  joyous,  but  rather 
grievous.' 

"  We  have  had  a  great  pleasure  in  the  arrival  of  Mr.  and 
Lady  Emily  Fuse}*-,  who  are  more  like  a  brother  and  sister 
than  merely  friends.  This  evening  we  are  to  part  with 
Abeken,  who  has  been  with  us  ever  since  the  departure  of 
Ambrosch." 

"7th  Jan.,  1834. — And  now  I  will  let  you  know  that 
Neukomm  is  come  back  at  last,  and  the  pleasure  is  very  great 
of  having  him  here.  "We  have  found  him  a  quiet  corner 
and  a  writing-table  in  Charles's  room,  and  he  has  composed 
one  of  a  series  of  Practices  for  the  organ  this  morning,  and 
since  dinner  has  been  explaining  to  me  the  grounds  of 
thorough-bass  :  in  short  he  is  already  in  full  activity  in  the 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  407 


house,  and  every  person  in  it  seems  to  feel  as  if  lie  either 
had  been,  or  ought  to  have  been,  always  there.  He  is 
come  just  at  the  right  time,  to  animate  us  all  after  the 
departure  of  Abeken,  who  left  us  in  the  night  between  the 
old  and  new  year.  There  are  so  many  things  inefficiently 
and  superficially  detailed  in  my  letters,  my  own  Mother, 
which  yet  occupy  my  time,  thoughts,  and  feelings,  that  it 
is  no  wonder  amongst  others  that  you  should  have  heard 
so  little  of  Abeken :  of  whom  perhaps  I  might  have  men- 
tioned two  years  ago,  that  a  nephew  of  Charles's  most 
beloved  college  friend  was  come  to  Borne,  with  a  brilliant 
reputation  for  classical  attainments  and  abilities  in  every 
way,  who  had  been  from  the  first  moment  very  much  at 
home  in  our  house,  Charles  having  at  once  felt  him  to  be 
of  the  right  sort,  and  having  even  used  jokingly  the 
expression — '  Kestner  shall  not  be  the  only  person  that  has 
a  nephew — I  too  have  found  a  nipotino  for  myself.'  But 
I  must  admit  that  Charles  was  the  only  person  who  from 
the  first  justly  estimated  Abeken,  for  tho'  I  admired  his 
powers,  and  was  aware  of  his  superior  understanding, 
sterling  principles,  and  warm  affections,  I  could  not  for  a 
time  like  his  company,  because  he  overwhelmed  me  with 
his  superabundance :  having  in  a  high  degree  the  want  of 
tact  of  many  fresh  fish  from  the  universities  (even  in  well- 
mannered  and  regularly  drilled  England)  and  never 
knowing  when  to  have  done  with  a  subject  that  interested 
him,  and  speaking  too  loud,  and  without  modulation. 
This  time  twelvemonth,  when  Ambrosch  was  about  to  leave 
us,  Charles  determined  to  ask  Abeken  to  fill  his  place  in 
our  house,  and  assist  him  in  the  care  of  the  boys;  the 
whole  first  year  of  our  acquaintance,  spent  in  close  contact, 


408         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

having  continually  dra*wn  him  nearer  to  us.  He  accepted 
gladly,  tho'  utterly  objecting  to  receiving  any  other  re- 
muneration than  what  he  was  pleased  to  consider  as  such  in 
becoming  a  member  of  the  family.  During  the  year  that 
he  has  thus  been  in  the  house,  his  instructions  to  the  boys 
have  been  invaluable,  and  not  less  invaluable  his  assist- 
ance to  Charles  in  every  possible  pursuit :  in  every  respect 
the  favourable  impression  he  made  at  first  has  been  con- 
firmed, and  the'  roughnesses  that  at  first  disturbed  have 
been  wearing  off,  so  that  nobody  can  prize  him  more  than 
myself ;  and  as  he  likes  reading  aloud  in  the  evening,  I 
have  had  a  degree  of  pleasure  in  that  way  which  was 
quite  a  new  thing  to  me,. and  has  procured  me  a  good  deal 
more  leisure  for  drawing,  than  I  should  otherwise  have 
had,  for  if  he  had  not  read  aloud  to  me,  I  should  pro- 
bably have  thought  it  right  to  read  to  myself.  On  the 
journey  that  we  made  in  October,  the  people  with  whom 
we  lodged  used  to  take  Abeken  for  my  eldest  son  (which 
he  might  be  in  point  of  age)  and  it  struck  me  they  had 
well  hit  off  our  mutual  relation,  for  he  used  to  attend  to 
me,  and  consider  me  as  Henry  does,  and  it  has  long  seemed 
to  me  as  natural  to  think  of  his  pleasure  and  indulge  him, 
as  with  respect  to  my  dear  Henry.  He  had  long  chosen 
the  profession  of  a  clergyman,  and  Charles  obtained  some 
time  since  of  the  King  that  he  should  be  appointed  the 
successor  of  Tippelskirch,  who  will  leave  his  post  in  the 
spring :  Abeken  is  now  gone  to  Geneva,  to  study  the  state 
of  religious  feeling  and  opinion  there,  and  will  then  pro- 
ceed to  visit  his  family  at  Osnabruck,  but  will  meet  Charles 
at  Berlin,  and  return  hither  in  May.  As  a  substitute  for 
Abeken,  we  are  very  fortunate  in  having  Kellermann,  a 


ROMAN    SUNSHINE.  409 


Dane  by  birth,  though  his  breeding  has  been  German,  a 
very  distinguished  scholar,  and  besides  a  man  of  principle 
and  character.  He  is  an  acquaintance  of  two  years' 
standing,  so  we  can  hardly  be  mistaken  in  our  estimation 
of  him,  and  it  is  a  great  comfort  to  me  to  think  I  shall 
have  an  efficient  person  to  manage  the  two  boys,  in 
Charles's  absence,  at  least  as  to  learning ;  for  they  have 
long  had  a  great  respect  as  well  as  liking  for  him.  But 
Kellermann  is  not  as  an  associate  what  Abeken  was,  and 
therefore  Neukomm  appears  the  more  a  person  to  fill  the 
void,  and  besides  comes  opportunely  as  an  additional  help 
to  me  to  avoid  thinking  of  the  parting  now  so  very  near." 


CHAPTER  X.     . 

LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME. 

"  Truth  is  as  impossible  to  be  soiled  by  any  outward  touch 
a«  the  sunbeam." 

MILTOX,  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce. 

TN  March,  1834,  Bunsen  set  out  for  Berlin,  taking 
with,  him  his  two  elder  sons ;  Henry,  to  the  great 
school  at  Schulpf orte,  of  which  one  of  the  masters  was 
Dr.  Schmieder,  late  chaplain  to  the  German  Protestant 
Chapel  at  Rome ;  and  Ernest,  to  the  military  college  at 
Berlin.  At  the  Prussian  capital  Bunsen  was  as  warmly 
received  as  ever  by  the  King  and  the  Crown-prince — but 
manifold  troubles  were  in  store  for  him,  through  the 
question  of  great  importance  for  Church  and  State, 
which  was  then  in  full  agitation — that  of  mixed  mar- 
riages. While,  according  to  the  law  of  Prussia,  a 
father  has  the  sole  right  over  the  education  of  his 
children,  so  that  all  stipulations  before  marriage  are 
forbidden ;  according  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  no 
marriage  can  be  celebrated  unless  a  promise  is  given  that 
all  children  shall  be  brought  up  as  Roman  Catholics,  and 
in  the  newly  annexed  but  almost  entirely  Romanist 


LAST   YEARS    AT    ROME.  411 

provinces  of  the  Rhine,  the  clergy  absolutely  refused  to 
perform  a  marriage  under  other  conditions.  While 
Leo  XII.  and  Pius  VIII.  lived,  the  court  of  Eome  was 
pacifically  disposed,  and  would  have  been  willing  to 
enjoin  priests  in  Germany  to  grant  their  passive  assist- 
ance in  case  of  a  mixed  marriage,  refusing  only  the 
usual  nuptial  benediction.  But,  in  an  evil  hour,  Prussia 
insisted  on  the  full  marriage  ceremonial ;  delay  ensued, 
and  the  chance  of  compromise  was  lost.  Thus,  on  his 
return  to  Home,  the  feeling  shown  against  Bunsen  as 
representative  of  its  Protestant  antagonist  was  so  bitter, 
that  he  implored  to  be  released  from  a  position  which 
he  felt  to  be  scarcely  any  longer  tenable.  To  this  he 
at  that  time  received  the  flattering  reply  that  his 
services  at  the  court  of  Rome  were  indispensable  to  his 
country. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

11  Rome,  I  April,  1834.— On  the  13th  March  I  parted 
from  my  dear  boys  and  their  father.  My  own  Mother,  I 
believe  that  you  have  suffered  and  will  suffer  more  pain 
from  this  parting  than  I  have.  I  say  that  to  you,  who 
will  not  suspect  me  of  not  caring  for  our  boys,  and  who 
know  that  my  husband  is  the  thing  par  excellence  that  I 
live  for.  I  have  so  much  to  do,  so  much  more,  literally 
speaking,  than  I  can  do,  that  I  have  no  rest  for  thought, 
no  interval  for  dwelling  upon  what  is  painful ;  and  that  is 
what  stands  me  in  stead,  my  strength  would  be  worth 
nothing  if  it  was  to  come  to  a  combat  with  the  pain.  I 
cannot  help  going  into  Henry's  empty  room  on  some 


412         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

errand  or  other,  but  I  generally  get  away  without  a  tear. 
The  worst  thing  is,  not  remembering,  but  catching  myself 
at  forgetting :  the  other  day  I  called  to  Henry  at  dinner, 
and  was  only  reminded  by  the  sound  of  my  own  voice  what 
name  I  was  naming.  He  writes  to  me,  dear  boy,  that  he 
cannot  yet  believe  that  he  is  parted  from  me,  that  when  he 
packs  or  unpacks  he  thinks  'it  is  a  task  I  have  given  him 
to  do.' 

"  This  morning  at  six  o'clock  Neukomm  left  us.  These 
three  months'  intercourse  have  been  very  delightful  to  us, 
we  have  enjoyed  his  company  and  valued  his  character 
more  than  ever.  I  say  we  in  full  plural,  for  all  our  friends 
and  associates  have  been  drawn  towards  Neukomm  as  we 
are  ourselves.  He  has  been  in  full  activity,  and  has  com- 
posed many  fine  things,  and  played  to  us  a  quantity  of  his 
compositions.  I  think  his  style  of  composition  ennobled 
and  improved  since  he  was  here  before :  the  oratorio  of 
Mount  Sinai  and  that  of  David  appear  to  me  splendid 
works  of  genius.  I  wish  I  could  hear  them  executed." 

"2  April. — This  is  my  dear,  dear  Henry  xs  birthday. 
My  Mother  will  remember  it.  0  how  thankful  I  am  to 
have  him  at  sixteen  what  he  is !  My  dear  Ernest  too,  my 
Mother  would  find  greatly  altered  to  his  advantage. 
Charles  the  less  has  been  very  good  since  his  brother's 
departure,  exerting  himself  to  fill  Henry's  place,  taking 
care  of  the  babies,  liking  to  do  anything  for  them,  showing 
the  greatest  alacrity  in  helping  me,  and  more  than  all, 
bearing  reproof  humbly  and  being  very  pains-taking  with 
Kellermann.  Doing  lessons  with  George  is  as  usual  my 
most  agreeable  occupation :  we  read  French  and  English, 
and  he  repeats  the  lessons  of  geography  to  me  which  he 


LAST  TEARS  AT  ROME.  413 


used  to  receive  from  the  invaluable  Abeken  ;  whom  we 
none  of  us  know  how  to  do  without,  I  as  little  as  anybody 
else  :  all  long  for  his  return,  though  when  he  returns  we 
cannot  have  as  much  of  his  time  and  company  as  we  had 
before,  because  ho  will  have  to  take  upon  himself  the 
business  of  the  Chaplain  to  the  Legation. 

"  I  have  gone  through  worlds  of  thought  and  feeling 
since  I  sent  my  last  letter.  By  this  I  do  not  mean  dis- 
tress, but  subjects  which  take  up  one's  whole  mind  for  the 
time  being,  and  make  the  admeasurement  of  time  very 
difficult.  One  of  these  subjects  is  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare;  I 
have  seen  her  much,  and  feel  that  it  is  no  common  con- 
nection  I  have  enjoyed  the  society  of  Mr.  and  Lady 

Emily  Pusey :  they  are  real  friends.  Good  and  sensible 
and  well-principled  people  are  often  alike  in  the  serious 
business  of  life,  but  in  the  choice  of  pleasures  and  recrea- 
tions there  is  a  grand  difference  between  people — therefore 
with  the  Puseys  and  the  Hares  and  some  others,  I  can  go 
on,  and  I  shall  always  get  on  and  come  nearer,  but  with 
others  I  am  at  a  stand-still  at  the  first  step." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Rome,  5  April,  1834. — My  dear,  dear  boy,  how  much  I 
have  thought  of  you  on  your  birthday !  That  day  will  have 
marked  the  period  of  the  greatest  change  in  life  that  you 
perhaps  ever  can  make,  at  least  the  most  absolute  change 
of  all  surrounding  circumstances.  I  have  prayed,  and  do 
pray,  that  God  may  be  with  you — that  you  may  feel  your- 
self ever  in  His  sight !  and  then  you  will  proceed  securely, 
whatever  trials  may  t>e  in  store  for  you  in  the  course  of 
life.  My  dear  boy,  this  separation  is  bitter,  and  yet  wo 


414        LIFE  AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

must  not  forget  that  the  probabilities  are  that  we  pass  our 
lives  in  separation  :  it  is  highly  unlikely  that  yon  and 
your  Mother  should  ever  again  live  much  together.  There- 
fore let  us  make  the  best  of  separation,  and  not  put  off 
communication  to  the  uncertain  time  of  meeting  again. 
Tell  me  always  as  much  as  you  can  of  what  you  think  and 
feel,  my  own  dear  boy ;  that  is  often  matter  of  effort  in 
absence  and  distance  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  begin  again  if 
once  discontinued :  and  if  long  discontinued,  estrangement 
is  almost  unavoidable.  Yet  you  must  not  take  time  from 
exercise  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,  and  write  a  bit  at  a  time,  just  when  you  have  time, 
and  send  the  sheet  off  without  minding  whether  the  letter 
has  beginning,  middle,  or  end." 

"  6  May,  1834. — My  heart  has  been  with  you  most  con- 
stantly during  the  late  important  period,  and  the  many 
particulars  which  your  dear  Father  has  made  time  to  write 
to  me,  have  been  matter  for  continued  thought  and  thank- 
fulness,— indeed  for  continued  prayer :  for  what  can  be 
the  issue  of  every  reflection,  the  outlet  of  every  feeling, 
but  a  supplication  that  God  would  render  us  all  more  fully 
sensible  of  the  unbounded  mercy  of  His  dispensations 
towards  us,  and  that  He  would  give  us  a  heart  capable  to 
accept  from  Him  everything  that  He  may  send,  with 
willingness  and  thankfulness,  even  though  it  may  not 
always  be,  as  now,  that  which  we  most  desire  ?  It  makes 
my  heart  full  to  overflowing  when  I  think  to  what  a  degree 
all  that  I  can  most  desire  has  been  granted  to  me  as  to  you, 
iny  dear  boy :  your  situation  in  Dr.  Schmieder's  house,  the 
whole  arrangement  of  the  school,  above  all  the  manner  of 


LAST   YEARS   AT    ROME.  415 

your  entrance,  and  your  being  yourself  satisfied  to  have 
entered  in  that  manner.  I  was  thinking  of  you  more 
especially  on  the  18th,  which  I  supposed  to  have  been 
your  critical  day  :  and  most  assuredly  my  wish  floated 
between  two  points — the  one,  that  you  might  do  yourself 
credit,  the  other,  that  your  entry  might  not  be  a  brilliant 
one — in  the  fear  that  you  might  be  tempted  to  feel  your- 
self secure,  and  as  if  anything  less  than  your  best,  most 
urgent  and  unremitting  endeavours  could  be  sufficient  to 
enable  you  to  attain  to  the  point  which  you  are  called  upon 
to  reach,  in  the  time  that  you  will  enjoy  the  advantages  of 
Schulpforte.  I  have  seen  and  known  on  many  occasions 
that  succeeding  too  completely  is  a  bar  to  future  success, 
and  the  greatest  possible  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  terrible  puzzle  you  were  in,  when  called 
upon  to  put  Schlegel's  Dramaturgische  Vot'lesungen  into 
Latin,  I  most  cordially  rejoice  in  the  result,  which  had  the 
effect  of  detaining  you  in  that  lower  class  in  which  it  is  so 
necessary  for  you  to  feel  yourself  at  home,  before  you  can 
with  any  freedom  move  in  a  higher  sphere.  I  am  very 
thankful  to  be  informed  that  you  judged  rightly  of  your- 
self, and  had  no  wish  for  the  present  possession  of  honours 
which  you  did  not  feel  competent  to  wear.  May  you,  by 
God's  grace,  be  preserved  through  life  from  the  misfortune 
of  over- valuing  j'our  own  powers  or  attainments !  or 
imagining  the  circumstances  and  qualities  which  make  us 
accepted  and  valued  amongst  men,  to  be  always  a  standard 
of  intrinsic  worth." 

"  9  June  .  .   . — It  is  most  useful  to  bo  among  a  number 


416         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    ktJNSEN. 

of  youths  of  the  same  age,  in  order  to  become  conscious 
that  man  was  not  made  to  stand  wholly  alone,  that  he 
must  combine  with  one  or  other  class  of  his  fellow-crea- 
tures, and  that  if  he  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  ordi- 
nary herd  of  the  insignificant — who  go  to  the  business  of 
life  like  slaves  to  their  daily  task,  and  submit  to  laws  and 
regulations  only  in  so  far  as  they  fear  the  rod  of  retribu- 
tion— he  must  in  his  actions  strive  to  belong  to  those  whose 
conduct  is  regulated  by  uncompromising  principle,  and 
whose  guiding-compass  points  ever  to  an  immovable  ideal 
standard  of  excellence,  higher  than  any  real  one  that  the 
experience  of  life  will  show." 

"25  July  .  .  . — The  beginning  of  your  school-life,  my 
dear  boy,  has  been  so  prosperous,  you  seem  to  have 
enjoyed  and  profited  by  the  good  with  so  little  mixture  of 
attendant  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  men  must  be  less  rough  and  uncivilised 
than  when  in  school-boy  years  :  and  whatever  the  conflict 
of  antagonistic  elements  of  society  such  an  university  may 
present,  I  must  believe  it  is  yet  ever  possible  for  one  who 
acts  in  singleness  of  heart,  with  no  object  but  that  of  doing 
right,  to  pass  on  unharmed  by  all  the  various  powers  of 
evil  which  present  themselves  in  forms  of  seduction  or 
intimidation.  The  worst  of  trials  is  the  trial  of  faith  :  but 
through  that  also,  when  it  comes,  the  same  singleness  of 
heart  will  lead  you.  The  conviction,  if  a  difficulty  arises 
within,  or  is  suggested  from  without,  that  it  is  not  the 
fault  of  Christianity,  but  your  own  fault,  that  it  appears 
such, — that  the  mote  is  not  in  the  glorious  sun,  but  in  the 
glass  of  the  dim  telescope  through  which  you  are  viewing 


LAST  YEARS  AT  HOME.  417 

it,— -will  always  give  time  for  help  to  arrive :  and  such 
help  will  never  fail  those  who  encourage  the  action  and 
long  for  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  grace  in  their 
minds." 

To  BUNSEX. 

"7  April  1834. — Yesterday  I  had  a  visit  of  an  hour 
from  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare,  whose  conversation  trans- 
ported me  into  another  world — a  world  of  soothing  and 
edifying  contemplation.  It  does  one  good  to  think  that 
in  the  case  of  her  married  life,  two  people  so  calculated 
to  love  and  benefit  each  other  were  brought  together 
by  Providence,  even  though  it  pleased  the  same  Provi- 
dence to  allow  them  but  five  years  of  mutual  enjoy- 
ment. They  had  been  attached  for  five  years  before 
their  marriage,  and  their  acquaintance  was  of  seventeen 
years'  standing.  Much  has  she  told  me  that  was  deeply 
interesting,  and  she  has  promised  to  come  again.  Her 
plan  is  to  take  a  cottage  in  the  parish  of  Julius  Hare,  or 
as  near  to  it  as  possible,  that  she  may  have  the  comfort  of 
seeing  as  much  as  possible  of  him  who  was  dearest  to  her 
late  husband,  and  of  endeavouring  to  assist  him  among  his 
parishioners,  which  will  be  a  continuation  of  the  habits  of 
her  life  in  the  parish  of  her  husband.  Is  it  not  a  blessing 
when  the  laws  of  a  country  hallow  the  relation  of  brother-in- 
law  and  sister-in-law,  and  make  it  as  sacred  as  the  tie  of 
blood  between  brother  and  sister  ?  Were  it  not  for  this 
both  Julius  Hare  and  his  sister-in-law  would  be  too 
young  to  venture  upon  this  plan  of  near  residence  and 
future  co-operation,  for  fear  of  the  comments  and  supposi- 
tions of  the  world." 

VOL.  I.  E  E 


418         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

"  15  April. — Yesterday  the  Hares  went  away.  I  saw 
them  on  Sunday,  poor  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare  feeling  more 
than  anything  having  to  part  from  the  room  where  she 
had  watched  her  husband  to  the  last,  and  go  far  away 
from  the  spot  where  his  remains  repose.  I  feel  that  next 
to  God's  words  she  will  find  His  works  her  best  com- 
forters. She  begged  me  to  visit  her  husband's  tomb. 
I  cannot  express  how  much  I  have  been  gratified  by 
her  manner  and  expressions  towards  me :  and  those 
of  Marcus  Hare.  She  showed  me  a  letter  of  Dr. 
Arnold's,  in  which  he  compares  you  and  Augustus  Hare, 
and  says  no  two  could  be  more  similar — concluding  with, 
'  God  grant  to  me  to  resemble  them  in  the  nobleness  and 
beauty  of  their  goodness.'  " 

"21  April. — I  wish  you  could  see  how  delightful  the 
darling  twins  are :  they  are  now  singing  about  me  like 
two  little  birds,  waiting  for  their  breakfast.  You  have  no 
idea  of  the  enjoyment  we  have  from  the  garden,  and  as 
we  have  water  in  the  fountain  we  keep  it  watered — but  I 
cannot  yet  get  over  looking  at  Henry  and  Ernest's  deserted 
gardens." 

"  Villa  Piccolo-mini,  16  June. — What  pleasure  it  is  to  be 
again  in  this  delicious  place,  where  I  arrived  yesterday 
evening,  a  few  minutes  before  the  most  glorious  sunset, 
together  with  Kellermann,  Charles,  George,  and  Emilia-; 
Miss  Thompson  and  the  rest  had  arrived  the  evening 
before.  I  had  feared  the  entrance  into  this  house,  where 
the  want  of  so  much  that  I  was  accustomed  to  enjoy  here 
appears  new  and  fresh :  and  most  certainly  it  was  very  sad 
to  see  my  Henry's  desk  and  Ernest's,  and  to  pass  your 
empty  study." 


LAST    YEARS    AT  ROME.  419 


To  hf.r  MOTHER. 

"  Frascati,  19  June,  1834. — We  have  been  enjoying  our- 
selves here  since  last  Sunday,  the  15th.  I  had  almost 
dreaded  coming,  or  rather  not  almost,  but  had  quite  an 
absurd  aversion  to  resolving  on  leaving  Rome,  apprehend- 
ing the  first  impression  of  the  absence  of  so  much  that  I 
love  on  coming  to  this  place,  where  we  have  all  lived  so 
happily  together.  But  that  was  a  morbid  vision,  and 
has  given  way  to  the  actual  roality  of  so  much  good  as  I 
am  allowed  to  possess  and  enjoy  here.  Miss  Thompson 
and  Kellermann  and  I,  with  the  five  children,  breakfast 
and  dine  at  a  smaller  table  and  in  a  smaller  room,  that  we 
may  not  be  reminded  in  the  great  hall  and  at  the  large 
table  how  many  places  are  unfilled :  but  still  we  occupy 
the  hall  to  our  great  comfort  as  a  sitting-room.  Frascati 
never  was  more  beautiful ;  after  all  the  fears  entertained 
from  the  drought,  all  is  fresh  and  green,  in  the  most 
delicious  summer- weather,  without  any  heat  to  complain 
of." 

To  BUNSEN. 

"Frascati,  3  July. — Wo  all  go  down  after  dinner  into 
the  shady  alley  and  enjoy  the  aura  estiva :  the  girls  play 
and  talk  much  with  Adele  Vollard,  Kellermann  draws 
Theodore  in  the  little  cart — lie  whipping  as  hard  as  he  can 
to  make  the  horses  go  on,  I  sit  with  Theodora  in  my  lap 
till  Hannah  has  dined,  Charles  shoots  with  a  bow  and 
arrows  of  his  own  making,  and  George  climbs  trees  at 
Kellermann' s  bidding,  from  which  I  turn  away  my  eyes, 
though  well  aware  it  is  right  he  should  try." 

"8  July,  1834. — When  yon  are  not  here  it  seems  to  bo 


420         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

such  a  clear  case  that  nothing  can  be  more  than  a  quarter 
enjoyed,  that  I  am  much  too  apt  to  make  all  days  working 
days,  all  hours  working  hours :  it  occurred  to  me  yesterday 
that  I  scarcely  take  the  requisite  time  to  stand  and  enjoy 
the  view  out  of  the  window,  as  I  used  to  do  last  year.  The 
season  is  indescribably  delicious  !  yet  I  could  find  it  in  my 
heart  to  wish  that  it  would  rain,  that  it  might  be  fine  when 
you  return.  I  am  just  returned  from  a  drive  to  Marino, 
with  both  the  dear  twins.  Whenever  I  can  take  up  a 
book  (mostly  when  one  of  the  twins  is  asleep  on  my  lap)  I 
read  Evan's  'Church  of  God,'  given  to  me  by  Mrs. 
Augustus  Hare,  and  reckoned  by  Julius  Hare  to  be  worthy 
of  Hooker." 

"25  July. — Kestner  went  yesterday  afternoon  to  Eome, 
and  Miss  Thompson  and  I  drove  with  him  in  his  scappavia, 
down  the  hill  to  the  place  where  I  had  long  wanted  to 
draw  that  Casino  with  the  pine  that  you  remember :  the 
boys  were  also  there,  playing  at  Piastrella,  and  we  walked 
Home." 

"  11  August. — The  last  letter  of  Abeken,  our  Geneva 
son,  touched  me  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  to 
call  it,  as  I  am  by  him :  but  it  is  so  impossible  to  doubt 
the  reality  of  the  filial-regard  which  he  proves  to  me  at 
every  opportunity,  and  I  am  so  conscious  of  deserving  it 
by  the  regard  I  feel  for  him,  that  I  cannot  but  be  gratified 
by  the  expression  of  it,  however  well  aware  of  being 
enormously  overrated.  How  I  have  been  spoiled  for  the 
last  three  years,  my  Best-Beloved !  To  the  iron  rule  of 
your  sister  and  Simon  has  succeeded  a  period,  in  which  I 


LAST    YEARS    AT    ROME.  421 

have  been  drawn  closer  and  closer  to  you,  my  own  dearest ; 
in  which  you  yourself,  being  relieved  from  an  intolerable 
household  burden,  surrounded  by  associates  and  helpmates 
that  answered  to  your  needs  and  tastes,  in  full  and  suitable 
and  not  exhausting  activity,  could  for  the  first  time  in  the 
whole  period  of  our  married  life  thoroughly  expand  and 
develope  on  all  sides,  and  be  yourself  entirely  and  uninter- 
ruptedly, to  mine  and  everybody's  enjoyment.  Then  as 
household-friends  I  have  had  Ambrosch,  and  Sydow,  and 
Abeken,  to  spoil  me,  and  indulge  me,  and  praise  me,  and 
approve  me — and,  as  dear  Lady  Raffles  said,  '  I  do  so  love 
to  be  spoiled  by  those  I  value ! '  And  now,  whereas 
during  your  former  absence  at  Berlin  I  was  a  ball  thrown 
from  one  to  the  other  of  the  two  spikes  of  your  sister  and 
Simon,  never  finding  a  resting-place,  and  worn  out  of  'all 
independence  of  judgment  and  self-possession,  in  your  late 
absence  I  have  had  no  creature  to  control  or  thwart  me. 
I  have  had  Sydow' s  constant  support  and  counsel  and 
sympathy,  Tippelskirch's  kindness  and  friendship,  Miss 
Thompson's*  grateful  attachment — and  if  I  have  had 
cares,  which  felt  the  heavier  for  your  not  being  present, 
yet  with  the  help  of  homoeopathy  to  procure  me  the  undis- 
turbed possession  of  my  own  physical  powers,  f  nothing  has 
been  overwhelming.  And  now  I  conclude  with  the  de- 
lightful idea  that  I  am  writing  to  you  for  the  last  time, 
and  that,  please  God,  I  shall  pass  but  one  more  Monday 

*  The  governess  of  her  daughters,  afterwards  Madame  Abeken. 

f  Madame  Bunsen  had  been  subject  to  violent  headaches,  which, 
occurring  sometimes  two  or  three  times  a  month,  deprived  her  in  each 
case  of  at  least  a  whole  day's  usefulness.  By  the  advice  of  Ncu- 
komm,  she  tried  homoeopathy,  with  excellent  effect,  owing  much  to  the 
advice  of  Romani,  homoeopathic  physician  to  the  Queen  of  Naplas. 


2         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

without  having  been  reunited  to  you.  Farewell,  my  Best- 
Beloved,  may  God  please  to  grant  3lis  blessing  to  the  end 
of  your  journey,  and  to  the  re-commencement  of  our  home- 
life  !  May  you  not  have  so  idealised  your  wife  in  absence, 
as  to  be  less  satisfied  with  her  in  presence  !  " 

To  her  MOTHER. 

*•  27  August,  1834. — Charles  returned  safe  and  sound 
last  Thursday.  On  Monday,  the  1 8th,  I  went  to  Borne  with 
a  carriage-full,  sent  the  carriage  back  on  Tuesday  morning 
to  bring  the  rest  on  Tuesday  evening,  that  we  might  all  be 
ready  to  drive  out  on  Wednesday  evening  on  the  Florence 
road,  which  we  did,  but  in  vain,  as  he  did  not  come  till 
Thursday  morning.  He  arrived  accompanied  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  all  moved  to  Frascati." 

"26  Sept. — Nothing  was  ever  so  strange,  so  unnatural, 
and  apparently  impossible,  as  that  I  should  not  till  this 
clay  write  a  line  to  my  own  dearest  Mother  to  express  some 
part  of  the  feelings  which  have  occupied  me  so  unceasingly 
since  I  received  the  letter,  which  told  me  she  would  come 
here,  and  that  she  would  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  have 
you  here,  that  I  shall  really  be  able  to  enjoy  your  pre- 
sence ! — to  know  that  I  am  again  to  live  with  you !  to  have 
you  always  at  hand !  to  have  again  my  own  place  in  the 
room  you  inhabit ! — to  have  my  husband,  my  children, 
known  to  you  in  their  daily  habits,  not  as  visitors  at  set 
times ! — to  have  the  opportunity,  the  means,  the  time,  as 


LAST   YEARS    AT    ROME.  423 

well  as  the  will,  to  make  my  whole  heart  and  my  whole 
life  known  to  you !  All  this  comprises  such  a  fullness  of 
happiness  and  comfort,  such  a  realising  of  wishes  and 
desires,  as  I  can  scarcely  believe  or  comprehend.  My  own 
dearest  Mother  !  how  I  ought  to  thank  you  for  overcoming 
all  the  many  difficulties  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,  such 
a  thing  understood,  that  you  always  do,  and  always  have 
done,  everything  possible,  almost  what  was  impossible,  for 
my  comfort  and  benefit,  that  to  thank  you  is  rather  a  part 
of  my  love  for  you,  than  a  separate  act  and  sensation. 

"  Charles  enjoys  the  idea  of  my  Mother's  coming,  almost 
as  much  as  I  do — he  is  for  ever  speaking  of  it,  morning, 
noon,  and  night.  And  good  Kestner  is  so  heartily  pleased ! 
I  told  him  of  it  one  evening,  arid  ho  came  the  next  day, 
saying,  '  I  cannot  think  of  anything  but  that  your  Mother 
is  coming.'  " 

To  her  SON  HEXRY. 

"  6  Dec.,  1834. — I  hope  you  will  receive  this  on  Christ- 
mas Eve,  that  you  may  not  on  that  day  be  without  an 
external  mark  of  the  feelings  with  which  you  will  bo 
recalled,  in  the  far-distant  place  of  your  birth.  May  God's 
blessing  be  with  you,  my  dearest  boy,  as  on  every  day  of 
your  life,  so  more  especially  on  the  first  Christmas  you  will 
have  passed  without  your  parents,  and  sanctify  the  feelings 
with  which  your  heart  will  be  filled  :  make  you  serious, 
but  not  mournful :  reminding  you  that  to  those  wlio  strive 
to  be  united  in  His  faith  and  fear  and  love,  the  pad  and  the 
distant  are  not  lost,  and  the  future,  in  whatever  external 


424         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

form  it  may  come,  will  abound  in  good,  and  ripen  into 
glory  and  blessedness." 

"  19  March,  1835. — I  hope  this  letter  will  reach  you  on 
your  birthday,  and  convey  the  heartfelt  prayer  of  your 
parents,  that  every  blessing  may  attend  you  throughout 
the  year  upon  which  you  will  enter.  You  have  hitherto 
been  blessed  indeed,  with  health  and  every  advantage  to 
further  your  progress,  and  enable  you  to  qualify  yourself 
for  a  situation  of  usefulness :  and  may  it  please  God  to 
continue  them  to  you,  and  more  particularly  to  give  His 
grace  to  the  religious  instructions,  or  recapitulations,  that 
you  are  now  going  through,  and  to  the  whole  preparation 
you  make  for  the  most  solemn  act  of  your  independent 
existence,  by  which  you  as  it  were  confirm  the  Sacrament 
of  Baptism  received  in  a  period  of  unconsciousness,  and 
solemnly  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  self- 
responsibility,  •  in  which,  from  this  time  forth,  the  guiding 
advice  and  directions  of  others  may  be  sought  as  an  assist- 
ance, but  not  trusted  to  as  a  support :  in  which  you  are 
introduced  to  'the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God,' 
and  called  upon  to  act  as  '  free,  but  not  using  your  liberty 
as  a  cloak  of  maliciousness,  but  as  the  servant  of  Christ.' 
In  your  intellectual  acquirements,  as  well  as  in  your  moral 
consciousness,  you  are  equally  called  upon  to  develop  an 
individual  existence,  and  I  trust  that  your  best  endeavours 
will  not  be  wanting,  and  then  the  blessing  of  God  will  not 
fail.  I  know,  and  have  experienced,  my  dear  Henry,  that 
it  is  a  difficult  step  to  take  in  life,  to  resolve  to  look  upon 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  425 

it  as  one's  duty  to  judge  for  oneself,  not  in  the  sense  of 
opposition,  but  in  the  sense  of  independence.  In  the  law 
of  Christ  is  given  us  '  an  anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and 
steadfast ; '  and  that  is  what  is  to  keep  us  firm,  however 
the  winds  and  waves  of  this  troublesome  world  may  buffet 


Mrs.  Waddington's  projected  journey  was  delayed 
for  some  time  by  her  own  alarming  illness  at  Llanover. 
But  she  arrived  at  Rome  in  the  late  autumn  of  1834, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall.  "When  they  re- 
turned to  England  with  their  infant  Caradoc — being 
recalled  by  the  sudden  general  election,  and  posting  in 
eleven  days  from  Home  to  Boulogne,  Mrs.  Waddington, 
with  her  little  granddaughter,*  accompanied  the  Bun- 
sens  to  Frascati,  and  spent  the  summer  in  the  ground- 
floor  of  the  Yilla  Piccolomini,  of  which  the  first-floor 
was  occupied  by  the  Bunsens,  the  whole  family  living 
in  ever-increasing  enjoyment  of  the  view,  as  well  as  of 
the  fine  airy  rooms  of  the  old  country  palace.  At  this 
time  the  upper- floor  of  the  villa  was  occupied  by  M.  de 
Sydow,  and  M.  Abeken,  who  had  been  recently  married 
to  Miss  Thompson,  the  valued  English  governess  of  the 
Buiisens,  after  her  recovery  from  an  alarming  illness, 
which  had  at  one  time  seemed  hopeless.  Madame  Bun- 
sen  was  especially  thankful  for  her  mother's  presence 
and  advice  during  this  summer,  in  which  the  increasing 
lameness  of  her  second  daughter,  Emilia,  now  almost 

*  Now  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Herbert  of  Llanarth. 


426        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

entirely  confined  to  her  couch,  began  to  cause  her  great 
anxiety.  In  June  the  sad  news  of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Hall's 
youngest  child,  Caradoc,  nearly  caused  Mrs.  Wadding- 
ton  to  set  out  suddenly  homewards,  but  the  risk  of 
travelling  with  her  young  granddaughter  was  so 
strongly  represented  to  her,  that  she  was  induced  to 
put  off  her  departure,  and  was  eventually  led,  by  the 
urgent  solicitations  of  her  daughter  and  son-in-law,  to 
remain  in  Home  another  winter,  in  the  Palazzo  Caf- 
farelli. 

Mr.  Pusey  having  promised  a  living  to  Henry 
Bunsen,  and  his  own  decision  being  quite  formed  for 
the  life  of  an  English  clergyman,  it  was  decided  to 
remove  him  from  Schulpforte,  and  send  him  to  Rugby 
and  Oxford.  Meantime  he  was  allowed  to  return  for 
the  winter  of  1835 — 36  to  the  land  of  his  birth,  pro- 
ceeding in  the  following  April  with  his  grandmother 
to  England,  and  to  Hanover,  before  going  to  Rugby. 

MADAME  DE  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"24  April,  1836. — Having  drank  tea,  sung  a  hymn, 
accompanied  by  myself  instead  of  Henry,  seen  Emilia  and 
Mary  into  bed,  and  heard  them  say  their  prayers,  I  sit 
down  to  write  to  my  dearest  Mother,  in  a  place  in  which 
she  never  knew  me  sit,  in  the  first  window  of  the  yellow 
room,  at  the  round  table  which  used  to  stand  before  the 
corner-couch,  and  which  has  been  removed  to  make  room 
for  the  sofa-table,  till  now  used  by  my  Mother.  After  you 
left  we  set  off  to  Fiumicino,  having  settled  Emilia  in  the 
garden,  dressing  dolls  with  Angelina,  and  Mademoiselle 


LAST   YEARS   AT    HOME.  427 

cutting  out  a  doll's  frock,  the  dear  twins  a  la,  chasse  des 
Escargots,  picking  them  off  the  lilies.  The  road  to 
Fiumicino  is  very  prettily  varied  the  first  half  of  the  way, 
hills  and  dells,  brooks  and  meadows,  cultivation  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) ;  several 
views  to  draw,  particularly  looking  back  from  an  ascent  at 
S.  Paolo  and  the  broad  reach  of  the  Tiber  and  Mount 
Albano,'  which  I  hope  to  drive  to  some  day,  for  it  is  not 
far.  When  we  reached  the  sea-shore,  the  waves  were  dash- 
ing very  tolerably  for  the  Mediteranean,  and  surprised  the 
children  much.  Sir  Thomas  Acland  and  Lord  Clifford 
packed  us  into  two  boats  to  go  to  his  yacht,  where  we 
staid  till  nearly  dark. 

"  My  own,  own  Mother,  you  blinded  yourself  by  your 
(farewell)  words  of  tenderness,  and  they  must  remain  im- 
commented  upon,  lest  I  blind  you  again ;  but  they  are 
treasured  up.  Your  expressions  of  approbation  revive  all 
those  feelings  of  penitence,  which  I  think  were  the  ruling 
ones  at,  before,  and  after  the  parting  with  you,  my  own 
Mother.  If  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  own  Mother !  if  you  were  to  seek 
to  blame,  as  you  seek  to  be  satisfied,  how  would  your  appro- 
bation have  been  qualified !  But  all  I  could  say  on  this 
topic  shall  be  unsaid,  because  it  would  upset  us  both.  To 
be  able  to  feel  through  all  that  deserves  to  bo  felt,  to 
think  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  u  better  state  :  here  it  is  only  by 


4:28        LIFE    AXD    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

dint  of  avoiding  what  we  cannot  bear,  that  we  prevent 
being  shaken  to  the  foundation :  and  perhaps  everybody's 
experience  tells,  that  the  most  intense  feelings,  of  what- 
ever description,  never  are  and  never  can  be  commu- 
nicated." 

"7  May,  1836.— Mr.  Meyer  and  Dr.  Braun  *  dined 
with  us  yesterday,  having  returned  from  their  archaeolo- 
gical tour  of  nine  days.  They  brought  a  terrible  story  of 
the  Princess  Canino's  sons,  Pietro  and  Antonio,  who  have 
been  roving  about  the  country,  performing  all  the  atro- 
cities of  banditti,  robbing,  carrying  off  women,  and  at 
last  committing  murder.  This  murder  was  on  the  person 
of  a  man  almost  as  bad  as  themselves,  and  Meyer,  who 
had  been  told  that  one  of  them  had,  per  disgrazia,  shot 
a  robber,  took  it  into  his  head  to  compliment  the  Princess 
upon  her  son's  having  rid  the  country  of  a  public  nuisance  ! 
The  unfortunate  mother  answered  with  embarrassment, 
said  she  was  greatly  distressed  by  the  accident,  but  pro- 
bably took  comfort  from  the  idea  that  the  deed  could  be 
represented  in  the  light  of  a  public  benefit.  However, 
scarcely  had  Meyer  and  Braun  left  the  castle  of  Musig- 
nano,  when  they  learnt  that  one  of  the  Bonapartes,  the 
guilty  one,  had  escaped,  but  that  the  other  had  been 
arrested,  after  having  killed  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.  Angelo,  and  the 
opinions  of  the  Romans  are  divided  as  to  the  manner  of 
the  death,  which  it  is  supposed  he  cannot  avoid :  whether 

*  The  well-known  archeologist,  who  was  nicknamed  "  Storto 
Collo,"  from  the  w^y  in  which  he  held  his  head  on  one  side  to 
examine  coins,  &c. 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  429 


'to  save  public  disgrace,'  lie  will  be  privately  executed,  or 
poisoned!!  It  seems  that  17  years  ago  such,  a  means  of 
preserving  appearances  and  satisfying  justice  was  had  recourse 
to.  But  that  poor  unfortunate  mother !  Whether  she  has 
or  has  not  done  her  utmost  to  teach  her  children  religion 
and  morality,  in  any  case,  how  tremendous  is  the  visita- 
tion! 

"I  have  profited  by  one  of  your  injunctions  in  letting 
Meyer  get  me  the  '  Heart  of  Midlothian. '  Heading  it  has 
done  good,  first  by  taking  off  the  edge  of  a  curiosity  to 
read  the  many  later  and  unknown  works  of  Sir  "Walter 
Scott,  based  on  the  merits  of  the  few  earlier  ones  known  to 
me.  I  now  know  him  as  a  book-maker,  as  which  I  never 
knew  him  before.  It  is  a  proof  to  me  of  the  present  idle 
taste  of  the  multitude,  that  so  many  people  have  told  me 
this  was  the  very  best  of  the  novels !  To  my  feelings  it  is 
the  very  worst  I  have  ever  read — without  one  merit  to 
redeem  it,  except  being  founded  on  a  fact  in  real  life,  more 
affecting  and  more  admirable  in  its  real  circumstances  than 
in  his  working  out.  It  is  remplissage  from  first  to  last, 
mostly  or  entirely  unreadable,  but  from  curiosity ;  and  I 
am  sure  the  public  only  like  it  because  they  want  goats? 
flesh  and  asafcetida  sauce  to  stimulate  their  pallid  appetite. 
There  is  advantage  taken  in  this  work  of  every  circum- 
stance of  natural  interest  to  harrow  up  the  reader's  feel- 
ings,— instead  of  sparing  them,  with  the  good  taste  of 
'Waverley.'  Then  the  improbabilities  are  not  to  be 
swallowed  —  the  contrivances  clumsy  and  commonplace 
beyond  description. 

"  We  have  had  much  pleasure  in  seeing  Mademoiselle 
Calaudriui,  who  has  had  such  an  astonishing  success, 


430         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

though,  a  Protestant  of  Geneva,  in  establishing  schools  for 
children  of  various  ages  at  Pisa,  beginning  with  places  for 
receiving  and  training  infants  of  from  a  year  and  a  half 
to  two  years  old,  and  proceeding  to  regular  schools  for 
the  same  children  when  older.  I  have  not  seen  for  a  long 
time  a  new  acquaintance  who  so  much  gave  the  impres- 
sion of  the  head  and  heart  being  both  right ;  and  she  is 
perfectly  natural  and  pleasing,  not  the  least  appretee,  as 
the  Genevans  are  apt  to  be. 

•  "Dr.  Arnold  has  sent  a  short  specimen  of  the  style  of 
his  Roman  History.  0  were  it  but  finished  and  published! 
It  will  be  a  treasure  to  children  and  to  everybody." 

"12  May. — Lepsius  has  been  here  since  Monday.  He 
makes  a  very  satisfactory  impression  as  to  character  as  well 
as  talents,  in  short  he  fulfils  the  expectations  created  by 
his  letters,  which  were  clear-headed,  straightforward,  in- 
telligent, full  without  overflowing.  He  has  a  natural 
polish  of  manners,  but  no  ceremonial,  and  is  neither  for- 
ward nor  shy :  it  is  inconceivable  what  materials  he  has 
collected  for  the  study  of  Egyptian  antiquities,  and  his 
drawings  are  admirably  executed.  You  may  suppose  that 
Charles  is  very  happy  to  be  able  to  talk  of  Hieroglyphics, 
but  it  does  not  make  him  idle :  he  is  very  busy  all 
day,  and  only  gets  to  his  treat  at  meal- times,  and  in  the 
evenings." 

In  the  month  of  June,  Bunsen  and  his  wife,  with  four 
of  their  children,  enjoyed  a  carriage-tour  to  Gaeta, 
Benevento,  Avellino,  Salerno,  and  Naples — "  a  journey 
filled  with  enjoyment,  bright  with  cheerfulness,  unem- 
bittered  by  distress  or  inconvenience."  The  later 


LAST    YEARS    AT    ROME.  431 

summer  was  saddened  by  the  lingering  illness  of 
Madame  Abeken,  who  had  removed,  to  the  rooms  in  the 
Yilla  Piceoloinini  recently  inhabited  by  Mrs.  Wadding- 
ton, — "  her  powers  of  resistance  and  endurance  incon- 
ceivable, and  her  state  of  mind  most  edifying,  full  of 
faith  and  hope,  and  anxious  to  be  gene."  She  died  in 
the  middle  of  August,  commending  her  heart-broken 
husband  to  the  Bunsens  in  her  last  moments,  so  that  he 
became  even  more  than  before  an  object  of  solicitude 
and  affection  to  them,  and  she  was  buried  in  the  ceme- 
tery of  Caius  Cestius,  near  the  graves  of  William  Wad- 
dington,  of  Augustus  Hare,  and  of  Bunsen's  infant 
children. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  27  Oct.,  1836. — An  event  in  Frascati  the  week  before 
last,  I  must  now  detail :  it  was  nothing  less  uncommon 
than  the  passage  of  the  Pope  on  the  way  to  Camaldoli,  but 
the  circumstances  were  unusual.  Charles  had  been  told  of 
the  Pope's  having  let  fall  expressions  to  the  effect  of 
'  Bunsen  keeps  quite  away — I  have  not  seen  him  these 
two  years '  —  which  suggested  his  doing  something  to 
prove  that  his  having  refrained  from  seeking  opportunities 
of  personal  interviews  had  not  originated  in  any  want  of 
respect,  but  rather  in  delicacy,  from  the  nature  of  the 
negotiations  and  correspondences  going  on  all  that  time. 
He  therefore  sent  an  official  letter,  stating  that  he  had  been 
informed  by  the  Governor  of  Frascati  that  his  Holiness 
would  come  there  one  day,  as  usual  in  passing  to  Camal- 
doli to  dine ;  and  that  he  hoped  he  would  take  breakfast 


432         LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

by  the  way  at  the  Yilla  Piccolomini.  You  may  suppose 
that  he  wrote  this  in  his  best  manner,  and  also  you  will 
imagine  that  although,  all  things  considered,  ,it  was  not 
very  likely  we  should  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  promised  to  stop  at  Cardinal  Pacca's  and 
the  Yilla  Falconieri.  At  the  same  time  Charles  was  in- 
formed that  this  personal  attention  had  given  great  pleasure, 
and  when  he  went  over  to  Castel  Gandolfo  the  day  after 
the  Pope  arrived  there,  to  wait  upon  him,  he  was  over- 
whelmed with  caresses.  The  Pope  dwelt  with  emphasis  on 
his  owing  his  cure*  to  a  Prussian,  and  said  further  i E 
proprio  un  suo  fratello  j7  quale  e  venuto  per  guarirmi' — 
from  a  likeness,  real  or  supposed,  in  person,  between  Dr. 
Alertz  and  my  husband.  A  day  or  two  later,  when  the 
intended  visit  of  the  Pope  to  i'rascati  took  place,  it  had 
been  settled  that  Charles  should  take  the  opportunity  of 
presenting  to  him  several  Prussians,  mostly  Catholics, 
when  he  was  in  the  sacristy,  as  being  far  less  troublesome 
than  such  presentations  in  Home,  and  accordingly  he 
appeared  with  his  train,  two  ladies  and  four  men,  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  his  presentations.  The  Pope  spoke  to 
each  of  the  three  Catholic  young  men  (one  of  them  Urlichs) 
and  expressed  himself  pleased  with  them — '  jBuone  faccie, 
mipiacciono!1 — and  after  the  whole  set  had  retired,  Charles 
prepared  to  retire  also  from  his  post  of  honour,  but  the 
Pope  said,  l  Restate,  restate?  and  went  on  talking  to  him, 
*  From  cancer. 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  433 


BO  eagerly  that  lie  could  not  move,  all  the  while  the  Pope 
remained  there,  having  his  foot  kissed  by  a  crowd  of  friars, 
ladies,  and  persons  of  all  sorts,  as  fast  as  they  could  come 
in  a.nd  go  out. 

"  Alertz  has  received  princely  rewards  for  his  cure  of 
the  Pope." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  19  Nov.,  1836. — At  present  there  is  no  prospect  of  the 
gratification  of  our  wish  for  removal  to  the  south  of  Ger- 
many :  I  must  be  satisfied  that  when  God  sees  it  good  for 
us,  it  will  be  contrived,  for  your  Father  has  done  all  he 
could  to  further  it.  The  reasons  for  wishing  it  are  very 
decisive — not  that  an  unknown  country  can  in  itself  be  an 
object  of  desire  to  me,  and  probably  neither  he  nor  I  will 
ever  have  elsewhere  the  enjoyment  of  existence  that  we 
have  in  Rome  and  Prascati ;  but  to  be  established  in  a 
really  cheap  country,  where  we  could  feel  that  our  income 
was  enough  and  to  spare,  would  be  an  enjoyment  such  as  I 
have  never  known  yet :  and  to  be  within  reach  of  Ernest, 
and  not  to  be  compelled  to  cast  away  Charles  and  George 
like  balls  to  such  a  distance  as  not  to  be  able  to  catch  them 
again,  is  the  first  and  most  pressing  of  all  reasons  for 
desiring  a  removal  to  the  north  of  the  Alpine  barrier: 
which,  if  we  had  once  crossed,  there  need  be  no  impossi- 
bility of  our  visiting  England,  and  seeing  my  dear  Jlenry: 
although,  so  great  is  the  comfort  I  experience  from  having 
been  allowed  such  a  renewal  of  intercourse  and  as  it  were 
acquaintance,  in  the  last  winter,  that  separation  is  now 
comparatively  no,thing  to  me,  compared  to  what  t]ie  separa- 
tion from  Ernest  is  becoming.  When  you  botl*  went 

VQJ,.  I.  F  F 


434        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

your  Father  to  Germany,  I  parted  from  you  as  children  : 
now  I  have  seen  you  again,  in  comparative  independence 
and  fixedness  of  character,  you  understand  me,  and  I 
understand  you,  and  your  letters  I  can  take  as  really  reflect- 
ing the  state  of  your  mind  and  thoughts.  But  each  year 
seems  to  make  Ernest  more  a  stranger,  and  I  confess,  not 
to  be  enabled  to  see  him,  is  gradually  becoming  heavier 
and  heavier  to  me. 

"We  have  seen  much  of  Papencordt  this  summer — a 
first-rate  being  and  a  real  acquisition.  Lepsius  is  also 
much  here,  and  helps  your  Father  to  refresh  himself  with 
Hieroglyphics :  indeed  your  Father  is  calculating  Egyptian 
chronology  (which  you  know  was  an  old  passion)  and  is 
making  out  delightful  things.  Lepsius  is  a  person  of 
astonishing  mental  gifts,  and  of  all  sorts  of  talents, — 
amongst  others,  musical :  he  sings  and  plays  delightfully. 
He  is  busily  engaged,  in  short  there  never  was  such  a 
working  colony  as  that  of  Frascati." 

"  19  Nov. — Dr.  Arnold  has  written  to  us  his  decision  for 

your  going  to  Oxford  as  soon  as  Easter I  have 

only  therefore  to  remind  you  that  nothing  is  demanded  of 
you  that  is  not  within  reach  of  straight-forward  industry 
and  application,  and  that  it  is  a  certain  fact,  nothing  of 
lawful  and  laudable  attainment  can  resist  the  human  will, 
if  only  strenuous  and  unremitting.  I  think  it  was  a 
maxim  of  Maupertuis,  '  Qu'est  ce  que  c'est  que  lien  vouloir  ? 
— C'est  ne  vouloir  qu'  une  chose,  mais  la  vouloir  toujours, 
dans  tous  les  instans  de  la  vie.' >; 

On  the  5th  of  January,  1837,  a  twelfth  child  was 
born  to  the  Bunsens,  making  a  tenth  in  the  large  family 


LAST  YEAKS  AT  ROME.  435 


of  living  children.  She  was  baptized  by  the  names  of 
Augusta  Matilda,  Dr.  Arnold  being  her  god- father. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  14  Feb.,  1837. — I  have  nothing  but  causes  of  thankful- 
ness to  communicate.  My  darling  baby  thrives  and  grows 

fatter  and  heavier  every  day One  thing  that  I  have 

long  had  to  tell,  and  yet  have  not  written,  is  the  satisfac- 
tion I  feel  in  the  growing  practical  affection  I  experience 
from  my  children.  I  have  felt,  more  than  I  could  or  would 
tell  them,  how  eager  all  have  been  to  help  me,  to  be  of  use 
to  me,  to  do  anything  with  me  or  for  me — in  their  various 
ways." 

"22  April. — The  Cliffords  have  had  a  great  loss,  and 
Borne  too,  in  the  death  of  Cardinal  Weld,  who  has  died 
probably  in  consequence  of  mistaken  treatment.  To-day 
the  English  College  has  celebrated  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  life. 

"  We  have  parted  with  the  Seymers  with  great  regret, 
having  found  them  continually  improve  on  acquaintance. 
I  have  quite  a  regard  for  Miss  Seymer,*  and  hope  not  to 
lose  connexion  with  her  altogether." 

"  Frastati,  3  July,  1837. — Fancy,  my  dearest  Mother,  if 
you  can,  anything  so  extraordinary  as  our  having  now  a 
diplomatist-courtier  by  profession  as  our  daily  inmate !  You 
will  say  how  can  that  be,  with  the  scrambling  arrange- 
ment, the  make-shift  furniture  of  the  Villa  Piccolomini. 
I^cause  the  Baron  de  Buch  is  a  good-natured  person,  with 

*  Afterwards  Mrs.  E.  Denison,  wife  of  the  Bishop  cf  Salisbury. 


436         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

straight-forward  understanding,  and  perfect  good-breeding. 
He  has  succeeded  Usedom,  to  whom  we  had  constantly 
become  more  and  more  attached,  for  he  is  a  most  valuable 
character,  with  first-rate  abilities." 

In  the  three  years  which  had  elapsed  since  the  last 
visit  of  Bunsen  to  Berlin,  the  differences  between 
Prussia  and  Rome  had  remained  unsettled,  and  in  the 
meantime  the  gentle  Pius  VIII.  had  given  place  to 
Gregory  XVI.,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  under 
whom  hopes  of  conciliation  had  been  entertained  had 
passed  away,  leaving  his  place  to  be  filled  by  the 
strange  appointment  of  Baron  Droste  von  Vischering, 
an  uncompromising  zealot,  who,  with  the  character  of 
Thomas  a  Becket,  was  resolved  to  yield  no  atom  of  his 
spiritual  power.  Still,  in  June,  1837,  hopes  of  concilia- 
tory arrangements  were  again  entertained  at  Berlin 
from  the  expected  arrival  of  Monsignor  Capaccini,  the 
confidential  secretary  of  Consalvi,  who  since  his  death 
had  been  the  one  great  statesman  possessed  by  Home, 
equally  "  the  faithful  servant  of  his  Government,  and 
the  faithful  friend  of  humanity,  which  he  desired  to 
serve  by  promoting  peace  and  a  good  understanding 
among  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men." 

That  Bunsen  should  again  be  summoned  to  Berlin 
was  natural,  especially  as  he  had  long  lived  at  Rome 
with  Capaccini  in  relations  of  personal  friendship  and 
mutual  esteem.  He  was  desired  to  come  as  quickly  us 
possible,  so  as  to  arrive  before  the  Papal  envoy,  and  to 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  437 

use  what  pretext  lie  chose  for  his  journey.  The  pre- 
text was  found  in  his  taking  with  him  his  third  and 
fourth  sons,  Charles  to  be  placed  at  Blochmann  Institu- 
tion at  Dresden,  and  George  to  the  school  at  Schulp- 
forte.  When  he  arrived  at  Berlin,  Bunsen  found 
the  King  already  determined  upon  the  arbitrary 
removal  of  the  obnoxious  Archbishop,  who  was  accused 
of  having  entered  into  the  Ultramontane  combination 
of  the  Belgian  bishops,  and  had  given  further  offence 
by  having  proscribed  the  theological  teachers  in  the 
University  of  Bonn,  which  had  been  endowed  and  was 
supported  at  the  expense  of  the  Prussian  Government. 
Accordingly,  on  the  20th  of  November,  1837,  the 
Archbishop  was  arrested,  and  conveyed  away  from  his 
diocese,  never  more  to  return.  It  was  a  rash  act  of 
despotism,  and  as  such  aroused  the  indignation,  not 
only  of  the  Catholic,  but  of  the  Protestant  population 
of  Germany.  Its  imprudence  was  afterwards  felt  by 
the  Government.  Bunsen,  who  had  been  employed  at 
Berlin  to  draw  up  a  statement  of  the  whole  quarrel 
between  Church  and  State,  was  unjustly  pointed  at  as 
its  instigator,  although  his  liberal  wishes  might  have 
been  conclusively  proved  from  his  having  recently  by 
his  personal  influence  with  the  King  obtained  that 
Catholic  soldiers  after  parade  should  be  held  excused 
from  attending  the  Protestant  service,  which  had 
hitherto  been  compulsory. 

During  his  stay  at  Berlin  a  way  of  escape  from  the 
difficulties  of  his  position  at  Rome  had  seemed  to  open 


438        LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

for  Bunsen  in  the  vacant  place  of  Director-General  of 
the  Royal  Museum,  and  in  September  he  sent  positive 
directions  to  his  wife  to  pack  up  and  prepare  for  in- 
stant removal  with  the  whole  family  to  Germany.  But 
cholera  was  then  raging  both  at  Rome  and  Berlin,  the 
cordons  and  quarantines  between  the  two  places  ren- 
dered an  immediate  journey  impossible,  and  before  it 
could  be  carried  out,  Bunsen  had  discovered  that  the 
museum  directorship  was  to  be  united  with  other  duties 
which  rendered  his  acceptance  of  it  most  undesirable, 
so  that  his  wife  received  directions  to  unpack  again, 
and  await  further  directions.  Her  calm  courage  in 
danger  of  pestilence,  and  imperturbable  patience  amid 
so  many  wearisome  changes  of  plans,  will  be  apparent 
in  her  own  letters,  where  least  of  all  she  sought  to  exalt 
herself.  Amid  the  agonizing  suspense  of  the  cholera 
period,  surrounded  by  so  many  young  children,  and  hear- 
ing daily  that  some  valued  friend  had  fallen  a  victim, 
she  had  the  support  of  her  son-like  friend  Heinrich 
Abeken,  whose  noble  exertions  during  this  trying  period 
were  afterwards  rewarded  by  the  King  of  Prussia  with 
the  Order  of  the  Eagle,  the  royal  munificence  at  the 
same  time  paying  off  all  debts  on  the  German  Hospital 
at  Rome. 

In  the  beginning  of  December,  a  Commission  was 
established  at  Berlin  for  transacting  the  affairs  of 
Rome,  and  immediately  after  this  grand  mistake,  with 
enmity  behind  him,  and  hostility  before  him,  Bunsen 
left  Berlin.  He  passed  through  Vienna,  where,  owing 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  439 

to  the  friendship  of  the  Comtesse  Ste.  Aulaire,  he  was 
kindly  received  by  Prince  Mettemich,  who  urged  him 
to  delay  his  journey  till  the  arrival  of  a  fresh  courier 
with  some  indication  of  the  state  of  feeling  at  Rome  ; 
but,  being  overruled  by  other  advice,  he  proceeded  to 
Trieste.  Here  letters  from  his  wife  awaited  him 
announcing  the  declaration  of  the  Pope  that  he  would 
never  receive  him  again.  Still,  instead  of  returning  to 
Berlin  to  defend  himself,  or  awaiting  directions  from 
head-quarters,  he  imprudently  pushed  on,  and  he  arrived 
at  Rome  just  before  Christmas. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  BUNSEN. 

"  17  July,  1837. — It  costs  a  sort  of  effort  to  begin  to 
write  to  you,  because  it  presupposes  the  certainty  of  your 
total  absence ! — which  as  yet  I  can  scarcely  comprehend. 
Frances  and  I  breakfasted  in  inconceivable  solitude,  and 
then  went  to  church,  which  was  an  inexpressible  comfort : 
in  no  other  way  than  in  taking  part  in  public  devotion  as 
a  means  of  edification,  could  the  troubled  waves  have  been 
equally  brought  to  rest — even  had  it  been  possible,  by  any 
efforts,  to  procure  two  hours  of  equal  quiet  in  one's  own 
room,  in  which  to  meditate  on  all  that  could  compose  and 
strengthen  the  mind,  yet  just  at  the  moment  of  need,  the 
mind  is  not,  with  me  at  least,  independent  enough  to  find 
what  it  most  needs,  and  would  either  prey  upon  itself,  or 
at  best  fall  into  unprofitable  stupour.  Abeken  chose  the 
hymn  -In  alien  rneinen  Thaten,'  which  was  just  what  I 
could  have  wished :  and  his  sermon,  saying  that  all  fears 
and  exaggerated  anxiety  as  to  tho  future  is  a  sort  of  denial 


440         LIFE    AIS'D    LETTERS   OF    BAKO^ESS    UUNSEN. 

of  God  and  his  providence,  such  as  those  who  call  them- 
selves Christians  should  see  that  they  correct  and  conquer, 
if  they  will  deserve  that  name,  was  peculiarly  what  I 
wanted.  After  church,  George's  and  Charles's  poor  nurse 
came,  ready  to  break  her  heart  that  she  had  not  been  able 
to  take  leave  of  them.  At  half-past  five  we  set  out  to 
return  to  Frascati,  and  had  a  most  delightful  drive." 

"  Frascati,  13  Augiist,  1837. — I  have  little  to  communi- 
cate except  what  is  not  new,  that  home  and  daily  occupa- 
tions, and  home-objects,  and  walks,  and  drives,  and  what 
not,  are  all  very  different  without  my  Best-Beloved,  to 
what  they  were  with  the  addition  of  his  presence.  This 
t£0r%-day  world,  as  Shakspeare  calls  it,  never  puts  on  a 
festal  garb,  when  you  are  away ;  there  is  nothing,  thank 
God,  to  complain  of,  there  is  as  yet  no  distress,  but  I  have 
not  the  sensation  of  enjoyment. 

"  There  is  no  cholera  in  Rome,  at  least  I  believe  not: 
but  there  are  algide  perniciose,  and  gastriche  colcriscke,  which 
those  who  have  a  mind  to  be  frightened  suppose  to  be  only 
thin  disguises  for  the  dreaded  monster." 

"21  August,  1837. — Thank  God,  all  is  well  with  us, 
although  the  storm  which  has  so  long  been  gathering  has 
burst  over  Borne,  and  the  cholera  is  an  admitted  fact  there. 
What  the  mortality  really  is,  it  is  difficult  to  know,  but  no 
doubt  greater  than  it  need  be,  if  help  was  granted,  and 
rational  measures  taken.  Monsignor  Marini  and  Mon- 
signor  Morichini  are  said  to  be  very  active  in  distributing 
food  and  other  assistance  to  the  distressed  in  Trastevere, 
but  in  other  quarters  of  the  city  it  does  not  seem  that  any- 
thing is  done.  In  that  part  of  the  Quirinal  occupied  by 
Monsignor  Capaccini  there  have  been  four  cases  and  two 


LAST    YEARS    AT    HOME.  441 

deaths.  The  Pope  does  not  leave  his  apartments.  Prince 
Henry  is  as  yet  well,  that  is,  in  his  usual  state.  Vollard* 
is  firm  at  his  post. 

"  As  to  myself,  what  should  I  tell  you  but  that  I  want 
you  every  hour  of  the  f  our-and-twenty  ?  God  bless  you 
and  keep  you  in  health  of  body  and  mind,  guide  your 
steps,  and  rule  your  actions." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  Frascati,  22  August,  1837. — The  cholera  is  at  last  in 
Home  certainly.  The  Princess  Massimo  f  had  her  usual 
Saturday  evening  party  and  was  dead  on  Sunday  morning. 
The  dreadful  idea  of  poison  possessed  the  ignorant  savages 
of  Rome,  and  in  the  Piazza  Montanara  (very  near  the 
Capitol)  they  fell  upon  a  poor  Englishman,  a  master  of  the 
language,  who  it  is  said  had  the  imprudence  to  caress  a 
child,  and  give  it  a  ciambella ;  he  received  eleven  wounds, 
was  with  difficulty  dragged  away  by  the  soldiers,  and 
brought  to  the  Hospital  of  the  Oonsolazione,  where  it  is 
feared  that  ho  is  by  this  time  dead.  This  occurrence  has 
startled  the  Bonian  government,  and  a  proclamation  has 
been  issued  announcing  summary  and  severe  punishment 
to  anyone  who  shall  dare  to  speak  of  poison.  It  is  said 
the  women  were  more  savage  than  the  men.  A  report 
went  about  that  the  wounded  man  wns  a  Prussiano,  and  lie 
was  even  improved  into  a  Maestro  Prussia-no — il  Maestro  del 
Ministro  di  Prussia,  so  that  Bravo  ran  in  a  fright  to  the 
Capitol  to  know  if  it  was  indeed  Urlichs,  Abeken,  or 

*  An  intimate  friend  of  Bunsen,  private-secretary  to  Prince  Henry 
of  Prussia. 

•}•  From  the  terror  which  pervaded  all  classes,  the  body  of  the  Prin- 
cess Massimo  had  to  be  carried  to  the  grave  by  galley-slaves,  as  no 
other  persons  could  be  found  to  perform  the  office. 


442         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Kellermaim.  A  priest  lias  also  been  ill-treated  by  a 
limonaro,  for  giving  sugar-plums  to  some  girls  of  his 
acquaintance,  but  carabinieri  were  luckily  near  enough  to 
save  his  life.  In  Trastevere  there  is  considerable  mortality, 
but  then  no  physician  dares  practise  there,  £he  temper  of 
the  people  is  so  savage,  and  the  idea  of  poison  so  general. 
Tremendous  was  the  uproar  of  devotion  on  the  Madonna- 
festival;  processions  barefoot  and  howling  out  litanies 
crowded  the  Gesu-church,  whither  the  wonder-working 
image  has  been  brought  from  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore.  Of 
these  processions  it  was  observed  that  the  one  from  Monte 
Caprino  out-screamed  two  or  three  others.  In  the  evening 
there  was  a  general  illumination  to  propitiate  the  Madonna, 
and  the  whole  population  paraded  the  streets  in  their  best 
clothes. 

"  Here  in  Frascati  we  have  as  yet  no  cholera,  tho'  much 
sickness,  as  usual  when  the  heat  bursts  out  all  at  once 
after  a  long  period  of  unusual  coolness.  Frascati  is  appa- 
rently rational  and  enlightened,  as  being  the  only  town 
around  Home  that  is  not  closed  against  all  that  would 
enter.  Albano,  Marino,  little  Grotta-Ferrata.  &c.,  let  no 

creature  in,  but  Frascati  trusts  in  S.  Eocco !     He  is 

the  patron-general  of  pcstiferes — lie  saved  Frascati  from  the 
plague  in  the  IGth  century,  when  it  was  just  at  the  gates, 
and  caused  a  miraculous  image  of  himself  to  be  found, 
which  is  still  in  his  church,  noi  siamo  divoti  di  S.  Eocco,  and 
how  should  the  cholera  get  here  ?  So  they  let  all  fugitives 
in,  and  such  carriages-full  come  from  Borne,  that  I  cannot 
guess  where  they  sleep.  I  confess  I  cannot  manage  to  get 
frightened,  which  I  really  think  must  be  stupidity  and 
want  of  imagination." 


LAST   YEARS   AT    ROME.  443 

To  BUNSEN. 

"  26  August,  1837. — So  I  have  passed  your  birthday 
without  yourself — for  the  first  time  for  twenty  years :  I 
wish  it  may  be  the  last.  I  asked  Papencordt  and  young 
Abeken*  to  dinner,  and  treated  all  with  some  ice,  which 
made  the  children  exceedingly  happy.  In  the  evening  we 
went  to  the  Yilla  Muti,  and  returned  late  enough  for 
Theodore  to  see  to  his  satisfaction  the  Milch  Strasse,  which 
he  has  learnt  to  pronounce  in  German,  and  had  asked  to 
be  shown  many  evenings  when  the  moon  had  been  bright. 
After  dinner  I  allowed  myself  also  an  amusement — which 
you  know  to  me  is  a  great  one,  though  rare — that  of  read- 
ing a  novel  of  "Walter  Scott's — '  Quentin  Durward.' 

"  Abeken  will  give  you  the  details  of  the  awful  scenes 
going  on  at  Borne — the  death  and  burial  of  poor  Houseal, 
the  murdered  Englishman,  and  the  death,  alas !  by  cholera, 
of  the  Norwegian  from  Drontheim,  who  was  such  a  faithful 
member  of  our  congregation,  and  of  the  choir.  Such  a 
scene  of  misery  and  confusion  and  terror  and  unreason- 
ableness as  Borne  at  this  moment,  can  I  suppose  hardly 
be  imagined: — nineteen  galley-slaves,  employed  to  form, 
the  new  burial-ground  near  S.  Paolo,  have  seized  the  arms  of 
the  soldiers  when  piled,  and  made  off  :  some  have  escaped, 
and  others  were  taken : — there  have  been  two  attempts  at  in- 
surrection in  Borne,  to  prevent  the  establishment  of  cholera- 
hospitals  within  the  town,  the  fools  not  considering  that 
the  only  chance  for  the  life  of  those  attacked  is  to  have  no 
long  journey  to  make.  But  each  several  individual  of  this 

*  Wilhelm  Abeken,  first  cousin  to  Madame  Bunsen's  "son-like" 
friend.  His  first  writings  on  the  "  Remains  of  Etruscan  Civilization  " 
were  much  applauded.  He  died  young. 


444        LIFE    AND    LETTKKS    OF    1UKONESS    BUNSEX. 

enlightened  population,  as  long  as  not  attacked  himself  or 
herself,  considers  every  cholera-patient  as  an  excommuni- 
cated being,  of  whom  it  matters  not  what  becomes.  The 
Princesses  Massmio  and  Chigi  have  been  conveyed  to  the 
same  public  burial-ground  with  the  rest  near  S.  Paolo. 
All  Home  is  sighing  after  the  Austrians,  that  is,  that  class 
which  has  property  to  protect,  and  believes  the  Pope  has 
begged  them  to  come :  but  I  daresay  that  is  not  true. 
The  convent  of  the  Trinita  de'  Monti  was  among  the  first 
places  attacked,  although  hermetically  closed :  several 
nuns  have  died,  and  the  report  goes  that  Lord  Clifford's 
daughter  is  ill.  But  this  proof  that  nunneries  are  not  safe, 
is  of  no  avail ;  every  private  house  that  possesses  the  means 
is  closed  against  all  comers." 

"28  Aug. — As  yet  Frascati  is  not  attacked,  except  by 
fear.  Hitherto  the  divozione  a  S.  liocco  keeps  up  such  a 
degree  of  courage,  that  free  passage  is  allowed  to  all  such 
as  do  not  confess  to  having  had  deaths  from  cholera  in 
their  house  at  Home  :  only  everybody  is  fumigated  at  the 
entrance  of  the  town,  to  the  great  suffering  of  the  daily- 
passing  vetturini,  some  of  whom  are  said  to  spit  blood 
from  the  quantity  of  Chlor  they  have  inhaled.  At  Monte 
Porzio  they  now  let  no  one  pass,  as  Uiiichs  and  Papen- 
cordt  experienced,  who  rode  yesterday  to  make  a  visit  to 
Monsiguor  Wiseman,  and  could  not  get  the  guard  to 
receive  their  cards.  The  reason  of  this  proceeding  is  said 
to  be,  that  having  formed  no  idea  of  fumigation  but  making 
a  great  fire  before  the  gate,  and  then  driving  people  round 
it  or  through  it,  they  scorched  a  woman  and  burnt  her  ass, 
to  a  degree  that  made  it  clear  the  practice  must  be  aban- 
doned. Thus  as  the  neighbouring  paesi  will  let  nobody  in 


LAST  YEARS  AT  HOME.  445 

from  Frascati,  Frascati  lias  established  a  system  of  repri- 
sals, and  has  guards  at  every  corner  to  keep  out  all  that 
an  from  the  neighbourhood.  At  Albano,  where  they 
were  so  savage  in  exclusion  from  the  first,  cholera  has 
appeared. 

"My  Best-Beloved,  I  write  on  other  things  with  a  sort  of 
shuddering  aversion  to  communicating  what  is  uppermost — 
that  Tommaso^has  been  seized  with  the  cholera !  It  was  in 
the  night  of  Saturday,  but  not  till  Sunday  morning  did  he 
send  for  a  physician :  every  care  has  been  taken  of  him, 
by  Abeken's  kind  superintendence,  but  as  the  second 
stadium  had  commenced  before  the  medical  assistance 
could  be  given,  there  is  little  hope.  Before  this  letter  is 
closed  I  shall  be  able  to  tell  you  whether  this  severe  loss 
has  befallen  us  or  not.  He  at  least  has  not  wanted  what 
most  of  the  poor  patients  have  been  deprived  of — care  and 
kindness.  Angelina  and  Pietro  are  most  zealous  and  fear- 
less, and  also  Rosa  from  the  hospital.  Pantaleone  has 
attended  him,  and  the  advice  of  Tagliabo  was  asked.  I 
have  the  less  hope  that  he  can  get  over  it,  because  he  had 
been  long  in  a  state  of  spiritless  terror,  which  gave  him  no 

chance All  are  yet  well  in  this  house,  and  I  feel 

thankful  for  every  day  passed  in  health,  which  one  ought 
always  to  feel,  but  it  needs  a  nearer  threatening  of  the 
horrors  of  pestilence  to  be  reminded  of  mercies  daily 
received. 

"ZSAw/ust  (Evening). — My  Best-Beloved,  our  faithful 
Tomxaaso  is  indeed  lost  to  us.  He  expired  on  Sunday 
evening,  27th,  at-  sunset — before  I  had  received  the  first 
tidings  of  his  illness,  which  was  of  24  hours'  duration.  I 

*  The  Bur.scns'  house-steward,  husband  of  the  faithful  Angelin.i. 


446        LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

can  write  no  more  now,  for  I  am  obliged  to  take  to  my 
bed,  by  an  unusual  degree  of  migraine :  it  was  aggravated, 
no  doubt,  by  the  great  shock  I  have  received.  But  you 
know  I  always  tell  you  the  truth,  so  that  you  will  not 
apprehend  anything  more  or  worse I  am  indescri- 
bably thankful  now  that  you  are  not  here,  you  would  feel 
bound  to  go  to  Rome,  and  what  a  misery  that  would  be." 

"Frascati,  30  August,  1837.— What  shall  I  say  of  the 
turmoil  of  thoughts  and  feelings,  caused  by  your  letter  of 
the  14th?*  But  all  that  I  can  think  or  feel  is  absorbed  in 
one  feeling,  in  the  conviction,  that  whatever  you  decide 
upon,  I  shall  be  satisfied  with.  Causes  of.  anxiety  I  have 
enough,  as  to  the  fulfilment  of  all  you  write  of,  because 
you  know  not  the  present  awful  state  of  the  country :  but 
all  may  yet  be  well.  If  it  please  God  to  save  us  from  the 
pestilence,  He  can  do  so  under  any  circumstances — here  at 
Frascati,  or  through  the  bustle  of  packing  and  settling 
affairs  in  Rome." 

"2  Sept.  1837. — Yesterday  Kellermann  breathed  his 
last !  0  my  Best-Beloved !  it  is  indeed  walking  in  '  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death : '  and  I  feel  so  relieved  that 
you  are  not  here  in  the  midst  of  the  danger,  that  I  know 
not  how  to  wish  for  the  speedy  return  that  your  last  letter 
promised !  But  if  things  are  wonderfully  so  arranged  as 
to  enable  you  to  realise  your  plans,  it  will  be  a  sign  that 
it  pleases  God  to  take  us  away  from  hence,  and  then  He 
will  help  us  through.  We  are,  thank  God,  all  well  as  yet, 
and  the  pestilence  has  not  reached  Frascati :  but  if  you 
come,  you  will  find  all  looking  less  fresh  than  when  you 

*  A  letter  desiring  Madame  Bunsen  to  pack  up  and  come  to  Berlin, 
with  full  directions,  soon  afterwards  contradicted. 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  447 

left  us.  The  season,  independent  of  the  pestilence,  must 
have  been  a  trying  one.  You  will  believe  we  take  all  care 
as  to  diet:  no  fruit  has  been  touched  by  anybody  this 
long  time. 

"Poor  Abeken  asserts  that  he  is  well,  and  as  he  is  in 
the  active  discharge  of  duty,  I  trust  he  will  be  supported : 
but  it  is  indeed  a  hard  trial,  with  weakened  health  not  half 
recovered,  to  stand  alone  in  the  breach.  Lepsius  is  daily 
expected,  but  I  write  to  day  to  urge  his  coming  here  to 
inhabit  Abeken' s  vacant  room,  and  not  risking  remaining 
in  Rome,  coming  as  he  does  fresh  from  Tuscany.  His 
presence  might  be  a  comfort  to  Abeken,  but  also  an 
anxiety,  for  he  has  no  sound  constitution  to  struggle  with. 
Kellermann  sent  for  Abeken  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning 
— he  was  already  very  bad:  Pantaleone  came  directly, 
afterwards  Dietz  (celebrated  for  successful  practice),  he 
wanted  no  help  that  could  be  given,  but  at  one  o'clock 
he  had  expired.  The  burial  was  to  take  place  this  morn- 
ing early. 

"The  poor  people  at  Monte  Caprino  are  now  crowding 
round  Pantaleone,  when  he  comes  up  to  the  Capitol,  and 
some  have  asked  for  medicine  from  our  Hospital.  This  is 
indeed  a  satisfactory  circumstance — and  this  is  after  people 
about  Piazza  Montanara  and  the  Consolazione  had  uttered 
threats  to  burn  the  Hospital — the  day  of  the  murder  of  the 
Englishman  Houseal,  and  when  the  first  report  existed, 
that  it  was  a  Prussian  who  had  been  seized  as  a  prisoner. 
I  would  not  write  this  in  my  first  letter — now  the  storm 
may  be  considered  to  have  blown  over.  Abeken  caused 
alms  to  be  given  to  the  most  distressed  about  the  hill, 
by  Don  Felice :  but  of  course  could  not  venture  to  give 


448        LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

either  soup  or  food.  Everything  is  getting  very  clear  in 
Rome.  A  conspiracy  has  been  discovered,  of  wretches 
who  intended  to  burn  and  plunder  the  palaces  of  such  as 
they  supposed  might  have  deposits  of  money — Borghese, 
Piombino,  Banco  S.  Spirito,  &c.  Wild  stories  are  told  of 
a  plan  of  seizing  the  Pope  and  changing  the  government, 
probably  not  true.  My  Best-Beloved !  I  will  close  this 
report  of  death  and  distress,  in  thankfulness  that  we  are  as 
yet  personally  spared.  Were  we  but  re-united  1 " 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"5  Sept.,  1837. — Frascati  has  as  yet  been  spared  the 
awful  scourge,  and  though,  the  season  being  an  unwhole- 
some one,  there  is  much  sickness,  independent  of  the 
worst:  the  children  have  been  quite  well,  and  myself  also. 
Abeken  has  been  fixed  in  Borne  ever  since  the  disorder 
was  declared  to  exist,  and  he  is  wonderfully  supported  in 
unceasing  exertion  and  anxiety.  But  we  have  had  a 
severe  loss  in  Tommaso,  wliich  I  have  not  felt  the  less, 
because  I  anticipated  that  he  could  make  no  resistance  to 
the  poisoned  atmosphere.  He  has  served  us  ten  years,  and 
never  abused  the  most  implicit  confidence; — and  I  need 
not  tell  my  Mother  that  if  I  knew  of  twenty  people  com- 
petent for  his  place  (whereas  I  know  not  of  one)  my 
sorrow  would  not  be  diminished.  The  1st  September 
Kellermann  was  carried  off  in  eight  hours,  which  Abeken 
will  not  easily  get  over.  He  too  was  close  at  hand,  and 
help  and  remedies  were  had  without  delay.  A  Norwegian 
cabinet-maker  we  knew  and  valued  died  in  the  hospital : 
two  other  cholera  patients  there  have  recovered:  but  all 
such  of  course  keep  Abeken  in  continual  exertion.  In  one 


LAST    YEARS    AT    ROME.  449 

person  who  lias  taken  up  much  of  his  time  and  received 
much  comfort  from  him,  I  have  taken  great  interest 
since  I  made  her  acquaintance  in  May  last — Mrs.  Vaughan, 
a  young  widow,  with  a  fine  boy  of  four  years  old,  who  is 
now  an  orphan.  She  was  a  niece  of  Mr.  Craven  who  lives  at 
Naples.  I  never  heard  the  name  of  her  family,  but  her 
father  had  a  place  in  the  Mauritius,  where  she  was  born 
and  bred.  She  married1  at  sixteen  against  the  will  of  her 
parents,  and  at  nineteen  was  left  a  widow  immediately 
after  landing  at  Leghorn  among  strangers.  She  however 
found  kind-hearted  people  to  help  her,  and  came  on,  with 
an  old  Scotch  lady  as  a  protection,  to  Florence,  where  she 
had  a  dangerous  illness.  From  Florence  I  received  a 
letter  about  her,  and  since  she  arrived  in  Rome  I  have  seen 
her  as  often  as  I  could.  From  a  strange  irresolution,  she 
staid  on  in  Rome,  till  she  got  a  dangerous  fever:  from 
that  she  was  recovering,  when  the  cholera  exhausted  the 
remains  of  vital  strength.  Abeken  sat  by  her  for  hours, 
many  days  together,  and  says  the  struggle  was  hard  for 
such  youth  to  part  with  life :  she  did  at  last  overcome, 
and  was  not  only  resigned  but  full  of  joyful  hope.  She 
and  Mr.  Burlowe  the  sculptor  are  the  only  English  who 
have  yet  fallen  victims  to  the  cholera.  Lord  Clifford 
and  the  English  College  are  said  to  have  exerted  them- 
selves to  do  good  to  the  sufferers  in  this  time  of  com- 
plicated misery:  also  the  Jesuits;  Alessandro  Torlonia 
has  distinguished  himself  by  increasing  the  number  of 
his  workmen,  distributing  to  the  poor,  and  fearlessly 
driving  out.  Almost  all  other  persons  of  name  have 
shut  themselves  in  their  palaces,  but  they  do  not  shut 
the  cholera  out :  many  individuals  of  rank  were  among 

VOL.  I.  G  G 


450         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  first  victims,  and  if  they  were  to  be  so,  it  is  as  well 
that  it  was  at  first,  to  help  to  quell  the  dreadful  suspicion 
among  the  people,  that  there  was  a  conspiracy  to  poison 
the  poor.  The  Princess  Chigi  has  followed  the  Massimo, 
and  Monsignor  Chigi,  for  whom  the  Prince  had  to  "borrow 
the  hearse  of  the  Protestants !  that  he  might  be  taken  con 
decenza  to  the  cemetery  at  S.  Lorenzo.  The  young  Duke  of 
Piano,  and  Conte  Bolognese,  husband  of  the  young  Bran- 
cadoro,  are  among  the  dead." 

"Frascati,  15  Sept.,  1837.— Thank  God  all  about  me  are 
still  well,  not  only  free  from  the  dreadful  visitation,  but 
even  from  the  fevers  of  the  season.  But,  my  own  Mother, 
I  have  received  a  summons  from  my  husband  to  follow 
him  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  uninfected  air  into  the 
contagion,  until  it  is  more  nearly  abated,  and  I  can  do  very 
little  as  to  preparation  till  I  am  on  the  spot.  But  the  dis- 
order is  abating  fast,  and  the  season  has  changed  into  the 
finest  autumnal  weather,  and  I  have  hopes  that  I  may 
speedily  remove  and  set  to  work,  for  the  time  is  short  to 
get  to  Berlin  before  it  is  complete  winter.  Prom  several 
letters  I  perceived  that  plans  were  in  agitation  to  detain 
him,  although  he  could  not  write  plainly,  under  the  con- 
sciousness that  the  letters  would  be  opened :  nor  has  he 
explained  anything,  but  the  matter  of  fact  necessary  for 
me  to  know — that  his  present  post  in  Eome  is  continued  to 
him,  that  a  very  large  sum  was  to  be  advanced  for  his 
expenses  in  the  removal  of  his  family,  besides  the  continu- 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  451 

ance  of  his  allowance  :  which  I  am  soon  to  receive.  His 
having  had  a  long  personal  conference  with  the  King,  on 
the  business  in  which  he  is  engaged,  was  mentioned  by  the 
way,  and  was  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  communications  with 
the  King  were  to  be  immediate.  The  whole  matter  is  to 
appear  as  if  provisional,  but  I  cannot  think,  that  when 
once  over  the  Alps,  we  shall  return. 

' '  My  own  dearest  Mother,  I  write,  as  you  see,  the  most 
dry  unsatisfactory  account  of  this  most  important  crisis, 
that  can  be  conceived :  but  I  must  keep  feelings  out  of  the 
question,  that  I  may  if  possible  continue  fit  for  action. 
Reflection  tells  me  how  highly  satisfactory  this  change  is, 
on  the  whole, — how  highly  necessary  in  short :  and  I  must 
not  set  about  objecting  to  some  attendant  circumstances  of 
hurry  and  plague,  fatigue  and  responsibility,  which  if  I 
had  a  choice  should  have  been  otherwise.  To  have  to 
think  of  taking  leave  of  these  beloved  and  lovely  scenes 
only  so  short  a  time  before  I  leave  them,  is  a  great  advan- 
tage. The  children  you  may  suppose,  are  all  spirits — 
Emilia  quite  wild.  The  twins  take  it  the  most  quietly, 
tho'  Theodore  says,  'Je  suis  bien  aise  que  je  vais  vois  la 
neige ! ' " 

To  ABEKEN  (at  Rome). 

"  Frascati,  13  August,  1837. — When  you  communicated 
your  intention  of  passing  in  solitude  the  solemn  anniver- 
sary,* I  so  fully  understood  and  sympathised  in  the  feeling 
which  prompted  you  to  seek,  not  uninterrupted  indulgence 

*  Of  his  wife's  death. 


452    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  BARONESS  BUNSEX. 

of  sensation,  but  undisturbed  converse  with  your  own  soul 
and  with  God,  who  did  not  send  a  warning  so  awful  but 
for  his  own  purpose  of  universal  good, — that  I  could  not 
utter  one  word  of  objection,  feeling  as  if  I  should  indeed 
be  counteracting  great  things  by  insignificant  ones,  if  I 
sought  to  withhold  you  from  the  geweihtes  Manna  lescn*  by 
anxiety  for  your  health :  but  I  have  since  felt  that  I  ought 
to  urge  upon  you  the  duty  of  circumscribing  your  stay  in 
Borne,  and  though  I  cannot  expect  of  you  to  give  up 
Tuesday  evening,  yet  at  latest  on  "Wednesday  morning  you 
should  in  regard  to  your  health  return  here.  As  twelve 
months  ago,  at  my  request,  you  were  induced  to  leave  those 
remains  of  what  had  so  recently  been  life  and  feeling  and 
intelligence,  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  yourself, — so  I  hope  you  will  now 
renounce  your  intention  of  remaining  in  Home  over  the 
funeral  anniversary  which  I  have  only  just  learnt  to  be 
your  purpose. 

"  Most  earnestly  do  I  pray  that  every  blessing  you  need 
may  attend  the  season  of  awful  retrospect.  Ever  yours 
with  maternal  affection,  F.  BUNSEN." 

"  23  August,  1837. — If  you  could  make  it  possible  to  see 
the  Platners  again,  I  should  be  much  obliged  to  you  if  you 
will  explain  that  I  can  contrive  seven  beds  for  them,  and 
the  lianclii  and  tavole  for  an  eighth,  and  that  I  have  coperti 
di  lana  for  the  beds,  but  not  liancherid.  Change  of  air 
would  do  them  more  good,  than  exposure  to  the  air  can 
do  evil. 

*  This  expression  occurs  in  a  hymn  of  the  17th  century. 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  453 


"  Were  it  not  for  the  fumigating  apparatus,  I  should  ask 
whether  you  think  you  can  be  spared  to  spend  my  hus- 
band's birthday  with  us  :  and  yet  you  must  judge  yourself 
whether  it  is  right  to  be  out  of  the  way — perhaps  not: 
the  more  because  if  any  German  should  be  taken  ill,  there 
is  nobody  to  secure  his  being  brought  to  the  hospital  if  you 
should  be  absent.  "We  are  all  well." 

"  24  August. — You  will  be  assured  of  the  sympathy  with 
which  I  have  read  your  truly  melancholy  accounts,  and  I 
should  not  have  hinted  even  at  your  coining  over  here,  had 

I  known  of  there  being  a  case  in  our  hospital Yet 

pray  have  a  regard  to  your  own  health  and  do  not  go  on 
sitting  up  all  night  with  patients.  I  do  not  complain  of 
your  doing  so  in  the  first  instance : — it  was  necessary  to 
watch  over  physician  and  attendants,  as  much  as  the 
patient :  but  when  you  have  broken  them  in,  you  can 
economize  your  own  strength,  and  must  do  so,  if  you  would 
not  be  exhausted." 

"  August  26. — At  the  gates  of  Frascati  admittance  has 
been  refused  to  the  Ciampi  family,  because  a  death  from 
cholera  (of  a  blooming  daughter)  had  taken  place  among 
them.  I  cannot  therefore  help  being  alarmed  lest  the 
Platners  should  be  sent  back,  because  two  of  the  party  will 
ook  as  if  recovering  from  the  cholera.  It  occurs  to  me 
that  it  might  be  good  for  Platner  to  write  beforehand  to 
the  Governatore  of  Frascati,  enclosing  a  certificate  from  the 
physician,  that  in  his  house  there  has  been  nothing  but 
febbre  intermittente  non  contagiosa.  He  had  better  also 
mention  that  he  is  coming  to  inhabit  in  caso  del  Ministro  di 
Prussia  a  Villa  Piccolo-mini." 

"  August  27. — I  rmist  write,  but  know  not  what — except 


454         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

my  most  heartfelt  thanks  for  your  care  of  Tommaso.  I 
have  no  hope  of  his  recovery.  How  little  I  can  spare  him, 
I  scarcely  was  aware  before :  I  ought  not  to  be  so  overset 
— I  ought  only  to  be  thankful  that  as  yet  nobody  still 
nearer  has  been  touched.  For  God's  sake  take  care  of 
yourself 

"  Or  if,  what  I  cannot  hope,  Tommaso  should  yet  be  alive 
when  this  note  arrives,  say  to  him,  or  let  him  be  told,  all 
he  can  bear  of  the  shock  I  have  received  in  the  anticipation 
of  his  loss, — even  to  the  tears,  which  I  reprove  myself  for 
shedding  because  they  can  do  him  no  good,  and  myself 
only  harm  :  and  let  Angelina  be  assured  of  my  most  affec- 
tionate sympathy,  and  have  a  charge  to  take  care  of  herself 
all  she  can." 

"31  August. — I  have  been  busy  this  morning  with  poor 
Tommaso's  papers,  and  wish  his  example  may  take  effect  in 
proportion  to  the  emotion  it  has  occasioned.  How  it  does 
strike  me  to  see  that  paper  of  accounts  again,  which  I  had 
received  and  returned  to  him  three  days  before  his  death, 
and  on  which  with  such  admirable  exactness,  he  had,  to 
the  last,  noted  down  sums !  It  is  an  example  not  to 
forget :  for  though  possessed  by  the  general  fear  of  death, 
he  could  have  thought  as  little  as  any  of  us  that  he  was  not 
to  see  the  next  week. 

"The  anecdote  of  Prince  Chigi  and  the  hearse  is  most 
remarkable  !  as  is  also  the  confidence  of  the  poor  people  at 
Monte  Caprino.  As  to  the  giving  of  soup,  I  should  think 
it  was  too  great  a  risk,  unless  to  individuals  who  should 
make  a  special  request  for  it,  and  then  as  quietly  as  possible. 

"That  the  body  of  Monsignor  Chigi  should  have  no 
accompanying  clergy,  is  beyond  conception !  " 


LAST    YEARS    AT    ROME.  455 


To  ABEKEN  (on  the  news  of  Kellermann's  death). 

"  1  Sept.  1837.— Alas  !  what  shall  I  say,  when  I  feel  so 
much  !  May  God  support  and  strengthen  you !  He  does, 
and  He  will :  that  is  so  entirely  my  confidence,  that,  most 
strangely,  as  it  might  seem,  I  cannot  be  alarmed  about  you, 
altho'  the  circumstances  of  danger  in  which  you  are  placed 
are  for  ever  present  to  me : — the  will  of  God  is  inscrutable ! 
but  of  His  dispensations  we  see  but  a  part — they  must  be 
completed  elsewhere,  in  fulness  of  justice,  and  perfection 
of  mercy.  '  Ese  cuerpo  f  ue  depositario  de  una  alma  en 
quien  el  Cielo  puso  infinitas  partes  de  sus  riquezas  :'  on  this 
fact  let  us  rest — leaving  what  we  valued  to  the  will  of 
God,  who  has  not  created  any  man  '  for  nought.'  He  has 
but  taken  that  away,  which  in  this  mortal  state  was  incom- 
petent to  farther  progress  towards  the  end  and  object  of 
moral  existence.  That  we  do  not  know  what  the  divine 
mercy  has  in  reserve  for  such  as  have  not  complied  with  the 
only  conditions  on  which  we  believe  it  can  be  granted — 
need  not  distress  us  :  God  has  ways  of  helping  that  we 
know  not  of. 

"  ....  To  walk  thus  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  is  an  awful  thing !  to  see  the  destroying  angel  almost 
in  visible  form,  and  his  shafts  flying  in  every  direction — a 
thousand  falling  in  our  sight,  and  hundreds  at  our  right 
hand !  If  indeed  we  at  last  are  spared,  should  we  not  look 
upon  ourselves  as  consecrated  by  the  fiery  ordeal  to  work 
the  work  of  God  in  the  remainder  of  life,  more  especially  ? 

"  May  God's  grace  be  upon  you — better  than  I  can  wish 
— above  all  I  can  conceive  !" 

"  Sept.  2. — Should  Lepsius  arrive,  will  you  not  offer  him 
to  occupy  your  vacant  bed  at  Villa  Piccolomini.  Pray 


456         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

assure  him  of  being  very  welcome  to  me — and  surely  after 
the  wholesome  air  in  Tuscany,  he  should  not  brave  the 
pestilence  in  Borne.  If  you  could  come  for  a  night,  you 
could  get  sleep  here — but  I  cannot  be  of  opinion  that  you 
ought — I  believe  you  would  drive  back  to  Rome  more  sus- 
ceptible of  poisonous  air  for  having  inhaled  better.  And 
somebody  might,  like  Kellermann,  send  to  you  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning  !  You  see  how  I  reckon  upon  your 
not  wanting  Lepsius  to  stay  with  you.  I  think  the  increase 
of  anxiety  would  do  away  with  all  comfort  from  his  pre- 
sence, and  an  occasional  hour  of  solitude  must  do  more 
good  than  harm,  for  in  such  solitude  you  can  go  to  Him 
who  alone  can  give  strength  for  the  hour  of  exertion." 

"  5  Sept.,  1837. — What  you  say  about  the  frische  Lelens- 
liauch  that  you  experienced  in  the  presence  of  Lepsius, 
struck  me  with  reference  to  myself.  I  am  used  to  inhale 
nothing  but  that  atmosphere  of  life,  and  now,  unless 
Lepsius  brings  it,  where  should  I  find  it?  When  my 
husband  is  at  home,  all  that  lives  in  his  neighbourhood 
must  be  alive" 

1 '  7  Sept. — I  was  affected  indeed  by  the  account  of  the 
two  deathbeds.  What  scenes  you  had  to  go  through !  It 
is  self-evident  that  one  has  only  to  thank  God  for  having 
graciously  removed  Mrs.  Yaughan  from  a  world  with  which 
she  could  not  contend :  and  that  we  do  not  equally  feel  the 
reasons  for  thanking  Him  for  the  removal  of  Kellermann, 
is  owing  to  our  short-sightedness." 

"10  Sept. — In  the  first  place,  I  am  well — weak  to  be 
sure,  but  already  stronger  than  when  I  rose  this  morning, 
from  the  delicious  air : — the  weather  was  to-day  so  glorious, 
the  country  so  beautiful,  that  it  gave  a  sensation  of  melan- 


LAST  YEARS  AT  HOME.  457 

eholy — I  do  not  mean  quite  that,  but  a  sobered  and  serious 
consciousness  of  beauty  and  splendour  not  intended  for  the 
every-day  use  of  this  '  worky-day  world.'  Secondly,  more 
thanks  than  I  can  write  for  your  kindness  and  anxiety, 
but  you  must  not  distress  yourself  so  much,  any  more  than 
write  yourself  dead.  Remember  the  favourite  proverb, 
'  Die  Suppe.'*  Pray  do  not  let  them  call  you  up  in  the 
night  every  time  a  sick  person  gets  a  fancy — Sie  sind  auch 
ein  Mensch.  Good  night !  God  bless  you  !  " 

"  12  Sept. — God  support  and  comfort  you  !  and  further, 
rouse  and  stimulate  you  to  the  fulfilment  of  all  He  will 
have  performed  by  you !  of  all,  for  which  He  granted  you 
the  powers  and  gifts  you  possess !  They  were  not  intended 
for  ornaments,  nor  playthings. 

"  Meyer  frightens  me  with  accounts  of  the  threats  of 
burning  the  hospital. — But,  God  can  help." 

"23  Sept. — God  bless  you!  do  not  be  in  any  alarm 
about  me,  because  I  tell  you  the  truth,  that  I  feel  neither 
active  nor  cheerful." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  25  Sept.,  1837.— On  Thursday  I  went  to  Rome  to  make 

preparations    for    packing,    &c I    returned   quite 

depressed  by  the  melancholy  state  of  everything — Angelina 
coming  to  meet  me  on  the  stairs,  like  a  ghost — Tommaso 
not  there,  who  was  always  there  on  previous  occasions — 
Pietro  greatly  altered  by  what  he  has  gone  through: 
everybody  I  saw  grieved  at  our  departure,  which  as  far  as 
Angelina  is  concerned,  is  really  the  greatest  misfortune, 

*  A  German  proverb,  "  Soup  is  never  eaten  so  hot  as  brought  on 
the  table." 


458        LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF   BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

apparently,  that  could  happen  to  her,  as  to  which  I  know 
not  how  to  offer  her  consolation." 

"Rome,  2  October,  1837. — Here  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 
moments  can  I  be  conscious  of  the  sensation  of  leave- 
taking.  I  know  as  a  fact  that  I  have  left  Yilla  Piccolomini, 
probably  never  to  see  it  again :  but  having  no  leisure  to 
dwell  on  the  feelings  and  reflections  called  forth  by  that 
fact,  I  have  been  enabled  to  avoid  all  enervating  emotion. 
How  I  am  to  give  you  an  account  of  what  I  have  done,  or 
am  likely  to  do,  I  know  not :  for  how  I  am  to  finish  what 
is  to  be  done  in  ten  days,  is  beyond  my  conception.  Pack- 
ing up  is  the  least  part.  The  most  necessary  part  for  you 
to  know  is  that  I  am  well  and  strong,  which  is  more  than 
I  have  felt  for  near  a  month :  just  the  last  four  days  I 
have  experienced  a  vast  difference,  without  knowing  why 
or  wherefore  except  that  one  must  never  doubt  having  the 
strength  granted  that  is  necessary,  whether  of  body  or 
mind." 

It  was  after  all  this  that  Madame  Buiisen  heard,  and 
received  with  equal  equanimity,  that  all  was  changed, 
Bunsen  was  to  return  to  Rome — the  departure  was  in- 
definitely deferred. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  1  Nov.,  1837.-— -I  have  read  some  part  of  the  *  Life  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott,'  with  the  greatest  pleasure  and  interest : 
though  it  is  often  a  very  melancholy  pleasure  ;  it  is  some- 
thing like  watching  a  boat  riding  on  the  smooth  surface 
with  swiftness  imperceptibly  increasing,  knowing  as  we  do 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  459 

that  a  few  miles  further  on  is  the  waterfall,  down  which 
the  same  current  will  dash,  carrying  the  same  frail  bark 
to  unavoidable  destruction.  He  was  reserved  to  do  bitter 
penance  for  the  political  and  literary  pique  which  tempted 
him  to  engage  in  booksellers'  speculations,  and  render  his 
talents  mere  instruments  of  trade  and  profit.  I  often  think, 
in  considering  life  and  biography,  of  a  verse  of  Gothe, 
signifying  '  Every  error  finds  its  retribution  on  earth.'  I 
firmly  believe  this  to  be  true,  distinguishing  error  from 
sin :  for  sin  the  Christian  dispensation  offers  an  all-suffi- 
cient atonement,  to  those  who  will  become  partakers  of  it, 
but  that  atonement  applies  to  another  state  of  existence, 
and  cannot  shield  us  from  the  consequences,  which  in  the 
scheme  of  God's  moral  government  of  the  world  are  in- 
separably annexed  to  certain  courses  of  feeling  and  action. 
It  is  not  often  that  we  can  know  enough  of  the  history  of 
our  fellow-creatures  to  trace  this :  but  reflection  upon  our 
own,  when  we  try  to  tell  ourselves  the  truth  without  self- 
deception,  will  often  reveal  the  fact,  which  I  think 
Madame  de  Stael  had  in  her  mind  when  she  wrote — t  Yous 
souffrez  longtems,  vous  proeperez  longtems,  sans  1'avoir 
merite,  quand  tout  a  coup  la  scene  se  change,  le  mot  de 
votre  enigme  se  revele ;  et  le  mot,  la  conscience  1'avait  bien 
dit,  avant  que  le  destin  ne  1'eut  repete.' 

' '  After  tea,  Abeken  reads  to  me,  and  I  work  cross-stitch 
on  week  days,  and  treat  myself  to  drawing  on  Sunday 
evenings.  What  he  reads  is  generally  Niebuhr's  '  Roman 
History,'  which  he  helps  me  to  understand  :  for  though  an 
inexhaustible  mine  of  information  to  the  learned,  it  is  too 
full  of  the  language  of  allusion  and  suggestion  to  be  acces- 
sible to  the  ignorant." 


400         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

BUNSEN  to  MRS.  WADDINGTON. 

Berlin,  12,  Oct.  1837.  —  Six  weeks  ago  it  was  almost 
decided  that  I  was  to  remain  here,  as  the  King's  Envoy, 
but  with  a  special  commission  for  a  year.  This  has  been 
one  of  the  most  trying  epochs  of  my  life.  I  could  not 
obtain  decision  before  the  25th  of  September,  and  this  was 
evidently  the  last  time  to  write  to  Fanny  and  bid  her  come 
over  the  Alps  with  all  our  treasures.  What  was  to  be 
done  ?  To  tell  F.  to  prepare  for  the  probability,  do  every- 
thing preparatory  for  the  journey,  and  still  be  not  dis- 
appointed if  at  last  the  thing  was  settled  definitively  for 
the  contrary.  I  knew  her  great  soul  could  bear  such  an 
uncertainty,  such  a  trial.  No  sooner  had  she  received  the 
intimation  (without  the  reasons,  for  I  was  not  allowed  to 
write  them)  in  the  midst  of  cholera  and  quarantines, 
and  stoppages  and  cordons,  and  all  sorts  of  disorders,  vexa- 
tions, dangers  of  life,  murders,  &c.,  than  she  settled  every- 
thing at  Frascati  and  at  Rome,  packed  up,  made  arrange- 
ments for  everything,  and  still  did  nothing  that  could 
commit  her,  if  we  did  not  go.  But,  what  is  more  admira- 
ble still,  is  that  she  does  no^  complain  any  more  of  the 
hardness  of  uncertainty,  than  of  the  difficulty  of  overcoming 
trials  which  men  declare  insurmountable.  Her  letters 
state  every  difficulty,  but  each  statement  is  followed  by 
such  expressions  as  :  '  Never  mind  —  vedremo  and  I  shall 
get  through  it  —  all  will  be  done  that  must  be  done  —  I  feel 
as  high-spirited  as  ever,'  &c." 


MADAME  BUNSEN  to 

"  14   Oct.   1837.—  Lord  Clifford  has  called.     He  spoke 
of   the  dreadful  period   that  Home  had  passed  through, 


LAST   YEAKS    AT    ROME.  461 


in  which  his  active  benevolence  has  been  universally 
acknowledged;  and  said  justly,  that  the  death  of  about 
ten  thousand  people  who  had  not  the  means  of  living  (the 
whole  mortality  is  estimated  by  moderate  persons  at 
12,000)  is  not  the  calamity :  but  rather  the  difficulty  of  pro- 
viding for  the  four  thousand  orphans  left — that  there  had 
been  an  immense  sum  collected  for  the  sufferers  in  cholera, 
and  a  number  of  plans  made  for  disposing  of  it,  but  not 
one  of  those  plans  executed,  and  therefore  little  or  no  help 
had  been  received  from  it.  He  related  anecdotes  proving 
the  sacrifice  of  lives  occasioned  by  the  brutal  removal  of 
the  sick  from  their  own  beds,  at  a  moment  when  they 
most  required  medical  treatment,  and  transporting  them 
to  hospitals  miles  distant,  often  to  one  or  two  in  succes- 
sion, until  a  vacant  bed  could  be  found,  which  bed 
received  the  patient  but  to  expire.  In  short,  the  whole 
substance  of  his  communications  proved  a  state  of  vicious 
disorganization  everywhere. 

"I  hear  of  one  Pasquinade,  and  but  one  as  yet,  about 
the  cholera.  Pasquino  says — 'Ma  come,  Signor  Abbate 
cholera,  le  abbiamo  ricevuto  in  Roma  con  tante  cerimonie, 
con  illuminazioni,  processioni,  feste,  e  lei  non  ha  avuto 
tanta  creanza  chi  di  far  visita  nc  dal  Papa,  ne  dai 
Cardinal! ! '  The  cholera  answers  t  E  vero, — ha  niille  volte 
ragione  ;  per  questa  volta  parto,  ma  poi  tornerd,  e  riparero 
il  mancamento ! '  It  is  a  fact  that  the  Pope  refused  to  let 
his  physican,  who  was  shut  into  the  Quirinal,  go  to  a 
choleric  patient." 

"18  Oct.  1837.— They  now  assert  here,  in  the  face  of 
facts,  that  the  cholera  has  ceased — having  on  Sunday 
sung  a  To  Deum  at  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore,  in  the 


462         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Pope's  presence,  for  the  removal  of  the  scourge,  and  on 
Monday  a  Requiem  at  St.  Peter's  for  those  who  had  died 
under  it.  We  went  to  St.  Peter's  where  the  catafalco  was 
raised  in  that  arm  of  the  cross  were  the  Lavanda  takes 
place,  and  it  had  a  fine  effect :  but  there  were  no  benches 
for  the  Corps  Diplomatique,  or  for  anybody  but  the  dig- 
nified clergy,  and  altogether  not  many  people  were  in  the 
church,  the  rest  of  which  was  decked  out  in  preparation 
for  a  Beatification,  which  is  to  take  place  next  Sunday. 
Various  miracles  of  the  Beato  were  painted  in  the  church, 
with  different  inscriptions,  one  of  which  is  that  verse  of  one 
of  the  Psalms,  with  which  you  have  often  been  edified, 
and  once  together  with  Chateaubriand.  I  shall  write  the 
Latin  wrong,  but  you  will  recollect  it — '  quod  non  cognovi 
litter  as ' — therefore,  I  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven !  "* 
"23  Oct.  1837. — Your  dear  letter  containing  so  many 
proofs  and  expressions  of  your  love,  might  well  make  all 
the  amends  possible  for  the  tidings  of  new  delay  as  to  your 
return.  May  you  but  be  here  at  Christmas,  my  Dearest ! 
I  thank  God  for  the  assistance  granted  to  get  us  out  of  our 
difficulties,  but  am  lost  in  conjecture  how  you  could  con- 
trive to  obtain  it !  now  that  we  do  not  make  a  journey : 
but  I  will  be  contented  in  this  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  by 
Charles  X.,  Bunsen  was  visiting  the  Sistine  Chapel.  He  had  been 
conversing  with  one  of  his  colleagues  on  the  most  unexpected  appoint- 
ment which  had  taken  place,  and  the  collocutor  had  just  remarked 
upon  Polignac' s  unfitness  and  almost  entire  want  of  the  most  ordinary 
knowledge,  when  the  choir  set  in.  The  first  Psalm  sung  contained 
the  words  quoted.  Bunsen  pointed  them  out  to  his  neighbour,  who 
tried  in  vain  to  look  serious  for  the  rest  of  the  service ! 


LAST  YEAHS  AT  ROME.  463 

say  of  a  '  soryenfreies  Lelen '  would  be  a  great  comfort  to 
have  verified,  but  unless  tlie  habitual  state  of  things  is  to  be 
placed  on  a  different  footing,  leaving  the  circle  of  receipt 
always  a  little  wider  than  that  of  expenditure,  we  shall  be 
only  ausser  Sorgen  for  a  given  time. 

"  My  Best-Beloved,  there  is  nothing  more  certain  than 
that,  if  one  did  not  ungratefully  forget  the  gratifications 
one  is  allowed,  a  harmless  wish  is  sooner  or  later  gratified, 
oftener  in  life  than  one  is  apt  to  think.  How  often  I  have 
wished  that  I  could  ever  be  allowed  a  time  to  enjoy  Home 
in !  and  regretted  never  being  there  at  a  period  when 
weather,  season,  and  leisure  were  together  favourable  to  a 
free  and  comfortable  existence.  Now  this  month  of 
October  is  of  real  perfection,  the  sky  clear,  the  air  fresh, 
the  sun  brilliant,  no  strangers  here  to  take  up  one's  time, 
no  social  trammels  to  prevent  the  free  disposal  oi.  it.  So  I 
go  out  daily,  and  every  day  see  something  interesting: 
there  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.  Lorenzo,  and  after  dinner 
Abeken  read  what  you  have  written  about  it.  The  aspect 
of  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  enclosure- 
wall,  serves  as  a  passage  to  the  open,  unenclosed,  uneven 
field,  in  which  long  rough  furrows,  covered  with  loose 
earth  as  if  by  the  plough,  show  where  the  human  seed 
divine  has  been  deposited.  Tommaso  however  was  laid  in 
the  consecrated  ground  of  the  cemetery,  intended  for  those 
mortidimali  piijior  that  is  the  phrase,  to  distinguish  cholera 
as  male  iwj)io  : — the  heathen  had  justcr  notions,  for  they 


464        LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEN. 

thought  the  special  scourge  of  God  had  a  sanctifying  influ- 
ence. The  reason  that  Tommaso  and  many  others  came  into 
the  more  decent  place,  was  the  creditable  one  that  '  qwlli 
lughi  per  li  colerici  non  erano  allora  terminati"  and,  as 
you  know,  the  date  of  his  burial  was  the  28th  August, 
eight  days  after  the  existence  of  cholera  was  admitted,  and 
four  weeks  after  it  had  begun.  It  is  a  most  extraordinary 
fact,  that  as  far  as  I  can  procure  information,  he  was  the 
only  sufferer  who  received  decent  burial,  always  excepting 
the  Protestants.  Pietro  accompanied  the  funeral  procession, 
and  assures  me  the  priests,  ten  in  number,  with  the  Archi- 
prete  at  their  head,  followed  the  corpse  to  the  grave,  where 
the  absolution  was  performed  by  the  Archiprete  according 
to  rule ;  whereas  Monsignor  Chigi  was  followed  only  by 
two  empty  carriages,  two  torci  a  vento  being  borne  by  the  side 
of  the  borrowed  hearse  containing  his  remains,  and  not  a 
single  priest  was  there.  The  impression  must  have  been, 
that  as  the  Protestants  bury  their  own  dead  reverently, 
you  would  expect  that  your  servant  should  be  interred 
with  decency,  as  it  was  done  at  your  expense  :  and  Pietro' s 
witnessing  the  whole  probably  did  much  to  secure  the 
performance  of  what  was  undertaken." 

"26  Oct.y  1837. — My  Dearest,  it  has  been  an  event  in 
my  life  to  become  acquainted  with  the  tragedies  of  Sopho- 
cles, which  Abeken  has  been  reading  to  me.  0  !  I  cannot 
wonder  at  the  enthusiasm  these  ancient  Greeks  inspire,  it 
would  only  seem  as  if  not  half  enough  had  been  said  of 
the  sublimity  of  their  conceptions.  There  is  an  intensity 
of  beauty  and  grandeur  in  the  two  (Edipus-pieces,  to  which 
only  that  of  the  remains  of  their  sculpture  can  be  com- 
pared :  with  all  the  interest  attending  individuality,  with 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  465 

all  the  greatness  of  abstractions ! — all  the  tenderness  for 
others,  of  which  the  human  heart  is  capable,  with  all  the 
fortitude  of  self-sacrifice  to  religious  convictions ;  none  of 
that  weakness  of  feeling,  which  after  all  is  grounded  in 
selfishness  or  self -compassion ! — the  laws  of  God  through- 
out held  paramount  to  all,  no  rebellion  against  eternal, 
immutable  truth !  in  short,  in  the  real  sense  of  the  word, 
religion,  and  true  religion :  although  but  the  dawn,  yet 
awaiting  the  perfect  day.  These  readings  take  place  after 
tea,  whenever  Buch  and  his  satellite  Urlichs  go  to  the 
theatre  together." 

"  22  Nov.,  1837. — Yesterday  your  youngest  son,  my 
most  particular  delight,  asked  to  go  up  the  tower  of  the 
Capitol,  and  your  eldest  daughter  condescended  to  wish  to 
see  a  gallery.  So  we  enjoyed  ourselves  amongst  the 
Corsini  pictures,  and  then  walked  in  the  Corsini  gardens 
to  the  top  of  the  Janiculan,  the  prospect  glorious,  the  air 
clear  as  crystal,  the  Yelino  and  Leonessa  each  one  mass  of 
snow.  I  have  been  lately,  with  the  children  and  Abeken, 
in  several  vigne  on  the  Aventine,  from  each  of  which  there 
is  a  new  and  beautiful  point  of  view:  and  enjoy  the 
thought  of  making  Sunday  walks  thither  with  you,  my 
Dearest,  whenever  you  are  really  here  again :  the  time 
grows  more  and  more  tedious,  the  more  the  time,  please 
God,  approaches." 

"  25  Nov. — Frances  and  Mary,  Theodore  and  Theodora, 
with  Abeken,  have  accompanied  me  to  the  top  of  the  tower 
of  the  Capitol,  where  we  long  enjoyed  ourselves,  basking 
in  the  sun,  and  beholding  the  prospect.  Afterwards  we 
went  into  the  Museum  for  a  short  time,  and  concluded  with 
the  garden." 

VOL.  I.  H   H 


466         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    SUSSEX. 

"  27  Nov.,  1837. — I  have  been  reading  the  Life  of  Walter 
Scott,  in  which  I  have  an  indescribable  interest.  But 
Walter  Scott  was  in  a  melancholy  manner,  the  man  of  his 
own  time — a  time  in  which  men  made  use  of  their  powers, 
and  gifts,  and  qualities,  to  produce  effect,  attain  an  end, 
among  their  contemporaries,  in  short,  made  a  gambling 
speculation  with  their  talents,  instead  of  aiming  after  an 
ideal  standard,  and  seeking  to  satisfy  their  own  conceptions 
of  excellence.  Walter  Scott  did  not  like  his  own  writings, 
in  particular  his  own  poetry,  but  he  wrote  with  spirit,  as 
an  actor  performs  a  part  in  which  his  feelings  have  no 
share,  enjoying  the  sympathy  and  applause  of  the  public : 
and  afterwards  reckoning  upon  that  sympathy  and  applause 
as  a  ground  of  speculation,  to  help  him  out  of  pecuniary 
difficulties  into  which  he  had  unnecessarily  fallen.  Yet 
his  was  a  fine  mind,  and  his  letters,  which  express  his 
feelings  and  affections,  have  an  indescribable  charm  : 
his  liberality  of  sentiment,  and  delight  in  the  writings 
of  contemporaries,  is  most  amiable,  but  he  does  not  appear 
to  have  had  any  more  critical  judgment  than  Overbeck  as 
to  the  works  of  contemporary  painters,  and  probably  for 
the  same  reason,  supplying  by  his  imagination  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  third 
volume :  it  gives  an  awful  consciousness  of  what  death  is, 
that  breaking  off  in  the  midst  of  the  fullness  of  life,  when 
the  current  of  thought  seemed  setting  so  strong.  But 
nobody  can  ever  continue  that  work, — his  mind  was  a 
magic  mirror  that  reflected  the  very  form  and  body  of 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  467 

ancient  Roman  time ;  and  that  magic  mirror  is  broken,  and 
the  vision  ceases." 

"  9  Dec.,  1837. — I  have  nothing  to  tell,  but  das  ewige 
Lied — will  you  indeed  return  ?  can  you  return  ?  can  you  be 
on  the  way  ?  The  one  thought  of  your  being,  compara- 
tively speaking,  so  near,  confounds  all  other  thoughts !  and 
yet  there  is  enough  to  write  about  besides.  The  Pope  has 
called  a  Consistory,  and  held  an  Allocution,  on  the  subject 
of  late  events :  the  language  of  complaint  and  condemna- 
tion is  as  strong  as  possible,  with  the  highest  praise  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Cologne,  and  approbation  of  his  sentiments 
and  conduct.  But  from  the  tone  of  the  whole,  it  might  be 
supposed  that  the  question  of  the  mixed  marriages  was  the 
sole  point  at  issue,  and  that  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  the 
King's  government  on  that  head  was  the  sole  offence  of 
the  Archbishop.  It  is  made  a  great  ground  of  complaint 
that  the  intentions  of  the  King's  government  were  not 
made  known  here  until  after  they  had  been  executed." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE  (at  Sdwlpfortc). 

"Rome,  9  Dec.,  1837. — Your  three  letters  received  the 
same  day,  by  myself,  by  Abeken  and  Urlichs,  gave,  all 
taken  together,  a  very  complete  idea  of  your  present  situa- 
tion ;  and  it  makes  me  sad  enough  to  think  how  little 
comfort  you  can  have  in  it.  But  the  object  of  human 
existence  is  not  to  be  as  comfortable  as  possible  in  every 
stage  of  its  progress,  but  to  make  every  advantage  possible 
of  the  circumstances,  whether  pleasing  or  unpleasing,  into 
which  the  path  of  life  may  successively  bring  you.  I  can 
well  guess  how  peculiarly  bitter  must  be  the  want  of 
sympathy  among  companions  in  study  and  play,  who 


468        LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

having  all  to  go  the  same  way,  and  all  to  combat  with  the 
same  difficulties,  might  be  supposed  willing  to  show  others 
the  kindness  they  must  be  conscious  of  wanting.  But  a 
school  is  the  image  of  life,  schoolboys  do  but  show  what 
the  natural  man  is,  before  he  has  been  worn  smooth  in 
some  degree  by  the  world's  rough  billows ;  or  what  is  not 
only  higher  and  better,  but  alone  efficient,  before  the  disci- 
pline of  the  cross  of  Christ,  received  by  a  free  and  willing 
spirit,  has  subdued  the  native  powers  of  hatred  and 
selfishness,  which  lead  the  natural  man  to  delight  in 
giving  pain  rather  than  pleasure,  because  he  looks  upon 
everything  desirable  which  another  enjoys,  as  stolen  from 
himself.  The  advantage,  however,  and  an  inestimable  one, 
of  the  foretaste  of  the  world  which  is  experienced  in  a 
school,  is  the  being  habituated  to  a  steady  course  of 
conduct,  with  responsibility  to  your  own  conscience  alone  : 
'fats  que  dots,  advienne  que  pourra* — as  the  old  French 
motto  of,  I  forget  what  French  king  says.  It  is  well  to 
have  experience  early  of  the  uselessness  of  endeavouring 
to  please  the  multitude — who  ever  follow  those  who  do 
not  run  after  them,  but  show  themselves  independent  in 
doing  right. 

"  Dass  dieser  Auf  enthalt  Epoche  in  deinem  Leben  macho, 
konntest  du  nicht  verhindern  ;  dass  sie  aber  deiner  werth 
sei,  hangt  von  dir  ab ! ' — I  trust  I  shall  find  my  George 
again,  having  by  God's  assistance  held  fast  and  improved 
the  notions  of  right  and  wrong  that  he  brought  from 
home,  and  being  confirmed  in  habits  of  conscientious 
activity  and  self -responsibility." 

Just  before  Christmas,  Bunsen  returned  to  his  family. 


LAST    YEARS    AT    ROME.  469 

It  was  then  hoped  that  the  strong  feeling  evinced  by 
the  Pope  against  him — as  the  supposed  instigator  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Cologne's  arrest — would  abate  with  time, 
but  Gregory  XYI.  kept  his  word,  he  never  could  be 
induced  to  receive  Bunsen  again.  Meantime  the  letters 
which  Bunsen  had  written  requesting  leave  of  absence 
had  been  forwarded  to  Berlin,  though  from  his  strong 
faith  in  the  King's  friendship  he  did  not  expect  that 
the  permission,  which  it  would  have  been  a  mark  of 
confidence  to  withhold,  would  really  be  granted,  and 
when  on  March  4,  Madame  Bunsen's  birthday,  the 
whole  family,  surrounded  by  a  band  of  devoted  friends, 
went  to  spend  the  afternoon  under  the  pines  of  the 
Villa  Pamfili,  and  returned  with  "  loads  of  anemones 
and  sweet-scented  iris,"  they  little  imagined  that  they 
had  looked  upon  its  loveliness  for  the  last  time.  But 
there  were  those  in  Berlin  who  had  long  been  watching 
for  the  destruction  of  Bunsen's  court-influence,  and  wno 
hoped  to  raise  themselves  by  his  ruin. 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"12  March,  1838. — I  have  now  to  inform  you  of  a 
plan,  which  I  delight  to  tell,  and  you  will  like  to  hear : 
only  I  beg  you,  as  I  charge  myself,  not  to  reckon  too 
absolutely  upon  its  execution,  that  I  may  not  have  to 
blanie  myself  for  causing  disappointment  by  a  premature 
communication.  Charles  has  actually  written  to  ask  for 
leave  of  absence  to  spend  the  summer  in  England!  I 
know  not  how  to  believe  this  while  I  write  ! — The  prospect 
of  such  a  summer,  passed  with  my  Mother  at  Llanover,  is 


470         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

almost  too  ideally  perfect :  Charles  would  go  to  London, 
visit  the  Puseys  and  Arnolds,  and  come  back  again,  and 
my  dear  Henry  would  come  to  Llanover  too,  if  his  grand- 
mother can  make  room  for  all. 

"  0  my  own  Mother,  how  much  I  have  to  tell  that  there 
is  no  time  to  write !  Charles  is  now  in  a  state  of  active 
energy,  which  is  more  consonant  to  his  nature  than  the 
passive  state  in  which  he  has  spent  the  last  few  months  : 
but  you  would  have  been  pleased  with  him  and  proud  of 
him,  if  you  had  witnessed  all  as  I  have  done.  And  his 
case  is  a  hard  one  !  to  have  worked  so  hard  for  peace  for 
so  many  years,  to  have  had  his  plans  defeated  by  the 
dilatoriness  of  his  own  government  (you  know  when — in 
allowing  the  former  archbishop  to  die  without  having 
brought  the  system  agreed  upon  into  practice),  and  now, 
having  done  more  than  the  world  will  ever  know  or 
believe  to  prevent  a  rupture,  to  be  publicly  accused  as  the 
principal  enemy  to  peace  !  But  though  the  case  is  hard, 
it  Anight  be  yet  harder,  for  he  has  always  the  comfort  of 
enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  King  and  Crown  Prince, 
and  of  the  very  Altenstein,  who  might  be  jealous  of  him 
as  his  supposed  successor,  if  he  was  of  a  little  mind :  to 
say  nothing  of  the  public  applause  that  has  been  granted 
him  in  Protestant  Germany,  for  having  been  the  cause  of 
rigorous  and  decisive  measures — though  that  sort  of 
applause  he  mistrusts  too  much  to  overvalue  it,  being 
caused  in  part  by  a  mistaken  notion  as  to  his  opinions,  or 
as  to  the  system  upon  which  he  would  act  if  uncon- 
trolled. 

"  We  have  gone  on  as  quietly  as  before,  except  one  day, 
when  we  had  here  to  breakfast  the  Duke  Bernard  of  Saxe- 


LAST   YEARS   AT    ROME.  471 

Weimar  (the  same  whose  travels  in  America  were  pub- 
lished), Prince  Li  wen,  and  the  Count  and  Countess  Panin, 
who  are  Russian  subjects,  but  he  a  Greek,  and  she  a 
German :  after  breakfast,  which  was  at  half -past  twelve, 
Charles  took  them  a  walk  to  show  them  the  Forum. 

"I  have  always  omitted  to  tell  of  the  Baron  de  Thile, 
whom  Charles  brought  back  with  him  from  Berlin  as 
attache,  and  to  succeed  the  Baron  de  Buch  as  Secretary  of 
Legation,  in  short,  to  be  an  efficient  labourer  in  the  office. 
He  turns  out  all  that  could  be  wished  in  application  to 
business,  as  well  as  intelligence,  and  is  a  most  agreeable 
inmate,  full  of  information  and  interest  in  everything 
worthy  to  interest  an  intellectual  being.*  He  is  the  son 
of  a  general  officer,  whom  Charles  had  known  for  years, 
and  a  very  distinguished  person ;  and  he  has  an  uncle, 
another  General  Thile,  who  is  very  kind  to  Ernest.  He 
said  to  Charles,  on  taking  leave  of  him  at  Berlin — '  I  give 
you  my  boy  (being  very  fond  of  this  nephew)  and  I  take 
yours  in  exchange ' — and  accordingly  we  have  heard  that 
he  has  the  kindness  to  let  Ernest  come  to  him  in  an 
evening,  with  one  or  two  young  officers  of  his  own  family, 
when  he  reads  with  them  the  history  of  some  military 
campaign,  with  remarks  and  explanations,  that  he  is 
highly  competent  to  make  interesting  as  well  as  in- 
structive." 

"  2  April. — Until  we  know  that  our  wishes  are  not  to 
be  granted,  we  may  continue  to  hope  they  will,  but 
Urlichs  has  not  been  sent  back  from  Berlin  yet,  and  we 

*  M.  de  Thile  was  afterwards  Secretary  of  Legation  to  Bunsen  at 
Berne  and  in  London,  and  later  became  Uuder-Sccretary  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs  under  Bismarck. 


472         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

shall  know  nothing  of  what  is  determined  there  till  he 

does  come We  have  been  enjoying  ourselves  at 

Tivoli :  we  all  went  thither  on  Wednesday  morning  and 
returned  Thursday  to  dinner.  Emilia  was  with  us,  and 
was  conveyed  on  an  ass  to  see  the  rocks  and  cascades,  to 
her  great  delight;  the  Baby  was  there  too,  and  enjoyed 
her  existence,  and  the  sight  of  the  world,  as  usual. 
Nothing  could  be  more  beautiful  than  the  spring-green, 
the  trees  everywhere  bursting  out,  and  thus  presenting  a 
variety  of  tints  greater  than  could  be  furnished  at  any 
other  time  before  the  autumn ;  the  dark  ever-green  oaks, 
and  pines,  and  cypresses,  and  the  silvery  olives,  contrast- 
ing with  the  deciduous  trees,  particularly  in  the  Villa 
Adriana,  which  I  had  never  been  more  struck  with. 
Charles  enjoyed  himself  as  usual,  in  being  allowed  such  an 
interval  of  rest  from  care  and  trouble,  and  such  an  oppor- 
tunity of  air,  and  exercise,  and  peace :  Abeken  and  Kestner 
were  there  also.  We  dined  by  the  Temple  of  the  Sybil  in  the 
open  air,  and  remained  till  the  sun  had  set,  then  went  in, 
and  during  and  after  tea  read  Gothe  and  Shakspeare — in 
the  latter  finishing  Hamlet,  which  we  have  been  reading 
together  in  an  evening  occasionally  of  late." 

It  was  on  Easter  Monday;  as  Bunsen  and  his  family 
were  emerging  from  the  Protestant  chapel  where  they 
had  just  received  the  Sacrament,  that  Urlichs  met  him 
with  dispatches  from  Berlin.  The  news  they  contained 
was  a  practical  dismissal,  though  the  lingering  kind- 
ness of  the  King  caused  the  notice  to  be  so  worded  as 
to  give  least  possible  cause  for  mortification — Bunsen 


LAST  YEARS  AT  ROME.  473 

was  permitted  to  make  use  of  his  oft-requested  leave  of 
absence  for  a  journey  to  England ! 

Short  indeed  was  the  time  for  which  it  was  possible  to 
stay  in  the  Palazzo  Caffarelli — the  happy  home  of 
twenty-one  years — "  the  dear  Capitol,  the  one  idolised 
spot  on  earth,"  as  Bunsen  called  it  in  a  letter  to  Arnold. 
On  the  29th  of  April,  1838,  he  quitted  it  with  firm 
step  and  unbroken  spirit,  saying  to  his  wife,  "  Come, 
and  let  us  seek  another  Capitol  elsewhere." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  Tier  SON  GEORGE. 

' '  It  was  impossible  for  me  to  go,  as  feeling  would  have 
prompted,  to  look  for  the  last  time  at  objects  of  interest 
without  end,  endeared  by  long  recollection ;  only,  in  the 
last  hour  of  daylight,  two  evenings  before  we  set  out,  I 
went  with  your  Father,  Abeken,  and  Theodore,  to  visit  the 
graves  of  your  little  brother  and  sister  that  lie  near  the 
Pyramid  of  Caius  Cestius,  where  I  gathered  the  first 
sweet-scented  rose  of  the  year ;  and  in  the  way  home  wo 
entered  the  Colosseum:  and  the  very  last  evening,  your 
Father  and  I  went  to  take  leave  of  Valentini,*  whose  grief 
at  parting  with  us  I  shall  never  forget,  any  mare  than  the 
faithful  friendship  he  has  shown  us  for  so  many  years. 
By  accident  I  went  into  the  garden,  to  look  out  some  pots 
of  flowers  to  send  to  Kestner — and  felt  that  it  was  well 
that  business  called  me  away,  and  that  I  had  no  time  to 
indulge  in  feelings  which  can  do  no  good." 

To  hir  SON  ERNEST. 

' '  We  left  our  beloved  Rome,  the   home   of   so   many 
*  A  Roman  Banker  acting  as  Prussian  Consul. 


474         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEN. 

years,  endeared  in  so  many  "ways,  on  the  28th  of  April,  at 
half -past  6  in  the  morning ;  not  having  received  till  Easter 
Monday  the  1 6th,  through  Dr.  Urlichs,  the  requested  leave 
of  absence  to  go  to  England.  I  think  you  will  give  us 
credit  for  having  got  ready  in  so  short  a  time,  considering 
that  before  we  got  into  the  carriage  everything  belonging 
to  us  was  packed — not  only  the  comparatively  small 
mass  that  we  carried  with  us,  but  thirty  large  cases-full : 
what  remained  was  either  the  Eiserne  Bestand  (that 
is  furniture  paid  for  by  the  King,  and  belonging  to 
the  Legation),  or  set  apart  to  be  sold  after  our  departure  by 
the  care  of  Abeken.  The  same  day  that  we  departed,  the 
Baron  de  Buch  brought  his  single  person  to  occupy  our 
room :  poor  Angelina  remained  established  as  Guarda- 
roba,  and  Pietruccio  as  Portiere  della  Legazione. 

"  It  was  the  most  beautiful,  calm,  sunny  morning  on 
which  we  beheld  Rome  for  the  last  time :  and  we  drove 
from  that  abode,  so  long  our  own,  but  now  ours  no  longer, 
a  large  party;  our  own  open  carriage  was  put  into  re- 
quisition to  take  Dr.  Franz  as  courier  to  Berlin,  and  as  we 
supposed,  your  Father  with  him;  a  large  vetturino-car- 
riage,  with  a  French  vetturino,  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  further,  Kestner's  car- 
riage with  our  own  dear  horses  and  Luigi,  went  to  convey 
Abeken  and  Lepsius,  who  wished  to  accompany  us  as  far 
as  Monterosi,  and  that  we  might  have  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  those  two  friends  for  the  last  time,  I  went  in 
Kestner's  carriage  with  Abeken,  and  your  Father  took 
Lepsius,  and  Dr.  Franz  went  with  Meyer  in  the  cabriolet 
of  the  vetturino  carriage.  At  last  we  parted  at  Monterosi 


LAST    YEARS    AT    ROME.  475 

with,  the  last  remnant  of  our  daily  life  at  Home — Abeken 
and  Lepsius — but  hard  as  it  was,  it  cost  far  less  than  to 
leave  what  we  shall  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  removal,  Bunsen  had 
received  a  letter  from  the  Crown  Prince,  written  with 
his  wonted  kindness,  and  urging  that  if  Bunsen  were 
to  hasten  at  once  to  Berlin,  and  make  his  personal 
explanation  to  the  King,  all  might  yet  be  well.  Advice 
so  kindly  given,  could  not  be  neglected,  and  Bunsen 
determined  to  turn  towards  Prussia  rather  than  Eng- 
land ;  but  the  desire  to  linger  with  his  wife  on  this 
their  first  and  last  journey  together  into  Tuscany,  so 
far  overcame  his  usual  promptitude  of  action,  that  he 
did  not  fairly  set  out  on  his  journey  to  Germany  till  a 
week  after  leaving  Rome,  when  he  parted  with  his 
family  at  Florence.  Thus  the  precious  chance  for  per- 
sonally establishing  his  own  justification  was  lost,  for 
at  Munich  he  was  met  by  what  amounted  to  a  prohi- 
bition to  approach  the  presence  of  his  sovereign,  and 
was  desired  "at  once  to  make  use  of  his  leave  of  absence 
for  his  journey  to  England." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"Florence,  Saty.  Morng.,  May  5,  1838.— Not  till  this 
moment  has  it  been  possible  for  me  to  attempt  to  write, 
and  now  the  words  will  be  few,  and  probably  the  fewer 
because  the  world  of  matter,  of  thoughts  and  feelings, 


476         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

threatens  to  choke  utterance.  That  I  should  really  have 
left  Borne,  not  to  return,  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  I 
have  had  minutes  to  give  them  :  but  general  impressions  I 
hope  to  bring  away,  and  some  individual  images  will  not 
leave  me  ;  in  particular  of  the  Chapel  of  Orcagna  in  Sta. 
Maria  Novella  and  some  of  the  pictures  in  Palazzo  Pitti." 

"  Sunday,  Si-  P.M. — Here  I  sit  alone — the  children  gono 
to  bed,  and  their  father  gone  away: — another  event, 
another  parting,  in  this  time  of  events  and  strong  sensa- 
tions. I  have  to  be  most  thankful — may  I  but  feel  so  as  I 
ought ! — for  the  gift  of  those  eight  days  spent  with  him  as 
I  have  seldom  been  allowed  to  spend  any — in  undisturbed 
comfort  and  enjoyment.  He  has  been  in  perfect  health  of 
body  and  mind,  in  full  energy  and  calmness,  and  I  rejoice  to 
see  what  a  refreshment  this  journey  has  hitherto  been  to  him. 

"  I  cannot  thank  you  now  for  your  letter,  nor  for  all  the 
feelings  expressed  in  it,  and  in  your  whole  life  for  some 
years,  towards  me.  But  I  am  conscious  of  not  being  un- 
grateful, and  accept  as  a  free-gift  what  you  confer,  wishing 
that  I  was  what  you  believe  me  in  excellence,  and  very 
sure  that  my  affection  only  is  not  overrated  by  you.  God 
bless  you !  Be  assured,  that  I  cannot  pray  for  my  own 
children,  without  your  being  joined  in  idea  with  them. 
Much  I  could  say  on  the  text  you  start,  of  not  being 
separated  by  absence,  when  habituated  to  hourly  com- 
munication of  thoughts  and  sympathy  in  pleasures.  I  have 
often  felt  during  this  journey  as  if  you  were  near,  and 
wondered  at  the  dead  silence,  when  assured  of  your  feeling 
as  I  felt  at  the  sight  of  objects  of  nature  and  art." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND. 

"  Brama  assai— poco  spera — nulla  cliiede." 

TASSO. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  BUNSEN  (after  he  had  set  out  for  Munich). 

"  Pianoro,  18  May,  1838.— Before  I  go  to  the  rest  I  much 
need,  I  must  have  the  satisfaction  of  addressing  a  word  to 
my  Best-Beloved,  and  more  than  ever  dear — to  thank  him 
in  the  first  place  for  being  what  he  is,  for  giving  me  ever 
fresh  reason  to  love  him,  for  satisfying  my  wishes  and 
expectations  from  him — although  they  are  not  trifling ; — 
for  my  soul  demands  of  him  to  grow  with  the  occasion,  and 
rise  with  the  opportunity,  to  bear  a  moral  proportion  to 
the  dispensations  of  Providence  he  is  called  upon  to  pass 
through:  and  this  he  has  hitherto  done,  and  may  God 
give  his  blessing  to  farther  progress !  may  He  give  wis- 
dom to  meet  the  conjuncture,  and  patience  to  take  every- 
thing in  good  part ! 

"  We  are  happily  arrived  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
Apennines,  having  crossed  them  prosperously.  Pisa,  Lucca, 
Pistoia,  Prato,  are  all  so  abundant  in  objects  of  interest 
that  it  was  hard  to  get  away  even  from  the  few  that  we 
could  allow  ourselves  to  look  at.  The  cathedral  of  Lucca 


478        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

delighted  me — grand,  simple,  the  utterance  of  one  idea,  not 
overcharged  with  decoration.  There  I  made  acquaintance 
with  the  sculpture  of  Matteo  Civitali  and  saw  a  glorious 
painting  of  Fra  Bartolommeo.  Eut  in  another  church  of 
Lucca,  St.  Frediano,  the  frescoes  of  Buonamico,  and  a 
painting  of  Francia,  perhaps  claim  the  first  notice,  and  the 
works  of  the  former  will  remain  with  me.  In  Pistoia  the 
frieze  of  the  hospital,  by  Luca  della  Robbia,  is  alone  worth 
a  journey.  What  would  I  not  give  that  you  had  seen  it, 
or  could  see  it !  But  believe  my  assurance,  that  it  is  the 
finest  of  his  works  that  I  have  seen — finer  even  than  that 
over  the  door  of  the  Cathedral  of  Pistoia.  At  Prato  we  only 
saw  the  cathedral,  which  is  in  itself  a  museum,  containing 
the  finest  of  the  works  of  Lippi,  and  treasures  of  sculpture : 
the  building  also  is  fine." 

"  jRovigo,  14  May. — We  had  time  to  see  everything  well 
at  Bologna :  the  Raphael,  the  Francia' s,  the  Perugino,  the 
Timoteo  della  Yite,  are  indeed  treasures.  At  Ferrara,  only 
in  the  sacristy  of  S.  Andrea  did  I  observe  anything  that 
could  dwell  with  me — the  painting  attributed  to  Bonifazio, 
of  the  Flight  to  Egypt,  and  a  small  piece  by  an  unknown 
author,  representing  the  Flight  on  the  Nile,  the  Holy 
Family  in  a  boat  steered  by  angels,  which  I  never  saw  but 
in  a  drawing  of  poor  Lotsch.  The  sculpture  over  the  door 
of  the  Duomo  is  also  very  fine.  I  saw  other  pictures  of 
merit  in  the  churches  of  Ferrara,  but  altogether  the  best 
of  the  Bolognese  school  appear  tame  and  lifeless,  with  little 
variety  of  composition,  though  their  colouring  is  fine,  and 
their  style  sober  and  dignified;  so  that  one  is  gradually 
screwed  down  from  the  heights  of  Tuscany." 

"  Venice,  18  May,  1838. — Your  letter  is  indeed  a  surprise 


THE    FIRST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  479 

to  me,  in  which.  I  try  to  dwell  only  on  the  desirable  part, 
our  speedy  reunion,  for  which  I  am  most  thankful.  As  to 
the  cause,  whatever  it  may  be,  I  repeat  to  myself  that 
being  in  the  ways  of  Providence,  all  can  but  be  for  the 
best. 

"The  quantity  of  objects  of  high  interest  that  I  have 
seen  and  daily  see,  is  so  great,  that  it  will  be  well  if  I  can 
preserve  general  impressions  clear.  I  am  astonished  at 
the  riches  of  the  Venetian  School,  in  which  I  have  made 
acquaintance  with  a  multitude  of  painters  whose  names  I 
never  knew  before — and  the  architecture  is  an  unceasing 
delight." 

"  Spresiano,  21  May. — We  are  advanced  into  the  last 
portion  of  our  pilgrimage.  0  how  deliciously  we  floated 
in  the  'heilige  Friihe'  over  the  lagune!  leaving  Venice  and 
its  dependent  islands  behind,  and  seeing  before  us,  on  one 
side  the  Alps,  on  the  other  the  Euganean  Hills,  rising  over 
the  green  coast.  0  why  were  you  not  with  me !  But  you 
were  not,  because  it  was  not  in  the  way  of  Providence  that 
you  should  be,  and  because  nothing  is,  or  ought  to  be 
perfect  in  this  world." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Venice,  19  May,  1838. — Venice  equals  any  expectations 
I  could  have  formed,  but  the  general  impression  is  much 
what  I  expected  :  being  a  work  of  art,  art  can  give  an  idea 
of  it — not  like  Naples,  the  effulgence  of  which  '  Earth,  air, 
and  sea,'  no  hand  of  man  can  imitate  :  but  the  Canaletti's 
prepare  one  for  Venice,  without  lessening  the  effect  of 
reality.  For  the  riches  of  art  that  exist  in  Venice,  I 
was  not  prepared :  I  am  astonished  at  the  early  Venetian 


480         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

school  of  painting — a  set  of  names  which  I  for  tlie  most 
part  had  never  heard  before.  Then  the  abundance  of 
sculpture,  the  treasures  of  architecture :  the  absence  of 
commonplace  in  building  (for  everything  is  picturesque, 
everywhere  I  should  be  glad  to  draw),  all  things  contribute 
together  to  present  a  scene  of  geistiges  Schivelgen.  "We 
were  half  a  day  at  Padua,  where  I  should  have  liked  to 
have  staid  at  least  a  whole  day.  But  Pisa !  Lucca !  Pis- 
toia !  Prato !  I  had  not  anticipated  such  treasures  as  I 
found  in  a  mere  glimpse  at  the  three  latter :  and  the  first- 
named  is  beyond  all  that  one  could  imagine  of  it. 

' '  A  letter  received  from  my  husband  from  Munich  gives 
me  the  most  unexpected  intelligence  that  he  will  there 
await  my  arrival !  and  that  we  travel  on  together.  I  hope 
he  will  have  written  himself  to  you  or  Kestner,  and  then 
you  will  know  as  much  as  I.  I  need  not  say  that  I  am 
lost  in  conjecture :  only  very  decided  instructions  could 
have  caused  such  a  change  of  plan.  It  must  be  for  the 
best,  because  Providence  would  have  it  so  :  but  you  will 
believe  that  my  satisfaction  in  the  speedy  reunion  with 
him  is  not  unclouded." 

"  Munich,  3  June. — I  despair  of  giving  an  account  of 
Munich,  for  I  am  kept  in  such  continual  movement  and 
occupation,  that  I  shall  esteem  myself  lucky  if  I  get  time 
enough  to  pack  up  before  I  am  called  upon  to  get  into  the 
carriage.  This  has  been  a  time  of  uninterrupted  enjoy- 
ment, for  which  I  am  very  thankful :  I  have  not  had  a 
care  or  an  anxiety,  the  children  are  well  and  happy.  I 
met  my  husband  here  recovered  from  his  fatigue  and 
exertion,  and  enjoying  as  I  do  the  kindness  with  which 
we  are  received  by  every  one  with  whom  we  had  to  do,  and 


THE    FIRST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  481 

the  magnificent  works  of  art  that  are  here  in  progress.  I 
am  astonished  at  the  effect  which  Munich  produces,  coming 
to  it  as  I  do  from  the  wonders  of  art  in  Florence,  Pisa,  'and 
Venice.  I  had  imagined  that  all  must  seem  flat,  but  that 
is  not  the  case.  The  Last  Judgment  by  Cornelius  gains 
greatly  in  the  execution,  and  is  a  noble  work,  the  greater 
part  finished ;  other  parts  of  the  church  are  also  in  rapid 
progress,  under  the  hands  of  his  scholars,  executed  after 
his  designs  in  very  different  degrees  of  excellence — those 
by  Hermann  are  admirable.  The  Basilica  (Ludwigskirche) 
I  do  not  admire  as  a  whole,  it  is  heavy  and  bald.  The 
Allerheiligen  Kapelle  is  so  admirable,  that  all  propensity 
to  discover  blemishes  in  it  is  stifled:  I  have  been  there 
twice,  and  long  together,  with  increasing  admiration  of  the 
effect,  both  in  general  and  in  detail ;  being  a  work  of  human 
skill,  I  suppose  there  must  be  faults  in  it,  but  I  gladly 
leave  those  to  other  people  to  discover,  and  rejoice  in  the 
gold  ground  (which  pleased  me  so  much  in  S.  Marco),  in 
the  proportion  of  the  figures  to  the  whole,  so  thoroughly 
enjoyable,  being  seen  without  difficulty :  in  the  selection  of 
subjects,  giving  a  complete  view  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
.taments,  in  the  designs  and  their  execution;  in  the  adapta- 
tion of  ornaments  and  subordinate  parts — and  in  short,  in 
the  completeness  and  perfection  of  taste  which  pervades 
the  whole : — the  merit,  as  I  am  told,  of  Hesse,  who,  as  a 
man  of  character,  controlled  the  architect  in  many  matters 
not  generally  the  concern  of  the  painter.  The  powers  of 
Schnorr  have  developed  most  satisfactorily.  A  great  djsr 
covery  has  been  made  of  the  method  of  pointing  in  enr 
caustic,  practised  by  the  ancients,  $nd  tfye  frieze  of  the  hall 
of  Eudolph  of  Hapsfourg  has  already  been  finished  accorc^ 

VOL    I  II 


482         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEN. 

ing  to  that  method  —  the  effect  superior  to  fresco,  as  admit- 
ting of  the  employment  of  all  the  resources  of  art,  and  yet 
possessing  all  the  advantages  of  fresco.  Hesse's  designs 
for  a  cyclus  representing  the  conversion  of  Germany  to 
Christianity,  are  most  satisfactory. 

"  4  June.  —  We  were  at  church  twice  yesterday,  —  the 
sermons  very  good,  Edelmann  and  Wagner  :  the  effect  of 
the  voices  of  a  whole  congregation  in  the  singing  had  a 
fine  effect,  which  brought  tears  into  my  eyes,  unused  as  I 
am  to  hear  more  than  our  own  small  handful  in  the  Capi- 
tol. The  liturgy  I  missed  much,  as  you  will  easily  believe. 
To  return  to  the  account  of  things  —  the  painted  glass  win- 
dows are  fine  in  design,  arrangement,  and  colour,  and  the 
effect  of  the  Auer-kirche  —  already  finer  than  any  of  the  rest 
—  when  they  are  all  put  up,  will  probably  annihilate  the 
other  churches,  with  all  their  merits.  The  creations  of 
Schwanthaler  are  everywhere  —  nothing  ever  equalled  his 
productiveness,  and  everything  he  makes  has  life  and  spirit 
and  beauty,  although  of  course  his  creations  are  unequal  in 
merit.  The  head  of  his  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  intelligence. 
The  effect  of  the  Thron-Saal  —  columns  of  white  marble, 
every  alternate  intercolumniation  being  filled  by  a  colossal 
statue  of  gilded  bronze  —  the  ancestors  of  the  royal  house, 
will  confound  the  tinsel  splendour  of  most  other  royal 
apartments. 

"While  I  am  writing,  my  husband  is  closetted  with 
has  been  here  three  hours,  and  with  whom 


F.  W.  J.  Schelling,  a  metaphysician  of  great  celebrity  in  Germany, 
tp  English  readers  pf  tfee  time  through  Coleridge's  writings, 


THE    FIRST   RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  483 

we  are  to  dine.  We  were  at  a  supper  at  Maurer's  the  other 
evening,  in  honour  of  King  Otho's  birthday,  and  met  many 
remarkable  persons  there.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  the 
renewal  of  intercourse  with  my  sister-in-law,*  who  is  in 

better  health  than  I  ever  yet  saw  her The  children, 

as  well  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  shall 
always  retain  a  most  cheering  recollection  of  Munich. 

"  6  June. — To-day  we  have  seen  the  royal  apartments — 
which  it  would  take  long  to  speak  of  as  they  deserve. 
This  is  truly  royal  magnificence — all  expense  being 
lavished  upon  worlds  of  real  art,  and  real  taste,  and  no- 
thing upon  mere  upholstery  and  hangings.  The  designs 
of  Schnorr,  and  Kaulbach,  and  Schwanthaler,  are  very 
admirable." 

"Munich,  I  July,  1838. — I  have  just  finished  reading 

your  letters  by  the  Verona  courier To  give  vent  to 

all  the  feelings  and  thoughts  they  have  given  rise  to, 
would  require  the  writing  of  at  least  as  much  as  I  have 
received,  and  how  am  I  to  manage  more  than  one  line  per 
cent.  ?  But  luckily  in  feelings  such  mechanical  admeasure- 
ment is  impracticable,  and  I  need  not  distress  myself  with 
anything  I  hate  as  much  as  arithmetical  calculation :  for  as 
you  will  not  even  be  thanked,  I  can  but  say  I  accept  most 
affectionately  all  you  give.  Only,  whether  you  will  or  not, 


was  then  in  his  63rd  year.     Bunsen  had  sat  at  his  feet  when  very 
young.     He  was  so  fascinated  by  Schelling's  grand  attempts  and  by 
his  manner  of  unfolding  them  that  he  prolonged  his  stay  at  Munich 
chiefly  to  enjoy  his  company. 
*  Christiana  Bunsen. 


484        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUN8EN. 

I  must  thank  you,  praise  you,  approve  you,  what  you  will 
— for  giving  me  the  details  of  what  you  do,  whom  you  see, 
and  where  you  go — details  not  only  of  persons,  but  of 
places.  How  I  feel  the  mention  of  spots  lhat  I  have 
enjoyed,  I  will  not  say,  because  I  cannot  yet  refrain  from 
tears  when  I  think  of  them,  but  pray  continue  to  look  at 
them  for  me,  and  tell  me  when  you  have  done  so. 

