“Ecco Roma!” The greatest delights from travel came to Miss Buss from the two extremes of North and South—extremes which yet touch—Sweden and Italy, the two most distinctively artistic lands. In the Venice of the North she was at home, for she loved the people; and she was not less at home in the Venice of the Adriatic, where she loved the place and the associations. But the City of the Seven Hills was the home of her heart, and, without knowing what she was in Rome, one could know only the half of her possibilities. Her first visit to Rome in 1875 opened a new phase of being, and gave her a way of escape from everyday worry. After this first visit, she writes—
“The worries, correspondence, and work of re-opening are immense, but I am well, and resolute!
“At Bologna, there is a marble medallion of Ugo Bassi, put up by his fellow-citizens. I comfort myself, you see, by going back to Italy.”
The visit to Sweden was something less of a holiday than those to Italy, because it was full of educational experience. At that date, 1871, Sweden stood in advance of any European country on the introduction 322of the American system. Professor Siljistr?m, having been sent to America to report on education, came home, wrote his book, and, having a free hand, was able within three years to work a complete reformation. Miss Buss took an introduction to him from Mrs. Garth Wilkinson, but he was unfortunately not within reach. Through Miss Margaret Howitt, who had recently spent a year with Frederika Bremer, she became acquainted with the Baroness Adlersparre, one of the chief movers in educational matters, and editress of a woman’s journal published at Stockholm, a lady deeply interested in all that interested Miss Buss, through whom the way was opened in Copenhagen for similar experiences.
Miss Buss intensely enjoyed her trip to Sweden and Denmark, and after her return gave an account of her experiences in two lectures to her girls, with clear summaries of history, and vivid descriptions of scenery, manners, and customs. The peripatetic (“goande,” or “going,”) meals amused her, and she tells how—
“there are no chairs round the dining-table, and no waiters. Ladies as well as gentlemen help themselves, and the hostess has little to do.”
She also describes, in Stockholm, the novel custom of sm?rg?s, i.e. “eating a series of strange dishes as a relish before the dinner began.”
“On a small table, at the side, we found smoked reindeer flesh; smoked salmon with poached eggs; fresh, raw, sliced salmon (gravlaks); hard-boiled eggs; fried sausages; a kind of anchovy; raw herrings, etc.; white and brown bread; brandy, etc. The gentlemen drank one sort of spirit out of tiny glasses. Everything was tastefully arranged on a snowy cloth.”
But in this trip her chief interest was in her educational experiences—of which she took full notes—varied by pleasant social gatherings, to which she and her 323father and her uncle, Dr. Buss, were invited. In the only letter that can now be found relating to this tour she expresses herself very warmly—
“Aug. 17, 1871.
“We have been enjoying ourselves I can tell you! One of my introductions has led to an acquaintance with a Miss Hierta, a H?gral borna, or nobly born lady, who is clever, handsome, rich, benevolent, and young. Her father is the oldest member of what we should call the House of Commons, but it is called the Lower Chamber. He is familiarly known as ‘Lars Hierta,’ the representative of the Liberal party, the friend of education and of women. He is a fine old man of seventy-four, tall, handsome, and, I hear, witty in the House, and always listened to with respect. He and his daughter have been here to-night to ‘soppor,’ a word which needs no translation.
“Through Miss Hierta I have been able to see nine of the great schools here. All I can say is that Sweden sets us a noble example. Education is practically compulsory, as no child can be confirmed till he can read, write, and cypher, and he cannot get employment without the certificate of confirmation. Of course such compulsion would not do in our country; but still it is something to be able to boast that no child can remain ignorant of the ‘three R’s.’...
“I feel that we English, who are so much richer than these Swedes, are yet in many respects far behind. Here the State considers that it is a duty to provide education for all. And all this has been done, in the last few years, mainly through one man, Professor Siljistr?m, who was sent to America, and who, on his return, was allowed to remodel the school system (of which a full account is given).”
