4148. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 25, 66–70.
Casa Guidi
Wednesday [Postmark: 24 March 1858]
My beloved Arabel I would give much to have a letter from you, for though you assured me of safety on the fever question, I shall be glad of a still safer conviction on my own side. Ah—that canal!– Any sight in London is more healthy I believe than the sight of “barges” however amusing they may be considered. But dear, how sorry I am that you should be saddened by this event! [1] Was it one of the girls from the Refuge? I conclude it was. Poor darling Arabel. The Strattens were very kind as they always were, & very glad, I am sure, to have an opportunity of showing their kindness by enjoying your presence. Emma seems to please you. Is she affectionate, Arabel? likely to get fond of you, & so to make you fond of her?– I dont think you are likely ever to part with her now, unless for some extraordinary reason– You will not like to disappoint an expectation– Oh no. Taking her on trial was conclusive, it seemed to me from the beginning, and I shall be very much surprised if it turns out otherwise. Also I dont wish it to be otherwise on the whole, as probably the advantages of the arrangement far outweigh any imaginable disadvantage. I know the use of a child in cheering up a household. A hundred candles do not give as much light. Dearest,—little Pen was enchanted with your kindness in writing to him on his birthday, & he means to make great friends with Emma, & to write a letter to you one day to say so & much besides. I am thankful to her already for a reason– Guess– Because you would’nt have left the house if it had’nt been for her, .. under fever-pressure or any sort of pressure. Now would you, Arabel?– (By the way, tell me the letter of your quarter of London. Is it W or N?) [2]
Winter is over here & has been for some time. Asparagus and the burning sun of March has come in. And I have been out. Still, I must take care; for there are currents of cold air from the mountains now & then, and our extraordinary winter (for hardness) has added itself to moral causes in keeping me physically low & languid. I have the weight on me of a bad year, full of griefs and various apprehensions, & it hangs heavily still on my whole nervous system, .. though I deluge myself with cods liver oil, & do everything right which is disagreeable. To brace soul & body, we mean to ruin ourselves this spring with carriages, & to drive about morning, noon, & night whether we like it or not– Brooding, brooding, brooding, and reading German[,] German, German, are not the ends of life after all,—and I must do some work this year at least, & get out of the cloud if God lets me.
Think of our becoming homœopathists! To such an extent is it, that the temptation to me is great, to make a trial of throwing over my morphine—only I do feel shy of some illness, some sudden breaking down if I did it,—the medecine having becoming [sic] such a second nature with me after all these years. And, with it, of course globules would be vain. So I am satisfied up to this point in seeing the immense advantage to Robert, .. which he acknowledges—& in fact there can be no question about it– Not only is the liver quite relieved, but the irritability of his nervous system is calmed down to a degree which I never should have expected from any physical remedy; his appetite is ameliorated in a regular way, & his very countenance shows the improvement. He is as good as possible, gives up his coffee & tea & glass of wine most meekly, & though he never could do it before without feeling weak, is now the stronger & more cheerful for all his sacrifices.
Your letter was a bright bit of Peni’s birthday,—& for the rest it was kept magnificently– Not for a fortnight before hand could we get any work out of him through his thinking of it. He was to have a “festa” of his own arrangement, which consists in a grand illumination of his room—wax tapers by fifties, & the stove covered with gold & silver paper—and a tea & feast laid out—& a concert of drums & trumpets by himself & his friends. Annunciata apprized me three days before, that Peni had invited twenty people–! I, in horror, called out for names, & found out, that, besides his various Italian favorites among dressmakers, shopkeepers, & the rest, he had been pleased to invite Signor Del Bene (his music-master) & the “Signora consorte”. [3] Well, I had the greatest difficulty in making Peni understand that the aristocracy would’nt be content to meet the democracy on such level ground. He told me that I was quite mistaken—that “Mdme del Bene even liked Girolama” [4] for instance, and “gave her money when she was poor–” “How could she object to having tea with her?” And he had told M. & Madame del Bene all about his festa, & they would think it most unkind of him .... &c &c.” Up to this day he has not understood what I meant, .. & the more perhaps, because I rather liked his own idea better than mine—but I ended by laying commands upon him that he should explain to the Signora how it was only a child’s party & not good enough to amuse her, & that I said so. I dont know what he did say. He told me that he “spoke in a most gentlemanly manner, I do assure you, dear Mama,—but Signora del Bene laughed till she could’nt stop herself for laughing, … he did’nt know why”– Poor Peni—he is so very simple in some of his ways, which contrast curiously with his precocity otherwise. M. Del Bene speaks of his musical capacity in the highest terms, & adds (which pleases me) that besides, he is “a dear, good child”—“buono e caro.” Peni is perfectly at his ease with his master who is the gentlest of men, & he does a little gossip at the same time with the lesson,—&, one day lately, translated to him the whole book of “Hop o’ my Thumb” [5] (as a specimen of English literature,) which he had taken by mistake, inside his music portfolio. A man must be goodnatured to bear so much from his pupil when the pupil is’nt his own child– “He was very much interested’[’] says Peni.—— Oh– the influenza has left no trace. Peni looks brilliant & is in the highest spirits.
