3905. EBB to Fanny Dowglass
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 23, 109–110.
London–
[21] October– [1856] [1]
My dear friend,
I have heard of a play called ‘Welcome & farewell.’ [2] Almost it would suit this case of mine, .. so pleased I was to know that you thought of me, & so sorry I am to go without seeing you. But love is presence—& it is much to feel, that I am felt about so very kindly– May God love you, & bless you–
We are going back to Italy, with the intention, however, of returning next summer—we are going back to Florence. Here in England I have been so pressed upon & oppressed by loads of work & crowds of engagements, .. so trampled down by friends, .. so driven to the wall by strangers .. that I profess an intention of lying down on my Florence sofa presently, & not opening my eyes for seven years. Scarcely less than that will refresh me– Such a year of hard work I never had before .. which proves my habitual idleness perhaps .. who knows? still it has been very hard work, and I leave a poem behind me, which you will hear much abused, I dare say—only then, I shall be lying, as I said, on my sofa, with eyes shut & ears indifferent– Tanto meglio per me. [3]
Meanwhile this terrible climate, which you bear on with, for the sake of what it involves, wont spare me from coughing, & I shall be very glad to feel the sky farther off than an inch above one’s head. But my little Penini flourishes through it all. I should like to show him to you– At seven years old he is very pretty still, & maintains strenuously that he’s an Italian.
We are going tomorrow, & I am giddy with all that remains for doing– I had a happy fortnight at Ventnor, with my dear Arabel, and a week with my sister Henrietta at Taunton, seeing for the first time her married home & her two younger children. It is sad, this going away,—but I thank God for what has been given.
Believe me that I remember you & wish for you the best & tenderest wishes– My dear friend’s
ever affectionate Ba–
Address: Miss Dowglass / Joseph Pollock Esqre / The Slopes / Porter Cum Seacombe / Cheshire.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: University of Texas.
1. Day and year provided by postmark.
2. Welcome and Farewell: a Drama (1837) by Miss Mitford’s friend William Harness, who published it under the pseudonym George Taylor.
3. “So much the better for me.”
___________________
