File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Mary (Appleton) Mackintosh, 15 November 1858 (26d8bf05-3228-49c5-81c5-1305b170b88c).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-028#011

Cambridge Nov 15th / 58
Dear Mary,
It was quite a feat for you to make out the journey from Edinburgh to London alone, & I am rejoiced you have so much energy left uninjured by your long & wearisome illness. I doubt if I should have [crossed out: had] pluck enough for that now, tho’ once I might have done it, but I think as one gets older one grows more timorous & alarmed at slight exertions. It will be something pleasant & interesting for you to remember for a long time, your scotch journey, & I am very thankful you have got well thro’ it, without too much fatigue. I cannot fancy Ronny [p. 2] undertaking solemn Scotch lectures. It seems to make a man of him at once.
Winter has come upon us with a spring, after the most golden October, & my fingers are actually so cold I can hardly write. I have, at last, conquered my long Influenza, & begin to feel like a decent human creature. I got to Chapel yesterday, for the first time since its dedication, & was nearly blown away in the wintry blast. Today I am going to welcome back the Nortons, who will pass this winter here instead of at Newport, tho’ I fear Charley will suffer for the change of climate; & to call on the bride, Mrs Charles Eliot, (who was Miss Peabody, daughter of the Revd) She is living here (her husband is Tutor) in a double house, the other half of which Mr Sam Eliot, his [p. 3] partner, occupies. It was built by the son, whose money is their only support. But friends have brought in for them many of their pictures &c so that I believe they look very comfortable. Harriet brought the Stewart Newton (Don Quixote) & gave it to Charles, which was a very valuable gift.
Mrs Kemble & Sally are in town & they kindly came out to see me as I could not go in to them. Tom is often there, & they are invited about by old friends & seem to be enjoying themselves. Mrs K. goes to Philadelphia to read, (a bold measure) & as she said to Henry – “Think of meeting in the street the man who was once everything to you & is now nothing” –
Aunt Dorothy left Tom’s the very day he returned, but, as she intends to go to N. Orleans for the winter, she would not linger. Mary Greenleaf has also [p. 4] gone. Sam & Alex both made us a little visit lately. Em has returned, but I have not seen her.
We have been reading Carlyle’s Frederick which is amusing, but so chaotic a style becomes rather wearisome. I thought there was a very good critique on him in the Times. Punch, I see, gives Henry a slap. I hope his next long poem will be in a more popular measure, tho’ this sells immensely. As we got in debt, inevitably, last year from the evil times, a little money just now is very welcome, for our household expenses seem to absorb ever thing, tho’ we live simply enough, & never indulge in parties. I have given up my seamstress this winter, as Alice can now do so much for herself, & yet the four servants are a great expense. Julia Sumner (Mrs Hastings) was here the other day with her little girl. She came all the way from California alone to see her mother. Her husband’s profession (physician) kept him there. She thinks the climate there delicious but there are too many bar room southern [p. 1 cross]ers & westerners to make it pleasant. Henry has a very nice note from Lady Napier thanking him for his book. Papa is very lively & well just now I think. Copley Greene is married again & settled in Newton as a clergyman. What an entire new life! Mrs Charles Amory has returned. Young Holland made the Nortons quite a visit. We have the wedding card of Gladstone. I suppose it is the one that was here. The three little girls are dancing round me & all send love. The boys also. With the same to you all Yr aff Fanny.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; subject; family life; social life; henry wadsworth longfellow; health and illness; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1858 (1011/002.001-028); (LONG-FileUnitName)