4598. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 171–176.
28 Via Tritone.
7. Feb– [1860] [1]
Ever beloved Arabel I have your letter & am thankful. Now you shall have one of mine,—all the sooner, that you may hear from Henrietta of my not having been well, & so may care for assurance on assurance that all goes well. [2] Dearest, there’s not a straw’s weight of matter for anxiety– Even my strength is coming back full gallop—and I shall
“Go no more a roaming
By the light of the moon” [3]
or sun, after swords, [4] —not even if Napoleon III stands in the Corso with one in his right hand.
Which, by the way, Arabel, you seem rather to expect. What bloody ideas you have about us– No, darling, we are not frightened—though we sit, as General Goyon said lately, “on a volcano.” If the French went away on a sudden, everybody (inclusive of the Romans themselves) swears there would be a massacre of the priests—but the priests know the danger as well as the rest, & would run: our abbé, for instance, is prepared to march with the army– For my part I do not apprehend any such event as the sudden withdrawment of the troops: it could’nt be done without certain precautions– But there is fermentation all around us, in the Marches & Umbria, [5] .. & the Neapolitan States fluctuate dangerously. Also, in the north there seems to be agitation—& Austria may think of trying her chance again: it is possible. Italy rises, rises, rises—shakes off the dust. The emperor’s name stands higher with the people than ever. He has dared for them this rupture with the priestly power, which presented to a ruler of France a greater danger than the Lombardy battles– The extraordinary point in this extraordinary man is his persistancy. Precisely according to his programme, as stated here in Rome early last spring, will things be carried out: and this after Villafranca & after Zurich– He has played out his game (begun by the sword) by diplomacy,—& there are people here who hate him yet who cannot conceal their admiration at the bare intellectual power. Driven into Villafranca by the apprehension of an invasion on the Rhine from Germany, & by the impossibility of restraining the revolution, (under those circumstances) in southern Italy, so as to deal faithfully with the Pope & give him time to accept or reject certain conditions, .. he made a treaty which in his mind could only develope one way– He said at the time to Count Pepoli, [6] “J’ai surpassé ma finesse ordinaire–” [7] As to the papal government the rage is scarcely describable to you– They are very unwise: the spiritual power might be stronger than ever if the temporal were ceded with grace at this crisis—but the spectacle of a pope, as seen at breakfast the other morning at the American college, [8] (where friends of ours were) raging & hurling names of ‘assassin’ & ‘cutthroat’ at Victor Emmanuel & the Emperor of the French, .. beating the table with his fist, & crying out, “But we will combat, we will conquer, we will triumph—we shall have a ‘vendetta[’]” .. produces an impression very unfavorable to the cause. True it is, that His Holiness suddenly remembering his Vicarship of Christ, .. changed his voice, & added, “I mean of course by prayer, & the help of the Divine Justice”– But still, he had been in a passion, .. that was certain .. and the French head of the police, present there, was heard to observe, “Mais comme il enrage, le saint Pere!” [9] With some of the cardinals it is worse if possible—not much worse—for it is quite a mistake to suppose that Antonelli has it all his own way. The holy Father is resolute, as obstinate as narrow & weak men are apt to be– Antonelli is too clever not to be more easily managed, if he stood alone. Remember—I dont doubt the pope’s convictions, his conscientiousness, or his piety—but Italy must not be lost for the sake of a good man.
I had a letter from a friend of mine at Paris, [10] who is also a friend of Cobden, & sends me Cobden’s impressions of the Emperor after a three months intercourse– Cobden believes him to be perfectly honest—earnest in his interest in popular causes—direct to the point in conversation—hating frivolities in ceremony—& littleness of every kind– That ‘Conversation between the Englishman & Frenchman’ in the Times newspaper, [11] was written by the emperor’s own hand– The “Englishman” was not Cobden– Cobden told my friend that the panic in England about ‘invasion &c’, had certainly originated with interested persons [12] —and that nothing could be more utterly absurd & ridiculous in the whole history of national movements– You see, a few voices go with mine– Ruskin, for instance, is one of the persons most disgusted by the English politics of the last year– He sent me a letter a week ago, [13] in which he says that he had printed two protesting articles in an Edinburgh journal edited by a friend of his, [14] & had sent a third .. but that the editor declared the printing it, would cost him a hundred subscribers the next morning, & refused it.
