3220. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 19, 142–154.
[Florence]
[2–3 July 1853] [1]
I hesitate for a moment whether to write to dearest George (from whom I have just received a welcome letter) to Henrietta or to you—and you “carry it,” my darling Arabel, because I am not easy about you, & this “pain in the neck” of which George tells me. What is it? are the glands affected again? I am afraid that may be so– You have caught cold, you see, & the cold has lingered. I am sure you would be better for a warm climate—ah—what joy it would be if you could spend next winter with us in Rome! what good it would do you—yes & me. It seems like mockery to propose it, mockery to you & me—but Papa has been to Mr. Stratten’s, & who knows if Occy might not come to Italy & bring you .. by a proposition on George’s part, say ..! Papa might let you come, knowing that you were coming to me, but ostensibly not knowing it. You see he gives you my letters—plainly there is no objection to our intercourse. After seven years, Arabel!—— Penini said lately that “Alibel” was “velly naughty” for not coming to Florence. “But,” I returned, “she cant come—her Papa wont let her.” “Well, you muss lite a letter to her Papa, dear Mama, to ask him to let her tome.” On which I said .. “But you dont know, my Penini .. Arabel’s Papa is my Papa.” I suppose I spoke in a rather melancholy voice, for he threw his arms round me, & said in his sweet comforting way, “No, dont say lat– I not like to hear it. You dot mine Papa, darling Ba.” (you’ve got my papa.) Was’nt it pretty of the darling? and if you had seen his face with its tender smile! And the little pats of the hand! Oh, quite paternal Penini is to me sometimes. Indeed he told me the other day that if I did’nt eat more, I should be a little baby when he was a great man, & that then he would have to carry me about– A new view of life, that!– He did’nt mean the second childhood either, “though by your smiling you seem to say so.” [2]
Which reminds me however that I have altogether to disavow & repudiate Miss Sandford’s charges against my expiring condition! What exaggeration, to be sure! Thus it was—she came to pass the evening with us once a week for months, & sometimes twice a week. I am not as tough as leather, we all know, & occasionally everybody is less well than usual,—therefore she naturally saw me now & then a little pale—and oh, once, I remember, she came for me to take a drive when I had been faint & was unfit to go out. Then, it strikes strangers as a dreadful thing, not to go out of the house for two months together, which was a necessity on me this winter of course. With all this, I have been extremely well & am looking well—& only the morning your letter came, I had been overwhelmed by a tremendous compliment from Robert who maintained, that “we two having been married nearly seven years, I looked exactly seven years younger than when we married”—which would be a saying very satisfactory to my vanity, but for the obvious fact that Robert is & always has been perfectly blind as regards me .. subject to hallucinations of vision on that particular point. I might represent Miss Sandford in sadder colours than she used in my service, if I chose– She nearly always wrote notes to me in pencil, because she had not vital energy enough to use a pen. And if she heard a noise in the street, she shrieked aloud .. as she confessed to us herself. Also, staying in London this summer was to be fatal, seriously fatal & final to her– Oh, her case is considerably worse than mine in most respects I believe. Dont let her frighten you with nonsense, Arabel. As to Penini, you didnt think him fading out of the world through delicacy, did you? I am sure she did, when she knew him first,—& that’s what she meant to suggest by his “looking so much better” &c &c. The fact is her little nephew [3] presented another sort of type of a boy certainly—a great clumsy, noble-looking boy, who at three was twice the size of Penini at four, but tumbled about the room, could’nt run without tumbling .. one of those heavy disjointed children. She used to say it was a case of “matter & spirit”: &, besides, our materiality, such as it amounted to, was more healthy; the little Sandford being shut up with “dreadful colds” again & again this winter, while we passed scatheless. Still, that small giant made Penini look very delicate till they got used to him. As to his obedience to Robert & me at the expense of Wilson, why he never was famous for his obedience to anybody .. was never much trained to obedience, though the best & sweetest child that can be: he considers that he ought to do what he likes himself generally, & generally does it. Robert indeed is strictly obeyed for the most part. There’s a potentiality of wrath about Robert, I suppose, .. for he actually spoils the child as much as I do. I am sure you will like Miss Sandford much more as you know her more. She is very peculiar, and intense in her particular way—quite different from the rest of the family who seemed to us extremely commonplace, though we saw scarcely anything of them. Mr Sandford gave great dinners (for twenty people & more) & Robert would’nt go to them—& I did’nt ask the younger sister [4] here because I felt sure it could’nt be a pleasure to her to come to us. Kate Hedley liked & knew intimately all the family except just our friend—which is easy to understand.
