File:Frances (Appleton) Longfellow to Thomas Gold Appleton, 12 June 1848 (9a989094-100c-4560-b47f-06f10cd7b77e).jpg

Manuscript letter

Archives Number: 1011/002.001-018#019

Cambridge. June 12th 1848.
Dear Tom,
I should have written you by last steamer, if it had been from Boston, after reading your most interesting & thrilling account of the scene in the National Assembly. We rejoiced with you that you had the good fortune to witness such a remarkable display of the French melodramatid power, - but rejoiced still more deeply that it proved but a coup de theatre after all, & that nothing serious occurred. You gave us the ‘very form & pressure of the time,’ & had good reason to do so, it was so hotly impressed upon yourself – I trust nothing so bad of the kind can occur again, tho’ there is no magic, even in Lamartine, potent enough to keep the turbulent spirits under proper control, - & such a crisis is perhaps well to show where the strength lies – & how far the liberty of speech can be per- [p. 2] mitted – But I will not go back to such stale news when the kaleidoscope shifts so rapidly, - & as you are in the midst of its glare will be better refreshed by our quiet home-picture. We are enjoying Mary’s presence under our roof – more & more every day, - as we emerge from the strange warring of the new & the familiar, & feel it to be a blessed reality that she is here. She already looks much better, & the children are gaining roses faster than our spring, which promises to carry us with fires to July. A week ago, Saturday, I had a childs fête in honor of Eva’s birthday, - & it was a very pretty & successful affair – the weather being very fine & the children enjoying heartily playing on the hay-cocks, singing, dancing & a supper of strawberries & ice in the big Library. I invited several Mamas from town, - Aunt Sam, Jewett &c were here- & the infantry of all members of the family. [crossed out: Our] Charley’s birthday a week after we celebrated quietly – displaying in the evening your magic lantern, which elicited immense [p. 3] applause & ecstascy; little Erny being loudest in wonder at the moving monsters.
The Wormleys have [crossed out: al]l been here this afternoon. The younger girls are not pretty but nice looking I think – the Captain, as yet, somewhat subdued. They are full of French revolutionary anecdotes. They go directly to Newport. Night before last the fair Cora became a bride – She was married in Trinity Church, before all the world I believe. The Prescotts have gone to Geneseo, today, for a visit – Emmeline writes me no details of Wm, but that he is generally far from well. Last night we drove to Green Peace to take tea, by the light of the moon, with Mrs Robinson, the German blue, & a Miss Burleigh, who sat upon her sofa with the rigid grandeur of the Sphinx on its sand, & looked as full of Orphic sayings, or rather silences. Agassiz was there, after driving with us. What a fine face he has – so massive, but so genial & good. He is full of hope in the French Rev- (shall I say rêve) & speaks of Arago’s mental power with great enthusiasm. Shall you get interested enough in the drama to see it go on, or retreat to sober London?
[p. 4] We have not yet quite settled our plans for the summer, - but Berkshire will probably come in for a share. The Melville house was offered us, but we can hardly leave here long enough to make it worth while. Poor Mrs Butler is at Lenox preparing herself for the hateful trial before her, - her husband’s premature engagement, meanwhile, to Miss Bayard talked of as coolly as ever. The divorce will not be brought on till the Autumn. Father will tell you all the papers do not of the political foment & the choice between two pitiful Presidents, - &c Abbot’s disappointed ambition & a ‘that ‘– which interests only to vex me, so I care not to speak of it.
We went with Mary to see Hermani, a few nights since, The New York troupe is here, & thought by some superior to the Havana of last year, but I thought their voices harsh & the whole thing worse. Trupp is a very spirited actress & sings well. Mary was refreshed last night by letters from Robert – He has had an invasion of a man-of-war & [crossed out: had] boldly entertained the ladies with a ball, in addition to receiving them into his bachelor establishment – Ronny & Eva take lessons of Marageret Weatherston, which gladdens M. mère’s heart. We are fast knitting together the old warp & the new, - but Mary’s English creed is not easily joined to mine familiarly – Fanny Calderon is a Catholic! so powerful is matrimony – With Henry’s & Mary’s love & many kisses from yr nephews & nieces – ever thy affte Fanny L.

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