Letter from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Arabella Moulton-Barrett, June 11, [1853]

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My beloved Arabel
I am vexed about the Legation. I calculate on the messengers—but plainly, (though just now in the absence of Sir Henry Bulwer they send the despatches much more seldom,) the messenger has gone without Mr Lytton’s warning us of the opportunity. He has been ill with an attack of quinsey, otherwise I am sure it would not have happened. Ill or well however I cant wait for him any more. You will be wondering about me. So, this time, you must have a duodecimo instead of the usual folio– I had a letter yesterday from dearest Henrietta, & she shall hear from me, assure her– If you had two babies you would not have the rights on me which she acknowledges—but as it is, what with the infantry & the general militia, she seems to me filled up to the brim with business & pleasure too. What a comfort it is, Arabel, to see her so happy! Really her letter made me quite joyous yesterday. I envy her the she-baby .. that’s certain—but I wont use the evil-eye for that! I am glad she has it, dear thing, .. and I wish you had the same, Arabel, under respectable circumstances. Now just see! If she had chosen to imagine it impossible to live under a thousand a year, & put the extinguisher on her life accordingly! How unwise—how lamentable! even after the fashion of this world, Arabel!

Ah my dearest, dearest Arabel, I tremble to begin to speak to you of England! Here is deep in June! Rome unseen! How could we bear the expence of going north & south again this summer! & how could we look at Mr Kenyon’s face without having looked at Rome! Ask yourself. I should have told you, in justice to dear Mr Kenyon’s generosity, that in his last letter he desired us whenever we wanted money to do him the gratification of drawing on him—but you know we would not, could not, should not do such a thing, unless Penini wanted bread– And even then!!– If we were rich I would go across Europe to see you for a week, & not think of fatigue or trouble– Certainly we would go to England this summer & return for Rome in the winter. Sarianna is horribly disappointed for one thing. She had made up her mind to make an English visit this summer with us .. & we seem to use her & her father rather ill to leave them on their own resources in Paris. I am convinced (in my instincts) that they dont like Paris—that everything there goes against the grain with them:—and yet Sarianna is more agreeably situated than she was in London .. infinitely more. Our friends the Corkrans have been the most affectionate of friends to her—& Mrs Carmichael Smith has paid her many attentions. Still, the place forbidden, you know, always passes for Eden, with man or peri: & I can see plainly that poor Sarianna looks back yearningly to that desolate lantern at Bayswater as a lost paradise. Not that she says so. Oh no, she never complains. But I can see. The last letter was more cheerful however– She had been to Montmorency with the Corkrans to see Rousseau’s house, & she likes the view from her own rooms. I should think so– The most splendid view to be had in any European city perhaps, with the exception of Venice.

Did Mr Kenyon tell you the whole story of his adventure with Mrs Van Muller—how she introduced herself to him as her own sister (mark what an intriguing woman she is!) & how he considered her “clever” “with good manners” & “by no means unattractive.” It’s really a justification of the poor victim that she should appear in such a light to Mr Kenyon. For my part I make many allowances for him– He could not have a chance with such a woman. She told Mr Kenyon that “her sister” had had an adventurous life .. & when she was very young, in consequence of a secret marriage, had a child without the knowledge of her parents. Another sort of confession, you know, had been made to Mr Browning– Ah well! the wicked get the prizes in this world! Her object in going to Mr Kenyon was plainly to extract money, by a statement of the melancholy necessity she was under (otherwise) of outlawing the beloved object. Mr Kenyon said wisely that were it his own case, he should be quite indifferent to being outlawed or not outlawed, & that Mr Browning, having resolved on living out of England, would not care a straw for a mere form such as outlawry was. Afterwards he had a note from the lady .. “I am not my sister but myself.” There was a coup de theatre! He replied coldly, that the subterfuge ‘she had thought fit to adopt in the manner of her introduction to him’, had not raised her in his esteem. So, an end. Robert doubts still whether they will carry out the outlawry. I am convinced they will, though I dont vex him by saying so– Not that he will take it to heart. He has learnt some philosophy on the subject of late—& our Paris friends will keep the announcement out of Galignani, we know. I am more sorry for Sarianna than for the rest. I fear it will distress her inordinately. The old man is not to be told of it. Why should he? He would understand it to mean being posted as a highwayman,—poor innocent man.

