Part 10 (1/2)

The great event of the autulish poetry was the publication of _Aurora Leigh_ Its popularity was instantaneous; within a fortnight a second edition was called for; there was no tiolden-hearted Robert,” writes Mrs Browning, ”is in ecstasies about it--far more than if it all related to a book of his own” The volume was dedicated to John Kenyon; but before the year was at an end Kenyon was dead Since the birth of their son he had enlarged the soift of one hundred pounds, ”in order,” says the editor of Mrs Browning's Letters, ”that they ht be more free to follow their art for its own sake only” By his will he placed them for the future above all possibility of straitened4,500 _l_ ”These,” adds Mr FG Kenyon, ”were the largest legacies in a very generous will--the fitting end to a life passed in acts of generosity and kindness to those in need” The gain to the Brownings was shadowed by a sense of loss ”Christth of three winterand sunshi+ne, carnival tiantic pantoed importunately for a domino, and could not be refused; and Penini's father and aiety When at the great opera ball a little figure in mask and domino was struck on the shoulder with the salutation ”Bellawho received the stroke, with her husband, also in domino, by her side The absence of real coarseness in thelicense, and the perfect social equality gave her a gratifying impression of her Florentines

In April it was summer weather; the drives of foruardo, where a warden, occupied a villa, were resumed An American authoress of wider fame since her book of 1852 than even the authoress of _Aurora Leigh_, Mrs Beecher Stoas in Florence, and so and his wife by her sientle voice and refine, ”did lioness roar more softly” All pointed to renewed happiness; but before April was over pain of a kind that had a peculiar sting left Mrs Browning for a ti Her father was dead, and no word of affection had been uttered at the last; if there ater in the rock it never welled forth The kindly meant effort of a relative to reopen friendly cohters, not many months previously, had for its only result the declaration that they had disgraced the fa was crushed and could shed no tear; she remained for many days in a state of miserable prostration; it o months before she could write a letter to anyone outside the circle of her nearest kinsfolk

Once more the July heat in Florence--”a cos to the Baths of Lucca Miss Blagden followed theht, frorew serious and declared itself as a gastric fever For eight nights Isa Blagden sat by his bedside as nurse; for eight other nights Browning took her place His own health re he bathed in a rapidhe rode athe patient, although still weak and hollow cheeked, convalescent and beginning to think of ”poe declares, ”in a manner other than celestial”

It had been a summer, she said in September, full of blots, vexations, anxieties Three days after these words ritten a new and grave anxiety troubled her and her husband, for their son, who had been looking like a rose--”like a rose possessed by a fairy” is his mother's description--was attacked in the same way as Lytton ”Don't be unhappy for _me_” said Pen; ”think it's a poor little boy in the street, and be just only a little sorry, and not unhappy at all” Within less than a fortnight he ell enough to have ”agonising visions of beefsteak pies and buttered toast seen in _e_”; but his mother mourned for the rosy cheeks and round fat little shoulders, and confessed that she herself orn out in body and soul

The winter at Florence was the coldest for es of the Arno were frozen; and in the spring of 1858 Mrs Browning felt that her powers of resistance, weakened by a year of troubles and anxieties, had fallen low Browning hiorous health When he called in June on Hawthorne he looked younger and even handsoray hairs seeoes on, ”a wonderful quantity in a little ti the Hawthornes spent at Casa Guidi Mrs Browning is described by the Aular creatures of his own iination--no earthly woman but one of the elfin race, yet sweetly disposed towards hus; a wonder of charm in littleness; with a shrill yet sweet tenuity of voice; ”there is not such another figure in the world; and her black ringlets cluster into her neck, andhi up conversation with everybody, and seeroup at the saical and coenerally are in their daily talk” ”His conversation,” says Hawthorne, speaking of a visit to Miss Blagden at Bellosguardo, ”has the effervescent aroet the very words that seeenuine and excellent quality, the true babble and effervescence of a bright and powerfulhis friends with the faith and simplicity of a child”

When su's father and sister in Paris, and acco could have the benefit of a course of warm salt-water baths To her the sea was a terror, but railway-travelling was repose, and Browning suggested on the way froether, for ever ride” during the ree with for-ever renewed supplies of French novels and _Galignanis_ They reached Paris on the elder Mr Browning's birthday, and found hi, indeed, ten years younger than when they had last seen his face Paris, Mrs Browning declares, was her ”weakness,” Italy her ”passion”; Florence itself was her ”chimney-corner,” where she ”could sulk and be happy” The life of the brilliant city, which ”murmurs so of the fountain of intellectual youth for ever and ever,”

quickened her heart-beats; its new architectural splendours told of the n and in its accomplishment of her hero the Emperor And here she and her husband met their helpful friend of forrieved and cheered by the sight of Lady Elgin, a paralytic, in her garden-chair, not able to articulate a word, but bright and gracious as ever, ”the eloquent soul full and radiant, alive to both worlds” The happiness in presence of such a victory of the spirit was greater than the pain

