4388. EBB to Sophia Eckley
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 126–127.
[Rome]
[?29 April 1859] [1]
Dearest kindest Sophie, I am myself again this morning—which means, dear, that I shall be delighted to see my Sophie if she will vouchsafe to come–
Yesterday I had lost my identity so far as to be without voice or heart till the evening– I lay on the bed all day, & saw no one, .. except, let me say, Mr Edward Perkins, [2] who “surprised” me after dinner & stayed ten minutes– Now, having slept really, all is right again– Robert went to the Coliseum last night & came back again, the illumination having been “put off.” [3] What does that mean? Perhaps we shall have a chance to see it together after all–
But, dear, it was’nt you, who either “half” or quarter killed me. It was .. “Nobody—I myself.” [4] It was that obstinate pull to the top of the falls, [5] which I would make, you know.
So do come—& let me see you–
Ever in love your
Ba—
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Conjectural dating suggested by EBB’s reference to “that obstinate pull to the top of the falls,” presumably the Falls of Tivoli. At the end of letter 4390, she writes of going to Tivoli “three days ago [27 April] … with the Eckleys & others” and of being “broken to pieces by it.”
2. Edward Newton Perkins (1820–99), older brother of Charles Callahan Perkins, was travelling in Europe with members of his family. They were his wife, Mary Perkins (née Spring, 1824–82); his mother, Elizabeth Greene Doane (née Callahan, formerly Perkins, 1789–1859); his sister, Sarah Paine Cleveland (née Perkins, 1818–93); and his niece, Elizabeth “Lilly” Cleveland (1839–1914).
3. Perhaps, this involved a private gathering. Murray’s A Handbook of Rome and Its Environs (1862) notes: “The lighting-up of the Coliseum with blue and red lights, a splendid sight, can be effected, having previously obtained the permission of the police, at an expense of about 150 scudi, everything included” (p. 47).
4. Othello, V, 2, 124.
5. The Aniene river (formerly Teverone) at Tivoli “falls into the valley in one mass from a height of about 320 feet. The effect of its cascade is scarcely inferior to that of the upper portion of the Falls of Terni” (Murray’s Handbook of Rome and Its Environs, 1858, p. 330).
___________________
