4030. EBB to Anna Brownell Jameson
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 24, 121–122.
La Villa. Bagni di Lucca.
August 22– [1857] [1]
As you bid me write, my dear friend, about Lytton, I write—but I grieve to say we are still very uneasy about him. For sixteen days he has been prostrate with this gastric fever, and the disease is not baffled, though the pulse is not high nor the head at all affected. Dr Trotman however is uncheerful about him,—is what medical men call “cautious” in giving an opinion—observing that, though at present he is not in danger, the delicacy of his constitution gives room for great apprehension in the case of the least turning towards relapse. Robert has been up with him during eight nights, and Isa Blagden eight nights– Nothing can exceed her devotion to him by night & day– We have persuaded her however at last to call in a nurse for the nights .. I am afraid for Robert .. and in fact a trained nurse can do certain things better than the most zealous & tender friend can pretend to do. You may suppose how saddened we all are– Dear Lytton! At intervals he talks & can bear reading—but this morning he is lower again. In fact from the first he has been very apprehensive about himself, .. inclined to talk of divine things, .. of the state of his soul & God’s love, .. and to hold this life but slackly. For two days Trotman has given him wine & allowed him to masticate (without swallowing) mutton chops—only the digestion is feeble or incapable.
I feel I am writing a horrible account to you. You will conclude the worst from it, and that is what I dont want you to do. The pulse has never been high & is now much lower,—and if he can be kept from a relapse, he will live. I pray God he may live. He is not altered in the face. And Dr Trotman re-iterated this morning .. “There is no danger at present.”
You are better. I thank God for it. Oh yes—it is very beautiful that cathedral. [2] The weather here is cool & enjoyable by day even. At nights it is really cold—& I have thought of a blanket once or twice, as of a thing tolerable. I will write again when there is change– The course of the fever may extend to six days more–
Your ever most affectionate
Ba.
Publication: LEBB, II, 269–270 (in part).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Year provided by EBB’s reference to Robert Lytton’s illness.
2. The Duomo of Siena, completed in the fourteenth century, stands at the highest point in the city and is notable for its Gothic architecture, its facades, its marble pulpit, and especially its inlaid marble floor that features various Biblical, secular, and mythological scenes and images. The nave of the cathedral was originally intended to be only the transept of a much larger structure. EBB saw the cathedral when the Brownings stayed a week at Siena in October 1850 (see letter 2883).
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