3773. Harriet G. Hosmer to EBB & RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 199–202.
Rome
April 30th [1856] [1]
My dearies– Really it is very good of you to write me such delicious & such deliciously long letters: particularly when I know that one of party hates writing so much. I mean of course letter writing for I have been reading something of his that shows pretty plainly he sometimes writes con amore. At last I have secured your ‘Men & Women’ you dear man, & have ogress-like been swallowing every one of them– As I read them I can see you sitting before me, not knowing whether you are looking at me in fun or earnest & shaking that blessed foot which I should be good Catholic enough to kiss if it were in St Peter’s, & jolly glad should I be of the excuse– My pets of all are “Saul” & “Evelyn Hope.” “Saul” is splendid—the best thing you ever wrote, & “Evelyn” is the quintessence of honey-drops– There are two or three which I can’t make out in the least & the more I read them the more I can’t understand them– I don’t think I shall tell you what they are: shall attack them again & see if I can’t succeed: if not must call you to the rescue. Sometimes I wonder if even you yourself could help me!!!—wasn’t that wicked now? I won’t say anything so naughty again if you will promise never to give me the chance– I defy you now to write anything better than Saul & if you do you shall have a dozen pair of the best Paris, no Parnassus gloves preparatory to your making your best poem in the august company of the immortal gods. I will make an Equestrian Statue of you mounted on Pegasus, while the graces (I’ll stand model for one) shall be scattering roses over your laurel-crowned brow– Now could you desire a prettier group than that, particularly when you yourself are to be the hero of it & when all your friends are assuring you that you deserve it all & a great deal more? I am looking for something else, too, which will demand an accompanying group: that we must make, too, & I’ll stand model again if I do not become too robust by that time. We were looking for the poems together—won’t it be ready & published this summer? You don’t even tell me the name you naughty Sappho, & keep me on the tip-toe of expectation till I rival, in fact surpass, the wonders of Taglioni in that line– I’m right glad to hear that my countrymen are treating you well in a material point of view & desire that the Lord may watch over & prosper them in all such godly undertakings.
—I read a not very glowing criticism on “Isa’s” poems—thought the author must have been our Isa but understand it isn’t– [2] When is she coming into print? Who knows but she wanted to go to Madrid for the purpose of collecting materials for an Epic & now your kind but perhaps ill-timed advice has stifled an embryo Iliad in the bud. Don’t be shocked at my profanity but I can’t help thinking that Isa must be the active individual referred to whom you would encounter if you ascended into heaven or descended into the other place or if you visited the uttermost parts of the Sea, so nomadic are her movements. Give her my dear love wherever she is & don’t forget to tell her, for I believe I have never written to explain myself more fully, that she quite misunderstood me about wishing to poke off Roman padroni on her alone: all I wanted was an equal distribution of the blessings attendant & thought half & half a just division– However it’s no use talking any more upon the subject as the House is taken by somebody else & I have made my arrangements for next winter– I can’t believe it true that you are coming to Rome or even that you will make a struggle to come. It would be too good & I shan’t believe it till I see you– At that point somebody brought me a review of Mrs Kinney’s “Felicita”– [3] Have you seen it– It is beyond comparison too good– I must quote two or three lines in case you haven’t, at all events they would bear repeating any number of times.
“And then her nature from long tension–
Three lingering months had thus elapsed.
Tho’ wide its powers were of expansion,
Sank down exhausted & collapsed.” [4]
x x
“Giacinto frozen by the sight
Of incensed love’s majestic sprite.” [5]
Brava! brava! Mrs Kinney! This is by many degrees richer even than I thought she could do– Mrs Browning you better hide your diminished head– No use contending against such extraordinary odds. I don’t know when I have laughed so much & I write this with tears in my eyes. Do you know that Page’s Venus has been bought for 3000 scudi by three or four Boston gentlemen who are going to present it to the Boston Athenæum, after it has been exhibited in New York & Philadelphia– I wonder what our Puritans will say– It will do them good & I think the remedy will completely cure if it does not decidedly kill– He has improved it so very much—with the exception of the face which I think he has almost spoiled—it is silly– I wonder what they will say to your picture in the Exhibition– I want so much to know how they receive Fay’s. [6] My portrait isn’t done yet—but do give him time—it is only two years since he began it. [7] Page has done capitally this winter thank the Lord– You ask about Miss Ironmonger [8] too, I do know her, that is have seen her two or three times– She seems to be a queer body & told someone she didn’t mean to study anatomy lest it should destroy the poetry of womanhood– Whew!!! I haven’t seen any of her performances yet—am going– Yes, I had a letter from Ginny Vaughan, but I don’t know how long ago: she didn’t tell me but somebody else did that she contemplates publishing that novel– [9] I must write her: have been owing her a letter more than a year– Will you kindly give the enclosed to Mrs Sartoris—that wicked Syren who drags unfortunate victims into her vortex & then leaves them to their miserable fate without one word of comfort or good cheer– If you want a living proof look at me– I authorize you both to kiss her for me, though, & so heap coals of fire on her cheeks. [10] This is the last summer I stay here but this I must on account of my work– Kiss little Penini for me any number of times & take as many as you like for yourself from yr ever loving Illus. [11]
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: University of Virginia.
1. Year provided by Miss Hosmer’s reference to Poems by Isa; see note 2.
2. Poems (Edinburgh and London, 1856) by Isa was published at the end of March. The author was Isabella Craig (afterwards Knox, 1831–1903), Scottish poet and women’s rights activist. We have been unable to trace the negative review mentioned by Miss Hosmer. Positive reviews appeared in The Examiner of 29 March 1856 (pp. 196–197) and Chambers’s Journal of 12 April 1856 (pp. 239–240).
3. Felicità: A Metrical Romance (New York, 1855) tells the story of the brave and beautiful Felicità, who is sold into slavery by her wicked father. She escapes from her master by the help of Jules, a fellow slave, with whom she falls in love. But Jules dies during their flight, and Felicità eventually dies of a broken heart.
4. Cf. Felicità, VI, 9, 7–10.
5. Felicità, VII, 5, 1–2.
6. i.e., Leighton’s The Triumph of Music. As previously noted, Page’s portrait of RB was not exhibited.
9. We have been unable to trace any novels by Virginia Vaughan (1832–1913). In the early 1870’s she published a few translations of novels by George Sand.
10. Cf. Proverbs 25:22 and Romans 12:20.
11. The drawing is of a hat, suggesting Miss Hosmer’s nickname “Hatty.”
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