A SIDE-LIGHT ON PANIZZI IN THE LETTERS OF PROSPER MERIMEE
AUDREY C. BRODHURST
THIS is an attempt to break into a patch of silence and a zone of half-light in the later years of Sir Anthony Panizzi. The silence and obscurity are the result of a historical accident. The bulk of Panizzi's papers and correspondence has been preserved—it is available now to students, either in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Library or in other collections—but there was an illuminating exchange of letters, between Panizzi and the French writer Prosper Merimee, Panizzi's part in which has entirely disappeared. Only one of Panizzi's letters to Merimee has survived, in a copy retained by him. It is printed in Louis Fagan's biography The Life of Sir Anthony Panizzi (1880, vol, ii, pp. 218-20). All others must be presumed lost in the fire which destroyed Merimee's house in Paris in May 1871, during the street battles of the last days of the Paris Commune. The exchange of letters extended from a few in 1850 to a formidable number between 1858 and the death of Merimee in 1870. These included the great years of Panizzi's official life and spanned the years of the Second Empire in France, and the rise of United Italy; and in Italian affairs particularly, it is well known that Panizzi was always actively con- cerned. For example, Merimee reported that 'Panizzi is half mad with the affairs of Italy' (letter to Fanny Lagden, 6 November 1867). The two notable men, in the later years of their lives, maintained this hvely and increasingly personal communication not only on many political and professional matters but also on private domestic concerns. Their intimacy and long and tender friendship is really extraordinary when observed in the prevailing context of Anglo-French political hostility and the general want of sympathy between the two peoples. Merimee himself said, after one of his early visits, *j'ai trouve des gens qui me demandaient si je n'avais pas ete insulte dans les rues de Londres'. In virtually all of the activities and relationships of Panizzi's varied life his figure is well illuminated by his own surviving letters and vigorously worded reports. In the relation- ship discussed here he must be sought in reflection, as it were, from the surviving letters of his faithful correspondent. Both men were prodigious letter-writers, and during the years of their greatest intimacy they exchanged two or three letters a week, thanks to the speed and reliability of the mid-nineteenth-century postal service between Paris and London. In addition they regularly visited each other's houses. The destruction of Panizzi's letters is a sad loss to scholars on both sides of the channel. Unhappily, for a long time they were also denied
57 Fig. I. Prosper Merimee, 1868 access to the full text of Merimee's letters to Panizzi. The originals of virtually all these are in the Department of Manuscripts of the British Library, in the chronological sequence of Papers and Correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi (Add. MSS. 36714-36729). When these were purchased in 1892 the Trustees ruled that the whole should be reserved for a period of twenty years, because a number of the recipients and persons mentioned therein were still alive.' The collection is first recorded in the catalogue of Additional Manuscripts for 1902-5, published in 1907. For a period of nearly forty years from Merimee's death, therefore, students and admirers had no access to the original texts. Nor, for much longer still, was any complete or reliable text available in printed form. The story of their publication or rather non-publication, is a strange one. It had long been known in France that the whole of Merimee's correspondence was of exceptional quality and interest, and soon after his death scholars began the difficult task of locating and obtaining permission to print the various collections of letters to individuals. The first two to appear, Lettres a, une inconnue (Jenny Dacquin) in 1874, and Lettres a une autre inconnue (Lise Przezdziecka) in 1875 were followed by the printing of fragments only of two other sets of personal letters. Lettres a, M. Panizzi i8so-i8yo, was published by Calmann Levy in two volumes in 1881 from a transcript made by Louis Fagan from the original manuscripts, then said to have been in his possession. These had been eagerly awaited, as the first collection to reveal extensively Merimee's sharp and lucid political comments derived from his privileged personal observation of personalities and events. However, this edition, as will be seen later, was sadly and inexplicably incomplete. The assemblage and definitive publication of the Correspondance generale of Merimee, in the correct chronological sequence could not be achieved until this century.^ It contains over 5,000 letters from 1822 to 1870, For the first time the complete versions of virtually all the surviving letters to Panizzi were published, corrected against the manuscripts. But they must be traced through the ten volumes of the years 1850-70 and cannot conveniently be read as a unity, as Fagan had intended in his presentation of the Lettres a M. Panizzi. Merimee's correspondence has been compared for the nineteenth century with that of Voltaire for the eighteenth and many scholars now believe that Merimee will be remem- bered and honoured much more for his letters than for his stories, translations and plays or even for the fascinating reports of his official journeys as Inspecteur des monuments historiques. For his own life and character they are the prime, virtually the only source and for the history of his time they are unsurpassed in insight, vividness, malice, and rich personal flavour. It was suspected, immediately upon publication, that the edition of Calmann Levy (1881) was defective. This was in no sense the fault of Fagan, whose transcription, as far as can be estimated, was faithful and virtually complete. The clue to the extent and nature of the omissions and wilful alterations, though not to the motives for the last-minute mutilation, is to be found in the very few surviving sets of the original and second printers' proofs. One of these, somewhat incomplete, came into the possession of the British Museum Library in 1950 in slightly mysterious circumstances. It was handed over to Sir Frank Francis (then Keeper in the Department of Printed Books, later the Director