The heat has come in like a tiger with a spring! and we are going to fly at once. We have heard of a villa in the mountains, at two pounds a month, [5] & we think of taking it for a month, to Pen[i]ni’s excessive joy– “Mine villa” is the favorite conversation just now. He is only afraid that “some boys” will get there before him & pull all the flowers. The country is said to be most picturesque, & likely to be infested by brigands, (according to Mr Tennyson’s agreeable suggestion), from its wildness. We want to persuade him to come too that we may rusticate together, & he seemed in a yielding mood about it. If we like it, we shall stay on of course,—as Florence is not generally tenable till september.
Last night Wilson called us up at two .. to my great fright. Poor Vincenzio was taken ill, & like a true Italian was in agonies of fear. “Mi manca la gamba—mi manca il core—io muojo—adesso vado via,” [6] .. crying aloud for a doctor. So Robert went down stairs to wake up the porter—& when the medical man came he bled the patient, said there were symptoms of apoplexy, .. that he had been eating & drinking too much & that from henceforth there must be moderation. This morning there are signs of fever—& we were recommended not to oppose the patient’s desire of removing, because it might end in miliary fever– So he is gone, poor Vincenzio. It is not of importance, the doctor thought—there would be convalescence soon– Robert paid his wages to the end of the month & made him a present .. which overjoyed him .. (“Troppa attenzione, Signore!”) [7] & he walked away by no means in a desperate state it seemed to us all. Therefore, (if he does’nt suffer much) we must really be the gainers by this move, & congratulate ourselves softly upon it. I assure you, Arabel, we have practised a hair’s breadth of Christianity (for a wonder) in keeping this man so long. He is good & attentive & honest, & we could’nt bear to hurt his feelings by dismissing him—but Robert & I have been starving for some time through the disgust of his personality coming between us & our natural appetite. “Con rispetto,” [8] as the Italians say, the smell of that man .. & the idea of the smell together .. were enough to make one fast like a saint. Then he looked like a stable man of the lower degree, as I have told you before—he made one ashamed at the hour of visitors. Well, poor man—there’s our end, with him. We have caught up the Peyton’s servant, & shall be only too glad to keep him .. Ferdinando [9] .. but there’s an unfortunate entanglement with some other family & an apparent doubt whether or not he can stay. I hope we shall manage to keep him. He is a good servant & looks reputable, which his predecessor certainly did not do.
