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Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Thomas Gold Appleton, 17 December 1849
Manuscript letter
Cambridge Dec 17th 1849
Dear Tom,
The Webster tragedy still hangs heavily upon our hearts, & will for a long time. The coroner’s jury, after their long & secret sitting, pronounce him guilty, & the circumstantial evidence is certainly as bad as possible, but I cannot believe, knowing his gentle & genial disposition, as we do, that there was wilful murder – manslaughter there may have been, as Dr Parkman’s family have identified his remains beyond question. People’s conjectures vary from day to day, - some things are cleared up, others look worse, so that the horrible excitement cannot easily be allayed. Both parties being so well known & connected, it has caused greater horror & distress than you can well imagine. Dr Webster has been always very reck [p. 2] less about money, so that his family are now really destitute in addition to their mental suffering. Mr Prescott, whose wife is half-sister to Mrs W., has done much for them, & will probably more, but they prefer to face the worst by supporting themselves.
I have just been dining at Lowells with Miss Bremer. She has been there some days & seems greatly to enjoy the quiet & benediction of the place after the Lionizing she underwent in New York. She is a very pleasing person very gentle & caressing in her manner with a soft voice & very small hands. She is quite petite & just upon fifty years of age, not unlike my remembrance of Madame Jany[?]. She seems as sensible as she is good, reads English, even Emerson, with remarkable comprehension & discrimination. She draws profile portraits with great delicacy, & will carry away some American ones in her little book, having already Miss Sedgwick’s Irving’s &c. She is so gentle & quiet I can hardly believe such romance as Brunos [p. 3] & others once stirred under her voluminous cap. Her nose is longish &ed, & I think Petrea’s trouble about her’s was probably drawn from her own experience in her younger days. I hope to take her in with me to Father in Xmas, [crossed out: cig] there is a family gathering in the evening. She wont [sic] promise me a visit, having her time much taken up.
Congress is in a fine chaos at present. A Mr Brown has pledged himself, as expected Speaker, to have two parties & been exhorted most lamentably. The South talk fiercely for Disunion in their united style when their aggressions are arrested. Peace will soon come I trust, & a good Speaker. Winthrop has resigned but may be induced to resume the reins if he can be chosen. Miss Cushman is beginning, at last, to warm Boston into some appreciation of her merits. She was much criticized at first, & most people think she overdoes her parts. I called upon her Miss Hays, and English friend with most striking Norman face – a very clever person says young [p. 4] Carpenter (son of the Unitarian clergyman) who is preaching here to prove an English Unitarian neither a Fox nor a Heathen. Last Saturday we had a pleasant dinner at No. 39, with Jewett & Mr Sam Lawrance[?] to table. Mr Longworth’s sparkling Catabwa wine, a box of which he sent to Jewett for us to taste. he has a foreign artist to perfect it, & it is certainly very good – more like hock than anything else, tho’ Henry thinks no better than Peny[?]. Still as American wine it is interesting, & Mr Sam L (who is coming to live in Boston) suggested a hint to Mr Longworth to send some to the American Minister. I see, by the paper tonight, that poor Perkins of Cincinnati has committed suicide by jumping off a ferry-boat in a state of insanity. How little we know the perils & temptations ever haunting us like evil spirits! Jewett is greatly interested in Le Roy Sunderland’s magnetic wonders, bringing swarms of people up to his lecturing platform from his audience, by his will, & there to do his bidding. I am afraid [p. 5] to go for fear my astonished friends might behold me marching up, to the arch magician. Have you seen any account, in the paper, of mysterious rapping at Rochester – answering of questions by raps &c heard in many houses & under ground, purporting to be perturbed spirits there assembled? I will write to Fanny Danforth about it. I do not know why you abuse “Shirley.” I think it wonderfully good, & agree with all the Examiner says in its praise. A Yorkshire girl the authoress must be. Why is she not known? She must be worth hunting out.
