The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1 [1 ed.] 9780803288270, 9780803285477
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Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Praise for earlier volumes in The Complete Letters of Henry James series “This edition is not just notable for its astonishing ambition, however; even at this early stage, it must also be reckoned a signal achievement. By every measure, the volumes we have so far are simply outstanding in every major respect. The books are physically beautiful inside and out; Walker and Zacharias have edited the letters to within an inch of their lives. . . . The result is an embarrassment of critical and biographical riches.”—B RUC E B AW E R, New Criterion “Rippling through these letters are the first imaginative stirrings of one of the greatest fiction and travel writers in the language. [James] was also one of the most entertaining—and prolific—correspondents. . . . These are richly enthralling letters.”—PE T E R K E MP, Sunday Times (London) “[An] extraordinary job of editing. . . . Both the footnotes and the biographical register at the back of each volume are at once succinct and full. They allow any reader to place and know the people in this busy social world.”—M IC H AEL G OR R A , Times Literary Supplement “The textual editing of the letters is fantastically thorough, every blot, deletion, insertion, and misspelling being lucidly presented in the text itself and further described in endnotes to each letter; for the reader this evokes the dash and spontaneity of James’s pen, and for the scholar it clarifies every possible ambiguity caused by that dash. . . . The letters themselves are so vivid, funny, and revealing that [the edition] is already indispensable.”—A L A N H O L L I NG H U RS T , Guardian
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“The general public has been deprived of James’s full epistolary record until now. . . . All the more reason to celebrate the present volumes, handsomely produced and extensively and intelligently annotated.”—PET ER B RO O K S, Bookforum “For a snapshot of nineteenth-century Europe—and a sampling of a great novelist’s young mind—there is perhaps nothing better than the latest, meticulously edited volume of The Complete Letters of Henry James [series].”—A LEX AN DER T H EROU X , Wall Street Journal
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
“These extraordinary, profoundly welcome volumes are the first fruits of an epic undertaking by two heroic American scholars, Pierre Walker and Greg Zacharias. . . . These early volumes give a wonderfully pleasurable picture of a writer at the beginning of his journey, enduring setbacks and barren spells, but already showing the impressive resilience, wisdom, and wit that were the foundations of his astonishing career.”—PH I LI P HORN E , Daily Telegraph “Like earlier releases in the ambitious Complete Letters of Henry James series, this richly rewarding compilation is well annotated and scrupulously edited.”—J . J . BENA RDE T E , Choice
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“The volumes are beautiful, solidly put together, with big type, wide margins, and copious annotations.”—E D M U N D V. W H IT E , New York Review of Books
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
The Complete Letters of Henry James
1880–1883 VOLUME 1
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
HJ
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
The Complete Letters of Henry James GENERAL EDITORS Michael Anesko, The Pennsylvania State University; Greg W. Zacharias, Creighton University (Project Director) GENERAL EDITOR EMERITUS Pierre A. Walker, Salem State University ASSOCIATE EDITOR Katie Sommer EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Andrea Antidormi, Michael Bick, Jennifer Eimers, Caitlyn Ewers, Josi Freire, Sandy Buntemeyer Fyfe, Natalie Gorup, Elizabeth Hopwood, Jamie Jamieson, Michelle McGauvran, Roz Parr, Jonathan Plumb, Kylie Regan, Elizabeth Rice, Natalie Roxburgh, Jay Spina, Nathaniel Windon EDITORIAL BOARD Millicent Bell, Boston University; Susan Gunter, Westminster College (Salt Lake City); Steven Jobe, Hanover College (Indiana); George Monteiro, Brown University; Rosella Mamoli Zorzi, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia ADVISORY GROUP Daniel Mark Fogel, University of Vermont; Robert Gale, University of Pittsburgh; Richard Hocks, University of Missouri–Columbia; Philip Horne, University College London; Bay James, Newbury, Massachusetts; Henry James, Dublin, New Hampshire; Fred Kaplan, City University of New York; David McWhirter, Texas A&M University; Lyall H. Powers, University of Michigan; Roberta A. Sheehan, Quincy, Massachusetts; Cheryl Torsney, University of Texas at El Paso; Ruth Bernard
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Yeazell, Yale University
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 VOLUME 1
Henry James Edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W. Zacharias Associate Editor, Katie Sommer
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
With an introduction by Susan M. Griffin
University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln and London
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
© 2016 by the University of Nebraska Press All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Set in Janson Text by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Book designer R. Eckersley. ♾
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: James, Henry, 1843–1916, author. | Anesko, Michael, editor. | Zacharias, Greg W., 1958– editor. Title: The complete letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 / Henry James; edited by Michael Anesko and Greg W. Zacharias; associate editor Katie Sommer; with an introduction by Susan M. Griffin. Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. | Series: Complete letters of Henry James | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015042483 | ISBN 9780803285477 (cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780803288270 (pdf ) Subjects: LCSH: James, Henry, 1843–1916— Correspondence. | Authors, American—
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19th century—Correspondence. | Authors, American—20th century—Correspondence. Classification: LCC PS2123 .A4 2016 | DDC 813/.4—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042483
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
In Memory of Millicent Bell, a fine lady and a meticulous scholar
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Contents
The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883, volume 1, contains 122 letters, of which 67 are published for the first time. Each letter is followed by previous publication information or a note that there is no previous publication.
List of Illustrations
xiii
Acknowledgments
xv
Introduction: A Finer Art, by Susan M. Griffin
xix
Symbols and Abbreviations Chronology
xxxv xxxvii
Errata
xliii
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1880 June 6
To William Dean Howells
3
June 6
To Mary Walsh James
4
June 6
To Louise Chandler Moulton
6
June 20
To Henry James Sr.
7
July 3
To Henrietta Heathorn Huxley
10
July 4
To Mary Walsh James
10
July 10
To Maria Theresa Villiers Earle
15
July 20
To William Dean Howells
16
July 20
To Mary Walsh James
19
July 26
To Grace Norton
26
July 26
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
30
July 30
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
32
August 8
To Alice James
33
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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August 8
To Francis Parkman
37
August 18
To William Dean Howells
38
August 19
To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James
40
August 19
To Grace Norton
43
August 31
To William James
47
August 31
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
48
September 9
To Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams
51
September 11
To William Dean Howells
52
September 11
To Mary Walsh James
54
September 20
To William Dean Howells
56
September 20
To Frederick Macmillan
58
September 20
To Grace Norton
59
September 25
To Elizabeth Boott
62
October 6
To Eliza Lynn Linton
65
October 8
To Frederick Macmillan
67
October 9
To Alice James
69
October 11
To William Jones Hoppin
75
October 13
To Alice James
76
October 31
To Mary Walsh James
78
November 7
To Grace Norton
84
November 11
To William Dean Howells
87
November 13
To William James
89
November 13
To Charles Eliot Norton
92
November 14
To Sarah Butler Wister
96
November 18
To Henry James Sr.
102
November 27
To William James
104
November 28
To Mary Walsh James
107
December 5
To William Dean Howells
112
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
December 7
To Alice James
[December 13–18]
To Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery
December 15
115 119
To Blanche Althea Elizabeth Holt Cookson
120
December 16
To Walter Herries Pollock
122
December 16
To Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley
123
December 18
To Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley
124
December 21
To Robert Thomson
126
December 27
To Henry James Sr.
127
December 28
To Frederick Macmillan
132
December 28
To Grace Norton
134
January 4
To James Russell Lowell
141
January 6
To Eveleen Tennant Myers
142
1881
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January [9], 11 [misdated] 10 To Mary Walsh James
143
January 12
To John Walter Cross
149
January 24
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
150
January 30
To Alice James
153
January 30
To Henry James Sr.
158
February 7
To Mary Walsh James
160
February 7
To Francis Turner Palgrave
165
February 9
To William Jones Hoppin
166
February 9
To Henrietta Reubell
168
February 12
To Mary Smith Mundella
170
[February 12 or 19]
To Theodore E. Child
171
February 16
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
172
February 24
To Henry James Sr.
175
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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February 24
To Frances “Fanny” Anne Kemble
179
February 27
To Frederick Macmillan
181
March 8
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
183
March 9
To Thomas Sergeant Perry
185
March 16
To Sir John Forbes Clark
187
March 16
To Mary Walsh James
189
March 21
To William James
194
March 22
To William James and Alice Howe Gibbens James
198
March 24
To Frances “Fanny” Anne Kemble
201
April 15
To James Ripley Osgood
206
April 25
To Daniel Sargent Curtis
208
April 27
To Katherine Louisa Cullen Boughton
209
[May or June]
To Katharine de Kay Bronson
210
[May or June]
To Katharine de Kay Bronson
211
[May or June]
To Katharine de Kay Bronson
211
[May or June]
To Phoebe Garnaut Smalley
212
May 9
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
215
May 11
To Henry James Sr.
216
May 31
To Henry Burr Barnes
220
June 5
To Henry James Sr.
221
June 6
To Henry James Sr.
224
June 12
To Grace Norton
224
June 24
To Katharine de Kay Bronson
228
July 13
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
228
July 14
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
230
July 18
To Mary Walsh James
232
July 18
To Francis Parkman
235
July 19
To Katharine de Kay Bronson
236
July 20
To Grace Norton
238
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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July 31
To Henry James Sr.
239
August 3
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
243
August 6
To Alice Howe Gibbens James
244
August 8
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
246
August 8
To James Bryce
247
August 9
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
249
August 16
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
250
August 18
To Grace Norton
251
August 18
To Henrietta Reubell
252
August 25
To Mary Walsh James
253
August 28
To Frances Power Cobbe
256
August 31
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
257
August 31
To Frederick Macmillan
259
September 9
To Henry James Sr. and Mary Walsh James
260
September 10
To Helen Leah Reed
262
September 16
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
264
September 17
To Katharine Peabody Loring
264
September 26
To James Russell Lowell
267
September 28
To Alice James
268
September 28
To Henrietta Reubell
272
October 1
To Alice James
274
October 4
To Katharine de Kay Bronson
275
October 4
To William Dean Howells
276
October 9
To Thomas Bailey Aldrich
277
October 14
To Frederick Macmillan
278
October 18
To Houghton, Mifflin and Company
279
October 20
To Frederick Macmillan
280
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Biographical Register
283
General Editors’ Note
297 311
Index
321
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Works Cited
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Illustrations
Following page 138 1. William James, 1880 2. Henry James Sr. and grandson, Henry, c. 1879–80 3. Alice Howe Gibbens James and her son, Henry, c. 1881 4. Francis Boott, c. 1880 5. Elizabeth Boott, c. 1880 6. Mentmore, c. 1878–90 7. Garnet Joseph Wolseley, c. 1880 8. Louisa Wolseley, 1882
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9. Riva Schiavoni, Venice, c. 1889
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
Acknowledgments
The Center for Henry James Studies at Creighton University, grants from the Gilbert C. Swanson Foundation, Inc., the College of the Liberal Arts and Department of English, The Pennsylvania State University, a Fellowship for College Teachers and Independent Scholars from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a Sabbatical Fellowship from the American Philosophical Society, Mellon Fellowships to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, a fellowship from the Bibliographical Society of America, and a Lester J. Cappon Fellowship in Documentary Editing to the Newberry Library in Chicago contributed to this volume. Particular recognition must go to Pierre A. Walker, who, following the previous volume, stepped away from the edition. Pierre Walker’s work in one way or another will appear in most of the volumes in this edition, including this one. Many other individual contributions of time and money have contributed to making this volume possible. In addition to the general editors, associate editor, editorial assistants, editorial board, and advisory group of The Complete Letters of Henry James, many individuals have contributed to this volume and to this edition. David McWhirter conducted the volume’s review for the MLA’s Committee on Scholarly Editions. For all this we are most grateful. Joseph Biancalana continues his very generous support of the edition. We are most grateful to him. Nathaniel Windon, at The Pennsylvania State University, was instrumental in establishing the letter texts. Very special thanks to Susan Halpert, Emily Walhout, Rachel Howarth, Joseph Zajac, Mary Haegert, Peter Accardo, James Capobianco, Emilie Hardman, and Micah Hoggatt of the Houghton Library, Harvard University, for their continued help and encouragement. We are grateful for the special assistance of Patricia Burdick, Maggie Libby, and Erin Rhodes, Special Collections, Colby xv
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
Acknowledgments
College, Waterville, Maine. Thanks are in order as well to Richard Virr, acting head and curator of manuscripts, McGill University Library. Sabrina Beauchard of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Sara A. Borden of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania helped with timely assistance. Cherry Dunham Williams helped us to understand the contents of the Gilder manuscript collection, Lilly Library, Indiana University. We are always grateful to Steven H. Jobe and Susan E. Gunter for their Calendar of the Letters of Henry James and a Biographical Register of Henry James’s Correspondents (http:// jamescalendar.unl.edu), which helps us and so many others interested in James’s letters. Natasha Vicente da Silveira Costa contributed research time and expertise to this volume during her visit to the Center for Henry James Studies from September to December 2015. Creighton University has been generous in its support of the letters project and the Center for Henry James Studies. Special thanks go to Rev. Timothy R. Lannon, SJ, former president, and to Edward O’Connor, provost, Dawn Wilson of the provost’s office, Tina Jones of the Creighton business office, and Bridget Keegan, dean of the Arts College. In addition, Gail Jensen, dean of the Graduate School, and colleagues Gregory S. Bucher, Christina Clark, Thomas F. Coffey, Robert Dornsife, Jeff Hause, Brooke Kowalke, Brent Spencer, Bob Whipple, and Jackie Masker, each in his or her own way, have been generous in support of The Complete Letters of Henry James. Tara Knapp, Susanne Stahl, Patrick Phillips, Julie Kraft, Michelle McGauvran, Natalie Gorup, Kylie Regan, Caitlyn Ewers, and Roz Parr provided important support for the project in the Center for Henry James Studies. The University of Nebraska Press continues an unprecedented commitment to The Complete Letters of Henry James. Our thanks go to those at the press with whom we have worked and continue to work. Richard Eckersley, who designed the pages for this edition and whose career as a book designer was long and remarkable, passed away just before the publication of volume 1 of The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1855–1872. We are privileged to have been able to work with a person of such skill, thoughtfulness, knowledge, experience, and kindness. We remember him through the beauty and elegance of this edition’s design. xvi
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Acknowledgments
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Our deepest thanks go to Bay James, on behalf of the James family, and to Leslie A. Morris, curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts, and to William Stoneman, Florence Fearrington Librarian, in the Harvard College Library, on behalf of the president and fellows of Harvard College, for permission to publish those letters still under copyright.
xvii
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Introduction: A Finer Art
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SUSAN M. GRIFFIN On 6 June 1880 Henry James wrote several letters: one, accepting Louise Chandler Moulton’s invitation to visit; a second, telling his mother that he had returned to London from Italy and was anticipating his brother William’s arrival in London; and a third, sending the opening pages of The Portrait of a Lady to William Dean Howells for publication in the Atlantic Monthly. James’s epistolary efforts that day speak variously of his life at the time: his social life; his deep, though ambivalent, ties to family; and his professional negotiations.1 By 1880 Henry James had decided that Europe was to be his home. He was a popular guest at the London townhouses and country homes of the British, visiting, for example, the John Clarks at Falmouth in England and Tillypronie in Scotland. He formed what Alan G. James describes as “durable friendships” with Lord and Lady Wolseley (xi). He visited Lord and Lady Rosebery (the latter a Rothschild) at Mentmore and Epsom and in London. And he was now a member of a London men’s club. But James remained an American, and as such, he visited and was visited by his compatriots in these years, for example, Louise Moulton, the Boston literary correspondent for the New York Times, who, like many Americans of her class and education, was a regular traveler to Europe, staying for months at a time. In London, Paris, Rome, and Venice, James maintained friendships with Clover and Henry Adams, Francis and Lizzie Boott, Katharine de Kay Bronson, Isabella Stewart Gardner, James Russell Lowell, and Constance Fenimore Woolson, to name only a few. Indeed, there were so many Americans abroad that James complained of their interference with his work, writing to his mother on 4 July [1880]: “I am [. . .] much [. . .] more interested in my current work than anything else—& am a good deal bothered with the number of transitory Americans who come to see me, with appeals (tacit or explicit) for ‘attention’ which I have neither time nor means to show them” (p. 12). Nonetheless, contact with and knowledge about his native land were important to James. As he explained to Grace Norxix
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Susan M. Griffin
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ton, “But I take an interest in seeing all the young Americans I can; living as I do away from home, I [. . .] wish [. . .] to guard against the reproach—& indeed the real disadvantage—of not knowing what manner of generations are growing up there” (20 September 1880, p. 60). On the whole, this was an interest James seemed happy to satisfy from afar. Comfortably lodged in 3 Bolton Street, Piccadilly, a short distance from his beloved Reform Club, free to travel to the country for weekends and to the Continent for longer trips, by June 1880 James had been postponing a trip to his native land for some time. The 6 June 1880 letter to his mother reflects his mixed feelings: he is deeply affectionate and, at the same time, mildly apologetic for being out of touch: “You will have wondered what has become of me in all these days since I last wrote from Florence” (p. 4). Henry was already making excuses, limiting the time that William could interfere with his life: he will not journey to meet William at Liverpool. Instead, he will use the time for work so that, he says, he will have more free time when William arrives. Perhaps predictably, William’s visit was not to be a resounding success: he disliked England and criticized Henry’s busy social life as “superficial” (CWJ 5: 121). In turn, Henry wrote to his mother on 4 July [1880] with a report on William that illustrates how the lifelong sibling rivalry among the James children played out in matters of health (e.g., who needed more attention and financial help because of an illness, who was healthier and therefore more successful): “I must say, however, that even at best there remains more of nervousness & disability about him than I had supposed, & I can’t get rid of the feeling that he takes himself, & his nerves, & his physical condition, too hard & too consciously” (p. 11). The strategic nature of these health reports becomes all the clearer when, just over two weeks later, Henry positioned himself on the other side of the sibling contest. Immediately following William’s departure, Henry wrote: Dearest Mammy— I must write you but a short note, for I am sorry to say your poor old infant is rather seedy. I am just recovering from one of those wretched sieges of pain in my head which I have had so often & which are so very unprofitable. (20 July [1880], p. 19)2
xx
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Introduction
Alice James’s visit to Europe the following year, though much longer than William’s, was easier on Henry. Alice and her friend and companion, Katharine Loring, sailed for England in late May, not to return to the United States until September. By this time, the entire James family had come to rely on Loring’s seemingly limitless ability to care lovingly for Alice. Henry therefore felt free to continue his travels on the Continent, where he had been since February, not seeing the two women until some six weeks after they had arrived in England. Upon meeting Katharine Loring, he wrote to his mother, “The blessing that Miss Loring is to her it would be of course impossible to exaggerate. She is the most perfect companion she could have found, if she had picked over the whole human family, & your minds’ may be at rest as to things going on proportionately well with her” (18 July [1881], p. 233). Together, the three seemed to find a happy balance of independence and intimacy, and Henry was able to work steadily on The Portrait of a Lady, sending off installments to the Atlantic Monthly in a timely manner. James’s earlier 6 June [1880] letter to his friend and editor William Dean Howells is explicitly concerned with these installments (p. 3). While James’s tone is personal, his communication is definitely that of a business transaction. From young adulthood, James had worked to form relationships with editors, publishers, and other authors in the literary world. This was partly a matter of affinity but was also, as Michael Anesko has shown, because James was determined to manage the business of writing professionally (“Friction”; “Introduction”). Howells had recently (February 1880) reviewed James’s Hawthorne in the Atlantic Monthly, the prestigious journal in which James had been publishing since 1865 and for which Howells served as assistant editor starting in 1866 and then editor (1871–81) (“James’s Hawthorne”). Thus, James’s pleasant, friendly letter to Howells is preoccupied with the details of literary life: he is pleased that Howells has agreed to a revised timetable for the publication of Portrait (“You received my request like an angel”), forwards a recent review of Howells’s work and gossips a bit about the reviewer, and asks for a copy of Howells’s The Undiscovered Country. By 1880 James had indeed established himself professionally both in the United States and in Britain. His short novel Washington Square was to begin xxi
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
Susan M. Griffin
its simultaneous serialization in Leslie Stephen’s Cornhill Magazine in June. Publication in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine followed the next month and book publication by Harper’s in the United States and Macmillan in Britain thereafter. But James regarded Washington Square as a minor work, writing to his friend Grace Norton on 20 September 1880 that “I understand quite what you mean about the absence of local colour in Washington Square, a slender tale, of rather too narrow an interest. I don’t, honestly, take much stock in it—the larger story [The Portrait of a Lady] coming out presently in Macmillan & the Atlantic will be a much more valuable affair” (p. 61). On the whole, readers and critics agreed that Washington Square was light reading, cleverly done. In England the reviewer for the Pall Mall Gazette appears to have found local color enough, noting that this American story marked a shift in James’s focus; the reviewer expressed the hope that Washington Square would be the first in a Balzacian “Scènes de la vie de province” (“Washington Square”). ( James, on the other hand, thought Howells had mastered American local color and urged him to become the “American Balzac”; see 31 January [1880], CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 110.) The New York Tribune complained that James’s depiction of antebellum New York was another instance of his “turning up his nose at his countrymen” (“New Publications: Henry James, Jr.”). Indeed, several American critics used their reviews to critique James himself. The New York Herald imagined him as “a cynical dandy lying back in his easy chair and telling a story leisurely to a friend” (“Washington Square”); the Chicago Tribune found James a “dilettante” (“Recent Novels”). James himself had told Howells that Washington Square was “a tale purely American, the writing of which made me feel [. . .] acutely [. . .] the want of the ‘paraphernalia’” (31 January [1880], CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 110), echoing his earlier complaints in Hawthorne (1879) about the meager circumstances offered to the American writer, “the large number of elements that were absent from them, and the coldness, the thinness, the blankness” (42–43). Unsurprisingly, then, the “big” novel that James had been planning—and discussing—for some time had only one episode set in the United States—and that was the scene in which the heroine of The Portrait of a Lady, Isabel Archer, is rescued from the dullness of xxii
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Introduction
Albany and taken to Europe. On 2 February [1877], James described it to Howells as “a portrait of the character & recital of the adventures of a woman—a great swell, [. . .] psychologically; a grande nature— accompanied with many ‘developments’” (CLHJ, 1876–1878 1: 50). To his mother on 15 March 1878, he promised that it would “be to the American ‘as [. . .] wine [. . .] unto water’” (CLHJ, 1876–1878 2: 63). In October 1880 The Portrait of a Lady appeared first in Macmillan’s Magazine and the next month in the Atlantic Monthly, running through November/December 1881. Reception of The Portrait of a Lady confirmed the fact that, while he had not yet fully achieved the critical and popular success that was his aim, James had solidified his status as a literary artist of great skill. As Philip Horne points out, sales were, for James, quite good (although hardly those of a best seller): “In the first six weeks The Portrait of a Lady sold 2,937 copies in America, and 5,530 by the end of 1882” (134). On 27 December [1881], James wrote to Frederick Macmillan, “[M]y book is selling—largely, for one of mine. I hope it is doing something of the kind chez vous. I have seen a good many English notices, & appear to myself to have got off on the whole very well. Look, if you can put your hand on it, at a Review in the Tribune for Dec. 25th very glowing, & well-written.” This New York Tribune review, written by John Hay, was glowing indeed: “No work printed in recent years, on either side of the Atlantic or on either side of the English Channel, surpasses this in seriousness of intention, in easy scope and mastery of material, in sustained and spontaneous dignity and grace of style, in wit and epigram, and, on the whole, in clear conception and accurate delineation of character” (“James’s The Portrait of a Lady”). Many reviewers, on the other hand, found the novel overly long, cold, even immoral. The Athenæum asserted, “It is impossible not to feel that Mr. James has at last contrived to write a dull book” (“Novels of the Week”). Isabel Archer is deemed “unnatural,” her story “improbable,” her decisions arbitrary (“Literature.” Independent). Some—though not all—reviewers on both sides of the Atlantic saw the book as a satirical comment on Americans, especially American women. Yet amidst these complaints there was almost universal acknowledgment of Henry James’s literary “brilliance.” The rexxiii
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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viewer for the Californian speaks as “the wearied reader of this most skillful book” (“The Portrait of a Lady. By Henry James, Jr.”). The New York Sun review, while judging that James had not, like Bret Harte, achieved “the mastery of the emotions,” nonetheless recognized that “it is, in fact, his style which constitutes Mr. James’s capital merit” (H[aziltine]). The Pall Mall Gazette asserted, “There can hardly be much difference of opinion as to the great, if not unmixed, merit of this ‘Portrait of a Lady.’ We do not know a living English novelist who could have written it” (“The Portrait of a Lady”). W. C. Brownell in the Nation offered that “‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is an important work, the most important Mr. James has thus far written, and worthy of far more than mere perusal—worthy of study.” While the final installments of his first masterpiece were being published, James made a much-postponed visit to the United States, setting sail on 20 October 1881. This was not to be a return to an American life: James had already decided that Europe was his home. And his ties to America were about to be weakened in ways that he did not anticipate. During the visit, his mother died; before the end of 1882, Henry Sr. died as well. Nearly forty years old, Henry James, following his father’s death in December 1882, began to drop “Jr” from his signature. By the end of June, it was almost always absent from his name. It can be argued that, with the events of 1881 and 1882, Henry James truly achieved maturity both personally and professionally. One thing that maturity was not to include was marriage. The subject comes up a number of times in James’s letters during this period, always treated mockingly. The year before his American trip, he wrote to Sarah Butler Wister: “I find some of my friends have supposed that I put off my journey because I had intentions of marriage here! & that I was waiting a little in order to provide myself ([. . .] for my return) with a blushing bride! This was a complete illusion” (14 November 1880, p. 98). The next month, James took up the topic again with Grace Norton, this time a bit more seriously: “But I shall not marry, all the same. I am happy enough as it is, & am convinced that if I should go further, I should fare worse. I am too good a bachelor to spoil. That sounds conceited—but one may be conceited, in self-defense, about a position [. . .] with which xxiv
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Introduction
[. . .] the rest of the world associates a certain idea of the ridiculous” (28 December 1880, p. 135). In a world where marriage is the norm, Henry James claims what Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick in The Epistemology of the Closet has shown to be a distinctive nineteenth-century identity: “the bachelor,” a type who is pointedly celibate, emotionally detached, loosened from familial constraints and obligations, “artistic,” gossipy, faintly absurd, and slightly suspicious (188–95). In a 25 November 1881 notebook entry discussing his choice of and love for London, James says, “London is on the whole the most possible form of life. I take it as an artist and as a bachelor; as one who has the passion of observation and whose business is the study of human life” (Complete Notebooks 218).3 And, as a bachelor, James felt free to write flirtatiously to women and men, married and single, in letters filled with gossip, which, despite disclaimers, he loved. (In a gossip-filled letter to his mother dated 22 January [1882], he demurred, “But I [. . .] can’t gossip—& shouldn’t be writing.”) To Isabella Stewart Gardner he was nearly always facetiously romantic, as, for example, on 3 September [1882], “Your journey to Japan & India is a coup de génie: won’t you take me with you as your special correspondent & companion? (I mean special companion.),” or on 12 April of the same year, also to Mrs. Gardner, “To come to you & be punished is almost a reward. I’m delighted you are better. I shall give myself the pleasure of coming tomorrow, as I am obliged to go to Cambridge today. Be well, be happy, &, above all, be good!” Epistolary extravagances are common, as in a letter to William H. Huntington on 22 November [1882]: “It was insufferable however to miss you; if it had been foretold me in advance that I should do so beyond remedy, I should have branded the soothsayer as a charlatan.” Or to Henrietta Reubell, regarding travel to the United States: “You [. . .] would have [. . .] a great career here, & would return—if you should return at all, with a multitude of scalps at your slim girdle. There is a great demand for brilliant women, & I can promise you that you would be intimately appreciated” (9 January 1882). From his letters to friends and acquaintances, we can trace James’s judgments on the state of his native land in 1881–82. Writing from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Frederick Macmillan, he notes how xxv
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America has changed in the six years he has been gone: “New York is a big place, & is rapidly becoming an interesting one. I am struck, throughout, with the rapid & general increase of the agreeable in American life, & the development of material civilization” (27 December [1881]). To Sir John Clark on 8 January [1882], James again stresses the rapidity of progress in his native land: “Things go very fast here, & the change that has taken place in the last two years is almost incredible. The increase of civilization, [. . .] of wealth, luxury, knowledge, taste, of all the arts & [. . .] usages [. . .] of life, is extremely striking.” While in the 1880s these seem to James largely changes for the better, when he returns to the United States in 1904, it will be precisely the continuing rapidity with which America leaves the past behind that disorients and appalls him. James’s judgments about the state of American civilization to some extent varied city by city. About Washington, DC, where James arrived in January, visiting with the Henry Adamses, he was ambivalent. In his 8 January [1882] letter to Clark, James describes Washington as “the place in the world where [. . .] money—[. . .] or the absence of it, matters least. It is very queer & yet extremely pleasant; informal, familiar, heterogeneous, good-natured, essentially social & conversational, enormously big & yet extremely provincial, indefinitely agreeable.” This admiration seems to have stemmed, at least in part, from the fact that, unlike New York, Washington was not dominated by business and by money: “[A]n air of leisure hangs over the enormous streets, where every one walks slowly & doesn’t look keen & preoccupied” (8 January [1882] to Sir John Clark). In short, it was, at least in this respect, more European.4 But the racial makeup of the city bothered James; as he put it in an ugly comment to Tom Perry: “It is, [. . .] materially, [. . .] too much of a village—a niggervillage, sprinkled with whites, it seems to me in my darker moments” (23 January 1882). Whether he was pleased or unhappy with what he found in the United States, Henry James, almost from the first and increasingly as the visit went on, expressed a longing for London. His correspondence during the visit continued to sound this note. To Jane Hill on 15 January [1882]: “I am torn by conflicting passions—the sense that xxvi
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Introduction
I am passing my winter very pleasantly here, and the sentiment of homesickness (for the very paving-stones of Piccadilly,) pushed to the point at which (when there is a lady in the case) one begins to neglect one’s personal appearance. I am (at times) absolutely dishevelled with longings for London.” These mixed emotions can be seen in an additional rich source for Henry James’s thoughts during this visit to the United States, the first of what Leon Edel calls his “American Journals,” begun on 25 November 1881, and ending on 11 November 1882 ( James, Complete Notebooks 213–33). Unusually for James, this notebook was used not only to record impressions, anecdotes, and ideas for future fictions but also as an occasion to reflect on and describe his previous few years. In the first entry, written at the Brunswick Hotel in Boston, James begins by berating himself for having “so long” neglected to take notes on his observations and reflections (213). (He had, in fact, begun a different notebook on 7 November 1878, which he wrote in irregularly. It was put aside during the American visit.) But, rather than a puritanical examination of conscience, this self-chastisement is made in terms purely professional; James laments that over the past six years “so much has come and gone, so much that it is now too late to catch, to reproduce, to preserve. I have lost too much by losing, or rather by not having acquired, the note-taking habit. It might be of great profit to me. . . . I ought to endeavor to keep, to a certain extent, a record of passing impressions, of all that comes, that goes, that I see, and feel, and observe. To catch and keep something of life—that’s what I mean” (213–14). Despite these missed opportunities, James, using an image to which he will return throughout the rest of his life, describes how nothing is truly lost. Buried, unconscious, submerged knowledge, he asserts, powerfully shapes thought—and art. Of those “lost impressions” he wrote: “[T]hey are not lost altogether, they are buried deep in my mind, they have become part of my life, of my nature” (214). There are also parts of his recent past that James can recover directly, so he decides to “look back over all that has befallen me since last I left my native shores” (214), creating an autobiographical account of these events. This account shows how the visit to America becomes a means of xxvii
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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recovering not only the past but, perhaps more importantly, James’s past self: “I am glad I have come—it was a wise thing to do. I needed to see again les miens, to revive my relations with them, and my sense of the consequences that these relations entail. Such relations, such consequences, are a part of one’s life, and the best life, the most complete, is the one that takes full account of such things. One can only do this by seeing one’s people from time to time, by being with them, by entering into their lives” ( James, Complete Notebooks 214). The immediate knowledge that comes with physical proximity seems necessary to intimacy. And yet, “apart from this I hold it was not necessary I should come to this country. I am 37 years old, I have made my choice, and God knows that I have now no time to waste. My choice is the old world—my choice, my need, my life” (214). One thing James’s return shows him is how far he has come. And this too is a kind of visceral knowledge: sitting in Cambridge in 1881, “the long interval of years drops away, and the edges of the chasm ‘piece together’ again, after a fashion” ( James, Complete Notebooks 224). What reappears is the image of the young James sitting in the same room “scribbling, dreaming, planning” but held back by “my damnable state of health” (224). Remembering fondly his early aspirations, James now recognizes what he has achieved: “I wanted to do very much what I have done, and success, if I may say so, now stretches back a tender hand to its younger brother, desire” (225). As Michael Anesko has said in his introduction to the previous two volumes of this edition, by the 1880s James had “mastered the mechanics of professional authorship” (CLHJ, 1878–1880 1: xxxvii). James’s success was measurable: pushing always for higher payments from editors and publishers, James would see his income go from $4,361 in 1880, to $5,525 in 1881, to $2,355 in 1882, to $7,173 in 1883 (the fluctuations reflecting, in part, the fact that payments for longer works could be extended across calendar years). As his earnings became steady and (relatively) substantial, James was able to cut down on time-consuming small projects. In 1881 and 1882, for example, he published only five such pieces: in 1881 “The London Theaters” (Scribner’s Monthly) and in 1882 “Alphonse Daudet” (Atlantic Monthly), “London Pictures and London Plays” (Atlantic Monthly), “Venice” (Century Magazine), and “The Point of View” (Century xxviii
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Introduction
Magazine). In the American journals he reaffirms this strategy: “My mind is full of plans, of ambitions; they crowd upon me, for these are the productive years of my life” ( James, Complete Notebooks 226). Interspersed with these confident declarations, however, are expressions of anxiety over work undone. The 1881–82 trip in many ways frustrated James’s stated ambitions. Much as he wanted to take advantage of this visit to see America and store up impressions, it was hard to find quiet periods of time for work: “Prolonged idleness exasperates and depresses me” ( James, Complete Notebooks 226). During that 1881–82 trip, his travels were limited to Cambridge, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Not until 1904–5 was Henry James to tour the United States more extensively, ranging from the Mid-Atlantic to the South to the West Coast. The limited itinerary of 1881–82 was in part due to an unanticipated family crisis: while Henry was in Washington, DC, he received word from his brother Robertson (Bob) that his mother was ill, though not dangerously so. Henry responded right away: “I am filled with grief & horror at the news of poor Mother’s illness. Give her my tender love & assure her of my liveliest sympathy. I cannot bear to think that she suffers, & would come on to see her if I believed it would help her through—But if Aunt Kate has come, [&] you are there she has care enough, (with what father & Alice can also give) & I should only be in the way” (27 January [1882] to Robertson James). But his mother’s condition worsened. By the time Henry was able to reach Cambridge, Mary Walsh James, aged seventy-two, had died. America was truly no longer home. Henry had always been his mother’s favorite (her “Angel”). He created a life far away from her, but there is no mistaking the deep filial love that pervades his letters. Discussing the burial arrangements, Henry James described what the loss of his mother meant to him and to his family: “It is impossible for me to say—to begin to say—all that has gone down into the grave with her. She was our life, she was the house, she was the keystone of the arch. She held us all together, and without her we are scattered reeds. She was patience, she was wisdom, she was exquisite maternity. Her sweetness, her mildness, her great natural beneficence were unspeakable” (Complete Notebooks 229). Without Mary James, the James xxix
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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family seemed to have lost its coherence, even its identity.5 By December of the same year, Henry James Sr. had died. Bereft at the loss of his wife, he had, in the end, stopped eating. Henry Jr., who had been back in Europe for almost seven months, sailed for the United States upon hearing of his father’s growing weakness. As with his mother, Henry arrived too late to see his father once again before death and, in this case, too late for even the funeral. It was, as he wrote to Lady Wolseley on 30 December 1882, “a violent shock.” William also had been absent. Representing them both, Henry visited the gravesite in the Cambridge Cemetery on 31 December and, as he recounted to William, “stood beside his grave a long time & [. . .] read him your letter of farewell—which I am sure he heard somewhere out of the depths of the still, bright winter air. He lies extraordinarily close to mother, & as I stood there and [. . .] looked at [. . .] this last expression of so many years of mortal union, it was [. . .] difficult [. . .] not to believe that they were not united again in some consciousness of my belief.” Leaving his parents behind, Henry James then turned to the present and its future: “On my way back I stopped to see Alice [William’s wife] & sat with her for an hour & admired the lovely babe, who is a most loving little mortal” (1 January 1883 to William James). Nearly forty years old, Henry James by the end of the year had mostly dropped “Jr.” from his signature. Despite the fact that he was the second son, Henry, rather than his older brother, William, was named executor of his parents’ estate. He took the position of trust quite seriously, if not obediently, and the responsibility proved a considerable one. Henry Sr., reasoning that Wilky (Garth Wilkinson) had received more than his share of financial help over the years, cut him out of the will. Alice, as the only daughter, was to receive stocks and bonds that would generate a solid yearly income. The remainder of the estate, consisting primarily of commercial Syracuse real estate that generated a solid rental profit, was, according to the will, to be divided among William, Henry, and Robertson (albeit with a deduction from and limitations on the latter’s share). Henry, knowing of Wilky’s considerable troubles, financial and otherwise, felt that his father’s judgment was unfair and made his own decisions about the distribution of assets. In this he was, ironically, following a course set earlier by the elder James—albeit with an important difference. xxx
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Introduction
Henry Sr. had sued to break his father’s will in a successful attempt to claim an inheritance; the novelist cut into his own share of the estate by insisting that his younger brother not be left out. His plan was to make the division among all four of the brothers. Henry traveled to Milwaukee in order to meet with Wilky and Bob about the will, and the matter seemed settled. However, William objected to this reduction of his share, arguing that to ignore their father’s clear instructions was to cast a shadow on his memory. Henry responded that adjudicating past parental actions was not the business before them. “[T]he best way to justify Father,” he insisted, “is simply to assume that he expected us, (as he did expect us) to rearrange equally” (11 February [1883]). Despite William’s objections, Henry prevailed. Sharing his father’s concern that Alice, chronically ill and without a spouse or a profession to support her, be comfortably provided for, Henry had already transferred his share of the income from the Syracuse real estate to her. He made no attempt to take over his father’s position as the head of the family, a position that Henry Sr. had, in any case, filled idiosyncratically. Nonetheless, Henry’s confidence in his own competence and his recognition that the weaker of his siblings needed support are those of a man whose life is, in some profound sense, his own. That confidence manifested itself at a time when, as we have seen, Henry James resolved to rededicate himself to his writing. He repeatedly noted that he was almost forty, and thus “these are the productive years of my life” ( James, Complete Notebooks 226). In his final entry in this section of the American journals, James declares: “I believe [. . .] that I have learned how to work. [. . .] When I am really at work, I’m happy, I feel strong, I see many opportunities ahead. [. . .] I must make some great efforts during the next few years, however, if I wish not to have been on the whole a failure. I shall have been a failure unless I do something great!” (232–33). What did “something great” mean to Henry James in 1882? His ambition had been to surpass his most important American and English novelistic forebears, Nathaniel Hawthorne and George Eliot. In 1870 James had declared to his brother William that he meant “to write as good a novel one of these days (perhaps) as the H. of the [. . .] 7 G.’s” (House of the Seven Gables; 13, 14 February 1870, CLHJ, xxxi
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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1855–1872 2: 292). To Grace Norton in 1873 he confided, “To produce some little exemplary works of art is my narrow and lowly dream. They are to have less ‘brain’ than [. . .] Middlemarch; but (I boldly proclaim it) they are to have more form” (5 March 1873, CLHJ, 1872– 1876 1: 234). The Portrait of a Lady would seem to be the novel that accomplished this work. Richard Brodhead has convincingly argued that “in The Portrait of a Lady, the work James regarded as inaugurating the stage of full-fledged mastery in his career, Hawthorne is not left behind, but rather incorporated into the deepest levels of his imagination” (139). And many readers—including James himself when he came to write the novel’s preface—have understood Portrait as a response to—even a revision of—Middlemarch. Of course, there were Balzac and Turgenev, whom James both admired and learned from, but neither seemed to offer a model for greater novelistic achievement. For Henry James at what he saw as this crucial moment in his career, “something great” could only be playwriting: “After long years of waiting, of obstruction, I find myself able to put into execution the most cherished of all my projects—that of beginning to work for the stage. It was one of my earliest—I had it from the first” (Complete Notebooks 226). Drama, James says, is “the ripest of all the arts” (226), the one that demands maturity from the artist. Having reviewed his career thus far, Henry James judged that his mastery of his profession was such that he could now turn to his greatest aspiration. And he did take up playwriting when, after his mother’s death, he briefly settled in rooms on Mount Vernon Street in Boston, near enough to visit his father and sister in Cambridge but far enough for him to work in privacy. George and Marshall Mallory, who had restored Madison Square Garden after a devastating fire, had met with James and encouraged him to turn Daisy Miller into a play. However, even though James gave Daisy Miller a happy ending in the new script, the result was rejected by the Mallorys. Writing to Isabella Stewart Gardner on 5 June [1882], James gave his own account of Daisy Miller’s fortunes: “I think with extraordinary tenderness of those two pretty little evenings when I read you my play. [. . .] Drop a tear—a diminutive tear (as your tears must be—small but beautifully=shaped pearls,) upon the fact that my drama is not xxxii
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Introduction
after all to be brought out in New York (at least for the present.) I had a fundamental disagreement with the Manager & got it back from him just before sailing. It is possible it may see the light here— I am to read it to the people of the St. James’s [. . .] Theatre next week.” James had had eighteen copies of the script privately printed by Macmillan both for British copyright purposes and also, perhaps, in hopeful preparation for negotiations with London producers and theater managers. But those to whom James spoke in London were not interested either. Writing in Paris on 11 November 1882, he expresses his anger at the Mallorys (“asses and sharpers combined”) and his “disgust, deep and unspeakable disgust” with “the conditions of production on our unhappy English stage” ( James, Complete Notebooks 232). To Isabella Stewart Gardner, he passes on the final verdict: “Poor little Daisy Miller, in her comic form, has been blighted by cold theatrical breath, & will probably never be acted” (3 September [1882]). The play was published in the Atlantic Monthly, April–June 1883, as Daisy Miller: A Comedy.6 That September James R. Osgood brought out the play in book form; Houghton Mifflin had earlier declined to do so (Wortman 284). Reviews of the printed version were lukewarm. Planning his next career steps in November 1882, James was uncertain about how he might generate sufficient income to support his foray into the theater. On the one hand, “the dramatic form seems to me the most beautiful thing possible”; on the other, he felt pushed “both from within and without” to start another novel ( James, Complete Notebooks 232). His immediate strategy was to write “short things, in such measure as I need, which will leave me intervals for dramatic work” (232). And James did publish several short fictions in the next few years, along with reviews, critical essays, and articles on travel. But his next play, The American, based on his early novel, was not written until 1890 and first performed on 3 January 1891. Clearly, all did not proceed according to plan. Yet as the coming volumes of letters will show, the years to follow—what Leon Edel called “The Middle Years”—were to be a time of enormous productivity and widening range. That same November 1882, William Dean Howells described what he called the “new school” of novelists who were creating fiction of a “finer art.” “This school,” Howells declared, “which xxxiii
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is so largely of the future as well as the present, finds its chief exemplar in Mr. James” (“Henry James, Jr.” 28).
Notes
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1. Of course, James may have written additional letters that day; these are the three that are extant. 2. Kaplan points out that this complaint may also have been meant to soften the news that Henry was postponing a trip home (227). 3. On the figure of the bachelor, see Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s important discussion in “The Beast in the Closet” chapter of Epistemology of the Closet (esp. 188–212), in which she quotes this same passage from the notebooks. 4. America’s lack of a leisure class is a topic that James addresses repeatedly in works ranging from An International Episode (1879) to The American Scene (1907). 5. Although in 1889 William was still to maintain that Henry remained “a native of the James family, and has no other country” (CWJ 6: 517). 6. William Wortman explains that “the Century editor, Richard Watson Gilder, asked for the play but then backed away when James requested $1,500” (284). James then turned to Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s offer to print the play in the Atlantic Monthly. Wortman gives the fullest account of the play’s history, including a record of later adaptations of the novella by other writers.
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Symbols and Abbreviations
SYMBOLS USED IN THE EDITED LETTERS indicates the presence of an envelope with the original letter. ◇ represents an illegible character. ▬ represents the cancellation to a sequence of letters, probably a word. ^_` at the end of a phrase indicates the end of material inserted interlineally; at the beginning of a phrase it indicates the beginning of material inserted interlineally when James did not write a caret. & is HJ’s sign for an ampersand.
REPRESENTS PRINTED LETTERHEAD FAMILY NAME ABBREVIATIONS AHGJ AJ AK GW J HJ MW J RJ Sr. WJ
Alice Howe Gibbens James Alice James Catharine Walsh (Aunt Kate) Garth Wilkinson James (Wilky, Wilkie) Henry James Mary Walsh James Robertson James (Rob, Robby, Robbie, Bob) Henry James Sr. William James
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COPY-TEXT FORM ABBREVIATIONS USED AL ALS MS Photocopy TLC
Autograph letter, not signed Autograph letter, signed Photocopy of lost manuscript Typed letter copy of lost manuscript
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Chronology
6 JUNE 1880–20 OCTOBER 1881: ENGLAND, FRANCE, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, SCOTLAND
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1880
Early June: Cornhill Magazine publishes the first installment of Washington Square. 5 June: WJ sails from New York for Liverpool. 14 June: WJ arrives at Liverpool, where he stays overnight. Mid-June: The first installment of Washington Square is published in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. 15 June: WJ arrives in London and stays at 3 Bolton Street in rooms the floor below HJ’s. Early July: Cornhill Magazine publishes the second installment of Washington Square. 3 July: W J leaves London to visit Sara Darwin in Basset, Southampton. 5 July: W J makes a one-day trip to the Isle of Wight. 6 July: WJ returns to London. c. 9 July: HJ and WJ visit Lady Rose at Loseley Park. 11 July: WJ leaves London for the Continent, visiting the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France. Mid-July: HJ is ill. Harper’s New Monthly Magazine publishes the second installment of Washington Square. 20 July: HJ sends William Dean Howells page proofs of the first and most of the second installments of The Portrait of a Lady. Late July: HJ stays at Grove Farm, the estate of Russell and Juliet Overing Sturgis. Early August: Cornhill Magazine publishes the third installment of Washington Square. 4 August: HJ travels to Brighton. c. 14 August: HJ returns to London. Mid-August: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine publishes the third installment of Washington Square. 18 August: W J returns to London from Switzerland.
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Chronology 25 August: WJ sails from England on the Parthia. c. 28 August: HJ arrives for a visit at The Spring in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, the estate of Kate Sedley Fearing Carter. Early September: After brief stays at Burford Lodge in Surrey and also in Folkestone, HJ travels to Dover, where he stays for two weeks. Cornhill Magazine publishes the fourth installment of Washington Square. Mid-September: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine publishes the fourth installment of Washington Square. Early October: Cornhill Magazine publishes the fifth installment of Washington Square. Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the first installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 12 October: HJ dines with William Jones Hoppin and James Russell Lowell. Mid- October: Harper’s New Monthly Magazine publishes the fifth installment of Washington Square. The Atlantic Monthly publishes the first installment of The Portrait of a Lady. (When The Portrait of a Lady was published in volume form, some of the original serial chapters were recombined; hence the serial chapters might not correspond to those of book editions.) 30 October: HJ sees William and Susan at the St. James’s Theatre with Fanny Kemble and Hamilton Aïdé. Early November: Cornhill Magazine publishes the final installment of Washington Square. Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the second installment of The Portrait of a Lady. Mid-November: The final installment of Washington Square is published in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. The Atlantic Monthly brings out the second installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 20–22 November: HJ visits Sara and William Darwin at Basset. 27 November: HJ visits Mentmore, the estate of Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery. Also present are John Everett Millais, John Bright, and Thomas George Baring, Lord Northbrook. 29 November: HJ returns to London. Early December: HJ visits Sir Henry and Margaret Jean Trevelyan Holland; also there are Lord Eustace Brownlow Henry and Lady Gertrude Louisa Scott Gascoyne- Cecil, as well as Sir Howard Craufurd and Annie Frances Cole Elphinstone. W J and AHGJ move to 10 Oxford Street in Cambridge, Mas-
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Chronology sachusetts. Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the third installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 1 December: The Harper and Brothers edition of Washington Square is published. 6 December: HJ dines with Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery, and his wife, Hannah de Rothschild, Lady Rosebery. 11 December: HJ arrives at Fox Warren, the estate of Sydney Charles Buxton. Mid-December: The Atlantic Monthly publishes the third installment of The Portrait of a Lady. HJ’s unsigned review “The London Theaters” appears in Scribner’s Monthly. 22 December: George Eliot dies. 23–27 December: HJ visits the Government House in Devonport, home of Lt. Gen. Thomas Henry and Elizabeth Staples Clark Pakenham. 28 December–2 January: HJ visits Sir John Forbes and Lady Charlotte Coltman Clark in Falmouth for five days.
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Early January: The fourth installment of The Portrait of a Lady appears in Macmillan’s Magazine. 3 January: HJ returns to 3 Bolton Street. 8–10 January: HJ visits The Durdans in Epsom, an estate of Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery. Also staying were George Augustus Sala and George Washburn Smalley. 11 January: HJ returns to 3 Bolton Street. 12 January: HJ attends a party at Knapdale, the home of Alexander Macmillan in Upper Tooting. 14 January: HJ spends time with John Walter Cross, the late George Eliot’s husband, at 4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Mid-January: The Atlantic Monthly publishes the fourth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 26 January: Macmillan and Company brings out a two-volume edition of Washington Square. HJ also socializes with David Graham Drummond Ogilvie, Lord Airlie; Selina Catherine Meade Hervey; and Mary Temple Rose Stanley Clarke. Early February: HJ attends a ball at the home of Lady Louisa Mills. He dines with Sir William and Elizabeth Cabot Ives Motley, Lady Harcourt, and Henry Bouverie William and Elizabeth Georgina Brand at the home of Russell and Julia Overing Boit Sturgis. Following a series of severe drinking
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Chronology bouts and at the urging of his parents and W J, RJ moves from Milwaukee to the James family home in Cambridge. Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the fifth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 9 February: HJ leaves London for an extended stay on the Continent. Following a delayed crossing due to storms, he arrives first in Paris, where he stays for almost two weeks. While in Paris, he sees Ivan Turgenev, Edward Lee and Blanche de Triqueti Childe, Maurice Guillaume Guizot, and Céline de Portal Jameson. Mid-February: The Atlantic Monthly publishes the fifth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 22–23 February: HJ travels from Paris to Avignon and then to Marseilles. 25 or 26 February: HJ begins a journey from Marseilles to, briefly, Nice and then to San Remo, Italy. Early March: The sixth installment of The Portrait of a Lady comes out in Macmillan’s Magazine. Mid-March: The sixth installment of The Portrait of a Lady is published in the Atlantic Monthly. 15 March: HJ leaves San Remo for Genoa. 17 March: HJ travels to Milan. 27 March: HJ departs Milan for Venice, where he takes rooms at 4161 Riva Schiavoni. 31 March: James Ripley Osgood seeks to publish The Portrait of a Lady as a book in the United States. HJ, however, had already agreed to terms with Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Early April: Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the seventh installment of The Portrait of a Lady. Mid-April: The Atlantic Monthly publishes the seventh installment of The Portrait of a Lady. Late April: HJ travels from Venice to Rome, briefly stopping in Florence, where he sees Frank Boott. 27 April: HJ dines with Daniel Sargent Curtis. Early May: Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the eighth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 9 May: HJ arrives back to Venice via Ancona, Recanati, Loreto, and Rimini. Mid-May: The Atlantic Monthly publishes the eighth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 21 May: AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring sail for England.
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Chronology 30 May: AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring arrive in England. Early June: Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the ninth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 11 June: HJ begins a series of short visits to Vicenza, Bassano, and Padua. Mid-June: The Atlantic Monthly publishes the ninth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. Early July: HJ leaves Italy and travels to Cadenabbia, Lucerne, and Engelberg. Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the tenth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 12 July: HJ returns to 3 Bolton Street. 14–18 July: HJ visits AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring in Richmond and then spends several full days with them there. Mid-July: The Atlantic Monthly publishes the tenth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 18 July: HJ returns home to 3 Bolton Street. AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring move temporarily to Kew to visit Loring’s family. 29 July: AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring relocate from Kew to Sevenoaks. 31 July: HJ visits Mentmore, an estate of Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery, and his wife, Hannah de Rothschild, Lady Rosebery. Also visiting Mentmore were John William and Ida Louisa Bennet Ramsay, Lord and Lady Dalhousie, Ralph Bernal Osborne, and Sir James Donaldson. Early August: In the UK the eleventh installment of The Portrait of a Lady is published in Macmillan’s Magazine. Mid-August: AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring move to 10 Clarges Street in London. The Atlantic Monthly publishes the eleventh installment of The Portrait of a Lady for the US market. 17 August: HJ visits Midelney Place, the Somersetshire estate of Edwin Brooke Cely and Kate Sedley Fearing Carter Trevilian. 24 August: HJ returns from Midelney Place to 3 Bolton Street. 31 August: HJ sends Thomas Bailey Aldrich the last installment of The Portrait of a Lady for the Atlantic Monthly. Early September: Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the twelfth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 5 September: HJ travels to Tillypronie estate in Aberdeen-
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shire, Scotland, stopping first in Edinburgh. Soon after HJ leaves for Scotland, AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring move from Clarges Street into HJ’s rooms at 3 Bolton Street. Mid-September: The Atlantic Monthly publishes the twelfth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 16 September: HJ visits Cortachy Castle, the estate of David Graham Drummond and Henrietta Blanche Ogilvie, Lord and Lady Airlie, in central Scotland. 17 September: With Lady Airlie, HJ travels to Glamis Castle to visit Claude and Frances Dora Smith Bowes-Lyon, Lord and Lady Strathmore. 20 September: AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring leave England for the United States. 24 September: HJ visits Dalmeny Park, an estate of Lord Rosebery, near Edinburgh. 29 September: HJ visits Laidlawstiel, outside Tweed, the estate of Donald James Mackay, Lord Reay. Early October: Macmillan’s Magazine publishes the thirteenth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 3 October: HJ returns to London from Scotland. Mid-October: The Atlantic Monthly brings out the thirteenth installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 20 October: HJ sails from Liverpool for Quebec and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Errata from The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1876–1878. 1: lxi: HJ mails James Ripley Osgood at the Atlantic Monthly the penultimate installment of The American. should read HJ mails James Ripley Osgood at Osgood and Company “another batch” of revised copy for the forthcoming book edition of The American. 1: lxi: In late March, the Galaxy publishes “The Théâtre Français,” and the Atlantic Monthly publishes the final installment, chapters XXIII and XXIV, of The American. should read In mid-March, the Galaxy publishes “The Théâtre Français,” and the Atlantic Monthly publishes the penultimate installment, chapters XXIII and XXIV, of The American. 1: lxii: Late April: The Galaxy publishes “The London Theatres.” should read Mid-April: The Galaxy publishes “The London Theatres,” and the Atlantic Monthly publishes the final installment, chapters XXV and XXVI, of The American. Errata from The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1878–1880.
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1: 76n73.5: Edythe Skepper Procter (1834–82) should read Edythe Skepper Procter (1834–85).
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
The Complete Letters of Henry James
1880–1883 VOLUME 1
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HJ
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
1880
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1880
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 6 June [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1784 (253)-28
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
June 6th Dear Howells. You received my request like an angel, & I am duly grateful. You shall have the opening sheets of the story, printed, in abundantly good time for your own use. The instalments may prove rather shorter than I proposed, owing to the apparently limited capacity of Macmillan; but they will be quite as long, probably as you care to have them. I returned from Italy about a fortnight since, & a few days ago sent you the Contemporary, as I promised, with Mrs. Sutherland Orr’s article on your books. You will probably have seen it, but I wished to keep my promise. The article will _have^_` helped to make you _more^_` known here; it seems very kindly in tone & more discriminating than I usually find such things. The writer is a pleasant, clever, accomplished woman, in bad health, with no eyesight, & of rather a philosophic turn. Her paper is a good forerunner to your tale in the Cornhill. (I sent you by the way the opening of my own short story in that periodical.) I hear you are having a furious inception, as the papers say, of summer; but I trust it will burn itself out. I envy you your visit to Washington & should ◇◇ be glad to hear of your adventures. I am expecting my brother here next week; I hope he may lately have seen you.— Love to your h House (I dont mean Houghton & Mifflin!) Faithfully yours H. James jr N.B. Please make a point of sending me The Undiscovered Country in a volume. I can’t judge of it till then. ———— And send one to Mrs. S. Orr—11 Kensington Park Gardens W. 3
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3.21 • [blotted out] 3.21 eyesight • eye- | sight 3.27 ◇◇ be • [be overwrites illegible letters] 3.29 h House • [H overwrites h] 3.31–34 N.B. Please [. . .] Park Gardens W. • [written across the letter’s first page] 3.31 Undiscovered • Undis- | covered
3.16 Mrs. Sutherland Orr’s article • “International Novelists and Mr. Howells.” 3.23 your tale in the Cornhill • Howells planned to publish The Undiscovered Country in the Cornhill Magazine but did not. He published the novel only in the Atlantic Monthly (see Anesko, Letters 150n2). 3.24 my own short story in that periodical • Washington Square, which was published from June to November of 1880. 3.26 your visit to Washington • Howells’s wife, Elinor Mead Howells, was the cousin of President Rutherford B. Hayes, and the family had been guests at the White House (Anesko, Letters 150n4).
MARY WALSH JAMES 6 June [1880] 25
ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1899)
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
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June 6th Dearest mother. You will have wondered what has become of me in all these days since I last wrote from Florence. Nothing amiss, I am happy to say—nothing but my journey back here, which was achived very speedily & comfortably, & my getting shaken down 4
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
1880
in London again. Italy was lovely to the last, & all the while that I was coming away, I kept asking myself when I should go back. Of course after a couple of days I saw that Wm’s “May 5th” I wrote you about ◇ had been a mistake, & there was no practical inconvenience from it. I am now awaiting him here with much impatience, & reflecting that he is actually upon the deep. I shall try & make him as _comfortable^_` I can, & I hope he will enjoy, as I doubt not he will, what he is able to see of London. I shall probably not go to meet him at Liverpool, as I am rather pressed for time until he comes, & would rather use the two or three days this journey would take, in giving myself up to him here. So I shall meet him at Euston.—I hope he will bring me news of your well-being in Quincy St. I am alarmed by the telegrams about the great heat in the Times, which I am afraid has prepared you for a lively summer. But I earnestly hope it will have burned itself out, & left you none the worse. There is nothing to tell of myself; I am back in London as if I had never left it, & my seven weeks in Italy seem an insubstantial, though enchanting, dream. After I have seen Wm a little I will write you my impressions of them _him^_`, & I he will do the same by you _him^_` _me.^_`—I hope, earnestly the dear sister is in good form, & the dear daddy & mammy too. Ever their devoted H. James jr P.S. I have omitted to mention your letter of May 6th, which I found here on my arrival from abroad. In it you mention Cousin Helen’s serious illness &c. I hope the latter will not yet awhile be taken from the circle to which she is so useful.—Cousin Mary Post is here, & I have been to see her two or three times. She is very affectionate &c, & tends to cling to me. She has her two unmarried children (a son & daughter) with her, & I took the latter, who is a very engaging young thing, the other night to the French plays, & showed her Mrs La◇◇ Sarah Bernhardt, Mrs. Langtry & several Duchesses—a sight by which she seemed much agitated—rushing off the next day to buy the portraits of the Duchesses. ———— 5
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4.34 achived • [misspelled] 5.4 ◇ had • [h overwrites illegible letter] 5.6 impatience • impa- | tience 5.11 him • [m malformed] 5.13 well-being • well- | being 5.14 prepared • pre- | pared 5.15 summer • sum- | mer 5.18 insubstantial • insub- | stantial 5.20 I he • [h overwrites I] 5.22 mammy • mam- | my
4.32 I last wrote from Florence • See HJ to Sr., 14 May [1880] (CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 187–89). 5.3–4 Wm’s “May 5th” I wrote you about • Sr. had written to HJ regarding WJ’s sailing for England “in early June,” while WJ had written to HJ with a departure date of 5 May. See HJ to Sr., 14 May [1880] (CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 187–88). 5.14 the great heat in the Times • According to the New York Times, May 1880 had “such heat [that] has never been known here or hereabout” (“Grant’s Shameless Weather”).
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LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON 6 June [1880] ALS Library of Congress Louise Chandler Moulton Papers, vol. 24, items 4642–44
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
Dear Mrs. Moulton. Your card greeted me the other day on my return from Italy, & I am very glad to know you are in London again. If I hear 6
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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nothing from you to the contrary I shall come & see you on Tuesday next, 8th at about five o’clock. Hoping to find you well, Yours very truly H. James jr June 6th ✉ 3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W. Mrs. Moulton 20 Euston Square W.C.
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6.32 Mrs. • [M malformed]
HENRY JAMES SR. 20 June [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1900)
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
June 20th Dearest Daddy— I wrote to mother about ten days since, & just afterward received a short letter from her—the one in which she enclosed Miss Phelphs Phelp’s article on my Hawthorne, (which seemed to me, by the way, very repulsive in its hysterical imbecillity— an appalling revelation of morbidness.) I am very grateful to her, as usual, for her least word) ^_`word—^_` very grateful, I 7
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mean, to mother. Since then also, William has arrived, as he will already have written to you, & I have him domiciled here in the apartment beneath my own. It is very delightful to see him again, & we have had much interesting talk, which as well as most other things, he seems to ◇y _enjoy^_`. I have been, however, rather disappointed in his physical condition, or was so, at least, at first. He looks very well, but he arrived in a very sleepless state, which (naturally enough) appeared to make him feel very miserable. This however is passing away, his sleep is returning, & with it his disposition to exert himself. I have no doubt he will do very well for the future & will draw much renovation from his holiday. I find him very little changed, looking no older, & with the same tendency to descant on his sensations—but with all his vivacity and brilliancy of mind undimmed. How he finds me he will have told you, & I hope will have given you a favourable picture. I have of course questioned him minutely about the family group & all cognate matters, & his answers only quicken my desire to behold it again. It is very possible therefore that I shall sail for home earlier in the autumn than I at first intended—the more so that to do ◇ _this^_` will be in many ways a convenience to you _me^_`, to say nothing of the better passage. I shall not settle this, however, for another month, & then will let you know. It is not probable, all the same, that Wm & I will return together. He will remain here, I suppose, ◇ about three weeks more; but what he will do on the continent he has not settled—probably spend his time in Switzerland. He has not yet seen any one of particular interest, as he has not hitherto felt able to exert himself in this way; but yesterday I had some men to meet him at dinner at the club, which he much enjoyed. They were not however, persons of particular distinction, & he will not attempt to go in much for the “social side,” which if he desires to recruit, is wise.—I hope your summer is going on comfortably & that all things are well with you—with Alice, in particular. The other Alice & her baby you 8
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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must miss, to judge by the attractive account Wm gives me of both. Tell A. J. that I thank her very prettily for the calligraphic pen, & will bring her something almost as neat (as a gift) when I come home. Farewell, dear Dad, embrace mother & sister, & believe me your faithful son H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 290–91
7.29 afterward • after- | ward 7.31 Phelphs Phelp’s • [s overwrites hs] 7.32 imbecillity • [misspelled] 8.4 again • [n malformed] 8.10 himself • him- | self; [m malformed] 8.17 him • [m malformed] 8.25 ◇ about • [a overwrites illegible letter] 8.26 Switzerland • Switz- | erland
7.29 I wrote to mother about ten days since • See HJ to MW J, 6 June [1880] (pp. 4–5). 7.31 Miss [. . .] Phelp’s article on my Hawthorne • Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s scathing review, “The Man without a Country.” 8.19–20 earlier in the autumn than I at first intended • HJ planned to depart for America as early as 21 August (see HJ to MWJ, 20 July [1880], p. 20). However, he delayed the voyage in order to complete The Portrait of a Lady (4 July [1880] to MWJ, pp. 12–13). 8.23–24 It is not probable, all the same, that Wm & I will return together. • WJ set sail for the United States aboard the Parthia on 25 August 1880, but HJ did not depart Europe until 20 October 1881 (see HJ to
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Frederick Macmillan, 20 October 1881, p. 280).
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HENRIETTA HEATHORN HUXLEY 3 July [1880] ALS Huxley Papers Imperial College Archives 19.40
REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W. 5
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July 3d Dear Mrs. Huxley. I am very sorry to say that after all I shall have to come to you tomorrow alone. My brother was compelled to leave London suddenly yesterday; & I shall bring you his apologies & regrets. Very truly yours H. James jr No previous publication
10.1 HENRIETTA HEATHORN HUXLEY • Henrietta Heathorn Huxley (1825–1914) was a poet and the wife of biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, whose work she edited.
MARY WALSH JAMES 4 July [1880] ALS Houghton 25
bMS Am 1094 (1901)
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
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July 4th. Dearest Mammy. Your letter of June 20th came to me yesterday, & I must answer it without delay. It found William still with me, though later in the day he left town, to go & pay a short visit to Sara Darwin & take a look at the Isle of Wight. I am afraid my first letter, after his arrival gave you a more gloomy impression of 10
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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1880
him than I have been justified in taking since. After he had been here a few days he began to recover his sleep & with it his strength & his spirits; & most of the time he appears to have been able to do with impunity & with enjoyment the principal things he has desired. He has seen his friends the philosophers (Hodgson, Robertson, Bain, Sully, Hughlings-Jackson &c) & of Hodgson in particular has seen a great deal. (He likes the last mentioned extremely & describes him as most sympathetic.) All this has been interesting & even exhilarating to him, & I am very glad he has manged it, for he has managed little else in the way of seeing people & has been able to avail himself almost not at all of the social opportunities I have wished to offer him—(in the way of dining out &c.) This however is highly natural, for as he justly says, it is poor work going through all the _formal^_` preliminaries of acquaintance with people whom you never expect to reap further profit of friendship from;. He has preferred to use his time for other things—knocking about London, keeping out of doors &c; all of which has done him good. He has been most genial & sympathetic to me, & I have greatly enjoyed his talk & his company—having learned more from him about home affairs in a 1⁄2 hour’s conversation, than in a year of letter-writing. I must say, however, that even at best there remains more of nervousness & disability about him than I had supposed, & I can’t get rid of the feeling that he takes himself, & his nerves, & his physical condition, too hard & too consciously. As he takes himself, however, so one must take him; but I wish he had a little more of this quiet British stoutness. I am delighted with what you tell me about the advantages of his wife & babe; he has let me read some of the latter’s _former’s^_` letters to him since he has been here, & they breathe a sweetness & devotion which must indeed be full of help & comfort to him.—I hope our own Alice has made a good thing, with Miss Loring’s help, of the journey to the White Mts. You will tell me of the event when you next write, & I shall 11
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be delighted if it should proves a happy one. Give my tender love to the Sister & tell her to profit by some hour of coinciding vigour & virtue to write me a few lines. I see you are having a it hot again; but I hope you are keeping cool, all the same. Your sketch of Anna Rodgers’s marriage-doings was interesting & shows the family in rather a vulgar light; but people must be left to take their satisfactions where they seem to them to lie; & the incidents you mention will have at least had the advantage of furnishing Aunt Kate & Cousin Helen with subjects for conversation for an unlimited period. I am very sorry you are to be deprived of A. K’s society for the whole summer; but I trust her ministrations to Cousin H. will prolong the latter’s life.— Touching myself personally ◇ I am able to give you no great news. I have carried on my London habits in a great measure independently of William—went for instance the other evening to a party at Devonshire House to which he was indisposed to accompany me. I am _much^_` more interested in my current work than anything else—& am a good deal bothered with the number of transitory Americans who come to see me, with appeals (tacit or explicit) for “attention” which I have neither time nor means to show them. (Tell Alice, however, that William Loring has never turned up.) Don’t think I am trifling with your affections too much in the matter of coming home in the autumn if I say that in spite of my having written you last that I was thinking of starting sooner, it may be that I shall judge it best again to delay it. Nothing is settled yet, positively, but as soon as it is I will let you know. Several excellent reasons have turned up within the last week to p◇ _make^_` me think of waiting a while longer, & you may be sure that if I decide to do so, I will set them forth to you in a manner not only to take the edge from your disappointment, but to minister to your joy. If by waiting a while I am ◇◇ _become^_` able to returner with more leisure, fame & moneey in my hands, & the prospect & desire of remaining at home longer, it will be better for me 12
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to do so; & this is very possible. When I do come, I wish to come solidly; & in this respect a few months will make a great difference. I am eager to go now, but next year I shall be able ^_`still^_` more so. All this, however, will become clearer to me in two or three weeks; & then I shall make it clear to you. Blessings on father & sister on on yourself, dearest mother, from yours ever fondly H. J. jr ———— W.m. returns here on the 7th or 8th & then leaves for the continnt. ———— Previous publication: HJL 2: 291–94
10.34 impression • im- | pression 11.10 manged • [misspelled] 11.15 preliminaries • prelimin- | aries 11.16 friendship • friend- | ship 11.16 ;. • [bottom part of ; blotted out, resulting in .] 11.20 enjoyed • en- | joyed 11.20 company • com- | pany 11.22 letter-writing • letter- | writing 12.3 a it • [it overwrites a] 12.5 marriage-doings • marriage- | doings 12.9 furnishing • fur- | nishing 12.10 conversation • con- | versation 12.18 anything • any- | thing 12.28 within • [in inserted]
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12.33 moneey • [misspelled] 13.1 possible • possi- | ble 13.2 respect • re- | spect 13.9–11 W.m. returns [. . .] continnt. ———— • [written across the letter’s first page] 13.10 continnt • [misspelled]
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11.6 Hodgson • Shadworth Hollway Hodgson (1832–1912), American philosopher and president of the Aristotelian Society of London. 11.6 Robertson • George Croom Robertson (1842–92), philosopher and psychologist. 11.6 Bain • Alexander Bain (1818–1903), psychologist who influenced the work of WJ. 11.6 Sully • James Sully (1842–1923), philosopher and psychologist. 11.6 Hughlings-Jackson • John Hughlings Jackson (1835–1911), physician interested in neurology and disorders of the brain. 11.23 nervousness & disability • WJ suffered from depression and eye trouble. 11.33 Miss Loring’s • Katharine Peabody Loring (1849–1943), AJ’s friend and caretaker. 11.33–34 the journey to the White Mts. • In the spring of 1880, AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring visited the White Mountains and Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire; Newport, Rhode Island; and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 12.5 Anna Rodgers’s marriage-doings • Anna Schuchardt Rodgers (1839–94) was the granddaughter of MW J’s maternal aunt Hellen Robertson (d. 1818). Anna married Samuel Verplanck Jr. (1840–1911) in 1880. 12.9 Cousin Helen • MWJ’s cousin Helen Rodgers Wyckoff Perkins (1807–87). 12.22 William Loring • William Caleb Loring (1851–88), brother of Katharine Peabody Loring. 13.9 W.m. returns here • WJ left for London on 5 June 1880 and stayed
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with HJ at Bolton St. He then left for Switzerland on 12 July.
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MARIA THERESA VILLIERS EARLE 10 July [1880] ALS Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Za James 40
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3 Bolton St W. July 10th. Dear Mrs. Earle. I find your note on my return from the country, & thank you very cordially for your kind invitation. But, alas, I am engaged, & have been so for the last three weeks! It is most provoking—but it is the (London) law. I shall be in no danger however of regretting that I have made an acquaintance, as I shall presently prove to you. Staying yesterday at a very pleasant house—Loseley—I talk took a walk with a young lady who was there & you were the theme of our discourse. Believe me Very truly yours Henry James jr. No previous publication
15.1 MARIA THERESA VILLIERS EARLE • An English horticulturalist and socialite with connections in both literary and artistic circles, Earle (1836–1925) rose to literary fame with her 1897 publication Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, a collection of essays concerning gardening and household matters. 15.2 10 July [1880] • Year assigned from HJ’s reference to his visit to
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the Roses’ Loseley Park, which occurred first in July 1880 (Gorra 49). 15.15–16 very pleasant house—Loseley • Loseley Park, home of Lady Charlotte Temple Rose. Loseley House, the residence on the estate, just south of Guildford, Surrey, was built in the sixteenth century.
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WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 20 July [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1784 (253)-29 5
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July 20th ———— Dear Howells. I send you to day 48 _printed^_` pages of my novel—which should have gone to you five days since, but that just as I received the sheets from the printer I was taken with a sharp attack of illness which kept me in bed for three days, unable to use a pen. This is the first moment I have got my wits about me again. (I had a terrible siege of neuralgic pain in my head, to which, I am sorry to say, I am wofully liable.) What you have herewith are the sheets of Macmillan containing the 1st part (number) of the story & the greater portion of the second number. You will _shall^_` have in two or three days the rest of the second & the whole of the third. After that the sequel will flow freely. You will see that the 1st part is very long (261⁄4 pages of Macmillan) (which will make, I shld. say, just about the same of the Atlantic.) The following numbers will, as a general thing, probably be shorter by two or three pages. I wrote you that October was the month fixed for publica beginning here; but I am afraid I did not make as clear to you as I ought (as I was indeed myself rather inattentive to the fact at the time) that for the Atlantic this must mean the November number. It is only by your publishing a fortnight after Macmillan, rather than a fortnight before, that I can secure the English copyright: _an indispensable boon.^_` This is what Harper is doing with my little Washington Square, which beginning in the Cornhill in June, began in Harper in July. Don’t worry about the P. of an L. being stolen in the few 16
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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days interval of time that may elapse be betwen the October Macmillan arriving in New York, & the Atlantic coming out; for Houghton & Mifflin will please immediately have the thing copyrighted for me, & each number of Macmillan will contain (as the current Cornhills _do^_`) a footnote duly setting forth that I have taken out _the American^_` copyright & will have my pound of flesh from whomsoever infringes it. In November then I look for you to begin. I feel as if I had done nothing but delay & disappoint you with regard to this production; but you see what it is to have given me a boundless faith in your bonté. Prove it once more. I am much obliged to you for the pretty volume of the Undiscovered, which I immediately read with greater comfort & consequence than in the magazine. My first impression of it remains, however (& you have probably found it the general impression)—that it is the least entertaining of your books. The subject is interesting & the character of Boynton very finely conceived; but the spiritism, which at the beginning one looks to see more illus illustrated, vanishes from the scene, & the Shakerism which comes in, seems arbitrary & unaccounted for. You strike me, once you have brought in Shakerism, as not having made quite enough of it—not made it grotesque, or pictorial, or whatever-it-may-be, enough; as having des described it too un-ironically & as if you were a Shaker yourself. (Perhaps you are—unbeknown to your correspondents & contributors!!—& that this is the secret of the book!) Furthermore, I think Egeria is the least individual & personal of your heroine( heroines heroines; and I resent her suburban matrimony with Mr. Ford (whom I don’t care for, either,) at the end. On the other hand the subject is a larger & heavier one than you have yet tried, & you have carried it off with great ease & the flexibitiy which shows how well you have learned your art. Excuse this diatribe, which is really cool as accompanying an appeal, on my own part, to your consideration. I have as usual 17
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no personal news. The only important things that can happen to me are to die or _and^_` to marry, and as yet I do neither. I shall in any case do the former first; then, in the next world, I shall marry Helen of Troy. My brother has been spending a month with me & has left for Switzerland. I shall be writing you again in a few days. Yours ever faithfully H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 298–300; Anesko 151–52
16.17 herewith • here- | with 16.32 Washington • Washing- | ton 17.1 be betwen • [misspelled]; be- | betwen 17.5 Cornhills • Corn- | hills 17.7 whomsoever • whom= | soever 17.7 November • Novem- | ber 17.9 disappoint • dis- | appoint 17.13 immediately • im- | mediately 17.17 character • charac- | ter 17.23 whatever-it-may-be • whatever- | -it-may-be 17.23–24 des described • [e overwrites es]; des de= | scribed 17.28 heroine( heroines • [s overwrites (] 17.28 heroines heroines• [s overwrites /s] 17.32 flexibitiy • [misspelled] 18.1 important • im- | portant 18.4–6 been spending [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page]
16.10 my novel • The Portrait of a Lady, which was published serially in the Atlantic Monthly between November 1880 and December 1881. 16.30–31 I can secure the English copyright • To secure copyright in Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
both countries, a work had to be published first in Great Britain and then, quickly thereafter, in the United States. If formal publication in the United States was not possible, then HJ deposited a single printed copy with the Library of Congress to establish his American copyright. HJ was careful to secure copyrights in both England and America following the legal but unauthorized printing of A Bundle of Letters in the United States by
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1880 Aaron Kimball Loring in 1880 (see CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 112, 116–17, 118–19, and 122–23, 122–23 regarding HJ’s confusion concerning the copyright for A Bundle of Letters). But this was not HJ’s first loss of control over his copyright. Daisy Miller, An International Episode, and The American had also been pirated (see CLHJ, 1878–1880 1: xx, xxi, xxii, xxv; and CLHJ, 1876–1878 1: 146n142.3–4). 17.10 bonté • kindness, goodness. 17.12–13 the Undiscovered • Howells’s The Undiscovered Country, just published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
MARY WALSH JAMES 20 July [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1902)
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
July 20th Dearest Mammy— I must write you but a short note, for I am sorry to say your poor old infant is rather seedy. I am just recovering from one of those wretched sieges of pain in my head which I have had so often & which are so very unprofitable. I have had longer ones than this, ^_`(I was but 2 days in bed,)^_` but rarely more acute; though on the other hand I have the satisfaction this time of having seen a definite cause—in the fact that I got a violent chill from sleeping too much exposed to the air during a night in which the temperature suddenly changed from hot to cold. This brought on a savage rheumatic, or neuralgic, headache; but I had this time a less metaphysical physician than poor old Wilkinson, who assuaged my pain with considerable promptitude. Now I am feeling much better, _&^_` I will try & not do it again. But they are strange & loathsome fits.—I have 2 letters, one from father of July 1st (which I sent on to Wm) & your own of July 9th 19
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which came last night. Both of them were full of tender affection & gratified me much, & I shall send your’s also on to William. He left me a week ago, feeling & seeing every way very much better than when he arrived. The last thing he did was to go down to Lady Rose’s & spend a few hours, which he enjoyed apparently so much that I was sorry he couldn’t have more of it. They have _taken^_` a most picturesque old house in Surrey; Lady L R was delightful, & the party a very pleasant one, containing ◇◇◇ _the^_` Henry Adams’es, some other people, and her charming & attractive daughter Mrs. Clarke.—Frank Boott & Lizzie have just come in, having arrived here last night, to see some cousins whom they have lately ▬ ^_`discovered,^_` some of whom live in the country & others in Scotland. _London.^_` They seem very well & friendly, but they don’t like London (which they don’t know at all) & don’t pretend to like it. Frank lags very much in the cousin-business which has chiefly been conducted by Lizzie, apparently with very agreeable results. They are to spend two or three weeks in the country, and I shall apparently not see much of them.—My last letter, dearest mammy, will have prepared you & father for what I may _now^_` speak of as a decision—namely my putting off my journey to America till sometime next year. I am afraid you will be rudely disappointed, but I hope your disappointment will not survive the knowledge of my good reasons for the change. These, briefly expressed, are that I am not _yet^_` ready to go. I took my passage, a month ago, in the Gallia for August 21st, & I have not yet given it up; but I shall shortly do so.—I have an insurmountable objection to going home with my long novel which begins 2 or 3 months hence, but half completed, & having to settle down to steady work again as soon as I get home; & on the other hand it would be a feverish & impracticable scramble to finish it before the time I first intended to go—in October. I am to get a good deal of money for it (i.e. from the Atlantic & Macmillan together, if it runs a year, as it probably will, 6000 20
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dols., £1200;) & therefore I wish to carry it on quietly & comfortably—the more so as I have just been correcting the opening proofs & that they seem to me very good. In the 2d place there is a considerable probability that I shall at last come to the point and undertake to write the Life of Dickens; & if I do this, I must do it here, & not go home with the task on my hands, unexecuted. I must do it on the spot, as much as possible in London.—There dearest parents, are part of my reasons for putting off my return; & when you see that they redound to my profit, glory & general felicity, & therefore, by intimate implication, to yours & my sister’s, you will, I think easily accept them, & reconcile yourself to a little more waiting. My delay has nothing to do with my not wanting to go home: on the contrary, I wish to go keenly, & see ◇ a thousand uses & satisfactions in it; but I wish to do in it in the best conditions & to return in a word with a little accumulation of opulence & honour. (Send this letter, if you think best, to A. K.; but please mention to one no one else that financial statement I made you about the novel, nor the other information about the Dickens) On this then I take your blessing & your embrace, & assume that for the present you will philosophically cease to expect me.—I am delighted that Alice has taken a successful breathing=spell in your formidable summer & hope her experiment has been happy to the end—if the end has come, as I trust not. I trust she built a monument somewhere of forest leaves (or rather of New Hampshire granite) to the divine Miss Loring, who appears to unite the wisdom of the serpent with the gentleness of the dove. Apropos, I found on my table the other day Mr. William Loring’s card & Alice’s note of introduction. He had just left them at my door, but had neglected to put on the card the faintest inkling of an address; in consequence of which I have been unable to follow him up in any way. In all this measureless London I can’t of course ascertain where he lodges, & he I suppose, having forgotten that he didn’t leave an address, thinks me of small 21
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civility. I have been hoping he would bethink himself & come back; but he has not yet done so. Will his sister, in writing to him, please mention these facts, & my regret at having been so helpless in the matter?—The London season has virtually terminated, to my ineffable joy. It has to me been full of weariness, interruptions, barren engagements, expensiveness & general bewilderment—all injurious to quiet work. I shall never spend another at a time when I have any work to do. If I pass May, June, July here again, it will be because I can afford to be idle. Lots of people of ^_`with^_` introductions, friends from abroad, passing Americans &c, have been poured out upon me; & the measure has been too full—containing as it has done also, all my usual Am◇◇◇◇◇◇ ^_`London^_` engagements & preoccupations. The outsiders never understand that you ◇ are already ▬ _a man^_` busy to the verge of desperation when they arrive, & _they^_` are the successive grains in the load that breaks the camel’s back. The latest arrival is little Bob Emmet, who made his way, 2 days since, to my bedside, & whom to get rid of him, I have had to ask him to dinner. He seems, however, an amiable, genial youth. This letter is of course addressed equally to father & you, but you ◇ must thank him none the less, particularly for the glowing speeches—the ardentia verba—of his of the 1st July, which enclosed the two extracts for Mrs. Orr. These I have read with much interest. I have not yet send sent them to Mrs. Orr, because I have been intending from one day to another to go & see her; & shall now presently do so. I want to tell her personally of the pleasure her interest in his book gave father. What he said about William’s Alice & the Boy made me regret acutely that another interval is to intervene before I see them; but their charms will only be a little riper. I hope the two are in a good way at Petersham. Willi ^_`The^_` few hours Wm & I spent together at Losely Park (the Roses’) made me feel that Wm’s charming conversational powers would make him such a boon in the British country-house that he might easily spend his 22
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whole summer, gratis, in going triumphantly from one to another, where such birds are rare, & I wished he might stop a while longer & try it; but what he is doing is of course much more truly hygienic. I hope your heat is over & that you are not the worse for it. Also that Alice will try another outing. Tell her that I am particularly sorry on her account that she is not to behold me so soon; for I know that she languishes for me & that her disturbed health is doubtless in some degree caused by this languishment. I too languish, but when I do come I will come in a style that _will^_` makes/ up for delays. Thank Mary greatly for her message, & tell her I shall certainly go to Milwaukee. I hope Aunt Kate, who, I suppose, _is^_` a kind of “bedchamber= woman,” as they say here, to cousin Helen, is in some cool & sympathetic spot. Farewell, dearest mammy & daddy. I have written you a longer letter than I intended, & that I have done so without evil results proves me to me that I am all right again. Waft your blessing across the seas to your faithfullest H. James jr P.S. I have got but a postcard from William, from Cologne. He will already have written to you that he crossed to Holland, passed through Amsterdam, Antwerp &c. I expect daily to hear that he has reached Switzerland whither I have several letters to forward to him. ———— Previous publication: HJL 2: 294–98
20.6 apparently • ap= | parently
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20.7 picturesque • pic= | turesque 20.8 L R • [R overwrites L] 20.9 containing • con- | taining 20.17 conducted • con- | ducted 20.20 prepared • pre= | pared 20.31 impracticable • im- | practicable
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 21.5 undertake • under- | take 21.7 possible • possi- | ble 21.11 accept • ac- | cept 21.12 yourself • your- | self 21.14 ◇ a • [a overwrites illegible letter] 21.15 in it • [t overwrites n] 21.16 accumulation • ac- | cumulation 21.17 • [blotted out] 21.18 financial • finan- | cial 21.21 philosophically • philos- | ophically 21.22 formidable • formi- | dable 21.23 experiment • [m malformed] 22.1 himself • him- | self 22.3 mention • men- | tion 22.7 injurious • in- | jurious 22.10 introductions • intro- | ductions 22.11 Americans • [m malformed] 22.14 ◇ are • [a overwrites illegible letter] 22.19 however • how- | ever 22.21 ◇ must • [m overwrites illegible letter] 22.23 enclosed • en- | closed 22.24 send sent • [t overwrites d] 22.25 them • [m malformed] 22.29 regret • [re inserted] 23.10 makes/ • [blotted out] 23.11 Milwaukee • Mil= | waukee 23.12–13 bedchamber= | woman • bedchamber= | woman 23.14 sympathetic • sympa- | thetic
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23.22–24 whither I have several letters to forward to him. ———— • [written across the letter’s last page]
19.30 poor old Wilkinson • Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson (1812– 99), a longtime family friend of the Jameses.
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1880 20.5 Lady Rose’s • Loseley Hall, residence of Lady Charlotte Temple Rose and her husband, John Rose. 20.9 Henry Adams’es • Henry and Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams, longtime friends of HJ. 20.10 Mrs. Clarke • Mary Temple Rose Clarke (d. 1913), daughter of Lady Charlotte Temple and John Rose. 20.21–22 my putting off my journey to America • HJ delayed an extended visit to the United States that was first planned for the fall of 1880. He finally departed in late October 1881 (see HJ to Frederick Macmillan, 20 October 1881, p. 280). 21.5 undertake to write the Life of Dickens • In early 1880 HJ wrote to Sr. that the Macmillans had offered him $1,000 to write a biography of Charles Dickens for the English Men of Letters series, which included HJ’s Hawthorne. In the end, however, HJ was unable to take on the project (see CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 89). 21.23 her experiment • A journey by AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring to the White Mountains and Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. 22.23 the two extracts for Mrs. Orr • Alexandra Sutherland Leighton Orr (1828–1903), who published “Mr. Henry James, Sr.” 22.28 the Boy • WJ and AHGJ’s first child, Henry “Harry” James (1879–1947). 22.31 Petersham • Petersham, Massachusetts. 23.10 Mary • RJ’s wife, Mary Holton James (1847–1922). 23.19 from Cologne • WJ stayed in Cologne on 14 July and possibly 15
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July 1880, following his visit with HJ.
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GRACE NORTON 26 July 1880 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (916) 5
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GROVE FARM, LEATHERHEAD. July 26th 1880 ———— My dear Grace. It seems to me better that I should write you a short note than none at all; so here is a hearty handshake, compressing many greetings & questions. I wrote to you some three months since from Sorrento; & hope the letter safely reached you, in spite of the vagaries of the Neapolitan post. After that I spent a series of weeks in Florence, in the midst of the sweet springtime, & then came back to this sterner, though still agreeable, clime, where I have for the last six weeks been struggling with the high tide, & the breaking waves, of the London Season. That is now virtually over, thank the powers of mercy; & I am taking breath for a couple of days under the genial roof of the Russell Sturgis’s. You knew them, I think, while you were in England; but I don’t know that you were ever at this lovely place, deep in the bosom of charming Surrey. Anything greener, rosier, breezier, more fragrant & more cushiony on the part of nature, cannot well be conceived—a place to reconcile one completely to a passive as distinguished from an active life. Socially speaking the characteristics of the spot are a religious confidence in the coming repast & an absence of fatiguing intellectual flights. Russell Sturgis is a dear, delightful old fellow & Mrs. S. the kindest, easiest & handsomest of hostesses. If she is very expensive to keep, that is nothing to the pausing visitor, who simply enjoys what I just now enjoyed—an exhibition in the dining=room by a great goldsmith who had come up from 26
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London with his wares & had tumbled out on the table a heap of temptations in the shape of diamond necklaces for £6000, &c..— Italy, to go back a moment, was more Italy than ever & I more helplessly infatuated with it. I came away with immense regret, & hope to spend a part of next winter there. You will rightly infer from this that I am postponing that visit to my native land which I must have mentioned to you as likely to occur this coming autumn. I have found, quite lately, a great many good reasons for putting it off a while; & if you are so kind (as you will be) _as^_` to share my own regret at this necessity, you will perhaps extract comfort (as I do) from the reflection that when I do go home it will be with a hungry eagerness & a determination to remain a long time. The event will certainly come off some time next year. When you write me, don’t reproach me overmuch with my delay, for I already feel much shame at having trifled with the affection of several gentle spirits who had found means to take pleasure in the prospect of seeing me soon.—I have had my brother William in town with me for a month—enjoying London quietly & very eclectically; but he is now rambling through Switzerland & enjoying a freedom that Britin Britain cannot give. I was conscious this year of being overdosed with London & shall not soon again, I think, spend the months of June & July there. The machine is altogether too big, & too brutal in its operations, & the quality of _social^_` existence fatally sacrificed to quantity. The quantity is particularly e◇ excssive if one happens to have valued work to do; & in this case one neither does one’s work properly nor enjoys the things that prevent one from doing it. One of my latest sensations was going one day to Lady Airlie’s to hear Browning read his own poems— with the comfort of finding that, at least, if you didn’t _don’t^_` understand them, he himself apparently understands them even less. He read them as if he hated them & would like to bite them to pieces.—I see Lowll Lowlll Lowell only by glimpses; he is so terribly mundane & moves in such exalted spheres. He is 27
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apparently going straight through the mill; but now that his wife is better he appears to take to it kindly—which is very well, as there seems to be nothing else for him to do. I read in the Times that you are roasting alive in the U. S. A.; but I trust that you catch the passing breeze at Ashfield, & I hope that Charles & the children (among whom I include yourself ) are preserved from blight by it. Give my blessing to Charles; if I go to Italy next winter I shall take his book with me, & indulge thereby three or four passions at once—friendship, the love of knowledge, & the love◇ love of Italia mia.—The lunch-bell sounds, & I must hurry off to justify that confidence that I just now spoke of in the qualities of the victuals. You are probably at this moment sitting somewhere under the trees & looking at opposite hills. I am doing the same—that is I shall be, this afternoon; but the hills in my case will _be^_` the great lawny slopes of Norbury Park. Nevertheless I wish I were with you in your more untutored landscape. Is George Curtis always near you, & do you often see him? This question is inane, for of course if he is at Ashfield, you meet every day; & I meant it only as a pretext for asking you to give him my very friendly remembrance. Farewell, dear Grace, for to-day. Don’t forget me, but if you remember me, let it be leniently; & believe me ever faithfully yours H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 300–302
26.34 dining=room • dining= | room 27.11 extract • ex- | tract 27.12 determination • deter- | mination
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27.20 Britin Britain • [a overwrites i]; Brit= | in ain 27.21 conscious • con- | scious 27.21 overdosed • over- | dosed 27.25–26 e◇ excssive • [x overwrites illegible letter; misspelled] 27.28 prevent • pre- | vent 27.31 understand • under- | stand
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1880 27.33 Lowll Lowlll Lowell • [ first l inserted, then the top half blotted out to form e] 28.10 love◇ love • [e overwrites e and illegible letter] 28.18 question • ques- | tion
26.13 I wrote to you some three months since • 9 April 1880 to Grace Norton (CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 152–55). 26.30 Russell Sturgis • Russell Sturgis (1805–87), lawyer and merchant originally from Boston, partner of Baring Brothers, and the father of Julian and Howard Sturgis. 26.31 Mrs. S. • Julia Overing Boit Sturgis (1823–88), third wife of Russell Sturgis (m. 1846) and mother of authors Julian Russell Sturgis (1848–1904) and Howard Overing Sturgis (1855–1920). 27.29 Lady Airlie’s • Henrietta Blanche Stanley (1830–1920) married David Graham Drummond Ogilvy, Lord Airlie, in 1851. Their estates included Airlie Castle and Cortachy Castle. 27.33 Lowell • James Russell Lowell (1819–91), American poet, critic, Harvard professor, diplomat, and politician. He became American minister to Spain in 1877. He edited the Atlantic Monthly (1857–61) and the North American Review (1864). HJ and he became close friends—especially after 1880, when Lowell was named American minister to Britain. 28.5 Ashfield • The location of the Norton summer home in western Massachusetts. 28.10 Italia mia. • my Italy. 28.17 George Curtis • George William Curtis (1824–92), Americanborn writer, lecturer, editor, and political activist. He and Norton spent summers in Ashfield. Curtis’s works include Nile Notes of a Howadji (1851),
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
Potiphar Papers (1853), Prue and I (1856), and Trumps (1861).
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY 26 July [1880] ALS Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine 5
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✉ GROVE FARM, LEATHERHEAD. July 26th. My dear Tommas— I have two notes to thank you for—one rec’d. about a month since & enclosing that queer series of prize-questions, or rather answers, about Confidence, which was “irresistibly droll”; & the other a few days ago, acknowledging the receipt of Lang’s little verses. This is a line of handshake merely, as I have a morning-full of letter-writing before me—a task I always try to accomplish when I spend a day or two in a countryhouse. I am paying a short visit to the Russell Sturgises (the parents of the gentle Julian;) & I wish you might also have a glimpse of the peculiar loveliness of this place, which is in the midst of the sweetest scenery of one of the sweetest parts of England—the charming, richly rural, yet-most-convenientto-London Surrey.—I think you told me that you had met the gentle Julian; if you do so again give him my love. He is a dear sweet fellow, & with a considerable literary talent of a light order; but I question whether his tissues have not been fatally relaxed by the uncrumpled rose=leaf existence _character^_` of his origin & breeding, as exhibited in the daily train-de-vie of this supremely luxurious house. He appears to be enjoying the ◇◇◇◇◇ U. S. A very much, however; & they ought to do him good.—I have nothing much to report of myself save (what you will be sorry to hear) that my visit to my natal shore, which I had projected for this autumn, has been needfully postponed. It is a disappointment to me, but there are very good reasons for it; & I shall certainly come home next year & probably for a much longer stay. If you also are disap ^_`so 30
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good^_` as to be disappointed therefore, fix your eyes, as I do, on this compensatory fact.—William has been with me for a month, enjoying London quietly, & entertaining me much with his compensation _conversation^_`; but he lately went over to the continent & is now rambling about Switzerland. I am
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working at a long novel, which is shortly to begin in the Atlantic & Macmillan, & is (I hope) to be my hitherto longest & best performance. How does American literature come on? I think Howells’s last novel more ambitious but less charming than his others.—We hear that you are roasting alive in the U. S. A., but
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I trust you catch the passing breeze at Kingston. A young man with a note from Howells, & telling me he knew you, Mr. Brown by name, lately came to me in London, but has now, I believe gone to the continent. Many compliments to your wife & child from yours ever H. James jr
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✉ Thomas S. Perry esq. Kingston. Mass.
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United States [Postmark:] LEATHERHEAD D JY26 80
445 445 45
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Previously published: Harlow 307–8
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30.15–16 country- | house • country- | house 30.20–21 convenient- | to-London • convenient-to- | -London 30.25 rose=leaf • rose= | leaf
30.12–13 Lang’s little verses • Andrew Lang published XXII Ballades in
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
The Complete Letters of Henry James Blue China, The Prince of Omur, and Other Poems, and Theocriticus, Bion, and Moschus Rendered into English Verse in 1880. 30.22 Julian • Julian Russell Sturgis (1848–1904), novelist, son of Russell Sturgis and Julia Overing Boit Sturgis, and brother of Howard Overing Sturgis. Born in the United States, Sturgis spent the greater part of his life in England and became a naturalized British citizen in 1877. 31.6 a long novel • The Portrait of a Lady, which was published serially in the Atlantic Monthly from November 1880 through December 1881. 31.9 Howells’s last novel • The Undiscovered Country. 31.12 Mr. Brown • HJ’s 24 January 1881 letter to Perry reveals not only that Perry had repudiated Brown’s claim to Perry’s friendship but that HJ found Brown “a base _little^_` creature, & a specimen of a debilitated people” (p. 151). 31.14 your wife & child • Lydia “Lilla” Cabot Perry (1848–1933) and Margaret Perry (b. 1876).
THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY 30 July [1880] 20
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Dear Tom. Looking over my papers, I find an autograph that may have some slight value to you (as you asked for sich:) but it must be translated to make you understand it is that of Miss Rhoda Broughton (“Cometh up as a Flower &c.”) I wrote to you three days since from the country. Yours ever H. James jr July 30th
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✉ 3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W. T. S. Perry esq. Kingston Mass. United States.
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32.27 “Cometh Up as a Flower &c.” • Rhoda Broughton’s two-volume autobiography. 32.27–28 I wrote to you three days since • The last extant letter from HJ to Perry is 26 July [1880] (pp. 30–31).
ALICE JAMES 8 August [1880]
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✉ Brighton (Bedford Hotel.) Aug 8th Dearest sister. I have not written to you for a good while, & I have to day the extra-incentive of having learned yesterday through a postal-card from William’s Alice, which came to me to forward to him, that you had been passing through some painful episode with your tooth or teeth. I am very sorry you have had to suffer this added woe—especially as I gather that it brought you home from the country. But I hope it was not a long trouble, & that 33
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it has now taken itself utterly to flight. I know that you went to Waterville, or some such place, & that you found peace & comfort there; but since mother wrote me this fact some time ago, I have no light upon your career. I have recv’d. two or three Quincy St letters for William, which I haven’t dared to open; but none for myself for some time, & though I have begged William to send me back his own, none have yet arrived. I send you with this a note I have just received from W. which will speak to you of the great good & pleasure he is getting from Switzerland; but also of a plan he has of coming back sooner than he first intended. I don’t know what his motives may be; but I have written to dissuade him from it. I wish indeed, as he says, that he had his Switzerland, for future use, “handier” to Cambridge. His wife is a devoted correspondent; and I forward a letter from her every two or three days. The post-card, yesterday, spoke of the Boy’s having been ill—but being also better, which I trust he will remain. Also of “cold, wet weather;” which, though disagreeable, I interpret as a sign that you have at least ceased to be stewed.—I came down to this place four days since, & am sitting now in a room looking straight out over the sea & the p Parade, with a strong “Sou’wester” blowing in upon me. The Brighton air is delicious & makes up in a great measure for the exaggerated cocknefication of the place—which however is animated, amusing & un comfortable. This is the unfashionable Season; but though “no one” is here, the pier and the parade are always full of human entities of some kind (largely Israelitish) & the three or four miles of uninterrupted sea-front that Brighton presents to the winds & waters are a constantly entertaining walk. I wish you were here, sweet sister—I would pull you about in a Bath chair or drive you in a fly on the downs. I find I work much better under the influence of these invigorating breezes than I do _at this season^_` in the stale atmosphere of London; & as I have already passed three Augusts in succession there I shall probably in one way 34
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or another absent myself from town during the greater part of this month and the next.—This is but a line of greeting—in ignorance whether it will find you in the country Cambridge or in regions more pastoral. Wherever it finds you it takes you the tender affection of your faithful brother
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H. James jr P.S.—The Bootts have been in England for some time past, having come hither (on Lizzie’s ini◇ initiative—not poor Frank’s) to look up & visit certain relatives whom I suspect of being dreary—though I may greatly wrong them. I have seen the
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B.’s but two or three times—Lizzie indeed but once. Frank hates England & everything in it—wouldn’t come & dine with me at my club, &c. He is about 4 years old; though he appears at times a rather melancholy baby, as they both are a good deal depressed as the years advance at finding that Lizzie never sells any
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pictures & that the London music-publishers will have nothing to do on any terms with Frank’s songs.—I sent father the Athenaeum with Mrs. Orr’s article as soon as I perceived it—a few days after publication. I don’t know whether he will like it; probably he will like it rather than value it, as it ▬ _was^_` very
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appreciatively meant. I went to see Mrs. O. just before leaving town & gave her the letters he sent me. She is a sad woman—in bad healthy health & unable to re use her eyes. Father’s book was read to her by her maid!! Much love to him, to dearest Mammy & to A. K. Send the latter this, if you can.—
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I suppose you were told that Mr. W. C. L. left your letter & his card on me without leaving any address, & that without a Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
clue to his whereabouts I could do nothing for him[.] It was inadvertence, of course; but I hope his sister will tell hi[m] s[o] and bid come again in the autumn. ✉ 3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W. 35
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
Miss Alice James. 20 Quincy St. Cambridge Mass. United States America 5
[Partially legible postmarks:] BRIGHTON F 8 AU C 132[;] BOSTON MASS. AUG 22 AM[;] NEW [YORK]AUG 21[;] 9 8 18[8]0 L No previous publication
33.29 extra-incentive • extra- | incentive 33.30 postal-card • postal- | card 34.14 correspondent • cor- | -respondent 34.21 p Parade • [P overwrites p] 34.22 delicious • de- | licious 34.23 cocknefication • cocknefi- | cation 34.34 succession • suc- | cession 35.5 affection • affec- | tion 35.8 ini◇ initiative • [ first t overwrites illegible letter] 35.12 everything • every- | thing 35.23 healthy health • [h overwrites hy] 35.23 re use • [u overwrites re] 35.26–30 I suppose you were told [. . .] again in the autumn. • [written across the back of the envelope] 35.27 without • with- | out 35.28 whereabouts • where- | abouts 35.28 [.] • [MS torn] 35.29 hi[m] • [MS torn] Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
35.29 s[o] • [MS torn]
34.19 stewed • The summer of 1880 had been exceptionally warm. See HJ to MWJ, 6 June [1880] (p. 5). 35.18 Mrs. Orr’s article • Alexandra Sutherland Leighton Orr, “Mr. Henry James, Sr.”
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1880 35.23 Father’s book • Sr.’s last book Society the Redeemed Form of Man. 35.26 Mr. W. C. L. • William Caleb Loring.
FRANCIS PARKMAN
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Bedford Hotel
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Brighton. Aug. 8th Dear Mr. Parkman— I shall be very glad to hear from you that your invitation from the Reform Club _came^_` in due course, yesterday, or that it
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will have come tomorrow.—You have, as I told you, nothing to do but to walk in and make yourself at home; & when your month approaches its close, to write a note to the Secretary, in the third person, saying that Mr. Francis Parkman will be obliged to the Committee for an _another month’s^_` extension
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of his honorary membership.—Before that, however, I shall see you, as I return to London (for a few days, at any rate,) toward the end of the month.—I am enjoying the sea breeze at this rather cocknefied watering-place & trying to do some work, but shall perhaps, for the purpose, go a few days hence to some
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more secluded spot. I hope you continue to find London comfortable or at least—
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which is the most one should look for in the dead season— tolerable. My address is always 3 Bolton St.
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Piccadilly. Believe me very truly yours H. James jr 37
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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37.13 Parkman • Park- | man 37.24 cocknefied • cockne- | fied
37.5 FRANCIS PARKMAN • Parkman (1823–93) was an American historian and writer, and his works include The California and Oregon Trail (1849) and his seven-volume history France and England in North America (1865–92).
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 18 August [1880] AL Houghton 15
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REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W.
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Aug. 18th Dear Howells— I am afraid I have caused you a good deal of disappointment, but I hope, & believe, you will find that it rests on no very serious basis. On the receipt, this morning, of your note of the 5th, I immediately went & asked the Macmillans whether it would be possible to telegraph you, as you desired, that you were free to begin my novel in October. The result of my conversation was I sent you half an hour afterwards the telegram that Houghton & Mifflin will have by this time have received. The Macmillans could only reiterate to me that by priority of publication in the U. S., I lose my right to take out the English copyright & this we both agreed it would be a grievous pity I should do. In other words I should suffer a serious damage here & get no corresponding gain at home, where my copyright if taken out beforehand is not invalidated by the English priority of publication, & holds good even if my novel should 38
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1880
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
be published _begun^_` in Dec. or January. You will of course answer that my “gain” will be in accommodating myself to the conditions that you prefer & in particular to the understanding that I first had with you. As to this understanding, I admit that I was culpably unbusiness-like. I had not informed you _myself^_` until I wrote you about the matter a month ago, that it was necessary your date shld. be Octo ^_`November^_`. When I was reminded of this by Fredk. Macmillan it came to me wholly as an afterthought—but at the same time as one to which you would not object. I was extremely sorry I had not made a point of it before, but I consoled myself with thinking that any objections you would have mad make to it, you would have felt before equally. These objections do not seem to me grave as compared with the disadvantage it would be to me that you should publish in America first. The newspapers might ^_`may speak^_` of my story, but as they can’t steal it, I should think their speaking of it will only advertise it. This, I admit, hower however, is a view I cannot impose on Houghton & Mifflin—who are open to take the ground that I have misled them, & that it is not worth their while to publish the novel on these conditions. If they make up their mind to this they will of course [. . .] to recognise the fact that I had not made the thing plain at first. But I shall proceed on the favourable hypothesis, & go on sending you copy (I expected to send you another packet in a few days) as if you accepted the November condition. I earnestly hope the inconveniences of your doing this will not be appreciable. I add nothing more, as I wish to [. . .] Previous publication: Anesko 152–53
38.22 receipt • re- | ceipt; [i inserted] 38.29 publication • publi- | cation
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HENRY JAMES SR. AND MARY WALSH JAMES 19 August [1880] 15
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3 Bolton St. W. ———— Aug. 19th Dearest parents. I have received within the last week both the letters you wrote me on learning that I had decided to put off my visit for the present. Father’s, of July 29th, came to me while I was at Brighton, where I lately spent some ten days; & mother’s, of August 3d since I have been back in London. I thank you both, tenderly, for taking the matter so philosophically, & not reviling me for having disappointed you. Since I determined to remain I have done nothing but see good reasons for it, & perceive indeed that when it came to the point it would have been very inconvenient to me to get off at present. ^_`this moment.^_` (I mean especially as regards interrupting the current of my unfinished work, which now that the London season is over, has got flowing very prosperously.) I repeat then that it will 40
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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be all the better that I should go home next year,—under circumstances that really satisfy me. For the present, William will take you plenty of news of me. He arrived here last night, having, as he will have written you, brought your ^_`his^_` Swiss tour to a speedier conclusion than he at 1st intended: that is, he found himself _already^_` so well that he thought it needless to lengthen it out. Very well indeed he seems—quite bursting with health. But he has found it difficult to get a passage immediately, & will have to wait till Sept 5th, when he sails in the Parthia for Boston, in comp’y. with his friend Henry Bowditch. _(This is a mistake: vide later.)^_` This arrangement he made this morning. It leaves him a fortnight on his hands here, which I don’t quite know what he will do with , as London at this moment does not offer many resources.— But apparently he wishes to be quietle ^_`quiet,^_` after the lively weeks he has been passing.—I wrote to Alice while I was at Brighton, & she will by this time almost have received the letter. What a miserable affair was her tooth-episode—which I trust has now dropped quite into oblivion. (William has just come in again; & I find I have made a conplete _complete^_` mistake about his sailing. He goes _in the Parthia^_` on the 25th inst: Wednesday next—which will give him a much less tedious wait here.) I believe he has a plan of going with Wm Darwin to his see his father; but I don’t think that till he sails he has any other projects. About myself there is nothing much to tell you. I came back from Brighton partly because Wm was coming here; partly because the place is really unfit for the month of August the glare & shadelessness being too great. In October & November which are the real “Season,” it must be delightful. I wish to spend the month of September away from London, but I don’t know what I shall do with it—perhaps go for awhile to Scotland, where I have a pressing invitation to Tillypronie.—I have _had^_` several invitations _to the country^_` l◇ lately, but have refused them all, because I was tired of social intercourse 41
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& wanted to be quiet. The one I most regretted was to spend two or three days at Albert Druce’s, the brother-in-law of John Cross, with the latter & his George-Eliot-wife. But as I shall probably have plenty of chances to see John & George together in the future, I didn’t make a sacrifice to go. When I have seen them, I will let you know how _what^_` a young husband has made of the ex–Mrs. Lewes. Old women are marrying young men, by the way, all over the place. Baroness Burdett Coutts, aged 67; & with £300000 a year is to marry a _penniless^_` stripling of American origin called Ashmead Bartlett. If you hear next that Mrs. Kemble,, or Mrs. Procter, or Mrs. Duncan Stewart, (their combined ages amount to about 250 years) is to marry me, you may know we have simply conformed to the fashion. But I will ask your consent first.—I hope your summer is drawing to a comfortable close & that you have had no more roasting. Willy has read me portions of his numerous letters from his wife, which are always charming, & redolent of the innocent babe, whom I am so sorry to have to wait another year to see. Farewell, dearest parents & sister. Take comfort & in me wherever I am, & I will not play you false. I embrace you all. Ever your faithful H. James jr No previous publication
40.31 inconvenient • inconven- | ient 40.31 present • pre- | sent 41.13 , • [, overwrites .] 41.33 l◇ lately • [a overwrites illegible letter]
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42.7 marrying • mar- | rying 42.10 American • Ameri- | can 42.11 • [blotted out] 42.16 numerous • [m malformed]
42.8 Baroness Burdett Coutts • Angela Georgina Burdett- Coutts
42
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1880 (1814–1906) was the youngest child of Sir Francis Burdett (1770–1844) and his wife, Sophia (d. 1844). Baroness Burdett- Coutts was an important philanthropist. 42.10 Ashmead Bartlett • William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett (1851– 1921) met Baroness Coutts during his childhood. She paid for his education and mentored him. The two were married in 1881. 42.11 Mrs. Kemble • Frances “Fanny” Ann Kemble (1809–93). 42.11 Mrs. Procter • Anne Benson Skepper Procter (1799–1888), elderly widow of writer Barry Cornwall. 42.11–12 Mrs. Duncan Stewart • Harriet Everilda Gore Stewart (1797– 1884), a close friend of HJ until her death.
GRACE NORTON 19 August [1880]
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bMS Am 1094 (917)
3 Bolton St. W. Aug. 19th My dear Grace. Your letter from Newport came to me a couple of days since & gave me more pleasure than pain, but more pain than—I wish to have. To prevent misconception, let me say immediately that the pain comes simply from the sense _of the wretchedness^_` of having to say to you in return for your explicit satisfaction in the idea of my reappearance on our native shore, that after all I am not going home at present ! : I have put it off till next year—for all sorts of good reasons. I hope you will have already learned the fact when you receive this—I wrote it sometime since to my family; so that you _may not^_` detest me too much as you read these lines. You see I am frankly taking for granted that you will be much disappointed; & I take this g for granted because that is my own state of mind. There are, as I say 43
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various excellent reasons of convenience why I shall ej enjoy my adventure better a while hence than to day; but sentimentally, nevertheless, I am disconcerted, & I fondly believe—I even insist upon believing, that you will think it a _grievous^_` pity I shouldn’t spend the autumn, as I intended, in Cambridge. I shall probably spend _the^_` next autumn _after that^_` & I shall be better worth seeing then, (I say nothing of Cambridge itself, which I am told “improves” every year) than to-day. You spoke in such true friendly fashion of the pleasure my arrival would give you, that I hate myself for having nothing better to say to you than that I am sorrier than you. I am not afraid to go home; though it seems to me that I well might be, & that I have heard there is an impression abroad that I am. If I haven’t done justice to American women in general, I have at least the happy consciousness of not having failed of it to two or three of them in particular—of whom, need I say, you are not the least present to my mind!—I am very glad indeed you have been back at Newport again—I like to think of you there—it touches me in a hundred ways to do so. I have an indefeasible fondness for the place—it is mixed up with my tenderest & youthfullest memories. It must be also with your’s, & I am delighted that you say that having them awakened again has been a happiness for you. I have only to close my eyes—on this London midsummer dusk—to see a Newport sunset again—& that brings with it a whole train of visions & feelings. Since you had been there last what a ◇y lifetime of experience you have passed through ! — the closing of such a parenthesis must have been like the pushingto of the Gates of Gaza!—I wrote to you the other day (that is about 3 weeks since) from Leatherhead (the Sturgis’s) & you will probably have duly received my note. Since then nothing much has befallen me—I have been staying mainly at Brighton, whence I have come up to town to be with my brother William, who has just returned from the continent to sail, on the 25th, for home. He has been chiefly walking about Switzerland, which he 44
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thinks a more delightful recreation than you probably will. It appears at any rate to have done him a world of good. When he sails I shall leave town again, to pay two or three visits—one of them in Scotland to my good friends (& yours) John Clark & his famous old “black cat”! When the winter comes I hope to spend a good part of it in Italy,—a country for which my affection withstands the test of time better, I find, than most things in this life. I love it only more tenderly as I grow older & I think I never enjoyed it more than the last time I was there.—I suppose you are back at Ashfield—you are hardly by this time back in Cambridge. You are not so well off as I shall be in Italy (if I go there) but you are better off than I am at this moment in a stuffy London St, with the ^_`a^_` sky of grey cotton & an horizon of black brick.—But I mustn’t blaspheme against London, for I love it almost as well as I do Rome; with an affection that is for all moods & seasons.—I have seen no-one of late; I have been “quiet.” I refused a week ago an invitation to stay three days (in the house) with George Eliot Mrs. Cross née George Eliot & her junior spouse. Aren’t you sorry?—so that I might tell you they were grotesque? I don’t thnik they are, but they are deemed to be. But I shall see them in the future, chez eux, & let you know. Much love to Charles, & to the “children” (?) Ever, dear Grace, your very faithful friend H. James jr No previous publication
43.24 misconception • miscon- | ception 43.25 immediately • imme- | diately
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43.27 satisfaction • satis- | faction 43.33 g for • [f overwrites g] 43.34 mind • [m malformed] 44.1 ej enjoy • [nj overwrites ej] 44.5 autumn • [n malformed] 44.13 impression • im- | pression
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 44.15 consciousness • cons- | ciousness 44.23 midsummer • [third m malformed] 44.24 sunset • sun- | set 44.26 ! — • [— overwrites !] 44.27–28 pushing- | to • pushing- | -to 44.31 befallen • be- | fallen 45.20 thnik • [i inserted; misspelled]
44.28 Gates of Gaza • Samson pulls down the gates to the town of Gaza and walks them up a hill ( Judges 16:1–3). 44.28–29 I wrote to you the other day [. . .] from Leatherhead. • See HJ to Grace Norton, 26 July 1880 (pp. 26–28). 45.1 a more delightful recreation • Suffering from eye trouble and sleeplessness, W J sought relief in exercise while he was in Switzerland. “I will devote my self here to out of door exercise with a free conscience,” he wrote to AHGJ (CWJ 5: 128; see also WJ to AHGJ, 4 August [1880], 15 August [1880], CWJ 5: 132–33, 134–35). 45.4–5 John Clark & his famous old “black cat”! • Sir John Forbes Clark (1821–1910) and Charlotte Coltman Clark (1823–97). HJ visited the Clarks in Cornwall after Christmas in 1880. 45.18–19 George Eliot & her junior spouse. • George Eliot’s husband, John Walter Cross, was forty years old, some twenty years her junior, when they were married in 1880.
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45.21 chez eux • at their home.
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WILLIAM JAMES 31 August [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1992)
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KSFC THE SPRING, KENILWORTH.
Aug. 31st Dear William— I enclose you herewith a letter that has just come for you, & which may be of importance. You are at the present moment on the lonely deep, but so near home, I hope that you will begin to take an interest in the post again. The weather, in England, has been so lovely since you left that I pray you may have had something like it on the Atlantic: if so, you must have had the loveliest _pleasantest^_` of voyages. But of this you will tell me. Your letter enclosing the £15 came with extreme punctuality. I am much obliged to you for them, but sorry that you should have troubled yourself about them in the stress of getting afloat. The remainder I particularly hope you will completely ignore for the present. I hope you have found your wife & infant well, & send many blessings to both of them. Also to those of Quincy St. to whom I shall soon be right ^_`r writing^_` again. I have been spending three charming days at this place with my ami◇ amialbe friend Mrs. Carter—who has just greatly surprised me by announcing her engagement to E. S. Trevillian—a pleasant Englishman who was a while ago in America. She lost her first husband, a charming fellow, less than 2 years ago, & has been plunged in the most desolate & morbid grief up to within a few days ago, from which she has abruptly emerged, to marry Trevillian, an old & intimate friend of her husband, who is now staying here. The weather is perfect, & anything more charming cannot be conceived than this rich, ripe Warwickshire scenery, laden with golden grain & studded with ancient oaks. I go back to town tomorrow, & after that shall invent some scheme for 47
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being absent for the month of September. I hope you will find more & ◇ more that your journey has been a good thing for you, _as it was for me.^_` Renewed greetings. Yours H. James jr Previous publication: CWJ 1: 325–26
47.8 William • [m malformed] 47.9 herewith • here- | with 47.10 importance • impor- | tance 47.16 extreme • ex- | treme 47.22 r writing • [w overwrites r] 47.23–24 ami◇ amialbe • [second a overwrites illegible letter; misspelled] 48.2 ◇ more • [m overwrites illegible letter] 48.3 , _ • [_ overwrites . ; , inserted]
47.13 since you left • 12 July 1880. 47.24 Mrs. Carter • Kate Sedley Fearing Carter (1842–1930). 47.25 E. S. Trevillian • Edwin Brooke Cely Trevilian (1835–1914), barrister and second husband (m. 1880) of Kate Sedley Fearing Carter. 47.26–27 her first husband • Alexander Carter (1835–78).
THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY 31 August [1880] 25
ALS Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine
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✉ KSFC THE SPRING, KENILWORTH.
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Aug. 31st. Dear Tom.—I have two notes to thank you for—one received a few days since (date of Aug. 8th) & one just now (of Aug 15th.) Thank ye for both, with their pleasant literary aroma.—I am very sorry Howells turns the cold shoulder to your observations upon the flatness of our native literature—but am not surprised. 48
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The principles on which he edits the Atlantic indicate a low standard, certainly, & the vulgarity of that magazine often calls a patriotic blush to my cheek. I am pleased to observe, however, _(by an advertisement in the Nation)^_` that you have an article on Scott in the current number. I shall peruse it with interest. What you say about Julian Sturgis is very pretty— that you are glad that one human being at least, has had his fill of uncrumpled rose-leafs leaves, & other earthly goods. Julian is a sweet fellow, & I am glad he speaks of me with regard.— Yes, I have tried to read the f Frivolous Girl, _(sent me by the publishers,)^_` but couldn’t: it seemed to me thin, & vulgar. I gave it away to Mrs. A. Lang, whose husband made a “middle” on it in the Saturday. But please bury this fact in deep oblivion. I have likewise _read^_` Democracy, & thought it clever, though much of the satire a good deal too coarse. Who is by, or attributed to? A man or a woman? It is good enough to make it a pity it isn’t better. I have not seen Brunetières Essais—& indeed I nowadays read little new French, of a◇y◇◇ ^_`any^_` kind, finding it, even when clever, singularly in-nutritive. Old French—the elder French, on the other hand, I like more than ever. I am very sorry our meeting is deferred; but it won’t be for long & it will be all the more cordial. Yours H. James I ought to read your article on Scott here; I look out of my window over a perfect green lawn to a distant view of Kenilworth castle. ———— ✉ T. S. Perry esq. Kingston. Mass. United States America
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[Postmarks:] KENILWORTH F AU 31 80[;] KINGSTON SEP 11 MASS. 49
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
[Partially legible postmarks:] 80[;] BOSTON, MASS. SEP 11 8PM ARRIERS DIV Previous publication: Harlow 308–9
48.33 observations • observa- | tions 49.1 principles • [e inserted] 49.2 certainly • cer- | tainly 49.5 current • cur- | rent 49.8 rose-leafs leaves • [ves overwrites fs] 49.10 f Frivolous • [F overwrites f ] 49.19 in-nutritive • in- | -nutritive 49.23–26 I ought to read your article [. . .] view of Kenilworth Castle.——— • [written across the letter’s first page]
49.4–5 you have an article on Scott • “Sir Walter Scott.” 49.10 Frivolous Girl • Robert Grant’s The Confessions of a Frivolous Girl. 49.12 Mrs. A. Lang • Leonora Blanche Alleyne Lang (1851–1933), wife of journalist Andrew Lang (1844–1912). 49.12 “middle” • A literary subject, named because the literary section often appeared in the middle of a newspaper or magazine. 49.14 Democracy • Democracy: An American Novel was published anonymously in 1880 due to its criticisms of American politics. It was later revealed that Henry Adams was its author. 49.17 Brunetières Essais • Ferdinand Brunetière (1849–1906), Études critiques sur l’histoire de la littérature française. Perry reviewed this book in
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his March 1881 “Recent French and German Essays.”
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MARIAN “CLOVER” HOOPER ADAMS 9 September [1880] ALS Massachusetts Historical Society Theodore F. Dwight Papers, Adams Correspondence, box 10
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Lord Warden Hotel Dover ———— Sept. 9th Dear Mrs. Adams. Your favour just received. I am so glad you enjoyed the article on “Women in Organizations”—it must have been delightful reading for your hot weather.—It has also been hot in this more temperate clime—which is a proximate cause of my having come down to this very quiet spot (where the quiet is extremely enjoyable,) to catch a sea-breeze. I shall probably be here till the 15th, & if you cross to Dover shall look out for you at the ship’s side on that day. Why won’t you stop here & see me? I will go up to London with you. A word to me in advance will secure you palatial rooms. I haven’t much news for you as yet. I have been paying two or three short English visits, & am postponing Scotland till October. I shall at any rate see you in London, & see also I trust the seraphic robe, as well as the more terrestrial ones. But an angel in a walking-costume? I didn’t know angels ever walked: You will be the first! I hear a good deal about the little book, Democracy, you mention—it was much talked of in Warwickshire, at Mrs Carter’s. Did She, by the way, tho’ yesterday the most disconsolate of widows, is immediately to marry E. S. Trevillian—your Washington Britisher. He was staying at her house while I was there, & she announced me the fact with an abruptness which stunned me. Frailty, thy name!——is not H. J. jr. Do decide to stop here!! 51
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51.23 , • [, overwrites .] 51.30 announced • an- | nounced 51.33 Do decide to stop here!! • [written across the letter’s first page]
51.12 article on “Women in Organizations” • Kate Gannett Wells’s “Women in Organizations.” 51.26 Democracy • Henry Adams published Democracy anonymously in 1880. See HJ to Thomas Sergeant Perry, 31 August [1880], where HJ wonders, “Who is by, or attributed to? A man or a woman? It is good enough to make it a pity it isn’t better” (p. 49). 51.27 Mrs Carter’s • HJ spent “three charming days” at the end of August at Kenilworth, the home of Kate Sedley Fearing Carter (HJ to W J, 31 August [1880], p. 47). 51.28–29 is immediately to marry E. S. Trevillian • See HJ to WJ, 31 August [1880] (p. 47).
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WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 11 September [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1784 (253)-31
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Dover, Sept. 11th Dear Howells. I send you herewith another piece of my novel—having been—as regards essentials—partially reassured by your telegram of some days ago. That is, I am now at rest as regards H., M & Co. keeping the story (which I confess I was not before;) but until I hear from you—I suppose you will have written,—I shall _not^_` be at rest as to their estimation of the damage my inadvertence will have caused them. I cannot, honestly, however, think it will be great. Macmillan is deeply 52
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ignored in the U. S. A., & its arrival there will precede the Atlantic by a barely appreciable time. But basta!—I have just _(i.e. ) an hour ago,)^_` heard from Grace Norton, & she speaks of your having been at Ashfield with your “delightful daughter,” & h◇ of _“your^_` never having been more charming.” All this
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makes me regret I was not also there, instead of at dull Dover, where the only entertainment is to see the seasick passengers arrive from France. G. N. also speaks of your writing a story about a “lady-doctor”! I applaud you that subject—it is ◇ rich in actuality—though I cannot, I think, on the whole, say I envy
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_you^_` it. Of course the hero is a patient whom she attends? I hear the Undiscovered Country, is, against your forecast, a great success; on which I much congratulate you. Your ◇ popularity at least I envy.—You will see that the instalments of my novel are at least as long as I first proposed. It will take 12 numbers. In haste, yours ever—H. James jr Previous publication: Anesko 153–54
52.32 ,— • [— written above ,] 53.3 ) an • [a overwrites )] 53.4 , • [, overwrites .] 53.5 h◇ of • [of overwrites h◇] 53.9 ◇ rich • [r overwrites illegible letter] 53.10 cannot • can- | not 53.13 ◇ popularity • [pop overwrites blotted illegible letter]
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52.27 my novel • The Portrait of a Lady. 52.30 H., M & Co. • Houghton, Mifflin and Company. The firm’s predecessor, Houghton, Osgood and Company, owned the Atlantic Monthly at the time of HJ’s agreement to serialize The Portrait of a Lady in their periodical. After Houghton, Osgood’s dissolution, James Ripley Osgood founded J. R. Osgood and Company and attempted to gain the right to
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The Complete Letters of Henry James publish James’s novel. Osgood was unsuccessful. HJ published The Portrait of a Lady with Houghton, Mifflin and Company. 53.2 basta • enough. 53.4 your “delightful daughter,” • Winifred “Winny” Howells (1863–89). 53.8–9 a story about a “lady-doctor” • Doctor Breen’s Practice: A Novel. 53.15 12 numbers • The Portrait of a Lady was published serially in the Atlantic Monthly in fourteen installments from November 1880 through December 1881.
MARY WALSH JAMES 11 September [1880] ALS Houghton 15
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Lord Warden Hotel Dover. Sept. 11th ———— Beloved mammy. A line of response to your tender letter of Aug. 23d: the one in which you enclosed the head-ache prescription from Alice, &c. Perturb yourself not, sweet mother, on the subject of my head aches, of my exhausting life, of my burning the candles at both ends, of my being nipped in the prime of my powers—or of any other nefarious tendency or catastrophe. You will have seen William by this time, & he will have chased such dusky delusions from your mind. I never was better, more at leisure, more workable, or less likely to trifle in any manner with my vitality, physical or intellectual. I wish you could see me in the flesh—I think a glance would set your mind at rest. En attendant, cradle it in the conversation of William—who if he doesn’t draw a rosy picture of me, will be false to a sacred trust. ◇ He must have been, by this time, at home for nearly a week, & I am very 54
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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1880
impatient for some word, either from himself o◇ or from you or father, on the subject of his voyage & his arrival. May such a word speedily reach me. As for me, you see where I am. I have been at this place about a week, & as I find here perfect quiet & fresh sea-air (both equally favourable to work,) I shall probably remain some days more—I wish to keep out of London for the rest of this month. In October I shall perhaps go for a week or two to Scotland; but I have no other plans. I last communicated with home by means of a letter to Aunt Kate, despatched from my friend Mrs. Carter’s house, ◇◇ near Kenilworth, & which she probably will have passed on to you.—After that I spent a couple of days at Sir Trevor Lawrence’s, in Surrey, & then came straight hither. Dover is not (save in a very moderate degree) a wateringplace, & is therefore more agreeable to a truly refined mind than the other places along this coast which are. The British middle-class mob which inundates them at this period depresses the mind _soul^_`—to say nothing of squeezing the body. I fled howling from Folkestone, to which I went before coming here— lost in wonder as to whether it was a harder fate to have no dinner at all, or to find ▬ rooms _a place^_` at the table d’hôte. It is a beautiful season—there has been no rain since the 1st July (it did nothing but rain before,) & hotter weather, _this last fortnight,^_` than I yet seen in England. A fine English summer is certainly a very lovely thing—there is a mild mellowness about it which is infinitely comfortable. But it comes only once in five years, & then is only six weeks long.—I hope you are now ◇◇d _at^_` the end of your own perspirations, & that none of you are really the worse for them. I am very glad father is w◇◇◇◇◇ _has writing written^_` to Mrs. Orr; it will give her real pleasure; she is a genuinely serious woman. I hope to see the letter. Much love to her & to the sister, whom I thank tenderly for the remedy. It is sweet to sha◇◇ _take^_` the same doses as one’s sister. Ever, dearest mammy, yr. H. James jr 55
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The Complete Letters of Henry James Previous publication: HJL 2: 305–6
54.33 ◇ He • [H overwrites illegible letter] 55.1 o◇ or • [or overwrites o and illegible letter] 55.8 communicated • com- | municated 55.10 ◇◇ near • [ne overwrites illegible letters] 55.10 , • [, overwrites .] 55.13–14 watering- | place • watering-place 55.22 weather, • [, inserted] 55.24 certainly • cer- | tainly 55.29 writing written • [ten overwrites ing]
54.31 En attendant • Meanwhile. 55.9 a letter to Aunt Kate • See HJ to AK, 3 May [1880] (CLHJ, 1878– 1880 2: 176–80). 55.10 Carter’s house, [. . .] near Kenilworth • HJ spent “three charming days” at the end of August with Kate Sedley Fearing Carter. See HJ to W J, 31 August [1880] (p. 47). 55.12 Sir Trevor Lawrence’s • Sir James John Trevor Lawrence (1831– 1913), 2nd Baronet and Conservative MP. HJ stayed with Lawrence at Burford Lodge, a property Lawrence’s wife, Elizabeth Matthew (1845–1916), inherited upon the death of her father.
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 25
20 September [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1784 (253)-32
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REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W. 30
Sept. 20th ———— Dear Howells. I have delayed answering your card of Sept. 1st, because I was in the country when it reached me & I wished to think over, in 56
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the light of London, your proposal in reference to “crowding” the tale. I do not believe, when you appreciate the length of the _individual^_` instalments, that you will desire to do so, & I trust you won’t think me unaccommodating if I say that now that it is settled that you publish on the month following Macmillan, I would much rather the whole thing, & its component parts, should march in that order to the end. It is better & safer for me, & I cannot think that you will suffer from relinquishing the idea. My separate instalments will be not of minimum, but of maximum, length, & contain in all probability as much of the tale as you will ever desire to present to your readers at once. As you speak of your wishing to “crowd” _5 numbers^_` as only a remote contingency I hope this frowning reply will not _appreciably^_` disappoint you. I thank you for your advice not to think further of our misunderstanding, & shall succeed in obeying it.—I wrote you about a week ago from the Sea-side, & sent you a couple of bundles of copy which I trust will soon be reaching you.—I am sorry—very sorry—that you were obliged to declined the invitation for the presidential journey—as the loss strikes me as being inflicted on light literature as well as on yourself. But the decision proves your riches—your resources. Apropos of riches, what a fortune you must be making! I congratulate you heartily on the circulation of the U. C.— which I liked better than you appear to suppose.—I suppose you are basking in a golden haze & that in these September days Belmont justifies its name. If you see my brother, soon, he will give you news of me. Yours very truly—H. James jr.
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Previous publication: Anesko 154–55
57.4 unaccommodating • unac- | commodating 57.6 component • com- | ponent 57.13 reply • re- | ply 57.15 misunderstanding • misunder- | standing
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 57.19 declined • [blotted out]
57.23 U. C. • Howells’s The Undiscovered Country.
FREDERICK MACMILLAN 20 September 1880 ALS British Library Add. MS 54931, f. 74–75 10
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REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W. Sept. 20th 1880 ———— Dear Macmillan. I found your note, with the statement of account, on Saturday, on my return from the sea side, but had immediately to leave town again, until this morning. I am ◇◇ glad to find my profits show some signs of extending—& that the amount set down to my credit covers the £100 advanced to me by Mr. Craik last autumn. I am probably back in town permanently—save for an occasional short absence—& I shall take an early day, or rather evening, for coming up to St. John’s Wood & talking with you of your own adventures. (I shall probably take my chance of finding you some evening this week.) I will then speak to you of the book of three tales—which, I suppose ought to come out about Dec. 1st.—I hope your wife is well & that London seems as pleasant again to both of you as it does to my incurable cockneyship. Yours very truly H. James jr
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58.17 ◇◇ glad • [gl overwrites illegible letters]
58.19 Mr. Craik • George Lillie Craik (1837–1905), a partner in the Macmillan firm since 1865 (Moore 50n1, letter 62). 58.23 St. John’s Wood • The Macmillans resided at 2 Elm Tree Road in St. John’s Wood (Horne 94n1).
GRACE NORTON 20 September 1880 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (918)
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REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W. Sept. 20th ———— 1880 ———— My dear G◇◇ Grace. I am not without confidence that you will understand me when I saw say that I am glad you are sorry that I am not yet coming home! Your very pleasant letter of Aug. ◇ 27th contains expressions of pain from which I absolutely extract pleasure. It was not for this, however, that I determined not to come—for the pleasure of your welcome would have been even greater than that of your regret—as it will be still, in fact, some time next year.—I saw your nephew, & got him to come & dine _with me,^_` which was all he could do, as he was leaving for the Continent the next day. I was most happy to see _see^_` him, as I should have been to help him in any way in my power; & he seemed to me a very pleasant & intelligent youth.—making himself very agreeable. I admit however (since you mention 59
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it,) that he appeared to me rather old & posé for his years. But I take an interest in seeing all the young Americans I can; living as I do away from home, I have _wish^_` to guard against the reproach—& indeed the real disadvantage—of not knowing what manner of generations are growing up there.—I infer from what you say that you will be getting back to Shady Hill about the present time, & I hope you will find a pleasant autumn awaiting you there. I have recollections of Cambridge Octobers (& even Novembers,) which are really very tender & agreeable. May you lay in a few such memories this year. I am back in London again after a certain amount of wandering & small visit-paying. Just now however I have been spending a fortnight at Dover—an odd place to choose for a seaside retreat, but by no means bad on experiment. I am in London for the present, “for good,” or only for short absences—that Saturday-to-Monday “staying”, which strikes one sometimes as ◇ one of the pleasantest features of English life & sometimes as one of the most detestable. About the New Year I hope to go for six months to Italy—but this is as yet indefinite. I have seen no new figures or friends of late, & have been cultivating work & unsociability. I go in an hour to bid farewell to my friends the Henry Adamses, who after a year of London life are returning to their beloved Washington. One sees so many “cultivated Americans” who prefer living in Europe _abroad^_` that it is a great refreshment to encounter two specimens of this class who find the charms of their native land so much greater than those of Europe. In England they appear to have suff◇◇◇ suffered more than enjoyed, & their experience is not unedifying, for they have seen & known a good deal of English life. But they are rather too critical & invidious. I shall miss them much, though—we have had such inveterate discussions & comparing of notes. They have been much liked here. Mrs. Adams, in comparison with the usual British female, is a perfect Voltaire in petticoats.—Thank you so much for telling me of the kind things George Curtis feels, thinks & says 60
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(above all) about me & my doings. It is a real pleasure to me to think that I may have given him pleasure. I understand quite what you mean about the absence of local colour in Washington Square, a slender tale, of rather too narrow an interest. I don’t, honestly, take much stock in it—the larger story coming out
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presently in Macmillan & the Atlantic will be a much more valuable affair.—I am very glad Howells was able to come to Ashfield: it must have been very pleasant to all concerned. His slowly & honestly-won success is something I can heartily congratulate _him^_` upon—though his last novel did not seem
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to me his best. He goes in for local colour, but he doesn’t always select the prettiest “shades.”—Farewell, dear Grace, & God bless you. What I write you is always partly for Charles—& even for those of the children who will listen to it. Margaret does, perhaps. Ever yours very faithfully H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 306–8
59.21 G◇◇ Grace • [ra overwrites illegible letters] 59.23 saw say • [y overwrites w] 59.24 Aug. ◇ 27th • [2 overwrites illegible number] 59.25 absolutely • abso- | lutely 59.33 seemed • [m malformed] 59.34 however • how- | ever 60.5 manner • man- | ner 60.5 infer • in- | fer
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60.8 Cambridge • Cam- | bridge 60.16 ◇ one • [o overwrites illegible letter] 60.19 indefinite • in- | definite 60.20 unsociability • unso- | ciability 60.23 Americans • [m malformed] 60.24 refreshment • [n malformed]
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 60.27 appear • ap- | pear 60.27 suff◇◇◇ suffered • [ere overwrites illegible letters] 60.30 inveterate • inveter- | ate 61.2 him • [m malformed] 61.9 something • some- | thing
59.29 your nephew • Eliot Norton (1863–1932), eldest son of Charles Eliot Norton. 61.5 the larger story • The Portrait of a Lady. 61.10 his last novel • The Undiscovered Country. 61.14 Margaret • Margaret Norton (1870–1947), the Nortons’ fifth child.
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ELIZABETH BOOTT 25 September [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (559)
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3 Bolton St. W. ◇ Sept. 25th My good Lizzie— Your allusion to your journey to England, in your very welcome note from Vallombrosa, fails even to convince me that you were really here. I prefer to believe that you were not—for it would be both painful & ridiculous that you should have been, without my seeing you. I certainly didn’t see you—I should remember it if I had! Once or twice I caught thoght I caught a faint & fleeting glimpse of you—but you vanished so quickly that I must have been mistaken.—You must come, then, some other year, & stay awhile & grow fond of the place.—Vallombrosa—to think of your being there, infamous maid, while I am in Bolton St! If it had been Leghorn I could have forgiven you; but at present I won’t attempt to conceal from you that I almost hate 62
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you. I hope you have come away by this time. How were the Peruzzini? Has Simone made any progress with his English— that much-needed accomplishment _illumination?^_`? You tell me very little in your letter save about poor Henry H. What a sad catastrophe, & what a miserable business for his mother! She must be distressed indeed, & worthy of all compassion! I hope, however, cordially, that the poor fellow’s malady may promptly pass away, & that as he was many years without an attack of it, he may be as many again. I don’t approve of mad folks marrying, but it is possible that a comfortable wife would keep him quiet. Would Miss Crosby be such a one? _I hope to hear from you that he improves.^_`—I have seen the Dan Curtises once or twice; they are just leaving for your—that is, our—country. He is very pleasant, but his style of humour is rather too verbal; & I suspect that in the long run I shld. like her best. They tell me you are again taking an apartment in town, which I am glad to hear, for I count on finding a warm corner at your fireside, in the cold days. Let me know when you are housed, that I may see you in an intellectual vision—en attendant that I see you in a physical. You say nothing of Duveneck or of the great school: are they not to flourish once more? Where has he been—& has he taken any of those desirable steps toward publicity?—You see I am again in London; but only by fits & starts. One week here— another in the country. I hope your good father is well & send him all sorts of protestations. Isn’t there something here I cant/ do for him? Even if there isn’t, let him not be ashamed to send me a line. Farewell, dear Lizzie; I bless you both. I expect to spend six months in Italy. Yours ever—H. James jr I never mentioned D. M. to Mrs. V. R. What a very mature D. M.! ————
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62.21 ◇ Sept. • [S overwrites illegible letter] 62.28 caught thoght • [tho overwrites cau; misspelled] 63.25 cant/ • [blotted out] 63.30–32 I never mentioned [. . .] D. M.! ———— • [written across the letter’s first page]
62.23 your journey to England • The Bootts came to England in late July 1880 to visit “cousins whom they have lately discovered.” See HJ to MW J, 20 July [1880] (p. 20). 63.2 Peruzzini • Edith Marion Story Peruzzi, daughter of William W. Story, married Florentine marquis Simone Peruzzi in 1876. 63.4 Henry H. • Henry Greenough Huntington (1848–1926), son of Ellen Greenough Huntington and nephew of artist Henry Greenough, Francis Boott’s brother-in-law. Huntington served as the American viceconsul in Florence from 1875 to 1880. 63.11 Miss Crosby • Mabel Grazia Crosbie, whom Henry Huntington married in London in May 1882 (Huntington 729). 63.12 the Dan Curtises • Daniel Sargent Curtis (1825–1908) and Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis (1833–1922). In late 1885 the Curtises acquired all but one floor of Palazzo Barbaro on Venice’s Grand Canal, where HJ would be a frequent guest (Zorzi, Letters from the Palazzo Barbaro 23, 178). Daniel Sargent Curtis was the stepson of Laura Greenough Curtis, who was the sister of artist Henry Greenough, the brother-in-law of Francis Boott. See HJ to MWJ, 29 December [1872] (CLHJ, 1872–1876 1: 168n166.8–9). Ariana Wormeley Curtis was the sister of Balzac translator Katharine Prescott Wormeley.
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63.19 en attendant • while waiting. 63.30 D. M. • Daisy Miller. 63.30 Mrs. V. R. • Probably Anna Lovice Whitmore (Mrs. Phillip Livingston) Van Rensselaer (b. 1840), a widow residing in Italy (Edel, Conquest 437). See also HJ to Elizabeth Boott, 21 December [1877], 26 January [1878], 3 April [1878] (CLHJ, 1876–1878 2: 3, 26, 83).
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ELIZA LYNN LINTON 6 October [1880] ALS Middlebury College, Special Collections M-2/145/11
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REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W. Oct. 6th ———— My dear Mrs. Lynton. I will answer you as concisely as possible—& with great pleasure—premising that I feel very guilty at having excited such ire in celestial minds & painfully responsible at the present moment. Poor little D. M. was (as I understand her) above all things innocent. It was not to make a Scandal—or because she took pleasure in a Scandal—that she “went on” with Giovanelli. She never took the measure, really, of the Scandal she produced, & had no means of doing so: she was too ignorant, too irreflective, too little versed in the proportions of things. She intended infinitely less with G. than she appeared to intend—& he himself was quite at sea as to how far she was going. She was a flirt—a perfectly superficial and unmalicious one; and she was very fond, as she announced at the outset, of “gentlemen’s Society.” In Giovanelli she got a gentleman who to her uncultivated perception was a very brilliant one—all to herself; and she enjoyed his Society in the largest possible measure. When she found that this measure was thought too large by other people— especially by Winterbourne—she was wounded; she became conscious that she was accused of something of which her very comprehension was vague. This consciousness she endeavoured to throw off; she tried not to think of what people meant & easily succeeded in doing so; but to my perception, she never really tried to take her revenge upon public opinion—to outrage it & irritate it. In this sense I fear I must declare that she was not defiant, in the sense you mean. If I recollect rightly, the word 65
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“defiant” is used in the tale—but it is not intended in that large sense; it is descriptive of the state of her poor little heart that _which^_` felt _that^_` a fuss was being made about her and didn’t wish to hear anything more about it. She wi only wished to be let alone—being, herself, quite unaggressive. The keynote of her character is her innocence—that of her conduct is of course that she had a little sentiment about Winterbourne that she believed to be quite unreciprocated—conscious as she was only of his protesting attitude. But even here I didn’t mean to suggest that she was playing off Giovanelli against Winterbourne—for she was too innocent even for that. She didn’t try to provoke & stimulate W. by flirting overtly with G.—she never believed that G w Winterbourne was provokable. She would have liked him to think well of her—but had an idea from the first that he cared only for higher game; so she smothered this feeling to the best of her ability (though at the end a glimpse of it is given) & tried to help herself to do so by a good deal of lively movement with Giovanelli. The whole idea of the story is the little tragedy of a light, thin, natural, unspecting creature being sacrificed, as it were, to a social rumpus that went on quite over her head & to to which she stood in no measurable relation. To deepen the effect I have made it go on over her mother’s head as well. She never had a thought of scandalizing any body—the most she ever had was a regret for Winterbourne.—This is the only witchcraft I have used—& I must leave you to extract what satisfaction you can from it.—Again, I must say, I feel “real badly,” at having ^_`as D. M. would^_` have said, at having supplied the occasion for a breach of cordiality. May the breach be healed herewith!— You are detestably enviable to be at Cadennabia. I hope you are either coming back soon or staying in Italy for the whole winter—as I expect to go thither _for a long stay^_` after the New Year. Wherever you are, believe in the very good will of yours faithfully H. James jr 66
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1880 Previous publication: Layard 233–34; HJL 2: 303–4; SL 2: 170–71; Horne 121–23
65.17 produced • pro- | duced 65.18 irreflective • irre- | flective 65.25 brilliant • brilli- | ant 65.26 largest • lar- | gest 65.29 conscious • cons- | cious 65.30 comprehension • com- | prehension 65.30 consciousness • con- | sciousness 66.4 wi only • [on overwrites wi] 66.11 innocent • inno- | cent 66.13 w Winterbourne • [W overwrites w] 66.17 movement • move- | ment 66.19 unspecting • [misspelled] 66.23 scandalizing • scandal- | izing
65.1 ELIZA LYNN LINTON • Eliza Lynn Linton (1822–98) was a novelist, journalist, and vehement antifeminist. In 1880 she had a falling out with a friend over Daisy Miller and subsequently wrote to James asking for an explanation of its central character. Linton’s letter to which HJ responds is published in Layard (232–33) and Boudreau and Stoner Morgan’s edition of Daisy Miller (102). 65.14 D. M. • Daisy Miller.
FREDERICK MACMILLAN 8 October [1880] ALS British Library
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Add. MS 54931, f. 76–77
3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
Dear Macmillan. Excuse my levity in not having sooner answered your note about Karl Grädener. I laid it out for this purpose, but it got 67
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pushed out of sight before I took it up again, & then, having vanished from sight, vanished also from mind. —Please say to Mr. G. that I have standing engagements with another publisher which prevent my entertaining his kind proposals.—This is the case. I do as well with Tauchnitz as _I should do^_` with him, & in Tauchnitz one is better placed. T Grädener wrote me a definite _general^_` proposal some time since, to which I returned a definite negative.—I spent 3 days at St. Leonard’s—& then fled before the howling blast.—I am going to walk up N.W. one of these evenings. Yours very truly H. James jr Oct. 8th ———— Previous publication: Moore 54–55
68.6–7 T Grädener • [G overwrites T]
67.34 Karl Grädener • Karl Grädener, German publisher of Asher’s Collection of English Authors, British and American, inquired via Macmillan whether HJ would be willing to sell the right to print The Portrait of a Lady. HJ declined the offer, and Portrait was instead printed by Tauchnitz in his Collection of British Authors in 1882. 68.8–9 I spent 3 days at St. Leonard’s • St. Leonards–on–Sea, a seaside
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town on the southeastern coast of England.
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ALICE JAMES 9 October 1880 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1595)
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THE REFORM CLUB
5
Sunday, Oct. 9th 1880 Dearest sister. I think the reason why I haven’t sooner answered your graceful letter about the unhappy hat, is the paralyzing depression caused by the revelation of my perverted & degenerate taste. For there is no blinking the fact—it stands forth in its crushing nudity—I thought & believed that coiffure extremely pretty! The red wing seemed to me of a most sober & distinguished you hue, & the little verdant fowl appeared to me to light it up in just the manner desired. Two or three very good black hats were offered me—but I would none of them, because it seemed to me I had sent you such things to satiety. I wished to be original—& I was only too much so. Send back the ◇ melancholy failure by all means, & I will undertake to retrieve my error, & the _false^_` aesthetics of my adoptive residence, at the earliest opportunity & in the most effective manner.—It is a long time since I have heard from home—& it is alas a long time since I have written. Your letter was all about the doleful hat—to that degree that I hated it for cheating me of your other possible reflections. Before that a few lines from father, accompanying a note to be sent to Mrs. Orr, are _has been^_` the only communication, I think, that I have received from home since William left me—excluding a very brief announcement of his arrival that I received from himself & immediately acknowledged. I am earnestly hoping that tomorrow’s post will bring me something, as Monday is rather apt to be a day of letters.—This is a wet, sad Sunday—I have been breakfasting at this place, as I almost always do on Sunday, & am sitting almost 69
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alone in the big, still, rather dusky library. My life just now is rather very quiet—London is still very empty, & nothing, as the phrase is, is going on. The quiet is very welcome to me, however, as it gives me unadulterated leisure to work—& I am trying to push my novel (just begun in Macmillan) to a completion. I work very slowly & deliberately however—& am very thankful to have reached a period of my career when it is possible to do so. I sent, by the way, an early copy of the October Macmillan to father,, & I hope it will have safely reached him. I see very few people there are no dinners, &c, as yet. I have been, however, to a wedding—that of Osgood Field & “Kitty” Parker. It would take longer than the moderate interest of the subject justifies to explain who these sudden candidates for connubial bliss are— suffice it that they are an ancient bachelor & a mature spinster who became engaged on a Friday & were married on the next Wednesday. (They are both Americans, he a very kind old gossip, brother of Mrs. John Jay of N. Y.; & she a relative of some one in N. Y. who is something-or-other to the Bootts, & emanates in some way or other from Brattleboro.)—I have also had the keen excitement of entertaining Ernest Vanderpoel, whom I met at the said wedding & invited to dinner. He also came to see me last night, & exhibited himself as a very worthy & gentlemanly youth, with a personal bulk, however, out of proportion to the intensity of his animating spark.—A couple of weeks ago I received a note from Mrs. Wm Hunt, bidding me come & see her at a boarding house in Hanover Square. I complied & spent a portion of an evening in listening to her somewhat vehement but not altogether coherent discourse. She seemed to wish to give me a kind of official resumé of her past, present & future history, & struck me as too sharp & shrill for perfect sweetness. But she looked wonderfully young & handsome & had with her a daughter (the eldest, Elly,) of rare loveliness. She is engaged, I am afraid, in some perverse & impracticable scheme for revealing her husband to the London 70
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public, who will, I am sure, but scantily heed the revelation. (She has now gone to Cassel for the winter.)—I wrote to Aunt Kate some time since about Charlotte King, & she will be interested to hear that I have seen the poor lady twice again since then. She remained in England longer than I supposed she intended to, but has now gone to Paris. She wrote to me to come out to Beckenham to witness her will, &, being again touched to compassion by _her^_` lonely state, I repeated my visit again ^_`once^_` more before th she left the place. There is nothing to talk with her about but the vicissitudes of Arthur’s quest for climates (he appears to go in search of a new one every two or three weeks,) & the question whether poor Anna’s life might have been preserved if she had—or had not: I don’t quite know which!—passed a certain winter some-where—I don’t quite know where! Her chief purpose in life just now appears to be to bring about a meeting between Arthur & me—& she is endeavouring to make us both converge upon Marseilles about the month of January. I refuse however to converge. She told me that the oculist she has been with here has considerably bettered her eyes; but on the other hand I am afraid she is pinched for means, as she told me she was going to give up her young English “companion,” as her American investments (as to which she requested me to advise her!!) were yielding so little that she couldn’t afford the luxury.—This is all the news I can muster. I see Lowell every now & then, who seems to take to his life here very kindly—though he thinks the society immeasurably inferior to that of Cambridge. Think of this, if you are ever dissatisfied with your opportunities.—A while since, during some days of very fine weather, thinking it a pity _to^_` be in London so soon, I went down for a short stay at St. Leonard’s. The place—i.e. the walks in the country, & the sea— is charming; but the weather almost immediately changed, & I relapsed into Bolton St. My visit to Scotland has died a natural death—it is too late, & too cold, now. I shall probably go down 71
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into Devonshire soon, however, to spend a small number of days with Mrs. Packenham, whose husband has lately been appointed to an important military post at Plymouth. I have only left room to close—but I can’t do so, however, without overflowing into another page.—Has William got settled in Louisburg Square, & what sort of life does he lead there?—Has his house begun? Has A Aunt Kate gone back to N. Y.? What sort of an autumn are you having? I feel ho◇ homesick for a sniff of an American October. Please let the next member of the family who writes send me both Wilkie’s & Bob’s residential address. I wish it for sending them papers &c. Bob’s has changed—Wilkie’s I have ◇◇ never succeeded in obtaining. Please make a point of this. Farewell, sweet Sister; I trust you are easy in health. Stimulate father & mother to write to me more copiously—give them my tender love, & believe me ever your affectionate brother H. James jr No previous publication
69.20 ◇ melancholy • [m overwrites illegible letter] 69.27 accompanying • accom- | panying 69.27 been • [n malformed] 69.29 announcement • announce- | ment 70.5 Macmillan • Macmil- | lan 70.28 discourse • dis- | course 70.31 wonderfully • won- | derfully 70.33 engaged • en- | gaged 70.33 perverse • per- | verse
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70.34 London • Lon- | don 71.9 th she • [sh overwrites th] 71.14 certain • cer- | tain 71.15 purpose • pur- | pose 71.33 Bolton • Bol- | ton 72.7 A Aunt • [u overwrites .]
