2731. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 15, 69–79.
Palazzo Guidi.
May 10– 11– [1848] [1]
My ever loved Arabel, I wished hard for your letter; & though a dear kind perfect letter, as always, yet now I wish it had not come today, so saddening is the news about my very dear friend, Mr Boyd. May God keep him in sunshine, consciously or unconsciously to his own sense—that is my prayer. There is truth in what you say, of course, but still, if we felt by such truths, we should not need to suffer any more pain even on the earth. Our human constitution is not so rightfully balanced—& I cannot help anxiously waiting for the next account & anxiously hoping that it may speak of improvement rather than of release—improvement, such as we call it, rather than release, such as God sees it. A slight paralytic stroke, is your expression—and we are reminded that Miss Boyle’s mother after two severe strokes of the same kind five years ago, travelled to Italy two years since & is now travelling back to England, having quite lost the use of one hand nevertheless, & being by many years further advanced in life than my dear friend. Therefore I will not do otherwise than hope– May God bless & keep him– I cannot trust myself to speak further– It is very saddening to be anxious & absent at once .. & a great black shadow seems to have fallen down straight on me– [2]
Darling Arabel, I was just about to write to you on a different subject– I am not sure whether at the first glance it will strike you pleasantly or unpleasantly, but I am quite certain that upon a little reflection & a patient hearing of the whole cause you will conclude that it ought to strike you pleasantly for every reason .. supposing that you wish to have us frequent visitors in England instead of infrequent. You know already the mysteries of our small income & the weak health of one of us,—which render it imprudent to attempt a settled residence in England—you would not wish us to try such a thing, I am certain. The perfect plan would be to pass every summer there—but, on the other hand, the expense of travelling is tremendous to persons of our means. This, therefore, was the problem to solve. Now, Florence is the cheapest place in Italy, which brings it to being the cheapest place in the world. Also this is the cheapest moment for Florence, through the panic .. really a silly panic .. without a pretext in rationality. After a good deal of thinking then, we resolved on taking advantage of the cheapest moment in the cheapest place, to adopt the infinitely cheapest means of life, .. by taking instead of a furnished apartment, an unfurnished one & furnishing it ourselves– Observe—we calculated that at the end of a year in a furnished apartment, the money simply goes & there an end!—whereas in our unfurnished one, the furniture remains: that is, we are the better by the whole worth of the furniture: and we may either sell it off & give up our house, or let our furnished apartment & make use of the proceeds in travelling to England– And when you come to know the cheapness of furniture (especially in this moment) & the comparative dearness of a furnished apartment, you will see the case clearly. We are told by both English & Italian residents that as a mere investment for money, nothing could be wiser: while in every way we shall be more comfortable with our own house, of course—and then, Moxon’s fifty pounds (from our books) nearly accomplish the whole purchase of furniture. For the apartment, the same we occupied two or three months last summer, & which happened just then to be open to us (you remember how I praised to you the great palace-rooms in the Guidi, last year) for that very apartment, on a first floor in one of the best situations in Florence & at a stone’s throw from the Grand Duke’s palazzo Pitti, we pay at the rate of the “Pancras’s working classes” [3] when they take advantage of the benevolence of England in the new buildings open for them. They pay annually for the best three rooms in the institution, £12—and we for our seven rooms, three of which are magnificent & the others excellent .. to say nothing of our terraces .. twenty five guineas, with the liberty of giving up or not at the end of the year & of under-letting in any case. Now do please to take note of this,—& to remember besides that the cheapest furnished apartment we have occupied since we came to Italy, we have paid £4–10s a month for. Not dear of course, in reference to the usual price of such a way of living .. but very unsatisfactorily dear when a cheaper mode became accessible with so little trouble– At which you will exclaim .. “Ah but, the furniture! they will get into a scrape with the furniture!–” And I shall confound you by the fact of the prices .. of sofas “for a song,” chairs “for love,” and tables for nothing at all. We meant to pay only to the worth of Moxon’s fifty pounds, & people told us it would be quite enough. But we wanted linen & plate, & then our rooms being immense, yearned for more & more filling—& then again, we grew ambitious, & instead of four legs to every chair we looked to gilding & spring seats, .. & so, we have passed sixty pounds & still want curtains & one or two other things. So next summer we shall let our apartment for at least eight pounds a month, (it has been let for twenty) for six months—perhaps & return here in the winter to a rent-free residence. Is’nt it wise of us? would’nt it have been absolutely stupid to have gone on throwing money into the Arno for the sake of living the life of a lodger .. scarcely quite worth the price of it. It was by a mere chance & good fortune that we got into this Palazzo Guidi last year, it being far beyond our means—but now we have the experience of its advantages as a residence– [4] We shall put orange trees & myrtles on the terraces (one tree before & one behind) & we have discovered under the carpet in my bedroom that the floor is all in scagliola, the arms of the Counts Guidi blazoned there in many colours– It was the favorite room of the last Count [5] —and Robert was trying to frighten me with noble ghosts at one oclock this morning. We took possession yesterday.
