4730. EBB to Arabella Moulton-Barrett
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 28, 117–121.
Alberti Villa. Siena.
August 25. [1860] [1]
My dearly loved Arabel I have your letter– Dearest, it comes to this– My “daily bread,” [2] is that she is not worse– And yet to keep in bed seems a step backwards– I try to shut my eyes & wait. But it is hard. I thank my dearest George for his wisdom & goodness in forcing you to go out—no, you dont say “forcing”, but I see it all just as if you had told me. It is your duty, Arabel, not to let yourself fall to pieces. I wish you would tell me of her looks, of her spirits– Kiss her precious face & hands from me & tell her I hold her fast in the love & prayers of my soul–
The sickness may very probably come from the opiates—but some opiates produce this effect more than others do– Ah Arabel, I cant help pressing on you all again the magnetism. It can do no harm, observe. It is not really possible, if you get a competent & quiet magnetiser. Why not write to Mary[.] [3] She would speak to Dr Wilkinson, [4] & make him send down some woman .. such as was sent to Miss Martineau years ago in her first illness with so astonishing a result. [5] Would it not be worth the trial? Would it not be a satisfaction to dear Surtees & all of us that we tried everything? Suppose it to be a quite foolish fancy, still it would be worth the trial. If I disbelieved precisely as Surtees does, I should yet think it worth while. In case you should at last decide that way, tell Mary distinctly that you wish to have simply a magnetiser, & not a medium. I would on no account have a medium—not for many reasons– What we want is a grave calm magnetiser with a soothing power. There are mediums with great healing gifts,—& an American lady whom I saw last winter in Rome, assured me that she was perfectly helpless with paralysis down one side, unable to move one arm & leg, & that the medical men despaired of her recovery, when being persuaded to consult a healing medium in New York, in ten minutes she was lifted up on her feet & made to walk across the floor– But I do not hear of these cases in England—&, if I did, I would not press any of these mediums on you– The magnetiser is a generally acknowledged remedial agent, on the other hand, and I cannot understand a reasonable person’s objecting to employ one. If mesmerism is nothing, then it’s nothing to object to. Reading newspapers after dinner is an innocent narcotic certainly. And if you tried it for a week, you would know whether it promised anything– Surely that would be worth an experiment—would’nt it, dear Surtees? Now I will not teaze any more.
One thing is clear—that if nothing but opiates lull the pain, she must take opiates—because pain does actual harm .. wears out the nervous system. Sometimes the narcotic in a pill agrees less than in a liquid state—which is the case with me always. Then morphine agrees better than opium– Has she tried morphine? I sometimes think (in my good moments) that it must be greatly in her favor that she should have had such an almost unbroken habit of health– Her system must be inclined by this to expel a desease .. if we grant time. After all, we are thrown at God’s feet, Arabel– Nothing else, nothing else–
For as to doctors, what you say, I know. In many complaints they are as often wrong as right—its a mere guess—& the wisest & most truthful of them admit this. No science is sustained on such uncertain data as the medical science. Probably the key to it will be found higher up .. in spiritual science.
Do you read the Cornhill? If you dont do so regularly, read the present number on account of an article by Robert Bell, vouched for by Thackeray, called ‘Truth stranger than Fiction.’ [6] I have not got it yet, but am promised it in a day or two. The article relates to spiritualism in London. There is another article (of what character I am ignorant) in ‘Once a week.’ [7] The subject is taking hold of the public. All I desire for it, is a strict & intelligent investigation. All I have complained of in relation to it, is, that people have shut their eyes, & denied, disdaining investigation. To shut our eyes on what is said to be a fact, because we dont like the fact, is a sort of Atheism. Whatever is truth is of God,—and we may trust God, I think, with the arrangement of His universe, & the utility of every truth under His heaven. Hume is reported to have just gone to Naples,—sent for by the Prince of Syracuse– [8]
Tell me, if you do not think of our precious Henrietta, .. it is certain of the hope of her restoration to health,—that her constitution is pure & healthy? Tell me if she is able to bear reading. Affections of the kind sometimes make the head weak, I hear, & sadden the spirits—but Storm spoke well of her spirits–
I hope he will be successful about his house– In the north of Devonshire there is good fishing & shooting, is there not? I seem to fancy having heard so. If he liked to try there, in the case of failing in Devonshire, he might find what he wanted. I am quite proud & glad to have Storm with me in my political wilderness–
Robert had a singular note from Mr Dicey yesterday– [9] He is a member of a wealthy family whom we knew in Rome last winter,—his brother being there for his health. [10] Intelligent & loving the truth of things—Robert & I liked him very much. Now he writes to say that he is going to Naples as correspondent to the Morning Chronicle, & that as he knows we shall not think the worse of him that his convictions have connected him with an imperialist newspaper, he begs us to send him letters of introduction for the Neapolitans. The M Ch. (you may not know) represents French policy & is under French controul– Mr Dicey adds that he has come to the conclusion that there is safety for Italy only through France. We shall provide letters of course.
