The letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to her sister Arabella

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning

to Her Sister Arabella

Edited with Introduction and N otes

by

S

c o t t

L

e w is

In Two Volumes

Volume I

Submitted for the degree o f Doctor o f Philosophy

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

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This thesis is an edition o f 167 o f the 239 extant letters addressed to Arabella Barrett by her sister

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and by Robert Browning during the years o f their marriage.

An introduction provides an analysis o f the 167 letters: the first is dated Paris, 26 September

1846, fourteen days after the Brownings’ marriage; the last was posted in Florence on 18 D ecem 

ber 1856, follow ing the release o f her major work, A urora Leigh, the previous month. This study

places the letters in the context o f Elizabeth Barrett B row ning’s life and works and exam ines the

relationship between the content and style o f the poet’s epistolary writing and her major poetical

works during this period. It also traces the major them es that emerge from the letters: her reac

tions to theological ideas (Swedenborgianism, spiritualism, and Christianity); her response to

social and political issues (the Risorgimento, Napoleon I ll’s policies, and English politics); and

her reflections on marriage and fam ily life (Browning, Pen, and her extended fam ily). The intro

duction concludes with a brief examination o f the relationship o f Browning and Pen with Arabella

after their return to London in 1861 until Arabella’s death in 1868.

The text o f the letters follow s with explanatory annotations at the end o f each letter. The

notes identify and amplify significant persons, places and events, artistic works, as w ell as liter

ary, historical, and philosophical allusions. These notes include cross references, and provide an

overview o f patterns o f thought, and offer links between important thematic developments.

The thesis concludes with an appendix listing the remaining 72 letters written before E B B ’s

death in 1861, follow ed by another appendix outlining the key historical and political events for

this period. A bibliography is follow ed by a com prehensive index, affording the reader ready

access to specific as w ell as conceptual topics in both the introduction and the text o f the letters.

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Preface

Editorial Principles and Procedures

Short-Titles, Abbreviations, and Sym bols

Introduction

Chronology

8

11

14

17

58

The Letters

N um ber D ate M anuscript Location P a g e

1 [26 September 1846] Berg Collection 66

2 2 October 1846 Missing 71

3 [16-19 October 1846] Berg Collection 76

4 [21-] 24 November [ 1846] Missing 83

5 24 November 1846 Missing 90

6 14 December [1846] Berg Collection 92

7 [24-25] December [1846] Berg Collection 95

8 8 February [1847] Berg Collection 100

9 24 February 1847 Berg Collection 107

10 [?5-] 9 March [1847] Berg Collection 113

11 [26 March 1847] Missing 121

12 12 April [1847] Berg Collection 123

13 6 May [1847] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 129

14 6 May 1847 Missing 137

15 29 -3 0 May [1847] Berg Collection 138

16 22-25 June [1847] Berg Collection 147

17 26 July [1847] Berg Collection 158

18 2 August 1847 Armstrong Browning Library 167

19 29-31 August [1847] Berg Collection 167

20 [13 September 1847] Missing 174

21 4 October 1847 Missing 181

22 25 November [1847] Missing 183

23 22-23 December [1847] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 184

24 [ca. 10 February 1848] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 189

25 14-15 March [1848] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 195

26 2 April [1848] Missing 202

27 15-19 April [1848] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 203

28 10-11 May [1848] Berg Collection 211

29 4 July [1848] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 219

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30 7-11 October [1848] Berg Collection 227

31 20 November 1848 Missing 236

33 19-22 January [1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 248

34 22 January 1849 G.E. Moulton-Barrett 256

35 3 [-77] March [1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 257

36 [9 March 1849] Missing 262

37 13 March [1849] G. E. Moulton-Barrett 264

38 18 March [1849] Missing 264

39 8 -1 6 April [1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 266

40 6 -7 June [1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 274

41 [23 June 1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 278

42 4 July [1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 286

43 17 August [1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 289

44 31 August [1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 296

45 [8 October 1849] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 299

46 19 October [1849] Missing 302

47 23 January [1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 307

48 12 [March 1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 315

49 [15-16 April 1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 325

50 [75] [May 1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 328

51 [14-] 16 June [1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 334

52 24 June [1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 341

53 30-31 July 1850 G.E. Moulton-Barrett 345

54 4 [-5] August 1850 G.E. Moulton-Barrett 346

55 [13-15 August 1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 348

56 29 Sept-4 Oct [1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 350

57 21 Oct-1 N ov [1850] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 356

59 12 January [1851] Berg Collection 374

60 1 [-2] May [1851] Berg Collection 379

61 16 May [1851] Berg Collection 381

62 5 [-6] June [1851] Berg Collection 384

63 12 [June 1851] Berg Collection 391

64 26 June [1851] Berg Collection 392

65 2 ^ [July 1851] Berg Collection 395

66 [10 July 1851] Berg Collection 400

67 [21 July 1851] Berg Collection 404

68 [26 September 1851] Berg Collection 406

69 [28-29 September 1851] Berg Collection 408

70 5 October [1851] Berg Collection 411

71 [12-14 October 1851] Berg Collection 414

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73 18 November [1851] Berg Collection 424

74 [11-14 December 1851] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 429

75 2 5 -2 6 December [1851] Berg Collection 437

76 [25 December 1851] Berg Collection 443

77 13 January [1852] Berg Collection 443

78 11-12 February [1852] Berg Collection 448

79 [18 February 1852] Berg Collection 455

80 [24 February 1852] Berg Collection 459

81 [5 March 1852] Berg Collection 464

82 23 March [1852] Berg Collection 467

83 28 April [1852] Berg Collection 472

84 25 May [1852] Berg Collection 479

85 2 9-3 0 May [1852] Berg Collection 483

86 [30 June 1852] Berg Collection 486

87 [13 October 1852] Berg Collection 488

91 5 November [1852] Berg Collection 498

92 [13-15 November 1852] Berg Collection 501

93 21 December 1852 Berg Collection 506

94 [15-17 January 1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 512

95 [2 March 1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 523

96 1 [-2] April [1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 528

97 4 April [1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 534

98 12 April [1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 538

99 30 April [-1 May 1853] Berg Collection 547

100 11 June [1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 556

101 [ca. 28 June 1853] Berg Collection 564

102 15 August [1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 574

103 11-12 September [1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 585

104 [12-14] November [1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 591

105 [28-29 November 1853] Berg & Moulton-Barrett 599

106 [16-] 19 December [1853] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 604

