2829. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 16, 45–54.
[Florence]
Jany 23. [1850] [1]
My beloved Arabel, Thank you for the comfort of your letter. If it is not everything, it is much—and we must trust God & hope. Do not fail to give me particular accounts of Papa, and write often. I know you think of me, darling Arabel,—& remember that you cant prove it better than in writing .. writing. I have set you a bad example this time, I confess,—but let it pass in consideration of the weather we have had, which has been miraculous for Italy, & has made me feel very uncomfortable, .. with my usual loss of voice & appendix of cough, .. in spite of the peculiar circumstances which always protect me more or less. This is the second winter which has exceeded the ordinary severity of an Italian winter—and this second winter has been far severer than the last: the Florentines say, that not for five & twenty years has such a season been known. We had no appearance of frost on the windows, but the Arno was frozen, & we had difficulty in keeping our thermometer in these large rooms above sixty. At the same time, we always have the comfort here of knowing that it ‘cant last’—and it has’nt of course—for several days it has been quite spring—only that today it seems to me to be getting colder again. My voice is unfrozen, and the cough all but gone—and I have ventured into the dining room to dine with Robert, which was out of the question during the cold weather. He used to bring me my plate into this room, & I sate by the fire & dined. What was the worst of all, was Wiedeman’s catching cold. He had cold & cough, & one evening frightened me out of my wits, by waking out of sleep crying, with a dreadful sort of hoarseness, which made me think of croup or inflammation of the chest being imminent. I happened to be in his room, & sent for Robert instantly, who found me looking so ‘scared’, he says, that rather for my sake than the baby’s he proposed going for Dr Harding. [‘]‘Oh yes—go, go” said I—while the balia whose opinion is that the use of doctors is to kill, and who insisted that nothing was the matter with the child except a little cold, sate beating her forehead with her hands & calling on all the saints. “O Santissimo Pietro, come la signora s’è appassionata per niente! Un medico per un bambino tanto sano—o cielo!” [2] But really, Arabel, to hear that little creaking sort of cry was enough to frighten anyone. That sort of hoarseness in a grown up person is a different thing—but such a mere baby, you see, as Wiedeman is! Nevertheless, he ceased crying, & began to suck as if nothing was the matter, & fell asleep with such soft regular breathings, that my panic went off, and by the time Robert had returned to say that Dr Harding was dining at the Embassy, & to ask whether I thought it necessary for him to be routed out at every risk, why I was ready to take counsel & wait. In the morning, the invalid was almost recovered—so we had no doctor after all—and now he has gathered back all his roses & more than his fat– The child is fatter & more vigorous than ever. As to sitting on people’s knees he disdains it: and the difficulty is to keep him from running about the house by himself. He runs on all fours like a little cat, & almost as quickly as a cat,—& out of the door the instant it is open, under the chairs, under the drawers, under the beds: every now & then, the child is lost. His delight is, to hide himself under the beds, and to have somebody to scold him & drag him out,—then, he falls into fits of laughter—why, Arabel, at the Baths of Lucca, months ago, he used to laugh loud enough to be heard outside the house. We have always had to restrain him in this respect, for fear of the effort’s doing him harm: it has made him sick oftener than once, I assure you. He cant stop himself when he begins. Also, we dont want him to walk too soon, as we hear it is bad—but, by everything that comes in his way, chairs, sofas, knees, or Flush’s tail, he pulls himself up, & stands holding by one hand as firm as a rock. One of these days, he will walk away in spite of us—& in the meantime he has made himself perfectly independent—yes, indeed. And he understands