قراءة كتاب Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II

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Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II

Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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kind counsels; in fact, I am disclosing the depth of my wound to show my gratitude to my doctor who is curing it.

"Proof has not yet reached me, and I therefore cannot justify, by any plausibility in the context, how the night was so fine for Alice and the morning so severe for Tony.*

     * Mr Blackwood had written: "Observe that in the garden
     scene you make it a fine night, and from the morning showing
     before they separated, apparently the night was short;
     whereas when Tony started in the cold and snow for Burnside
     it was clearly winter."

"You are right. I feel it more strongly since you said it that Tony has a long way to go. Hope he is worthy of Alice; but is he in this respect any worse than his neighbours? I don't believe any man was worth the woman that inspired a real passion, and he only became approximately so by dint of loving her. And so if T. B. does ever turn out a good fellow it is Alice has done it, and not yours very faithfully.

"My thanks for your cheque, which came all safe. I thought O'D. had better be anecdotic and gossipy at first, but when I send you the batch (which I will in a day or two), tell me if something more didactic ought to come into preachment."




To Mr John Blackwood

"Casa Capponi, Florence, Jan. 22, 1864.

"I send you herewith a piece of O'Dowderie, and if it be too light—I don't suspect that's its fault—I'll weight it; and if it be too doughy, I'll put more barm in it; and, last of all, if you don't like it, I'll burn it.

"What in the name of all good manners does Lord Russell mean by writing impertinences to all Europe? He is like an old Irish beggar well known in Dublin who sat in a bowl and kicked all round him. As to fighting for the Danes, it is sheer nonsense. They haven't a fragment of a case, and we should not enjoy Mr Pickwick's poor.... consolation of shouting with the largest mob.

"The Italians are less warlike than a month ago. The 'Men of Action'—as the party call themselves who write in the newspapers but never take the field—declare that they are only waiting for the signal of 'Kossuth' from Hungary; but the fate of the Poles—who do fight and are brave soldiers—is a terrible a fortiori lesson to these people here, and I suspect they are imbibing it.

"I got a long letter yesterday from Lord Malmesbury and the criticism of Kinglake's history. Why they don't like it I cannot imagine. I believe he has hit the exact measure of the Emperor's capacity, courage, and character altogether, and I go with him in everything."




To Dr Burbidge.

"Florence, Feb. 11, 1864.

"It seems to be leaking out that both Pam and Russell have been what the sporting men call 'squared' by the Queen, who would not hear of a war with Germany. The Court plays very often a more prominent part in foreign politics than the nation wots of, and certainly the Prince during the Crimean war maintained close correspondence with persons in the confidence of the R. Emperor,—not treasonably, of course, but in such a way as to require great watchfulness on the part of our Ministers. This I know. There is, in fact, the game of kings as well as of nations, and the issue not always identical.

"Our glorious weather has come back, though we hear it has been severe along the coast, and snow has actually fallen in some places.

"To-day I am to have a consultation about my wife with an Edinburgh professor of note who is passing through to Rome. The opportunity was not to be lost, though the bare proposal has made her very nervous.

"My proofs—my proofs—are lost! gone Heaven knows where!—and here I sit lamenting, and certainly doing nothing else. I cannot take up the end of an unknown thread, and if I did go on, it would be to make Luttrell in love with Dolly Stuart.

"Only fancy my sitting for nigh an hour last night where a man [? retailed] the story of 'T. Butler,' which he had been reading in 'Blackwood'!"




To Mr John Blackwood.

"Casa Capponi, Feb. 13,1864.

"No proof. I must have made a fiasco of it in writing to C. & H. to release the proof detained in London, and which they will now discover to be 'Tony'! Into what scrapes flunkeys, messengers, et hoc genus, do betray us. I have offended more people in life by the awkwardness of my servants than I have done by all my proper shortcomings, which have not been few. I send you two chapters for the May number, which I intend, however, to be longer by another chapter if you desire it.

"I have been casting my eyes over the 'Athelings' in the 3-vol. form. Is that the length you wish for 'Tony Butler'? I never like being long-winded, but I am, after all my experiences, a precious bad judge of the time one ought to begin to 'pucker up the end of the stocking.' Advise me, therefore, on this, as on all else, about 'Tony.'

"The cold weather has all but done for me, and set my 'shaking' fearfully at work. The post is now two days en retard here, and I have great misgivings about all Italian management of everything save roguery."




To Mr John Blackwood.

"Florence, Feb. 19.

"The proofs arrived to-day under the envelope that I forward. On learning from the post office in London that a proof of mine was detained there, I immediately surmised it must be one of my serial story 'Luttrell,' and enclosed the reference to C. & H. to release it. Now I find that it is 'Tony' and O'D. Consequently I am in terror lest our secret be out and all our hitherto care defeated by this maladetto messenger who 'crimped the tuppence.' I want you therefore to assure me, if you can assure me, that C. & Hall's people, when sent to St Martin's le Grand to release the proof, had no power to open and examine it, nor any privilege to carry it away with them out of the office. If this be the case, of course there is no mischief done, and I am quitte pour la peur; but pray do tell me the regulation on the subject, and for Heaven's sake and Tony's sake, water that man's grog who posted the packet originally, or tell me his name, and I'll call my next villain by it, if I have to write another story."




To Mr John Blackwood.

"Casa Capponi, Florence, Feb. 25, 1864.

"It is quite true, as you surmised; claims and demands of all sorts have been presented to me, and in my deeper and heavier cares there have mixed vexations and worries all the more bitter that to remedy them was no longer to build up a hope.

"My only anxiety about the missing proof was that it might lead to the discovery of our secret as to the authorship of 'Tony.' You have by your present letter allayed this fear, and I am easy.

"I await the proof, and what you say of it, to see if the last portion of 'Tony' will do. I own I thought better of it in writing than it perhaps deserves on reading.

"You must tell me, however, what number of sheets you think 3 vols, ought to be, for I want to make the craft as ship-shape as I am able.

"Be assured of one thing: I never for many a year felt more anxious for success, and the anxiety is only half selfish, if so much."




To Mr John Blackwood.

"Casa Capponi, Florence, Feb. 25, 1864.

"In the O'D. I now send, the order should be: (1) Law, (2) Organ, (3) Chevalier d'Industrie. The last is a sketch of a notorious (Continentally) Robert Napoleon Flynn, made Chief-Justice of Tobago by Lord Normanby in '36 or '37, the appointment being rescinded before he could go out. It was Grant who met him at Padua last week.

"I am terribly shaky and shaken. I hope I'll be able to finish 'Tony' before I go, but sometimes I think it will have to figure as a fragment. My headaches seldom leave me, and for the first time in my life I

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