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1880 72.8 ho◇ homesick • [m overwrites illegible letter] 72.12 ◇◇ never • [n overwrites blotted illegible letters] 72.14 them • [m malformed]
69.7 Sunday, Oct. 9th 1880 • 9 October 1880 was a Saturday. 69.10 the unhappy hat • HJ had apparently sent his sister a hat that she considered extremely unfashionable. She returned the headpiece to him in mid- October, and he promised to “make up handsomely for past disappointments,” which he did by sending a less flamboyant one to her in early December via Alice Mason. See HJ to AJ, 13 October [1880] (p. 76) and 7 December 1880 (pp. 115–16). 69.23–24 long time since I have written • HJ’s last extant letter to AJ is 8 August [1880] (pp. 33–35). 69.27 Mrs. Orr • Alexandra Sutherland Leighton Orr (1828–1903) wrote a glowing review of Sr.’s 1879 publication, Society the Redeemed Form of Man, and the Earnest of God’s Omnipotence in Human Nature, Affirmed in Letters to a Friend, in the 24 July 1880 issue of the Athenæum. See HJ to William Dean Howells, 6 June [1880], HJ to MW J, 20 July [1880], HJ to AJ, 8 August [1880], and HJ to MWJ, 11 September [1880] (pp. 6, 22, 35, 55). 70.8 the October Macmillan • This issue contained the first installment of The Portrait of a Lady. 70.11 a wedding—that of Osgood Field & “Kitty” Parker • Osgood Field (1823–1900), son of Moses Field (1779–1833) and Susan Kittredge Osgood Field, married Katharine Roxana Parker (d. 1901), daughter of Milton Parker, in early October 1880. Their primary residence was the Palazzo Colonna in Rome. 70.20 Ernest Vanderpoel • Aaron Ernest Vanderpoel (c. 1845–98)
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was a New York lawyer and the son of Aaron Vanderpoel (1799–1870) and Ellen McBride Vanderpoel (1815–91). 70.25 Mrs. Wm Hunt • Marion Edith Waugh Hunt (1846–1931). In 1875 she married painter William Holman Hunt (1827–1910), the widower of her late sister Fanny Waugh Hunt (1833–66). 70.32 the eldest, Elly • The eldest child and only daughter of William
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The Complete Letters of Henry James Holman Hunt (1827–1910) and Marion Edith Waugh Hunt (1846–1931) was Gladys Millais Mulock Holman Hunt (1876–1952). 70.34 her husband • William Holman Hunt (1827–1910), English painter. Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were the three original founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. 71.2 Cassel • A small town in northern France along the railway connecting Dunkirk and Lille. 71.3 Charlotte King • Charlotte Elizabeth Sleight Matthews King, wife of Clarence W. King (c. 1809–45), a merchant in Canton, China. Her mother, Charlotte Walsh Matthews (1789–1816), was MWJ’s father’s sister, making Mrs. King HJ’s first cousin, once removed. See HJ to MWJ, 21, 23 December [1869] (CLHJ, 1855–1872 2: 235n232.19). 71.10 Arthur’s • Arthur King, middle child of Clarence W. King and Charlotte Elizabeth Sleight Matthews King. 71.12 Anna’s • Annie King, daughter of Clarence W. King and Charlotte Elizabeth Sleight Matthews King. 71.33 My visit to Scotland • HJ had made loose plans to spend a week or two with the Clark family at Tillypronie after WJ left London, but he continued to push the intended date for his trip back until dispensing with the idea altogether. See HJ to Sr. and MWJ, 19 August [1880], HJ to Grace Norton, 19 August [1880], HJ to Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams, 9 September [1880], and HJ to MWJ, 11 September [1880] (pp. 41, 45, 51, 55). He did, however, join the Clark family in Cornwall after Christmas 1880. See HJ to Sr., 27 December [1880], and HJ to Grace Norton, 28 December 1880 (pp. 127–28, 134). 72.2 Mrs. Packenham, whose husband • Elizabeth Staples Clark Pakenham and her husband, Lt. Gen. Thomas Henry Pakenham (1826–1913). General Pakenham had distinguished himself in the Crimean War (1854–
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56) and was the commandant of the Plymouth Military District. HJ visited the couple at the military training center in Aldershot in May 1878, and he would spend Christmas with them in 1880. See HJ to Sr., 29 May [1878] (CLHJ, 1876–1878 2: 141.31–34), and HJ to Grace Norton, 28 December [1880] (p. 134), respectively. 72.5 settled in Louisburg Square • After returning to the United States
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1880 in early September 1880, W J and his family took rooms at 15 Louisburg Square, Boston, where they lived until returning to Cambridge in December of that year.
WILLIAM JONES HOPPIN 11 October [1880] TLC Creighton University Leon Edel Papers 10
Reform Club, Pall Mall. S.W. My dear Hoppin I shall be very happy to dine with you tomorrow Tuesday at 7.30. I hope I am to see you in the morning at Mrs. Carter’s wedding? Yours very truly H. James jr. Oct. 11th No previous publication
75.17 H. James jr. • [copy-text reads H. JAMES jr.; probably Edel’s formatting]
75.6 WILLIAM JONES HOPPIN • From 1876 to 1886 William Jones Hoppin (1813–95) served as the First Secretary of the American Legation in London (see Edel, Conquest 319–26; “William Jones Hoppin”). A lawyer
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by training, Hoppin also published articles on art. 75.15–16 Mrs. Carter’s wedding • See HJ to WJ, 31 August [1880] (p. 47).
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ALICE JAMES 13 October [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1596) 5
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Oct. 13th ———— Dearest child. The red socks are very lovely & most beautifully worked. They will add alike to my comfort & credit, & I will sport them, in very low shoes, at the next country house I go to stay at. I thank you tenderly, & rejoice that you have had the ability _for^_` of the sustained industry to which they testify. The hat also has just reappeared, & if you will only have patience I will undertake to make up handsomely for past disappointments. These last days have brought me nothing else from home save a short ◇ letter from Wm, written from Cambridge on Sept. 30th. Please thank him for it & tell him I will very soon answer it. He speaks again of his apartments in Louisburg Square, but doesn’t give me the address, as _which^_` I should like to have, for writing to him directly. Please let ◇ it be sent me, together with Wilky’s & Bob’s, which I asked for in my last. I hope that Wm’s quarters will prove comfortable & that his winter will bring him prosperity. I suppose you will see him & his wife & be babe less than before—but the change of circumstances will make it more of an “excitement” to do so.—I have nothing to relate—the less so as I wrote to you a few days since at some length. I am sorry to say I am rather under the weather with the 1st sore-throat (on my part that is,) of the winter: which was aggravated by my going _spending^_` an hour yesterday in a very cold church, to see my friend Mrs. Carter married: a rather dreary occasion, with a _weeping bride, a^_` sepulclrel clergyman, who buried 76
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rather than married her, & a total destitution of relatives or accomplices of her own, so that she had to be given away by her late husband’s brother! I enclose you an effusion just rec’d. from Mlle Blaze de Bury—as a specimen of the style of a French jeune personne. Ever your H. J jr P.S.—William tells me you have been lately in very good health—which makes me very happy. Persevere in this graceful behaviour.—I dined last night (not to the advantage of my cold) with Wm Hoppin, who also had Lowell. The latter enjoys his life here & is a good deal made of—is invited to make addresses, figure at public dinners &c.— Destroy Mlle. Blaze’s letter. ———— Previous publication: HJL 2: 308–9
76.14 of the • [h overwrites of ] 76.18 ◇ letter • [l overwrites illegible letter] 76.20 , • [, overwrites .] 76.22 ◇ it • [i overwrites illegible letter] 76.25 prosperity • pros- | perity 76.25 be babe • [a overwrites e] 76.27 excitement • excite- | ment 76.33 sepulclrel • [misspelled] 77.1 destitution • desti- | tution 77.4 specimen • speci- | men 77.8 advantage • ad- | vantage 77.12–13 Destroy Mlle. Blaze’s letter. ———— • [written across the let-
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ter’s first page]
77.2–3 her late husband’s brother • Alexander Carter (1835–78) had two brothers: Hugh Carter (1837–1903) and John Corrie Carter (1840–1927). It is unclear who was present at the wedding.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 77.4 Mlle Blaze de Bury • Critic and author Yetta Blaze de Bury (d. 1904), daughter of authors Marie Pauline and Henri Blaze de Bury. She also went by the pseudonym Jane Brown. 77.4–5 jeune personne • young person.
MARY WALSH JAMES 31 October 1880 ALS Houghton 10
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◇ Oct. 31st 1880 ———— Dearest mother. I have a letter of yours, of almost a fortnight since (of the date of Oct. 5th) to acknowledge; but I have waited, partly because I had been writing, before, with some frequency, & partly because this is the quiet part of the year in one’s London life, & little has happened to me that is worth narrating. Your letter tells me of Alice’s conservatory (a delightful idea,) of the further postponement of William’s house, the news of my engagement to the young lady in Bangor, &c. This last report I need scarcely tell you, is a frighte◇ _slight mistake^_`—I am not just now making any matrimonial arrangements, though I constantly hear that I have been (somnambulistically, I am afraid) “very attentive” to to numerous spinsters & widows, & also that many of my well-wishers think that I should be “so much happy happier” if I should ^_`would^_` only marry. The last source I heard this opinion quoted from was my friend Mrs. Brookfield, a delightful person who lost her husband many years since. As she is however about 60 years of age & was at one time, I believe, in peril of marrying Lord Houghton, I suppose her remark was purely disinterested. I expect soon to hear that I am 78
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to engaged to Mrs. Procter, aet. 82. I have indeed proposed to her several times, but she seems to think she can do better. As poor old William Hoppin, the American Secretary of Legation here, aged 67 or so, was lately reported to be about to espouse Mrs. Duncan Stewart who is 83 or so, you will see to what an advanced period people here are assumed to keep up their interest in life.—You will also see, from these wo wandering allusions, how little of interest I have to tell you. I am very little just now in society, & have paid, this summer and autumn, almost no country visits. Six months ago I was overwhelmed with social entanglements & wishing for a period of leisure ahead, took in sail in every direction as much as possible— i.e. “neglected” people, didn’t leave cards, edged away when I met them, &c. My manoeuvre completely succeeded, as such manoeuvres almost must here, for you only circulate so long as you ◇◇ _keep^_` in view, & no one can flatter himself that he is of sufficient importance to be remembered if he doesn’t wish to be. I have had my _a^_` number of weeks of undisturbedness & shall be thankful for many more; but when (if ever) I wish to join the giddy throng again, I can easily do so by turning on the screw ◇◇ for a month or two. Though people here easily forget, they are easily reminded, & are always very gladly _glad^_` to see you after an absence. One of the comforts of this society also is that you never have to give an account of yourself, to say where you have been or what you have been doing. No questions are asked, or if they are, the vaguest answers suffice. People nver appuyer, & at bottom know very little about each other. Excuse this disquisition, which will not particularly interest you. The winter has fairly begun, though society has not—but it has begun in a fairly bright & wholesome way, & this Sunday morning, _on the edge of November,^_` is as brilliant & pleasing as that which is probably shining into your windows in Cambridge.— Mrs. Kemble is back from the continent, & her return is to ◇ be always a valuable, social, moral & intellectual resource. She 79
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always talks as if she were going to die the next month, but fortunately her previsions are not realized, & every now & then she has explosions of vitality (I don’t mean merely of temper) which ought completely to reassure her. I took her last night (or rather went with her, inasmuch as Hamilton Aidé took her,) to see William & Susan at the St. James’ Theatre—a fade rehash of Douglas Jerrold’s drama, & she wept with such ferocity during the last act that I was glad we were in the seclusion of a box. Her sobs resounded through the place!—Mrs. Duncan Stewart is in Paris, enjoying it much, in spite of not having been there for 40 years. She wrote me some time since that if she didn’t go there now, again, she was afraid she never might have the chance, & that her stay abroad would be a delightful memory to her for the rest of her life! She evidently means to s◇◇ ^_`live^_` to 110. These things make one feel (at 37!!) delightfully young, & they ought to make you feel equally so, dearest mammy, even at your superior age! (I enclose an economical note of Mrs. Stewart’s, for the amusement of Alice, who will destroy it.)—I have dined out lately but once or twice. The other day, with my poor friend Mrs. Rogerson, who has just taken a house about 5 feet square for the winter. A small London house is certainly the smallest thing in nature. Mrs. R. has many domestic troubles, & every year that she has come to London I have seen her with _on a^_` more modest footing & with a smaller establishment. This year she has a tiny dwelling betwen two shops, & her dining-room retinue is reduced to a maid & a little page—the last round of the ladder! But her hospitality remains always, in intention, _proportion,^_` the same, & I am very sorry for her. Her husband is a fierce drunkard & muddles away the funds. Fortunately he doesn’t show much in London.—But a truce to this cockney gossip!—I hope that these October days have been agreeable in Quincy St. Is the greenhouse finished? It will be ◇ a graceful ornament _appendage^_` to the premises & to Alice—or rather 80
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Alice will be a graceful ornament to _feature in^_` it. I have been delighted to hear that she is in more comfortable health this year, & trust this letter will not find her otherwise. I wrote to her the other day.—You say that William is reconsidering his plan of suppressing the parlour of his house—which I am glad to hear. He drew a diagram of the non-parlour for me, & speciously explained it—but I thought ill of it afterwards & meant to tell him so before he left. It will be as awkward for him in the long run not to have a regular parlour as it would be for him not to have _own^_` a dress-coat or a high hat.—Your acct. of Howard James’s¦ _as^_` a book agent was interesting, though it makes one smile to think of him as an apostle of culture. But I should think his plausible personality would assist him greatly & I hope much he may succeed. I wonder if he could create a “popular demand” for the productions of his brother or his nephew?—I am very pleased that you have liked Washington Square & hope you will do so to the end. Macmillan is to bring it out shortly in 2 vols., with a couple of smaller pieces (reprinted.) It has been well-noticed here, but I have heard nothing of it from America, save an abusive review of the 1st number, in the Tribune. I sent you yesterday the November Macmillan—& if father sees any noteworthy notices of the beginning of the P. of an L. he might send them to me. I can’t say that American criticisms (or indeed any others) of my things edify me much, but they usually amuse me. W. S., in America, is to be published in a vol. by Harper.—I heard from Aunt Kate a short time since. I suppose she has left you, but please thank her for her letter—she shall soon have one from me. I shall write next to father, whom _who^_` I hope is well. Has he got an answer from Mrs. Orr? I haven’t seen her yet & think she is still abroad. Don’t forget to give me the 3 addresses—W.’s., Wilk’s, & B.’s. H. J. jr I sent Alice a little book—Mrs. Grote—the other day. Did it come? 81
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78.13 ◇ Oct. • [O overwrites illegible letter] 78.25 arrangements • [m malformed] 78.27 to to • to | to 78.28 well-wishers • well- | wishers 78.29 happy happier • [i overwrites y] 79.1 to engaged • [en overwrites to] 79.7 wo wandering • [a overwrites o] 79.17 importance • im- | portance 79.17 doesn’t • does- | n’t 79.21 ◇◇ for • [fo overwrites illegible letters] 79.22 reminded • re- | minded 79.26 nver • [misspelled] 79.27 know • [k and w inserted] 79.30 wholesome • whole- | some 79.33–34 ◇ be • [b overwrites illegible letter] 80.5 inasmuch • inas- | much 80.18 amusement • [second m malformed] 80.20 Rogerson • Roger- | son 80.25 betwen • [misspelled] 80.27 hospitality • hospi- | tality 80.31 that these • [es overwrites at] 80.32 ◇ a • [a overwrites illegible letter] 80.33 ornament • orna- | ment 81.3 otherwise • other- | wise 81.4 reconsidering • recon- | sidering 81.6 diagram • diag- | ram
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81.10 • [blotted out] 81.23 criticisms • criti- | cisms 81.32–33 I sent Alice [. . .] Did it come? • [written across the letter’s first page]
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78.30–31 Mrs. Brookfield • Jane Octavia Brookfield (1821–96), mother of Magdalene Alice Brookfield Ritchie. 79.1 Mrs. Procter • Anne Benson Skepper Procter. 79.5 Mrs. Duncan Stewart • Harriet Everilda Gore Stewart. 79.26 appuyer • support. 80.5 Hamilton Aidé • Charles Hamilton Aïdé (1826–1906), novelist, poet, and socialite. 80.6 William & Susan at the St. James’ Theatre • William and Susan was a drama written by W. G. Wills. It opened at the St. James’s Theatre on 9 October 1880 and ran through the end of November 1880. 80.6–7 rehash of Douglas Jerrold’s drama • Wills rewrote the first and second acts of Douglas Jerrold’s three-act melodrama Black-Eyed Susan to create William and Susan. Critics of the day considered it a “rehabilitation” of Jerrold’s melodrama about a sailor and his wife (Cook 263–67). 80.20 Mrs. Rogerson • Christina Stewart Rogerson (c. 1839–1911), journalist and author who also hosted a literary salon with her mother, Harriet Everilda Gore Stewart. 80.28 Her husband • James Rogerson. 81.3–4 I wrote to her • See HJ to AJ, 13 October 1880 (p. 000). 81.10–11 Howard James • Howard James (1828–87), youngest brother of Sr. 81.17–18 Macmillan is to bring it out shortly in 2 vols. • Washington Square was published in England on 26 January 1881 in two volumes. The second volume also included HJ’s stories “The Pension Beaurepas” and “A Bundle of Letters.” 81.20 an abusive review • A review of Washington Square was published on 13 June 1880 in the New York Tribune. The review considered the “dull,”
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“commonplace” novel one of “those works which record the stupid happenings of stupid people” (“Washington Square”). 81.31 W.’s • WJ’s.
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GRACE NORTON 7 November [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (919)
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Nov. 7th My dear Grace. I feel as if your good note of the middle of September from Ashfield deserved a serious answer; but as I am afraid I can’t give one serious enough, I will not make a point of pitching my response in that key. It continues to please me a good deal that it should have displeased you that I should not have come home “as intended.” This result is largely forwarded by my glowing consciousness of the intention of repairing my omission next year: if it were not for this, indeed, I should really feel very sorry for (or rather, with) your sorrow. As it is, I simply let it gratify me en attendant.—Yes, it was 1⁄2 a dozen reasons—a vulgar promiscuous lot—and not one, exquisite & incomparable—that detained me. Would it have been, by the way, an “exquisite” reason that I should have plighted my troth to a daughter of these islands? On the whole, doubtless, yes; though one must twist one’s intellectual neck a little to see it in that way. It may interest you (as it has amused me) to learn that there is a generally felt (or expressed) desire in the circles in which I move, that I should take the graceful step to which you still more gracefully alluded. But in that matter, dear Grace, I shall always be awkward. No man can answer for the future; but I have impinged far enough on my own to speak of it with a certain familiarity, & in its atmosphere of morning 84
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twilight I don’t discern the particular figure which you seem to have entrevue. Describe it a little to me, & I shall be surer; but meanwhile, to my ear, a great silence reigns ahead. Not a gloomy one, however; for I am resigned in advance. I am unlikely ever to marry. If I were to tell you the grounds of this conviction ▬ _you^_` would think me dismally theoretic. One’s attitude toward marriage is a part—the most characteristic part, doubtless—of one’s general attitude toward life. Now I don’t want to calumniate my attitude toward life; but I am bound to say that if I were to marry I should be guilty in my own eyes of an inconsistency—I should pretend to think just a little better of life than I really do. You will say that if one marries (properly) one’s opinion of life greatly improves—& one ought to give it that chance. To give it that chance is not, I think, an obligation of justice——the risk takes it out of that category; but it is a very becoming act of generosity. That indeed is certain; but I am not moved that way, because I think my opinion of life on the whole good enough. I am attached to it, I am used to it—it doesn’t in any way paralyse or incapacitate me (on the contrary,) & it doesn’t involve any particular injustice to any one, least of all to myself. Then there are other impressions. An amiable bachelor here & there doesn’t strike me as at all amiss, & I think he too may forward the cause of civilization. All this is part of the reason why I am not going to marry next month. It may not however, carry me beyond that!—After all, I have been serious—even in implying just above that I am “amiable”!—I am still serious, dear Grace, when I say that I thank you truly for your appreciation of the little fiction I have been sending you in the Cornhill. It had a very definite artistic intention; but most readers miss that (at all times) & I am happy that you should found it. I am also touched by what you say about my “English accent”—though not touched in so good a place. I know up to a certain point what you mean by my having lost my sense of the truth of things at home—but I don’t believe 85
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I know as much as you mean it. I am more attuned to English life now—that catastrophe has come to pass! But as regards the little story, I have been surprised that other readers (American,) beside yourself, should have found it so false in the matter of “local colour” as they have appeared to do. Its weakness in this respect is, I should have said, negative; local colour is not made a point of—is left out. I don’t think it has been violated as much as has two or three times been intimated to me.—I have begun a long novel in Macmillan (better than W. S.) which you will see in the Atlantic, & which I don’t send to you in the English pages because it is rather on my honour that I should not (out of respect to the Atlantic) introduce Macmillan into the U. S.—I haven’t a grain of personal news. London is waking up again, a little, for the winter, but there is little doing as yet, & I don’t dine out _yet awhile,^_`—for which I am glad. I have had a quiet but profitable summer, & read a good deal. If you desire a book both solid & brilliant, try George Trevelyan’s Fox. Àpropos of such books, please tell Charles I am to write to him in a day or two to thank him for his own beautiful volume, which I have waited to do, only to read it. I am just terminating this pleasure, & he shall hear from me. I hope to spend one of these coming Sundays at Basset, where I shall see the youthful Lily & “pump” her about you all. Lowell is in Scotland, staying at the D. of Argylls’s, lecturing in Edinburgh &c She is much better, steadily. Yours ever H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 313–15
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84.31 gracefully • grace- | fully 85.15 —— • — | — 85.20 involve • in- | volve 86.5 weakness • weak- | ness 86.13 personal • per- | sonal
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84.22 en attendant • meanwhile. 84.25–26 plighted my troth to a daughter of these islands • Rumors that HJ was engaged. See, for example, 31 October 1880 to MWJ (p. 78). 85.2 entrevue • perceived. 85.28–29 the little fiction [. . .] Cornhill • Washington Square. 86.9–10 long novel in Macmillan [. . .] Atlantic • The Portrait of a Lady ran in Macmillan’s Magazine from October 1880 to November 1881 and in the Atlantic Monthly from November 1880 to December 1881. 86.17 George Trevelyan’s Fox • The Early History of Charles James Fox (1880). 86.19 his own beautiful volume • Charles Eliot Norton’s Historical Studies of Church-Building in the Middle Ages: Venice, Siena, Florence. 86.22 Basset • The suburb of Southampton where Ridgemount, the home of William and Sara Darwin, was located. HJ often visited the Darwins there (see Kirkland). 86.22 Lily • Elizabeth “Lily” Gaskell Norton (b. 1866), the Nortons’ third child. 86.23 D. of Argylls’s • George Douglas Campbell (1823–1900), the 8th Duke of Argyll.
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 11 November [1880] ALS Houghton
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REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W.
Nov. 11th. ———— Dear Howells I send you by this post the 5th (March) instalment of my fiction. It is something shorter (a page or two) than its 87
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predecessors, & will make about 24 of your pages.—I have hardly mo _time^_` to do more than despatch it, with many compliments. I hope it will find you in health & heart & looking a New England winter calmly in the face. The face of the winter here is invisible—veiled in muggy rains & glutinous fogs! I hope to escape for a part of it to some continental sunshine.—I see by the way that the Atlantic prospectus announces ◇ my tale to terminate early in 1881. This, I suppose, is a piece of publishers’ rose-colour, for I thought I had been explicit as to its longitude——12 months: a majestic length.—If you are ever moved to make me a present, send me once in a while some good American book: for instance, at Xmas, Aldrich’s Stillwater Tragedy (your pretty article about which—tissu d’air!—I read in the last magazine.) Or even, if you think well of it the Grandissimes, which I see described as a lovely thing. Don’t send the G.’s unless you esteem it—I prefer the S Tragedy. Bien des choses chez vous! Ever yours H. James jr Previous publication: Anesko 155–56
88.8 ◇ my • [m overwrites illegible letter] 88.10 rose-colour • rose- | colour 88.11 —— • — | — 88.17 unless • [n malformed] 88.17 S Tragedy • [T overwrites S]
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87.33 my fiction • The Portrait of a Lady. 88.8–9 my tale to terminate early in 1881 • More in line with HJ’s sense of timing than with that announced in the “Atlantic prospectus,” the Atlantic Monthly published the last installment of The Portrait of a Lady not “early in 1881” but in its December 1881 issue.
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1880 88.13–14 Aldrich’s Stillwater Tragedy • Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s The Stillwater Tragedy. 88.14 your pretty article • William Dean Howells’s “Mr. Aldrich’s Fiction.” 88.14 tissu d’air • composed with the lightest touch. 88.16 Grandissimes • George Washington Cable’s The Grandissimes: A Story of Creole Life. 88.17–18 Bien des choses chez vous! • All the best to you and yours!
WILLIAM JAMES 13 November [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1993)
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
Nov. 13th. ———— Dear William. I have a short letter of yours long unanswered—it is of the date of Sept. 30th. I have not written to you partly because the tone of your letter was rather low & I didn’t know in what fashion to respond. You appear not to have been exhilarated on your return by renewed contact with American life, or by the aspect of the American individual, & I am _obviously^_` not in a situation to reassure _you^_` on these points. Doubtless the feeling you expressed has melted down a good deal since you have got into your work again & ceased to compare ^_`see^_` Boston & London in immediate ju◇ juxtaposition. I hope you are physically comfortable, & that Louisburg Square stands the test of time. Of me there is little to tell you. The weeks that have elapsed since you left me have been very quiet ones; but profitable; inasmuch as I have both written & read a good deal. 89
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I am afraid that if you found me basely naturalised here when you came out, I am not less so these few months later. I feel more & more at home here, & find London more & more, on the whole, the best point of view. Though one gets sick of it at times & tired to death of the flatness of much _—though, fortunately, by no means of all—of^_` one’s social life, yet there is a daily sustenance in the huge, multitudinous place. It has been a very fine autumn—clear, bright & American-like; & is only now turning to soft darkness & mild moisture—an element I like. The fogs are as yet (after a false alarm early in the season) mercifully absent. The town is still quiet & society not reconstituted; so I have seen but few people—though I dined yesterday at Andrew Lang’s (the vaguely-glancing,) in company with Lionel Tennyson (the much-stammering) & his wife.—I got a letter a few days since from Alice (sister)—long, bright & delightful, which I beg you to thank her for while I wait to acknowledge it. I hope your own wife & babe do not languish in the air of the town, & send a tender remembrance to each. I dined a few days ago (on the 9th) with the Lord Mayor—the big banquet t which he gives annually at the Guildhall to the Cabinet Ministers & a couple of 1000 others, & at which the head of the Government usually makes a more or less sensational speech. It is a huge, scrambling, pompous & picturesque affair, well to see once; but I should care little to go again—even to hear Gladstone speak—as the rank & file of the guests are squeezed to death & fed only (or almost only) with aldermanic Turtle. I dont know what else I can tell you. Edwin Booth is acting here, with but indifferent success; people find him very inferior to Irving. To me they are both so bad there is little to choose. I embrace them in Quincy St, & also in Louisburg Square. God bless & sustain you. Ever yours H. James jr P.S. Your article in the Atlantic a couple of months ago, gave me extreme pleasure. ———— 90
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89.29 ju◇ juxtaposition • [x overwrites illegible letter] 90.1 naturalised • natural- | ised 90.7 multitudinous • mul- | titudinous 90.19 t which • [w overwrites t] 90.24 Gladstone • Glad- | stone 90.32–34 P.S. Your article [. . .] extreme pleasure. ———— • [written across the letter’s first page]
90.12 Andrew Lang’s • Lang (1844–1912), prolific writer, poet, and historian, is best remembered for his scholarship concerning myths and for his collections of fairy tales, including The Blue Fairy Book. He was one of HJ’s earliest 1876 London acquaintances. 90.13–14 Lionel Tennyson [. . .] & his wife. • Lionel Tennyson (1854– 86), second son of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. He worked for the India Office and wrote essays, articles, and poems. In 1878 he married Eleanor Locker (1855–1915), oldest daughter of HJ’s friend Frederick Locker-Lampson. 90.19 Lord Mayor—the big banquet • Irish businessman and politician Sir William McArthur (1809–87) was elected Lord Mayor of London on 29 September 1880. The annual Lord Mayor’s banquet at Guildhall was held on 9 November. 90.27 Edwin Booth is acting here • American actor Edwin Booth (1833–93) was at the reopening of the Royal Princess’s Theatre in London performing in “a series of Shakespearean revivals and other legitimate plays” (“Royal Princess’s Theatre”) from November 1880 to March 1881. 90.28 Irving • English actor Henry Irving (1838–1905). HJ published an unsigned review of Irving’s performance as Louis XI in 1878.
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90.32 Your article • W J’s “Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment.”
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✉ 3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W. Nov. 13th 1880 ———— My dear Charles. I have waited to thank you for your beautiful volume (the handsomest yet issued, I think, from the American press,) so that I might have the satisfaction of reading it first. This pleasure I have _now^_` had, & can therefore express a more deliberate gratitude. This The pleasure has been great; I have enjoyed every line of the interesting story you have told so well. The labour knowledge, care, that you have been able to put into it, I can of course but vaguely measure (though I have been struck by the copiousness & exactness of detail & the way all your details are verified;) but the charm of the narrative is easily appreciated, & the success with which you have given the history of each church a really dramatic interest. I am delighted that such a valuable piece of work should have been done by an American—even by such a terribly adulterated one as yourself! It makes up for the New York Herald & the “Contributor’s Club” in the Atlantic. There is some hope for us yet, & you at least can never consistently despair.—I envy you more than I can say your Italian studies & your large & intimate knowledge of the great Italian period. I try always to add a little to my own—for me it is the most valuable sort knowledge I can acquire; but in London there are too many distractions & obstructions (mainly of the so-called social kind) & I shall never know anything worthwhile until I succeed in making an uninterrupted stay of some length in Italy. But I don’t _know^_` when that will be; 92
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for the next long absence I make from England will _must^_` be for a very different purpose—to revisit the Western World. If your book made me homesick for Italy, what must it have made you? I believe however that there must have been many hours when in your quiet study at Shady Hill you felt yourself in Florence, _—& lived again there—^_` & not in the Florence of to-day (where the illusion would perhaps after all have been less perfect) but in that of the 15th century. I hope you are going on—that you will relate some other chapters of the wonderful story. Be sure that when you do, I shall always be one of the most receptive of your readers.—I was extremely sorry to hear from Grace not long since (I wrote to her by the way a week ago,) that you were somewhat weak in health. I hoped this had ceased to be the case (&, by hoping, had ended by believing it to be so.) I wish you could take a good holiday & spend it in these countries. I have got to feel like such an old European that I could almost pretend to help to do you the honours. I am at least now a thoroughly naturalized Londoner—a cockney “convaincu.” I am attached to London in spite of the long list of reasons why I should not be; I think it on the whole the best point of view in the world. There are times when the fog, the smoke, the universal uncleanness, the combined unwieldiness & flatness of much of the social life—these & many other matters—overwhelm the spirit & fill it with a yearning for other climes; but nevertheless one reverts, one sticks, one abides, one even cherishes! Considering that I lose all patience with the English about fifteen times a day & vow that I renounce them for ever, I get on with them beautifully & love them well. Our dear Vasari, I fear, couldn’t have made much of them, & they would have been improved by a slight infusion of the Florentine spirit; but for all that they are, for me, the great race—even at this hour of their possible decline. Taking them altogether, they are more complete than other folk, more largely nourished, deeper, denser, stronger. I think it takes more to make an 93
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Englishman, on the whole, than to make any one else—& I say this with a full consciousness of all that often seems to me to have been left out of their composition. But the question is interminable, & idle into the bargain.—I am passing a quiet autumn—London has not yet waked up from the stagnation that belongs to this period. The only incident of consequence that has lately occurred to me was my dining a few days since at the Guildhall, at the big scrambling dinner _banquet^_` which the Lord Mayor gives on the 9th November to the Cabinet, foreign Ministers, &c. It was uncomfortable but amusing—you probably have done it yourself. I met Lowell there—whom I see, besides, with tolerable frequency. He is just back from a visit to Scotland which he appears to have enjoyed, including a speechmaking at Edinburgh. He gets on here, I think, very smoothly & happily; for though he is critical in the gross, he is not in the detail, & takes things with a sort of boyish simplicity. He is universally liked & appreciated here, his talk enjoyed &c (as well it may be after some of their own!) & his poor long-suffering wife is doing very well: I therefore hope he will be left undisturbed by Garfield, to enjoy the fruition of the long period of discomfort he has passed through. It will be in the highest degree indecent to remove him—though I wish he had a pair of secretaries that ministered a little more to the idea of American brilliancy. Lowell has to do that quite by himself. Even if he remains here for a good while (which I trust he will—I think he is really quite willing) Mrs. Lowell will _is^_` not destined apparently to emerge from the seclusion which after all best becomes her. But I must close, dear Charles. Do write me some time when your other labours are light.—I am to spend a day or two at Basset before long, when I shall see Lily, who I hope is happy there. My love to all her brothers & sisters—especially to the sister Margaret. Believe me always faithfully yours H. James jr 94
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✉ 3, BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
Charles Eliot Norton Esq. Shady Hill. Cambridge. Mass. United States
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92.15 This The • [e overwrites is] 92.27 consistently • consis- | tently 92.30 acquire • ac- | quire 93.8 century • [n malformed] 93.14 believing • be- | lieving 93.22 uncleanness • un- | cleanness 93.32 altogether • alto- | gether 94.2 seems • [m malformed] 94.6 consequence • con- | sequence 94.13 speechmaking • [m malformed]
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92.11 your beautiful volume • Historical Studies of Church-Building in the Middle Ages: Venice, Siena, Florence. 92.28 your Italian studies • Norton wrote extensively on Italian art and architecture, particularly in his writings from 1878 to 1880, which include “Venice and St. Mark’s,” “Florence, and St. Mary of the Flower,” and “Painting and Sculpture in Their Relation to Architecture, as Illustrated
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The Complete Letters of Henry James by the Practice of the Italian Artists of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.” 93.19 convaincu • finally convinced. 94.7–8 dining a few days since at the Guildhall • See HJ to WJ, 13 November [1880] (p. 90). 94.18 his poor long-suffering wife • Although Frances “Fanny” Dunlap Lowell (d. 1885) had recovered from the typhus she contracted when the Lowells were assigned to Madrid, she suffered from severe mental illness for the rest of her life. See HJ to Frances “Fanny” Rollins Morse, [early October 1879] (CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 15, 16n15.33–34). 94.20 Garfield • U.S. president-elect James Garfield (1831–81). Lowell remained American minister to England until 1885.
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SARAH BUTLER WISTER 14 November 1880 Historical Society of Pennsylvania Wister Family Papers 1962, box 13, folder 3
3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W. 20
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Nov. 14th 1880 ———— My dear Mrs. Wister When your mother came back from her continental journey a short time since, I said to myself (& said also to her,) that I would speedily write to you, by way of celebrating the event. If I wish to keep this graceful vow I must no longer delay; for your mother has by this time become a more or less (rather less) resigned victim of London again, & her weeks in Switzerland a portion of the irrecoverable past. I have seen her several times since her return—I see her always as often as possible—& I can conscientiously affirm that she appears better & happier than she did for some time before going away. Her journey, this year, was, I believe, not a very felicitous one, & she was not in the 96
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best condition while she was abroad; but at present she strikes me as tranquil & comfortable—easy in body & mind. Her ease of mind is of course always relative, but I think _the fact of^_` your poor much-troubled sister being more at peace than she was for some time before the death of her suffering little boy, has lightened your mother’s consciousness—very naturally— of the painfulness of things. Of Mrs. Leigh you will soon be getting news, as I hear her husband has just sailed for America; & in fact you must hear so often from both your near relations here that, in reading over what I have been writing, I am half amused & half shocked at my air of putting you au courant & initiating you into the affairs of your own family. I wonder, however, whether your mother tells you when she goes to the theatre with me; which she is so good as to do when something decently attractive is offered. I don’t see why she shouldn’t tell you, because after all it isn’t improper—that is, it is improper only in so far as that she is scandalously squeezed & impressed in getting out. But that is never by me, who surround her deeplyrespected person with every égard!—When I heard some short time since that there was a possibility of your coming out to see your sister, I ventured to indulge the most earnest hope that you would really set sail. The idea of your being here for a part of the winter was in the highest degree interesting, & I instantly made (mental) _arrangements^_` for putting off my winter’s journey abroad in order to enjoy your society! These visions, however, were promptly dispelled, & I must say I understand your unwillingness to cross the dreadful seas for merely a short absence. I _am^_` always taking for granted that you are only biding your time & that you will come some day or other for a proper period. Before that I shall see you—& I say this with a full sense of the ridicule I incur by doing so. I have been talking for so long of going home for a while, & I spoke so positively of an intention I had of doing so this past summer, that those who are so good as to care whether I do so or not, must have set me 97
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down as both ill-mannered & mendacious. I find some of my friends have supposed that I put off my journey because I had intentions of marriage here! & that I was waiting a little in order to provide myself (◇ for my return) with a blushing bride! This was a complete illusion; & you at least, I am sure, have suspected me of nothing so incongruous. I have no desire to take a British bride to America or to bring an American bride (to dwell) in Britain: so you see I am hedged off in every direction! Your mother is the only woman here that I am in love with, but she has repeatedly refused my hand!—I didn’t revisit the U. S. A this autumn chiefly because my brother took it into his head to come out & spend the summer here; & he answered so many of my questions & satisfied so many of my curiosities & desires that at the end of his three months’ visit I felt as if I had been home, & thought it wise to wait for a fresher season. This will occur, I firmly believe, next year. Meanwhile I shall probably escape to Italy for the latter end of the present winter & the whole of the spring. When I say Italy I don’t say definitely Rome—which will doubtless amaze you. But it wouldn’t amaze you if you had gathered—or rather had forced upon you—during these latter years, a sense of the extent to which Rome has become socially inconvenient & disagreeable. It is crowded with people who are both tiresome & obtrusive, & I have several distinct bugbears there! This is cruel, but so it is! The Storys sont bien tombés. Tombés, that is, in general esteem; I must say that to me they are always friendly & pleasant (they are “by way” of admiring H. J. jr as an author,) & I like them within the same rather palpable limitations that I always did. I saw a good deal last spring by the way (in Florence: did I tell you?—I think I did;) of Edith Peruzzi, & liked her better than in ancient days. I liked even her dusky, dampish dwelling in the pian’terreno of a mouldy palace, her agreeable but money-extracting husband &c. (I don’t mean Peruzzi extracts money from me—but I believe ◇he is maintained in gentlemanly leisure by the now rather straitened 98
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beau-père.) All this is pour vous dire that if I do go to Italy about February I shall fight shy of Rome until late in the season; when the social nuisance somewhat abates. I am thinking somewhat of going to Palermo in the interval; but shall probably abide at Venice if Venice doesn’t prove too cold. I talk to you of Italy, because there is little to tell of London. The winter hasn’t yet (socially speaking) begun—the dining out period has _only^_` shows symptoms of stirring. I have had a very quiet time for the last three months, which was what I wanted—to get on with a long novel which you will have seen but I hope not read (so that you may have it whole.) I paid almost no visits—one easily drops out of that if one keeps out of sight awhile here—& passed a series of rather dull weeks at cocknefied South-coast wateringplaces—Brighton, Folkestone, St. Leonard’s, &c.—This is a rainy Sunday; the wind is in the wrong quarter & my fire smokes & showers my paper, my table, my nose, with the familiar coalblack! Half an hour hence—having scoured my face,—I shall go out to lunch with Annie Thackeray—an episode in which I occasionally indulge of a Sunday. She is always the same mixture of demonstrative friendliness & harum-scarum quiproquos: but apparently very happy in two rather untidy babies & a tall, taciturn husband, reputed clever “when you know him well”—better than you ever care to! Mrs. Ritchie herself is the amiablest object in creation! . I have seen, I think, no one at all of novel interest lately.—You will have heard of your uncle’s illness (I mean Edward Sartoris,) which I think has caused his daughter & your mother some apprehensions. But I believe he is getting on & he has a great fund of strength. He is as good a specimen as you could find of a certain type of unprepossessing Englishman, but I like him & he has always been very pleasant to me.—I also like particularly Mrs. Henry Gordon—a sweet little woman of whom I envy you the cousinship, though I don’t know that you fully appreciate it.—I went ’tother day to the Lord Mayor’s dinner—the one he gives at Guildhall to the Cabinet 99
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&c—& was jammed to death. & fed with indigestible turtle. But I was entertained with the spectacle & the local colour. I haven’t asked you any questions—because I don’t assume that you will write. I know you ca◇ _will^_` if you can, & I hope you won’t if you can’t (conveniently.) I needn’t assure you of my constant good wishes—for I venture to believe that you are conscious of enjoying them. Give my friendly remembrances to Dr. Wister & my blessing to your boy—& believe me always faithfully yours H. James jr No previous publication
96.25 myself • my- | self 97.18–19 deeply- | respected • deeply-respected 97.27 unwillingness • [second and third n malformed] 98.2 supposed • sup- | posed 98.4 ◇ for • [r overwrites illegible letter] 98.6 incongruous • in- | congruous 98.8 direction • direc- | tion 98.19 wouldn’t • would- | n’t 98.33 ◇he • [blotted out] 99.3 nuisance • nuis- | ance 99.3 nuisance somewhat • [m malformed] 99.3 thinking somewhat • thinking some- | what; [m malformed] 99.13–14 watering- | places • watering-places 99.16–17 coal- | black • coal-black 99.19 mixture • mix- | ture 99.20 harum-scarum • harum- | scarum
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99.23 herself • her- | self 99.24 ! . • [top part of ! blotted out, resulting in .] 99.27 apprehensions • appre- | hensions 100.5 conveniently • con- | veniently 100.5 constant • con- | stant
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96.24 her continental journey • Sarah Butler Wister’s mother, Frances “Fanny” Anne Kemble, frequently spent the summer in Switzerland. 97.4–5 poor much-troubled sister [. . .] suffering little boy • Frances Butler Leigh (1838–1910), Wister’s younger sister. Her son, Pierce Butler (1879–80), died earlier in the year. He was the Leighs’ second son by the same name to die as a baby. The first was born and died in 1876. 97.8 her husband • James Wentworth Leigh (1838–1923). 97.11 au courant • up-to-date. 97.19 égard • attention. 98.24–25 sont bien tombés. Tombés • have fallen far. Fallen [. . .]. 98.29–32 Edith Peruzzi [. . .] dusky, dampish dwelling [. . .] husband • Edith Marion Story Peruzzi and Simone Peruzzi de Medici lived at the Palazzo Peruzzi in the Via Maggio in Florence (Whiting 109–10). 98.31 pian’terreno • ground floor. 99.1 beau-père • father-in-law. 99.1 pour vous dire • to tell you. 99.18 Annie Thackeray • Novelist Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie (1837–1919), eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray. 99.20 quiproquos • quid pro quos. 99.21–22 two rather untidy babies [. . .] taciturn husband • The children of Anne Thackeray Ritchie and her husband, Sir Richmond Ritchie (1854–1912), were Hester Thackeray (1878–1963) and William Thackeray Denis (1880–1964). 99.26 Edward Sartoris • Edward John Sartoris (1814–88) married Wister’s aunt, singer Adelaide Kemble (1815–79), in 1842. 99.31 Mrs. Henry Gordon • Mary “May” Theodosia Sartoris (1845– 1925), daughter of Edward John Sartoris and Adelaide Kemble, married
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Henry Evans Gordon in 1871 (Highfill, Burnim, and Langhans 316). 100.7 Dr. Wister • Dr. Owen Jones Wister (1825–96). 100.8 your boy • Future novelist Owen Wister Jr. (1860–1938).
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HENRY JAMES SR. 18 November [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1906) 5
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
Nov. 18th ———— Dearest father. Will you render me a service, & excuse my writing very briefly this morning in asking you to do so? Houghton & Mifflin have stupidly sent me a couple of drafts which are payable in New York; & bus _as^_` my banking-privileges here are of rather a primitive kind I will not attempt to get them collected in London. Will you have this done by your banker, & with the amount—365 $—purchase & transmit me a bill at sight on London? I imagine you can do this with little trouble to yourself, & I shall be greatly obliged. I do not return the cheques to Houghton & Mifflin & ask them to do it, because they may not be expeditious or obliging about it. But of course I have written to them to make their future remittances always payable in London, as the old firm used to do. Y◇◇r I have nothing particular to tell—& am writing this out of the depths of a November fog. I have not my c lamp lighted, but the room is enveloped in a warm brown gloom. I received Alice’s copious & amiable letter some time since & sent an acknowledgment a few days ago through William. I enclose, for her entertainment another salvo of compliments from Mlle. Yetta.—There is no talk here but of Ireland, as to which the government appears helpless & incapable. There is every evidence of a split in the Cabinet, between the Moderates & Radicals—Gladstone going with the former. I saw Mrs. Gladstone yesterday at Lady Rosebery’s & she reminded me of mother. She is very harumscarum about her dress (in this not at all like dear neat little 102
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Mammy.) The other day she went to stay at a country-house, & before dinner found that the body of her smart dress had been forgotten. She wrapped a shawl gracefully about her corset, & went down to table in this guise; but as she left the dining room deposited, from under her dress, a mysterious object which proved to be the body, which had been folded up in the inside of the skirt & had stuck there till it worked down! This little tale was told me the othr other day, & will amuse the ladies.— There is another little service you can render me. I left at home, among my books, three or four vols. of Miss Austen. Is Pride & Prejudice among them? (I mean in the little old fashioned edition of Bentley’s Standard Novels.) If so, could you send it me by book-post? I want it for a purpose; & this edition is out of print here & very hard to get. I don’t want any other but P. & P. Excuse this meagre scrawl—intended only to enclose you the two cheques, which I hope will reach you safely. Much love to every one from yours ever faithfully H. James jr No previous publication
102.16 transmit • trans- | mit 102.23 particular • par- | ticular 102.24 c lamp • [l overwrites c] 102.30 split • [l inserted] 102.31 Radicals • Radi- | cals 102.33–34 haram- | scarum • harum-scarum 103.3 forgotten • for- | gotten 103.3 gracefully • grace- | fully
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103.8 othr other • [ e overwrites r] 103.13 purpose • pur- | pose
102.22 old firm • Houghton, Mifflin and Company had been Houghton, Osgood and Company (1878–80) and James R. Osgood and Company (1871–78) before that.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 102.28 Mlle. Yetta • Yetta Blaze de Bury. 102.28–29 There is no talk here but of Ireland • Debates concerning Irish Home Rule. 102.32 Mrs. Gladstone • Catherine Glynne Gladstone (1812–1900). 102.32–33 Lady Rosebery’s • Hannah de Rothschild (1851–90) married Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery, on 20 March 1878. One of their residences, Mentmore, was inherited from her father, Mayer Amschel de Rothschild. In London they lived at 38 Berkeley Square. They had four children: Lady Sybil Myra Caroline Primrose, later Lady Sybil Grant (1879–1955); Lady Margaret Primrose, later the Marchioness of Crewe (1881–1967); (Albert Edward) Harry Mayer Archibald Primrose (January 1882–1974), who became the 6th Earl; and Neil James Archibald Primrose (December 1882–1917). 15
WILLIAM JAMES 27 November [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1994)
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Dear William. I sent you last p.m. the two vols. of Rosmini, done up separately & registered; & I hope they will arrive safely. Don’t talk of refunding.—A few days before, I had received a very welcome letter to from you, in Alice’s hand; & should have addressed this answer to her if I had not begun merely with the intention of notifying you about the book. I As it is, I can now hardly do more. This is a Saturday afternoon, & I go very presently down to spend Sunday at Lord Rosebery’s—so I have only a moment. (If the party at Mentmore proves interesting I will write of it to Quincy St., whence I received, the same day as yours, a dear letter from mother.) It gives me great pleasure to hear that your work this year leaves you leisure for reading & study, which must be a great satisfaction. It is the position 104
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I desire more & more to arrive at—which I am happy to say I tend to do. Thank you for what you say about my two novels. The young man in Washington Square is not a portrait—he is sketched from the outside merely & not fouillé. The only good thing in the story is the girl. The other thing _book^_` increases, I think, in merit & interest as it goes on, & being told in a more leisurely ^_`spacious,^_` expansive way than its predecessors, is inevitably more human, more sociable. It was the constant effort at condensation (which you used always to drum into my head—àpropos of Mérimée &c—when I was young & you bullied me,) that has deprived my former things of these qualities. I shall read what G. Allen & Fiske reply to you in the Atlantic, but shall be sure not to enter into what they say as I did into your article, which I greatly appreciated.—I spent last Sunday at Wm Darwin’s, very pleasantly, owing to beautiful cold, crisp weather & to Sara seeming very well & happy. I am very sorry your lodgings smell of soup, especially as I have lately _wholly^_` abjured it by the advice of Dr. Andrew Clark, whom I had to consult for matutinal nausea, which has vanished by the suppression for the pottage. Tell them in Quincy St. that I will speedily respond to mother’s letter. Say to Alice (Sister) that I send her a new hat a week or two hence by Mrs. Mason, who has kindly offered (taking a great interest in the episode) to carry it. It came home this a.m. & is much superior to the other. Love to your own Alice & baby. I will send them some benefits the 1st chance I get. Tout à toi H. James jr Nov. 27th ————
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Previous publication: HJL 2: 316–17; CWJ 1: 327–29; WHSL 128–29
104.24 received • re- | ceived 104.25 to from • [fr overwrites to] 104.27 I As • [A overwrites I] 104.31 • [blotted out]
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 104.34 satisfaction • satisfac- | tion 105.14 appreciated • appre- | ciated 105.14 Sunday • Sun- | day 105.25–27 Alice & baby. [. . .] Nov. 27th ———— • [written across the letter’s first page]
104.22 Rosmini • Italian philosopher Antonio Rosmini-Serbati (1797– 1855). Among his best-known works are Nuovo saggio sull’origine delle idee and Delle cinque piaghe della Santa Chiesa. 105.3 The young man in Washington Square • Morris Townsend. 105.4 fouillé • detailed. 105.5 the girl • Catherine Sloper. 105.5 The other [. . .] _book^_` • The Portrait of a Lady. 105.12 G. Allen & Fiske reply to you in the Atlantic • “The Genesis of Genius,” by [Charles] Grant Blairfindie Allen (1848–99), and “Sociology and Hero-Worship: An Evolutionist’s Reply to Dr. James,” by John Fiske (1842–1901), were both published in the Atlantic Monthly as responses to W J’s “Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment” (CWJ 1: 328–29n5). 105.18 Dr. Andrew Clark • A prominent London physician, Clark (1826–93) was the personal doctor of William Gladstone, Charles Darwin, and other leading members of London society. He diagnosed AJ’s breast cancer in 1891 (Yeazell 189). Clark might have been HJ’s model for Sir Luke Strett in The Wings of the Dove (Oxford DNB). 105.22 Mrs. Mason • Alice Mason (1838–1913).
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105.26 Tout à toi • All to you.
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MARY WALSH JAMES 28 November [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1907)
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MENTMORE, LEIGHTON BUZZARD.
Nov. 28th Dearest mammy. I received a good letter from you a few days ago, & as I have more leisure at this moment than I may have for some days to come, I will address you a few affectionate lines. (I have forgotten the date of your letter; but it was the one which enclosed that touching communication from poor Bob, describing his health &c.) I wrote yesterday, briefly, to Wm, & he will, I suppose, give you the benefit, such as it is, of my note. This is a pleasant Sunday, :& I have been spending it (from yesterday evening) in a very pleasant place. “Pleasant” is indeed rather an odd term to apply to this gorgeous residence, & the manner of life which prevails in it; but it is that as well as other things beside. Lady Rosebery (it is her enviable residence _dwelling^_`,) asked me down here a week ago, & I stop till tomorrow a.m. There are several people here, but no one very important, save John Bright & Lord Northbrook, the last L L liberal Viceroy of India. Millais the painter has been here for a part of _the^_` day, & I took a walk with him this afternoon back from the stables, where we had been to see three winners of the Derby trotted out in succession. This will give you an idea of the scale of Mentmore, where every thing is magnificent. The house is a huge modern palace, filled with wonderful objects accumulated by _the late^_` Sir Meyer de Rothschild, Lady R.’s father. All of them are precious & many are exquisite, & their general Rothschilish splendour is only equalled by their profusion. Lady R: is large, fat, ugly good-natured, sensible & kind; & Lord R. remarkably charming— “so simpatico & 107
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swell,” as the young lady in Florence said: that is, simpatico as well as swell. I have spent a good part of the time in listening to the conversation of John Bright whom, though I constantly ◇ see him at the Reform Club, I had never met before. He has the repute of being often “grumpy”; but on this occasion he has been _in^_` extremely good form & has discoursed uninterruptedly & pleasantly. He gives one an impression of sturdy, honest, vigorous English middle-class liberalism, accompanied by a certain infusion of genius, which helps one to understand how his name has become the great rallying-point of that sentiment. He reminds me a good deal of a superior New-Englander—with a fatter, damper nature, however, than their’s. There are no ladies save a little Mrs. Godley, the effacée wife of a wonderful universal«=information & high-senseof duty private Secretary of Gladstone, with whom (Godley himself ) I also walked this afternoon; & a pretty ^_`graceful^_` Lady Emma Baring, daughter of Lord Northbrook, whose prettiness, as is so often the misfortune of the British damsel, is impro impaired by protruding teeth. They are at afternoon tea down-stairs in a vast, gorgeous hall, where an ◇ upper gallery looks down like the colonnade in Paul Veronese’s pictures, & the chairs are all golden thrones belonging to ancient Doges of Venice. I have retired from the glittering scene to meditate by my bedroom fire on the fleeting character of earthly possessions & to commune with my mammy, until a supreme being in the shape of a dumb footman arrives, to ventilate my shirt & turn my stockings inside out, (the beautiful red ones imparted by Alice— which he must admire so much, though he doesn’t venture to show it) preparatory to my dressing for dinner. Tomorrow I return to London & to my personal occupations, always doubly valued after 48 hours passed among ces-gens-ci, whose chief effect upon me is to sharpen my desire to distinguish myself by personal achievement, of however limited a character. It is the only answer one can make to their atrocious good-fortune. 108
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Lord Rosebery, however, with youth, cleverness, a delightful face, a happy character, a Rothschild wife & numberless millions to distinguish & to demoralize him, wears them with such tact & bonhomie, that you almost forgive him. He is extremely nice with b Bright, draws him out, defers to him &c, with a delicacy rare in an Englishman. But, after all, there is much to say—more than can be said in a letter—about one’s relations with these people. You may be interested by the way to know that Lord R. said that this morning at lunch that his ideal of the happy life was that of Cambridge, Mass., “living like Longfellow.” You may imagine that at this the company looked awfully vague, & I thought of proposing to him to exchange Mentmore for 20 Quincy St.—I have little other personal news than this, which I have given you in some detail, ◇◇ for ter entertainment’s sake.—I am very glad you sent me Bob’s letter, which gives me a sense, most affecting, both of his trials and his advantages—I mean his good spirit, the esteem in which the railway people hold him, & his capacity for work. I k hope the latter will _soon^_` return to him, but that, also, he may not again have to tax it so hard. I wish he had a little more of the Mentmorish _Rothschild^_` element in his existence, & that I could do something to help him. Perhaps some day I may.—I spent last Sunday (from Saturday to Monday) at Sara Darwin’s, whom I found apparently very well & bright—as loveable & and natural as ever. I also beheld little ◇ Lily Norton & her grotesque resemblance to Charles. She seems to flourish, in a rathr rather colourless way, under an amiable & talkative French governess. While I think of it, àpropos of nothing, please send me a good photograph of Garfield—I want to see his face. I hope the house is quiet & happy. I wrote a short note to father the other day, & will soon send him a longer one. (My note enclosed some cheques; & I hope came safely.)—I trust Alice’s oral regimen is still a resource. I am sending hr her presently another hat, which I will write her more about, when I know the exact day it leaves, 109
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so that she may get it from Mrs. Mason, who takes it. I embrace you, dearest mother, & also your two companions. Ever your fondest H. James jr Previous publication: Lubbock 1: 76–78; HJL 2: 317–20; SL 2: 171–74
107.12 forgotten • for- | gotten 107.13 communication • com- | munication 107.16 :& • [& overwrites :] 107.20 enviable • en- | viable 107.23 Northbrook • North- | brook 107.23 , • [, overwrites .] 107.23–24 L liberal • [l overwrites L] 107.25 afternoon • after- | noon 107.32 Rothschilish • [misspelled] 107.34 simpatico • sim- | patico 108.4 ◇ see • [ee overwrites illegible letter] 108.5 occasion • oc- | casion 108.8 middle-class • middle- | class 108.12 New-Englander • New- | Englander 108.14 universal«=information • [= overwrites -]; universal«= | information 108.14–15 high-sense- | of • high-sense-of 108.16 himself • [m malformed] 108.19 impro impaired • [air overwrites ro] 108.19 protruding • pro- | truding 108.19 afternoon • after- | noon 108.20 ◇ upper • [u overwrites illegible letter]
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108.22 • [blotted out] 108.34 good-fortune • good- | fortune 109.3 them • [m malformed] 109.5 b Bright • [B overwrites b] 109.12 proposing • pro- | posing 109.13 Mentmore • Ment- | more
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1880 109.14 ◇◇ for • [fo overwrites illegible letters] 109.14–15 ter entertainment’s • [en overwrites ter] 109.18 k hope • [h overwrites k] 109.25 ◇ Lily • [L overwrites illegible letter] 109.26 resemblance • re- | semblance 109.26 rathr rather • [e overwrites r] 109.27 talkative • talka- | tive 109.33 hr her • [e overwrites r] 109.34–110.3 her more about [. . .] James jr • [written across the letter’s first page] 109.34 , • [, overwrites .]
107.13 poor Bob • RJ. 107.23 John Bright • Liberal politician (1811–89). 107.23 Lord Northbrook • Thomas George Baring (1826–1904), 1st Earl of Northbrook and Liberal viceroy of India. 107.24 Millais • Sir John Everett Millais (1829–96), English painter who helped form the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. 107.26–27 three winners of the Derby • The stables at Mentmore were home to many relatively famous Thoroughbred racehorses. Among the most notable were Macaroni (winner of the 1863 Epsom Derby) and Corisande (winner of the 1871 Cesarewitch). 107.30 Sir Meyer de Rothschild • Mayer Amschel de Rothschild (1818– 74), merchant banker and father of Hannah de Rothschild, Lady Rosebery. 108.13 Mrs. Godley • Sarah James Godley (1844–1921), daughter of Conservative MP Walter Charles James (1816–93). She married John Arthur Godley in 1871. 108.15 Godley • John Arthur Godley (1847–1932), civil servant and
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principal private secretary to William Gladstone during Gladstone’s second premiership. 108.17 Lady Emma Baring • Jane Emma Baring (1853–1936), only daughter of Thomas George, Earl of Northbrook (1826–1904), and Elizabeth Harriet Baring (1824–67). 108.31 ces-gens-ci • these people.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 109.17–18 esteem [. . .] capacity for work • See Maher for the impending conclusion of RJ’s good relations with his coworkers and supervisors on the railroad (138). 109.30 short note to father • See HJ to Sr., 18 November [1880] (pp. 102–3). 109.32 Alice’s oral regimen • AJ had been experiencing toothaches in the summer of 1880. See HJ to AJ, 8 August [1880] (pp. 33–34). 109.33 another hat • See also HJ to AJ, 9 October [1880], 13 October [1880], and 7 December [1880] (pp. 69, 76, 115–16).
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 5 December [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1784 (253)-34 15
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
Dec. 5th. ———— Dear Howells. I didn’t mean to put the screw on you to the extent of two volumes of native fiction, & am much obliged to you for your generosity. I shall not attempt to read the books just now, but keep them for the larger leisure of a journey abroad, _later in the winter.^_` Dizzy’s “Endymion,” which is the actuality of the hour here, has almost fatally disgusted me with the literary form to which it pretends to belong. Can the novel be a thing of virtue, when such a contemptibly bad novel as that is capable of being written—& read? Perhaps, however, Aldrich & the Grandissimo will reconcile me to this branch of art. I ask you about the latter because I had observed one or two notices of him which seemed to indicate (in superlative terms) that the G. A. N. had at last arrived; but from the moment that public opinion had not forced him on your own perusal, I was willing to give the G. A. N. another chance.—Your strictures on my 112
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own story seem to me well-founded (don’t say that I don’t take criticism like an angel.) The girl is over-analysed, & her journalistic friend seems (whether she is or not) overdrawn. But in defense of the former fault I will say that I intended to make a young woman about whom there should be a great deal to tell & as to whom she _such^_` telling should be interesting; & also that I think she is analysed once for all in the early part of the book & doesn’t turn herself inside out quite so much afterwards. (So at least it seems to me—perhaps you will not agree with me.) Miss Stackpole is not I think really exaggerated—but 99 readers out of a 100 will think her so: which amounts to the same thing. She is the result of an impression made upon me by a variety of encounters _& acquaintances^_` made during the last few years; ◇ an impression which I had often said to myself could not be exaggerated. But one must have received the impression, & the home-staying American doubtless does not do so as strongly as the expatriated; it is over here that _it^_` offers itself in its utmost relief.—That you think well of Lord W. makes me regret more than I already do that he is after all but a secondary figure. I have made rather too much of his radicalism in the beginning—there is no particular use for it later.—I must have been strangely vague as to all the conditions of my story when I first corresponded with you about it, & I am glad to have wrung from you the confession that you expected it to be in six numbers, for this will teach me to be more explicit in future. I certainly supposed I had been so in this case—the great feature of my projected tale being that it was to be long—longer than its predecessors. Six months, for a regular novel, is a very small allowan◇◇ allowance—I mean for _dealing with^_` a long period of time & introducing a number of figures. You make your own stories fit into it, but it is only by contracting the duration of the action to a few weeks. Has not this been the case in all of them? It Write one that covers a longer stretch of months or years, and I think you will see that it will immediately take 113
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more of the magazine. I believed that in this case you positively desired something voluminous & I believed equally that I had announced my voluminosity well in advance. I am afraid that it will be a characteristic of my future productions (in, I hope, a reasonable measure;) but I will be careful to put the points on my i’s.—I complain of you that you will never write to me save of the weather—as if you had just been introduced to me at an evening party! That is very well: especially as you describe it beautifully—but I would rather you told me what you are doing, writing, enjoying, suffering, hearing, seeing. About all these things you are very mysterious. Your description of the impudent Cambridge winter, however, is vivid—with the earth like a stone & the sky like a feather. Here the earth is like a Persian rug—a hearth-rug, well besprinkled with soott.—I hear every now and then that you are soon coming abroad; but I sincerely hope you won’t have the perversity to take just the time when I am coming home, as I hope (this time seriously,) to do next year. Your wife, I am sure, would not do this. Tell her I believe it, & remain faithfully yours H. James jr I think you may be sure Mrs. Orr got your book: but I will make a point of ascertaining. ———— Previous publication: HJL 2: 320–22; Anesko 156–58; Horne 126–28
112.20 extent • ex- | tent 112.23 , _ • [_ overwrites . ; , inserted] 113.3 journalistic • journal- | istic
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113.14 ◇ an • [a overwrites illegible letter] 113.15 received • re= | ceived 113.29 allowan◇◇ allowance • [ce overwrites blotted illegible letters] 113.31 duration • dura- | tion 113.33 It Write • [W overwrites It] 114.14 soott • [blotted out]
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1880 114.16 perversity • per- | versity 114.20–22 I think [. . .] of ascertaining. ———— • [written across the letter’s first page]
112.24 Dizzy’s “Endymion,” • Endymion (1880), a novel by Benjamin Disraeli. 112.28 Aldrich • Thomas Bailey Aldrich, whose fiction Howells had reviewed in the Atlantic in November in “Mr. Aldrich’s Fiction.” See also HJ’s comments on both Aldrich and Cable’s The Grandissimes in his 11 November [1880] letter to Howells (p. 88). 112.29 Grandissimo • George Washington Cable, author of The Grandissimes. 112.32 G. A. N. • Great American Novel. 112.34–113.1 my own story • The Portrait of a Lady, which was then being published in the Atlantic Monthly. 113.2 The girl • Isabel Archer. 113.2–3 her journalistic friend • Henrietta Stackpole. 113.18 Lord W. • Lord Warburton. 113.24–25 six numbers • The Portrait of a Lady ran to fourteen installments.
ALICE JAMES 7 December 1880 ALS Houghton
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
Dec. 7th 1880 ———— Sweetest child. I take my pen in hand just to notify you that a new coiffure is just about to cross the Atlantic, to find its place, if possible— more fortunate than its predecessor—upon your intellectual 115
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brow. Mrs. Mason sails to-day in the Celtic, bearing this new _fresh^_` experiment, &, if after she has had time to arrive & ◇ unpack, you will call ◇ send for it to 54 Beacon St.—the residence I believe of the Miss Appletons—it will be handed over. It is less ugly than the other & more valuable—being all of a chaste rich black: but I am a little nervous about the front— it is perhaps a trifle retroussé. Indeed I have been nervous & demoralized in the whole affair, & have lost my confidence; to say nothing of Brown, to whom I shall never go again, being decidedly too dowdy. But I trust you will be able to extort some slight use from the headpiece.—This is all I have started out to say.—The days go on & London becomes more active. I have ^_`dine^_` out a little & stay a little in the country. I have just come back from two days at Sir Henry Holland’s, which were not of a crazy gaiety—but the visit, on my part, was perfunctory; & I expected little. But Lady Holland is a dear gentle English lady & delightfully handsome & he a very good fellow. There were present Lord & Lady Eustace Cecil & Sir Howard Elphinstone & his wife—the former gent. a brother of Lord Salisbury, the latter an army man & general factotum of the Duke of Connaught—his wife _too^_` being a sort of upper chambermaid of the Du◇ Duhess. On Saturday next I go, till Monday, down to the Buxton’s, at Fox Warren, which is also perfunctory—they having asked me till I could refuse no more. (I had done so repeatedly, the name of Buxton having a dreary connotation.) Last night I dined at the Rosebery’s, who were in town for a day—in that amazing way that fine folk here come to London for 24 hours, with cooks, butlers dozens of servts., & an hour after their arrival sit down to _a^_` dinner served as completely & punctually as if it were a present from the skies. To morrow I dine with Miss de Rothschild—one of the richest spinsters in London, & also the ugliest. All this, as usual, for local colour’s sake—even to the abuse of the personal appearance of my hostess, which is in the true London vein. I 116
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ask you no questions, but shall be happy to hear from you one of these days. I hope the greeh greenhouse consents to be green. I embrace my parents, & remain your faithful H. James jr P.S.—I enclose you a rather touching note from poor Mrs. Lynn Linton. I never read her books, & believe them to be bad; but there is something generous & loveable about herself, & she is a very hard-worked literary woman, whose life has been full of troubles.—You will see that she admires H. J. jr.; & it is at the expense of my modesty I send you her letter. —I also enclose one from C. King—whom, if you can, you may fancy me residing with in Paris!—I have no intention of going abroad till the Spring comes on; but you see that she would fain draw me thither at present. —Mrs. M’s taking of the hat was entirely her own initiative & if you get a chance you might thank her. .
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116.2 experiment • experi- | ment 116.3 ◇ unpack • [u overwrites illegible letter] 116.3 ◇ send • [s overwrites illegible letter] 116.22 Du◇ Duhess • [h overwrites illegible letter] 116.27 amazing • a- | mazing 116.29 arrival • ar- | rival 116.30 completely • com- | pletely 117.2 greeh greenhouse • [ascender of h blotted out, resulting in n] 117.5 believe • be- | lieve 117.7 woman • wo- | man
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115.32 a new coiffure • See HJ to AJ, 9 October [1880] and 13 October [1880], and HJ to MWJ, 28 November [1880] (pp. 69, 76, 109). 116.7 retroussé • rolled up. 116.14–16 Sir Henry Holland’s [. . .] Lady Holland • Henry Thurston Holland, 1st Viscount Knutsford (1825–1914), Conservative MP and son of
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The Complete Letters of Henry James physician Sir Henry Holland (1788–1873). Margaret Jean Trevelyan (1835– 1903), second wife of Henry Thurston Holland (m. 1825). 116.18 Lord & Lady Eustace Cecil • Conservative MP Lord Eustace Brownlow Henry Gascoyne- Cecil (1834–1921) and his wife, Lady Gertrude Scott (1841–1919). 116.18–21 Sir Howard Elphinstone [. . .] Duke of Connaught • Howard Craufurd Elphinstone (1829–90), decorated military commander. He was appointed aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria under Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, whom he had served since the latter’s boyhood. 116.19 his wife • Annie Frances Cole (1856–1938) married Howard Craufurd Elphinstone in 1876. 116.20 Lord Salisbury • Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil (1830– 1903), 3rd Marquess of Salisbury and older brother of Eustace Brownlow Henry Gascoyne- Cecil. He was a well-known Conservative statesman and later served as prime minister for three separate terms. 116.23 Buxton’s, at Fox Warren • Sydney Charles Buxton (1853–1934), Liberal MP. He was a member of the London school board from 1876 to 1882. Fox Warren, in Surrey, was designed and built by his father, politician Charles Buxton (1822–71), in 1860. 116.31 Miss de Rothschild • Alice de Rothschild (1847–1922), sister of Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–98). 117.4–5 Mrs. Lynn Linton • Eliza Lynn Linton.
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117.10 C. King • Charlotte Sleight Matthews King.
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ARCHIBALD PHILIP PRIMROSE, LORD ROSEBERY [13–18 December 1880] National Library of Scotland MS 10079, f. 211
3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
My dear Lord Rosebery I am deeply touched by the friendliness of your note, & feel as if I ought to do something striking & picturesque, to prove to you that I am not on the whole unworthy of your confidence! The best thing I can do, doubtless, will be to take you at your word & come down to the Durdans at an early opportunity. This pleasure I shall certainly give myself. Be assured meanwhile of my thanks & good-wishes. I offer many salutations to Lady Rosebery & remain very faithfully yours Henry James jr P.S. Smalley has written to me to say that you had kindly suggested to him that he shld. propose a day to me. But I have been obliged to answer that my next two or three Sundays were mortgaged—adding however that I should look out lookout sharply for an early occasion. ———— No previous publication
119.14 good-wishes • good- | wishes 119.14 salutations • saluta- | tions 119.15 remain • re- | main
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119.20 look out lookout • [line drawn connecting k and third o]
119.1 ARCHIBALD PHILIP PRIMROSE, LORD ROSEBERY • Archibald Philip Primrose (1847–1929), 5th Earl of Rosebery, writer, and politician. 119.2 [13–18 December 1880] • Several points in this letter indicate mid-December 1880 as the time of its composition. Lord Rosebery mar-
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The Complete Letters of Henry James ried in 1878. Since Lady Rosebery is named, the letter must be from after 1878. HJ’s inclusion of “jr” to his signature suggests that it was written before his father’s death in 1882. HJ only used this letterhead in 1879 and 1880, narrowing the range of dates further. HJ visited Durdans in early 1881, arriving on Sunday, 9 January (see HJ to MW J, [9], 11 January [1881]; [misdated] 10, p. 144). HJ wrote Rosebery that “my next two or three Sundays were mortgaged.” The first obligated Sunday would have been 19 December, when HJ dined with Smalley (see HJ to Blanche Althea Elizabeth Holt Cookson, 15 December [1880], p. 120). Later that week on 23 December he departed Bolton Street for the Christmas holiday (see HJ to Robert Thomson, 21 December [1880], p. 126), after which he would not usually have used the 3 Bolton Street letterhead used for this letter. He spent the second and third Sundays after the writing of this letter on holiday, arriving the next Sunday, 9 January, at Durdans. Thus the most likely range of dates for this letter’s composition would have been 13–18 December 1880. 119.12 the Durdans • One of the Rosebery estates. 119.14–15 Lady Rosebery • Hannah de Rothschild (1851–90). 119.17 Smalley • George W. Smalley.
BLANCHE ALTHEA ELIZABETH HOLT COOKSON 15 December [1880] MS Photocopy Creighton University
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3,BOLTON STREET, PICCADILLY.W.
Dear Mrs. Cookson. I am the most unlucky of men—I am engaged to dine on Sunday at the Smalley’s! Your kind offer of a picnic in Rutland Gate torments me with the image of a wilder, freer pleasure. I am afraid however that I can’t do anything so wild & free as to retreat from my other engagement, & the best that I can offer myself is to come & see you some day this week—tomorrow (Thursday,) or Saturday—as late as possible in the afternoon. 120
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Perhaps if you have a preference as one of these days—or as to Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of next week (on the Thursday I leave town)—you would carry your benevolence far from _enough^_`—that benevolence of which you have already given me such repeated proof—to indicate, by post, such preference. It shall be eagerly obeyed by yours very gratefully & regretfully H. James jr Dec. 15th ———— No previous publication
120.33–34 ( • [( overwrites ,] 121.4 benevolence • [second n malformed]
120.22 BLANCHE ALTHEA ELIZABETH HOLT COOKSON • Daughter of Eardley Chauncy Holt, Cookson (1846–1928) married HJ’s friend Montague Hughes Cookson in 1869. They changed their surname to Crackanthorpe in 1888. 120.29 Smalley’s • George Washburn Smalley (1833–1916), American journalist and London-based correspondent for the New York Tribune, and his wife, Phoebe Garnaut Smalley (b. c. 1837), adopted daughter of abolitionists Wendell and Ann Phillips. 120.29–30 Rutland Gate • In 1880 the Cooksons lived at 29 Rutland
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Gate, S.W., in London.
