4702. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 28, 63–66.
[Florence]
[30 June 1860] [1]
Dearest of Arabels, I must write– Your letter takes me by the throat. Darling Henrietta & Arabel, I see you both together,—but a word dropped by Arabel shows me Henrietta not well, suffering pain. [2] I do beseech of you to write & let me hear, if possible, that this is passing away– The affection, hinted at, is very common in these latter days– I know two or three persons who have suffered or are suffering from an irritation of the kind—and I myself you know, before I went to Havre, was threatened with symptoms, which in my case however, came simply from weakness. In any form of the evil, quiet & cheerfulness are absolutely necessary. I am sure my dearest Henrietta should lie on a sofa all day, & not walk or stand—is’nt it so?– Above all things, dont let her fret after Surtees, or attempt to teach children– Arabel, would’nt it be wise to engage a good nursery governess for a few months, who might carry the children out of sight & anxiety?– I know so well what children are to people who want repose– The greater the love, the greater the enforced restlessness– And Arabel is not fit (on her own account) to undertake much of this sort of fatigue. Oh Arabel, dearest, dearest, you write me a letter, & tell me that I need’nt be anxious– I cant help when I know that any one of you is not well, exaggerating & blackening, & feeling as if there was a stone round my neck somehow–
I mean to write a little note to Ocky to congratulate him & Charlotte on their new joy. [3] I am sure my poor dearest Henrietta must have felt very unwell to have gone away just at the crisis [4] —although she went with her Surtees, and although, after all, no one can help a woman very much in that hour, it always seems to me.
This is saturday, & next saturday we go to Siena, where a house is taken for three months .. (our villa of last year!) & there we shall remain in absolute quiet. You dont know what “the country”—in Italy means. It’s solitude in the great sense– Mr Landor is to be deposited in a little house, a quarter of a mile off .. & Wilson & Pilade with him– It was right to persuade him to go,—even if for no other reason than Wilson, who is well so far, but nervous. We scarcely liked the idea of taking Ferdinando from her so soon again, & leaving her here at issues with Mr Landor, .. who is still more incapable of self-controul than herself. The other day there was a dreadful explosion. He came here to tell us that Wilson had thrown a dish in his face, & that he should go to Leghorn & never return to her. It was’nt at all true, but he had been in such a rage that he could not discern. His dinner from the traiteur arrived eight minutes too late, upon which he proceeded first to throw the soup out of the window—then the vegetables .. then the meat .. to prevent which last coup, Wilson siezed the dish. He swears that her eyes flashed fire– And she admits that she felt in a passion .. only denying an intention of doing more than save the ‘mutton’. I almost went on my knees to Mr Landor, & Robert used every sort of rhetoric, & so he was persuaded to “pardon” & return to Wilson. It would be terrible for everybody if there was a real schism. What we should do with the poor headstrong old man, .. or with Wilson who would lose so much .. would be doubtful. I have lectured her well on the necessity of not getting into a passion from henceforth, & letting him do whatever extravagance he pleases without protest. Of course it’s at his own cost. She says that something enters into her when he irritates her—she’s sure it will make her ill. Altogether it’s a very anxious affair for Robert—and he will be easier to have these two under his own eye at Siena– When we go north we leave Ferdinando, but going to Siena it is’nt so convenient. Wilson is in a most excitable condition of nerves, though free from any illusions at present– Mind you caution dear Minny upon not dropping a word to any of her family– She is well, understand—though we cant feel sure of her. For instance, she told me, that while preparing to receive the sacrament last sunday, her arms dropped down and she could’nt lift them. She says her heart seems alive in her, struggles with palpitation, then stops!—entirely nervous observe—there’s something hysterical: only, as illusions have accompanied these symptoms, one is anxious. She is well however in main respects now, & is not as worn & thin as she was last year. Mr Landor does not teaze her observe. Its simply at intervals when his selfwill grows rampant. At eighty six, [5] men who never have consented to controul themselves, are not likely to begin. Spiritually, according to my Swedenborg, its the worst symptom, .. that assertion of a man’s will & self-love– [6]
Yes—things are coming to a conclusion in Italy—but there must pass the crisis. The Roman states fall in next .. after the Neapolitan– It pleases you .. does it? .. to recognize Garibaldi as a hero. He is a hero– But you know as little of him nearly, as of others. He is not a man of brain. And Garibaldi could not have saved Italy. We were in some painful anxiety here lest the promises of the King of Naples [7] should have been listened to by the Neapolitans– But “troppo tardi.” [8] Even Neapolitans have comprehended that; & they are the least advanced portion of the Italian populations.
I hope you received the photographs this time. [9] So dearest Storm comes to Europe ‘for good & all’! That pleases me–
May God keep you & bless you, my beloved sisters. How I have prayed for you in the body & the soul.
Your very own Ba.
Robert’s best love–
The author of “A Word for Truth” has sent me the pamphlet. I beg you Arabel to get & read it. Chapman publishes it– Written by a naval officer of the highest reputation—Capt. Maxse distinguished in the Crimea.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 472–475.
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. Date provided by EBB’s remark: “This is saturday, & next saturday we go to Siena.” The Brownings travelled to Siena on Saturday, 7 July 1860.
2. This is the first of many references to what would prove to be a fatal illness. According to Henrietta’s death certificate, she died of uterine cancer on 23 November 1860.
3. Charles Graham Moulton-Barrett (1860–1925), born on 18 June at Stoke Court, the home of Henrietta and Surtees.
4. On 15 June the Cooks left their children with Octavius and Charlotte and travelled to London—Surtees for a course in musketry instruction at Hythe and Henrietta for medical consultation (see SD2387). In his journal for 11 July 1860, Surtees recorded: “My beloved Henrietta grew worse. Mr. Stone (Curzon Street), Dr. Lee (Saville Row), Dr. Protheroe Smith (Park Street), Gros. Square. We had all there, the best men for her infirmity in London. They all shook their heads—and recommended country air—and home” (see SD2389). Thomas Arthur Stone (1797–1864), surgeon at 16 Curzon St.; Henry Lee (1817–98), surgeon, 9 Savile Row, senior surgeon at Lock Hospital; Protheroe Smith (1809–99), gynecologist, Park St., founded in 1843 the Hospital for the Diseases of Women, first hospital of its kind in Great Britain.
5. Landor turned 86 on 30 January 1861.
6. According to Swedenborg, “there are two loves that are at the head of all the rest, and two loves that lie behind all the rest. The head of all heavenly loves, the love basic to them all, is love for the Lord. The head of all hellish loves, or the love that underlies them all, is a love of controlling prompted by self-love. These two loves are absolute opposites” (Divine Love and Wisdom, trans. George F. Dole, West Chester, Pennsylvania, 2003, Part II, §141, p. 103).
7. Francis II (1836–94), King of Naples (officially, King of The Two Sicilies), succeeded his father, Ferdinand II, on 22 May 1859. However, he reigned only briefly. On 6 September 1860, in order to avoid the advancing Garibaldians, he fled Naples for Gaeta. There he endured a Piedmontese blockade for three and a half months before escaping to Rome and the protection of the Pope. Although Francis was not as cruel as his father had been, he nonetheless was unpopular and resisted any opposition to his authority. The “promises” EBB mentions probably refer to his granting of a constitution following Garibaldi’s victories in Sicily.
8. “Too late.”
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