107 1-2 February [1854] Berg Collection 613

108 28 February [1854] Berg Collection 619

109 3 April [1854] Berg Collection 621

110 24 May [1854] Berg Collection 629

111 17 [-20] June [1854] Berg Collection 633

112 22 August [1854] Berg Collection 636

113 [12-] 13 September [1854] Berg Collection 643

114 21 October [1854] Berg Collection 647

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116 20 December [1854] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 657

117 10 January [1855] Berg Collection 664

118 [ca. 26 February 1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 670

119 [11-18 March 1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 674

120 [late March 1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 679

121 15 May [1855] Berg Collection 683

122 11-12 June [1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 688

123 [14 June 1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 692

124 25 June [1855] Berg Collection 693

125 [27 June 1855] Berg Collection 697

126 30 June [-1 July 1855] Berg Collection 698

127 [8 July 1855] Berg Collection 700

128 [10 July 1855] Berg Collection 701

129 [3 September 1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 702

132 [10 September 1855] Berg Collection 706

133 [17 September 1855] Berg Collection 707

136 [1 October 1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 710

137 [2 October 1855] Berg Collection 712

139 [23 October 1855] Berg Collection 715

140 31 October [1855] Berg Collection 718

141 22 November [1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 722

142 16-17 December [1855] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 726

143 31 December [1855] Berg & Moulton-Barrett 730

144 [29-30 January 1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 735

145 [?10] [February 1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 739

146 [27 February 1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 742

147 13 March [1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 745

148 1 [-2] April [1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 749

149 22 April [1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 753

150 1 May [1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 757

151 [26-27 May 1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 760

153 [24 June 1856] Missing 765

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159 [16-17 September 1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 775

165 [2 November 1856] G.E; Moulton-Barrett 786

166 23 November [1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 789

167 10-18 December [1856] G.E. Moulton-Barrett 793

Appendix I: Checklist o f Letters from EBB to Arabella;

January 1857-June 1861

Appendix II: Chronology o f Political and Social History:

September 1846-Decem ber 1856

Bibliography

Index

799

801

803

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p. 75, n. 3, line 2: “E BB asked to decide” should read “EBB asked RB to decide”,

p. 79, 6 lines from bottom: “nothilng” should read “nothing”.

p. 89, n. 8, line 5: “(under the rack-w!heel)” should read “(under the rack-wheel)”.

p. 94: ^''Publication: BC, 14, 7 0 -7 9 ” should read '‘Publication: BC, 14, 7 0 -7 3 ”.

p. 107, n. 30, line 1: “Cathohc devotion” should read “Roman Catholic devotion”.

p. 107, n. 30, line 2: “before 1224” should read “before the year 1224”.

p. 146, n. 17, line 5: “admission is 3 pauls” should read “admission to a single service is 3 pauls”.

p. 149, line 23: “Mrs. Freeman” should read “Mr. Freeman”.

p. 156, line 6 “Publication: None traced.” should read “‘Publication: BC, 14, 2 2 3 -2 3 5 .

p. 156, line 7: “M anuscript: BC, 14, 2 2 3 -2 3 5 .” should read “M anuscript: Berg Collection.”

p. 156, n. 9, line 4: “imitations o f Roman cars” should read “imitations o f the Roman cars”.

p. 158, n. 26, line 3: “flat as pancakes” should read “flat as pancakes,”.

p. 165, line 6: delete call-out 20 after Monro

p. 166, n. 10, line 3: “are preferable” should read “are far preferable”.

p. 166, n. 23, line 2: “in 1554” should read “in 1564”.

p. 173, n. 12: publication date “ 1843” should read “ 1850”.

p. 181, n. 20, line 2: “independent Monarchs” should read “independent M ONARCH”.

p. 181, n. 20, line 4: “Italians to organize them selves” should read “Italians to organize or arm them selves”.

p. 181, n. 20, line 5: “kingdom o f Italy.’” should read “kingdom o f Italy’ (p. 4 ).”

p. 181, n. 20, line 6: “tranquil,’ meaning that” shoud read “tranquil,’ meaning, w e suppose, that”.

p. 181, n. 20, line 8: “each.” ’ should read “each, no doubt can be entertained’ (p. 4).”

p. 189, n. 10, line 7: “met the preceding summer in Rom e” should read “met in Rom e” .

p. 194, n. 15: H and-Book f o r Travellers to Northern Italy should read H and-B ook f o r

Travellers in Northern Italy.

p. 209, n. 9: H and-Book f o r Travellers to Northern Ita ly should read H and-B ook f o r

Travellers in Northern Italy.

p. 301, n.4, line 24: “justice which as natives” should read “justice which, as natives”

p. 324, n. 25, line 7: “secret and confidential letter” should read “secret and confidential circular”.

p. 324, n. 25, line 9: “anarchical government” should read “anarchical Government”,

p. 324, n. 25, line 12: “government officers” should read “public officers”,

p. 324, n. 25, line 16: “to publish the order” should read “to publish the severe order”,

p. 324, n. 25, line 17: “and beard ‘those horrid” should read “and beard,‘those horrid”,

p. 324, n. 25, line 18: “To-day has thought” should read “To-day he has thought”

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Writing to her brother George in July 1841, Elizabeth Barrett described Samuel Laman Blanchard’s

life o f Letitia Landon as a “dreary melancholy book ... And then the biographer is parsimonious

o f her letters,— which always tell a story o f life better, than the best abstract o f it, elaborated by

the cold hands o f another” {BC, 5, 93). Considering the perennial interest in the life and work o f

Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but especially with the em ergence during the past quar

ter century o f Elizabeth Barrett Browning as one o f the pre-eminent wom en writers o f the 19th

century, and the recovery o f A urora Leigh as “the heroine text” o f fem inist literary studies dur

ing the past several decades,' it seem s appropriate that the longest and most intimate series o f

letters written by the poets during the years o f their marriage should be made available to schol

ars.

