4867. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 29, 60–64.
[Rome]
[ca. 6 April 1861] [1]
Ever dearest Isa mine, I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart. Consider yourself kissed and well-kissed. May this be the beginning of a prosperous course, along the open road of literature, in which there is so much giving & taking! Forwards, & dont stop to count the mile-stones! I was delighted with the Athenæum before your letter came, & had concluded, irrespectively of the latter, that no Trollope finger had been in it– [2] No! that was clear from internal evidence. I liked the extract too—& I hear of Mdme du Quaire praising it to Robert!
I receive your second letter this moment. Evviva Bowen—for the review in the Saturday! (if satisfactory, that is!) [3]
All reviews (except the exceptions) are so much gained—— … except, I mean, when the reviewer says that you intend to curse your country & pollute the divine purity of English women– [4]
By the bye, I heard the other day of seven young English unmarried ladies, (belonging to the highest classes of society) in the “way” which ladies dont love being in, when they have no lords.! But I dont myself think that its the result of ‘Aurora Leigh’ for all that!–
Yes, I know what you mean in the Athenæum– The word “carressing”. [5] A stupid expression of the reviewer’s certainly– But the general effect of the article is quite for good. I hope Mudie may get the book. I have told Arabel to enquire for it– Tell me all you hear of notices. The London Review, in spite of the “innocent adulterer,” will help in its place– [6]
Grisonowsky vexes me much. If, as Annette thinks, he would have been disappointed to be accepted, that would make him out too contemptible to fit the smallest cell of one’s understanding[.] Perhaps he is bewildered in his own mind, & may really care for you while he professes to love her– He may have used her as a lay-figure for all your draperies so long, as to get confounded between personalities. If he comes here .. it will be ridiculous—that’s all I can say.
What do you think of Lytton in the last Cornhill? Elisabetta Sirani–? [7] Nothing he ever did has seemed to me so worthless– It’s Robert’s manner––& not another of his qualities. The poem seems written for being written—Words, words, words– [8] Oh—that anybody should speak when he or she has nothing to say– “Gare [9] .. Ba!”!–
The pope’s fainting-fit must have been more—for he is very unwell, confined to his room, & almost to his bed. [10] He received in his bedroom Gen. de Nouë (not his wife) to take leave: & the interview seems to have been melancholy. [11] Message sent to the Emperor that the poor Santo Padre was “molto tristo”! [12] I am afraid of writing some things. Only the general is “glad to go, because he could’nt tell from day to day what if he stayed, he might be ordered to do. And to cover himself with dishonor in the eyes of the Catholic party in France, would not please him.” So speaks he to his friends– Dont let it ooze out to the public, my Isa– Its a confidence. Also, & for the same reason, Goyon wd fain go– But, said I naturally, why are these French generals so popish? “It is’nt that,” was the reply– “But they fear for Napoleon– Goyon has always feared that the E[mperor] would’nt be strong enough to conduct the movement—& he fears extremely now–” People, some people, talk confidently of approaching changes—but for my part, I dont see– I only know that it must be, given time–
Pen is learning to fence– Did I tell you? Its the reward for his heroism about the extraction of two teeth. Pen told me last night that “in time”, “if he did his fencing well” he expected to “get a prize in the face of the French army–” Also, he had seen two beautiful prizes—wreaths:! the inscription on one .. ‘Honeur à Dieu’, & on the other “Gloire aux armes”!. [13] Is’nt that good, as well as religious?–
Dearest Isa, I have been out once—for half an hour– I am miserably weak—yet looking much better, people aver–
Shall you take your apartment in Florence? If you could get a garden & a view, it might be better in Florence on some accounts– But I sigh for the Bricchieri–
I have written this in extreme haste & confusion—witness the errata– Can you read? How am I to get Agnes– I doubt the safe guard of Odo Russell’s name just enough to make me fear risking the book– Its too precious– Try to hear of somebody coming.
In truest love, your Ba–
Robert was at the Duchess de Grammont’s [14] reception on sunday– Only one Italian there, and not one English person– It was not however a full night—as you may suppose–
After my last letter was sent, I heard of dear Hatty having been thrown from her horse, & a good deal shaken & bruised. Leaping ditches of course– The horse’s hind legs slipped & he fell into the ditch & upon her. Robert went to see her in bed. But no harm was done, & she is up & about her work again.
Mr Story’s new work the Nubian Sybil is said to be very fine [15] —his best work. Framley Parsonage ends admirably– [16] From first to last, it is a real & rare literary success– How I should like to hear Blumenthal– If he had come here, Robert would have begged a few lessons for Pen—that is, if the artist still condescends to give lessons. I like his music. I.——
P.S.
Your letter came when mine was just sealed. Dearest Isa, I wrote to you on the G. affair, and since more shortly, I think– Surely you had my letter on G. or have it by this time.
