2922. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 17, 50–52.
Venice–
12– [June 1851] [1]
My ever dearest Arabel, In the greatest haste I write a last word to you from Venice. Today I had your letter & tomorrow we go away .. What an escape! I had given up the hope of hearing from you while we stayed—& the more sorry I was than usual even, because from the absence of English newspapers we could not get the least word about the book. Sarianna had just mentioned that she had seen advertisements speaking of the publication [2] —& that was all the intimation we had. Such things dont generally make me uneasy, but I have been a little anxious from different reasons about this particular poem, & was delighted in proportion to hear that you liked it on the whole. Did it strike you as obscure? did George think it so? Mind you answer.– Now I have three minutes to write in, Robert cries out– So hold, about the book. Only when you write tell me what you hear .. because we get no news, read no English papers—— Remember. And write to Lucerne, poste restante—& pray write directly, and of yourself more than of my book, if you please. I am full of things to say to you—& three minutes to say them in, says Robert–
We dont go to Interlacken– Beset by English we hear– We dont go by the Splugen. St. Goathard appears the shorter, & cheaper way, & on the whole more interesting– We doubt much about going to Milan—through the expense & heat. But of all this, you shall hear at length. Write to Lucerne– Lucerne we shall make headquarters of for some time perhaps–
My dearest, darling Arabel!– You are one of the most rational of human beings, & yet you talk about our ship-money just as if it were not travel-money. We dont want it to put by in a drawer,—but to use for travelling purposes,—dont you understand? we dont want to hang it ‘by a chatelaine’ to our left side, I assure you. Travelling is very expensive, but when we stay at a place we relax from heavy payments, & are forced to do so. Would you have us stopped in the Alps, for instance, for want of money? Would you have us borrow money of the innkeepers, in order to get on to Paris & London? No, of course. The Marseilles route is very comparatively cheap, but we wished to see Venice & the north of Italy & decided on this road. Our money, observe, flows in at intervals, & we must travel when we can. Now are we not moving on towards you steadily? Write to Lucerne, & let us take patience, & mind you consider the question I suggested to you in my last letter about the point of meeting.
I am not very grieved to leave enchanting Venice after all, for it has seriously disagreed with Wilson, & Robert is by no means as well as usual, though he professes to be nearly acclimated. He & I went to Chioggia [3] by the steamer yesterday at nine yesterday morning, & were unable to reach Venice again, through contrary winds, till half past one this morning, frightening Wilson. Oh Wiedeman, how you shake me! He must sit by me to see how I write to “la zia”. [4] La zia is a mythical being .. & I suspect him of confounding in a grand mythological mist, Arabel & Henrietta & Sarianna. But you’ll explain yourselves before long. The affectionateness of that child is like the rest of his qualities, peculiar– How he cried when we went away yesterday– And what heaps of kisses we both had this morning! And how he has spoiled my letter with insisting on making os for “la zia.” [5]
Here’s an end of the three minutes–
God bless you, beloved & dearest Arabel– Thanks on thanks for this dear welcome letter– Lucerne, (Poste Restante) En Suisse. I thoroughly agree with you about Henrietta’s letter, but have no moment to say how–
So glad I am you saw my Venice, even in panorama. [6]
Your own Ba.
Mention dearest Trippy’s gout– My dear love to her– So grieved I am that she shd suffer so.
Address, on integral page: Care of Miss Tripsack / (Miss Barrett[)] / 26 Welbeck Street / Cavendish Square / London.
Publication: EBB-AB, I, 386–387.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Month and year provided by postmark.
2. Chapman and Hall advertisements for Casa Guidi Windows ran in London literary weeklies in April, May, and June 1851. One such advertisement in The Athenæum of 17 May was headed: “On the 21st inst. will be published.” Another, on 24 May, was headed: “This day is published.” That issue also included Casa Guidi Windows in its “List of New Books.” The British Library’s copy of the volume bears a receiving stamp of “24 MY 51.” This date, combined with the dates of the Athenæum’s advertisements and announcements, would indicate that EBB’s work was published prior to 24 May and on or immediately after 21 May.
3. An active fishing port at the southern end of the Venetian lagoon. According to Murray’s Hand-Book for Travellers in Northern Italy (1847), the distance to Chioggia, about 20 miles, is normally covered by steamer in two hours and is “worth making, as thereby a good general view of the Lagoon … is obtained” (p. 366).
4. “Aunt.”
5. Various heavy, random markings appear here.
6. Arabella may have seen the diorama that was advertised in The Illustrated London News of 24 May 1851: “Tourists’ Gallery.—Mr. Charles Marshall’s Grand Tour of Europe, Great Moving Diorama, Large Hall, Leicester-square (Linwood Gallery), presents to the spectator imagerial visits to the most remarkable cities of Europe … Constantinople; Rome, Venice” (p. 444).
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