As to my book which is to cost me, you hint, all my readers .. I cannot help it—they must go. If ever I gained a reader worth having, or did any good, as you say, it was by speaking the truth as I saw it—not the popular truth, not the English truth, not any other soul’s truth but just my soul’s truth—& I shall speak it now as I did before. Certainly I was never surer of any truths than I am of these– Not with regard to Napoleon III,—(who, of course, being a man, after all, may be a cheat like the rest,—) but of the general question, .. of the immorality of the political doctrine held & maintained in England (& illustrated brilliantly through the past year) in & out of parliament. So I speak. There’s a preface as well as the verses, & the truth (as I see it, observe—) is spoken out everywhere. [15] Nothing is said with the intention of giving offence—nothing, more sharply than seemed necessary. You will judge however. The rifle clubs vex me to the heart– I wish I were a young beautiful woman, unmarried & an heiress, that I might vow never to marry a rifle man. I wish I were a ‘preacher of righteousness’ in a pulpit, Arabel, that I might preach them all down. Never mind. We must do what we can.
I told Peni your words about King Solomon– “But,” said he, “who persuaded him?” [16] It was’nt an Abbé certainly—reasoning & coaxing. Pen did’nt say or think what I venture to suggest, that the king fell away from God through his own passions & sins, before anybody’s persuasion could touch him. Well—I dont think our Abbé is in the least eager for conversions, and if he were, I would rather trust Peni to associate with him than with quantities of our friends who dont hold to Christianity at all .. & this is a very common condition of mind, especially among the Americans– The Abbé is one of those simple innocent priests who have taken up the metier of education as an interest in life, & gets really animated over a sum in arithmetic or a Latin verb as if such things took the place with him of the amusements & occupations of other men. I should not think he was devout in any strong sense—but there[’]s something childlike & transparent & amiable about him which draws one– Certainly he teaches very well, & Pen gets on fast, it seems to me. Henrietta asked me of what length his Xmas holidays were, & I forgot to answer .... Christmas day .. and even that was grudged. You know we never give holidays, except for some peculiar reason. I dont know how it will be with Altham, but Pen would be perfectly demoralized by six weeks idleness—he would forget everything. I like regular lessons, soon over. As to arithmetic you must consider that we have the decimal system here, which makes all easier than your additions & subtractions in L– S. D. [17] This accounts for much of Pen’s quick progress. On the other hand, you are to remember that he did’nt know a six from a nine, at the beginning of last December.— No, Arabel—he is’nt likely to be a “Roman convert”– Pen’s sins run in quite the opposite line, and I am constantly exerting my influence to prevent intolerance on his part– His sympathy with political Italy leads him to confound like the child he is, the priests & the religion they teach, as among the enemies of Italy & altogether hateful– I have had to lecture him strongly against saying offensive things to the abbé– About politics, I dont care,—but on the subject of religion, I wont have a disrespectful observation. Pen amazed Robert & me the other evening by breaking out thus– Robert had heard of Ferdinando saying something to a priest in the street, & observed that if F. did’nt take care he would get into a scrape. ‘Why,’ said Peni, “you dont think Ferdinando cares for the priests? You dont suppose he believes in Madonnaism? He believes that you shd pay respect to the Madonna, yes,—but not that you shd pray to her–”! Madonnaism is not a bad word. It is to me precisely the most offensive part of the catholic theology.
What Pen is full of today is a great ball which is to take place at Mrs Story’s—five hundred people expected, including all the princes in Rome. She was so foolish as to ask Peni with an observation which led me to believe that many children wd be there—so I accepted for him—& now I cant disappoint Peni who has set his heart on it. Robert goes of course. But I hear of nothing from Pen but of this ball—& how Edith (his fellow pupil) is to have “her hair richly dressed,” & a “low dress”– [‘]‘Well, but Penini, you dont want a low dress surely.”— [‘]‘No, mama, of course not. But I should like a new one. Everybody has seen my green velvet blouse a hundred times– I think you might,” &c &c!– The end of all being that we have bought our Pen a claret-colored velvet blouse, with black trimmings——
Feb. 8– Yesterday I was interrupted, & now I can tell you that Pen looked lovely in his dress, & “danced with Edith,” he says– Robert offered him two scudi (ten francs) not to go– To which his answer was that he “would’nt give it up for twelve scudi—” & Annunciata explained, that it was “una passione”.