Now I shall draw you a plan because you have forgotten what I sent before, I am sure.—— [ART] And very badly it’s done. Can you make it out, I wonder. Illus. Ah, I meant to have written all this to you in such good spirits, but you see one cant count upon spirits in this world & even so all I have had to say has tumbled heavily out without the least degree of leaping vitality– Robert & I were laughing so yesterday morning about our “service of plate” .. six tea spoons, & two large ones .. table ones, those are called, & we intend to have four of them in time. We gave 2s & 9d each for the tea-spoons .. is that cheap? I dont remember, but I seem to fancy that I paid more in London for Crow’s. As to the linen that must be cheap—two pounds for five pair of sheets; of which only two were cotton! Wilson says it is excellent linen—only I dont make such a fuss about fineness as I used to do, it’s fair to say also. We are beginning to settle, & I write to you stretched on the sofa, in the drawingroom though the carpet is not down yet. Piazza Pitti was growing too hot—the rooms we had there were small & stifling, and to breathe is delightful in this enlarged atmosphere of ours. They cry ‘cherries’ & strawberries through the streets, & we have had new potatoes, peas & asparagus since the early part of April– Judge the difference of climate– I do wonder why the Hedleys do not rather come here than live at Tours—they might live here royally & educate the children in the sun, & out of the taint of all provincialism, which is nearly as bad in France as in England. I certainly would not choose Tours for a residence—& the conveniences of life & its luxuries beside, abound in Florence, not to speak of the climate which agreed so pre[-]eminently with dear uncle Hedley. Tell me all about them. I shall write instantly. For this large spring sofa which I lie upon, we gave 5 or 6 scudi .. that is a pound & two or three shillings—for a small round marble table, twelve shillings, & so on. I must tell you that Count Cottrell has been exceedingly kind in taking trouble about us & helping Robert to buy these things .. & we are bound to speak gratefully of him from henceforth– There is good in him also—it seems to me that his wife is happy & much attached to him—& Mr Tulk assures us that he has a kind & tender disposition. By the way, I am sorry to say that Mr Tulk has had two other attacks within the last few days, & that his memory was much affected by the second. He had been quite well since January, & fell suddenly,—his son-in-law catching him in his arms. Count Cottrell says it’s all through imprudence of beginning to write again (he is writing some work on spiritualism & Swedenborgianism) [6] .. but that he wont be reasoned with, because his desire of every moment is to die & go to his wife, & that whenever he is in the least unwell his first word is, “Now I hope I am going! I hope this is the call.” “Which,” said Count Cottrell, “I should’nt so much object to, if he did not think too much about it to prevent his attending to his affairs in this world .. but really they are not in the most satisfactory state”. Count Cottrell says that sort of thing quite bluntly, but meaning no unkindness, I do believe– Mr Tulk in his talk with me the other day, said that now he had seen his daughter married so happily, he would gladly retreat into the new world—“But,” I objected, “you would injure their happiness by that very thing. Oh, you shd be content a little time longer in seeing them happy, & in teaching to so many what you have the power of teaching.” “Tell me,” he asked, “you who say this .. if Mr Browning were to go from you, would’nt you desire to rejoin him?