4070. EBB to Henrietta Cook
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 24, 177–181.
Florence.
Thursday & Friday [8–9 October 1857] [1]
My beloved Henrietta– Angry with you? no, indeed, I have’nt felt stamina enough of late to feel angry with anybody—and with you, my dear dear sister, who are made of cream (not a drop of acid in you!) with you, for whom I have felt so very anxiously & tenderly more than usual of late, how could I be angry,—with ever such a vocation to anger? No, dear, indeed. I did’nt answer what you said, simply because it seemed to me you did not quite understand, & I despaired of explaining myself. I knew I might leave it to your own reflections, not to wrong my devoted love to Arabel, .. not to think (in the long run) that I could mean the slightest neglect or unkindness of her. But for the rest, no, indeed, I was not angry. I just say this, & no more. I dare say all the arrangements are right– I have always held that people should choose their own lives & live them clearly, & certainly I ought to keep to it now. At the bottom of most of my objections was the idea, that Arabel would hurt herself by that life in London. That it is specifically bad for her, I believe—and it is quite evident that one may talk of work & work, but that a person out of health can have no sort of real vocation for work of that kind– Well—we may wait & see– If she keeps pretty well & continues satisfied, I shall be only too happy. I require nothing, as God knows, but simply that. [2] My short-comings on another point, you can fill up, you know, .. & then we can be all together in London at once– Only the very name of London makes me sick & sad– Dont let us talk of it.
Dearest Henrietta, you will have heard of my Penini’s illness,—& now you will like to hear that he is quite well, quite himself—that we arrived at Florence yesterday, & that today he went as usual to take his music-lesson from his master [3] in this street, & that it’s difficult to keep him from too long walks & too much play. The people here can scarcely see that he has been ill. But indeed he was ill,—very ill,—nearly a fortnight in bed,—& I heard the evening before we left Lucca, that during several days at the commencement of his illness, the Italian doctor had feared much lest the disorder was milliary[sic] fever (instead of gastric) a sort of typhus, prevalent at times in Tuscany. Gastric fever was bad enough– Little Joseph Story died of it before our eyes in Rome. [4] But in Peni’s case the symptoms were not severe, not as severe as Mr Lytton’s– The pulse was much faster than Lytton’s ever was—but there was no delirium, & not much thirst, .. & he rallied faster & submitted to discipline more obediently than Lytton did, & was a more healthy subject altogether. Two nights he was very ill, & one morning he looked dreadfully .. as white as this paper– Oh my Peni, what I suffered in looking at him. Think too of Wilson’s having to go away in the midst,—& then of Annunciata whom he had become reconciled to, being siezed with gastric symptoms—she too. Of course you & Arabel will be sure that it was an infectious fever, but you will be probably wrong nevertheless. There were certain disposing influences in the air—that was all. Annunciata recovered after three or four days bed-keeping– The wonder is that I recovered from the fatigue & anxiety– I was running backwards & forwards night after night. There was somebody else ill of gastric fever in another apartment of the house we occupied. Almost it was an epidemic,—& you see Peni’s overheating & overtiring himself that day, made him susceptible of it–
So sweet & good he was all the time. “Dearest beloved Ba” he kept saying to me– “I do love you so”. Then he was tried so by having strangers near him. On Annunciata’s being taken ill he chose to have one of her sisters– But Giuseppina, whom he selected, could not come—and Maria (his next choice) had to go away to a lady (who had engaged her) after four & twenty hours—& we were reduced to the youngest sister Estere, a girl in her teens, who had never been in service. When poor Peni got better he found a drove of girls in his bedroom, Estere, Annunciata & Pistolina (a maid of all work employed by Ferdinando!)– So, said Peni, “io non voglio essere vestito da tutte le donne nel mondo,—anzi andate via tutti, & lasciate Annunciata sola.” [5] He would’nt be dressed by all the women in the world, not he. Then Annunciata began again her special function.
