4020. EBB to Sarianna Browning
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 24, 100–102.
[Florence]
[29 July 1857] [1]
In the last crush of getting away, in an incredible heat, my dearest Sarianna, I write to say how glad I am that you are safe at Dieppe. [2] I think if I had been you I should have chosen a place less crowded,—but the prettiness & healthiness of it is undeniable. As to Boulogne .. I was there years & years ago, when we were all children (more or less) for bathing & masters: [3] we stayed seven months, and, in spite of the epidemic last year, [4] there is no doubt of the general healthiness of the place,—no more than of the prettiness of the scenery, which is very pretty—(ask Ruskin!–) [5] And the sands & bathing are magnificent– But you were quite right not to try Boulogne, because that epidemic might run through another season—one could’nt be sure. Also, it’s too much an English colony to please me—every third person talks English. But dearest Sarianna, dont mind the bathing-man—bathe, bathe, if it is good for you. “French delicacy,” do you say? But let me assure you that ‘bathing-men’ are used everywhere in England. At Ventnor (when any help at all is used) at Eastbourne & at Brighton, Arabel said– I opened my eyes—but had to shut them presently– For, “delicacy”, dear, properly so called, has gone out of the world altogether, &, if anyone makes a stand, she or he will be left to stand alone. Are you aware that a few weeks ago, a bill was brought forward in the English parliament to prevent the women of England from bathing without bathing-gowns!!– [6] Honorable gentlemen had been much scandalized by sights patent at the various watering-places––!!! Yes, & no one denied. But it was considered unworthy of the dignity of parliament to legislate on such small subjects, & they were finally left to the local police to arrange—& so the bill was withdrawn.!!!
I think if you had trowsers made of a dark stuff, & dark long gown over all, (which used to be worn by women at the seaside near Caen, where bathing men were employed) you might brave it. Also, unless the coast is dangerous, they would certainly, I should fancy, allow you to bathe yourself .. without assistance at all– But dear, dont give up what may be good for you– It would be too great a pity. It would be even wrong, Sarianna.
We have been loitering here because of Lytton’s coming, [7] not inclined to leave him at once—but the heat has been inexorable, and he who is disacclimated by four years in the north, swears that it is killing him,—& cruelly offended me by calling Florence a pestilential city yesterday. Why? said I– “Because this heat is enough to breed a plague”. But we have no plague—we are well, thank God—only I shall be glad to get to Lucca & feel a little cool at nights at least. Lytton is staying with Isa Blagden, & they promise to come after us to the Baths—only I a little distrust Lytton who maintains that even the mountains will be found untenable for heat—“he has been at Lucca—he knows what it is.” Of course there’s the Italian sun, but its the coolest place in Italy after all. Robert kindly goes there through knowing that I like it best– Seaside places here are very hot, & very expensive & we can stay three months at the Bagni for what a month near Leghorn would cost us. After all we are very sorry to leave Florence. Robert leaves his models & his horses, & will be dull, I do fear—and the heat does not affect him injuriously though the normal condition of everybody day & night, is to be “tutto sudato” [8] as the Italians say elegantly. It’s a perpetual living in a steam-bath. In spite of which, Peni keeps his roses & his spirits,—darling child. Oh—he does not neglect French. He has finished your fairy-book, & we have bought him Berquin [9] in the collected form, which he reads sedulously. A little idly, sometimes, (who can wonder in this heat?) but improved on the whole in habits of attention. I sit in my bedgown, dressing is impossible—& by day, we only keep down the thermometer by shutting out the air, & keeping the windows closed hermetically. Peni runs about in his shirt, & without shoes & stockings. We go out to drive from seven till nine & come home in the dark.
A testimonial of about ten thousand pounds is to be presented, they say, to Madeline Smith by the moralists of Glasgow. [10] Four men are eager to marry her!
God bless you both, dearest Sarianna & nonno.
Your affecte
Ba.
Poor Jessie! how grieved I am & have been. Mazzini is unscrupulous beyond all sufferance. [11]
Address, in RB’s hand: France. / À Mademoiselle / Madlle Browning, / chez M. Hurard, / 60. rue de la Barre, / Dieppe.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Lilly Library.
1. Dating based on the postmark of 30 July 1857 and the Brownings’ departure for Bagni di Lucca on that day. EBB’s opening statement seems to imply that this letter was written on the preceding day.