We must get away from the heat in July of course, but where, I dont know any more than you. We should like Sorrento best, & then we might turn on our heel to Rome for the winter—the difficulty being the expence of getting there & living there. The Neapolitan states are the dearest part of Italy. Also, Robert thinks it wd be hazardous for us to present ourselves there by sea, .. for they are very strict about names just now, & we fear our names may have penetrated. A man of the name of Barclay, for instance, was stopped because of brewery associations. “Casa Guidi windows” is prohibited in Florence—there’s an honour! Its a sign at the same time that eyes, we are not suspecting, may be on us. The prohibition is only of late. It would be inconvenient if we travelled to Naples & were sent back—would’nt it?

Depend on it Arabel, if we are alive & God suffers it, we shall be with you early in next year’s summer. Such a time! Yes, such a time! But I do entreat you to utilize this season & get into the country. If it is proposed to Papa he cant refuse it! You must really go—you must. Now let it be proposed to Papa—dont make obstacles. Its your duty to see to your health this summer. Next summer I shall be absorbing you & making you pale with a course of Swedenborg & rapping spirits—if indeed we are not familiarized, all of us, with these manifestations long before then in a way you little expect. We shall be in England as soon as the weather is mild enough, printing our books .. that will be a business-necessity. I shall like to see my own book through the press, in spite of the second me-ship which you present—because when a m∙s. is set up in type I can always do something more to it as a writer– I must have the opportunity therefore of doing good to my own work. You will take as comfortable rooms for us as you can—but so far off—so far off! Ah yes, I am very vexed, very. And the worst is there’s no use in being vexed.

It is true enough that you may move tables muscularly by cheating, & perhaps even unconsciously when in a state of excitement. But this does’nt account for actual phenomena the least in the world. It does not account for tables being moved, when touched gently by the tips of the little fingers—raised up on two feet .. & one foot .. & then, toppled over. Such things have been done in Florence even. Still less does it account for tables being moved without touch of finger or foot. Does it, do you think? Mr Powers who is a great mechanic, & with all his spiritualism very cautious in the reception of evidence, has made a little machine to test these phenomena .. a slight piece of wood turning upon a pivot, so that the least amount of force would move it. This, it is not necessary to touch at all. It follows your finger—but only after being sufficiently mesmerized, I think. For the explanation of these table phenomena, as ordinarily observed, seems to be simply that you mesmerize the wood, which, when saturated with the magnetic fluid from you, partakes of your vitality as if it were a living thing itself. Therefore the question resolves itself into the old mystery– “What is mesmerism? what is animal magnetism?” It implies an abnormal state of the soul, surely. A connection with spirits, many say. Persons subject to animal-magnetism are more recipient of the influence of the rapping spirits, for instance– Undeniably these mesmerized tables come to us through the rapping-spirits. You cant get rid of that fact. Whether, in Wimpole Street, you move the tables voluntarily or involuntarily, we cant decide here of course—but if you all are honest I dont see why you should’nt do what certainly has been done elsewhere. “Electricity” is a word that explains nothing, observe. Electricity is probably the means through which the soul acts on matter. But the word means nothing in itself. I had a letter the day before yesterday from Athens, .. the wife of the American minister to Constantinople. She says that nothing is talked of in Greece except “table-moving & spiritual manifestations”. What she herself saw was quite unsatisfactory to her, however—but she added that with the testimony so high & reliable, she cant believe the majority of persons mixed up with the subject, capable of imposture. Now Mrs Marsh when she was here, did not even believe common mesmerism. She is sceptical on all those subjects—or was. She has lived too out of America, some years. Mr Tennyson was much satisfied that you, Arabel, cant help to move a table. He considers it a corroborative fact touching his theory of the devil. In the same way he congratulated himself that a professor, learned in the new science, who called upon him lately, failed to move his hat. I could’nt help smiling. “What,” said I, “you think your hat was too holy to be practised on by the powers of evil?” “Not exactly that!” (he meant exactly that notwithstanding)– “But in houses where prayer has been much offered, there may be less facility for this kind of operation.”

