3274. EBB to George Goodin Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 19, 311–316.
Lucca.
October 7th [–] 8th [1853] [1]
My ever dearest George, I must tell you at once how much I thank you for your letter particularly as I want to make known to all of you that you must write to Florence until you hear farther. We leave this place on monday next, having seen the season to the end. There are five folding doors (only that) in the room where I write—not a carpet of course. Extremely pleasant for the summer, but by no means desireable for the sort of weather we are beginning to have now. Mountain-places catch winter by the forelock—it will be warmer in Florence, and yet the Prato Fiorito where we penetrated some three weeks ago, is already covered with snow which chills the air of the vallies. I told you I think of our excursion there. The distance is six miles off, but the ground being absolutely perpendicular, the guides forced to walk at every animal’s head to prevent a general precipitation, you can scarcely calculate the amount of necessary fatigue. Said I to Mr Lytton as we approached home .. “I am dying. How are you?” “A quarter of an hour ago” he answered, “I thought I should have to give it up altogether, but now I am rather better.” Think what the fatigue must have been to wring such an answer from a young man one & twenty who had ridden the whole way. Certainly he is very delicate. For a week afterwards I could not stir from the house but I never suffer permanently when the weather is as exquisite as it was. Oh George! we have enjoyed our summer here very much! If you had come, how much better still. And Bradshaw [2] beguiled you wrongly in his representation of the time necessary for the journey to Italy– A week would bring you here, even if you travelled quietly, in the case of your coming by Marseilles– Well—it’s over now—only remember another time. We have been very happy here, & not idle either. Robert especially has done a great deal of work, & will have his volume [3] ready for the spring without failure he says. I have been more indolent .. but my poem [4] is growing heavy on my hands, .. & will be considerably longer than the ‘Princess’ when finished. [5] I mean it to be, beyond all question, my best work—only intention does not always act itself out into evidence, you know. For the sake of this poem I should prefer staying at Florence this winter where there would be more opportunity for quiet & concentration—but we cant defer Rome any longer. To see Rome is a necessity, previous to our return northwards. Oh George– I wish I could drag you all over the Alps, & then I would give up my nationality with an excellent grace, really! We should have to go to England to see our books through the press of course—but after that, no more of England for me– I should be content with our Italy here for all the purposes of life. As it is, we must try Paris. Doubtful it is to me whether the climate will be possible to me after one winter .. but we must try. Paris is delightful for everything almost, except the climate .. which is not Italian, at the best.
Why is it that Arabel does not write to me when she has a letter of mine to answer? I want to know how she is, and you dont say a word, George. She is very naughty about writing.
The Storys went away last wednesday with the intention of spending two or three weeks at Florence on their way to Rome. The evening before their last at Lucca they spent with us here (indeed we used to meet almost every day at one another[’]s houses) and he tried the ‘tables’ for some twenty minutes– Under such disadvantages though! for Robert just laughs & jokes—we had to turn him away after five minutes—there was only Mr Story, .. his wife & I assisting .. & I am almost immediately stupified with the mesmeric effects. Mr Story would mesmerize me with looking at me almost, if I did not get out of the way,—I object to subjecting myself to this power of his– Also, the table, though it creaked sympathetically, would have required a small host of spirits to move it, the Lucchese tables being of most peculiar formation. We are to try these things at Florence, it is agreed. Well—but, Mr Story told us to put letters into his hands, which, (without looking at them of course), he received specific impressions from, enabling him to tell the characters of the writers. He had never tried it before. He said he felt himself so charged with influences of some kind, that he could do this– And certainly .. as Robert said, “his guesses were most happy.” We gave him your letter—one of Miss Wills Sandford .. one of Henrietta’s .. one of Mrs Story’s—some writing of Roberts, & some of mine .. & most curiously right the descriptions were. I cant help thinking that he would make a good medium, if he would persist & believe. As it is, though he has moved tables again & again, he has never elicited the intelligence which is the common characteristic of the phenomena. Oh, I must tell you, George, a piece of gossip which we had from young Lytton. After we left Florence he was asked by some people there to join a party who were going “to try at the spirits.” He, being a poetical & serious person, objected to the levity of the terms & people, & would’nt go. Well—he heard afterwards that there was a great deal of success notwithstanding .. and that upon one table in particular flying off with great velocity towards the door, old Mrs Trollope, being one of the visitors, exclaimed in a state of extraordinary excitement .. “Damn it, let it go.”!! “That was rather hard upon the spirit concerned”, observed Robert.