The length o f the 239 letters Elizabeth Barrett B row ning wrote to her sister Arabella

(amounting to over 530,000 words), coupled with the issue o f literary copyright and location o f

the originals has resulted in them rem aining m ostly unpublished. M ore recently, anyone

contemplating the task o f editing them might have avoided it on the basis that the letters will

eventually take their place in the collected edition o f The B rownings ’ C orrespondence. Indeed,

the first 23 letters have already appeared there. However, there is a strong case to be made for

isolating these letters outside the larger context o f the collected correspondence.

Over the years, E B B ’s letters to specific correspondents have appeared, such as her

Greek-scholar-friend, Hugh Stuart Boyd, the artist Benjamin Robert Hay don, the novelist Mary Russell

Mitford, and her Scottish friend Eliza Ogilvy.^ However, the letters to Arabella are invaluable for

the insight they offer on the Brownings’ poetic achievements during this period— when Elizabeth

Barrett Browning wrote C asa G uidi W indows and A u ro ra Leigh, am ong other works— and

Browning wrote C hristm as-Eve an d E aster-D ay and M en a n d Women. A s a sequel to the p oets’

1. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Aurora Leigh, ed. Margaret Reynolds, N ew York: W.W. Norton & Com

pany, 1996, p. ix. Reynolds further records that “in the 1980s and \9 9 0 s Aurora Leigh has become the central

text o f nineteenth-century women’s writing in academic circles; it competes with Christina Rossetti’s

ever-popular Goblin M arket for first place as the most written-on text o f Victorian wom en’s poetry” (p. x).

2. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Letters to Mrs. D avid Ogilvy, ed. Peter N. Heydon and Philip Kelley (New

York; Quadrangle and The Browning Institute, 1973); Elizabeth Barrett to Mr. Boyd: Unpublished Letters o f

Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Hugh Stuart Boyd, ed. Barbara P. McCarthy (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale

University Press, 1955); Invisible Friends: The Correspondence o f Elizabeth B arrett B arrett an d Benjamin

Robert Haydon, 1842-1845, ed. Willard Bissell Pope, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,

1972; and The Letters o f Elizabeth Barrett Browning to M ary Russell Mitford: 1836-1854, ed. Meredith B.

Raymond and Mary Rose Sullivan (3 vols., Waco, Texas: Armstrong Browning Library o f Baylor University;

New York: The Browning Institute; Winfield, Kansas: W edgestone Press; and W ellesley, Massachusetts:

Wellesley College, 1983). Each o f these various editions provides a unique and interesting perspective on differ

ent periods in E B B ’s life, but none o f them offers the detailed account o f her married life provided in the letters

from EBB to Arabella.

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courtship correspondence; these letters provide a jo u r n a l intime o f the B row nings’ marriage;

they trace the development o f the poetical careers o f both poets— the acceleration o f Browning’s

and the apogee o f Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s— during these years. Moreover, by providing a

chronicle o f their life in Italy, these letters link the two poets to the wider cultural milieu in

which they moved, showing the effects they had on fellow authors, artists, philosophers, and

politicians, as w ell as the influence those individuals had on the Brownings. The range o f topics

is vast— from literature, art and m usic to history, th eology and p olitics— offering a unique

p ersp ective for students o f m any different d iscip lin es. A d d ition ally, th ese letters offer a

commentary on sisterhood in the mid-nineteenth century by providing at least one side o f the

relationship between Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her sister.

The principal aim o f this thesis is to present accurate and complete transcriptions o f the letters

o f Elizabeth Barrett Browning (as w ell as those from Robert Browning) to her sister Arabella

Barrett from September 1846 through Decem ber 1856, and to com plem ent them through the

application o f a consistent editorial standard and substantial annotation. The Introduction places

the letters in context by providing a brief background, and exam ines a number o f their major

them es, particularly in relation to the poems Elizabeth Barrett Browning com posed during this

period. 1 believe that an examination o f these letters w ill provide new insights into the events and

experiences that informed and influenced Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry, as w ell as Robert

B rowning’s, during these years.

A total o f 239 letters for the series is based upon a tabulation where a single letter number is

assigned to letters written contiguously by both poets on the same sheet o f stationery. Two numbers

are assigned if both poets wrote under the same cover but on separate stationery. Due to the

length o f these letters (letter 16 exceeds 7,000 words) and the unusual number o f words required

to annotate and introduce them, only the first 167 letters are presented in this thesis. They consist

o f those written by Elizabeth to Arabella (146); Elizabeth to Arabella and Henrietta (4); Browning

to Arabella (3); Browning to Arabella and Henrietta (10); Elizabeth and Browning to Arabella

(1); and Elizabeth and Browning to Arabella and Henrietta (3). B y including the few letters not

written solely by Elizabeth to Arabella, this series then comprises all the known letters from the

Brownings to Arabella from the time o f the Brow nings’ marriage until just after the release o f

A urora Leigh.

For access to the original manuscripts and permission to edit these letters, 1 am grateful to the

owners: The Armstrong Browning Library o f Baylor University; the Henry W. and Albert A.

Berg Collection o f English and American Literature, The N ew York Public Library, Astor, Lenox,

and Tilden Foundations; The C ollege Library, Eton College; and. Captain Gordon E.

Moulton-Barrett.

I must also thank the other libraries and institutions which allowed me to exam ine original

materials in the course o f my research: the Bodleian Library; the British Library; University

C ollege London, Special Collections; the Guildhall Library; the Fam ily Record Centre; the Li

brary o f Congress; the Institute o f Historical Research, University o f London; and Dr. W illiam s’s

Library. Particular thanks to the staff o f the British Library for their many courtesies, especially

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I am grateful to members o f the Barrett, Moulton-Barrett, and Browning fam ilies for their

support and encouragement, especially. M iss Mary V . Altham; R .A J . Altham; R.A. Barrett;

Anthony Barrett; the late Edward R. Barrett; Captain Gordon E.

