3705. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 57–62.
3. Rue du Colysée.
Avenue des Champs Elysées
Dec. 31. [1855]
[1]My ever beloved Arabel I am so vexed. I mistook, & thought new year’s day fell on wednesday rather than tuesday, & now I am driven to the wall for time, though I wished much to write both to you & Henrietta today. I shall have to send you a brief letter then—& Penini, who had begun one, must put off sending his. He is gone out to buy shoes for a grand entertainment at Mrs Sartoris’s, to which he goes at three p.m .. & where there is to be conjuring, or magic-lantern-ing or something– He is invited also to Charles Dickens’s for a Christmas Tree, in a few days. Dearest darling Arabel, here we are on the brink of another year! May God bless & keep you. I love you with the love which lasts beyond the counting of time.
Your letter was the welcomest Christmas gift to me possible, for I felt anxious about you—you were my cloud—& I like you to be my sun as usual. Even now I am sure you are not very right in certain respects—& I do beg that you will never miss speaking of your health, seeing that the least silence will force me into miserable conclusions of the imagination. For my part, I have been exceedingly unwell since three weeks after coming to Paris, but, within the last fortnight, have turned round the corner, & am now quite lively & looking as different as one can from oneself. I only wonder, .. considering the house we fled from & the severe weather we passed through, .. I really only wonder I was so well. Even after coming to this apartment the frost was bitter– For the first time for years, I saw white windows: & Of course I could not but suffer. Now the weather is in the other extreme of heat, & people are groaning about it while I triumph. For a week it has been rather too warm. For two or three days I have’nt been able to bear a fire in my bedroom, either at going to bed or getting up—& the salon-fire goes out without my missing it. In sunny situations the sun puts out the fire– Robert walks on the shady side of streets– Yesterday the thermometer stood at sixty five in the shade, out of doors. Extraordinary for December, & most happy for me. It cant last, of course; but the pause sets one to rights, & quiets & heals the chest–– It’s a rest on the road. Then, if the cold returns ever so, the warmth of this house is incontestable, & we shall be found armed cap-a-pié–
While I remember to tell you, Arabel, let me. Think how this government provides for the poor. Public establishments all over Paris provide anybody .. you, me, whoever pleases to apply .. (without tickets .. without humiliating conditions of a verified poverty ..) with a basin of good soup for a sou (something less than a halfpenny) a plate of meat for a sou, & a plate of vegetables for a sou. Children at half price. [2] The only security against rich people using these advantages, is, that, as no variety of diet is provided, it is supposed they would prefer the ordinary restaurateurs. I do call it magnificent on the part of the government. I heard a non-admirer of Louis Napoleon observe upon it that he was carrying out the views of the socialists one after another—but I maintain that if such things are really practicable (which has hitherto been denied) they ought to be practised. He has done more for the people, than a thousand constitutionalists could do by uniting & acting out their most excellent plans. Yesterday the entrance of the Crimean troops was very fine, I hear, [3] —conducted with all the sentiment characteristic of the nation. Laurel wreaths were lavished on the poor soldiers, thrown from the windows, till nearly every man had a wreath. A friend of mine who hates Napoleon with a hatred passing the hate of women, [4] said to me that for the first time within her observation, he looked deeply moved, &, that the people recognized the emotion with absolute shrieks of applause, & ‘vive l’empereur.’
Did I tell you of my long letter from Sophia Cottrell—written half by her & half by her husband, .. both of them firm believers in Home’s spirits. She says her three children came to her, [5] sate on her knee .. that she had the little baby hands in her’s, & felt one by one the tiny infantine fingers. Her father also came,—& her aunt Ellen [6] —& other relations & connections—the names & other particulars given without hesitation. When her father came she said, “Dear papa, tell me what was the intimate name I used to call you by.” Answer, without a moment’s hesitation .. “Daddy” .. which, by the way, I did not know. These spirits all acknowledge “Jesus Christ as the Lord Jehovah.” [7] —& know of “none other means of salvation than by Him”. [8] The physical manifestations are curious. Tables lifted into the air more than a foot from the ground, while everybody, including Home, stood off,—not touching with a finger—this was the commonest wonder. They saw an accordion, which had remained on the floor, lifted up to a level with the top of the table by visible hands, they playing it as it went. (The accordion is not spiritual .. but the only earthly instrument of music present.) They placed it on Sophia’s knee, & there, Home being at a distance, they drew from it most beautiful music. A Hand took her fan from her, and, holding it in the air, fanned all the persons present, producing much more wind than could have been produced by a mortal using the same means, .. & then returned the fan to Sophia, the handle held towards her. A lovely female hand was shown as Mrs Powers’s mother’s, & Mrs Powers & her father [9] were both allowed to kiss it. They offered it a pencil & paper & asked the spirit to write her name. The hand accordingly took the pencil, & wrote on the paper in the sight of all. (Sophia does not tell me whether or not the name was actually written & read—& this I must ask.) Her statement is not very scientifically given, but the impression of the whole is not the weaker for that, upon my mind. Home is going from one house to another, of our friends at Florence, holding séances—but they seem to be held chiefly at Mr Powers’s. Sophia says that her relatives in England, the Gordons, [10] wont believe but that the hands are mechanical––as if it were possible she adds for anyone to mistake the feel of a warm fleshly hand.! Her father’s hand, she said, was warmer than her own, & precisely a man’s hand. Robert made me read every word of this letter to him. Lytton came here the other evening & we had the whole subject out,—& Robert “behaved beautifully,” as I told him afterwards. He is an unbeliever still, but no longer ferocious. Lytton told us a startling thing– That, when at Ealing, Sir Edward had been drawn under the table by the “large strong hand,” & when he had cried out .. “I swear that’s a human hand—I swear that’s Mr Hume’s hand .. & I’ll see the end of this” .. & when Hume burst into tears & rushed away from the table to the window & stood there sobbing, & when everybody at the table, except Lytton, went away also, scattered & frightened at the scene .. still, the strong large Hand pinned Sir Edward where he was—holding on– That, I think, is conclusive–
Mrs Dickens has called on me– Did I tell you? And he is coming, he says– She is a goodnatured, round, smiling looking woman—not meaning anything particular. We have had other visits which Robert has returned for me & him—from Lady Easthope, Lady Farquhar, [11] Mdme Blaze de Bury, & Madme de Triqueti, [12] the sculptor-baron’s wife,—besides the Aidè’s & other old friends.