Now, Arabel, I am going to bring you to the level of my new facts. Miss Clarke (Grace Greenwood, the authoress) has passed some days in Florence & several evenings with us. I had heard of her as a sort of Corinna—but I found her unassuming & cultivated, a pleasing woman whose prettiness is an open question—with fine eyes, & graceful hair. The first evening, not a word of rapping spirits!– I dont know how it was. I had it in my head that she would care only for the “spirits in the leaves”  .. of books, & would scorn all manner of superstitions. On the second evening, however, we were getting intimate, & after being put “en rapport” by a complement of knead cakes, I hazarded a question. To my surprise .. she winced .. hesitated .. & then admitted that her own experience was of so deep a character, that she was unwilling to speak to persons whose sympathy she could not count upon. On which, out-spake Robert & assured her that nobody in the world would be more sympathetic than I was, .. & in fact, that I not only believed everything I had heard, but a good deal that I had’nt heard. Out-spake myself– “I was so interested—so anxious for information .. I entreated her to tell me what she could.” Then we heard a history .. a mystery .. call it what you please. I tell you as it was told to me.

She is a resident in Boston with her family, but was absent from home at New York for some months, during which she heard much of the new spiritual phenomena. They were repugnant to her altogether. The “rapping” did not please her imagination, & a great many ridiculous accounts of what had been communicated, disproved the supernaturalism by the apparent inutility. She scoffed therefore at the whole affair & refused to investigate anything. On the evening of her return to Boston, her mother said .. “I have something to tell you. Since you went away, I have a new belief”—going on to imply that she meant the new phenomena. “Now,” said Miss Clarke, “my mother is a very peculiar woman. Of great strength of character, & of a judgement for which I always had the greatest reverence. A deeply religious woman—full of Christian experience. A spiritual woman, yet not visionary. Her admission gave me deep pain. What! I exclaimed .. you mean to say you believe these absurdities about the rapping spirits? I was glad that the day had closed in, & that she could’nt see the tears of vexation which rushed into my eyes.”

Her mother gently advised her to “investigate the subject before she talked of absurdities,” & then went on to relate what had passed during her absence from home. It appeared that a family with whom Mrs Clarke was acquainted, was going to change their place of residence into another neighbourhood. They had a young daughter who was an invalid from a spinal disorder; and, to save her from the fatigue of these circumstances, Mrs Clarke offered to take charge of her till the removal had been comfortably effected. After the child had been received .. (she was about twelve years old, & was a slight delicate girl ..) certain noises were heard in the house—raps. “I hope you wont be displeased” .. said the child to Mrs Clarke .. “but wherever I go, those noises come! I cant help it indeed. At first I was very much frightened, but now I know there’s no harm in them—only I cant help their coming.” Mrs Clarke was much annoyed. She had a strong feeling against the manifestations herself, and her husband & sons had a stronger. She repented her hospitality to the child. Still, the thing was done—& she would use the opportunity for sifting the facts. She watched the child continually. When the raps were at the loudest, she took her on her knee, took off the shoes, and her daughter (Grace’s sister) held the feet. That was to test what had been said about the toes, you know. There was no possibility of trick, she became convinced. She even went softly into the child’s room at night & stood at her bedside while she slept, & heard the rappings going on on all sides,—on the wall above her head, for instance. Convinced there was no trick, Mrs Clarke was not unwilling to test the rappers by the alphabetical card which she had heard of as the ordinary way of arriving at the meaning of the noises. Then began the wonders of significance. The spirit of her daughter Adelaide, her eldest & favorite daughter who had left the flesh five & twenty years ago presented herself, & brought signs .. identifying herself by detailing various circumstances known only to daughter & mother all those years ago .. for one thing, reminding her of the last scripture-chapter they read together .. naming it .. on the daughter’s deathbed,—& addressing the mother by the word .. “my beloved”—an unusual form of words between daughter & mother, but which this Adelaide between whom & Mrs Clarke (said Grace with tears running from her eyes) there was a peculiar tenderness, always used, alone of all the daughters–. Not “my beloved mother,” observe, but simply “my beloved”. Other characteristic details were as striking. Mrs Clarke suffered great conflict of mind. She was troubled greatly at the idea of her daughter being personated by another spirit. She could not rest. One day she was sitting in her own room alone .. no medium present .. She clasped her hands passionately & said, “Oh Adelaide, Adelaide, if this is you, give me a sign that I may be sure of it.” What passed through her mind while she spoke, was, that she might hear a sound addressed to her own ear, like what she had been used to hear through the medium––but suddenly, in a moment, on her breast and on her brow she felt the breath and the pressure of a living creature. “I had my daughter in my arms” was her expression. She was very much overcome.

