1229. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 7, 102–105.
[London]
May 1. 1843.
Ever dearest Miss Mitford, you are better I see—you are stronger—you are growing to be wicked. Think of your travelling round the world to investigate gentlemen’s ages from red books & other sorts of books!– I am astonished at you! Why the next thing will be (it is dreadful to think of!) that you will be penetrating into ladies’ ages!– Can your Bath friends have any sort of notion what a serpent they are nourishing in their bosoms? [1]
Even if I had no remorse, I could’nt help you to Mr Landor’s chronology,—seeing that the only edition of his poems which I have, is not the first one .. no, nor an early one at all. But prove him sixty five which he may be, or seventy five which he cant be,—& if he chooses to be Lothario, [2] & if ladies fair choose him to be Lothario, what cause do you show why he should’nt be Lothario?– If Cupid sits in his eye, a grey eyebrow overhead wont prove an alibi—he may be “a dangerous man” after all his three warnings .. & if you address a fourth warning to his victims, apprizing them of his longevity, .. they will be none the less victimized, be sure!– After all, I could’nt help laughing at your calculating reflecting way of considering the case of the “jealous husbands”! They ought to erect a statue to you at the top of Milsom Street! [3] —that is self evident .. if they have gratitude in their souls to equal their sorrows!–
Have you seen Lady Bulwer? have you heard of Lady Bulwer?– [4] I am glad that the P. improves upon acquaintance & is agreeable at home—& I hope she may prove your first impression to be an unhappy accident. [5] As for your Celia & Rosalind, they are delightful [6] —not because one of them is like me (oh, how imaginative your kindness is!) but because she isn’t a bit like me, .. that is, .. if she have as you say, any “conversational powers” .. seeing that I have not such a gift in the extremest assumption of my vanity!—seeing that the only ‘conversational power’ I ever had any claim to, is, the power of an admirably good listener … at your service! Yet I am glad that she reminded you of me .. because it proves that you were so ready to think of me! Dearest friend—you go farther—& the farther you go, the closer I seem to follow you, & the dearer to love you. It would be a shame if a whole hierarchy of angels shd put me quite out of your head—because you see, even angels cannot do much better than love! & I, do that faithfully.
It was very kind of Miss Waddington to speak kindly of me. I am quite pleased that altogether, you are not alone at Bath though a stranger,—& that the grass grows green under your feet through friendly voices– Which green grass reminds me of the rain! So you cry out about the rain already! Be politically œconomical of your interjections, I advise you—for verily, when you get into Devonshire, the surprise will be, not when it rains, but when it ceases to rain. Even the sun is used to the rain in Devonshire, & shines through it.
In comes Mr Kenyon while I write, & interrupts my rain & sunshine. The sketcher is Mr Eagles—& he (Mr Kenyon) desires me to send you the address in case you shd be inclined to look at him .. Revd J. Eagles of King’s Parade, Dardham Down, Clifton– This same Mr Eagles is said to be a friend by hereditary right of Mrs Trollope’s,—& therefore if you see her she is likely enough to bring you together. Dear Mr Kenyon has been asking twenty questions about you, & is very anxious that you shd not be discouraged by the ill effects of your first flight, from taking a more prolonged one .. in which anxiety I concur with him. Such a characteristic note he has read to me from Mr Landor!—it has quite amused me! so much, that if you will make oath never to tell anybody .. not Celia .. not Rosalind .. not nobody, .. I must remember to repeat to you the last sentences.—“One Quillinan, I hear, has been writing against me in Blackwood. This is funny. The things may be called quill––inanities.” [7] “I hear”—just as if he had not seen or felt! He tells Mr Kenyon that Mrs Southey complains of having lost half her income by her marriage (which Mr Kenyon however doubts) & thinks that Sir Robert Peel shd give her a pension– [8]
You surprise me by your account of the low state of literature in Bath, for I had always fancied that Pen-&-ink had a certain predominance there. Which reminds me … Mr Kenyon speaks kindly of the P .. & very compassionately. Poor thing! She is of the West Indians & fell down their cataract .. from splendor in the New Forest to labor & sorrow [9] among the booksellers. One of her sisters is a governess,—her brother an invalid .. & herself a laborious worker. We must be sorry for her & interested in her, I think.
But I dare not write any more; I am afraid so, of being too late for the post. Yes, number two is decidedly scandalous, & wont do for the compositor of this 1843. [10]
Your own
EBB–
Poor Ben!– I certainly am sorry that you did not take Flush with you. He wd have enjoyed the travelling & have learnt to be a dog of the world; & then his conversation wd have done you good. May God bless you. Say particularly how you continue!
Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 214–216.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Æsop, in “The Rustic and the Snake,” told of a man, who, finding a snake almost dead of cold in winter, warmed it in his bosom; when the snake recovered, it bit him.
2. Landor was 68 at this time and living in Bath apart from his wife. The “haughty, gallant, gay Lothario” was the heartless libertine in The Fair Penitent (1703) by Nicholas Rowe (1674–1718).
3. Milsom Street, one of the main thoroughfares of Bath, was where Miss Mitford was lodging.
4. Lady Bulwer was one of Bath’s residents, being equated with Chaucer’s Wife of Bath in letter 694.
5. Miss Mitford described Miss Pickering as “so fertile as a novelist, so excellent as a woman” (Mitford, II, 197). The “first impression” had been derived from correspondence (see letter 992).
6. New acquaintances compared to the characters in As You Like It.
7. For “Mr. Quillinan’s vengeance on Mr. Landor,” see letter 1211.
8. Caroline Bowles, when left an orphan by the death of her mother in 1816, was given an annuity of £150 by her father’s adopted son, but she forfeited this on her marriage to Southey. The remainder of her income came from her writing. However, Southey’s will left her £2,000. She was awarded a government pension of £200 p.a. in 1852.
9. Psalms, 90:10.
10. i.e., Miss Mitford’s second letter from Bath (now missing) was unsuitable for the projected edition of her correspondence; it apparently contained details of the behaviour that caused Landor to be likened to Lothario.
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