– I want to go to my wife– There’s no other tie in life like that tie. What exists between parent & child, is comparatively nothing—merely temporal– Conjugal love is the one eternal bond which God has set his seal on.” Swedenborg saw in the vision that true husbands & wives were seen as one body in the spiritual life,—the two making one angel. [7] Mr Tulk said that his daughters never were interfered with in their dispositions to marry– Oh, of course he wd consider all such interference as mortal sin. The whole of his solicitude consisted in his seeing that they really loved & were loved. The rest was perfectly indifferent to him: and as to money, his idea is that people are rather better without it than with. Notwithstanding which, the Cottrells have a delightful apartment & have furnished it most beautifully– The curtains to Sophia’s bed, are blue satin, & her toilette glass, quite a curiosity of splendour, with a gilt & carved frame, nearly a quarter of a yard deep. And he says that two hundred pounds will cover his expenses. Also, they have a pretty Garden—but I dont like the situation of the house .. quite at the other end of Florence, in a new piazza [8] .. the houses looking like Cheltenham houses .. nothing characteristic or Florentine. We like better to be in a palazzo which belonged to the Guidi who inter-married with Dante’s Ugolino family of Pisa [9] —close to the Pitti also, & the Raffaels inside, & the lovely Boboli gardens. Louisa has changed her plans about Lucca, because it was considered dangerous for her to travel just now, .. & has taken an apartment in the next house to her sister’s—a happy arrangement for both of them. Count Cottrell has a great deal of taste in the furnishing department,—& paints in oils very well for an amateur & has a feeling about pictures. His own performances hang on the walls of his new residence. If you could see us in these great rooms (they are so immensely high that they look still larger) you would think it all rather desolate still– No carpets down—no curtains bought yet: a carpet is bought for this drawing room .. 31 feet long by 20 broad .. & a very good, pretty carpet, for eight pounds—carpets for such large rooms are expensive. And as everything is to be paid for from our regular income & without getting into debt (the very idea of which wd frighten Robert more than an incursion of the Austrians inclusive of Mr Fowkes [10] ) we have been wise & resolved on dispensing with the carriage for the present. I am very much stronger now, & can take little walks with advantage even, & then here’s the terrace & the windows opening down on it .. air enough & sun enough! We can do perfectly without the carriage. Also, it’s a sacrifice for a time—& next year we shall have money for every fantasy—oh, & even for this year, we may have the carriage when it is necessary—we just wait for a little, you understand, because we want to have our house comfortable & pretty to perfection. It will be a pied-de-terre in Florence, to return to, when we have let it to go to Rome or to England– Such uncertainty we were in for a time– Going to Sorrento, going to Bologna .. to Fano .. to Sienna .. to the Baths of Lucca .. anywhere to wait for the hour of getting to Rome. We had almost agreed on terms at Pratolino, one of the Grand Duke’s villa-parks .. where we shd have been shut in with the Greenhoughs—he is an American artist– Poor Annunciata was in absolute despair .. threw her arms round Wilson’s neck, crying, “O, Wilson, Wilson, vi voglio bene!..” [11] & offered a candle to the Madonna, in aid of the persuasive oil I told you of. Somebody else, still more deeply interested, added a nosegay .. & altogether, I suppose, it was irresistible– Wilson herself, who by no means wished to leave Florence, was incited to make some offering of the sort, but as, she said, she did’nt believe