nearly everything in Italian– The English is not so advanced– I am obstinately of opinion that, the object being of course to develop his intellect, & language being only a symbol, the introduction of two different symbols, must, by complicating the difficulty, render the process slower. We have known of English children two years old, being reduced to a complete state of puzzledom & inability to utter or understand a word, from being in the habit of hearing both languages constantly spoken. Why it is reasonable that it should be so, when you come to think. So I persist against Robert who is all for English—oh, ‘the child’s English, & shall be English,’ he keeps saying– So he is & so he shall be of course. Only let us make him an intelligent human being, first of all. The English will come fast enough presently—there’s no danger of that. Time enough for national distinctions! Yet Robert insists on talking English to him … except when he particularly desires to be understood. For only a few things does the child understand in English .. though Wilson sometimes talks it to him too. As for me, I am consistent, and never do: and the ‘balia’ being in a state of permanent oratory, (besides Alessandro’s) his Tuscan opportunities much preponderate on the others—so that he seems seldom at a loss when he hears Italian. When he was under the bed the other day, I pretended to have lost him, which always enchants the child– “Dove è questo bambino? è perso.” (Laughter under the bed.) “Forse sia andato nell’altra camera”— .. (great laughter) “o forse, andato fuori, nelle Cascine, per vedere i cavalli” [3] .. (prolonged laughter!) How he understood & enjoyed all those excellent jokes, was amusing to observe. You see, wit is’nt thrown away upon him. In spite of which .. all this I have been telling you .. he has only four teeth, still—and the one that is coming, is only coming: so Arlette is victorious on the point of teeth. In other respects, we are in advance of all the children within our reach to observe, and Wilson always ends our comparisons by deciding that Wiedeman is “a miracle.” When he pulls himself up by a chair & stands, he looks quite absurd though, I must admit, he is so little. Robert said to me seriously the other day, [‘]‘Are you sure Ba, that he grows?” Which made me laugh & propose that in case he should turn out a ‘Tom Thumb the third’ [4] we shd travel about the world in a caravan & make our fortunes besides—which would be convenient with our wandering propensities which are difficult to gratify under present circumstances. Still,—he does grow—there’s the truth: his frocks are nearly up to his knees already: but he is a delicately made child, with slight bones: if it were not for his fat, he wd look frail, I dare say—but being so fat and rosy (yes, rosy, tell Henrietta) & having such round, mottled arms & legs, you are struck instantly by his appearance of health & vigour, & nobody calls him little .. except me & Robert, when we see him setting off to walk, or preparing to set off to walk, on such a small provision of nature. I hear that Dr Harding says of me that “I have a child as large as myself.” By the way, Dr Harding brought his daughters to see me yesterday .. two of them .. for I think he has four. [5] He has shown us such kindness, that we were glad to prove our sense of it by receiving them cordially. The eldest told me that he had a strong interest in me, & really I can believe it. After every illness I have had, he has always thrown in a few visits at the end “as a friend”—which was unnecessary of course. His daughters are accomplished women—sing and paint beautifully. Two of them knew Miss Mitford in England. Mrs Ogilvy has a new little girl [6] —a pretty little creature. Also, just before her confinement, there was a dreadful business up stairs—their Italian maid being convicted of having opened Mr Ogilvy’s desk, & taken out from time to time money to the amount of above ten pounds English. He suspected her, & at last marked the pieces, &, calling in the police, the marked scudos were found on her person. She is a pretty woman, just married—it was a terrible scene, I fancy. She brandished a knife, as if to stab herself.