"  To-day  is  our  wedding-day  :  we  received  the  Sacrament 
at  the  early  separate  service  beginning  at  half -past  eight, 
and  returned  later  to  the  principal  service  at  ten,  and 
heard  an  excellent  sermon  from  Dr.  Fuchs.  You  will  not 
doubt  that  my  thoughts  reverted  often  to  Rome,  and  to  the 
last  time  of  receiving  on  Easter-Monday — since  which  so 
much  has  happened,  both  of  fact  and  feeling,  and  at  which 
time  so  much  evil  was  apprehended,  which  it  has  pleased 
God  to  avert.  His  praises  are  yet  sung  upon  the  Capitol.* 

"Pray  go  soon  to  Aquila.  It  is  so  cool  there  on  the 
high  plain,  that  you  might  even  make  a  summer  journey 
of  it,  though  September  or  October  would  be  better.  I  am 
glad  your  cousin  liked  it  so  much.  It  was  a  pleasure  to 
me  even  to  read  the  names  of  some  of  the  places  he  had 
visited,  and  to  think  that  he  had  admired  the  oaks  of  the 
Cicolano.  But  again  farewell  to  the  past !  and  hail  to  the 

present ! — to  the  past  xaW€ The  beautiful  season, 

and  the  glorious  Tyrol,  were  a  fine  introduction  to  Germany, 
and  nothing  could  be  more  pleasing  than  the  first  impres- 

*  This  refers  to  a  fact  which  Aheken's  letters  had  disclosed,  viz. 
that  the  Papal  government  attempted  to  close  the  Protestant  German 
Chapel  at  Palazzo  Caffarelli within  a  few  hours  of  Bunscn's  departure. 
However,  a  very  decided  protest  on  the  part  of  the  charge  d'affaires, 
Baron  de  Buch,  caused  the  oarabinieri  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  chapel- 
door. 


THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.        485 


sion :  then  Bavaria  and  the  Bavarians  do  but  confirm  the 
prepossession  I  always  had  in  favour  of  southern  Germany. 
The  aspect  of  the  people  here  is  most  refreshing,  all  seem 
well  off  and  comfortable  in  their  existence,  and  when  I 
pass  through  crowds  amusing  themselves  on  a  Sunday  in 
the  '  English  garden,'  I  delight  in  the  good-humoured, 
tranquil,  cheerful  countenances,  in  the  neat  and  decent 
clothing,  the  abundance  of  blooming,  well-cherished  chil- 
dren (who  seem  inseparable  from  the  pleasures  of  their 
parents),  and  in  the  lower  classes  the  number  of  pretty 
faces — not  handsome,  or  beautiful,  but  pretty,  and  only  in 
the  middle  or  lower  classes,  for  the  higher  classes  are 
decidedly  plain  and  ungraceful.  I  have  only  seen  two 
exceptions,  the  only  daughter  of  Staats  Eath  Maurer,  and 
Julie,  the  youngest  daughter  of  Schelling.  You  ask  me 
verfanglicJie  Fragen,  as  to  the  female  part  of  Munich  in 
general,  which,  in  general  terms,  are  not  answerable.  I 
am  very  grateful  for  the  kind  reception  I  have  met  with 
everywhere,  but  I  think  the  only  woman  I  like  (except 
those  two  or  three  girls)  is  the  wife  of  Professor  Hermann, 
a  droll,  original,  piquant,  kind-hearted,  fanciful  Bavarian. 
We  all  enjoy  our  existence  in  Munich,  the  fresh  mountain 
air  and  the  numerous  gardens  make  amends  for  not  being 
in  the  country,  and  the  environs  are  very  attractive,  as  is 
the  society  of  the  distinguished  persons  here  to  my  hus- 
band, who  is  very  busy,  and  very  much  in  his  element. 
The  dear  Baby  nourishes,  and  runs  alone,  and  grows  every 
day  fatter  and  merrier;  it  was  a  great  gain  to  her  to 

remain   quietly  here I  write   now   on   Sunday 

evening,  after  having  been  at  the  dwelling-place  of  Claude 
Lorraine,  Harlachen,  and  the  Nockerschweig,  along  the 


486         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEN. 

elevated  bank  of  the  Iser.  The  afternoon  was  beautiful,  a 
sky,  clouds,  and  sunset — of  Italian  brilliancy ;  wood,  mea- 
dows, and  river — very  picturesque;  and  the  steeples  of 
Munich  crowning  the  distance.  I  can  make  but  one  objec- 
tion to  the  environs  of  Munich ;  the  impossibility  of  being 
in  any  pretty  spot  otherwise  than  in  a  crowd  and  the  being 
able  to  find  something  to  eat  and  drink  just  everywhere. 
These  are  recommendations  to  most  people,  but  to  me  they 
would  be  reasons  for  not  wishing  to  live  here — however  I 
suspect  that  in  many  things  the  South  of  Germany  may  be 
more  to  my  taste  than  the  North.  What  a  contrast  is  the 
walk  you  describe,  thro'  the  vigne  of  the  Aventine !  and 
how  many  such  have  I  made  in  Home  !  To-day,  from  old 
habit,  I  took  with  me  a  drawing-book  and  the  little  Dante 
— but  what  use  could  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  table  on  the  grass,  while  so  many 
other  tables  on  the  grass  were  filled  with  company,  very 
quietly  and  harmlessly  amusing  themselves  with  eating 
and  drinking  and  smoking !  But  while  I  communicate 
this  feeling,  I  admit  that  it  is  very  unfair,  for  why  should 
not  other  people  enjoy  a  pleasant  spot  as  well  as  I  ? — but 
this  shows  that  I  have  been  spoilt,  by  having  what  I  liked 
in  Italy  all  to  myself. 

"I  have  drawn  here  and  there  upon  the  journey,  very 
little,  but  still  something.  The  first  night's  lodging  after 
Innsbruck  was  a  village  at  the  entrance  of  the  Zillerthal : 
and  from  thence  I  have  a  memorial.  On  Ascension  Day 
we  were  at  the  beautiful  Pusterthal,  before  and  after 
Brunecken :  after  having  slept,  for  the  first  time  in  Ger- 
many, at  Walschberg,  indescribably  caressed  and  made 


THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.        487 

much  of.  We  read  the  Collect  and  Epistle  and  Gospel  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  the  exquisite  hymn — '  Ihr 
aufgehobenen  Segenshtinde : '  and  that  my  thoughts  re- 
verted to  Rome  is  most  certain.  Pray  distribute  my 
affectionate  remonstrance  to  Kestner,  Lepsius,  Papen- 
cordt,  Urlichs,  Abekino,  Angelina,  &c.  The  children  are 
writing  to  Abekino — a  work  of  time — and  send  their  kind 
Griisse." 

The  Bunsens  proceeded  by  Ulm  to  Frankfort,  where 
they  had  the  happiness  of  spending  some  days  with  the 
sympathising  friends  of  Roman  days — Badowitz  and 
Sydow:  from  Frankfort  they  followed  the  Rhine  to 
Rotterdam. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"  Frankfort,  13  August,  1838. — "We  had  good  weather  at 
Heidelberg,  and  thus  opportunity  of  enjoying  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  allow 
of  our  going  up  the  hills  behind  the  castle.  We  took 
Emelia  up  to  it  on  an  ass ;  and  in  the  two  days  we  spent 
at  Heidelberg,  my  husband  had  full  opportunity  of  discus- 
sion and  explanation  with  Rothe,  much  to  his  satisfaction. 

"It  is  sorely  against  the  grain  that  I  compel  myself  to 
write  you  a  lecture,  but  I  have  long  had  the  reproaches  of 
my  conscience  for  not  doing  so.  I  delayed  it  for  some 
time,  making  allowance  for  the  disjointed  and  shaken 
state  of  thought  produced* by  our  departure:  but  three 
months  are  past,  and  the  matter  does  not  mend.  When  I 


488         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

thanked  you  for  mentioning  the  places  you  walked  to  and 
looked  at,  because  their  names  recalled  to  me  a  world  of 
pleasing  images,  I  did  not  mean  to  be  accessory  to  your 
writing  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  descriptive  poetry,  and  therefore 
to  be  able  to  swallow  more  descriptive  prose  than  canonical 
rules  will  admit  of :  but  they  do  you  nothing  but  harm, 
besides  consuming  time  that  you  know  well  how  to  employ. 
You  should,  in  every  sense,  besides  the  highest  sense  of 
the  word,  '  forget  those  things  that  are  behind,  and  stretch 
forward  towards  those  that  are  before :  '  make  use  of  to- 
day '  while  it  is  called  to-day.'  You  possess  gifts  that  if 
well  employed,  will  obtain  you  a  hearing :  and  those  who 
can  raise  their  voices  in  support  of  the  good  cause,  are  for- 
getful of  their  duty  if  they  do  not.  You  have  powers  to 
discover  and  point  out  to  others  where  the  truth  lies,  and 
why  will  you  let  the  right  moment  go  by  ?  I  know,  you 
will  not,  it  is  not  your  will  that  is  in  fault :  but  time  and 
moral  strength  are  absorbed  in  sensation,  and  I  wish  you 
would  make  it  one  of  the  daily  points  of  self-examination 
what  portion  of  the  day  you  have  spent — prodigue — upon 
sensation  or  effusion  of  feeling.  I  seem  to  myself  in  a 
merciless  mood,  but  I  must  further  protest  against  confes- 
sion of  sins,  and  communication  of  self-reproach  !  I  speak 
ly  experience,  that  no  self-reproach  serves  the  purpose,  but 
that  which  is  close  bound  in  rigid  silence  upon  the  con- 
science, admitting  no  alleviating  air  to  lessen  the  smart. 
All  oral  confession  -partakes  of  the  evil  which  the  Catholic 
Church  has  brought  to  perfection :  we  ever  practically  con- 
found confession  with  atonement,  and  feel  lightened  of  our 


THE    FIRST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  489 

burthen  after  apparent  humiliation,  as  if  we  had  done 
great  things  towards  getting  rid  of  our  offences,  by  having 
admitted  their  existence. 

' '  Now  pray,  in  your  future  letters  tell  me  of  things 
done,  and  not  felt — and  inform  me  of  the  portion  you  have 
accomplished  of  your  projected  work.  I  think  your  going 
to  Frascati  to  work  in  quiet  an  excellent  plan,  for  in  Rome 
you  hardly  can  be  undisturbed :  but  if  you  bathe  in  the 
lake  at  sunset,  you  will  soon  have  the  fever  of  last  summer 
back  again.  Now  I  will  close  my  scold.— Ever  your 
affectionate  Mother,  F.  B." 

"Rotterdam,  20  August,  1838.— The  banks  of  the  Rhine 
from  Mainz  to  Bonn,  equalled  anything  that  I  could  have 
anticipated  in  beauty  and  interest ;  and  we  had  a  fine  sun- 
set to  behold  from  the  roof  of  the  cathedral  of  Cologne  : 
from  whence  the  picturesque  outline  of  the  Siebengebirge 
announced  their  volcanic  origin,  and  reminded  me,  in 
miniature,  of  the  Euganean  hills,  as  they  appear  from 
Venice.  Coblentz  and  Ehrenbreitstein  form  the  brightest 
passage  in  the  fleeting  vision,  which  I  can  yet  hardly 
believe  I  have  otherwise  enjoyed  than  in  sleep,  with  such 
resistless  rapidity  did  the  images  glide  by. 

"  This  steam-travelling  is  one  of  the  first  in  the  catalogue 
of  necessary  evils :  it  serves  the  purpose  of  traversing  a 
large  extent  of  country  with  a  certain  economy  of  time  and 
money,  but  certainly  no  economy  of  strength.  I  am  not 
ill,  but  I  have  never  been  so  tired,  and  these  quiet  days  in 
Rotterdam,  have  not  yet  rested  me.  We  leave,  please 
God,  to-morrow  in  the  Batavier.  We  met  the  Geheim 
Rath  v.  Yoss  at  Frankfort  and  had  his  agreeable  company 
in  the  steamboat :  where  we  also  found  Mr.  Robert  "Wil- 


490         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    13UNSEN. 

berforce,  and  had  much,  pleasure  in  making  his  acquaint- 
ance. My  husband  has  just  returned  from  Leyden,  whither 
he  went  yesterday,  delighted  with  the  Egyptian  curiosities. 
Good  night,  God  bless  you !  " 

On  the  25th  of  August  the  family  arrived  at  the 
house  of  Mrs.  Hall  in  London,  whence  Madame  Bunsen 
proceeded  to  Wales  with  her  children.  Her  mother 
and  sister  met  her  at  Abergavenny,  where  her  arrival 
was  also  eagerly  awaited  by  the  venerable  Mr.  Powell, 
always  known  as  "  the  Yicar,"  who,  himself  a  man  of 
remarkable  intellectual  acquirements,  had  longed  to  see 
again  one  whose  dawn  of  excellence  had  excited  his 
regard  and  admiration.  At  the  principal  entrance  of 
Llanover,  the  avenue  was  hung  with  garlands  from 
tree  to  tree,  and  crowds  of  people,  amongst  whom  many 
well- remembered  faces  greeted-  Madame  Bunsen's  re- 
turn to  her  early  home  after  an  absence  of  nearly 
twenty-one  years.  The  thing  which  she  spoke  of  as 
striking  her  most  in  Great  Britain,  after  so  many  years' 
absence,  was  the  smallness  of  the  rivers,  after  the  wide 
streams  of  the  continent.  "  Comme  c'est  petit !  cela 
parait  un  ruisseau,"  was  the  remark  of  the  little  Theo- 
dore upon  the  Severn  at  Gloucester,  and  the  Wye  and 
the  Usk  near  Llanover. 

A  visit  paid  to  Mrs.  Waddington  by  Lepsius  was  a 
great  delight  to  Bunsen  during  his  stay  in  South 
Wales.  The  friends  used  to  walk  for  hours  together 
upon  the  hills  in  eager  discussion  of  Egypt  and  its 


TJIH    FIRST    11KTUUN    TO    ENGLAND.  -l!)l 


antiquarian  records,  or  to  sit  in  deep  converse  in  the 
churchyard  of  Llanffoist  under  the  yew-tree  of  a  thou- 
sand summers.  Another  of  Bunsen's  intimate  friends 
who  visited  Llanover  at  this  time  by  Mrs.  Wadding- 
ton's  invitation,  was  Bethmann  Hollweg,  afterwards 
one  of  the  personal  and  most  influential  friends  of 
Frederick  William  IV.  and  a  member  of  the  liberal 
ministry  of  1858,  1852,  and  I860.* 

The  children  of  Madame  Bunsen  have  a  vivid  recol- 
lection of  the  quiet  following  winter  passed  with  their 
grandmother  in  the  old-fashioned  "Upper  House" 
of  Llanover,  and  the  first  taste  of  English  country 
life  and  its  simple  interests  and  pursuits. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  BUNSEN. 

"Llanover,  5  Sept.,  1838. — We  are  arrived  safely.  All 
possible  pains  was  taken  to  welcome  me.  My  sister  rode 
out  to  meet  me  at  Abergavenny,  and  fetched  me  in  her 
own  carriage  with  four  horses,  and  my  dear  mother  was 
ready  to  receive  me,  with  her  carriage  for  the  children 
and  maids  ;  the  bells  rang  at  Abergavenny  and  Llanover, 
and  at  the  entrance  gates  were  garlands,  and  musicians, 
and  people  waiting.  .  .  .  Yesterday  I  was  greeted  with 
vaterldndiscJie  Regen,  but  to-day  it  is  fine.  I  have  found  the 
country  very  beautiful,  and  the  lulls  higher  than  I  ex- 

*  M.  Hollweg  took  the  name  of  Bethmann — German-fashion— on 
his  marriage  with  a  daughter  of  the  head  of  the  great  Frankfort 
banking-house.  He  was  Professor  of  Law  in  Berlin  and  Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Bonn.  With  Dr.  Wichern,  he  was  Founder  of 
the  Inner  Mission.  He  died  at  his  beautiful  castle  of  llheincct  on  the 
Khine,  in  1877. 


492         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

pected,  but  I  am  surprised  at  the  narrowness  of  the  spaces, 
in  the  haunts  of  my  childhood,  -which  I  had  supposed  much 
wider.  The  lowness  of  the  rooms  astonishes  me,  and  the 
smallness  of  the  windows,  which  are  not  suited  to  so  cloudy 
a  sky." 

To  her  SON  ERNEST. 

"24  Sept.,  1838. — In  beautiful  autumnal  weather,  this 
country  appears  to  the  greatest  advantage,  and  although  I 
retrace  everything  as  well-known  objects,  I  pass  judgment 
on  all  things  as  new,  and  find  this  country  will  show  well, 
even  after  all  the  fine  scenery  I  have  viewed  elsewhere. 
The  works  of  nature  have  always  such  individual  attrac- 
tions, that  the  sight  of  one  more  need  never  be  spoilt  by 
the  recollection  of  another,  even  though  on  a  greater  scale, 
and  of  more  manifold  attraction.  I  am  much  struck  with 
the  luxury  in  garden  cultivation  that  is  everywhere  seen  in 
England,  far  different  from  poor  Italy,  where  everything 
might  be  in  far  greater  perfection,  were  nature  only  a  little 
assisted  by  industry.  It  is  a  most  curious  sensation  to  me, 
to  find  Henry  more  at  home  than  myself  in  my  own  coun- 
try, and  able  as  well  as  willing  to  help  me  everywhere.  I 
am  sorry,  my  dear  Ernest,  to  think  that  another  year  will 
end,  and  another  begin  without  my  seeing  you  ;  but  I  hope 
and  trust  the  consciousness  that  your  parents  are  not  near 
enough  to  you,  to  exercise  an  immediate  influence  to  urge 
or  restrain  you,  will  be  one  stimulus  more  to  induce  you  to 
act  in  all  things  as  they  would  wish  to  see  you  act, — seek- 
ing the  best  things,  and  the  best  people,  and  being  in  all 
points  actuated  by  a  sense  of  duty.  '  Whatsoever  things 
are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are 


THE    FIRST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  493 

lovely  or  of  good  report,  wherein  there  is  virtue,  wherein 
there  is  praise,  think  of  these  things,  and  do  these  things.'  " 

To  ABEKEN. 

"Llanover,  17  October,  1838. — Although  I  have  millions 
of  things  to  write,  I  must  spring  forward  to  the  present 
moment,  and  beg  you  to  fancy  us  all  together  with  my 
dearest  Mother,  Henry  included,  and  Lepsius  in  addition. 
In  two  days  Henry  must  return  to  Oxford,  and  in  a  few 
days  more  Lepsius  must  set  out  on  his  southern  pilgrimage, 
and  then  we  shall  be  reduced  to  ourselves.  Just  now  our 
enjoyment  is  complete,  the  Cymreigyddion*  uproar  being 
past,  and  the  milder  autumnal  sky  having  again  shown 
itself,  after  some  threatenings  of  snow  on  the  1 3th,  to  enable 
us  to  see  the  beautiful  country  to  advantage.  I  am  sur- 
prised at  the  beauty  of  this  neighbourhood,  seeing  it  as  a 
novelty,  though  so  well  remembered.  Lepsius  has  won 
the  first  place  in  the  heart  of  my  Mother,  and  has  been 
praised  and  admired  in  various  degrees  by  everybody  else. 
The  children  are  all  well  and  are  much  out  of  doors.  The 
darling  flourishes  under  the  peculiar  auspices  of  the  dear 
grandmamma,  whose  delight  she  is. 

"  Henry  came  to  us  in  town  the  26th  August:  the  4th 
September  he  helped  me  to  convey  the  whole  troop  down 
to  Llanover,  leaving  my  husband  in  London,  as  he  wished 
to  spend  some  days  longer  in  the  British  Museum,  which 
we  had  visited  together  with  admiration  and  astonishment. 
But  it  was  otherwise  decreed,  for  a  rheumatic  pain  which 
had  begun  in  the  horrors  of  the  sea-voyage,  improved 

*  A  Welsh.  Society  which  then  met  at  regular  intervals  at  Aber. 
gavenny  for  the  distribution  of  prizes  for  Essays  and  Poetry  in  Welsh, 
and  for  the  competition  of  Welsh  harpers. 


494        LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    13ARONESS    1JUKSKN. 

suddenly  into  such  perfection  of  sciatica,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  take  to  his  bed.  On  receiving  this  melancholy 
account,  I  set  off  with  Henry,  leaving  the  six  children 
with  my  dear  Mother,  and  returned  to  London,  where  I 

found  my  husband  up  again,  but  not  out  of  pain 

So  he  dispatched  business,  and  we  saw  again  the  British 
Museum  and  Westminster  Abbey,  and  on  the  22d  Septem- 
ber placed  ourselves  in  the  steam- carriage,  and  were  trans- 
ported 80  English  miles  in  four  hours  and  a  half,  to  Rugby, 
whither  the  kindest  invitations  and  our  own  inclinations 
urged  us.  Here  we  spent  five  days  of  great  enjoyment, 
rejoicing  to  find  visions  realised,  and  expectations  sur- 
passed, 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  Hills,  and  I  was  glad  my  husband  made  his  ap- 
proaches to  Llanover  through  so  beautiful  a  country. 
Jane  Arnold,  the  eldest  daughter  of  our  friends,  accom- 
panied us,  having  been  invited  by  my  mother  and  sister, 
and  I  was  glad  to  have  her  longer  with  us,  having  a 
regard  for  her  as  a  sort  of  daughter. 

"  I  am  afraid  Marcus  Niebuhr  would  just  miss  you  at 
Borne.  I  never  had  time  to  write  to  you  of  my  meeting 
with  him  at  Munich,  or  of  the  indescribable  pleasure  I  had 
in  what  I  cannot  but  call  a  renewal  with  him,  for  I  have 
ever  thought  of  him  with  such  interest,  that  little  as  can 
now  be  traced  of  the  child  that  I  was  so  fond  of,  and  that 
was  so  fond  of  me,  the  connection  seems  not  broken ;  but 
I  have  a  satisfaction  analogous  to  that  of  seeing  a  son 
grown  up  in  a  long  absence  as  wishes  might  have  formed 
him.  Marcus  Niebuhr  is  not  as  he  once  was,  attractive  to 


THE    FIRST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  495 

the  eye,  but  the  mind  seems  to  me  of  sterling  stuff,  and  to 
have  taken  a  fine  polish,  and  I  should  have  been  very  glad 
to  have  had  the  means  of  knowing  more  of  him  through 
you :  for  my  own  opportunity  of  observation  lasted  but  one 
morning." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Llanover,  24  Oct.,  1838. — May  God  grant  his  blessing, 
my  dearest  George,  to  the  Various  reflections  to  which  you 
will  be  led  at  your  confirmation !  He  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  love  of  which 
this  human  frailty  is  incapable.  May  you  hold  fast  that 
most  consoling  truth,  that  God  is  love,  and  yourself  an 
object  of  that  love  as  peculiarly  as  if  you  were  the  sole 
object.  The  time  may  come,  my  dear  George,  nay  may 
have  been  already,  when  you  may  be  tempted  to  scepticism, 

for  it  is  a  trial  that  many  have  to  go  through In 

itself  there  is  nothing  sinful  in  an  inclination  to  weigh 
testimony,  and  take  nothing  upon  trust,  on  the  contrary,  it 
is  praiseworthy,  and  considered  so  on  the  high  authority  of 
the  inspired  historian  of  the  Apostles,  who  says  of  the 
Bereans,  '  These  were  more  noble  than  they  of  Thessa- 
lonica,  for  they  searched  the  Scriptures  daily,  whether  those 
things  were  so — therefore  many  of  them  believed,'  &c. 
Doubts  or  difficulties  can  never  offend  the  God  of  light  and 
truth,  if  accompanied  by  a  sigh  after  that  truth,  and  a 
prayer  for  more  of  that  light.  Do  you  remember,  my  own 
boy,  the  last  conversation  I  had  with  you  and  Charles, 
when  we  looked  at  the  view  from  the  Capitol  for  the  last 
time  together,  in  the  glorious  moonlight  of  the  night 


496         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

between  the  15th.  and  16th  of  July,  1837?  I  remember 
well  telling  you  how  many  difficulties  is.  understanding  the 
ways  of  God  to  man  may  be  allowed  to  weigh  upon  the 
mind  for  years,  but  if  that  mind  waits  in  patience  and 
unmurinuringly  for  the  moment  of  being  enlightened, 
using  every  honest  endeavour,  but  not  rebelling  if  such 
should  be  ineffectual, — the  light  will  break  in,  and  the 
difficulties  will  be  removed,  when  and  in  the  manner  least 
expected.  1 1  am  assured  that  neither  death  nor  life,  nor 
angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  height,  nor 
depth,  nor  any  living  creature,  hath  power  to  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus ! '  May  the  comfort  of 
that  assurance,  my  beloved  George,  be  ever  with  your  spirit." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Llanover,  18  Dec.,  1838. — To  give  an  account  of  the 
impression  that  England  makes  upon  me,  and  to  describe 
my  actual  situation  and  occupations,  would  be  more  easy 
in  ten  pages  than  in  the  space  I  can  spare.  First  I  will 
tell  you  of  the  present  moment,  which  is  a  very  satisfactory 
point  to  start  from — for  we  have  a  sun  as  bright,  an 
air  as  mild,  and  a  sky  as  clear,  as  ever  yours  can  be  at 
this  hour — by  exception,  most  certainly;  for  the  stand- 
ing rule  is  a  sort  of  wet  blanket  of  sky,  letting  through 
neither  sun  nor  rain,  under  which  the  surrounding  fluid* 
which  we  inhale,  whatever  you  are  pleased  to  call  it,  gives 
110  symptom  of  life  in  good  or  evil  sense,  but  is  a  sort  of 
negation,  moving  not,  warming  not,  chilling  not.  My 
husband  is  just  returned  in  best  spirits,  better  health, 
and  vehement  activity,  from  his  most  interesting  journey 
— of  which  I  can  only  tell  you  the  bubbles !  but  those  even 


THE    FIRST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  497 

are  bright  of  hue,  and  not  the  result  of  the  turmoil  of 
cross-currents.  Henry  is  just  arrived  from  Oxford, 
after  a  happy  and  industrious  term,  disposed  for  an  indus- 
trious vacation,  and  increasing  the  enjoyment  of  all  about 
him.  Theodore  is  well  and  merry,  and  now  at  a  table  with 
his  father  and  brother,  making  a  practice  of  Latin  declen- 
sions with  pasteboard  letters.  The  girls  are  doing  examples 
of  arithmetic,  to  be  looked  over  by  Henry.  Thus  I  obtain 
this  writing  time,  for  darling  Baby  is  driving  out  in  her 
carriage,  the  picture,  or  rather  reality,  of  thriving  health 
and  gaiety,  the  delight  of  the  house,  the  peculiar  happiness 
of  her  own  grandmamma :  intelligent  as  may  be,  making 
herself  understood  by  all,  but  troubling  herself  little  with 
any  language  such  as  other  people  speak. 

' '  After  I  received  your  request  for  what  you  call  '  ein 
Wortchen'  on  the  impression  England  makes  on  me,  I 
thought  over  my  answer  in  a  solitary  walk  of  half  an  hour, 

and  many  a  page  might  it  occupy The  time  spent  with 

the  Arnolds  will  remain  among  the  brightest  in  my  recollec- 
tion, and  the  whole  state  and  order  of  their  house  and 
family,  the  spirit  that  moves  themselves  and  their  children, 
that  regulates  their  plans  of  education  and  plans  of  life,  is 
of  ideal  excellence :  it  does  one  good  to  think  that  such  a 
family  exists,  and  the  pleasure  is  increased  by  the  thought 
that  we  are  allowed  to  call  them  friends.  I  believe  there 
are  other  such  families  in  England,  and  two  or  three  such 
my  husband  has  visited — the  Harf  ords  near  Bristol,  the  Sey- 
mours in  Dorsetshire,  the  Courtenays  in  Devonshire,  and 
our  own  Aclands.  I  hope  to  inhale  an  atmosphere  of  the 
right  sort  myself  with  him  at  Pusey  next  month — perhaps 
too  at  Lord  Harrowby's." 

VOL.  I.  K  K 


498         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"  Llanover,  3  Jan.,  1839. — Before  the  Christmas  holidays 
are  over,  I  must  accomplish  at  least  the  beginning  of  a 
letter  to  you My  husband  and  Henry  and  I  re- 
mained together  to  the  close  of  an  eventful  and  important 
year,  and  to  the  beginning  of  one  that  can  hardly  fail  to 
be  equally  so  :  the  bells  of  Llanover  church  showed  that  a 
few  poor  people  near  us  recollected  that  those  hours 
deserved  to  be  marked,  and  our  thoughts  were  with  many 
friends  at  a  distance,  whose  thoughts  we  were  assured  of 

meeting  ours You  wish  to  know  the  hour  and 

circumstances  under  which  I  write — the  hour  is  the  first  of 
the  night,  and  the  children  are  dancing  in  the  room  under 
me  to  the  Welsh  harp.  On  New- Year's  Day  I  gathered 
two  monthly  roses  in  my  Mother's  garden,  not  as  bright  of 
hue  as  those  you  will  have  gathered,  but  still  existing  in 
the  open  air :  and  you  can  hardly  liave  had  a  clearer 
moonlight  than  we  had  the  last  evening  of  the  year.  My 
husband  is  hard  at  work,  writing  and  rejoicing  in  freedom 
from  disturbance.  Lepsius  was  detained  at  Paris  and 
could  not  come  to  spend  Christmas  with  us.  Our  Christ- 
mas tree  was  accomplished  very  satisfactorily,  and  deco- 
rated with  a  Virgin  and  Child  that  I  had  copied  in  water- 
colours  from  a  small  picture  of  Overbeck's,  in  the  summer 
ol  1817,  when  he  was  with  us  at  Frascati — the  only  picture 
of  the  sort  to  be  found  here.  The  twins  have  had  a  happy 
birthday,  the  elder  girls  are  well,  and  Augusta  Matilda  is 
one  of  the  happiest  and  most  nourishing  of  God's  creatures, 
the  picture  of  health  and  enjoyment,  and  occupies  as  great 
a  share  of  her  fellow-creatures'  thoughts,  affections,  and 
attention,  as  any  little  thing  ever  did. 

"  We  are  reading  Niebuhr's  Letters,  without  you  !  but 


THE    FIRST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  499 

never  without  thinking  of  you :  it  is  in  this  manner  that 
my  husband  and  Henry  and  I  close  the  evening,  and  I  am 
the  reader.  But  there  is  a  sad  difference  as  to  the  pleasure 
given  by  the  two  volumes :  in  the  greater  part  of  the 
second  Niebuhr  is  seen  in  his  weakness,  as  he  was  before 
in  his  strength,  and  it  is  plain  that  the  death  of  his  first 
wife  was  his  death-blow,  though  he  so  long  survived  it. 
I  am  continually  and  painfully  reminded  of  all  that  was 
morbid  in  the  mind  of  Niebuhr,  by  the  letters  from  Home : 
and  yet  his  sister-in-law  has  without  doubt  made  great  and 
important  omissions.  I  wish  she  had  left  out  more,  but 
still  the  work  is  invaluable.  I  am  sorry  indeed  that 
Marcus  Niebuhr  missed  you  at  Eome :  it  was  one  of  the 
things  I  had  reckoned  upon,  to  Jiave  heard  the  impression 
he  made  upon  you  and  others.  It  is  a  thing  that  does 
one's  heart  good,  apart  from  all  considerations  of  private 
friendship,  to  think  that  a  child  so  prized,  so  delighted  in, 
should  turn  out  as  his  parents  might  well  desire  to  seo 
him.  In  these  Christmas  holidays  I  have  nearly  read  a 
book,  by  no  means  new,  which  is  one  of  a  class  that  forms 
an  event  in  my  life,  from  the  quantity  of  matter  of  thought 
and  edification  it  furnishes — Southey's  '  Life  of  Wesley.'  As 
a  piece  of  biography  it  is  most  valuable,  and  yet  far  less  in 
that  respect  than  as  an  historical  picture  of  the  operations 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  when  setting  powerful  though  merely 
human  instruments  at  work  to  awaken  the  slumbering 
church.  What  will  the  next  year  bring  forth? — No 
matter,  we  know  in  whose  hand  it  is,  and  may  undis- 
turbedly await  it." 

"  Llanover,  6   Feb.,  1839.— After   an    absence  of  three 
weeks,  just  returned  to  my  Mother  and  my  children,  having 


500        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

parted  at  Pusey  with  my  husband, — I  give  myself  leave  to 
take  a  quarter  of  an  hour  from  the  due  time  of  going  to 
bed  to  make  a  beginning  of  a  letter,  which  would  be  too 
full  if  anything  like  the  multitude  of  thoughts  and  feelings 
could  be  communicated,  to  which  the  packet  it  is  intended 
to  answer  gave  rise !  On  Saturday  last  I  was  breakfasting 
for  the  last  time  with  my  husband  and  our  kind  friends  at 
Pusey,  when  the  packet  came  in,  and  I  kept  the  horses  wait- 
ing for  an  hour,  to  enjoy  with  my  husband  part  of  the  con- 
tents :  the  rest  addressed  to  myself,  I  read  in  the  course  of 
the  first  solitary  stage,  after  leaving  him  to  go  to  Oxford 
with  Mr.  Pusey.  Most  deeply  was  I  affected  by  the 
passages  written  on  the  various  festal  and  devotional  occa- 
sions, on  which  we  have  been  almost  constantly  with  you, 
or  riear  you  for  many  years.  You  were  certainly  present 
to  our  thoughts  and  prayers  on  each  and  every  one,  as  I 
hope  you  never  doubted. 

"Now  I  will  tell  you  how  the  late  period  has  been 
passed.  On  the  24th  January  we  set  off  from  hence,  my 
husband  and  I,  with  Henry  and  Frances,  and  made  our 
first  station  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Clifford,  near  Boss,  having 
spent  three  hours  by  the  way  in  seeing  antiquities  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  eating  a  welcome  luncheon,  at  a  finely 
situated  modern  Gothic  castle  of  Sir  Samuel  Meyrick, 
Goodrich  near  Ross.  A  day  and  a  half  were  passed 
delightfully  in  the  enjoyment  of  cordial  hospitality,  and 
most  agreeable  society,  Mr.  Clifford  being  perfect  as  host, 
and  his-  nieces  coming  forward  to  great  advantage  as 
hostesses :  the  country  too  is  beautiful,  and  the  weather 
was  so  ideally  fine  that  you  could  scarcely  have  had  it  more 
brilliant,  though  it  might  be  warmer  in  Rome.  Mr.  Clif- 


THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.        501 

ford  lias  a  fine  library,  his  youngest  niece  plays  surprisingly 
on  the  pianoforte,  lie  lias  Italianized  his  garden — what 
would  you  have  more  ?  Gladly  would  we  have  stayed 
longer,  but  we  were  expected  on  the  16th  at  Gloucester, 
where  a  kind  welcome  awaited  us  at  the  Bishop's  palace. 
He  is  a  first  cousin  and  an  old  friend  of  mine,  and  having 
been  among  the  visitors  at  Llanover  during  the  Welsh  iveek, 
had  already  made  the  acquaintance  of  my  husband,  as  I 
had  that  of  his  wife.  It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  see 
how  kindly  my  husband  and  my  former — playfellow  I  had 
almost  said  (con  rispetto  pctrlando]  took  to  one  another ;  but 
the  day  and  a  half  we  passed  at  Gloucester  gave  us  scarcely 
any  leisure  for  conversing  with  the  good  Bishop,  whose 
mornings  are  nearly  engrossed  by  the  concerns  of  his 
diocese.  A  Bishop  in  these  days  sleeps  not  on  roses; 
but  some  of  the  evils  attending  his  position,  hemming 
the  usefulness  of  the  best-intentioned — must,  one  should 
think,  now  be  remedied,  as  a  prodigious  spirit  has  been 
aroused  for  the  defence  and"  renovation  of  the  Church  of 
England,  in  a  very  considerable  and  weighty  part  of  the 
nation,  which  is  at  work  on  various  points.  The  idea  of 
the  possibility  of  your  coming  to  England  while  we  are 
here,  is  a  very  delightful  one,  and  for  few  things  can 
I  answer  more  certainly,  than  for  my  Mother's  being 
very  glad  to  see  you.  But  you  must  do  that  which 
is  good  and  right  for  j^ourself,  and  your  own  prospects 
in  life,  and  your  own  serious  occupations,  and  depend 
upon  it,  England  would  be  to  you  a  place  of  '  geistigen 
Schwelgen.'  " 

"  Llanover,  4  March,  1839.— I  will  not  let  my  birthday  pass 
without  addressing  some  words  where  my  thoughts  have 


502         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

often  been,  well-assured  that  I  have  not  been  forgotten  in 
the  beloved  home  of  the  best  years  of  my  life,  but  that 
your  thoughts  have  traced  the  same  path  as  mine,  and 
your  prayers  have  implored  for  me  all  I  may  need.  The 
sun  shone  bright  upon  this  day  here  too,  and  many  flowers 
had  opened  to  deck  out  the  table  covered  with  gifts, 
although  not  anemones  and  sweet-scented  Iris,  such  as  we 
fetched  this  day  twelve  months  from  the  Yilla  Pamnli — 
the  last  time  I  ever  trod  that  ground,  though  the  enjoy- 
ment of  it  was  not  marred  by  any  such  consciousness. 
This  morning  my  children  and  my  niece  Augusta  Charlotte 
had  prepared  each  something  for  me,  helped  and  directed 
by  their  dear  grandmamma ;  my  sister  had  added  a  piece 
of  her  beautiful  embroidery,  and  her  sister-in-law  Mrs. 
Berrington  *  a  painting  of  an  anemone  and  cyclamen :  but 
what  rendered  the  scene  quite  original  and  unlike  any  other 
such  morning,  was  a  set  of  humorous  verses,  concocted  by 
the  two  last-named  ladies,  explanatory  of  the  qualities  of 
the  gifts,  and  intentions  of  the  various  donors,  recited  by  my 
sister  in  the  name  of  each,  not  omitting  Augusta  Matilda, 
who  enjoyed  bringing  me  a  bag,  after  all  the  rest,  as 
much  as  anybody.  Afterwards  the  twins,  Mary,  Augusta- 
Matilda  and  I,  had  a  drive  in  an  open  carriage,  and  since 
that  I  have  been  out  a  long  time,  seeing  my  Eoman  ranun- 
culuses planted  in  my  Mother's  garden. 

"It  was  on  the  18th  January  that  we  went  to  Pusey, 
where  we  found  our  kind  friends  such  as  they  ever 
were  towards  us,  and  rejoiced  to  witness  the  effects  of 
their  beneficent  and  Christian  spirit  on  all  around  them, 
as  well  as  to  experience  those  of  their  good  taste  in  the 

*  Only  sister  of  Sir  Benjamin  Hall. 


THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.        503 

selection  of  society.  But  I  wish  there  were  any  means  of 
infusing  into  that  family  some  of  that  physical  health  and 
vigour  which  many  people  know  not  how  to  use,  but  to 
purposes  of  evil !  they  have  so  much  moral  soundness  and 
Christian  strength  of  mind,  which  it  is  painful  to  see  is 
only  just  enough  to  support  them  on  the  defensive  against 

the  daily  trials  of  their  lives Mr.  Pusey  has  a  fine 

new-made  Italian  garden,  with  the  inherited  decoration  of 
noble  forest-trees :  but  that  part  of  England  has  no  beauty, 
except  from  fine  cultivation.  As  for  the  skirts  of  hilly  tracts ! 
like  Monmouthshire,  not  to  go  farther ! — it  will  be  hard  to 
live  -without  seeing  barren  summits  rising  over  cultivated 
undulations — Ma  tutto  si  fa. 

"I  made  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  a  journey  alone, 
that  is,  with  Frances  and  a  maid,  from  Pusey  home,  and 
divided  it  by  sleeping  at  Gloucester,  where  I  stayed  over 
Sunday  at  the  Bishop's,  saw  my  good  cousin,  in  robes, 
lawn  sleeves,  and  wig,  go  into  the  cathedral,  and  enjoyed 
the  cathedral  service  in  perfection  in  that  magnificent 
building.  The  organ  was  fine,  the  choir  good,  and  the 
chaunting  left  nothing  to  wish  but  that  it  had  been  (aftei 
the  fashion  of  S.  Salvatore  in  Maximis)  much  slower  than 
the  custom  retained  with  too  much  exactness  from  Eoman- 
Catholic  times.  During  this  visit  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
much  conversation,  and  of  a  very  satisfactory  renewal  of 
intercourse  with  the  really  good  and  estimable  Bishop, 
who  alas !  in  the  prime  of  life  is  threatened  with  blindness, 
but  bears  his  deprivation  with  exemplary  resignation  and 
cheerfulness.  On  reaching  Llanover  I  found  that  the 
children  had  all  been  well  and  good,  under  the  care  of 
dear  grandmamma,  and  most  dutifidly  put  off  being  ill 


504         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

till  I  returned,  but  no  sooner  was  I  back,  than  one  after 
another  began  to  ail-." 

"  Llanover,  15  March,  1839. — "Whether  or  not  there  will 
be  any  certainty  on  the  point  that  most  interests  me, — my 
husband's  going  directly  to  Berlin,  or  remaining  some 
months  longer  here,  before  this  letter  is  sent,  I  know  not. 
Had  he  leisure  to  give  you  only  the  rapid  view  of  the 
passing  events  of  his  London  life  which  he  sends  me — only 
a  list  of  engagements  and  interviews  and  conversations, 
and  of  names  of  his  associates— what  a  a  rich  treat  it  would 
be  to  you  !  It  must  have  been  a  period  of  as  much  interest 
and  high-strained  intellectual  activity,  with  enjoyment,  as 
any  he  ever  passed  through.  The  quantity  of  work  he  has 
done,  besides  being  on  the  full  stretch  of  observation,  con- 
versation, and  locomotion,  is  beyond  my  comprehension; 
even  though  I  know  he  has  accomplished  the  apparent 
impossibility  in  London  of  early  rising.  His  contribution 
to  the  biography  of  Niebuhr  is  one  of  the  works  begun  and 
completed  within  a  few  days'  time,  since  he  has  been  in 
London.  He  is  continually  meeting  Gladstone,  and  for 
hours  together.  Lady  Baffles  he  often  sees,  and  she 
remembers  you  with  great  affection  :  she  has  brought  my 
husband  and  Mrs.  Fry  together,  and  they  have  had  a 
memorable  conversation.  His  being  in  England  will  leave 
its  traces,  I  believe !  and  his  reception  is  such  as  perhaps 
no  foreigner  ever  met  with  before." 

Many  were  the  long  absences  of  Bunsen,  in  London, 
and  on  visits  to  the  Aclands,  Puseys,  and  to  Mr.  liar- 
ford  of  Blaise  Castle — to  whom  he  was  introduced  by 
Sir  Thomas  Acland,  during  the  time  spent  by  the 


THE    FI11ST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  505 

family  at  Llanover.  He  was  welcomed,  both  in  Lon- 
don and  in  English  country-houses  with  an  enthusiasm, 
which  could  little  be  anticipated  for  one  who  had 
arrived,  "  to  all  appearance,  a  man  supposed  to  have  no 
chance  for  the  future  but  through  the  favour  of  his 
own  Government,  which  he  seemed  to  have  forfeited." 
His  simple  and  ever  hopeful  nature,  gave  him  a  peculiar 
charm,  which  is  well  indicated  in  the  farewell  words  of 
his  Russian  friend  Joukovsky,  who  had  been  much 
with  him  in  London — "  Conservez  tou jours  votre  coeur 
d'enfant !  vous  etes  le  premier  enfant  de  cinquante  ans 
que  j'ai  jamais  rencontre." 

During  the  earlier  of  her  husband's  absences  Madame 
Bunsen  remained  at  Llanover  in  the  happiness  of  once 
more  uniting  the  duties  of  mother  and  daughter,  but  in 
May,  1839,  she  joined  Bunsen  in  London. 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"London,  19  May,  1839. — Endless  dinner-parties  and 
visits  :  I  know  not  how  much  I  shall  be  able  to  collect  to 
communicate  out  of  the  turmoil  of  my  thoughts.  Last  night 
we  found  a  card  from  Lord  Palmerston,  inviting  the 
Chevalier  Bunsen  to  his  dinner  on  the  Queen's  birthday. 
This  it  is  decided  must  not  be  declined.  I  know  not  what 
people  mean  by  pre-supposition  of  doing  what  they  intend : 
we  do  in  general  everything  but  what  we  first  intend.  I 
saw  yesterday,  besides  the  old  pictures  and  old  friends  at 
Bridgewater  House,  a  modern  picture  that  astonished  me, 
by  M.  de  la  Roche,  a.  Frenchman. :  I  had  x;ot  supposed 
anything  so  classical  could  come  out  of  the  present  day, 


506         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

much  less  out  of  Paris 0  !  I  long  to  be  back  with 

you  all!  I  shall  breathe  next  week  at  Lady  Raines's. 
This  is  a  strange  life  to  be  called  amusement." 

"  Cambridge,  22  May,  1839.— We  had  the  pleasantest 
journey  possible  yesterday  in  the  fly-coach,  sat  at  our  ease 
in  the  delicious  refreshing  air,  saw  on  all  sides  flowers  and 
verdure,  and  on  arriving  at  Chesterford  by  way  of  Epping 
— all  unknown  regions,  found  Mr.  Herbert's  phaeton 
waiting  for  us,  which  brought  us  to  Ickleton.  Here  we 
were  received  with  a  kindness  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  having  been  lived  in  and  hallowed  by  human  existence 
and  human  feeling :  nicely  fitted  up,  much  old  furniture, 
and  a  fine  library.  This  morning  we  set  off  early  for 

Cambridge In  the  quadrangle  of  Trinity  we  met  Mr. 

Whewell,  whom  I  like  very  much  and  who  conducted  us 
most  kindly  till  he  was  called  away,  and  then  Mr.  Flint 
brought  us  to  evening  service  at  King's  College  Chapel. 
There  Mr.  Townley  had  offered  to  bespeak  an  anthem 
such  as  we  should  admire,  and  the  choice  fell  upon 
Haydn's  'Let  there  be  Light,'  with  the  succeeding  air  and 
chorus — a  singular  and  most  unsuitable  selection  as  a  part 
of  church-service,  though  in  itself  beautiful,  and  sung  by 
very  fine  voices,  accompanied  by  an  exquisite  organ. 
King's  Chapel  is  indeed  magnificent ;  but  altogether  I  am 
surprised  and  delighted  with  the  Cambridge  buildings, 
which  I  think  are  in  general  denigre — and  such  grouping 
of  buildings  with  fine  trees,  turf,  water,  and  blossoming 
shrubs,  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen.  Many  a  point 
did  I  long  to  draw.  Mrs.  Herbert  planned  showing  U9 


THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.        507 

Auclley  End,  but  we  must  be  satisfied  with,  the  view  from 
the  road,  which  I  was  inexpressibly  struck  with — building, 
trees,  green  inequalities,  river,  and  bridge.  The  river  Cam 
surprised  me  among  other  things — a  very  pretty  river, 
clear,  and  full  up  to  the  green  margin." 

"London,  Trinity  Sunday,  26  Nay,  1839. — Many  are  the 
people  I  have  seen,  and  most  obliging  the  recognition  I  have 
met  with,  from  many  a  person  where  I  have  not  expected  it. 
I  wonder  at  it,  considering  what  the  world  is,  and  that  I  am 
neither  my  husband  nor  my  sister.  But  before  I  tell  any 
more  of  our  evenings,  I  must  speak  of  this  day,  when  I 
went  with  Charles  to  Guy's  Hospital,  to  hear  Mr.  Maurice 
preach.  I  cannot  describe  the  refreshment  to  soul  and 
spirit  of  this  quiet  place  of  worship,  the  congregation  con- 
sisting of  few  besides  the  sick  of  the  hospital,  Mr.  Maurice 
not  'performing  the  service,'  not  'reading  the  prayers,'  as 
it  is  generally  termed  and  done — but  praying  with  an 
intensity  of  seriousness,  that  would  make  it  hard  indeed 
not  to  pray  with  him.  His  sermon  had  of  course  a  refer- 
ence to  the  Trinity,  but  instead  of  being  a  discussion  of 
abstract  orthodoxy,  he  impressed  upon  his  hearers  the  all- 
pervading  nature  of  Divine  Love,  which  as  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost — the  Creator,  Mediator,  and 
Sanctifier,  had  followed  us  all,  and  would  follow  us,  in 
every  stage  of  existence,  as  it  had  accompanied  and  sur- 
rounded our  fathers  before  us.  He  was  calm  and  per- 
suasive at  first,  but  at  the  close  had  a  passage  of  great 
eloquence,  evidently  extempore.  After  church,  he  and 
his  sister  came  to  ask  us  to  their  house,  and  here  again 
I  was  met  as  an  old  friend.  Miss  Maurice  is  a  great 
friend  of  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare,  and  I  think  a  worthy 


508        LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

one :  she  struck  me  much,  as  not  speaking  an  insignificant 
word." 

1 '  Highwood,  near  Hendon,  31  May,  1839. — A  thousand 
thanks  for  the  detailed  accounts  of  my  dear  children,  after 
whom  every  day  I  long  more,  and  know  not  how  I  am  to 
go  on  much  longer  without  seeing  them,  and  enjojdng 
them.  How  very  kind  in  my  youngest  darling  to  *  want 
Mamma ! '  when  she  never  wants  for  anything  that 
Mamma  could  give  her — neither  care,  kindness,  nor 
amusement. 

"  My  own  Mother,  this  is  a  delightful  place,  and  I  wish 
you  could  witness  the  dignity,  the  order,  the  quiet  activity, 
the  calm  cheerfulness,  with  which  Lady  Baffles  rules  the 
house,  the  day,  the  conversation.  Yesterday  we  were  taken 
to  drive  out,  and  saw  the  church  at  Cannons,  the  place 
where  Handel  was  so  much  with  the  Duke  of  Chandos, 
but  the  fine  house  has  been  pulled  down  since  the  extinc 
tion  of  the  family  of  the  late  Duke.  The  old  clergyman 
showed  the  grave  of  the  blacksmith  from  whose  har- 
monious anvil  Handel  took  the  hint  of  the  air  in  that 
beautiful  Clavecin-Lesson." 

"London,  4  June. — The  'Messiah'  was  glorious,  and  it 
was  a  true  enjoyment  to  hear  it  with  my  husband  and 
Lady  Raffles,  who  felt  it  as  I  did.  Braham  performed  the 
opening  piece,  with  the  same  power  as  ever !  The  preser- 
vation of  his  voice  is  wonderful ;  but  he  sung  nothing  else." 

"  7  June. — Yesterday  the  effect  of  sight  and  sound  at  St. 
Paul's  was  beyond  all  description  that  has  been  given  of  it 
— above  all  was  my  astonishment  great  at  the  accuracy  in 
time  and  tune  of  eight  thousand  children :  the  crash  of  their 
voices  was  thrilling. 


THE    FIRST    RETURN   TO   ENGLAND.  509 

"  The  Seymers  are  in  London  and  I  am  often  refreshed 
by  the  sight  of  Louisa." 

"  Oxford,  10  June,  1839. — Nothing  is  like  the  absorption 
of  this  place.  After  breakfast  Henry  Acland  took  me  to 
the  Christ  Church  service — wretched  music,  quite  disgrace- 
ful— and  to  his  rooms.  Then  to  call  on  Dr.  Buckland, 
where  I  could  hardly  get  up  the  staircase  for  stuffed  ani- 
mals and  fossils.  Miss  Buckland,  aged  nine,  had  been 
helping  her  papa  to  dissect  a  cat  that  morning :  Mamma 
tried  to  prevent  its  being  told,  saying  it  was  a  shame,  but 
Dr.  B.  tvould  tell.  After  luncheon  we  went  to  Blenheim : 
the  Raphael  is  alone  worth  going  for.  Several  people  came 
to  dinner,  amongst  others  Mr.  Keble  the  poet.  This  morning 
I  went  to  early  chapel  in  an  invisible  seat,  behind  not  only 
a  grating,  but  a  glass  window !  that  the  monastic  assem- 
bly might  not  be  disturbed  by  the  sight  of  ladies !  Mr. 
Newman  preached,  in  honour  of  St.  Barnabas'  day,  but 
not  a  word  could  I  understand,  so  read  in  the  Bible.  We 
went  to  a  breakfast  in  the  beautiful  hall  at  Merton :  Mr. 
Wordsworth  was  there,  grown  much  older." 

"  Clay  don,  16  June,  1839. — I  have  felt  every  moment  that 
this  is  a  house  I  should  like  to  stay  in :  that  I  felt  too  at  the 
Provost  of  Oriel's,  for  he  and  his  wife  are  both  good,  and 
kind,  and  intelligent,  and  there  is  no  tittle-tattle  in  the  house, 
and  much  lively  interest  in  all  good  things.  But  here  there 
is  more  freshness  of  existence :  Sir  Harry  and  Lady  Verney 
are  both  so  happy  in  bodily  and  mental  activity.  There  is 
a  small,  reasonable  establishment,  no  display  in  anything, 
but  every  comfort  and  rational  refinement This  morn- 
ing opens  beautifully  on  fine  trees,  turf,  a  piece  of  water, 
and  an  old  church.  I  close  to  go  to  morning-prayers." 


510        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"  Foxhow,  21  June,  1839. — Here  I  am,  my  own  dearest 
Mother,  at  the  end  of  the  world !  It  is  so  like  a  dream, 
that  this  immense  journey  should  have  been  performed  in 
so  few  hours,  that  I  am  obliged  to  recall  my  thoughts  to 
be  sure  what  the  details  were.  Sure  it  is  that,  after 
luncheon  at  12  at  Eugby,  we  walked  to  the  Eailway  Station, 
I  in  state,  having  one  grown-up  son  to  carry  my  shawl, 
and  another  still  taller  to  carry  my  basket.  Not  till  two  did 
the  hissing  dragon  drag  us  forth  in  his  tail ;  but  we  could 
have  been  at  Preston  much  earlier,  if  it  had  not  been  that 
the  dragon  got  loose,  and  slid  on  by  itself  to  Preston,  leav- 
ing his  tail  to  follow  as  it  could,  which  it  did  by  means  of 
the  impulse  already  communicated,  as  long  as  there  was 
slope  downwards,  but  stopped  at  last,  when,  after  half  an 
hour's  trouble,  the  dragon  was  harnessed  on  again. 

"After  breakfast  yesterday,  our  immense  caravan  of 
twenty-twt)  persons  was  forwarded  in  different  carriages 
or  by  canal-boat.  The  journey  was  delicious — and  my 
Mother  will  guess  how  it  struck  me  to  see  that  fine  Lan- 
caster again,  with  the  noble  church  and  castle  on  its  hill, 
the  fine  solid  grey-stone  buildings,  and  the  broad  river  and 
sea :  and  she  will  imagine  how  beautiful  the  country  was> 
in  this  season,  gradually  entering  the  defiles,  and  at  last 
coming  upon  all  the  beauty  of  Windermere.  At  a  quarter 
before  five,  we  reached  this  beautiful  spot,  and  could 
sympathise  in  the  joy  with  which  it  was  greeted  by  the 
Arnolds. 

"  26  June. — I  have  had  a  beautiful  walk  this  evening,  to 
drink  tea  with  the  Wordsworths,  when  Mr.  Wordsworth 
took  us  to  see  the  Hydal  waterfalls  in  Lady  Fleming's 
park.  This  country  is  most  enjoyable,  and  I  shall  over 


THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.        511 

look  back  with  pleasure  to  the  last  week,  in  which  I  can 
only  say  the  impression  before  made  by  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Arnold  has  been  deepened,  not  altered.  Their  charms 
stand  the  test  of  a  journey  together,  and  very  close  contact 
in  a  country-residence  :  and  the  good  temper,  good  dispo- 
sitions, habits  of  activity  and  obedience,  in  the  children, 
deserve  all  credit." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  2  July,  1839. — I  am  at  present  transported  about  from 
place  to  place  as  if  upon  the  enchanted  carpet  of  the 
Arabian  Nights,  and  have  to  reflect  where  I  really  am, 
lest  I  should  write  the  wrong  date.  To  the  best  of  my 
judgment  and  recollection,  I  am  just  now  at  Foxhow, 
with  the  Arnolds  in  full  number,  and  my  own  George,  who 
has  made  out  his  own  long  way  from  Schulpforte  to  Berlin, 
to  Hamburgh,  to  London,  whence  after  having  been 
received  and  shown  about  by  Lepsius,  Gerhard,  the 
Puseys,  and  my  sister,  he  was  accompanied  by  Caspar 
to  meet  us  on  the  railway  between  London  and  Eugby. 
Henry  enjoyed  being  at  Clay  don  with  us,  not  only 
because  it  was  a  most  enjoyable  thing  in  itself,  but  also 
because  he  was  glad  his  Father  should  see  a  Whig  family 
in  every  respect  exemplary,  and  filling  every  relation 
to  God  and  man,  as  completely  as  any  Tory  family 
by  which  he  has  been  edified  since  we  came  to  England. 
We  are  all  of  opinion  that  you  did  not  say  a  word  more 
than  the  merits  of  Lady  Yerney's  talents  and  agreeable 
qualities  deserve,  and  Sir  Harry  pervades  his  household 
and  family  with  a  spirit  of  order,  harmony,  and  kindliness, 
such  as  can  issue  from  no  commonplace  mind.  He  has  the 


512         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

immense  charge  of  a  large  estate  (30  English  miles  square), 
an  enormous  mansion,  and  three  villages  thickly  populated 
with  the  poorer  orders  :  nothing  is  sacrificed  to  mere  show, 
and  there  is  every  sign  that  the  indulgent  master  not  only 
commands,  but  directs  the  whole — another  proof  of  what  I 
have  always  heard,  that  military  persons  always  keep  up 
the  habits  of  order  and  arrangement  in  their  families, 
whereas  naval  officers,  when  once  the  strict  rule  of  ship- 
discipline  is  removed,  know  not  how  to  keep  anything 
within  any  bounds  whatever.  The  dear  little  Lady  looks 
like  the  elder  sister  of  the  three  lovely  children  she  so 

carefully  manages Claydon  is  a  fine  park,  with  a 

piece  of  clear  water — artificial,  but  not  appearing  so,  noblo 
trees,  and  fine  turf,  but  no  other  beauty  of  country.  Now 
I  must  leave  this  attractive  subject,  to  tell  you  of  another 
house  in  which  you  are  most  affectionately  remembered — 
that  of  Lady  Baffles,  in  which  we  spent  almost  five  days. 
She  looks  down  from  a  height,  over  green  slopes  and  fine 
groups  of  trees,  upon  a  broad  and  fertile  expanse  of  wood 
and  cultivated  ground,  bounded  by  the  heights  upon  which 
Harrow  is  situated  and  which  are  crowned  by  its  church 
spire.  We  had  the  most  delightful  weather,  and  those  days, 
in  her  society,  were  perfectly  ideal.  She  ever  deepens  the 
first  impression  she  made,  and  the  more  opportunity  one 
has  of  contemplating  her  on  all  sides,  the  more  perfect 
is  the  effect  produced  of  completeness  of  grace,  dignity, 
and  proportion.  Ella  is  good  and  pleasing  and  her  head 
very  handsome. 

"  Of  Cambridge,  I  must  say  that  it  is  traduced,  when 
people  place  it  so  far  below  Oxford;  the  general  effect 
is  certainly  inferior,  because  the  town  is  shabbier,  and 


TILE    FIRST    RETURN    TO    ENGLAND.  513 

the  situation  uninteresting :  but  the  fine  things  of  Cam- 
bridge are  finer  than  anything  in  Oxford,  and  the  view 
of  the  principal  range  of  colleges  from  the  gardens  and 
avenues  quite  unparalleled.  At  Oxford  we  staid  a  week — 
enjoyed  a  quiet  Sunday,  and  had  time  on  Monday  to  go 
to  Blenheim,  and  see  the  Marlborough  Kaffaelle,  before 
the  Commemoration  festivities  began.  Of  these  we  only 
attended  one  concert  of  Sacred  Music,  besides  the  grand 
day  in  the  Theatre — but  daily  dinner  parties  and  luncheon 
parties  kept  us  on  the  full  stretch,  and  if  Claydon  had  not 
been  in  itself  so  delightful,  it  would  have  seemed  so  as 
affording  rest  and  quiet.  The  Theatre  at  Oxford  was  a 
grand  sight,  independent  of  the  extreme  interest  to 
myself  of  witnessing  my  husband's  reception,  with  the 
loud-repeated  and  continued  plaudits  of  the  university- 
public.  Only  Wordsworth  met  with  more  applause  than 
he  did.  I  must  try  to  give  an  idea  of  the  originality  of  the 
scene.  Imagine  the  Theatre  a  fine  building,  by  Sir 
Christopher  Wren — middle  galleries  filled  with  ladies,  all 
with  fine  clothes  and  many  with  fine  faces  :  upper  galleries 
filled  with  under-graduates — Studenten,  in  picturesque  black 
gowns :  ground-floor  full  of  masters  of  arts,  men-strangers, 
and  a  remnant  of  ladies  :  raised  semicircle  of  doctors,  be- 
hind which  ladies  admitted  to  posts  of  distinction — fra 
rattre,  serva  sua  umilissima:  among  the  doctors,  Sir  T. 
Acland,  Lockhart,  and  others,  sons  of  the  University,  and 
returning  per  il  lacia-mano  deW  onorata  Madre, — in  other 
words,  making  their  visit  on  a  gala-day.  Some  time 
were  we  assembled,  however,  before  the  doctors  in  proces- 
sion, headed  by  the  Yice-Chancellors,  took  their  seats :  and 
that  time  was  employed  by  the  undergraduates  in  showing 
VOL.  I.  L  L 


514         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

themselves  to  be  at  home — cheering  l  the  Ladies — all  the 
Ladies — the  blue  bonnets — the  pink  bonnets/  &c.,  with 
deafening  clamour,  turned  afterwards  upon  public  cha- 
racters, who  fared  ill  or  well  according  to  the  Tory 
estimate.  When  the  doctors  marched  in,  our  excellent 
Dr.  Arnold  was  greeted  as  he  deserved — a  great  triumph  in 
the  Tory-university.  Having  taken  their  places,  the  Vice- 
Chancellor  made  a  Latin  speech,  proposing  the  various 
candidates  for  honours,  and  when  he  had  finished,  the  said 
candidates  entered  in  procession,  headed  by  Dr.  Phillimore, 
Professor  of  Civil  Law,  who  spoke  himself  hoarse  in  Latin, 
presenting  each  person  and  his  merits  to  the  notice  of  the 
University.  Lord  Eipon,  Sir  J.  Herschel,  my  husband — 
were  the  first  1  then  followed  others,  military,  naval,  and 
poetical ;  all  with  uniforms,  if  they  had  such,  and  the  scarlet 
doctor' s-gown  put  on  under  their  epaulettes,  envelop- 
ing them  with  the  dignity  of  Rembrandt's  Burgomasters. 
The  Yice-Chancellor,  after  hearing  the  introductory  speech, 
rose  and  announced  to  each  favoured  person  in  turn  the 
honour  granted,  and  thereupon  that  person  took  his  place 
next  to  the  other  doctors.  The  Vice-Chancellor  is  a  fine- 
looking  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  admitted,  the  young  men  who  had  obtained  prizes 
recited  their  poems  and  essays — one  of  a  sort,  Latin  and 
English.  This  was  rather  long,  for  those  already  fatigued 
with  over-excitement:  but  the  English  poem  interested 
me,  on  the  Superstitions  of  India,  and  their  fall  before 
the  Cross — by  Buskin,  a  young  man  of  promise.  They 
tell  me  too  the  Latin  was  good,  by  Arthur  Stanley,  a  pupil 


THE  FIRST  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND.        515 

i 

of  Arnold.  That  Oxford  is  a  wondrous  place,  and  it  is 
indescribably  interesting  to  be  there  some  days,  in  that 
college-stillness,  surrounded  with  noble  buildings." 

To  the  quiet  time  of  her  sojourn  at  Llano ver,  belong 
the  following  fragments  of  letters  from  Madame 
Bunsen : — 

To  her  AUNT,  MRS.  EAM. 

"  I  value  old  friends  more  than  I  ever  did — for  I  have, 
in  the  last  few  years,  lost  so  many  of  those  I  on  all  grounds 
loved ; — and  at  my  age,  I  get  no  new  friends.  The  younger 
people  are  not  looking  back  to  those  they  think  are  near 
the  close  of  their  course.  This  is  right.  It  is  well  that  one 
tie  after  another  should  be  cut,  that  we  may  be  the  more 
ready  to  fly  up.  It  helps  us  to  realize  the  coming  world, 
when  we  think  of  those  we  loved  and  valued  that  are  gone 
before.  We  know  them  to  be  where  Death  does  not 
separate  them  from  the  Love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus ;  and  we  can  say  of  them,  as  Jesus  said  of  Abraham, 
and  '  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living.' 
.They  live ! — that  knowledge  strengthens  our  apprehension 
of  the  country,  to  which  we  are  all  journeying.  And 
whilst  our  chief  desire  should  be,  to  be  with  Jesus,  it  is  a 
feeling  of  the  same  kind  which  leads  us  to  hope  to  be  with 
those  beloved  ones,  who  in  company  with  us,  joined  Jesus 
here." 

"  It  is  in  vain  to  speak  against  feeling.  To  lose  a  person 
that  has  ever  loved  one,  during  the  whole  of  a  long  con- 
nexion, is  always  most  bitter,  however  many  be  the  hearts 
that  still  remain  :  but  perhaps  the  bitterest  of  all  sensations, 


516         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEN. 

on  such  occasions  of  separation  by  death,  is  the  renewed 
consciousness  of  other  similar  separations, — the  rousing  of 
sorrows  that  slumbered, — and  the  being  reminded  how 
many  connexions  of  friendship  and  affection  belong  alto- 
gether to  the  past, — and  as  far  as  this  world  is  concerned, 
are  at  an  end!  The  sting  of  grief  indeed  is  taken  out 
by  the  consideration  that  those  connexions  which  had  an 
everlasting  basis,  may  well  be  reckoned  upon  to  endure 
everlastingly :  but  the  grief  itself  remains,  only  He,  who 
was  made  like  unto  us  in  all  things,  sin  only  excepted,  has 
sanctified  it, — by  His  sympathy." 


END  or  VOL.  i. 


CHAPTER  T. 

BERNE. 

"  *  Livo  while  you  live,'  the  epicure  would  say, 
'  And  seize  the  pleasures  of  the  present  day.' 
1  Live  while  you  live,'  the  sacred  preacher  cries, 
'And  give  to  God  each  moment  as  it  flics. 
Lord,  in  my  views  let  hoth  united  "be ; 
I  live  in  pleasure  when  I  live  to  Thee." 

DODDRIDGE. 

TN  July,  1839,  Bunsen  mentions  in  the  "notes"  of 
-*•  his  life  that  it  was  owing  to  "  the  pressing  solicita- 
tions of  the  Crown  Prince  for  an  appointment  for  him, 
the  persevering  hatred  of  his  opponents,  and  the  faithful 
goodwill  of  the  King,"  that  he  was  nominated  to  the  post 
of  Envoy-Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
from  the  King  of  Prussia  to  the  Swiss  Republic,  the 
remarkable  direction  for  his  conduct,  annexed  to  the 
appointment,  being,  that  he  was  to  do — nothing.  On 
the  28th  of  October  he  left  England  with  his  family  to 
take  up  his  residence  at  Berne,  where  they  were  fortu- 
nate in  being  able  to  obtain,  through  the  then  English 
Minister,  their  valued  friend  David  Morier,  a  home  at 
the  Hubel — "a  solitary  country-house,  situated  upon 
VOL.  IT.  B 


2  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

its  own  Kill,  looking  across  richly- wooded  and  culti- 
vated tracts  of  country  towards  the  entire  group  of  the 
summits  of  the  Bernese  Obeiiand,  in  their  eternal 


MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"  JJerne,  4  Jan.,  1840. — I  can  now  tell  you  something  of 
the  state  of  things  surrounding  us.  The  present  is  a 
glorious  winter-day.  The  sun  shines  into  the  well- warmed 
room,  the  sky  cannot  he  clearer  with  you :  this  morning  I 
saw,  at  half -past  six,  the  day  break  behind  the  range  of 
the  Alps,  Venus,  and  the  Comet,  all  together,  all  brilliant, 
but  the  new  appearance  not  worth  the  old  ones.  I  am 
very  thankful  for  our  present  establishment  here,  and 
there  is  nothing  disturbing  about  it  but  the  idea  of  its 
being  only  provisional,  and  destined  to  short  duration. 
The  house  is  very  comfortably  arranged,  and  the  smallness 
of  the  space  is  a  thing  one  gets  accustomed  to  :  we  receive 
all  the  sunshine,  have  dry  gravel-walks  within  our  own 
grounds,  and  delightful  walks  and  drives  in  various  direc- 
tions. We  have  our  time  almost  entirely  to  ourselves,  with 
scarcely  any  interruption  from  visitors  or  invitations:  the 
little  we  have  seen  of  the  Bernese  patricians  we  like,  but 
we  are  not  likely  to  be  much  disturbed  by  them,  as  they 
are  greatly  out  of  spirits  from  their  present  state  of  pro- 
scription :  the  members  of  the  present  government  seek  not 
after  strangers,  and  one  great  diner  diplomatique  given  by 
the  Landamann  (an  extraordinary  occurrence  in  honour 
of  my  husband)  is  the  only  official  meeting,  besides  morn- 
ing visits,  that  has  taken  place.  We  find  here  masters  for 
(ho  children,  and  Charles  the  younger  is  with  us  and  in  very 


UKRNE.  3 


good  hands,  having  four  days  in  the  week  lessons  from  the 
Pfarrer  Ziegler,  an  old  friend  and  fellow- student  of  his 
father's,  and  a  very  distinguished  man.  In  a  few  days 
more  we  must  part  again  from  my  dear  Ernest,  whom  it 
will  be  very  hard  to  do  without,  he  having  twined  himself 
closer  than  ever  round  our  hearts,  and  being  the  sunshine 
of  the  house,  ever  gay,  good-tempered,  affectionate,  and 
helpful. 

"  The  last  night  I  passed  in  England  was  at  Salisbury, 
in  the  Bishop's  Palace,  close  to  the  fine  cathedral,  having 
the  pleasure  in  that  short  visit,  of  seeing  our  dear  Miss 
Seymer,  as  Mrs.  Denison,  situated  as  we  could  wish 
her  to  be,  and  with  every  prospect  of  happiness.  My 
Mother  took  charge  of  the  children  and  accompanied  us  to 
the  place  of  embarkation.  In  the  sorrow  of  parting,  we 
had  the  comfort  of  feeling  that  we  should  not  be  so  far  off, 
but  that  we  may  anticipate  her  coming  to  see  us.  My 
sister  and  Augusta  Charlotte  saw  us  on  board,  and  I  was 
much  touched  with  my  sister's  kindness.  Between  Havre 
and  Paris  we  spent  a  day  at  Rouen,  and  enjoyed  the  sight 
of  much  fine  gothic  architecture,  with  a  renewal  of  ac- 
quaintance with  two  good  cousins  of  mine,*  whom  I  had 
not  seen  since  their  childhood.  At  Paris  we  passed  twelve 
cheerful  and  untroubled  days,  and  took  in  a  store  of 
images  for  agreeable  recollection  in  the  Bibliotheque,  the 
Louvre,  St.  Denis,  and  Versailles :  my  husband  found  in 
the  library  manuscripts  and  works  of  the  greatest  liturgical 
interest,  and  he  and  Lepsius  worked  hard  together.  A 

*  Thomas  Waddington,  the  elder  of  these  two  brothers,  who  resided 
at  St.  Leger  near  Eouen,  and  died  in  1868,  was  father  to  William 
Henry  Waddington,  French  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 


LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSKN. 


ricKly-stored  year  has  now  closed  upon  us :  we  watched  for 
the  beginning  of  the  new  one,  with  Ernest  and  Charles, 
and  the  clocks  of  the  towers  of  Berne  announced  that 
moment  to  us,  instead  of,  as  last  year,  the  bells  of  Llanover 
church,  and  for  many  years  before,  the  bell  of  the  Capitol. 
You  were  present  then  to  our  thoughts,  and  we  reckoned 
upon  not  having  been  forgotten  by  you.  May  the  new  year 
give,  strengthen,  and  preserve  in  Us  all  the  power  and 
will  to  profit  by  its  lessons  and  warnings,  to  enjoy  its  sun- 
shine, and  face  its  storms !  " 

"Berne,  23  March,  1840. — The  winter  has  been  so  fine, 
and  our  situation  and  position  in  every  respect  so  ideally 
desirable,  that  I  could  wish  to  fix  and  hold  fast  the  passing 
week  and  passing  month  more  than  ever :  and  much  as 
people  talk  of  the  beauty  of  summer  in  this  magnificent 
country,  I  never  felt  less  longing  after  it,  or  less  to  miss 
verdure  and  foliage,  the  charms  of  which  will  possibly  be 
at  the  expense  of  the  crystal- clearness  of  the  Alps,  which 
we  have  enjoyed  for  near  two  months.  "We  have  at  last 
jumbled  ourselves  and  our  belongings  into  proper  places, 
so  as  to  be  quite  happy  in  this  house  :  my  husband  never 
was  so  comfortable  before — his  library  all  arranged  in  a 
sunny  room  that  just  holds  it,  with  sofa,  table,  and  stand- 
ing-desk for  himself  and  his  literary  occupations ;  while 
another  room  contains  all  that  belongs  to  official  business 
and  correspondence.  He  is  full  of  activity  of  head  and 
hand,  taking  full  advantage  of  this  delicious  quiet." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

u  Easter  Monday,  20  April,  1840. — I  trust  my  dear  George 
has  not  been  so  exclusively  occupied  by  tasks  and  study, 


BERNE. 


as  not  to  have  liad  leisure  during  the  last  week  to  follow 
tlie  history  of  our  Saviour  step  by  step,  and  keep  his  heart 
and  mind  open  to  all  the  healing  influences  of  such  a 
subject  of  contemplation,  assisted  by  those  beautiful  hymns 
which  he  has  so  often  sung  with  us.  May  a  blessing  be 
granted  to  your  best  endeavours  after  '  that  holiness,  with- 
out which  no  one  can  see  the  Lord,'  my  dearest  George, — 
and  may  the  feelings  excited  during  the  late  period  of  serious 
application  to  things  sacred,  become  a  habit  of  your  mind, 
and  not  matter  of  transient  excitement!  In  particular, 
I  wish  you,  for  your  earthly  happiness,  as  well  as  for  your 
Christian  perfection,  to  be  enabled  practically  to  exercise 
that  humility  of  spirit,  which  is  the  only  antidote  to  the 
miseries  of  self-compassion ;  which  calls  nothing  its  own, 
and  accepts  everything  that  life  brings  as  a  boon  from  the 
hand  of  a  merciful  Father,  intended  for  your  good,  and 
which  can  only  fail  to  benefit  you,  if  perverted  by 
your  own  misuse  :  which  will  ever  make  you,  not  only  in 
word,  but  in  fact,  pronounce  yourself,  '  less  than  the  least 
of  God's  mercies,  and  greater  than  the  greatest  of  His 
judgments.'  This  appears  in  words  very  simple,  but  to 
the  proud  heart  the  practice  of  it  is  difficult.  "What  Chris- 
tian can  dispute  the  fact,  that  at  the  hand  of  God  we 
deserve  only  judgment,  and  can  lay  claim  to  no  comfort, 
pleasure,  alleviation,  credit,  honour,  or  whatever  it  may 
be  that  our  soul  longs  after  ?  what  Christian,  I  mean,  who 
has  ever  looked  into  his  own  heart,  examined  the  springs 
of  his  own  best  actions,  and  scrutinized  the  '  iniquities  of 
his  holy  things  '  ?  And  yet,  whenever  we  complain,  are 
cast  down,  or  discontented,  wo  sin  against  that  conviction  : 
and  when  that  conviction  becomes  the  ruling  temper  of 


LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    EUNSEX. 

our  minds,  nothing  else  is  wanting  to  make  us  not  only 
satisfied,  but  full  of  courage  and  thankfulness,  under 
whatever  dispensation:  for  as  soon  as  the  paternal  cha- 
racter of  God  is  once  fully  and  freely  acknowledged,  we 
also  know  that  He  '  does  not  willingly  grieve  the  children 
of  men,'  and  that  as  soon  as  the  object  of  trial  is  attained 
in  us,  the  trial  will  assuredly  be  taken  away." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"21  May,  1840. — You  will  have  learned  before  this 
reaches  you,  that  Lady  Baffles  has  been  deprived  of  her 
last  treasure !  her  last  tie  to  earth ! — Next  week  a  year 
will  have  elapsed  since  we  passed  five  happy  days  with 
her  at  Highwood — when  her  precious  Ella,  though  serious 
to  an  unusual  degree  for  a  creature  so  young  in  health 
and  happiness,  yet  appeared  as  likely  to  live  as  any  one 
of  the  party  there  assembled !  and  equally  well  did  she 
continue  the  rest  of  the  year,  and  with  equal  prospect  of 
lengthened  life.  In  February  she  broke  a  blood-vessel, 
and  her  case  from  the  first  seems  to  have  been  hopeless : 
it  was  less  disease  than  a  cessation  of  vitality.  We  heard  of 
this,  and  wrote  to  her  dear  mother,  whose  letter  expressed 
all  the  wretchedness,  and  all  the  perfection  of  resigna- 
tion, that  we  anticipated.  Ella  suffered  little,  and  expired 
without  a  struggle  on  the  8th  of  May.  Since  then,  wo 
know  little  of  Lady  Eaffles,  but  what  we  should  have  been 
sure  of  without  a  letter,  that  she  submits  and  resists  not. 
....  Perhaps  you  have  not  heard  that  Sir  Harry  and 
Lady  Yerney  have  lost  their  infant  daughter.  I  saw  the 
name  casually  among  the  list  in  the  newspaper  and  wrote 
to  Lady  Yerney,  from  whom  I  have  had  an  answer  worthy 


BERNE. 


of  herself,  feeling  deeply  and  not  shrinking  from  the 
smart,  bringing  right  convictions  practically  to  bear  upon 
the  real  evils  of  life,  neither  pitying  herself  nor  seeking  to 
be  compassionated.  Our  visits  to  her  and  Lady  Baffles 
are  among  the  bright  points  in  my  last  year's  recollections, 
and  alas !  death  and  sorrow  have  overcast  each  friendly 
roof  since  we  left  them,  while  we  are  spared,  and  allowed 
this  delicious  place  of  rest,  refuge,  leisure,  comfort,  and 
enjoyment! " 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"fierne,  30  May,  1840.— At  last  M.  de  Thile*  is  returned, 
having  been  as  usual  long  detained  at  Berlin,  from  whence 
nobody  gets  away  as  soon  as  they  intend.  He  has  brought 
a  unique  packet  from  the  Crown  Prince — inscribed  '  A 
long  letter  and  a  short  one  for  Eriend  Bunsen,'  containing 
twenty  closely- written  pages  !  and  enclosed  in  a  leather  port- 
folio, with  a  lock,  which  he  sought  out  among  his  things 
in  M.  de  Thile' s  presence,  by  way  of  an  envelope,  and 
charged  him  to  tell  Charles  was  sent  him  into  the  bargain. 
The  letter  is  a  commentary  on  the  volumes  sent  by  Charles 
at  the  end  of  last  year — inimitably  clever,  and  satisfactory 
beyond  expression,  as  showing  his  satisfaction  :  and  there 
are  expressions  of  general  convictions  and  views,  that 
would  do  my  Mother's  heart  good  if  she  could  hear  them, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  kindness. 

"M.  de  Thile  brought  a  confirmation  of  all  the  reports 

that  have  lately  reached  us  of  the  very  precarious  state  of 

the  King's  f  health,  the  more  alarming,  because  there  is  no 

tangible  disease,  but  absolute  loss  of  strength,  in  a  person 

*  Secretary  of  Legation.  f  Frederick  William  III. 


8  LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

formerly  so  robust.  He  is  said  to  be  under  a  strong 
impression  himself  that  he  will  not  outlive  this  year, 
probably  from  the  general  impression  that  the  year  '40 
cannot  pass  without  some  remarkable  event  to  the  Prussian 
monarchy — as  it  has  been  a  fated  year  for  the  dynasty 
ever  since  the  thirteenth  century :  the  event  of  the  last 
century  having  been  the  accession  of  Frederic  the  Great." 
"  13  June. — You  will  have  received  the  intelligence  of 
the  King's  death  as  soon  as  we  have  done.  I  shall  not 
attempt  to  express  the  world  of  feelings  which  the  near 
anticipation  of  this  event  has  caused,  for  my  Mother  will 
rightly  judge  of  them.  But  we  feel,  what  we  have  expe- 
rienced before,  that  however  death  may  be  anticipated, 
one  is  never  prepared  for  it :  and  the  consciousness  that 
the  eye  is  closed,  which  beamed  in  so  much  kindness  ;  the 
hand  cold,  from  which  so  many  benefits  have  been 
received ;  and  the  spirit  fled  from  this  earth,  which  ope- 
rated much  good,  and  willed  nothing  but  good,  during 
the  long  course  of  its  union  with  the  body,  fell  with  force 
undiminished.  Charles  feels  that  a  period  of  his  own  life 
is  closed,  and  any  crisis  which  calls  upon  us  to  be  aware 
that  the  past  is  quite  passed  away,  is  awful !  He  has  lost 
not  only  his  beneficent  sovereign,  his  paternal  benefactor, 
but  the  Crown  Prince  whose  friendship  equalised  the 
difference  of  rank  and  condition  :  for  whatever  the  present 
King  may  be  to  him,  he  must  in  the  nature  of  things  be 
somewhat  different  to  what  he  has  been.  The  value  is,  if 
possible,  increased  of  that  unequalled  letter,  or  rather 
volume,  received  only  so  few  days  since  !  and  to  various  parts 
of  which  Charles  had  been  writing  a  succession  of  letters 
in  answer,  up  to  the  day  which  announced  the  necessity  of 


BERNE.  9 


a  close.  Everything  we  have  learnt  of  the  King's  last 
illness  has  been  most  edifying  :  the  most  perfect  mildness 
and  composure,  and  kindness  to  everybody,  and  constant 
consideration  of  others,  desiring  that  nobody  should  be 
disturbed  or  inconvenienced.  His  physicians  had  ordered, 
to  prevent  the  King's  being  disturbed  by  the  noise  of 
a  pump  in  the  courtyard  (much  frequented  on  account  of 
the  good  quality  of  the  water,  by  the  King's  express 
permission),  that  the  public  should  be  excluded  from  it.  He 
immediately  observed  that  the  well-known  creaking  had 
ceased,  and  desired  nobody  should  be  prevented  fetching 
water  there,  saying  'those  that  liked  the  water,  might 
have  what  they  liked,  as  much  as  ever.'  The  guard  had 
been  ordered  to  be  relieved  without  the  usual  music,  but 
ho  immediately  commented,  and  desired  that  the  band 
might  regularly  play  as  before.  Only  a  day  or  two  before 
he  was  confined  to  his  bed,  he  found  fault  with  the  person 
authorised  to  lay  petitions  on  his  table,  on  account  of  the 
unusually  small  number,  saying  ho  was  sure  they  were 
kept  back,  in  order  that  he  might  not  be  fatigued  with 
hearing  them  read,  but  that  he  would  have  them  pre- 
sented, as  long  as  he  was  able  to  hear  them.  His  last  act 
of  government  was  ordering  the  whole  ceremonial  of 
laying  the  corner-stone  of  an  equestrian  statue  of  Frederic 
the  Great,  on  the  secular  anniversary  of  his  accession,  the 
31st  of  May — on  which  day  however  the  King  was  too 
weak  to  view  the  procession  from  his  window,  as  he  had 
intended,  and  was  obliged  to  remain  in  bed.  Shortly  after 
this  he  desired  the  Crown  Prince  to  take  every  measure  to 
prevent  any  delay  in  the  disposal  of  public  business,  thus 
solemnly  resigning  it  into  his  hands.  His  last  act  ol 


10  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

visible  consciousness  was  at  two  in  the  morning  of  "Whit- 
Sunday,  7  June — he  stretched  his  hand  out  towards  the 
Crown  Prince,  laying  it  flat  on  the  bed :  the  Crown  Prince 
laid  his  hand  upon  that  of  his  father  :  the  King  laid  the 
other  hand  upon  that  of  his  son,  looked  at  him,  raised  his 
eyes  to  heaven,  and  then  closed  them  for  ever  in  this 
world :  though  death  did  not  take  place  for  twelve  hours 
afterwards.  He  had  been  aware  he  was  dying  longer 
than  any  one  else,  and  every  word  and  act  indicating  the 
state  of  his  mind,  was  such  as  might  prompt  the  ejacula- 
tion, '  Let  my  last  end  be  like  his  ' — it  was  '  the  death  of 
the  righteous '  in  a  Christian  sense.  He  said  on  the  4th 
June — '  I  know  in  whom  I  have  trusted — I  resign  myself 
into  the  hands  of  my  Saviour  and  my  God.* 

"  My  own  Mother,  we  always  want  you,  but  never  more 
desire  your  presence  than  in  these  times  of  deep  emotion, 
knowing  how  you  would  enter  into  all  that  moves  us. 
M.  Hollweg  is  come  to  us  from  Geneva  for  a  day  or  two, 
the  same  agreeable  inmate  as  ever,  wanting  to  talk 
over  with  Charles  all  that  interests  botji,  as  much  as 
C.  wanted  communication  with  him :  otherwise  we  have 
enjoyed  the  perfect  quiet  in  which  we  have  been 
allowed  to  remain  during  this  important  period.  0 ! 
what  glorious  summer  weather  !  what  perfume  of  acacias, 
syringas,  and  hay-making !  I  wish  I  could  draw  all  the 
subjects  I  see  worth  drawing,  and  most  of  all  the  scene 
yesterday  afternoon  in  the  garden — a  seat  all  round  an 
enormous  apple-tree,  which  casts  a  shade  all  round — and 
partly  on  the  seat,  partly  on  the  grass,  were,  your  queen* 

*  Mrs.  Waddington's  term  of  endearment  for  her  infant  grand' 
daughter  Augusta  Matilda. 


BERNE.  11 


dividing  her  attention  between  the  education  of  her  dolls 
and  three  puppy-dogs  ;  Emilia  and  Theodore  each  with  a 
rabbit ;  Mary  and  Theodora  busied  with  the  ass  fastened  to 
the  little  carriage ;  Mrs.  Adler,*  two  maids,  and  a  great 
dog,  mother  of  the  aforesaid  puppies.  At  present  your 
queen  is  putting  dandelion-leaves  and  grass  and  stones  in 
the  dolls'  plates,  and  offering  that  to  the  dogs  for  their 
breakfast." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"23  June,  1840. — We  have  been,  and  are  living  in 
oscillation  of  emotions.  You  will  judge  of  the  multitude 
of  feelings  called  forth  by  the  good  King's  last  illness  arid 
death.  I  trust  all  the  touching  and  edifying  circum- 
stances attending  it  will  have  reached  you,  and  then  your 
sensations  will  have  kept  pace  with  ours.  Truly  thankful 
we  have  been  for  the  perfect  quiet  in  which  we  have  been 
allowed  to  pass  this  period  of  internal  agitation — which 
never  happened  to  me  before.  I  have  gone  through  many 
an  occasion  of  strong  emotion,  under  the  continual  incur- 
sion of  things  indifferent  and  external,  which  compelled  a 
divided  attention ;  but  this  time  we  were  in  peace  the 
most  perfect,  in  an  enjoyment  of  summer  such  as  we  never 
had  before,  not  having  been  withheld  by  fear  of  atmo- 
spheric influences  from  sitting  out  in  the  garden,  enjoying 
the  perfume  of  blossoms,  and  the  magnificence  of  forms 
and  colouring  in  landscape." 

"  4  August,  1840. — A  trait  of  the  late  King  not  gene- 
rally known,  dates  in  the  year  1821,  when  after  having 

*  A  native  of  Llanovcr,  the  nurso  provided  by  Mrs.  "Waddington 
for  Augusta  Matilda. 


12  LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

broken  his  leg,  lie  had  a  very  painful  sleepless  night, 
after  which,  the  first  thing  in  the  morning,  he  dictated  an 
order  to  the  Commander  of  the  fortress  of  Spandau,  for 
the  immediate  liberation  of  a  state-prisoner,  who  had  been 
condemned  to  imprisonment  for  publishing  seditious  libels 
against  the  King  himself.  The  Ministers  could  so  little 
comprehend  this  act  of  grace,  to  which  the  culprit  had  no 
claim,  that  one  of  them  ventured  to  contrive  a  form  of  asking 
a  question  as  to  the  motive,  when  the  King  gave  them  to 
understand,  in  one  of  his  significant  broken  sentences, 
that  having  been  in  pain  and  sleepless,  he  had  considered 
what  pain  or  distress  there  might  be  which  it  was  in  his 
power  to  relieve ;  and  as  the  prisoner  in  question  was 
punished  for  an  offence  personal  to  himself,  he  felt  at 
liberty  to  excuse  him  the  remainder  of  his  punishment. 
I  remember  to  have  been  much  struck  at  hearing  from  the 
late  Count  Yoss  (who  was  in  waiting  at  the  Court  at  the 
terrible  moment  of  the  Queen's  death  in  the  summer  of 
1810)  that  immediately  upon  her  death  the  King  gave 
orders  that  the  younger  children  should  be  placed  in  a 
room  adjoining  his  own  bedchamber,  that  he  might  be 
conscious  in  the  night  that  they  were  safe  and  well.  This 
increase  of  tenderness  in  proportion  to  excess  of  affliction, 
is  not  common  to  human  creatures,  who  are  less  able  to 
look  upon  others  with  compassion,  when  they  are  com- 
passionating themselves.  I  suppose  the  newspapers  must 
have  transmitted  the  fact  of  the  King's  having  given 
orders  in  his  last  illness,  that,  as  soon  as  he  should  have 
expired,  the  Cross  of  the  Black  Eagle  which  was  always 
fastened  upon  his  uniform  should  be  brought  to  his  suc- 
cessor. When  this  was  done,  the  present  King  found  a 


BERNE.  13 


small  miniature  of  the  late  Queen  fixed  at  the  back  of 
the  Cross,  which  his  father  had  put  on  and  off  daily  for  so 
many  years,  and  nobody  had  known  of  his  wearing." 

To  licr  MOTHER. 

"  The  Hulel,  Jterne,  7  Sept.,  1840.— Mademoiselle  Calan- 
drini  has  spent  a  fortnight  with  us,  in  which  we  all  rejoiced 
indescribably:  we  found  her  the  same  invaluable  friend 
that  we  had  parted  from,  and  have  parted  again  in  the 
consciousness  that  the  bond  is  rivetted.  When  she  was 
about  to  return  to  Geneva,  we  took  the  sudden  resolution 
to  go  with  her,  and  thus  see  Geneva  and  make  a  long- 
promised  visit  at  Coppet Dear  Madame  de  Stael 

received  us  at  the  edge  of  the  water.  Her  sister,  Anna 
Vernet,  came  to  Coppet  to  meet  us,  and  we  also  found 
there  Madame  d'Haussonville,  the  only  daughter  of  the 
Duchesso  de  Broglie,  and  her  eldest  son  Albert,*  as  well  as 
the  little  boy  of  five  years  old  who  is  left  in  the  care  of 

Madame  de  Stael We  found  Madame  de  Stacl 

such  as  we  have  ever  known  her,  the  same  intelligence 
and  right  principle,  active  in  the  performance  of  every 
duty,  resigned  and  uncomplaining,  though  ill-health  is 
added  to  the  hard  circumstances  of  her  lot. 

' '  The  village  of  Coppet  is  along  the  edge  of  the  lake, 
and  therefore  well-situated ;  the  chateau  must  have  been 
built  by  somebody  who  wished  to  realise  the  idea  of  a 
country-house  near  Paris, '  without  a  view — for  it  forms 
three  sides  of  a  square,  round  a  court}-ard,  and  the 
windows  only  catch  sight  of  the  lake  over  the  tops  of 

*  The  same  who,  as  Duo  do  Broglie,  was  twice  Prime  Minister  in 
France  under  President  MacMahon. 


14  LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

trees,  planted  to  hide  the  houses  :  there  is  a  large  garden 
or  rather  pleasure-ground,  so  thickly  planted  that  in  damp 
weather  there  .can  be  no  air,  but  with  no  prospect  and  not 
even  a  path  leading  towards  the  lake.  Thus,  though  the 
rooms  are  good,  the  whole  has  an  air  of  gloom,  and  of 
want  of  taste  and  judgment  in  the  original  possessors. 
The  gallery  of  family  portraits  forms  a  most  striking 
assemblage !  Old  Necker  and  his  wife,  as  prosaic  and 
full  of  morgue  as  possible — the  lower  part  of  his  face  so 
weak  as  to  be  offensive,  while  the  upper  is  chiselled  in 
the  manner  of  that  of  his  daughter.  Madame  Necker  in 
full  dress,  showing  herself  and  her  arms  with  perfect 
satisfaction : — an  old  lady  who  had  known  her,  said  to 
Madame  de  Stael — 'Elle  etait  deja  ainsi  dans  une  telle 
toilette,  a  huit  heures  du  matin — jamais  de  sa  vie  n'a-t-elle 
eu  un  instant  de  neglige,  ni  pour  son  corps,  ni  pour  son 
esprit,  ni  pour  son  ame.'  A  finely  painted  portrait  of 
Madame  de  Stael  when  young,  but  the  countenance  less 
interesting  than  when  ive  saw  her :  M.  de  Stael,  the 
Swedish  diplomatist,  in  full  court  dress,  with  a  face  suited 
to  the  costume.  Then  the  images  of  those  in  whom  the 
stream  had  *  worked  itself  clear,  and  as  it  ran,  refined :  ' 
the  Duchesse  de  Broglie  finely  painted  by  Scheffer,  and 
Albertine  de  Stael  in  a  bust,  just  as  we  remember  her — 
very  different  from  the  picture :  Auguste  de  Stael,  and 
the  Due  de  Broglie,  the  latter  a  fine  countenance,  more 
Italian  than  French. 

"  On  Saturday,  29th,  we  went  on  by  steamer  to  Geneva, 
whence  Mr.  Tronchin's  carriage  fetched  us  to  Bessinge,  in  a 
fine  situation,  with  the  view  of  the  lake  on  one  side,  and 
of  the  Mont  Blanc  on  the  other.  We  passed  Monday 


BERNE.  15 


morning  in  seeing  Geneva,  which  is  a  very  fine  town, 
much  handsomer  than  I  expected,  independent  of  the 
magnificent  lake,  and  the  volume  of  blue  waters,  pouring 
forth  as  the  Rhone.  The  image  of  M.  and  Madame 
Tronchin's  life,  their  quiet  unostentatious  activity  in  all 
that  is  good  and  useful,  dedicating  time  and  thought  and 
their  large  income  altogether  to  the  best  objects,  sacri- 
ficing neither  to  self  nor  to  vanity,  will  remain  with  me. 
On  Tuesday  morning  we  parted  with  them  and  with 
Mademoiselle  Calandrini,  and  floated  upon  the  lake  to 
Beaulieu,  M.  Eynard's  place  near  Rolle,  where  we  dined, 
and  proceeded  in  the  evening  by  steamer  to  Lausanne. 
Beaulieu  deserves  the  name — the  house  and  gardens 
complete  in  the  luxury  of  nature,  arranged  with  a  great 
deal  of  taste.  The  Eynards  have  no  children  of  their 
own,  but  have  built  houses  on  their  grounds  for  three 
married  nephews,  and  a  spirit  of  cheerfulness  and  benevo- 
lence prevails  all  around  them  ;  it  is  the  same  M.  Eynard 
who  supplied  the  Greeks  in  their  great  distress  in  such  a 
princely  manner.  From  Lausanne  we  had  a  delightful 
journey  to  Neuchatel,  the  greater  part  on  the  steamer 
upon  the  lake,  the  banks  of  which  I  think  are  not  cele- 
brated enough :  I  half  filled  a  sketch-book  as  we  floated 
on.  "We  had  the  great  pleasure  of  finding  a  son  of  Count 
Groeben  by  the  way  and  we  were  in  the  steamer  from 
Yverdun  to  Neuchatel  with  him  and  Valette.*  Thursday 
we  remained  at  Neuchatel  and  dined  with  the  Governor, 
General  Pfuel.f  Friday  we  returned  home,  seeing  the 

*  Valette,  a  French  Protestant  Minister,  for  many  years  at  Naples, 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  tho  Bunsens.  He  died  as  Pastor  in  Paris, 
much  beloved  by  a  large  circle  of  devoted  hearers. 

fit  will  be  remembered  that  Neuchatel  was  then  and  remained 


16  LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


Moravian  establishment  at  Montmirail  by  the  way,  and 
the  Boman  ruins  at  Avenches  near  Morat,  and  also 
making  a  visit  to  the  Count  and  Countess  Pourtales,  and 
seeing  another  highly-finished  country  house  and  garden, 
with  a  view  of  the  Lake  of  Morat." 

To  ABEKEIST. 

"  19  Nov.,  1840.— We  have  Neukomrn  in  the  house, 
and  he  supplies  our  one  want,  of  music,  most  abundantly. 
We  enjoy  ourselves  every  evening,  and  I  profit  by  the 
leisure  to  finish  up  old  Italian  views,  that  have  waited  for 
such  an  undisturbed  time,  while  he  plays  on  the  organ. 
With  what  feelings  I  resume  such  drawings,  I  might  say, 
if  I  was  not  writing  to  you, — but  as  you  are  capace  of 
writing  to  me, — '  Sie  miissen  Italien  vergessen  haben, 
sonst  wiirden  Sie  die  Schweiz  nich't  so  scho'n  finden ! ' — not 
one  word  shall  you  hear  from  me  of  what  I  like  or  love  in 
the  way  of  country:  only  I  repeat  with  NaMruck  that 
this  is  a  glorious  piece  of  creation  and  that  I  enjoy  the 
sight  of  it  indescribably — and  England  too  I  think  beau- 
tiful, as  bearing  in  parts  the  traces  of  the  Creator's  hand, 
not  yet  washed  away  and  deformed — though  the  scenery 
there  is  not  so  much  to  my  taste  as  this. 

"We  are  now  living  in  hopes  of  getting  dear  Henry 
here,  after  his  examination,  and  are  trying  too  to  get  a 
leave  of  absence  for  Ernest  to  come  here  for  the  winter ; 
— it  would  be  a  great  gift  on  the  way  of  life  to  have  them 

till  1848,  a  principality  by  itself,  the  'sovereign  of  which  was  the  King 
of  Prussia.  General  von  Pfuel,  eminently  distinguished  in  the  French 
Campaign  of  1813 — 15,  was  a  man  of  great  general  culture  and  strong 
Hberal  aspirations.  He  was  for  a  short  time  Prime  Minister  in 
Prussia. 


BERNE.  17 


all  together,  while  we  yet  can !  for  when  Henry  is  fixed 
in  England,  and  Charles  at  Bonn,  we  shall  again  be  all 
astray  over  the  world.  Our  summer  days  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Geneva  were  of  ideal  enjoyment.  "We  made 
the  acquaintance  of  many  admirable  persons,  known 
before  by  name — Galand,  Merle  d'Aubigne,  Gauthier — 
besides  Tronchin,  whose  character,  habits  of  life,  family 
arrangements,  made  a  strong  and  delightful  impression 
upon  us.  At  Neuchatel  too  we  became  acquainted  with 
Pettavel,*  Agassiz  the  naturalist,  Dubois  the  traveller — 
in  short  those  ten  days  were  rich  in  matter  of  delightful 
remembrance." 


To  Jicr  MOTHER. 

"20  Nov.,  1840.— Alas!  my  Mother,  for  all  that  loved 
the  young  Princess  Borghese.f  I  saw  the  account  of  her 
death  in  one  paper,  and  next  day  in  another  that  her 
parents,  had  set  out  towards  Rome  to  spend  the  wintei 
with  her.  I  trust  the  Princess  Doria  will  have  the  care  of 
the  poor  little  children,  who  of  course  will  soon  be  blessed 
with  a  stepmother,  and  who  knows  what  sort  of  a  one  ! 

"Your  darling  is  well  and  good,  and  cultivating  her 
musical  talents — and  when  alone,  teaches  her  dolls  to  sing, 
setting  them  opposite  a  stool,  with  printed  papers  spread 
out  before  them." 

*  Son  of  the  well-known  French  Minister  in  London. 

f  Lady  Gwendoline  Talbot,  daughter  of  the  16th'  Earl  of  Shrews- 
bury, first  wife  of  Marc-Antonio,  Prince  Borghese.  Her  three  sons 
died  within  a  week  of  their 'mother.  Her  only  surviving  child,  Agncse, 
afterwards  married  Rudolpho  Buoncompagni,  Duke  of  Sora.  Her  elder 
sister,  Lady  Mary  Talbot,  was  the  wife  of  Prince  Doria  Pamfili. 

VOL.  II.  C 


18  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  13  Jan.,  1841. — I  have  long  looked  with  an  anxiety 
that  I  could  not  altogether  account  for,  for  your  letter 
which  within  this  half  hour  has  reached  us,  and  now  I 
learn  from  it  that  your  Father  has  been  called  away  !  I 
was  far  from  anticipating  such  a  blow — the  severity  of 
which,  even  in  the  anguish  of  the  fresh  wound,  you  hardly 
can  estimate.  I  speak  feelingly  in  that,  knowing  by  ex- 
perience that  time,  which  is  said  to  wear  away  the  con- 
sciousness of  most  privations,  rather  increases  the  sense  of 
the  loss  of  a  parent.  The  death  of  my  Father  was  a  great 
shock  to  me,  but  at  the  moment  of  the  shock,  I  was  not 
aware  to  what  a  degree  and  in  how  increasing  a  degree,  I 
should  miss  him : — worst  of  all,  how  little  I  should  get 
over  the  pain  of  having  no  further  opportunity  for  offering 
— not  requital  for  the  kindness  of  a  life,  for  that  were 
impossible — but  at  least  those  tokens  of  grateful  affection 
which  are  accepted  in  place  of  deeds.  This  is  a  case, 
indeed,  in  which  I  can  but  grieve  for  you  ! — in  which  I 
know  not  how  to  offer  consolation,  except  that  derived 
from  the  consideration  that  the  harder  it  is  for  you  to  bear 
a  stroke  so  sudden,  the  easier  it  was  for  him :  that  he  was 
spared  all  lingering  suffering,  all  previous  decay — *  one 
moment  perfect  health,  the  next  was  death' — that  you 
too  were  spared  lengthened  anxieties,  the  harder  to  bear 
under  the  consciousness  that  your  Father  had  no  child  left 
to  watch  over  a  long,  last  illness.  I  have  but  to  wish  and 
pray  for  you,  that  you  may  have  grace  to  make  the  use 
intended  of  the  present  bitter  dispensation.  May  you  never 
again  be  tempted  to  contemplate  your  own  position  with 
the  sentiments  which  prompted  your  writing  '  mcin  Lcben 


BERNE.  19 


ist  gehnickt ! '  Believe  me,  you  are  not  at  liberty  to  say 
that !  I  doubt  whether  the  Christian  really  deserving  that 
name,  ever  can  use  the  expression :  at  least  only  then, 
when  bodily  infirmities  havo  combined  with  mental  con- 
vulsions to  check  or  prevent  all  wholesome  activity  of  life. 
But  your  trials, — even  including  this  last  bitter  one,  have 
been  the  clearing  storms  intended  to  dissipate  earthly 
vapours  from  your  horizon — to  remove  the  many-coloured 
exhalations  that  take  such  varying  visionary  forms,  and 
enable  you  to  behold  'God  alone  still  visible  in  heaven.' 
Do  not,  pray,  think  me  harsh  or  unsympathizing  :  indeed 
you  would  be  doing  me  wrong  if  you  could  think  that ; 
I  do  but  as  I  would  be  done  by,  in  reminding  you  that  the 
balm  of  healing  must  not  bo  converted  into  a  poison,  and 
that  which  jshould  be  for  our  good,  must  not  become  an 
occasion  of  falling.  I  thought  of  you  indeed  in  the 
solemn  hour  that  divided  the  old  and  new  year — but  little 
guessed  what  gloom  enwrapped  that  period  to  you.  Had 
I  however  been  aware  of  your  new  title  to  my  affectionate 
sympathy,  I  could  hardly  have  prayed  moro  earnestly, 
that  you  might  bo  enabled  to  work  out  to  the  full  the 
largo  measure  of  gifts,  of  opportunities,  of  qualities,  of 
abilities,  that  has  been  meted  out  to  you ! — and  this  is  but 
a  gift  of  God,  this  affliction, — it  is  his  '  visitation  '  to  '  the 
preserving  of  your  spirit ' — it  is  a  new  opportunity  granted 
you  to  do  what  He  would  have  of  you ! — Deeds,  not  inten- 
tions,— facts,  not  feelings — a  steadfast  will,  not  acts  of 
volition, — a  life,  not  the  aspirations  of  moments  or  hours, 
a  striving  forward,  not  looking  back. — But  alas!  what 
am  I  that  seem  thus  to  preach?  I  am  covered  with 
my  own  confusion,  and  can  but  entreat  you  to  accept  the 


20  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BAROXESS    BTJNSEN. 

fragmentary  effusions  of  most  sincere  maternal  affection : 
which  it  might  often  have  seemed  that  I  had  communicated 
too  unsparingly,  but  that  your  continued  affection  has 
encouraged,  and  unlboldened  me. 

"  May  you  be  guided  to  form  a  resolution  for  your  future 
life,  such  as  may  be  good  for  you,  in  these  hours  of 
melancholy  reflexion!  May  you  perceive  that  the  time 
is  come  for  forming  a  plan,  and  acting  up  to  it — for  decid- 
ing that  your  life  shall  be  one  tissue,  not  put  together  in  a 
succession  of  broken  portions  of  various  colour  and  texture : 
and  may  you,  to  that  end,  direct  your  views  to  a  position 
where  it  shall  be  in  your  power  to  execute  your  own 
determinations,  instead  of  having  the  best  part  of  days 
and  months  stolen  from  you  by  the  irruption  of  foreign 
elements,  &c.  I  speak  from  a  strong  impression  of  expe- 
rience— it  is  good,  morally  good,  to  live  out  of  Italy  :  the 
charm  of  life  that  one  has  found  there,  one  finds  nowhere  else 
— but  if  one  would  be  forwarded  on  the  way  of  duty,  the 
atmosphere  of  a  Christian  country,  of  a  German  country, 
is  necessary.  I  mean  German  in  a  wide  sense,  as  opposed 
to  Romaic.  Heaven  knows  the  country  I  am  now  in  is  far 
enough  from  possessing  the  moral  excellence,  or  the  intel- 
lectual elevation,  that  it  should  have,  favoured  as  it  has 
long  been  with  evangelic  light :  it  falls  far  short  of  what 
England  is,  and  the  better  parts  of  Germany  must  be : 
and  yet,  even  here,  one  is  within  reach  of  those  whose 
examples  make  one  look  back  with  inward  shame  on  one's 
own  practice. 

"  I  would  once  again  urge  my  old  arguments,  that  you 
are  staying  too  long  in  a  state  of  expatriation — that  a  man 
expatriated  is  'shorn  of  his  beams,'  despoiled  of  half  his 


J5FRNK.  21 


powers  of  usefulness,  checked  in  Ms  development,  nay 
perhaps  warped  in  Ms  moral  growth,  and  becomes  not 
that  which  he  was  intended  to  be.  •  You  have  need  too  to 
live  among  your  equals,  not  your  inferiors :  and  much  as 
you  have  to  give,  and  richly  as  you  are  able  to  communi- 
cate of  your  fullness,  yet  were  it  well  for  you  to  be  some- 
times on  the  receiving  side  !  " 

The  letter  just  given  is  peculiarly  characteristic  of 
the  intimate  relation  of  "  mother  "  and  "  son "  exist- 
ing between  Madame  Bunsen  and  Abeken,  which 
enabled  her  to  speak  with  such  marvellous  openness  to 
him,  and  induced  him  to  accept  from  her  reprimands 
conveyed  with  uncompromising  severity,  because  he 
knew  the  sentiment  from  which  it  sprang.  This 
perhaps  is  the  right  point  for  mentioning  how  it  was  a 
source  of  especial  delight  and  satisfaction  in  Madame 
Bunsen's  later  years,  that  she  had  lived  to  see  Abeken 
at  the  post  of  eminence  for  which  his  talents  and 
attainments  fitted  him ;  that  he  did  work  out  all  that 
was  good  and  great  in  his  character ;  and  that  he  died 
in  harness,  labouring,  with  an  earnestness  and  intent- 
ness  rarely,  equalled,  for  his  country's  good,  as  his 
Sovereign's  much-valued  servant  and  Bismarck's  con- 
fidential helpmate. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"4  March,  1841. — In  receiving  on  my  birthday  the 
demonstrations  of  affection  of  all  those  dear  ones  that 
surround  me,  I  know  that  your  thoughts  and  prayers  are 


LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    UARONESS    BUNSEN. 

blessing  me  from  a  distance All  rny  children  and 

my  husband  had  presents  for  me.  Neukomm  gave  me  a 
composition  of  his  own-  to  some  pretty  lines  expressive  of 
what  my  feelings  might  be  on  this  day,  and  it  was  sung 
by  Frances  and  Emilia,  accompanied  by  him  on  the 
organ. 

"  5  March. — I  have  much  more  to  tell  of  the  remainder 
of  my  birthday,  in  which  I  heard  some  charming  music, 
due  to  a  party  of  singers  conjured  together,  and  another 
composition  of  Neukomm's,  of  which  I  had  known 
nothing.  Afterwards  he  and  the  Countess  Mortier,  the 
French  Ambassadress,  played  a  duet,  he  on  the  organ 
and  she  on  the  pianoforte — a  quint  ett  of  Mozart's,  arranged 
by  him  for  the  two  instruments,  in  which  the  parts  origin- 
ally intended  for  wind-instruments  fall  to  the  share  of  the 
orgue  expressif :  and  the  effect  was  delightful.  The  last 
surprise  for  my  birthday  was  furnished  by  Lepsius,  who 
copied  for  me  a  drawing  of  his  own  from  the  Turin- 
Papyrus,  the  subject  of  which  had  amused  me,  being  a 
caricature  3,000  years  old,  of  the  same  sort  as  that  picture 
of  Teniers  representing  monks  as  monkeys : — this  is  a 
mockery  of  musicians,  an  ass  playing  on  the  harp,  a  lion 
on  a  sort  of  lyre,  a  crocodile  on  a  non-descript,  a  monkey 
on  a  double  trumpet :  Lepsius  had  written  in  hieroglyphics 
a  birthday-greeting,  supposed  to  be  sung  by  these  per- 
formers, and  Neukomm  had  composed  it,  and  the  notes  are 
written  as  a  frame  round  the  drawing — and  were  sung  as  a 
finale. 

"  Neukomm  has  borrowed  the  poems  of  Silvio  Pellico,  in 
the  wish  to  find  something  Italian  to  compose.  I  looked 
through  the  volume  at  his  request,  and  found  but  one  thing 


BERNE.  23 


to  serve  the  purpose,  the  rest  being-  perfectly  disgusting, 
from  the  sentimentalising  on  the  mere  externals  of  devo- 
tion, gnawing  the  shell,  and  never  proceeding  to  anything 
like  'worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth.'  It  has  left  a  melancholy 
impression  upon  me,  that  such  perversion  should  survive 
a,  period  of  such  trials  as  Silvio  Pellico's,  and  that  a  mind 
touched  with  a  certain  degree  of  real  religion,  should  yet 
rest  so  self-satisfied  in  supposed  merit  before  God,  from 
the  endurance  of  chastisement,  as  to  grovel  in  chains  worse 
than  those  of  Spielberg,  instead  of  attaining  to  '  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.'  There  is  a  poem  to 
Santa  Filumena !  *  containing  controversy  in  defence  of  her 
worship,  and  not  satisfied  with  that,  he  sentimentalises 
also  on  Santa  Fortunata,  whose  skeleton,  and  name,  it 
seems,  are  all  that  he  knows  of  her,  she  not  having  found 
a  setter-forth  of  miracles  like  Filumena.  The  most  melan- 
choly part  of  all  is  however,  that  this  book  has  found 
enthusiastic  readers;  it  is  just  fit  for  half  the  public 
of  the  times  we  live  in.  Morier  says  that  the  Edinburgh 
Review  has  a  good  article  on  the  famous  Tract,  No.  90 — 
and  that  it  will  seem  Newman  wrote  it  to  keep  back  a 
whole  troop  of  his  followers  from  making  the  satit  perilleux 
of  going  over  to  the  Church  of  Borne,  which  they  were 
'  consequent '  enough  to  intend !  " 

In  April,  1841,  Bunsen  was  summoned  to  Berlin  to 

*  One  of  the  favourite  saints  of  Southern  Italy.  In  the  year  1802, 
the  skeleton  of  a  young  female  was  found  in  one  of  the  sepulchres  of 
the  catacombs  of  S.  Priscilla,  and  above  it  was  an  inscription — • 
"  Lumena  pax  te  cum  fi  " — of  which  the  beginning  and  end  were  lost. 
Out  of  these  materials  rose  the  devotion  to  "  Santa  Filumena."  The 
body  found  in  the  catacombs  was  carried  to  Mugnano,  twenty  miles 
from  Naples. 


24  LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

receive  the  instructions  of  King  Frederick  William  IY. 
for  proceeding  to  England  on  a  temporary  mission  con* 
nected  with  the  institution  of  a  Protestant  Bishopric  of 
Jerusalem. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  5  April,  1841. — I  have  to  send  you  a  piece  of  news, — 
that  Charles  is  coming  to  see  you.  He  has  received  the 
King's  orders  '  to  come  to  Berlin,  for  instructions  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  court  of  Great  Britain  on  a  special  mission.' — 
My  Mother  will  see  that  there  must  be  a  mixture  of 
feelings,  but  satisfaction  is  the  result.  Besides  the 
'  especial  mission  '  (we  know  not  what  it  is,  whatever  we 
may  conjecture)  it  is  no  doubt  the  King's  intention,  by 
ordering  him  to  Berlin  to  receive  instructions,  to  have  an 
opportunity  of  speaking  with  him  of  many  other  things, 
and  in  particular  of  his  own  future  sphere  of  usefulness. 
I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  enjoy  the  thought  of  his  coming 
to  England  this  time  in  all  the  eclat  of  high  favour,  after 
his  having  had  to  appear  there  the  first  time  under  the 
cloud  of  ministerial  disapprobation,  and  yet — and  yet — 
having  so  made  his  way,  and  been  sought  after,  and  made 
much  of,  by  all  those  he  most  valued,  although  a  private 
individual  unsupported . ' ' 

*• 

To  BUNSEN. 

"  15  June,  1841. — -After  reading  for  the  fourth  time  your 
delightful  letters  from  Gotha  and  Potsdam,  I  must  write  a 
word  before  I  sleep.  I  feel  that  though  my  heart  over- 
flows with  thankfulness,  I  am  yet  not  half  thankful 
enough,  for  the  succession  of  mercies  and  blessings,  for  the 


BERNE.  25 


perpetual  '  meeting  of  the  heart's  desire/  for  the  prevent- 
ing of  wishes,  for  the  pouring  of  balm  into  old  wounds, 
for  the  letting  the  '  latter  rain  '  follow  the  early — where 
should  one  find  words  for  enunciation  of  the  mercies  of 
which  you  have  been  the  object!— 

'  0  dass  ich  tauscnd  Zungen  hatte 
TJnd  einen  tausendfaclien  Mund, 
So  stimmt'  ich  damit  um  die  Wette 
Aus  allertiefstem  Herzensgrund, 
Ein  Loblied  nach  dem  andern  an, 
Fur  das  was  Gott  an  mir  gethan.' 

And  most  of  all  do  I  bless  God,  my  Best-Beloved,  for  the 
spirit  and  temper  of  mind  in  which  He  preserves  you,  and 
pray  that  He  will  still  supply  you  with  His  grace  to 
1  refrain  your  soul,  and  keep  it  low ' — and  so  shall  you 
show,  and  feel,  that  l  nothing  is  impossible  to  them  that  love 
Him  ' — as  it  is  even  possible  for  you  to  pass  through  all 
that  is  most  trying  to  the  weakness  of  the  flesh  and  pride 
of  the  spirit,  without  intoxication — without  turning  into 
evil  the  choicest  gifts  of  Providence. 

"  Surely  it  will  please  God  to  work  good  to  His  church 
by  the  designs  of  such  a  King  and  such  a  man  ! — or  one 
must  fear  for  his  life — he  is  too  perfect  for  such  a  world 
and  such  an  age.  I  must  ever  think  of  Madame  Yernet's 
words,  l  On  devrait  vivre  a  genoux ' — if  it  was  only  to  pray 
for  him.  Often  indeed,  does  my  heart  rise  to  Heaven  for 
him,  but  yet  I  reproach  myself  that  it  does  not  call  for 
blessings  upon  him  every  instant." 

BUNSEN  to  MRS.  WADDINGTOX. 

"  Mivarft  Hotel,  1  July,  1841. — It  is  a  most  solemn  moment 
to  me  in  which  I  address  you.  It  is  the  24th  anniversary  of 


26  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEN. 

that  day  on  which  your  precious  Fanny  became  my  wife  at 
Rome.  You  then,  and  your  excellent  husband,  gave  her 
to  me,  to  a  stranger  to  you  in  blood  and  in  nationality,  a 
young  man  you  had  fallen  in  with  on  the  high  road  of 
life,  in  a  foreign  country,  without  fortune,  and  without 
any  other  place  in  society,  except  that  which  the  education 
he  had  received  entitled  him  to.  To  him  you  confided 
what  was  most  precious  to  you,  not  unconscious  of  the 
blame  your  friends  would  cast  upon  you.  That  man  now 
addresses  you  as  the  envoy  of  one  of  the  great  Kings  of 
this  world,  a  King  who  calls  himself  his  friend,  and  who 
has  proved  to  him  a  brother  and  a  father  :  an  envoy  sent 
to  your  country,  on  an  object  of  peaceful  magnitude.  If 
I  was  left  to  my  own  evil  dispositions,  I  should  say,  I  was 
proud,  of  being  on  this  day  here,  to  address  to  you,  my 
dearest  Mother,  the  expression  of  unspeakable  gratitude 
for  the  trust  you  reposed  in  me,  for  the  affection  you  bore 
me,  for  the  benefit  and  blessings  you  conferred  upon  me. 
But  I  hope,  I  may  say,  by  the  grace  of  God,  in  truth,  I 
feel  thankful,  humbled  to  the  dust  by  the  recollections 
attached  to  this  day  in  my  mind,  and  by  the  feelings 
engraven  on  my  heart.  Receive  then,  dearest  Mother,  the 
effusions  of  a  heart  you  adopted  four  and  twenty  years 
ago,  and  which  you  never  misunderstood  since ;  the 
thanks  of  a  man,  who,  in  the  midst  of  a  life  of  almost 
miraculous  blessings,  every  day  of  his  existence,  feels 
more  and  more  that  your  daughter  is  the  centre  of  all  of 
them.  May  God  bless  you,  my  dearest  Mother,  here  on 
this  earth,  and  eternally,  for  all  your  maternal  kindness 
to  one  who  will  never  cease  to  be  your  most  devoted  son — 
CHARLES." 


BERNE.  27 


MADAME  BUXSEN  to  BUNSEX  (in  London). 

"  20  July,  1841. — That  I  read  your  letters  with,  thanks- 
giving, with  tears  of  joy,  you  will  believe !  There  are  no 
words  to  express  what  I  feel  of  the  grandeur  of  the  pros- 
pect opened,  of  the  greatness  of  the  mercy  and  grace 
shown  to  yourself,  to  be  enabled  to  become  the  instrument 
of  such  things,  of  the  wonders  of  Divine  Power  and 
Providence  that  seem  displayed  before  us  in  the  turning  of 
men's  minds  to  do  a  thing  most  contrary  to  their  own 
habitual  views  of  duty! — I  had  been  anticipating  the 
difficulty  of  following  up  principles,  and  fearing  that  the 
Bishops  might  at  last  find  it  impossible  to  reconcile  their 
views  of  right  with  what  you  must  demand — even  while 
rejoicing  in  the  manner  in  which  they  met  your  first 
overtures  ; — but  now  it  would  seem  indeed  as  if  something 
is  to  be  done  for  the  Church,  of  God.  The  Archbishop's 
words  I  have  read  and  re-read,  with  the  feeling  with 
which  one  listens  to  the  voice  of  prophecy :  it  is  as  if  the 
venerable  old  man  were  over-ruled  to  utter  words  not  his 
own,  and  lay  hand  on  a  work  greater  than  he  was  capable 
of  conceiving. 

"  When  I  learn  that  the  English  society  for  Missions  in 
Europe  has  been  obliged  to  restrict  its  operations/or  want 
of  funds  ! — how  grievous  it  seems  that  good  people,  who 
have  means  and  good-will,  should  nofc  be  roused  to  help. 
.  .  .  The  accounts  in  the  Feuilles  Mensuelles  make  one 
restless  to  have  all  the  good  done  that  can  be  done,  while 
there  is  time — so  many  nations  are  holding  out  their  hands  in 
supplication,  like  the  man  of  Macedonia  to  St.  Paul ! — and 
the  enemy  is  growing  so  active  in  sowing  tares  amongst  the 
wheat,  since  Louis  Philippe  has  had  the  weakness  to  become 


28  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    HARDNESS    BUNSEN. 

an  instrument  of  the  Church  which,  if  it  had  power,  would 
destroy  him. 

' '  We  have  had  a  delightful  excursion  to  the  lake  of 
Lucerne,  meeting  dear  Lady  Baffles  there.  You  will  guess 
our  enjoyment  in  the  lake,  mountains,  rocks,  woods ! 
Neukomm  got  us  a  carriage  at  Fluelen,  in  which  we  pro- 
ceeded to  Andermatt.  Of  the  effect  of  this  whole  valley, 
all  its  grandeur,  all  its  beauty,  I  shall  only  say  that  it  sur- 
passed all  expectations  I  could  form,  highly  as  those  had 
been  raised.  I  enjoyed  it  thoroughly,  and  the  solemn  calm 
of  Andermatt — the  plain  of  flowers,  the  grassy  slopes,  the 
tranquil  river — was  not  less  striking  than  your  frequent 
quotation  of  the  favourite  passage  from  Schiller  led  me  to 
expect.  We  were  all  three  glad  to  come  exactly  the  same 
way  back,  to  strengthen  the  impression  of  what  we  had 
seen. 

"  You  will  believe  that  Lady  Raffles's  company  here  is 
an  inestimable  pleasure  and  edification.  I  only  grudge  it 
to  myself  alone,  and  long  for  you,  or  for  my  dear  Mother  to 
enjoy  it  too.  Lady  Raffles  is  an  astonishing  person — I 
wonder  and  admire  the  more  I  see  her,  and  I  have  the 
comfort  of  feeling  that  it  is  soothing  to  her  to  be  here." 

To  her  MOTHER.  * 

"  JBerne,  10  August,  1841. — My  mind  is  full  of  the  image 
of  a  saint,  if  ever  there  was  one,  now  gone  to  her  rest — 
Madame  Vernet,  the  mother  of  Madame  de  Stael  and 
Mademoiselle  Anna- — through  tortures  beyond  description, 
but  which  never  troubled  her  heavenliness  of  mind,  her 
love  and  sympathy  and  charity  of  spirit.  She  has  left 

'  surviving  Friendship's  breast 
"Warm  with  the  sunshine  of  her  rest ! ' 


BERNE.  29 


I  have  had  a  visit  from  her  eldest  son,  and  her  daughter- 
in-law,  who  is  an  Englishwoman." 


To 

"Lausanne,  14  August,  1841.  —  I  have  come  here  to  see 
Mayor,  who  advises  the  Baths  of  S.  Maurice  for  Emilia. 
....  As  I  was  sitting  on  the  terrace,  a  lady  came  up, 
and  told  me  she  was  Mademoiselle  Charlotte  Kestner  ! 
She  came  afterwards  to  tea,  with  her  lame  brother,  and  I 
had  very  great  pleasure  in  the  conversation  of  both,  find- 
ing Jfestnersches  Gemiith,  Sttmme,  und  Hedensarten. 

"  Before  leaving  home  I  was  greatly  interested  by  a 
visit  from  the  Yernets,  from  whom  I  have  the  most  invalu- 
able anecdotes  and  details  of  their  really  saint-like  mother 
—  whose  life  and  character,  if  a  little  vanity  and  love  of 
effect  were  added,  would  have  furnished  one  half-a-dozen 
Beati  of  the  Church  of  Eome." 

"  Lavey,  19  August.  —  This  morning,  from  six  o'clock  till 
eight,  we  had  a  delightful  drive  in  an  Eimpiinner,  in  the 
shadow  of  the  mountains.  I  cannot  get  over  my  astonish- 
ment, when  I  recollect  that  I  drove  through  this  magnifi- 
cent country  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  saw  it  with  those 
two  eyes  that  are  yet  in  my  head,  and  did  not  make  out 
how  magnificent  it  was  !  One  has  many  things  to  learn, 
and  many  more  things,  it  seems,  have  been  matter  of 
learning,  not  of  intuition,  than  I  had  supposed.  I  could 
hardly  believe  my  eyes,  when  I  took  in  to-day  the  beauty 
of  that  Pissevache  which  I  had  looked  upon  before  through 
so  prosaic  a  film.  Of  the  baths  of  Lavey  I  had  heard 
the  position  was  uninteresting.  I  believe  the  Swiss 
suppose  high  cultivation  necessary  to  make  out  beauty  : 


30  LIFE   AjSD   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

for  my  part,  I  find  so  many  requisites,  as  to  experience  no 
want.  If  there  were  nothing  but  the  view  from  the 
windows,  it  would  be  enough ;  but  a  walk  of  a  quarter  of 
an  hour,  in  every  direction,  offers  new  and  grand  com- 
binations." 

"  7  Sept.,  1841. — To  all  your  wishes  on  the  subject 
of  the  future  I  say,  Amen! — considering  your  being 
appointed  to  England  (which  everybody  would  suppose 
the  most  desirable  thing  in  the  world  for  us)  just  as  you 
do,  as  an  episode,  as  resting  by  the  way,  rather  than 
moving  towards  the  end :  and  in  short,  as  that  which  only 
a  sense  of  duty  to  the  King,  if  he  should  finally  desire 
your  service  there  rather  than  elsewhere,  should  move  you 
to  accept.  I  cannot  think  the  King  would  fix  you  beyond 
seas  from  his  own  inclination — he  must  see  pressing  need 
if  he  were  to  require  it  of  you  :  and  in  that  case  I  believe 
the  expression  of  his  will  must  be  regarded  as  a  sign  from 
Providence  of  what  you  are  called  upon  to  do.  I  hope  we 
are  not  always  to  be  wanderers,  in  provisional  habitations ! 
but  if  the  sign  is  given  for  such  another  remove,  we  must 
only  try  to  profit  by  the  practical  instruction  that  '  here  we 
have  no  abiding  city,  but  seek  one  to  come.'  If  you  are 
obliged  to  accept  this  appointment,  my  Best-Beloved,  I 
must  come  back  to  my  old  proposal  of  our  having  a  house 
in  some  quiet  sea- place,  so  near  a  railway  that  you  might 
in  a  few  hours  pass  and  re-pass  to  London :  to  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Southampton  I  should  incline  for  the  sake  of 
Mrs.  Denison,  or  to  the  Sussex  coast,  where  being  near 
Julius  Hare  would  be  a  pleasure  too.  "Whatever  the 
arrangement,  I  trust  we  may  never  again  be  parted ! — 
indeed  it  grows  worse  and  worse  to  live  thus  separate — to 


BERNE.  31 


liave  Freud  und  Leid  for  months  together,  to  experience 
alone ! — God  be  praised  for  the  mercy  that  he  has  given  us 
so  little  of  the  latter." 

In  September,  1841,  died  Mrs.  Denison,  the  lovely 
and  beloved  first  wife  of  Edward  Denison,  Bishop  of 
Salisbury,  who  from  her  first  acquaintance  with  the 
Bunsens  at  Rome,  as  Louisa  Ker  Seymer,  had  been 
closely  entwined  in  their  sympathies,  and  for  whom  in 
the  last  few  years  they  had  felt  an  almost  parental 
affection. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"3  Oct.,  1841. — I  cannot  express  what  the  intelligence 
of  Mrs.  Denison's  death  has  been  to  me.  As  each  day 
passes  since  I  received  it,  I  become  more  aware  how  she 
was  incorporated  with  my  habitual  thoughts  and  recollec- 
tions— how  I  lived  with  her,  though  with  so  little  prospect 
of  a  renewal  of  personal  intercourse :  and  how  the  bright 
vision  of  our  last  interview  was  for  ever  recurring,  and 
shadowing  forth  a  prolongation  of  the  life  and  love  and 
happiness  that  I  had  been  allowed  a  glimpse  of  in  those 
last  twenty-four  hours  spent  in  England. 

"My  dearest  husband  is  deeply  grieved — and  now  I 
know  not  how  to  bear  his  lengthened  absence ;  I  can  feel 
so  well  that  now  he  wants  me,  as  I  want  him,  more  than 
ever :  for  as  that  dear  and  lovely  creature  was  neither  our 
younger  sister  nor  elder  daughter,  who  is  there  that  can 
understand  the  loss  she  is  to  us  both  ?  Her  case  gives  me 
again  opportunity  for  preaching  on  a  text,  which  I  leave 
no  occasion  unimproved  of  urging  on  my  children  and 


32  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUXSEX. 

friends ; — that  it  belongs  to  the  duty  of  good  Protestants 
to  be  independent  in  the  case  of  the  body  as  well  as  of  the 
soul,  and  that  as  the  blessed  Reformation  set  us  free  from 
the  Confession,  so  we  are  bound  to  use  judgment  to  defend 
our  lives  and  those  dear  to  us  from  physicians. '; 

To  BUNSEN. 

"  29  Sept.,  1841. — The  varied  emotions  excited  by  your 
letter  received  yesterday  almost  strike  me  dumb.  Louisa's 
death  !  I  can  hardly  yet  conceive  it :  and  am  conscious  that 
what  I  now  feel  is  little  to  what  I  shall  feel,  when  day 
after  day  I  shall  become  more  aware  how  her  bright  sooth- 
ing image  was  blended  with  the  whole  of  recollection  and 
anticipation, — and  find  the  shadow  of  death  where  so  lately 
was  the  fairest  image  of  earth's  happiness ! — Yes,  she  was 
too  good  to  be  left  here  longer,  she  had  fought  her  fight, 
and  overcome,  she  had  attained  the  end  of  human  existence, 
her  whole  being  was  spiritualized,  and  took  part  in  the 
things  of  earth  by  love,  not  by  sense! — that  love  which 
remains  in  strength,  when  Faith  is  lost  in  sight,  and  Hope 
has  received  its  accomplishment ! 

' '  I  do  not  grudge  her  the  share  she  had  of  your  love, 
my  Dearest,  or  you  the  share  of  hers:  I  know  she  loved 
me,  and  most  warmly  did  I  love  her :  and  do  I  love  her  : 
for  in  reference  to  the  dead,  we  are  in  the  eternal  present — 
those  feelings  which  are  not  to  pass  away,  even  with  life, 
belong  not  to  the  past.  Her  life,  her  lovely  appearance — 
belong  indeed  to  the  past; — and  that  is  the  bitter  truth 
that  will  force  itself  on  unwilling  consciousness.  Alas !  for 
the  excellent  Bishop,  and  for  those  sisters  to  whom  her 
higher  nature  was  a  converging  point." 


BERNE. 


"  3  Oct. — Daily,  morning  and  evening,  and  often  between 
other  thoughts  and  employments,  the  image  of  death  meets 
me,  and  yesterday  in  particular  I  knew  not  how  to  bear 
the  thought  of  your  pilgrimage  to  the  spot  of  desolation, 
which  only  a  little  before  was  gilded  to  our  thoughts  with 
every  species  of  brightness !  and  will  my  Henry  be  ordained 
to-day,  and  his  Father  stand  by,  within  sight  of  that  un- 
closed grave  ?  .  .  .  .  The  world  of  spirit  is  not  restrained  to 
place,  any  more  than  to  time — we  do  but  step  out  of  the 
barrier  of  sense  and  we  are  in  it.  Can  she  not  be  con- 
scious of  what  is  in  our  spirit,  though  we  are  unconscious 
of  the  highest  perceptions  of  hers?  Have  you  read  to 
yourself  '  Die  Seele  ruht  in  Jesu  Armen  ' — that  hymn  is 
such  an  unspeakable  comfort. 

"  It  is  hard  to  think,  or  to  write  of  other  things.  How 
I  feel  your  longing  after  country  life.  May  God  give  us 
grace  to  be  satisfied  whatever  is  decided  for  us:  never 
could  we  more  completely  feel  ourselves  in  his  hands,  for 
as  you  truly  say,  wo  know  not  where  to  find  a  place  to  rest 
in  your  wandering. 

"  My  best-beloved,  the  state  of  things  as  to  Emilia  is, 
that  I  feel  as  at  the  end  of  a  long,  very  long  avenue,  the 
object  at  the  other  end  of  which  is — her  recovery  of  the 
power  of  walking:  the  object  is  dim  from  distance,  but  I 
have  every  reason  to  believe  it  is  no  deception." 

"18  Oct.,  1841.— Alas!  if  you  could  only  get  here  for 
Christmas.  Indeed  it  gets  harder  and  harder  to  bear  this 
lengthening  of  separation :  and  hard  as  it  is  for  myself,  I 
would  willingly  bear  more,  to  be  sure  that  it  did  not  fall 
still  heavier  upon  you.  I  am  deprived  of  you,  and  that  is 
an  immense  want,  greater  than  can  be  expressed,  felt  in 

VOL.   II.  I) 


34  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

everything,  and  at  every  moment;  but  I  have  my  children, 
and  home,  and  quiet — whereas  you  have  not  only  not  me 
(whom  I  know  you  love,  and  want)  but  you  have  not  home 
and  quiet!  Well  do  I  comprehend  the  grief  of  Louisa's 
loss  falling  upon  you  with  fresh  weight  in  the  change  of 
scene,  and  comparative  solitude :  to  me  it  comes  back  ever 
new,  and  at  every  ebb  a  flow  of  the  tide  of  thought :  I 
cannot  learn  yet  to  leave  it  alone,  as  a  fact  not  to  be  got 
rid  of.  'It  is  enough — she  died — what  recks  it  now.' 
Henry  believes  she  wrote  to  you  the  last  words  ever  written 
by  her — how  I  long  to  see  those  words." 


CHAPTER  II. 

CARLTON  TERRACE  AND  HURSTMONCEAUX. 

"  Life,  I  repeat,  is  energy  of  love, 
Divine  or  human ;  exercised  in  pain, 
In  strife,  and  tribulation,  and  ordained 
If  so  approved  and  sanctified,  to  pass 
Through  shades  and  silent  rest,  to  endless  joy." 

WORDSWORTH. 

TN  November,  1841,  Bunsen  received  from  his  beloved 
King  the  appointment  of  Minister  at  the  Court 
of  St.  James's,  to  the  great  joy  of  his  friends  and 
confusion  of  his  enemies.  Madame  Bunsen  at  once 
prepared  to  join  him.  It  was  a  time  of  infinite 
labour.  Alone  and  unaided  she  had  to  wind  up  their 
affairs  at  Berne,  to  let  the  Hubel,  dismiss  the  house- 
hold, sell  furniture,  pack  up  library,  give  orders  for 
England,  and  above  all  manage  the  tedious  journey 
with  all  her  children,  of  whom  three  were  intensely 
delicate,  in  the  depth  of  winter,  when  the  Rhine  was 
blocked  by  ice,  with  narrow  means,  and  ever  contra- 
dictory letters  to  act  upon. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  io  BUNSEN. 

"24  Nov.,  1841. — I  need  not  enlarge  upon  the  feelings 


36  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

excited  by  your  letter  of  yesterday.  The  Lord  be  with  you, 
and  with,  us  all,  in  the  brighter  as  in  the  darker  dispensa- 
tions, and  as  He  has  '  taught  you  to  be  abased,  so  teach 
you  also  to  abound.'  There  is  no  romance  like  that  of  real 
life  and  nothing  can  be  fancied  £O  extraordinary  as  what 
happens.  My  Dearest,  it  is  my  comfort  that  you  will  take 
this,  as  everything  else,  at  the  hand  of  God :  or  else  the 
cup  of  triumph  would  be  enough  to  intoxicate  you.  ...  I 
say  nothing,  and  do  nothing  here,  that  looks  like  a  break  - 
ing-up,  till  I  receive  your  letter  from  Berlin,  announcing 
that  the  matter  is  public." 

"  Carlsruhe,  30  Dec.,  1841.— God  be  thanked  that  I  am 
on  my  way  to  you  !  That  is  my  constant  comfort — a  sort 
of  guiding-star.  Some  day  I  hope  to  look  back  from  a  safe 
shore,  upon  this  late  stormy  time.  Often  I  have  the  sensa- 
tion as  if  I  was  at  an  end,  but  then  God  gives  refreshment, 
and  above  all,  trust  in  His  help  and  Providence." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  Ostende,  4  Jan.,  1842. — It  is  as  a  dream,  and  I  can 
hardly  conceive  what  yet  is  true,  that  the  difficulties  of 
such  a  long  journey,  with  such  a  troop,  at  such  a  time  of 
year,  have  been  got  over,  or  rather,  I  should  say,  have 
vanished  as  we  approached  :  for  everything  has  passed  off 
well ;  and  without  delay,  or  stop,  or  hindrance,  have  we 
got  on  from  one  conveyance  to  another — trotting  on  the 
road,  swimming  on  the  Rhine,  whirling  on  the  railway, 
and  now  it  remains  to  roll  and  rock  on  the  sea.  At  Bonn 
good  M.  Brandis*  came  to  us  on  board  the  steamer,  and 
went  on  with  us  to  Cologne,  from  whence  he  saw  us  off  by 
*  Charles  Augustus  Brandis,  the  early  friend  of  Roman  days. 


CARLTON    TERRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  37 

the  railway  :  it  was  a  great  pleasure  to  see  hini  once  again, 
after  22  years !  Urlichs  did  the  same,  and  young  Wurs- 
temburger  from  Berne,  came  after  us  to  Cologne,  and  went 
on  with,  us  to  Aix-la-Chapelle.  I  was  much  gratified  by 
these  glimpses  of  kind  persons  by  the  way  I " 

"5  Jan. — If  I  do  not  dream,  my  own  dearest  Mother, 
here  I  am — in  London — with  my  dear  husband — having 
all  my  treasures  safe — in  a  palace — after  the  most  pros- 
perous passage." 

The  residence  of  the  Bunscns  at  the  Prussian  Lega- 
tion, first  at  ~No.  4  and  afterwards  at  No.  9,  Carlton 
Terrace,  occupied  one  of  the  most  charming  situations 
in  London,  being  perfectly  open  on  each  side,  and 
having  a  view  across  St.  James's  Park,  with  its  trees 
and  water,  to  tn*e  towers  of  Westminster  Abbey.  The 
house  became  what  the  home  on  the  Capitoline  had 
been,  an  intellectual  centre  of  the  most  interesting  kind 
— first  to  foreigners,  gradually  to  Englishmen.  All 
who  were  connected  with  what  was  best  in  theology, 
history,  philosophy,  in  poetry,  music,  or  painting, 
seemed  naturally  to  gravitate  towards  it,  and  its  cosmo- 
politan gatherings,  in  which  the  foreign  element  always 
predominated,  were  the  greatest  possible  contrast  to  the 
parties  usually  endured  by  those  who  drink  a  London 
season  to  the  dregs.  The  host  and  hostess  had  the  gift 
of  putting  all  their  guests  at  their  ease,  by  being  per- 
fectly at  ease  themselves,  with  every  nationality,  with 
every  phase  of  interest  or  opinion.  It  became  to  many 


38  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

English  men  and  women  a  real  repose  even  to  call  to 
mind  the  countenance  of  the  Prussian  Minister  and  his 
wife  in  the  midst  of  the  ordinary  turmoil — he  beaming 
with  vigorous  animation  ;  and  she,  full  of  sympathy  and 
benignity,  always  perfectly  self-possessed  in  the  midst 
of  strangers,  in  the  imperturbable  dignity  of  the  sim- 
plicity of  nature.  The  hospitalities  of  the  legation  in 
Carlton  Terrace  were  initiated  on  the  occasion  of  the 
visit  of  the  King  of  Prussia  to  England,  which  took 
place  immediately  after  Madame  Bunsen  and  her 
family  arrived  from  Berne. 

Madame  Bunsen  never  could  accustom  herself  to  the 
whirl  of  London  life,  and  its  destructive  night-work 
and  late  hours,  which  her  numerous  household  and  its 
requirements  rendered  especially  overpowering.  "  I 
do  not  suppose  people  grow  old  in  London  any  faster 
than  they  do  elsewhere,"  she  wrote,  "  but  they  certainly 
lead  double  lives — something  beyond  working  double 
tides,  in  keeping  even  with  the  daily  demands  of  life." 
Perhaps  the  social  gatherings  which  gave  her  greatest 
pleasure  were  those  of  the  poet  Rogers.  More  than 
thirty  years  afterwards  she  spoke  of  "  his  house,  his 
collection  of  works  of  art  of  every  sort  and  kind,  and 
his  perfect  little  breakfast-parties,"  remaining  in  recol- 
lection as  things  quite  unique,  and  never  to  be  seen 
again.  But  the  chief  attraction  which  London  had  to 
offer  to  the  Bunsens  outside  the  walls  of  their  home, 
was  the  opportunity  of  renewing  of  such  English 
friendships  formed  at  Rome,  as  those  with  the  Countess 


CARLTON    TERRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  39 

of  Harrowby,  Mr.  and  Lady  Emily  Pusey,  the  Ker- 
Seymers,  and  the  Countess  of  Ranfurly  and  her  daugh- 
ters. Madame  de  Ste-  Aulaire  was  also  in  London, 
where  her  husband  represented  the  French  Court,  and 
they  were,  of  all  Roman  Catholics,  the  persons  for 
whom  Bunsen  and  his  wife  entertained  the  utmost 
regard  and  affection.* 

"  Carlton  Terrace,  7  Jan.,  1842. — lam  congratulated  upon 
the  happiness  of  my  change.  Now  I  know  but  two  things, 
that  I  am  happy  to  be  with  my  husband,  and  near  my 
Mother :  all  the  rest  is  a  change  for  the  worse,  unspeak- 
able : — my  only  comfort  is,  that  neither  my  husband  nor  I 
have  sought  or  wished  this  splendid  misery,  therefore 
what  is  in  the  ways  of  Providence  must  be  right.  I  trust 
God  may  grant  me  a  home  on  my  native  soil,  though  how 
the  necessary  ingredients  should  coine  together  in  London, 
I  am  at  loss  to  conceive.  I  am  so  home-sick  after  my  dear 
Hubel,  that  I  can  hardly  look  at  my  elder  girls :  they  do 
not  complain,  but  their  faces  show  the  depression  pro- 
duced by  the  gloomy  change,  from  everything  they  wanted 
and  enjoyed — to — nothing  enjoyable.  My  own  Mother, 
this  will  mend ;  but  it  will  I  think  do  me  good  to  have 
sfogato" 

It  was  during  the  stay  of  the  King  of  Prussia  that 

*  The  Comte  de  Ste.  Aulaire  was  the  model  of  a  perfect  French 
gentleman  of  the  ancien  regime.  His  youth  had  been  spent  as  a 
fugitive  emigre  at  Vienna,  and  his  beautiful  mother  had  to  earn  her 
living  in  the  capital,  where  he  afterwards  appeared  in  all  the  splendour 
of  French  ambassador  to  Louis  Philippe,  by  taking  in  fine  washing ! 
After  the  fall  of  the  Orleans  dynasty,  the  Ste.  Aulaire' s  lived  quite 
quietly  in  Paris. 


40  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUN  SEN. 

Madame  Bunsen  was  invited  to  pay  the  first  of 
many  much- valued  visits  to  Windsor.  "I  always 
liked  the  visits  at  Windsor,"  she  wrote  years  after- 
wards,— "the  comfortable  quiet  and  independence  in 
which  one  could  spend  as  much  time  as  one  would  of 
the  day  in  one's  own  comfortable  rooms,  where  I  have 
written  letters  and  read  books  for  which  I  had  no  time 
in  London :  if  the  Ladies  in  Waiting  were  agreeable,  one 
could  walk  or  drive  with  them,  go  to  see  the  Queen's 
dogs  in  their  establishment,  or  the  exquisite  poultry- 
yard,  or  the  beautiful  dairy-house,  and  I  had  a  favourite 
haunt  on  the  summit  of  the  Slopes,  and  made  particular 
acquaintance  with  Australian  pines  which  were  very 
nourishing  and  securely  sheltered  from  winds  by  the 
Castle : — and  the  period  of  state- stiff  ness  was,  after  all, 
restricted  within  the  narrowest  imaginable  bounds  ! — 
from  8  to  11.  Such  a  visit  was  always  a  rest  instead  of 
an  extra  exertion." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  Windsor  Castle,  28  Jan.,  1842.— I  was  at  work  till  three, 
then  came  by  railway  to  Windsor  and  found  that  in  the 
York  Tower  a  comfortable  set  of  rooms  were  awaiting  us. 
The  upper  housemaid  gave  us  tea  and  bread  and  butter — 
very  refreshing.  AVhen  dressed,  we  went  together  to  the 
corridor,  soon  niet  Lord  Delawarr,  the  Duchess  of  Buc- 
cleugh,  and  Lord  and  Lady  Westmoreland:  the  former 
showed  us  where  to  go — that  is,  to  walk  through  the 
corridor  (a  fairy  scene — lights,  pictures,  moving  figures  of 
courtiers  unknown)  to  apartments  which  we  passed 


CARLTON    TEHRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  41 

through,  one  after  another — till  we  reached  the  magni- 
ficent ball-room,  where  the  guests  were  assembled  to 
await  the  Queen's  appearance.  Among  these  guests  stood 
our  King  himself,  punctual  to  \  past  7  ;  soon  came  Prince 
Albert,  to  whom  Lord  Delawarr  named  me,  when  he  spoke 
to  me  of  Home.  We  had  not  been  there  long,  before  two 
gentlemen,  walking  in  by  the  same  door  by  which  we  had 
entered,  and  then  turning,  and  making  profound  bows 
towards  the  open  door,  showed  that  the  Queen  was  coming. 
She  approached  me  directly,  and  said  with  a  gracious  smile, 
'  I  am  very  much  pleased  to  see  you ; '  then  passed  on,  and 
after  speaking  a  few  moments  to  the  King,  took  his  arm, 
and  moved  on,  '  Grod  save  the  Queen '  having  begun  to 
sound  in  the  same  moment  from  the  Waterloo  gallery, 
where  the  Queen  has  always  dined  since  the  King  has 
been  with  her.  Lord  Haddington  led  me  to  dinner,  and 
one  of  the  King's  suite  sat  on  the  other  side.  The  scene 
was  one  of  fairy-tales — of  indescribable  magnificence,  the 
proportions  of  the  hall,  the  mass  of  light  in  suspension, 
the  gold  plate  on  the  table,  glittering  with  a  thousand 
lights  in  branches  of  a  proper  height  not  to  meet  the  eye. 
The  King's  health  was  drunk,  then  the  Queen's,  and  then 
her  Majesty  rose  and  went  out,  followed  by  all  the  ladies. 
During  the  half  hour  or  less  that  elapsed  before  Prince 
Albert,  the  King,  &c.,  followed  the  Queen,  she  did  not  sit, 
but  went  round  to  speak  to  the  different  ladies.  She  asked 
after  my  children,  and  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  thanking 
her  for  the  gracious  permission  to  behold  her  Majesty  so 
soon  after  my  arrival.  The  Duchess  of  Kent  also  spoke  to 
me,  and  I  was  very  glad  of  the  notice  of  Lady  Lyttelton, 
who  is  very  charming. 


42  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

'  *  As  soon  as  the  King  came,  the  Queen  went  into  the  ball- 
room, and  made  the  King  dance  a  quadrille  with  her, 
which  he  did  with  all  suitable  grace  and  dignity,  though 

he  has  long  ceased  to  dance At  half-past  eleven, 

after  the  Queen  had  retired,  I  set  out  on  my  travels  to  my 
bed-chamber:  I  might  have  looked  and  wandered  some 
miles,  before  I  had  found  my  door  of  exit,  but  was  helped 
by  an  old  gentleman,  I  believe  Lord  Albemarle." 

"  3  Feb.,  1842.— On  Monday  we  dined  at  Stafford  House, 
where  we  were  received  with  the  greatest  kindness.  I 
was  presented  to  the  Duchess  of  Gloucester,  who  called 
me  '  the  daughter  of  her  old  friend,  Mrs.  Waddington.' 
Being  taken  to  dinner  by  Lord  John  Russell,  I  found  him 
a  most  agreeable  neighbour,  in  no  common  way:  he  is 
one  of  the  persons  with  whom  I  find  it  possible  at  once 
to  express  what  I  think,  with  whom  I  get  directly  out 
of  emptiness  of  phrases :  my  Mother  will  know  what  I 
mean.  The  house  is  beautiful,  the  staircase  especially, 
and  a  fine  band  played  the  whole  evening,  concluding 
with  a  composition  of  Prince  Radziwill,  never  before  heard 
in  England,  which  was  an  attention  to  the  King.  The 
Duke  of  Sussex  and  Duchess  of  Inverness  spoke  to  me, 
and  asked  me  to  their  luncheon  the  next  day,  given  to  the 
King. 

"On  Tuesday  the  way  to  Kensington  Palace  was  lined 
by  schools  with  flags,  and  crowds  of  people :  the  Duke  of 
Sussex  received  me,  and  brought  me  into  the  Library  to  the 
Duchess  of  Gloucester  and  Princess  Sophia,  who  spoke 
most  kindly,  and  made  me  sit  between  them,  asking  after 
you.  When  they  rose  to  speak  to  somebody  else,  I  slipt 
away  behind  the  Duchess  and  got  to  a  modest  distance. 


CARLTON    TERRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  43 

Lord  Lansdowne  spoke  to  me — in  short,  people  enough — 
there  is  nothing  like  the  Bude-light  to  make  one  con- 
spicuous, and  sharpen  people's  memories !  The  Duchess 
of  Sutherland  followed  up  her  kind  beginning,  and  came 
and  sat  by  me ; — so,  after  speaking  of  other  things,  I 
ventured  to  tell  her  that  I  was  in  a  difficulty  about  the 
Duchess  of  Cambridge,  not  having  been  yet  to  wait  upon 
any  of  the  Royal  Family,  as  it  was  not  to  be  done  till  after 
I  had  been  received  at  Windsor,  the  other  members,  in- 
cluding the  Duke,  being  pleased  to  notice  me  from  former 
recollections.  Whereupon  the  Duchess  was  so  good  as  to 
speak  to  the  Duchess  of  Cambridge,  and  present  me  to 
her.  At  the  table  I  sat  between  Humboldt  and  Lord 
Palmerston,  whom  I  also  found  very  ready  to  talk. 

"I  returned  from  the  Duke  of  Sussex's  at  6,  and  at 
dressed  again  for  the  Duke  of  Wellington's.  There  was 
music — selected  as  unseasonably  as  could  be,  things  the 
King  might  have  heard  better  at  Berlin,  except,  to  be 
sure,  that  one  was  a  composition  of  Lord  Westmoreland's ! 
poor  Miss  Kemble,  &c.  straining  their  voices  to  be  heard 
above  the  buzz  of  company :  and  the  unequalled  tones  of 
Dragonetti  and  Lindley  degraded  to  commonplace  accom- 
paniment ! 

' '  The  King's  visit  to  Lambeth  on  Wednesday  was  perhaps 
one  of  the  most  suitable  and  most  agreeable  to  him  of  any 
that  he  has  made,  from  the  magnificence  of  the  building, 
the  historical  associations,  and  the  admirable  choice  of  the 
company — bishops  and  clergy,  and  few  besides ;  no  ladies 
but  Mrs.  Blomfield,  and  one  relation  of  Mrs.  Howley's. 
The  King  enjoyed  himself,  and  sate  for  some  time  after 
luncheon  was  over,  talking  to  tho  archbishop.  He 


44  LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

took  leave  of  Lord  Ashley  with  nmcli  kindness,  and 
told  him  he  must  come  and  visit  him  at  Berlin.  At  six  I 
got  home,  and  at  ten  dressed  for  the  Duchess  of  Cam- 
bridge's, where  the  King  had  dined,  and  whither  he 
returned  after  midnight  from  the  play,  having  enjoyed  the 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  and  a  most  heart-cheering 
reception.  I  passed  my  time  very  agreeably  here,  owing 
to  Lady  Denbigh,*'  with  whom  I  had  much  interesting  con- 
versation. 

"  Then  Thursday,  the  opening  of  Parliament,  was  the 
thing  from  which  I  had  expected  most,  and  I  was  not 
disappointed ;  the  throngs  in  the  streets,  in  the  windows, 
in  every  place  people  could  stand  upon, — all  looking  so 
pleased,  the  splendid  Horse  Guards,  the  Grenadiers  of  the 
•Guard — of  whom  might  be  said,  as  the  King  did  on 
another  occasion — '  an  appearance  so  fine,  you  know  not 
how  to  believe  it  true,'  the  yeomen  of  the  Body  Guard : 
then,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  the  peers  in  their  robes,  the 
beautifully  dressed  ladies,  with  many,  many  beautiful 
faces : — lastly,  the  procession  ef  the  Queen's  entry,  and 
herself,  looking  worthy  and  fit  to  be  the  converging-point 
of  so  many  rays  of  grandeur.  It  is  self-evident  that  she  is 
not  tall — but  were  she  ever  so  tall,  she  could  not  have 
more  grace  and  dignity,  a  head  better  set,  a  throat  better 
arching : — and  one  advantage  there  is  in  her  looks,  when 
she  casts  a  glance,  being  of  necessity  cast  up  and  not  down, 
that  the  effect  of  the  eyes  is  not  lost,  and  they  have  an 
effect  both  bright  and  pleasing.  The  composure  with 
which  she  filled  the  throne,  while  awaiting  the  Commons, 
I  much  admired :  it  was  a  test — no  fidget,  and  no  apathy. 
*  Lady  Mary  Moreton,  daiightci  of  the  1st  Earl  of  Ducic. 


