4074. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 24, 185–188.
Florence
Sept 13 [sic, for October 1857] [1]
Dearly beloved Arabel, your letter half vexes, half pleases me, half that you should love us so, & half that I should have startled you so about Penini. I thought, dear, I had made certain to you that the danger was passed. I did not write, I remember, till I could say so. But I had been considerably shaken by all the anxiety, & the letter showed it of course– Forgive me. Long before now you will have received that second letter which was quite reassuring—& then what I have written still more lately to Henrietta, will have made us subside into the category of uninteresting people as far as disasters of malady go—& really I would rather interest you by any other means. If you were to see our Peni you would’nt think him much the worse for his illness,—though he is thinner still, & apt to be tired after much fatigue: we have to keep down his spirits, & restrain him as to walks & diet. But the progress is so great that in another month this fever will be as if it had not been, .. unless it should please God to try us otherwise, which I do hope it will not– He takes steel pills [2] everyday, & is to take them for some three weeks long, .. beautiful silvered pills, “like the balls of an enchanter” says Peni, and he is delighted to take them. Darling child,—when he is ill, all his sweetness comes out– It’s the rose trodden on– Peni’s naughtiness is always through an excess of life & spirits– When he is ill, he frightens you, he says such touching sweet things, & lies so still & patiently. There was only once the least hint of peevishness, & we hailed it as a sign of convalescence– He said to Robert, “Now papa, I will have no more doctoring,”—turning round on his pillow in the most decided way. Ah—I thought you would cry out on infection! & certainly these fevers do suggest the idea, do look like it—for instance, Annunciata’s siezure was very like it. Also there was another case of fever in another apartment of the house– But then there were cases all round; not many, but not few in proportion to the population. In Florence & Pisa it has been too frequent,—for such things used to be rare in Tuscany, & are the consequence, it is thought, of the lowering of the general diet through successive failures of the vintage. This year there will be more wine though by no means a full crop. Wherever the sulpher is used there is success, [3] —& wherever it is not used, (& I grieve to say our Tuscan agriculturists have been obtuse in many cases) oidium has ensued as usual. Next year people will have learnt wisdom–— But little Pen’s attack came simply from overfatigue & exposure—I told you how. There could be no doubt about it. Also he had been eating fruit all the summer as no child in England could eat it,—peaches, pears, melons, figs[,] strawberries, at all hours of the day,—at breakfast, at dinner, at tea, & at the times between– He never seemed to be hurt by it, so we left him to his discretion—only I dare say it formed his nourishment something too much, .. was rather a lowering diet for him, & made him more susceptible to certain atmospheric influences. Well—he has to fast from fruit now, .. except a few grapes now & then, .. we are very strict about his diet, & must be for a month or two– We find Mr Lytton grown almost too fat! Such a change! I hope that will be Peni’s next phase– As to Annunciata, she is flourishing– And as to me, oh, I am pretty well– I was broken to pieces for the time & looked horrible, but nothing kills me, you know—I’m immortal. Else the terror in which I used to run along that passage in my nightgown twenty times a night, would have done for me by this hour I should think– Oh—those nights.
Our friends go to the east without us after all, I suppose, though Robert pretended to doubt about it only yesterday. But with Peni not as strong as usual it seems to me hazardous– Gastric fever always falls on the digestive organs—& the very sea voyage, (some ten days voyage) I should fear for him; & the diet, & twenty things afterwards. Oh Arabel, in spite of your attractive programme, I dont wait for you– Six months absence, ten days voyage, ever so many weeks camel-riding, .. such fatigues would scarcely suit you, dearest, who are a little afraid of a day or two’s railroad– Even I who am well-educated in travelling & with every sort of vagabond taste, pause & rather fear– I fear all the more for this– Our friends form a large party– It is cheaper & more convenient to go in a large party—but this party consists in a considerable degree of women– One of the women, Mrs Eckley, I like & love—the others I know nothing of, & suspect a good deal of what would not be sympathy exactly, in that quarter. Now if I were overtired some day, or unwell, it would not be pleasant to keep a whole company of unsympathetic women waiting for me in the desert, would it? Even if they were goodnatured about it, I should have scruples. I would rather go with a throng of men, a hundred times. Then they might swear & relieve themselves greatly. The expenses are great: at the lowest calculation a guinea a day each person, .. & this for five or six months. And I could’nt go without a maid, I & Peni. Well—Robert says that we could compass it, .. on the condition of starving a little afterwards & lying perdus till we had paid the debt to ourselves– It would be worth while:—only it never can be worth while to risk a hair of Peni’s head—never– So at the end of two months we shall go to Rome or Naples instead, & take out our winter so. Rome wont hurt Peni for the winter months, I think, .. going late & coming away early, & choosing a healthy house. But our plans are uncertain, as usual, & a very little shove would change them.
