2896. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 16, 249–258.
[Florence]
Dec. 16– 18– 19– [1850] [1]
For two delightful letters I have to thank my dearest beloved Arabel, & this does not seem like ‘raining letters’ on my part. Then the little note which comes with my very dear Henrietta’s makes me happier & more at ease in many ways– I thank God that such excellent news can be told of her at this time, and I trust to Him for the crowning of our joy about her within a few weeks. As to the time, tell her from me that she must endeavour to spare the respectability of her family, & accept Mrs Stragnell’s (is that the name?) dates instead of her own. Indeed they might be thrown forward a little with considerable advantage—until over the ninth, for instance. [2] Meanwhile I have been suffering spasms of vexation on the subject of the little caps. The other day an American gentleman, an acquaintance of ours, [3] set out for England—but Wilson & I, talking it over, calculated that he wd be too late, just too late .. since when, I have been so dreadfully vexed that I did not send by him, late or early .. because the cambric wd be better than what Henrietta has—oh, I am so vexed. I thought at first that he would be longer on the road than appeared to be his intention at last—& at last, the borders were not sewn on .. & then, Wilson thought that certainly other caps would be provided by that time, & perhaps prettier ones, & we agreed it might be wiser to wait & send something more sure to be acceptable. You see, you are such magnificent gift-presenters in England—& these are quite plain cambric night-caps. Wiedeman had scotch cambric for his, but I repented it afterward, & that is why I wanted French for the new darling– As to keeping such things for myself, oh no, no, no, Arabel! Wilson wd tell you that it is quite a frenzy of mine, not to keep anything– I cut up into bits, or give away everything of the sort, as if it burnt my fingers. It was only that those caps happened to be new-made & unappropriated, that they are still in the drawers—& besides, dont you fancy that it wd be more pleasure to me on every account that Henrietta had them? I do wish I could be with her, rather than Louisa Carmichael—it wd be so natural & pleasant & right that I should be with her! Mrs Ogilvy wanted to be with me, very kindly, but I would have nobody for my part .. you know that’s rather a way of mine– Then, Robert was with me the whole time till the last five minutes, when Dr Harding sent him away—he lay on the bed, & I nearly pulled his head off, as the pains came. I shall be so anxious to hear—you will understand, how anxious. Which is wished for, a boy or girl? Which does Henrietta wish for? I am half jealous for Wiedeman, Arabel, that you will have the nursing of his small cousin, while he lost the priveledge of being nursed by you.
Ah, but it will be his turn soon to go to you & get his share of petting & loving & hugging & kissing. Meanwhile he is learning to be worthy of it all, having grown (now I must have you tell Henrietta that, to the glory of the spoiling system) the most supernaturally good child you ever saw or heard of. Some weeks ago, I told you what violent passions we used to witness—what screamings & kickings & stiffening of the legs & arms. Have we whipped him for it? No. Mr Powers said, “You should whip him” .. and the traditions from Arlette’s house & others all said aloud “whip him”. Robert cried out every now & then “If three women devote themselves to spoiling an unfortunate child &c” &c, .. on which I begged people not to be out of humour, because one man could do sometimes quite as much as three women could, in the way of spoiling. True, yet not satisfactory. The babe was imperious & passionate more & more, it seemed—whatever he wanted, he must have in a moment, or woe to us! A sweet, joyous, affectionate disposition he had always—but the passions came notwithstanding. So everybody said “Whip him”. Did we? No, indeed. And suddenly without the least apparent reason, he grew as good as if he had been whipped fifty times– For the last five or six weeks he has really been supernaturally good .. amusing himself for hours together, seeming to understand reason in everything, & only stamping a little when he suffers the last trial of patience in Robert’s not going to the piano the very moment he is asked to go. Wilson declares that she never saw so good a child in her life—he is quite perfect. I keep saying, “If we had whipped him, we should have attributed the change to that”, .. whereas the previous naughtiness evidently came from his teeth .. he was cutting his eyeteeth, poor darling, & the pain must have made him impatient & irritable, sometimes. Would’nt it have been hard if he had been whipped because he suffered? Oh—whipping may be necessary to some children– I dont say otherwise—but this child is far too sensitive & tenderhearted—he is only made to be spoilt, I think. Only yesterday he cried twice, because Flush was scolded. Yet Flush’s offence was eating Wiedeman’s only bun, and Wiedeman did’nt like to lose the bun neither: it was meant for his supper. But he would’nt have