On Grace’s return, the communications went on. They have kept notes of everything, and the papers are most curious. The spirit-daughter told the mother that she loved her as dearly as ever, .. & that again & again since they parted she had tried to communicate with her but in vain. Often she had been near .. “for we are where our love is”– Only now, is the way of communication opened. It is the beginning of a new era. By an arrangement of Providence the “raps” are used in order to familiarize human nature with other forms of manifestation which are at hand—& are intended, by effects almost ludicrous, to produce doubt, incredulity, discussion in every degree, & so gradually to overcome the natural horror which is set between man in the flesh & the disembodied spirit– That’s the rationale of the proceeding. Adelaide told her mother (said Grace) that she had the power now of approach by vision & voice, .. but that the mother would be overwhelmed & suffer, not being yet prepared for the sight of the “spiritual body.” “Remember” was added, “how you suffered when a communication was made to you by the touch– Wait– Before you leave the body you shall have another sort of sign.” At this time, Grace’s sister, now living at home, has become a writing-medium. The arm of the writer becomes numb & irrespective of the volition, the most rapid communications are made, the signature of the dead sister being precisely autographic.– There are communications too from a brother —& a young nephew. I cant repeat to you all the details: they are too many. Said Grace to me .. “People say that nothing but trivial things have been communicated. That is supposed, because in families, where the most precious things are said, they are considered too precious for repetition. I have heard the most grand & beautiful communications. The amount to which the medium-faculty is possessed & concealed in private families, is extraordinary, & the greatest communications are made in private families”. “Sometimes,” added Grace, “the gates of Heaven seem indeed open—it is as if you looked in upon the glory– Then, on a sudden, there’s darkness, confusion, contradiction. Only, many spirits dont contradict their own statements. Adelaide, for instance, whoever the medium may be, is consistent everywhere.” She (the so called spirit) exhorts to spirituality of perception in these things—to patience & a spiritual discernment. Now tell me if all this is not curious.

Miss Clarke told me that whatever has happened to her in Europe, her slight illnesses, departures from the intended route, & so on, are known to her mother before Miss Clarke’s letters reach her. The spirits tell everything. She says that for herself her life is lightened up. Death appears under another aspect. It is abolished .. as death & separation.

Oh—but I must tell you a pretty, fantastic story,—for which I have not her direct testimony. Miss Peabody, a sister in law of Hawthorne’s (the novelist) told it with her own lips however to Grace. Relations of hers had lost a daughter & were in great anguish. The parents believed in these spirits, & had recourse to a medium in order to have communication. They entreated that they might see. The answer was, .. “Sight was not good for them, but they should have a token.” They went into a darkened room in their house, Miss Peabody, the father, mother, & a medium,—and the father, to prevent the possibility of intrusion, locked the door & put the key into his pocket. He held one hand of the medium, & Miss Peabody (who distrusted her, disbelieved in spirits, & submitted to all this through compassion,) held her other hand. The mother was between the father & Miss Peabody .. & so was formed the magnetic circle. In a short time there was a rustling sound, the mother exclaimed that something touched her head, but scarcely had articulated the words when she shrieked out a shriek of mixed terror & joy .. “Oh—she has kissed me.” The father struck a light instantly—when to the wonder of all, the head of the mother was discovered crowned with lilies of the valley, which had apparently been snatched from a vase of flowers in the room. She maintained that her daughter had kissed her lips. What are we to say?– If people dont lie … and why should refined, sensible people take suddenly to lying on a point of this kind?

