VI.]

THE SOCIETÀ ROMANTICA.

461

II. The following passages, translated from Misteri di Polizia; Storia Italiana ricavata dalle carte d'un Archivio Segreto di Stato, Emilio del Cerro (Firenze, 1890), pp. 134-139, further illustrate the efficiency of the police supervision to which Byron was subjected:

"The secret archives of the presidency of the 'Buon Governo' contain documents concerning Byron.

"The first is a letter, dated September 4, 1819, with which the minister Corsini enclosed to the President of the Buon Governo a copy of a private note from Cardinal Consalvi, Secretary of State to Pius VII. The letter runs as follows:

“This Imperial and Royal Government herewith transmits to your Excellency the enclosed report, sent to this department by the Austrian Legation in Rome.

"Although the Government itself is convinced that the chief points mentioned in the report are fortunately not applicable to Tuscany, it will nevertheless be obliged if your Excellency will undertake to exercise the most unremitting and careful vigilance,' etc., etc.

"Then follows the note of Cardinal Consalvi, dated 1st September. "The Governor of Rome, in his capacity of Director-General of Police, has sent the following :

.

"""A private report, made by a person of authority, which has reached him from Bologna, informs him that notice has been sent from Florence to the person indicated, of the formation of a new secret Society, in which even women take part, under the name of the Società Romantica; that this Society is formed for the purpose of educating its members in the belief that man is subject to no religious or moral principle, but ought only to obey his natural instincts; that the centre and principal seat of this Society is in Milan; that in this Society are enrolled many gentlemen of that capital, and among them the celebrated advocate, Pellegrino Rossi ; that Rossi corresponds with the well-known Lord Byron, and that, in order to found a branch of this Society at Bologna, Rossi wished to induce Lord Byron to visit Bologna; that Lord Byron has, in fact, come to Bologna, where he has rented the Palazzo Merendani (?) for a year, and meanwhile is lodging at the Hotel Pellegrino until, as is understood, the decoration and furnishing of the Casa Merendani has been completed; that numbers of ladies begin to visit Lord Byron, and amongst others the Marchesa Guiccioli; that, as he hears from Florence, Lady Morgan is expected in Bologna for the same object, and also Lord Kinnaird, who shot at the Duke of Wellington; and that, finally, neither the Austrian Government nor that of Tuscany have ever been informed of the existence of such a Society."

*

"The following document is dated Forli, 10th September,

"The Romantici have been talked about for some time, and it is well known that Byron and Kinnaird belong to the Society, for the former has written, and continues to write, poetry of this new school, and has composed certain rules, entitled, “Statutes of the Joyous Company." The latter left behind him, some time ago at Faenza, a manuscript, and it would be possible to discover its contents from Gennati, but I have never asked him, not being on intimate terms with him. Byron is staying in the country with a lady, the young wife of that Guiccioli who is now in Bologna, but he does not make his permanent abode with any one. I must tell you that some time ago the Cardinal of Ravenna gave a most brilliant conversazione in honour of the noble Lord, at which, however, the Cardinal himself did not appear, lest he should act, said he, as a decoy to the assembled ladies.

"The spy who sent the foregoing report sent also the following, dated 19th September :

"Notices concerning Lord Byron. This gentleman is at present in Bologna, in company with the wife of Count Guiccioli. He has with him a young secretary very expert in different languages, who corresponds in English, French, Italian, and German with equal facility. He never leaves the house, but is always writing. By most careful supervision it has been discovered that his time is chiefly occupied in writing in various cyphers. But it is not known in what way these writings are despatched, for they are certainly not sent to the post. There is reason to believe that English travellers, many of whom have introductions to my Lord, are charged with these despatches. Very few letters pass through the post, and these contain only matters of private interest.

"From Forli I hear that the said Lord is anxious to form a Society among persons of position in each city. At Bologna he has the Ercolani; at Ferrara, the Graziadei; at Faenza, the Gennati ; at Forli, the Orselli; at Cesena, Roverella. Such names as these certainly do not suggest that the character of the Society is merely literary. After much consideration and piecing together of facts, I have come to the conclusion that many works, pamphlets, and dangerous writings which are in circulation have issued from the workshop of Lord Byron. Even within the last few days the enclosed has appeared in a profusion of copies, each in a different and unknown handwriting-a multiplication of copies which is attributed to the dexterity of the secretary of the noble Lord. I send a copy. The character of the work, which is not unknown either to me or to you, shows its source, and confirms me in the views I have expressed.'

"The same spy, or fiduciario, wrote from Florence, 29th September

"I find an undoubted confirmation of the matter of my previous

I. "Count Guiccioli of Ravenna, the richest proprietor in the Romagna, a crafty, intriguing man, very proud and of high birth, is believed to be guilty of the assassination of Manzoni." (Note by the spy.)

VI.]

A CHAMPION OF THE ROMANTICI.

463

report on the Società Romantica in letters which reached me yesterday. One of my correspondents in Bologna, charged by me to discover the branches of the said Society, sought information from one of the heads of the Italian Masonic Lodge in Milan. I transcribe literally the reply that I have obtained.