Flush scolded, & Wilson was obliged to forgive Flush at once, for fear of Wiedeman. And two days ago, when they were out walking, because a man struck once or twice a horse which had fallen down, the child shrieked & screamed—& he always cries to see the oxen struck,—and he is very kind to the little flies on the window,—and, the other day, when a mouse was found dead in his bath, we had a dreadful scene—he shuddered and cried so—poor little mouse! You see, a child of such sensibility, may be influenced without whipping—dont you see it? One can manage too by talking, to do something. Some mornings since, he was in a very bad humour because he was not let go out on the terrace. He sate in the balia’s arms and would’nt kiss me by any manner of means– ‘Very well,’ said I, ‘I dont want to be kissed’. And after a moment, I showed her the scarlet merino frock I had just finished embroidering with black braid, which he perfectly knew the destination of. Said I– “I think I shall give this frock to Flush, Flush is so good”. Wiedeman could’nt help smiling at the idea of giving the frock to Flush, but he struggled to preserve his ill humour. “Ah, Signora[”], exclaimed the balia, “ma questo vestitino mi pare molto troppo bello per Flush”. “No,” I answered gravely—“quando una persona sie [sic, for sia] buona, niente è troppo bello per lei, e Flush è molto buono oggi.” [4] Upon which, he couldnt contain himself any longer:—throwing back his head he laughed aloud and long, & when he had done laughing, put out his little mouth of his own accord to kiss me & we were the best friends possible directly. There’s nothing stubborn, you see, in the child. Also, about a week since, he had contracted a most selfwilled, naughty habit, of taking the turf out of the woodbasket (we sometimes burn pieces of turf called forme; cut symmetrically into rounds) heaping them up on a chair, & completing the naughtiness by breaking off a bit & putting it into his mouth. Then he opened his mouth & expected somebody to pull it out for him—it was just for mischief’s sake. He was doing this when I went into the nursery, & heard Wilson & the balia reproaching him bitterly– So I said quietly to the balia,—“But why should he not eat these forme, if he likes them? Let him eat them all, if he pleases– Let him have them for dinner today, instead of chicken”. Upon which, making a loud exclamation of decided disapprobation & shaking his curly head backwards & forwards to clench the negative, he carried the forme one by one, & dashed them into the woodbasket with fury & scorn. He would’nt have such things as those for dinner, .. not he, indeed! After the expression of which resolution, he brought his little chair & sate down close to me, putting on the most good face he could find. Since then, we have seen nothing more of eating forme—there, was an end of it at once. He has an extraordinary memory, and one day’s lesson does for ever, if it makes any impression at all. As to the R Catholic tendencies .. now, listen to me, Arabel .. do you know I am heterodox enough to think that whatever influence he does receive in the Italian churches is for good? I do indeed. It is a child’s sense of mystery, .. of something above & beyond .. it is reverence, in fact. The shortcomings and errors of doctrine, he can know nothing of: he only sees the space, feels the silence .. & guesses dimly at the need of a worshipping spirit around him, which no lesson of mine could express to him in the same degree– The churches here are always open, & everybody goes in & out as a matter of course, whether there is service or no service—you might as well exclude him from the piazzas as the churches—but of course he is not sent to mass, .. you are not to understand that, .. though he has seen it accidentally. No—the only danger I have ever feared, is lest, through our laughing, which it has been difficult to help sometimes (I saw him the other day baptizing his doll with the most devout gestures you can fancy) he should take to considering it all as a play & a jest—that is the danger to my mind. Two days ago, I said to him in his nursery, “Papa è tornato—tu puoi andare in salone”, [5] .. and he, who is very fond of Robert, set off running at full speed before me. You go through the diningroom to the drawing room, and I stood at the diningroom door seeing him run. In the middle of the room, he stopped suddenly—he had just heard the piano struck in the drawing room. Down he fell on his knees, clasping his hands & looking up. You never saw anything prettier– I called Wilson to look at him. Observe, he was full of eagerness to get to Robert, & running & bounding in the height of a joyous humour. The distant sound of the music was enough to stop it all & change the association. Curious—is’nt it? Also, when the church bells ring at six in the morning, Wilson says he is on his knees in his little bed– He understands that the bells come from the churches, & that makes him think of praying … which nobody does here, you know—it is not a custom, I assure you. As to our balia teaching him anything, if you knew the balia, you would’nt have such an idea. I said to her that my sister