SD1410. Thomas Wentworth Higginson to Louisa Storrow Higginson
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 16, 290 (in part).
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[ca. April 1850]
He [William H. Hurlbut] not only was blessed by the Pope, but by the society of the Countess Ossoli … But above all he describes a visit to the Brownings, to whom Madame Ossoli introduced him. They live in the most charming way, in a large old palace with a great parlor in which they sit in the evening; on the one side a large fireplace with an open fire, close to which sits Mrs. Browning, almost lost in a large armchair; on the opposite side sits her husband, and between them is a third chair for a guest, as they rarely have more than one at a time. On the opposite side of the room are ranged her bookshelves full of well-thumbed books including many Greek ones in rare editions, which H. describes with gusto. The ends of the room are filled with pictures, quaint furniture, statuettes, and all kinds of things picked up by Browning in his all-observant rambles. For he is perfectly what Landor describes him in a sonnet which I had written in the beginning of H.’s Browning … H. describes meeting him walking in the street, looking so firm, condensed, and animated, with bright eyes peering about in every direction: and this seems to be his impression of him everywhere—perfect health and freshness, with no fine frenzy, but universal animation and activity. Such, I fancy, Shakespeare might have been, and I quite like to fancy Browning such. She seems frail, but well, for her, “the bold one” having won fire to transform her to health. I should have added that this great hall they live in is hung with its fine old antique tapestry and they wave round the little lady till she looks as shadowy as any of the knights and ladies there portrayed.
Text: Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1846–1906, ed. Mary Thacher Higginson (Boston, 1921), pp. 29–31.
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