SD1422. John Aubone Cook to Henrietta Cook
Published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 16, 295 (in part).
Whitehall
April 8. 1850
My dear Henrietta
You are so kind as to have said in your letter to my mother, that you intended to have said more to me on Saturday morning than you did; I write to assure you that the feeling which checked your utterance was not confined to yourself. I, too, although, I managed to say something, wished to express very much more, but was deterred, partly by the extreme distress depicted in your countenance, (at which I could hardly wonder, under all the circumstances of your case,) partly by the feeling which one most always has, how inadequate at best are all these expressions. Believe me that it gave me the greatest & most real pleasure to be the unworthy instrument of uniting you to my brother. If I hesitated at one time to comply with your kindly expressed wish on the subject, that hesitation did not proceed from any doubt in my mind as to the propriety of the step which you were about to take, but from other causes mentioned at the time to William. However, when I saw the whole case, I felt certain the most kindliest of beings, or the bitterest of enemies, if any such I have, could not by [any] possibility blame me in at length indulding my own anxious wish, which always was that I should marry you. I fear you may think me overestimating the value of my opinion, wh: I would not willingly do; but I must assure you, as such assurance may be a satisfaction to you, that after very seriously, & maturely considering your case, I am convinced you have acted for the best, & that no religious reason [1] can be given by you should have done otherwise; on the contrary, I believe it would have been difficult to shew that, under the circumstances, a different course would not have been wrong. How sincerely I congratulate you both I need hardly say. The long & intimate knowledge wh: you have had of one anothers’ character, as well as the length & constancy of your affection, I may say devotion, to one another, are the surest pledge of present & future happiness to you. Indeed. I cannot describe to you how I admire you both for the strength & constancy of your love, which is the more striking from its rarity in a world where in respects of such sacred unions worldliness, indifference, or even heartlessness is too common on one side or on the other, & sometimes on both. It would be superfluous to say much to you of my brother, seeing how well you know him, but I am convinced that a more honourable, upright man does not breathe, or one in whom a woman can more entirely confide. His being so steady & so religious are surely, too, qualifications of no very common kind, & such as might well in the eyes of those who wish you well, counter-balance any supposed inadequacy of means, particularly considering how difficult it is in any ordinary case for a lady to be a friend of her husband having such qualifications, with an assurance, I mean, such as yours. That you will be happy, so far as happiness can be attained to in this life, I have no doubt, that you may be so is my fondest wish & most earnest prayer. That it shall ever be my endeavour to promote your welfare & peace of mind, I am persuaded you need no assurance. I consider that on Saturday morning last, I gained an additional sister with whom I always wish to be on the most friendly & the most brotherly terms, & who, I trust will her [sic] consider me in the light both of a brother & a friend.
My Mother is writing to you, & I must write your husband, but I thought I must have my little say by myself.
Believe me with a prayer for God’s blessing on you both–
My dear Henrietta
Your affectionate brother
J. A. Cook
I was so very glad to hear you had been enabled to communicate together the day after your marriage. That opportunity must be considered Providential, & was, I trust, a pledge & a means of your being united in Christ our Lord.
Address: Mrs Surtees Cook / 2 Oriel Terrace / Weston-Super-Mare / Somerset.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library, Altham Archive.
1. Underscored 5 times.
___________________
