BIB_ID
402688
Accession number
MA 2148.46
Creator
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806-1861.
Display Date
[1853] July 16-18.
Credit line
Acquired from the University of Illinois, 1961.
Description
1 item (10 pages) ; 19.8 x 12.1 cm + envelope
Notes
This letter is written by both Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning: Elizabeth writes the first three-quarters of it, then Robert adds a section, and finally Elizabeth ends the letter on the top of the first page and on the inside flap of the envelope.
Year of writing determined from postmarks and internal evidence. See the published editions of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
EBB gives the place of writing as "Casa dolomei--Alla Villa--Bagni di Lucca."
Envelope with stamp and postmarks addressed to: "Angleterre viâ France/ George Goodin M Barrett Esqre/ 50. Wimpole Street/ London."
With a seal containing the word "Ba" (EBB's nickname).
Year of writing determined from postmarks and internal evidence. See the published editions of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
EBB gives the place of writing as "Casa dolomei--Alla Villa--Bagni di Lucca."
Envelope with stamp and postmarks addressed to: "Angleterre viâ France/ George Goodin M Barrett Esqre/ 50. Wimpole Street/ London."
With a seal containing the word "Ba" (EBB's nickname).
Provenance
Acquired from the University of Illinois, 1961.
Summary
[EBB] Describing Casa Dolomei, where they have just arrived and where they are staying for the summer to escape the heat and fleas of Florence; writing about how hard it was to leave their friends behind in Florence, among them Frederick Tennyson and the American dipomat William B. Kinney (U.S representative to the Court of Sardinia at Turin); telling George that Kinney brought them positive news about the king, Victor Emmanuel II, and that Kinney had pointed out to him the lines in EBB's poem "Casa Guidi Windows" about his father, Charles Albert; writing that the statesman Massimo d'Azeglio had quoted part of the poem in an address to the Chamber of Deputies; describing their second-to-last evening in Florence, which they spent eating strawberries and cream at a "bachelor's party" on the terrace of Edward Bulwer Lytton's villa: "the double view from that terrace--on one side, Florence seething away in the purple of the hills--on the opposite, wood & mountain pressing, gaining on one another, into the far horizon-line still bloodied from the sunset"; mentioning that the other guests were Tennyson, the sculptor Hiram Powers, and the historian Pasquale Villari, and that they all agreed that Michael Faraday's essay in the Athenaeum, throwing doubt on spiritualism and moving tables, was "insolent & arrogant"; relaying the stories of an American they had met in Florence, George Coale, about his experiences with moving objects, messages from the afterlife and child mediums; including a small drawing of a tipping table; paraphrasing Kinney's remarks on the topic, which include the fact that respected, prominent individuals of his acquaintance have testified to their spiritual experiences, risking their careers and reputations in the process; describing a letter from the U.S. senator Nathaniel Pitcher Tallmadge about messages he had received from the recently deceased vice president, John Calhoun; quoting from a letter by Sarianna Browning about a moving table she witnessed during a séance with a "Miss Kemp"; telling George that she does not discuss these matters with Pen, but that he does pick up on them, and recounting his comments about angels; [RB] sending his thanks for an opinion that George has given them (probably on a legal matter); describing Bagni di Lucca ("this green, cool, bright, quiet, noisy place"); inviting him to come visit them; [EBB] seconding Robert's invitation; criticizing the Times for their coverage of Russia's invasion of Moldavia; mentioning that the bishop of Maryland, William Rollinson Whittingham, came to see them and told Robert that he had read his book Christmas Eve twice in one night: "There's a bishop for you!"
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