3957. EBB to Henrietta Cook
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 23, 201–206.
Florence.
Jany 10. [1857] [1]
My beloved Henrietta I reproach myself much for this silence at Christmas time, when I should have been at your side in a letter, as in the spirit I was indeed,—loving & blessing you & yours. We have had a black season of it, ourselves—but of this, I wont speak now– Of the pecuniary gain involved in all the sadness, you have heard– We are not to touch it for a year, [2] —the executors have that time to make their various payments in, and really they are strange executors,—never having written to us from first to last,—so that if it had not been for others, we should have heard nothing—even to this day– Dearest Henrietta, I had hoped that you yourself would have been remembered. [3] From the silence, (I mean from people not naming it to me) it appears you have not been, however,—which disappoints & grieves me more than I can say– Arabel represents papa as much vexed,—strangely so, under the circumstances. Still, if the principle of relationship had been recognized at all, (which it was not) he had his undoubted claim. Mrs Jameson has a hundred pounds; Mr Chorley, a hundred; Mr Forster, five hundred; Mr Panizzi, five hundred, & the wine– [4] I wish we had the picture left in Devonshire Place—but I suppose Miss Bayley took it. [5] We are promised a Daguer[r]eotype from another portrait, & Miss Bayley cut off for us a lock of the poor white hair just after he had passed from the body– Such an affectionate letter he wrote to me in those last days, expressing his satisfaction in the dedication of ‘Aurora Leigh’– Well– I will not write of these things.
Dearest Henrietta, thank you & dear Surtees for your sympathy & kindness about the book– The second edition should have been out by this time; but Chapman’s name begins with a C like a crab’s, & there’s a likeness otherwise. In America, it is published– We can barely hear of it,—and of the reception which is said to be very favorable. I can scarcely understand how more offence has not been given & taken in certain quarters—only, pazienza—there’s a review in Blackwood, & Blackwood will grind me to powder, I dont doubt, as far as Blackwood can. [6] Oh yes—we heard of the Press– [7] And the Guardian—tell me, Henrietta, if your Guardian did not bark like a mastiff & tear me. [8] Robert says I am longing to be abused a little—mind, I dont say so. Mr Jarves came to enquire very seriously the other day, whether there was any truth in the story going about Florence, that ‘Aurora’ was written by the “spirits”, and that I disavowed any share in it except the mere mechanical holding of the pen–!!! Think of that– Then, Mrs Jameson writes to tell me of a history as véridique, [9] given in the Court Journal .. namely, that “the spiritual hands of Dante rose from the ground & crowned me with an orange-wreath, (under Hume’s influence) and that my husband preserved the wreath as a memorial of this honour”– [10] Says Mrs Jameson, ‘If it is’nt true, give me authority to contradict it, as it is much talked of.’ What a pity, that it should’nt be true! Robert’s preserving the wreath is a happy stroke of imagination. [11]
Speaking of the spirits, Mr Kirkup was here this morning with various sketches of the evil & good, as spiritually discerned by friends of his—and there was one angel called Isaac, from a higher sphere, in a long floating garment of blue gleaming into rose-colour. The evil spirits are seen as through a dark veil. Count Ginnasi (count Gamba’s cousin) (whom Penini calls “a very nice medium, I [12] think”) came again the other evening, but succeeded considerably less in his experiments. [13] Isa Blagden was here, & Fanny Haworth was’nt—the latter being very susceptible & the former not at all; so that he was at a disadvantage. Also, I dont feel sure myself that he did not push the table,—though he does not seem to us given to cheat generally—still, on this occasion ..... Not that the table did more than move to the end of the room: none of the experiments were satisfactory. The count is goodnatured & jocose, and Peni likes him much. Little Peni is very amusing– He pretends to be an ‘esprit fort’ [14] like Robert, and all the time is evidently incapable of a doubt, poor little faithful soul. The count proposed that the spirits should lift the table into the air—‘no, no,’ said Peni earnestly, ‘questo io non voglio’ [15] —“for,” continued he, “if the table is lifted in the air, it may fall down on our heads & hurt us very much.” On this second visit of the Count, Penini ran up to him & directly informed him of his (Peni’s) late spiritual experience in the gifts of the Befana. The Befana, you must know, is the witch of Florence who on the twelfth night comes to the bedside of all good children & fills an empty stocking hung up for the occasion. Peni had a stocking full & running over of gifts––oranges, chocolate-bon bons, an accordion, a doll, a powder-flask. The child’s ecstasy in the morning was intense– He had given particular instructions to Wilson overnight, not to make too large a fire, lest the Befana should have a difficulty in coming down the chimney– “Oh—such a kind Befana! Really the Befana was kinder than ever. Really, he felt even more happy than on Christmas Day”–
Poor little Pen—he has been very good lately, & very happy as a consequence,—& everybody observes how well he looks, with his round, rosy face. He has begun several letters to Altham & Mary– Some have been finished, & then lost– Robert has taken to hear him his lessons before breakfast .. his French verb, French phrases, English spelling, .. & his writing––& though I was nervous at the beginning, both master & pupil conduct themselves admirably—unlimited patience on one side, and attention on the other. Of course it helps me, & breaks the neck of Peni’s difficulty. After breakfast, I hear him read English history & Bible, and Italian & French. We have not yet begun again with his music, but shall. Also, I want Robert to let him take up a little German. Children learn these things with such facility that it is a pity to wait past their childhood to teach them– You are quite right to put Altham into French. I advise you to make active use of the word-book & phrase-book– Peni read for a long time out of the phrase-book—learning by heart a verb or two, also. He reads & translates quite currently now, & can even amuse himself with a Fairytale book, & make out most of it. Tell Altham he had a great indulgence last night– Robert took him to the play, to see the Tuscan Stenterello, [16] the jester,—Madame Tassinari having a box & taking her own little girl, Alice,—& Isa Blagden completing the party. Peni was enchanted, & tells me that it was “even better than the opera of the monkies”, [17] & that he should like to go every night henceforward. Robert says he shrieked with delight at all the childish jokes, entering into the whole– He is to go again on his birthday if he’s very good meantime.