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WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK 16 December [1880] ALS New York Public Library Henry James Collection Papers, [1867]–1917 bulk (1882–1917). Classmark: 5
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Dear Pollock. It is proper I should let you know, in your official capacity, that I will bring a friend with me to the Rabelais dinner on Thursday—i.e. Gennadius, the late Greek chargé d’affaires. I suppose he ought to sit next to me.—I haven’t seen you “in an age,” as the ladies say; but will do so on the 21st, unless I meet you at your mother’s, where I dine tonight. Yours ever H. James jr Dec. 16th ———— No previous publication
122.13–16 21st [. . .] Dec. 16th ———— • [written across the letter] 122.14 tonight • to- | night
122.1 WALTER HERRIES POLLOCK • Pollock (1850–1928) was a British author and editor of the Saturday Review (1883–94). 122.11 Gennadius • Joannes Gennadius (1844–1932), Greek chargé
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d’affaires from April 1875 to May 1880.
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SIR GARNET JOSEPH WOLSELEY 16 December [1880] ALS Hove Central Library, Church Road, Hove, Sussex James MS (001)
✉ REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W. Dec. 16th p.m ———— Dear Sir Garnet: Lady Wolseley has been good enough to telegraph me an invitation to come & spend Sunday with you, & has asked me to send my answer to you. I am very sorry indeed to say that this answer must be unfavourable. I have engagements on Saturday evening & Sunday which make it impossible I shld. get out of town. My desire to do so is so great that I have been racking my brain for some method of escape from my duties here— but they are too inexorable, & I must resign myself to the loss of a pleasure I shld. greatly have enjoyed. I shall write to Lady Wolseley to express my extreme regret, & meanwhile I remain very truly yours H. James jr
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✉ General Sir Garnet Wolseley G.C.B., G.C.M.G. War Office. Pall Mall S.W.
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123.15 unfavourable • un- | favourable 123.20 enjoyed • en- | joyed 123.21 regret • re= | gret
123.1 SIR GARNET JOSEPH WOLSELEY • Wolseley (1833–1913) was a celebrated British military figure and author of the practical manual The Soldier’s Pocket-Book for Field Service (1869), as well as several magazine articles. He married Louisa Erskine (1843–1920) in 1867, and their only child, Frances Garnet Wolseley, was born in 1872. 123.20–21 I shall write to Lady Wolseley • See HJ to Lady Louisa Erskine Wolseley, 18 December [1880], pp. 124–25.
LADY LOUISA ERSKINE WOLSELEY 18 December [1880] ALS Hove Central Library, Church Road, Hove, Sussex James MS (092) 20
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Dec. 18th ———— Dear Lady Wolseley. I write a line not, I am sorry to say, to retract my refusal of yesterday, but simply to tell you what grief that refusal cost me. Your invitation found me tied too tight in London to make it possible I should leave it this afternoon: engagements both today & tomorrow of the sort that one can’t break. I meditated intensely over the question, & then had to decide that there are things one can’t _can^_` do & things one can’t, & that my situation was of the latter kind. I am very sorry—this is all I wished to say. I am glad you didn’t write me any details—in that case the strain would really have tried me. I hope very much 124
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you are coming up to London early in the winter, so that I may have the pleasure of seeing you—a privilege that I have not enjoyed for many months. I wonder whether you often see the good sisters of ◇ Burford; & have an idea that they don’t deprive you altogether of their Society. I should rather like to send them a message by you—a very affectionate one—; but I feel that I am not in a position to ask favours of you. Besides, they know my sentiments. I hope you have pleasant arrangements for Xmas: I expect also to pass my own in military circles—mild man of peace though I am: I spend three or four days with Mrs. Pakenham at Plymouth. I offer you, a little in advance, all the compliments of the season & remain with many good wishes, very faithfully yours H. James jr Previously published: Alan James 10
124.28–29 to- | day • to-day 124.30 then • [n malformed] 125.4 ◇ Burford • [B overwrites illegible letter] 125.12–13 & remain [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page]
125.3–4 the good sisters of [. . .] Burford • Louisa Elizabeth (1838– 1920) and Mary Wilhelmina Lawrence (1839–1920), socialites and sisters of Sir James John Trevor Lawrence (1831–1913), whose wife, Elizabeth
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Matthew (1845–1916), inherited Burford Lodge.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
ROBERT THOMSON 21 December [1880] ALS University of Virginia Library Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special 5
Collections, Papers of Henry James, MSS 6251-m, box 1, folder 34
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Dec. 21st. ———— Dear Mr. Thomp Thomson. I am very sorry to say that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you here next week. I leave town on the 22 23d (Thursday) to spend Xmas & the New Year in the country, & not to return till some time in the early part of January. I am very regretful at missing your visit, & hope you will soon be making an however _another.^_` My prospects of seeing you, however, are, I am afraid, not brilliant just now; inasmuch as soon after my return from Cornwall (where I go day after tomorrow,) I expect to start for the Continent, for an absence of several months (spending the rest of the winter & spring in Rome.) But London is my permanent headquarters, I constantly return to it, & sooner or later we shall meet.—I sent your letter to my brothers, who will be very glad to have news of you. I remember (i.e. recognize) your handwriting (wonderfully unchanged) across the multitude of years! With renewed assuranc of my regret at missing you, I remain Sincerely yours H. James jr No previous publication
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126.10 Thomp Thomson • [s overwrites blotted p] 126.12 22 23d • [3 overwrites 2] 126.17 inasmuch • in- | asmuch 126.23 remember • [second m malformed] 126.24 handwriting • hand- | writing
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1880 126.25 assuranc • [misspelled] 126.25–26 you, I remain Sincerely yours H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page]
126.1 ROBERT THOMSON • Scot hired by Sr. to tutor W J, HJ, and GW J while the family stayed in London between the fall of 1855 and the spring of 1856. He and the James boys had a friendly rapport despite the pedagogic nature of their brief relationship.
HENRY JAMES SR. 27 December [1880] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1908)
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GOVERNMENT HOUSE, DEVONPORT.
Dec. 27th Dearest Daddy. I have been keeping your letter of the 7th last (which enclosed the draft upon Brown & Shipley,) in order to answer it in the comparative leisure of a country visit. My visit is three days old, & I must not delay longer. I am greatly obliged for the draft—& for everything else. It is no matter about the Mansfield Park; my hope that it would turn up at home was not strong. I came to this place (Mrs. Pakenham’s,) on the 23d, & depart tomorrow for Falmouth to spend three or four days with my friends the John Clarks, who, as I think I have told you, have taken a house at that place for the winter. It is some two hours’ journey hence, over the boarder of Cornwall. I am supposed to be spending a jovial Xmas; & it is very well; but the effect is a good deal dam◇ damaged by the local climate, which abounds in ferocious rain. This is a military house—the official residence of the General in Command of one of the five big districts into which England is divided—though the military element is just 127
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now rather in abeyance, owing to the absence of aide-de-camps, &c, who are gone to their own homes for Xmas. This house (Devonport is virtually but a district of Plymouth,) stands on the edge of Plymouth Sound, looking straight across the narrow channel at Mount Edgecumbe, the most beautiful “nobleman’s seat” I have seen in England. (I remember your telling _in my infancy^_` me that it was the first English land you saw on coming here as a young man; & if it is was in summer you may well have received a charming impression.) Several ◇◇ of us crossed the water on Xmas day & took a long walk there; & the day _weather^_` by good luck being lovely, the place seemed to me a Paradise. There are (what they call here) “only a few people” in the house—i.e. some s◇◇◇ _six^_` visitors beside the family; which latter consists of the General (a very amiable, soft, conventional, mild-headed, gentlemanly man,) Mrs. P., a cidevant American belle transformed into an intense Anglaise, (in everything save physique & costume,) & two very very nice young sons, home from Eton for the holidays, & destined like all their male-ancestors & relatives to go in to the army. (Gen. P. is nephew, by marriage, to the old Duke of Wellington, who married his aunt.) I passed yesterday a very pleasant morning (it was Sunday,) in the company of a very pleasant _obliging^_` young Captain in the Navy, who is staying here (son of Mr. Brand, /s Speaker of the H. of Commons.) This is not only a military, but a big naval Station, & doc◇ dockyard, & he invited me to go out & breakfast with him on his ship, & afterwards go over it with him. He was to read service, in the absence of the chaplain; ◇ & at this picturesque ceremony (as I thought it,) I also assisted. I breakfasted with the officers in the “ward-room,” & then went all over the huge man-of-war, which is one of the old fashioned big line-of battle-ships, rather antiquated, but very prodigious. After this Brand took me about in his boat in the bay, visiting strange gun-boats & torpedoes; & the whole thing was Entertaining, including the character of my companion, a 128
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1880
simple sensible child of the gentry, smelling of Piccadilly more than of the salt-sea-waves, who has found his career easy for him by reason of his birth, & yet is probably none the less an excellent officer.—Mrs. Pakenham gives a ball at the end of the week, for which, though strongly urged, I shall not stay—to be lost in a wilderness of red coats.—I sent you the day I left town the 4th no. of my long story, in which I hope you will find no diminuition of the merits you are so good as to mention in your letter. The appearance of the Washington Square volumes is delayed for another 10 days. I will send this them to you when it takes place.—You will already have heard of Geo. Eliot’s death. Apart from being sorry for poor John Cross, for whom it is a dreadful déception (in the French sense; i.e. in English, vulgarly “sell”,) the event can scarcely be called premature. She was of ripe age, she was ill, & she had evidently written her best; it was well for her to go before she shld. write another “Theophrastus Such.” I suppose she is much talked of in London; the news came out only the day I left. What is talked about is Ireland— one h◇◇ hears nothing else. One hears infinite rubbish on the subject; but it seems to me not open to question that the 1st & immediate duty of the government is to maintain order there & make the actual laws respected, whatever other laws it may have in contemplation to pre propose. With this duty it is paltering most strangely. The talk of “society” about Ireland it is vile; but that is none the less true.—Yes, I have quite given up Dickens; & the task has been given to another (an unknown,—i.e. obscure, writer.) It is altogether better I should not have undertaken it: I shall do something much better, & far more remunerative, instead. You will already have seen my theatrical article in the January Scribner. I haven’t seen it myself, but it must be full of misprints.—All this time I haven’t gone into your own Xmas doings, but I suppose they were not very elaborate. I hope you had a good dinner, however, & that th◇y _the^_` day was intrinsically genial. I am afraid you are cruelly cold, but I trust 129
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you are not the worst worse for it. I send sent a lot of Xmas cards (the prettiest in London) to Wilky’s & Bob’s children; please note whether they mention receiving them. I have been notified by Wm of his removal to Oxford St. Cambridge; but he doesn’t mention the cause of the change. I hope, at any rate, it is a change for the better; though boarding, with a wife & child, must be an unattractive mode of life. I trust that Alice & ^_`mother^_` & Alice have a fine winter bloom, & send them all the greetings of the Season. The post goes out in a moment, & I must deposit this in the hall, amid that pile of epistl epistolary matter which daily leaves an English house, where every one (except poor H. J. jr) finds ten letters every morning upon his breakfast-plate. Farewell dear Daddy, remember that you can’t write to me _can help^_` your exiled child to appear more befriended. Love to & kisses to the ladies from Your affectionate H. James jr ———— No previous publication
127.21 comparative • compara- | tive 127.31 dam◇ damaged • [a overwrites illegible letter] 128.9 ◇◇ of • [of overwrites illegible letters] 128.14 consists • con- | sists 128.15 gentlemanly • gentle- | manly 128.15–16 ci- | devant • ci-devant 128.16 American • [m malformed] 128.16–17 , ( • [( overwrites , ; first , inserted] 128.24 s/ Speaker • [S overwrites s]
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128.25 doc◇ dockyard • [k overwrites illegible letter] 128.28 ◇ & • [& overwrites illegible letter] 128.31 line-of • line- | of 129.8 diminuition • [misspelled] 129.10 this them • [em overwrites is ; m malformed] 129.16 Theophrastus • Theo- | phrastus
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1880 129.19 h◇◇ hears • [ea overwrites illegible letters] 129.23 pre propose • [o overwrites e] 129.24 it is • [blotted out; s overwrites blotted i] 129.34 intrinsically • in- | trinsically 130.1 worst worse • [e overwrites t] 130.1 send sent • [t overwrites d] 130.4 removal • re= | moval 130.10 epistl epistolary • [o overwrites l] 130.14 to & • [& overwrites to]
127.20 Brown & Shipley • Brown, Shipley and Company, HJ’s banker in England. 127.23–24 Mansfield Park • HJ had asked that his father send from home his copy of Pride and Prejudice, “the little old fashioned edition of Bentley’s Standard Novels,” from among the several volumes of Jane Austen’s work that he left behind in Massachusetts. Mansfield Park may have been among those novels. See HJ to Sr., 18 November [1880] (p. 103). 127.25 Mrs. Pakenham’s • Elizabeth Staples Clark Pakenham. 127.26–27 my friends the John Clarks • Sir John Forbes Clark (1821– 1910) and Charlotte Coltman Clark (1823–97). 127.33 the General • Lt. Gen. Thomas Henry Pakenham (1826–1913). 128.17–18 two very [. . .] nice young sons • Hercules Arthur Pakenham (1863–1937) and Harry Francis Pakenham (1864–1905). 128.23 young Captain in the Navy • Thomas Seymour Brand (1847– 1916), son of the Speaker of the British House of Commons (1872–84), Henry Bouverie William Brand (1814–92). Brand ultimately achieved the rank of rear admiral. 129.11 Geo. Eliot’s death • 22 December 1880.
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129.12 John Cross • John Walter Cross (1840–1922), banker and one of the original members of the Devonshire Club, married George Eliot shortly before her death. 129.13 déception • disappointment. 129.16–17 Theophrastus Such • Impressions of Theophrastus Such was Eliot’s last completed work (1879).
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
The Complete Letters of Henry James 129.18 Ireland • Irish resistance to British rule intensified in 1880 when Charles Stewart Parnell was elected leader of the Home Rule League. Sympathizers were encouraged to refuse labor to demanding landlords and to boycott those who took land from which an Irishman had been evicted; within a short time these activities escalated into violent and illegal offenses. Parnell and others were arrested on charges of conspiracy and intimidation in November 1880 and were brought to trial in late December of that year. 129.25 given up Dickens • HJ had been offered the English Men of Letters series biography of Charles Dickens, which he considered writing but then declined. See HJ to Sr., 11 January [1880] (CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 89), and HJ to MWJ, 20 July [1880] (pp. 21, 25n21.5). 129.26–27 an unknown,—i.e. obscure, writer • Adolphus William Ward (1837–1924). His Dickens was published by Macmillan in 1882. 129.29 my theatrical article • “The London Theaters,” an unsigned review published in the January 1881 number of Scribner’s Monthly. 130.2 Wilky’s & Bob’s children • Wilky was the father of Joseph Cary James (1874–1925) and Alice James (1875–1923), and Bob was the father of Edward “Ned” Holton James (1873–1954) and Mary Walsh James (1875–1956). 130.4 removal to Oxford St. Cambridge • WJ and AHGJ moved their family from 15 Louisburg Square to 10 Oxford Street, Cambridge, in early December 1880.
FREDERICK MACMILLAN 25
28 December [1880] ALS British Library Add. MS 54931, f. 78–79
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KERRIS VEAN, FALMOUTH. 30
Dec. 28th ———— Dear Macmillan. I have just received a letter from Houghton & Mifflin which I enclose to you on account of the paragraph about the arrival 132
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1880
of Macmillan in the U. S. It appears that it is reviewed in the American papers before my story appears in the Atlantic. This must in fact be rather a disadvantage, & even danger. Is it not possible to delay the departure of the magazine for America, so as to give the Atlantic a better chance? For what you can do in this way I should be very grateful.—Behold me in the depths of Cornwall, with an Atlantic gale howling about the house, & the ◇◇◇◇ rain lashing the windows. I am wofully homesick for Piccadilly—& appalled by the prospect of being dragged through the storm to the Land’s End. I prefer the Land’s Centre—i.e. Bolton St. Yours ever, in haste H. James jr Previous publication: Moore 57
133.7 Cornwall • Corn- | wall
132.34–133.1 the paragraph about the arrival of Macmillan in the U. S. • HJ had arranged for his serialized The Portrait of a Lady to appear first in the British Macmillan’s Magazine, approximately two weeks before its publication in the American Atlantic Monthly. Copies of the December issue of Macmillan reached the States before the Atlantic was able to make an ap-
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pearance, posing a problem for the American magazine.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James
GRACE NORTON 28 December 1880 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (920) 5
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KERRIS VEAN, FALMOUTH. Dec. 28th 1880 ———— My dear Grace. Xmas day is over, but your valuable letter _(of the 14th)^_` revives the festive feeling. I thank you tenderly for it & send you in return all greetings for the dawning year. Just hereabouts it is dawning in darkness & storm—both in the physical & the political world. I am in the middle of Cornwall—the rainiest county in England, & am just now listening to the music of an Atlantic gale & the “swash” of deluged window-panes. I am afraid I shall extract but little sympathy from you when I tell you that I am staying (since last evening) with our friends the John Clarks—the “old black cat” & her appreciative spouse. They live habitually in Scotland, but they have taken a house this _winter on this^_` Southern Shore, for the benefit of Lady C.’s health, & she is getting mild mugginess to her heart’s content. The climate here is of the softest & the vegetation almost that of the Riviera; as I am fond of mild ^_`warm^_` moisture I should also relish it—save on the days when it pours from sunrise to sunrise, which are six out of the seven. I have been spending Xmas with some military friends at Plymouth, which is a big garrison town, just on the Cornish border; , & on terminating my visit there, I came over here for three days, foreseeing the extreme in-door tranquility which I in effect find. But I also find much kindness, much talk, much food, much fire, much general amenity & appreciation. You will believe this last when I tell you that we were (Sir John & I) in the very act (at breakfast) of discoursing of you—in what glowing terms you 134
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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1880
may fancy—when your letter came in. Poor Sir John appears to retain the most ineffaceable, & really devoted, memory of Jane. Your essay on matrimony is charming & ought to be published somewhere—in the Fortnightly or the Cornhill. My single individuality is quite unworthy of it. Still, I shall not make it public; I shall make it private. That is I shall take it to my heart & assent to every thing it contains. But I shall not marry, all the same. I am happy enough as it is, & am convinced that if I should go further, I should fare worse. I am too good a bachelor to spoil. That sounds conceited—but one may be conceited, in self-defense, about a position that _with which^_` the rest of the world associates a certain idea of the ridiculous.—I am glad you are reading my long story—though that is not the way to read it. My theory is (it may be my conceit again) that it will bear reading again as a whole. It is much the best thing I have done—though not the best I shall do. You are both right & wrong about Minny Temple. I had her in mind & there is in the heroine a considerable infusion of my impression of her remarkable nature. But the thing is not a portrait. Poor Minny was essentially incomplete & I have attempted to make my young woman more rounded, more finished. In truth every one, i◇ in life, is incomplete, & it is the mark of art that in reproducing them one feels the desire to fill them out, to justify them, as it were. I am delighted if I interest you; I think I shall to the end.—Thank my dear Margaret for her lovely Xmas-card. I sent her three or four some ten days ago, but after I had despatched them remembered (I sent them from the shop,) that I hadn’t written on one of them a word of greeting. Tell her I greet her now, most gratefully & affectionately. It is very touching to me to be so constantly remembered in the season of inconstancy—I mean the season of quick living, quick-growing youth.—I passed a beautiful Xmas day at Plymouth; a large part of it in walking through the grounds of Mount-Edgecumbe, which overhang Plymouth Sound and are almost hatefully beautiful. I am very 135
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sorr◇ sorry your stay at New York was cut short—but if you lost nothing better than Sarah Bernhardt, you may console yourself; as I regard her as the great humbug of the age. I hope the measles haven’t sprouted again & I send my blessing both to those who have escaped & those who have suffered. I wrote lately to Charles, & I send him my love. Ever yours H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 322–24
134.16 window-panes • window- | panes 134.17 extract • ex- | tract 134.19 appreciative • ap- | preciative 134.21 benefit • bene- | fit 134.28 ; , • [top part of ; blotted out, resulting in ,] 134.30 foreseeing • fore- | seeing 134.30 tranquility • tran- | quility 134.34 discoursing • dis= | coursing 135.2 devoted • de- | voted 135.4 somewhere • some- | where 135.7 contains • con- | tains 135.21 i◇ in • [n overwrites illegible letter] 136.1 sorr◇ sorry • [y overwrites illegible letter]
134.20 live habitually in Scotland • Sir John Forbes Clark and his wife, Lady Charlotte, owned the estate Tillypronie in northern Scotland. 134.26–27 I have been spending Xmas with some military friends • HJ was invited to the home of Lt. Gen. Thomas Pakenham, commander of the Plymouth Military District. While there, HJ also met Capt. Thomas
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Seymour Brand, who invited HJ to spend Boxing Day on his ship. See HJ to Sr., 27 December [1880] (p. 128, 131n128.23). 135.13 my long story • The Portrait of a Lady began serialization in 1880 (early October in England and mid-October in the United States). 135.17 Minny Temple • Mary “Minny” Temple (1847–70), HJ’s cousin. 135.20–21 my young woman • Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady.
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1881 135.25 Margaret • Margaret Norton (1870–1947), Grace Norton’s niece, daughter of Charles Eliot Norton and Susan Ridley Sedgwick Norton. 135.32 a beautiful Xmas • See HJ to Sr., 27 December [1880] (pp. 127–29). 136.2 Sarah Bernhardt • Bernhardt (Henriette-Rosine Bernard, 1844– 1923) made her American debut and performed a three-week repertory series in New York from 7 November through 4 December at Booth’s
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Theatre.
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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1. William James, 1880. MS Am 2955 (56), Houghton Library, Harvard University.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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2. Henry James Sr. and grandson, Henry, c. 1879–80. MS Am 1094 (2247 f.34.5), Houghton Library, Harvard University.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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3. Alice Howe Gibbens James and her son, Henry, c. 1881. MS Am 2955 (51), Houghton Library, Harvard University.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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4. Francis Boott, c. 1880. MS Am 1094 (2245 f.5.2), Houghton Library, Harvard University.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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5. Elizabeth Boott, c. 1880. MS Am 1094 (2245 f.4.1), Houghton Library, Harvard University.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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6. Mentmore (c. 1878–90), “a huge modern palace, filled with wonderful objects [. . .]. All of them are precious & many are exquisite, & their general Rothschilish splendour is only equalled by their profusion” (HJ to MWJ, 28 November [1880]). Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photograph Collection, #15-5-3090. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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7. Garnet Joseph Wolseley, First Viscount Wolseley, c. 1880. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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8. Louisa Wolseley (née Holmes), Viscountess Wolseley, 1882. © National Portrait Gallery, London.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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9. Riva Schiavoni, Venice, c. 1889. Archivio Primoli.
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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1881
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1881
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 4 January [1881] TLC Harvard University Pusey Theatre Collection 5
J. R. Lowell. Reform Club, Pall Mall, S.W. 10
January 4th. My dear J. R. Lowell, I will go with you to see Booth with pleasure on either Thursday or Friday, if you will let me know which day you have chosen. I owe you many apologies for not answering you sooner—but I returned from Cornwall—the Land’s End!— only last night, and have been trying all day to learn whether an intermediate engagement I had half formed to go likewise to see Booth, was really valid. It appears not to be, so that I am at liberty. I meant to have called on you this p.m. to let you know this, but was prevented by a dozen interruptions. I shall however come very soon, and meanwhile I wish the Bonne Année to Mrs Lowell (and to you.) Please send me a single line saying as the case may be Thursday or Friday. Very faithfully yours H. James jr.
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No previous publication
141.19 engagement • en- | gagement 141.23 meanwhile • mean- | while
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141.14 Booth • Edwin Thomas Booth (1833–93). In late 1880 and early 1881 he performed in London the lead role in King Lear (Moses 51–52). 141.23 Bonne Année • Happy New Year.
EVELEEN TENNANT MYERS 6 January [1881] ALS University of Virginia Library 10
Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special Collections, Papers of Henry James, MSS 6251-p, box 8, item 84
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Dear Mrs. Myers I am greatly obliged to you for your invitation for the 12th, but am sorry to say that I have promised to go on that day evening to an entertainment given by my publishers—the venerable Macmillans—out of town. A promise to one’s publisher, I suppose to be _ought not to be^_` rigidly valid—so I will say that if I don’t go to Tooting, I will go with pleasure to Richmond Terrace. Yours very truly H. James jr 3 Bolton St W. Jan 6th ———— No previous publication
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142.7 EVELEEN TENNANT MYERS • Eveleen Tennant (1856–1937), daughter of MP Charles Tennant (1796–1873) and London salon hostess Gertrude Barbara Rich Collier Tennant (c. 1821–1918). On 15 March 1880 she married Frederic William Henry Myers (1843–1901), poet, essayist, psychological researcher, and cofounder of the Society for Psychical Research (1882).
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1881 142.8 [1881] • Several points suggest this year. HJ’s inclusion of “jr,” which he tended not to employ following his father’s death in late 1882, gives a reason for dating the letter before Sr.’s death. That HJ was in the United States in January 1882 and 1883 indicates that the letter was not written then. Finally, the Myerses, whom James addresses as married, were not married until 1880, making a year earlier than that not possible. The best year for this letter, then, is 1881. 142.19 Tooting • Alexander Macmillan’s home, Knapdale, was located outside of London in Upper Tooting. 142.19–20 Richmond Terrace • The Tennants moved to 2 Richmond Terrace, Whitehall, in the 1870s. It was in this house that Eveleen’s mother, Gertrude Barbara Rich Collier Tennant (c. 1821–1918), conducted her salon.
MARY WALSH JAMES [9], 11 January [1881]; [misdated] 10 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1909)
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THE DURDANS, EPSOM.
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Sunday Jan. 10th Dearest mammy. I have written home since I heard last, but I will not stand upon ceremony; especially as it is now some ◇◇ fortnight since my letter was despatched (to father, from Government House), Devonport.) That letter, I suppose, was safely received, & when I return tomorrow to town I suppose I shall find some missive from home; at least I hope I shall. I finished successfully my little Xmas visit in Cornwall—spending some five days (after leaving the Pakenhams’) at Falmouth with my good friends the John Clarks, who have taken a house (a very charming one) in that mild moist climate for the Winter. Sir John drove me (a matter of two days) to Penzanse & the Lands’ End—& the 143
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weather was soft enough to make an open vehicle perfectly comfortable. Cornwall has a charming old-world, far-awayfrom-London quality, & the sea, about the strange, lonely, grassy, rocky l Land’s End, only asked a little more sea _sun^_` to be of an Italian blue. The Clarks were according to their wont, most kindly, talkative & harmlessly fussy, & the episode was agreeable, including a pleasant visit to _two^_` very pleasant Miss Sterlings daughters of John Sterling, clever, individual maiden sisters of a certain age, who have a _charming^_` house a & gardens on a bosky crag, overhanging the sea, some three miles from Falmouth. I had a week in London on my return & then came, yesterday afternoon, down to this place, to remain till tomorrow Monday. By “this place” I mean one of the several residences of the fortunate Roseberys—a small, so-called bachelor house, of a sporting character, close to Epsom Downs, where the Derby is run—over which delightful grassy, breezy expanse I have just been walking for an hour—in company with Lord R. & George Augustus Sala! The latter gentleman, with G. W. Smalley, forms the rest of the company—the house being “quiet,” owing to the condition of Lady R., who was confined (disappointingly, of a girl!) only a week ago. This is a delightful house, full of books, of entertaining old sporting pictures (to say nothing of several charming Gainsborough’s & Watteaus,) & worth to my mind, a hundred times over, all the grandeurs of Mentmore. Lady R. is not missed, his her husband’s company is better (he is extremely pleasant, intelligent & friendly;) Smalley _is,^_` as usual, replete with good talk & inexhaustible information about all current London topics (of which— topics—one sometimes gets very tired,) & Sala, whom I never knew before, _is^_` ripe, red-nosed, genial, easy, jolly & full of reminiscence; a Bohemian on his good behaviour.—I return to town, tomorrow, as I say; & as soon after that as I can I shall try & leave London for foreign parts, where I shall remain till the summer. I wish to escape from both the pleasures & the 144
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pains of this too-complicated land & find leisure to think, to work, to read. I shall keep this till I get back to Bolton St. to see whether there is not a line from you there. I am writing this in the billiard room, a most delightful apartment, & Smalley & Sala are talking x x x x x x x I was obliged to stop on Sunday (the conversation just-mentioned was so interesting) & I brought my letter away in my pocket. This morning (Tuesday, 11th) I find yours of the 27th, telling me of various matters, but especially of William’s having given up the idea of building upon fathers land. I am very glad of this—both because it certainl seems bettr that he shouldn’t put all his eggs into one basket (I mean all his money into an edifice,) & second because in that position there would have been I should _think,^_` rather too much of Siamesetwinship. One wishes to be morally united to one’s family; but after a certain ◇ age, one doesn’t wish to be materially united— at least, too closely. If I were he, I would hire a neat house, at Cambridge, at a sufficient distance from Quincy St. to make of the two dwellings two distinct & unamalgamated homes.— I finished my visit at the Durdans yesterday morning, & came up to town with Rosebery, who is a very delightful creature. He reminds me a good deal of Wilky—a successful & glorified Wilky: if W. had been to Eton & Oxford, had inherited an Earldom & a great fortune, & then had married a Rothschild, with a greater fortune still. Before breakfast, yesterday, having played a while with the large, fat, dimpled daughter (I mean first-born daughter) of the house (Lady Sibyl Primrose, aged a year & a half,) I walked again over the Epsom course, which was in an entertaining condition, owing to the presence of large numbers of race«ho◇◇ race-horses from the training-stables, in which that neighborhood abounds, who were being exercised by grooms & diminutive jocky jockeys: some of them being the property of Lord R. who is the _a^_` great patron of the t Turf.—He asked me to go with him in the afternoon to the House of Lords, to hear Lord Lytton defend his late viceroyship 145
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in India (against the Duke of Argyll;) but I was obliged to decline, having many other things to do that must be done before I get away from London. I hope to do this by the middle of next week. After that I shall probably not be back ^_`it will probably be the last of London^_` (socially speaking,) for me, for a good while to come; as I shall (if nothing prevents,) remain away till after the Season is over; & then after spending a few weeks in England in the summer, embark in the early autumn (still if nothing prevents) for the U. S. I have had a great deal of it, & laid up a great fund of impressions: but, socially, I am tired of it & want to leave it for a year. My ideal, after that, will be to come back here & make a permanent pied-à-terre of it—but spend in it only six months of the year.—I enclose you a note I have just received from Miss Cross, the eldest (& least douée) of the sisters—in answer to one I had written about George Eliot’s death. This letter ^_`event^_` is really very sad: She, poor woman, had begun a new (personal) life: a more healthy, objective one than she had ever known before. I doubt whether she would have written, but she would have lived—& after all, at 60, & with a great desire to live, she was still young. Please burn Miss C.’s letter.—I read between your ingenious words _lines^_` that Alice’s hat is better to look at than to wear, & hope she won’t gêner herself to say so. I embrace both her & the Daddy. Also you, dear Mammy. Ever your loving H James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 329–32
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143.20 THE DURDANS, EPSOM. • Two types of stationery were used for this letter. Pages 1–8 (143.22–145.5) are written on the letterhead indicated. Pages 9–end (145.5–146.25) are written on paper without letterhead. 143.25 ceremony • cere- | mony 143.25 ◇◇ fortnight • [fo overwrites illegible letters]
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1881 143.26 ), • [, overwrites )] 144.2–3 far-away- | from-London • far- | away-from-London 144.4 l Land’s • [L overwrites l] 144.10 a & • [& overwrites a] 144.20 condition • con- | dition 144.23 several • sever- | al 144.25 his her • [er overwrites is] 144.26 intelligent • intelli- | gent 144.27 _ • [_ overwrites ,] 145.10 certainl • [misspelled] 145.10 bettr • [misspelled] 145.11 into • [to inserted] 145.13–14 Siamese- | twinship • Siamese-twinship 145.15 ◇ age • [a overwrites blotted illegible letter] 145.17 Cambridge • Cam- | bridge 145.24 breakfast • break- | fast 145.29 race«ho◇◇ race-horses • [rs overwrites illegible letters] 145.31 jocky jockeys • [bowl added to y resulting in ey] 145.31 them • [m malformed] 145.33 t Turf • [T overwrites t] 146.1 ( • [( overwrites .] 146.23 herself • her- | self
143.26 my letter • HJ to Sr., 27 December [1880] (pp. 127–30). 143.34 Penzanse • Penzance. 144.8 Miss Sterlings • Julia Maria (1836–1910) and Hester Isabella Sterling (1843–1908).
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144.8 John Sterling • Sterling (1806–44) worked as a writer and poet. He married Susannah Barton (1801–43) on 2 November 1830, and the couple had seven children: Edward Coningham (1831–1915), Anna Charlotte (1833–67), Katherine Susan (1835–60), Julia Maria (1836–1910), Charles Frederick Everland (b./d. 1839), John Barton (1840–1926), and Hester Isabella (1843–1908).
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 144.18 George Augustus Sala • Sala (1828–95) was a British journalist and novelist who led a famously Bohemian lifestyle. 144.19 G. W. Smalley • George Washburn Smalley. 144.33 leave London for foreign parts • HJ sailed for the Continent out of Folkestone on 10 February 1881 and traveled through Paris and southern France before finally arriving in Italy, where he spent more than four months visiting friends and acquaintances and finishing The Portrait of a Lady. 145.23 married a Rothschild • Archibald Philip Primrose, Lord Rosebery (1847–1929), was introduced to Hannah de Rothschild (1851–90) by Benjamin Disraeli in 1868, and the two wed a decade later despite the reservations of Britain’s Jewish community and Rosebery’s own antiSemitic mother. 145.32–33 great patron of the [. . .] Turf • Rosebery’s racing stable won the Derby Stakes in 1894, 1895, and 1905. 145.34 Lord Lytton • Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (1831–91), published poetry under the name Owen Meredith and served as the viceroy of India from 1876 through the Second AngloAfghan War (1878–80). His mishandling of the war contributed to W. E. Gladstone’s Liberals’ victory in the 1880 general election and Lytton’s subsequent resignation. 146.1 Duke of Argyll • George Douglas Campbell, Duke of Argyll (1823–1900), was a scientist and politician who served as secretary of state for India between 1868 and 1874. He was a strong anti- Conservative voice in court and accused the British government of mishandling the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–80). 146.12 pied-à-terre • second residence. 146.14 Miss Cross • Eldest sister of John Walter Cross (1840–1922)
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and sister-in-law of George Eliot at the time of her death. 146.15–16 George Eliot’s death • See HJ to Sr., 27 December [1880] (pp. 129, 131n129.11). 146.23 gêner • trouble.
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JOHN WALTER CROSS 12 January [1881] TLC Creighton University Leon Edel Papers 5
3 Bolton St. Piccadilly. W. Jan. 12th My dear Cross. I have seen your brother this morning and have heard from him, with great pleasure, that you would care to see me. I was in hopes you would, but hesitated to propose it. I will come to Cheyne Walk on Friday at 4: unless I hear from you meanwhile that you will not be at home at that hour. I am going abroad shortly and am very glad not to go without having had the opportunity to speak to you a word of friendship. Ever faithfully yours H. James jr No previous publication
149.18 James • [copy-text reads JAMES; probably Edel’s formatting]
149.10 your brother • John Walter Cross had three brothers, two of whom were living in 1881: William (1838–1916) and Richard James (1845–1917). 149.13 Cheyne Walk • John Walter Cross lived at 4 Cheyne Walk in Chelsea.
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149.14–15 going abroad shortly • HJ left London on 9 February 1881 for an extended stay on the Continent.
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THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY 24 January 1881 Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine 5
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✉ REFORM CLUB. PALL MALL.S.W. Jan. 24th 1881. ———— Dear Tommy. Thanks for your good letter, which was the more welcome as it was long since I had heard from you. I thought you would be interested in Zola’s article—though he appears to interest you less than with all t◇ his vices—his vanity, stupidity, fetidity &c, he does me.— I don’t know what I have to tell you in particular. There are only two subjects of conversation here—Ireland & the weather; & you have these for yourself at home. The Irish muddle is desperate, & the weather is the coldest known for 50 years: the snow mountains-high in the streets, the thermometer proportionately low, the temperature ferocious. If I had nothing else to do I think I should run over to Ireland: which may seem strange to you on the part of one satiated in youth with that people. _the Celtic genius.^_` The reason is that I shld. like to see a country in a state of revolution. I think I am more sorry on the whole for the English than the Irish. The latter have entirely departed from the turpitudes of their ancestors & want only to do good ^_`justice^_` & consent to reforms; while it would be vain to pretend that the latter are not a totally impracticle impracticable people. This government can neither satisfy them, shut them up, nor part with them; the problem seems insoluble.—If we are cold, you of course are colder. But you are also lighter, brighter, fresher; & you haven’t stale black fogs commingled with your frost. But we are not on such terms that we need talk about the weather. I take much pleasure in what you tell me about the welcome that will be extended _me^_` in 150
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the U. S. A on my return. I take much pleasure too in the idea of that return, though I feel that I must be prepared for the worst. If the people who write in the newspapers form themselves into a committee to wait upon me, I am afraid there will be little left of my flaccid form. My good relatives occasionally forward me specimens of such vulgar idiocy that I long for the Day of Judgment.—What you tell me _of^_` Howells’s isolation on his hill-top is quite what I supposed of his situation—which I regret much, for it seems to me that it would be of especial use to him to see more of men & women—especially the former. In this case he wouldn’t make ’em so q◇ queer in his books. I am glad you repudiate that unwholesome young Brown, who came to me with a note of introduction & whom I thought a base _little^_` creature, & a specimen of a debilitated people. He represented himself as your most intimate friend—which rather depressed me; though I didn’t believe it. I haven’t read the two Russian books you speak of—but mean to read Gogol’s one of these days. It is one of my few complaints of London that it is a bad place to read in—one has opportunities to do so many other things. But I have read the book of London—i.e. as Dr. Johnson wld. say, the book of Life, & I have got a good deal of information out of that. I shld like to shut myself up in a good library for a year; & as soon as I can afford to stop writing long enough, shall do so. Thank you much for “chuckling” over my long story—which, when it is finished, will be the best thing I have done, in spite of an impudent lack of incident—or of what is commonly understood by _to be^_` such. In spite of this, I believe the interest goes crescendo to the end. My aim is to hold it to the last page; & it the _story^_` contains the best writing of which I have hitherto been capable. But I mean to surpass it, de beaucoup. I mean also to “quit” for awhile paying so much attention to the young unmarried _American^_` female—to stop, that is making her the central figure: which is of necessity a limitation. I saw Lowell yesterday, who was, as always, 151
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very pleasant, & enjoys England, in spite of his antagonistic Yankeeism & the prolonged & depressing invalidism of his wife. I hope that yours has quite ceased to suffer in that way. Give her my love & to your gentle offspring Ever yours—H. James jr 5
✉ REFORM CLUB 312 Marlboroug[h] Boston. United States. Previous publication: Harlow 320–21; HJL 2: 332–35
150.15 conversation • con- | versation 150.20 Ireland • Ire- | land 150.27 pretend • pre- | tend 150.27–28 impracticle impracticable • [ab overwrites le] 151.2 prepared • pre- | pared 151.11 q◇ queer • [u overwrites illegible letter] 151.12 unwholesome • unwhole- | some 151.18 complaints • com- | plaints 151.29 it the • [the overwrites it] 152.2 invalidism • in- | validism
150.12 Zola’s article • “Le roman experimental.” 151.3–4 If the people who write in the newspapers form themselves into a committee • For more on the negative reaction to HJ’s Hawthorne, see HJ to Elizabeth Boott, 22 February [1880]; HJ to Thomas Sergeant Perry, 22 February [1880]; HJ to MWJ, 9 March [1880]; and HJ to Sr., 20 June
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[1880] (CLHJ, 1878–1880 2: 130, 131–32, 139; p. 7). See also “Literature. Henry James, Jr., on the Life of Hawthorne” and “Literature . . . Hawthorne, by Henry James, Jr.” 151.7 Howells’s isolation • The “self-imposed exile” (Goodman and Dawson 207) at the Howells country home, Redtop, in Belmont proved to be a socially isolating experience for the Howells family.
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1881 151.20–21 as Dr. Johnson wld. say, the book of Life • Likely a reference to Samuel Johnson: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford!” (Boswell 858–59). See also CLHJ, 1878–80 1: 128n125.23–24. 151.24–25 my long story • The Portrait of a Lady. 151.31 de beaucoup • by far.
ALICE JAMES 30 January 1881
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bMS Am 1094 (1598)
3 Bolton St. W. Jan. 30th 1881 ———— My dear Alice— It seems to me a long time since I have written home,— though I forget when my last letter departed. I suppose however this is a proof that it was a good while ago. Meantime I have got one from you (of Jan 4th,) enclosing a portrait of Garfield, & accompanied by a brief postscript from Father. I li am grateful for the photograph of the president-elect—the more so that I like his face, which though, I think, peculiarly “self-made,” is a good type of the self made, & pleasant & manly in expression; much more potent than poor Hayes’s. It now decorates my mantel-shelf side by side with an image of Helen Post in the costume of Rebekah at the Well, just sent me from Dresden. Your letter acknowledges the hat—though I note that it dilates more upon the beauty of the stuff than that of the _fit.^_` Nevertheless I hope you have been able to wear it, before or behind, beside, or below—or somehow or other. When I come back I expect you to be clad in it on our first meeting—& it must not look too fresh!—The Your letter gives little other news— 153
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save that you didn’t see Sarah B. (no great loss, I think,) & that Wm Robeson has married a French adventuress. The latter strikes me as a flat performance, & I trust that his connection with the family (in the matter of plantations &c) doesn’t bring the lady into our circle.—There have been only two subjects here—Ireland & the weather. The latter is now thawing hard, _(or rather, soft,)^_` but for ten days it was unprecedented in British annals, & for aught I know may begin again. The snow was mountains high, the cold ferocious, & London life impossible. It put a stop to everything—milk, butter, coals, cabs, water, gas, dinners; the only thing it stimulated with _was^_` conversation. As I sa◇ say, however, it is mild again, & now we were _are as^_` stupid as usual again. On one of the worst nights I managed to go in a hansom-tandem, to dine at Lord Airlie’s—where I found that only a small circle of the nobility—The Dalhousies, Blandfords, Fredk. Leveson- Gower, &c, had managed ^_`been able^_` to arrive. If it had lasted, I shld. have started a brougham by the week, as cheaper, much, than tandem cabs. I have lately dined out very little, owing to my having given out three weeks ago that I was just starting abroad; in consequence of which I am supposed to have done so, & have been left quiet—to my great convenience. The last two o◇ _two^_` dinners I have eaten were at Lady Selina Hervey’s (I think I told you she had taken a third husband—she being also his 3d wife;) & at Mrs. Stanley- Clarke’s (Mary Rose.) The latter is a singularly pleasant woman & very friendly: the dinner in question was apparently “for” H. J. jr.—to enable _him^_` to meet Mrs. C.’s particular friend Mrs. Perugini (Kate Dickens,) who, however didn’t turn up. Putting aside the queer RoseSloane=Stanley–Prince of Wales–Stanley- Clarke muddle,) Mrs. S.- C. leaves nothing to be desired. She is delightfully goodlooking, & has, among other advantages, the finest “form” in London. It is true, as I have already written you, that I am going abroad, but not for another week. I shall, to begin with, spend 154
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three weeks in Paris, & from there will write you of my further intentions. Thank you for your little criticism on the “Portrait”. Yes, it appears unnatural, certainly, that Isabel should fraternize with Henrietta, but it wouldn’t if I explained it. I have been afraid to do this, because there are so many explanations in the story, which, I think, is rather overburdened with them. Perhaps you think I shouldn’t be able to explain it—but I believe I could. The most _biggest^_` laudation I have got of the tale here has been from Lowell, whom I send it to every month, & he comes down handsomely about it. A lady told me lately that Hutton (of the Spectator) told her that he (H.) “devoured” it; then, at a 2d sitting, he read it! This I consider very high honour.—I paid John Cross a longish visit some little time since, & sat in _his^_` poor wife’s empty chair, in the beautiful little study they had just made perfect, while he told me, very frankly, many interesting things about her. She was surely an extraordinary woman—her intellectual force & activity have, I suspect, never been equalled in any woman. If, with these powers, she had only been able to see & know more of life, she would have done greater things. As for the head itself, it was evidently of the first order—capable of almost any responsibilities. She led a wonderfully large intellectual life—& c Cross said that her memory, _&^_` her absolutely exemption from the sense of fatigue, were more amazing the more he knew h◇◇ her. He, poor fellow, is left very much lamenting; but my private impression is that if she had not died, she would have killed him. He couldn’t keep up the intellectual pace,—all Dante & Goethe, Cervantes & the Greek tragedians. As he said himself, it was a cart-horse yoked to a racer: several hours a day spent in reading aloud the most immortal works! Browning has a theory that she “went back on” Lewes after his death: i.e. made discoveries among his papers which caused her to wish to sink him in oblivion. But this, I think, is Browningish & fabulous.—Farewell, dear Child. I enclose a P.S. to father. Ever yours H. James jr 155
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The Complete Letters of Henry James Previous publication: HJL 2: 335–37
153.22 li am • [a overwrites li] 153.27 mantel-shelf • mantel- | shelf 153.28 costume • cos- | tume; [m malformed] 153.34 The Your • [You overwrites The] 154.6–7 , _ • [_ overwrites ,; first , inserted] 154.10 everything • every- | thing 154.12 sa◇ say • [y overwrites illegible letter] 154.22 convenience • conven- | ience 154.29–30 Rose- | Sloane • Rose-Sloane 154.31–32 good- | looking • good-looking 155.21 responsibilities • re- | sponsibilities 155.22 c Cross • [C overwrites c] 155.24 h◇◇ her • [er overwrites illegible letters] 155.33–34 Farewell, dear [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page]
153.18 a long time since I have written home • HJ’s last extant letter home is to MWJ, [9], 11 January [1881]; [misdated] 10 (pp. 143–46). 153.27 Helen Post • Helen Minturn Post (d. 1922), daughter of Sr.’s niece Mary Ann King Post and Minturn Post and sister of Bertha King Post. 154.1 see Sarah B. • Sarah Bernhardt, who performed in Boston at the Globe Theatre from 6 December to 18 December 1880. She returned to Boston in March 1881 (Marks 178–85). 154.2 Wm Robeson has married a French adventuress • William Rotch Robeson (1843–1922), a partner of GW J’s Florida plantation in the 1860s.
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He later became a railroad executive in New York. On 22 September 1880 he married Marie Constance Henriette Janssens de La Hault. 154.15 Lord Airlie’s • David Graham Drummond Ogilvie (1826–81), 10th Earl of Airlie. 154.16 Dalhousies • Liberal MP John William Maule Ramsay (1847–
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1881 87), 13th Earl of Dalhousie, and his wife, Lady Ida Louisa Bennet Ramsay (1857–87), Countess of Dalhousie (m. 1877). 154.16 Blandfords • Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton (1847–1932) and George Spencer- Churchill (1844–92), Marchioness and Marquess of Blandford. 154.16 Fredk. Leveson- Gower • [Edward] Frederick Leveson- Gower (1819–1907), Liberal politician. 154.23–24 Lady Selina Hervey’s [. . .] third husband • Lady Selina Catherine Meade Hervey (1831–1911) married her third husband, Henry Arthur William Hervey (d. 1908), on 14 August 1880. 154.25 Mrs. Stanley- Clarke’s (Mary Rose.) • Mary Temple Rose Clarke (d. 1913), wife of Sir Stanley Clarke (d. 1911). She was the daughter of Lady Charlotte Temple Rose (1833–83). 154.28 Mrs. Perugini (Kate Dickens,) • Catherine “Kate” Elizabeth Macready Perugini (1839–1929), daughter of Charles Dickens and wife of painter Carlo Perugini (1839–1918). 154.29–30 queer Rose-Sloane=Stanley–Prince of Wales–Stanley- Clarke muddle • Lady Charlotte Temple Rose and her husband, John Rose, had two daughters: Mary Temple Rose Clarke and Charlotte Amy Rose Sloane-Stanley, wife of Francis Sloane-Stanley. Stanley Clarke, husband of Mary Temple Rose Clarke, was the equerry to Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, at whose residence the Sloane-Stanleys socialized. 155.10 Hutton • Richard Holt Hutton (1826–97) was the joint editor of the Spectator and the author of a popular editorial column and many literature reviews. 155.14 poor wife’s • George Eliot, who had died 22 December 1880. 155.31 Lewes • Critic and philosopher George Henry Lewes (1817–78),
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previously George Eliot’s partner (1854–1878); they never married.
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HENRY JAMES SR. 30 January 1881 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1910) 5
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Jan. 30th ’81. Dear Father. I have just written to Alice—but I must add a P.S. for you, in answer to yours appended to her last. Yes: Mrs. Orr received your letter safely, I was ^_`as I^_` assured myself (by asking her) some time ago. But I didn’t mention it to you because I thought she didn’t express to me a proper sense of your favour. That is, she said—“Yes, I got your father’s letter; it was very kind—very kind.” But she said _it^_` rather curtly & dryly, & never returned to the subject, though I gave her the opportunity. If she has never acknowledged it, then my impression is confirmed that she didn’t do it justice—which needn’t trouble you, however, as she is _after all^_` a queerish, ticklish, nervous, second-rateish, unwholesomeish body; (at least so I think.) Yes, also; it was a pure mistake _inadvertence^_`, & one of a most (to me) inconceivable kind that I ommitted to mention Dr. Holmes in my Hawthorne. I of course could only leave him out by accident when I put Motley in—by incident. If the book is ever reprinted I shall of course insert him. If you ever get a chance let him know this.— Thank you for the two or three little extracts you sent me— though there was so little in them to be thankful for. I agree with you that the literary flowers of our native soil are not very fair to see—or sweet to smell. There ^_`And^_` what is to become of the “language of Milton & of Burke”? You will be glad to know that Washington Square &c, which is but just out (& which I have sent you, registered by book-post=please mention receipt,) has begun with a sale double that of any of 158
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its predecessors. Mudie alone has taken 100 copies, & Smith has taken 80. Two or three other circulating libraries have taken, between them, 100; &c.——I haven’t spoken of your terrible winter, & will only mention it to hope it’s over. I am afraid Bob & Wilky are in the th◇ thick of it. I shower warm embraces upon Mammy & upon all. Ever your affectonatee H. James jr No previous publication
158.12 express • ex- | press 158.16 opportunity • oppor= | tunity 158.21 mistake • mis- | take 158.22 inconceivable • incon- | ceivable 158.22 ommitted • [misspelled] 158.28 . I • [I overwrites. ; first . inserted] 159.3 —— • — | — 159.5 th◇ thick • [i overwrites illegible letter] 159.6 affectonatee • [misspelled] 159.6 James • [m malformed]
158.8 I have just written to Alice • HJ to AJ, 30 January 1881 (pp. 153–55). 158.23–24 Dr. Holmes [. . .] Motley • See Hawthorne (97). When Hawthorne was reissued in the United States and Britain, HJ did not add a ref-
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erence to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (Boston physician and author).
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MARY WALSH JAMES 7 February [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1911) 5
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REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W. Feb. 7th Dearest mother. I received from you three days since a letter of which I have forgotten the date, & which lies at home on my table. It was the one which enclosed a characteristic effusion (apropos of Xmas) from Wilky, & ga◇◇ gave me the good news that Alice had for some time been in belle-santé. This latter information gives me the liveliest pleasure, as I beg you to let her know. It would be a graceful use of _her^_` exuberant health to write occasionally to her exiled brother, & I shall expect a weekly letter for from her. The rest of your news was good—that is, it wasn’t bad. I agree with you that it would be pleasant to see Wm living in a house of his own: there must be a certain want of majesty in his present installation.—You see I am still in London; I find it as difficult as usual to get away.—One cause has conspired with another to detain me for the last fortnight, but I shall definitely cross to Paris on Wednesday (day after tomorrow) Feb 7 9th. I shall be there two or three weeks, & after that shall probably make a stay of equal length somewhere on the Riviera. If one lives in England one acquires a sun-hunger which must occasionally be satisfied. I have been doing nothing striking lately—keeping quiet more than anything else. I went the other evening to a ball (at _a^_` sort of entertainment I rarely frequent) & took a Marchioness into supper. The ball was at Lady Louisa Mills’s, who is supposed to give the prettiest in London, & the Marchioness was her of Blandford, who will someday be duchess of Marlborough; when the incident I mention will doubtless be her proudest boast! I dined at the Sturgis’s (who caress me 160
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very much) a day or two since, in comp’y. with the s Speaker & his wife & the Harcourts. The Speaker is a great hero here just now, ◇ in consequence of his coup d’état in the Commons & it was rather interesting to see a man who had suddenly leaped into history. His act was a wise inspiration, for Parliamentary government was rapidly being proved a humbug. The political atmosphere is red-hot: there is only one word in Society— the abominable Irish. They are, I think, abominable; for their wrongs are certain to receive at the hands of Gladstone & Co the fullest consideration, & the most substantial redress. Yet they will consent to nothing that belongs in the least to the realm of practicable politics. There are surely bad races & good races, just as there are bad people & good people, & the Irish belong to the category of impossibles. Dr. Wilkinson came to see me the other ^_`a couple^_` of days since, & wants them governed by the sword—by a reign of terror. This is all rubbish, as I think the rest of his opinions are. He thinks Disraeli wise & beneficent, Gladstone abominable, Bismark a saviour of society &c. In short the politics of middle-class Toryism & the Daily Telegraph, mixed up with a queer, musty Swedenborgianism: an unsavoury compound. The traces of the great storm have passed away— though it is blowing, raining & sleeting today in a way to make me rather wince at the prospect of my bad quarter of an hour on the Channel. I have seen no one lately of high interest. You will have already heard of poor old Carlyle’s death, concerning whom the papers are most effusive. He had been dying of sheer old age for months, or rather years, & was praying for the coup de grâce.—(In another style) h I have been more or less visited (discreetly though) by Lewis M. Carnes, who married Serena Mason, & who is of that illiterate & uncultivated New York manof-business type (though a very decent fellow) which restricts conversation to the narrowest limits. He asked me the other day (having been three or four months) in England) what a Tory meant, & I found he had ◇ no idea whether the present 161
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English government was liberal or conservative, & what were the relative value _respective politics^_` of Gladstone & Disraeli. He smells strongly of Broadway & yet appears proportionately untutored: I don’t mean in manners, but in “culture.” I see Lowell every now & then, who is extremely pleasant to me, & of a simplicity as of childhood or of Brattle St! His poor wife is still quite helpless. He goes about a good deal, but I think is not much of a success—his conversation (as a reputation for ◇ wit &c had preceded him) is found disappointing. I don’t see how he should get on with London; he is so completely “out of it”—so alien to London traditions, feelings, dialects, &c. Add to this that he doesn’t care a straw for it, & is perfectly indifferent to its opinion. Its opinion isnt worth much. With me, as I say, Lowell is always charming, & no one speaks so well of the “p Portrait.” Apropos of which matters I sent _sent^_` father the Spectator on Washington Square, though I suppose he takes the paper. The writer of the article is Hutton, who pays me a compliment by the elaboration of his article. ^_`talk.^_` There is an element of truth (about my dryness, ◇ &c) but the thing as a whole only makes me smile.—his point of view seems to me so false, sentimental & second-rate. I don’t think he has any sense 1˚ of form; 2d of reality; 3˚ of what a picture of human life positively is. I had a discussion on this, last evening, with Mrs. Kemble, whom I had gone to see to bid her goodbye, in which she agreed strongly with Hutton, though she has infinitely more understanding of things, & more observation than he. She takes much interest in my productions, but thinks they fail of justice to—I don’t know exactly what! She is, however, a delightful woman to discuss with—she is so deeply in earnest, so perfectly honest, & so admirably intelligent: not to mention that she recites Shakspeare apropos of everything, & last night treated me to _some of^_` the most beautiful speeches in Measure for Measure. But she has a great fund of old British philistinism in her, mixed up in the strangest way with a freedom of judgment 162
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which is as great as any I ever knew.—I must close, dear Mammy; when next I write you it will be from Paris. I wrote quite lately to Alice & to father You say nothing of Aunt Kate, but I hope you sometimes send her my letters. I embrace you, not less than the others, & remain sweet mother Your devotedist H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 338–40
160.12 ga◇◇ gave • [ve overwrites illegible letters] 160.14 liveliest • live- | liest 160.16 for from • [rom overwrites or] 160.24 7 9 • [9 overwrites 7] 160.25 length • [n malformed] 161.1 s Speaker • [S overwrites s] 161.2 Harcourts • Har= | courts 161.3 ◇ in • [in overwrites illegible letter] 161.8 their • [i inserted] 161.9 Gladstone • Glad- | stone 161.10 • [blotted out] 161.11 consent • con- | sent 161.20 Swedenborgianism • Swedenborgian- | ism 161.28 h I • [I overwrites h] 161.30–31 man- | of-business • man-of-business 161.34 ◇ no • [n overwrites illegible letter] 162.2 relative value _respective politics^_` • relative | value; [respective careted above relative; politics careted above value] 162.6 simplicity • [third i inserted]
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162.8 conversation • conversa- | tion 162.8–9 ◇ wit • [w overwrites illegible letter] 162.15 p Portrait • [P overwrites p] 162.19 ◇ &c • [& overwrites illegible letter] 162.21 second-rate • second | -rate 162.27 productions • pro- | ductions
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 162.31 everything • every- | thing 163.1 knew • [n malformed]
160.13 belle-santé • good spirits. 160.22–23 I shall definitely cross • HJ’s crossing was delayed by bad weather. 160.30–31 Lady Louisa Mills’s • Lady Louisa Isabella Lascelles (1830– 1918) married Charles Henry Mills (1830–98) in 1853. 160.32 Marchioness was her of Blandford • Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton Spencer- Churchill, then Marchioness of Blandford, became Duchess of Marlborough in 1883. 160.34 Sturgis’s • Russell Sturgis (1805–87), American lawyer, merchant in the China trade, partner of Baring Brothers, and the father of Julian and Howard Sturgis. He married Julia Overing Boit (1823–88) in 1846. 161.1–2 Speaker & his wife • Speaker of the House of Commons. Henry Brand (1814–92) was Speaker from 1872 to 1884. His wife was Eliza Ellice Brand (1818–99). 161.2 the Harcourts • Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon (1827–1904) and Elizabeth Cabot Motley Harcourt (b. 1831). 161.3 his coup d’état in the Commons • On 2 February 1881, Speaker Henry Brand controversially closed the forty-one-hour debate on the contentious Coercion Bill for Ireland. 161.14 Dr. Wilkinson • Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson. 161.18 Bismark • German chancellor Otto Eduard Leopold, prince of Bismarck, better known as Otto von Bismarck (1815–98). 161.25 Carlyle’s death • Thomas Carlyle (b. 1795) died on 5 February 1881.
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161.29 Lewis M. Carnes • Lewis Mortimer Carnes (1837–93). 161.29–30 Serena Mason • Serena Mason Carnes (1847–91), daughter of Henry and Lydia Lush Mason, married Lewis Mortimer Carnes in 1867. 162.15–16 the Spectator on Washington Square • “Books. Washington Square.”
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FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE 7 February 1881 TLC Houghton bMS Am 1237.16 5
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3 Bolton St., Mayfair. Feb. 7th. (1881) My dear Palgrave, I send you back by this post your volume of verse, which I have not only kept but read. You should have had it before, had I not hoped to have been able some evening to carry it back to you in person—which I planned 1⁄2 a dozen times to do. I leave town to-morrow (for foreign parts) however, and thanks to my failure to get at you, must entrust it to this post. Your work has given me a great deal of pleasure; I think it extremely interesting. The idea seems to be fine, and the work rich. The thing is full of England—full of knowledge and feeling about her history, and of an impregnated quality which seems to me rare and valuable. I not only read your verses to myself but read them also aloud to a wide old friend of mine (Fanny Kemble) and we talked them over. It seems to me very much the poetry of reflection, of excogitation—rather than of—whatever ’tother thing is that makes lyric verse. It strikes one as begotten very much by the love of poetry—the knowledge and study of it, and as being full of echoes and reverberations of poetic literature. I don’t accuse you of “lifting” but you write from such a lettered mind that your strain is a kind of coil of memories. All this to me is a merit, and I suppose, the merit you aimed at: that of commemoration. I think the best thing is the Danish Barrow. Farewell: I shall see you on my return. Many good wishes to your house. Yours ever, H. James jr. 165
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The Complete Letters of Henry James Previous publication: Palgrave 163–64
165.26 reverberations • rever- | berations
165.10 your volume of verse • The Visions of England.
WILLIAM JONES HOPPIN 9 February [1881] 10
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Folkestone Feb. 9th Pavilion Hotel ———— Dear Hoppin I must write you a line to let you know that I was extremely sorry to leave London without shaking hands with you for good-bye, as I hoped to do up to the last. But my divers occupations were so numerous (as they always are when one is starting on a journey) that I couldn’t find a moment for doing so I profit by the leisure of an obligatory wait at this place (there being no decent boat till tomorrow & the sea much the worse for the late gale) to send you a word of farewell, & beg you to convey it to the Minister. I was to have been both at the Legatoni & in Lowndes Square: but let this stand as a symptom of my good intentions & wishes. I shall be absent not less than ten weeks (& very possibly more) & shall spend the first three of them in Paris. Then down to meet the spring in Italy. May you enjoy it in London—when you get it! Be well & happy meanwhile, & recommend me to all the compatriots who are interested. Has Nadal come back? (I hope he isn’t in the Batavia, with poor Henry Chapman, living on short rations if living at all. I shall see the latter’s wife, by the way in Paris & shall rather 166
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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dread it if she be co anxious about her husband, as I suppose she is, though there is plenty of time yet for the ship to come in.) I suppose there is no use inviting Nadal to write me a page or two of New York gossip—he would even leave the invitation unanswered. Give n him my greetings, however. This is meant for Lowell as much as for you—is in fact a general legation affair. Portez-vous bien & believe me ever yours H. James jr No previous publication
167.1 co anxious • [a overwrites co] 167.5 n him • [h overwrites n]
166.32 Nadal • Ehrman Syme Nadal (1843–1922), American author and lecturer who served as second secretary for the United States Legation in London from 1877 to 1884. In 1875 HJ reviewed Nadal’s Impressions of London Social Life. 166.32 Batavia • The Batavia, a Cunard Line steamship, set sail for Liverpool from New York on 19 January 1881. After its propeller broke, the ship was forced to continue, slowly, under sail and was feared lost until being sighted near Fayal in mid-February. See also HJ to MWJ, 16 March 1881 (pp. 189–92). 166.33 Henry Chapman • Henry Grafton Chapman (1833–83), president of the New York Stock Exchange and son of wealthy Boston abolitionists Henry Grafton Chapman (1804–42) and Maria Weston Chapman (1806–85), was an editor and contributor to the Liberator. He was the father of American author and social activist John Jay Chapman (1862– 1933), whose Emerson and Other Essays (1898) HJ much admired.
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166.34 the latter’s wife • Eleanor Chapman (1839–1921). 167.7 Portez-vous bien • Take care of yourself.
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HENRIETTA REUBELL 9 February [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1043) 5
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Folkestone, Pavilion Hotel. Feb. 9th My dear Miss Reubell. Your very kind note ought to have been sooner answered, & should have been, but for all sorts of reasons. For instance that I was both wrestling with the last obstacles of a departure (naturally, opposed, with violence, by my friends,) & yet at the same time expecting to answer you from one day to another in person—by coming in, say, the morning after my arrival in Paris to vous demander à déjeuner. This I shall still do—for your dear mother once gave me a standing _(or sitting)^_` invitation, in terms which _still^_` make my eyes (to say nothing of my mouth) water. As you see, however, I am still r wrestling. It w has been very wild on the channel, the sea is a good deal w◇ the worse for it, & yesterday there was no boat. To-day there is only a bad one, so that I shall wait for tomorrow. Meanwhile, pour charmer mes ennuis, I write to you. What could be more effectual?—it almost reconciles me to the dark depression of an English inn; or, at least, almost lifts me out of it. The principal themes of your note were the little Boits’ measles, & the Princesse de Bagdad. As regards the former I should fear that those white little maidens were not fitted to struggle with physical ills—their vitality is not sufficiently exuberant. I trust however that it has not been gravely tested & that the worst is over. It can’t have amused Mrs. Boit;—& it won’t amuse me, either, not to be able to see her, or to see her only at the risk of the rougeole? Should I risk it, for that pleasure? This will be an interesting question to discuss with you. Meanwhile, if I can do so without contagion, I should like to send her many greetings & condolences. As for the Pcsse 168
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de B., I am simply dying—but dying—to see it. If I can’t (though why shouldnt I?) I shall at least hear you describe it, & you will imitate Croizette for me. If it be true that Henry Chapman is in the delayed Cunarder (as I am told) I am afraid poor Mme Laugel is dans les transes & thinks her sorrows are are beginning again. But I trust they are not; for there is as yet no anxiety about the ship in London. Do you see Mrs. Chapman—a great friend of mine? I fear she is nervous, & daren’t think of her.— They still keep it up in the Rue Oudinot: invitations sans fin to go there, &c. But I shall never do so but under your protection. Thank you kindly for reading me in Macmillan—I am glad you like my people there. They are my best as yet. You see I am really en route, & if I dont, in consequence of sufferings tomorrow, stop at Boulogne overnight, I shall see you in 48 hours. If I do±! Give my affectionate regards to your mother & many rembrances to your brother. With which believe me very faithfully yours H. James jr No previous publication
168.9 been • [n malformed] 168.18 r wrestling • [w overwrites r] 168.18 w has • [h overwrites w] 168.19 w◇ the • [th overwrites w and illegible letter] 168.21 tomorrow • to- | morrow 168.21 Meanwhile • [w malformed] 168.22 you • [u malformed] 168.22 ?— • [— overwrites ?]
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169.5 are are • are | are 169.15–17 regards to [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page] 169.16 rembrances • [misspelled]
168.1 HENRIETTA REUBELL • Henrietta Reubell (c. 1849–1924), Paris resident and close friend of HJ.
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 168.15 vous demander à déjeuner • ask you to luncheon. 168.21–22 pour charmer mes ennuis • to charm my troubles. 168.25 little Boits’ • Edward Darley Boit (1840–1915) and his wife, Mary Louisa Boit, had four children in 1881: Florence, Mary, Julia, and Jane. 168.25 Princess de Bagdad • Alexandre Dumas fils’s three-act play La princesse de Bagdad was first performed at the Théâtre Français in early 1881. 168.31 rougeole • measles. 169.4–5 Mme Laugel • Elizabeth Bates Chapman Laugel (1831–1913), wife of Auguste Laugel (1830–1914). Mme. Laugel’s brother was Henry Grafton Chapman Jr., then a passenger on the missing Batavia. 169.9 Rue Oudinot • A street in Paris’s 7th arrondissement. 169.11 reading me in Macmillan • The Portrait of a Lady was serialized in Macmillan’s Monthly during 1880–81.
MARY SMITH MUNDELLA 12 February [1881]
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ALS University of Sheffield Library 20
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Paris, Feb. 12th Dear Mrs. Mundella. I am so very sorry to say that I am in Paris & shall be abroad for the next three or four months!—so that I cannot have the pleasure of dining with you. Many thanks & regrets; & kind regards to Miss Mundella. Very truly yours H. James jr No previous publication
170.17 MARY SMITH MUNDELLA • Mary Smith Mundella (1823 or 1824–90) was the wife of English hosiery manufacturer and Liberal MP Anthony John Mundella (1825–97).
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THEODORE E. CHILD [12 or 19 February 1881] ALS University of Virginia Library Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special Collections, Papers of Henry James, MSS 6251-c, box 8, folder 38
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Dear Child: Impossible to dine with you—many thanks. I am engaged both to-day & tomorrow. But come & breakfast with me tomorrow Sunday; at the Café Riche at 11.30 ^_`12,^_` midi. If I
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am _not^_` there at the very moment please wait for me. Yours in haste. H. James jr Saturday p.m ————
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171.2 [12 or 19 February 1881] • This is one of only two letters by James addressed from the Hotel Continental, Paris (the other being the 16 February 1881 letter to Thomas Sergeant Perry). There were four Saturdays in February 1881: the 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th. James could not have written this letter on the 5th because he was still in England. On the 26th he was either in Italy already or on the way there from Marseilles, leaving the 12th or 19th as the best dates for this letter.
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171.8 I am engaged • HJ may be referring to a previous engagement with Henrietta Reubell. See HJ to Reubell, 9 February [1881] (p. 168). 171.10 Café Riche • According to Baedeker, an “elegantly fitted up” café at 16, boulevard des Italiens (Paris and Environs 13). 171.10 midi • noon. 171.16 Hotel Continental • One of “the large hotels in the centre of
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THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY 16 February 1881 ALS Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine
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Paris Feb. 16th 1881. (Hotel Continental.) Dear Tommy. I receivd this a.m. your confidential communication touching Howells & the editorship of the Atlantic. I observe the secrecy you enjoin, congratulate Howells & commiserate Aldrich. The former will greatly enjoin enjoy his freedom, I should think, & has well earned it. He has led for years a life of bondage which I never cld. have endured for a month. Now that he has more time & opportunity he will probably do still better work, & I hope will enlarge a little his studies & his field.—As for Aldrich, he seems to me good enough for the Atlantic & the Atlantic good enough for him.—I came abroad a week ago, & am going to pass three or four months dans la douce Ausonie: won’t you come? I mean I am going to Venice, Rome, Florence, &c. I have been lingering a little in Paris, which as usual seems splendid & charming. I write this at a window looking over the Tuilieries (gardens;) the sun is as bright as April, & I have been standing on my balcony & watching a lot of Parisian athletes play au ballon beyond the gilded rails which you will remember. I have also just bought two books—Merimee’s Letters to Panizzi & Zola’s Naturalisme au Théatre, which I lay down, unopened, until I have answered _your^_` letter. You will probably think that at least as regards Zola this is no great sacrifice to friendship. I don’t think you did him justice in the International, which the 172
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proprietors amiably send me every month. Zola has his faults & his merits; & it doesn’t seem to me important to talk of the faults. The merits are rare, valuable, extremely solid. However, I don’t care much. You say that literature is going down in the U. S. A. I quite agree with you—the stuff you _that is^_` sent me seems to me written by eunuchs & sempstresses. But I think it is the same every where—in France & in England. I suspect the age of letters is waning, for our time. It is the age of S Panama Canals, of Sarah Bernhardt, of Western wheat-raising, of merely material expansion. Art, form, may return, but I doubt that I shall live to see them—I don’t believe they are eternal, as the poets say. a All the same, I shall try to make them live a little longer!— Yes, I know Matt. Arnold very well & like him much. I was pleased to hear that he told a friend of mine the other day that “Henry James is a de-ah!” I am sorry for your ice & snow, your hard sky & still harder earth. It makes me feel rather “mean” to be going down to Nice. However, the worst must be over. If there was anything worth sending you here I would do so: but there isn’t. Love to your wife & daughters. Tout à vous—H. James jr ✉ Etats Unis. T. S. Perry esq 312 Marlborough St. Boston U. S. A.
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Previously published: Harlow 309–10; HJL 2: 341–42
172.13 receivd • [misspelled] 172.13 a.m. • [m malformed]
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172.14 Howells & the editorship of the Atlantic • Howells resigned from the editorship of the Atlantic Monthly on 1 March 1881. 172.21 he seems to me good enough for the Atlantic • Thomas Bailey Aldrich went on to serve as editor of the Atlantic Monthly from 1 March 1881 through 1890. 172.23 dans la douce Ausonie • in mild Italy. 172.25 I have been lingering a little in Paris • HJ left from Folkestone for Paris on 9 February 1881 (see HJ to MWJ, 7 February [1881], pp. 160, 161, 164n160.22–23). 172.29 au ballon • with a ball. 172.30–31 Merimee’s Letters to Panizzi & Zola’s Naturalisme au Théatre • Prosper Mérimée’s Lettres à M. Panizzi, 1850–1870 and Émile Zola’s Le naturalisme au théâtre: Les théories et les exemples. 172.33–34 I don’t think you did him justice in the International • Perry’s “M. Zola as a Critic” had just appeared in the International Review. 173.11–12 I don’t believe they are eternal, as the poets say • James grounded this commonplace of poetry in his review essay “Théâtre de Théophile Gautier,” republished later as “Theophile Gautier,” and in that essay through his full quotation of Gautier’s “L’art.” Of Gautier, James wrote: “He has commemorated every phrase and mood and attribute of nature and every achievement and possibility of art; and you have only to turn his pages long enough to find the perfect presentment of your own
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comparatively dim and unshaped vision” (French Poets and Novelists 51). 173.19 your wife & daughters • Lydia “Lilla” Cabot Perry (1848–1933) and daughters Margaret (b. 1876) and Edith (b. 1880). 173.19–20 Tout à vous • All yours.