I cant tell you how satisfied I am with her. There is a drawback, I suppose, somewhere, but, so far we have’nt found it– Her activity & intelligence are really great, & her goodnature & kindness not less– And except that she always insists on kissing my hand when she puts me to bed (a Tuscan fashion) I have’nt a fault to find. She dresses one’s hair, makes one’s dresses, irons out one’s petticoats, before one can look round, makes one’s bed with a strong arm, runs out to the kitchen & warms soup for one, lays the table-cloth for dinner & tea, .. in fact, does her own work & a considerable quantity of Ferdinando’s, .. how much I am half vexed to see without interfering to stop it, except that I might stop the peace of the house at the same time. I have a regard for Ferdinando, & esteem his honesty & his good feeling heart .. (to say nothing of his cookery) but active he is not. We had to wink upon his maid of all work at Lucca,—& give her a present at last,—he paying her on his side of course– As long as he stays with us it will be so,—but when he goes we shall take up a very different system with his successor: it is not pleasant to have irresponsible people let into the house in this way. Meantime he is not going yet,—nor may for long, perhaps—& I like him so much (Peni adoring him still) that I cant wish the time hastened. We find Wilson settled most comfortably in her new house, [6] .. which is not however let yet. I do hope it may be soon. She is much better now, & able to walk about far better than she could two months ago. I dont know why you & Arabel should have thought her going to Lucca imprudent, though it did turn out so ill– She was when she went, as well as possible: & last time, she was with us in England till a fortnight from the time, walking up & down stairs,—whereas in Italy, there are no stairs, no need of such fatigue: & the journey to Lucca consisted of a two hours drive in a carriage, & three hours by railroad– Also it would have been unkind to have left her to her own resources in Florence during the hot weather, the unletting time of year.– See what an account of our household I have given you. Do the same by me. Observe Henrietta. Hutchings [7] is excellent for horses—but for women .. I scarcely know. Wilson told me (what I kept to myself till now) that instead of the maid (who was with you at the time of our visit) jilting him, it was he who jilted her, & that she was broken-hearted about it– I am very sorry you should have to change your servants– Few things are so unpleasant– And there’s poor Arabel– Oh, it does vex me to think of Bonser– And that Mrs Crispin whom she is about to take in Bonser’s place, though an excellent dressmaker, is not the sort of person I should like for myself– I’m a Swedenborgian you know, & believe in “spheres”, “atmospheres” & “influences.” [8] I liked Bonser’s lively manner, & wish Arabel could get a vivacious affectionate person by her, a little amusing at need—dont you? Surely there are such people to be met with– Meantime it was very good of you to let that sunbeam called little Mary [9] pay her a visit– By the way, Henrietta, .. do you remember that Arabella Bevan when a child had a little red spot of that character you describe, on her nose, & that some surgeon in London cut it or did something to make it disappear in a week or two? I perfectly call to mind the speck under Mary’s eye. I thought it was a red mole .. a sign from her birth. It is quite right to have taken it in time. So dear Altham is like Peni, & wont leave Papa & mama? When Pen was in bed & I was able to be less anxious about himself I thought & sighed a good deal about the poor German verbs, French verbs, the music, & all I had been used to take pride in. I thought everything would be forgotten, or at least effaced a little–. No, not at all! Robert declares that instead of losing anything he has gained by the interruption– Robert is surprised at the rapidity with which he reads his notes .. playing quite new music off the book, & playing the old as if he had been practicing every day. And I say the same of the German– He read his German & translated yesterday, really surprisingly. The moral Peni draws is, that he ought very often to have holidays, & I concede that I shall not be as afraid of them as I used once to be. His musical organisation is certainly good. Not only does he read the notes with unusual intelligence, but he catches up airs by ear & plays them—the French air of “Malbrouk” [10] for instance. He heard it at Lucca, & plays it by ear in the base & treble.——
Dearest Henrietta, I hope you will be able to go to Bryngwyn—you will give pleasure to Storm, & it will do you good. He is a dear fellow & always was,—& I love him with my whole heart. I am very glad,—but I do hope that you will be able in time to get larger interest for your money– [11] The English funds with income tax attached, have the gift of impoverishing,—& we mean to take out what we have there, at the earliest possibility—that is, when the funds rise a little. Observe,—we act under the advice of monied men who understand. Five per cent you ought to have—& may have without risk. Tell dear Surtees so with my love– Tell him too that I hold him in true esteem—“Senza complimenti” [12] as the Italians say– Did he write the Taunton address about recruiting for India, which is in all the papers– [13]
May God bless you all–
Ever your attached Ba–
I shall write to Arabel in a day or two,—to Bryngwyn!