in the efficacy of either wicks or roses, there was no use in her trying it. You shd have seen Annunciata’s rapture when it was fixed for us to stay– She siezed Robert’s hand & kissed it, kissed mine, & re-iterated that we were “tre angioli,” [12] he, I, & Wilson. Yes, but first she rushed out of the house, down to the church of Trinita, to return thanks at the high altar. Then we were very near taking another apartment––a groundfloor in the Frescobaldi palace .. (the brother of Count Frescobaldi, tell Henrietta, married Miss Parker [13] whom she knew at Torquay, & who died, .. I think in her confinement .. certainly a few months after her marriage. Mrs Parker still lives in the house!) .. rooms less large than these, but looking on a garden, with a fountain & gold & silver fish & very pretty indeed. Robert was enchanted with this garden, though it was not to belong to us, understand, & we were on the brink of an agreement, when I took fright at the clouds of mosquitos which I saw with my own eyes hovering round the fountain—I do dread those mosquitos, & in no other part of Florence have I seen one yet, at this early period of the year. Then the back-rooms were rather dark– Altogether, I breathed something like a hesitating word—& even to “hint a dislike” [14] being more than enough for Robert in the perfection of his goodness, he gave up the whole scheme instantly, & would’nt hear a word in modification of the decision– Never can I make you understand what he is to me. It is too much, & that is what I feel continually. The apartment we have actually taken, was just taken because I liked it—& he never does nor thinks of doing anything without being sure that it is the thing to please & not displease me. Indeed, to such an extreme has this grown, that I have got the habit of giving an opinion upon subjects quite indifferent to me & of which I am ignorant, because I must say something.
And now, you will turn upon me perhaps the blame of not going to England this year. “It’s Ba’s fault by her own confession.” Well—he did certainly tell me that he “wd take me to England if I made a point of it, but that he thought it undesirable & imprudent this year & would do it less willingly than if it were for next year.” The reasons he gave, were reasonable to me as to him,—& so, we resolved on the delay! Oh, Arabel, it is wiser, be sure. Next year if we all live & God wills it, we shall meet, & see how the months pass meanwhile away!– Oh, would, would that I had you out here– We have a room for you,—& here’s the French protestant church [15] close by which we shall attend & which is one of the advantages we have looked to. The minister is said <to> be as evangelic<al> in private life as in the pulpit– Then you should go with us on our pilgrimage, which we talk of confidently, to the mountain-monasteries, where we did not dare to penetrate, when we were at Vallambrosa last year. Thirty miles through the forests & mountains, by a road impossible to wheels (& this time I shall try a horse or ass, rather than a basket & two oxen .. I shall ride, & so shall Wilson!) bring you into the heart of divine scenery, where two other societies of monks break bread & practise sanctity .. or think they do– We shall carry a knapsack with a night cap; & no fuss as before, when we travelled with our house on our back like snails. Oh Arabel, you wd like this certainly—& you would’nt be more than one sunday away from the French church, & so there wd be no “drawbacks.” I am certain that upon the whole you wd be able to “put up” with our way of living—it’s so still & silent, yet free & amusing. We have plenty of laughing sometimes, & when Wilson brings in the supper-tray .. “what, Wilson!—nothing but toasted cheese!” We are very merry notwithstanding.