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HENRY JAMES SR. 24 February 1881 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1912)
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Hotel de Noailles. ———— Marseilles St. Feb. 24th 1881 ———— Dearest father. I must write, decidedly, without waiting longer. I have been for some days without letters, & must be so for some days longer, till I stop long enough to have them forwarded; but meanwhile I have a conviction that something is waiting for me in Bolton St—something, I mean, from my natal house. I hardly remember when I last wrote home: a few days, _I think,^_` before I left London, which befel about a fortnight since. I crossed the channel comfortably enough, & spent some twelve days in Paris—which were several more than I wished. I care less & less for the Paris that one sees & has to do with during a short stranger’s stay there: though I have no doubt there is another which, if one lived there, one could extract an intellectual subsistence from. t The banality of the former has ended by overwhelming me; mainly perhaps owing to the low style of culture of my friends & compatriots there, who are alw ^_`all^_` very good, but whose horizon is bounded on one side by the Figaro & on the other by the thèatre Français. The famous “dullness” of London is an intellectual carnival beside that. Nevertheless I breakfasted & dined with them, hypocritically; but I don’t think I should be able to go through the process again.—The pleasantest relations I have there are with the Childes, who are intelligent & in many ways superior, & whose windows open only upon the l’ancienne France. They were very 175
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kind to me &, if you please, gave a dinner of six or eight people in my honour! (They are—especially Mrs. C.—very appreciative readers of H. J. jr.) The dinner was of men, all _French &^_` very pleasant—though it would be long to tell you who they were—of men, that is, save my old friend Madame Jameson, who however is almost a man, or at least a boy, in virtue of an extreme “larkiness” & hilarity. The most entertaining person was M. Guillaume Guizot, son of the old G., & professor of English literature &c, at the Sorbonne. It appears (again if you please) that he had desired much to meet me (excuse egotism,) owing to a perusal of my little book on Hawthorne, for whom, in his quality of French protestant & “puritan,” he has a great admiration. He was must effusive & fraternizing, repeated whole passages of my book to me, in _with^_` the most extraordinary accent, &c. He had a phrase which I should have liked my critics to hear: he was speaking of the beauty of Hawthorne’s genius in comparison with the provinciality of his training & circumstances. “Il sortait de toute espèce de petite trous—de Boston, de—comment appelez-vous ça?—de Salem, &c!” At the dinner above-mentioned, I was _of course^_` greatly struck with the lightness & brightness of the French conversational tone: but I must say there was nothing in the talk that seemed to me very valuable, & it lacked that quality of having the atmosphere of the British Empire round it which belongs to the more laboured speech of London. In Paris, I suspect, it is always the lithe Parisian horizon. On ne sort pas de là. I am out of it now, however, & rejoicing in the splendid sun of Provence. I have come down to meet the spring, & I have met it already in perfection: though I don’t like to tell you so, for fear of making you quarrel with your own fine frost. I came in 12 hours (daybefore-yesterday,) from Paris to Avignon—where by the way I had just _met^_` poor Edward Jackson, of Boston, who had just lost his pocket-book, accompanied by _containing his letter 176
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1881
of credit,^_` money, passport &c. (You had better not bruit this abroad, by the way, as he may find them again.) I spent a night & day at Avignon, where I found a southern sun, & last evening, in three hours, came on here, where I am sitting with an open window in a fireless room, (looking south.) Marseilles is a big bright, handsome, bustling seaport, with streets that succeeds/ rather well in imitating Paris. The feeling of the warm southern air is most delightful; I breakfasted this morning on a terrace out of doors, overlooking the blue Mediterranean & the chateau d’If, where the adventures of Monte Christo began. This was a restaurant half an hour from the town, beside the sea, where it is obligatory to go & eat bouillabaisse, a sort of mess of fish, coloured with mustard. I am already tired, however, as I always am after a week or two in France, of French eating—the messes, sauces, greases &c, combined with the extreme predilection for the table, of the natives, male & female, who all look red & fat while they sit there.—I forgot just now to say (not at all apropos of this) that I saw, in Paris, a good deal of Tourgúneff, to whom, as he was laid up with the gout, I paid three longish visits. We had made a plan to breakfast together, but I received, just before, the inevitable telegram. He seemed & looked a good deal older than when I saw him last; but he was as pleasant & human as evr ^_`ever.^_` On the other hand, I can’t get over the sense that the people he lives with (the Viardot circle,) are a rather poor lot & that to live with them is not living like a gentleman. The Tourguéneffs of the Rue de Lille were as friendly, or rather as affectionate, & hopitable, as usual; I don’t think they have a great deal of light, but their sweetness is something ineffable. The virtues/ of the Jacksons is nothing to theirs; & this en plein Ffaubourg St. Germain!—I will send my letter just as it is, without adding more; & when I get my packet from London I will write again. I hope you are not refrigerated. Love to all from yours ever, dear Daddy, H. James jr 177
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175.12 without • with- | out 175.16 — • [— overwrites .] 175.24 . t The • [T overwrites t; . inserted] 175.30 Nevertheless • Neverthe- | less 175.30 them • [h malformed] 176.22 • [blotted out] 176.30–31 day- | before-yesterday • day-before-yesterday 176.33–177.1 accompanied by _containing his letter of credit,^_` • accom« | panied by; [containing written above accom« and his letter of credit, written above panied by] 177.6 seaport • sea- | port 177.6 succeeds/ • [blotted out] 177.12 , • [, overwrites .] 177.27 hopitable • [misspelled] 177.29 virtues/ • [blotted out]
175.6 Hotel de Noailles • 62, La Canebière in Marseilles, the Hôtel de Noailles was one of the grandest hotels in the city. 175.28 the Figaro • French daily newspaper Le Figaro. 175.33 Childes • Blanche de Triqueti (1837–86) and Edward Lee Childe (1832–1911). 176.5 Madame Jameson • Céline de Portal Jameson, wife of JeanConrad Jameson. HJ met her through Blanche de Triqueti Childe in 1876. See HJ to AJ, 24, 25 May [1876] (CLHJ, 1872–1876 3: 119.33–120.2, 123n119.33). 176.8 M. Guillaume Guizot • Maurice Guillaume Guizot (1833–92),
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essayist, translator, political figure, and professor of literature. 176.18–19 Il sortait de toute espèce de petite trous—de Boston, de— comment appelez-vous ça?—de Salem, &c! • He came from every sort of backwater [literally “small hole”]—from Boston, from—how do you call it?—Salem! 176.26 On ne sort pas de là • One doesn’t get out of it.
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1881 177.18 Tourgúneff • Ivan Turgenev, whom HJ met first during his 1875– 76 residence in Paris. 177.26 The Tourguéneffs of the Rue de Lille • Nicholas Turgenev, Ivan Turgenev’s cousin, and his family. HJ met the Turgenevs through Lizzie Boott while in Paris in 1875.
FRANCES “FANNY” ANNE KEMBLE 24 February [1881] TLC Houghton
10
bMS Am 1237.16, box 2: H–K (Kemble)
Hotel de Noailles, Marseilles. 15
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Feb. 24th. Dear Mrs Kemble, It is time I should ask you for some news, and give you some, first, as a bribe. I didn’t wish to write to you while I was in Paris, because I don’t think you care much for things that come from Paris—except caps and dresses. I have been spending twelve days there, and departed day before yesterday; and here I am pausing a little on my way to Italy and warming myself in the rays of this splendid Provençal sun. I stopped yesterday at Avignon, and “did” the place in an exemplary manner—that is I went over the old palace of the Popes and walked beside the Rhone, to admire the bare, dusty-looking landscape of rugged rock and smoke-coloured olive. Marseilles is rather amusing, like all seaports; and I took a long drive this morning beside the sea to a restaurant in the faubourgs where it is obligatory to eat a mess of bouillabaisse, a formidable dish, demanding a French digestion. It was served to me on a charming terrace, overlooking the blue Mediterranean and the Château d’If, where Monte Cristo began 179
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his adventures. Look out of your window at Cavendish Square, and tell me what you think of breakfasting out of doors. I don’t like to torment you with telling you that the air is as soft as it is bright, and that, having come down to meet the spring, I have already met and embraced it—and yet if the statement makes you think rather worse than usual of the climate you live in, it will only make you think more kindly even than usual of me. There is nothing very interesting to tell you of Paris. I saw my various friends there, but thought the “Frenchified American” rather a poor type. They eat and drink very well and know a good deal about petticoats and bibelots—mais ils sont bien corrompus—in a feeble sort of way, too. I went to a French dinner-party and was struck with the conversational powers— i.e. the vivacity, quickness, smartness, &c., of the people. They don’t care who is looking or who hears—which the English do, so much, when they talk or move! I went several times to the theatre—but saw only two things of importance, Alex. Dumas’s new piece, the Princesse de Bagdad, hollow, sentimental and nasty, but brilliantly acted; and a much better thing, Divorçons, by Sardou, at the Palais Royal. The latter is genuine comedy, without French morality, from which Heaven deliver us, and if you had been on the spot I think I should have almost attempted, in spite of the impurity both of the atmosphere and of the piece, de vous y attirer. I am going in a few days to Nice, but am waiting here till the Carnival, which is now raging there, is over, as it makes, I am told, an intolerable crowd and bustle. After that I shall probably betake myself to Venice. A friend of mine, writing to me the other day from Rome, said, “Hamilton Aidé is here, as sweet and fresh as a daisy!” So you see he is appreciated in foreign parts. Allow me to wonder what has happened to you since I saw you last—nearly three weeks ago— and to hope that nothing has, on the whole. I am afraid you have been having a foggy life, but I trust that is the worst. You will soon be out of your tunnel—the vernal month of March is at 180
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hand. I shall write to you after I get settled a little in Italy; and meanwhile, if you have the benevolence to address me, please let it be to 3 Bolton St., W. I am afraid you miss me, because I miss you: which makes me only the more yours very faithfully Henry James jr.
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179.23 pausing • paus- | ing 180.2 breakfasting • break- | fasting 180.9 Frenchified • French- | ified 180.14 &c • [copy text reads &c] 180.19 brilliantly • bril- | liantly 180.23 impurity • im- | purity 180.27 probably • pro- | bably 181.2 benevolence • bene- | volence
179.25 Avignon • See HJ’s “Avignon.” 179.31 faubourgs • outskirts. 180.11–12 mais ils sont bien corrompus • but they are thoroughly debased. 180.17–18 Alex. Dumas’s new piece • La princesse de Bagdad, pièce en trois actes. 180.24 de vous y attirer • to entice you into going.
FREDERICK MACMILLAN 27 February [1881]
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ALS British Library
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Add. MS 54931, f. 80–81
Hotel de Londres San Remo. Feb. 27th ———— Dear Macmillan. From the Mediterranean shore, face to face with a sea which ought to be blue, but is actually the colour of a London fog, & 181
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amid orange groves that ought to be golden, but bt _are^_` no more so than f the fruit which blooms in Piccadilly—from the midst of such scenes I write you a hasty appeal. Will you, if you have not already sent it to Bolton St, send me the March Macmillan _directly^_` to the above address? Or rather, even if you have, will you still send me another? I have been despatching the magazine, since my story has been coming out, to several people, & I should like it continued while I am away—if you will kindly give orders to this effect. I will write the names on another paper.—I spent about a fortnight in Paris after leaving London & then came almost directly here—via Avignon, Marseilles & Nice; having had designs of staying a little at the last-named place, but finding it so crowded & loathsome that I was glad to flee to this less sophisticated shore, where I shall probably remain for a week or two—or even longer; if I find the rain is not perpetual. I shall probably go from here directly to Venice, _where I shall^_` spend as much as possible of the time I am absent from London—my most earnest wish being for the repose of foreign scenes & not for the agitation of travel.—Meanwhile what has happened to you all in London? What did poor Dr. Max Schlesinger die of?—I was extremely shocked to learn the event. Though I find it good to get away for awhile from London, I find it even better (while away) to make the chords that fasten me to it occasionally vibrate, & am therefore always thankful for any news that isn’t too interesting. In the latter case the rope pulls rather too hard. Have there been any (noticeable) notices of my book? Perhaps you have sent two or three to Bolton St. I should be glad to see the few that appear in the important papers; for the others I don’t care.—I read about snow in London, & am really almost ashamed; for I have been transpiring, as they s◇ _say^_` in French, for the last week. I have only time to catch the post, & to add kind remembrances for your wife. Yours ever, faithfully H. James jr 182
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1881 Previous publication: Moore 60–61
181.29 Hotel de Londres • Located next to the Ligurian Sea in San Remo, Italy. 182.7 my story • The Portrait of a Lady. 182.20 Dr. Max Schlesinger • Dr. Max Schlesinger (d. 1881) was the English correspondent for the German newspaper the Cologne Gazette (Kölnische Zeitung). He hosted many literary figures at his London home.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 8 March 1881 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1429 (2552)
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San Remo, Italy. March 8th 1881 ———— Dear Aldrich. Putting aside the peculiar malignity of your writing to me in such a beautiful hand, your note of Feb. 14th gives me great pleasure. I am very glad indeed that you are to take hold of the Atlantic & I hope it will give you comfort, as you will undoubtedly give it honour. My gladness is not mitigated by the fact that Howells relinquishes it, for I desire to feel with him on the subject, & I take for granted that after ten fifteen years’ service he has an appetite for what they call in London when they go out of town every five y days, a “little change.” I trust you won’t feel the need of change for a long time & I give you my blessing on your career. You will inherit the remainder of the ponderous serial which I am not shovelling into the magazine— it runs till the November (◇ inclusive) number, & it will at least have the merit that its large dimensions will, as regards quantity, simplify for you the editing of the rest of the number. 183
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Apropos of this, I send you by this post two more instalments of the same, in the proofshea proofsheets of Macmillan: those of February June and July. The rest shall follow regularly. (They go to H. & M.’s, Park St.)—I have left London for three months, for a little change, & I write you these lines on the Italian Riviera, face to face with an orange grove, & a block (the shape of my window) of liquid cobalt. I am afraid that is not the sort of thing that a New England March offers you. The oranges are bad however (you can buy better in Washington St.) & the liquid cobalt is sometimes too liquid, for there has been overmuch rain. Is Mrs. Aldrich also to be editress? If so I engage to contribute for nothing. Give her my kind remembrance & believe me with all good wishes ever truly yours H. James jr (3 Bolton St, Piccadilly W.) Previous publication: HJL 2: 347
183.28 y days • [d overwrites y] 183.32 ◇ inclusive • [i overwrites illegible letter] 184.2 proofshea proofsheets • [second e overwrites a] 184.2 Macmillan • Macmil- | -lan 184.12 remembrance • [second m malformed]
183.30–31 the ponderous serial • The Portrait of a Lady was published serially in the Atlantic Monthly between November 1880 and December 1881. 184.4 H. & M.’s, Park St. • Houghton, Mifflin’s Boston office was
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located at 4 Park Street when HJ wrote this letter.
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THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY 9 March 1881 ALS Colby College Special Collections, Waterville, Maine
✉
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Hotel de Londres. San Remo, Italy. March 9th ’81 ———— My good Tommy: I have had in the last few days no less than three notes to thank you for—one of them bearing a gracious post-script from your wife, for which I beg you to thank her tenderly. Two have come in this evening, & relate more especially to Aldrich & Howells. I don’t feel so malevolent about the former as you; he has always b seemed to me a pretty little “stylist.” He has also written me a conciliatory note, announcing his new function &c. Don’t look in him for what he hasn’t. If he is down on the writers who say one too much, however, he ought to fail fall foul of me, who◇ who am always at it.—Would he rather that one should say two?—I should be very happy to believe that Howells is really to have Berne, hope it may be even so. The leisure, the foreign residence, the change, the getting out of the Atlantic &c, will certainly conduce both to his health & his happiness. He has written me nothing about any of these things, but if he comes abroad I suppose he will let me know. You see I have got thus far on the way to Italy & am pausing a fortnight on the Italian Riviera. I won’t torment you with allusions to olives & orange groves—amid which I receive communications like the enclosed, which I forward for your amusement. I won’t write more, my good Tom—when I absent from England (in particular) I have so many letters to answer. But remember that I always receive yours with eagerness & believe me, with bien des choses to your wife yours ever H. James [ jr] 185
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✉ via d’Inghilterra à M. T. S. Perry esq. 312 Marlborough St. Boston. Stati Uniti America [Postmark:] S. REMO 10 3-81 2 S [Partially legible postmark:] [BOSTO]N MAR 25 PAID Previous publication: Harlow 310
185.16 b seemed • [s overwrites b] 185.19 fail fall • [a overwrites ai] 185.20 who◇ who • [o overwrites o and illegible letter] 185.33–34 me, with bien des choses to your wife yours ever H. James [ jr] • [written across the letter’s first page] 185.34 [ jr] • [MS damaged; reading taken from Harlow, who might have seen the undamaged MS (310)]
185.13 your wife • Lydia “Lilla” Cabot Perry. 185.21–22 Howells is really to have Berne • Following his retirement as editor of the Atlantic Monthly, Howells and his family spent a year abroad. It was rumored that Howells might be appointed ambassador to Switzerland, but that diplomatic appointment never materialized. 185.26 I suppose he will let me know • HJ and Howells spent time together in London while the Howells family was visiting Europe; the trip
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did not take place until 1882–83, however, due to Howells’s poor health. 185.33 bien des choses • all my best.
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1881
SIR JOHN FORBES CLARK 16 March [1881] ALS University of Virginia Library Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special
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Collections, Papers of Henry James, MSS 6251-n, box 1, folder 35
Genoa. Hotel de’Italie. March 16th ———— My dear Sir John. I am sitting at a tall window in a very tall house, once a marble-paved palace, now a rather dirty hotel, looking out into the strong sunlight & down on the picturesque four◇ fourmillement of the port of Genoa. I don’t know whether you ever came hither in your Turinese days; but it isn’t a bad place to spend a day or two on one’s entrance into Italy, when you pause to look about you & say it is Italy. Local colour exists here in a form of which the nose perhaps is as ◇ conscious as the eyes— so I may say, at any rate, that Genoa smells very picturesque. I don’t know why it should be apropos of bad odours that I tell you I received after some delay (it was waiting to be forwarded) your pleasant letter of nearly a month ago. I shld. have answered it sooner—but I have been staying at San Remo, & those climates are relaxing to the epistolary part. What better proof of it can there be than that the moment I escape (I left San Remo but yesterday,) I eagerly seize my pen? Before that I spent a fortnight in Paris, after which I travelled rather vaguely down this _to^_` Mentone, which I speedily exchanged for San Remo beforementioned. There I found olives & oranges, bankers & Britishers. It’s a lovely coast, & the warmth, the blue, blue sea, the lovely drives & walks, the decent inns &c, made it a perfectly supportable form of the modified martyrdom which (fond as I am of it in many ways,) I feel, as I grow older, modern travel to be. It was more charming even than Penzance—in short a sort of Italian Falmouth. The inn, it is true, was not so good as Kerris 187
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Vean, which, with its branch establishment in the Highlands, is the best hostelry I know—for although there were three landlords there was never a landlady. I ought, by the way to have answered Landlady Clark’s letter of more weeks ago than I dare to reckon, but it came to me amid the sore anguish of my pulling up stakes in London—or just after, when I should have given but a lachrymose account of myself. Will she kindly take to herself the better part _of this,^_` (if there can be a better & a worse where all is so poor,) & be assured that elle n’est pas de celles qu’on oublie.—I hope you are having your spring at last, & if you are I can’t but believe you are happy & healthy, for the Cornish spring must be flowery enough. Apropos of Cornish flowers, how are the Miss Sterlings? I should like them to know that I remember them, but don’t know how to insinuate it respectfully enough. Please insinuate it you, for me—you who are so insinuating!— Even at quiet Falmouth you must have jumped at the sound of those horrible Russian bombs. Aren’t you glad you are not an Emperor? I am, at least, for I might be tempted to drive out with you. The thing is really too devilish—I can’t believe in reforms that begins _begins^_` with deforming.—I have been strangely exempt from Ireland for the last two or three weeks. Apparently they know nothing of it in Genoa. I read the Times in a hazy, dreamy manner & scarcely know où vous en êtes. I shall scarcely get to Rome yet awhile, as I go to Venice first. When I do, I think I shall scarcely (pursuant to your advice) “get Nevin to take me” anywhere. I think that but for him I should start straight for that city of embarrassments. This sounds savage—but I’m not. I am always yours, & Lady Clark’s, most appreciatively H. James jr
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
1881 No previous publication
187.13–14 four◇ fourmillement • [ first m overwrites illegible letter] 187.18 ◇ conscious • [c overwrites illegible letter] 187.25 moment • mo- | ment 187.32 the • [h malformed] 188.1 establishment • establish- | ment 188.4 than • [n malformed]
187.14 fourmillement • busy milling about (as in an anthill). 187.35 Italian Falmouth • HJ compares San Remo to the English port town of Falmouth, Cornwall, on the southwest coast of England. 187.35–188.1 Kerris Vean • Southern home of the Clarks in Falmouth. 188.9–10 elle n’est pas de celles qu’on oublie • she is not one of those one forgets. 188.16–17 of those horrible Russian bombs • Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated on 13 March (o.s. 1 March) 1881 by a bomb detonated by Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will). 188.23 où vous en êtes • where you are with it. 188.25 Nevin • Rev. Robert J. Nevin was the rector of the American Episcopal Church at Saint Paul’s in Rome. A native of Pennsylvania, Nevin was responsible for much of the fund-raising and planning for the recently completed church building in Rome.
MARY WALSH JAMES 16 March 1881 ALS Houghton
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bMS Am 1094 (1913) 30
Genoa. March 16th. 1881 Dearest mother. My last letter home was from Marseilles, three weeks ago, & by this time you will have received it. Meanwhile I have 189
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heard from you—but not heard much. An old letter of father’s, or ◇ rather a short note, accompanying some extracts from newspapers, has turned up after much delay, having I supposed◇, been carried _1⁄2^_` round the world in the long-missing steamer Batavia. It is of the date of Jan. 18th & reached me about a fortnight ago; (it also enclosed a short letter from Wilky, _which I shall now answer.^_`) Your own subsequent letter is of Feb. 1 20th, & mentions Bob & A. K. being at Cambridge &c— which I was very happy to hear. You see I am still on my travels, which I will briefly relate. I went from Marseilles to Nice, which _later^_` I found so little to my n taste (besides being densely crowded) that I immediately came on to San Remo, where I enjoyed for ten days the society of Mrs. Lombard & Fanny—the latter _former^_` very feeble & very deaf, the former _latter^_` “improved.” San Remo was warm, quiet, lovely, & I stayed there till yesterday, when I came straight hither, along the rest of the Riviera. The railway, chiefly composed of tunnels, robs this journey of 1⁄2 its beauty; but the day was lovely, & I managed to enjoy it. Nothing can be sweeter & brighter than San Remo, though it has doubled in size & inevitable cocknefication since I was there twelve years ago. The _blue, blue^_` sea, the orange&-olive groves, the lovely walks & drives are most “attaching”, & I should have staid there longer if the hotels were not all _on^_` the pension plan & filled with English & German consumptives, who cause the meals to be served at impossible hours. I am stopping over in this place to-day, after which I proceed to Milan, where I expect to find letters—among which fortune may possibly vouch-safe me another word from home. From Milan I shall go straight to either Venice or Rome, I don’t quite know which, & spend (in whichever I do decide upon,) the greater part of the rest of my stay in Italy. I want to be quiet, & have time do _a^_` little thinking & reading—privileges I have for a long time been too much deprived of.³ Rome I should choose on its own merits, as one’s life in Venice is rather too abnormal 190
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1881
for my eminently natural n habits; but Rome is infested with acquaintances, all ready to pour into one’s existence the element I especially wish to avoid. I shall spend a week at Milan if it isn’t too cold, but _which^_` has the merit that I know none of its inhabitants. I have been solicited by the Bootts to join them in a trip to Sorrento, but have judiciously declined: whereby I shall probably not see them for another ◇ month or two. I suppose you know that they go home for a long visit in July. Perhaps you also know that (as I am told) Lizzie is much “talked of,” in Florence, in the matter of Duveneck. I have no “inside view” of the case. Her marrying him would be, given the man, strange; (I mean given his roughness, want of education, of a language, &c;) but the closely _closeness^_` of her intimacy is hardly less so. I take it, however, that the said intimacy is simply the result of the total unconventionalism of Lizz _the^_` three persons concerned,—the 3d being Frank B. The latter thinks everything that Lizzie does all right, & is _himself^_` as simple as a milkmaid. Lizzie likes Duveneck, who is a very good fellow, the latter _and Duveneck^_` likes her, (no wonder, after all she has done for him;) & none of them have any consciousness whatever of appearances.—But I didn’t mean to write a disquisition on the subject. —It is very agreeable to me to be in Italy again; (for instance sitting in this high-up room in a big, rambling, rather dirty hotel, looking straight down on the picturesque port of Genoa, & having to shut out the blazing sun from my fireless room _apartment.^_`) I won’t pretend that I care nearly so much for local colour as I used to; but there is something imperishable in the pleasure of finding one’s self in Italy.—I was much interested to hear that poor Bob had managed to be awhile among you—delighted that he was able to take some rest & recreation. I wish I could take him a three months’ tour over here. These things would be so fresh to him that he would enjoy them more than I, to whom they are stale. If he is still with you, give him my love and blessing. Tell Aunt Kate, in return for 191
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her message (that she doesn’t ri write to me so as not to burden me to answer) that she needn’t send _fear^_` to overload me & that there are no letters more delightful & satisfactory to me than hers. Now that I am out here, I hope to have more time to write, too, than while I was in London. I hope Alice still goes on well—tell her that at Venice I shall think constantly of her. Tell father, who I hope is in health, that I shall write to him soon. I am much obliged to him for the Underwood letter about some article of G. P. Lathrop’s: it is a most precious American d◇◇ document. I wish I could have more communication with William & his Alice—but there seem obstacles on both sides. He, however, at least, has my letters (to you) to read, if I haven’t his. But on all this, & on other points, I reflect that I am writing in a few days to take my passage in a Cunarder. I have of course read the Grant Allen in the March Atlantic & think it seems prettily enough argued. But I have ◇ no doubt Wm has a rejoinder, to which I wish all felicity. Bless you Genoa Wednesday 16th all, dearest mammy. Ever your H. James jr ———— Previous publication: HJL 2: 348–50
189.34 • [blotted out] 190.2 ◇ rather • [r overwrites blotted illegible letter] 190.3 supposed◇ • [blotted out] 190.6–7 , _ • [_ overwrites . ; , inserted] 190.7 subsequent • subse- | quent 190.8 1 20 • [2 overwrites 1]
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190.11 n taste • [t overwrites n] 190.15 Remo • [e inserted] 190.33 ³ Rome • [Rom overwrites —] 191.1 n habits • [h overwrites n] 191.7 ◇ month • [m overwrites illegible letter] 191.15 unconventionalism • unconventional- | -ism
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1881 191.31 recreation • recre- | ation 192.1 ri write • [wr overwrites ri] 192.8 Underwood • Under- | wood 192.10 d◇◇ document • [oc overwrites illegible letters] 192.15 the Grant • [Gr overwrites the] 192.16 ◇ no • [n overwrites illegible letter] 192.17–18 Genoa Wednesday 16th • [written upside down in relation to the rest of the letter; apparently this was the start of another letter]
189.33 My last letter home • HJ to Sr., 24 February 1881 (p. 175). 190.13 Mrs. Lombard & Fanny • Mrs. Lombard and her daughter, Fanny, were friends of the Jameses from Cambridge, Massachusetts. 190.17 chiefly composed of tunnels • A significant portion of the railway connecting San Remo and Genoa is underground, obscuring the picturesque coastal views. 190.20–21 it has doubled in size [. . .] since I was there twelve years ago • While HJ’s estimate is high, San Remo had grown significantly in the period between his two visits. At the time of his first stay there in 1870, the population was likely under ten thousand people, and by 1882 Baedeker’s Northern Italy gave the population figure as fifteen thousand (103). 192.15 Grant Allen in the March Atlantic • Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen criticized WJ’s “Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment” in “The Genesis of Genius.” 192.16–17 Wm has a rejoinder • W J’s reply to Allen, “The Importance
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of Individuals,” was not published until nearly a decade later.
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WILLIAM JAMES 21 March 1881 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1995) 5
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Milan. Hotel de la Ville. ———— March. 21st, 1881. Dear William. Your letter of the 3d ult. dictated to Bob, has (after an apparently long voyage) just reached me here, & I lose no time in replying to it.—I am very glad to hear you have the prospect of being able to come abroad for a year’s study, but I confess that I don’t feel able to “advise” you very definitely. What strikes me first is that from the point of view of economy, the nearest place (the one reached with least frais de voyage) ought to have most to recommend it. This would put a residence in England first on the list. A winter in Florence would have much to recommend _many charms, but^_` there would be within a few months the journey there & back to be paid for, & from the moment one begins with hotels & railways....! It might be that you would live _there^_` cheaply enough to make up for this, but of that I can’t judge, having no experience of Florence ◇◇◇◇ from the housekeeping ◇◇ point of view. As regards London, I don’t at all know the price of lodgings in Bloomsbury &c; I only know that they are considerably cheaper than in my part of the town. If I were in London I sh _would^_` immediately make inquiries for you—but you see I am far away. It is my belief that you could get good lodgings in the neighborhood of the British museum or in some other unfashionable but respectable part of London, for a sum within your means. I pay 2 1⁄2 guineas a week for my second floor in Bolton St.; which, however, has always struck me as, for the situation, cheap. On the other hand the extra-expenses of living in London are larger than they would 194
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be in some other places; the single item of cab fares is in itself a thing to be considered. It is useless to say you wouldn’t use cabs. In fact, you would, & Alice would have to: that is, more or less. You would need human intercourse after your work (as you say;) & human intercourse in a big place inevitably entails certain expenses—especially when a woman is concerned. In Paris you would perhaps have a cheaper rent—but I can’t think Paris would be really cheap for you unless at the price of a _too^_` sordid efforts. You would have little chance for human intercourse there, & there would be nothing left for you, in the way of recreation, but venal pleasures—i.e. the theatres, dining at restaurants &c. These are all more or less costly, & the general situation of living in a city like Paris for economy, seems me to a contradiction & a discomfort. There are temptations at every turn to spend money, & it is better to be where there are fewer. Paris strikes me in a word as having the drawbacks of London without the compensations—the same scale of prices (about) & none of the social advantages. In London you might see some pleasant _interesting^_` men (those you already know, & others;) whereas in Paris you would see none; (for I put the American colony out of the question.) (You would have nothing to do with it.) Your suggestion of Cambridge seems to me the best in your letter; though I should need to know more about the place to venture to go ^_`recommend^_` you to go there. If I were in England I would make inquiries for you—but now can only offer to do so when I go back. It must be cheaper than London, & I have no doubt that you could get good rooms there, & be decently nourished, on terms that from the American point of view would appear moderate. My own disposition is to urge you to choose England, as being so much more filling at the price than any foreign land. Your impressions there would sink into you, & nourish you more, than any you would have in Paris or Florence; & besides, you would know some people. In Florence there is no one but Hillebrand. C◇◇ Assuming that England is 195
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the best country, Cambridge appears better than London as being _having^_` a sufficient life of its own & yet being smaller, more concentrated & easy to deal with. It is true that if you come abroad this summer I shouldn’t recommend you to begin with Cambridge then, or before October. Your summer would therefore have to arr◇◇g◇ ^_`be spent somewhere,^_` & you suggest Wales. Wales would probably do _beautifully^_` if you knew (or I knew) before hand just the sequestered nook to go to: but Wales, roughly speaking, means crowds of tourists, dear hotels, &c. Scotland the same. Nevertheless, if you don’t insist on the fine fleur of scenery, I think you would have no trouble in finding reasonable & wholesome (also pleasant) country lodgings somewhere in England for the Summer—especially in the North. Behold then the general contention of my letter. 1˚ That England is intrinsically the best residence for you, as a year there would enrich your mind humanly &c; & extrinsically as being the nearest. 2˚ That if you come abroad for the summer you may pass it comfortably if you will be content to go to some small & quiet (unfashionable) English watering place, & stick there. 3˚ That for the winter (or the part of it you speak of especially—October to Cambridge ^_`February^_`) Cambridge would be _decidedly^_` worth trying & has presumptions in its favour. 4˚ That Paris & Florence are, one too dear & superfluously rich; & the other too far away to go to except for a long stay.—I may add that I assume with regard to your _an^_` English residence that your having your wife & child with you makes all the difference; & that you can support the “insularity” &c. of English life infinitely better with them than you could alone—in which latter case I shld. never recommend it.—I won’t add more, except to hope very much that your plans won’t take such a form as that I shall miss you both here & in the U.S., to which I return as you know, ^_`either^_` in the late summer or in October. That is, I hope you will either arrive some little time before I leave or some little time after. I won’t write about 196
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myself—I am on my way to Rome, & wrote to mother very few days since. Love & blessing to Alice & the Babe. Shouldn’t she like to try England? Ever yours H James jr Previous publication: CWJ 1: 29–31; WHSL 130–32
194.18–19 much to recommend _many charms, but^_` • [many inserted above much and charms, but inserted above to recommend] 194.24 housekeeping • house- | keeping 194.24 ◇◇ point • [p overwrites illegible letters; n malformed] 195.10 left • [e inserted] 195.14 contradiction • con- | tradiction 195.34 C◇◇ Assuming • [Ass overwrites C and illegible letters] 196.3 more • [m malformed] 196.4 recommend • re- | commend 196.10 Nevertheless • Neverthe- | less 196.12 country • coun- | try 196.21 Cambridge • Cam- | bridge 196.26 residence • [n malformed] 196.28 them • [m malformed] 196.29 recommend • re- | commend
194.6 Hotel de la Ville • Baedeker’s Northern Italy describes the Grand Hotel de la Ville, Corso Vittorio Emmanuele, as “first class” (127). 194.13 come abroad for a year’s study • Starting in September 1882, W J took a sabbatical from Harvard in order to complete The Principles of Psychology. He traveled to Europe, but without AHGJ or his two young
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sons. During the trip, he visited Italy, France, Germany, Austria, and England; while in London, W J stayed in HJ’s rooms at 3 Bolton Street. 194.16 frais de voyage • travel costs. 195.34 Hillebrand • Karl Hillebrand (1829–84), whom HJ had known since 1873. 196.11 fine fleur • very best.
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WILLIAM JAMES AND ALICE HOWE GIBBENS JAMES 22 March [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1996) 5
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Milan, March 22d. Dear William & Alice. Your letter of the 3d, dictated to Bob, did arrive safely, without taint of mud, & was answered by me yesterday; & was on the point of being posted when your supplementary communication of the 6th came in. As I had given some time & thought to my answer, I didn’t change it but posted it all the same. Your second letter, however, suggests some revisions & amendments. I perhaps put the case too strongly in favour of England, & did not sufficiently take into account your need for informal relaxation. There are fewer chances for this in England, certainly (◇ especially in winter—in summer country walks & excursions supply to a certain extent the want) than on the continent; & it is true that your relaxation in Cambridge would probably be mainly formal—or at la least have a formal element in it. Bating this, however, the case for England stands about as I put it. I don’t think Paris more desirable than London. The Paris winter is not believed by me to be sufficiently superior to the London one, the Paris prices sufficiently lower, & the opportunities for inexpensive recreation sufficiently greater (always in winter) to make up for the absence of the social richness which might be to a certain extent an attribute (or an incident) of a residence in Bloomsbury. The Tyrol-P Florence-Paris plan strikes me as picturesque but not sound economically. It seems to me a pity to launch yourself at the very outset in continental adventures. The journey from Liverpool to Salzburg (or wherever you might go) is a very long one. The journey thence to Florence is the same &c; and ditto the journey from Florence to Paris. All this travelling 198
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in a few months would probably rather take it out of you; the more of _as^_` you would probably go to the Tyrol rather in the dark. If you had friends at a particular spot there who would write: “This is the place—we take rooms for you; come here & stick;” you might go de confiance & make a long summer of it, which would be economical. A Florence winter would certainly be very pleasant & would have many merits; Florence has after all many resources. It seems to me however, a pity to conclude against England from the 1st. I therefore recommend that if you come abroad this summer you pass it in England as an experiment, ◇ & decide meanwhile (ie. during the summer) about your winter. You ought to be able to spend ten weeks in the country somewhere sans trop souffrir. Or you might cross by the short & inexpensive sea-route (New Haven to Dieppe _or Southampton to Havre,)^_`) to the Normandey coast & have a cheap & healthy (also pleasant,) summer ) at Etretat. If at the end of this time you you shld. feel like trying England for the winter, you would still be near enough to do it easily. If you dont come this summer, there will be time before the autumn to counsel you further. You write as if you supposed me still _in^_` England, though I have done nothing nothing but announce my Italiänische Reise. I can’t therefore give you statistics, prices &c. By somewhere in England (your summer) I mean at some seacoast places, in the North, which I shld. recommend your going straight to without coming to London. Of course, to go straight (or crooked) to it, you must know it first, & I will undertake to obtain some information for you if you announce your coming. Ever yours, of the both of you—H. James jr P.S.—I find I have accidentally left this page blank, so I add a line to say that your supposition that “mother has told me all about Bob” is erroneous. She ◇ has told me nothing but that he was at home for rest, & was _had^_` a temperament that was “a trial both to him self & to others.” This is the only sort 199
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of information I ever get about him; but it is tormentingly mysterious & I beg for more. ———— Previous publication: CWJ 1: 331–33
198.9 without • with= | out 198.9 answered • an- | swered 198.13 suggests • sug= | gests 198.17 ◇ especially • [e overwrites illegible letter] 198.19 Cambridge • Cam- | bridge 198.20 la least • [e overwrites a] 198.21 element • [n malformed] 198.25 opportunities • oppor- | tunities 198.25 recreation • re- | creation 198.27 richness • [n malformed] 198.28 incident • in- | cident 198.28 Bloomsbury • Blooms- | bury 198.28–29 P Florence • [F overwrites P] 198.30 seems • [m malformed] 199.11 experiment • experi- | ment 199.11 ◇ & • [& overwrites illegible letter] 199.15 Normandy • [m malformed] 199.16 summer • [second m malformed] 199.17 you you • you | you 199.27–29 obtain some information [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page]
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199.32 ◇ has • [h overwrites illegible letter] 199.33 temperament • [ first m and second m malformed] 199.34 him self • him | self
199.5 de confiance • on trust. 199.13 sans trop souffrir • without too much trouble.
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1881 199.22 Italiänische Reise • Italian journey, after Goethe’s book of the same name. 199.31–32 all about Bob • The consequences from RJ’s alcoholism had become so severe that WJ persuaded him in February to return to Cambridge for “a radical change of environment which will calm him down” (CWJ 5: 151). Maher writes that a “nervous breakdown” precipitated RJ’s relocation from Milwaukee to Cambridge. On 1 April [1881] MWJ wrote that RJ was “working the peaceable fruits of righteousness in his heart. [. . .] He does not seem at all well; complains of violent indigestion and many distressing nervous feelings in his head and of his back” (qtd. in Maher 134).
FRANCES “FANNY” ANNE KEMBLE 24 March 1881
15
TLC Houghton
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bMS Am 1237.16
Hotel de la Ville, Milan. March 24th, ’81. My dear Mrs Kemble, Your good letter of nearly four weeks ago lies before me— where it has been lying for some days past—making me think of you so much that I ended by feeling as if I had answered it. On reflection I see that I haven’t, however—that is, not in any way that you will appreciate. Shall you appreciate a letter from Milan on a day blustering and hateful as any you yourself can lately have been visited with. I have been spending the last eight days at this place, but I take myself off—for southern parts— to-morrow; so that by waiting a little I might have sent you a little more of the genuine breath of Italy. But I can do that— and I shall do it—at any rate, and meanwhile let my Milanese news go for what it is worth. You see I travel very deliberately, 201
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as I started for Rome six weeks ago, and I have only got thus far. My slowness has various causes; among others my not being in a particular hurry to join the little nest of my compatriots (and yours) who cluster about the Piazza di Spagna. I have enjoyed the independence of lingering in places where I had no visits to pay—and this indeed has been the only charm of Milan, which has seemed prosaic and winterish, as if it were on the wrong side of the Alps. I have written a good deal (not letters), and seen that mouldering old fresco of Leonardo, which is so magnificent in its ruin, and the lovely young Raphael in the Brera (the Sposalizio) which is still so fresh and juvenile, and Lucrezia Borgia’s straw-coloured lock of hair at the Ambrosian Library, and several other small and great curiosities. I have kept pretty well out of the Cathedral, as the chill of Dante’s frozen circle abides within it, and I have had a sore throat ever since I left soft San Remo. On the other hand I have also been to the Scala, which is a mighty theatre, and where I heard Der Freyschütz done à l’Italienne, and sat through about an hour and three quarters of a ballet which was to last three. The Italians, truly, are eternal children. They paid infinitely more attention to the ballet than to the opera, and followed with breathless attention, and an air of the most serious credulity, the interminable adventures of a danceuse who went through every possible alternation of human experience on the points of her toes. The more I see of them the more struck I am with their having no sense of the ridiculous.—It must have been at Marseilles, I think, that I wrote you before; so that there is an hiatus in my biography to fill up. I went from Marseilles to Nice, which I found more than usually detestable, and pervaded, to an intolerable pitch, with a bad French carnival, which set me on the road again till I reached San Remo, which you may know, and which if you don’t you ought to. I spent more than a fortnight there, among the olives and oranges, between a big yellow sun and a bright blue sea. The walks and drives are 202
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1881
lovely, and in the course of one of them (a drive) I called upon our friends the George Howards, who have been wintering at Bordighera, a few miles away. But he was away in England getting himself elected to Parliament (you may have heard that he has just been returned for East Cumberland,) and she was away with him, helping him. The idea of leaving the oranges and olives for that! I saw, however, a most delightful little maid, their eldest daughter, of about 15, who had a mixture of shyness and frankness, the softness of the papa and the decision of the mother, with which I quite fell in love. I didn’t fall in love with Mrs William Morris, the strange, pale, livid, gaunt, silent, and yet in a manner graceful and picturesque, wife of the poet and paper-maker, who is spending the winter with the Howards; though doubtless she too has her merits. She has, for instance, wonderful aesthetic hair. From San Remo I came along the rest of the coast to Genoa, not by carriage however, as I might have done, for I was rather afraid of three days “on end” of my own society: that is, not on end, but sitting down. When I am tired of myself in common situations I can get up and walk away—; so, in a word, I came in the train, and the train came in a tunnel—for it was almost all one, for five or six hours. I have been going to Venice—but it is so cold and blustering that I think to-morrow, when I depart from this place, the idea of reaching the southernmost point will get the better of me, and I shall make straight for Rome. I will write you from there— where first I beheld you: that is, familiarly, (if I may be allowed the expression). Enough meanwhile about myself, my intentions and delays: let me hear, or at least let me ask, about your own circumstances and propensities. I believe you to be still in London—but I also believe you to have a prospect of going to Leamington; which I suppose will help you along toward your summer—or at least will help Mrs Leigh toward hers. You’re capable of having had a very nasty March—but I hope it has used you mercifully. I trust Cavendish Square is a wholesome 203
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residence, if not a picturesque one. (I have an idea “wholesome” is American—so I leave it—to please you.) I also hope they don’t bleed you to death at your inn—but will leave you with a little pecuniary vitality. Do you ever go to the play? I’m afraid not, unless Aidé is de retour. I am completely ignorant of his movements, and don’t know whether he is still in Italy, though I should be very glad to find him in Rome. If he has come back, will you kindly mention I spoke of him, and give him my very friendly remembrances? I should like to send them also to Mrs Procter—but on the whole to her I should have so much to say that I won’t trouble you with so huge a package. I will put up one for her by itself. I trust the entente cordiale is completely re-established and that Miss Edith has no more hallucinations. If you were to see me—that is if I were to see you—you would give me some news of your daughter, and perhaps read me Mrs Wister’s last letter. As it is, I can only envy you the perusal of it. I gave your address, or rather your addresses, a few days ago, to a lady who wrote to me for them for her sons, the young Chapmans, who are coming abroad this summer, and aspire to go to see you. I gave them so many that among them all they will find you somewhere. I am delighted to think there is a chance of your having the old one—i.e. the old address—back again. God speed the day.—You must have felt spattered, like all the world, with the blood of the poor Russian Czar! Aren’t you glad you are not an Empress? But you are. God save your Majesty!—Mrs Greville sent me Swinburne’s complicated dirge upon her poor simple mother, and I thought it wanting in all the qualities that one liked in Mrs T. I should like very much to send a tender message to Mrs Gordon: indefinite—but very tender! To you I am both tender and definite (save when I cross). Ever faithfully yours H. James jr.
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1881 Previous publication: SL 1: 177–78
201.29 lately • late- | ly 203.1 lovely • love- | ly 203.9 softness • soft- | ness 203.26 familiarly • famil- | iarly 204.13 re-established • re-est- | ablished
202.4 Piazza di Spagna • A center of tourist Rome, thus HJ’s scorn. 202.9 mouldering old fresco of Leonardo • Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. HJ had written of the fresco in 1872: “The picture needs not another scar or stain, now, to be the saddest work of art in the world, and battered, defaced, ruined as it is, it remains one of the greatest” (“A European Summer” 333). 202.10–11 Raphael in the Brera (the Sposalizio) • Raphael’s The Marriage of the Virgin, also known as Lo Sposalizio, located at the Pinacoteca de Brera in Milan. HJ wrote of the artist and painting in 1872 that “Raphael was a happier genius; you cannot look at his lovely Marriage of the Virgin at the Brera, beautiful as some first deep smile of conscious inspiration, without feeling that he foresaw no complaint against fate, and that he looked at the world with the vision of a graceful optimist” (“A European Summer” 333). 202.12–13 Lucrezia Borgia’s straw-coloured lock of hair at the Ambrosian Library • In 1872 HJ described the library as “that paradise of bookworms with an eye for the picturesque” (“A European Summer” 333). Among the Biblioteca Ambrosiana’s holdings is a reliquary containing a lock of dyed blonde hair, reportedly given by Lucrecia Borgia to Cardinal Pietro Bembo. 202.17 the Scala • The Teatro della Scala, Milan’s opera house. 202.17–18 Der Freyschütz • Carl Maria von Weber’s (1786–1826) Ger-
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man opera Der Freischütz (The Marksman). 202.18 à l’Italienne • in Italian. 202.23 danceuse • female dancer. 202.26–27 at Marseilles, I think, that I wrote you before • See HJ to Frances “Fanny” Anne Kemble, 24 February [1881] (pp. 179–81). 203.2–4 George Howards [. . .] elected to Parliament • George
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The Complete Letters of Henry James Howard (1843–1911), painter and politician who married Rosalind Frances Stanley (1845–1921) in 1864 and would become the 9th Earl of Carlisle in 1889. He was Liberal MP of East Cumberland from 1879 to 1880 and elected again in 1881. 203.3 Bordighera • Italian city on the coast of the Ligurian Sea, approximately ten miles west of San Remo. 203.8 their eldest daughter • Lady Mary Henrietta Howard (1865– 1956). 203.11 Mrs William Morris • Jane Burden Morris (1839–1914), English artists’ model, married William Morris in 1859. 204.13 Miss Edith • Edythe Anne Skepper Procter (1834–85). 204.18 a lady • Eleanor Chapman. 204.18–19 the young Chapmans • Brothers Henry Grafton Chapman III (1860–1913) and John Jay Chapman (1862–1933). See also HJ to William Jones Hoppin, 9 February [1881] (pp. 166–67). 204.25–26 Mrs Greville • Sabine Mathilda Thellusson Greville (1823– 82). She married Richard Greville in 1862. 204.26–27 Swinburne’s complicated dirge upon her poor simple mother • Algernon Swinburne’s Euthanatos: M. T. 23rd January, 1881, a poem on the death of Maria Thellusson. 204.28 Mrs T • Maria Thellusson (c. 1805–81), mother of Sabine Mathilda Thellusson Greville.
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JAMES RIPLEY OSGOOD 15 April 1881 ALS Historical Society of Pennsylvania
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Gratz MSS, case 6, box 22 30
Venice, April 15th. 1881. ———— Dear Mr. Osgood. If I had received your note of the 31st ult. three or four months ago I might have been able to make a more favourable 206
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answer than to-day. But at that time I agreed with Houghton & Mifflin for the eventual publication of the “Portrait of a Lady,” & the arrangement is closed. Many thanks for your own proposal.—I return to America toward the last of September next, & shall probably see you at _that^_` time. Meanwhile I wish prosperity to your new house. Yours very truly H. James jr J. R. Osgood esq. No previous publication
206.25 JAMES RIPLEY OSGOOD • Osgood (1836–92) was the publisher of HJ’s first books. He was the partner of James T. Fields in Fields, Osgood and Company, then directed James R. Osgood and Company until 1878, when he became the partner of H. O. Houghton in Houghton, Osgood and Company. From 1880 until declaring bankruptcy in 1885, he again operated as James R. Osgood and Company. 207.1–3 at that time [. . .] “Portrait of a Lady,” • An implicit understanding existed between the author and his publisher that the firm that serialized the novel would also publish the book. Houghton, Osgood and Company owned the Atlantic Monthly at the time of HJ’s agreement to serialize The Portrait of a Lady in their periodical, but in May 1880 the firm dissolved, forming Houghton, Mifflin and Company and James R. Osgood and Company in its wake. Although Osgood attempted to lure the previous firm’s authors to his new publishing house, HJ published The Portrait
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of a Lady with Houghton, Mifflin.
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DANIEL SARGENT CURTIS 25 April [1881] ALS Dartmouth College Library, Special Collections Curtis Family Papers, MS 194, series 1, box 1, folder 24 5
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Hotel de Russie April 25th Dear Mr. Curtis. On Wednesday, with many thanks, I shall be delighted to dine, at 7. (I am unfortunately engaged both to-day & tomorrow.) I am very happy that Potter remains. With kind remembrance to Mrs. Curtis—Very truly yours —H. James jr No previous publication
208.12 H. James jr • [written across the letter]
208.1 DANIEL SARGENT CURTIS • Curtis (1825–1908) was the stepson of Laura Greenough Curtis, who was the sister of artist Henry Greenough, the brother-in-law of Francis Boott. See HJ to MWJ, 29 December [1872] (CLHJ, 1872–1876 1: 168n166.8–9). In late 1885 the Curtises acquired all but one floor of Palazzo Barbaro, on Venice’s Grand Canal, where HJ became a frequent guest (Zorzi, Letters from the Palazzo Barbaro 23, 178). 208.6 Hotel de Russie • A fashionable Roman hotel near the Piazza del Popolo. 208.11 Potter • Probably Howard Potter (d. 1897), a friend of Mrs. Curtis’s mentioned in later correspondence (see Zorzi, Letters from the
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Palazzo Barbaro 149). 208.12 Mrs. Curtis • Ariana Randolph Wormeley Curtis, (1833–1922).
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KATHERINE LOUISA CULLEN BOUGHTON 27 April [1881] ALS University of Virginia Library Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, Special Collections, Papers of Henry James, MSS 6251-a, box 2, folder 78
Rome, Hotel de Russie. April 27th Dear Mrs. Boughton If I were not in Rome I should be delighted to come to your party on the 11th. But unfortunately I have the prospect of being for another month in Italy. This is a misfortune with which you will sympathise—& I hope your husband will share the sentiment. I [. . .] upon my sad exile [. . .] after that music [. . .] I spent at your house so many weeks ago—as they seem now—& have spent _passed^_` most of the p melancholy period at Venice, to which I return for [. . .] month of May. But for this I should have [. . .] again to see you [. . .] do so however on [. . .] return to Londo[n . . .] p hope to get back [. . .] before all the fun is over. Keep a little of it for me, please, & believe me with many kind remembrances, thanks, & regrets, Very truly yours H. Jame[s jr] No previous publication
209.11 prospect • pros- | pect 209.14 I [. . .] • [MS torn]
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209.14 exile [. . .] • [MS torn] 209.15 [. . .] • [MS torn] 209.16 p melancholy • [m overwrites p]; p melan- | choly 209.17 for [. . .] • [MS torn] 209.18 have [. . .] • [MS torn] 209.18 you [. . .] • [MS torn]
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209.1 KATHERINE LOUISA CULLEN BOUGHTON • Katherine Louisa Cullen Boughton (b. 1845) was the wife of London painter George Henry Boughton (1833–1905).
KATHARINE DE KAY BRONSON [May or June 1881] TLC Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University 15
Leon Edel Papers
4161 Riva Schiavoni 4° p “I have taken up my abode here, in dirty apartments with a lovely view.” [her suggestion] No previous publication
210.19 [her suggestion] • [the brackets, and probably the phrase within them, may be Edel’s and appear on the copy text]
210.12 KATHARINE DE KAY BRONSON • Katharine de Kay Bronson (1834–1901), a longtime friend of HJ, probably from the 1850s. She resided in Venice at Casa Alvisi.
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210.17 4161 Riva Schiavoni • The Riva degli Schiavoni, a busy Venetian promenade. HJ’s view from the Pensione Wildner, where he stayed through June, gave him a view of that promenade, St. Mark’s Basin, and San Giorgio Maggiore (see illustration 9).
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KATHARINE DE KAY BRONSON [May or June 1881] TLC Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University Leon Edel Papers 5
4161 Riva Sch. Tuesday Will come tomorrow, Wed., not overwhelmed with engagements. Sorry for Mrs. Parish. No previous publication
KATHARINE DE KAY BRONSON [May or June 1881]
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do Sunday a.m. to bring “one of the Duveneck ‘crowd’,” but nicer than most of them. No previous publication
211.19 do • I.e. “ditto.” Reference to 4161 Riva Schiavoni from [May or June] 1881 to Bronson. 211.20 the Duveneck ‘crowd’ • A group of painters living in Italy and studying under the guidance of Frank Duveneck (1848–1919), at this time
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likely including William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), John White Alexander (1856–1915), Walter Shirlaw (1838–1909), and John Henry Twachtman (1853–1902).
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PHOEBE GARNAUT SMALLEY [May or June 1881] ALS Pierpont Morgan Library, New York Misc. American, MA 4977 (1–4) 5
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Venice, 4161 Riva Schiavoni 4° po Dear Mrs. Smalley. If I had done as I wished I should have written to you two months ago. But I never do as I wish—I am too easy a victim of circumstances—am always doing as some one else wishes, & getting no thanks for it! There have been a number of people, since I have been abroad, interested in preventing me from corresponding with absent friends, & they have triumphed over me a dozen times, when I really had my pen in my hand to write to you. Just now, however, I believe I have knocked them on the head for half an hour, or for long enough, at least, to send you a much-delayed but none the less friendly greeting. I wrote to your husband a week or two ago, so that you will have already learned that in spite of my silence I am still in the land of the living. I am not very ◇ sure indeed that those words are a proper description of Venice—which is not land exactly, & which isn’t very much alive. I am alive, however, in spite of the _my^_` ghostly associations, & more faithful to the dear ones in London than I perhaps appear. I have all sorts of intentions of going back soon to see them, & should certainly have done so before this if one were able to make the journey in a Gondola. I would go to China, if one could go in a gondola. But unfortunately this mode of conveyance takes one no further than the railwaystation here—& the change to another is so difficult?! Aren’t you a little fatigued, as one is apt to be in London about the middle of May, & don’t you want two or three weeks’ rest, combined with gentle entertainment? Come down here in that case, & float about at your ease in _one of^_` these delicious tired folks’ 212
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1881
cradles. It will be much more amusing than “lying down,” in your own room, & quite as efficacious. Even if you are tired, dear Mrs. Smalley, I hope you will be able to muster vigour enough to give me a little news of your London life & a few of the echoes of Chester Place. This is a Thursday afternoon—about the hour at which, if I were not in Venice, I should probably be sitting on one of your aesthetic sofas, with Ida _on^_` one knee & Mr. Emerson on the other & that wonderful cat ensconced somewhere between. Here, I am sorry to say, I haven’t any such familiar pleasures. I have just been passing more time than I venture to say at my window with an opera glass, looking down at the picturesque quay beneath ◇ me & far out at the manytinted lagoon. Ida & the Baby should have been on either side of me—& the pastime would have been more worthy of their tender age than of my tough one. But I waste a good deal of time in that attitude. I don’t know that I can tell you anything more resp[ec]table about myself. I wrote to G. W. S. from Rome the other day, whither I had gone for two or three weeks which I passed pleasantly enough, in the place I love best in the world— except of course London. I am now back here again for another month after which I return, almost directly, to 3 Bolton st. Your husband told me nothing about London but that the _Fred.^_` Macmillans had had a party. This is an important & delightful event, but I suppose it is not the only one that has happened. I p◇◇ purchase the Standard every morning for 50 centimes (a ruinous luxury,) & read a good deal about plays & pictures, as well as about the Irish Bill, the indispositions of Mr. Gladstone, the promotion of Lord Salisbury, & other miraculous occurrences. They all seem very far away—like “old, forgotten, far-off things”. I can’t tell you like what a many-headed monster London looks from a Venetian window—even through an opera glass! Here I don’t think we have even a single head—we have only a great deal of heart! What do you talk about with all those ladies on Thursday afternoons? Is it ever (just a little) abo[ut] 213
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poor H. J. jr? Do they ever remem[be]r me, or miss me, or ask about me, [o]r wish I would come back? Do give my tender love to the first one that mentions me. (Keep a sharp look out to see which one it is. I hope it will be Mrs. Macmillan—but you are not to tell her this.) I embrace your children all round—even the big ones—& send you the best possible wishes. Ever yours very faithfully—H. James jr No previous publication
212.16 them • [m malformed] 212.21 ◇ sure • [s overwrites illegible letter] 212.22 description • de= | scription 212.29 conveyance • con- | veyance 212.29–30 railway- | station • railway-station 212.30 ?! • [! overwrites ?] 213.12 ◇ me • [me overwrites illegible letter] 213.12–13 many- | tinted • many-tinted 213.17 resp[ec]table • [MS damaged] 213.23 Macmillans • Mac- | millans 213.25 p◇◇ purchase • [u overwrites illegible letters] 213.29 occurrences • occur- | rences 213.30 many-headed • many- | -headed 213.34 abo[ut] • [MS damaged] 214.1 remem[be]r • [MS damaged] 214.2 [o]r wish • [MS damaged]
213.5 Chester Place • The Smalleys resided at 8 Chester Place, London, in 1881. Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
213.7–8 Ida [. . .] Mr. Emerson • Ida (b. c. 1872) and Emerson (1874– 1945) Smalley, daughter and son of Phoebe and G. W. Smalley. 213.11 at my window • In the preface to the novel’s New York edition, HJ recalled writing The Portrait of a Lady in Venice: “I remember being again much occupied with it [. . .] during a stay of several weeks made in Venice. I had rooms on Riva Schiavoni, at the top of a house near the pas-
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1881 sage leading off to San Zaccaria; the waterside life, the wondrous lagoon spread before me, and the ceaseless human chatter of Venice came in at my windows, to which I seem to myself to have been constantly driven, in the fruitless fidget of composition, as if to see whether, out in the blue channel, the ship of some right suggestion, of some better phrase, of the next happy twist of my subject, the next true touch for my canvas, might n’t come into sight” (v). 213.25 the Standard • The London Standard or the London Evening Standard.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 9 May [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1429 (2553)
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Venice May 9th Dear Aldrich. I send you by this post, in another parcel, the proofs, or rather copy, of the August no. of my long-drawn tale, & with them bon voyage. Thank you kindly for your answer to my last, which came to me a while since in Rome.—Venice, Rome!—don’t be afraid that I am going to write to you about these places. I shouldn’t dare to, as your’e an editor; they are too thin?! And as you have seen them as a man, I am completely absolved. Besides, its raining hard, the season is perverse & dislocated, & I have little good to say of Italy. I am vexed that I am not in the Vale of Cashmere, or some such place. I hope you like editing, as far as you have got. I promise to do as little as possible toward making it difficult for you, & remain very truly yours H. James jr (3 Bolton St Mayfair W.) P.S. I enclosed your p.s. bodily to Julian Sturgis, who has 215
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a very agreeable talent, & will probably respond to it (your suggestion.) At any rate he will be pleased. No previous publication
215.24 ?! • [! overwrites ?]
215.19 the August no. of my long-drawn tale • The August 1881 installment of The Portrait of a Lady contained chapters 39–42. 215.21 my last • The last extant letter from HJ to Aldrich is 8 March 1881 (pp. 183–84).
HENRY JAMES SR. 15
11 May [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1914)
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Venice 4161 Riva Schiavoni. May 11th Dearest daddy. I have written home since I last heard thence (that is, from Quincy St.,) but as that was a good while ago I will sent send you off a line without waiting for the letter which is, I trust, even now approaching my door. I wrote last to mother, from this place, which I continue to honour by my presence. Since then, however, I have been to Rome & returned—my return taking place two days ago. I am glad to be back here, as ◇ Venice is the most peaceful, soothing, plenty-of-time-to one’s-self sort of place I have ever inhabited. The very soundlessness of it seems to make one more independent—as the absence of the vague uproar of other cities restores to one’s attention all that it _is^_` taken from it (through the ears) elsewhere. It is true that the eyes are a good deal distracted here, & I have wasted a g▬ of time _many 216
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half-hours^_` at my window, with an opera-glass. It is not time wasted, however, for I have engaged to write an article about the place for Scribner—or rather for the Century, into which Scribner is to be merged.—My visit to Rome was pleasant, all but the weather, which has been, & still continues, perversely cold & wet. It is more like a Boston March than an Italian May, & one becomes at moments furious with disappointment & vexation. From day-to-day, however, I hope for something more congruous. During the short time I was in Rome I had twice to take to my bed—once with a furious attack in my head, & v then with an almost equally violent visitation of lumbago. But fortunately I was well lodged (at the H. de Russie) & could obtain the requisite bouillon, hot baths, &c. On my way to Rome I spent three days in Florence, where I saw Frank Boott, Lizzie having gone to Spain with a group of L lady-artists. She sent me thence an appeal which I enclose, & which came near setting me in motion for Granada. I had thought seriously of going to Spain this year instead of coming to England _Italy—^_` it seemed to me more original & enterprising. But I let the question be settled by the fact that I ha◇◇ _had,^_` as usual, work to do, & that I thought a new & bewildering milieu, with all its excitements & distractions, unfavourable for the purpose. And it was for this (as well as other reasons) that I resisted Lizzie’s appeal _proposal^_` that I shld. join her at Granada. I p hope none the less to go there some day. F. B. was, as usual, shly ^_`shyly-^_` affectionate & contradictiously sociable, & very lonely, I should think, in the sole company of the ancient Anne, at Bellosguardo. Duveneck showed me a portrait he _(D.)^_` had just painted of Lizzie, which is beautifully done, but disagreeable as a likeness, & not at all the work, one would say, of a future husband. It is almost lifesize—I mean the whole figure, but under the size of life. He has also painted Boott, en grand, & sent the picture to the Salon; but he has got news that an accident befell it on the way (the frame was smashed) which has probably prevented its being received. 217
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I was further present in Florence at the nuptials of S. G. C. Middlemore & Miss Nena Sturgis, whom I think I wrote you I some time ago innocently made acquainted with each other, little thinking that they would profit by it to saddle me with such a responsibility. They have no health & no money, but they appear to have much mutual affection.—I came back from Rome by way of Ancona, & took advantage of the 48 hours I spent there to make a pilgrimage (i.e. a 20-mile drive) to Recanati, to visit the birth-place of the divine Leopardi—the dull little town on a mountain-top, in which he languished for many years of his unhappy life. I was unfortunately refused entrance, however, to his ancestral house (one of the poor palazzi of the place,) & had to content myself with a view of the exterior & the circumjacent objects.—I also went to Loreto, the holy-place of Italy, & saw the famous Casa Santa, if you please, the house in which Jesus Christ was born & which was transported by angels, in the 12th century, to the said Loreto, & set down in a convenient spot.— So much for myself & my adventures. I heard from William’s Alice a couple of months _weeks^_` ago, who mentioned that Wm had been summoned to Baltimore & had prospects of taking up with J. Hopkins &c, after all. Of all this I am anxious to hear the sequel, as well _as^_` of the projected visit to Europe, & as in the event of the latter I shall have to take apartments for the travellers, somewhere—. I thought Alice spoke hopefully of the European plan, which I trust may be worked successfully into that of Baltimore.—I hope your month of May is better than hours ^_`ours,^_` that Cambridge is green & that your summer approaches discreetly. Is Bob still at home?—& could he never find 1⁄2 an hour to write to me?—I trust my mother & sister are well, & that you are in equal, if not superior, health. I have just read your Carlyle, with much appreciation. Farewell, dear daddy. Embrace mother & Alice, & also embrace, in imagination, your affectionate son H. James jr 218
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216.23 sent send • [d overwrites blotted t] 216.28 ◇ Venice • [V overwrites illegible letter] 216.29 plenty-of • plenty- | -of 217.7 disappointment • disap- | pointment 217.11 v then • [t overwrites v] 217.15 L lady-artists • [l overwrites L] 217.23 resisted • re- | sisted 217.24 p hope • [h overwrites blotted p] 217.28 painted • [n malformed] 217.30–31 life- | size • life-size 218.3 innocently • inno- | cently 218.11 entrance • [a inserted] 218.22 & as • [a overwrites &] 218.27 summer • [second m malformed]
217.2 engaged to write an article • “Venice.” 217.25 F. B. • Francis Boott. 217.27 ancient Anne • Mary Ann Shenstone (b. c. 1821), known as Ann from 1848, Elizabeth Boott’s childhood nurse and the Boott family’s longtime household employee. 217.28 a portrait • Probably Elizabeth Boott, 1880, currently at the Cincinnati Art Museum. 217.31–32 He has also painted Boott • Francis Boott, currently at the Cincinnati Art Museum. 218.1–2 S. G. C. Middlemore & Miss Nena Sturgis • English translator Samuel George Chetwynd Middlemore (1848–90) and American linguist and music arranger Maria Trinidad Howard Sturgis (1846–90) married in
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Florence in April 1881. 218.9 Leopardi • Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837), Italian poet, scholar, and philosopher. HJ recorded this visit to Leopardi’s home: I returned to Venice by Ancona and Rimini. From Ancona I drove to Loreto, and, on the same occasion, to Recanati, to see the house of Giacomo Leopardi, whose infinitely touching letters I had been
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
The Complete Letters of Henry James reading while in Rome. The day was lovely and the excursion picturesque; but I was not allowed to enter Leopardi’s house. I saw, however, the dreary little hill-town where he passed so much of his life, with its enchanting beauty of site, and its strange, bright loneliness. I saw the streets—I saw the views he looked upon . . . Very little can have changed. (Complete Notebooks 222) In addition, Edel and Tinter show that HJ owned several of Leopardi’s books (45). 218.31 your Carlyle • “Some Personal Recollections of Carlyle.”
HENRY BURR BARNES 31 May [1881] ALS Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library 15
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Za James 39
Venice. May 31st Dear Sirs. I am greatly obliged to you for sending me _so long^_` the International Review—but I must beg you to excuse me from offering any opinion, to be used as an advertisement, in regard to its merits. I make it a rigid rule never to contribute to testimonials of this kind. Of course, after this I shall not be surprised at the cessation of your liberality in sending me the magazine. Yours very truly H. James jr Henry B. Barnes & esq. ———— No previous publication
220.20 International • Internat- | ional 220.28 & esq. • [e overwrites &]
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220.11 HENRY BURR BARNES • Barnes (1845–1911) was a junior partner and head of the periodicals division at the American publisher A. S. Barnes and Company. From 1874 to 1879 he was also the editor of the International Review. 220.12 [1881] • Though HJ seems to have been unaware that Barnes had given up the editorship of the International Review in 1879, 1881 is still the best year for this letter because it was written from Venice and HJ signed it with “jr,” which he tended not to include after Sr.’s death.
HENRY JAMES SR. 5 June 1881 ALS Houghton
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bMS Am 1094 (1915)
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Venice June 5th 1881. ———— Dearest daddy. I have waited to answer your letter, & mother’s, letting me know of Alice’s surprising advent, until I should have heard, _from English soil,^_` from this young lady herself. But I shall delay no longer, though she remains dumb. Her ship got in on May 30th, as I see by the English papers, & therefore almost a week has elapsed; but as yet I have not received the letter that I have been daily looking for; & I have moreover not the satisfaction of writing to her, as neither of you bethought yourselves of telling me who is to be her banker. I should be vexed with her, were I not sure that her silence is intended as a sign that I am not to trouble myself about her. It is a graceful assertion of her independence, but if it lasts too long, I shall be really vexed, because I shall be incommoded. I wish to know about her movements in order to determine my own. I needn’t say _how^_` I ◇ delighted I am that she has had both 221
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the inclination & the power to come abroad—& I only wish it were for longer. I have no doubt it will give her a great loft, & shall neglect nothing I can do myself to make the lift higher. I am especially glad too she is to spend her time in England— once she has with her so much concentrated company as Miss Loring. Without Miss l L., she might find it dull, but with Miss l L, I have no fear she will. I hope she will drive a great deal— she may◇, if she will, drive all over England. If she doesn’t need me before the term I had already fixed for my return—the early part of July I shall not hurry back on her account. It will be a great comfort & benefit to me not to return to London before the Season is completely over, I & ◇ as I expect she will adjure me (from what you say,) not to run after her, I shall probably remain here till the end of the present month.—Meanwhile I trust she will flourish & enjoy. From what you intimate I am all ready to believe that any practical aid I can render her will be quite thrown into the shade by Miss Loring’s mighty arts. Their voyage, by the way, must have been a good one; it was so blissfully short.—You will gather that I still prosper in Venice. Summer of course has begun, & it is now very warm; but the heat has nothing excessive, & the charm of the place is greater than ever. This is a great festival, (the Statuto) & the place is bright with flags & draperies that illuminate still more brightly the usual splendour of its colour. I am sitting in dishabille in a 1⁄2 darkened room; but a sweet little breeze comes in from the lagoon. I wish Alice were here—bating the warm weather. I believe your Summer began before she sailed; but I hope it has been interrupted since. As you may imagine, I have little personal news. I see a few people here—but all unknown, I think, to you. Tell Wm his old friend Herbert Pratt has turned up here, & I ◇ have _have^_` seen a good deal of him. He is a queer, but almost delightful, creature, & entertaining through all the strange Eastern lands he ◇ has seen. He is romantic, sentimental & naif, & is redolent of Persia. He seems to think 222
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always of Wm. Farewell dear father, with many thanks for the tendresses of your letter, which I return with interest. Tell mother that I bless, embrace, & adore her. How you must miss Alice! Ever your filial H. James jr No previous publication
221.24 almost • al- | most 221.32 incommoded • in- | commoded 221.33 determine • de= | termine 221.34 ◇ delighted • [d overwrites illegible letter] 222.6 l L. • [L overwrites l] 222.7 l L • [L overwrites l] 222.8 ◇, • [, overwrites illegible letter] 222.12 I & • [& overwrites I] 222.12 ◇ as • [a overwrites illegible letter] 222.23–24 the • [t overwrites .] 222.24 the • [h malformed] 222.31 ◇ have • [h overwrites illegible letter] 222.33 ◇ has • [h overwrites illegible letter] 223.1 Farewell • [w malformed]
222.22 the Statuto • Proclaimed the national festival of Italy in 1861, the Festa della Statuto honored the 1847 national constitution of Carlo Alberto and was, at the time, Italy’s only official and obligatory national holiday, celebrated on the first Sunday of June. 222.30 Herbert Pratt • Herbert James Pratt (1841–1915) was an Ameri-
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can friend of W J and relative of the Alcott family.
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Dear father. Only a line to say that I heard from Alice directly after posting my letter to you yesterday. She wrote, as you will see immediately, but her letter appears to have been delayed somewhere. She has of course written to you by this time more than once, but I enclose her letter, which I have just answered. Ever, in haste H. James jr Venice. June 6th ———— No previous publication
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GRACE NORTON 12 June 1881 ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (921, 973)
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Vicenza June 12th 1881. My dear Grace. I have no particular paper, & no particular pen & ink: but I have a particular wish to send you a greeting from this quiet corner of old Italy. It is a warm _bright^_`, hot Sunday morning; I have closed the shutters of my smartly-frescoed apartment, & only a stray sunbeam rests on the cool scagliola floor. I wish this rapid scrawl to carry a breath of the Italian summer, & of sweet Vicenza, into your New England hills; (for I am taking for granted that by the time my note reaches you, your annual 224
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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1881
migration to Ashfield will have been accomplished.) I came back last evening to my inn with the intention of writing to you then & there; but being rather tired I lay down to rest first—& rested so well that it was near morning when I woke up. If I had written I should have told you that I had been sitting almost all the evening in the beautiful square of this good little city, in a flood of moonlight & amid a host of memories. (I remembered among other things my first visit to this place, in 1869, & was pleased to find that on the whole I have not quite lost my “sensibility”— though it is far from being as hysterically keen as it was at that time.) The great Palazzo della Ragione was silvered by the moon shine, the tremendously tall & slim campanile seemed to lose itself in the brightness of the night. On the big smooth slabs of the piazza the gentle Vicentini strolled & conversed, while I sat before a caffè talking with a very pleasant, loquacious officer, whose acquaintance I had made by accident, & who treated me to all the gossip of the place, as well as to many lamentations over the hardness of his _own^_` lot. (He is a captain of cavalry, & his salary is $400 a year.) Excuse me if I don’t remember when I last wrote to you, & if I have not your _own^_` last letter before me. (I don’t carry it about with me, but I have it safely at Venice.) I am tolerably sure, at any rate, that I haven’t written to you since I went to Venice on the 25th March—where (bating a short excursion to Rome) I have been ever since, & where I shall remain till July 1st. I came away yesterday morning for a two or three days visit to this place & to Padua—taking a[dvan]tage of a perverse high wind, whi[ch] [h]ad prevailed for a week & drawn _blown^_` much of the charm out of Venetian life. Of that life in general what shall I tell you? You know it for yourself—& if I am not mistaken you spent a number of wee[k]s there before leaving Italy. I remember getting ◇t _a^_` letter from Jane from the little p Pension Suisse—& I n[eve]r pass that establishment without thinking of her, & of Susan, & of the irrecoverable past. The s[imp]lest thing to tell you of Venice is that I adore 225
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it—have fallen deeply & desperately in love with it; in spite of their having just begun to run an infamous little vaporino on the Grand Canal. I had been there twice before, but each t[i]me only f[or] a f[ew] days. This t[ime] I have drunk deep, & the magic potion has entered into my blood. Tell Charles, whom I salute caramente, that I can tell him little good of St. Mark’s. I know nothing of t[he] necessities of what they are d[o]ing to the poor dear old beautiful b[ui]lding; but the effect produced is that of witnessing the forcible maquill[a]ge of one’s grandmother! In a word, if it be a necessity, it is an abo[minable] necessity, & the side of the church toward the Piazzetta, is a ^_`where^_` the maquillage is now complete, is a sight to make the angels howl. But as to this, basta così.—I have enjoyed extremely this year being away from London during the Spring. I receive every [now] & then, forwarded from B[ol]ton St, a memento of lost opportunities, chiefly in the shape of invit _invitations^_` to dinner a month ahead; but they do nothing whatever to turn my heart against Venice. The rest, [th]e leisure, the beauty, the sunsets, the pictures, are more than compensation. I go back to England however, direct, after July 1st, & it is probable that I go home in [Se]ptember. My sister has come out to spend the summer in England, & that may affect my plans a little, but I don’t think it will seriously alter them. I can’t tell, however, till I have seen [them]. _her.^_` In view of my return I won’t [bothe]r you with questio[ns] now; I will only give you blessings & greetings. Tell Charles I think a great deal of having some good talks with him. I hope he is well, & that his sum[m]er’s rest will make him better still. As for you, dear Grace, you know what I always hope for you. May it be with you now! I embrace all those big children—is Lily still abroad?—& I [r]emember that I haven’t yet had my breakfast & that I can’t ▬ live by letter-writing alone. Farewell—à bientôt. Ever most faithfully yours—H James jr 226
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[This letter was assigned two shelf list numbers. bMS Am 1094 (921) contains the letter’s opening to “visit to this” (225.26). The second part of the letter, from “place
& to Padua” (225.26) to the end, has the shelf list number bMS Am 1094 (973).] [The bracketed, italicized insertions are taken from an examination of Edel, who may have seen a less damaged manuscript.] 224.32 summer • [second m malformed] 225.24 , • [, overwrites .] 225.32 p Pension • [P overwrites p] 226.19 compensation • compensa- | tion; [m malformed] 226.24 [them] • [MS damaged] 226.27 sum[m]er’s • sum- | [m]er’s
225.1 Ashfield • See HJ to Grace Norton, 26 July 1880 (pp. 26–28, 29n28.5). 225.8 my first visit to this place, in 1869 • HJ’s first visit to Venice began in mid-September 1869 and lasted two weeks. See HJ to Sr., 17 September [1869], HJ to John La Farge, 21 September [1869], and HJ to WJ, 25, 26, [27] September [1869] (CLHJ, 1855–1872 2: 103–6, 108–10, 112–21). 226.3 twice before • Two weeks in September 1869 (see HJ to Sr., 17 September [1869], HJ to John La Farge, 21 September [1869], and HJ to W J, 25, 26, [27] September [1869]) and one week in early September 1872 (see CLHJ, 1855–1872 2: 103–6, 108–10, 112–21; and CLHJ, 1872–1876 1: 98, 102, 105). 226.6 caramente • affectionately. 226.6–7 little good of St. Mark’s • Complaints about the aggressive nature of the restoration, rather than simply conservation, to San Marco
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had been circulating for several years. John Ruskin complained of it in 1876, and Count Alvisi Piero Zorzi the next year (Jokilehto 199). 226.9 maquill[a]ge • [application of ] makeup. 226.13 basta così • that’s enough 226.30 Lily • Elizabeth “Lily” Gaskell Norton (b. 1866), the Nortons’ third child.
