4005. EBB to Henrietta Cook
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 24, 73–77.
Florence.
[ca. 29 May 1857] [1]
My darling Henrietta, your letter is very reviving. How good & like yourself to write it! The time passes—heavily, heavily,—but it passes. It’s hard to carry a heavy heart on from the beginning of a day to the end, but one carries it somehow. And I try to make use of occupation, besides of the good thoughts which God leaves to me, .. I thank Him.
Dearest Henrietta, our beloved Arabel would not need to “talk five minutes” with me to persuade me into wishing her to do precisely as she wishes– You see I was at the moment a little disappointed—but that is over—and from the first I have known that every human being who is able to choose a life should do it for himself & herself as he and she sees, & not as another sees– And if Storm is satisfied when he comes back, that everything should be settled by everybody apart from him, there is nothing to regret—though I do fear rather that Arabel will have to make a larger pull on her principal in taking & furnishing that house [2] than she has an idea of now. You & I know something of the expense of furnishing a house, & how a great deal of money slips through the fingers in mere necessaries which one would fancy from a distance to cost nothing. If she had left Wimpole Street for a furnished lodging & bought furniture by degrees & by using opportunities, she would have done it cheaper—but as it is, rushing out in all her haste & agitation she is forced to make her purchases at shops & bazaars in the dearest way possible. Well—she will judge best, I dare say—and I hope you will go to her as she desires, dearest Henrietta—you must & will– For me, it is not possible this summer—nor if it were, should I consider it at all desireable even for Arabel’s own sake– There will be fuss & agitation enough without such an addition. Also, if we went to London we could not bring her back with us to Italy, (if she would come, dear thing) we could only take her as far as Paris which would not please her as well, nor be nearly as good for her– You see it would be impossible for us to offend Mr Browning & Sarianna who have their own claims, by passing them & not giving them our winter if we gave the summer to England & my family– We should hurt them to a degree which would not be justifiable on our parts. Now, when the summer is over, & that darling Arabel has arranged everything to her mind, she can come to us and we will go to Rome or Naples or wherever else she pleases—and I shall not have been knocked down & spoilt for it, as I always am by a summer even in England. These two summers I have come away ill .. with a tearing cough .. (if you had seen me after I left you last autumn!) and Robert would be very averse not to let me have the advantages of repose & climate this summer– You say truly that whenever I go to England it will be pain & grief to me– Yes, but not equally– And if you knew what London is to us– Why, you have not an idea. To go there & be quiet would be impossible. People tear us to pieces, Robert & me. And if, by shutting the door, we escaped the class represented by Mrs Prinsep [3] & her peers, we could not refuse to see others who are our friends in another sense, & would be sorely piqued against us if we did not clasp their hands. For such things .. for London & Paris, this year, .. I am not in a condition. I could’nt bear it—it would drive me mad, I think. So we shall stay here quietly as long as the heat will allow of, & then go to the mountains or the sea .. somewhere where we can rest as well. I shall be very anxious to hear of the arrangements after Storm’s arrival, very– They have been generous to Alfred .. but Storm, I think, will prevent the cost of it remaining with the others– [4] I trust much in Storm– We, you see, require nothing, & so we may express a disinterested interest– When I said that dear Mr Kenyon’s money would scarcely cover the drying up of other sources of our income .. (viz his annuity, &, the failing ship-money) .. I spoke in the imagination that it was money vested in the English funds. This was a mistake—& from the investment Robert has lately made in the Tuscan funds, we shall have five hundred & fifty a year from that source alone. [5] Add a hundred & seventy-five from the English funds, & there is above seven hundred a year, besides the money from books which is an increasing income– The ship too will pay something on most years. Altogether, we want nothing, observe—and, as we shall not change our way of life at all, and two servants, a man & maid, are sufficient for us, & as we dont need to save anything for Penini who will be well off, we shall be more able to give ourselves little indulgences than we have yet been—for we are horrible managers, Henrietta—not like you– Robert has taken to riding which he is passionately fond of, & has never hitherto allowed himself to think of—and this is a luxury for me too, as you may suppose. You may have a horse here for half a day, paying four & sixpence only. They say, I mean the informed say, that the Tuscan funds are the best investments in Europe just now. We had long ago decided on it almost—& Robert ought to have bought in more than a month ago—& lost sixty pounds because he waited till I was in a state of mind to speak of it again—which proved his kindness & confidence in me, but was not necessary nor scarcely wise, considering how famous I am for my ignorance & carelessness on all such matters. But he never will do a thing of the kind without consulting me—just as if I were not a woman & Ba!