said she taught him .. “No signora, .. mai, mai, in conscienza dell’anima! Non ho mai visto un bambino facendo cosi, e non l’avrei mai pensato.” [6] —and then, she appealed to Wilson, who scarcely ever loses sight of Wiedeman, night or day. In fact, the balia thinks that protestants are quite as safe as catholics, “although we dont believe much in the Madonna”, which is our great defect, she thinks– And as to troubling her head with polemics … why, she half quarrelled with Wilson last christmas because Wilson gave her name as being a catholic, to a priest who came to take down everybody’s name in the house. She was obliged in consequence to go to confession, where she had abstained from going for two years, because the last time she went, absolution was refused to her & her husband, on the ground of their having persisted to eat meat on fridays. She had resolved never to go to confession again—but Wilson, by her ill advised statement, forced her to go. (If catholics dont go once a year to confession, they expose themselves to the suspicion of the police—there’s a happy state of things for you!) You are not to imagine that Italian catholics, except here & there devout persons, are at all like English catholics .. or like the Tractarians indeed. Both Alessandro & the balia keep very loosely to rules about abstinence & fasting generally, & think as little as possible about the heresies of persons differing from them. She is about as much a child as Wiedeman himself is, .. “and more”, says Wilson, .. and is perfectly inadequate to the notion of a scheme of making him sprout up an infantine Papist. Indeed it’s rather a vexation to her, this fancy of his of going to the churches—she likes keeping out in the streets much better—and the child knows this so perfectly that he siezes hold of Wilson in the neighbourhood of a church, because Wilson is apt to be indulgent & take him in.
Decr 18
While writing, the Peytons came on me. [7] They look very well, .. Mrs Peyton & the girls– Of the rest I have only seen Nicky. Affectionate they all are & of course I am touched by it, & interested naturally in whatever good can happen to them. Robert was the whole of yesterday, & is again today, engaged in going about with Reynolds to look for apartments, and I hope he will succeed in pleasing them—but if they knew what an effort it is to him, & how he never would do it for himself, they would be still more obliged to him than they say they are actually. For the rest you bid me tell you sincerely whether I am glad or sorry …? Oh Arabel. Now you know just as well as I do myself. I would do anything for any of them—but just see! When there is not a full love between persons (for love always makes a level) & when there is’nt half an idea in common, .. when the habits are all different, the whole atmosphere opposed, .. & when people try, as we do, to keep their lives tranquil & out of the current of society, even society more sympathetic that [sic, for than] this, .. what is there to rejoice in at an arrival of the kind? In fact, we see too many people already– We groan in the spirit, [8] at finding our evenings broken into, too often. Miss Blagden comes to tea one night, & always we are glad to see her—a most intelligent affectionate woman .. I like her much– But the next night, comes an Italian professor, perhaps—and the next, an American artist, or traveller—& the next, an English antiquarian—and the next, the Ogilvies .. (Mr & Mrs Ogilvy have returned suddenly to Florence from Naples which almost ruined & quite wearied them) .. and if the next .. we have to order coffee for seven Peytons, (with our five tea spoons!) why, it is an excess, Arabel, & we must go somewhere to shut ourselves up in a cave. Most of these visitors are agreeable & welcome .. but we grudge the time in the aggregate, observe—we grudge the loss of our cozy, happy evenings, when we feel so close, so close together! We have been reading together Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam’ in the evenings. Most beautiful & pathetic. I read aloud, Robert looking over the page—& we talked & admired & criticised every separate stanza– Now, we are going in like manner through Shelley. In the midst, if the bell rings .. how detestable! Robert has to run away & put off his slippers, & I, to put on as goodnatured a face as I can. What’s to be done, after all? It might be worse still, that’s certain, .. inasmuch as our acquaintance is by no means numerous, & is composed of cultivated people, for the most part. Robert says we must resolutely refuse to increase the number—& he began, the other day, by most rudely (as I maintain it was) refusing to receive Mrs Trollope, who (through Dr Alnutt) proposed to pay us a visit. Preserving every form of courtesy, he answered that we wished to live in a retired manner, .. that we were here on account of health, & found it a necessity of the circumstances, to avoid general society. I scolded him a little, afterwards—it seemed to me rude: but he maintained that he had done right about it, .. Mrs Trollope being in the full flow & float of Florentine-English society, … and he, besides, hating Mrs Trollope