Correspondence

1120.  EBB to Mary Russell Mitford

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 6, 279–281.

[London]

Jany. 8. 1843–

The day has past like a shadow—& there remains to me scarcely enough time before the post goes, to thank you my beloved friend, as I do most warmly & affectionately for this too beautiful ring which I receive as a memorial of you & yours & tenderly appreciate as such, & shall thus keep & value to the end of my life– Your dear father I hope to see in the eternal world—& you help me to rejoice (“to smile a little ere I go hence”, as the Hebrew Scriptures say) [1] in this—therefore with light shining on it from the future & the present I receive this little symbol & look on it with no mournful eyes. The fault is .. it is too beautiful. The very simplest & plainest wire wd be enough to be symbolical & for me to receive—but this ring is beautiful .. with its onyx followed on each side by a fine pearl to suit the white zebra stripe of the onyx .. the gold fretted & massive! My beloved friend, I am ashamed to take it—it is too beautiful for me– I hasten to try to lose sight of the exterior quality in the inward significance which is after all the precious part of it,—and yet (by a riddle) the part I feel least undeserving of through my true affection for you .. that so, I may be less ashamed—but still I return to my burden “the ring is too beautiful for me.” Miss Skennett [sic, for Skerrett] must have mistaken, methinks, & fancied she was designing one for the queen. It is regal enough to be kissed at St James, [2] & to distract the thought of the most devoted of courtiers from Majesty’s white hand. Ah—how I cd scold you! But I cant—I only love you dearly, & wish that “pour le coup, Phillipe,” [3] I cd do something besides.

To go back to my “modest appreciation” of the Brown Rosarie, I forget whereabouts I was & in what section of diffidence I broke off– Only, however I may have appeared in my fragmentary condition, my intention was not exactly to praise it, but to consider whether there wd be much so very much better, to put in its place. Do you know, you frightened me for my book, by proposing the disjunction of the Rosarie? I began to ask myself all sorts of nervous questions as to how I shd multiply the house of clouds into a five shilling book .. or satisfy you otherwise!–

Mr Kenyon has not been here yet—& I expect him every visitable hour of every day. Flush makes it a rule to bark at him—but gently—& he does the same violently at Mrs Orme who is quite annoyed at it & declares that he is the only dog who ever gave such a proof of dislike or distrust to her. In fact it is rather distrust than dislike. He is very kind to her in three minutes—as soon as I have kissed her & she has sate down beside me—& it may perhaps be jealousy pure. Talking of which, Crow brought me up a few days since a little tiny kitten which cd just see. Flush did not bark—but his eyes flashed fire & his two ears quivered & advanced till they nearly touched across his nose. I patted the kitten—& then he smelt it—upon which familiarity the little thing put up one small paw & tried to spit magnanimously. So Flush retreated, as he makes it a rule of doing in such cases,—but his eyes grew larger & larger. Crow took up the little kitten & lay it upon the bed, in his place, causing the cup of insult to overflow—& he leaping on the bed, & walking round & round the usurper in a very large circle, so as to avoid all possible danger, began to cry softly & low. Round & round he went, crying!– I sent it away directly– I cd not let Flushie be distressed!—& his cry was so precisely the expression of dejection & despondency without anger or strife, that it quite moved me–

You must not fancy that he is fretful & low-spirited & ill tempered, like certain ‘ladies’ dogs’– Sometimes I think that you fancy so—you & Ben. You must not do so any more. He is bright & sportive & active as if he lived on the hills & slew hare & partridge, on the contrary; & forgives an offence in the next breath to it. His peculiarities are those of his situation, & of a nature most sensitively affectionate,—& even that most deadly of insults which is involved in taking him up by the nape of his neck & under which he utters the most piercing shrieks he finds to be possible, .. even that insult is succeeded in five minutes by a mood of leaping & running & absolute mischief & playfulness.

He has a collar too—one fashioned out of a mosaic bead necklace—& he likes it very much indeed .. particularly when you say he looks pretty in it—and on the same delightful ground of personal vanity, he will open his mouth for you to look at his teeth, open it of his own accord & hold it open—his little head on one side in an unchanged position,—while you exclaim “Oh! what beautiful, beautiful teeth, Flushie has!”

George is on circuit—& we expect him tomorrow, or wednesday.

May God bless you my beloved friend.

I long to hear of the houses. I thank you once more for the precious ring,

& remain your own

EBB.

Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 153–155.

Manuscript: Wellesley College.

1. “Let me be diverted awhile / Before I depart” (The Book of Job, ed. Moshe Greenberg et al., 1980, 10:20–21).

2. St. James’s Palace was the formal locus of the Court. On appointment to an official state position, the nominee signified acceptance by kissing the Sovereign’s hand.

3. We have not located the source of this quotation. EBB obviously wishes she could offer some quid pro quo for Miss Mitford’s gift.

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