Having failed to find agreeable quarters at Etretat, where Browning in a ”fine phrenzy” had hired a wholly unsuitable house with a potato-patch for view, and escaped froain, a loser of some francs, at his wife's entreaty, they settled for a short ti calls it--in a house close to the sea and surrounded by a garden On a bench by the shore Mrs Browning could sit and win back a little strength in the bright August air The stay at Havre, depressing to Browning's spirits, was for soain in Paris, where Mrs Browning's sister, Arabel, was their coland was not in contemplation Towards theby slow stages to Florence A day was spent at Chambery ”for the sake of les Charth reached, it was only a halting-place on the way to Rome Winter had suddenly rushed in and buried all Italy in snow; but when they started for Roe kindly lent by their Aain like suative kind--occasioned by precipices over which they were not thrown, and banditti who never caht; but in a quarrel between oxen-drivers, one of who with characteristic energy dashed between thearments were the only serious sufferers froed at Rome was that of the earlier visit of 1853-54, in the Via Bocca di Leone, ”roo Mrs Browning was able to accompany her husband to St Peter's to hear the silver trumpets But January froze the fountains, and the north wind bleith force Mrs Browning had just coh_, and now she could rest, enjoy the sunshi+ne streaive herself up to the exciteh the newspapers in the opening of a most eventful year ”Robert and I,” she wrote on the eve of the declaration of war between Austria and Victor Es, which comforts me much” She had also the satisfaction of health enjoyed at least by proxy, for her husband had never been our and the spirit of enjoy days of January he was out of his bed at six o'clock, and away for a briskith Mr Eckley The loaf at breakfast diantuan slices” Into the social life of Roht iht, soeree with Robert, there's no denying that, though he's horribly hypocritical, and 'prefers an evening with ht thehten her hours of imprisonment

When they returned to Florence in May the Grand Duke had withdrawn, the city was occupied by French troops, and there was unusual ani shared to soland, and believed, but with less than her enthusiastic confidence, in the good intentions towards Italy of the French Emperor He subscribed his ten scudi a ence in his lessons with half a paul a day, which the boy ive as his own contribution to the cause of Italian independence The French and the Italian tricolour flags, displayed by Pen, adorned the terrace In June the sun beat upon Florence with unusual fierceness, but it was atwice a day they could not bear to remove to any quiet retreat at a distance from the centre It was not curiosity that detained theenerous effort and great deeds In the rebound, as Mrs Browning expresses it, fro hopes and fears for Italy they found theave his wonderful ireat in both, Robert thought,” so co, ”as well as I”[72] The strain of excite physical strength; there was in it so alures secured much less of her interest than the hly; she wholly distrusted Mazzini She justified Louis Napoleon in concessions which she regarded as an unavoidable part of diplomacy directed to ends which could not be immediately attained Garibaldi was a ”hero,” but sorand child,” ”not a enta and Solferino careat betrayal of Villafranca For a day the busts and portraits of the French Emperor suddenly disappeared fro would not let her boy wear his Napoleon medal But the busts returned to their places, and Mrs Browning's faith in Napoleon sprang up anew; it was not he as the criminal; the selfish powers of Europe had ”forced his hand” and ”truncated his great intentions” She rejoiced in the nity and calm presented by the people of Italy And yet her fall from the clouds to earth on the announce experience Sleep left her, or if she slept her dreams were affected by ”inscrutable articles of peace and endless provisional governht her husband watched beside her, and in the day he not only gave his boy the accustomed two hours'

lesson on the piano, but replaced the boy's mother as teacher of those miscellaneous lessons, which had been her educational province ”Robert has been perfect to s in a word

Another anxiety gave Browning an opportunity which he turned to account in a way that renders honour and gratitude his due froe Landor, who resided with his family at Fiesole, still retained his violent and intractable temper; in his home there was much to excite his leonine wrath and sense of intolerable wrong Three times he had quitted his villa, with vows never to return to it, and three times he had been led back When for a fourth time--like a feeble yethi, out of doors with only a few pauls in his pocket, it was to Casa Guidi that heforth wrath[73] Browning had often said, as his wife tells her sister-in-law, that he owed more as a writer to Landor than to any other conteht, if possible; and if not, to make the best of a case that could not be entirely amended A visit to the villa assured him that reconciliation was out of the question He provided for Landor's iland, ere proular allowance to be aduardian; soothed his wounded spirit, although, according to Mrs Browning, not often happy when he atteenerous words and ready quotations fros; and finally settled hi's faithfulthe re spoke of Landor's sweetness and gentleness, nor was he wrong in ascribing these qualities to the old lion She adenerous i becoed suspicion ”Nothing coheres in him,” she writes, ”either in his opinions, or, I fear, affections” But Landor, whose courtesy and refinees, had also a heart that was capable of loyal love and gratitude After the first burst of rage against the Fiesole household had spent itself, he beguiled the tinations in an innocent and classical forainst one private and one public foe--his wife and the Emperor Louis Napoleon[76]

