147. Mary Moulton-Barrett to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 1, 144–146.
Hope End.
Jany 1st 1822
A Happy new year to my beloved child, was the first thought that presented itself to my waking intellect this morng. May it please God to make it a year of convalescence to her, and of blessing to those whose happiness rest so much on her health!– To dearest Papa Granny & Trep, say all that is most affecte on the commencement of this new term of life, which I trust will abound in the blessings of mutual affection to us all, & in thankfulness & content!– We were all collected round the breakfast table this morning, & another fine day, enables them to get out, tho’ much rain during the night, prohibits yesterdays excursions over the hills, & limits them to the walks– Sam is exercising Moses, & they want only our dearest Ba to complete the happy groupe, but there is a blank, that hangs heavily about our hearts! & our only comfort is to hope that before next new years day, it will be joyously filled!– Bum sends you the enclosed, to compound which, a gracious Providence, (rather than philosophy) has supplied you with every material. the recipe is not indeed new to you for you have swallowd these pills during all your illness, even with more regularity than Mr F’s [1] — Bum sends you dozens of kisses & prays that long before next Xmas, you will be restored to all the pranks & pleasures of Hope End. Poor Butler is well in health, but his low spirits resulting from his late loss, casts a gloom over their Xmas fire side– Carlow is still quiet, but it is a most uncertain quiet. [2] They rather expect Richd B. at Fenham this day; They have not still determined whether to go this month to Ireland, but wait first I suppose to see Richd B.— On Xmas day—little Arabella [3] had a tea party & the magic lantern & the poor people dined at Fenham as usual– Poor Clements has had an alarming attack but is better– Rowcastle [4] was very ill Jane said in consequence of their sea voyage & had lost an eye from the bites of the musquitoes, whose bites had covered Jane also with a thousand bumps– She was pleased to meet Mrs Cockle (late governess to Miss Pearson) at Florence, & who for the sake of information, she meant to take with her in their wanderings over that interesting city, of which, they had then seen nothing– Lotte is just finishing her picture from Sam’s Paestina ruins, [5] which Bell says is quite beautiful. Lotte is very well, & rides every day. Papa may remember old Mrs Clavering– her death was hastened by her maids letting her drop as they were putting her into bed & breaking her thigh– She has left all her property to Mrs Werg.– Miss Russel arrived only the day before her melancholy death. Mr Witham gave up his room to her, & Mr Blackburn’s [6] escape was great sleeping in the next room– Ly Arabella Vane marries Mr Russell’s son, to Ld Darlingtons great satisfaction. [7] One of the antiquated Miss |Rouths| who must have reckoned 65 good years at least, gives her wrinkled hand to some stranger she has met on a late visit– Catalani [8] is to have concerts this week in N[ew]-Castle & on the 10th Aubone Surtees, [9] new Mayor, gives a fancy ball at the Mansion House, to which all the Country are going– The poor Heseltines are in a wretched state again– Fanny is gone to her Aunt Rives, & her Father is concealed in Paris over head & ears in debt.– Phillips is laid up with gout, & Mrs W[aller]. not much better– I trust dearest Papa has got rid of his pains & sleeps better– Affecte love to him & to all. This is but a dismal new years day, separated from those most dear to our hearts! but no separation can make the fond affection less warm of that of your own
Mother.——
Address, on integral page: S. M. Barrett Esqr—. / Gloucester. / MP.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: British Library.
1. Possibly Fothergill’s Tonic Female Pills. These were advertised extensively, and recommended for “general Debility of Constitution … they tend to strengthen the Organs of the Stomach, correct bad Digestion, remove Nervous Giddiness, Head-ache, &c. &c.”
2. There had been widespread eruptions of violence in Ireland for the previous three months, protesting tithes, taxes, and absentee landlords. Tipperary and Limerick, west of Carlow, were two of the principal centres. A report in The Times (6 November 1821, p. 3) spoke of the populace being “all armed, and very daring … murders are committed in open day, and in the sight of hundreds … The object of these wretches is … by a conspiracy of the lower against the higher classes of society, to drive the latter out of the country, and to remain lords of the soil themselves.”
Sir Thomas and Lady Butler were waiting for his brother Richard to arrive with the latest news before deciding the date of their return to their home in Carlow.
3. Arabella Sarah Butler, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas and Lady Butler.
4. Thought to be Jane Hedley’s dog, taken with her on her recent honeymoon to Italy.
5. Pæstum (Posidoni) in Lucania (fl. 540 B.C.) was sacked and partly destroyed by Saracens in 871 and later by the Normans. As Samuel Moulton-Barrett was no artist, one supposes that he acquired a painting of the ruins while travelling in Italy, which Charlotte Graham-Clarke, a talented amateur artist like all her sisters, was copying.
6. The Newcastle Courant of 22 December 1821 announced the death on the 19th, aged 82, of “Mrs. Clavering, widow of George Clavering, Esq. of Greencroft, in the county of Durham.” The only reference we have found to Mrs. Werg is in extracts from a diary kept by Elizabeth Cook (née Surtees), which mentions “Captain and Mrs. Werge” dining with Arabella and John Graham-Clarke, Mrs. Cook’s aunt and uncle and EBB’s maternal grandparents (manuscript at ABL/Altham). The other persons mentioned—Miss Russel, Messrs. Witham and Blackburn—are presumably north-country acquaintances, but have not been identified.
7. Lady Arabella Vane (1801–64) was the daughter of William Henry Vane, 3rd Earl of Darlington (1766–1842). The projected marriage did not take place; she did not marry until 1831, and then not to Mr. Russell. Hope End had been purchased from a member of her family, Lady Tempest.
8. Angelica Catalani (1780–1849), Italian opera singer. Her first appearance in London was in 1806. In 1814 she participated in the Grand Musical Festival in Newcastle, of which John Graham-Clarke was one of the patrons. At this time, EBB heard her, and wrote “On Hearing Catalani Sing” (September 1814), subsequently published in HUP, I, 59–60. The first of the concerts mentioned here was to have been given on 3 January, but The Newcastle Courant of 5 January reported its postponement due to Catalani’s having caught cold. The concerts were given on 5 and 7 January. It is likely that Mary Moulton-Barrett, and possibly EBB, called on her during their visit to Paris in 1815, as Mary Moulton-Barrett had mentioned that intention in a letter to her mother dated 25 October 1815 (SD236).
9. A prominent Newcastle-upon-Tyne banker, who had married Mary Altham, eldest sister of EBB’s maternal grandmother. Henrietta Moulton-Barrett later married their grandson, William Surtees Cook.
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