CARIiTON    TERRACE    AND    III:  RST.MONCEATX.  45 

Then  her  voice  and  enunciation  cannot  be  more  perfect. 
In  short,  it  could  not  be  said  she  did  well;  but  she  was  the 
Queen,  she  was,  and  felt  herself  to  be,  the  descendant  of 
her  ancestors.  Stuffed  in  by  her  Majesty's  mace-bearers, 
and  peeping  over  their  shoulders,  I  was  enabled  to  struggle 
down  the  emotion  I  felt,  at  thinking  what  mighty  pages  in 
the  world's  history  were  condensed  in  the  words,  so  im- 
pressively uttered  by  that  soft  and  feminine  voice.  Peace 
and  war — the  fate  of  millions — relations  and  exertions 
of  power  felt  to  the  extremities  of  the  globe !  alteration 
of  Corn-laws !  birth  of  a  future  Sovereign !  —  With 
what  should  it  close,  but  the  heartfelt  aspiration,  God 
bless  her  and  guide  her,  for  her  sake  and  the  sake  of 
all!" 

"  14  Feb.,  1842. — In  London  I  live  in  a  state  of  fever 

and  do  not  comprehend  how  I  go  on The  bright 

moments  of  last  week  were  seeing  Lady  Frances  Sandon, 
Lady  Emily  Pusey,  Madame  de  Ste.  Aulaire :  those  were 

great  gratifications On  Saturday  evening  we  had 

the  great  treat  of  hearing  the  music  of  the  Holy  Week 
performed  here  in  our  own  house,  by  a  small  number  of 
good  voices,  Germans  and  Danes — found  out  by  Neukomm 
and  Moscheles." 

"  17  Feb. — How  I  wish  I  may  get  under  the  mass  of 
elements  I  am  contending  with — for  though  a  quantity  of 
things  and  persons,  the  best  and  most  interesting,  are  to  bo 
found  in  London,  one  has  but  one  life,  and  the  day  and  hour 
will  not  carry  double  and  treble.  My  present  feeling  is — 
how  long  ?" 

"  3  March. — We  have  had  a  most  agreeable  dinner-party 
at  Lord  Stanhope's,  just  such  as  I  enjoy,  few  people  and 


46  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BL'NSEX. 

conversation.  Lady  Wilhelmina  is  a  very  fine  creature, 
externally — and  a  most  agreeable  converser,  full  of  intel- 
ligence and  information :  but  I  was  not  prepared  for  the 
genius  which  her  drawings  denote — groups  from  sub- 
jects that  interest  her,  with  extraordinary  conceptions  of 
beauty  and  grace  without  distortion,  and  a  correctness  of 
outline  and  proportion  very  rare  in  possessors  of  the  art — 
at  the  same  time  no  scratching  and  blotting  to  hide  defects, 
no  colour  and  light  and  shade  to  give  effect. — Her  out- 
lines are  in  pen  and  sepia  like  Flaxman's,  only  not  like 
the  antique,  her  subjects  and  costumes  being  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  from  Percy's  Reliques  and  other  ballads,  Italian 
tales,  &c.  Two  things  I  saw  coloured,  and  those, 
sketches,  from  memory,  of  Mademoiselle  Rachel,  were 
also  admirable:  but  no  subject  was  treated  that  was  .not 
a  good  subject,  no  quotation  written  by  the  side  that  was 
not  poetical.  I  long  to  see  more,  and  shall  bear  in  mind 
to  obtain  further  opportunities.  I  was  very  glad  to  make 
acquaintance  of  Lady  Mahon,*  whom  I  think  quite 
charming — intelligent  and  conversible,  natural  and  gay, 
giving  the  impression  of  a  mind  and  character  as  well- 
proportioned  as  her  pretty  face  and  figure.  I  have  as  yet 
seen  but  little  of  Miss  Stuart's f  drawings,  but  those  I 
saw  showed  talent  of  an  even  higher  order  than  Lady 
Wilhelmina's,  in  the  same  proportion  as  her  Grecian  out- 
line and  eye  of  soul  denote  a  higher  order  of  being 
— without  meaning  to  criticise  the  other,  whom  I  like 

*  Emily  Harriet,  2nd  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Kerrison,  Bt.,  and 
wife  of  Philip  Henry,  afterwards  5th  Earl  Stanhope. 

f  Hon. Louisa  Stuart, younger  daughter  of  lord  Stuart  de  Rothsay, 
who  afterwards  married  Henry  3rd  Marquis  of  Waterford. 


CARLTON    TERRACE    AND    HURSTMCXNCEAtJX.  47 

really — only  Bub  ens  is  not  Raphael.  I  know  my  Mother 
will  sympathise  in  my  pleasure  in  these  persons  and 
things." 

"19  March. — To-day  we  were  invited  to  luncheon  to 
meet  the  Queen — at  Lambeth — the  whole  most  beautifully 
arranged,  with  luxury  of  flowers  and  plants." 

"  8  April. — 0  !  when  one  thinks  of  distress,  how  it  does 
go  to  one's  heart  to  spend  money  in  a  fine  court  dress  !  and 
how  depressed  and  ashamed  I  felt  yesterday  morning,  put 
out  of  countenance  by  my  own  conscience.  But  I  was 
obliged  to  say,  royalty  is  a  thing  most  useful  and  necessary 
in  the  world,  and  if  one  is  pushed  close  up  against  it,  one 
must  show  the  respect  one  feels  in  the  manner  appointed.  I 
was  extremely  struck  with  the  splendour  of  the  scene  at 
the  Drawing  Room,  and  having  an  excellent  place,  near 
enough  to  see  everybody  come  up  to  the  Queen  and  pass 
off  again,  I  was  very  much  entertained,  and  admired  a 
number  of  beautiful  persons.  But  nobody  did  I  admire 
more  than  Mrs.  Norton,  whom  I  had  seen  before,  and 
Lady  Canning's  face  always  grows  upon  me." 

To  a  SON. 

"  13  May,  1842.— I  thank  God  for  your  tenderness  of 
conscience,  and  for  your  strictness  of  hourly  self-examina- 
tion, the  only  sort  that  I  believe  can  avail,  for  I  can- 
not conceive  how  anybody  can  execute  what  so  many 
recommend,  the  passing  over  in  a  preparation  for  evening 
devotion  the  events  and  feelings  of  the  day :  either  it  is 
impossible,  and  a  self-deception,  or  it  leads  to  a  very  un- 
edifying  state  of  mind,  which  will  get  more  entangled  in 
the  trammels  of  bye-gone  hours,  than  free  for  heavenly 


48  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    HAllONKsS    15UNSEN. 

meditation.  But  while  I  recommend  the  speedily  passing 
judgment  upon  the  offences  of  the  hour  and  the  moment, 
I  recall  for  your  guidance  a  sentence  of  Bishop  Patrick's 
which,  early-read  and  long  remembered,  has  often  stood 
me  in  good  stead, — 'It  is  not  by  long  poring  over  the 
wounds  and  bruises  that  we  get  on  in  the  daily  journey  of 
life,  that  we  find  means  to  advance  farther:  instead  of 
prying  into  our  sores,  let  us  leave  those  things  that  are 
behind,  and  stretch  forward  after  those  that  are  before.' 
I  quote  from  memory,  and  incorrectly,  but  that  is  the  sub; 
stance,  and  a  great  truth  lies  at  the  bottom.  Another 
passage  I  cannot  recall  verbally,  but  it  distinguishes 
between  a  true  and  false  humility,  and  makes  the  former 
as  rather  attainable  in  devout  contemplation  of  the  per- 
fections t>f  Christ  our  Saviour,  such  as  '  quietly  sinks  us 
down  to  the  very  bottom  of  our  being,'  than  by  the  con- 
sideration of  our  own  infirmities,  which  ruffles  and  dis- 
turbs the  mind  to  its  lowest  depths,  and  renders  it  unfit  to 
reflect  the  heavenly  image. 

"My  dearest  Son,  all  that  you  describe  I  have  passed 
through  so  often,  that  in  reading  your  letter,  it  was  as  if 
the  secrets  of  my  own  soul  were  laid  open.  To  be  cheated 
of  the  comfort  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  by  one's  own 
vanity  and  emptiness,  how  painful  that  is  !  and  how  well 
do  we  deserve  our  own  reproaches !  But  let  us  beware 
lest  we  place  bounds  to  the  mercy  of  God,  and  let  the 
mists  and  vapours  of  our  own  souls  obscure  and  intercept 
his  rays,  which  are  always  shining,  and  ready  to  com- 
municate vital  warmth  and  light!" 

The  illness  of  her  daughter  Emilia  induced  Madame 


CARLTON    TERRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  49 

Bunsen  in  the  summer  of  X842  to  take  her  to  the  baths 
of  Aix  in  Savoy.  The  journey  was  one  of  much  suffer- 
ing both  at  the  time  and  afterwards,  another  daughter 
returning  almost  as  ill  as  the  one  for  whose  sake  they 
had  gone  abroad.  It  was  during  this  absence  of  his 
wife,  that  Bunsen  decided  upon  a  country-home  for  his 
family  at  Hurstmonceaux  Place,  a  large  country-house 
about  ten  miles  from  Eastbourne  in  Sussex,  situated  in 
the  parish  of  his  friend  Archdeacon  Julius  Hare,  and 
upon  the  edge  of  the  picturesque  deserted  deer-park, 
which  contains  the  immense  ivy-covered  ruins  of  Hurst- 
monceaux Castle. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  BUNSEN. 

"Aix,  16  August,  1842. — I  hardly  know  how  to  believe 
in  the  prospect  of  Hurstmonceaux,  that  just  all  I  wished, 
in  the  most  desirable  form,  attended  by  every  most  de- 
sirable circumstance,  should  at  once  be  granted !  Indeed 
I  may  say,  I  rejoice  with  trembling :  for  it  is  as  if  an 
angel  from  heaven  was  visibly  before  me,  bringing  me 
the  assurance  of  being  dealt  with  according  to  my  heart's 
desire,  and  mildly  reproaching  me  with  the  impatience  and 
want  of  faith  with  which  I  have  craved  that  bread  of  life, 
which  God  has  never  suffered  me  to  want  in  any  possible 
shape,  for  myself  or  mine.  My  thoughts  had  often  turned 
to  the  coast  of  Sussex,  as  the  part  of  England  most  de- 
sirable for  us,  on  account  of  its  neighbourhood  to  Julius 
Hare  and  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare — now  that  death  has  closed 
upon  us  the  once  bright  prospect  of  Salisbury  and  South- 
ampton. 

"  It  is  another  gift  qf  Providence,  that  when  it  has  taken 

VOL.  II.  K 


50  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

from  us  Dr.  Arnold,  it  has  drawn  us  nearer  to  another 

friend,  the  only  one  to  be  named  near  him 0  !  the 

delight  with  which  I  think  of  having  a  garden.  The  only 
pang,  is  the  thought  of  the  distance  from  my  dear  Mother : 
in  all  else  I  feel  thankfulness  for  a  promised  place  of  refuge 
and  quiet,  where  we  may  live  with  our  children,  ward  off 
as  may  be  such  influences  as  we  cannot  measure,  and  as 
far  as  in  us  lies  cast  in  such  seed  as  we  know  to  be  good, 
trusting  to  Him  who  giveth  increase  in  its  season  as  He 
judgeth  fit. 

"We  have  driven  in  the  evening  to  the  Lac  de  Bourget, 
and  staid  rowing  upon  it  till  after  the  moon  rose.  Oh! 
this  lake,  and  sky,  and  moon,  are  so  Italian! — and  the 
calm  dreaminess  of  this  summer  life  is  a  clear  reminiscence 
of  a  past  that  I  thought  gone  for  ever !  " 

BUNSEN  to  MRS.  WADDINGTON. 

"  August,  1842. — On  arriving  at  Hurstmonceaux  I  found 
that  the  inmate  of  the  manor  (once  the  place  of  the 
Hares'),  who  has  a  twenty-one  years'  lease  of  it,  of  which 
two  years  are  remaining,  wished  to  go  to  Italy  for  this 
time.  The  house  is  well  furnished  throughout,  has  seven- 
teen bedrooms  besides  dressing-rooms,  beautiful  gardens, 
'meadows,  &c.,  and  is  only  four  miles  from  the  sea.  You 
will  think  it  wrong  if  I  do  not  seize  this  quite  unexpected 
opportunity,  as  a  providential  solution  of  a  most  difficult 
problem." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  Aix,  31  August,  1842. — I  have  not  forgotten  that 
objections  are  everywhere,  that  trial  is  everywhere—  that 


CARLTON    TERRACE   AND    IIURSTMONCEAUX.  51 

'  man  is  born  to  trouble,  as  the  sparks  fly  upward  ' — but 
still,  I  see  sunshine  in  the  prospect  of  Hurstmonceaux, 
just  as,  in  the  close  of  last  year,  I  saw  gloom  in  that  of 
London.  My  feeling  (no,  not  feeling,  I  have  no  gift  of 
presentiment,  but  calculation)  proved  true  in  the  one  case, 
and  God  grant  it  may  prove  true  in  the  second." 

To  BUXSEX. 

"  Geneva,  16  Sept.,  1842. — Many  things  in  life  turn  out 
all  the  better,  for  not  promising  much  at  first ;  and  so  it 
may  be  with  this  bathing- journey ;  but  I  certainly  camo 
away  from  Aix  under  circumstances  seemingly  more  dis- 
piriting than  those  under  which  I  arrived — Mary  scarcely 
able  to  stand,  Emilia  much  as  she  was,  and  Theodore  not 
by  any  means  well. 

"  This  has  been  a  busy  dia,y,  and  much  could  I  tell  of 
the  kindness  of  the  Vernets,  with  whom  I  dined  at  Carra, 
of  the  Tronchins,  whom  I  visited  on  my  way  back;  of 
Mademoiselle  Calandrini,  who  was  with  us  a  long  time; 
and  of  Madame  de  Stael,  who  came  hither  from  Coppet  to 
see  us." 

It  was  in  October  that  the  Bunsens  settled  at  Hurst- 
monceaux Place,  where  Madame  Bunsen  left  her  chil- 
dren for  the  next  two  years,  during  her  frequent  neces- 
sary absences  in  London.  At  Hurstmonceaux  also,  sho 
herself  often  obtained  a  much-needed  reprieve  from 
the  choking  and  crushing  fullness  of  her  London  life. 
When  obliged  to  be  in  London,  the  nearest  compensa- 
tions for  separation  from  her  children  were  found,  not 
in  the  usually  credited  advantages  of  the  metropolis, 


52  LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

but  in  such  tranquil  moments  as  she  was  able  to  pass 
in  the  society  of  Lady  Baffles,  or  amid  the  interests  of 
the  British  Museum. 

MADAME  BTJNSEN  to  her  Sox  GEORGE. 

"  Hurstmonceaux  Place,  16  Nov.,  1842. — You  will  be  glad 
to  see  the  date  of  this  place,  which  will  contain  an  evidence 
of  our  being  in  comfort.  If  anything  besides  clothes  and 
food  are  necessaries  of  life,  it  is  certainly  what  we 
acquire  by  our  country-establishment, — quiet,  leisure,  com- 
mand of  time,  consciousness  of  possessing  the  day  as  our 
own, — and  air,  real  air  to  breathe,  not  a  mixture  of  fog 
and  smoke;  means  too  of  taking  exercise,  which  is  not 
merely  fatigue  without  refreshment.  This  house  is  the 
early  home  of  Archdeacon  Hare  and  his  brothers,  and 
is  very  large — really  large  enough  for  us ! — the  rooms  very 
cheerful,  basking  in  the  sun,  with  high  windows  letting 
in  the  light.  A  park  with  fine  trees  slopes  away  from  the 
house,  and  the  church  stands  on  the  brow  of  a  grassy  hill 
just  opposite,  and  at  the  end  of  the  park — which  is  no 
longer  so  termed,  as  no  longer  containing  deer,  but  parti- 
tioned off  into  fields  with  sheep  and  cows  in  them. 

"Our  gardens  are  delightful — with  large  trees,  planes 
and  chestnuts,  a  cedar,  and  an  evergreen-oak,  the  latter 
the  finest  I  have  seen  in  England.  A  flower-garden  and 
greenhouse  are  near  the  house,  and,  at  the  distance  of 
three-quarters  of  a  mile,  through  the  park,  is  a  large 
kitchen  garden,  walled  in,  and  belonging  to  the  old  Hurst- 
monceaux Castle,  originally  dating  from  the  Conquest,  but 
rebuilt  in  1440,  a  fine  and  very  large  fortress,  like  Raglan 
Castle,  inhabited  till  eighty  years  ago,  when  Mr.  Hare's 


CARLTON    TERRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  53 


grandfather  was  persuaded  to  build  the  liouse  which  we 
inhabit,  and  dismantle  the  castle  for  materials ! — much  to 
be  lamented  for  the  sake  of  the  castle,  which  remains  an 
ivy -mantled  ruin,  likely  to  outlive  many  a  younger  edifice : 
and  for  the  family,  who  by  building  the  house  brought  on 
the  need  for  selling  the  estate.  From  our  upper  windows 
we  see  the  sea,  with  Pevensey  Bay,  where  William  the 
Norman  landed.  There  are  good  roads  and  paths  in  all 
directions,  and  Emilia  and  Mary  enjoy  driving  out  in  a  low 
phaeton  with  two  little  ponies,  a  late  very  agreeable  and 
useful  acquisition.  Archdeacon  Hare  and  Mrs.  Augustus 

Hare  are  all  kindness  and  cordiality This  has  been 

~a  year  of  distress,  trial,  and  unsatisfactory  unavoidable 
expenditure  of  time  and  money,  such  as  I  hope  and  pray 
not  to  be  called  upon  to  live  through  again !  But  it  has 
pleased  Providence  to  bring  us  in  this  place,  to  the  haven 
where  we  would  be,  before  the  close  of  it :  and  I  am 
hourly  thankful." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Hurstmonccaux,  13  March,  1843. — Your  letter,  abundant 
in  delightful  matter,  leaves  me  (independent  of  its  exciting 
interest)  the  consoling  impression  that  your  way  through 
the  desert*  is  not,  will  not  be,  a  wandering  out  of  the 
right  way,  neither  for  forty  years  nor  for  two.  The  king- 
dom of  God  may  be  forwarded,  laboured  for,  in  one  position 
as  in  another,  if  it  is  but  kept  as  the  first  object,  and  never 

*  Abekcn  had  now  left  Rome  and  his  vocation  as  Minister  of  the 
Gospel.  The  Prussian  government,  at  Bunsen's  request,  had  allowed 
him  to  accompany  the  expedition  to  Egypt  undertaken  at  the 
country's  expense  by  Lepsius,  to  whom  his  rare  scientific,  geographi- 
cal, and  linguistic  acquirements  were  most  valuable.  • 


54  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

lost  sight  of :  for  those  who  have  '  zur  Kreuzfahn  durch 
dein  Blut,  o  Jesu,  lassen  schreiben ' — must  not  fight  under 
another  banner. 

"  The  winter  here  has  been  to  us  all  a  time  of  quiet,  and 
health,  and  enjoyment;  and  for  myself,  I  cannot  be  suffi- 
ciently thankful  in  the  hourly  consciousness  of  stillness 
and  undisturbedness,  enabling  me  to  get  through  my  day's 
work  as  the  day  comes.  It  is  not  leisure  for  choice  of 
occupation  that  I  am  at  liberty  to  wish  for:  change  of 
.exertion  has  been  for  years  my  appointed  means  of  rest: 
but  I  must  crave,  as  being  necessary  as  daily  bread,  such 
freedom  from  disturbance,  during  certain  periods,  as 
may  enable  me  to  go  on  in  consciousness  that  the  chief 
labour  of  life  is  not  neglected : — which  freedom  from  dis- 
turbance in  London  was  impossible  at  any  season  of  the 
year.  Of  my  husband's  full  activity  he  will  tell  you  him- 
self :  it  is  wonderful  how  much  he  has  found  it  possible  to 
do,  under  the  necessity  of  perpetual  change  of  scene,  which 
however  I  believe  has  operated  refreshingly.  We  have  a 
great  acquisition  in  Otto  Deimling,  the  brother  of  Lina, 
who  is  taking  Theodore  in  hand,  and  is  of  a  nature  that 
amalgamates  most  happily  with  all  the  other  portions  of 
the  household,  while  his  musical  talent  is  a  matter  of 
general  delight.  I  hope  soon  to  receive  here  a  Miss  Cecil, 
as  governess,  and  friend  and  guide  to  my  girls  during  my 
unavoidable  absence  in  London :  she  lived  long  with  Lady 
Inglis  to  bring  up  the  Thornton  family,  to  whom  Sir  Robert 
and  Lady  Inglis  in  the  early  years  of  their  marriage  sup- 
plied the  place  of  parents. 

"I  have  only  one  book  to  name  that  I  have  read  this 
winter,  but  that  is  a  sort  of  event  in  life — Tieck's  Vittoria 


CARLTON    TERRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  55 

Accoramluona.  It  is  tlie  grandest  delineation  of  a  female 
character,  under  circumstances  of  unparalleled  difficulty, 
that  I  know:  and  I  never  should  have  supposed  Tieck 
capable  of  such  a  conception.  It  is  also  a  picture  to  the 
life  of  Italian  character  and  manners.  Ernest's  voice  and 
Deinaling's  violin,  with  Frances  and  Lina  to  accompany, 
seduce  us  into  enjoyment  of  music  almost  every  evening, 
so  there  has  not  been  much  reading  aloud ;  indeed  your 
place  has  never  yet  been  supplied,  nor  is  likely  to  be,  as  a 
means  to  me  of  this  kind  of  intellectual  excitement." 

To  her  CHILDREN  at  Hurstmonceaux. 

"  Carlton  Terrace,  19  April,  1848. — This  house  looks  very 
nice — but  I  feel  as  if  in  an  enchanted  castle — or  in  a 
dream — all  is  so  strange  and  still ;  and  I  find  it  very  hard 
not  to  be  idle,  going  about  and  looking  at  things,  to  see  if 
they  stand  in  their  place.  Only  one  consciousness  is  con- 
stant, that  I  am  thankful  my  dear  little  girls  are  not  here, 
but  established  where  I  trust  they  are  better  off." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"London,  30  May,  1843. — I  had  at  breakfast  an  American 
who  has  been  teaching  the  poor  blind  and  deaf !  and  then 
I  went  to  the  consecration  of  a  beautiful  church  by  the 
Bishop  of  London — fine  sermon,  fine  service,  fine  organ, 
fine  chanting,  and,  lastly,  had  a  walk  home  through  the 
park  with  my  dear  George.  I  have  passed  an  uncommon 
morning,  with  thoughts  and  feelings  and  senses  occupied 
by  anything  but  common  London  objects :  and  now  I  come 
home  and  find  Ernest  practising  singing  accompanied  by 
an  Italian,  and  ten  notes  that  have  to  be  answered — but 
before  I  set  about  this  work  and  thus  am  screwed 


56  LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

down  to  the  common  London  level,  and  become  quite 
stupid,  let  me  remember  what  I  want  to  say  to  my  own 
dear  children — but  it  will  not  be  much,  because  to-day  we 
are  to  dine  with  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  I  must  dress 
beforehand,  and  I  must  rest  beforehand,  and  I  must  write 
my  notes  before  I  rest.  .  .  .  Your  dear  Father  has  had  a 
great  loss,  in  the  death  of  his  admirable  friend,  old  Mr. 
Perthes  *  of  Grotha  ;  I  assure  you  I  have  wept  as  if  I  had 
known  him  by  sight,  and  yet  I  only  knew  him  by  his 
letters,  and  his  life's  conduct." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  FHANCES. 

"  Blaise  Castle,  20  July,  1 843. — I  wish  I  could  write  details 
of  my  enjoyment  in  being  here,  to  make  you  understand 
how  your  Father  and  I  are  refreshed  in  body  and  mind, 
that  is  to  say,  to  me  the  bodily  refreshment  must  come  after- 
wards, for  I  have  been  seeing  pictures  and  walking  about 
the  grounds  incessantly.  Yesterday  was  uninterruptedly 
prosperous,  and  filled  with  matter  of  agreeable  recollection ; 
but  to-day  is  the  real  refreshment ;  the  kindness  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Harford,  the  beauty  of  the  place  and  surround- 
ing country,  the  taste  and  feeling  which  has  guided  and 
governed  the  decoration  of  everything,  which  pervades  the 
house,  household,  establishment,  furniture,  manner  of  re- 
ception (a  refinement  which  is  not  superinduced,  but  results 
from  sound  views  and  principles  in  life)  constitute  and 
create  a  consciousness  of  well-being,  a  reality  of  pleasure 
and  satisfaction,  to  which  one  does  not  often  attain  any- 
where, but  hardly  ever  elsewhere  than  at  home. 

*  The  life  of  this  admirable  man,  a  publisher  of  eminence,  has  been 
•written  by  his  son  Clemens  Perthes,  and  gives,  perhaps,  the  best  in- 
sight into  German  domestic  life  in  the  middle  classes. 


CAHLTON   TERRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  57 

"  We  arrived  at  Bristol  soon  after  one,  and  soon  met  the 
Harfords  and  Mrs.  Miles  of  Leigh  Court,  at  which  place 
we  were  invited  to  dine  with  the  Harfords  in  the  evening. 
Soon  we  sate  down  to  the  banquet,  and  I  was  placed,  to 
my  alarm,  next  to  Prince  Albert :  however,  he  did  not  eat 
me,  nor  even  lite,  but  was  very  goodnatured,  and  of  course 
I  had  the  best  view  oj  the  long  tables  filled  with  guests, 
and  I  was  at  the  fountain-head  for  hearing  the  speeches. 
After  this  was  over,  all  followed  the  Prince  to  the  covered 
gallery,  high  along  the  edge  of  the  water,  prepared  for 
seeing  the  toiving-out  of  the  great  ship — of  an  inconceivable 
length — into  deep  water ;  for  that  was  the  launch.  It  was 
fine  to  see  the  great  vessel  put  in  motion,  but  finest  to  see 
the  hills  of  Clifton,  the  shore,  the  boats,  the  ships,  covered 
with  thousands  of  spectators,  in  bright  sunshine." 

Madame  Bunsen,  on  her  last  return  from  Germany, 
had  brought  back  with  her  to  England,  as  teacher  of 
music  to  her  daughters,  Caroline,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Ludwig  Dcimling,  Court  chaplain  (Hofprediger)  to  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Baden,  and  sister  to  the  tutor  of  her 
youngest  son.  This  young  lady  by  her  gentleness, 
sweetness,  and  her  great  patience  in  a  long  and  suffer- 
ing illness,  endeared  herself  to  each  member  of  the 
family  and  household.  She  died  at  Hurst monceaux 
Place  in  the  middle  of  September,  1843. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"  Hurstmonceaux,  22  Sept.,  1843.— A  scene  of  long  sorrow 
and  suffering  closed  yesterday,  in  our  following  the  remains 
of  Lina  the  lovely  and  gentle,  to  their  resting-place  in 


58  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Hurstmonceaux  churchyard, — she  having  breathed  her  last 
on  the  16th.  The  last  time  she  had  quitted  the  house  was 
on  Easter  Sunday,  when  she  dragged  herself  along  the 
same  way  that  now  she  was  borne,  to  the  Communion. 
During  the  whole  of  her  long  illness  she  was  an  uncom- 
plaining sufferer,  and  full  of  thankfulness  to  all  who  sur- 
rounded her. 

"You  will  have  received  Carlyle's  'Past  and  Present' 
in  the  course  of  the  summer,  and  Pusey's  Sermon,  and 
thus  you  will  have  been  going  over  the  ground  we  have 
been  treading.  I  hope  at  least  that  there  is  a  growing  con- 
sciousness evinced  by  the  Press  of  the  miseries  and  perils 
that  surround  us :  but  oh !  for  that  singleness  of  percep- 
tion, for  that  instinct  of  truth,  for  that  consciousness  of  the 
needful  for  self-preservation,  for  that  haEowed  fear  of  the 
invisible,  present,  imminent,  irresistible  reality — which 
has  existed  in  times  of  the  health  and  youth  of  nations, 
but  which  ceases  in  their  sickness  and  decline.  Unless 
God  work  a  miracle,  what  is  to  save,  what  is  to  renovate 
the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  I  think  you  will  read  '  Past  and 
Present '  as  breathlessly  as  I  did.  I  am  not  equally  sure  of 
your  partaking  the  feelings  with  which  I  laboured  through 
Pusey's  unutterably  dull  sermon :  you  probably  will  join 
in  the  German-Professor  sympathies  of  Archdeacon  Hare, 
who  (strangely  to  iny  perceptions)  "thinks  the  dullness  of 
the  sermon  sufficient  antidote  to  its  poison,  and  regrets  that 
the  teacher  of  heresies  should  have  been  put  to  silence. 
0  !  had  people  not  been  more  straightforward  in  the  days 
of  James  II.,  we  should  have  been  quibbled  into  a  Papist 
government  for  good  and  all. 

"  You  do  not  say  enough  to  please  me  of  the  stupendous 


CARI/L'ON    TERRACE    AND    HURSTMONCEAUX.  59 

beauty  of  the  character  of  Vittoria  Accorambuona,  one  of 
the  grandest  of  the  creations  of  genius — the  female  Being 
in  its  highest  perfection,  leaving  out  of  the  question  Chris- 
tian perfection.  She  is  everywhere  calculated  to  produce  the 
effect  she  is  intended  to  produce :  the  reader  does  not  take 
her  upon  trust.  But  I  do  not  wonder  at  her  not  being  to 
the  public  taste,  which  is  much  too  artificial.  Those  who 
are  used  to  delight  in  the  outline  produced  by  whalebone 
and  buckram,  cannot  honestly  admire  (though  for  fashion 
they  may  say  they  do)  the  real  flesh  and  light  drapery  of 
the  marbles  of  the  Parthenon." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

'"22  Sept.,  1843.— Dear  Lina  has  left  behind  her  'an 
odour  of  a  sweet  savour' — a  soothing  image  of  much 
human  excellence  and  a  high  degree  of  Christian  perfec- 
tion. During  the  last  hard  six  months,  there  never  has 
been  a  murmur  against  God  or  man  shown  either  by  word 
or  demeanour  :  abnegation  of  self,  the  not  demanding  any- 
thing but  what  was  given,  and  being  thankful  for  the 
smallest  service  or  demonstration  of  a  will  to  help,  were 
become  the  habit  of  the  mind.  And  she  has  met  with 
much  love  and  sympathy  from  everybody  that  had  observed 
her,  when  she  glided  about  in  unostentatious  activity  in 
the  time  of  comparative  health,  or  when  she  lay  on  the  bed 
of  pain  and  death I  cannot  regret  the  circum- 
stances which  brought  her  to  us,  nor  regret  anything  but 
that  I  could  do  no  more  for  her :  for  to  love  her  was  no 
effort,  but  impulse:  and  she  showed  me  only  love  and 
trust  and  thankfulness,  and  never  caused  me  a  moment's 
sensation  of  disapprobation.'' 


60  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


To  ABEKEN  (in  Egypt). 

"  Hurstmonceaux,  29  Nov.,  1843. — You  can  scarcely  have 
a  clearer  sky,  a  more  unclouded  sun,  over  you,  than  I  now 
behold — and  when  you  looked  last  night  (as  no  doubt  you 
did)  upon  the  crescent-moon  grouped  with  Jupiter  and 
Mars,  you  saw  these  planets  with  no  other  radiance  than 
met  my  eyes.  So  it  is  with  supernal  objects  of  other  and 
various  kinds — they  are  the  same,  but  our  eyes  behold 

them  modified  by  varying  media In  the  spring, 

there  is  every  probability  that  we  shall  remove  from  this 
place,  to  which  for  so  many  reasons  we  shall  ever  be 
attached :  the  society  of  the  Archdeacon  will  be  a  great 
loss,  and  we  "shall  probably  miss  the  quiet  of  this  perfectly 
retired  situation,  so  far  removed  from  social  interruption  : 
but  on  the  other  hand,  the  evil  is  great  of  the  continual 
separations  and  expense  of  journeys,  to  which  we  are  sub- 
jected at  this  great  distance  from  London,  and  we  shall  bo 
thankful  if  the  prospect  now  opened  of  obtaining  a  country 
residence  within  ten  miles  of  town,  should  be  realised. 
Lady  B-afnes  has  been  with  us  twice  lately,  and  we  hope 
she  will  come  again  at  Christmas :  and  it  is  ever  matter  of 
new  admiration  that  she  should  be  so  full  of  love  and 
sympathy  for  those  who  float  in  the  full  tide  of  life,  while 
she  is  personally  cut  off  from  its  dearest  interests,  and  per- 
petually reminded  that  all  sha  loved  are  in  the  grave,  or 
rather  gone  before  where  she  is  ever  ready  to  follow, 
though  by  a  singular  dispensation,  still  bid  to  wander  on 
the  '  bourn.'  Neukomm  is  still  here,  and  I  hope  we  shall 
keep  him  long.  He  calls  forth  music  in  the  house,  as  well 
as  performing  it,  and  we  thus  live  in  a  medium  of  sweet 
sound/' 


CHAPTER  III. 

IN  THE  TURMOIL  OF  LIFE. 

u  Je  vous  conseillc  de  ne  jamais  porter  votre  vue  au-delsk 
de  la  journee  meme.  Lorsque  vous  vous  auriez  habituee  a 
regarder  chaque jour  comme  une  existence  distincte  et  separee 
de  ce  qui  en  suit,  le  fardeau  qu'il  apporte,  tel  qu'il  soit,  sera 
supportable,  et  la  vie  entiere  vous  scmblera  bicn  passagerc." 

MADAME  BTJNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"4  Carlton  Terrace,  6  March,  1844.— Such  a  number  of 
things  press  upon  me  to  be  communicated,  in  this  earliest 
and  quietest  hour  of  the  d&j,  that  will  become  busy  enough 
as  it  rolls  on,  that  it  is  a  puzzle  where  to  begin.  To  speak 
of  the  affectionate  interest  with  which  my  thoughts  ever 
follow  your  wanderings,  and  my  cordial  thankfulness  for 
the  prosperity  which  has  been  granted  to  yourself  and  to 
Lepsius  seems  to  me  wasting  time  and  paper  in  remplissage, 

for  surely  you  know  it  and  doubt  it  not We  spent 

the  winter  at  Hurstmonceaux  with  much  of  desirable  and 
enjoyable — almost  all  we  could  wish,  except  one  prime 
requisite,  being  all  together.  My  husband  in  general  was 
no  sooner  arrived  from  town,  than  something  occurred  to 
make  it  necessary  for  him  to  return :  in  six  months,  from 
August  to  February,  he  made  but  four  visits  to  Hurst- 


62  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    J51LNSKN. 

monceaux,  and  only  once  could  protract -his  stay  beyond 
three  weeks.  This  must  explain  the  necessity,  which  went 
very  hard  with  us,  of  breaking  up  our  establishment  there, 
and  finding  a  place  nearer  London — Oak  Hill,  near  Barnet, 
four  miles  from  Lady  Raffles.  So  I  have  just  finished 
devastating  the  fabric  of  family-comfort  that  we  had  been 
forming  and  enjoying  for  a  year  and  a  quarter.  .... 
Such  periods  of  inordinate  labour  and  trouble,  eating 
large  pieces  out  of  one's  life  to  no  apparent  purpose,  must 
no  doubt  be  very  good  for  me,  as  they  have  recurred  so  often 
in  the  latter  years, — and  as  there  is  only  prospect  of  such  in 
the  following.  Here  in  Carlton  Terrace  I  begin  to  feel  a 
little  as  if  at  home :  but  am  reminded  there  is  no  being, 
or  fancying  myself  settled,  even  here :  and  Oak  Hill  may 
soon  be  costing  us  as  much  trouble  to  get  out  of,  as  in  to. 
I  have  seen  the  place  and  am  much  pleased  with  it.  Had 
I  seen  our  dear  Hurstmonceaux  before  it  was  taken,  I 
should  not  have  consented :  but  it  is  all  well  that  we  have 
been  there,  and  we  carry  away  store  of  valued  remem- 
brance from  the  place  and  its  inhabitants.  Our  last  act 
was  to  place  a  stone  with  a  cross  and  a  short  inscription  to 
mark  where  '  the  human  seed  divine '  was  deposited,  which 
our  thoughts  will  often  revisit." 

In  March,  1844,  Bunsen  was  summoned  to  Berlin, 
where  he  was  joined  by  his  wife  in  the  following  July. 
She  then  for  the  first  time  became  acquainted  with  her 
husband's  country,  and  rejoiced  in  seeing  many  of  the 
places  and  friends  connected  with  his  earlier  life, 
though  she  could  not  but  experience  the  mentally  as 
well  as  physically  chilling  influence  of  Germany  aa 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  63 

compared  with,  the  Italy  of  her  heart.  As  the  water- 
cure  of  Marienberg  near  Boppart  was  prescribed  for 
Emilia  Bunsen,  her  mother  accompanied  her  thither 
from  Berlin,  and  while  there,  had  the  comfort  of  a  cordial 
and  friendly  meeting  with  her  sister-in-law  Christiana, 
so  intimately  connected  with  her  earlier  married  life. 
Bunsen  returned  to  Carlton  Terrace  to  receive  the 
Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  on  his  visit  to  England.  Many 
circumstances  of  that  visit  are  recalled  which  are  char- 
acteristic both  of  Prince  and  Minister.  Royal  carriages 
had  been  sent  to  meet  the  Prince  on  two  successive  days 
on  which  the  possibility  of  his  arrival  was  anticipated, 
and  had  returned  without  him.  On  the  third  day  Bunsen 
would  not  be  induced  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  his 
arrival,  and,  instead  of  going  to  meet  him,  remained  en- 
grossed in  the  last  chapter  of  his  work  on  Egypt,  and 
was  thus  surprised  by  his  royal  guest,  who  kindly  entered 
at  once  into  the  temptation  which  had  led  to  such  a 
dereliction  of  duty  on  the  part  of  his  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary !  In  the  absence  of  Madame  Bunsen 
she  was  represented  by  her  sister  Lady  Hall,  who 
arranged  with  Bunsen  the  different  dinners  and  evening 
parties  which  were  given  for  the  Prince.  Afterwards 
Bunsen  accompanied  the  Prince  on  a  tour  of  country 
visits  in  the  north  of  England,  and  thoroughly  rejoiced 
in  the  opportunities  afforded  of  conversation  with  one 
whom  from  his  earliest  years  he  had  known  and  loved, 
but  from  whom  he  had  in  later  years  been  somewhat 
alienated  by  events. 


64  LIVE    AND    LETTERS    OF    1JA11ONKSS    F>UNSEN. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  SON  HENRY. 

"Hamburg,  22  June,  1844. — We  arrived  here  safely 
(Frances,  Emilia,  Miss  Bromley,  and  I)  at  7  o'clock  yester- 
day morning.  We  were  admiring  the  banks  of  the  Elbe 
from  the  deck  of  the  steamer  after  a  miserable  passage, 
when,  I  saw  a  boat  approaching  from  the  shore,  and 
asked  myself  whether  that  could  be  your  Father,  which 
was  so  like  his  outline,  and  himself  it  was.  .  .  .  We  were 
refreshed  by  a  good  breakfast  at  8  o'clock,  and  while 
we  were  about  it,  auf  gut  Deutsch,  began  the  visits :  first 
Senator  Abendroth,  then  Syndicus  Sieveking,  followed  by 
the  Prussian  Minister,  Senator  Jenisch,  Amelia  Sieveking 
— the  remarkable  woman  who  has  accomplished  hero  a 
society  of  Protestant  Scours  de  Charite,  &c." 

"  June  23. — Yesterday  and  the  day  before  we  dined 
with  the  family  of  Syndicus  Sieveking  at  his  country 
place :  and  we  have  all  enjoyed  those  two  afternoons, 
more  than  I  can  express,  from  their  great  kindness  and 
agreeable  society.  On  Friday,  wo  saw  on  our  way  that 
admirable  institution  for  the  reclaiming  and  training  of 
wicked  boys  and  girls,  das  Raulie  Ilaus ;  and  made  the 
acquaintance  of  that  really  great  and  gifted  man,  the 
clergyman  Wichern,  who  has  created  and  still  carries  on 
the  whole.  To  see  such  a  monument  of  Christian  love 
and  Christian  wisdom,  as  that  whole  establishment,  and 
know  that  wonders  can  be  brought  about,  even  in  these 
dry  and  hardened  times,  by  the  union  of  those  powers, 
is  affecting  and  edifying  beyond  description !  The  chil- 
dren whom  we  saw  happy  and  useful,  had  all  been 
such  as  their  own  relations  could  not  get  on  .with,  from 
their  frightful  development  of  wickedness  at  so  early  an 


IX    THE    TU11MOIL    OF    LIFE.  65 

ago.  Yesterday  we  saw  one  of  Amelia  Sieveking's  esta- 
blishments, in  which  twelve  sickly  children  are  taken  caro 
of  by  two  So3iirs  de  Charite  from  Gossner's  Deaconess 
establishment  at  Berlin :  the  sister  who  received  us  and 
showed  us  the  children  (some  of  them  orphans,  and  all  of  the 
poorest  and  most  needy  families)  was  a  farmer's  daughter 
of  the  Mark  Brandenburg,  and  has  been  two  years  follow- 
ing this  calling,  after  passing  a  six  months'  noviciate — 
her  name  is  Antonia.  I  shall  never  forget  the  expression 
of  cheerful  goodness  and  sense,  with  dignified  simplicity, 
that  marked  her  whole  demeanour :  nor  the  unostentatious 
manner  of  answering  our  questions  as  to  the  weight  of 
care  and  duty  she  constantly  bears.  These  two  young 
women  have  no  under- strappers  to  take  off  the  heavy  work 
from  them — they  watch  and  attend  to  these  twelve  sick 
children  night  and  day;  teach  them  what  they  can  be 
taught,  cook  for  them,  and  keep  order  in  the  whole  house, 
the  remainder  of  which  is  divided  into  neat  dwellings  for 
respectable  poor  families,  who  pay  a  rent  so  low  as  to  be 
nearly  nominal.  Besides  the  children  of  the  house,  they 
have  also  a  Sunday  school  for  some  from  the  neighbour- 
hood. All  this  is  under  Amelia  Sieveking's  superintend- 
ence, and  she  is  about  to  add  to  the  establishment,  not  by 
enlarging  this,  but  by  having  other  houses  similarly  con- 
stituted. The  Sieveking's  are  rich  and  generous,  and  thus 
she  obtains  pecuniary  help,  besides  her  own  private  for- 
tune :  but  more  important  still  are  the  understanding,  and 
the  Christian  spirit,  which  she  brings  to  the  work.  She  is 
a  highly  gifted  person,  and  has  the  gift  of  speech,  and  of 
expressing  htrself  in  writing.  We  saw  that  fine  picture 
of  Overbeck's — Christ's  Agony  in  the  Garden — presented  to 

VOL.  II.  F 


tfO  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  liospital-cliapel  by  the  Godefroy's.  Yesterday  even- 
ing was  beautiful  •:  and  the  effect  of  sky,  and  lights,  and 
people,  and  boats,  and  a  singing-party  in  one  large  boat, 
on  that  fine  piece  of  water — the  Binnen  Alster,  reminded 
me  of  Venice. " 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"Berlin,  28  June,  1844. — Yesterday  morning  I  had  the 
great  pleasure  of  spending  three  hours  in  the  Museum, 
seeing  the  exquisite  collection  of  pictures  of  the  ancient 
Italian  masters,  which  were  shown  me  by  Mr.  Waagen, 
whose  books  about  pictures  in  England  you  may  have 
heard  me  speak  of.  Then  we  drove  to  Charlottenberg, 
which  is  a  little  town  of  itself  collected  round  the  palace, 
something  in  the  manner  of  Hampton  Court ;  thither  your 
Father  was  gone  to  hold  a  liturgical  conference  with 
Strauss  and  Snetlage,  for  the  sake  of  having  a  quiet  corner 
(for  in  Berlin  he  never  has),  and  we  came  after  him  that 
we  might  dine  all  together,  and  see  the  Mausoleum  in 
which  the  late  King  and  his  Queen  are  buried.  The 
building  was  erected  by  the  late  King  for  the  tomb  of 
his  beloved  Queen,  but  the  present  King  has  made  an 
addition  in  the  form  of  a  beautiful  chapel,  in  which 
the  two  tombs  stand  side  by  side.  The  walls  are  wain- 
scoted with  marble,  and  adorned  above  with  cherubs'  heads 
in  relief,  and  texts  of  Scripture  in  large  letters  like 
mosaic — the  texts  all  chosen  by  the  present  King,  and 
beautifully  selected.  The  tombs  have  recumbent  statues 
of  the  King  and  Queen,  and  it  is  not  to  be  described 
how  beautiful  that  of  the  Queen  is :  that  of  the  King 
is  not  yet  executed  in  marble,  but  the  same  sculptor, 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  67 

Bauch,  is  at  work  upon  it.  The  sight  of  the  whole  is 
most  solemn  and  affecting.  I  saw  afterwards  the  apart- 
ments of  the  present  King  and  Queen,  where  they  often 
live  in  the  spring,  beautiful  rooms,  fitted  up  with  taste 
and  comfort,  and  looking  as  if  they  were  lived  in  and 
enjoyed." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Marienlerg,  lei  Boppard  am  JRhein,  23  July,  1844. — I 
am  fixed  here,  for  how  many  weeks  I  know  not,  to  try  the 
effect  of  a  water-cure  for  Emilia  in  this  ancient  monastery, 
by  command  of  Dr.  Schonleiri,  whose  advice  I  went  to  seek 
at  Berlin,  a  journey  which  further  accomplished  another 
desirable  object,  that  of  my  being  at  last  presented  at  the 

Prussian  Court I  hope  to  learn  to  like  this  country, 

by  means  of  drives  on  the  river  banks,  but  alas !  it  still 
seems  to  me  that  I  am  in  a  trench,  and  I  long  to  knock 
down  the  barrier,  so  as  to  have  a  peep  out  somewhere  into 
the  distance. 

"I  rejoice  to  have  been  in  Berlin,  where  1  saw  many 
people  whom  I  was  very  glad  to  see.  Good  Schelling 
was  all  cordial  kindness  to  me  and  mine ;  he  is  well-pre- 
served, and  is  really  likely  to  work  in  retirement  during 
the  holidays  in  one  of  the  King's  country-places.  The 
Eichhorns,  mother  and  daughter,  I  much  liked.  Greatly 
did  I  enjoy  the  Museum,  in  which  Waagen  showed  me  the 
collection  of  pictures  and  Gerhard  the  other  antiquities : 
also  Cornelius's  new  designs  for  the  Campo-Santo,  and  his 
Glaubenschild,  the  baptismal  gift  of  the  King  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales.  It  is  a  great  satisfaction  that  Cornelius 
is  as  fresh  and  full  of  power  as  ever.  I  saw  the  Antigone, 


68  LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  effect  of  which,  was  beyond  all  my  expectations  :  and 
there  were  hopes  of  the  Trilogie  of  JEschylus,  compressed 
into  a  piece  in  three  acts,  being  made  equally  enjoyable  by 
Mendelssohn.  My  husband  suggested,  and  Franz  executed, 
the  arrangement, — Tieck  read  the  piece  thus  arranged  to 
the  King,  and  the  manuscript,  approved,  was  conveyed  by 
me  to  Mendelssohn  at  Frankfort.  I  saw  the  Queen  and 
Royal  Family  at  Potsdam,  whither  I  was  '  zur  Tafel  be- 
fohlen" — the  opportunity  being  past  for  presentation  in 
town.  It  was  on  the  day  of  the  great  military  festival, 
when  the  King  has  a  portion  of  every  regiment  in  the  ser- 
vice to  dine  in  his  presence  at  the  'Neue  Palais,'  and  I 
am  glad  to  have  seen  the  fine  sight.  Altogether  the  days 
passed  at  Berlin  have  left  a  multitude  of  recollections,  but 
no  satisfaction  was  greater  than  daily  seeing  my  dear 
Charles  and  George,  and  having  opportunity  of  knowing 
how  well  they  are  going  on." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  llarieriberg,  30  July,  1844. — On  Sunday  we  had  a  de- 
lightful drive  to  St.  Goar,  and  fully  experienced  what  I 
have  often  supposed,  that  no  idea  can  be  formed  of  the 
beauty  of  Hhe  banks  of  the  Ehine,  by  being  upon  the  sur- 
face of  the  river,  that  being  just  the  position  from  which 
the  surrounding  objects  cannot  be  seen  to  blend  to  advan- 
tage. The  whole  way  to  St.  Goar  is  a  succession  of  com- 
plete and  varied  pictures,  with  most  of  the  features  that 
combine  to  make  such  scenes  charming — -not  all — for  I 
cannot  but  deplore  the  want  of  wood.  At  St.  Goar  was  a 
concert  of  amateurs,  for  the  benefit  of  a  village  that  had 
Buffered  from  fire — a  good  selection  of  music,  and  a  good 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  69 

performance,  in  an  unpretending  place  and  company.  We 
came  back  by  a  glorious  moonlight. 

"  Last  Sunday  I  had  another  pleasure,  in  a  visit  of  Thile 
and  his  father ;  and,  further,  I  saw  an  old  Swiss  acquaint- 
ance, brother  of  our  friend  Madame  Peterel  of  Neufchatel, 
who  informed  me  of  a  congregation  of  German  Protestants, 
having  a  Christian  preacher,  meeting  in  a  private  room  at 
Boppard : — which  I  shall  rejoice  to  seek  out  next  Sunday. 
I  can  make  no  pretence  to  belong  to  those  independent 
spirits,  who  believe  themselves  strong  enough  to  rise  to 
heavenly  contemplation  on  their  own  unassisted  opinions, 
— to  me  the  opportunity  of  prayer  and  praise  and  edifica- 
tion, in  the  company  of  brethren  in  the  faith,  is  a  most 
needful  assistance  to  my  easily-flagging  powers.  My  dear 
Emilia  and  I  read  together  in  our  books  of  devotion :  but 
I  shall  still  feel  that  to  join  the  congregation  of  the  faith- 
ful, in  fact  and  not  merely  in  idea,  fills  a  void  which  else 

would  remain  unfilled "Whatever  the  prosaic  state 

of  modern  minds  in  Germany  may  be  reduced  to,  the 
'  Communion  of  Saints '  signifies  a  high  reality :  and 
'  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,'  remains  the  avowal  and 
promise  of  Christ.  '  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,'  expressed  the 
wants  of  the  disciples,  and  the  'ministers  of  Christ  and 
stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God,'  are  bound  not  only  to 
declare  to  us  the  doctrine  entrusted  to  them,  but  to  be  our 
guides  in  approaching  to  God, — to  teach  us  to  pray,  as  well 
as  to  understand, — to  guide  our  thoughts  and  feelings  in 
the  right  channel  by  a  well-chosen  form  of  words  which 
shall  remind  us  what  we  have  need  to  pray  for.  The  prayer 
must  be  our  own — it  cannot  be  prayed  for  us:  but  the 


70  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

greater  the  need  we  have  of  it,  the  greater  we  shall  gene- 
rally find  the  difficulty  of  hitting  upon  the  subjects  that 
would  bring  our  souls  in  the  temper  of  prayer.  On  this 
subject  I  speak  with  such  clear  experience  of  fact,  that  I 
feel  entitled  to  be  positive." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Marienberg,  29  Sept.,  1844. — -We  are  at  length  gladly 
and  wistfully  looking  to  the  opening  in  our  horizon,  which 
shows  us  the  homeward  way.  An  agreeable  surprise  has 
been  a  visit  from  my  sister-in-law,  full  of  spirit  and 
strength  and  intelligence,  unimpaired  by  her  72  years :  I 
was  truly  glad  to  see  her,  for  I  have  ever  considered  a 
heart  and  affection  like  hers  to  cover  her  undesirable 
qualities.  Meanwhile  in  England  an  active  time  has  been 
passed,  Ernest  and  his  Father  receiving  and  entertaining 
the  Prince  of  Prussia,  who  it  would  seem  has  derived  a 
very  satisfactory  impression  of  England.  My  husband  had 
good  opportunities  for  important  conversation  with  him, 
and  the  visit  seems  to  have  gone  off  as  prosperously  as 
possible.  Now  has  my  husband  again  leisure  to  send  to 
the  press  (which  is  waiting  and  gaping  wide  for  its  prey) 
the  two  volumes  of  his  Egyptian  work,  and  the  new 
edition  of  the  l  Gesang  und  Grebetbuch.'  How  I  enjoy  the 
thoughts  of  the  quiet  months  we  may  now  hope  to  have  at 
home,  at  Oak  Hill,  you  may  guess,  but  I  cannot  say. 

"  This  long  stay  in  an  Ultra-Romish  country,  where  yet 
the  people  are  truly  serious  and  devout,  has  furnished 
many  new  and  curious  subjects  of  observation  and  re- 
flection. These  people  are  of  a  good  stuff — goodnatured, 
intelligent,  lively,  and  laborious,  and  sparing  no  effort  to 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  71 

wring  from  the  surface  of  the  naturally  unproductive  soil 
their  scanty  maintenance  :  the  influence  of  the  clergy  must 
be  great,  and  unceasingly  exercised  to  fanaticize  the  flocks 
which  have  been  driven  in  crowds  to  worship  the  '  Holy 
Garment '  at  Trier — being  the  '  coat  without  seam  '  for 
which  the  soldiers  cast  lots  ; — and  not  satisfied  with  this 
severe  effort,  to  people  who  live  by  their  labour,  and  can 
ill  spare  four  days'  travelling,  and  the  bodily  fatigue  of  a 
foot-pilgrimage  through,  sun  and  rain, — processions  with- 
out end  go  along  the  banks  of  the  river  to  Bornhoven, 
where  is  an  old  church  and  wonder-working  Madonna,  the 
alcove  in  which  the  image  stands  being  entirely  tapestried 
with  votive  pictures.  But  these  processions  differ  strangely 
from  those  we  used  to  see  at  Rome,  being  real  Bittfahrten, 
— the  pilgrims  one  and  all  singing  litanies  and  German 
hymns  without  ceasing,  one  division  taking  up  the  strain 
when  the  other  is  out  of  breath : — and  I  understand  the 
clergy  are  very  strict  as  to  admitting  individuals  to  the 
privilege  of  attending  the  processions,  not  letting  those  go 
who  are  suspected  of  having  no  other  object  but  amuse- 
ment and  sight-seeing.  The  spectacle  of  such  a  procession 
is  most  striking — a  double  line,  of  men  and  women  indis- 
criminately, bearing  flags  at  little  distance  one  from 
another,  a  cross  belonging  to  each  line,  their  Pastor  walk- 
ing in  the  centre  between  the  two  lines, — the  voices 
sounding  in  solemn  harmony.  "Why  have  we  not  such  sing- 
ing in  procession,  there  where  we  might  have  it,  without  any 
corruption  of  our  worship,  in  baptismal  or  marriage  pro- 
cessions, or  at  funerals  ?  I  felt  painfully,  this  time  twelve 
months,  when  following  the  remains  of  Lina  up  the  hill 
to  Hurstmonceaux  Church,  how  the  long-protracted  silence 


72  LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

sunk  gloomily  upon  the  spirit,   which  might  have  risen 
upon  the  pinions  of  song  above  death  and  mourning. 

"  A  Countess  Drosli  v.  Vischering,  for  years  obliged  to 
employ  crutches,  and  who  had  been  using  the  baths  of 
Kreuznach  for  three  consecutive  seasons,  was  seized  some 
time  since  with  devout  longing  after  a  sight  of  the  Holy 
Garment,  and  conceived  that  she  might  thereby  recover : 
whereupon,  having  been  conveyed  to  Trier,  while  upon 
her  knees  before  the  object  of  worship,  she  declared  that 
she  could  walk, — and  accordingly,  without  crutches,  she 
walked  out  of  the  church  and  down  a  flight  of  steps.  How 
many  days  or  hours  she  remained  capable  of  the  same 
effort  I  do  not  know,  but  she  is  now  again  at  Kreuznach, 
and  using  her  crutches :  which  has  prevented  great  use 
having  been  made  of  the  miracle." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  4,  Carlton  Terrace,  28  Oct.,  1844. — Our  time  at  Marien- 
berg  was  in  many  respects  remarkable  and  interesting  to 
me :  it  was  a  period  of  much  rest  and  quiet,  which  was 
refreshing  after  the  peculiar  bustle  of  the  time  spent  at 
Berlin,  and  the  regular  bustle  of  my  habitual  life.  Then 
I  enjoyed  seeing  the  beautiful  country,  and  forming  a  real 
notion  of  what  the  banks  of  the  Ehine  are — walking  by 
the  side  of  Emilia's  ass,  or  driving  out  with  her :  and 
much  and  gladly  did  I  draw,  more  than  I  have  time  to  do 
elsewhere,  and  I  had  leisure  for  reading,  such  as  I  have 
not  at  home.  I  was  very  glad  to  have  a  happy  and  com- 
fortable meeting  with  your  good  Aunt  Christiana,  who  is 
in  a  state  o£  health,  of  calmness,  content,  goodwill  and 
affection,  such  as  I  never  saw  in  her  before  :  there  was  not 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  73 

a  cloud  in  the  whole  time,  about  three  weeks,  that  we 
were  together. 

' '  At  Coin,  Liphart  *  and  Urlichs  went  about  with  us, 
and  under  Liphart' s  guidance  I  saw  more  interesting 
things  than  would  else  have  been  possible  in  the  time : 
the  fine  old  churches,  and  remarkable  pieces  of  sculpture 
and  painting  that  they  contain,  particularly  the  painted 
sculpture,  that  singular  art,  of  which  one  must  see  the 
possible  perfection  in  order  to  believe  in  it.  The  cities  of 
the  Netherlands  have  so  early  and  constantly  been  matter 
of  interest  to  me,  that  I  am  glad  at  last  to  have  seen  two 
of  them — Ghent  and  Bruges. 

"  I  have  been  enjoying  Ranke.  He  is  an  historian 
just  such  as  I  delight  in  following,  like  a  good  guide  in  a 
picture-gallery,  who  groups  and  classifies  and  orders, 
what  else  when  received  into  the  mind  as  units,  would 
remain  a  crude  mass,  and  make  no  due  impression." 

To  ABEKEX. 

"  4,  Carlton  Terrace,  30  Oct.,  1844. — I  write  on  the  point 
of  leaving  for  Oak  Hill,  where  we  shall  find  the  rest  of  the 
.  family,  headed  by  my  dearest  Mother,  governed  by  Ernest, 
influenced  by  Neukomm.  On  the  18th  we  reached  Lon- 
don, in  time  to  witness  the  opening  of  the  New  Exchange 
by  Queen  Yictoria  in  person,  when  holiday  was  made  in 
the  City,  and  such  a  mass  of  human  beings  crowded  the 
way  she  passed,  even  to  the  very  roofs  of  the  houses,  as  I 
never  saw  together  before, — all  in  the  best  humour,  cheer- 

*  Baron  Liphart,  a  country-squire  from  Livonia,  and  a  connoisseur 
in  the  fino  arts,  had  lived  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  Bimsens 
'vhen  at  liome. 


74  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    1UJNSEN. 

ing  the  Queen,  who  was  greeted  with  the  crash  of  all  the 
church-bells,  with  the  singing  of  the  school  children  of  the 
two  churches  in  the  Strand,  and  again  with  a  band 
stationed  before  the  Exchange,  where  after  receiving  an 
address,  and  making  a  gracious  reply,  she  accepted  a 
luncheon,  of  which  1,200  persons  partook,  and  then  retired 
with  the  same  plaudits  as  when  she  entered." 

During  the  summer  of  1844  the  sisterly  sympathy 
and  affection  of  Madame  Bunsen  had  been  painfully 
aroused  by  the  long  illness  in  London,  of  Hanbury,  the 
eldest  and  then  only  surviving  son  of  her  sister  Lady 
Hall.  In  October  he  was  removed  in  a  bed-carriage  to 
Llano  ver,  where  he  expired  on  the  llth  of  February, 
1845. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  6  Nov.,  1844. — I  think  sadly  but  not  sorrowfully  of 
the  trial  you  are  called  upon  to  endure  from  the  state  of 
your  eyes :  and  earnestly  should  I  pray  for  the  removal  of 
this  '  thorn  in  the  flesh,'  did  I  not  ever  feel,  when  moved 
to  petition  for  any  earthly  good,  or  for  relief  from  any 
earthly  evil,  that  my  mouth  is  closed  by  the  consideration 
of  the  reply  given  to  the  chosen  apostle  himself — *  My 
grace  is  sufficient  for  th.ee.' — Yet  does  the  same  apostle  say 
to  us,  '  In  prayer  and  supplication,  with  thanksgiving,  let 
your  requests  be  made  known  to  God.'  And  that  I  think 
is  a  different  thing.  I  am  sure  there  is  no  wish  of  the 
heart, — let  it  concern  what  it  may,  that  we  may  not,  nay 
ought  not,  to  lay  before  God,  as  a  child  before  a  parent  of 
well-known  and  often-experienced  indulgence  : — we  need 


IN    TILE   TURMOIL    OF    LIFE. 


not  fear  to  weary  the  Lord  with  our  wishes,  it  is  only  our 
sins,  —  discontent,  mistrust,  murmuring,  &c.  that  weary  Him. 
I  have  had  myself  the  experience  many  times  in  life  of  the 
gratification  of  a  wish  that  I  had  never  supposed  could  be 
gratified,  at  the  time  I  least  expected  :  and  I  daresay  I 
should  find  many  more  such  instances,  were  but  the  habit 
more  constant  of  referring  every  occurrence  to  the  highest 
cause  instead  of  to  second  causes,  were  we  not  all  so  apt 
rather  to  reckon  up  desires  crossed,  than  desires  fulfilled.  — 
But  such  wishes  must  be  laid  before  Omnipotence  without 
claim,  without  irritation,  without  impatience  —  and  wo 
must  be  content  to  await  the  appointed  time." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Oak  Ilill,  29  Dec.,  1844.  —  I  only  wish  such  an  inclined 
plane  could  be  laid  under  the  Puseyites,  as  should  oblige 
them  one  and  all  to  slide  into  their  proper  place  !  instead 
of  remaining  long  enough  nominal  members  of  the  Church 
of  England  to  upset  it  entirely.  The  prospects  of  the 
Church  of  England  are  most  melancholy,  and  if  the  heads 
of  the  Church  do  not  take  warning  in-  time,  and  use 
measures  to  exclude,  false  brethren,  nothing  can  prevent  a 
secession,  or  some  national  measure  against  Anglo-Popery. 
The  mistrust  of  John  Bull  has  once  been  excited,  and  he 
is  most  justly  resisting  novelties  harmless  and  indifferent  in 
themselves,  but  not  indifferent  as  regards  the  source  whence 
they  come.  The  Bishop  of  Exeter  has  been  causing  such 
a  spirit  of  resistance  in  his  own  Diocese,  that  he  has  actually 
retracted  the  very  orders  he  had  issued  :  moved,  it  is 
supposed,  to  such  humiliation,  by  a  hint  from  the  highest 
quarter  that  ho  would  not  be  supported.  May  it  please 


7G  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTNSEN. 

Providence  to  infuse  rational  and  liberal  sentiments  in 
time,  for  the  better  confounding  and  dismissing  of  all 
Eomanising  members  of  the  Church  of  England !  or  they 
will  again  rouse  the  spirit  of  destruction,  and  we  shall 
have  to  mourn  over  the  second  act  of  the  Cromwell-spolia- 
tion of  Gothic  buildings,  painted  windows,  and  decencies 
of  worship.  Much  has  been  done  and  said  of  late,  that 
finds  its  exact  parallel  in  the  deeds  and  words  of  Laud 
and  his  adherents.  '  0  wenn  sie  in  der  Stille  und  Zuriick- 
gezogenheit  sich  Lantern  und  kriiftigen,  so  steckt  in  ihnen 
doch  ein  edles  Element,  das  der  Englischen  Kirche  nicht 
verloren  gehen  sollte.' — Are  these  your  dreams  in  the 
Egyptian  wilderness  ?  How  far  different  from  the  reality ! 
Instead  of  a  life-pervading  element,  it  is  a  canker  in  the 
tree " 

To  her  Sox  GEORGE. 

"4,  Carlton  Terrace,  28  Jan.,  1845.— This  has  been  no 
quiet  winter  to  me ;  after  my  dearest  Mother's  visit  was 
over  (a  time  I  shall  ever  remember  with  thankfulness,  as 
of  unclouded  sunshine),  we  received  a  succession  of  visitors 

at    Oakhill On   Thursday   Sir    Harry  and    Lady 

Verney  came  to  us,  whose  company  we  enjoyed  truly : 
they  love  German,  and  music,  and  are  interested  in  all 
that  interests  us,  and  your  Father  could  therefore  pour 
forth  and  communicate  unchecked.  At  the  same  time  we 
saw  for  one  day  a  remarkable  man,  Thomas  Carlyle,  not 
the  author  of  '  The  French  Revolution,'  &c. — but  a  mem- 
ber of  a  new  sect,*  and  called  the  Apostle  of  Germany ! 
You  would  expect  an  impostor  or  madman,  but  we  found 

•  Viz.  Irvingite. 


IX    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  77 

neither :  a  man  and  a  gentleman,  amiable,  intelligent,  and 
I  believe  truly  pious  and  well-intentioned  ;  suffering  from 
the  common  English  distemper  of  half-learning •,  when 
nothing  else  is  half :  there  is  a  whole  man,  a  whole  intel- 
ligence, a  whole  resolution,  unity  of  intention, — and  thus 
it  half-learning  the  more  dangerous,  in  destroying  the 
balance.  This  Mr.  Carlyle  has  been  in  Germany,  known 
many  people  at  Berlin,  and  has  written  a  book  on  Ger- 
many, containing  more  truth  both  in  praise  and  censure 
than  has  been  told,  I  should  think,  by  anybody  who 
has  yet  treated  the  subject.  But  curious  are  the  glimpses 
which  the  book  affords,  of  the  new  church  by  which  the 
author  would  supersede  all  existing  forms  ! 

"  How  busy  have  Frances  and  I  been  in  the  garden,  and 
how  have  we  had  roses  replanted,  clumps  improved,  and 
flower-beds  arranged !  I  have  had  a  household  to  arrange 
too,  and  in  a  great  degree  renew  and  replant.  I  wish  it 
also  might  turn  out  a  flower-garden,  and  not  a  thicket  of 
thorns  and  nettles :  trouble  enough,  time  enough,  anxiety 
enough  has  it  cost  me. 

"  I  trust  that  for  the  sake  of  your  eyes,  you  will  submit 

to  a  certain  dose  of  Lan^eweile If  it  be  too  much 

to  pretend  with  the  old  song  '  My  mind  to  mo  a  kingdom 
is ' — yet  surely  there  might  be  some  independence  of  out- 
ward circumstances  accomplished  without  demanding  too 
much.  I  wish  for  you  and  all  my  children  few  things  more 
than  to  be  kept  out  of  the  necessity  of  enduring  ennui,  of 
which  I  have  had  much  to  go  through  in  different  periods 
of  life.  But  as  bodily  fasting  may  sometimes  be  useful,  so 
perhaps  is  mental  fasting,  when  submitted  to,  and  not 
kicked  against." 


78  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

To  ABEKEN. 

"4,  Carlton  Terrace,  4  Feb.,  1845.— To-day  I  have  been 
witnessing  for  the  second  time  the  opening  of  Parliament. 
The  first  time  I  was  present  on  such  an  occasion,  three 
years  ago,  you  too  heard  the  weighty  words,  containing 
the  germ  of  events  affecting  the  fate  of  millions,  utterad 
by  that  clear,  melodious;  and  feminine  voice  :  and  you 
participated  in  the  feelings  which  the  spectacle  produced 
in  me.  This  day  the  Queen  has  had  much  of  good  exist- 
ing or  anticipated  to  comment  upon,  and  well  might  she 
congratulate  all  upon  the  commencement  of  benefit  to 
Ireland,  in  the  carrying  out  the  propositions  of  the  Act 
relating  to  charitable  bequests :  but  the  most  material 
feature  of  the  present  time,  and  the  most  alarming,  is  one 
upon  which  she  could  not  comment,  the  state  of  the 
Church  of  England,  its  divisions,  and  its  danger,  in  the 
loss  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  great  mass  of  those 
who  though  preferring  its  forms  to  those  of  any  other 
denomination  of  Christians,  yet  prefer  the  Evangelical 
and  Protestant  principle  to  any  and  everything  ex- 
ternal." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"10  Feb.,  1845. — I  am  much  concerned  at  to-day's  news, 
that  the  Proctors  have  been  weak  enough  to  prevent  the 
condemnation  of  Tract  90 — at  least  for  the  period  of  their 
reign.  It  is  strange  that  all  those  who  do  not  wish  the 
destruction  of  the  Church,  should  not  perceive  how  critical 
the  times  are,  and  that  the  present  moment  may  be  the 
last  opportunity  granted  for  rooting  out  weeds  peacefully  : 
if  the  opportunity  is  allowed  to  pass,  a  power  may  arise 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  79 

by  which  weeds  and  flowers  together  may  be  turned  up  by 
the  plough-share." 

"  Carlton  Terrace,  2  April. — We  have  been  enjoying  calm 
and  cheerful  days  at  Oak  Hill,  and  have  plunged  back 
again  into  threefold  disturbance.  Yesterday  we  were 
obliged  to  have  a  dinner-party  of  dullness  and  dryness : 
but  it  is  well  over.  To-day  we  refresh  ourselves  with 
dear  Madame  de  Ste.  Aulaire.  On  Saturday  we  are  to 
have  the  Grand  Duchess  Stephanie  of  Baden  at  luncheon, 
and  many  people  to  meet  her.  Meanwhile  we  rejoice  in 
the  presence  of  the  Arnims,  and  I  enjoy  seeing  London 
with  them.  Yesterday  I  was  at  the  Tunnel,  and  to-day 
St.  Paul's,  the  Exchange,  and  the  National  Gallery." 

To  her  Sox  GEORGE. 

"  Carlton  Terrace,  24  June,  1845. — What  a  glorious 
summer  morning!  It  is  not  yet  seven  o'clock — at  six 
Westminster  Abbey  and  the  New  Parliament  Houses,  the 
trees,  water,  turf  in  the  park,  were  all  clear  in  outline, 
illuminated  by  the  morning  sun  from  a  cloudless  sky,  and 
showing  a  mass,  substance,  modelling  of  surfaces,  which 
now  are  fast  vanishing  under  the  increasing  smoke,  and 
becoming  a  succession  of  shadows  en  silhouette,  darker  or 
lighter  according  to  the  distance.  .  .  I  must  write  to  you 
before  thre  day's  business  quite  runs  away  with  time  and 
power  .  .  for  my  head  and  heart  are  often  and  often  full  of 
things  that  I  want  to  say  to  you,  just  when  I  cannot  write, 
only  think. 

"We  have  had  two  nice  days  at  Oakhill — Caroline 
Bromley  and  her  sisters,  Count  Groeben,  and  Professor 
Steinhart,  with  whom  we  are  delighted.  What  a  glorious 


80  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

summer  ! — the  aura  estiva  blowing  as  fresh,  as  the  ponente, 
the  sun  too  hot  to  remain  in,  the  ground  dry,  the  orange- 
flowers  perfuming  the  whole  house." 

On  the  5th  of  August,  the  whole  Bunsen  family 
collected  at  West  Ham  Church  to  witness  the  marriage 
of  Ernest  Bunsen  with  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  ex- 
cellent Samuel  Gurney.  The  service  was  read  by 
Henry  Bunsen,  and  it  was  the  first  occasion  on  which 
the  ten  brothers  and  sisters  were  united,  for  it  was 
twenty- one  years  since  Henry  and  Ernest  left  the 
Eoman  Capitol,  when  their  youngest  sister  was  still 
unborn.  Immediately  after  the  wedding,  Bunsen 
set  out  for  Germany,  having  been  summoned  by  the 
King  to  Stolzenfels,  to  be  present  during  the  visit  of 
Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert.  On  this  occasion 
he  received  from  the  King  the  honour  of  Privy  Coun- 
cillor of  the  First  Class  . (Wirklicher  Gcheimer  Rath), 
which  gave  to  him  and  Madame  Bunsen  the  title  of 
"Excellency."  After  leaving  the  banks  of  the  Rhine, 
he  visited  his  birthplace  of  Corbach  and  his  sister  Helen, 
and  had  also  a  joyous  meeting  with  Schumacher  and 
many  other  friends  of  his  youth. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"  Carlton  Terrace,  7  August,  1845. — This  morning  I 
returned  from  Blackwall,  after  seeing  my  husband  safe  on 
board  the  Antwerp  steamer,  on  his  way  to  meet  the  King 
on  the  Rhine,  whither  Queen  Victoria  will  proceed  imme- 
diately after  the  closing  of  Parliament,  He  was  appointed 


IN    THE   TURMOIL    OF    LI  FE.  81 

to  be  of  the  party  to  receive  her,  first  at  Briihl,  then  at 
Stolzenf  els,  and  it  was  therefore  necessary  he  should  be  off 
before  her,  as  her  motions  are  more  rapid  than  those  of 
other  people.  This  necessity  drew  with  it  another  neces- 
sity more  agreeable,  nothing  less  than  hastening  the  'cele- 
bration of  Ernest's  marriage,  which  took  place  yesterday 
— the  bride  being  Elizabeth  Gurney,  one  of  the  nieces  of 
Mrs.  Fry,  and  the  same  who  with  her  father  Samuel  Gurney 

accompanied  Mrs.  Fry  to  Berlin  in  1840 Seldom 

can  it  have  happened  in  life  to  have  a  connexion,  in  all  its 
circumstances,  or  entirely  satisfactory — contemplated  from 
any  and  every  side,  so  perfect,  matter  of  such  unmixed 
thankfulness.  My  ten  children  were  collected  at  the  mar- 
riage, for  the  first,  perhaps  the  only  time  that  may  be 
possible."  * 

"  29  Sept.,  1845. — It  was  a  great  comfort  that  my  hus- 
band should  have  been  enabled  to  pass  his  birthday  at 
his  birthplace,  and  see  his  sister,  and  rejoice  the  hearts  of 
so  many  old  friends !  but  that  was  the  only  pleasure  he 
had  from  the  whole  journey,  except  feeling  the  King's 
personal  kindness  as  great  as  over,  and  returning  to  his 
post  and  comfortable  nest  here  !  " 

"  Oak  Hill,  23  Oct.,  1845.— Ever  since  the  return  of  my 
husband  on  the  9th  September,  he  has  been  fixed  by 
business  in  London  the  whole  heart  of  every  week,  only 
beginnings  and  endings  being  left  for  Oakhill :  a  division 
which  suits  him  far  better  than  it  does  me—  for  he  finds  in 
one  place  such  different  calls  upon  time  and  attention  from 
those  that  offer  in  the  other,  that  the  change  only  proves  a 
refreshment,  whereas  with  me  the  business  of  life  is  one 
thread,  which  such  frequent  changes  of  habitation  render 

VOL.  II.  G 


82  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

it  very  difficult  to  spin  evenly,  or  indeed  spin  on  at  all, — 
the  best  I  can  do  is  to  keep  it  from  breaking.  When  you 
return,  you  will  find  me  better  off  than  when  you  left  me 
in  London.  I  can  more  overlook  and  discriminate  the 
nature  of  surrounding  life :  but  I  have  not  yet  attained  to 
a  command  over  it.  I  can  never  feel  as  if  I  was  quite  at 
home  here,  such  an  unsettledness  have  the  frequent 
changes  produced  in  my  consciousness :  and  though  well 
knowing  what  causes  of  thankfulness  I  have,  yet  I  cannot 
help  the  wish,  that,  as  years  roll  on,  the  wheel  might  be 
allowed  to  abate  the  rapidity  of  its  whirling,  and  give  mo 
time  and  quiet,  to  recollect  and  contemplate, — move  by  an 
act  of  volition,  instead  of  being  driven.  On  retrospection 
I  feel  a  double  thankfulness  for  that  which  I  enjoyed  at 
the  time — the  intense  yet  animated  stillness  of  the  Villa 
Piccolomini. 

"  The  King's  birthday  was  celebrated  in  England  by  the 
opening  of  a  Hospital  for  the  German  sick,  which  has  been 
in  agitation  for  three  years,  and  has  given  my  husband  much 
employment.  A  vast  number  of  persons  have  interested 
themselves  for  it  among  the  merchants  of  London,  and  also 
of  Hamburg,  but  the  King  of  Prussia's  contribution  is  the 
largest,  though  several  royal  personages  are  among  the 
contributors.  The  population  of  poor  Germans — mostly 
artisans — about  London,  amounts  to  above  20,000 ! — there- 
fore it  may  well  be  conceived  how  far  the  over-stocked 
London  Hospitals  must  have  been  from  answering  the 
needs  of  such  a  mass  of  foreigners,  though  never  as  such 
excluded. 

"I  think  you  knew  Mrs.  Fry? — if  so,  you  will  feel  what 
it  is  to  know  that  her  eyes  are  closed,  and  that  her  voice 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  83 

will  no  more  on  earth  *  vindicate  the  ways  of  God  to  man,' 
and  effuse  around  that  love  to  God  and  man  which  was 
her  animating  principle.  The  latter  years  of  her  life  had 
been  somewhat  less  heavy  upon  her  than  the  two  years 
preceding,  in  which  there  had  been  little  hope  of  preserv- 
ing her  life  thus  long: — and  she  had  rejoiced  in  the 
happy  marriage  of  her  youngest  son,  and  hardly  less  in 
that  of  Ernest  and  Elizabeth.  But  much  pain,  and  help- 
lessness, and  incapability  of  active  occupation,  made  her 
life  a  load,  such  as  those  who  best  loved  her  could  not 
desire  to  see  continued  and  rendered  heavier,  as  it  must 
have  been  by  growing  infirmities.  On  the  12th  October 
she  sank  down  suddenly  and  expired  within  a  few  hours, 
having  been  heard  to  utter  ejaculations  in  prayer,  but 
having  given  no  other  sign  of  consciousness.  "We  shall 
not  look  upon  her  like  again !  and  must  try  to  preserve 
the  impression  of  her  majesty  of  goodness,  which  it  is  a 
great  privilege  to  have  beheld.  I  never  wished  more  for 
the  possession  of  the  accurate  memory  which  once  was 
mine  than  after  hearing  her  exhort  and  pray,  particularly 
on  the  day  of  Ernest's  marriage.  When  we  were  at  her 
house  on  the  3rd  July,  on  taking  leave  she  said  '  May 
God  bestow  upon  you  his  best  gifts !  the  fatness  of  the 
earth  is  good,  but  the  dew  of  Heaven  is  better.'  " 

To  her  DAUGIITER-IX-LAW  ELIZABETH  (then  travelling  abroad). 
"6  Nov.,  1845. — I  have  been  constantly  anticipating 
with  sorrow  the  moment  when  a  cloud  would  come  over 
your  happiness,  of  which  I  have  long  known,  but  of  which 
distance  made  you  unconscious ;  and  I  do  feel  that  such  a 
piece  of  intelligence  is  the  beginning  of  a  sorrow,  or 


84  LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

regret,  that  will  not  end  but  with  life !  because  what  your 
blessed  Aunt  must  have  been  for  those  who  had  the  privi- 
lege of  approaching  her  continually,  can  in  some  degree 
be  felt,  even  by  us  who  only  occasionally  had  felt  her  in- 
fluence, and  been  aware  of  the  degree  in  which  her  whole 
self  seemed  to  realise  the  life  of  God  in  man.  She  met 
everybody  in  every  human  sympathy,  but  of  sin  seemed  to 
take  no  cognizance  except  in  compassion.  I  have  been* 
much  edified  by  seeing  how  your  father  and  sister  take  the 
privation,  realising  indeed  the  idea  of  those  who  sorrow 
not  as  'having  no  hope/  but  as  le  ing  full  of  hope.  As  the 
beautiful  hymn  says : 

'  Kummer,  der  das  Herzo  brlcht, 
Quiilt  und  anstigt  nur  die  Heiden  : 
Der  in  Gottes  Schoosse  liegt 
1st  in  aller  Noth  vergnxigt.'  " 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"21  Nov.,  1845. — On  the  10th  we  set  out  on  a  peregri- 
nation round  the  county  of  Norfolk,  in  search  of  the 
various  Gurney  connexions, — first,  to  Earlham  Hall,  the 
residence  of  John  Joseph  (the  brother  of  Samuel)  and 
his  American  wife,  and  the  birthplace  of  Mrs.  Fry.  It  is 
a  delightful  place,  just  one  such  as  I  like,  old-fashioned, 
a  building  of  complicated  form,  with  Elizabethan  chimnej^s, 
the  garden,  grounds,  trees,  all  in  English  perfection,  but 
with  pleasing  marks  of  a  much  earlier  date  than  the  last 
new  fashion.  It  would  take  much  description,  and  the 
attempt  at  last  would  not  succeed,  to  give  you  an  idea 
wie  es  uns  hier  wold  war.  Master  and  mistress  and  sur- 
rounding circumstances  formed  an  harmonious  whole, 
though  each  individuality  was  strongly  and  peculiarly 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  85 

marked.  We  saw  John  Gurney  and  his  dear  little  wife  in 
their  nice  abode,  and  were  taken  to  visit  Hudson  Gurney 
and  his  wife.  On  the  third  day  we  were  conducted  on 
our  way  by  Mr.  Joseph  Gurney,  who  took  us  to  s-ee 
Blickling,  a  fine  old  place,  which  once  belonged  to  the 
father  of  Anne  Boleyn,  and  where  tradition  says  she 
was  bom :  the  present  house  is  not  as  old  as  that,  but 
dates  from  the  year  1627,  and  has  been  preserved  nearly 
unaltered.  The  old  library  is  invaluable,  and  some  curi- 
ous manuscripts  were  shown  us.  But  the  whole  place 
is  delightful  and  is  kept  up  con  amore.  From  thence 
we  went  on  to  Northrepps,  the  dwelling  of  Lady  Buxton, 
sister  of  Mrs.  Fry,  who  has  lost  her  precious  sister  and 
her  admirable  husband  within  this  year,  and  is  an  edify- 
ing pattern  of  a  Christian  mourner :  all  her  sympathies 
alive,  none  blunted  by  self-compassion,  but  living  in  re- 
collection of  those  who  are  gone  before.  With  her  we 
found  a  large  party,  her  two  sons  with  their  wives,  the 
sisters  of  Elizabeth;  her  daughter,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Gurney  Hoare,  who  generally  live  at  Hampstead.  Near 
Lady  Buxton  lives  Anna  Gurney,  a  really  admirable  and 
wonderful  person,  the  sister  of  Hudson,  who  exemplifies 
the  talents  and  various  gifts  of  this  remarkable  family 
under  circumstances  of  great  hardship,  having  been 
paralyzed  at  ten  months  old,  and  having  never  known  what 
is  meant  by  health  or  freedom  from  suffering:  still  her 
animated  and  placid  countenance  shows  not  a  trace  of  the 
struggle  against  pain,  and,  besides  her  continual  and 
active  exertion  for  the  welfare  of  the  poor  and  distressed, 
she  has  had  the  commanding  freedom  of  spirit  to  cultivate 
a  remarkable  linguistieal  talent,  and  astonished  your 


86  LIVE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Father  by  the  sort  of  questions  she  was  enabled  to  put  to 
him  and  by  the  knowledge  she  had  acquired  of  the  philo- 
sophy of  language.  As  she  was  eager  to  ask  your  Father 
about  his  Egyptian  work,  we  left  him  with  her,  and  had  a 
delightful  walk  to  the  top  of  an  eminence  from  whence  I 
enjoyed  a  splendid  view  of  the  sea,  all  blue,  with  waves 
crested  white  and  a  quantity  of  vessels  glittering  in  the 
sun.  Miss  Gurney's  cottage  is  in  a  sheltered  dell,  with 
woods  on  each  side,  an  opening  at  the  end  disclosing  the 
blue  sea.  I  was  not  prepared  for  such  pleasing  spots  in 
this  generally  uninteresting  country :  but  the  great  interest 
is  seeing  such  good  and  superior  people. 

"From  this  place,  near  Cromer,  we  went  across  to 
Kuncton  near  Lynn,  the  residence  of  Daniel  Gurney, 
youngest  brother  of  Samuel,  where  we  found  Miss  Cathe- 
rine Gurney,  the  eldest  sister  of  these  brothers  and  of 
Mrs.  Fry. 

"A  visit  of  two  days  at  Addington  has  been  very 
agreeable,  and  the  mildness  and  clearness  of  judgment, 
and  constant  benevolence  of  the  Archbishop  (Howley)  and 
his  wonderful  memory,  with  the  state  of  preservation  of  his 
body  and  mind  in  such  advanced  years,  make  out  a  most 
satisfactory  object  of  contemplation.  There  is  abundant 
matter  to  write  about  of  interest  attending  our  present 
life  in  London — of  the  many  of  the  worthy  and  distin- 
guished on  earth  with  whom  we  have  communion;  and 
of  much,  of  which  we  must  try  to  make  the  best  use 
while  we  can.  The  difficulty  is,  to  avoid  dreaminess;  I 
always  wish  I  could  mark  down  the  passing  objects,  and 
retain  even  their  shadows,  but  time  seems  always-  to  be 
•wanting." 


IN    THE   TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  87 

To  ABEKEN. 

" London t  2  April,  1846. — Not  long  since  T.  Acland 
took  me  to  hear  the  performance  at  St.  Mark's  College- 
Church,  the  place  where  there  is  a  training-school  for 
schoolmasters :  nothing  new  to  others,  but  it  was  new  to 
me.  The  boys  are  taught  to  sing,  and  the  whole  service 
of  the  Church  is  gone  through  by  them  in  a  fine  style, 
musically  considered:  the  chanting  of  the  Psalms  being 
only  by  them  performed  quite  as  it  ought.  That  chanting 
is  to  me  very  satisfactory,  and  I  would  wish  it  every- 
where :  but  to  have  the  Yenite,  the  Te  Deum,  the  Jubilate, 
all  in  canto  jigurato,  though  ever  so  good,  and  a  long 
anthem  besides — converts  the  whole  into  a  performance 
little  to  be  distinguished  but  by  localities  from  that  of  the 
Sixtine  Chapel:  well  suited  to  the  sesthetical  system  of 
religion — (a  compound  of  music  and  painting  and  archi- 
tecture and  embroidery,  and  decent  solemnities,  and  regular 
attendances,  and  high  professions,  and  strict  exclusions)— 
now  in  fashion,  but  which  the  very  name  of  the  Gospel — 
of  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  preached,  that  is  addressed 
to  the  heart,  of  the  poor  and  needy,  the  spiritually  desti- 
tute— dissipates  into  air  and  nothingness.  I  am,  and  ever 
have  been,  much  attached  to  those  external  decencies,  now 
become  the  very  idols  of  worship ;  but  if  they  are  to  be- 
come all  in  all — if  all  churches  are  to  become  what  many 
are,  I  shall  end  with  following  the  '  Ultra-Protestants '  to 
field-pr  eachin  g. ' ' 

In  the  summer  of  1846  Madame  Bunsen  went  to 
Ncuwied  to  take  her  youngest  daughter  Augusta-Matilda 
to  school,  and  afterwards  proceeded  to  Wildbad  for  the 


88  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

benefit  of  her  daughter  Emilia.  In  the  same  autumn 
the  death  o£  the  Baroness  von  Aniim  was  felt  as  a  great 
sorrow  by  the  family 

MADAME  BUXSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER  FKANCES. 

"  Wildbad,  15  July,  1846. — I  have  received  a  visit  to-day 
from  Elise  Fellenburg  of  Hofwyl.  She  told  me  of  the 
death  of  her  sister  Adele,  whom  she  described  as  having 
been  afflicted  with  Ruckenmark-schwindsucht  and  Gemutlis- 
krankheit !  and  as  having  found  peace  of  mind  and  relief 
from  pain  in  the  house  of  Pfarrer  Blumhardt,  in  a  village 
of  the  Black  Forest  near  Calw, — of  whom  she  proceeded  to 
give  the  following  extraordinary  particulars.  It  seems 
that  he  has  been  known  for  many  years  as  a  truly  Christian 
preacher,  who  laboured  faithfully  to  revive  religion  in  a 
parish  where  it  had  become  matter  of  much  indifference, — 
but  for  a  long  time  there  were  no  visible  fruits  of  his 
ministry.  I  think  after  four  years  he  began  to  observe 
that  his  parishioners  were  almost  all  coming  to  him  by 
degrees,  seeking  private  conference  to  confess  sin  and 
obtain  spiritual  consolation  and  advice,  and  soon  after  this 
revival,  I  believe,  it  occurred  to  him  that  if  "  prayer  and 
laying  on  of  hands"  had  caused  the  relief  of  bodily  disease 
in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  there  was  no  reason  why,  if 
done  with  the  same  faith,  the  same  effects  should  not  be 
produced  still.  It  seems  there  have  been  cases  of  cure, 
and  still  more  of  relief  obtained,  which  now  cause  crowds 
to  collect,  many  coming  from  a  distance.  Elise  urged  me 
to  go  and  see  and  hear  the  good  Pfarrer — to  be  present  at 
his  Saturday  evening  service,  and  stay  over  Sunday — and 
indeed  I  have  so  great  a  desire  to  do  so,  that  I  hope  it  will  be 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  89 

practicable.  The  Pfarrer  has  many  sick  in  Ids  house,  par- 
ticularly Gemuthskranke,  and  the  numbers  that  collect  to  hear 
him  preach,  at  each  of  the  three  services  that  he  holds  on  a 
Sunday,  is  so  great,  that  he  is  obliged  to  ask  the  strangers 
from  a  distance  to  stay  in  the  churchyard  till  his  parish- 
ioners have  taken  places  in  the  church — and  so  many 
remain  without,  for  whom  no  room  is  found,  that  the 
church- windows  are  opened,  and  he  speaks  as  loud  as  he 
can,  to  be  heard  by  the  assembly  outside.  Although  he 
has  so  much  constant  exertion  for  his  voice,  he  never  fails 
to  close  the  evening  with  a  Hymn  in  his  own  house,  when 
ho  is  the  Precentor,  after  uttering  grace  at  the  end  of  the 
simple  supper. 

"Elise  Fellenburg's  account  of  her  sister's  death  was 
most  affecting.  It  seems,  though  long  in  a  state  in  which 
her  decease  might  be  considered  imminent,  she  was  not 
believed  to  be  in  particular  danger  when  at  last  the  end  came 
— for  since  she  had  been  in  the  house  of  Blumhardt,  she  had 
experienced  comparative  ease  of  body  as  well  as  peace  of 
mind.  She  had  told  her  sister  she  felt  well,  and  in  comfort, 
not  long  before  a  change  in  her  features  caused  alarm, 
when  Elise  called  in  the  clergyman,  who  saw  plainly  the 
last  hour  was  come,  and  after  praying  by  her  side,  began  to 
sing  a  hymn,  in  which  his  wife  and  children,  the  maid- 
servants, and  by  degrees  other  inmates  silently  pressing 
into  the  room,  joined,  in  that  full  congregational  harmony 
which  is  nowhere  found  in  such  perfection  as  in  "Wiirteni- 
berg :  and  thus  they  sang  till  after  the  spirit  had  departed, 
peace  and  joy  and  thankfulness  being  the  expression  of 

the  eyes  until  they  lost  their  light Blumhardt  is 

urgent  with  those  who  come  to  him  not  to  talk  about  what 


90  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

is  going  on,  except  to  sucli  as  are  likely  to  value  it  in 
seriousness — I  feel  sure  that  he  exerts  a  magnetic  gift  of 
healing,  sanctified  by  prayer. 

"  Yesterday  afternoon  we  had  a  delightful  drive  tc 
Enzklosterle — a  group  of  cottages  still  named  after  a  con- 
vent destroyed  by  the  Swedes.  The  whole  wa}>-  lay  along 
the  winding  valley  of  the  bright  torrent-river,  the  Enz,  the 
Black  Forest  hills  rising  steep  on  each  side,  with  every 
beautiful  appearance  of  FicUen  and  Tannen,  or  Scotch  fir, 
and  spruce  fir,  other  trees  sometimes  appearing  at  the  lower 
edge,  and  granite-stones  thrown  about,  intermixed  with 
and  sometimes  beautifully  overgrown  by  wortle-berries : 
while  soft  green  slopes  and  flat  meadows,  watered  by 
little  streams  conducted  over  them  with  much  art  and  care, 
fill  up  the  centre.  It  is  plain  that  the  further  we  go 
into  the  recesses  of  the  Schwarzwald,  the  better  we  shall 
discern  its  peculiar  character." 

"  24  July. — I  had  yesterday  a  visit  from  M.  Appia,  who 
gave  me  an  account  of  villages  in  the  Schwarzwald,  which 
were  colonies  of  Yaudois.  In  one  of  them  Henri  Arnaud, 
who  commanded  the  '  Glorieuse  Hentree '  is  buried, 
having  ended  his  days  as  pastor  in  that  colony  of  his 
brethren.  These  various  Yaudois-colonies,  it  seems,  were 
supplied  by  the  English  government  with  the  annual  sum 
necessary  for  their  pastor  and  schoolmaster,  until  the 
country  was  over-run  by  the  French,  and  then  the  payment 
was  stopped,  and  all  renewal  of  it  since  the  peace  has  been 
refused.  For  a  long  time  these  poor  congregations  were 
in  great  need  of  all  kinds,  but  at  last  they  were  adopted  by 
the  King  of  "VViirtemburg,  whose  barren  lands  they  have 
rendered  fruitful — and  he  now  supplies  them  with  their 


IN   THE    TURMOIL   OF    LIFE.  91 

teachers,  like  other  villages  of  his  subjects.  Since  they  were 
thus  adopted,  the  German  language  is  used  in  their  churches 
and  schools  ;  up  to  that  time,  and  within  these  thirty  years, 
they  had  still  their  own  French,  and  gave  it  up  with  sorrow. 
Still,  M.  Appia  says,  they  are  extremely  poor,  from  the 
very  circumstances  of  their  position,  though  they  struggle 
as  hard  as  possible  to  be  independent,  and  the  worst  hard- 
ship is,  that  in  this  northern  climate,  and  in  the  midst  of 
forests,  they  have  no  wood  of  their  own.  The  original 
Schwarzwiilder  have  a  right  one  day  in  the  week  to  fetch 
wood  from  the  forest — that  is  dry  and  dead  wood,  with  a 
heavy  penalty  against  taking  any  of  the  abundance  cut 
down  for  use  or  profit  of  the  owner,  who  is  in  this  case 
the  government.  But  the  poor  Yaudois  have  no  such 
privilege,  and  must  buy  their  firing,  it  being  a  question  of 
how  money  is  to  be  procured,  for  food  they  get,  more  or 
less,  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  out  of  the  soil  they  tread. 
One  of  these  colonies,  Neu-Hengstadt,  is  very  near 
Calw,  and  therefore  so  near  here  that  it  would  seem  easy 
for  us  to  see  it.  The  French  name  of  it  is  Boursette — for 
each  of  the  Yaudois  villages  has  a  name  of  its  own,  taken 
from  the  original  habitation  of  the  colony  in  their  Alpine 
valleys,  besides  the  German  name  assumed  here.  It  seems, 
that  in  good  years,  the  Yaudois  successfully  maintain  their 
struggle  against  cold  and  hunger  and  disease : — but  last 
year,  with  its  bad  season  and  ruined  harvest,  laid  in  a  dead 
weight  of  distress,  out  of  which  they  bitterly  need  to  be 
helped.  In  some  villages  they  for  a  length  of  time  had  no 
bread,  and  lived  only  upon  their  half -spoilt  potatoes." 

;<  Wildlad,   3  August,   1846.— It  is  very  beautiful  and 
quiet  here,  and  Emilia  and  I  enjoy  it.     I  delight  in  the 


92  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAHONESS    BUNSEN. 

effect  of  the  pine-forests,  that  deep  grave  colouring  is  like 
a  chord  in  the  bass,  relieving  a  varied  melody,  and  grand 
in  its  sameness.  "We  leave  for  Baden  on  the  15th,  and  in 
good  time,  because  at  Herrenalb  and  Grernsbach,  two  places 
of  stoppage,  I  want  to  walk  out  and  perhaps  to  draw." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  Windsor  Castle*  15  Sept.,  1846.— I  arrived  here  at  6, 
and  at  8  went  to  dinner  in  the  great  hall,  hung  round 
with  the  Waterloo  pictures.  The  band  played  exquisitely, 
so  placed  as  to  be  invisible ;  so  that  what  with  the  large 
proportions  of  the  hall,  and  the  well-subdued  lights,  and 
the  splendours  of  plate  and  decoration,  the  scene  was  such 
as  fairy-tales  present :  and  Lady  Canning,  Miss  Stanley, 
and  Miss  Dawson  were  beautiful  enough  to  represent  an 
ideal  Queen's  ideal  attendants.  The  Queen  looked  well 
and  rayonnante  with  that  expression  of  countenance  that 
she  has  when  pleased  with  what  surrounds  her,  and  which 
you  know  I  like  to  see !  The  old  Duke  of  Cambridge 
failed  not  to  ask  after  you.  This  morning  at  nine  wo 
were  all  assembled  at  prayers  in  the  private  chapel,  then 
went  to  breakfast  headed  by  Lady  Canning,  after  which 
Miss  Stanley  took  the  Countess  Haach  and  me  to  see  the 
collection  of  gold  plate.  Three  works  of  Benvenuto 
Cellini,  and  a  trophy  from  the  Armada — an  immense 
flagon,  or  wine  fountain,  like  a  gigantic  old-fashioned 
smelling-bottle,  and  a  modern  Indian  work,  a  box  given 
to  the  Queen  by  an  Indian  potentate,  were  what  interested 

*  The  occasion  of  this  visit  to  Windsor  Castle  was  the  presence  of 
tho  Princess  of  Prussia,  now  Empress  of  Germany,  who  spent  some 
weeks  in  "England  to  visit  her  aunt,  the  Queen  Dowager  Adclaule. 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE. 


us  most.     Then  I  looked  at  many  interesting  pictures  in 
the  long  corridor. 

"I  am  lodged  in  what  is  called  the  Devil's  Tower,  and 
have  a  view  of  the  Bound  Tower,  of  which  I  made  a 
sketch  as  soon  as  I  was  out  of  bed  this  morning." 

The  summer  of  1846  was  marked  for  the  Bunsens 
by  the  resignation  of  Oakhill,  which  they  found  too 
expensive  to  keep  up  ;  and  by  the  birth  of  their  eldest 
grandson,  Fritz,  the  child  of  their  son  Ernest. 

MADAME  BUNSEX  to  Jter  Sox  GEOBGE. 

"London,  21  Sept.,  1846.— I  hope  it  will  please  God  not 
to  let  the  bread  of  life,  and  air  of  life,  be  wanting  to  us  all, 
in  the  next  period  of  existence,  any  more  than  in  the  fore- 
going :  but  the  consciousness  of  want  of  quiet,  of  the 
impossibility  of  contriving  for  quiet,  of  procuring  quiet, 
has  been  painfully  strong  upon  -my  mind  since  my  return 
home,  and  besides  the  difficulties  of  e very-day  life,  in 

December  our  house-removal  must  take  place." 

. 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  6  Oct.,  1846.— I  thought  of  your  birthday,  I  thought 
of  the  years  passing  over  your  head,  thankful  for  your 
preservation  from  the  manifold  perils  of  your  Eastern 
journey,  and  wishing  and  praying  that  many  years,  and 
years  of  good,  may  yet  be  granted  to  you — in  which,  I 
pray  for  you,  as  I  do  daily  for  myself,  that  the  Lord 
would  make  his  way  plain  before  your  face  !  I  think  the 
longer  I  live,  the  more  my  wishes  for  myself  and  others 


94  LIFE    AND   LETIERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

are  summed  up  in  that: — clearer  and  clearer  must  one 
perceive,  in  proportion  as 

The  soul's  dark  cottage,  when  by  Time  decay' d, 

Lets  in  Heav'ns  light  thro'  chinks  which  age  has  made — ' 

• 
that  there  is  no  other  positive  good  or  evil  to  be  sought  or 

avoided,  but  what  shall  tend  to  aid  or  hinder  the  fulfil- 
ment of  our  being's  aim.  With  sorrow  I  read  some  of  the 
sentences  of  your  letter  to  my  husband:  regretting  the 
time  spent  in  the  study  of  theology,  &c.  Let  but  all 
remember,  that  if  they  found  not  truth  it  was  not  that 
truth  was  not  to  be  found.  Truth  was  and  is  at  hand, 
was  and  is  found  of  many  a  diligent  seeker — seeking  in 
singleness  of  heart  and  aim  that  which  concerns  the  soul's 
best  interests,  not  supposing  that  any  system  of  words  or 
opinions  can  give  safety  or  satisfaction.  In  the  smoother 
waters  of  the  past,  people  might  speculate  and  shape 
things  external  and  internal  to  their  fancy:  but  we  are 
ruShing  with  increasing  velocity  towards  the  mighty  fall 
where  all  constructions  of  barks,  however  ingenious  and 
time-honoured,  will  with  one  crash  be  resolved  into  tljeir 
component  parts :  and  only  that  shall  resist  the  triumph  of 
decay  which  is  worthy  to  belong  to  the  renewed  fabric." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"12  Oct.,  1 846. — A  letter  received  at  Bristol  from  our  poor 
friend  Arnim  led  us  to  apprehend  the  certainty  of  the 
blow  which  was  so  soon  to  fall,  and  on  Thursday  last  a 
letter  announced  that  our  dear  friend  had  breathed  her 
last.  My  dear  George,  you  will  feel  as  we  all  do,  what 
has  been  lost  in  her — what  warm  affection,  what  faithful 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  95 

friendship,  what  maternal  regard  towards  Ernest,  towards 
you,  towards  all  of  my  children."* 

To  ABEKBN. 

"London,  5  Dec.,   1846. — I   have  very  cheerful  letters 

from  Matilda  in  her  school  at  Neuwied While  I  have 

found  that  conventual  practices  and  rules  invariably  have 
cramped  and  distorted  the  growth  and  left  marks  on  the 
human  character  which  it  must  have  been  very  vigorous 
indeed  to  get  rid  of,  the  Moravian  training  has  left  a 
blessing  behind  it — '  some  kindly  gleam  of  love  and  prayer ' 
— '  to  soften  every  cross  and  care  :' — impressions  of  the  love 
of  God  and  man,  of  devotion  and  charit}^  which  intercourse 
with  the  world  could  not  efface,  and  which  in  the  cool  of 
solitude  could  revive :  and  lawful,  correct  notions  of 
Christian  doctrine  and  of  man's  duty  and  calling.  These 
are  the  positive  advantages  which  I  have  seen  and  known 
to  be  the  fruits  of  Moravian  education,  though  there  may 
be  many  cases  in  which  such  have  not  been  its  result : — 
the  negative,  and  yet  important  advantages  consist  in 
extreme  simplicity  of  habits  of  life,  and  the  absence  of  all 

attention  to  matters  of  mere  vanity Your  mixing  in 

censure  the  Moravian  with  the  Roman  Catholic  places  of 
education,  shows  that  you  are  willing  to  overlook  or  con- 
temn the  essential  distinction  between  the  spirit  of  the 
Papacy  and  the  evangelical,  true  Protestant  spirit.  Where 
the  latter  is,  however  intermingled  with  human  imperfec- 
tions, it  cannot  fail,  to  use  your  expression  '  sich  durch 
zu  arbeiten,'  and  it  will  live  and  create  life" 

*  The  only  surviving  daughter  of  the  Baron  and  Baroness  d'Armm, 
Grafin  von  Bussche  of  Kessell- Oppenburg,  continues  to  be*a  valued 
fiic-nd  of  the  Bnnsen  family. 


,")6  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OV    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  Christmas  Day,  1846. — The  new  gift  at  this  Christmas 
time  is  the  happy  engagement  of  my  dearest  Henry  to 
Mary  Louisa  Harford  Battersby,  the  second  daughter  of 
Mr.  Harford  Battersby,  of  Stoke,  near  Blaise.  I  have  seen 
much  of  the  family  in  the  last  three  years,  and  often  has  it 
been  in  my  mind  that  if  I  was  to  make  choice  of  a  new 
daughter,  it  would  be  Mary  Louisa." 

"  1  March,  1847. — We  dined  at  Buckingham  Palace  on 
Monday,  where  there  was  a  ball  in  the  evening,  that  is,  a 
small  dancing  party,  only  Lady  Rosebery  and  the  Ladies 
Primrose  coming  in  the  evening,  in  addition  to  those  at 
dinner.  The  Queen  danced  with  her  usual  spirit  and 
activity,  and  that  obliged  other  people  to  do  their  best,  and 
thus  the  ball  was  a  pretty  sight,  inspirited  by  excellent 
music." 

"  12  March. — The  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Cambridge  were 
so  good-natured  as  to  ask  us  to  dinner  on  Wednesday,  and 
take  us  on  to  one  of  the  Ancient  Concerts.  I  told  the  Duke 
I  should  write  to  you  about  my  having  been  for  the  first 
time  at  an  Ancient  Concert,  by  his  kindness,  and  he  said, 
'  Yes,  she  used  to  go  to  the  Ancient  Concerts — she  knows  I 
am  an  old  Handelian.'  He  called  this  morning,  and  looked 
at  your  bust,  and  said  '  Only  a  year  older  than  I  am,  and 
how  she  looks — and  how  I  look !  p — f — f ! ! '  I  am  sure  I 
wondered  at  his  spirits  and  lungs — talking  all  dinner-time 
and  even  more  than  usual  across  the  table  to  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  and  Lady  Mansfield ;  and  then,  throughout  the 
concert,  singing  after  everything,  vocal  or  instrumental." 

"2fr  March. — Yesterday,  stopping  at  the  Duchess  of 
Gloucester's  door,  we  were  let  in,  having  had  no  further  in- 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  97 

tention  than  to  write  names.  So  in  going  in  I  put  on  a  new 
pair  of  gloves  that  I  had  in  my  bag,  instead  of  those  I  had  on, 
and  the  new  ones  had  been  made  on  the  principle  of  the 
Russian  prince  ordering  his  pantaloons — '  Si  j'y  entre,  je 
ne  les  prends  pas ' — in  short,  a  pair  of  gloves  to  be  forced 
on,  not  drawn  on.  At  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  I  met  Mrs.  H. 
blooming  in  perennial  ugliness — '  0  my  dear,  the  Duke  of 
Cambridge  is  there,  you  will  have  a  minute  to  wait ' — and 
thus  she  had  time  to  tell  us  her  son  was  at  Pau,  and  that 
she  had  warned  him  not  to  go  to  Madrid,  for  fear  the 
Queen  of  Spain  should  want  him  for  a  favourite ! — and  I 
had  time  the  while  to  work  my  fingers  into  the  extremities 
of  the  gloves,  and  by  the  time  the  servant  motioned  us  in, 
I  was  in  order.  Luckily  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  being 
there,  set  the  conversation  a-going  in  English,  and  thus  the 
Duchess  never  was  so  conversible  before,  as  she  had  always 
before  talked  French.  She  spoke  of  poor  Princess  Sophia, 
and  said  how  admirable  she  was,  never  complaining,  always 
cheerful,  talking  of  the  many  blessings  she  had  to  be 
thankful  for — quite  happy  that  she  had  learnt  to  do 
crochet- work,  as  she  would  thus  have  a  new  occupation." 

"  29  March,  1847.— The  Drawing-Eoom  went  off  well  for 
us,  and  I  think  for  everybody,  and  I  was  very  proud  of 
my  companions.  In  the  evening  I  took  Mary  to  Lord 
Palmerston's." 

"  Stoke,  16  April,  1847. — I  must  say  a  word  of  the  happy 
and  thankful  feelings  with  which  I  yesterday  stood,  and 
knelt,  by  the  communion-rails  of  Westbury  Church — seeing. 
my  dearest  Henry  with  the  lovely  countenance  J)y  h^s  side 
which  promised  everything  that  my  wishes  could  frame  for 
the  happiness  of  his  life.  £h§  Bishop  (Monk,  of  Gloucester) 

VOL.  II 


98  LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

performed  tlie  service  very  impressively,  with  a  voice  to  be 
heard  all  over  the  large  church,  which  is  interesting"  as 
being  one  of  the  first  in  which  Wickliffe  preached,  for  he 
was  a  Canon  of  Westbury  College,  a  monastic  edifice  of 
which  the  substructions  remain  with  a  more  modern  dwell- 
ing upon  them." 

"  1  May,  1847. — On  Thursday  we  had  the  great  pleasure 
of  a  visit  from  Mendelssohn— who,  having  no  evening  to 
spare,  came  to  luncheon,  and  afterwards  played  to  us 
magnificently.  He  also  accompanied  Ernest  in  some 
songs,  and  never  did  his  voice  sound  so  perfect." 

"6  May. — I  have  been  out  all  morning,  for  we  walked 
to  Sir  Eobert  Inglis's  to  breakfast.  A  large  party  of  men, 
mixed  as  is  the  good  custom  there — Lord"  Arundel  and  the 
Bishop  of  London,  Lord  Glenelg  and  Lord  Charles 
Russell,  Mr.  Lyons  and  Stafford  O'Brien,  Mr.  B.  Caven- 
dish and  Mr.  Foster.  Afterwards  we  drove  to  Lord 
Ellesmere's,  to  see  the  pictures  at  the  same  time  with 
Mendelssohn.  Yesterday  Mendelssohn  again  played  to  us 
in  the  afternoon,  and  we  invited  a  small  number  of  people 
who  thought  themselves  very  happy  to  hear  him — including 
Lady  Herschel  and  her  beautiful  daughter.  I  have  again 
enjoyed  the  Ancient  Concert  by  Prince  Albert's  kindness." 

"18  May. — Last  night  we  were  asked  to  the  Queen 
Dowager's,  who  had  invited  a  small  party,  at  which  the 
Queen  was  present  and  the  Duchess  of  Gloucester.  The 
object  was  to  give  a  German  named  Lowe,  who  had  come 
with  prodigious  recommendations  from  Coburg,  opportunity 
of  showing  his  musical  talent,  and  it  turned  out  that  he 
had  none  to  show." 

,   16   May.-^-Yo\i  wall   like   to  know  that  we 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  99 

came  here  yesterday,  and  have  enjoyed  indescribably  our 
beautiful  drive,  and  the  unalterable  charm  of  the  spring, 
'  come  forth  her  work  of  gladness  to  pursue — with  all  her 
reckless  birds  upon  the  wing.'  Dear  Lady  Raffles' s  house 
is  elastic,  and  has  actually  taken  in  my  husband,  myself, 
two  sons,  three  daughters,  one  daughter-in-law,  Madame 
Geust,  and  Morgan.  On  Friday  we  were  at  the  Queen's 
great  ball,  which  was  a  bright  pretty  sight." 

"  8  June. — I  have  seen  such  beautiful  drawings,  done  in 
great  perfection  of  the  style  of  improved  water-colours, 
— for  painting,  not  sketching — which  people  can  use  now 
if  they  but  just  know  hotv.  I  should  like  to  learn,  had  I  but 
a  little  bit  of  time.  These  views  were  done  by  Mr.  Ford, 
the  author  of  '  Gatherings  in  Spain ' — and  they  transplant 
one  to  the  very  country." 

"  1  July. — I  have  just  been  at  Stafford  House  to  lun- 
cheon— truly  a  '  banquet,'  as  the  newspapers  say  of  every 
commonplace  assemblage  of  eatables,  but  there  is  a  real 
banquet  only  at  Stafford  House.  There  the  Duchess 
showed  all  the  rooms  and  pictures  to  Prince  Waldemar  of 
Prussia." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  8  July,  1847. — On  Monday  morning  we  were  at  the 
station  before  nine,  just  before  Prince  Waldemar,  the 
Duke  of  Saxe  Weimar,  and  Prince  of  Oldenburg  arrived, 
for  whom  the  Queen  had  ordered  an  especial  train,  and  one 
of  those  carriages  called  Eoyal,  like  a  long  omnibus,  just 
holding  the  Princes,  their  gentlemen  aides-de-camp,  Bishop 
Stanley  and  Sir  George  Grey,  Prince  Lowenstein  and  our- 
selves. The  station  was  a  curious  spectacle  as  usual — all 


100         LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. . 

ranks  and  materials  of  human  society  hurrying  and  jostling 
or  standing  together  :  our  little  Aaron  Elphick,  advanced 
from  a  cottage  at  Hurstmonceaux  to  be  knife-cleaner  at  Oak 
Hill,  from  thence  brought  to  London  last  year,  grown  and 
dressed  into  a  sort  of  embryo-footman,  and  lent  to.Prince  Low- 
enstein  for  the  journey  to  Cambridge,  stood  guarding  the 
Prince's  portmanteau,  while  close  by,  talking  across  Aaron 
and  portmanteau,  stood  three  Princes  and  a  Bishop !  As 
we  shot  along,  every  station,  and  bridge,  and  resting-place, 
and  spot  of  shade,  was  peopled  with  eager  faces,  watching 
for  the  Queen,  and  decorated  with  flowers :  but  the  largest, 
and  the  brightest  and  gayest,  and  most  excited  assemblage 
was  at  the  Cambridge  station  itself,  and  from  thence  along 
the  streets  to  Trinity  College  the  degree  of  ornament  and 
crowd  and  excitement  was  always  increasing.  I  think  I 
never  saw  so  many  children  before  in  one  morning,  and  I 
felt  so  much  moved  at  the  spectacle  of  such  a  mass  of  life 
collected  together,  and  animated  by  one  feeling,  and  that 
a  joyous  one,  that  I  was  at  a  loss  to  conceive  '  how  any 
woman's  sides  can  bear  the  beating  of  so  strong  a  throb ' 
as  must  attend  the  consciousness  of  being  the  object  of  all 
that  excitement,  and  the  centre  of  attraction  for  all  those 
eyes ! — but  the  Queen  has  royal  strength  of  nerve.  We 
met  the  well-fed  magistrates  and  yeomanry  going  to  await 
the  Queen,  as  they  desired  to  fetch  her  from  the  station, 
and  walk  in  procession  before  her  to  the  town.  We  saw 
her  entrance  into  Trinity  College,  as  we  stood  at  the  win- 
dows of  the  Lodge,  and  the  academic  crowd,  in  picturesque 
dresses,  were  as  loud  and  rejoicing  as  any  mob  could  have 
been.  Soon  after,  I  went  with  Mrs.  Whewell,  Lady 
Hardwicke,  and  Lady  Monteagle,  to  take  our  places  in 


IN   THE   TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  101 

the  yet  vacant  great  hall  of  Trinity,  whither  the  Queen 
came  to  receive  the  Chancellor's  address,  and  a  few 
minutes  after  she  had  placed  herself  on  the  throne  (i.e. 
arm  chair  under  a  canopy,  at  the  raised  extremity  of  the 
hall)  Prince  Albert  as  Chancellor  entered  from  the  oppo- 
site end,  in  a  beautiful  dress  of  black  and  gold  with  a 
long  train  held  up,  made  a  graceful  bow,  and  read  an  ad- 
dress, to  which  she  read  an  answer,  with  peculiar  emphasis 
uttering  approbation  of  the  choice  of  a  Chancellor  made 
by  Cambridge !  Both  kept  their  countenances  adniirabty, 
and  she  only  smiled  upon  the  Prince  at  the  close,  when  all 
was  over,  and  she  had  let  all  the  Heads  of  Houses  kiss  her 
hand,  which  they  did  with  exquisite  variety  of  awkward- 
ness, all  but  one  or  two.  Afterwards  the  Queen  dined  with 
the  Vice-Chancellor  in  the  hall  of  a  small  college,  where 
but  few  comparatively  could  be  admitted.  My  husband 
was  among  the  invited,  but  not  myself,  and  I  was  very  glad 
to  dine  with  Mrs.  "Whewell,  Lady  Monteagle,  and  three  of 
the  suite — Col.  Phipps,  Mr.  Anson,  and  Meyer.  Later  in 
the  evening  I  enjoyed  a  walk  in  the  beautiful  garden 
belonging  to  the  Lodge,  where  flowers,  planted  and  cared 
for  in  the  best  manner,  combine  with  fine  trees  and  pic- 
turesque architecture.  The  Queen  went  to  a  concert,  con- 
trived as  an  extra  opportunity  of  showing  her  to  the  public. 
' '  On  Tuesday  morning  all  were  up  early  to  breakfast  at 
nine  (but  I  had  crept  into  the  garden,  and  admired  the 
abundance  of  roses  long  before  that)  to  be  ready  before 
ten  at  the  distribution  of  prizes,  and  performance  of  the 
Installation  Ode,  in  the  Senate  House.  The  English 
Prize  Poem,  by  a  Mr.  Day,  on  Sir  Thomas  More, 
had  really  merit,  besides  the  merit  of  the  subject.  The 


102         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Installation  Ode  I  thought  quite  affecting,  because  the 
selection  of  striking  points  is  founded  on  fact,  and  all 
exaggeration  and  burning  were  avoided  (pray,  my  own 
Mother,  forgive  that  word !  I  think  I  never  wrote  it 
before ;  but  there  is  so  much  of  it  everywhere — meeting 
me  at  every  turn,  twined  in  with  almost  everything,  that 
to  mark  its  absence  alone  constitutes  a  high  commendation, 
and  unless  you  will  find  me  a  synonym,  what  am  I  to  do  ?) 
Then  the  Queen  dined  in  the  great  hall  at  Trinity,  and 
splendid  did  the  great  hall  look — 330  people  at  various 
tables.  But  I  am  a  bad  chronicler !  I  shall  never  be 
hired  for  a  newspaper.  In  the  afternoon  we  had  all  been 
at  a  luncheon  at  Downing  College,  and  enjoyed  summer 
air  in  refreshing  shade,  and  the  spectacle  of  cheerful 
crowds  in  brilliant  sunshine.  The  Queen  came  thither  and 
walked  round  to  see  the  Horticultural  show,  and  to  show 
herself  and  the  Chancellor.  After  this  was  the  great 
dinner,  the  Queen  and  her  immediate  suite  at  a  table 
across  the  raised  end  of  the  hall,  all  the  rest  at  tables 
lengthways :  at  the  Queen's  table  the  names  were  put  on 
places,  and  anxious  was  the  moment  before  one  could  find 
one's  place.  I  was  directed  by  Lord  Spencer  to  take  one 
between  him  and  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  and  found  myself 
in  very  agreeable  neighbourhood. 

"  Yesterday  morning  I  went  with  the  Duchess  of  Suther- 
land and  Lady  Desart  through  the  Library,  King's  Chapel, 
Clare  Hall,  and  the  beautiful  avenues  and  gardens — with 
combinations  of  trees,  architecture,  green  turf,  flowers, 
and  water,  which  under  such  a  sun  and  sky  as  we  had, 
could  nowhere  be  finer.  The  Duchess  was  conducted  by 
Dr.  \Vhewell,  Lady  Desart  by  Lord  Abercorn,  and  my 


IN   THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  103 

honoured  self  by  Dr.  Meyer  in  uniform  (as  all  had  been 
attending  the  Chancellor's  levee  in  the  morning),  and 
he  passed  among  the  admiring  crowd  who  followed  us  at 
a  respectful  distance  for  the  hero  Sir  Harry  Smith,  as 
Lord  Fortescue  was  taken  for  the  Duke  of  Wellington ! 

"  Till  twelve  we  walked,  and  at  one  the  Queen  set  out, 
through  the  cloisters  and  hall  and  library  of  Trinity 
College,  to  pass  through  the  gardens  and  avenues,  which 
had  been  connected  for  the  occasion  by  a  temporary 
bridge  over  the  river  with  those  of  St.  John's :  and  we 
followed  her,  thus  having  the  best  opportunity  of  seeing 
everything,  and  in  particular  the  joyous  crowd  that 
grouped  among  the  noble  trees.  Then  the  Queen  sate 
down  to  luncheon  in  a  tent,  and  we  were  placed  at  her 
table.  The  only  other  piece  of  diplomacy  was  Van  de 
"Weyer,  but  Madame  Van  de  "W.  did  not  come,  being 
unable  to  undertake  the  fatigue.  The  Queen  returned  to 
Trinity  Lodge,  and  left  for  good  at  three,  and  as  soon  as 
we  could  afterwards,  we  drove  away  with  Prince  "Walde- 
mar.  I  could  still  tell  much  of  Cambridge,  of  the  charm 
of  its  '  trim  gardens  ' — and  of  how  well  the  Queen  looked, 
and  how  pleased,  and  how  well  she  was  dressed,  and  how 
perfect  in  grace  and  movements.  The  Duchess  of  Suther- 
land's dress  was  a  work  of  much  and  varied  art." 

"  Carlton  Terrace,  12  July. — 0  what  thorough  summer! 
and  how  I  do  enjoy  it !  and  should  do  still  more,  if  I  could 
alwaj^s  sit  quiet,  as  I  am  resolved  to  do  as  far  as  possible 
the  rest  of  this  day,  till  we  go  to  dine  with  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Cambridge.  I  shall  not  take  my  girls  to  the 
ball  this  evening,  nor  trouble  myself  to  go  to  any  other. 
On  Saturday  we  went  to  the  Baroness  North's  at  Putney 


104         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Hill,  and  enjoyed  walking  about  on  turf  under  trees  and 
among  flowers — that  is  the  only  reasonable  sort  of  invi- 
tation at  this  time  of  year.  There  we  saw  the  Lady  Frances 
Sandon — a  meeting  as  pleasing  as  rare." 

"  13  July. — Yesterday  we  went  early  to  Lady  John 
Russell's  in  Chesham  Place  to  be  there  before  Prince 
Waldeniar,  and  when  he  arrived  we  all  drove  to  Kew,  to  see 
the  Botanic  Gardens. — The  heat  was  excessive,  the  thermo- 
meter 90°  in  the  shade.  However  we  went  into  the  Palm- 
Stoves  :  and  on  coming  out  again,  felt  the  external  air  to 
be  cool  by  comparison.  I  greatly  enjoyed  the  sight  of  the 
wonderful  plants  in  the  stoves,  and  quite  as  much  that  of 
the  forest-trees,  many  of  rare  and  foreign  growth,  and  the 
groups  of  common  trees,  and  avenues  of  limes  in  magni- 
ficent blossom,  perfuming  the  air.  Then  we  drove  on  to 
Richmond,  and  splendid  was  the  view  from  the  Terrace. 
The  situation  of  Pembroke  Lodge,  which  the  Queen  has 
lately  given  to  Lord  John,  is  most  enjoyable,  on  the  top  of 
the  hill — -magnificent  trees,  old  oaks,  turf  and  abundance 
of  flowers  and  standard  roses.  The  Duke  of  Wellington, 
Due  de  Broglie,  Lord  and  Lady  Minto  and  one  of  the 
Ladies  Elliot,  Lord  and  Lady  Palmerston,  and  Lord  Lans- 
downe  were  added  to  the  party  at  luncheon,  or  early 
dinner.  After  it  was  over,  the  Prince  went  on  to  Hampton 
Court  and  Bushy  Park,  accompanied  by  my  husband  and 
Prince  Lowenstein,*  and  I  drove  back  to  town,  wondering 
at  the  beauty  of  the  drive  through  Richmond  Park.  Thank- 
ful I  was  to  get  home,  and  sit  quiet  all  evening  hearing 
Ernest  sing.  On  Monday  we  dined  at  Cambridge  House 

*  Then  secretary  of  the  Prussian  Legation — a  college  friend  of 
Prince  Albert. 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  105 

with  the  Prince,  who  means  to  finish  seeing  London  this 
week,  and  to  go  on.  Saturday  to  Osborne,  whither  my  hus- 
band and  Prince  Lowenstein  are  also  invited." 

"  10  July,  1847. — Last  Saturday  we  had  a  great  dinner- 
party for  Prince  Waldemar,  and  the  old  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton came,  in  full  health  and  spirits,  and  talked  much  to 
the  Prince  about  the  war  in  India." 

"  20  July. — Last  week  we  had  a  little  dinner-party  which 
we  really  enjoyed,  having  Andersen  the  Danish  poet,  who 
read  to  us  in  the  evening  some  of  his  own  tales,  and 
though,  being  translated  into  German,  they  could  not  pro- 
duce they  effect  they  must  have  in  the  original,  we  found 
them  delightful.  The  other  day  the  jewellers  Storr  and 
Mortimer  (of  whom  the  King  of  Prussia  has  often  bought) 
brought  us  a  curiosity  to  see — a  set  of  jewels  made  up 
for  the  Queen  of  Spain  (of  all  persons -to  afford  to  spend 
thousands  thus  ! ) — a  necklace  of  diamonds  set  as  a  wreath 
of  flowers,  with  a  pink  pearl  in  the  centre  of  each.  How 
well  I  remember  your  telling  me  the  Duchess  of  Portland 
had  one  pink  pearl,  of  immense  value !  these  I  hear  came 
from  the  West  Indies,  but  to  have  so  many  together  is 
without  parallel." 

"  22  July. — On  Monday  we  all  enjoyed  Kew  Gardens. 
The  goodnatured  Sir  W.  Hooker  had  borrowed  a  wheel- 
chair for  Emilia,  and  loaded  her  with  specimens  of  various 
leaves  and  flowers  :  and  it  did  my  heart  good  to  think  how 
happy  a  day  she  had." 

"  7  August . — The  Dean  of  Durham*  has  declined  the 
Bishopric  of  Manchester,  in  which  I  am  sure  he  has  done 
wisely.  A  bishop  is  one  of  the  most  tormented  of  God's 
*  Madame  Bunsen's  cousin,  Dean  "VVaddington. 


106         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

creatures  in  these  days,  if  he  is  conscientious :  made  respon- 
sible for  all  the  evil  he  cannot  prevent,  and  expected  to  act 
as  free,  while  bound  and  shackled  on  all  sides." 

"10  Sept.,  1847. — Yesterday  we  were  long  in  the  open 
air,  having  been  taken  a  drive  through  part  of  Epping 
Forest  as  far  as  the  Hainault  Forest,  really  beautifully 
varied  ground,  wood  and  common  with  heath  and  fern, 
interspersed  with  scattered  habitations.  We  saw  the 
remains  of  a  hunting-lodge  made  use  of  by  Queen 
Elizabeth,  very  picturesque,  and  I  was  sorry  not  to  be 
able  to  stay  to  draw. 

"  I  have  been  as  you  wished  to  inquire  at  Mrs.  H.'s 
door.  She  was  in  Lincolnshire,  quite  well  as  far  as  the 
housekeeper  knew — who  '  ne  savait  pas  meme  qu'il  eut  ete 
malade' — as  the  man  answered  one  of  the  Peres  de  la 
Mission,  '  Ne  savez-vous  pas  que  Jesus  Christ  est  mort  pour 
vous?' — an  instance  given  us  by  the  Abbe  Martin  of  the 
state  of  total  ignorance  in  many  parts  of  France." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"20  Sept.,  1847. — Last  week  we  saw  Miss  Martineau. 
She  wanted  to  ask  your  father  questions  about  Egypt, 
where  she  has  been  last  spring,  and  Dr.  Carlyle  introduced 
her.  I  am  very  agreeably  surprised  in  her :  very  quiet 
and  gentlewomanlike,  no  blue-stocking  pretension,  speak- 
ing in  a  mild  voice  and  with  modulation, — a  very  good 
figure,  and  not  hideous,  as  I  fancied:  rather  deaf,  but 
as  she  had  a  good  trumpet  I  was  in  no  distress  to  make 
her  hear.  She  says  she  has  been  in  perfect  health  ever 
since  she  was  cured  by  magnetism  :  her  sufferings  before 
frightful." 


IN    THE    TU11MOIL    OF    LIFE.  107 

"  6  Nov.,  1847.— Of  all  that  I  could  wish  for  you  on 
your  birthday,  my  own  George,  I  think  I  will  name  but 
one  thing,  and  that  the  most  important  of  all :  that  it  may 
be  given  you  to  accept,  really,  calmly,  and  willingly  to 
accept,  the  heavy  and  irksome  trial  inflicted  upon  you  by 
the  condition  of  your  eyes :  not  merely  to  say  to  yourself — 
the  will  of  God  must  be  best :  He  cannot  intend  anything 
but  what  is  best :  He  alone  knows  what  is  best :  He  has 
always  granted  hitherto  day  by  day  the  daily  bread,  all 
that  was  most  needful  for  body  and  soul,  and  He  may  be 
trusted  in  the  future — not  merely  to  say  this,  and  admit 
it  as  the  result  of  reasoning,  but  to  feel  it  as  conviction. 
It  has  been  the  result  of  my  own  experience  more  than  once 
in  life,  that  relief  from  a  form  of  trial  which  had  become 
peculiarly  oppressive  was  not  granted  until  in  my  heart  I 
had  performed  that  act  of  voluntary  and  entire  resigna- 
tion ;  and  not  only  performed  it,  but  kept  to  it :  and  then, 
on  two  occasions  that  I  now  recall,  the  trial  was  removed 
entirely.  I  tell  this  as  a  fact — not  to  bribe  you  ! — nothing 
is  obtained  in -the  world  of  spirituality  and  reality  (which 
is  so  near,  even  within  us !)  but  by  singleness  of  will  and 
purpose." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"10  Nov. — The  death  of  Mendelssohn  has  shocked  us 
greatly.  It  is  a  sad  break-up  of  human  happiness — he 
and  his  very  charming  wife  were  so  attached  and  so 
united.  He  was  full  of  health  and  energy  and  talent,  in 
every  respect  happy  and  fortunate  in  his  position — inde- 
pendent and  active,  and  having  no  views,  no  occupations, 
but  of  a  noble  and  refined  nature.  He  has  quickly  fol- 


108         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEX. 

lowed  his  accomplished  sister,  the  wife  of  Hensel,  whose 
death  was  also  frightfully  sudden. 

"And  our  poor  dear  Neukomm  remains,  to  drink  out 
the  dregs  of  life  in  blindness.  Inscrutable  are  the  ways 
of  Him  whose  dispensations  are  only  for  the  good  of  his 
creatures." 

"12  Nov. — I  wish  the  account  of  Mendelssohn's  funeral 
might  come  entire  into  an  English  paper — the  account  in  a 
German  paper  is  most  affecting.  After  a  solemn  service  at 
Leipzig,  the  body  was  conveyed  to  Berlin  for  interment, 
and  by  night,  for  privacy :  but  it  was  watched  for  at  the 
railway-stations  in  two  places,  and  met  by  processions  of 
the  principal  inhabitants,  singing  hymns.  At  Berlin  there 
was  another  solemn  service,  hymns  and  a  funeral  sermon, 
and  two  of  the  choruses  out  of  his  own  Oratorio  of  St.  Paul, 
the  words  of  which,  from  Scripture,  were  suited  to  the 
occasion." 

"14  Dec. — You  tell  me  not  to  write  about  the  Hampdeii 
Controversy,  but  I  must  do  so,  if  I  am  to  utter  what  is 
most  spoken  and  most  thought  about.  There  are  those 
who  attribute  Dr.  Hampdpn's  appointment  to  my  hus- 
band's influence !  the  fact  being  that  Dr.  Hampden  is  as 
much  unknown  to  us  as  a  man  can  be,  who  has  been 
brought  before  the  public.  Charles  once  smo  him,  among 
other  people,  but  has  had  neither  conversation  nor  corre- 
spondence with  him.  The  Archbishop's  opinion  as  to  Dr. 
Hampden  was  expressed  long  since  in  the  words — '  I  have 
read  Dr.  Hampden's  statement  of  his  own  opinions,  and  I 
find  nothing  in  them  inconsistent  with  sound  Christianity  : 
as  to  the  opinions  of  those  who  differ  from  him,  he  ex- 
presses himself  with  a  great  deal  of  charity — and  I  have 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  109 

never  known  any  harm  to  come  from  a  great  deal  of  charity 
towards  difference  of  opinion.''  " 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Lilleshall,  27  Jan. — In  the  refreshing  stillness  of  the 
country,  the  main  interests  of  my  heart  are  dwelt  upon 
with  less  interruption  than  amid  the  multifarious  cares  of 
home,  and  therefore  you,  your  state,  your  prospects,  are 
continually  before  me,  as  constituting  the  severest  among 
the  various  kinds  of  trial  and  anxiety,  inseparable  from  a  lot 
in  life  so  abundantly  provided  as  mine  with  ties  to  this  lower 
earth.  To  deplore  the  state  of  your  eyes,  nay  to  writhe  under 
the  sense  of  the  affliction  you  are  called  upon  to  suffer,  is 
a  matter  too  self-evident  to  dwell  upon,  my  heart  being 
ever  ready  to  melt  in  the  blameableness  of  self-grudging — 
for  in  the  manifold  comfort,  enjoyment,  and  mental  sup- 
port, my  own  eyes  furnish  me,  I  continually  have  cause  to 
call  myself  to  account  for  the  latent  objection  to  God's 
righteous  government  of  the  world,  contained  in  the 
remonstrance — *  Why  should  I  have  enough  and  to  spare, 
while  my  dear  child's  youth,  and  life,  and  powers,  and 
happiness,  are  nipped  in  the  bud,  hindered  from  healthy 
development,  by  the  want  of  the  prime  gift  our  sensual 
nature  can  receive  ?  '  But  when  I  thus  murmur,  a  voice 
within  replies — not  in  the  words  of  the  Old  Testament, 
'  Shall  mortal  man  contend  with  God  ?  shall  the  thing 
formed  say  to  his  Creator,  Why  hast  thou  made  me  thus  ? ' — 
rather  does  the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament  remind  me 
that  the  everlasting  Son  of  God  was  made  a  Man  of  Sor- 
rows and  acquainted  with  grief,  that  He  bore  our  griefs 
and  carried  our  sorrows,  that  He  was  touched  with  the  feel- 


110        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

ing  of  our  infirmities.  He  has  borne  us  witness  of  the 
unceasing  care  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  '  without  whom 
not  a  sparrow  falleth  to  the  ground,'  and  to  whom  we, 
the  crown  of  his  earthly  creation,  are  'of  more  value 
than  many  sparrows ; '  and  that  therefore  the  righteous 
Governor  of  the  universe  does  '  not  willingly  afflict  the 
children  of  men ' — and  if  not  willingly,  then  for  their 
essential  and  everlasting  benefit.  I  know  well  these 
words  are  easy  to  utter,  the  deduction  clear,  the  reasoning 
worthy  of  all  acceptation,  and  yet  the  lesson  is  of  all  lessons 
most  difficult  to  learn,  for  n^self  and  every  one  else  !  My 
own  George,  have  you  yet  learned  this  lesion  better  than 
I  have?" 

At  the  end  of  December,  1847,  Madame  Bunsen  was 
summoned  to  Llanover,  by  the  alarming  illness  of  her 
Mother,  who,  for  the  time,  was  restored  to  her.  To 
avoid  excitement  for  Mrs.  "Waddington,  she  staid  at 
this  time  in  the  house  of  her  sister,  Lady  Hall. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"Llanover,  4  Jan.,  1848. — Your  dear  little  note  did  my 
heart  good,  as  everything  does  that  comes  from  my  own 
very  precious  little  girls.  I  enjoy  thinking  of  them,  and 
believing  that  they  are  doing  all  they  can  to  improve  them- 
selves and  make  the  advantage  intended  from  the  present 
contingency :  for  every  concurrence  of  circumstances,  which 
we  did  not  bring  about,  seek,  or  intend  ourselves,  must  be 
looked  upon  as  expressly  sent  from  Him  who  ^ends  nothing 
in  vain,  but  accompanies  every  dispensation  with  its  pecu- 


IN    THE   TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  Ill 


liar  blessing,  if  we  do  but  know  how  to  find  it  and  do  not 
wilfully  convert  it  into  an  occasion  of  evil. 

"  Thus,  I  wish  I  may  be  guided  to  turn  to  good  account 
the  present  singular  contrast  to  my  habitual  life,  the  dead 
stillness  that  usually  encompasses  me  in  this  enchanted  castle 
— for  of  such,  as  they  are  described  in  fairy  tales,  I  am  con- 
tinually reminded.  You  come  in  and  out,  go  itp  and  down 
stairs,  look  through  rooms  filled  with  every  luxury,  and 
having  every  mark  of  constant  care  and  attention,  but  the 
ministering  spirits  are  invisible,  and  the  inhabitants  are,  one 
knows  not  where.  A  bell  summons  you  to  dinner — you  come 
down  and  find  nobody — peep  into  the  dining-room,  think- 
ing yourself  too  late,  and  see  the  dinner  standing  on  the 
table,  set  out  according  to  all  the  rules  of  decorum  ;  you  wait 
and  wander  through  rooms  with  bright  fires  and  burning 
lights,  and  then  suddenly  the  expected  rulers  of  the  feast 
appear  as  if  starting  from  the  ground.  The  meal  finished, 
all  separate,  and  seek  the  receptacles  from  whence  they 
proceeded;  only  after  tea,  the  party  remain  for  a  short 
time  together. 

"  The  idea  of  my  dearest  Mother  being  actually  better, 
alone  however  makes  me  feel  it  possible  to  go  away.  How 
could  I  diminish  one  moment  of  possible  time  near  her, 
with  the  feeling  that  it  might  be  the  last  time !  But  the 
idea  that  the  medicines  have  taken  hold  of  her  case  makes 
my  spirits  and  hopes  revive." 

March,  1848,  was  marked  for  the  Bunsen family  by  the 
Revolution  in  Berlin,  and  by  the  sudden  and  unan- 
nounced arrival  of  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  at 
Carlton  Terrace  at  8  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  25th, 


112         LIFE    A.ND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

MADAME  BUNSEK  to  her  MOTHER. 

"  23  March}  1848. — If  you  have  the  Times,  you  know  as 
much  as  we  do  of  the  awful  scenes  at  Berlin ;  but  my  hus- 
band is  so  thankful  for  the  result, — the  breaking  up  of  the 
King's  ministry,  and  his  awakening  to  consciousness  of 
the  realities  and  necessities  of  things,  in  which  he  would 
not  believe,  when  for  years  many  and  various  faithful 
servants  have  tried  to  obtain  a  hearing  to  their  statements 
— that  he  is  quite  sanguine  as  to  the  future.  The  new 
choice  of  ministers  is  on  the  whole  that  which  it  was  to  be 
hoped  the  King  would  have  made,  at  the  close  of  the  Diet 
last  summer,  being  the  individuals  who  commanded  the 
confidence  of  that  popular  assembly.  But  now  set  a-going, 
they  have  an  immense  work  to  do,  which  might  have  pre- 
vented the  whole  insurrection,  if  they  had  been  at  it  for 
the  last  eight  months.  The  shadow  of  this  event  before- 
hand came  in  the  shape  of  a  report  from  Paris  of  the 
King's  having  abdicated,  which  many  people  believed  in 
London  the  day  before  yesterday,  and  we  had  almost  need 
of  an  extra  servant  to  take  in  all  the  notes  and  visitors  and 
enquiries.  Several  of  the  notes  contained  kind  offers  of 
hospitality  if  the  King  was  coming  to  England — houses  in 
town  and  country  being  placed  at  his  disposal.  But  every- 
body was  answered  that  the  King  had  certainly  not  deserted 
his  post,  would  certainly  not  sneak  away,  and  this  has 
proved  the  truth. 

"I  cannot  get  the  awful  scene  from  before  my  mind's 
eye,  when  the  bodies  of  the  slain  were  carried  in  solemn 
procession  before  the  windows  of  the  King's  palace,  within 
the  very  courtyard,  the  bearers  singing  a  hymn  usual  at 
funerals  !  and  calling  upon  the  King  to  come  to  them.  He 


IX   THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  113 

not  only  appeared  at  the  window,  but  came  down,  uncover- 
ing his  head  at  sight  of  the  funeral  procession, — spoke  to 
the  people,  and  was  cheered,  and  then  after  a  pause  in  the 
cheering,  all  sung  the  hymn  of  thanksgiving,  for  promises 
received, — one  that  you  have  often  heard  my  children 
sing.  People  and  King  are  made  of  different  stuff  to  those 
of  Paris !  The  fight  must  have  been  tremendous,  because 
in  such  good  earnest,  the  troops  not  flinching,  however 
unwilling  to  perform  their  duty — but  no  contempt  of  orders, 
no  dereliction  of  duty  ;  and  the  people  all  fighting,  as  those 
can  who  have  had  a  military  training  from  their  childhood, 
and  therefore,  however  in  the  beginning  unarmed,  know- 
ing what  they  were  about,  and  how  to  direct  courage  and 
enthusiasm.  As  nothing  short  of  this  would  probably  have 
brought  the  King  to  a  conviction  of  what  the  state  of  the 
public  mind  required,  it  is  impossible  to  wish  it  had  not  all 
happened.  When  at  length  the  troops  received  orders  to 
march  out  of  town  (which  was  performed  with  all  the 
honours  of  war)  they  were  cheered  by  the  triumphant 
barricaders,  as  if  in  acknowledgment  of  the  bravery  of 
brethren,  and  to  prove  no  ill-will  remaining." 

"  29  March,  1848. — I  think  all  the  business  of  accommo- 
dating the  Prince  has  been  well  got  through ;  and  if  on 
the  one  hand  one  has  trouble,  on  the  other  one  is  saved 
trouble,  for  of  course  no  visitors  are  let  in,  and  thus  wo 
can  remain  quiet.  The  Prince  came  to  breakfast  with  us 
all  at  ten  o'clock,  and  was  very  amiable.  Frances  had 
fetched  an  armchair,  and  placed  it  in  the  centre  of  one  side 
of  the  table  ;  but  the  Prince  put  it  away  himself  and  took 
another,  saying,  '  One  ought  to  be  humble  now,  for  thrones 
are  shaking;'  then  I  sate  on  one  side  of  him,  and  he 

VOL.  II.  I 


114         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

desired  Frances  to  take  her  place  on  the  other.  He  related 
everything  that  came  to  his  knowledge  of  the  late  awful 
transactions  ;  and  let  reports  be  what  they  may,  I  cannot 
believe  that  he  has  had  any  share  in  occasioning  the  carnage 
that  has  taken  place — but  conclude  that  the  present  general 
opinion  at  Berlin  in  condemning  him  has  been  the  result 
of  party-spirit  and  of  long-settled  notions  as  to  what  was 
likely  to  be  his  advice  and  opinion. 

"  One  longs  to  perceive  in  what  manner  a  bridge  can  be 
constructed  for  the  return  of  the  Prince.  He  expresses  much 
concern  and  scruple  about  the  trouble  he  occasions;  but 
now  the  arrangement  has  been  made  possible,  it  is  infinitely 
preferable  that  he  should  be  here,  where  we  can  watch 
over  everything  and  know  what  is  wanted,  rather  than  that 
he  should  hire  a  place  of  abode ;  and  it  is  also  much  fitter 

for  him  to  stay  here  than  anywhere  else The  Prince 

reminds  me  much  of  his  father  the  late  King,  in  the  ex- 
pression of  truth  and  kindliness  in  his  face." 

"  4  April. — We  are  having  a  series  of  dinner-parties  for 
the  Prince  to  see  people.  On  Thursday  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Cambridge  come,  the  Duchess  of  Gloucestei 
very  kindly  promises  to  come  conditionally  on  the  state  of 
the  Princess  Sophia,  which  is  very  precarious— Lord  and 
Lady  Douglas,  the  Prince  of  Hesse,  and  Duke  of  Wellington. 
The  next  arrangement  must  be  for  ministerial  personages, 
the  third  for  the  leading  persons  of  the  former  ministry,  and 
then  I  suppose  we  come  to  the  Ultra-Liberal  invitations." 

"31  May,  1848. — The  amount  of  flurry  and  fatigue  of 
Saturday,  the  27th,  almost  passes  description ;  as,  after  the 
long  Drawing  Boom,  I  had  hardly  taken  off  my  train  and 
Lead-dress,  when  I  found  that  I  must  drive  to  the  Biding 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  115 

House  in  Hyde  Park  to  see  the  arrangements  for  the 
German  Hospital  Bazaar,  and  decide  in  what  part  I  and 
mine  were  to  set  up  our  stall.  To  bed  late,  intending  to 
drive  off  at  seven  to  Totteridge  for  refreshment  and  quiet 
on  Sunday  morning,  b'ut  at  six  my  husband  woke  me,  and 
informed  me  that  the  courier,  who  had  arrived  late  the 
night  before,  had  decided  the  Prince  to  start  immediately. 
Therefore  I  remained  over  breakfast-time  to  take  leave. 
The  Prince  spoke  most  kindly  and  touchingly — thanking 
'for  kindness  received' — and  saying  'that  in  no  other  place 
or  country  could  he  have  passed  so  well  the  period  of  dis- 
tress and  anxiety  which  he  had  gone  through,  as  here, 
having  so  much  to  interest  and  occupy  his  mind  both  in 
the  country  and  nation.'  This  was  my  share  of  the  ever- 
memorable  farewell." 

"  21  June. — On  Friday  we  dined  with  the  Queen  Dowa- 
ger, and  it  was  an  agreeable  party,  Lord  Clarendon  keeping 
up  an  animated  conversation,  stimulated  by  questions  from 
the  Grand  Duke  of  "Weimar,  who  is  the  same  person  that 
came  to  us  when  you  were  at  Palazzo  Caffarelli,  and  I  dare 
say  you  still  remember  my  having  found  charcoal  scattered 
on  the  stairs  at  the  last  moment,  when  he  was  expected  to 
come  up,  and  having  to  send  and  get  it  picked  up  and 
swept,  in  danger  of  being  caught.  He  is  here  now  with 
his  young  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  King  of  Holland,  a 
lively,  clever  little  person,  with  a  most  royal  power  of  loco- 
motion and  enjoyment,  dancing  late,  and  out  early  and  all 
day  long." 

"  8  July,  1848. — On  Thursday  night  my  girls  and  I  had 
the  indescribable  delight  of  seeing  Jenny  Lind  in  the  Son- 
nambula.  You  will  conceive  better  than  I  can  tell  you  tho 


116         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

wonderful  effect  of  that  gifted  creature  as  a  whole :  for  the 
grace,  elasticity,  modulation,  roundness,  fulness,  continued 
life  and  animation,  of  her  bodily  movements  and  of  her 
voice,  go  together,  and  seem  the  result  of  one  impulse. 
Not  an  atom  cf  beauty — and  yet  'the  mind  whose  softness 
harmonised  the  whole  ' — the  effect  of  grace  and  unceasing 
suitableness,  making  the  whole  appearance  beautiful.  But 
all  words  are  flat  that  would  describe  such  a  union  of 
exquisite  high-finished  representation  of  feeling,  with  the 
most  perfect  modesty  of  deportment,  one  must  rather  try 
by  negations  to  separate  the  idea  of  her  from  that  of  any 
actress  ever  seen.  She  had  not  a  single  gesture  or  posture 
of  the  common  stage-sort,  and  the  flow  of  action  was  as 
original  as  the  flow  of  voice.  The  long-sustained,  ever- 
varied,  piano-passages — in  which  the  softest,  lowest  tone 
was  as  distinct  as  the  sharpest  and  loudest:  the  long- 
continued,  rich,  soft,  piano-shake,  followed  by  a  long 
swelling  note,  without  any  appearance  of  taking  breath — 
in  short,  the  whole  of  her  singing  was  song,  without  any 
admixture  or  imitation  of  instruments.  I  should  think 
hers  the  perfection  of  the  '  voce  di  petto ' — almost  without 
recurrence  to  falsetto.  Her  sleep-walking — gliding  like  a 
ghost,  scarcely  seeming  to  lift  a  foot,  moving  along  a  high 
beam  over  a  mill-wheel,  and  descending  steep  steps ;  sink- 
ing on  her  knees,  and  rising  again,  all  in  a  manner  forming 
a  complete  contrast  to  her  light,  elastic,  continually  lively 
motions  in  wakefulness — showed  the  same  extraordi- 
nary command  over  powers  of  body,  as  her  sonnambule- 
singing  over  voice.  One  never  heard  anybody  sing  when 
walking  in  their  sleep,  but  one  feels  her '  unearthly  tone 
to  be  the  right  one. 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  117 

"After  this  inexpressible  enjoyment,  we  staid  on,  being 
once  there,  for  the  ballet,  graced  by  those  celebrated  names, 
Rosati,  Marie  Taglioni,  and  Cerito :  I  know  not  which 
was  which,  but  one  was  beautiful,  and  all  wonderful :  the 
style  quite  different  from  what  I  used  to  see  with  my 
Mother,  all  slow  and  soft,  not  jumping  and  twisting  and 
flying.  The  body  and  arms,  most  graceful ;  the  legs  more 
ugly  and  ungraceful  than  ever." 

For  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  Bunsens  gave  up 
Oakhill,  they  had  lived  entirely  in  London,  but  the 
great  need  of  a  country  residence  felt  by  so  numerous 
a  family,  had  induced  them  at  Easter,  1848,  to  rent 
Totteridge,  near  Barnet,  a  place  in  which  they  much 
delighted.  "  Calm  and  quiet,  busy  and  occupied,  are 
these  days  of  our  life  at  Totteridge,"  wrote  Madame 
Bunsen  to  her  mother  in  the  autumn  of  1848. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"  3  August,  1848. — This  year  we  spent  what  is  called  the 
season  chiefly  at  Totteridge  Park,  coming  to  town  and 
lodging  in  Carlton  Terrace  on  some  occasion  of  necessity, 
drawing-room,  or  invitations  to  the  Palace,  or  dinner-parties 
at  home  for  our  good  Prince.  On  one  occasion  of  being  in 
London  we  went  to  Mrs.  Sartoris,  and  enjoyed  as  usual 
her  power  of  reproduction  of  ballad-songs,  which  seem  as 
if  composed  by  herself  at  the  moment,  so  intensely  does 
she  feel  through  every  thing  the  poem  and  music  are  calcu- 
lated to  excite  and  to  express.  Only  I  always  feel  the  wish 
that  I  could  gently  sponge  over  her  performance,  as  though 
it  were  a  picture  in  which  all  the  lights  and  shades  and  all 


118         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  tints  are  right,  but  the  contrasts  too  strong,  the  transi- 
tions too  violent,  yet  nothing  wanted  for  perfection  but  a 
little  softening  down,  and  degree  of  moderation. 

"  With  my  girls  I  have  been  reading  Campbell's  '  Lives  of 
the  Lord  Chancellors  of  England : '  it  is  a  sort  of  bye-path 
of  history,  always  crossing,  recrossing,  and  accompanying 
the  great  main  road,  and  enabling  one  sometimes  to  take 
a  closer  and  sometimes  a  more  general  view  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  a  period,  and  of  the  mode  of  development  of 
constitution  and  customs,  than  regular  history  has  pre- 
sented— insufficiently  and  incompletely  as  English  history 
has  yet  been  written !  " 

To  her  MOTHER  (after  a  happy  visit  at  Llanover). 

"  On  loard  the  steamer,  in  the  Bristol  Channel,  8  August, 
1848. — I  have  left  my  Mother,  and  all  that  immediately  be- 
longs to  her — "but,  wherever  I  move,  I  am  in  the  atmosphere 
of  her  love  and  affection — in  its  full  current !  While  thinking 
over  the  unceasing  proofs  and  demonstrations  of  her  love, 
human  weakness,  and  at  bottom  human  self-conceit,  will 
always  revert  to  one's  own  undeserving — '  what  have  I  done, 
what  can  I  do,  what  am  I,  that  I  should  receive  such 
boundless,  overflowing  measure,  of  life's  best  gift.'  But  a 
more  reasonable  feeling  prompts  the  reply — '  It  is  not  the 
question  of  deserving  or  undeserving — it  is  to  open  one's 
heart  wide  enough,  for  what  another  heart  will  give :  it  is 
to  take  and  receive,  freely  and  thankfully,  what  is  given 
so  bountifully :  it  is  as  much  the  nature  of  love  to  absorb 
its  like,  as  it  is  the  nature  of  love  to  bestow  itself.'  And 
after  running  through,  the  diapason,  it  closes,  as  it  began, 
in  the  last  resource  of  human  inefficiency — that  appeal  to 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  119 

God,  which  is  never  in  vain,  to  supply  the  finite  with  the 
infinite,  to  make  good  my  short-comings,  and  grant 
immeasurably  more  than  I  can  ask  or  think, — of  grace 
and  blessing  and  peace,  to  the  heart  of  my  Mother — 

'  Peace  be  to  that  habitation 

Peace  to  all  that  dwell 'therein : 
Peace,  the  earnest  of  salvation ; 

Peace,  the  fruit  of  pardon' d  sin  ! 
Peace,  that  marks  the  heav'nly  Giver, 

Peace  to  worldly  minds  unknown ! 
Peace  divine,  that  lasts  for  ever ! 

Peace,  that  comes  from  God  alone ! ' 

"  In  the  consciousness  how  little  one  is,  how  little  one  can 
do,  how  often  human  infirmity  errs  as  to  what  one  ought  to 
do,  for  those  best-beloved,  for  whom  to  say  one  would  give 
one's  heart's  blood  would  be  a  very  poor  image.  Often 
have  I  felt  the  need  of  that  recourse  to  Him  who  giveth  to 
all  liberally  and  upbraideth  not,  who  has  said  '  Open  thy 
mouth  wide,  and  I  shall  fill  it' — that  He  would  do  for 
those  I  love,  what  I  shall  fail  in,  what  I  may  attempt 
erroneously,  and  what  at  best  I  can  do  ineffectually  and 
incompletely.  That  which  is  really  good,  in  time  and 
eternity,  is  His  alone  to  give  :  the  main  point  is  that  those 
I  love  should  obtain  what  I  desire  for  them:  it  is 
immaterial  to  that  main  point  whether  I  am  in  any 
measure  the  instrument  to  that  good  end,  or  not — :but  if  it 
will  please  God  to  make  me  an  instrument  of  good  and 
not  of  hurt,  it  is  a  great  additional  mercy." 