My dearest George, you surely must see that an “a priori” argument against these phenomena or any other, is contrary to all philosophy. Whether it is reasonable to believe a thing possible, cannot be argued in the face of a fact. You & other unbelievers are using just Strauss’s argument against Christianity [6] —the most unphilosophical of all arguments. Internal evidence is to be examined of course on other grounds .. but what will you do with your internal evidence when the external evidence is established in opposition to it? When a thing is, the time is past for considering the probability of its being. For the rest, if the phenomena in question were confined to the practice of a few persons, I should be inclined altogether to agree with you in attributing them to trick & charlataning. But as it is, the denial of the facts on the ground that they are not probable, appears to me really absurd– You may as well deny that men saw a comet this summer [7] or any other palpable experience of mankind. Of course I dont insist on your believing in the spirits. If you think that “the unconscious projection of a second personality attended by clairvoyance” is a more reasonable solution than the spiritual solution, accept it—I do not blame you though I could not myself come to such a conclusion. But a denial of the facts must really be classed with the shutting of one’s eyes at mid-day and the observation “it is dark.”
For my part, I would not touch with the end of my finger an a priori argument with regard to anything in nature– Of the laws of nature, so called, we know so little, that we can feel forwards scarcely a step. Cause and effect, as a relation, is a mystery to us still, as you are well aware. “The laws of nature” is a mere phrase for our small experience.
Mr Story had a letter the other day from an American friend in Florence, who said .. “There are rumours that the spirits are beginning to show themselves in the western states.” Take the “rumours” for what they are worth. If the visible form be assumed, you will be shaken it seems to me—& this has been expected for some time. Meanwhile, Galignani (who disdained to give us Robert Owen’s communication [8] ) allows us to read that a machine has been constructed at Berlin to facilitate the phenomena, by offering a more delicate & susceptible instrument to the influences whatever those are. [9] I have not had my letter yet from Mr Westland Marston. I do hope it’s not lost on the road, for of course I attach a great deal of interest to such personal experiences as he has it in his power to give me.
Dearest George, you quote Alfred Tennyson’s “honest doubt”– [10] I wonder what Alfred Tennyson thinks of it all, at this hour of the day. We shall hear from his brother, who is incapable of “honest doubt” I really believe– I never saw so believing a man .. never! Why, George, when he talks he makes me feel like an infidel. And I am generally supposed to have a good stock of credulity too, .. am I not?
So you set up Alexander Smith against us– Well—may Sparta have him (& others) for worthier sons than we!– [11] Only in order to that, your Alexander must work. His genius is undeniable, but quite in ore, at present. He is not the least of an artist, George. His imagery is, as the gods please .. heavenly enough in the stuff of it, but dislocated by the pull from heaven into his earthly hands. Still, I have read him only in extracts you must consider, & my opinion can scarcely under those circumstances be worth having.
Tell Arabel, Miss Blagden from Rome enquires much concerning her. Miss Blagden has been reading Swedenborg, & is clearly “infected” tell Arabel. It is extraordinary how Swedenborg gains ground with the thinkers of the day. I understand that young men of a certain order in England are inclining much to him—but it is in America that he has his public par excellence.
Well, George! is it to be war, or not war? We are coming to a point, it seems to me, & must be prepared for all conclusions. Hating war as I do, I have hated the Aberdeen procrastinations still more. [12] If the allies had acted with decision from the first, the Czar would probably have retreated by this time,—but now his pride & obstinacy are deeply engaged & retreat is more difficult. The Aberdeen-stone round the neck of Louis Napoleon, has been a desperate drawback– I am glad at any rate that it is’nt to the point of dishonour both to England & France. Robert & I have been writhing with rage & inquietude. It is curious, the state of things here. The poor Italians cry “war, war,” as starving men would cry “bread, bread”. Their hope is in war … & in Louis Napoleon. Admit George, by the way, that he is doing pretty well even in English eyes, just now– Do you know, I heard Mr Story say the other day .. “Well! I began by loathing that man—but he certainly gains on me! I begin now to think there’s good in him.” Yes, and wait a little longer! ‘You will see what you will see.’
