3484. EBB to Henrietta Cook
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 20, 338–344.
Florence.
November 5 6 7th 1854. [1]
My beloved Henrietta when I received your last letter with its cruel hit .. a regular minié-rifle letter, dear! .. I resolved you should never, no never, reproach me again– Yet you do, I feel. It was the news from Wimpole Street which kept me from you—I had to write there, & still there, under the circumstances. Oh Henrietta—how sad, how sad! I cant bear to think of my poor dearest papa, lame, shut out of those active ways which were at once pride & pleasure to him. I would kiss the dust under his poor feet—submit to any humiliation for me & mine, so as to give him a moment’s satisfaction. But you see! nothing can be done. It is probable he did’nt even read my letter.
And there’s my darling Arabel—she seems sad, depressed– I dare say papa’s being in the house always under such circumstances must make it all gloomier for her, dear thing—she has no one to talk to & be with as when you & I were at home. She misses us & has nothing besides. Oh Henrietta, I do hope you will manage to get to London this november as you thought of doing, & cheer her up a little. Next year it will be my turn—& then you wont forget if you please, you & Surtees, that you must come & cheer up me, or I shall be envious & wholly uncharitable.
I hear you are dissipated at Plymouth, going to balls, having pic nics, doing all sorts of improper things in a military way. Now I do beg you to write & tell me about it all—because there’s a difference. You see my letters—while Arabel cant write for both you & herself. Tell me first about the nursery & then about the gaiety. I, on the other hand, give you my history without waiting for yours. Penini has just been to take leave of me before going to take his walk. “Dood bye, darling Ba! precious Ba! mi<nd> you tate tare of your fire.” We have just begun with fires, though the weather continues brilliant. Also, I have warnings from the tramontana & have not ventured to attend church today. Robert went alone– Not with Penini, yet! Penini has never yet been to church. Penini is slightly humiliated at hearing of Altham’s dignity in that respect, but he submits to what we think best. Two hours of dear Mr Hanna are considerably too much for Robert & me—(we find it a hard struggle) but as to Penini we might as well bury him under a church as afflict him so. It is strange. Mr Hanna is really clever & most excellent, but, with all that, the very dullest, slowest preacher I ever listened to. Three words every five minutes .. “entoned,” Henrietta, in a high Scotch accent. If it were otherwise, Penini would be too young according to my way of thinking you know, to go to a protestant church where he cant come away when he’s tired. Instead, he goes, when he likes, to the Italian churches– “Where did you get those black knees, Penini”? “At the Duomo—saying my pwayers!”
While I think of it I do advise you dearest Henrietta to get the “Peep of Day” for Altham. It is one of the simplest & sweetest summaries of the gospel history for young children, that can be—with certain drawbacks, which would not be drawbacks to you, I think. Somebody lent us the book & Penini has just finished it,—& I like it so much on the whole that I mean to get it as a book to go back upon, & keep within reach. He delights in the book, & calls out for another chapter sometimes at the end of his reading-lesson. When I get my own copy I shall cut & blot it a little, to make it nearer my heterodox notions of perfection– Meanwhile I recommend it strongly to you, & Altham wont find the reading too difficult, I dare say. Tell me the name of the book he reads. “Little Annie’s second book” [2] —“Fanny & her mother”, “Charles & Rosa” in two volumes [3] —(all American except the second, & the last Swedenborgian, but with scarcely a word that you would object to) are excellent– Penini has read them all, & ‘Charles & Rosa’ twice. He will begin ‘Frank’ & ‘Rosamond,’ as soon as I get the other parts .. for Mr Chapman sent me only a fragment. Then there’s a series of ‘Rollo’ an American book, by Abbot, [4] I think .. a quantity of volumes for different ages. Penini has read one volume, & in time he shall have the others. He reads very nicely now, & with animation & expression, & is much interested in what he reads. He was perfectly horrified about Judas, [5] & stopped every moment to look up in my face to see what I thought of anything so dreadful. At another place he enquired with anxiety whether he (Penini) was one of the children (when he was a “baby”) that Jesus took up in His arms. [6] Poor darling! I said that Jesus often had His arms round him, loving him, I was sure, though he was not alive just then.
