File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Susan (Benjamin) Stackpole, 18 February 1836 (5015fbd2-9ac8-437a-99dc-7814d1a2f748).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-006#002

Genoa. Feb. 18th 1836. –
My dearest Sue,
I received your kind letter at Marseilles, & welcomed it, warmly, for I am seldom favored in that way – packet afer packet comes, but naught for me, - be more disinterested & less modest & I shall be proportionately grateful.
Here I am, at last, in bella Italia, tho’ but on the threshold of all its wonders. We left Paris more than a month ago, heartily wearied of all its mud & cold & brouillards & sped on to the sunny South by the way of Lyon & Marseilles, at which last place we remained 3 or 4 days - & saw some tolerably “nice people” & talked more French than we ever did in Pairs, - there being there such a colony of Americans that Boston scandal was quite as current as at home. From Marseilles we came to Genoa – over the Maritime Alps, - thro’ most magnificent scenery, - along tremendous precipices into which the slightest obstacle might have swept us, for the road is seldom guarded by parapets, thro’ a constant succession of neat little villages – perched high on the rocks or at the frot of a lovely bay & throughout the whole route we were overhanging the blue Meditterranean, with the un-ending serenading of its dashing waves below us. It was a perfect lavish of the beautiful, for at every turn in the road was a view worth setting in gold. If my memory has enough niches in its store house to preserve half I have seen & shall see I shall be thankful; sure of a banquet “rich & rare” whenever I am starved with dullness. We arrived at Genoa in the midst of the expiring Carnival & were fortunate in seeing its last gasp in a mediocre way since we lose it at Rome, altogether. We joined the Corsa of carriages on the last [p. 2] day which paraded in a solemn procession up & down a certain distance, several filled with grotesque masks & ridiculous dresses – all Genoa was out to look on, & the common costumes of the peasantry, the priests & the soldiers would have been to us a masquerade – but there was very little gaiety or spirit in the whole affair, & tho’ amusing at first, soon became tedious & even sad, with such quiet & gravity was it carried on. A shower of bon bons came upon us from a lady whom we did not recognize fully, but thought looked very like a Miss More we had seen in Paris, but as she was then on her way to England it was impossible, - this was a little mystery which amused us for a time, - we looked every-where for the carriage but it had vanished. We saw her afterwards at the Opera & found she had suddenly changed her plans & followed us South. The Opera here is immense & beautiful & we heard some very good singing which reminded us of La blache & Rubini’s. A pretty ballet was interspersed in the play & was the first perfect one I ever saw, for in Paris I beheld a specimen of the dancing in that terribly fine scene of the ruins’ midnight revels in Robert le Diable but there was no pantomime. It is said the Italians exceed in this for their gestures are more rapid & expressive than the French. Nothing could be more graceful & speaking. – After the Opera there was a masked ball at which many of the nobility “assisted.” We took a peep but saw no distingué looking people. There were a good many masks but no fine costumes & it went off as heavily as the Morning’s pageant. These northern Italians are too somber a people for such fooleries. I am perfectly delighted with Genoa. It has preserved all the dignity & grandeur of olden times & has streets filled with nothing [p. 3] but palaces. It deserves its title of la Superba. There is such a reality in seeing so many of these noble haunts of aristocracy that one can easily ima expect to see Juliet’s leaning over the marble balustrades & Dorias shuttling along the streets. Our hotel is no common-place palazzo & glitters with curtains & frescos & gilding bravely. Yesterday we killed off a few churches & palaces - & saw in the latter a great many beautiful pictures which I had not ½ time enough to enjoy. There are enough left to make us busy [crossed out: enough] tomorrow; amongst these Andrea Doria’s; - do you remember Mr Follen’s reading of Schiller’s Revolution of Genoa? I do well & the association will help me to enjoy this much. The present nobles seem to be a very uninteresting race, - as for the ladies those I have seen are neither lovely or elegant. They are wealthy but never throw open their palaces to company. The Americ[an] Consul here is a delightful old bachelor, - & lives in a magnif[icent] palace which is [h]ung with the richest satin damask & fill[ed] with busts, China vases &c in a corresponding style – behind it is a beautiful marble [crossed out: prelale] terrace with fountains, statues & orange trees, à ravir. We dined there the last day of the Carnival. -- We have not yet fully amended our plans for the future, but think of going by Naples, before Rome, tho’ the death of the young Queen has shed a gloom over that “heaven on earth”. We have had weather warm & balmy as May, but it is now coldder & the high Mountains are all now-canopied. I am happy to say there is no excuse for me to imagine myself an invalid (if there ever was) & in this heavenly atmosphere I hope soon to gain a substantiality that will defy all east winds in future. I will endeavor to satisfy your kind anxieties on my account if I cannot furnish the exact sum total of gain vs. loss. Best love to Mary from both of us – write often – Good bye dearest.
Thine affly Fanny.
[p. 4 bottom] You express great desire to hear about the agreeables I may come across – as we go now so little in society I have no chance to fall in with heroes – but when I do assuredly will send a sketch for your divertissement. But a young lady is treated here as a nonentity (or a speculation) so I am afraid I shall captivate no Romeos this side the water. –
[p. 4 top] You must excuse illegible letters for I have only time to write after a days work –when wearied & ½ asleep.
ADDRESSED: MISS SUSAN BENJAMIN / CARE OF JAMES SAVAGE ESQ. / BOSTON. MASS. / U.S.A.
POSTMARK: [ILLEGIBLE] 28 FEVR. 1836 / HAVRE
POSTMARK: NEW-YORK / SHIP / APL / 24

• Keywords: correspondence; italy; frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1836 (1011/002.001-006); (LONG-FileUnitName)