4190. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 25, 128–132.
Florence
Saturday. [12 June 1858] [1]
My beloved Arabel, indeed it is grievous to me that you, dear & good, should have been made uneasy by a silence of mine.– Yet dear, dear, I have not been silent– I wrote you a long letter to which I have had no reply, & was myself most anxious, till Henrietta’s letter set me at ease– Certainly that letter of mine must have miscarried– [2] It was written long & long after my note to Amelia & Harry, of which you speak– Oh, so innocent did I feel myself towards you, that I was this morning thinking of devoting myself to Henrietta whose pleasant precious letter relieved my mind very much,—& I felt a vocation of answering it with fifty kisses before I wrote to you again– How could it be that my letter was lost– You are sure you did not forget it– It spoke anxiously of the David Lyon, and rather controvertially of the spiritual world & things I seem to know about it– You are sure you did not get & forget that letter? Think.
In any case you have been uneasy, & it sounds cruel to my heart that I should be even the unintentional cause of your being so–
Now, dear,––remember—never be careful for me till you have reason. I shall shriek aloud when there is a reason,—and in the meanwhile think brightly of me. I resemble the disembodied spirits (as they are reported of) on this point, that they dont like sad earthly thoughts to be entertained of them, & that they find a difficulty of approach, when we sit in black, moping & moaning because of them– I choose you Arabel, to be gay about me, and to believe .. first, that I love you dearly, & secondly, that I am going on quite well towards health & strength:——on which condition you may calculate on my “approach” .. not arrival in England. For, dear, the truth is this—we are forbidden by our medical counsellor, [3] to go to London at all– We are strictly ordered to the seaside .. on the coast of the Atlantic—(rather a wide address) & bidden to stay even in Paris as short a time as possible– We shall not therefore be there above a week on our way to the sea—and I suppose a week or two as we return. We set off from Florence in about ten days or a fortnight, & shall be back again to prepare for the winter’s emigration, early in October—admitting, you see, of a clear three months absence, & such a residence on the coast as is said to be absolutely necessary for me. In the meanwhile I have been much more satisfactorily better within a week– The tonics seem to take hold & do their work—& everybody cries out how like myself I have grown. Also, I observe that I can sit up at nights & receive two or three people without dropping—& I have a crest & a soul as usual for single combats about the spirits .. only my domestic enemy (Robert) has lowered his lance, & we two have grown as mild as may on the subject. It has been prophecied concerning Robert, that he will believe within two years—this by the way– Bryant, the American poet, [4] & Hawthorne the novelist, with their respective families, were here the other evening, [5] & I did’nt die of it– Bryant has a magnificent head & a long beard like snow. Both he & Hawthorne lean to the side of the genuineness of the spiritual manifestations [6] —& I hear from England (through Mrs Milner Gibson) that the subject is spreading among intellectual men there. I hear also that in Paris there’s a wonderful medium [7] who exceeds Hume,—by means of whom the spirits show themselves visibly in phosphorous lights, .. the whole figure and face,—while the ‘hands’ are multiplied– I fear I shant have an opportunity of hearing & seeing for myself– Certainly not as we pass through Paris this time.
Now, darling,—you will not blame me that I dont go to London. We have no choice, observe– As to visiting your house .. are you not rather superstitious about your house, dear? What good should we do to you? I cant conceive of that sort of feeling. In your house or in our own if we were near one another what would matter? I shut my eyes & try to fancy the sort of feeling & cant. If for instance we had room in this house for Henrietta & her family who were coming to Florence, & they expressed a preference to living rather in a house of their own, do you imagine that for one moment I should feel hurt? Perhaps I have been so long out of England that the ideas of these hospitalities escape me– If you were in the country it wd be another thing—but nobody in a town like London could vex anybody, I should fancy, by … Well. there’s no use talking about it– Only you dont remember enough that I have a husband, & that he refused to live with his own family on his visits to London for just the reasons .. Never mind. Certainly if you set your heart upon it, we might try the charm of your “roof” for a few days—not exactly according to the terms of your proposition though—we must have a resting-place for our household & boxes before we visit yours. Oh—you dont know Robert, how nervous he is, & easily harrassed– He loves you tenderly, but he is every inch of him, Robert– No, not one fragment of this, do you understand– That’s the worst of it.