Mr Kenyon has desired Penini to write to him,—& a long letter the size of this paper has been produced in consequence, all about the rabbits & the tortoises, every word the child’s own. He has an ominous fluency in composition, & really writes wonderfully. I never heard of a child of his age doing anything equal to it, for my part, & other people say the same. I flatter myself I have taught him rather well, through my plan of accustoming him from the first to join the letters in a current way—but the credit lies with his quickness & adroitness. Think of those little fingers Henrietta, running down the scales on the piano in the Key of C, G, & F! It is so funny!—and the small heels kicking out!– He is very much vexed however at finding himself unable to accompany his singing of “La Donna è Mobile” from Verdi’s opera of ‘Viscardello.’ [7] He thinks it “tuite turious”—quite curious, that he cant. “That beau—tiful opella!” Instead of which he’s reduced to sing a beautiful opera of his own composition about Napoleon & the milkman. The milkman you are to understand is an intimate enemy of Penini’s, seeing that when he comes here with the milk he pretends to want to take away Peni’s favorite gun—therefore it’s a great thing to set Napoleon up against the milkman. In the opera the milkman brings bad cream & milk for the “soldati francesi” [8] in arms against the Russians, & so Napoleon comes out against him in vengeance! “È fuccillato—é morto!” [9] (oh, this opera’s all in Italian of course!) & then comes the burial .. “misericordia,” “campo santo” [10] .. & all .. & an immense noise of ‘preti’ [11] & bells. How I laughed! Penini thinks humbly that he sings it “rather like Mrs Sartoris.”
Do you observe in the paper Miss Nightingale’s expedition to the east? [12] She called on me when we were in Welbeck Street & sent me some flowers afterwards– [13] A pretty & highly accomplished woman—even learned, she is—& she is acting greatly on this occasion, together with other women. I see that Miss Selon [14] is among them. It is well to utilize so much disquieted energy.
Arabel wants to know whether I am interested about the war. Certainly I am interested about the war. It seems to me a most righteous & necessary war—& that’s all one can say of a war, when one would say the best. The Turks are not interesting, I confess—but can we say that they should not be protected according to the bond voluntarily entered into by us? & would you stand by & see a dog even, kicked to death? Then there are great interests involved, besides the specific Turkish interests: the liberty & civilization of all Europe, & the good of the world for centuries. Therefore, hating war, I do accept this war as a necessity. A dreadful necessity certainly—it makes one’s blood creep to think of the agony of mind endured by thousands who have no personal part at Sebastopol, & who suffer & die doubly in those dearer to them than life. The telegraphs from their uncertainty add much to this sort of anguish. I am so sorry, so sorry for poor dearest aunt Jane– [15] Many here are in the same situation. Dr Harding has a son at Sebastopol—& his daughters [16] look quite pale & jaded. He is aid de camp to Gen. Pennyfeather, [17] & we have heard letters read from him of a simple heroic character. What comforts me, I repeat, is the alliance– Nothing so good ever happened either to England or France, as their union, and it is infinitely affecting to me to read the instances of friendship between them, with which the newspapers abound.