59 and Principal Librarian of the British Museum) 'presented anonymously through Mr. W. A. Jackson of the Houghton Library, Harvard'. The anonymous donor has so far eluded detection in the surviving records of either library, but the great value of his dona- tion or bequest can be judged by what is known of the history and ownership of these very few sets of proofs, which provided for more than sixty years the only near-reliable printed text of Merimee's letters to Panizzi, and even in these, many of the English personal and place names are so mangled as to be unrecognizable. There were originally thought to have been only six sets of proofs. Later a few more were heard of, but each copy was a carefully guarded treasure and none was readily accessible. In 1924 the bibliographer Pierre Josserand was attempting the groundwork of a definitive edition of the correspondence, and listed the six known sets, all then still in private hands. One or two had already passed through the sale-rooms, but the Biblio- theque Nationale had been unable to obtain one and in 1978 still did not possess a copy. Two were in the hbraries of eminent men: Anatole France and Louis Barthou. Two were owned by students and amateurs of Merimee: Felix Chambon (whose set was imperfect) and Henri Monod. The best set, said to have been the only one checked against the manuscripts, was in the library of Viscount Spoelberch de Lovenjoul, afterwards housed at Chantilly. This library normally had a liberal policy of allowing access to its manuscripts and rare books, but in this case access was specifically denied: 'cet exemplaire ne se communique pas', in the words of the catalogue. It is not surprising that speculation and indignation were aroused, and that attempts were made to open up the mystery and to uncover, if possible, the extent and motives of the cuts that had been made in the text between the issue of the proofs and the final publication. Felix Chambon, the author of several sympathetic studies of Merimee, dared to print, in a strictly limited edition of forty-two copies for private circulation, a portion of the omitted material from the text in his own set of the proofs,^ He was immediately sued by 'les heritiers Merimee', doubt- less at the instigation of the publishers Calmann Levy, condemned to an exemplary fine and the confiscation of all remaining stock. Henri Monod, with greater caution, contrived to give the content of several letters without exactly quoting the text. It was obvious that a number of students had been allowed to consult one or other of these sets and attempts were made to enumerate the suppressions and omissions, but it was legally impossible to reproduce a full text. The proofs appeared infrequently in the sale-rooms, on each occa- sion reaching a high price as a bibliographical rarity with an unusual literary history. When the British Museum received this rich gift in 1950 the definitive Correspondance had not reached the years of Merimee's letters to Panizzi. Even with this essential edition now com- pleted, the proofs of the Lettres a, M. Panizzi remain the most direct approach to this series. The British Library copy (fig. 2) is in three volumes, richly bound by Gruel for the original French owner, from whom they passed to the anonymous American bibliophile. They contain a run of the corrected placards^ date-stamped by the printers from '14 AVRIL 1880' to '27 MAI 1880', and headed simply 'Correspondance', These placards are printed on both sides of the leaves, which have been cut to octavo size and have been 'artificially' 60 I lV)rissaiilo, jp omis quel'oi1ii:le <|iij t|Ul In frniicliisi! nut Ji'ixisiluiio* d'uiio ', iloimi'rn df )traiidi.'a (ncilitii:* auii scE, — j-r., si I'oiir L'lilier au Paiiumeot. Ct;tio dti- t' iloi! du suffrage uitivcrjcl fail lo luiir ilu [ly pleiil ik'Ui uri«of
Fig. 2. Froof placards o( V. Merimee, Correspondance (19 May, 1880). C.120.C.4
numbered in manuscript from i to 888—out of a total of 928 'artificially' numbered pages in most of the sets which are known to be complete. They contain in proof the text of all the letters in the first volume of the 1881 edition, and of letters I-CLXXI ('22 decembre 1869') of the second volume. The remaining text has been supplied by an insertion of the last pages of the 1881 edition interleaved to accommodate a transcript of the text of the omitted and altered passages. The former French owner has supplied numerous manuscript notes in addition to marking clearly by means of red marginal lines each passage suppressed in the 1881 edition. He has further indicated in blue all the changes made by the publishers in Merimee's text. The 'corrections typographiques', very numerous, though not numerous enough, are given in black. The author of the manu- script notes has made use of Felix Chambon's privately printed edition and a manuscript note draws attention to certain notes where 'Ch. signifie Chambon' adding, 'il ne donne pas ie vingtieme partie des suppressions'. Perhaps the most valuable contribution of the French owner was the addition of a manuscript 'Appendice: Index par ordre alphabetique
61 des noms propres d'apres un exemplaire des epreuves conforme au manuscrit et arti- ficiellement pagine de i a 979/ A note specifies: 'C'est a ces pages que Tindex renvoie. Quand un renvoi porte sur un passage supprime dans Tedition de 1881, le numero est ecrit en caracteres egyptiens.' This is explained by a note on the corner of the first page of the index: 'Note pour Timprimeur, Toutes les fois que le numero porte une croix rouge, il doit etre imprime en caracteres egyptiens' [i.e. in heavy type]. Evidently the French owner, whether or not he, was himself the compiler of the index, had prepared it for eventual publication. What were these excisions and alterations and why were they made? The excision of long passages and whole letters has been variously estimated at between one quarter and one third of the whole text. In the British Library copy the ^/i^C£^r(^5 offer the material of a projected 956 printed pages as against the eventual 804 pages in the 1881 edition. The size of the excisions was disguised by the eventual presentation of the same number of letters in the edition as in the proofs, viz. 144 in vol. i and 197 in vol. 2, and by the printing of the final text in a larger fount and with more generous spacing between lines, paragraphs, and numbered items. The editors of the definitive edition of the Correspondance generale therefore rightly warn readers against it. 'La publication par Louis Fagan ne merite aucune confiance. Sur les trois cent quarante lettres publiees, plus de trois cent vingt sont denaturees par des omissions de noms propres, des transpositions et des lacunes importantes.' Maurice Parturier pronounced that the volumes were 'tronques a un tel point que le public fut de^u et que les lettres protesterent contre pareille mutilation'.^ The 'artificial' manuscript pagination of the British Library copy has evidently been carefully made to correspond exactly to that of the 'exemplaire , . . conforme aux manuscrits' cited by Monod, though the only one then officially recorded was that in the Spoelberch de Lovenjoul library to which access was denied. One of the four perfect sets reached the sale-room in 1920^ and comprised '928 pages imprimees en placard'. The catalogue stated: 'L'edition des Lettres a Panizzi, sous la date de 1881 etait depuis longtemps en cours d'execution composee toute entiere. Les epreuves se trouvaient a la correction aux mois d'avril-mai 1880. A ce moment le travail fut interrompu pour un motif ignore, et il fut resolu que la publication ne serait pas fait integrate; et Fedition presque achevee en 1880 parut en 1881 reduite d'un tiers.' Felix Chambon^ is quoted as having suggested that a study of the two texts shows some political influence 'laquelle a cherche a passer inaper9ue en mettant en avant les passages libres et les mots crus de Merimee comme raison de suppression', but it is rightly pointed out that there were only five or six passages that might deserve to have been omitted for reasons of prudery. Tour le surplus, la mutilation est aussi inexplicable qu'arbitraire.' The 1881 edition 'entierement sophistiquee et tronquee' is preceded by a preface concerning Merimee, signed XXX (identified by H. Monod as Ludovic Halevy) and by a foreword on Panizzi by Louis Fagan. The hypothesis of a politically motivated intervention is indeed difficult to uphold when one studies the 'index alphabetique' supplied by the