Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

earnest believer in the cause of liberty, and a brave and noble supporter of Mazzini.

Margaret's marriage was celebrated in secret: her new joy was unknown to all her old friends, even to her mother, until her child was a year old. She found herself unable to resist her fate in the matter, although she had at first so resolutely refused him. "I loved him," she says, "and felt very unhappy to leave him; but the connection seemed so every way unfit, I did not hesitate a moment. He, however, thought I should return to him, as I did. I acted upon a strong impulse, and could not analyse at all what passed in my mind."

The reasons for the secrecy which Margaret and Ossoli found necessary to preserve with regard to their union were afterwards

given by herself. The marriage took place about the time of, or soon after the death of the old Marquis Ossoli. The three brothers, older than the young Marquis, were all provided for in the Papal service, one as Secretary of the Privy Chamber, the other two as members of the Guard Noble. These two last were the executors of the estate left by the old Marquis, which was undivided at the date of Margaret's marriage. Everyone knows that law is subject to ecclesiastical influence in Rome, and that marriage with a Protestant would be destructive to all prospects of favourable administration. And, besides being of another faith, there rested, in this case, on the young marquis the additional crime of having married a Liberal-one who had publicly interested herself in radical views. Taking the two facts together there was every chance that, if the marriage were known, Ossoli must be a beggar and a banished man

under the then existing Government; while, by waiting a little, there was a chance of an honourable post under the new Government, whose formation everyone was expecting. Leaving Rome, too, at that time, was deserting the field wherein they might hope to work much good, and where they felt they were much needed. Ossoli was already regarded with suspicion by his brothers, and, knowing his acquaintance with Margaret, they had not hesitated to threaten him with the Papal displeasure should he be influenced by Liberal principles. "Ossoli's education," says Mrs. Story, "had been such that it certainly argues an common elevation of character that he remained so firm and single in his political views, and was so indifferent to the pecuniary advantages which his former position offered, since, during many years, the Ossoli family had been high in favour and in office in Rome, and the same vista opened for his own future had he chosen to follow their lead. . . . Their child was born; and for his sake, in order to defend him, as Margaret said, from the stings of poverty, they were patient waiters for the law of the land."

un

Margaret had found her field for labour all through this momentous time, not only as friend and encourager of Mazzini, but in the hospital. She was given the charge of the Fate-Bene Fratelli, the Princess Belgioioso having charge of the other. Here she gave the labour of her heart, and devoted herself with her deep enthusiasm, sustaining the men in their sufferings. The soldiers learned to love "the signora," who was by their bedsides night and day. Ossoli, when it was known that the French had landed, took station with his men on the walls of the Vatican gardens, where he he remained faithfully

throughout the attack. His post was one of great danger, as he was in one of the most exposed places; and Margaret was now subjected to the keen torture which love brings with it. Each cart of wounded soldiers that came to the hospital was scanned by her in dread lest the fear she could not put away should be confirmed-that Ossoli should have fallen. And, at the same time, her child was placed at nurse in the country for safety; and poor Margaret, in the midst of her labours, would hear the wailing cry of her babe. She found afterwards that this instinct of a mother's heart, which it seemed foolish to listen to-for the child had been placed apparently in good hands-had been but too true a token. The child was neglected by the treacherous nurse, who at last succeeded in letting them know that she would abandon the poor babe unless money was sent in advance-payment, although the roads were so insecure as to render it all but impossible. Ossoli meantime remained firm at his post, halfstarved and haggard. Margaret would sometimes be able to see him for a few moments by the bloodstained walls of the Vatican gardens, and they might speak together anxiously of their child whom it was impossible to reach, and of whose fate they were in complete ignorance for long periods.