Moulton-Barrett; Elaine Vivienne Browning Baly; Norman Collings; and, Anthony E. Vicars-M iles. I would

also like to express my thanks to members o f the Browning Society, w h ose response to a presen

tation o f part o f this material provided numerous insights.

Thanks are due to the Revd. Dr. Perry Butler, Priest-in-Charge, St. G eorge’s, Bloomsbury,

for directing me to the records o f the Inter-Continental Church Archives. Philip Errington, Michelle

Lovric, and Diana Procter have made contributions to my work for which I am grateful.

I am indebted to Philip K elley for his suggestion to undertake this project in the first place.

Without the benefit o f his knowledge and assistance, the task would alm ost surely have been

im possible and not nearly as pleasant.

A special debt o f gratitude is due to Professor Daniel Karlin, w hose supervision o f this thesis

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In general the follow ing editorial principles and procedures are based upon those outlined in an

article by Philip K elley and Ronald Hudson: “Editing the Brownings’ Correspondence: An Edi

torial Manual” in Browning Institute Studies, 9 (1981), 141-160. Some m odifications have been

made to accommodate this selection o f letters.

1. The letters are arranged in chronological order. Each letter is assigned a sequential number,

which is used for cross references.

2. The letter is presented as it was intended by the writer to be read; any text that has been

altered or cancelled by the writer is not restored. Where the writer has made changes or deletions

o f critical interest, explanation is provided in the notes.

3. Text that has been altered or cancelled by a second hand is restored when possible. Where

it is not possible to reconstruct the passage, the extent o f the alteration or cancellation is explained

in a note, as w ell as who made it. Based upon numerous exam ples, it has been possible to

distinguish cancellations made by EBB from those made by Arabella. Since Arabella generally

shared E B B ’s letters with her siblings, she occasionally cancelled passages she considered too

private for other fam ily members to read.

4. The author’s unique stylistic characteristics are reproduced as far as possible within

typographical boundaries. The text is transcribed exactly, and only those lapses and errors which

are most likely to be interpreted as misprints are indicated by the conventional [sic]. Spellings

that are not offered as variants in the O xford English D iction ary (2nd ed., Oxford, 1984) are also

indicated by [jzc]. However, som e variant spellings allowed by the OED that could easily be

mistaken for typographical errors (e.g., sieze and m edecine) are also indicated by [jzc] to prevent

any potential misreading. E asily understood irregularities, such as a word or name spelled

differently in the same letter, is left as written by the author, unless the specific context requires

explanation. M isspelled names are corrected in the identifying annotation. Foreign words and

accents are reproduced faithfully; incorrect or m issing accents are indicated by [5/c].

5. Words that are unintentionally duplicated are omitted without comment.

6. Interpolations are included in the text without comment unless they are o f critical interest.

7. Words or phrases that are underlined once are indicated by italics; double underlining is

indicated by small capital letters. More than double underlining is indicated by small capital

letters with a note.

8. Underscorings in addresses, dates, and signatures are not reproduced or noted, as they

are flourishes, or written to assist in direction and not used for emphasis.

9. Words m issing due to physical damage to the manuscript, e.g., holes, seal tears, or

deterioration are treated as follows: i f part o f a word remains and suggests the entire word, the

balance is supplied in angle brackets. Completely conjectural words are given in angle brackets,

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and are preceded by a question mark if the reading is uncertain. Where there is no sound basis for

conjecture, m issing words or phrases are represented by ellipses within angle brackets.

10. The writer’s punctuation is follow ed as faithfully as perm issible within typographical

boundaries. D ouble and single quotation marks are retained as given by the writer, and the use o f

two periods instead o f the more conventional dash has also been preserved. Paragraph divisions

have been added in a few cases to prevent unclear run-ons, and these are not noted. A lso, the

writer’s variable-length dashes have been standardized.

11. Superior letters and numbers have been retained, as w ell as the period below; however,

dashes used with superior letters and numbers have been converted to periods.

12. Ampersands, abbreviations and contractions have been retained, including EB B ’s habitual

placing o f the apostrophe between two parts o f a word rather than over the omitted letter(s).

E B B ’s habitual spelling o f “cant,” “wont,” and “dont” has been retained without being noted.

13. The place from where the letter is addressed is normally placed by the writer at the top

right o f the first page. This information has been transferred to this position if it appears elsewhere.

If the writer does not give the place where the letter w as written, the place is supplied in square

brackets at the top right o f the first page.

14. The date the letter is written is m ostly placed by the writer at the top right o f the first

page. This information has been transferred to this position if it appears elsewhere. I f the dating

o f a letter is based on the postmark, it is given in square brackets preceded by the word Postm ark.

If any component o f the date is not provided by the writer, the information is conjectured and

placed within square brackets and a note explains the basis o f the conjecture. Any elem ent o f

doubt is indicated by a question mark within the square brackets, the doubt extending from the

question mark to the follow ing closing square bracket. Thus, [?5-] 9 March [1847] indicates that

the beginning date o f the letter is questionable; the year is provided from the postmark. When it

is not possible to provide exact dating, letters are placed at the earliest possible date.

15. The complimentary close is separated from the letter unless it is so informal as to be

considered part o f the text.

16. The text o f the letters is presented in sequence without com ment on any unconventional

placement, such as conclusions appearing on an envelope, or writing in the margins, unless the

meaning or context would be unclear without explanation.

17. At the end o f each letter the follow ing information appears:

a. Address o f recipient if given by the writer;

b. Docket or endorsement added by the addressee or a contemporary;

c. Previous published text;

d. Location o f manuscript or derivation o f text.