By the way, I am sorry you are going to part with Crispin, because having a stranger is so very unpleasant, my poor dearest Arabel– As to Annunciata, she is a true Italian, .. a child in many ways,—& has not the slightest grudge against Crispin .. though at the time she suspected her ill offices– I did not tell her the origin of the charge, you know. [18] But bygones are bygones—not a cloud of either grief or anger remains with her: though I fancy she cared rather more for me after it all. Also the business had a good end, for Pantaleone cured her of the remains of her malady– She is an excellent servant—has a passion for work, devotes herself to trying to please me, & is always gay & contented .. which I care for very much– As to morals, her honesty is beyond temptation—while for other points, all I can say is, that her “admirers” must come down the chimney—for nobody visits her unless in the occult form: & she goes out as little as a healthy woman can. Her affectionateness to me is very great—& yet there’s no flattery or humbug, in appearance at least.
In appearance! Ah Arabel! it’s difficult to know—. My experience of .. let me say … the “Anglo-Saxon race” has been bad. A certain class of English & American women seems to flow in towards me by a dreadful sort of attraction—my shoes are sticky with this mud. Shall I dare to tell you. I have dreadful reasons for doubting Sophie Eckley– I mean her truth. It has given me great pain. It has not been on mediumship grounds that I began to doubt—but, of course .. now I doubt her all through. Her generosity & external proofs of kindness towards me have been extraordinary. I interpret those into a dialect of the Devil—doing injustice perhaps: I cannot help it. There has been no open quarrel. But I have turned into ice to her. Well—no more of this.
For several weeks I have not been able to talk to anybody, & in this way have missed seeing a very interesting person, a Mr Hasard, [19] who is devoted to spiritualism & a great medium himself. The most unbelieving of his friends speak of his honesty & directness with reverence. Robert has seen & was a good deal pleased with him,—& now I am to have my turn. Yesterday Theodore Parker was here, & talked for an hour on spiritualism. He is not a believer. He believes in the clairvoyant trances, both writing & speaking—but he considers these phenomena to proceed from the mind in an abnormal condition, & not from another plane of life. But then he believes in very little—not in the gospels, nor in any sort of special revelation, certainly–
How happy I was to have dear Storm’s note in your letter before last. I am afraid he wont praise me though, for all my poems, as for Villafranca. [20] Otherwise I should have too much pleasure–
Dearest Arabel, do you suffer from the glandular swellings again—? Oh I hope not. Speak of yourself, dear, dear. Let me have comfort about you. Deduce from this monster-letter how perfectly myself again I am– You may in all literal & logical truth. Its wonderful how I sweep up my crumbs again. Robert has had a cold, but has recovered—& Pen has a little I fear, through the ball last night. Give my love to poor dear Minny, & tell me how she is. I cant go through this letter but through all the probable dislocations of grammar & syntax, you will feel that I love you–
Did I tell you that ‘Villafranca’ was exquisitely translated into French prose by Milsand, & had a run in the French papers? [21] —— It pleased me. May God love you darling Arabel–
Your own Ba–
Tender love from Robert & Pen–
Address: Angleterre. / Miss Moulton Barrett / 7. Delamere Terrace / Harrow Road / London.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 446–452.
Manuscript: Gordon E. Moulton-Barrett.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. The letter to Henrietta has not surfaced.
3. Cf. Byron, “So, We’ll Go No More A-Roving” (Thomas Moore, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, 1830), lines 11–12.
4. EBB believed that she caught cold as a result of venturing out to see the presentation swords made for Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel (see letter 4563, note 9).
7. “I have surpassed my usual finesse.”
9. “But how he rages, the Holy Father.”
10. Fanny Haworth.
12. Underscored three times.
13. Letter 4544, dated 11 December 1859, which Ruskin sent via Harriet Beecher Stowe, who in turn entrusted it to her son for delivery (see letter 4564).
15. In the “Preface” to Poems Before Congress, dated “Rome, February, 1860,” EBB writes: “If the verses should appear to English readers too pungently rendered to admit of a patriotic respect to the English sense of things, I will not excuse myself on such grounds, nor on the ground of my attachment to the Italian people, and my admiration of their heroic constancy and union. What I have written has simply been written because I love truth and justice quand même,—‘more than Plato’ and Plato’s country, more than Dante and Dante’s country, more even than Shakespeare and Shakespeare’s country” (p. v).
16. Evidently, Arabella had referred to the story of Solomon’s disobedience, as given in I Kings 11, which resulted in the loss of his kingdom in the subsequent reign of his son.
17. Pounds, shillings, and pence.
18. See the beginning of letter 4308.
19. Thomas Robinson Hazard (1797–1886); see letter 4330, note 20.
20. i.e., EBB’s poem “A Tale of Villafranca.”
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