I hope Mr Hunter has no reason for liking Ramsgate less. I wish Mary were more frank & less what you call ‘idle’. It does not please me altogether, nor is it quite loveable in her. Tell me of the Giles’s. I shd fear Ireland more than any part of the continent or peninsula. Bad news from poor Lombardy nevertheless. And the Pope is in disgrace a little– [16] Our Italians who wore him in their heart of hearts cant bear to mention his name. He is an excellent man, but unequal to his position,—which Robert has kept saying from the first. Think of the courage of Mr Tulk[’]s sisters [17] —one of them quite an invalid– They have been in Venice throughout the disturbances, & are travelling alone back to Florence. At Padua they had to stop within sweep of the cannons through an access of illness, but the invalid rallies & on they come. Mr Tulk himself with this tendency to paralytic affection, talks as coolly as you might do, about going to Calcutta to see his daughter. And when anybody observes “But this is courageous,” he smiles & says “Only we are not atheistical.” Did you write a word to Nelly Bordman to tell her how it is with me? If not, do. I shall write soon. So Henry is against us! Can that be possible? Give him my love & tell him that it ought not to be possible. From the quiet of Florence, you never would imagine that anything was going on in the way of war; but the people feel intensely. Tell Trippy that I wont confess to cowardice, because I am equal to a situation, when there’s time to make up my mind. Dearest Trippy, give my truest love to her always. Does she walk now with you? Give her a kiss from me as ever. Her tea pot remains the glory of our establishment, [18] tell her, in spite of our new spoons, & a Venetian glass chandelier of which we are properly proud & were ambitious enough to give two pounds for. I have written myself into better spirits– It does one good (it always did me) to be near you, my dearest beloved Arabel. Now write .. & let us be as close together as we can while so far apart. And tell me what you think of our new plans,—remembering that one of the motives of making them was to be freer to get to you. Wilson wishes that Mrs Robinson would “throw us some ends of old carpet,” till we get our new ones. Oh, Arabel, how anxious I shall be about dear, so dear, Mr Boyd. God grant that good news may come instead of bad!—the letter on the road perhaps!–
You did not mention Papa once. Always mention him particularly. There are moments that I quite yearn to him– And he never thinks of me probably! Probably I am “the old shoe” to him for ever. Love to all who will have my love—& to my dearest Henrietta of course.
I am your own Ba.
Give my love to Surtees & thank him much for his newspaper. How is Lizzie, Arabel? You said she was unwell. Have you heard again from Storm[?] Louisa & Sophia send love to Henrietta & you. R’s love as ever.
How is Mrs Orme & what of Sam Barrett & poor Maria?—— You dont say a word of Crow & the children. I shall write to Mrs Martin.
1st Postscript
No letter yet! It’s a relief–
Arabel, we are paying for those boxes at the warehouse at least five pounds a year—must be paying five pounds: & on enquiry, we discover that four or five great packages could be sent by sea to us for two pounds or thereabouts. So even if, a twelvemonth’s after, we had to send them back again, you will agree to the wisdom of having the things out here rather than where they are, .. especially as we have room here for tables & chairs, & a use for books. Now my dearest Arabel, what I want you to do is to take note of the contents of the boxes– There was a box of letters, which I hope is in Wimpole St, & which certainly I dont want here. The books, on the other hand, might as well come. Have you my desks? The jewel box may as well stay with you—it is so heavy: but I shd like the desks: & if Henrietta should want the pearl necklace, some maker of keys would enable her to open & get at it. In any case I dont want the jewel box—of which most of the contents are with me; & the necklace in question belongs to Henrietta. If I had gone to England this spring myself, I would have arranged all this—but as it is, where can be the use of waiting. Dearest Arabel, any papers of mine, letters, &c left in Wimpole St—(& there was a deal box full, which came from Hope End [19] besides the green box,) these things I beg you to take care of for me—& we will make a bonfire of many of them when we meet. Robert says, [‘]‘If Arabel were here, I should go out & let you talk.” A compliment in its way I assure you!– I leave the room for three minutes, & straight he is after me—“Where are you? what are you doing? what a time you are.” Whether my husband or my dog follows faithfullest, is a question,—& I fail in pretending to be vexed at not being left alone, I am really so proud & pleased at it. You see I tell you these things, .. good taste or bad taste!
Now darling Arabel, dont take fright & fancy that we are giving up England. I would as soon give up your letters. Oh no, no. You will have us in England more certainly by all this—we only feather an Italian nest for the winters—& you will admit that to pay for those boxes in London, wd be a mere waste of the goose-feathers. Mr Kenyon cd not keep them, nor cd they be left at New Cross. So I want you to take note of the contents, so to have out here (we shall arrange the means) my 3 tables, 1 armchair, books, desks, lamp &c &c. Remember the Martins with their house in France!