"""I know the Romantici. They form a band that aims at the destruction of our literature, our politics, our country. Lord Byron is certainly its champion, and you deceive yourself if you believe that he is occupied only in wronging (a fare le corna a Guiccioli) Guiccioli. He is libidinous and immoral to excess; but he soon tires of the object of his worship, and offers it as a sacrifice on the altar of his contemptuous pride. But, at the same time, in politics he is not so inconstant. Here he is an Englishman in the fullest meaning of the term. He is like a madman in his desire to ruin everything that does not belong to him, to paralyze every tendency that our Societies display towards national independence, (sic!), to involve us in ruin and bloodshed (sic! sic!), in order that at last the deserted and still-smouldering States may be divided amongst his greedy and demoralized conspirators." ('Oh, what absurdities!')

"My correspondent, in sending me this scrap of a letter, reminds me of two verses inserted by Michele Leoni of Parma, in his translation from the English of Lord Byron's work on Italy. The lines run thus

"And with you the teaching that is hidden

12

Under the veil of the new songs.' 2

"He specially invites me to read and reflect upon Canto IV. of this work, entitled Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.'

"We have the following information from the same agent :"Bologna, 4th October, 1819. The constant watch kept by the police upon Lord Byron has led to two discoveries. The first is that his Lordship wears at his watch-chain a triangular (or rather pyramidal) seal, on the faces of which are engraved three small stars; on the seal are cut the letters F. S. Y. This is the new sign which was adopted some months ago by the Guelph Society when they gave up the use of a ring with four faces. There can be no doubt that Lord Byron has by means of intrigues obtained admission into Societies whose objects seem foreign to his own purposes.'

"The other is derived from a letter in the handwriting of his secretary, which has been stopped at the post. It is directed to Alexis Gartner, at Milan. It appears from this letter that news has reached Bologna of the approaching establishment of the Jesuits in that city, and the secretary sends Gartner, in order to satisfy his

1. The remarks in brackets are inserted by the editor of Misteri di Polizia.

2.

"E con voi la dottrina che s'asconde

Sotto il velame dei novelli carme."

friend's curiosity, a copy of an extract from a curious and very rare work of Captain George Smith, on Jesuitical Masonry.'

"From Bologna, 11th October. Lord Byron left unexpectedly with Madame Guiccioli, who is therefore said either to have been carried off by him, or sold to him (sic!), by her husband. But it has since been discovered that she has gone by herself to Venice, while Lord Byron has set out for Northern Italy..

"Forli, 25th October. It is understood that Lord Byron is at present at the Borromean Islands, in a pleasant rural retreat, enjoy. ing the country house of his august friend, the Princess of Wales.'

"Leghorn, 8th December. During my journey from Florence to Pisa, being in the company of an English traveller, I tried to obtain information from him as to the views of Lord Byron and of his fellow-workers, who are not few in number in Italy. He told me that Lord Byron made a regular practice of changing his residence immediately after he had finished any work, so that the Italian Governments might not suspect his intention of publishing any new production. During his stay at the Borromean Islands, for instance, he circulated a number of copies of one of his detestable works, entitled Don Juan-a work which attacks religion, morals, and the Governments-and, as soon as he had distributed these copies, he retired to Venice. The Englishman who spoke to me was familiar with all the details of the Italian institutions of the Carbonari and of the Guelphs, and his thorough acquaintance with these bodies made me reflect that these foreign travellers seem to be very busy with the affairs of Italy.'

VII.]

A CHARGE OF CORRUPTION.

465

APPENDIX VII.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF "MY GRANDMOTHER'S REVIEW."

THE circumstances which called forth the following letter to William Roberts, editor of the British Review, are stated in note 1, p. 346. The letter was published for the first time in the Liberal, No. I. Byron seems to have believed that Roberts was a clergyman, and a previous editor has corrected the error throughout. The letter is now printed as written :

"To the Editor of the British Review.

"MY DEAR ROBERTS,-As a believer in the Church of England -to say nothing of the State-I have been an occasional reader and great admirer of, though not a subscriber to, your Review, which is rather expensive. But I do not know that any part of its contents ever gave me much surprise till the eleventh article of your twentyseventh number made its appearance. You have there most manfully refuted a calumnious accusation of bribery and corruption, the credence of which in the public mind might not only have damaged your reputation as a Clergyman and an editor, but, what would have been still worse, have injured the circulation of your journal; which, I regret to hear, is not so extensive as the 'purity (as you well observe) of its,' etc., etc., and the present taste for propriety, would induce us to expect. The charge itself is of a solemn nature, and, although in verse, is couched in terms of such circumstantial gravity, as to induce a belief little short of that generally accorded to the thirty-nine articles, to which you so generally subscribed on taking your degrees. It is a charge the most revolting to the heart of man, from its frequent occurrence; to the mind of a Statesman, from its occasional truth; and to the soul of an editor, from its moral impossibility. You are charged then in the last line of one octave stanza, and the whole eight lines of the next, viz. 209th and 210th of the first canto of that 'pestilent poem,' Don Juan, with receiving, and still more foolishly acknowledging the

VOL. IV.

2 H