Correspondence

1454.  EBB to Mary Russell Mitford

As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 8, 78–81.

[London]

Dec. 7: 1843.

My dearest friend I am so grieved that you shd be still suffering from this rheumatism! And this plan of sitting up all night, which I appeal against with all the force of my astonishment, & which strikes me as an evil as great as the rheumatism itself—comprehending greater evils!! My dearest dearest Miss Mitford I do beseech you to avoid in future such night watches. Surely it wd be better for you to give up the game at once, & go to bed for a week without moving from it,—avoiding, thus, the risk & suffering produced by change of temperature .. I wd far rather if I were you, make a prison of my bed for a week, than a prison of my room for a month—& far rather accept the bed for better or worse, than come to be so afraid of it for a worse as not to go to bed at all! To think of your sitting up all night long!– I hope K. reviled you with the strongest language she cd find—I hope she did.

Oh you must remember the tragedy of Lieutenant Monro—in the course of which, last summer, he fought a duel with his wife’s sister’s husband & shot him mortally. After that, he fled to the continent, & has only just returned with the intention of delivering himself up for trial. [1] Another atrocious example of the effects of the Duel-system!– Here are two men, husbands of two sisters, quarrelling as any two brothers might do at any hour of the day, about matters of money which becomes a subject of mutual interest with them in consequence of their close connection, .. quarrelling about sixpences over their tea,—as two testy brothers might quarrel & forget it the next day—and then going out like two savages, with pistols & friends (o friendship!) and one shooting the other through the lungs!! There is an end to all!– A little moralizing on one hand—a little sentiment on another! some persons going as far as to regret the unhappy necessity of this commission of murder by grace of Society—and a very few, bold enough to protest against its wickedness. In the meantime the murdered man lies still in his red shroud—and his widow raves in a phrenzy– And there, an end– If Mr Monro recovers from his fever & is tried by his peers, [2] we all know what the result will be—‘Manslaughter—and a slight imprisonment.’. Poor wretched man!– His crime has been the crime of Society—& little right indeed have they to punish him for it. Is it not outrageous that men shd act so, calling the crime ‘honour’?—“honorable men”!– [3]

You know that when Ld Winchelsea fought the Duke of Wellington, [4]  after he had done it, he was honest enough to give up some situation of presidency held by him in the Bible Society—acknowledging publicly & humbly in his letter, that he had sinned against Christian principle & was no longer worthy of a seat amongst them. His resignation was immediately accepted. It was honest & right on either side—but with regard to Ld Winchelsea, one cannot escape from the deep regret that a discernment of the conscience, strong enough to keep him honest, should not have kept him clean. The world however appeared nearer to him than God did—and he was afraid. Men do want moral courage,—as you observe of them justly.

Tell me how your poor man gets out of prison. [5] It seems to be a case of rank cruelty in addition to the injustice—but in [sic] happens too often, in other cases beside his, that men are punished by men … for their misfortunes.

The poor poor Pickerings! I am so sorry. What will they do? where will they go? Do tell me what you hear of any of them. [6]

If the queen cares for pleasure she has enough of it,—& your magnificent Duke seems to be making a fairy queen of her at Chatsworth, with gorgeous enchantments meeting every turn of her foot. [7] Yes—you are right, I fear I fear!– And then again there are reports abroad that she is so low of spirits, so alarmingly despondent at times, that the physicians command every sort of amusement & form of variety to which Majesty can have access. It may be the physicians’ misdoing! Pleasure upon pleasure is sure at last, if piled high enough, to reach a melancholy. The senses fall asleep on superfluous enjoyment. And nothing can be more wretched than a man, woman, or even child, amused from morning to night. It is better (I sometimes comfort myself with that philosophy) not to be amused at all. When I have tired myself with writing, I am ready to be relaxed sufficiently by a little play with Flushie’s pretty ears, or a little dreaming off into a romance,—forgetting the walls of my prison. And I think I cd forget, so, even a crown!–

Not a word of Mr Kenyon!– I told him he wd stay longer. ‘No’ he said—‘I shall not stay longer than eight or nine days’! I am sure it is full a fortnight ago since he said so!– Dear Mr Kenyon. I miss him when he is away.