in her books .. which was the great reason of all. We had a very interesting visitor the other day .. M. de Goëthe .. Goëthe’s grandson. He spent two days in Florence, on purpose to see us .. or rather to see Robert, having been interested in the design of his Paracelsus .. and we had him here both evening & morning, & thought him delightful every way– There is a purity & elevation of the moral nature in him, which in a young man is striking—& besides Humbolt in Cosmos calls him one of the most learned of the ‘rising’ men of Germany. He brought us letters from Mrs Jameson, who returns home from Vienna, & does not come to Italy this year––more’s the pity! Poor Gerardine will be very disappointed, & I am too. The Ogilvies both startled & pleased us by their sudden return– No place in Italy, they declare, is so liveable as Florence .. not so cheap, not so agreeable, not so healthy– Wiedeman went yesterday to dine with their children .. one of which is six months older than he, another eight months younger,—the eldest being five years old—three children, there are. Wilson says he was as good as a child could be—but he surprises everybody by eating so little. I do wish he had a stronger appetite. All that can be said in favour of his, is, that he seems to prosper in spite of it: when he has taken three or four or five spoonfuls, he is satisfied for the most part. He has learnt a new word, “babbo” (the familiar word for ‘padre’) & is always saying it. ‘Gatto’, [9] too, he says– I suppose he’ll speak some day, after all. Wilson says, “He’s so wise that he does’nt like to speak till he is sure of the right pronunciation” .. so we are to expect a burst of polished eloquence, if we wait a little. Another favorite friend of his, is little Tassinari, [10] a small giantess, two & a half years old, to kiss whom he stands on the very tip of his tiptoes,—and she is to come to dine with him tomorrow. He likes her because she speaks Italian, besides being very fond of him. Madme Tassinari is an Englishwoman, a daughter of Sir William Thornton’s, [11] who was the English ambassador in Paris in the time of the ‘Holy Alliance’– [12] Eight years ago, she was given up by the physicians in England, (for lungs) & her friend Miss Blagden who is now staying with her had to communicate to her the fact that she was dying. “Still,” said the medical men, “life may be prolonged a little by her going to Italy,” & she came to Pisa .. then to Florence .. & in less than a year, she married an Italian, having recovered perfectly. Quite a strong woman she is, & with this enormous child!—but during the first six years of her marriage there were various accidents & disappointments. The child speaks both Italian & English, as I hope Wiedeman will in time–
Dec. 19–
Now, of my book, my own beloved Arabel– I am provoked in the first place about your buying it, because it turned out at last that I might have got a copy for you .. two or three, it appears, were attainable. I asked for one which was sent to Mrs Smith .. (did I tell you of meaning to ask .. just to feel the way?) because I felt as if it were necessary, to make some return for the enforced courtesy about the letters. [13] What a violent hurry you are in always, you dearest! If you had but waited a little! As it is, I should like much to have a dozen copies to give away .. but I am shy of these Chapman & Hall people, .. as they are said to look very sharp to their own interests—& of course I have no right to a single copy by our terms. Make Mrs Jago understand all this, do. What really annoys me is the difficulty about giving a copy to Miss Mitford, because there are reasons why she wants to see the book & why she cant buy it, equally .. and I do think I must wring out a copy for her—it cant be refused, for once. She sends her love to you in her last letter, & means to pay you a visit after Christmas, when she goes to town for a day, she says. “Dear Arabel”, she calls you.– How do you like the getting up of the book? and, do you observe the alterations? The end of the Seraphim is all but new-written, observe—and the “island,” has scarcely a bit of itself left. It was more trouble than the thing was worth<,> but it would have been reprinted with all its defects by some fatal friend some day, if I had not caught it up & removed a few of them: & I have improved much in strength & rhythmetical art since the days of its first production. See also the beginning of ‘Isobel’s Child’– Now .. as to the Portuguese sonnets .. I am really astonished at you, Arabel! How can you possibly know that I have not been studying Portuguese, a language rich in sonnets, all these four years! What else can I have been doing, indeed, .. except, braiding Wiedeman’s frocks? Impertinent person, to doubt my learning in Portuguese!! So I do hope you wont misrepresent my book, & spread scandalous reports about it & me, .. throwing ‘Keys’ about the world, to open supposed <B>luebeard’s chambers of imag<ery>. [14] To nobody but yourself would such an idea occur– As to Henrietta, she is innocent, I am convinced, except of listening to your suggestion– And oh—if you say a word of it to Mr Kenyon .....!!