That horrible cholera. My states of anxiety are coming back again in great spasms. Now, if you dont write to me you unkind Arabel, it will be absolutely cruel. I do entreat you all to take care .. to use every precaution of diet & medecine. It may not be bad in London perhaps .. may God grant it, & preserve you all, most dear as you are!– [13]
Yes—it was strange .. that misprint of papa’s! [14] The habits of memory are stronger with some, than the habits of the affections.
Oh George, I can write no more.
They come for my letter. We are in great bustle this last day .. for I kept it to another day to finish–
Your ever most attached Ba.
Send this to Trippy–
Robert[’]s best love–
Address: Angleterre viâ France / George G Moulton Barrett Esqre / Milford House / Lymington / Hants.
Publication: B-GB, pp. 199–206.
Manuscript: Pierpont Morgan Library.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. Doubtless a reference to one of the many railway guides and maps produced by George Bradshaw (1801–53), engraver and printer.
3. Men and Women, which was published in November 1855.
4. Aurora Leigh (1857).
5. Aurora Leigh would eventually come to nearly 11,000 lines. The Princess (1847) by Alfred Tennyson was about 3,000 lines.
6. In Das Leben Jesu (Tübingen, 1835–36) David Friedrich Strauss compares biblical accounts of Jesus’ life with historical information and concludes that the former were more myth than fact.
8. EBB refers to a letter from Robert Owen that appeared in The Morning Post of 10 September 1853. The letter immediately followed a report, first published in The Globe, of an apparition that was seen by several witnesses, including policemen, at the home of the Ward family on Pond-terrace, Chelsea. Owen, who had for some time been investigating spiritual phenomena (see letter 3195, note 7), wrote the following: “At four o’clock to-day, I had, by appointment of the spirits of President Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, a séance of importance, for an hour and a half, and afterwards at six o’clock, also by appointment, with his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent for an hour, after which I inquired if any other spirit was present; and Shelley, the poet, an old friend of mine, announced his presence and willingness to answer any questions, and the enclosed conversation occurred. … I inquired of the spirit of Shelley if the ghost in Pond-terrace is a spirit from the spirit world, and he says that he is. I asked of what family? the spirit of Shelley replied, ‘Of the family of Ward.’ I then asked, ‘Do you know what the spirit wishes?’ ‘Yes; to make mediums.’ ‘In what way?’ ‘Because we want to convince them that spirits wish to communicate with their earthly friends.’ ‘From what sphere is this spirit?’ ‘From the fourth sphere.’ All this was obtained from the alphabet” (p. 4). Owen’s letter was reprinted in The Times of 12 September 1853 (p. 5).
9. Galignani’s Messenger of 1 October 1853 reprinted the following item that had appeared earlier in The Times (28 September 1853, p. 7): “Turning-Tables Writing!—A recent letter from Berlin states:—The lovers of the preternatural in the upper classes here have lately been much interested in a machine invented by a musician here of the name of Wagner, which is said to bring the phenomena of the turning tables to such perfection that the instrument, under the imposition of hands, spells answers to questions by pointing to the letters of an alphabet on the table, or even writing its answers or its own observations, &c., with a pencil. What is stated of the performances of the instrument passes all credibility, but I am free to confess that the station and character of the persons performing the experiments, and relating the results, forbid all disbelief. Most of the members of the corps diplomatique, some of the ministers, and many of the nobility, either possess these instruments or have been present at the experiments, and in a few days one is, I hear, to be shown to his Majesty” (p. 2).
10. In Memoriam (1850), XCVI, 11.
11. Plutarch, “Sayings of Spartans,” Moralia, 219e, trans. Frank Cole Babbitt.
12. British prime minister Lord Aberdeen considered Napoleon III a greater threat to peace than Czar Nicholas and continued to push for negotiations with Russia, even after Turkey declared war later in the month.
13. Isolated cases of cholera were reported in The Times during the month of September 1853. In the issue of 15 September an editorial began: “So, the Asiatic cholera is again among us! It is making its appearance at its old haunts, as dried up springs flow anew after long rains. It entered the country at Newcastle once before, and there it is now, committing already considerable havoc” (p. 6).
14. We are unable to clarify this remark.
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