Did I tell you, Arabel, of a Mr Turner who brought letters to us, & spent a week in Florence. I have been told that, among the poets, he prefers Isaiah & me .. with a side place for Wordsworth. He is a man of considerable acquirement & quickness, & the most prodigious vanity I ever observed in man or woman. He is a Chinese & Japanese scholar, writes sonnets, & cuts profiles in black paper. Of course he came down upon us with a request that we would sit for ours—& of course I refused convulsively, & Robert made me submit– Well, here I send you the results. The artist was in ecstasy at his performance—he always did succeed!– Gibson [10] thought nothing could equal the expression he conveyed! “Can this be possible”? said Gibson. Can black paper emulate the sublime of my marble? Oh yes, of course.– To be candid, I think he has done excellently with us. Robert’s is particularly like—the very countenance caught! Penini too, is good. And as for me, considering what my sideface is, I have everything to be grateful for I think. My profile belongs to you– I meant it for you from the beginning. Robert’s I cant part with—the mouth .. the whole face is so strikingly like!—so his & Penini’s you must keep till I ask you for them. Which reminds me of George’s news about that horrible, vulgar engraving of Robert being in the shop-windows. Oh—I detest it so! It never could have been in the least like him, ever so many years ago, .. for the character, the whole mind is different. It’s precisely the young man from Waterloo House making a pathetic appeal to a customer .. “You wont allow me to cut you a dress from the sweet blue poplin?” [11]
Mr Turner made the most of us during his week in Florence—that is, we had the most of him. We had him morning, noon, & night. He is a tremendous man. He knows something of everything—all his intimate friends are wonderful persons—his brother is the “most spiritual christian now in the world,” & so with the rest—even the Russian Baron whom he met by chance in Germany was the “most accomplished man in Europe”—he has affinities with excellence. He knows Swedenborgians, Irvingites, & Plymouth brethren .. sympathizes with most christians somehow .. is evangelical himself, & belongs to the church of England, because you may belong to her without agreeing with what she teaches– He is strong on the second coming. He wrote a series of theological sonnets on the London Great Exhibition, [12] —but his particular vocation is the pulling down of the papacy, in order to which he was strongly impelled to lift up his voice in St Peters this last spring & adjure the Pope—(in which case we should’nt have had the pleasure of making his acquaintance in Florence.) He almost excoriated me with the analysis (vivà voce) of a Japanese romance, till, as Mr Lytton feelingly observed, I “grew paler & paler,” & might have fallen into a swoon as the clock struck one in the morning, with a very little provocation more. He “hoped Penini thought deeply of the Kingdom of Heaven” .. which puzzled Penini considerably, as the phrase did not enter into his theological spheres. That was next to talking Japanese to me. At the end & when we were parting, he desired us to give him a note to Chapman & Hall that he might have presentation copies of our works. We assented as people taken by surprise are apt to assent. Nothing like an absolute freedom from timidity! “Now” [13] said he, “the obligation is on my side.”! By thirty two shillings [14] and coffee at indiscretion!– When the door closed, Robert exploded into a passion, & I into laughter. I laughed till I lost my breath .. & that made Robert more angry still.
Tell my dear George that I shall answer his letter though he bids me not. I like him to write to me. Tell him also that it is not I who “take it easily” (respecting the “spirits”) but himself—for that nothing is so easy as to ‘pooh pooh’ away facts & so to escape from the difficulty of a solution. If he had given half as much hard thought to this question as I have, he would have thought it worth while, I fancy, to think the other half & considerably beyond. As to imposture, it is out of the possibilities in the greater number of cases– You will see presently. I told you a year ago about the tables, & nobody supposed then that that part of the question would have emerged as it has done. Mrs Jameson who was half vexed with me for listening to such nonsense in Paris, wrote to me yesterday how interested she had been, & how, from the flexibility & variety of the opinions of scientific men in England she began to distrust their judgements altogether on the point. She does not however believe in the rapping spirits– That’s to come, I say. And now I am going to tell you what has happened to Sarianna in Paris. You know Sarianna. If Robert is sceptical upon subjects of the kind, she is more sceptical, .. for she lacks that impulse from his imagination which drives him into faith under certain influences with a recoil under others. He has confessed to me sometimes when he used fairly to be angry with me for what he called my absurd credulity, (long ago in France) that half his nature was taking my part & that therefore he had to strive both against himself & me—which vexed him all the more. But Sarianna is calmly & resolutely unbelieving. She has fixed opinions, & a distaste to new lights. She laughs at even the common forms of animal magnetism—she sets all these things down as “frauds, fallacies, & falsehoods”—(I quote George.). With this (you will say perhaps, because of it) she has excellent sense, & is most truthful & accurate in observation—clever & keen, .. is she not? Well—now I must tell you that the following extract is taken from a letter she has just written to us—— “I said before that our table-experiments at the Corkrans had been failures, but they spoke so often of the performances of a Miss Kemp, a friend of theirs, that Papa expressed a wish to see her, and dear Mrs Corkran who spoils him, accordingly invited her to meet us at their house last monday. She came with her mother, & is a thin sickly looking girl, with large dark eyes,—rather interesting, I thought. She seemed to take it all as a simple matter of fact. We chose a small work-table; she said that being so small it would soon move,—and she, Mr & Mrs Corkran, the two elder girls,” (the young Corkrans, from ten to twelve years old.) [15] “Papa & myself placed our hands on it. (Touching each others hands she called all nonsense.) In ten minutes it began to move, turning round so quickly that we ran to keep up with it, those behind clearing away our chairs. It ran so violently towards the window that we were afraid it would break the glass, but on Miss Kemp’s ordering it to stop, it went back & finally upset itself into the fireplace. The oddest thing was that almost as soon as it began to move it turned on one side, and in that position ran about. Thus. Illus. When we pulled it out of the fireplace it began to heave, and knocked with one of its legs. Miss Kemp asked if it would answer questions. A rap of assent. Then we began to ask all sorts of questions.– Henrietta Corkran’s age—the Emperor’s,—the empress’s—(the table made her older than common report). I asked the age of my nephew.—four knocks in reply .. the number of people in the room .. right—the number of chairs in the room .. wrong—of tassels in the room .. right—of flowers on the mantel piece .. wrong—the number of sketches Papa had just brought .. answer 19—on counting, it was quite right. Then we called for initials, taking the numbers for letters of the alphabet, and the answers were right .. excepting when Miss Kemp & I asked for names we were thinking of, when they were quite wrong. Mrs Corkran asked for the initials of her eldest sister [16] .. right—for those of the artist who painted her portrait .. right. We each occasionally took off our hands without any perceptible difference, except that when Miss Kemp went to the other end of the room it began to flag. Then she tried a hat, & that turned on its side as the table had done. So much for our magnetic experience. I cant say I was as deeply impressed as I ought to have been, but I am bound to speak the truth, that I do not think it possible for anyone to have been playing tricks, for we made the children take away their hands from time to time, & we were all standing with our hands near the centre. Mrs Corkran has lent me a pamphlet just published “par un catholique” [17] in which the whole phenomena are attributed to evil spirits, and the pope and cardinals called on to exorcise them. Well, I hope when I leave this world I shall not be doomed to take up my abode in the leg of a table, answering silly questions.”— The last sentences I copy out with the rest to prove to you the gesture of mind with which she takes leave of the subject .. not that it is in the least a consequence of that order of facts, that a spirit is “abiding in the leg of a table” .. any more than the worker of the electric telegraph is abiding in the electric wire. Also the answering of “silly questions” is the special result of the asking of silly questions .. the askers being certainly (Sarianna & the Corkrans) intelligent persons above the average. It is a favorite quotation among the spirit-believers that “the fool is answered according to his folly.” [18] On this specific occasion I must observe that the questions were not at all good,—indeed were less wise than are usually asked. The Emperor’s age—anybody’s age! anybody’s initials! the number of chairs!– Curious for instance, that the answer about the chairs which anyone could make right, was wrong!– Their questions, as tests, were not good,—& except as tests, there is no use in asking such questions. But what is the wonder in this circumstance is, that any intelligent answer should be given. I can see no solution except the spirit solution .. unless indeed the theory of “unconscious clairvoyance” is admissible as some people think—but that seems to me more difficult & dark than the other. None of them asked what spirit was present– I dare say the Brownings did not like to touch the subject by such a handle—and Mr Browning, I am sure, would not have tolerated it without pained feelings. Mr Powers met one of the professors in the street the other day, a scientific man, whose attention has been turned much upon these phenomena lately. He said in passing that a book had just come out in France which he was reading, [19] & that it established the fact of an actual communion between the living & the dead beyond contestation. He was in a great hurry & could’nt stay to explain then, but Mr Powers means to find him out & enquire further. In America, the spirit of Calhoun the celebrated statesman who died a short time ago, has, by the attention of his friend Mr Tallmadge, member of Congress, given proof of his identity again & again, .. &, lastly by his autograph written in pencil on paper placed beneath the table for that purpose– [20] The line written was in any case a facsimile of his handwriting, as is attested by Calhoun’s own son, [21] besides some of the first names in America, members of Congress.