Oh, and Arabel—such a melancholy Christmas, we had! I have not had such a Christmas since I married. Poor Alessandro’s wife, who was nursing her youngest child, six weeks older than mine, was suddenly siezed with fever, & died the evening before Christmas day. [7] Six children left .. the eldest indeed, twenty, but the others all wanting help—and the poor little unweaned baby! Alessandro was going backwards & forwards from his own house to ours, looking stupified with grief. A fortnight’s illness carried her off—such a strong healthy looking woman too! And since then, the baby, which seemed for a few weeks to be going on well, has been attacked with intestinal inflammation through the sudden change of diet—but is well again—poor Alessandro is spared that last grief. We seemed throughout the Christmas time to be living & breathing in a cloud .. Robert having remembrances full of dejection, and I, feeling uncomfortable about home .. Wimpole Street, I mean: & the balia’s husband [8] had just gone to the hospital to complete our associated grievances. Once, Robert said gravely, “Suppose we all kill ourselves tonight,” which made me laugh again, though it was a dreary sort of joke certainly. Alessandro has got over his calamity (for I dont wish to wound your sympathies too much,) with wonderful quickness, and as I heard the balia saying to our little dressmaker, Girolama, [9] a little sprightly black-eyed creature, with deformed crumpled up legs, who comes here to work sometimes, & who asked compassionately .. “Come sta Alessandro?”—“Sta bene! Mangia bene, beve bene, e cerca un’altra moglie.” [10] Only our balia is rather too severe upon Alessandro, I must add—there being a deadly enmity set between them.
Dearest Arabel & Henrietta, how dear & kind you are, but how extreme & absurd, to have thought of sending stockings to Wiedeman by Madme Braun (Miss Thompson)—now I do seriously beseech you on Robert’s part & mine, not ever to do such a thing again—you will make us uncomfortable, otherwise, every time what you call an ‘opportunity,’ occurs. Dr Braun & his new wife were so kind as to come & take coffee with us, the only evening they spent in Florence, arriving late & setting out early in the morning .. so that if they neglected to send for your parcel, it was the discretion of the Fates who knew well that you had given me a great deal too much already, .. you dearest, kindest things!– Dr Braun charmed us both .. it is long since I have been so much pleased by any one. Fervid & simple, he is .. with an apparent goodness radiating through his intellect– I liked him very much. What Miss Bayley could mean by not seeming to do so, I cant make out. Moreover, I believe that there were no obstacles on Miss Thompson’s part— .. none of the personal revulsion we all had imagined. When I said to her, ‘You wont find any of the household difficulties in Italy which Miss Bayley seems to fear for you’– ‘Oh,’ she answered, ‘Miss Bayley saw every sort of difficulty where there was none at all– Indeed she gave me a great deal of pain.” Spoken earnestly & emphatically. I passed it off with .. ‘Well, it was all done in love .. be sure—for she idolizes you’—but I dont think the sense of love was the preponderant thing in Mdme Braun’s mind. How difficult it is for the most intelligent, sympathizing & loving .. yes, & disinterested, as I believe Miss Bayley to be .. to judge for another on subjects near to the inner life! This strikes one more & more. The heart is subtle, & Miss Bayley may have been influenced unknown to herself, by her natural unwillingness to see the person dearest to her, transplanted from England altogether. Certainly my impression & Robert’s, of Dr Braun, was quite different from our imagination of him beforehand. He seemed to me delightful– I said to Robert, ‘I should like him as Arabel’s husband’, .. and a greater compliment could scarcely be paid. They both appeared full of happiness & with the best mutual understanding, .. she looking forward with delight, to her life in Rome. They urged us to go there too—‘there was an apartment vacant in the house they occupied,’ said Dr Emil Braun .. ‘though not such a one as we had in Florence’ .. “What a poetical place!” said he, turning round his eyes upon our tapestried walls. (Did I tell you that we had bought three great pieces of tapestry, to shut us in? [11] and did I tell you that our bookcase was up, to the admiration of everybody?) He was astonished to hear what we paid for our rooms … ‘quite palace-rooms’! .. and wished that he too could settle at Florence. Which she did’nt assent to—‘oh no, she would’nt give up the Tarpeian rock’! [12] We, on the other hand, are afraid of Rome, .. of the comparative expense, and of