The trials suffered by these two heroic souls it is difficult to record rightly; much of the history of this time has been gathered by mere fragments from their loveletters which were washed ashore after the wreck of the Elizabeth. At the end of the siege, when the poor mother could follow her heart, she found its intuition too terribly true. Her child was little more than a skeleton, too weak to smile. Every trial which had passed over her before that all she had endured

when she was ill and alone at Rieti, poor, and among cunning strangers who stole from her; when Ossoli was compelled to let her suffer in loneliness; when she had lived in terror of his death, and when her soul was torn by the sufferings around her-everything which had passed seemed but a trifle to that terrible blow when she found that her child had been indeed neglected, betrayed.

But she had reached him in time; by incessant care his life was saved. For four weeks they watched beside him night and day before there came upon his face his first returning smile. But poor Margaret beneath this trial uttered words which were unlike in their bitterness anything which had before escaped her: "O God! help me, is all my cry. Yet I have little faith in the paternal love I need, so ruthless or so negligent seems the government of this earth. . . This last plot against me has been so secretly, cunningly wrought, that I shall never acquiesce. I submit, because useless resistance is degrading, but I demand an explanation. I see that it is probable I shall never receive one while I live here; and suppose that I can bear the rest of suspense

yet I am tired out, tired of thinking and hoping, tired of seeing men err and bleed. . . Man will still blunder and weep as he has done for so many thousand years." Doubtless there are men and women who, disappointed in their efforts for others, or crushed by private grief, can understand this state of Margaret's, although perhaps there are not many brave enough to desire the end of this life, in order to " demand an explanation."

She had not long to wait before entering upon that new life, in which, as we may hope, some of the mysteries of our being may be

solved. But there was first a period of rest; the two passed the winter at Florence, happy in the returning vigour and beauty of their child.

Here she found further comfort, in faithful friends who showed all confidence in her. She had dreaded, and justly, the ordeal of appearing in the world that knew her, with her secret marriage to explain. The letters which she had to write to her own family half killed her, as she says. But she found many whose confidence in her was too deep to resent her secrecy; and in her peaceful winter at Florence faith and happiness gradually returned to her. "Ossoli seems to me more lovely and good every day; our darling child is well now, and every day more gay and playful. For his sake I shall have courage, and hope some good angel will show us the way out of our external difficulties." Ossoli's love for her was so full of enthusiasm as to amount to reverence; and indeed Margaret's influence on the people amid whom they lived was perhaps almost enough in itself to justify this. Her power over rough men had frequently shown itself to be remarkable; her two strong weapons being courtesy and unflinching courage. At no time, in the midst of her most pressing anxieties, did she put aside the troubles or distresses of others, but was always ready with her sympathy and her commanding influence.

[ocr errors][merged small]

from immediate poverty. No career was open for Ossoli in Italy, while Margaret would at once find work in her own country. Thus, though it was painful for Ossoli to go, they decided in the spring to sail for America. Even Margaret scarcely seemed to desire the return to her own land which she was planning. "I am homesick; but where is that home?"

To a lover of the superstitious there are many strange omens gathered about this voyage of the Ossolis. Poor Margaret, to begin with, was torn by a practical dilemma. Poverty made them decide upon sailing in a merchantman from Leghorn: to go by France more than doubled the expense. Yet she dreaded the sea, and the journey from Leghorn was one of sixty or seventy days. People warned her of the insecurity of a sailing vessel, and she had her child with her. "I am suffering," she says, "as never before, from the horrors of indecision." But she is helped to decide by reading of the loss of some fine steamers and packetships. "Safety is not to be secured," she says; "I shall embark more composedly in Our merchant ship, praying fervently, indeed, that it may not be my lot to lose my boy at sea; or, if so, that Ossoli, Angelo, and I may go together, and that the anguish may be brief." Strangely enough, Ossoli himself had been told in his boyhood, by a fortune-teller, to "Beware of the sea; " and this boat Elizabeth was the first ship he had ever set foot on. Margaret is SO absurdly fearful" that even at the final moment she hesitates; but at last they sail.