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KATHARINE DE KAY BRONSON 24 June [1881] TLC Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University Leon Edel Papers 5
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do June 24 will carry away among “charming memories and impressions” “that of your eminently comfortable hospitality and sympathy.” “You have helped me to enjoy, and rendered me a lasting service..... I shall certainly come back regularly.” Sends a farewell to Miss Chapman. No previous publication
228.7 will carry away among • [probably Edel’s paraphrasing] 228.11 Sends a farewell to Miss Chapman. • [probably Edel’s paraphrasing]
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HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 13 July [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1925 (942)-12
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3 Bolton St Piccadilly W. July 13th ———— Messrs Houghton Mifflin & Co. Dear Sirs. On my return from the continent last week _night^_`, I find your note of June 23d. I was on the point of writing to you with reference to the eventual issue of the Portrait. I am afraid you will be a little alarmed to learn that I have had to ask from Messrs. Macmillan 228
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1881
one additional month of their magazine, & I shall have therefore to beg the same favour of you. The story is to terminate in the November Macmillan, instead of the October, as first intended, & is to _will^_` have run therefore through 14 nos! The last three instalments, however, are to be considerably shorter than the others: September & October 20 pages, & November about 15. My story is so portentously long that I am very sorry to stretch it out further; but I have suffered myself to get overcrowded at the end. _I hope this change will not make you, or the Atlantic, too uncomfortable.^_` I do not think that as a book it will seem too long—that is, to be read with interest. It may be however impossible to put it into a single readable volume (let alone a handsome one,) & I should think it would be: but of this I must leave you judges, acting on your discretion. _The idea of a vol. of 7 or 8 hundred pages does alarm me.^_` I prefer that you shld. print the book from revised sheets of the Atlantic, which I will immediately send you. As the extension of the thing in Macmillan gives you more time, I don’t suppose you will inconvenienced by a slight delay. (The revisions are not numerous, but such as they are I shld. like them observed.) I must of course remind you that the book should not be issued in America before it is published here, as in that case I lose my English copyright. I am unable to say to-day just when it will appear in London, but I shall ascertain in a day or two, & will then let you know. But there is no probability that you will wish to be ready before my publishers here. I beg to thank you for your cheque on London for $250 in payment for the July portion of my story—which I have just received. And I also beg to inquire whether a cheque for June was sent me in the usual course—or whether it was by accident overlooked? No cheque for June has reached me. I shld. have written about it sooner, but I thought it had been perhaps been forgotten, & would be included in July. I now see there has been some accident & should like you to help me know 229
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where it has been. As you are very regular in your missives, I am afraid it has been on the way. Will you kindly let me know whether I thereby lose my cheque altogether, or whether there is any remedy? Don’t you sometimes send duplicates? I shld. be thankful to have my mind relieved on this point at your earliest convenience. I send to Mr. Aldrich to-day the copy of my serial for October. Believe me very truly yours H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 356–57
229.5 considerably • consid- | erably 229.14 must • [m malformed]
229.15 7 or 8 hundred pages • The first American edition of The Portrait of a Lady consisted of one volume containing 520 pages of text for the novel, exclusive of all other pages.
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THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 14 July [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1429 (2549)
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3 Bolton St. Piccadilly July 14th Dear Aldrich. I send you by this post another of those parcels which you so promptly & gracefully acknowledge. This is your October copy. And I send with it a confession, a petition, an entreaty: (touching which I have just written also to H., M. & Co.) I have had to ask Macmillan for one more month— a short instalment this time. Macmillan has nobly consented, & I hope 230
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you will not be less magnanimous. I have been working over the conclusion of my tale & it perforce spills over into 15 pages (or so) of the November Macmillan, (which makes your October ^_`December.)^_`) Meanwhile, the three last numbers will all be shorter than their predecessors, & you will therefore grudge me less perhaps my exorbitant demands of space. I hope this won’t inconveniece you quite too utterly, as they say here. The instalment I send you to day is, to begin with, of but 20 pages, & the two last will be somewhat shorter. Have courage, then, & remember that you will at last get (for the present,) altogether rid of me. I have _just^_` come back from Venice, fortunately for me; as from that relaxing clime I could never have written to you so offensively. Forgive me & believe me ever in haste yours H. James jr Previous publication: Horne 128–29
231.6 exorbitant • exor- | bitant 231.7 inconveniece • [misspelled] 231.8 instalment • [m malformed]
230.29–30 October copy • The October 1881 number of the Atlantic Monthly, vol. 48, contained chapters 47 through 49 of The Portrait of a
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Lady.
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3 Bolton St. W. July 18th Dearest mother. I have lately had two dear letters from you: one that I found on my arrival in England, on the 12th, the other (of July 2d,) which reached me since my return. My blessing for both. I have now been back here a week—but I have waited to write till I shld. have seen Alice, & should be able to speak to you of what you most w◇ _want^_` to hear. This is now the case, owing to my having returned but a couple of hours since from Richmond, where I have been spending a couple of days with her. On my arrival from the Continent I rec’d. notice from her that she was coming straight (in a day or two) to that place (Richmond,) & I that I was to wait till she shld. telegraph that she had reached it. This is she did in a day or two, & I immediately went down & spent that day with her. I returned on the next, which was a Friday, & on the Saturday I went down & remained till this, Monday, morning. So you see I have seen a good deal of her. You will be anxious of course to know how I find her. The simplest answer to this will be that she seemed to me rather weaker in body than I expected, but stronger in spirits, cheerfulness &c. She had, however, got very tired with her long journey from the North, & after a day or two the effect of this fatigue passed almost completely off. In animation, vivacity, gladness to see me, wi◇ wits, grace, gayety &c, she was delightful, & without a trace of depression or any of the influence of illness. The precious Miss Loring told me that my advent excited her, & stimulated her a good deal, but only in the sense of doing her good, & on my second visit (when 232
James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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she had got better of her fatigue,) she ^_`as well^_` as yesterday, Sunday, (Miss L. being absent for most of the day,) she talked without ceasing for many hours—always in the most charming & cheerful strain. Of course she had a great deal to tell me & I a great deal to ask. Miss L. says she will have a slight reaction from all this, but nothing serious, & that it has been a happy thing for her. It seems to be that her journey must as a whole be a happy thing. She has had no sudden exaltation of strength or energy—no miraculous change—such as she vaguely hoped; but she has had a great deal of quiet & gradual improvement, of which I am sure she will feel the effect in the end. Not having seen her ◇◇◇◇ ◇ _for six^_` years, I find her looking rather white & weak; but Miss L. tells me she looks greatly better than when she left home. The blessing that Miss Loring is to her it would be of course impossible to exaggerate. She is the most perfect companion she could have found, if she had picked over the whole human family, & your minds’ may be at rest as to things going on proportionately well with her. They were to move from the Star & Garter today, to Kew, for four days, & then they are going to Scotland. Of this I am very glad, for the heat in these parts has become very great (Thursday _Friday^_` last was 95°) & Scotland (excuse that dreadful blotting,) will be much cooler. I have, however, been struck with Alice bearing the heat much better than I expected. She appears to mind it much less than of old—not at all, in fact; though every one here is groaning & “taking on” about it. So much for the present. I am to go down to Kew to see them again two days hence, & am to meet them in London on the morrow, to put them in the train for Glasgow. After that I shall not probably not see them till they come back here to spend a fortnight—before sailing. I shall not pursue them to Scotland, both because I have a good deal to do besides, & because they seem much to prefer the liberty & irresponsibility of being by themselves.—As for myself, dear mammy, I am very glad to be in England again: it 233
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makes my visit to the U.S. (& to you & father,) seem so much nearer. The weeks will pass quickly, & before I know it I shall be sitting holding your hand—which you will be pulling away, in order to go & attend to some domestic duty. I shall probably not cross with Alice—for various reasons: chief among which is the impossibility of getting a berth on the City of Richmond, of Sept. 15th, the vessel by which they go. Alice doesn’t seem to desire it at all, & I believe that you will enjoy my return more after the flurry of her’s has somewhat passed away: i.e. ten days later.—Of course A. had an immense deal to tell me about Bob, & of your sad & most trying situation, in addition to the information your letters have given me. I am afraid you & father must be in a kind of purgatory—& it is very painful to think of your being so overburdened & tormented. I hope that before this, however, you will have found some respite somehow—whether by Bobs going away with Wm, or in some other ◇◇ manner. I wish I were with you, to take my share of the weight. Perhaps I can, even here, to some little extent; & I shall write to father about this tomorrow. I am afraid you have had—perhaps still are having, some terrific heat: for which I pity you unspeakably. I only hope you have not had Bob, as inflammable material, in the midst of it. Here it is _has been^_` very hot indeed—& it still lasts; but the weather is brilliantly fine. I rather like it than otherwise, &, as I say, Alice appears to bear it perfectly—though they had a very hot sitting=room at Richmond. I have not 1⁄2 expressed to you the interest & pleasure it has been to see her, how full of delightful talk she has been nor how much we have conversed about our sweet parents. Much love to father, & many hopes that your summer will not be too hard on you. Ever your fondest H. James jr ———— 234
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1881 No previous publication
232.10 England • Eng- | land 232.19 I that • [t overwrites I] 232.20 • [blotted out] 232.30 wi◇ wits • [ts overwrites illegible letter] 233.17 minds’ • [blotted out] 233.28 meet them • [m malformed] 233.32 prefer • pre- | fer 234.13 purgatory • purg- | atory 234.14 tormented • tor- | mented 234.17 ◇◇ manner • [ma overwrites illegible letters] 234.25 sitting=room • sitting= | room 234.29–33 to father [. . .] H. James jr ———— • [written across the letter’s first page] 234.29 summer • [second m malformed]
233.19 Star & Garter today, to Kew • AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring moved from the Star and Garter hotel in Richmond to Kew, a London suburb, but their lodging in Kew at the home of Loring’s aunt and uncle was unsuitable. See James, Complete Notebooks 223; HJ to Sr., 31 July [1881] (pp. 239–42).
FRANCIS PARKMAN 18 July [1881]
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ALS Massachusetts Historical Society Parkman Collection
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REFORM CLUB, PALL MALL.S.W. July 18th p.m ———— Dear Parkman. Are you to be in London some little time? If so I will put you down again at this place? I send you this inquiry by post, 235
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because it will be difficult to find you at home. I have, ever since my return, on the 12th, been (save for a few hours) out of town with my sister. Even if you are to be here very briefly I shall be very glad to see that you come here. Ever yours H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 357–58
236.2 ) • [) overwrites ,]
KATHARINE DE KAY BRONSON 15
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3 Bolton St. Piccadilly W. July 19th Dear Mrs. Bronson. I have been back in England a week, but until today it has been too hot even to write a letter. We have been gasping, panting, grilling; London society has been an immense fritto misto, à la Venitienne. A little rain last night has cooled us off a little; but it was very scanty and more is greatly needed. The country is parched and blighted with the drought; I have always heard of a green England and never expected to see a yellow one. I must not write to you about the weather, however, as if I had just been introduced to you at an evening party. My mind reverts, with a delicious pain, as the poets say, to Venice, and it serenades you every night beneath that balcony from which you waved me your last most friendly farewell. I am afraid you too have been en nage, without going to the Lido, but I 236
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hope the breezes of the Adriatic have not entirely failed you. I can’t tell you with what affection I think of Venice, and how at this distance my whole stay there takes on the semblance of a beautiful dream. Happy you, to spend your life in such a dream. Fortunately, however, I dream of going back as well as of having been there. To you I shall certainly go back as often as possible; and I chuckle over this thought a dozen times a day. Leaving Italy is always a heartbreak, but this time I bled more profusely than ever. If Italy looks lovely to you from the Grand Canal, you may fancy how it looks to me from Piccadilly. Do give me a little dear Venetian gossip: Has every one gone, and are you quite alone—with the Princess of Montenegro? How are the amiable duke and duchess? and your other sympathetic habitués? I am afraid your Thursdays are over—but will recommence de plus belle in September. How I regret to-day all those that I missed! The next time I won’t miss any. How do these Curtises find their palatial experiment? Please to give them my friendliest remembrance. Is Miss Edith with you, or has she fled to Alpine snows? My blessings on her in either case. And the excellent Avignone—tell him I salute him affectionately. And the little yellow dogs and the big brown gondoliers, and the stately balcony with its crimson cushions—I include them all in my embrace. I include even Miss Chapman if she will permit it—or rather, offer her, so to speak, another, à part, for herself. I kiss your hands, dear Mrs. Bronson, and remain ever gratefully and faithfully yours H. James jr.
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Previously published: HJL 2: 258–59
237.8 heartbreak • heart- | break 237.27 James • [copy-text reads JAMES; probably Edel’s formatting]
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236.24–25 fritto misto, à la Venitienne • Venetian mixed fritter, a common seafood dish. 236.34 en nage • completely drenched (with perspiration). 237.14–15 de plus belle • once again. 237.24 à part • separately.
GRACE NORTON 10
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My dear Grace. Your note from Ashfield greeted me here a few days since, on my return from the continent. It interests & touches me deeply; it also puzzles me a little, because it leaves me _a good deal^_` in the dark. I am glad you wrote it, however—very glad; & would rather grope in thick dusk than not hear from you at all. Besides, the dusk is partly illumined; I even think I almost guess what it is you have been thinking off. ^_`of.^_` But that is my wisdom—& not your definiteness! Whatever you have in mind— what ever you do or don’t do—I needn’t assure ◇ you that you have my deepest sympathy. I am only sorry that your decision should cost you anxiety & pain, as I gather from your note that it does.—Perhaps that by the time this reaches you, it will have been made—& you may believe that I pray it shall bring you happiness.—Yes, there is every appearance that I shall see you before many weeks. My passage is taken for Sept. 24th; Heaven speed the day! My sister is here, slowly travelling, but the date of her return seems uncertain, & I go independently of her. She appears much the better for her journey—but I find in her the 238
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marks of five or six years, (since we _last^_` met,) of ill-health. She is, however, wonderfully bright & interested.—I return to find England more Italian than Italy: ferociously & intolerably hot. When the thermometer is in the 90’s, the damp heaviness of the English air is a terrible burden to the flesh. But you too have been melting—poverini! My love to Charles, & to yourself every assurance you can desire. Ever faithfully—H. James jr
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238.17 Ashfield • Ash- | field 238.20 however • how- | ever 238.21 dusk • [u malformed] 238.25 ◇ you • [y overwrites illegible letter] 238.27 , • [, overwrites .] 238.33 uncertain • uncer- | tain
238.24 Whatever you have in mind • HJ is referring to Grace Norton’s decision to leave Shady Hill and establish her own residence in Cambridge. 239.6 poverini • miserable people.
HENRY JAMES SR. 31 July [1881]
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MENTMORE, LEIGHTON BUZZARD.
July 31st Sunday. ———— Dear Father. I wrote to _you^_` some ten days ago, (as well as I can remember,) & I may as well mention that I sent you some 239
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money—for a purpose that I explained—which I hope reached you safely, I then gave you my impressions—first impressions— of Alice & her condition, which I suppose is the subject which most interests you now. Since then I have of course seen a good deal more of her, & though I know Miss Loring constantly writes to her _you,^_`, you will be glad to hear from me again. You will probably already have heard that for a week past she has not been so well. I don’t suppose, however, that this will surprise you, as you must have expected that she would not escape o◇ an occasional break-down. This last one has not been serious, & I don’t think has broken down her spirits at _all—^_`— on the contrary: but it has compelled her to lie by for a while, & has had the good effect of making her postpone—probably indefinitely—her visit to Scotland. The length of the journey there & the tourist-ridden nature of the country would have been dangers for her: she would have got less quiet (at the Scot◇ Scotch inns &c) & more fatigue than ought to enter into her programme. She went in an evil hour to stay in small quarters at Kew to enable Miss L. to spend three days with her Aunt & uncle, who were _are^_` living there (in the same house.) On her arrival she was taken ill, & had then to remain until she was well enough to depart—which I am happy to say she did on Friday last, & has now gone to Sevenoaks, where there is a very good hotel, in a charming country. Her accommodations at Kew were so unsuitable & uncomfortable (the Grays are very primitive,) as to prevent her getting better as quickly as she otherwise would; but it was an accident, & there is no danger of its being repeated. When I say she is not discouraged I mean that she appears to think her attack (she had one also at Ambleside,) is a positive indication of her nervous tendencies working themselves off. She has much less general nervousness than at home, & believes that these last troubles are, to a considerable extent, the expiring kicks of the malady. I sincerely hope so. Meanwhile her spirits seem very good—and Miss Loring’s devotion has been what 240
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you may imagine. She is certainly worth her weight in gold to Alice. During the last week I have not been able to see her much, or rather she to see me; but I have paid her several short visits, which have always seemed to refresh her. I go down to Sevenoaks to- see her ^_`morrow,^_` & shld. have done so yesterday had it not seemed better that she should ▬ been l _be left perfectly,^_` quiet for a couple of days, after the fatigue of her transplantation from Kew. Instead, therefore, I have come here to spend my Sunday, which is a wet & windy one—with, in fact, quite a hurricane blowing. My hosts are the Roseberys, who are always very friendly & hospitable (I have carte blanche in the matter of coming here—which, as you may imagine, I use discreetly enough.) There are _a^_` good many other people in the house—chiefly men: Lords Dalhousie & Durham, Bernal Osborne, old Scotch Dr. Donaldson, &c, &c. And only two ladies, _one of whom,^_` however, is the extremely beautiful Lady Dalhousie. Mentmore itself is as splendid as ever, & my own room, in which I sit writing this, looks as if it had been arranged for a crown=prince. Our hot weather has passed away completely—& I trust that yours has done the same. Here it is not likely that it will return; the danger is rather that we shall pay for it in the shape of a cold & wet August. I hope for the best however. Meanwhile, as I said just now, I think it well that Alice should have been prevented from going to Scotland. There is plenty of entertainment for her in these parts, with less fatigue, & more certainty, from point to point, of finding the quiet & comfort that she desires. The swarm of travellers that infest Scotland after the 1st August, is in itself a good reason why she shouldn’t go there. It would be her Whitsuntide experience over again, & made chronic. There is no reason at all why you should be anxious or depressed about her: I am sure that in spite of interruptions her journey is doing her good; & Miss L. tells me that her general condition is much better than at home. What a blessing is this same Miss L.!—I ought to have said before that 241
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I received a few days since a letter from my excellent mother, of which I have forgotten the date. It was in answer to the one I had written from Lucerne. I am very glad to hear that Bob appears more quiet, & I devoutly hope he leaves you so. Also that William & his belongings are well & contented. I trust you & mother are getting some genuine rest. I have no plans for the rest of the summer; but shall hover about, so she _as never^_` to be far from Alice, & to be with her as often as may be.— I only wish she were able to profit socially & humanly a little more by being here. She made (as they will have written you,) a momentary appearance in London, which was a great success; & if it were only in her power to see people more, I know that (in this country of dull women!) her success would be brilliant. Farewell, dear parents; I embrace you tenderly & will write again at the end of another week. Don’t be uneasy, but believe me when I say that in the long run Alice will do very well. Ever your affectionate H. James jr No previous publication
240.10 o◇ an • [a overwrites o and illegible letter] 240.12 compelled • com- | pelled 240.13 postpone • post- | pone 240.16–17 Scot◇ Scotch • [second c overwrites illegible letter; o inserted] 240.24 accommodations • accom- | modations 240.27 accident • acci- | dent 240.32 considerable • con- | siderable
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241.5 to- see her ^_`morrow,^_` • to- | see her morrow, ; [- inserted; morrow, written above see her] 241.6–7 l [. . .] quiet • [q overwrites l] 241.10 Roseberys • Rose- | berys 241.23 Meanwhile • [w malformed] 241.25 entertainment • [third n malformed]
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240.19–20 Aunt & uncle • Asa Gray (1810–88), Harvard botanist, and his wife, Jane Loring Gray (1821–1909), Katharine Peabody Loring’s uncle and aunt. 240.23 Sevenoaks • In western Kent, approximately twenty miles southeast of London, Sevenoaks was a “prettily situated town” and “a good centre for many [. . .] pleasant walks” (Baedeker, Great Britain 20). 241.14 Durham • John George Lambton (1855–1928), 3rd Earl of Durham. 241.14–15 Bernal Osborne • Ralph Bernal Osborne (1808–82), Liberal politician. 241.15 Dr. Donaldson • Sir James Donaldson (1831–1915), scholar, professor, and theological historian.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 3 August [1881]
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3 Bolton St. W. Aug. 3d
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Dear Sir. I have just received with thanks the missing draft for June (for my serial in the Atlantic,) enclosed in your letter of July 21st. I agree with you as to the stupidity of the London P.O.³ (Bolton Row is within a stone’s throw of the house in which I have been living, & receiving letters, for five years), & remain very truly yours H. James jr Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Co. 243
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243.29–30 ³ ( • [( overwrites —]
ALICE HOWE GIBBENS JAMES 6 August [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1610) 10
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2, ELM TREE ROAD, ST JOHN’S WOOD.
Holme Lodge, Walton-on Thames ———— Aug. 6th. Dear Alice. I received about a fortnight ago a co-operative note from William & you. He had supplied the sentiments, & you the pemanship; so it seems to me that to you this effort of my own pen should be addressed. I should have answered you before, but since my return from the continent I have had an accumulation of duties of every kind which has made me postpone familiar letters. I have been occupied for instance a good deal in seeing Alice, who has been in the country near London, & with whom I have, naturally had much conversation. She is doing very well in spite of _one or two^_` drawbacks, & seems to be both enjoying her life here and gaining strength from it. It is of course very quiet, but she and Miss Loring do whatever they like & see a good deal of the picturesque. I am sorry she doesn’t see more people; but that, for the present, seems impossible. She will at any rate, I think, go home much refreshed & encouraged. I am glad to find myself in England again, after a four month’s absence, especially as we are having a remarkably beautiful summer. It is what we call in America a “real” summer—so real that the poor Britons don’t n know what to make of it & suffer 244
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anguish from the visibility of the sun. The heat, indeed, during much of July was intense; but now the heavens only smile, without scorching. I am spending a couple of days about 15 miles from London, in a little cottage occupied for the summer by Fred. Macmillan & his pretty little American wife, whom William encountered here. It is very rustic and bowery, very quiet and very “restful”—close to the river, near Hampton Court &c. Tell William I thank him kindly for his remarks on my novel—especially on the character of the depraved ◇ Osmond. I am afraid it won’t be in my power, however, to change him much at this late day. As however he was more intended than Wm appears to have perceived, to be disagreeable & disappointing, it may be that the later numbers of the story have already justified my first portrait of him. I think on the whole he will be pronounced good—i.e. horrid.—I hear from mother that you are enjoying life and leisure in the Adirondacks & that the infant Harry is in danger from the Cows. Remember that I haven’t seen him yet, & rescue him at any price: I will make it up to you. I hope your rustication is doing you all good, & that when I come home I shall find you fat and brown & lusty. I am beginning to feel the nearness of that event, & to anticipate both social & vegetable delights. The breeze from the lawn is fluttering my paper, & the big lawn-tennis net (, which occupies half the small garden) is shaking amain. I have promised myself to write two other letters before lunch, so I send you all my blessing & remain ever affectionately yours H. James jr
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Previous publication: Horne 129–30; Gunter 23–24
244.17 sentiments • senti- | ments 244.18 pemanship • peman- | ship; [misspelled] 244.25 drawbacks • draw- | backs 244.32 especially • es- | pecially
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 244.33 summer • sum- | mer 244.34 n know • [k overwrites n] 245.6 encountered • encoun- | tered 245.8 William • [m malformed] 245.9–10 ◇ Osmond • [Os overwrites illegible letter] 245.19 , • [, overwrites .]
245.5 American wife • Georgiana Warrin Macmillan (1846–1943) was born in New York and married Frederick Macmillan in 1874.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 8 August [1881] ALS Houghton 15
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bMS Am 1429 (2546)
3 Bolton St. W. Aug. 8th Dear Aldrich. I send you by this post the copy for the November part of my little fable. I have already written to you with much relation _intention^_` of humility, with regard to this there being still one more instalment, & I hope you have by this time forgiven me. This one is only 20 pages. I no longer excite your animosity by being & in Venice, & indeed, on this midsummer day, in stuffy, dusty, empty London, deserve all your sympathy. Counting on it firmly I remain Yours ever truly H James jr No previous publication
246.20 this there • [ere overwrites is] 246.23 & in • [i overwrites &]
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246.19–20 November part of my little fable • The November 1881 issue of the Atlantic Monthly contained chapters 50–52 of The Portrait of a Lady.
JAMES BRYCE 8 August [1881] ALS Bodleian Library Oxford MSS Bryce 85, f. 18–19
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3 Bolton St. W. Aug. 8th ———— My dear Bryce. I am very happy to hear that you are going to cross the water—especially as I myself have the same design. I go, however, to spend the winter, & shall not sail for a month later than you. I don’t gather from your note how long you remain, but hope it will be so long as to enable me to find you there when I arrive: which seems to me probable, as you will hardly go for a shorter stay than that. I shall be for the first three or four weeks at my father’s house at Cambridge (near Boston,) & as you will certainly visit that scholastic scene, I count upon seeing you there; when I will render you gladly every social service in my power. But before that, at Newport, do go and see a most hospitable old kinswoman of mine, to whom I enclose you a letter _word^_` of introduction. She and her husband are _a^_` very kind and genial elderly _childless^_` couple, with a very pleasant house at Newport, & quite the people to help you to enjoy the place. At Cambridge, if I shouldn’t be there when you reach it, do also go & see my father, who is a delightful old fellow. I don’t give you a note to him, simply because it is perfectly needless, as he knows all about you & the kindness you have shown me; and as I will write to him moreover that you will probably turn up.—I hope you will enjoy your journey & 247
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find the great confort ^_`country^_` improved. It makes me, I confess, breathe a little more freely, to know you are to take a substantial holiday. Yours very faithfully H James jr No previous publication
247.18 as • [inserted] 247.33 moreover • more- | over
247.6 JAMES BRYCE • James Bryce (1838–1922) was a British legal historian and the author of The American Commonwealth. He served as chief secretary for Ireland (1905–6) and ambassador to America (1907–13); he was made 1st Viscount Bryce in 1913. 247.21 my father’s house • 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 247.25 hospitable old kinswoman • Mary Temple Tweedy (d. 1891) was the paternal aunt of HJ’s cousins, the Temples. Her brother, Robert Emmett Temple, married Sr.’s sister Catharine. When Robert and Catharine Temple died in 1854, Mary and her husband, Edmund Tweedy (1812–1901), took in the six orphaned children. Their own three children had died of diphtheria in the 1850s. 247.28 house at Newport • 139 Bellevue Court, Newport, Rhode
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Island.
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HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 9 August [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1925 (942)-14
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3 Bolton St. W. Aug. 9th Dear Sirs. I just receive your note of July 26th. I am told by the Messrs. Macmillan that Mr. Houghton did make the arrangement to which you allude, & by which you are to have a set of plates _of the P. of a Lady^_` as soon as they are finished—plates of the cheap (6/) edition of the book, which are being made simultaneously with those of the 3 volume issue. I need therefore send you no more of the revised copy, as it will be sufficient to have supplied it to Mrs Messrs Macmillan. Mr. Houghton will of course _have^_` immediately let you know that the matter has been settled. I enclose you a specimen of the page; there being, I believe some 640 like that. I am assured _that^_` if not too thick paper be used, it will not make too bulky a book; & the page doesn’t seem to me a bad one. With regard to running together the last numbers of my story, in the Atlantic, I am afraid it is now too late to attempt that: especially as the instalments have (as usual) somewhat exceeded my first estimate. I should have been glad to send you the advance sheets faster, but have always had difficulty in getting them fast enough from the printer here. I have just sent Mr. Aldrich his November number, & am waiting for the December. The book (3 vols.) is to appear here during the 1st week in D November. Yours very truly H. James jr Messrs Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ———— 249
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249.16 Mrs Messrs • [es overwrites rs]
249.11 the arrangement to which you allude • According to Supino (146), and prior to the typesetting of the three-volume Macmillan editon of Portrait, Macmillan’s printer, R. Clay & Sons & Taylor, produced two sets of plates for a one-volume edition of the novel. Macmillan used one set to publish its one-volume edition in the U.K., and Houghton, Mifflin and Company used the other to print its edition in the United States.
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3 Bolton St W. Aug. 16th 1881 ———— Dear Sirs. I beg to acknowledge with thanks your draft on London for the equivalent of 250 $, in payment for my contribution to the August Atlantic. Yours very truly H. James jr Messrs Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
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GRACE NORTON 18 August [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (923)
MIDELNEY PLACE, CURRY RIVEL, TAUNTON. Aug. 18th My dear Grace. Only a word to thank you for your letter, & to assure you that (I think) I understand everything. Your news was what I had guessed—what indeed I had for a good while expected. Yes; I understand (I think!) your decision, your necessity, & your difficulties & obstructions. But the necessity was essential, the obstructions are superficial; & if my deep sympathy with you is not obstructive, I claim that it is not superficial, either. To save—or to try & save, something out of life—that we must all do some day—the day when we feel most strongly how much of it has already been lost. That attempt is sacred—it is allimportant, & I congratulate you more tenderly than I can say on making it at last. May all nature smile upon it! I certainly shall, in person, when I see you again.—I am down in the depths of Somersetshire, listening to a hurricane of rain, in a quiet halfAmerican house. I will tell you upon _about^_` it on one of our Winter-evenings. Meanwhile take everything easy, & believe me your fedelissimo H. James jr No previous publication
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251.13 obstructions • obstruc- | tions 251.14 obstructions • obstruc- | tions 251.16 something • some- | thing 251.18–19 all- | important • all-important 251.22 , • [, overwrites .] 251.22–23 half- | American • half-American
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251.10 Your news • Grace Norton left the family home, Shady Hill, for her own house close by. Her brother, Charles, wrote that Grace left Shady Hill due to “painful associations with the old home, and she fancies she will be happier in a new one” (qtd. in Turner 291). 251.22–23 half-American house • HJ was visiting Edwin Brooke Cely Trevilian and his American wife, Kate Sedley Fearing Carter. Of this visit James recalled, “It kept me a-dreaming all the while I was there. It seemed to me very old England; there was a particularly mellow and ancient feeling in it all” (Complete Notebooks 224).
HENRIETTA REUBELL 18 August [1881] 15
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MIDELNEY PLACE, CURRY RIVEL, TAUNTON.
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Aug. 18th My dear Miss Reubell. Your friendly note of a fortnight ago was a slight compensation for the brevity of my interview with you in London. It assures assured me too that you hadn’t forgotten me by the time you arrived at Dover, which I thought just possible. I am delighted to know that your felt some kind regrets for England, & even wished yourself back here; for that is a kind _sort^_` of pledge that you will again, before long, revisit these hospitable shores. When you do, may I be able to see you otherwise than au pied levé! & meet you elsewhere than at Charing X. station.—This will find you I suppose at St. Moritz, looking down on lovely Italy & preparing to depend _descend^_` upon it. I don’t envy you the Engadine—but I do the Maolya (Maloya!) & the sense of having Verona & Venice in your pocket. Scatter kisses for me through both those cities: they will be like 252
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bread upon the waters: they will come back to you. Embrace Mrs. Bronson, & the good Avignone, & the waiters at Florian’s, & the Europa ◇ in the Paul Veronese, & the handsome old beggar at the water-gate of the Ducal Palace; & believe me your devotissimo H. James jr
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252.29 au pied levé! • at a moment’s notice. 252.34–253.1 like bread upon the waters: they will come back to you. • HJ refers to Ecclesiastes 11:1, “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days” (KJV).
MARY WALSH JAMES
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25 August [1881] ALS Houghton
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bMS Am 1094 (1919)
3 Bolton St. W. August 25th ———— Dearest Mother. I have two letters from you, & one from father to acknowledge. The 2d of yours (Aug. 11th) I found last evening on my return from a week’s visit in Somersetshire to my friends’ the Trevilians (Mrs. Caretr _Carter^_` & her husband.) Your first, & of father’s, of August 1st & 2d, came to me while I was at Midelney (Mrs. T.’s place.) I thank you & father for all of 253
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them—as well as for two others (of Alice’s)—one from each of you—which A. has let me read since my return here.—I found her established her _in London,^_` round the corner (10 Clarges St.,) wonderfully better than when I had seen her last, & better, I suspect, than she has been for many months. She shows it in her appearance, & in everything. She seems to like London extremely, to find it agrees with her beautifully, & to be able to occupy herself here in in a number of interesting & entertaining ways. I hope therefore she will remain some time, which is probable, as the summer is quite over—has been over these three weeks—& the climate & temperature are daily more & more the reverse of oppressive. They are by no means enough so, for it is dismally cold & wet. We have had the most extraordinary & unfortunate summer. All July was magnificently hot & dry, & produced a promise of such a harvest as had not been seen for _20^_` years. But August has changed everything—it has rained unceasingly, it is as cold as October, it grows worse every day, the crops are ruined &c. I pity the British farmer heartily.— Alice & Miss Loring will, between them, have told you all their own news, which, I trust, will seem to you as good as you can possibly desire. I have not much of my own. I am paying a few visits here & there, & am thinking of going to Scotland for a short time, about a week hence. Alice & Miss L. are very independent of me—& A. indeed seems so extraordinarily fond of Miss L. that a third person is rather a superfluous appendage. Tell f Father I found at Midelney (staying with Mrs. Trevilian,) a delightful old Yankee=woman, a certain Miss Adeline Brown, of Providence, who told me that she had once “corresponded for six weeks with him.” She is very deaf, but most racy & charming; I don’t know whether, among his numerous correspondents, father remembers her.—I am very happy to hear that Bob is better rather than worse—& wish you might have thought well of letting him get the good of the money _draft^_` I sent, quite independently of the what you are able to do for him 254
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yourselves.—I have just got a short note from Wm (chiefly, as usual, to my disappointment, taken up with the description of certain books he wishes me to get,) but in which he does not complain of his residence this summer—saying on the contrary he thinks of remaining there through September. Alice gave me to read a very pretty letter to read, _from Aunt Kate,^_` describing Aunt Emily’s funeral &c.—She told me last night the date (middle of September,) for which they have taken passages home; but I forget the exact date. I am not attempting to go with them, as it will not be possible, & scarcely even desirable. I have still my berth for the 24th Sept; but as I see difficulties in the way of getting off so early as that, I have taken another in the Parisian, for Quebec, for the 14th October. I incline now to believe that of the two, this is the ship I shall take (I can easily get rid of my Cunard berth;) & I do not believe that the delay will disappoint you, for you will probably be very glad to have Alice’s arrival over before mine begins. You must not, however, fear that I am “edging out” of my own departure, for it is absolutely certain (as certainties go,) that I shall sail not later than Oct. 14th. If I do go on that day, I shall not at all mind the journey from Quebec to Boston, but rather enjoy it—as I am going home to “see America.” —I have not been surprised by Grace Norton’s plans, poor woman, for she wrote me about them some time ago, & again very lately (a week or ten days since.) They seem to me not only right, but necessary, for I believe she would either have died or gone mad if she had not◇ _not^_` thus attempted to achieve a certain independence. I am sorry that Charles suffers by the change, but I can’t blame Grace. Love to father, dearest mother, from yours ever devotedly H. James jr No previous publication
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The Complete Letters of Henry James 253.30 acknowledge • acknowl- | edge 253.33 of father’s • [f overwrites of ] 253.33 came • [m malformed] 254.9 therefore • there- | fore 254.15 produced • pro- | duced 254.25 superfluous • super- | fluous 254.26 f Father • [F overwrites f ] 255.14 believe • be- | lieve
253.32 Trevilians • Kate Sedley Fearing Carter and Edward Trevilian.
FRANCES POWER COBBE 28 August [1881] 15
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Aug. 28th 3 Bolton St Piccadilly W. Dear Miss Cobbe. Your very kind note of April last (as I infer—it has no _monthly^_` date) has just been returned to me by the Italian post-office, after many apparent vicissitudes & trans-migrations. You had addressed it to Queen Anne’s Mansions (under the impression of that I was ◇◇ living there)—& it was thence forwarded by I know not what mysterious agency to Venice, where I spent the months from March to July. In Venice it never reached me—& now after these many weeks—an equally undiscoverable hand has directed it to my permanent London address. It presents the appearance of having had strange adventures—& indeed it was in its great kindness worthy to survive them all. I am very glad not to have lost it c altogether, & I thank you—so many days after the fair—for your gracious invitation, which had I been in London, I shld. have been so 256
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very happy to accept—as well as for your expression of interest in my little book on Hawthorne. After this, when you cast your bread upon the waters, don’t despair.—I saw Mrs. Kemble in Switzerland on my way back from Italy, & found her in great contentment with her mountains. I had never seen her before in that company—she greatly shines in it. Believe me, with kind remembrances to Miss Lloyd, very truly yrs. H. James jr
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256.13 FRANCES POWER COBBE • A suffragist and animal rights activist, Cobbe (1822–1904) was born in Ireland and established herself in London’s progressive intellectual circle in the 1860s. 257.2–3 you cast your bread upon the waters. • Ecclesiastes 11:1: “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days” (KJV). 257.7 Miss Lloyd • Sculptor and activist Mary Lloyd (1819–96), Cobbe’s longtime companion.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH
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bMS Am 1429 (2550)
3 Bolton St. Piccadilly. Aug. 31st My dear Aldrich. You will be glad to get the last of me, in the final pages of _my^_` too, too solid serial, which I send you by this post. It is 257
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a leetle longer—that is this last instalment is—than I promised. But it is by several pages shorter than its predecessors. How extremely entertaining are the 2 nos. already published of Howells’s new story. The interview between the he-& shedoctors admirable! Ever yours H. James jr Previous publication: Horne 131
257.34 , • [, overwrites .] 258.4–5 she- | doctors • she-doctors
257.34 too, too solid serial • The last installment of The Portrait of a Lady in the Atlantic Monthly was published in the December issue (48 [1881]) and included chapters 53–55. HJ’s “too, too solid” alludes to Hamlet’s speech in act 1, scene 2: O that this too too sallied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ’gainst [self-]slaughter! O God, God, How [weary], stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! (lines 129–34) 258.4 Howells’s new story • Dr. Breen’s Practice. 258.4–5 he-& she-doctors • Dr. Grace Breen and Dr. Rufus Mulbridge discuss Mrs. Maynard’s illness in chapter 5 of the September number of the Atlantic Monthly. The scene stages confrontations of old and new, male
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and female, and conventional medicine and homeopathy.
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FREDERICK MACMILLAN 31 August [1881] ALS British Library Add. MS 54931, f. 82–83
REFORM CLUB PALL MALLSW
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(3 Bolton St W.) Aug. 31st ———— Dear Macmillan. I should have sent you before (though probably the printer has not yet needed them) the remainder of all the revised copy that I have for the plates of my book. As I don’t know who is making them will you kindly forward these sheets, which I send by this post.— And will you, speaking with the voice of authority, do me these favours? 1° Direct that Mrs. Clay & Taylor send me the advance sheets of the October Macmillan, that I may revise that portion of my tale & let the printers have it without delay. 2° Direct the same firm to send me as soon as possible the proof of the concluding (November) instalment of the serial, that I may also immediately put it into the hands of the platemakers. If left to themselves C. & T. may not send me proof for some little time. I leave town fo from one day to another, but everything is forwarded from Bolton St.—I hope you keep a good fire at Walton? Yours ever H. James jr Previous publication: Moore 63
259.25 fo from • [r overwrites o]
259.13 plates of my book • Macmillan was supervising the production
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The Complete Letters of Henry James of two sets of plates being made for the one-volume British (Macmillan) and American (Houghton, Mifflin and Company) editions of The Portrait of a Lady. 259.18 Mrs. • abbreviation for “messieurs.”
HENRY JAMES SR. AND MARY WALSH JAMES 9 September [1881] ALS Houghton 10
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TILLYPRONIE, ABERDEEN.
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Friday Sept. 9th Dearest parents. I forget how long it is exactly since I last wrote you, but I must send you another greeting from Scotland. I think that since my last letter (which I now remember must have been from Somersetshire,) you will have heard of me either through Alice & her companion (.I now remember—more to the point— that I wrote you after my return to London, when I had found Alice established there & doing so well.) I remained there with her for eleven days, & then came on Monday last up here, to pay two or three visits. They had no desire that I should be with them more, & I suppose, will soon be talk _taking^_` to the country again. You will have heard that they moved into my house, & through what displeasing cause. But the move was a happy one, as they are more comfortable under my roof than in the untidy establishment to which the Morses (I believe) had guided their steps. Alice continued very bright & well up to the time of my coming away, & I imagine that she considers her stay in London, which she appeared to like more & more, the best & happiest part of her journey. She received an urgent invitation to come up here, & I wish she might have done so, though it was of course it was out of the question. But the warmth of 260
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the welcome, the perfection of the comfort, the beauty of the misty mountains & purple moors with which the house is surrounded, & the splendid salubrity of the air,—all make me feel how many excellent & delightful things she is condemned to miss. I came almost directly here from London, spending a day in Edinburgh, & my purpose is after a short stay here, to pay two more visits—one at Cortachy Castle (Lady Airlie’s;) the other at Dalmeny (Lord Rosebery’s.) I had taken for granted that I should go to Liverpool, to see Alice off, on the 20th; but I find that she & Miss L. are much opposed to this, & hold that they are attended to in perfection by Sherlock, & that I shall be a 5th wheel to their coach. I shall therefore probably (unless I hear from them that they have changed their mind,) not hurry away from Scotland in order to meet them at Liverpool. I shall do so however if my stay here comes to its natural end by that time. The Clarks are as genial as ever, Scotland is as beautiful, & Tillypronie as well-cushined. Sir Bartle Frere was just leaving as I arrived—to my regret, as I believe he is very agreeable. But there are other people here & expected. I hope, dear parents, you are having a happy September, & I imagine you eagerly waiting for the end of it. After that you will wait for the end of October, as I have begun to do already. Farewell, from your fondest H. James jr No previous publication
260.30 time • [m malformed] 261.17 cushined • [misspelled]
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260.17–18 last letter [. . .] from Somersetshire • HJ’s most recent extant letter to his parents is to Sr., 31 July [1881] (pp. 239–42). No letters to HJ’s parents written during his recent visit to Midelney Place, Somersetshire, are known. 260.28 Morses • The family of Samuel Torrey Morse (1816–90) and
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HELEN LEAH REED 10
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Sept. 10th Dear Madam. I received your flattering note of the 18th August a few days since, just as I was taking the train for Scotland. I have since then been constantly travelling, & am able now for the first time only to answer it. Your invitation does me great honour, but I am afraid that my present situation makes it quite impossible for me to repl◇ send you anything for your little volume. I have nothing ready, & even if I had, it would be buried in my papers, somewhere, in London, & I should not be able to get at it in time to send it to you. If I might have heard from you a little sooner I shou give myself the benefit of thinking that I probably would have tried to write something. But now it is too late—since you say that your book shld. be in the printers’ hands by the 20th. I am in the heart of a Scotch wilderness, among misty mountains & purple moors, & ever so far from a post-office. Even putting my powers of improvization at the highest (& they are very low) my little packet would be a day—or many days—after the market. I must therefore thank you very kindly, both for your suggestion & for your expression of interest in my productions, 262
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& beg you to believe me, with many sincere regrets, & many good wishes for your excellent enterprise Very truly yours Henry James jr Miss Helen L. Reed 782 Main St. Cambridge. Mass. No previous publication
262.17 few • [w malformed] 262.22 anything • any- | thing 262.26 myself • my- | self 262.31 improvization • [n malformed]
262.9 HELEN LEAH REED • Helen Leah Reed (c. 1860–1926) was a Cambridge-based writer who wrote a series of novels set in the Boston area. In 1881 she published The City and the Sea, a collection of poems and short stories written by various authors, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The proceeds from this collection were used to fund the
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building of a hospital in Cambridge.
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HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 16 September [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1925 (942), folder 2, letter 16 5
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TILLYPRONIE, ABERDEEN. 3 Bolton St. Piccadilly Spt. 16th ———— Dear Sirs. I beg to acknowledge with thanks your draft on London for $250 in payment for the portion of my serial in September Atlantic. Yours very truly H. James jr Messrs: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. No previous publication
264.12–13 my serial in September Atlantic • The Portrait of a Lady.
KATHARINE PEABODY LORING 17 September [1881] ALS Houghton
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Cortachy Castle. Kirriemuier. Sept. 17th ———— 5. p.m. Dear Miss Loring. I found your kind note last evening on my retur _arrival^_` at this place, & I take the 1st opportunity to send you a few lines which I trust will find you at Chester. I wrote to Alice, at Bolton 264
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St., just before leaving Tillypronie, & I trust that if you had h◇ already quitted London _when it reached there,^_` you had left your address with the virtue ^_`rapacious^_` Miss Balls. I am afraid it was not lively, staying on there—though you mention a Guildford episode of which I hear for the 1st time. You will have learnt from my letter to Alice that I have renounced the attempt to join you at Liverpool, as it seems a pity to give up the rest _& principal part,^_` of my Scotch stay in order to see you for a few hours, during which I should have to compete with Sherlock for your smiles. I shall, I think, consult he Alice’s interests (& yours) better by finishing my visit here (a most admirable place) & going on to Dalmeny, so that I may arrive in America with my pockets full of reminiscences of these places, with which to beguile your American hours. At the risk of making Alice feel badly, I must tell her that Cortachy is a delightful house & that Lady A. is on ne peut plus gracious. She drove me this morning over to Glamys—the famous & ghostly—& I lunched there & saw the whole house. It is magnificent, & replete with ghostliness. Lord & Lady Strathmore were as friendly as their extreme shyness would permit, & the whole impression (which I will describe in detail when the _we^_` meet,) is one I shall ever preserve. This has succeeded so well that I have promised Lady A. that I will go with her on Monday to Airlie Castle, which she tells me is “much more beautiful” than this splendid old house of Cortachy. (On Tuesday, the day you sail, I hope to go via Edinburgh, to Dalmeny.) My heart bleeds for you that you should be entering the Sarmatian at the moment I shall be entering D.; but I hope at least to hear from you that you have not too acutely missed me at the last. Please tell Alice that Lady Clark g◇ gave me a small sealed packet for her, containing a letter and “an old silver button which I hope she will wear as a sign _reminder^_` of how much we wish to know her”; but that I am at a loss just yet to get this package to her. I shall try to send it by post at Edinburgh—to Quincy St. & Alice will 265
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doubtless answer Lady C.’s note. Both she & Sir John take a truly paternal interest in her—& Lady Airlie to-day in our drive alluded to her Beauty. Cortachy is an immense pile, 1⁄2 ancient, 1⁄2 modern, with a brawling river running directly under its windows & a beautiful wild pile. _park.^_` I find here only a family party (Lyulph Stanleys, Hoziers &c.) but I believe large reinforcements are expected this evenings evening. I hope I shall get a word, from either Chester or Liverpool at the last: & if it didn’t cost too much to telegraph me from Bos Boston the single word arrived, I should be very grateful, & would refund the money on my own arrival. Perhaps you will add to all your other benefits by also writing me a line about your voyage? I hope it will be short & sweet & that your sufferings will be mitigated by the charms of a good conscience. Tell Alice to prepare everything at home—state=bedroom &c, “extra men in”, &c,—for me about the 30th October. Wear the hats, cloaks, &c; but don’t wear them out. Be as well as possible, & make Alice the same. This is all for her likewise. Please don’t fail to give me your last news & to receive the blessing of H. James jr No previous publication
265.2 h◇ already • [al overwrites h and illegible letter] 265.10 he Alice’s • [A overwrites he] 265.13 reminiscences • remi- | niscences 265.14 American • Ameri= | can 265.26 Edinburgh • Edin- | burgh 265.30 g◇ gave • [a overwrites illegible letter]
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266.7 reinforcements • [t inserted] 266.7 evenings evening • [g overwrites gs] 266.9 Bos Boston • [B overwrites Bos] 266.10 grateful • grate- | ful 266.12 benefits • bene- | fits 266.12 me • [m malformed]
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265.3 Miss Balls • HJ’s landlady, Mary Anne Balls (b. c. 1843). 265.16 on ne peut plus • extremely. 265.17 Glamys—the famous & ghostly • Glamis Castle in Angus, Scotland. 266.6 Lyulph Stanleys, Hoziers • Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Sheffield (1839–1925), and his wife, Mary Catherine Bell Stanley (1848– 1929), and Col. Sir Henry Montague Hozier (1838–1907) and his wife, Lady Henrietta Blanche Olgivy Hozier (1852–1925).
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 26 September [1881] TLC Harvard University
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Pusey Theatre Collection
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Dalmeny Park, Edinburgh. Sept. 26th. My dear J. R. Lowell, I wish I could have heard your speech on Saturday—and I ought to have done so; but it has moved me greatly in the reading, and I want to let you know how much I have been touched and pleased by it—which is also the sentiment of my host, the hospitable Rosebery. This is all—or almost all—I will attempt to say to you now, as you must have been deluged with letters. I have been in the far Highlands (I got here only on Saturday night and found a card for the meeting at Exeter Hall after it was all over;) otherwise I should have managed to reach London and listen to you. You said many good things, and they were all true—which is the best of it. How striking is the impression made here by the event, and the universality of the expression of sorrow! In Edinburgh, to-day, during the hours of the funeral, there were many tokens of mourning. I hope 267
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it means that the two countries are to be really good friends always. But we shall see. I return to London in a very few days and shall immediately come and see you. Many salutations to your gracious lady from your devotissimo H. James jr. No previous publication
267.21 your speech • Lowell delivered a eulogy for recently assassinated President Garfield in Exeter Hall, London, on 24 September 1881 (“Garfield”).
ALICE JAMES 15
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DALMENY PARK EDINBURGH 20
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Sept. 28th Dearest sister. I needn’t tell you how often I have thought of you for the last eight days, & how I have listened to the winds & scrutinized the skies. Whatever your miseries may have been, I trust that they are virtually over & that tomorrow’s sun (if to-day’s hasn’t done it) will see you steam into Boston bay. I shall _see^_` the ship _Sarmatian^_` announced in the shipping-telegrams of the Times, & then my uneasy spirit will be at rest. I got your letter from the Adelphi only after several days delay—as well as Miss Loring’s two last notes. Instead of coming straight from Cortachy here, I made an excusion (or an attempt at one— ruined by bad weather) of some three days to Loch Lomond, up the Clyde, &c & got here only on Saturday 24th, when you were already in mid-ocean. I was delighted to learn that you were 268
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well & happy up to the last, & _I hope^_` that these conditions were not entirely demolished on the way. It cost me a pang not to have got to Liverpool by the 20th; but you see that my visit to Scotland is even yet not at an end. May the faithful Sherlock not have disappointed you. I am sorry you missed the letter I sent (to Miss L.) to the Grosvenor Arms, as it was the most copious of my farewell missives. It is a very happy thing that you didn’t come to Scotland, as you could never have tolerated the inns & the tourists. The Kew episode, therefore, which kept you away, may be regarded as a blessing in disguise. You will feel that you have not yet emerged from the circle of Airlie, when you learn on your arrival of poor Lord A.’s death in Colorado, of which we have just got news here. It will come like a thunderclap upon Cortachy, where I left them (a house full of people) feasting & thinking everything all right. To Lady A. it will be a great blow, as they were a most devoted couple; but she will bear it, for she is a very powerful, superior woman. But I am glad enough that I was out of the house when the news came. The scattering of visitors under such circumstances is very painful & awkward. I have been at this lovely place four days, & I leave it to-morrow. I was going to Castle Howard on my way back to London; but the Airlie mourning cuts that off, & I go instead _to^_` Laidlawstiel (Lord Reay’s) for a couple of days. This is an enchanting spot— beautiful old woods, lying along the edge of the sea, up & down, for miles. I have seen nothing more charming in England. The company (chiefly male,) is very pleasant, but not remarkable, and there is rather too much “chaffing,” the bane of the English country-house. There has been a little French couple, the Duc & Duchesse de Grammont (relatives of Lady Rosebery,) but they have departed, not liking it much, I think, & not thinking there was enough done for them. Last night we all went over to Hopetoun (a few miles away) to a ball given for young Lord Hopetoun’s coming of age. It was a very pompous affair, & in the course of it I was subjected to a trying episode. Poor fat Lady H. 269
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(an old friend of mine) took it into her head to drag me up & present me to the Princess Mary (of Teck,) who was staying in the house, (the Prss. is credited with the wish to marry her daughter, aet. 16, to the son of the house _young Hopetoun.^_`) & who had been provided with accommodation (in a _in^_` very bad taste) on a gorgeous raised daïs. For 3⁄4’s of an hour had I to sit i on this gorg _splendid^_` pillory, in the gaze of the multitude, wrestling with the royal remarks, & still more royal silences, of the obese princess , whose powers of conversation would not be thought much of in Cambridge. You will have heard so much of poor Garfield when you arrive, that I will say nothing about his death, beyond alluding to the immense attention paid to it here. There has been mourning for him all over the Kingdom—& the ladies last night were clad in it. The feeling in America must have been extraordinary—& I hope the feeling shown here will have been appreciated.—I hope that when this reaches you, every sea-stain will have faded from you & you will be getting into training to receive me. Love abundant to the parents, to whom I will write on my return to town. Ever your brother H. James jr No previous publication
268.31 excusion • [misspelled] 268.34 mid-ocean • mid- | ocean 269.1 conditions • con- | ditions 269.2 demolished • de= | molished 269.4 Scotland • Scot- | land
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269.11 emerged • emer- | ged 269.13 thunderclap • thunder- | clap 269.24 beautiful • beau- | tiful 269.33 Hopetoun’s • Hope- | toun’s 270.7 i on • [o overwrites i] 270.9 , • [, overwrites .]
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268.27 _Sarmatian^_` announced • The Sarmatian arrived at Boston on 29 September 1881. 269.5–6 the letter I sent (to Miss L.) • HJ’s last extant letter to Katharine Peabody Loring is 17 September [1881] (pp. 264–66). 269.9 The Kew episode • AJ and Katharine Peabody Loring visited Loring’s aunt and uncle, Jane Loring and Asa Gray, in July 1881 in accommodations that proved unsuitable to AJ’s comfort and health. See also HJ to MW J, 18 July [1881] (pp. 232–34). 269.12 Lord A.’s death in Colorado • David Graham Drummond Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie (1826–81), died of an illness on 25 September in Denver, Colorado. 269.23 Lord Reay’s • Donald James Mackay, 11th Lord Reay and 1st Baron Reay (1829–1921). 269.28–29 Duc & Duchesse de Grammont • Antoine Alfred Agénor, 11th duc de Gramont (1851–1925), married his second wife, Margaretha Alexandrina de Rothschild (1855–1905), in 1878. 269.32–33 young Lord Hopetoun’s • John Adrian Lewis Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun and 1st Marquess of Linlithgow (1860–1908), celebrated his twenty-first birthday on 25 September. 269.34 Lady H. • Etheldred Anne Birch Reynardson, Lady Hopetoun (d. 1884), wife of John Adrian Louis Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun and 1st Marquess of Linlithgow (1860–1908). 270.2 Princess Mary (of Teck,) • Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, duchess of Teck (1833–99), famous for her obesity, which HJ notes
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in this letter, as well as for her benevolence. Princess Mary’s daughter, also known as the Princess of Teck, was Victoria Mary Augusta Louisa Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes, Princess Mary of Teck (1867–1953), later consort of George V.
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HENRIETTA REUBELL 28 September [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1045) 5
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Widnesday Sept. 28th Dear Miss Reubell. Thank you kindly for your friendly note, which brought me a breath of the Alpine meadows, as well as a few of the echoes of Jabberwolk! These echoes, I suppose, have now ceased to resound, & you are /s either squeezing your way through the galleries of the Milan e Exhibition, (a process I don’t envy you,) or floating on the grand Canal with a lapful of peaches and figs. In the latter case please give my love to everything Venetian; I wish I might float by your side. Since I got to know Venice so well as last Spring, the very sound of its name fills me with ineffable yearnings. Tell Mrs. Bronson, please, that _I yearn^_` especially for her, & that I will send her my portrait as soon as I get back to town. I have been having some struck off, & they are waiting for me there. I have been spending upwards of a month in Scotland, a delightful period, which now draws to a close. I have spent it in paying three or four pleasant visits at delectable houses, not the worst of which is this enchanting Dalmeny, (Ld. Rosebery’s.) We have just had a little French couple, the Duc & Duchess de Grammont, who didn’t amuse themselves at all—didn’t like English country life, I think,—wanted to “do company” too much, & ended by pretexting a sick child in Paris, to make their escape. Yesterday I had a trying episode. We all went over to Hopetoun (a neighbouring place) to a ball given in honour of young l Lord Hopetoun’s coming of age. In the house was the Princess Mary (of Teck,) who sat (very vulgarly) on a great estrade by herself. To her at a given moment was dragged (by Lady H.) poor H. J. jr. & forced to sit by her side for 3⁄4 of an 272
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hour, in this gorgeous pillory, listening to her royal conversation & her still more royal silences. He was only released by our friend Bethune being brought up for the same purpose. It was very ghastly. Bethune asked me tenderly about you, & when I told him I had just heard from you, he ground his teeth & stood on my toe. He _had^_` languished (he said) for St. Moritz, but couldn’t go.—I return almost immediately to town, & on the 20th October sail for America. After a few months of it I come back to stick faster than ever to Europe. I lately heard from Mrs. Boit, who wants me very much to marry. It was almost a proposal—though I couldn’t make out what she would do with Boit. Bien du plaisir in Italy, & stay as long it _as^_` you can. Stay by all means with Mrs. V. R. I once did it—or almost—& it’s charming. Tout à vous, dear Miss Reubell, H. James jr No previous publication
272.12 s/ either • [e overwrites s] 272.13 e Exhibition • [E overwrites e] 272.31 l Lord • [L overwrites l]
272.18 Mrs. Bronson • Katharine de Kay Bronson. 273.12 Bien du plaisir • Much enjoyment. 273.13 Mrs. V. R. • Anna Lovice Whitmore Van Rensselaer (b. 1840).
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273.14 Tout à vous • All yours.
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ALICE JAMES 1 October [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1601) 5
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LAIDLAWSTIEL, GALASPIELS. N.B.
Oct. 1st. Dear Sister. I wrote to you but a couple of days since (from Dalmeny,) & I now address you these few lines simply to enclose you a portion of a letter just received from Mrs. Kemble. You will have much difficulty in deciphering it, but it will show you the good will she entertains for you. She is of course simply under the impression that you are still in London, not having heard from you _me^_` that you had departed. I am very sorry she mightn’t have seen her _you, & you^_` her! You would have found her less of a humbug than Mrs. D. S.!—You see I am still in Scotland; at Lord Reay’s, a small but most picturesque place, perched on a high _bare, heathery^_` hill (or mountain) in a circle of others, above the charming Tweed, in the midst of Walter Scott’s country. Ashestiel (where he first lived) is at a 1⁄2 hour’s walk, & Abbotsford, Melfr ^_`Melrose^_`, Dryburgh &c, but a few mile’s away—& the country most wild & picturesque. There are but five people in the house, & Lady R. is very handsome, very clever, & very charming. Love to all at home. I return to London instantly, & have just declined an invitation to Lord Tweeddale’s. Very fondly H. James jr
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274.12 deciphering • decipher- | ing 274.17 humbug • hum- | bug 274.18 picturesque • pic- | turesque 274.21 country • coun- | try
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1881 274.26–27 have just [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page]
274.17 Mrs. D. S. • Mrs. Duncan Stewart 274.26 Lord Tweeddale’s • William Montagu Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale (1826–1911).
KATHARINE DE KAY BRONSON 4 October [1881]
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ALS New York Public Library Henry James Collection Papers, [1867]–1917 bulk (1882–1917). Classmark: Berg Coll MSS James
THE REFORM CLUB 15
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Oct. 4th ———— Dear Mrs. Bronson. Let this introduce to you my excellent & noble friend Lord Reay, who pays a short visit to Venice & (like every one else) will be glad to find you at home of an evening. He is not such a terrible Conservative as you, but he will agree with you about the steamboats on the Gd. Canal—& about many other things. He will also have the merit (if you consider it such,) of taking you a little news of me, & that (a very great one for me) of bringing me back some account of you. He will, however— what is more to the point—have that of proving a valuable acquaintance. Very faithfully yours H. James jr No previous publication
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WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS 4 October [1881] ALS Houghton bMS Am 1784 (253)-35 5
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THE REFORM CLUB Oct. 4th ———— Dear Howells, I expect to see you so soon (I embark for Quebec—on the 20th) that I could at a pinch forbear to write to you. But I won’t forego the pleasure of letting you know a little in advance, what please ^_`satisfaction^_` the history of your Doctress gives me. I came back last night from a month in Scotland, & found the October Atlantic on my table; whereupon, though weary with travel I waked early this morning on purpose to read your contribution in bed—in my little London-dusky back bedroom, where I can never read at such hours without a pair of candles. They burned low while I said to myself that barring perhaps the Foregone Conclusion, this is your best thing. It is full of vivacity, of reality, of the feeling of life & human nature, of happy touches of all sorts; & the way you have put yourself into the petticoats of your heroine has an almost uncanny ability. I must confess to you that she affects me painfully, & so do the manners & customs of her companions,—but quite apart from this I have enjoyed the keenness & instinctive “naturalism” of the whole thing. I don’t think you have done anything yet with so fine a point.—I don’t send you this as a bribe to be “attentive” to me after I arrive, but merely to express my satisfaction with you in instalments as I can’t help reading you so—more shame to me!—I hope to be in Cambridge about Nov. 1st, & will lose no time in coming out to see you. You will find me fat & scant o’breath, & very middle-aged, but eminently amenable to kind treatment. One of the last impressions I shall carry from here is 276
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the remarkable interest & sympathy about poor Garfield’s end. It made me feel as if I were already in the U.S., & hels helps a little to bridge the dreadful sea. Don’t be on the wharf but be at your door with Mrs. H. at the window. Yours ever H. James jr Previous publication: HJL 2: 359–60; Anesko 217–18
276.18 never • [v malformed] 276.23 uncanny • un- | canny 277.2 hels helps • [lp overwrites el; e inserted] 277.4 with Mrs. H. [. . .] H. James jr • [written across the letter’s first page]
276.13 the history of your Doctress • Dr. Breen’s Practice. 276.20 Foregone Conclusion • A Foregone Conclusion.
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH 9 October [1881] ALS Houghton
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bMS Am 1429 (2556)
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3 Bolton St W. Oct. 9th Dear Aldrich. Your little inquiring card has just come. I had better content myself—& so far as possible content you—with replying that I sail for the U.S. on the 20th inst. & will see you immediately after I arrive. We can then discuss the momentous question, which is attended with certain complications. This delay will probably not be intolerable to you, & it will be useful to me. Pray for me meantime; I sail for Quebec, & may freeze to death on the passage. Tout à vous H. James jr 277
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277.33 Tout à vous • All yours.
FREDERICK MACMILLAN 14 October [1881] 10
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3 Bolton St. W. Dear Macmillan On second thought, I won’t refuse your offer of an advance on my new book, & shall be thankful for anything you may send to B. S. & Co. in that character. It will add to my sense of greatness in returning to the U.S.—which I trust I shall not have to do before the wind goes down! What a night! If it is possible along with the sheets of Macmillan, or before I go, to send me also a set of sheets of the book, though it be not yet bound, & I shall also be grateful. If I shouldn’t have time to see you again, farewell till the next time. Ever yours H. James jr Oct. 14th a.m. ————
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Previous publication: Moore 65
278.15 an advance • Numbers written at the top of the first page of this letter (not in James’s hand) add up to £88: “19pp = C £2. £38 [+] £50 [=] £88.” The advance on half-profits was £50; the balance was pay-
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1881 ment for the final installment of the novel (nineteen pages) in Macmillan’s Magazine. 278.16 my new book • The Portrait of a Lady. 278.17 B. S. & Co. • Brown, Shipley and Company, HJ’s banker in England.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 18 October 1881 ALS Houghton
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3 Bolton St. W. Oct. 18th 1881 ———— Dear Sirs. I beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your draft on London for $250 in payment for the October part of my serial in the Atlantic. I sail day after tomorrow for America, & beg you to kindly send me your cheque for the next (& last _concluding^_`) installment at my father’s address— 20 Quincy St. Cambridge, Mass ———— Very truly yours H. James jr Messrs. Houghton Mifflin & Co. ————
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279.18 my serial • Chapters 47–49 of The Portrait of a Lady.
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FREDERICK MACMILLAN 20 October 1881 ALS British Library Add. MS 54931, f. 86–87 5
ADELPHI HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, (AS REBUILT 1877.) W. LUDLOW, MANAGER.
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Oct. 20th [188]1 Dear Macmillan. I embark in 1⁄2 an hour; but I am literary to the last! I meant to have sent you before I left London a a list of people to whom I should like author’s copies of my book sent. As I had already made it out, I enclose it herewith. Please to make ’em send me a copy—but I will write it on the list.—It is blowing stiffly, but bright, & I have just performed the religious rite of buying a seachair from that horribly dirty old woman opposite the hotel. Pray for me, & don’t let my fame die out. Many thanks for the draft. Be well & happy (both of you)—& sell, you in particular, as many ^_`5000^_` copies of my works. I seem _see^_` them in all the shopwindows (booksellers’ of course) here; which makes me feel as if I had not only started but arrived. A tender farewell again to Mrs. Macmillan. Yours ever, qualmishly H. James Previous publication: HJL 2: 360–61; Moore 65–66
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280.8 [188]1 • [188 is part of the stationery. HJ completed the year by adding 1] 280.11 a a • a | a 280.13 herewith • here= | with
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1881 280.13 ’em • [m malformed] 280.15–16 sea- | chair • sea-chair
280.12 my book • The triple-decker edition of The Portrait of a Lady was published by Macmillan on 8 November 1881 (Edel and Laurance 53;
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Supino 499).
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Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Biographical Register
This register is intended to help readers of The Complete Letters of Henry James keep track of the many people James mentions in his letters. It lists family members and friends and public, literary, and artistic figures of James’s era whom the editors consider now to be relatively obscure. Well-known people that James mentions—for instance, Dickens, George Eliot, Richard Wagner, Sarah Bernhardt— are omitted, as are canonical authors of James’s past, such as Shakespeare and Chaucer. Well-known contemporary authors and artists, such as Ivan Turgenev and Émile Zola, do appear in this register when the editors have deemed that they were significant to James’s life or work. Excluded from this register are the names of people James mentions whom we have been unable to identify. ADAMS, HENRY (1838–1918), American author, historian, man of letters, and simultaneously Harvard professor and editor of the North American Review (1870–77). HJ first met him in 1870 and was a friend during their Cambridge days of Adams’s wife, Marian “Clover” Hooper. Adams wrote letters of introduction for HJ to Lord Houghton and other Londoners upon HJ’s 1876–77 relocation to England. Adams and HJ remained friends until James’s death.
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ADAMS, MARIAN “CLOVER” HOOPER (1843–85), photographer, art collector, conversationalist, and wife of Henry Adams, whom she married in 1872. She is thought to be HJ’s model for Mrs. Bonnycastle in the short story “Pandora.” She committed suicide on 6 December 1885. AGÉNOR, ANTOINE ALFRED (1851–1925), 11th duc de Gramont and husband of Margaretha Alexandrina de Rothschild. AIRLIE, LADY. See Ogilvy, Henrietta Blanche Stanley. AIRLIE, LORD. See Ogilvy, David Graham Drummond. 283
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ALDRICH, THOMAS BAILEY (1836–1907), New Hampshire–born and Boston-based novelist, poet, editor, and frequent Atlantic Monthly contributor. As editor of the Atlantic Monthly from 1881 to 1890, Aldrich published some of HJ’s work. ALLEN, [CHARLES] GRANT BLAIRFINDIE (1848–99), science writer and novelist. ARGYLL, DUKE OF. See Campbell, George Douglas. BARING, THOMAS GEORGE (1826–1904), 1st Earl of Northbrook and Liberal viceroy of India. BARNES, HENRY BURR (1845–1911), was a junior partner and head of the periodicals division at the American publisher A. S. Barnes and Company. From 1874 to 1879 he was also the editor of the International Review. BLANDFORD. See Churchill, John Winston Spencer. BOIT, MARY LOUISA, wife of painter Edward Darley Boit (1840– 1915). HJ knew the Boits in Italy and at Étretat and often asks after Mary Louisa Boit in his letters to Elizabeth Boott. BOOTH, EDWIN THOMAS (1833–93), American actor and brother of John Wilkes Booth. He was accompanied on the stage by fellow actor Henry Irving in England in 1880–81, alternating the roles of Othello and Iago at the Lyceum.
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BOOTT, ELIZABETH “LIZZIE” (1846–88), American painter and a friend of the Jameses. Boott married Frank Duveneck, one of her art teachers and an important painter in his own right, in March 1886. HJ supported her career as an artist and often visited her father and her, especially at their Florence home in Bellosguardo. She is thought to have been a model for Pansy Osmond in The Portrait of a Lady. BOOTT, FRANCIS “FRANK” (1813–1904), amateur composer and musician, friend of the Jameses, father of Lizzie Boott. BOUGHTON, KATHERINE LOUISA CULLEN (b. 1845), was the wife of London painter George Henry Boughton (1833–1905). 284
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BRONSON, KATHARINE DE KAY (1834–1901), with her husband, Arthur Bronson (1824–85), was an 1850s Newport acquaintance of the Jameses. She later became a close friend of Robert Browning and of HJ; both authors visited her at her Venice palazzino, Casa Alvisi, its guest accommodations in the neighboring Palazzo GiustinianiRecanati, and her house, Casa La Mura, in nearby Asolo. HJ commemorated his friendship with Mrs. Bronson in his memorial article, “Casa Alvisi.” BRYCE, JAMES (1838–1922), was a British legal historian and the author of The American Commonwealth. He served as chief secretary for Ireland (1905–6) and ambassador to the United States (1907–13); he was made 1st Viscount Bryce in 1913. BURDETT- COUTTS, ANGELINA GEORGINA, BARONESS (1851– 1921), philanthropist, wife, and mentor of William Bartlett BurdettCoutts. After having funded the majority of his education, she married Bartlett on 12 February 1881 to much gossip; she was sixty-six, and he was twenty-nine. CAMPBELL, GEORGE DOUGLAS (1823–1900), 8th Duke of Argyll and secretary of state to India (1868–74). CARTER, KATE SEDLEY FEARING. See Trevilian, Kate Sedley Fearing. CHILD, THEODORE E. (1846–92), English writer and journalist residing in Paris. He edited the Parisian, an “Anglo-American periodical” to which HJ occasionally contributed ( James, Preface xix).
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CHURCHILL, JOHN WINSTON SPENCER (1822–83), Duke of Marlborough, Marquess of Blandford, and husband of Lady Frances Anne Emily (1822–99). They had six daughters and two sons, including Randolph Churchill, father of Winston Churchill. CLARK, CHARLOTTE COLTMAN (1823–97), wife of Sir John Forbes Clark. CLARK, SIR JOHN FORBES (1821–1910), British diplomat. HJ often visited Clark’s Scotland home and estate, Tillypronie. 285
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COBBE, FRANCES POWER (1822–1904), suffragist and animal rights activist. Cobbe was born in Ireland and established herself in London’s progressive intellectual circle in the 1860s. COOKSON, BLANCHE ALTHEA ELIZABETH HOLT (1846–1928), daughter of Eardley Chauncy Holt, married HJ’s friend Montague Hughes Cookson in 1869. They changed their surname to Crackanthorpe in 1888. CROSS, JOHN WALTER (1840–1922), banker and one of the original members of the Devonshire Club. On 6 May 1880 he married George Eliot (1819–80), though she was already ill from the kidney disease that would end her life on 22 December 1880. CURTIS, DANIEL SARGENT (1825–1908), lawyer, banker, and playwright. HJ visited the Curtises at the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice. CURTIS, GEORGE WILLIAM (1824–92), American-born writer, lecturer, editor, and political activist. DALHOUSIE. See Ramsay, John William Maule. DARWIN, SARA PRICE ASHBURNER SEDGWICK (1839–1902), sister of Charles Eliot Norton’s wife, Susan Sedgwick Norton, and of HJ’s friend Arthur G. Sedgwick; she married Charles Darwin’s son, William Erasmus Darwin, in 1877. DARWIN, WILLIAM ERASMUS (1839–1914), son of Charles Darwin, married Sara Price Ashburner Sedgwick in 1877.
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DUVENECK, FRANK (1848–1919), American artist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Munich from 1870 to 1873. In 1878 Duveneck started an art school in Munich, where he met Lizzie Boott; they married in 1886. Their son, Frank, was born later that year. EARLE, MARIA THERESA VILLIERS (1836–1925), English horticulturalist and socialite with connections in both literary and artistic circles. She rose to literary fame with her 1897 publication Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, a collection of essays concerning gardening and household matters. 286
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GASCOYNE- CECIL, ROBERT ARTHUR TALBOT (1830–1903), 3rd Marquess of Salisbury and older brother of Eustace Brownlow Henry Gascoyne- Cecil. He was a well-known Conservative statesman and later served as prime minister for three separate terms. HOLLAND, LADY MARGARET JEAN TREVELYAN (1835–1903), was the second wife of Sir Henry Thurston Holland (m. 1825) and daughter of Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan. HOPPIN, WILLIAM JONES (1813–95), served as first secretary of the American Legation in London from 1876 to 1886. A lawyer by training, Hoppin also published articles on art. HOUGHTON, RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES, LORD (1809–85), politician and literary man. He gave renowned breakfast parties, some of which HJ attended after meeting him in 1877. Lord Houghton published poems and other literary works, as well as the Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats (1848). HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN (1837–1920), American author, editor, critic, and pioneer of American literary realism. HJ’s and his first meeting probably occurred in the summer of 1866. Despite their different upbringings, the two became lifelong friends. As assistant editor (1866–71) and then editor (1871–81) of the Atlantic Monthly, Howells published and promoted HJ’s early work, including serialization of Roderick Hudson, The American, The Europeans, and The Portrait of a Lady.
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HUXLEY, HENRIETTA HEATHORN (1825–1914), was a poet and the wife of biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, whose work she edited. JAMES, ALICE (AJ) (1848–92), was the fifth and final child and only daughter of Sr. and MWJ. She is remembered for her eloquent and candid journal, written during the last three years of her life and preserved and posthumously printed by her close friend Katharine Peabody Loring. JAMES, ALICE HOWE GIBBENS (AHGJ) (1849–1922), wife of William James. They wed in 1878 and had five children: Henry “Harry” (1879–1947), William “Bill” (1882–1961), Herman (1884–85), Mar287
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garet “Peggy” Mary (Mrs. Bruce Porter) (1887–1950), and Alexander “Aleck” Robertson, born Francis Tweedy and also called John Robertson (1890–1946). JAMES, GARTH WILKINSON “WILKY” (GWJ) (1845–83), the third child of Sr. and MW J. He served in the Civil War, during which he was badly wounded. After the war, RJ and he tried to run a plantation in Florida, after which he moved to Milwaukee and into a series of jobs. In 1873 he married Caroline “Carrie” Cary (1851–1931), who was the daughter of Milwaukee businessman Joseph Cary (1807/8?–80). They had two children: Joseph Cary James (1874–1925) and Alice James Edgar (1875–1923). JAMES, HELEN (1841–97), HJ’s cousin and daughter of Sr.’s halfbrother Robert James (1787–1821).
