5795. RB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 32, 116–118.
Le Croisic, Loire Inférieure.
Aug. 7. [1866] [1]
Dearest Isa,
This time let my letter precede yours—otherwise you will not know whither to send one: we all found Dinard unsuitable and, after staying a few days at St Malo, resolved to try this place—and well for us, since it serves our purpose capitally: usually it is fashionable & full, but this season reports of the cholera or other causes have kept people away, and we have it nearly to ourselves: we are in the most delicious & peculiar old house I ever occupied, the oldest in the town, [2] —plenty of great rooms,—nearly as much space as at the Villa Alberti: [3] Mrs Bracken is well-lodged too, close by: the little town, and surrounding country are wild and primitive, even a trifle beyond Pornic perhaps: close by is Batz, a village where the men dress in white from head to foot, with baggy breeches, and great black flap hats, [4] —opposite is Guerande, the old capital of Bretagne,—you have read about it in Balzac’s Beatrix, [5] —and other interesting places are near: the sea is all round our peninsula, and on the whole I expect we shall like it very much. [6] But I want to tell you that, on arriving at Jersey, I at once found out & called on F. Tennyson: he was not in doors, but his wife welcomed me most warmly—said they had been talking of me the day before, & so on. She showed me over the garden & house—which contents them greatly—has quite obliterated Florence from their thoughts: so it would not from mine,—nice enough as it is, but quite another thing, from the Garden Palace [7] they were used to: she spoke very eagerly of your coming to see and stay with them,—as if you had promised to do so: it would be a good visit—for the island seems beautiful, and the delight of seeing Tennyson again would affect you as it did me when I returned in the evening to take tea with them: I brought Pen & Willy with me: he was just as of old, pleasant and genial to the last degree,—I told him about you,—how you gave me his address (—which I had preserved, and gave him) and how I had seen you the day before: I saw also his three daughters,—two very pretty—and a young Alfred Tennyson: [8] in short I enjoyed it all greatly, and, but for the arranged plan, would have passed our holiday there. Mrs T. told me he is wholly addicted to spirit-rapping and writing—in which she also believes—moreover he is “quite changed” (from what?) and “is of the faith of the New Jerusalem”—i.e Swedenborgian: she said a word or two on both subjects, but no more—and the fewer the better. He seemed to hope you would come and see him. I groan over such a noble, accomplished man being as good as lost to us all.
At St Malo we made excursions to Dinan, which I knew, and the Mont St Michel, which I did not,—a very wonderful sight. I shall try and see the great things in this region which, for one cause or another I have hitherto missed,—Carnac &c. [9]
It was very vexing to see so little of you—still that little may help me over a few more stages of the journey: I shall not hope to return to Florence,—but some whither in the Land of Souls I will go to, if I can. Poor Italy,—whosever the fault, how ill she has come off,—in the sea-fight, strangely so: and to get Venetia in this way! [10] I don’t envy you if you are to be dosed with Jessie’s comments and explanations of it all,—helped by the “Vice-Admiral’s” experience. [11]
Tell me about your book, [12] your arrangements with the Publisher,—and whether you have heard anything from Chapman: I told you I had written a letter to him that morning—which I had in my pocket, on the chance that you might say something admitting of an excuse for him,—for I hate quarreling with the poor fellow,—but I could not make matters better, so the letter was posted in the evening,—a decisive one. [13] I don’t believe he meant worse than delay—but that is a vile thing, and the carelessness also that he cannot deny. I see by the Athenæum that Swineburne’s [sic] Poems are out. [14] Have you seen them? Tell me: I am not badly off for news however,—receiving the “Times,” “Athn” and “Illustrated News.”
I will now follow the others to the bathing-place: I wanted to write and apprize you whither to direct the letter I shall be so glad to receive. Direct the next hither also,—I stay till the end of September. The weather is not warm, rather chilly, but sunshiny and pleasant. Tell me all about yourself—and where I am next to think of you. Of course I found out much I had forgotten to enquire about,—and written words profit little, in my case. My sister is quite well, and sends her best love, as does Pen: the Brackens are quite well– Good bye, dearest Isa. Give me a good full letter, not eked out by—because I value every dear word you write. God bless you.
Ever affectionately yours
Robert Browning.
Publication: DI, pp. 243–246.
Manuscript: British Library.
1. Year based on RB’s reference to Venetia (see note 9 below).
2. Maison Du Bochet, as identified by RB in letter 5947.
3. The Brownings’ summer residence outside Siena in 1859 and 1860.
4. Two miles S.E. of Le Croisic, Batz lies on the western edge of extensive salt marshes, where ocean water is collected in reservoirs, evaporated, and gathered by the local men known as paludiers. They and “their assistants, called saulniers, inhabit Batz, Pouliguen, Sallié, and other villages, and form a most peculier class. Their usual dress is an enormous black flapped hat, a long white frock or waistcoat, huge baggy white breeches, white gaiters and white shoes. The men of Batz are a magnificent race of large stalwart (evidently) Saxons, and the contrast between them and the surrounding Bretons cannot fail to be remarked” (Murray’s A Handbook for Travellers in France, 1870, p. 179).
5. Many years earlier, RB commented on Balzac’s Béatrix (1839) and its connection to Guérande. See letter 689, note 8.
6. RB would draw on this and next year’s stay at Le Croisic to describe the town and its environs in The Two Poets of Croisic (1878), stanzas X–XVI,
7. The Villa Torrigiani (see letter 3491, note 18).
8. Alfred Tennyson (1854–1928), youngest son of Frederick Tennyson (1807–98) and his wife, Maria Carolina (née Giulotti, d. 1884, aged 68). For their three daughters and eldest son, see letter 3158, note 4. At this time, the Tennysons lived at Roseville House, Roseville St., St. Helier.
9. A village about 70 miles N.W. of Le Croisic by land, in the vicinity of which lie vast arrays of ancient stones, dolmens, and barrows.
10. Prussia and Italy had declared war on Austria in June (see letter 5776, note 3). Prussian military victories soon led Austria to sue for peace, and an armistice was signed on 25 July 1866. Apart from Garibaldi’s successful campaign in the Tyrol, Italy was defeated by Austria on land, in a “series of engagements in and around Custoza”; and at sea, off the island of Lissa (Vis, Croatia), where Admiral Persano was “attacked and soundly beaten by a smaller Austrian fleet” (Edgar Holt, Risorgimento: The Making of Italy, 1815–1870, 1970, p. 284). Italy was awarded Venetia for her support of Prussia, but it was first “ceded by Austria to Napoleon III, who then gave it to Italy” (p. 284).
11. RB refers to Alberto Mario (1825–83), husband of Jessie White Mario (1832–1906). During the late war, he commanded the Italian fleet that patrolled Lake Garda (see Scritti di Alberto Mario, ed. Giosué Carducci, Bologna, 1884, p. 157).
12. Nora and Archibald Lee (1867).
13. RB’s “decisive” letter has not surfaced (see Chapman’s reply in letter 5793). It evidently signalled the beginning of a lengthy parting of ways, which would end with a final break in November 1867; see letter 5971.
14. Poems and Ballads (1866) by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) was published by Edward Moxon & Co. in late June. It was reviewed by The Athenæum in the issue of 4 August 1886 (no. 2023, pp. 137–138).
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