We see a great deal of Mr. Tennyson. Robert is very fond of him, and so
am I. He too writes poems, and prints them, though not for the public.
They are better and stronger than Charles Tennyson's, and he has the
poetical temperament in everything. Did I tell you that he had married
an Italian, and had children from twelve years old downwards? He is
intensely English nevertheless, as expatriated Englishmen generally are.
I always tell Robert that his patriotism grows and deepens in exact
proportion as he goes away from England. As for me, it is not so with
me. I am very cosmopolitan, and am considerably tired of the
self-deification of the English nation at the expense of all others. We
have some noble advantages over the rest of the world, but it is not all
advantage. The shameful details of bribery, for instance, prove what I
have continually maintained, the non-representativeness of our
'representative system;' and, socially speaking, we are much behindhand
with most foreign peoples. Let us be proud in the right place, I say,
and not in the wrong. 'We see too a good deal of young Lytton, Sir
Edward's only son, an interesting young man, with various sorts of good,
and aspiration to good, in him. You see we are not at Rome yet. Do write
to me. Speak of yourself particularly. God bless you, dearest friend.
Believe that I think of you and love you most faithfully.

BA.

* * * * *


_To Mrs. Martin_

Florence: April 21, 1853.