4027. EBB & RB to Sarianna Browning
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 24, 117–119.
| [In RB’s hand] | Bagni di Lucca, |
Aug. 18. [1857] [1]
Dearest,
We arrived here on the 30th last—and two or three days after, were followed by Miss Blagden, Miss Bracken, & Lytton—all for our sake,—they not otherwise wanting to come this way. Lytton arrived unwell, got worse soon, and last Friday week was laid up with a sort of nervous fever,—caused by exposure to the sun, or something, acting on his nervous frame: since then he has been very ill in bed—doctor—& anxiety &c as you may suppose: they are exactly opposite us, at twelve or fifteen feet distance only. Thro’ sentimentality & economy combined, Isa would have no nurse (an imbecile arrangement) & all has been done by her—with me to help: I have sate up four nights out of the last five & sometimes been there nearly all day beside—in all: us, out & in, continually: he is much better to-day—taken broth—& will, I hope, have no relapse, poor fellow: imagine what a pleasant holiday we all have! Otherwise, the place is very beautiful, & cool exceedingly. We have done nothing notable yet but all are very well,—Peni, particularly so: as for me, I bathe in the river, a rapid little mountain stream, every morning at 6½—& find such good from the practice that I shall continue it or whatever I can get as like it as possible, to the end of my days, I hope: the strength of all sorts therefrom accruing is wonderful: I thought the shower baths perfection but this is far above it—do consider all this. I was so rejoiced to hear from you—& think you so wise in staying another month: I sent the “Ath.” to 151. R. de G. Kindest love to Papa: we can’t get news from England—but the Americans have paid up the rest of the money for “Aurora”: [2] by the bye, in this new book of Ruskin’s, the “drawing book[,]” he says “Aurora Leigh is the finest poem written in any language this century” [3] —there is a review of it, which I have not yet got, in the Rivista di Firenze of this month. [4] God bless you, I will write very soon again—do you write at once. Ba will add a word. How fortunate about the books &c! [5] How is Milsand—pray always remember my best love to him.
[Continued by EBB]
My dearest Sarianna Robert will have told you I dare say, what a heavy time we have had here with poor Lytton. It was imprudent of him to come to Florence at the hottest of the year, & to expose himself perfectly unacclimated,—& the chance by which he was removed here just in time to be nursed, was happy for him & all of us– We have had great heat in the days, even here of course—no blotting out, even by mountains, of the Italian sun—but the cool nights extenuate very much, .. refresh & heal. Now I do hope the corner is turned of the illness– Isa Blagden has been devoted—sitting up night after night—& Robert has sate up four nights that she might not really die at her post. There is nothing infectious in the fever—so dont be afraid. Robert is quite well—with good appetite & good spirits,—& Peni is like a rose possessed by a fairy. They both bathe in the river, .. & profit (as I am so glad you do!) Not that its a real river, though it has a name .. the Lima. A mere mountain stream, which curls itself up into holes in the rocks to admit of bathing. Then, as far as they have been able on account of Lytton, they have had riding on donkies & mountain-ponies,—Peni as bold as a lion in spite of his pretty ringlets. He is very happy—“has got quantities of friends,” by his own account .. in fact all the contadini round, and our neighbour the chymist, [6] —the Italians admiring him as “un vero Fiorentino” [7] & the “cleverest child they ever spoke with.” He tells them tales of England & France, & ends satisfactorily by setting Italy on the top of the world. We have a piano here—& Robert hears him practice regularly.
My eldest brother has returned from Jamaica, & I was rather contented with my last letters from Arabel & Henrietta, dated Seaton—but still it all wrings my heart, .. & I am thankful to be nearly a thousand miles away.
M. Smith [8] is with her family. The feeling about her is, as you say, incredible—yet so it is. Ten thousand pounds collected—which both cover the law expences and provide for her. There’s a feeling too against the unfortunate man, which seems to me as bad—for he did nothing but threaten to show the letters to her father [9] .. & the judge considered that, as an honest man, he could scarcely do otherwise, in order to hinder her marriage with another man–
How very sorry I am about the dear Corkrans. [10] Do tell me what you hear. It will be grievous on every account if they have to go to England.
It is delightful to think of your both being the better for Dieppe. May God bless you. Peni’s best love with that
of your affectionate Ba.
Is’nt it horrible about India? [11]
Address, in RB’s hand: France. / À Mademoiselle / Mademoiselle Browning / 60. Rue de la Barre / Dieppe / France.
Publication: LEBB, II, 267–269 (in part).
Manuscript: Lilly Library.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. The third and last instalment (£25) of the £100 that C.S. Francis paid EBB for the American rights to publish Aurora Leigh (see letter 3802, note 2).
3. The Elements of Drawing; in Three Letters to Beginners was published by Smith, Elder & Co. on 24 June 1857. In an appendix entitled “Things to be Studied,” Ruskin recommends, among the modern poets, “Scott, Wordsworth, Keats, Crabbe, Tennyson, the two Brownings, Lowell, Longfellow, and Coventry Patmore,” adding that “Mrs. Browning’s ‘Aurora Leigh’ is, as far as I know, the greatest poem which the century has produced in any language” (p. 348).
4. The review of Aurora Leigh did not appear in Rivista di Firenze until the issue of April 1858.
5. Apparently, Sarianna had found a relatively inexpensive way to ship to Paris her and her father’s “books &c” that had been stored in London (see letter 4008, note 3). In letter 4089 EBB writes to Sarianna: “Your rooms must look very pretty & complete, with the books & the pictures.”
6. Adriano Betti, proprietor of the Brownings’ current residence, Casa Betti, is recommended for good medicines and attentive service in W. Snow’s Hand Book for the Baths of Lucca (Pisa, 1846, p. 59). In Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in Northern Italy (1858), Betti is described as “an apothecary … who keeps English medicines, at the Villa” (part II, p. 467).
7. “A true Florentine.”
8. i.e., Madeline Smith (see letter 4020, note 10).
9. James Smith (1806–63), a Glasgow architect. The other man Miss Smith intended marrying was William Harper Minnock (1820–83), a merchant of Glasgow.
10. John Frazer Corkran had lost his job as Paris correspondent for The Morning Herald (see 3978, note 10).
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