SD2657. Sarianna Browning to Joseph Milsand
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 30, 362–363 (in part).
Ste Marie, près Pornic.
Saturday, Sept. 12th [1863] [1]
My dear Mr Milsand–
Many thanks for your letter, which I reply to at once, though I am too late for to-day’s post. Let me say at the beginning that with this letter I shall post last week’s Athenæum, (Sept. 5.) and that I have forwarded regularly all the numbers to you at Paris, except the last which I foolishly directed to Dijon, fancying you were there: no doubt you will receive it when you arrive– Still it appears to me, one is missing,—but you must make the calculation, for I am a wretched reckoner. I thought you would like to see the reviews of Robt’s poetry, though there is not much originality in them. Our life here is not an eventful one, yet it slips away rapidly, and we enjoy it. The weather is certainly not so fine as the marvellously beautiful autumn last year. It has been windy, rather rainy, and rather cold: still, we have no reason to complain, for it soon dries up in this place. To-day & yesterday have been magnificent, with a bright sun, and a calm sky: if this weather continues, it will be delightful. Robert has a strange liking for Ste Marie, and I share the feeling. The quaint little village, so utterly innocent of civilization, is such a thoroughly refreshing change,—and I do believe the quality of the air must be almost the best that can be breathed. There is a purity in it that cannot be surpassed, yet it is never raw or chilly: when the breeze falls, the atmosphere is always warm.
Robert bathes regularly, and thinks it does him a great deal of good—he is out in the open air, the greater part of the day,—and is looking remarkably well. My father is in excellent health, and walks extremely well: his bedroom is on the ground floor, so he has no stairs to mount, but goes and takes a turn by the seaside whenever he has finished his book or his newspaper: every morning he is up at six o’clock to take an early stroll.
A few days after Willy’s arrival, Pen caught his sore throat,—it lasted only a day or two, but Pen would persist in resuming his bathing, before he was quite recovered, and caught a most violent cold in the head. It came on with much feverishness, but turned out to be only a terrible cold. Of course, all swimming was suspended for a week: he has now resumed it, and really swims very well: he can swim for a quarter of an hour without resting. He never for a minute lost his colour, or gave any signs of being much the worse for his cold, bad as it really was. The great passion is now shooting. Pen is a good shot, and repeatedly hits the mouche; but we are obliged to forbid the boys from shooting near the house. It is quite amusing to see the patient love with which Pen sits for hours cleaning and polishing his beloved pistols. Every evening Robt, Mrs Bracken & I take a long walk by the sea-shore, but the boys seldom favour us with their company. Madme Louis gets on very well with the natives; by dint of energy, she manages to supply our table very comfortably. Our mainstay is poultry—the fowls we consume are past counting– Robt drinks milk; and Pen acts on his avowed principle that any fruit is better than none, and if you can’t get good fruit, you must eat a double quantity of bad to make up for it. The pounds of sour grapes he consumes, put my few plums to shame.
I have been so much struck by the extraordinary caps of the women here, that I have bought one to take home with me as a curiosity—it is unique in ugliness: but I am also having made for me a fashionable Breton jacket, or rather corsage, as it will fit my shape. I shall like to have a souvenir of the country.
Many thanks for your kindness in attending to Forster’s commission,—he felt particularly obliged to you. He is moving into a new house, and wrote such a comical description of his own, and his wife’s, sufferings at the discomfort of having their old home pulled to pieces, that Robt begged them to make use of his house which is now unoccupied in his absence, and quite at their service. He was really delighted to find that the offer will be of some utility, and they gladly accept it for a week—at the end of this month; after that time, they go to a house in the country that they have engaged for two months. Mrs Forster is delicate, and ought not to go into a new house until it is quite in comfortable order.
How are the Corkrans? I hope you hear good news of the Miss Darleys.
I am selfish enough to be sorry you are still in Paris, for I want you to go soon to Dijon that you may return the sooner. It is always a dull time for me when Robt & Pen are gone, and you are not returned, and I am alone. I suppose we shall stay here a fortnight longer, but don’t know exactly. I am quite willing to stay. Pen has taken several drawings of the village, and I will keep one or two to show you. I have been reading a book Miss Haworth lent me, with which I am so delighted that I must buy it for myself– “Thoughts on personal religion” by Dr Goulburn. We are well supplied with newspapers. There is no bookseller in the town of Pornic, but on the occasion of the annual fair, a man came round with a wallet of books, principally cheap livraisons of popular novels, “la clé des songes” &c. We bought a bundle of them, for the honour of literature, and among others, one that had illustrations by Gustave Doré, but I was disappointed at finding that the woodcuts were extremely poor– I suppose they must have been his earliest productions.
Don’t forget to send us the sketch of your house which you promised; or if you tell me the name of the work, and the number, I can order one.
Write as soon as you reach Dijon. I trust you will find your mother in perfect health. Remember me, I pray, very sincerely to her.
Robert & Pen send their best love. I hope the short stay you made at the seaside, left some good on your general health. Take care of yourself, and be quite well.
Ever yours truly,
S.B.
Address: Monsieur / Milsand. / 9. rue Servandoni / Paris. Redirected: à Dijon.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library, Joseph Milsand Archive.
1. Year provided by postmark.
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