Nor was there less attraction on Miss Hierta’s side. In the following year, she visited Miss Buss in London, and, written in 1873, I have a letter speaking of her sorrow in the illness of “our dear Miss Buss,” and she adds—
“I hope that she is recovered now; she is doing such a noble work, and she has such a wonderful combination of greatness of heart, of intelligence and energy, that a woman like this ought to 324live eternally even here on earth, where she is so much wanted. How I wish we had one like her here to establish a model school for young girls.”
In Mary Howitt’s “Life” there is among her Roman experiences an interesting account of a visit from “charming Anna Hierta, a beautiful specimen of a Swedish woman.” She was one of the girls deeply influenced by Frederika Bremer’s “Hertha,” the book that emancipated woman in Sweden, and seemed to me to have in her all the splendid force of the fair, strong women of the North.
The first visit Miss Buss made to Rome was in 1875–76, with her brother, the Rev. Septimus Buss. Here on a post-card are her first impressions—
“51, Piazza de Spagna Roma,
“Dec. 26, 1875.
“We are having a delightful time; beyond all expression enjoyable. To-morrow evening we visit Mr. and Mrs. Howitt, and afterwards I will write to you. But we are out all day; have a late dinner, and a crowded salon afterwards, so that I can find no time for writing. We have had no rain, but the most marvellous sunsets! Such as Turner only painted. This lovely city realizes all my anticipations. In nothing have we been disappointed.”
And later, this letter—
“51, Piazza de Spagna, Jan. 2, 1876.
“My dear Carry,
“Rome is perfectly lovely! No word can describe it, nor the thrilling emotions which it causes. Think of the overpowering sensations I felt yesterday in driving along the Appian Way by the place where Horatius murdered his sister because of her grief for her lover Curiatius, and then under the magnificent arch of Drusus, through several miles of tombs. We passed the church of ‘Domine, quo vadis,’ the place where St. Peter, whose heart failed him, and who was fleeing from Rome, met the Lord, and in utter surprise fell on his knees, saying, ‘Domine, quo vadis’ (Lord, whither goest Thou)? To which the risen Saviour 325answered, ‘I go to Rome, to be again crucified,’ whereon St. Peter, regaining his courage, retraced his steps to Rome, and suffered martyrdom. We then visited some ancient columbaria, or tombs, containing ashes of the dead. Then we entered a great catacomb! As I write, my whole body seems to quiver at the remembrance. We walked about three quarters of a mile through the galleries containing the burial places of many a holy martyr, especially of the early bishops of Rome, most of whom gave their lives for their faith. Nothing but coming here will enable a person to understand this marvellous city!
“Always your loving,
“Arnie.”
The year following Mrs. Septimus Buss was her companion, and she writes to her brother—
“Roma, Dec. 31, 1877.
“Dear old Sep,
“Don’t you talk about letters! We have written to you every day but one, and that represents a good deal when you remember Roman habits. We are, however, always wanting news of you.
“Rome is, I think, more delightful than ever. Why is it? The weather is not so fine as you and I had it last year, though magnificent compared with English climate.
“We hear all sorts of things. To-day I was told that, when some cuttings for a new street near Cardinal Antonelli’s Villa were being made, a skeleton, with a splendid crown on its head, was found.
“Before 1870 there were no schools for the poor. Now all Italy has public schools, free, attended by many thousands of children.”
The next year she writes to her sister—
“Every place I go to is full of you. You and I are so fully in sympathy in so many things—here especially—that it seemed almost as if our hearts beat in unison last year. My present party is delightful; they are pleasant, cultivated girls, and are very amiable. There has not even been a jar. But surely I am not very difficult for them to get on with?”
“Not very difficult to get on with?” The answer to that question is given clearly enough in a very few 326of the reminiscences of those happy days—Miss Findon first—
“I went away with her several times in the holidays, and in 1878 had the great privilege of being with her in Rome. Mrs. Bryant was also there, and our party was more than a pleasant one. Every day for a month we went about with Miss Buss, and she seemed never tired of showing us the places she knew so well, and pouring out to us her own stores of knowledge in history and art, which made everything of double interest to us.”