In  December,  Bunsen  was  summoned  to  Berlin  to  be 
consulted  on  the  question  of  the  King's  acceptance  of 
the  Imperial  Crown  of  Germany,  a  measure  strongly 


120         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    UUNSEN. 

advocated  by  Bimsen,  but  eventually  refused  by  the 
King. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  BUNSEN. 

"  Totteridge,  8  Dec.,  1848. — We  all  lift  up  hands  and  eyes 
in  wonder  at  the  intelligence  received  !  I  grudge  your  being 
disturbed  in  the  composure  which  you  had  re-conquered. 
Now  I  must  express  the  heartfelt  satisfaction  with  which 
I  have  contemplated  the  effect  of  the  workings  of  your 
own  mind  through  a  trial  very  irritating  to  flesh  and 
blood,  and  witnessed  the  complete  conquest  you  ob- 
tained over  feelings  most  natural  and  allowable.  Such 
a  conquest  could  not  fail  of  its  own  proper  reward,  in 
renewed  consciousness  of  the  never-failing  aid  from  above, 
which  can  command  a  calm  in  any  tempest  of  human 
affections,  if  only  appealed  to  in  humility  and  admitted 
powerlessness. 

"  May  God  bless  and  guide  you,  through  good  and  evil 
report,  through  exertions  of  friends  and  machinations  of 
enemies,  to  the  one  end  of  your  being !  '  Tu  fecisti  nos  ad 
Te,  et  inquietum  est  cor  nostrum  donee  requiescat  in  Te?" 

"  18  Dec.,  1848. — Here  is  an  affecting  proof  that  Neu- 
komm's  eyesight  has  been  restored  since  his  operation, 
though  he  is  not  yet  so  far  restored  as  to  be  allowed  free 
use  of  it.  These  are  his  words : — 

"  '  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light :  and  there  was  light. 
— Thanks  be  to  the  Lord,  for  He  is  gracious,  and  His  mercy 
ondureth  for  ever. 

"  'The  first  line  that  I  have  written  since  the  operation 
performed  on  the  6th  October.  As  ever  your  friend, 

"'NEUKOMM.'" 


IX   THE    TURMOIL   OF    LIFE.  121 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"  Totteridye,  I  Jan.,  1849. — The  year  closed  with,  an  event, 
in  the  arrival  of  a  courier  with  a  letter  from  the  King 
requiring  the  presence  of  my  husband  at  Berlin  with  all 
convenient  speed.  I  have  long  been  afraid  of  this,  and 
now  it  is  come.  Gratifying,  110  doubt,  that  the  King 
should  feel  he  wants  his  counsel  and  help,  but  if  his 
counsel  be  no  more  attended  to  than  it  has  been  before, 
when  attending  to  it  might  have  warded  off  evils  which 
have  come,  he  will  not  know  how  to  help.  But  all  is  in 
the  hand  of  God,  and  as  this  call  has  come  unsought  and 
unwished,  we  must  the  more  consider  it  as  the  way  of 
God's  Providence,  and  trust  that  the  evident  attendant 

risks  and  dangers  will  be  averted Prince  Lowen- 

stein  was  to  be  immediately  dispatched  from  Berlin  to  act 
as  Charge  d' Affaires,  and  may  be  expected  to-morrow.  I 
shall  be  very  anxious  for  my  letter — for  I  have  more 
patience  in  the  lump,  than  would  bear  splitting  into  day 
and  hour  and  minute  quantities,  and  yet  be  efficient." 

To  her  Sox  HENRY. 

"  Totter  idge,  13  Jan.,  1849.— I  thank  you  for  all  you 
write  on  the  weighty  matters  that  must  fill  one's  heart  in 
these  times  !  I  feel  that  the  mass  strikes  me  dumb.  At 
the  same  time,  be  it  or  not  my  native  disposition  to  reverie 
or  dreaminess,  combined  with  the  luxury  of  quiet  that 
I  am,  and  have  been,  enjoying  in  this  place — I  do  not  and 
cannot  feel  the  least  active  anxiety  as  to  the  future.  I  do 
not  hide  from  myself  all  its  risks  and  dangers.  I  know 
that  we  are  as  if  on  the  Niagara,  gliding  onwards  smooth 
and  swiftly  to  the  fall, — that  is,  towards  a  vast  crash  and 


122         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

change  :  and  I  wish  the  feeling  that  keeps  me  quiet  and 
cheerful  were  all  resignation  to  the  designs  of  Providence, 
founded  on  consciousness  of  unfailing  help  and  protection 
and  provision  in  all  the  past  years  of  life.  Less  is  the 
difficulty  of  the  common  burden,  with  reference  to  the 
future,  than  the  entering  into  the  details  of  each  object 
of  dearest  interest ;  and  yet  the  result  ought  to  be  the 
same.  For  the  needs  in  body  and  spirit,  of  my  pre- 
cious Mary,  of  Charles,  of  George,  of  Matilda — I  ought 
implicitly  to  trust  Him  who  is  their  Father,  and  He  is  mine. 
I  omit  the  many  other  names,  not  as  being  less  dear,  or 
less  ardently  prayed  for. 

"I  have  hourly  upon  my  mind  the  unavailingness  of 
everything  lut  prayer  " 

"17  Jan.,  1849.— I  have  to-day  the  wished-for  first 
account  from  Berlin,  where  the  travellers  arrived  on  the- 
llth  and  found  a  letter  from  the  King  at  Potsdam,  desir- 
ing my  husband  to  come  at  once  on  Thursday  to  dine  with 
him  at  Charlottenberg.  He  was  most  affectionately  re- 
ceived, but  after  four  hours'  incessant  exertion  of  his 
voice,  returned  at  night  quite  voiceless,  and  had  to  stay  in 
bed  next  day  fasting  on  barley-water." 

" 29  Jan. — The  intelligence  in  the  newspapers,  of  the 
entirely  democratic  majority  in  the  (Prussian)  Elections,  as 
far  as  they  have  taken  place — alarming  as  it  may  be  in  one 
respect,  may  haye  the  beneficial  effect  of  counteracting 
the  intoxicating  effect  of  late  re-actionary  demonstra- 
tions, under  cover  of  the  military  force  in  Berlin,  upon 
the  King  and  Ministry.  The  King  of  Hanover's  modera- 
tion (as  that  used  not  to  be  his  characteristic  quality) 
cannot  but  be  a  proof  of  his  admeasurement  of  danger,  with 


IN   THE    TUHMOIL    OF    L1FK.  123 

his  most  remarkably  good  understanding !  I  think  the 
good  sense  with  which  he  has  acted,  considering  the  pre- 
judices and  habits  of  thinking  and  acting  of  his  whole  life, 
most  unusual  and  remarkable,  for  it  may  be  guessed  to 
what  a  degree  it  has  gone  against  the  grain  with  him  to 
be  directed  by  his  liberal  minister,  Struve.  He  is  said 
to  have  uttered  in  his  usual  bad  German,  the  translation 
of  the  English  phrase  '  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  satisfy 
the  people,  and,  by  God,  that  is  no  easy  matter  in  these 
days!' 

"  My  eyes  now  sometimes  insist  upon  rest  ....  but  I 
have  no  right  indeed  to  complain  if  such  faithful  servants 
now  ask  a  little  to  be  spared.  The  worst  is  I  do  not 
always  see  how  I  am  to  circumscribe  what  the  said  eyes 
ought  to  do — Heaven  knows  that  the  arrears  of  writing 
from  even  a  week's  partial  disabling  are  frightful — Aggiw- 
tare  la  soma  per  la  strada,  is  a  wise  proverb  !  " 

To  BUNSEN. 

"  Totteridge,  23  Jan.,  1849.— It  is  as  hard  to  begin  to 
write,  when  one  is  waiting  to  receive  tidings,  as  to  begin 
to  speak,  when  one  waits  to  be  spoken  to.  How  I  long  for 
the  explanation  of  the  various  enigmas  which  the  news- 
paper accounts  furnish ! — to  know  what  this,  that,  and  the 
other  indicates  ? — but  for  all  that  I  must  wait. 

' '  On  Saturday  morning  Ernest  and  Elizabeth  had  their 
little  girl  baptized  by  the  names  of  Hilda  Elizabeth,  and 
Emilia  was  allowed  to  hold  her.  The  venerable  Steinkopf 
officiated,  and  the  service  used  was  that  in  your  Gesang- 
buch.  All  wished  you  had  been  present,  but  except  that, 
there  was  nothing  to  wish.  In  the  afternoon  I  arranged 


124         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


your  pamphlets.  Whenever  I  lay  things  in  order,  the 
question  arises  involuntarily — '  How  much  longer  are  we, 
and  the  books,  and  all  the  other  et  cetera  to  have  their 
dwelling-place  in  Caiiton  Terrace?' — a  question  easier 
asked  than  answered. 

"  On  Sunday  the  Schwabes  came  to  luncheon  and  brought 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cobden  with  them,  with  whom  I  was  much 
pleased.  An  animated  conversation  was  kept  up,  and  we 
parted  with  great  cordiality — I  expressing  the  wish  that 
they  would  come  again  when  you  should  be  at  home,  and 
answering  for  your  being  glad  to  see  them,  and  they 
desiring  nothing  better.  I  was  pleased  with  Mr.  Cobden' s 
testimony  to  the  King's  uprightness  and  faithfulness,  in 
having  kept  to  the  letter  every  promise  of  concession  made 
in  the  hour  of  revolution,  and  not  having  been  tempted  to 
equivocate  by  the  consciousness  of  military  power  and  the 
turn  of  the  tide  of  popularity.  As  he  observed,  such  truth- 
fulness is  rare  in  the  annals  of  royalty." 

"  29  Jan.,  1849. — And  so  the  months  have  rolled  round 
and  are  bringing  again  the  opening  of  Parliament  the  day 
after  to-morrow !  and  no  trifling  stand  have  the  Ministry 
here  to  make  against  the  array  of  facts  to  be  mastered :  I 
should  think  Sicily,  Lpmbardy,  Italy  in  general — and  the 
Sikhs — each  in  former  times  might  have  been  '  the  least  a 
death.'  But  if  they  have  difficulties,  what  are  not  the 
difficulties  of  the  Continental  governments  in  comparison  ?" 

"  1  Feb.,  1849.— You  will  judge  how  your  letter,  received 
here  yesterday  morning,  warmed  and  delighted  me!  I 
well  understood  before  that  your  silence  meant  having 
nothing  of  comfort  to  tell ! — though  I  could  not  measure 
the  degree  of  distress  you  had  gone  through I 


IN    THE    TURMOIL   OF    LIFE.  125 

trust  you  are  doing  what  you  can  to  save  }rour  body,  on 
the  principle  of  keeping  it  up  to  its  office  as  the  mind's 
instrument. 

"To-day  the  Queen  will  utter  her  speech!  I  long  to 
know  what  will  be  in  it,  and  still  more  what  Lord  Palmer- 
ston  will  reply  to  the  various  attacks  that  will  be  made  on 
his  foreign  policy.  I  am  truly  glad  that  Lord  Cowley 
should  be  what  you  find  him !  it  is  a  weighty  matter  in 
the  history  of  the  world  that  a  person  with  power  of  seeing 
and  judging  should  be  in  his  position." 

To  her  MOTHER. 

"15  Feb. — My  own  Mother,  I  am  so  glad  you  saw  and 
mentioned  the  planets !  That  you  see  in  the  west,  from 
your  own  bedroom  window  through  the  trees,  is  Venus, 
visible  now  for  some  time  after  sunset ;  and  Jupiter  is  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  horizon,  visible  all  night,  I  believe. 
Sunday,  Monday  and  Tuesday  nights  were  clear  and  frosty. 
I  went  out  on  the  gravel  walk  at  ten  o'clock,  just  before 
going  to  bed,  and  saw  the  most  splendid  position  of  stars 
that  I  believe  can  be  seen  together :  those  that  I  learnt 
with  my  Mother  out  of  Fr end's  Evening  Amusements : 
Orion,  Sirius,  Procyon,  Alderboran,  the  Pleiades,  and  many 
other  splendours,  on  the  southern  half  of  the  sky,  further 
decorated  by  Jupiter :  and  the  moonless  night  allowed  of 
the  appearance  of  such  a  multitude  of  stars  of  inferior 
magnitude,  that  the  sky  seemed  as  it  were  thick  sown  with 
them.  The  last  evening  Prances  helped  me  to  make  out 
Capella,  and  Eegulus,  and  the  Gemini. 

"I  am  feasting  upon  Mr.  Macaulay's  History.  How  I 
always  have  desired,  and  desire  more  than  ever,  for  my 


126        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

children,  the  intense  pleasure  I  have  always  had  in  history, 
in  truth  of  facts,  in  reality  of  character  ?  If  I  had  pleasure 
in  works  of  old,  not  such  thorough  histories  as  people  have 
it  in  their  power  to  write  now, — in  proportion  is  the  enjoy- 
ment heightened  of  having  men  and  conditions  of  society 
revealed  in  full  light  and  shade,  as  Ranke  has  done,  and 
Macaulay  is  doing.  I  know  not  yet  what  the  faults  and 
deficiencies  of  Macaulay's  History  are:  of  course  they 
must  exist,  as  in  everything  human,  but  as  yet  my  only 
feeling  is,  obligation  to  him  for  giving  me  ten  reasons 
where  I  had  one  before,  for  holding  opinions  I  have  long 
held!" 

March,  1849,  was  marked  by  the  fatigue  of  removing 
the  residence  of  the  Prussian  Legation  from  No.  4  to 
No.  9  Carlton  Terrace — the  present  Prussian  Embassy. 

MADAME  BUXSEN  to  her  MOTHER. 

"London,  2  March,  1849. — I  have  a  most  troublesome 
bad  cold,  and  that  being  the  case,  you  may  think  of  the 
difficulty  to  resolve  to  go  and  dine  with  the  Queen  on 
Monday.  Many  a  time  did  I  think  I  must  have  declared 
myself  ill,  and  yet  it  is  no  joke  to  do  that,  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  year  in  London,  for  then  everybody  you  see  for 
a  month  asks  after  your  invalidship,  for  want  of  better 
subject  of  conversation  :  beside  that  /  like  to  dine  with  the 
Queen.  And  yet,  how  to  go  when  I  had  wanted  six 
pocket  handkerchiefs  in  the  course  of  the  morning  ?  But 
I  summoned  courage  and  put  two  real  pocket  handkerchiefs 
in  a  little  bag  and  carried  that  hidden  behind  my  trimmed 
handkerchief,  and  I  got  safe  through  tho  ordeal,  and  was 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  127 

able  to  manage  everything  quietly Prince  Albert 

showed  a  torque,  or  necklace  of  pure  gold,  found  in  a  fox- 
burrow  in  Needwood  Forest,  quite  pliable,  and  worked  to 
imitate  a  coiled  rope,  the  same  kind  of  thing  remarked 
round  the  neck  of  that  fine  statue  called  the  Dying  Gladia- 
tor, but  not  a  gladiator. 

' '  A  few  days  ago  I  spent  a  morning  with  Frances  and 
Mary  seeing  the  Eagged  Schools  at  Westminster,  about 
which  I  have  long  been  interested,  and  I  saw  that  remark- 
able and  admirable  man,  Mr.  Walker,  who  originated 
these  and  many  other  establishments  for  reclaiming  and 
civilising  the  most  wretched  of  human  beings,  laboring 
still  and  having  labored  for  years  as  a  City  Missionary ; — 
going  about  unhurt  among  the  most  abandoned,  being 
looked  upon  by  all  as  a  friend  and  an  object  of  respect. 
The  Schools  were  a  most  affecting  sight. 

"  Alas,  between  one  religious  party  and  another,  people 
are  screwing  narrower  and  narrower,  and  darkening  the  light 
of  Heaven  more  and  more,  Low  Church  almost  as  bad  as 
the  High— and  where  this  practical  Popery,  though  in  name 
out  of  the  Popedom,  is  to  end,  who  can  tell  ?  I  am  now 
thinking  of  the  absolute  persecution  poor  Mr.  Maurice  is 
under,  as  well  as  our  dear  friend  Archdeacon  Hare,  because 
the  latter  published  a  life  of  Sterling.  There  is  no  doubt 
and  no  attempt  to  deny  that  Sterling  fell  into  scepticism  in 
his  latter  years,  the  more  the  pity :  but  he  was  not  a  sceptic 
when  he  took  orders,  and  officiated  as  an  active  and  pious 
curate.  But  a  review  has  boldly  accused  the  Archdeacon  of 
persuading  a  man  whom  he  knew  to  be  an  unbeliever  to  go 
into  the  Church.  The  Archdeacon  and  Maurice  thought 
it  right  to  publish  a  pamphlet  in  justification,  and  niy 


128        LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

husband  thinks  it  much,  to  be  regretted  that  they  entered 
into  the  controversy,  for  they  have  roused  a  wasp's  nest : 
and  the  plain  English  of  the  whole  is,  that  they  are 
marked  for  slander,  as  being  known  to  study  theology  in 
the  spirit  of  the  universal  church,  and  to  look  upon  people 
as  brethren  in  faith  who  are  not  within  the  Anglican  pale 
of  salvation.  May  God  help  the  world  !  it  is  in  a  bad  way, 
morally  and  physically." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"  20  May,  1849. — I  wish  I  knew  how  you  could  be 
helped  to  a  little  more  strength ! — and  the  restoration  of 
your  eye  is  also  matter  of  earnest  prayer, — as  far  as  any 
one  individual  blessing  can  be  the  object  of  direct  request 
and  importunity :  but  I  remind  myself,  that  the  wind  is 
tempered  to  the  shorn  lamb,  and  the  strength  you  need  will 
not  fail  to  be  measured  out  as  the  occasion  calls — and  that 
as  to  the  eye,  which  we  would  all  have  bright  and  clear  as 
it  once  was,  if  it  is,  to  remain  dim,  we  must  ask  with 
Milton,— 

'  So  much  the  rather,  thou,  celestial  Light 
Shine  inward,  and  the  mind  through  all  her  powers 
Irradiate !  there  plant  eyes,  all  mist  from  thence 
Purge  and  dispel — ' 

and  we  may  ask,  in  fullest  confidence  that  this  prayer  will 
be  heard  and  answered." 

In  the  autumn  of  1849,  a  series  of  pleasant  visits 
were  paid  in  Warwickshire  and  Lancashire,  and  to  Mrs. 
Arnold  at  Foxhow.  The  winter  was  saddened  by  an 
ever-increasing  sense  of  Bunsen's  political  estrange- 


IN  THE   TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  129 

ment  from  his  King,  towards  whom  his  personal  attach- 
ment was  as  strong  as  ever.  In  the  midst  of  much 
which  filled  Madame  Bunsen  with  melancholy  fore- 
bodings, she  was  cheered  by  the  happy  engagement  of 
her  daughter  Mary  to  John,  the  eldest  son  of  Mr. 
Battersby  Harford,  of  Stoke,  near  Bristol.* 

MADAME  BUXSEX  to  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  Wootton  Sail,  30  Sept.,  1849. — Before  leaving  Foxhow 
we  walked  to  Mr.  "Wordsworth's,  and  saw  Tnm  and  his  wife, 
80  years  of  age,  but  well  in  health,  though  bowed  down  by 
the  loss  of  their  daughter  two  years  ago.  We  peeped  at 
their  garden,  where  I  begged  to  go  for  a  sight  of  the 
Eydal  Lake.  At  dinner  we  saw  an  old  lady  whom  I  had 
seen  40  years  before  at  Edinburgh, — then  a  beautiful 
woman,  and  now  at  80  so  preserved  in  mind  and  body 
that  I  should  have  known  her  anywhere.  Her  name  is 
Mrs.  Fletcher. 

"Dear  Mrs.  Arnold  is  the  same  admirable  person  as 
ever :  I  am  most  thankful  to  have  been  with  her  again. 
How  I  should  like  to  take  my  Theodora  to  Foxhow,  to  see 
the  Arnolds,  as  well  as  the  country." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"  Christmas  Day,  1849. — Our  Christmas  arrangements 
turned  out  all  very  well  and  I  think  were  much  enjoyed : 
about  25  children  had  their  tea,  while  Mary,  Ernest,  Charles 
and  George,  with  help  of  Mr.  Lear,  gave  last  finishings 

*  On  the  death  of  his  uncle,  Mr.  Harford  of  Blaise  Castle,  Mr.  John 
Battersby  Harford  succeeded  to  that  property  and  took  the  name  of 
Harford  only. 

VOL.  II.  TV 


130        LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF   BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

and  lighted  up.  The  Virgin  and  Child  from  Eaphael 
formed  the  centre  of  a  bower  of  green  and  light,  with  a  tree 
right  and  left  and  a  festoon  and  star  above.  The  organ 
was  in  a  corner,  unseen,  and  Frances  played  the  Pastorale 
as  the  troop  entered  in  procession.  After  all  distributions 
and  noise  were  over,  Ernest  sung  t  Comfort  ye,  my  people.'  " 
"Jan.  1,  1850. — I  am  so  happy  in  Mary's  happiness,  I 
want  to  embrace  you  each, — for  thus  I  would  express 
more — 

'  0  ware  jeder  Puls  ein  Dank, 
Und  jeder  Athem  ein  Gesang  ! ' 

Yesterday  evening  we  were  a  happy  quiet  party  together, 
awaiting  the  sound  of  the  midnight  clock,  succeeded  by 
a  melodious  peal  from  churches  far  and  near,  under  the 
bright  moonlight.     Ernest  sang  '  Lord,  what  is  man  '- 
and  all  sang  Nun  danket  alle  Gott" 

The  long  series  of  letters  which  has  followed  the 
whole  course  of  her  married  life  will  sufficiently  have 
shown  how  close  was  the  tie,  neither  weakened  nor  re- 
laxed by  other  cares  or  affections,  which  bound  Madame 
Bunsen  to  her  mother.  Those  weeks  of  her  life  were 
ever  considered  the  happiest,  in  which  the  venerable  and 
beautiful  grandmother  was  the  cherished  and  honoured 
centre  of  the  large  family  group :  and  those  days  were 
as  oases  in  the  whirlpool  of  her  family  and  London  life, 
which  Madame  Bunsen  was  able  to  spend  in  the  quiet 
of  the  "  upper  house  "  of  Llanover,  recalling  with  her 
mother  those  memories  of  the  long-past  which  no  one 
else  could  share.  To  the  end  of  her  long  life  Mrs. 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  131 

Waddington  retained  her  wonderful  intellect  and  warm 
sympathies.  Her  society  had  an  especial  charm  because 
it  was  evident  to  the  last  that  she  was  ever  willing  to 
correct  her  own  prejudices  by  personal  experience.  Her 
existence  was  spent  amongst  her  peasant  neighbours, 
upon  whom  she  bestowed  not  only  her  charities  but 
her  strength.  As  is  frequently  the  case  in  old  age,  she 
had,  with  ever  increasing  sympathies  for  the  trials  of 
her  fellow- creatures,  an  ever-fresh  delight  in  the  simple 
pleasures  which  had  enlivened  her  youth — the  peacocks 
perching  and  roosting  in  the  cedar  tree  opposite  her 
windows ;  the  shells  which  Mrs.  Delany  and  the 
Duchess  of  Portland  had  taught  her  to  arrange  in  her 
childhood  ;  the  sketches  which  it  was  her  eldest  daugh- 
ter's happiness  to  send  her,  of  all  the  places  she  visited 
or  admired.  But  most  of  all  her  love  of  flowers  so 
increased,  that  her  hall  and  rooms  were  filled  with 
them  in  every  form — in  glasses,  bowls,  baskets,  pyra- 
mids— in  moss,  in  ivy — when  they  abounded,  but  in 
all  seasons  she  had  flowers. 

Almost  the  whole  of  Tuesday,  January  15,  Mrs. 
Waddington  was  engaged  in  relieving  the  poor  or 
sending  after  the  sick.  She  did  not  like  Mary  Bun- 
sen's  marriage  being  put  off  till  after  Easter,  and 
that  afternoon,  with  a  cheerful  happy  dictated  letter 
of  her  o\vn,  she  forwarded  some  verses  which  she  had 
desired  Lady  Hall  to  write  and  enclose  with  a  sprig 
of  the  Dwarf  Furze  (Ulex  No-no),  quoting  a  "Welsh 
tradition  that  Love  did  not  revive  after  that  plant 


132         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

had  ceased  to  bloom.  "With  affectionate  remem- 
brance of  a  favourite  arrangement  of  her  adopted 
mother,  Mrs.  Delany,  she  filled  a  bowl  with  buds  of  the 
monthly  rose,  surrounding  them  with  young  shoots 
of  Lavender,  of  which  the  sea-green  tint  had  been 
much  used  by  Mrs.  Delany  in  her  wonderful  chenille- 
work  from  natural  flowers.  Then,  while  her  guest 
Miss  Tylee  was  reading  to  her  from  a  letter  of  "William 
von  Humboldt,*  sitting  calmly  in  her  chair,  she  received 
her  death-stroke.  She  motioned  to  her  companion,  rang 
the  bell  herself  for  her  maid,  walked  to  her  bedroom, 
went  to  bed — assisting  herself,  but  never  spoke  again  till 
she  expired.  In  the  two  last  years  she  had  lived  in  the 
anticipation  of  death,  but  death  and  its  terrors  seemed 
to  be  hidden  from  her;  her  daughters  and  grand- 
daughter had  no  spoken  parting  blessing,  but  they 
knew  that  blessing  had  never  failed  while  conscious- 
ness lasted. 

The  overflowing  attendance  of  "Welsh  of  every  deno- 
mination at  the  funeral  (and  at  the  church  on  the 
following  Sunday)  showed  a  last  mark  of  respect  for 
her,  who,  through  her  long  life,  had  never  failed  to 
evince  that  she  considered  equally  all  Christians  as 
brethren.  "When  her  coffin  was  borne  out  of  the  house, 
the  ancient  "Welsh  dirge  called  "  Gorphenwyd "  was 
sung  by  the  people,  and  taken  up  in  thrilling  cadences 
during  the  whole  long  line  of  the  procession  through 
the  wood  to  the  hill-set  churchyard  above  the  river  Usk. 
*  Humboldt's  Letters,  Iv. 


IN   THE   TURMOIL   OF    LIFE.  133 

The  pall  was  carried  by  eight  attached  female  servants, 
and  her  two  daughters  and  grand- daughter  followed,  at 
the  head  of  the  other  mourners. 

The  grave,  which  loving  hands  still  deck  with  the 
fairest  emblems  of  each  season  as  it  conies  round,  is 
in  Llano ver  churchyard,  near  the  vault  in  which  other 
members  of  the  family  are  laid,  and  beside  which,  with 
honeysuckles  and  other  flowers,  grows  a  pine,  reared 
by  the  beloved  Lady  herself,  from  seed  which  she  had 
brought  from  Italy. 

The  "upper  house"  of  Llano  ver  is  tenderly  cared 
for  by  her  youngest  and  favourite  child,  whose  principal 
home  is  close  by  ;  it  is  kept  fresh  and  bright  and  aired, 
as  if  the  long-lost  Mother  were  daily  expected  to  return. 
In  her  rooms  warm  fires  always  burn  in  winter,  and 
throughout  the  year  fresh  flowers  are  daily  placed  on  the 
little  table  by  her  old-fashioned  sofa.  The  plants  she 
loved  still  bloom  in  her  little  "  Fountain  Garden,"  her 
pictures  and  books  are  unremoved  from  the  walls,  and 
the  descendants  of  the  peacocks  she  used  to  feed  still 
spread  their  bright  tails  in  the  sun  under  her  windows. 

MADAME  BTTOSEX  to  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  Llanover,  19  Jan.,  1850. — This  morning  at  20  minutes 
past  5  she  breathed  her  last. 

"  Her  end  was  without  pain,  we  all  firmly  believe, — and 
let  us  thank  God,  how  can  we  be  thankful  enough !  that 
consciousness  did  not  return,  that  she  never  knew  herself 
to  be  helpless  or  disabled.  We  cannot  say  of  her — '  One 
moment  perfect  health,  the  next  was  death ' — but  we  can 


134        LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

say,  one  moment  was  perfect  activity  and  fulness  of  life, 
energy  of  feeling,  clearness  of  perception,  even  enjoyment 
of  the  narrowed  circle  of  her  existence, — and  the  next 
moment  was  insensibility,  unconsciousness.  On  Tuesday, 
the  15th,  she  had  been  busied  all  day,  from  an  early  hour 
in  the  morning,  with  seeing  and  hearing  about  poor 
people,  and  ministering  to  their  wants :  also  she  dictated 
a  precious  letter  in  immediate  answer  to  Matilda's,  and 
another  cheerful  letter  to  Lady  Hall,  in  which  she  spoke 
of  a  dried  flower  and  some  verses  for  my  Mary,  and  among 
other  things,  expressed  the  wish  that  Count  Perponcher 
would  lend  her  one  of  his  drawings,  a  view  of  Constanti- 
nople, which  she  had  so  much  admired  that  she  wished  to 
have  it  copied.  Then,  after  3  o'clock,  Miss  Tylee  came  to 
her,  and  she  looked  at  drawings  with  great  interest  and 
pleasure,  then  had  the  daily  service,  and  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture, read  to  her  by  Miss  Tylee,  conversed  cheerfully,  and 
had  parts  of  Humboldt's  Letters  read — repeating  with 
her  usual  animation  that  they  were  as  if  written  for  her, 

and  echoed  her  feelings.     Then  she  had  her  tea The 

servant  in  answer  to  her  bell  came  in  to  take  away  the 
tea-things,  she  beckoned  him  up  to  her,  and  spoke  inco- 
herently, what,  neither  he  nor  Miss  Tylee  could  understand, 
but  they  saw  a  sudden  change.  Betsy  was  called  in  a 
moment,  and  with  Griffiths' s  help  supported  her  across  the 
passage  to  her  bedroom.  She  never  spoke  again,  and 
when  she  was  in  bed,  Betsy  felt  that  her  right  side  was 
powerless.  The  stroke  of  death  had  taken  place  ;  though 
life  was  not  yet  extinguished.  She  lay  as  if  asleep  all  that 
night :  in  the  course  of  Wednesday  had  one  or  two  fits  of 
restlessness,  and  after  that  the  night  was  quiet,  and  so  was 


IN    THE    TURMOIL   OF    LIFE.  135 

the  following  day,  Thursday  the  17th,  when  Lady  Hall 
and  I  reached  the  house  at  7  o'clock  in  the  evening.  It 
was  only  an  increasing  hardness  of  breathing,  and  a  steady 
acceleration  of  pulse,  that  showed  the  end  to  be  approach- 
ing. 

"  The  last  night,  I  moved  not  from  her  side  till  all  was 
over.  At  one  o'clock  Lady  Hall  was  prevailed  upon  to  go 
to  bed,  for  our  precious  mother  was  breathing  so  quietly 
that  no  immediate  change  was  expected.  I  lay  on  a  sofa 
close  by,  and  Betsy  on  another.  The  quiet  breathing 
went  on  unchanged,  till  a  few  minutes  before  three, 
then  I  started  up  on  hearing  a  noise  in  the  throat — sent 
first  for  the  medical  attendant  Dr.  Steele,  who  was  gone  to 
bed,  and  then  for  my  poor  sister.  She  asked  Dr.  Steele 
the  question,  which  I  needed  not  to  ask — '  Can  this  last 
much  longer  ? '  He  said,  '  No — a  change  must  come  very 
soon.'  We  both  sat  close  to  the  bed,  and  Mrs.  Berrington 
was  sent  for  (she  had  arrived  that  afternoon) — after  a  time 
the  quiet  breathing  was  resumed,  but  grew  short — that 
went  on,  it  seemed  long — when  we  both  together  started 
up,  for  it  paused — then  there  was  another  still  gentler 
breath,  and  that  was  the  last. 

"  There  was  no  struggle,  there  was  no  sign  of  pain.  0  ! 
how  can  we  thank  God  enough ! 

"  She  was  lovely,  loving,  and  beloved,  in  life  :  she  has 
died  in  peace,  having  been  conscious  that  death  was  near, 
and  preparing  for  her  last  hour,  as  long  as  sense  and  con- 
sciousness lasted :  and  when  the  dreadful  hour  was  at 
hand,  she  was  led  by  the  hand  of  mercy  as  in  slumber 
through  the  gates  of  death.  She  is  where  the  light  of 
God's  countenance  ever  shineth — the  veil  is  removed — and 


136         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEX. 

she  expatiates  in  eternal  day.  But  her  love  for  us,  as  for 
her  God  and  Saviour,  was  a  part  of  her  immortal  self,  and 
wiK  not  be  buried  with  those  dear  and  as  yet  little 
changed  remains. 

''My  poor  sister!  she  is  more  to  be  pitied  than  I  am 

I  believe  she  flattered  herself  with  hope,  such  as  I  never 
entertained.  Yesterday  about  noon,  she  proposed  reading 
prayers,  and  the  words  of  Bishop  Patrick  and  Jeremy 
Taylor  did  us  much  good:  then  Mr.  Evans  came,  and 
prayed  with  us. — After  all  was  over,  poor  Augusta  again 
proposed  our  praying  together,  before  we  parted  to  go  to 
rest.  The  books  before  used  had  been  removed,  and  only 
Dr.  Johnson's  prayers  were  at  hand,  but  there  are  many 
relating  to  the  death  of  beloved  objects,  and  the  words 
responded  to  our  feelings.  She  had  strengih  and  eyes  to 
read  them,  and  how  good  it  is  to  have  a  book  to  help  one's 
weak  mind  !  which  when  most  in  need,  can  least  command 
itself. 

"You  will  all  want  some  account  of  what  relates  to 
myself.  There  was  no  delay  in  the  journey.  The  evening 
was  fine,  and  there  was  no  snow,  and  less  frost,  after  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ross.  "YVe  stopped  at  the  garden-lodge, 
and  walked  through  the  gardens  to  the  house  *  :  the  new 
moon  shone,  and  the  stars  were  bright  over  the  roof — 
those  stars  that  she  loved  to  look  at,  and  to  hear  about 
when  she  could  not  look  out.  Mrs.  Herbert  f  met  us  at  the 

*  The  anguish,  of  that  silent  walk  in  breathless  anxiety,  through 
the  wintry  groves  and  gardens  and  by  the  fountains  then  hung  with 
icicles,  made  an  indelible  impression  on  the  mind  of  both  sisters — as 
one  of  them  afterwards  expressed  it,  they  "  trembled  at  the  sound  of 
their  own  footsteps  "  on  approaching  the  house. 

t  Augusta  Charlotte,  only  daughter  of  Lord  and  Lady  Llanover, 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  137 

hall  door.     I  suppose  she  liad  lieard  tlio  carriage  driving 

across  the  bottom  of  the  field  to  tlie  other  house 

It  has  been  a  great  comfort  to  have  no  disturbing  element 

in  the  house  of  mourning I  hope  to  draw  the  room 

and  furniture  amid  which  I  so  lately  saw  her  in  life — the 
sofa,  which  I  continually  expect  to  see  her  return  to 
occupy.  I  know  not  how  it  is  that  one  can  bear  the  sight 
of  all  these  familiar  objects,  now  that  her  visible  presence 
is  removed  from  them — but  one  can  bear  everything.  Do 
not  be  in  the  least  afraid  for  me." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"23  Jan.,  1850. — I  enclose  to  you  a  precious  relic, 
showing  that  the  most  affectionate  interest  about  you 
occupied  your  dear  Grandmother  to  the  last.  It  seems/ 
that  she  had  heard  of  a  Welsh  proverb,  signifying  the 
flower  of  the  furze  to  be  an  emblem  of  lasting  love,  and 
that  the  love  is  a  lucky  one  that  is  contemporary  with  the 
furze-flowering.  So  she  sent  to  a  place  where  the  furze 
would  probably  be  found  in  blossom,  and  carefully  dried 
the  bit  which  was  discovered.  Then  she  caused  Clara 
"VVaddington  and  Mrs.  Berrington  to  be  written  to,  and 
asked  to  write  verses  on  the  subject,  that  she  might  send 
them  to  you  with  the  flowers.  Both  did  as  they  were 
desired,  and  she  chose  the  lines  of  Mrs.' Berrington,  and 
had  just  forwarded  them  to  Lady  Hall  to  give  to  you,  on 
Tuesday,  the  15th,  the  last  day  of  her  life  ! 

"You  will  have  heard  that  the  poor  neighbours   are 

had  married,  Nov.,  1846,  J.  Arthur  Herbert  of  Llanarth.  Being  in 
Wales,  she  had  been  summoned  on  the  first  alarm. 


138        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

deeply  gratified  by  her  having  desired  to  be  buried  '  like 
the  poor — in  the  earth  ! '  " 

"26  Jan.,  1850. — It  is  a  week  this  morning  that  my 
dearest  Mother  breathed  her  last !  I  have  no  measure- 
ment of  the  time  in  my  feelings,  which  sometimes  repre- 
sent the  last  moment  as  recent,  and  sometimes  as  though 
an  age  had  passed  since.  Betsy  watches  the  beloved 
remains  by  day,  and  sleeps  by  them  at  night,  and  con- 
stantly renews  the  flowers  and  fragrant  leaves :  the  pea- 
fowl are  fed  in  the  same  place  on  the  gravel,  opposite  the 
windows,  where  she  could  see  them  from  her  bed." 

"  28  Jan.,  1850. — I  have  been  sitting  a  long  time  in  that 
room  of  death,  drawing,  and  hearing  from  Betsy  recollec- 
tions of  words  and  actions,  all  tending  to  form  a  more 
complete  picture  of  those  latter  days  and  weeks,  and  all 
showing  that  habit  of  effusion  of  love  and  kindness,  which 
seemed  to  grow  stronger  with  years.  After  the  usual 
Christmas  dinner  given  by  Lady  Hall  to  tenants  and 
neighbours,  my  Mother  interested  herself  to  make  out 
whether  anybody  had  been  omitted,  who  might  have  had 
any  claim  to  be  invited  :  and  she  had  a  set  of  persons  sent 
to  and  provided  dinner  for  them  herself,  and  one  old  man 
in  particular,  named  Booth,  she  caused  to  come  into  her 
room,  with  his  daughter,  and  sit  down,  and  she  sent  for 
two  glasses  of  wine  for  them — and  the  old  man  did  not 
drink  to  her  health,  but  said,  *  I  drink,  Madam,  to  your 
happy  passage  to  the  realms  of  bliss ;  we  can  neither  of  us 
be  very  long  in  this  world/ — and  she  was  greatly  pleased, 
and  said,  '  That  is  the  best  toast  I  ever  heard  in  my  life.' 
She  parted  from  him  saying  she  hoped  to  see  him  often, 
and  soon  again. 


IN   THK    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  139 

' '  Wlien  I  was  last  here,  she  told  ine,  with  much  satisfac- 
tion and  solemnity,  of  Edmund  George's  having  said  to  her 
---'"Well,  Madam,  you  be  old, — you  be  much  advanced  in 
years,  and  your  end  cannot  be  far  off ; — and  we  must  pray 
for  you,  that  you  may  be  prepared  for  a  better :  it  would 
be  flattery  to  say  anything  else  but  this.'  She  said  after- 
wards to  her  maid,  '  I  was  so  pleased  with  Edmund  George 
to-day,  he  told  me  the  truth,  it  was  so  right,'  and  she 
commented  upon  the  simplicity  and  truth  of  Christians  in 
lower  station,  not  trammelled  by  mistaken  rules  of  good 
breeding.  This  Edmund  George  is  Sir  Benjamin's  wood- 
ward at  Abercarne." 

"  30  Jan. — How  I  do  long  to  return  to  you !  The  daily 
business  of  life  is  becoming  a  pressing  need,  not  for  want 
of  enough  to  do,  but  because  the  present  occupations, 
compelling  the  mind  ever  to  retrace  the  same  melancholy 
round  of  impressions,  are  saddening  beyond  expression. 
Yesterday  we  found  a  quantity  of  little  records  of  my  poor 
sister  Emily,  which  brought  back  before  me  the  whole 
picture  of  a  wretched  life,  which  God  closed  early  in 

mercy I  have  burnt  those  papers ;  the  miseries 

they  record  we  may  humbly  hope  are  swallowed  up  in 
blessedness ;  and  it  is  the  result  to  dwell  upon." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  Llanover,  31  Jan.,  1850. — I  write  to  you  to-day,  my 
own  Theodora,  rather  than  to  your  sisters,  because  you 
were  with  me  when  last  here !  and  you  will  therefore  the 
more  exactly  follow  the  feelings  with  which  last  night 
between  six  and  seven  I  walked  down  to  the  other  house 
with  Lady  Hall,  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  some  of  the 


140         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF   BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

men  who  will  belong  to  the  funeral  sing  the  Welsh 
dirges,  which  they  are  in  the  habit  of  performing  when 
they  follow  a  funeral  procession  among  themselves.  Thp 
night  was  as  dark  as  possible — the  sky  closed  in  by 
clouds,  threatening  the  rain  which  has  since  fallen :  the 
moon  had  not  yet  risen,  only  the  usual  planet  loomed 
through  the  mist,  so  as  to  show  its  place  rather  than  its 

lustre From  the  house  gleamed  those  same  lights, 

that  used  to  be  ready  for  you  and  me.  Noiselessly  the  door 
opened  and  we  found  the  enchanted  palace  as  it  used  to  be, 
fire  and  lights  prepared  by  unseen  hands.  We  sat  down, 
and  presently  voices  sounded  from  the  gallery  above.  One 
of  the  dirges  was  that  which  your  dear  Grandmamma 
desired  Frances  to  write  out  plain  for  her.  This,  the  first 
music  I  have  heard,  since  she  has  been  taken  away,  whose 
delight  in  music  I  never  failed  to  remember  every  time  I 
heard  any,  with  the  desire  that  she  should  hear  it,  in- 
describably overset  me :  and  yet  what  folly ! — for  she  is 
conscious  now  of  the  everlasting  harmonies !  She  needs 
no  longer  so  poor  an  echo  of  them. 

"I  hailed  with  satisfaction  Lady  Hall's  proposal  to  let 
the  people  sing  upon  the  way,  as  they  are  accustomed  to 
do  at  funerals  amongst  themselves.  It  will  yet  more  con- 
firm the  impression  so  gratifying  to  them,  that  my  dearest 
Mother  preferred  being  buried  like  the  poor ! — and  you  will 
remember  how  much  we  felt  when  following  the  remains 
of  Lina  to  their  resting-place,  what  a  dead  weight  falls 
upon  the  spirit,  in  that  unbroken  silence,  and  how  one 
craves  a  chant,  to  give  one's  sad  thoughts  a  prop  to  dwell 
upon." 

"  5  Feb. — Yesterday  afternoon  I  walked  with  George  to 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  141 

the  churchyard  by  the  river. — Strange !  when  I  look  at 
that  grave,  and  those  wreaths  of  flowers  upon  it,  I  can- 
not yet  believe  what  I  saw  done  only  three  days  ago. 
In  the  evening  Mrs.  Berrington  sang  Welsh  airs,  and 
the  girl  from  the  boat-house  sang  with  her  fresh  clear 


On  the  4th  of  April  Madame  Bunsen  had  once  more 
the  happiness  of  seeing  her  ten  children  collected  for 
the  marriage  of  her  daughter  Mary  :  it  was  the  last  of 
these  unbroken  family  gatherings. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER  MARY  (on  the  day  after  her 

marriage). 

"  5  April,  1850. — This  morning  I  went  up-stairs  to  count 
what  children  I  had  left !  Then  your  father  came,  and  when 
our  remnant  was  all  collected,  I  proposed  singing  the  "Hymn 
"  Wie  schon  leucht  uns  den  Morgenstern" — which  I  was 
surprised  by  your  father's  desiring  to  change  for  the  hymn 
"AVer  weiss  wie  nahe  mir  mein  Ende  " — and  after  two 
verses  of  that,  he  desired  to  have  four  verses  of  "  0  wie 
selig  seid  ihr  doch,  ihr  Frommen."  Then  we  read  the 
90th  Psalm,  and  he  prayed — having  told  us  that  he  had 
received  intelligence  of  your  Aunt  Christiana's  death  !  She 
went  to  her  rest  on  the  Wednesday  in  Passion  week,  and 
was  buried  on  Good  Friday,  but  your  Father  would  not  tell 
us  till  the  festival  was  over.  You  know  that  this  is  an 
event  fraught  with  deep  interest  to  me  ;  and  we  all  have 
not  only  to  feel  that  a  heart  full  of  warm  affection  for  us 
all  has  ceased  to  beat,  but  also  that  a  noble  spirit  and 
high  intelligence  have  now  found  their  proper  home,  have 


142        LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF   BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

I 

broken  all  bonds,  and  dilate  and  expand  in  a  worthy  and 
genial  atmosphere." 

In  June  the  Prince  of  Prussia  again  visited  England 
to  be  present  at  the  christening  of  his  godson  Prince 
Arthur.  The  following  month  was  clouded  by  the 
death  of  Sir  Robert  Peel. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ler  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  10  July,  1850. — A  deep  shadow  of  death  and  mourning 
has  come  over  London,  and  we  have  been  relieved  from 
the  drawing-room  and  court  balls,  as  well  as  a  multitude  of 
other  things,  by  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Cambridge, 
although  it  is  that  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  which  is  the  great 
event.  All  persons  agree  that  there  has  never  been  an 
instance  of  such  general  gloom  and  regret — there  is  no  one 
of  the  various  fractions  into  which  party  is  split,  except 
just  that  small  one  of  the  Ultra-Protectionists,  that  does  not 
deplore  the  loss  of  a  statesman  towards  whom  it  seems  all 
looked,  far  more  than  they  were  aware  while  they  reckoned 
upon  his  life  as  being  as  likely  as  any  to  be  long  preserved 
in  well-being." 

The  winter  of  1850  to  1851  was  a  time  of  great  en- 
joyment to  the  Bunsen  family,  especially  to  its  younger 
members.  The  long  visit  of  Radowitz  in  Caiiton 
Terrace  was  a  source  of  much  happiness,  and  many  are 
the  pleasant  recollections  of  the  meeting  of  "  the  Aca- 
demy of  the  Thames  "  which  he  instituted,  at  which  a 
piece  of  French,  Italian,  or  English  poetry  was  selected 


IX    THE   TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  143 

for  translation  into  German  verse,  and  a  prize  awarded 
by  general  acclamation 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"  London,  6  March,  1851. — As  you  speak  of  Shakespeare, 
I  too  have  seen  this  winter  two  pieces  very  well  performed 
— Eichard  II.  and  the  first  part  of  Henry  IY. — in  which 
Hotspur  and  Falstaff  left  nothing  to  wish.  But  how  can 
you  be  so  lost  in  modern  notions,  as  to  make  such  a  criti- 
cism on  Shakespeare's  Coriolanus  ?  Where  had  he  learnt 
his  Roman  History  ?  Lei  m'  imegna,  in  Plutarch — which 
he  had  studied  well ;  and  what  could  he  or  anybody  know 
of  the  plebeians,  but  that  they  were  London  'prentices,  and 
in  short,  populace,  until  Niebuhr  taught  us  all  another 
lesson,  and  informed  us  that  they  were  as  aristocratic  as 
their  tyrants  ?" 

To  her  Son"  HENJIY  (on  the  death  of  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Har- 
ford  Battersby). 

"'11  May,  1851.— We  have  felt  together  in  this  time  of 
sorrow,  and  I  thank  God  with  you  for  all  the  mercies  by 
which  it  has  been  marked,  more  especially  for  the  visible 
revealing  of  the  heavenly  life,  in  proportion  as  the  earthly 
was  gliding  away — 

'  Still  the  unrobing  spirit  cast 
Diviner  glories  to  the  last — 
Dissolv'd  its  bonds,  and  winged  its  flight 
Emerging  into  purer  light.' 

Every  recollection  relating  to  him  who  is  gone,  is  full  of 
consolation  :  taken  away  in  ripe  age,  yet  without  previous 
decline  and  decay — allowed  full  consciousness  of  his  con- 


144         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS 


dition,  yet  preserved  from  fears  and  tremors  —  strengthened 
to  look  Death  full  in  the  face  and  realise  to  the  full  that 
privilege  of  the  Christian  —  surrounded  '  by  all  that  should 
accompany  old  age,  as  honour,  love,  obedience,  troops  of 
friends  ;  '  we  have  only  to  look  along  his  luminous  track 
upwards,  to  be  strengthened  on  our  earthly  way. 

'  '  Your  Father  and  I  were  at  Stafford  House  when  the 
Queen  was  there  on  Friday.  The  luncheon  was  beautifully 
arranged  as  ever,  and  I  think  the  flower-gardener  showed 
more  talent  than  ever  in  producing  effect  by  juxtaposition 
of  flowers.  The  Queen  looked  well  and  charming  —  and  I 
could  not  help  the  same  reflection  that  I  have  often  made 
before,  that  she  is  the  only  piece  of  female  royalty  I  ever 
saw,  who  was  also  a  creature,  such  as  God  Almighty  has 
created.  Her  smile  is  a  real  smile  —  her  grace  is  natural, 
although  it  has  received  a  high  polish  from  cultivation  — 
there  is  nothing  artificial  about  her.  Princes  I  have  seen 
several,  whose  first  characteristic  is  that  of  being  men 
rather  than  princes,  though  not  many  .....  The  Duchess 
of  Sutherland  is  the  only  person  I  have  seen,  when  receiv- 
ing the  Queen,  not  giving  herself  the  appearance  of  a 
visitor  in  her  own  house,  by  wearing  a  bonnet." 

To  her  SON-IN-LAW  JOHN  BATTERSBY-HARFORD. 

"  26  June,  1851.  —  Our  Tuesday  evenings  have  answered 
most  thoroughly,  and  enabled  us  satisfactorily  to  receive  a 
great  number  of  foreigners  and  show  them  something  of 
London  society.  Last  Tuesday  among  others  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  came,  and  was  very  amiable,  and  Ernest  sang 
to  him  the  Bliicher-song,  which  he  remembered  to  have 
heard.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  show  Professor  Schnorr 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  145 

the  treasures  of  pictures  to  be  found  in  London — lie  lived 
in  a  portion  of  Palazzo  Caffarelli,  during  several  of  our 
earlier  years  in  Borne,  and  was  our  habitual  associate,  in 
many  a  scene  of  pleasure  and  pain — so  you  will  imagine 
the  extreme  interest  of  a  renewal  of  intercourse  under  such 
altered  circumstances  as  to  things  external,  while  prin- 
ciples, tastes,  and  sympathies,  remain  the  same.  Seeing 
our  good  Kestner  too,  quite  carries  me  back  in  a  sort  of 
dream  to  scenes  long  past  in  Italy.  We  had  lately  the 
great  pleasure  of  a  visit  from  Lady  Harrowby,  when 
Neukomm,  Kestner,  and  Schnorr  all  happened  to  come  in. 
They  had  seen  her  in  her  bloom,*  twenty-six  years  ago  in 
Rome,  and  wondered  to  find  the  same  loveliness,  though 
not  the  bloom :  and  she  wondered  to  see  Kestner  precisely 
the  same,  not  a  day  older." 

A  pleasant  memorial  of  the  usual  life  at  9,  Carlton 
Terrace  at  this  time  is  given  in  the  following  extract 
from  a  letter  of  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  house : — 

"  25  August,  1851. — I  should  like  to  procure  you  a  glimpse 
of  our  usual  luncheon  and  tea-table,  which  (particularly 
the  latter)  is  generally  surrounded  by  an  average  number 
of  from  twenty  to  twenty-six  guests.  First  you  would  see 
Wichern,  from  Hamburgh,  with  his  tall  commanding 
figure,  and  his  fine,  mild,  but  decided  and  energetic  coun- 
tenance, while  his  deep  bass  is  always  heard  pervading  all 
other  voices.  Then  (usually  sitting  next  him)  Bernays, 
from  Bonn,  forms  the  strangest  possible  contrast,  with  his 
small  quicksilver  %u?e,  and  bl^ck-bearded,  restjes,g,  cleyer 
*  As  Lady  Frances  Sandon. 

VOL.  IT.  L 


140         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BL'NSEN. 

face.  Then  Lieber,  from  America,  with  his  fixed,  melan- 
choly, sentimental  look,  joining  nevertheless  in  conversa- 
tion with  great  zest  and  interest,  always  mixing  in  strange 
outlandish  compliments.  Next  to  him  "VVaagen,  with  his 
inexhaustible  fund  of  good  humour  and  anecdote,  always 
for  the  benefit  of  everyone  within  reach  of  listening.  Then 
Gerhard,  with  his  benevolent  expression,  ready  either  for 
serious  or  learned  talk,  or  for  any  joke  or  fun  that  may 
be  going  on;  and  his  wife,  with  her  never-failing,  mild 
cheerfulness  and  interest  in  everything,  without  any  fuss 
or  fidgetting,  thus  giving  only  pleasure  and  no  trouble  in 
daily  intercourse.  These  are  the  inmates  of  the  house,  to 
which  you  must  suppose  in  addition  a  regular  supply  of 
unexpected  guests  drop  in  at  every  meal.  Yesterday, 
Pastor  Krummacher  came  with  two  daughters  to  make  a 
call; — and  while  we  detained  his  daughters  here,  he  joined 
Wichern  and  several  others  to  inspect  some  ragged  schools. 
They  returned  about  eight  o'clock,  when  the  home  set 
were  just  ready  to  rise  from  table,  so  room  could  be 
made  for  the  five  who  entered.  First,  Wichern;  then 
Cramer,  from  Lyons  (whom  we  much  liked),  who  married 
Elizabeth  Sieveking ;  Krummacher  ;  Le  Grand,  brother  of 
the  friend  of  Oberlin ;  and  a  Mr.  Harriot,  of  Basle,  a  kincf 
of  missionary  going  about  all  Germany,  and  seeming  more 
of  a  German  than  an  Englishman. 

"On  Saturday  evening,  when  Count  Albert  Pourtales 
was  here,  and  Frances  wishing  to  divert  the  course  of 
conversation,  endeavoured  to  lead  AVaagen  to  relate  a 
celebrated  story  of  his.  "Waagen  was  deeply  engaged  in 
conversation  with  one  of  the  five  professors  from  Berlin, 
and  thus  she  found  it  necessary  to  repeat  the  call  in  rather 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  147 

a  louder  tone,  '  Herr  Professor ! '  whereupon  five  figures 
instantly  started  up  with  a  bow,  responsive  to  the  appeal, 
which  each  supposed  intended  for  himself !  " 

Amongst  the  guests  of  the  summer  of  1851,  whose 
visits  (not  alluded  to  in  her  letters)  should  be  especially 
mentioned  as  having  given  pleasure  to  Madame  Bunsen, 
are  the  sculptors  Hauch  and  Kaulbach,  peculiarly  in- 
teresting to  Bunsen  as  both  belonging  to  his  own 
native  principality  of  Waldeck.  It  is  remembered  that 
during  his  visit,  Hauch  was  affected  to  tears  by  the 
sight  of  the  Greek  medals  in  the  British  Museum,  as 
seeing  then  for  the  first  time  the  perfect  work  of  a  great 
Greek  artist.  He  had  never  seen  the  medals  at  Berlin, 
though  he  was  already  celebrated  there  as  the  sculptor 
of  the  most  beautiful  modern  statue  in  the  world,  the 
figure  of  Queen  Louisa  on  her  tomb  at  Charlottenberg. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEX. 

"  21  Sept.,  1851. — The  past  season  in  London  has  been 
one  of  much  exertion  to  us,  but  we  never  had  a  greater 
return  for  our  trouble  in  social  pleasure  than  this  year — 
having  met  a  number  of  old  friends  and  acquaintance,  and 
made  some  interesting  new  ones.  The  visit  of  Schnorr 
was  a  greater  satisfaction  than  it  is  easy  to  express — our 
friendship  with  him  began  when  we  were  young  in  Rome, 
and  his  memory  is  full  of  the  images  of  a  time  now  in  the 
blue  distance,  which  I  love  to  dwell  upon :  and  he  is  grown 
old  without  losing  any  of  the  qualities  which  commanded 
our  esteem  and  regard.  How  happy  we  were  to  see 


148         LIFE   AND  _LETTERS   OF    BAKO^ESS    BUNSEN. 

Kestner,  and  how  happy  lie  was  in  England,  I  leave  you 
to  guess." 

To  lier  DATJGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  Blaise  Castle,  4  Sept.,  1851. — You  cannot  imagine  a 
more  delightful  day  than  we  had  on  Tuesday,  driving  to 
Barley  Wood.  The  way  there  and  back  is  wonderfully 
beautiful.  Erom  the  exquisite  valley  of  the  Avon  we 
ascended  a  IVasserscheide,  from  the  other  side  of  which  we 
gained  a  sight  of  the  Mendip  Hills — a  beautiful  range,  and 
the  exquisitely  rich  and  varied  expanse  of  country,  ending 
with  "Weston-super-Mare  on  the  shore  of  the  channel, 
which  is  marked  in  the  distance  by  isolated  eminences,  the 
actual  sea  being  rarely  visible.  The  flower-garden  at 
Barley  "Wood,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  cottage  is 
decorated  with  choice  climbing  plants,  is  a  pattern  for 
imitation :  all  the  common  and  easily  managed  plants 
growing  in  the  greatest  variety  and  perfection,  in  a  small 
space  thickly  covered.  We  sat  out  on  the  grass  under  a 
tree  planted  by  Mrs.  Hannah  More  herself." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  22  Nov.,  1851. — Your  Father  goes  on  actively  and 
happily  with  his  writings,  and  so  the  whole  house  is 
cheerful  and  busy,  and  life  glides  on  like  a  stream  with 
the  sun  upon  it.  Altogether  I  look  back  upon  the  past 
year  with  great  thankfulness,  on  account  of  the  course  of 
happy  activity  in  which  he  has  lived.  I  wrote  to  him  on 
his  birthday  what  was  most  true,  that  life  always  lies 
lightly  on  my  shoulders,  when  I  have  neither  the  con- 
sciQusness  nor  the  apprehension  of  his  being  annoyed  and 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  149 

dissatisfied  with,  people  or  tilings,  and  so  it  is  more  or  less 
with,  all  the  household.  He  is  in  full  enjoyment  of  the  art 
of  telling  a  piece  of  his  mind  to  the  public :  and  pouring 
forth,  by  degrees  the  result  of  the  favourite  studies  of  his 
life." 

"  2  Jan.,  1852. — On  the  last  evening  of  1851,  Ernest 
walked  to  us  by  half -past  eleven,  sang  to  us  '  He  shall 
feed  his  flock,'  and  joined  in  the  choral,  '  Gottlob !  ein 
Schritt  zur  Ewigheit,' — and  when  the  clock  of  Westminster 
Abbey  had  struck  twelve,  led  'Nun  danket  alle  Gott.'  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER  FRANCES. 

"  Windsor  Castle,  15  Jan.,  1852. — Here  I  sit,  in  a  curious 
condition  of  stillness  and  isolation,  having  returned,  after 
breakfast,  to  my  beautiful  bedroom,  that  having  more  light 
than  the  adjoining  sitting-room — and  the  weather  being 
wind,  rain,  and  dulness.  Your  Father  is  just  come  back 
from  a  snug  breakfast  and  conversation  with  Stockmar, 
having  since  seen  Lord  Granville — he,  your  Father,  having 
been  up  and  writing  since  half -past  five  o'clock.  I  helped 
him  to  feel  about  in  the  dark  after  a  match,  which  was  not 
there,  but  his  good  intentions  were  aided  by  the  fire  in  his 
dressing-room  having  kept  in  all  night,  and  thus  he  was 
enabled  to  light  his  candle.  One  must  make  an  N.  B*  that 
when  one  visits  queens,  they  give  one  everything  but 
matches.  I  was  once  in  the  extreme  of  distress  for  one  at 
Queen  Adelaide's. 

"  We  have  the  same  agreeable  apartments  as  last  winter, 
on  a  level  with  the  corridor,  and  therefore  not  putting  my 
deficient  order  of  location — or  whatever  you  call  the 
faculty  of  finding  one's  way,  to  the  test.  The  party  at 


150         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BA11OKESS    BUNSEN. 

dinner  were  Lord  and  Lady  Derby,  Lord  and  Lady  Gran- 
ville,  and  Sir  Charles  and  Lady  Mary  Wood.  Lady  Canning, 
who  is  in  waiting,  was  most  amiable  and  conversible ;  she 
is  a  thoroughly  harmonious  person,  and  her  tone  of  voice 
seems  sweeter  than  ever.  Charming  was  the  music  during 
dinner ;  the  first  thing  being  the  Midsummer  Night's  Dream, 
exquisitely  played.  In  the  evening  Sainton  played  finely 
on  the  violin,  with  accompaniment.  The  Queen  spoke  so 
long  to  each  person  after  dinner  that  the  standing  period 
was  unusually  protracted,  and  the  sitting-down  circle  was 
very  short,  although  we  did  not  move  to  bed  till  half -past 
eleven.  When  the  Queen  sat  down,  I  was  bidden  to  sit 
at  the  other  corner  of  her  sofa ;  she  spoke  about  the 
German  emigrants  shipwrecked  on  the  Isle  of  Wight  when 
she  was  at  Osborne,  to  whom  I  knew  that  she  had  shewn 
much  kindness." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  22  Jan. — I  was  indescribably  refreshed  by  those  days 
at  Windsor,  when  I  walked  in  the  park  nacli  Herzensliist." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  20  Jan.,  1852. — I  hoped  to  have  written  from  Windsor 
Castle,  but  I  had  less  time  there  than  I  expected,  owing  to 
the  beauty  of  the  weather,  which  I  most  thoroughly 
enjoyed,  in  rambling  about  the  Home  Park — and  I  cannot 
say  what  good  the  country  air  has  done  me. 

"  We  met  at  Windsor  many  remarkable  people,  and  the 
time  was  as  remarkable,  so  critical  in  the  state  of  the 
world !  The  Queen  was  most  kind  and  amiable,  and  it  is 
always  a  pleasure  to  me  to  see  her  and  know  about  the 


IN   THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  151 

spirit  and  activity  and  sense  of  duty  that  pervades  her  day. 
Lady  Canning  was  as  pleasing  as  ever,  and  as  conversible. 
The  theatrical  representation  amused  me  much,  as  far  as 
the  first  piece  was  concerned,  called  '  Not  a  bad  Judge,' 
but  the  farce  which  followed  did  Mr.  Kean's  judgment  no 
credit." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  10  June,  1852. — You  will  be  glad  to  hear,  that  though 
still  having  enough  to  do,  we  can  now  confine  ourselves  more 
to  what  we  please,  and  what  amuses  us,  than  before.  And 
much  amused  we  are,  at  the  German  play,  where  last  night 
we  saw  Comedies,  capitally  acted — and  how  we  did  laugh ! 
The  night  before  we  were  at  the  Opera,  a  box  having  been 
given  to  Frances.  To-night  your  Father  and  I  see  'Egmont,' 
having  been  cheated  of  half  the  first  night  by  the  Duchess 
of  Gloucester's  invitation.  To-morrow  your  Father  and 
I  dine  with  the  Dowager  Duchess  of  Beaufort,  which  you 
.  know  we  like,  and  I  am  doubly  glad  of  the  invitation, 
because  it  shows  that  the  Duchess,  though  she  reads  the 
'  Eecord,'  has  not  given  your  Father  up  as  an  Infidel !  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"17  August,  1852. — We  have  spent  three  delightful 
hours  at  Trentham.  The  scene  was  such  as  one  has 
fancied  in  reading  poetry  or  fairy-tales,  and  never  expected 
to  see  realised :  all  seeming  an  Italian  villa,  but  with  a 
xgrand  completeness  of  decoration  which  an  Italian  villa 
never  yet  had,  because  it  could  not  have  English  hands  to 
dress  it,  the  command  of  the  beauties  of  vegetation  from 
all  parts  of  the  temperate  zones,  and  the  advantages  of 


152         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEN. 

English  climate.  And  for  all  this  we  had  a  sun  as 
glowing  as  if  in  Italy,  the  effect  varied  by  exquisite 
shadows  of  floating  clouds.  I  did  not  expect  so  much 
natural  beauty  in  the  place — the  fine  bank  of  wood,  the 
lake  appearing  natural,  the  beautiful  trees,  the  river  Trent. 
Among  the  pictures  I  was  glad  to  see  Sir  Beville  Granville, 
the  Duke's  and  my  common  ancestor,  a  very  fine  portrait, 
• — and  to  trace  a  resemblance  to  my  dearest  mother  in 
the  portrait  of  Mary.  Lady  Granville." 

To  her  YOUNGEST  DAUGHTER  MATILDA. 

"  Windsor  Castle,  13  Jan.,  1853. — I  have  just  been 
indulging  myself  with  a  walk  in  the  Park,  returning  by 
the  slopes,  which  are  gravel-walks  on  the  steep  declivity  of 
the  hill,  turf  and  evergreens  at  the  sides,  and  a  prospect 
of  avenues  of  high  trees  below  standing  in  a  lake,  which 
in  summer  would  be  a  meadow.  At  a  distance  I  saw  the 
Queen  and  Prince  Albert  and  various  groups  of  the  Royal 
Family  enjoying  themselves  like  myself,  in  the  fresh 
breeze  and  sunshine.  I  brought  back  some  sprigs  of  ever- 
green to  my  cheerful  warm  room  in  the  Lancaster  Tower, 

proposing  to  draw  them I  do  wish  my  children 

would  believe  me,  how  well  worth  while  it  is  to  acquire  the 
dexterity  of  hand  and  accuracy  of  perception  requisite  for 
drawing,  in  those  early  years  when  they  have  leisure,  and 
also  capability,  as  far  as  strength  of  body  and  of  eyes 
goes.  The  power  of  drawing  has  been  such  a  source  of 
pleasure  to  me  through  life,  such  a  refreshment,  such  a 
diversion  of  thought  from  care  or  anxiety — that  I  wish  I 
could  persuade  those  I  love  to  provide  themselves  there- 
with, as  a  help  on  life's  journey I  hope  you  take 


IN    THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  153 

pains  with  your  reading  aloud Will  you  try,  my 

own  child,  to  perfect  and  polish  yourself? — 'Let  our 
daughters  be  as  the  polished  corners  of  the  temple,'  is  a 
verse  of  a  Psalm  that  always  gives  me  an  image  equally 
just  and  pleasing.  The  corners  of  the  temple  are  of  good 
firm  stone  or  marble  ;  the  firmer  the  substance,  the  finer  is 
the  polish  they  bear :  but  the  polish  which  renders  them 
beautiful  to  look  upon,  lessens  nothing  of  their  power  of 
supporting  the  edifice,  and  connecting  its  parts  into  a  solid 
structure.  'Whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  are 
lovely,  and  of  good  report,  wherein  there  is  virtue,  wherein 
there  is  praise — think  on  these  things,  and  do  these  things.' 
These  words  of  the  wisest  of  the  Apostles,  are  worthy  to  be 
ever  thought  upon,  and  acted  upon." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  Carlton  Terrace,  5  May,  1853. — I  have  just  come  from 
church,  at  St.  James's,  which  I  never  saw  so  empty  before ; 
— the  exact  church-goers  were  I  suppose  at  Lambeth, 
witnessing  Dr.  Jackson's  consecration,  and  the  inexact  were 
most  likely  in  bed,  after  the  Duchess  of  Norfolk's  ball ! 
Yesterday  evening  we  enjoyed  the  quiet  of  home;  Mrs. 
Wilson*  came,  and  sang  to  us  exquisitely  a  number  of 
good  things,  mostly  national  melodies. 

"  This  morning  I  was  so  glad  to  wake  soon  after  five, 
and  to  see  the  most  glorious  morning,  and  sky  clear  as 
crystal,  not  a  chimney  smoking,  and  the  club-buildings 
standing  out  in  that  grand  solid  reality  of  colour  and  light 
.and  shadow,  with  which  objects  in  Italy  present  them- 
selves. An  hour  later,  and  the  enchantment  was  gone." 
*  Daughter  of  Dr.  Sumner,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 


151         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


"  9  May,  1853.— There  is  a  whole  world  of  things  to  tell, 
if  I  can  but  write  them  :  first,  that  we,  in  this  house,  have 
made  tables  move,  by  fingers  lightly  applied,  and  will 
strongly  enforcing.  We  went  to  the  Archbishop's  to 
dinner — and  there  did  I  hear  from  himself,  that  he  had 
been  strongly  disposed  to  believe  it  all  a  trick,  but  had 
become  convinced,  the  day  before,  that  the  matter  was  a 
reality,  unexplained.  Sir  Robert  Inglis  had  come  to  the 
same  result. 

"  Yesterday,  Sunday,  we  were  turned  upside  down  by 
your  Father's  determination  to  go  and  hear  Mr.  Maurice 
preach  at  Lincoln's  Inn — so  we  drove  to  Lincoln's  Inn 
Chapel,  and  I  was  glad  to  see  the  building,  and  hear  good 
chanting,  and  above  all,  that  real  praying  of  the  service, 
which  one  scarcely  ever  hears,  but  from  Mr.  Maurice  and 
Archdeacon  Hare.  But  as  to  the  sermon,  I  can  give  no 
account  of  it.  I  heard  so  little,  that  I  only  made  out  the 
dashing  at  a  difficult  problem,  without  perceiving  the 
solution  :  there  may  have  been  such,  though  it  is  too  like 
Mr.  Maurice  to  start  difficulties,  which  he  leaves  one  to  get 
out  of  as  one  can." 

To  her  SON  THEODORE. 

"  St.  Leonards-on-Sea,  23  May,  1853. — On  Saturday  we 
drove  from  hence  to  Hurstmonceaux,  and  spent  the  day 
with  Archdeacon  Hare,  whose  late  severe  illness  has 

brought  him  into  old  age Most  refreshing  it  was 

to  renew  the  old  impression  of  the  unique  rectory,  with  its 
books,  and  classic  works  of  art,  and  conservatory,  and 
garden,  and  the  exquisite  freshness  of  spring  all  around. 
Time  did  not  allow  of  our  visiting  the  park  and  the 


IN    THE    TURMOIL   OF    LIFE.  155 

churchyard,  but  many  a  scene  associated  with,  a  piece  of 
our  lives  from  1842  to  1844,  was  viewed  and  feasted  on." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  Stoke,  2  August,  1853. — It  would  be  hard  to  express 
how  I  enjoy  being  here,  under  rny  Mary's  roof,  and  taken 

care  of  by  her  in  so  many  winning  ways Yesterday 

evening,  at  Blaise  Castle,  Dr.  Whewell  was  asked  to 
explain  and  comment  upon  the  structure  of  Cologne 
Cathedral,  having  before  him  the  book  of  immense 
engravings  of  it.  I  was  glad  to  hear  him  do  justice  to 
the  grand  idea,  out  of  which  every  part  had  grown,  not  as 
an  excrescence,  but  as  a  natural  or  necessary  result,  and 
he  pointed  out  the  superior  construction  of  the  spiral 
towers,  as  distinguished  from  the  plan  too  common  in 
English  churches,  of  setting  a  cone  upon  a  square  tower — 
whereas  the  Cologne  spires,  like  a  plant,  grow  and 
develope  gradually  into  a  form  different  from  that  which 
started  from  the  ground.  I  do  not  repeat  this  as  having 
been  new  to  me,  but  what  he  said  of  the  seven  chapels 
behind  the  chancel  naturally  resulting  from  the  necessity 
of  massive  buttresses  to  support  the  immense  height  of  the 
vaulted  roof  of  the  chancel,  was  as  new  as  it  was  satis- 
factory to  me." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-iSr-LAw  ELIZABETH. 

"30  Sept.,  1853.— May  you  be  tolerably  well  in  health 
on  your  birthday,  and  may  all  rays  of  cheerfulness  con- 
verge in  it,  to  make  you  rejoice  together  with  all  those 
who  rejoice  in  the  beginning  of  an  added  year  to  your 
life !  and  wish  and  pray  for  your  preservation,  and  for 


156         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BA110NESS    BUNSEN. 

every  blessing  to  support  and  cheer  you  on  your  way. 
You  have  passed  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  in  the  last  year !  and  deep  is  the  thankfulness  of 
all  that  love  you  to  be  allowed  to  see  you  so  like  yourself 
again.  May  the  experience  of  the  possibility  of  being 
saved,  preserved,  restored,  brought  back  from  the  very 
gates  of  death,  operate  to  steel  your  mind  against  appre- 
hension !  to  make  you  so  feel  that  all  things  are  possible  to 
Him  in  whose  hands  we  are,  as  to  be  relieved  from  the 
flutter  of  anxiety.  I  well  know  that  I  used  to  be  as  a 
blade  of  grass,  ever  in  fear  of  the  future,  till  after  I  had 
gone  through  what  I  call  my  year  of  trial,  when  my  child 
died,  and  my  husband  was  at  death's  door ;  but  the  experi- 
ence of  support  taught  me  to  feel  (as  Patrick  expresses  it) 
that  I  had  '  the  everlasting  arms  under  me,  the  wisdom  of 
Heaven  to  direct  and  guide  me,  and  the  infinite  treasures 
of  goodness  to  supply  all  my  necessities.'  ....  On  this 
anniversary  I  thank  God,  as  I  have  ever  done  for  the 
inestimable  gift  of  such  a  daughter,  and  I  thank  you  from 
my  heart  of  hearts  for  the  truly  filial  affection  you  have 
ever  shown  me." 

The  winter  of  1853-54  was  spent  by  Emilia  Bunsen 
at  Paris,  with  her  fellow- sufferer  and  ever-kind  friend 
the  Princess  of  Wied.*  Here  both  wonderfully  re- 
covered their  health  through  the  marvellously  success- 

*  The  Princess  of  Wied  frequently  mentioned  in  these  memoirs,  a 
greatly  honoured  and  beloved  friend  of  the  Bunsen  family,  is  Marie, 
wife  of  Hermann,  Prince  of  Wied;  daughter  of  William,  Duke  of 
Nassau ;  sister  of  Adolphe  late  Duke  of  Nassau  and  of  the  Duchess  of 
Oldenbourg ;  and  half-sister  of  the  Princess  of  Waldeck,  of  Prince 
Nicholas  of  Nassau,  and  of  the  Queen  of  Sweden. 


IN    THE   TURMOIL    OP    LIFE.  157 

ful  treatment  of  Count  Szapary.  How  great  the  trial 
of  their  beloved  daughter's  sufferings  from  childhood 
had  been  to  them,  her  parents  scarcely  knew,  till  father 
and  mother  alike  burst  into  tears  on  receiving  the  news 
that  she  had  been  enabled  to  stand  on  her  feet — though 
at  first  only  for  a  moment. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

11  27  Dec.,  1853. — How  I  have  delighted  to  think  of  you, 
arranging  a  tree  and  a  picture,  and  a  school  and  a  hymn, 
and  the  pastorale  after  the  home  fashion !  I  have  had 
great  pleasure  at  home  in  the  sight  of  Elizabeth's  baby 
and  Moritz,  who  were  delightful!  The  other  children 
were  happy,  but  in  a  less  demonstrative  manner.  The 
darling  baby  gazed  at  the  lights,  and  crowed  in  wonder, 
and  smiled  tranquilly  when  anybody  spoke  to  her.  Ernest 
and  George  had  built  up  a  magnificent  pyramid  of  green, 
hung  with  lights,  against  which  the  usual  picture  leaned, 
in  the  midst  of  the  long  drawing-room. 

"  Count  Albert  Pourtales  is  here,  having  arrived  yester- 
day, and  the  Baroness  Langen  is  here  too,  for  a  day,  in  her 
way  northwards  from  Dover.  We  are  all  in  spirits  that 
matters  have  been  made  up,  so  that  Lord  Palinerston 
remains  in,  for  the  weakening  of  the  Ministry  would  not 
do  in  these  dangerous  days.  My  own  Mary,  I  say  nothing 
about  Mim's  letter — you  and  I  know  what  both  feel  of 
thankfulness  and  hope,  while  we  preach  to  our  own 
hearts  resignation,  if  the  event  at  last  should  not  be 
what  sanguine  Fancy  will  persist  to  image  forth !  And 
then,  we  have  felt  together  about  Charles's  appointment, 
and  his  having  now,  for  the  fiist  time,  attained  a  real 


158        LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

standing.  What  Christmas-gifts  of  Providence  have  not 
these  been ! — and  are  not  we  ever  more  bidden  and  urged 
to  hope  in  patience  for  the  fulfilment  of  wishes  about  other 
dear  ones  ?  " 

To  ABEKEN. 

"London,  30  Dec.,  1853. — I  need  not  expatiate  upon 
what  we  feel,  and  have  felt,  about  Radowitz — in  whom  the 
spirit  seems  still  to  have  brightened  more  and  more,  'unto 
the  perfect  day.'  When  I  think  of  him  now,  relieved  from 
the  tortures  of  martyrdom,  and  the  body's  corruption, 
enjojdng  the  dawn  of  life  eternal — I  am  continually 
reminded  of  a  passage  in  the  works  of  Newton  (not  the 
philosopher,  but  the  Christian  teacher),  in  which  he 
observes,  that  the  astonishment  of  the  disembodied  spirit 
will  be  threefold — first,  to  find  many  admitted  among  the 
blessed  whom,  when  in  life,  it  would  not  have  supposed 
worthy :  secondly,  to  remark  the  absence  of  many,  whose 
salvation  in  life  it  had  considered  secure :  thirdly,  to  find 
itself  admitted." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MATILDA. 

"  6  Feb.,  1854. — Dear  Uncle  Bernard  died  on  the  30th 
January.  Up  to  a  fortnight  before  his  death  he  had  con- 
tinued to  perform  service  in  the  church,  though  with  great 
difficulty.  You  will  enter  with  the  sad  feeling  of  behold- 
ing the  departure  of  the  last  but  one  of  my  dearest 
Mother's  generation,  and  so  kind  and  amiable  a  person  as 
Uncle  Bernard  was.  It  is  a  great  comfort  to  know  that  his 
thoughts  were  ever  drawn  more  heavenward,  and  he  re- 
ceived the  Lord's  Supper  with  -great  clearness  of  mind  on 
the  day  before  hie  death.  His  is  not  the  only  death  which 


IN   THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  159 

has  lately  much  affected  ine.  My  excellent  cousin  Mrs. 
Shirley,  the  widow  of  the  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man,  died 
on  the  10th  January  after  a  few  days'  severe  illness.  She 
had  led  a  life  of  fitting  preparation  for  its  end,  in  love  to 
God  and  man,  incessantly  occupied  in  doing  good  to  all 
whom  her  efforts  could  reach,  in  body  and  soul." 

To  her  GRANDDAUGHTER  LlLLA  BlINSEN. 

"  13  Feb.,  1854.— I  had  fine  weather  at  Windsor,  where 
I  had  a  nice  walk  in  the  park  between  11  and  12,  and 
got  Grandpapa  to  go  with  me,  as  far  as  the  place  where 
the  Queen's  dogs  live.  There  is  a  pretty  cottage  with  a 
garden,  where  a  nice  Highland  woman  lives,  with  her  five 
children  ;  and  she  let  us  in  to  pass  through  a  succession  of 
yards,  where  the  different  dogs  were  put  either  together 
or  separate,  according  as  they  liked  each  other's  company. 
There  were  beautiful  dogs  of  all  kinds,  but  the  curiosities 
were,  a  pug  all  black,  which  I  thought  handsomer  than  the 
common  ones,  just  as,  if  I  must  see  a  Negro,  I  would  rather 
that  he  was  quite  black  than  only  dingy.  Then  there  was 
a  Chinese  dog  with  a  sky-blue  tongue,  and  his  coat  all 
chocolate  brown,  from  nose  to  tail,  and  to  the  very  ends  of 
his  paws — with  a  droll,  sly  countenance  : — and  a  Cashmere 
dog,  as  big  as  a  young  lion,  and  with  just  such  legs  and 
paws — very  goodnatured  to  those  he  knows,  but  terrible  to 
meet  as  an  enemy : — also  an  Esquimaux  dog,  who  was  one 
bush  of  hair,  with  sly  fox-eyes  and  sharp  nose  peeping 
out — who  must  find  himself  much  too  warm  in  this  country. 
The  dogs  were  pleased  to  be  noticed,  and  I  should  have 
liked  to  have  sate  down  amongst  them,  and  tried  to  draw 
them — the  places  were  as  sweet  and  clean  as  your  chicken- 


160         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

yards — but  I  had  to  come  away  directly,  that  I  might  drive 
with  Grandpapa,  and  we  had  a  beautiful  drive — twice 
crossing  the  Thames,  and  going  a  circuit  all  round  the 
castle,  in  one  of  the  Queen's  carriages. 

"I  wish  my  account  of  the  dogs  may  amuse  Lilla  and 
Lisa,  but  I  should  have  liked  best  to  have  had  them  with 
me,  to  see  what  I  saw  that  evening  between,  5  and  6 
o'clock,  when  we  followed  the  Queen  and  Prince  Albert  a 
long  way,  through  one  large  room  after  another,  till  we 
came  to  one  where  a  red  curtain  was  let  down,  and  we  all 
sate  in  the  dark,  till  the  curtain  was  drawn  aside,  and  the 
Princess  Alice,  who  had  been  dressed  to  represent  Spring, 
recited  some  verses,  taken  from  Thomson's  Seasons,  enu- 
merating the  flowers  which  the  Spring  scatters  around — 
and  she  did  it  very  well,  spoke  in  a  distinct  and  pleasing 
manner,  with  excellent  modulation,  and  a  tone  of  voice 
like  that  of  the  Queen.  Then  the  curtain  was  drawn, 
and  the  whole  scene  changed,  and  the  Princess  Royal 
represented  Summer)  with  Prince  Arthur  lying  upon  some 
sheaves,  as  if  tired  with  the  heat  and  harvest-work :  the 
Princess  Royal  also  recited  verses.  Then  again  there  was 
a  change,  and  Prince  Alfred,  with  a  crown  of  vine-leaves 
and  a  panther's  skin,  represented  Autumn,  and  recited  also 
verses,  and  looked  very  well.  Then  there  was  a  change  to 
a  Winter-landscape,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  represented 
Winter,  with  a  white  beard  and  a  cloak  with  icicles  or 
snow-flakes  (or  what  looked  like  such),  and  the  Princess 
Louise  warmly  clothed,  who  seemed  watching  the  fire: 
and  the  Prince  also  recited  well,  a  passage  altered  from 
Thomson,  which  Grandmamma  used  to  know  by  heart, 
Then  another  change  was  made,  and  all  the  Seasons  were 


IN   THE    TURMOIL    OF    LIFE.  161 

grouped  together,  and  far  behind,  on  high,  appeared  the 
Princess  Helena,  with  a  long  veil  hanging  on  each  side 
down  to  her  feet,  and  a  long  cross  in  her  hand,  pronouncing 
a  blessing  upon  the  Queen  and  Prince,  in  the  name  of  all 
the  Seasons.  These  verses  were  composed  for  the  occasion. 
/  understood  them  to  say  that  St.  Helena,  remembering 
her  own  British  extraction,  came  to  utter  a  blessing  on  the 
rulers  of  her  country — and  I  think  it  must  have  been  so 
intended,  because  Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantino  the 
first  Christian  Emperor,  was  said  to  have  discovered  the 
remains  of  the  cross  on  which  our  Saviour  was  crucified — 
and  so  when  she  is  painted,  she  always  has  a  cross  in  her 
hand.  But  Grandpapa  understood  that  it  was  meant  for 
Britannia  blessing  the  Koyal  Pair. — At  any  rate,  the 
Princess  Helena  looked  very  charming.  This  was  the 
close ;  but  the  Queen  ordered  the  curtain  to  be  again 
drawn  back,  and  we  saw  the  whole  Eoyal  Family,  and 
they  were  helped  to  jump  down  from  their  raised  plat- 
form, and  then  all  came  into  the  light,  and  we  saw  them 
well :  and  the  Baby  Prince  Leopold  was  brought  in  by 
his  nurse,  and  looked  at  us  all  with  big  eyes,  and  wanted 
to  go  to  his  papa,  Prince  Albert.  At  the  dinner-table, 
the  Princesses  Helena  and  Louise  and  Prince  Arthur  were 
allowed  to  come  in,  and  to  stand  by  their  mamma,  the 
Queen,  as  it  was  a  festival  day.  I  think  it  is  the 
Princess  Louise  who  is  the  same  age  as  Lilla.  In  the 
evening  there  was  very  fine  music  in  St.  George's  Hall, 
and  the  Princess  Eoyal,  and  Princess  Alice,  and  the  Prince 
of  Wales  and  Prince  Alfred,  were  allowed  to  stop  up  to 
hear  it,  sitting  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  chairs  where  sat 
the  Queen  and  Prince  Albert  and  the  Duchess  of  Kent." 
VOL.  li.  M 


162         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"11  Feb.,  1854.— What  can  I  say  about  your  letter  of 
to-day  ?  The  same  Divine  Power  that  restored  cripples 
and  renewed  body  and  mind,  in  the  days  when  our  Lord 
was  on  earth,  is  still  at  work,  and  works  for  your  restora- 
tion :  and  if  you  figure  to  yourself  the  feelings  of  those 
whom  the  Lord's  own  hand  uplifted  and  strengthened — 
the  awe,  the  devotion  which  must  have  been  called  forth, 
to  subdue  the  tumult  of  joy — I  think  it  will  help  to  calm 
you. 

"Again  and  again,  God  be  thanked!  and  abundant  be 
the  blessing  which  the  Princess  (of  Wied)  calls  down  upon 
her  own  head,  by  all  she  does,  and  all  she  feels,  for  you ! 
All  thanks,  and  all  the  gratitude  that  prompts  them,  are 
too  poor  to  offer:  but  God  will  make  her  the  return. 
Nothing  good  is  ever  lost,  or  turns  out  empty — but  it  is 
seldom  granted  to  those  who  receive,  to  have  power  and 
opportunity  to  make  return,  except  in  love  and  prayer." 

"23  Feb.,  1854. — I  seem  struck  dumb,  and  waiting  for 
power  of  utterance.  I  had  thought  we  should  have  had 
long  to  feast  upon  the  fact  of  your  walking  from  one  room 
to  another !  Your  doing  more,  and  walking  downstairs, 
and  up  again,  and  getting  into  the  carriage  yourself,  I  had 
not  contemplated  as  a  possibility,  it  seems  such  a  vast  pro- 
gress beyond  the  first  step.  My  own  precious  child !  I 
wish,  as  I  have  often  done  in  life,  to  be  equal  to  the  great- 
ness of  the  moment,  to  feel  the  whole  bounty  of  God's 
Providence  in  its  full  extent,  to  expand  my  heart  and  mind 
to  take  it  all  in,  to  steel  myself  to  bear  it  without  being  over- 
set :  and  I  am  brought  again  to  reflect  on  the  narrowness  of 
our  present  capabilities,  and  to  conjecture  that  the  happi- 


IN   THE    TURMOIL   OF    LIFE.  163 

ness  of  a  higher  state  of  being  will  be  in  a  great  measure 
the  power  of  taking  in  what  God  will  give  ! 

'  Ich.  offne  meinen  Mund  und  sinke 
Hin  zu  dci  Quelle,  dass  ich.  trinke  ! ' 

utters  something  of  the  longing  that  I  would  indicate." 

To  ABEKEX. 

"15  March,  1854. — Alas!  the  news  of  Kestner's  death  is 
arrived.  That  faithful  friend  is  gone  before  :  the  third 
life  of  value  to  me  that  has  closed  since  this  year  began. 
I  have  ever  been  thankful,  and  am  now  more  than  ever,  for 
the  happy  meeting  that  we  had  with  him  in  the  Exhibition* 
year:  he  was  as  animated  and  affectionate  as  ever,  and 
entered  with  the  same  spirit  as  in  any  other  part  of  his  life 
he  could  have  done,  into  the  pleasure  of  everything  we 
could  show  him.  We  all  tried  to  persuade  him  to  shorten 
his  visit  to  his  relations,  and  come  again  to  us  last  year — 
but  we  were  not  to  meet  again,  here.  Thankful  we  must 
all  be,  that  he  did  not  outlive  eyesight  or  power  of  bodily 
activity — that  his  last  sufferings  were  short  and  unex- 
pected, and  his  mind  clear  to  the  last. 

"  Pray  do  not  use,  or  misuse,  the  phrase  '  auf  Gottes  Hiilfe 
trauen ' — when  the  lives  of  the  instruments  and  supporters 
of  a  system  of  iniquity  are  in  question.  God's  Providence 
can  long  tolerate  iniquity — but  I  can  only  trust  in  God's 
protection  for  such  of  the  powers  that  be  as  are  his 
instruments  for  good,  and  not  his  scourges  for  evil." 

"31  March,  1854.— Yesterday  Ernest  and  Elizabeth 
dined  with  us,  and  so  did  Dr.  Bekker,  and  Mr.  Benedict, 
and  Signer  Lacaita,  whose  first  lecture,  on  Italian  lite- 
rature, Theodora  and  your  Father  had  heard  in  the  after- 


164        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

noon.  "When  Theodora  returned,  she  and  I  went  to  the 
House  of  Lords  to  hear  Lord  Clarendon's  speech  on  the 
declaration  of  war,  and  we  staid  long  enough  for  Lord 
Derby's  on  the  same  subject,  and  were  much  interested  by 
both,  and  the  first  thing  that  took  place  was  a  suggestion 
by  Lord  Eoden  that  a  day  should  be  set  apart  for  prayer 
and  supplication  on  occasion  of  the  awful  announcement  of 
war,  which  was  assented  to  with  acclamation, — Lord 
Aberdeen  declaring  the  intention  of  the  Ministers  to  advise 
the  Queen  to  that  effect.  I  think  indeed  there  is  every- 
where a  very  becoming  consciousness  of  the  awfulness  of 
this  crisis!" 


CHAPTER  IT. 

HEIDELBERG. 

"  Era  gia  Tora  che  volge  il  disia 
Ai  naviganti  e  intenerisce  il  core, 
Lo  di'  ch1  han  detto  a  dolci  amici  addio." 

— Dante. 

TN  the  beginning  of  April,  1854,  Bunsen  tendered  his 
resignation  of  his  post  in  England,  and  two  months 
later  received  his  recall.  In  giving  up  the  position  of 
honour  and  labour  which  he  had  occupied,  his  first 
intention  was  to  remain  in  England,  and  to  take  a 
house  in  the  Regent's  Park  near  his  son  Ernest,  de- 
voting the  rest  of  his  life  to  his  family  and  to  literary 
research.  But  after  considerations  induced  him  to 
rescind  this  decision,  and  to  turn  his  thoughts  towards 
Germany — to  Germany,  but  not  to  Prussia,  where  he 
might  have  been  unable  to  avoid  being  drawn  once 
more  into  the  whirlpool  of  politics.  Of  German  towns 
out  of  Prussia,  Heidelberg,  with  its  beautiful  scener}^ 
its  university  society,  and  its  fine  public  library,  offered 
the  greatest  advantages,  and  there  Professor  Carl 
Meyer,  already  the  faithful  friend  of  half  a  lifetime,* 
*  Carl  Friedrich  Meyer,  poet  and  linguist,  from  his  heart-qualities 


166         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

found  for  the  Bunsens  the  beautiful  villa  of  Char- 
lottenberg,  on  the  bank  of  the  Neckar  opposite  the 
castle,  which  was  the  happy  home  of  the  next  five 
years. 

Before  the  Bunsens  left  England,  an  unavoidable 
sale  dispersed  most  of  the  works  of  art  and  a  great 
part  of  the  fine  library  at  Carlton  Terrace,  though  it 
cost  a  severe  pang  to  part  from  many  of  these  silent 
witnesses  of  past  happy  days.  At  this  time  also  a 
division  of  many  family  treasures  as  legacies  took  place 
— the  less  unwelcome,  because  the  occasion  was  not 
death.  While  the  house  was  being  dismantled,  Bunsen 
visited  his  ever-kind  friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wagner  at 
St.  Leonard' s-on-Sea,  to  whose  hospitable  home  he  had 
frequently  retired  during  his  residence  in  England  for 
weeks  either  of  rest  or  quiet  work. 

It  was  a  severe  trial  to  Bunsen  to  go  out  of  such  a 
centre  of  activity — social,  political,  and  intellectual — 
as  London  had  become  to  him,  into  the  still  waters  of 
Heidelberg.  But  for  Madame  Bunsen,  the  death  of  her 
mother  had  broken  the  strongest  tie  which  bound  her  to 
England,  and  though  it  was  a  severe  wrench  to  leave  the 
country  which  contained  the  homes  of  her  sons  Henry 
and  Ernest  and  of  her  beloved  daughter  Mary,  even 

cne  of  the  most  valued  and  faithful  friends  of  the  Bunsen  family.  He 
left  Eome  with  the  Bunsens,  and  accompanied  them  to  Germany.  He 
was  for  some  time  private  German  secretary  and  librarian  to  Prince 
Albert :  after  which  he  remained  in  retirement  at  Heidelberg,  during 
the  residence  of  the  Bunsens  in  that  town.  He  now  (1878)  lives  at  Berlin 
as  Legations  Eath.  and  attached  to  the  Court. 


HEIDELBERG.  167 


this  triple  separation  was  compensated  by  the  relief 
from  the  cares  which  had  oppressed  her  for  many 
years.  In  the  changed  circumstances  of  her  life  she 
received  affection  and  sympathy  and  cordial  offers  of 
hospitality,  even  where  she  would  not  have  looked  for 
them :  but  chiefly  was  she  animated,  not  depressed, 
by  the  voices  within  her  own  home — "  Oh,"  she  wrote 
at  this  time,  "  how  good  all  my  children  are,  I  can  feel, 
but  cannot  express — encouraging  instead  of  unnerving 
their  parents." 

On  the  10th  of  June,  Madame  Bunsen  left  England 
with  her  unmarried  daughters,  and  a  week  later  Bunsen 
followed  with  his  son  George.  All  were  alike  delighted 
with  their  new  home  of  Charlottenberg,  the  last  of  the 
many  houses  which  line  the  north  bank  of  the  Neckar 
at  the  foot  of  the  wooded  or  vine- clad  hill  opposite 
Heidelberg,  and  which  look  across  the  water  to  the  hill- 
cresting  castle,  and  the  town,  and  the  long  bridge 
with  its  many  arches. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  Jur  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MAKY-LOUISA. 

"High  Wood,  24  April,  1854.— I  must  write  to  you  the 
first  thing  this  morning,  from  the  peace  of  this  friendly 

shelter Your  Father  was  up  at  6  o'clock  yesterday 

morning  and  at  5  this  morning — lighting  his  fire  and 
working  at  his  writings.  He  has  been  most  cheerful  and 
amiable,  meeting  the  crisis  as  he  should,  willingly,  thank- 
fully, but  quite  conscious  that  it  is  a  strong  wrench  that 
drags  him  out  of  so  large  a  part  of  the  habits  of  life.  .  .  . 
I  feel  the  whole  of  this  matter  to  be  an  answer  to  prayer, 


168         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

and  wonder  in  every  respect  at  the  providential  arrange- 
ments to  lighten  care  in  so  many  quarters,  that  indeed  our 
faith  must  be  very  feeble,  if  it  cannot  keep  up  in  the  hope 
of  being  helped  through  everything.  In  Abeken's  Lecture 
on  Religious  Life  in  Islam,  I  find  that  the  Moslems  in 
returning  thanks  for  any  gift,  do  so,  not  directly  to  the 
giver,  but  to  God — '  I  thank  God  for  thy  goodness  to  me ' 
— a  beautiful  example!  which  accords  with  my  feeling 
towards  the  Princess  of  Wied,  and  towards  Lady  Baffles.'* 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  HALL. 

"27  April,  1854. — I  have  put  off  writing  to  you  all 
these  days,  till  I  had  anything  to  tell,  except  that  we  were 
enjoying  quiet  and  the  sight  of  spring  vegetation.  Now  I 
can  communicate  that  we  received  yesterday  the  telegraphic 
announcement  of  the  acceptance  by  the  King  of  my  hus- 
band's resignation  of  his  post,  to  which  Count  Bernstorff 
(now  Minister  at  Naples)  is  appointed.  The  official  account 
of  all  this  cannot  arrive  till  next  week,  and  therefore  as  yet 
this  is  what  is  called  a  secret ! — the  Morning  Herald  having 
known  it  two  days  ago,  I  suppose  by  means  of  an  '  own 
correspondent"*  at  Berlin.  "We  shall  therefore  soon  go  to 
town,  to  break  up  our  household,  pay  bills,  and  pack  up 
our  belongings,  putting  them  together  in  as  small  a  com- 
pass as  we  can,  until  we  have  found  a  future  dwelling- 
place  to  which  to  remove  them.  I  feel  so  relieved  in  the 
being  spared  the  labour  of  the  season,  which  every  year 
has  become  more  irksome  to  me,  that  I  think  little  of  the 
approaching  annoyance  of  pulling  down  and  picking  to 
pieces  the  whole  fabric  of  household  comfort  that  we  have 
been  trying  to  arrange  and  keep  up  all  these  years !  and 


HE  ID ELBE KG.  169 


of  the  succeeding  annoyance  of  having  to  re-arrange  such 
materials  as  are  our  own  property,  in  some  yet  unknown 
and  much-restricted  locality.  In  the  fact  of  our  retreat 
from  a  public  position,  I  have  the  most  entire  satisfaction : 
for  many  a  year  I  have  wished,  but  never  saw  the  least 
opening  for  a  hope,  that  we  might  be  allowed  to  pass  the 
latter  years  of  life  in  quiet :  and  now  the  outlet  has  been 
granted,  in  the  mode  least  anticipated,  but  not  the  less 
thankfully  accepted.  I  shall  always  think  with  pleasure  of 
the  kind  letter  you  wrote,  and  the  kind  expressions  used 
by  Sir  Benjamin,  offering  us  to  come  to  Llanover  for  a 
time  unlimited !  but  the  greater  nearness  of  High  Wood 
to  London  gives  it  an  advantage  over  every  other  place,  of 
the  many  that  have  been  kindly  offered  to  us  on  this  occa- 
sion. My  husband's  own  occupations  (to  which  he  has 
returned  with  a  zest  and  activity  that  does  one's  heart 
good  to  see)  bind  him  to  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
London,  that  he  may  bo  within  reach  of  his  books." 

To  ABEKEX. 

"London,  2  May,  1854. — I  have  an  immense  piece  of  work 
to  do,  in  breaking  up  this  home  of  years,  and  long  to  have 
it  done,  and  thus  to  have  finished  with  the  only  bitter  part 
of  the  present  change — for  the  fact  of  the  change  to  private 
and  independent  life,  in  circumstances  kotvevcr  restricted,  is 
hailed  by  me  with  thankfulness,  and  has  long  been  matter 
of  desire  and  o&prayer.  I  might  have  wished  my  husband's 
breaking  off  from  public  life  could  have  been  brought  about 
in  a  manner  more  mild,  more  handsome,  more  friendly : 
but  as  it  is,  all  is  well,  because  he  bears  with  equanimity 
the  method  used  to  get  rid  of  him." 


170         LIFK    AND    LKTTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

To  MRS.  LANE  (daughter  of  Bishop  Sandford). 

"  30  May,  1854. — At  last,  after  two  months'  waiting,  my 
husband  has  received  the  official  acceptance  of  his  resigna- 
tion, which  acceptance  was  announced  by  telegraph  the 
last  week  in  April,  and  so  now  he  has  been  able  to  apply 
lor  his  audience  of  leave,  which  the  Queen  will  probably 
soon  grant,  and  then  I  believe  we  shall  embark  on  the 
steamer  to  proceed  towards  Heidelberg,  where  we  intend 
for  the  present  to  set  up  our  staff. 

"I  am  resolved  to  keep  off  all  solemn  leave-takings,  for 
I  cannot  feel  as  if  I  was  going  for  more  than  a  pleasant 
visit  to  a  beautiful  country,  where  I  am  to  live  in  quiet 
with  husband  and  children,  without  having  anything  more 
to  do  with  social  relations  than  inclination  may  prompt.  It 
is  matter  of  most  thankful  satisfaction  to  me,  to  have 
broken  for  good  from  diplomatic  representation :  and  the 
hard  matter  of  having  the  sea  between  me  and  three 
families  of  my  children,  besides  numbers  of  valued  friends, 
is  what  I  try  not  to  think  of." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MAIIY. 

"  10  June,  1854. — Having  packed  and  breakfasted,  and 
having  no  further  duty  to  perform  until  called  to  get  into 
the  carriage  on  the  way  to  the  steamer,  I  can  write  a  line, 
my  own  precious  Mary — though  I  shall  try  to  say  nothing 
to  overset  you  or  myself.  I  have  kept  up  well  in  an  uncon- 
sciousness of  leave-taking,  hard  to  explain,  except  from 
the  full  satisfaction  that  our  present  plan  is  the  right  thing 
and  best  thing  we  can  do — and  that  we  have  a  prospect  of 
well-being  and  comfort  in  life,  such  as  in  our  late  (so-called) 
brilliant  position  was  unattainable.  You  know,  as  few 


IIKIDKUIERG.  171 


people  do,  that  any  cheerfulness  I  may  have  shown  for 
twelve  years  past,  was  putting  a  good  face  upon  care,  and 
heavy  and  distracting  care :  and  you  will  believe,  as  few 
people  do,  how  earnestly  and  constantly  I  have  prayed  to 
be  shown  a  way  out.  I  did  not  wish  that  the  way  out  of 
our  position  should  have  been  also  a  way  out  of  England : 
but  then  various  wishes  may  be  incompatible,  and  those  I 
love  will  I  trust  come  and  see  me  beyond  sea :  and  as  we 
go,  we  may  be  bidden  to  return,  if  it  is  best  for  us." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY-LOUISA. 

"  Steamer  between  Mainz  and  Mannheim,  1 4  June,  1854. — 
How  often  have  my  thoughts  been  with  you  in  these  two 
delightful  days  of  the  most  luxurious  locomotion — when, 
sitting  in  my  own  very  easy  chair  under  an  awning  on 
deck,  I  have  enjoyed  the  air  all  day  long,  and  basked  in 
the  long  daylight.  The  sort  of  life  is  like  a  dream,  and 
the  length  of  da3's,  beginning  at  three  in  the  morning, 
sets  all  measurement  of  time  at  defiance.  I  could  fancy 
that  each  day  had  been  about  three  days,  since  I  last 
saw  you.  The  beautiful  part  of  the  banks  of  the  Ehine, 
from  Coblentz  to  Bin  gen,  never  was  so  beautiful  be- 
fore, in  my  experience — gilded  by  the  brightest  sun- 
shine, and  clothed  in  the  vegetation  of  spring,  for  every- 
thing has  as  yet  its  first  tenderness  and  richness  and 
variety,  not  having  passed  even  into  the  uniform  bottle- 
green  of  summer.  The  young  corn,  the  vineyards — it  is 
not  to  be  said  what  a  beautiful  variety  there  is  now,  in  the 
colouring  which  I  have  ever  complained  of  as  dingy  and 
uniform  on  the  slate-rocks  of  the  Ehine. 

"  On   the   journey   I  have   been   reading   the   Life   of 


172        -LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Jacqueline  Pascal,  and  I  know  nothing  more  edifying 
than  the  state  of  mind  of  those  Port-Royalists,  both  as 
to  the  reality  of  religion  which  they  attained,  and  the 
awful  aberrations  from  right  and  just  views  of  God  and 
Christ,  which  resulted  from  the  human  pride  of  those  who 
thought  they  had  renounced  all  things,  and  the  selfishness 
which  nattered  itself  in  supposed  perfection  of  self-denial. 
Many  of  their  maxims  remind  me  of  the  '  Theologia 
Germanica,'  while  their  practice  was  founded  on  the 
heathen-principle  of  fear,  the  crouching  of  the  slave  before 
the  scourge. 

"  Soon  we  hope  to  reach  Heidelberg  and  see  more 
clearly  than  now  upon  the  weighty  subject  of  our  future 
dwelling." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA  (who  was  at  Monrepos,  wth  the 
Princess  of  Wied). 

"  Heidelberg  19  June,  1854. — We  feel  more  and  more  at 
home  and  delighted  to  be  at  home,  in  Charlottenberg. 
How  we  did  enjoy  our  quiet,  luxurious  Sunday  yesterday  ! 
"We  breakfasted  a  little  before  eight,  had  a  delightful  and 
easy  walk  to  the  Heiligen  Geist  Kirche,  heard  a  very  satis- 
factory sermon  from  the  Stadt-Pfarrer  Plitt,  in  explanation 
of  the  Gospel  of  the  day,  and  were  much  pleased  with  the 
hymns  and  singing,  and  the  prayers — in  short,  rejoiced  to 
find  a  parish  church  to  go  to  regularly.  Rothe  *  goes  to  the 
same  :  he  scarcely  ever  preaches  now  himself.  Next  Sun- 
day they  celebrate  here  the  Reformations-f est,  it  being  the 
anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  the  Confession  of  Augsburg. 

*  Once  Chaplain  at  the  German  Protestant  Chapel  at  Home,  and  at 
this  time  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Heidelberg. 


HEIDELBERG.  173 


I  am  so  pleased  that  we  arrive  just  in  time  for  that  celebra- 
tion :  it  gives  one  the  consciousness  of  being  among  christi- 
anos  viejos,  which  I  care  about  as  much  as  the  Spaniards, 
though  in  another  sense.  I  am  glad  to  find  that  the  Protest- 
ants here  belong  to  the  Union,  having  adopted  it  in  1817  by 
the  wish  of  the  congregations  themselves,  whom  the  Govern- 
ment luckily  did  not  attempt  to  influence  in  any  way.  In 
the  afternoon  we  took  no  distant  walk,  because  the  clouds 
threatened  and  failed  not  to  keep  promise  in  a  storm  of 
thunder,  rain,  and  wind  from  the  west :  before  and  after 
which  we  went  up  the  well-constructed  garden  walks, 
resting  in  seats  at  all  the  turns,  to  enjoy  one  exquisite 
prospect  or  another.  But  in  the  house,  sitting  with  open 
windows,  air  and  river  and  prospect  everywhere,  one  has 
pleasure  enough  without  going  out. 

"  Good  Meyer  comes  to  us  daily,  some  time  or  other,  and 
is  always  ready  to  take  us  to  the  beautiful  spots  that  we 
long  to  see  :  but  we  have  not  been  to  the  castle  yet,  and 
have  virtuously  done  business  elsewhere.  Dear  Theodora 
settles  and  arranges,  and  imbibes  delight  on  all  sides." 

To  her  DAUGHTER- IX-IAW  MARY-LOUISA. 

"Heidelberg,  23  July,  1854. — I  am  sitting  in  my  bed- 
room in  our  new  home,  near  a  window  towards  the  east, 
whence  a  delicious  fresh  wind  is  blowing  down  the  Neckar. 
To-day  I  was  awake  at  four,  but  did  not  get  your  Father 
off  for  his  morning's  walk  till  near  five,  and  then  we  had  a 
most  delightful  ramble  up  a  dell,  which  opens  into  the  hills, 
opposite  the  castle :  the  road  winding  so  gradually  that 
the  ascent  was  never  difficult,  and  we  were  surprised  when 
wo  found  ourselves  above  the  castle  level,  from  whence  wo 


174         LIFE    AXD    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

descended  through,  the  vineyard  and  wood-walk  belonging 
to  this  house,  and  were  at  home  by  half -past  seven.  I  am 
most  thankful  to  find  my  walking  capabilities  so  great  and 
to  be  able  to  enjoy  the  morning-coolness  in  this  manner. 
Most  luxurious  too  is  it  after  dark  to  go  out  of  the  drawing 
room  upon  the  gravel- walk,  smell  the  orange -flowers,  and 
see  the  glory  of  the  stars. 

"Frances  is  incomparable  in  her  household-activity. 
What  I  should  do  without  her  I  cannot  guess :  for  the 
transplanting  into  a  new  soil  detects  the  age  of  the  plant, 
which  finds  it  not  easy  to  get  beyond  vegetating — but  does 
that  effectually." 

To  ABEKEX. 

"Heidelberg,  4  August,  1854. — I  have  rejoiced  to  have  a 
welcome  from  you  into  Germany,  but  am  sorry  not  to  have 
your  sympathy  in  my  own  joy  and  thankfulness  in  being 
freed  from  a  life  of  racking  cares  and  unceasing  and 
irksome  labour,  on  which  I  struggled  to  put  the  best  face 
I  could,  and  to  make  the  most,  as  far  as  powers  and 
strength  would  last,  while  always  expecting  them  to  fail  I 
But  it  has  pleased  God  mercifully  to  preserve  my  health 
till  I  could  enter  upon  a  position  in  which  peace  and  happi- 
ness, and  the  spending  of  time  and  strength  according  to 
taste  and  inclination,  are  possible. 

"  You  know  something  of  the  labour  and  trouble  of 
breaking  up  our  Roman  household,  and  yet  that  was  a  joke 
to  the  mass  of  business  attending  the  sudden  crash  after 
twelve  years  in  Carlton  Terrace,  and  I  was  besides  six- 
teen years  younger  and  stronger  on  the  former  occasion. 
Since  then,  we  have  had  to  shrink  into  a  small  dwelling- 


HEIDELBERG.  175 


place  after  being  used  to  spread  over  a  large  one ;  to 
get  tlie  still  large  remainder  of  our  possessions  unpacked 
and  placed ;  and  to  contrive  the  arrangements  of  a  smaller 
household  with  new  and  unpractised  hands,  few  in 
number. 

"  As  to  seeing  Heidelberg,  wo  enjoy  the  sight  of  castle 
and  river  from  the  windows  and  from  the  gardens,  and 
that  is  so  great  an  enjoyment  that  we  can  well  wait  for 
leisure  to  make  occasional  excursions.  I  have  not  yet  half 
seen  the  castle-gardens,  and  have  not  ascended  the  summit 
of  any  one  of  the  heights,  although,  in  the  very  hot 
weather  between  the  8th  and  20th  July,  my  husband  and  I 
have  often  between  five  o'clock  and  seven  in  the  morning 
explored  the  steep  wood-paths  that  extend  beyond  and 
above  the  extremity  of  the  vine-terraces  above  our  house. 
How  merry  and  happy  he  has  been  here,  I  hope  his  own 
letter  will  tell  you !  I  can  bear  witness  to  his  cheerfulness 
and  improved  state  of  health.  It  has  been  a  great  plea- 
sure to  us  to  have  Usedom  here  for  three  days,  and  Pour- 
tales  for  one  day." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  14  Sept.,  1854. — You  will  feel  with  me  what  a  weight 
the  feeble  health  of  Theodore  is  on  my  mind :  and  you 
will  pray  with  me,  for  us  all,  that  '  our  faith  fail  not  '— 
that  we  not  only  say,  but  do,  as  the  Scripture  says — '  I 
have  waited  for  the  Lord,  until  He  have  mercy  upon  me ! ' 
— and  not  only  wait,  but  believe  steadily,  that  all  is  for  the 
ultimate  good  of  such  as  turn  not  the  grace  of  God  to  evil 
results  upon  their  minds.  For  us  in  particular,  how  inex- 
cusable were  want  of  faith  !  when  we  liavo  so  often  been 


176        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

helped  out  of  accumulation  of  distress — not  the  less  real, 
or  the  less  hard  to  bear,  because  circumstances  enabled  and 
compelled  the  putting  on  a  mask  of  external  composure. 
When  my  own  Mary  came  to  see  us  that  last  time  in 
Carlton  Terrace,  just  the  beginning  of  Passion  Week,  what 
a  mass  of  difficulties  there  were  to  be  unravelled !  and 
yet  now  we  look  back  upon  them,  as  those  landed  on  a 
pleasant  shore  look  back  at  the  rough  waves  they  were 
lately  toiling  over.  So  much  less  than  all  we  have,  would 
have  been  matter  for  deep  thankfulness,  that  I  am  struck 
dumb  by  the  multiplicity  of  blessings  and  desirable  cir- 
cumstances that  are  heaped  up  on  all  sides. 

"I  always  hoped  that  your  Father  would  get  reconciled 
to  a  change  of  position,  much  worse  to  him  than  to  me : 
but  I  had  not  ventured  to  hope  that  he  would  be  as  happy 
as  he  is  here,  entering  into  the  fulness  of  delight  in  leisure 
and  peace,  and  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the  country,  and 
peculiar  recommendations  of  our  precise  situation.  My 
own  Mary !  how  I  do  want  to  have  you  here !  and  John, 
and  the  children  !  and  I  want  John  to  bring  all  possible 
paints,  and  to  draw  and  colour  after  these  exquisite  scenes. 
For  almost  four  weeks  we  have  been  enjoying  an  Italian 
sky !  and  of  late  the  air  has  been  so  cool  and  invigorating 
that  taking  exercise  is  only  a  pleasure  and  no  fatigue. 
This  morning  I  looked  out  before  the  sun  had  peeped  over 
the  hill, — it  was  not  yet  six,  and  I  roused  your  Father  to 
determine  upon  having  a  good  walk  at  once,  instead  of 
standing  at  his  desk  to  write  all  day.  He  sent  to  Pro- 
fessor Dietrich  (who  was  with  us  all  last  winter)  and  to 
Theodore,  and  by  a  little  after  seven  we  set  out,  and  came 
back  by  half-past  nine  to  breakfast.  I  wish  I  could  give 


HEIDELHKJK;.  177 


you  an  idea  how  beautiful  our   walk  was — up  the  hill, 
through  wood- walks,  with  sight  of  river,  valley,  castle ! 

"  We  have  enjoyed  having  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare  here, 
with  Miss  Leycester  and  Augustus." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY-LOUISA. 

"19  Sept.,  1854. — Emilia  is  here!  and  I  actually  see 
her  walk  about,  firm  and  upright,  enjoying  a  walk  for 
exercise.  I  cannot  get  over  the  strange  novelty.  She  is 
the  same  Emilia,  and  yet  with  such  a  wonderful  difference. 
This  morning  at  eight  I  went  with  your  Eather  to  walk  before 
breakfast,  and  who  should  we  find  in  the  gardens  before  us 
but — Emilia  !  She  was  greeted  by  rain,  but  yesterday  the 
whole  splendour  of  Heidelberg  returned,  and  this  is  one  of 
those  days  in  which  I  long  to  sing  one  of  Ernest's  songs — 
the  longing  of  a  young  girl  to  get  out  into  the  fields,  pro- 
testing that  she  cannot  sit  still  and  spin.  I  must  have  a 
walk  with  Theodore  before  the  hour  at  which  it  is  possible 
for  Theodora  to  arrive  from  Zurich,  after  her  happy  tour 
with  the  Gurney's." 

To  ABEKEX. 

"  Heidelberg ',  27  Dec.,  1854. — The  year  must  not  close 
without  my  writing  my  own  personal  assurance  of  faithful 
affection.  The  cheering  and  soothing  impressions  of  a 
three  days'  renewal  of  intercourse  lately,  are  ever  fresh 
with  us.  We  have  passed  a  quiet  and  cheerful  Christmas 
time  with  our  comparatively  small  home-party,  which  yet 
is  larger  than  when  you  saw  it,  through  the  presence  of 
Theodore,  and  the  return  of  Matilda :  grandchildren  we  had 
none  present,  but  some  children  of  poor  neighbours  were 
invited,  that  wo  might  not  have  a  Christmas  Tree  with- 

VOL.   II.  N 


178         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

out  children  to  see  it!  Tlie  season  is  wonderfully  mild, 
and  though  storms  have  been  frequent,  and  snowfalls 
occasional,  the  winter  cannot  yet  resolve  to  bo  in  good 
earnest,  and  many  bright  hours  are  granted,  particularly 
at  the  time  of  sunset,  which  I  never  saw  finer  anywhere 
than  at  the  outlet  of  our  valley,  looking  over  the  church- 
spires  and  the  bridge. 

"  My  husband  never  was  in  better  spirits  or  greater 
activity  of  head-labour — but  I  cannot  even  begin  an  ex- 
planation of  all  he  is  doing  and  planning.  He  lately 
received  the  Life  of  Sydney  Smith,  as  a  gift  from  his 
daughter,  the  wife  of  Sir  Henry  Holland,  and  the  book 
has  infinitely  entertained  and  interested  me,  treating  as  it 
does  of  people  whose  names,  and  in  many  cases  persons, 
were  well  known  to  me  in  younger  years.  But  a  work 
that  engages  other  feelings,  and  stronger  interests,  is 
*  Trois  Sermons  sur  Louis  XV. — par  Bungener.'  The 
title  does  not  lead  you  to  guess  what  you  find — an  his- 
torical novel  bringing  the  characters  of  the  time  before 
you,  but  scrupulously  founded  on  facts  relating  to  the  per- 
secution of  the  Protestants  during  the  last  period  in  which 
it  was  still  matter  of  law  and  government  in  France.  The 
work  is  of  deep  and  painful  interest.  Louis  Philippe 
inscribed  his  clever  collection  at  Versailles,  '  a  toutes  les 
gloires  de  la  France ' — but  neither  the  French  nor  other 
nations  would  have  been  apt,  till  recently,  to  reckon  among 
those  t  gloires '  a  number  of  martyrs,  such  as  any  country 
might  be  proud  of  !  " 

The  chief  event  of  the  happy  autumn  of  1854,  in 
which  Madame  Bunsen  never  ceased  to  "  thank  God 
for  having  made  a  path  out  of  diplomatic  life,"  was 


HEIDELBERG.  179 


the  engagement  of  her  beloved  son  George  to  Miss 
Emma  Birkbeck,  to  whom  he  was  married  on  the 
21st  of  December,  1854. 

MADAME  BUNSEX  to  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"22  Dec.,  1854. — Yesterday  we  celebrated  George's 
wedding-day,  as  best  we  could.  Meyer  dined  with  us,  and 
we  drank  healths:  and  then  Frances  after  dinner  sum- 
moned the  two  Miss  Mohls  and  H.  v.  Gagern,  and  H. 
v.  Sternberg,  to  help  in  charades  which  were  very  success- 
ful. The  first,  Hoch-zeit,  closed  with  a  procession  singing 
verses  composed  by  Meyer  for  the  occasion,  which,  after 
walking  round  and  round  till  the  verses  were  finished, 
ended  with  dancing  a  grand  rond,  to  the  tune  of  the 
Grandpere  dance — the  procession  headed  by  Frances  and 
Theodore  as  Grandpapa  and  Grandmamma,  talking  of  their 
wedding  fifty  years  ago." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IX-LAW  EMMA. 

"29  Dec.,  1854. — I  enjoy  dwelling  on  the  idea  of  your 
absorption  in  each  other's  company.  I  have  never  doubted 
your  finding  in  each  other  what  each  has  wished  and 
wanted  and  anticipated :  but  without  such  doubt,  it  was 
a  rare  satisfaction  to  receive  from  each  the  assurance  of 
being  '  intensely  happy.'  I  like  to  suppose  you  both  '  voll 
Muth  und  Ahndung ' — in  the  full  sense  of  those  beautif u 
words  of  Goethe,  which  I  remember  thinking  of  and 
using  myself,  when  in  the  first  consciousness  of  a  new 
double  existence,  in  which  my  own  individuality  was  to  be 
merged  in  another  without  losing  itself,  and  by  communi- 
cation, to  seek  completeness.  It  might  seem  strange  to 


180         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

look  upon  '  Mutli  and  Ahndung '  otherwise  than  as  things 
of  course  in  youthful  years  :  but  they  were  sensations  most 
unusual  with  me  in  mine,  and  I  think  that  you,  who  have 
known  sorrow  and  trial,  as  I  had,  may  very  likely  under- 
stand as  well  as  I  did,  the  difficulty  of  looking  forward 
without  shrinking.  The  experience  of  life  has  taught  me 
since,  that  with  a  due  foundation  in  life  to  rest  upon,  its 
cares  and  trials  may  unflinchingly  be  met,  and  its  storms 
may  bend  without  breaking. 

1 1  We  passed  Christmas  Eve  quietly,  with  our  reduced 
family  numbers,  only  with  the  addition  of  our  friend 
Meyer,  and  Erau  Heydweiller  the  mistress  of  the  house 
we  inhabit,  and  a  young  Englishman  with  his  tutor, 
whom  we  invited  as  being  strangers  here,  that  they  might 
not  be  solitary  on  the  especially  social  evening :  and  not 
having  any  grandchildren  at  hand,  we  invited  some  chil- 
dren of  our  washerwoman  and  of  another  poor  neighbour, 
to  see  our  tree  covered  with  lights,  under  which  was  placed 
a  picture  representing  the  Infant  Saviour  and  his  mother 
— an  addition  to  the  German  tree  at  Christmas  which  has 
always  been  customary  in  our  house  for  the  sake  of  a 
visible  memorial  to  the  children  of  '  Him  who  brought 
good  gifts  unto  men,'  at  the  time  when  gifts  are  bestowed 
upon  themselves;  the  beautiful  image  of  our  Saviour's 
childhood  should  not  be  lost  in  the  Christian  mind,  because 
the  Romanists  have  profaned  it  into  Heathenism  !  " 

1  o  Miss  CHARLOTTE  WILLIAMS  WYNN.* 

"31  Dec.,  1854. — The  retrospect  of  this  year  is  to  me 
almost  overpowering,  from  the  infinity  of  causes  of  thank- 

*  Charlotte,  eldest  daughter  of  tne  Rt.  Hon.  Charles  Williams 
Wynn,  now  well  known  from  lir-r  delightful  letters. 


HEIDELBERG.  181 


fulness  as  far  as  I  and  mine  are  concerned — that  is, 
because  God  has  in  so  many  ways  '  dealt  with  me  after 
my  own  heart's  desire  ! '  When  the  ways  of  Providence 
are  not  with  us  as  we  wish,  we  are  too  apt  to  forget  that 
the  mercy  may  not  be  the  less  certain  for  being  unpala- 
table !  " 

To   MADEMOISELLE   ANNA    VERNET    (sister    of   Madame    de 

Stael). 

"  8  Jan.,  1855. — At  the  year's  beginning  and  end,  one  is 
peculiarly  moved  to  count  up  one's  treasures  near  and  far, 
and  wish  to  waft  wishes  and  kind  thoughts  to  many  a 
far-removed  locality — the  wandering  contemplations  ever 
finding  rest  in  the  consciousness  of  meeting  in  the  chorus 
of  prayer  and  praise  with  hearts  allied,  before  the  throne 
of  grace ;  and  thus  I  believe  my  spirit  has  met  yours,  in 
this  peculiarly  solemn  period,  when,  alas !  grief  and  anxiety 
are  the  portion  of  so  many,  and  I  am  spared  grief,  except 
in  sympathy  for  others." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  25  Jan.,  1855. — I  often  think  of  her  who  *  departed  not 
from  the  temple,  fasting  and  praying  night  and  day,'  and 
of  the  perpetual  church-going  of  those  whose  religion  con- 
sists in  practices :  and  can  understand  the  satisfaction  there 
must  be  in  continual  reiteration  of  forms  of  prayer  and 
supplication  in  m  hallowed  spots,  if  only  one  did  not  know 
better  than  to  believe  one  shall  be  more  '  heard  for  much 
speaking.'  But  our  comfort  is — '  selbst  Tempel,  Buch,  und 
Altar  sein :'  and  that  every  time,  every  place,  will  serve 
for  an  intensely-felt  aspiration  and  ejaculation — for  indeed 


182         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEX. 

there  is  no  other  comfort  under  the  consciousness  of  what 
the  best  and  bravest  are  undergoing."  * 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  28  Jan.,  1855.— We  have  all  lost  a  most  kind  friend. 
Archdeacon  Hare  breathed  his  last  on  Tuesday  last,  the 
23rd.  Ho  had  been  very  ill  in  December,  but  was  sup- 
posed to  be  mending Alas!  what  a  mass  of 

images  and  recollections  relating  to  Hurstmonceaux  are  by 
his  death  marked  off  as  belonging  to  the  remote,  the  past, 
to  what  has  no  more  to  do  with  our  present  every-day  life  ! 
How  glad  I  am  that  you  and  Theodore  visited  the  Rectory 
in  1852,  and  that  I  was  there  myself  in  the  spring  of  1853  : 
thus  we  refreshed  our  impressions  of  the  place  that  we 
shall  not  see  again,  and  after  three  months  shall  not  think  of 
again,  except  as  desecrated  by  the  occupation  of  strangers, 
and  by  the  removal  of  all  that  marked  it  as  the  dear  Arch- 
deacon's own — -the  residence  of  taste  and  literature  and 
intelligence,  of  love  to  God  and  man  !  I  trust  the  invalu- 
able library  will  not  be  scattered,  but  retained  somewhere 
as  a  whole,  and  as  a  monument  of  the  mind  of  him  who 
collected  it :  and  I  shall  long  to  know  what  becomes  of  all 
the  pictures." 

To  her  DAUGHTER,  MAHT. 

"Heidelberg,  15  Feb.,  1855. — Your  Father  goes  on  won- 
derfully— not  the  slightest  cold,  and  his  Ijabitual  asthma 
keeping  within  moderate  bounds :  standing  at  his  desk, 
working  with  head  and  hand  all  day,  never  seeming  to  be 
dull — though  lie  but  rarely  has  anybody  to  converse  with, 
*  In  the  Crimean  -war. 


HEIDELBEKG.  183 


for  in  snow  and  ice  it  is  not  wonderful  that  people  do  not 
often  come  half  a  mile  into  the  country,  and  as  he  does  not 
and  will  not  go  out  and  make  visits,  except  by  great  excep- 
tion, it  is  only  by  exception  that  he  receives  them.  With 
some  difficulty  I  get  him  out  into  the  garden,  having  the 
gravel- walk  swept ;  and  thus  there  are  few  days  that 
we  do  not  get  a  walk,  or  two — indispensable  for  keeping 
one's  feet  warm." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY-LOUISA. 

"Heidelberg,  8  March,  1855. — The  winter  here  is  indeed 
a  Belagerungs-zustand.  It  cuts  seven  months  out  of  the 
year  for  all  purposes  of  enjoyment  and  exercise,  and  one 
lives  in  a  state  of  struggle  with  the  elements,  wondering 
that  one  is  not  ill  and  expecting  to  be  so.  We  are  already 
delighting  ourselves  with  the  dream  of  spending  next 
winter  in  Italy,  always  with  certain  indispensable  ifs.  .  .  . 
My  eyes  were  rejoiced  by  gifts  of  flowering  bulbs  on 
my  birthday,  a  pleasure  far  greater  than  you  luxurious 
people  can  guess,  who  never  break  off  entirely  your 
acquaintance  with  flowers  and  verdure,  having  always 
evergreens  to  look  at.  Now,  on  the  most  sheltered  side  of 
our  terrace,  one  holly  contrives  to  live,  and  one  Weymouth 
pine,  and  some  yew  and  box,  but  their  branches  turn  so 
yellow  in  the  cold,  that  one  pities  them  as  expatriated — ins 
Elcnd  getrielen. 

"Papa  is  and  has  been  doing  wonders  in  the  way  of 
work,  and  often  has  the  spirit  moved  him  to  rise  before 
four  on  the  winter-mornings,  lighting  his  own  stove !  " 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  HALL. 

"Hei(le11>frg,  12  Jfarch,   1855. — Between  one  long  resi- 


184         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    IHJSSEN. 

dence  in  Italy  and  another  in  England,  we  have  been  spoilt, 
and  do  not  know  how  to  accept  the  fact  of  having  seven 
months  out  of  the  twelve  reduced  to  an  absolute  struggle 
with  the  elements,  and  despoiled  of  all  charm  for  all  or 
any  of  the  senses.  My  husband  comforts  himself  with  the 
determination  to  go  somewhere  south  in  October  next,  and 
not  come  back  till  the  season  is  humanized  and  civilized." 

To  ABEKEX. 

"  Ueidellerg,  \  May,  1855. — We  have  had  continued 
winter,  with  the  exception  of  Passion  Week,  which  was 
mild  and  calm  as  though  it  had  been  in  Borne.  But  these 
early  gleams  of  brighter  times,  in  northerly  regions,  are 
out  of  character,  and  give  but  half  pleasure,  there  being 
neither  flowers  nor  evergreens  to  meet  the  sun's  rays,  and 
keep  the  blue  sky  in  countenance.  Our  thoughts  aro 
strongly  bent  towards  the  south  for  next  winter. 

"  Several  friends  have  announced  themselves  as  pro- 
jecting a  journey  hitherwards — and  so,  all  at  once,  before 
the  chill  of  winter  is  gone,  we  have  rolled  over  into  the 
habits  and  feelings  of  the  fine  season  and  the  long  days, 
with  a  new  sense  of  relief  and  liberty,  in  being  so  placed 
that  we  may  enjoy  all  that  we  feel  to  be  enjoyable,  with- 
out any  obligation  to  spend  time  and  strength  in  what  wo 
dislike. 

"My  birthday  was  a  truly  happy  one.  A  great  plan 
had  long  been  in  preparation,  of  which  I  was  to  know 
nothing,  for  its  celebration,  and  I  did  in  fact  know  no 
more,  but  that  something  was  in  agitation,  which  I  scrupu- 
lously ignored,  and  so  was  surprised  by  the  performance  of 
the  Precicuses  of  Moliero,  and  a  little  French  Provcrbo 


HEIDELBERG.  185 


besides,  ushered  in  by  a  Prologue  composed  by  Meyer 
and  recited  by  himself  and  ni}^  three  daughters,  and  closed 
by  a  Dm  Buffo,  sung  by  Meyer  and  Sternberg." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY-LOUISA. 

"23  Nay,  1855. — I  wish  I  could  give  you  an  idea  how 
beautiful  the  spring-scene  is  by  which  we  are  surrounded, 
and  how  we  take  in  the  delight  of  it  hourly  :  which  is  yet 
enhanced  to  me  by  the  comparison  made  with  times  past, 
when  I  look  at  a  Galignani-newspaper,  and  see  the  account 
of  the  Queen's  balls  and  concerts  and  drawing-rooms — 
and  give  a  gasp  (which  the  unknowing  might  take  for  a 
sigh)  signifying  a  consciousness  of  unutterable  relief,  that 
I  have  not  to  dress  and  appear  at  them. 

"I  have  three  times  this  morning  however  told  myself 
to  get  a  folio  quire  of  paper,  and  put  it  ready  in  a  con- 
venient place  for  writing  down  the  names  of  the  people 
we  see :  I  wish  we  had  done  so  from  the  first,  the  number 
is  so  remarkable,  and  so  are  many  of  the  names." 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  HALL. 

"Heidelberg,  27  June,  1855. — Theodora  is  engaged  to 
the  Baron  do  Sternberg I  am  not  merely  satis- 
fied, but  thankful,  for  the  clear  prospect  of  happiness  that 
opens  for  this  precious  child.  She  looks  bright  and  happy, 
and  her  satisfaction  pervades  our  whole  family  party, 
which  still  includes  Mary  and  John,  and  George  and 
Emma,  and  Emilia.  We  have  known  our  future  son-in- 
law  almost  ever  since  we  lived  here.  He  is  of  an  ancient 
family  of  high  standing  and  respected  root  and  branch. 
HP  holds  a  government  office  of  much  responsibility  in  tho 


186         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNS15N. 

law,  hard  to  translate  into  English,  as  the  system  is  so 

different  that  there  is  no  parallel  I  can  find The 

comfort  of  feeling  that  we  do  not  absolutely  part  from 
Theodora,  but  that  we  shall  continue  to  inhabit  the  same 
place,  enjoy  the  same  scenes,  and  live  in  the  same  society 
that  she  does,  keeps  us  all  in  spirits  and  enables  us  the 
more  to  rejoice  in  her  prospects." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

11 8  July,  1855. — On  Wednesday  your  Father  and  Stern- 
berg  were  asked  to  go  over  to  Baden  and  dine  with  the 
Princess  of  Prussia,  and  she  sent  a  carriage  for  your 
Father  to  the  station,  and  gave  him  two  rooms,  in  which 
he  remained  whenever  not  with  her.  Thursday  was  spent 
at  Madame  Uhde's,  with  the  Grand  Duchess  Stephanie, 
whose  conversation  was  as  original  and  engaging  as  in  her 
younger  days,  and  we  were  invited  to  dine  with  her  at 
Mannheim  on  Saturday." 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  HALL. 

"Heidelberg,  12  July,  1855. — Is  it  not  curious  that 
Kingsley  should  make  our  ancestor  Sir  Richard  Granville,* 
the  admiral,  grandfather  of  Sir  Beville,  a  main  part  of  the 
subject  of  his  novel  '  Westward  Ho ! ' — and  know  so  much 
of  Stow  and  all  the  country,  and  yet  not  have  learnt  the 
orthography  and  derivation  of  the  name,  which  he  spells 
Grenvile  !  Pray  read  it,  if  you  have  not  yet,  and  feel,  with 
me,  that  we  ought  to  rummage  the  country  itself,  and  old 
houses  in  it,  for  memorials  of  the  family  and  former  state  of 
tilings.  How  I  should  like,  if  I  was  young  and  active  and 
*  The  uci-o  of  Tennyson's  poem,  "The  Revenge." 


HEIDELBERG.  187 


moveable,  to  go  about  that  whole  tract,  so  graphically 
shadowed  forth  in  the  first  volume !  .  .  .  .  The  book  treats 
much  of  the  historical  misdeeds  of  the  Jesuits.  I  believe 
Kingsley  had  principally  at  heart  to  show  the  truth  of  the 
case  at  that  time,  in  opposition  to  the  late  Puseyite  and 
Romanizing  writers  who  sentimentalize  about  high-treason 
in  the  case  of  Jesuit  offenders,  and  blacken  Queen  Elizabeth 
and  her  Government  for  mere  legal  acts  of  self-defence  in 
carrying  out  the  penalty  of  the  law.  The  curious  thing 
is  that  the  present  reaction,  doing  justice  to  the  Government 
of  Elizabeth,  was  begun  by  a  French  writer,  a  Roman- 
Catholic  if  anything,  who  startled  people  a  few  years  ago 
by  historical  lectures  at  Paris,  informing  them  that  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  was  no  saint  or  martyr,  but  one  who  lived 
in  conspiracies  for  the  murder  of  Elizabeth,  and  in  utter- 
ance of  solemn  falsehoods  in  concealment  of  her  practices, 
and  that  it  was  no  wonder  if  all  Elizabeth's  Protestant 
subjects  felt  the  necessity  of  cutting  off  a  life  so  fraught 
with  ruin  to  their  cause  as  that  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots." 

"  26  July,  1855. — A  fortnight  ago,  when  we  dined  with 
the  Grand  Duchess  Stephanie  at  Mannheim,  to  our 
astonishment  we  met  Rio,  Madame  Rio,*  and  two  daugh- 
ters. They  have  since  come  to  Heidelberg,  and  stay  till 
next  week,  when  they  go  to  Wildbad.  He  is  very  infirm, 
but  otherwise  he  is  just  the  same  as  ever — talking,  and 
being  very  entertaining,  and  trying  to  convert  wherever 
he  can  get  a  hearing. 

"  Dear  George  and  Emma  have  just  concluded  the  pur- 
chase of  a  house,  farm,  and  garden,  just  what  they  wished 
for,  not  too  largo,  and  very  complete,  close  to  Bonn." 
*  JVirr  Apollonia  Jones  of  Llunarth. 


188         LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


"  4  August,  1855. — "We  had  yesterday  the  great  pleasure 
of  H.  von  Auerswald's*  company  at  dinner,  and  Hausser,f 
Gervinus,J  Gagern,§  and  Mohl[I  to  meet  him  in  the 
evening.  Three  days  ago  we  were  informed  that  we  might 
see  the  Princess  Louise  of  Prussia  on  her  passage  by  the 
railway,  so  went  and  saw  her  for  ten  minutes,  and  very 
engaging  and  satisfactory  she  was." 

"  14  Sept.,  1855. — My  precious  Theodora  was  married 
on  Wednesday  the  12th.  The  wedding-day  was  bright 
and  cheerful  and  undisturbed  by  any  untoward  occurrence, 
and  I  saw  her  drive  off  from  her  parents'  dwelling  with 
unmixed  satisfaction  in  the  man  to  whom  the  care  of  her 
happiness  is  now  entrusted.  ....  At  1 1  o'clock  we  were 
met  at  the  door  of  the  Holy  Ghost  Church  by  the  bride- 
groom and  George,  Theodore,  John  and  Mary,  Henry  and 
Mary  Louisa,  two  uncles  and  an  aunt  of  Sternberg's,  Barons 
and  Baroness  von  Yolderndorff,  the  bridesmaids  being  the 
bride's  three  sisters  (Emilia  now  able  to  walk  and  stand 
and  appear  among  others!)  and  her  sister-in-law  Arnelie 
von  Ungern-Sternberg,  with  Henry's  two  little  girls, 

*  One  of  the  Ministers  of  State  under  Frederick  "\Villiam  IV.  in  the 
period  after  the  revolution  of  1848. 

f  A  very  successful  Professor  of  Modern  History  at  the  University 
of  Heidelberg  :  an  eminent  patriotic  speaker  in  the  Baden  chambers, 
who  did  much  for  the  feeling  of  German  unity  :  author  of  a  History 
of  the  French  Revolution  and  of  Frederick  the  Great. 

J  Professor  of  History  at  Heidelberg,  one  of  the  few  who  ventured 
to  protest  at  the  time  of  the  Empire  being  proclaimed. 

§  Heinrich  von  Gagern,  who  took  a  leading  part  in  1848,  when  the 
revolutionary  party  sate  in  Parliament  at  Frankfort  and  made  an 
imaginary  constitution.  He  went  to  Berlin  to  offer  the  imperial  crown 
to  Frederick  William  IV. 

5  Robert  von  Mohl,  Professor  of  Public  Law  at  Heidelberg  :  after- 
wards Minister  for  Baden  at  Munich.  Ho  died  at  C'arlsruhe  in  1874. 


HEIDELBERG.  18S> 


looking  like  angels The  spirit  of  the  English 

liturgy  was  in  the  address  and  quotations  from  Scripture, 
though  the  form,  was  different  and  simpler,  and  ushered 
in  and  closed  by  hymns  sung  with  a  vast  power  of  voices, 

for  the  church  was  as  full  as  it  could  hold The 

pair  looked  so  bright  and  happy,  so  serenely  satisfied 
and  joyful,  that  it  did  one's  heart  good  to  see  them,  and 
still  does  it  good  to  think  of  them — and  a  handsome  pair 
they  are,  contrasted,  as  were  the  twins,  lie  fair,  and  she 
brunette." 

"  27  Sept.,  1855. — Never  were  people  more  fortunate 
than  Sternberg  and  Theodora  in  their  honeymoon — in  the 
uninterrupted  fine  weather,  to  enable  them  to  enjoy  a 
most  beautiful  country,  as  well  as  one  another's  company, 
which  last  they  do  most  intensely :  I  do  believe  and  have 
all  along  believed  that  no  two  people  could  suit  each  other 
better,  and  it  is  delightful  to  read  Theodora's  naive 
expressions  of  happiness — '  she  never  had  fancied  any  one 
could  be  so  happy.' 

"  I  wish  I  could  give  you  a  full  account  of  our  Potter- 
Abend,  the  evening  before  the  wedding,  when  it  is  the 
custom  to  have  a  planned  amusement  to  divert  people's 
thoughts.  It  was  contrived  in  Mary's  lodgings,  for  our 
one  large  drawing-room  was  pre-occupied  by  the  table 
intended  for  next  day's  dinner-party.  Meyer  composed 
poetry,  and  the  .  diversion  was  charade  and  tableau  and 
declamation  and  singing,  all  together.  The  Nine  Muses 
beautifully  drapccs  by  our  old  friend  Bhebenitz,  consisted 
of  my  Frances,  and  Emilia,  and  Mary,  and  Matilda,  and 
Mary  Louisa,  with  Miss  Mure,  Miss  Campbell,  Mademoi- 
selle "Welcher,  and  Mademoiselle  Leiniro.  and  very  nice 


190         LIFE    ASD    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

they  looked,  with  Theodore  for  Apollo  !     Afterwards  they 
danced." 

"  3  jtfbv.,  1855. — The  Sternbergs  came  back  from  their 
Black  Forest  wanderings  on  the  6th  October.  They  look 
so  radiant  and  so  delighted  with  each  other,  that  it  does 
one  good  to  see  it.  I  am  myself  well  and  strong  and 
equal  to  exercise,  and  to  a  great  deal  of  occupation  by 
daylight — but  alas !  the  long  evenings,-  which  used  to  be 
such  a  favourite  time  for  many  a  sort  of  work,  are  now 
almost  unemployed,  my  eyelids  being  much  as  my  dearest 
Mother's  used  to  be  after  any  attempt  to  use  them  by 
candlelight.  As  to  using  spectacles,  that  is  a  thing  of 
course,  and  not  to  be  named  as  a  grievance :  but  though 
they  help  me  to  see  more  clearly,  they  help  nothing  against 
weakness  of  the  nerves  of  the  eyes. 

"My  husband's  work,  'Signs  of  the  Times'  (the  main 
subject  being,  freedom  of  conscience,  or  the  want  of  it, 
and  the  sins  of  Continental  governments  against  it),  was 
sold  off  in  the  last  ten  days  of  October,  an  edition  of  2,500 
copies  !  He  is  much  delighted,  and  surprised.  Humboldt 
is  one  of  those  who  go  about  preaching  the  contents  :  they 
are  all  delighted  that  he  should  forcibly  utter  what  so 
many  think.  He  sent  the  King  the  first  copy  on  his 
birthday.  I  know  not  whether  Longman  will  make  the 
speculation  of  an  English  translation :  I  believe  the  book 
would  be  read  with  interest  in  England.  My  husband 
saw  the  King  at  Marburg.  He  was  desired  to  come 
thither,  after  he  had  fought  off  various  invitations,  and 
urgent  ones,  by  the  King  to  go  to  Berlin.  The  King  was 
as  affectionate  as  ever  in  manner,  but  the  change  in  him, 
bodily  and  mental,  was  painful  to  observe." 


HEIDELBERG.  191 


To  Miss  CHARLOTTE  WILLIAMS 

"13  Nov.,  1855. — I  want  to  tell  you  that  my  husband 
has  taken  to  riding,  and  delights  in  the  exercise,  enjoying 
the  sort  of  independence  of  seeking  his  own  way  along  the 
road.  He  has  made  the  discovery  of  Ziegelhausen,  and 
admires  the  lake-like  expanse  of  the  river  at  the  turn. 
He  will  tell  you  himself  how  wonderfully  he  gets  on  with 
various  works,  and  how  pleased  he  has  been,  not  only 
with  the  letters  he  receives  of  exulting  satisfaction  in  the 
'Zeichen  der  Zeit,'  but  with  the  fact  that  the  printer 
commenced  a  second  edition  before  the  first  fortnight  was 
out  after  its  appearance,  having  parted  with  the  whole 
2,500  copies  of  the  first. 

"  As  you  entered  into  all  the  interests  of  the  house,  I 
must  tell  you  of  the  tragical  end  of  one  of  Matilda's 
adopted  children,  the  youngest,  who  was  killed  by  a 
waggon-wheel  last  Thursday.  Never  was  a  brighter  day, 
and  everybody  seemed,  as  I  felt  myself,  roused  by  sun  and 
air  to  double  activity  and  animation.  I  had  run  into  the 
garden  about  twelve,  and  saw  just  by  the  fountain  you 
remember,  little  Kiitchen  setting  out  full  speed  towards 
her  school,  a  long  way  off  near  the  church  at  Ziegelhausen 
— very  tidy  in  the  warm  clothes  which  Matilda  had  been 
delighted  to  contrive,  and  a  flat  basket  on  her  arm  like  a 
bag,  with  the  great  slate  and  her  book  in  it,  and  the  child 
looked  bright  as  the  day  when  I  spoke  to  her,  and  little 
guessed  either  of  us  that  within  half  an  hour  she  would 
be  a  corpse !  It  seems  that  she  got  up  behind  an  empty 
waggon,  made,  as  you  will  recollect,  with  mere  planks  at 
the  bottom,  with  wide  spaces  between  :  it  would  seem  that 
ehe  let  her  basket  slip  through,  stretched  after  it  and  fell 


192         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    HA  RUN  ESS    UUNSEN. 

through,  and  the  wheel  passed  over  her,  causing  death  by 
inward  injury,  for  she  was  little  injured  to  the  eye.  A 
passer-by  brought  word  to  our  house,  and  our  two  maids 
ran  directly  to  the  place,  on  the  road  under  the  Stift,— 
found  a  humane  man  who  had  taken  up  the  body,  and 
tried  to  get  it  into  that  one  cottage  on  the  way  up  to  the 
Stift,  where  the  people  rudely  denied  admission  :  then  our 
maids  took  it  and  carried  it  hither,  met  on  the  way  by 
poor  Matilda,  whose  grief  was  great — her  first  sight  of 
death,  and  the  first  shock  of  the  kind  where  her  affections 
were  concerned.  The  basket  and  slate  came  back,  nobody 
knowing  who  brought  them,  safe — surviving,  as  still  life 
does,  what  gave  it  value  and  interest ! 

"  Tell  us  whether  anybody  writes  any  books  worth  read- 
ing, or  is  that  practice  given  up  ?  " 

To  her  SISTEE,  LADY  HALL. 

"  15  JNov.j  1855. — I  was  touched  by  your  naming  the 

subjects  which  weigh  upon  your  mind You  say 

what  I  am  sure  is  correct,  that  you  would  not  be  disturbed 
by  those  things  if  you  were  not  unwell — that  is  quite  true, 
and  yet  the  causes  are  real  and  your  feelings  are  real — 
the  difference  is  that  the  lightness  of  spirits  accompanying 
bodily  health  carry  you  like  wings  over  the  rough  places 
that  must  be  traversed  by  weary  steps  when  the  wings  are 
not  there." 

To  Itcr  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"11  Dec.,  1855. — We  have  been  going  on  for  many  days 
with  deepening  snow  and  steadfast  ice.  On  the  bitter 
fourth  of  December,  the  frost  made  a  sudden  attack  upou 


HEIDELBERG.  193 


the  Neckar,  and  caught  the  mill-stream  fast  in  one  solid 
surface,  upon  which  skaters  are  seen  as  long  as  daylight 
lasts,  in  a  line  from  the  mills,  till  nearly  opposite  our  win- 
dows, giving  the  only  sign  of  life  to  be  perceived  in  the 
absolute  stillness  of  the  scene,  except  the  tinkling  of  the 
bells  of  passing  sledges.  The  air  is  so  motionless  that  the 
snow  rests  on  every  branch  and  railing,  and  very  beautifully 
is  everything  pencilled  with  white." 

One  of  the  chief  friends  of  Bunsen' s  later  life  was 
Mrs.  Salis  Schwabe,  who,  when  the  time  came  for  leaving 
Carlton  Terrace,  had  been  the  first  to  place  her  beautiful 
seaside  castle  of  Grlen  Garth  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Bunsen  family  for  so  long  a  time  as  they  might  be 
pleased  to  inhabit  it.  Very  frequent  were  the  visits  paid 
to  Heidelberg  by  Mrs.  Schwabe,  when  her  originality, 
intelligence,  and  sympathy  made  her  conversation  very 
welcome  to  Bunsen.  One  of  the  many  kind  and 
delicate  attentions  which  marked  her  intercourse  with 
them  in  later  years,  is  the  subject  of  the  following 
letter  :— 

BUNSEN  to  MRS.  SCHWABE. 

"  Christmas  Day,  1855. — How  shall  I  describe  to  you  my 
astonishment,  I  might  say  my  pleasure  in  sadness,  when, 
on  entering  yesterday  evening  at  6  o'clock  the  room  closed 
throughout  the  day,  then  brilliant  with  tl\e  Christmas  tree, 
I  was  greeted  by  the  soft  qrga.n  tones  to  which  I  was 
accustomed  on  the  Capitol,  and  afterwards,  in  Carlton 
Terrace,  sounding  forth  from  a  hidden  corner  the  'Pastorale' 

VPT-  JT.  o 


194         LIFE    AKD    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

of  Handel  and  then  the  German  '  Chorale/  to  which  the 
voices  of  twenty  children  and  many  others,  those  of  Prances 
and  Theodora  and  Sternberg  prevailing,  intoned  the  Hymn 
itself !  I  could  not  help  thinking,  in  the  midst  of  these 
pleasing  sounds,  of  the  fine  organ  enjoyed  so  many  years, 
left  behind  in  England  with  so  many  other  treasures.  But 
when  I  turned  to  ask  whence  came  the  organ  now  heard  ? 
to  whom  belonging  ?  of  whom  borrowed  ?  Frances  met  me 
with  the  card  containing  your  name  and  kind  greeting, 
and  then  the  pleasure  became  as  great  as  the  surprise. 
For  the  orgue  expressif  was  our  own,  and  it  was  your  pre- 
sent— your  Christmas  gift!  After  the  greater  part  of 
those  present  had  retired,  we  again  enjoyed  the  organ  and 
Theodora's  playing,  full  of  soul  and  feeling — to  no  one 
more  delightful  and  surprising  than  to  her  husband.  Then 
we  had  'He  shall  feed  His  flock'  of  Handel,  sung  by 
Theodore." 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  Tier  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"Dec.  26,  1855. — Yesterday  we  were  at  church  and  re- 
ceived the  Sacrament  with  Sternberg  and  Theodora,  and 
in  the  evening  were  invited  by  them  to  the  lighting-up  of 
their  tree,  M.  Stanger,  Bo'hmer,  Meyer,  Eothe  and  his 
wife,  and  H.  v.  Gagern,  being  the  rest  of  the  company. 
Very  nice  did  the  rooms  look,  and  still  nicer  the  padroni 
di  casa!  Theodora's  table  set  out  and  everything  ex- 
emplary. A  little  tree  sent  and  altogether  decked  out  by 
poor  Elise  v.  Sternberg  on  her  sick  bed  caused  much 
mirth,  but  would  make  English  hair  stand  on  end !  a 
Baby-dol},  and  the  whole  tree  hung  full  of  miniature 
clothing,  of  doll  dimensions  for  all  periods  of  life  1  most 


HEIDELBE11G.  195 


wittily  imagined,  with  verses  explanatory  and  didactic  as 
to  education !  " 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  HALL. 

"  30  Dec.,  1855. — We  have  had  a  terrible  dose  of  cold, 
but  had  the  good  luck  of  contriving  a  sledging  party  just 
on  the  only  day  when  the  cold  was  moderate  and  the 
atmosphere  without  wind.  The  fun  consists  of  sitting 
muffled  in  furs  to  the  nose,  two  persons  in  each  sledge,  and 
tearing  along  at  the  full  speed  of  the  horses  (who  seem  to 
enter  into  the  sport)  over  the  beaten  snow,  along  a  flat 
road,  then  returning  to  drink  warm  coffee,  &c.,  and  dance 
from  3  o'clock  to  7.  We  were  12  sledges  full.  Most  of 
the  party  were  young  dancers,  and  enjoyed  the  exercise, 
which  those  not  of  dancing  age  might  have  envied  them." 

The  summer  of  1855  was  passed  in  tranquillity  at 
Charlottenberg,  where  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
the  Baron  and  Baroness  von  Ungern-Sternberg,  added 
greatly  to  the  cheerfulness  of  the  family  home.  In  the 
month  of  October  Dr.  Kamphausen  came  to  fill  the 
post  of  linguistic  secretary  to  Bunsen,  in  the  Old 
Testament  translation,  to  which  thenceforth  his  time 
and  his  powers  were  principally  devoted.  "It  is  for- 
tunate that  my  husband  has  the  art  of  teaching  people 
how  to  help  him,"  wrote  Madame  Bunsen  at  this  time: 
"  his  literary  work  is  the  pivot  upon  which  our  life  and 
all  its  interests  turn." 

The  necessary  drawback  to  the  charm  of  Charlot- 
tenberg, was  always  found  in  the  severity  and  long 


196         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

duration  of  the  winters  at  Heidelberg,  and  the  extreme 
social  isolation  thus  entailed,  but  for  this  the  large  and 
bright  family  circle  offered  many  compensations. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  12  Jan.,  1856. — Last  night  we  had  a  French  vaude- 
ville, according  to  a  plan  long  laid  by  Theodore,  followed 
by  German  charades,  then  supper,  then  music- — pianoforte 
and  violoncello,  and  then  a  most  animated  dance,  which 
concluded  all  with  the  greatest  spirit,  and  before  twelve 
the  house  was  cleared.  I  was  in  total  ignorance  to  the 
last  of  what  was  going  to  be,  so  that  Papa  and  I  shared 
the  surprise  of  the  other  spectators.  All  acted  capitally." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Heidelberg,  12  March,  1856. — You  will  be  as  glad  to 
hear  as  I  am  to  tell,  that  the  King  has  granted  your 
Father's  retiring  pension  on  the  just  terms,  to  be  enjoyed 
wherever  he  chooses  to  live.  I  think  you  will  understand 
and  believe  when  I  say  that  my  first  feeling  was  to  be  glad 
for  the  King !  that  he  had  done  right  and  according  to 
justice.  But,  God  be  thanked  !  that  at  last  the  means  are 
positively  assigned  to  us  for  meeting  the  expenditure  de- 
manded for  your  Father's  comfort :  thus  allowing  a  f eeling 
of  security  (humanly  speaking)  of  knowing  what  one  has 
to  reckon  upon — which  has  never  been  allowed  me  during 
the  far  greater  part  of  my  married  life :  it  might  have 
come  over  me  as  a  dream  occasionally,  which  was  rapidly 
dispelled." 

