5169. RB to Jane Wills-Sandford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 30, 194–196.
19. Warwick Crescent,
Harrow Road, W.
Jan: 27. ’63
My dear Miss Sandford,
One more plan impossible to me! Just think of the various impracticabilities! A letter late on Saturday night to say I am to get a place next you (or what good of getting it?) on Monday following—for a performance which attracts crowds, & must render application for any place,—much less the one in all the theatre,—useless—to say nothing of that application requiring a morning’s business of going to & returning from the box office. I like most dearly that you should care to see me—though what seeing, with players in the face of you, (& of me who have not set foot in a theatre since I left Italy)—and only say this to show you why I could not do as you proposed.
The difficulty is in London—getting from one part (distant like this) to another: I have time to go straight to a place & see you—not to go to a railway, return to a railway– You know something of the way in which my time passes,—but not all, nor even much– I have so much to do– But you believe me, & feel my sympathy, I think, thro’ these difficulties of expressing it. I will send to Lowndes’ Square for the letter. [1] You spoke of calling here: only tell me before hand, and come and take tea with me & Miss Barrett—bring your sister [2] if you please, come alone if you prefer– Could it not be so easily—as compared with these appointments at this or the other distant place? Only,—tell me beforehand, pray!
I enclose your paper of enquiries with my answers appended, as you desire.
Ever yours affectionately
Robert Browning–
Address: Miss Sanford, / 3. Connaught Villas, / Upper Norwood, / S.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
Enclosure:
about Florence
<which is the nicest side for Villas? taken for a lease>. [3]
I think, the Bellosguardo side, the Southern side of the Arno—for picturesqueness, quiet, cheapness: I would never have chosen the other, Fiesole &c.
<abt how much a year wd one pay for a furnished one with abt 2 sitting rms, & 6 bedrms in all?>
Very little: an intimate friend of mine has much about the number of rooms you require in a very nice Villa, close by the city, (should you require an entire one, or only part?) for thirty or forty pounds a year: I can ascertain
<& unfurnished? … about?>
—half: it is by far the most advisable plan to furnish for yourself, whether the whole, or part of a villa: but Florence is the place of all others for Villas—you would find whatever you want, certainly
<Wd you write here the exact name, & address of the best Agent for advising me abt Villas. I was told that one ‘Duff or Tuff or Toaxe’ a Wine Merchant, was a good one.>
I know no agent good or bad, nor would apply to one: if you really make up your mind to try Florence, I will write to my friend above who will get you a list: also my Banker whom I strongly recommend to you, and whose proceedings you will soon estimate rightly, will help you without making you pay a third more to cover his charge of commission on the landlord: his name is Brini, 890 bis Via Rondinelli.
<Would you write here Wilson’s address, Wilson who married Ferdinando, as I shd like to see her if I went. at any rate tell me where I cd find her out.>
Madame Romagnuoli 2671. Via Nunziatina,
(behind the Carmine Church).
<Do you know of any quiet Apartt in Florence with a ‘Garden to oneself[’] if not ‘to oneself’ I prefer a quiet Street–>
There are always plenty such; but they change owners, of course: I can obtain information about these, also.
<Do you think there might be vacant aparts on that side of Piaz: Sta Maria Antonio wh looks towards Fiesole?>
There are no doubt apartments there, and in quite a new quarter that has arisen there since your time. In fact, you may be sure of getting what you want: if you are certain to go, I will give notice to my dear friend Miss Blagden, who, an old resident and able to avail herself of friends’ help, will certainly procure what you want. It is useless writing otherwise—because these places are taken & become vacant so rapidly, that you could not make use of the information unless prepared to act on it promptly: besides, no wise person will take (absolutely) a place for you, nor will you, I hope, on any inducement, take a place on the mere representation of another: see for yourself! A list of places can be prepared, you can stay at an hôtel or private lodging for a week, and prevent disappointment on either side. Few streets in Florence can be quiet, what with the pavement & the echoing narrow walls, and the perpetual traffic, by day & night, of carriages & market carts. Miss Blagden’s villa is charming, as she describes it.
1. We are unable to explain this reference to Lowndes Square, which lies just south of Hyde Park in Belgravia.
2. Probably Ellen Wills-Sandford (1827–1901), who is mentioned by name at the end of letter 4820.
3. The questions are in Miss Wills-Sandford’s hand within angle brackets.
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