French owner, where 'croix rouges' signal the personal references which were largely or completely removed. Most of Merimee's French and English friends and acquaintances figure among them, but 62 these are not, predominantly, the great political figures, nor, as might have been suspected on such a motivation, other prominent French personalities. The greatest number, with- out a doubt, are English. So it is not easy to account for the remarkable pains that were taken on the French side to prevent partial publication or even consultation of the sup- pressed passages for so many years after publication. It is possible that the publishers, and/or Louis Fagan, might have been approached by several of Panizzi's nearest English and French friends with strong pressure to omit certain passages and letters which could have brought them an undesirable publicity. In support of this we may note that great clusters of red crosses follow the names of several notable men and women of Panizzi's circle such as Lord and Lady Ashburton, Edward Lee Childe, Lord Clarendon, Lord Dalhousie, Edward Ellice, Lord and Lady Holland, Sir James Hudson, Winter Jones of the British Museum, and several others. The texts excluded are, however, frequently of little interest, mainly conventional greetings, kind wishes, and inquiries about health containing few even remotely objectionable passages. But not only personalities were affected by the cuts. More serious is the removal of most of Merimee's inquiries to Panizzi, on his own or his friends' account, on subjects such as rare books, manuscripts, objets d'art, and 'erudition', and the almost total removal of the long and fascinating letters on national library matters and library and museum policy, and the systematic abbreviation even of the longer political reports. On the French side, references are frequently suppressed to Merimee's closest associates such as Du Sommerard and Fould, and even to his housekeeper Sophie Baret, and to an arbitrary number of famous and less- known persons. Great international figures such as Napoleon III and the Empress, Garibaldi, the Pope, Bismarck, most contemporary French politicians, and Gladstone, Palmerston, Lord Brougham, and Lord John Russell on the English side, however, suffer only incidental cuts, though certain expressions, such as 'Bismarck est un imbecile', have been needlessly banished. It is true that a few crude passages (by the standard of 1881) have been altered or excised, but Henri Monod^ rightly deems that 'la raison de pudi- bonderie si elle est exacte, est insuffisante'. AH the shocking 'operations dans Tombre' he decides to attribute to a certain mythical 'Procuste' whose main preoccupation is 'de ne meconter personne'. Monod shows by numerous examples how his cuts have removed the savour of Merimee's comments on persons of virtually every political leaning—the clerical party, the middle classes, the Bonapartists and their opponents, and succeeding French administrations. Some changes of phrase are stigmatized as 'simplement pedantes- ques et tres ridicules'. Merimee emerges as a duller and more cautious man. Monod sees what was perhaps the overriding motivation, the need of the publisher to reduce the size of the text to a manageable, saleable two volumes, to interest as many readers as possible in France while sparing his public, which knew and cared little for the English scene, too much exposure to purdy English concerns. But if this was decisive, it seems strange that it did not begin to weigh until late in 1880 when the whole transcript had been set up in proof. Suspicion initially fell upon Merimee's friend and 'legataire testamentaire' Du Sommerard (although it was generally understood that Fagan had been appointed the literary executor of Panizzi) and referred to at the trial of Chambon^ 'd'apres pieces
63 produites' as having 'collabore a Tedition des leltres de Merimee a Panizzi'. All that is elsewhere recorded of Du Sommerard in this connection is that he insisted on the removal of all references to Madame Walewska. It is true that some of these are scurrilous. But it seems improbable that he can be held responsible for the series of entirely improper excisions, suppressions and alterations v^^hich so seriously mutilated Merimee's text and which disguised, in so many places, his true voice. The resulting loss was strongly felt by Merimee's admirers to whom his letters were virtually the sole source for the appreciation of the man and his life. It was perhaps equally grievous to English readers who by accident of war had been deprived of all Panizzi's part in this fascinating correspondence and would also have wished to see the whole of the surviving text of Merimee, as Louis Fagan had intended them to do. These minor bibliographical mists and mystifications at the threshold of Merimee's letters to Panizzi have kept us too long from the enjoyment of their contents and/rom the discovery of Merimee's Panizzi. Ludovic Halevy^° sees these letters as 'une veritable histoire du Second Empire ecrite par Tauteur de "Colomba" et de "Carmen". Quel temoin pourrait-on souhaiter plus brillant et mieux renseigne?' Merimee was the intimate of Napoleon III and particularly of the Empress Eugenie. 'Place au premier rang pour tout voir et tout savoir, Merimee rapportait fidelement a son ami Panizzi tout ce qu'il savait et comme il avait dans son correspondant la plus entiere confiance il lui disait tout ce qu'il pensait . . . dans Tabandon d'une affectueuse causerie.' Merimee once said of himself: 'Je n'aime dans Thistoire que les anecdotes','^ but his own serious judgements and lucid exposition of the issues of the day behe this assumed frivolity. Merimee's anecdotes are plentiful, but always have a pointed significance which elevates his narrative above the ephemeral and trivial. He speaks in a light and amused tone of voice that now charms his many readers and evidently captivated his faithful friend. For it is soon apparent that the special value of this series of letters derives as much from the stimulus of the congenial recipient as from the peculiar relationship which Merimee had, from his early youth, with England and its institutions, English friends and the English language. Merimee's biographer A. Filon says, 'Merimee n'est pas anglomane mais il est un des tres rares Fran9ais de ce siecle qui aient un peu compris les Anglais et qui aient su en tirer agrement.''^ But how is it that Merimee came to find in Panizzi, the adoptive Englishman but committed European, deeply settled in English academic, official, and aristocratic circles, so congenial a partner in the political causerie in which he excelled, and so dear a personal friend, in all of whose activities, achievements, sufferings, and pleasures he was concerned and on whose support he increasingly depended in his later, sadder years? In his last letter to Panizzi in September 1870 (fig. 3) when he was leaving Paris for the last time for Cannes in a period of acute depression and physical weakness which he referred to as 'une sorte d'agonie' he said: 'Vous etes, mon cher ami, la personne a qui je m'adresserais en cas de necessite avec la plus de confiance et le moins de confusion.' Further confirmation of their deep attachment came from Miss Fanny Lagden, the old English friend of Merimee's family who was with him when he died a few weeks later: *My Dear Sir, You loved my dear Prosper well and he loved you. I know you will be grieved 64 r.
