Sent letter to C. Fortescue

Very clear & lovely early. ―― resolved to go into the Campagna if possible. Hired a car, 1 horse ―: 18 Pauls the day. G. & I went ― to the Alexdre Acqueduct, & then, leaving the carriage ― went towards the Appian way, & I drew various times: ― but it became cloudy & cold ― & it was not easy to draw. ― The gloomy & bright width of the Campagna was strangely beautiful: ― the silver lit snow of the Lionessa1 hill when all else was so dark, or so deeply blue! ― So simple these foregrounds ― thistles ― brambles, ― arums: & stones. (Snakes there were too.[)] A man from Camerata,2 wh. he said had been all burned ― was piteous: reminding me of the simple true people of those parts. All the people of the town had fled ― he said. Why? ― [“]Quando nostro Re, cioè nostro Papa ci ha abbandonato? Chi ci rifabbrica le case? ― Fra noi tutti non c’era uno chi possede 2 mila scudi. ―” “Se ci fosse stato uno ricco, per esempio, come il Baron Colletti di Tufo! ―”3 ――― How little the poor [boor] knew how well I knew Tufo! ―

I could have given him a 2 dollar piece for the love of it ―: but yet was not so very silly.

So I came home by 5 & walked on the Pincian in a run: & dined: ― & wrote to I. Knight that I could not dine there: ― & wrote to W. Nevill: & read about Suli: ― & wrote this. I am displeased that Spiro’s children are called “Otho” & Amelia! ―――! ―――!

[Transcribed by Marco Graziosi from Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS Eng. 797.3.]

  1. A town in the province of Rieti. [↩]
  2. Camerata Nuova, in the province of Rome, is on the border between Lazio and the Abruzzo. [↩]
  3. When our King, that is our Pope, has abandoned us? Who’s going to rebuild our homes? ― No one among us has 2 thousand scudi. ― Had there been a rich person such as, for example, Baron Colletti di Tufo! ― [↩]