Now, Arabel, in recompense of your patience in reading all this madness of mine, I am going to be more generous to you than the first impulse made me. I thought at first that I would’nt give away the profile of Robert, because it is so very like him. But now I relent .. On second thoughts, if you will graciously accept these three profiles such as they are, the whole family group “en complet,” [22] you shall have them. Robert says I ought to give them to you, & I think so too. Therefore accept them. They are yours– I owe you, besides, a portrait of myself, I remember. Meanwhile you may condescend to the three ‘blacks’. Will you?
Mr Tennyson has received at last from England Spicer’s book on “Sights & Sounds”. He came here on receiving it, “A delicious-looking book .. all in blue!” he was going to enjoy it like a child. Afterwards he is sure to let me have it. He & I sympathize in the deepest manner, just now. “An intensely interesting state of things,” he exclaims! Only he is less sanguine than I am, looking more towards devildom. Talk of seeing God in all things! I never saw such a man as he is, for seeing the devil in all things.
But Robert & I have the truest affection for him, & for the best reasons. So true, so unconscious, so removed from all selfhood that man is: to know what christian simplicity is, you have only to know that man. He draws one more & more. Then he is full of poetical elements. Really he is interesting.
Penini says with complacency, .. “a table in Pallis says I am four years.” Not that he accounts it at all extraordinary for a table to have an opinion on the subject. Only the tables in Casa Guidi are obstinate & taciturn, & wont “lun about” when he pats his little hands on them. He is getting on with his reading but he does’nt like it much– Sometimes he says in the morning “Oh, I wish mine lesson done”. Nobody likes learning to read. He can read little sentences very nicely when he attends .. but often he does’nt attend .. and then you cant be vexed with him. He makes you impotent with his kisses .. “Dont peat untind (speak unkind) mine darling,” he said to me yesterday. On the whole he is very good as well as clever with this reading-lesson, & we must be patient, teachers as well as learners.
Some days ago Robert was expending some too emphatic indignation upon the fools of the earth, & I told him to moderate himself & not use such words before the child– Robert drew up .. & observed that “if he used such a word as fool, it was because he knew the meaning of it, whereas Penini who did’nt, would be wrong in using it”– Said Penini with considerable dignity—“But .. oh les! .. I know velly well. When naughty boys throw stones at litty dods, .. (little dogs) I tall lem fools.” .. (I call them fools.) It was impossible not to smile– “You see”, said I!.
Thank you for Mrs Ogilvy’s letter .. but, oh Arabel, how tantalizing it is when I open an envelope of your writing, & find scarcely anything from you. That’s too bad, really. The Ogilvys are going to Paris to reside next september.
That poor Vincenzio! We hear this morning that it is really the milliary fever & that he is gone to the hospital. I am afraid he is a bad subject. The medical man had told us it was more for our sakes than for his that he had encouraged him in his desire to go away—& indeed it would have been dreadful to have had him here under such circumstances—his bedroom is close to Penini’s .. so near that I am not quite easy even now .. only the complaint was not developed when he left us. He was taken ill in the night & gone in the morning .. even then able to walk about & dress himself, & arrange everything previous to going. The mattrasses [sic] were carried out into the court instantly, & are to be washed before they are brought back. Still I should like to be out of the house– It’s a most infectious fever, though the English are not usually attacked with it– You know how I am not heroic about such things. Everybody laughs at me on this occasion, & so probably I deserve it, which is rather satisfactory than otherwise. Today there is an exquisite air—the glass in this room at only seventyfive .. which is a most exceptional degree of coolness for the time of year. Still I shall be glad to go to “mine villa”—it will be good for us all.
