1398. EBB to Mary Russell Mitford
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 7, 366–367.
[London]
Oct. 10. 1843.
I was interrupted in the midst of my phrases of yesterday my dearest friend,—& I dare say I left you thinking all manner of “affectations of humility” [1] of me, on the subject of Mr Horne & his “Spirits”. I beg & entreat you not to go on to think them. I was delighted at his having thought of doing me so much honor—& shall be much pleased at any in reason which he actually does me. But you, through all the thick curtains of your kindness for me, will yet see plainly that I acted rightly & on the principles of common sense, in denying the portrait. It was no supererogatory humility, much less the affectation of humility, .. but just the instinct of common sense, & apprehension of the fitness of things, which induced me. Say, that he may have twelve portraits, .. & what manner have [sic] claim can I have to be one of them? No, no, no, my dearest friend. You wont blame me—you will see, it is mere, simple common sense. What is brought close to the eye, we see apart from the rules of perspective distances—& just beause he has had some intercourse personally with me, & because you love me, you would both mistake in representing my position & importance as an “object.” As for a picture, I wish I had one like enough to be copied for you my dearest friend, since your kindness desires it of me. Yet you are very fastidious in insisting upon one by Mr Lucas & his peers, [2] who all charge more than I am worth, substance & shadow … & you must wait, I believe, until I grow worth it– Did you ever see Miss Gillies’s miniatures? [3] They are very beautiful I think, & are the best answer I can devise to your negative upon the portrait-capacity of women in general, & which is certainly true enough in the main. Mrs Carpenter’s portraits [4] for instance are cold & feeble, I always thought. Mrs Robertson’s, [5] the miniature-painter, are warm & feeble. We women are apt, whether on literature or art, to show our sex in our souls—and it is not always that, like the authoress of ‘Our Village,’ we snatch a grace by it, beyond the reach of masculine Art. [6]
No letter today!—and every day I am watching for signs of your orient. How delightful it would be … it will be .. to talk instead of writing. May God bless you!–
Ever your affectionate
EBB.
Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 326–327.
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Cf. Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims (1718), pt. II, no. 116, by William Penn (1644–1718).
2. John Lucas had painted both Miss Mitford and her father; EBB expressed “utter discontent” with his portrait of Miss Mitford in letter 861.
3. Horne had shown EBB miniatures by Miss Gillies of Wordsworth, Leigh Hunt and himself (see letter 1063).
4. Between 1818 and 1866, Margaret Sarah Carpenter (née Geddes, 1793–1872) exhibited prolifically at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Society of British Artists.
5. Christina Robertson (née Sanders) exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institute, the Society of British Artists, and the Scottish Royal Academy in the years 1823–49. In 1843 she painted the Tsar and Tsarina and was made a member of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg.
6. Cf. Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711), line 153.
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