Hume has been in Florence for a day & a night. Hume has been in Pisa for a day or two with friends of ours. [6] Hume is coming to stay in Florence next month (April) with the same, the Crossmans, with whom he stayed four months when he was here before. [7] Now he is gone to Rome. I tell Robert that he may be tranquil: he shall make a compact with me. If he meets Hume in the street, he shant kick him: and I, for my part, will not go anywhere where he can be met. Robert throws his arms round me, calls me “darling,” & says that I shall do “anything I like”: but I wont be tempted out of our conventions, seeing that, in spite of nux vomica, [8] Robert is Robert. Hume is travelling with Count Coma [9] (I think the name is) & when he arrived at the Crossman’s house at Pisa (after an invitation, observe) a member of the house who had been doubtful whether the spirits were devilish, received him with some embarrassment. ‘Ah,’ said he, “you need not fear– My power is going away. In fact, they had a seânce but the raps were faint, & the manifestations few.” From Rome he wrote to them that his power was gone: but it has returned again wonderfully, later accounts inform them. An English lady has lately died & left him six thousand francs a year [10] —that is, two hundred & forty pounds, English. He showed the Crossmans the splendid presents presented to him by the kings & queens of the earth—among these, a most magnificent set of studs in black pearls & diamonds, by the Empress Eugenie. But his health is wretched, & he comes to Italy for both climate & repose– The Crossmans saw cards for twenty invitations for one night in Paris: it is characteristic of his vanity that he should carry such things about– To breakfast constantly with the Emperor & Empress of the French, seems to have been the least of his honors. We hear now that he is going to be married in Rome to a Russian girl of fortune & family [11] —— Can it be possible? He is a wonderful human being certainly. The Crossmans say that he is quite regenerated as to manners—is polished & speaks beautiful French; & is most anxious to pay every wandering debt– He returns to Paris ultimately. Meantime there are invitations to him from the Sultan [12] & from Ægypt. I am glad he is coming to Florence though I shall not see him. Hearing is something. Also there are persons here who would be benefitted, in my opinion Arabel.
Mrs Jameson has gone to Naples.
Now write soon to me my dearest own dear Arabel & tell me all of yourself–
You dont mention dear Minny. Give her my tender love.
I had a letter which cheered me up from Henrietta,—a dear kind letter—it was aromatic vinegar to me. When do you expect to hear of the arrival in Jamaica? [13] May God bless—& keep you dearest Arabel.
Do love your ever loving
Ba
You will be sorry to hear that poor Mdme Braun (Miss Bayley’s Miss Thompson) is suffering from a supposed incurable cancerous affection in London. Two operations but the desease persists. [14]
Wilson’s house is still let—at £6 the month.
Robert’s best love—& Pen’s– Peni announced yesterday that henceforth he would not go into any shop where there was a woman, because she was sure to call him “bellino.” [15]
Address: Angleterre via France. / Miss Barrett / 7. Delamere Terrace / Harrow Road / London.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 338–342.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. One of Arabella’s servants had died of “typhus fever” (see SD2150). Perhaps the servant had been a resident at the Refuge for Destitute Girls at 1 Lisson Street, Marylebone (see letter 2960, note 13).
2. In 1856 the General Post Office, under the direction of Rowland Hill (1795–1879), divided London into ten postal districts: East Central (EC), West Central (WC), Northern (N), Northeastern (NE), Eastern (E), Southeastern (SE), Southern (S), Southwestern (SW), Western (W), and Northwestern (NW). In December of that year, Hill recommended that London residents begin using the abbreviations. Arabella’s house on Delamere Terrace was in the Western district. On 8 January 1858, a reminder from Hill concerning postal district abbreviations was published in the London newspapers. It included a sample address, indicating that the abbreviation should be placed on a separate line (see, for example, The Daily News, 8 January 1858, p. 8).
3. Luisa Del Bene (née Lemmi).
4. A local dressmaker and a favorite of Pen, she is described as a dwarf by EBB in letter 3181. According to G.G. Giannini, her full name was Girolama François. Her father was one of the Grand Duke’s grooms and her mother, a local seamstress, whom EBB occasionally employed (see Dorothy Hewlett, Elizabeth Barrett Browning: A Life, New York, 1952, pp. 380–381).
5. The French title is “Le petit Pouçet.” It was one of the original eight fairy tales in Histoires ou Contes du temps passé, avec des moralitez (1697) by Charles Perrault (1628–1703).
7. Actually, two months: Home lived with the Crossmans in Villa Colombaia from mid-December 1855 to mid-February 1856.
8. A seed containing strychnine, from an Asian tree of the same name. Diluted in tinctures, it is used to stimulate the digestive system.
9. Alexander de Komar (1801–75), a Polish count, at whose residence Home stayed when he arrived in Paris two years before (see Mme. Dunglas Home, D.D. Home: His Life and Mission, 1888, p. 87).
11. Alexandra Ivanovna (“Sasha”) Kroll (1840–62), daughter of Ivan Kroll, “late Imperial count and general” (Waddington, p. 404). Home met her in Rome through her brother-in-law and sister, the Count and Countess Kushelëv-Bezborodka. Sasha was a “godchild of Tsar Nicholas I, and the recipient-to-be of a family dowry of 200,000 francs” (p. 404). She and Home were married on 1 August 1858 in St. Petersburg.
12. Abd-ul-Mejid (1823–61), sultan of the Ottoman Empire, succeeded his father, Mahmud II, in 1839.
13. Of their brothers Charles John, Septimus, and Octavius.
14. We have not traced any further details about Mrs. Braun’s condition.
15. “Handsome,” or “pretty.”
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