Second postscript– This letter which shd have been enclosed in another to New Cross as usual, was left out & found on the table to my despair, when quite too late for the post. Tomorrow’s however will take it to you as quickly, with a surplus of postage which you wont mind, I know– [20] Robert has been to enquire after Mr Tulk—& he has had, I grieve to say, more attacks still, & although better & sitting up, his memory is quite gone, & he talked about the French revolution as if he had just heard of it,—he who has been so deeply interested in the events of it from the beginning. Yet his family hope for the removal of these painful symptoms which have occurred before & subsided. He enquired kindly after me & said, “One of the pleasures I looked forward to in coming to Florence was seeing her: and I wanted to see you too .. only I forget why that was.” Robert said, “Perhaps because your son knew me once.” (Some eighteen or nineteen years ago Mr Augustus Tulk was acquainted with Robert & invited him to Duke Street—an unaccepted invitation.) [21] —“Yes, perhaps that might have been the reason. I dont know.” I do hope he may rally again, good kind Mr Tulk– He was looking so wonderfully better & his family so perfectly unprepared for anything of this kind. It is the result they all say, of an excess of mental exertion united to a little carelessness in the neglect of the specific medecines. The heat seems to be beginning, but these rooms are deliciously cool .. & have the reputation of being warm in winter. The carpet is down in the drawingroom & looks very well. The walls are green, the chairs crimson, with white & gold frames, & the carpet mixes up all colours. The ceiling has a good deal of gilding in Italian fashion, .. and the little sittingroom at the end of the suite, a very pretty room, has a cloud full of angels looking down on you, which if not in the highest style of art, is yet graceful & suggestive. Of course you are to understand that our furniture is not new—but it is in good taste & characteristic notwithstanding. My bed is not come home yet– The framework we bought of Count Cottrell himself (he had bought it for himself & then preferred another) for £1–10s—and he has ordered at the manufactory the mattrasses, that we may have them the best & with springs: so in the meantime a borrowed bed is put up in my room– Wilson’s bed is bought, curtains & all. Tell me if you hear anything of Arlette– And you will be going to Tunbridge Wells to see the Hedleys of course—I know you will, & then you will tell me what sort of house the Bevans have & what they pay for it. Tell me too of their baby. [22]
No letter can come from England tomorrow—& it seems a sort of respite. You will remember to speak to me of Annie Hayes & to let me know how she is situated .. without exaggeration .. that is, according to your own perception. Give my love to dear Mary Hunter, ‘idle’ or not. Why does’nt she like Ramsgate?
God bless you all.
Address, on integral page: Angleterre viâ France. / To the care of Miss Tripsack, / (Miss Arabel Barrett) / 12. Upper Gloucester Street, / Dorset Square, / New Road. / London.
Publication: EBB-AB, I, 173–183.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. Hugh Stuart Boyd did not recover from the “paralytic stroke” that Arabella had reported; he died the day EBB began this letter. She paid tribute to him in the form of three sonnets subtitled “His Blindness,” “His Death, 1848” and “Legacies.” All three were published in Poems (1850).
3. See EBB’s comment to Sarianna Browning in letter 2734: “we only pay in the proportion of your ‘working classes,’ in the Pancras building contrived for them by the philanthropy of your Southwood Smiths.” According to the DNB, Thomas Southwood Smith was among those responsible for founding “the ‘Metropolitan Association for improving the Dwellings of the Industrial Classes’.”
4. The Brownings had stayed in Palazzo Guidi for three months in 1847. Later known as Casa Guidi, the palazzo was originally two 15th-century structures. The corner house was built by the Ridolfi family, who wanted a residence near the Pitti. In 1618, Count Camillo Guidi, Secretary of State for the Medici, bought that building from Lorenzo Ridolfi. In 1650, the adjoining house was given to Admiral Camillo Guidi, nephew of Count Guidi, by the Commenda of the Military Order of St. Stephen. The two houses were combined and refurbished in the late 18th century. In the early 1840’s, the Guidi family sub-divided the grand state rooms on the piano nobile into two apartments (see Edward C. McAleer, The Brownings of Casa Guidi, New York, 1979, pp. 89–90).