18. A ll foreign words or phrases are translated, except those that are found in The Shorter

O xford English D ictio n ary (3rd ed., Oxford, 1984). When a foreign word or phrase is used more

than one time in the same letter, such as “balia,” it w ill be translated only at the first occurrence

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19. Annotations are numbered sequentially for each letter. N otes are provided to identify

persons and to amplify or clarify events, quotations, allusions, textual irregularities and statements

that seem to need elucidation, specifically as follows:

a. To identify every person mentioned on their first appearance only, unless a subsequent

mention requires clarification. Every effort has been made to provide full names and

dates o f births, deaths, and marriages, where relevant and available. The index

indicates the principal identifying note(s) for persons and places mentioned frequently;

b. To identify every reference to literary or other artistic works, providing full titles,

and date and place o f publication based upon first editions. Titles o f literary works

referred to in annotations include the date and place o f publication as well;

c. To provide identification o f embedded quotations or allusions. Generally, this has

been done only when there is emphasis to show that the writer meant to call attention

to the reference. In all cases, where an unsuccessful attempt has been made to provide

an annotation, this has been indicated in the notes;

d. An attempt has been made to locate all personal objects, such as jewelry, photographs,

paintings, pictures, household items, and other items referred to in the letters. Due to

the nature o f these letters, and the numerous references to such items, where it has

not been possible to identify these things, no com ment is made; and

e. In cases where EBB refers to her correspondence, when a letter is extant, the published

source is given, or if it is unpublished, the manuscript location is given. N o comment

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ABL Armstrong Browning Library, Baylor University, W aco, Texas

Altham Mary V. Altham, Babbacombe, England

Altham, R.J.L. R.J.L. Altham, Preston, England

BAF Browning to H is Am erican F riends, ed. Gertrude R eese Hudson (London:

B ow es and B ow es, 1965)

BBIS-10 “Letters from Owen Meredith (Robert, First Earl o f Lytton) to Robert and

Elizabeth Barrett Browning,” ed. Aurelia Brooks Harlan and J. Lee Harlan,

Jr., B aylor Browning Interest Series Ten (W aco, Texas, 1936)

B C The Brownings ' C orrespondence, ed. Philip K elley, Ronald Hudson, and

Scott Lewis (W infield, Kansas: W edgestone Press, 1 9 8 4 - )

Berg The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection o f English and American

Literature, The N e w York Public Library, Astor, L en ox and Tilden

Foundations

B-GB L etters o f the B rownings to G eorge B arrett, ed. Paul Landis (Urbana,

Illinois: University o f Illinois Press, 1958)

BL British Library, London

B osco “The Brownings and Mrs. Kinney: A Record o f Their Friendship,” by

Ronald A. Bosco, Browning Institute Studies, 4 (N ew York: The Browning

Institute, 1976)

Brown Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island

Browning The Browning Collections. C atalogue o f O il Painting, D raw ings & Prints;

C ollections Autograph Letters an d M anuscripts, B o o k s... the P ro p erty ofR . W. B arrett

Browning, Esq. (London: Sotheby’s, 1913) Reprinted in Munby, Sale

C atalogues, VI (London: M ansell, 1972), 1 -1 92

BSN (London: The Browning Society, 1 9 7 0 - )

Columbia Columbia University, N ew York

Cook The Works o f John Ruskin, ed. E.T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn,

vol. 36 (London: George Allen, 1909)

DAB D iction ary o f A m erican B iography

D eV ane William C. De Vane, A Browning Handbook, 2nd ed. (N ew York:

Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1955)

D I D earest Isa: R obert B row n in g’s L etters to Isa bella B lagden, ed. Edward

C. M cAleer (Austin, Texas: University o f Texas Press, 1951)

D iary D iary by E.B.B. : The U npublished D ia ry o f E lizabeth B arrett Barrett,

1 8 31 -1 83 2, ed. Philip K elley and Ronald Hudson (Athens, Ohio: Ohio

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Dickens DNB EB EBB EBB-EAHO EBB-M RM Eton Fitzwilliam Harvard Hawthorne Huxley

Last Words

LEBB Lilly LRB Maynard Meredith NL OED PMLA Princeton RB

RB, Sr.

The L etters o f C harles Dickens, ed. M. H ouse, G. Storey, et. al. (Oxford:

The Clarendon Press, 19 6 5 - )

D iction ary o f N ational B iography

E ncyclopœ dia Britannica ( 1 1th éd., London, 1910)

Elizabeth Barrett Barrett / Elizabeth Barrett Bro^vning

E lizabeth B arrett B ro w n in g ’s L etters to M rs. D a v id O gilvy, ed. Peter N.

Heydon and Philip K elley (N ew York: Quadrangle and The Browning

Institute, 1973)

The Letters o f Elizabeth B arrett Browning to M ary R ussell M itford, 1 8 3 6

-1854, ed. Meredith B. Raymond and Mary R ose Sullivan, 3 vols. (W aco,

Texas: Armstrong Browning Library o f Baylor University; N ew York: The

Browning Institute; Winfield, Kansas: W edgestone Press; and W ellesley,

Massachusetts: W ellesley C ollege, 1983)

Eton C ollege Library, Eton C ollege, Windsor, England

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England

Harvard University, Cambridge, M assachusetts

The C entenary Edition o f the Works o f N athaniel H aw thorne, ed. William

Charvat, Roy Harvey Pearce, Claude M. Sim pson, and Thomas W oodson,

(Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1 9 6 2 - )

Elizabeth B arrett Browning: Letters to Her Sister, 1846 -1 85 9, ed. Leonard

Huxley (London: John Murray, 1929)

Thomas Carlyle, The Last Words o f Thomas C arlyle (London: Longmans,

Green, and Co., 1892)

The Letters o f Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ed. Frederic G. Kenyon, 2 vols.

(London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1897)

The Lilly Library, Bloomington, Indiana

Letters o f R obert Browning C o llected by Thomas J. Wise, ed. Thurman L.