Then comes Miss Lawford—
“The time I, with some others, spent with Miss Buss in Rome will ever remain a delightful memory. The many visits which she had paid to Italy, together with her love of history, ancient and modern, enabled us to get much out of our stay there in a comparatively short time. We were in no danger of imagining we knew the city, as she constantly impressed upon us that she was merely introducing us to it! I can still hear her. ‘Ecco Roma!’ when we came within sight of the lights of the town on our arrival there at night.”
Mrs. Bailey (Miss Emma Elford) writes at Christmas, 1894—
“This time of year always carries me back to the happy month I had the privilege of spending with her in Rome. How delightful it was to know her in her private life, and how she entered into all one’s little joys and sorrows. I shall never forget that delightful Christmas holiday; each day now, as it passes, I almost know where we were, though it is so long ago as 1877. Dear Miss Buss! how good she was ever to me; never forgetting me in anything that was going on.”
Miss Marian Elford echoes the same strain—
“But to be in Rome with her was the climax of all delights. She literally knew the history of every corner of it, both ancient and modern. She was a good linguist, being able to converse in Italian, German, and French. Not one word of ‘school’ passed between us from the time we left Holborn until we were 327back in our own places, for she had the happy faculty of leaving work with all its worries behind.”
In 1880, her party included my sister and Miss Fawcett, who give still the same report. Of a visit to Ostia, on this occasion, Miss Buss writes fully—
“January 11, 1880.
“We had a delightful day at Ostia. We went in a sort of waggonette with a cover as roof, the sides open, four horses and two men. Our start was made about a quarter after eight. You know the road? Through the gate of St. Paolo by the great Basilica, and then a turn to the right (to the left is the road to the Tre Fontane) took us across ‘the dumb Campagna sea’ for miles. The whole distance is sixteen miles. We stopped on the way to look at the magnificent stone-pine forest at Castel-Fusano, a little house belonging to the Chigi family. Then we returned to the grand old Castle of Ostia, and, laying down our rugs, encamped for dinner (or lunch) on the roadside. We had cold fowl, bread, butter, cake, cheese, wine, and oranges. With our etnas, we also made some cocoa. Fancy a perfectly delightful picnic on the 7th of January!
“Then we walked along the street of tombs under excavated Ostia. To any one who has not seen Pompeii, it would give a good notion of it. Some very fine statues have been dug up and put in the Lateran. The excavations are going on slowly for want of money. A fine temple has been cleared, facing the chief road from this post. Ostia must have been as magnificent as the Via Appia, in the days of St. Paul. You remember that lovely bust of the young Augustus which was dug up in Ostia?”
An interval followed after this till, in 1885, she took her nephew Frank and a college friend of his. Of this visit we have a full account by Miss Blatherwick, which lets us into the secret of the comprehensive knowledge of Rome which all recognized in Miss Buss—
“She had travelled all night, and arrived about 7 in the morning. I quite expected she would have had her breakfast sent up to her, and would have taken a few hours’ rest first; but no! she 328had seen Rome several times before, but the two gentlemen had not; and as she could only stay three weeks, there was no time to be lost. At 9 o’clock she appeared at the breakfast-table, looking ‘as fresh as a daisy,’ and just as though she had been there a week. Directly after breakfast she said to me, ‘You will join us in everything, will you not? We four will just fill a carriage.’ I assented only too gladly, and that morning began one of the happiest times I have ever had. Miss Buss brought with her double or treble the number of books about Rome that most people would care to take with them on so long a journey, and generally she put two or three of them into the carriage, and could turn to any passage she wanted to read aloud, although her own knowledge was such that she was herself a ‘walking guide to Rome.’ Her days there were passed much as follows: after breakfast at 9, she went to her room for a little reading; at 10.30 we drove out to see and study something in the Eternal City; then home to lunch, and, after a brief rest, went out again on the same errand. At 4.30 we assembled in her room for afternoon tea, which she and I had agreed to provide between us. We each boiled some water over our little travelling spirit-lamps; she had brought with her table-napkins and a dainty little tea-set; and then—all being prepared—we gathered round the table, and had a delightful half-hour. One ............