Life and Letters of Robert Browning [73]
it will be pleasant to be in such hands --
only, pray follow the corrections in the last edition --
(Chapman and Hall will give you a copy) -- as they are important to the sense.
As for the condensation into three acts -- I shall leave that,
and all cuttings and the like, to your own judgment -- and, come what will,
I shall have to be grateful to you, as before. For the rest,
you will play the part to heart's content, I KNOW . . . And how good
it will be to see you again, and make my wife see you too -- she who
"never saw a great actress" she says -- unless it was Dejazet! . . .'
==
Mrs. Browning writes about the performance, April 12:
==
`. . . I am beginning to be anxious about `Colombe's Birthday'.
I care much more about it than Robert does. He says that no one
will mistake it for his speculation; it's Mr. Buckstone's affair altogether.
True -- but I should like it to succeed, being Robert's play, notwithstanding.
But the play is subtle and refined for pits and galleries.
I am nervous about it. On the other hand, those theatrical people
ought to know, -- and what in the world made them select it,
if it is not likely to answer their purpose? By the way,
a dreadful rumour reaches us of its having been "prepared for the stage
by the author." Don't believe a word of it. Robert just said "yes"
when they wrote to ask him, and not a line of communication has passed since.
He has prepared nothing at all, suggested nothing, modified nothing.
He referred them to his new edition, and that was the whole. . . .'
==
She communicates the result in May:
==
`. . . Yes, Robert's play succeeded, but there could be no "run"
for a play of that kind. It was a "succes d'estime" and something more,
which is surprising perhaps, considering the miserable acting of the men.
Miss Faucit was alone in doing us justice. . . .'
==
Mrs. Browning did see `Miss Faucit' on her next visit to England.
She agreeably surprised that lady by presenting herself alone,
one morning, at her house, and remaining with her for an hour and a half.
The only person who had `done justice' to `Colombe' besides contributing
to whatever success her husband's earlier plays had obtained,
was much more than `a great actress' to Mrs. Browning's mind;
and we may imagine it would have gone hard with her
before she renounced the pleasure of making her acquaintance.
Two letters, dated from the Baths of Lucca, July 15 and August 20, '53,
tell how and where the ensuing summer was passed, besides introducing us,
for the first time, to Mr. and Mrs. William Story, between whose family
and that of Mr. Browning so friendly an intimacy was ever afterwards
to subsist.
==
July 15.
`. . . We have taken a villa at the Baths of Lucca after a little holy fear
of the company there -- but the scenery, and the coolness,
and convenience altogether prevail, and we have taken our villa
for three months or rather more, and go to it next week
with a stiff resolve of not calling nor being called upon.
You remember perhaps that we were there four years ago
just after the birth of our child. The mountains are wonderful in beauty,
and we mean to buy our holiday by doing some work.
`Oh yes! I confess to loving Florence, and to having associated with it
the idea of home. . . .'
==
==
Casa Tolomei, Alta Villa, Bagni di Lucca: Aug. 20.
`. . . We are enjoying the mountains here -- riding the donkeys
in the footsteps of the sheep, and eating strawberries and milk by basinsful.
The strawberries succeed one another throughout the summer,
through growing on different aspects of the hills. If a tree is felled
in the forests, strawberries spring up, just as mushrooms might,
and the peasants sell them for just nothing. . . . Then our friends
Mr. and Mrs. Story help the mountains to please us a good deal.
He is the son of Judge Story, the biographer of his father,
and for himself, sculptor and poet -- and she a sympathetic graceful woman,
fresh and innocent in face
only, pray follow the corrections in the last edition --
(Chapman and Hall will give you a copy) -- as they are important to the sense.
As for the condensation into three acts -- I shall leave that,
and all cuttings and the like, to your own judgment -- and, come what will,
I shall have to be grateful to you, as before. For the rest,
you will play the part to heart's content, I KNOW . . . And how good
it will be to see you again, and make my wife see you too -- she who
"never saw a great actress" she says -- unless it was Dejazet! . . .'
==
Mrs. Browning writes about the performance, April 12:
==
`. . . I am beginning to be anxious about `Colombe's Birthday'.
I care much more about it than Robert does. He says that no one
will mistake it for his speculation; it's Mr. Buckstone's affair altogether.
True -- but I should like it to succeed, being Robert's play, notwithstanding.
But the play is subtle and refined for pits and galleries.
I am nervous about it. On the other hand, those theatrical people
ought to know, -- and what in the world made them select it,
if it is not likely to answer their purpose? By the way,
a dreadful rumour reaches us of its having been "prepared for the stage
by the author." Don't believe a word of it. Robert just said "yes"
when they wrote to ask him, and not a line of communication has passed since.
He has prepared nothing at all, suggested nothing, modified nothing.
He referred them to his new edition, and that was the whole. . . .'
==
She communicates the result in May:
==
`. . . Yes, Robert's play succeeded, but there could be no "run"
for a play of that kind. It was a "succes d'estime" and something more,
which is surprising perhaps, considering the miserable acting of the men.
Miss Faucit was alone in doing us justice. . . .'
==
Mrs. Browning did see `Miss Faucit' on her next visit to England.
She agreeably surprised that lady by presenting herself alone,
one morning, at her house, and remaining with her for an hour and a half.
The only person who had `done justice' to `Colombe' besides contributing
to whatever success her husband's earlier plays had obtained,
was much more than `a great actress' to Mrs. Browning's mind;
and we may imagine it would have gone hard with her
before she renounced the pleasure of making her acquaintance.
Two letters, dated from the Baths of Lucca, July 15 and August 20, '53,
tell how and where the ensuing summer was passed, besides introducing us,
for the first time, to Mr. and Mrs. William Story, between whose family
and that of Mr. Browning so friendly an intimacy was ever afterwards
to subsist.
==
July 15.
`. . . We have taken a villa at the Baths of Lucca after a little holy fear
of the company there -- but the scenery, and the coolness,
and convenience altogether prevail, and we have taken our villa
for three months or rather more, and go to it next week
with a stiff resolve of not calling nor being called upon.
You remember perhaps that we were there four years ago
just after the birth of our child. The mountains are wonderful in beauty,
and we mean to buy our holiday by doing some work.
`Oh yes! I confess to loving Florence, and to having associated with it
the idea of home. . . .'
==
==
Casa Tolomei, Alta Villa, Bagni di Lucca: Aug. 20.
`. . . We are enjoying the mountains here -- riding the donkeys
in the footsteps of the sheep, and eating strawberries and milk by basinsful.
The strawberries succeed one another throughout the summer,
through growing on different aspects of the hills. If a tree is felled
in the forests, strawberries spring up, just as mushrooms might,
and the peasants sell them for just nothing. . . . Then our friends
Mr. and Mrs. Story help the mountains to please us a good deal.
He is the son of Judge Story, the biographer of his father,
and for himself, sculptor and poet -- and she a sympathetic graceful woman,
fresh and innocent in face