Fanny Haworth sent me such a dear gift for new year’s day––a portrait of him in oils, small size,—like him really, & very graceful. [18] It is in an ornamental frame, & I have hung it over my particular table at the corner of the fire-place. We have bought various little comforts for our rooms, & have furnished the large unfurnished room which Robert always used as a dressing-room & that was shut up when we let the house– [19] Now it may be let with the rest of the house,—& Robert has a perfect room meanwhile, dressing-room, studio & writing-room in one– The only fault of the apartment is the want of a garden—but I mean to pile flower-pots, orange-trees &c on the terrace & supply it partially, when the winter begins to warm into spring—just now it is cold– I dont suffer, notwithstanding, except in the physical depression which always comes to me with cold—there’s no cough to signify– Certainly there’s something in the Italian air which suits me wonderfully– And then, the repose, the quiet, after Paris & London. People say I look much better at any rate– That dearest Arabel did me good by the note she sent me through Mrs Stephenson—though really I could have sworn at her for talking of “postage” as she did. She sent me good news of papa, & did’nt leave out her darling self, as she usually does. Just imagine her yielding so much as to have a fire in her room at nights, & mentioning it as if she had made a concession! She to whom a fire at night is a matter of absolute necessity!– It’s really monstrous. Minny ought to insist on that fire’s being lighted in the morning also. I always have a fire in the winter, both night & morning, even here in Italy; or I should be ill infallibly, & only have to blame myself for it. How wrong to doubt on such a point. However, I wont reproach the darling little note which gave me ease, & made me feel a sense of blessing. Mrs Stephenson wrote rather stiffly that as my sister wished her to have the pleasure of my acquaintance she wd call on me at any time I named. I wrote to name any time, a day or two afterwards,—but she has not come yet. I am afraid she will not care much for the trouble of paying a visit, which, during the winter, as I have explained, it is not in my power to return.
Dr Henry & his family [20] have spent a fortnight in Florence on their way through to Rome. He spoke of you, whom he remembered seeing when you were in Herefordshire. [21] They do not strike me as being very interesting people– Near relations of Miss Bayley’s you know. Let me remember to tell you—I hear of Hume’s being still in Paris, & holding private séances in his Polish family, [22] the ‘spirits’ having returned to him. I asked how his catholic advisers permitted it. [23] The catholics are vehement generally against such things, & Hume had to go through a course of humiliation with fasting & prayer, at Rome, in order to his being received– I was told that his present confessor (for Hume is steady to his catholic profession) had observed, that “if the spirits would come, they would come, and it was no sin of his.”
Dearest dear Henrietta, write to me soon, & tell me of little Mary, & how you all are, dear things. I am glad that dear aunt Jane is to be received in Wimpole Street after all– It would have been too painful if her solicitude & kind feeling towards us, had been visited on her unpleasantly. Now it is all over (hopelessly for us, Henrietta) she will be held in higher esteem for it even by the person whom she irritated for the moment. [24]
We did not put Penini into mourning– [25] It was not necessary—was it? I bought a silk shirt to wear with my black cloth jacket, and a crape collar & sleeves– Was anything done in Wimpole Street, besides shutting up the house? Probably not–
You will miss the Hedleys this winter– [26] Do you get any society, or are you very quiet. A few wandering pilgrims come to us in the evening,—Isa Blagden generally twice a week—but we are in a state of dead calm for the most part.
May God bless you, dearest—you & your dear Surtees, & the precious Three. Robert’s best love—& Peni’s.