66

The first trouble on this doomed ship came in the shape of the malignant small-pox. malignant small-pox. The captain. sickened and died; afterwards Angelino sickened, but he recovered;

and eventually four thousand miles of ocean are crossed without further calamity. In safety the ship stood off the Jersey coast, close home. Trunks were packed, all were ready, and the last "good night" on shipboard was said.

In that last night, when seemingly the dangers of the journey were over, came the hurricane. The captain's wife and some of the crew were saved; Margaret might possibly have been saved, would she have left her husband and child. But these three resolved to live or die together, and steadily

[blocks in formation]

IN A PALACE.

Long lonesome corridors we wandered through,
Where the dim light made shapes of darkness grow.
As the day waned the moon glanced to and fro,
When o'er her face vague wanton cloudlets blew,
Striking through squares of glass of soft wan hue
Fair marble men;-large leaves a shadow throw
That makes their still life ghostly. Angelo
Had there his Man of Twilight, doubter who
With unsolved ceaseless questions grieves alway,
And lacks fruition, and his heart grows pale.

High archways passed we, on whose hangings play
Such sunset hues as clouds wear far from shore.
Alone I passed beneath the shrouding veil
Of abstract years, to silent spheres of yore.

As round the walls strange pictures were unrolled,
The breath and colour of romantic time
Wrapped me in glamour and a dream sublime;
Meseemed the prince long legended of old,
For the rare maid of whom the sweet tale told
Longing full sore. A palace steps I climb
Seeking for her. With my rapt mood doth chime
A presence glimmering by. the dream's lips cold

[ocr errors]

In that dim room I kissed, as one obeys
Bidding he wots not

then from spells I woke,

And knew my love there standing in amaze,
Who had passed with me with light silent feet,

And now must mock my dream! Thin phantom folk
How she outvies, whose heart hath living heat!

NOTES AND REMINISCENCES.

BY THE LATE W. H. HARRISON.

(Continued from page 618.)

SIR FRANCIS GRAHAM

MOON.

I FIRST met Mr. Moon at the Literary Fund Club, of which we were elected members on the same day, and when it was great fun to propose his health, which was done after dinner, whenever he was present, to get him on his legs, his style of eloquence being sui generis. Whenever he manifested any hesitation in responding to the toast, he was usually encouraged by "Rise gentle moon from Mr. Hopkinson. It was his wont to refer to the works of art which he was about to produce; and on one occasion I remember Jerdan's interrupting him by saying that the particular plate referred to in his speech was a regular Doo" (the name of the engraver).

Soon after our acquaintance he asked me to write a few verses to be sung or recited at the opening of the Licensed Victuallers' Schools in the Old Kent-road, with which he was connected. The verses were poor enough, but he acknowledged them by sending me the engraving of Eastlake's " Byron's Dream;" and this was followed by proof impressions of all the important subjects he published for many years afterwards, including "Deerstalking," by Landseer, and David Roberts's splendid work, "The Holy Land, Syria,

&c.," forty-two numbers-a subscriber's copy; all that I ever did in return being the suggestion of a title or a motto for a plate. His hospitality was great, and in the rooms over the little corner shop in Finch-lane I have met some of the most distinguished painters and engravers, among them, notably, David Roberts, Haydon, and Robinson. He was essentially good natured and good tempered-by no means convertible terms. From very humble beginnings he rose to the foremost rank in his line of business,

to great wealth, and a baronetcy. The elements of his success were palpable enough-industry, judgment, integrity, and enterprise; and he always took care to get the best work, and he paid the best price for it. David Roberts often spoke to me of his liberality, and many engravers have mentioned it to me in the highest terms. Nor was he less liberal to his own immediate employés, one of whom told me that Mr. Moon, one Christmas eve, handed him a cheque for a large sum in reward of what he considered he had done in promoting the subscription to the great work of the "Holy Land." He was justly proud of his title, and a little sensitive about it. I met him not very long before his death at a court dinner of one of the great City companies, and inadvertently inquired after Mrs. Moon. "Lady

« НазадПродовжити »