As to the “spirits,” my dearest Henrietta, four hundred thousand families in America have given their names lately as believers, & as actually in enjoyment of spiritual intercourse– There is a great deal of false teaching, I am sorry to admit—but this does not interfere with the validity of the facts. If spirits at all, there must be evil & good, as a logical sequence it seems to me. If I open my housedoor to the street, I shall have thieves as well as friends, on whom to exercise my hospitality– <If I open my window, I have wind as well as sunshine.> [18] Mr Jerves told me the other day, in proof of some amount of good being done, that twenty or thirty persons of his own acquaintance, have been brought to abjure atheism & materialism by these manifestations. The extraordinary things I am hearing day after day .. for the thing makes progress—it would startle you to listen to– Wilson still writes—but generally so illegibly & in so broken a way that we cant make much out of it. She is a weak medium—it’s like trying to get a clear reflection in tremulous water. I wonder at none of you attempting to write. What you are afraid of I really cant imagine–
Novr 8. Let me tell you something of Penini– He finished the Peep of Day this morning– And I am sure you wont guess why he screamed & roared, & had my handkerchief to “wipe away his tears”—no, you wont guess. Because the apostle John was sent to Patmos–!!! I dont think there’s another child in the world (within the last eighteen centuries at any rate) who has cried for that. The fact is .. the book winds up with an account of the different adversities of the apostles—how Peter was crucified in his old age &c—& though the statement was simple & by no means addressed to the feelings, poor little Peni observed once or twice .. “it was a sad thing to read about it,” and “it leally was too bad! only for nossing but because they loved Jesus” .. the child’s heart was full. But when it came to sending John, whom he liked very much, to Patmos .. a place “surrounded by water” .. (“just like poor Robinson Crusoe,” he said in his sobs) the voice stopped suddenly & he threw himself into my arms in a passion of grief. He screamed, till Wilson wondered what was the matter, away in her room. The apostle John was sent to Patmos! That was the matter. Really I scarcely knew whether to laugh or cry. [19]
You cant think what a good notion he has now of the New Testament history. He has read this book with great intelligence & attention. Christ’s death did not affect him so much, because He did it on purpose, [20] but he thought “Heaven must have been very dark when Jesus was on the earth.” Once he exclaimed .. “Well! I never did see God– How beau—tiful He must be! But I sint I should be almost aflaid to look at Him.”
Charlotte Agassiz has taken Isa Blagden by surprise, arriving here suddenly. Did you see them, Henrietta? Isa’s knee is much better, satisfactorily better, thanks to Zanetti. She was quite pleased with Arabel’s enquiry about her, & expressed liking of her—having taken it into her head most absurdly that Arabel did not like her.
Tell me, both Arabel & you, what you are going to wear this winter. I have been wickedly extravagant for Penini, & so I perform penance in personal œconomy. In fact I mean to wear on this third winter Arabel’s carmelite dress which is immortal I think, like my love for her, and my Paris brown merino .. which I have had cut up into flounces (because Robert has a fury for flounces, & because people compliment me on being ‘grown’ since I took to wearing them) flounces over a dark calico petticoat invisible under the garniture. I have had my black silk cut up in the same way, & the shot silk I was married in!! & Wilson & I are under the delusion that they are all turned into “quite handsome new dresses” by this stroke of ingenuity. To make up for such niggardness I have spent certain monies, Henrietta, in embroidered & lace sleeves & collars & waistcoats, which Robert is particular about—he wont bear with a want of conformity between sleeves & collars for instance .. & this gives one an air of decency in spite of old gowns. As for Penini .. Penini’s splendid I do assure you. I have embroidered for him with black silk braid a sea-green fine merino frock .. made after a new blouse pattern, very pretty indeed—a fine black merino polka .. embroidered with black silk braid—to wear when it’s cold in the house—and I am in the act of embroidering a coat, the finest Paris black cloth, with black silk braid, in a most magnificent pattern– The very sleeves are embroidered up to the armholes– This coat is to be wadded & lined with black silk throughout. Then, when we have a new white hat & feather for him, we shall have completed his “pomp & circumstance” [21] I think, seeing that he has one or two nearly new dresses from last winter. Wilson says to me sometimes that I am “really rather extravagant about Penini”, but it is avowedly my favorite sin .. I cant help being extravagant for Penini.
