3463. EBB to Elizabeth Clementine Kinney
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 20, 296–297.
Casa Guidi–
Sunday night– [ca. September 1854] [1]
My dear Mrs Kinney
I have been thinking that I shall not like to run the risk of my maid’s not being in the house to help to relieve me from the weight of my calamities on our return tomorrow .. if we ever return!– Now in the case of her going out with Penini in your carriage at half past six tomorrow she certainly wont be at home in time. Therefore would it not be better to put off the drive to some other day? I say it unwillingly, because my Penini has been counting on it,—but the wisdom of the change of plan is quite obvious–
Late last night the costumes arrived—but in the matter of wigs we are in adversity. Do send me the address of the wig-maker, who has left all his ringlets on my hands in a dishevelled & uneducated state– Dear Mrs Kinney, if Hatty & I appear so, we shall not be Frollick [2] with his ears only, but with his tail thrown in– [3]
Affectionately yours
Elizabeth B Browning–
Never mind the address– I have it.–
Address: Mrs Kinney / Casa del Bello.
Publication: Bosco, p. 114 (in part).
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. Dated by the reference to Harriet Hosmer, who spent the summer of 1854 at Isa’s villa before returning to Rome in October.
2. We have been unable to identify “Frollick.” Perhaps, EBB has in mind Isa Blagden’s dog named Frolic.
3. Years later Mrs. Kinney recalled the adventure that required costumes and wigs: “I had a curious escapade with the Brownings, during a visit at Florence of Hattie Hosmer, the American sculptress of Rome! She is well known as something of a ‘Tom-boy’; is fond of a boyish scrape, & of getting her friends into scrapes. One day when we met her at Casa Guidi, Mr Browning began talking of some fine old pictures he had seen in a monastery (I forget the name of it now) not far from the Porta Romana of Florence, saying how sorry he was that we & his wife could not see them, as no female person was ever admitted within the gates. Hattie Hosmer jumped up & exclaimed, ‘but we will see these pictures!’ Then she went on to show how; & this was her proposition: That we three—Mrs Browning, she, & myself—should procure students’ suits—composed of full, pleated frocks reaching to the knees, & fastened at the waists by leather belts; with loose trousers, à la Turque, cloth caps, &c, & go as male pupils of Mr Kinney & Mr Browning they to pass for our tutors. ‘Good!’ cried Mr B. ‘I will let my wife do it, if Mr K. will let his.’ To my utter amazement, Mr Kinney consented, & we were all in for a frolic! We two Elizabeths did not shrink from the fun, so long as our grave husbands approved it. Mr Powers was let into the secret, as we required his aid in getting up our disguises, & he was just one to enjoy the whole thing. Before a week was over we had our uniforms, boys wigs, &c. which were becoming, and a complete disguise for Mrs B. & me;—Mr P. declared that no one would suspect we were not youths, I of about fifteen, & Mrs B. nineteen—but Hattie H. being short & stout, looked like a fat boy, if boy at all, very peculiar! We all met at Casa Guidi to dress, while, not daring to use our own carriage, it was sent home, & our tutors, to be, went out to bring a fiacre, or hack for our conveyance to the monastery. We laughed at one another so, that it was difficult to get dressed; but Mrs B. completed her toilette first & really looked handsome in it. For the first time I saw her without those dark heavy curls she always wore, half concealing her cheeks, & the wig of short straight hair improved her looks: excitement gave her usually pale face a fine color, and her large black eyes an unwonted brightness. But our merriment at Hattie’s looks was suddenly checked by a crazy act on Mrs B.’s part that filled us with terror! It had been asked that the carriage should enter the porte-cochère & stop at the foot of the stairs, so that we could enter unseen. What then was our dismay—Hattie’s & mine—on glancing out the window, to see Mrs B. walking slowly on the square up & down! It must have been an extra dose of opium that pushed her to such a wild step. ‘What shall we do?’ I exclaimed. ‘Why, go to her![’] answered H. ‘We mustn’t leave the great Elizabeth alone in such a state!’ This was convincing, yet I feared to make bad worse, when Hattie rushed down into the street & took Mrs B.’s arm to conduct her back, & I, like one bewildered, needs must follow. By that time, our strange appearance began to attract attention, when, all at once, Mrs B. seemed conscious, of the situation, began to cry, & whisper in my ear, ‘O Mrs Kinney, we shall be in the Bargello’ (jail) & so ludicrously pitiful was the whole scene, that Hattie & I burst into a laugh! This excited observation still more, & we should have been the centre of a crowd had not our husbands driven up in a hack & taken us in, just in time. But Browning was pale as death with fright, & declared that now he should not venture to carry out our plans as no doubt we had been discovered, &, that the police might follow us & the whole matter be exposed in the papers with our names. Mr Kinney caught at his fears; while Hattie took fire & called him a poltroon, & other hard names; Mrs B. cried, & laughed, & all of us, save Browning, declared that it would be too bad to disappoint us after all! But he refused to visit the monastery; we drove back, & so ended our escapade!” (“Personal Reminiscences,” Part XIV, ms at Columbia).
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