3708. EBB to James Jackson Jarves
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 67–68.
3. Rue du Colysée
Avenue des Champs Elysées. Paris.
Jany 3. [1856] [1]
My dear Mr Jarves,
You will be surprised that I should venture again to apply to you on the subject of the “spiritual manifestations”. I am anxious to be informed of the details of an account which has reached me [2] concerning the failure of the moral character of Home the medium & of the influence of this fact upon your mind. I understand that you & others have broken with him.
May I ask, will you tell me, whether you broke with him on the ground, or by the suspicion, that his failure as a man, implicates his reality as a medium, & whether you consider any part of the phenomena observed in connection with him, to be the result of trickery in any form—also, whether your opinions upon the ‘phenomena’ have received the least modification lately, & how, & by what reason.
Dear Mr Jarves, you see that I trust your kindness for me,—&, not only that, but your love for the truth—knowing well, by my knowledge of you, that you respect the truth first, & that you will never shrink from a true statement, even though it should prove you mistaken an hour ago–
I understand that Mrs Trollope & her son have retracted much of their belief in the “spirits”, in consequence of closer observation. I would write to ask him how the case is exactly, if I were at all intimate enough with him to justify a liberty involving so much trouble to him—but if you know how the matter lies, will you satisfy me here also. See, how I do not spare you–
We have had one letter from Mr Ruskin I think, since we saw you; but we have not heard of him lately.
We are now in very warm rooms, & moreover the weather has grown as warm as it was cold. The effect on my health has been good in proportion. I hope you yourself & Mrs Jarves & the children are quite well– Forgive a very hurried “note of interrogation”. [3] Nothing but that, have I time for this morning, & really I cant wait– Have you yourself been a successful “medium” since returning to Florence?
Most faithfully yours
Elizabeth B Browning
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Yale University.
1. Year provided by reference to the return address.
2. In a letter from Elizabeth Kinney.
3. From a well-known anecdote on Alexander Pope, who was said to have asked a young army officer to define “a note of interrogation,” to which the reply was “a crooked little thing that asks questions.” Physically, Pope was humpbacked and very short: four feet, six inches.
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