Your ever attached Ba.
Oh—if Lizzie shd be still with you, my love to her. [27]
How frightened you must have been with the telegraphic message– Such things are really awful–
Address: Angleterre viâ France– / Mrs Surtees Cook / Wilton / Taunton / Somersetshire.
Publication: Huxley, pp. 264–267 (in part).
Manuscript: British Library.
1. Year provided by postmark.
4. These bequests are all listed in John Kenyon’s will; see SD1993.
5. Probably, this was a lithograph portrait of Kenyon by Richard James Lane (1800–72) from a watercolour by John Collingham Moore (1829–80). The following month, EBB writes Arabella that Sarah Bayley “promises kindly that we shall have ultimately the portrait of Mr Kenyon in my bedroom [i.e., at 39 Devonshire Place]” ([12–] 14 February [1857], ms at Berg). By 14 May 1858, EBB had received the portrait, as indicated in her letter to Julia Martin of that date (ms at Wellesley). This portrait has not been located. A copy in the National Portrait Gallery, London, is reproduced facing p. 209.
8. An unsigned review in The Guardian for 31 December 1856 (pp. 999–1000) criticized EBB’s poem as “coarse” and “disagreeable”—“a failure” with some “splendid” passages. In regard to EBB’s views on the position of women in society, the reviewer wrote: “Those who reverence women most deeply and habitually … will be the slowest to believe that by striving to meet men upon equal terms in the pursuits of active or intellectual life, women will really elevate themselves, or will be fulfilling their true mission. … Let Mrs. Browning plead, and let us listen to her pleadings with respect, but let us not be thought hard or unjust if we say that this very book proves her intellectual inferiority.” For the full text of this review, see pp. 333–335. “Your Guardian” is a teasing reference to Henrietta’s high-churchism. The Guardian was founded in 1846 by prominent Tractarians.
9. “Truthful.”
11. In letter 3956, EBB reported that RB “threw it out of the window into the street.”
12. Underscored twice.
13. For Count Ginnasi’s previous visit to Casa Guidi, see letter 3942.
14. “Strong-minded,” or “independent thinker.”
15. “This I don’t want.”
16. Sic, for Stentarello; see letter 2884, note 7.
17. In letter 3549, EBB described it as monkeys and dogs acting in “an open day theatre.”
18. This painting by Fanny Haworth, depicting Pen at the piano sold as lot 15 in Browning Collections (see Reconstruction, H10). It is reproduced facing p. 209.
20. William Charles Henry (1804–92), a physician from Ledbury (see letter 3148, note 16), was presumably traveling with his wife, Margaret (1810–90) and some of their children, of whom there were ten: seven daughters and three sons.
22. That of Alexander Branicki (1822–77); see letter 3744, note 12.
23. In Rome, Home was despondent about recent events in Florence and sought refuge in the Catholic Church; he even considered entering a monastery. According to his second wife (née Julie de Gloumeline), he was granted an audience by Pius IX, who said nothing of demoniacal possession. At the time of this letter, Gustave François Xavier Delacroix de Ravignan (1795–1858) was Home’s spiritual advisor and confessor in Paris. Following an illness in February 1857, Home experienced renewed visits from the spirits, and Père Ravignan counseled Home that the spirits were demons and must be abandoned (see Mme. Dunglas Home, D. D. Home: His Life and Mission, New York, 1888, pp. 67–72). In his autobiography, Home writes that Père Ravignan refused him absolution unless he henceforth ignored the rappings and any other spiritual manifestations (see Incidents in My Life, New York, 1863, p. 139). Consequently, Home went looking for a more open-minded priest and found the abbé Jean Gaspard Deguerry, minister of the church of the Madeleine (see Waddington, p. 345). According to Home, Deguerry (called “Abbé de C--” in Incidents) wanted “very much to witness some of these wonderful things” and, having done so, stated: “Let this power be what it will, it is in no way of your making” (Incidents, p. 140). Deguerry, fearing persecution if it became known he was advising Home, recommended another confessor, “one of the most eloquent preachers of the day” (unidentified), to whom the medium proceeded to introduce himself (p. 140).
24. The previous August, Jane Hedley had written EBB’s father in an attempt to reconcile him to his three married children. Arabella had seen the letter, which she thought “very strong & straightforward,” and Henrietta had seen their father’s reply, which contained “some bitter things,” as well as a note of forgiveness (see EBB to Julia Martin, [30] March–10 [April 1857], ms at Wellesley).
25. For John Kenyon.
26. They had been staying the last two summers at Sidbrook, 2½ miles N.E. of Taunton.
27. Following her arrival in England from Madeira in December 1856, Lizzie Moulton-Barrett stayed with Henrietta at Taunton until February 1857 (see Surtees, 2 February 1857).
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