2833. EBB to Julia Martin
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 16, 67–71.
Florence–
February 22. [1850] [1]
My dearest Mrs Martin, have you wondered that I did not write before? It was not that I did not thank you in my heart for your kind considerate letter—but I was unconquerably uncomfortable about Papa; &, what with the weather, which always has me in its power, somehow, & other things, I fell into a dislike of writing .. which I hope you did’nt mistake for ingratitude because it was not in the least like the same fault. Now, the severe weather (such weather for Italy!) has broken up, & I am relieved in all ways,—having received the most happy satisfactory news from Wimpole Street, and the assurance from my sisters that if I were to see Papa, I should think him looking as well as ever. He grew impatient with Dr Elliotson’s medecines, which, it appears, were of a very lowering character, suddenly gave them up, & as suddenly recovered his looks & all the rest, and everybody at home considers him to be quite well. It has relieved me of a mountain’s weight, & I thank God with great joy. Oh, you must have understood how natural it was for me to be unhappy under the other circumstances! But if you thought, dearest friend, that they were necessary to induce me to write to him the humblest & most beseeching of letters, you do not know how I feel his alienation or my own love for him. With regard to my brothers, it is quite different, though even towards them I may faithfully say that my affection has borne itself higher than my pride. But as to Papa, I have never contended about the right or the wrong, I have never irritated him by seeming to suppose that his severity to me has been more than justice– I have confined myself simply to a supplication for his forgiveness of what he called in his own words, the only fault of my life towards him, and an expression of the love which ever I must feel for him whether he forgives me or not. This has been done in letter after letter!—and they are not sent back—it is all– In my last letter, I ventured to ask him, to let it be an understood thing that he should before the world & to every practical purpose, act out his idea of justice, by excluding me formally, me & mine, from every advantage he intended his other children, .. that having so, been just, he might afford to be merciful, by giving me his forgiveness & affection, .. all I asked & desired. My husband & I had talked this over again & again .. only it was a difficult thing to say, you see. At last I took courage & said it, because, doing it, Papa might seem to himself to reconcile his notion of strict justice, & whatever remains of pity & tenderness might still be in his heart, towards me,—if there are any such. I know he has strong feelings at bottom—otherwise, should I love him so?—but he has adopted a bad system, & he (as well as I) is crushed by it. Now to write of something a little brighter. I was much interested by all you told me of Mrs Flood & her baby, [2] & glad to hear of the Irish nurse who will supply whatever may be wanting of beef in the original nature .. as the English physician said to us of a similar contingency. I confess to have been far less philosophical, than dear Fanny was, which I dare say I am on other subjects besides babies, .. siezing from the very beginning on the little creature, with an unreasonable passion of love which I dont mean to justify or try to explain. The curious thing was, that my husband was just as bad as I .. if not a little worse!. Oh! I assure you he did not preserve his usual superiority over me, on that particular occasion: he saw the baby dressed & undressed,—as much charmed as a child with a new doll. Now we have some excuse for our infatuation,—in which Fanny must be as advanced as we are by this time, since it was “coming”, she acknowledged candidly. Yes, but now it is a reasonable attachment on her part as on ours. Our little Wiedeman crawls about the room on all fours, as fast as Flush, and has a capacity for mischief wonderfully developped for his age—upsets the water-jugs, pulls work out of workbaskets, throws everything off tables! in short to find something wrong to do, is the delight & triumph of his life. He understands most words in Italian, & a few in English, and Wilson and I agreeing to call him a ‘miracle’, I modestly hope that you & the world in general will take for granted that he is so. If you have persisted in having a fine season at Pau, you should praise Pau for ever—it can scarcely partake of the frailty of the rest of the world. Florence never has been known to be so cold .. not for fifty years at least .. and Rome, Naples, & even Palermo have all been frozen by turns. For my part I have not been out of the house since October .. but it is not fair to blame the weather for this altogether. I am forced to keep quiet upon various pains & penalties, and hope to be escaping them all through this prudence: indeed my general health is good, & I have not suffered as much from the extravagant weather as I might reasonably have expected. We talk still of England—though the problem deepens in difficulty the more we think of our summer prospects of getting there, and I imagine now that we shant be free to set off from Florence till the very end of July– In such a case, there will be a great expense for a few weeks’ gratification– Yet I long to see my sisters—dearest Henrietta’s situation gives me many painful thoughts. Surtees Cook has some excellent qualities, but the truth is, he wants energy, & is a great deal too well pleased to loiter on as he is doing in Wimpole Street. Arabel feels this, & so do I silently. Nearly everything that has been attempted has been done by Henrietta herself. If he were made of different stuff, they might perfectly well marry on what they have, live on two hundred a year for four years, & pay off his debt with the overplus—but, I doubt whether his habits admit of this—and of course I would not advise it for the world in any case. These things must be rushed upon with a great deal of self-will to make them succeed: a good run must give the impulse to leap: try the same leap standing, and it never answers. I have advised that he should go for a few months to a north of England farmer & learn something of agriculture, so as to have some show of qualification for a land-agency, which they both desire. Alfred lost one the other day just because he was perfectly ignorant on the subject,—& a great disappointment it was. One of our cousins gained one, without being much more learned .. but he at least knew turnips from clover, which saved him.
