3625. Anna Brownell Jameson to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 21, 259–261.
Vienna
Sep. 10 1855
I have been hoping for a few words from you dear friend ever since my arrival in this place– I had some disagreeable delays on my journey & only reached Vienna about 10 days since—dearest Ba do write me a few lines—your last letter did not satisfy me as to your self—the air of England seemed to press upon your heart & soul—& I can understand it—for not only the climate & the social arrangements are such as I think do not agree with you but I know also how to be near what we love & yet divided as by an impassable bottomless abyss hangs like a weight—a cloud upon the spirits. Yet how much enjoyment you must have in the happiness you bestow, not only on your dear sisters—but on others—have you seen your admirer Bessie Parkes?—she was looking forward to your arrival with so much enthusiasm that I hope you have met,—& have you begun to print your poem? & how does Robert[’]s book go on? is it finished—tell me all—my heart seems to be wound about you—& every time I see you—to be again separated, I feel it more & more[.] I am glad I came on here to Ottilie [von Goethe]—she has fallen into an invalided state which without being dangerous is distressing[.] She is ordered across the Alps as soon as possible—but the prevalence of the Cholera all thro’ the north of Italy has detained us—it has been dreadful at Vienna—& when I first arrived I heard only of deaths all around—but under such circumstances to leave a comfortable home & the continual watchfulness of a very experienced Physician to go towards Italy, would have been ridiculous—we staid here neither of us being fearful—& on the whole the time has passed not unpleasantly—partly I believe, to keep the people[’]s minds quiet, the theatre (which is unusual at this time of the year) has been brilliant—& tho’ almost all the nobles as well as the court have been absent, I have never been at the Burg—without finding it full, & it has been a great ressource. [1] I know nothing equal to the acting at this renowned theatre—hardly the Théatre Français—here you have the Egmont, the Don Carlos—the Griseldis, the Wallenstein, [2] represented with a finish un ensemble [3] —a degree of spirit and intelligence I have never seen equalled– It is curious also to an English eye & mind to see Shakespeare on a Foreign stage. Here they give Hamlet, Julius Caesar, the Merchant of Venice and Coriolanus in an admirable style—but so different from any conception of the parts on our own stage!
—I shall be able to amuse you when we meet with some account of all this—we hope to cross the Alps about the 26 of this month– I shall leave Madme de Goethe at Venice—reach Turin (where I have business to attend to) about the 15th of October & Paris by the beginning of November– I shall find you there I hope– I must go to England to settle accounts with my bookseller & for domestic reasons—but I will spend some time near you at Paris– I have no hope of Rome this year—& dare not form plans but if I live I will be in Italy next year– Madame Mohl has been here for a few days—I introduced her to Ottilie & as they sat talking together, I looked at them & could not help being amused by the contrast—there is in Ottilie a mingling of the child, the woman of genius & the Hofdame, [4] which is quite peculiar[.] The Mohls (Monsr Madame & little Ida) [5] are gone to Pesth [6] and on their return they set off for Paris by Dresden & Berlin–
I have just heard that Sebastopo<l> has fallen. [7] It has been said so often that I can hardly believe it—but O! how I wish some times for an English Newspaper. —These German papers are quite provoking—then I know nothing of my English friends—having only heard from home & from Longman [8] —since I have been here—if you write before the 22d direct to me Vienna, Chez. Mad. la Baronne de Goethe, Renn Gasse 153. if after the 22. Madame Anna Jameson[,] Venice, Poste Restante, after the 10th of October Turin, Poste Restante[.]
Remember me most kindly to my friends who are your friends—Mr Kenyon particularly—we enquired for his brother here—but he is not yet returned from England. Kiss your dear Penini for me—do not let him forget his aunty Nina—& how go on the married pair in your service. Now I make a<n> end—with a thousand things in my h<ear>t I wished to have said—but they <wi>ll keep till I see you dear dear friends[.]
Your affecte
Anna
Do you see or hear any thing of Louisa Mackenzie!–
Address, on integral page: Angleterre / affranchie / Mrs Browning / 13 Dorset Street / Manchester Square / London. / If not at Dorset Street / 39 Devonshire Place.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. French spelling of “resource.”
2. Friedrich von Schiller’s Wallenstein (1798–99) is a trilogy dealing with the Thirty Years’ War. Egmont (1787) is a historical tragedy by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Don Carlos (1787), another historical tragedy, also by Schiller, concerns the eldest son of Philip II of Spain. Griseldis (1837) by Friedrich Halm (1806–71), a blank verse adaptation of Boccaccio’s Griselda, was first performed in 1835 at the Burgtheater in Vienna.
3. “A harmony.”
4. “Lady-in-waiting.”
5. Ida Mohl (afterwards von Schmidt-Zabierow, 1832–1911) was the daughter of Jules Mohl’s brother, Robert Mohl (1799–1875), professor of Law and Political Science at Tübingen, and his wife Pauline (née Becher, d. 1894).
6. Alternate spelling of Pest, a separate city until it united with Buda in 1872 to form Budapest.
7. After a siege of eleven months Sebastopol fell on 9 September to the allied forces of England and France, aided by Piedmont.
8. Mrs. Jameson’s publisher; at this time the firm operated under the name of Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.
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