4330. EBB to Henrietta Cook
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 48–53.
43. Bocca di Leone.
[ca. 7] February. [1859] [1]
My beloved Henrietta your letter was three times welcome, though mine to Arabel on business [2] had to intervene between it & my thanks– Dear, if I dont write as often to you as I think, it is that I calculate on your knowing of me whenever I throw a stone towards England. This in my hand is your stone, however. It seems to me that letters take an enormous time in going & coming from Rome, & I am ever so much farther from you here than when in my Florence– I have had a good winter up to this point, though since Christmas Day I have not been out—but little fire has been necessary in the house, our rooms being warmed by such sunshine as you know not of. Penini continues quite well since that cold which lasted a few days, .. only long enough to frighten me. He is rosy & in his usual joyous spirits. As to Robert he is lost to me & himself– If once a fortnight we have an evening together, we call it a holiday both of us—& in fact this has hindered us from having people here in the evening. I have no vocation for receiving alone, and if my husband is caught up out of the windows .. what then?– It pleases me that he should be amused just now (not but that he denies being amused very often) and I think it’s good for him .. in an occasional winter like this. I would’nt spend every winter at Rome though—Rome is too much like a watering-place .. like a Cheltenham .. the only difference being that the society is of a more aristocratical order generally here, where the Smiths & Browns yield to the Russells & Bruces even among the English. The prince of Wales has arrived– [3] Lady William Russell [4] hears that he’s to “do his lessons,” and not to “go to any balls”—a “quiet boy” he is said to be. Mrs Bruce the wife of his “governor” & who lives with him of course, brought a letter to me & left cards, which I returned, through Robert, but we have not met yet– I do hope the English may not make themselves absurd by carrying up addresses & the like, as really there is no good occasion for toad-eating loyalty on the occasion, & it is’nt the way of this foreign world. For my own part, never did I feel myself so little English as now– No– I wont talk politics– But judge, all of you, what I must be feeling during the present state of things—& while the infamous Times backs the present ministry into the iniquity of holding the hand of Austria against France in the matter of Italy. [5] If any open step were taken by England on the bad road, I should learn to speak a new language. But there is hope still– The Daily News, for instance, is more generous than I expected [6] —& the Post, Lord Palmerston’s organ, [7] speaks bravely, & as I would have it. [8] The people of England will never justify Lord Derby in the overt policy—surely it must be impossible. Meantime I am breathless with emotion, seeing the development which I always foresaw on the part of Napoleon’s intentions– Always I have said it would come to this. Tell Arabel, I am thinking of setting up as seer in politics, I am right so often. I have hung upon Jessie White’s hands, entreating & arguing with her– “You think so still,” said she– [“]You think so still?—” “I think so, still,” I have repeated—“and this man is the only man on this earth who will & can help Italy”– “Slow about it—” has Robert ejaculated sometimes. “Only wait, only wait,” have I answered. Now we Italians (such as Pen & I) are all trembling with expectation. The great marriage in Piedmont– [9] Ah well, it’s hard upon you, Henrietta dearest, to have politics of this kind thrust on you, when I know how Surtees swears in his moustache quite the other way, of course.
So let me turn & think of you all instead. No, Henrietta, you are sure not to leave Bryngwyn till Storm goes [10] —if my dearest Storm is to go– Is he,—will he really?– Tell him I shall send him a photograph of Mr Talfourd’s picture, if it is at all successful, and he is one of the first of the portrait-artists here– He wont let anyone see what is done, but seems confident of not missing the mark. Also I mean to send Storm the new edition of Aurora Leigh with the engraved portrait—only I am afraid that wont be in time for him to take it to Jamaica if he is determined to go so soon. Give my tender love to my dearest Storm, & tell him how whenever I hear of his saying a word of me it thrills through me. You are not to set me down any of you as quite of such a tragic aspect as is given in Arabel’s photograph– [11] At that time I was not very well, nor joyous—now it is better, strange to say, although she is not with me, dearest thing. I do hope, Henrietta, she does not expose herself to cold. Certainly she does not dress warmly enough. She ought to be like me in flannel or leather up to her throat & down to her wrists– I should be dead without it, for my part,—& any medical man would tell her, &, I am sure has told her that she ought to wrap herself up more. Many of my friends much less delicate than she is, do it—even here in Rome– I do wish you could persuade her. I wear flannel even at night, & am infinitely better for it. My tender love & this advice to her!