You ought to hear Penini talk Italian. Indeed it is pretty, the way in which he passes from one language to another as the circumstance requires– “Venda, Olam, a signora Totts” … meaning “Venga, Girolama, a signora Cox” [23] .. Mrs Cox being an Englishwoman who deals in crumpets. The “signora Totts” was excellent we thought. I heard him saying his prayers the other night– After two verses of two different hymns, he went on in his extempore fashion– “God bless Papa & Mama and Flush, and Alibel & Lorge. (He generally names a great many more names, but I wish to be exact.) God bless us all & make us good and make us well. God bless Penini & mate me velly well. I hope I fleet velly well (sleep) tonight. God mate me velly dood– And when we all dead, God tate us up to live there—and send me down anoller day.” Amen. Sending him down another day seems a special piece of his theology, with which really .. particularly under the open state of present questions .. I dont like to interfere.
Miss Tulk [24] was here lately & called him a cupid. When she was gone, he looked in my face in a state of considerable anxiety. “What she mean, talling me tupid?” Evidently he had fears lest it should have relations with “stupid.”
Mr Stuart told us yesterday what follows. A friend of his, a signor Bianchiardi [25] was visiting three days ago at the house of a lady employed occasionally by the government people in matters of translation. She said “I have a new English book sent to me yesterday to translate, by the Council of prefecture.” “What book is it,” he asked. “Casa Guidi windows”– This is curious. The book is already prohibited– What they want more with it, I cant imagine. The prohibition is not formal,—only by intimation– Perhaps they want a broader ground for acting formally. Mr Stuart fancies it is simply curiosity about the book. Suppose it is a means of establishing a charge against the author! Suppose we are bidden presently to go away further than to the mountains! This is possible too.
The unfortunate Guerrazzi is condemned to fifteen years imprisonment & hard labour. [26] The public emotions .. the sense of justice everywhere .. are deeply stirred. It is supposed that the Grand Duke must pardon him, or take the consequences personally. Impossible to carry out such a sentence. The Italians are gasping for expectation towards the war. In the case of war, Austria overtly or secretly assists Russia [27] .. Then is the time for Hungary .. & Italy .. leaning on the right arm of Louis Napoleon.
But there will be no war unless the Czar is mad. In England there is plainly a split in the ministry .. the ministry has not been energetic & direct, from the want of internal union. [28] The line taken by the Times, sinuous as a snake, is disgraceful as usual. [29]
Ah—my dearest dearest Arabel, how my blood thrilled as you told me of Papa– It is a good change as far as it goes, & let us thank God for it– Next summer how shall I go to Mr Stratten’s .. by the way? Think of that.
And think of going out of town above all things. George & I entirely agree on the subject. Now Henry, now George, dont put it off to the end of the summer. Speak, speak. And about Rome, Arabel!—is it hopeless? Turn it over in your mind.
You dont mention Minny in your last letter, though you said before that she was suffering more than usual. Tell me of her—dear Minny!– Wilson is very satisfied, it seems to me. We get on smoothly, & she is good & kind. Ferdinando will make her comfortable, I hope. Vincenzio did so as far as he could. He was regular & well-inclined—only poor Vincenzio’s failings were as unpleasant to her, of course, as to us– She did not care much about losing England this summer—not nearly as much as I feared she would. So sorry I am that you should have heard, through Miss Heaton first, of this—— Dearest, dearest Arabel, that quite vexed me!—but the times [sic] passes .. even too fast, it passes .. and if we are alive we shall be with you next summer. Let us keep up heart, Arabel! Only speak to me of yourself! tell me exactly how you are. I am anxious–
How happy it is about Mary Hunter! Miss Heaton writes to me that her father has taken a house in Norfolk street in order to [have] pupils– Oh I do hope it may answer. I wonder if he has ever thought of Paris in relation to pupils– I used often to hear complaints of the want of good English instructors—and many English families (with their foreign prejudices) send their young boys to England on that precise account. Give my best love to Mr Hunter—if he will have it, that is—& to dear Mary. I forget neither of them.