"  29  March. — I  thank  God  upon  your  birthday  for  all 
that  He  has  done  for  you  ....  and  I  thank  you  for  the 


HEIDELBERG.  197 


comfort  you  have  been  to  me  all  the  years  of  your  life,  for 
the  increasing  nearness  I  feel  towards  you,  as  all  life's 
experiences  draw  us  more  and  more  together  in  spirit,  in 

views  of  life,  and  its  objects It  is  such  a  blessing 

to  feel  that  your  children  are  happy,  and  in  the  complete- 
ness of  healthy  development,  and  0  !  if  all  parents  were  but 
aware  that  no  children  can  be  happy  but  those  who  are 
kept  under  wholesome  rule  and  order,  and  trained  to  rule 
and  order  their  own  minds  with  regard  to  God  and  man, 
and  not  the  demands  of  self — '  das  Ich,  der  dunkele 
Despot.'  "  * 

To  Miss  CHARLOTTE  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  6  April,  1856. — In  the  sermons  of  F.  Robertson  I 
have  ever-increasing  satisfaction,  finding  that  as  soon  as  I 
have  read  one  set  through,  I  am  ready  to  begin  it  over 
again.  0  for  more  of  such  teachers,  full  fraught  with  the 
main  truth  (not  the  mere  accessories — the  merely  not  false), 
knowing  how  to  express  it,  and  having  the  moral  courage 
to  dare  opinion  !....!  am  greatly  comforted  to  hear  of 
such  toleration  of  comments  on  the  Bible-translation — for 

*  From  a  translation  of  Frielrich.  Riickert  from  lines  by  Jellah  cd 
Din  Kuini,  a  Persian  poet  and  king. 

"  Wohl  endet  Tod  des  Lebens  Noth, 

Doch  schaudert  Lebcn  vor  dem  Tod ; 

Es  siehet  nur  den  dunkeln  Kelch, 

Die  lichte  Hand  nicht  die  inn  bot. 
"  So  schaudert  vor  der  Lieb  ein  Herz 

Als  war's  vom  Untergang  bedroht, 

Denn  wo  die  Lieb'  erwachet,  stirbt 

Das  Ich,  der  dunkele  Despot. 

"  Du  lass  ihn  waltcn  in  der  Nacht 
Und  athme  frei  im  Morgenroth." 


198          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

I  had  rather  not  look  forward  to  my  husband's  becoming 
the  subject  of  an  Oxford  Auto-da-Fe  after  his  Bible-work 
shall  have  come  out. 

"  I  have  to  make,  with  thankfulness,  a  wonderful  report 
of  health  during  the  winter — my  husband  invariably  well 
and  cheerful  and  busy,  even  though  not  riding,  and  walk- 
ing being  reduced  to  a  minimum.  !--only  being  daily 
dragged  by  me  into  the  garden,  to  walk  up  and  down,  and 
look  at  the  river,  the  only  thing  which  during  the  six 
months'  reign  of  death  synonymous  with  the  continental 
winter  (in  contradistinction  to  the  English  six  months  of 
grey  and  green  twilight)  preserves  beauty  enough  to  employ 
the  eye,  which  longs  for  objects  to  remind  it  of  life. 

"  We  have  much  enjoyed  a  visit  from  Baron  Usedom, 
who  has  been  here  on  and  off  for  some  time,  and  whoso 
conversation  is  of  unfailing  interest,  besides  that  his  having 
been  in  London,  Paris,  and  Berlin  since  we  saw  him,  gives 
us  the  means  of  obtaining  information  not  to  be  had 
through  common  channels.  Alas !  for  all  connected  with 
the  name  of  Berlin ! — one  is  ever  disposed  to  exclaim, 
'  Lord, — how  long  ?  '  Quite  apart  from  the  consideration 
of  my  own  and  my  family's  connection  with  Prussia,  I 
deplore  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  so  much  that  was  good,  and 
of  what  one  hoped,  through  long  years,  was  issuing  into 
somewhat  still  better.  The  oligarchical  power,  which  is 
now  overtopping  the  regal,  has  been  nursed  up  wilfully, 
by  a  succession  of  illegalities  :  and  the  author  of  the  wrong 
is  startled  at  the  effects  produced,  without  tracing  the  evils 
to  his  own  acts  and  maxims !  It  is  a  state  of  judicial 
blindness  :  and  how  it  can  be  in  the  secrets  of  Providence 
to  bring  good  out  of  all  this  evil,  remains  a  mystery. 


HEIDELBERG.  199 


"  Of  course  you  have  read  Montalenibert's  compliment 
and  comment,  to  and  on  England  ?  there  is  much  truth  in 
it,  particularly  as  to  the  gradual  veering  towards  democracy, 
and  the  wisdom  of  gradual  adaptation  to  the  changes  of 
the  times,  which  keeps  off  revolution  in  that  one  country 
alone.  May  that  wisdom  be  still  more  shown,  in  the  doing 
away  of  moral  separation  between  the  higher  and  lower 
classes !  May  all  take  warning  by  the  folly  of  other 
nations,  in  making  lines  of  demarcation,  rather  than 
in  strengthening  sympathies,  between  aristocracy  and  non- 
aristocracy  !  " 

In  April,  1856,  Madame  Bunsen  paid  a  visit  to 
Burg-Hheindorf,  the  farm  purchased  by  her  son  George 
near  Bonn,  where  she  rejoiced  in  becoming  a  witness 
for  the  first  time  of  his  domestic  happiness  in  his  own 
home.  The  place  also  afforded  for  her  its  own  motives 
for  enjoyment  in  "the  admirable  cultivation  and 
nourishing  crops,  and  the  splendid  effects  of  sky  and 
sunset,"  atoning  for  the  flatness  of  the  country. 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  BUNSEN. 

"  Burg-Rheindorf,  22  April,  1856. — I  must  tell  you  how 
prosperous  my  journey  and  how  happy  my  arrival  has 
been,  however  unreasonably  long  the  time  seems  since  I 
parted  from  you  at  the  door  of  our  much-blest  and  beau- 
tiful home.  .  .  .  Matilda  and  I  walked  on  the  deck  (of  the 
Rhine  steamer)  till  we  had  thoroughly  looked  at  Worms, 
which  is  most  picturesque  and  inviting  from  the  river.  At 
Konigswinter  I  had  the  delightful  surprise  of  seeing  my 
dear  George  among  the  current  of  entering  passengers, 


200          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 


wliicli  I  was  watching  without  any  such  anticipation !  and 
when  we  landed  at  Bonn,  dear  old  Brandis  and  his  wife 
were  standing  on  the  bank  to  receive  us.  The  sunset  had 
shown  me  the  Siebengebirge  splendidly,  and  just  as  the 
long  day  was  closing,  I  canae  under  my  own  George's  roof, 
and  was  welcomed  by  Emma,  and  had  fullness  of  delight 
in  the  sight  of  the  Baby,  who  had  staid  awake,  I  suppose 
on  purpose,  and  who  made  acquaintance,  with  Matilda 
first,  and  with  me  next,  in  the  kindest  and  most  confiding 
manner.  .  .  I  like  the  house  and  all  its  arrangements, 
and  feel  as  if  I  could  never  be  thankful  enough  for  the 
merciful  dispensation  which  has  given  my  precious  George 
such  a  house,  with  such  a  wife  and  child  in  it,  and  the 
means  of  hourly  occupation  of  continued  usefulness  and 
interest.  The  last  time  I  was  upon  the  Rhine,  in  June, 
1854,  what  a  load  of  care  was  upon  my  heart,  just  for 
him ! " 

"27  April. — Yesterday  afternoon  Matilda  and  I  walked 
down  Arndt's*  little  field  or  orchard  towards  his  house,  and 
observed  a  man  on  a  ladder  cutting  dead  boughs  off  a  tree, 
of  whom  we  should  have  taken  no  further  notice,  had  he 
not  called  out  '  Meinc  Frau  ist  ausgegangen ' —  and  so  I 
walked  across  the  grass  and  introduced  myself,  and  he 
came  down  the  ladder  and  took  a  hand  and  arm  of  each 
of  us,  of  which  he  kept  hold  nearly  all  the  time  we  were 
with  him,  and  my  fingers  and  wrist  received  a  crush  and 
a  bend,  which  they  have  recovered,  but  it  is  saying  much. 

*  Ernst  Moritz  Arndt,  the  patriotic  poet.  He  was  the  intimate 
friend  of  Stein,  had  suffered  much  for  his  country  during  its  years  of 
trial,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  set  forth  the  idea  of  German 
nationality  and  greatness.  He  lived  latterly  as  Professor  of  Literature 
at  Bonn,  where  he  died  (at  91)  and  is  buried. 


HEIDELBERG.  201 


I  should  like  to  communicate^  all  the  flood  of  eloquence  he 
poured  out,  going  from  subject  to  subject  of  interest — 'Ihr 
Mann  kann  sich  wohl  gramen  uber  Zustande — muss  sich 
aber  niemals  argern —  der  Aerger  ist  es  was  schadet — sagen 
sie  ihm  das ! '  Then  he  spoke  of  the  King  and  his  having 
made  Niebuhr  angry  by  not  sharing  his  enthusiastic  expec- 
tations from  the  Crown  Prince.  He  told  me  he  had  been 
translating  bits  of  Greek  poetry,  and  should  print  them  if 
he  lived  a  little  longer  :  that  they  refreshed  him,  and  he 
enjoyed  tracing  the  utterances  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in 
times  vulgarly  supposed  not  to  be  enlightened  by  it — that 
he  liked  all  you  had  written  in  that  view.  He  told 
Matilda  the  explanation  of-  her  name — Kriegsgenossen ! 
showed  me  a  fine  Holly  he  had  planted,  and  derived  its 
name  from  Heilig  ?  because  used  in  some  parts  on  Palm 
Sunday.  He  had  known  many  youths  who  took  part  in 
the  Befreiungskrieg,  '  und  alle  bekamen  ein  Zeichen  davon 
furs  Leben — einen  hoheren  Ernst  aufs  Gesicht  gestempelt : 
Nur  der  Kronprinz  hatte  das  nicht — er  war  unf  iihig  ins 
Grosse  zu  schneiden — nur  Kleine  schnitzeln.'  This  is  not 
half. 

"  We  dined  with  the  Brandis's,  only  Dr.  Pauli*  besides 
ourselves,  and  Johannes  Brandis  and  his  students,  one  of 
whom  had  a  face  full  of  beauty  and  promise,  with  the  utterly 
unmeaning  name  of  Smith !  Old  Brandis  was  bright  and 
delightful :  Pauli  sprudelnd — I  was  glad  he  could  keep  up 
his  spirits  so  well :  he  is  pleased  at  having  eight  persons 
put  down  their  names  for  his  English  History  Lectures  the 

*  Reinhold  Pauli,  a  native  of  Bremen,  at  one  time  Secretary  for 
Literary  work  to  Bunscn.  He  had  thus  obtained  the  introduction  into 
English  life,  which  resulted  in  his  histories.  lie  was  afterwards 
Professor  at  Gottingen. 


202         LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BATIONESS    BUNSEX. 

first  day ;  for  his  Prussian  History  Lectures  there  is  as  yet 
no  name,  and  lie  fears  there  will  be  little  chance,  as  there 
is  no  interest  in  the  subject.  He  says  the  documents  of 
the  fifteenth  century  are  melancholy,  as  showing  the 
immense  falling  off  of  national  prosperity  consequent  on 
the  persecution  of  the  Lollards,  upon  which  the  House  of 
Lancaster  founded  its  power — that  is,  their  dependence 
was  upon  the  Church,  the  favour  of  which  they  thus 
purchased.  I  was  always  sure  that  was  a  chapter  of 
English  History  never  yet  duly  treated.  The  Church  of 
Rome,  as  we  know,  set  the  Normans  upon  destroying  the 
prosperity  of  a  country,  not  submissive  enough  to  please 
the  Pope,  because  too  well  off !  and  the  civilisation  of 
England  was  thrown  back  then  at  least  200  years,  and 
again  by  the  Lancaster  usurpation.  Pauli  says,  some  of 
the  French  historians  have  made  out  and  told  more  of  the 
woes  of  the  fifteenth  century  than  any  others. 

"  George  went  on  Friday  morning  to  Coblentz  and 
returned  yesterday  evening — much  pleased  not  only  by  the 
kind  reception  of  himself ;  but  also  of  his  communications. 
The  Prince's  observations  did  him  great  honour  —  he 
called  the  MS.  in  George's  hands,  '  not  a  document  only, 
but  a  HeiligthumS  and  told  him  it  ought  to  be  kept  care- 
fully, as  a  proof  that  there  had  been  a  man  who  ever 
uttered  the  truth  to  his  sovereign,  even  when  (he  added) 
'  the  one  who  might  have  a  right  to  speak,  that  is  myself, 
found  silence  necessary.'  A  kind  message  was  given  by  the 
Princess,  charging  me  to  call  at  Coblentz  on  my  way,  and 
I  shall  write  to  Countess  Hacke  to  ask  whether  I  may 
present  myself  and  Matilda  on  Tuesday. 

"The  strong  disinclination  in  England  to  the  Prussian 


HEIDELBERG.  203 


connection,  is  a  very  painful  matter!  How  Macaulay's 
History  shows  in  broad  light  and  shade  the  curious  charac- 
teristics of  John  Bull!  If  he  is  once  determined  to  be 
angry,  he  is  hard  to  deal  with.  The  frame  of  society  has 
worked  its  elements  into  a  more  equable  consistence  than 
in  the  time  of  which  Macaulay  treats — but  still  in  our 
quieter  times  we  have  experienced  conditions  of  popular 
ill-humour  quite  as  virulent  as  those  of  old  :  and  ill-humour 
always  suggests  irrational  acts  and  judgments,  although 
it  may  not  in  itself  be  without  cause." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"21  May,  1856. — In  returning  from  my  happy  visit  at 
Burg-Eheindorf,  we  spent  a  day  at  Coblentz,  in  full  sun- 
shine of  kindness  from  the  Princess  of  Prussia  and  Princess 
Louise, — were  sent  to  Stolzenfels  in  the  morning,  invited  to 
dinner,  and  then  again  in  the  evening  with  Theodore,  who 
had  arrived  in  the  afternoon.  I  was  charmed  with  Prin- 
cess Louise,  *  who  is  truly  engaging.  I  stayed  a  day  at 
Neu  Wied — which  day  I  enjoyed  as  you  may  suppose :  the 
whole  Burg-Eheindorf  party  accompanying  me  so  far, 
including  the  darling  Baby,  who  is  everything  that  can  bo 
wished  at  seven  months  old,  and  conducted  herself  in  the 
most  exemplary  manner  through  all  the  trials  of  over- 
whelming novelties  in  steam-navigation  and  palace-visit- 
ing, which  broke  in  upon  her  hitherto  uniform  existence." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH  (on  the  death  of  her 

father  Samuel  Gurney). 

"7  June,  1856. — Words  are  very  feeble,  when  one  de- 
sires in  some  way  to  utter  the  feelings  your  latter  letters 

*  Princess  Louise  of  Prussia  married  (Sept.  20,  1856)  Frederich 
William,  Grand-duke  of  Baden. 


204         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

have  called  forth ! — but  you  know  and  believe  in  my  sym- 
pathy. Indeed  I  carry  about  with  me,  through  whatever 
occupations,  the  death-scene  which  it  falls  to  your  lot  to 
witness,  and  pray  that  you  may  be  supported  in  body  as 
well  as  mind,  through  what  is  almost  too  agonizing  for 

flesh  and  blood  to  behold Yet  it  is  a  privilege  to 

have  seen  such  an  end — the  grandest  of  earthly  spectacles, 
the  Christian  in  full  possession  of  consciousness,  looking 
Death  in  the  face,  in  clear  and  placid  confidence  of  pass- 
ing into  blessedness,  through  Christ !  full  of  love  to  all, 
thinking  not  of  self,  uncomplaining,  not  demanding,  sur- 
rounded by  love  and  respect,  which  his  character  through 
life  has  inspired  and  nourished,  so  that  every  act  of  duty 
is  performed  involuntarily  by  each  and  all  as  self -gratifi- 
cation. 

"  My  dear  Elizabeth !  how  deeply  affecting  it  is  to  me 
that  you  should  bring  yourself  thus  frequently  to  write  to 
me !  such  communications  are  valuable  beyond  expression, 
and  will  remain  among  chief  treasures.  Since  I  left  you 
just  two  years  ago,  through  how  much  sorrow  have  you 
not  past !  but  the  eye  of  God  has  not  less  shone  upon  you 
in  mercy,  and  the  ripening  effect  of  His  visitations  will 
not  have  failed. 

"  Again  and  again  I  pray,  God  be  with  you!  and  He 
will  be,  and  He  will  make  good  all  that  the  feeble  love  and 
wishes  of  human  hearts  strive  after  in  vain." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"13  June,  1856. — If  you  think  yourself  the  victim  of 
neglect,  consider  your  mother  and  sisters  as  the  victims  of 
dissipation.  Morning,  noon,  and  evening — visitors;  if  I 


HEIDELBERG.  205 


did  not  get  up  at  six,  I  should  never  write  a  letter  or  do 
anything  else.  Perhaps  you  do  not  even  know  that 
Charles  arrived  on  Sunday  afternoon,  when  we  had  driven 
to  Schwezingen  with  Neukomm  and  Frederica  Bremer, 
and  as  we  drove  home  past  our  terrace,  whose  face  should 
we  see  but  his,  with  Frances,  the  twins,  and  Sternberg  ? 
Frederica  was  delightful,  but  she  absorbed  us  during  the 
two  days  she  staid.  Then  came  the  Moscheles  family  with 
Frau  Rosen.*  Thus  there  were  meetings  for  music,  com- 
plicated and  beautified  by  Joachim,  the  unequalled  violin- 
ist :  and  by  performance  of  Neukomm' s  masses,  by  ladies, 
headed  and  generalled  by  Frances.  Then  came  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Grote,  and  yesterday  afternoon  we  had  full  'assem- 
blage of  fanatici  per  la  musica  at  Le  Mire's,  afterwards  a 
drive  with  the  Grote' s,  and  tea  at  home,  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Alexander  Eoss,  she  a  daughter  of  John  Sterling 
and  a  very  superior  creature.  Charles,  Theodore  and 
Matilda,  two  days  ago,  danced  from  4  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon till  1  in  the  morning,  after  wandering  in  the  woods. 
We  are  all  well,  and  enjoy  ourselves  greatly,  in  fine 
weather,  agreeable  society,  and  exquisite  music." 

To  her  DAUGHTEH-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  28  June,  1856. — Just  before  I  sate  down  to  write,  I 
discovered  that  our  dear  old  friend  Neukomm  had  slily 
withdrawn  out  of  the  house,  after  his  fashion,  avoiding 
leave-taking !  We  had  all  guessed  that  he  was  going  one 
of  these  days,  but  it  always  comes  as  a  painful  surprise, 
when  I  find  on  my  table  a  note  signifying  that  he  is  no 

*  2nd  daughter  of  Moscheles,  wife  of  the  oriental  scholar—  consul  at 
Jerusalem,  and  afterwards  consul  at  Bucharest. 


206         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSES. 

longer  liere.  This  has  been  a  happy  visit  that  we  have 
had  from  him,  he  has  been  in  his  best  state,  and  has  liked 
the  people  he  saw,  and  the  manner  of  life,  and  we  have 
been  in  luck  in  having  had  the  visit  of  the  Moscheles 
family  and  of  Joachim  the  violinist  while  he  has  been 
here,  and  he  has,  as  ever,  warmly  sympathized  in  the  new 
interests  of  these  latter  days.  How  many  have  been  the 
important  occasions  of  our  lives,  when  we  have  had  his 
sympathizing  presence ! " 

To  Miss  0.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  30  June,  1856. — We  have  all  been  attending  the  cele- 
bration'of  the  anniversary  of  the  legal  establishment  of 
Protestant  worship  in  Heidelberg  two  hundred  years  ago 
(the  whole  country  had  been  Protestant  long  before,  for  it 
has  the  honour  of  being  among  the  earliest  to  renounce 
sanctioned  corruptions,  though  it  did  not  till  1656  attain 
liberty  of  worship  from  its  rulers),  which  took  place  amid  the 
circumstances  which  mark  and  assist  simple  earnestness  of 
feeling — a  hymn  sung  forth  from  the  church-tower,  accom- 
panied by  the  Posanne  (trombone)  at  sunset  on  Saturday 
and  at  daybreak  on  Sunday — as  is  done  on  all  great 
festivals  :  overflowing  congregations,  and  eloquent  preach- 
ing from  Schenkel.  Do  not  fancy  you  have  evil  climatic 
influences  all  to  yourself !  My  cosmopolite  habits  of  life 
have  long  brought  me  to  the  consciousness  that  '  tutto  il 
mondo  e  paese,'  physically  and  morally  :  and  this  year  the 
chorus  of  groans  against  the  climate  and  weather,  as 
something  unheard  of,  is  so  loud  in  Heidelberg,  that  I 
should  think  you  must  hear  it  in  London !  and  now  that 
the  weather  is  that  of  glorious  summer,  I  have  a  cold  and 


HEIDELBERG.  207 


git  shivering  and  wrapped  up,  and  afraid  of  the  blessed 


air 


"  We  have  had  a  month's  visit  from  our  dear  old  friend 
Neukomm.  The  birds  of  passage  have  been  numerous — 
we  were  very  glad  of  the  visit  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grote, 
among  others.  As  to  reading,  I  have  only  cast  longing 
glances  at  Milman's  last  volumes  of  *  Latin  Christianity,' 
but  have  got  on  more  with  Gervinus's  History,  which  I 
feel  sure  would  interest  you.  It  is  to  me  the  most  engross- 
ing of  all  subjects,  to  be  told,  by  a  person  who  has 
studied  the  innumerable  documentary  works,  the  truth  of 
facts  and  characters  to  which  I  have  been  contemporary, 
forty  years  ago  :  the  truth,  I  mean,  in  the  writer's  view — 
at  least  an  honest  and  undisguised  though  a  very  dark  and 
depressing  view  of  things.  What  a  delightful  event  in 
life  do  I  find  Macaulay's  new  volumes !  Criticism  and 
fault-finding  come  very  easily  and  naturally  to  the  human 
mind,  such  as  it  is — but  with  all  the  consciousness  of  such 
disturbers,  where  has  one  such  an  amount  of  the  sort  of 
information  as  to  human  conditions  that  one  most  desires, 
of  the  'goldene  Zeit  des  Werdens,'  of  the  beginnings  of 
powers,  institutions,  convictions,  good  and  evil,  with  which 
the  times  we  know  more  of,  and  have  lived  through,'  have  had 
to  do  ?  There  is  much  destruction  of  prestige — but  the  older 
one  grows,  the  less  can  one  tolerate  romance,  other  than 
that  of  reality,  and  when  were  ever  passages  more  striking 
than  the  splendid  parts — battles,  trials,  &c.  ?  I  long  to 
read  Froude's  History,  but  new  books  are  little  heard  of 
and  never  seen  here,  except  German  books — and  of  those, 
and  good  ones,  I  have  certainly  more  than  enough  to 
read :  but  still  one  wishes  sometimes  that  among  all  the 


208          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

travellers  there  were  such  as  would  convert  themselves 
into  a  traveller's  J  ending-library  !  I  am  sure  I  wish  not 
to  have  more  books  given  !  for  I  know  not  how  to  put  up 
those  we  have,  and  my  husband's  gift-books  are  ever 
increasing :  but  opportunity  of  sometimes  borrowing 
English  or  French  books  is  among  the  things  about  which 
wishes  will  be  busy. 

"  I  hope  the  Swiss  tour,  so  much  talked  of,  may  be  so 
far  realised  as  that  Theodore  escorts  his  father  to  Coppet, 
to  visit  Madame  de  Stael  and  meet  Gobat  and  Merle 
d'Aubigne,  visiting  Basle  and  friends  there  by  the  way. 
I  never  wish  to  leave  Heidelberg,  but  to  avoid  that  half- 
year's  reign  of  death,  called  Winter.  Can  you  have  ever 
read  anything  so  antiquated  as  Thomson's  '  Winter  *  ?  I 
well  remember  the  feeling  that  the  closing  passage  (which 
I  know  by  heart)  was  an  ideal  description,  or  applied  to 
the  aspect  of  winter  in  countries  unknown  to  me.  It 
applies  very  literally  to  the  continental  winter,  not  to  that 
of  England." 

The  month  of  July,  1856,  was  marked  by  the  mar- 
riage of  Charles  Bun  sen  to  his  cousin  Mary  Isabel, 
daughter-  of  Thomas  Waddington  of  St.  Leger  near 
Houen  and  Margaret  Chisholm  his  wife,  and  sister  of 
William  Henry  Waddington,  Minister  of  Public  In- 
struction and  afterwards  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  France. 
This  event  was  hailed  by  his  mother  "with  a  joy 
which  finds  no  words."  In  August,  Bunsen  was  absent 
on  the  projected  tour,  first  on  a  visit  to  Madame  de 
Stael  at  Coppet,  and  then  on  a  short  excursion  to 
Switzerland. 


HEIDELBE11G.  209 


MADAME  BUNSEN  to  BUNSEN. 

"5  August,  1856. — So  here  is  the  letter  I  have  longed 
for ! — and  what  a  letter !  so  delightful  throughout.  I 
enjoy  your  meeting  Pressense,  and  in  the  idea  of  Quinet, 
whose  lectures,  in  annihilation  of  the  Jesuits,  I  remember 
enjoying.  How  I  like  to  figure  to  myself  the  blue  water 
of  the  Bhone  bursting  from  the  lake  just  before  your  win- 
dows !  But  I  long  to  fancy  you  at  Chamounix :  and  I  trust 
my  dear  Theodore  will  find  opportunity  of  walking  yet 
higher  into  the  blue  sky,  only  not  up  the  Mont  Blanc  itself. 

"  Frances  sta  faticando  upon  the  fourteen  letters  she  had 
to  write  for  you.  When  you  are  at  home  again,  you  must 
let  her  come  one  day  in  the  week  to  help  you  to  clear  off, 
as  they  come,  your  letters  of  scccatura.  "What  a  pleasure  it 
is  to  have  Emilia  here,  I  cannot  describe." 

"16  August,  1856. — I  rejoice  in  the  accounts  of  your 
meeting  people,  and  being  stimulated  the  more  to  write 
what  inquiring  minds  want  to  know.  The  greater  part  of 
minds,  however,  are  not  inquiring,  the  greater  number 
want  humbug,  and  must  make  it,  if  not  found  ready  made 
— example,  the  Due  de  Broglie  with  his  deduction  of 
Romanism  from  the  Gospel ! — that  is  what  in  Scripture  is 
called  '  loving  and  believing  a  lie.'  I  wish  I  could  make 
people  read  Milman's  '  History ' — that  is,  believe  that  it 
would  interest  and  entertain  them,  and  therefore  begin  it, 
for  once  begun,  they  must  go  on,  and  could  not  help  being 
struck  with  the  picture  of  the  embodiment  of  the  principle 
of  misrule  in  the  Papal  system." 

To  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"13  Sept.,  1856. — My  husband  laid  in  a  store  of  illness 
VOL.  n.  p 


210         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

in  Switzerland,  and  since  lie  came  home  has  had  much  com- 
pulsory rest  of  mind  and  body.  "We  are  now  happy  in  the 
presence  of  Ernest  and  Elizabeth  and  their  four  fine  chil- 
dren, and  we  rejoice  in  the  most  glorious  weather,  which 
shows  off  Heidelberg  to  them  in  perfection.  The  sunshine 
of  Emilia  unites  with  all  else  that  is  bright  and  cheering 
around,  and  all  these  circumstances  of  joy  and  consolation 
are  just  what  my  husband  requires  at  this  time  of  conscious 
incapability  of  usual  pursuits.  Last  not  least  happy,  is  the 
spectacle  of  Theodora  and  August  and  the  little  daughter 
born  on  the  2nd  of  September. 

"  I  am  most  truly  sorry  for  you  in  the  death  of  your  dog, 
and  the  bitterly  tragical  mode  of  it — as  to  which,  most 
certainly,  many  as  were  the  proofs  of  love  you  had  given 
him  in  the  course  of  his  little  life,  '  the  last  gift  of  love 
excell' d  the  rest,'  inasmuch  as  you  saved  him  from  length- 
ened pain  by  enduring  a  most  bitter  pang  yourself.  Do 
you  remember  in  '  Uncle  Tom,'  the  quadroon  Gassy  telling 
of  her  having  given  opium  to  her  new-born  infant,  that  it 
might  not  grow  up  to  become  a  slave  like  herself  ?  I  can 
quite  comprehend  the  feeling  of  self-sacrifice,  which  made 
that  act  the  proof  of  intense  maternal  affection — and  that 
passage  of  the  book  is  the  most  tragical  of  all  to  my  per- 
ceptions. I  delight  in  what  you  say  of  the  example  that 
animals  give  us — the  worst  is  that  most  people  only  keep 
them,  and  seem  fond  of  them,  for  the  sake  of  having  an 
object  upon  which  to  bring  all  whims  and  humours,  and 
what  are  supposed  affections,  to  bear,  without  the  incon- 
venient interference  of  conscience,  or  any  reference  to  rule 
of  right  and  wrong.  I  gave  Kingsley  great  credit  for 
the  idea  of  making  a  dog  the  first  monitor  as  to  the  worth 


HEIDELBERG.  211 


of  moral  actions,  who  produced  effect  in  softening  a  har- 
dened heart ;  and  I  never  would  like  what  I  have  heard 
my  husband  quote  (I  think)  from  Schelling — '  das  Thier  ist 
die  concrete  Eurcht ' — for  the  same  dog  which  will  not  be 
seduced  to  swerve  a  hair's-breadth  from  obedience  to  any 
command  of  his  master,  will  rush  upon  any  danger  to  save 
him  from  hurt : — I  wish  the  expression,  fear  of  God,  could 
be  expunged  from  the  Bible  translation  and  all  devotional 
works — for  I  am  sure  it  is  not  fear  but  awe  that  should  be 
understood  in  most  passages.  '  He  that  f  eareth  is  not  per- 
fect in  love,'  and  'perfect  love  casteth  out  fear' — to  my 
perceptions  express  the  Christian  truth :  the  fear,  that  love 
casteth  out,  is  of  the  Old  Testament  religion — of  which  but 
too  much  is  still  everywhere.  I  think  that  animals,  espe- 
cially dogs,  stand  in  awe  of  the  moral  energy,  of  higher 
rank  than  their  own,  to  which  they  show  the  most  jealous 
and  undoubting  subservience,  ready  to  return  with  bound- 
less love  and  gratitude  at  the  least  indication  of  kindness ; 
thereby  shaming  us  with  their  example." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"29  Sept.,  1856.— I  thank  you  for  naming  the  'Life  of 
Wilhelm  v.  Humboldt.'  Very  striking  it  is  to  contem- 
plate and  compare  various'  biographies  of  that  period,  of 
which  the  Humboldts  are  nearly  the  last  survivors  :  for 
many  are  similar  in  that  respect,  striving  hard  after  human 
perfection  as  they  understood  it,  and  feeling  sooner  or  later  that 
their  efforts  could  only  bring  them  to  a  certain  point,  with 
which  they  strove  in  vain  to  be  satisfied.  But  what  will 
the  biographies  of  their  successors  show?  I  fear  but 
'  dwindled  sons  of  little  men.'  Society  is  in  general  con- 


212         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   13UNSEN. 

scions  of  the  need  of  higher  motives,  and  of  an  object  of 
endeavour  beyond  the  sphere  of  daily  needs :  but  a  greater 
majority  of  individuals  seek  to  cheat  themselves  "with  the 
unrealities  of  names,  petrifactions  of  forms,  and  the  living 
spirit  is  embodied  nowhere. 

"  Froude's  two  volumes  of  English  History  are  highly 
interesting,  and  give  much  fact  that  I  suppose  unknown 
before,  tending  to  give  a  different  view  of  the  beginnings  of 
Henry  VIII.'s  reign :  but  I  think  it  a  very  crude  work, 
and  that  is  not  surprising,  considering  the  phases  the 
author  has  passed  through.  What  pains  me  in  it,  are  his 
low  and  disgraceful  opinions  on  the  subjects  indicated  by 
the  awful  words  heresy  and  persecution.  Could  one  expect 
to  hear  from  an  author  decidedly  not  Romanist,  in  these 
days  of  supposed  enlightenment,  that  if  we  punish  the 
murderer  with  death,  who  only  destroys  the  body,  it  is  not 
illogical  to  visit  with  aggravated  punishment  the  teacher 
whose  doctrines  may  consign  the  soul  to  perdition  ?  One  had 
hoped  that  the  allowed  sphere  of  human  law  and  of  human 
retribution  had  been  by  this  time  clearly  defined  for  all  not 
Papists,  and  that  opinion,  honestly  entertained,  and  not 
upheld  by  crime,  would  be  left  by  every  historian  to  a 
higher  tribunal  than  that  of  man's  justice. — A  very  unjust 
and  objectionable  representation  of  the  Lollards  in  Eng- 
land, belongs  to  this  view  of  the  subject :  and  his  assertion 
that  the  '  heretics  of  the  fourteenth  century '  left  a  hateful 
recollection,  shows  a  great  want  of  discrimination — for  he 
ought  to  know  better  the  custom  of  the  Church  of  Rome  in 
all  countries  of  blackening  the  memory  of  confessors  not 
their  own :  and  he  ought  to  know  Shakspere's  merit  in 
having  reinstated  the  memoiy  of  Oldcastle  Lord  Cobham 


HEIDELBERG.  213 


in  due  honour  by  marking  his  Falstaff  as  a  different  person,  as 
well  as  in  making  a  hero  of  the  conqueror  of  France  at  Agin- 
court — for  the  dramatists  of  the  fifteenth  century  made  no 
less  a  contemptible  buffoon  of  Prince  Hal,  than  of  his  early 
associate,  afterwards  the  martyr.  Yet  we  will  be  grateful 
to  Froude  and  every  one  who  will  study  the  documents  and 
MSS.  and  give  us  more  facts  of  English  history." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  9  Nov.,  1856. — I  am  thankful  to  be  able  to  tell  you  of 
your  Father's  having  gone  to  Diirckheim  and  returned 
without  in  any  way  suffering  from  the  change  of  bed  and 
diet,  and  the  visit  was  thoroughly  agreeable  and  satis- 
factory to  him.  He  had  the  great  pleasure  and  surprise  of 
meeting  Stockmar  there,  who  made  the  little  circuit  from 
Coburg  to  visit  the  Princess  on  his  way  to  England, 
whither  I  am  rejoiced  to  hear  he  is  going  !  I  cannot  fancy 
anything  more  to  be  desired  for  the  Queen  than  having 
him  near  her  through  the  complications  which  loom  so 
fearfully  through  the  mists  on  the  horizon." 

"12  Nov. — I  know  not  whether  you  have  heard  of  my 
fall  on  the  pavement  in  Heidelberg,  by  which  I  was  so 
seriously  bruised,  that  I  have  been  obliged  ever  since  to  be 
as  nearly  motionless  as  possible.  I  am  better  to-day,  only 
I  am  mortified  that  I  should  not  be  able  to  see  Prince 
Alfred,  who  is  just  arrived,  and  your  Father  is  going  to 
liim." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  15  Dec.,  1856. — We  now  look  so  ugly,  so  dingy,  so 
black,  and  so  withered  here,  that  no  creature  would  recog- 
nise beautiful  Heidelberg  who  had  known  it  before,  and 


214         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

no  imagination  could  be  strong  enough  to  picture  the  effect 
of  sunshine  and  vegetation.  I  think  too  we  are  all  wintry 
in  mind,  by  which  I  do  not  mean  melancholy  or  dispirited, 
only  under  the  consciousness  of  the  need  of  inward  exer- 
tion, to  keep  up  the  battle  with  the  tyrant  of  the  year. 
Yet  your  Father  enjoys  his  Bible  Commentary,  and  quite 
feasts  upon  the  subjects  of  contemplation  and  inquiry  con- 
nected with  it.  Most  justly  may  one  apply  the  line  of  the 
old  poem — '  My  mind  to  me  a  kingdom  is ' :  for  in  this 
place,  so  full  of  variety  of  intercourse  in  the  fine  season, 
there  is  now  next  to  nothing  wherewith  to  refresh  the 
mind." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"20  Dec.,  1856. — We  are  again  in  the  period  of  the  year 
which  Papa  calls  the  state  of  siege ! — "Few  are  the  visitors 
that  venture  over  the  bridge,  so  much  dreaded  in  Heidel- 
berg on  account  of  the  wind,  and  few  are  those  that  one 
wishes  to  see  cross  it :  so  one  is  closed  in  winter-seclusion, 
and  bound  to  find  amusement  and  occupation  for  oneself 
as  best  one  can,  which  for  us  old  people  I  think  very 
natural  and  feasible,  but  I  long  for  more  interest  and 
amusement  for  those  younger.  Theodore  and  Matilda  how- 
ever have  often  had  balls,  which  I  am  glad  of  for  them  as 
diversifying  the  scene,  and  giving  opportunity  of  thorough 
exercise,  such  as  I  should  like  to  have  myself  !  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  EMMA. 

"2  Jan.,  1857. — You  and  dearest  George  and  your  two 
precious  children  were  very  present  with  us  in  mind,  as 
our  small  home-party  awaited  the  hour  of  midnight  on  the 


HEIDELBERG.  215 


last  day  of  a  year  which,  has  brought  us  abundance  of 
blessing,  and  which  we  are  allowed  to  close  in  health  and 
peace.  How  happy  to  feel  about  Rheindorf  that  the  pre- 
serving and  carrying  on  the  present  state  of  blessing  is 
what  we  have  to  ask !  In  the  case  of  other  beloved  ones, 
there  must  be  longing  wishes  and  earnest  cravings — only  to 
be  quieted  by  the  recollection  of  life's  experience,  which  ever 
shows  that  the  merciful  Providence  of  God  has  always  pro- 
vided what  was  best,  whether  we  perceived  it  to  be  such  or 
not! 

"  We  had  our  Christmas  Tree  in  the  large  sitting-room, 
and  it  was  as  high  as  the  ceiling  would  allow,  and  very 
ornamentally  arranged  by  the  skill  of  Theodore,  with  help 
of  young  Streatfield,  besides  whom  we  had  no  strangers 
present  but  Frau  Heydweiller  and  her  youngest  son.  Yes- 
terday we  had  a  visit  from  Deimling  and  his  violin,  and 
Frances  was  again  able  to  play  on  the  piano-forte  and 
organ.  Her  father's  new  book  ('  Grott  in  der  Geschichte') 
is  a  real  feast  to  me — for  much  as  I  had  heard  of  it  in  frag- 
ments, it  is  a  new  pleasure  and  satisfaction  to  read  in  con- 
nection such  parts  as  suit  me.  The  comments  and  criticisms 
on  various  unallowed  hypotheses,  I  regularly  skip,  and  ad- 
vise you  to  do  the  same ;  but  I  make  no  doubt  of  your 
enjoying  as  I  do  the  explanations  as  to  the  Prophets  and 
Prophecies,  for  which  I  have  wished  all  my  life,  conscious 
of  the  quantity  of  unintelligibility  in  the  subject.'* 

To  ABEKEN. 

"7  March,  1857. — Your  letter  was  a  pleasure  only  en- 
hanced by  anticipation,  for  I  was  quite  sure  you  would 
write  to  me  near  the  time  of  an  anniversary  with  which 


216         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

your  presence  was  long  associated,  and  on  which,  even  in 
absence  so  long  protracted,  your  sympathy  is  ever  reckoned 
upon.  Your  enumeration  of  the  places  and  scenes  upon 
which  I  might  look  round  and  look  back  with  thankful 
eye  and  heart,  most  faithfully  responded  to  the  train  of  my 
reflections,  which  have  ever  brought  me  back  to  a  sense  of 
incapability  of  being  thankful  enough  for  the  rich  variety  of 
blessing  which  has  attended  the  course  of  my  life,  and  for 
the  providential  mercy  which  spares  my  advanced  age  the 
struggles  and  labours  and  anxieties  which  were  seen  good 
for  my  more  vigorous  years.  I  know  not  how  to  believe 
that  I  have  completed  66  years !  and  yet  such  is  the  case ; 
few  people  have  I  ever  known  in  such  health  and  comfort, 
and  capability  of  bodily  activity  and  of  mental  enjoyment 
and  of  constant  occupation,  as  I  am  allowed  to  experience : 
and  even,  wonderful  to  tell !  I  have  found  my  eyes  materi- 
ally strengthened  within  the  last  year — so  that  the  dark 
months  of  winter  have  not  caused  me  such  interruption  of 
habitual  employments  latterly  as  in  former  years.  This 
must  be  owing  to  the  gradual  renovation  of  all  physical 
powers  consequent  upon  a  life  spent  in  animated  tranquil- 
lity in  pure  air  and  country  stillness,  and  the  possibility  of 
keeping  out  of  heated  rooms  and  glaring  lamplight. 

"The  pleasure  of  Charles  and  Mary-Isabel's  visit  was 
unalloyed.  .  .  .  She  may  take  her  place  in  the  remarkable 
group  of  my  daughters-in-law,  all  first-rate,  each  in  her 
own  original  way !  " 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Heidelberg,  15  April,  1857.— I  have  had  lately  a  great 
fright  from  your  Father's  determination  to  leave  this  house. 


HEIDELBERG.  217 


...  I  begged  hard,  and  the  notice  was  not  sent.  But  he 
may  be  right,  as  he  often  is  in  anticipations — and  '  die 
schonen  Tage  in  Aranjuez  nahen  vielleicht  ihrem  Ende.' 
And  what  then  ?  I  ask — and  you  must  help  to  make  out 
the  answer.  Not  any  one  of  us  is  more  in  love  with  this 
habitation  than  your  Father  is — and  not  one  of  us  will  have 
more  difficulty  in  becoming  accustomed  to  any  other — and 
then,  we  are  so  difficult  to  house!  not  on  account  of  the  num- 
ber of  our  persons,  but  of  our  things.  Our  books  are  an  ever- 
increasing  mass,  and  your  Father  has  an  ever-increasing 
attachment  to  them  and  regret  for  the  forced  diminution 
which  took  place  on  leaving  London — so  that  I  trust  it  may 
never  be  indispensable  to  pain  him  by  a  suggestion  of 
selling  any  of  them.  Our  piano-forte  and  Kunstfestung  also 
demand  rooms  on  a  large  scale." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"27  April,  1857. — This  day  week  was  a  glorious  sum- 
mer's day,  when  I  had  the  first  walk  I  had  been  able  to 
take  for  ever  so  long — up  the  Hirsch-gasse  to  look  at  the 
exquisite  cherry-trees  in  blossom  against  the  green  slope." 

"  15  May,  1857. — Your  Father's  feeling  about  leaving 
this  place  seems  to  have  given  way,  I  believe  owing  prin- 
cipally to  the  extreme  beauty  of  the  spring  and  of  this  spot 
of  earth,  for  he  is  more  than  ever  delighted  with  all  around 
him — the  inward  sunshine  answering  the  outward.  I  have 
such  unutterable  shrinking  from  the  removal,  the  sacrifice 
of  time  and  of  a  great  piece  of  life  in  the  totally  unprofit- 
able labour  of  breaking  up  a  whole  fabric  of  household 
comfort,  and  re-edifying  it  elsewhere  as  may  be — that  I 
can  only-  comfort  myself  in  the  certainty  that  if  it  is  good 


218         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

for  us  to  stay  where  we  are,  it  will  please  God  to  make  it 
possible.  '  Let  come  what  will,  we  have  been  blest ' — not 
only  in  general  terms,  but  peculiarly  in  this  unequalled 
course  of  splendid  weather  :  the  sky  is  cloudless,  and  the 
glow  of  vegetation  and  blossom  is  such,  as  one  should  think 
one  had  never  seen  before.  I  have  the  impression  of  con- 
tinued brightness,  with  very  short  intervals,  ever  since 
Charles  and  Mary  Isabel  came  in  February :  I  scarcely 
remember  so  long  a  time  of  basking  in  light,  and  never 
was  there  more  sunshine  within,  because  your  Father  is  so 
happy  in  the  progress  of  the  work  of  his  life." 

"  27  May,  1857. — One  has  always  the  trick  of  swimming 
down  the  stream  of  time,  too  much  enjoying  the  immediate 
objects  right  and  left,  to  see  how  rapidly  one  approaches  a 
mark  on  the  way,  to  which  one  had  been  tending  as  far 
distant :  and  now  we  are  only  two  days  from  your  birth- 
day  I  am  thankful  for  you,  and  I  am  sure  you  are 

for  yourself,  that  the  work  of  each  day  is  now  so  clearly 
marked  out  for  you,  and  there  is  so  clearly  a  must  for  every- 
thing, with  however  willing  and  cheerful  a  mind  undertaken. 
Depend  upon  it,  to  be  quite  clear  what  one  ought  to  do, 
and  have  little  or  no  choice,  is  one  of  the  great  essentials 
of  happiness,  more  especially  belonging  to  young  years. 
Thankful  though  I  am  for  the  ease  and  quiet  and  leisure 
granted  to  my  own  advancing  years,  I  am  often  tempted 
to  wish  I  had  actual  ivork  more  clearly  marked  out  for  me, 
always  provided  it  was  within  the  compass  of  my  much- 
diminished  strength  and  activity." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  6  July,  1857. — Your  Father  has  been  greatly  interested, 


HEIDELBERG.  219 


and  so  have  we  all,  by  the  traveller  Van  de  Welde,  who 
has  been  nere  for  some  days,  and  has  spent  each  morning 
and  evening  with  us.  Yesterday  we  had  a  visit  from  tho 
family  Yon  Dietrich,  parents  and  daughter,  who  belong 
to  a  race  of  Protestant  confessors  and  martyrs,  not  less 
than  two  of  their  ancestors  having  died  in  a  good  cause  in 
Strasburg.  They  are  at  the  head  of  an  industrial  mass  of 
many  thousands  who  work  at  the  forges  of  Niederbronnen 
in  the  Bas  Bhin,  where  they  constitute  a  great  support  of 
the  Protestants,  and  have  much  to  endure  from  the  enmity, 
secret  and  open,  of  the  fanatical  party  conscious  of  govern- 
ment support." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  FRANCES. 

"  Wildlad,  14  August,  1857.— The  drive  hither  from 
Durlach  was  most  refreshing,  through  a  prettily  undulating 
country,  with  streams  and  trees  and  meadows  and  neat 
cultivation,  and  abundance  of  good  villages,  all  looking 
like  unmixed  and  flourishing  Protestantism !  no  wayside 
images,  no  Jesuit  churches,  no  slatternliness.  At  a  pic- 
turesque town  called  Neuenburg  I  first  met  my  old  friend 
the  Enz  river,  and  recognised  the  peculiar  gold-brown 
colours  of  the  eddying  current,  which  tinges  the  white  and 

grey  masses  of  rock  that  it  passes  over I  rejoice  to 

see  your  Father  seeking  and  accepting  repose !  and  walking 
wonderfully,  in  the  beautiful  grove  called  the  Promenade. 
I  have  been  taking  Matilda  through  old  haunts  of  my  own. 
The  air  is  exquisite  here,  and  the  temperature  perfection. 
Yesterday  for  the  first  time  we  had  a  drive,  accompanied 
by  Miss  Wynn,  up  the  valley  of  the  Enz,  to  the  first 
village  on  the  road  to  Freudeustadt,  where  we  had  coffee 


220         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

while  the  horses  rested  for  half  an  hour:  coffee  is  the 
only  part  of  the  feast  we  enjoyed,  which  can  be  indicated 
quite  intelligibly  in  words — but  the  scenes  of  forest  and 
river  and  meadow,  under  such  sunshine  and  in  such  air, 
blend  into  visions  of  splendour  that  will  remain  with  me  as 
a  property,  and  were  most  thoroughly  delighted  in  by  each 
and  all  of  the  party." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  EMMA. 

"  Wildlad,  15  August,  1857. — Do  you,  or  does  dearest 
George,  know  the  grandeur  of  these  fir-forests  ?  hill  after 
hill  clothed  with  magnificent  groves  of  spiral  form  and 
solemn  colouring,  softening  down  into  borders  of  beech 
and  birch,  and  emerald  meadows  watered  by  abundant 
streams.  To-day  we  crossed  the  water-parting  by  very 
long  ascent  from  the  valley  of  the  Enz,  and  by  a  descent 
apparently  as  long  into  that  of  the  Nagold.  Your  Father 
walked  about  the  ruins  of  Hirschau.  "We  dined  there, 
and  drove  on  to  Pf arrer  Barth  *  at  Calw,  who  was  very 
kind  and  cordial." 

To  her  SON    GEORGE    (during    the    dangerous   illness    of    a 

daughter). 

"2  Sept.,  1857. — My  own  George!  could  one  but  do 
anything  for  you !  But  some  people  are  called  upon  to 
work  through  their  most  trying  hours  alone  with  God; 
and  well  it  is  for  them,  if  I  may  speak  from  my  own 
experience.  In  the  bitterest  times  of  my  life,  I  was  for- 
bidden or  disabled  by  circumstances  from  complaint  or 
utterance  towards  any  human  being — and  thus  driven  to  a 

*  Author  of  Christlichs  Kindertschriften—QUQ  of  the  first  works  of  its 
kind. 


HEIDELBERG.  221 


consciousness  of  divine  support  and  superhuman  sympathy  : 
which  makes  me  look  distrustfully  upon  that  family-shar- 
ing of  sorrow  which  I  often  see  sought  after  and  reckoned, 
upon  as  indispensable.  .  .  .  May  your  case  be  that  of 
your  Mother,  who  had  weights  to  bear  and  labours  to 
struggle  through,  quite  as  much  as  her  strength  could 
meet,  during  the  years  of  vigour  of  body  usually  called 
the  best  years  of  life,  and  who  has  found  the  downward  path 
wonderfully  smoothed  to  her  during  '  the  sober  autumn 
fading  into  age.'  " 

August  was  marked  for  Bunsen  by  a  renewal  of  in- 
tercourse with  his  old  friend  Mr.  William  Backhouse 
Astor,  the  constant  companion  of  several  years  of  hia 
early  life,  but  whom  he  had  not  seen  since  his  return 
to  America  in  1816.  The  friends  met  with  undi- 
minished  affection,  and  gathered  up  in  a  few  days  the 
dropped  threads  of  many  years.  Mr.  Astor  wan 
accompanied  by  his  wife,  and  his  charming  grand- 
daughter, Miss  Astor  "Ward,  now  Mrs.  Chandler. 

In  September,  Bunsen  was  summoned  by  the  King  to 
be  present  at  the  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance,  and  spent  three  weeks  at  Berlin,  in  an 
enjoyment  of  the  society  of  many  friends,  which  was 
enhanced  by  the  conviction  he  received  of  retaining 
his  old  place  in  the  affection  of  his  sovereign, 

MADAME  BUNSEN  to  hei  SON  KENRY. 

"  6  Sept..  1857. — We  are  in  the  midst  of  visitors.  Wo 
have  seen  Astor  several  times,  with  a  very  agreeable  im- 


222         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

pression  of  manliness  and  straightforwardness.  .  .  .  The 
Brandis's  came  to  us  on  the  llth,  the  Gerhards  may  come 
any  day.  Baron  Uxkiill  suddenly  appeared  last  night, 
full  of  England — delighted  and  admiring." 

"  9  Sept. — Your  Father  is  preparing  to  set  out  this  very 
day  towards  Berlin ;  and  I  think  your  feeling  will  be  mine 
after  reading  the  King's  letter,  that  no  choice  was  left  him 
but  to  comply  with  a  request  so  urgent  and  affectionate, 
coupled  with  the  offer  to  bear  all  expenses  of  journey,  and 
of  residence  in  the  palace.  The  latter  invitation  is  a 
matter  of  amazement  to  him,  as  he  is  not  aware  of  a 
subject  ever  being  invited  to  the  palace  at  Berlin,  though 
he  has  often  been  the  King's  guest  before  at  Sans  Souci 
and  Charlottenburg.  But  though  entirely  satisfied  that 
he  should  go,  the  expedition  is  a  most  anxious  matter  to 
me,  because  he  has  never  yet  made  a  journey  from  home 
without  returning  ill,  and  nothing  can  prevent  that  again 
being  the  case,  unless  he  can  begin  a  course  of  prudence 
which  will  be  very  new  to  him. 

' '  Monckton  Milnes  has  been  here  five  days,  and  has  been 
the  greater  part  of  each  day  with  us,  very  amiable  and 
entertaining.  The  Gerhards  dined  with  us  yesterday,  in 
addition  to  Meyer  and  Max  Miiller.  People  without  end 
are  expected.  It  is  a  pity  that  Laboulaye's  promised  visit 
should  not  have  taken  place,  as  he  will  now  come  to  an 
empty  house." 

"  5  Oct.,  1857. — I  am  happy  to-day  to  be  able  to  an- 
nounce your  Father's  actual  return.  Last  week  I  had 
most  interesting  letters  almost  every  day — for  never  in  any 
absence  before  had  I  so  much  the  comfort  of  feeling  that 
lie  experienced  the  need  of  telling  me  of  daily  proceedings, 


HEIDELBERG.  223 


even  though  he  had  dearest  George  for  his  comfort  and 
help.  He  invited  us  to  meet  him  at  Frankfort,  that  we 
might  see  together  the  Stiidler-Museum,  &c..  and  that  he 
might  see  his  old  friend  Schopenhauer,  the  metaphysician. 
"  Your  Father  had  announced  his  departure  two  or  three 
times  before  it  was  actually  possible,  for  the  King  detained 
him  with  fresh  invitations :  at  length  on  Tuesday,  29th 
Sept.,  he  was  desired  to  dine  at  Sans  Souci  and  to  stay  all 
night  and  over  the  dinner  next  day,  after  which  he 
was  most  affectionately  dismissed,  having  had  very  long 
audiences,  in  which  he  laid  before  the  King  much  that  was 
on  his  mind  to  urge,  and  the  King  took  all  in  the  best 
manner.  Whether  any  good,  or  indeed  anything,  result 
from  these  interviews,  time  must  show,  and  it  is  impos- 
sible to  calculate  :  it  is  in  God's  hand.  But  your  Father 
continues  to  hold  Hoffmann  *  in  the  same  high  esteem  as 
ever  :  and  thinks  the  increase  of  his  influence  for  good,  not 
to  be  beyond  hope.  For  this  journey  to  Berlin  we  have  to 
be  very  thankful,  for  it  has  been  a  great  refreshment  of 
mind  to  your  Father,  from  intercourse  with  men  and 
things  of  high  interest,  drawing  him  off  from  the  exclusive 
bent  of  all  faculties  in  latter  times  :  and  his  feelings  have 
been  gratified,  as  he  well  deserved,  by  consciousness  of  the 
general  interest  and  approbation  of  which  he  was  the 
object." 

To  her  DAUCHTEII-IN-LAW  EMMA. 

"  4  Dec.,  1857. — Rather  late,  we  have  been  reminded  of 
the  date  of  your  birthday,  by  the  one  who  has  memory, 
and  that  is.   my   own  darling  Theodora !     You  will  not 
••  The  King's  Chaplain. 


224         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

get  tliese  lines  on  the  right  day,  but  you  Trill  believe 
in  the  assurance  whenever  you  get  it  that  I  greet  each 
added  year  of  your  life,  and  of  your,  in  such  a  precious 
sense,  belonging  to  myself — being  one  of  my  private  store 
of  treasures,  with  added  love  to  yourself  and  additional 
thankfulness  to  God's  merciful  Providence,  which  has 
formed,  and  guided,  and  preserved  you. 

"  The  whole  history  of  the  Indian  war,  when  it  shall 
once  be  all  told,  will  be  of  wonderful  interest !  and  amid 
all  horrors  and  all  weaknesses  and  errors,  highly  conso- 
latory, as  showing  a  nation  and  human  nature  in  full 
vigour  and  power  of  self-devotedness  to  an  object  out 
of  self.  One  reads  of  ancient  nations,  and  one  knows 
of  modern  Oriental  nations,  becoming  enervated,  and  in- 
capable of  high  resolve  and  self-sacrificing  energy,  but, 
thank  God,  it  is  not  so  with  ours.  How  one  ought  to  pray 
for  wisdom  to  be  granted  to  those  in  whose  hands  the 
ordering  of  future  government  in  that  wonderful  India  is 
placed ! " 

"29  Dec.,  1857. — This  has  been  a  bright  cheerful 
Christmas-time  to  us,  favoured  by  weather  and  mild 
temperature,  which  I  am  afraid  is  more  powerful  over 
me  than  it  ought  to  be  in  helping  towards  a  general  con- 
sciousness of  well-being; — but,  promising  to  do  my  best 
towards  independence  of  the  external  world,  I  may  allow 
myself  to  revel  in  the  enjoyment  of  more  beauty  and 
brightness,  than  I  remember  in  any  previous  year  of  my 
life.  Your  Father  is  bright  and  cheerful,  and  we  have 
enjoyed  together  the  printed  sheets  of  Gott  in  der  Geschichte. 
My  fear  of  the  winter  as  promising  little  chance  of  variety 
of  intercourse  and  interest  for  him,  has  hitherto  been 


HEIDELBERG.  225 


beyond  hope  relieved,  by  one  thing  or  other — the  visit  of 
Ernest,  and  the  visit  of  Usedom,  both  have  lately  introduced 
variety  into  the  daily  current  of  thought." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"11  Jan.,  1858. — You  will  believe  that  it  has  been  a 
feast  to  me  to  follow  your  bright  description  of  the  scenes 
of  sober  joy  and  Christian  satisfaction  you  have  contrived 
to  spread  around  the  celebration  of  Christmas.  I  enter 
into  every  one  of  your  various  receptions  with  keen  relish, 
and  with  aspirations  of  thankfulness  towards  Providence, 
such  as  words  cannot  utter,  for  allowing  me  to  behold 
(with  the  mind's  eye)  the  realising  of  visions  of  many  years' 
standing — as  to  what  the  minister  of  Christ  might,  with 
human  means  and  human  will,  accomplish  for  the  benefit 
of  Christ's  flock.  To  'rejoice  in  the  Lord,'  to  'glory  in 
His  salvation ' — to  strive  forwards  in  the  race,  not  dwell- 
ing upon  sin,  but  shrinking  with  dislike  from  all  con- 
tamination— endeavouring  after  all  things  good  and  lovely 
— aiming  at  the  real  and  positive — turning  away  from  the 
merely  negative  as  from  all  sham — and  cultivating  all  the 
wholesome  energies  implanted  in  our  nature  to  help  us  to 
spiritualise  and  counteract  the  animal  tendencies — all  that, 
and  much  more,  is  the  proper  growth  of  a  warm  atmo- 
sphere of  love  and  joy,  such  as  the  teacher  of  Christian 
truth  may  be  imagined  to  create  around  him — such  as  in 
a  long  life  one  might  hope  would  be  achieved. 

"I  fancy  the  wonderfully  fine  weather  agrees  with  you, 
as  it  does  with  your  Mother.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  con- 
stantly amazed  at  the  continuation  of  activity  and  well- 
being  and  power  of  exercise  in  myself.  I  must  almost 

VOL.  II.  Q 


226         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEN. 

grudge  it  to  myself,  unless  I  could  make  a  little  more 
use  of  it  for  others — for  I  do  not  see  much  good  that  I  can 
do,  and  can  only  say  for  myself  that  I  think  I  am  willing, 
if  anything  more  could  be  shown  me  for  which  I  am  able, 
and  which  is  capable  of  being  woven  into  the  system  of 
daily  life  once  laid  down  as  what  must  be,  and  which  I 
wish  not  changed." 

"  17  Jan.)  1858. — We  have  all  been  reading  with  intense 
interest  a  book  sent  by  Lord  Carnwath — English  Hands  and 
English  Hearts,  being  an  account  of  the  experience  of  Miss 
Marsh  of  Beckenham  among  the  navvies  employed  in  the 
construction  of  the  Sydenham  Palace.  My  astonishment  is 
caused,  not  so  much  by  the  grand  qualities  she  displays,  nor 
by  the  splendid  stuff  of  which  the  men  are  made,  but  by  the 
soundness  of  the  Christianity  she  teaches.  In  the  whole 
book  I  have  not  found  a  single  slang  or  cant  phrase — such 
as  alas !  so  disfigure  the  greater  number  of  pious  biographies, 
that  I  am  apt  to  turn  away  from  books  of  the  sort,  and  I 
did  not  read  the  Memoir  of  Captain  Vicars,  though  I  saw 
it  on  Emma's  table,  from  apprehending  one  of  the  common 
class  of  low-church  communications,  or  something  in  the 
style  that  makes  it  so  hard  to  read  missionary  reports, 
creating  the  wish  that  one  could  get  the  wheat  sifted  from 
the  chaff  beforehand." 

The  spring  of  1858  was  marked  by  the  unsought  arid, 
at  the  time,  little-welcomed  elevation  of  Bunsen  to  the 
peerage,  though  the  distinction  afterwards  bore  the 
touching  character  of  a  last  mark  of  confidence  and 
affection  from  King  Frederick  William  IV.,  by  whom 
the  patent  of  nobility  for  Baron  von  Bunsen  was  signed 


HEIDELBERG.  227 


on  the  3rd  October,  1857,*  only  a  few  hours  before  the 
seizure  which  deprived  him  of  his  faculties. 

BARONESS  VON  BUNSEN  to  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  2  April,  1858. — Your  dear  Father  is  now  subject  to 
such  constant  misery  and  spasms,  that  it  makes  one  feel 
very  anxious  and  very  helpless !  But  he  is  writing  with 
the  greatest  zest  at  '  Gott  in  der  Geschichte '  and  enjoys  the 
eight  of  a  half  volume  of  the  Bible-work,  in  a  most  satis- 
factory state  of  completeness.  Yesterday  evening  we  were 
surprised  with  a  visit  from  Professor  Welcker  of  Bonn,  to 
whom  your  Father  read  aloud  (we  all  profited,  including 
Theodora  and  August)  his  last-written  chapter,  on  the 
Greek  idea  of  the  Nemesis.  Yery  peaceful  and  soothing 
have  been  these  blessed  days  of  Passion  Week,  calling  for 
deep  thought  and  prayer !  May  you  have  been  allowed 
without  disturbance  to  take  in  the  dew  from  Heaven  !  " 

"  8  April. — Your  letter  increases  your  Father's  longing 
for  your  presence.  He  reminds  you  that  life  is  altogether 
a  conflict  between  various  duties,  and  can  only  be  got 
through  by  dint  of  sacrificing  to  the  right  and  left,  where 
time  and  occasion  are  not  sufficient  for  embracing  all — and 
throwing  the  disposable  amount  of  power,  time,  attention, 
just  where  it  is  most  demanded  at  the  moment ;  resolving 
to  leave  no  quarter  unattended  to  in  its  turn.  This  is 
directed  towards  those  threatened  impediments  to  your 

coming  in  May Never  was  your  Father  brighter 

and  fuller  in  mind,  or  more  sunshiny  in  mood,  though  his 
health  you  will  find  anything  but  satisfactory,  And  time 
flies  ever  faster,  and  years  have  been  strung  on  to  years — 

*  It  was,  with  one  exception,  the  last  paper  signed  by  the  King. 


228         LITE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

so  as  to  repeat  the  warning  that  the  period  will  come, 
when  such  intercourse  as  now  is  practicable  will  belong  to 
the  past. 

"  And  so  our  dear  Neukomm  is  gone  !  On  Easter  Eve 
he  breathed  his  last :  and  with  him  closes  a  period  rich  in 
recollections  of  thirty-two  years  of  friendship  and  warm 
sjnnpathy,  and  very  frequent  and  influential  personal  inter- 
course. Your  Father  had  one  of  his  fortunate  inspirations 
on  Palm  Sunday,  to  write  to  him,  under  the  consciousness 
that  his  life  could  not  last  much  longer :  and  the  letter, 
read  to  him  by  Mrs.  Schwabe — was  the  last  pleasure  of  his 
life — he  heard  and  understood  it,  and  soon  after  fell  into  a 
state  of  wandering  of  mind,  alternating  with  unconscious- 
ness which  lasted  till  he  expired.  And  dear  Lady  Raffles, 
longing  for  release,  still  struggles  under  the  hand  of 
death ! 

"  A  letter  from  Lady  Jane  Ram*  leads  me  to  apprehend 
that  my  dear  aunt's  vital  powers  are  giving  way !  it  is  only 
wonderful  that  she  should  have  revived  so  often.  Thus  by 
degrees  I  see  all  disappearing  who  were  contemporaries  of 
the  scenes  and  persons  of  my  earliest  remembrance : — and 
often  do  visions  of  the  past  glide  before  my  mind's  eye, 
which  no  living  eye  but  my  own  (as  far  as  I  am  conscious) 
has  beheld." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  25  May,  1858. — I  feel  the  looking  forward  as  peculiarly 
solemn,  for  I  am  conscious  -of  changes  impending.  May  it 
be  God's  merciful  pleasure  to  guide  your  dear  Father  to 

*  Daughter  of  the  third  Earl  of  Courtoun.  Her  husband,  Canon 
Ram,  was  first  cousin  of  the  Baroness  von  Bunsen. 


HEIDELBERG.  229 


means  of  real  amendment  and  renovation  :  but  one  cannot 
deceive  oneself  as  to  the  rapid  change  for  the  worse  since 

last   autumn Yet    I   might  be    in  rather    better 

spirits  to-day,  for  we  accomplished  j^esterday  a  great 
undertaking,  and  I  think  your  Father  is  comforted  by 
having  been  able  to  do  something  like  other  people.  We 
went  to  the  Opera  at  Mannheim,  which  was  the  Zauberflote, 
and  most  thoroughly  enjoyed  it.  I  had  long  planned  to  go 
with  Matilda  and  Henry,  but  was  half  frightened  when 
your  Father  expressed  the  desire  to  go  too — not  knowing 
whether  it  might  not  cause  attacks  which  would  have  made 
pleasure  impossible:  but  we  drove  the  whole  way  in  a 
carriage,  had  tea  at  the  Pfalzerhof,  were  fetched  from  the 
theatre  at  once  by  the  carriage  in  which  we  drove  home, 
and  all  answered  entirely." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"10i/w»0,  1858. — "We  have  had  great  pleasure  in  the 
visit  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Argyll,  who  came  sud- 
denly a  little  before  ten  o'clock  on  Monday  evening  the 
31st  May,  when  your  Father  and  I  were  taking  a  turn  in 
the  garden  before  going  to  bed !  The  next  morning  we 
took  them  by  the  Wolfsbrunnen  to  the  castle,  then  they 
came  to  us  afternoon  and  evening,  and  Matilda  took  their 
two  sons  on  the  Neckar  in  Hormuth's  boat.  On  Wednes- 
day they  dined  with  us,  and  proceeded  in  the  evening 
to  Frankfort,  on  their  way  to  Carlsbad. 

"  Another  visit  has  been  most  unthought  of  and  inter- 
esting— from  Adele  Vollard  and  her  sister  Marianne  !  The 
former  came  to  deposit  her  sister  with  a  lady  having  a 
country -place  in  Baden,  then  she  came  back  and  slept  here 


230          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

one  night,  going  off  next  day  to  Treves,  to  enter  the  con- 
vent of  the  Soeurs  de  S.  Charles  as  a  novice  ! — so,  as  she 
said,  the  night  under  our  roof  was  the  last  for  her  in  the 
world.  She  seems  quite  clear  as  to  her  determination, 
which  in  fact  has  long  been  made ;  she  has  done  with  the 
Kadzivil-family,  having  bred  up  the  daughters  to  whom 
she  engaged  to  devote  herself  : — and  in  her  own  home  she 
insists  upon  it  that  there  is  no  especial  office  for  her,  and 
that  she  is  only  in  the  way  of  her  mother's  competent 
activity.  It  was  very  affecting  to  'me  to  see  her  once  again, 
and  under  such  peculiar  circumstances  ! 

"  What  an  enjoyment  my  dear  Henry's  visit  was  to  us, 
you  will  guess !  We  are  still  tasting  the  refreshment  of 
his  presence." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  9  July,  1858. — Miss  Wink-worth  is  come,  but  Florence 
Nightingale  (to  whom  your  Father  had  written  an  urgent 
appeal  to  induce  her  to  come  here  and  make  us  a  visit,  for 
rest  and  quiet)  has  written  a  solemn  and  affecting  declara- 
tion that  she  will  continue  to  use  her  remains  of  life  in 
working  for  her  main  object — having  no  expectation  from 
the  declaration  of  her  physicians  that  she  can  anyhow  long 
survive." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  22  July,  1858. — In  a  most  unusual  manner  has  the  last 
week  been  passed.  Your  Father  went  to  Baden  on  Satur- 
day and  returned  last  night.  He  had  long  and  satisfactory 
interviews  with  the  Prince — saw  much  of  Pourtales,  Use- 
dom,  and  Schleinitz — went  to  Badenweiler  to  see  Frau 
Sohwabe,  and  fell  in  with  the  Minister  of  Baden,  Herr  von 


HEIDELBERG.  231 


Meysenbug,  with,  whom  he  had  wonderful  conversations : 
and  found  the  air  and  water  of  Badenweiler  a  real  balsam. 
As  soon  as  your  Father  was  off  to  Baden,  the  girls  and  I 
went  in  the  other  direction,  to  the  Haardt  Hills  beyond 
the  Rhine,  in  the  Bavarian  Palatinate.  Many  a  hill  did 
we  walk  up,  and  hot  though  the  sun  was,  we  felt  light  as 
air.  We  explored  wonderful  valleys,  driving  along  smooth, 
roads  :  ascended  on  foot  the  Trifels,  the  ruined  castle  on 
a  pyramid  of  rock,  in  which  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  was 
imprisoned,  and  from  whence  he  departed  when  set  free  by 
the  vast  '  King's  ransom '  paid  by  a  sorrowing  nation. 
The  view  thence  is  glorious — such  chains  of  mountains, 
such  extraordinary  forms,  such  links  with  links  of  emerald 
valleys,  such  delicacy  of  distant  outlines.  I  shall  like  to 
show  you  the  sketches  I  made,  and  still  better  to  make  the 
tour  with  you,  and  explore  still  further  that  splendid  tract 
of  country." 

"  4  Sept.,  1858. — "We  had  Lady  Hall  here  for  some  weeks, 

and  parted  from  her  and  Sir  Benjamin  on  the  2nd 

I  am  inexpressibly  thankful  -for  this  meeting  with  them 
both :  it  has  been  one  of  unmixed  satisfaction,  without  any 
cloud.  She  used  to  come  to  me  daily  all  afternoon  and 
evening,  and  read  the  Delany  letters  and  papers,  which 
are  highly  interesting.  I  cordially  hope,  and  begin  to 
expect,  that  all  our  uncertainties  for  the  winter  will  end  at 
last  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  :  but  where  we  are 
to  be  after  that,  defies  conjecture,  and  is  shrouded  in  mys- 
tery. Bonn  would  seem  the  indispensable,  unavoidable 
place — but  where  at  Bonn,  where  nothing  would  do  for  us 
but  the  Rhine-bank  and  the  Siebengebirge,  to  make  what 
amends  they  can  for  the  loss  of  the  prospect  we  enjoy  here : 


232         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 


and  just  that  Rhine-bank  seems  im-come-atable,  as  those 
who  possess  habitations  there,  wisely  retain  them  for  their 
own  use; — and  in  the  town,  and  within  the  sphere  of 
Bonn-life  and  gossip,  there  is  no  living  for  people 
indulged  as  we  have  everywhere  been,  with  just  the  very 

best,  and  with  being  to  ourselves If  we  had  not 

the  beauties  of  nature  here  before  the  windows,  we  should 
now  see  nothing  of  them,  for  visits  of  birds  of  passage, 
morning,  afternoon,  evening,  absorb  one's  time  and 
strength.  Yet  we  cannot  complain,  because  those  we  see, 
we  are  truly  glad  to  see — only  the  continual  receiving  and 
talking,  which  would  be  nothing  if  one  was  but  younger, 
is  a  great  tax  at  our  age." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"Heidelberg,  23  Sept.,  1858.— I  feel  difficulty  in  beginning 
to  write,  from  having  so  much  that  I  should  like  to  tell  you, 
of  the  delightful  journey  that  Emilia  and  I  accomplished  in 
perfect  safety,  returning  on  the  evening  of  the  20th,  having 
parted  from  Lepsius  that  morning  on  leaving  Bamberg, 
and  from  Abeken  the  evening  before.  It  would  not  have 
been  possible  to  have  had  more  agreeable  travelling- 
companions  than  the  two  proved,  nor  could  one  easily  have 
taken  in  more  matter  of  interest  than  was  granted  to  us  in 
the  short  space.  On  our  way  to  Munich  we  saw  Ulm  and 
its  noble  minster,  which  I  found  externally  to  be  very  clear 
in  my  memory,  but  within,  the  finely-carved  Cho-r-stiihle, 
and  the  monumental  paintings,  were  new  to  me,  and  most 
interesting.  The  names  and  faces  of  the  Besserer  and 
Krafft  and  Neithardt  families  are  venerable  relics  of  inde- 
pendent citizens,  founders  of  the  church  :  you  will  remem- 


HEIDELBERG.  233 


ber  perhaps  the  monumental  tablet  of  Krafft  and  his  wife, 
kneeling  and  holding  the  church  between  them,  supported 
on  the  back  of  the  architect,  in  which  I  observed  that  the 
church  they  hold  is  a  Byzantine  one,  with  towers  and 
extinguisher-spires  like  many  along  the  Rhine,  particularly 
at  Coblentz. 

"Munich  is  really  a  beautiful  town,  and  the  two 
churches  that  I  saw  in  their  beginnings,  the  Basilica  and 
Ludwigskirche,  are  finished  to  my  great  satisfaction.  The 
effect  of  the  Basilica  realises  in  some  degree  the  image  I 
had  formed  to  myself  of  the  Norman  church  of  Monreale — 
the  wide  apsis  filled  by  a  figure  of  the  Saviour  on  a  gold 
ground,  only  that  the  majesty  of  the  figure  is  diminished 
at  Munich  by  being  combined  with  others — in  an  oblong, 
after  mediaeval  fashion.  The  Auer-Kirche  seems  to  me,  as 
ever,  most  harmonious  in  its  whole  construction :  but  the 
painted  windows  are  not  to  my  mind.  A  group,  as  in  a 
picture,  large  and  brilliantly  coloured,  surrounded  by  an 
immensity  of  gothic  framework  looking  like  goldsmiths' 
work  rendered  transparent,  filling  up  the  lower  half  of 
each  window,  while  the  upper  half  lets  through  the  white 
.daylight — is  to  my  perceptions  out  of  taste,  and  disturbs 
the  solemn  character  of  the  building.  The  ideal  of  a 
painted  window  I  saw  afterwards  at  N timber g  in  the 
Lorenz-Kirche,  all  filled  from  top  to  bottom,  unity  in  the 
subject,  but  much  subdivision  of  parts :  the  figures  each  to 
be  easily  discriminated,  yet  small  enough  for  due  propor- 
tion. The  modern  Kunst-Ausstellung  was  a  great  enjoy- 
ment and  satisfaction.  I  renewed  old  friendships  and 
made  abundance  of  new  acquaintance,  and  rejoiced  in  the 
existence  of  so  many  artists  yet  living. 


234         LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

"  But  how  glad  I  was  to  have  seen  Munich,  first !  for  the 
feelings  excited  by  Niirnberg  are  so  far  stronger  and 
deeper.  A  town  everywhere  picturesque,  without  ruins  or 
appearance  of  neglect :  grand  and  solemn  without  being 
mournful :  full  of  life  and  apparent  well-being,  without 
fashionable  novelties  and  enticement  of  travellers :  with 
every  sign  of  the  benefits  of  industry,  without  the  disfigure- 
ment of  factories :  strong  enough  in  Protestant  faith  not 
to  be  disturbed  by  the  abundant  decorations  of  churches 
which  the  ancestors  of  the  present  generation  bequeathed 
to  their  posterity  together  with  the  Reformation.  We 
vere  accompanied  by  Professor  Merkel  of  Halle,  belong- 
ing to  one  of  the  ancient  families  of  Niirnberg,  one  of  the 
few  still  flourishing ;  and  his  explanations  everywhere 
gave  a  reason  for  the  interest  with  which  our  eyes  sought 
out  each  object.  The  Sunday  morning  service  in  the 
unequalled  Lorenz-Kirche  was  one  of  my  great  gratifica- 
tions— a  sermon  worth  hearing  and  well  heard,  and  at  the 
close,  the  Benediction  pronounced  in  cadence  from  the 
communion-table,  and  distinctly  audible,  great  as  was 
the  distance.  The  chorus  of  voices  from  the  entire 
and  numerous  congregation  had  a  heart-strengthening 
effect." 

In  October,  Bunsen  went  to  Berlin,  in  order  to  take 
his  seat  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers.  The  succession  of 
chills  to  which  he  was  then  exposed  increased  the  un- 
favourable symptoms  which  had  long  alarmed  his  family 
as  to  his  health,  and  on  his  return  to  Heidelberg,  it  was 
determined  that  a  removal  to  a  warmer  climate  was 
necessary,  though  indispensable  literary  work  caused 


HEIDELBERG.  235 


the  journey  to  the  south  of  France  to  be  deferred  till 
mid-winter  rendered  it  an  additional  risk. 

BAUONESS  BUXSEN  to  BUNSEN. 

"Heidelberg,  19  Oct.,  1858. — We  have  made  some  pro- 
gress in  Carlyle's  work,  by  the  help  of  Meyer — but  it  is 
really  a  trial  of  patience.  He  soliloquises  in  a  manner 
in  which  you  would  tell  a  story  to  a  child — stopping 
at  every  new  image,  and  reaching  far  back  for  the  cir- 
cumstances that  set  that  image  in  relief,  though  perhaps 
generally  of  the  class  of  which  should  be  said — 

'  Non  ragionar  di  lor,  ma  guarda,  e  passa.' " 

"25  Oct.,  1858. — I  enjoy  the  idea  of  persons  unknown 
to  you  having  opportunity  of  observing  what  you  look  like, 
and  finding  you  are  not  what  ill-will  pictured.  God  be 
thanked  that  you  are  well !  May  it  be  seen  good  for  us  to 
accomplish  the  journey  to  Mentone." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE  (after  Bunsen's  return). 

"Heidelberg,  7  Dec.,  1858. — Your  Father  has  worked 
most  energetically,  and  has  kept  wonderfully  well.  But  it 
is  high  time  he  should  rest,  for  correcting  the  vast  number 
of  sheets  that  have  come  from  Brockhaus  within  the  last 
two  days  has  fagged  him  much,  and  proves  that  one  ought 
to  invent  a  journey  to  the  south,  if  it  were  not  already 
arranged." 

The  journey  of  the  Bunsens  to  the  south  was  safely 
accomplished,  and  Cannes  was  decided  upon  as  a  place 
of  winter  residence.  While  spending  a  few  days  at  Nice 


236         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

they  received  the  news  of  the  death  of  Lady  Raffles, 
who  even  a  year  and  a  half  before  had  written  to  take  a 
solemn  leave  of  correspondence  with  her  friends,  de- 
claring herself  no  longer  able  to  write. 

BAROITOSS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"Nice,  20  Dec.,  1858.— Your  letter  with  the  moving 
intelligence  of  dear  Lady  Raffles' s  release  has  just  reached 
us.  We  all  join  you  in  thanking  God  for  the  termination 
of  such  a  living  death  as  she  had  existed  through  for  years. 
Just  that  Sunday  of  her  death  we  were  at  Geneva,  and  it 
was  a  most  happy  and  tranquil  day  among  kind  friends : 
and  I  had  thought  much  of  her  among  other  absent  ones, 
in  the  church  that  morning,  wishing  that  her  trial  might 
not  bo  extended  over  the  beginning  of  another  year. 
Again,  with  her,  is  a  whole  mass  of  sympathies  and  experi- 
ences through  a  lapse  of  years,  consigned  to  the  Past ! — 
*  the  wealthy  Past,' — our  real  property — as  Fanny  Kemble 
so  well  wrote. 

"  We  find  here  kind  friends  more  than  I  have  time  to  enu- 
merate, who  make  a  vast  fuss  to  keep  us  :  but  we  none  of  us 
like  Nice,  or  fancy  taking  up  our  abode  here,  and  we  have 
made  an  agreement  with  the  owner  of  Maison  Pinchenat 
at  Cannes. 

"Oh!  how  beautiful  Cannes  is — more  like  Mola  di 
Gaieta  than  any  other  place  I  know." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  2  Jan.,  1859. — Here  we  are  at  Cannes,  inhaling,  swal- 
lowing, bathing  in  sunshine,  in  beauty,  in  purity  of  air ! 
and  greatly  does  your  Father  delight  in  all  that  surrounds 


HEIDELBERG.  237 


him.  ~VVe  did  not  see  a  single  situation  in  Nice  •which 
offered  us  an  inducement  to  remain.  "What  people  like 
there  is,  I  believe,  only  the  seeing  one  another.  It  is 
nothing  but  a  mere  watering-place  on  a  very  large  scale, 
and  you  may  therefore  conceive  how  far  from  being  to  the 
taste  of  any  of  us.  Meeting  there  Countess  Bernstorff  *  and 
her  daughter  Comtesse  de  Burche  was  however  a  great 
pleasure  to  your  Father,  and  perhaps  a  still  greater  to 
them :  the  affection  Countess  Bernstorff  showed  him  was 
really  affecting.  Pilattef  was  a  great  resource,  for  he 
called  often  upon  your  Father,  who  was  only  once  able  to 
hear  him  preach.  I  heard  him  on  Christmas  Day  and  the 
Sunday  after,  each  time  with  great  satisfaction.  He  is  not 
-the  least  like  a  Ministre  de  VEvangile — he  might  be  a  poet 
— but  he  gives  the  impression  of  genius,  a  commanding 
mind  and  great  intensity  of  conviction,  the  result  being  a 
great  degree  of  dignity  and  impressiveness.  We  saw  the 
Mendelssohns  several  times,  and  were  much  pleased  to 
make  acquaintance  with  Schreibler  and  his  family.  His 
wife  and  daughter  spent  the  last  evening  with  us — the 
latter  a  really  beautiful  girl,  with  splendid  pale-gold  hair, 
and  a  countenance  feminine  but  not  missish — looking  as  if 
she  could  play  her  part  in  life." 

"27  Jan.,  1859. — Cannes  has  wrought  a  change  in  your 
Father  that  it  would  do  your  heart  good  to  see.  He  now 
walks  when  he  pleases,  and  as  long  as  he  likes,  and  he 
enjoys  himself  in  this  air,  and  prospect,  and  sunshine, 
beyond  description.  The  sky  could  not  be  clearer,  the 

*  Widow  of  the  Prussian  Prime  Minister — the  man  who  had  first 
aided  Bunsen's  rise  on  the  diplomatic  ladder, 
t  The  Vaudois  Pastor. 


238         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    15UNSEN. 

sunset  and  sunrise  more  splendid,  the  stars  more  magnifi- 
cent— Sirius  and  the  entire  constellation  of  the  Dog  high 
over  the  sea,  Orion  still  higher,  and  Jupiter  in  zenith,  last 
night  before  I  went  to  bed :  and  the  morning-star  hanging 
like  a  jewel  in  the  sky  just  over  where  the  light  of  day 
began  to  peep,  with  the  waning  moon  not  far  off.  It  is  a 
delight  to  have  Ernest  and  Elizabeth  here,  who  exercise 
upon  their  very  pretty  nutshell  of  a  villa  the  same  art  of 
stretching  for  which  they  were  remarkable  at  Abbey  Lodge. 
Ernest  has  begun  again  to  sing  the  old  songs,  which  '  bringt 
das  Gef  iihl  mir  alter  zeit  zuriick.' 

"  The  Letters  of  Schleierniacher  are  a  help  in  the 
evening,  and  the  Life  of  Henriette  Herz,  which  greatly 
helps  to  throw  light  upon  his  biography.  0  what  an. 
extraordinary  picture  of  mind  is  contained  in  the  Schleier- 
niacher volumes.  It  is  as  though,  having  once  broken  out 
of  the  bonds  of  vigorous  dogmatism  in  the  Brudergemeinde, 
he  felt  it,  as  it  were,  impossible  to  be  free  enough — like  too 
many  of  those  who  have  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  the  Church 
of  Borne  before  they  were  quite  steady  to  go  alone  on  their 
own  feet.  The  absence  of  intelligent  self-control  is  what 
one  commonly  meets  in  German  minds,  particularly  in 
females :  but  never  before  did  I  see  all  self-control  on  prin- 
ciple protested  against,  preached  against  as  wrong!  as 
though  you  were  bound  to  venerate  in  your  own  nature  a 
creation  of  God,  which  as  such  must  be  good  and  right,  if 
you  only  let  it  have  its  own  way  unchecked.  I  grieve  to 
anticipate  that  the  book  must  do  harm  to  minds  not  well 
fixed  in  what  I  call  principle,  the  eloquence  is  so  great  with 
which  Schleiermacher  advocates  that  absorption  into  the 
I)imnity  at  death,  of  which  Madame  de  Stael  says  so  justly 


HEIDELBERG.  239 


— '  C'est  une  espece  d'immortalite  qui  ressemble  terrible- 
ment  a  la  mort.' 

"Carlyle's  Frederic  II.  occupies  my  thoughts  as  ever. 
That  is  a  most  extraordinary  piece  of  history,  and  as  painful 
as  strange,  that  the  old  King  was  to  be  kept  out  of  English 
alliance  for  the  private  purposes  of  Austria,  and  that  for  this 
end  his  mind  was  to  undergo  a  course  of  poisoning  against 
his  own  eldest  son,  his  wife  and  daughter.  Of  all  the  multi- 
plied atrocities  of  the  House  of  Austria,  this  family-tragedy 
is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  execrable !  Bribery,  deceit,  and 
flattery,  paid  artisans  of  evil — it  is  sickening  to  contemplate ! 
I  suppose  this  history  is  the  first  that  states  the  whole  case, 
and  all  the  operating  causes.  A  sad  picture  it  is  of  human 
nature,  that  the  King  should  have  found  everywhere  willing 
spies  and  informants,  ready  to  practise  upon  the  unhappy 
Crown  Prince  as  expected — for  whom  there  was  no  God 
above,  no  right  and  wrong,  no  compunctious  visitings — 
nothing  but  an  absolute  monarch,  and  the  habit  of»fear. 

"  Perhaps  you  wonder  what  we  all  do,  and  for  myself  I 
confess  to  being  at  what  my  Father  used  to  call  an  '  idle 
end.' " 

To  her  DAUGHTER-  IN-LAW  EMMA  (on  -the  death  of  her  eldest 

child). 

"  14  Feb.,  1859. — Alas!  that  my  words  can  do  nothing 
for  you,  but  tell  of  sincerest  grief  of  fellow-feeling — of  the 
consciousness  that  nothing  can  make  amends  for  the  priva- 
tion of  all  that  was  comprised  in  that  little  soul  and  body, 
which  you  are  still  and  ever  privileged  to  call  yours, 
although  withdrawn  from  your  care,  beyond  the  influence 
of  your  love,  receiving  its  full  and  perfect  development  . 
there  '  where  the  light  of  God's  countenance  ever  shineth ' 


240         L1FE    AND    LET1EKS   OF    BARONESS   DUNSEN. 

— removed  from  pain  and  pollution — ^expanding  in  the 
atmosphere  congenial  to  its  nature  of  love  and  intelligence 
— in  short,  most  blessed,  leaving  the  poor  parents  most 
wretched !  .  .  .  .  Alas !  I  know  how  the  sensation  of  the 
arms  clasped  round  one's  neck,  the  cheek  pressed  against 
one's  own,  will  follow  one  as  a  dream  of  the  past,  entirely 
past,  to  embitter  the  present.  And  yet  not  so,  it  ought  not  to 
embitter — the  good  possessed,  the  blessing  enjoyed,  was  a 
reality,  removed  not  lost.  My  dear  Emma !  how  I  think 
of  you  both  ever  and  again,  and  pray  for  that  dew  of 
Heaven,  which  will  drop  like  balm  into  the  wound  of  your 
hearts.  The  blessing  of  having  possessed  that  child  has 
been  dearly  bought — but  still  you  would  rather  have  the 
pain  of  grieving  after  her,  than  not  have  had  her  as  your 
own. 

"I  fear  you  are  suffering  more  noiv,  that  everything  is 
finished,  now  that  you  have  nothing  more  to  do  for  your 
darling,»now  that  that  all,  that  little,  is  completed,  which 
ingenious  tenderness  can  find  out  to  perform,  to  cherish  the 
earthly  covering  of  the  being  so  beloved.  When  your 
nearest  and  dearest  friends  are  beginning  by  the  gradual 
influence  of  time  to  find  their  thoughts  drawn  into  other 
channels,  to  get  used  to  the  fact  of  affliction,  to  live  as 
before — you  have  the  ever-growing  consciousness  of  priva- 
tion, the  first  fresh  cup  of  bitterness  in  recollection.  Do 
you  recall  the  words  of  Shakspeare — 

*  To  rain  upon  remembrance  with  mine  eyes, 
Until  it  grow  as  high  as  highest  heaven;' 

and  another  passage — 

'  Grief  fills  the  room  up  of  my  absent  child, 
Puts  on  her  pretty  looks,  repeats  her  words.' 


HEIDELBERG.  241 


Many  have  been  the  passages  of  poetry  that  have  occurred 
to  my  recollection,  indicating  depths  of  woe ; — but  I  know 
no  expressions  of  intensity  like  these. 

"  How  does  the  death  of  Ella  bring  over  my  mind  the 
current  of  sorrow  long  past,  when  my  precious  infant  was 
taken  away,  in  July  1821,  just  one  year  old! — and  if  I  feel 
her  place  is  still  vacant,  her  shadowy  image  still  clinging 
to  my  heart  of  hearts— the  pang  of  parting  from  her  still 
fresh  and  vivid,  how  much  the  more  do  I  feel  for  you,  in 
the  severer  anguish  of  losing  the  object  of  four  years' 
endearment,  of  four  years'  community  of  affection,  of  four 
years'  development  of  heart  and  intelligence !  But  I  com- 
mend you  with  full  trust  to  '  Him  who  doth  not  willingly 
grieve  the  children  of  men.'  " 

To  her  Sox  GEOBGE. 

"Cannes,  5  March. — My  cwn  George,  what  a  day  of 
enjoyment  was  yesterday — ray  birthday!  Pear  Charles 
and  Mary-Isabel  had  arrived  the  evening  before,  and  yes- 
terday Ernest  and  Charles  walked  over  hither  to  break- 
fast at  eight — and  what  flowers  there  were  on  the  table  ! 
— anemones  of  intense  scarlet,  and  much  finer  in  size  than 
those  of  the  Yilla  Pamfili.  After  breakfast  we  had  an 
expedition  to  Napoule  ( Neapolis),  on  the  shore  of  the 
Esterel,  and  what  a  combination  of  every  description  of 
beauty ! — though  the  green  was  altogether  evergreen, 
pines  and  cork-trees,  myrtle  and  heath.  Then  we  all 
dined  with  Ernest  and  Elizabeth,  in  an  out-of-door  dining 
room  they  have  contrived,  under  trees  and  with  a  straw- 
thatched  roof. 

"  .    .    .   Your  Father  is    still    confidently  talking    of 

VOL.  II.  R 


242          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

making  a  journey  to  Berlin  upon  our  return,  as  soon  as  he 
shall  have  rested  a  few  days  at  Charlottenberg :  and  my 
hopes  of  averting  the  complex  of  evils  comprised  in  that 
journey,  hang  chiefly  on  the  anticipation  of  his  liking  the 
return  to  his  own  room  and  surrounding  circumstances  so 
intensely  as  to  lose  the  present  inclination  to  go  and  fetch 
a  disappointment  (according  to  my  view  of  the  matter)  from 
Berlin  at  great  expense  of  money  and  of  health. 

"  The  present  crisis  in  Italy  is  one  of  most  painful  anxiety. 
May  it  please  God  to  overrule  the  untrustworthy  intentions 
that  are  at  work,  so  that  good  may  come  out  of  the  over- 
flowing evil,  and  that  dear  Italy  be  put  in  the  way  of 
becoming,  as  it  might  be,  '  the  garden  of  the  Lord,'  morally 
as  well  as  visibly." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Cannes,  5  April,  1859. — The  unusual  aspect  of  a  cloudy 
sky  to-day,  is  a  useful  reminder  of  one's  having  something 
else  to  do  besides  looking  out  upon  the  prospect,  basking 
in  the  sunshine,  watching  the  waves,  or  wandering  inland 
amid  rocks  and  pines.  .  .  .  The  air  and  climate  here  have 
been  of  inestimable  benefit  to  my  husband.  .  .  .  From 
the  answers  to  enquiries  to-day  after  M.  de  Tocqueville,  I 
fear  he  will  have  breathed  his  last  before  this  letter  can 
reach  you !  There  was  a  period  during  which  my  husband 
was  often  with  him  for  an  hour  together,  but  a  relapse 
took  place  a  week  ago,  and  his  weakness  has  been  daily 
increasing." 

Tc  Tier  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Le  Luc,  11  May,  1859. — So  far  we  have  advanced  on 
our  ideally  delightful  journey,  and  pause  here  to  rest  our 


HEIDELBERG.  243 


good  horses,  and  obtain  if  possible  something  to  eat,  which 
is  a  great  question,  for  everybody  is  stopping  here.  Your 
Father  is  highly  enjoying  his  journey  :  finding  the  tempe- 
rature perfect,  and  pleased  with  all  attendant  circum- 
stances. He  slept  perfectly  well  at  Frejus  in  the  bed  which 
Napoleon  I.  had  occupied,  my  bed  having  been  sanctified 
by  Pius  YIL,  as  the  hostess  affirmed.  This  morning  we  did 
not  let  out  before  £  p.  8,  having  gone  out  before  breakfast ; 
your  Father  driving  with  Miss  Douglas  to  the  place  where 
Napoleon  I.  landed  from  Egypt,  called  St.  Raphael,  a  good 
way  off :  so  he  took  a  last  near  leave  of  the  Mediterranean, 
which  I  only  saw  from  a  distance.  I  walked  with  Matilda 
to  look  at  the  cathedral,  a  most  ancient  building,  in  the 
heavy  style  of  the  old  chapel  in  the  Tower  of  London,  pos- 
sessing a  curious  piece  of  antiquity  in  an  octagonal  baptistry. 
Last  night  we  walked  out  as  soon  as  we  arrived  to  see  the 
ruins  of  the  Roman  amphitheatre  with  the  Niebuhrs,*  who 
set  off  long  before  us  this  morning.  "We  have  met  a 
number  of  fine  troops  and  fine  horses — to  me  a  most 
moving  sight,  at  which  I  cannot  help  ever  and  again 
wiping  away  a  silent  tear,  remembering  having  watched  the 
regiments  in  1842  which  marched  across  St.  James's  Park, 
to  go  and  combat  for  the  Cabul  campaign.  How  beautiful 
was  the  whole  of  our  journey !  most  of  all  the  passage  of 
the  Ester  el." 

"  Uriffnolles,  9  o'clock. — How  things  change.  ALL  was  so 
bright  and  prosperous,  and  my  husband  so  well,  and  our 
journey  so  perfect,  and  though  Brignolles  is  full  of  troops, 
yet  our  rooms  were  ready  and  clean  and  quiet.  As  we  arrived 
at  six,  your  Father  proposed  walking  out  before  tea,  aiid  on 
*  Marcus  Niebuhr  and  his  wife 


244         LIFE    ASD    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  Place  Publique,  where  the  whole  town  was  collected  to 
look  at  the  soldiers  and  hear  the  band,  he  had  one  of  his 
attacks,  the  worst  and  longest  we  have  known  for  months  : 
and  we  stood  still  for  a  time  that  seemed  as  if  it  never  would 
end,  but  at  last  there  was  a  degree  of  amendment,  and, 
walking  and  stopping,  we  at  last  got  back  to  the  inn :  in 
all,  the  seizure  lasted  two  hours.  .  .  .  God  grant  that  we 
may  do  what  is  right,  and  not  bring  on  such  a  seizure  again, 
for  it  is  hard  to  know  what  has  been  wrong,  and  the  dis- 
appointment is  great  of  finding  the  disorder  in  full  force 
again." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  Heidelberg ',  25  May,  1859. — We  arrived  happily  on 
Friday,  finding  August  and  Theodora  and  Rosa  at  the 
station,  and  at  the-  gate  of  Charlottenberg  poor  little 
Schnautz  out  of  his  wits  for  joy  to  see  us.  How  exquisite 
is  the  fresh  verdure  here  !  quite  new  to  us  in  this  degree 
of  fulness.  The  many  changes  on  the  journey  made  up  a 
great  amount  of  discomfort  and  indisposition  for  your 
Father,  but  we  had  one  happy  day  at  Bale,  seeing  the 
Gelzers,  Charlotte  Kestner,  and  the  Cramers — she  formerly 
Elise  Sieveking." 

"  30  June,  1859. — We  now  live  and  breathe  politics,  and 
questions  of  peace  and  war.  The  arrival  of  the  news- 
papers— examining  the  map — these  are  the  events  of  tho 
quiet,  and  to  me  delicious  summer  days." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  1  July,  1859. — When  one  thinks  of  the  colossal  mea- 
sure of  misery  under  which  the  time  is  groaning,  one  feels 
oppressed! — and  it  is  hard  to  bring  oneself  to  believe  and 


HEIDELBERG.  245 


acknowledge  that  such,  an  awful  lesson  was  wanting  to  the 
world.  To  rulers,  to  rouse  any  human  feeling  they  havo 
left,  and  prove  that  they  must  leave  off  having  standing 
armies  as  instruments  of  offensive  war,  and  be  satisfied  to 
train  and  strengthen  their  people  for  defence  only :  and 
arrange  an  Aniphictyonic  Council,  such  as  Henri  Quatro 
and  Queen  Elizabeth  dreamt  of.  And  to  nations,  to  refresh 
their  memories  as  to  what  the  realities  of  war  are — thai 
they  may  meet  them,  or  avoid  them,  deliberately  and  with 
firm  looking  in  the  face  :  and  not  expend  the  strength  oi 
mind  that  may  be  wanted,  in  bursts  of  fire  and  fury.  Maj 
but  the  awful  lesson  now  going  on  be  soon  closed,  and  its 
import  laid  to  the  hearts  of  all !  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"Heidelberg,  15  Sept.,  1859. — "We  have  been  very  happy  in 
the  presence  of  George  and  Emma  for  more  than  a  fortnight, 
but  it  is  sad  indeed  to  perceive  how  sad  they  still  both  are. 
Humanly  speaking,  if  they  were  to  be  blessed  with  another 
girl,  that  might  renew  cheerfulness :  although  I  speak 
doubtfully,  because  there  is  no  greater  error  than  the  sup- 
position that  a  new-born  child  can  Jill  the  place  of  one 
taken  away — that  little  cherished  individuality,  though 
ever  so  young,  lives  on  with  one.  Mary  Eleanor  was  the 
name  of  my  precious  infant,  born  in  1820,  who  died  on  her 
birthday  1821 :  whose  sweet  individuality  clings  to  my 
heart  through  life,  and  whose  recognition  in  the  light  of 
God's  countenance  I  fancy  in  craving  anticipation  !  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"Heidelberg,  11  Oct.,  1859.— The  tenth  October  will  be  a 
marked  day  to  us  all,  from  Theodore's  departure,  and  the 


246          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

baptism  of  Mary  Hildegard,  which  was  happily  accom- 
plished at  three  o'clock,  in  Neuenheim  church.  I  wish 
you  could  have  beheld  Theodora  and  her  three  children,  all 
looking  perfection  in  their  various  ways  !  When  we  came 
home,  we  found  little  Dora  very  unhappy,  not  comprehend- 
ing why,  if  Kleine  Baby  could  go  in  the  carriage,  she  should 
be  left  at  home !  The  reason  was  that  she  had  a  cold,  but 
at  all  my  christenings  I  always  had  all  my  children  present, 
and  so  I  missed  Dora.  Your  Father  came  to  the  coffee- 
drinking  afterwards,  with  old  Brandis  and  Johannes." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MATILDA. 

"  13  Oct.  1859.— You  will  be  sorry,  as  we  all  are,  that 
our  poor  little  dog  Schnautz's  span  of  life  is  over.  .  .  .  My 
own  consciousness  is — I  can  hardly  call  it  an  opinion — that 
God  has  so  certainly  not  '  created  anything  for  nought ' — 
and  that  all  wherein  is  love,  self -forgetting  devotedness,  in 
short  moral  worth,  is  so  certainly  of  divine  creation,  is  so 
certainly  what  God  looks  upon  with  complacency — that  it 
lelongs  to  that  which  cannot  perish.  I  know  not,  and  it  is 
revealed  to  no  one,  what  is  reserved  for  the  brute  creation ; 
but  that  it  is  looked  upon  with  love  by  its  Creator,  we  know 
from  the  words  of  our  Saviour,  '  not  a  sparrow  f alleth  to 
the  ground  without  your  Father :'  and  our  Saviour  has 
marked  how  the  brute  creation  may  put  man  to  shame,  by 
the  touching  circumstance  of  the  dogs  coming  and  licking 
the  sores  of  Lazarus.  I  examine  no  further,  and  can  lay 
down  no  dogma,  but  I  am  sure  of  the  light  of  God's  coun- 
tenance for  all  that  has  moral  worth,  and  that  what  is 
spiritually  good  is  indestructible." 

Already  in   the   summer  of   1857  a   removal  from 


HEIDELBERG.  247 


Heidelberg  had  been  in  contemplation,  as  circumstances 
connected  with  the  beautiful  Charlottenberg  rendered  a 
residence  there  less  desirable  than  formerly,  and  Heidel- 
berg without  Charlottenberg  ceased  to  offer  attractions 
to  Bunsen,  whose  thoughts,  throughout  life,  had  fre- 
quently turned  to  Bonn  as  the  home  of  his  later  days. 
There  he  looked  forward  to  the  companionship  of  his 
old  friend  Brandis,  and  there,  regardless  of  the  symp- 
toms of  increased  illness,  he  hoped  for  a  renewal  of 
influence  and  activity,  in  a  course  of  lectures  which  he 
proposed  to  deliver  to  the  students  of  the  University. 

Painful  as  it  was  to  Madame  de  Bunsen  to  leave  her 
happy  home  at  Heidelberg,  with  the  constant  society 
of  her  daughter  Theodora  and  her  children,  the  pros- 
pect of  Bonn,  as  it  came  nearer,  seemed  almost  welcome, 
as  warding  off  the  ever- oppressive  "  schreckbild  "  of  a 
possible  residence  at  Berlin.  Thus,  when  the  family 
started  for  the  south  in  November,  they  had  accom- 
plished their  final  leave-taking  with  Heidelberg,  and 
their  return  was  to  a  large  house  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine  at  Bonn,  which,  being  purchased,  had  more  the 
aspect  of  a  fixed  home  than  any  they  had  previously 
inhabited. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  licr  SON  GEORGE. 

"Heidelberg,  15  Oct.,  1859.— Never  did  this  valley  look 
so  delicious  as  in  these  latter  days,  as  if  to  leave  the 
most  perfect  impression  to  gild  its  image  in  memory.  .  .  . 
I  have  the  grateful  conviction  that  as  we  have  ever  been 
provided  for,  so  we  may  hope  to  be  provided  with  a  dwell- 


248          LITE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUN  SEX. 

ing,  although  we  know  not  yet  where  or  how.  You  need 
not  be  told  that  to  part  from  Theodora  and  her  children 
goes  hard  with  rne.  But — '  He  is  my  fate,  and  best  can 
speak  my  doom' — applies  entirely  to  your  Father,  and 
ivhere  he  is  satisfied,  I  am  not  afraid  but  what  I  shall  find 
the  necessities  of  life.  The  purchase  of  a  house  at  Bonn  is 
a  delightful  vision,  which,  even  if  not  realized,  confers  a 
benefit  in  giving  a  pleasing  resting-place  for  thoughts  that 
as  yet  wander  like  Noah's  dove  in  vain.  Your  Father 
expressed  this  morning  that  if  we  had  at  Bonn  a  place  of 
abode  that  we  could  really  adjust  to  our  mind,  with  double 
windows,  &c.,  it  might  at  last  be  possible  to  do  without  the 
winter  removal  now  unavoidable.  The  idea  of  being  at 
length  lodged  where  we  could  not  be  turned  out,  till  death 
should  summon,  is  most  soothing  and  reviving.  If  that 
be  good  for  us,  it  will  be  granted." 

To  BUNSEN  (then  at  Paris). 

"Heidelberg,  19  Nov.,  1859. — My  mind  has  need  of  the 
delightful  images  your  letter  gives  it  to  dwell  upon,  for 
except  the  satisfaction  of  getting  on  with  the  business  in 
hand,  the  whole  surrounding  scene  is  most  melancholy. 
The  girls  have  done  wonders  in  packing,  and  I  hope  indeed 
they  will  not  be  detained  an  hour  after  they  have  finished, 
in  this  scene  of  discomfort  and  melancholy. — We  all  keep 
brisk  by  dint  of  being  busy — but  the  sight  of  this  devasta- 
tion is  unspeakably  wretched,  with  the  prospect  of  the  sad 
parting  from  Theodora  and  the  children  at  the  end." 

"21  Nov.,  1859. — Yesterday  was  a  day  of  rest,  most 
timely  and  most  prized.  "VVe  had  first  in  the  morning  a 
most  beautiful  and  edifying  service  by  which  to  take  leave 


HEIDELBERG.  249 


of  the  dear  old  Heilige  Geist  Kirche — it  was  Buss  und  Bet 
Feier,  and  Plitt  preached  in  his  best  manner,  and  selected 
good  hymns,  and  I  heard  that  thrilling  Gemeinde-Stimme 
which  it  will  be  long  ere  I  hear  again — closed  by  the  Com- 
munion. Then  I  made  three  leave-taking  visits  and  arrived 
at  Theodora's  just  before  dinner.  At  four  we  all  went  for 
an  hour  to  Mrs.  Benecke  as  requested,  to  take  leave  of  her 
and  of  Countess  Mary  Jenison :  the  rest  of  the  evening  we 
were  with  Theodora  and  August,  Meyer  meeting  us  there, 
as  indeed  he  has  been  faithfully  with  us  every  evening. 
Dearest  Theodora  was  an  example  in  keeping-up,  and  not 
melting,  and  in  every  way  exerting  to  make  the  last  hours 
of  being  together  bright  instead  of  gloomy.  How  soothing 
and  elevating  it  was  to  hear  the  four  daughters  with  August 
sing  through  the  musical  service  for  Good  Friday  as  arranged 
by  Neukomm ! " 

"  Bale,  22  Nov. — It  is  a  solemn  thing  to  contemplate 
the  fact,  of  having  quitted  for  good  and  all  the  happy  home 
of  5  years!  and  more  solemn,  to  part  for  the  first  time 
thoroughly,  from  the  precious  daughter  whose  marriage 
hardly  proved  a  separation,  and  who  has  wound  herself 
round  one's  heart  more  and  more,  in  proportion  as  new 
positions  bring  forth  and  display  yet  more  her  excellencies, 
and  her  children  help  to  call  fortli  more  and  more  of  one's 
power  of  being." 

Q 

To  her  Sox  GEOHGE. 

"  Cannes,  9  Dec.,  1859. — We  are  settled  here  in  great 
comfort,  and  know  not  how  to  take  in  sufficiently  the 
luxury  of  sun,  air,  and  prospect!  Your  Father  has  en- 
joyed his  visit  to  Paris,  and  is  decidedly  better  than  when 


260          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

we  parted  at  Heidelberg.  Alas  !  Heidelberg  !  Nobody 
seems  to  guess  what  it  costs  us  to  break  from  the  scenes 
and  habits  of  five  years  and  happy  years.  Only  you  and 
Emma  recollect  what  a  pang  there  must  be  in  parting  with 
Theodora,  for  the  first  time,  for  her  marriage  was  not  a 
separation.  She  has  been  so  good  !  supported  herself  so 
nobly  !  exerted  to  such  good  purpose  !  It  will  not  do  to 
think  of  that  :  except  to  repose  one's  thoughts  on  the  cer- 
tainty that  she  is  happy  in  her  marriage.  Being  those 
days  at  Bale  with  the  benevolent  little  fairy,  Charlotte 
Kestner,  was  very  soothing  to  me  :  her  kindness,  her  tact, 
her  taste  and  intelligence,  the  abundance  of  points  of  con- 
tact that  we  found,  prevented  any  sensation  of  being  a 
stranger  or  an  encumbrance." 


To  her  So]tf  GEORGE. 

"  Cannes,  Dec.  10,  1859.  —  Though  I  wrote  to  my  own 
George  yesterday  I  am  delighted  with  to-day's  opportunity 
of  adding  one  of  my  many  things  not  uttered  —  my  thanks 
for  his  protest  against  the  proverb,  signifying  that  a  man's 
marriage  necessarily  draws  away  his  affection  from  his 
parents.  I  fear  the  observation  may  often  turn  out  true, 
but  then  it  must  be  so  or  not  according  to  the  quality  of  the 
marriage.  I  thank  God  often  and  often,  and  yet  never 
enough,  that  all  my  married  children  have  found  objects 
of  the  strongest  affections  among  those  who  look  to  the 
same  God  above,  cling  to  the  same  human  sympathies 
around,  have  the  same  view  of  right  and  wrong,  the  same 
consciousness  of  that  in  which  earthly  happiness  is  to  be 
sought  and  found,  and  that  therefore  I  have  the  comfort  of 
feeling  in  every  instance  the  gain  of  a  friend  in  each 


HEIDELBERG.  251 


daughter-in-law  and  son-in-law,  dissimilar  in  individuality 
though  they  be. 

"  I  wish  the  glorious  sunshine  that  we  enjoyed  on  the 
5th  Dec.  on  the  journey  between  Lyons  and  Toulon,  could 
have  shone  upon  you  at  Eheindorf  for  your  dear  Emma's 
birthday.  The  inhabitants  of  the  South  have  really  great 
privileges,  in  such  helps  to  health  and  cheerfulness  of 
spirit.  How  did  I  feast  my  eyes  on  those  beautiful  moun- 
tains which  appear  so  frequently  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhone,  while,  the  train  was  whirling  along  the  left  bank  ! 
The  sky  was  crystal-clear,  the  mountains  blue,  their  shadows 
sharp  and  broad,  the  river  full  and  smooth :  no  verdure  to 
be  seen,  but  yet  so  much  beauty  that  one  hardly  remem- 
bered what  was  wanting." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"Cannes,  Saturday,  '31  Dee.,  1859. — Here  on  the  last 
evening  of  the  year,  I  sit  enjoying  the  stillness  of  scene, 
only  soothed  rather  than  interrupted  by  the  regular  dash 
of  the  quiet  sea — after  having  been  for  three  days  in  scenes 
far  different.  We  drove  to  Nice  on  Thursday  and  returned 
this  afternoon,  having  spent  our  time  between  the  Uxkiills, 
the  S.  George's  and  the  Countess  Bernstorff,  but  seeing 
plenty  of  other  people  besides,  and  perceiving  a  long  vista 
of  visits  and  visitors,  had  we  remained  any  longer ;  having 
thus  a  renewed  experience  of  that  ceaseless  bustle  of  doing 
nothing,  which  is  peculiar  to  Nice — very  glad  of  the  inter- 
course with  friends  granted  to  us,  and  more  glad  to  get 
away  into  quiet.  I  am  glad  to  think  that  the  good  Coun- 
tess Bernstorff,  who  was  an  early  friend,  and  has  been  such 
a  faithful  friend  to  your  father,  has  had  really  this  time  a 
good  opportunity  of  seeing  and  talking  to  him. 


252          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

"I  wrote  to  Theodore  for  his  birthday,  and  oh!  how 

anxiously  do  I  think  of  him and  for  you,  my  own 

Theodora,  how  do  I  crave  of  God's  merciful  Providence 

every  choicest  blessing How  often  do  the  images 

of  that  last  invaluable  day,  that  Sunday  20th  November, 
which  I  was  privileged  to  spend  with  you  and  yours,  pass 
before  my  mind's  eye !  I  see  Rosa  and  hear  her  reflective 
observations,  and  I  receive  the  echo  of  Dora's  glee  at  having 
made  the  acquisition  of  a  new  word  ! — and  how  it  did  go  to 
my  heart,  that  my  Theodora  was  able  to  play  on  the  organ, 
and  help  forward  those  choruses  of  beloved  voices  which 
touched  the  spirits  but  to  strengthen  them !  There  was 
more  than  I  will  trust  myself  to  write,  to  make  me  feel  the 
collective  effect  of  those  qualities  of  mind,  which  have  been 
to  me  a  chief  joy  for  every  year  of  my  own  Theodora's 
existence,  in  that  concluding  day  of  my  Heidelberg  life. 
My  own  child,  whatever  you  write  to  me  is  a  treasure  to 
me,  and  you  have  so  much  to  occupy  you,  that  I  must  not 
wish  you  to  write  more  :  but  do,  if  possible,  in  every  letter, 
tell  me  some  little  bit  of  Eosa  and  Dora — something  that 
they  have  said  or  done.  When  once  it  is  granted  to  me  to 
see  them  again,  they  will  be  as  dear  as  ever,  but  something 
different :  and  the  period  in  which  I  have  not  seen  them 
cannot  be  supplied — anecdotes  of  them  are  invaluable." 

To  ABEKEX. 

"  Cannes,  8  Jan.,  1860. — It  has  been  again  a  great  change 
in  life  to  be  called  upon  to  break  up  and  put  an  end  to  our 
Heidelberg  life On  the  way  from  our  dear  Heidel- 
berg, I  staid  some  days  at  Bale,  and  enjoyed  the  kind 
hospitality  of  Charlotte  Kestner,  and  you  will  understand 


HEIDELBERG.  253 


the  extreme  interest  I  found  in  her  society,  as  you  must 
have  felt  what  it  is  not  easy  to  describe,  her  extreme  like- 
ness to  her  late  dear  brother  in  feature,  voice,  manner  of 
speaking  and  thinking,  independent  of  personal  originality 
of  a  very  engaging  kind.  I  can  hardly  describe  how 
heimisch  I  felt  it,  and  I  "have  been  almost  surprised  at 
myself  at  the  pleasure  I  had  in  being  her  inmate,  as  I 
know  but  too  well  how  hard  I  am  to  please,  and  how  apt 
to  find  society  to  which  I  am  not  habituated  tiresome  or 
antipatica,  so  that  I  always  reckon  that  I  am  too  old  to  be 
fit  to  go  out  visiting  in  other's  houses ;  but  I  was  quite 
happy  in  hers,  and  had  for  seven  days  real  enjoyment  of 
her  company,  her  affectionate  attention,  and  the  entire 
atmosphere  of  her  dwelling.  On  the  Sunday  at  Bale  we 
all  went  to  church  in  the  beautiful  cathedral — the  impres- 
sion perfect,  the  eye,  ear,  and  mind :  the  building  com- 
plete in  harmony  of  proportions  and  forms,  and  high  finish 
without  exaggeration — the  organ  fine  and  a  fulness  of 
congregational  voice,  in  the  hymn  'Wie  soil  ich  dich 
empfangen.'  Then  we  made  a  visit  to  the  venerable 
Spittler,  from  whom  we  heard  much  that  was  interesting 

about  Crischona 

"It  is  a  pity  we  cannot  conjure  up  the  presence  of 
sympathising  friends,  as  one  can  their  image  before  the 
mind's  eye  ! — how  you  would  enjoy  the  fulness  of  beauty 
in  this  sea  and  sky,  and  shore,  if  you  could  look  at  what 
I  am  beholding !  I  believe,  in  proportion  as  life  declines, 
one  shrinks  with  more  and  more  aversion  from  the  aspect 
of  death  in  nature.  Though  I  love  the  sunshine,  I  do  not 
so  much  mind  its  absence,  nor  the  cold,  nor  a  cloudy  sky 
— but  the  absence  of  green,  the  want  of  vegetation,  the 


254         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    HARDNESS   BUNSEN. 

torpor  of  surrounding  existence,  is  what  is  terrible  in  a 
northern  winter. 

"I  have  been  reading  with  a  degree  of  interest  that  I 
could  take  pages  to  express,  the  Memoir es  de  Madame  Reca- 
mier.  They  treat  of  persons  whom  I  have  either  seen  or 
known,  or  heard  much  of,  and  the  picture  of  nationality 
and  of  individual  characters,  is  most  curious,  and  gives 
matter  for  much  reflection." 

To  MADEMOISELLE  ANNA  VERNET. 

."  Cannes,  12  Jan.,  1860. — The  Maison  Pinchenat  received 
us  like  a  home,  and  our  enjoyment  of  this  magnificent 

position  is  if  possible   greater  than  ever On  the 

morning  of  December  26,  we  awoke  to  the  wonderful  spec- 
tacle of  waves  mountain-high  (like  those  of  the  spring- 
tide in  the  Northern  Ocean)  while  the  atmosphere  was 
totally  calm,  and  afterwards  learnt  that  an  earthquake  was 
the  cause  of  such  unusual  motion. 

"You  ask  whether  I  regret  Macaulay?  Indeed  I  feel 
deeply  the  public  loss  of  one  of  the  first  historians  who  has 
undertaken  to  mark  the  growth  and  development  of  a 
nation's  greatness,  instead  of  giving,  in  the  old  style,  a 
chronicle  of  the  battles  and  sieges,  and  of  the  births, 
deaths,  and  relationships  of  royalty  and  nobility — and  still 
more  I  feel  the  private  loss  to  the  sisters  and  family,  of  a 
man  deservedly  beloved,  and  whose  family  attachments 
were  strong.  He  possessed  the  colossal  memory,  and  the 
resolute  decisive  character  which  a  historian  ought  to  have. 
I  had  only  a  slight  acquaintance  with  him,  but  used  always 
to  be  glad  to  meet  his  animated  glance,  and  cordially  stretch 
out  my  hand  to  meet  his.  One  felt  trustful  towards  him." 


HEIDELBERG.  255 


To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  26  Jan.,  1860. — How  I  "wish,  that  many  mortifying 
passages  in  the  history  of  modern  society,  might  warn 
people  on  the  hacknied  subject  of  female  education,  as  to 
the  wickedness  of  breeding  up  girls  with  no  object  in  life, 
except  what  is  called  '  going  out ' — this  is,  spending  a 
fortune  in  dress,  for  the  purpose  of  being  shown  as  at  a 
fair.  Do  you  remember  a  beautiful  letter  of  your  Aunt 
Fry  to  her  eldest  daughter  when  about  fifteen — telling  her 
that  no  girls  could  enter  upon  the  life  of  grown-up  women 
under  better  auspices  than  herself  and  sister.  I  do  not 
remember  the  exact  words,  but  they  implied  her  daughter's 
becoming  privileged  to  help  at  schools,  visit  the  poor,  tend 
the  sick,  reform  those  gone  astray — when  they  were  old 
enough.  Not  everybody  is  fit  for  each  and  everyone  of  these 
important  callings — but  every  well-meaning  girl  might  find 
some  good  to  do  in  young  years,  if  only  helped  not  kept 
back  by  the  vanity  and  ill- judgment  of  parents  :  and  need 
not  be  "kept  out  of  society,  only  not  crammed  down  the  throat  of 
society — which  many  a  girl  would  be  thankful  to  be  excused 
from.  What  can  be  expected  from  young  women  called 
upon,  bound  by  every  habit  and  custom  to  sacrifice  their 
best  years  in  the  idol's  temple,  if  they  end  in  doing  wrong 
for  the  sake  of  a  sensation  to  relieve  them  from  crime  ? 

"  I  have  a  constant  weight  at  heart  for  the  angelic  child 
at  Schloss  Wied,  and  his  incomparable  mother." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  Cannes,  21  Jan.,  I860.— With  what  thankfulness  did 
I  not  greet  the  news  of  the  blessing  of  a  daughter  to  dear 
George  and  Emma,  and  with  the  same  irresistible  burst  of 


256         LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

tears  I  ran  to  the  next  room  to  tell  Frances,  with  which  I 
communicated  the  wretched  intelligence  of  the  10th  Febru- 
ary to  your  Father  last  year.  It  is  a  fact  even  now  that  I 
do  not  feel  half  so  much  occupied  with  the  present  joy,  as 
with  the  former  grief,  for  which  I  shall  not  seek  an  ex- 
planation, but  it  belongs  to  a  whole  mass  of  experience, 
which  proves  how  far  less  the  poicer  of  enjoying  is  developed 
in  this  our  human  state,  than  that  of  suffering.  It  is  a  most 
merciful  provision  of  nature,  that  "bodily  pain  has  no  exist- 
ence beyond  the  time  of  its  duration :  the  memory  retains 
the  fact  of  having  suffered,  but  no  imagination  is  powerful 
enough  to  conjure  up  one  past  pang,  as  far  as  the  lody  is 
concerned — whereas  alas!  what  the  mind  has  suffered 
remains  a  latent  store  of  pain,  which  busy  memory  has 
only  to  unveil  and  stir  up,  and  find  as  fresh  and  living  as 
ever,  though  the  persons  and  circumstances  that  caused  it 
may  long  since  have  been  consigned  '  to  the  Past — to  the 
Gone — to  the  Dead.' — So  much  for  thinking  aloud — to  give 
outlet  to  experiences  and  cogitations  of  many  solitary 
hours  spent  in  bed :  when  I  have  complained  bitterly  of 
myself  for  incessantly  dramatising  sorrows  long  past,  and 
not  being  able  to  drive  away  images,  which,  the  more  pain- 
ful, were  ever  the  more  lively.  I  wish  anybody  would 
give  me  a  receipt  for  profiting  by  '  1'  insomnie ' — which  is 
declared  to  be  '  le  privilege  de  la  vieillesse '  in  an  interest- 
ing work  I  have  just  read.  Madame  Guyon  too  has 
written  touching  lines  to  that  effect :  and  that  remarkable 
woman,  a  Princess  Galitzin,  friend  of  Stolberg,  has  a  pas- 
sage on  the  .blessing  of  'schlaflose  Niichte.'  These  are 
people  before  whom,  in  every  way,  I  '  hide  my  diminished 
head  : '  but  their  secret  of  profiting  by  what  to  me  are  the 


HEIDELBERG.  257 


most  difficult  portions  of  existence,  I  should  be  glad  to 
know." 

To  Tier  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  Cannes,  31  Jan.,  1860. — We  have  to-day  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  death  of  the  Grand  Duchess  Stephanie. 
From  the  weakness  in  which  I  found  her  on  the  30th  Dec., 
one  could  only  expect  what  has  taken  place.  She  was  a 
remarkable  woman — one  of  those  characters  belonging  to 
the  past  generation,  formed  under  circumstances  which  can 
never  exist  again.  One  of  the  books  I  hope  to  read  when 
I  am  again  in  Germany,  is  that  publication  of  the  recollec- 
tions of  Yarnhagen — a  portion  of  which  treats  much  of  the 
life  of  trial  of  Stephanie. 

"Frances  has  just  returned  from  an  excursion  to  visit 
some  of  the  Protestants  scattered  in  the  mountain  villages 
of  this  country,  having  taken  with  her  Mademoiselle  Char- 
bonnet,  and  M.  Espineth,  a  missionary.  The  only  place 
you  ever  heard  of  before,  on  their  tour,  was  Antibes,  where 
they  visited  a  shoemaker-family,  the  only  Protestants  in 
the  place,  and  made  them  very  happy  by  Bible-reading, 
exhortation,  and  hymn-singing :  then  they  rested  the 
horses  at  a  town  called  Yence,  and  proceeded  to  a  place 
near  the  village  of  Garros,  the  habitation  of  a  family  of 
paysans  who  cultivate  a  property  of  their  own,  where  last 
year  the  mother  died,  an  earnest  Protestant.  There  they 
staid  all  Sunday,  and  on  Monday  proceeded  by  S.  Jeannet 
to  La  Gaudo,  making  visits,  and  gladly  received,  by  the  few 
melancholy  people  who- lead  the  life  of  outcasts,  and  are  in 
proportion  refreshed  by  sympathy.  It  is  sad  that  most  of 
the  Protestants  of  La  Gaude  have  emigrated  to  America, 

VOL.  II.  S 


258         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

unable  to  bear  the  discomfort  of  standing  alone.  Frances 
should  tell  herself  how  much  earnestness  and  intelligence 
and  knowledge  of  Scripture  she  found  amongst  these 
people — hospitality  and  refinement  of  mind,  with  total  con- 
tempt of  external  comforts.  But  the  beauty  of  the  country 
must  be  something  wonderful. 

"  How  I  have  enjoyed  reading  and  re-reading  your 
picture  of  your  darlings  and  their  behaviour  and  occupa- 
tions !  There  are  two  lines,  I  think  of  Cowper's  translations 
from  Madame  Guyon,  which  often  occur  to  me — 

'  Ye  soul-composing,  quiet  hours, 
Diffusing  peace  o'er  all  my  powers — ' 

and  they  express  or  shadow  forth  the  eiTect  of  one  of 
your  communications  to  me  bringing  me  into  your  atmo- 
sphere ! " 

The  symptoms  which  had  frequently  alarmed  his 
family  in  the  health  of  Bunsen,  increased  in  violence 
during  this  winter  at  Cannes,  and  in  May  caused 
Madame  de  Bunsen  to  concentrate  her  wishes  upon  as 
speedy  a  return  to  Germany  as  was  possible,  even 
though  a  terrible  accident  which  had  then  befallen 
her  youngest  daughter,  Matilda,  rendered  it  necessary 
that  she  should  be  left  behind  at  Cannes,  upon  a 
bed  of  intense  suffering,  under  the  care  of  her  sister 
Frances. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Cannes,  6  March,  1860. — I  had  such  a  number  of 
signs  of  affection  on  my  birthday,  that  the  only  thing  to 


HEIDELBERG.  259 


lessen  my  pleasure  was  the  consciousness  of  my  inability  to 
express  to  each  and  all  of  the  senders,  something  of  the 
love  and  thanks  I  feel  towards  them!  ....  As  I  sate 
reading  my  treasures  in  my  own  room,  the  servant  knocked 
and  brought  in  a  square  packet  in  a  wax-cloth,  which  I 
told  him  to  put  down,  after  having  informed  myself  that 
there  was  nothing  further  to  be  paid,  and  I  troubled 
myself  not  to  look  till  I  had  done  my  letters.  Then  I  per- 
ceived the  address  to  be  in  your  Father's  handwriting — 
and  the  piece  of  fun  was  to  send  me  a  '  Luft-Telegram  '  in 
form  of  a  heavy  box,  with  a  letter  inside,  and  a  whole  set 
of  Hefte  containing  the  plan  for  a  succession  of  Vorlesungen 
to  be  held  at  Bonn — the  letter  declaring  itself  and  the 
accompanying  papers  to  be  the  Spirit  of  the  young  Bunsen 
in  his  27th  year,  my  old  acquaintance  of  43  years'  standing, 
who  had  left  his  Doppelg  anger,  become  Geheimrath  and 
Pktlister,  fast  asleep  in  bed  at  Cannes,  and  had  flown  over 
to  Bonn,  to  address  me  from  the  place  whither  he  intended 
soon  to  conduct  me  as  '  Professors-Frau,'  carrying  out  the 
original  intention  of  former  years.  When  you  see  the 
immensity  of  the  plan  of  academical  teaching,  and  its 
importance  and  width  of  grasp,  you  will  enter  into  the 
degree  of  melancholy  which  I  have  to  struggle  against,  in 
contemplation  of  the  fact  that  your  Father  has  been 
awfully  ill,  and  that  he  is  still  in  a  state  for  which,  in  fact, 
one  knows  of  no  certain  relief,  and  one  only  hopes  in 
God's  mercy  that  efficiency  may  be  granted  to  means  of 
help  in  which  one  has  no  reason  to  place  confidence.  In 
the  night  between  the  2oth  and  26th,  an  attack  of  suffoca- 
tion came  on,  without  any  known  cause,  the  most  tre- 
mendous I  ever  witnessed :  for  two  hours  he  was  in  a 


260         LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEN. 

struggle  literally  between  life  and  death.  I  have  often 
seen  him  alarmed,  but  this  time  he  gave  himself  over, 
gasped  out  words  of  farewell,  of  blessing  to  children  and 
friends,  of  profession  of  faith,  of  prayer  for  help.  .  .  . 
At  half-past  seven  it  was  over.  But  I  need  not  go  on 
describing,  only  you  may  suppose  what  I  feel  on  looking 
to  a  far  future  !  The  mind  has  vigour  for  many  a  3rear, 
the  rich  store  of  matter  to  instruct,  to  reanimate,  to  delight 
and  invigorate  other  minds,  is  there — but  the  cause  of 
sudden  death  is  always  lying  in  ambush.  ...  I  pray, 
and  so  will  you — May  God  see  fit  to  preserve  him,  and 
above  all  may  He  grant  us  to  submit,  and  accept  as  the 
right,  and  the  lest,  whatever  be  His  will." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  Cannes,  10  April,  1860. — I  have  put  off  telling  you  of 
your  Father,  because  I  have  nothing  good  to  tell.  Passion 
Week  was  a  time  of  trial  indeed  and  Good  Friday  was 
worst  of  all :  on  Easter  Sunday  he  evidently  revived,  we 
knew  not  why.  It  is  a  great  comfort  that  Charles  is 
coming  back :  his  company  and  conversation  will  be  such 
a  pleasure  to  his  Father,  as  to  all  of  us,  and  he  looks  to 
seeing  Theodore  with  great  satisfaction.  But  though  we 
hail  the  arrival  of  sons  as  the  best  possible  company,  your 
Father  has  no  want  of  agreeable  visitors  here,  in  short  as 
many  as  he  is  equal  to  receiving.  At  intervals  he  goes  on 
with  his  various  works,  and  to-day  has  shown  me,  as 
finished,  the  last  piece  of  his  Egyptian  work,  namely  the 
Preface — which  he  talks  of  sending  off  to-morrow.  Such 
work  is  indispensable  to  his  happiness,  if  he  only  works 
not  too  long  in  a  day." 


HEIDELBERG.  261 


To  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS - 

"  Cannes,  17  April,  1860. — I  have  no  good  news  to  give 
you,  and  it  becomes  more  and  more  irksome  to  tell  the 
fact,  that  things  are  not  going  on  well  with  my  husband's 
health,  as  he  is  more  and  more  averse  to  hearing  it  com- 
mented upon :  one  proof  among  many  that  he  is  well 
aware  of  being — not  letter,  but  entered  upon  a  new  and 
troublesome  stage  of  his  chronic  disorder;  his  life  for 
the  last  two  months  having  been  the  dragging  on  of 
an  invalid  state,  which  is  a  comfortless  consumer  of 
hours." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  Cannes,  2  May,  1860,  6  A.M.— Matilda  has  had  a  fall,  by 
which  a  fracture  in  the  hip- joint  has  been  caused :  in  what 
pain  she  is,  you  alas  !  know  too  well. 

"  On  Sunday  Charles  and  Mary  returned  safe  and  well, 
Theodore  had  arrived,  and  we  all  rejoiced  in  such  a  family- 
meeting  and  living  together,  anticipating  a  time  of  comfort 
and  cheerfulness,  in  which  Monday,  30th  April,  dawned 
upon  us.  Matilda  was  as  usual  urgent  with  me  to  retire 
from  breakfast-table-talking,  with  her  into  my  room,  to  be 
read  to  in  Merle  D'Aubigne's  Histoire  de  la  Reformation : 
she  read  a  very  interesting  part  and  had  conversation  upon 
it — and  she  then  left  me  to  get  her  beloved  Elise  de  Vellay, 
for  the  usual  hour  of  reading  with  her  before  dinner. 
When  we,  at  one  o'clock,  were  about  to  sit  down  to  dinner 
• — the  first  meal  of  being  all  together,  as  supposed — came 
a  message  that  Matilda  could  not  come,  had  fallen,  was 
hurt  so  that  she  could  not  move.  Frances  went  directly, 
sending  a  messenger  to  call  Dr.  Severin :  she  took  in  the 


262         LIFE   AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

seriousness  of  the  matter,  which.  I  was  far  from  doing.  I 
therefore  staid  just  till  dinner  was  over,  and  tb.cn  hurried 
after  her. 

"  Matilda  had  been  with  Elise  in  the  room  G£  the  latter, 
and  was  about  to  come  down  a  piece  of  wooden  staircase 
which  terminated  the  ascent,  when  the  whole  gave  way 
under  her,  and  she  was  precipitated  down  to  the  flight 
of  stairs  below,  of  bricks  with  each  step  finished  sharply 
by  a  wooden  edge.  Elise  de  Vellay,  about  to  follow  her, 
having  her  foot  all  but  upon  the  upper  step,  finds  a  void, 
stairs  and  Matilda  vanished.  She  can  but  go  to  the  win- 
dow and  scream ;  her  mother  and  sister  in  the  garden  hear 
and  come  and  stand  aghast,  unable  to  move  the  wooden 
ladder  which  has  fallen  upon  Matilda.  When  help  is 
obtained,  the  poor  sufferer  is  dragged  upstairs  into  the  first 
bedroom.  There  is  no  doubt  of  fracture,  and  no  doubt  of 
two  months'  immoveability .  .  .  .  My  child,  what  God  sends, 
He  will  help  us  to  get  through !  I  know  that  well,  and 
pray  that  we  may  both  feel  and  experience  it !  " 

To  her  SON  ERNEST  (in  a  neighbouring  villa  at  Cannes). 

"  Cannes,  7  May,  1860. — I  write  to  announce  to  you  and 
dear  Elizabeth  a  sudden  determination  to  set  off  without 
delay,  under  the  escort  of  Theodore.  The  award  is  absolute, 
that  Matilda  cannot  be  moved  from  the  spot  where  she  now 
lies,  under  two  months :  and  that  your  Father  should  be 
detained  here  thus  long,  is  out  of  the  question.  I  write 
facts  drily — nothing  can  one  say  of  feelings  manifold  and 
complicated. 

"  My  dearest  Ernest,  your  Father  is  very  ill — not  better, 
and  declining  in  strength." 


HEIDELBERG.  263 


To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Cannes,  7  May,  1860. — You  know  the  outward  facts  of 
our  position,  and  can  imagine  much  of  what  I  have  neither 
time  nor  inclination  to  write :  one  bears  every  burden 
better  for  abstaining  from  enumeration  of  its  parts  and 
complications.  The  real  evil  which  swallows  up  the  rest, 
is  the  state  of  your  Father — declining  in  health  and  spirits, 
no  better  at  the  end  of  the  ups  and  downs  of  two  months, 
and  I  believe  we  are  doing  right  in  preparing  to  set  out 
next  Sunday  or  Monday  (as  we  can  obtain  the  coupe  of  the 
diligence  one  day  or  other)  and  travel  through  without 
stopping  to  Baden,  where  we  believe  Ernest  and  Elizabeth 
will  meet  us — Theodore  being  able  to  see  us  safe  so  far,  if 
no  hindrance  interposes.  Your  sisters  will  remain  here 
under  circumstances  as  good  as  such  a  case  will  admit, 
tinder  the  roof  of  the  De  Yellay's,  and  with  choice  of  kind 
and  helpful  persons  all  around.  Frances  is  a  host  in  her- 
self, and  meets  the  position  with  accustomed  energy  and 
cheerfulness.  Two  months  of  immovability  for  Matilda  are 
indispensable  :  and  when  once  she  can  be  brought  down- 
stairs, and  into  another  house,  it  must  be  seen  how  much 
of  another  month  must  pass  before  she  can  travel. 

"  Dear  Charles  and  Mary  Isabel !  what  a  pleasure  and 
satisfaction  they  are,  even  in  our  overclouded  state,  in 
which  we  may  appear  little  to  profit  by  their  presence. 
They  leave  us  on  the  10th,  with  their  most  delicious  and 
satisfactory  child.  Theodore's  having  been  with  us  is 
invaluable.  That  dear  Matilda  behaves  nobly — suffers 
much  pain,  but  all  goes  on  as  well  as  a  state  of  misery 
can :  her  health  and  her  composure  of  mind  are  great 
helps." 


264         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Cannes,  13  Mai/,  1860. — I  write  by  the  side  of  the  poor, 
good  sufferer — whom  I  have  great  difficulty  in  recognizing 
by  the  name  of  Matilda  ....  and  to-morrow  I  shall  be 
gone,  and  to-day  I  see  her  and  Frances  for  the  last  time 
for  a  long  while  to  come !  May  God  grant  a  meeting  in 
more  comfort  than  attends  this  indispensable  parting.  Your 
Father  is  very  ill,  has  been  very  ill,  is  only  better  at 

moments He  is  worn  by  want  of  sleep,  yet  would 

sleep  so  well,  if  breath  did  not  fail  him:  the  nights  are 

mostly  wretched My  dear  Henry  and  Mary  Louisa, 

let  your  thoughts  and  prayers  help  us  on -our  way,  and 
join  ours  in  supplicating  for  strength  and  patience  and 
resignation,  to  meet  whatever  may  impend." 

To  her  SON  ERNEST. 

"  2?dk,  18  Jkay,  I860.— I  know  not  how  to  hope.  I  am 
so  reduced  to  the  lowest  ebb  with  travelling,  anxiety,  and 
want  of  rest.  Dr.  Jung  has  uttered  his  award  that  we 
must  stay  here  a  week;  your  Father  will  then  die  of 
Langeweile,  and  if  we  are  indeed  to  stay  beyond  to-morrow, 
I  entreat  you,  dearest  Ernest,  to  bestow  your  cheering  and 
supporting  presence  upon  us.  I  must  write  now  to  Frances 
and  George — with  a  longing  after  the  sight  of  you  all  that 
I  cannot  give  words  to.  How  thankful  I  am  to  have  such 
children  to  love,  as  all  mine  are ! — and  how  thankful  to 
experience  such  love  from  them !  " 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

" Baden-Weiler,  20  May,  I860.— It  is  five  o'clock  on 
Tuesday  morning,  and  what  a  delicious  morning !  Your 


HEIDELBERG.  265 


Father  has  had  five  hours  of  quiet  sleep,  that  is  to  say  he 
had  a  respite  so  long  from  coughing,  and  when  that  is  the 
case,  sleep  is  always  at  hand — but  the  night  was  spent  in 

his  chair My  own  George,  I  have  told  you  all  the 

good  I  could,  in  the  intelligence  of  this  five  hours'  sleep, 
you  will  find  distress  enough  when  we  meet. 

"I  see  not  tow  your  Father  can  attempt  seeing  the 
Princess  at  Baden,  wherefore  we  shall  be  coming  all  the 
straighter  and  quicker  to  you.  How  much  I  have  to  say 
to  my  Emilia !  I  trust  she  will  stay  with  me — it  has  been 
hard  to  do  without  a  daughter,  when  one  has  such  as  I 
thank  God  for.  Ernest  is  delightful,  his  own  best  self — 
caring  for  everything,  perceiving,  thinking  of  everything 
for  our  comfort.  What  a  blessing  that  he  could  come 
to  us! — to  his  Father  his  company  and  conversation  are 
invaluable,  to  me  a  solace  indescribable." 


CHAPTER  V 

BONN. 

"Ese  cuerpo,  que  con  piadosos  ojos  estais  rimirando,  fu6 
depositario  de  una  alma,  en  quien  el  Ciel  puso  infinitas  partes 
de  sus  riquezas."— CERVANTES. 

"  How  seldom,  friend,  a  good  great  man  inherits 
Honour  or  wealth,  with  all  his  toil  and  pains, 
It  sounds  like  stories  from  the  land  of  spirits, 
If  any  man  obtain  that  which  he  merits, 
Or  any  merit,  that  which  he  obtains. 
• — For  shame,  dear  friend,  renounce  this  canting  strain, 
"What  would' st  thou  have  the  great  good  man  obtain  ? 
Place,  titles,  recompense  ?  a  gilded  chain, 
On  throne  of  corses  that  his  sword  hath  slain  ? 
Hath  he  not  always  treasures,  always  friends, 
The  good  great  man  ?    Three  treasures,  Love  and  Light, 
And  calm  thoughts,  regular  as  infant's  breath ; 
And  three  firm  friends,  more  sure  than  day  and  night, 
Himself,  his  Maker,  and  the  angel— Death." 

COLEKIDGE. 

A  T  the  end  of  May,  1860,  the  Bunsens  took  posses- 
•"-  sion  of  their  new  home  at  Bonn.  For  some 
months  after  this,  though  his  state  of  suffering  daily 
increased,  Bunsen  was  able  not  only  to  receive  but 
to  enjoy  the  visits  of  his  family  and  friends.  On 
his  birthday,  the  25th  of  August,  he  was  surrounded 


BONN.  26? 


as  formerly  by  a  loving  group,  who  took  part  in  a 
feast  arranged  in  the  garden  pavilion  looking  upon  the 
Rhine,  and  listened  to  the  touching  words  of  grati- 
tude and  benediction,  in  the  course  of  which,  after 
retracing  the  blessings  of  his  past  life,  he  sought  to 
comfort  them  by  the  assurance  that  if  "in  the  counsel 
of  God  "  it  was  good  for  him,  that  birthday-celebration 
would  not  be  his  last.  In  the  month  of  October  he  was 
cheered  by  the  presence  of  the  Princess  of  Wied,  and 
by  a  gracious  and  gratefully- welcomed  visit  from  the 
Princess  of  Prussia,  now  Empress  of  Germany.  On 
the  22nd  of  that  month  he  received  a  farewell  visit  from 
the  venerable  Pastor  Wiesmann,  to  whom  he  said  "  that 
many  had  endeavoured  to  build  all  kinds  of  bridges  to 
eternal  happiness,  but  that  he  had  come  to  the  full  con- 
viction that  all  those  bridges  must  be  broken  down,  nor 
should  they  be  trusted  to  for  effectual  mediation,  as 
there  was  nothing  to  hold  fast  by,  except  the  simple 
faith  in  Christ." 

Six  days  after,  the  spirit  of  Bunsen  seemed  to  be  on 
the  threshold  of  life.  He  gave  solemn  blessings  to  his 
children,  and  prayed  for  each.  In  the  most  touching 
accents  he  bade  farewell  to  his  wife — his  "first — his 
only  love,"  in  whom  he  had  "loved  that  which  is 
eternal."  "It  is  sweet  to  die,"  he  saki ;  "  with  all 
feebleness  and  imperfection  I  ha,YP  ever  lived,  striven 
after,  and  willed  the  fees,t  a.nd  noblest  only.  But  the 
best  and  highest  is  tfl  l}ave  fciown  Jesus  Christ.  I 
depart  frQm  this  world  without  any  feeling  of  unchari- 


268         LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF   BAROXESS    BUNSEX. 

tableness  towards  any  one.     No  uncharitableness,  no  ! 
that  is  sin." 

On  the  28th,  Ernest  de  Bunsen  was  summoned  from 
England,  with  scarcely  a  hope  that  he  would  find  his 
father  alive,  yet  for  nearly  a  month  after  that  time  he 
had  the  comfort  of  being  able  to  cheer  him  by  his 
loving  care.  In  those  solemn  days  Bunsen  was  still 
occasionally  able  to  give  utterance  to  the  thoughts 
which  God  sent  to  comfort  the  hours  of  intensest  suffer- 
ing. The  meaning,  the  kernel  of  all  was  the  same.  "  I 
see  Christ,"  he  said — "  and  I  see  through  Christ,  God." 

On  the  27th  of  November  his  daughter  Emilia  played 
to  him  for  the  last  time  on  the  familiar  orgue  expressif 
of  Roman  days,  and  in  the  chamber  of  death  the  glorious 
voice  of  his  beloved  son  Ernest  sang,  "  Jesus,  meine 
Zuversicht !  "  "  Wachet  auf,  ruft  uns  die  Stimme  !  " 
"  Jerusalem,  der  hochgebaute  Stadt !  "  Then  one  more 
night  of  suffering  was  passed — and  as  day  broke  on  the 
morning  of  the  28th,  the  majestic  form  lay  still — in  the 
quietude  of  perfect  peace. 

He  was  buried  on  the  1st  of  December,  in  a  bright 
winter  sunshine.  Once  more,  on  the  orgue  expressif, 
was  played  his  favourite  hymn,  "  Jerusalem,  der  hochge- 
baute Stadt,"  as  his  sons  Ernest,  Charles,  and  George, 
his  son-in-law  Baron  von  Ungern  Sternberg,  with  Drs. 
Kamphausen  and  Bleek,  his  faithful  fellow-labourers  in 
the  <(  Bibelwerk,"  took  up  the  flower- covered*  coffin, 
in  which,  by  hands  of  long  and  tender  ministration,  his 
remains  were  carried  to  the  grave.  His  widow,  with 


BONN.  269 


her  sister  and  daughters,  met  the  procession  at  the 
burial-ground,  in  the  centre  of  which  stands  an  ancient 
chapel  of  extreme  beauty,  transferred  stone  for  stone 
by  the  present  Emperor  from  a  solitary  position  in 
the  fields.  Here,  beside  Bunsen,  amid  shrubs  and 
flowers,  rest  a  noble  band  of  friends — Niebuhr  and  his 
Gretchen ;  Brandis,  with  his  invalid  wife  and  his  son 
Johannes ;  the  venerable  Arndt ;  Schumann ;  the  widow 
and  son  of  Schiller,  and  many  others. 

On  the  tomb  of  Bunsen,  a  beautiful  medallion,  by 
Monro,  still  recalls  the  glory  of  his  earthly  countenance, 
and  beneath  are  the  words  of  Isaiah  ii.  5,  calling  upon 
others  to  walk  in  that  "  light  of  the  Lord "  in  which 
he  lived. 

THE  BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  Bonn,  26  May,  I860.— I  never  felt  it  more  difficult  to 
write,  having  so  much  to  say  that  utterance  seems  choked. 
The  satisfaction  your  Father  and  I  feel  in  the  house, 
in  each  room,  in  each  arrangement,  seems  insufficiently 
uttered  by  any  words  that  will  occur  to  me  :  and  satisfaction 
in  itself  is  a  poor  word  for  the  overflowing  consciousness  of 
too  much  being  showered  upon  us — and  best  of  all  is  the 
love  and  tender  consideration  of  all  these  imcomparable 
children — George  and  Emma  and  Emilia — for  every  pecu- 
liarity and  every  feeling  and  inclination  of  their  parents." 

"  27  May. — I  worked  hard  at  unpacking  yesterday,  but 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  afternoon  your  Father  grew  so  ill, 
that  I  was  called  from  my  work  once  and  again,  and  at 
length  thought  it  better  to  give  up  the  point.  One  of  those 


270         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

unaccounted-for  aggravations  of  your  Father's  state  came 
on,  after  he  had  been  tolerably  well  and  very  happy  all 

day — and  he  has  been  very  ill  ever  since My  own 

Theodora,  our  thankfulness  for  this  house  is  boundless ;  we 
contemplate  with  wonder  the  provision  made  for  our  com- 
fort. As  for  myself  I  anrwonderfully  well,  but  so  tired. 

"  What  a  pleasure  it  is  to  see  the  old  books  and  the  old 
possessions,  and  consider  how  to  place  the  old  and  the 
new !  no  easy  matter,  although  such  good  space  is  granted. 
Then  the  quantity  of  nice  plants  in  the  garden!  many 
already  there,  a  number  put  in  by  George,  with  such  kind 
recollection  of  all  my  weak  sides!  Fancy  a  Westeria 
flowering  over  the  entrance  of  the  Garten-Saal !  and  lilies 
of  the  valley,  and  I  know  not  what  nice  things." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  £onn,  25  June,  1860. — We  greet  your  promised  visit 

by  family  acclamation My  dear  husband  has  need 

of  all  the  pleasure  that  can  yet  be  found  for  him,  and  the 
conversation  of  friends  is  as  great  a  pleasure  as  ever.  To 
write  details  does  no  good,  and  is  to  me  harder  than  ever  : 
the  fact  you  must  take  in  a  few  words,  that  he  is  no  better, 
and  that  we  have  no  grounds  whatever  on  which  to  rest 
hope  of  amendment.  There  are  better  days,  and  worse :  I 
trust  there  may  be  good  days  when  you  come." 

In  July  came  the  grievous  news  of  the  death  of  little 
Wilhelm  von  Bunsen,  the  lovely  and  engaging  child  of 
Charles  and  Mary  Isabel,  whose  presence,  during  a 
journey  of  his  parents  to  Italy,  had  gladdened  the  last 
winter  spent  by  his  grandparents  at  Cannes. 


BONN. 


271 


BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  ISABEL. 

"July,  I860.— Those  words  of  the  Apocalypse,  'These 
are  they  in  whose  mouth  was  found  no  malice,  for  they  are 
without  spot  before  the  throne  of  God,'  were  chosen  by  my 
husband  for  the  inscription  on  the  cippus  placed  over  the 
remains  of  the  two  children  we  were  called  upon  to  deposit 
near  the  pyramid  of  Caius  Cestius.  The  first  of  these  two 
lived  nearly  as  long,  and  was  in  the  same  manner  bright 
and  engaging  and  affectionate,  as  your  Wilhelm — and  the 
freshness  of  her  image  in  my  mind  reminds  me  how 
undying  his  remembrance  will  prove  to  you." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"4  July,  I860.— I  am  getting  quite  a  coward  about 
writing — the  things  one  will  not  write  about  are  so  strong 
upon  the  mind,  that  there  is  no  help  for  remaining  under 
their  influence,  let  one  try  as  one  may  not  to  let  conscious- 
ness become  distinct  image,  and  images  coin  themselves 
into  expressions. 

" Those  poor  parents  at  Turin!  That  angel  child! 
'  after  life's  fitful  fever,  he  sleeps  well,'  all  suffering 
slumbers,  and  that  fine  intelligence,  that  expansive  heart 
and  soul,  are  taking  in  full  draughts  of  the  blessedness 
that  shall  know  no  end. 

"Your  dear  Father  has  had  a  few  easier  nights  and 
days,  but  when  George  expressed  himself  to  Wolff*  as 
though  his  Father  were  improving,  the  latter  answered — 
*  Machen  sie  sich  nur  keine  Illusion — er  macht  sich  keine  : 
er  weiss  dass  ich  nichts  Wesentliches  fur  ihn  thun  kann.'  " 

*  The  German  doctor. 


272         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAHOXESS    BUNSEN. 

To  lier  DAUGHTER-IIS-LAW  ELIZABETH  (who  had  long  shared 
the  anxieties  of  the  sick-room  at  Bonn). 

"Bonn,  23  July,  I860.— What  a  help  and  comfort  has 
not  Ernest  been  !  through  a  period  of  which  one  feels  on  a 
retrospect  how  great  the  amount  of  trial  was :  only  divided 
into  days  and  hours,  each  day  and  hour  bore  its  part,  and 
with  God's  blessing  has  been  lived  through. 

"My  dear  Elizabeth!  what  a  succession  of  kind  filial 
attention  have  you  bestowed  upon  us  in  such  a  long  period 
of  weeks ! 

'  That  constant  flow  of  love,  that  knew  no  fall- 
Ne'er  vanquish' d  by  those  cataracts  and  breaks 
That  humour  interposed  too  often  makes.' 

How  I  miss  your  frequent  appearance,  coming  down  with 
one  kind  thought  or  other  :  and  my  Hilda,  and  my  Moritz, 
and  the  kind  Mariechea.'-' 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"27  July,  1860. — We  may  rejoice  in  the  amendment  in 
your  dear  Father  while  it  lasts.  Could  you  but  see  him, 
you  would  be  comforted,  as  all  the  friends  have  been  who 
have  lately  come  here  to  visit  him :  Miss  Wynn,  Abeken, 
Usedom,  Mrs.  Schwabe."  • 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  14  Sept.,  1860. — It  is  possible  that  John  and  Mary 
may  arrive  this  evening!  So  much  for  joy — now  for 
sorrow — your  dear  Father  is  full  of  suffering.  0  !  my  own 
Theodora,  could  I  but  write  what  would  cheer  and  not 
grieve  you :  but  there  is  no  help  for  fact  and  reality." 


BONN.  273 


To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  22  Sept.,  I860. — It  costs  a  struggle  to  determine  on 
writing  such  scraps  and  fragments  as  are  possible.  But  I 
can  to-day  write  in  spirits,  rejoicing  in  the  present  moment, 
and  resolving  not  to  look  beyond  it,  and  as  much  as  possible 

not  to  look  back  on  the  misery  that  has  gone  before 

Dear  Mary  and  Co.  arrived  on  the  15th,  and  good  Meyer  on 
the  16th,  and  Lepsius  has  been  here  three  days,  and  will 
stay,  I  hope,  a  few  more ;  but  for  all  the  kind  visitors  this 
has  been  a  melancholy  time,  for  short  and  scarce  were  the 
occasions  of  speaking  to  your  Father,  who  however  yester- 
day was  able  to  have  a  good  conference  with  Lepsius,  and 
to-day  I  hope  will  find  it  possible  to  talk  to  him  longer. 

"  Your  Father  says  '  es  ist  unmoglich  zu  sagen,  wie  oft 
und  wie  ziirtlich  ich  an  Heinrich  denke.'  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  10  Oct. — Everything  that  I  might  write  had  better  re- 
main unwritten — for  each  detail  of  intelligence  but  sharpens 
the  impression  of  pain  on  your  mind  and  my  dear  Ernest's, 
as  to  the  state  of  your  Father.  Many  an  hour  of  sorrow 
and  anxiety  nave  you  shared,  and  worse  than  any  you 
experienced  with  us  have  been  our  portion  since  you  left 
us  :  misery  is  once  established,  and  we  sink  deeper  and 
deeper  daily.  Watching  for  those  periods  of  relief,  which 
kept  up  hopes  and  spirits  now  and  then  in  your  time,  seems 
now  in  vain.  Day  after  day,  the  extreme  point  supposed 
to  have  been  reached,  is  passed.  And  yet,  he  is  so  strong, 
the  strength  may  yet  be  much  prolonged." 

