3694. EBB to Elizabeth Clementine Kinney
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 40–43.
3. Rue du Colysée
Avenue des Champs Elysées–
Decr 17. [1855] [1]
I thank you my dear Mrs Kinney for your letter,—& I would have thanked you earlier, if I had not been rather more dead than alive between the cold and a detestable apartment into which we were nailed for two months by the right hand hammer of our impulsive imprudent friend [2] who meant the kindest– Also, I wished to wait till I had it in my power to send you our fixed address for the next six months. Now, I send it– We are in most comfortable rooms, perfectly arranged & warm—and the weather, to boot, has changed to almost heat—a most welcome change, I assure you: so that my soul has come back to me, & my body is refitted a little– You know I have a natural aptitude to resurrection. Almost I feel as if I should be able to get to work again within a few days. I am I.
Let me say, first of all, that I was not in the least aware of dear Mr Kinney’s having been so ill– No indeed– I heard, long after the time, that he had been unwell—but to such a degree, we had not dreamed. [3] How you must have suffered, you—for I pity you most, of course. May God keep you from a like terrible anxiety, & bless both of you, whether in earthly or heavenly relations. What a summer the last was in Florence!—the angel of Death seeming often perhaps to blot out the other angels!– Tell me something of poor Mr Read! is he with you still, and does he write or paint? does he keep heart for it? [4] My husband could not see any prospect of making an arrangement in London about the publication of an edition of the ‘New Pastoral’– [5] Plainly no publisher would risk it– We are shy in England about poems you know–
And now—the spirits– Dear Mrs Kinney, let me tell you truly that your frankness & candour in giving a plain expression to the change in your opinions on the subject, have impressed even my husband. He kept repeating, after reading your letter (“with astonishment” as he admitted) that “although a congregation of angels would not convince him, he yet had a higher esteem for Mrs Kinney for having written that letter.” See how it is! He is not to be shaken—will never be, I am quite sure, unless, as I say sometimes, he himself should become a medium .. in which case, you may all play out the poetical justice & avow yourselves entirely incredulous. If he received the facts he would receive the spiritual theory—but he does not receive the facts. He considers the whole to be an elaborate imposture. Now I saw precisely what he saw, & came to an opposite conclusion precisely. [6] Our testimony was mutually neutralized therefore, & all ended in a question of personal preference for him or for me, as to which of us was the best witness! Under these circumstances, it became the inferior to withdraw & be silent, which accordingly I did & was—“What could Cordelia do?—think [7] and be silent.” [8] Only my thoughts were extremely decided. I felt & feel certain that no machinery could produce what I witnessed that day, & that the hand which passed slowly between my lap & my eyes, with its fingers growing out like rays, was no gutta-percha hand—indeed, no– I was as quiet & calm that day as I am at this moment, & could form a judgment according to my ordinary capacity. If we were not invited to touch the hands, others did– For instance the very evening before, Sir Edward Lytton touched, felt, held, three different hands—one a female hand of the greatest delicacy, & perfect in the veins, & the nails. [9] He touched three hands of a distinct physiology– I need not speak of these things. Now– You have seen for yourself; &, before, you would have naturally disbelieved me, whom my own husband helped to discredit by giving a contrary testimony to mine on the very same facts.
I conclude by what you say that our friend Mr Powers, who has habits of philosophical examination & a knowledge of mechanics, is not sceptical. He is a wary & acute man, & his opinion is important to me & others. Have you, any of you, seen the whole spiritual figure, as Mr Jerves [10] once did? How did you see the accordions fly through the air? Do you mean to say that literally they did this, & were musical at the same time? Whose accordions were they? Is it true that Mr Hume has been seen lifted into the air himself? I have heard that– I read your letter, my dear friend, with the very deepest interest, & shall be grateful to you for as much information as you can give me. I am waiting too for the promised letter from dear Sophia Cottrell– Your experience about the odic water was peculiar & most wonderful– Was there any effect, do you think? As to “sorcery,” .. I understand by that word, simply a communication with evil spirits by intention & determination—the wicked Will going out through evil means to an evil end. When the face is turned to the Father of Spirits, [11] there can surely be no “sorcery.” That evil spirits will sometimes intrude, is another thing—is the simple consequence of there being any access to the spiritual world. We are subject to their intrusion internally in our daily temptations. Externally therefore it must be the same, where there is access externally. “Try the spirits whether they be of God” [12] is a necessary precaution in either case.
