2808. EBB to Sarianna Browning
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 15, 326–327.
[Bagni di Lucca]
[Postmark: 15 August 1849]
My dearest Sarianna, we are delighted, .. I am delighted, & of course Robert says so for himself .. that you are resolving to come to us soon. May it be, that Mr & Mrs Arno[u]ld will come too! it will be a happy arrangement both for you & for us—for I shall then see two friends as well as my sister. Dearest Sarianna, dont, because you are coming to Italy, disdain to bring shawls, cloaks, flannel-petticoats– There are cold winds in Florence in the winter, & the heat of the sun only makes them more dangerously trying when precautions are not taken. You will be a great prize to us, & woe to us if we dont take care of you. Try to get up a little appetite before you leave England—you must’nt rely too much on Italy for that. Certainly it has made me carnivorous & herbiverous & voracious altogether,—but the effect on persons in ordinary health, is said to be very different. Your nervous system however & spirits are sure to get some good from the change of scene & air & from the sight of Robert– I speak <mo>re humbly of Baby & me:—I am the last. I get behind Baby. Robert is better, thank God, in all respects for being here. The mountains, the liberty, the coolness, have done him much good—his spirits are more even & natural, & his looks, less harrassed. It will be interesting to him to try to interest you in Italy & the works of art; and your dear father will have you back again, I hope & pray, strong & well & able to minister the old comfort & delight. Still, you are not to think of giving us only a few weeks– Think how little worth while it would be, to come to Italy for a few weeks. Be generous to us, dear Sarianna, & dont count the alms. —Perhaps you will bring us Mrs Jameson’s book which she sent to us either through Mr Kenyon .. or how was it?
Little Wiedeman grows rosier & rosier, & has acquired a knowledge of his superiority over Flush, .. laughing aloud a fortnight ago, to see Flush eat, (he had not observed before that Flush could eat) & yesterday, because he whined to go out with Wilson .. Baby laughed out at that too—he thought it strange that Flush should seem to be trying to talk like a human creature. Of course it was a sense of human superiority in Baby which made him surprised. He is more & more winning & full of understanding .. taking notice of everything & smiling at everybody with rather an indiscriminate philanthropy. People stop to admire him out of doors, & ask whose child he is—and Wilson & his balia asseverate that not a baby in Lucca is to be compared to him—he is king of the babies. Robert is very fond of him, & so am I, rather. We wish so that we could show him to your father,—but that time will come when God pleases.
May God bless you, dearest Sarianna! Take care of yourself for the sake of those to whose affections you are so dear! Dare I name as one of them, your attached sister
Ba–
Address, on integral page, in RB’s hand: Angleterre viâ France. / Miss Browning, / New Cross, Hatcham, / Surrey, / near London.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Lilly Library.
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