That astonishing turn of things troubled me much, both on your account, .. because (though happily you carried your heart too high for him) women are ‘fearfully & wonderfully made’, [17] & none of us could be surprised so without some small irritation on the epidermis of one’s selflove,—and also on his account, because I had felt for him so much esteem & regard. What a fate you have in the Lyttonish kind of men– Here’s a man who keeps his eyes full of smoke till he positively takes one woman for another. There’s a worse fault however at bottom of that mistake & dizziness of soul. He was so dreaming of himself, that he could not be just for others. A man may dream & stumble, and yet dream greatly & avoid leading others across the stones. But this is the weak selfish type—poor Lytton’s type, I do fear.
Dont be vexed my Isa, even in your pride. Your letter was not hard– No—it was a good letter. As to his … well, I do marvel at men.
Tell me all about Agnes– I long for her.
Did I say I marvelled at men? Why not at women too,—after what you tell me?
And really Mrs Kinney never seemed to desire such a post[s]cript of nature as she has attained to. What sarcasms she used to pour out upon expectant babies. Is she sure of it, do you think? [18] Two grown-up daughters,—& no failures on the way! Congratulate her warmly from me when you write—of course.
And dear Sophie Cottrell– Am I glad or am I sorry? I fear more suffering for her when she is not strong—and yet some people get shaken into good health by such means occasionally– Give her my true love.
Now I must seal my letter over again—not to miss the post– Mind you tell me of G.
What I would give to be going to Siena with you this summer– But we must I fear for two or three months go to France– Arabel will meet me there. For me, I dread meetings as if they were partings—& worse– We go first to Florence, be sure–
Your Ba in love–
Robert is out or would send his love. He was outrageous on the G. affair–
Publication: B-IB, pp. 438–442.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dating based upon EBB’s reference to the “pope’s fainting-fit” and to de Nouë’s departure (see notes 10 and 11 below).
2. Isa Blagden’s first novel, Agnes Tremorne, was reviewed in The Athenæum of 30 March 1861 (no. 1744, pp. 429–430). The reviewer, identified as Emily Eden (1797–1869) in the marked file copy of The Athenæum now at City University (London), concluded that “‘Agnes Tremorne’ is the work of a true artist, who has found her vocation.”
3. A notice by Charles Synge Christopher Bowen of Agnes Tremorne did not appear in The Saturday Review until the issue of 27 April 1861. See letter 4890, note 7.
4. EBB refers to comments made in reviews of “A Curse for a Nation” (Poems Before Congress, 1860) and Aurora Leigh (1857).
5. Sic. In summarizing the plot of Agnes Tremorne, Emily Eden wrote: “So day after day Godfrey Wentworth acts the part of Herbert Tremorne, and while submitting to the caresses of the crazed Imogene falls desperately in love with the quiet, saint-like Agnes” (The Athenæum, p. 430).
6. A review of Agnes Tremorne was published in The London Review on 30 March 1861, pp. 353–354. In a list of “curious personages” in the novel, the reviewer mentions “an amiable adulterer.”
7. The poem “Elisabetta Sirani” appeared in The Cornhill Magazine of April 1861 (pp. 500–503) under Lytton’s pseudonym, Owen Meredith.
8. Hamlet, II, 2, 192.
9. “Beware,” or “look out.”
10. Odo Russell reported on 6 April (Saturday) that the Pope had “been suffering from a sharp attack of fever” and that during Mass on the Tuesday after Easter, he was “observed to close his eyes and lean his head against the back of the throne on which he was seated. Ten minutes elapsed and the Pope gave no signs of recovery, so Cardinal de Pietro rose and hurried to Cardinal Antonelli’s apartment for advice. Their Eminences returned at once, Mass was interrupted, the Pope, who had fainted, was lifted into a Sedan chair and carried to his bedroom. … On Thursday His Holiness endeavoured to get up, but the fever having slightly increased he was obliged to return to bed. I am happy to say that His Holiness’s medical advisers seem satisfied with the course the fever is taking and announce a complete recovery of health and strength in a very few days” (The Roman Question, ed. Noel Blakiston, 1962, p. 172).
11. General de Nouë left Rome on 7 April.
12. “Very sad.”
13. “Honor to God … Glory to arms.”
14. Emma Mary de Gramont (née MacKinnon, 1811–91), wife of the French ambassador to Rome.
15. “The Libyan Sibyl” (1861) by William Wetmore Story was exhibited along with his “Cleopatra” (1858) in London at the International Exhibition of 1862. Both are now in the possession of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London.
16. The last instalment of Anthony Trollope’s Framley Parsonage appeared in The Cornhill Magazine of April 1861.
17. Psalm 139:14.
18. Mrs. Kinney was not pregnant, though she believed she was. In a letter to Elizabeth Powers, dated 17 June [1861], she declared: “I am a free woman again—not the slave of a nursery in my old age … the deception was so entire as to forever remain a wonder! And now say to the good gossips that they ‘owe me one’ for giving them twice ‘a nine days’ wonder’—first that I was, & then that I was not!” (ms at Smithsonian).
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