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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Susan (Benjamin) Stackpole, August 19, 1834
Manuscript letter
Newport August 19th 1834. –
Dear Sue – Tho’ your last letter proves you to be a rather dangerous & altogether too critical correspondent for my taste, yet my extreme good-nature compels me to bore you with another epistle. I can no wise stand that fashion you have of taking up folks’ words – indeed I never dare read my letters over again after writing them, consequently know not what stuff I have concocted – therefore pray, for the future, never refer to aught that has been once sealed & sent: tis like forcing upon one an old tattered garment which they were rejoiced to have shuffled off forever. Pardon this little sermonizing. Here we are in this band of fog & windmills undergoing all the horrors of a dry northeaster ie. freezing to death in this dreary carpetless mansion with a canopy of murky clouds overhead eclipsing every hope of a renovating sunbeam. We have been in these regions nearly a fortnight & begin to weary of the stupid dissipation of the place. We are in the centre of gaiety & fashion & yet have little very desirable of either. I must say I was dissapointed [sic] both in the society & accomodations [sic] of Newport. The latter are somewhat forlorn. We have the most ludicrous scrambling at meals to get anything to satisfy the enormous appetite which this bracing air produces – when succeeding, some purloin the provender & retire with it to their apartment, to munch à loisir! [p. 2] The gayest part of our sett here (the Jones’ & Masons of N. York) have just gone on to Boston leaving no one to take their place, in every sense of the word. They are tolerably pleasant people tho’ I cant [sic] say I should have been likely to have fancied them anywhere else. They are very rich & dressed too much for good taste – at least for such a place as this: one of the sisters a gay widow appearing every morning at breakfast with a fresh pair of white kid gloves. Mrs “Fidus Achates” for the time being is a sweet little damsel – Emilie Ogden of N.Y. – extremely pretty & amiable. Then we have Jane Lych dachter of the whiskered vocalist – a very talented, very sarcastic very masculine & very plain dame – She is carrying on a most dafiaate flirtation with a moustachoed Mr Pringle – a disagreeable-looking man. She is to pass some time this Autumn with Mrs Ritchie in B. As to the beaux we are safe enough for the present – no danger of losing one’s heart yet a while. They are well enough too: several very pleasant. The two Middleton’s are about the most efficient. One of them has a great talent for sketching & draws the groups in the drawing room admirably. I have the honor of figuring in one he is now about. There is a Dr Mifflin of Phil: quite agreeable – now torturing my ears with a flutation: by distance made more harsh –
Mrs Pierce Butler is here & her pretty sister in law – Ella Muis [Mims?] that was. She is so engaged in writing her book of travels that she only appears in the evening when she is very gay – waltzing & gallopading most gracefully. Her manners have become much more affable & I must say she is capable of being truly fascinating. I have got very well acquainted with her & feel myself bound by the spell [p. 3] which attratcts every one to her. She has taken a great fancy to Mary & sends for her constantly to come & chat with her. She allowed me to dress her hair [crossed out: for] the other day but was quite distressed because Pierce thought it becomed her. She clubs hers round in such a plain fashion from a principle that the form of the head should not be disfigured. Her flashing glances are still beautiful tho’ she is frightfully coarse to examine By exposure to the sun she is burnt to a bright mahogany colour & yet wears every evening a white muslin with bare neck & gloveless arms! She dresses in schocking taste. The other afternoon I met her walking on the rocks with a muslin dress over yellow silk & a transparent blond hat in a piercing wind that made me wrap up in my blanket shawl & boa! We have got up several pleasant excursions recently. Tehe commonest sort of pic nic is to drive out to a beautiful spot called Kendalls Mills – there walk about & return to a delicious repast at a renowned “Tea House” on the road. A sailing expedition was delightfully: with a brisk breeze a merry party & a nice fête champetre on the grass inside of a picturesque ruined tower. Bathing – the grand occupation here I have only tried once – with the Crowninshields & Caroline White (who has now departed). The ladies generally go about 10 or 11 .M. down to the beach, there clothe themselves in the most grotesque costumes some with gypsy hats & streaming hair looking quite picturesque. In the evening we are very gay – waltzing kept up till midnight when the gentlemen being left make sing gleas (never failing to awaken the whole house) & finale with a supper. Lately we have danced the [p. 4] Virginia reel & such like antique