5. Francesco Guidi (1768–1832), second son of Camillo Guidi (1718–1817) and elder brother of the current count, Giovanni Salvatico Guidi (1769–1855).
6. Tulk was the author of several works on Swedenborgianism, including Spiritual Christianity Collected from the Theological Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (1846). The work EBB mentions was apparently unfinished at the time of his death in February 1849.
7. According to Swedenborg, “Love taken by itself is nothing but a desire and hence an impulse to be joined; conjugial love is an impulse to be joined into one. For the male and the female of the human species are so created as to be able to become like a single individual, that is, one flesh; and when united, then they are, taken together, the full expression of humanity” (The Delights of Wisdom on the subject of Conjugial Love, trans. John Chadwick, 1996, p. 40).
8. Named Maria Antonia for the Grand Duchess, it was built over a two-year period beginning in 1844. Now Piazza dell’Indipendenza, it lies at the northern end of old Florence near the Fortezza da Basso. The Cottrells’ apartment is listed in AB-3 at 5900 Piazza Maria Antonia.
9. Ugolino della Gherardesca (d. 1289), a Guelf leader, had conspired with Archbishop Ruggieri, a Ghibelline, to gain control of Pisa. But the archbishop betrayed Ugolino and imprisoned him together with his sons and grandsons in the Tower of Famine, as recounted in Dante’s Inferno (canto xxxiii). Ugolino’s daughter, Gherardesca, married Guido Novello da Bagno (d. 1293), who was head of the Tuscan Ghibellines after the Battle of Montaperti (Paget Toynbee, A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante, Oxford, 1968).
10. Gustavus Woolaston Fowke (1818–49), the second son of Frederick Gustavus Fowke, 1st Baronet, was a Lieutenant in Prince Lichtenstein’s Regiment of Dragoons in the Austrian Service. He is described as “a friend of her [EBB’s] brothers’” by William Surtees Cook, in an editorial note with his transcript of EBB’s letters to his wife Henrietta (ms at ABL/Altham).
11. “I’m so fond of you.”
12. “Three angels.”
13. Marianna Parker (1820–42), daughter of Richard Louis Parker, had married Luigi Angiolo dei Frescobaldi (1811–63) on 15 November 1841. He was the son of Matteo, Marchese Frescobaldi.
14. Cf. Pope, An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (1734), line 204.
15. The French Evangelical Protestant Church was attached to the Prussian Legation. The minister was Moïse Droin (1806–97), who would later baptize Pen Browning.
16. A reference to Pius IX’s allocution issued on 29 April 1848, in which he stated that he would not declare war on Austria.
17. Caroline (1798–1864) and Eleanor (“Ellen”) Tulk (1802–55) were travelling from England to Italy to join their brother. Eleanor was an invalid and became ill several times during the journey from Venice to Florence which lasted six weeks, as indicated by EBB in letter 2739.
18. This silver teapot was acquired by Henrietta’s son Edward Altham Altham (né Cook) in 1912 from Pen Browning’s estate (see Reconstruction, H348); see also illustration facing p. 240.
19. EBB refers to a coach-box that was earlier used by the Moulton-Barretts to transfer items between Hope End and London; see Reconstruction, H539.1.
20. Postage for letters from Italy was paid by the recipient. To prevent correspondents from incurring this expense, the Brownings sent letters under cover to Sarianna, who would affix local postage and forward them at the poets’ expense. This letter, however, was sent directly to Arabella care of Mary Trepsack.
21. Charles Augustus Tulk had seven sons; Augustus Henry (1810–73) was the second eldest. Presumably, he and RB became acquainted at London University which both attended during the academic year 1828–29.
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