3792. EBB to Alfred Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 227–229.
Paris– 3. Rue du Colysée.
Saturday evening. [31 May 1856] [1]
My dearest Alfred, every day the thought of you comes up, & how I ought to have written to you long since. The truth is I have been working so hard with the pen, that when I have done my day’s work at the poem, it is quite an effort to take it up for a letter. Being so busy makes one horribly lazy. I have not yet finished this poem, by the way,—and although it was fixed for us to leave Paris on the sixteenth of June, Robert declares he wont go till we can take complete work with us .. so that it is uncertain whether we may not put off our journey ten days or even a fortnight– You see one cant do the least thing in the treadmill of London but tread up & down,—& if the printers dont find everything ready for them early this summer, we shall be thrown out in all our calculations .. to say nothing of a certain hundred pounds we mean to have from the Americans [2] before we go to war with them– [3]
But you, my dearest Alfred, you and dear Lizzie, how are you both?—and will you send me as pleasant an account of your doings as you sent me last? It was a letter like a sunbeam, & I felt it warm in my heart for a long while after. Now I begin to want a little more shining on. Also, I am anxious about the effect of the peace, & whether it may not dislodge you from your paradise too soon,—& I long to know that in such a case, you have a prospect of another situation, consulship or other-ship,—to slip into. Do write to me & tell me how you both are feeling & enjoying– Of course you neither of you were ever so happy in your lives before—just because no position can be so happy, let it rain snow or blow, as that of married people who love one another. Tell me, do you both speak French fluently by this time? You know you ought. And does Lizzie’s music go on triumphantly?– And can you get books? and have you agreeable friends, French or English? And do you fight much in the evening when the day’s work’s over? And is Lizzie much interested in the remodelling of the law in England against wife-beating? [4] Ask her from me.
Mr & Mrs Martin are in Paris,—have been for more than a week, & may remain a week longer– They enquired after you. He is looking as well as possible, & is as characteristic & persistant in his arguments as I ever remember him. She has a dreadful cold which made her almost speechless at one time, & hindered our meetings a good deal. Going to see her at the hotel, I met Mrs Scudamore [5] who was speaking of Sir Robert Price– He is said to be much altered—he has had an illness of a paralytic tendency or character. There is a general impression that he is to inhabit Foxley during his life– Can that be true?
Robert is in a fever of anatomy & drawing just now– I assure you he throws himself into both the art & science head foremost, & is making extraordinary progress. Little Penini is grown much, but is not a bit spoilt by growing, as children of his age sometimes are. He is so admired in Paris that everyday his nurse is stopped by people oftener than once– A great darling, I must say. He reads French (Berquin) really wonderfully, & keeps up his Italian of course,—he wrote a poem on “Napoleon’s baby,” and drew a portrait of Napoleon himself, (with “Empereur des Français” written underneath) as an offering for Arabel!–
Arabel was to be at Louisa Carmichael’s in Kent, [6] this week for a few days, and I am very glad of it as she wanted change of air– The Peytons are in London, I believe, or to be in London. And the Hedleys are to be there in June for a month.
How kind you are, both of you, dearest Alfred & Lizzie, to wish us to go to see you on our way through Marseilles. Well—I should like it much—and Robert & Penini would very surely. The impression you made on Peni is ineffaceable, & he keeps the Marseilles rabbit you gave him—very tenderly—do you remember it in china? But of plans & prospects there is no use talking, we are all .. you as well as ourselves .. so unsure-footed as to plans. After a summer in London we go towards Italy, but whether to Rome or not, & whether by Rhine, Alp, or sea, remains unknown. Dear Mr Kenyon wrote today to offer us his house in Devonshire Place for the summer & autumn, & this of course we shall accept thankfully, as it will save us much in point of expense, beside the advantage as to comfort. We have been & are still very uncomfortable about his health. He has been very dangerously ill, & though better & able to move to the Isle of Wight there remains much cause of apprehension about him.
Now goodbye—and may God bless you both! Robert’s love—& my true love to my <dear> sister Lizzie–
Ever your m<ost affection>ate
Ba–
Address: À Monsieur / Monsieur Alfred M. Barrett / Hôtel des Empereurs / Marseille.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Eton College Library.
1. This letter is postmarked 1 June 1856, a Sunday.
2. From C.S. Francis, the American publisher of Aurora Leigh. Until now, the agreement had been for £75 (see letter 3701). Because of the increase in the total number of lines, RB would ask Francis for £100 in letter 3802.
5. Presumably, Sarah Laura Scudamore (née Jones-Brydges, 1797–1863), eldest daughter of Sir Harford Jones-Brydges and his wife, Sarah (née Gott). In October 1822 she was married to John Lucy Scudamore (1798–1875), of Kentchurch Court, Herefordshire.
___________________