jigs – they make fun & unstiff people well. We also find certain games great promoters of merriment – especially Dumb Giambo which brings out people almost too much sometimes. Do you know the Calendars of N York? – very lively & pleasant demoiselles; the Thorndikes & Amorys ale all here too but we seldom see those out of our town house. We were rather weary of the noisy gaiety of this mansion & vainly sought for private lodgings but we have got on very well considering. We thought of leaving today but shall now defer it till Monday – Father has found it tedious enough. I have enjoyed myself quite well for the air has invigorated me amazingly& I longed for a relief from the monotony of home-existence. Your friend Mrs Child is here but has been very quiet & penseroso as she was prohibited using words of more than 10 syllables! Wm Boott alighted here for a day – Hooper being acquitted, he was eager to enjoy home – said he saw you some time – some where. Mrs Apthorp is at a very pleasant hotel – I have seen her but once – not many months ere we shall greet both Bob & Tom [??] is. – I dread much our return to quiet prosy Boston & the long winter looming up in perspective. Pray come home soon & exchange your divers rural felicities for substantial comforts – remember I deserve great credit for writing this long letter pervaded as I am by the somniferous influence of this atmosphere of Morpheus. Cease rude Baca give us sunshine – heat – anything but this petrifying cold – this leaden heaven. Dont [sic] trust yourself to read this twice mia amica cara. In flame it speedily –
Your true Fanina –
Manuscript: Frances Elizabeth Appleton Longfellow Papers (FEAL-B2-F4-I2) Addressed: Miss S. Benjamin. - / Care of [crossed out: J. Lanman Esq.] / R. I Ingersol Esq. /
[crossed out: Norwich] / New Haven / Connecticut. –
Postmark: PAID / NEWPORT/ AUG 26 / R.I.
Postmark: NORWICH CT / AUG 27
Dear Sue – Tho’ your last letter proves you to be a rather dangerous & altogether too critical correspondent for my taste, yet my extreme good-nature compels me to bore you with another epistle. I can no wise stand that fashion you have of taking up folks’ words – indeed I never dare read my letters over again after writing them, consequently know not what stuff I have concocted – therefore pray, for the future, never refer to aught that has been once sealed & sent: tis like forcing upon one an old tattered garment which they were rejoiced to have shuffled off forever. Pardon this little sermonizing. Here we are in this band of fog & windmills undergoing all the horrors of a dry northeaster ie. freezing to death in this dreary carpetless mansion with a canopy of murky clouds overhead eclipsing every hope of a renovating sunbeam. We have been in these regions nearly a fortnight & begin to weary of the stupid dissipation of the place. We are in the centre of gaiety & fashion & yet have little very desirable of either. I must say I was dissapointed [sic] both in the society & accomodations [sic] of Newport. The latter are somewhat forlorn. We have the most ludicrous scrambling at meals to get anything to satisfy the enormous appetite which this bracing air produces – when succeeding, some purloin the provender & retire with it to their apartment, to munch à loisir! [p. 2] The gayest part of our sett here (the Jones’ & Masons of N. York) have just gone on to Boston leaving no one to take their place, in every sense of the word. They are tolerably pleasant people tho’ I cant [sic] say I should have been likely to have fancied them anywhere else. They are very rich & dressed too much for good taste – at least for such a place as this: one of the sisters a gay widow appearing every morning at breakfast with a fresh pair of white kid gloves. Mrs “Fidus Achates” for the time being is a sweet little damsel – Emilie Ogden of N.Y. – extremely pretty & amiable. Then we have Jane Lych dachter of the whiskered vocalist – a very talented, very sarcastic very masculine & very plain dame – She is carrying on a most dafiaate flirtation with a moustachoed Mr Pringle – a disagreeable-looking man. She is to pass some time this Autumn with Mrs Ritchie in B. As to the beaux we are safe enough for the present – no danger of losing one’s heart yet a while. They are well enough too: several very pleasant. The two Middleton’s are about the most efficient. One of them has a great talent for sketching & draws the groups in the drawing room admirably. I have the honor of figuring in one he is now about. There is a Dr Mifflin of Phil: quite agreeable – now torturing my ears with a flutation: by distance made more harsh –
