4218. EBB to Anna Brownell Jameson
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 25, 184–185.
Maison Versigny. Rue de Perry. 2.
Le Havre–
July 24. [1858] [1]
Dearest Moña Nina, have you rather wondered at not hearing?– We have been a-wandering, a-wandering over the world—have been to Etretat and failed—& now are ignominiously settled at Havre, yes, at Havre, the name of which we should have scorned a week ago, as a mere roaring commercial city– But after all, as sometimes I say with originality, .. ‘civilization is a good thing.’ The country about Etretat is very pretty, and the coast picturesque with fantastic rocks, but the accommodation dear in proportion to its badness .. which, I do believe, is the case everywhere with places .. now & then even with persons––dear, in proportion to their badness– We could get three bedrooms, a salon & kitchen, one opening into another & no other access, & the kitchen presenting the first door .. all furnished exactly alike except that where the bedroom had a bed the kitchen had a stove .. wooden chairs en suite .. not an inch of carpet,—& just an inch of looking glass in the best bedroom––view, a potatoe-patch .. and price, two hundred francs a month. Robert took it in a “fine phrenzy,’[’] [2] on which I rebelled, and made him give it up on a sacrifice of ten francs .. which was the only cheap thing in the place as far as I observed anything. Also, the bay is so restricted that whoever takes a step is “commanded[”] by all the windows of the primitive hotel & the few villas, and as people have nothing whatever to do but to look at you, you may imagine the perfection of the analysis– I should have been a fly in a microscope, feeling my legs & arms counted on all sides & receiving no comfort from the scientific results. So, you see, we “gave it up” & came here in a sort of despair, meaning to take the railroad to Dieppe—when lo!—our examining forces find that the place here is very tenable .. & we take a house close to the sea (though the view is interrupted) in a green garden, & quite away from a suggestion of streets & commerce. The bathing is good– We have a post-office & reading rooms at our elbow & nothing distracting of any kind– The house is large & airy, & our two families are lodged in separate apartments though we meet at dinner in our dining-room. Certainly the country immediately round Hâvre is not pretty, but we came for the sea after all, and the sea is open & satisfactory. Robert has found a hole I can creep through to the very shore, without walking many yards .. & there I can sit on a bench & get strength,—if so it pleases God.
Have I not sent you a full account of us? Now if you would return me a cent per cent—soll und haben– [3] I want so much to know all about you,—how you feel, dearest friend, & how you are. Do write & tell me of yourself– May God bless you ever & ever–
Your affectionate & grateful
Ba–
Robert’s love & Peni’s– How naughty you were about the money—and sly.
PS
I have heard from Florence—from Isa—from Fanny Haworth,—& from Wilson– All well– Isa had been with the Trollopes, & had been writing a memoir of Mademoiselle de Fauveau (who furnished the material) for Bessie Parkes’ magazine– [4] She & her brother (M. de Fauveau) both shed tears in speaking of their mother. [5] Isa seems the better for occupation, as people always are–
Poor Fanny Haworth says that her best friend in Florence, now we are gone, is Wilson– She talks of going soon to the baths of Lucca–
Address: Angleterre. / Mrs Jameson, / 16, Chatham Place, / Brighton.
Publication: LEBB, II, 287–288 (in part).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. Cf. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, V, 1, 12.
3. “Debit and credit.” EBB had been reading a French translation of the German novel Soll und Haben (see letter 4204, note 5).
4. An article entitled “Felicie de Fauveau,” by Isa Blagden, appeared in The English Woman’s Journal for October 1858 (pp. 83–94).
5. Anne de Fauveau (née de la Pierre, 1779–1858), mother of Félicie de Fauveau (1801–86) and Alexandre Hippolyte de Fauveau (1804–87), died at Florence on 13 April.
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