2959. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 17, 116–118.
Dieppe.
Friday morning [26 September 1851] [1]
Thank God for us my beloved Arabel,—we arrived safely here last night; at twenty minutes past nine– But it was a dreadful passage. As soon as we touched the open sea, the wind & waves roughened together, the decks were swept by the water, & everybody was ill– Even I .. think of that .. even Baby .. even Flush .. who had to be taken away, poor dog, into the hole .. and Robert & Wilson were in extremities. What made me ill was holding Wiedeman for an hour asleep in my arms in an uncomfortable position– When I once got down stairs & could lie down I did perfectly—only, do you know, I was a little frightened; seeing that upon asking the stewardess “whether there was danger,” she answered “it was impossible to know how it might be, in such a stormy sea.” Wiedeman was wonderfully good– Certainly he shines in travelling. The whole of yesterday, he never even made up his face towards a cry. He understood when I explained to him that I could’nt hold him on deck any more, & let the captain carry him down stairs & lay him on Wilson’s sofa close to mine– The truth is, I am sure he had great satisfaction in being sick himself– He thought it a grand thing, as everybody was sick; he had aspired to the consummation from the beginning, by signifying, before the vessel moved, that he had a pain in his stomach & that it was caused by the ‘vapore’. [2] Also, he did’nt suffer much. He slept a good deal, & when he was awake, lay as still as a sleepy dormouse. Everybody praised him—“such a good child never was seen before,” and I promised to write an account of the goodness to “la zia’[’] .. to which he said “Less—anche nonno.” [3] On our arrival when we had all to go to the custom house, he was in the highest spirits, observing that there were “due soldati,”! [4] & he was’nt in bed till eleven, laughing & singing to the last. Never was such a traveller before, at his age. We came to a good enough inn, though not the best .. (spring seats & beds, Arabel ..) & we are all refreshed this morning. Mr Carlyle is delightful– The silent gentleman in the corner of the rail-carriage yesterday, must have been amused with the talk he heard, & wondered among what manner of persons he was. [5]
Ah—dearest, dearest Arabel, we drove through Wimpole Street. I looked up at the windows as well as I could for tears, and Baby said mournfully “Minny.”
Carlyle has been walking about Dieppe since six this morning & is so charmed with the old simplicity of houses & manners, that he would like, he says, to come & live here. He & Robert kept on deck the whole time, yesterday, in spite of the drenching waves. [6] We go on to Paris at eleven & shall arrive at four.
I write in the utmost precipitancy as you see– I dont thank you my own, own Arabel, for any of your perfect goodness & love to me– You are too much part of me to be thanked. I hold you in my heart of hearts.– I shall write to Trippy, dear Trippy .. give her a kiss & say so– My best love to dear George & Henry & all. I am your very own
Ba.
You receive this at Mr Stratten’s. Remember me affectionately & gratefully to him & his family.
Everything passed the customs safely– See how your aromatic vinegar has stained my paper! Did you get the money I left?
Address: Miss Barrett / Revd J. Stratten / 65 Hamilton Terrace / St John’s Wood / London.
Docket, above address in unidentified hand: This letter has been mislaid by the person who undertook the carriage from Dieppe to Newhaven.
Publication: EBB-AB, I, 404–405.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Dated by EBB’s reference to the Brownings’ trip with Carlyle from London to Dieppe on 25 September 1851; the following day, Friday, was the 26th.
2. “Steamship.”
3. “Grandpapa also.” “Less” is Pen’s baby talk for “Yes.”
4. “Two soldiers.” Pen used the number two to mean many.
5. Carlyle described the scene as follows: “Browning with wife and child and maid; then I; then an empty seat for cloaks and baskets; lastly, at the opposite end from me, a hard-faced, honest Englishman or Scotchman, all in grey and with a grey cap, who looked rather ostrich-like, but proved very harmless and quiet … and so away we went, Browning talking very loud and with vivacity, I silent rather, tending towards many thoughts” (Last Words, p. 152).
6. According to Carlyle, “Browning was sick, lay in one of the bench-tents horizontal, his wife, &c., below; I was not absolutely sick, but had to lie quite quiet, and without comfort, save in one cigar, for seven or eight hours of blustering, spraying, and occasional rain” (Last Words, p. 153).
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