How does your matrimonial scheme get on? Any more evidence for or against? Or is the lover’s heart in his two volumes pending? I heard from him a day since, with a command for my letters to follow yours to Kentish Town. [8]

My dearest Miss Mitford, do you know anything about that wonderful invention of the day, called the Daguerr[e]otype? [9] —that is, have you seen any portraits produced by means of it? Think of a man sitting down in the sun & leaving his facsimile in all its full completion of outline & shadow, stedfast on a plate, at the end of a minute & a half!!– The Mesmeric disembodiment of spirits strikes one as a degree less marvellous. And several of these wonderful portraits .. like engravings—only exquisite & delicate beyond the work of graver—have I seen lately—longing to have such a memorial of every Being dear to me in the world. It is not merely the likeness which is precious in such cases—but the association, & the sense of nearness involved in the thing .. the fact of the very shadow of the person lying there fixed for ever!– It is the very sanctification of portraits I think—and it is not at all monstrous in me to say what my brothers cry out against so vehemently, .. that I wd rather have such a memorial of one I dearly loved, than the noblest Artist’s work ever produced. I do not say so in respect (or disrespect) to Art, but for Love’s sake. Will you understand? even if you will not agree?–

May God bless you, my beloved friend!– Tomorrow you will receive a little fish, which I hope may make itself welcome.

Ever your affectionate EBB–

Address: Miss Mitford / Three Mile Cross / Near Reading.

Publication: EBB-MRM, II, 356–358.

Manuscript: Wellesley College.

1. See letter 1451, note 4.

2. As previously stated (letter 1451, note 4), Munro, because of fever, did not surrender for trial on 2 December. The Times of 4 December announced the sale of his effects, and, in the issue of 12 March 1844, published a letter from him, in which he said: “I have been forced to fly from my country, my profession, and my beloved wife, children, father, mother, and relations”; there is no record of his ever returning to stand trial for his brother-in-law’s fatal shooting.

3. Julius Cæsar, III, 2, 83.

4. Wellington was working to ameliorate the legal position of Catholics, and the Catholic Relief Bill was before parliament, when George William Finch-Hatton, 11th Earl of Winchilsea (1791–1858), published a letter in The Standard of 16 March 1829 in the course of which he referred to Wellington’s “insidious designs, for the infringement of our liberties, and the introduction of Popery into every department of State.” After vainly attempting to persuade Lord Winchilsea to publish an apology, the Duke demanded satisfaction, and a duel with pistols was fought on 21 March, despite such meetings being illegal. The Duke missed, Winchilsea fired into the air and subsequently apologized. (See Wellington, by Richard Aldington, 1946, pp. 294–295.)

5. We cannot clarify this reference.

6. EBB had referred to the difficulties of the Pickerings in letter 1229. The recent death of Ellen would exacerbate the problems of the survivors.

7. The Queen and Prince Albert were guests of William Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790–1858), at Chatsworth 1–5 December. The Morning Chronicle of 4 December said “The cascade is to be lighted up by 500 Venetian lights, and in the conservatory alone no less than 40,000 lamps will be exhibited in tasteful devices … Festoons of lamps are to be extended from tree to tree in the grounds … and there will be a magnificent display of fireworks.” Victoria, in a letter of 4 December to her uncle, the King of the Belgians, wrote that “The conservatory is out and out the finest thing imaginable of its kind. It is one mass of glass, 64 feet high, 300 long, and 134 wide” and said that the illuminations had “a beautiful effect” (The Letters of Queen Victoria, 1837–1861, ed. A.C. Benson, 1907, II, 637).

8. Letter 1452.

9. See letter 1453, note 13.

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