Oh—what horrors in India!– [14] The English future there, is terrible to forsee–
Address: Angleterre viâ France. / Mrs Surtees Cook / Wilton / Taunton / Somersetshire.
Publication: Huxley, pp. 281–284 (in part, as 12 October 1857).
Manuscript: British Library.
1. This letter is postmarked 9 October 1857, a Friday.
2. Underscored three times.
3. Giuseppe Del Bene.
4. On 23 November 1853.
5. “I don’t want to be dressed by all the women in the world; rather go away all of you and leave Annunciata alone.”
6. 1905 via Maggio (see letter 4009, note 5).
7. William Hutchings. Surtees describes him as a “coachman … a handsome Somerset man, a most excellent servant, but a faithless lover. The maid, in question, a very pretty refined girl, left her place in consequence; and went as Lady’s maid to the widow of Thomas As[s]h[e]ton Smith the great sportsman and Master of Fox-Hounds .. The new mistress died about a year after leaving her maid £500 .. which the faithless lover had no share in!” (annotation by Surtees Altham (né Cook) on his transcript of EBB’s Letters to Her Sister Henrietta, ms at ABL/Altham). We have been unable to further identify Hutchings. Surtees later records in his journal that Hutchings “gave warning” to quit about a week after the date of this letter and left the Cooks’ service on 5 November (see Surtees, 17 October and 5 November 1857). The maid was Esther King, who was engaged by the Cooks in November 1852. Thomas Assheton Smith died on 9 September 1858; his wife, Matilda, on 18 May 1859. In her will, the legacy to Esther King reads: “Thousand pounds stock in the three pounds per centum consolidated annuities” (ms at PRO).
8. In Swedenborgian thought, the “spheres” are the natural, spiritual, and heavenly. Humans have a natural mind, spiritual mind, and heavenly mind and by degrees may be raised from the natural (the physical) to the spiritual (becoming angels). The “atmospheres” (also called ethers and airs) are similar in the spiritual and natural world, hence “correspondences.” The spiritual atmospheres are receptacles of Divine fire and Divine light (Love and Wisdom), while the natural atmospheres are the fire and light of the sun. The “influences” are the flow from the spiritual sphere to lower spheres (see Emanuel Swedenborg, Angelic Wisdom Concerning Divine Love and Wisdom, trans. George F. Dole, New York, 1986, pp. 95–152).
9. According to Surtees, on 5 September he and Altham drove little Mary and “aunt Boo” (i.e., Arabella) to the station to see them off to London (Surtees, 5 September 1857).
10. The melody of “Malbrough, s’en va-t-en guerre,” also known as “Malbrouk” or “Malbrouck,” is said to have originated in Palestine during the Crusades. The lyrics of the version played by Pen were composed after the 1709 Battle of Malplaquet, in which the English commander John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722) and hero of the War of the Spanish Succession, was rumored to have been slain. In the song, his widow is informed by a page, “Monsieur Malbrough … est mort et enterré.” Malbrough is the French spelling of Marlborough.
11. As indicated here and in the third paragraph of letter 4085, Charles John had evidently told Henrietta of his intention to give her £5,000 from his inheritance. The money was formally transferred to her by way of settlement on 2 February 1858 (see Surtees, 2 February 1858).
12. “Frankly.”
13. The Morning Post of 29 September 1857 carried an item headed “A Recruiting Sergeant’s Eloquence”: “Several recruiting parties belonging to her Majesty’s forces have been sojourning in the neighbourhood of Taunton for some weeks past, where the following appeal has been circulated for the edification of smart young men:—‘Englishmen! You who have strong arms and stout hearts, have you not heard the dying wail of your outraged and murdered countrymen, calling upon you to be up and avenge them? You that have sisters and sweethearts that you love, can you hear that hundreds upon hundreds as fair as they have been given up to treatment worse than death, and then to death, with all the ingenuities of torture that hell can devise, and then hesitate? … Arise, Englishmen, arise! Lay down your sickles, for your work is done, and cold winter comes upon you. Take up the bayonet of good British steel, and go forth to reap a harvest of vengeance upon the cowardly miscreants who roam over the fair land of India’” (p. 3).
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