3886. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 23, 88–90.
39 Devonshire Place
Monday. [13 October 1856] [1]
My ever dearest Arabel, You made me rather easier by what you wrote– Do you know I have been on the verge of writing again– [2] Robert half advised me– But there’s no use—is there? you dont advise it, I am sure– On second & third thoughts I dont feel as if I ought to do it, in fact–
Dearest, what will you say to me after all my professions, when I tell you that I have not yet been to Mr Stratten’s. But the weather (east wind & fog), has acted injuriously on me, and although I slept somewhat better last night, I have been plagued with cough and plaguing—so that Robert has taken oath on his bare sword of matrimony that I shant stir out of the house till I go for good & all– Never mind oaths. I will go if it is possible—if a day will clear up—& today & yesterday have been milder .. though with a fog still thick enough to smother the two princes in the Tower without Richard. [3] But there’s no east wind, & I am better– Observe .. its nothing—by the time I get to Lyons, I shall have cleared up, lungs & all, like the sky itself– A mere passing inconvenience, which I mention to you simply that you might not fancy me careless of a request of yours. Robert wants to hurry me away as soon as he can—& that’s only wise perhaps .. as we are really to go. A little more, & I might’nt be able to travel. What vexes me, is having seen Minny only once, & Trippy only once—but I must & will see them both again .. & the Strattens too. I shall have to give up Mr Jago, [4] which really distresses me—for Robert has not seen him, either last year or this year. Robert is torn to pieces with business—& so am I– The last proofs are on the anvil– As far as you have read, has gone to America. Mr Frederick Chapman is delighted .. and the coy are so sure of success that they are consulting already about the second edition in two volumes. [5] The Carlyles, [(]the two brothers;) [6] were here yesterday, and Leigh Hunt comes tomorrow– My heart has been aching all day over dear Miss Mitford’s letters .. which I must do something by before I go– [7] I feel as if the world were in ruins– I hate going—hate staying too—nothing pleases me. How irrational one grows, to be sure. London is detestable without you. And, even with you, I suppose I should cough as much.
Mary Ruskin [sic, for Ruxton] came & told me much of spiritualities. Dr Wilkinson, (to whom as to a fountain these things are referred), says that the movement is spreading on all sides, .. expecially during the last fortnight .. & that the manifestations promise to be of a far higher character than in America.
We go to Florence—that is settled. It is the wiser plan, I think, upon the whole.
Penini & Wilson have spent the last two evenings with Minny, & Wilson thought her well & cheerful—delighted at your coming home soon.
Oh Arabel—Robert talks of our setting out on saturday, & I am afraid we ought to go then—but doubt whether it will be possible, so over-worked we are– Wilson is in despair—about sets of night gowns & the like– As for the poem, parts will have to follow us to Paris I do believe,—where we shall stay one day. Dearest, I cant wish to look you in the face, and [say] goodbye again. I rather would go & come back—which you may rely on our doing next year. Nothing could ever hinder it but lack of money—& money pours in– ‘Men & Women’ has begun alread[y] to divide profits between the Chapmans & ourselves. [8] Then Aurora is to have a tremendous success—all the more perhaps, for being so naughty– Though I doubt that, as I write it– I will try to write a line to dear Miss Dowglass.
May God bless you, dear, dear–
Write to me– May God bless you & love you–
Your Ba–
Mr Ruskin’s mother has given me a very pretty knitted scarf—& we have wine, & preserves from them.
Mr Kenyon continues much better.
Address: Miss Barrett / Milanese Villa / Ventnor. / Isle of Wight.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 259–261.
Manuscript: Gordon E. Moulton-Barrett.
1. Date provided by Ventnor postmark of 14 October 1856, a Tuesday.
2. To her father.
3. Richard III, who probably ordered the deaths of his nephews: Edward V (1470–83) and Richard, Duke of York (1473–83). Based on Sir Thomas More’s history of Richard III, the belief was widely held that he had the two boys smothered in the Tower of London, though no conclusive evidence has ever been brought forward to confirm it.
4. i.e., going to see him. Evidently, Francis Robert Jago (1787–1862) had become something of an invalid. In a letter of 31 December 1853, Leigh Hunt wrote of him: “Our friend Jago, it seems, has been in the habit of housing himself regularly every winter like a human mole” (The Correspondence of Leigh Hunt, ed. Thornton Leigh Hunt, 1862, II, 196).
5. Aurora Leigh continued to be published in one volume.
6. Thomas Carlyle and his brother John Aitken Carlyle (1801–79). The latter was in London at this time, “getting one of his wards … put apprentice to sea” (Carlyle, 32, 5). He returned to Scotland around 22 October (see Carlyle, 32, 29n).
7. EBB had been asked by William Harness to make a selection from the letters for his proposed biography of Mary Russell Mitford; see letter 3592, note 2.
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