3707. EBB to Henrietta Cook
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 63–67.
3. Rue du Colysée.
Avenue des Champs Elysées.
1 Jan. [1856] [1]
My dear dearest Henrietta, Here is the first of the year, & it shant go without words from me, (thoughts would go at any rate) to say how I wish you happiness upon happiness .. all the old joy & love preserved, & new joy & love added .. how I wish it to you & yours, to your dear Surtees, & to the darlings of both of you! May God bless you all. Love me a little.
I had your letter on Christmas day. Thank you, dearest, for the pleasure I had in it. Sarianna & Mr Browning came to dine with us, & I had my full holiday in the sight of Penini’s face at the sight of his Christmas presents. Robert had gone out the evening before & come home in a fiacre with an enormous kitchen, made of iron & stone, so that it will admit of a real fire. This was the object of Peni’s secret ambition—so, in spite of the danger of “fires” &c, we let him have it. Then, a dinner-set & knives & forks, complete. And a knapsack. Sarianna gave him a railroad—& Mr Browning a book of instructions in drawing, which will be of more use presently. And Miss White, a friend of ours, brought him a geographical game .. pronounced to be “not very amusing.” But, altogether, Penini prospered. He wanted a “party” very much—only I was not up to it in these small rooms. I dont know how it may be with Altham, but Peni has the most inextinguishable love of dissipation, and to go out & to receive in, make his ideas of happiness. He went to see the great arrival of the Crimean troops whom Napoleon met in the streets [2] —& returned in an enthusiasm about “those poor soldiers with faces all black with lying on the ground”– He is reading Peter Parley’s history—& when I asked him today if he remembered about Xerxes, [3] answered disdainfully .. “Of tourse I memember”. But his lessons never take up more time than an hour & a half. I dont think it right yet to make him work. Arithmetic I dont try him in at all. He spells much better than he did .. which was indeed wanted: for, only when we were in London, he was dreadfully backward in spelling, & I dare say Altham’s acquirement in it wd have put him to shame. As to Altham I consider him peculiarly advanced for his age,—(Nearly two years younger than Penini, mind!—) & you must feel both delight & pride in his forwardness,—& the intelligence it indicates. How pretty of him & Mary, to thank you for teaching them! I dont get such compliments I assure you. Penini is by no means fond of his lessons & has no general passion even for story-books—though he takes fits of reading, every now & then. But I, at his age, certainly cared more for books. If he would but set his mind to a thing steadily, there’s nothing he cant do– His facility is great—& indeed we consider him gifted with higher gifts still. But he’s a perfect child—sits on one’s knee, & coaxes & cuddles, and cares for play supremely,—and we dont constrain him—its not our system, you know– Think of Penini never having been to church yet. That is, not for the whole service.
Just now comes a new year’s gift for him, addressed to me from some anonymous American .. a book bound in white vellum & full of fairy tales. [4] Very pretty, & very kind. He has gone out to see the great show of new year’s gifts which make the Boulevards look like a fair. And here’s an orangetree covered with blossoms for me! And here too is Mrs Sartoris, with an immense bunch of blue violets!
This is dreadful about Alfred. Arabel has told me more minutely than you could. I am glad I had written to him without knowing anything about it. As to papa’s bearing to Mr Yeoman, [5] it’s wrong certainly—and yet I dont think that papa was under obligation to pay the debt. He might well say, that he would have stood security for his son himself if he had desired to relieve him,—& that therefore Mr Yeoman did what he did, in full knowledge of acting against the father’s wishes. Also, Mr Yeoman is plainly to blame– The act of standing security, without the means of meeting the obligation, is entirely immoral; and the utmost good-nature cannot be received as a sufficient excuse for it. He suffers therefore, if he suffers, by no means unjustly—but on the other hand, I would not for the world be Alfred & cognizant of the suffering. The marriage under such circumstances was terribly wrong—& it gives me real pain to think of Alfred’s having been capable of thinking of it– The only thing for him seems to be the bankruptcy court—& that will suspend his present occupation .. throw him out .. besides it’s not helping Mr Yeoman. He should have passed through the bankruptcy court long ago .. before he made the private debt, & before he married– The scheme about the signatures was horrible. I am heartily glad it failed. Arabel bids me not mention the subject in my letters to her, but I suppose I may to you–
The weather has been warm for nearly a fortnight,—previously, very cold. Yesterday, not feeling very well, I opened the window & stood at it—think of that in December, for me. But I have been much better lately .. & do not cough as I did, & am stronger, persevering in codliver oil .. & people cry out about my looking so much better. That detestable house & the cold together were enough to kill a stouter heart than mine—but I weather storms in a miraculous way—& walk upon the sea, though I cry out.! [6]
I am very sorry but not surprised that dear uncle Hedley should have suffered from the climate. The quality of the air is so different, that, apart from the question of cold, lungs accustomed to the continent, must suffer in England in proportion to their delicacy. I feel even an English summer .. a London summer at least. It is wise of him to go to Torquay. Perhaps it would be wiser still if he came here to a small apartment till his own is free. Rents have been very high for Paris, and we give fifty francs (two pounds) a month more than we have hitherto given– Two pound ten, we pay a week.