<...> [6]
I hope Arabel will wisely invest her money, so that she may find it sufficient– [7] If she had been in the country she might have had a little carriage, which would have been so good for her. London is not good. She writes to me dear precious letters. Oh if she will but be well & happy, how I shall love her more than ever, & think her right in everything. May God bless her, dear darling.
I thought they would separate, Henrietta. It does not surprise me– But I should have fancied that George might have joined Arabel—even if he lived at the club he might have had his bedroom under her roof, I should have fancied. Well-enough!–
Peni is going to write to Altham, he says, about a dog who lives in Florence called Barba– The dog belongs to everybody, but Peni is very fond of him & takes him out to walk when he meets him in the streets. Also you are to tell Altham that Peni wants to run a race with him,—for that while Altham begins French, Peni is beginning German—& we are to see who learns most. He gets on fast with his music—& I hear of Sigr Del Bene saying of him that he has “molto talento” [8] .. “is as remarkable for quick understanding as for power of retention, and that if he had somebody to keep him at it and push him, he would be an extraordinary player”– This is pleasant to hear, but we dont want him “pushed.” He had forgotten every note, and in fact he never did know the base at all. Now he has learnt on the continental system of naming the notes, which will be convenient—as he is not likely to have English masters. After a few weeks lessons he plays six or seven pages of music .. consisting of little airs & modulations .. & one duet, the tune of which is really difficult. Robert hears him practise everyday & then he goes to his master for another half hour. The pleasant thing is that the child likes it .. & thinks it “quite amusing”—so that he is sure to get on fast. He has certainly great talent in everything. I have begun with him in a German phrase book– I want him to get on with German before he attempts Latin—which is dryer, more philosophical & less adapted therefore to a child’s intellect. French Italian & English, he reads one about as well as another.
Give my love to dearest aunt Jane. I love her for her kindness to you, Henrietta—and never shall I forget what she did for both of us last year– [9] May God bless her–
I have seen nobody here, except Isa Blagden .. nor have been to church—which is wrong I dare say. I am very stupid in some things I know—and I shall try & go next sunday, & stop Mr Hanna’s idea of my heathenhood. What is most painful to me in seeing people is, the knowledge of being a text with most of them for unkind & unjust thoughts of him whom I shall love for ever & ever, while I love at all.
Kiss the darlings for me– My true love, & Robert’s, to Surtees. May God keep you, beloved Henrietta, as He can. Write.
Your ever attached Ba–
I hope the new marriage may be very happy. [10] Say so, with my love–
Address: Angleterre viâ France. / Mrs Surtees Cook / Wilton / Taunton.
Publication: Huxley, pp. 273–275 (in part, as 2 June 1857).
Manuscript: British Library.
1. Approximate dating based on Taunton postmark of 5 June 1857.
2. At 7 Delamere Terrace, Harrow Road. Arabella’s lease probably began on 24 June (Midsummer Day), one of the four quarter days in England when rents are due. By letter 4014 she had moved out of 50 Wimpole Street.
3. Sara Monckton Prinsep (née Pattle, 1816–87); see letter 3829, note 10.
4. Charles John (“Storm”) and George, as executors of Edward Moulton-Barrett’s will (see SD2080), saw to it that Alfred eventually received £5,053.12.5 from their father’s English estate. About half of this sum was paid directly to Alfred’s creditors on 9 July 1857. Except for one other payment to creditors (£162.17.3 on 20 January 1858), he received the balance in cash, the last installment of which was paid on 8 April 1858 (George Moulton-Barrett, Acting Executor’s Acct. with the Residuary Legatees of E.M. Barrett Esqr., [ca. December 1858], ms at Eton).
5. This is the first indication that the Brownings had received their bequests, totalling £10,500, from John Kenyon’s estate.
6. About three and a half lines have been obliterated after receipt.
7. Arabella, George, Henry, Septimus, and Octavius received about £11,000 each from their father’s English estate (George Moulton-Barrett, Acting Executor’s Acct. with the Residuary Legatees of E.M. Barrett Esqr., [ca. December 1858], ms at Eton). Charles John, the eldest male of the family, inherited the Jamaican properties.
8. “Much talent.”
10. EBB’s first cousins Henrietta Maria Butler (1827–1916) and John Hedley (1830–1912), were married at St. Peter’s Church in Dublin on 19 May 1857.
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