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JAMES, HENRY, SR. (Sr.) (1811–82), was born in Albany, New York, graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, dabbled in business, and less than half-heartedly read law. He then studied at Princeton Theological Seminary (1835–37). Although raised in a strict Presbyterian family, he was repelled by orthodox Protestantism and gave up adherence to institutional religion. He is remembered as an author and theological philosopher and was heavily influenced by Swedenborgianism and (to a lesser extent) Fourierism. His books include Christianity the Logic of Creation (1857), The Secret of Swedenborg (1869), and Society the Redeemed Form of Man (1879). He and MWJ married in 1840 and had five children. JAMES, HENRY “HARRY,” III (1879–1947), first son of W J and AHGJ. Lawyer, executor of HJ’s will, heir of Lamb House, compiler of W J’s Memories and Studies, editor of The Letters of William James, biographer of Richard Olney and of Charles W. Eliot, chairman of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA), trustee of the Carnegie Corporation, and vice president and trustee of the Rockefeller Institute. He married Olivia M. Cutting (1892–1949) in 1917, was divorced in 1930, and married Dorothea Draper Blagden (1881–1960) in 1938. JAMES, MARY HELEN (1840–81), daughter of Sr.’s brother John Barber James (1816–56) and Mary Helen Vanderburgh (1816–46). 288
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JAMES, MARY ROBERTSON WALSH (MWJ) (1810–82), married Sr. in 1840. She is most often described as having been a stable and comforting mother and wife, and HJ was devoted to her. JAMES, ROBERTSON “BOB” (RJ) (1846–1910), the fourth and youngest son of Sr. and MWJ. He served in the Civil War and worked with GW J on his plantation in Florida before holding a series of railroad jobs in the Midwest. In 1872 he married Mary Lucinda Holton (1847–1922), and they had two children, Edward “Ned” Holton James (1873–1954) and Mary Walsh James (Vaux) (1875–1956). JAMES, WILLIAM (W J) (1842–1910), HJ’s older brother and pioneering psychologist and pragmatist philosopher best remembered for The Principles of Psychology (1890), The Will to Believe (1897), The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), and Pragmatism (1907). He began teaching at Harvard in 1872, three years after he had received his M.D. there, and retired in 1907. In 1878 he married Alice Howe Gibbens, and they had five children. KEMBLE, FRANCES “FANNY” ANNE (1809–93), from the Kemble family of famous British actors and a noted actress in her own right. She married Pierce Butler in 1834 and divorced him in 1848. HJ met Kemble and her daughter, Sarah Butler Wister, in Rome in 1872 and became close friends with both of them. KING, CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH SLEIGHT MATTHEWS, daughter of MW J’s aunt, Charlotte Walsh, and her husband, Reverend James Matthews. Her husband was Clarence W. King (c. 1809–45).
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LANG, ANDREW (1844–1912), prolific writer, poet, and historian, best remembered for his scholarship concerning myths and for his collections of fairy tales, beginning with The Blue Fairy Book (1889). He was one of HJ’s earliest 1876 London acquaintances. LINTON, ELIZA LYNN (1822–98), novelist and journalist. During her lifetime she was best known for her serialized novel The Atonement of Leam Dundas. She was married to William James Lynton (1812–97) from 1858 to 1867. LORING, KATHARINE PEABODY (1849–1943), became AJ’s primary companion and caretaker. The two women met in 1873 through the 289
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Society to Encourage Studies at Home, which Loring helped to organize and where they both taught history (Strouse 191). Loring would also be responsible for the posthumous publication of AJ’s diary (see Strouse 319; Edel, “Preface” xxix). LORING, WILLIAM CALEB (1851–88), brother of Katharine Peabody Loring. LOWELL, FRANCES DUNLAP (d. 1885), wife of James Russell Lowell and daughter of Robert P. Dunlap, governor of Maine from 1834 to 1838. While in Madrid in late June 1879 she became severely ill from typhus but had recovered somewhat by December of the same year. LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL (1819–91), American poet, critic, Harvard professor, diplomat, and politician. He became American minister to Spain in 1877. He edited the Atlantic Monthly (1857–61) and the North American Review (1864), and HJ and he became close friends— especially after 1880, when Lowell became American minister to Britain. MACKAY, FANNY GEORGINA JANE HASLER MITCHELL (c. 1831– 1917), wife of Donald James Mackay, 11th Lord Reay and 1st Baron Reay (1829–1921). MACMILLAN, FREDERICK ORRIDGE (1851–1936), son of Macmillan and Company cofounder Daniel Macmillan (1813–57). Frederick became a partner in Macmillan and Company in 1876. HJ and he met in 1877, the start of a long-standing publishing relationship as well as friendship.
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MACMILLAN, GEORGIANA WARRIN (1846–1943), wife of Frederick Orridge Macmillan (m. 1874). Originally from New York, she took a liking to HJ, and he became a frequent guest and a good friend of the Macmillans. MASON, ALICE (1838–1913), widow of William Sturgis Hooper, she married Senator Charles Sumner in 1866; they divorced in 1873, and Mason resumed her maiden name.
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Biographical Register
MOULTON, LOUISE CHANDLER (1835–1908), was an American poet, short story writer, and critic who was accepted in literary circles in the United States and Britain. MUNDELLA, MARY SMITH (1823 or 1824–90), was the wife of English hosiery manufacturer and Liberal MP Anthony John Mundella (1825–97). MYERS, EVELEEN TENNANT (1856–1937), daughter of MP Charles Tennant (1796–1873) and London salon hostess Gertrude Barbara Rich Collier Tennant (c. 1821–1918). On 15 March 1880 she married Frederic William Henry Myers (1843–1901), poet, essayist, psychological researcher, and cofounder of the Society for Psychical Research (1882). NORTHBROOK, LORD. See Baring, Thomas George. NORTON, CHARLES ELIOT (1827–1908), son of Andrews Norton (1786–1853) and Catharine Eliot (1793–1879), influential author, translator of Dante, editor of the North American Review (1864–68), one of the founders of the Nation, scholar of art history and Italian studies, and professor of the history of fine art at Harvard (1873– 98); he also taught Dante’s poetry. He lived in Cambridge at Shady Hill, near the Jameses, and was an early mentor of HJ’s career, publishing some of his first review articles and introducing him in 1869 to prominent cultural figures in London. He married Susan Ridley Sedgwick in 1862; they had six children.
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NORTON, ELIZABETH “LILY” (b. 1866), the second daughter of Charles Eliot Norton and Susan Sedgwick Norton. NORTON, GRACE (1834–1926), Charles Eliot Norton’s youngest sister. She lived much of her life with her brother, helping to raise his children, but in the early twentieth century she published several studies of Montaigne, including Studies in Montaigne (1904), The Spirit of Montaigne (1908), and The Influence of Montaigne (1908). HJ and she maintained a lengthy and intimate correspondence from 1868 to the end of his life. NORTON, MARGARET (1870–1947), Charles Eliot Norton’s youngest daughter, sister of Sarah and Elizabeth “Lily” Norton. 291
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OGILVY, DAVID GRAHAM DRUMMOND (1826–81), 10th Earl of Airlie. He died in Denver, Colorado, in September 1881. OGILVY, HENRIETTA BLANCHE STANLEY (1830–1920). She married David Graham Drummond Ogilvy in 1851. HJ visited an Airlie family estate, Cortachy Castle, in Forfarshire. ORR, ALEXANDRA SUTHERLAND LEIGHTON (1828–1903), biographer, literary reviewer, and sister of Lord Frederick Leighton. She showed an interest in Sr.’s work. OSGOOD, JAMES RIPLEY (1836–92), was the publisher of HJ’s first books. He was the partner of James T. Fields in Fields, Osgood and Company, then directed James R. Osgood and Company until 1878, when he became the partner of H. O. Houghton in Houghton, Osgood and Company. From 1880 until declaring bankruptcy in 1885, he again operated as James R. Osgood and Company. PALGRAVE, FRANCIS TURNER (1824–97), compiler of The Golden Treasury. PARKMAN, FRANCIS (1823–93), American historian and writer whose works include The California and Oregon Trail (1849) and Vassall Morton (1856). PERRY, THOMAS SERGEANT (1845–1928), writer, scholar, educator, translator, and a close friend of HJ for more than fifty years, until HJ’s death. They first met at school in Newport in 1858. PERUZZI, SIMONE (MARQUIS PERUZZI DE’ MEDICI) , Florentine marquis and husband of Edith Marion Story.
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POLLOCK, WALTER HERRIES (1850–1928), was a British author and editor of the Saturday Review (1883–94). PRIMROSE, ARCHIBALD PHILIP (1847–1929), 5th Earl of Rosebery, prime minister (1894–95), and author. Rosebery married Hannah de Rothschild (1851–90) on 20 March 1878. Rosebery was a Liberal politician and close associate to Gladstone, assuming the position of prime minister after Gladstone’s retirement. HJ visited the Roseberys at the Rothschild house at Mentmore, near Aylesbury. HJ 292
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also visited Rosebery’s “bachelor house,” the Durdans, near Epsom, which Rosebery purchased in 1872. PRIMROSE, HANNAH DE ROTHSCHILD (1851–90), Lady Rosebery, daughter of Baron and Baroness Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, and wife of Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery. She married Rosebery on 20 March 1878. PROCTER, ANNE BENSON SKEPPER (1799–1888), wife of the poet Bryan Waller Procter, who wrote under the pen name Barry Cornwall. RAMSAY, JOHN WILLIAM MAULE (1847–1887), 13th Earl of Dalhousie, Liberal MP, and husband of Lady Ida Louisa Bennet (1857– 87). REAY, LADY. See Mackay, Fanny Georgina Jane Hasler Mitchell. REED, HELEN LEAH (c. 1860–1926), was a Cambridge-based writer who wrote a series of novels set in the Boston area. In 1881 she published The City and the Sea, a collection of poems and short stories written by various authors, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The proceeds from this collection were used to fund the building of a hospital in Cambridge. REUBELL, HENRIETTA (c. 1849–1924), Paris resident and close friend of HJ.
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ROSE, LADY CHARLOTTE TEMPLE (1833–83), a prominent social figure in Montreal before she and her husband, John Rose (1820–88), moved to England in 1869. HJ also knew her son, Charles Day Rose (1847–1913), and her daughter, Mary Rose Clarke (d. 1913). Lady Rose was the sister of Mary Temple Tweedy and of Robert Temple (1808–54), the father of HJ’s Temple cousins, Bob, William, Kitty, Minny, Elly, and Henrietta. ROSEBERY, LADY. See Primrose, Hannah de Rothschild. ROSEBERY, LORD. See Primrose, Archibald Philip. ROTHSCHILD, SIR MAYER AMSCHEL DE (1818–74), Austrian noble, merchant banker, and father of Hannah de Rothschild. 293
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SALISBURY, LORD. See Gascoyne- Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot. SMALLEY, GEORGE WASHBURN (1833–1916), American journalist and London-based correspondent for the New York Tribune and husband of Phoebe Garnaut Smalley. SMALLEY, PHOEBE GARNAUT (b. c. 1837), wife of George Washburn Smalley and adopted daughter of abolitionists Wendell and Ann Phillips. STERLING, JOHN (1806–44), writer and poet. He married Susannah Barton (1801–43) on 2 November 1830, and the couple had seven children. STEWART, HARRIET EVERILDA GORE (d. 1884), London hostess, friend of HJ, wife of Duncan Stewart, and mother of Christina Rogerson. STURGIS, JULIAN RUSSELL (1848–1904), novelist and son of Russell and Juliet Overing Boit Sturgis. He specialized in light comedy and, though born in the United States, spent the greater part of his life in England and took British citizenship at age twenty-eight. STURGIS, RUSSELL (1805–87), American lawyer, merchant in the China trade, partner of Baring Brothers, and the father of Julian and Howard Sturgis. THOMSON, ROBERT, a Scot hired by Sr. to tutor W J, HJ, and GWJ while the family stayed in London between the fall of 1855 and the spring of 1856. He and the James boys had a friendly rapport despite the pedagogic nature of their brief relationship.
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TREVILIAN, EDWARD BROOKE SELY (1833–1914), married Kate Sedley Fearing Carter in October 1880. HJ attended the wedding. TREVILIAN, KATE SEDLEY FEARING CARTER (1842–1930), married Edward Brooke Sely Trevilian (1833–1914) in October 1880 after the death of husband Alexander Carter. HJ attended the wedding. Kate Sedley Fearing’s sister, Eleanor, was HJ’s acquaintance since 1869 during his time in Rome. 294
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WALSH, CATHARINE (AUNT KATE, AK) (1812–89), sister of HJ’s mother. She remained a constant and usually present member of the James family until her death. She lived and traveled with her sister’s family and became something of a second mother to the children. Catharine is usually described as having been much more outgoing and opinionated than her quieter sister. In 1853 she married Capt. Charles H. Marshall, but the union lasted for only twenty-eight months. She died after a fall in her home in March 1889. WISTER, SARAH BUTLER (1835–1908), Philadelphia literary critic, daughter of Fanny Kemble and Pierce Butler, wife of Dr. Owen Jones Wister, and mother of novelist Owen Wister; HJ and she met in Rome in 1872 and became lifelong friends. WOLSELEY, LADY LOUISA ERSKINE (1843–1920), wife of celebrated British military figure Sir Garnet Wolseley (1833–1913).
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WOLSELEY, SIR GARNET JOSEPH (1833–1913), was a celebrated British military figure and author of the practical manual The Soldier’s Pocket-Book for Field Service (1869), as well as several magazine articles. He married Louisa Erskine (1843–1920) in 1867, and their only child, Frances Garnet Wolseley, was born in 1872.
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General Editors’ Note
We intend The Complete Letters of Henry James to be as useful to as broad a range of readers as possible, given the limitations of print reproduction. Because one cannot anticipate what biographical or historical details or stylistic idiosyncrasies contained in any given letter may be of value to users of the edition, the general editors believe that our duty is “to be as complete as possible,” as James wrote in another context (“Art of Fiction” 408). By being as complete as possible, we enable the opportunity for study of any aspect of James’s letters. Such an inclusive edition of the letters enriches by its range and detail our understanding of James’s life and the lives of his correspondents, his use of language, his importance to our cultural legacy, and thus the value of the original letters themselves. The goal of this edition is to provide an inclusive, reliable, available, and easily read scholarly and critical text for all extant letters, telegrams, and notes written by Henry James. We aim to establish the letter text, thus evidence of the compositional process represented by it, with the greatest precision possible in a format that is easy to read and understand. It may be important to some readers, for example, that HJ added an element of emphasis to the phrase “Wales would probably do” when he careted in “beautifully” after it in his 21 March [1881] letter to W J (p. 196). Understanding James’s change from “Wales would probably do” to “Wales would probably do ^_`beautifully^_`” at this point in the letter gives a small insight into the moment of composition, to James’s wavering at that moment on the degree to which he was making his recommendation. Likewise, James’s nuanced adjustment of “pretty” to “graceful” in his letter of 28 November [1880] to MW J (p. 108) offers a window into James’s compositional methods and strategies. Such readability in combination with representational precision helps us to produce a reliable edition. Where reliability (in terms of the meaningful details of the his297
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torical document itself ) is in tension with readability, we give priority to reliability. Informing this view is a conviction that historical documents are fundamentally different from “literary texts” such as poems and novels and therefore must be edited and published differently. We do not correct slips or other errors in the letters, preferring instead to render what James wrote whenever possible. As much as we hope that this edition can function to communicate to readers a substantial amount of the meaning of James’s originals, no edition of letters can represent all details of the original documents. That having been said, our aim is to help our readers experience something of the moment of composition, which only a careful examination of the manuscript can offer fully. Our position on this aspect of the editorial rationale is based on G. Thomas Tanselle’s critique of modernization and his argument that editors of historical documents should preserve in a scholarly edition a writer’s deletions and, by extension, other meaningful features of the holograph, for then “the editor allows the reader to have the same experience” as the original reader of the historical document (“Editing” 50–51).
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Interpreting the Manuscript The manuscripts of James’s letters show that James was a spontaneous letter writer who wrote rapidly, for they contain a substantial number of changes and corrections that constitute each letter’s “drafts” through its “revisions.” The position and apparent sequence of James’s cancellations, corrections, and insertions indicate that he adjusted, shaped, and sharpened his meaning as he wrote, working just ahead of his pen, when he noticed an error or clarified his meaning at all. Those changes, made as he drove himself to answer letter after letter received and to open new paths of communication, reveal James’s mind in action. They also record the way in which James responded to individual correspondents and particular rhetorical situations. As we considered the changes—both what James rejected and what he accepted—as well as the representation of those changes, it became evident that those adjustments were themselves interesting because James obviously made the particular change for a reason. And such changes could hold an interest all their own, just as they 298
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would for those who read the original letters. In the same way shifts and turns of meaning are signaled by changes, so too do mistakes and errors of carelessness and other idiosyncrasies carry meaning. To omit those details would be to misrepresent the letter James wrote and his correspondent read. Thus, we sought an approach to editing the letters that would enable us to represent what James wrote, that is, what appears on the letter page and what the letter recipient read so that readers of this edition might use the edited letters more nearly as they would James’s own originals. The most suitable approach we found is plain-text editing, developed by Robert H. Hirst for Mark Twain’s Letters and adapted for this edition. The plain-text approach to editing and representing the letter does not attempt to render a typographical facsimile of the letter text. It enables us to represent meaningful details of the text of the historical document. At the same time, by using commonly understood editorial symbols in combination with a record of emendations and other textual notes, we provide the reader with a highly reliable and readable edition. By including in the edited text cancellations, insertions, and other changes present in the manuscripts and typescripts and by representing these manuscript details with similar ones in the typography, plain-text editing enables users to read the edited letters nearly as they would the originals without having to reconstruct changes entirely by way of an apparatus or specially memorized editing marks or by having to decipher James’s handwriting. By representing textual details of the letters rather than the letter writer’s final decisions only, plain-text editing enables readers to see when and where in a letter James changed his mind or altered an emphasis. We base our decision to present the letters in a plain-text style, in part, in terms of Tanselle’s point that “the posting of a letter is equivalent to the publication of a literary work, for each activity serves as the means by which a particular kind of communication is directed to its audience” (“The Editorial Problem” 204). Henry James indicated his preference for a “definitive” letter as soon as he sealed an envelope and sent it through the mail. We see no reason, then, to alter the meaningful elements of what James wrote and a letter’s recipient read. In “Recent Editorial Discussion and the Central Questions of Editing” Tanselle elaborated the concept by argu299
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ing that “[r]eaders are not normally prevented from understanding a text by oddities and inconsistencies of punctuation and spelling, and when these irregularities are characteristic of the author what is the point of altering them? It is hard to see why editors think they are accomplishing anything by straightening out the details of spelling and punctuation in a letter or journal simply for the sake of tidying it up” (58).
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Representing the Manuscript The Complete Letters of Henry James introduces the text of each of James’s letters with a header and follows each letter with textual commentary and informational annotation. The header to each letter provides the full name of the correspondent on the first line, the full date on the second line, and the form of the source text (ALS, TLC, etc.), the name of its repository, and, if applicable, the catalog number of the source text on the successive line or lines. Square brackets in the first line indicate a woman recipient’s married name if she wasn’t married at the time of the letter’s writing and is better known to history or in James’s biography by her married name (thus, Lilla Cabot [Perry] but not Elizabeth Boott [Duveneck]). Square brackets in the second line indicate our insertion of dates not written on the letter itself. Square brackets in the header’s repository description are a part of the archival information. James regularly leaves letters partially or wholly undated in terms of day, month, or year. When James omits the day and/or the month dates from his letters, we date them conjecturally through an examination of the letter and envelope, when one is available. We explain in a note the reason for our dating. When James omits the year date, we determine it through an examination of the letter and, when available, the envelope. When that evidence differs from a year date arrived at by earlier scholars, we explain in a note the reason for our dating. Our aim in dating letters is to arrive at the best date or range of dates possible given the evidence provided in the letter (and occasionally the stationery) itself. Of course, all such dating is to one degree or another conjectural. The articulation of multiple dates over which a letter was writ300
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ten deserves a few words of explanation. We give the dates of a letter written over the course of more than one day, when each day is indicated in the letter itself either by an actual date written or when the letter gives evidence that there were starts and stops in composition, with a comma separating the dates on which the letter was written (e.g., 19, 20 May [1879]). When the letter gives a temporal cue of time separating the writing of sections of the letter (“yesterday,” “last night,” “two days ago”) but the date of the writing is not written in the letter, the implied dates are given in square brackets ([9], 11 January [1881]). When it is clear from evidence in the letter that James began writing the letter late one day and finished it without a marked break on the next, the dates are separated by an en dash ([31 December 1878]–[1 January] 1879). We use the ✉ sign in the letter’s header to indicate the presence of an envelope with a given letter. That ✉ sign recurs prior to previous publication information to signal a description of the address and postal cancellation stamp(s). If James wrote on letterhead stationery, we indicate the content of the letterhead on the next line of the letter’s header in CAPITAL LETTERS. Our approach to annotation in general is to provide information that will help our readers understand not only some of what we judge James’s reader might have known but also, when it will help provide a useful context, what we know about people, places, and subjects to which James referred. While no set of notes can be fully exhaustive or will satisfy every reader, if we err, we prefer to err on the side of providing too much information, as it were, rather than too little. Overall, we hope that our notes provide a way for readers to develop for themselves insights into James’s letters, life, and time. Biographical information gleaned from combinations of sources for birth and death records such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Ancestry.com, national census and marriage data, and other standard reference works is not cited in the notes or in the biographical register. All other sources of information are given. We translate foreign phrases that we judge might not be familiar to many of our readers. We offer these translations in the informational notes. 301
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The texts of the letters that comprise this edition are reproduced essentially as they were written and sent, without correction or normalization, including cancellations, as long as that text can be intelligibly transcribed with typographical features available to the editors via the page designers. If what might be a significant feature of the manuscript can be represented in the edition, it has been. Infrequently in some letters either the recipient, a family member who gathered and reviewed the letters, or an editor added a comment. None of these interventions is represented in the edited letter texts, which aim to give James’s letters as James wrote and sent them. Our preservation of James’s spelling and punctuation not only shows James’s use of American, English, French, Italian, and other languages and his attention or lack of attention to certain words but also may suggest that in certain instances James might have misspelled a word deliberately to create a pun or other humorous effect. His use of the Scottish colloquialism “paukiest” (29 September [1878] to MWJ, CLHJ, 1876–1878 2: 218), as well as “leetle” for “little” in his 31 August [1881] letter to Thomas Bailey Aldrich (p. 258), “jalousering” rather than “making others jealous” in his 3 April [1878] letter to Elizabeth Boott (CLHJ, 1876–1878 2: 82), and “Curnarder” for “Cunarder” (22 March [1874] to W J, CLHJ, 1872–1876 2: 140) indicate typical puns that depend on a special language of intimacy (“jalouser-ing”) or mimicry of American speech (“leetle,” “Curnarder”). James also used variant spellings that are less common in the early twenty-first century (e.g., “edefice,” “shew,” “despatch,” “fulness,” and “fidgetty”), and we preserve these variant spellings, as we do those in other languages. Variant spellings in English and other languages receive no commentary. James would, on occasion, inadvertently misspell words. Inadvertent misspellings are indicated as such in the corresponding textual commentary so that it is clear to our readers that the slip was James’s. Where James misspells one word into a correct spelling of another word, such as “cease” in “If I were at home I would cease mother round her delicate waist and lift her to ethereal heights in celebration of this fact latest” (14 August [1873] to his parents, CLHJ, 1872– 1876 2: 33), we give no misspelling note, since the problem is a misuse rather than a misspelling. It is also possible that James was here 302
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making a pronunciation pun, and to call attention to this instance of “cease” as a misuse or a misspelling would occur at the cost of preventing our readers from entertaining that possibility. In the same way, when James wrote to his father in his letter of 4 March [1873] (CLHJ, 1872–1876 1: 227) that “The Tweedies and Bootts rut along & I rut against them as usual,” we believe that James’s use of the word “rut” should receive no comment. Implying that James may have meant to write a different word or that he inadvertently wrote an “incorrect” word would impose a particular and overly speculative interpretation on James’s text. Occasionally the manuscript of one of James’s letters has been damaged. Sometimes, when the damage is minimal, missing text can be interpolated with a high degree of certainty. For instance, the envelope to James’s letter of 24 January 1881 to Thomas Sergeant Perry has a portion torn off. But the text that is missing is obvious enough from the context to allow us to supply the missing text within square brackets (p. 152). Only when the lost manuscript text is as obvious as in these examples do we resort to interpolating. But elsewhere an entire portion of a page can be cut or torn off; for instance, in James’s letter of 18 August [1880] to William Dean Howells (p. 39). In such an instance, it is impossible to do more than speculate what the missing portion might have said or even how much is missing, as additional pages could have been lost. In these instances, the textual commentary indicates only the existence of the damage. We mark these places in the letter text with a bracketed ellipse. We provide no textual commentary on James’s misspellings of proper names unless comprehension is otherwise severely compromised. We do, however, provide the correct spelling of the name in the explanatory notes. James’s use of Italian presents special problems. Standard spelling of nineteenth-century Italian in some cases may be less certain than spelling of English or French words. There is also evidence that James uses dialectic and archaic forms that may not be incorrect in terms of their spelling (e.g., 8 March [1875] to Elizabeth Boott, CLHJ, 1872–1876 2: 211–12) but are used awkwardly or syntactically incorrectly as they would be by many nonnative speakers and writers. Similarly, we do not gloss James’s spelling in his letter of 4 March [1879] to his brother William of the German 303
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“ungemüthlich” (CLHJ, 1878–1880 1: 125); while this today would be an idiosyncratic spelling, it was an accepted variant in 1879. Consistent, then, with our annotation of James’s misspellings in other languages, we annotate a word as a misspelling only when we are certain that James’s spelling deviates from accepted contemporary usage. We indicate inadvertent repetition of a word caused by a line or page break by a note in the textual commentary. We do not gloss inadvertent omissions of words or midline repetitions, and readers should assume these to be James’s. We report all cases of end-line hyphenation in the textual notes. Knowledge of usage frequencies, surveyed through electronic searches for particular word combinations across several thousand transcribed letters, helps us to make representational decisions when we are faced with two possibilities. For example, in a 17 November [1878] letter to Charles Eliot Norton, James writes that the details of London life “rather outrun one’s power [or “powers”?] of notation” (CLHJ, 1878–1880 1: 41). The shape and size of the pen marking at the end of the word make it unclear if it is an s or just a flourish of the r. Either reading, “power of” or “powers of,” fits the context of the phrase. We decided to render “power of” after we conducted a search for both “power of” and “powers of” in our electronic files of all letters through 1879. “Powers of” only appears in two letters, and in those, the final s is absolutely clear; “power of” (clearly without an s) appears three times. Therefore, we felt that it was not atypical of James to use the phrase “power of” and, as a result, that this would be the more likely reading. Since we do not follow James’s line endings, line breaks are recorded in the textual commentary when a break could help to explain an awkwardness in a letter or a contemporary use of a word. For example, in his 7 November [1880] letter to Grace Norton, Henry James wrote “an obligation of justice—” at the end of one line and began the next with “—the risk takes it out of that category” (p. 85). Yet the meaning of the dashes is not clear. (Should they be rendered as a pair of hyphens or as two long dashes to indicate two words separated by a line break?) In his 24 February 1881 letter to Sr., HJ wrote “sea-” at the end of one line and then “port” at the beginning of the next (p. 177). After examining contemporary usage 304
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of “sea-port” and “seaport,” we decided to offer the word without the hyphen, as it was written during the time of the letter’s writing. In such cases, we do not preserve the hyphen in the edited letter text to represent common contemporary usage of the word. Thus, we preserve the possible importance of the line break in a textual note to give interested readers the opportunity to decide for themselves its significance. James rarely uses indentation to mark a subject change in his letters and instead often uses a dash. Like many of his generation, James relied on a dash for a range of meanings, including to mark a shift in subject when it follows a period. He also used it within a sentence to mark a parenthetical thought and between sentences to mark a shift in thought but not a subject change. In addition, James did not seem to relate the length of the dash to its meaning. Thus, a dash marking emphasis cannot be distinguished in terms of its length from one marking a transition between subjects. Because James seems not to have related meaning to length, because we couldn’t be sure in every case—or even in most cases—of a dash’s particular function, and because we thought it likely that not all of James’s own correspondents could have understood his idiosyncratic meaning, we represent all such dashes as em dashes and thus represent them without distinguishing their function. Our readers will have to determine for themselves, just as James’s did, whether a dash between sentences indicates a new paragraph, as it were, or not. Here, as elsewhere, we remain consistent with James’s own practice in his letters. We follow James’s indentations in terms of their relation to each other rather than in relation to their exact distance from the left margin of his pages (see Hirst, “Editing”). Thus, we give James’s shortest indentation one standard indentation space. We give his next longest indentation two, next longest after that three, and so on. Where James places a line or series of lines against the right margin of his paper, so do we. We represent material inserted interlineally by James (usually signaled in his letters with a caret) with a caret preceding the insertion and a bracketed caret to mark the end of the insertion. When James inserted material interlineally but omitted a caret, we supply in square brackets the initial caret to mark the start of the inserted 305
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material. A second bracketed caret marks the end of the interlineal insertion. In this edition, interlineal insertions always appear after the cancellations above which James placed them, even in cases when James placed the caret to the left of the deletion. In so doing, we favor in our transcriptions a temporal rather than a spatial representation of James’s text, showing first what he wrote first and second what he wrote second. Intralineal insertions are noted in the textual commentary. When nearing the end of his letter and also the end of available blank space on his page, James would, in the convention of his time, finish his letter in the margin of a page or across a page. This we note. James’s drawings are reproduced in as close to the original relationship with the text as possible, given the nature of typography and publishing restrictions.
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Representing Idiosyncrasies Recurrent stylistic idiosyncrasies are meaningful. One such idiosyncrasy is James’s way of emphasis by underlining once, twice, three times or more, sometimes with a flourish, occasionally with a circle around or a wavy line beneath a word or phrase. We render those forms of emphasis as James did. Just as we work to represent the meaning inherent or, perhaps, explicit in the range of cancellations, so do we represent as literally as possible the meanings inherent in the range of James’s means of showing emphasis. Reading particular idiosyncratic elements of Henry James’s handwriting is a challenge because many of the letter forms—for example, h and b, a, u, o, and v, as well as T and J—often look alike. To distinguish them, one must first remember the range of ambiguous letter forms and then consider their possible combinations in the context of an entire word or individual words in a phrase or sentence—only then can one begin to read James’s hand accurately. An example of understanding the context of a particular letter form appears in James’s 22 February [1876] missive to Alice James (CLHJ, 1872–1876 3: 70–74), in which he “beseech[es]” his family to “send me a couple of my card=photos. [. . .] I entreat you.” He continues: “Imagine me on my knees, with streaming hair, & [. . .]” The 306
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next words could be read as either “flaming eyes” or “flowing eyes” because of the similarity of James’s am to his ow (72). We determined that James must have been referring to lines from “Avis,” a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes: “Mary clasped her Saviour’s feet / With flowing eyes and streaming hair” (59–60), and so we rendered the words in question as “flowing eyes.” An unfamiliar proper name may pose a problem if one lacks an immediate context in which to understand critical letter forms. For example, James’s v can be confused with n and vice versa. In his 11 May [1881] letter to Sr., HJ reported that “I was further present in Florence at the nuptials of S. G. C. Middlemore & Miss [. . .]” and then wrote either “Neva Sturgis” or “Nena Sturgis.” After locating the Florentine marriage record of Samuel George Chetwynd Middlemore and Maria Trinidad Howard Sturgis, we were able to determine that “Nena” was the correct reading, as that was Sturgis’s nickname (p. 218). A similar problem occurred in the typed copy of James’s letter of 29 July [1874] to Sarah Butler Wister (the original has been lost) (CLHJ, 1872–1876 2: 194). In that letter the transcriber gave the following: “I cut out of the Galignani the other day, to send you, a paragraph on Miss Lane’s marriage, at Venice, but have stupidly lost it.” Our problem was that we had no knowledge of a “Miss Lane” and could find out nothing about a person who seemed from the context to be so well known by James and Mrs. Wister. We wondered whether the transcriber had mistaken “Lane” for another name, perhaps “Lowe”; James and Mrs. Wister knew Elena Lowe. James’s letter forms for ow could be misread as an. The only way to know for sure, however, would be to read the article that James cut from the Galignani. We located a copy of the 9 July 1874 Galignani’s Messenger, which reports on page 3 the 20 June 1874 marriage in Venice of Elena Lowe, “daughter of the late Francis Lowe, Esq., of Boston,” and “Gerald Raoul Perry, Esq.,” British consul to the Island of Réunion and son of Sir William Perry, “for many years H.B.M.’s Consul- General at Venice” (“Married”). There are instances of James’s handwriting for which we have not been able to find neat solutions. Special problems include words that may or may not end in a final s, words in the middle of a sentence that may or may not be capitalized, and compound words like “anything,” 307
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“somewhere,” and “everyone” that may be one or two words. Understanding James’s habits regarding capitalization in a particular letter, knowing his good knowledge of English grammar, and mapping his letter-spacing habits provide ways to understand other difficulties of James’s hand. One difficulty is the ever more frequent malformation of certain letters—three times, for example, in 19 August [1880] to Grace Norton (pp. 43–45)—especially m and n. In previous volumes, we read such malformations (an m that lacked a shoulder and appeared as an n or an nn sequence that lacked a shoulder and appeared, say, as ne) as misspellings and slips. But given the frequency of such errors, we now read them as malformed letters. As malformations, we represent them correctly in the edited letter. At the same time, we realize that such correction of the malformed character to a conventional one stands as an emendation. Thus such emendations are marked in the textual notes with a note that indicates the malformation in the original. James often but not always linked the personal pronoun “I” to the following word, especially in the combinations “I had” and “I have.” Having concluded that this link is not meaningful and that representing James’s habit of linking the words would make reading the printed letter awkward, we have silently inserted a space in these instances. For the same reasons, we have also systematically and silently inserted a space in James’s signature between “James” and “jr.” when James, as he often did, linked them. James’s writing of “à propos” or “àpropos” is not always easy to represent. In most instances, James clearly uses “à propos” according to what we know now as French custom, with a space between the accented preposition and “propos,” or according to English custom, without an accent on the preposition and without a word space: “apropos.” In some instances, he gives “àpropos” with an accent and also connects the accented initial letter to the second one. This spelling occurred in both manuscript and published writing during James’s day. In other instances, the accented preposition is not linked to the next letter, but neither does James follow it with a full word space. In these instances, we render the term as “à propos.” James’s use of the apostrophe is irregular and does not always 308
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conform to today’s conventions. We cannot always know if James’s errors were the result of carelessness, convention, or a poor understanding of the appropriate uses of apostrophes. Whatever the reasons, we believe that it is important not to correct or standardize his use of the apostrophe. When there is doubt about the placement of an apostrophe, we give James the benefit of the doubt and represent that placement according to his best usage. Where there is no doubt of his placement, we show it as it appears in his hand. James’s habit was not to write out “and.” He most often used instead an abbreviated ampersand like the one used by contemporaries such as Samuel Clemens, Charles Eliot Norton, and William James. Consistent with our presenting James’s abbreviated words and names as he wrote them in his letters, we represent James’s abbreviated ampersand with the symbol &.
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Cancellation Our approach to representing James’s cancellations is worth some discussion because cancellation is one place where readers can see James revising his letters, adjusting words to meaning. James frequently cancels material with one or more lines. When these are legible, we represent them as struck-through text (cancel, /, cancel, etc.). We represent illegible canceled letters with the mark we use to indicate illegible single letter characters, ◇, struck through: ◇. When a series of canceled characters is illegible to the point that we cannot determine the number of characters, we represent it with a black rectangular box: ▬. James also canceled words and letters within words by overwriting them. This we represent by giving the overwritten word or part of a word as struck-through text followed by the word that results after the overwriting. James would also blot out letters or words before the ink dried and then sometimes overwrite the blot. In the edited letters we indicate blotting as struck-through text. Since the precise nature of James’s change is never entirely obvious from how we have represented overwriting and blotting out, all cases of overwriting and blotting receive an explanation in the textual notes. When a literal representation of a cancellation of a single charac309
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General Editors’ Note
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ter in the original letter is easily readable, we prefer that representation. For example, in his 24 February 1881 letter to Sr., James wrote “succeeds” and then changed his mind and canceled the second s by blotting it out (p. 177). While it is true that James in essence canceled the entire word, “succeeds,” and replaced it with “succeed” when he blotted the final s, representing the change as “succeeds succeed” would not, in our judgment, aid readability and would also be a less accurate representation of the manuscript. Infrequently, other revisions by overwriting are more complicated. These instances include ambiguity regarding what is overwritten and what is overwriting. For instance, near the end of his 24 August [1876] letter to his mother, the manuscript is unclear whether James at first wrote “sectretary” and then corrected the word by writing a new c over ct, thus giving “secretary,” or if he spelled out “sect,” wrote a new c over the ct, and then completed the word. Given this uncertainty, we represent this cancellation and correction as “sect secretary” with a corresponding textual note explaining that “c overwrites ct” (CLHJ, 1872–1876 3: 174). The full version of this general editors’ note is given in the first volume of The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1855–1872 (xlix–lxviii).
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Works Cited
Previously Published Letters Alan James
Anesko
CLHJ, 1855–1872 CLHJ, 1872–1876 CLHJ, 1876–1878 CLHJ, 1878–1880 CWJ
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Gunter
Harlow
HJL
James, Henry. The Master, the Modern Major General, and His Clever Wife: Henry James’s Letters to Field Marshall Lord Wolseley and Lady Wolseley, 1878–1913. Ed. Alan G. James. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012. Anesko, Michael. Letters, Fictions, Lives: Henry James and William Dean Howells. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1855– 1872. Ed. Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias. 2 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1872– 1876. Ed. Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias. 3 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008–11. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1876– 1878. Ed. Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias. 2 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2012–13. James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1878– 1880. Ed. Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias. 2 vols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2014–15. James, William, and Henry James. The Correspondence of William James. Ed. Ignas Skrupskelis and Elizabeth Berkeley. 12 vols. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1992–2004. Gunter, Susan E., ed. Dear Munificent Friends: Henry James’s Letters to Four Women. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999. Harlow, Virginia. Thomas Sergeant Perry: A Biography and Letters to Perry from William, Henry, and Garth Wilkinson James. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1950. James, Henry. Henry James: Letters. Ed. Leon Edel. 4 vols. Cambridge MA: Belknap–Harvard University Press, 1974– 84.
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Works Cited Horne Layard Lubbock Monteiro
Moore
Palgrave
SL 1 SL 2 WHSL
Zorzi
Horne, Philip, ed. Henry James: A Life in Letters. New York: Viking, 1999. Layard, George Somes. Mrs. Lynn Linton: Her Life, Letters, and Opinions. London: Methuen and Company, 1901. Lubbock, Percy, ed. The Letters of Henry James. 2 vols. New York: Scribner’s, 1920. Monteiro, George, ed. The Correspondence of Henry James and Henry Adams, 1877–1914. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992. Moore, Rayburn S., ed. The Correspondence of Henry James and the House of Macmillan, 1877–1914. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1993. Palgrave, Gwenllian F. Francis Turner Palgrave: His Journals and Memories of His Life. New York: Longmans, Green, 1899. James, Henry. Selected Letters of Henry James. Ed. Leon Edel. New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1955. James, Henry. Henry James: Selected Letters. Ed. Leon Edel. Cambridge MA: Belknap–Harvard University Press, 1987. James, William, and Henry James. William and Henry James: Selected Letters. Ed. Ignas Skrupskelis and Elizabeth Berkeley. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1997. James, Henry. Letters to Isabella Stewart Gardner. Ed. Rosella Mamoli Zorzi. London: Pushkin Press, 2009.
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Additional Works Cited [Adams, Henry]. Democracy: An American Novel. New York: Henry Holt, 1880. Aldrich, Thomas Bailey. The Stillwater Tragedy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1880. Allen, [Charles] Grant Blairfindie. “The Genesis of Genius.” Atlantic Monthly 47 (Mar. 1881): 371–81. Anesko, Michael. “Friction with the Market”: Henry James and the Profession of Authorship. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. ———. “Introduction: The Real Career, the Larger Success.” The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1878–1880, vol. 1. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2014. xix–xlv. Baedeker, Karl. Great Britain: England, Wales, and Scotland as Far as Loch
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Works Cited Maree and the Cromarty Firth. Handbook for Travellers. Leipsic: Karl Baedeker, 1887. ———. Italy. Handbook for Travellers First Part: Northern Italy Including Leghorn, Florence, Ravenna, the Island of Corsica, and Routes Through France, Switzerland, and Austria. Leipsic: Karl Baedeker, 1882. ———. Paris and Environs with Routes from London to Paris and from Paris to the Rhine and Switzerland. Handbook for Travellers. Leipsic: Karl Baedeker, 1881. “Books. Washington Square.” Spectator (Feb. 1881): 185–86. Boswell, James. Life of Johnson. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Bradshaw, George. Bradshaw’s Monthly Continental Railway, Steam Transit, and General Guide for Travellers through Europe 204 (May 1864). Brodhead, Richard H. The School of Hawthorne. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Broughton, Rhoda. Cometh Up as a Flower: An Autobiography. 2 vols. London: Tinsely Brothers, 1867. [Brownell, W. C.] “James’s Portrait of a Lady.” Nation 34 (Feb. 1882): 102–3. Brunetière, Ferdinand. Études critiques sur l’histoire de la littérature française. Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1880. Bryce, James. The American Commonwealth. 3 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1888. Cable, George Washington. The Grandissimes. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1880. “The Century Magazine.” Century Magazine n.s. 1 (1881): 143–44. Chapman, John Jay. Emerson and Other Essays. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1898. Cook, Dutton. Nights at the Play: A View of the English Stage. Vol. 2. London: Chatto and Windus, 1883. Curtis, George William. Nile Notes of a Howadji. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1851. ———. Potiphar Papers. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1865. ———. Prue and I. New York: Dix, Edwards and Company, 1856. Disraeli, Benjamin. Endymion. 3 vols. London: Longmans and Green, 1880. Dumas, Alexandre, fils. La princesse de Bagdad. Théâtre Français, Paris. 31 January 1881. Performance. Duveneck, Frank. Elizabeth Boott, 1880. 1880. Oil on canvas. Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati. ———. Francis Boott. 1881. Oil on canvas. Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati.
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Works Cited Earle, Maria Theresa Villiers. Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden. London: Smith, Elder, 1897. Edel, Leon. Henry James: The Conquest of London, 1870–1881. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1962. ———. “Preface to the 1964 Edition.” The Diary of Alice James. Ed. Leon Edel. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999. Edel, Leon, and Dan H. Laurence, comps., with the assistance of James Rambeau. A Bibliography of Henry James. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Edel, Leon, and Adeline Tintner, comps. and eds. The Library of Henry James. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1987. Eliot, George. Impressions of Theophrastus Such. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1879. Fiske, John. “Sociology and Hero-Worship: An Evolutionist’s Reply to Dr. James.” Atlantic Monthly 47 (Jan. 1881): 75–84. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Italiänische Reise. Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta, 1870. Goodman, Susan, and Carl Dawson. William Dean Howells: A Writer’s Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Gorra, Michael. Portrait of a Novel. New York: Liveright, 2012. Grant, Robert. The Confessions of a Frivolous Girl. Boston: A. Williams and Company, 1880. “Grant’s Shameless Weather.” New York Times 29 May 1880: 4:5. [Hay, John]. “James’s The Portrait of a Lady.” New York Tribune 25 Dec. 1881: 8, cols. 1–2. H[aziltine], M[ayo] W[illiamson]. “Mr. James’s New Novel.” New York Sun 27 Nov. 1881: 1, col. 4. Highfill, Philip H., Jr., Kalman A. Burnim, and Edward A. Langhans. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800 Vol. 8. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982. Hirst, Robert H. “Editing Mark Twain, Hand to Hand, ‘Like All D——d Fool Printers.’” Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 88 (1994): 157–88. ———. “Guide to Editorial Practice.” Mark Twain’s Letters, vol. 3. Ed. Victor Fischer and Michael B. Frank. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. 551–78. Howells, William Dean. Dr. Breen’s Practice. Serialized in the Atlantic Monthly 48.286 (1881): 145–64; 48.287 (1881): 289–310. ———. Dr. Breen’s Practice. A Novel. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1881.
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Works Cited ———. A Foregone Conclusion. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875. ———. “Henry James, Jr.” Century Magazine 25 (Nov. 1882): 24–29. [———]. “James’s Hawthorne.” Atlantic Monthly 45 (Nov. 1880): 282–85. ———. “Mr. Aldrich’s Fiction.” Atlantic Monthly 46 (Nov. 1880): 695–98. ———. The Undiscovered Country. Serialized in the Atlantic Monthly 45 (1880): 66–84, 216–40, 336–54, 499–523, 641–60, 780–805; 46 (1880): 83–111. ———. The Undiscovered Country. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1880. Huntington, Simon. The Huntington Family in America. Hartford CT: Huntington Family Association, 1915. James, Henry. “Alphonse Daudet.” Atlantic Monthly 49 (June 1882): 846– 51. ———. The American. London: Macmillan, 1879. ———. “The Art of Fiction.” Partial Portraits. London: Macmillan, 1888. 375–408. ———. “Avignon.” A Little Tour of France. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1885. 211–17. ———. A Bundle of Letters. Boston: Loring, 1880. ———. “Casa Alvisi.” Italian Hours. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1909. 107–15. ———. The Complete Notebooks of Henry James. Ed. Leon Edel and Lyall H. Powers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. ———. Daisy Miller. Ed. Kristin Boudreau and Megan Stoner Morgan. Peterborough ONT: Broadview, 2012. ———. Daisy Miller: A Comedy. Atlantic Monthly 51 (Apr.–June): 433–56, 577–97, 721–40. ———. Daisy Miller: A Comedy in Three Acts. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1883. [———]. “A European Summer. VI. From Chambery to Milan.” Nation 25 (21 Nov. 1872): 332–34. ———. French Poets and Novelists. London: Macmillan, 1878. ———. Hawthorne. London: Macmillan, 1879. ———. An International Episode. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1879. Harper’s Half-Hour Ser. 91. ———. Letter to Frederick Macmillan, 27 Dec. [1881], Add. MS, f. 88–89. Macmillan Papers, British Library, London. ———. Letter to Henrietta Reubell, 9 Jan. 1882, Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1046). Houghton Library, Harvard University. ———. Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 12 Apr. 1882, Kozol 20. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
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Works Cited ———. Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 5 June [1882], Kozol 20. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. ———. Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 3 Sept. [1882], Kozol 22. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. ———. Letter to Jane Hill, 15 Jan. 1882, TLC. Creighton University. ———. Letter to Lady Louisa Wolseley, 30 Dec. [1882], Hove 105, Hove Central Library. ———. Letter to Mary Walsh James, 22 Jan. [1882], Houghton bMS Am 1094 (1921). Houghton Library, Harvard University. ———. Letter to Robertson James, 27 Jan. [1882], MS Copy Center for Henry James Studies. Creighton University. ———. Letter to Sir John Clark, 8 Jan. [1882], Special Collections MSS 6251, box 6, folder 36. Clifton Waller Barrett Library, University of Virginia. ———. Letter to Thomas Sergeant Perry, 23 Jan. 1882, Special Collections. Miller Library, Colby College. ———. Letter to William H. Huntington, 22 Nov. [1882], Special Collections MSS 6251, box 8, folder 71. Clifton Waller Barrett Library, University of Virginia. ———. Letter to William James, 1 Jan. 1883, Houghton bMS Am 1094 (2000). Houghton Library, Harvard University. ———. Letter to William James, 5 Jan. 1883, Houghton bMS Am 1094 (2004). Houghton Library, Harvard University. ———. Letter to William James, 11 Feb. [1883], Houghton bMS Am 1094 (2006). Houghton Library, Harvard University. [———]. “London Pictures and London Plays.” Atlantic Monthly 50 (Aug. 1882): 253–63. [———]. “The London Theatres.” Unsigned review. Scribner’s Monthly 21 ( Jan. 1881): 354–69. [———]. “Nadal’s Impressions of England.” Unsigned review of Impressions of London Social Life, by Ehrman Syme Nadal. Nation 21 (7 Oct. 1875): 232–33. ———. “The Point of View.” Century Magazine 25 (Dec. 1882): 248–68. [———]. The Portrait of a Lady. Serialized in the Atlantic Monthly 46 (1880): 585–611, 740–66; 47 (1881): 1–27, 176–205, 335–59, 449–77, 623– 47, 800–826; 48 (1881): 59–85, 213–40, 338–65, 479–99, 620–40, 751– 70. ———. The Portrait of a Lady. Serialized in Macmillan’s Magazine 42 (1880): 401–27; 43 (1881): 1–27, 81–106, 161–89, 249–72, 329–56, 409–32; 44 (1881): 1–26, 81–106, 171–98, 241–67, 321–41, 401–20; 45 (1881): 1–19.
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Works Cited ———. Preface. The Portrait of a Lady. Novels and Tales of Henry James, vol. 3, v–xxi. ———. Review of “Théâtre de Théophile Gautier: Mystères, Comédies, et Ballets.” North American Review 116 (Apr. 1873): 310–29. ———. “Theophile Gautier.” French Poets and Novelists. London: Macmillan and Company, 1878. 31–56. [———]. Unsigned review of Henry Irving as Louis XI and Olivia at the Court Theatre. Nation 36 (13 June 1878): 389. ———. “Venice.” Century Magazine 25 (Nov. 1882): 3–23. ———. Washington Square. Cornhill Magazine 41 (1880): 641–64; 42 (1880): 107–28, 129–52, 364–84, 385–403, 616–40. James, Henry, III. Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, 1869– 1909. 2 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930. ———, ed. The Letters of William James. 2 vols. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1920. ———. Richard Olney and His Public Service. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1923. James, Henry, Sr. Society the Redeemed Form of Man, and the Earnest of God’s Omnipotence in Human Nature: Affirmed in Letters to a Friend. Boston: Houghton, Osgood, 1879. ———. “Some Personal Recollections of Carlyle.” Atlantic Monthly 47 (1881): 593–609. James, William. “Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment.” Atlantic Monthly 46 (Oct. 1880): 441–59. ———. “The Importance of Individuals.” Open Court 4 (7 Aug. 1890): 2437–40. Jokilehto, Jukka. A History of Architectural Conservation. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999. Kaplan, Fred. Henry James: The Imagination of Genius. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1992. Kirkland, Janice J. “Henry James and the Darwins of Ridgemount.” Henry James Review 19.1 (1998): 91–93. Lang, Andrew. XXII Ballades in Blue China. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1880. ———. The Blue Fairy Book. London: Longman’s, Green, and Company, 1889. ———. The Prince of Omur, and Other Poems. London: Houlston and Son, 1880. ———. Theocriticus, Bion, and Moschus Rendered into English Verse. London: Macmillan, 1880.
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Works Cited Linton, Eliza Lynn. The Atonement of Leam Dundas. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1876. “Literature. Henry James, Jr., on the Life of Hawthorne.” New York Herald 19 Jan. 1880: 5. “Literature . . . Hawthorne, by Henry James, Jr.” Chicago Times 31 Jan. 1880: 8. “Literature.” Independent 34 (19 Jan. 1882): 11. Lowell, James Russell. “Garfield: Spoken on the Death of President Garfield at the Memorial Meeting in Exeter Hall, London, 24 September, 1881.” Democracy and Other Addresses. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1893. 44–56. Maher, Jane. Biography of Broken Fortunes. Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1986. Marks, Patricia. Sarah Bernhardt’s First American Theatrical Tour, 1880–1881. Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2003. “Married.” Galignani’s Messenger 9 July 1874: 3. Mérimée, Prosper. Lettres à M. Panizzi, 1850–1870. Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1881. Milnes, Richard Monckton, ed. Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats. 2 vols. London: Murray, 1900. Moses, Montrose F. Famous Actor Families in America. New York: Greenwood Press, 1968. Nadal, Ehrman Syme. Impressions of London Social Life with Other Papers Suggested by an English Residence. London: Macmillan and Company, 1875. “New Publications: Henry James, Jr.” New York Tribune 6 Feb. 1881: 8, cols. 1–2. Norton, Charles Eliot. “Florence, and St. Mary of the Flower.” Atlantic Monthly 42 (1878): 564–75, 657–59. ———. Historical Studies of Church-Building in the Middle Ages: Venice, Siena, Florence. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880. ———. “Painting and Sculpture in Their Relation to Architecture, as Illustrated by the Practice of the Italian Artists of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.” American Art Review 1 (1880): 192–95, 249–53. ———. “Venice and St. Mark’s.” Atlantic Monthly 41 (1878): 202–17. Norton, Grace. The Influence of Montaigne. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1908. ———. The Spirit of Montaigne. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1908. ———. Studies in Montaigne. New York: Macmillan, 1904. “Novels of the Week.” Athenæum 2,822 (26 Nov. 1881): 699.
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Works Cited Orr, Alexandra Sutherland Leighton. “International Novelists and Mr. Howells.” Contemporary Review 37 (1880): 741–65. ———. “Mr. Henry James, Sr.” Athenæum 2,752 (24 July 1880): 113–15. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DNB online. 5 January 2016. Palgrave, Francis T. The Visions of England. London: Macmillan, 1881. [Perry, Thomas Sergeant]. “M. Zola as a Critic.” International Review 10 (Feb. 1881): 144–53. ———. “Recent French and German Essays.” Atlantic Monthly 47 (Mar. 1881): 418–22. ———. “Sir Walter Scott.” Atlantic Monthly 46 (Sept. 1880): 313–19. Parkman, Francis. The California and Oregon Trail: Being Sketches of Prairie and Rocky Mountain Life. New York: George P. Putnam, 1849. ———. France and England in North America. 7 vols. New York: Little, Brown, 1865–92. ———. Vassall Morton: A Novel. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1856. Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart. “The Man without a Country.” Independent 32 (6 May 1880): 1–2. “The Portrait of a Lady. By Henry James, Jr.” Californian 5 ( Jan. 1882): 86–87. “The Portrait of a Lady.” Pall Mall Gazette 3 Dec. 1881: 20. [Powell, Thomas]. “Washington Square.” New York Herald 6 Dec. 1880: 5. “Recent Novels.” Chicago Tribune 18 Dec. 1880: 10, col. 6. Rosmini-Serbati, Antonio. Delle cinque piaghe della Santa Chiesa. Lugano: Veladini, 1848. ———. Nuovo saggio sull’origine delle idee. 3 vols. Rome: Salviucci, 1830. “Royal Princess’s Theatre.” Times (London) 25 Oct. 1880: 8. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974. 1141–97. Strouse, Jean. Alice James: A Biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980. Supino, David J. Henry James: A Bibliographical Catalogue of a Collection of Editions to 1921. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006. Tanselle, G. Thomas. “The Editing of Historical Documents.” Studies in Bibliography 31 (1978): 1–56. ———. “The Editorial Problem of Final Intention.” Studies in Bibliography 29 (1975): 167–211. ———. “Recent Editorial Discussion and the Central Questions of Editing.” Studies in Bibliography 34 (1981): 23–65.
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Works Cited
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Trevelyan, George Otto. The Early History of Charles James Fox. London: Longman’s, 1880. Turner, James. The Liberal Education of Charles Eliot Norton. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. Ward, Adolphus William. Dickens. London: Macmillan, 1882. “Washington Square.” Pall Mall Gazette 4 Mar. 1881: 11. “Washington Square: Mr. Henry James and His New Story.” New York Tribune 13 June 1880: 8, cols. 2–3. Wells, Kate Gannett. “Women in Organizations.” Atlantic Monthly 46 (Sept. 1880): 360–67. Whiting, Lilian. The Golden Road. Boston: Little, Brown, 1918. “William Jones Hoppin.” Publications of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Vol. 4. Providence: Standard Printing, 1896. 55–56. Wolseley, Sir Garnet Joseph. The Soldier’s Pocket-Book for Field Service. London: Macmillan, 1869. Wortman, William. “The ‘Interminable Dramatic Daisy Miller.’” Henry James Review 28.3 (2007): 281–91. Yeazell, Ruth Bernard. The Death and Letters of Alice James. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981. Zola, Émile. Le naturalisme au théâtre: Les théories et les exemples. Paris: Charpentier, 1881. ———. “Le roman experimental.” Serialized in Le voltaire. 16–20 Oct. 1879: 1–2, 1–2, 1–2, 1–2, 1–2. Zorzi, Rosella Mamoli, ed. Letters from the Palazzo Barbaro. By Henry James et al. London: Pushkin Press, 1998.
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Index
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This index includes the names of every person to whom James addressed a letter (“letters to”), every person mentioned in a letter, every place from which a letter was sent (“letters from”), every place mentioned, every piece of art or architecture mentioned, and every article and book referred to. Page numbers in bold indicate entries in the Biographical Register. Italicized figure numbers refer to illustrations following page 138. Abbotsford (Scotland), 274 Adams, Henry, xix, xxvi, 20, 25n20.9, 60, 283; Democracy: An American Novel, 49, 50n49.14, 51, 52n51.26 Adams, Marian “Clover” Hooper, xix, xxvi, 20, 25n20.9, 60, 283; letter to (1881), 51 Adelphi Hotel (Liverpool), 268, 280 Adirondacks, 245 Adolphus William Ward: Dickens, 132n129.26–27 Adriatic Sea, 237 Agénor, Antoine Alfred, 11th duc de Gramont, 269, 271n269.29–30, 272, 283 Agénor, Margaretha Alexandrina de Rothschild, Duchesse de Gramont, 269, 271n269.29–30, 272, 283 Aïdé, Charles Hamilton, xxxviii, 80, 83n80n5, 180, 204 Airlie, Earl of. See Ogilvy, David Graham Drummond Airlie, Lady. See Ogilvy, Henrietta Blanche Stanley Airlie Castle (Angus, Scotland), 29, 265 Albany (NY), xxiii, 288 Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, 154, 157n154.29–30 Aldershot (England), 74n72.2 Aldrich, Mrs., 184 Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, xxxiv, 112, 284; Atlantic editorship and, 172, 174n172.21, 183, 185; Howells’s “Mr. Aldrich’s Fiction,” 88, 89n88.14, 115n112.28; letter from, 183; letters to (1881), 183–84,
215–16, 230–31, 246, 257–58, 277; Portrait of a Lady installments sent to, xli, 183–84, 215, 230, 249, 257–58; The Stillwater Tragedy, 88, 89n88.13–14 Alexander, John White, 211n211.20 Alexander II, Tsar of Russia, 189n188.16– 17 Allen, [Charles] Grant Blairfindie, 284; “The Genesis of Genius,” 105, 106n105.12, 192, 193n192.15 “Alphonse Daudet” ( James), xxviii Alps, 202 Ambleside (England), 240 America. See United States The American ( James), xxxiii, 19n16.30– 31, 287 “American Journals” (James), xxvii, xxix, xxxi The American Scene ( James), xxxiv Amsterdam (Netherlands), 23 Ancona (Italy), xl, 218, 219–20n218.9 Anesko, Michael, xxi, xxviii Antwerp (Belgium), 23 Appleton, Misses, 116 Argyll, Duke of. See Campbell, George Douglas Arnold, Matthew, 173 “L’Art” (Gautier), 174n172.33–34 A. S. Barnes and Co., 221n220.11, 284 Ashestiel (Scotland), 274 Ashfield (Norton residence, MA), 28, 29n28.5, 45, 53, 61, 84, 225, 238 Ashmead Bartlett, William Lehman, 42, 43n42.10 Asolo (Italy), 285 Athenæum, xxiii, 35, 73n69.27
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Index
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Atlantic Monthly: “Alphonse Daudet” ( James), xxviii; “Contributors Club,” 92; criticism of, 49; Daisy Miller: A Comedy ( James), xxxiii, xxxiv; Dr. Breen’s Practice (Howells), 276; editorship of, 29n27.33, 172, 174n172.14, 174n172.21, 183, 185, 186n185.21–22, 284, 287, 290; “The Genesis of Genius” (Allen), 105, 106n105.12, 192, 193n192.15; “Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment” (W. James), 90, 91n90.32, 106n105.12; Hawthorne review (Howells) in, xxi; “London Pictures and London Plays” (James), xxviii; “Mr. Aldrich’s Fiction” (Howells), 115n112.28; pay for Portrait in, 229–30, 250, 264, 279; The Portrait of a Lady in, xix, xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xli, xlii, 16–17, 18n16.10, 20–21, 31, 32n31.6, 53, 53n52.30, 54n53.15, 61, 86, 87n86.9–10, 88, 88n88.8–9, 115n112.34–113.1, 133, 133n132.34–133.1, 207, 229, 230–31, 231n230.29–30, 243, 247n246.19–20, 249, 250, 258n257.34, 279; “Sociology and Hero-Worship: An Evolutionist’s Reply to Dr. James” (Fiske), 105, 106n105.12; Undiscovered Country (Howells), 4n3.23 Austen, Jane, 131n127.23–24; Mansfield Park, 127, 131n127.23–24; Pride and Prejudice, 103, 131n127.23–24 Austria (Salzburg), 198 Avignon (France), xl, 176–77, 179, 182 Avignone, 237, 253 Bain, Alexander, 11, 14n11.6 Balls, Mary Anne, 265, 267n265.3 Baltimore (MD), 218 Balzac, Honoré de, xxii, xxxii Baring, Elizabeth Harriet, 111n108.17 Baring, Lady Jane Emma, 108, 111n108.17 Baring, Thomas George, 1st Earl of Northbrook, xxxviii, 107, 108, 111n107.23, 111n108.17, 284 Barnes, Henry Burr, 221n220.11, 221n220.12, 284; letter to (1881), 220 Barton, Susannah, 294 Bassano (Italy), xli
Basset (Southampton, England), xxxvii, 86, 87n86.22, 94 Beacon Street, no. 54 (Boston), 116 Beckenham (London), 71 Bedford Hotel (Brighton, England): letters from, 33–36, 37 Belgium, xxxvii, 23 Bellevue Court, no. 139 (Temple residence, Newport RI), 248n247.28 Bellosguardo, (Boott residence, Florence), 217, 284 Belmont (England), 57 Bennet, Lady Ida Louisa, 293 Bernal Osborne, Ralph, xli, 241, 243n241.14–15 Bernhardt, Sarah, 5, 136, 137n136.2, 154, 156n154.1, 173 Bethune, 273 Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Milan, Italy), 205n202.12–13 Bismarck, Otto von, 161, 164n161.18 Blandford, Marquess of. See Churchill, John Winston Spencer; SpencerChurchill, George Blaze de Bury, Henri, 78n77.4 Blaze de Bury, Marie Pauline, 78n77.4 Blaze de Bury, Yetta (aka Jane Brown), 78n77.4, 102, 104n102.28; letter from, 77 Bloomsbury (London), 194, 198 Boit, Edward Darley, 170n168.25, 284 Boit, Florence, 168, 170n168.25 Boit, Jane, 168, 170n168.25 Boit, Julia, 168, 170n168.25 Boit, Mary, 168, 170n168.25 Boit, Mary Louisa, 168, 170n168.25, 273, 284 Bolton Street, no. 3 (Piccadilly, London), xx, xxxix, 37, 120n119.1, 145, 175, 181, 182, 184, 215, 259; AJ and Katharine Loring staying at, xlii, 260; Cornwall compared to, 133; cost of lodgings, 194; invitation to Bootts, 62; letters from (1880), 3, 4–5, 6–7, 7–9, 10–13, 15, 16–18, 19–23, 40–42, 43–45, 62–63, 67–68, 76–77, 78–81, 84–86, 89–90, 92–95, 96–100, 102–3, 112–14, 115–17, 119, 120–21, 122, 124–25, 126; letters from (1881), 142, 149, 153–55, 165, 215–16, 228–30, 230–31, 232–34, 236–37,
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Index 238–39, 243, 246, 247–48, 249, 250, 253–55, 256–57, 257–58, 259, 264, 277, 278, 279; return to, xli, 71, 213; W J staying at, xxxvii, 14n13.9, 197n194.13 Booth, Edwin Thomas, 90, 91n90.27, 141, 142n141.14, 284 Booth, John Wilkes, 284 Boott, Elizabeth “Lizzie,” xix, 70, 219n217.27, 284, 286, fig 5; Duveneck portrait of, 217, 219n217.28; in England, 35, 62–63, 64n62.23; in Italy, 191; letter to (1880), 62–63; at Loseley Hall, 20; in Paris, 179n177.26; in Spain, 217 Boott, Francis “Frank,” xix, 64n63.4, 64n63.12, 208n208.1, 219n217.25, 284, fig 4; Duveneck portrait of, 217, 219n217.31–32; in England, 35; in Italy, xl, 191, 217; at Loseley Hall, 20 Bordighera (Italy), 203, 206n203.3 Borgia, Lucrezia, 202, 205n202.12–13 Boston (MA), xxix, 176, 266, 293; Beacon Street no. 54 (Appletons), 116; Brunswick Hotel, xxvii; Houghton, Mifflin office in, 184n184.4; journey to, 255; Louisburg Square, 72, 74n72.5, 76, 89, 90; Marlborough Street, no. 312 (Perrys), 173; Mount Vernon Street, xxxii; postmarks, 50, 95, 186 Boughton, George Henry, 209, 210n209.1, 284 Boughton, Katherine Louisa Cullen, 210n209.1, 284; letter to (1881), 209 Bowditch, Henry, 41 Bowes-Lyon, Claude, Lord Strathmore, xlii, 265 Bowes-Lyon, Frances Dora Smith, Lady Strathmore, xlii, 265 Brand, Elizabeth Georgina, xxxix Brand, Eliza Ellice, 161, 164n161.1–2 Brand, Henry Bouverie William, xxxix, 131n128.23, 161, 164n161.1–2, 164n161.3 Brand, Thomas Seymour, 128–29, 131n128.23, 136n134.26–27 Brattleboro, 70 Bright, John, xxxviii, 107, 108, 111n107.23 Brighton (England): letters from Bedford Hotel, 33–35, 37; reasons for returning to London, 41, 44; time spent in, xxxvii, 40, 99; weather in, 34
Britain, 18, 27, 29n27.33, 98, 148n145.23, 159n158.23–24, 290. See also England; London; Scotland Brodhead, Richard, xxxii Bronson, Arthur, 285 Bronson, Katharine de Kay, xix, 253, 272, 273n272.18, 285; introduction to Lord Reay, 275; letters to (1881), 210, 211, 228, 236–37, 275 Brookfield, Jane Octavia, 78, 83n78n30– 31 Broughton, Rhoda, 32, 33n32.27 Brown, Adeline, 254 Brown, Jane. See Blaze de Bury, Yetta (aka Jane Brown) Brown, Mr., 31, 32n31.12, 151 Brown, Shipley and Co., 278, 279n278.17 Brownell, W. C., xxiv Browning, Robert, 27, 155, 285 Brunetière, Ferdinand: Études critiques sur l’histoire de la littérature française, 49, 50n49.17 Brunswick Hotel (Boston MA), xxvii Bryce, James, 248n247.6, 285; letter to (1881), 247–48 Bulwer-Lytton, Edward Robert, 1st Earl of Lytton, 145–46, 148n145.34 “A Bundle of Letters” (James), 83n81.17– 18 A Bundle of Letters (James), 18n16.30– 31 Burdett, Francis, 43n42.8 Burdett, Sophia, 43n42.8 Burdett-Coutts, Angelina Georgina, Baroness, 42, 42n42.8, 43n42.10, 285 Burdett-Coutts, William Bartlett, 285 Burford Lodge (Lawrence residence, Surrey, England), xxxviii, 55, 56n55.12, 125, 125n125.3–4 Burke, Edmund, 158 Butler, Pierce, 289, 295 Buxton, Charles, 118n116.23 Buxton, Sydney Charles, xxxix, 116, 118n116.23 Cable, George Washington, 112; The Grandissimes, 88, 89n88.17–18, 115n112.29 Cadenabbia (Italy), xli, 66 Café Riche (Paris), 171, 171n171.10
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Index Cambridge (England): Helen Reed, 262; HJ’s advice to WJ on, 195–96, 198; Lowell on, 71 Cambridge (MA), xxix, xxx, xxxii, xl, xlii, 60, 79, 145, 190, 193n190.13, 218, 247, 248n247.12, 263, 270, 283, 293; AJ and, 35–36; Howells’s description of winter in, 114; journal entry written in, xxviii; letters from, xxv–xxvi; Lord Rosebery on, 109; Nortons and, 45; Oxford Street, no. 10, xxxviii–xxxix, 130, 132n130n4; plans to travel to, 44, 276–77; RJ’s return to, 201n199.31–32; Shady Hill (Norton residence), 60, 93, 95, 239n238.24, 251, 252n251.10, 291; WJ and, 34, 74n72.5, 76, 130, 132n130n4. See also Quincy Street, no. 20, Cambridge Campbell, George Douglas, 8th Duke of Argyll, 86, 87n86.23, 146, 148n146.1, 285 Cape Cod (MA), 14n11.33–34 Cape Colony, 261n261.17 Carlyle, Thomas, 161, 164n161.25 Carnes, Lewis Mortimer, 161–62, 164n161.29–30 Carnes, Serena Mason, 161, 164n161.29– 30 Carter, Alexander, 77n77.2–3, 294 Carter, Eleanor, 294 Carter, Hugh, 77n77.2–3 Carter, John Corrie, 77n77.2–3 Carter, Kate Sedley Fearing. See Trevilian, Kate Sedley Fearing Carter Cary, Joseph, 288 Casa Alvisi (Bronson residence, Venice, Italy), 285 “Casa Alvisi” (James), 285 Casa La Mura (Asolo, Italy), 285 Casa Santa (Loreto, Italy), 218 Cassel (France), 71, 74n71.2 Castle Howard, Scotland, 269 Cavendish Square (London), 203–4 Century Magazine, contributions to: Daisy Miller: A Comedy ( James), xxxivn6; “The Point of View” ( James), xxviii–xxix; “Venice” (James), xxviii, 217, 219n217.2 Cervantes, Miguel, 155
Chapman, Eleanor, 166–67, 167n166.34, 169, 204, 206n204.18 Chapman, Henry Grafton, Jr., 166–67, 167n166.33, 169, 170n169.4–5 Chapman, Henry Grafton, Sr., 167n166.33 Chapman, Henry Grafton, III, 204, 206n204.18–19 Chapman, John Jay, 204, 206n204.18– 19; Emerson and Other Essays, 167n166.33 Chapman, Maria Weston, 167n166.33 Chapman, Miss, 228, 237 Chase, William Merritt, 211n211.20 Château d’If (France), 179–80 Chelsea. See Cheyne Walk, no. 4 (Cross residence, Chelsea) Chester, 264, 266 Chester Place, no. 8 (Smalley residence, London), 213, 214n213.5 Cheyne Walk, no. 4 (Cross residence, Chelsea), xxxix, 149, 149n149.13 Child, Theodore E., 285; letter to (1881), 171 Childe, Blanche de Triqueti, xl, 175–76, 178n175.33, 178n176.5 Childe, Edward Lee, xl, 175–76, 178n175.33 China, 212 Churchill, John Winston Spencer, Duke of Marlborough, Marquess of Blandford, 285 Churchill, Lady Frances Anne Amily, 285 Churchill, Randolph, 285 Churchill, Winston, 285 The City and the Sea (Reed), 262, 263n262.9, 293 Clarges Street, no. 10 (London), xli, 254 Clark, Andrew, 105, 106n105.18 Clark, Charlotte Coltman (Mrs. John), 188, 261, 285; AJ, packet for, 265–66; Kerris Vean home, 132–33, 134–36, 187– 88, 189n187.35–188.1; plans to visit, 46n45.4–5; Tillypronie estate of, xli– xlii, 41, 74n71.33, 136n134.20, 260–61, 262–63, 264, 264–66, 285; visits with, xix, xxxix, 74n71.33, 134–35, 143–44, 127, 131n127.26–27
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Index Clark, John Forbes, 127, 131n127.26–27, 261, 265–66, 285; Kerris Vean home, 132–33, 134–36, 187–88, 189n187.35– 188.1; letters to (1882), xxvi; letter to (1881), 187–88; plans to visit, 45, 46n45.4–5; Tillypronie estate of, xli–xlii, 41, 74n71.33, 136n134.20, 260– 61, 262–63, 264, 264–66, 285; visits with, xix, xxxix, 74n71.33, 134–35, 143–44 Clarke, Mary Temple Rose, xxxix, 20, 25n20.10, 154, 157n154.25, 157n154.29– 30, 293 Clarke, Stanley, xxxix, 154, 157n154.25, 157n154.29–30 Clay, Mr., 259 Clyde River (Scotland), 268 Cobbe, Frances Power, 257n256.13, 257n257.7, 286; letter from, 256; letter to (1881), 256–57 Cologne (Germany), 23, 25n23n19 Colorado, 269, 271n269.12, 291 The Complete Notebooks of Henry James ( James), 219–20n218.9 Confessions of a Frivolous Girl (Grant), 49, 50n49.10 Confidence (James), 30 Connaught and Strathearn, Prince Arthur, Duke of, 116, 118n116.18–21 Contemporary Review, 3 Continent, 149n149.14–15 Cookson, Blanche Althea Elizabeth Holt (later Crackanthorpe), 121n120.22, 286; letter to (1880), 120–21 Cookson, Montague Hughes (later Crackanthorpe), 121n120.22, 286 Cornhill Magazine: Grace Norton and, 135; Howells and, 3, 4n3.23; Washington Square in, xxi–xxii, xxxvii, xxxviii, 3, 16–17, 85, 87n85.28–29 Cornwall: charm of, 144; Falmouth, xxxix, 127, 143–44, 187–88, 189n187.35; Kerris Vean, Falmouth (Clark residence), 132–36, 187–88, 189n187.35– 188.1; Penzance, 143, 147n143.34, 187; plans to travel to, 126, 127–28; return from, 141; visits with Clarks in, 46n45.4–5, 74n71.33, 133, 134, 143–44; weather in, 133, 134
Cornwall, Barry (Bryan Waller Procter), 293 Cortachy Castle (Airlie estate, Forfarshire, Scotland), xlii, 260, 265, 266, 268, 292; letter from, 264–66 cousin Helen. See Perkins, Helen Rodgers Wyckoff Crackanthorpe, Blanche. See Cookson, Blanche Althea Elizabeth Holt Crackanthorpe, Montague. See Cookson, Montague Hughes Craik, George Lillie, 58, 59n58.19 Crosbie, Mabel Grazia (later Huntington), 63, 64n63.11 Cross, John Walter, 46n45.18–19, 129, 131n129.12, 148n146.14, 149n149.10, 149n149.13, 286; letter to (1881), 149; social plans and, 42, 45; visits to, xxxix, 155 Cross, Miss, 146, 148n146.14 Cross, Richard James, 149n149.10 Cross, William, 149n149.10 Curtis, Ariana Randolph Wormeley, 208, 208n208.12, 237; Palazzo Barbaro, Venice, and, 64n63.12, 208n208.1, 286; visit with, 63 Curtis, Daniel Sargent, 208n208.1, 237, 286; letter to (1881), 208; Palazzo Barbaro, Venice, and, 64n63.12, 208n208.1, 286; visit with, xl, 63 Curtis, George William, 28, 29n28.5, 60–61, 286 Curtis, Laura Greenough, 64n63.12, 208n208.1 Daisy Miller ( James), 19n16.30–31, 63, 64n63.30, 65–66, 67n65.14; play script, rejection of, xxxii–xxxiii, xxxivn6 Daisy Miller: A Comedy ( James), xxxiii Dalhousie, Lord. See Ramsay, John William Maule Dalmeny Park (Rosebery estate, Edinburgh, Scotland), xlii, 260, 265, 272; description of, 269; letters from, 267–72, 274 Dante Alighieri, 155, 202, 291 Darwin, Charles, 106n105.18, 286
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Index Darwin, Sara Price Ashburner Sedgwick, xxxvii, xxxviii, 10, 87n86.22, 105, 109, 286 Darwin, William Erasmus, xxxviii, 41, 87n86.22, 105, 286 da Vinci, Leonardo. See Leonardo da Vinci Democracy: An American Novel (Adams), 49, 50n49.14, 51, 52n51.26 Denver (CO), 271n269.12, 291 Devonport (England), 128; Government House (Pakenham residence), xxxix, 127–30, 143 Devonshire Club (London), 286 Dickens (Ward), 132n129.26–27 Dickens, Charles, 157n154.28; HJ’s planned Life of Dickens, 21, 25n21.5, 129, 132n129.25 Dieppe (France), 199 Disraeli, Benjamin, 148n145.23, 161, 162; Endymion, 112, 115n112.24 Divorçons (Sardou), 180 Doctor Breen’s Practice (Howells), 53, 54n53.8–9, 258, 258n258.4–5, 276, 277n276.13 Donaldson, James, xli, 241, 243n241.15 Dover (England), 252; as “dull,” 53; letters from Lord Warden Hotel, 51–55; Marian Adams and, 51; time spent in, xxxviii, 60 Druce, Albert, 42 Dryburgh (Scotland), 274 Dumas, Alexandre: La princesse de Bagdad, 168, 170n168.25, 180, 181n180.17– 18 Dunlap, Robert P., 290 Durdans (Rosebery residence, Epsom, Surrey, England), 120n119.12, 292; letter from, 143–46; plans to visit, 119; visits to, xix, xxxix, 120n119.2, 144–45 Durham, Lord. See Lambton, John George Duveneck, Frank, 63, 191, 211n211.20, 284, 286; Elizabeth Boott, 1880, 217, 219n217.28; Francis Boott, 217, 219n217.31–32 Duveneck ‘crowd,’ 211, 211n211.20 Earle, Maria Theresa Villiers, 15n15.1, 286; letter to (1880), 15
The Early History of Charles James Fox (Trevelyan), 86, 87n86.17 East Cumberland (England), 203, 206n203.2–3 Ecclesiastes, Book of, 253n252.34–253.1, 257n257.2–3 Edel, Leon, xxvii, xxxiii Edinburgh (Scotland), xlii, 265; Dalmeny Park (Rosebery estate), xlii, 260, 265, 267–72, 269, 272, 274; letters from, 267–68, 268–70, 272–73; Garfield’s death and, 267–68; Lowell in, 86, 94; time spent in, 260 Eliot, Charles W., 288 Eliot, George, xxxi, 46n45.18–19, 286; death of, xxxix, 129, 131n129.11, 146, 148n146.14, 155, 157n155.14; Impressions of Theophrastus Such, 129, 131n129.16–17; John Cross, marriage to, 131n129.12; Lewes and, 157n155.31; Middlemarch, xxxii; social plans and, 42, 45 Elizabeth Boott, 1880 (Duveneck), 217, 219n217.28 Elm Tree Road, no. 2 (St. John’s Wood, London): letter from, 244–45 Elphinstone, Annie Frances Cole, xxxviii, 116, 118n116.19 Elphinstone, Howard Craufurd, xxxviii, 116, 118n116.18–21, 118n116.19 Emerson and Other Essays (Chapman), 167n166.33 Emmet, Bob, 22 Endymion (Disraeli), 112, 115n112.24 Engadine Valley (Switzerland), 252 Engelberg (Switzerland), xli England, 161, 185, 203, 294; AJ and Katharine Peabody in, xli, xlii, 221– 22, 223, 226, 232–33, 234, 235n233.19, 238–39, 240–42, 244, 254, 260–61; Bootts and, 35; “cultivated Americans” in, 60; Grace Norton in, 26; Henrietta Reubell in, 252; HJ’s friendships and guesting in, xix; literature, state of, 173; Lowell as American minister to, 94, 94n94.20; military districts of, 127–28; plans to depart from, 146; return to, 226, 233–34, 236, 244; Scotland compared to, 269; weather in, 47, 55, 239,
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Index 244–45; WJ advised to live in, 194–97 England, locations in: Basset, Southampton, xxxvii, 86, 87n86.22, 94; Belmont, 57; Brighton, xxxvii, 34, 40, 41, 44, 99; Cambridge, xxxviii– xxxix, 71, 130, 132n130n4, 195–96, 198, 262; Devonshire, 72; East Cumberland, 203, 206n203.2–3; Eton, 128, 145; Folkestone, xxxviii, 55, 99, 148n144.33, 174n172.25; Government House, Devonport (Pakenham residence), xxxix; Kenilworth, Warwickshire, xxxviii, 52n51.27, 55; Kew, xli, 233, 235n233.19, 240, 241, 269; Knapdale, Upper Tooting (Macmillan residence), xxxix, 142, 143n142.19; letter from Kenilworth, 47–49; letters from Brighton, 33–35, 37; letters from Folkestone, 166–67, 168–69; letters from Government House, 127–30, 143; New Haven, East Sussex, 199; Plymouth, 72, 125, 128, 134, 135; Plymouth Sound, 128, 135; Richmond, xli, 232, 233, 234, 235n233.19; Sevenoaks, Kent, xli, 240, 241, 243n240.23; Southampton, 199; St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, 68, 68n68.8–9, 71, 99. See also Cornwall; Liverpool; London; Mentmore, Leighton Buzzard; Surrey English Men of Letters series, Macmillan: Hawthorne, xxi, xxii, 7, 25n21.5; Life of Dickens (HJ, planned), 21, 25n21.5, 129, 132n129.25 Epsom Downs, 144. See also Durdans, Epsom, Surrey Eton, 128, 145 Étretat (France), 199, 284 Études critiques sur l’histoire de la littérature française (Brunetière), 49, 50n49.17 Europe, “cultivated Americans” in, 60 The Europeans ( James), 287 “A European Summer” (James), 205n202.10–11, 205n202.12–13 Euston Square (London), 5 Euthanatos (Swinburne), 204, 206n204.26–27 Exeter Hall (London), 267, 268n267.21
Falmouth, Cornwall: Kerris Vean (Clark residence), letters from (1880), 132–33, 134–36, 187–88, 189n187.35–188.1; plans to visit the John Clarks in, 127; San Remo compared to, 187–88, 189n187.35; visits to, xxxix, xix, 143– 44 Faubourg St. Germain (Paris), 177 Field, Katharine “Kitty” Roxana Parker, 70, 73n70.11 Field, Moses, 73n70.11 Field, Osgood, 70, 73n70.11 Field, Susan Kittredge Osgood, 73n70.11 Fields, James T., 207n206.25, 292 Fields, Osgood, and Co., 207n206.25, 292 Le figaro, 175, 178n175.28 Fiske, John: “Sociology and HeroWorship: An Evolutionist’s Reply to Dr. James,” 105, 106n105.12 Florence (Italy), xx, xl, 4, 6n4.32, 108; advice to WJ on, 194, 195, 196, 198, 199; Bellosguardo (Boott residence), 217, 284; Charles Eliot Norton in, 93; Palazzo Peruzzi, 101n98.29–32; Peruzzis in, 98; plans to travel to, 172; recollections of, 26; Sturgis-Middlemore wedding in, 218, 219n218.1–2; time spent in, xl, 26, 217 Florida, 156n154.2, 288, 289 Folkestone (England), xxxviii, 55, 99, 148n144.33, 174n172.25; letters from Pavilion Hotel, 166–67, 168–69 A Foregone Conclusion (Howells), 276, 277n276.20 Fox Warren (Buxton residence, Surrey, England), xxxix, 116, 118n116.23 France: Avignon, xl, 176–77, 179, 182; Cassel, 71, 74n71.2; Château d’If, 179– 80; Dieppe, 199; Étretat, 199, 284; Le Havre, 199; literature, state of, 173; Nice, 180, 182, 190, 202; Provence, 176; travel through, 148n144.33; WJ in, xxxvii. See also Marseilles; Paris Francis Boott (Duveneck), 217, 219n217.31– 32 Der Freischütz (Weber), 202, 205n202.17– 18 Frere, Henry Bartle Edwards, 1st Baronet, 261, 262n261.17
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Index Gainsborough, Thomas, 144 Gardner, Isabella Stewart, xix; letters to (1882), xxv, xxxii–xxxiii Garfield, James, 94, 96n94.20, 109, 153; assassination and funeral of, 267–68, 268n267.21, 270, 277 “Garfield” (Lowell), 267, 268n267.21 Gascoyne-Cecil, Lady Gertrude Louisa Scott, xxxviii, 116, 118n116.18 Gascoyne-Cecil, Lord Eustace Brownlow Henry, xxxviii, 116, 118n116.18, 118n116.20, 287 Gascoyne-Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, 116, 118n116.20, 213, 287 Gautier, Théophile: “L’Art,” 174n172.33– 34; HJ’s “Théâtre de Théophile Gautier,” 174n172.33–34 “The Genesis of Genius” (Allen), 105, 106n105.12, 192, 193n192.15 Gennadius, Joannes, 122, 122n122.11 Genoa (Italy), xl, 188, 191, 193n190.17, 203; Hotel d’Italie, 187–88; letters from, 187–88, 189–92; rail route from San Remo, 189n187.35, 190, 193n190.17, 203 George V, 271n270.2 Germany, xxxvii; WJ in Cologne, 23, 25n23n19 Gilder, Richard Watson, xxxiv Gladstone, Catherine Glynne, 102–3, 104n102.32 Gladstone, William Ewart, 90, 102, 106n105.18, 108, 111n108.15, 148n145.34, 161, 162, 213, 292 Glamis Castle (Strathmore estate, Angus, Scotland), xlii, 265, 267n265.17 Glasgow (Scotland), 233 Godley, John Arthur, 108, 111n108.13, 111n108.15 Godley, Sarah James, 108, 111n108.13 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 155, 201n199.22 Gogol, Nikolai, 151 Gordon, Henry Evans, 101n99.31 Gordon, Mary “May” Theodosia Sartoris, 99, 101n99.31, 204 Government House (Pakenham residence, Devonport, England), xxxix; letters from (1880), 127–30, 143
Grädener, Karl, 67–68, 68n67.34 Gramont, Duc de. See Agénor, Antoine Alfred Gramont, Duchesse de. See Agénor, Margaretha Alexandrina de Rothschild Granada, Spain, 217 Grand Canal (Venice, Italy), 64n63.12, 208n208.1, 226, 237, 272, 275 The Grandissimes (Cable), 88, 89n88.17– 18, 115n112.29 Grant, Lady Sybil Myra Caroline Primrose, 104n102.32–33 Grant, Robert: Confessions of a Frivolous Girl, 49, 50n49.10 Gray, Asa, 240, 243n240.19–20 Gray, Jane Loring, 240, 243n240.19–20 “Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment” (W. James), 90, 91n90.32, 106n105.12, 192, 193n192.15 Greenough, Henry, 64n63.4, 64n63.12, 208n208.1 Greville, Richard, 206n204.25–26 Greville, Sabine Mathilda Thellusson, 204, 206n204.25–26, 206n204.28 Grosvenor Arms, 269 Grove Farm (Sturgis residence, Leatherhead, Surrey, England), xxxvii; letters from (1880), 26–28, 30–31, 44, 46n44.29–30 Guizot, Maurice Guillaume, xl, 176, 178n176.8 Hamlet (Shakespeare), 258n257.34 Hampton Court, 245 Harcourt, Elizabeth Cabot Motley, xxxix, 161, 164n161.2 Harcourt, William George Granville Venables Vernon, 161, 164n161.2 Harper Co., 81 Harper’s New Monthly Magazine: Washington Square in, xxii, xxxvii, xxxviii Harte, Bret, xxiv Harvard University, 29, 197, 243n240.19– 20, 283, 289, 290, 291 Hawthorne ( James), 25n21.5; on American writers, xxii; Frances Cobbe’s interest in, 257; Guizot on, 176; Holmes not referenced in, 158,
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Index 159n158.23–24; The Portrait of a Lady and, xxxii; reviews of, xxi, 7–8, 9n7.31 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, xxxi Hay, John, xxiii Hay, William Montagu, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale, 274, 275n274.26 Hayes, Rutherford B., 4n3.26, 153 Hervey, Henry Arthur William, 157n154.23–24 Hervey, Lady Selina Catherine Mead, xxxix, 154, 157n154.23–24 Highlands of Scotland, 267 Hill, Jane: letters to (1882), xxvi–xxvii Hillebrand, Karl, 195, 197n195.34 Historical Studies of Church-Building in the Middle Ages (Norton), 86, 87n86.19, 92, 95n92.11 Hodgson, Shadworth Hollway, 11, 14n11.6 Holland. See Netherlands Holland, Dr. Henry, 118n116.14–16 Holland, Henry Thurston, 1st Viscount Knutsford, xxxviii, 116, 117n116.14–16, 287 Holland, Lady Margaret Jean Trevelyan, xxxviii, 116, 117–18n116.14–16, 287 Holme Lodge, Walton-on-Thames: letter from, 244–45 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 158, 159n158.23–24 Holt, Eardley Chauncy, 121n120.22 Home Rule League, 132n129.18 Hooper, William Sturgis, 294 Hope, Etheldred Anne Birch Reynardson, Lady Hopetoun, 269–70, 271n269.34, 272 Hope, John Adrian Lewis, 7th Earl of Hopetoun and 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 269–70, 271n269.32–33, 271n269.34, 272 Hopetoun, 269–70, 272 Hoppin, William Jones, xxxviii, 75n75.6, 77, 79, 287; letter to (1880), 75; letter to (1881) 166–67 Horne, Philip, xxiii Hotel Continental (Paris), 171–72n171.16; letters from (1881), 171, 172–73 Hotel de la Ville (Milan), 197n194.6; letters from (1881), 194–97, 201–4 Hotel de Londres (San Remo, Italy),
183n181.29; letters from (1881), 181–82, 185 Hôtel de Noailles (Marseilles), 178n175.6; letters from (1881), 175–77, 179–81 Hotel de Russie (Rome), 217; letters from (1881), 208, 209 Hotel d’Italie (Genoa): letter from (1881), 187–88 Houghton, H. O., 207n206.25, 249, 292 Houghton, Lord, 283 Houghton, Mifflin, and Co.: 103, bank drafts sent by, 102, 264, 279; Boston office of, 184n184.4; copyright and, 17; Howells’s The Undiscovered Country and, 19n17.12–13; letter from (1880), 132–33; letters to (1881), 228–30, 243, 249, 250, 264, 279; missing monthly cheque from, 229–30, 243; Osgood and, 53n52.30; play version of Daisy Miller declined by, xxxiii; The Portrait of a Lady and, xl, 38–39, 52–53, 53n52.30, 184, 207, 207n207.1–3, 228– 30, 250n249.11, 259n259.13 Houghton, Osgood, and Co., 53n52.30, 102, 103n102.22, 207n206.25, 207n207.1–3, 292 Houghton, Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord, 78, 287 House of Seven Gables (Hawthorne), xxxi Howard, George, 9th Earl of Carlisle, 203, 205–6n203.2–3 Howard, Lady Mary Henrietta, 203, 206n203.8 Howard, Rosalind Frances Stanley, 203, 206n203.2–3 Howells, Elinor Mead, 4n3.26, 114, 277 Howells, William Dean, xxi, xxii, xxiii, 287; at Ashfield, 53, 61; Atlantic editorship and, 48–49, 172, 174n172.14, 183, 185; Doctor Breen’s Practice, 53, 54n53.8–9, 258, 258n258.4–5, 276, 277n276.13; A Foregone Conclusion, 276, 277n276.20; installments of The Portrait of a Lady sent to, xix, xxxvii; isolation at Redtop country home, 151, 152n151.3–4; letter from, 56–57; letters to (1880), 3, 16–18, 38–39, 52–53, 56–57, 87–88, 112–14; letter to (1881), 276–77;
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
Index
Copyright © 2016. Nebraska. All rights reserved.
