4873. EBB to Sarianna Browning
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 29, 71–74.
[Rome]
Tuesday [16 April 1861] [1]
The first word, my dearest Sarianna, must be of joy & congratulation about the precious Nonno– Although it did not seem much of an evil, yet to hear of anything of the kind set one shaking, in spite of reason. Dont suffer him to overwalk himself, especially now that the spring begins, & there may soon be a change to heat– I think we shall go to you—so do not be sceptical of us. Rather consider whether Fontainbleau is a good place, whether it is not damp, .. whether we can get into the picturesque part of the forest–. One thing strikes me—that the nonno wont like going anywhere for a length of time where he cant get at an English church, & that perhaps Fontainbleau may be in such a category. If we were nearer Paris he could come in on sundays. Montmorency for instance? St Germain must be self-provided– Do you consider for him & yourself– We want to please you, as this is your particular summer– For my part & Robert’s, we care chiefly for quiet & for not taking a longer & more expensive journey than is necessary– But if the sea were good for the Nonno, we could make an effort & get to Trouville for two months. I liked so much the coast & sands—indeed I think we all did. Only in the case of the sea not being particularly desirable for him, some of the picturesque spots near Paris would be convenient of course—and Fontainbleau I have always heard of as most beautiful & romantic in places. I should like to go where the rocks are– Enquire where there are houses. Turn it over in your mind–
Pen has picked up a stone in the palace of the Cæsars, [2] “very valuable”, he says, which he is going to make a paper-weight of for his Nonno. Pen grows & develops, & looks rosy & plump—“with legs,” as he properly observes, “much too fat for Ishmael’s.” I have been hardened about Rome for him, accordingly—and yet the illness here has been & is terrible—four persons dead in a week— .. English & American,—one beautiful girl who acted in the Tableaux at Mrs Cholmeley’s– Indeed she was attended by a homœopathist—and homœopathy will not answer in these fevers, which being “fulminanti,” require remedies ‘fulminanti’ [3] also. If not taken in time with drastic medecine, they are apt to be fatal—that’s evident. Did I tell you what I did to Pen last summer when taken with feverish symptoms he cried out for me to send for his adored homœopathical friend resident with Mr Landor? [4] “Certainly” said I, “if you will take these two pills directly–” He accepted the condition,—& then the globules performed their part—a real undeniable part, to my mind, only restricted .. which is the case with all agencies.
This time Robert swears to me that he will send the right photograph. He is under the impression (I say, the delusion) of having sent it before, and thus although I had talked him into trying the experiment of enclosing one in his last letter, he would’nt keep to his intention after all. Now I cannot believe that with both your eyes open & with both dear M. Milsand’s open (though out of compliment to the Anglo-Saxon race he has taken to hating it) I can not believe that you prefer that common sepia representation without expression or character, [5] to this, enclosed today. The large head I think exquisite—& nearly everybody thinks so too. But with regard to the comparative beauty of the sepia full-length & this full-length, [6] I cannot comprehend a moment’s hesitation. Lady Marian Alford was here yesterday & wanted a photograph of Robert– We showed her these two without a word. She turned from the sepia one in disgust– “Oh, no, no! I wont have that. I will have this!—it is beautiful”– She is a person … nothing if not æsthetical. But everybody here speaks in the same sense. When I showed the sepia photograph to somebody the other day, the cry was, .. “No, it’s detestable! The hair brushed out at the ears in that common way!”