Now tell me all about yourself & your darlings .. I want to know the colour of your gown in order to conjure up the image of you properly. Dearest Henrietta, how I do love you!–
Does Mary speak well yet? Does she keep as pretty as she promised to be? Is she like Altham still? And darling Altham!– Sophia Cottrell’s boy [22] at three years old is nearly as large as Penini at five! I dare say Altham wd humiliate us as much. Yet I dont call Peni short for his age and he looks the perfection of health just now. What has helped to do him good might perhaps be good for Altham,—who knows? Take six camomile flowers & pour on them over-night two table spoonfuls of boiling water– In the morning before breakfast, administer one table spoonful of the infusion; & the other, half an hour before dinner. You <will find it> helpful to the digestion & generally strengthening. Sophia Cottrell is in expectation of another child, & very happy– She had had fears for the consequences of a former miscarriage. I fear her husband is not strong– He is always having coughs, & it’s a fatal family malady. Do you ever hear of Mrs Gordon at Plymouth? She is there, somewhere. I wish Arabel wd tell me more of dear Trippy—remind her. I suppose dear Surtees (give him my love) is full of military business. Write directly & tell me how you like the barrack-life—what rooms you have &c. God bless you, dearest dear Henrietta–
Your ever loving Ba.
Is your Taunton house let still? I do hope so–
Robert’s love with mine—and our kisses to the darlings.
We have used the senna-infusion sometimes—but we scarcely ever give medecine of that sort. I had a letter from Miss Mitford yesterday, & she remains something better I thank God.
Address: Angleterre viâ France. / Mrs Surtees Cook / Post Office / Plymouth.
Publication: Huxley, pp. 206–209 (in part).
Manuscript: British Library.
1. EBB has written all three numbers on top of one another.
3. Charles and Rosa: or, Stories for the Little Children of the New Church (Boston, 1842). Fanny and Her Mother: A Story for Children was published in London in 1831.
4. The Rollo series, by Jacob Abbott (1803–79), a Congregationalist minister who abandoned the pulpit to devote himself to writing, consisted of twenty-four volumes (1835–58), the first fourteen of which were published by 1842, and the last ten beginning in 1853. The first title in the series was The Little Scholar Learning to Talk. A Picture Book for Rollo, later retitled Rollo Learning to Talk.
5. Lesson 31 in The Peep of Day.
6. The lesson entitled “The Kindness of Jesus” in The Peep of Day, which illustrates the episode in Mark 10:13–16 where Christ suffers “the little children to come unto” him.
7. Viscardello is one of the names under which Verdi’s Rigoletto was sometimes performed, as it was in Rome in 1851; others included Lionello and Clara di Pert. The canzone “La donna è mobile” (“The woman is fickle”) is a showcase for tenors.
8. “French soldiers.”
9. “He is shot—he is dead!”
10. “Mercy,” “cemetery.”
11. “Priests.”
12. The Times of 19 October 1854 announced that Florence Nightingale “has undertaken to organize a staff of female nurses, who will at once proceed with her to Scutari at the cost of the Government, there to act under her directions in the English Military Hospital” (p. 6).
13. See the last paragraph in letter 3062.
14. Priscilla Lydia Sellon (1821–76), who founded the Devonport Sisters of Mercy in 1848, which later (1856) became the Society of the Most Holy Trinity. According to the ODNB, “a few sisters [of Mercy] were sent to work under Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War.” Miss Sellon herself did not go.
15. Because her son John Hedley may have been in the Crimea (see letter 3476, note 6).
17. Sic, for Pennefather; see letter 3482, note 5.
18. Passage in angle brackets has been interpolated above the line.
19. The telling of Peter’s crucifixion and John’s banishment to “a country far away” with “water all round” occurs in lesson 51, “John,” in The Peep of Day (1873).
20. In The Peep of Day, the crucifixion of Christ is told in three parts under the title of “The Cross.”
21. Othello, III, 3, 354.
22. Henry Edward Plantagenet Cottrell (1852–1938).
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