2754. EBB & RB to Mary Louisa Boyle
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 15, 164–167.
| [In EBB’s hand] | Palazzo Guidi. |
Decr 3– [1848] [1]
Indeed my dear Miss Boyle, it does seem unkind & ungrateful of us not to have answered your first letter,—& the second spoils something of its own pleasure with a stroke of natural remorse. The reason of this silence was not however that we did not think of you, did not miss you, did not wish you back again in Italy—rather we talked of writing to you so often that there was the less room for the deed. Then we have been very busy travelling, & furnishing, & lying on the sofa, .. which last you may remember as my ‘specialtè’. In June we took a sudden disgust to the arranging of chairs & tables, to say nothing to the heat, and in order to be cooler & in obedience to the dictates of Mr Murray’s Handbook which recommends Fano as a delightful summer residence for English families, we set off to spend some two months there. The scenery by San Sepolcro & in crossing the Apennine was full of charm & various beauty, & Urbino, where we did pilgrimage to Raffael’s house, is a right eagle’s nest for situation & prospect—but within an hour & a half of Fano, the very trees looked pale with breathless heat & the very hills fainted flat under the sun. As to Fano, it was not beareable [sic] in any way. Even the sight of a divine picture of Guercino’s called the Guardian angel, could’nt draw us on to stay. [2] The inns were not meant to be lived in, nor the sea to be approached—one could only pay & suffocate. By a curious accident we made acquaintance with Dr Wiseman’s mother & sister, the latter married to an Italian noble, & both settled, in penance for sin perhaps, at this Fano. Poor Mrs Wiseman, a very shrewd clever woman, came to groan back our groans, which was the only consolation the case admitted of. At last, one night or morning at half past three we fled .. & got to Ancona, meaning to be cooler. Where of course it was three times hotter still, but we had better accommodation, & managed to live on fish & cold water & ices for a week—made an excursion to Loretto, & so returned along the coast to Ravenna—saw the pine forest—& directly from Dante’s tomb, where we stood in the dusk of the morning, put our faces towards Florence. My husband is perfectly cured, I am happy to say, of his delusions about the charm of living at Ravenna. The forest stands off too far to redeem the place, and you smell the marshes in the air. If one could pass one’s life in the glorious churches .. well, perhaps– As it was, after a great deal of enjoyment throughout our excursion I wont say that I did’nt enjoy as much the coming home, where Florence struck us to be as cool as a bower– I never shall complain again, I think, of the heat of Florence. The passage of the Apennines from Forli was divine, as I dare say you know perfectly. So here we have been ever since, furnishing & furnishing by slow degrees, & only just now have we got our curtains up. Oh, would that you were here, my dear friend, if it were only for the minutest motive of seeing us in our permanent places instead of where you did in the piazza Pitti. You cannot think how well our rooms look & at how inconsiderable an expense they have been made to look so. Certainly every now & then a day is fixed for the sacking of Florence, & “morte ai Fiorentini” [3] is chalked up on the walls. But we persist in not being in the least alarmed, and the Guerazzi ministry [4] is in the odour of sanctity with the people “for the nonce,” and the poor Grand Duke is said to be “recovering his appetite.” We had the last fruits of the French chargé d’affaires in his rococo sofa & secretaire & armchairs, & that is the nearest we have come to receiving any influence from public events. Mademlle de Fauveau is too much engrossed probably with the scenes in France to take thought of us, for we have not seen her since Robert called on her months ago. For myself, I have been forced to be very quiet since our return from Ancona & am very glad of it. Dr Harding we have not seen yet. But we might prudently have seen him, for my poor companion caught cold one evening by throwing off his coat at the window after a hot walk in the Cascine, & was very seriously unwell, ill indeed with fever & quinsey, only unpersuadeable on the point of having advice. In the midst, & just as I was losing heart altogether, arrived the famous Jesuit, Father Prout of Fraser, who prescribed like a doctor of medicine & was kind like a true friend—and now the patient is himself again & recovered from the thinness & weakness which followed the attack. I did not well understand before that, how we could ever be unhappy by means of him. His new edition is on the verge of appearance .. yes, and we have a play out at Sadler’s by this time .. a revival of the ‘Blot on the ’Scutcheon,’ which Mr Phelps wrote to ask leave to bring out. What else is there to tell you? Mr and Mrs Lever [5] left cards on us while Robert was ill, & before he was well enough to return them, emigrated for the winter, it appears, to the Baths of Lucca—which sounds much like our going to Ancona for the summer! They had just taken an apartment for a year at the English embassy. Besides Father Prout, the only successor you have had at tray-time, has been Mr Ware the American, the author of those ‘Letters from Palmyra,’ which you may know—a simple high minded man, charming through his simplicity. He is at Rome now, & will be in England presently. We have heard of attempted theatricals, Mrs Tom Trollope taking lead—but I suppose nothing of this sort could be brought to bear without you, for all came to an untimely end in the midst of the preparation. Now will you write to us? You will be vexed with me perhaps for writing out Robert’s part of the letter, but as he always has had the lion’s share of you, I thought the mouse might have a little this time. Dear Miss Boyle, I have an instinct somehow that you will come back to us in your Italy—meantime it is pleasant to have the pretty vision of you in your hermitage, & to believe that you are happy in your unselfish goodness. Is the fiancée [6] still in Florence? Remember to give our regards .. may I say so? .. to Lady Boyle & to your brother—& think of me as affectionately & cordially yours
E. Barrett Browning
[Continued by RB]
What has my wife been writing to you, dear Miss Boyle? What she thinks & feels, I am sure (for it is her way)—& perhaps, what I think & feel,—for she knows both, by this time, on most points, & certainly on the subject of our pleasant talks on those evenings in the Pitti: here we have a larger fire, to enjoy with you when you next come, but not larger choice of friends to range round it, keeping up as we do, all our owlish & savage habits—so you will find nothing changed in one spot, at least, of this land of changes. Your note seems to prove your spirits as good as your boudoir looks cozy, in the vignette; and Lady Boyle’s improved health must be a great comfort to you. About ourselves there is just nothing to tell—my wife is infinitely better than when you saw her,—even Flush is recovering his lost looks—and when I have praised the weather, and groaned at the times, I come to a natural end. My new edition sticks fast,—I only hear all is ready, when the minute appears lucky. This morning brings me news of the success of a play of mine they have revived. Goodbye, since the paper will have it so—will you be so benevolent as to write occasionally,—as you promise, indeed? It will gladden our hearts,—gladden them, really: meantime, with best remembrances to your family, pray believe me, dear Miss Boyle, yours faithfully ever
Robt Browning
Dont suppose I forget the autographs—they prove not get-atable till I return to England, but that may be soon.
Address, on integral page, in EBB’s hand: Miss Boyle / Millard’s Hill / Frome / Somersetshire.
Publication: Acta Academiae Aboensis Humaniora, 27 (1964), 77–81.
Manuscript: Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen.
1. Year provided by EBB’s references to the Brownings’ Adriatic tour.
3. “Death to the Florentines.”
4. Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi (l804–73), who led the suppression of the Leghorn riots in August, had been appointed minister of the interior in Montanelli’s government (see letter 2750, note 7).
5. Catherine Lever (née Baker, d. 1870) had married Charles Lever in 1833.
6. i.e., Zacyntha Moore who was engaged to Charles John Boyle; see letter 2717, note 5.
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