So, you see, I cant help believing that there is a mistake somehow. If there is’nt, you will only have another copy on your hands which we shall pay postage for—& I shall be proved wrong .. which so often happens, that I shall humbly bear it this time also– But there is not here the advantage over Paris which you suppose. Some times we have very happy effects,—but on the whole Disderi [7] keeps a superiority, I fancy. Black lines! Why, where are blacker lines than in my photograph. My face is answerable for a good deal, but not for the blackness certainly. And here is Mrs Story who has submitted to the process three or four times this winter—at an unsatisfactory expense of course. She is still a pretty woman,—& her specialty is to have curves & rounds everywhere,—& not sharp lines. In her photograph she is scored in black, and swollen, too. She looks twenty years older– Such a frightful production it was, that I quite wondered at her allowing anyone to glance at it!--
So Persigny is the mark now, is he? Of course. They oppose the Empire with barricades of lies & calumnies: its a regular system. Touch the emperor’s hand & you’re accused of a tendency to use your’s in picking pockets. [8]
Dear M. Milsand’s photograph is admirable, most satisfactory—& full of value to us. Tell him so with my true love. Robert shall give his own love. I would rather have such a photograph, than the best portrait, as the memorial of a friend. It’s form of form, body of body,—even soul of soul .. as far as expression goes. When I think of Page’s portrait of Robert, Gordigiani’s, Leighton’s, & Talfourd’s [9] (as far as I saw it—and he had no sitting afterwards,) I prefer the despised head, for my part. —By the way, what you said of poor FH’s [10] ideal counterpart, pricked me sharply– Yes, I always feel that Talfourd has made me beautiful in spite of nature & time, much in the same way. [11] In fact I always apologize for “the difference” in quite a sane humility—.
Robert will tell you how our foster-son is misconducting himself in Florence. Agreeable, must it not be, to get a letter promising a speedy suicide, in return for one’s good offices. Robert has written an admirable letter, temperate, yet decisive. [12] M. Landor is the most selfish & least genuine of the many human beings who are distinguished by such characteristics. Woe to whomsoever shall take the thorn from the paw of this lion!—— He has only the ferocity of the beast.
Is not Fanny Haworth gone? I have received Ruskin’s book, [13] & shall write when I have read it.
Pen was on his poney at a review two days ago by an open carriage, and the young lady inside was admiring the prancing poney. “I recognized,” said Pen loftily “the Neopolitan language. Che bel carin cavallin” [14] .. (mimicking) “so I asked who she was,—and she was the queen of Naples. Oh Mama! so very pretty she was—not like your photograph! [15] Such golden hair & such a beautiful melancholy face.” Peni’s heart was quite touched,—patriotic as he is!– Poor little creature! From her [illegible words].
Here I must end.
Your ever affecte sister
Ba–
My love to the Corkrans. Tell me of them–
Address, in RB’s hand: France. / Mademoiselle Browning, / 151. Rue de Grenelle, / Faubourg St Germain, / Paris.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Lilly Library.
1. This letter bears a Paris postmark of 20 April 1861, a Saturday.
2. On the Palatine Hill. The Palace of the Caesars was first built by Augustus and subsequently enlarged, altered, and rebuilt by later emperors. “Of all these extensive buildings nothing now remains but a mass of ruins, so shapeless and undefined, that any attempt to discover the plans of the several parts would be perfectly hopeless” (Murray’s A Handbook of Rome and Its Environs, 1862, p. 27).
3. “Fulminating.”
4. Arthur de Noé Walker (1820–1901); see letter 4742, note 2.
5. The photograph taken in January 1860; it is reproduced in vol. 27, facing p. 144.
6. This photograph and the one of “the despised head” mentioned below are reproduced in vol. 28, facing p. 304.
7. André Adolphe Disderi (1819–89), French photographer who in 1854 invented a process for producing multiple images on a single glass plate and a method for transferring the images to card stock. He called the finished product a “carte-de-visite,” hoping it would replace the traditional calling card.
8. We have been unable to confirm that Comte de Persigny was accused of any malfeasance. However, in The Morning Post of 2 April 1861, the French correspondent reported: “What I believe is not without foundation refers to an assertion that a great intrigue is going on at the Tuileries for getting rid of Count de Persigny, the Minister of the Interior” (p. 4).
9. These last three portraits are reproduced in vol. 26: Michele Gordigiani’s, between pp. 208 and 209; Frederic Leighton’s, facing p. 112; and Field Talfourd’s, facing p. 208. William Page’s portrait of RB is reproduced as the frontispiece to vol. 20.
10. i.e., Fanny Haworth’s.
11. Talfourd’s portrait of EBB is reproduced as the frontispiece to vol. 26.
12. Neither of these letters has surfaced.
14. “What a fine pretty pony.”
15. A carte-de-visite in EBB’s album; it is reproduced in vol. 28, p. 391.
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