See 'Napoleon III. in Italy,' stanza 11, _ibid._ p. 181. The
incident occurred at Macmahon's entry into Milan, three days after
Magenta.

[76] _Ibid._ stanza 12.

CHAPTER XI

1860-1861

Early in 1860 the promised booklet, 'Poems before Congress,' was
published in England, and met with very much the reception the authoress
had anticipated. It contained only eight poems, all but one relating to
the Italian question. Published at a time when the events to which they
alluded were still matters of current controversy, they could not but be
regarded rather as pamphleteering than as poetry; and it could hardly be
expected that the ordinary Englishman, whose sympathy with Italy did not
abolish his mistrust (eminently justifiable, as later revelations have
shown it to be) of Louis Napoleon, should read with equanimity the
continual scorn of English policy and motives, or the continual
exaltation of the Emperor. Looking back now over a distance of nearly
forty years, and when the Second Empire, with all its merits and its
sins, has long gone to its account, we can, at least in part, put aside
the politics and enjoy the poetry. Though pieces like 'The Dance' and 'A
Court Lady' are not of much permanent value, there are many fine
passages, notably in 'Napoleon III. in Italy,' and 'Italy and the
World,' in which a true and noble enthusiasm is expressed in living and
burning words, worthy of a poet.

For attacks on her Italian politics Mrs. Browning was prepared, as the
foregoing letters show; but one incident caused her real and quite
unexpected annoyance. The reviewer in the 'Athenaeum' (apparently Mr.
Chorley) by some unaccountable oversight took the 'Curse for a Nation'
to apply to England, instead of being (as it obviously is) a
denunciation of American slavery. Consequently he referred to this poem
in terms of strong censure, as improper and unpatriotic on the part of
an English writer; and a protest from Mrs. Browning only elicited a
somewhat grudging editorial note, in a tone which implied that the
interpretation which the reviewer had put upon the poem was one which it
would naturally bear. One can hardly be surprised at the annoyance which
this treatment caused to Mrs. Browning, though some of the phrases in
which she speaks of it bear signs of the excitement which characterised
so much of her thought in these years of mental strain and stress, and
bodily weakness and decay.

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