Hood (N ew Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1933)

John Maynard, B ro w n in g ’s Youth (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard

University Press, 1977)

M ichael Meredith, Eton, England

New Letters o f R obert Browning, ed. W.C. D e Vane and K.L. Knickerbocker

(N ew Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1950)

O xford English D iction ary (2nd. ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984)

Publications o f the M odern Language A ssociation

Princeton University, Princeton, N ew Jersey

Robert Browning

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Reconstruction

Scripps

Smithsonian

Surtees

Texas

TTUL

W ellesley

Yale

[

]

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( . . . )

<*★*>

The B row ning C ollections: A R econstruction, com ps. Philip K elley and

Betty A. C oley (W aco, Texas: Armstrong Browning Library o f Baylor

U n iv ersity ; N e w York: The B row n in g Institute; L ondon: M an sell

Publishing Limited; and W infield, Kansas: W edgestone Press, 1984)

The Browning C ollection, The E lla Strong D enison Library, Scripps

C ollege, Claremont, California

Archives o f American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D C.

Journal o f W illiam Surtees C ook (afterw ard s A lth a m ), 1 8 4 4 -8 7 .

Manuscript with Mary V. Altham

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University o f Texas at Austin

Twenty-two Unpublished Letters o f Elizabeth B arrett Browning and Robert

B row ning A d d ressed to H enrietta a n d A ra b ella M oulton-B arrett, N ew

York: The United Feature Syndicate, 1935

W ellesley C ollege Library, The English Poetry C ollection, W ellesley,

Massachusetts

Yale University, The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, N ew

Haven, Connecticut

Square brackets indicate material inserted by editor

Angle brackets denote som e irregularity in the manuscript. The absence

o f a note indicates that the information within the brackets is a conjec

tural reconstruction caused by seal tear, holes or physical deterioration o f

the manuscript

Angle brackets enclosing ellipsis show an actual om ission caused by a

defect o f physical irregularity in the manuscript. Except in the case o f text

lost through seal tears, holes, etc. the nature o f the irregularity in indi

cated by a note. This symbol appeals on a line by itself if lost text exceeds

h alf a line

Angle brackets enclosing triple stars indicate the lack o f a beginning or

end o f a letter

Ellipses indicate om issions from quoted material in notes, but in the ac

tual texts o f the B rownings’ letters they m erely reproduce the authors’

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In January 1846, Elizabeth Barrett told Robert Browning that her sisters knew about their en

gagement:

I will take courage to tell you that my s is t e r sk n o w— . Arabel is in most o f my confidences, & being often in the room with me, taxed me with the truth long ago— she saw that I was

affected from some cause— & I told her. We are as safe with both o f them as possible (5C,

11,322).

Browning responded:

And am 1 not grateful to your Sisters— entirely grateful for that crowning comfort,— it is

“miraculous”, too, if you please— for you shall know me by finger-tip intelligence or any art

magic o f old or new times . . but they do not see me, know me— and must moreover be

jealous o f you, chary o f you, as the daughters o f Hesperus, o f wonderers and wistful lookers

up at the gold apple— yet instead o f “rapidly levelling eager eyes”— they are indulgent? Then

. . shall 1 wish capriciously they were not your sisters, not so near you, that there might be a

kind o f grace in loving them for it? but what grace can there be when . . yes, 1 will tell you —

no, 1 will not— it is foolish— and it is not foolish in me to love the table and chairs and vases

in your room {BC, 11, 324).

Nine months later, on 12 September 1846, the poets met at mid-morning in St. Marylebone Church

and were married, and a w eek later they left England en route to Italy. “There w as no elopement

in the case, but sim ply a private marriage” (letter 2), as EBB em phatically explained to her sis

ters three weeks later.' The celebrated courtship had given w ay to the now-acclaim ed marriage.

If that courtship has, as Daniel Karlin points out, inevitably “taken on the form o f a heroic

myth o f rescue and regeneration,”^ then one might ask if the marriage w as as heroically mythical

as the courtship had been. At this distance o f time w e cannot know whether the Brow nings’

marriage was the “unqualified success” Dorothy Mermin has called it.^ There have been various

reports— from tabloid-style gossip to respectable and dependable m emoirs to almost fictionalized

accounts— depicting the Brownings as a married couple.'* The earliest known record is by George

Stillman Hillard, an American visitor to Florence, who met the Brownings in late 1847.^ Although

1. According to a contemporary guide for etiquette and manners, in a situation where the parents or guard

ians refuse permission to marry, and “the opposition is implacable, the lady and gentleman being arrived at legal

age, they may be Justified in respectfully and openly declaring their intentions to celebrate their marriage”

{Etiquette o f Courtship and M arriage, London: David Bogue, 1844, pp. 15-16). From this it is apparent that the

only impropriety the poets committed was in not declaring their intention.

2. Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett: The Courtship Correspondence, 1845-1846, ed. Daniel Karlin

(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), p. x.

3. Dorothy Mermin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning: The Origins o f a New P oetry (Chicago: University o f

Chicago Press, 1989), p. 147.

4. The most recent is D ared and Done (London: Bloomsbury, 1995), by the novelist, Julia Markus.

5. For the text o f Hillard’s account, see BC, 14, 408-409.

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he was the first, Hillard w as certainly not the last to announce that the poets had achieved a

“perfect union.” Since Robert Browning wrote to no one as frequently or in such detail as his

w ife did to her sisters (or if he did those letters have not survived), then it is in E B B ’s letters to

her sisters that the most com plete account o f the poets’ marriage is likely to be found, particularly

in the letters to Arabella. In a review o f Leonard H uxley’s edition o f E B B ’s letters to her sister

Henrietta, W illiam Lyon Phelps claimed that those letters show “how am azingly happy she was;

and they prove that w hile Browning was a great poet, he w as the greatest husband in the history

o f mankind.”® Phelps suggested that “those w ho believe that married life is an art form worth

cultivating might learn something from Browning.”

Arabella Barrett Before 1846

When the poets met at St. Marylebone Church to be married. Browning w as accompanied by his

co u sin , Jam es Silverth orn e, and E BB by her m aid, E lizab eth W ilso n . U nder d ifferen t

circumstances, it is likely that EBB would have been joined by one o f her sisters, probably Arabella.

