SD2266. Sarianna Browning to William Allingham
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 358 (in part).
151, rue de Grenelle St Germain.
Paris.
May 14th [1859]
My dear Mr Allingham,
I should have replied sooner to your pleasant letter, as I find from experience that the most propitious moment for answering an epistle is directly after you have read it, had I not thought it better to wait till I could give you the freshest news from Rome, as I took it for granted that, like myself, you were a little anxious to know what our wanderers were doing in the midst of these war-storms. This morning’s post brings me long letters from both of them; and the contents may be summed up by saying, they are enjoying themselves, and the state of things, amazingly. They laugh at my fears for them, or for their property, assure me that every thing is profoundly tranquil around them, and amuse themselves by laughing at the precipitation with which the English & Americans are rushing away—telegraphing three weeks beforehand to secure at Naples, the chance of a strip of bare deck in a steamer. The present intention of my brother & sister is to stay at Rome till the 25th of this month, then return to Florence by Vetturino, through Sienna, the shorter way, which is tranquil at present, though of course an Austrian invasion is talked of—in the summer heats, they will retreat to the mountains– I fear there is no hope of their coming to France this year. Altogether, their visit to Rome has been a very agreable one, and their health uninterrupted, in spite of much sickness around them. We in Paris go on much the same as usual, in spite of our somewhat forlorn condition, abandoned to the “lumières” of Jerome & the baby– Seriously, there is no cause for apprehension, I believe—at all events, I feel quite comfortable. Paris looks, as it always does in the Spring, pre-eminently beautiful, and the noble chestnut trees in the Tuileries are in all their glory.
Pray don’t underrate the Ballyshannon stage of civilization—the population has at all events a finer taste for good poetry than the same class here, who would probably be roaring out “les bottes de Bastien”—but I must tell the minstrel in question that though his ballads may be chanted at Ballyshannon, they are appreciated elsewhere,—in proof of which I may adduce the fact that when I opened the “Emigrant’s Adieu,” a friend present remarked that the poet’s songs were especial favourites of hers, and sang themselves on her lips involuntarily, and immediately began to hum her particular pet. So you see Paris is not without its literary pretensions also.
I hope this summer may bring you in this direction– Do not forget us should you pass through Paris– My father desires his very kind remembrance, and believe me
Very truly yours,
Sarianna Browning.
Publication: Letters to William Allingham, ed. H. Allingham and E. Baumer Williams (London, 1911), pp. 113–115 (as 14 May [1860]).
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
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