During  his  illness  Baron  Bunsen  constantly  used  the 
following   prayer  composed  by  Benjamin  Schmolk  of 
VOL.  IT.  T 


274         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Silesia,  Pastor  of  Schweidnitz,  who  lived  1672—1737 
and  wrote  more  than  1,000  hymns— 

"  0  holy  and  most  glorious  God!  Truly  thou  dost  lead 
thine  own  wondrously  by  a  thorny  road  to  Paradise,  through 
the  vale  of  tears  to  the  mansions  of  joy,  through  the  dark 
valley  of  death  to  the  fountain  of  life !  The  diseases  of  the 
body  are  for  our  healing,  and  only  when  this  our  earthly 
tabernacle  is  dissolved  may  we  enter  Heaven.  When  I 
consider  this  and  weigh  it  in  the  balance  of  thy  sanctuary, 
I  feel  that  it  is  of  little  moment  whether  my  way  to  life  be 
rough  or  easy,  if  only  I  attain  to  Heaven.  It  is  of  little 
moment  whether  my  soul  ascend  to  thee  by  a  hard  struggle 
or  in  peaceful  calm,  if  only  it  enter  into  thy  glory.  It 
matters  not  to  me,  whether  the  lamp  of  my  life  go  out  of 
itself,  or  be  extinguished  by  an  adverse  wind,  if  only,  re- 
kindled by  the  beams  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  it  shine 
in  thine  eternal  bliss,  and  in  thy  blessed  eternity.  Every- 
thing, 0  my  Father,  must  be  well-pleasing  to  me,  which  in 
thy  wisdom  and  providence  seemeth  good  to  Thee.  I  am 
content  to  die,  when  Thou  wilt,  and  as  Thau  wilt :  all  is 
one  to  me,  if  only  I  die  in  peace  and  find  rest  from  all  my 
labours. 

"  Let  me,  reconciled  unto  Thee,  the  living  God,  and  con- 
tent with  my  portion  of  life,  have  a  conscious  and  unclouded 
end,  and  so  be  gathered  to  my  fathers  in  Heaven  above. 
Amen." 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  MRS.  LANE*  (whose  daughter  was  dying). 
" Bonn,   10   Oct.,   I860.— How  I  think  of  you,  and  pray 
*  Daughter  of  Dr.  Sandford,  Bishop  of  Edinburgh. 


BONX.  275 


for  you,  that  you  may  be  supported  through  new  and 
bitter  affliction. 

"You,  who  have  always  sympathy  for  others,  will 
believe  that  full  as  my  present  da}^s  and  hours  are  of 
misery,  yet  the  heart  has  space  and  time  for  feeling  and 
prayer, — and  I  wish  to  be  remembered  by  you  as  one  of 
those  who  in  thought  are  present  with  you  in  your 
renewed  sorrow  and  fresh  privation.  God  help  you  !  and 
teach  you  yet  again  to  bear,  the  transmission  of  your 
treasures  into  the  treasury  of  Heaven. 

11  My  husband  sinks  visibly,  and  his  state  of  suffering 
is  ever  aggravated :  but  his  strength  is  so  great  that  I,  for 
my  part,  cannot  believe  the  moment  of  rest  to  be  near. 
Pray  for  us,  dear  friend  !  as  you  have  kindly  told  me  you 
do — as  you  pray  for  yourself,  that  the  power  of  perfect 
acceptance  of  the  will  of  the  Father  of  Mercies  may  be 
granted  us." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"11  Oct. — I  feel  it  quite  wrong  that  Mary  should  be 
here — dragged  into  all  this  misery  of  ours,  which  she 
cannot  alleviate !  " 

"  3  Nov. — My  precious  child  !  what  a  world  of  event  and 
feeling  has  been  lived  through  of  late.  Could  I  but 
convey  to  you  the  blessedness  of  the  present  moment !  for- 
ward to  the  next,  it  is  wisest  not  to  look,  but  to  dwell  on 
the  happiness  of  seeing  him  at  ease,  able  to  breathe  freely, 
with  no  suffering  but  weakness.  My  dearest  Mary  is  just 
gone — just  off  in  the  finest  of  weather :  another  matter  of 
thankfulness,  to  have  had  her  till  now,  and  now  to  be  able 
to  part  with  her  in  a  moment  of  unlooked-for  amendment. 


276         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

He  has  slept  entirely  through,  the  last  evening  and  night — 
George  watched  beside  him  till  midnight,  and  then  Ernest 
till  morning.  His  thoughts  are  only  about  death  and 
immortality." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"9  Nov.,  1860. — I  am  thankful  that  you  went  away 
under  the  influence  of  a  sunny  gleam  of  hope,  and  that 
you  cannot  now  drink  out  with  us  the  bitter  dregs  of  a 
cup  of  woe  far  enough  from  being  exhausted.  We  all 
want  your  prayers,  and  those  of  all  sympathising  friends, 
not  only  for  the  sufferer  himself,  but  to  keep  us,  each  and 
all,  from  rebelling  against  the  counsels  of  the  Divine 
Providence  which  has  so  mercifully  cared  for  us.  I  am 
ever  under  the  bitter  temptation  to  ask  why  he  was  not 
taken  when  so  ready — when  in  a  frame  of  mind  so  blessed, 
when  full  of  heaven,  of  peace  and  joy  and  love — desiring 
only  to  be  dissolved  and  to  be  with  Christ,  and  the 
enquiry  is  full  of  rebellion I  now  anticipate  imme- 
diate danger  less  than  ever :  but  fear  a  lengthened  por- 
tion of  suffering  and  continued  bodily  unrest,  such  as 
would  fall  heavy  on  the  best-prepared  mind,  but  for 
enduring  which  with  equanimity,  his  existence  of  bodily 
ease  and  freshness  has  not  prepared  him  in  the  least. 
The  verse  in  that  hymn  we  all  know  so  well  often  recurs 
to  me — 

*  Ach  komtn,  eh'  mir  das  Herz  erkalt, 
Und  sich  zum  Sterben  schicke.' ' 

In  our  mortal  weakness  we  could  desire  to  quit  this  earth 
at  our  culminating  point — when  we  are,  or  suppose  our- 
selves, most  spiritualized,  most  warm  in  love  to  God  and 


BONN.  277 


man.     But  He  who  made  us  knows  best !   and  could  wo 
but  learn  entire  submission !  " 

To  licr  SON  HENRY. 

"28  Nov.,  1860. — The  long  struggle  is  over — and  your 
blessed  Father  rests  from  pain  and  misery.  I  am  sitting 
near  his  remains.  Could  I  but  picture  to  you  the  beauty 
of  his  repose — the  inexpressible  sweetness  and  majesty  of 
his  countenance — no  trace  of  suffering.  This  morning  at 
five,  while  the  clock  struck,  he  still  breathed,  and  a  few 
minutes  later  he  breathed  no  more.  Ernest  and  I  had 
raised  his  head,  each  with  an  arm  under  him,  and  the  head 
fell  on  one  side,  upon  my  shoulder.  "We  did  not  suppose 
the  moment  so  near,  the  moment  of  relief  and  release. 
The  breath  just  ceased,  there  was  no  more  agony — that 
had  gone  on  a  whole  month,  ever  since  the  terrible  28th 
October,  when  every  hour  seemed  as  if  it  must  be  the 
last. 

"  Emilia  had  staid  with  him  till  12  o'clock :  then  George 
remained  with  Jacob  :  then  called  Ernest  and  me.  I  had 
always  come  in  daily  about  four.  Very  thankful  I  am 
that  the  hour  of  departure  was  not  during  my  sleep. 

"  I  sit  here,  to  behold  him  while  I  can. 

"  I  write  with  pencil,  as  if  he  could  still  be  disturbed  by 
the  pen  scratching: — foolish — but  every  common  sound 
seems  profanation  of  the  sacred  stillness. 

"My  dearest  Henry!  it  is  a  relief  to  think  that  you 
have  not  witnessed  his  sufferings,  his  wanderings  of  mind, 
his  helplessness  of  body.  No  description  can  give  an  idea 
of  the  anguish  of  the  spectacle. 

"  My  precious  Henry  !  pray  for  me  and  for  all  of  us  that 


278          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

we  may  meet  the  new  phase  of  life  that  opens  before  us  as 
we  ought. 

"  My  love  to  your  dear  wife  and  daughters.  Oh  !  let  us 
cling  together,  if  possible,  more  than  ever,  now  that  our 

earthly   stay  is  removed God  forgive   those   who 

would  call  in  question  your  Father's  Christianity,  because 
higher,  deeper,  purer,  and  more  intense  than  their  own  ! — 
and  may  He  grant  all  gainsayers  the  grace  to  make  such  a 
confession  of  faith  in  God  through  Christ,  as  he  uttered 
again  and  again  in  his  last  bright  hours  of  spiritual  con- 
sciousness! " 

To  her  SON  THEODOKE   (then  in  Japan  with    the    Prussian 
special  Embassy). 

"Bonn,  4  Dec.,  I860.— The  28th  of  October  was  a  day  in 
which  it  seemed  impossible  but  that  the  breath  must  cease 
with  every  gasp  : — '  entsetzlich  langanhaltende  Todes- 
kampf '  were  the  words  whispered  by  Wolff  in  answer  to 
my  anxious  look  when  he  made  his  evening  visit.  That 
night  was  a  time  of  unspeakable  brightness  of  look  and 
clearness  of  mind,  and  words  of  high  import,  confession  of 
faith,  blessing  and  farewell  to  each  of  his  beloved  ones, 
were  repeated  with  fulness  of  power,  of  intelligence, 
and  voice.  These  were  solemn  moments,  in  which  he 
collected  us  around  him,  and  repeated  his  charges  and 
blessings,  in  varying  language,  sometimes  and  mostly 
German,  often  English,  occasionally  French.  Meanwhile 
his  constitution  made  a  wonderful  effort,  and  his  state 
seemed  no  longer  to  threaten  immediate  danger.  Charles 
ventured  to  go  to  Berlin  on  the  1  st  November,  and  dear 
Mary  and  John  with  their  children  departed  on  the  3rd. 


BONN.  279 


On  Monday  the  5th  he  desired  to  partake  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  and  Pfarrer  Wolters  was  summoned,  with 
whom  he  spoke  alone  beforehand.  Then  poor  Matilda  in 
her  bed  was  wheeled  into  the  library,  the  servants  were  col- 
lected, and  most  solemn  and  heart-strengthening  was  this 
last  religious  celebration.  The  rest  of  the  week  he  still  often 
talked  of  resuming  correction  of  proof-sheets,  had  all  pre- 
pared on  Saturday  the  10th  when  he  summoned  Kamp- 
hausen;  and  on  Sunday  the  llth  he  did  again  work  for 
an  hour — George,  Frances,  and  Kamphausen  were  with 
him.  That  night  he  was  seized  with  a  violent  shivering 

fit In  that  night  I  beheld  the  last  full  brilliancy  of 

eye  and  smile,  when  he  repeated  his  solemn  farewell, 
believing  death  to  be  at  hand — 'Love,  love — we  have  loved 
each  other — love  cannot  cease — love  is  eternal — the  love  of 
God  is  eternal — live  in  the  love  of  God  and  Christ — those 
who  live  in  the  love  of  God  must  find  each  other  again, 
though  we  know  "not  how — we  cannot  be  parted — we  shall 
find  each  other  again.' 

"  That  night  was  the  last  crisis,  the  next  day  brought  a 
fearful  return  of  struggle  for  breath,  and  from  that  date  all 
was  misery.  One  of  the  greatest  trials  of  those  who  wit- 
nessed the  sufferings  they  could  not  assuage,  was  his  loss 
-of  the  power  of  articulation.  Yet  at  times,  with  a 
great  effort  to  be  heard,  he  would  utter,  '  Das  Ewige — 
das  Ewige — erstrebt  nur  das  Ewige.'  Other  words  of 
serious  import  were  often  uttered.  'Ich  sterbe ' — he 
often  said :  '  Ich  bin  sterbend ' — looking  full  at  me  :  '  Ich 
fiihle  mich  so  elend.'  Then,  after  unavailing  attempts  to 
swallow,  he  said,  'Der  Herr  Gott  sieht  dass  Speise  und 
Trank  mir  nicht  mehr  nothig  sind.'  Another  time,  when 


280         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Frances  and  George  were  trying  to  place  him  better  on 
his  bed,  '  Ihr  habt  viele  Miihe,  siisse  Kinder — Gott  lohne 
es  Euch ! ' 

"  Tuesday  evening,  the  27th,  the  last  of  his  life,  we  were 
far  from  anticipating  what  was  so  soon  to  take  place.  My 
sister  Lady  Llanover  *  had  glided  into  the  room,  and  sat 
down  in  a  dark  corner,  to  look  at  him  :  he  recognised  her 
outline  in  the  dim  light,  put  out  his  hand  and  squeezed 
hers  Avith  strength,  saying  '  Very  kind  ' — and  other  indis- 
tinct syllables.  Emilia  watched  him  till  12  o'clock,  then 
George  came.  George  called  Ernest  before  four,  and  I 
came  also,  which  had  been  the  habit  with  me  for  a  long 
time.  I  sat  near  on  one  side,  and  Ernest  on  the  other 
— and  neither  of  us  recognised  the  long-drawn  breath 
till  just  before  the  last  breath  was  drawn,  when  I  came 
close  and  put  my  arm  under  the  dear  head.  Ernest  came 
on  the  other  side  and  put  his  arm  under  the  pillow,  and  we 
gently  raised  him.  The  dear  head  sank  on  my  shoulder. 
....  The  eyes  had  closed  in  life  by  his  own  act.  There 
was  no  struggle,  he  simply  ceased  to  breathe. 

"  Many  and  many,  during  the  last  days,  were  the  times 
of  uttering  your  name— 'Theodor  !  Theodor  ! '  in  tones 
of  affectionate  sadness  not  to  be  described. 

"  On  Saturday,  1st  December,  we  all  sat  together  in  the, 
chamber  of  death  for  an  hour  before  that  was  removed  011 
which  our  eyes  were  fixed.     Emilia  read  the  burial-service 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  Ernest  the  hymn  '  Die  Seele 
rulit  in  Jesu  Armen.'     And  then  the  hands  of  sons  and 

*  Sir  Benjamin  Hall  had  been  raised  to  the  peerage  in  1859.  Lord 
and  Lady  Llanover  had  been  long  at  Bonn,  affording  all  the  help  and 
comfort  which  lay  in  their  power. 


BONN.  281 


friends  carried  away,  to  the  sound  of  the  organ  played 
upon  by  Emilia — the  remains  of  the  crown — the  joy — the 
pride — the  glory — the  guide — lent  to  us,  not  given." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  Heidelberg,  8  Dec.,  I860. — At  this  hour  on  this  day  last 
week,  all  that  remained  of  him  seemed  in  one's  possession 
— still  lay  so  peacefully  in  his  own  house — there  where  he 
wished  to  dwell,  there  where  he  had  planned  for  years  of 
laborious  usefulness.  But  that  was  not  "him!  and  if  I 
could  but  learn  to  feel  as  much  as  I  know,  that  the  blessed 
spirit  lives  in  the  region  most  congenial,  in  the  more  imme- 
diate light  of  God's  own  countenance,  cheered  by  more 
intense  consciousness  of  that  love  of  God  which  he  ever 
sought  and  found,  in  which  he  believed  with  fulness  of  faith 
— and  that  his  clear  intellect  is  now  expanding  in  insight 
into  the  Divine  Will,  and  drinking  in  the  cup  of  know- 
ledge which  cannot  be  exhausted — should  I  be  grudging, 
as  I  am  now,  the  not  having  him  present  to  me  and  this 
world ! — 0  grief  is  selfish :  and  I  will  try  hard  to  outlive 
such  selfishness. 

"  Our  journey  to  Heidelberg  was  peaceful  and  satis- 
factory beyond  expectation :  no  delay,  and  before  one 
o'clock  we  were  with  dearest  Theodora.  Nobody  had  ex- 
pected us,  and  the  station  was  empty  of  all  but  officials, 
who  testified  recognition  by  bowing  in  silence.  The  chil- 
dren have  greeted  us  with  touching  proofs  of  not  having 
been  forgotten ;  and  have  done  us  good  not  to  be  described 
by  their  bright  joyousness  and  unconsciousness  of  the  dark 
side  of  life." 

"Dec.  11,  I860.— The  1 1th— therefore  a  calendar-month 


282         LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

since  tliat  last  day  of  something  like  life.  .  .  .  0  !  these  dates 
— these  recollections !  If  we  did  not  recall  what  his  suffer- 
ings were  (and  yet  it  kills  one  to  think  of  them)  how  should 
one  continue,  as  one  ought,  to  thank  God  for  his  present 
blessedness.  If  one  was  only  not  so  earthly,  so  clinging  to 
the  clod — one  should  be  less  rebellious — less  unreasonable. 
"My  own  Emilia!  I  did  not  think,  when  I  took  the 
paper,  that  I  was  going  to  write  these  things  to  you : — but 
last  night  Meyer  sung  a  number  of  old  songs,  words  and 
melodies,  that  he  liked  to  hear — and  I  enjoyed  hearing 
them,  from  habit — and  aftenvards  was  foolish  enough  to 
remember  that  the  ear  was  deaf  to  sounds  of  earth,  that 
used  to  listen  with  me.  He  takes  in  now  the  heavenly 
harmonies,  after  which  he  aspired !  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"Bonn,  17  Dec.,  I860.— I  have  returned  from  Heidel- 
berg, very  thankful  for  having  enjoyed  eight  days  long 
the  sight  of  Theodora  and  her  children,  and  now  thankful 
to  be  in  the  home,  after  which  I  had  a  longing  all  the 
time.  When  either  mind  or  body  are  sick,  no  place  suits 
them  like  home,  whatever  they  find  in  it  of  sadness  or 
emptiness:  and  in  Heidelberg  the  amount  of  enjoyment 
was  confined  within  the  limits  of  the  house,  for  that  beau- 
tiful scene  is  but  a  picture  of  death  under  the  desolation  of 
winter  and  the  '  griiuliche  Graue  des  Nordens.'  My  own 
Mary,  it  is  a  mercy  that  Tie  was  not  reserved  to  feel  this 
cold,  to  behold  and  be  oppressed  by  this  gloom !  He  had 
a  fear  of  it,  and  said  to  me  not  long  ago,  '  Ach !  der  Winter 
ist  doch  hasslich.'  I  am  thankful  that  we  were  allowed 
those  two  last  winters  of  his  life  in  the  brilliant,  glorious 


BONN.  283 


south. :  the  sun,  the  sea,  the  bright  sky  did  not  fail  to  shed 
a  charm  over  his  days,  even  though  he  never  had  such  an 
intense  enjoyment  of  nature  that  I  have.  Here  I  am 
writing  as  though  I  were  reasonable,  and  trying  to  recall 
causes  of  thankfulness;  and  yet  the  truth  is  that  the 
wound  is  new  and  fresh  as  ever,  and  the  terrible  reality  of 
death,  total  void,  total  deprivation,  comes  upon  me  on 
returning  home  as  if  I  had  not  known  and  felt  the  fact 
before.  Could  I  but  describe  to  you  how  tenderly  I  am 
cared  for !  I  say  nothing  about  it  to  Frances  and  George, 
for  fear  of  a  burst  of  tears,  but  I  feel  unspeakably  the 
tenderness  of  every  word  and  look." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  JBonn,  17  Dec.,  1860. — After  having  had  a  home  under 
your  roof  for  many  days,  I  write  again  from  my  own  home, 
for  which  I  would  fain  be  as  thankful  as  its  many  comforts 
and  advantages  deserve,  but  which  as  yet  does  but  revive 
the  feeling  of  desolation  by  the  signs  that  meet  one  at 
every  turn,  that  the  light  is  quenched  which  once  pervaded 
it.  The  library,  so  sacred  to  our  remembrance,  is  now 
arranged  so  as  to  be  quite  perfect  for  our  constant 
habitation. 

* '  My  own  Theodora,  I  know  now,  from  Matilda  herself, 
that  her  restoration  is  not  to  be  granted  to  our  wishes  and 
prayers.  I  have  been  shrinking  from  requiring  a  distinct 
account,  all  this  long  time  :  it  was  as  if  I  could  not  under- 
take any  more  pain.  She  has  just  said  to  me,  most 
touchingly,  '  But  if  I  could  in  time  walk  with  a  stick,  like 
Emilia,  you  will  not  mind,  will  you,  Mamma  ? ' — as  if  she 
was  more  concerned  for  me  than  herself.  God  be  thanked 


284         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

for  this  state  of  mind,  and  may  God  help  her,  and  teach  us 
all  what  is  best  for  her,  and  of  all  things,  to  submit  and 
not  murmur  oneself 'at  her  privation." 

To  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  Christmas  Day,  1860. — I  feel  as  if  you  could  not  want 
to  be  told  how  I  value  your  friendship,  and  hope  for  the 
continuance  of  intercourse  with  you  while  at  a  distance, 
and  opportunities  of  meeting  from  time  to  time.  "What 
remains  to  me  on  earth,  as  worth  living  for,  is  the  society 
of  those  that  loved  and  understood  him  who  has  been  taken 
away  from  me.  The  fact  of  privation  is  so  incomprehen- 
sible, that  it  will  still  ever  and  again  come  over  my  mind 
as  a  fearful  surprise,  that  I  can  be  alive  and  the  world 
seem  to  be  going  on  as  before,  when  that  intense  light  and 
life  which  to  me  was  the  centre  of  action  and  feeling,  is 
quenched  for  ever  as  to  things  earthly.  The  frightful 
visions  of  the  ceaseless  suffering  I  so  lately  witnessed,  con- 
tinue to  haunt  me,  and  I  must  not  wish  them  dispelled,  as 
they  alone  can  effectually  teach  me  patience,  as  to  the 
cutting  off  of  a  life  so  immensely  valuable,  to  many  besides 
myself :  as  to  the  leaving  unfinished  so  many  undertakings, 
so  many  purposes,  for  the  good  of  mankind  :  to  say  nothing 
of  the  charm,  interest,  enlivenment,  support,  instruction, 
edification — continually  exhaled,  by  that  existence  through- 
out the  immediate  home-circle,  now,  alas !  so  desolate,  and 
in  a  desolation  which  nothing  can  remedy.  Among  the 
letters  of  friends  that  I  have  received,  two  only  have  with 
just  judgment  suggested,  that  the  time  must  be  short  that  I 
have  to  live  in  privation.  That  is  most  true,  though  the 
four  weeks  which  ended  this  morning  at  5  o'clock,  since 


BONN.  285 


the  last  breath  fled,  have  seemed  to  me  ages — yet,  as  we 
were  born  in  the  same  year,  and  I  the  eldest  of  the  two, 
and  thus  we  had  together  all  lut  '  the  threescore  and  ten 
years'  allotted  to  man,  I  might  well  reckon  upon  soon 
following  him,  did  I  not  feel  so  full  of  life,  and  allowed  so 
wonderful  a  soundness  of  health,  that  I  have  suffered 
nothing  in  body  from  a  course  of  fatigue  and  distress 
during  six  entire  months,  which  would  have  killed  many 
people." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"  Bonn,  2  Jan.,  1861. — Hitherto  I  have  considered  myself 
privileged  to  refuse  seeing  anybody,  except  Brandis :  and 
indeed  I  feel  very  far  from  hardened  yet  for  the  contact  of 
the  world,  and  overset  by  speaking  to  each  person  :  but 
there  is  a  new  cause  for  emotion  in  having  just  heard  of 
the  death  of  the  King.  With  the  idea  of  the  King  is 
bound  up  such  a  mass  of  recollections  !  How  long  were 
we  all  in  continual  anticipation  of  the  event,  and  how  little 
did  we  or  anybody  think  of  the  snapping-asunder  of  that 
thread  of  life,  just  now,  which  seemed  as  though  nothing 
could  wear  it  out !  Thought  would  fain  picture  the  meet- 
ing in  blessedness  of  those  who  truly  loved  each  other  here 
below.  0 !  could  one  but  raise  thought  and  feeling  to  that 
region  of  blessed  reality ! — there  is  no  comfort  but  in  trying 
after  that,  and  trying  to  be  unselfish.  I  do  not  believe 
any  time  likely  to  be  granted  to  me,  could  make  me  get 
used  to. the  privation  of  that  presence  which  spread  life  and 
warmth  around. 

( '  It  was  very  hard  to  part  with  the  old  year,  wretched 
though  it  had  been — for  most  of  its  dates  belonged  to  his 


286         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

life,  and  the  new  year  is  cold  and  strange,  and  he  has  not 
lived  in  it." 

To  her  COUSIN  Miss  RAM  (after  her  Mother's  Death). 

"  Honn,  5  Feb.,  1861. — I  have  excused  myself  from  writ- 
ing wherever  I  was  so  sure  of  indulgence  as  not  to  fear 
being  suspected  of  ingratitude — not  that  I  had  any  difficulty 
in  writing,  for  it  was  easier  to  go  on  upon  the  inexhaustible 
subject  of  life-long  sorrow,  than  to  stop  short  in  utterance : 
— but  such  letting  loose  the  current  of  grief  and  remem- 
brance was  the  most  disabling  of  occupations :  and  only 
silence  and  absolute  quiet  could  do  me  good.  Be  assured, 
that  in  that  silence  and  quiet  I  had  many  a  thought  of  you, 
and  of  that  blessed  spirit  which  has  returned  to  its  proper 
home,  after  having  been  the  charm,  and  the  cordial,  and 
the  guide  of  your  life ! — How  well  I  can  feel  with  you,  that 
tenderly  as  you  loved  her  in  life,  your  love  increases  since 
you  have  lost  her,  and  can  only  look  back  to  the  rare  per- 
fections, the  rare  completeness,  of  her  character,  as  be- 
longing to  the  past,  as  far  as  this  world  is  concerned ;  but 
forming  a  glorious  vision  to  your  upward  view,  beckoning 
you  on  to  that  place  and  time,  where  Faith  shall  be  lost  in 
sight. 

11  Though  I  have  enjoyed  but  rare  opportunities  of  seeing 
my  dear  Aunt,  I  have  always  felt  that  I  saw  her  well,  and 
took  in  an  amount  of  excellence  such  as  mortal  frailty 
rarely  presents.  In  particular  I  have  wondered  at  her 
sincere,  unaffected  humility  and  low  estimate  of  self ! — 
She,  the  admired  of  all,  the  favourite  wherever  she  ap- 
peared—  the  idolized  wife,  the  almost  adored  mother  — 
mentally  gifted  and  externally  attractive — and  yet,  the 


BONN.  287 


lowly-minded  Christian  more  than  anything  else.  I  first 
remember  to  have  seen  her  in  the  summer  of  1800,  when 
she  came  with  my  Uncle  and  Aunt  Granville  to  my 
Father's  house  after  the  terrible  blow  of  the  death  of 
John  Granville.  My  dear  Aunt  Fanny  was  very  young 
then — her  sister  Louisa,  and  her  cousin  Nanny  Dewes, 
were  also  there  that  summer.  Now  all  are  gone  before, 
and  have  met,  not  to  part  again.  The  death  of  Mrs. 
Stratton  *  moved  me  much,  but  she  has  been  taken  in  a  ripe 
age,  and  was  spared  the  sharpness  of  death,  as  it  would 
seem,  in  a  high  degree.  She  was  some  years  older  than 
your  dear  Mother !  the  last  survivor  of  that  generation 
in  our  family,  of  which  my  dearest  Mother  was  the 
eldest. 

"  Should  circumstances  arise  to  show  me  the  path  of 
duty  as  leading  to  England,  I  shall  hope  to  see  you,  and 
dear  Lady  Jane  and  Mr.  Ram,  and  my  young  friends 
now  grown  up.  But  as  far  as  feeling  goes,  my  disinclina- 
tion is  great  to  leaving  this  home,  endeared  by  the  saddest 
of  recollections,  because  the  last." 

On  his  death-bed,  Bunsen  had  committed  a  solemn 
charge  to  his  wife — "  Write  yourself  the  history  of  our 
common  life.  You  can  do  it:  you  have  it  in  your 
power; — only  be  not  mistrustful  of  yourself."  Thus 
in  the  first  winter  of  her  widowhood,  Baroness 
Bunsen  began,  at  Bonn,  that  work,  which  was  at  once 
the  labour  and  the  comfort  of  the  next  few  years. 
Those  who  have  read  the  result  will  feel  that  the  great 

*  Anne  Dewes  (see  Chap.  IT.)  married  G.  F.  Stratton,  Esq.,  of  Tew 
Park. 


288         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

power  of  Baron  Bunsen' s  Memoirs  consists  in  the 
entire  sympathy  between  the  pen  and  the  subject. 
The  one  object  of  the  writer  was,  as  she  wrote  to  Mrs. 
Lane,  "  to  give  the  picture  of  a  mind  which,  from  its 
earliest  development,  looked  to  God  in  Christ,  and 
through  Christ,  and  from  the  first  to  the  last  step  of 
progress,  seemed  to  utter  those  words  of  Isaiah,  which 
were  placed  upon  his  tomb — '  Let  us  walk  in  the  light 
of  the  Eternal/  " 

In  the  task  which  she  undertook,  the  Baroness 
Bunsen  worked  alone.  She  neither  applied  for  or 
accepted  the  help  of  literary  friends.  Whatever  they 
would  have  said  or  written,  could  only  have  been  in- 
congruous and  crude  patchwork.  When  the  work  was 
completed,  her  son  George  was  asked  to  give  it  a  final 
revisal:  but  though  he  was  permitted  to  strike  out, 
where  he  saw  need,  no  hand  but  that  of  the  wife,  who 
alone  knew  the  source  of  every  word  and  deed,  was 
permitted  to  add.  "  As  to  a  real  and  full  statement " 
of  her  husband's  course  of  action,  the  Baroness  Bunsen 
felt  it  "  to  be  the  part  of  the  work  of  a  future  historian, 
who  might  be  authorised  to  study  through  the  archives 
at  Berlin,  at  Rome,  and  in  London." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  JBonn,  Feb.,  1861. — It  seems  an  age  since  the  year 
began  !  The  leaden  foot  of  Time  I  never  felt  before  in  my 
life  as  now.  Yet  is  the  misery  of  the  past !  if  one  could 
but  learn  to  dwell  on  the  fact — 

'quando  mostrai  di  chiuder,  gli  occhi  apersi ' '  " 


BONN.  289 


To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  ISABEL. 

"Bonn,  8  Feb.,  1861. — You  ask  as  to  the  occupation  of 
our  day,  so  I  will  try  after  a  representation,  though  I  feel 
as  if  the  spending  of  our  time  must  be  a  very  impalpable 
matter,  as  I  seem  to  myself  to  be  busy  all  day,  and  yet  to 
have  done  mighty  little  at  the  end  of  it.  We  are  all  up  at 
half -past  six,  not  earlier,  because  it  does  not  suit  my  eyes 
to  employ  them  by  candlelight  the  first  thing :  so,  being 
dressed  soon  after  seven,  I  wrap  up  and  go  down  into  the 
garden,  to  see  the  sun  rise,  which  has  so  often  of  late  been 
a  clear  and  glorious  sight  from  the  garden  pavilion.  Then 
we  return  to  the  house,  met  at  the  door  by  poor  Matilda, 
and  we  sing  a  hymn  accompanied  on  the  organ,  read  a 
chapter,  and  conclude  with  a  short  prayer  of  Luther's  and 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  with  the  servants.  At  eight  o'clock  we 
breakfast,  and  after  that  each,  settles  to  writing — Frances 
to  her  translation ;  I  to  my  endeavours  after  Memoirs  of 
my  dearest  husband ;  Matilda  to  the  multifarious  occupa- 
tions of  her  pen — who  shall  count  them  ?  At  ten,  Emma 
comes  down  with  her  work,  to  listen  with  all  of  us  to  the 
reading  aloud  of  Milman's  Latin  Christianity,  by  Matilda ; 
during  which  we  all  work.  After  the  reading  is  over, 
from  11  to  1  o'clock  (when  we  dine)  there  is  generally 
independent  occupation,  writing  or  reading,  or  going  out 
to  walk.  After  dinner,  a  drive  is  most  usual:  to-day  I 
was  with  Emma  at  Burg  Eheindorf  once  again.  I  had 
not  been  there  since  the  beginning  of  October,  when  ]f 
drove  there  with  him,  who  is  no  more  here  !  J  remember 
the  day  as  though  it  were  yesterday :  sa$i  it  was,  anjl  his 
sky  overcast :  but  he  talked  kindly  tp  ppor  H.,  whom 

VOL.  II.  I-J 


290          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

George  was  tlien  trying  to  draw  into  healthy  activity  by 
making  him  attend  to  agriculture. 

4  The  scenes,  but  not  the  hopes,  of  yesterday  ! ' 
The  scenes,  but  not  the  life,  of  yesterday ! 

Thus  for  ever  do  I  feel  moved  to  vary  the  line  of  Lord 
Byron,  which  reminds  one  so  poignantly  how  the  outward 
world,  pieces  of  still  life,  unsympathising  nature,  will 
remain  the  same,  while  that  which  gave  to  all  life  and 
interest  is  gone  irretrievably.  But  to  return  to  the  day's 
occupations.  I  generally  return  from  the  drive  greatly 
tired,  I  know  not  why !  but  I  am  not  equal  to  much  exer- 
cise now — I  could  walk  longer  in  the  time  of  the  snow  and 
ice  and  felt-shoes.  So  I  take  a  book  and  lie  down  on  the 
sofa,  and  read  till  sleep  seizes  me.  After  a  nap,  coffee ; 
then  I  write  letters  till  tea,  and  then  Matilda  reads  aloud, 
which  sometimes  she  does  before  tea.  Tea  at  7,  and  soon 
after  8  Emma  and  George  come  down,  and  we  talk,  and 
when  there  is  something  in  the  Cblner-Zeitung,  Frances 
reads  it.  I  should  not  forget  to  say  that  dear  George's 
running  in  for  minutes,  often  and  often  in  the  day,  is  a 
continual  refreshment. 

' '  How  deeply  did  I  feel  with  you  the  mournful  pilgrim- 
age you  made  to  the  cemetery!  and  how  did  I  join  in 
the  final  reflection,  that  the  lovely  treasure  of  your  heart 
was  not  there,  had  nothing  to  do  with  that  spot,  where 
nature's  decay  obliged  you  to  deposit  the  poor  remains  of 
the  outward  receptacle,  once  so  teeming  with  life  and  love- 
liness. 0 !  nothing  is  more  true,  than  that  we  only 
approach  towards  a  state  of  consolation  in  proportion  as 
we  cling  to  Christ,  not  as  a  name,  but  as  a  reality.  He 
receives  little  children,  cherishes  little  children — realises  to 


BONN.  291 


them  the  blessing  He  pronounced  upon  those  whom  He 
took  in  His  arms  when  visible  on  earth  :  —  and  your  little 
angel  is  sharing  that  blessing." 

• 

To  her  Sox  HEXRY. 

"  5  March,  1861.  —  Most  deeply  affecting  were  the  multi 
tudes  of  proofs  of  affection  I  received  on  my  birthday  from 
my  precious  children,  with  many  kind  letters  from  friends, 
including  one  from  Meyer,  who  told  me  that  the  excellent 
friend  Ehebeniz  is  gone  to  his  rest  and  to  his  proper  home, 
having  attained  my  age,  that  of  70  years. 

"My  dearest  Henry,  Memory  was,  as  you  will  well 
believe,  only  too  busy  yesterday  :  and  the  best  resolutions 
and  best  efforts  could  not  keep  off  tears;  sad,  useless, 
harmful  things  !  With  all  that  fulness  of  life  has  passed 
away  from  us  !  —  and  with  all  the  details  of  the  last  wretched 
period  unceasingly  rolling  out  and  beginning  over  again 
before  my  mind's  eye,  there  is  no  help  but  the  dwelling 
on  early  years,  forty  years  or  more  since  :  wishing  as  one 
must,  that  of  the  few  survivors  of  that  period,  more  had 
possessed  the  gift  of  remembering  and  recording." 


To  her  Soy  CIIAHLES, 

"Bonn,  9  March,  1861.—  The  truth,  that  those  we  love 
are  '  taken  away  from  the  evil  to  come,'  has  been  strongly 
evinced  to  me  in  the  case  of  the  deaths  of  more  persons 
than  one  :  and  now,  as  to  your  dearest  Father,  we  see 
already  what  the  intense  spirit  of  bigotry  is,  from  the 
effects  of  which  I  had  long  anticipated  his  suffering  more 
than  he  had  calculated  upon,  when  he  printed  and  pub- 
lished his  opinions  and  arguments  with,  such  exemplary 


292         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

openness  and  moral  courage :  and  though  the  herd  that 
now  kick  against  his  grave,  would  have  used  more  courtesy 
to  his  living  presence,  still  the  consciousness  of  their  irre- 
concilable enmity  would  have  bitterly  pained  that  affec- 
tionate heart  of  his,  if  he  had  lived  long  enough  to  experi- 
ence more  of  its  reality  and  intenseness  than  was  known  to 
him.  My  obligation  to,  and  value  for,  M.  de  Pressense,  is 
ever  more  enhanced  by  experiencing  what  others  are.  But 
he  who  has  pained  me  most  is  Maurice.  What  has  he 
written  ? — a  justification  of  those  who  dislike  your  Father's 
works — a  comment  upon  the  Bible-work,  showing  that  he 
has  not  read  it,  and  is  not  aware  of  what  it  is:  a  self- 
defence  against  any  remote  suspicion  that  he,  Mr.  Maurice, 
might  belong  to  the  partizans  of  Bunsen :  and  as  to  Bunsen 
himself,  a  minimum  of  words,  a  minimum  of  feeling." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Good  Friday,  29  March,  1861.— This  is  the  first  of  your 
birthdays  that  cannot  receive  the  freshly-uttered  blessing  of 
your  Father  !  Alas  !  it  is  hard  to  learn  the  lesson  of  living 
without  that  fresh  utterance,  although  the  blessing  of  such 
a  Father  has  not  ended  with  his  life.  And  besides  that, 
his  spirit  still  lives  and  acts  upon  us  in  his  writings,  in  his 
well- remembered  words. 

' '  I  have  been  reading  (every  morning  early  a  little  bit)  the 
first  volume  of  'Christianity  and  Mankind :'  and  again  have 
wondered  at  the  power  and  lucidity  with  which  the  picture 
is  drawn,  and  the  conviction  which  it  carries  with  it — to  my 
feelings.  I  feel  impatient  for  its  becoming  useful  to  his 
German  contemporaries  and  still  more  to  his  juniors.  And 
how  indescribably  useful  might  it  be  at  this  time,  when 


BONN.  293 


numerous  bands  of  German  Catholics  are  believed  to  be  on 
the  eve  of  a  degree  of  resistance  to  the  higher  clergy — 
who  with  the  Papal  power  at  their  head,  in  all  countries 
tyrannise  the  working  clergy.  I  am  assured,  that  tho 
resistance  to  Concordats,  in  Baden,  in  Austria,  in  Darm- 
stadt, is  quietly  carried  on  by  Catholics — the  Protestants 
being  everywhere  too  feeble  a  body,  from  their  own  divi- 
sions, and  the  absence  of  steadiness  and, perseverance,  to 
carry  any  such  measure  through.  What  a  legacy  is  left  to 
us,  and  all  Christian  souls,  in  the  devotions  for  Passion 
Week,  and  in  particular  for  this  blessed  day !  This  time 
is  the  very  first,  since  they  were  compiled  by  him,  that  I 
and  those  at  home  have  been  compelled  to  use  them  with- 
out him !  without  his  actual  participation.  Yet  on  no 
occasion  could  one  better  bear  the  recollection  of  bereave- 
ment : — the  whole  service  bids  one  long  and  strive  after 
that  consummation  which  Tie  has  attained — 

'  Hat  cr  doch,  wonach  wir  uns  erst  sehnen,' 

and  one  is  raised  above  clouds  and  tears,  into  the  deep 
serene. 

"  My  dear  Henry,  often  this  week  have  I  exchanged  in 
thought  with  you  the  touching  greeting  and  response — 
'  The  Lord  be  with  you'—'  And  with  thy  spirit.'  " 

"  flonn,  Trinity  Sunday,  25  May,  1861. — My  dear  Henry, 
how  it  has  affected  me  to  find  you  grasping  after  that  past, 
which  is  gone  for  ever,  just  as  I  do  !  0,  I  cannot  yet  get 
weaned  from  craving  remembrance !  I  cannot  learn  to 
dwell  upon  the  fact  of  actual  blessedness — of  the  calm  and 
quiet  place,  unseen,  unknown,  but  real — where  the  light  of 
God's  countenance  ever  shineth — where  *  anguish  and  dread 


294         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

and  fear  and  sorrow  and  pain'  cannot  enter.  The  words 
are  ready  enough — the  mind's  assent  undoubting — but 
'Trocknet  nicht, —  trocknet  nicht, — Thriinen  der  ewigen 
Liebe' — is  the  groan  of  the  heart.  You  will  say  that  I 
have  an  ill-disposed  memory,  for  a  verse  of  Lamartine's, 
which  I  have  known  for  these  twenty  years,  will  haunt  me 
in  spite  of  protest — 

'  — et  on  me  laissa  seul — a  souffrir  en  silence 
L'heure  sans  Jin  de  1'etcrnelle  absence.' 

You  need  not  tell  me  that  the  line  is  impious — because 
faith  in  the  moral  qualities  of  God  tells  us  that  love  will 
find  love  again  in  its  own  individuality :  not  that  Scripture 
promises  it,  but  it  is  in  the  nature  and  reason  of  things. 
But  that  line  expresses  a  fact — the  being  moored  to  a  point — 
•fixed  at  a  fact,  a  moment — that  of  the  death  which  changed 
the  whole  frame  of  existence ;  and  the  being  amazed  at  the 
flight  of  time,  the  change  of  seasons  and  circumstances." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  29  May,  1861. — I  wish  you  could  see  the  statue  of 
Hippolytus,*  which  is  placed  in  the  Garten-Saal,  to  my 
hourly  gratification.  It  is  grand,  beautiful,  and  majestic, 
beyond  what  my  memory  had  retained  of  the  original.  I 
wish  the  King  could  know  how  I  enjoy  his  gift. 

"  My  precious  Theodora,  how  I  love  you  !  and  how  the 
visions  of  you  and  yours  ever  float  before  my  mind !  " 

*  A  cast  from  the  statue  at  the  Latcran,  the  gift  of  the  King  of 
Prussia — which  arrived  at  Bonn  too  late  to  gladden  the  eyes  of  him  to 
whom  it  was  sent.  It  was  afterwards  given  by  the  Baroness  Bunsen 
to  the  Museum  at  Bonn. 


BONN.  295 


To  her  SON  CiiAHLES  (at  Turin). 

"14  June,  1861. — Much,  have  I  thought  of  you,  and 
grieved  with  you  and  with  numbers,  over  the  greatest  loss 
that  could  have  befallen  a  great  and  good  cause.*  May 
the  Italians  collectively  and  individually  feel  that  they  are 
called  upon  to  issue  forth  from  tutelage,  and  be  that  to 
themselves  which  Oavour  has  been  to  them — in  firm  array 
against  enemies,  and  on  their  guard  against  false  friends. 
I  must  hope  that  Italian  independence  has  not  been 
brought  through  so  many  dangers,  to  sink  into  nothing 
because  of  the  loss  of  one  great  man — even  though  so 
great  a  one." 

In  June  the  Baroness  Bunsen  paid  a  visit  to  her 
children  Ernest  and  Elizabeth,  who  were  then  stay- 
ing at  Kreuznach,  with  great  enjoyment  "of  their 
extreme  kindness  and  the  luxury  of  country  air."  At 
this  time  her  chief  interest  was  in  the  different  articles 
which  had  appeared  in  memory  of  Bunsen,  those  which 
satisfied  her  most  being  from  the  hand  of  Pressense 
and  from  that  of  her  ever  son-like  friend  Ileinrich 
Abeken,  the  latter  especially  being  "so  compre- 
hensive, of  such  intensity  of  meaning,  of  warmth  of 
feeling  without  sentimentalising,  of  fulness  without 
diffusion." 

In  August   the   mother's   heart   was   gladdened  by 
being  able  to  receive  her  daughter  Theodora  and  her 
children  on  a  lengthened  visit,  in  which  the  close  tie 
*  Count  Cavour  died  June  6,  1861. 


296         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

that  had  always  existed  between  them,  was  yet  more 
closely  drawn  by  abounding  sympathy  in  every  feeling. 
Especially  did  the  Baroness  Bunsen  appreciate  the  inte- 
rest of  this  beloved  daughter  in  all  she  read — an  interest, 
which,  since  the  loss  of  Bunsen,  she  had  especially  felt 
the  want  of. 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"Bonn,  5  August,  1861. — To  write  to  you  on  the  anni- 
versary of  your  wedding  seems  very  natural !  but  all  such 
congratulation  is  mixed  with  sadness  now,  that  he  does  not 
join,  who  ever  felt  so  strongly  and  thankfully  the  blessings 
attending  your  being  brought  into  our  family,  and  our 
being  brought  into  closer  connexion  with  yours.  My  heart 
thanks  you,  and  thanks  God,  dear  Elizabeth,  for  all  that 
you  have  been  to  all  of  us  these  15  years.  You  lamented 
lately  the  non-occupation  of  your  rooms,  and  therefore  will 
the  more  like  to  hear  that  Theodora  is  coming  to  me  at 
once,  to  stay  till  her  new  abode  at  Carlsruhe  *  is  ready. 
Few  things,  if  any,  could  give  me  more  pleasure !  the 
more  retired  my  life  is  and  will  be  from  the  common  world, 
the  more  I  want  to  be  fully  surrounded  by  those  nearest 
and  dearest. 

* '  Queen  Victoria  sent  me  a  very  kind  message  through 
Count  Goltz,  that  she  was  sorry  not  to  have  had  time  to 
come  and  see  me,  that  she  was  'voll  Erinnerung' — and 
she  gave  Goltz  a  charge  twice,  to  be  sure  to  give  me  the 
message." 

*  Baron  Steinberg  had  just  "been  appointed  to  the  post  he  still  holds 
of  Private  Secretary  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  Baden. 


BONN.  297 


To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Bonn,  1  Oct.,  1861. — My  own  son  George,  perhaps  you 
are  thinking,  in  your  kindness,  that  your  presence  here 
would  help  me  through  the  peculiar  shadow  of  death  that 
from  an  early  date  in  October,  extends  over  this  and  the 
following  month.  Let  me  entreat  you  not.to  dwell  on  any 
such  idea,  for  I  believe  it  would  be  best  for  both  of  us 
not  to  mark  to  each  other  the  consciousness  of  each  miser- 
able anniversary,  such  as  are  now  coming  upon  us  so 
thickly.  These  are  of  the  number  of  those  moments  of 
anguish,  which  one  bears  all  the  better  for  being  com- 
pelled to  silence :  I  know  well  that  it  does  no  good,  or  the 
very  questionable  good  of  a  burst  of  emotion,  to  give  voice 
to  remembrance  at  such  times.  And  to  you  least  of  all 
ought  I  to  speak  of  this  day  or  the  other  day  twelvemonth, 
believing  as  I  do  that  no  one  perhaps  as  much  as  yourself 
felt  up  to  my  own  pitch,  as  to  the  intensity  of  the  woe  we 
had  and  have  to  bear,  or  the  immensity  of  the  loss  we  have 
been  and  are  called  upon  to  endure." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  Bonn,  5  Oct.,  1861.— We  actually  made  the  effort  the 
last  day  of  September,  to  go  up  the  Drachenfels,  and  the 
expedition  answered  most  delightfully.  Rosa  and  Dora 
were  put  together  on  a  donkey,  Theodora  on  another,  and 
Frances  on  a  third,  and  all  enjoyed  the  ride.  I  walked  up 
by  Matilda's  wheel -chair,  which  was  pushed  by  Jacob, 
with  help  of  a  man  on  the  spot.  We  dined  at  the  top, 
and  came  down  and  back  to  Bonn  by  steamer  as  we  had 
gone." 


298         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"  Bonn,  27  Oct.,  1861.— On  the  21st  my  Theodora  left  us, 
to  go  and  arrange  her  future  home  at  Carlsruhe !  it  has 
been  a  happy  time,  and  a  long  time,  that  she  has  passed 
with  us,  ever  since  the  middle  of  August — but  the  length 
of  the  visit  only  is  perceived  on  reflection,  whereas  the  loss 
of  her  ever-delightful  company  is  matter  of  constant  feeling. 
The  dear  children  are  still  with  us  and  will  only  be  sent 
after  her,  when  she  has  got  the  house  really  ready." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

"  8  Nov.,  1861. — I  must  write  a  word  to  accompany  your 
precious  children — please  God  they  may  be  restored  to  you 
in  safety ! 

"  My  own  Theodora,  I  shall  not  trust  myself  to  say  any 
of  the  many  things  I  feel  about  this  parting,  solemn  as 
partings  always  are,  after  one  has  been  long  together,  and 
when  one  does  not  know,  cannot  even  give  a  guess,  when 
and  how  we  are  to  meet  again !  My  hopes  and  prayers 
for  each  and  all,  I  keep  to  myself  in  silence."  * 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  JBonn,  26  Nov.,  1861.— I  wish  to  be  the  first  to  tell  you 
that  I  am  coming  to  England,  please  God ! — The  sea-coast 
in  the  winter  is  to  me  an  ideal  enjoyment,  by  which  I 
mean,  completely  the  thing  I  like :  and  I  am  not  afraid  but 
that  we  shall  have  a  quiet  and  yet  cheerful  time  at 
Hastings  and  St.  Leonard's.  Further  progress  must  be  a 
matter  of  consideration  in  the  spring.  When  I  consider 

*  Madame  de  Bunsen  never  saw  this  beloved  daughter  again. 


BONN.  299 


all  things,  the  result  is  that  a  home,  a  chcz-moi,  is  the  only 
place  in  which  I  can  make  a  stay :  in  other  places  I  can  only 
remain  for  a  short  time — for  I  have  not  spirit  or  inclina- 
tion for  encountering  many  people  or  novelties  in  life — the 
question  ever  recurs,  why  ? — of  what  use  is  it  ?  My  work 
and  business  seems  to  me  reduced  to  this,  to  make  my  two 
remaining  children,  Frances  and  Matilda,*  a  home,  and  as 

happy  a  one  as  may  be Further,  my  work  is  (and 

I  pray  daily  to  be  helped  to  fulfil  it),  to  put  together  all 
the  materials  that  may  be  found,  for  a  humble  monument 
to  show  the  world  in  some  degree  what  it  once  possessed 
in  such  a  man,  as  I  was  privileged  to  know  better  than 
any  one  else  : — and  it  is  very  painful  to  me,  that  spite  of 
steadfast  desire,  I  yet  proceed  so  slowly  in  this  labour  of 
love— which  labour  more  especially  demands  the  undis- 
turbed quiet  and  independence  of  a  home. 

"This  day  is,  as  the  week  day,  the  anniversary  of  that 
on  which  he  entered  into  rest.  How  I  pray  for  a  clearer 
perception  of  what  it  means,  to  be  with  Christ,  as  He  has 
promised  !  to  expand  in  the  light  of  God's  countenance — 
where  the  soul  which  craved  knowledge,  shall  be  satisfied, 
even  in  the  knowledge  of  God ! — its  longings  relieved  in 
fulness  of  good,  no  craving  void  remaining." 

*  Emilia  de  Bunsen  was  at  that  time  living  with  the  Princess  of 
Wied. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

*v 

CARLSEUHE. 

"  Thy  way,  not  mine,  0  Lord, 

However  dark  it  be ! 
Lead  me  by  Thine  own  hand, 
Choose  out  the  path  for  me. 

"  Not  mine,  not  mine  the  choice, 
In  things  or  great  or  small ; 
Be  Thou  my  guide,  my  strength, 
My  wisdom  and  my  all." 

BOKAU. 

A  FTER  nine  years'  absence  from  England,  the 
•^*  Baroness  Bunsen  arrived  at  St.  Leonards,  with 
her  daughters  Frances  and  Matilda,  on  that  mournful 
day  which  far  and  long  will  be  looked  back  upon  as  one 
of  sadness — which  saw  the  death  of  Prince  Albert.  She 
rejoiced  in  escaping  the  severities  of  the  German  winter, 
and  in  returning  to  the  country  of  her  youth,  which  con- 
tained the  homes  of  three  of  her  children,  and  she  found 
great  satisfaction  in  the  leisure  which  the  quiet  life  at 
St.  Leonards  afforded  for  her  work  of  extracting  from 
Bunsen's  letters,  and  connecting  them  with  such  par- 
ticulars as  she  could  give,  and  she  alone. 


CARLSRUHE. 


So  happy,  so  peaceful,  were  the  months  at  St. 
Leonards,  that  many  of  Madame  de  Bunsen's  English 
friends  were  beginning  to  entertain  the  hope  that  she 
would  ultimately  make  it  her  home,  when  a  sorrow  as 
unexpected  as  it  was  terrible — the  most  heart-rending 
she  could  still  receive,  recalled  her  to  Germany,  and 
eventually  seemed  to  indicate  a  path  of  duty  and 
labour,  upon  which  she  entered  with  unshrinking 
courage,  and  which  truly  brought  with  it  its  own 
reward,  in  the  atmosphere  of  young,  grateful  and 
loving  influences  by  which  her  old  age  was  surrounded. 

On  the  9th  of  March,  Theodora,  Baroness  von  Tin- 
gem  Sternberg,  gave  birth  at  Carlsruhe  to  her  youngest 
daughter :  on  the  26th  she  was  taken  away  from  her 
devoted  husband  and  the  care  and  love  of  her  five 
children.  Her  sister  Emilia,  who  was  in  Germany, 
was  summoned,  but  too  late  to  find  her  alive :  her 
sister  Frances  set  out  from  St.  Leonards  on  receiving 
the  intelligence  of  her  danger,  but  was  met  at  Bonn  by 
the  news  of  her  death.  The  Baroness  Bunsen  only 
lingered  to  visit  her  daughter  Mary  Harford,  who  was 
recovering  from  an  illness — "  the  only  thing  she 
yearned  to  do,  was  to  look  after  the  sweet  children  of 
Theodora,  and  to  enable  Frances  and  Emilia  to  settle 
them  into  their  new  plan  of  life." 

At  first  the  Baroness  Bunsen  merely  contemplated  a 
temporary  residence  near  her  son-in-law  at  Carlsruhe, 
but  the  care  of  his  motherless  children  became  soon  the 
engrossing  solicitude  of  her  life,  and  of  the  lives  of  her 


302         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEN. 

two  eldest  daughters.  a  Neither  Frances  nor  I,"  she 
wrote  to  her  son  George,  "  could  live  elsewhere  than  at 
Carlsruhe,  under  the  consciousness  that  the  precious 
orphans  were  left  without  maternal  love  and  superin- 
tendence :  and  to  be  able  to  give  them  that  is  a  comfort 
counterbalancing  every  discomfort." 

The  departure  from,  and  the  ultimate  sale  of  her 
house  at  Bonn,  cost  little  sorrow  to  the  Baroness  Bun- 
sen.  That  house  had  seen  no  happy  days  as  her  other 
homes  had  :  all  its  associations  were  those  of  darkness 
and  anguish.  Bonn  itself  had  proved  without  attrac- 
tions to  her,  and  would  probably  have  been  full  of  dis- 
appointment to  Bunsen  had  he  lived.  "  Even  were  I 
set  free  from  duty  here,"  she  wrote  after  some  time 
from  Carlsruhe,  "my  inclination  would  not  lead  to- 
wards Bonn.  My  ideal  of  life,  in  fancy  for  the  future, 
would  be  the  winter  on  the  English  coast,  and  the 
summer  in  some  part  of  the  Schwa rzwald.  I  honestly 
tried  to  make  the  best  of  Bonn  while  I  staid,  but  the 
place  contains  no  Lebemluft  for  me,  either  in  the  moral 
or  ph3Tsical  atmosphere." 

Thus,  after  a  time,  a  sale  took  place  of  most  of  the 
pictures  and  other  treasures  remaining  at  Bonn — not 
included  in  the  "  collections "  of  which  Bunsen  had 
desired  that  they  should  "  not  be  scattered,"  and  which 
were  removed  to  the  residence  of  George  de  Bunsen 
at  Berlin,  being  the  only  one  of  his  sons  then  living  in 
Germany. 

With,  the   small  remainder  of  her    diminished  pos- 


CARLSRUHE.  303 


sessions,  the  Baroness  Bunsen  settled  with,  her  daugh- 
ters in  the  same  house  in  which  her  son-in-law  Baron 
von  Ungern-Sternberg  lived,  and  undertook  the  care 
of  his  five  children — Rosa,  Dora,  Marie,  Reinhold,  and 
Aga.  Many  of  her  friends  expressed  their  sjonpathy 
that  her  life,  hitherto  so  full  of  outward  interests, 
should  be  immersed  in  that  of  a  German  town,  which 
could  offer  little  or  nothing  of  intellectual  companion- 
ship. But  though,  in  after  years,  Madame  de  Bunsen 
enjoyed  short  visits  to  Berlin,  Munich,  and  even  to 
Florence — "  glimpses  of  a  world  of  intelligence,  though 
a  continuous  wilderness  of  boughs,"  yet  she  always 
returned  with  satisfaction  to  her  home  life  in  the 
quiet  two-storied  house  of  the  Waldhorn-Strasse  at 
Caiisruhe,  rejoicing  in  the  simple  pleasures  which  she 
found  through  each  changing  season,  in  the  gardens 
and  woods  of  the  neighbouring  palace,  and  meeting 
with  grateful  affection  the  touching  and  unfailing 
kindness  which  she  received  from  the  Grand  Duke  and 
Grand  Duchess  of  Baden.  The  appointment  of  Mr. 
Baillie  as  English  Charge  d' Affairs  at  Carlsruhe  was  a 
great  pleasure,  and  his  society  and  that  of  Lady  Frances 
Baillie  an  unfailing  resource.  Each  summer  too  brought 
with  it  a  succession  of  visits  from  those  of  her  children 
who  had  no  share  in  her  home ;  and  many  old  friends 
from  England,  Germany,  and  Italy,  lingered  to  see  her 
on  their  way  to  Switzerland,  or  came  on  purpose  to 
visit  her.  A  more  constant  companion  was  Miss  Price, 
with  whom  Frances  and  Matilda  de  Bunsen  had  formed 


304         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

a  close  intimacy  at  St.  Leonards,  and  who,  having  at 
that  time  no  especial  tie  to  England,  followed  her 
friends  to  Carlsruhe  and  to  their  summer  residences 
in  Switzerland  on  the  Black  Forest,  and  was  always 
helpful  and  sympathising,  a  favourite  with  old  and 
young.  "Never  think  of  my  being  dull  at  Carls- 
ruhe," wrote  Madame  de  Bunsen,  "it  is  a  word 
obnoxious  to  me,  and  I  can  annex  no  meaning  to  it. 
When  with  those  one  loves,  one  may  ]?e  sorrowful, 
anxious,  low — what  not  ?  but  to  be  dull  is  only  possible 
when  one  is  forcibly  prevented  from  active  exercise  of 
mind  and  faculties  when  dcs  ennuyeux  vous  enmiient.  In  a 
natural  and  wholesome  condition,  one  cannot  be  'dull.'" 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  EMMA. 

"  St.  Leonards,  20  Dec.,  1861. — I  wish  you  could  see  how 
we  all  enjoy  ourselves  here — Matilda  walking  out,  like 
other  people,  or  more  than  most :  exulting  and  expanding 

in  her  independence For  myself,  I  am  as  in   a 

dream,  and  '  my  heart  loups  sae  light,  I  scarce  ken't  for 
my  ain.'  Finding  dear  Mrs.  Rich  and  Lady  Inglis  here, 
has  been  a  most  true  gratification:  and  many  an  old 
acquaintance  starts  up,  who  though  recalling  those  that 
lived  in  former  scenes  and  now  live  no  longer,  yet  bid  me 
remember  to  be  thankful  that  so  many  kind  hearts  preserve 
their  goodwill  towards  me,  and  hallow  the  memory  most 
dear  to  me.  Dear  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare  and  her  adopted 
son  live  three  miles  off,  and  lend  us  whatever  they  have." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  THEODORA. 

''108,  Marina,   St.  Leonards,    Christmas  Eve,  1861.— My 


CARLSRUHE.  305 


darling  Theodora,  if  thoughts  had  but  wings  and  voices, 
how  much  would  you  have  heard  from  me  already! — - 
Your  feelings  will  have  met  mine,  when  they  found  that 
the  day  on  which  I  was  rejoicing  on  the  safe  accomplish- 
ment of  my  journey,  was  that  on  which  Prince  Albert 
breathed  his  last ! — and  before  a  week  had  elapsed,  was 
Count  Pourtales  called  away!  Such  a  group  of  friends 
and  contemporaries  have  departed  this  life,  just  before,  or 
shortly  after  your  dearest  Father,  that  one  almost  wonders 
at  finding  still  so  many  left.  When  will  Christmas  be 
without  gloom  again  ?  " 

"108,  Marina,  St.  Leonards,  29  Dec.,  1861.— These  lines 
will  reach  my  own  dear  Theodora  on  her  birthday,  and 
further  certify  what  she  will  not  doubt,  that  tender 
thoughts  and  affectionate  wishes  will  from  hence  be 
fluttering  towards  her,  unseen ! 

"  I  am  glad  you  can  fancy  our  whereabouts,  for  it  is  always 
the  same  St.  Leonards  that  you  remember,  but  much 
spread.  We  have  driven  to  see  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare 
and  Augustus :  I  had  a  very  home-feeling  in  seeing  the 
little  Sussex-hills,  the  whole  country  like  waves,  as  you 
remember,  with  deep  narrow  dells — and  the  hedge-rows 
promise  me  the  sight  of  primroses  in  the  spring.  But  the 
great  treat  of  all  is  the  sight  of  evergreens  and  flowering 
laurestinus.  Mrs.  Hare's  garden  is  very  pretty — abundance 
of  holly,  arbutus,  acuba,  ilex,  besides  Nadelhoh :  and  the 
ground  is  so  made  the  most  of,  that  in  a  small  space  there 
seems  to  be  everything,  and  yet  nice  open  lawns.  The 
house  is  filled  with  the  furniture  from  Lime,  and  you  may 
suppose  I  recognised  as  old  acquaintance  pictures  which 
used  to  hang  there.  The  Archdeacon  has  left  Mrs.  Hare 

VOL.  II.  X 


306         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

the  marble  head  of  the  Saviour  by  Kessels,  and  the  bust 
of  your  dearest  Father  stands  in  her  dining-room." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  St.  Leonards,  1  Jan.,   1862. — The  outward  stillness  of 
this  weighty  passage  from  one  year  to  another,  is  great — 

the  waves  are  scarcely  heard  on  the  smooth  shore 

Our  life  is  most  calm  and  undisturbed,  Frances  and  Matilda 
have  found  out  some  sick  and  poor  to  visit :  many  people, 
full  of  old  recollections,  have  called  upon  me,  and  I  enjoy 
the  sea  air  and  the  wonderful  amount  of  sunshine,  and  am 
steadily  at  work." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  25  Jan.,  1862. — Last  week  was  marked  by  the  great 
interest  of  seeing  Miss  Marsh,  and  a  most  striking  person 
she  is.  I  should  say  great  powers  and  great  'benevolence  are 
the  qualities  that  most  speak  out  of  the  entire  person.  A 
voice  of  great  capability,  and  the  most  perfect  modulation 
and  enunciation,  make  one  feel  that  she  might  address  hun- 
dreds, and  not  a  syllable  would  be  lost,  and  the  demeanour 
demonstrates  that  she  would  address  hundreds,  without  the 
slightest  of  those  'compunctious  visitings  of  nature'  to 
which  other  women  would  be  liable.  On  enquiring  as 
to  her  occupations  in  her  new  home  (no  longer  Beckenham) 
she  told  me  that,  instead  of  navvies,  she  had  now  most  to  do 
with  mill-workmen — from  paper  mills  and  others,  four  in 
number,  employing  many  hands.  She  had  by  degrees  got 
them  to  hear  her  read  the  Bible,  explain  and  urge  upon 
them  its  meaning,  during  some  months;  then,  when  the 
Derby-day  approached,  she  took  courage  to  endeavour  to 


CARLSRUHE.  307 


keep  them  away  from  that  scene  of  vice  and  temptation, 
worse  in  its  consequences  by  far  to  the  lower  ranks  than 
the  higher,  and  never  did  anything  seem  so  hard  to  her, 
that  holiday  being  looked  to  so  eagerly.  She  told  them 
she  would  not  dilate  on  the  evil  encountered  in  that  day  of 
jollity,  they  must  know  that  better  than  she  did,  &c. — she 
could  only  invite  them  herself,  and  would  contrive  all  she 
could  to  make  the  time  pass  agreeably.  She  described  the 
effect  of  the  Hank  looks  as  most  depressing — lut  the  end 
was,  that  from  one  mill  employing  above  100,  all  came  but 
two,  and  from  another  rather  more  numerous  collection,  all 
came  but  four.  She  had  leave  to  make  use  of  the  fine 
park  of  a  neighbour,  and  contrived  a  cricket-match,  and  of 
course  a  suitable  supper,  and  succeeded  so  well  in  making 
them  happy  and  satisfied,  that  many  declared  *  this  to  be 
much  better  than  the  Derby,  and  that  they  would  go 
thither  no  more.'  Sometime  after,  a  Deputation  came  to 
express  the  hope  that  Miss  Marsh  would  return  the  visit, 
and  honour  the  party  at  the  mill,  where  the  master  allowed 
the  men  to  make  use  of  the  large  working-hall.  She 
accepted,  and  on  her  arrival,  found  the  usually  comfort- 
less-looking place  transfigured  by  means  of  green  branches, 
which  covered  walls  and  ceiling,  in  which  the  men  had 
tied  up  oranges  and  lemons,  and  over  the  seat  which  she 
was  requested  to  take,  the  words  '"Welcome  Guest*  in 
large  letters.  She  was  requested  to  accept  a  small  writing- 
desk  which  the  men  had  clubbed  to  purchase. 

"An  anecdote  (in  proof  of  what  she  always  asserts,  that 
stinginess  is  not  in  the  working-class,  one  must  go  higher 
to  find  it !)  she  told  of  an  old  man  and  his  wife,  very  poor 
people.  I  know  not  how  long  or  in  what  way  she  had 


308         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

benefited  them,  but  they  felt  deeply  indebted,  and  one  day 
the  old  woman  brought  a  fat  goose  with  urgent  entreaty 
that  the  only  thing  she  could  give  might  be  accepted. 
There  was  no  help,  the  old  woman  declared  that  she  could 
not  bring  back  to  her  husband  either  the  goose,  or  any 
sort  of  payment — he  would  be  so  angry.  So  Miss  Marsh 
took  the  goose,  and  hazarded  some  time  after,  to  offer  a 
present,  of  clothes  or  whatever  it  might  be :  which  had  the 
effect  of  bringing,  after  a  space  of  months,  another  fat 
goose  upon  her !  Wherefore  Miss  Marsh  has  been  brought 
to  the  necessity  of  causing  anonymous  gifts  to  be  left  at 
the  old  couple's  door, — a  sack  of  coals,  and  a  sack  of  flour. 
The  native  highmindedness  of  this  race  of  men — against 
which  the  greatest  part  of  Europe  entertains  such  bitter 
hatred — is  a  favourite  contemplation  of  mine ;  and  although 
I  do  not  expect  to  see  my  feeling  shared,  I  have  great 
satisfaction  in  observing  the  clever  French  to  be  busied  in 
trying  to  make  out  the  causes  why  the  English  are  what 
they  are." 

To  MRS.  BERRINGTON  (sister  of  Lord  Llanover). 

"  6  March,  1862. — I  have  been  deeply  affected  by  the 
spectacle  of  accumulated  affliction  in  the  house  of  the 
Princess  of  Wied,  which  my  precious  Emilia  has  been 
sharing  and  soothing — the  lovely  boy  of  ten  years  old, 
gifted  as  parents  could  wish,  struggling  with  unheard  of 
strength  of  mind  and  body  against  a  life-long  martyrdom, 
and  at  last  mercifully  released — clear  in  mind,  longing  for 
heaven,  remembering  all  who  had  been  kind  to  him  on 
earth,  never  complaining,  accepting  all,  as  a  mature  Chris- 
tian. His  noble  Mother  is  supported  wonderfully,  and  the 


CA11LSRUHE.  309 


Father  is  mercifully  preserved — though  his  life  hangs  on  a 
thread,  so  that  I  trust  the  Princess  will  not  be  deprived  of 
her  earthly  protector." 

Tu  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"St.  Leonards,  7  March,  1862.— Now  let  me  tell  my 
Emilia,  that  her  old  mother's  birthday  was  calm  and  bright 
outwardly,  and  so  greeted  with  affection,  as  to  make  it  a 
happy,  though  a  solemn  day.  Sorrow  is  now  there,  for 
life — but  time  takes  out  the  freshness  of  the  smart,  and 
one  learns  to  live  with  remembrance,  sad  and  soothing. 
The  sensation  is  very  different  to  that  which  attended  the 
day  last  year  !  that  was  the  first,  not  greeted  by  him  whose 
greeting  was  so  fervid — the  anniversary  never  became  an 
old  story  with  him. 

"  On  the  4th  we  had  a  beautiful  drive,  the  sun  delicious 
and  the  air  quite  calm.  "We  went  to  dear  Mrs.  Augustus 
Hare,  and  enjoyed  her  garden  of  evergreens  and  flowers 
of  spring,  though  grieving  with  her  over  anticipated  trial, 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Stanley,  which  took  place  early  on  the 
day  after.  Then  Augustus  showed  us  a  wood  full  of 
nests  of  primroses,  and  we  drove  through  the  delight- 
ful Crowhurst  Park,  to  its  old  church,  in  a  spot  so  charm- 
ing, that  for  the  first  time  these  many  months,  my  fingers 
began  to  fidget  to  draw  once  again.  A  more  perfect  day  I 
never  had  on  this  anniversary  :  it  is  like  that  of  the  first 
year  at  Cannes,  when  we  drove  to  Napoule — that  was  the 
last  of  the  joyous  birthdays  of  my  married  life." 

"15  March. — I  have  a  letter  from  Amelie  v.  Ungern 
Sternberg,  with  accounts  of  darling  Theodora,  which  are 
all  favourable." 


310         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEN. 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  LLANOVER. 

"  St.  Leonards,  Thursday,  27  March,  1862. — Yesterday 
a  telegram  announced  '  Theodora  worse — in  danger — nol 
without  hope — tegs  Frances  to  come.' 

"  Frances  set  out  to  Dover  at  6,  accompanied  by  Frau 
Kohler,  would  cross  over  last  night,  and  may  reach  Carls- 
ruhe  by  noon  to-morrow.  0 !  I  dare  not  hope  she  will 
find  Theodora  alive.  I  can  hear,  perhaps  on  Sunday : — I 
wait  that  first  account,  and  get  ready  to  set  out.  Ernest 
will  come,  I  am  sure,  to  help  me  and  Matilda  to  wind  up 
and  omit  nothing  here,  and  then  I  hasten  home. 

"  In  no  case  could  I  do  otherwise.  I  must  be  near  the 
precious  being  if  her  life  is  granted ;  and  still  more  if  she 
is  taken  away,  that  I  and  Frances  may  take  care  of  the 
darling  children. 

"  Last  night  came  a  second  telegram — '  Theodora  no 
better,  little  hope.' 

"  My  dear  Augusta,  no  loss  yet  possible  could  be  harder 
to  me  than  this !  0 !  that  child  from  infancy,  through 
every  portion  of  her  life,  has  been  such  a  blessing,  such  a 
source  of  satisfaction ! 

"  I  feel  struck,  down !  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER  FRANCES  (after  another  telegram). 

"  30  March,  1862.— 0  !  my  Frances  !  how  shall  I  write  ? 
it  is  as  if  words  would  not  come  to  utter  any  part  of  what 
I  feel.  This  overshadowing  will  be  for  our  lives — worst 
for  those  who  have  longest  to  live.  .  .  0 !  that  you  may 
make  out  for  me  a  history  of  those  last  days — lift  up  that 
veil,  and  let  me  dwell  upon  her  image  while  she  yet 
breathed.  Her  face,  her  figure  are  always  before  my 


CARLSRUHE.  311 


mind's  eye.  0 !  shall  one  ever  get  used  to  the  thought 
that  we  have  her  no  longer ! — They  have  met !  they  have 
met!" 

To  her  SON  GEOEGE. 

"  Stoke,  5  April,  1862.— Truly  do  I  thank  you  for  your 
letter  received  yesterday  !  The  crude  realities  of  the  pros- 
pect before  me  had  been  made  evident  before,  but  many 
things  you  have  said  soften  down  their  asperities,  and 
make  them  look  manageable :  in  short,  go  on  towards  the 
realising  of  what  my  first  feeling  presented,  when  first  I 
was  informed  that  August  earnestly  desired  my  coming — 
that  if  once  enabled  to  give  myself  and  all  I  can  do  and 
be,  for  my  Theodora's  orphans,  all  common-place  difficul- 
ties would  be  got  over.  God  would  help,  as  ever. 

' '  My  own  George !  how  have  I  not  reckoned  upon  living 
in  your  daily  society !  Yet  does  it  seem  as  if  my  homo 
for  life's  remainder  were  to  be  elsewhere  than  where  you 
abide.  I  must  accept  whatever  is  made  clear  to  me  as  the 
right  path,  but  it  is  very  soothing  to  know  that  my  dearest 
George  wished  for  our  reunion  as  much  as  myself." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Carlsruhe,  19  April,  1862.— I  feel  to-day  as  if  to  write 
to  you  were  possible,  and  yet  when  the  pen  is  in  my  hand, 
utterance  seems  choked.  There  is  little  to  tell,  but  worlds 
to  feel ;  and  all  the  abundance  of  feeling  tends  but  to  one 
result — '  it  is  the  Lord,  and  He  has  done  as  seemed  him 
good  : '  and  the  more  we  look  at  attendant  circumstances, 
the  more  we  shall  see  that  mercy,  even  to  me  the  sufferer, 
and  mercy  alone,  was  in  this  dispensation. 


312          LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"Our  treasure  was  'waning  to  the  tomb'  during  the 
whole  of  the  last  twelvemonth,  in  which  twelvemonth  a 
kind  Providence  allowed  me  so  large  a  share  of  her  dear 
presence,  as  it  were  that  I  might  satisfy  myself  that  she 
had  not  strength  for  her  heavy  task  in  life,  of  first  bring- 
ing into  the  world,  then  tending  and  training  so  large  a. 
family  of  children.  She  was  to  meet  her  death  alone  with 
her  God,  having  peace  and  joy  in  Him,  untroubled  cer- 
tainty of  salvation  through  her  Saviour.  The  belief  that  God 
would  care  for  them  prevented  the  utterance  of  her  habitual 
anxiety  about  her  children.  .  .  My  dearest  Henry,  here  I 
must  remain — these  children  must  be  looked  after,  especially 
the  little  infant  of  sorrow.  The  three  days'  glimpse  of 
home,  and  of  George  and  Emma,  made  me  feel  that  I 
sacrifice  much  :  but  now  that  I  am  here,  I  am  only  thankful 
at  any  price  to  be  of  use  to  my  Theodora's  darlings." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  EMMA  (at  Bonn). 

"21  April,  1862. — I  wish  I  could  adequately  acknow- 
ledge all  the  proofs  of  affectionate  sympathy  you  have 
given  me,  but  indeed  they  are  all  deeply  felt : — and  it  is 
truly  one  of  the  things  hardest  to  bear  in  the  new  and 
awful  dispensation,  that  I  and  mine  should  thus  be  parted 
from  you  and  George  and  your  dear  children,  just  when 
it  seemed  as  if  we  might  look  to  living  with  you  more 
than  ever  intimately.  But  I  have  the  comfort  of  knowing 
that  you  both  look  at  things  as  I  do,  and  feel  with  me, 
that  none  of  the  undesirable  circumstances  of  present  con- 
dition and  plans  can  be  considered  as  a  sacrifice,  when 
weighed  against  the  deep  satisfaction  of  being  of  use  to 
my  angel  Theodora's  orphans ! 


CARLSRUHE.  813 


"  Dear  Emma,  what  it  is  to  live  among  the  memorials  of 
her,  so  unutterably  prized,  so  suddenly  taken  away,  so 
unersetzlich—yoii  will  understand.  Not  a  piece  of  still  life, 
but  what  was  never  seen  before  without  her  !  not  a  piece 
of  furniture,  but  what  she  placed,  as  it  were  yesterday ! 
Common  life  will  roll  on,  as  if  all  had  not  changed  since 
that  yesterday ! — and  she  appears  not,  and  her  sweet  voice 
is  heard  no  more — and  worse  than  all  records,  her  lovely 
children  go  about  motherless,  with  fresh  impressions  of 
their  mother's  life  and  love,  uttering  her  name  from  time 
to  time — repeating  words  and  songs  learnt  from  her." 

To  Miss  0.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  Carlsruhe,  10  May,  1862.— I  feel  sure  you  will  like  to 
hear  from  myself,  that  the  total  change  and  most  unlooked 
for  turn  in  my  way  of  life  answers  to  me,  and  is  satisfac- 
tory, in  a  degree  and  to  an  extent  uncalculated  upon,  inas- 
much as  the  dwelling-place  upon  which  the  new  storm  in 
life  has  thrown  me,  is  without  comparison  more  to  my 
taste  than  that  which  seemed  unavoidably  my  home.  I 
have  actual  and  not  merely  comparative  pleasure  in  being 
at  Carlsruhe,  on  account  of  fresh  air  and  cleanliness,  in 
contradistinction  to  the  abominations  of  Bonn,  and  more 
particularly  from  being  near  enough  to  the  Palace  Gardens 
for  the  constant  enjoyment  of  high  trees  and  quiet  walks 
and  sitting  out  in  sun  or  shade  :  and  as  by  favour  we  have 
the  key  of  a  reserved  and  private  portion  of  them,  we  have 
it  in  our  power  always  to  avoid  a  crowd.  I  cannot  fancy 
in  any  place  having  more  pleasure  in  the  incomparably  fine 
season,  than  I  have  had  here  :  and  as  yet  there  has  been 
no  such  heat  as  to  inconvenience  us. 


314         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

"  When  the  crushing  intelligence  came,  that  the  peculiar 
delight  of  my  heart,  my  Theodora,  was  taken  away,  I  had 
but  one  wish,  to  make  out  how  I  could  be  near  her  children 
-  -do  for  her,  some  part  of  the  work  of  love  from  which  she 
had  been  cut  off :  and  when  once  I  knew  that  my  poor 
son-in-law  would  be  glad  to  have  my  help,  to  be  here,  and 
to  stay  here,  became  the  only  thing  I  could  desire  :  and 
circumstances  have  favoured  my  making  a  possible  pro- 
visional arrangement.  I  could  not  give  up  my  daughters 
even  for  my  orphan  grandchildren  !  and  we  are  all  three 
lodged  in  my  son-in-law's  house,  until  another  apartment, 
under  the  same  roof,  which  I  have  engaged  to  take,  can  be 
prepared  for  us.  You  will  well  understand,  that  ivithout 
Frances  I  could  do  little  or  nothing.  In  the  prime  of  life, 
I  have  scrambled  through  the  incessant  worry  of  thinking 
and  doing,  required  for  the  care  of  a  whole  set  of  young 
children  ;  but  at  my  present  age,  uncommon  as  my  health 
and  strength  are,  such  an  attempt  would  be  a  failure.  But 
Frances  shows  herself,  as  she  ever  has  done,  equal  to  the 
contingency — and  though  ever  busy  from  morning  till 
night,  having  no  leisure,  and  hardly  any  Demission  from 
quick-succeeding  cares,  I  have  the  comfort  of  knowing  that 
for  love  of  Theodora  she  does  all  gladly.  The  thing  that 
goes  hard  with  me,  is  the  loss  of  our  near  neighbourhood 
to  my  dear  George  ! — but  in  that  respect  it  is  a  relief  to  me 
to  have  to  rejoice  in  his  election  as  a  member  of  the  Lower 
Chamber,  which  is  very  gratifying  to  himself,  and  will  of 

course  cause  an  absence  from  home  of  some  duration 

The  five  dear  children  are  quite  well,  God  be  thanked  !— 
and  the  comfort  of  feeling  able  to  prevent  their  wanting 
anytliing,  either  love  or  care,  is  the  one  comfort  to  enable 


CARLSRUHE.  315 


us  to  bear  the  habitual  consciousness  of  the  void  never  to 
be  filled." 

To  her  SON  GrEORGE. 

"  13  If  ay,  1862. — I  have  been  continually  thinking  of 
you,  not  only  in  reference  to  your  election,  but  in  reading 
the  article  of  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  for  the  month 
of  March  last,  which  I  do  earnestly  hope  you  may  read. 
It  seems  the  Belgians  have  had  a  commission  appointed  to 
examine  and  report  upon  the  English  method  of  local 
administration — the  County,  the  Borough,  the  Parish — 
and  upon  the  report  of  this  commission  the  article  is  a 
comment.  I  know  not  who  Dupont- White  is,  but  his  work 
I  think  infinitely  interesting :  he  displays  a  remarkable 
subject,  as  matter  of  contemplation  and  instruction,  clearly 
admitting  it  incapable  of  imitation  :  and  why  ? — because  in 
England  the  aristocracy  stands  well  with  the  nation — is 
trusted,  is  not  only  strong  in  rank  and  position,  but  in 
opinion,  as  having  deserved  well,  as  having  had  a  hand, 
considerably,  in  building  up  the  edifice  of  national  power 
and  well-being,  and  marking  as  facts,  that  the  French 
aristocracy  has  fallen  irrevocably — has  no  place,  and  can 
never  acquire  one.  Now  I  want  Germans  to  read  what  is 
here  said,  and  reflect  upon  it.  Perhaps,  though  France 
can  never  attain  to  anything  better  than  '  1'Egalite  ' — all 
other  countries  may  not  have  entirely  lost  the  golden  occa- 
sion of  constituting  a  nation  in  its  completeness." 

To  lier  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"  22  May,  1862. — My  dear  Theodore  arrived  yesterday. 
....  Singular  was  the  moment  of  his  entrance — marking- 


316         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

the  mixture  in  things  of  this  life.  Reinhold  was  on 
Frances's  lap  before  the  pianoforte,  she  holding  his  fingers 
to  make  them  play  a  merry  tune — to  which  the  three 
sisters  were  dancing  round  the  room  in  highest  glee  and 
noise,  Sternberg  and  I  looking  on — when  two  doors  opened 
together,  and  Eva  at  one,  Jacob  at  the  other,  called  out, 
'  Herr  Theodor  ! '  He  came  back  after  two  years'  absence, 
to  find  two  of  the  dearest  lives  cut  off — and  it  was  mirth 
and  not  gloom  that  he  burst  in  upon !  But  on  such  young 
life  as  we  have  before  us,  affliction  cannot  rest :  and  for 
the  more  ripened  lives  it  is  good  to  be  brought  forcibly  into 
the  atmosphere  of  children." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  29  May,  1862. — What  a  world  of  things  I  could  wish 
to  utter  !  In  the  first  place,  I  wish  to  tell  you  thoroughly 
what  the  satisfaction  is  to  me,  of  being  enabled  to  follow 
you  through  all  the  inexpressibly  exciting  scenes,  that  you 
have  so  wonderfully  given  account  of.  If  I  could  but  tell 
you  what  it  is  to  me  to  have  data,  and  such  data,  for 
thoughts  to  work  upon,  instead  of  striving  with  feeble  and 
insecure  fancy  to  follow  you  into  regions  unknown.  Might 
but  some  influence  work  to  bring  in  a  degree  the  attrac- 
tion of  cohesion  into  your  assembly!  Will  people  never 
learn  the  wisdom  of  Charles  Fox's  maxim,  that  the  sense  of 
a  party  is  to  give  up  something  to  your  friends,  in  order 
not  to  be  obliged  to  yield  much  to  your  adversaries.  What 
should  such  mere  fractions  effect  alone  ?  'Fear,  and  a  snare, 
-are  in  their  ways — and  the  way  of  peace  they  have  not 
known.'  I  am  provoked  with  Professor  D.  for  having  so 
far  imbibed  the  court  atmosphere  as  to  talk  of  hating 


CARLSRUHE.  317 


Democracy.  That  is  so  cheap  and  easy  now  that  the  actual 
thing  has  sunk  into  such  discredit  in  the  world,  that  the 
very  Americans  must  soon  give  it  up  as  a  bad  job,  and 
follow  the  first  despot  that  can  manage  them.  It  is  so  un- 
worthy of  men  of  principle  to  call  names  and  join  in  a  cry, 
wilfully  confounding  what  they  know  to  be  distinct. 

"  Your  purpose  of  waiting  and  not  being  in  a  hurry  to 
speak,  I  entirely  approved :  but  never  doubted  that  it 
would  in  time  give  way  to  a  suitable  opportunity;  and 
nobody  that  can  speak  a  word  in  season  should  refrain  from 
doing  so — for  if  the  quantity  of  latent  earnestness,  no  doubt 
existing  in  minds,  could  be  condensed,  steeled,  into  clear 
purpose,  it  might  le  brought  to  bear  upon  the  powers  of  evil. 

"  How  I  wish  people  would  study  those  parts  of  history 
that  might  do  them  good  !  The  newly-found  documents, 
made  use  of  by  Forster  in  the  '  History  of  the  Great 
Eemonstrance  in  1642,'  place  in  clearer  light  than  before 
the  grand  characters  and  consistent  conduct  of  Pym  and 
Hampden, — to  whose  names  we  ought  to  add  Cromwell, 
who  is  devoutly  believed  to  have  worked  sincerely  for  the 
establishment  of  free  government,  and  only  to  have  been 
under  the  compulsion  of  consequences  his  own  acts  had 
helped  forward,  when  he  quashed  the  deliberative  Assembly 
which  he  had  endeavoured  in  vain  to  manage.  My  own 
George,  all  this  is  nothing  to  the  purpose,  but  I  love  to 
talk  on  when  I  have  a  hearing,  knowing  that  you  care  for 
these  things  as  I  do." 

To  her  SON  THEODORE. 

"29  June,  1862.— I  have  procured  the  two  Tauchnitz 
volumes,  answering  to  the  additional  portion  just  come  out 


318          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

of  Carlyle's  '  Life  of  Frederick  II.' — and  am  reading  the 
beginning  of  his  actual  reign  with  accustomed  interest, 
although  Carlyle  taxes  one's  patience  to  still  greater 
amount  than  ever,  by  wilful  chatteration  with  the  pen,  at 
unmeasured  length — as  though  time  stands  still  while  ho 
spreads  out  his  grains  of  sand  innumerable — each  severally 
insignificant,  but  which,  on  his  system,  are  to  present  the 
truth  and  reality  of  events  and  characters  at  last." 

To  her  SON  GEOEGE. 

"  9  July,  1862.— I  am  reading  Carlyle's  '  Frederick  II.' 
0  for  the  spirit  of  the  great  man,  who  knew  what  he  had 
to  do,  and  did  it !  The  days  of  great  men  are  gone  by, 
and  one  might  be  satisfied  to  see  their  several  offices  put 
in  commission,  if  the  nations  would  also  perceive  what  they 
have  to  do,  and  do  it  with  the  force  of  unity.  I  have  long 
been  sure  that  the  great  difference  between  nations  con- 
sists in  having,  or  not  having,  the  instinct  of  knowing  tcko 
the  enemy  is:  every  nation,  as  every  individual,  may  have 
various  foes,  as  well  as  various  besetting  sins,  but  should 
beware  of  a  mistake  as  to  which  is  the  really  dangerous 
one.  A  new  sign,  to  my  mind,  of  the  German  want  of 
consciousness  on  this  point,  I  found  in  a  newspaper 
account  of  one  of  the  festivals  of  the  Sing-Vereine,  which 
rouse  such  a  vast  amount  of  enthusiasm.  After  all 
possible  singing  and  toasting,  two  tableaux  were  given — 
'  Peutschland  wie  es  war,  und  es  ist.'  The  first  showed 
the  Court  of  the  Hohenstaufen.  Frederic  II.  receiving  an 
oriental  embassy — all  jewels,  gold,  and  knightly  splendour: 
— in  the  second,  a  party  sit  smoking,  drinking,  and  sing- 
ing, while  foreigners  pass  and  repass,  buying  up  com, 


CARLSRUHE.  319 


and  wine,  and  arms,  and  ammunition  from  the  '  gutmuthig 
Geniessenden.'  This  is  just  a  picture  of  common  opinion ! 
Those  foreigners  steal  not,  but  pay  with  their  weight  in 
cash,  for  the  goods  they  receive — but  they  are  reckoned 
enemies,  by  those  who  will  not  see  that  the  real  enemy  is 
within  their  doors!  'On  a  tue  les  lievres,  et  ce  n'etaient 
pas  les  lievres  qui  causaient  le  mal ! — je  ne  dis  pas  quo 
1'on  aurait  du  tuer  plutot  les  seigneurs ! '  The  English  of 
1642  saw  very  clearly  this  enemy,  under  the  guise  of  a 
time-honoured  official  capacity ;  and  knew  very  well  that 
all  the  hatred  of  the  Spaniards,  French,  and  Dutch,  could 
do  no  harm  compared  to  the  home-foe,  which  hampered 
their  freedom  of  action. 

"Howl  have  been  interested  with  Eckhart's  discourse 
upon  Fichte !  and  how  old  times  were  recalled  to  mind, 
when  your  dear  Father  used  to  tell  me  about  Fichte.  The 
Fichtef  eier  is  one  of  the  things  that  would  have  pleased 
him !  Not  many  are  now  the  occurrences  of  which  one 
could  say  that.'' 

To  her  SON  CHAKLES. 

"19  July,  1862. — How  I  delight  in  your  enjoyment  of 
Felix  Mendelssohn's  letters !  I  read  them  just  about  a 
year  ago,  with  my  darling  Theodora.  Abeken  had  brought 
the  book  and  lent  it.  Theodora  expressed  with  unchecked 
animation  her  delight  in  the  letters,  forgetting  that 
Abeken  is  always  ready  to  give  away  whatever  one  hap- 
pens to  like !  and  accordingly  he  begged  her  to  keep  the 
book,  and  directly  wrote  her  name  in  it : — and  there  it  is, 
in  her  room,  on  her  shelf — well  read — leaves  curled — and 
she  is  g;one ! 


320         LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"My  dear  Charles,  the  continued  association  with  her, 
of  every  piece  of  furniture — every  ornament  (but  most  of 
all  with  the  Looks  I  gave  her — her  Father  gave  her — with 
the  feeling  that  nobody  had  such  an  intense  value  for  a 
book  as  she  had) — I  know  not  how  one  should  bear  the 
sense  of  privation  ever  renewed — but  for  the  comfort  of 
knowing  that  one  is  doing  her  work,  as  far  as  one  can — 
one  is  carrying  on  her  unfinished  task — one  is  caring  for 
her  beloved — one  is  cherishing  those  portions  of  herself, 
of  her  life,  of  her  love,  of  her  intelligence,  which  remain 
in  the  five  precious  little  ones — God  be  thanked  that  this 
consolation  is  possible. 

"  And  indeed  the  children  are  an  Augenweide  to  me." 

To  MRS.  BERRINGTON. 

"  18,  Waldhorn  Strasse,  Carkruhe,  IS  July,  1862.— In  leav- 
ing my  very  good  house  at  Bonn  for  a  provisional  arrange- 
ment here,  I  have  nothing  to  regret  in  the  change  of  place, 
as  this  furnishes  infinitely  more  what  is  consonant  to  my 
inclinations.  The  Palace  Gardens  are  my  daily  pleasure, 
and  the  having  access  to  a  real,  original  forest,  is  an 
indulgence  little  anticipated.  The  trees,  with  the  gravel 
walks  and  seats,  the  sunshine  and  shade,  are  as  much  mine 
to  enjoy  as  if  I  were  the  possessor :  it  is  like  having  in 
Italy  the  villas  all  open  to  one ! — and  as  in  Italy,  the 
common  public  is  rarely  attracted  thither,  except  when  a 
band  plays,  which  is  exceptional.  It  is  an  odd  change,  to 
go  about  in  the  total  stillness  of  a  place,  where  I  know 
scarcely  a  human  being,  and  see  not  an  English  traveller. 
I  am  regarded  as  excused  from  making  visits,  and  there- 
fore from  receiving  them,  by  the  deep  and  double  mourning : 


UARLSRUHE.  321 


"but  I  have  been  received  with  all  kindness  by  the  Grand 
Duchess,  who  is  most  agreeable,  and  full  of  lively  interest 
in  all  good  things." 

To  Miss  0.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  Ilerrenalb,  Wurtemlerg,  30  August,  1862. — Our  de- 
parture from  Carlsruhe  was  long  delayed  by  scarlet  fever. 
....  How  we  enjoy  being  here  all  together  at  last,  in 
this  delicious  atmosphere — mountain  breezes,  and  exhala- 
tions of  fir-woods — you  will  guess :  and  I  hope  the 
weather  may  allow  us  to  remain  till  the  end  of  September. 
This  valley  is  beautiful — more  open  and  more  varied  than 
Wildbad,  but  in  the  same  style.  How  I  love  a  forest ! 
and  to  be  near  one  is  a  pleasure  reserved  for  my  old  age, 
which  I  value  proportionally.  I  just  had  a  taste  of  real 
woods  near  Berne,  but  these  are  finer. 

' '  I  consider  a  winter  at  Bonn  infinitely  preferable  to  a 
summer  at  Bonn !  The  winter  is  honest,  and  causes  no 
disappointment :  one  knows  that  the  spectacle  of  death, 
desolation,  and  ugliness,  surrounds  one  : — whereas  in  the 
fine  season  one  cannot  help  looking  and  longing  for  the 
beauty  and  charni  which  is  not  there,  not  on  the  spot,  but 
must  be  sought  at  the  cost  of  an  excursion,  if  to  be  had  at 
all." 

To  her  SON  CHARLES. 

"  Herrenalb,  23  Sept.,  1862. — Next  month  we  shall  be 
re-settling  in  rooms  of  our  own  at  Carlsruhe.  A  curious 
variety  in  my  much-varied  tissue  of  existence,  will  this  be, 
to  be  again  arranging  a  dwelling  of  my  own,  and  receiving 

VOL.  IT.  Y 


322         LIFE    AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

some  of  my  own  things,-  from  the  place  where  I  supposed 
myself,  Ion  gre,  mat  gre,  fixed  for  the  remainder  of  life. 

"Many  a  touching  scene  of  recognition  will  take  place 
there,  in  the  case  of  accustomed  tables  and  chairs,  &c.  I 
attach  myself  by  nature  so  much  to  the  place  and  the 
things  of  regular  use,  that  it  must  clearly  be  very  good 
for  me  to  be  ever  and  again  torn  out  of  old  habits,  and 
called  upon  to  form  new  ones." 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  LLANOVER. 

"  Carlsruhe,  13  Oct.,  1862.— I  must  speak  of  the  ever 
increasing  pleasure  I  have  in  my  daily  walks  in  the  Palace- 
garden  and  forest,  which  have  prompted  a  closer  acquaint- 
ance with  the  trees,  and  I  have  pleased  myself  with  sketch- 
ing and  shading  bits  of  several  varieties  of  oaks.  The 
number  of  uncommon  trees  in  these  Palace  -  gardens,  of 
great  age  and  size,  is  very  unusual,  and  it  seems  that  the 
old  Margrave  of  Baden,  Charles  Frederic  (who  formed 
Carlsruhe  and  took  a  piece  of  the  forest  for  the  gardens  or 
rather  groves)  had  a  taste  for  introducing  fine  exotics  at  a 
time  when  few  others  thought  of  doing  so — just  a  hundred 
years  ago;  having  been  at  the  expense  of  sending  his 
head-gardener  to  travel  and  collect." 

To  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"18,  Waldlwrn  Strasse,  Carkruhe,  2  Nov.,  1862.— My 
staying  on  at  Carlsruhe  can  hardly  be  deemed  matter  of 
choice,  for  I  could  not  leave  Theodora's  children,  unless  a 
sort  of  moral  compulsion  were  laid  on  me  to  do  so :  they 
are  the  solace  of  niy  life  and  of  Frances's.  My  presence 


CARLSRTJHE.  323 


makes  it  possible  for  her  to  do  the  work  of  the  precious 
mother,  lost  to  us,  to  the  five  motherless  ones :  it  is  not  1 
who  can  do  it — at  my  age  one  is  no  longer  competent  to 
go  through  the  manifold  business.  I  can  only  love  tho 
children,  and  enjoy  the  delicious  sight  of  them.  This 
season  of  the  year  is  full  of  the  most  painful  recollections 
—from  the  beginning  of  October  there  are  anniversaries 
for  ever  recurring,  of  scenes  burnt  into  memory  by  anguish ; 
and  now,  this  month,  each  day  is  a  new  date  fixed  in  the 
mind  by  some  racking  contemplation.  One  ought  not  so 
to  feel  the  suffering  of  the  past  over  again,  but  I  know  not 
how  to  help  it.  The  refreshment  through  all,  is  working 
through  Ms  letters — dwelling  on  the  picture  of  the  mind 
they  present.  I  work  daily,  as  much  as  my  eyes  can — 
hoping  it  will  please  God  to  continue  sight  to  me,  until  I 
have  done  all  that  depends  upon  me  to  form  a  monument  to 
his  memory." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"8  Dec.,  1862. — lam  so  glad  when  you  tell  me  some- 
thing of  what  goes  on  in  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
world.  The  state  of  mind  in  the  dignified  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  goes  to  my  heart — "Why  will  they  draw 
on  a  '  swift  destruction '  of  what  is  so  good,  what  con- 
tains so  much  good,  furthers  so  much  good,  as  the  Church 
Establishment  ?  One  has  little  comfort  in  looking  round 
at  so-called  Christendom,  except  in  beholding  England : 
and  this  comfort  will  be  ever  less  and  less,  if  the  heads  of 
the  body  act  so  as  to  keep  all  young  men  of  sincere  minds 
out  of  it,  and  leave  within  it  at  last  only  the  bullet-headed 
and  the  hypocrites.  God  help  all  countries !  Here,  Ultra- 


324         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Lutheranism  is  absolute  among  all  who  have  anything  of 
religion,  the  vast  majority  are  mere  Rationalists,  basing 
themselves  self-satisfied  upon  the  'excellence  of  human 
nature.'  All  are  in  various  ways  '  gefundenes  Trappen '  for 
the  Church  of  Borne,  and  never  can  I  wonder  at  conver- 
sions." 

"7  Jan.,  1803. — In  how  many  respects,  do  I  seem  to 
have  drifted  into  an  unaccustomed  state  of  things !  Not 
only  individuals,  but  a  condition  of  the  Church,  I  seem  to 
have  outlived.  It  was  a  '  broad  Church '  into  which  I  was 
born,  and  alas !  it  seems  to  be  shrinking  into  a  narrow  one. 
May  God  see  good  to  help !  There  is  so  much  of  good 
sheltered  by  the  Church — it  would  be  too  grievous  not  to 
have  that  shelter  preserved :  and  yet  this  increasing  nar- 
rowness is  so  little  in  character  with  the  spirit  generally 
ruling  the  age,  that  one  dreads  destruction  if  improvement 
comes  not  soon. 

"  What  should  I  write  but  thoughts  ?  We  are  happy  in 
no  events — all  well,  children  looking  exquisitely,  and  im- 
proving in  every  way :  and  we  are  in  the  most  delightful 
incognito,  having  scarcely  anybody  that  we  need  trouble 
ourselves  to  visit  or  receive.  We  have  all  so  much  to  do 
that  the  short  day  is  far  too  short,  even  without  social  in- 
terruption. Our  three  little  girls  were  asked  to  the  Bohnen 
Fed — the  '  Heilige  drei  Konige ' — by  the  Grand  Duchess, 
who  presided  herself,  and  with  the  Grand  Duke  joined  in 
the  games,  and  directed  all  the  amusement. 

"Think  of  the  dear  Queen's  having  sent  me  a  copy  of 
Prince  Albert's  speeches  with  the  introduction  that  struck 
me  so  much  when  I  read  it  in  the  Times — as  containing 
passages  that  I  think  she  will  have  written  herself." 


CARLSRUHE.  325 


To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  18  Jan.,  1863. — I  have  had  to  make  an  appearance  at 
Court,  which,  the  great  kindness  of  the  Grand  Duchess 
rendered  unavoidable.  She  had  condescended  to  enquire 
sometime  since  whether  I  could  not  come  when  she  had  a 
very  small  evening  party — almost  alone,  and  last  week  sent 
to  invite  me,  with  Emilia,  when  Count  Fleming  was  to 
play  on  his  violoncello,  accompanied  by  Kallivoda.  So 
thither  did  I  go,  and  only  wish  I  could  be  anything  to  the 
Grand  Duke  and  Grand  Duchess,  or  do  anything  for  them, 
in  return  for  the  great  kindness  of  their  words  and  man- 
ner. I  am  much  gratified  by  the  Crown  Princess's  inquiry, 
and  message  of  remembrance!  When  people  remember 
me  for  your  dear  Father's  sake,  /being  nothing  to  them, 
it  does  my  heart  good  so  particularly. 

"How  Emilia  and  I  enjoy  reading  Forster  on  the 
'  Great  Remonstrance.'  We  are  only  as  yet  in  the  long 
Introduction,  most  instructive  to  those  who  would  know 
how  the  nation's  independence  has  grown  up — not  like  the 
gourd,  in  one  summer's  day,  but  through  the  storms  and 
struggles  of  centuries — often  sinned  against,  but  never 
crushed,  because  never  forgotten  by  the  nation  as  its 
cherished  property.  Emilia  has  read  to  me  the  whole  of 
Motley's  two  thick  volumes,  concluding  with  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Armada — incomparably  told — it  keeps  one  as 
breathless  as  one  it  had  not  known  the  end.  But,  the  utter 
meanness,  the  nothingness,  of  the  admired,  adored  Eliza- 
beth, is  a  curious  matter  of  meditation.  The  loyalty  of  the 
time  deified  a  sovereign  as  long  as  possible,  and  then  she 
was  a  party-banner ;  but  the  good  and  great  things  of  the 
time  were  not  done  by  her,  and  she  was  in  the  way  of  good 


LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

and  riglit  continually.  But  how  green  and  unripe  the 
nation  was !  though  so  full  of  grand  materials.  The  prin- 
ciple of  national  cohesion  was  not  yet  found,  or  was  only 
beginning  to  act.  They  all  waited  dutifully  for  govern- 
ment orders :  only  on  sea  did  they  quite  feel  the  right  to  do 
what  Government  neglected !  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  EMMA. 

"  Carlsruhe,  23  Jan.,  1863. — I  long  to  hear  what  any- 
body besides  myself  thinks  of  the  character  drawn  of 
Prince  Albert.  I  think  it  is  so  beautifully  done — no 
panegyric, —  it  is  as  if  the  voice  of  the  most  intense  love 
and  admiration  could  alone  do  justice  to  the  subject. 
George  would  remember  Goethe's  lines — 

'  Die  Freundschaft  is  gerecht — sie  kann  allein 
Den  ganzen  uinfang  dicnes  Worths  erkennen.'  " 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Carlsruhe,  30  Jan.,  1863.— How  I  thank  you  for  the 
quotation  from  Goethe !  '  Das  sanfte  Wandeln  deines 
Tags '  has  occurred  to  myself  lately  as  describing  my  own 
habitual  existence — in  daily  and  thankful  consciousness  of 
health,  of  peace,  of  undisturbedncss,  of  activity  of  thought 
and  feeling,  and  intensity  of  highest  interests.  The  draw- 
back is,  as  ever  and  always,  the  not  being  equal  to  occa- 
sion, circumstance,  opportunity — one's  OAvn  shortcoming. 
Often  have  I  thought  and  said,  the  happiness  of  a  higher 
state  must  consist  in  coming  up  to,  in  filling  out,  the  given 
sphere :  '  no  craving  void  left  aching  in  the  breast ' — and 
no  consciousness  of  leaving  a  void." 


CARLSRUHE.  327 


To  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  CarlsruJie,  11  Feb.,  1863. — Of  my  numerous  entourage  I 
have  only  good  to  report :  this  fine,  mild  winter  has  glided 
over  us  l  like  the  shadow  of  a  dial ' — and  I  rejoice  with 
continual  thankfulness  in  the  circumstances  of  this  tran- 
quil, unwonted  existence,  into  which  by  God's  Providence 
I  have  drifted  in  a  manner  so  unthought  of,  so  unantici- 
pated since  I  saw  you  last.  That  year  1861  was  indeed  a 
life  '  among  the  tombs ' — only  grief  and  the  sense  of  pri- 
vation never  to  be  compensated  was  there  :  the  only  re- 
viving food  of  existence  being  the  frequent  presence  of  my 
Theodora  and  her  children — who  could  stay  with  me  for 
months,  because  of  Sternberg's  being  called  away  by  new 
duties  to  travel  with  the  Grand  Duke.  In  March,  1862, 
the  blow  fell,  which  took  away  from  us  all  the  chief 
interest  of  our  lives — and  at  first  it  seemed  as  though 
Frances  and  I  had  nothing  left  to  live  for — and  now, 
having  come  here,  I  can  only  stay,  till  a  sign  is  given  me 
to  stay  no  longer.  With  the  inhabitants  of  this  place  we 
have  little  to  do,  as  the  bee-hive  character  of  our  own 
interior  brooks  not  incursions  from  without — and  the  habi- 
tual interest  of  watching  this  mass  of  young  life,  in  Jive 
distinct  varieties,  occupies  thought  and  keeps  feeling  from 
stagnation  .... 

"  .  .  .  Matilda  is  well  and  moves  on  her  feet  beyond 
hope.  She  is  in  full  activity  of  visiting  the  poor  and  work- 
ing for  poor  children,  and  seeks  and  finds  opportunities  of 
urging  the  truths  of  Christianity  in  this  spiritual  desert, 
where  between  the  direst  Rationalism  and  Lutheran- 
Romanism,  it  is  hard  to  say  which  is  most  unsatisfactory ; 
and  I  wonder,  as  ever,  that  the  Germans  are  such  good 


328         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

people  as  I  find  them,  with  but  a  grain  here  and  there  of 
vital  Christianity  to  keep  the  mass  from  corruption !  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  10  March,'  1863. — I  feel  that  an  account  of  Baby's 
birthday  is  due  to  you.  .  .  .  Early  in  the  morning  the  round 
table  was  set  out  with  toys,  and  cake  with  two  tapers,  and 
flowers,  but  Baby  breakfasted,  and  so  did  we,  before  she 
was  brought  down  ;  and  then  she  appeared,  splendid  and 
delighted,  but  had  the  good  taste  to  prefer  very  much 
the  fact  of  belonging  to  our  good  company,  to  the  gifts 
intended  for  her  !  and  a  bit  of  paper  was  in  her  eyes  worth 
all  of  them.  A  small  red  ball  with  an  elastic  thread,  to  be 
fastened  to  her ;  a  doll  running  of  itself  on  an  invisible 
wheel  (the  idea  must  be  taken  from  the  l  Kunst  Figur ' 
in  Gockel,  Hinckel  and  Gackeleia) ;  a  bird  in  a  cage, 
squeaking,  &c.,  were  much  of  the  right  sort,  and  duly 
delighted  in  by  sisters  and  brother. 

"  Just  before  dinner  came  Deimling,  and  we  were  in  full 
course  of  conversation,  when  a  message  came  from  Amelie 
that  the  Grand  Duchess  was  coming  herself,  but  we  wore 
all  ready,  and  Baby  dressed  in  the  frock  given  by  the 
Grand  Duchess.  She  was  as  amiable  and  charming  as  you 
will  imagine,  and  her  kindness  is  perfect,  because  all  is  so 
natural  and  inartificial  about  her — persons  of  her  rank  too 
easily  fall  into  exaggeration,  meaning  only  to  be  good- 
natured,  but  she  never  overdoes  her  demonstration.  Amelie 
unpacked  a  whole  basket  of  gifts — a  delicious  hat  for  Baby; 
then  a  rolling  doll,  and  a  rolling  rabbit ;  and  a  lithograph 
to  be  hung  up,  representing  the  Saviour  as  a  boy,  extend- 
ing his  arms ;  and  a  whole  store  of  little  stockings  and 


CARLSRUHE.  329 


shoes.     I  had  almost  omitted  mentionim-bouq net  of  the 
same  unrivalled  perfection  as 
the  Grand  Duchess's  own  hands ' 


To  her  DAUGHTER  EMILIA. 

"  26  March,  1863.— Frances  has1 
dear  Frau  Y.  Hahn  :  my  feelings, 
to  death — save  in  the  case  of  those  near 
existence  forms  the  very  web  of  mine.     Yet  I  re* 
and  liked  her. 

"  It  was  on  this  day  last  year,  that  she  whom  we  so  loved, 
and  blindly  reckoned  upon  as  part  of  habitual  life  was 
removed  from  us.  .  .  .  This  morning  we  all  went  together 
with  Rosa  and  Dora  to  place  the  wreaths  which  Elise  had 
kindly  sent.  When  we  came  to  the  spot,  we  saw  that  a 
beautiful  wreath  had  been  twined  round  the  cross,  which 
we  cannot  but  suppose  to  have  been  sent  by  the  Grand 
Duchess,  and  a  garland  was  deposited  in  front  of  it,  which 
we  have  since  learned  was  brought  by  Amelie." 

To  a  FRIEND,  who  doubted  if  he  could  endure  the  difficulties  of 
his  position. 

"  28  March,  1863. — Screw  your  courage  to  the  sticking- 
place,  and  let  life  bring  what  it  will,  say  to  yourself,  '  It 
shall  not  get  the  better  of  me ! '  To  be  brought  into  a 
contingency,  depended  not  upon  yourself :  to  get  out  of  a 
contingency,  depends  not,  or  may  not  depend,  upon  your- 
self :  but  to  be  master  of  the  crisis,  and  stand  upright 
before  it — that  is  your  part — 

'  Breast  the  wave,  Christian,  where  it  is  strongest ! 
Look  for  day,  Christian,  when  night  is  longest ! '  " 


330          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

To  her  SON  EjrNgE£Tv 

' '  faster  Morning,  S'-^jpril,  1863. — As  to  truth,  itself,  my 
o\vn  Ernest,  every  year,  &yery  Easter  of  ray  life,  I  feel  tliat 
I  am  drawn  nearer  to  Christ, — that  I  accept,  with  increas- 
ing thankfulness,  every -word  of  His  that  He  has  said  of 
Himself,  and  find  it  Easier  to  keep  out  of  mind  all  that 
disciples  and  appgtles,  the  most  faithful  and  venerable, 
have  said,  io  obscure  these  words,  and  make  the  fact  indi- 
cated by  them  less  intelligible.  As  I  feel  the  need  of  a 
Eedeemer,  so  I  feel  that  need  to  have  been  supplied :  I  am 
satisfied  not  to  understand,  what  I  do  not  understand : — being 
assured  that  the  time  will  come,  and  may  be  very  near, 
when  I  shall  no  longer  '  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but 
shall  know  as  I  am  known.'  " 


To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"Bonn,  20  August,  1863. — My  dear  Henry,  read  if  you 
can  get  it  Benan's  '  Vie  de  Jesus ' — do  not  show  it,  do  not 
name  it — one's  nerves  must  be  well  braced  to  stand  the 
shock  of  such  free  and  familiar  treatment  of  all  one  holds 
most  sacred :  but  having  stood  it  as  best  I  could,  I  hail 
homage  offered  to  the  True,  the  Holy,  the  Divine,  the  All 
in  All,  the  Alpha  and  Omega.  One  wholly  out  of  the  pale 
of  every  church,  of  every  form,  falls  down  and  worships, 
from  the  heart,  not  lips,  where  we  fall  down  and  worship  : 
and  I  hail  the  book — I  hail  the  movement  of  mind.  Seven- 
teen thousand  copies  were  sold  the  day  it  came  out,  and 
editions  go  on  in  the  face  of  the  opposition  of  all  the  powers 
that  be,  of  all  those,  not  the  Church  of  Home  only,  who 
would  control,  compel,  bridle,  shackle,  the  freedom  of 


CARLSRUrtK.  331 


faith — the  action  of  that  which,  is  nothing  if  not  free  and 
spontaneous. 

"  But  what  absurdities,  what  discrepancies,  what  want 
of  cohesion  and  correspondence  of  facts,  of  rational  con- 
nexion, in  this  work  of  genius  and  power  !  " 

To  ABEKEJT  (in  answer  to  a  letter  written  to  arrive  on  Eunsen's 
birthday). 

"Bonn,  28  August,  1863. — I  can  never  be  surprised  by  a 
new  proof  of  your  faithful  kindness — so  constantly  have 
you  accustomed  me  to  such  :  and  yet  your  little  letter  caused 
an  emotion  similar  to  that  of  the  unexpected.  My  heart 
thanks  you,  and  feeds  upon  the  new  proof,  that  the  life  after 
which  I  grasp — the  life  no  longer  of  this  world,  is  yet  and 
remains  a  living  influence.  The  visit  of  Lepsius  and 
Lepsia  has  been  a  great  pleasure,  the  more  so  as  we  were 
enabled  to  receive  them  under  this  roof.  It  has  been  satis- 
factory to  me  that  the  summer  could  be  spent  in  my  own 
house,  and  I  have  now  for  my  especial  dwelling  its  upper 
portion,  enabling  me  to  live  in  fulness  of  light  and  air." 

"  10  Sept.,  1863. — Certain  engaging  and  brilliant  facul- 
ties often  spread  a  halo  over  the  poverty  of  the  mass  to 
which  they  belong.  But  the  great  want  is  that  of  deter- 
mined devotedness  to  high  objects  apart  from  self.  0  !  how 
little  people  are !  God  help  the  conglomerations  of  grains 
of  sand  to  be  formed  into  due  shape  by  convulsions  of 
the  moral  atmosphere,  for  they  are  of  themselves  power- 
less." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  Carlsrnhe,  9  Oct.,  1863. — I  have  rejoiced  in  two  days 


332         LIFE   AND   LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

spent  with.  George  at  Coblentz — whose  company  in  any 
locality  would  have  been  sufficient  for  my  satisfaction  :  but 
he  knowing  his  old  mother's  predilection  for  seeing  the  face 
of  the  worlds  he  lives  in,  took  her  the  first  day  to  Sayn,  the 
romantic  seat  of  the  family  of  the  Furst  zu  Sayn  Wittgenstein, 
and  the  next  day  a  much  longer  expedition  into  the  country 
of  the  Moselle,  to  visit  the  castle  of  Elz,  an  unique  of  its 
kind,  having  been  a  stronghold  of  the  Counts  of  that  name 
since  the  Xllth  century,  and  never  destroyed,  as  were  so 
many  other  castles,  by  the  French  revolutionary  army — 
being  hidden  in  a  deep  ravine  clothed  with  woods.  Any- 
thing more  striking  and  picturesque  cannot  be  imagined — 
it  was  like  finding  an  enchanted  castle  in  a  fairy-tale — stiU, 
calm,  and  grand." 

To  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  Carlsruhe,  1  Dec.,  1863.— Did  you  recollect  the  28th  of 
November  as  our  third  anniversary  ?  Sometimes  it  seems 
as  though  a  century  had  since  elapsed :  and  sometimes  I 
cannot  conceive  how  the  time  of  privation  can  have  been  as 
long  as  three  years.  It  seems  not  so  much  living  as  wait- 
ing,  moored  to  that  point  of  time.  How  deeply  thankful  I 
am  for  my  husband's  last  gift,  the  last  of  so  many  benefits 
conferred  upon  me,  in  giving  me  that  dying  charge — '  Do 
you  write  our  common  life ! — You  can  do  it,  only  be  not 
shy.1  It  is  a  sustenance  of  life  that  he  has  given  me,  and 
no  description  can  give  an  idea  of  the  fresh  spirit  imbibed 
from  his  outpourings  in  his  letters,  to  many  persons,  but 
more  especially  to  George. 

"I  can  -fully  enter  into  your  consciousness,  that  a  winter 
residence  out  of  home  habits  becomes  dreary  after  a  time ! 


CAIILSRUHE.  333 


Even  when  climate  answers  expectation,  one  cannot  live 
satisfactorily  without  one's  share  in  the  business,  and  the 
interruptions,  and  the  worries,  and  the  interests  and  duties, 
of  home-life.  One  must  carry  abroad  all  the  daily  bread  of 
every  kind,  that  one  must  have,  to  avoid  inanition ! 

"  How  I  thank  you  for  telling  me  of  the  funzioni  of  the 
Church  of  Eome  against  Eenan !  Their  consciousness  is, 
that  he  is  their  own,  as  having  been  educated  by  Jesuits, 
from  whom  he  ran  away !  How  they  would  like  to  light 
up  an  Auto-da-Fe  for  him !  My  own  feeling  is  that  of 
satisfaction  that  the  book  is  written.  This  is  no  longer 
Voltaire  mocking  and  doubting  :  the  grandeur  and  perfec- 
tion of  the  Saviour's  character  is  hailed  and  worshipped!  and 
held  up  as  a  reality,  and  an  adorable  reality,  to  the  unbe- 
lieving world : — and  I  believe  I  know  too  well  the  state  of 
minds,  among  young  men  in  every  country,  not  to  have 
reason  to  anticipate  good  to  them  from  reading  Eenan' s 
poetry.  Only  think  what  people  have  been  reading  and 
admiring,  of  late  years — that  horrid  system  of  Buckle  !  and 
now  they  are  delighted  to  have  a  man  of  science,  very 
respectable  in  himself,  deriving  us  all  from  the  Chim- 
panzee. Those  are  the  tendencies,  to  me  abhorrent !  only 
I  trust  nobody  will  preach  against  them.  What  is  lad  in 
Kenan,  is  so  absurd  and  involves  such  contradictions,  that 
I  think  it  must  defeat  itself. 

" .  .  .  .  Long  ago  I  heard  Mr.  Venn  (that  truly  excellent 
man,  of  judgment  and  intelligence  equal  to  his  great 
opportunities  of  knowing  human  nature)  state  to  my  hus- 
band that  the  Church  Missionaries  had  always  been  directed 
to  endeavour  after  a  friendly  relation,  and  a  good  under- 
standing, with  all  established  churches — to  aintnd  and  not 


334          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUXSEN. 

overturn  them  :  but  whether  among  Copts,  or  Abyssmians, 
or  the  Greek  Church,  in  every  distant  corner,  the  result 
had  been,  that  you  must  endeavour  to  help  individuals  not 
clerical,  for  where  the  clerical  character  exists,  they  believe 
in  their  own  essential  superiority.  Among  every  one  of 
the  intelligent  nations,  I  believe,  as  my  dear  husband  did, 
that  general  unbelief  maintains  the  forms  of  Popery; 
where  a  need  is  felt  of  reality  of  religion,  people  learn  to 
find  it — but  that  need  is  not  felt,  as  it  was  in  the  first  cen- 
tury of  the  Reformation.  However,  I  have  great  hopes, 
as  he  had,  of  the  Italians — now  that  by  means  of  literature 
there  is  a  chance  of  their  meeting  the  desire  of  knowledge. 
Nothing  can  be  more  unsatisfactory,  than  the  general  state 
of  minds,  in  a  religious  sense,  in  the  country  I  inhabit: — 
the  majority  are  the  most  narrow  and  priest-ridden  of 
Roman  Catholics,  and  the  Protestants  most  narrow  and 
prosaic :  I  never  can  wonder,  when  a  Lutheran  turns 
Catholic,  as  many  do,  in  an  indolent  way,  unconscious  what 
it  is  they  are  giving  up. 

".  .  .  .  Pray  read  'Mademoiselle  de  Quintinee,'  a  tale 
by  George  Sand! — when  you  have  fainted,  and  again 
recovered,  be  assured  it  is  a  wonderful  thing.  It  is  a  his- 
torical picture  of  the  present  form  of  inward  corruption  of 
the  Church  of  Rome — not  disgusting,  really  serious." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"5  March,  1864. — I  thought  you  would  write  to  me  on 
my  birthday!  ....  I  have  accomplished  seventy-three 
years  in  a  wonderful  state  of  health  and  strength,  not  often 
experienced  after  so  many  years'  wear  and  tear:  and  I 
pray  to  be  duly  thankful,  and  to  be  enabled  to  get  through 


CARLSRUHE.  335 


the  '  days  of  darkness  so  long  delayed,'  even  though  'they 
be  many,'  as  also  more  especially  to  be  patient  in  the 
earnest  longing  for  time  and  power  to  finish  the  work  in 
which  all  my  powers  and  interests  are  bound  up.  I  am  in 
rather  better  spirits  about  it  than  I  was,  for  the  more  I 
study  through  the  materials,  the  more  does  the  subject 
expand  before  me,  and  at  the  same  time  take  a  form  which 

I  at  first  sought  in  vain I  feel,  what  previously  I 

never  did,  as  if  in  some  degree  a  'Lebensbild'  might  be 
put  togetner,  even  now,  though  the  real  history  of  his  life 
and  time  will  remain  for  the  historian  who  shall  long 
survive  me,  and  shall  be  allowed  access  to  government 
archives. 

"  The  lines  you  sent  me  are  most  affecting :  the  idea  has 
been  caught  by  Gothe,  for  what  is  there  in  heart  and  mind 
that  he  has  not  understood  ? 


Sei  zufrieden,  Gothe  mein ! 
Siehe,  jetzt  erst  tin  ich  Dein : 
Dein  auf  ewig— hier  und  dcrt — • 
Also  wein'  mich  nicht  inehr  fort.' 


You  will  know  that  this  is  part  of  one  of  the  eight  poems 
which  somebody  found  and  recognised  as  Gothe' s.  That 
'  Wein'  mich  nicht  mehr  fort '  has  helped  more  than  once 
to  quiet  me  in  a  sudden  rush  of  intolerable  pain  of 
memory. 

"  I  am  meditating  a  short  expedition  to  England.  The 
various  families  of  my  children  have  most  faithfully  con- 
tinued to  come  over  the  sea  to  me,  annually ;  and  while  I 
can,  it  would  be  no  more  than  right  to  make  the  effort  to 
go  to  them,  even  were  it  not  a  pleasure :  and  that  it  will 


336         LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

be,  though,  like  everything  else,  overcast  by  the  shadow  of 
death — 

1  Wie  durch.  einen  Flor,  die  bunten  Farben 
Des  Lebens,  blass  doch  angenehm  ! '  " 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"Easter  Eve,  26  March,  1864.— At  the  close  of  this 
wonderful  week,  which,  in  so  many  ways  draws  me  closer 
to  all  Beloved,  whether  gone  before,  or  still  waiting  with 
me  for  the  summons — and  on  this  anniversary  of  the  de- 
parture of  our  darling  Theodora,  I  must  have  written  to 
you,  even  had  I  not  received  your  dear  letter.  I  will  hope 
that  you  may  have  enjoyed  quiet  up  to  this  day :  and  I 
trust  such  quiet  will  have  brought  you  the  comfort  of 
feeling,  as  I  have  done,  how  the  Passion-week  renews  all 
consciousness  of  what  your  dearest  Father  has  leen,  and  even 
is,  to  all  of  us.  The  materials  of  devotion  in  these  last 
blessed  days  can  perhaps  to  no  one  be  quite  so  affecting  as 
to  me,  who  have  watched  from  the  beginning  the  construc- 
tion of  the  whole  fabric :  but  all  of  you  must  ever  hold 
fast,  not  only  the  bodily  image  of  him  who  led  us  all  so 
peculiarly  to  the  very  foot  of  the  cross,  but  the  sense  of 
deep  and  intense  devotion  with  which  he  in  every  act  and 
deed,  solemnised  the  annual  festival  of  devout  remem- 
brance of  '  the  death  of  Christ,  and  of  the  benefits  which 
we  derive  thereby.'  You  will  have  felt,  with  me,  that  on 
such  an  occasion  it  is  no  dream  to  believe  oneself  really  and 
actually  near  to  him — joining  with  him  in  adoration  and 
aspiration  :  feeble  and  tame  as  is  the  degree  on  our  parts. 
Never  was  this  celebration  so  gilded  by  glorious  sunshine  ! 
the  sky  clear  as  so  commonly  in  Borne  in  the  Passion- 


CARLSRUHE.  337 


week — so  that  '  God  alone  seemed  visible  in  heaven '  : — 
but  Earth  remains  dry  and  senseless  and  lifeless,  without 
verdure  or  blossom,  too  like  the  hearts  of  those  who  just 
know  what  they  ought  to  feel,  without  due  consciousness  of 
vital  and  vivid  intensity." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Easter  Eve,  26  March,  1864.— What  a  world  of  things 
I  should  like  to  write  to  you  of  all  that  '  durch  das  Laby- 
rinth der  Brust,  wandelt  in  der  Nacht.'  ....  I  have  such 
an  anxious  longing  and  craving  after  a  sufficiency  of  life, 
and  health,  and  eyesight,  for  the  finishing  of  that  which  I 
can  do,  and  that  which  (in  whatever  incompleteness)  I 
alone  can  do — that  I  have  need  to  remind  myself,  and  to 
be  reminded,  to  be  resigned  even  in  this  darling  point  of 
desire :  and  leave  to  Him  who  best  knows  what  is  for  the 
greatest  good  of  all,  even  this  my  heart's  seemingly-lawful 
wish.  These  last  months  of  steady  progress  have  been 
very  cheering  to  me.  I  see  my  way  more  clearly,  and  have 
to  rejoice  over  such  an  unlooked-for  amount  of  material, 
that  I  have  hopes  such  as  I  did  not  venture  before  to 
entertain,  of  a  *  Lebenshild '  comparatively  satisfactory. 

"  My  precious  Henry !  all  of  you  have  been  much  before 
me  in  this  blessed  week,  in  which  one  is  more  drawn  to 
Him  in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  whole 
spiritual  existence-^and  drawn  to  the  beloved  departed  and 
gone  before— ^and  drawn  to  all  surviving  objects  of  affection 
— and  onp  pan  most  and  best  realise  the  fact,  that  the 
nearer  to  the  Creator  and  Bedeemer,  the  nearer  also  to 
eacji  other. 

*(  Do  you  not  feel  how  peculiarly  in  this  week  we  pray 

VOL.  u,  'L 


308        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

with  him,  who  so  led  us  all  to  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  who  so 
intensely  felt  the  solemnity  of  the  words,  which  he  was 
enabled  to  collect  for  the  better  help  to  devotion,  the  better 
measuring  out  the  '  breadth  and  length  and  depth  and 
heighth '— r-and  the  better  knowing  of  '  that  love  which 
passeth  knowledge.'  0  !  the  devotions  of  this  week  do 
indeed  help  much  to  get  over  and  above  that  wretched 
clinging  to  the  miseries  of  memory,  that  '  raining  upon  the 
remembrance  with  the  eyes ' — which  make  out  such  a 
wearing  and  useless  part  of  that  grief,  which  does  not  end, 
which  is  not  intended  to  end,  while  life  and  recollection 
last :  but  which  ought  to  fortify  and  not  to  enfeeble  the 
spirit." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Carlsruhe,  1  April,  1864. — May  you  have  had  some 
hours  of  quiet  in  that  late  blessed  week,  in  which  there  is 
ever  so  much  that  transports  me  in  thought  to  Rome — under 
that  '  werklarte  Blau ' — in  that  calm  and  sunny  atmosphere 

which  so  commonly  attended  the  Holy  Week I 

believe,  that  your  thoughts  will  have  sought,  in  a  certain 
proportion  as  mine  have  done,  him  who  is  gone  before ; 
who  is  so  strongly  associated  with  every  attempt  after 
really  spiritualized  devotion.  The  anniversary  of  my  pre- 
cious Theodora's  decease  fell  this  year  on  Easter  Eve — that 
beautiful  calm  festival  in  the  true  sense,  when  the  grave 
was  consecrated  by  Him  '  who  is  become  the  first  fruits  of 
them  that  sleep.'  Most  visibly  does  a  blessing  rest  upon 
the  five  orphans  !  it  cannot  be  said  how  lovely  and  nourish- 
ing they  are. 

"  It  has  been  granted  to  me  this  year  to  enjoy  the  com- 


CARLSRUHE.  339 


position  of  Sebastian  Bach,  of  tlie  Passion  according  to  St. 
John's  Gospel.  My  dearest  husband  ever  talked  of  this, 
and  wished  I  should  hear  it :  — but  I  was  not  to  hear  it 
with  him.  Yet  has  the  enjoyment  of  this  wonderful  effu- 
sion of  piety,  and  effort  of  art,  been  to  me  a  sort  of  com- 
memoration of  him,  whose  mind,  whose  tastes,  whose 
writings,  have  done  so  much  to  bring  me  and  others  to  the 
foot  of  the  Cross." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  4  April,  1864. — A  mention  of  the  annual  reception  of 
your  Church  Choir  caused  me  again  to  reflect  upon  the  vast 
amount  of  friendly  feeling,  of  blameless  gaiety,  and  there- 
fore of  good,  you  and  Mary  Louisa  are  constantly  pro- 
moting— by  taking  in  turn  various  classes  and  divisions  of 
human  souls,  whom  you  can  thus  almost  individually 
approach,  as  not  being  too  numerous  to  be  dealt  with  :  and 
remembering  as  I  do  having  in  the  days  of  your  childhood 
held  many  an  argument  and  friendly  dispute  with  Sydow 
and  Tippelskirch  on  the  subject  of  cheerfulness  as  the  proper 
element  of  all  good  (melancholy  and  mourning  being  the 
wholesome  corrective  of  a  disordered  system,  but  not  the 
food  of  life  and  health) — how  doubly  thankful  do  I  feel  for 
the  carrying-out  of  the  principle  so  visibly  and  beautifully, 
and  joyfully  reckon  the  blessing,  which  cannot  fail !  The 
dryness  and  dullness  and  consequent  unsoundness  of  the 
old  original  ultra  (I  will  not  say  evangelical]  view,  is  I  believe 
from  many  accounts  giving  way  in  England  to  a  more 
humanizing  view  of  things — and  the  contrivances  for 
bringing  the  higher  cultivation  of  the  upper  classes  to  bear 
upon  the  lower  and  less-favoured,  though  equally  capable, 


340         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

is  the  happy  result  of  the  will  and  wish  to  fraternise  in  the 
best  sense.  Who  but  must  wish  that  the  refreshment  of  an 
hour  of  hilarity  should  come  sometimes  upon  the  gloom  of 
a  life  of  labour  and  care  ? — and  yet,  little  must  those  have 
looked  into  reality,  who  cannot  see  that  the  festival  meet- 
ings of  the  middle  and  lower  classes,  without  the  assistance 
and  participation  of  the  higher,  begin  in  vulgarity  and  end 


CHAPTER  VII. 

IN  THE  PEACE  OF  OLD  AGE. 

"  As  those  that  flit  from  their  old  home,  and  betake  them- 
fielves  to  live  in  another  country,  where  they  are  sure  to  settle, 
are  wont  to  forget  the  faces  and  fashions  whereto  they  were 
formerly  inured,  and  to  apply  themselves  to  the  knowledge 
and  acquaintance  of  those  with  whom  they  shall  afterwards 
converse ;  so  it  is  here  with  me,  being  to  remove  from  my 
earthly  tabernacle,  wherein  I  have  worn  out  the  few  and 
evil  days  of  my  earthly  pilgrimage,  to  an  abiding  City  above, 
I  have  desired  to  acquaint  myself  with  that  Invisible  World, 
to  which  I  am  going  to  enter,  to  know  my  good  God  and  His 
blessed  angels  and  saints,  with  whom  I  hope  to  pass  a  happy 
eternity." — BISHOP  HALL. 

"  We  too  would  rest :  but  ere  we  close  the  eye 
Upon  the  consciousness  of  waking  thought, 
Would  calmly  turn  it  to  yon  star-light  sky 
And  lift  the  soul  to  Him  who  slumbers  not. 

"  God  of  our  life,  God  of  each  day  and  night, 

Oh,  keep  us  still  till  life's  short  race  is  run, 
Until  there  dawns  the  long,  long  day  of  light, 
That  knows  no  night,  yet  needs  no  star  nor  sun." 

BONAK. 

visit  which  Baroness  Bunsen  paid  to  England 
in  the  summer  of  1864,  found  its  especial  interest 
in  the  opportunities  which  a  residence  in  the  household 


342         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BL'NSEN. 

of  each,  of  her  married  children,  offered  for  a  real  ac- 
quaintance with  her  numerous  grandchildren,  many  of 
whom  were  before  almost  unknown  to  her  personally. 
"I  feel  drawn  closer,"  she  wrote  on  her  return,  "to 
each  of  my  sons,  and  to  each  of  their  wives,  in  their 
varieties  of  character :  all  showing  me  an  amount  of 
affection  and  attention,  which  may  be  felt — and  I  do 
feel  it  through  and  through — but  may  not  be  told." 

While  staying  with  her  son  Ernest  in  London,  Madame 
de  Bunsen  was  greatly  interested  in  the  different  Exhi- 
bitions and  Galleries,  and  rejoiced  in  the  improvement 
which  had  taken  place  in  colouring.  "  The  right  thing  is 
now  aimed  at,"  she  wrote,  "  and  in  a  measure  attained, 
reminding  me  of  the  depth  and  richness  of  Venetian 
colouring,  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  getting  out  of  the 
conventional  trammels  of  Turner,  and  his  spongy  and 
exaggerated  effects,  which  ruled  and  over-ruled  all 
English  painting  a  few  years  ago." 

In  her  intercourse  with  many  English  families  at 
this  time,  Baroness  Bunsen  was  increasingly  shocked 
by  the  preparation  for  the  vices  of  the  upper  classes  in 
the  almost  universal  system  of  play  and  idleness  in 
which  children  were  brought  up — and  still  more  in  the 
books  which  were  given  to  them  to  read — "  pious  love- 
tales  about  pious  people,  tending  to  create  a  more  false 
and  hurtful  view  of  life  than  the  most  extravagant 
fairy-tales/' 

Of  all  her  visits,  that  to  Llanover,  where  she  was  re- 
ceived with  ceaseless  kindness  arid  affection,  caused  her 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  343 

the  greatest  emotion — "  Visions  of  the  departed — '  de- 
parted never  to  return ' — seemed  ever  to  people  those 
silent  regions  of  verdure  and  flowers."  On  this  occa- 
sion she  revisited  for  the  last  time  all  the  haunts  of  her 
childhood,  and  made  many  sketches  of  the  old  subjects 
which  she  had  drawn  before  she  was  six  years  old. 
Especially  did  she  delight  in  revisiting  Crickhowel 
and  walking  for  two  miles  along  the  road  where  she 
had  so  often  ridden  with  her  mother  in  summer  even- 
ings, listening  to  the  nightingales. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  licr  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Llanover,  14  June,  1864. — I  am  in  fear  of  losing  the 
images  of  my  most  interesting  days  in  London  in  a  set 
of  dissolving  views,  which  will  not  fail  to  start  up  again 
before  the  mind's  eye,  but  are  not  always  obedient  in 
coming  when  they  are  called  for.  Seeing  dear  Mrs.  Rich 
many  times  was  a  lasting  gratification,  and'  Caroline 
Bromley  came,  and  came  again,  most  affectionate  and 
faithful.  The  three  Puseys  were  most  warm  and  aif ectionate, 
and  are  all  happy  in  their  various  ways.  The  Duchess 
of  Argyll  was  not  in  town,  but  answered  my  note  of 
inquiry  most  affectionately,  promising  to  come  to  Lilies- 
hall,  if  she  should  not  see  me  in  London. 

"  All  this  late  life  of  mine  seems  like  a  dream  as  I  look 
back  upon  it :  but  the  result  is,  besides  great  thankfulness 
for  having  been  enabled  to  make  the  expedition,  the  con- 
viction that  nothing  can  suit  me  so  well  as  that  calm 
uniformity  of  the  Carlsruhe-life,  which  is  providentially 
pointed  out  to  me  as  my  proper  sphere  and  resting-place. 


344         LIFE    AND    LE1TERS    OF    BAKONESS    BUXSEN. 

"I  have  enjoyed  reading  the  'Reign  of  Elizabeth.'  It 
is  written  with  wonderful  spirit  and  talent — but  presents  a 
melancholy  and  mortifying  spectacle  of  the  motives  leading 
to  the  actions  and  events,  which  under  a  merciful  Provi- 
dence have  been  over-ruled  to  produce  this  grand  fabric  of 
English  liberty  of  action  and  of  conscience  !  I  think  the 
great  vine  at  Hampton  Court  presents  an  image  in  vege- 
table life  of  this  moral  reality — its  continuous  growth  and 
prodigality  of  the  finest  fruit  being  ascribed  to  the  feeding 
of  the  roots  from  a  sewer,  which  they  contrived  to  pene- 
trate." 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  LLANOVER. 

"  Stoke  Home,  Bristol,  23  June. — I  beg  you  to  believe 
that  my  heart's  grateful  affection  acknowledges  and  re- 
echoes the  kindness  you  show  me.  It  is  a  great  mercy 
indeed  to  have  so  much  love  bestowed  upon  one,  and  one's 
declining  years  ever  shone  upon,  and  warmed,  and 
smoothed,  and  helped  on  as  in  my  case.  These  things 
bear  not  to  be  spoken  of,  because  one  gets  overset,  and 
tears  and  emotion  are  best  avoided,  as  of  no  use,  and 
merely  exhausting :  but  I  can  be,  in  silence,  better  and 
more  quietly  conscious  of  the  endless  succession  of  acts  of 
kindness  of  which  I  have  been  the  object,  and  am,  con- 
tinually. 

"I  enjoyed  the  other  day  going  over  the  well-known 
fine  collection  of  pictures  at  Blaise  Castle,  which  poor  Mr. 
Harford,  in  total  blindness,  shoived  me  himself,  with  perfect 
savoir  faire — knowing  by  heart  all  the  points  to  be  re- 
marked, and  directing  towards  what  corner  a  chair  should 
bo  placed,  from  whence  I  could  have  the  best  light  upon 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD   AGE.  345 

each.  I  had  been  afraid  that  I  should  have  been  bound 
to  look  by  stealth,  to  avoid  reminding  him  of  his  calamity 
— but  found  that  images  before  the  mind's  eye  constitute 
his  chief  pleasure  in  his  life  of  bodily  darkness." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Lilleshall,  21  July,  1864.—  .  .  .  The  quantity  of  kind- 
ness and  affection  I  receive,  is  almost  overwhelming,  but  I 
take  in  the  continued  feast,  in  thankfulness  and  silence — 
for  another  hand  than  mine  must  make  return,  '  in  full 
measure,  heaped  up,  and  pressed  together,  and  running 
over,  poured  into  their  bosoms.'  So  it  was  with  me  at 
Stoke,  so  it  is  here  ;  so  it  was  at  Llanover,  as  it  had  been 

at  Abbey  Lodge The  contemplation  of  the  several 

centres  of  life  that  I  have  been  living  in,  is  most  deeply 

engrossing Each  and  all  of  these  beloved  ones,  as 

well  as  all  others  present  and  absent,  I  place  before  Him 
who  careth  for  each  and  all,  and  will  guide  and  govern, 
and  find  a  place  in  His  paternal  household,  after  the  needs 
and  requirements  of  each  and  all." 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  LLANOVER  (from  Cromer,  where  she  was 
visiting  her  children  Ernest  and  Elizabeth). 

"  Cromer,  14  August. — I  am,  and  have  been,  enjoying 
this  exquisite  weather,  and  this  air-bath,  more  than  can  bo 
expressed :  I  suppose  it  may  have  been  too  hot,  in  places 
where  the  atmosphere  was  in  less  continual  motion :  but  I 
have  found  it  perfectly  enjoyable.  Still,  as  I  have  never 
led  this  sort  of  life  before,  of  being  a  visitor,  and  an  object, 
and  being  petted  and  arranged  for  and  conveyed  about, 
without  any  or  with  the  least  possible  self-agency,  it  seems 


846         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

very  odd  :  and  without  any  ingratitude  (that  would  be  out 
of  all  nature)  I  look  longingly  towards  home  and  stillness 
and  regularity  and  hard-working. 

"This  country  has  pleasing  inequalities  of  ground,  and 
wonderfully  fine  old  trees  :  I  did  not  anticipate  the  attrac- 
tion of  so  much  original  wood.  I  mean  groves  of  ancient 
timber,  not  plantation  merely. .- ,  I  wonder  at  the  rich  green 
of  the  woods,  when  the  entire  face  of  the  ground  is  burnt 
up !  all  fields  brown  and  bare  as  the  Roman  Campagna  in 
summer ;  only  a  pretence  of  a  shower  of  rain  sometimes, 
and  all  water-courses  dried  up. 

"  Nothing  can  be  brighter  than  the  flower-beds  in  this 
sandy  soil,  wherever  they  can  afford  them  the  luxury  of 
watering :  a  clump  of  the  large  scarlet  gladiolus  is  my 
daily  delight  at  present — form,  light  and  shade,  and 
colour.  An  interest  to  me  in  this  country  (as  I  have  the 
passion  of  architecture)  are  the  fine  old  parish  churches, 
as  well  as  the  picturesque  ruins.  In  the  early  days  of 
good  architecture,  the  county  of  Norfolk  was  highly  priest- 
ridden,  as  well  as  wealthy  from  the  industry  of  the  middle 
classes,  and  large  property  of  the  aristocracy :  wherefore 
the  Romish  clergy  could  command  large  sums,  wherewith 
to  display  piety  in  building  churches  of  size  and  splendour 
far  beyond  the  needs  of  the  small  country  congregations, 
and  thus  many  have  fallen  into  unavoidable  disuse. 

"  Do  tell  me  whether  the  seeds  are  come  up  that  I  sent 
you  last  autumn  or  winter.  They  were  crushed  out  of  the 
ripe  berries  of  the  tree  or  shrub  that  I  long  to  see  flourish- 
ing in  England — Lonicera  ....  (I  forget  the  distin- 
guishing Latin  term)  called  in  Hanover  '  Red  Darling  and 
White  Darling.'  Why  don't  you  plant  the  Tamarisk? 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  347 


I  rave  about  it  since  I  saw,  round  the  lake  of  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne,  its  long-drooping  rods,  like  a  weeping  willow 
all  pints" 

To  ABEKEN  (after  her  return  from  England). 

"  Carlsruhe,  1  Nov.,  1864. — There  is  little  or  nothing  to 

tell  of  our  life "We  are  a  household  as  busy  as  bees, 

seeing  little  of  one  another  except  at  meals  and  in  the 
evening,  but  the  day  through  engaged  in  our  several  re- 
ceptacles. The  gloom  of  this  month  is  an  extra  memento 
of  the  succession  of  anniversaries  of  anguish  which  mark  it 
throughout  its  course  :  and  call  upon  me  for  more  and  more 
thankfulness  for  the  occupation  which  is  a  ceaseless  re- 
freshment, in  causing  me  to  dive  into  that  vigorous  current 
of  intellectual  life,  now  engulphed  and  lost  to  sight,  but 
which  has  left  its  beneficent  traces  everywhere. 

"  I  am  delighted  with  the  condition  of  Servia,  as  repre- 
sented in  an  article  in  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  for  the  15th 
May.  For  my  part,  I  wish  the  Eussians  were  within  that 
wretched  country,  instead  of  only  hovering  on  the  borders 
— they  would  maintain  a  strong  government,  keep  off  the 
Turcomans,  and  enable  the  countrymen  of  Hafiz  to  restore 
the  bloom  of  the  gardens  he  delighted  in.  Such  burnt  up 
deserts  and  ' howling  wildernesses'  as  lie  between  the 
centre  of  Persia  and  outlying  lands  will  sufficiently  keep 
off  invasion  of  the  British  Empire — besides  that  I  believe 
it  is  on  a  foundation  not  easily  undermined  or  shaken." 

To  her  SON  THEODORE. 

"  Carlsruhe,  22  Nov.,  1864. — I  am  startled  to  find  in  so 
many  French  writings  that  total,  uudoubting  atheism  is 


348         LIFE    AXD    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

admitted  as  a  thing  of  course,  in  characters  of  reflection. 
...  As  to  Christianity,  these  writers  seek  not,  care  not,  to 
endeavour  to  imbibe  its  living  spirit :  they  are  satisfied  to 
reject  it  altogether  as  though  the  barrier-walls  which  men 
have  built  up  in  the  form  of  dogmas,  whether  Romanist  or 
Bationalist,  were  the  reality  itself,  instead  of  that  which 
obscures  and  conceals  it.  What  is  to  help  the  civilised 
world,  beginning  with  each  individual  in  it !  except  re- 
nouncing the  leaden  pipes  and  marble  reservoirs,  and  per- 
sisting to  drink  of  the  water  of  life  at  its  ever-fresh  spring, 
rejecting  the  deposit  more  or  less  foul,  with  which  succes- 
sive ages  have  contaminated  it. — 0  my  dear  Theodore,  let  us 
be  thankful,  that  though  your  dear,  blessed  Father  is,  and 
must  be,  *  set  up  as  a  sign  to  be  spoken  against ' — yet  was 
the  principal  object  of  his  life  in  a  great  degree  attained: 
he  has  placed  the  genuine  Bible  before  his  own  nation, 
and  he  has  directed  those  who  will  hear  and  mark,  to 
approach  it  with  love  and  reverence,  and  receive  from  it  in 
humility,  God  made  visible  in  Christ,  and  working  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  all  hearts  that  desire  Him  !  " 

"11  Jan.,  1865. — I  am  delighted  with  your  sympathy 
with  me  as  to  Eomola.  I  suppose  people  are  so  accustomed 
to  novels  of  sensation,  that  they  cannot  put  up  with  mere 
human  nature,  particularly  such  distinct  nationality  of  a 
past  time.  I  quite  agree  with  you  that  Eomola  could  not 
in  reality  fill  up  the  soul's  craving  void,  by  exertions  of 
philanthropy — and  there  is  the  point  where  these  wonder- 
fully clever  writers  and  observers,  who  are  glad  to  produce 
effect  by  adopting  all  of  Christianity  but  itself,  find  them- 
selves at  the  end  of  their  tether.  I  sometimes  wonder,  how 
minds  of  such  intelligence,  should  rest  in  a  conception  of 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  349 


religion,  the  great  moving  power,  the  essential  reality,  the 
spiritual  influence,  as  something  comprised  within  the 
limits  of  its  linguistic  derivation — 'that  which  binds.' 
Religion  as  a  series  of  obligations,  as  a  well-adapted 
system  of  chains  and  checks,  is  the  common,  almost  general 
meaning  of  a  number  of  writers  that  treat  of  it,  as  if  they 
knew  the  thing,  because  they  use  the  word." 

To  Jier  SON  CHARLES. 

"  6  Feb.,  1865. — People  write  prose  and  verse  upon  all 
sorts  of  suffering,  but  that  of  too  vivid  recollection  is  little 
or  never  alluded  to !  I  only  know  that  with  me  it  is  a 
suffering  so  soul-harrowing,  that  at  last  it  has  occurred  to 
me  (it  ought  to  have  done  so  long  since)  to  make  it  a  sub- 
ject of  prayer — '  from  anguish  of  imaginings,  good  Lord 
deliver  me  ! '  " 

To  her  SON  TIIEODOIIE. 

"  27  April,  1865.— I  hit  upon  a  passage  in  Luther  the 
other  day  that  struck  me  much : — '  Das  hat  mir  die  Erfah- 
rung  allzuoft  gelehrt, — wenn  niich  der  Teufel  ausser  der 
Schrift  ergreift,  da  ich  anfange,  mit  meinen  Gredanken  zu 
spazieren,  und  auch  gen  Hiram  el  zu  flattern,  so  bringt  er 
mich  dazu,  dass  ich  nicht  weiss,  wo  Grott  oder  ich  bleibe.' 

"  The  last-mentioned  condition  I  believe  very  general! 
You  know  that  it  has  long  been  matter  of  fun  to  your 
sisters,  that  I  ever  so  many  years  back  protested  to  them, 
that  I  could  not  deem  it  fair  to  throw  the  blame  of  my  own 
sinf ulness  on  the  devil  (and  therefore  could  not  accept  forms 
of  devotion  which  imply  that  unfairness),  being  quite  sure 
that  the  evil  was  in  myself,  and  came  not  from  any  other 


350          LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

quarter.  Now  it  seems  to  me,  that  most  people  of  cultiva- 
tion have  equally  thrown  overboard  the  devil,  but  then, 
having  done  that,  they  are  quite  satisfied  with  their  own 
human  nature,  and  will  see  no  sin,  or  danger  of  sin,  in  it : 
they  are  just  those  who  cry  up  the  dignity  and  purity  of 
the  nature,  minus  devil — Dass  sich  Gott  erbarm !  " 

In  May,  1865,  Matilda  de  Bunsen  left  Carlsruhe 
with  the  Baron  Alexander  von  Uxkiill  and  his  wife,* 
on  her  way  to  Esthland,  whither  she  went  to  pass  a 
year  with  her  friend  Frau  von  Tiesenhausen,  In  the 
following  month  her  mother  and  sisters  removed  to 
Switzerland  for  the  summer. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  Chateau  de  Blonay,  Vevay,  4  July,  1865. — I  have  to 
report  of  our  prosperous  journey  hither,  having  spent  two 
days  in  Basle,  and  enjoyed  most  thoroughly  the  air,  the 
beautiful  situation  of  the  Trois  Eois,  the  cleanliness,  well- 
being,  neatness  and  completeness  of  the  Swiss  town,  as 
compared  (alas  !)  with  German  towns  :  and  most  of  all,  the 
cordial  kindness  of  our  friends  the  Gelzers,  and  Charlotte 
Kestner,  the  aged,  but  ever-engaging  and  original  daughter 
of  Werther's  Lotte. 

"  So  much  had  been  said  about  this  place  that  I  was 
almost  prepared  for  disappointment :  but  there  is  no  pos- 
sibility of  saying  enough  of  the  beauty  by  which  we  are 
surrounded.  We  have  at  once  experienced  a  home-feeling 
in  our  cheerful  and  beautifully-clean  rooms,  and  are  quite 
separate  from  the  family  of  the  house,  who  are  however 
*  Daughter  of  the  Baron  and  Baroness  de  Hahn. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD   AGE.  351 

most  obliging.  The  paths  in  all  directions  promise  an 
endless  variety  of  walks,  with  abundant  shade  of  fine  trees, 
and  sloping  lawns." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Chateau  de  Blonay,  Canton  de  Taud,  12  July,  1865.— I 
hasten  delightedly  to  announce  myself  as  quartered  here 
for  the  summer,  with  Frances,  Emilia,  and  the  five  dar- 
lings  We  exult  in  being  800  feet  above  the  Lake 

of  Geneva  and  2,000  above  the  level  of  the  sea!  The 
beauty  of  our  situation  I  do  not  dream  of  attempting  to 
describe — your  imagination  must  picture  the  blue  expanse, 
the  purple  mountains  of  the  Savoy-side,  the  entrance  of  the 
Valais  with  the  out-flowing  of  the  Rhone,  the  gigantic 
palisade  of  mountains  on  each  side  of  the  piece  of  the  plain 
of  Wallis  within  our  view,  crowned  by  the  Dent  du  Midi 
in  snow  eternal.  This  is  the  grand,  to  which  I  think 
imagination  more  easily  reaches,  than  to  the  loveliness  of 
'le  falde  delle  montagne,'  the  lawn-like  slopes,  the  park- 
like  modelling  of  the  surface,  the  masses  of  wood  wherever 
the  road  will  allow  lodgement,  the  splendour  of  single 
walnut-trees,  the  self -formed  groups,  the  resolute  independ- 
ence of  nature  in  resisting  the  spoiling  effect  of  the  hand 
of  man,  which  here  is  under  a  spell,  labour  being  com- 
pelled into  the  cause  of  embellishment.  Our  habitation  is 
a  '  vieux  manoir,'  once  the  fortified  habitation  of  the  family 
which  has  possessed  it  for  700  years,  still  residing  in  it,  occu- 
pying the  first  story,  and  leaving  to  us  the  apartment  under 
it,  which,  though  called  the  ground-floor,  is  yet  at  a  great 
height  from  the  hill  of  Blonay,  which  was  an  insulated 
rock,  suited  to  the  position  of  a  castle.  The  construction 


352         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

is  that  of  hundreds  that  one  has  seen  in  ruins,  and  of  the 
many  that  have  existed  in  Switzerland,  a  very  small  part 
have  escaped  destruction :  the  building  in  question  pro- 
bably owing  its  preservation  to  the  prudence  of  the  pro- 
prietor in  making  his  peace  in  time  with  the  new  condition 
of  things,  self-government  and  the  Reformation — the  Chate- 
laine here  having  expressed  herself,  '  Notre  famille  etait 
toujours  attachee  aux  Dues  de  Savoie — elle  est  contente  au 
jour  qu'il  est  d'etre  libre  et  evangelique,  mais  elle  a  du 
se  soumettre  anciennemeiit  a  la  puissance  comme  la  plus 
faible.' 

"The  variety  of  ground  all  about  us,  and  the  net- work 
of  roads  and  paths,  give  occasion  for  walks  in  all  directions : 
and  of  course  we  are  within  reach  of  points  of  interest 
without  end  for  excursions,  but  have  as  yet  made  none, 
having  enjoyment  enough  in  our  immediate  neighbour- 
hood, not  to  be  impatient  to  go  further I  have  very 

happy  pictures  of  the  present  condition  of  the  various 
groups  of  my  belongings,  and  we  are  allowed  to  hope  in 
August  to  have  George  and  his  family  housed  in  a  Pension 
in  the  neighbouring  village. 

"  Most  thankful  I  am  indeed,  and- more  heart  would  I 
have  to  be  more  thankful,  for  the  abundant  love  which 
surrounds  me." 

To  her  SON  THEODOJIE. 