the relaxing air for children– Wiedeman might lose his roses there, perhaps. But we mean to go one day to visit Rome, which is a different thing. There has been a great sensation & is still here, in respect to Capt. Pakenham, who is in another scrape with the government, as you will see by the papers. [13] He has the character of a very imprudent man, & probably is so—although it is a case for strong sympathy from all who care for liberty of the press & the diffusion of God’s truth. Of course, we foreigners are upon sufferance here, & have no right to act against the laws—but it appears that he applied for the permission of the G Duke’s provisional government in order to the printing of the Catholic authorized version of the Scriptures [14] .. had an interview with the liberal minister, who wished him well, .. & proceeded to print the book upon such high authority. Only, when he had printed this authorized book, he thought (or I believe some unwise advisers in England thought) it was a good opportunity for beginning to print the unauthorized protestant version .. & although he had not proceeded beyond three sheets, yet the fact places him in a more questionable position. The publication of neither of these versions took place .. as on the coming of the Austrians & succession of the less liberal ministry, everything was siezed, & legal proceedings instituted against Capt. Pakenham. The trial took place a few days since .. & before it ended (here is the iniquity) he was ordered to leave the country. A protest of the English has been got up, to which Robert put his name—and he was one of the three or four Englishmen who went into court, in order to give some sign of sympathy to the ‘prisoner’. Capt. Pakenham thanked him for going. Also, there was present, I was glad to hear, the minister of our French church– [15] Sorrowful to relate, the minister of the church of England-chapel, [16] though really a pious man, I believe, was cowardly enough to stay away, on the plea of its being ‘no business of his’, & refused, on the same plea, to sign the protest. Mr Wolley, who is one of the kindest of human beings whatever else he may not be, saved the character of the Ch. of England, by doing what he ought to have done. For some time we thought it impossible to preserve Capt. Pakenham from the penalty incurred—but now it appears, that on the ground of his health, he will be allowed to remain in Florence. He appeared in court in his full Naval uniform, presenting a dauntless front. I tell you all this, knowing that it will interest you.
The Cottrells talk of going to England—and I should so much have liked to send you Wiedeman’s picture– We have consulted about it, but as to making that child sit still one instant, it’s impossible—and now, the least stir, or change of light wakens him out of sleep. Wilson thinks it utterly impossible. Before he went to Lucca we might have done it well—— I am so sorry:—we might have had him taken asleep with the greatest ease. I forgot to tell you that Madme Braun, whom I took to his room to see him asleep in his cradle (for it was night when she came) called him ‘a very pretty child’ .. ‘such a beautiful complexion’! We dont often see him in his bath now, because he is bathed at our breakfast time instead of later, as he used to be; and this morning the balia came running to ask us to have sight of him ‘crawling in the water’– “Che bambino! che bambino!” [17] He always delighted in his bath, & now he thinks he may combine with it some dry-land advantages .. such as crawling & climbing. We have exchanged his small bath for a larger one—he has room for swimming if he pleases. Strange to say there is no devoted friendship between him & Flush. Flush thinks it quite absurd that such a fuss should be made about an irrational child: and Wiedeman is of opinion that Flush takes a great deal too much upon himself, as if he were master of the house indeed. Still there are moments of affectionate intercourse. Wiedeman’s great pleasure is to feed Flush with one piece of bread after another at breakfast time—& when they wont give any more bread for such a purpose, he gets into a passion, & struggles to get away himself to the floor & Flush’s company, .. & sometimes, too, hugs & kisses Flush, & pulls his tail to make it wag. Flush, on the other hand, takes the bread so tenderly as never to hurt the little fingers, & kisses him very often as he sits on the floor—but he wont go out of doors with him & the balia alone, & upon Wiedeman’s staying too long in the drawing-room, walks into another room in disgust. Then they have great fights about who is to be nearest the fire. Wiedeman has a notion that being in the fire, with the red blazing wood, might be very pleasant .. which Flush wont allow of, & has his ears boxed & cuffed soundly by a pair of dimpled fists, accordingly. In revenge, when Flush is called a ‘cattivo Flush, che non ha pazienza,’ [18] for barking in his wish to go out .. Wiedeman turns to him most magisterially, squeezing his lips together, & scolding hard at him, with a full sense of human superiority. Yes! The Cottrells were gratified by my verses, [19] & came to thank me, both of them. I am glad you liked them. My new edition, I shall send by the Cottrells, if they will take it– I scarcely like asking, but the difficulties of the case will be my excuse for troubling them so far. The packet will go to Sarianna Browning, who is kindly to correct the proofs for me as she did for Robert. [20] I know my own dearest Arabel, that you would have done this, if I had asked you– I know you wd not have objected for the trouble’s sake. But she is accustomed to the correction of proofs, and the eye has to be educated to the mechanic<al> accuracy, which is the more necessary now through the absence of the writer. Also, Mr Forster will have access to the sheets, by this arrangement .. & be within reach of any difficulty .. Sarianna can ask a question of him & be answered. Not that she sees him:—scarcely ever she does—but they are on terms of acquaintance– He had the kindness to offer himself to take the whole care of the proofs—but I did not like this. The edition includes the best Seraphim-poems, carefully corrected, & strengthened & improved as far as possible .. the Prometheus, which at last I have got back from Blackwood, & a few new things—not the poem on Tuscany though– [21] I shall write a second part to that, and publish it separately .. and besides, I have no room for it in the two new volumes: they will be almost overthick without it. The Blackwoods write me a very civil note (oh, they send me plenty of civility—that costs nothing!) to say how sorry they are, never to have found an opening for so long a translation, .. and to hope that I will not give up sending them such compositions as I may have by me, “suitable to their plain taste in poetry”. (They have probably seen the verses in the Athenæum, & fancy that I am in a rage with them! which is true!) They add that they have ordered an early copy of my new edition—intimating that it will be noticed in the magazine—but all this conciliation together with the fact of their having paid me very well for those few lyrics & sonnets, [22] —(five & twenty guineas! you remember) scarcely sets me up again in good humour. Robert is busy with new poems– What I have seen is very fine– He hopes to be out at Easter. [23] You grieve me about dear dearest Trippy, but as to despairing, I by no means despair– I feel persuaded on the contrary that Mrs Gordon will concede the ground. She must, in justice, in honour, & for shame. Tell me everything. Give her my dearest love & say how I think of her. I meant to have written to her this christmas—only a letter to you is the same thing—she hears the whole, & she feels the love in it. I love her dearly, & anxiously wait for news.– Oh—you people, to misunderstand me so! Why, Arabel, my dearest, I never said a word to you of Nelly Jago’s child being ill. Dear Nelly will fancy that I am bewitched & predicting evils to her– God forbid– When I said I was anxious about the child, I only meant to express my horror & fear at her attempting to bring it up “by hand”. [24] Here, such an attempt is almost sure to be fatal: everywhere, dangerous, says Dr Harding. You never told me a word about your visit to Trejago, Arabel .. nor of the dear little creature there. Do tell me.
<…> [25]
So sorry I am about dearest Minny’s grief. I hope she has better news. Give her my love, & tell me of her. The disappointment was not one to me– I felt too sure of the result. M<ay> God open a door. You dont always tell me particulars enough .. & <I am> very anxious .. So you miss me still, my dearest darling Arabel, and I, <you,> indeed! Do believe it of your own Ba.
I shall write to Papa in a very few days as nothing shall be lost through not trying. I have said nothing of Alfred– There are subjects which begin to overpain me. My brothers have gone too far with me indeed. Well—but of Alfred, I can’t wish him to go to S.A. [26] feeling convinced that the opening there is not what he expects. Is there nothing on the French or Belgic railroad. Without languages, Spanish &c, he will make no progress in S.A.
Wilson is well & in good spirits: so glad I am. Robert’s very best love.
Address, on integral page: Angleterre via France / Care of Miss Tripsack / (Miss Arabel Barrett) / 12. Beaumont Street / Devonshire Place / New Road / London.
Publication: EBB-AB, I, 287–297.