I am very, very sorry about poor Hume’s state of health—sorry for him & sorry for me. I do hope he may recover & live down all suspicions, & give my husband, among others, the opportunity of confessing the wrong of his. Robert may be mistaken: he is never ignoble: and if he could once be convinced of his mistake, he would not quail from the duty of saying so. Even as it is, let me do him this justice—to tell you that, without any suggestion of mine, he made haste to show your letter to several of our friends whom he had influenced against a belief in Hume. [13] He said “I think it fair that as you have heard so much from me, you should hear this much on the other side of the question.”
I suppose Mr Kirkup has used his opportunities zealously– And what does young Mrs Trollope think?–
Do mention, too, our friend Mr Jerves, who I hope is quite well–
Robert’s poems are prospering among claps of hands, & barkings of dogs– They have produced a sensation—and the haters do us nearly as much good as the lovers– Half the edition was gone after three days. [14] Still, the poetry is so much too good for a rapid success, that I cannot quite believe in it.
Tell me if Mr Tennyson has seen Hume, & what his feeling is–
Here’s a letter full of questions & very dull otherwise– But the truth is, I am dull still, though I have recovered, as I said, some sort of soul, & am very much better altogether.
Little Penini sends his love to your darlings. He talks constantly of Florence & will own no other native land than Italy– I have been comforted lately for not being well, by seeing his cheeks grow redder & redder, & rounder & rounder! How he would enjoy a swing with your dear little girls on the terrace of the Casa del Bello– Give them my love too– Ask them not to forget me.
How I should like to talk with Mr Kinney & you at Florence about spirit-world & matter-world! He was never as rebellious on the question as yourself. He used to be very gentle with me on this subject as on others.
Robert joins with me in warm regards to both of you. Let me remain
Affectionately yours
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Mr Lytton lives in the next street to us, & Charles Dickens opposite. We had a letter from Carlyle the other day—who had had a glance at the ‘poems’ & was struck by them– It’s something, to strike Carlyle with a poem–
Address: Italie / A Madame / Madame Kinney / Casa del Bello / Via della Fornace / Florence.
Publication: Bosco, pp. 99–101.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. Louisa Corkran, who had chosen the Rue de Grenelle apartment for its yellow satin upholstery.
4. EBB alludes to Thomas Buchanan Read’s grief over the death of his wife, Mary, and their daughter Lily (see letter 3564, note 4).
5. The New Pastoral by Thomas Buchanan Read was published at Philadelphia in 1855. A “New Edition—Revised by the Author” was issued there the following year. We have been unable to trace a London edition.
6. A reference to the séance Daniel Dunglas Home conducted at the Rymer house in Ealing on 23 July 1855, which the Brownings attended and which RB recounted to Mrs. Kinney in letter 3587.
7. Underscored three times.
8. Cf. King Lear, I, 1, 62.
9. Edward Bulwer-Lytton and his son, Robert, attended a séance in the same house the night before. The latter described it to EBB in letter 3586.
10. Sic, for Jarves.
11. Hebrews 12:9.
12. Cf. I John 4:1.
13. Two of these friends were Adelaide Sartoris and Anna Jameson; see the fourth to last paragraph in letter 3693.
14. Although the initial sale of Men and Women was encouraging, copies of the first edition were still on hand as of 31 December 1863, the date of a statement of account from Chapman and Hall to RB that included the following sum: “½ share of the remaining stock of Men & Women, Christmas day & Easter Eve [sic] &c … 15–0–0 [i.e., £15]” (ms at Morgan). RB’s receipt is dated 29 January 1864. We have been unable to discover any record of the size of the initial print run, the number of copies sold, or the number of copies left unsold.
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