"Chateau  de  Blonay,  19  August,  1865.— On  the  first  of 
August,  Emilia  and  I,  with  the  two  little  children,  went  to 
Coppet,  and  made  a  visit  of  four  days  to  Madame  de  Stael, 
Mademoiselle  Anna  Vernet  meeting  us  there.  I  cannot 
describe  the  kindness  with  which  we  were  treated,  and  the 


IN    THE    1'EACE    OF    OLD   AGE.  353 

thorough  renewal  of  an  intimacy  dating  from  35  years 
ago  in  Rome.  MadUe.  Anna  Vernet  has  been  returning 
the  visit  this  week,  for  we  can  contrive  in  the  chateau  to 
give  her  a  room.  We  are  delighted  with  our  position.  I 
have  but  to  turn  my  head,  at  this  moment,  to  behold  the 
Dent  du  Midi,  the  extremity  of  the  lake,  and  the  beginning 
of  the  plain  of  the  Ehone  with  its  range  of  splendid  moun- 
tains on  each  side  : — from  another  window  the  grand  range 
subsiding  into  the  Rochers  de  Meillerie  extends  to  the  right, 
and  from  our  terrace  with  double  row  of  chestnut-trees,  we 
behold  the  more  prosaic  end  of  the  lake  in  the  direction  of 
Geneva. 

"  I  think  my  chief  pleasure  in  the  way  of  books  of  late 
has  been  in  Ampere's  Histoire  Romaine  d  Home,  which  must 
be  invaluable  on  the  spot  to  follow  out  all  his  suppositions 
as  to  ancient  conditions,  and  fill  out  in  degree  the  void  of 
which  everyone  is  sensible  at  Borne  in  not  finding  remnants 
of  the  best  period.  But  even  without  being  at  Rome,  I 
find  the  book  infinitely  attractive,  remembering  as  I  have 
reason  to  do  the  images  which  surrounded  *  my  daily  walks 
and  ancient  neighbourhood '  for  such  a  lapse  of  years. 
Did  you  over  meet  Ampere  ?  I  am  not  sure  that  you  were 
with  us,  at  Totteridge  and  at  Heidelberg,  when  we  enjoyed 
his  presence.  His  was  a  singular  and  most  engaging  per- 
sonality :  and  his  death  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  struck 
me  as  cutting  off  another  portion  of  the  Past  which  deserves 
to  live,  and  will  live  in  memory.  The  event,  by  creating 
a  void  in  the  number  of  Membres  de  1'Institut  (that  much 
coveted  designation!)  helped  to  make  room  for  William 
Henry  Waddington's  admission,  which  took  place  this 
year." 

VOL.  II.  A  A 


354         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"  16  Sept.,  1865. — How  strongly  have  I  been  led,  by 
many  a  contemplation  latterly  (of  the  mind  of  Milton — of 
that  of  Luther — of  that  of  Calvin)  to  condemn  the  absur- 
dity of  sects,  one  and  all,  in  calling  upon  their  members  to 
believe  precisely  one  and  the  same  body  of   doctrine — to 
bring  their  convictions  up  to  the  same  line,  to  fill  out  their 
faith  with  the   same  measure.     All  that,    is   possible  in 
verbal   assent,  in  subscription   of  articles :    but  not  with 
the  mind,  which  is  cognizant  of  the  immaterial,  and  with 
which  belief  is  matter  of  fact,  not  of  will  or  engagement. 
I  have  only  found  what  I  feel  expressed  by  the  Duchesse 
de  Broglie,  in  her  letter  to  Schlegel — '  quoiqu'  elevee  dans 
le   christianisme    protestant,    et   tenant   au   christianisme 
comme  a  la  vie  de  mon  ame,  je  ne  saurais  souscrire  les 
articles   de  foi   d'aucune   denomination  de   Chretiens.' — I 
admire   Milton  in   his   ardour   of    conviction :    I   admire 
Calvin   as  to   the    saving   power   of    truth    as  far   as  it 
yet  lives  in  protestant  Christianity ;    I  admire  Luther  in 
his  higher  and  more   penetrating  beatific  vision,   in  his 
warmth  of  recognition   of    the   attributes   of  God :    but 
I   am  repelled  by   the   dangerous    errors    of    each — the 
bitter  results  of  which  have  been  more   closely   adhered 
to  than  the  living  reality  which  inspired  those  confessors, 
only  to  be  found  again  by  those  who  seek  at  the  source. 
I  have  of  late  daily  read  in  a  collection  of  short  extracts 
of    Luther's    sayings    and    sermons,    designed   for   daily 
matters  of  reflection  through  the  year,  and  have  found 
wonderfully  fine  passages,   deeply  instructive ;    but  also 
many  most   objectionable,    which  the  modern  Lutheran 
who   made  the  selection  is  unpardonable  for  inserting, 
for  instance  one   preaching  persecution  on  the  principle 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  355 

acted  up  to  by  Philip  II. — rather  let  a  state  be  ruined, 
than  suffer  a  heretic  in  it. 

"I  read  in  the  winter  a  life  of  Calvin  by  Bungener — 
and  a  very  painful  book  it  is,  but  the  subject  is  of  grand 
effect  from  the  display  of  moral  power  almost  unequalled. 
The  error  of  Calvin,  in  reckoning  persecution  of  heretics 
to  be  a  Christian  duty,  was  that  of  his  age — probably  when 
he  lived  there  was  not  a  living  man  who  allowed  liberty  of 
conscience  except  William  of  Orange,  who  protected  the 
Anabaptists  against  Ste.  Aldegonde  and  all  the  enlightened 
and  unenlightened  of  his  brethren  in  the  faith.  But  the 
merit  of  Calvin  is  his  own,  and  he  has  been  the  creative 
instrument  of  the  strength  of  England,  of  Scotland,  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  not  to  speak  of  the  Protestants 
of  France,  who  have  been  scattered  abroad  to  sow  good 
seed  in  every  country  into  which  they  fled,  as  not  being 
suffered  to  build  up  their  own.  In  Germany  too,  as  much 
of  Protestant  faith  as  is  yet  living  and  acting,  comes  from 
the  Reformed,  therefore  not  from  the  Lutherans,  who  in 
their  renewed  exaggerations,  are  sliding  on  the  greatly- 
inclined  plane  towards  Home. 

"  How  little  the  French  consider  what  '  les  gloires  de  la 
France  '  are !  In  Calvin  and  their  protestant  martyrs  con- 
sists their  moral  and  intrinsic  greatness ;  and  it  occurs  to 
no  one  to  assert,  or  even  to  perceive  this !  " 

"  25  Oct. — Seldom  have  I  had  such  a  surrounding 
atmosphere  of  beauty,  light,  warmth,  quiet,  cheerfulness, 
well-being,  peace  and  satisfaction,  to  rejoice  in,  as  during 
our  last  six  weeks  in  the  Chateau  de  Blonay — all  the  time 
epent  there  was  good  and  desirable,  but  less  perfect  than 
the  later  portion." 


356         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

To  Miss  DAYEKPORT  BROMLEY. 

"  CarlsruJie,  6  Feb.,  1866. — I  like  to  think  of  your  seeing 
the  Carlyle's.  I  wish  you  would  remember  me  to  each  of 
them,  for  I  think  of  them  with  interest,  little  as  I  ever  saw 
of  them.  It  was  little,  but  not  slight?' 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MATILDA. 

"24  Feb.,  1866.— My  dear  friend  Mademoiselle  Calan- 
drini  is  gone  to  her  home !  With  thankfulness  do  I  look 
back  on  the  long  years  in  which  I  have  enjoyed  her  faith- 
ful friendship,  and  upon  the  interview  which  was  made 
possible,  in  spite  of  difficulty,  last  summer.  Not  only  did 
I  see  her,  unchanged  in  heart  and  intelligence,  but  I  had 
the  gratification  of  showing  her  my  Theodora's  children, 
and  of  her  seeing  Frances  and  Emilia,  and  George  and 
Emma.  We  little  thought  it  would  be  the  last  opportunity; 
and  yet  I  strongly  felt  that  with  her  there  could  be 
nothing  earthly  to  look  forward  to." 

To  ABEKEN  (when  about  finally  to  take  leave  of  her  house  at 
Bonn). 

"Bonn,  13  April,  1866. — My  twenty  days  at  Bonn  are 
nearly  expended,  and  on  Monday  I  purpose  departure 
towards  home.  The  multiplicity  of  thoughts  and  feelings 
and  objects  of  interest  which  have  occupied  me  during  this 
time  would  be  hard  to  enumerate  and  describe  :  but  you 
will  feel  with  me  that  the  solemnity  of  separation,  '  it  may 
be  for  years,  and  it  may  be  for  ever,'  cannot  but  accom- 
pany every  occupation,  cheerful  and  soothing  as  are  the 
impressions  received,  and  that  will  remain  with  me  to  mark 
the  time  in  memory.  I  am  parting  with  George  and 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  357 

Emma  and  tlieir  children,  without  any  present  prospect 
even  of  meeting,  far  less  of  living  together  as  at  this 
moment :  and  I  part  from  Bonn,  very  possibly  never  to  see 
it  again,  for  only  the  George-family  would  draw  me  hither. 
"  I  bear  away  from  Bonn  remembrances  of  a  degree  of 
kindness  for  which  I  was  not  prepared.  I  have  made  a 
point  of  visiting  everybody  that  I  had  known,  and  have 
been  received  with  a  warmth  of  manner  which  I  shall 
gratefully  remember.  Several  there  are,  whom  I  can 
hardly  expect  to  see  again,  as  being  even  more  than  myself 
advanced  in  years.  Dear  Brandis  is  better  again  in  health, 
but  has  declined  much  in  strength  since  our  last  meeting." 

To  her  DAUGIITER-IN-LAW  MARY-LOUISA. 

"22  April,  1866. — I  have  never  got  up  again  the  walk- 
ing powers  I  enjoyed  at  Blonay.  But  at  my  age,  every- 
thing that  excites  and  brings  one  out  of  the  absolute  quiet 
of  home,  takes  much  strength  out  of  one,  when  the 
portion  is  not  equal  to  all  possible  demands  :  and  my  three 
weeks  at  Bonn  were  full  of  events  calling  out  strong  feel- 
ing and  emotion,  as  belonging  to  an  event  in  life — a  close 
and  a  parting — even  though  attended  by  no  calamity,  on 
the  contrary  matter  of  satisfaction.  I  have  parted  from 
Bonn  with  unwonted  glow  of  thankfulness  for  the  extreme 
kindness  with  which  I  was  met  by  many  persons  whom  I 
might  have  supposed,  after  the  way  of  the  world,  wholly 
weaned  from  interest  in  me,  by  absence :  and  with  a 
solemn  gaze  of  farewell  I  looked  upon  the  spot  in  the 
cemetery  where  rest  the  mortal  remains  of  that  existence 
with  which  mine  was  entwined,  and  which  it  is  so  little 
probable  that  I  should  again  approach,  unless  when  borne 


358        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

thither  in  unconsciousness.    But  to  be  overset  by  such  con- 
templations, one  must  be  younger  than  I  am." 

To  Miss  DAVENPORT  BHOMLEY  (after  an  expression  of  thanks 
for  "the  constant  visible  tokens  of  her  old- standing 
affection"  in  the  new  bcoks  of  interest  with  which  she 
never  failed  to  supply  her). 

"30  April,  1866.— I  feel  greatly  the  shock  of  Mrs. 
Carlyle's  sudden  end.  We  are  always  so  startled  at  an 
instantaneous  calling  away  from  life !  and  yet,  how  is  such 
a  stroke  sent  in  mercy,  to  such  as  may  not  have  made  clear 
to  themselves  how  to  meet  death,  or  what  to  think  of  it. 
....  How  few  days  before,  I  had  rejoiced  at  Carlyle's 
receiving  the  heart-homage  so  well  deserved,  from  his  own 
countrymen  of  the  younger  generation !  and  read  his  speech 
with  the  interest  ever  following  everything  said  by  him." 

To  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  Carlsruhe,  18  June,  1866. — If  I  should  begin  upon  the 
wretched  subject  of  the  wickedness  and  wrong-headedness 
now  at  work,  to  create  desolation  where  all  was  peace  and 
prosperity,  as  it  were  yesterday, — I  might  as  well  take  a 
folio  sheet  or  two  :  but  I  think  all  may  be  summed  up  in 
dissatisfaction  with  everybody  and  everything !  One  cannot 
have  the  consolation  of  taking  part  anywhere — '  Sanctify, 
0  Lord !  the  miseries  of  this  life,  to  the  everlasting  benefit 
of  all  that  suffer ' — ought  to  be,  and  truly  is,  one's  hourly 
prayer.  And  may  good  once  come  out  of  this  whirlpool  of 
evil." 

"  26  June. — I  desire  to  be  next  week  at  Herrenalb, 
believing  that  quiet  valley,  with  nothing  to  tempt  war,  will 
be  an  ideal  place  to  retreat  to,  for  those  who  feel  bound 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD   AGE.  359 

not  to  go  far  :  and  should  it  be  indispensable  to  leave  this 
self-devoted,  infatuated  country,*  I  might  easily  get  to 
Switzerland — it  is  self-understood  that  I  and  mine  do  not 
part  from  the  children.  It  would  seem  very  natural  to 
accept  the  offer  (most  kindly  urged  by  my  sister)  of  taking 
possession  of  my  own  old  home  :  but  I  shall  not  carry  off 
the  children,  unless  things  come  to  such  a  pass  as  that 
their  father  should  be  glad  to  know  them  safe  at  a  dis- 
tance. It  is  a  fearful  spectacle  here,  to  see  people  rushing 
furiously  on  a  well-deserved  and  unavoidable  judgment.  I 
believe  the  Grand  Duke  could  not,  if  he  would,  have 
embraced  the  cause  of  Prussia.  The  whole  public  mind  in 
these  southern  parts  is  poisoned  by  the  ultra-montane  press, 
which  is  urging  them  in  plain  words  to  get  rid  of  the  Pro- 
testant ruler,  and  be  annexed  to  Austria :  and  the  fury 
here  against  Prussians  is  beyond  conception,  although  they 
never  were  in  contact  with  them,  and  have  suffered  nothing 
at  their  hands,  except  in  1849,  when  Prussian  troops  had 
to  shed  their  blood  in  putting  down  the  raging  Bed 
Republic  which  had  entire  hold  of  the  Grand  Duchy. 
There  is  no  idea  left  of  the  wholesome  persuasion  of  Anti- 
Catholicism — those  called  Protestants  here,  are  as  rabid  as 
the  others  to  throw  themselves  into  the  claws  of  the  Double 
Eagle. 

"  .  .  .  .  The  more  the  state  of  things  is  revealed,  the 
more  one  sees  that  war  was  inevitable — and  may  people 
learn  common  sense  in  the  course  of  it !  It  is  a  wicked  war, 
in  which  one  cannot  pity  the  majority  of  the  population  in 

*  The  popular  fury  had  forced  the  unwilling  Grand  Duke  to  join 
his  troops  with  those  under  the  Austrian  command,  and  thus  to  fight 
against  his  father-in-law. 


360         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

these  small  states — it  is  not  only  the  fault  of  governments. 
The  people  hate  Prussia  for  her  power,  and  preponderance, 
and  superior  moral  and  intellectual  standing — and  long  t^ 
give  a  good  blow,  supposing  in  their  self-conceit,  that  they 
are  able  to  do  her  a  mischief." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"Herrenalb,  12  July,  1866. — When  you  express  the  hope, 
my  own  George,  that  my  health  may  not  have  been  dis- 
turbed by  anxiety  as  to  the  war,  I  must  admit  to  you 
having  reflected  with  a  sort  of  shame  on  my  having  found 
it  as  natural  as  ever  to  eat  and  sleep,  even  in  those  gloomy 
and  distressful  days  before  the  l  lie  direct '  of  the  Austrian 
telegrams  was  cleared  up.*  And  yet  I  experienced  no  self- 
deception  as  to  the  calamity  implied  in  the  Prussians  being 
worsted !  But  I  well  remember  that  praying  as  I  did  daily 
for  the  good  cause,  I  failed  not  to  be  conscious  of  a  new 
influx  of  hope,  that  the  final  success  of  Prussia  would  be, 
must  be,  the  will  of  God. 

"Alas!  I  find  the  world  to  be  growing  more  atheistic 
than  ever — something  worse  than  forgetfulness — denial  of 
God — meets  me  at  every  turn.  I  admit  that  as  things  go 
on  in  the  world,  it  is  often  hard  to  keep  by  my  dearest 
husband's  assertion — '  It  is  at  last  God,  and  not  the  devil, 
who  rules  the  world.'  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  EMMA  (on  the  death  of  her  son 
Arnold). 
'  2  August,  1866.— My  dearest  Emma— What  should  I 

*  All  the  reports  which  reached  Carlsruhe,  till  Koniggratz  had 
broken  the  clouds,  were  of  one  continued  series  of  disastrous  reverses 
to  the  Prussian  army, — nevertheless  steadily  advancing !  Even  the 
Grand  Duchess  heard  of  nothing  but  Prussian  defeats. 


IN   THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  361 

write  but  those  words  ? — The  thought  of  your  anguish 
strikes  me  dumb.  The  ruling  longing  is  after  an  impos- 
sibility— could  I  but  draw  out  the  sting — could  I  but  bear 
the  pang  for  you !  Who  knows  better  than  I  do  its 
intensity  ?  and  I  am  practised  in  bearing,  I  am  of  the  stuff 
that  bears  a  load,  and  it  seems  as  if  I  could  so  well  take 
yours  upon  my  small  remainder  of  life.  But  these  are 
childish  wailings.  If  I  desire  to  relieve  your  pain,  there 
is  One  who  cares  for  you  more  and  better  than  I  can,  and 
has  the  intensest  consciousness  of  all  your  sufferings,  and 
will  supply  the  healing  balm  to  the  fresh  wound — which 
yet  you  will  bear  about  with  you  while  you  live.  I  know 
well,  that  your  Ella,  and  the  misery  of  her  illness  and 
departure,  is  ever  present  with  you,  and  with  my  beloved 
George ! — 0  !  that  you  should  both  suffer  so  much ! — that 
is  my  infirmity,  that  I  must  ever  come  back  to  that  feeling, 
in  which  is  rebellion  against  the  decree  of  Him  who  loves 
you  with  love  far  beyond  mine,  and  who  alone  can 
assuage  the  pain  of  the  wound  he  has  not  seen  good  to 
prevent. 

"  0  !  dearest  Emma,  I  know  what  it  is  to  have  scenes  of 
anguish  as  it  were  engraven  on  the  inner  sense — ever 
recurring,  not  to  be  escaped  from !  Long  had  I  endured 
tiiis  form  of  renewed  anguish  (strange  to  say!)  before  I 
thought  of  making  it  matter  of  prayer  to  be  defended  froin 
nuch  inward  visions,  and  from  indulging  in  coiitenip.lat}o$a 
which  impaired  the  shattered  remains  qf  moral  vigour. 
....  I  shall  ceaselessly  long  to  know  wheye  you  depqsit  the 
remains  of  the  treasure,  granted  to  you  to  rejoice  over, 
to  love  and  be  Iqye4  by,  once  and  fqr  ever !— Fqr  he  is 
yours  not  t]\e  Jess,  tfrat  he  nqw  waits  for  you,  unseen? 


362         LITE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

in  the  more  immediate  presence  of  Ms  Father  and  your 
Father. 

"I  can  well  enter  into  the  feeling  which  caused  3^011  to 
give  away  what  was  precious  as  having  been  worn  by  the 

darling  child  now  taken  away When  I  gave  nay 

little  angel's  clothes  to  Lucia  Niebuhr,  I  kept  back  a  little 
green  silk  drawn  bonnet,  under  which  her  face  had  been 
such  a  feast  to  my  heart  and  eyes — wrapped  it  in  a  hand- 
kerchief, and  fancied  the  time  would  come  when  I  should 
be  soothed  to  look  at  it.  Many  years  passed  before  I 
summoned  courage  to  take  it  out,  and  then  I  found,  by 
the  uncontrollable  burst  of  anguish,  that  the  grief  was 
living  and  unchanged,  and  I  had  only  gained  upon  it  by 
dint  of  being  called  off  to  other  and  engrossing  objects  of 
affection — it  was  not  overcome,  it  never  could  be  :  only  the 
business  of  life  had  operated  a  diversion,  and  the  activity 
of  bodily  powers  had  been  by  the  manifold  calls  of  the 
present  forced  '  back  to  busy  life  again.'  " 

To  her  SON  THEODORE. 

"21  August,  1866.— The  condition  of  the  world  has 
changed  indeed,  since  I  last  wrote  to  you !  The  more  one 
obtains  of  particulars,  the  more  one  is  penetrated  with 
admiration  for  the  entire  mass  of  the  Prussian  military-% 
officers  as  well  as  privates,  arrangements  and  execution,  plan 
and  fulfilment — never  surely  was  a  campaign  in  which  cause 
and  effect  so  called  for  common  praise, — no  incident  whereby 
one  could  say  'that  was  good  luck,'  every  success  richly 
deserved  :  and  the  same  applies  to  the  details  of  the  second 
campaign  (as  one  must  call  it),  in  which,  having  suffi- 
ciently disposed  of  the  head  in  Bohemia,  the  nwriber*  would 


IN  THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  363 


insist  upon  being  severally  discomfited,  in  the  many  bloody 
engagements  which  have  stained  ^Bavarian  and  Baden 
ground.  Nothing  seems  more  astonishing  than  the  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  ground  in  all  possible  details,  possessed 
by  the  Prussians ! — they  appeared  as  by  magic,  unex- 
pected by  the  enemy,  who  yet  was  far  more  at  home  on 
the  soil  than  themselves,  and  more  remarkable  than  any- 
thing else  has  been  the  universal  good  conduct,  good 
humour,  willingness  to  conciliate  !  for  they  have  been  met 
in  a  spirit  of  hatred,  such  as  they  have  never  done  any- 
thing to  deserve." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Herrenalb,  25  August,  1866. — It  was  indeed  what  I 
wanted,  and  did  not  venture  to  expect,  that  you  would  be 
able  to  write  a  word  to  me  on  this  day !  and  words  that 
indeed  do  my  heart  good,  and  help  it  out  of  its  indistinct- 
ness. The  best  of  one's  own  reflections  are  so  tame  and 
dull — cannot  get  out  of  a  certain  dim  assent  to  what  is 
self-evident — that  '  Goodness  and  Mercy  have  followed  him 
(have  followed  me)  all  the  di,ys  of  our  life  ' — and  that  in 
the  hands  of  that  '  Goodness  and  Mercy '  he  now  tastes  of 
the  excellency  which  he  ever  grasped  after.  I  cannot,  any 
more  than  you,  give  up  the  idea  of  the  prolonged  con- 
sciousness of  all  most  near  and  dear  in  this  life  being 
carried  over  into  the  expanded  spirituality  of  a  higher 
existence  ;  and  it  seems  to  me  not  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  a  clearer  view  into  the  secret  of  God's  moral  govern- 
ment reconciles  the  consciousness  to  the  wrong  and 
wretchedness  of  the  existence  once  shared,  in  which  the 
beloved  ones  are  still  struggling  on. 


364        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTTNSEN. 

"  Tliat  word  t  consciousness  ' — Bewusstsein — was  one 
that  your  Father  often  used,  and  that  I  would  fain  dwell 
upon  when  striving  after  an  idea  which  it  is  not  given  to 
humanity  to  grasp.  There  are  some  lines  from  Sir 
William  Jones,  the  last  of  which  contains  a  conception, 
ever  strongly  seizing  upon  my  mind  :  though  the  whole 
are  poor : — 

'  Before  thy  mystic  altar,  heavenly  Truth, 
I  kneel  in  manhood,  as  I  knelt  in  youth : 
Here  let  me  tide,  till  this  frail  form  decay, 
And  life's  last  sands  be  "brightened  by  thy  ray : 
Then  shall  my  soul,  set  free  from  all  below, 
Soar  without  bound,  without  consuming  glow.' 

The  widened  capabilities,  taking  in  power,  grandeur,  love, 
beneficence,  intensity  in  all  spirituality,  beyond  all  thought 
— are  indicated  by  the  feeble  words :  and  that  is  all  that 
can  be  demanded  in  the  realm  of  the  inconceivable.  "Was 
the  idea  in  some  oriental  poet  ? — I  cannot  tell  to  what  the 
lines  belong :  I  believe  I  read  them  above  half  a  century 
ago,  in  manuscript. 

"  ....  I  know  not  where  I  have  lately  read  the  observa- 
tion, that  Luther  was  a  Reformer  and  a  man  of  genius,  but 
not  a  theologian;  and  therefore  not  qualified  for  a  safe 
teacher  :  which  I  know  but  too  well  that  he  was  not,  eve£ 
from  many  of  the  extracts  from  his  sermons  and  sayings, 
in  a  favourite  book  of  mine,  the  Schatzkastchen — preaching 
persecution  of  the  unbelieving  as  criminals,  and  incul- 
cating diablerie.  It  is  an  awful  thought,  that  Luther 
should  have  had  no  successor  !  with  his  fervour  and  power 
of  making  himself  heard  and  understood,  and  yet  with 
wider  conception  of  the  Divine  character  and  purpose. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  365 


The  grand,  commanding,  individual  characters,  are  be- 
coming few  and  far  between ! — and  the  multitude  is  so 
slow  in  comprehending  the  work  left  for  it  to  do,  without 
a  leader." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Carter uhe,  11  Sept.,  1866.— With  me,  you  will  well 
conceive,  it  is  the  Past  that  lives  and  breathes  around,  and 
the  visible  actuality  is  the  shadowy  and  seemingly  unreal, 
save  and  except  when  it  presents  facts,  developments,  pro- 
gress in  and  towards  that  after  which  the  wishes,  the 
endeavours,  the  labours  of  him  who  is  gone  before,  ever 
tended  with  all  his  inborn  energy.  You  will  believe  that  I 
have  felt  the  triumph,  the  grandeur  of  Prussia,  as  if  he 
was  feeling  it  with  me ! — and  again  and  again  reflected 
upon  his  maxims  as  to  the  world's  changes  and  advance- 
ment !  He  ever  protested  against  the  phraseology  which 
attributes  effects  to  masses, — he  said,  the  masses  could  do 
nothing  without  a  man,  a  leader,  to  point  the  way  and  urge 
them  in  it. 

"  While  Emilia  and  Rosa  are  in  Switzerland  with  Lady 
Ashburton,  you  must  fancy  me,  with  Frances  and  Matilda, 
at  Herrenalb,  that  valley  of  Wiirtemberg,  with  its  forests 
and  streams,  undisturbed  by  march  of  troops  or  sight  of 
sufferers,  sitting  over  the  Cologne  paper,  and  studying  the 
maps,  and  only  longing  for  still  more  knowledge  than  even 
that  well-stored  paper  can  supply." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  Carlsruhe,  27  Nov.,  1866. — I  have  been  electrified,  occu- 
pied, and  extremely  delighted,  with  a  visit  from  Mrs. 


366         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    liARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Schwabe !  who  wrote  to  announce  herself  from  Wiesbaden, 
and  came  immediately  on  receiving  my  letter  of  welcome. — 
She  has  been  most  cordial  and  full  of  the  recollections 
which  are  essentially  my  life,  and  indescribably  entertain- 
ing in  her  communications  about  things  and  persons,  and 
in  particular  the  events  and  actions  in  which  she  has  been 
personally  concerned." 

In  December,  1866,  Madame  de  Bunsen  set  out  to 
pass  some  time  at  Florence  in  answer  to  the  pressing 
invitation  of  her  children  Charles  and  Mary  Isabel.  On 
the  way  she  lingered  for  some  time  at  Mentone,  receiving 
the  cordial  hospitality  of  Louisa,  Lady  Ashburton. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  ISABEL. 

"I  long  after  you  both — and  long,  not  only  to  see,  but 
to  live  with  you, — and  I  accept  with  all  my  heart,  the  hos- 
pitality you  so  fully  and  entirely  offer — thanking  God,  not 
once,  but  ever  and  again,  for  the  possibility  of  intercourse 
so  continually  wanted  and  desired,  and  which  seemed  so 
out  of  reach!  and  I  pray,  not  once  but  ever,  that  our 
coming  together  may  be  for  the  good  of  all.  Renewal  of 
intercourse,  whether  with  friends  or  blood  relations,  after 
separation,  is  never  an  indifferent  matter — one  is  either 
brought  nearer  together,  or  the  reverse :  and  to  obtain  a 
blessing  on  such  meetings  is  with  me  ever  an  earnest 
matter  of  prayer.  When  people  wonder  at  my  taking 
courage  to  go  on  my  travels,  like  the  younger  generation, 
I  always  feel  the  true  explanation  to  be,  that  I  go  to  see  my 
children,  and  that  renders  the  effort  worth  making :  to  see 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  367 

Italy  again,  and  enjoy  works  of  art,  is  very  secondary,  but 
comes  in  well  as  a  farther  recommendation." 


To  her  SON  CHARLES. 

"  Mentone,  9  Jan.,  1867. — It  is  like  a  dream  that  we  are 
so  far  on  our  way  to  you  !  We  rested  a  day  at  Ouchy  on 
the  Lake  of  Geneva,  enjoying  the  first  glimpse  and  sensa- 
tion of  the  south,  the  garden  there  being  full  of  cedar  and 
laurel  and  other  of  the  evergreens  to  which  English 
eyes  are  accustomed  even  in  winter,  unharmed  by  frost. 
Madame  de  Schulnepnikow  (a  charming  Russian)  was 
there,  and  the  Countess  Gortz  came  over  from  Yevay  with 
her  fine  son,  to  see  Emilia.  At  Geneva  we  rested  on 
Sunday,  visited  the  church  of  la  rive  droite,  and  shared  a 
very  interesting  service,  in  which  the  preacher  was  M. 
Cramer,  who  married  Elizabeth  Sieveking  :  the  rest  of  the 
day  we  spent  with  Madlle.  Anna  Vernet  and  her  nieces, 
always  the  same  kind  old  friends.  We  enjoyed  the  splen- 
did defiles  by  which  we  entered  France,  and  had  glorious 
weather  for  the  spectacle  of  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  so  far 
finer,  to  my  feelings,  than  the  much-praised  ditch  of  rock, 
which  the  Rhine  has  cut  for  itself.  Again  we  had  an 
unclouded  sky  for  the  wonderf ully  fine  coast,  near  which 
the  railway  from  Marseilles  is  constructed :  reached,  before 
three,  the  changed  Cannes,  and  being  tempted  irresistibly 
to  walk  out,  fell  into  the  very  teeth  of  the  mistral,  and 
have  had  to  accept  the  consequences." 

V 

To  her  DAUGHTER  FRANCES. 

"  At  Cannes  we  breakfasted  with  the  Simpkinson's  at  their 


368        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

charming  little  villa,*  and  then  drove  a  lit  tie  way,  Augustus 
Hare  with  us,  to  look  at  the  Mole  and  Maison  Pinchenat, 
then  to  the  station  and  off  to  Nice.  I  have  now  looked 
again  at  the  Esterel — saw  the  sun  set  and  again  rise,  in 
that  unequalled  splendour — at  daybreak  the  waning  moon 
and  Venus  hung  like  jewels  in  the  blue  sky.  So  I  have 
seen  what  I  loved  in  the  place,  and  wish  not  to  see  it 
again. 

"  Remember  that  our  journey  has  been  a  beautiful  one, 
easy  and  prosperous :  the  only  mischief  is  that  your 
Mother  is  grown  much  older  and  weaker.  Lady  Ash- 
burton  is  most  unspeakably  kind  and  charming.  I  have 
had  a  most  agreeable  visit  from  Lady  Marion  Alford,  who 
has  done  my  heart  good  with  her  longing  after  objects  of 
art  and  recollections  of  Italy." 

"  Florence,  30  Jan.,  1867. — In  our  two  last  days  at  Men- 
tone,  much  was  seen  and  enjoyed — the  way  to  Monaco  one 
day,  and  that  to  Yentimiglia  another.  The  latter  expedi- 
tion was  full  indeed  of  matter  for  delightful  recollection, — 
we  went  further  than  Ventimiglia,  and  up  the  valley  of  the 
Nervia,  as  far  as  a  place  called  Campo-Bosso,  from  the 
abundance  of  oleanders.  "We  set  out  with  our  vetturino 
carriage  on  the  24th,  Lady  Ashburton  going  with  us  as  far 
as  Bordighera,  where  we  finally  parted  most  affectionately 
— having  received  for  three  weeks  kindness  and  attentions 

not  to  be  enumerated At  Savona  we  had  time  to 

walk  to  the  ancient  but  well-preserved  cathedral,  and  to 
take  in  a  store  of  grand  images  for  memory  in  the  works  of 

*  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simpkinson  de  Wesselow,  whose  beautiful  landscape 
paintings  and  constant  hospitality  at  the  Villa  La  Cava  are  well 
known. 


IN   THE    PEACE   OF    OLD    AGE.  369 

Ludovico  Brea,  the  gift  of  Julius  the  Second,  consisting  in  a 
succession  of  pictures  along  the  top  of  the  stalls,  or  Chor- 
Stiihle,  all  executed  in  inlaid  wood — the  first  instance  I 
ever  saw  of  the  application  of  that  beautiful  handicraft 
to  the  representation  of  designs  of  the  highest  art,  remind- 
ing me  of  Luca  Signorelli  in  grandeur  and  correctness 
combined  with  beauty.  You  must  fancy  compositions  of 
human  forms  down  to  the  waist,  as  large  as  life,  Christ 
being  the  central  figure,  and  apostles  and  saints  extending 
on  either  side,  all  original  and  varied. 

"  To  give  you  an  idea  of  the  way  from  Savona  hither 
would  be  in  vain — the  valleys  breaking  through  the  mighty 
sea-barrier  of  rock,  extending  up  to  rocky  mountains,  each 
side  softly  though  grandly  modelled,  covered  with  villages 
and  single  dwellings  gleaming  white  among  olives  and 
pine-woods,  each  valley  bringing  down  its  torrent,  which 
the  road  crosses  by  five  bridges  in  succession — then  on  the 
coast  the  towns  without  end,  to  which  we  drove  down 
successively  by  a  road  traced  with  vast  amount  of  labour 
and  skill — -ceaselessly  zig-zagging  with  the  track  of  the 
railroad.  Then,  from  Voltri,  all  the  way  to  Genoa  is 
marked  as  an  approach  to  a  great  capital  by  a  succession 
of  immense  villas,  with  well-kept  appurtenances  of  terraces, 
orange-gardens,  olive  grounds,  and  avenues,  all  looking  as 
if  they  were  enjoyed,  and  as  if  the  inhabitants  lived  up  to 
their  privileges.  All  the  way,  there  is  no  sign  of  poverty, 
the  population  is  evidently  industrious,  with  plenty  of 
Italian  slovenliness  to  make  it  picturesque,  but  no  wretched- 
ness ;  the  very  cripples  that  sometimes  begged,  seemed 
not  ill  off.  As  to  Genoa,  I  was  even  more  struck  than  I 
expected  by  its  grandeur  of  all  kinds." 

VOL.  II.  B  IJ 


370        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF     BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  Florence,  4  Feb.,  1867. — Of  our  three  weeks  at  Mentone 
you  will  have  some  idea ;  but  I  have  never  said  enough  of 
dear  Lady  Ashburton's  kindness  to  us  all,  or  of  the  interest 
of  Carlyle's  most  original  discourse.  We  had  perfect  days 
in  which  to  travel  from  Savona  to  Genoa,  to  stay  at  Genoa 
and  to  reach  Bologna. 

"  My  dear  Elizabeth !  I  little  thought  when  I  began  to 
write  how  my  letter  was  to  be  closed.  My  beloved  Matilda, 
my  youngest  born,  expired  on  the  3rd  of  February.  I 
know  no  more  than  a  telegram  conveyed.  Frances  and 
George  were  summoned,  but  arrived  not  in  time  to  see  her 
alive.  Whenever  I  have  prayed  for  her,  it  has  been  that 
the  love  of  God,  much  better  and  tenderer  than  mine, 
would  give  her  what  He  knew  to  be  best,  and  He  has 

taken  her  to  Himself I  trust  she  knew  and  felt 

how  I  loved  her." 

To  tier  SON  GEORGE. 

"Florence,  5  Feb.,  1867. — My  beloved  George!  I  have 
received  the  blow !  I  know  that  my  beloved  youngest- 
born  has  been  taken  away With  the  telegram 

arrived  a  letter  from  my  blessed  child,  a  legacy  of  un- 
speakable consolation — expressing  her  thankfulness  for 
being  admitted  to  share  in  a  work  so  entirely  satisfactory 
to  her,  and  for  the  kindness  with  which  she  was  treated  by 
all  around  her :  and  hoping  that  I  should  not  object  to  her 
devoting  her  life  to  the  calling  upon  which  she  had 

entered She  was  allowed  to  have  entire  satisfaction 

in  her  prospect  of  life,  to  find  her  desire  of  active  useful- 
ness fulfilled — and  then  she  was  summoned  to  a  higher 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF   OLD    AGE.  371 

sphere!  For  a  long  time,  I  have  not  known  what  to  ask 
for  her  in  prayer,  but  on  the  last  New  Year's  Eve,  and  on 
her  birthday,  more  strongly  than  ever  did  I  feel  that  the 
love  of  God  was  greater  and  better  to  her  than  my  love, 
and  that  He  alone  could  know,  and  was  sure  to  grant, 
what  for  her  was  best ! — and  so  this  was  the  best ! — to  end 
the  trial  of  life,  to  close  the  scene,  to  accept  the  sincere 
and  ardent  longings  after  the  good,  the  right,  the  best,  the 
most  holy  and  spiritual,  which  filled  her  mind;  and  through 
all  human  weakness  directed  her  actions." 

GEORGE  DE  BUNSEN  to  his  MOTHER. 

"  Nurnberg,  7  Feb.,  1867. — I  am  thus  far  back  again 
from  that  place  of  sorrow,  where  I  assisted  yesterday  in 
consigning  to  earth  the  body  of  our  beloved  Matilda  :  and 
hasten  to  tell  you  a  portion  at  least  of  all  that  has 
happened.  A  poor  comfort  indeed,  yet  it  will  be  a  comfort 
for  your  hard-stricken  mother's  heart,  to  know  that  all 
attendant  circumstances,  all  without  exception,  appear  such 
as  we  should  be  truly  thankful  for. 

"The  position  of  Neudettelsau  is,  '  on  an  elevated  and 
healthy  plateau,'  if  you  wish  to  praise  it  up :  or  '  on  the 
bleakest  of  high  plains,  with  ugly  pine  forests  around,'  if 
you  would  cry  it  down.  Roads  and  villages  alike  are 
neglected  to  an  incredible  degree,  yet  there  are  no  signs  of 
poverty.  Pfarrer  Lohe  has  lived  there  as  Pfarrer  these 
thirty  years  and  more  :  it  is  twenty-four  years  since  he 
began  to  add  its  establishments  to  his  pastoral  work. 

"  Matilda  arrived  at  Neudettelsau  sorely  chilled  on  the 
12th  of  January  :  never,  was  her  expression  to  the  house- 
keeping- sister  Margarethe,  had  she  been  more  tired  by  a 


372         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

journey.  She  was  received  first  of  all  in  the  Diaconissen 
Hans,  and  divided  her  time  most  sensibly  between  the 
hours  of  instruction  given  to  teachers  and  deaconesses,  and 
inspecting  all  that  is  going  on  in  that  extraordinary  bee- 
hive, which  besides  ajMUMtowtf,  contains  two  girls'  reforma- 
tories, a  Magdalen  institution,  a  Siechenhaus  (for  incura- 
bles, &c.),  the  largest  idiot  asylum  of  Bavaria,  and  (in  the 
village)  a  district  hospital  and  mission-house.  You  will 
remember  Matilda's  so  touching  account  of  her  first  visit 
to  the  idiot-house  (inscribed  '  den  Bloden  ist  Gott 
zugethan ') : — a  few  days  afterwards  she  declared  her 
resolution  to  enter  upon  that  very  work  of  love,  from 
which  evidently  her  flesh  and  blood  recoiled.  All  advice 
to  the  contrary  proved  unavailing,  in  which  no  one  was 
more  assiduous  than  Sister  Doris,  who  is  at  the  head  of 
the  idiot  establishment.  The  surprise  among  all  became 
greater  when  they  saw  that  she  insisted  upon  having  the 
*  Asylisten '  under  her  care,  a  set  of  women  and  girls  to 
whom  no  instruction  can  be  given — totally  helpless  crea- 
tures, that  she  fed  them  at  their  meals  and  slept  with  five 
of  them  (children),  that  she  was  cheerful  as  the  day,  that 
she  invited  those  who  doubted  to  come  and  see  how  happy 
she  was,  that  she  declared  herself  after  a  few  days  to  have 
found  the  amount  of  bodily  work  combined  with  work  of 
the  heart  which  she  required. 

"A  miserably  deformed  child  (I  have  seen  her!)  whose 
only  sign  of  life  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  grunting,  which 
denotes  neither  pain  nor  desire  nor  pleasure,  was  found  to 
be  still  and  resting  when  Matilda  took  her  into  her 
arms.  '  Every  day  (was  the  assurance  of  the  librarian  of 
Neudettelsau)  she  became  more  and  more  an  object  of 


IX    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  373 

interest  to  us  all :  we  knew  that  we  had  to  do  with  an 
uncommon  creature  :  her  originality  and  simplicity  attracted 
us  :  and  we  shall  for  a  long  time  not  cease  to  speak  of  her 
and  think  of  her.' 

"  Wednesday,  23rd  January,  was  the  day  of  Matilda's 
transferring  herself  wholly  to  the  large  and  stately  idiot 
establishment.  She  was  already  suffering  from  cold,  but 
assured  those  who  spoke  of  it,  that  she  was  well  wrapped- 
up  and  took  all  precautions.  The  work  she  did  was  not 
by  any  means  hard,  yet  such  as  '  many  maids  could  have 
done  as  well,  and  some  could  do  better,'  as  Pfarrer  Lohe 
assured  her :  yet  she  continued  in  it,  accepting  help  from 
no  one.  Thus  one  night,  when  a  fearful  storm  beat  against 
her  side  of  the  house,  and  tore  open  one  of  her  windows, 
she  called  not  to  the  Deaconess  in  the  next  room,  but 
worked  a  long  time — from  ignorance  of  the  peculiar  con- 
struction of  these  double  windows,  before  she  succeeded  in 
closing  them.  Pfarrer  Lohe  believes  that  it  was  on  this 
occasion  that  she  must  have  received  her  second  and 
deadly  chill.  A  few  days  already  before  the  1st  February 
Sister  Doris  had  entreated  her  to  nurse  her  cold  by  staying 
in  bed  :  but  not  till  that  Friday  afternoon  did  she  obey, — 
('she  was  afraid  Pfarrer  Lohe  would  give  over  her  chil- 
dren into  other  hands') — then  she  accepted  Sister  Doris's 
offer  to  have  a  spare  room  warmed  for  her  reception. 
Whilst  waiting  to  be  called  into  that  room  she  wrote  the 
deeply  touching  lines  to  the  Pfarrer,  which  I  enclose.* 

*  "  Vcrehrter,  lieber  Herr  Pfarrer, — 

"  Es  hat  dem  Herrn  gefallen  mir  ein  Halsleidcn  zu 
schicken,  das  mich  auf  einige  Tage  von  meinem  geliebten  Berufe 
trennt,  aber  ehe  ich  mich  lage,  mochte  ich  Ihnen  ausprechen  wie  von 
Herzen  ich  meincn  erwahlten  Beruf  Hebe,  und  \vie  er  mir  ganz 


374        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

She  had  scarcely  finished  them  when  a  fearful  trembling 
came  over  her,  so  that  she  sent  to  hasten  the  preparations, 
saying  that  she  was  afraid  she  would  not  be  able  to  get  to 
bed.  When  the  doctor  came,  she  made  light  of  her  ill- 
ness, and  declined  his  medicines.  Breathing  was  trouble- 
some, but  not  painful:  her  voice  was  scarcely  audible. 
Sister  Doris  and  another  deaconess  attended  her  con- 
tinually, and  others  visited  her.  No  alarm,  however, 
spread  among  them,  though  a  second  doctor  had  been 
called  on  Saturday.  But  on  Sunday  afternoon,  when 
Pf arrer  Lohe  was  near  the  end  of  his  church  service,  a 
note  was  brought  to  him  from  Sister  Doris,  saying  the 
doctors  were  in  consultation,  that  they  considered  the 
Lungen  Entziindung  not  only  pronounced,  but  a  partial 
GeUrnschlag  already  at  .work,  and  that  she  could  not  be 
left  alone  with  such  a  case,  considering  how  near  the  end 
might  be.  The  Pfarrer  then,  after  including  her  specially 
in  the  closing  prayer  and  benediction,  hastened  across, 
heard  all  the  doctors  had  to  say,  gave  the  telegram,* 
and  then  addressed  himself  to  the  patient.  The  impression 
she  produced  was  exactly  that  for  which  the  physicians 
had  prepared  him, — that  death  was  approaching.  He  read 
to  her  an  appointed  form  of  prayers  and  questions :  she 
followed  the  former,  and  answered  the  latter,  showing 
clearly  both  that  her  heart  was  at  peace,  and  that  she 

zusagt,  und  vie,  wenn  Sie  es  mir  gestatten,  ich  ihm  langer  als  ich 
zuerst  mcinte,  obliegen  mochte.  Bitte  sagen  Sie  dies  Allen,  und 
dass  ich  mir  auf  einige  Tage — weil  Gott  der  Herr  mir  nun  einnial  dieso 
Krankheit  zuschickt,  eine  Stell-vertretung  annehnie. 

"  Es  griisst  Sie  ehrerbictigst  Ihre  gliickliche  Frciwillige, 

"MATHILDE  BrxsEx." 

*  Addressed  to  Frances  de  Bunsen  at  Carlsruhc, 


IN    THE    TEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  375 

understood  what  the  Pfarrer  said,  by  implication  rather 
than  directly,  of  her  coming  dissolution. 

"  This  was  about  half -past  five  o'clock.  Two  hours 
later,  Sister  Margarethe  having  no  peace  over  their  frugal 
supper,  ran  across  to  see  the  patient.  Her  hands  were 
cold  and  she  was  apparently  unconscious — '  sleeping ' — as 
Sister  Doris  thought.  They  sent  for  the  Pfarrer.  He 
believes  Matilda  to  have  been  unconscious.  Yet  he  (most 
wisely,  I  believe)  pronounced  close  in  her  ear  words  of 
prayer  and  benediction.  Suddenly  there  was  a  lull  in 
those  heavy  breathings :  all  present  saw  what  was  coming. 
The  Pfarrer  continued  gently  pronouncing  the  words  of 
benediction, — and  just  as  the  last  was  being  said,  there 
was  a  gentle  shudder,  and  another — and  she  had  slumbered 
away. 

"There  had  been  a  strong  appearance  of  death  on  her 
countenance  before  the  end.  It  soon  vanished,  and  all  the 
deaconesses  and  others  rejoiced  to  see  the  most  perfect 
happiness  spread  over  her  features, — as  did  her  brother 
when  he  stood  by  her  coffin. 

"I  reached  Neudettelsau  between  9  and  10  yesterday 
morning.  Those  good  deaconesses  were  heartily  glad  to 
see  a  brother  coming  to  be  present. 

"  Most  wonderful  did  the  whole  appear  as  I  heard  each 
person's  tale.  No  sting,  nothing  that  could  tempt  one  to 
repine.  All  seemed  ordained  by  a  loving  Father  like  the 
most  beautiful  of  poems.  His  child's  yearnings  had  been 
fulfilled.  She  was  in  an  occupation  that  seemed  entirely 
to  compass  all  her  wishes.  She  had  been  in  it  long  enough 
to  impress  all  her  new  friends  with  deep  and  ever-growing 
affection,  indeed  with  admiration, — even  in  a  place  where 


376        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

abnegation  of  self  is  habitual,  and  a  rule  of  life.  She  had 
been  in  it  long  enough,  but  not  too  long,  not  beyond  the 
moment  which  might  have  come  (must,  perhaps,  have  come) 
when  the  terrible  desolation  of  her  work  among  creatures 
on  the  very  confines  of  human  or  even  animal  existence, 
would  become  clear  to  her.  In  her  life,  the  sudden  element 
has  been  ordained  to  become  a  decisive  one :  first  in  the 
case  of  that  terrible  accident  at  Cannes,  the  effect  of  which, 
not  the  first  only,  but  the  lasting  one  throughout,  she 
bore  (let  this  testimony  be  repeated  over  and  over  again) 
with  unequalled  submission,  fortitude,  and  cheerfulness : 
and  now  the  sudden  closing  of  her  life  !  You  and  all  of 
us,  dearest  Mother,  are  bowed  to  the  earth — but  we  are 
bowed  down  on  our  knees  to  perceive  the  Lord,  whose  every 
deed  is  not  only  love,  but  beauteous  order. 

"  A  special  house  is  built  in  the  garden  to  receive  the 
bodies  of  the  dead.  There  I  found  Matilda,  clothed  in  whitest 
linen,  a  wreath  on  her  head,  flowers  on  both  sides  of  the 
coffin.  A  small  crucifix  was  touchingly  placed  in  those 
snow-white  hands.  Nothing  could  be  done  more  appro- 
priately:—  Oh!  but  indeed  the  first  moment  was  a  great 
shock,  before  one  could  take  in  the  expression  of  happiness 
on  the  calm,  cheerful,  blessed  countenance.  I  stood  there 
a  long  time,  gradually  the  whole  House  (or  a  very  large 
proportion  of  its  inmates)  assembled  inside  and  outside, 
those  outside  being  visited  now  and  then  with  gusts  of 
wind  and  spattering  of  rain,  so  violent,  so  distressingly 
cold,  that  I  entreated  Pfarrer  Lohe  to  abstain  from,  or  to 
shorten,  his  intended  service.  He  scarcely  gave  a  smile, 
but  merely  answered  '  wir  sind  gewohnt  in  Wetter  zu 
stehen.'  And  indeed  no  soldiers  could  stand  fire  better 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  377 

than  these  good  women  and  young-  girls,  not  to  forget  the 
young  people  of  the  Mission  House,  who  carried  the  coffin, 
stood,  and  sang,  and  spoke  responses  through  a  terrific, 
bleak  February  storm.  After  the  service,  which  was 
performed  before  the  open  coffin,  we  proceeded  to  the 
cemetery,  where  a  good  place  had  been  chosen  by  the 
Pfarrer  himself,  and  a  second  long  and  impressive  service 
(the  chief  prayer  of  which  is  identical  with  the  beautiful 
one  at  the  end  of  the  English  ritual)  was  most  solemnly 
performed.  Occasional  gleams  of  sunshine  only  rendered 
the  pelting  rain,  which  instantly  took  their  place,  more 
perceptible.  Yet  all  around  seemed  cheerful  and  intent 
on  their  work  of  love. 

"I  should  have  wished  to  be  present  at  the  '  Parenta- 
tion,'  by  which  strange  term  they  designate  a  six  o'clock 
service,  in  honour  and  in  commemoration  of  the  deceased 
person  who  has  been  buried  at  noontide.  But  it  seemed 
better,  after  I  had  heard  and  seen  and  done  what  could  be 
accomplished,  to  turn  my  steps  towards  home  with  its 
numerous  convalescents  :*  so  I  came  away — after  visiting 
the  place  at  the  Betsaal  which  Matilda  had  occupied,  the 
idiots  (almost  all  very  cheerful  creatures,  though  of  appall- 
ing insensibility),  the  room  where  she  sat,  with  many  in 
the  day-time,  and  lay  with  a  few  at  night,  the  room  in 
which  she  died, — and  after  some  conversation  with  Sister 
Doris,  to  whom  she  seems  to  have  been  especially  attracted. 
Another  young  woman  also  was  shown  me,  Sister  Therese, 
whose  power  of  teaching  Matilda  much  admired  whilst  she 
lived  in  the  Deaconess-house  itself.  The  Frau  Oberin  was 

*  Mrs.  George  de  Bunsen  and  five  of  her  children  were  then  at 
JJerlin,  recovering  from  scarlet  fever. 


378        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

warm  in  Matilda's  praises,  and  so  was  many  another,  all 
their  homely  faces  beaming  with  appreciating  sympathy 
towards  her,  who  had  come  and  gone,  after  expressing  her 
desire  to  remain  among  them  for  life. 

11  Sister  Margarethe  told  me  of  the  endearing  manner  in 
which  Matilda  had  spoken  of  her  Mother  and  Frances  and 
all  her  own,  on  many  occasions  from  the  day  of  her  arrival. 
After  she  had  been  laid  in  her  coffin,  Sister  Doris  took  off 
her  finger  the  ring  that  Frau  von  fiesenhausen  had  given 
her  at  parting.  I  have  it  now  and  will  restore  it  to  the 
giver. 

"May  Almighty  God  be  your  comforter  and  your 
strength ! " 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  ABEKEN. 

"  Florence,  13  March,  1867. — How  soothing  is  your  entire 
consciousness  of  what  my  precious  Matilda  was !  you  have 
taken  in  both  her  grand  character,  and  the  roughness  and 
seeming  harshness  of  the  providential  guidance  which 
moulded  and  perfected  her  moral  nature,  and  finally  has 
led  her,  early  in  life,  to  the  fulfilment  of  her  probation,  to 
the  moment  when  '  It  is  finished ! '  could  be  uttered  over 
her.  0  !  it  is  well !  all  is  well !  and  yet  the  pain  of  this 
privation  will  last  while  I  live  :  it  is  not  a  mourning  that 
will  pass  away.  Those  last  six  months  of  her  life  which 
were  granted  to  me  after  her  return  from  Esthland  had 
brought  her  closer  than  ever  to  me  :  and  her  residence  for 
twelve  months  so  far  away  had  operated  as  I  anticipated 
to  make  her  feel  more  thoroughly  what  her  home  was  to 
her,  even  though  she  remained  attached  to  the  house  and 
family  of  the  Tiesenhausens  as  a  second  home.  When  I 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  379 

think  of  every  part  of  my  home-scene  and  home-existence, 
I  am  well  aware  that  everywhere  and  in  everything,  fresh 
pangs  will  remind  me  of  her  touching  attentions  at  every 
turn,  telling  of  that  which  I  am  not  to  enjoy  again.  But 
you  will  judge  that  such  selfish  regrets  make  not  the  habi- 
tual tenor  of  my  feelings,  and  though  I  bend  in  life-long 
mourning,  it  is  also  in  adoration  of  the  ways  of  God,  who 
has  led  my  blessed  child  by  the  paths  which  He  knew  to 
be  best  for  her,  and  when  her  task  of  submission  was  ful- 
filled, received  her  to  His  own  blessedness.  It  is  soothing 
to  me  to  know  that  she  was  admiringly  appreciated  and 
beloved  by  those  so  recently  acquainted  with  her,  and 
whose  appointed  place  was  by  her  bed  of  death  ;  it  seems 
that  she  left  all  minds  around  '  warm  with  the  sunshine  of 
her  rest ! '  and  the  image  which  my  dearest  George  was 
enabled  to  behold,  and  which  he  has  so  faithfully  trans- 
mitted, of  '  the  first,  last  look,  by  Death  reveal'd,' — 
remains  before  my  mind's  eye  as  a  never-ceasing  consola- 
tion." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  ISABEL. 

"  On  the  Journey  to  Germany,  3  April,  1867. — I  wish  I 
could  transmit  all  the  affectionate  thoughts,  and  earnest 
prayers,  which  have  ever  and  again  filled  my  mind,  and 
called  before  it  not  only  the  image  of  the  group  which 
vanished  from  my  sight — of  Beatrice  and  her  Papa  and 
Mama,  at  the  Florence  station,  but  the  countless  instances 
of  affection,  the  unceasing  care  and  attention,  of  which  I 
have  been  the  object  during  the  two  months  so  unspeak- 
ably precious  as  well  as  important  to  me!  I  can  but 
repeat,  and  entreat  you  and  my  beloved  Charles  to  believe, 


380         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

that  no  part  or  particle  of  your  kindness  was  thrown  away, 
but  all  treasured  up  in  grateful  memory  :  and  that  I  have 
intensely  prized  the  opportunity  thus  providentially  granted 
to  me  of  really  living  with  you,  of  really  knowing  your  life, 
and  of  becoming  known — such  as  I  am — to  both  of  you. 
When  one  is  deeply  conscious  of  benefits  received,  one 
longs  to  make  every  sort  of  return,  and  for  love  received,  I 
can,  indeed,  faithfully  make  return  in  kind ! — but  for  all 
the  rest,  I  comfort  myself,  as  I  have  so  often  occasion  to 
do,  that  God,  whose  love  for  you,  one  and  all,  is  far  more 
and  greater  than  my  love,  will  make  good  in  His  own  way, 
all  my  shortcomings." 

' '  CarlsruJie,  2  April. — I  delight  to  be  able  to  tell  you  of 
my  prosperous  return.  In  meeting  the  happy  group  here, 
you  will  suppose  that  the  feeling — '  I  turned  from  all  they 
brought,  to  her  they  could  not  bring,'  will  be  for  ever 
recurring;  but  as  often  as  the  beloved  image  recurs,  it 
revives  the  consciousness  that  l  what  God  does,  that  is  well 
done  ! '  It  is  most  affecting  to  find  such  a  deep  feeling  of 
what  she  was  among  the  poor  and  the  suffering  of  her 
fellow-creatures,  wherever  she  was  known." 

In  the  spring  of  1867  the  whole  heart- sympathy  of 
the  Baroness  Bunsen  was  called  forth  by  the  anxiety 
and  sorrow  of  her  sister,  while  watching  by  the  sick 
bed  of  Lord  Llano ver.  He  had  received  a  blow  from 
the  recoil  of  a  gun,  on  account  of  which  he  underwent 
severe  treatment  for  several  months,  in  London,  where 
he  expired,  after  sufferings  as  intense  as  they  were 
nobly  borne,  on  the  27th  of  April,  1868. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  381 

BAROXESS  BUNSEN  to  her  SISTER,  LADY  LLAXOVEE. 

"Florence,  15  March,  1867. — Why  do  I  not  send  you  a 
letter  every  day  ?  it  would  be  easier  than  to  refrain,  for  my 
thoughts  are  with  you  again  and  again,  and  they  can  never 
rest  in  any  way,  but  that  of  shaping  themselves  into 
prayer.  So  will  it  be  with  you,  most  afflicted  one  !  What 
can  I  say,  that  you,  and  the*  object  of  'your  intensest  feel- 
ings, do  not  know  as  well,  or  better  ?  The  ways  of  God 
are  not  as  our  ways — and  to  strong  and  powerful  natures 
He  appoints  the  stronger  discipline,  such  as  would  crush 
the  weaker  subject,  but  calls  forth  more  completely  the 
strength  which  will  find  its  perfect  work  in  entireness  of 
self-sacrifice,  before  the  Cross  of  Him,  with  whose  agony,  if 
that  of  man  is  in  simple,  unquestioning  faith  united,  it  is 
accepted  as  martyrdom  : — as  an  offering  well-pleasing,  not 
as  self-sought  infliction,  but  as  unresistingly  received. 

"  Alas  !  the  spirit  of  man  will  ever  be  asking,  f  Whv  is 
this  ? — W^hy  must  there  be  pain  and  anguish  and  misery  ? ' 
— I  find  in  everything  the  seemingly  easy  and  the  most 
complicated  question,  there  is  no  peace  but  in  saying, 
'Lord,  thou  knowest,'  aud  I  know  not  and  cannot  compre- 
hend :  but  I  have  held  fast,  and  will  hold  fast,  by  the  moral 
qualities  of  God,  by  the  immensity  of  all  His  attributes,  by 
His  absolute  and  all-pervading  mercy,  as  by  His  boundless 
power  and  wisdom  :  '  I  will  say,  it  is  mine  own  infirmity  : 
but  I  will  remember  the  years  of  the  right  hand  of  the 
most  High.' 

"  My  dear  Augusta,  forgive  my  thus  running  on — sup- 
posing that  the  minds  of  others  may  have  gone  in  the  way 
my  thoughts  have  taken,  many  and  many  a  time. 

4 '  I  wish  I  could  suppose   that  your  dear  patient  was 


382         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

sometimes  in  such  comparative  ease,  as  to  bear  any  reading 
aloud.  Were  that  to  be  supposed,  I  should  name  the  Life 
and  Letters  of  Frederic  Eobertson  as  being  to  me  an 
intense  occupation  of  mind.  His  thoughts,  his  troubles, 
his  enquiries  and  struggles  and  victories,  are  for  ever 
leading  me  into  various  meditation.  I  never  saw  the  man, 
who  was  yet  a  close  contemporary,  but  his  published  ser- 
mons, free  and  fearless  as  to  what  any  party  might  think, 
have  been  my  habitual  food  since  I  knew  them.  In 
general,  I  cannot  read  sermons — literally,  my  eye  glides 
down  the  page,  and  it  leaves  no  impression :  but  those  of 
Eobertson  I  begin  over  again,  as  soon  as  I  have  reached 
the  end  of  the  volumes,  and  I  find  them  ever  new.  Not 
that  I  accept  all  that  is  in  them — that  I  do  not,  with  any 
human  -writer." 

"24  March,  1867. — E.'s  deep  impression  of  your  suffer- 
ing, rests  upon  my  mind,  and  has  stimulated  reflection 
(which  in  truth  needed  not  further  stimulus)  on  the 
question,  what  can  I  do  ? — or  can  I  do  anything  ?  towards 
help  and  relief  : — and  after  going  through  the  whole  round 
of  considerations,  I  invariably  end  at  the  same  point,  in  the 
sentiment  expressed  by  Shakspeare* — '  Therein  the  patient 
must  minister  to  himself — or  rather,  with  the  Scripture 
addition,  without  which  the  charge  would  be  empty — '  Not 
I,  but  the  spirit  of  God  which  is  with  (not  me  or  you  alone, 
but)  each  and  every  one  who  earnestly  seeks  after  it.'  That 
Spirit  must  be  at  the  same  time  the  Giver  and  the 
Gift. 

"To  the  consolation  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  I  recommend 
you  ! — Alas  !  you  will  say  with  Job — *  miserable  com- 
*  Macbeth,  Act  v.,  Scene  iii. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  383 

forters  are  ye  all ! ' — and  yet — I  am  your  truly  affectionate 
sister. 

1 '  I  send  you  for  a  folding  screen  a  piece  of  my  work,  in 
embroidery  stitch,  of  flowers  from  nature  drawn  and  painted 
by  myself.  One  person  to  whom  I  showed  it  suggested 
that  it  would  be  just  the  right  thing  to  cover  a  large  chair- 
back,  to  which  I  made  no  reply,  but  here  admit  to  you, 
that  I  should  not  wish  stitches  done  with  application  of 
mind,  to  be  rubbed  by  coat-backs  !  nor  do  I  wish  them  to 
be  hidden  under  chair-covers,  I  had  rather  the  work  hung 
somewhere  to  be  always  seen  by  you,  feeling  myself  that 
things  out  of  sight  are  little  enjoyed.  This  is  a  piece  of 
my  life,  followed  up  through  a  long  course  of  years,  not  as 
a  job  to  sit  and  work  at,  but  getting  on  from  time  to  time, 
during  reading  aloud." 

"  30  April,  1867. — What  poor  things  words  are — and 
how  shall  I  find  any  that  really  reflect  the  image  of  what  I 
feel  about  you  !  Who  is  there  that  can  measure  as  I  can 
what  you  are  suffering  ?  Who  has  trodden  your  path  of 
woe,  step  by  step,  as  I  have  done  ?  How  kindly  and 
deeply  did  you  sympathise  with  me,  in  those  awful  Novem- 
ber days  of  1860!  how  little  could  I  anticipate  that  you 
would  pass  through  scenes  of  anguish  yet  more  severe,  in 
the  way  and  manner  of  death  to  your  Beloved.  Your  case 
reminds  me  of  that  of  the  wife  of  a  martyr,  condemned  to 
endure  a  course  of  torments  as  excessive  as  the  arts  and 
malice  of  man  could  devise,  in  order  to  compel  a  recantation 
of  his  evangelical  faith: — the  wife  left  him  not,  but 
remained  at  her  own  peril  on  the  place  of  execution, 
exhorting  him  to  endure,  reminding  him  of  the  promises, 
anticipating  and  recalling  to  him  the  blessedness  so  near  at 


384        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

hand,  her  voice  not  faltering,  her  fortitude  not  giving  way 
— thus  enabled  to  give  him  the  last  proof  of  love,  to  per- 
form the  last  act  of  ministration,  for  which  his  spirit  Trill 
be  grateful  to  her  as  God's  messenger  in  eternity. 

"  How  grand  and  affecting  is  the  spectacle  of  the  mind 
ever  clear,  undoubting,  humble,  submissive,  resisting  not ! 
how  I  thank  God  for  you  for  endurance  so  satisfying ! 
How  does  one  seek  to  follow  the  course  of  the  released  and 
unburdened  spirit — landed  on  the  shore,  the  storm  and 
struggle  past  for  ever,  the  dawn  of  life  opening  upon  him, 
all  faculties  full  and  expanding  in  consciousness  of  what 
'  eye  hath  not  seen '  of  '  what  God  hath  laid  up  for  them 
that  love  him.' 

"  In  all  that  agony  *  he  sinned  not,  neither  charged  God 
foolishly.'  ....  I  wish  I  knew  what  to  write  that  could 
help  you,  that  could  soothe  the  anguish  of  retrospect.  But 
as  the  hand  of  God  hath  touched  you,  so  will  that  hand, 
that  touch,  communicate  the  only  healing  balm.  That  is 
my  prayer !  and  that  prayer  carries  with  it  its  own  con- 
viction of  acceptance. 

' '  I  long  to  learn  that  you  have  returned  to  your  desolate 
home,  which,  however  desolate,  will  afford  you  the  only  pos- 
sible solace,  in  the  country  air  and  objects  of  God's  creation 
and  your  own  habitual  care  and  interest.  My  thoughts  are 
ever  with  you,  and  expatiate  far  and  wide  around,  but 
always  come  back  to  entreat  for  you  that  blessing  and 
peace  which  God  alone  can  give." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IX-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  12  May,  1867. — George  writes  that  our  long  valued  friend 
Gerhard  lies  at  the  point  of  expiring,  in  that  same  fine 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  385 

temper  of  mind  which  I  have  known  and  admired  for  about 
fifty  years.  Have  you  ever  reckoned  that  if  I  live  to  the 
1st  July,  I  shall  have  reached  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
my  marriage ! — and  I  am  alive  and  well,  and  my  dear  hus- 
band almost  seven  years  amongst  the  departed.  It  would 
have  been  the  '  goldene  Hochzeit '  had  he  lived." 

To  l\er  SON  THEODORE. 

"  Muri,  3  August,  1867. — I  have  heard  of  the  gradual 
and  painless  extinction  of  dear  old  Brandis — the  last  of 
my  old  friends,  the  last  who  could  remember  me  in  youth- 
ful days  and  the  happiest  period  of  my  life  :  and  who  con- 
tinued ever  the  faithful  friend  of  all  that  belong  to  me. 
It  is  a  sad  and  solemn  feeling  that  attends  the  looking 
back  upon  a  life  which  gleams  with  such  a  placid  light  of 
love  and  goodness  throughout  its  course,  and  truly  do  I 
share  and  sympathise  in  the  sorrow  of  Johannes  Brandis, 
who  loses  more  than  anyone  else  in  the  death  of  his  father ; 
but  it  is  a  relief  to  know  that  the  dear  old  friend  passed 
away  without  pain.'7 

To  her  SON  CHARLES. 

"Muri,  Berne,  27  August,  1867. — I  have  the  constant 
impression  that  I  have  nothing  to  tell  anybody,  whereas  I 
want  to  know  things  without  end  from  everybody.  Our 
summer-life  has  glided  on  in  one  uniform  tenour,  very  en- 
joyably,  in  the  consciousness  of  perfect  country-quiet, 
breathing  the  air  of  open  fields  and  luxuriant  vegetation, 
surrounded  by  active  rustic  life,  an4  unjncqnYeniencexl  ])% 
any  social  trammels,  as  the  few  pj  o,ur,  neighbours  of  whom 
we  have  any  cqp-njzai^ce,  se,eim  ^8  muqh  as  ourselves  sunk 
in  6ummer-stjlln_es$  $f  enjoyment. 
i,  p  c 


386         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"  You  will  have  learnt  the  peaceful  and  blessed  end  of 
Rothe.  It  is  a  comfort  that  the  solitary  man  had  his  affec- 
tionate disciple,  Nippold,  near  him  throughout  his  painful 
illness :  and  the  universal  impression  of  respect  and  regret 
that  has  attended  his  departure  is  gratifying  to  all  that 
care  for  the  estimation  of  moral  worth  and  Christian  con- 
viction. I  fear  his  place,  as  a  supporter  of  the  good  and 
great  cause — the  cause  of  vital  Christianity  with  liberality 
in  historical  criticism — remains  void  and  vacant :  but  one 
must  not  lose  faith  in  the  succession  of  the  prophets — if  I 
may  be  forgiven  for  using  what  may  seem  such  a  cant 
expression,  but  which  to  me  is  fraught  with  the  high 
meaning  of  the  enlightened  and  inspired  proclaiming  of 
religious  truth.  Never  was  such  pouring-forth  of  heart- 
conviction  more  needed!  Everywhere  and  in  whatever 
denomination  of  Christians,  I  can  see  nothing  but  oppress- 
ing and  stupefying  form,  and  well  if  it  be  no  worse — for 
the  mind  may  struggle  by  inborn  elasticity  out  of  stupefac- 
tion :— but — '  My  people  love  to  have  it  so  ' — is  too  much 
the  description  of  things  as  they  are  now,  as  well  as  when 
the  Prophet  used  the  expression. 

"  August  has  found  employment  for  his  summer-residence 
in  examining  the  schools  and  seminaries  of  the  Canton 
Berne,  and  has  altogether  been  much  pleased  both  with 
the  method  of  instruction  and  the  spirit  and  energy  with 
which  it  is  carried  out.  The  principle  of  government  here 
being,  as  is  well  known,  decidedly  averse  to  too  much  Chris- 
tianity, an  aristocratic  party  has  established  a  school  with- 
out any  government  support,  and  I  have  been  startled  by 
the  book  stating  the  principles  of  their  system  (what  we 
call  in  England  lowest- evangelical)  even  though  I  know 


IN    THE    PEACE   OF    OLD    AOE.  387 

well  the  style  of  thing  as  prevailing  in  the  party.  Profes- 
sion is  made  of  inculcating  a  good  fear  of  the  devil  and  hell 
into  the  child's  mind — discouraging  him  from  curiosity  and 
inquisitiveness  (that  is,  a  desire  of  explanation  of  what  he 
is  taught)  and  calling  upon  him  to  consider  himself  a  sinner. 
Now  if  that  is  demanded  of  a  child,  he  is  made  a  hypocrite, 
repeating  a  form ! — It  is  only  possible  to  convince  him  of 
sin,  by  getting  him  gradually  to  perceive  his  own  tenden- 
cies, to  deceit,  to  fraud,  to  unjust  appropriation  of  the 
goods  of  others,  &c.,  and  to  all,  in  short,  of  the  innumer- 
able instances  in  which  he  may  detect  himself  in  sharing  in 
sin,  as  a  whole,  even  though  he  may  have  been  restrained 
from  any  direct  transgression  according  to  the  decalogue. 
I  was  once  struck  with  the  observation  of  Coleridge,  that, 
confounding  the  commission  of  sins,  plural,  with  a  share  in 
the  body  of  sin,  singular,  was  one  of  the  grievous  inaccura- 
cies in  expression,  which  might  lead,  and  has  led,  to  the 
renunciation  of  a  religion  seemingly  demanding  as  the  price 
of  salvation  a  hollow  profession  of  what  the  conscience 
could  not  admit  as  true. 

"  Convinced  of  the  evil  of  teachers  inserting  their  own 
spirit  into  their  explanations,  instead  of  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
how  do  I  long,  generally  speaking,  for  the  minds  of  the  yet 
unspoilt  to  be  turned  loose  to  graze  on  the  fresh  pasture  and 
drink  of  the  still  waters  of  actual  Scripture.  Only  by  con- 
templating Christ,  and  forgetting  what  has  been  written 
about  Christ,  can  nations  or  individuals  get  on." 

To  her  SON  CHARLES. 

"  Carlsruhe,  3  Nov.,  1867. — Alas!  poor  dear  Italy!  I 
expect  that  in  France  there  will  bo  a  great  shudder  at  the 


388        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

last  mode  of  employing  a  portion  of  the  gallant  French 
army,  to  crush  with  overwhelming  majority  of  numbers 
and  of  arms,  the  band  which  with  little  besides  valour  has 
been  too  strong  for  the  Papal  troops  ! — in  fulfilment  of  the 
charge  'to  take  the  first  opportunity  of  trying  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  new  mode  of  destruction ! '  *  It  is  like  the 
anecdote  given  by  Speke  the  traveller,  of  the  negro  chief 
who  on  receiving  the  present  of  a  musket,  aimed  at  once  at 
one  of  his  slaves,  standing  at  the  right  distance,  and  shot 
him,  by  way  of  trial  of  the  weapon.  0  !  the  world  is  very 
bad !  may  God  mend  it !  The  terrible  thing  is,  the  world 
has  no  mind  to  mend.  l  They  have  Moses  and  the  Pro- 
phets,' said  the  Divine  wisdom  of  old :  and  now  they  have 
the  divine  Oracles  in  addition  :  but  l  the  heart  has  waxed 
gross,  and  the  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and  their  eyes 
have  they  closed' — lest  they  should  be  converted  and 
healed. 

"When  at  Grindelwald,  we  heard  a  sermon  such  as  I 
reckon  among  events  in  life. — The  text  being  from  Jeremiah 
— '  Land,  land,  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord.'  The  sermon  was 
long,  and  .eloquent  in  simplicity  and  earnestness — closing 
with  a  charge,  that  the  reading  of  the  word  of  God  should 
be  accompanied  with  prayer  of  the  heart,  and  then  it  would 
never  fail  of  its  effect.  The  preacher  said — '  You  will  for- 
get the  sermon,  but  at  least  remember  the  text,  and  act 
according  to  it.'" 

To  her  SON  ERNEST. 

"2  .Dec.,  1867. — I  wish  I  could  believe  in  anything  so 
good  as  the  doing  away  with  the  Pope  and  hierarchical 

*  The  Chasscpot  rifle. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  389 

power.  I  can  only  say  that  in  my  long  life  of  observation 
of  the  course  of  events,  the  Pope  is  the  one  image  of  power 
always  increasing  which  stands  out  clearly  within  the 
horizon  of  fact,  not  of  wish  or  speculation  :  and  never  did 
he  seem  so  dangerous  and  hard  to  deal  with  as  just  now : 
and  I  have  to  struggle  hard  to  hold  fast  by  your  dearest 
Father's  often-reiterated  declaration  of  faith — '  Es  ist  doch 
der  Hebe  Gott,  und  nicht  der  Teufel,  der  die  Welt 
regiert.' " 

To  her  SON  THEODORE. 

"  Carlsruke,  3  Deo.,  1867.— Of  our  life  here  there  is  little 
to  be  told.  The  whole  interior  moves  on  at  its  accustomed 
pace,  the  two  Aunts  steadily  ruling  and  guiding,  in  that 
unexampled  perfection  of  peaceful  and  energetic  duality,  in 
which  nobody  could  believe  without  having  witnessed  its 
course.  The  children  grow  so  tall,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
conceive  my  having  settled  in  Carlsruhe  only  five  years 
ago  to  take  care  of  a  set  of  motherless  babes.  Often  do  I 
think,  how  their  dear  blessed  Mother  would  have  feasted  on 
the  sight  of  them !  and  then  consider  that  I  am  preserved 
BO  long  here  to  contemplate  them  for  her." 

To  her  Sox  GEORGE. 

"  31  Dec.,  1867. — We  have  very  fine  winter  weather, 
which  began  with  frost  and  sunshine  on  Christmas  Eve, 
and  such  a  perfection  of  Giove,  or  hoar-frost  congealing 
the  fog  on  the  trees  and  bushes,  as  I  hardly  ever  saw 
before.  My  favourite  Schlossgarten  was  a  sight — but  the 
sun  with  its  slight  warmth  soon  did  away  with  the  prime 
ornament,  which  vanished  in  a  *  spangled  shower.'  I  am 


390         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTJNSEN. 

thankful  retrospectively,  as  I  was  at  the  time,  for  my 
journey  last  year.  The  27th  was  the  anniversary  of  iny 
last  sight  of  my  Matilda — her  eyes  gazed  after  me  as  I 
glided  off  in  the  train !  and  little  could  I  have  imagined 
that  I  should  behold  them  no  more.  I  had  once  told  her, 
that  in  such  an  earnest  gaze,  her  eyes  brought  to  my  mind 
her  dear  Father's : — I  am  glad  she  knew  that,  for  then  my 
last  look  will  have  been  known  by  her  to  be  fraught  with 
double  love.  But  I  would  not  call  her  back !  much  and 
continually  as  I  miss  her  loving  presence.  I  could  not 
give  her  what  she  wanted  in  life,  the  satisfying  of  her 
craving  for  fulness  of  love  and  activity  :  now,  all  her  long« 
ings  are  soothed. 

'  So  fiihrst  du  doch.  recht  selig,  Herr !  die  Deinen : 
Ja  selig !  und  doch.  meistens  wunderlich ! ' 

Do  you  know  that  hymn — the  favourite  of  Schelling  ?  " 

To  her  SON  EIINEST. 

11  Carlsruhe,  31  Dec.,  1867.— I  look  upon  the  awful 
contingency  of  the  Fenian  conspiracy  as  one  of  several, 
that  within  the  date  of  my  life  I  have  seen  England  pass 
through  unscathed,  however  endangered — which  give  the 
Continent  a  desired  opportunity  of  shaking  its  head  and 
saying  very  sagely  that  whether  wished  or  unwished, 
England's  last  hour  is  come ! — after  which  the  said  Conti- 
nent will  again  look  astonished,  and  say,  it  would  not 
have  thought  England  could  have  weathered  such  a  storm! 
The  Cabul  war,  the  Indian  Massacre,  the  Cotton  Famine 
— all  have  been  gloriously  outlived,  and  have  left  their 
lesson  to  secure  against  renewal  of  dangers. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  391 

"Will  you  know  what  I  dream?  This  would  be  a 
grand  moment  for  a  great  action — for  proclaiming  that  the 
Protestant  disgrace  in  the  Protestant  church  fabric  of  Ireland 
shall  die  out  quietly — no  further  Archbishops  and  Bishops 
be  appointed:  and  that  the  revenues  shall  be  employed 
for  railroads,  embankments,  schools  and  hospitals,  and  that 
the  lands,  when  re-let,  shall  be  given  in  preference  to  the 
Irish-born — such  as  have  shown  themselves  good  and  quiet 
subjects.  And  it  shall  be  openly  professed,  that  there  is 
an  injustice  to  be  made  good,  and  the  Irish  shall  have  as 
much  of  their  own  land  as  they  will  deserve  by  their  good 
behaviour.  About  the  blow  at  Cabul,  Sir  Robert  Peel 
said  so  nobly, — '  There  has  been  a  great  wrong,  and  we 
have  had  a  great  blow — we  need  not  seek  to  disguise  it, 
but  we  are  strong  to  bear  it." 

To  her  GRANDSON  MOEITZ. 

"  4  Jan.,  1868. — I  am  glad  the  scenes  of  Berne  and  the 
Oberland  are  fresh  in  your  memory  as  in  mine ;  I  think 
the  sight  of  the  fine  scenes  of  nature  remains  through  life 
the  richest  source  of  unspoiling  pleasure.  I  found  a  verse 
which  tells  what  I  feel,  as  if  I  had  written  it : — 

'  Say  not  these  scenes  shall  swiftly  fade, 
This  spring-time  soon  shall  pass  away : 
While  yet  they  ^ccre,  for  me  they  made 
Bright  wreaths  against  a  distant  day.'  " 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  LLANOVER. 

"  16  April,  1868. — How  does  each  day  in  succession  tell 
upon  the  rough  waves  that  break  over  one!  On  Good 
Friday,  on  Easter  Eve,  on  Easter  Sunday,  one  would 


392         LIFE    AND    LE'ITERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

exclaim,  '  Eemain  !  pass  not  away  ! '  let  tlie  healing  balm 
continue  to  drop !  and  so  it  will,  if  encouraged.  And  first 
of  all  Palm  Sunday  should  be  named,  and  its  hallowed 
Eve,  when  that  lovely  custom  prevails  of  calling  around 
the  early  flowers  of  spring  granted  by  a  mild  climate,  to 
spread  their  soothing  influence  over  the  records  of  Death, 
and  speak  of  a  bright  Resurrection,  when  even  the 
*  creature,'  the  seemingly  inanimate  creation,  shall  'rejoice 
in  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.'  How  I  thank 
you  for  the  beautiful  images  you  have  called  up,  by  telling 
me  of  the  aspect  of  the  dear  Llanover  Churchyard  on  the 
day  before  Palm  Sunday."  * 

The  summer  of  1868  was  spent  in  great  enjoyment 
at  Grandchamp  above  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel,  in  a  chalet 
amid  pasture  lands,  with  a  range  of  high  trees  shading 
the  walls  to  the  lake  and  its  bathing-place.  Henry 
and  Ernest  de  Bunsen  visited  their  mother  here,  occu- 
pying rooms  lent  in  the  neighbouring  garden-chalet  of 
M.  Charles  Bovet.  This  summer  was  always  looked 
upon  with  especial  pleasure.  At  this  time  Madame  de 
Bunsen  wrote,  "That  ill-humoured  expression  of  the 
worn-out  old  King  of  Israel,  '  if  a  man  live  many  years, 
and  rejoice  in  them  all,  yet  let  him  remember  the  days 
of  darkness,  for  they  shall  be  many/  I  have  always 
thought  we  should  take  by  the  rule  of  contraries  !  It 

*  The  very  ancient  Welsh  custom  of  placing  flowers  on  the  graves 

51  nd  renovating  them  on  what  is  called  in  Wales  "Dydd  Sadwru  y 

1  lodan  "  (Saturday  of  the  flowers)  was  particularly  cherished  Ly  Mrs. 

Waddington,  and  to  the  Baroness  Bunsen  was  an  early  memory  of 

hildhood. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  393 

was  more  in  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  Christianity  that 
a  modern  sensualist  wrote : — 

'  Still  Hope  shall  brighten  days  to  come, 
And  Memory  gild  the  past.'  " 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER  FRANCES. 

"  Grandchamp,  18  July,  1868. — Poor  Loulou  died  the  day 
before  yesterday.  The  prosaic  fact  is,  that  we  are  thereby 
relieved  from  more  embarrassments  than  one :  but  what 
one  feels  is  anything  but  relief ;  I  was  greatly  upset,  and 
found  it  hard  to  behave  as  I  ought  before  the  children : 
and  I  miss,  and  long  shall  miss,  the  silent  presence  of  a 
piece  of  life  and  consciousness,  which  sought  and  claimed 
and  received  kindness :  and  then  pain  and  death,  the 
sudden  cutting-off  of  that  '  sensible  warm  motion '  which 
was  all  to  the  poor  dog,  gives  me  an  inward  shake,  hard 
to  get  over — bringing  one's  thoughts  forcibly  in  contact 
with  the  awful  enigma  of  the  brute  creation.  I  have  felt 
again,  as  so  often  before,  that  nothing  of  the  many  things 
that  shake  and  confound  us  in  life,  would  be  endurable, 
but  for  placing  the  cause  of  emotion  and  all  its  circum- 
stances in  the  hand  of  God,  and  resting  upon  the  certainty 
that  all  His  creatures  are  precious  in  His  sight,  as  at  their 
creation  He  pronounced  them  good!  and  this  being  the 
case,  I  take  comfort  in  the  conviction  that  He  cannot  have 
created  anything  for  nought — for  annihilation  :  and  that 
pain  and  misery  must  be  resolvable  into  good,  although  I 
cannot  discern  the  ivlnj  and  how." 

To  Miss  C.  WILLIAMS  WYNN. 

"  Carlsruhe,  2  Oct.,  1868.— Our  winding-up  of  life  at  the 
Chalet  de  Grandchamp  was  like  the  winding-up  of  a  string 


394        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BTJN8EN. 

of  pearls,  for  such  had  been  the  details  of  the  entire  three 
months  spent  there.  Great  is  my  thankfulness  for  them — 
only  desiring  (to  speak  for  myself  with  old  Benjamin 
Schmolk)  to  have  more  heart,  with  which  more  fully  to 
make  the  only  return  for  the  varied  mercies  received !  A 
festival-afternoon,  which  Frances  and  Emilia  contrived  for 
the  Boys'  School,  in  honour  of  Reinhold's  birthday,  was  a 
close  making  E-einhold  and  his  friends  very  happy,  and 
giving  pleasure  to  all  spectators  in  the  sight  of  many 
sports  on  the  grass,  following  upon  a  g outer  or  merenda. 
On  the  24th  our  whole  mass  of  human  beings  dislodged, 
and  the  greater  part  arrived  the  same  night  at  Carlsruhe." 

To  Miss  DAVENPORT  BROMLEY. 

"  Carlsruhe,  20  October,  1868. — I  wish  I  could  express 
my  thanks  as  warmly  as  I  feel  them  for  the  satisfaction  I 
have  had  in  reading  the  work  of  Lecky.  The  title  is  a 
mistake,  for  it  raises  a  prejudice :  some  other  compendious 
expression  ought  to  be  found,  to  keep  off  the  evil  associa- 
tions with  '  nationalism,'  and  yet  imply  the  due  and 
lawful  use  of  the  glorious  gift  which  distinguishes  the 
human  from  the  brute  creation — the  faculty  which  makes 
our  worship  fit  for  God  to  accept  from  us.  I  feel  inclined 
to  congratulate  you  on  having  the  book  still  before  you  to 
become  acquainted  with.  Yet  is  the  result  (which  I 
accept  as  being  true  and  just,  like  the  preceding  view  of 
history)  most  sad  and  most  prosaic :  but  as  it  is  not  the 
first  time  that  we  have  been  made  aware  of  existing  in  a 
world  of  prose,  we  are  bound  to  make  the  best  of  it,  where 
it  is  good  for  something.  Poetry  is  gone  and  vanished, 
or  nearly  so  :  and  we  must  not,  and  cannot  wish  our- 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  395 

selves  back  in  poetic  times,  for  those  were  times  of  wicked- 
ness unbridled.  Alas !  at  Florence,  among  what  people 
were  those  miracles  of  art  produced,  before  which  we  fall 
down  and  worship !  Nothing  is  more  true  than  what 
Eeumont  once  said,  'If  you  wish  to  enjoy  the  paintings, 
enquire  as  little  as  possible  into  the  lives  of  the  painters.' 
Fra  Angelico  was  a  seraph,  and  painted  seraphic  minds  : 
he  scarcely  knew  what  was  meant  by  flesh  and  blood." 

To  her  GRAND-DAUGHTER  LILLA  DE  BUNSEN. 

"  12  March,  1869. — I  thank  you  for  joining  the  chorus 
of  kind  wishes  which  has  greeted  my  birthday  from  far 
and  near !  and  should  be  glad  to  find  words  to  express 
how  gratifying  such  affection  is  to  me,  and  how  thankful  I 
am  to  God  for  granting  me  so  great  a  portion  of  that 
greatest  of  blessings,  with  so  many  others :  my  own  unde- 
serving is  nothing  to  the  purpose,  for  God  gives  according 
to  the  immensity  of  His  mercy. 

"  I  feel  a  difficulty  in  writing  to  any  of  you,  because  I 
do  not  want  to  dwell  upon  your  present  sorrow  in  the 
lengthened  leave-taking,  from  scenes  and  from  persons  to 
which  and  to  whom  you  have  been  long  habituated  :  *  but 
I  feel  for  you,  and  with  you  daily :  for  nobody  has  ever 
had  more  repeated  experience  of  that  wrench  from  the  long- 
known  and  long-prized.  But  one  is  reminded  of  the  great 
blessing  of  recollection :  that  the  treasures  in  memory  are 
reality,  and  not  fancy — a  priceless  possession  for  life.  *  0 
thou  wealthy  Past,'  as  those  beautiful  lines  of  Fanny 
Kemble's  express,  in  words  which  ever  and  again  have 

*  In  the  removal  of  her  father  from  the  vicarage  of  Lilleshall  to 
the  rectory  of  Donington. 


396         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEN. 

soothed  my  feelings.      They  are  in  her  small  book  '  A 
Year  of  Consolation.'  " 

To  her  SISTER,  LADY  LLANOVER  (on  the  loss  of  her  heautiful 
and  beloved  grandchild,  Stephan  Herbert  of  Llanarth,  who 
died  6  April,  1869). 

"14  April,  1869.— Why  should  I  write?  and  what 
should  I  write  ?  You  know,  as  I  do,  that  the  blow  is  not 
dealt  in  wrath,  but  in  love  and  mercy.  You  pray,  as  I  do 
for  you,  for  strength  to  endure  without  being  disabled 
from  the  fulfilment  of  the  duties  that  remain.  You  long, 
as  I  do  for  you,  for  enlightenment  as  to  the  lesson  to  be 
learnt,  as  to  the  course  indicated,  by  the  ways  in  which  the 
will  of  unerring  Wisdom  is  disclosed.  You  desire,  as  I  do 
for  you,  to  do  what  God  will  have  done, — to  be,  what  God 
would  have  you  to  be  :  to  further  His  purposes, — to  fulfil 
His  designs  of  mercy  towards  yourself  and  others. 

"  What  matters  what  I  feel  ? — You  believe  without  my 
assurance  that  I  go  along  with  you  in  every  pang, — in  the 
whole  wilderness  of  wretchedness.  Human  weakness  is 
apt  to  exclaim  'Anything  but  that !  '  just  the  complication 
that  is,  seems  the  most  soul-harrowing,  the  most  impossible, 
the  most  crushing.  And  yet  just  that  is  seen  good,  by  Him 
who  knows  our  frame,  and  who  does  not  willingly  grieve  ! 
You  might  have  thought  you  had  suffered  up  to  the  last 
degree,  when  you  had  to  watch  your  dear  husband  through 
his  so  well-endured  martyrdom :  but  you  have  had  to 
experience  that  you  had  still  much  to  lose, — still  many  a 
labyrinth  of  woe  to  trace  :  but  not  in  darkness,  never  with- 
out the  light  from  Heaven. 

"  How  I  hope  that  you  will  go  out  into  the  open  air. 
The  weather  and  season  speak  but  of  hope  and  joy,  which 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  397 

endeavour  to  overrule  sadness  by  reminding  the  mourner 
of  the  one  source  of  all  good  and  all  loveliness. 

"  God  be  with  you!  soothe  you,  strengthen  you!  and 
when  I  feel  that,  and  write  that,  I  know  that  He  does 
beyond  all  I  can  ask  or  think." 

To  MRS.  LINDSAY  (on  hearing  of  the  death  of  her  sister,  Miss 
C.  Williams  Wynn). 

"  Carkruke,  2  May,  1869.— How  shall  I  write  to  you? 
I  feel  as  if  I  had  no  words  but  those  I  have  just  written 
— a  burst  of  sympathy  and  affection,  a  yearning  towards 
you,  as  towards  all  that  remains  on  earth  of  a  friendship, 
of  an  intercourse,  so  invaluable  to  me.  I  long  to  pour  out 
to  you  all  I  feel,  for  I  believe  you  would  accept  it.  How 
unspeakably  kind  in  you  to  write  to  me  that  most  beauti- 
ful picture  of  all  that  is  most  beneficial  to  contemplate — 
earthly  suffering  quelled  by  heavenly  influences,  resigna- 
tion and  acquiescence  in  God's  will  and  thankfulness  in  all 
things,  as  a  habit  of  mind,  as  a  condition  of  life — not  super- 
induced by  a  sense  of  duty,  but  flowing  fresh  and  pure 
from  the  very  ground  of  the  heart.  .  .  .  No  one  might 
seem  to  have  a  right  to  speak  of  feeling  the  terrible  blank 
when  addressing  you ;  and  yet  to  me  it  will  remain  such 
while  I  live,  for  the  place  occupied  by  Charlotte  no  other 
can  fill.  I  recall  with  thankfulness  her  faithful  friendship, 
which  induced  her  so  often  to  contrive  a  journey  to  see 
me ;  which  journies,  which  meetings,  all  remain  enshrined 
in  grateful  memory.'7 

To  her  SON  ERNEST. 

"  26  Dec.,  1868.— I  had  never  supposed  that  I  should 


398        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

trouble  myself  to  read  anything  written  by  Buckle,  after 
the  impression  produced  by  what  I  heard  of  his  first 
literary  appearance,  and  of  Maurice's  having  undertaken 
to  combat  him  !  But  I  sent  for  vol.  ii.  of  his  '  Civilisa- 
tion,' as  treating  of  civilisation  in  Scotland.  This  is  pre- 
ceded by  a  most  striking  abstract  of  the  History  of  Spain. 
He  gives  facts,  shortly  and  spiritedly,  with  references  to 
authorities  in  foot-notes — bringing  the  history  as  a  whole 
with  infinite  force  upon  one's  mind,  to  prove  (as  one  of  his 
preliminary  maxims)  that  no  freedom  or  good  government 
in  any  degree  or  kind  can  be  bestowed  upon  a  nation, 
unless  that  nation  desires  it,  and  is  capable  of  receiving  it. 
He  proves  (what  I  was  not  in  the  least  aware  of)  that  a 
series  of  enlightened  men  in  power  in  Spain  for  about 
eighty  years  out  of  the  eighteenth  century,  had  com- 
menced a  system  of  reform,  which  in  every  particulai 
(including  the  suppression  and  banishment  of  the  Jesuits) 
was  most  unwelcome  to  the  nation,  who  applauded  the  re- 
scinding of  all  reformatory  ordinances  on  the  accession  of 
the  worthless  king  afterwards  deposed  and  banished,  whose 
minister  was  the  infamous  Godoy.  The  reason  for  giving 
the  history  of  Spain  as  an  introduction  to  that  of  Scotland, 
is  that  Buckle  declares  the  two  nations  to  be  similar  in 
devotedness  to  superstition! — the  term  under  which  he 
designates  all  religious  conviction,  that  is  to  eay,  all  rever- 
ence for  the  Invisible.  You  will  break  in  with  the  question 
— '  How  can  you  busy  yourself  with  such  a  'book  ?  '  To 
which  I  answer,  that  I  was  not  prepared  for  coming  in 
direct  contact  with  the  spirit  of  atheism,  so  deliberately,  so 
composedly,  brought  forward : — and  on  reflection  I  per- 
ceive, that  my  long  life  has  gone  round  a  circle,  and  is 


THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  399 


returned  to  the  point  from  whence  it  started,  as  to  *  Welt- 
geschichte.'  I  have  heard  conversations  in  my  childhood, 
from  which,  reflecting  upon  words  not  as  a  child,  I  draw  the 
result  that  the  same  condition  of  mind  prevailed  at  the 
beginning  of  the  century,  which  Buckle  would  inculcate. 
'  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun ' — the  frightful  thing 
is,  that  the  old  fallacies  will  turn  up  again  and  again :  for  the 
reply  to  all  attempts  to  stigmatise  the  religion  of  Christ  as 
the  cause  of  evil,  is  unanswerable,  as  the  fact  is  and  remains 
that  the  faith  which  causes  sin  and  misery  is  not  the  faith 
of  Christ,  but  a  system  falsely  so  called — which  the  greatest 
foes  of  the  Gospel  cannot  deny,  if  ever  they  can  be  brought 
to  comprehend  what  is  Gospel,  and  what  the  error  of  man 
presuming  to  interpret  the  word  of  God. 

' '  I  long  to  have  '  Ecce  Homo '  translated  for  the  Italians 
— they  are  just  now  in  a  difficulty,  from  which  only  the 
revelation  of  the  real  character  and  real  teaching  of  '  Jesus 
the  Christ,'  can  help  them.  To  return  to  this  work  of 
Buckle's — I  fancy  it  must  "be  the  same,  which  he  so  bitterly 
regretted,  when  in  the  grasp  of  death,  not  to  have  time  to 
finish,  for  he  evidently  hoped,  by  going  through  the  his- 
tory of  all  nations,  and  deducing  all  the  evils  endured  by 
nations  from  slavish  submission  to  dogma,  that  he  should 
fully  substantiate  his  atheism,  and  prove  that  it  were  well 
if  all  religion  were  discarded.  Most  true,  if  that  were 
religion  which  he  looks  upon  as  such.  But  his  summing 
up  of  historical  events  is  most  striking  and  instructive — 
and  the  suggestion  that  when  the  whole  mass  is  corrupt, 
the  very  bread  of  life  cannot  be  received  and  digested,  is 
only  too  awfully  true.  It  is  education,  due  training  of  the 
faculties,  works  of  love  and  mere}-,  that  are  wanting  to 


400         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

make  nations  capable  of  the  very  benefits  after  which  they 

all   seem  to  be  striving It  is  made  too  clear  by 

Buckle's  historical  statements  (if  one  had  not  known  the 
fact  before)  that  the  Scottish  Kirk  carried  on  for  two 
centuries  the  working  of  the  Romish  spirit  iinder  different 
forms  of  speech  and  of  life :  and  we  know  too  well  the  same 
of  the  Church  of  England.'' 

To  hei-  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Herrenalb,  4  August,  1869. — From  the  first  day  of 
breathing  this  mountain  air,  I  have  been  another  creature. 
I  remember  the  lines  of  German  translation  from  Calderon 

— '  doch.  Neapel  liegt  voll  "Wollust 
In  dem  sanf  ten  Eeich  des  Windes ' — 

which  describe  my  position  and  sensations,  when  I  sit  the 
greater  part  of  the  afternoon,  after  dinner,  in  a  wicker 
chair,  on  the  grass,  under  transparent  shade  of  fruit  trees, 
receiving  the  full  current  of  the  N.W.  wind,  which  has 
been  our  daily  luxury  ever  since  we  arrived  on  the  10th 
July. 

' '  How  I  thank  you  for  all  you  tell  me,  which  I  ever 
want  to  know,  and  which  no  one  else  tells !  and  how  I 
thank  you  for  feeling  as  I  do,  '  when  the  great  world's 
news  with  power,  my  listening  spirit  thrills ' — and  still 
more  particularly  when-  the  historical  events  ( '  weUycschicht- 
licTi ')  of  which  England  is  the  scene,  pass  before  us  : — you 
hail  the  grand  conflicts  and  the  grand  results,  of  the 
national  will,  in  whatsoever  nationality  you  find  them  : — 
with  I  think  a  tender  feeling  for  that  nationality  to  which 
your  mother  clings  in  heart  and  soul — though  rejoicing  in 


IN   THE   PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  401 

vigorous  essentiality,  in  whatever  land  and  race  it  shows 
itself." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"Herrenalb,  23  August,  1869. — The  air  of  these  hills  has 
made  me  quite  myself  again :  I  can  walk  now  wonderfully, 
and  every  day  directly  after  breakfast  I  go  out  into  the 

forest To-day,  just  as  we  had  begun  our  dinner,  at 

a  quarter  past  one,  who  should  appear,  but  Dr.  Acland, 
having  walked  over  hills  and  dales  from  Wildbad!  He 
came  in  reproaching  himself  for  not  having  been  exact,  as 
he  purposed  arriving  at  the  nick  of  one  o'clock.  I  could 
not  help  remarking  how  delightfully  English,  and  delight- 
fully Acland,  it  was,  to  reproach  himself  for  inexactness, 
having  undertaken  an  unknown  forest-walk,  over  hills  and 
down  into  hollows,  to  say  nothing  of  seeking  by-paths,  as 
he  had  done,  rather  than  follow  the  regular  road.  It  was 
most  refreshing  to  see  him,  and  feel  that  whatever  the 
lapse  of  time  since  we  personally  met,  he  was  ever  the 
same  valuable  friend.  He  brought  a  most  gracious  greet- 
ing from  the  Prince  of  Wales,  addressed  to  me,  when  he 
heard  Dr.  Acland  was  coming  to  visit  me, — on  hearing 
which  message,  the  Princess  desired  to  add  one  from  her- 
self— I  cannot  call  it  of  remembrance,  for  I  never  had 
opportunity  of  being  known  to  either  of  those  very  amiable 
royalties." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

''12  Sept.,  1869. — I  thought  of  my  dear  Henry  when 
reading,  as  usual,  in  the  Christian  Year,  since  his  de- 
parture— and  I  doubt  not  he  thought  of  me  when  reading 
the  poem  belonging  to  the  15th  Sunday  after  Trinity — 

VOL.  II.  D  D 


402         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    B/IIOXESS    BUNSEN. 

*  Behold  the  lilies  of  the  field ' — the  whole  being  a  medita- 
tion on  the  charm  that  flowers  shed  over  life,  I  am  sure  it 
gives  voice  to  my  feelings." 

"  1  Nov.,  1869.— You  will  like  to  know  that  I  had  the 
great  pleasure  of  a  visit  from  dear  Mrs.  Augustus  Hare 
and  Augustus  last  week,  on  their  way  to  Eome.  She  is 
well,  as  long  as  it  may  be  !  and  in  a  state  of  mind,  and  of 
countenance,  truly  angelic — only  belonging  to  this  world  by 
her  affections. 

"  You  will  have  heard  of  the  death  of  Anne  Hare,  who 
was  a  grand  character,  and  one  of  many  instances  I  have 
known,  of  what  your  Father  called  the  '  moral  murders '  of 
the  Church  of  Eome  :  that  is  of  a  being  made  for  healthy 
and  wholesome  action,  dragged  down  with  sorrow  and 
misery  to  an  untimely  end.  She  was  gifted  so  as  to  have 
been  capable  of  becoming  a  second  Miss  Marsh.  But  the 
quantity  of  wickedness,  authorised  and  countenanced  by 
the  whole  Eomanist  clique  that  surrounded  this  their  noble 
prey,  is  of  a  piece  with  the  worst  records  of  a  course  of 
action  which  caused  our  wiser  ancestors  to  refuse  to  tho 
Church  of  Eome  that  liberty  of  doing  and  causing  mis- 
chief, which  is  now  done  and  exists  under  protection  of 
equal  laws." 

"21  Feb.,  1870. — Yesterday  we  had  glorious  sunshine, 
as  if  to  remind  one  what  a  blessing  it  is,  but  to-day  the 
wet  blanket  sinks  down  again — letting  through  little  light 
and  quenching  all  colour,  leaving  not  even  an  opportunity 
for  variety  of  shadow — 

'  Now  the  light  of  heaven 
Emitting  cloudless,  and  the  solar  beam 
Now  quenching,  in  a  boundless  sea  of  clouds.' 


IN   THK    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  403 

This  last  expression  however  gives  an  image,  which  reality 
bears  not.  Clouds  are  always  of  fine  effect,  though  ever  so 
threatening :  but  the  ivet  "blanket  is  unmitigated  gloom  and 
darkness.  On  the  three  occasions  on  which  I  have  tra- 
velled south  in  winter,  I  have  observed  that  the  wet 
blanket  lasts  till  one  has  proceeded  south  of  Avignon,  when 
it  breaks  up  into  clouds,  and  they  clear,  partially  or 
wholly,  at  or  near  Marseilles. 

* '  I  thank  you  for  never  failing  to  let  me  know  of  things 
which  interest  me !  If  we  did  not  thus  communicate  in 
writing,  at  least  something  more  than  what  lies  on  the 
surface,  what  should  become  of  us,  the  collective  belongings 
of  your  dearest  Father !  all  puissances  dechues,  as  we  are, 
since  we  had  to  stand  alone  without  him.  It  was  not  the 
splendours  and  the  crowds  of  Carlton  Terrace  which  made 
to  mo  the  difference — it  was  the  intellectual  rank,  the 
moral  eminence,  of  him  who  has  fought  the  fight,  that 
raised  us  all  into  that  communion  with  such  portion  of 
liumanity  as  is  worth  belonging  to,  which  we  all  feel  the 
need  of  keeping  up,  and  all  feel  more  or  less  the  difficulty 
of  keeping  up ! 

"It  is  curious  to  contemplate  how  the  ways  of  Provi- 
dence have  cast  so  many  of  us  into  positions  which  might 
bo  likened  to  being  fixed  on  a  dry  sandbank,  after  having 
been  used  to  float  on  the  high  galley-poop  down  the  swell- 
ing current,  in  prospect  of  all  tho  glories  of  earth,  taking 
in  tho  ideas  that  move  and  animate  humanity,  as  one  im- 
bibes the  atmospheric  air.  I  say  not  this  to  complain,  my 
dear  Henry  !  you  will  not  so  misunderstand  me  ;  I  speak 
but  of  facts,  on  which  I  often  meditate,  with  the  hope  and 
prayer,  that  the  grace  and  guidance  never  refused  to  the 


404         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

humble  seeker,  may  be  vouchsafed  to  each  and  all  of  us, 
to  discern  and  follow  up  the  line  which  the  Hand  Divine 
has  traced  for  each,  through  scenes  and  objects  and  call- 
ings, not  always  of  choice,  and  the  safer  for  not  being  so. 

"I  am  very  glad  of  all  you  tell  me  of  A.,  and  most  glad 
of  all,  that  you  contrive  to  keep  up  your  relation  to  him,  in 
the  way  alone  desirable,  by  making  him  aware  of  your 
Bunsen-independence  of  thought  and  opinion.  There  is 
nothing  like  people's  being  aware  that  '  hinter  den  Bergen 
giebts  auch  Leute ' — as  Gothe  reminded  the  literary  set  in 
Weimar  on  his  first  arrival,  when  he  thought  they  looked 
upon  him  '  de  haut  en  bas ' — by  drawing  on  the  wall  a  map 
of  mountain-tops,  with  heads  peeping  out  between." 

To  he?-  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  9  March,  1870.— To-day  is  our  Aga's  birthday— eight 
years  old !  Bright  and  blooming  all  the  children,  and  happy 
in  bright  anticipations !  Such  a  troop  of  playfellows  ex- 
pected, headed  by  the  little  Princess,  just  her  age.  A  fine 
working  day  for  the  Tauten,  who  must  head  the  revels. 

' '  There  is  little  of  matter-of-fact  for  me  to  tell  my  own 
Mary :  but,  as  Gothe  says,  '  die  Liebe  lasst  sich  nicht 
sagen.'  I  can  but  ask  you  to  believe  in  it !  " 

"  12  May. — I  have  been  delightfully  busied  with  Charles 
and  Mary  Isabel — walking  in  the  Schlossgarten  and 
Fasanengarten,  and  revelling  in  '  diesem  neuen  Grim  und 
dieser  Sonne,'  and  the  lilac  lumps  coming  out  in  fulness, 
and  the  birds  filling  the  air  with  sweet  sound.  Surely,  0110 
always  forgets  how  delicious  the  spring  is !  " 

In  the  spring  of  1870,  Madame  de  Bunsen  undertook, 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  405 

with  her  daughter  Emilia,  a  long-contemplated  journey 
to  visit  her  son  George,  in  the  home  at  Berlin,  to  which 
he  had  removed  on  leaving  Burg-Rheindorf  in  1861. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER  PRANCES. 

"  Cassel,  22  April,  1870. — All  this  time,  since  I  last 
looked  towards  you  and  the  dear  ones  around,  is  like  a 
dream,  and  I  feel  as  one  does  on  awakening  from  sleep,  as 
if  one  had  need  first  to  collect  one's  thoughts,  hefore  at- 
tempting to  give  an  account  of  impressions.  We  slept  at 
Marburg,  and  at  half -past  seven  yesterday  morning  came 
Boestell,  and  we  walked  to  the  Elizabeth  Church,  and  the 
sight  for  so  many  years  wished  for,  proved  indeed  enjoy- 
able and  satisfactory.  I  believe  the  style  is  the  only  kind 
right  and  suitable  to  the  dignity  and  purity  of  Christian 
worship — not  an  atom  of  ornament,  except  that  exhalation 
of  beauty  proceeding  naturally  from  the  gracefulness  of 
lines  and  forms,  and  the  massive  magnificence  and  colour 
of  the  stone.  The  interest  is  great,  of  the  tombs,  of  the 
sculpture  and  the  paintings  inside  ;  but  all  that  belongs  to 
the  past,  which  we  renounce  and  give  up  in  heart,  only 
looking  upon  it  as  associated  with  the  historically  interest- 
ing. Eestoration  and  renewal  of  the  colours,  I  found,  as 
ever,  most  offensive.  I  longed  to  wash  them  out  as  stains : 
and  if  I  could  direct,  old  frescoes  should  only  be  renewed 
grau  in  grau. 

"  The  country  from  Marburg  on  to  Cassel  must  be  very 
pretty  in  the  season  of  foliage ;  the  rivers  charming,  Lahn 
and  Fulda ;  and  numbers  of  villages  well -situated  and 
flourishing.  At  Cassel,  Frau  Gerhard  met  us  at  the  sta- 
tion, with  a  young  nephew  most  pleasing  to  behold.  We 


406         LIFE   AND   LETTERS    OF  BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

staid  at  the  hotel  to  dine,  a'nd  then  went  to  the  gallery 
with  Aubel — whom  I  should  anywhere  have  recognized, 
though  aged,  with  snow-white  hair.  The  paintings  were 
a  great  treat: — the  finest  are  portraits  by  Rembrandt, 
Rubens,  Titian, — of  that  sort  which  let  one  into  a  whole 
human  soul  and  life ;  knowing  nothing  of  the  individual 
and  his  or  her  fate  and  fortunes,  but  enabled  to  enter  into 
each  variety  of  qualities  and  capabilities,  towards  which 
one's  sympathies  are  ready  to  flow. 

"  Then  we  had  tea  with  Frau  Gerhard,  who  is  just  the 
same  person,  with  the  same  face,  not  older,  except  that  the 
soft  plaits  of  hair  on  each  side  of  her  face  are  quite  white. 
Most  soothing  and  like  herself  was  her  conversation,  as 
you  will  well  imagine.  I  am  glad  to  have  seen  her  dwell- 
ing— so  comfortable,  so  suitable,  receiving  fresh  air  and 
sun,  with  view  over  a  very  large  square  and  country  beyond. 
Pray  fancy  all  the  Griisse !  from  Frau  Gerhard,  from 
Roestell !  I  cannot  do  them  justice.  And  pray  fancy  all 
the  love  that  I  cannot  put  into  words,  to  yourself,  and  my 
Rosa,  Dora,  Marie,  Reinhold,  Aga  !  " 

JOURNAL  EECOLLECTIONS  (written  long  afterwards). 

"  April,  1870. — We  arrived  in  good  time  at  Berlin,  and 
found  a  large  group  of  beloved  ones  awaiting  us  at  the 
station,  not  only  George  and  his  wife,  but  Charles  and  his 
wife,  as  well  as  Theodore. 

* '  The  images  called  forth  and  renewed  by  all  I  saw  and 
heard  whilo  living  in  my  dear  son  George's  house  were 
woven  by  degrees  into  a  firm  portion  of  the  web  of  life.  I 
was  allowed  to  see  once  more  friends  of  the  precious  years 
spent  in  Rome,  in  whoso  faithful  sympathy  I  again  re- 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  407 

joiced,  without  the  certainty,  however  distinct  the  anticipa- 
tion, of  the  fare  well- character  of  this  last  occasion  of 
intercourse,  as  in  the  case  of  Frau  von  Tippelskirch,  and 
of  Rudolph  von  Sydow:  as  also  in  that  still  nearer  in 
interest,  of  Heinrich  Abeken,  whose  life,  renewed  and 
freshened  to  himself  by  his  recent  marriage,  and  full  of 
high  interest  in  the  consciousness  of  weighty  political 
labours,  I  was  far  indeed  from  supposing  to  have  been  so 
very  near  its  close.  Most  affecting  to  me,  at  the  time  and 
in  grateful  remembrance,  was  the  frequency  of  his  visits, 
however  short :  how  he  would  join  the  early  breakfast  in 
George's  house  for  half  an  hour's  animated  conversation, 
before  the  breakfast  hour  of  his  wife,  for  which  he  never 
failed  to  return : — :as  also  the  sight  of  him,  joining  my 
dear  sons  George  and  Theodore  at  the  railway-station,  on 
the  wintry  morning  of  the  2nd  May,  to  give  to  Emilia  and 
myself  the  travellers'  viaticum. 

"  My  pleasure  in  the  gallery  of  painting  and  sculpture 
was  constant  and  varied,  as  the  building  attracted  and 
satisfied  me  almost  as  much  as  its  contents,  and  my  dear 
son  Charles  was  frequently  the  companion  of  nay  visits,  as 
well  as  sometimes  Theodore  and  the  faithful  Meyer,  Lep- 
sius  himself  explaining  the  Egyptian  historical  representa- 
tions on  the  walls,  copied  from  those  still  existing  when 
they  were  originally  delineated  under  the  eyes  of  Cleo- 
patra and  Ceesarion,  therein  depicted.  The  perfection  of 
the  Adorante  was  the  more  enjoyed,  as  having  been  a 
familiar  object,  when  a  true  facsimile  of  the  antique  figure 
had  been  for  a  time  one  of  the  prized  ornaments  of  No.  9 
Carlton  Terrace. 

"I  wao  privileged  to  see  the  King  and  tho  Queen — her 


408         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    IHJNSKN. 

Majesty  having  been  graciously  pleased  to  command  my 
appearance  in  the  ground-floor  apartment  of  the  Palace, 
generally  occupied  by  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Baden  when 
on  a  visit  to  her  parents,  a  kind  consideration  of  the  Queen, 
to  avoid  causing  me  the  fatigue  of  ascending  the  stairs 
leading  to  her  own  especial  abode.  Here  I  was  most 
kindly  received  by  the  Countess  Hake  :  and  a  few  minutes 
later,  the  Queen  entered,  and,  after  a  gracious  greeting, 
caused  me  to  seat  myself  opposite  to  her.  With  a  truly 
royal  memory,  she  recalled  all  names  most  near  and  dear 
to  me,  as  objects  of  enquiry  and  interest.  Then  she  told 
me  that  the  King  also  intended  to  speak  to  me :  imme- 
diately after  which  announcement,  a  door  opened,  and  the 
same  tall  and  dignified  figure,  the  same  benevolent  counte- 
nance, for  long  years  '  in  .strong  remembrance  set,'  re- 
appeared before  me,  the  grey  tinge  of  hair  and  beard,  and 
a  few  additional  lines,  deepening  expression,  being  the 
only  indication  of  the  lapse  of  twenty-two  years  since  the 
memorable  1848,  when  the  Prince  of  Prussia  took  up  his 
abode  in  No.  4  Carlton  Terrace.  I  had  seen  the  Prince  on 
the  subsequent  occasion  of  his  visit  to  Queen  Victoria  at 
the  time  of  the  first  great  Exhibition  of  1851,  but  the 
lasting  impression  dates  from  the  earlier  period  of  more 
habitual  observation. 

"At  Dresden,  the  galleiy  was  shown  to  me  by  my  old 
friend  Schnorr,  and  thus  I  was  enabled  to  meet  him  once 
more  in  life,  and  to  bear  away  in  mind  the  happy  impres- 
sion that  in  him  the  good  which  I  had  seen  in  early  expan- 
sion, had  condensed  and  consolidated  amid  labours  and 
struggles,  through  the  pain  and  the  joy  of  living.  And  I 
have  the  comfort  of  believing  that  the  reflex  of  divine 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  409 

benevolence,  which  it  was  given  to  Raphael  to  pour  forth 
upon  us,  in  his  conception  of  the  Immanuel,  the  God  with 
us  and  in  us,  in  the  loveliness  and  majesty  of  early  child- 
hood, fell  in  all  its  force  and  solemnity  upon  the  heart 
as  upon  the  eye,  of  my  old  friend  as  well  as  upon  my 
own." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Carlsruhe,  10  May,  1870. — From  Dresden  we  all  tra- 
velled together  to  Prague — a  beautiful  way  along  the 
Elbe,  with  cliffs  on  both  sides,  like  those  on  the  Avon 
between  Bristol  and  King's  Road.  But  Prague  is  more 
than  any  description  can  prepare  one  for !  How  we  did 
gaze  from  the  Hradschin  !  the  moment,  shortly  before  sun- 
set, being  perfect.  The  whole  town  is  so  solemn,  so  digni- 
fied: as  if  still  meditating  on  the  ruin  of  the  'Weisse 
Berg.'  » 

To  her  SON  HENEY. 

"  Carlsruhe,  17  May,  1870. — Be  assured,  that  many  a 
time  I  should  have  been  giving  you  an  account  of  all  that 
I  have  been  enjoying — only  that  my  business  seemed  to  be, 
first  to  enjoy,  and  then  rest.  A  more  agreeable  three 
weeks  could  hardly  be  spent,  than  Emilia  and  I  passed 
between  the  20th  April  and  the  10th  May,  when  we  re- 
turned home,  to  find  the  home-party  flourishing,  and 
Carlsruhe  in  its  bright  moment — all  blossom  and  ver- 
dure, 

"Hy  journey  was  so  arranged  as  to  be  a  regular  party 
of  pleasure — a  moderate  distance  each  day,  an  excellent 
resting-place  each  night,  and  persons  and  objects  of  interest 


410         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

everywhere.  At  Frankfort,  Frau  v.  Biilow  sent  her  very 
prepossessing  son  :  at  Marburg,  old  Roestell  showed  the 
Elizabeth  Church :  at  Cassel,  Frau  Gerhard  and  Director 
Aubel  exhibited  the  very  fine  collection  of  paintings :  on 
the  railway  we  spoke  (as  seafarers  say)  Pauli  at  Gottingen, 
he  came  with  wife  and  children  just  for  the  ten  minutes. 
How  I  enjoyed  the  Museum  Collections  at  Berlin  is  not  to 
be  said !  Also  I  admired  Berlin  in  general.  But  what 
should  I  say  of  the  kindness  of  friends!  I  was  really 
touched  and  most  grateful,  almost  ashamed  to  receive  such 
proofs  of  faithful  remembrance,  when  I  had  not  given 
people  credit  before.  From  Berlin  we  went  to  Dresden, 
and  saw  the  incomparable  gallery  with  Schnorr.  Then  to 
Prague,  and  found  it  beyond  all  anticipation  interesting  : 
then  to  Nuremberg,  where  Ernest  and  Elizabeth  and  Hilda 
met  us,  and  what  two  charming  days  did  we  spend  there ! 
Charles  and  Mary  also  of  the  party.'7 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  24  May,  1870. — .  ...  In  the  regions  to  which  your 
dear  Father  has  attained,  there  is  fulness  of  joy,  fulness  of 
work,  fulness  of  object,  for  the  fitted  faculties  to  dilate  in 
— and  the  contributions  of  .earth,  however  precious  here, 
would  have  the  flavour  of  sorrow,  even  if  they  could  reach 
the  abode  of  blessedness.  And  yet  there  are  two  stanzas 
of  a  hymn  which  I  found  written  out  in  Theodora's  hand, 
I  know  not  whence  copied :  which  strike  my  feelings  with 
the  melody  of  truth — 

*  Do  I  forget — 0  no. 
For  Memory's  golden  chain 
Still  binds  my  heart  to  the  hearts  below, 
Till  they  meet  to  touch  again. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  411 


'  Each  link  is  strong  and  bright, 
And  Love's  electric  flame 
Flows  freely  down  like  a  river  of  light 
To  the  world  from  whence  I  came.'  " 


"With  June,  sorrow  came  to  Madame  de  Bunsen  in 
the  rapid  illness  and  premature  death  of  her  eldest 
grandson,  Fritz  de  Bunsen,  the  beloved  son  of  Ernest. 
"  I  am  for  ever  thinking,"  she  wrote,  "  through  my 
dear  Fritz's  life,  and  all  the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  I 
have  had  in  him  from  his  very  babyhood :  how  much 
affection  he  has  always  shown  me.  0  !  the  trial  is  a 
very  bitter  one." 

It  was  a  source  of  great  thankfulness  to  her  friends 
that  the  venerable  Baroness  had  removed  in  June, 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  France,  with  her 
unmarried  daughters,  her  Sternberg  grand- children,  and 
Miss  Price,  from  Carlsruhe  to  Chateau  d'Oex.  Here 
they  occupied  a  delightful  chalet,  in  which  the  summer 
was  cheered  by  a  visit  from  Henry  and  Mary  Louisa 
de  Bunsen.  Though  living  in  Switzerland,  surrounded 
entirely  by  partizans  of  the  French  cause,  the  faith  of 
the  Baroness  Bunsen  in  the  success  of  Prussian  arms 
was  never  shaken.  On  the  2nd  of  September,  1870, 
the  Grand  Duke  telegraphed  to  her  from  the  battle- 
field the  news  of  the  victory  of  Sedan.  As  the  family 
returned  to  Carlsruhe,  intending  to  go  round  by 
Schaffhausen  to  evade  the  franc-tireurs,  they  found  on 
arriving  at  Basle,  that  Strasbourg  had  been  taken  the 
day  before. 


412         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  SISTER,  LADY  LLANO VER. 

"2  August,  1870. — Most  people  agree  in  reckoning 
Chateau d'Oex  'not  desirable,  except  as  a  convenient  centre 
for  excursions ! ' — which  sounds  just  like  what  I  don't  like, 
and  don't  want.  But  I  find  it  a  charming  spot  for  staying 
at  home,  with  the  finest  air  blowing  upon  me,  with  only 
fields  and  woods  and  rocks  and  mountains  to  look  at — no 
town  to  come  in  one's  way,  and  the  multitude  of  habitations 
for  strangers  innumerable,  so  well  scattered  and  secluded, 
that  one  may  feel  as  if  in  the  country  altogether,  scarcely 
meeting  any  of  the  visitors. 

"What  should  I  say  of  the  oppression  on  one's  mind 
from  the  images  of  this  horrible  war  !  All  hands  belonging 
to  me  are  working  hard  for  the  wounded,  and  have  one 
day  in  the  week  when  the  room  is  full  of  helping  ladies, 
English  and  Swiss,  and  some  German.  Alas !  my  eyes  can 
no  longer  help  in  sewing — but  they  paint  flowers  without 
end." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY  (during  the  Franco-Prussian  War). 

"4  Nov.,  1870. — Everybody  works,  has  worked,  and  is 
working,  for  the  sufferers  in  the  war.  0  my  own  Mary ! 
you  pray.  I  am  sure,  as  I  do,  every  hour — '  Mercy,  mercy * 
for  victors  and  vanquished." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"11  Nov.,  1870.— How  much  I  have  to  be  thankful  for 
in  my  delightful  spring  journey  to  Berlin,  and  stay  at 
Berlin,  and  journey  back  the  other  way !  Perhaps  it  may 
have  been  the  last  cheerful  glimpse  of  the  outer  world,  that 
I  may  have  in  the  remainder  of  life :  I  saw  fine  flourishing 


IN   THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  413 

towns,  centres  of  boundless  activity — country  in  high  culti- 
vation— all  speaking  of  physical  well-being,  and  what  BO 
many  consider  as  essentially  human  happiness.  And  now, 
wherever  the  mind's  eye  looks,  it  falls  upon  scenes  of 
family  mourning  and  privation : — and  shrinks  from  the 
physical  anguish,  ravage  and  destruction,  near  at  hand — 
and  from  the  long  vista  of  misery,  before  a  '  renewal  of  the 
face  of  the  earth '  can  be  even  hoped  for. 

"I  think  it  is  for  young  people  to  bear,  without  being 
crushed,  these  times  of  ours.  All  is  on  a  colossal  scale — 
military  glory,  human  grandeur  of  qualities,  also  human 
wickedness  and  wilful  blindness.  Something  might  be 
said  analogous  to  Shakspeare's  lines  in  the  mouth  of 

Orsino — 

'No  woman's  sides 

Can  bear  the  beating  of  so  strong  a  passion 
As  mine  is  for  Olivia.'  " 

To  her  Sox  GEORGE. 

"  16  Nov.,  1870. — Yesterday  I  went  in  spirits  to  bed 
because  of  more  than  one  symptom  communicated  in  the 
papers  of  a  growing  tendency  in  the  besieged  within  Paris 

to  give  up  a  hopeless  resistance What  a  note  of 

war  is  sounding  again  from  the  barbaric  power  in  the 
East !  0  how  my  impatience  increases  to  know  the  Prus- 
sian armies  on  the  homeward  route — just  to  comfort  their 
families,  and  renew  their  strength,  for  new  efforts  and  new 
miseries. 

"  I  am  cordially  glad  of  the  handsome  and  well-expressed 
acknowledgment  by  the  Crown  Prince  of  the  enormous 
contribution  of  the  English  nation  towards  the  relief  of  the 
sick  and  wounded — it  was  high  time  that  he  took  the 


414        LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

matter  in  hand,  for  notice  had  been  taken  in  England 
already,  among  those  educated  classes  who  worked  with 
their  own  hands  so  assiduously  (besides  contributing 
money)  of  the  absence  of  any  expression  of  obligation  on 
the  part  of  Germans.  The  fact  was,  that  the  German 
public  (or  populace)  did  not  find  from  the  first  in  English 
papers  that  incense-strewing,  or  '  Lob-hudelei '  so  abundant 
among  themselves  when  German  deeds  or  sentiments  are 
the  subject :  and  were  not  disposed  to  accept  the  principle 
of  'share  and  share  alike '  in  the  contributions  for  the 
sufferers  on  both  sides.  The  besetting  sin  of  Germans 
was  reckoned,  by  a  good  judge,  to  be  self-conceit  or 
Selbsts  Ueberschatzung — as  that  of  the  English,  greediness 
of  gain,  and  of  the  French,  licentiousness. 

"  It  will  be  an  awful  crisis  for  the  German  nation !  when 
once  the  great  foe  is  laid  low,  and  rendered  impotent.  I 
read  the  other  day,  that  the  breaking-down  of  Roman 
virtue  and  moral  consciousness  took  place  directly  after  the 
great  triumph  of  the  Punic  wars :  then  was  that  beginning 
of  evil,  of  the  reign  of  self,  unsubservient  to  the  moral 
law,  which  reached  such  an  awful  height  under  the 
Empire.  Against  such  horrors  being  reproduced  in  the 
world,  Christianity  might  be  the  antidote,  but  how  has 
Christianity  been  undermined  on  one  side,  and  stiffened 
into  a  form  of  words  or  deeds  on  tho  other ! — '  0 !  that 
thou  wouldest  rend  the  heavens,  and  come  down ! ' — is  one 
ever  ready  with  Jeremiah  to  exclaim." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"28  Nov. — Emilia  is  going  in  two  days  to  Metz,  being 
asked  to  help  the  excellent  people  among  the  l  Friends ' 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  415 

who  have  collected  a  large  sum  for  the  support  of  the 
starving  inhabitants  of  villages  round  Metz — where  the 
country,  of  course,  is  eaten  up,  quite  bare.  The  Grand 
Duchess  also  wishes  Emilia  to  undertake  the  superintend- 
ence of  a  hospital-shed  now  in  process  of  finishing,  when 
she  is  able  to  return  from  Metz. 

"You  know  what  anniversary  this  is? — As  the  verse 
says — '  yet  the  thorns  are  fresh  as  ever ' — ten  years  have 
made  many  changes,  but  not  in  consciousness  of  pain. 
Not  that  I  would  call  him  back — he  was  not  constituted  to 
bear  old  age.  No,  '  was  Gott  thut,  das  ist  wohl  gethan.'  " 

"30  Deo.,  1870. — Dear  Ernest  will  leave  me  to-day.  He 
has  been  a  most  delightful  companion,  and  contributed 
more  than  I  can  describe  to  the  keeping  us  all  going  in  the 
most  depressing  time Yesterday  was  Dora's  birth- 
day, when  our  Christmas-tree  was  relit,  and  Aunt  Frances 
contrived  a  lottery,  to  the  increase  of  the  animation  of  our 
children  and  the  Baillie's.  How  invaluable  it  is  to  have 
children's  joy  to  rejoice  in!  they  can  be  quite  happy,  in 
personal  unconsciousness  of  wide-spread  misery." 

"18  jj^J.,  1871. — Preparations  are  going  on  for  the  illu- 
minations we  are  to  have  as  soon  as  the  Peace  is  pro- 
claimed, and  I  have  great  plans  of  climbing  up  Amelie's 
staircase,  and  sitting  at  one  of  her  windows,  to  hear  the 

Manner-Chore,  who  mean  to  sing  before  the  Schloss 

The  exertions  of  this  small  town  in  every  way,  for  charity, 
have  been  most  respectable.  It'  is  beyond  all  anticipation 
that  such  a  value  in  money  should  have  been  once,  and 
again,  and  again,  furnished  for  the  one  object  of  helping 
those  who  have  fought  for  the  defence  of  their  country. 
And  it  is  not  in  money  only  that  Carlsruhe  has  helped.  I 


416         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BA11ONESS    1JUNSEN. 

verily  believe  there  has  not  been  a  woman  who  has  not 
worked  all  the  winter  either  at  woollen  clothing  for 
the  soldiers,  supplementary  and  gratuitous,  or  at  nursing 
the  sufferers :  there  have  been  no  balls,  no  theatre — so 
people  had  something  to  spare." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Carlsruhe,  31  Jan.,  1871. — I  must  write  and  rejoice 
with  you,  on  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  on  the  hope  of 
peace,  on  the  grand  appearance  made  by  the  whole  German 
people,  on  the  dignified  moderation  of  those  who  wield 
such  crushing  power,  on  the  stupendous  victories  which 
have  closed  the  war,  on  the  honour  and  real,  lawful  glory, 
of  having  carried  out  a  tremendous  judgment  of  God,  on 
the  nation  which  needed  to  be  taught  the  laws  and  rules  of 
human  society,  with  the  smallest  possible  amount  of  aggra- 
vation from  human  sin  and  passion.  How  ardently  do  I 
pray  that  what  is  yet  to  be  done  may  be  performed  in  a 
like  spirit,  with  a  like  absence  of  presumption  and  self- 
gratulation ! 

*  The  judgments  of  God  are  in  the  earth, — 
Let  men  tremble  and  be  still.' 

It  did  my  heart  good,  that  the  Times  at  once  applauded  the 
moderation  which  had  dictated  the  terms  of  the  armistice, 
and  declared  that  in  no  case  could  France  have  obtained 

more  favourable  conditions The  Continent  will  like 

to  believe  that  the  yelping,  barking  crowds  in  Trafalgar 
Square  represent  a  class  of  importance — but  they  only 
represent  the  cast-off  of  society,  without  weight  and  with- 
out influence.  How  one's  whole  heart  expands  towards 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  417 

the  coming  spring,  with  hope  for  the  renewal  of  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  for  the  chastened  revival  of  joy  and  com- 
fort in  the  dwellings  of  men ! — But  there  is  the  constant 
difficulty — men  spoil  their  opportunities  of  good,  by  not 
acting  in  the  spirit  of  the  divine  government.  I  pray  in- 
tensely for  the  shedding  of  those  blessed  influences  by  which 
the  souls  of  men  may  imbibe  and  transmit  to  others  the  love 
and  mercy  of  which  they  have  had  experience.  Will  the 
awful  breaking  up  of  the  'whited  sepulchre,'  disclosing 
'  all  uncleanness,'  as  in  the  case  of  the  poor  French  nation, 
prove  a  warning  to  others  against  prevailing  atheism? 
Will  people  seek  after  God  '  in  spirit  and  in  truth,'  and 
cast  away  the  forrn^,  of  whatever  denomination,  which 
keep  out  the  light,  and  shackle  and  warp  what  '  God  made 
upright '  and  free  ? 

"On  Sunday  the  children  and  the  maids  sang  'Nun 
danket  alle  Gott' — could  I  but  sing,  I  should  be  inces- 
santly going  through  the  whole  exquisite  collection  of 
Hymns  of  Thanksgiving 

'  And  make  the  babbling  gossip  of  the  air 
Cry  out '  O  hear  us ! — '  " 

To  her  SON  HENHY. 

"7  March,  1871. — Every  one  now  forgets  that  the 
French  army  and  its  leaders,  and  all  the  French  nation 
that  could  make  itself  heard,  declared  war  with  the  avowed 
purpose  of  conquering  provinces  of  Germany,  annexing 
Belgium,  and  dictating  conditions  at  the  gates  of  Berlin ! 
leaving  the  King  of  Prussia  reduced  to  the  dominions  of 

the  Markgraf  of  Brandenberg As  to  the  '  want  of 

magnanimity '  displayed  by  the  great  man  of  the  age,  the 

VOL.  IT.  E  E 


418        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEN. 

first  drain  by  the  French  upon  exhausted  Germany, 
between  1792  and  1800,  amounted  to  five  and  a  half 
milliards :  therefore  more  than  France  is  now  called  upon 
to  disburse  :  I  have  not  by  me  the  particulars  of  the  sums 
drawn  from  Prussia  alone  between  the  battle  of  Jena 
(1806)  and  the  downfall  of  Napoleon  in  1813  :  but  I  know, 
that  in  the  present  year  1871,  the  single  town  of  Konigs- 
berg  has  just  paid  in  the  last  instalment  of  the  debt  she  was 
obliged  to  incur  in  order  to  meet  the  French  demands,  and 
buy  off  the  literal  '  Brandschatzung,'  i.e.,  save  the  town 

from  burning  and  plundering People  do  not  read 

history  it  seems,  and  only  those  who  are  as  old  as  I  am 
remember  what  we  have  lived  through." 

To  ABEKEN. 

"  Carlsruhe,  11  March,  1871. — '  I  have  nothing  but  thank 
ye ! ' — as  the  Welsh  peasants  say :  and  if  I  had  ever  so 
much  more  in  power  of  words,  the  return  would  be  very 
poor  compared  to  the  amount  of  gratification  your  power, 
first  of  feeling,  and  then  of  utterance,  have  given  to  me. 
But  I  can  meet  feeling  with  feeling  :  and  from  my  heart's 
core  I  respond  to  your  faithfulness  to  old  impressions,  and 
beg  you  to  believe  that  not  only  this  last  proof  of  your 
friendship,  but  the  long  course  of  it,  unbroken  "and  un- 
abated through  the  lapse  of  hours  and  days  and  years,  is 
full  before  my  mind,  and  is  matter  of  devout  thankfulness, 
with  so  much  besides  ! 

"  There  has  been  such  vigorous  and  general  exertion  of 
the  best  qualities  during  the  war,  both  in  the  seat  of 
conflict  and  at  home,  that  we  now  must  feel  the  need  to 
pray  against  the  iniquities  of  the  happier  conditions  ap- 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  419 

proaching :  and  to  hope  that  the  blessings  of  peace  may 
not  be  misused.  Most  edifying  is  the  reminder  given  by 
the  Sovereign,  of  the  duty  of  first  mourning  with  the 
afflicted,  before  we  seek  to  excite  one  another  to  mirth  and 
joyousness !  It  is  hard,  at  my  age,  to  conceive  how  any- 
body, ever  so  young,  can  yet  be  conscious  of  anything 
more  rousing  than  the  reality  of  relief,  of  the  removal  of 
active  anguish.  The  saddest  year,  as  to  natural  conditions, 
that  I  remember,  was  the  last  of  my  young  life  in  England, 
the  year  after  the  great  fall  of  Napoleon  I.,  and  the  great 
conclusion  of  peace,  supposed  final :  all  were  impoverished, 
all  were  spiritless — the  most  were  under  the  necessity  of 
looking  for  fresh  objects  in  life,  fresh  occupations  and 
means  of  support." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  Carlsruhe,  14  March,  1871.— How  brilliant  have  '  the 
starry  host '  been  lately,  with  deliciously  mild  air  :  till  last 
night,  when  the  clouds  which  formed  a  background  to  the 
splendid  illuminations  of  Carlsruhe,  gave  way  to  sympathy 
with  the  saddened  part  of  the  spectators  in  an  occasional 
dropping  of  more  tears  than  were  desirable  :  still  not 
preventing  the  driving  round  the  town  during  three  hours, 
of  all  that  were  lucky  enough  to  have  a  carriage  to  convey 
them,  in  the  train  of  the  Grand  Ducal  party,  who  took 
cognizance  of  every  street,  and  every  well-designed  and 
carefully  executed  demonstration  of  joy  in  lines  of  light, 
and  after  having  alighted  at  their  home,  they  appeared  all 
grouped  on  the  balcony,  from  whence  the  Grand  Duke 
made  an  excellent  speech  of  thanks  to  the  crowds  of  in- 
habitants after  which  there  was  singing  of  men,  finishing 


420         LIFE    AND    LE1TERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

with.  'Nun  danket  alle  Gott.'  The  whole  was  really  very 
beautiful  and  satisfactory — the  crowd  so  peaceful  in  their 
cheerfulness ;  and  as  the  Grand  Duke  only  returned  from 
his  long  absence  on  the  8th,  and  goes  again  to-morrow  to 
Berlin  to  meet  the  Emperor  on  his  return,  it  has  been 
well  to  get  through  the  popular  festival  at  the  right 
moment." 

To  her  Sox  HENRY. 

"  Carlsruhe,  Easter -JEve,  8  April,  1871. — In  many  things 

I  am  now  strangely  forgetful Yet  is  the  far-distant, 

in  the  past,  very  apt  to  predominate  over  the  present,  in 
ray  quiet  hours!  and  very  quiet  they  are,  and  yet 
animated,  in  these  beautiful  days :  the  week  began  in 
gloom,  but  the  sky  of  the  last  three  blessed  days  has 
recalled  that  of  Eome,  so  strongly  associated  with  this 

period  of  the  Church's  year I  am  again  and  again 

in  my  heart's  secrecy  reminded  of  the  unspeakable  mercy 
of  God  in  guiding  me  to  that  intimate  communion  with 
your  Father,  through  which  I  was  so  essentially  brought 
forward  in  consciousness  of  the  '  things  belonging  to  my 
peace : '  and  I  wish  and  pray  that  everybody  who  can 
have  access  to  the  monuments  of  his  mind  that  he  has  left 
behind,  but  more  especially  his  own  children  and  de- 
scendants, may  have  full  advantage  of  the  privilege — '  My 
heart's  desire  and  prayer  for  Israel  is,  that  they  may  be 
saved ! ' 

"  0  may  the  '  everlasting  arms '  be  still  under  you — '  the 
wisdom  of  heaven  direct  and  guide  you, — and  the  infinite 
treasures  of  goodness  supply  all  your  necessities' — and 
further,  in  the  words  of  Patrick,  which  through  life  I  have 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  421 

used  for  myself,  '  may  a  contented  mind  be  instead  of  all 
that  you  want,  and  a  contented  heart  sweeten  all  your 
afflictions.'  " 

To  MRS.  ARNOLD. 

"  Carlsrulie,  4  July,  1871. — It  would  be  hard  to  say~how 
much  pleasure  you  have  given  me  by  your  letter,  by  the  fact 
of  your  being  inclined  to  write,  and  by  the  great  interest 
of  every  particular  -you  give  me :  the  whole  carries  with 
it  the  conviction  I  delight  to  entertain,  that  your  sympathy 
with  me  in  all  that  is  most  close  and  precious  to  heart  and 
mind,  continues  the  same  in  spite  of  absence  and  distance, 
as  belonging  to  the  original  nature  of  things,  and  not 
created  or  influenced  by  circumstances  casual  and  external. 
How  soothing  the  picture  you  give  of  your  own  life  and  its 
continued  blessings  !  and  how  thankfully  can  I  respond  to 
your  suggestion  that  you  and  I  are  permitted  to  experience 
gently  and  gradually  the  decline  of  life  and  the  approach 
of  its  end !  With  deepest  gratitude  (had  one  but  *  heart 
enough  to  be  duly  grateful ! ')  I  can  attest  that  with  me 
old  age  is  matter  of  fact  rather  than  sensation :  it  is  true 
that  bodily  strength  has  declined,  and  is  declining;  but  not 
the  power  of  entering  into  the  life  of  the  living,  and  enjoy- 
ing the  abundant  blessings  poured  out  upon  me — the  first 
and  best  of  which  proceed  from  my  beloved  sons  and 
daughters,  from  their  qualities  and  lives,  from  what  they 
are,  and  what  they  do,  and  from  the  affection  they  show 
me.  Wishes  will  go  on  bursting  through  the  limits  of  the 
practicable,  and  I  should  be  glad  if  more  power  of  loco- 
motion enabled  me  oftener  to  approach  both  children  and 
grandchildren:  but  I  have  to  rejoice  in  frequent  visits 


422        LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF   BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

from  tlie  more  nioveable  individuals  of  my  descendants, 
and  in  being  clear  without  all  doubt  that  I  am  called  upon 
to  reside  there  where  I  am  the  most  wanted,  where  I  can 
watch  over  the  orphans  left  by  my  beloved  Theodora  and 
be  cared  for  myself  by  my  incomparable  Frances  and 
Emilia,  whose  life  is  devoted  with  energy  and  love  to  the 
precious  five,  who  are  rapidly  issuing  forth  from  the  period 
of  childhood,  and  upon  whose  young  life  /  live. 

11  Your  branches,  like  mine,  spread  out  too  far  and  wide 
for  enumeration  :  but  I  must  particularise  the  feeling  with 
which  I  follow  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Foster,  in  private  and  in 
public  life — and  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  congratu- 
lating you  on  a  son-in-law  such  as  dear  Dr.  Arnold  would 
have  delighted  in !  He  worked  for  the  good  of  his  own 
nation  with  such  love  and  energy !  and  how  proper  does  it 
seem  that  a  great  public  character  should  belong  to  Dr. 
Arnold  by  a  tie  so  near  and  dear." 

The  summer  of  1871  was  passed  by  the  Baroness 
Bunsen  at  the  Chateau  de  Yannes  near  Vevay — a 
summer  of  much,  happiness  and  rich  in  the  society  of 
friends.  A  frequent  guest  was  the  charming  Madame 
de  Schoulepnikow,  who  was  then  living  at  the  beautiful 
Villa  Eglantine  near  Lausanne.  Great  also  was  the 
interest  of  renewed  intercourse  with  Lord  and  Lady 
John  Russell,  who  had  taken  a  villa  for  the  summer 
in  the  same  neighbourhood.  A  visit  from  her  niece 
Mrs.  Herbert,  o"f  Llanarth,  with  her  two  daughters, 
was  also  a  pleasure  to  the  Baroness  Bunsen.  But  most 
of  all  did  she  appreciate  the  near  presence  of  her  sister 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD   AGE.  423 

Augusta,  Lady  Llano ver,  and  the  re- opening  of  long 
past  interests  which  her  society  afforded — it  was  the 
last  time  the  sisters  met. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  Sox  GEORGE. 

"  Chateau  do  Vannes,  2  August,  1871. — Moritz  has  been 
reading  aloud  to  me  in  Lord  Palmerston's  Life — a  hook 
which  it  is  most  desirable  to  go  through  in  company. 
That  which  it  gives  is  to  be  gladly  received,  but  we  want 
a  great  deal  in  addition,  which  Lytton  is  incapable  of 
affording,  being  no  historian,  though  an  agreeable  relator 
of  the  superficial.  If  people  read  this  work  on  the  Con- 
tinent, they  must  be  surprised  to  find  how  different  the 
actual  Palmerston  was  from  the  firebrand  and  master  of 
intrigue  for  which  he  was  held  in  every  country  but  his 
own !  I  like  to  be  reminded,  by  the  style  of  his  private 
letters,  of  the  spirited  and  good-natured  tone  of  his  dinner- 
table  conversation.  I  recollect  with  pleasure  each  of  the 
many  occasions  when  I  sat  next  to  him  at  his  own  and  the 
Queen's  table." 

To  her  SON  HENHY. 

"  Chateau  de  Vannes,  4  August,  1871. — The  situation  here 
is  most  enjoyable,  with  the  lake  stretched  out  before  us, 
and  the  range  of  Savoy  mountains  rising  behind  the 
expanse  of  blue  waters,  and  the  eye  finds  nothing  but 
green  slopes  and  trees  between  it  and  the  distance. 

"  What  a  country  this  is,  what  luxuriance  of  vegetation, 
what  completeness  of  cultivation,  what  fulness  of  outward 
well-being,  what  intensity  of  effort  and  industry.  But,  I 
fear,  what  a  moral  desert.  Still,  we  must  take  comfort  in 


424        LIFE    AND   LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

"?~~ 

knowing  tliat  '  the  divine  spirit  is  breathing  and  working  ' 
— even  though  we  see  so  little  of  its  effects. 

"  What  a  delight  it  was  to  have  my  precious  Mary  here 
for  a  fortnight ! — so  animated  and  animating.  Then,  since 
the  treat  of  Mary,  I  have  enjoyed  seeing  dear  Moritz. 

"  My  bodily  weakness  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  it  vexes 
me  to  require  twice  a  day  a  thorough  sleep.  But  I  hope 
not  to  forget  to  be  thankful  for  the  gift  of  sleep  thus  con- 
tinued as  '  tired  Nature's  restorer.'  " 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  Chateau  de  Vannes,  19  August,  1871. — We  have  had  an 
agreeable  visit  from  Mrs.  Wilson,  whose  singing  is  as 
great  a  treat  as  ever,  and  who  has  made  great  acquisitions 
in  the  way  of  picking  up  popular  songs  in  Italy — over- 
hearing things  sung  in  the  street  or  on  the  road,  and 
inducing  the  performers  to  give  her  the  opportunity  of 
writing  down  the  tune  as  well  as  the  words.  She  is  an 
example  of  thoroughly  improving,  using,  and  preserving, 
a  very  remarkable  musical  gift." 

The  winter  of  1871-72  was  passed  by  the  Baroness 
Bunsen,  with  her  daughters  and  her  Sternberg  grand- 
children, at  a  country  house  (Campagne  Michaud  at 
La  Tour)  near  Vevay,  the  object  sought  being  to  escape 
the  severity  of  the  months  of  frost  and  snow  at  Caiis- 
ruhe  :  but  this  experience  brought  with  it  the  convic- 
tion that  winter  must  be  winter  north  of  the  Alps,  and 
that  the  difference  gained  was  not  worth  the  uprooting 
from  home  comforts.  It  was  in  this  winter  that  failing 
ej^esight  first  obliged  Madame  de  Bunsen  to  give  up  the 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD   AGE.  425 

systematic  painting  of  flowers,  executed  in  the  most 
delicate  manner  without  either  outline  or  correction,  in 
which  she  had  found  a  great  resource  at  Herrenalb, 
Grandchamp,  Chateau  d'Oex,  and  Carlsruhe,  after  her 
sight  became  insufficient  to  take  in  the  details  of  a 
distant  view,  and  of  which  she  had  intended  to  make 
a  complete  botanical  herbarium  for  the  use  of  her 
grandchildren . 

"I  observed,"  she  had  written  to  Mrs.  Berrington, 
"  that  I  could  not  learn  to  take  any  pleasure  in  drying 
flowers,  it  seemed  to  me  at  least  that  one  had  but  a 
collection  of  corpses,  so  I  began  to  paint  every  flower  I 
could  find,  and  Frances  adds  names  and  botanical  par- 
ticulars." 

BAEONESS  BUNSEN  to  MRS.  BLACKWELL  (a  deeply-valued  friend 
of  Eoman  days). 

"  La  Tour,  10  March,  1872. — Most  affecting  to  me  is  your 
affectionate  recollection  of  my  birthday,  and  so  are  all  the 
words  in  which  you  have  expressed  it !  May  God  be 
pleased  to  realise  all  your  kind  wishes  for  my  closing 
term  of  life,  and  help  me  to  make  such  advantage  of  the 
time  granted,  as  I  wish,  but  feel  unequal  to  accomplish. 
The  sense  of  helplessness  ever  increases  upon  me,  but  also 
the  sense  of  all-sufficiency  in  Him  who  I  know  will  never 
leave  or  forsake  those  who  would  cling,  however  feebly,  to 
His  mercy  and  promise  in  Christ ! 

' '  '  Love  me  while  you  live  ! ' — how  I  thank  you  for  the 
request — the  fulfilment  of  which  comes  of  itself,  a  thing  of 
course.  How  sympathising  have  you  not  been  to  me,  as 
often  as  it  has  been  granted  to  me  to  be  near  you !  and  how 


426        LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

naturally  and  unimpelled  do  my  affections  move  towards 
you !  lioping  and  desiring  that  the  measure  of  grace  and 
faith  and  patience,  and  the  power  of  usefulness  to  every 
creature  that  comes  near,  may  be  preserved  while  you  yet 
await  your  appointed  time. 

"  I  have  enjoyed,  with  my  two  dear  daughters  and  my 
grandchildren,  the  privilege  of  spending  many  months  in 
this  beautiful  country,  and  now  must  soon  return  with 
them  to  Carlsruhe,  which  has  been  our  home  for  ten  years, 
and  where,  besides  the  satisfaction  of  restoring  to  my  good 
son-in-law  the  comfort  of  his  children's  presence,  I  find 
again  the  busts  and  portraits  and  many  pieces  of  still  life 
that  form  memorials  of  earlier  homes,  and  the  sight  of 
which  somewhat  recalls  the  past.  I  have  pursuits  that  still 
keep  me  constantly  and  closely  occupied,  connected  with 
the  habitual  desire  of  my  life,  that  the  labours  of  my  dear 
husband's  life,  in  which  his  heart  was  more  especially  and 
intensely  occupied,  tending  to  make  his  God  and  Saviour 
better  known,  should  reach  the  minds  of  those  who  would 
find  the  comfort  and  satisfaction  in  them  that  I  have 
myself  :  and  I  am  thankful  in  having  yet  such  use  of  my 
diminished  eyesight  as  enables  me  to  write  and  transcribe, 
better  than  I  can  read  :  my  power  of  reading  being  mostly 
confined  to  the  large  print  English  Bible." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"12  March,  1872. — It  is  a  relief  to  tell  you  at  last,  how 
gratefully  I  accept  all  the  utterances  and  signs  of  love 
which  were  showered  upon  me,  on  the  anniversary  when, 
wonderful  to  say,  I  was  allowed  to  complete  81  years!  I 
cannot  comprehend  how  that  should  be — and  pray,  that 


IN   THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  427 

whatever  the  good  purposes  of  God  intended  to  be  furthered 
by  my  long  continuance  on  earth,  they  may  not  by  my 
fault  or  ingratitude  be  hindered. 

' '  Pray  be  well  satisfied,  and  thankful,  as  I  am,  that  you 
are  detained  where  you  are,  by  such  a  variety  and  amount 
of  business,  that  you  never  can  feel  sure  you  have  done  all 
that  ought  to  be  done.  I  can  fully  sympathise  with  you, 
and  understand  your  misgiving  and  self-reproach  even 
when  you  have  not  been  in  fault : — for  my  own  life  during 
many  a  period  was  of  the  same  kind — labour  and  fag  of 
one  kind  or  another,  and  never  the  desired  satisfaction  in 
having  done,  either  the  most  or  the  best  or  the  most  im- 
portant of  what  was  to  be  done.  "When  somebody  or  other 
expressed  wonder  at  my  getting  through  such  an  amount 
of  fatigue  and  busines,  I  have  sometimes  said,  but  much 
oftener  thought — *  Sagen  Sic  lieber,  wie  viele  Geschiifte  ich 
uler  das  Knie  breche.'  That  German  proverbial  expression 
exactly  answers  to  the  greater  part  of  my  life  in  Rome,  and 
the  whole  of  my  life  in  London  :  it  was  not  doing  my  work, 
doing  my  duty,  but  striving  to  make  out  where  I  had  any 
choice,  and  where  the  choice  might  be  permitted  to  fall,  and 
where  the  sacrifice  must  be  made  of  some  claim,  which, 
though  stringent,  could  not  be  taken  within  the  sphere  of 
attention.  A  sphere  of  duty  so  clear  and  simplified,  that 
one  could  always  be  in  it,  and  always  absorbed  in  it,  seems  to 
me  the  unattainable  happiness  of  life  :  and  it  will  probably 
form  the  happiness  of  a  higher  and  more  perfect  condition." 

The  death  of  her  old  and  faithful  friend  Herr  Rudolph, 
von  Sydow  at  this  time  painfully  affected  Madame  de 
Bunscn.  He,  with  Abeken  aiidPauli,  had  never  failed 


428         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

through,  a  long  course  of  years  to  add  his  written  greet- 
ings to  those  of  her  children  on  her  birthday,  and  was 
latterly  especially  drawn  to  her  who  had  been  as  a 
mother  to  him  during  his  life  as  Secretary  of  Legation 
at  Rome,  having  outlived  at  an  early  date  all  those 
nearest  and  dearest  to  him. 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  Madame  de  Bunsen,  in  this 
summer  of  1872,  that  her  third  son  Charles,  who  had 
hitherto  lived  in  Germany,  came,  with  his  wife  and 
daughter,  to  settle  at  Mein  Geniigen,  near  Biberich. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"  24  May,  1872. — I  write  not  to  express,  but  only  indi- 
cate my  thanks  for  your  sparing  me  two  such  pieces  of  the 
comfort  of  your  life  as  my  dear  Henry  and  Lisa,  for  all 
these  days  : — happy  days,  though  overspread  by  the  imme- 
diate shadow  of  death,  so  imminent,  that  it  seems  incon- 
ceivable how  breathing  and  consciousness  can  be  continued 
under  such  circumstances  as  those  of  poor  dear  Amelie 
d'Ungern  Sternberg.* 

"  .  .  .  .1  began  to  write  under  the  anticipation  of  what 
has  now  taken  place,  and  we  have  now  only  to  thank  God 
for  the  release,  which  all  who  witnessed  the  sufferings 
of  dear  Amelie  could  only  pray  for.  Last  night  the 
Grand  Duchess  returned  late  and  alone  from  the  country, 
to  secure  a  last  look  of  recognition  :  Emilia  sat  by  Amelie 

the  greater  part  of  the  last  two  days How  many  of 

my  friends  are  taken  away,  and  I  am  still  preserved. 

"  The  '  Christian  Year'  is  invaluable  to  me :  I  grow  fonder 

*  Sister  to  her  son-in-law  Baron  von  TJngorn  Steinberg,  and  Lady- 
in- Waiting  to  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Baden. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  429 

of  it  as  time  wears  on.  I  took  it  very  coolly  at  first,  when 
the  first  edition  was  sent  by  Dr.  Arnold  as  a  gift  to  my 
husband  at  Borne — I  read  it  first  with  suspicion,  but  I  now 
know  how  to  keep  the  wrong  part  out  of  sight,  and  delight 
in  the  intense  piety  and  truth  of  almost  all." 

