KARL MARX

45 2 KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHY
Longuet, in the spring of 1872. She had already been a little in love with
Gustave Flourens, the communard general killed in the siege. Longuet
had been active in the International, where he enjoyed good relations
with Marx in spite of his Proudhonism, and had been a member of the
Commune and editor of its official newspaper. There was as much amusement
at the 'sheep's eyes' of the lovers as there had been with Laura's
engagement. Longuet tried out several French dishes on the family, and
everyone was happy except for Jenny Marx who wished that her daughter's
choice could, for a change, have been an Englishman or a German,
'instead of a Frenchman, who naturally together with all the charming
qualities of his nation is also not without its weaknesses and
insufficiencies.... I can't help being afraid that Jenny's fate as a political
wife is exposed to all the cares and troubles that are inseparable from it.' 8
Longuet was as penniless as most of the French refugees. He had been
a medical student and managed to get a temporary job lecturing at King's
College. After their marriage in the St Pancras Registry Office in mid-
October 1872, they moved to Oxford where Longuet tried to establish
himself as a private tutor in French. Soon, however, they were back in
London: Jenny did not like the 'orthodox and arrogant atmosphere of
Oxford ... that sham seat of science' and, as she wrote to Kugelmann,
London contains Modena Villas, and in the front room first floor of
Modena Villas I can always find my dear Mohr. I cannot express to
you how lonely I feel when separated from him and he tells me that
he also missed me very much and that during my absence he buried
himself altogether in his den Though married, my heart is as
chained as it ever was to the spot where my Papa is, and life elsewhere
would not be life to me.'
Jenny became governess to a local businessman's family and tried to
give singing and elocution lessons, while Longuet eventually obtained a
permanent post lecturing in French at King's College. Although Longuet
was never as close to the Marx family as Lafargue, Jenny remained Marx's
preferred companion. Her first child died in infancy, but she gave birth
to five more children before her death in 1883. Marx was particularly
attached to the eldest, Jean or Johnny, whom he referred to as 'the apple
of my eye', and with whom he loved to play for hours on end the same
boisterous games that he had enjoyed with his own children. 10
Of the three daughters, therefore, only Eleanor was left unmarried."
At the same time as Longuet was courting Jenny, Eleanor was developing
a deep attachment to Hippolyte-Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray, a flamboyant
French Basque who, at thirty-four, was exactly twice her age. 12 He was a
journalist, had been active in the Commune, and defended single-handed