3115. EBB to Sarah Jane Cust
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 18, 219–221.
58 Welbeck Street.
Thursday– [Postmark: 16 September 1852]
Mrs Jameson was here last night, and I dunned her about the archbishop, [1] & she swore to me that she would write to you & send you a letter by this day’s post. She was looking so ill & in such desperate spirits, I could not reproach her for having neglected to do it before. She has been taking to heart Lady Lovelace’s illness, [2] &, what with sympathy and the Preface to the Madonnas, [3] I have seldom seen anyone more worn to rags in a short time.
Dearest Mrs Cust, I dont think we shall go to Rome—there is still a peradventure open about Florence, but the probability is after all that we shall subside into Paris. If we do so, nothing will please us better than to take your servant—there will be a pleasant association with her, even had she no other merit. Then you hold out a light for April– Is it fen-light, or what? To see you so soon seems past believing. Lord Stanhope’s spirit of the Chrystal ball pronounced that the Derby ministry would be out by the first of June—only as the identical oracle would have it that we should go to Rome, you need not be too much encouraged .. or otherwise. Certainly the continental liberty of life is a good thing—& certainly this climate is execrable for the uses of soul or body. The winding sheet of cold fog stifles you .. or me, at least.
What is this letter of yours which I am so glad to get, and yet sad after reading, somehow. God bless you, .. and the little darling Baba, who will make you happy when she comes!
I shall write to you again before we go away, of course, & I shall tell you where we are going & when—and if we go to Paris, we mean to expect you, whether you come or not, and you shall think of us as you kindly say you will, in the old places & with the old thoughts. Very kindly you speak of these. Thank you, thank you, for an affectionateness which we return on our parts!–
I just receive a little note from my sister Arabel who tells me that the Hedleys are in town, &, having left their luggage behind them by rail, have applied to her in a state of “utter destitution”. She conjectures that they are passing through to Tunbridge Wells. I shall see them today I dare say. Arabel Bevan’s confinement which was positively arranged for August, is adjourned to October– [4] My brother George was present at the marriage– [5] No tears, & becoming orange flowers– The “niece of the late Lord Cremorne” [6] is pretty & graceful, George thinks, yes, and intelligent, as far as he could judge her—and bride & bridegroom set off for Italy, with the intention of giving a week to Paris on the way. He has sold out of the army, & they will have a small income for the present it appears, but will do well if they live prudently. There has been some talk of the Hedleys trying Torquay for the winter– I dont think however they will do it, the house in Paris being an obstacle.
Did I tell you that we left cards on Miss Blackett? [7] She was out of town as a matter of course.
Notwithstanding what is called the dead season, I believe we have seen everybody in England much worth seeing .. except Dickens whom I should have liked rather to see. Mr Ruskin (the Oxford Graduate) called on us the other day & brought his pretty wife .. pretty, & not beautiful at all. Did you ever hear, as I have, again & again, that he victimized her under the “Stones of Venice” when she was yearning for the pavé of Regents Street? Well—judge how you are to believe the traditions. He told me that her single piece of naughtiness was a dislike of England & absorbing love of Italy & the continent– “She teazes me,” said he, “to buy a house at Venice.” We spent half a day with them at Denmark Hill, & he showed us some water-colour drawings of Turner, which really are divine. I like Mr Ruskin. He is gentlemanly & refined, & has a very gentle voice .. & I wont agree with certain of my friends who choose to call him a “coxcomb”. Oh—Robert does’nt– Robert likes him just as well as I do–
The Mon[c]kton Milnes’s wanted us to pay them a visit in Yorkshire next month, but October in Yorkshire would put an abrupt end to me & there was no possibility of thinking of it. Otherwise I should have liked to go– He is a favorite of mine, with his generous & affectionate instincts, and she is so gentle & kind that it would be hard not to like her–
What a pretty place you must be living in, with your greenhouse & smooth sward, & the mountains keeping watch in the distance– You could have none of that in Paris after all!
Have you read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, which is rolling in the literary spheres just now with the noise of seven thunders? [8] Mrs Chapman made me read it in Paris, & though I thought it at the time a very powerful exponent of a most horrible system, I certainly was not as much struck by the work in an artistic point of view, as I ought to have been if the world’s judgement is right. I should like to know what your impression is–
You will write soon, .. wont you? because, you see, our time here is short, and we want to have news of you—good news, if possible—news, in any case! May God bless you & make you happy. Robert’s love goes to you with that of your
Very affectionate
E B Browning.
The archbishop is said to be unpleasant, socially speaking .. but the archbishopess [9] delightful, to make up.
Address: Mrs Cust / (The Private Secretary) / Vice Regal Lodge / Dublin.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection.
1. Richard Whately; see letter 3089, note 5.
2. Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (1815–52), a well-respected mathematician who had collaborated with Charles Babbage, was the only daughter of Lord Byron and his wife Anne Isabella Noel (née Milbanke, 1792–1860), Mrs. Jameson’s close friend. She had married William King (1805–93), 1st Earl of Lovelace, in 1835. At the time of this letter, she was dying of uterine cancer and suffering great pain. She died on 27 November 1852.
3. Doubtless a reference to Mrs. Jameson’s lengthy Introduction to Legends of the Madonna (1852), pp. xvii–lxvi.
4. The Bevans’ fourth child and second daughter, Evelyn Mary Bevan, was born on 2 October 1852.
6. Richard Thomas Dawson (1788–1827), 2nd Baron Cremorne, whose sister Louisa Coote was the bride’s mother. The Times of 23 August 1852 announced the Hedley marriage and noted that the bride was a “niece of the late Lord Cremorne.”
7. Frances Mary Blackett (afterwards du Quaire, 1822–95), only daughter of Christopher Blackett (1788–1847) of Wylam, Northumberland, and his wife Elizabeth (née Burgoyne, 1781–1833), was a friend of Jane Hedley. She is listed in the Brownings’ address book of this period (AB-3) at 10 Eaton Place West.
8. Revelation 10:3. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Boston, 1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) sold more than 300,000 copies in the first year.
9. Elizabeth Whately (née Pope, d. 1860, aged 63), third daughter of William Pope of Hillingdon Hall, Uxbridge, had married Richard Whately in 1821 at Cheltenham.
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