3972. EBB to Henrietta Cook
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 24, 22–26.
Florence
March 4– [1857] [1]
My beloved Henrietta I must think of you today as on every day, yet most today– [2] I have been praying for you & yours,—and I do wish I could hear of yours that they had one of the gifts so prayed for .. the health of body—for it has been hard to think, dearest, that you should have been so anxious all the winter. We, who hold these treasures, how we tremble head & foot when the fairy-gifts seem for a moment to fade– May yours not fade! May the brightness come back & stay. May God bless you all in body & soul, in this world & the world approaching—& may we all hold hands with tender joy long here, & for ever there. The dear children! that dear little Mary. Do write to me soon Henrietta, & tell me how it is with her– You should be very careful of her in the spring-time, for it is trying & treacherous, especially in England. If I had any suggestion to make, I would rather advise you not to let the children stay too much in garden, where it must be damper under the trees than in the more open space. I observe that little gardens are dangerous if there is a tendency to cold. Certainly they are in Florence. It is better when a child goes out (except in quite the summer) to wrap it up & let it go for a regular walk where it gets exercise & air without drawbacks. But by this time, dear Mary must be quite better, let us hope. Only at the present time of year, coughs are apt to linger, & her’s was of such long standing. Let me hear, do– Are you sure that it has not been hooping-cough? did you never hear anything like a hoop? are you sure?– Of course you covered up the little chests. Penini has been wearing blouses up to his throat the whole winter, and alas he must go on to wear them now—he will soon be eight years old. He has been quite well, thank God– If he ever does such a thing as cough, Robert is in anguish—but then there’s reason to be afraid for him on account of his hereditary disadvantages, dear child. Your children need not alarm you with your healthy habit of body in them—only I shall like to hear that that sweet little Mary makes no noises except the natural one of her singing little laugh. She is a darling, Henrietta—let the baby be ever so handsome—& Altham ever so perfectly everything.
Your colonial plans made my blood run cold– I hope something better may occur after all, dear– There is a good deal of illusion, observe, in Australian incomes, on account of the enormous prices of every necessary thing—& I heard much on this subject from these very Powers [3] of whom you speak, & who had just left the place. Then, “education” there, is not to be thought of. How it is in Canada I dont know so well. I should wait till Altham was ten years old before I thought of classical education– There is plenty to teach him until then: & before then, application to the dead languages is much thrown away, I think. Has he not a right to education in a military college? I had fancied so. Tell me. We have not heard one word about our legacy, & of course we shall have to wait till the end of the year for any sort of satisfaction about it. [4] How extraordinary, that eighty thousand pounds should be left to the residuary legatees [5] besides their specific legacies! Surely it must be by a great oversight on the part of the testator– I think so. I am much disappointed about you. [6] Robert spoke warmly of dear Surtees & he took an opportunity of doing that: but you see, everything was determined in a hurry & agitation, & between wanderings of mind, at last. For ourselves even deducting the hundred a year we habitually received, not much above two hundred is left [7] —which, if we had expected anything considerable, (but, as you know, we did not) there would have been some disappointment on our own part. As it is, we are very thankful & contented. I only wish the same had been done by you,—& Miss Bayley might have done anything by a word at the last.
Florence has been mad in the carnival lately, and Penini persecuted me (with tears & kisses) into buying him a blue domino & blue satin mask in which he ran about the streets from morning to night, followed by Wilson out of breath who lost him every every ten minutes in the crowd– “Now, Lily, dont call me Penini! I pray you, dont.” So glad she is, it’s over. When I found the domino was imminent, I proposed that it shd be a black common domino—but Peni threw himself down face foremost on the sofa in despair—“he hated black—he wanted a blue domino with pink trimming”! So, as it was a mere matter of private taste & pleasure, I yielded,—only compounding for a blue trimming; & the rapture of that child was beyond words. I fancied it was a day’s caprice—but the joy lasted. He had offered to give up his birthday-presents for it,—& in fact no other present could have given such pleasure I think. There he was, talking Italian, here & there, to strangers in the street, as bold as brass under his blue satin mask, .. mixing in the crowd, pushing along .. poor Lily in the distance!– Well she may be glad it’s over.