Mr Westwood, sent me the Athenæum from Brussels—it is certainly most wonderfully kind– Why, what in the world have I done to the Athenæum, that they should be so kind to me all of a ‘sudden’. They are unjust to Robert, & then praise me to make up for it, till, like the green sea, I am “all one red”. [15] I am to be Laureate, & Heaven knows what, … if it stands with them! Indeed it was not right to say what they did about Tennyson & Lord John Russel[l] & the back stairs—not right—Tennyson having a claim to all honours in the eyes of all discerning men & women. [16] I had thought the Laureate’s pension consisted of three hundred a year, whereas it seems to be only a hundred, giving him, with his previous pension, but three hundred in all—nothing too much for Tennyson. It is a national disgrace that literary men are not more sustained in England. Perhaps Robert & I may make end some day in Bulwer’s “Assylum” [17] —that’s a resource for us certainly.——
Arabel, I am moved with indignation against Mrs Gordon.—with indignation & wonder. Surely George will write to her. It seems to me a justice to Trippy, that her case should be taken up, & held steadily before Mrs Gordon’s eyes. Mrs Gordon has left off coming to visit here– Our feeling towards her must have grown too plain– So sorry I am that dea<rest> Trippy should have had the gout, but <she> seems recovered so she could go to Henrietta. My affectionate love to her always– Tell me if you never hear from Mr Hunter & Mary. Is Papa furious about the Pope—he cares about the Pope surely [18] … more (to tell you the truth) than I do. Robert rages & blazes,—but the polemical embers are gone to ashes in me. It’s too late in the world, I hold, for the Church of Rome to make way anywhere– I am more afraid of Nationalism & Infidelity, which seem to be sapping the most intellectual minds both in America & Europe. Then what is called the “papal aggression,” [19] which never was meant for an insult but is purely the result of a mistake on the part of the Papacy (as to the weakening of the protestant feeling in England) .. a mistake produced by Tractarian representations here & at home .. it will teach a wholesome lesson, & bring the new movement in the English Church to a crisis– I apprehend no evil whatever from it. You cant think how many English paid their devoirs to Cardinal Wiseman as he passed through Florence—among them Clara Lindsay! One lady was on her knees, kissing his feet. Dont repeat what I have told you of Clara. She says she went out of fun! but people had better keep clear of such fun, I do think. Give my love to dear Alfred & tell him how regretfully I hear of his having suffered so much. May he be well again by this time– God bless you all—all! Will Henrietta read this letter? Perhaps so– Make her walk more, Arabel!
My own dearest beloved Arabel’s Ba.
Mention your headaches when you write again—& do write. How I should delight in seeing the cradle, which I dare say is beautiful. And Minny’s basket!
Robert has found a satisfactory apartment for the Peytons—in a good sunny situation, close to the Cascine where they can walk [20] —six bedrooms & two sitting rooms, kitchen &c. at two pounds five shillings, the week. They wd take it only for three months. Oh, if you had come with them, Arabel! Too much joy for me! Robert’s “tender love” he bids me give you. Make Henrietta walk. It is right– She will suffer less at last.
I am glad that the Bishop of London’s published correspondence with Mr Bennet[t], absolves him from some of the charge of acting with duplicity—though his address to the clergy, a few years since, certainly did harm at the time by its want of decision & openness. Probably Mr Bennet[t] will go over to Rome now—nothing wd surprise me less. [21]
Address, on integral page: Angleterre vià France / Care of Miss Tripsack / (Miss Barrett) / 12. Beaumont Street / Devonshire Place / New Road / London.
Publication: EBB-AB, I, 355–365.
Manuscript: Gordon E. Moulton-Barrett.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. i.e., past the ninth month. Altham Surtees Cook was born on 23 January 1851, nine months and seventeen days after the Cooks’ marriage. A “Mrs. Strugnell” had been engaged as a nurse (Surtees, 23 January 1851).
3. Charles Eliot Norton.
4. “But this little frock seems to me much too beautiful for Flush. … When a person is good, nothing is too beautiful for him, and Flush is very good today.”
5. “Papa is back—you may go into the salon.”
