Correspondence

2913.  EBB to John Kenyon

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 17, 23–26.

Florence–

May 1– [1851] [1]

My dearest Mr Kenyon, you will have been wondering at our silence I dare say. We, on the other hand, have been confounded with all manner of doubts .. enough doubts to set up a whole sect of Straussites! [2] The end of all however is, that we dont go to Rome .. which the Straussites, most of them, are likely enough to conclude by doing– There seems to me a fatal star in my destiny, shining against going to Rome—for this is not the first time that the day has been fixed & the vettura half engaged, & at last everything changed. Still, we were wise to change, & I will tell you why. It was late for the festas, late in the season altogether before we could get from Florence, & we were afraid for the child of the Rome heats. Then, if we had gone to Rome, we must have gone to Naples, .. and such a great journey to the south would have militated against our desire of going to the north: Rome & Paris in the same year, seemed impossible. So, we veered round, & determined to take Venice by way of consolation, & to satisfy ourselves with sifting thoroughly the upper half of Italy– Here is our scheme. We go on saturday to Bologna, pass two days there, climb up leisurely through Parma & Mantua (for the sake of the pictures) towards Venice,—stay a fortnight, more or less, as the charm works, at Venice, .. & so strike across the country to Milan, & drop into Switzerland over the Splugen, seeing Como by the way, .. spend a part of the summer at Interlacken which is said to be cheap as well as beautiful, & then take the Rhine as far as the railroad which leads to Paris through Brussels. At Paris we mean to settle ourselves very humbly (because have’nt we our own house at Florence, & shant we be mere wayfarers & experimentalists in the Parisian land?) very humbly, but in warm rooms with a sunny exposition to give our trial a good chance—after which, we shall catch up some light baggage & the baby and rush over to England to pay a short visit to New Cross, & see how you all are looking– You are coming to see us in Paris, but I must have sight of my poor Arabel besides– Not that it will not be pain & grief to me, yes & bitterness– I shut my eyes & try not to think of it. When that is once done however, done & over, I shall feel satisfied as after an accomplished duty.

After a great deal of doubt & consideration, we took on our Florentine apartment for another year & shall leave it in the hands of a trustworthy agent [3] for the purpose of letting it. You see there was a great deal really to be considered. Everybody (nearly) prophecied that I could not live as far north as Paris is, and if we had thrown up these delightful rooms, packed up or sold in a hurry our furniture, & then had to return, .. deep would have been the repentence & as deep the expenses– Also our landlord tempted us by lowering the rent ten pounds at a stroke, in a spasm of terror at losing us. Now, for seven excellent rooms, most of them very large, and a kitchen, &c with terraces, we pay only twenty pounds a year. This, in the best situation in Florence, on a first floor, & in an historical house! Surely it was well to pause before we threw up such advantages. Observe, you exaggerate the disadvantages of the climate of Florence. There are keen winds during a part of the winter, true—and during July & August there is an excess of heat. But the climate is always healthy—and if you dont go out in the winds, & if you emigrate for two months’ in the summer, you avoid all evil. There are persons here with only one lung, who live more comfortably they say than anywhere else in Europe though they have tried Nice, Naples, & Rome. It certainly agrees with me particularly well. Do you know I have not seen a window frosted over since I came to Italy, though the winter before last was the severest known in Florence for twenty years. Oh no– My single objection to this dear Florence, is the distance from England which makes me very nervous sometimes, & is scarcely bearable in cases of illness. So, I shall hope & try hard to be able to stay in Paris, & shall (however it ends) be far more contented when a fair trial of the possibility shall have been made, through the help of your munificence [4] my dearest cousin & friend!– Do approve of our prudence in leaving something behind us to fall back upon in case of failure. We have been setting our house in order, painting a room, & covering some chairs, and now nothing is to hinder the apartment’s letting well. The percentage is so great here on the use of furniture, that the year’s rent will be covered by a three months’ letting on our part,—& this is a favorite house & situation with the English, so that we are not likely to want tenants. I tell you all these things, to prove how you have penetrated us with a sense of your sympathizing kindness & affectionateness. Indeed you have a right to know that there will be no carelessness & wantonness in the application of your most generous gift. We mean to return to Italy next year, both to see Rome, and to settle our affairs in Florence according to the issue of the trial in Paris. Meanwhile, we secure Venice & the north of Italy.

