File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Isaac Appleton Jewett, 20 July 1851 (affd1eda-d459-4296-a8aa-58041b290e7b).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-021#025

Nahant July 20th 1851.
Dear Jewett,
As I have been a sharer in the pleasure of your bountiful letters I feel impelled to express my sincere & hearty thanks for the same, & , if No 37 Beacon St has been remiss in doing so, you may be sure it was from no lack of gratitude. We are all very glad you are now in the enjoying vein, & have had such rich & varied experiences in London, not only because we get the benefit of them in your faithful Daguerreotypes, but for your own sake as we know you like to explore perpetually new strata despite all your humbug about “living entirely for your beloved country &c”. In Paris you will possibly feel more at home, & we shall [crossed out: find] have, I trust, charming pictures of, at least, the outside life there. How I envy you all [p. 2] the fine things you are seeing, for I confess the Crystal Palace burns up before my imagination as Aladdin’s must have done to some distant hearer of its wonders – perhaps it was a myth, prophetic of this great design – Mr Paxton representing the benevolent Ginn, appearing at a moment’s summons. Albert the favored Prince &c According to this fancy America would seem to be the roe’s egg which was wanting to complete the splendor of the whole, but n’importe, that was only suggested by a wicked Fairy. I am well content she should show poorly there, while she is busy feeding at home the many sent her from these great Despotisms. Liever has written a very good article upon the subject in the National Intelligencer, you may have seen, - full of thought & sound sense. I only wish the few useful things we do make, we made well – not so hastily & carelessly. Shoes for instance – They come apart [p. 3] like paper – but enough of this.
We are in our old quarters here, so despised by the magnificent Duke of the Mississippi valley, & enjoying the, to us, luxury of freedom from all care, except the never ceasing one of three children. We take long walks, & read quiet, meditative books, & see many tolerably pleasant people. But I confess I do hunger & thirst, occasionally, for more literary people, or rather thoughtful, earnest people – so many are shallow & occupied by trifles. There is so little real, rich cultivation here, good, deep soil, & again I envy you some of your English acquaintances, Mrs Rich – the Wedgwoods - & all my friends there. Yesterday we had Mr Mountford to preach, an English Unitarian settled in Gloucester on our shore, & his sermons & conversation were very admirable – full of fervor & freshness. not mere intellectual efforts. We brought him home after church, & took him to charming Mrs [p. 4] Story’s in the evening, where Lowell’s wife’s sister sang some beautiful Mendelsohn songs. The elder Mrs Story has just been here lamenting over Choate’s most inappropriate address at the Story Association, an eloquent political harangue but so ill-timed for the occasion! Literature & everything seems likely to be swallowed up here in the dreadful maelstrom of politics. The “black Daniel” was in Church yesterday – he is at Mrs Paiges.
Henry is happy to hear of fair admirers tho’ alas it is too late to offer them his hand even in writing. It now begins to dawn upon “your weak mind” what a wonderful relative you possess!! Distance, you know, gives the right proportions of objects. You now know, also, the extraordinary perfection of Aunt Sam’s breakfasts & will no longer, I trust, expect to find them in every quarter of the globe – even under a tropical sun where cooking at all is a luxury. Spoilt child of the Clarendon to what can you now descend? Wishing you all the joy of the Parisian omelettes & café au lait, believe me ever [p. 1 cross] cordially yours Fanny E.L.

• Keywords: correspondence; long archives; frances e. a. longfellow papers (long 20257); frances elizabeth (appleton) longfellow; people; document; social life; subject; Correspondence (1011/002); (LONG-SeriesName); Letters from Frances Longfellow (1011/002.001); (LONG-SubseriesName); 1851 (1011/002.001-021); (LONG-FileUnitName)