I have good news from Miss Mitford which has made me much easier about her state of health. Mr Kenyon’s brother & sister in law [30] are staying with him, says Mrs Jameson, so I suppose he is absorbed.
Will you be good to me, Arabel, & write to me oftener & at length– Tell me everything. What of Annie Hayes?
Not a word does dearest Trippy ever send me by a message– Tell me why she does’nt send me a message. How is she? dear thing. Give her kisses one two & three, from us all.
Henrietta sent me a delightful account of her darlings, & not a bad one of herself—but .. dont let the details slip through your fingers as she gives you any, & you give on to me. I mean to write to her soon, tell her with dear love.
God bless you all! God bless you my beloved!
Think of me, pray for me, love me, dearest, dear Arabel. I am your own, night & day–
Ba–
Tell me exactly what you all think of the profiles– Tell George, with Robert’s best love, that his news upon the outlawry made him joyful & grateful– [31] It was most considerate of him to remember to tell us.
As to Chapman & Hall, [the] manner of how they make up their accounts is probably highly satisfactory to themselves on the present occasion, though, if applied generally, it would not answer their purpose as the publishers of mss on their own responsibilities. What slowness about the new edition, to be sure! It really is too bad!——
My love to the Strattens. How is Fanny?
Not a word of all this, can I read. Mr Lytton comes in for the packet. I have been writing the last sheet against time.
God bless you, dearest!
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 1–13.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. The ending date is provided by EBB’s reference to having heard “yesterday” that a translation of Casa Guidi Windows had been ordered “by the Council of prefecture.” RB mentions hearing of the translation “this very morning” in letter 3219. The beginning date is suggested by EBB’s two separate references to Vincenzio’s illness.
2. Hamlet, II, 2, 309–310.
3. Harry Wills-Sandford (1850–72).
4. Either Caroline Wills-Sandford (1834–1915) or Ellen Wills-Sandford (1827–1901).
5. Evidently, the Brownings were still planning to visit the Mugello region north of Florence.
6. “My leg is failing—my heart is failing—I’m dying—I’m going now.”
7. “Too much kindness, Sir!”
8. “With respect.”
9. Ferdinando Romagnoli (1819–93) was able to free himself from the “entanglement” and permanently join the Brownings’ service, where he remained until the break-up of the household after EBB’s death.
10. John Gibson (1790–1866), a Welsh sculptor who had lived in Rome since 1817, was a student of Canova and Thorwaldsen. Harriet Hosmer was one of his few pupils.
11. The engraving EBB refers to is probably based on the one R.H. Horne used in A New Spirit of the Age (see vol. 8, facing p. 271). Years earlier she had condemned the portrait in similar terms; see letter 2692.
12. Echoes of the Great Exhibition (1851).
13. Underscored four times.
14. RB’s Poems (1849) and EBB’s Poems (1850) were each priced at 16 shillings.
15. Henriette (1841–1911) and Alice (1843–1916).
16. Probably Martha Augusta Young (née Walshe, ca. 1806–76), wife of Andrew Knight Young (d. 1890, aged 86), surgeon of the County Monaghan Infirmary, Ireland (1834–90).
17. Le Mystère de la Danse des Tables dévoilé par ses rapports avec les Manifestations spirituelles d’Amérique, par un Catholique (Paris, 1853).