Mr Tennyson granted this much to me after, hearing these stories & others– He would “suspend his judgement about the Devil’s doing it all.” He is in difficulties about the resurrection you see. What he & I agree absolutely in, is the profound interest with which we look on these things .. expecting what is coming on the earth. Testimonies are pressing in on us on all sides—phenomena multiply themselves. That unbelieving old Mr Kirkup gets accounts from his friends which stagger him. “Somebody told me the other day that the truth of Swedenborg was demonstrated by these things!!– I always thought Swedenborg was a madman. What has he written?” As to Robert, he was moved while Miss Clarke spoke .. you could’nt doubt her sincerity– And for me, I could’nt help crying a little. Nobody could help being moved. But when she had gone away, he went back to his scepticism—declaring that he would believe only when he saw & heard, himself–

Arabel, if I were in London, I believe, with all my incommunicable feelings on some subjects, I couldnt avoid going to that medium If a name were articulated by those sounds to me—there would be proof to me. How could I help going? When people go in the spirit of Mr Dickens & Mr Lewes they meet tricksy spirits & are tricked. I would go quietly & reverently——and a word would satisfy me. I would go alone, without Robert, without you–

If you see Mary Ruxton, get her to tell you what she knows on the subject. I hear through Sophia Cottrell who had it from Miss Hume (but dont betray the fact of my information) that Mr Ruxton has been to the medium three times, & that after being perfectly satisfied on some points, he was told to go there no more– “If it was good for him, he should not have need to go again—the spirits would go to him in that case.” Tell Mary how interested I am & eager for any particulars.

Here I draw up. Do you recommend phlebotomy or fasting? It’s a case of mania with me—is’nt it? I could tell you more too, if I had room—but this is enough on the testimony of one person. You like to hear, you say. After all I am tolerably quiet & calm. Robert has not had recourse to a straight waistcoat once up to this time. I said to Penini, .. “If the angels were to come down, should you be afraid?” “Oh no—I not aflaid a bit. I lite it velly mush. I aflaid when the tarriages are going to lun over the litty dods.” That’s Penini’s idea of what is terrible. His sympathy with the little dogs is most tender. Dear darling! Just now I let out, we were going to Prato tomorrow by railroad—his face grew scarlet, his lips trembled .. & while I explained in a hurry that we were coming back to dinner, down he dropped into my lap in a fit of sobbing. Such a tender hearted child! Yesterday, he ran in to ask if we might go out in the carriage—he is very fond of the carriage. I answered I was so tired with walking I really could’nt. In a moment his arms were round me .. “I not want you to go, darling .. I only ask.” How can you resist such a child? It’s always “dear Papa”, “dear Mama”, & “dear Lily”—unless it’s “darling Ba” & “mine dear Wobert”. He took my hand & clasped it under his chin the other day .. “Oh, I love lis litty hand.” Then I have compliments paid to my “pretty turls,” I assure you. He’s made of love & knows all its graces & ways. Yes indeed, he’s clever enough. But I care more for the sweetness & goodness—so much more. Think of Sophia Cottrell sending for his hat the other day, & asking me to tell her the colours he was to wear for the summer. She has ordered hats as identical as possible, trimming & all. He leads the fashion you see in Florence. Did I tell you that we have bought him a Leghorn hat with white ribbon & feather, & that the favorite brown straw is retrimmed with purple feather & ribbon. The book in which Faber speaks of Lucifer is a new one,—is’nt it? At what date? Mr Tennyson has no such reference in his copy, he says. I suppose Faber’s imagination is stimulated by his struggle to escape from the new fact, established by geology, that death was in the world before Adam. It’s mere imagination however. Oh Arabel, I am so grieved for Maddox When Minny writes—my true love & sympathy, remember. And dearest Minny is not well. That’s bad news. My best love. Say how she is. And you dont say how your cold is. Surely it has left you, Arabel. God bless you. Write to me, dearest, & tell me everything. Does Papa ever talk of spirits &c. In Paris I hear of Mrs Dyke (Robert’s half cousin) & a French lady lifting a hat from the table & as far up the wall as their arms cd reach. Lifting means drawing. I am very glad about Mr Hunter & quite approve of the yielding to the condition in the matter of presbyterianism. Tell me of him—but mind you dont go near the Owens. The infection of that fever clings. God bless you all dearest things. Oh– I long to pour out my heart, Arabel .. it’s full of you. Robert’s love– His play is being played in the provinces now. Write—or I shall take revenge. Is George vexed with me about the spirits? If you have serpents, we have scorpions. Five found in the house this summer.

Your own Ba–

Miss C. said that in America the tables frequently will move to the alphabetical significance. She had seen this done herself. Mr Lytton is here constantly & we like him more & more. Miss Cushman only passed through Florence but gave us half an hour. I am sorry for I liked her. What of Annie Hayes. Best of loves to dearest Trippy. Send this to Chapman & Hall. He is to send you a copy but you will read.