—If I were to write to you the political rumours we hear every day, you would scarcely think our situation improved in safety by the horrible Austrian army. Florence bristles with cannon on all sides—and at the first movement we are promised to be bombarded. On the other hand, if the red republicans get uppermost, there will be a universal massacre—not a priest according to their own profession, will be left alive in Italy. The constitutional party hope they are gaining strength—but the progress which depends upon intellectual growth must necessarily be slow. That the Papacy has for ever lost its prestige & power over souls, is the only evident truth bright & strong enough to cling to– I hear even devout women say, “this cursed Pope—it’s all his fault”. Protestant places of worship are thronged with Italian faces, and the minister of the Scotch church at Leghorn [3] has been threatened with exclusion from the country, if he admits Tuscans to church-communion. Politically speaking, much will depend upon France—and I have strong hope for France, though it is so strictly the fashion to despair of her. Tell me dear Mr Martin’s impression & your own—everything is good that comes from you. But most particularly, tell me how you both are—tell me whether you are strong again, dearest Mrs Martin, for indeed I do not like to hear of your being in the least like an invalid:—do speak of yourself a little more– Do you know you are very unsatisfactory as a letter-writer, when you write about yourself—the reason being that you never do write about yourself except by the suddenest snatches, when you cant possibly help the reference. Is Pau a cheap place? The worst of it as a residence for the Hedleys, is its out-of-the-wayness—but certainly I never could understand the motive of settling themselves at Tours, where I suppose there is not much beauty of scenery, nor much softness of climate, nor much advantage of society. For my part I wonder at them for having left Paris. I like those great centres of civilization, to diverge from as the fancy takes me—and it would have been easy for rich people like themselves to have diverged at any moment & to any place, when they felt too hot or too cold. My sisters say that they have been giving a ball, & that uncle Hedley is better though much confined to the house. Ibbit Jane was a captivating child four years ago when I saw her, & I cant believe that she will ever turn into a commonplace woman. She seemed to me to have a quick fancy & overflowing sensibility .. & I hate to hear of governesses & quadrilles in relation to her.
You know of Mrs Cliffe’s death? [4] She was not left to tire long in the world, without poor Eliza. That was of God’s goodness to her indeed.
May God bless you both, dearest friends– Give me happy news of you both, & let me have it soon. We see some very favorable notices attached to the advertisement of Mr Hanford’s book, [5] testifying to the ability with which he has fulfilled his task. But popes wont do for us any more,—we must have wider heads than will fit into a ‘triple crown’. [6] Robert sends his true regards with those of your
gratefully affectionate
Ba–
Address: À Madame / Madame James Martin / Poste Restante, / Pau / Basses Pyrenées / France.
Publication: LEBB, I, 437–440 (in part).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. John Compton Lloyd Flood (1849–1911), the first child of William Lloyd Flood and his wife Frances (née Hanford), was born 22 July 1849 at Farmley, co. Kilkenny, Ireland.
3. Robert Walter Stewart (1812–87), minister of the Scotch Free Church at Leghorn from 1845, was instrumental in establishing Free Churches at Florence, Rome, and Naples (The Times, 6 December 1887, p. 10).
4. Elizabeth Cliffe (née Deane) died on 29 January 1850, aged 70, at the residence of her son, the Rev. A.R. Cliffe, in Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire. Her daughter Eliza had died in November 1848; see letter 2741, note 6.
5. Protestantism and Catholicity Compared in Their Effects on the Civilisation of Europe, written in Spanish by the Rev. J. Balmez [Jaime Luciano Balmes], translated from the French Version by C.J. Hanford and R. Kershaw (1849). An advertisement in The Athenæum of 15 December 1849 (no. 1155, p. 1286) contained excerpts from reviews in The Christian Remembrancer, The Spectator, The Morning Post, and The Athenæum. The latter, taken from the 16 June 1849 issue (no. 1129, p. 620), included a remark that the book had “not undeservedly been translated into English, French and Italian” and that it was “one of the few works of religious controversy that maintain throughout a philosophic character and spirit.” The reviewer is given as William Cooke Taylor in the marked file copy of The Athenæum now at City University (London).
6. i.e., the papal tiara.
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