We have had to lecture Peni this morning– He began to discourse in the street yesterday to Annunziata & another person, in his oratorical Italian, before an engraving of Napoleon at the window—telling the whole story of how the people cried ‘Viva Verdi’ in the Tuscan theatres, & how Verdi meant Vittore Emmanuele re d’Italia, [12] & what the ‘prefetto’ wrote to the “sotto prefetto” [13] & all the rest of it– Several people gathered round well pleased, & it was said, “Come ragiona bene il bambino.” [14] We have begged him not to do such a thing again, lest one of the police should be by, & Pen would be heard of next in the castle of St Angelo. [15] His music is much admired, & two petitions have come lately & been refused, to let him play at parties of twenty or thirty people. He would have liked it, little ambitious creature, (& perhaps I!) but Robert insisted on not making a show of him. He told me yesterday “it was coming to him more & more to be a musician”; he “felt almost sure of it.” By which he means .. to make music his object in life. For on “one thing” he’s “determined,” says he, .. “not to be an amateur.” I tell him to wait to see which of his faculties is the strongest, .. which art he has the best gift for. But if he turned out a great composer, it certainly would not vex me. He has the sentiment of music so very deeply. I was objecting to a piece of music he plays as not being very brilliant– “Oh mama,” said he, .. [“]brilliant is extremely nice, I know—but still all that great, beautiful unhappy music of Beethoven, & Mozart even, is better than brilliant. Brilliant is’nt the best, I think. Remember all those great chords that go into you.” Tell Arabel he has made extraordinary progress since she heard him–
How do your musical pupils get on, Henrietta? Tell Arabel that Pen’s spelling is improved. I find that dictation excellent. Really I was in despair about the child’s spelling, it was so defective—but the dictation does more than ever—so many columns learned from the primer. He writes nearly a close copybook page from the Roman history, besides as much Italian every day. When the English & Italian shall be spelled perfectly I shall dictate French & German. It is a most excellent plan—& now Pen does it without expressing any aversion as at first.
We dine at five oclock now, as we did in Paris– Not that I like it, but that it is rather a matter of necessity when one sees so many people– Robert began by refusing all invitations to dinner—& he never dines out now … except when he does. I mean there is not infrequently, an exceptional occasion—now he dines somewhere out of friendship—now to meet somebody extraordinary .. & now to eat something extraordinary .. such as “roast porcupine,” with the Russells at Mr Cartwright’s——and he is engaged … observe, Henrietta, & avert the nose of your imagination … he is positively engaged to the delicate luxury of a whole dinner “dressed in garlic” in company with Lady William Russell & both her sons. [16] Lady William is a “femme forte” [17] you see. For my part I shall muse on a separation when Robert returns—or rather I shall beg him not to return–
No, Henrietta, I am far indeed from giving up the spirits. As to Dr Randolph, [18] if you had read as I have, the minute details .. the full notes .. of what is called his “recantation,” you would call it evidence for the facts, instead of evidence against them. Indeed he admits the utility of these facts in irrefragably proving the immortality of the soul, & considers the development of them in these days of general scepticism on that point, a providential arrangement. Only he calls on people when they are once satisfied of the existence of a spirit world, to turn away from the subject, because of this evil result & that. He is absurd, I think, in so far that every subject under the sun is capable of abuse. Of course I agree with many a wiser man than he is, in believing that this particular subject is capable of frightful abuse—which does not mean (even according to his own showing) that it is not capable of high use. A friend of mine here in Rome [19] saw a spirit, the other day .. A female spirit moved softly .. stepped, .. did not float, .. from one end of a long room to another. It was dim .. as if seen through a gauze .. but not transparent in itself. For instance, in walking past the wardrobe, the wardrobe was shut out, as if a living person passed. Two days afterwards a child was seen– My friend is a very timid & at first felt frightened & covered her eyes! Then a courage came upon her, & she looked up & saw again more distinctly– She is a great spiritualist, & writes, & hears the sounds. I wish I could see—but something hinders it. Perhaps in course of time, I may. There is an American, not now in Rome, a Mr Hazard, [20] who seems to be revered for his high qualities among his friends.– He is a man of large fortune, & is devoting himself to the subject, and about to publish a book with an account of his own experiences. Not a night passes scarcely, that he does not converse face to face with the spirits. A man, healthy too & strong—not a nervous fanciful person.– Here my paper ends. [21]
May God bless you all of you at Bryngwyn. My truest love is with you all. When is the marriage? [22] I think much of it– Robert joins with me & Pen in true love.
Your attached
Ba.
I am so anxious to hear of my dearest Storm’s movements– Let someone write– Tell me of the children dearest dear Henrietta– Arabel shd write to me, suggest it, too.
