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Life and Letters of Robert Browning-Part28_Mrs.Sutherland Orr(1828-1903)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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in Mr. Browning's history for which I quote Mr. Colvin's words.*

He was then living at Fiesole with his family, very unhappily, as we all know;



and Mr. Colvin relates how he had thrice left his villa there,

determined to live in Florence alone; and each time been brought back



to the nominal home where so little kindness awaited him.

--



* `Life of Landor', p. 209.

--



==

`. . . The fourth time he presented himself in the house of Mr. Browning



with only a few pauls in his pocket, declaring that nothing should ever

induce him to return.



`Mr. Browning, an interview with the family at the villa having satisfied him

that reconciliation or return was indeed past question, put himself at once



in communication with Mr. Forster and with Landor's brothers in England.

The latter instantlyundertook to supply the needs of their eldest brother



during the remainder of his life. Thenceforth an income

sufficient for his frugal wants was forwarded regularly for his use



through the friend who had thus come forward at his need. To Mr. Browning's

respectful and judiciousguidance Landor showed himself docile from the first.



Removed from the inflictions, real and imaginary, of his life at Fiesole,

he became another man, and at times still seemed to those about him like



the old Landor at his best. It was in July, 1859, that the new arrangements

for his life were made. The remainder of that summer he spent at Siena,



first as the guest of Mr. Story, the American sculptor and poet,

next in a cottage rented for him by Mr. Browning near his own.



In the autumn of the same year Landor removed to a set of apartments

in the Via Nunziatina in Florence, close to the Casa Guidi,



in a house kept by a former servant of Mrs. Browning's,

an Englishwoman married to an Italian.* Here he continued to live



during the five years that yet remained to him.'

--



* Wilson, Mrs. Browning's devoted maid, and another most faithful servant

of hers and her husband's, Ferdinando Romagnoli.



--

Mr. Landor's presence is also referred to, with the more important



circumstance of a recent illness of Mrs. Browning's,

in two characteristic and interesting letters of this period,



one written by Mr. Browning to Frederic Leighton, the other by his wife

to her sister-in-law. Mr. -- now Sir F. -- Leighton had been studying art



during the previous winter in Italy.

==



Kingdom of Piedmont, Siena: Oct. 9, '59.

`My dear Leighton -- I hope -- and think -- you know what delight it gave me



to hear from you two months ago. I was in great trouble at the time

about my wife who was seriously ill. As soon as she could bear removal



we brought her to a villa here. She slowly recovered and is at last WELL

-- I believe -- but weak still and requiring more attention than usual.



We shall be obliged to return to Rome for the winter --

not choosing to risk losing what we have regained with some difficulty.



Now you know why I did not write at once -- and may imagine why,

having waited so long, I put off telling you for a week or two



till I could say certainly what we do with ourselves.

If any amount of endeavour could induce you to join us there --



Cartwright, Russell, the Vatican and all -- and if such a step

were not inconsistent with your true interests -- you should have it:



but I know very well that you love Italy too much not to have had

weighty reasons for renouncing her at present -- and I want your own good



and not my own contentment in the matter. Wherever you are,

be sure I shall follow your proceedings with deep and true interest.



I heard of your successes -- and am now anxious to know how you get on

with the great picture, the `Ex voto' -- if it does not prove



full of beauty and power, two of us will be shamed, that's all!

But _I_ don't fear, mind! Do keep me informed of your progress,



from time to time -- a few lines will serve -- and then I shall slip some day

into your studio, and buffet the piano, without having grown a stranger.



Another thing -- do take proper care of your health, and exercise yourself;

give those vile indigestions no chance against you; keep up your spirits,



and be as distinguished and happy as God meant you should.

Can I do anything for you at Rome -- not to say, Florence?



We go thither (i.e. to Florence) to-morrow, stay there a month, probably,

and then take the Siena road again.'



==

The next paragraph refers to some orders for photographs,



and is not specially interesting.




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