4442. EBB to Sophia Eckley
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 212–214.
[Florence]
Monday– [4 July 1859] [1]
Dearest Sophie, I have your letter & thank you, dear.
Here is a hat come & sent to Goodban’s, of the Tassinari configuration, & reminding me of the absence of certain other things .. Sophie’s feather & face.
And the picture is finished. [2] I have worked for you—sate well, said Gordigiani—&, on his part, he has been energetic– Robert is very contented.
But the heat is intense– Yesterday I sate all day in a bath of air, & had not the power to raise myself up to go out even in the evening– In spite of the bolletini, [3] to bear it much longer will be difficult—only we shall really try. The anxiety will be worse than the heat perhaps–
The emperor had an epaulette shot off in the last victory– [4] If it had been his head, the world might have been thrown back a hundred years!– So much does one ant count above another, in this ant hill of men!
We went to the villa Bricchieri two evenings since, & sate on the terrace deep into the night– Such a night– There seemed a silent, infinite whirlpool of stars overhead—they whirled till they made you giddy with their glory–
Tonight people come here—& no stars—(& no Sophie neither!)– There are to be visitors from the Colombaia (Crossmans) as well as from the Bricchieri—& two or three Italians– How I shall be able to stand & talk, yes, & make tea in this heat, I cannot at present imagine. But “one never knows what one is capable of till one tries,” says some great author.
What an excellent account you send me of your dear Doady– It is very creditable to Miss Verini’s [5] influence, to get so much out of him so soon. Give me news of him from time to time, as few subjects can have more interest to me, be sure.
Fanny Haworth has disappeared from the scene– She left me with tears in her eyes, & dissolved in absolute weeping they tell me, when she went away from Florence, exclaiming that she “did not know why she went”– Of course not– That is the characteristic misfortune. But indeed I feel sorry to lose her– She will go to England & pine for Italy .. which at least will be something definite– Poor, poor Fanny.
I think of you with fresh green thoughts among those green leaves: yes, it must be very pleasant. On the other hand, for you to think of me … why the whole d[r]eary influence of your chesnut woods will not put out the fire of you, if you are so imprudent– I feel as if the idea of me were red-hot at this moment, & could’nt be touched with impunity– Guess the thermometer towards ninety–
Landor has been here again, [6] & found nobody, seeing that we were at Gordigiani’s– He says that his only comfort is at Casa Guidi, & the relenting Furies of his family have taken to drop him here on their road to the Cascine.
Now, my Sophie must tell me a little of the spiritual world, because I am perfectly materialized in her absence,—let her think of it–
Let her tell me too, above all, how she is in health—for I do not like to hear her complaining of languor or weakness or of any other drawback–
My love to Fanny & dear Mr Eckley,—& dear Do– Pen has begun a letter to you, but where it is I cant tell you– He proposes every morning that he should “write to aunt Sophie” instead of doing his lessons .. but that we cant admit of, poor child—&, after the lessons, there is not an equal zeal.
May God bless you, dear dearest Sophie– Robert will write, will write–
Let me remember to tell you. My sister Arabel thinks the Talfourd picture of me, very like, still more like than the photograph which exaggerates a slight defect, she thinks, in the upper lip– The Talfourd picture of me she thinks very like, except for that slight defect—but the Talfourd picture of Robert, she considers identical .. tale quale [7] .. too like for criticism.
Both these pictures are in the possession of Miss Heaton,—& I suppose, purchased by her. [8] At last Arabel “envies” her advantage in having them both.
Here is Robert,—about to write at once– [9]
I heard yesterday that the Storys were coming to Florence today, but they have not appeared yet.
Mrs Perkins has gone to her villa, [10] —& the card left here is a proof that she will receive– I shall try again, at least. May God bless you—my last best word, you know, Sophie, and, as ever, coming in love from Ba.
Address: Madame Eckley / Bagni di Lucca.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. This letter is postmarked 5 July 1859, a Tuesday.
2. Apparently, the portrait was completed on Saturday, 2 July. As EBB indicates below, the Brownings were at the artist’s studio the day Walter Savage Landor called (see letter 4441).
3. “Bulletins.”
4. The “last victory” was at the Battle of Solferino on 24 June 1859 (see letter 4436, note 16). The Morning Post of 30 June carried a report, filed on the day of the battle, from their correspondent on the scene: “The Emperor is constantly under fire. At one time he remained with a battery of the Artillery of the Guard whose firing had been very successful. … A Cent Guard behind the Emperor had his epaulette carried away by a ball” (p. 5). Several days later, the Post’s correspondent in Turin submitted the following: “There is a report that the Emperor of the French was wounded at Solferino, and another denying it, and again another that a ball lodged in his epaulette. The latter is confirmed by the majority” (6 July 1859, p. 6).
7. “Exactly alike.” No photographs of the Field Talfourd portrait of RB have been located. Besides this copy to Arabel, one was also sent to RB’s sister. Years later RB recalled that Sarianna “always liked it as resembling its subject when his features had more resemblance to those of his Mother than in aftertime when those of his Father got the better—or perhaps the worse—of them” (letter to Edmund Gosse, 23 February 1888, ms at British Library).
8. Field Talfourd’s portrait of RB remained with the artist (see letter 4346, note 14).
9. To David Eckley, as indicated in letter 4443. The letter to Eckley has not surfaced.
10. According to the Brownings’ address book of this period (AB-4), Mary Perkins and her family were staying at Villa Capponi, Gamberaja, near Settignano, a hamlet just northeast of Florence.
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