I am sure you must have been anxious lately on account of America.  There seems to be a good deal of weakness, even on the part of Lincoln, who, if he had not the means of defending Fort Sumter and maintaining the Union, should not have spoken as he did.  Not that it may not be as well to let the Southern States secede.  Perhaps better so.  What I feared most was that the North would compromise; and I fear still that they are not heroically strong on their legs on the moral question.  I fear it much.  If they can but hold up it will be noble.

We remain here (where we have had the mildest of winters) till somewhat late in May, when we go to Florence for a week or two on our way to Paris.

You see my Emperor is ’crowning the edifice’;[99] it is the beginning.  Sir John Bowring says that the more liberty he can give, the better he will like it. He told Sir John so.

Is it right and loyal meanwhile of Guizot and his party to oppose the Empire by upholding the enemies of Italy?  I ask you.  Such things I hear from Paris!  Guizot corrected Keller’s speech with his own hand.

May God bless you!  Pen’s love and gratitude.  If Robert were here he would be named.  Love me and think of me a little.

Your ever affectionate and grateful
BA.

* * * * *

To Miss Browning

[Rome]:  May 11, 1861 (postmark).

Your account of the dearest nonno was very pleasant on the whole, only, of course, you will be very careful with him.  And then, dearest Sarianna, you yourself have not been well.  The grippe seems to have been bitter against you.  This is the time of year when it generally rages, and even Pen has had a small cough, which makes me austere about hours.  In fact, the weather in the north has reverberated here, and we have paid for our mild winter by a considerable lingering of cold wind, from snow on the mountains, they say.  As for me, it’s much to my disadvantage in getting air and strength.  I hope you are quite well again, as is Pen, and that the loved nonno is as strong as he ever was.  Do you get good wine for him?  The vintages are said to have suffered (which grieves me for poor dear Milsand) from the frost.  We hear of travellers in snowstorms through England, where the cold has been great, and that in Paris, too, there has been snow.  I do hope the opening summer will not copy the last.

Dearest Sarianna, try to find out if Fontainebleau is damp, because I was assured the other day that it was, besides being subject to intense heats.  Also, will you see if there is a completed railroad to Trouville?  Robert denies that sea-air ever disagrees with him (sea-bathing does), and it may be good for you and for Pen, to say nothing of Arabel, who is coming in the course of the summer.  The objection is the journey, but if the railroad is there, it would not prolong the journey (in relation to Fontainebleau) more than two or three hours, if