What particularly pleases me in the Parisian prospect (apart from England & the English) is the fact of its being a time of crisis in France. So much the more interesting in all ways, to say nothing of the probable cheapness– M. de Fauveau, the brother of the sculptress, swore to us the other day that the climate of Paris was ‘si doux, si doux’ [5] (in certain situations), as to be peculiarly favorable to disorders of the chest & throat. So, there are differences of opinion you see, & it is quite right that we should make our own experiment. And if we are forced to reside in Italy after all, the railroads will be so advanced by that time, as considerably to diminish the fatal space between London & Florence. As to the south of France, .. why, I dont think we should like provincial life anywhere. We live very quietly, but one of the conditions of an enjoyable quiet life seems to be, .. having an immediate access to literature & art—& you will sympathize with us in this also. I am sure we shall like Paris—it cant kill me in one winter, .. and we can scarcely fail of being the better, happier, & wiser for the opportunities of observation we shall find there. Through all which advantages, we shall feel your kindness breathing––and this, believe me, will add to the pleasure with the whole breadth of the gratitude.

Our little Wiedeman is quite well & strong, though he looks somewhat delicate perhaps. But so vivacious & restless a child could scarcely be expected to be very fat, and he is not a son of Anak [6] you must remember. Oh—he is none the worse for being a Florentine– Why, you should see & take note of Mr Powers’s six children, [7] who have lived here all the year round ever since they were born. They are made of the stuff of his statues—— … only without the ideal.

Now I shall not write a word more, resisting all temptations. We are driven to a corner for time, & Wilson says she must pack up my pen & ink. God bless & reward you, dearest Mr Kenyon. I cant tell you how we felt in reading your last letter—I could’nt .. were the pen & ink left to me all day. God bless & recompense you. What I feel, Robert feels .. I write for us both. Will you let Arabel have the enclosure, [8] that she may know how to send me a letter to Venice? We shall think of you there & everywhere, as the cause of all our pleasures.

Oh—my book! You wont like it: you did’nt like the first part .. which is however in a different state, I beg to say, from the one you caught sight of through a Blackwood fog. [9] The second part, you must be as gracious to as you can, because everybody else in the world (nearly) will be sure to cut it up. It is bold, you will admit, in any case, & very sincere—& I found it pleasant to tell some truths once in a way, being angry. Ask dear Miss Bayley to wait a little while longer for my letter & love me meantime. And do yourself the latter

for your ever most affectionate

Ba

Will you let Mr Forster have the other note, containing a message from Robert about the Tuscan review. [10]

Publication: None traced.

Manuscript: Wellesley College.

1. Year provided by EBB’s reference to the publication of Casa Guidi Windows.

2. An allusion to the author of Das Leben Jesu (1835); see letter 2903, note 6.

3. Francesco Centofanti. See letter 2678, note 8.

4. See letter 2905, note 3.

5. “So mild, so mild.”

6. See letter 2905, note 5.

7. They were: Nicholas Longworth (1835–1904), Louisa Greenough (1838–1929), Anna Barker Gibson (1841–1919), William Preston (1843–1931), Florence (1846–63), and Frances Austin (1849–57).

8. See the following letter.

9. EBB had earlier attempted to publish the first part of the poem, originally called “A Meditation in Tuscany,” in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. Kenyon had intervened with Blackwood’s on EBB’s behalf.

10. Probably the Rivista Britannica, a short-lived Florentine journal first published in April 1851, edited by Sebastiani Fenzi and James Montgomery Stuart. The latter had met John Forster in London the year before.

___________________

National Endowment for the Humanities - Logo

Editorial work on The Brownings’ Correspondence is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This website was last updated on 3-28-2024.

Copyright © 2024 Wedgestone Press. All rights reserved.

Back To Top