2810. EBB to Sarianna Browning
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 15, 335–336.
[Bagni di Lucca]
[ca. 31 August 1849] [1]
My dearest Sarianna,
It is sad and like a disappointment to be forced to think that we may not meet quite so soon after all—that is, if you should accept Robert’s view of the subject & wait for the opportunity he speaks of. I say like a disappointment .. because I, for one, never could consent to giving up our prospect of having you with us in Italy .. it is too precious & too dear—and we may be only waiting a few weeks longer for the door to open which shall admit you. Whether you come now, or later,—and any time in the winter you can come, remember, .. the gladness will be equal—so that a little more waiting need not be called “a disappointment” to make you melancholy. You are not afraid of cold weather .. there is nothing to make September a better month than even January, for travelling in your case—and if the opportunity occurs & you can leave home with a free mind, why here we are!– And if the winter fails, spring comes & we go to England to find you & carry you away, willing or unwilling– Now think a little, dearest Sarianna. Remember that if your coming immediately should strike you as the preferable thing, Robert will go immediately to England– You have only to say so– His reasons for proposing to wait, he will tell you himself better than I can repeat them; and you will not certainly imagine that either he or I could be capable of “counting the cost” & the “trouble” of having you with us, if there were only this way. Both of us are longing to get at you, & again & again he has said to me, “I love her more than I ever did,” while I say to myself “I love her as I always shall.” It is merely a question of means & of time & whether the enjoyment to you & to us would not be greater presently—there is the question– You will decide, yourself, & if you decide for coming now, it wont be difficult to accept your view of the subject, I will answer for it, dear Sarianna. We will be converts with all the zeal of conversion. In the other case, should the winter not bring you to us, the spring will bring us to you, .. that is, if God spare us all & leave us liberty .. & then, we shall not part so easily, .. we will travel at full ease, & the journey will be a part of the entertainment. How I long to show “pupfellow” to your dear father! He is just meant to be a “pupfellow”, this child, so full of life & merriment, & with broad indications of a genius for every sort of mischief. He siezes my hair in both his fists & pulls & laughs loud, as if he felt the full glory of pulling out curls. Such a sweet-tempered little thing too, he is! The only noise he makes is in laughing & screaming for joy– His nurse says sometimes .. “è troppo, è troppo! Ride troppo, questo bambino—non è bene per lo stomacho.” [2] Then he has’nt an idea of there being anything to be afraid of in nature. He makes friends with old monks & friars, and insists on catching at strange ladies’ fans. He delights in all sorts of dogs & horses & donkies; and when you call him a “naughty boy” and pretend to whip him, he laughs out at that, as at the best joke you could make. Robert will tell you, I suppose, of his miraculous tooth, and also how he rolls over & over from one end of the room to the other, and also how he rode six miles on horseback the other day on Wilson’s knee, in fits of ecstacy at the horse’s tossing head. Dearest Sarianna, we anxiously wait for your decision– Only, if you love us, you will look on your Italian expedition as a settled thing & prepare for it thinking of us. May God bless & keep you. Robert is better. Happy are we to hear that you are so too.
Your ever affectionate sister
Ba.
Address, on integral page: Miss Browning.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Lilly Library.
1. Approximate dating suggested by EBB’s references to the postponement of Sarianna’s visit and to Pen’s activities.
2. “It’s too much, too much! He laughs too much, this baby—it is not good for his stomach.”
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