3573. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 21, 197–198.
[Paris]
Sunday– [8 July 1855] [1]
My own dearest Arabel
Is it our fault? No! and yet we cant get away till tuesday! I hope we shall not be disappointed for tuesday—& at present affairs look brighter. The difficulties have been immense, & it has only been by favour that we are likely to escape the general law of the Church of Rome—iniquitous to my mind. There is to be an evasion for us .. no oath exacted––simply a promise that if “the children” choose to be Roman catholics, the mother wont hinder them .. which of course she may conscientiously promise. You see it would have been cruel to take poor Wilson on to England in her half married condition—& especially, as it would have been still harder there, we hear, the Roman catholics being stricter on English ground than on French. Now, we have the ear of the authorities & are likely to succeed by tomorrow—so that it is well worth while to put off our departure a day– In fact we were prepared to do so for several days, if it had been necessary. Poor Wilson could not be so little considered. Ferdinando keeps saying “Why wont they” (meaning Robert & me) “let me turn Protestant.”? He may turn protestant when he pleases afterwards, but it’s our duty first to make his marriage legal in his own country. As it is, only Wilson is bound–
People are kind & attentive to us here beyond description .. and Paris holds me in its old charm. We were at Mdme Mohl’s the evening before last, & met Mignet, [2] Victor Cousin, Prosper Merimée, heaps of celebrities—English countesses & Greek princesses being the canaille of it all .. and Mdme Ristori, the great Italian actress, reciting Manzoni beautifully– [3] Dear Lady Elgin has had a paralytic stroke, and though she is getting quite over it, I hope, I was moved to see her—she was afraid, she said, of thinking of the ‘Spirits’ .. or even of the funds, & Greek tragedy. Very affectionate & pleased she seemed in seeing us– We could only get to her however for two evenings, & I refused to drive out with her– I am put into a bottle here, and shaken– No time for anything. Dearest, we think of leaving Paris by twelve oclock on tuesday morning, in order to reaching London at twelve that night or past. The tides being very inconvenient. So that I shall not see you till ten on wednesday morning. Come at ten precisely .. if possible anyhow– I am so glad dear Sette is better. Do you know I had taken it in my head to be uneasy because I had not your letter by the earliest post? Oh– what joy to see you! The weather has been exquisite here since our first day—such a sky! such a sun! such air!– Lend us linen to begin with—& spoons &c, order coffee, tea, groceries &c—eggs for wednesday morning—and a little cold ham (cooked.) We shall tumble into bed on our arrival & want nothing. Your own Ba.
What is this we hear of the poor Owens. That they have lost most of their money in the ‘Paul’ failure? [4] Do you hear anything? So ends my last letter to Arabel!!
Address: Angleterre. / Miss Barrett / 50 Wimpole Street / London.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 163–164.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Dated by EBB’s references to the Brownings’ imminent departure for London; they left Paris on 11 July 1855, a Wednesday.
2. François Auguste Alexis Mignet (1796–1884), French historian, whose works include Histoire de la révolution française (1824) and Négociations relatives à la succession d’Espagne sous Louis XIV (1835–42). He co-founded, with Thiers and Carrel, the liberal newspaper (later republican) Le National in 1830.
3. Adelaide Ristori, Marchessa Capranica del Grillo (1822–1906), the premier Italian actress of her time, made her Paris debut in 1855.
4. EBB’s cousin Angela and her husband Henry John Owen had evidently invested in the bank of Strahan, Paul, and Bates (formerly Snow, Paul, and Paul), which declared bankruptcy on 11 June 1855 (see The London Gazette, 12 June 1855, p. 2276) after a run on the bank three days before. A week later warrants were issued for the arrest of the partners—William Strahan (né Snow, 1807–86), Sir John Dean Paul (1802–68), and Robert Makin Bates (1791–1874)—on charges of unlawful disposition of securities. Following a lengthy court of inquiry, the accused went on trial in late October 1855. All three were found guilty and sentenced to fourteen years’ transportation. However, in the event, none was transported: Bates was released from Woking Prison in 1858; Strahan and Paul, in 1859. The bank’s depositors eventually realized three shillings and two pence on the pound (see ODNB and D. Morier Evans, Fact, Failures, and Frauds: Revelations, Financial, Mercantile, Criminal, 1859, pp. 106–153).
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