3222. EBB to Thomas Westwood
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 19, 156–157.
Florence.
[?9] July. [1853] [1]
My dear Mr Westwood,
If I have not written before I have done wrong—but indeed you call on me for a letter as concisely as a rapping-spirit—it was but a “rap” of yours that came through the Alps– We have been in Florence since last autumn, .. & always on the point of going away. We would not even unpack our books—we never put the pilgrim’s staff from our hands– Yet here we have stayed till now, instead of going to Rome, to Naples, & back to Paris & London, according to the programme– Florence catches us & holds us. I have been very happy this last winter. The cost of it is, however, that we cant see England till next summer, nor settle in Paris till the autumn after. We talk of Rome for the intermediate winter, & now we shall probably go to the Baths of Lucca to hide ourselves from the heat in the hollows of the mountains– A letter addressed to Florence will follow us there.
I received a book of poems from a friend of Mr Westwood’s [2] the other day (not his equal!) .. & that friendship was a recommendation to his other friend, of course.
And you——you are writing?—— What a rustling world it is just now .. with the over-world [3] running in to it, as my American friends assure me,—to say nothing of the Czar inside already! [4] As to literature, we must do what we can to keep a little tune alive,—Mrs Beecher Stowe playing the great bassoon in that concert. Never was such a literary success in the destinies of either men or women!– [5]
I am well, and my husband & child are well .. which is of more consequence. We have had a quiet yet busy winter by the blazing pinewood (and olive-wood, indeed!) with French romances, French socialists (who are romantic besides) German metaphysicians, & English miscellanies—these, with a little writing & a few friends, and a great deal of playing with Wiedeman (who has a faint angel-face with ringlets of light round it, .. ) have filled up the time. Our especial friend here is the brother of Alfred Tennyson .. himself a poet full of fancy & melody, .. who has married an Italian wife & lived for years in Italy. A noble heart & truthful nature! He is a friend of your friend Mrs Brotherton [6] .. of whom I hear also from a Roman friend of mine, [7] & whom I hope to know myself when we are in Rome––if ever we are in Rome. The Fates bend their eyebrows together, when I talk of it, I seem to feel– So near we have been to that journey .. again & again .. & so surely something happens to hinder it.
Dear Mr Westwood, believe that I do not forget you, & shall be always glad to hear from you– Think kindly of us both & accept our united regard.
Most faithfully yours always
Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Address poste restante Florence. Poor Flush has lost all his hair—[“]in transmigration into a pig,” says Mr Tennyson. The effect of Italian climate! Otherwise he is well.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: British Library.
1. Year and conjectural day suggested by EBB’s reference to “a book of poems from a friend” of Westwood’s. Her letter to the friend, William Brailsford, thanking him for the book, is dated [9] July 1853; see letter 3223.
2. William Brailsford (1812–91), of Enfield, son of Richard Brailsford and his wife Frances. The “book of poems” must have been A Dream of Tasso and Other Poems (1850), which was the only book he had published by the time of this letter. Later titles by Brailsford recorded in the British Library Catalogue include: Waifs and Strays (1856), Glow-Worm Lamps (1861), and Abbandonàta (1875). He is listed as a librarian living at Chase Side, Enfield (Westwood’s former address), in the 1851 British census.
3. i.e., the world of spirits.
4. News may have already reached Florence that on 2 July Russian troops had crossed the Pruth river into Moldavia, a principality under the control of the Ottoman Empire. This act of aggression was widely condemned by the European powers and ultimately led to Turkey’s declaring war on Russia in October 1853.
5. EBB refers to Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Boston, 1852), which sold over 300,000 copies in its first year.
6. Mary Isabella Irwin Brotherton (née Rees, 1817–1910), Indian-born author of The Forest-House, and Other Poems (1850) and Poems (Brussels, 1855), as well as two novels: Arthur Brandon (1856), and Respectable Sinners (1863). She came to share EBB’s interest in spiritualism and was later considered a medium. At the time of this letter, however, she was a sceptic. Among her acquaintances were Thackeray, Frederick Tennyson, and Westwood. She had married Augustus Hervey Brotherton (1814–87), a landscape painter, in 1851.
7. Isa Blagden.
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