No Arabel my darling– I am not “jealous”—not a bit– Ah—is it possible that you know me so little? & Garibaldi is not “base”—he is pure-hearted, true, brave as a lion—he has moreover an astonishing military genius. He is not a Napoleon in the head, because there is only one Napoleon—nor a Cavour. But he is a great Garibaldi; & without a Garibaldi … we might have succeeded in the south in time, but the time would have been necessarily long, & we might really & at last not have succeeded. He risked his life & more than his life: for, if the national cause had suffered by a failure in Sicily, the general feeling would have been very bitter against him. Then at one time we were in great alarm about the designs of the Mazzinians who got about him at Palermo. He has shaken some of this influence off—but still there are divisions, which were not previously. [11] Napoleon could not move a step in Sicily or Naples, without a general war– And Cavour could not,—without provoking diplomatic intervention. A Garibaldi was necessary therefore to cut the knot– [12] Blessed be he! If you were to see a poem of mine on him, [13] you would’nt say I was “jealous”– I!—— Garibaldi is a great captain & hero—noble & truthful. Only with certain weaknesses which it is necessary to observe, in taking note of the measure of the man. I am glad to see that he has disavowed that bad letter to Mr Parker of Liverpool, [14] with the sentence about Napoleon. I did him the justice of believing from the first that he was incapable of anything so ignoble– It was an English letter, plainly written by an English somebody .. probably by Jessie White. Not that such things would ever affect the emperor’s conduct. His magnanimity is wonderful– If you could know the insults lavished upon that man at Rome by French legitimists & the cardinals party you would wonder that he who holds the thunder does not use it. Henri cinq, just now, is the common toast among Lamoriciere’s people. But long-suffering & scrupulously just he will be to the end.—even with you in England who in your public papers & speeches have heaped upon him every kind of insult–
We shall have war– The reactionary parties throughout Europe have been encouraged at Toeplitz [15] —& the prince of Prussia has given his “parole de gentilhomme” (parole de coquin) [16] to help Austria against France & Italy. In fact, its an attempt at a coalition of the old governments (England having too much to do with it) against France & the new ideas. “Questa canaglia di Germania” [17] as I heard an Italian exclaim the other day! Canaglia, indeed!—— Observe. I dont doubt that England wishes well to Italy at last .. “finalmente” as the Italian patriots italicise it,—but the English condition must be that France gains as little credit as possible by this. —We are expecting an Austrian intervention again—& a good many other things. Look out for insurrection in Hungary, [18] for instance—& in the Roman States. As to plans—oh Arabel, what heart have I for winter plans? We had meant to go to Rome. Of course we should not go in the case of an outburst there—it would not be justifiable: though some people well-informed say that Rome will be as safe as any other place in Italy– There will probably be a sweep of flame from end to end of this peninsula. We Thank Prussia for that. It was Prussia that made Villafranca, [19] —it is Prussia who moves now. For ourselves, you know that war in Italy keeps us, instead of driving us away—Pau & Nice?—oh no– But I cant bear to think of winter-plans– I can think of Italy—but—not of myself, while Henrietta lies in my heart here.
Dall’Ongaro, the Venetian poet, came over from Florence two days ago, & found me sitting under my figtree beside the window here [20] .. sitting on my cushions, & dreaming sadly– He is deep in the knowledge of things political, & bade me prepare for a crisis– We are great friends, he & I—& sympathetical. It was he who talked of the ‘canaglia di Germania’. I said, “It means a coalition against France–” “Certainly,” he answered,—“And what a coalition! how ignoble, how base!” In which I deeply agreed. Yet he is not a Buonapartist– Not he. He looks simply to justice & to Italy’s redemption.
You will write my beloved, when you can– Dont tire yourself for me– Write briefly as you like– Storm, George—my dear love. And to dear Surtees. I am with you in thought and love & prayer–
Your own
Ba–
Robert’s best love—& Pen’s.
I wish you had our divine weather—a little over-hot perhaps,—and yet with wonderful winds through the sunshine. Never was a summer like it in Italy–
Think of Orestes. Everything being arranged, Wilson’s sisters wont let the child come!
Address: Angleterre viâ France. / Miss Moulton Barrett / Stoke Court / Taunton / Somersetshire.
Publication: EBB-AB, II, 484–489.
Manuscript: Gordon E. Moulton-Barrett.
1. Year provided by postmark.
2. Cf. Matthew 6:11.
3. Doubtless Mary Ruxton (née Minto, 1821–97), an old friend of Henrietta’s, whose earlier experiments with mesmerism were mentioned by EBB in letters 1347, 1353, 1441, and 1457.
4. James John Garth Wilkinson (1812–99); see letter 3689, note 4.
5. EBB refers to Ann Pulleyn Wynyard (née Mosley, 1800–80), the widow of Montagu George Lascelles Wynyard (1802–40). In 1844, Mrs. Wynyard, a practicing mesmerist, treated Harriet Martineau for a uterine tumor. The treatment and subsequent “cure” are chronicled in Miss Martineau’s Letters on Mesmerism (1845).
8. Prince Leopold (1813–60), known as the Count of Syracuse, was the paternal uncle of Francis II, King of Naples.
9. Edward James Stephen Dicey (1832–1911), author and journalist, graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1854. An inscribed copy of his Rome in 1860 (Cambridge, 1861), which was dedicated to the Brownings, sold as lot 611 in Browning Collections (see Reconstruction, A785).
10. Francis William Dicey (1837–88), a painter of genre subjects and portraits.
12. An allusion to the Gordian knot.
13. “Garibaldi,” published in The Independent (New York) on 11 October 1860 and later collected in Last Poems (1862).
16. “Word of a gentleman (word of a scoundrel).”
17. “Germany, this scoundrel.”
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