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9 March 1902 — Rome | |
Sunday. 9th March [1902]. My 33rd wedding day. I went to morning service at the English Church via Babuino & heard the Bishop of Gib. preach. He looked more frail & feeble than ever in the pulpit & his voice was pitched high & like a child’s. The sermon if well delivered might have been good—text “Hold fast the doctrine.” I lunched at the same table at the hotel as the Bishop & his brother a little man like his brother only with mustache & hair dyed to look young. He evidently had been a military man. The Bishop cheered up a little & told stories about shy curates &c. He saw me walking back from church with Lady Louisa Legge who is a dwarf (Lady L. Legless Henry used to call her) & said she & I looked like the word if—little i & long f. At 3 o’clock Donna Laura called for me & drove me to the Borghese gardens. It was lovely there & the spring flowers all over the grounds. We got out & walked a bit. At 4 we went to Duchess Sermoneta’s. She had a party for small children & there were many there. Her daughter in law Pss Tesno née Colonna was there—very handsome but floppy & not far from her confinement. Giovannella the Dss only daughter now Baroness Grenier was there & her baby child. The Grand Dss of was there—a terribly stout middle aged woman– I was presented—she was chatty & friendly. Lady Elizabeth Biddulph was there & very anxious to talk to me about Sophy Palmer whom she would have liked to manage for– I took her aback by saying I thought S. was much better & had done quite right to come abroad & could take very good care of her own self. Mr Evelyn Ashley & Lady Alice were there. I had not seen him for years– After having tea I walked to Via Motterone hard by to call on Marchese Caprianca del Grillo (Mme Ristori) & was fortunate eno’ to find her at home. At the same moment Mme Forti called & another foreign lady whose name I did not catch. Mme R. was very cordial & looking very well & her daughter Bianca pretty & charming as ever– Mme R. said she was not yet recovered from the fatigues of the emotions she went through on her 80th birthday. She said that her studio was still encumbered with letters & telegrams, every chair & table heaped with them. I thanked her for the P. card she had sent to me in return for my telegram. She said she had had a P. card made on purpose for her & had forbidden the sale of them. She went on to describe the day of the fete, how different societies & ladies came in Deputations with presents & addresses—that the King arrived to pay her a visit at 2 o’cl just as the house was overflowing with deputations & that she had to drive them all into other rooms so as to have one salon to receive H.M. alone– It was one continual va et vient the whole time. Then she described her reception at the theatre. How “par une pline battente” she drove there & could not get near the doors for the assembled crowd—that people came out to try to hasten her car on ne peut pas faire attendre le publique”—that she remonstrated & declared that in a velvet gown & thin shoes she could not alight & walk through the mud. And then the enthusiasm when she entered & made her appearance. Every one shouting & waving to her– She said she alone was mistress of herself for at that moment she felt quite calm & self possessed with joy & satisfaction & pride in her past. But when she got home the strain was over & she sank into an armchair epuisée & had to have some champagne to restore her. She went on to speak of Venice & how she had not been there since 66 & had been exiled from the place by the Austrian Govt. She said it was on this wise. She was acting “Juditta” and had previously shown the book to the censor. In the closing words of the play there were some fine lines on the beauty of sacrificing oneself for ones country. The censor not having marked disapproval of these lines wh ran thus (& she proceeded to declaim them to us in Italian)—she gave them out– They were received with appreciation & cries of bis– Looking round the coulisses to see if there were any police agents who looked disapproval & seeing none—she repeated the lines & the applause was renewed. On retiring to the coulisses she said to her husband that she hoped the police would not be annoyed but that she had looked for them & had not seen them. At which some one touched her on the shoulder & said “Yes madam, we were there & you ought to have seen them.” “If you were behind my back how could I see you. I have not eyes in my shoulders,” she answered. “But you should have seen us,” the agent answered, at wh she grew impatient & called him “Imbecile.” You have now done for yourself said her husband—and—the result was she was exiled by the Austrian Govt for 10 years from Venice. But then came the event of 68 & they themselves had left the place. However Mme Ristori had never been back there. I said I wished she might come back & see the changes & improvements & allow Venice to rewelcome her. From Mme Ristori’s I went in a batte to Via Torino to enquire about Mme Hurtado & saw Idita Bentivoglio. She begged me to stay & dine with her & her father wh I did & I paid a short visit to her mother who was in bed & looked terribly old wizen & shrunk. She had been a tall very handsome staid woman. I went back to the hotel by 9 & sat an hour with Sophy who had gone to bed after having been down to dine with Ct de Franqueville in his sitting room wh was a nice little change for her. | |
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