Lander's affairs threatened to detain the Brownings in Florence longer than they desired, now that peace had come and it was not indispensable to run out of doors twice a day in order to inspect the bulletins But after three weeks of very exhausting illness, Mrs Browning needed change of air As soon as her strength allowed, she was lifted into a carriage and they journeyed, as in the year 1850, to the neighbourhood of Siena

She reached the villa which had been engaged by Story's aid, with the sense of ”a peculiar frailty of being” Though confined to the house, the fresher air by day and the night winds gradually revived her strength and spirits The silence and repose were ”heavenly things” to her: the ”pretty diround covered by low vineyards” rested her eyes and her mind; and for excitements, instead of reports of battle-fields there were slow-fading scarlet sunsets over purple hills

A kind Prussian physician, Gresonowsky, who had attended Mrs Browning in Florence, and who entered sys, followed her uninvited to Siena and gave her the benefit of his care, declining all recoood friends from America, the Storys, were not far off, and Landor, after a visit to Story, was placed in occupation of rooms not a stone's-cast fro, for his father had bought the boy a Sardinian pony of the colour of his curls, and he was to be seen galloping through the lanes ”like Puck,” to use Browning's coipsy instinct, the desire of wandering, had greatly declined with both husband and wife since the earlier days in Italy Yet when they returned to Casa Guidi it was only for six weeks Even at the close of the visit to Siena Mrs Browning had recovered but a slender th; she did not dare to enter the cathedral, for there were steps to climb At Florence she felt her old vitality return and her spirits rose But the climate of Rome was considered by Dr Gresonowsky more suitable for winter, and towards the close of Nove froe was furnished with novels of Balzac, and Pen's pony was of the party The rooht and sunny; but a rash visit to the jeweller Castellani, to see and touch the swords presented by Roman citizens to Napoleon III and Victor E into all her former troubles of a delicate chest and left her ”as weak as a rag” Tidings of the death of Lady Elgin seemed to tell only of a peaceful release from a period of imprisonment in the body, but the loss of Mrs Jarave political apprehensions was al the few Ae to stay were the sculptor Gibson and Theodore Parker--now near the close of his life--whose _tete-a-tetes_ were eloquent of beliefs and disbeliefs As the spring advanced the authoress of ”The Mill on the Floss” was reported to be now and again visible in Ro puts it, ”on the Corso walking, or in the Vatican hter of Lord Byron--”very quiet and very intense”--was a the visitors at the Via del Tritone, and Lady Marion Alford, ”very eager about literature and art and Robert,” for all which eagernesses Mrs Browning felt bound to care for her The artists Burne-Jones and Prinsep had 's acquaintance at Siena; Prinsep now introduced hiether they witnessed the rivalry of two iamecocks, whose efforts were stiland was present; together they listened to the forbidden Hynified blindness of the Papal gendari liberally plied theether, to relieve the host of all fear of es with their ht[78]

The project of a joint volu and his wife, which had ress towards realisation, had been dropped after Villafranca, when Browning destroyed his poe proofs of her slender contribution to the poetry of politics, _Poeress_ She wrote theet the relief to my conscience and heart, which comes from a pent-up word spoken or a tear shed” She can hardly have anticipated that they would be popular in England; but she was not prepared for one poe land ”Robert was _furious_” against the offending Review, she says; ”I never saw hied about a criticism;” but by-and-by he ”didn't care a straw” His wife, on the other hand, was more deeply pained by the blindness and deafness of the British public towards her husband's genius; nobody ”except a small knot of pre-Rafaelite men” did him justice; his publisher's returns were a proof of this not to be gainsaid--not one copy of his poems had for six months been sold, while in America he was already a power For the poetry of political enthusiasm he had certainly no vocation When Savoy was surrendered to France Mrs Browning suffered soht see ad cynically of his future Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, ”But he has taken eighteen-pence for it, which is a pity” During the winter he wrote much ”Robert deserves no reproaches,” his wife tells her friend Miss Haworth in May, ”for he has been writing a good deal this winter--working at a long poe short lyrics which I have seen, and may declare worthy of hi poee the Medium_, for Home's performances, as he says, were at this time rampant[79] As hitherto, both husband and wife showed their poems each to the other only when the poems were complete; thus like a pair of hardy friends they maintained their independence Even when they read, there was no reading aloud; Mrs Browning was indefatigable in her passion for books; her husband, with y i at a single sitting

