4306. EBB to Sophia Eckley
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 5–7.
[Rome]
[3 January 1859] [1]
And this is the reason that I dont see my dearest Sophie? the worst reason of all:—that she is not well. And dear, dear, Mr Eckley is quite right, (& as kind to me as when he wrote that pleasant letter to me the other day) in not letting you go out while you have a cough. Dont come near me till it is pulled out by the roots—I wont look for you even tomorrow.
As to Ristori for wednesday, [2] will that be right for you?– I fancy not. For me, dear, oh for me it must be impossible—& little do I care for that just now when nearly all I yearn for is to see this Penini of mine free from that cough of his which drags at my heart every sound it makes.
He does not seem ill in himself, & complains of no pain, but its a hollow bad cough, & I cant rest within the echo of it. I am giving globules of aconite & Bryonia alternately, [3] & keeping him in these two rooms, & disallowing all reading aloud or talking .. else I might have asked dear Doady to come to see him .. although that would have been selfish perhaps, for these grippe colds are infectious among children. Robert & I agreed this morning that Peni never in his life has had so bad a cough– The little flannel waistcoat which arrived last night when we were both in bed, (.. arrived by your goodness, ..) I return to you, having sent out this morning & bought what we want in the same kind– And Pen agrees to wear it next his skin, considering that Doady and Ferdinando both do the same!
As to this new gift of yours, dearest Sophie, I am dumb like the Psalmist [4] —only it is so kind & tender of you, & you have given infinite pleasure both to Peni & me– He is writing to you at this moment & calls out to me from the end of the room, “Mama, what is the way to spell nephew?” He would have probably spelt it nefeu, if left to his natural impulses.
Poor child– We replaced your ball [5] this morning, & an hour afterwards it exploded of its own accord. From the heat of the room perhaps!– But Pen could not bear it, & the tears ran silently down his poor cheeks. Now you have brightened the very trace of them, and he is no longer the “unfortunate person” he had begun to consider himself– “That, & other sorrows” .. said he.
(His other sorrows referred to the Pincio [6] & the play with Doady.)
May God bless you my kindest dearest Sophie– Cant I write it as well as say it?– Yes, feeling it so!–
Your gratefully loving Ba
And Doady’s books– Pen is half through Parley, [7] he says, & will return it directly–
Also I send back the Bulwer Lyttons– [8] It has amused me much– Robert wont read it till completed, he tells me–
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Dating based on EBB’s reference to the bursting of Pen’s ball (i.e., balloon). In letter 4308 she writes that the balloon burst “yesterday.”
2. According to a report in The Morning Post of 18 January 1859 (p. 2), Adelaide Ristori (1822–1906), Italy’s premier actress, gave three performances in Rome during the first week of the year, the last in the title role of Medea (see letter 3759, note 11). As indicated by RB in letter 4316, he attended Medea, as well as two other plays, Camma and Giuditta. Presumably, Medea was performed on Wednesday, 5 January.
3. Homœopathic medicines: aconite, a deadly poison derived from monkshood, was used to treat colds and fevers; bryonia, derived from a vine in the gourd family, to treat dry coughs.
4. Cf. Psalm 38:13 and Psalm 39:2. We have been unable to identify this latest gift from Mrs. Eckley.
5. i.e., balloon (see letter 4308).
7. Doubtless, a volume in the Peter Parley series of children’s books, originated by Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793–1860).
8. EBB refers to instalments of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel What Will He Do With It?, which was published serially in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, under the pseudonym Pisistratus Caxton, from June 1857 to January 1859. It was issued in book form in four volumes at Edinburgh on 22 January 1859.
___________________
