2640. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 14, 70–73.
[Pisa]
Dec 14– [1846] [1]
Now I am certain it is Henrietta’s turn to be written to—but this is only a note, and chiefly on business. The next long letter shall be hers– My own dearest Arabel, I have asked Mr Kenyon to send you seventy pounds in his good time, … out of which you will have the goodness with as little talking as possible, to pay dear Minny, Bell’s bill of £16.. 4.. 0, & the trifles owing to Madme Alajnier, & Mrs Blizzard .. & Mr Jago … a bare few shillings, I think. [2] And I believe that nothing beside is owing. When this is done, I shall breathe a little .. It would have been pleasant to me, if my own family had settled all this as a previous arrangement, before Mr Kenyon had taken up the affair .. but Papa’s resolution threw me off this possibility, & now there is no other way– Mr Chorley has accepted the trusteeship, & also Mr Arnould I fancy—& the “settlement” is to be of the strictest—tying up into a knot a hundred a year’s separate allowance on me! When I cry out against it, Robert says, “Pray dont be pedantic” .. and I am silent,—through the extremity of the absurdity!– Only, I do hope, people will open their eyes & observe that this is my husband’s own doing, & that he would not precisely have done it if he had calculated his “advantages” after the fashion of the world or counted like Judas the “forty pieces of silver.” [3]
Two days ago I had two letters .. from Bummy & from Jane—the first a regular thunderstorm .. the scold coming & rolling & crashing! oh, such a letter– My conduct is to be a “drawback to my happiness through life,” & perfectly gratuitious wickedness, inasmuch as if I had but consulted Papa he would have approved & blessed Robert & me as Jacob blessed Esaw [sic]– [4] Well, that is all very convincing & satisfactory, is’nt it? She says that the world blames me dreadfully (which being a reprobate, I dont believe) & that perhaps I may hold her “in enmity” because she writes me all this truth .. which as certainly I shant do. Poor dear Bummy––the foolishness of it strikes me more than anything else! but she means no more. Then she says, after all the rest, “I hear that Capt C[ook]. is constantly in W St, & that Henrietta is preparing her trousseau. Surely she will not plunge herself into poverty & disappoint her father’s expectations.” Jane’s letter is quite of a different character .. as cordial & affectionate as possible– If I fancied that her silence came from coldness & disapproval, (which certainly I did) I never was more mistaken! Directly she got my letter, she drove to our hotel in Paris, & heard with dismay that we had been gone two days!– Then she did not know where to direct!– Then, her hand was weaker than usual! So, time went. She is delighted to think of me as free & happy in Italy, instead of that gloomy chamber! She has the greatest affection for me, thinks I had every right to do as I please, & takes my part stedfastly. Still, she will be frank & say that it was a pity & wrong not to have declared my intention to Papa by letter previously to marrying. To have asked his consent, wd have been, she thought, a sort of mockery––but I ought to have declared my intention, & so have removed the sting of having deceived him, of which he complains. Uncle Hedley sends the kindest messages—& Arabella & Mr Bevan “would have assisted me in my escapade” they desire Jane to tell me––which she comments on as “very wrong.” You see the kind of letter. Oh, nothing could be more affectionate .. if it had but come a little earlier. The contrast between her’s & Bummy’s is curious. At last however she says .. “Bell tells me that Capt C. is constantly in W St,—& that Henrietta is preparing her trousseau & to follow your example– Is this true”. And there is a duplicate of ‘Reports’ about Henrietta’s trousseau. Is she hemming a new pocket handkerchief (as I imagine) or what?
Mr Bevan is praised, & Arabella called a ‘lucky girl’—who is still “idolised”. Glad I am, that they are so happy. They are staying with the Hedleys, & in the spring, go to England “to settle”–
Yesterday & today have been the only cold days we have felt in Italy .. & yesterday, was a sleet falling for half an hour, so like snow as to be awful .. I keep close, close to the fire .. but the house is very bearable– We have entered on our fourth month of matrimony, & what do you think Robert said the other day—“The great charm of marriage I feel to be the stability” .. I told him it was the best word he could say on the subject .. the most welcome, I mean, to me. I am happy as any one ever was in the world, as far as he is concerned, the only thing is that he loves me too much .. so much that I feel humiliated, as some one crushed with gifts. If ever we quarrel, you may expect it to snow stars.—
Think of poor Flush, the other day– He is as insolent to all the strange dogs in the streets as possible, & the consequence the other day was, that a great black Beelzebub of a dog, siezed him by the nose, & bit him & nearly killed him, rolling him over & over. Robert interposed just in time—and Flush yelled piteously all the way home, looking up into his face as much as to say “Why did not you prevent it?” For two or three mornings after, he wd only go out with Wilson––which was ungrateful & undiscerning of him I must say– I often talk to him of you, and he always makes his eyes dim, as he does when sorrowful. Most impatient & <ab>solute he has grown—barking violently if Robert loiters in preparing to go out, or if I dont give him my toast directly he asks for it. He barks at the doors too, when he wants to get in. Twice as violent he is, & impatient, as ever you knew him. Pray when am I to hear from you, my very dearest Arabel & Henrietta? Every day I expect a letter—& if you mean your last inch-square notes to be sufficient for my necessities, you are altogether mistaken, I do assure you. Do, do write regularly & at large– At little, too, when you have the opportunity. Say how dearest Trippy is– While I write, my head swims with Chianti– And if you think that a mystical dew of the Muses, you are not right– How are dear Minny’s legs? Do keep her in bed– And get George or Alfred to place her money well for her, when Mr Kenyon gives it to you–
May God bless you, my own dear dearest! I am your Ba–
always & always–
Best love to all—if all love me or not—.
I cant write this over again .. so forgive & try to read– Robert’s love to you & Henrietta—& (he has the impertinence to say) kisses besides.
Address, on integral page: Miss Arabel Barrett / 50 Wimpole Street.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Year determined from EBB’s references to the “settlement” and to initial letters from her aunts, Arabella Graham-Clarke and Jane Hedley, following EBB’s marriage.
2. Due to the hasty and secret nature of the Brownings’ departure from England, EBB had left certain debts unpaid. In late February (see letter 2656) EBB reminded Arabella that Mr. Kenyon needed to pay Minny £55. Mary (“Minny”) Robinson (1785–1864) was the housekeeper at 50 Wimpole Street. EBB also owed money to the chemist, Robert Bell, to Dr. Jago, one of her physicians, and to other tradespeople.
3. Cf. Matthew 26:15.
4. Genesis 33:11.
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