4197. EBB to Sophia Eckley
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 25, 140–143.
Casa Guidi–
Sunday. [27 June 1858] [1]
Ah dearest Sophie, have you wondered after me?– Not dreaming me unkind, I hope & trust? Dear, I wanted so to tell you the day on which we shall move,—& even now I scarcely can—but it will be in this week .. on wednesday or thursday probably. Write to me still here– If I am gone I shall yet get your letter–
I have been overpowered lately with things to do, people to see, all that appertains to making one’s will when one makes a journey– Then one gets tired & feels sad, & shuts one’s eyes leaning back in a chair, & rather dreams of one’s dear friends than writes to them. At least that’s my way—because I am weak perhaps– Naming which weakness, let me tell you that I am considerably & essentially better .. I know you will like to hear it, dearest kindest Sophie; & I wish I could hear something like it from yourself– Speak of yourself, of your health, dear, when you write—& write soon,—dont avenge yourself on me .... (now I shall be conceited & quite myself in a word that has been called perfectly unintelligible) .. dont avenge yourself on me “with thunders of white silence”– [2] Choose other thunders, rather!--
Oh, I wish, I wish that instead of going northward I was to stay in Tuscany & to spend the summer among the hills with you, wandering through chesnut woods .. making the third with that strange spirit!– Dear, I wish it were so. And speaking of spirits, let me tell you, .. Hume has written to the Crossmans. His marriage was only delayed,—& he is probably on his way to Russia now to have it celebrated, which it is to be in september– [3] Therefore you may call .. ‘But will he come when you do call for him?’ [4] Not yet, I think. He has been to Scotland he told the Crossmans in his letter, to “get the proofs of his legitimacy”—and he spoke to them of an intention of spending next winter in Italy .. which confirms your impression that you would see him without sending your invitation. Mrs Crossman assured me that to her & her family Hume has always been grateful, & that this letter in particular showed much good feeling. The statements in it are backed by yesterday’s Galignani in which it is mentioned that Alexandre Dumas had just left Paris for St Petersburgh [5] in company with Count Kuseloff [6] in whose magnificent house he was to reside, and be present at the marriage of Mr Horne the medium with the wealthy Count’s sister in law, Mademoiselle Kroll.
Did I tell you .. no, .. that Mrs Hawthorne had spent another evening here, with our Villa Bricchieri friends & the Crossmans, [7] and that Mr Hawthorne could not come, having been extremely unwell with fever? [8] He is better however, & Robert met him at the Bricchieri last night–
With whom do I drive out? I have driven with Isa Blagden three or four times I think, since you left me,––& else, with no one– Indeed I go out very little now– There is so much to do, & think of, and one feels so tired after it all. The weather was burningly hot, & then broke in thunderstorms & fell into freshness, to our relief—still it’s electrical air, and one feels disturbed even to the depth of one’s dreams at night–
Today there is the performance of a new oratorio on the Fall of Jerusalem by Pacini, [9] who will himself conduct, we understand, in what is called the great room of the ‘Cinque centi,’ in the piazza del Gran Duca– [10] Peni is invited to the orchestra—and Robert has taken tickets & goes with Miss Haworth[,] Miss Blagden & Miss Bracken. I of course, am not up to the fatigue of it– I would rather be in the chesnut woods with you, dear .. dearest Sophie– Love me– I love you– My thoughts are with you .. & are very tender– Your letter was dear to me– I half hope that another may cross this to me—though I rather deserve to be crossed out of your thoughts– Only that wont be, I know—which is the second consciously conceited speech in this letter– Did’nt I say you would spoil me at last?–
Peni loves Doady– Robert loves you all– And I wont be left out, who send true love to Doady & dear Mr Eckley–
May God love you, dearest Sophie—prays your
Ba–
Miss Cobbe [11] has exhaled (under the influence of heat) to Switzerland–
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Dated by EBB’s reference to the Brownings’ departure “on wednesday or thursday” (they left Florence Thursday, 1 July 1858) and to the visit from Mrs. Hawthorne, which occurred on 25 June.
2. Cf. EBB, “Hiram Powers’s Greek Slave” (1850), line 14.
3. The wedding of Alexandra Kroll and Daniel Dunglas Home took place on 1 August 1858 (see letter 4148, note 11).
4. Cf. I Henry IV, III, 1, 54.
5. Galignani’s Messenger for 21–22 June 1858 carried the following item: “M. Alexandre Dumas, senior, left Paris a few days ago for St. Petersburg, accompanying Count Gregory Kouchelef Besborodko, gentleman of the chamber to the Emperor of Russia, and noted for his wealth. The well-known author is to stop a month at St. Petersburg, in the splendid mansion of the count, and whilst there he is to attend the marriage of Mr. Horne [sic], the celebrated medium, with Mlle. Kroll, sister-in-law of the count, and who has received a fortune from him” (p. [4]).
6. Count Grigoriy Alexandrovich Kushelëv-Bezborodko (1832–70), who was married to Lyubov’ Ivanova (d. 1870, née Kroll), elder sister of Alexandra (see Waddington, p. 404).
7. Sophia Hawthorne recorded the evening in her diary on 25 June. She was especially taken with EBB’s “arched eyes … so flickering and remote, a fine, intellectual, spiritual radiance” (SD2179). Mrs. Hawthorne included with this description a sketch of one of EBB’s eyes; it is reproduced facing p. 145.
8. In a diary entry of 22 June, Mrs. Hawthorne described her husband’s illness as a “severe cold with fever” (SD2176).
9. La Distruzione di Gerusalemme by Giovanni Pacini (1796–1867), dedicated to Grand Duke Leopold II, premiered as a matinee in the Salone dei Cinquecènto in the Palazzo Vecchio on 27 June 1858. RB’s purchase of the tickets for 2 francesconi is recorded in his account book on 26 June (see Appendix IV).
10. Now Piazza della Signoria.
11. Frances Power Cobbe (1822–1904), writer and advocate of women’s rights, was the only daughter of Charles Cobbe (1781–1857), an Irish landowner, and his wife, Frances (née Conway, 1777–1847). She had been travelling since December 1857, first stopping in Rome, then visiting Egypt, Palestine, Constantinople, and Athens before returning to Italy. According to her autobiography, she stayed at Florence “many months … on the hill of Bellosguardo above the city” (Life of Frances Power Cobbe, As Told by Herself, 1904, p. 269).
___________________