All this, however, is quite premature, seeing that for the present year, it will be impossible for us to go farther north than France. Darling, we shall be on the coast somewhere! And you drop a golden word about seeing us– Thank you for the root of love it grew from, dear dearest. Now, .. what if you meet us in Paris, & travel to the sea with us? or, if you cant do that conveniently, what if you come to us on the coast & travel back with us to Paris? Perhaps that will be better,—for I shall be stronger & able to go about & show you Paris. Certainly, as to Bryngwyn, you had better go there afterwards as you speak of—dearest Storm will have guests enough meantime– And as there seems to be but doubtful room for you, how there could be room for us & you too would be a problem—only there’s no need to try to solve it considering that we cant go this year. Dr H is quite imperative about me—& we have but three months to spend anywhere– Judge therefore. We leave Florence in about ten days– I will write next from Paris I think.
Dear, you dont tell me of yourself, & that’s what I always long to read in your letters. Such heaps of ‘gifts’ I have had lately, justifying my gift-thumb [8] into which Peni so earnestly enquires– Robert has given me a beautiful watch & chain– Fanny Haworth, another portrait of Peni, .. at the piano, [9] with the blue verve in his eyes! also a portrait of my loving American friend Sophie Eckley [10] —while Sophie herself has heaped up largesses on me—a broach [sic], a ring, Damascus slippers, a rosary from the Holy Sepulchre, a travelling bag—Maltese collar, sleeves, &c. It has been overpowering. Yes, & Miss Heaton brought me a splendid collar & sleeves of Irish embroidery– I scarcely know how to bear up under it all– Certainly people are very kind to me– The magnificent arrangement bouquets I have had all the winter. As to Sophie Eckley .. who has just gone to the Baths of Lucca with her husband & child, .. I miss her much– Such a loving pure nature—made up of love. She had half a mind to come with me to France & wd have done it if it were not for our returning so soon– Such floods of tears there have been. Floods–
And you missed a letter of mine enclosing one of Peni’s? That was a dreadful miss– Also, I believe there was an offer of marriage in it for Emma—poor Emma– If you come to France remember that the advantage to her will be great.
Give my best love to dear Minny, of whom also you dont speak a word–
I shall answer Henrietta’s letter in a day or two– God bless you, darling– I wont miss the post today, for the sake of filling up this–
Your ever own in
true love–
Ba–
I have waited to see signs of going out of mourning in you– Is it right if I do it?– [11] You know I hate mourning—& doubt much if–––
I can’t read over. Dear, if you write at once you may direct here.
Address: Angleterre viâ France– / Miss Barrett / 7– Delamere Terrace / Harrow Road / London.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 348–352.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. This letter is postmarked 13 June 1858, a Sunday.
2. This letter is not extant, neither is the “note to Amelia & Harry,” which doubtless contained congratulations on their marriage.
3. James Harding.
4. William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) had been travelling in Europe for the past year with his wife, Frances (née Fairchild, 1797–1866), his youngest daughter, Julia (1831–1907), and her first cousin Estella Ives (afterwards Mackie, 1831–1909). They arrived in Florence from Rome about the beginning of June (see Parke Godwin, A Biography of William Cullen Bryant, New York, 1883, II, 94–95 and 111).
5. The evening is described by Sophia Hawthorne in SD2166.
6. Hawthorne recorded that “there was no very noteworthy conversation; the most interesting topic being that disagreeable, and now wearisome one, of spiritual communications, as regards which Mrs. Browning is a believer, and her husband an infidel” (see SD2168).
7. Unidentified.
8. i.e., “a white speck on the finger-nails, supposed to portend a gift” (OED).
9. This water-colour of Pen at the piano sold as lot 12 in Browning Collections (see Reconstruction, H70). It is reproduced facing p. 145.
10. This portrait of Sophia Eckley by Miss Haworth has not been located.
11. It had been nearly fourteen months since their father’s death on 17 April 1857. Social etiquette of the time recommended one year of mourning for the death of a parent.
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