Browning had met Arabella, as w ell as Henrietta, early on in the poets’ courtship, but in September

1845, nine months after their correspondence began and four months since their own first meeting,

EBB decided that he should know them better:

And then I take it into my head as you do not distinguish my sisters, you say, one from the

other, to send you my own account o f them in these enclosed ‘sonnets’ which were written a

few weeks ago; & though only pretending to be ‘sketches,’ pretend to be like, as far as they

go, & are like, my brothers thought, when I ‘showed them against’ a profile drawn in pencil

by Alfred, on the same subjects {BC, 11, 6 6 -6 7 ).’

She went on to explain:

Henrietta is the elder, & the one who brought you into this room first— & Arabel who means

to go with me to Pisa, has been the most with me through my illness & is the least wanted in

the house h ere,. . & perhaps . . perhaps— is my favorite— though my heart smites me while I

write that unlawful word. They are both affectionate & kind to me in all things, & good &

loveable in their own beings— very unlike, for the rest,— one, most caring for the P olk a,. . &

the other for the sermon preached at Paddington chapel, . . that is Arabel— so if ever you

happen to know her you must try not to say before her how ‘much you hate’ &c. {EC, 11,67).

E B B ’s description o f Henrietta and Arabella says as much about her fam ily in general as it does

about her two sisters. As individuals each had her or his own particular interests and personalities,

and as a group they formed a close-knit and interdependent unit— basically a happy and supportive

fam ily. At the head o f this circle was their widower father, who controlled his fam ily with an

unusual if not extraordinary firmness. But however severe and threatening his idiosyncratic

behavior might have been, there is nothing to indicate that any o f them ever questioned his right

6. William Lyon Phelps, “As I Like It,” S cribn er’s Magazine, Ixxxvii (March 1930), 341.

7. The sonnets are entitled “two Sketches, No. 1 and N o. 11.” The second one was published in The Chris

tian M oth er’s Magazine (October 1845, 635). They were published together in B lackw ood’s Edinburgh M aga

zine (June 1847), and were later collected in Poems (1850) as “Two Sketches. 1 and 11.” See Reconstruction,

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to exercise his paternal authority, nor did any o f them ever abjure their love and affection for

him. And even though he favoured his eldest daughter, in som e ways it w as Arabella who shared

more o f his serious and solemn nature.

When this series o f letters began, EBB was 40 years old, and her sister Arabella w as 33.

B om on 4 July 1813 at Hope End, Ledbury, Herefordshire, Arabella w as the youngest o f four

daughters (one o f whom died as a young child) and the sixth o f tw elve children o f Edward Barrett

Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham-Clarke. Nam ed for her maternal grandmother, Arabella

Graham-Clarke, daughter o f Roger Altham o f Latton, Essex, Arabella had several close relations

who bore the same Christian name: an aunt, Arabella Graham-Clarke (1 7 8 5 -1 8 6 9 ), called

“Bum my” or “Bum,” as w ell as two first cousins, Arabella Hedley (1 828 7-7 0), daughter o f Robert

Hedley, and Arabella Butler, daughter o f Sir Thomas Butler, 8th Baronet. E B B ’s sister was often

described by her mother as pretty and lively, but some teething problems as a small child developed

into more serious com plications, as EBB recalled in a letter to Sarianna Browning in 1853:

When Arabel was a child, through the accident o f overbleeding when she was a baby &

cutting her teeth . . (a leech got upon an artery) her system became enfeebled & she was

subject to swellings on the glands. It is a complaint from which our family, on all sides o f it,

has been uniformly free, but, there is a beginning to these things o f course. When she grew

up the tendency appeared to have ceased; but two years ago there was a return . . and now

again this spring. Cold winds & weather are necessarily injurious, & the exceptional season

everybody complains o f has re-acted on her. She has suffered acute pain . . which is now

past, she says, but the swelling continues . . on the back o f the neck, this time. Poor darling.

That sort o f affliction is vexatious & disagreeable on other accounts than for the actual

suffering.*

As a result o f this childhood illness, Arabella was sent away to recuperate, and in the summer o f

1817, a nurse/companion was engaged for her— Mary Robinson, always referred to as Minny—

and together they were sent to Ramsgate, and then to Worthing in Sussex, where it was hoped

that the sea air would bring about a faster recuperation.’ A report that M inny Robinson gave in a

letter to EBB in Novem ber 1817 told o f some sign o f improvement {BC, 1, 46), but this illness

and separation had lasting effects. Her personality and habits were evidently affected by being

isolated with only adults for company and reading as her main activity. In January 1818 Arabella

was with her grandmother, Elizabeth Moulton, who wrote to EBB that “dearest Babes is quite

w ell, & in fin e spirits, indeed my B eloved Ba, she promises to be very clever, no present seems

so w elcom e to her as a Book, two hours every M om g. she is closeted with M inny at her lessons—

she send[s] her very best love to all” {EC, 1, 53).'°

8. EBB to Sarianna Browning, [ca. 10 August 1853], m sat Lilly.

9. According to the unpublished “Recollections o f Mary Altham, May 1936”, “a story was told o f Minnie

that once when Arabel, her charge, was terribly ill, indeed doctors had gone downstairs assuming her to be

dead, Minnie sat by,— fancied she detected light breathing,— recalled the doctors— she was right" (m s with

Altham).

10. A letter from Arabella to EBB, written in August 1819, indicates that Arabella had been reading The

Parent's Assistant (1800) by Maria Edgeworth, as well as Whim an d Contradiction: A Tale, anonymously pub

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Except for som e brief letters and the traditional birthday greetings that she and her siblings

shared throughout their youth, not much is known about Arabella’s teenage years. She is generally

portrayed as quieter and more serious in nature than her sisters, and she observed the Hope End

custom o f corresponding with her fam ily on a fairly regular basis. In March 1825, her brother

Edward asked EBB to “tell Arabel how much obliged I was for her m ost edifying, entertaining,

and w itty letter, tell her I acknowledge the justice o f her complaint in not thanking her for the

former one” {BC, 1, 218). However, in March 1827, by the time she w as alm ost fifteen, she

stopped sending birthday odes, and even complained about being “again called to the employment

o f writing another birthday letter which you know I inwardly detest.”" In M ay o f that same year

she wrote to her mother: “I shall not attempt to describe m y feelings on such an occasion as I

know it is totally im possible and as I am conscious o f my inability o f [5/c] a letter writer so I

shall include them all in three words, ‘I love y ou .’” '^ And a few w eeks later, on her father’s

birthday, she told him that her pen was “not skilful enough to say all that my heart could on this

happy occasion.”" A s w ell as illustrating Arabella’s genuine and straightforward disposition, her

reluctance to write odes and letters suggests that she was perhaps conscious o f her sister’s literary

achievem ents, and did not want to com pete.