Howells, William Dean (continued) in London, 186n185.26; “Mr. Aldrich’s Fiction,” 88, 89n88.14, 115n112.28; on “new school” of novelists, xxxiii–xxxiv; review of Hawthorne, xxi; Switzerland ambassadorship rumors, 185, 186n185.21–22; The Undiscovered Country, xxi, 3, 4, 17, 19n17.12–13, 31, 32n31.9, 53, 57, 58n57.23, 61, 62n61.10 Howells, Winifred “Winny,” 53, 54n53.4 Hozier, Col. Henry Montague, 266, 267n266.6 Hozier, Lady Henrietta Blanche Ogilvy, 266, 267n266.6 Hughlings Jackson, John, 11, 14n11.6 Hunt, Fanny Waugh, 73n70.25 Hunt, Gladys “Elly” Millais Mulock Holman, 70–71, 74n70.32 Hunt, Marion Edith Waugh (Mrs. William), 70–71, 73n70.25, 74n70.32 Hunt, William Holman, 70–71, 73n70.25, 73n70.32, 74n70.34 Huntington, Ellen Greenough, 63, 64n63.4 Huntington, Henry Greenough, 63, 64n63.4, 64n63.11 Huntington, William H.: letters to (1882), xxv Hutton, Richard Holt, 155, 157n155.10, 162 Huxley, Henrietta Heathorn, 10n10.1, 287; letter to (1880), 10 Huxley, Thomas Henry, 10n10.1, 287 “The Importance of Individuals” (W. James), 193n192.16–17 Impressions of London Social Life (Nadal), 167n166.32 Impressions of Theophrastus Such (Eliot), 129, 131n129.16–17 India, 261n261.17 An International Episode ( James), xxxiv, 19n16.30–31 “International Novelists and Mrs. Howells” (Orr), 3, 4n3.16 International Review: Barnes and, 220, 221n220.11, 221n220.12, 284; “M. Zola as a Critic” (Perry), 172–73, 174n172.33–34 Ireland, 164n161.3, 248n247.6,
257n256.13, 285, 286; resistance to British rule, 104n102.28–29, 132n129.18; talk of, 102, 129, 150, 154, 188 Irving, Henry, 90, 91n90.28, 284 Isle of Wight (England), xxxvii, 10 Italian Riviera, 184, 185, 190 Italy, xix, 181, 185, 190, 204, 215, 237; Ancona, xl, 218, 219–20n218.9; Bassano, xli; Boits in, 284; Bordighera, 203, 206n203.3; Cadenabbia, xli, 66; Casa La Mura, Asolo, 285; decision on, vs. Spain, 217; departure from, xli; Eliza Linton in, 66; enjoyment of, 191; Festa della Statuto, 222, 223n222.22; Genoa, xl, 193n190.17, 203; infatuation with, 27; letter from Vicenza, 224–26; letters from Genoa, 187–88, 189–92; letters from Milan, 194–97, 198–200, 201–4; Loreto, xl, 218, 219–20n218.9; Milan, xl, 190, 191, 197n194.6, 202, 272; Padua, xli, 225; Palermo, 99; plans to travel to, 28, 45, 60, 63, 66, 92–93, 98–99, 166, 171n171.2, 179; Recanati, xl, 218, 219–20n218.9; return from, 5, 257; Rimini, xl, 219–20n218.9; Sorrento, 26; travel in, 148n144.33, 201–2, 209; Vallombrosa, 62–63; Vicenza, xli; WJ in, xxxvii. See also Florence, Italy; Rome; San Remo, Italy; Venice Jackson, Edward, 176–77 James, Alan G., xix James, Alexander “Aleck” Robertson (nephew), 288 James, Alice (AJ, sister), 8, 12, 23, 54, 55, 73n69.23–24, 158, 163,192, 218, 255, 264–65, 287; at Bolton Street, 260; in England, xxi, xli, xlii, 221–22, 223, 226, 232–33, 234, 235n233.19, 238–39, 240–42, 244, 254, 260–61; gift of calligraphic pen from, 9; hats given to, 69, 73n69.10, 76, 105, 109–10, 115–16, 117, 146; health of, 23, 33–34, 41, 77, 106n105.18, 109, 112n109.32, 240; Katharine Loring and, xxi, 11, 14n11.33, 254, 287, 289–90; Lady Clark’s packet for, 265–66; letters from, 69, 90, 102, 104, 153–54, 224, 254, 268; letters to (1880), 33–35, 69–72, 76–77, 115–17; let-
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Index ters to (1881), 153–55, 268–70, 274; red stocking from, 108; return from England, xlii, 234, 266; Sr.’s will and, xxx– xxxi; voyage to England, xl; White Mountains trip, 11, 14n11.33–34, 21, 25n21.23; William Loring and, 21–22 James, Alice (later Edgar) (niece), 130, 132n130.2, 288 James, Alice Howe Gibbens (AHGJ, wife of William), 8–9, 22, 41, 78, 90, 105, 287–88, 289, fig 3; advice to W J on England and, 195, 197; in Cambridge, xxxviii–xxxix; children of, xxx, 25n21.28, 105; correspondence sent for WJ, 33–34, 42; letters from, 218, 244; letters to (1881), 198–200, 244–45; more communication desired with, 192; Mrs. Grote sent to, 81; Quincy Street and, 80–81; removal to Oxford Street, no. 10, Cambridge, 132n130n4 James, Caroline “Carrie” Cary (wife of Wilky), 288 James, Dorothea Draper Blagden (second wife of Harry), 288 James, Edward “Ned” Holton (nephew), 130, 132n130.2, 289 James, Garth Wilkinson “Wilky” (GWJ, Brother), 159, 288; address requested for, 72, 76, 81; children of, 130, 132n130.2; compared to Lord Rosebery, 145; Florida plantation of, 156n154.2, 288, 289; letters from, 160, 190; Sr.’s will and, xxx–xxxi; Thomson as tutor to, 127n126.1, 294 James, Helen (cousin), 5, 288 James, Henry (nephew), 90, 105, 197, fig 2, fig 3 James, Henry, Jr. (HJ): bachelor identity and flirtatious writing of, xxv; complaining of few letters, 130; copyright concerns, 16–17, 18n16.30–31, 38–39, 132–33, 133n132.34–133.1, 229; earnings and income and book sales of, xxviii, 20–21, 102, 158–59, 229–30, 243, 250, 264, 278–79n278.15, 279; engagement and marriage rumors, xxiv–xxv, 78–79, 84, 85, 98; as executor of parents’ estate, xxx–xxxi; health and illnesses of, xx, 16, 19, 54, 76, 105, 217; “Jr.” dropped from signature of, xxiv,
xxx, 120, 143, 221; as mother’s “angel,” xxix; as playwright, xxxii–xxxiii; relationships within literary world, xxi; sibling rivalry and, xx; social schedule and achievement, 15, 22, 26, 42, 45, 79, 92, 94, 99, 116, 124, 146; Thomson as tutor to, 127n126.1, 294 James, Henry, Jr., reviews by: Irving’s performance as Louis XI, 91n90.28; “The London Theaters,” xxviii, xxxix, 129, 132n129.29; Nadal. Impressions of London Social Life, 167n166.32; “Théâtre de Théophile Gautier,” 174n172.11– 12 James, Henry, Jr., works: “Alphonse Daudet,” xxviii; The American, xxxiii, 19n16.30–31, 287; “American Journals,” xxvii, xxix, xxxi; The American Scene, xxxiv; “A Bundle of Letters,” 83n81.17–18; A Bundle of Letters, 18n16.30–31; “Casa Alvisi,” 285; The Complete Notebooks of Henry James, xxv, xxvi, xxviii, xxix, xxxi, xxxii, xxxiii, xxxiv, 219–20n218.9, 235n233.19, 252n251.22–23; Confidence, 30; Daisy Miller, 18–19n16.30–31, 63, 64n63.30, 65–66, 67n65.14; Daisy Miller: A Comedy, xxxii, xxxiii; The Europeans, 287; “A European Summer,” 205n202.9, 205n202.10–11, 205n202.12–13; Hawthorne, xxi, xxii, xxxii, 7–8, 9n7.31, 25n21.5, 158, 159n158.23–24, 176, 257; An International Episode, xxxiv, 18–19n16.30–31; Life of Dickens (planned), 21, 25n21.5, 129, 132n129.25; “London Pictures and London Plays,” xxviii; “Pandora,” 283; “The Pension Beaurepas,” 83n81.17–18; “The Point of View,” xxviii–xxix; Roderick Hudson, 287; “Venice,” xxviii, 217, 219n217.2; The Wings of the Dove, 106n105.18. See also The Portrait of a Lady; Washington Square James, Henry, Sr. (father), xxxii, 25, 81, 127n126.1, 131, 155, 192, 247, 248n247.21, 279, 287, 288, 289, fig 2; Adeline Brown and, 254; death of, xxiv, xxx, 143n142.8; James Bryce and, 247; letters from, 6n5.3–4, 19–20, 40, 69, 153, 190, 221, 253; letters requested from,
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Index James, Henry, Sr. (father) (continued) 72; letters sent to, 109, 112n109.30, 143, 163; letters to (1880), 7–9, 40– 42, 102–3, 127–30; letters to (1881), 158–59, 175–77, 216–18, 221–23, 224, 239–42, 260–61; love and blessings sent to, 13, 72, 234, 255; Macmillan’s sent to, 70; Mrs. Orr and, 55, 69, 73, 81, 158; Orr’s “Mr. Henry James, Sr.,” 22, 25n22.23, 35, 36n35.18; RJ and, 234; Society the Redeemed Form of Man, 35, 37n35.23, 73n69.27; “Some Personal Recollections of Carlyle,” 218, 220n218.31; Spectator sent to, 162; will of, xxx–xxxi; WJ’s building plans and, 145 James, Herman (nephew), 287 James, Howard (uncle), 81, 83n81.10–11 James, John Barber (uncle), 288 James, Joseph Cary (nephew), 130, 132n130.2, 288 James, Margaret “Peggy” Mary (Mrs. Bruce Porter) (niece), 287–88 James, Mary Helen (cousin), 288 James, Mary Helen Vanderburgh (aunt), 288 James, Mary Holton (wife of RJ), 23, 25n23n10 James, Mary Lucinda Holton (wife of RJ), 289 James, Mary Robertson Walsh (MW J, mother), 102, 130, 199, 287, 288, 289, 295; Charlotte Walsh and, 74n71.3; death of, xxiv, xxix–xxx; HJ as “angel” of, xxix; letters from, 7–8, 19–20, 34, 40, 104, 105, 221, 232, 242, 245, 253; letters requested from, 72; letters sent to, xix, xx, xxi, xxiii, xxv, 7, 197, 216; letters to (1880), xix, xx, 4–5, 10–13, 19–23, 40–42, 54–55, 78–81, 107–10; letters to (1881), xxi, 143–46, 160–63, 189–92, 216, 232–34, 253–55, 260–61; love and blessings sent to, 9, 13, 72, 110, 159, 163, 218, 223 James, Mary Walsh (niece), 132n130.2, 289 James, Olivia M. Cutting (first wife of Harry), 288 James, Robert (uncle), 288
James, Robertson “Bob” (RJ, brother), xxix, 107, 111n107.13, 159, 191, 194, 198, 218, 234, 242, 254, 289; address requested for, 72, 76, 81; alcoholism and nervous breakdown of, xl, 201n199.31– 32; in Cambridge, 190; children of, 130, 132n130.2; letters from, 107, 109; money sent to, 254; news of, 199–200; Sr.’s will and, xxx–xxxi James, Walter Charles, 111n108.13 James, William (WJ, Brother), xxxi, xxxiv, 242, 287, 289, fig 1; on acquaintances, 11; address requested for, 76, 81; advice on trip to Europe from HJ to, 194–197, 198–200; Allen’s and Fiske’s replies to, in Atlantic Monthly, 105, 106n105.12; in Cambridge, xxxviii–xxxix, 132n130.4; children of, 22, 25n21.28; comments on Portrait of a Lady, 245; concern for, 11; depression and eye trouble, 14n11.23; Herbert Pratt and, 222–23, 223n222.30; house construction, 78, 81, 145, 160; Johns Hopkins and, 218; journey to America, xxxviii, 9, 41; letters and postcards from, 23, 69, 76, 77, 89, 104, 244, 255; letters from wife to, 33–34, 42; letters sent on to, 19–20; letters sent through, 102; letters to (1880), 47–48, 89–90, 104–5; letters to (1881), 194–97, 198–200; limiting interference of, xx; in London, xix, xx, xxi, xxxvii, 5, 8–9, 10–11, 12, 14n13.9, 27, 31, 41, 44, 74n71.33, 197n194.13; at Loseley Park, 22; at Louisburg Square, Boston, 72, 74–75n72.5, 76, 89; more communication desired with, 192; in New England, 54–55; requests for letters from, 54–55; RJ and, xl, 201n199.31–32, 234; sabbatical from Harvard and year abroad, 197n194.13; sibling rivalry and, xx; Sr.’s land and, 145; Sr.’s will and, xxx–xxxi; Thomson as tutor to, 127n126.1, 294; travels, xxxvii–xxxviii, 6n5.3–4, 8, 9n8.19–20, 9n8.23–24, 10–11, 13, 14n13.9, 18, 23, 31, 34, 41, 44–45 James, William, works: “Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environ-
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ment,” 90, 91n90.32, 106n105.12, 192, 193n192.15; “The Importance of Individuals,” 193n192.16–17; The Principles of Psychology, 197n194.13 James, William “Bill” (nephew), 287 James Henry “Harry,” III (nephew, “the Boy”), 22, 25n21.28, 34, 245, 287, 288 Jameson, Céline de Portal, xl, 176, 178n176.5 Jameson, Jean-Conrad, 178n176.5 James R. Osgood and Co., 53n52.30, 103n102.22, 207n206.25, 207n207.1–3, 292 Jay, Mrs. John, 70 Jerrold, Douglas, 83n80n6–7 Johns Hopkins University, 218 Johnson, Samuel, 151, 153n151.20–21 Kemble, Frances “Fanny” Anne, xxxviii, 42, 43n42.11, 79–80, 98, 101n96.24, 165, 289, 295; letters from, 201, 274; letters to (1881), 179–81, 201–4; report to daughter on, 96–97; in Switzerland, 96, 257; Washington Square and, 162–63 Kenilworth (Warwickshire, England), xxxviii; letters from KSFC The Spring (Carter residence) (1880), 47–49; postmarks, 49; visit with Mrs. Carter, 47, 52n51.27, 55 Kenilworth castle, 49 Kent, 243n240.23. See also Sevenoaks Kerris Vean (Clark residence, Falmouth, Cornwall, England), 187–88, 189n187.35–188.1; letters from (1880), 132–33, 134–36 Kew (England), xli, 233, 235n233.19, 240, 241, 269 King, Annie (“Anna”), 71, 74n71.12 King, Arthur, 71, 74n71.10 King, Charlotte Elizabeth Sleight Matthews, 71, 74n71.3, 74n71.10, 74n71.12, 118n117.10, 289; letter from, 117 King, Clarence W., 74n71.3, 74n71.10, 74n71.12, 289 Kingston (MA), 31, 49 Knapdale (Macmillan residence, Upper Tooting, England), xxxix, 142, 143n142.19
Laidlawstiel (Reay estate, Galaspiels, Scotland), xlii, 269, 274; letter from, 274 Lake Winnepesaukee (NH), 14n11.33–34, 21, 25n21.23 Lamb House, 288 Lambton, John George, 3rd Earl of Durham, 241, 243n241.14 Land’s End (England), 133, 141, 143–44 Lang, Andrew, 30, 31–32n30.12–13, 49, 50n49.12, 90, 91n90.12, 289 Lang, Leonora Blanche Alleyne, 49, 50n49.12 Langtry, Mrs., 5 Last Supper (Leonardo), 202, 205n202.4 Lathrop, G. P., 192 Laugel, Auguste, 170n169.4–5 Laugel, Elizabeth Bates Chapman, 169, 170n169.4–5 Lawrence, Elizabeth Matthew, 56n55.12, 125n125.3–4 Lawrence, James John Trevor, 2nd Baronet, 55, 56n55.12, 125n125.3–4 Lawrence, Louisa Elizabeth, 125n125.3–4 Lawrence, Mary Wilhelmina, 125n125.3–4 Leamington (England), 203 Leatherhead. See Grove Farm, Leatherhead Le Havre (France), 199 Leigh, Frances Butler, 97, 101n97.4–5, 203 Leigh, James Wentworth, 97, 101n97.8 Leigh, Pierce Butler, 97, 101n97.4–5 Leighton, Lord Frederick, 292 Leonardo da Vinci: Last Supper, 202, 205n202.4 Leopardi, Giacomo, 218, 219–20n218.9 Lettres à M. Panizzi (Mérimée), 172, 174n172.30–31 Leveson-Gower, Frederick, 154, 157n154.16 Lewes, George Henry, 155, 157n155.31 Life of Dickens (HJ; planned), 21, 25n21.5, 129, 132n129.25 Linton, Eliza Lynn, 67n65.1, 118n117.4– 5, 289; letters from, 67n65.1, 117; letter to (1880), 65–66
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Index Liverpool (England), 260, 265, 266, 269; letter from, 280; sailing into and out of, xxxvii, xlii, 280; W J in, 5; W J’s travel plans, xx, 198 Lloyd, Mary, 257, 257n257.7 Loch Lomond (Scotland), 268 Locker-Lampson, Frederick, 91n90.13– 14 Lombard, Fanny, 193n190.13 Lombard, Mrs., 193n190.13 London (England), xxv, xxxiii, xl, 44, 57, 64n63.11, 70, 71, 78, 86, 89, 91n90.12, 94, 99, 102, 106n105.18, 118n116.23, 121n120.29, 121n120.29– 30, 125, 127n126.1, 129, 130, 142n141.14, 142n142.7, 143n142.19, 144, 148n144.33, 149n149.14–15, 153n151.20–21, 162, 166, 169, 175, 177, 182, 183n182.20, 183–84, 188, 192, 196, 199, 203, 212, 213, 226, 229, 233, 236, 246, 250, 252, 256, 262, 264, 267, 269, 274, 276, 279, 283, 286, 287, 289; advice to W J on costs in, 194–95, 198; AJ in, xli, 235n233.19, 242, 244, 254, 260; as “bad place to read,” 151; the Boott’s dislike of, 20, 35; Fanny Kemble in, 96; Frances Cobbe in, 257n256.13; Henrietta Reubell in, 252; HJ feeling at home in, 90, 93; HJ’s friendships and guesting in, xix; HJ’s habits in, 12; Hoppin in, 75n75.6; longing for, from U.S., xxvi–xxvii; Louise Moulton in, 6–7; Paris compared to, 175, 176, 195, 198; Parkman in, 235–36; as permanent headquarters (1880), 126; planned Life of Dickens and, 21; plans to reduce time spent in, 146; plans to return to, 51, 108, 213; postmarks, 7, 95, 123; Post Office in, 243; returns to, xix, xxxvii, xxxviii, xlii, 5, 37, 144, 209, 212, 222, 256, 260, 268, 274; Rogersons in, 80; Rome compared to, 45; Roseberys in, 104n102.32–33, 116; “Season” in, 22, 26, 40, 41, 222; Smalleys in, 214; social schedule in, 15, 22, 26, 79, 92, 94, 99, 116, 124, 146; staying in, 58, 60, 63, 160; staying out of, 55; summer weather in, 27, 34–35, 246; weather in, 154, 181, 182, 236, 254; W J in, xix, xxxvii, 5, 8–9, 10–11, 12, 14n13.9, 27, 31,
41, 74n71.33, 197n194.13; William Loring in, 21 London locations: Beckenham, 71; Bloomsbury, 194, 198; Cavendish Square, 203–4; Charing Cross Station, 252; Chester Place, no. 8 (Smalley residence), 213, 214n213.5; Cheyne Walk, no. 4, Chelsea (Cross residence), xxxix, 149, 149n149.13; Clarges Street, no. 10, xli, 254; Devonshire Club, 286; Euston Square, 5; Exeter Hall, 267, 268n267.21; letter from Elm Tree Rd., no. 2, St. John’s Wood, 244–45; Piccadilly, 129, 133, 182, 237; Rutland Gate, no. 29 (Cookson residence), 120, 121n120.29–30. See also Bolton Street, no. 3; Reform Club “London Pictures and London Plays” ( James), xxviii “The London Theaters” ( James), xxviii, xxxix, 129, 132n129.29 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 109, 263n262.9 Lord Warden Hotel (Dover, England): letters from (1880), 51, 54–55 Loreto (Italy), xl, 218, 219–20n218.9 Loring, Aaron Kimball, 18–19n16.30–31 Loring, Katharine Peabody, 261n261.10, 289–90; AJ and, 11, 14n11.33, 254, 287, 289–90; aunt and uncle of, 243n240.19–20, 271n269.9; in England with AJ, xxi, xli, xlii, 222, 232–33, 235n233.19, 240–41, 244, 260–61; letters from, 264, 268; letter sent to, 269, 271n269.5–6; letter to (1881), 264–66; voyage home from England, xlii; voyage to England, xl; White Mountains trip, 11, 14n11.33–34, 25n21.23 Loring, William Caleb, 12, 14n12.22, 21–22, 35, 37n35.26, 290 Loseley Park and Loseley Hall (Rose residence, Surrey, England), xxxvii, 15, 15n15.2, 15n15.15–16, 20, 22–23, 25n20.5 Louisburg Square (Boston MA), 72, 74n72.5, 76, 89, 90 Lowell, Frances “Fanny” Dunlap, 28, 94, 96n94.18, 141, 152, 162, 290 Lowell, James Russell, xix, 27–28, 71, 151–52, 167, 290; career of, 29n27.33, 94, 96n94.20; description of, 162;
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Index
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dinner with Hoppin and, xxxviii, 77; Garfield eulogy, 267, 268n267.21; at Guildhall dinner, 94; letters to (1881), 141, 267–68; on Portrait of a Lady, 155, 162; in Scotland, 86, 94 Lucerne (Switzerland), xli; letter from, 242 Ludlow, W., 280 Lynton, William James, 289 Lytton, Lord. See Bulwer-Lytton, Edward Robert Mackay, Donald James, 11th Lord Reay and 1st Baron Reay, xlii, 269, 271n269.23, 274, 275, 290 Mackay, Fanny Georgina Jane Hasler Mitchell, Lady Reay, 274, 290 Macmillan, Alexander, xxxix, 142, 143n142.19; letter to (1881), 181–82 Macmillan, Daniel, 290 Macmillan, Frederick Orridge, 9, 213, 246n245.5, 290; copyrights and, 39; letters sent to, xxiii, xxv–xxvi; letters to (1880), 58, 67–68, 132–33; letters to (1881), 181–82, 259, 278, 280; statement of account from, 58; St. John’s Wood home of, 58, 59n58.23; visits with, 245; Washington Square and, 81, 83n81.17–18 Macmillan, Georgiana Warrin, 213, 214, 245, 246n245.5, 280, 290 Macmillan and Co., xxii, xxxiii, 59n58.23, 142, 281, 290 Macmillan’s English Men of Letters series: Hawthorne, xxi, xxii, xxxii, 7–8, 9n7.31, 25n21.5, 158, 159n158.23–24, 176, 257; Life of Dickens (HJ, planned), 21, 25n21.5, 129, 132n129.25 Macmillan’s Magazine, 3, 169; additional month for Portrait in, 228–29, 230–31; plates for The Portrait of a Lady, 249, 250n249.11, 259, 259–60n259.13; The Portrait of a Lady in, xxii, xxiii, xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xli, xlii, 16–17, 20–21, 31, 38, 52–53, 57, 61, 70, 73n70.8, 81, 86, 87n86.9–10, 170n169.11, 184n183.30–31, 278–79n278.15; requests for copies of, 182; in United States, 86, 133, 133n132.34–133.1 Madison Square Garden, xxxii
Madrid (Spain), 290 Maine, 290 Mallory, George, xxxii, xxxiii Mallory, Marshall, xxxii, xxxiii Mansfield Park (Austen), 127, 131n127.23– 24 “The Man without a Country” (Phelps), 7–8, 9n7.31 Marlborough Street, no. 312 (Perry residence, Boston MA), 173, 186 The Marriage of the Virgin (or Lo Sposalizio) (Raphael), 202, 205n202.10–11 Marseilles (France), xl, 71, 182, 189, 190, 202; Hôtel de Noailles, 175, 178n175.6, 179; impressions of, 177, 179–80; letters from (1881), 175–77, 179–81; travel plans, 171n171.2 Marshall, Charles H., 295 Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, duchess of Teck (Princess of Teck), 270, 271n270.2, 272–73 Mary of Teck, Princess (Victoria Mary Augusta Louisa Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes), 270, 271n270.2 Mason, Alice, 73n69.10, 106n105.22, 294; new hat to AJ carried by, 105, 110, 116, 117 Mason, Henry, 164n161.29–30 Mason, Lydia Lush, 164n161.29–30 Matthews, Charlotte Walsh, 74n71.3, 289 Matthews, James, 289 McArthur, William, Lord Mayor of London, 90, 91n90.19, 94, 99–100 Measure for Measure (Shakespeare), 162 Mediterranean, 177, 179–80, 181 Melrose (Scotland), 274 Mentmore (Rosebery residence, Leighton Buzzard, England), 104n102.32–33, 109, 292, fig 6; the Durdans compared to, 144; letters from, 107–10, 239–42; racehorses at, 111n107.26–27; visits to, xix, xxxviii, xli, 104, 107–9, 241, 292 Meredith, Owen. See Bulwer-Lytton, Edward Robert Mérimée, Prosper: Lettres à M. Panizzi, 172, 174n172.30–31 Middlemarch (Eliot), xxxii Middlemore, Maria “Nena” Trinidad Howard Sturgis, 218, 219n218.1–2, 307
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Index Middlemore, Samuel George Chetwynd, 218, 219n218.1–2 Midelney Place (Curry Rivel, Taunton, Somerset, England), xli, 253, 254; letters from (1881), 251, 252–53; letters sent from, 261n260.17–18 Milan (Italy), xl, 272; art seen in, 202, 205n202.10–11, 272; description of, 201–2; Hotel de la Ville, 194, 197n194.6, 201; letters from (1881), 194–97, 198–200, 201–4; plans to travel to, 190, 191 Millais, John Everett, xxxviii, 74n70.34, 107, 111n107.24 Mills, Charles Henry, 164n160.30–31 Mills, Louisa Isabella Lascelles, xxxix, 160, 164n160.30–31 Milnes, Richard Monckton. See Houghton, Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Milton, John, 158 Milwaukee (WI), xxxi, xl, 288 Montaigne, 291 Montenegro, Princess of, 237 Morris, Jane Burden, 203, 206n203.11 Morse, Frances “Fanny” Rollins, 260, 261n260.28 Morse, Harriet Jackson Lee, 260, 261n260.28 Morse, Mary Lee (later Eliot), 260, 261n260.28 Morse, Samuel Torrey, 260, 260n260.28 Motley, Elizabeth Cabot Ives, xxxix Motley, William, xxxix, 158 Moulton, Louise Chandler, xix, 290; letter sent to, xix; letter to (1880), 6–7 Mount-Edgecumbe (Plymouth, England), 135 Mount Vernon Street (Boston MA), xxxii “Mr. Aldrich’s Fiction” (Howells), 88, 89n88.14, 115n112.28 “Mr. Henry James, Sr.” (Orr), 22, 35, 36n35.18 Mundella, Anthony John, 170n170.17, 291 Mundella, Mary Smith, 170n170.17, 291; letter to (1881), 170 Mundella, Miss, 170 Myers, Eveleen Tennant, 142n142.7, 143n142.8, 143n142.19–20, 291; letter from, 142
Myers, Frederic William Henry, 142n142.7, 143n142.8, 291 “M. Zola as a Critic” (Perry), 172–73, 174n172.33–34 Nadal, Ehrman Syme, 166–67; Impressions of London Social Life, 167n166.32 Nation, xxiv, 49 Le naturalisme au théâtre (Zola), 172–73, 174n172.30–31 Netherlands (Holland), xxxvii, 23 Nevin, Robert J., 188, 189n188.25 New England, 184, 224; Howells in, 88; Maine, 290; New Hampshire, 11, 14n11.33–34, 21, 25n21.23; Providence (RI), 254. See also Boston (MA); Cambridge (MA); Newport (RI) New Hampshire, 11, 14n11.33–34, 21, 25n21.23 New Haven (East Sussex, England), 199 Newport (RI), 14n11.33–34, 285, 292; Bellevue Court, no. 139 (Temple residence), 248n247.28; Grace Norton and, 43, 44; Mary Tweedy in, 247 New York, xxii, xxvi, xxix, xxxiii, xxxvii, 70, 136, 167, 288, 290; postmark, 36 New York Herald, xxii, 92 New York Times, xix, 5, 6n5.14, 28 New York Tribune, xxii, xxiii, 81, 83n81.20, 121, 294 Nice (France), xl, 180, 182, 190, 202 Norbury Park, 28 Normandy coast (France), 199 Northbrook, Lord. See Baring, Thomas George Norton, Andrews, 291 Norton, Catharine Eliot, 291 Norton, Charles Eliot, 45, 61, 62n59.29, 109, 136, 137n135.25, 226, 239, 255, 286, 291; at Ashfield, 29n28.5; on Grace leaving Shady Hill, 252n251.10; Historical Studies of Church-Building in the Middle Ages, 86, 87n86.19, 92, 95n92.11; Italian studies of, 92, 95n92.28; letter to (1880), 92–94; love sent to, 45, 136 Norton, Eliot, 59–60, 62n59.29 Norton, Elizabeth “Lily,” 86, 87n86.22, 94, 109, 226, 227n226.30, 291, 291 Norton, Grace, 29n28.5, 29n28.17,
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Index 85, 137n135.25, 291; decision to leave Shady Hill, 239n238.24, 251, 252n251.10, 255; essay on matrimony, 135; Howells and, 53; letters from, 59, 84, 93, 134, 225; letters sent to (1873), xxxii; letters sent to (1880), xix–xx, xxii, xxiv–xxv, 29n26.13, 93; letters to (1880), 26–28, 43–45, 46n44.29–30, 59–61, 84–86, 134–36; letters to (1881), 224–26, 238–39, 251 Norton, Margaret, 61, 62n61.14, 137n135.25, 291; Christmas card from, 135; love sent to, 45, 94 Norton, Sarah, 291 Norton, Susan Ridley Sedgwick, 137n135.25, 225, 286, 291
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Ogilvy, David Graham Drummond, 10th Earl of Airlie, xxxix, xlii, 29n27.29, 156n154.15, 291, 292; death of, 269, 271n269.12; dining with, 154. See also Cortachy Castle Ogilvy, Henrietta Blanche Stanley, Lady Airlie, xlii, 27, 29n27.29, 265, 269, 292 Olney, Richard, 288 Orr, Alexandra Sutherland Leighton, 114, 292; extracts for, 22; “International Novelists and Mr. Howells,” 3, 4n3.16; “Mr. Henry James, Sr.,” 25n21.23, 35, 36n35.18; review of Sr.’s Society, 73n69.27; Sr. and, 55, 69, 81, 158 Osgood, James Ripley, xxxiii, xl, 53n52.30, 207n206.25, 292; letter to (1881), 206–7 Oxford Street, no. 10 (Cambridge MA), xxxviii–xxxix, 130, 132n130n4 Oxford University, 145 Padua (Italy), xli, 225 Pakenham, Elizabeth Staples Clark, xxxix, 72, 74n72.2, 125, 127, 128, 129, 131n127.25, 143 Pakenham, Harry Francis, 128, 131n128.17–18 Pakenham, Hercules Arthur, 128, 131n128.17–18 Pakenham, Lt. General Thomas Henry, xxxix, 72, 74n72.2, 128, 131n127.33, 136n134.26–27, 143
Palazzo Barbaro (Venice), 64n63.12, 208n208.1, 286 Palazzo Colonna (Rome), 73n70.11 Palazzo della Ragione (Padua), 225 Palazzo Giustiniani-Recanati (Venice), 285 Palazzo Peruzzi (Florence), 101n98.29–32 Palermo (Italy), 99 Palgrave, Francis Turner, 292; letter to (1881), 165; The Visions of England, 165, 166n165.10 Pall Mall. See Reform Club (Pall Mall, London) “Pandora” ( James), 283 Paris (France), 170, 179, 182, 187, 293; advice to WJ on, 195, 196, 198; Café Riche, 171, 171n171.10; Charlotte King in, 71, 117; conversational tone in, 176; costs in, 195, 198; Faubourg St. Germain, 177; friendships in, xix; Harriet Stewart in, 80; Hotel Continental, 171, 172; impressions of, 175, 180; journey to, 168; letters from, 170, 171, 172–73; letters sent from, xxxiii; lingering in, 172, 174n172.25; Lizzie Boott in, 179n177.26; London compared to, 175, 176, 195, 198; plans to travel to, 155, 163, 166; postmarks, 173; Rue de Lille, 177; Turgenev in, 177; travel through, xl, 148n144.33; Tuileries Gardens, 172 Parish, Mrs., 211 Parker, Milton, 73n70.11 Parkman, Francis, 38n37.5, 292; letters to, 37, 235–36 Parnell, Charles Stewart, 132n129.18 Pavilion Hotel (Folkestone, England): letters from, 166–67, 168–69 “The Pension Beaurepas” ( James), 83n81.17–18 Penzance (Cornwall, England), 143, 147n143.34, 187 Perkins, Helen Rodgers Wyckoff (cousin), 12, 14n12.9, 23 Perry, Edith, 173, 174n173.19 Perry, Lydia “Lilla” Cabot, 31, 32n31.14, 152, 173, 174n173.19, 185, 186n185.13 Perry, Margaret, 31, 32n31.14, 173, 174n173.19 Perry, Thomas Sergeant, 292; letters from, 48, 150, 185; letters sent to
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,
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Index Perry, Thomas Sergeant (continued) (1880), 33n32.27–28; letters sent to (1882), xxvi; letters to (1880), 30–31, 32, 48–49; letters to (1881), 150–52, 172–73, 185; Mr. Brown and, 31, 32n31.12; “M. Zola as a Critic,” 172–73, 174n172.33–34; “Recent French and German Essays,” 50n49.17; “Sir Walter Scott,” 49, 50n49.4–5 Perugini, Carlo, 157n154.28 Perugini, Catherine “Kate” Elizabeth Macready, 154, 157n154.28 Peruzzi, Edith Marion Story, 63, 64n63.2, 98, 101n98.29–32, 292 Peruzzi de’ Medici, Simone, Marquis, 63, 64n63.2, 98–99, 101n98.29–32, 292 Petersham (MA), 22, 25n22n31 Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart: “The Man without a Country,” 7–8, 9n7.31 Philadelphia (PA), xxix Phillips, Ann, 121n120.29, 294 Phillips, Wendell, 121n120.29, 294 Piazza di Spagna (Rome), 202, 205n202.4 Piccadilly (London), xxvii, 129, 133, 182, 237. See also Bolton Street, no. 3 (Piccadilly, London) Plymouth (England), 72, 125, 128, 134, 135 Plymouth Sound (England), 128, 135 “The Point of View” ( James), xxviii–xxix Pollock, Walter Herries, 122n122.1, 292; letter to (1880), 122 Porter, Margaret “Peggy” Mary James, 287–88 The Portrait of a Lady ( James), 53n52.27, 62n61.5, 88n87.33, 106n105.5, 153n151.24–25, 183n182.7, 279n278.16, 279n279.18; advance on, 278, 278– 79n278.15; AJ on, 155; author’s copies request, 280; Boott (Elizabeth “Lizzie”) as model for Pansy Osmond, 284; chapters in serial form vs. book editions, xxxviii; characters of, 113, 135, 136n135.20–21, 155, 245; copyrights for, 16–17, 18n16.30–31, 38–39, 132–33, 133n132.34–133.1; Howells and, 87–88, 287; installments sent, xix, xxxvii, xli, 16, 184, 215, 230–31, 246, 249, 257–58; interest in, 151; length of, 229, 230n229.15, 231, 249, 258; Lowell
on, 155, 162; Macmillan triple-decker edition of, 281n280.12; Middlemarch compared to, xxxii; Norton (Grace) and, 135; Osgood’s offer to publish, xl, 207, 207n207.1–3; pay received for serialization of, 20–21, 229–30, 243, 250, 278–79n278.15, 279; Perry’s reaction to, 151; plates for U.K. and American editions of, 249, 250n249.11, 259, 259–60n259.13; preface, 214–15n213.11; printing inquiry from Grädener, 67–68, 68n67.34; publication of, in book form, 207, 207n207.1–3, 229, 230n229.15; publication schedule, 249; request for issues of Macmillan’s Magazine, 182; reviews of, xxiii–xxiv, 81; serialization of (Atlantic Monthly), xix, xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xli, xlii, 16–17, 18n16.10, 20–21, 31, 32n31.6, 53, 53n52.30, 54n53.15, 61, 86, 87n86.9– 10, 88, 88n88.8–9, 115n112.34–113.1, 133, 133n132.34–133.1, 207, 229, 230–31, 231n230.29–30, 243, 247n246.19–20, 249, 250, 258n257.34, 279; serialization of (Macmillan’s Magazine), xxii, xxiii, xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xli, xlii, 16–17, 20–21, 31, 38, 52–53, 57, 61, 70, 73n70.8, 81, 86, 87n86.9–10, 170n169.11, 184, 278–79n278.15; sheets of, request for, 259, 278; travel delayed to complete, 9n8.19–20, 20–21; U.S., scene in, xxii– xxiii; Washington Square compared to, 61, 86, 105; WJ on, 245; work on, xxi, xxxvii, xl, xli, 9n8.19–20, 16–17, 18–19n16.30–31, 20–21, 31, 38–39, 40, 52, 55, 57, 70, 87–88, 89, 99, 132–33, 133n132.34–133.1, 135, 151, 182, 183–84, 206–7, 215, 217, 228–29, 230, 230–31, 246, 249, 257–28, 259, 278, 279, 280 Post, Bertha King, 156n153.27 Post, Helen Minturn, 153, 156n153.27 Post, Mary Ann King (cousin), 5, 156n153.27 Post, Minturn, 156n153.27 Potter, Howard, 208, 208n208.11 Pratt, Herbert James, 222–23, 223n222.30 Pride and Prejudice (Austen), 103, 131n127.23–24 Primrose, Archibald Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery, xix, xxxix, 119n119.1,
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Index 148n145.23, 292, 293; at Dalmeny Park, xlii, 267; at the Durdans, xxxix, 144–46; letter to (1880), 119; in London, 116; at Mentmore, xxxviii, xli, 104, 107–8, 109, 241; racing stable of, 148n145.32–33; residences and family of, 104n102.32–33. See also Durdans; Mentmore Primrose, Hannah de Rothschild, Lady Rosebery, xix, xxxix, 102, 111n107.30, 119, 120n119.1, 120n119.14–15, 145, 148n145.23, 269, 292, 293; at Dalmeny, 272; at the Durdans, 144; in London, 116; at Mentmore, xli, 107, 109, 241; residences and family of, 104n102.32– 33 Primrose, Harry Mayer Archibald, 6th Earl of Rosebery, 104n102.32–33 Primrose, Lady Margaret (later Marchiones of Crewe), 104n102.32–33 Primrose, Lady Sibyl, 145 Primrose, Neil James Archibald, 104n102.32–33 La princesse de Bagdad (Dumas), 168, 170n168.25, 180, 181n180.17–18 Princeton Theological Seminary, 288 The Principles of Psychology (W. James), 197n194.13, 289 Procter, Anne Benson Skepper, 42, 43n42.11, 79, 83n79n1, 204, 293 Procter, Bryan Waller (pen name Barry Cornwall), 43n42.11, 293 Procter, Edythe Anne Skepper, 204, 206n204.13 Provence (France), 176 Providence (RI), 254
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Quebec (Canada), xlii, 255, 276, 277 Queen Anne’s Mansions, 256 Quincy Street (Cambridge MA), 5, 47, 90, 104, 105, 109, 145, 216, 248n247.21, 265, 279; AJ and, 80–81; letters for W J at, 34; plans to stay at, 247 Ramsay, John William Maule, 13th Earl of Dalhousie, xli, 154, 156–57n154.16, 241, 293 Ramsay, Lady Ida Louisa Bennet, Countess of Dalhousie, xli, 154, 156– 57n154.16, 241
Raphael: The Marriage of the Virgin (or Lo Sposalizio), 202, 205n202.10–11 R. Clay & Sons & Taylor, 250n249.11, 259 Reay, Lady. See Mackay, Fanny Georgina Jane Hasler Mitchell Reay, Lord. See Mackay, Donald James Recanati (Italy), xl, 218, 219–20n218.9 Redtop (Howells residence, Belmont MA), 152n151.7 Reed, Helen Leah, 293; The City and the Sea, 262, 263n262.9, 293; letter to (1881), 262–63 Reform Club (Pall Mall, London), xx; John Bright and, 108; letters from (1880), 10, 38–39, 56–57, 58, 59–61, 65–66, 69–72, 75, 87–88, 104–5, 123; letters from (1881), 141, 150–52, 160– 63, 235–36, 275, 276–77; Parkman’s honorary membership, 37 Reubell, Henrietta, 169n168.1, 171n171.8, 293; letters from, 168, 252, 272; letters to (1881), 168–69, 252–53, 272–73; letters to (1882), xxv Richmond (England), xli, 232, 234, 235n233.19 Richmond Terrace, no. 2 (Tennant residence, Whitehall, England), 142, 143n142.19–20 Rimini (Italy), xl, 219–20n218.9 Ritchie, Anne Isabella Thackeray, 99, 101n99.18, 101n99.21–22 Ritchie, Hester, 99, 101n99.21–22 Ritchie, Magdalene Alice Brookfield, 83n78.30–31 Ritchie, Richmond, 101n99.21–22 Ritchie, William Thackeray Denis, 99, 101n99.21–22 Riva degli Schiavoni, no. 4161 (Venice), xl, 210n210.17, 211n211.19, fig 9; description of, 210, 214n213.11; letters from, 210, 211, 212–14; view from window of, 213, 216–17 Robertson, George Croom, 11, 14n11.6 Robertson, Hellen, 14n12.5 Robeson, Marie Constance Henriette Janssens de La Hault, 154, 156n154.2 Robeson, William Rotch, 154, 156n154.2 Roderick Hudson (James), 287 Rodgers, Anna Schuchardt, 12, 14n12.5
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Rogerson, Christina Stewart, 80, 83n80n20, 294 Rogerson, James, 80, 83n80n28 “Le roman experimental” (Zola), 150, 152n150.12 Rome (Italy), xl, 73n70.11, 189n188.25, 209, 215, 216, 218, 219–20n218.9, 225, 294; affection for, 45; Aïdé in, 180, 204; Fanny Kemble and Sarah Wister in, 289, 295; friendships in, xix; Hotel de Russie, 208, 209, 217; letters from, 180, 208, 209, 213; London compared to, 45; Palazzo Colonna, 73n70.11; Piazza di Spagna, 202, 205n202.4; plans to travel to, 98, 99, 126, 172, 188, 190–91, 197, 203; travel toward, 202; weather in, 217 Rose, Charles Day, 293 Rose, John, 25n20.5, 25n20.10, 154, 157n154.29–30, 293 Rose, Lady Charlotte Temple, 15n15.2, 15n15.15–16, 20, 22, 25n20.5, 25n20.10, 157n154.25, 157n154.29–30, 293 Rosebery, Lady. See Primrose, Hannah de Rothschild Rosebery, Lord. See Primrose, Archibald Philip Rosmini-Serbati, Antonio, 104, 106n104.22 Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 74n70.34 Rothschild, Alice de, 116, 118n116.31 Rothschild, Mayer Amschel de, 104n102.32–33, 107, 111n107.30, 293, 293 Rue de Lille (Paris), 177, 179n177.26 Rue Oudinot (Paris), 169, 170n169.9 Ruskin, John, 227n226.6–7 Russia, 188, 189n188.16–17, 204 Rutland Gate, no. 29 (Cookson residence, London), 120, 121n120.29–30 Sala, George Augustus, xxxix, 144, 145, 148n144.18 Salem (MA), 176 Salisbury, Lord. See Gascoyne-Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot Salzburg (Austria), 198 San Remo (Italy), xl; growth of, 193n190.20–21; Hotel de Londres and Ligurian Sea, 183n181.29; impressions
of, 187–88, 189n187.35, 190, 202–3; letters from, 181–82, 183–84, 185–86; postmark, 186; rail route to Genoa, 190, 193n190.17, 203 Sardou, Victorien: Divorçons, 180 Sartoris, Adelaide Kemble, 101n99.26, 101n99.31 Sartoris, Edward John, 99, 101n99.26, 101n99.31 Saturday Review, 122n122.1, 292 Schlesinger, Max, 182, 183n182.20 Scotland, xlii, 265, 269, 272, 274; advice to WJ on, 196; AJ and, 233, 240, 241, 269; Clarks in, xix, 134, 136n134.20, 261; journeying to, 262; letters from, 260–61, 262–63, 264, 264–66, 267–68, 268–70, 272–73, 274; Lowell in, 86, 94; return from, 276; travel plans, 41, 45, 51, 55, 71, 74n71.33, 254. See also Scotland, locations in Scotland, locations in: Abbotsford, 274; Airlie Castle, Angus, 265; Ashestiel, 274; Castle Howard, 269; Clyde River, 268; Cortachy Castle, Forfarshire (Airlie estate), xlii, 261, 265, 266, 268, 292; Dryburgh, 274; Glamis Castle, Angus (Strathmore estate), xlii, 265, 267n265.17; Glasgow, 233; Highlands, 267; Laidlawstiel, Galaspiels (Reay estate), xlii, 269; letter from Cortachy Castle, 264–66; letter from Laidlawstiel, 274; letters from Tillypronie, 260–61, 262–63, 264; Loch Lomond, 268; Melrose, 274; Tillypronie, Aberdeen (Clark residence), xix, xli–xlii, 41, 45, 74n71.33, 136n134.20, 285; Tweed, 274. See also Edinburgh Scott, Sir Walter, 49, 50n49.4–5, 274 Scribner’s Monthly: merger with Century, 217; “The London Theaters” (HJ), xxviii, xxxix, 129, 132n129.29 Sedgwick, Arthur George, 286 Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky, xxv, xxxiv Sedgwick, Sara Price Ashburner, 286 Sevenoaks (Kent, England), xli, 240, 241, 243n240.23 Shady Hill (Norton residence, Cambridge MA), 60, 93, 95, 291; Grace’s decision to leave, 238, 239n238.24, 251, 252n251.10
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Index Shakespeare, William: Hamlet, 258n257.34; Measure for Measure, 162 Shenstone, Mary Ann, 217, 219n217.27 Sherlock, 261, 265, 269 Shirlaw, Walter, 211n211.20 “Sir Walter Scott” (Perry), 49, 50n49.4–5 Sloane-Stanley, Charlotte Amy Rose, 157n154.29–30 Sloane-Stanley, Francis, 154, 157n154.29– 30 Smalley, Emerson, 213, 214n213.7–8 Smalley, George Washburn, 120, 120n119.17, 121n120.29, 148n144.19, 294; at the Durdans, xxxix, 144, 145; family of, 214n213.7–8; letter from, 119; letters to (1881), 212, 213 Smalley, Ida, 213, 214n213.7–8 Smalley, Phoebe Garnaut, 120, 121n120.29, 214n213.5, 214n213.7–8, 294; letter to (1881), 212–14 Society the Redeemed Form of Man (Henry James, Sr.), 35, 37n35.23, 73n69.27 “Sociology and Hero-Worship: An Evolutionist’s Reply to Dr. James” (Fiske), 105, 106n105.12 “Some Personal Recollections of Carlyle” (H. James, Sr.), 218, 220n218.31 Somersetshire (England), 251, 253; letters from, 251, 252–53, 260, 260n260.17–18; Midelney Place, Curry Rivel, Taunton, xli, 251, 252, 254, 260n260.17–18 Sorrento (Italy), 26, 191 Southampton (England), 199; Basset, xxxvii, 86, 87n86.22, 94 Spain, 29n27.33, 217, 290 Spectator, 162, 164n162.15–16 Spencer-Churchill, Albertha Frances Anne, Marchioness of Blandford (later Duchess of Marlborough), 154, 157n154.16, 160, 164n160.32 Spencer-Churchill, George, Marquess of Blandford, 154, 157n154.16 Lo Sposalizio (or The Marriage of the Virgin) (Raphael), 202, 205n202.10–11 The Spring (Kenilworth, England): letters from (1880), 47–49; visit with Mrs. Carter, 47, 52n51.27, 55 Stanley, Edward Lyulph, 4th Baron Sheffield, 266, 267n266.6
Stanley, Mary Catherine Bell, 266, 267n266.6 Star & Garter Hotel (Richmond, England), 233, 235n233.19 Stephen, Leslie, xxii Sterling, Anna Charlotte, 147n144.8 Sterling, Charles Frederick Everland, 147n144.8 Sterling, Edward Coningham, 147n144.8 Sterling, Hester Isabella, 144, 147n144.8, 188 Sterling, John, 144, 147n144.8, 294 Sterling, John Barton, 147n144.8 Sterling, Julia Maria, 144, 147n144.8, 188 Sterling, Katherine Susan, 147n144.8 Sterling, Susannah Barton, 147n144.8, 294 Stewart, Duncan, 294 Stewart, Harriet Everilda Gore (Mrs. Duncan), 42, 43n42.11–12, 83n79.5, 83n80.20, 274, 275n274.17, 294; engagement reports, 79; in Paris, 80 The Stillwater Tragedy (Aldrich), 88, 89n88.13–14 St. John’s Wood, 2 Elm Tree Rd. (Macmillan residence), 58, 59n58.23, 244 St. Leonard’s-on-Sea (England), 68, 68n68.8–9, 71, 99 St. Moritz (Switzerland), 252, 273 Story, William Wetmore, 64n63.2 Strathmore, Lady. See Bowes-Lyon, Frances Dora Smith, Lady Strathmore Strathmore, Lord. See Bowes-Lyon, Claude Sturgis, Howard Overing, 29n26.30, 29n26.31, 32n30.22, 164n160.34, 294 Sturgis, Julian Russell, 29n26.30, 29n26.31, 30, 32n30.22, 164n160.34, 215–16, 294; Perry on, 49 Sturgis, Julia Overing Boit, xxxvii, 29n26.31, 32n30.22, 164n160.34, 294; dining with, 160–61; visits with, xxxvii, 26, 30, 44 Sturgis, Maria “Nena” Trinidad Howard. See Middlemore, Maria “Nena” Trinidad Howard Sturgis
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Sturgis, Russell, 29n26.30, 29n26.31, 32n30.22, 164n160.34, 294; dining with, xxxix, 160–61; visits with, xxxvii, 26, 30, 44 Sturgis, Sarah Maria, xxxix Sully, James, 11, 14n11.6 Sumner, Charles, 294 Surrey (England): Burford Lodge (Lawrence residence), xxxviii, 55, 56n55.12, 125, 125n125.3–4; Durdans, Epsom (Rosebery residence), xix, xxxix, 119, 119–20n119.12, 120n119.12, 144–45, 146n143.20, 292, Fox Warren (Buxton residence), xxxix, 116, 118n116.23; Grove Farm, Leatherhead (Sturgis residence), xxxvii, 44, 46n44.28–29; letter from Durdans, 143–46; letter from Walton-on-Thames, 244–45; letters from Grove Farm, 26–28, 30–31; Loseley Park and Loseley Hall (Rose residence), xxxvii, 15, 15n15.2, 15n15.15–16, 20, 22–23, 25n20.5; Walton-on-Thames (Macmillan residence), 259 Swinburne, Algernon: Euthanatos, 204, 206n204.26–27 Switzerland: Engadine Valley, 252; Engelberg, xli; Fanny Kemble in, 96, 257; Howells ambassadorship rumors, 185, 186n185.21–22; Lucerne, xli, 242; St. Moritz, 252, 273; WJ in, xxxvii, 8, 14n13.9, 18, 23, 27, 31, 34, 41, 44–45 Tauchnitz, Christian Bernhard, 68, 68n67.34 Taunton. See Midelney Place Taylor, Mr., 259 Teatro della Scala (Milan, Italy), 202, 205n202.17 Teck, duchess of. See Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, duchess of Teck Teck, princess of. See Mary of Teck, Princess Temple, Bob (cousin), 293 Temple, Catharine James (aunt), 248n247.25 Temple, Elly (cousin), 293 Temple, Henrietta (cousin), 293 Temple, Kitty (cousin), 293
Temple, Mary “Minny” (cousin), 135, 136n135.17, 247, 293 Temple, Robert Emmett, 248n247.25, 293 Temple, William (cousin), 293 Tennant, Charles, 142n142.7, 291 Tennant, Gertrude Barbara Rich Collier, 142n142.7, 143n142.19–20, 291 Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 91n90.13–14 Tennyson, Eleanor Locker, 90, 91n90.13– 14 Tennyson, Lionel, 90, 91n90.13–14 Thackeray, William Makepeace, 101n99.18 “Théâtre de Théophile Gautier” ( James), 174n172.33–34 Thellusson, Maria, 204, 206n204.26–27, 206n204.28 Thomson, Robert, 127n126.1, 294; letter to (1880), 126 Tillypronie (Clark residence, Aberdeen, Scotland), xli–xlii, 41, 74n71.33, 136n134.20, 285; description of, 260– 61; letters from, 260–61, 262–63, 264 Trevelyan, Charles Edward, 287 Trevelyan, George: The Early History of Charles James Fox, 86, 87n86.17 Trevilian, Edward Brooke Sely, 48n47.25, 256n253.32, 294; engagement, 47, 51, 52n51.28–29; visits to, xli, 252n251.23–24, 253 Trevilian, Kate Sedley Fearing Carter, 48n47.24, 48n47.25, 254, 256n253.32, 294; engagement, 47, 51; visits to, xxxviii, xli, 47, 51, 52n51.27, 55, 56n55.10, 252n251.23–24, 253; wedding of, 75, 76–77 Tuileries Gardens (Paris), 172 Turgenev, Ivan, xxxii, xl, 177, 179n177.18, 179n177.26 Turgenev, Nicholas, 177, 179n177.26 Twachtman, John Henry, 211n211.20 Tweed (Scotland), 274 Tweeddale, Lord. See Hay, William Montagu Tweedy, Edmund, 248n247.25 Tweedy, Mary Temple, 247, 248n247.25, 293 Tyrol (Austria), 198, 199
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The Undiscovered Country (Howells), xxi, 3, 4n3.23, 17, 19n17.12–13, 31, 32n31.9, 53, 57, 58n57.23, 61, 62n61.10 Union College (Schenectady NY), 288 United States, 47, 244, 278, 290, 294; Bryce as ambassador to, 248n247.6, 285; copyright issues and, 18n16.30– 31, 39, 133, 133n132.34–133.1, 229; expected reception on return to, 150–51, 278; HJ on state of, xxv–xxvi; lack of leisure class in, xxxiv; literature, state of, 31, 173; Macmillan’s Magazine and, 38, 53, 86, 133, 133n132.34–133.1, plans to travel to, 9n8.19–20, 9n8.23–24, 146, 196, 207, 226, 234, 238, 247–48, 255, 265, 273, 277, 279; The Portrait of a Lady scene in, xxii–xxiii; postponing of journey to, xx, 12–13, 20–21, 25n20.21– 22, 27, 30, 40–41, 43–44, 59, 97–98; President Garfield and, 94, 96n94.20, 270, 277; visit to (1881–1882), xxiv– xxix; Washington Square and, 81; weather, 28, 31. See also specific cities Upper Tooting (England), xxxix, 142, 143n142.19 Vale of Cashmere, 215 Vallombrosa (Italy), 62–63 Vanderpoel, Aaron Ernest, 70, 73n70.20 Vanderpoel, Ellen McBride, 73n70.20 Van Rensselaer, Anna Lovice Whitmore (Mrs. Phillip), 63, 64n63.30, 273, 273n273.13 Venice (Italy), 108, 192, 215, 231, 246, 252, 256, 272, 307; Casa Alvisi (Bronson residence), 210n210.12, 285; friendships in, xix; Grand Canal, 64n63.12, 208n208.1, 226, 237, 272, 275; HJ’s earlier visits to, 225, 227n225.8, 227n226.3; impressions of, 212, 216– 17, 222, 225–26; letters from, 206–7, 210, 211, 212–14, 215–16, 216–18, 220, 221n220.12, 221–23, 224; Lord Reay and, 275; Palazzo Barbaro, 64n63.12, 208n208.1, 286; Palazzo GiustinianiRecanati, 285; plans to travel to, xl, 99, 172, 180, 182, 188, 190–91, 203, 209; recollections of, 236–37; return to, 219–20n218.9; Riva degli Schia-
voni, no. 4161, xl, 210, 211, 212–14, 210n210.17, 213, 214–15n213.11, 216, 217, fig 9; St. Mark’s restoration, 226, 227n226.6–7 “Venice” (James), xxviii, 217, 219n217.2 Verona (Italy), 252 Veronese, Paul, 108, 253 Verplanck, Samuel, Jr., 14n12.5 Vicenza (Italy), xli; description of, 224– 25; letter from, 224–26 Victoria, Queen, 118n116.18–21 The Visions of England (Palgrave), 165, 166n165.10 Voltaire, 60 Wales (England), 196 Walsh, Catharine “Aunt Kate” (AK), xxix, 21, 35, 72, 163, 295; in Cambridge, 190; Cousin Helen and, 12, 23; letters from, 81, 191–92, 255; letters to (1880), 55, 56n55.9, 71 Walton-on-Thames (Surrey, England): letter from, 244–45 Warwickshire (England), 47, 51. See also Kenilworth Washington, DC, xxvi, xxix, 3, 60 Washington Square (James), 87n85.28–29; characters in, 105, 106n105.3; in Cornhill Magazine, xxi–xxii, xxxvii, xxxviii, 3, 4n3.24, 16–17; Grace Norton and, 85–86; Harper and Brothers edition of, xxxix; in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, xxii, xxxvii, xxxviii, 16; HJ’s opinion of, xxii, 61; Macmillan and Company edition of, xxxix, 81, 83n81.17–18, 129, 158; New York Tribune review of, 81, 83n81.20; The Portrait of a Lady compared to, 61, 86, 105; reviews of, xxii, 81, 83n81.20, 162, 164n162.15–16; sales of, 158–59 Watteau, Jean-Antoine, 144 Weber, Carl Maria von: Der Freischütz, 202, 205n202.17–18 Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 128 Wells, Kate Gannett: “Women in Organizations,” 51, 52n51.12 White House, 4n3.26
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White Mountains (NH), 11, 14n11.33–34, 21, 25n21.23 Wilkinson, James John Garth, 19, 24n19.30, 161, 164n161.14 William and Susan (Wills), xxxviii, 80, 83n80.6–7 Wills, W. G.: William and Susan, xxxviii, 80, 83n80.6, 83n80n6–7 The Wings of the Dove ( James), 106n105.18 Wister, Dr. Owen Jones, 100, 101n100.7, 295 Wister, Owen, Jr., 100, 101n100.8, 295 Wister, Sarah Butler, 101n96.24, 101n97.4–5, 101n99.26, 204, 289, 295, 307; letter to (1880), xxiv, 96–100 Wolseley, Frances Garnet, 124n123.1, 295 Wolseley, Garnet Joseph, 1st Viscount,
xix, 124n123.1, 295, 295, fig 7; letter to (1880), 123 Wolseley, Lady Louisa Erskine, Viscountess, xix, 123, 124n123.1, 124n123.20–21, 295, fig 8; letter to (1880), 124–25; letter to (1882), xxx “Women in Organizations” (Wells), 51, 52n51.12 Woolson, Constance Fenimore, xix Wormeley, Katharine Prescott, 64n63.12 Wortman, William, xxxiii, xxxiv Zola, Émile: Le naturalisme au théâtre, 172–73, 174n172.30–31; “Le roman experimental,” 150, 152n150.12; Perry’s “M. Zola as a Critic,” 172–73, 174n172.33–34 Zorzi, Count Alvisi Piero, 227n226.6–7
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The Complete Letters of Henry James The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1855–1872 Volume 1 (1855–1869) Volume 2 (1869–1872) The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1872–1876 Volume 1 (1872–1873) Volume 2 (1873–1875) Volume 3 (1875–1876) The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1876–1878 Volume 1 (1876–1877) Volume 2 (1877–1878) The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1878–1880 Volume 1 (1878–1879) Volume 2 (1879–1880) The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 Volume 1 (1880–1881)
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James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1880–1883 : Volume 1, edited by Greg W. Zacharias, and Michael Anesko,