J. Merimee's last letter to Panizzi, 13 September 1870. Add. MS. 36725, fol. 323
to hear he is gone: he died last night without a struggle. The horrid political events have certainly shortened his days. Dear Prosper often wondered and regretted that you did not write to him since he left Paris. I think the letters must miscarry, but hope you will receive these few lines.' Alas the post to and from Cannes had at this crucial moment proved to be less reliable than that which had linked the two friends for so many years, between Paris and London. Louis Fagan, one of Panizzi's closest friends, is witness that Panizzi 'used often to say [of Merimee] that he was the best Frenchman for whom he had ever formed a liking'. We do not know how this exemplary friendship began. Most probably the two men met at some hospitable dinner party or salon in London, and knew each other by reputation before their professional and personal communications began in December 1850. Panizzi was then Keeper of Printed Books and the years which followed were those of his greatest professional achievement and growing reputation, of the building of the Reading Room and the spectacular growth of the Library collections, and of Panizzi's promotion to Principal Librarian and Director of the British Museum. At this epoch, too, he was engaged in unceasing efforts in various Italian causes, notably that of the Neapolitan prisoners. Each of the two friends wrote in his own language (liberally interspersed with phrases and tags in a number of others) while readily understanding that of his correspon- dent. Thus directness and confidence could not be impeded by strivings after correct 65 expression. On one particularly emotional occasion Panizzi even ventured to address his friend from Italy in Italian, his true native tongue. The association, built on this close letter-companionship was furthered by professional inter-communication and advice, visits, and travel in each other's company and by the cultivation of common friends. It continued, as we have seen, into the years of increasing illness, the retirement of Panizzi and the death of Merimee. The series,'^ which started formally with Merimee's address 'Mon cher Monsieur', soon continued with 'Cher Monsieur Panizzi' and very soon afterwards 'Mon cher Panizzi'. Merimee was 'My Dear Merimee'. Merimee's concluding formula for the first surviving letter was 'agreez, mon cher Monsieur, l'expression de mes sentiments de haute consideration et d'amitie' (which bears out the supposition ofa previous acquaintance). Later he concluded with 'sentiments devoues', or 'sentiments tres devoues', once, daringly, 'je vous serre la main. Yours very truly', and finally: 'Ever yours'. By July 1857 Merimee was offering Panizzi hospitality over night in his Paris flat: 'Mais pourquoi partir si vite? Ne pourriez-vous pas rester un jour ou deux.^' Later there were to be frequent visits, varying from a few days to more than a month, of Merimee to the Residence in the British Museum where Merimee soon became a familiar figure—'les messengers et les attendants m'ont reconnu', he said in May 1858—and of Panizzi to Paris, or to Biarritz and later to Cannes; and joint journeys to Italy. And there were always numerous projects of which they dreamed but of which Panizzi's devotion to his duties at the British Museum or Merimee's fragile state of health prevented the accomplishment. Though much differing in inward character and doubtless also in outward manners, the two friends resembled each other in several respects. Each held for many arduous years, and with notable distinction, exacting positions in public life, Merimee as Inspecteur des monuments historiques and as Senator and member of various official commissions. Both were unmarried, but enjoyed a very full social life, dining out, delighting in excellent food and wines (Merimee, we note, with the greater discrimination), and the companioit- ship of noblemen, statesmen, wits, and great ladies at many dinner tables and town and country houses. We see Panizzi, from other evidence, as the more positive and outgoing of the two, arousing strong enthusiasms and enmities and quicker to show sympathy or dislike whereas Merimee had a reputation for dryness and coolness. His watchful reserve in public shielded an easily-wounded sensibility, while beneath a surface of distant politeness he sardonically observed persons and events. In the letters to Panizzi, as in much of his other correspondence he showed himself unguarded and spontaneous, in private and domestic life playful and self-revealing. In his political analyses he was concise, sharply witty, and occasionally merciless. We can be sure that Panizzi's letters were, in their own less subtle style, equally direct and confidential, and probably more urgent at times. This is not the place to discuss the importance of the political background-information which Merimee was able to pass on to Panizzi concerning French policy and public opinion, enabling Panizzi to brief and, he hoped, influence his friends in power among the Whigs, especially, of course, in relation to England's foreign policy on the Italian question 66 (which Merimee rightly described as *une politique de bascule'). The discussion of these topics occupies a very large proportion of the whole correspondence. Fortunately Merimee was as ready to communicate, from his favoured position as confidant of the French Emperor and particularly of the Empress, as Panizzi was to press for more and more information and intelligent opinion. It is more appropriate here to deal with the lesser-known *petite histoire' which the letters so delightfully reveal. One of the topics which was most severely reduced from the edition of 1881 was that of library organization and 'erudition' generally. Strangely enough there was virtually no discussion of purely literary matters between the two friends. In December 1857 Merimee was appointed a member of a commission 'pour Torganisation de la Bibliotheque Imperiale' and, because he had already learned about the British Museum Library from Panizzi and could offer some advice, he was chosen as the President of the commission, presenting in March 1858 a report 'sur les modifications a introduire dans la Bibliotheque Imperiale'. During these months, and for several years thereafter, as Merimee accepted yet further advisory assignments in library matters, he entered, with the help of Panizzi, with total thoroughness into all the problems of cataloguing, placing, what is now called 'workflow', book storage, binding, design of reading rooms and other facilities, admissions, security, and staff residences. In January 1858 he heartily wished for Panizzi's expert help: 'Vous devriez bien venir nous organiser notre affaire et vous guerir de vos rhumes en mangeant ici de la soupe grasse et du macaroni.' (Here, paren- thetically, we may note two of the recurrent themes of the whole correspondence: health and food.) Instead it was Merimee who decided he must visit Panizzi, 'et vous embeter d'une serie de queries aussi longue que Techelle de Jacob'. In February he was already feeling overworked: 'La Bibliotheque me fait mourir a petit feu.' Problems all too familiar to Panizzi emerged: 'II y a quinze ans qu'on travaille a notre catalogue et il n'avance guere . . . Mille tendres compliments et amities. A bientot je pense aller vous tourmenter en personne.' Panizzi evidently supplied ample, clear, and radical professional advice. 