18. Cf. Proverbs 26:5.
19. We have been unable to identify the “professor” or the “book.”
20. John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) served as vice-president in the John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson administrations, and from 1833 until his death he represented South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. He was a powerful advocate for states’ rights and pro-slavery forces. Nathaniel Pitcher Tallmadge (1795–1864), author of religious tracts and a convert to spiritualism, had been a U.S. Senator from New York (1833–44) and afterwards Governor of Wisconsin Territory until 1846. An appendix entitled “Communication from Governor Tallmadge” appeared in John Worth Edmonds and George T. Dexter’s Spiritualism (8th ed., New York, 1853, pp. 393–442). These letters included various accounts of Tallmadge’s experiences with spiritualism. A letter from Tallmadge to Sarah Helen Whitman that had originally appeared in the New-York Daily Tribune contained a report of a guitar that “was touched softly and gently, and gave forth sweet and delicious sounds, like the accompaniment to a beautiful and exquisite piece of music” (p. 428). The same letter told of Calhoun’s spirit writing the sentence “I’m with you still” (p. 430).
21. John C. Calhoun and his wife Floride Bonneau (née Colhoun, 1792–1866) had five sons: Andrew Pickens (1811–65), Patrick (1821–58), John (1823–55), James Edward (1826–61), and William Lowndes (1829–58). EBB’s information comes from Tallmadge’s letter (see note 20) where Calhoun’s son is not identified.
22. “Complete.”
23. “Come, Girolama, to Mrs. Cox”; i.e., Margaret Cox (see letter 2886, note 9).
24. Presumably Caroline Tulk; see letter 2731, note 17.
25. Stanislao Bianciardi (1811–68), author and translator, who sometimes wrote under the pen name “Prior Luca.” Bianciardi is listed in Murray’s A Handbook for Travellers in Central Italy (1861) under “Italian Masters”: “very highly spoken of as a teacher and for his knowledge of Italian literature” (p. 81). We have been unable to identify the “lady” referred to.
26. Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi (1804–73), imprisoned in Florence since the fall of the Tuscan provisional government in April 1849, had recently been tried and found guilty of treason. He received the sentence EBB describes, but Grand Duke Leopold II offered to commute it to exile. The Daily News of 28 July 1853 reported that “after much hesitation Guerrazzi has at length accepted the commutation of his punishment. He is said to have previously had an interview with the Grand Duke himself. He was to leave Tuscany and Italy very shortly” (p. 5).
27. Austria would eventually support England and France by sending troops into Transylvania, which forced the Russians to withdraw behind the Pruth river.
28. The present government headed by Lord Aberdeen consisted of Conservatives and Liberals.
29. EBB may have objected to “the line taken” in an editorial that ran in The Times of 1 June 1853 concerning Napoleon III: “The policy of a united intervention of England and France for the defence of the East from Russian invasion has frequently been warmly advocated by us on former occasions; and we very recently expressed our regret that changes should have taken place in the Government of France which shake our faith in that salutary alliance. But, to engage in so important an undertaking, the British Government must have ample reason to be satisfied that it will accomplish the object required, and that it will not be used for any other purpose. Louis Napoleon, on the contrary, has lately intimated that, in the event of any territorial aggression on the part of Russia, France would seek compensation elsewhere … . But, let it be in Belgium or any other part of Europe, and will any English Minister or Englishman say that, because the Emperor of Russia crosses the Pruth, we are to abet another encroachment on the part of France … . In such a case we have as little in common with one invader as with the other, and by taking part in the quarrel we should only assist the sinister designs of both” (p. 6).
30. Edward Kenyon (1786?–1856) and his Austrian wife Eugenie Louise (née Turovsky, 1806–77). They were married in 1842 and resided in Vienna.
31. We have been unable to determine what George communicated about the “outlawry” that would have made RB “joyful.” Outlawry would be declared against his father on 8 July 1853. The fact was reported in The Daily News the next day: “Yesterday, at the Court of Hustings, held at the Guildhall, London, the following persons were demanded to surrender themselves to the Sheriffs, under process of outlawry awarded against them, viz. … Robert Browning, at the suit of Martha Von Müller” (9 July 1853, p. 6).
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