On June 4th 1860 they left Roh Orvieto and Chiusi to their ho, but on arriving they had the happiness of finding Landor well; he looked not less than”the most beautiful sea-foam of a beardall in a curl and white bubblement of beauty”

Wilson had the old man under happy control; only once had he thrown his dinner out of the ; that he should be at odds with all the world was inevitable, and that all the world should be in the wrong was exhilarating and restorative The plans for the su year; the saain; the sa's spirits; Landor, her ”adopted son”--a son of eighty-six years old--was hard by as he had been last suden was this year an added pleasure ”The little eager lady,” as Henry Jaay black eyes,” had seen much, read much, written already a little (with enerous heart and her helpful hand The season was one of unusual coolness for Italy

Pen's pony, as before, flashed through the lanes and along the roads

Browning had returned fro stouter in person than six months previously Nohile a tenant of the Villa Alberti, he spent his energies in long rides, so froh he had his solitary room in which to work, remained for the pursuit of poetry

The departure for Rome was early--about Septereat sorrow had fallen upon Mrs Browning--her sister Henrietta, Mrs Surtees Cook, was dead, leaving behind her three young children Mrs Browning could not shed tears nor speak of her grief: she felt tired and beaten by the pain; and tried to persuade herself that for one who believed the invisible world to be so near, such pain was but a weakness Her husband was able to do little, but he shared in his degree in the sense of loss, and protected her fro was admitted because he presented a letter of introduction and had intimate relations with the French Eland, with its cry of ”Rifles French troops were now in Rouous; but Pen had fraternised with the officers on the Pincio, had learnedly discussed Chopin and Stephen heller with theht for the Holy Father, and had invited ”ever so many of them” to come and see mamma--an invitation which they were too discreet to accept Mrs Browning's excitement about public affairs had somewhat abated; yet she watched with deep interest the earlier stages of the great struggle in America; and she did not falter in her hopes for Italy; by intrigues and s the newspapers which she wished to see were obtained through the courteous French generals But her spirits were languid; ”I gather myself up by fits and starts,” she confesses, ”and then fall back”

Apart fro pleasure in his boy, who holly absorbed in one new interest He had long been an acco; now his passion was forin clay, and the work proceeded under the direction and in the studio of his friend, the sculptor Story His previous studies in anatoress, and six hours a day passed as if in an enchant but clay does he care for,” says Mrs Browning sy with physical effort in such work gave hirudged a little,” she says, the time stolen from his special art of poetry; but she saw that his health and spirits gained froularly at verse; fits of active effort were followed by long intervals during which production seemed impossible And some vent was necessary for the force coiled up within him; if this were not to be obtained, he wore hi his dear head,” as Mrs Browning describes it, ”against the wall, sinified by his oo eyes almost indefinitely into some Saurianever,” he declared, ” was now nearly forty-nine--the only syure, and that his beard and hair were somewhat blanched by time ”The women,” his rote to his sister, ”adore him everywhere far too much for decency,” and to herself he seemed ”infinitely handsomer and more attractive” than when, sixteen years previously, she had first seen him On the whole therefore she ell pleased with his new passion for clay, and could wish for him loads of the plastic stuff in which to riot Afterwards, in his days of sorrow in London, when he compared the colour of his life to that of a snow-cloud, it seemed to hiold enough to ed for the ss of the birds, and the bleat of a goat coh the little door to the left, were heard[81]

While hoping and planning for the future, his as not unaware of her own decline ”For the first ti into Penini's face lately--which you will understand” And a little earlier: ”I wish to live just as long as, and no longer than to grow in the soul” The winter was h snow had fallen once; a spell of colder weather was reserved for the 's father and sister in some picturesque part of the forest of Fontainebleau, or, if that should prove unsuitable, perhaps at Trouville Mrs Browning, who had formerly enjoyed the stir of life in Paris, now shrank from its noise and bustle

Her ould be to creep into a cave for the whole year At eight o'clock each evening she left her sitting-room and sofa, and was in bed

Yet she trusted that when she could venture again into the open air she would bethe friction of the world In May she felt stronger, and saw visitors, a as Hans Andersen, ”very earnest, very simple, very childlike”[82] A little later she was cast down by the death of Cavour--”that great soul which meditated and made Italy”; she could hardly trust herself to utter his na that the journey to France could not be undertaken without serious risk They had reached Casa Guidi, and there for the present she ently A bronchial attack, attended with no more than the usual disco had forebodings of evil, though there seemed to be no special cause to warrant his apprehension On the last evening--June 28, 1861--she herself had no anticipation of as at hand, and talked of their summer plans When she slept, her slu her husband was alarmed and sent to sumgerated

Then inestimable words were spoken which lived forever in his heart And so ”s her head upon her husband's cheek, she passed away[83]