'Malheureusement', said Merimee, 'les idees simples ne sont pas au gout de tout Ie monde' (23 February 1858). Inevitably the officials were up in arms. 'Us ont une routine pour toutes ces operations du rangement et du catalogue qui remonte aux premieres annees du 18^ siecle.' The catalogue was a 'gachis, empeste du fatras apporte par le depot legal' and the authorities would wish it to be a worthy monument to the state of literature, science, and the arts in the nineteenth century. 'Je compte vous demander une place de gar^on de bureau pour apprendre toutes vos petites malices' he announced on 29 March. He stayed with Panizzi for a month in April and May to complete his investigations and the friendship of the two men was evidently sealed by an easy professional collaboration and by an accompanying round of social occasions. Thereafter, until at least the summer of i860 Merimee was busily concerned with Imperial Library problems, chiefly the design of the new buildings: entrances, reading rooms, galleries, the 'reserve', binding and repair shops, and facilities for the readers, notably the new English invention of water closets. In January 1859 Merimee told Panizzi: 'Ce dernier point est des plus graves dans un pays comme celui-ci ou Ton est naturellement sale.' He added that even the members of the
67 Chambre des Deputes 'ne savaient pas se servir de commodites a I'anglaise'. Finally, in July 1859, an official was sent to examine Panizzi's new Reading Room 'et se preparer une imitation'. Merimee told Panizzi about the official residences. The Keepers were 'loges d'une fa^on convenable, mais non pas splendidement, comme les seigneurs du British Museum'. Panizzi's residence was thereafter always a pleasant and comfortable home in London for Merimee, much as he deplored the climate. He appreciated the shady garden and admired Panizzi, later, for accepting stoically the prospect of losing some of his trees to new Museum buildings. The Museum itself was a constant delight. He admired its organization, and understood the contents of the collections and their unity. He was always happy to revisit them and note their progressive enrichment. He wrote to a friend, 'Vous ne pouvez vous faire une idee de la beaute du British Museum un dimanche quand il n'y a absolument personne que M. Panizzi et moi. Cela prend un caractere de recueille- ment merveilleux.' In May i860, 'Tout est si bien arrange dans le British Museum ... II est evident que le British Museum n'a pas ete fonde pour les fianeurs mais pour ceux qui veulent travailler.' He discussed earnestly with Panizzi the virtues of centralization and the dangers of over-centralization in the Museum. When problems concerning the separation of the Natural History departments were being discussed Merimee strongly supported Panizzi (neither was to any degree sympathetic to the natural sciences) and took a long-sustained humorous interest in the longed-for removal of the stuffed gorilla whose figure he several times sketched in caricature. 'II semble que vous envoyez le gorille et ses admirateurs a l'autre bout du monde' (10 Mar. 1862). He predicted to his friends that such great additions were being made to the antiquities and to the library that the British Museum would in a few years become the richest in Europe. Throughout their long friendship Merimee frequently applied to Panizzi for help in tracing or acquiring rare books, manuscripts, and works of art, and transmitted similar inquiries from his friends. Very little of the text of all this interesting matter survived the cuts of 1881. Panizzi's hospitality was always offered on a most ample and comfortable scale. Again and again we get from Merimee happy glimpses into Panizzi's home interior— 'Panizzi en pantoufles' as it were—and into the multifarious social life which the inde- fatigable 'grand Pan' (later Sir Anthony) contrived to lead. There are repeated grateful thanks, and regrets for the loss of Panizzi's company when Merimee returned to Paris. 'A dix heures je dejeunais solitairement en pensant a nos bons tete-a-tete du British Museum' (12 May 1858). 'Je suis plus triste que je n'etais autrefois de dejeuner et de diner seul. Je trouve mon diner et mon vin mauvais. C'est vous qui etes cause de tout cela. Vous m'avez fait faire trop bonne et joyeuse vie' (16 May 1858). Another long visit was in 1862 when Merimee, although in fragile health, was appointed a member ofa French deputation to the International Exhibition: 'on me nomme commissaire pour les pots de chambre, bidets et autres meubles intimes'. (In reality, 'pour les meubles et papiers peints' as he specified in a letter to E. Delacroix, 2 July 1862.) 'Je proteste d'avance', he wrote to his host, 'contre les bons vins du British Museum . . . Je ne demande qu'une chose, c'est que vous ne me fassiez ni boire ni manger.' But such severity was not of course 68 imposed. In July 1862 he reported on his return 'votre vin m'a fait trouver le mien detest- able'. Panizzi must have expressed his own feelings of regret when Merimee returned home from a visit three years later: 'Je suis fache et content, mon cher Panizzi, que vous me regrettiez. Je vous assure que je suis bien triste a diner tout seul'; though he looked back ruefully to Panizzi's 'cuisine de Balthazar' which he said had stuffed him like a goose. 'Adieu mon cher Panizzi, je crains de devenir trop poetique ou trop missish si je vous dis combien je pense a vous et a nos deux solitudes presentes et a nos bonnes soirees passees' (3 September 1865, fig. 4). 'Vous savez, mon ami, le plaisir que j'ai a passer le temps et a ne rien faire avec vous. Je me plais particulierement a Londres' (July 1867)—surely the testimonial to a thoroughly comfortable and established relationship.
ft ^ ^ / -V Fig. 4. Letter from Merimee to Panizzi, 3 September 1865. Add. MS. 36723, fol.