Manuscript: Gordon E. Moulton-Barrett.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. “O Blessed Peter, how the lady gets herself excited about nothing! A doctor for such a healthy baby—O heavens!”
3. “Where is this baby? He’s lost.” … “Maybe he’s gone into the other room” … “Or maybe, he’s gone out, to the Cascine, to see the horses.”
4. Presumably, EBB has in mind, as Tom Thumb the first, the diminutive hero of a sixteenth-century nursery tale and other works (most notably in Fielding’s play The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, 1730). The second was Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838–83), otherwise known as “General Tom Thumb,” an American little person who was promoted by P.T. Barnum in London in the 1840’s.
5. His four daughters were: Adeline Ellen Elizabeth (1815–94), Margaret (1818–89), Julia Mary (afterwards Lumley, 1823–57), and Augusta Caroline (afterwards Pym, 1830–81).
6. Marcia Napier Ogilvy (1850–1940) was born on 12 January.
7. According to the Stato Civile di Toscana, Maria Barsotti (née Rosi) died at the age of 38. She and Alessandro had married in 1828. Their six children were: Giovanni (b. 1829), Carlo (b. 1833), Adelaide (b. 1834), Cesare (b. 1838), Annunziata (b. 1843), and Teresa (b. 1849).
8. Francesco Celavini; see letter 2778, note 2.
9. This is the first of several references to Girolama, who became a great favourite with Pen. We have been unable to identify her beyond EBB’s descriptions.
10. “How is Alessandro?”—“He’s fine! He eats well, he drinks well, and he’s looking for another wife.”
11. The Brownings owned at least seven tapestry panels (see Reconstruction, H667–673).
12. A precipice on the Capitoline in Rome which takes its name from Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius. In ancient times it was a place of execution for traitors who were thrown head-first down the face of the cliff.
13. See letter 2818, note 2. Mrs. Pakenham explains that after she and her husband returned to Florence from Bagni di Lucca in October 1849, “the Bible trial then came on. Sir G.H____ [George Hamilton] had done little or nothing, and the trial ended in nothing as regards our position, but God made it useful for spreading further His own word! We were living on comfortably, till one day, as I was in my little studio, waiting for A.P____ [Admiral Pakenham] to pay visits with me, wondering his wonted punctuality kept not to its time, he entered, and ‘we are to be sent away,’ was his greeting. … all ended in our being forced to quit under a ten days’ notice! And to England we went” (F.J.P. [Frances Julia Pakenham], Life Lines; or, God’s Work in a Human Being, 1862, pp. 103–104). Mrs. Pakenham makes no reference to the protests made by her fellow countrymen.
14. The Douai-Reims Bible, otherwise known as the Douai (or Douay) Bible, which is a translation from the Latin Vulgate; the New Testament was completed in 1582, and the Old Testament in 1609.
15. Moïse Droin; see letter 2731, note 15.
16. George Robbins (1809–73) who served as chaplain of the English church in Florence from 1843 to 1851.
17. “What a baby! What a baby!”
18. “Naughty Flush, who has no patience.”
19. A reference to EBB’s elegy on the death of their daughter Alice, published the preceding month; see letter 2824, note 2.
20. Included in the “packet” were “two volumes of printed pages excised from earlier editions, containing extensive ms revisions, used as printer’s copy for Poems (1850),” which sold as part of lot 156 in Browning Collections (see Reconstruction, D722); also included was a “fair copy, slightly revised” of Sonnets from the Portuguese, excepting Sonnet 42, which sold as lot 152 in Browning Collections (see Reconstruction, D876).
21. “A Meditation in Tuscany.”
22. i.e., the seven poems published in October 1846 (see letter 2626, note 7) and the eight sonnets published in May and June 1847 (see letter 2655, note 9).
23. Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day was published on 1 April 1850, Easter Monday.
24. i.e., bottle-fed rather than breast-fed.
25. Six and a half lines have been obliterated after receipt, probably by Arabella.
26. South America.
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