To  her  DAUGHTER  MARY. 

"  29  May,  1872. — I  need  not  tell  you  of  the  solemn  scene 
we  have  passed  through,  in  the  funeral  and  universal 
mourning  over  Amelie.  Henry's  presence  on  the  solemn 
day  was  most  invaluable,  and  I  had  the  comfort  of  attend- 
ing the  Church  service,  held  by  him,  and  the  Communion. 
We  have  talked  over  all  possible  things  together,  and 
great  has  been  the  refreshment  to  me,  first  of  hearing 
replies  to  enquiries,  secondly  of  pouring  forth  the  pent-up 
and  unuttered — I  know  not  what,  but  one  always  has  so 
much  to  say  to  the  seldom  seen." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE  (on  the  birth  of  his  youngest  son  Waldemar). 

"  12  June,  1872. — I  can  find  no  words, — you  must  guess 
and  suppose  jny  thankfulness.  0  !  how  I  have  longed  for 
your  having  a  boy !  not  that  any  new  existence  can  alto- 
gether fill  the  void  left  by  the  dear  lost  treasure, — for 
every  child  has  its  own  rights,  takes  its  own  place,  is  its 
own  self,  and  shares  no  other  individuality : — but  still  the 
new  object  of  love  and  hope  will  do  what  nothing  else 
could  effect,  in  relieving  the  anguish  of  an  incurable 
wound.  I  did  not  venture  to  hope  for  a  boy  ! 

"And  now — had  one  but  heart  enough  to  be  thankful  as 
one  ought,  for  dearest  Emma's  safety.  Pray  tell  her  I 
embrace  her  in  thought,  loving  and  honouring  her  as  I 


430        LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

cannot  express — but  what  is  real,  makes  its  way,  I  think, 
to  the  consciousness  of  her  who  is  loved  and  honoured.  .  .  . 
My  dearest  George !  I  want  you  to  be  well,  that  you  may 
be  quite  able  to  feel  through  all  your  happiness.  I  meet 
your  soul  in  prayer,  in  the  pouring  forth  of  thanks  not  to 
be  uttered  in  words. 

"  Blessings  upon  you  and  all  your  treasures  !  '  the  early 
and  the  latter  rain,'  and  '  the  light  of  God's  countenance,' 
be  the  portion  of  the  newly-born,  for  whom  I  can  do 
nothing  but  take  him  into  my  heart  of  hearts." 

"  Carlsruhe,  4  July,  1872. — I  share  your  feelings  on  the 
wonderful  beginnings  of  realisation  of  so  much  that  your 
Father  worked  for,  longed  for,  lived  and  died  for :  and  I 
would  wish  to  comfort  you  as  to  the  motives  and  methods 
that  we  should  desire  to  be  worthy  of  the  ends  proposed, 
by  the  recollection  that  too  often  in  the  world's  history  the 
best  things  are  far  enough  from  being  the  work  of  the 
best  men.  The  Habeas-Corpus  Act  was  urged  and  carried 
through  one  of  the  most  corrupt  assemblies  by  Anthony 
Astley  Cooper,  afterwards  first  Earl  of  Shaftesbury ! — and 
a  set  of  greater  miscreants  than  the  Barons  who  compelled 
a  king  not  more  wicked  than  themselves  to  sign  the  Magna 
Charta  could  not  well  be  found.  You  will  remind  me 
that  Cardinal  Langton  was  a  great  man,  capable  of  under- 
standing the  good  he  was  doing  by  that  wonderful  enact- 
ment of  the  equality  of  higher  and  lower  orders  before  the 
law — but  he  had  the  advantage  of  being  detested  by  the 
King,  and  thus  forced  into  the  ranks  of  opposition,  and 
obliged  to  be  the  leader  of  the  patriotic  cause.  The 
Spaniards  possessed  a  grand  framework  of  law  and  justice 
at  a  period  earlier  than  the  Magna  Charta,  but  were 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD   AGE.  431 

possessed  with  the  spirit  of  caste,  and  persisted  in  retain- 
ing and  awarding  rights  and  immunities  to  the  nobles  and 
clergy  alone.  I  think  of  this  in  contrast  to  Magna  Charta 
and  those  who  suggested  and  maintained  it.' 

To  FRAU  LEPSIUS  (on  Abeken's  death). 

"  Carlsruhe,  9  August,  1872. — Could  I  but  thank  you  as 
I  feel !  but  you  will  believe  without  telling,  what  a  benefit 
you  have  conferred  on  me  by  the  letter  I  have  just  read. 
Thought  rushes  from  one  pain  to  another,  but  I  can  only 
feel  with  you  at  last,  the  deepest  acquiescence  in  the  will 
of  God,  which  has  removed  our  invaluable  friend  from  the 
lengthening  out  of  misery  which  his  strength  of  constitu- 
tion rendered  probable.  You  and  I,  and  your  beloved 
husband,  know  not  how  to  give  up  such  a  friend  as  we  all 
had  in  him.  My  recollections  present  such  a  succession  of 
affecting  images,  through  such  a  long  lapse  of  years,  all 
telling  of  a  power  and  intensity  of  friendship,  of  an  ever 
unbroken  chain  of  sympathy,  of  an  absence  of  all  self- 
consideration,  a  capability  of  entering  into  the  feelings  of 
others,  a  self-devotedness — alas !  you  know  all  this :  how 
useless  the  enumeration.  You  know,  too,  how  he  valued 
your  dear  husband,  how  individually  he  valued  and  esti- 
mated yourself,  how  each  of  your  sons  and  daughters 
interested  him  so  especially,  so  warmly :  it  is  rare  to  see 
one  who  had  not  the  blessing  of  children  of  his  own, 
capable  of  bestowing  so  much  love  on  the  children  of 
others. 

"  We  have  all  lost  what  cannot  be  replaced :  but  you 
will  be  thankful  with  nie  for  the  rare  privilege  we  ha 
long  enjoyed.     One's  own  shortcomings,  as  in  all  human 


432        LIFE    AND    LETl'ERS    OF    BAKONESS    BUNSEX. 

relations,  pour  bitterness  into  remembrance :  but  there,  as 
in  all  else,  we  throw  our  grief  before  Him,  who  can  do 
and  will  do  what  human  affection  was  too  incomplete  to 
effect. 

"  To  me  it  is  a  bitter  pain  that  the  sufferer  was  for- 
bidden to  look  into  the  eyes  of  his  friends  and  feel  the 
warmth  of  their  attachment.  But  perhaps  he  was  too  ill 
to  insist  upon  a  sight  even  of  Lepsius.  I  long  to  ask  a 
million  of  questions,  which  perhaps  nobody  can  answer.  .  .  . 
I  entreat  you  to  express  to  the  best  beloved  of  our  dear 
departed  something  of  my  feelings  for  herself  as  well  as 
for  him  who  is  gone  beyond  our  cafe,  beyond  our  sight, 
but  not  beyond  our  affection.  I  should  be  moved  to  write 
to  Frau  Abeken*  directly,  did  I  not  know  by  experience 
that  in  the  freshness  of  sorrow  even  sympathy  is  painful : 
nothing  can  do  good  but  that  stillness  which  follows  upon 
acute  distress,  the  composure  which  dwells  under  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  enables  the  mourner  to  realise  the 
presence  of  Him  who  '  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light.'  » 

To  her  SON  HENHY. 

"  Herrenalb,  12  August,  1872.— You  will  know  of  the 
gloom  cast  over  us,  by  the  death  of  that  kind  faithful 
friend  Abeken.  The  Emperor,  and  Bismarck,  and  who 
not,  and  what  not  ?  share  the  loss :  which  is  probably  irre- 
parable in  public  business.  His  was  fidelity  itself,  as  well 
as  intelligence,  and  capability  of  every  effort  and  exertion,  of 
any  amount  of  work  of  brain  and  hand.  Nobody  I  believe 

*  Daughter  of  H.  von  Olfers,  Director-General  of  the  Berlin 
Museum. 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  433 

could  be  so  fully  aware  of  his  rare  powers  as  the  great 
man  who  perhaps  iaxed  them  only  too  far.*  .  .  .  And 
Schnorr  too  has  died,  at  Dresden  !  One  after  another  of 
those  who  were  contemporaries  of  my  best  years,  and  knew 
my  children  when  they  were  children,  glides  away  over 
'  the  bourn  from  whence  no  traveller  returns.'  "  f 

"  Hcrrenalb,  27  August,  1872. — I  cannot  undertake  to 
describe  to  you  how  we  are  enjoying  our  life  in  this  valley 
and  forest,  with  that  dear  George  and  Emma  and  their 
children,  or  rather  a  few  of  them.  Yesterday  we  all  went 
to  Gernsbach  and  revelled  in  that  charming  spot,  and  wero 
all  back  here  by  half -past  nine.  What  a  day  of  varied 
pleasure  to  all !  The  children  bathed  in  the  Murg,  and 
rowed  in  a  boat,  our  head  quarters  being  the  Bad  Hotel 
and  its  shady  garden. 

"  In  this  our  villeggiatura,  I  do — nothing  !  being  much 

*  Abeken  was  the  right-hand  of  Bismarck  throughout  the  war. 
He  was  called  Bismarck's  "pen,"  and  it  is  said  that  the  great  man 
himself  was  often  in  admiration  of  the  readiness  and  cleverness  with 
which  Abeken  could  write  despatches  for  him,  giving  just  the  colour- 
ing his  master  had  desired.  At  Ems  at  the  moment  of  the  declaration 
of  war  (the  celebrated  "  scene"  between  the  Emperor  and  Benedetti) 
Abeken  was  the  member  of  the  Foreign  Office  in  attendance  on  the 
King,  and  consequently  his  adviser  in  that  critical  moment ;  it  was  ho 
who  sent  the  famous  Benedetti  telegram  from  Ems,  and  it  was  he  who 
sent  the  last  telegram  to  Versailles.  Abeken  had  long  given  up  the 
clerical  profession,  for  which  he  did  not  feel  himself  entirely  fitted, 
though  he  was  an  admirable  preacher,  and  though  during  the  cholera 
of  1837,  his  conduct  amongst  the  sick  and  dying  had  been  truly  that 
of  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  In  1848  he  entered  the  Foreign  Office,  of 
which  he  was  senior  clerk  at  the  time  of  his  death.  The  happiness  of 
his  latter  years  was  secured  by  his  marriage  with  Mademoiselle 
d'Olfers,  and  ho  had,  as  Germans  say,  fully  "  drawn  the  sum"  of  his 
life  before  he  left  it. 

f  Hamlet,  act  ii.  sc.  1. 

VOL.  IT.  F  F 


434         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

out  in  the  air,  sitting  out,  using  the  wheel-chair,  and 
driving.  Sometimes  there  is  a  bit  of  Dreading  aloud — but 
evenings  are  short,  and  all  go  to  bed  early." 

"  Carlsruhe,  29  Sept. — I  have  to  tell  you  that  we  did 
not  leave  our  favourite  valley  of  Herrenalb  without  pre- 
paratory designs  and  measures  for  returning  thither.  I 
had  long  dreamt  of  building  as  many  rooms  as  were  indis- 
pensable for  our  summer  residence,  but  never  told  my 
dreams,  until  within  the  last  three  weeks,  sitting  out  and 
admiring  the  prospect  with  Rosa,  I  amused  her  with 
saying  '  If  I  was  but  a  few  years  younger,  I  should  build 
myself  a  Chalet  upon  that  field  opposite/  She  was  over- 
joyed and  told  Tante  Frances,  who  thereupon  declared  to 
me  that  she  could  not  see  why  I  should  not  do  as  I  pleased. 
Clear  it  is  that  at  my  age  I  cannot  expect  always  to  be 
able  to  make  long  journies  into  Switzerland,  and  nearer 
Carlsruhe  there  is  nothing  to  be  had  within  a  reasonable 
price." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  6  Nov.,  1872. — One  would  wish  that  grand  and  salutary 
measures  might  always  be  effected  by  working  upon  the 
noble  part  of  human  nature,  and  that  good  ends  should 
only  be  achieved  by  good  measures  and  by  worthy  minds — 
but  we  experience  only  too  often  that  we  must  be  glad  to 
accept  a  result,  if  beneficial,  however  brought  about! 
Your  dear  Father  lived  and  died  for  German  unity,  which 
he  was  not  to  see  :  and  since  his  eyes  were  closed,  it  has 
been  brought  about  by  measures  of  violence  in  which  he 
would  not  have  acquiesced.  Has  one's  wish  ever  been  car- 
out  in  past  history  ?  I  hope  that  Somers,  Halifax,  and 


IN    THE    PEACE    OF    OLD    AGE.  435 

one  or  two  others  of  tlie  handful  of  men  who  created  the 
good  of  England  in  1688,  were  conscious  of  the  grandeur 
of  that  which  they  effected :  but  their  instruments,  and 
the  whole  party  with  and  through  which  they  acted,  were 
all  vile  and  vicious  in  the  extreme. 

"  My  beloved  George  !  could  you  but  share  the  buoyant 
consciousness  of  ease  and  well-being  granted  to  your  old 
Mother — who  grudges  it  to  herself  most  heartily,  while 
you  need  it." 


CHAPTER  Till. 

HERRENALB. 

"  Old  age  is  a  blessed  time.  It  gives  us  leisure  to  put  off 
our  earthly  garments  one  by  one,  and  dress  ourselves  for 
Heaven." 

The  Experience  of  Life. 

"  No  thanks  she  breathed,  she  proffered  no  request, 
Rapt  into  still  communion  that  transcends 
The  imperfect  offices  of  prayer  and  praise. 
Her  mind  was  a  thanksgiving  to  the  Power 
That  made  her;  it  was  blessedness  and  love." 

WORDSWORTH. 

ALREADY,  Baroness  Bunsen  had  spent  several  sum- 
mers in  the  Black  Forest,  which,  with  its  green  hol- 
lows, clear  rushing  brooks,  and  solemn  fir- woods,  had 
always  had  an  especial  attraction  for  her,  since  she 
made  their  acquaintance  at  Wildbad  many  years  before. 
But  it  was  not  till  1872,  when  increasing  infirmities  of 
age  were  beginning  to  make  her  children  anxious  that 
even  the  thought  of  a  removal  to  distant  Switzerland 
during  the  hot  months  should  be  avoided,  that  the  idea 
of  building  a  permanent  summer  home  first  presented 
itself. 


HEKRENALB.  437 


There  is  no  forest  village  more  charming  than  Herren- 
alb,  and  from  the  friendly  disposition  of  its  inhabitants, 
its  fine  air,  and  the  peacefulness  by  which  it  is  always 
characterized,  it  is  especially  suited  for  the  happy  re- 
treat of  a  quiet  old  age,  while  its  beautiful  surroundings 
are  a  constant  refreshment  to  heart  and  eyes.  Here, 
the  narrow  valley  of  the  Alb,  hitherto  shut  in  by  dark 
wooded  hills,  opens  to  luxuriant  green  pastures  enamel- 
led with  flowers,  amid  which  the  rapid  stream  dashes, 
gay  and  transparent.  Near  the  river  rise  gigantic 
barns  belonging  to  the  abbey  which  first  gave  the 
place  its  name ;  as  a  convent,  now  also  in  ruins,  has 
given  a  name  to  its  neighbouring  village  of  Frauenalb. 
The  abbey  church  remains,  but  for  the  most  part  only 
as  a  beautiful  ruin,  with  trees  waving  above  its  low 
round-headed  arches  of  red  sandstone.  Hard  by, 
several  modern,  but  picturesquely  built  houses,  have 
sprung  up  for  the  use  of  the  visitors  during  the 
bathing- season,  for  whom  the  accommodation  afforded 
by  the  old-fashioned  inn,  which  has  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  curious  swinging  signs  in  Germany,  is  no 
longer  sufficient.  Behind  the  abbey,  a  straggling 
village  of  ancient  timber  houses,  black  and  white  like 
those  in  Shropshire  and  Cheshire,  rises  amongst  the 
apple  orchards.  In  all  directions,  pleasant  walks  wind 
through  the  firs  and  beeches  by  which  the  hills  are 
covered,  with  ever-fresh  glimpses  of  forest  distances, 
opening  here  and  there  upon  grassy  islets  in  the  vast 
woods,  where  a  few  cottages,  with  their  own  old  fruit- 


438         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    HARDNESS    BUNSEX. 

trees,  and  bright  gardens,  cluster  round  a  meadow  and 
bring  life  into  the  solemn  solitudes.  The  leafy  arcades 
echo  with  the  songs  of  birds,  the  air  is  filled  with  the 
fragrance  of  the  pines,  the  thickets  are  bright  with 
flowers. 

It  was  on  a  terrace  on  one  of  the  lower  slopes  of  a 
wooded  mountain,  which  looks  down  upon  the  valley  of 
Herrenalb,  that  Madame  de  Bunsen  chose  the  site 
of  her  new  dwelling,  Villa  Waldeck,  which,  with  its 
graceful  overhanging  roof  and  open  wooden  gallery,  is 
now  the  principal  ornament  of  the  hill- side. 

In  the  roomy  shelter  here  provided,  it  was  the  dear 
Baroness's  delight  to  receive  throughout  the  summer 
all  the  different  branches  of  her  numerous  descendants, 
observing  with  constant  thankfulness  that  all  her 
children  "  seemed  to  gravitate  towards  each  other 
more  and  more  as  years  grew  on,  and  brought  them 
further  from  the  time  when  they  all  had  childhood 
and  the  shade  of  home  in  common."  But  besides 
those  of  her  family  whose  visits  were  only  for  a  time, 
her  two  loving  daughters,  Frances  and  Emilia,  re- 
mained as  her  constant  companions,  filling  the  part  of 
their  lost  mother  to  her  five  Sternberg  grandchildren, 
who  daily  became,  as  she  expressed  it,  more  and 
more  of  an  "  Augenweide "  to  their  venerable  grand- 
mother. 

Many  also  were  the  visitors — not  of  her  family — who 
recollect  days  spent  at  Herrenalb  as  oases  in  life,  when 
in  the  serene  companionship  of  the  aged  lady,  who 


HERRENALB.  439 


sought  only  "  whatsoever  things  were  pure,  whatsoever 
things  were  holy,  whatsoever  things  were  of  good 
report,"  they  felt  themselves  unconsciously  raised  into 
a  loftier  mental  atmosphere,  and  to  have  secured  a 
stimulus  onwards  and  upwards,  which  outlived  all  cir- 
cumstances of  place  and  time. 

Tenderly  does  recollection  go  back  to  the  quiet  and 
beautiful  home-life  of  Yilla  Waldeck— to  the  gathering 
at  the  seven  o'clock  breakfast,  long  before  which  the 
aged  lady  might  be  seen  on  her  terrace,  attending  to 
the  details  of  her  little  garden,  examining  the  progress 
of  each  plant  and  flower,  watching  the  fresh  shoots 
made  by  her  Ginko  and  other  shrubs — to  the  readings 
aloud  in  the  mornings,  and  the  ceaseless  revival  of 
historic  or  family  recollections,  wise  thoughts,  and  hard- 
won  experiences,  which  the  readings  called  forth — to 
the  rambles  up  the  forest  roads  in  the  afternoons,  by 
the  side  of  the  donkey- chair  of  the  revered  friend  who 
had  so  much  to  tell  and  observe,  upon  all  around,  and 
who  knew  how  to  give  a  living  interest  to  the  simplest 
materials  of  Nature — to  the  summer  evenings  spent  in 
the  open  gallery  looking  upon  the  terrace  with  its 
fountain  and  its  bright  flower-beds,  and  enjoying  the 
scent  of  the  hay  fields  wafted  up  from  the  meadows  in 
the  valley  below. 

It  was  about  the  same  time  at  which  Yilla  Waldeck 
was  built,  that  Baroness  Bunsen  completed  the  purchase 
of  the  house  in  the  Waldhorn.  Strasse  of  Carlsruhe, 
where,  for  eleven  years,  she  had  already  resided. 


440         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    HUNSEN. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"4  Feb.,  1873. — Unspeakably  interesting  to  me  has  it 
been  to  hear  of  your  meeting  with  Bismarck.  He  carries 
out  most  fully  the  practice  recommended  by  an  old  diplo- 
matist (I  think  Lord  Stair,  ambassador  at  the  Court  of 
Louis  XIY.)  of  speaking  the  truth,  to  the  effect  of  not 
being '  believed.  Wonderfully  does  Providence  help  the 
German  nation,  (verifying  the  saying  that  '  der  liebe  Gott 
verlasst  keinen  Deutschen  ')— in  giving  such  a  man  to  such 
a  time : — but  still,  whatever  his  intrinsic  might  and 
courage,  one  can  believe  in  his  actually  putting  down  the 
Jesuits  only  when  the  thing  is  done :  there  are  but  too 
many  weaknesses  of  humanity  in  which  their  influence  is 
deeply-rooted ! — and  then,  when  half  the  intelligent  and 
cultivated  (at  least)  have  slid  into  atheism,  and  one  Pro- 
testant establishment  vies  with  another  in  emptiness  and 
arrogance  of  self-satisfaction — still,  there  is  God  above, — 
as  your  dear  Father  ever  insisted :  and  it  is  He,  and  not 
the  '  adversary,'  that  governs  the  world. 

"  An  event  to  me  has  been  the  receiving  a  letter  from 
Florence  Nightingale,  in  which  the  '  strong  remembrance  ' 
and  affection  she  expresses  to  myself  have  deeply  touched 
me.  Why  should  people  be  so  kind  to  me  ?  I  "can  do 
nothing  for  them  :  but  my  feelings  of  sympathy  are  not 
blunted  on  any  subject  or  for  any  person  that  I  ever  cared 
for. 

"  How  I  enjoy  hearing  the  Recollections  of  Dr.  Holland! 
His  life  was  so  parallel  with  mine :  and  he  was  enabled  to 
see  and  know  such  a  number  of  persons  about  whom  my 
curiosity  was  early  roused,  without  being  gratified,  that  he 
opens  to  me  a  clearer  sight  of  life  long  past." 


HERRENALB.  44 1 


"  10  March,  1873. — Your  delightful  letters,  breathing 
tlio  air  of  Sorrento,  and  renewing  the  vision  of  that  coast 
and  all  its  charms  and  associations,  was  and  is  fully  felt 
and  enjoyed,  as  well  as  the  flowers  enclosed,  among  which 
the  '  pianta  Ginestra '  was  hailed  with  the  more  affection 
that  it  recalled  the  scent  borne  on  the  breeze,  when  I 
waited  with  the  two  girls  on  the  open,  raised  ground 
outside  of  Pompeian  ruins,*  while  you  with  your  Father 
finished  the  inspection  of  them  ....  I  believe  indeed 
that  the  ancients  were  peculiarly  above  us  in  the  feeling 
that  the  human  being  has  a  right  and  privilege  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  beauty,  which  ought  to  help,  by  refining  all 
perceptions,  to  contribute  to  the  banishment  of  grossness 
and  vulgarity." 

"  28  July Prussia  now   stands   in  so  exalted  a 

position,  and  wields  such  an  immensity  of  power,  that  she 
must  meet  with  envy  and  ill-will — there  is  no  help  for 
that :  but  she  has  only  to  keep  on,  and  maintain  a  stainless 
character,  and  stand  to  her  own,  and  triumph  in  conscious- 
ness of  the  triumph  that  surely  awaits  her,  in  universal 
opinion,  as  well  as  against  the  universal  enemy.  Remember 
that  /  have  felt  for  a  lapse  of  years  the  necessity  of 
refraining  from  the  secret  demand  of  just  appreciation  for 
either  nations  or  individuals  standing  high  enough  to  be 
objects  of  envy,  and  therefore  of  grudging!  Have  /not 
seen  how  nations  and  individuals  have  exulted  at  every  rub 
experienced  by  England,  and  delighted  to  anticipate  her 
ruin  as  imminent  from  each  successive  blow  ?  And  now  it 
is  Prussia  which  stands  so  high,  that  she  must  bear  the 
brunt  of  human  malice." 

*  In  1836. 


442        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BAKONESS    KUNSEN. 

To  her  SON  ERNEST. 

"  Herrenalb,  9  August,  1873.— In  thankfulness  for  the 
many  years  granted  to  you  in  health  rarely  intermitted  and 
in  fulness  of  faculties,  I  contemplate  the  near- approach- 
ing anniversary !  and  wish  I  could  put  into  pen  and  ink 
the  fervour  of  feeling  with  which  I  pray  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  innumerable  blessings  with  which  the  Father  of 
all  good  has  never  ceased  to  enrich  your  life  and  gild  with 
new  value  the  treasures  of  heart-connexions  by  which  you 
have  been  cherished  in  each  and  every  period.  Your 
beloved  eldest-born  is  indeed  gone  before,  to  point  to  your 
eye  the  more  distinctly  whither  you  and  all  that  loved  him 
are  to  strive  to  follow  him ! — and  your  jewel  of  an  eldest 
daughter  has  been  visited  with  that  '  killing  frost '  which 
cannot  but  blight  the  whole  of  her  earthly  existence,*  but 
there  is  still  a  young  vigorous  life  given  to  her  to  rejoice 
in,  to  contemplate,  and  guide  into  all  good,  for  God's  sake, 
and  her  own  sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  him  whose  last  great 
joy  in  life  was  beholding  the  longed  for  and  invaluable 
birth.  I  need  not  go  on  with  enumeration,  but  I  bear 
fully  in  mind  that  your  Moritz  and  your  Marie  have  grown 
up  from  children  into  friends,  to  cheer  and  glow  around 
you  with  all  the  warmth  of  the  young  currents  of  life  and 
love.  And  most,  though  last,  I  thank  God  for  the  pre- 
servation of  'die  Einzig'  Eine,'  whose  faithful  affection 
has  illumined  all  gloom,  and  brightens  all  joy  in  your 

*  Hilda  de  Bunsen,  eldest  daughter  of  Ernest,  and  the  especial  pride 
of  her  grandmother's  heart,  had  been  married  on  the  15th  April,  1872, 
to  Herr  von  Krause  of  Bendeleben,  first  Secretary  of  the  German 
Embassy  in  London,  and  a  union  of  perfect  happiness  had  been 
severed  by  his  death  in  the  following  March,  soon  after  the  birth  of 
his  infant  son. 


HERRENALB.  443 


life's  course.  I  thank  God,  my  dear  Ernest,  that  I  am 
allowed  so  long  to  take  in  consciousness  of  your  existence 
and  of  those  which  constitute  the  charm  of  it !  And  I 
rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  seeing  and  associating  with  you 
all,  before  this  summer  sunshine  shall  be  sunk  in  gloom 
and  '  cold  obstruction.' 

"Man}'  a  line  and  tone  of  your  songs  of  former  times 
still  sound  in  my  mind's  ears  :  and  call  forth  the  memory 
of  times  when  rays  of  light  were  at  the  brightest." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Herrenalb,  10  August,  1873. — The  view  I  look  upon  and 
the  air  I  breathe,  in  this  my  new  dwelling,  are  as  delightful 
as  thought  can  fancy  them :  the  varied  divisions  of  hills 
covered  with  forest  of  different  growths,  descending  to  the 
green  depths  of  the  valley  consisting  of  emerald  turf,  with 
the  little  torrent-stream  rushing  along  in  zigzag,  constitute 
a  never  failing  pleasure,  with  the  sole  inconvenience  of 
making  one  very  idle.  As  long  as  the  unclouded  sunshine 
of  the  last  twelve  days  lasted,  there  seemed  no  reason  for 
not  sitting  out  on  the  broad  terrace,  which  I  think  will  be 
a  surprise  to  you  when  you  see  it,  for  I  had  never  hoped 
that  the  continual  removals  of  soil  from  one  place  to 
another  would  have  ended  in  just  the  very  thing  I  wished. 
Where  the  terrace  ends  in  a  ridge,  the  slope  descends 
steeply  to  the  road  and  the  river  :  and  that  slope  I  live  in 
hopes  of  filling  with  shrubs  and  common  perennial  flower- 
plants,  next  spring.  Our  fountain  is  a  vast  pleasure,  in  the 
centre,  before  the  verandah  entrance  to  the  drawing-room." 

To  MADEMOISELLE  ANNA  VERNET. 

"  7  Sent.— My  own  surprise  at  all  that  is  granted  to  me. 


441        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    UARONESS    BUNSEX. 

is  ever  new,  and  when  I  make  my  very  little  walk  on  my 
terrace,  I  am  tempted  to  think  of  Aladdin's  wonderful 
lamp." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"ITerrenatt,  Z%* August,  1873. — How  valuable  are  the 
letters  which  enable  me  to  peep  into  the  various  houses 

of  my  children I  pray  to  be  enabled  to  place  all 

these  dear  objects,  of  continual  thought  and  interest,  verily 
and  indeed  in  the  hand  of  God,  who  can  bestow  what  I  can 
only  wish  for  them. 

"  Could  I  but  show  you  the  gift  I  received  last  Sunday ! 
which  the  kindness  of  the  Grand  Duchess  had  long  been 
concocting,  so  that  you  may  have  heard  of  it :  a  picture 
with  the  photographs  of  all  my  grandchildren  grouped, 
and  connected  with  beautiful  flower-painting  by  Frau 
Schrotter :  the  motto  above  being — '  Gottes  Segen  auf 
Waldeck.'  Fancy  how  I  was  astonished,  and  how  deeply 
affected ! " 

"12  Oct.,  1873.— You  will  know  how  much  I  feel  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Arnold !  Few  lives  have  been  more  valued 
and  valuable.  Hers  and  mine  date  from  the  same  year : 
and  I  am  still  here — feeling  unspeakably  weak,  but  yet 
with  the  sensation  of  fulness  of  life." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Herrenatt,  12  Oct.,  1873.— Of  the  death  of  dear  Mrs. 
Arnold,  I  have  heard  just  now  what  I  wanted  to  hear,  that 
she  was  spared  all  pain  at  the  last,  and  even  the  anguish 
of  leave-taking,  in  the  consciousness  of  what  her  loss  would 
be  to  her  family. 


HERKENALB.  445 


"  I  cease  not  to  pray,  and  cease  not  to  trust,  that  what- 
ever God  deems  good  for  me  He  will  enable  me  to  bear, 
but  if  I  could  bring  myself  to  frame  a  precise  request  it 
would  be  that  my  last  end  should  bo  like  hers,  thus  falling 
asleep  in  the  Lord.  Be  that  as  God  will ! 

"  What  a  day  'this  is  !— 

'  So  cloudless,  clear,  and  purely  beautiful 
That  God  alone  seems  invisible  in  Heaven.' 

' '  I  feel  as  if  I  could  not  look  enough  on  these  forest- 
hills,  which  I  shall  so  soon  leave." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Carlsruhe,  5  Nov.,  1873. — May  these  lines  greet  you  on 
your  birthday,  and  remind  you  what  a  quantity  of  joy  and 
happiness  and  satisfaction  your  life  has  caused,  first  to 
parents,  and  since  to  many,  many  others ! — and  hard  as  is  the 
present  trial  of  being  prevented  from  working  for  others, 
and  compelled  to  confine  your  endeavours  and  restrict  all 
your  energies  to  the  care  of  bodily  health,  with  the  often- 
disappointed  hope  of  being  restored  to  natural  powers  of 
exertion — let  not  the  trial  exceed  your  capability  of  cheerful 
submission  and  endurance.  I  have  no  eyes  to  search  for  the 
original  words  of  Gothe  which  I  have  in  mind,  and  should 
wish  to  cite :  '  It  lay  not  in  us  to  prevent  or  avoid  the  danger 
of  this  crisis,  but  in  us  it  lies  to  prove  our  moral  Avorth 
superior  to  it.' 

"  I  delight  in  the  impression  your  dear  children  make — 
of  originality  and  sterling  stuff.  I  trust,  too,  that  they  are 
bred  up  not  to  expect  of  life,  what  life  is  not  likely  to 
grant  them! — a  course  of  so-called  harmless  dawdling  and 


446         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

self -cherishing.  If  one  does  not  early  "look  to  it  as  '  work- 
ing-day,' the  discovery  that  it  is  such,  is  not  cheerfully 

accepted How  I  long  to  attain  to  an  individual 

reason  for  loving  each  of  your  children — I  love  them  all 
now  as  being  yours,  but  wish  for  near  acquaintance  with 
each." 


To  her  S6N  HENRY. 

"  Herrenalb,  23  Dec.,  1873.— How  I  wish  I  could  send 
you  fresh  health  and  cheerfulness  for  Christmas!  For 
oneself,  one  can  learn  to  get  on  very  fairly  in  all  conscious- 
ness of  '  the  sere,  the  yellow  leaf ' — but  I  am  afraid  one 
goes  too  far  in  a  sort  of  reckoning  upon  having  it  for  one- 
self alone,  not  calculating  upon  the  necessity  of  seeing  those 
one  loves,  whom  one  has  carried  about  in  infancy,  also  at 
length  entering  the  pale.  This  is  only  the  meditation  of 
your  Mother — my  Henry  is  yet  in  the  vigour  of  his  age  : 
but  I  know  by  experience  the  anticipation  of  shadow. 
May  the  blessed  influences  of  Christmas  be  abundantly 
shed  around  you,  and  on  your  own  heart  most  of  all.  How 
much  I  should  like  to  write,  but  I  am  thankful  to  be  able 
still  to  write  something" 

"  Carlsruhe,  23  Feb.,  1874. — I  am  hearing  a  very  inter- 
esting Life  of  Bitter*  read  by  Frances.  It  is  indeed  a 
beautiful  picture  of  the  working  out  '  unto  the  perfect  day' 
of  the  divine  principle  in  the  soul.  This  great  and  good 
man  was  bred  up  in  the  Salzmann  Institution,  without  a 

*  Carl  Bitter,  a  devout  Christian  and  charming  companion,  was  a 
much  admired  Professor  of  Geography  at  the  Berlin  University.  Ho 
had  frequently  been  a  guest  of  the  Bunsens  at  Carlton  Terrace. 


HERRENALH.  447 


particle  of  Christian  teaching  :  and  he  made  out,  by  setting 
about  studying  the  Bible  as  a  matter  of  Ancient  History, 
that  there  really  was  a  great  deal  more  in  it. 

"  How  thankful  I  am  for  the  full  power  of  taking  inter- 
est in  hearing  what  is  read  aloud  and  in  having  interest  in 
all  possible  subjects !  I  pray  daily  and  hourly  that  it  will 
please  God  to  show  me  what  I  ought  to  do,  to  fulfil  the 
purpose  of  His  wonderful  preservation  of  this  life  of  mine, 
in  such  rare  well-being  and  animated  consciousness  of 
existence.  Alas !  I  think  my  life  is  now  to  little  purpose 
besides  that  of  taking  care  of  itself :  the  eyes  are  no  more 
to  be  reckoned  upon,  and  the  limbs  and  back  are  soon 
wearied  with  any  exertion. 

"  What  a  subject  of  contemplation  is  the  late  Census ! 
the  immense  extent  of  empire,  and  amount  of  humanity, 
which  the  island-state  is  called  upon  to  govern,  to  care  for 
and  to  instruct,  to  provide  for  and  protect !  God  help  and 
guide  His  wonderrul  piece  of  creation !  and  surely  so  He 
will.  First,  I  trust  and  pray  that  He  will  guard  that  focus 
of  intense  and  inherent  power  and  strength  from  abandon- 
ing faith  in  Him,  the  fountain  of  life  and  being : — alas  ! 
the  falling-off  was  never  so  general,  and  what  is  to  become 
of  a  rising  generation  which  is  growing  up  in  thick  dark- 


To  her  GRANDDAUGHTER  HILDA. 

"  3  March,  1874. — There  is  no  end  to  the  love  and  kind- 
ness which  has  been  showered  upon  my  birthday.  The 
Princess  Victoria  brought  me  a  bouquet,  then  the  Grand 
Duke  and  Grand  Duchess  walked  here  together  and  were 
most  gracious  and  conversible  as  ever.  Then  came  the 


448         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

Hereditary  Prince,  already  taller  than  his  father,  and  with 
such  a  good,  mild,  sensible  countenance." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  ITerrenalb,  7  July,  1874. — On  Sunday  came  Emilia  and 
Aga,  accompanying  the  Princess  Victoria  with  her  gover- 
ness, who  had  the  ducal  permission  to  drive  over  and 
spend  the  day  with  the  family  party,  and  the  visit  turned 
out  well  in  all  respects — in  the  morning  playing  in  tho 
higher  forest,  in  the  afternoon  an  expedition  in  the 
donkey-chair  to  the  Falkenstein,  and  swinging  in  our 
garden ;  and  I  rejoiced  in  the  confirmed  impression  of  a 
steady  and  sterling  stuff,  in  the  Prinzesschen — unspoiled 
nature,  undistorted  and  full  of  vigour  and  enjoyment  of 
youth  and  life." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH  (coming  but  to  Her- 
renalb). 

"  19  July. — Welcome,  welcome,  welcome  1000  times, 
and  100  more,  my  own  dear  Ernest  and  dear  Elizabeth, — 
sole  of  your  kind  and  most  dear  and  delightful  to  me.  I 
have  been  kept  on  such  short  commons  this  long  time  as  to 
seeing  you,  and  enjoying  your  company,  that  I  am  half- 
wild  at  the  thought  of  really  having  you,  and  possessing 
you  and  knowing  you  to  be  under  my  roof.  Welcome  too 
to  dear  Marie,  who  will  be  a  sort  of  new  acquaintance  to 


To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  6  August,  1874. — How  my  heart  longs  to  overflow  with 
the  pent-up  gratitude  and  affection,  for  all  the  touching 


HERKENAL1).  449 


proofs  of  love  and  constant  recollection  and  consciousness 
of  all  my  feelings  and  interests  and  tastes  and  preferences ! 
with  which  you  have  again  and  again  refreshed  and  invigo- 
rated me.  I  am  powerless  to  utter  anything  descriptive 
of  the  pleasure  you  have  caused  me,  by  what  your  dear, 
saucy  wife  is  pleased  to  call  '  the  long  yarns '  that  George 
sends  to  his  Mother !  .  .  .  .  Meanwhile  life  has  floated  on 
with  me  under  a  sky  so  beautiful,  that  all  the  charm  of 
which  earth  was  full  was  called  into  being,  and  one  seemed 
to  exist  in  seeing  and  inhaling  :  yet  of  course  not  without 
conditions  of  strong  contrast,  so  that  a  morning  blaze  in 
the  open  fireplace  was  more  than  once  enjoyed  during  the 
visit  of  dear  Mary  Louisa.  Then  came  the  almost  startling 
announcement  that  Ernest  and  Elizabeth  were  on  their 
way  to  the  Schwarzwald,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  five  days 
in  which  I  enjoyed  their  presence,  you  can  suppose,  but  I 
cannot  express.  Then,  as  we  were  preparing  for  the 
departure  of  the  seldom-seen,  did  a  telegram  announce  the 
unhoped-for  Mary,  as  arrived  at  Carlsruhe,  and  about  to 
approach. 

"I  wish  I  could  transfer  to  this  paper  the  exquisite 
picture  before  me  when  I  walk  out  the  first  thing  in  the 
morning!  The  season  is  in  full  vigour,  no  decline  or 
symptom  of  decay,  and  the  absolute  calmness  implies 
resting  upon  fulness  of  blessing  and  well-being.  I  should 
like  to  represent  how  all  the  plants  flourish  which  you  so 
industriously  watered,  but  can  only  tell  of  the  Ginko, 
the  upper  shoot  of  which  is  at  least  an  English  foot 
long  .... 

"  Thank  you  for  telling  me  of  the  number  of  brave 
travellers  seeking  out  the  world's  secrets.  I  take  great 

VOL.  II.  G  G 


450         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

interest  in  the  success  of  all.  ...  I  follow  too  with  great 
interest  the  plans  of  Lepsius  for  a  building  worthy  of  the 
Library  at  Berlin.  I  feel  a  longing  to  work  double  tides 
for  all  the  many  lines  of  zeal  and  interest  which  I  shared 
\vith  your  dearest  Father  while  he  lived — but  as  I  cannot 
work,  I  think  and  feel  the  more.  .  .  .  Love  to  dear  • 
Emma,  very  barren  love,  but  very  true :  which  rests  too 
on  all  the  five  at  their  studies,  and  the  home-darlings  at 
their  play." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  ELIZABETH. 

"  9  August,  1874. — Dear  Elizabeth,  what  a  blessing  it 
has  been  to  exchange  thought  and  feeling  with  you  by 
word  of  mouth,  to  look  into  your  eyes,  and  hear  your 
voice !  Every  recollection  of  the  renewed  intercourse 
which  I  have  been  allowed  to  have  with  you,  expands  into 
a  secret  ejaculation — requiring  of  Him  who  can  and  will 
bestow  what  is  best,  to  fill  up  the  void  of  my  shortcomings 
to  each  and  all  of  those  I  love  and  value. 

"  With  regard  to  my  precious  Mary  as  to  yourself,  the 
consciousness  of  all  that  is  granted  to  me  in  thus  enjoying 
her  presence,  seems  almost  overwhelming,  and  when  she 
has  left  me,  I  shall  begin  to  overlook  and  store  up  all  the 
treasures  of  love,  the  wealth  of  qualities,  the  breadth  and 
depth  of  worth  and  excellence,  that  is  given  to  me  to 
behold  and  enjoy,  and  to  cherish  as  after  a  fashion  mine, 
my  own,  admired  and  delighted  in  from  her  birth  and 
earliest  development,  with  the  same  rare  charm  which  she 
has  preserved  through  years  of  such  varied  trial.  I  must 
learn  to  bear  for  her,  and  to  bear  for  you,  for  Hilda,  and 
all  my  precious  ones,  as  you  one  and  all  bear  for  your- 


HERRENALB.  451 


selves,  the  visitations  of  life  in  the  past  and  present,  and 
to  look  to  the  future  for  each  and  all,  in  the  spirit  which 
breathes  in  the  parting  words  of  my  husband's  venerable 
father — '  where  shall  we  be  a  year  hence  ? — In  whatever 
circumstances,  under  God's  blue  sky,  and  in  his  fatherly 
care.' » 

To  MADEMOISELLE  ANNA  VERNET. 

"  Herrenalb,  22  Sept.,  1874.— I  follow  with  unfailing  in- 
terest all  that  concerns  my  friends  in  Switzerland,  and  my 
friend  ever  valued  and  honoured — also  the  country  itself,  ap- 
plauding the  gallant  stand  made  against  the  encroachments 
of  Rome,  and  wishing  Geneva  God-speed.  I  was  in  the  habit 
in  days  of  childhood  of  listening  eagerly  to  all  accounts  of 
public  events  (and  an  awful  period  it  was),  and  I  am  thank- 
ful that  I  can  take  part  as  much  as  ever  in  all  that  con- 
cerns humanity,  and  in  particular  its  religious  interests, 
and  the  renewed  danger  from  the  old  enemy,  into  tolera- 
tion of  whom  so  many  so-called  Protestants  have  sentimen- 
talized themselves. 

"  How  can  I  be  thankful  enough  for  all  the  blessings 
that  surround  my  advanced  life !  As  mild  and  gradual  as 
the  decline  of  this  beautiful  season,  is  the  decline  of  my 
days :  my  health  is  perfect,  but  my  remains  of  strength 
steadily  diminishing,  which  affects  me  far  less  than  the 
diminution  of  eyesight :  I  am,  however,  allowed  to  see  and 
enjoy  the  unfailing  charm  of  nature — the  forest  and  the 
meadows,  the  sunshine  and  the  shade,  and  most  of  all  the 
groups  of  young  life  around  me.  How  happy  I  have  been 
to  receive  in  this  house  four  families  of  my  children  in 
succession ! 


452         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS   BUNSEN. 

"  We  sliall  have  felt  together  in  the  departure  of  Guizot, 
which  seems  to  carry  away  a  whole  rich  period  of  the 
world's  history." 

To  her  SON  HEKRY. 

"  Carlsruhe,  26  Oct.,  1874— Pray  believe  the  trouble  of 
your  abundant  communications  is  not  thrown  away,  I  never 
want  matter  for  a  long  talk  with  you  on  paper ;  but  I  get 
tired  now  with  stooping  over  pen  and  ink. 

"  We  have  just  had  a  visit  from  Professor  Yalentiner, 
the  son-in-law  of  Lepsius,  who  is  just  settled  in  the  Obser- 
vatory at  Mannheim.  Frau  Lepsius  came  to  help  her 
daughter  to  settle  in  her  new  abode,  and  visited  us  just 
before  we  left  Herrenalb :  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  her  the 
same  active  right-minded  person  as  ever,  and  to  me  very 
gratifying  to  overlook  the  course  of  a  praiseworthy  life, 
which  I  have  been  enabled  to  take  cognisance  of.  I  have 
seen  two  of  the  Lepsius  sons,  Richard  and  Bernard,  both 
fine  young  men,  and  going  on  hopefully,  devoted  to  science, 
the  eldest  engaged  to  marry  the  daughter  of  Curtius  the 
Historian." 

To  her  Sox  GEORGE 

"  6  Dec.,  1874. — I  delight  in  the  commotion  created 
among  Roman-Catholic  priests  and  bishops,  by  the  neces- 
sity put  upon  them  of  proclaiming  their  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  the  land :  and  being  older  than  most  other  people, 
I  remember  conversations  held  with  your  dear  Father  by 
the  long-deceased  Lord  Clifford,  whom  I  behold  in  the 
vision  of  memory  as  though  it  were  yesterday,  leaning 
against  the  marble -table  between  the  windows  in  our 


HERRENALB.  453 


*  gelbe  Salon '  at  Eome,  just  that  year  when  the  Catholic 
Restoration  was  resolved  upon,  but  before  the  news  was 
actually  arrived:  he  held  a  long  speech  on  the  pre- 
vailing errors  as  to  Catholic  belief  in  the  Pope,  declar- 
ing that  their  faith  interfered  not  with  their  loyalty : 
saying,  '  I  was  born  an  Englishman,  and  heir  to  an  English 
peerage,  and  I  existed  in  both  relations  previous  to  becom- 
ing a  member  of  the  Catholic  Church.'  After  he  was  gone 
I  expressed  the  opinion  that  Lord  Clifford's  spiritual  supe- 
riors would  not  bear  him  out  in  such  safe  and  wholesome 
principles ! — and  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  see  such  a 
proposition  condemned  as  rank  heresy. 

"  My  thoughts  run  much  on  what  Eosa  is  reading  to 
me,  with  zest  like  what  I  feel,  of  Macaulay's  unfinished 
history  of  William  of  Orange :  how  intensely  wicked  were 
the  actors  in  the  great  scenes  of  effective  revolution,  but 
how  brilliantly  gifted,  both  with  talents  and  desperate 
spirit  of  gambling — surely  we  are  sunk  among 

'  the  dwindled  sons  of  little  men.' 

But  Bismarck  rolls  out  grandly ;  and  I  am  glad  he  allows 
me  to  be  in  the  right  in  supporting  him — though  nobody 
was  ever  further  than  I  am  from  being  bribed  to  favour 
him! 

"  An  event  in  daily  life  has  been  the  visit  to  me  of  the 
Princess  Alice,  who  brought  with  her  the  fine  boy,  now  her 
only  son,  a  really  charming  child,  whom  Eosa  and  Dora 
were  delighted  to  entertain  with  pictures,  and  found  most 
intelligent." 

"  CarlsruJie,  Dec.  31,  1874. — You  wrote  to  mo  a  Christ- 
mas-benediction, and  I  wish  I  could  pour  out  upon  you  all 


454         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

that  my  heart  contains  of  love  and  prayer  for  you  and 
yours — for  all  those  best  blessings  which  the  hand  of  mercy 
ever  has  ready  for  those  who  both  gladly  receive  and  sub- 
missively wait — although  much  of  the  good  intended  and 
granted  comes  in  a  form  disguising  from  our  faculties  its 
real  character  and  tendency.  I  am  as  sure,  as  undoubting 
as  of  my  own  present  existence,  that  only  good  is  in  store 
for  you,  for  myself,  for  all  the  creatures  of  God  in  whom 
we  take  dearest  interest,  in  so  far  as  they  look  to  God  for 
the  good  things  they  want,  not  'leaning  to  their  own 
understanding '  for  the  discernment  and  selection  of  such 
good  as  matter  of  personal  choice.  The  personal  choice  is 
not  always  granted  to  us,  but  for  the  good  most  needed  by 
us,  we  may  trust  the  Hand  invisible  through  whatever 
darkness.  This  is  often  said,  often  repeated,  in  various 
forms  of  expression,  and  it  is  so  true,  that  it  must  be  said 
and  said  again, — but  as  concerns  myself,  I  can  but  hope — 

'That  you  may  better  reek  the  rede 
Than  ever  did  the  adviser ! ' 

While  I  have  the  deepest  sympathy  with  dearest  Emma  in 
the  affliction  and  privation  which  has  come  over  her  life,* 
not  to  be  removed,  and  incapable  ever  of  being  lessened, 
except  by  that  slow  and  infallible  ministration  of  time,  how 
I  thank  God  for  her,  and  with  her,  that  she  is  called  upon 
to  return  to  a  well-spring  of  such  full  and  abundant  life  as 
surrounds  you.  What  a  life  and  character  was  that,  which 
lies  spread  out  before  her  as  the  wealthy  Past,  to  be  admired 
and  cherished,  though  no  longer  enjoyed." 

With  each  year  added  to  her  long  life  Madame  de 

*  The  death  of  her  mother,  Mrs.  Birkbeck. 


IIEKKENALB.  455 


Bunsen  now  saw  many  of  those  who  had  shared  that 
life  and  its  associations  pass  away  before  her.  February, 
1875,  was  marked  by  the  death,  at  Cimies,  near  Nice, 
of  her  much-esteemed  son-in-law,  John  Battersby  Har- 
ford,  who  had  long  been  in  failing  health.  In  March, 
died  Otto  Deimling,  "  associated  in  the  intimate  recol- 
lections of  thirty  years."  In  October,  the  gentle  and 
charming  Mrs.  Lane  passed  into  rest — "  the  very  soul 
of  tenderness — one  of  those  rare  natures  which  fail  not 
to  work  to  themselves  their  own  response. "  An  especial 
source  of  sunshine  in  the  midst  of  so  many  shadows, 
was  the  visit  paid  to  her  grandmother  in  the  summer 
of  1875  by  the  widowed  Madame  de  Krause  with  her 
infant  boy. 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  SON  GEOKGE. 

"  14  March,  1875.— You  will  feel  with  us  the  loss  of 
Deimling !  whom  we  shall  greatly  miss,  and  whose  place 
no  one  can  fill. 

' '  I  hope  you  will  agree  with  me  in  admiring  Gladstone 
on  the  Vatican  Decrees — you  will  say  'an  old  story' — but 
I  get  things  after  date.  I  am  always  so  glad  to  be  able  to 
applaud  Gladstone — of  whom  your  dearest  Father  was  so 
fond.  I  am  dragging  and  skipping  through  Mr.  Greville's 
emptiness,  which  I  shall  soon  dismiss,  but  the  work  has 
been  so  far  worth  my  having  it  read  to  me,  that  as  I  was 
out  of  England  the  whole  reigns  of  George  IY.  and  "William 
IV.,  I  missed  in  general  even  newspaper  notices  of  the 
time,  which  yet  was  full  of  events.  The  Life  of  Prince 
Albort  has  been  lent  me  by  the  Grand  Duchess,  and  I  an> 


456         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

greatly  interested  with  the  parallel  to  a  long  portion  of  my 
own  life. 

u  The  result  of  the  entire  liberty  granted  by  Prussia  in 
matters  of  marriage  and  baptism,*  reveals  the  inner  condi- 
tion of  '  whited  sepulchres,'  and  the  number  of  infants 
unbaptized  (as  is  asserted)  reminds  us  of  Dr.  Arnold's 
earnest  protest  against  the  misapplication  of  terms,  in 
speaking  of  'Christian  nations,'  or  the  'Christianizing  of 
nations  : '  Christians  remain,  as  ever,  individuals  or  groups, 
and  no  one  who  considers  the  reality  of  things,  will  regret 
the  removal  of  legal  compulsion  to  become  in  name  a  Chris- 
tian without  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Christianity." 

To  her  GRAND -DAUGHTER  MARIE  voisr  UNGERN-STERXBERG. 

"  Carlsrufie,  6  April,  1875. — My  own  Mariechen  shall 
learn  from  me  what  a  charming  day  we  spent  yesterday,  in 
driving  over  to  Herrenalb — that  being  the  last  of  Aga's 
holidays.  We  breakfasted  and  packed  into  the  carriage  by 
seven  o'clock,  taking  an  abundance  of  supplementary  wraps 
with  us,  which  all  proved  quite  unnecessary — we  were  pur- 
sued but  by  the  phantom  of  cold  which  is  gone  by,  and 
experienced  nothing  but  warm  air  and  mild  sunshine.  The 
puzzle  was,  to  feel  everything  external  so  pleasant,  and  to 
see  everything  so  wintry !  the  remains  of  grass  looking  as 
if  it  never  had  grown,  and  never  could  grow,  and  the 
trunks  and  branches  of  fruit-trees  seeming  harsh  and  stiff 

*  i.e.,  liberty  to  employ  or  not  to  employ  the  ministrations  of  the 
clergy,  otherwise  than  in  the  registering  of  births  and  of  marriages.  The 
number  of  married  couples  not  seeking  the  benediction  of  the  church  and 
of  children  not  baptized  was  very  large  the  first  year  after  the  passing 
of  the  new  law  (1874).  Both  are  diminishing  now  in  Germany  as  in 
France. 


HERUENALtt  457 


as  cast-iron:  as  I  always  say,  driving  out  is  not  worth 
while  until  there  is  life  to  be  seen  instead  of  death.  But 
the  sun  and  air  made  all  bright  and  joyous,  and  so  did  the 
water  too,  when  we  had  passed  Ettlingen,  and  found  our 
old  friend  the  Alb  rushing  along  in  full  current,  regardless 
of  the  large  amount  drawn  off  right  and  left  to  renew  life 
by  irrigation.  In  our  own  Herrenalb  valley  we  recognized 
the  well-known  breath  of  the  forest,  and  much  did  we 
enjoy  it.  We  alighted  at  good  Frau  Seuffer's,  where  great 
was  the  demonstration  of  pleasure,  and  we  rested  in  my 
favourite  place  under  the  pear-tree,  upon  which  the  finches 
were  seeking  out  the  old  place  for  their  nest,  one  of  them 

singing  the  while I  know  not  what  I  have  further 

to  tell,  for  the  days  pass  over  us  as  quietly  as  a  shadow 
over  a  dial." 

Journal  addressed  to  her  GRAND-DAUGHTER  EoSA  VON  TJNGERN- 
STERNBERG. 

"Herrenalb,  1 6  June,  1875. — I  was  up  at  half -past  six, 
and  had  accomplished  putting  on  my  clothes  before  seven, 
regretting  that  with  old  age  comes  dawdling,  that  is  doing 
everything  too  slowly,  for  which  I  readily  find  the  excuse 
in  feebleness  of  limb,  and  want  of  energy  and  activity. 
Then  with  stick  and  parasol  I  walked  out — the  morning 
glorious — the  sun  bright,  sky  clear,  and  leaves  without  the 
slightest  motion :  all  tilings  rejoicing  in  the  refreshment 
granted  by  the  thunder-shower  of  yesterday's  hour  of  sun- 
set, and  the  succeeding  calmness  of  the  undisturbed  night. 
I  had  a  greeting  from  Henry  out  of  his  window.  In  mak- 
ing the  tour  of  the  flower-beds  where  seedlings  innumerable 
were  coming  up,  how  many  images  met  me,  delightful  to 


458        LIFE    AND    L-E1TERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

behold,  but  too  many  to  write.  "When  afterwards  lodged 
in  my  armchair,  I  went  through  with  closed  eyes  some  of 
the  hymns  which  I  wrote  out  in  pocket-compass  in  the 
days  of  undiminished  sight,  having  the  transcript  at  hand 
wherewith  to  refresh  memory  in  case  of  need :  my  own 
handwriting  being  easiest  to  me  to  see. 

"  Breakfast  with  Henry  and  Frances.  After  breakfast, 
a  turn  in  the  terraoe-garden  with  Henry:  then,  in  my 
room,  chapters  in  Isaiah  and  in  Matthew  read  and  com- 
mented upon  by  Henry,  who  afterwards  read  me  the  dis- 
course of  Arthur  Stanley  at  the  Royal  Institution  on  the 
subject  of  the  indications  of  the  faith  of  ancient  Chris- 
tians found  in  the  catacombs  of  Home.  This  I  hope  I  may 
again  read  with  some  of  my  grandchildren,  upon  whom  it 
would  not  be  thrown  away :  although  it  is  to  me  as  old  as 
myself  that  the  peculiar  edification  of  a  revelation  of  '  the 
pure  stream  of  doctrine  undefiled,'  so  near  the  well-spring 
of  Christianity  (coming  to  view  like  a  Fata  Morgana  from 
the  cloud  and  mist),  has  its  full  effect,  as  a  soothing  rest  to 
eyes  dazed  with  the  long  and  varied  prospect  of  presump- 
tuous error  and  ignorance.  In  the  afternoon  I  enjoyed 
a  drive,  most  delightful,  on  the  Gernsbach  road. 

"  17  June. — Walked  out  at  7  as  before,  found  all  the  plants 
well  off  in  a  drenched  condition,  for  the  rain  must  have 
followed  copiously  after  the  rolling  thunder  that  I  heard 
before  falling  asleep  last  night.  Cut  some  very  fine  roses, 
perfect  in  form  and  intensity  of  colour.  Dear  Henry  read 
to  me  chapters  with  comments.  The  clouds  which  I  saw 
rolling  over  with  the  chilling  wind  during  the  sunshine  in 
which  I  walked  out,  have  now  covered  hill  and  dale,  and 
have  brought  cold  rain. 


HERRENALB.  459 


"18  June. — A  resolute  gloom,  with,  still-descending  rain, 
prepared  us  for  a  day  which  kept  the  promise,  calling  upon 
all  to  have  recourse  to  inward  resources,  for  the  enjoyment 
of  nature,  long  so  richly  given,  was  to  be  withdrawn,  and 
yet  we  were  enabled,  in  the  hour  of  sunset,  to  dilate  in 
present  delight  and  hopes  for  the  next  day. 

"19  June. — Frances  departed  to  visit  Miss  Whately  at 
Stuttgard,  and  reached  the  omnibus  without  rain,  but  a 
steady  descent  from  the  long-accumulated  clouds  began 
early,  and  continued  unbroken,  and  only  increasing  in 
violence  through  the  day  and  into  the  night.  The  moon 
was  to  be  at  the  full  about  midnight,  but  no  crisis  took 
place,  on  the  contrary  Saturday  rained  into  Sunday. 
Mariechen  with  clogs  and  umbrella  went  after  dinner  to 
see  the  donkey,  who  had  received  so  much  rain  through 
the  interstices  of  his  walls,  as  to  be  trembling  with  cold, 
and  after  rubbing  him  over,  she  walked  him  about  for 
exercise,  and  contrived  something  to  stop  up  the  cracks. 

"  2lst  June. — The  Solstice — the  day  of  hope  and  fear — 
opened  with  sunshine  upon  refreshed  and  rejoicing  nature. 
I  was  able  to  write  out  hymns  to  the  dictation  of  my 
Mariechen,  who  afterwards  went  to  her  own  employments, 
alternating  with  reading  to  me  a  short  time  before  we 
dined,  after  which  she  and  Dora  went  out  with  the  donkey- 
carriage  while  I  lay  down  to  rest.  The  day  hot  and  calm, 
with  cloud  and  sunshine,  and  the  slightest  possible  wind 
from  the  rainy  quarter.  I  went  out  at  five  in  the  donkey- 
carriage  up  the  favourite  Gernsbach  road ;  and  Frances 
rejoiced  us  all  by  returning  at  seven.  The  day  ended  calm 
and  clear  as  it  had  begun :  and  I  look  back  with  tender- 
ness at  the  long  course  of  lengthening  days." 


460         LIFE   AND  LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    13UNSEN. 


To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  4  August,  1875. — A  fearful  mine  for  the  study  of  con- 
temporary history  is  formed  by  a  set  of  works  of  a  Doctor 
of  the  Church  of  England,  Maurice  Davis  by  name,  entitled 
'Orthodox  and  Unorthodox  London.'  .  .  .  The  frightful 
result  of  only  partially  going  into  this  tract  of  observation, 
is  that  Eitualism  is  a  pestilence  in  the  very  air,  which 
more  or  less  attaches  itself  to  every  denomination  of 
so-called  Christian  communities.  Dass  sich  Gott  erlarm  ! — 
What  will  be  the  form  and  manner  of  destruction,  that 
must  suddenly  make  an  end  '  von  dem  Schatten,  von  dem 
Schemen,  von  dem  Eitlen,  von  dem  Nichts ' — with  which 
so-called  civilization  is  satisfied,  or  pretends  to  be  so !  I 
feel  strongly  as  a  comfort  in  the  thoughts  which  these 
volumes  awaken,  that  human  souls  clinging  to  religion 
seek  out  ways  for  themselves  and  find  a  certain  satisfaction 
in  meeting  and  pouring  forth  sympathetically  to  each 
other  ....  but,  it  is  all  bewildering,  and  worst  of  all, 
the  present  tendency  of  English  crowds  after  histrionic 
worship,  after  the  shadow  of  a  shade,  the  representation 
of  the  unreal.  Perhaps  Dr.  Davis  is  right  in  saying  that 
this  tendency  is  a  safety-valve,  to  keep  people  out  of  actual 
Komanism.  Do  you  remember  the  hymn — 

*  Willst  du  in  der  Stille  singen 
Und  em  Lied  dem  Hochsten  bringen, 
Lerne  \vie  du  kannst  allein, 
Sanger,  Buch,  und  Tempel  sein.'  " 

To  her  SON  ClIAKLES. 

(i  3  Nov.,  1875. — Could  I  but  be  assured  that  all  my 
beloved  ones  were  able  to  rise  each  morning  after  sound 
sleep  without  pain  or  ache,  as  is  the  case  with  myself ! 


HERRENALK.  461 


My  daily  delight  is  Emilia's  reading  to  me  Lanfrey's  won- 
derful book :  all  tlie  subjects  of  which  are  very  fresh  in 
my  mind,  in  so  far  as  I  could  become  acquainted  with 
them  from  the  papers,  and  the  interest  is  inexpressible  of 
being  led  step  by  step  through  this  comprehensive  com- 
mentary. No  sentence  is  too  much  for  me. 

"  We  often  read  in  an  evening  Parthey's  Recollections  of 
Life,  published  by  Frau  Lepsius's  uncle,  who  was  an  old 
acquaintance  of  mine,  having  travelled  to  Home  as  his 
Hochzeit's  Reise,  in  company  with  his  young  wife,  Lili  tho 
sister  of  Parthey  and  mother  of  Frau  Lepsius.  "We  had  a 
reviving  glimpse  of  the  good  Lepsia  just  before  leaving 
Herrenalb :  she  came  to  help  her  daughter  Anna  Valen- 
tiner  to  settle  at  Mannheim." 

To  MADEMOISELLE  ANNA  VERNET  (on  the  -death  of  her  nieco 
Helene  Vernet).* 

"  Carlsruhe,  18  Nov.,  1875. — Plow  should  I  greet  and 
respond  to  your  communication,  but  by  thanking  God  with 
you,  that  He  has  accepted  the  willing  sacrifice,  that  He  has 
cut  off  the  struggle,  that  He  has  closed  the  anguish,  that 
He  has  sealed  with  the  eternal  fulness  all  the  emptiness  of 
time.  How  do  I  thank  God  with  you,  that  it  has  been 

*  Helene,  daughter  of  the  late  Charles  Vernet  of  Geneva,  devoted 
herself  for  many  years  to  the  object  of  founding  a  model  Children's 
Hospital  at  Geneva.  She  succeeded  after  many  difficulties  and  much 
opposition,  and  consecrated  a  great  part  of  her  time  to  personal  super- 
vision  and  care  of  the  sick  children.  In  1870  she  went  to  Paris, 
undertook  the  direction  of  a  hospital  and  ambulance  for  the  wounded, 
and  was  shut  up  in  the  town  during  the  siege.  She  may  bo  considered 
as  one  of  the  victims  of  the  war,  for  want  of  food  and  the  hardships 
she  underwent  during  the  siege,  brought  on  the  painful  and  fatal  dis- 
order, which  she  bore  with  exemplary  patience  and  submission. 


4:62         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

given  to  you  to  call  such,  a  chosen  spirit  your  own,  to  con- 
template the  development  of  an  especial  child  of  God  from 
first  to  last !  and  I  will  hope  and  believe  that  yours  will  be 
that  fulness  of  consolation  which  God  alone  can  pour  into 
the  heart  of  the  uncomplaining  sufferer.  May  your  dear 
remaining  niece  be  strengthened  to  act  up  to  the  height  of 
the  charge  given  her  by  the  departing  saint  not  to  pine  in 
a  sense  of  the  woe  that  is  past  and  gone,  but  to  enjoy  all 
that  God  may  still  give  her  of  joys  in  life,  in  expectation 
of  the  better  lot  reserved  for  those  who  wait  in  love  and 
patience." 

To  her  SON  HENRY. 

"  Carlsruhe,  29  Nov.,  1875. — Have  I  ever  told  you  of  a 
delightful  French  book — Souvenirs  Militaires  du  Colonel 
do  Gonneville  ? — of  one  of  the  ancient  families  of  French 
noblesse,  compelled  by  necessity  to  enter  the  army  as  a 
boy,  who  fought  through  all  the  campaigns  of  Napoleon, 
and  died  in  old  age,  little  cared  for  by  the  people  of  the 
Restoration,  but  happy  in  his  family  affections, — at  Nancy, 
just  when  the  Prussian  army  entered;  that  was  indeed  a 
*  chevalier  sans  peur  et  sans  reproche.' 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  the  pleasure  I  find  in  having  the 
descriptive  works  of  Augustus  Hare  read  to  me,  but  he  is 
very  wrong  in  Italy  in  his  dislike  to  every  act  of  the  new 
Hegno  cP  Italia :  he  is  not  old  enough  to  have  known  of 
himself  what  was  the  abomination  and  degradation  of  the 
old  system,  whether  Grand-Ducal,  Royal,  or  Papistic. 

"Well,  dearest  Henry!  <  das  Jahr  klingt  ab/  as  Gothe 
says;  and  here  am  I  living  on  in  an  unbroken,  though 
slackened  stream.  May  my  merciful  God  be  pleased  to 


HEKRENA.LB.  463 


fulfil  in  me  His  good  pleasure,  whatever  that  may  be,  and 
may  it  please  Him  not  to  prolong  this  corporeal  vigour 
beyond  the  date  of  intelligent  looking  up  to  Him." 

To  her  SON  GEORGE. 

"  Carlsruhe,  13  Feb.,  1876.— What  a  beautiful  drive  I 
had  in  the  rare  sunshine  of  yesterday  afternoon,  in  a 
sledge  with  Emilia,  and  two  of  the  girls !  getting  out  of 
the  streets  with  time  and  patience,  and  rejoicing  in  the 
unruffled  snow,  over  which  the  last  rays  were  shedding 
their  glowing  influence  ! — no  wind  to  compel  us  to  feel  tho 
cold,  but  the  clearest  and  most  refreshing  air.  An  event 
in  my  life  of  late,  has  been  a  book  lent  by  the  kindness  of 
the  Grand  Duchess,  being  a  Christmas  gift  to  her  from 
Queen  Yictoria  ;  — '  The  Travels  in  India  of  Lieut.  Eous- 
selot.'  The  new  and  spirited  pictures  of  a  country  and 
complex  of  nationalities  which  has  most  of  all  occupied  my 
thoughts  and  fancy  from  early  childhood,  has  caused  me 
unspeakable  pleasure :  and  I  should  write  a  book  as  big, 
to  say  all  I  feel,  and  could  utter,  about  it.  When  my 
Mother  was  warm  with  enthusiasm  for  the  works  of  Sir 
William  Jones  upon  India,  I  was  just  old  enough  to  share 
her  pleasure :  and  read  to  her  some  of  the  translations 
from  Sanscrit  poetry,  and  I  have  never  before  fallen  in  with 
an  instructive  book  upon  India  since. 

"The  great  event  of  late,  has  been  the  drilling  and 
teaching,  by  Herr  Mathy  (the  tutor  of  Prince  Ludwig),  of 
a  whole  set  of  girls  and  boys,  from  the  two  schools,  one  of 
the  Princess,  the  other  of  Prince  Ludwig :  to  enact  and 
represent  the  beginning  of  the  Iliad — the  quarrel  of  the 
chiefs,  with  apparition  of  goddesses  (Pallas  Athene  shown 


464        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

forth  by  Princess  Victoria,  and  Thetis  by  our  Aga),  con- 
cluded by  the  assembly  of  the  gods  on  Olympus." 

"  6  March. — Such  an  amount  of  signs  of  affection  and 
kind  remembrance  were  showered  upon  me  on  my  birth- 
day, that  I  feel  overwhelmed,  and  as  if  shrinking  into 
myself,  to  feel  and  measure  my  own  nothingness,  and  the 
kindness  of  so  many  generous  hearts,  to  whom  I  wish  I 
could  be  anything  but  an  unworthy  recipient  of  God's 
great  mercy  and  the  boundless  indulgence  of  children  and 
friends. 

"The  Emperor  has  written  to  me  with  his  own  good 
hand,  and  has  sent  me  his  portrait,  which  is  a  fine  likeness, 
in  a  frame  both  magnificent  and  simple.  The  Empress 
has  caused  a  gracious  letter  to  be  written  to  me,  signed  by 
herself,  and  accompanying  a  portfolio  containing  the  late 
King's  drawings  in  lithograph  ;  a  collection  which  I  heard 
of  a  few  years  ago,  as  having  been  made  by  command  of 
the  Queen  Dowager,  and  presented  by  her  to  a  number  of 
persons,  when  I  could  not  help  feeling  a  great  wish  to 
have  been  of  the  number,  as  a  sort  of  remnant  of  your 
dear  Father : — and  now,  you  see,  I  have  them  in  posses- 
sion, and  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  thoroughly  contemplating 
them. 

' '  The  Grand  Duke  and  Grand  Duchess  sent  me  their 
portraits,  in  two  large  medallions,  the  size  of  life,  in  most 
desirable  frames  of  black  velvet,  with  gilding  on  each 
side.  They  soon  followed  in  person  to  make  me  a  visit — 
and  great  is  to  me  always  the  gratification  of  beholding 
their  fine  countenances  and  graceful  bearing,  and  receiving 
their  benevolent  expressions — wishing  I  had  anything  to 
return  besides  deep  sense  of  obligation.  Prince  Ludwig 


HER11ENALB.  465 


came  later,  and  did  my  eyes  and  heart  good  with,  the  sight 
of  his  lovely  countenance.  Princess  Victoria  failed  not  to 
call,  and  left  me  a  bunch  of  wild  snowdrops,  gathered  by 
herself  in  the  wood ;  but  I  had  gone  out  for  a  second  walk, 
and  saw  her  not :  the  Hereditary  Prince  is  absent,  enjoy- 
ing his  travels  in  Italy. 

' '  Many,  many,  are  gone  before  on  this  way  of  life,  on 
which  Grod  is  pleased  that  I  should  still  wander :  but  still 
have  the  signs  of  remembrance  not  chilled  by  distance 
and  time  been  many  and  precious." 

The  EMPEROR  or  GERMANY  to 

HER  EXCELLENCY  THE  BARONESS  VON  BUNSEN  in  Carls- 
ruhe.     (Translation.) 

"Berlin,  March  3,  1876. 

* '  It  has  been  communicated  to  me,  that  you,  honoured 
Madam,  by  God's  grace  will  reach  to-morrow  so  high  a 
step  of  life,  and  this  in  such  happy  circumstances,  that 
everybody  must  wish  you  joy  of  it. 

' '  But  for  myself,  I  am  especially  prompted  to  express 
to  you  my  hearty  sympathy  on  this  occasion,  because  I  am 
called  upon  to  do  so  by  the  recollections  of  Bunsen,  to 
whom  I  owe  so  much  in  the  manifold  relations  of  life,  in  a 
manner  which  inspires  me  with  life-long  gratitude. 

"This  recollection  in  itself  is  inseparable  from  that  of 
the  hospitality  which  I  have  so  often  received  in  your 
house  and  family,  and  which  is  for  ever  present  to  my 
mind. 

"These  dear  recollections  urge  me  to  offer  you  most 
faithful  wishes  for  the  well  being  of  your  body  and  soul, 
which  constantly  more  and  more  directs  you,  to  await  with 

VOL.  n.  H  H 


466         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

composure  and  submission  your  entrance  upon  the  unknown 
beyond. 

"  With  most  faithful  sentiments, 
"  Honoured  Madam, 

"  Yr  devoted  King 

"WlLHELM." 

BARONESS  BUNSEN  to  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  EMMA. 

"March  20,  1876. — May  the  partings  and  the  meetings, 
the  travelling  and  the  home-return,  now  in  near  prospect, 
all  be  under  the  blessing  and  direction  of  Him  who  can 
reunite  as  well  as  divide !  I  ever  pray  in  anticipation  of 
a  family-meeting — '  may  we  all  be  brought  closer,  both  to 
each  other  and  to  God,  whether  by  nearness  or  by  separa- 
tion.' " 

To  MRS.  BLACKWELL. 

"  Carlsruhe,  14  March,  1876. — It  is  more  affecting  to  me 
than  I  can  express,  to  receive  again  your  precious  words, 
in  your  own  beautiful  hand- writing !  and  I  long  to  fancy 
that  your  own  spirit  of  love  and  peace  is  exhaled  and 
inhaled  to  my  benefit.  Had  I  but  '  more  heart '  where- 
with to  be  thankful  as  I  ought  for  the  peace  as  well  as 
health,  I  am  allowed  to  enjoy  !  I  sometimes  feel  as  if  I 
were  unfairly  possessed  of  such  well-being  at  this  advanced 
age,  tho'  I  well  know  that  the  gift  of  God  is  granted  with- 
out stint  or  grudging,  and  I  can  but  hope  and  pray  that 
more  heavenly  mindedness  may  be  added  to  so  many  other 
mercies,  and  that  I  may  be  able,  in  the  spirit  of  a  hymn,  to 

exclaim — 

'  0  come  ere  that  this  heart  grows  cold, 
Ere  yet  the  stamp  of  Death  shall  sear.* 


HERRENALB.  467 


"The  sensation  of  excessive  weakness,  of  inability  for 
bodily  exertion,  is  the  only  sign  with  me  of  the  nearness  of 
cessation  in  this  long  preserved  activity  of  the  human 
frame,  which  seems  nowhere  out  of  order,  or  flagging  in 
vividness  of  life ;  the  same  interests,  the  same  craving  after 
knowledge  of  the  works  of  God,  or  the  ways  of  His  Provi- 
dence, continue  to  animate  my  existence.  What  I  feel  as 
the  worst  thing  to  endure  is  the  diminution  of  sight,  which 
makes  it  impossible  for  me  to  read :  I  can  write,  because 
my  hand  is  steady,  though  my  looking  over  what  is  written 
would  be  of  very  uncertain  service  ;  but  I  am  thankful  still 
to  take  in  natural  scenery  in  its  general  character,  though 
its  details  may  be  incorrect.  I  have  kind  readers,  and  as 
to  work  I  am  still  capable  of  plain  knitting,  having  com- 
petent eyes  at  hand  to  overlook  and  make  beginnings  and 
endings.  I  have  passed  the  winter  better  than  most  of  my 
juniors,  and  have  long  been  spared  the  ennui  even  of 
taking  care  of  a  cold  in  bed :  I  am  resolutely  homeopathic 
as  ever,  in  so  far  as  to  prescribe  sometimes  for  myself  the 
globules  which  were  my  old  and  useful  friends — but  I  have 
no  physician  (homeopathy  being  little  esteemed  here)  and 
drugs  as  far  as  ever  from  my  practice. 

"  My  new-built  chalet  at  Herrenalb  (in  the  Schwarzwald 
and  in  Wiirtemberg)  only  within  a  drive  of  three  hours 
from  Carlsruhe,  will  be  my  summer  refuge,  please  God  I 
live  till  the  season  is  warm  again :  there  I  have  woods  and 
streams  and  hills  and  green  vallies,  for  which  I  am  indeed 
thankful.  My  dear  Sternberg  grandchildren  go  with  me, 
as  well  as  my  daughters  Frances  and  Emilia: — that  is 
(to  be  accurate)  the  youngest  girl,  now  fourteen,  attends 
the  School  arranged  by  the  Grand  Duehess  for  her  only 


468         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

daughter,  born  in  the  same  year  that  in  the  birth  of  Aga 
the  life  of  her  precious  mother  was  (as  it  were)  merged. 
And  our  Eeinhold,  now  fifteen,  attends  his  school  at 
Schw,abisch  Hall  in  Wiirtemberg :  so  that  those  two  can 
only  be  with  me  in  their  rare  holidays.  My  lengthened 
life  has  to  submit  to  seeing  those  growing  old,  whom  I 
have  known  in  infancy !  but  how  should  I  not  thank  God, 
to  be  allowed  to  admire  and  prize  their  maturity ! — God 
support  and  help  you,  dear  Friend !  gratefully  does  my 
heart  acknowledge  your  faithful  friendship.  Ever  yrs. 
tenderly  and  faithfully, 

"  F.  DE  BUNSEN." 

To  her  DAUGHTER-IN-LAW  MARY  LOUISA. 

"14  March,  1876.— You  will  have  felt  as  I  have,  the 
relief  of  knowing  dear  Lady  Augusta  Stanley  to  be  at 
rest !  What  a  mysterious  dispensation  that  she  should  have 
been  so  long  at  the  point  of  death,  so  slowly  released 
from  the  tie  nearly  broken.  Alas!  for  Arthur  Stanley! 
How  busy  is  death  with  all  around,  so  much  my  juniors ! 
and  yet  I  am  bidden  to  remain.  May  the  purpose  of  God 
be  fulfilled  in  me  and  by  me." 

To  A.  P.  STANLEY,  Dean  of  Westminster. 

11  Carlsruhe,  15  March,  1876. — No  common  utterance  is 
fit  to  approach  your  immense  sorrow !  and  could  I  but  press 
your  hand  and  meet  your  eye  I  should  feel  it  most  suited 
to  the  depth  and  fulness  of  sympathy  to  dwell  in  silence  on 
the  departure  of  her,  whom  nobody  can  spare,  whom  all  of 
us  claimed  as  our  own,  whom  all  of  us,  far  and  near,  felt 
to  be  close  to  us,  in  the  wide  grasp  of  that  Christian  love 
which  seemed  to  warm  and  cherish  all  in  its  effusion. 


HERRENALB.  469 


"  The  words  of  that  benediction,  which  you  were  enabled 
to  pronounce,  at  the  close  of  the  invaluable  solemnity  in 
which  all  that  was  earthly  had  been  restored  to  earth — 
must  be,  and  will  be,  your  support:  in  the  world  which 
she  has  left,  even  the  numberless  traces  of  her  that  remain 
in  the  objects  of  her  benevolence,  serve  but  to  renew  the 
anguish  of  the  seeking  and  grieving  spirit,  which  can  find 
power  of  life  and  activity  alone  in  the  sacredness  of  remem- 
brance and  contemplation. 

"  Such  an  intimacy,  such  an  active  unity  of  heart,  of 
principle,  of  taste,  as  has  been  yours,  dear  friend,  was  a 
rare  gift  of  the  beneficent  Providence  which  made  her  what 
she  was,  and  conducted  each  and  both  of  you  to  find  in 
each  other  that  which  made  life  worth  living  for; — and 
may  the  blessed  consciousness  of  what  has  been  granted  to 
you,  afford  you  strength  even  to  look  through  the  darkness 
which  to  flesh  and  blood  seems  to  belong  to  the  '  grave  and 
gate  of  death.' 

' '  With  a  tenderness  of  maternal  feeling  which  I  cannot 
well  express,  I  remain  your  aged  friend, 

"  FRANCES  DE  BTJNSEN." 

This  touching  letter  is  the  last  of  the  correspondence 
of  Madame  dc  Bunsen.  Her  long  life,  so  blessing  and 
so  blest,  was  then  waning  to  its  close,  though  those 
who  enjoyed  the  sunshine  of  her  presence  were  un- 
conscious of  the  impending  blow. 

The  many  letters  of  the  Baroness  Bun  sen  given  in 
these  volumes  are  the  best  record  of  her  words  and 
thoughts.  Her  character  needs  no  other  portraiture. 
Her  noble  powers  of  mind,  her  vivid  interest  in  every- 


470         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

thing  great  and  good,  her  gentle  humility  in  prosperity, 
her  bright  reception  of  every  gleam  of  sunshine  in 
adversity,  are  sufficiently  shown  in  her  written  words. 
Above  all,  it  may  be  seen  in  them  that  the  great  desire 
of  her  long  life  was  to  seek  after  God — only  in  Christ 
and  only  through  Christ.  With  her  years,  her  yearn- 
ing after  the  Heavenly  Life  had  seemed  constantly  to 
increase.  Gratefully,  with  ever-growing  sense  of  the 
blessed  calm  of  her  old  age,  had  she  acquiesced  in  the 
circumstances  which,  by  binding  her  to  Carlsruhe,  had 
removed  her  from  the  varied  interests  of  former  exist- 
ence. Most  sweetly,  as  infirmities  increased,  had  her 
grand  nature  bent  itself  with  yielding  submission  to 
her  home- daughters,  in  all  that  their  loving  care 
arranged  for  her,  while  taking  away  the  work  and 
responsibility  of  the  numerous  household- circle,  and 
screening  her  with  tenderest  forethought  from  every 
anxiety. 

Shortly  before  Easter,  George  de  Bunsen  brought  his 
three  youngest  little  girls  to  Carlsruhe,  in  order  that 
they  might  make  acquaintance  with  their  grandmother, 
the  youngest  never  having  been  seen  by  her,  and  the 
two  others  only  as  babies,  when  she  visited  Berlin  in 
1870.  This  pleasure  had  long  been  looked  forward  to 
by  the  most  loving  of  mothers  and  grandmothers,  and 
great  was  her  enjoyment  of  it :  each  morning,  during 
the  visit,  her  countenance  beamed  with  fresh  joy  at  the 
thought  of  another  day's  intercourse  with  her  beloved 
son,  and  another  day's  sight  of  his  children.  In  the 


HERRENALB.  471 


morning,  and  sometimes  twice  a  day,  the  arm  of  George 
took  the  place  of  that  of  Frances,  the  usual  walking- 
companion,  for  a  turn  in  the  Schlossgarten  or  in  the 
sunny  Schlossplatz.  It  was  while  she  was  walking  in 
the  latter  on  Palm  Sunday  (the  Sunday  before  she  was 
taken  ill)  that  the  Grand  Duke  and  Grand  Duchess  of 
Baden  came  up  to  her  with  their  usual  gracious  cordi- 
ality, giving  her  the  kindest  possible  message  from 
Queen  Victoria — a  last  proof  of  remembrance  from  a 
sovereign  whose  course  she  had  never  failed  to  follow 
with  the  most  profound  admiration  and  affection. 

Through  the  following  week  George  de  Bunsen  sat  in 
his  Mother's  room  for  hours,  answering  the  many  ques- 
tions, literary,  political,  historical,  and  geographical, 
which  had  been  suggested  by  the  books  or  newspapers 
last  read  to  her,  and,  referring  to  which  she  often  com- 
plained with  a  sigh  that  "  there  was  no  one  in  Carls- 
ruhe  who  could  answer  questions,"  she  had  been  "  so 
spoilt  in  former  years  by  always  having  had  him 
(Bunsen)  to  ask  questions  of,  or  by  being  in  a  place 
where  it  was  easier  to  find  people  with  general  inte- 
rests." George  de  Bunsen  also  read  much  aloud  to  his 
Mother,  filling  thus  the  office  usually  supplied  by  her 
second  daughter  Emilia,  who  during  that  week  gene- 
rally sat  by  with  her  work,  listening  instead  of  reading. 
The  last  book  read  aloud  was  the  "  Memoir  of  Countess 
Voss,"  a  lady  who  rejected  an  offer  of  marriage  from 
the  Heir  Apparent  of  the  Prussian  crown,  but  con- 
tinued the  cherished  friend  of  the  royal  family  through 


472         LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

sixty-nine  eventful  years.  When  George  de  Bunsen 
read  the  last  words  of  the  book,  stating  that  Countess 
Yoss  lived  eighty-five  years,  his  voice  faltered,  as  if  he 
had  pronounced  words  better  not  spoken,  and  his 
Mother,  who  had  not  hitherto  shown  any  symptom  of 
illness,  looked  at  him  wistfully. 

On  Good  Friday,  March  14th,  it  seemed  to  those 
who  were  with  her  too  cold  for  their  dear  Mother  to  go 
out,  but  she  still  resolved  to  take  her  usual  walk,  ac- 
companied by  her  daughter  Frances.  She  returned 
chilled,  and  was  unwell  all  the  next  day,  though  there 
were  no  symptoms  to  create  alarm. 

On  the  morning  of  Easter  Sunday,  Emilia  de  Bunsen, 
going  into  her  Mother's  room  soon  after  seven  o'clock, 
found  her  already  seated,  in  her  black  silk  Sunday 
dress,  by  the  sunny  window,  reading  parts  of  hymns 
which  she  had  years  before  copied  out  on  a  long  strip 
of  paper  in  her  beautiful  handwriting,  and  which  she 
always  kept  in  her  pocket  in  a  black  silk  case.  Vividly 
does  the  daughter  recall  the  especial  tenderness  of  the 
Mother's  repeated  embrace,  and  her  beaming,  almost 
heavenly  look,  as  she  expressed  her  thankfulness  at 
being  allowed  to  spend  another  Easter  Sunday  with  her 
children,  and  for  all  the  other  blessings  which  were 
granted  her — the  indescribable  brightness  of  her  whole 
aspect  appearing  to  be  the  reflection  of  that  Resurrec- 
tion feast  which  she  so  peculiarly  loved,  and  which  on 
that  day  especially  seemed  to  have  cast  its  halo  around 
her.  She  staid  quietly  at  home  that  morning,  and  her 


HEURENALB.  473 


grand-daughter  Rosa  von  Ungern  Sternberg  read  to  her, 
amongst  other  things,  a  hymn  in  Bunsen's  collection — 
"  Die  seele  ruht  in  Jesu  Armen,"  the  last  verse  of  which 
she  repeated  line  by  line  after  the  reader,*  the  words 
"  Wer  weiss  wie  bald  "f  being  especially  and  devoutly 
emphasized.  In  the  afternoon,  as  it  was  very  fine,  she 
went  out  for  half  an  hour  with  her  grand-daughter 
Hosa.  Afterwards  she  looked  out  some  engravings  by 
Gr liner  of  the  frescoes  in  the  Villa  Magliana  represent- 
ing the  death  of  St.  Felicitas  and  her  crown  of  Eternal 
Life,  of  which  she  had  been  speaking  that  morning, 
and  she  enjoyed  showing  them  to  her  son  George, 
remembering  perfectly,  in  spite  of  her  diminished  eye- 
sight, what  each  page  contained,  and  which  of  the 
designs  were  attributed  to  Raffaelle.  When  Emilia 
came  later  to  read  to  her,  she  found  that  her  Mother 
wished  to  rest  instead  of  listening  as  usual.  In  the 
evening  she  was  not  rested,  was  unable  to  join  the 
family  tea- supper,  and  was  helped  to  the  sofa  instead  of 
to  the  chair  which  she  had  always  occupied  in  the 

*  "  Wir,  die  wir  durch  die  Wiiste  reisen, 
Wir  sehncn  uns  inx  Glauben  nach  ; 
Wir  denken  unter  Thriinonspeiscn, 
An  jenes  himmlische  Gemach, 
Allwo  wir  mit  der  Schaar  der  Frommen 
Wer  wciss  wie  bald  zusammenkommen, 
Und  bei  dem  Herrn  sein  allezeit ; 
Da  \vollen  wir  ihn  ewig  schen. 
Wie  wohl,  wie  wolil  wird  uns  geschehen, 
Ilerr  Jesu,  komm,  mach  uns  bereit." 

•*•  "  Who  knows  how  soon  we  shall  come  together." 


474         LIFE    AND    LETTERS   OF    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

drawing  room,  by  the  side  of  the  lamp-lit  table.  After 
some  music,  she  asked  Emilia  to  read  to  her  from 
Gossner's  Life,  a  book  which  was  at  that  time  kept  for 
Sunday  reading,  and  upon  which  she  was  able  as  usual 
to  make  remarks,  though  her  voice  was  very  weak. 

The  beloved  recollection  of  the  Grandmother's  cheer- 
ing presence  and  lively  interest  in  all  around  her  on 
this  Easter  Evening  is  especially  cherished  in  her 
family.  It  was  the  last  time  of  her  being  with  them. 
The  following  day  she  did  not  leave  her  bed,  but  was 
still  able  to  listen  with  animation  to  a  letter  of  Miss 
Nightingale,  and  to  hear  of  some  portraits  of  the 
beautiful  Queen  Louisa  of  Prussia  which  her  thought- 
ful friend  Meyer  had  sent  her  from  Berlin :  she  also 
enjoyed  being  told  how  her  grandchildren  had  been  to 
the  palace,  to  hunt  for  Easter  eggs.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  an  undefined  alarm  was  first  excited  in 
the  mind  of  Emilia  de  Bunsen,  when  in  answer  to  the 
ever-kind  enquiries  of  the  Grand  Duchess  she  found 
herself  obliged  to  reply  that  her  Mother  had  staid  the 
whole  day  in  bed,  which  for  years  and  years  she  had 
never  been  known  to  do. 

On  the  two  following  days,  strength  failed  rapidly, 
though  on  one  occasion  the  dear  Grandmother  desired 
with  her  usual  cheerfulness  to  be  wheeled  into  her 
sitting-room,  where  she  sat  propped  up  with  pillows, 
and  smiled  happily  to  see  her  son  George  seated  oppq- 
site  to  her.  Afterwards  her  mind  seemed  gently  to 
wander,  yet  would  ever  awaken  with  a  look  of  tenderest 


HERRENALB.  475 


love  and  recognition  when  one  of  her  children  came  up 
to  her.  She  also  always  recognized  Dr.  yon  Pockham- 
mer,  and  sought  to  give  him  her  hand.  As  all  hope 
gradually  failed  that  her  precious  earthly  life  would  be 
preserved,  the  absent  children  were  sent  for.  To 
Henry,  Ernest,  and  Mary,  the  consolation  was  not 
granted  of  beholding  their  dear  Mother  again  in  life. 
Charles  arrived  on  Sunday,  and  was  recognised  with 
tender  affection.  Later  in  the  morning,  Pfarrer  Zim- 
mermann  was  summoned,  being  the  pastor  she  had 
always  liked  best  to  hear  in  Carlsruhe,  and  whose 
church  she  had  last  attended  in  February,  when  she 
had  partaken  for  the  last  time  of  the  Holy  Supper.  As 
he  came  in,  she  recognized  him,  and  spoke  to  him 
touchingly  of  the  death  of  a  son  (the  third  he  had  lost 
within  two  years),  an  affliction  which  had  befallen  him 
since  they  had  met.  After  this  she  seemed  to  have 
fallen  into  deep  slumber,  but  when  her  daughters  asked 
the  Pfarrer  to  pray,  they  perceived  an  almost  invisible 
motion  of  her  hand  in  acquiescence,  and  heard  with  a 
thrill — from  her  who  seemed  already  so  very  far  off — 
a  distinct  "  Amen  "  at  the  end  of  the  prayer. 

Emilia  de  Bunsen  watched  by  the  bedside  through 
the  afternoon,  and  at  six  went  to  rest,  desiring  to  be 
called  at  ten.  But  at  seven  she  was  summoned.  In 
that  short  interval  the  Master  had  entered  the  silent 
chamber,  and  the  beloved  Mother  lay  in  the  arms  of 
her  daughter  Frances,  and  her  weary  eyes  were  closed 
in  the  stillness  of  everlasting  repose. 


476        LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OV    BARONESS    BUNSEN. 

There  was  no  pain,  nor  distress,  nor  anxiety.  As 
the  spirit  passed  away,  both  Frances  de  Bunsen  and 
George  (hastily  called  from  another  room)  saw  upon 
the  revered  features  a  strange  and  wonderful  likeness 
to  the  long-lost  mother,  to  whom  they  had  borne  no 
resemblance  in  life. 

In  the  first  anguish  of  their  great  desolation,  her 
children  could  give  God  thanks,  that  thus — tenderly — 
without  suffering — their  Mother  had  been  led  through 
the  dark  valley :  and  they  do  so  still — daily. 

Henry  and  Ernest  de  Bunsen  and  Mary  Harford 
did  not  reach  Carlsruhe  till  the  evening  after  their 
Mother's  translation.  But  they  were  comforted  when 
they  looked  upon  the  sublime  beauty  and  grandeur  of 
her  beloved  countenance,  which  they  saw  once  more  in 
its  noblest,  its  most  spiritualized  expression.  As  the 
news  spread  in  Carlsruhe,  and  throughout  Germany, 
that  the  Baroness  Bunsen  had  passed  away,  the  most 
touching  telegrams  were  received  by  her  family  from 
friends  without  number,  headed  by  the  Emperor, 
the  Empress,  and  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Baden,  whose 
sympathy  was  not  the  mere  condolence  of  sovereigns, 
but  the  outpouring  of  generous  and  affectionate  fellow- 
feeling  in  the  family  grief.  The  Emperor  expressed  in 
a  letter  his  deep  "reverence  for  her  who  had  fallen 
asleep/'  while  praying  that  her  beautiful  example  might 
assist  all  her  children  to  follow  in  the  way  by  which 
she  had  gone  before — "  then  would  that  consolation  not 


HKRRENALB.  477 


be  wanting,  which  is  only  there  to  be  sought,  but  there 
also  to  be  found,  from  whence  such  deep  wounds  come." 
This  fulness  of  gracious  sympathy  was  at  a  later  date 
again  manifested  by  the  Emperor  in  person  to  several 
of  the  Bunsen  brothers,  when  they  wrere  summoned  to 
visit  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Baden  at  Wiesbaden,  that 
they  might  hear  from  her  own  lips  of  her  personal 
share  in  their  loss,  and  of  the  happiness  she  had  felt  in 
the  society  of  her  venerable  neighbour  for  so  many 
years. 

A  first  funeral  service  was  held  in  the  family  home 
in  the  Waldhorn  Strasse.  There  the  coffin  lay  in  the 
middle  of  the  room,  covered  by  fresh  flowers  from  the 
hands  of  the  Princess  Victoria  of  Baden,  with  a  wreath 
sent  from  "Wiesbaden  by  the  Grand  Duchess,  and  a 
palm  branch  as  a  sign  of  love  from  the  Grand  Duke. 
On  the  left  were  the  sons  and  daughters,  and  grand- 
children ;  on  the  right  the  Grand  Duke  of  Baden,  and 
a  few  intimate  friends.  • 

Only  twice  before,  at  the  weddings  of  Ernest  and 
Mary,  had  the  five  sons  of  Bunsen  been  together  since 
the  two  eldest  left  the  paternal  roof  of  Palazzo  Caf- 
farelli  in  1834.  But  as  the  mourning  family  from 
Carlsruhe  were  on  their  way  to  the  last  office  of 
love,  they  were  joined  by  their  youngest  brother 
Theodore,  who  had  only  just  arrived  from  his  post  at 
Alexandria.  On  the  central  cross  in  the  pavement  of 
the  beautiful  time-honoured  cemetery  chapel  at  Bonn, 
they  found  the  flower-laden  coffin  surrounded  by 


478        LIFE   AND    LETTERS    OF    BARONESS    BUNSEX. 

numbers  of  faithful  friends.  In  accordance  with, 
their  Mother's  own  wish,  the  customary  sermon  (which 
frequently  transforms  itself  into  a  panegyric  oil  the 
dead)  was  omitted,  and  the  simple  funeral  service  was 
in  accordance  with  the  Gebetbuch  and  Gesangbuch  of 
Bunsen.  Again  at  the  grave  a  few  prayers  were 
offered,  and,  as  the  Father's  tomb  was  opened  and 
the  Mother's  coffin  laid  beside  his,  the  words  of  the 
monumental  slab  above  assumed  a  fresh  meaning  to 
those  who  looked  upon  them. 

"  Lasset  uns  wandeln  im  Lichte  des  Ewigen." 


INDEX. 


A. 

Abeken,  Heinrich,  i.  382,  402,  407,  408, 
422,  425,  431,  438,  439,  443,  446,  451- 
457,  472-474 ;  ii.  18-21,  63,  232,  "212, 
295,  319,  407,  431,  432 
Abeken,  Ludwig,  i.  97 
Accorambuoni,  Casino,  i.  112,  159 
Acland,  Dr.,  ii.  400 
Henry,  i.  509 
Sir  Thomas,  i.  427,  504 
Thomas,  ii.  87 
Addington,  ii.  81 

Adelaide,  the  Queen  Dowager,  ii.  115 
Agassiz,  ii.  17 
Agricola,  i.  97 
Aix,  in  Savoy,  ii.  49,  50 
Alb,  River,  ii.  457 
Alba,  i.  394 

Albert,  the  Prince  Consort,  ii.  41,  57,  80, 
101, 127,  152,  161,  220 ;  memoir  of, 
ii.  326 

Aldobrandini,  Villa,  i.  253 
Alertz,  Dr.,  i.  432,  433 
Alford,  Lady  Marion,  ii.  368 
Alfred,  Prince,  ii.  160,  213 
Alice,  Princess,  ii.  160,  453 
Alison,  Mr.,  i.  79 
Allen,  Baugh,  i.  67 

of  Cresselly,  i.  67,  294 
Amalfi,  i.  350 
Ambrosch,  i.  365,  407,  421 
Ampere,  his  "Histoire  Romain<xa,  Eome," 

ii.353 

Andersen,  the  Poet,  ii.  105 
Angerstein,  Mr.,  house  of,  i.  50 
Antrodoco,  i.  387 
Aquila,  i.  387-389 

Argyll,  Duke  and  Duchess  of,  ii.  229,  343 
Amdt,  Ernst  Moritz.  ii.  200,  201,  269 
Aruim,  Baron  and  Baroness  von,  i.  224  ; 

ii.  79,  88,  94 
Arnold,  Dr.,  i.  418,  430,  434,  435,  494,  497, 

511,  514  ;  ii.  50,  429,  456 
Mrs.,  i.  494,  511 ;  ii.  128,  421,  444,  445 
Arthur,  Prince,  ii,  160,  161 
Ashburtou,  Lady  Louisa,  ii.  365,  368,  370 
Ashley,  Lord,  ii.  43 

Astor,  William  Backhouse,  i.  96,  99,  103, 
104 ;  ii.  221 


Atemo,  River,  i.  390 
Aubel,  Professor,  ii.  406,  410 
Auerswald,  ii.  188 
Augusta,  Princess,  i.  70,  74 
Augustus,  Prince  of  Prussia,  i.  225,  383 
Avellino,  i.  430 
Avernus,  Lake,  i.  348 
Avezzano,  i.  392 

B. 

Bach,  Sebastian,  his  "  Passion,"  ii.  339 
Baden,  Grand  Duchess  of,  ii.  428,  444, 
447,  463,  471,  474,  476,  477 

Grand  Duke  of,  ii.  303,  321,  325,  328, 
411,447,471,476,477 

Hereditary  Prince  of,  ii.  448,  464 

Margrave  of,  Charles  Frederick,    ii. 
322 

Prince  Ludwig  of,  ii.  463 

Princess  Victoria  of,  ii.  447,  448,  464 
Baise,  i.  348,  354 
Bnldi,  Signora  Costanza,  i.  375 
Baltimore,  Lord,  i.  5 
Barberini,  Villa,  at  Albano,  i.  187 
Barley  Wood,  ii.  148 
Baskett,  Mrs.,  i.  34 
Basle,  ii.  350 
Bathurst,  Miss,  i.  231 
Beaufort,  Duchess  Dowager  of,  ii.  151 
Beddoes,  Dr.,  i.  40 
Bekker,  Dr.,  i.  141 ;  ii.  163 
Benedict,  Mr.,  ii.  163 
Bere,  de  la,  Anne,  i.  10 

Harriet  Joan,  i.  21 

John,  i.  10 

Beresford,  Judith,  i.  42 
Berlin,  ii.  66,  67,  405-408 
Berne,  ii.  1 
Bemstorff,  Count,  i.  238,  239,  257,  317 

Countess,  ii.  168,  237,  251 
Berrington,  Mrs.,  ii.  135,  137,  141,  425 
Berry,  the  Misses,  i.  176 
Bessinge,  ii.  14 
Billington,  Mrs.,  i.  61 
Bismarck,  Count,  ii.  440 
Blackwell,  Mrs.,  ii.  425,  466 
Blaise  Castle,  ii.  56,  155,  344 
Blenheim,  i.  513 
Blonay,  Chateau  de,  ii.  350,  351,  366 


480 


INDEX. 


Blumhardt,  Pfarrer,  ii.  88 
Bologna,  i.  478 

Bonaparte,  Donna  Anna,  i.  132 
Donna  Cristina,  i.  132 
Lucien,  i.  327,  328 
Bonn,  ii.  266,  356, 357 
Boothby,  Penelope  Brook,  i.  56 
Borghese,  Galleria,  i.  360 

Gwendolina,  Princess,  ii.  17 
Pauline,  Princess,  i.  13iJ 
Villa,  i.  239,  344 
Bowdler,  Mrs.  Frances,  i.  81 

Mrs.  Harriet,  i.  82 
Boyle,  Lady,  i.  405 

Brandis,  Carl  August,  i.  98.  Ill,  112, 116, 
120,  121, 122,  123,  126,  135,  138,  190, 
331,  332,  3fi9;  ii.  200,  269,  357,  385 
Charles,  i.  124 
Dr.,  i.  101, 118 
Braun,  Dr.,  i.  428 
Brea,  Ludovico,  ii.  369 
Bremer,  Frederika,  ii.  205 
Broglie,  Due  de,  ii.  104,  209 

Duchesse  de,  i.  125,  370,  371 
Bromley,  Miss  Davenport,  ii.  64,  79,  343 
Brunswick,  Duchess  of,  i.  77 
Buch,  Baron  de,  i.  435 
Buckland,  Dr.,  i.  509 
Buckle,  his  writings,  ii.  391 
Bulstrode,  i.  12 

Bungener,  his  "  Sermons  sur  Louis  XV.," 
ii.  178;  his  "Life  of  Calvin,"  ii. 
855 
Bunsen,  Arnold  de,  death  of,  ii.  360 

Augusta  Matilda  de,  birth  of,  i.  435 ; 

death  of.  ii.  370-379 
Baron,  birth  of,  i.  93;  marriage  of, 
i.  Ill;  death  of,  ii.  277;  memoir 
of,  ii.  287 
Baroness,  birth  of,  i.  24;   marriage 

of,  i.  108;  death  of,  ii.  475 
Beatrice  de,  ii.  379 
Charles  de,  birth  of,  i.  188 ;  marriage 

of,  ii.  208 

Christiana,  i.  93,  100,  101,  240-242, 
318,  336,  338, 364-367,  483  ;  ii.  63,  70, 
141 

Elizabeth  de,  marriage  of,  ii.  80 
Ella  de,  death  of,  ii.  239 
Emilia  de,  birth  of,  i.  276 
Emma  de,  marriage  of,  ii.  179 
Ernest  de,  birth  of,  i.  145 ;  marriage 

of,  ii.  80 

Frances  Helen  de,  birth  of,  i.  261 
Frederic  Wilhelm,  birth  of,  i.  202 ; 

death  of,  i.  205 
Fritz  de,  birth  of,  ii.  93  ;  death  of,  ii. 

411 
George  Frederick  de,  birth  of,  i.  246 ; 

marriage  of,  ii.  179 
Heinrich  Christian,  i.  92,  155 
Henry  de,  birth  of,  i.  130 ;  marriage 

of,  ii.  96,  97 
Hilda  de,  ii.  442 


Bunsen,  Johannette  Eleanorc,  marriage 
of,  i.  93 ;  death  of,  i.  150 

Marie  de,  ii.  442,  448 

Mary  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  birth  of, 
i.  326,  339  ;  marriage  of,  ii.  129,  141 

Mary  Frances,  birth  of,  i.  163 ;  death 
of,  i.  180 

Mary  Isabel  de,  marriage  of,  ii.  208 

Mary  Louisa  de,  marriage  of,  ii.  96, 97 

Moritz  de,  ii.  442 

Reinhard,  i.  97 

Theodora,  birth  of,  i.  369 ;  marriage 
of,  ii.  189 ;  death  of,  ii.  391 

Theodore  de,  birth  of,  i.  369 

Waldemar  de,  birth  of.  ii.  429 

Wilhelm  de,  death  of,  ii.  270 
Burche,  Countess  de,  ii.  237 
Burg  Rheindorf,  ii.  199 
Burgess,  Mr.,  i.  398 
Burney,  Miss,  i.  17 
Bute,  Lady,  i.  2CO 
Buttmann,  i.  102 
Buxton,  Lady,  ii.  85 

C. 

Calandrini,  Mademoiselle,  i.  429 ;  ii.  13, 
15,  51,  356 

Calvin,  character  of,  ii.  354 

Calwich,  i.  53,  249 

Cambridge,  i.  512 

Cambridge.  Duchess  of,  ii.  43,  44,  96,  103, 

114 
Duke  of,  i.  77  ;  ii.  96,  97,  103,  114, 142 

Campbell,  "Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancel- 
lors," ii.  118 

Campo  Rosso,  ii.  368 

Canino,  Princess  of,  i.  428 

Cannes,  ii.  236 

Canning,  Lady,  ii.  47,  92, 150 

Capaccini,  Mon  signer,  i.  266 

Capece,  Zurla,  Prince  of,  i.  388 ;  family 
of,  i.  395 

Capitol,  Tower  of  the,  i.  465 

Capua,  i.  349,  352 

Carlsruhe,  ii.  303,  319,  322,  389,  419,  439 

Carlton  JTerrace,  Prussian  Legation  at, 
ii.  37,  126, 166 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  ii.  58,  235,  239,  310,  35€, 

358,370 
Thomas,  the  Irvingite,  ii.  76 

Caserta,  i.  352 

Cassel,  ii.  405 

Castel  Gandolfo,  i.  367 

Cathcart,  Mr.,  i.  104, 105,  291 

Cavi,  i.  374 

Cavo,  Monte,  1.  254 

Chamisso,  the  Poet,  i.  102 

Charlotte,  Princess,  i.  71,  77,  78,  129 
Queen,  i.  13,  14.  15,  16,  17,  71 

Charlottenberg,  ii.  167,  247 

Chase,  Mr.,  i  398 

Chateaubriand,  i.  318,  462 

Chateau  d'Oex,  ii.  411,412 


INDEX. 


481 


Chigi,  Death  of  Monsignor,  i.  450,  457, 464 

Death  of  Princess,  i.  444,  450 
Christian  Year,  the,  ii.  401,  428 
Cicolana,  the,  i.395 
Clarence,  Duke  of,  i.  73 
Clayton,  Lady  Louisa,  i.  17,  69 

Miss  Emily,  i.  17 
Clifford,  Lord,  i.  427,  460;  ii.  452 

Mr..  LI  11,  404,  500 
Cobden,'Mr.  and  Mrs.,  ii.  124 
Collegium  Preuokianum,  i.  321 
Cologne,  Archbishop  of,  i.  395 
Consalvi,  Cardinal,  i,  211,  297 ;  bust  of, 

234 

Conti,  Villa,  at  Frascati,  i.  339 
Cooper,  Mrs.  Mary,  memoir  of,  i.  305 
Coppet,  ii.  13 
Cora,  i.  402 
Corfinium,  i.  390 
Cornelius,  i.  213,  288,  400 ;  ii.  67 
Corneto,  i.  326 
Cornewall,  Sir  George,  the  daughters  of. 

i.  61 

Correse,  i.  384 

Corsini  Gardens,  i.  465    "  """ 
Cotta,  the  Publisher,  i.  322.  332 
Coutts,  Mrs.,  acting  of,  i.  50 
Cowley,  Lord,  ii.  125 
Cowper,  Georgiana,  Countess,  i.  1 
Cramer,  M.,  ii.  146,  367 
Criekhowel,  ii.  343 
Cronier,  ii.  345 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  i.  73,  77 

Lady  Albinia,  i.  74 
Cures,  river,  i.  384 

D, 

D'Arblay,  Madame,  i.  71,  400,  401 
Davis,  Maurice,  writings  of,  ii.  460 
Davy,  Humphrey,  i.  40 
Dawson,  Miss,  ii.  92 
De  Clifford,  Lady,  i.  78 
Deimling,  Lina,  ii.  54, 55,  57,  53 

Otto,  ii.  54,  215,  328,  455 
Delany,  Dr.,  i.  5,  6,  8 

Mrs.,  i.  1-19 
Delville,  i.  6,  7 
Denison,  Mrs.  E.,  ii.  3,  31-34 
Denmark,  Hereditary  Princess  of,  i.  194 
Devonshire,  Elizabeth   Foster,  Duchess 

of,  i.  233 
£tewes,  Anne,  i.  43 

Court,!.  43 

Mary,  i.  8, 11 

Mr.  and  Mrs.,  L  6,  8,  20,  21 
Dietrich,  Von,  family  of,  ii.  219 
Dissen,  i.  97 
Donneilan,  Mrs.,  i.  5 
Doria,  Princess,  ii.  17 
Dornberg,  General,  i.  227 
Drachenfels,  account  of  the,  ii.  297 
Dragonetti,  Marchese,  i.  38/J 
Dressel,  i.  422 


Drewe,Mre.,i.  68,  131 
Drosli  v.  Vischering,  Countess,  ii.  72 
Dubois,  the  Traveller,  ii.  17 
Dudley,  Lord  and  Lady,  i.  328 
Durham,  Dean  of,  ii.  103 


Eggers,  M.  and  Madame,  i.  263,  291,  297 

Eichhorn,  Madame,  ii.  67 

Elizabeth,  Princess,  i.  70,  71,  75,  76,  200 

St.,  of  Thuringia,  ii.  40c 
Elz,  Schloss,  ii.  332 
Empson,  Mr.,  i.  271 
Enzklosterle,  ii.  90 
Epping  Forest,  ii.  106 
Emest,  Prince,  i.  34,  48 
Erskine,  Mr.,  i.  251,  276 
Evans,  his  "  Church  of  God,"  i.  420 
Exchange,  opening  of  the  Royal,  ii.  73 
Eynard,  M.,  ii.  15 

F. 

Falconieri,  Donna  Camilla,  i.  196 

Fellenberg,  Elise,  ii.  88 

Fenian  Conspiracy,  ii.  390 

Ferretti,  Monsignor,  i.  385 

Ferronays,  Comte  de  la,  i.  404 

Fichte,  ii.  319 

Fielding,  Miss  Augusta,  i.  69 

Filumena,  Santa,  ii.  23 

Finch,  Lady  Charlotte,  i.  69 

Fitzgerald,  Pamela,  i.  75 

Fiumicino,  i.  426 

Fleming,  Count,  ii.  325 

Fletcher,  Mrs.,  ii.  129 

Florence,  i.  475,  476 ;  ii.  395 

Fohr,  Cai-1  Philip,  i.  132, 134 

Fondi,  i.  347 

Ford,  Mr.,  ii.  99 

Forster,  his  "  History  of  the  Great  Re- 
monstrance," ii.  317,  325 
Mr.  and  Mrs.,  ii.  422 

Fountayne,  Dean,  i.  34 

Frederick  William  III.  of  Prussia,  i.  197, 
200,  281,  298,  308-311,  475 

Frederick  William  IV.  of  Prussia  as 
Crown  Prince,  i.  311,  320,  475  ;  ii. 
1,  7  ;  as  King,  ii.  24, 39, 41, 112, 119, 
121,  190,  196,  222,  226,  227;  death 
of,  ii.  285 

Frederick  William,  Emperor  of  Germany, 
as  Crown  Prince,  ii.  63, 70,  111,  113 ; 
as  King,  408 ;  as  Emperor,  4ti5,  476. 
477 

Fr^jus,  ii.  243 

Froude,  J}js  "  History,"  ii.  212 

Fuchs,  Dr.,  i.  481 

Fucinp.  Lago  di,  i.  S91 

Fiihrich,  i.  223 

G. 

Gagern,  H.  von,  ii.  179,  188 

Galand,  ii.  17 

Gau,  his  "  Nubian  Inscriptions,"  i.  334 


VOL.    II. 


I   I 


482 


INDEX. 


Gauthier,  ii.  17 

Gell,  Sir  William,  i.  2G9,  340,  353 
Gebser,  ii.  300 
Genoa,  ii.  369 
Genzano,  i.  160,  255 
George  III.,  i.  13-19,  73 
George  IV.,  death  of,  i.  339 
Gerhard,  Dr.  Edward,  i.  321,  347,  511 ;  ii. 
222, 382 

Frau,  ii.  222,  405,  406 
Germany,   Emperor    of    (see  Frederick 
William) 

Empress  of,  ii.  476 
Gemsbach,  ii.  433 
Gervinus,  ii.  188 
Gladstone,  Mr.,  ii.  455 
Glenelg,  Lord,  ii.  98 
Gloucester,  Duchess  of,  ii.  42,  9C,  97,  98, 

114, 151 
Gonneville,      Souvenirs     Militaires    du 

Colonel  de,  ii.  462 
r.oodrich  Court,  i.  500 
Gower,  Lady  Frances  Lereson,  i.  231 
Grahl,  the  Painter,  i.  168,  297 
Grandchamp,  Chalet  de,  ii.  392,  393 
Granville,  Anne,  i.  5 

Bernard,  i.  2, 9 

John,  i.  42 

Mary,  i.  3 

Mr.  and  Mrs.,  of  Calwich,  i.  21,  42, 
54,  243,  248,  249 

Sir  Beville,  i.  3 ;  ii.  186 
Gregory  XVI.,  Pope,  i.  367,  368,  432,  436, 

441 

Greville,  Mr.,  his  "  History,"  ii.  455 
Grindelwald,  sermon  at,  ii.  388 
Groben,  Count  Carl,  i.  298;  ii.  79 
Grote,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  ii.  205,  207 
Grotta  Ferrata,  i.  254,  339 
Gurney,  Anna,  ii.  85 

Catherine,  ii.  86 

Daniel,  ii.  86 

Hudson,  ii.  85 

John  Joseph,  ii.  84 

Samuel,  ii.  80,  81,  203 
Gurney  Hoare,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  ii.  85 

H. 

Haach,  Countess,  ii.  92 

Haardt  Mountains,  ii.  231 

Habeas  Corpus  Act,  ii.  430 

Hahn,  Frau  von,  ii.  329 

Hall,  Caradoc,  i.  425,  426 
Hanbury,  ii.  74 

Lady,  ii.  63, 100,  134,  135, 140,231,  280 
Mr.,  of  Abercame,  i.  225,  226, 337, 425 
Mrs.,  i.  245,  277,  299,  302,  337,  425, 

490,  511 
Sir  Benjamin,  ii.  231,  280 

Hallam,  Mr.,  i.  295 

Hamburg,  ii.  64 

Hamilton,  Mr.  W.  Ker,  i  397,  405 

Hampden,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  ii.  108 

Hampton  Court,  the  vine  at,  ii.  344 


Handel,  i.  55,  508 
Hardenberg,  Prince,  i.  16fi,  175 
Hare,  Anne  F.  M.  L.,  ii.  402 

Augustus  J.  C.,  ii,  177,  305,  309,  368, 
402,  462 

Augustus  William,  i.  418.  431 

Julius  Charles,  i.  397,  398,  399.  405. 
417,  420 ;  ii.  49,  52,  58,  127,  154,  182 

Mrs.  Augustus,  i.  413,  417,   418,   420, 

507 ;  ii.  49,  53,  177,  305,  309,  402 
Harford,  J.  Battersby,  ii.  129,  141,  144, 
176,  455 

Mr.  and  Mrs.,  ii.  50,  129,  344 
HaiTowby,  Countess  of,  ii.  145 
Haussen.ii.  188 

Haussonville,  Madame  de,  ii.  13 
Hawkins,  Dr.,  Provost  of  Oriel,  i.  509 
Heber,  Reginald,  i.  52,  53 
Helena,  Princess,  ii.  1 60,  161 
Henry,  Prince  of  Prussia,  i.  195 
Hensel,  i.  297 
Hensler,  Madame,  i.  360 
Herbert,  Mr.,  of  Ickleton,  i.  505 

Mrs.,  of  Llanarth,  ii.  136,  422 

Stephan,  of  Llanarth,    death  of,  ii. 

396 

Hereford,  Musical  Festival  of,  i.  60 
Hermann,  Madame,  i.  485 
Herrenalb,  ii.  92,  358,  400,  401,  433,  434, 

436-439,  443,  467 
Herschel,  Sir  J.,  i.  514 
Herz,  Henrietta,  life  of,  ii.  238 
Hesse  Homburg,  Prince  Frederic  of,  i. 
200 

Princess  Elizabeth  of,  i.  200 
Heydveiller,  Frau,  ii.  180 
Hippolytus,  statue  of,  ii.  294 
Hirtel,  Mademoiselle,  i.  133 
Holland,  Dr.,  recollections  of,  ii.  440 

Lady,  ii.  178 

Hollweg,  Bethmann,  i.  491 ;  ii.  10 
Hooker,  Sir  William,  ii.  105 
Horsley,  Archbishop,  i.  46 
Horton,  Mr.  Wilmot,  i.  323 
Howley,  Archbishop,  i.  43,  86 
Hubel,  the,  ii.  1 
Humboldt,  Alexander  v.,  ii.  43 

Madame  v.,  i.  128 

Wilhelm  v..  ii.  21 
Hunt,  Miss,  i.  78 
Hurstmonceaux,  ii.  49,  50,  52 
Hyde,  Catherine,  i.  3 


I. 

Ham,  i.  33,  37 

Independence  of  character,  ii.  404 
Inverness,  Duchess  of,  ii.  42 
Irving,  Washington,  his  "  Life  of  Colum- 
bus," i.  340 
Ischia,  i.  349 
Italinsky,  M.  <V,  i.  217 
Italy,  its  Political  Struggles,  ii.  388 
Itri,  i.  347 


INDEX. 


483 


J. 

Jackson,  Bishop,  consecration  of,  ii.  153 
Jeffrey,  Mr.,  i.  179 
Jenison,  Countess  Mary,  ii.  249 
Joukovfcky,  i.  399,  505 

K. 

Kamphrmsen,  Dr.,  ii.  195 

Ka-ilbach,  ii.  147 

Keblo,  Mr.,  i.  509 

Kellermann,  i.  408,  418,  419,  446,  448,  455 

Ke-mble,  acting  of,  i.  50 

Kent,  Duchess  of,  ii.  161 

Duke  of,  i.  77 

Kestner,  Augustus,  i.  166,  297,  302,  326, 
383,  384 ;  ii.  145,  163 

Mademoiselle  Charlotte,  ii.  29,   252, 

350 

Kew  Gardens,  ii,  105 
Kielmannsegge,  Countess,  i.  195 
Kingsley,  ii.  186 
Knight,  Gaily,  i.  323 
Koch,  i.  222 
Krummacher,  Pastor,  ii.  146 

L. 

La  Caita,  ii.  163 

La  Tour,  near  Yevay,  ii.  424 

Lachmann,  i.  96,  97,  98 

Lojand  de  Cherval,  M.,  i.  31 

Lancellotti,  Palazzo,  at  Velietri,  i.  316 

Lane.  Mrs.,  ii.  274,  455 

Lanfr  cy,  works  of,  ii.  461 

Langen,  Baroness,  ii.  157 

Lansdowne,  George.  Lord,  i.  2,  3 

Lavey,  baths  of,  ii.  29 

Layard,  Brownlow  Villiers,  i.  44 

Le  Grand,  M.,  ii.  146 

Leckj',  the  -writings  of,  ii.  394 

Lenormand,  Madame,  i.  230 

Leo  XII.,  Pope,  election  of,  i.  217  ;  death 

of,  i.  321,  325 
Leopold,  Prince,  ii.  161 
Lepsius,'  Frau,  ii.  431,  452,  461 

Richard,   i.   322,   430,   484,    456.  474, 
490,  493,  511 ;  ii.  232,  331,  407,  432 
Leycester,  Miss,  ii.  177 
Lieber,  ii.  146 
Lilleshall,  ii.  345 
Limbourg   Gaildorf,  Caroline,  Countess 

of,  i.  93 

Lind,  Mademoiselle  Jenny,  ii.  115 
Lindsay,  Mrs.,  ii.  397 
Liphart,  ii.  73 
Llanover,  i.  29.  226,  342,  392 ;  ii.  133,  342 

Lady,  ii.  280,  345,  423 

Lord,  ii.  280,  380 
Lonicera,  the,  ii.  346 
Louis  Philippe,  i.  341,  342 ;  ii.  27 
Louise,  Princess,  of  England,  ii.  160,  161 

Princess,  of  Prussia,  ii.  203 
Lowenstein,  Prince,  ii.  99,  109,  121 


Lucca,  i.  477,  478 

Lucke,  i.  96,  98.  102 

Luther,  writings  of,  ii.  349,  354,  364 

Lytton,  Lord,  ii.  423 

M. 

Macaulay,  Lord,  death  of,  ii.  254 ;   his- 
tories of,  ii.  125,  203,  207,  453 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  i.  68,  84 

Magliana,  Villa,  frescoes  in,  ii.  473 

Magna  Charta,  the,  ii.  420 

Mahon,  Lady,  ii.  46 

Manley,  Colonel,  i.  106,  113 

Mrs.,  i.  113,  134,  135,  138,  149,  157 

Marburg,  ii.  405 

Marienberg,  ii.  63 

Marini,  Monsignor,  i.  257 

Marsh,  Miss.  ii.  226,  306,  307 

Martens,  M.  de,  i.  368 

Martin eau,  Miss,  ii.  106 

Mary,  Princess,  i.  18,  70,  74,  76,  77 

Massimo,  Princess,  death  of,  i.  441 

Maurer,  Staats  Rath,  i.  483,  485 

Maurice,  Frederick,  i.  507  :  ii.  127,  154, 

292 
Priscilla,  i.  507 

Mein  Geniigen.  ii.  428 

Mellish,  Mr.,  murder  of,  i.  37 

Melville,  Lord,  trial  of,  i.  72 

Mendelssohn,  ii.  68,  98 ;  his  death,  107  ; 
his  funeral,  108 ;  his  letters,  319 

Mentone,  ii.  368,  369 

Merle  d'Aubigne,  ii.  17 

Meyer,  M.,  i.  428;  ii.  101,  103,  165,  173, 
184,  222,  235,  407 

Meyrick,  Sir  S.,  i.  500 

Middleton,  Mr.,  i.  275 

Mignet,  his  "  History,"  ii.  187 

Miles,  Mrs.,  ii.  57 

Mills,  Villa,  i.  242 

Milrnan,  his  "History  of  Latin  Chris- 
tianity," ii.  289 

Milton,  character  of,  ii.  354 

Misense,  i.  349,  354 

Mohl,  Robert  von,  ii.  188 

Mola  di  Gaieta,  i.  347,  430 

Mondragone,  Villa,  i.  159 

Monk,  James,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  i  79, 

80,501,503 
Mrs;,  i.  47 

Moore,  Sir  John,  i.  60 

More,  Mrs.  Hannah,  i.  82 ;  ii.  148 

Morier,  David,  ii.  1 

Mortier,  Countess,  ii.  22 

Moscheles,  ii.  205,  206 

Miiller,  Madame,  i.  261,  284 
Max,  ii.  222 

Munich,  i.  480-487 ;  ii.  233 

Musignano,  i.  328,  428 

Muti,  Villa,  at  Frascati,  i.  443 

N. 
Napier,  Charles,  i.  60 

Colonel  and  Lady  Sarah,  i.  5P,  75 


484 


INDEX. 


Napier, Major,  his  "Wars  in  the  Penin- 
sula," i.  363 
William,  i.  60 

Nelson,  Lord,  death  of,  i.  59 

Nemi,  Lake  of,  i.  255 

Neuchatel,  ii.  15 

Neudettelsau,  ii.  371 

Neukomm,  i.  242,  258,  2(50,  264-2fi6,  267, 
361-363,  406,  409,  412  ;  ii.  16,  22,  73, 
108,  120,  205,  207,  228 

Newman,  ii.  23 

Nice,  ii.  237,  251 

Niebuhr,  i.  102, 105,  111,  123, 126, 127, 134, 

147,  158,  177,  184,  201,  202,  356 
Amelia,  i.  144, 151 
Madame,  i.  126, 128, 142, 158, 163, 188, 

194,  201,  202,  238,  357,  359  ;  ii.  269 
Marcus,  i.  144,  151,  203,  494 ;  ii.  243 

Nightingale,  Florence,  ii.  440,  474 

Nippold,  ii.  386 

Norba,  i.  403 

North,  Baroness,  ii.  103 

Northland,  Lord  and  Lady,  i.  398,  404 

Norton,  Mrs.,  ii.  47 

Nott,  Dr.,  i.  233,  3*26 

Niirnberg,  ii.  234,  410 

O. 

Oak  Hill,  ii.  62,  93 

Olevano.  i.  375-377,  378 

Olfers,  M.  and  Madame,  i.  258,  259 

Olivier,  i.  147, 154,  159 

Orvieto,  i.  270 

Ouehy,  ii.  367 

Orei-beck,  i.  118, 130, 193,  222,  400 ;  ii.  65 

P, 

Pcestum,  i.  350 

Palestrina,  music  of,  i.  148, 175 

Palmer,  Miss,  i.  64 

Palmerston,  Lord,  i.  505 ;  ii.  43,  423 

Pamfili,  Villa,  i.  324,  325,  469,  502 

Paolo,  S.,  Basilica  of,  i.  156 ;  its  destruc- 
tion, i.  207 

Papencordt,  i.  434,  444,  487 

Paris,  ii.  3 

Parthey,  his  "  Eecollections  of  Life,"  ii. 
461 

Pascal,  Life  of  Jacqueline,  ii.  172 

Patrick,  Bishop,  works  of,  i.  122,  153 :  ii. 
48 

Pauli,  Dr.  Reinhold,  ii.  201,  410 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  ii.  142,  391 

Pendarves,  Mr.,  of  Roscrow,  i.  3 

Penn,  Lady  Juliana,  i.  69 

Pertz,  George  Henry,  i.  192 

Pescina,  i.  391 

Peterel,  ii.  69 

Pettavel,  ii.  17 

Pfuel,  General,  ii.  15 

Phillimore,  Dr.,  i.  514 

Piccolomini,  Villa,  i.  312,  321,  345 

Pisa,  i.  477 

Pistoia,  i.  477,  478 


Pitt,  Mr.,  i.  32,  58 

Pius  VII.,  Pope,  i.  193;  death  of,  209-212 
Pius  VIII ,  Pope,  i.  321 
Platen,  Count,  i.  348 
Platner,  i.  122,  297,  322,  331-334,  452 
Plitt,  Stadt-Pfarrer,  ii.  172 
Poggio  di  S.  Lorenzo,  i.  385 
Pompeii,  i.  350,  353 
Pontine  Marshes,  i.  346 
Popoli,  i.  390 

Port,  Bernard,  i.  11,  52,  53 ;  death  of,  ii. 
158 

Beville,  i  11,  48 

Frances  Anne,  i.  11,  33 

George,  i.  11,48,  49 

Georgina  Mary  Ann,  i.  11 

Harriet,  i.  11,  33,  65,  242,  243,  24C 

John,  i.  11,33 

Louisa,  i.  11,  31,  33,  37,  44-46,  65 

Mr.,  of  Ham,  i.  11 
Portici,  i.  351,  352 
Portland,  Margaret,  Duchess  of,  i.  6, 10, 

12,14;  ii.  105 
Pom-tales,  Count,  i.  350,  351 

Count  Albert,  ii.  146, 157,  230 
Powell,  Mr.,  i.  490 
Prague,  ii.  409 
Prato,  i.  477,  478 
Prenck,  Baron  von,  i.  322 
Pressense,  M.  de,  ii.  209,  295 
Prettyman,  Archbishop,  i.  45 
Price,  Miss,  ii.  303,  411 

Sir  Uvedale,  i.  61 
Procida,  i.  349, 351 
Prussia,  Princess  of,  ii.  186,  203,  213,  267 

Queen  of,  ii-  409 
Pusey,  Dr.,  ii.  58 

Lady  Emily,  i.  242,  406,  413  ;  ii.  45 

Mr.,  i.  242,  372,  406,  413,  426,  500,  503, 
511 


Q. 


Quinet,  M.,  ii.  209 


Radowitz,  i.  225,  487 ;  ii.  142, 158 

Radziwill,  Prince,  ii.  42 

Raffles,  Lady,  i.  397,  421,  508,  512 ;  ii.  6, 


Rajano,  i.  390 

Ram,  Abel  John,  i.  56 

Lady  Jane,  ii.  228 

Mrs.,  i.  57,  72,  73,  76,  514  ;  ii.  228,  286 
Ranke,  ii.  73 
Ranch,  ii.  147 

Razumoffsky,  Princess,  i.  231 
Recamier,  Madame,  i.  47,  231 
Reck,  Dr.,  i.  97,  98 
Reden,  Baron  de,  i.  171,  257 

Henrietta  de,  i.  171 
Reisiger,  i.  252 
Renan,  ii.  333 
Reutern,  de,  i.  399 
Rey,  General,  i.  86 


INDEX. 


485 


Bhebenitz,  Theodore,  i.  147,  151,  154, 159, 

223,  297 

Rhine,  the,  i.  489  ;  ii.  199,  231 
Rhone,  the,  ii.  367 
Rich,  Mrs.,  ii.  343 
Rieti,  i.  385 
Ringseis,  i.  177 
Rio,  M.,  i.  372,  404  ;  ii.  187 
Robertson,  F.,  sormons  of,  ii.  197,  382 
Roche,  picture  by  M.  de  la,  i.  505 
Koestell,  i.  297  ;  ii.  405 
Romola,  the  novel  of,  ii.  318 
Rosebery.  Lady,  ii.  9G 
Rosen,  Frau,  ii.  205 
Ross,  Mrs.  Alexander,  ii.  205 
Rothe,  Richard,  i.  224,  281,  297,  300,  313, 

487  ;  ii.  199,  386 

Rousseau,  his  residence  at  Wootton,  i.  9 
Roussclet,  Lieut.,  travels  of,  ii.  463 
Ruskin,  i.  514 
Russell,  Lord  John,  ii.  42, 104,  422 


Sabina,  the,  i.  384 

Sacy,  Silvestre  de,  i.  103 

Salisbury,  ii.  3 

Salviano,  Monte,  i.  393 

Sand,  George,  ii.  334 

Sandford,  Daniel,  Bishop  of  Edinburgh, 

i.  8,  79,  114,  163 
Sandon,  Lady  Frances,  i.  247,  260  ;  ii.  45, 

145 

Sarpi,  Father  Paul,  .  151 
Sartoris,  Mrs.,  ii.  117 
Savigny,  i.  102 
Savona,  ii.  368 

Saxe  Weimar,  Duke  of,  ii.  99,  115 
Schelling,  i.  482  ;  ii.  67 

Mademoiselle  Julie,  i.  485 
Schlegel,  Frederic,  i.  133 
Schleinitz,  ii.  230 

Schliermacher,  i.  102  ;  his  letters,  ii.  238 
Schmieder,  Dr.,  i.  145,  146,  147,  184,  205, 

219,  224,  410 

Schmolk,  Benjamin,  ii.  273,  394 
Schnorr,  Giulio  yon  Carolsfeld,  i.  147, 159, 

166,  193;  ii.  144,  145,  147,  408,  409, 

Schopenhauer,  ii.  223 

Schulepnikow,  Madame  de,  ii.  367,  422 

Schulpforte,  school  of,  i.  410,  426 

Schubie,  Ernst,  i.  97,  145 

Schumann,  ii.  269 

Schwabe,  Mrs.,  ii.  124,  193,  230,  272,  3CG 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  i.  79,  87,  373,  399,  429, 

466 

Sedan,  victory  of,  ii.  411 
Servia,  the  government  of,  ii.  347 
Seymer,  Miss  Louisa  Kor,  i.  435  ;  ii.  3 
Sheridan,  Tom,  i.  35 

Shirley,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  i.  188,  289  ;  ii.  159 
Hiildons,  Mrs.,  i.  41,  76 
Siena,  i.  476 
Sievcking,  Amelia,  ii.  64 


Sieveking,  Elizabeth,  ii.  367 

Syndicus,  ii.  64 
Silvio  Pellico,  ii.  23 

Simon,  M.,  i.  242,  267, 297,  33«,  34G,  304,  367 
Simpkinson  de  Wesselow,  Mr.  and  Mrs., 

ii.  367 

Smith,  Life  of  Sydney,  ii.  178 
Solger,  i.  102 

Somariva,  Marchese,  i.  129 
Sophia,  Princess,  i.  18,  70,  77  ;  ii.  1 14 
Sorrento,  i.  349  ;  ii.  441 
Ste.  Aulaire,  Comtesse  de,  i.  369,  431) ;  ii. 

39,  45,  79 

St.  Cosimato,  i.  235 
St.  Goar,ii.  68 
St.  Leonards,  ii.  300 
Stael,  Madame  de,  the  authoress,  i.  81, 

84, 85,  87,  124 
Madame  dc,  nee  Vernet,  i.  356,  371 ; 

ii.  13,  28,  51,  352 
Stanhope,  Lady  Wilhelmina,  Ti.  46 

Lord,  ii.  45 

Stanley,  Arthur  Penrhyn,  i.  514  ;  ii.  468 
Bishop,  ii.  99 

Lady  Augusta,  death  of,  ii.  4G8 
Miss,  ii.  92 
Mrs.,  death  of,  ii.  309 
Sir  John  and  Lady,  i.  3 
Stein,  Baron,  i.  166, 169, 172,  173, 174 

Therese  de,  i.  170,  195 
Steinh  irt,  Professor,  ii.  79. 
Stephanie,  Grand  Duchess,  i.  398;  ii.  79, 

187,  257 
Steinberg,  Amelie  von  Ungem,  ii.  88, 

428,  429 

Baron  von  Ungern,  ii.  179,  184,  185, 

186,  188,  189,  190,  195,  296,  316,  426 

Baroness  von  Ungeru,  marriage  of, 

ii.  188 ;  death  of,  ii.  301 
Maiy  Hildegard  von  Ungern,  baptism 

of,  ii.  246 
Stier,  i.  282 

Stockmar,  Baron,  ii.  148 
Stoke,  near  Bristol,  ii.  150 
Stratton,  Mrs.,  i.  43  ;  ii.  287 
Strieker,  Helene,  i.  93 
Stuart,  Hon.  Louisa,  ii.  46 
Lady,  i.  75 

Lady  Louisa,  i.  79,  318 
Mrs.,  i.  398,  404 
Subiaco,  i.  377 
Surtees,  Rev.  Matthew,  i.  68 
Sussex,  Duke  of,  i.  73 ;  ii.  42 
Sutherland,  Duchess  of,  ii.  99,  102,  144 
Swift,  Dean,  i.  5 
Sybil,  the  cave  of  the,  i.  348 
Sydow,  M.  de,  i.  367, 402, 121,  425,  487,  507 
Szapary,  Count,  ii.  157 


Tagliacozzo,  i.  394 
Tarpeia,  Oasa,  i,  321 
Terni,  i.  39G 
Terracina,  i.  347 


486 


INDEX. 


Thienemann,  i.  97 

Thile,  Baron  de,  i.  471 ;  ii.  7,  69 

Thirlwall,  Connop,  i.  138-141 

Tholuck,  i.  313,  314 

Thompson,  Miss,  i.  419 

Thorwaldsen,  i.  118,  129,  130,   132   190- 

192,  234, 269,  400 

Tiesenhausen,  Fran  von,  ii.  350,  378 
Tippelskirch,  Herr  von,  i.  313,  421 

Fr.au  von,  i.  313  ;  ii.  407 
Tivoli,  i.  235,  237,  492 
Tocqueville,  M.  de,  ii.  242 
Torlonia,  Alessandro,  i.  449 

Prince,  death  of,  i.  32  i 
Torres,  Marchesi  des,  i.  388,  389 
Totteridge,  ii.  117 
Townley,  Mr.,  collection  of,  i.  50 
Trentham,  ii.  151 
Trier,  ii.  71 
Trifels.  ii.  231 
Tronchin,  M.,  ii.  14, 15,  51 
Turgueneff,  M.,  i.  397,  399,  405 

U. 

Uhde,  Madame,  ii.  186 

Ulm,  ii.  232 

Urlichs,  Dr.,  i.  432,  444,  471,  472,  487  ;  ii. 

37,73 

ITsedom,  Baron,  ii.  198,  225,  230,  272 
Uxkiill,  Baroness,  ii.  251,  350 

V. 

Valentiner,  Professor,  ii.  452 

Valentin!,  the  Roman  banker,  i.  473 

Valette,  ii.  15 

Van  de  Weyer,  M.,  ii.  103 

Vannes,  Chateau  de,  ii.  422,  423 

Var,  Protestants  of  the,  ii.  257 

Varchi,  history  of,  ii.  153 

Vaudois,  Colonies  in  Schwarzwald  of  the, 

ii.90 

Vaughan,  Mrs.,  death  of,  i.  449 
Veit,  i.  193,  223,  286 
Vellay,  Elise  de,  ii.  261 
Velletri,  i.  346 
Venice,  i.  479 
Venn,  Rev.  J.,  ii.  333 
Vernet,  Madame,  ii.  25,  28 

Mademoiselle   Anna,  ii.  13,  28,  51 
352,  387,  443,  461 

Mademoiselle  Helene,  ii.  461 
Veraey,  Lady,  i.  509,  511  ;  ii.  6,  76 

Sir  Harry,  i.  509,  511, 516 ;  ii.  76 
Vesuvius,  i.  353 
Vicovaro, i  236 

Victoria,  Queen,  ii.  41,  42,  47,  73,  78,  80, 
96,  98,  100-103,  126,  144,  152,  160, 
296,  471 
Vietri,  i.  350 
Villani,  history  of,  i.  153 
Viterbo,  i.  271 
Vollard,  Mademoiselle  Ad^le,  i.  419 :  ii. 

229 
VOSB,  Countess,  Memoir  of,  ii.  471 


W. 

Waagen,  Dr.,  ii.  67, 146 
Wuddington,  Augusta,  i.  30,  46.  C8,  70, 74. 
90,  141 

Benjamin,  i.  24-28,  106,  298 

Emilia,  i.  30,  63,  67,  70,  85, 90,  106, 1 13 

Family  descent  of,  i.  23 

George,  i.  34,  39 

Horace,  i.  39 

Matilda,  i.  32 

Mrs.,  i.  23-28,  66,  106-111,  299.  300, 
336,  337,  340,  342,  425;  ii.  76,  110, 
118,  130-141,  490 

Mrs.  William,  i-  51 

Thomas,  of  St.  Leger,  ii.  3 

William,  i.  55,  167,  174, 178 

William  Henry,  i.  51 ;  ii.  353 
Wagner,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  ii.  166 
Waldeck,  Christine,  Countess  of,  i.  9£ 

Count  Josias  of,  i.  93 

Villa,  ii.  438,  439 

Waldemar,  Prince  of  Prussia,  ii.  99, 105 
Wales,  Prince  of,  ii.  160,  401 

Princess  of,  ii.  401 
Walker,  Miss,  i.  231 

Mr.,  his  schools,  ii.  127 
Walpole,  Horace,  i.  13, 176 
War,  Franco-Prussian,  ii.  411, 417, 418, 419 

Prussian- Austrian,  ii.  358,  359,  360, 

362, 365 

Ward,  Miss  Astor,  ii.  221 
Wedge  wood,  John  and  Josiah,  i.  68 
Welcker,  Professor,  ii.  227 
Weld,  Cardinal,  i.  342,  435 
Welde,  Van  de,  ii.  218 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  ii.  43,  96, 104,  105, 

114, 144 

Westcombe,  Sir  Anthony,  i.  3 
Whewell,  Dr.,  ii.  155,  505 

Mrs.,  ii.  100,  101 
Wichern,  Dr.,  ii.  64,  145,  146 
Wied,  Princess  of,  ii.  156,  162,  168,  267, 

308 

Wiesemann,  Pastor,  ii.  267 
Wilberforce,  Robert,  i.  489 
Wildbad,  ii.  87, 91,  219 
Wilson,  Mrs,,  ii.  153,  424 
Windsor  Castle,  ii.  39,  92, 149, 150, 152,  159 
Winkworth,  Miss,  ii.  230,  251 
Wiseman,  Dr.,  i.  339 
Wittgenstein,  Prince,  i.  283 
Witzleben,  General,  i.  197,  281,  311 
Woltreck,  i.  400 
Wootton  Hall,  i.  9 
Wordsworth,  i.  410  ;  ii.  129 

Christopher,  i.  405 
Worms,  ii.  189 
Wynn,  Miss,  ii.  ISO*  272,  397 


Zirnniennann,  Pfarrer,  ii.  475 


MEMORIALS  OF  A  QUIET  LIFE. 

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"  If  it  is  a  splendid  service  to  men  to  make  the  way  of  duty  look  to  them  as  the 
way  of  joy,  to  clothe  the  common  drudgeries  of  obedience  in  garments  of  beauty, 
to  render  household  routine  sacred,  and  self-sacrifice  attractive,  then  no  ordinary 
honor  belongs  to  these  '  Memorials  of  a  Quiet  Life.'  "  —  BISHOP  HUNTIJJGTON. 

"  We  are  far  from  using  the  language  of  mere  conventional  eulogy  when  we  say 
that  this  i*e  book  which  will  cause  every  right-minded  reader  to  feel  not  only  the 
happier,  but  the  better."  —  CONSERVATIVE. 

"  The  name  of  Hare  is  one  deservedly  to  be  honored  ;  and  in  these  '  Memorials,' 
•which  are  as  true  and  satisfactory  a  biography  as  it  is  possible  to  write,  the  author 
places  his  readers  in  the  heart  of  the  family,  and  allows  them  to  see  the  hidden 
sources  of  life  and  love  by  which  it  was  nourished  and  sustained."  —  ATHENAEUM. 

"  One  of  those  books  which  it  is  impossible  to  read  without  pleasure.  It  con- 
veys a  sense  of  repose  not  unlike  that  which  everybody  must  have  felt  out  of  ser- 
vice-time in  quiet  little  village  churches.  Its  editor  will  receive  the  hearty  thanks 
of  every  cultivated  reader  for  these  profoundly  interesting  '  Memorials  '-of  two 
brothers,  whose  names  and  labors  their  universities  and  church  have  alike  reason 
to  cherish  with  affection  and  remember  with  pride,  who  have  smoothed  the  path 
of  faith  to  so  many  troubled  wayfarers,  strengthening  the  weary  and  confirming 
the  weak."  —  STANDARD. 

"  The  book  is  rich  in  insight  and  in  contrast  of  character.  It  is  varied  and  full 
of  episodes  which  few  can  fail  to  read  with  interest ;  and,  as  exhibiting  the  senti- 
ments and  thoughts  of  a  very  influential  circle  of  minds  during  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, it  may  be  said  to  have  a  distinct  historical  value."  —  NONCONFORMIST. 

"  A  charming  book,  simply  and  gracefully  recording  the  events  of  a  simple  and 
gracious  life.  Its  connection  with  the  beginning  of  a  great  movement  in  the  Eng- 
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itual life  was  maintained  amid  the  shaking  of  religious  'opinions ' ;  how  the  life 
cf  the  soul  deepened  as  the  thoughts  of  the  mind  broadened ;  and  how,  in  their 
union,  the  two  formed  a  volume  of  larger  and  more  thoroughly  vitalized  Christian 
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WALKS     IN      ROME 

Third  Edition.    710  pp.,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  $3.50. 


"  And  in  connection  with  these  explorations  **  (in  Rome  and  Ostia),  •'  we 
may,  with  propriety,  notice  a  work  recently  published  in  England  and  re- 
published  here—'  Walks  in  Rome,'  by  Augustus  J.  C.  Hare,  a  work  which 
Is  not  only  exhaustive  in  regard  to  the  Geography,  but  the  history,  inci- 
dents, and  legends  of  Rome,  and  is  the  best  and  only  complete  guide  to  all 
its  places  of  interest  and  attraction.  This  is  high  praise,  but  it  is  deserved, 
and  is  corroborated  by  all  who  have  had  occasion  to  use  the  work." — APPLE- 
TON'S  CYCLOPEDIA,  Article  on  Geographical  Explorations  and  Discoveries. 

44  The  real  richness  of  Rome  as  well  as  its  interest  are  known  only  to  those 
who  stay  a  long  time  there  ;  but  for  such— or  even  for  those  whose  visit  is  a 
brief  one— we  know  no  single  work  that  can  replace  this  of  Mr.  Hare.  Wo 
heartily  recommend  it  to  past  and  future  visitors  to  Rome  ;  they  will  find  it 
a  condensed  library  of  information  about  the  Eternal  City."— ATLANTIC 
MONTHLY. 

"  The  book  is  to  be  Impressively  recommended  to  those  who  are  going  to 
Rome  as  a  cram  ;  to  those  who  are  not  going,  as  an  exquisite  tale  ;  and  to 
those  who  have  been  there,  as  a  memorizer."— LIPPINCOTT'B  MAGAZINE. 

"  No  one  who  has  ever  been  to  Eome,  no  one  who  hopes  to  get  there,  no 
Intelligent  traveler  now  there,  can  afford  to  be  without  this  valuable  work 
on  the  most  noted  city  in  the  world's  history."— HALL'S  JOURNAL  o? 
HEALTH. 

"5t  is  the  most  complete  monograph  for  the  traveler  that  has,  we  think, 
ever  been  published.  It  Is  a  cyclopedia  on  the  sights  of  Rome ;  it  is  of 
interest  to  those  who  are  going,  and  to  those  who  have  returned :  to  the  one 
as  *  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend  '—and  now  that  it  is  written,  no  sight- 
seer should  go  to  Eome  without  it— to  the  other  as  memento  ;  but  it  is,  fur- 
ther than  this,  so  generally  interesting,  that  few  will  find  it  other  than  de- 
lightful reading."— EVENING  MAIL. 

••  This  book  supplies  the  peculiar  sort  of  knowledge  which  the  traveler  in 
Rome  evidently  needs.  He  does  not  want  a  mere  guide-book  to  mark  the 
localities,  or  a  more  compendious  history  to  recall  the  most  interesting  asso- 
ciations. He  wants  a  sympathetic  and  well-informed  friend  who  has  himself 
been  over  the  places  described,  aud  has  appreciated  them  with  the  sams 
mingled  sentiments  of  inquisitiveness,  reverence  and  inexplicable  histori- 
cal longing,  with  which  the  traveler  of  taste  must  approach  a  city  of  such 
vast  and  heterogeneous  attractions  aa  Rome."— WESTMINSTER  REVIEW. 


GEORGE   ROUTLEDGE   &   SONS,   NEW   YORK. 


$. 


ar*. 


WALKS  INLONDON 

With  One  Hundred  Illustrations. 
Two  volumes,  12mo,  clotli,  $5  ;  the  two  volumes  in  one,  $3.50. 


"'Walks  in  London'  is  an  exceedingly  charming  book."— NEW  YORK 
HERALD. 

"  Every  American,  fond  of  walking  and  sight-seeing,  who  intends  to  visifc 
London,  should  buy  this  beautiful  book."— NEW  YORK  JOURNAL  OP  COM 

MERGE. 

"Everybody  who  wishes  to  know  any  thing  about  the  great  city, 
everybody  who  wishes  to  refresh  his  memory  regarding  what  he  has  seen, 
there,  and  particularly  every  one  who  has  the  prospect,  near  or  remote,  of 
visiting  London,  should  become  possessed  of  this  work.— SCOTSMAN." 

"  A  work  of  extreme  attractiveness.  Next  to  an  actual  visit  to  the  vast 
metropolis,  this  volume  is  in  every  way  calculated  to  afford  that  pleasure. 
Indeed,  the  careful  reader  of  this  work  will  obtain  a  larger  fund  of  informa- 
tion than  is  usually  acquired  by  European  tourists."— GRAPHIC. 

44  The  man  who  goes  for  the  first  time  to  London  should  take  with  him 
the  new  book  called  '  Walks  in  London,'  by  Augustus  J.  C.  Hare.  It  is,  by 
all  odds,  the  pleasantest  and  most  instructive  hand-book  of  the  great  me- 
tropolis that  has  come  under  our  notice."— PHILADELPHIA  EVENING 
BULLETIN. 

"We  can  vouch  that  months  of  residence  in  the  British  metropolis  fail 
to  impart  any  thing  like  the  keen  enjoyment  and  large  knowledge  of  what 
De  Quincey  aptly  called  the  nation,  of  London,  as  may  be  got  from  a  perusal 
of  Mr.  Hare's  recent '  Walks  in  London.'  "—NEW  YORK  SUN. 

w  It  is,  indeed,  a  most  delightful  reproduction  of  the  London  of  the  past 
which  appears  in  Mr.  Hare's  pages.  He  gives  the  cream  of  whole  libraries 
of  antiquarian  research  in  a  single  walk,  and  not  only  as  a  guide,  but  also 
as  a  storehouse  of  information  as  to  all  that  is  worth  seeing  and  knowing  of 
the  great  city,  his  book  is  inimitable.  We  know  nothing  to  compare  with 
it."— BUFFALO  COURIER. 

44  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  any  encyclopaedia  an  ampler  or  moro 
fully  digested  collection  of  all  the  important  facts  relating  to  the  ancient 
capital ;  yet  the  work  is  quite  as  entertaining  as  an  ordinary  novel,  and  a 
tithe  of  the  *  good  stories '  which  it  contains  would  set  np  a  professional 
diner-out  for  life.  ...  It  possesses  all  the  merits  of  a  guide-book,  with 
one  additional  merit  which  no  guide-book  ever  possessed  yet— that  of  being 
readable  throughout."— NEW  YORK  TIMES. 


GEORGE   ROUTLEDGE   &   SONS,   NEW  YORK. 


g,ir  ^ngnstes  $.  €.  fart. 

CITIES    OF    NORTHERN    AND 
CENTRAL    ITALY. 

Maps    and.   Illustrations. 

Three  volumes,  12mo,  cloth,  $6.00. 


"  This  work  is  at  once  a  poetic  dream  of  Italian  journeys,  a  scrapbook  of  Italian 
travel-literature,  and  a  very  excellent  guide-book  to  Italy."  — NEW  YORK  EVENING 
POST. 

"  By  the  issuing  of  his  last  and  largest  work,  Mr.  Hare  merits  more  than  the 
gratitude  hitherto  expressed ,  for  his  subject  is  not  one  upon  which  traveller  or 
reader  has  hitherto  been  able  to  find  a  comprehensive  author."  —  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

"  Here,  it  will  be  seen,  is  a  guide-book  of  an  unusual  kind,  one  which  is  not  only 
of  great  value  to  every  traveller  in  the  places  it  describes,  but  which  is  a  book  of 
delightful  reading,  either  at  home  or  en  route."  —  NEW  YORK  EVENING  MAIL. 

*'An  ideal  guide-book,  containing  a  greater  amount  of  accurate  information 
than  any  other  book  on  Italy,  and  written  and  compiled  in  such  a  pleasing  and 
comprehensive  manner  that  it  cannot  fail  to  at  once  become  the  valued  companion, 
not  only  of  the  cultured  tourist  in  Italy,  but  also  of  those  who  would  at  home  renew 
their  former  enjoyment  of  that  land."  —  NEW  HAVEN  PALLADIUM.  • 

"  It  is  not  a  history ;  it  is  not  an  arrangement  of  tourists1  observations  in  the 
form  of  a  narrative ;  it  is  the  very  life  and  spirit  of  Italian  cities  as  seen  and  heard 
and  felt  by  one  who  met  them  face  to  face,  hand  to  hand,  and  was  electrified  with 
their  throbbing  pulse."  — ST.  Louis  REPUBLICAN. 

"  It  is  seldom  that  a  work  which  contains  so  many  of  those  matters  of  detail 
which  are  indispensable  in  _a  guide-book,  has  also  the  scholarly  breadth  and  accu- 
racy which  are  so  important  in  any  comprehensive  view  of  the  leading  cities  of  a 
country  like  Italy."  —  BOSTON  GLOBE. 

"  We  have  never  seen  a  work  which,  of  its  character,  equals  the  three  volumes 
by  Augustus  J.  C.  Hare,  entitled  '  Cities  of  Northern  and  Central  Italy.'  By  all 
odds  it  is  the  most  complete,  elegant,  and  interesting  work  designed  for  the  use  of 
sojourners  and  tourists  in  the  most  visited  parts  of  Italy,  that  has  ever  come  to  our 

notice We  can  hardly  give  any  idea  of  the  completeness  of  the  work,  but 

every  reader  will  recognize  its  value  and  careful  preparation,  as  well  as  the  gen- 
erous spirit  of  the  author.  He  gathers  from  all  sources,  and  his  quotations  —  very 
numerous  and  altogether  appropriate  —  are  the  very  height  of  good  judgment  and 
the  best  recognition  of  a  cultivated  traveller's  needs  and  tastes."  —  BOSTON  TRAV- 
ELLER. 


GEORGE  ROUTLEDGE  £  SONS,  NEW  YORK. 


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DD  Hare,  Augustus  John  Cuthbert 

416  The  life  and  letters  of 

B82H3       Frances  baroness  Bunsen 


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