We know from the letters of Merimee to his other friends that while he was in London he contrived to lead an exhausting social life of endless dining out despite the invariably detestable weather and some detestable English food ^scraping acquaintance tous les jours avec des ladies et des misses differentes'. 'Je dine en ville tous les jours et je fais tous les jours le meme diner'. 'The mutton here is very bad and smells of wool; I cannot eat the lean fowls ... I feed only upon the salt beef at my breakfast. The cookery is entirely ruined in this country' (in English to Miss F. Lagden). In June 1862: 'Panizzi says that the East wind nearly kills him and that he must absolutely resign. However, they coax him to stay by every means.' But 'We are making our holidays, Panizzi and I, in consequence of Whitsuntide. The dinners have stopped a little and we have our homely meals together in our night-gowns which is a great comfort... I have bought by the advice of Panizzi 3 silk waistcoats which he says are warmer and cost less than the flannel ones.' These were evidently needed in the detestable June weather of 1862. When Merimee returned to Paris on this occasion he pronounced himself 'excede de Thospitalite britannique et de ses diners', and in July he was making suggestions for the two friends to visit together a Pyrenean spa, Bagneres de Bigorre, for the benefit of their health. Each was the con- fidant of the other regarding their various maladies. 'Je ne crois pas du tout', said Merimee, 'a la paralysie dont vous me parlez . . . Vous etes nullement de temperament a avoir cette
69 maladie que vous dites. Vous ne faites pas assez d'exercice et vous vivez trop bien. II vous sera bon de marcher un peu dans les montagnes et lorsque vous serez bien fatigue je vous permettrai de manger des ortolans ... II y a des tables d'hote et des restaurants a Bagneres . . . Le plus difficile sera d'avoir quclques bouteilles de vin potable' (i8 July 1862). Panizzi was engaged to join Merimee in Paris on 5 August and Merimee announced: Je vous donnerai du poulet et du beefteak tant que vous voudrez et du vin tel quel. Cela ne vous engraissera pas' (29 July 1862). The Empress had invited them both to an intimate dinner at St. Cloud 'en cravatte noire'. By 15 August the two were installed at Bagneres where because of the French detestable weather 'Panizzi et moi nous sommes tres melan- coliques\ By 31 August Panizzi had caught a bad feverish cold and Merimee reported to Miss Lagden that 'he had a little fever and remained in bed till 3 o'clock. What was a worse symptom, he would have nothing but a cup of coffee for his breakfast. Panizzi complains much of cramps and nerve aches, however he is able to walk more than he was wont of late.' On 6 September they had decided to leave 'cette Siberie' and go to Bordeaux. Napoleon III and Eugenie had invited them to stay for a few days later in the month at the Villa Eugenie at Biarritz. Their departure was delayed by Panizzi's illness and distress: Tanizzi has been rather unwell these last days and completely lost his wits; He thought it was all over with him and did nothing but fret' (letter to F. Lagden, 9 September). The prospect of the visit to Biarritz evidently revived him, for on 18 September: 'Panizzi is recovered and very happy to spend some days with Majesties without being under the necessity of breeches'. At the Villa Eugenie (24 September): 'We are all well, Panizzi wondering and wondering at their Majesties kindness, the child's beauty and wit, and eating most imperially. He became very thin, like the mouse, but he is becoming fat again.' Panizzi made a great friend of the little Prince imperial, and Merimee thereafter transmitted loving messages from the boy to Panizzi and recounted all his adventures, and Panizzi responded with greetings and messages. During this visit Panizzi took part in a memorable expedition to the frontier-peak of La Rhune, travelling to the foot in the Imperial coach. The gentlemen then mounted horses and the ladies 'cacolets', which Merimee defined for Miss Lagden as 'two chairs with a horse in the middle'. Panizzi was mounted on an iron-grey horse of suitable sturdiness
who neighed despairingly at some times ... He lost his hat and cane and . . . had to abuse his guide in every language he knows. Unfortunately, they could understand no other but Basque. [At the top of the mountain] ... all of us dismounted except Panizzi who declared he could not walk on such rugged paths . . . We came to a httle hollow where nobody but outlaws and contra- bandists resort. We found there a very good lunch or dinner. Panizzi found that if he went down he could never be able to pass again his leg over the horse's back so he remained on horseback and was fed by Their Majesties, one bringing him a sandwich, another a glass of wine. Nothing was so ludicrous as this dinner. [For the descent] . . . Everybody walked except Panizzi, discussing with his guide in English, French and Italian and getting nothing but Basque from him ... A lady went into a quagmire to the knee . . . [At the foot of the mountain] Panizzi dismounted for the first time since 5 hours and resumed his seat in the Imperial coach. Their Majesties declared he
70 had done the greatest feat of the day, but he very modestly said that his horse deserved the praise ... Next morning Panizzi... told me he had no skin left to sit upon. He was a great favourite here and was exceedingly pleased.