What a delightful account you give me of Bryngwyn,—which, shall I ever learn to spell? It must be a beautiful place, & it refreshes my heart to think of you all together there. Are the roads good? and are there pretty drives? I like mountain-scenery more & more passionately—only you have no real mountains in England; nothing but hills you are pleased to call mountains. The mountains at Lucca really did me good & kept my heart whole when the pieces seemed falling apart. And I took such a fancy to the portantina [4] way of travelling—where you have all the glory of climbing & none of the fatigue. It’s next best to the gondola.
How kind of dearest Storm to ask Lizzie to remain with him– If she will, it will be an excellent arrangement– Tell me—does George shoot & fish? But Storm never will go back to Jamaica in February– He will wait another year for that—otherwise he will be spending his life on the sea,—tell him with my best love.
Oh you naughty Arabel, I never told you that nobody loved you in London,—did I? No indeed. Only you have not a ve......ry wide society, when all’s said, up to this time, though I hope you will widen it, & let in a little light on more sides than one,—I hope you will– Meanwhile I did not so quite expect that Mr Stratten would turn his back upon you, as to be surprised at his saying a kind word– Why, it would be strange if he were not full of kindness to you, Arabel– I cant keep pace with your virtue of hospitality, by my virtue of humility, if I am to be humble for you. It is good news that you like ‘Crispin’– Isn’t she really though of a mortal gravity? She is an excellent dressmaker without any manner of doubt, if you give her patterns—but I do aspire to somewhat more of stirring life & cheerfulness about a person. I wont talk anything so sublime as Swedenborgianism—but simply .. Good spirits are healthy. Soul’s good as well as body’s good comes that way,—and if I were a preacher I would preach on it– I used to feel it by instinct, you remember, long ago, .. & now I reason it out & believe it– Well—Annunciata does not disgrace my doctrine– When she walks she runs .. one might say. As quick as lightning– She burns up the work in a glance of her eye– My room is finished ten minutes after I leave it– She does things exactly too, neatly & with intelligence– I have not tried her yet in dressmaking, .. but she renews petticoats &c with considerable adroitness– Then Peni’s hair is as nice as ever, which pleases me—and her goodnature & alacrity to please are very pleasing—to say nothing of her having a talent for story telling like Scheherazade’s own, which holds Peni bound. Then she plays games with him, blindman’s buff & the rest, as if she really liked them, which perhaps she does! Altogether I dont wonder she had the pleasure of hearing him tell a little Italian friend of his yesterday that “Annunciata was as good to him as Lisa herself.”
Poor Wilson– Wilson is constantly here of course,—& a message comes this morning from her to inform Ferdinando of her prospect of letting the house. Else she had begun to sigh, poor thing, a little anxiously. But, the house being let, everything is likely to go on smoothly. She is very well now—only one cant look at her & believe in its lasting long!!– Peni thinks, she “really must eat a great deal too much”, .. to produce such mountainous effects of—scenery.
Ah yes, Arabel, you will miss little Mary– There’s the worst of having had her! Now, if Henrietta had a supernatural degree of generosity ....! What do you say? she might realize Mrs Cook’s idea. [5] With two more children, & one such a mere baby! By the way I am grieved to hear of the little creature suffering so from teething. Those large fine children seem to suffer most from teething. Peni is delighted with Mary’s letter, & observes consequentially– “Now I shall have to answer that.” He gets on with his music,—& German too—reads so nicely! We are very proud of him. I expect him to do great things on the piano– Suddenly I must go– Somebody comes & breaks up my letter– I cant even read it over. I wanted too to say to you darling, that I never thought of reproaching you with our visits to England. We did’nt do it for you except in the sense of doing it because we loved you. Our love constrained us, dear. Do understand. May God bless you. Best love to all the dear ones——
Your ever
loving Ba
Address: Angleterre viâ France / Miss Barrett / Bryngwyn / Oswestry / Salop.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 319–323.
Manuscript: Gordon E. Moulton-Barrett.
1. Month and year provided by Florence postmark of 14 October 1857.
4. “Sedan chair.”
5. That Arabella should keep Mary “till Altham goes to school” (see the penultimate paragraph in letter 4085).
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