Her sincere and direct nature is further exem plified by her response to E B B ’s An E ssay on

M ind a n d Other Poem s. According to Mary Moulton-Barrett, when an advance copy o f the work

arrived at Hope End in February 1826, Arabella “who had read the fugitive peices [5/c] & some

o f the Essay to the listening circle, told me she thought the former beautiful, but that she did not

understand a word o f the former [sic, for latter]; which is more honesty than all its readers will

observe” {BC, 1 ,2 3 5 -2 3 6 ). On 4 July 1831, EBB noted in her diary that it was “Dearest Arabel’s

birthday. She is 18; and an interesting intelligent amiable feeling girl. I should love her even if

she were not my sister; & even if she did not love m e” {D iary, p. 42).

Am ong the frequent references to Arabella in E B B ’s letters o f the 1830’s is a report to Julia

Martin that Arabella had “made a good deal o f progress in her drawing, lately” {BC, 3, 206), and

soon thereafter she took up oil painting. In describing her sisters to M iss Mitford, EBB noted that

“Henrietta’s predominant fondness is for music, & Arabel’s for drawing” {BC, 4, 75). In 1841

M iss Mitford provided introductions for Arabella to go to several artists’ studios, including

Benjamin Robert Haydon’s, where Arabella went specifically to see the fresco o f Uriel that Haydon

was working on, and EBB reports that she came away “utterly disappointed” {BC, 5, 145).

N evertheless, Haydon visited 50 W im pole Street “to encourage & counsel Arabel upon her

painting” {BC, 5, 174).

Apparently there was a playful side to Arabella’s personality. In a letter to her brother George in

June 1840, EBB describes an incident involving “Arabel’s and Brozie’s separate romances,” and

although the details are sketchy, the account proves that Arabella would occasionally have fun:

As to Arabel, w as’nt it an adventure. Poor dearest Bella! With the scolding after the perils!—

& after that ideal drowning & assassination, the real thorough fatigue o f half running nearly

1 1 . 4 March 1827, m swith Gordon E. Moulton-Barrett.

12. [1 May 1827], m sat W ellesley.

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eight miles! But two days stiffness was all the harm done— & she & the Mackintoshes continue

great friends, & 1 encourage her being with them as much as possible because their happy

spirits & love o f fresh air & country excursions are both exhilarating & advantageous to

her— forming breaks upon the monotony & gloom which her kindness to me necessarily

produces- She was so kind when 1 was ill- It was all Dr. Scully c^ do to keep her from sitting

up night after night— which w^ never have done {BC, 4, 287).

Even though w e are left with no clues to the specific nature o f this incident, E B B ’s letter reveals

that Arabella was an energetic and lively young woman.

When EBB went to Torquay in 1840 to recuperate from a major illness, several o f her brothers

and sisters stayed with her at various times, but it was Arabella who slept on a sofa in her sister’s

room, a habit she continued later in W impole Street. W hile they were in Torquay their brother

Edward (“Bro”) drowned in a boating accident. EBB suffered an em otional breakdown, which is

w idely recorded and which was largely the result o f the guilt she felt for her own part in this

tragic accident. As she explained to Browning in August 1845, her father “never reproached me

as he might have done & as my own soul has not spared” {BC, 11, 43). It was more than a year

before she was sufficiently recovered and could return to London, but the “selfreproach,” as she

later described it to Browning {EC, 12, 22) had left its em otional scar.'" Arabella’s grief at her

brother’s death, though not recorded, was presumably great, but it lacked the elem ent o f self

blame that afflicted her sister, and did not affect her health; indeed, the sea air agreed with her,

and her physical health was drastically improved. EBB told George that it had been years since

she had “seen Arabel so excursive & capable o f exercise” {EC, 5, 22). Arabella seem ed to think

nothing o f an eight-mile walk, unlike her brothers and sisters, and o f taking such walks every day.

As E B B ’s companion, Arabella shared her sister’s friends, among whom w as Hugh Stuart

Boyd. Arabella frequently called on him, and in almost all E BB ’s letters to Boyd there is a reference

to Arabella, if only to “send her love.” In one o f the few surviving letters from Boyd to EBB

written in February 1843, Boyd calls Arabella “that other Child o f Virtue, and Sweetness, and

Kindness” {EC, 6 ,3 1 8 ). EBB relied on Arabella’s rapport with Boyd as a means o f communicating

with him, writing often to Boyd that “Arabel should have told you,” or “Arabel forgot to tell

you,” or “did Arabel tell you,” which indicates that at least one aspect o f her personal visits to

Boyd was to convey m essages from EBB. Arabella would continue this role with Boyd, as w ell

as with others, especially their brothers, after EBB left England.

Another friendship in common between the two sisters was that o f the Rev. James Stratten

and his w ife Rebekah.'^ Stratten was the pastor o f Paddington Chapel, a thriving non-conformist

chapel in Marylebone. The earliest references to the Strattens appear in 1836, and by the time

EBB and Browning were married ten years later, Arabella was teaching a Bible class at the chapel.

14. It seems worth speculating that EBB perhaps transferred some o f her lost love and affection for Bro to

Arabella— they were together through the ordeal; they were already deeply attached; and they were strongly

sympathetic in their natures and interests. The bonding they experienced as a result o f this tragedy might add to

an explanation for their intense devotion to each other.

15. James Remington Stratten (1795-1872) and Rebekah {née Wilson, 17927-1870). For a biographical sketch

o f Stratten and his family, and their relationship with the Moulton-Barretts, see Scott Lewis, “The Reverend