1073. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 6, 196–197.
[London]
Decr 5. 1842–
My dearest dearest Miss Mitford, your letter is just twice welcome—that is to say, if it had not come I shd have had two reasons for missing it & one of them full of fear. Yet I had scarcely time to be glad before I came to the evil news of the return of the sickness. Oh, may it have vanished again!– And may I hear by another post to my heart’s content of some new content of yours. The grapes shall go to you today if Crow comes back from Chelsea in time. And in the meantime, here I am, setting myself in for a ten minutes gossip, & no more.
Well, I did think the fifth volume interesting & very interesting [1] —and yet, I dont “give it the preference” quite as you do my beloved friend. I believe I was a little bit awry in the temper, .. vexed at her wary conduct & cold policy & most provident distrust towards that noble woman Madme de Stael. It quite vexed me. Straight I asked [‘]‘would Madme de Staël have done it?” was answered ‘No’,—& remembered with more indignation than surprise how Corinna went away & represented all Englishwomanhood by Lucilla & under that cold & calm “tête blonde”. [2] Ah—you see we must quarrel a little even here—you are reconciled by familiarity to FB’s [3] faults. For me, I forgave her coquettish consciousness & little vanities five volumes ago,—but I confess that I find it difficult to get over the great fault of her character (as it appears to my malignity) .. which is a mean, narrow & somewhat dirty watchfulness of & deference to “what people may think of FB–”. No danger of an imprudent generosity, for Fanny Burney! She was, not above it, but below it.
‘Content to dwell in decencies for ever’ [4] is the very line for her. What! Here is this noble Madme de Staël, admired by her, as far as Dr Burney’s [5] daughter could guess at the heights & depths of the nature of Neckar’s, [6] —estimated as a woman, cordially received as a friend, compassionated warmly as an exile,—and yet, let a wasp hum a lie of her, & straightway Fanny Burney who knew & was persuaded that it was a lie, withdrew from her society silently, without a word, [7] —nay,—I beg her pardon—with a word insinuated or sent, & that the implication of another lie,—lest the wing of the first lying wasp shd touch a dainty thread of Fanny Burney’s court petticoat. Admit to me that it is bad, unworthy,—very bad & very unworthy. And yet, she is an amiable woman—sensible, feeling, upright—with a sweet freshness & vivacity of womanhood, & an eye for everything worldly, & a tongue to talk it into gass-light. A woman of talent, who is womanly! & we must not underrate so rare a monster. But for the thought even, of any greatness, it does not enter into her secret. No more poetry grows in her than in my carpet. No poetry, no magnanimity, no generosity,—all the higher strings of soul & heart, torn away! That is my view of Fanny Burney. She married M. d’Arblay, to be sure, without a penny. It is the best thing I know of her, from first to last. Only love, love, my dearest friend, will work miraculously—will draw imprudencies from pattern proprieties, & generosity from pattern prudences. No! the best thing I know of her from first to last, is having amused you with her fifth volume. I love her for that, & look reverently on the fifth volume as of happy destiny!
Not been to bed yet! Oh my dearest ever dearest Miss Mitford, do, do, take pity on yourself, & undress, & sleep, & try to remember that altho’ you watch like a ministering angel you have no immortality like the prototype. Do—do! I meant to tell you of Mr Horne’s picture—but I cant—it must be for another day. You are not, in the meanwhile, to say a word of the Church Quarterly articles as being his or Mr Hunt’s. [8] God bless you! God love you always!
Ever your EBB–
What a December! Is it so hot with you as to leave fires out of the question? The violets seem to say “Aye”. Thank you, thank you for them–
Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 102–104.
Manuscript: Folger Shakespeare Library and Wellesley College.
1. Of Mme. D’Arblay’s Diary and Letters.
2. “Fair head.” Corinne, “the most renowned woman in Italy,” and her half-sister, Lucile Edgermond, were characters in Mme. de Staël’s Corinne, ou l’Italie (1807), said by EBB to be “an immortal book” after she had read it for the third time (see letter 453).
3. Fanny Burney, Mme. D’Arblay’s maiden name.
4. Pope, “Of the Characters of Women: An Epistle to a Lady” (1735), line 164.
5. Mme. D’Arblay’s father, Charles Burney (1726–1814), organist, composer and author, whose reputation derives mainly from A General History of Music (1776–89).
6. Jacques Necker (1732–1804), Mme. de Staël’s father, was a French banker, statesman and sometime Minister of Finance.
7. Dr. Burney, in a letter to his daughter, had referred to Mme. de Staël’s part in the French Revolution, and had mentioned that she was “accused of partiality to M. de N________.” In reply, Fanny said “I do firmly believe it [the allegation concerning M. de Narbonne] a gross calumny” but added “I would, nevertheless, give the world to avoid being a guest under their roof, now I have heard even the shadow of such a rumour.” Subsequently, she “regretted excessively the finishing so miserably an acquaintance begun with so much spirit and pleasure” (Diary and Letters, V, 403–406, 421).
8. See letter 1065.
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