Ticknor’s book (1st Vol) is at last born, & looks learned & readable, with a tremendous falling bib of notes, but as lively an infant as one could expect. Dana & Lowell, as well as Henry, offer new poems for Xmas – the former only a new edition, but he is causing a [furore?] in his old age at Philadelphia by his Shakespeare lectures; crowds go away unable to get in. It must warm his distinguished heart [p. 6] cheerily. Poe died miserably you have doubtless seen & rang his own knell, as it were, in a Bell-poem which should bear the bell for happy invitation of sound. Poor little Read we hear is dying of consumption in the West. We always feared that fate for him, but a very graceful Muse he had. Emerson is among his pines at Concord, with his usual familiars about him, like the grotesque forms on a German illustrated poem. Miss Bremer passed a day with him & seems much interested in him & Alcott. Holmes was lecturing over Dr Webster’s room the very time the murder was committed, if done there. Sumner has been indicating in court the rights of a little black girl against the city of Boston for free admission to the free school – to be able to go like white children to the one nearest her home, & not forced to traverse the town to an African school, with its ban of caste. Bowen has been defending himself against newspaper attacks on his Hungarian lecture. Agassiz is, for the present [p. 7] happier with Miss Cary than an Ondine – perhaps her relationship to Mother Cary’s chickens suggested pleasing associations. Felton & he think of going abroad in the Srping. So much for literary gossip. For social, poor Mr Daniel P. is prostrate with paralysis. I fear the excitement of “the Samuel Appleton” was too much for him. Mr Homer’s house is to be turned into a hotel! Fancy whiffs of cegars floating into Aunt Sam’s windows! Sophia Dwight is engaged to a Mr Willes a rising son of Chicopee, where she will reside with him. He is a fine fellow the family think, & that quiet life will suit her staid disposition. Mary I have seen very little of since her marriage. Admiral Wormley is established at the Tremont, & is well content with his new title. He despaired of out living the three in his way to it. We had, yesterday at dinner, a funny little Swedish Professor, like Uncle Isaac in looks. He has the same singsong pronunciation Miss Bremer has – the [p. 8] Swedish pastime Henry says. They sing instead of speaking. H. has a poem on Tegner’s death wild & mystical like a northern rune, but incomprehensible, probably, to most people. The “burning ship” typifies his madness, & the accursed mistletoe his fatal love of drinking. I let you into the secret in case you should puzzle over it. Sumner has a very long & interesting letter from Gabden[?] highly complimentary. I am glad he has bearded the lion in his den – old Austria. How well Falconbridge’s satire would tell now. We have just heard of Mrs Wm Gold’s death. Poor woman what a life of suffering & trial hers has been, a spirit worthy of better fortune. Mrs Handy died quite lately, & as she had a mortal disease upon her, a cancer, she soon followed. It is very good of you dear Tom, to write us so punctually. We always hope for letters by at least the Boston steamer & most welcome have yours been. I hope you are now happy in Paris, & will have a right merry Xmas. If with Mary the same to her & hers. We are very glad she has such a pleasant house. Mr Twizzleton (remembering you at Mrs Bracebridges) was here [p. 1 cross] the other day I said he was five years with Mac at Winchester. He has a somewhat similar manner & way of speaking – a fresh, healthy agreeable man. Hatty you ask after – she is about the same. Languid & mysteriously ailing, much petted by her girl friends who pour in to the lower room to see her at all hours. I went to see poor Miss Lee the other day who has lost her better half – her sister – a very sad thing for her, good soul! Farewell with Henry’s love every thy true & good
Fanny
[p. 5 cross] Henry has had a charming letter from Miss Costello from the Loire
Dear Tom,
The Webster tragedy still hangs heavily upon our hearts, & will for a long time. The coroner’s jury, after their long & secret sitting, pronounce him guilty, & the circumstantial evidence is certainly as bad as possible, but I cannot believe, knowing his gentle & genial disposition, as we do, that there was wilful murder – manslaughter there may have been, as Dr Parkman’s family have identified his remains beyond question. People’s conjectures vary from day to day, - some things are cleared up, others look worse, so that the horrible excitement cannot easily be allayed. Both parties being so well known & connected, it has caused greater horror & distress than you can well imagine. Dr Webster has been always very reck [p. 2] less about money, so that his family are now really destitute in addition to their mental suffering. Mr Prescott, whose wife is half-sister to Mrs W., has done much for them, & will probably more, but they prefer to face the worst by supporting themselves.
I have just been dining at Lowells with Miss Bremer. She has been there some days & seems greatly to enjoy the quiet & benediction of the place after the Lionizing she underwent in New York. She is a very pleasing person very gentle & caressing in her manner with a soft voice & very small hands. She is quite petite & just upon fifty years of age, not unlike my remembrance of Madame Jany[?]. She seems as sensible as she is good, reads English, even Emerson, with remarkable comprehension & discrimination. She draws profile portraits with great delicacy, & will carry away some American ones in her little book, having already Miss Sedgwick’s Irving’s &c. She is so gentle & quiet I can hardly believe such romance as Brunos [p. 3] & others once stirred under her voluminous cap. Her nose is longish &ed, & I think Petrea’s trouble about her’s was probably drawn from her own experience in her younger days. I hope to take her in with me to Father in Xmas, [crossed out: cig] there is a family gathering in the evening. She wont [sic] promise me a visit, having her time much taken up.