In my letter to Arabel yesterday I did not give her a long history I had to give about our affairs .. I mean Ferdinando’s & Wilson’s affairs .. for want of room & also for want of a conclusion– I have been very vexed, but there’s no use writing of it till we know what will be, & I still hope we shall see matters reconciled. But Ferdinando has not behaved very well .. has been discontented & grumbling about not having Wilson “to help to do his work,” (that motive given!)—complaining of having too much work to do .. he who has the least work possible. It was too absurd & very wrong. Robert was reasonably offended, & proposed to send him & his family to Italy at once, saying, in fact, that if Wilson was to come, she had better bring the child, & they should have their expenses paid to Florence, all of them. This was drawn from him, by Ferdinando coming to tell him that Wilson wd be here in three or four days, in consequence of his having written to her that if she did’nt come to him, he would go to her! .. that “he wanted Harriet’s room to hang up his coats” .. &c &c. Now really we have been considerate & kind to Ferdinando, I must say– He is of very little use out of Italy—he cooks one dish, & potatoes, & buys the pastry. He cleans (after a fashion) two rooms, the drawing & dining room (both very small) & Robert’s dressing room– It’s mere child’s play. With regard to Wilson’s coming, we have wished him to do what was best for his child & them all—but of course we could’nt turn Harriet into the street .. we must have time allowed to us to get a situation for her. Wilson writes to me after a great deal of “shilly shallying,” that perhaps it would be better for her to remain until we go to England, & that, if I think so, she begs me to explain it to Ferdinando. He does not object. Robert & I tell him we consider it the reasonable plan. I end by observing soothingly that in any case “she could not come till February, & that he would have time to think about it.” Imagine that, by that day’s post, he writes the letter I speak of—“If you dont come, I go to you.” Poor Wilson had no choice, of course, than to tell him she would come– Robert is so indignant, that nothing will induce him now to have her at all in Paris .. at which I cannot wonder: but, I think, if Ferdinando will apologize, he will keep him, & take her in London & afterwards to Florence according to our old scheme. Observe, it would be better for us, that they accepted the proposition about being sent to Italy at once .. except that it gives me such pain to have to part with Wilson! Still, it must come to that, at last. I have written to Wilson to tell her exactly how it is, & given her her choice—because certainly Robert wont be inexorable if Ferdinando changes his tone .. but when we are meaning the kindest, & gaining nothing by it, (losing much, rather) it’s hard that we should be turned round upon & reproached. We got assistance for Ferdinando in London, because of the staircases, to which he was’nt used—but it would be absolutely ludicrous to do such a thing here– If you saw what a Paris apartment is!—— People say to me “your servants cant have much to do.” And Harriet does three times as much work as he does. Such a look he gave me, when I said so.
Well—it’s all terrible. We have’nt heard yet from Wilson. Arabel had better not mention this where it can be heard by Wilson’s relations. I am afraid she has made an unfortunate marriage. He is good & kind in many respects, but indolent—& he has shown a great want of moderation & conduct under late circumstances– There’s household gossip for you!
Send me as much. But your’s is all smooth. No—I would not object to an Italian maid—but I do object to all this agitation & dissatisfaction & unsettling. It’s hard upon us—is’nt it? Certainly not many persons would have tolerated what we have tolerated already–
May God bless you all—dearest Henrietta—& give you that sweetest of Spring-gifts which He means for you. How happy I should be if I were you! Lie on the sofa, & think of the little soft head! Twenty kisses to the children–
Robert’s love with mine to Surtees & you & them. Your ever attached,
Ba.
Write on thinner paper.
Address: Angleterre. / Mrs Surtees Cook / Wilton / Taunton.
Publication: Huxley, pp. 238–239 (in part).
Manuscript: British Library.
1. Year provided by postmark.
3. In Peter Parley’s Universal History, on the Basis of Geography (6th ed., 1854), chapter 27 is entitled “Expedition of Xerxes into Greece.”
4. Unidentified.
5. Thomas Lawrence Yeoman (1819–1901), barrister, was the second son of Henry Walker Yeoman, of Woodlands, Yorkshire, and his wife, Lady Margaret Bruce, eldest daughter of the 1st Earl of Zetland. Called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1846, Yeoman may have met there EBB’s brother George, who had been a member since 1839. Alfred had become acquainted with Yeoman as early as 1845 (see Surtees, 12 January 1845).
6. Cf. Mark 6:48–49.
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