Panizzi was invited again on several occasions to the Villa Eugenie, but had no desire to repeat his mountaineering feat. By i October 1862 Merimee wrote to Madame de Montijo, the mother of Eugenie, 'II est au milieu de son travail ordinaire et melancolique. II regrette beaucoup les loisirs et la bonne compagnie de Biarritz.' Merimee wrote to Panizzi on the same day: 'Portez-vous bien et triomphez d'avoir ete le plus solide ecuyer des montagnes.' This had been a memorable day for both the friends. By the end of December Merimee was at Cannes, where there were already several English acquaintances. He deplored the 'affreux brouillards' of London and the pain from arthritis in his wrist from which Panizzi was suffering. His greeting for the New Year was 'finissez bien cette annee, commencez bien l'autre, et suivez le pretexte philosophique recte agere et laetari, que quelques-uns traduisent par "bander ferme et faire la chose" \ As the time for Panizzi's retirement approached, Merimee heard rumours that 'une guerre civile s'est declaree'. 'II parait qu'on se dispute votre succession.' But as we know Panizzi's retirement was deferred several times. Merimee's next visit was made in the summer. 'Je viens a Londres pour vous voir. Quant aux diners, les votres me plaisent beaucoup mieux que ceux des aristocrates du West End. Je viendrai tout nud', he added, 'suivant mon habitude' (12 July 1863). He had already ordered suits to be made for him, according to his invariable practice, by the London tailor Poole. On many occasions Panizzi was asked to settle the tailor's account, Merimee reimbursing him at some con- venient occasion. The visit lasted till late in August by which time he found that 'rien ne resiste a I'air de ces pays-ci' and he had a sore throat: 'Je suis enroue comme un loup\ He was again bored with England and the English, and glad to return to France. But to Panizzi he wrote on 21 August: 'Je suis triste de vous avoir quitte.' On 30 August they were again on their way to Biarritz. This was a short stay for already on 7 September Panizzi had to take up his 'collier de misere'. It is significant that he should have under- taken this journey for so short a reunion. Questions of health, of regime, of eating and drinking continued to be of concern to the two friends. Merimee had adopted the custom of spending winter and early spring at Cannes, and repeatedly urged Panizzi to join him there. This Panizzi was unwilling or unable to do until his retirement. Merimee sincerely condoled with Panizzi about his rhumatism and arthritis advising him repeatedly to eat less and take more exercise. 'Ne dinez pas trop bien', and after the fall in which Panizzi had injured his hip: 'couvrez-vous de flanelle et faites-vous des frictions'. In July 1864 Merimee reported to Miss Lagden: 'Panizzi is not so fat but a little more averse to motion.' 'Allez au club', he exhorted Panizzi, 'et revenez a pied.' Panizzi adopted various diets. 'Vous m'inquietez avec votre abstinence de pain et de vegetaux farineux . . . Ce qui vous guerirait plus que toutes drogues serait un repos un peu prolonge dans un pays moins froid et moins humide' (12 November 1864). At Cannes, he urged, 'il y a du bon mouton, du poisson frais et de l'huile excellente'. Merimee even went in search of a lodging
71 'convenable a votre grandeur, avec water closet'* (2 November 1866). But it was not easy to lure Panizzi away from the Museum: 'Vous etes comme une huitre, parlant par respect, attache a votre rocher du British Museum. Mademoiselle Lagden et le docteur Maure croient que c'est la peur, assez fondee d'ailleurs, de notre cuisine qui vous retient dans votre ile des brouillards.' Meanwhile: 'ne mangez pas trop de Gristmas dinner\ The two friends were full of anxiety when they were without written news of each other, or heard of any mishap, or attack of illness. Merimee also shared Panizzi's emotion and anxiety on the occasion of his delayed retirement, and his setting-up in a house away (though not far away) from the Museum. He advised him to get a cat as a member of his establishment (Merimee was a lifelong cat-lover) and promised to visit him, as always. 'Je regrette de ne pas etre present au moment solennel ou vous remettez les clefs du British Museum et prendrez conge du gorille.' Merimee was at hand with understanding and sympathy in 1866 when Panizzi was in great emotional torment after an estrangement from one of his greatest friends. Lady Holland. 'Je comprends que vos rapports sont devenus a peu pres impossibles.' Lady Holland in Paris was able to explain to Merimee her side of the 'brouille', and Merimee acted as a discreet line of communication between them. 'Vous autres philosophes', he said to Panizzi, 'vous etes parfois trop severes pour les devotes.' He saw Lady Holland as 'une pauvre femme livree aux pretres' but admitted to Panizzi: 'Je con^ois parfaitement tout le chagrin que vous donne cette triste affaire. Elle me rappelle des souvenirs encore penibles [his own rupture with Valentine Delessert more than ten years before] . , . Pourtant, il me semble que vous attachez a des phrases de melodrame une importance qu'elles ne meritent pas. Milady a toujours ete portee a la declamation.' It is not surprising that all the letters concerning this painful topic were omitted from the edition of 1881. Happily, Panizzi and Lady Holland were reconciled, after an interval of reflection on both sides, in the summer of 1867. In the lives of both correspondents the friendship and company of ladies played an important part. Merimee never failed to greet Panizzi's special favourites: 'Mettez-moi aux pieds de Lady Holland', or 'de la Comtesse Teleki', or 'de vos belles dames' though in his own letters he confided little about his emotional attachments. It was well known that he kept his closest friendships with ladies well separated from each other. He was often sharp and ribald at the expense of notable ladies. One is reported to be 'fort belle, mais trop grande et trop forte pour moi. Mes principes sont de ne jamais essayer de violer une femme qui pourrait me battre' (May 1866). But he was always devoted and respectful to his oldest and nearest friends, including the Empress Eugenie, her mother Madame de Montijo, and the two old English ladies who were his constant intimates, the sisters Miss Lagden and Mrs. Ewers, as also to Panizzi's ladies. Even so, he frequently teased Panizzi about them: 'II n'y a jamais eu que le vieil Ellice [one of Merimee's earliest English friends] qui fut gate par les femmes comme vous l'etes.' (This was on the occasion of the Comtesse Teleki's coming to stay in Panizzi's house in Bloomsbury Square for a month.) Merimee never failed to visit Panizzi's friends, especially Lady Holland and Comtesse Teleki, when they were in Paris, and to send him the latest news and greetings from them.