6. “No signora, .. never, never, by my soul’s conscience! I’ve never seen a child doing this, and I would never have thought it.”
7. The Peyton family at this time consisted of Eliza Peyton (née Griffith, 1788–1861) and her seven surviving children: Reynolds (1815–61); Thomas Griffith (1816–87); Henry Nicholson (1818–97); Frances Maria (1820–1900); Elizabeth Rosetta, “Rosa” (1824–74); Eliza Berry (1827–1907); and Nicholson Julius (1831–1915). They remained in the vicinity of Florence for two and a half years.
8. Cf. John 11:33.
9. “Cat.”
10. Alice Isolina Gaspera Tassinari (afterwards Johnson-Danyell, 1848–1911) was the daughter of Giovanni Tassinari (1805–92), Chamberlain to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Mary Amalia (née Thornton, 1819–95).
11. EBB refers to Sir Edward Thornton (1766–1852), diplomat, who helped effect the forming of the northern alliance against Napoleon I. The DNB places him in Paris at the time of the “Holy Alliance,” but does not name him as “English ambassador.”
12. A general treaty proclaimed near Paris on 26 September 1815, some three months after the Battle of Waterloo, and signed by the heads of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The signatories pledged “to take for their sole guide the precepts of that Holy Religion, namely, the precepts of Justice, Christian Charity and Peace” (EB).
13. Probably a reference to letter 2806 in which EBB refuses to allow the publication of her letters to Hugh Stuart Boyd.
14. When Blue Beard was called away from home, he left his last wife with keys to all his treasures but forbade her the use of one key that unlocked a special room. Nevertheless, overcome by curiosity, she opened the forbidden room only to discover the corpses of her husband’s former wives, all of whom he had murdered.
15. Cf. Macbeth, II, 2, 58–60.
16. Announcing Tennyson’s appointment as poet laureate, The Athenæum observed that “the office of Laureate, after having been allowed to remain vacant so long, has been finally filled up according to that spirit of caprice which presides ordinarily over Lord John Russell’s bestowal of the national gifts” and further suggested that the honour might have been given to a woman, but this “was too chivalrous a view of the subject for the Minister,—who has a trick of looking for his favourites down the back stairs” (23 November 1850, no. 1204, p. 1218). Lord John Russell (1792–1878), later (1861) 1st Earl Russell, had been prime minister since 1846.
17. An allusion to the Guild of Literature and Art, of which Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Charles Dickens, and John Forster were the prime movers. This scheme “aimed to provide houses for needy or retired writers and artists, built on Bulwer Lytton’s estate at Knebworth” (The Letters of Charles Dickens, ed. M. House, G. Storey, et al., Oxford, 1965–2002, 6, ix). Funding was to come from amateur theatricals, the kind Dickens had been staging and performing in since 1845.
18. i.e., about Pius IX’s re-establishing the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales, announced in an apostolic letter on 29 September 1850.
19. This expression originated in a letter from Lord John Russell to Dr. Maltby, Bishop of Durham, that was published in The Times of 7 November 1850, in which Russell quoted the Bishop’s own remark concerning “the late aggression of the Pope upon our Protestantism” (p. 5). The re-establishment of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales led to a strong outcry against Roman Catholicism. Numerous pamphlets were issued in response; e.g., The Real Causes of ‘The Papal Aggression’ Considered; In a statement respectfully presented to the Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, by certain of his clergy, in Lent, 1851 (1851), as well as Papal Aggression and Concessions to Rome ([1851]).
20. A subscription list for Vieusseux’s Reading Rooms gives the Peytons’ address as Casa Aretini allo Porticciolo, which was located between the Porta al Prato and the Cascine.
21. William James Early Bennett (1804–86) was a high churchman who was forced by the Bishop of London, Charles James Blomfield (1786–1857), to resign as priest-in-charge of St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, in early December 1850 because of opposition to his high church tendencies. This controversial incident sparked riots and led to an exchange of letters between the two churchmen, which were published in leading newspapers in December 1850 and later appeared as single titles: Correspondence Between the Rev. William James Early Bennett, of St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, with the Bishop of London (1850) and William James Early Bennett, A Farewell Letter to His Parishioners (1851). Despite his high church tendencies, Bennett remained in the Church of England. The Dowager Marchioness of Bath appointed him to the vicarage of Frome, Somerset, where he remained from January 1852 until his death.
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