4958. RB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 29, 220–221.
Chez M. Chauvin, St Enogat près Dinard,
Ile et Vilaine, France.
Aug: 31. ’61.
My Dearest Isa,
I am indeed happy to get the letter from you I have this moment read! In all you say, dear and, in some respects, undue as your goodness is, I believe in it absolutely. And for me, it is just as true that no human being can give me one hand—with the feeling on my part that the other holds that of my own Ba—as you can & do– I was about to write to you, fancying it long since I had heard. Here is a letter from Cottrell that arrived with yours. Lytton has written two other letters from Vienna—I answered the first of these, but he really wrote them in a breath. As you are to know what he told me, and prefer (wisely) waiting for more explicit details, I shall simply hand you his account when you arrive. [1] Briefly he & Capt. W. & the V. Lady reached Camaldoli,—they had three bottles of champagne & one of brandy, for fear of accidents—they treated the Prior & another monk who consumed the whole, without help from the travellers, got outrageously drunk, and while our friend helped to carry one holy man to his cell,—there was a R, just in time B, horror,—promise afterwards of three years of the Sagro Eremo [2] &c &c I don’t know why it should not be true: he says they took the Lady for a Catholic & counted on her acquiescence rather than produce scandal,—she is ill from the shock &c &c. Remember, this was told in “confidence”—& I think had best remain so. I have made up my mind about him, & shall always feel kindly to a kind heart spite of many errors.
I wish I had seen Kate Field—dear, good girl! All happiness go with her! I see no newspapers here except a weekly thing that my father receives [3] —which may come to morrow: I know, therefore, nothing of the defeat, the new one. [4] It is strange & disgraceful I fear. But the North will be forced to ground its action on a broader basis—& abolish slavery. “Peace” now, would indeed be contemptible, nor can I believe in it.
I shall try & be here in October: Forster wrote (pressingly, indeed) to get me to go to him from the 17th Sepr till the 31th [sic] that I could not do, being engaged to Miss Barrett, but I promised to try & be in England by the last week in the month; so, it appears, I should just miss you, & that I am most unwilling to do: I will do my best to see you, dearest Isa. I hope you will see Arabel B; yet do not know: she may not be in town—but I know what a delight it must give her to talk with you. You have her address? “Miss Moulton Barrett, 7. Delamere Terrace, Harrow Road.” She was, I believe, intending to go to the sea for a week or two. My sister desires her grateful love & wishes with all her heart you were about to stay in Paris for the winter– I am better in many respects: I should not count it “better” to be with one regret the less,—nor shall I ever be. Pen is wonderfully well & strong. I walk for three, four hours together, and try to “walk it” out of my head. [5] All love from all to you. God bless you, my dearest friend.
R Browning
I have taken a liberty—& take C’s letter out of the envelope, otherwise I cannot include it in mine– Forgive me, if I do wrong!
Publication: DI, pp. 85–87.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. Isa evidently planned to visit Paris. On 2 September [1861] Sarianna writes: “Our stay will depend on the weather, but we wish to be in Paris the beginning of Oct: to meet Miss Blagden, who will be there for a week” (see SD2513). The Brownings returned to Paris on 21 September, RB and Pen proceeding to London on the 25th. The next day Sarianna writes: “Miss Blagden will be in Paris in a few days, for a short time; she will winter in London” (see SD2522). We are unable to confirm that the visit occurred.
3. The Athenæum, as indicated in letter 4961.
4. RB may be referring to the recent battle of Wilson’s Creek on 10 August 1861 near Springfield, Missouri. It was another defeat for Union forces. News of the battle began appearing in British newspapers in late August.
5. In a letter of 26 August to Joseph Milsand, Sarianna writes: “Robert cannot find a riding-horse, so he is obliged to walk by the side of Pen, who gallops backwards and forwards” (see SD2506).
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