3623. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 21, 256–258.
[London]
Monday– [Postmark: 10 September 1855]
My own dearest Arabel I have a letter from Henrietta persisting (how Kind!—too kind) in coming to London– She talks of this day week .. monday .. & she puts in my head (as if audacious sins enough did’nt grow in my head of themselves, like mushrooms!) that you might perhaps come then for a few days, to let us all be together. If there was a chance of it I might persuade Mrs Green [1] to give you a bedroom in this house– In the case of having none, surely Mrs Mackintosh would [2] ——what do you say?– You would do the eating & living of course altogether with us– If such an arrangement were possible I might manage a little comfort out of it—but really Arabel I have’nt the heart to urge it lest you should get into any shadow of a scrape because of me—dear, dear! As it is, almost I am sorry that Henrietta should persist in coming, so afraid I am of her hurting herself by the effort, & by driving about in cabs in London– Then feeling so unwell, how can she enjoy anything? but it is very affectionate of her, very, to think of it even–
As to my going to you with my poor Penini, (who was horribly disappointed– What kisses he gave to your letter!) the cost would be much what the difference would be between our all going straight or crooked to Paris– And besides, it would be worse than bad, my leaving Robert in the midst of the proofs, .. just when I can really be of use to him– Oh no, I would’nt for the world think of it darling Arabel, & you must’nt.
As to Robert, you must learn that he sees snakes & crocodiles in Thames water without the microscope—he sees in every drop of good every possibility of evil—and as to money-matters, the idea of being in a difficulty is absolutely horrible to him. Now he thinks that the change from one house to another, entails expense, (besides the journeying)—and he has set it down as certain (which he has done a hundred times before since we have been together) that we are all going down a precipice for want of pecuniary means– Say nothing of it—but he has seriously proposed to me to go straight off to Florence to avoid these northern expenses which we are unequal to meet, he holds– Certainly, considering the cholera, that would be a cheap way of providing for all of us. (Dont be afraid. We are not going to Florence.)
I am sure he is extremely pained by having to pain you. He is very fond of you, Arabel, & having a conviction he says, that you “dont believe a word he has said to you” about money &c, it is very painful to him naturally. So you must be as indulgent as you can. It’s horribly difficult, (as I know,) for rash people like you & me, to sympathize with cautious people, like him——cautious as to spending-money at least–
The weather has grown milder but is feathered thick with fog wherever you look. Penini has a bad cold. I must tell you something he said the day before yesterday– Lady Charlotte Locker had written to propose coming with her husband to us on friday evening, I think it was—& little Peni, who heard me speaking of it, observed gravely, .. “Well, mama– I hope you’ll tell that Lady of Charlotte not to eat no more onions!” An application of Albert Smith’s joke! [3] You remember?
I sympathized with you deeply, or rather highly, as to the terrors at Pevensey. [4] How dangerous! really dangerous! Dearest Arabel, that you should be feeling rather better, physically speaking, comforts me for this tearing away of a part of my heart .. though what remains, bleeds still. May God bless you– Think within yourself, if you can come to meet Henrietta—who proposes staying from monday to saturday–
Robert’s best love to you—& mine with his to George & the rest–
Ever & wholly your attached
Ba—
Always I write at full gallop—writing in London—within an inch of post-time.
Address: Miss Barrett / 12. Cornfield Terrace / Eastbourne.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 169–171.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Mary Green and her husband George let rooms in their house at 13 Dorset Street, where the Brownings were staying.
2. Frances McIntosh and her family resided nearby at 39 Dorset Street.
3. Perhaps a pun by Albert Richard Smith (1816–60), who was a “regular contributor to … Punch” and published many witty novels during the 1840’s (ODNB). He was later known for his comic lectures on mountaineering. We have been unable to trace this “joke,” evidently referring to Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” (1842), but it seems likely that it was worked into his stage entertainment, “Mr. Albert Smith’s Ascent of Mont Blanc” that ran in London from 1852 to 1858. According to Millicent Garrett Fawcett, a performance of it in 1858 included a description of two sisters, a sentimental one and a practical one, the latter asking practical questions while the sentimental one read from the poem (see What I Remember, New York, 1925, p. 15).
4. A small village 4 miles N.E. of Eastbourne, notable as the landing place of William the Conqueror and for its Roman and medieval ruins, the latter consisting of the remains of Pevensey Castle; the former, of ancient walls and towers over twenty feet high. According to a contemporary medievalist, Thomas Wright, “There are few ruins in England which better deserve a visit than those of Pevensey Castle” (“Wanderings of an Antiquary,” The Gentleman’s Magazine, August 1852, p. 132). Wright goes on to point out that “the facing of the walls and towers is in many places dilapidated, especially the lower parts of the towers, which have in several instances been protected by the recent erection of props” (p. 135). Perhaps these hazardous conditions are the “terrors” EBB has in mind.
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