SD2118. Robert Bulwer Lytton to John Forster
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 24, 269 (in part).
Florence
Novr. 12/57
My dearest Friend.
I wish that you were here, or I with you, so that in these winter evenings now & then we might talk together. …
Already the mountains here are covered with snow, and my 26th birthday, ‘hei mehi!’, was duly interred therein on the 8th of this month. I have been very unfortunate in the matter of health ever since I set foot in Italy. The fever left me with a slight swelling in the glands of the throat, to wh. I did not at first pay much attention. The cold weather, however, or some impudence of my own, has greatly aggravated this glandular affection. I have suffered a great deal of pain, & am obliged to keep a close prisoner to the House. I have consulted the best physician in Florence—a man of great learning & reputation: & he tells that it will be a long time before the swelling can be dissipated & that great care will be necessary, not to renew inflamation, but that an operation will not be necessary. … I cannot at present move from the house; much less from the Country: & I think the mountain air here as good as any I cd find elsewhere. …
The Brownings are here, & well. My confinement to the house prevents me from seeing much of her: but him I see often at the Villa. We have here also the little American Sculptress, Gibsons pupil Miss Hosmer, or Hatty Hosmer as every one seems to call her. I like what I have seen of her. … [Hatty was in Florence for two weeks.]
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Lord Cobbold.
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