Little Penini is getting on nicely, but I never teach him above an hour & a half. His spelling is much improved,—which allows him to write by himself, without me at his elbow. As to his drawing, here’s an example. [13] People consider his drawings quite miraculous. This head was done without a copy, & with nobody’s advice even. Not the dot of a pencil, besides his own. He is reading Peter Parley’s Universal History with maps [14] —so that he gets notions of geography & history together. Peter uses horribly long words, but he answers in the long run .. & Peni picks up good things here & there. I mean to begin with a little french,—that his winter here may not be infructuous—but we have not yet arranged about the music. Robert says he must see how the money comes in. We hear nothing of the sale of the book. We shall, I suppose, in a few days, when the bills are made up– It has certainly made a stir in England; & has been received better, we are told, by the general public than by the critics. The ‘Sun’ notice of me Robert did not see, nor did we hear of it till you mentioned it. [15] A week before there was a violent attack on his “men & women”, [16] which he saw. Perhaps they praised me with the amiable motive of vexing him more. But he is’nt to be vexed by such means. If a calculation, it was miscalculated.
Send Mrs Ogilvy’s poems [17] to Miss Blagden, at Mrs Mackay’s 41 Hamilton Terrace, St John’s Wood [18] —for me—as she is coming here next monday. She comes to an apartment in this street. How absurd of Arlette to teach a girl of six, [19] latin! I never knew anything much more so– What is there in latin literature fit for a child’s capacity, when she is able to read? It’s throwing away energy! Living languages, on the other hand, can scarcely be taught too early. I should like Peni in the next three or four years to be able to speak French Italian & German .. which he will do without much effort. He reads Italian quite as well as English,—& three pages a day are sufficient to keep up the acquirement.
I have had a very smooth pleasant Christmas– Robert has been angelical. He never loved me so much, he said the other day. He works at Sordello, & I at my poem [20] —& I have to drive him out when he goes. And he has tickets for Baron Dupotet’s [21] magnetic séances, & will use them tomorrow evening, he declares, & will “try to believe whatever I believe”. Which only proves that he’s <***>
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 198–203.
Manuscript: Berg Collection and Gordon E. Moulton-Barrett.
Enclosure, Pen to Arabella in EBB’s hand:
[Paris]
[29 December 1855]
At Christmas I had a quantity of presents—a kitchen with real fire & a dinner set & a knap-sack, & a railroad & a book of pictures. If you would come here I would show you such beautiful things in the Palais Royal, toys of all sorts which they put out for Christmas. I have be[e]n making some beautiful drawings & I have been reading Berries & Blossoms [22] this morning a little bit, & I find a few verses in it pretty though it isnt very amusing. I wish you wd come here– I have done a picture of Alfred Tennyson reading Maud, [23] & I write on the back– Do you think it just.
I saw today Napoleon & General Canrobert [24] & a quantity of soldiers who had been to battle & their faces all brown & black with lying on the ground, & nosegays in their guns of flowers & laurels which they had brought from the battle– Napoleon opened his hand to waive & he took off his hat to us & made an enormous bow— I took off my hat too. Do you think thats quite right Madame Arabela.
1. Year provided by EBB’s reference to The Sun’s review of her Poems (1853); see note 14 below.
2. The Morning Post of 24 December 1855 carried a report on this subject filed by its Paris correspondent: “The distribution of bread tickets, meat, and fuel, which have been for the last two winters under the patronage and with the assistance of the Emperor and Empress, have been continued this year, but not having been found sufficient to satisfy the anxiety of their Majesties for the well-being and comfort of the working classes, it has been decided … to open cheap kitchens. The Minister of the Interior has given his adhesion to this plan, which will come into operation in a few days under the superintendence of the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. The prices at which the food will be delivered to the poor are stated … as follows:—Half a litre of beef soup, 5 centimes [equals 1 sou]; about 100 grammes of cooked meat, 5 centimes … rations for children, of about half the ordinary quantity, 2 centimes” (p. 5).