Tell Arabel that the proof of the engraving of me is to come to us this week– [23] But Peni’s bust photograph does not come yet, & we hear not a word.
Address: Angleterre / Mrs Surtees Cook / Bryngwyn / Oswestry / Salop.
Publication: Huxley, pp. 304–308 (in part, as 10 February 1859).
Manuscript: British Library.
1. This letter bears a London receiving postmark of 13 February 1859. At this time, letters took between five and seven days to reach London from Rome.
2. Letter 4324 was EBB’s most recent to Arabella. Perhaps “business” refers to further discussion of accusations against Annunziata, or some other subject in the missing part of that letter.
3. Albert Edward (1841–1910), Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, was in Rome from 4 February to 29 April 1859.
4. Elizabeth Anne Russell (née Rawdon, 1793–1874), known as Lady William Russell, was the only daughter of John Theophilus Rawdon (d. 1808), second son of the 1st Earl of Moira, and his wife, Frances (née Stevenson). In 1817 she married Lord George William Russell (1790–1846), second son of the 6th Duke of Bedford.
5. Since the beginning of the new year, The Times had stepped up its attacks on France for interfering in Italian affairs and insisted that any move against Austrian territory in Italy would violate the terms of the Congress of Vienna (1815), which ceded most of northern Italy to Austria. An editorial in The Times of 1 February 1859 supported “the present [English] Government” for standing “entirely aloof from France in her Italian policy—nay, that if they have not done so they have deserved the severe reprobation of Parliament. … An alliance between France and England for the purpose of driving Austria out of the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom would have been in the eyes of all upright men a gross violation of the Treaty of Vienna, and would justly have exposed our Government to the charge of perfidy” (p. 6).
7. It was common knowledge at the time that The Morning Post had been Palmerston’s consistent advocate, if not mouthpiece, since 1850 when Peter Borthwick (1804–52) became its editor. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Algernon Borthwick (1830–1908), later Baron Glenesk, who “continued his father’s Palmerstonian editorial line” (ODNB).
8. An editorial in The Morning Post of 14 January 1859 speculated that the Derby administration would be out of power by the time “any quarrel between France and Austria” could lead to war: “This cannot be accepted by the country as highly consolatory, for nothing could be more disastrous, in the event of hostilities, than that England should have a Ministry so decidedly under Austrian influence as Lord Derby’s is. Whatever may be the actual technical form which the possible casus belli may take, the freedom of Italy will be, directly or indirectly, involved in it; and it is certain that the people of this country would never aid a Power like Austria, or, indeed, any Power whatever, in a crusade against liberty” (p. 4)
10. “We, (that is my wife and I, our three children, our nurse, a pony and a puppy,) left Bryngwyn. … Storm sails on the 5th. for Jamaica” (Surtees, 1 February 1859). A later entry states the departure was on the 13th, aboard the David Lyon (Surtees, 13 February 1859).
11. Presumably the photograph described in letter 4241.
13. “The ‘prefect’ wrote to the ‘vice prefect’.”
14. “How well the child argues.”
15. The notorious papal prison. Built by Hadrian in 130 A.D. as the imperial mausoleum, it was converted into a fortress in the declining years of the Roman empire. During the middle ages, it was physically connected to the Vatican and served as a prison and place of torture. Among its more famous victims were Benvenuto Cellini and Giordano Bruno. At the time of this letter, it was still being used as a prison.
16. Arthur John Edward Russell (1825–92), Liberal M.P. for Tavistock (1857–85), and his younger brother, Odo Russell (1829–84)—see letter 4297, note 2—second and third sons of Lord George William Russell, and his wife, Elizabeth Anne (née Rawdon). See SD2241.
17. “Strong woman.” Lady William Russell was greatly admired by RB and many others for her wit, charm, and strength of intellect. But there were also those who found her “arrogant, selfish, and pushy” (ODNB).
19. Sophia Eckley.
20. Thomas Robinson Hazard (1797–1886), manufacturer, social reformer, and author, who wrote against slavery and the exclusion of women from suffrage. He was able to retire at the age of forty-five with a fortune he made from business. The deaths of his two daughters “during the 1840s and his wife in 1854 moved Hazard to seek solace in séances by 1856. He became a passionate supporter of spiritualism and wished to be remembered for his efforts” (American National Biography). We have been unable to trace a book on spiritualism by Hazard until his Eleven Days at Moravia (Boston, 1872).
21. The conclusion is written on the flap of the envelope and in the margin of page one.
22. EBB refers to Octavius Moulton-Barrett’s marriage (see letter 4311, note 7).
23. The proof did not arrive until May (see letter 4400).
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