FÁRMACOS EMPLEADOS EN ESTE ESTUDIO

subject o f the famous wizard Hume” (transcript in editor’s file). And Ada Shepard (governess to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s children) wrote to Henry Clay Badger on 27 August [1858] that “Mrs. Browning is a firm be­ liever, but Mr. Browning ridicules it in every possible way” (typescript at Yale).

description o f these and other episodes reveal the tension the matter had produced in the Brow nings’ relationship. Apparently Arabella suggested that EBB should be more acquiescent in light o f her husband’s feelings, against which EBB defended herself:

When you say I am not submissive as a wife I am sure I dont know what you mean— it seems to me I deserve the gold medal for passive perfection . . except in thought & conscience . . which cant be made passive, if one happens to have any (letter 140).

EBB went on to explain how Sir Edward Lytton had invited Browning to go with him to see a medium, and Browning had agreed, so Sir Edward invited EBB as w ell, “I looked at my liege- lord and was permitted to say m y natural ‘y e s ’” (letter 140).

Robert said to me afterwards . . “You see I am not ashamed o f acting against my own resolutions.”- To which I answered truly that it was one o f the noblest things in him, not to be tenacious in either wrong-saying or wrong-doing! And so we were the best friends in the world with regard to spiritual matters (letter 140).

The tone o f E B B ’s report further indicates the strain that had developed. She did not wish to upset her husband, but she was not prepared to give up her interest. “At the same time, Arabel, I shall never moot the subject, unless it is first m ooted,” and somewhat am azingly, she was sure her husband would eventually change his view. “He w ill be convinced one day, this Robert o f m in e ,. . but it wont be by me, or by my m eans” (letter 140).

There is no evidence to suggest that Browning abandoned his disbelief, and he would later recollect the Home incident in “Mr. Sludge, ‘The M edium ’” (1864), a poem that EBB never saw, but which clearly confirms Browning’s opinion that his w ife had been duped by H om e’s fraudulent mediumship. For her part, EBB continued to hope that her husband would eventually believe in the spirits. A letter from Mrs. Kinney describing manifestations in Florence left him surprised but unconvinced, and he continued to attend séances in Paris, but to no avail, and in March 1856, EBB told Arabella “it is not destined for me to have other than a sceptical husband. I told him I expected to have him prostrate before me in an attitude o f repentence & conversion— but no, it

cant be” (letter 147). M eanwhile, they were both distracted by E B B ’s work on A urora Leigh, and

Browning was caught up in the Paris social scene, so the tension lightened, and soon EBB was reporting that “Robert is ‘meek as a m aid’ upon the subject now. N ot that he believes. Oh no— but he is ready to speak reason & hear it” (letter 148). And not long afterwards she wrote that they were “the most united o f friends & lo vers-1 said to him the other day in a gush o f gratitude . . ‘I f truth were not truth & I could disbelieve what I believe, I would give up the sp irits for you & set them down as mere bosh" And he answered— ‘I f you could, I should not like it. I like you best as you are, & b elievin g as you b eliev e’” (letter 149). H ow ever, B row ning’s spells o f agreeableness were short-lived, and a few months later, EBB reported how she “was horribly vexed with Robert yesterday for disproving & laughing at all my convictions on that subject- Oh, I did not tell him so, but I w as very vexed— very sorry” (letter 158). Only a short w hile later she explained how he had announced that “he never, never, never, w ill interfere with me on the subject again. Oh, oaths o f men! Should a woman trust them?” (letter 164).

“Théologie politics”

On Sunday, 12 September 1847, the Brownings celebrated their first w edding anniversary in the Palazzo Guidi in Florence, where they had been living since mid-July. The next day EBB wrote to her sisters describing how “our Italians had resolved to keep our day for us” (letter 20), and how she and Browning had watched from the window s o f their apartment the processions taking place in Florence to celebrate the granting o f a civic guard by Leopold II, Grand Duke o f Tuscany. Although bom in Italy, Leopold was o f Austrian descent, and his benevolence in allowing Tuscans the right to take up arms in defence o f their property w as seen as a progressive step on his part. It was the second o f three important concessions he would make within the space o f a year. Earlier, in May 1847, a free press had been granted in Tuscany, and in February 1848 a constitution was proclaimed. For EBB these events— the second one in particular— marked the beginning o f what

became a central aspect o f her life and work. And if w e take her literally in C asa G uidi Windows

when she writes: “Shall I say what made my heart beat with exulting love, / A few w eek s back?”

then w e can date the beginning o f the com position o f C asa G uidi W indows to about this time,

certainly before October 1847. E B B ’s passionate response to events on her wedding anniversary was only the beginning o f her preoccupation with Italian politics, particularly her b elief that Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III) would rescue Italy from the Austrians.

A few references in the early letters to Arabella indicate that the Brownings planned to write a book together about Italy (see letters 8 and 10). In M ay 1847, she told Arabella that they hoped to visit Siena, Volterra, Prato, and Pistoia, as w ell as Pisa again, to find material “for our book” because, she added, “I have seen nothing yet to write o f ’ (letter 13). Their joint project w as never completed, but these remarks suggest that they were originally thinking in terms o f a social/ historical/cultural book, rather than a political book, and before her letter o f 13 September 1847, the few remarks about Italian politics consist o f only brief comments. From this point on, however, E B B ’s preoccupation with Italian unification is one o f the main topics throughout the letters to Arabella; moreover, EBB adopts variations on the theme as the basis for several later poems.^’

C asa Guidi Windows, as the first o f her Italian poem s, is particularly relevant in terms o f the

developm ent o f her ideas about Italian history and p olitics. In the letter she wrote on her anniversary, the scene she describes to her sisters is very similar to the one that eventually appeared in the poem. Even if she had not started writing the poem at that time, and whether or not she was aware that she was sketching a draft, the ideas were certainly germinating, and the im ages she observed in the Piazza Pitti offered a rich source o f material for her to draw upon. What follow s

is a comparison o f lines taken from E B B ’s anniversary letter together with lines from C asa Guidi

Windows: