by Henry James
OTHER AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS
635.21 da vero] Italian (usually davvero): really, indeed.
635.23 les miens] French: my people, my family.
635.30 37] James was thirty-eight.
636.3 je n’ai que faire.] French: I have nothing to do.
637.16 Quincy St.] At the home of James’s parents at 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge, beside Harvard Yard.
637.33 Lady Rose and H.J.W. Coulson] James’s relative Charlotte Emmett Rose (née Temple, 1813–1883), an aunt to his Temple cousins; English lawyer Henry John Wastell Coulson (b. 1848).
638.6 Charles Peirce] American pragmatist philosopher and mathematician Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914).
638.8 at Madame Tourguéneff’s] At the house of the widow of Nikolai Turgenev (1789–1871), an exiled Russian political radical and author who was the uncle of Russian writer Ivan Turgenev.
638.9 Paul Joukowsky] Pavel Zhukovsky (1845–1912), Russian painter, long resident in Italy.
638.9 Non ragionam di lui—ma guarda e passa.] Italian: “Let us not talk of him, but look and pass.” Cf. Dante, Inferno, canto 3.
638.16 Goncourt, Daudet] See notes 427.10 and 124.13–19.
638.20 a little poem of Th. Gautier’s—Les Vieux Portraits] Théophile Gautier’s “Pastel” (1836), which refers to forgotten “old portraits” in the last of its four stanzas.
638.23 Alfred de Musset] See note 70.19–27.
638.23 “il était plus français,”] French: he was more French.
638.29 en plein Paris.] French: in the middle of Paris.
638.35 Mrs. S.] Eleanor Burrill Strong (née Fearing, b. 1831), who after separating from her husband spent most of her life in Europe. James said of her: “She has a spark of feu sacré [sacred fire], an ability to interest herself and s’enthousiasmer [become enthusiastic] which is sincere & pleasing.”
639.6 the Lee Childes] The French-born American Edward Lee Childe (1836–1911), a nephew of Robert E. Lee, and his wife Blanche (née de Triqueti, 1837–1886), herself an author.
639.12 Jane Norton] See note 414.34. Norton died in 1877.
639.15–16 “au coeur de l’ancienne France.”] French: in the heart of old France.
640.11–12 J’y suis absolument comme chez moi.] French: I am absolutely at home there.
641.5 Mrs. Wister] Sarah Butler Wister (1835–1908), the older of the two daughters of Fanny Kemble (see note 192.28–29).
641.6 George Howard] English Liberal politician and artist George James Howard, from 1889 9th Earl of Carlisle (1843–1911).
641.6 Motley] American diplomat and historian John Lothrop Motley (1814–1877), author of The Rise of the Dutch Republic (1856).
641.11 cela va de soi] French: it happens by itself.
641.21 Gaskell’s . . . Locker’s] English politician and lawyer Charles George Milnes Gaskell (1842–1919), one of whose country residences was Thornes House, Wakefield, Yorkshire; English poet Frederick Locker-Lampson (1821–1895).
641.25–26 F.H. Hill . . . C.H. Robarts] English journalist Frank Harrison Hill (1830–1910), editor-in-chief of the London Daily News, 1870–86; English lawyer Charles Henry Robarts (1840–1904).
641.33 Mrs. Rogerson’s] Christina Rogerson (née Stewart, c. 1839–1911).
641.40–642.1 entre cour et jardin] French: between courtyard and garden.
642.21 the Bootts] See note 544.36–37.
642.28 tant bien que mal] French: as best I could.
642.38–39 John Clarks . . . Pakenhams] English diplomat John Forbes Clark (1821–1910) and his wife Charlotte, Lady Clark (née Coltman, 1823–1897); English military officer Thomas Henry Pakenham (1826–1913) and his American wife Elizabeth Staples Pakenham (née Clarke, 1836–1919).
643.2–3 Elizabeth Thompson (Mrs. Butler,)] English painter Elizabeth Southerden Thompson, Lady Butler (1846–1933).
643.21 Mrs. Lombard & Fanny L.] Mother and daughter from Cambridge who were friends of the James family.
644.18 Herbert Pratt] Herbert James Pratt (1841–1915), American traveler who had trained as a doctor at Harvard and in Vienna; he was a friend of William James.
644.35 facchini] Italian: porters, coachmen.
645.1 Firdausi and Saadi] Persian poets Hakīm Abu’l-Qāsim Ferdowsī Tūsī (c. 940–1020), author of a Persian national epic, and Abū-Muh.ammad Mu.sli.h al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī (c. 1200–1292), revered for his wisdom and known for his aphorisms.
645.4 “una bellezza;”] Italian: a beauty.
645.18 Mrs. Bronson’s] Casa Alvisi, the Venetian home of American expatriate Katherine Bronson (née De Kay, 1834–1901), a frequent meeting place for English and American expatriates and visitors in Venice, notably Robert Browning; James published an essay on “Casa Alvisi” in 1902.
645.19–20 Mrs. V. R.] American expatriate Anne Van Rensselaer (née Whittemore, b. 1840).
645.34 Giacomo Leopardi] Italian Romantic poet (1798–1837), an invalid in a conservative provincial milieu, but with a modern poetic and philosophical vision.
646.29 calidarium] Latin: a steamy room in an ancient Roman bath.
646.37–38 Mrs. Kemble & Miss Butler] Fanny Kemble (see note 192.28–29) and her daughter Frances Butler Leigh (1838–1910).
647.3 Tiltis] Mount Titlis, a mountain in the Urner Alps of Switzerland, on the border between the cantons of Obwalden and Berne, overlooking Engelberg. The Trübsee is a mountain lake at its foot.
647.38–40 Sir Trevor Lawrence’s . . . the Deepdene] English horticulturalist and Conservative politician James John Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet (1831–1913). He had some three thousand types of orchid at Burford Lodge. The Deepdene was a grand house remodeled to resemble a large Roman villa.
648.5 Leatherhead] Estate of Russell Sturgis (1805–1887), American-born senior partner of the banking house of Baring Brothers, and father of James’s friend the novelist Howard Overing Sturgis (1855–1920).
648.5 Mentmore.] Mentmore Towers, English country house belonging at the time to Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery (1851–1890), daughter of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild (1818–1874) and wife from 1878 of English politician Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847–1929), leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister, 1894–95.
648.6–7 Fredk. Macmillan’s] James’s English publisher, Frederick Macmillan (1851–1936), who had an American wife.
648.9 Midelney Place, the Cely Trevilians’.] Country house of English lawyer Edwin Brooke Cely Trevilian (1833–1914), who married Kate Carter of New York in 1880.
648.17 Montacute] Elizabethan mansion in Somerset, at the time still owned by the Phelips family, which has been claimed as the inspiration for the country house in James’s The Spoils of Poynton (1897).
648.32 au fond] French: at its heart, at bottom.
648.34 serrement de coeur] French: pang, oppression of the heart.
650.19–20 Lord Airlie’s death] David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie (1826–1881), died in Denver, Colorado.
651.11 l’enfance de l’art.] French: the infancy of the art.
652.19 Je me résume] French: I am summarizing.
652.24 of Sardou, of Augier.] See notes 216.7–8 and 217.10, respectively.
652.25–27 Ces émotions-là ne se perdent pas . . . notre volonté.] French: “Those emotions are not lost; they are absorbed back into the very basis of our being; they become a part of our will.”
652.36 tir] French: firing range.
652.36 Jean Dacier] Tragedy (1877) by French playwright Charles Lomon (1852–1923).
652.39 Coquelin] See note 242.4.
652.40 Favart] French actor Marie Favart (1833–1908), whose technique James admired.
653.19 Andrew Lang’s] Scottish poet and scholar (1844–1912), translator of Homer’s Odyssey (1879), author of Myth, Ritual and Religion (1887), and compiler of numerous compilations of fairy
tales, beginning with The Blue Fairy Book (1889).
653.31 Jack Gardner] American businessman and art collector John Lowell Gardner II (1837–1898), husband of the art collector and friend of James, Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924).
653.38–39 John Hare asked me . . . write a play] English actor and manager born John Fairs (1844–1921), head of the Garrick Theatre, 1889–1895. In 1890 James wrote Tenants (first entitled Mrs Vibert) for Hare, who accepted but then did not produce it.
653.39 Comyns Carrs’] English critic, gallery owner, playwright, magazine editor, and theatrical producer Joseph William Comyn Carr (1849–1916) and his wife, the novelist and designer Alice Laura Vansittart Comyns Carr (née Strettell, 1850–1927).
654.15 Aunt Kate] Catherine Walsh (see note 84.17).
654.24 Mrs. Robeson’s] Mary Isabelle Robeson (née Ogston, d. 1910), wife of George Maxwell Robeson (1829–1897), U.S. secretary of the navy, 1869–77, and U.S. congressman from New Jersey, 1879–83.
654.29–31 cousin H.P.’s . . . Eliza Ripley . . . Katie Rodgers . . . Lily Walsh.] Helen (Wyckoff) Perkins (see note 84.11) and other members of James’s extended family on his mother’s side.
654.36 A.K.] Aunt Kate.
654.39–655.1 Wilkie arrived from Milwaukee] Wilkie had moved to Milwaukee in the fall of 1871 when he accepted a position there with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway.
655.1 Bob] James’s younger brother Robertson.
657.38–39 his unhappy voyage to the Azores] Beset with health and financial problems, and struggling with alcoholism, Robertson set off for the Azores in March 1881, then traveled on to Lisbon and eventually spent the summer in England, some of it with James.
658.20 Rhoda Broughton] Welsh-born novelist (1840–1920), noted for her wit and at first considered racy, author of the best-selling Cometh up as a Flower (1867) and Red as a Rose Is She (1870), among many other works.
658.24–25 Arthur Russells’] Lord Arthur John Edward Russell (1825–1892), English member of parliament, and his wife Lady Russell (née Laura de Peyronnet, 1836–1910).
659.20 D.M.] Stage adaptation of Daisy Miller, never produced, but published in 1883.
661.1 Wolcott Balestier] American writer and editor (1861–1891), author of the novels A Potent Philtre (1884), A Fair Device (1884), A Victorious Defeat (1886), and, in collaboration with Rudyard Kipling, The Naulahka: A Story of West and East (1892).
661.28–29 youthful unpublished novel . . . to see the light] Benefits Forgot, written 1885–90 and published in book form in 1894.
661.29 three very short tales] “A Common Story,” “Reffey,” and “Captain, My Captain!”: stories collected posthumously in The Average Woman (1892), a volume with this essay as an introduction.
664.5 The Copyright Bill] The U.S. International Copyright Act of 1891, which extended a degree of protection to authors whose works were copyrighted in other nations, including Great Britain.
664.7 helping the English author in America] Balestier arranged for the American publication of Kipling’s first novel, The Light That Failed (1890).
664.31–32 faire un sort] French: make a fortune.
667.22 the quick foundation of the “English Library”] As a rival to the continental Tauchnitz editions for English-speaking travelers.
668.14–15 A wet winter night in a windy Lancashire town] Balestier attended the premiere of James’s play The American in Southport on January 3, 1891.
669.3–4 the bristling alien cemetery] James traveled to Dresden for the funeral on December 10, 1891, which he called in a letter “these monstrous rites for the poor yesterday-so-much-living boy—in this far-away, alien city.”
671.3 Madame Doche in “La Dame aux Camélias”] See note 230.26–31.
671.17 Madame Fargeuil] See note 215.22.
671.37–38 with Marguerite Gautier fat and Armand Duval old.] Young lovers, the former dying of consumption, who are the main characters of The Lady of the Camellias.
672.7 Madame Pierson] See note 215.37–216.1.
672.18–20 Eleonora Duse . . . tattered translation] Celebrated Italian actor Eleonora Duse (1858–1924), who had played Marguerite in London in May–June 1895 using an anonymous Italian translation of The Lady of the Camellias.
674.39–40 the legal irregularity attaching to his birth] Dumas was the child of Alexandre Dumas père and his mistress the dressmaker Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay (1794–1868); his father legally recognized him in 1831.
675.11 banlieue] French: the suburbs.
676.14 Lamartine and Musset and Scribe and Michelet] French poet, historian, novelist, and politician Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869); Musset, see note 70.19–27; Scribe, see note 217.8; French historian Jules Michelet (1798–1874).
676.33 the author of “Antony” and “Kean,”] The plays Antony (1831) and Kean (1836) by Dumas père, not fils.
679.12 parler femmes] French: to speak of women.
682.12–13 calme infernal, as George Sand calls it] In a short prefatory essay to Sand’s play Françoise (1856).
682.24–25 exquisite Desclée] French actor Aimée Desclée (1836–1874).
682.25–26 Rose Chéri] See note 214.24–25.
682.26 Mademoiselle Delaporte] See note 214.24–25.
682.33–34 Croizette . . . Bartet—] Russian-born French actor Sophie Croizette (1847–1901); French actor Marie Thomas Delaunay, also known as Marie Dorval (1798–1849); French actor Julia Bartet (1854–1941): all performed at the Comédie-Française. In February 1889 James recalled visiting Bartet “in her loge, the other day in Paris.”
688.20 uncriticised stage.] In the manuscript, after this sentence, James had written, “He himself could no more have criticised them than he could have subscribed to Ibsen, and of the undisturbed felicity of which they were so long the source no man, probably, had ever drunk more deep.” For this omission in the published text (and the deleted passage given in the following note), see Frederick Wegener, “Henry James on James Payn: A Forgotten Critical Text,” New England Quarterly, vol. 67, no. 1 (March 1994): 115–29.
688.38 was unvanquished.] A manuscript passage cut from the published text here reads: “He made it no ghost of a condition that a confrère should read his novels, but there were, none the less, liberties that a neighbour’s restless fancy could take with them, and I liked to think, especially at a period when we often leaned elbows on the same luncheon table (table of easy mid-day laughter quenched outright the day, a sharp date, he dropped out) of the convenient, compact corner of his life in which he tangled and untangled. He could come round from Waterloo Place [location of the Cornhill Magazine’s offices] with a good conscience; he could chaff and be chaffed—he had given another twist to the skein. It was precisely that that made it all romance—we talked of it no more than, within the pale, we would really have talked of the haunted chamber or the personated heir.”
690.13 Basta!] Italian: enough!
690.22 L.H.] Lamb House, James’s home in Rye, Sussex, from 1897 until his death.
691.23 J. R. L.] James Russell Lowell (see note 488.16–17).
691.27 J. N., & of S. N., & even of G. W. C.] Jane Norton (see note 414.34), her niece Sara Norton (1864–1922, daughter of Charles Eliot Norton), and George William Curtis (see note 40.15–16).
691.31 à peu près)] French: more or less, just about.
692.9–10 Seven Weeks War] Or Austro-Prussian War, June–July 1866, a victory for Prussia against the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its German allies from Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, and smaller states.
692.17 O. W. H.] Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
692.38 George Eliot’s Felix Holt] See note 606.25–34.
694.5–7 Dantean lines . . . questa pace—] Italian: “After long exile and martyrdom / Came to this peace,” based on Dante’s lines “ed essa da martiro / e da essilio venne a questa pace” (Paradiso, canto 10, lines 128–29).
&n
bsp; 696.5 certain very first awkward essay in criticism] James’s review of Essays on Fiction by English economist, lawyer, and writer Nassau W. Senior (1790–1864) was published in the North American Review, October 1864.
699.8 crânerie] French: pluck, daring.
699.21–22 his admirable volume on Church-Building in the Middle Ages] Norton’s Historical Studies of Church-Building in the Middle Ages: Venice, Siena, Florence (1880).
704.2 distinguished friend] Probably William Dean Howells.
713.13 déménager] French: to quit the premises, move out.
716.6 portée] French: range.
723.4 THEODORA BOSANQUET] English writer and literary critic (1880–1961) who worked for James as secretary and amanuensis from 1907 until James’s death in 1916.
Index
Abbott, Jacob and John: Franconia and Rollo stories, 150–51
About, Edmond, 289
Academy (Geneva), 255, 257, 260–61, 263
Academy of Music (New York City), 147–48
Adams, Henry, 641
Aeschylus: Oresteia, 84
African-American soldiers, 402, 446, 481–82, 494, 496
Agassiz, Louis, 331–32, 337–39, 348, 505, 517
Aguilar, Grace, 7
Aiken, William, 496
Airlie, Lord, 650
Albany, N.Y., 33, 37, 54–55, 114, 118, 370, 422, 424, 469, 534; HJ’s relatives from, 6, 8–13, 28, 39, 44, 61, 74, 104, 106, 108, 110–13, 120, 145–46, 148, 166, 178, 226, 281, 298, 300–301, 312, 323, 326, 344–46, 418–19, 545
Alger, Horatio, 423–24
Ames, Adelbert, 483
Amiel, Henri-Frédéric, 261
Ancona, Italy, 645
Anderson, Robert, 497
Andrew, John, 342
Andrews & Stoddard (Latin textbook), 130
Ansieaux, Napoléon, 248–50
Anthon, Charles, 130, 157
Appomattox, surrender at, 502
Arctic (steamship), 169
Arnold, Matthew, 102, 248, 533–34, 555, 593
Ashburner family, 416
Astor House, 8–9
Astor, John Jacob, 419
Athenaeum (Boston), 506, 692