Mrs Pierce Butler is here & her pretty sister in law – Ella Muis [Mims?] that was. She is so engaged in writing her book of travels that she only appears in the evening when she is very gay – waltzing & gallopading most gracefully. Her manners have become much more affable & I must say she is capable of being truly fascinating. I have got very well acquainted with her & feel myself bound by the spell [p. 3] which attratcts every one to her. She has taken a great fancy to Mary & sends for her constantly to come & chat with her. She allowed me to dress her hair [crossed out: for] the other day but was quite distressed because Pierce thought it becomed her. She clubs hers round in such a plain fashion from a principle that the form of the head should not be disfigured. Her flashing glances are still beautiful tho’ she is frightfully coarse to examine By exposure to the sun she is burnt to a bright mahogany colour & yet wears every evening a white muslin with bare neck & gloveless arms! She dresses in schocking taste. The other afternoon I met her walking on the rocks with a muslin dress over yellow silk & a transparent blond hat in a piercing wind that made me wrap up in my blanket shawl & boa! We have got up several pleasant excursions recently. Tehe commonest sort of pic nic is to drive out to a beautiful spot called Kendalls Mills – there walk about & return to a delicious repast at a renowned “Tea House” on the road. A sailing expedition was delightfully: with a brisk breeze a merry party & a nice fête champetre on the grass inside of a picturesque ruined tower. Bathing – the grand occupation here I have only tried once – with the Crowninshields & Caroline White (who has now departed). The ladies generally go about 10 or 11 .M. down to the beach, there clothe themselves in the most grotesque costumes some with gypsy hats & streaming hair looking quite picturesque. In the evening we are very gay – waltzing kept up till midnight when the gentlemen being left make sing gleas (never failing to awaken the whole house) & finale with a supper. Lately we have danced the [p. 4] Virginia reel & such like antique jigs – they make fun & unstiff people well. We also find certain games great promoters of merriment – especially Dumb Giambo which brings out people almost too much sometimes. Do you know the Calendars of N York? – very lively & pleasant demoiselles; the Thorndikes & Amorys ale all here too but we seldom see those out of our town house. We were rather weary of the noisy gaiety of this mansion & vainly sought for private lodgings but we have got on very well considering. We thought of leaving today but shall now defer it till Monday – Father has found it tedious enough. I have enjoyed myself quite well for the air has invigorated me amazingly& I longed for a relief from the monotony of home-existence. Your friend Mrs Child is here but has been very quiet & penseroso as she was prohibited using words of more than 10 syllables! Wm Boott alighted here for a day – Hooper being acquitted, he was eager to enjoy home – said he saw you some time – some where. Mrs Apthorp is at a very pleasant hotel – I have seen her but once – not many months ere we shall greet both Bob & Tom [??] is. – I dread much our return to quiet prosy Boston & the long winter looming up in perspective. Pray come home soon & exchange your divers rural felicities for substantial comforts – remember I deserve great credit for writing this long letter pervaded as I am by the somniferous influence of this atmosphere of Morpheus. Cease rude Baca give us sunshine – heat – anything but this petrifying cold – this leaden heaven. Dont [sic] trust yourself to read this twice mia amica cara. In flame it speedily –
Your true Fanina –
Manuscript: Frances Elizabeth Appleton Longfellow Papers (FEAL-B2-F4-I2) Addressed: Miss S. Benjamin. - / Care of [crossed out: J. Lanman Esq.] / R. I Ingersol Esq. /
[crossed out: Norwich] / New Haven / Connecticut. –
Postmark: PAID / NEWPORT/ AUG 26 / R.I.
Postmark: NORWICH CT / AUG 27
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-004#002
U. S. National Park Service
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Courtesy of National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site; Archives Number 1011/002.001-004#002
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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1834 (1011/002.001-004), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1834 (1011/002.001-004), (LONG-FileUnitName)
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Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Code: LONG
Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Latitude: 42.3769989013672, Longitude: -71.1264038085938
Latitude: 42.3769989013672, Longitude: -71.1264038085938
NPS Museum Number Catalog : LONG 20257
Title: Finding Aid to the Frances Elizabeth Appleton Longfellow (1817-1861) Papers, 1825-1961 (bulk dated: 1832-1861)
URL: https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/archives.htm#FEAL
URL: https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/archives.htm#FEAL
2016/01/30
08/19/1834
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1834. (1011/002.001-004#002)
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Organization: Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov
Address: 105 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Email: LONG_archives@nps.gov
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