4212. EBB to Sophia Eckley
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 25, 169–171.
Hotel de Londres–
Rue St Hyacinthe, St Honoré.
July 13– [1858] [1]
Ah my dearest Sophie, what dear letters you send me! You received mine from Paris, .. did you not?—but I cant wait for an answer to that when I have these.
“Nearer & nearer”! Yes, it is even so that we are—& even so that we go—is’nt it, dear? nearer to one another in love, & nearer in soul to those gone before,—also, I hope, to Him who is the Love—nearer & nearer. Nearer besides, to access with the beloved spirits? I trust it. The E may represent one very and ever dear to me [2] —if it is not your’s .. which I cannot judge of, of course.
How good & tender you are to my letters. Certainly they should like to go to you, and they do: they like walking that way. Now what I should like would be to take them myself,—& then I should get that certain kiss which fell to Christina– [3] There’s a reason for a liking!—— “Good for a ducat” [4] —and how much more?
And I have been writing to Mrs Perkins– Yes, indeed– He sent Peni a piece of music for the child’s album & playing, very goodnaturedly, when we were at Florence, & begged us to let them know how we reached Paris– They are kind. And there was graceful merit in the music as well as in the concession– For the rest, you made me laugh by your criticism, it has so much general truth. Peni’s Florentine professor used to say that Mr Boote [5] had more of the right impulse .. verve .. than the other amateur had, .. but he made the most depreciating allowances for both gentlemen. “S’intende” [6] so & so—but, altogether, “non male, per Baccho.” [7]
Dearest Sophie, do you know I am not quite easy about your health?– Without complaining, you suggest something beyond mere fatigue & ‘nerves’– Dear, if you are not well, I do beseech you to go to Florence and see Zanetti [8] .. who is extraordinarily far-sighted into disorders, & would suggest at once the line of remedy. There are also Italian physicians of great eminence & success—only Zanetti[’]s opinion seems to me supreme among fallible things– He is a great man too in the high moral sense. When people talk of the degeneracy of the south, I take courage thinking of Zanetti. Did you ever hear his story? He loved once, & lost the object of his love—and, in a sublime despair, devoted himself, consecrated himself henceforth, to the poor & suffering of his race. A great man, indeed–
Have you pain in the chest, dear—do you grow thin? I am a little uneasy about you, dear, dear—& you must tell me exactly– Of myself (in exchange) I have nothing but good to say .. that is, of my health: for the change of air has done me obvious good, & all my unpleasant symptoms have retreated. Also, I am far less languid—& my eyes dont look quite so much out of caves of blackness at nights after the fatigues of the day– As to Penini, he said seriously to his father in their walk yesterday .. “You see, dear papa, I have not been accustomed to such long walking, and it brings one bad symptom”– “What’s that,” asked Robert. “Why it makes me so very hungry, I dont know what to do. Do you think homœopathy would do me any good for this?”. The alarming “symptom” goes on to increase rather than to diminish, and the patient’s two cheeks are as red as roses, without waiting for the sea-bath. Indeed we have not yet been able to decide on a plan. How difficult it is– There are so many advices on all sides to go everywhere, that we feel ourselves transfixed to our present place. It cant however last for much longer—we must really, really go—either to Fécamps, or Etretat, or Treport, [9] or Trouville, or, or, or .... the spirits perhaps know where. We shall come back after two months & stay in Paris yet a week or two or three, and then I shall be strong enough to do all your commissions with which I hope you will prove your “sisterhood” by trusting me. Now mind you think of it, dear, & be prepared to use me .. & please me .. at once.
We are quiet & comfortable, & unknown happily, in this hotel: & think of our fortune in having a piano thrown in! But I told you that, I remember– We have had visits from the Bryants, who are in another hotel in this street, and yesterday from Charles Sumner, who pleased us much by his frank, generous, simple bearing. [10] His martyrdom seems to be completed by the medical treatment to which he has been subjected here,—the spinal process having been threateningly affected, & the surgeons—finding it necessary therefore to burn the back in four places at once by actual cautery of the live coal applied for seven minutes– The agony was great, of course, (he would’nt submit to chloroform) and the wounds have been six weeks in healing– Think of that– He is now just able to crawl about, & is allowed to “amuse himself” for two months, previous to another examination & perhaps discipline–
Dearest Sophie, my sister, may God love & bless you, dear. Think of me in love among the chesnut-woods—and, whenever you do, take care of yourself & try to be well, & strong– When you write, direct to me 151 Rue de Grenelle Faubourg St Germain, Paris [11] —because we may be gone from Paris,—&, from the rue de Grenelle, our letters will be sent– Robert’s love & Peni’s love & my love, to all of you– Tell me how you manage with Doady’s lessons–
Ever & ever your loving Ba–
Dear, I have mislaid my seal: it is on that account you dont see it. When we are settled I must burrow it out, for your especial service.
Ba
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Year provided by reference to the return address; 1858 was the only year the Brownings lodged at the Hôtel de Londres in Paris.
2. EBB’s brother Edward (“Bro”), who died in 1840. Doubtless, Mrs. Eckley had reported to EBB that the letter “E” appeared during a session of automatic writing.
3. Probably, Sophia Eckley’s maid, who evidently received a kiss for delivering EBB’s letters.
4. Cf. The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I, 1, 137–138: “… no, not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter .... ”
5. Francis Boott (1813–1904), American musician and composer, studied in Florence under guitar virtuoso Luigi Picchianti. He had taken his infant daughter, Elizabeth, from Boston to live in Florence after the death of his wife in 1847. Boott contributed “Two Songs” to Pen’s music album (see Reconstruction, A32). Presumably, “the other amateur” refers to Charles Perkins.
6. “Of course.”
7. “Not bad, by Bacchus.”
8. Ferdinando Zannetti (1801–81), one of the Florentine physicians recommended in Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in Northern Italy (1858, part II, p. 519). A few years earlier, he had successfully treated Isa Blagden’s knee (see letter 3482).
9. Le Tréport, about 20 miles N.E. of Dieppe on the Normandy coast.
10. Charles Sumner (1811–74), Republican senator from Massachusetts (1851–74) and congressional leader of the anti-slavery movement, had on 22 May 1856 received a severe beating with a cane at the hands of South Carolina congressman Preston S. Brooks (1819–57). The assault was prompted by a speech Sumner made three days before in the senate that attacked slavery and its supporters, particularly Brooks’s uncle Andrew P. Butler, senator from South Carolina. Over the next two years, Sumner experienced long bouts of pain, nervousness, and occasional paralysis. In May 1858 he was examined in Paris by Charles Édouard Brown-Séquard (1817–94), who made a diagnosis of spinal cord injury and subsequently treated Sumner with the burning protocol described by EBB.
11. The address of RB’s father and sister.
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