72 Food, as we have seen, was an interest always shared by the two friends. We have seen some of Merimee's criticisms of English food. In February 1864 he offered to get Panizzi tinned peas, a great novelty for that epoch, surely. 'II y a un homme a Paris qui fait des conserves excellentes . .. cela s'expedie par tout le monde dans des boites de fer blanc' In January 1865 at Cannes he regretted very much that he could not share with Panizzi a superlative Strasburg pate with truffles, and from Aix-en-Provence he sent him 'calissons', the local sweetmeat. Panizzi on a visit to Scotland responded by sending 'grouses' to Paris but these arrived 'dans un etat assez triste' and could only serve to be made into pate. Wines appear equally repetitiously in the correspondence. Merimee regularly arranged for Panizzi to import French wines direct from friends or friends of friends in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, and lesser-known vineyards. These were evidently 'les bons vins du British Museum'. For several years there is also mention of a certain 'porto dore' (fig. 5) which Merimee had strongly recommended. Merimee understood that ie climat de l'Angleterre a besoin d'etre combattu par des liqueurs alcooliques et par une nourriture plus forte qu'on ne pourrait supporter dans un pays chaud' (1866), but one of the items in one of Panizzi's regimes puzzled him: 'Je ne comprends pas le vin de sherry.' It is good to know that Merimee was able at last to persuade his friend to join him in the winter at Cannes, problems about food, lodging, and 'water closet' having been solved. Panizzi arrived in February 1867 and although he still refused to take much exercise he was better in health and delighted with the climate and with a number of the winter residents there. Various plans for journeys and sojourns together were discussed, but, in the following years, both men were ailing, Panizzi particularly, suffering from gout and hardly able to walk. Thus, in Merimee's last years both friends were in constant anxiety about each other's health. Panizzi was the more easily depressed by pain and restricted activity, whereas Merimee, though suffering ever more severely from difficulties in breathing and consequent exhaustion said: 'Je ne vois pas l'avenir si en noir que vous' (March 1869). For some months Panizzi's rhumatism prevented him even from writing and some letters had to be dictated to a secretary, a necessity both friends found irksome. In April 1868 Merimee was once again looking forward to a London visit: 'Je n'ai pas besoin de vous dire que je n'irai pas a Londres pour voir le monde, et je compte ne sortir de Bloomsbury Square, si j'y puis arriver, que pour aller au British Museum.' There is a note here almost of desperation. At the end of his life, in August 1870, utterly prostrated by melancholy at the defeat of France in the early weeks of the Franco-Prussian war, and in dire ill health, Merimee had decided to assemble all his 'economies' and transfer them to the safe keeping of Panizzi, in a London bank, for the duration of the emergency. He wrote to Panizzi in anguish almost every day, and it is evident that Panizzi exerted himself to arrange the financial transfer and to write with his usual sympathy and concern. Merimee, enfeebled though he was, was just able to undertake the last journey to Cannes. All too soon Panizzi received the news of his death, in the letter of Fanny Lagden quoted above. Already on 30 March of that year Merimee had written to Panizzi, 'Vous vivrez encore. Pour moi, je soufFre comme une bete.' Panizzi indeed lived on until 1879 but even his last years were passed in the shadow of pain and debility.
73 ! n / ./
/./.
4^ 7 / /
5, Letter from Merimee to Panizzi, 13 April 1864. Add. MS. 36722, fol. 334 These quotations must suffice to illuminate a little the character of this touching friendship between the two famous men. The charm and the depth of feeling of Merimee's letters to Panizzi even on domestic and day-to-day matters are strikingly evident. The want of Panizzi's letters to him to complete the picture is felt all the more strongly when we hear Merimee's voice unanswered. In many ways they are seen to complement and enrich each other's lives and it is gratifying for those who remember the Museum when it still had 'splendid' residences for its Director and Keepers, to think that the house in the British Museum was the scene of so much intimate enjoyment and comradeship from the record of which, in Merimee's letters, we too can relish with a backward-looking pleasure the salt-beef breakfasts, the night-gown suppers, the 'causeries tete-a-tete', and the Sunday strolls in the deserted Museum. Even in the transformed interior of the old buildings and the total absence of stuffed gorillas, surely the two venerable ghosts will sometimes be seen, arm in arm, perhaps a little lame and breathless at times, in the galleries and the Library which they knew and loved so well. Those of the present day should be honoured to salute them.
1 British Museum, Officers' Reports, Dept. of 9 'Heritiers Merimee contre Felix Chambon', July MSS., May-Dec. 1891. Report of the Standing 1910, see H. Monod, op. cit., p. 339. Committee of the Trustees, 9 Jan. 1892. 10 P. Merimee, Lettres a M. Panizzi, 18^0-18^0, A. Panizzi, Papers and Correspondence, Add. publiees par M. L. Fagan (Paris, 1881), Preface. MSS. 36714-36729. 11 P. Merimee, Chronique du regne de Charles IX 2 P. Merimee, Correspondance generale. Etablie et [Romans et Nouvelles, Paris, 1957), Preface. annotee par M. Parturier, etc. (Paris, Toulouse, 12 A. Filon, Merimee et ses amis, 2nd edn. (Paris, 1941-64). 1909). 3 P. Merimee, Lettres inedites [with an introduc- 13 For quotations below the following sources have tion by F. Chambon] (Moulins, 1900). been used: Correspondance generale. Etablie et 4 Galley proofs. This term can be applied equally annotee (Paris, Toulouse, 1941-64). P. Merimee, to the first proofs printed on one side of the leaf Lettres a M. Panizzi, i8^o-i8jo (Paris, r88i). only and to the second, printed on both sides. P. Merimee, Lettres a Fanny Lagden (Paris, 5 P. Merimee, Correspondance generale, introduc- 1937). P. Merimee, Lettres inedites (Moulins, tion, p. X. 1900). P. Josserand, 'Prosper Merimee. Esquisse 6 Vente Drouot, Bibliotheque de feu M. Ch. d'une edition critique de sa correspondance'. Delafosse (PunSy 1920). Revue d'histotre litteraire de la France, annee 31 7 Ibid, lot 897. (1924). H. Monod, 'Les lettres de Merimee 8 H. Monod, 'Les lettres de Merimee a Panizzi', a Panizzi', Les Annales romantiques, tom. 8 Les Annales romantiques, tom. 8(1911), pp. 339ff. (1911).
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