3277. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 19, 321–323.
Casa Guidi.
Saturday. [Postmark: 22 October 1853]
My dearest Isa,
We are now coming to you for the help you have generously offered to us. Will you tell us, ascertain for us, the terms on which we can have an apartment in Rome for the winter, say in the Via Gregoriana or any good situation of that kind– We require either three bedrooms, or two bedrooms & a dressing room, together with a room for a manservant, & drawing room & dining room. An additional corner for a writing room for Robert would be pleasant, but we wont struggle for it if the difficulties should be many– There ought to be sun, I think– Will you find out what can be done for us, & let us know the terms .. without concluding anything, understand– We want to know before we decide. We have frightful accounts of the dearness of Rome, by the way—and our house here is not let in spite of the too flattering rumours you alluded to–
I was very sorry on returning from Lucca to find only Mr Thompson’s [1] note & yours, .. but though we missed him at Florence we shall see him at Rome, I hope. There was also a card from Miss Lynch, [2] an American poetess (one of the ninety & nine muses) with a note of introduction from England. Do you hear of her at Rome? The “ninth street” printed on her card, leaves me in the Infinite, as far as conjectures of where she is, go.
So pleased I am to get back to Florence, & so little inclined to tumble out of my nest again—yet we shall go to Rome if some new obstacle does not arise. We have had no glimpse of the Tassinaris—they seem to have vanished from the scene. Florence is full of great people, so called, from England—and the real sommités [3] are coming .. such as Alfred Tennyson—and, with an interval, Dickens & Thackeray– [4] The two latter go to Rome for the winter, I understand.
Do you say Edward Lytton? But he isn’t Edward Lytton now—he is Robert. The two Edwards clashed inconveniently, & now he does’nt sign an Edward even by an initial—he has renounced the name, & is a Robert for evermore. I am glad to tell you that although he is delicate & excitable there seems to me no tendency to disease of any kind– Indeed he is looking particularly well just now. He is full of sensibility both intellectually & morally, which is scarcely favorable to health & long life—but in the long run, if people can run, they get over such a disadvantage. At this time he is about to publish a collection of poems. [5] I think highly of his capabilities—& he is a great favorite with both of us for various excellent reasons. Did I tell you of his passing a fortnight with us at Lucca, and how sorry we were to lose him at last? Sir Edward either has just brought out or is bringing out a volume of poems of his own, called “Cornflowers” [6] (referring to the harvest time of maturity in which he produces them) & chiefly of a metaphysical character. His son who has seen the m∙s. thinks them the best of his poems. ‘My novel’ is certainly excellent. Did I tell you that I had seized & read it?
I shall get at Swedenborg in Rome & get on with my readings. There are deep truths in him, I cannot doubt—though I cant receive everything .. which may be my fault .. I would fain speak with a wise humility. We will talk on these things, & the spirits. How that last subject attracts me! It strikes me that we are on the verge of great developments of the spiritual nature, & that in a philosophical point of view (apart from ulterior ends) the facts are worthy of all admiration & meditation. If a spiritual influx, it is mixed—good & evil together. The fact of there being a mixture of evil justifies Swedenborg’s philosophy (does it not?) without concluding against the movement generally.– [7] We were at the Pergola the other night, & heard the ‘Trovatore,’ Verdi’s new work. Very passionate & dramatic, surely. The Storys are here on their way back to Rome.– Oh, I mean to convert you, Isa! [8] Is it true that the fever at Rome is still raging? Give my love to your dear invalid [9] who must be comforting you so much with her improvement. Penini is in a chronic state of packing up his desk to go to “Bome.” Robert’s love with mine as ever. I cant write either legibly or otherwise than stupidly on this detestable paper, having never learnt to skate. Are we giving you too much trouble, dearest kind Isa?
Your affectionate friend
EBB
Thank you for the three times welcome letter to Lucca. If Charlotte Agassiz does not stay in England to be married, bona fide, her conduct is inexplicable. Yes, I know Mr Westwood—that is by correspondence—not personally.
Address: All’Illustrissima / Signorina Blagden / Via Gregoriana. 13. / Roma. / 2do piano.
Publication: B-IB, pp. 43–45.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
2. Anne Charlotte Lynch (afterwards Botta, 1815–91), an American writer, poet, and gatherer of literati, was currently travelling in Europe. Her poetic works had been collected and published in Poems (New York, 1849), at which time she was living on Ninth Avenue in New York City (Memoirs of Anne C.L. Botta: Written by Her Friends, ed. Vincenzo Botta, New York, 1894, p. 6). She wrote a poem to EBB dated 8 August 1849 (see Reconstruction, L161) and wished to meet her but never did. Her Handbook of Universal Literature (New York, 1860), which went through numerous editions, contains brief notices of both Brownings.
3. “Leading lights.”
4. Thackeray, who had recently returned to England following a lucrative lecture tour in America, visited Rome in December with his daughters, Anne and Harriet. Tennyson stayed in England; at the time of this letter his wife Emily was pregnant with their son, Lionel. Dickens, travelling in Switzerland and Italy with Wilkie Collins and Augustus Egg, was at Rome from 12 to 18 November 1853 (see Dickens, 7, 190 and 201).
6. “Corn-Flowers,” a group of forty-five poems, was published in June 1853 as part of the third volume of The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart. (5 vols., 1852–54).
7. Swedenborg taught that the point of creation is to bring Man together with God; however, this connection is threatened by evil spirits, making it necessary for Jehovah to come and restore the union between God and Man.
8. i.e., into liking Emelyn Story, Isa’s “favorite aversion”; see letter 3253.
9. Louisa Alexander.
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