4705. EBB to Mary Ann Bruen
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 28, 69–70.
Florence–
Saturday– [Postmark: 7 July 1860]
My dear Mrs Bruen, I receive your letter & have only a tag end of time to answer it in, as we are on the verge of setting out for Siena– Tonight we shall sleep in our villa, far from the noises of men—and, as the heat comes in briskly, silence becomes as desireable as shade– I send you the photographs—except Robert’s, his being at present exhausted,—though I teaze him to get others from Rome– I could not send it to Mrs Eckley, who asked for “the photographs,” meaning of course all. Miss Forbes [1] seems to have spread the fame of these– I, (like the devil & the emperor Napoleon) am not quite as black as I am sun-painted, but I rebel less against the divine Apollo than against some earthly portrait-painters– Except for the blackness too, there’s no great reason for complaint—& if there were——see how it has been made up to me in my Penini! But the most beautiful photograph I ever saw is one of Mr Story’s two youngest children– You should try to see that–
I am very, very glad that you should be able to give so improved an account of dear Mrs Perkins– [2] But how frightfully she must have suffered. And how all the dangers of the past must serve to make her more precious to all of you. I congratulate Mr Perkins and you & her sister, & the poor little unconscious darlings from my heart– [3] My love to them–
For the rest .. oh, I have no time to write of Garibaldi– We are hanging on his sword, all of us—and the sword-arm is heroic– Now the light is to be seen, .. of the unity of Italy. But we must have fighting on the mainland first–
Did you read About’s ‘La Prusse’– The emperor has great ideas, but where will he get great men to act them out? The prince of Prussia [4] is made of common wood,—and easily warped by suspicion besides–
No—I am guiltless of that letter—except of lending it to Mrs Stowe when we were together at Rome– She said it interested her, and, to my great surprise, I found she had printed it in the “Independent–” [5] I suppose she thought (& not wrongly) that private letters on subjects of such deep public interest, lost private rights,—but I was startled at the first sight of it in print, as it was quite a private letter to me from Miss Blagden.
I have been interrupted in every line of this note– The sense of it therefore must be very intermittent–
My husband’s cordial regards to you all with those of
dear Mrs Bruen’s affecte–
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Address: Madame Bruen / Bagni di Lucca.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. Presumably the elder sister (see letter 4697, note 5).
2. Frances Davenport Perkins (née Bruen, 1825–1909), eldest daughter of the recipient.
3. Charles Callahan Perkins (1823–86) and his wife, Frances, had three children: Mary Eleanor (1856–1907), Edward Clifford (1858–1902), and Charles Bruen (1860–1929), the last born on 24 February. “Her sister” refers to Mary Lundie Bruen (1828–86).
4. Prince Wilhelm, afterwards Kaiser Wilhelm I (1797–1888), who became regent in 1858 after his brother, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, suffered a paralytic stroke in 1857.
5. In the issue of 3 May 1860; see letter 4622.
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