1027. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 6, 108–110.
[London]
Oct. 17. 1842–
Grapes, eau de cologne, lavender water, & pastilles, go to you together my beloved friend,—and the sender wd fain (oh wish full of vanity!) communicate some of their sweetness & perfume to your hard & dreary present experience. Indeed it seems to be a peculiar state of trial. I only pray that you may be supported under it,—kept from sinking wholly in body and spirit. I heard yesterday of a masterdom for smells, which is in itself something more agreeable than the chloride of lime,—& here is the description of the nature of it. Let powdered saltpetre be laid in a pewter plate or saucer: pour over it a little sulphuric acid, & hold the whole over the flame of a candle. The smoke arising from it purifies the air, & will remove any unpleasant smell. There is to be no flame—only smoke, said my informant, Mrs Orme: and the effect is ten times more prevailing than any chloride of lime. Eau de cologne is delightful—only the influence passes away quickly like every other delightful influence. When I was so ill I used to be bathed in it, head, hands & feet—they used to pour it upon my poor feet when they burnt like hot coals– But there was no unpleasantness in my room, of course, from the nature of the complaint,—and eau de cologne wd but faintly struggle with any evil of the kind—being calculated only to come in as accessory after the purification.
It appears to me that you wd be right & wise in discharging Marianne, .. & that, in the present state of your dear patient, he wd probably be in no wise affected by the measure. It wd surely be easy to account for her absence generally, without specifying the cause, so as to disturb him into anger: and the advantage & the comfort of having persons around you whom you can trust, are surely worth a decisive movement,—& indeed shd be preserved to you at all risks, excepting the one of making him ill. And be sure that he wd not care. Her fits are the cause of her removal!—reason sufficient, if read either way. Oh do send her away.
And while he slept those sixteen hours, how many did you sleep my dearest friend? I am very very anxious about you. If you ever think of me, think of my anxiety & be careful of yourself.
No—you must not do anything of course with my last Rogers, which was not my last Rogers after all—for in my manifold hypothesis-making, I took to making certain other verses which are better than the forerunners I fancy & lie now lost to the world in my MSS. Three by me (‘thrice the brindled cat hath mewed’) [1] and one by you! Certainly Mr Rogers must burn on both sides of his face, with the evil & the good! And it is the more amusing to me, because not one of the Muses except you, wd put it into my head to write stanzas about Mr Rogers. He is a melodious writer, but scarcely among my idols. Mr Horne calls him ‘poor Rogers.’
I send the sonnet about Wordsworth, at once [2] —that it may distract a thought of yours, which will be better than praise,—and you will not give it praise. Can anybody in the world—do you think? understand it?–
Yesterday the bride & bridegroom were expected in Harley Place; [3] but our Mr Kenyon is not to arrive until the 29th.
May God bless you my beloved friend!– You are too kind in what you say of the very very little I can even try to do for you. You are kind too in letting me love you: only that, you cannot help.
Your ever attached
EBB–
I forgot the very thing I particularly wished to mention in beginning today to write to you. You will recall that I asked once to see the proofs of the almanack. Now I ask not to see them—unless indeed I can be of any use to you by looking at them: otherwise I shd prefer, if you please, looking another way. In the first place I shall not be ‘’ware’ [4] of the specific alterations which your prudence has wrought,—and secondly I wd rather not increase even by a hair’s breadth the width of my responsibility. So this is my last word about the Bijou.
Your relation of that young man’s visit, [5] is very touching!–
The keeping up of the appetite is wonderful, & proves how much latent strength there must be. Does he suffer from fever?
Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 50–51.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Macbeth, IV, 1, 1.
2. This copy of EBB’s sonnet on Haydon’s portrait is no longer with the letter.
3. i.e., Edward Kenyon and his Austrian wife.
4. Cf. Romeo and Juliet, II, 2, 103.
5. Not identified.
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