Congress is in a fine chaos at present. A Mr Brown has pledged himself, as expected Speaker, to have two parties & been exhorted most lamentably. The South talk fiercely for Disunion in their united style when their aggressions are arrested. Peace will soon come I trust, & a good Speaker. Winthrop has resigned but may be induced to resume the reins if he can be chosen. Miss Cushman is beginning, at last, to warm Boston into some appreciation of her merits. She was much criticized at first, & most people think she overdoes her parts. I called upon her Miss Hays, and English friend with most striking Norman face – a very clever person says young [p. 4] Carpenter (son of the Unitarian clergyman) who is preaching here to prove an English Unitarian neither a Fox nor a Heathen. Last Saturday we had a pleasant dinner at No. 39, with Jewett & Mr Sam Lawrance[?] to table. Mr Longworth’s sparkling Catabwa wine, a box of which he sent to Jewett for us to taste. he has a foreign artist to perfect it, & it is certainly very good – more like hock than anything else, tho’ Henry thinks no better than Peny[?]. Still as American wine it is interesting, & Mr Sam L (who is coming to live in Boston) suggested a hint to Mr Longworth to send some to the American Minister. I see, by the paper tonight, that poor Perkins of Cincinnati has committed suicide by jumping off a ferry-boat in a state of insanity. How little we know the perils & temptations ever haunting us like evil spirits! Jewett is greatly interested in Le Roy Sunderland’s magnetic wonders, bringing swarms of people up to his lecturing platform from his audience, by his will, & there to do his bidding. I am afraid [p. 5] to go for fear my astonished friends might behold me marching up, to the arch magician. Have you seen any account, in the paper, of mysterious rapping at Rochester – answering of questions by raps &c heard in many houses & under ground, purporting to be perturbed spirits there assembled? I will write to Fanny Danforth about it. I do not know why you abuse “Shirley.” I think it wonderfully good, & agree with all the Examiner says in its praise. A Yorkshire girl the authoress must be. Why is she not known? She must be worth hunting out.
Ticknor’s book (1st Vol) is at last born, & looks learned & readable, with a tremendous falling bib of notes, but as lively an infant as one could expect. Dana & Lowell, as well as Henry, offer new poems for Xmas – the former only a new edition, but he is causing a [furore?] in his old age at Philadelphia by his Shakespeare lectures; crowds go away unable to get in. It must warm his distinguished heart [p. 6] cheerily. Poe died miserably you have doubtless seen & rang his own knell, as it were, in a Bell-poem which should bear the bell for happy invitation of sound. Poor little Read we hear is dying of consumption in the West. We always feared that fate for him, but a very graceful Muse he had. Emerson is among his pines at Concord, with his usual familiars about him, like the grotesque forms on a German illustrated poem. Miss Bremer passed a day with him & seems much interested in him & Alcott. Holmes was lecturing over Dr Webster’s room the very time the murder was committed, if done there. Sumner has been indicating in court the rights of a little black girl against the city of Boston for free admission to the free school – to be able to go like white children to the one nearest her home, & not forced to traverse the town to an African school, with its ban of caste. Bowen has been defending himself against newspaper attacks on his Hungarian lecture. Agassiz is, for the present [p. 7] happier with Miss Cary than an Ondine – perhaps her relationship to Mother Cary’s chickens suggested pleasing associations. Felton & he think of going abroad in the Srping. So much for literary gossip. For social, poor Mr Daniel P. is prostrate with paralysis. I fear the excitement of “the Samuel Appleton” was too much for him. Mr Homer’s house is to be turned into a hotel! Fancy whiffs of cegars floating into Aunt Sam’s windows! Sophia Dwight is engaged to a Mr Willes a rising son of Chicopee, where she will reside with him. He is a fine fellow the family think, & that quiet life will suit her staid disposition. Mary I have seen very little of since her marriage. Admiral Wormley is established at the Tremont, & is well content with his new title. He despaired of out living the three in his way to it. We had, yesterday at dinner, a funny little Swedish Professor, like Uncle Isaac in looks. He has the same singsong pronunciation Miss Bremer has – the [p. 8] Swedish pastime Henry says. They sing instead of speaking. H. has a poem on Tegner’s death wild & mystical like a northern rune, but incomprehensible, probably, to most people. The “burning ship” typifies his madness, & the accursed mistletoe his fatal love of drinking. I let you into the secret in case you should puzzle over it. Sumner has a very long & interesting letter from Gabden[?] highly complimentary. I am glad he has bearded the lion in his den – old Austria. How well Falconbridge’s satire would tell now. We have just heard of Mrs Wm Gold’s death. Poor woman what a life of suffering & trial hers has been, a spirit worthy of better fortune. Mrs Handy died quite lately, & as she had a mortal disease upon her, a cancer, she soon followed. It is very good of you dear Tom, to write us so punctually. We always hope for letters by at least the Boston steamer & most welcome have yours been. I hope you are now happy in Paris, & will have a right merry Xmas. If with Mary the same to her & hers. We are very glad she has such a pleasant house. Mr Twizzleton (remembering you at Mrs Bracebridges) was here [p. 1 cross] the other day I said he was five years with Mac at Winchester. He has a somewhat similar manner & way of speaking – a fresh, healthy agreeable man. Hatty you ask after – she is about the same. Languid & mysteriously ailing, much petted by her girl friends who pour in to the lower room to see her at all hours. I went to see poor Miss Lee the other day who has lost her better half – her sister – a very sad thing for her, good soul! Farewell with Henry’s love every thy true & good
Fanny
[p. 5 cross] Henry has had a charming letter from Miss Costello from the Loire
Archives Number: 1011/002.001-019#031
U. S. National Park Service
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Correspondence (1011/002), (LONG-SeriesName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1849 (1011/002.001-019), (LONG-FileUnitName)
, Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001), (LONG-SubseriesName)
, 1849 (1011/002.001-019), (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
12/17/1849
Manuscript letter in Frances Appleton Longfellow Papers, Series II. Correspondence, A. Outgoing, 1849. (1011/002.001-019#031)
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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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