But I talk of Peni’s dissipations & say nothing of mine—mine, Henrietta. What will my Arabel say to me? Excommunicate me from my dear place next her at Mr Stratten’s?. I’m afraid to think. So I shall tell you, Henrietta, aside, in a low whisper,—only I wont swear you to keep the secret, because I’m too frank for that. Well then. I, I, such as you know me, I who had not stirred from the fire for three months, put on a domino, & a mask, and went to the masked ball at the opera & came back at two in the morning. The facts are thus– In the course of the carnival Robert had accepted two or three invitations from owners of opera-boxes—& at the close of the season when there were to be several of these masked balls (only customary at carnival time) he had resolved to return these civilities by taking a box one night & inviting those hospitable friends, Miss Blagden, Miss Bracken, Mdme Tassinari & Italian gentlemen [8] thereto appertaining. This was all very well—but neither he nor I thought of the possibility of my going, though I had said once or twice that I should like it if it had been safe for me, .. only I had no thought of committing suicide through any such noble object. But when the day came the wind had changed, it was very mild towards night,—& Robert insisted that I could go without risk– He had had a beautiful black silk domino made for himself—(which by the way is now being made into a beautiful black silk dress for me) but there was no time to make me a domino of my own, so I went out & hired one– We went at about half past ten, .. found rather a pretty little room than a box, .. &, after a time, Robert & I went down together into the masked crowd below, & penetrated into every corner of the theatre– There was a crowd, but an Italian crowd .. so orderly & refined, not a coarse word or rough gesture anywhere. Such things would be so impossible in England .. all the grandees in their boxes, .. coming down every moment among the people, .. even the Grand Duke, poor creature, wretched man, though he could’nt bear it long, to mix with them as if he were innocent– [9] The brilliancy & variety of the sight were well worth coming for,—& then I like to see characteristic things. At one o’clock, Ferdinando produced a sort of supper in our box .. gallantine, [10] sandwiches, rolls, cakes, ices, & champagne,—& so it passed. I meant to have staid to the end, but the weight of the air from so many breaths, together with the number of lights I suppose, made me feel disabled about the chest (not cough—only oppression) & I took Madme Tassinari’s carriage & returned at two oclock ingloriously, leaving the rest of the party to follow, as Robert did at four in the morning. It was surprising to me that I held up so long. The first time out after three months. It shows how little I have lost strength this winter. I caught no cold,—but was very tired of course & could’nt help falling asleep over every book I took up next day, though I heard Peni’s lessons as usual, be it added to my praise. Still I moralized & thought that if one went to a masked ball every night, one would lead a useless life, .. ‘proprio inutile.’ [11] as the Italians wd say. So far from that, however, everybody now is fasting & sighing, .. and enlarging their petticoats, Henrietta: and, by the way, to what circumference we shall come at last, it is hard to prophecy. The least advanced of my female friends here, are in whalebone, & the others armed “in complete steel”. [12] I myself went so far the other day as to buy two whalebone hoops, but really I have not courage to let Wilson sew them in,—& I stand lingeringly by that species of crinoline petticoat called “the tower of Malakoff,” [13] which I bought as I passed through.
What nonsense one talks! When one has talked it, it’s impossible to expect that one should be thought of except in the gayest spirits,—and yet really, Henrietta, I have had many sad & heavy thoughts this winter, many– ‘Aurora Leigh,’ however, has done well: “Celestial purity” [14] attributed to it here, & “shameful immorality” there & all sorts of contrary outcries; but the book so much read, that one hears of London booksellers who, in letting it out, limit the time to two days– I never had the same acceptance from the public with any other book– So glad I was that you liked it, you & Surtees. I thought you would like some things—while of course some could scarcely please you.
That Lizzie should have left you for Cheltenham I regret a good deal,—as during Alfred’s absence, Cheltenham was by no means the best place for her– [15] Hume’s power has returned to him, they say, stronger than ever at Paris,—& he has twice had interviews with Louis Napoleon– [16] The news comes from Mrs Macdonald here whose daughter Mdme Aguado [17] (a lady of the Empress’s) was present at the séances; so I conclude upon its truth.
Best love to all, great & small, dear Surtees & the treasures. I have heaps of things to tell you of Peni, & no room to tell them in. Soon I shall hope for another letter from Arabel,—as, after a pause, my normal state of anxiety is resumed. Write to me, you, dearest dear Henrietta, & may God’s mercies & blessings be thick around you.
Your own attached Ba–
Robert’s love—& Peni’s–
Dont pay postage– We got letters safer unpaid–
Address: Angleterre viâ France. / Mrs Surtees Cook / Wilton / Taunton / Somersetshire.
Publication: Huxley, pp. 267–271 (in part).
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library, Altham Archive; and British Library.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. Her 48th birthday.
3. Unidentified.
5. Robert Hawthorn and James Booth (see letter 3931, note 7).
6. John Kenyon bequeathed Henrietta and Arabella £100 each.
7. EBB refers to the £100 a year the Brownings had received from Kenyon since Pen’s birth. Their other sources of income were EBB’s £6,000 invested in Bank of England stock and her shares in the David Lyon, a West Indies packet.
8. Unidentified.
9. EBB felt Grand Duke Leopold II betrayed his people in 1849 when he resumed his Austrian titles and invited Austrian troops into Tuscany not long after the Italian defeat at Novara (see letter 2793).
11. “Really useless.”
12. Hamlet, I, 4, 52.
14. See the postscript to letter 3969. We have been unable to trace the source of “shameful immorality.”
15. Lizzie had left for Cheltenham after a six to seven week stay with the Cooks (see Surtees, 2 February 1857). Presumably, she had gone to stay with her aunt, Mary Williams (née Madocks, 1790–1868), the widow of Martin Williams (1782–1856), half-brother of Lizzie’s father. Mrs. Williams’s two unmarried daughters lived with her.
17. Marie Claire Émilie, Marquise de Las Marismas, Vicomtesse Aguado (née MacDonell, 1817–1905), was dame du palais to Empress Eugénie. She was the eldest daughter of Hugh MacDonell (1754–1847) and his second wife, Ide Louise (née Ulrich, 1800–80). The MacDonells settled in Florence in 1820 after his retirement as British consul-general at Algiers.
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