2. Sarianna and her father went to Dieppe earlier in the month and stayed until September.
3. From ca. July 1823 to ca. January 1824, the Moulton-Barretts resided in Boulogne, where the older children studied with French masters (see letter 1585).
4. The epidemic was diphtheria: “From early in 1855, to March, 1857, a very virulent epidemic in Boulogne, killing 366 persons, including many English” (Arthur Newsholme, Epidemic Diphtheria: A Research on the Origin and Spread of the Disease from an International Standpoint, 1898, p. 117).
5. Boulogne was Ruskin’s point of departure on the Continent, which he toured frequently and extensively, and he recalled the Boulogne days as “an untroubled, innocent existence, somehow out of time, away from the passing and changing world” (Timothy Hilton, John Ruskin, New Haven, Connecticut, 2002, pp. 304). We are unable to trace comments on Boulogne directed to EBB, but to Rose La Touche on 21 June 1861, he writes of wheat fields, luscious strawberries and cherries, wild roses, “blinding scarlet” poppies, daisies in “fringed rows,” and delicious feasts fresh from the sea (Cook, pp. 368–372).
6. At the beach during the mid- to late nineteenth century, individuals hired a towel and swimming garment and changed in bathing huts (or “machines”) on wheels, whereupon a horse was hitched to the machine to carry the occupant to the water’s edge. Men occasionally bathed in the nude, but women wore “‘either a voluminous, sleeved bathing dress tied at the ankles by string, or a heavy all-enveloping, tent-like cloak.’ Women did no proper swimming, as they were simply dipped by the bathing-machine attendant” (Michelle Higgs, A Visitor’s Guide to Victorian England, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, 2014, p. 155). The 1857 Bathing bill “to make Regulations for Male Bathers on the Sea Coast, and to prevent Abuses contrary to good Morals” included “the power to compel every such bather to wear a garment suitable to prevent any such indecent exposure” (Minutes of Proceedings in Parliament Respecting Public Bills, ed. James Bigg, 1857, p. 85). Offenders could be fined up to 40 shillings and, in default of payment, “be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for not exceeding three months” (p. 85). The bill was read the first time on 4 June but failed to win enough support for a second reading. The wording of the bill suggests that it was crafted to deter nude bathing by males rather than women. However, in his motion for a second reading, the bill's sponsor, the Marquess of Westmeath (1785–1871), said: “At this season of the year it was the practice for women to go down to the sea-bathing places and dance in the water without any covering whatever, to the great disgust of the respectable inhabitants and visitors” (The Times, 17 June 1857, p. 6). Westmeath felt it was “high time for their lordships to interfere in the way of legislation.”
7. Lytton probably arrived in Florence on or near 23 July 1857. In letter 4023 EBB writes that she and her family delayed leaving for Bagni di Lucca by a week “on account of Mr Lytton’s sudden arrival.” SD2098 indicates that he was in Florence by the evening of the 24th.
8. “All sweaty.”
9. L’Ami des enfants, by Arnaud Berquin (1747–91); see letter 3749, note 6. Sarianna had sent Pen a fairy-tale book, probably for Christmas. In letter 3958 EBB reported that he had “half finished it.”
10. In a sensational court case beginning on 30 June 1857, Madeline Hamilton Smith (1835–1928) of Glasgow was tried in the High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, for the poisoning death of Emile L’Angelier, a Frenchman said to be her lover. According to barrister John Morison, she enjoyed public sympathy because of her youth, her demeanor, and her class, as well as the weakness of the prosecution’s case and the public’s unfavorable impression of L’Angelier. On 9 July, the jury ruled “not proven,” and “the verdict was met with the approbation of nearly the whole press throughout the kingdom” (see A Complete Report of the Trial of Miss Madeline Smith for the Alleged Poisoning of Pierre Emile L’Angelier, Edinburgh, 1857, p. viii). EBB is apparently wrong about the £10,000. The Edinburgh Caledonian Mercury denied the rumor: “Strange though it may appear, we have to state, that there is no truth in the oft-repeated story of liberal sums having been contributed by influential individuals towards defraying the expenses incurred in conducting the defence of Miss Madeline Smith. Not one shilling has been subscribed for any purpose” (10 August 1857, [p. 3]).
___________________