3. French troops returning from the Crimea were given a parade and an address by Napoleon III on 29 December 1855. A translation of a report on the event that appeared in Le Moniteur ran in The Daily News of 31 December (p. 4): “The troops of the Army of the East marched from the place of the Bastille. … The populace, who thronged the streets, the boulevards, and the windows, raised the most enthusiastic acclamations as each of the regiments passed by. Crowns of laurels were showered down from every quarter.”
4. EBB refers to Mme. Mohl; see the sixth paragraph in letter 2991. Cf. II Samuel 1:26 (“… thy love … passing the love of women”).
5. i.e., her three children who had died in infancy: Alice, Carlo, and the most recent, Clement.
6. Eleanor “Ellen” Augusta Tulk (1802–55) died the previous August. Mrs. Cottrell’s father, Charles Augustus Tulk, died in 1849.
7. Cf. I John 4:2–3.
8. Cf. Acts 4:12.
9. James Gibson (1791–1862).
10. A reference to Mrs. Cottrell’s sister Caroline Augusta Gordon (née Tulk, 1815–81) and the latter’s in-laws.
11. Sybella Martha Farquhar (née Rockcliffe, 1784–1869), wife of Thomas Harvie Farquhar (1775–1836), 2nd Baronet, whose father was physician-in-ordinary to the Prince of Wales, later George IV. The Farquhars had married in 1809. Lady Farquhar is listed in the Brownings’ address book of this period (AB-3) at 26 Rue de Rivoli in Paris and at 18 King Street, St. James’s, in London.
12. Julia Philippina de Triqueti (née Forster, 1814–73) was the daughter of Edward Forster (1769–1828), chaplain of the British Embassy in Paris, and his wife, Lavinia (née Banks). She had married in 1834 the French sculptor Henri Joseph François (1804–74), Baron de Triqueti, best known for the bronze doors of the church of the Madeleine in Paris and the cenotaph for Prince Albert in the Albert Memorial Chapel at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. Mme. Triqueti was a friend of Anna Jameson, and the latter’s niece Gerardine had studied sculpture under M. Triqueti.
13. EBB has enclosed Pen’s drawing, a profile of a man, which is inscribed: “Paris 1855. For Arabel. done by Penini.” It is reproduced facing p. 80.
14. Peter Parley’s Universal History on the Basis of Geography (Boston, 1837), edited by Samuel Goodrich but written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Elizabeth Peabody (1804–94), went into several editions. A sixth London edition appeared in 1854.
15. A notice of EBB’s Poems (1853) appeared in the 17 December issue of The Sun, a London daily newspaper. The reviewer concluded by proclaiming: “Honour to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, whose name … is preeminent among the living glories of our English literature!” (p. 3). For the full text of this review, see pp. 282–284.
16. The “attack” in the issue of 6 December was fairly mild. The reviewer was “revolted … by the clever flippancy of ‘Bishop Blougram’s Apology’” but charmed by … ‘Old Pictures in Florence.’” For the full text of this review, see pp. 330–331.
17. Poems of Ten Years (1856).
18. Frances Maseres Mackay (née Fellowes, d. 1888, aged 63) had married the philosopher Robert William Mackay (1803–82) on 30 March 1852. The friendship between the Mackays and Isa Blagden was apparently close; they are mentioned numerous times in RB’s letters to her. The Mackays’ Hamilton Terrace address appears in the Brownings’ second joint address book (AB-4).
19. The Reynoldses’ first child, Mary Arabella Susan (1849–1917).
20. Aurora Leigh. As told to James T. Fields in letters 3618 and 3651, RB was attempting to revise Sordello (1840), which he had not included in his Poems (1849). When it was reprinted in The Poetical Works (1863), he wrote to Moncure Daniel Conway that “‘Sordello’ is corrected throughout; not altered at all, but really elucidated, I hope, by a host of little attentions to the reader: the ‘head-lines,’ or running commentary at the top of the page, is added for the first time” (17 September 1863, ms at Huntington).
21. Baron Jean Du Potet de Sennevoy (1796–1881), one-time editor of Le Journal du Magnetisme, was the author of An Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism (1838), which EBB reported having read in letter 1457. He arrived in London in 1837 and gave mesmeric presentations at private gatherings, as well as demonstrations on patients in University College Hospital. He trained John Elliotson, founder of the Phrenological Society (see Alison Winter, Mesmerized, Chicago, 1998, pp. 42–48 and 64–66).
22. Thomas Westwood, Berries and Blossoms; A Verse-Book for Young People (1855).
23. A copy (not extant) of D.G. Rossetti’s sketch of “Tennyson Reading Maud”; see letter 3640, note 3.
24. François Antoine Certain Canrobert (1809–95), commander of French forces in the Crimea.
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