4709. EBB to Henrietta Cook
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 28, 74–76.
Siena.
July 18– [1860] [1]
My ever dear dearest Henrietta, I cant wait a moment beyond this day’s post to write to thank you for your dear, precious letter. How could you think, darling, that I was vexed with you? Surely, surely I have written to you twice at least since that letter on the poems [2] —which did not vex me—no, not for a moment, my own dearest Henrietta. On the contrary I liked as I always like, that you should tell me what is in your mind—& besides almost everybody in England thought & thinks the same, you know .. and the only difference in your letter was the affectionateness of it, which was a sweetness to overcome a whole lemon of sour—if the lemon had been there. No indeed, indeed– I have done nothing but love you, as I have loved you always, & as I shall love you for ever. If it depended on my love & my prayers I should have heard this morning of your being quite, quite well, instead of only a little better. I have been very anxious, & have prayed for you & all of us that God may make us soon perfectly happy about you– This anxiety at a distance is hard to bear– Dearest, you will keep your promise to Surtees, & your debt to us all—for it is due to everyone’s deep love that you should keep quiet & as cheerful as you can– Can you eat? & be amused by reading?. It must be a relief to be at home, with your Surtees & your darling children, & Arabel “thrown in”– You should take as much nourishment, dear, dear, as you can—& may God bless it all– It is a sore temptation to me to rush away from everything & everybody here & go to you—& then I might only do you harm with excitement which is very bad, of course, for you—and could not add to the good which is given you by your nurses– So Robert says– But, for all that, I am drawn to go,—& throw up things here. Make Arabel write to me every day or two—but dont you write, my beloved Henrietta—it must be wrong for you to write, or exert yourself in the least thing. You must just look at the flowers & the children from your place in the garden & the house, [3] & think how we all love you .. & also how God loves you, & how the evil & the pain are but a short cut to the good & the happiness– To think of your suffering pain makes my heart ache– Dear, dear. These “uterine complaints” (I have lately read in Galignani), are considered by medical men the preponderant affection just now, the most common of maladies. I know one or two women who have suffered or are suffering so. A lady in Rome last year had been very ill with a frightful form of it, in complication with other maladies, yet she got over it perfectly. To lie quite still, keep quite calm in head & heart—good air, nourishing food, these are so needful. Beloved Henrietta, submit to it all for love’s sake– You will smile perhaps—but do you know, magnetism is sometimes used in such cases to a great advantage, in allaying pain & in diminishing the swelling– I have heard of wonderful results from magnetising—and as a mere curative agent, nobody could object to it– Even the pope does not—though, experimentally speaking, the thing is forbidden at Rome, [4] & by Catholic bishops generally. But as a curative means, it may be used, .. & I cant help thinking that it might in your case, (you were always susceptible, you remember) & the pain might be materially allayed by it. I suggest this—& add that you might be magnetised locally without inducing the sleep––if you objected to that.
Our abbé is here—& we like him more & more. He is very liberal—& when somebody asked Mr Story whether he & Robert & I were not afraid of our children being converted, he answered that the danger was of their converting the teacher. The man has a sweet, truthful look in his eyes, which pleases me.
The air here is good & the place very silent—& if you were not holding my heart in your hands, you dear, it would be pleasant to me through its quietness.
I fear that my foolish Jessie White is doing harm to the cause in Sicily—but the end will be good, I dare say– [5]
Sophia Cottrell asked much about you with affectionate interest, the last time I saw her in Florence. She has a nice baby [6] —& Hal, who is nearly two years younger than Pen, is nearly half a head taller. And yet Peni is considered tall for his age. He rides about here with Robert, & some times the Storys join them. May our Lord keep you & love & heal you, my own beloved Henrietta. Know how I love you–
Your Ba–
Surtees & Henrietta, Robert’s love to both of you–
Address, cross-written on integral page: Henrietta.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: In private collection.
1. This letter was enclosed in letter 4710.
2. These letters have not surfaced. Henrietta’s letter was likely written early to mid-April. In letter 4648 EBB told Isa Blagden: “I could’nt help laughing at my sister Henrietta who accepts the interpretation of the Athenæum, (having read the poems) & exclaims, ‘But, oh Ba, such dreadful curses!”
3. Many years later, Henrietta’s daughter, Mary, would recall that her uncle Octavius Moulton-Barrett tried to make things pleasant for her mother: “Uncle Ocky & Aunt Charlotte came to us while medical advise & treatment were sought in London. Uncle Ocky’s favorite sister he spent energy in her absence in building an arbour where she might lie—(I am sure it was never used) our large dining room was to be her bedroom (and there she passed from us) opposite to which Uncle Ocky laid out fresh flowerbeds” (“I Remember: Recollections of Mary Altham,” ms in private collection).
4. On 4 August 1856, Pope Pius IX issued an encyclical “ad omnes episcopos adversus magnetismi abusus” (“to all bishops against the misuse of magnetism”). He condemned the use of magnetism in the pursuit of supernatural ends such as predicting the future and communicating with souls of the dead, but he permitted the use of magnetism if it was confined to only physical ends (see Acta Sanctae Sedis, comp. Petri Avanzini, Vol. I, Rome, 1872, pp. 177–179).
5. In the spring of 1860, Jessie White Mario and her husband, Alberto, joined Garibaldi in Sicily. Jessie was assigned the organizing of medical care for the wounded volunteers, and Alberto was asked to set up a military school for the children (see vol. 26, pp. 341–342).
6. Violet Amy Cottrell (1859–1936).
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